19.08.080 - ADJUSTMENTS, WAIVERS, APPEALS AND ARBITRATION
A. Administrative Adjustment of Fee Amount. 1. An applicant for a building permit or the School District may, within 21 days of acceptance by the City of a complete building permit application, submit a letter to the Director requesting an adjustment to the impact fees imposed by this Title. The Director may adjust the amount or waive the entire fee, in consideration of studies and data submitted by the developer and the District, if one of the following circumstances exists: a. It can be demonstrated that the school impact fee assessment was incorrectly calculated; b. Unusual circumstances of the development activity demonstrate that application of the school impact fee to the development would be unfair or unjust; c. A credit for in-kind contributions by the developer, as provided for under BMC 19.08.060 F. above, is warranted; d. Upon application by the owner, the City Council may exempt a low income housing development, as defined by the current City of Bellingham Consolidated Plan (or successor thereto), from all or part of school impact fees upon such conditions as the City Council deems appropriate. The City Council may also vote to exempt specific projects, or components thereof, within proposed development activities with broad public purposes from all or part of the required fees upon such conditions as the City Council deems appropriate. The determination to grant or deny an exemption shall be in the sole discretion of the City Council after consideration in an open public meeting of the public benefit of the specific project, the hardship to the project of the school impact fee, the impacts of the project, the availability of public funding to pay the school impact fees payable on the project and other factors deemed relevant by the City Council. If an exemption is granted, the school impact fee attributable to the development shall be paid from public funds other than impact fee accounts, consistent with RCW 82.02.060 (2); or e. Any other credit specified in RCW 82.02.060(1)(b) may be warranted. 2. To avoid delay pending resolution of the adjustment or appeal, school impact fees may be paid under protest in order to obtain a development approval. 3. Failure to exhaust this administrative remedy shall preclude appeals of the school impact fee pursuant to BMC 19.08.080 B. below. B. Appeals of Decisions - Procedure. 1. The Director's final impact fee determination may be appealed to the Hearing Examiner under the provisions of Chapter BMC 2.56. The appeal provisions of Chapter BMC 16.20 shall govern appeals of mitigation requirements imposed pursuant to this chapter. 2. At the hearing, the appellant shall have the burden of proof, which shall be met by a preponderance of the evidence. The impact fee may be modified upon a determination that it is proper to do so based on the application of the criteria contained in BMC 19.08.080 A. Appeals shall be limited to application of the impact fee provisions to the specific development activity and the provisions of this title shall be presumed valid. C. Arbitration of Disputes. With the consent of the developer and the District, a dispute regarding imposition or calculation of a school impact fee may be resolved by arbitration. [Ord. 2009-04-019; Ord. 2006-03-022]
