Impact Fees (Defining Extraordinary Circumstances)

In 2021, the impact fee bill passed into law limited what impact fees could be used for, clarified the retroactivity of impact fee credit portability, and attempted to cap the amount of impact fee increases. The legislature added a bypass to the capped fee increases, if the local jurisdiction could prove “extraordinary circumstances.” 

The problem: The law provides no definition of “extraordinary circumstances,” and local governments seem to be using the bypass with regularity. It is becoming the rule and not the exception that the fees are not capped as intended. The impact fee cap increase is a very liberal 12.5%. Bypassing this cap does not provide the stability and predictability needed to plan houses and communities years in advance. 

We are seeking a solution by: 

Working with bill sponsors to ensure the bill passed includes a definition defining “Extraordinary Circumstances.”