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Exhibit - Joint Administration of Park Impact Fees

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City of Vancouver, WA
Exhibit"3" - Joint Administration of Park Impact Fees

1. Purpose. Pursuant to Chapter 39.34 RCW (Interlocal Cooperation Act) and Chapter 18.65 of the Clark County Code (Clark County Impact Fee Ordinance), the county may enter into an agreement with any city or town located within the county to establish a coordinated program for the imposition, collection, administration and expenditure of park impact fees. The purpose of this agreement is to create a coordinated and integrated joint City/County program of impact fees for parks and open spaces. The following principles underlie the design of the joint program:

1.2 The administration of an impact fee program should be seamless and consistent regardless of whether the affected property or public facility is incorporated or unincorporated.

2. Definitions. Unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, words and phrases used in this agreement shall have the meanings attributed to them in RCW 82.02.090 or in this section.

2.2 "City" means the City of Vancouver.

2.3 "County" means Clark County, State of Washington.

2.4 "Director" means:

2.4.2 In the case of the City, the City Finance Director.

2.5 "Donation" means any donation of land dedicated for use as an Urban Park, but excludes any donation for which a PIF credit is issued.

2.6 "GMA" means the Growth Management Act, Chapter 36.70A RCW and RCW 82.02.050-090.

2.7 "Grant" means any grant dedicated to the acquisition of land for an Urban Park, but shall exclude Community Development Block Grants.

2.8 "Jurisdiction" means either the City or the County.

2.9 "PIF" means those fees collected by either the County or the City pursuant to RCW 82.02 for urban park acquisition and development.

2.9.1 PIF "proportionality" means the legal obligation to spend public funding for parks proportionately with the expenditure of Park Impact Fees within each of 10 Service Areas.

2.10 "Service Area" means a geographic area designated in a Capital Facilities Plan in which a defined set of system improvements provides service to a development within the area.

2.11 "Urban Growth Area" means the Vancouver urban growth area designated by the County pursuant to the GMA.

2.12 "Urban Park" means neighborhood or community park or urban open space.

3. Service Areas. Attached hereto as Exhibit "A" is a map depicting the agreed upon and duly enacted Service Areas within the Vancouver Urban Growth Area.

3.2 Joint action required -- exceptions. No modification which affects a Service Area containing both incorporated and unincorporated areas shall be effective unless adopted by both the City and County: PROVIDED, that this limitation shall not apply to the adjustment in the boundaries of a Service Area adopted by the county to reflect an alteration of the Urban Growth Area boundary.

4. Impact fee ordinance. The City and County have each enacted substantially similar impact fee ordinances meeting the requirements of the GMA.

4.1 Amendment -- Joint action required. Except as provided in Section 4.2 and Section 6.3.1, no amendment to the City or County impact fee ordinance shall become effective until either:

4.1.2 the enacting Jurisdiction receives written notice from the legislative authority of the other Jurisdiction that it has no objection to the amendment.

4.2 Exceptions. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 4.1, either the City or County, upon advance written notice to the other, may unilaterally adopt amendments to its impact fee ordinance dealing with the following:

4.2.2 Administrative appeals

4.2.3 Other ordinance provisions exclusively dealing with the internal administration of the impact fee program the amendment of which will not affect the joint program.

5. Capital Facilities Plans. The City and County have each adopted as part of their respective comprehensive land use plans consistent and integrated Capital Facilities Plans which meet the requirements of the GMA for impact fees.

5.2 When joint action required. No revision to a Capital Facilities Plan of one Jurisdiction which could affect impact fees applicable to a development occurring in the other Jurisdiction if such revision were adopted by it shall become effective unless and until a substantially similar revision is adopted by the other Jurisdiction. It is the intent of this section to require joint adoption of revisions which change the impact fee (or the projects, level of service, or other factors upon which the fee is based) for a Service Area containing both incorporated and unincorporated areas.

6. Project implementation. Urban Park projects shall be prioritized and undertaken in accordance with state mandated and locally adopted budgetary and programmatic requirements, including the Capital Facilities Plans of the Jurisdictions, and in conformance with the limitations and procedures of this section.

6.2 For parks and open space projects within a Service Area which contains both incorporated and unincorporated areas, the City shall undertake urban park projects in both incorporated and unincorporated areas so that progress is made toward a common parks standard at approximately the same rate.

6.3 The parties agree that a qualified third party shall recommend annual adjustments to the impact fees and that such recommended fee adjustments shall be jointly presented to both the Board of County Commissioners and the Vancouver City Council for consideration of approval. The parties shall endeavor to mutually select the third party. In the event that they are unable to do so, each shall select a third party and the third parties selected by each jurisdiction shall meet and select an additional third party. The recommendation shall be the majority decision of the third parties.

6.3.2 The Jurisdictions may mutually agree not to adjust impact fees but only if they also mutually agree to either recognize the new standard(s) that results from not making the recommended fee adjustment(s), or if both mutually agree to contribute an equivalent amount of public share funds to the impact fee program to achieve the identified standard.

7. Administration.

7.2 Collections. The City and County shall each collect impact fees in accordance with their impact fee ordinances and Capital Facilities Plans. The City shall deposit impact fees received directly to the applicable funds. The County shall deposit impact fees received with the County Treasurer to be distributed to the City on a monthly basis, which distribution shall be accompanied by an itemized list detailing (1) the amount of each fee, (2) the address and type of development, (3) the PIF service area, and (4) the date received. A copy of the itemized list will be simultaneously transmitted to the City Director together with a similarly detailed list of any impact fee credits or exemptions recognized by the County for the reported period. This list may be electronically transmitted to the City by County departments other than the Treasurer.

7.3 Credits. The City Director shall maintain ledgers of impact fee credit accruals and shall maintain appropriate systems to accurately track the transfer and application of impact fee credits. In order to apply credits against impact fees, a builder/developer shall obtain a credit voucher from the City Director. The County shall honor all impact fee credits issued by the City Director during the life of this agreement regardless of when presented to the County.

7.4 Exempt developments. The City Director shall maintain an accounting of the unpaid impact fees applicable to exempt development by Service Area, which unpaid impact fees shall be added to the public share of impact fee projects undertaken within six years of the date an exempt development otherwise would have paid the fee. The additional public share shall be allocated as provided for in Section 8.

7.5 Fund distribution. The City shall expend all funds in accordance with the Capital Facilities Plan(s) and this Agreement. Subject to Section 6.2 of this Agreement, in Service Areas that contain both incorporated and unincorporated areas, the City may spend PIF funds in either the unincorporated or incorporated areas, regardless of which area the fees were initially collected.

7.6 Reports.

7.6.2 Annual. The City Director shall provide an annual calendar-year report to the County in February of the following year which shall:

7.6.2.2 Summarize the relative age of unexpended impact fees in each account; and

7.6.2.3 Provide the County with a report showing the amount of public share funds expended within each Service Area and showing the proportionality as compared to the private share acres acquired.

7.6.3 Discrepancies. The City shall be responsible for administering the PIF program in accordance with all applicable laws and procedures and is ultimately responsible for any discrepancies in the PIF fund accounts. To the extent that the County identifies account discrepancies in a report, the County shall have responsibility for informing the City of such discrepancies.

7.7 Inspection. Upon the County’s request, the City shall promptly provide or make available for inspection any and all records and data that are in its possession relating to the joint administration of park impact fees.

8. Public Share. The City shall expend public share funds in a manner which ensures that the proportionality of each Service Area is maintained.

8.2 Priority of projects. Allocation of the public share for projects and the priority of projects within all Service Areas shall be the responsibility of the City; PROVIDED, that the County shall comply with the following:

8.2.2 The County shall transfer to the City $2.8 million, which with the obligation set forth in section 8.2.3 of this agreement shall satisfy the County's public share obligation existing for all Service Areas as of the date of this agreement. Payments shall be made in quarterly installments of $175,000 $233,333.33 for a period of four three years, commencing April 1, 1997.

8.2.3 The County's obligation to contribute for future public share obligation for all service areas shall be limited to those set forth in Sections 6.3.1, 8.2.3 and Section 9 of this agreement. Beginning January 1, 1997, the County shall transfer to the City an amount of public share money equal to the sum of the following:

a. PIFs exempted by the County;

b. An amount equal to the adjustment for anticipated additional tax revenues (currently 15/85ths of the acquisition component of PIF’s) to the acquisition component of PIFs received by the County, exempted by the County and credits issued and honored by the County after the date of this agreement.; and

c. Grants and donations received by the County for Urban Parks that were applied for after January 1, 1997. Provided, grants and donations received by the County or City which were are given to reimburse the County or City for expenditures made by the County or City prior to January 1, 1997 shall be retained by the Countyrespective jurisdiction.

8.3 By January 1, 1997, the County shall establish an "Urban Parks Reserve" account of $1.4 million which shall be dedicated to the Urban Parks Program for the purpose of acquiring new Urban Park properties; PROVIDED that:

8.3.2 The County shall not be required to transfer to the City more money than exists in the Urban Parks Reserve Fund balance following the annual withdrawals for grants or donated moneys as provided for in Section 8.3.1 of this agreement.

8.3.3 On April 1, 2002, the County shall transfer to the City any monies remaining in its Urban Parks Reserve Account after accounting for any grants and donations received through December 31, 2001.

8.4 The City and the County acknowledge that future City annexations of unincorporated areas of the County can negatively impact the County's ability to fund its public share obligations because said annexations deprive the County of certain sources of revenue. In the event that the City annexes an area with over 10,000 residents within it, the City finance director and the County finance director shall attempt to agree on the impact of the annexation on the County's ability to fund its public share obligation and shall allow a withdrawal from the Urban Parks Reserve Account to compensate for the impact of the annexation. If the County finance director and the City finance director are unable to agree upon the extent of the impact or the amount of the withdrawal, then the matter shall be referred to the City Manager and the County Administrator for resolution. If the City Manager and the County Administrator are unable to resolve the matter, then either party may, by written notice to the other, submit the matter to arbitration. Within ten days of receiving notice, each director shall appoint an arbiter and within ten days of such appointment, the two arbiters shall select a third arbiter. The rules of the Clark County Superior Court for mandatory arbitration shall apply. The arbitration shall be conducted within sixty days after the appointments. The decision of the majority of the arbiters shall be binding on the parties.

8.54 The City acknowledges that currently unincorporated areas may be annexed or incorporated at some future date, and that the actual level of Urban Park acquisition at the time of such action may be less than the standard established by the county's PIF ordinance.

8.5 The City shall contribute the sum of $3.1 million to be utilized to fund the payment of the public share obligation for the acquisition of urban parks in quarterly installments of $258,333.33 for three years, commencing April 1, 1997.

8.6 The County may fund its obligation to make public share payments from a number of sources. In the event that the County transfers funds to the City over and above the amounts called for in this agreement, to be used for specific urban park projects, the City agrees to accept such funds and to reimburse the County an equivalent amount.

9. REET. The County Treasurer shall deposit all funds received through the collection of the 1/4 of 1% additional real estate excise tax authorized by Clark County Code 3.05.060(2) from the sales of properties within the Vancouver urban growth area and 30% of such funds from the sale of other properties (i.e. those funds that are deposited into the County’s urban subaccount) and all earnings thereon into a separate account. Upon written request from the City, the County Treasurer shall transfer from said account such funds as are needed for the approved urban parks projects; provided, the City shall not have to expend monies prior to the transfer of funds from the County Treasurer to the City.

10. Refunds. Impact fees shall be expended or encumbered for a permissible use within six (6) years of receipt unless such period is extended pursuant to RCW 82.02.070. Any required refunds shall be processed by the City and invoiced to the applicable impact fee fund account.

11. Assignment. Should a new city be incorporated within a previously unincorporated area of a Service Area, the County reserves the may with the City’s consent, right to aassign any rights and obligations it may have under this agreement to the new city, provided the new city adopts, within six months of incorporating, a PIF ordinance with provisions substantially similar to those of the City and County PIF ordinances, and assumes all of the responsibilities thereof. Irrespective of such assignment, the County shall remain obligated to the City in the event that the newly incorporated city fails to perform the duties assigned to it. If the City fails to consent to the assignment, the City shall refund to the County the unexpended PIF’s and public share funds for the newly incorporated area in accordance with the principle established in section 13.3 of this agreement.

12. Hold Harmless/Indemnification. The City agrees to indemnify, defend, save and hold harmless the County, its officials, employees and agents from any and all liability, demands, claims, causes of action, suits or judgments, including costs, attorney fees and expenses incurred in connection therewith or whatsoever kind or nature, arising out of, or in connection with, or incident to, the performance by the City of this agreement.

Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the City further expressly agrees to indemnify, defend, save and hold harmless the County, its officials, employees, and agents, from and against any and all liability, claims, demands, losses, damage, costs, causes of action, suits or judgments, including attorney fees, costs or expenses incurred in connection therewith for refunds of impact fees or for claims relating to the contribution of the public share towards urban park projects.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the City shall not be responsible for holding the County harmless from claims for damages resulting from the County's failure to make future contributions to urban park projects as required by Sections 6.3.1, 8.2.3 or 9 of this agreement.

In the event that any suit based on a claim, demand, loss, damage, cost or cause of action covered by this section is brought against the County, the County retains the right to participate in said suit if any principal or public law is involved.

In the event of litigation between the parties to enforce rights under this section, reasonable attorney fees and costs shall be allowed to the prevailing party.

13. Termination of the Joint PIF Program. The Joint PIF Program may terminate as follows:

13.2 If either jurisdiction determines that there has been a violation of Sections 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 11 of this agreement, prompt written notice of the violation shall be given to the other jurisdiction. The joint program will automatically terminate one-hundred eighty (180) days subsequent to the date of the giving of such notice of violation; PROVIDED, termination shall not occur in the event that the offending Jurisdiction remedies the violation within the 180 day period.

13.3 Upon termination of this agreement, the County shall, subject to Section 13.3.3, assume full responsibility for the expenditure and refund of PIF’s from the unincorporated areas and the following shall take place:

A minus B minus C = refund for service area

Where:

A = the total amount of PIF funds transferred by the County to the City for the service area together with earnings thereon computed at the rate earned by the County Treasurer’s investment pool per year based on year-end balances;

B = the amount of PIF funds transferred by the County to the City for the service area and spent on urban park projects within that portion of the service area that remains unincorporated as of the date of the termination of the agreement; and C = any amounts spent on urban park projects in that portion of the service area that became a part of the City after 12/1/96 regardless of the source of the funds; provided, that any funds that were transferred by the County to the City pursuant to sections 8.2.2 or 8.3 shall not be included in "C" but, rather, shall be dealt with as provided by section 13.3.2.

13.3.2 Refund of Public Share Funds. The City shall return to the County an amount of the funds transferred by the County to the City pursuant to sections 8.2.2 and 8.3 (hereinafter referred to as the "public share funds"), calculated as follows:

(A multiplied by B) minus C = refund for service area

Where:

A= the total amount of public share funds transferred by the County to the City together with earnings thereon computed at the rate earned by the County Treasurer’s investment pool per year based on year-end balances;

B= the service area’s need for urban park projects as of 12/31/96, expressed as a percentage of the combined need for urban park projects in service areas 5, 7 and 9 as of 12/31/96; and

C= the amount of public share funds spent in portions of the service area that were unincorporated when spent; provided, that for service area 5 only, a percentage amount of expenditures within the area annexing as of January 1, 1997, shall be exempt from the refund, percentage amount to be mutually determined by the County and City Finance Directors not later than April 1, 1997.

13.3.3 Notwithstanding the County’s assumption of responsibility for the unincorporated areas, the hold harmless and indemnification provisions set forth in Section 12 of this agreement shall remain in effect subsequent to the termination of the Joint PIF Program for whatever period of time the County may be liable for the City's performance of this agreement.

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City of Vancouver, WA Exhibit"3" - Joint Administration of Park Impact Fees

City of Vancouver, WA
Exhibit"3" - Joint Administration of Park Impact Fees