Placement: Second Reading of Ordinances / Public Hearing
Action Requested: Motion / Vote
title
Ordinance 21-75, Public Hearing, Amending the City of Port St. Lucie Code of Ordinances by Repealing Title XV, Chapter, 159, Article II, Entitled “Road Impact Fee Schedule” in its Entirety and Replacing Article II with a New Article II to be Entitled “Mobility Plan and Mobility Fee”.
body
Submitted By: Teresa Lamar-Sarno, AICP, Deputy City Manager
Strategic Plan Link: The City's Goal of high-quality infrastructure and facilities.
Executive Summary (General Business): This is a request to adopt a mobility fee to replace impact fees.
Presentation Information: Stephen Okiye, Finance Division Director will provide a presentation on Road Impact Fees. Jonathan Paul, NUE Urban Concepts will present the Mobility Fee Ordinance, the Mobility Fee Plan, and Mobility Fee Technical Report.
Staff Recommendation: Move that the Council adopt Ordinance 21-75.
Alternate Recommendations:
1. Move that the Council amend the recommendation and approve the Ordinance.
2. Move that the Council not approve the request and provide staff further direction
Background: The City Council contracted with NUE New Urban Concepts, LLC to create a mobility plan and mobility fee ordinance. In accordance with the contract, a mobility fee, mobility plan and fee technical report and mobility fee implementing ordinance are scheduled for the Council’s consideration. The Study has two phases. Phase 1 is the completion of a Mobility Plan, technical report, and mobility fee ordinance to be completed for an effective date of October 1, 2021. The scope of services for the first phase establishes mobility corridors for new roads and roads to be widened, and multimodal corridors for roadways to be retrofitted with multimodal and intersection improvements. Area wide level of service (LOS) and / or quality-of-service (QOS) standards have been developed that will be used to calculate multimodal capacities and establish base line existing conditions in phase 2. Phase 2 of the scope will utilize the data collection, the established service standards, and the mobility and multimodal corridors established in phase 1 to develop road specific multimodal improvements and cross-sections. Before and after aerials, renderings and capacities will be developed for specific roadway facilities. A baseline evaluation of the LOS and / or QOS of the existing network to establish a baseline existing conditions analysis in order to periodically measure mobility fee performance. The second part of this scope will include community outreach for input and refinement of proposed mobility plan improvements.
Issues/Analysis:
First Reading
The Mobility Plan Phase 1 and Mobility Plan Technical Report provide extensive data and analysis to support the proposed mobility plan and fee. At first reading of the proposed ordinance, Stephen Okiye, Finance Division Director, provided a presentation on Road Impact Fees. As noted by Mr. Okiye, in FY 2020 St. Lucie County collected 17 million dollars in road impact fees generated by development within Port St. Lucie. In this current fiscal year, as of May, St Lucie road impact fees totaled 13.3 million dollars and, by the end of this fiscal year, it is projected that St. Lucie County will collect 17.7 million dollars. Mr. Paul presented the Ordinance, the Plan, and the technical report at first reading.
Chapter 164, Florida Statutes, Conflict Assessment Meeting
The City and County have met twice on the transportation issues and will be continuing the conflict assessment meeting, pursuant to Chapter 164, Florida Statutes, regarding this topic.
The City committed to update its technical report every five years, and to consider changes to the affected roadways or the percentage impact that may be supported by the updated data. The City requested that the County similarly commit to coordinate updates to its road impact fee, and the County was receptive to more frequent staff coordination over these issues. The City has repeatedly requested the County to provide information on any errors or omissions in the proposal, and continued to seek input from the County and the community to improve the mobility plan and fee prior to second reading.
In response to feedback from the County, the City’s consultant completed an extensive review of the County’s current road impact fee ordinance as well as the supporting data provided by the County and finds that there is no support for the 50/50 approach of the current interlocal agreement and, as currently adopted, the County’s ordinance may not meet Statutory requirements. Instead, the consultant’s analysis indicates that the available data indicate the potential range of City impacts on County roads ranges from 5% to 25%. The City further explained that the data indicates that the need for capacity improvements is greater on City roads than on the County roads, which are few in number and are primarily located at the perimeter of the City.
The County acknowledged the City’s right to adopt a mobility fee, but objected to any inclusion of County roads in the mobility plan.
The City made an offer to resolve the conflict.
• The City offered to set aside 15% of mobility fee revenues to mitigate impacts of development in City on the 6 County roadways listed in the current interlocal agreement, which are located in the City’s proposed benefit area within and adjacent to the City
• While the City acknowledged that the County has authority over the maintenance, operation and construction of County roads, it offered to hold the 15% in escrow until such time as the County is ready to proceed with construction of the County roads. Joint funding agreements would be negotiated by the staffs of the two jurisdictions for each project.
• In return, the City requested that the County commit to fund the County road projects identified in the City’s Mobility Plan within five years, using reserves, additional collected revenues from the 15% share, and any other funds that are available.
• The City also requested that the County accept that only one fee would be charged against development in the City, namely the City mobility fee. The City acknowledges the County will continue to levy the County road impact fee against development in the rest of the County.
Values advanced by the City’s offer include:
• an equitable distribution of funding, with revenues from City development being spent on projects that serve the current and future residents of the City,
• accountability to development within the City, that revenues from their fees will be spent to benefit their projects and fully mitigate their impacts, and
• greater choice for City residents, with investment in alternative modes of transportation through the mobility fee.
The County is evaluating this offer prior to the continuation of the conflict meeting for transportation issues on September 15. The ongoing conflict assessment meeting is focused on a proposed interlocal agreement regarding the implementation of the mobility fee. Staff anticipates that the interlocal agreement may require additional staff meetings to finalize a draft interlocal for the two jurisdictions’ consideration.
Adoption of the mobility fee
The ongoing Chapter 164 process is not an impediment to the adoption of the City’s mobility fee. The Mobility Fee is fully supported by data and analysis and meets all provisions of statute.
The Chapter 164 conflict assessment meeting is scheduled to continue on September 15, 2021; however, it is not likely to result in changes to the ordinance itself. If changes are warranted based on any new information, the ordinance can be amended by the City Council as needed.
Implementation
Staff is preparing to implement the new ordinance. A draft letter is under development, and will be issued to all permit holders at time of building permit issuance. The letter will state that payment of the Mobility Fee meets the requirements of state law that each new development or redevelopment fully mitigate any travel increase in capacity demand on the local transportation system (including City, County and State roads) as identified in the adopted City Mobility Plan.
Jonathan Paul, NUE Urban Concepts will present the Mobility Fee Ordinance, the Mobility Fee Plan, and Mobility Fee Technical Report, and will be available to address any questions or comments.
Financial Information: N/A
Special Consideration: With the adoption of this Ordinance, the City will collect only the Mobility Fee. Phase 2 of the Mobility Plan and Mobility Fee is scheduled to begin in FY 2022. Additionally, the City will no longer collect St. Lucie County Road Impact Fees starting on October 1, 2021.
Location of Project: N/A
Attachments:
1. Ordinance
2. Exhibit A to Ordinance
3. Mobility Plan Technical Report
4. Road Impact Fee Presentation
5. Mobility Plan Presentation
6. St. Lucie County Technical Comments
7. City of Port St. Lucie’s Response to SLC Technical Comments
8. Conflict Assessment Presentations (2)
NOTE: All of the listed items in the “Attachment” section above are in the custody of the City Clerk. Any item(s) not provided in City Council packets are available upon request from the City Clerk.
Internal Reference Number: 6841
Legal Sufficiency Review:
Reviewed by Margaret M. Carland, Deputy City Attorney. Approved as to Legal form and sufficiency by James D. Stokes, City Attorney.