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Commercial Park Fee - Administrative Procedures <br />November 4, 1998 <br />Page 3 <br />Determining Number of Employees <br />The three examples indicate that the same parcel developed three different ways could generate <br />three widely differing park fees. The problem is in determining how many employees to use for <br />calculation purposes: <br />*• There is no method for this established in the ordinance nor in the resolution. <br />► At the time of subdivision it may be impossible to determine what size or type of <br />building is planned, much less how' many employees it will accommodate. <br />► The number of employees could fluctuate over time, or potentially increase from a <br />low number used to calculate the park fee to a high number a few years later. <br />► Different uses of the same size building, have different employee needs. An office <br />building may have a high employee count and few visitors, while the same size retail <br />store would have few' employees but many visitors. The variety of allowed uses in <br />each of our zoning districts could easily result in a variety of potential employee <br />counts for a given building on a site. <br />Alternatives to Consider <br />A. Parking requirement basis. Once an actual building is proposed, its square footage and <br />pr obable use are known. Since these two factors are normally used to generate the minimum <br />parking requirement for a building, this could be directly equated to number of employees. <br />A reduction factor for visitors w'ould be needed based on the type of use: <br />Example 1: A 5,000 s.f. retail building would require about 28 parking stalls <br />based on the zoning code. The employee parking needs might be 7 <br />stalls, leaving 21 stalls for visitors. This would yield a 75% reduction <br />factor for retail. Park fee w'ould be based on 7 employees. <br />Example 2: A 5,000 s.f. office building would require about 20 stalls. The <br />employee parking needs might be 15 stalls, leaving 5 stalls for visitors. <br />This would yield a 25% reduction factor for office. Park fee would <br />be based on 15 employees. <br />A downside of this complex method is that it likely requires a delay in p ~\rk fee collection <br />until the building permit is applied for, which may be months or years after the subdivision <br />is completed. <br />B. Acreage basis. A less complex method would be to establish that commercial or industrial <br />properties will generate a certain number of employees per acre. This could be done simply <br />as an average for all commercial/industrial uses; or a separate number could be established <br />for each type of use, but again we would have to either know the intended use at the time of <br />subdivision, or delay collection until a permit is issued. Use of an average number would <br />be less defensible from the "rough proportionality" standpoint.