COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 533

(By Senators Snyder, Unger, McCabe and Miller)

____________

[Originating in the Committee on Government Organization;

                  reported February 23, 2011.]                                       ____________

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §7-20-7a, relating to impact fees; legislative findings; definitions; requiring counties to have an affordable housing component in the county’s impact fees ordinance; requiring a scale for impact fees to assure affordable housing; and requiring a vote by the county commission to increase or decrease impact fees.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §7-20-7a, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 20. FEES AND EXPENDITURES FOR COUNTY DEVELOPMENT.

§7-20-7a. Impact fees for affordable housing.

    (a) Legislative findings. –- The Legislature finds that:

    (1) There is a lack of affordable housing in counties that impose impact fees because the cost of the fees along with the economic conditions in those counties has resulted in low and moderate income persons, persons on fixed incomes, the elderly and persons with special needs, not being able to obtain safe, decent and affordable housing;

    (2) A lack of affordable housing affects the ability of a community to develop and maintain strong and stable economies, and impairs the health, stability and self-esteem of individuals and families; and

     (3) Financing affordable housing particularly in high growth counties is becoming increasingly difficult.

    For these reasons, it is in the public interest to encourage counties that have imposed impact fees and those considering the imposition of impact fees to fairly assess impact fees so as not to limit safe, decent and affordable housing.

    (b) Definitions. The definitions used in this section include those set out in section three of this article, and the following:

    (1) “Apartment” means a building containing multiple residential rental units.

    (2) "Condominium" means a common interest community in which portions of the real estate are designated for separate ownership and the remainder of the real estate is designated for common ownership solely by the owners of those portions. A common interest community is not a condominium unless the undivided interest in the common elements are vested in the unit owners.    (3) “Manufactured home” has the same meaning as the term is defined in section two, article nine, chapter twenty-one of this code which meets the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. §5401 et seq.), effective on June 15, 1976, and the federal manufactured home construction and safety standards and regulations promulgated by the secretary of the United States department of housing and urban development.

    (4) “Mobile home” means a transportable structure that is wholly, or in substantial part, made, fabricated, formed or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on a building site and designed for long-term residential use and built prior to enactment of the federal manufactured housing construction and safety standards institute (ANSI) -- A119.1 standards for mobile homes.

    (5) “Senior housing unit” means a dwelling for persons of a certain age and includes a legal requirement that no persons under a certain age may reside in the dwelling.

    (6) “Single dwelling residential housing” means a detached house in which a person or persons live as a place of residence and includes manufactured homes.

    (7) “Town house” means a type of dwelling unit normally having two, but sometimes three, stories usually connected to a similar structure by a common wall and commonly sharing and owning in common the surrounding grounds.

    (c) Affordable housing component to county impact fees ordinance. –- After January 1, 2012, a county that imposes impact fees shall enact an affordable housing component to the county’s impact fees ordinance that includes:

    (1) A process, that is similar to the process used by the county assessor for property valuation, to determine the market value of the dwelling at the time of application for the building permit and impact fees; and

    (2) A scale for impact fees as set out in subsection (d) of this section.

    (d) Impact fees. –- The scale for impact fees is as follows:

    (1) Mobile homes –- The impact fees for the setting of a mobile home shall be twenty percent of the normal impact fees or three thousand dollars, whichever is more.

    (2) Condominiums and Apartments –- The impact fees for condominiums and apartments shall be based on the market value of the condominium or apartment. The impact fees shall be calculated as follows:

    (A) For condominiums and apartments valued at forty-one percent up to one hundred percent of the average market value for single dwelling residential housing in the county as determined by the most recent single dwelling residential housing index created in section two-b, article one, chapter eleven of this code, the impact fees shall be one hundred percent of the normal impact fees; and

    (B) For condominiums and apartments valued at forty percent down to twenty percent of the average market value for single dwelling residential housing in the county as determined by the most recent single dwelling residential housing index created in section two-b, article one, chapter eleven of this code, the impact fees shall be based on a lineal scale of the normal impact fees or three thousand dollars, whichever is more.

    (3) Town houses –- The impact fees for town houses shall be based on the market value of the town house. The impact fees shall be calculated as follows:

    (A) For town houses valued at fifty-one percent up to one hundred percent of the average market value for single dwelling residential housing in the county as determined by the most recent single dwelling residential housing index created in section two-b, article one, chapter eleven of this code, the impact fees shall be one hundred percent of the normal impact fees; and

    (B) For town houses valued at fifty percent down to twenty percent of the average market value for single dwelling residential housing in the county as determined by the most recent single dwelling residential housing index created in section two-b, article one, chapter eleven of this code, the impact fees shall be based on a lineal scale of the normal impact fees or three thousand dollars, whichever is more.

    (4) Single dwelling residential housing –- The impact fees for single dwelling residential housing shall be based on the market value of the single dwelling residential house. The impact fees shall be calculated as follows:

    (A) For single dwelling residential housing valued at sixty-one percent up to one hundred percent of the average market value for single dwelling residential housing in the county as determined by the most recent single dwelling residential housing index created in section two-b, article one, chapter eleven of this code, the impact fees shall be one hundred percent of the normal impact fees; and

    (B) For single dwelling residential housing valued at sixty percent down to twenty percent of the average market value for single dwelling residential housing in the county as determined by the most recent single dwelling residential housing index created in section two-b, article one, chapter eleven of this code, the impact fees shall be based on a lineal scale of the normal impact fees or three thousand dollars, whichever is more.

    (5) Senior housing units. –- The school impact fee shall not apply.

    (e) Increasing impact fees. –- The county commission shall approve, by a majority vote, any increase or decrease in impact fees.