Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Plan Of Development Fees topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Supervisors approve plan-of-development fee increases and new resubmittal charge after debate
Summary
Board adopts amendment to Appendix C to raise plan-of-development review fees and add a resubmittal fee (kicks in after third submission); vote 3-1 after prolonged discussion about process, fairness and staffing.
The Goochland County Board of Supervisors adopted an amendment to the county fee schedule to increase plan-of-development review fees and add a resubmittal review fee that applies beginning with the third plan resubmittal. Deputy Administrator Josh Gillespie said the county has not adjusted these fees in more than a decade and that repeated reviews create significant staff workload.
"We are trying to give folks an incentive to get it right," Gillespie said, describing the resubmittal charge as a cost-recovery measure intended to reduce repeated reviews. Staff also told the board that the county—onducts pre-application meetings and will continue to help applicants before formal submission.
The proposal drew sharp debate. Supervisor Spoonhauer argued the change would be burdensome, called a 99 percent first-time failure rate "a failure on your process" and opposed the ordinance. Supporters said the fee starts only after two reviews and would encourage higher-quality initial submissions and reduce staff time spent on repeat checks. Director Sherry (department director for plan review) said three submissions is about the average number of reviews and staff frequently sees smaller, successive corrections.
The board voted to adopt the fee changes on a roll-call vote: Supervisor Lyle, yes; Supervisor Spoonhauer, no; Supervisor Waters, yes; Chair Christie, yes. There was also discussion of recently enacted state legislation affecting plan-review escalation; staff said the state measure requires managerial escalation rather than automatic automatic approval after multiple denials and that the county's resubmittal fee remains relevant to cost recovery and workflow management.
The ordinance will be implemented by the county's plan-review staff and posted in the fee schedule; staff said it should also reduce the number of repeated plan reviews by creating a financial incentive to resolve all code comments before resubmitting.
