Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE and LOCAL

FISCAL IMPACT

TITLE:            CONCERNING COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO MANAGE URBAN GROWTH, AND MAKING AN APPROPRIATION THEREFOR.

Summary of Legislation

            This bill creates a comprehensive planning program requiring certain local governments to develop a comprehensive plan and to develop urban service area boundaries. The bill:

            •   requires counties with a population greater than 25,000 or that have experienced a cumulative population growth of 20% or more over the previous 9 years to participate in the comprehensive planning program; requires municipalities to participate in the comprehensive planning program if the municipality has a population greater than 2,500 and if 50% or more of the municipality's land area lies within a county required to participate in the comprehensive planning program;

            •   requires a county to participate in the comprehensive planning program if 60% or more of the general purpose governments within such county elect to participate in such program; authorizes any other county or municipality to elect to participate in the comprehensive planning program; requires the Department of Local Affairs to notify all counties and municipalities that are required to participate in the comprehensive planning program and publish a list of planning jurisdictions;

            •   requires each county and municipality subject to the comprehensive planning program to adopt a comprehensive plan and an urban service area no later than 3 years after the date of the department's written notice; requires each county and municipality subject to the comprehensive planning program to adopt development regulations and programs no later than 5 years after the date of the department's written notice;

            •   specifies the planning elements that must be included in a comprehensive plan; requires the establishment of urban service areas, rural development areas, and rural areas and specifies the requirements for each; prohibits counties and municipalities subject to the comprehensive planning program from providing urban services outside designated urban service areas except in certain circumstances; specifies the priority for providing urban services within urban service areas;

            •   requires counties and municipalities subject to the comprehensive planning program to establish a transferable development credit program and specifies the requirements for such program;

            •   requires the coordination of comprehensive plans; requires counties and municipalities to perform their activities in conformance with their adopted comprehensive plans; requires state agencies and public agencies that own or operate essential regional public facilities, school districts, and all local districts established pursuant to state law to perform their functions in a manner consistent with adopted comprehensive plans;

            •   establishes procedures, time frames, and requirements for reviewing development approval applications; requires each planning jurisdiction to file a copy of its comprehensive plan with the department and with each neighboring planning jurisdiction,

            •   requires the department to establish a technical and financial assistance program to provide grants to planning jurisdictions to develop comprehensive plans; allows the department to adopt rules to require planning jurisdictions to provide matching funds;

            •   creates the Comprehensive Planning Program Fund to consist of moneys appropriated by the General Assembly or otherwise made available; requires all moneys including investment earnings to be retained in the fund; specifies that moneys in the fund are subject to appropriation;

            •   authorizes certain planning jurisdictions to impose development impact fees by ordinance;

            •   requires the department to maintain a list of mediators to resolve disputes; creates a dispute resolution and appeal process for resolving conflicts; requires the department to establish the procedures by rule; requires the department to allocate associated costs among the parties to the dispute; and

            •   makes an unspecified appropriation to the Comprehensive Planning Program Fund for allocation to the Department of Local Affairs for FY 1999-2000.

State Expenditures

            This bill requires the Department of Local Affairs to perform certain on-going administrative tasks, and to develop and administer a technical and financial assistance program. Table 1 provides a summary of the department's expenditures for FY 1999-2000 and FY 2000-01, based upon the following assumptions:

            •   that 103 planning jurisdictions will initially qualify for grants;

            •   that the development costs per planning jurisdiction will be $50,000;

            •   that the grant program will be awarded on a 50/50 matching basis; and

            •   that approximately 34 planning jurisdictions will apply for grants during each of three successive years;

            •   that costs for dispute resolution will be reimbursed by the parties to the dispute; and

            •   that grants will not be awarded to cover the costs of recurring plan administration.

Expenditures Not Included

            Pursuant to the Joint Budget Committee’s budget policies, the following expenditures have not been included in this fiscal note:

            •   leased space, inflationary factors, and indirect costs.

Local Government Impact

            The Department of Local Affairs estimates that 39 counties and 64 municipalities, a total of 103 planning jurisdictions, will be required to comply with the provisions of this bill. A recent poll of some county administrators indicates that some counties may be in full compliance with the bill, some may need to update or revise existing master plans to be in compliance, and others may need to more fully develop a comprehensive plan to comply. The associated costs for each county vary. Based upon the plan elements required by the bill, cost estimates range from $50,000 for minimal plan revisions to in excess of $1.0 million for a fully developed comprehensive plan. On-going annual plan administration is estimated to cost up to $125,000 annually for consultant fees, personal services, legal services, and operating expenses.

            Counties and municipalities may also incur additional costs to establish urban service areas and rural development areas. The development costs for these elements are estimated to range from $5,000 to $50,000 per area. The costs to develop a transferable development credit program and impact fee program are estimated to range from $75,000 to $200,000 per program. Additionally, each of these areas and programs would require recurring annual administrative expenditures.

            The bill authorizes certain planning jurisdictions to impose a development impact fee on new development or new urban growth proposals. The fees are to be based on the development's share of the cost of system improvements. This fiscal note assumes the development impact fee is not intended to recover the costs of developing and administering the comprehensive plan, or the costs of establishing urban service areas or rural development areas.

            The bill requires the Department of Local Affairs to establish a grant program to assist planning jurisdictions with the costs of adopting and implementing comprehensive plans and the costs of developing associated regulations and programs. This fiscal note assumes the amount of the state grants will not be sufficient to cover the entirety of the planning jurisdiction's development costs, and will cover no portion of the planning jurisdiction's on-going administrative costs.

State Appropriations

            This fiscal note would imply the Department of Local Affairs would require a General Fund transfer of $970,850 and 0.0 FTE to the Comprehensive Planning Program Fund for FY 1999-2000. Of this amount, the Department of Local Affairs would require a cash fund spending authority of $970,850 and 0.0 FTE. Of this amount, the Department of Law would require a cash fund exempt spending authority of $1,000.

Departments Contacted

            Local Affairs