SUBJECT/RECOMMENDATION:
Title
Approve of an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) Between Pinellas County, the City of Clearwater, and neighboring municipalities for Multimodal Impact Fee Coordination (MIFO) to update the existing Countywide Multimodal Fee Ordinance and authorize the appropriate officials to execute same. (consent)
Body
SUMMARY:
On November 2024, the City of Clearwater and neighboring municipalities approved an agreement between City of Clearwater and Forward Pinellas as the responsible agency for updating the Multimodal Impact Fee Ordinance (MIFO) codified in Chapter 150, Article II of the Pinellas County Code of Ordinances to evaluate and update multimodal impact fees and bring the County’s MIFO into compliance with recent statutory changes to the State’s concurrency requirements (Section 163.3180, Florida Statutes) initiated by CS/HB 479 - Alternative Mobility Funding Systems and Impact Fees.
CS/HB 479 requires that, where a county and municipality charge a mobility impact fee, they must create and execute an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) to coordinate the mitigation of their respective transportation impacts to ensure any new development or redevelopment is not charged twice for the same impacts. This ILA between Pinellas County and the City of Clearwater must be executed by October 1, 2025, to bridge the renewal of our MIFO and the new legislation.
Forward Pinellas is actively updating the remainder of the MIFO in accordance with the November agreement. These updates are in the early stages, and implementation will be phased based on ongoing progress. The attached agreement ensures that studies currently being performed by Forward Pinellas for the revised fees are completed before implementation, while complying with statutory requirements including those outlined in CS/HB 479.
The ILA will allow the County and City of Clearwater, and all other partner municipalities, to continue the assessment, collection, and expenditure of multimodal impact fees under status quo while potential updates to the ordinance and fee structure are still under construction.
APPROPRIATION CODE AND AMOUNT:
N/A
STRATEGIC PRIORITY:
[1.3] Adopt responsive levels of service of public facilities and amenities, and identify resources required to sustain that level of service.
[3.2] Preserve community livability through responsible development standards, proactive code compliance, and targeted revitalization.
