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t - CITY OF EUGENE INTER-DEPARTMENTAL MEMORANDUM CITY ATTORNEY - CIVIL DEPARTMENT To: LES LYLE Date: September 3, 1993 Subject: Use of Park SDC You have asked if it were possible to use Park SDC revenue for general enhancements to the existing city parks. Particularly, if SDC revenue could be used to acquire park land in established neighborhoods. You note that the SDC revenue allocated to bikepaths is used to construct bikepaths wherever the need exists. SUMMARY We conclude that it is possible, if the facts support a reasonable relationship between the expenditure and new development. If the expenditure is for a general upgrading of the parks, the current classification of the Park SDC as an "improvement fee" does not allow such an expenditure. If the Methodology were changed so that the Park SDC was a "reimbursement fee" the revenue from such a fee could be used for capital park projects that generally enhanced the quality of parks. ORS 223.302(1) requires that all SDC revenues be spent only as allowed in the statutes. That limitation is embodied in subsection 7.715(1) Eugene Code, 1971 (EC). ANALYSIS The limitations in ORS 223.297 through 223.314 that relate to your question key off of how the City has classified the Parks SDC. The Methodology declares it an "improvement fee" rather than a "reimbursement fee." Fundamental to that classification is the decision that the existing parks provided the community a particular standard and any new residential development would pay a comparable amount so that the current standard for parks would not be degradated by having to serve more people. Reimbursement Fees - Had the Council and its advisory committee concluded that the parks were actually designed to serve a greater population that the City presently enjoys, then the SDC fee would be a "reimbursement fee" with the new development repaying the "advance" costs incurred by the community in anticipation of new development. The limitations on how •