§ 5-152. Intents and purposes.

(a)

This article is intended to implement and be consistent with the City of Winter Haven Comprehensive Plan.

(b)

The purpose of this article is to regulate the use and development of land so as to ensure that new development bears a proportionate share of the cost of capital expenditures necessary to provide roads in the City of Winter Haven as contemplated by the City of Winter Haven Comprehensive Plan, necessary to serve new development. In order to finance the necessary new capital improvements, several combined methods of financing shall be employed, one of which will impose a regulatory impact fee on new growth and development which does not exceed a pro rata share of the reasonably anticipated costs of major-road network system expansion and improvements.

(c)

The City intends for new development to pay a fair share of anticipated costs of needed City public transportation facilities improvements necessary to serve new development, and not to collect fees in excess of the anticipated costs for needed public service improvements necessary to serve new development.

(d)

The City has commissioned a transportation impact fee study by Brown and Caldwell, dated February, 2006 (sometimes referred to as the "Consultant's Study"), which has demonstrated that Municipal Transportation/Road Impact Fees need to be established to cover the cost of financing City public transportation facilities and improvements required to serve new development.

(e)

Implementing a regulatory scheme that requires new development to pay a Transportation/Road Impact Fee that does not exceed a pro rata share of the reasonably anticipated expansion costs of new roads needed to serve new growth and development is the responsibility of the City in order to carry out the traffic circulation element of its Comprehensive Plan, as adopted under F.S. § 163.3161 et seq., and is in the best interest of the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the City.

(f)

It is not the purpose of this article to collect fees from growth and development in excess of the cost of the reasonably anticipated improvements to the major-road network system needed to serve the new growth and development. The City Commission finds that this article has approached the problem of determining the Transportation/Road Impact Fee in a conservative and reasonable manner. Under this article existing residents also shall pay a fair share of the costs of needed improvements to the major-road network system as a result of new growth and development.

(g)

It shall be the policy of the City to collect the Transportation/Road Impact Fees assessed by this article in lieu of certain off-site road improvements.

(Ord. No. O-06-45, § 2, 3-27-06)