In 2002, the Town of Gorham and the Gorham School Department identified the need to construct a new middle school to serve grades 6 through 8 and to replace the former Shaw School. The Shaw School was an older facility that was last expanded in the late 1970s and further expansion of the facility was not financially feasible. The facility had a capacity for 309 students based upon state space standards and was inadequate to meet projected enrollments. In October of 1991, there were 472 students in grades 6 through 8. From 1991 through 2002, middle school enrollment grew steadily. As of October 1, 2002, the Gorham School Department had 683 students in grades 6 through 8. Most of this growth was the result of net in-migration in the school system since the number of births to Gorham families remained relatively stable from 1987 to 2002. Much of the in-migration during that period was related to new housing rather than to turnover in the existing housing stock.

In 2003, the new Gorham Middle School was constructed with a capacity for 900 students, which was more than adequate to serve the enrollment growth projected at that time. Part of the capacity in the new middle school was intended to serve the students that lived in the existing housing stock of the community. The remaining capacity was intended to be available to accommodate middle school students who live in new housing units that have since been built or will be built in the future. Based upon an analysis of various development scenarios and enrollment projections, 600 of the 900-student capacity in the new middle school was needed to meet the needs of the residents of the Town's existing housing stock and the balance of 300 was the incremental capacity available to serve enrollment growth resulting from new residential development. This incremental capacity for 300 students in the new middle school and the share of the new middle school capacity that was available to accommodate students from new residential development were the "facilities" upon which the Middle School Facilities Impact Fee established in 2002 was based. The analysis of the establishment of that impact fee was detailed in the Methodology for Developing a Middle School Facilities Impact Fee, dated July 30, 2002.

In anticipation of the new middle school construction project, the Town issued debt in 2002 in the amount of $21,225,000, $20,375,000 of which was for the purpose of constructing a new middle school. The Town began to pay debt service on the bonds in 2003 and will continue to pay debt service through 2022. The Town also began collecting fees under the Middle School Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance in 2002, but repealed the Middle School Facilities Impact Fee in 2009 due to growing concern regarding the increasing cost to develop new homes within the community and the impacts of the economic recession beginning in 2007. The total amount of impact fees collected between 2002 and 2009 was $1,063,488.20. One hundred percent of those impact fees were applied to the payment of the debt service on the bonds.

The middle school enrollment in the Town was at a peak in 2002 with 694 students and experienced a slight overall decline to a middle school enrollment of 618 by the year 2010. However, the trend in school enrollment in Town between 2002 and 2009 was relatively stable according to the School District's records. In 2015, the Town experienced a spike in school enrollment and current projections through 2029 show a continued increase in overall school enrollment within the Town. The middle school enrollment as of the current school year (2018-2019) is 627 and is projected to reach 824 by the 2028-2029 school year. In addition, the overall trend in increasing school enrollment since 2015 has required the School Department to shift resources in a way that has placed a greater burden on the new middle school than originally anticipated when the school was constructed. For example, the enrollment within the high school has increased from 783 students in 2002 to 868 students in the current school year (2018-2019). In order to accommodate these additional students, the adult education and facilities management functions that were previously housed at the high school have been relocated to the middle school.

Since 2002, the Town has experienced the construction of 1,712 new units of residential development and such development in the Town of Gorham continues to trend in a positive direction. While there is still adequate capacity to serve the trend of increasing students at the middle school and to meet the projected capacity through at least 2029, the demonstrated trends of increasing residential development and increasing school enrollment necessitate the reenactment of this article.

Although housing development and the number of middle school students has fluctuated at times since 2002, there has been a consistent link between new residential development in Gorham and increasing school enrollment overall. The middle school has absorbed much of the impact of the increasing school enrollment within the Town and the debt service on the new facility continues to be paid from the Town's general fund. The Town seeks to offset the impact of the cost of the new middle school by imposing an impact fee on new residential development activity that has the potential to produce school-aged children. Therefore, any residential development activity anywhere in Gorham that may potentially have school-aged children living in the units will be subject to the impact fee. This shall include the construction of new dwelling units, whether or not such units are part of a subdivision, the conversion of an existing building that creates or increases the number of dwelling units in the building, or the expansion or alteration of an existing building that increases the number of dwelling units in the building or an increase in the number of bedrooms in a dwelling unit for which an impact fee has been paid. In the case of a development activity that increases the number of dwelling units in a building, only the new dwelling units shall be subject to the impact fee.

In the situation where the number of bedrooms within any dwelling unit for which an impact fee has been paid is being increased within 24 months of the issuance of a certificate of occupancy, the impact fee due shall be the difference, if any, between the impact fee that would be due based upon the proposed utilization of the dwelling unit prior to the change. (For example, an existing two-bedroom single-family home is being converted into a four-bedroom home. The required impact fee for a four-bedroom home would be calculated and the fee paid for the existing two-bedroom single-family home subtracted from this amount to determine the amount of the additional impact fee due.)

The amount of the impact fee is proportional to the average number of middle school students that typically live in a particular type of housing (single-family home, mobile home, apartment, retirement housing). The amount of the impact fee charged to each residential unit is based upon the Methodology for Developing a Middle School Facilities Impact Fee, dated July 30, 2002, and revised September 3, 2019. The Town Council of the Town of Gorham has determined that the methodology referenced herein establishes a fee that is reasonably related to the portion or percentage of the infrastructure (i.e., the middle school) that is made necessary by the new development to which this fee applies. (See the table of adopted fees following § 300-7.13.) In determining the impact fee payable for each dwelling unit, the fee shall be based upon the number of bedrooms in the unit. For the purpose of the impact fee calculation, a "bedroom" shall include any room designated as a bedroom on the building plans and any other private room in the dwelling unit that is larger than 100 square feet, meets the bedroom egress requirements of the building code, is separable from other rooms by a door or door frame that cooking, eating or laundering and is not solely a bathroom, living room, family room, kitchen, dining room, laundry room or a utility room for central heating/cooling equipment.

For any other type of residential use or where the application of the fee schedule is unclear, the Planning Board shall determine the applicable impact fee based upon the anticipated number of middle school students that would typically be expected to live in the residential use and a base impact fee of $8,492 per middle school student.

Any residential use that is permanently limited to occupancy by residents that are at least 75 years of age by binding legal restrictions shall be exempt from the Middle School Facilities Impact Fee.

Any residential use that is permanently limited to occupancy by residents that are at least 75 years of age by binding legal restrictions that are consistent with the Federal Fair Housing provisions shall be exempt from 90% of the Middle School Facilities Impact Fee that would otherwise be applicable to the use.

In the situation where the number of dwelling units in an existing building is being increased, the impact fee due shall be the difference between the impact fee that would be due based upon the proposed utilization of the building minus the fee that would have been charged based upon the utilization of the building prior to the change. (For example, an existing single-family home is being converted into a multifamily building with four two-bedroom apartments. The required impact fee for the four apartments would be calculated and the required fee for a single-family home subtracted from this amount to determine the amount of the impact fee due.)

The Town adopted a Comprehensive Plan in 2016 which identified the Town's goal to establish a plan to finance and develop an efficient system of public facilities and services to accommodate anticipated growth and economic development in the community. Among the policy objectives outlined in the 2016 Comprehensive Plan to meet that goal was the use of impact fees to minimize the cost to the taxpayers of providing expanded facilities to serve new development and to spread the costs of such improvements over the projects that benefit from them. In addition, a long-range study conducted in 1999 identified the middle school as a priority project and the Capital Improvement Plan set forth in the 2016 Comprehensive Plan highlighted the completion of the priority projects identified in that study.

The impact fees collected under this article shall be deposited into a fund that is segregated from the Town's general revenues. Consistent with the goals identified in the 2016 Comprehensive Plan, impact fees collected under this article shall be expended for the sole purpose of paying debt service on the bonds issued to finance the construction of the Gorham Middle School in the amounts and for the time period associated with the debt service schedule of the bonds, plus a period of 10 years beyond the expiration of debt service to account for the period of time during which this article was suspended and no impact fees were collected. Any impact fees collected under this article that exceed the Town's debt service payment on the bonds issued to finance the construction of the Gorham Middle School shall be refunded on a pro-rated basis in the same manner as the fees are assessed under the methodology referenced in § 300-7.11 hereof.