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B.All allowable . fee waivers provided for the <br />development or construction of affordable housing. <br />Impact fees and utility capacity charges are one time charges applied towards new <br />construction to generate the revenue necessary to make capacity producing capital <br />improvements. Overall, these impact fees and utility capacity charges increase the cost of <br />housing. Until. Florida's 2019 legislative session, communities in Florida that adopted <br />impact fees were required by statute and/or case law to apply those impact fees to all <br />activities that create a demand for capital facilities. During the 2019 legislative session, <br />however, Florida's Impact Fee Act was amended to allow exemptions for affordable <br />housing (housing for households earning less than 120% of Are Median Income (AMI)). <br />In March of 2020 with the County's most recent impact fee study and fee schedule update, <br />Indian River County adopted a portion of the allowable affordable housing impact fee <br />waiver/reduction allowance as part of the County's Impact Fee Regulations under Title X <br />of the Indian River County code. Indian River County now provides: <br />• impact fee exemptions for single family homes of less than 1,000 square feet (under <br />air) for households with incomes below 80% of AMI; and <br />• impact fee reductions at 50% of the calculated rate for single family homes between <br />1,000 square feet and 1,500 square feet (under air) for households with incomes <br />below 80% of AMI. <br />Impact fees for single family homes of any square footage larger than 1,500 square feet <br />(under air) and impact fees for homes of less than 1,500 square feet (under air) not occupied <br />by households with household incomes of less than 80% of AMI continue to be collected <br />at the full calculated and adopted rates with no affordable housing reduction or waiver. <br />Additionally, impact fees for multi -family housing units continue to be collected at full <br />calculated impact fee rates. Consequently, impact fees for these land uses cannot be waived <br />or reduced without being subsidized from another revenue source for a justifiable reason. <br />Because of this, there are methods of fee payment to assist income eligible persons with <br />the cost of impact fees and /or utility capacity charges. <br />Currently, Indian River County provides SHIP program loans and grants of up to <br />$20,000.00 per unit to income eligible households for the cost of impact fees and utility <br />capacity charges for new units. The county also provides SHIP loans and grants for <br />existing units to connect to the county regional water and wastewater system. To obtain <br />SHIP impact fee funds, applicants must execute loan or grant agreements with the county, <br />indicating that they will comply with the county's Local Housing Assistance Program's <br />requirements. Those loans or grants are limited to income eligible households in the Very <br />low Income (VLI) (not to exceed 50% of the county's median income), Low Income (LI) <br />(51-80% of county's median income), and moderate income (MI) (between 81-120% of <br />the:county's median income) categories. <br />Besides providing impact fee loans and grants, the county also provides financing of water <br />and sewer capacity charges for new units and existing units connecting to the county <br />regional system. The following policies from the Housing Element of the Comprehensive <br />Plan provide for financial assistance for payment of impact fees and connection charges <br />for affordable housing units. <br />139 <br />