05-16-19 Regular Meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission

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(2) The cash payment in lieu of land dedication shall be met by the payment of a fee set from time to time by ordinance of the city council sufficient to acquire neighborhood parkland. Unless and until changed by the city council, such fee shall be computed on the basis of $490.00 per dwelling unit. A cash payment in lieu of land dedication, as set forth in this section, does not relieve the developer of its obligation to pay the park development fee of $318.00 set forth in subsection (b)(3) above. The cash payment in lieu of land dedication is in addition to the required park development fee. (3) The general requirements for dedication of land and payment of park development fees and the cash payment in lieu of land are set forth graphically in table 1, attached hereto. (4) The City of La Porte may from time to time decide to purchase land for parks in or near the area of actual or potential development. If the city does purchase park land in a park zone, subsequent park land dedications for that zone shall be in cash only, the calculation of which is set forth as provided herein. Such cash payments are in addition to the payment of the required park development fee. (d) Special fund. (1) All funds collected by this dedication process will be deposited in the City of La Porte's Park Development Fund and used for the purchase or leasing of park land and the development and maintenance of same. All expenditures from the said fund will be reviewed and approved by the Office of the City Manager for the City of La Porte. (2) The City of La Porte shall account for all sums paid into the parks development fund with reference to the individual plats involved. (e) Prior dedication, absence of prior dedication. (1) If a dedication requirement arose prior to the passage of this chapter, that dedication requirement shall be controlled by the ordinance in effect at the time such obligation arose, except that additional dedication shall be required if the actual number of dwelling units constructed upon property is greater than the former assumed or planned number of dwelling units. Additional dedication shall be required only for the increase in the number of dwelling units and shall be based upon the land dedication and park development fee requirements set forth herein above. (2) At the discretion of the city, any former gift of land to the city may be credited on a per acre basis toward eventual land dedication requirements imposed on the donor of such lands. The approving authority shall consider the recommendations of the Parks and Recreation Department and the Planning and Zoning Commission in exercising its discretion under this subsection. (f) Additional requirements, definitions. (1) Any land dedicated to the city under this chapter must be suitable for park and recreation uses. The following characteristics of a proposed area are generally unsuitable and may be ground for refusal of any plat: a. Any area primarily located in the 100-year floodway as determined by the Harris County Flood Control District. b. Any areas of unusual topography or slope which renders same unusable for organized recreational activities. (2) Drainage areas may be accepted as part of a park if the channel is constructed in accordance with city engineering standards as found in Section 5.5.3 of the Public Improvement Criteria Manual of the City of La Porte, if no significant area of the park is cut off from access by such channel, if not less than five acres of the site is above the 100-year floodplain, or if the dedication is in excess of ten acres, not less than 50 percent of the site should be included in the 100-year flood plain. (3) Each park must have ready access to a public street.