§ 6105. Transportation Improvement District and fee; Agency of Transportation

(a) The Secretary may establish a TID and transportation impact fee in accordance with this section and section 6106 of this title if one or more capital transportation projects in the most recent Capital Transportation Program will provide capacity that benefits one or more future land use projects within a discrete geographic area or will provide capacity for future land use projects identified by a regional planning commission or municipality within a discrete geographic area.

(b) To establish a TID and transportation impact fee, the Secretary shall cause the Agency to issue a proposed TID and transportation impact fee.

(1) In preparing the proposal, the Agency shall consult with each regional planning commission, municipality, and the public in which the TID will be located on the geographic extent of the TID, the land use assumptions to be used, the performance standards and the consistency of the proposal with each applicable municipal and regional plan.

(2) The Agency shall prepare a transportation infrastructure plan for the capital transportation project that identifies highway, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian infrastructure needs of a proposed TID. The Agency's proposal shall identify the recommended geographic extent of the TID, the proposed performance standards within the TID, and the proposed transportation impact fee in accordance with section 6106 of this title.

(A) The infrastructure plan shall follow generally accepted planning and engineering standards.

(B) The performance standard for a TID shall be suitable for the area in which the TID is located.

(C) The proposed fee shall reflect a rational nexus between the needs that the transportation infrastructure plan is designed to meet and the benefits that will be provided or the impacts attributable to the proposed land use projects to which the fee will be assessed and shall be roughly proportional to those benefits or impacts.

(3) On issuance of the proposal, the Agency shall provide notice of a public hearing on the proposal before the Secretary. The notice shall include the date and location of the hearing, a description of the TID including the capital transportation project or projects, the TID's geographic extent, and the proposed transportation impact fee. The Agency shall provide the notice to each property owner within the TID, the municipal legislative body and municipal and regional planning commissions for the area in which the TID is located, and shall publish the notice on its web page and in a newspaper of general circulation in the geographic area of the TID. The date of the public hearing shall be not less than 30 days after issuance and publication of the notice.

(4) The Secretary shall hold a public hearing and take testimony on the Agency's proposal. The Secretary shall provide an opportunity for members of the public and affected property owners to testify.

(5) After completing the public hearing, the Secretary may approve, approve with revisions, or deny the Agency's proposal. The Secretary's approval shall establish the proposed TID and transportation impact fee, with any revisions required by the Secretary.

(c) The Secretary shall consider the following to establish the boundaries of a TID:

(1) the existing and planned pattern of development as set forth in the municipal or regional plans;

(2) the future land use projects to be served by the capital transportation projects that the TID will fund; and

(3) each land use project having transportation impacts that are mitigated by a capital transportation project to serve the TID.

(d) The Agency may assess a transportation impact fee to each land use project within a TID for which a State highway access permit is required under 19 V.S.A. § 1111. This subsection shall not apply to a development or subdivision requiring a permit under section 6081 of this title.

(e) The TID and transportation impact fee shall expire after the Secretary determines that the associated capital transportation project or projects no longer meet the approved performance standards. (Added 2013, No. 145 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)