The Orem City Council approved, as part of the consent agenda, a resolution implementing a staff recommendation from the Planning Division and Management Services to reduce city impact fees by 50% for qualifying affordable senior housing projects that meet the city’s ASH (Affordable Senior Housing) overlay criteria.

Background: The state requires cities to adopt and report a moderate‑income housing strategy. Orem’s strategy included studying whether a discounted impact fee policy could promote affordable senior housing. Staff reported that since the overlay was adopted in 2012 a small number of projects — primarily four‑unit complexes — used the designation and that impact fees collected on those developments totaled about $74,122 over the last decade. Reducing fees by 50% would have reduced past payments by roughly $37,000.

Staff recommendation and fiscal estimate: After analyzing historical uptake, city staff recommended adoption of the 50% fee reduction for qualifying senior projects to incentivize development that keeps rents affordable for households at or below the overlay income thresholds. Staff estimated that, if used, the policy would carry a modest fiscal exposure to the city — roughly $30,000–$50,000 over the next ten years — depending on how many qualifying projects proceed.

Council action: The measure was placed on the consent agenda and approved as part of the approved consent items. Councilmembers discussed the measure briefly during the packet review; staff emphasized annual monitoring and the ability to revisit the policy if fiscal impacts are greater than projected.

Why it matters: The change is an implementation step tied to the state‑required moderate‑income housing planning process and aims to lower a fixed up‑front development cost that may be a barrier to smaller affordable senior apartment developments. The council directed staff to monitor results and report back if the scale of participation and fiscal impact change.