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Yarmouth planning board recommends fee increases to select board and approves meeting minutes
Summary
The planning board voted to recommend updates to application and document fees to the select board and approved minutes from recent meetings. The fee proposal increases certain planning fees and adds a $50 lump sum for legal advertising and abutter notifications.
The Town of Yarmouth Planning Board on April 16 voted to recommend a package of planning application and document fee changes to the select board and approved two sets of planning board minutes.
The fee proposal presented by Town Planner Kathy Williams updates fees that had not been adjusted since 2011, adds a $50 lump‑sum charge to cover legal advertising and abutter notification costs when required, and proposes modest increases intended to reflect inflation and administrative costs. Williams told the board she used a simple inflation adjustment from 2011 to 2025 to arrive at the proposed figures and said the department's permit revenue is not a major town revenue source.
After a motion to recommend the proposed fee table to the select board, members approved the recommendation by voice vote. The board also voted to accept the minutes of Nov. 6, 2024 and April 2, 2025.
Procedural note: votes were taken by voice and no roll‑call tallies were recorded in the meeting transcript; board members present voted in favor in a recorded voice roll ("Aye"). The motion to forward the fee changes will be sent to Town staff to meet the select board's publication deadlines for a first public hearing in May.
What changed: the proposed fee table consolidates advertising and abutter notification costs into a single $50 addition for applications that trigger those notices. Some currently fee‑exempt items (for example design review committee applications) were proposed to remain at $0; others, including certain site plan reviews, carried modest increases. Williams said staff will forward the finalized proposal to the town for publication ahead of a select board hearing.
No appeals or objections to the fee changes were recorded during the board's discussion; no final action by the select board was recorded at the April 16 planning board meeting.
