Since I am undertaking a review of this proposal, I felt out of fairness, I should provide the full text of the proposal for your consumption. I have not found this version of the proposal posted anywhere on the internet.
IA Sections 10 - 11
10) Duration of special permits
Modify the fourteenth paragraph of Section 9 of Chapter 40A as follows:
Zoning ordinances or by-laws shall provide that a special permit granted under this section shall lapse within a specified period of time, not lessmore than two years from the date of the filing of such approval with the city or town clerk, which shall not include such time required to pursue or await the determination of an appeal referred to in section seventeen, from the grant thereof, if a substantial use thereof has not sooner commenced except for good cause or, in the case of permit for construction, if or construction has not yet begun by such date, except as extended for good cause by the permit granting authority. Such extension shall not include such time required to pursue or await the determination of an appeal referred to in section seventeen. The aforesaid minimum period of two years may, by ordinance or by-law, be increased to a longer period.
11) Development impact fees
The following new Section 9D is inserted into chapter 40A:[2]
40A:9D. Development Impact Fee
(a) Authority
(1) In addition to its home rule authority to impose a development impact fee, a city or town may adopt a local ordinance or by-law under this section that requires the payment of a development impact fee as a condition of any permit or approval otherwise required for any proposed development within the scope of this section, and having development impacts as defined in the ordinance or by-law. The development impact fee may be imposed only on construction, enlargement, expansion, substantial rehabilitation, or change of use of a development. The development impact fee shall be used solely for the purposes of defraying the costs of capital infrastructure facilities to be provided or paid for by the city or town and which are caused by and necessary to support or compensate for the proposed development. Such capital infrastructure facilities may include the costs related to the provision of equipment, facilities, or studies associated with the following: water supply; sewers; storm water management and treatment; pollution abatement; solid waste processing and disposal; traffic mitigation; roadways, transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and other public transportation facilities; and affordable housing; costs related to facilities such as schools, public safety facilities, and municipal offices shall be excluded.
(2) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a city or town from imposing other fees or requirements for mitigation of development impacts which it may otherwise impose under state or local law and that are consistent with the constitution and laws of the Commonwealth; except that the imposition of a development impact fee as provided in this Section 9D shall be the exclusive means by which a municipality may require the payment or performance of off-site mitigation for development impacts of the proposed use of land or structures permitted or allowed as of right under its zoning ordinance.
(b) Limitations
(1) No development impact fee under this section shall be imposed upon any dwelling unit, regardless of how created or permitted, which is subject to a restriction on sale price or rent under the provisions of G.L. c. 184 as amended ensuring that the unit will remain affordable for a period of at least 30 years to households at or below the area median income as most recently defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development or successor agency, or any other dwelling unit permitted under G.L. c. 40B.
(2) The fee shall not be expended for personnel costs, normal operation and maintenance costs, or to remedy deficiencies in existing facilities, except where such deficiencies are exacerbated by the new development, in which case the fee may be assessed only in proportion to the deficiency so exacerbated.
(c) Requirements
(1) Prior to the imposition of development impact fees under this section, a city or town shall complete a study that: (i) analyzes existing capital improvement plans, or the facilities element of a plan adopted under section 81D of chapter 41, or the infrastructure improvements element of a community land use plan adopted under Section [4] of Chapter 41; (ii) estimates future development based on the then current zoning ordinance or by-law; (iii) assesses the impacts related to such development; (iv) determines the need for capital infrastructure facilities required to address the impacts of the estimated development including excess facility capacity, if any, currently planned to accommodate future development; (v) develops cost projections for the needed capital infrastructure facilities and documents costs of existing facilities with planned excess capacity; and (vi) establishes the amount of any development impact fee authorized under this section in accordance with a methodology determined pursuant to the study. The study shall be updated periodically to reflect actual development activity, actual costs of infrastructure improvements completed or underway, plan changes, or amendments to the zoning ordinance or by-law.
(2) A development impact fee shall have a rational nexus to, and shall be roughly proportionate to, the impacts created by the development as determined by the study described in (c)(1) above evaluating said impacts, and it shall be applied to affected development projects in a consistent manner.
(3) The purposes for which the fee is expended shall reasonably benefit the proposed development.
(4) The fee may not be assessed more than once for the same impact, nor may the fee be assessed for impacts, or portions thereof, offset by other dedicated means, including state or federal grants or contributions or other mitigation commitments made by the applicant undertaking the development.
(d) Administration
(1) The ordinance or by-law may provide for a waiver or reduction of the development impact fee for any development that furthers an overriding public purpose as set forth in a plan adopted by the city or town under section 81D of chapter 41.
(2) If the proposed development is located in more than one municipality, the impact fee shall be apportioned among the municipalities in accordance with the land area or other equitable measure of the impacts of the proposed development in each city or town.
(3) Any development impact fee assessed under this section shall be deposited to a separate, interest bearing account in the city or town in which the proposed development is located. Unless subject to section (d)(4) below, no development impact fee shall be paid to the general treasury or used as general revenues of the city or town subject to the provisions of section 53 of chapter 44 of the General Laws.
(4) Any funds not expended or encumbered by the end of the calendar quarter immediately following 5 years from the date the development impact fee was paid shall, upon request of the applicant or its assigns, be returned with interest provided that an application for a refund prescribed in the ordinance or by-law has been submitted within one 180 calendar days prior to the expiration of the 5 year period. If no application for refund is received by the city or town within said period, any funds not expended or encumbered by the end of the calendar quarter shall then revert to and become part of the general fund under section 53 of chapter 44. In the event of any disagreement relative to who shall receive the refund, the city or town may retain said development impact fee pending instructions given in writing by the parties involved or by a court of competent jurisdiction.
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