AgdaPkt 2013-06-24 Closed and Joint Amended 06-21_2013

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8.F. - Page 2 This staff report relates to the City's Parks Impact Fee Ordinance and request to commit and encumber $600,000 in Parks Impact Fee funds to construct, improve and install new park amenities and equipment at Linden Park and Main Street Dog Park. Staff is also separately submitting to Council a report requesting encumbrance of Quimby Act Fee funds. II. History of Redwood City's Parks Impact Fee Ordinance & Fund The City of Redwood City, like many other local agencies, levies fees ("development fees") on new development within the City in order to fund public capital improvements necessitated by such development. The California Mitigation Fee Act, commonly known as AB1600 (Government Code Sections 66000 and following), imposes certain accounting and reporting requirements on local agencies that collect development fees, as described in more detail below. This staff report concerns a particular development fee known as the City's Parks Impact Fee. On October 22, 2007, the City Council adopted the City's Park Impact Fee Ordinance, Article XVI of Chapter 18 of the Municipal Code (RCMC Sections 18.256 — 18.265). The ordinance created the "Parks Impact Fee" fund, which was funded by impact fees collected as a condition of the issuance of any permit for any Development, unless expressly exempted by Chapter 18. The Parks Impact Fee was created to augment recreational opportunities through the improvement of parks, in order to compensate for increased demand for City facilities and services brought about by new development and the associated increase in population. The Parks Impact Fee Ordinance was the culmination of several years of study and deliberation by the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department ("PRCS") and the Parks, Recreation Community Services Commission ("Commission"). The PRCS Department Strategic Plan adopted by the Commission in 2004, directed staff to take action to ensure that future development in Redwood City would not reduce the existing ratio of parkland to residents. After extensive work creating a park inventory, the Commission brought a recommendation to City Council in December 2005 to preserve the existing ratio of parkland to residents. Council then directed the Planning Commission to consider a General Plan Amendment to establish an active parkland standard of 3 acres per 1,000 residents, and directed staff to proceed with a nexus study to determine the relationship between new residential development and the need for additional parks. In order to impose fees on new development, the City had to establish a "nexus" between development and the public facilities or services that would be funded by the Parks Impact Fee, and had to establish a connection between the development and the amount of the fee imposed on the development. The City prepared and adopted a nexus study, entitled "Final Technical Memorandum" and dated March 8, 2007 by Economic & Planning Systems (EPS), describing new and improved park facilities that are needed to mitigate the anticipated demands of new development.