(a) A county council or board considering the enactment or adoption of impact fees shall first approve a needs assessment study that shall identify the kinds of public facilities for which the fees shall be imposed. The study shall be prepared by an engineer, architect, or other qualified professional and shall identify service standard levels, project public facility capital improvement needs, and differentiate between existing and future needs.

Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-143

  • Board: means the board of water supply or water board of any county. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
  • Capital improvements: means the acquisition of real property, improvements to expand capacity and serviceability of existing public facilities, and the development of new public facilities. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
  • county: includes the city and county of Honolulu. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-22
  • Credits: means the present value of past or future payments or contributions, including, but not limited to, the dedication of land or construction of a public facility made by a developer toward the cost of existing or future public facility capital improvements, except for contributions or payments made under a development agreement pursuant to § 46-123. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
  • Developer: means a person, corporation, organization, partnership, association, or other legal entity constructing, erecting, enlarging, altering, or engaging in any development activity. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
  • Development: means any artificial change to real property that requires a grading or building permit as appropriate, including, but not limited to, construction, expansion, enlargement, alteration, or erection of buildings or structures. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
  • Impact fees: means the charges imposed upon a developer by a county or board to fund all or a portion of the public facility capital improvement costs required by the development from which it is collected, or to recoup the cost of existing public facility capital improvements made in anticipation of the needs of a development. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
  • Needs assessment study: means a study required under an impact fee ordinance that determines the need for a public facility, the cost of development, and the level of service standards, and that projects future public facility capital improvement needs; provided that the study shall take into consideration and incorporate any relevant county general plan, development plan, or community plan. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
  • Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
  • Proportionate share: means the portion of total public facility capital improvement costs that is reasonably attributable to a development, less:

    (1) Any credits for past or future payments, adjusted to present value, for public facility capital improvement costs made or reasonably anticipated to be contributed by a developer in the form of user fees, debt service payments, taxes, or other payments; or

    (2) Offsets for non-site related public facility capital improvements provided by a developer pursuant to county land use provisions. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141

  • Public facility capital improvement costs: means costs of land acquisition, construction, planning and engineering, administration, and legal and financial consulting fees associated with construction, expansion, or improvement of a public facility. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
  • Reasonable benefit: means a benefit received by a development from a public facility capital improvement that is greater than the benefit afforded the general public in the jurisdiction imposing the impact fees. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
  • User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
(b) The data sources and methodology upon which needs assessments and impact fees are based shall be set forth in the needs assessment study.
(c) The pro rata amount of each impact fee shall be based upon the development and actual capital cost of public facility expansion, or a reasonable estimate thereof, to be incurred.
(d) An impact fee shall be substantially related to the needs arising from the development and shall not exceed a proportionate share of the costs incurred or to be incurred in accommodating the development. The following seven factors shall be considered in determining a proportionate share of public facility capital improvement costs:

(1) The level of public facility capital improvements required to appropriately serve a development, based on a needs assessment study that identifies:

(A) Deficiencies in existing public facilities;
(B) The means, other than impact fees, by which existing deficiencies will be eliminated within a reasonable period of time; and
(C) Additional demands anticipated to be placed on specified public facilities by a development;
(2) The availability of other funding for public facility capital improvements, including but not limited to user charges, taxes, bonds, intergovernmental transfers, and special taxation or assessments;
(3) The cost of existing public facility capital improvements;
(4) The methods by which existing public facility capital improvements were financed;
(5) The extent to which a developer required to pay impact fees has contributed in the previous five years to the cost of existing public facility capital improvements and received no reasonable benefit therefrom, and any credits that may be due to a development because of such contributions;
(6) The extent to which a developer required to pay impact fees over the next twenty years may reasonably be anticipated to contribute to the cost of existing public facility capital improvements through user fees, debt service payments, or other payments, and any credits that may accrue to a development because of future payments; and
(7) The extent to which a developer is required to pay impact fees as a condition precedent to the development of non-site related public facility capital improvements, and any offsets payable to a developer because of this provision.
(e) The impact fee ordinance shall contain a provision setting forth the process by which a developer may contest the amount of the impact fee assessed.