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SW8�DT Fee Review December 1, 2014 Page 3 5. For comparison purposes, the Lakeview Golf development of 46 lots on 142 gross acres is expected to generate a SW&DT fee (at $3840 per acre) of $545,280 or $11,854 per lot. This is on the high side of the average per lot fee collected to date, but not the highest paid to date. Additional Background: Per-Acre Fee Amount In 1999 when the SW&DT Fee was being crafted by the City's consulting engineers, 12 properties in Orono expected to develop during the period 2000-2005 were chosen as examples to determine the amount of infrastructure expected to be required to manage water quality and quantity. The anticipated infrastructure included regional ponds to treat and store runoff, and piping to convey runoff to those ponds. The engineers determined the potential amount and cost of stormwater infrastructure needed to serve these properties. They then established `equivalency factors' between different densities of development based on standard runoff coefficients, with the 2-acre lot being used as the base. For example, an acre of development in the 1/2-acre zone was considered to generate on average 1.48 times the runoff of an acre developed in the 2-acre zone. Dividing the total cost of infrastructure of the 12 properties by the total equivalent acreage yielded an overall per-acre cost of$2670. This resulted in assigning higher per-acre costs to higher density (i.e. higher percentage of hardcover) development. At the same time, the per-lot or per-unit cost was lower in the high-density zones, as more units were possible per acre. The initial fee structure appearing in the 2002 Fee Schedule was as follows: New Development Land Use Trunk Fee per Acre Single Family Residential 5 Acre Zone $2,160 Single Family Residential 2 Acre Zone $2,700 Single Family Residential 1 Acre Zone $3,510 Single Family Residential 1/2 Acre Zone $4,050 Multi Family Residential 4 Units/Acre or Less $4,860 Multi Family Residential Greater than 4 Units/Acre $5,670 Commercial or Industrial $6,480 Current Code Provisions for SW�DT Fee Reduction As noted in the May work session memo (page 3 of 9), certain opportunities for reducing the SW&DT fee in the 5-acre and 2-acre zones were established shortly after the initial ordinance was implemented. These related to placing a `cap' on the acreage to be used in calculating the fee (7 acres in the 5-acre zone; 4 acres in the 2-acre zone), and allowing up to a 50% reduction for placing acreage in conservation easements (5- acre zone only).