Definitions.
Gilbert Town Code § 10-334
in effectSec. 10-334. - Definitions.
When used in this article, the terms listed below shall have the following meanings unless the context requires otherwise. Singular terms shall include their plural.
Applicant: A person who applies to the town for a building permit.
Appurtenance: Any fixed machinery or equipment, structure or other fixture, including integrated hardware, software or other components, associated with a capital facility that are necessary or convenient to the operation, use, or maintenance of a capital facility, but excluding replacement of the same after initial installation.
Aquatic center: A facility primarily designed to host non-recreational competitive functions generally occurring within water, including, but not limited to, water polo games, swimming meets, and diving events. Such facility may be indoors, outdoors, or any combination thereof, and includes all necessary supporting amenities, including, but not limited to, locker rooms, offices, snack bars, bleacher seating, and shade structures.
Building permit: Any permit issued by the town that authorizes vertical construction, increases square footage, authorizes changes to land use, or provides for the addition of a residential or non-residential point of demand to a water or wastewater system.
Capital facility: An asset having a useful life of three or more years that is a component of one or more categories of necessary public service provided by the town. A capital facility may include any associated purchase of real property, architectural and engineering services leading to the design and construction of buildings and facilities, improvements to existing facilities, improvements to or expansions of existing facilities, and associated financing and professional services. wherever used herein, "infrastructure" shall have the same meaning as "capital facilities."
Category of development: A specific class of residential, commercial, or industrial development against which a system development fee is calculated and assessed. The town assesses system development fees against the following categories of development: commercial, residential and employment.
Category of necessary public service: A class of necessary public services for which the town is authorized to assess system development fees, as further defined in section 10-339(a)(1) of this article.
Commercial land use: Land uses permitted in neighborhood commercial, community commercial, shopping center, general commercial and regional commercial districts as set forth in articles 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6 and 2.8 of the Town of Gilbert Land Development Code, whether the designated uses are in areas zoned as such or in areas zoned for mixed use.
Credit: A reduction in an assessed system development fee resulting from developer contributions to, payments for, construction of, or dedications for capital facilities included in an infrastructure improvements plan pursuant to section 40-343 of this article (or as otherwise permitted by this article).
Credit agreement: A written agreement between the town and the developer(s) of subject development that allocates credits to the subject development pursuant to section 10-343 of this article. A credit agreement may be included as part of a development agreement pursuant to section 10-344 of this article.
Credit allocation: A term used to describe when credits are distributed to a particular development or parcel of land after execution of a credit agreement, but are not yet issued.
Credit issuance: A term used to describe when the amount of an assessed system development fee attributable to a particular development or parcel of land is reduced by applying a credit allocation.
Developer: An individual, group of individuals, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, municipal corporation, state agency, or other person or entity undertaking land development activity, and their respective successors and assigns.
Development agreement: An agreement prepared in accordance with the requirements of section 10-344 of this article, A.R.S. § 9-500.05, and any applicable requirements of the Town Code.
Direct benefit: A benefit to a service unit resulting from a capital facility that:
(a) Addresses the need for a necessary public service created in whole or in part by the service unit; and that
(b) Meets either of the following criteria:
(i) The capital facility is located in the immediate area of the service unit and is needed in the immediate area of the service unit to maintain the level of service; or
(ii) The capital facility substitutes for, or eliminates the need for a capital facility that would have otherwise have been needed in the immediate area of the service unit to maintain the town's level of service.
Dwelling unit: A house, building or portion of a building, apartment, mobile home or trailer, group of rooms, or single room occupied as separate living quarters or, if vacant, intended for occupancy as separate living quarters.
Equipment: Machinery, tools, materials, and other supplies, not including vehicles that are needed by a capital facility to provide the level of service specified by the infrastructure improvements plan, but excluding replacement of the same after initial development of the capital facility.
Excluded library facility: Library facilities for which system development fees may not be charged pursuant to A.R.S. § 9-463.05, including that portion of any library facility that exceeds 10,000 square feet, and equipment, vehicles or appurtenances associated with library operations.
Excluded park facility: Park and recreational facilities for which system development fees may not be charged pursuant to A.R.S. § 9-463.05, including amusement parks, aquariums, aquatic centers, auditoriums, arenas, arts and cultural facilities, bandstand and orchestra facilities, bathhouses, boathouses, clubhouses, community centers greater than 3,000 square feet in floor area, environmental education centers, equestrian facilities, golf course facilities, greenhouses, lakes, museums, theme parks, water reclamation or riparian areas, wetlands, or zoo facilities.
Fee report: A written report developed pursuant to section 10-340 of this article that identifies the methodology for calculating the amount of each system development fee, explains the relationship between the system development fee to be assessed and the infrastructure improvements plan, and meets other requirements set forth in A.R.S. § 9-463.05.
Financing or debt: Any debt, bond, note, loan, inter-fund loan, fund transfer, or other debt service obligation used to finance the development or expansion of a capital facility.
Fire and police facilities: A category of necessary public services that includes fire and police stations, equipment, vehicles and all appurtenances for stations. The term "fire and police facilities" does not include vehicles or equipment used to provide administrative services, helicopters, airplanes or any facility that is used for training firefighters or officers from more than one station or substation. This category may also be referred to as public safety system development fees.
General plan: Refers to the overall land-use plan for the town establishing areas of the town for different purposes, zones and activities adopted pursuant to Town Resolution 3044, as amended, and including the heritage district, gateway, Morrison Ranch San Tan character areas and any future character area approved pursuant to chapter 10 of the general plan.
Grandfathered facilities: Capital facilities provided through financing or debt incurred before June 1, 2011 for which a system development fee has been pledged towards repayment as described in section 10-336(c) of this article.
Gross impact fee: The total system development fee to be assessed against a subject development, prior to subtraction of any credits.
Industrial land use: Land uses permitted in business park, light industrial and general industrial districts as set forth in the Town of Gilbert Land Development Code, whether the designated uses are in areas zoned as such or in areas zoned for mixed use.
Infrastructure improvements plan: A document or series of documents that meet the requirements set forth in A.R.S. § 9-463.05, including those adopted pursuant to section 10-340 of this article to cover any category or combination of categories of necessary public services.
Land use assumptions: Projections of changes in land uses, densities, intensities and population for a service area over a period of at least ten years as specified in section 10-338 of this article.
Level of service: A quantitative and/or qualitative measure of a necessary public service that is to be provided by the town to development in a particular service area, defined in terms of the relationship between service capacity and service demand, accessibility, response times, comfort or convenience of use, or other similar measures or combinations of measures. Level of service may be measured differently for different categories of necessary public services, as identified in the applicable infrastructure improvements plan.
Library facilities: A category of necessary public services in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials are kept (materials may be kept in any form of media such as electronic, magnetic, or paper) for use by the public in a facility providing a direct benefit to development. Libraries do not include excluded library facilities, although a library may contain, provide access to, or otherwise support an excluded library facility.
Necessary public services: "Necessary public services" shall have the meaning prescribed in A.R.S. § 9-463.05(T)(7).
Offset: An amount that is subtracted from the overall costs of providing necessary public services to account for those capital components of infrastructure or associated debt that have been or will be paid for by a development through taxes, fees (except for system development fees), and other revenue sources, as determined by the town pursuant to section 10-339 of this article.
Parks and recreational facilities: A category of necessary public services including, but not limited to, parks, swimming pools and related facilities and equipment located on real property not larger than 30 acres in area, as well as park facilities larger than 30 acres where such facilities provide a direct benefit. Parks and recreational facilities do not include excluded park facilities, although parks and recreational facilities may contain, provide access to, or otherwise support an excluded park facility.
Pledged: Where used with reference to a system development fee, a system development fee shall be considered "pledged" where it was identified by the town as a source of payment or repayment for financing or debt that was identified as the source of financing for a necessary public service for which a system development fee was assessed pursuant to the then-applicable provisions of A.R.S. § 9-463.05.
Qualified professional: Any one of the following:
(a) A professional engineer, surveyor, financial analyst or planner, or other licensed professional providing services within the scope of that person's education or experience related to town planning, zoning, or system development fees and holding a license issued by an agency or political subdivision of the State of Arizona;
(b) A financial analyst, planner, or other non-licensed professional providing services within the scope of the professional's education or experience related to town planning, zoning, or system development fees; or
(c) Any other person operating under the supervision of one or more of the above.
Residential land use: Land uses permitted in single-family, single-family/detached and single-family/attached districts as set forth in articles 2.1 and 2.2 of the Town of Gilbert Land Development Code, whether the designated uses are in areas zoned as such or in areas zoned for mixed use.
Service area: Any specified area within the boundaries of the town within which:
(a) The town will provide a category of necessary public services to development at a planned level of service; and
(b) Within which:
(i) A substantial nexus exists between the capital facilities to be provided and the development to be served, or
(ii) In the case of library facilities or a park facility larger than 30 acres, a direct benefit exists between the library facilities or park facilities and the development to be served, each as prescribed in the infrastructure improvements plan.
Some or all of the capital facilities providing service to a service area may be physically located outside of that service area provided that the required substantial nexus or direct benefit is demonstrated to exist.
Service unit: A standardized measure of consumption, use, generation or discharge attributable to an individual unit of development calculated pursuant to generally accepted engineering or planning standards for a particular category of necessary public services or facility expansion.
Street facilities: A category of necessary public services including arterial or collector streets or roads, traffic signals, rights-of-way, and improvements thereon, and other necessary included facilities such as bridges, culverts, irrigation tiling, storm drains, and regional transportation facilities.
Stormwater, drainage, and flood control facilities: A category of necessary public services including, but not limited to, storm sewers constructed in sizes needed to provide for stormwater management for areas beyond major street projects and stormwater detention/retention basins, tanks, pump stations and channels necessary to provide for proper stormwater management, including, any appurtenances for those facilities.
Subject development: A land area linked by a unified plan of development, which must be contiguous unless the land area is part of a development agreement executed in accordance with section 10-344 of this article.
Substantial nexus: A substantial nexus exists where the demand for necessary public services that will be generated by a service unit can be reasonably quantified in terms of the burden it will impose on the available capacity of existing capital facilities, the need it will create for new or expanded capital facilities, and/or the benefit to the development from those capital facilities.
Swimming pool: A public facility primarily designed and/or utilized for recreational non-competitive functions generally occurring within water, including, but not limited to, swimming classes, open public swimming sessions, and recreational league swimming/diving events. The facility may be indoors, outdoors, or any combination thereof, and includes all necessary supporting amenities.
Town: The Town of Gilbert, Arizona.
Useful life: The period of time during which an asset can reasonably be expected to be used under normal conditions, whether or not the asset will continue to be owned and operated by the town over the entirety of such period.
Vehicle: Any device, structure, or conveyance utilized for transportation in the course of providing a particular category of necessary public services at a specified level of service, excluding helicopters and other aircraft.
Wastewater facilities: A category of necessary public services including, but not limited to, sewers, lift stations, reclamation plants, wastewater treatment plants, and all other facilities for the collection, interception, transportation, treatment and disposal of wastewater, and any appurtenances for those facilities.
Water facilities: A category of necessary public services including, but not limited to, those facilities necessary to provide for water services to development, including the acquisition, supply, transportation, treatment, purification and distribution of water, and any appurtenances to those facilities.
(Ord. No. 2685, § 3(i), 9-20-18)
Source: Town of Gilbert, Arizona, Town Code (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/az/gilbert/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=CO_CH10BUCORE_ARTXISYDEFE_S10-334DEFetched: 11/1/2026