LRB-4996/1
ALL:all
2017 - 2018 LEGISLATURE
December 8, 2017 - Introduced by Senators Lasee,
Tiffany and LeMahieu,
cosponsored by Representatives
R. Brooks and Felzkowski. Referred to
Committee on Insurance, Housing and Trade.
SB640,2,6
1An Act to repeal 66.0617 (9) (b), 66.0617 (9) (c), 66.0617 (9) (d), 66.10015 (2) (d)
2and 281.33 (6);
to renumber 66.1102 (1) (a) and 66.1102 (1) (b);
to renumber
3and amend 32.09 (1m), 66.0617 (9) (a), 66.1105 (2) (ab), 236.13 (2) (a) 1. and
4236.13 (2) (a) 2.;
to amend 32.19 (4m) (a) (intro.), 32.19 (4m) (b) 1., 32.20, 62.23
5(7) (d) 2m. a., 66.0617 (2) (a), 66.0617 (6) (g), 66.0617 (7), 66.0628 (4) (a), 66.0821
6(4) (c), 66.1015 (title), 66.1102 (title), 66.1105 (2) (f) 3. (intro.), 66.1105 (4) (c),
766.1105 (4) (gm) 4. a., 66.1105 (4) (gm) 4. bm., 66.1105 (4) (gm) 6., 66.1105 (4m)
8(b) 2., 66.1105 (6) (a) 8., 66.1105 (6) (g) 3., 101.65 (1) (a), 236.34 (1) (ar) 1. and
9236.45 (6) (am); and
to create 32.09 (1m) (b), 32.19 (2) (hm), 32.19 (4m) (a) 4.,
1066.0104 (2) (h), 66.0602 (3) (m), 66.0617 (6) (am), 66.0617 (6) (fm), 66.10013,
1166.10014, 66.10015 (1) (f), 66.10015 (5), 66.10015 (6), 66.1015 (3), 66.1102 (1)
12(ae), 66.1102 (5), 66.1105 (2) (n) 1., 66.1105 (2) (n) 2., 66.1105 (2) (o), 66.1105 (4)
13(gm) 4. am., 66.1105 (6) (a) 14., 66.1105 (7) (ak) 5., 66.1108, 101.65 (1c), 236.13
14(2) (ad), 236.13 (2) (am) 1m., 236.13 (2) (am) 3. and 236.45 (6) (c) of the statutes;
1relating to: workforce housing development tax incremental districts; local
2fees and charges; local levy limits; subdivision approval conditions; plat
3approval conditions; expiration of certain project approvals; division of land by
4certified survey map; erosion control and storm water management; limiting
5certain local regulatory authority; relocation benefits in condemnation
6proceedings; and zoning ordinance amendments.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Expiration of local approvals
Under current law, if a person has submitted an application for a permit or
authorization for building, zoning, driveway, storm water, or other activity related
to a land development project (approval), the city, village, town, or county (political
subdivision) must approve, deny, or conditionally approve the application based on
regulations, ordinances, rules, or other properly adopted requirements in effect at
the time the application for an approval is submitted to the political subdivision.
Under this bill, a political subdivision may not establish an expiration date for an
approval related to a planned development district of less than five years after the
date of the last approval required for completion of the project.
Division of land by certified survey map
This bill expands the types of land that a political subdivision may allow to be
divided by certified survey map to include land that is zoned multifamily.
Under current law, the subdivision of land into five or more parcels generally
is regulated by state and local government and must be completed using a
subdivision plat, while the division of land into four or fewer parcels is not subject
to those regulations and may be completed using a certified survey map. Under
current law, a political subdivision that has established a planning agency may enact
an ordinance or adopt a resolution that allows land to be divided into more than four
parcels by using a certified survey map without the division being a subdivision and,
therefore, without all of the attendant requirements that apply to subdivisions.
Currently, the political subdivision's ordinance or resolution may only allow division
of land into more than four parcels by certified survey map if the land is located in
the political subdivision and is zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed-use
development. The bill extends the special land division rule to land that is zoned
multifamily.
Levy limit exception
Generally under current law, local levy limits are applied to the property tax
levies that are imposed by political subdivisions in December of each year. Current
law prohibits a political subdivision from increasing its levy by a percentage that
exceeds its “valuation factor,” which is defined as the greater of either 0 percent or
the percentage change in the political subdivision's equalized value due to new
construction, less improvements removed. Current law contains a number of
exceptions to the levy limit.
This bill creates a new levy limit exception that allows a city or village to
increase its levy if it has issued occupancy permits for certain residential dwelling
units in the preceding year. Specifically, the levy limit is increased by $1,000 for each
new single-family residential dwelling unit that is 1) located on a parcel no more
than 0.25 acre; or 2) sold for not more than 80 percent of the median price of a new
housing unit in the city or village.
Fees imposed by political subdivisions
Under current law, a person may contest a fee imposed by a political subdivision
if the person does not believe that the fee bears a reasonable relationship to the
service for which the fee is imposed by filing a petition with the tax appeals
commission within 60 days after the fee's imposition. This bill eliminates the
requirement that the petition be filed within 60 days of the fee's imposition.
Sewerage system service charges
Under current law, a city, village, town, or metropolitan sewerage district may
construct and operate a system for collecting, transporting, pumping, treating, or
disposing of sewage, storm water, and surface water. The costs for such a system may
be funded with taxes, special assessments, service charges, municipal obligations or
revenue bonds, or any combination of these sources. For a storm water and surface
water sewerage system, current law specifically allows a system operator to classify
the properties it serves for the purpose of establishing service charges. In general,
the specified classification criteria is related to the manner in which storm water
falling on the property affects the system.
Under this bill, no new and additional storm and surface water sewerage
system service charge may be made for a property that retains at least 90 percent of
storm water falling on the subject property.
Weekend work
Under this bill, a political subdivision may not prohibit a private person from
working on a private construction project on a weekend, or impose conditions on the
person that are inapplicable to, or more restrictive than conditions that apply to,
such a person who works on a construction project during weekdays. If the political
subdivision has in effect an ordinance or resolution that is inconsistent with this
provision, that ordinance or resolution does not apply and may not be enforced after
the bill takes effect.
Uniform dwelling code
This bill prohibits a political subdivision from making or enforcing an
ordinance that does not conform to the one-family and two-family dwelling code
(commonly called the uniform dwelling code). The bill also provides that, if a contract
between a political subdivision and the owner of a dwelling requires the owner to
comply with such an ordinance, the owner may waive the provision, and the
provision, if waived, is void and unenforceable.
Tax incremental financing, impact fees
This bill authorizes the creation of workforce housing development tax
incremental districts and changes the method of imposing certain impact fees.
Under the current tax incremental financing program, a city or village may
create a TID in part of its territory to foster development under certain conditions.
Currently, towns and counties also have a limited ability to create a TID under
certain limited circumstances. Before a city or village may create a TID, several
steps and plans are required. These steps and plans include public hearings on the
proposed TID within specified time frames, preparation and adoption by the local
planning commission of a proposed project plan for the TID, approval of the proposed
project plan by the common council or village board, approval of the city's or village's
proposed TID by a joint review board (JRB) that consists of members who represent
the overlying taxation districts, and adoption of a resolution by the common council
or village board that creates the TID as of a date provided in the resolution.
Also under current law, once a TID has been created, the Department of
Revenue calculates the “tax incremental base" value of the TID, which is the
equalized value of all taxable property within the TID at the time of its creation. If
the development in the TID increases the value of the property in the TID above the
base value, a “value increment" is created. That portion of taxes collected on the
value increment in excess of the base value is called a “tax increment." The tax
increment is placed in a special fund that may be used only to pay back the project
costs of the TID.
The project costs of a TID, which are initially incurred by the creating city or
village, include public works such as sewers, streets, and lighting systems; financing
costs; site preparation costs; and professional service costs. DOR authorizes the
allocation of the tax increments until the TID terminates or, generally, 20 years, 23
years, or 27 years after the TID is created, depending on the type of TID and the year
in which it was created. Also under current law, a city or village may not generally
make expenditures for project costs later than five years before the unextended
termination date of the TID. Under certain circumstances, the life of the TID, the
expenditure period, and the allocation period may be extended. A TID is required
to terminate, under current law and with some exceptions, once its project costs are
paid back.
Generally under current law, project costs may be expended to benefit
residential development but only certain TIDs for which a project plan was approved
before September 30, 1995, or for a mix-use development. With regard to a
mixed-use development, lands proposed for newly platted residential use may not
exceed 35 percent, by area, of real property within the TID.
Under the bill, a workforce housing TID may contain only newly platted
residential uses, 100 percent of which must be workforce housing. Before such a TID
may be created, the JRB must approve the TID by a unanimous vote. For other TIDs,
only a majority vote is required. A workforce housing TID has a maximum life of 15
years, and DOR may allocate tax increments for only 15 years.
Also under the bill, workforce housing is defined to mean housing based on the
following two factors, which are subject to the five year average median costs as
determined by the U.S. bureau of census:
1. Housing that costs no more than 30 percent of the household's gross median
income.
2. The construction cost per housing unit, including rental housing, is no more
than 80 percent of the median price for new residential construction in the county.
Under current law, a municipality may impose an impact fee on a developer to
pay for the capital costs to construct certain public facilities that are necessary to
accommodate land development.
Current law requires that impact fees must be used within certain specified
periods, depending upon when the ordinance authorizing impact fees was enacted
and when the fee was imposed, or be refunded to the current owner of the property
for which the impact fees were imposed. Under this bill, impact fees that are not used
within eight years after they are collected must be refunded to the current owner of
the property.
This bill requires a municipality to prepare an annual report listing the impact
fees that have been imposed during the previous year and containing certain
additional information related to the municipality's administration of impact fees
during the year. The bill also prohibits certain uses of impact fee moneys.
Under current law, if a city, village, or town imposes an impact fee on a
developer to pay for certain capital costs that are necessary to accommodate land
development, the ordinance may provide for an exemption from, or a reduction in the
amount of, impact fees on land development that provides low-cost housing. Under
this bill, the impact fee exemption or reduction provisions also apply to workforce
housing. Current law prevents the shifting of an exemption from or reduction in
impact fees to any other development in the land development in which the low-cost
housing is located. The bill applies this provision to workforce housing as well.
Zoning limitations, inspections
The bill provides that if a political subdivision or utility district imposes
requirements on a developer related to the installation of a water meter station or
a sanitary sewer lift pump station for a development project, the requirements may
not require a developer to install more than the minimum level of such a station or
its housing that is required to ensure the proper functioning of such a station.
Under the bill, if a political subdivision employs a building inspector to enforce
its zoning ordinances or other ordinances related to building, and a developer
requests the inspector to perform an inspection, the inspector must complete the
inspection not later than 14 business days after receiving the request. If the local
inspector does not complete the inspection within this time frame, the bill allows a
developer to request that a qualified state inspector perform the required inspection.
The political subdivision must accept a certificate of inspection provided by the state
building inspector as if it were provided by the local building inspector if the
inspection meets the requirements for an inspection that was supposed to have been
provided by the local building inspector.
Inclusionary zoning prohibitions
The bill also prohibits a political subdivision from enacting or enforcing an
inclusionary zoning ordinance. The bill defines this type of ordinance as one which
prescribes that a certain number or percentage of new or existing residential
dwelling units in a land development be made available for rent or sale to an
individual or family with a family income at or below a certain percentage of the
median income.
Plat approval process; public improvements
This bill makes various changes related to security required by a city, village,
town, or county (approving authority) as part of the plat approval process. Under
current law, as a condition of approving a plat, an approving authority may require
a subdivider to execute a surety bond or provide other security to ensure that certain
public improvements are made in connection with a project. This bill reduces the
maximum amount of security that an approving authority may require from 120
percent of the estimated total cost to complete the required public improvements
(estimated completion cost) to 110 percent of the estimated completion cost. The bill
also creates limitations on how the estimated completion cost is determined and
provides that the total cost of the public improvements includes the cost to make and
install storm water facilities, but does not include any fees charged by the approving
authority or certain land disturbing activities. This bill explicitly requires an
approving authority to accept a performance bond, a letter of credit, or any
combination thereof, at the subdivider's option, to satisfy the security requirement.
Upon substantial completion of required public improvements, current law
limits both the amount of security that may be required from a subdivider and the
length of time during which the security may be required. Under the bill, if the public
improvements include roads to be dedicated, substantial completion occurs upon the
installation of the asphalt or concrete binder course on the roads to be dedicated.
Additionally, under the bill, upon substantial completion, any outstanding local
building permits that are related to and dependent upon substantial completion of
the required public improvements must be released. Before substantial completion,
the bill requires an approving authority to, upon request, issue a permit to commence
construction of a foundation or any other noncombustible construction. Finally, the
bill prohibits an approving authority from enacting an ordinance related to
substantial completion of public improvements that is inconsistent with state law.
Subdivision approval conditions
Under current law, a political subdivision may, as a condition of approval of a
subdivision or other division of land (subdivision), require land dedication,
easement, or other public improvement by a subdivider. However, a political
subdivision is generally prohibited from imposing, as a condition of approval of a
subdivision, a fee or other charge to fund the acquisition or improvement of real or
personal property, except that a city, village, or town may impose a fee or other charge
to fund the acquisition or initial improvement of land for public parks (public park
fee). The bill modifies that exception to provide that a city, village, or town may
impose a public park fee only if the authorizing ordinance of the city, village, or town
is enacted by following the same procedures and requirements that apply to the
imposition of impact fees on developers.
The bill also provides that, if a political subdivision's ordinance requires, as a
condition of approval of a subdivision, that a subdivider dedicate land for a public
park, the political subdivision may offer the subdivider the option of either
dedicating the land or paying a fee or other charge in lieu of the dedication. If the
subdivider elects to pay the fee or other charge, it is payable by the landowner to the
political subdivision upon the issuance of a building permit by the political
subdivision.
Construction banners
Except for an ordinance related to health or safety concerns, this bill prohibits
a political subdivision from enacting an ordinance or adopting a resolution that
limits the owner or other person in control of a construction site from installing a
banner over a fence that surrounds the site. Under the bill, such a banner may cover
the entire height and length of the fence. If a political subdivision has in effect an
ordinance or resolution that is inconsistent with the subject matter of the bill, that
ordinance or resolution does not apply and may not be enforced after the bill takes
effect.
Storm water management
This bill prohibits a political subdivision from enacting or enforcing an
ordinance relating to storm water management unless the ordinance strictly
conforms to uniform statewide standards.
Current law allows a political subdivision to enact or enforce provisions that are
stricter than uniform statewide standards if necessary to control storm water
quantity or control flooding or to comply with federally approved total maximum
daily load requirements, or if the provisions regulate storm water management
relating to existing development or redevelopment.
Eminent domain
This bill requires that, when determining the fair market value of property that
is taken for a public purpose under the eminent domain law, a commission in
condemnation or a court consider appraisals of the fair market value based on the
sale of comparable properties, based on evidence of the value of future income, and
based on evidence of the cost of the market value of the land plus the cost of replacing
or reproducing improvements. Under current law, a property owner whose property
is taken for a public purpose is entitled to the fair market value of the property taken.
The supreme court has held, in Leathem Smith Lodge, Inc. v. State, 94 Wis.2d 406,
288 N.W.2d 808 (1980), that, when determining fair market value, evidence of the
income of a business is not admissible if there is evidence of the sale of comparable
property.
The bill also makes changes to additional payments required under the
eminent domain law to certain persons who are displaced by a condemnation
proceeding from a business or farm operation. Under current law, a person who is
displaced from the person's business or farm operation as a result of condemnation
is entitled to a payment for certain specified costs from the condemnor when that
person rents or purchases a comparable replacement business or farm operation. A
property owner who is displaced from the owner's business or farm operation and
purchases a comparable replacement business or farm operation is entitled to a
payment of up to $50,000. A tenant who is displaced from the tenant's business or
farm operation and rents or purchases a comparable business or farm operation is
entitled to a payment of up to $30,000. This bill makes the following changes:
1. Increases the statutory limitation on additional payments from $50,000 to
$100,000 for a property owner who is displaced by a condemnation proceeding from
a business or farm operation when the property owner purchases a comparable
replacement business or farm operation.
2. Increases the statutory limitation on additional payments from $30,000 to
$80,000 for a tenant who is displaced by a condemnation proceeding from a business
or farm operation when the tenant leases a comparable replacement business or
farm operation.