State of Hawaii

School Impact Fee Study
   

Duncan Associates, in association with Oahu-based Group 70 International, has assisted the State of Hawaii in three separate school impact fee projects. The first was contracted in 1999 with the Department of Education, to help them respond to developers who were concerned that DOE lacked the expertise or objectivity to establish a reasonable “fair share contribution.” The Department subsequently used that study in negotiations with developers who required a change in land use designation from the State Land Use Commission. In 2006, we were

retained by the State Auditor’s Office to assist a Working Group established by the legislature to recommend possible changes to state law to create a fair system of developer dedications and contributions for schools. A key finding of our study for the Working Group was that the state-wide decline in school enrollment made it difficult to justify state-wide school impact fees. We helped the Working Group draft legislation that was the basis for Act 245, which was passed in July 2007 and established the basis for DOE to establish “school impact districts” in which enrolment growth was occurring and developers would be required to dedicate land or pay fees in-lieu of dedication and to pay impact fees for school construction costs. We are currently working with DOE to identify school impact districts across the state.