City Council Adopts Updated Parkland Dedication Ordinance
At its March 27 meeting, City Council approved an updated Parkland Dedication Ordinance that was developed and recommended by the Park Board in conjunction with the draft 2018 Parks, Recreation and Trails Master Plan now being considered by City Council.
A Parkland Dedication Ordinance is a requirement by local government that encourages park development by mandating that developers or builders either dedicate land for a park in a new community being constructed or pay a fee-in-lieu (of dedication) to enable the local government to acquire parkland. Parkland Dedication Ordinances also typically include a park development fee per dwelling unit.
The City of Heath’s revised ordinance includes the following dedication requirements for parks:
- Land dedicated by a builder or developer in a new community is now one acre per 102 dwelling units.
- The fee-in-lieu of such land dedication is $2,246.94 per dwelling unit.
- A new park development fee of $1,293.19 per dwelling unit has been added.
“The Park Board’s goal was to ensure the Ordinance incorporated modern day best practices with relevant parkland dedication and development fees,” explains Park Board Chair Mark King. “These fees are grounded by a methodology that’s based upon target levels of service identified by the draft Master Plan.”
A work session on the draft Parks, Recreation and Trails Master Plan will be scheduled for an upcoming City Council meeting.
