Committee sends AD-2522 to council to clarify planning commission fees, asks for emergency effective date

The Amherst Building and Lands Committee voted to send ordinance AD-2522 to the full council with a request that the council adopt it under emergency rules so it would take effect immediately.

Building department manager Mister McCartney told the committee that the change is intended to clarify which submittals require fees. "The $200 fee is for lot splits. It didn't say anything about lot combinations," he said, describing a recent applicant who submitted a lot consolidation and raised the question about whether the fee applied. McCartney said he revised the ordinance text to replace language limited to "split" with broader "parcel reconfiguration request examples, partial splits, partial combinations, etcetera," and to change several fee lines from "or" to "and" where the city actually collects both application and engineering or legal fees.

McCartney said the changes are mostly wording adjustments and asked the committee to forward the item to council on an emergency basis to avoid a possible immediate challenge on a similar application. "I am requesting a suspension of rules and this be passed on emergencies so that it goes into effect immediately," he said.

Committee members agreed to send the ordinance forward. The committee chair called for the voice vote; members answered "aye" and the motion carried.

The committee discussion focused on wording and fee-collection mechanics; no changes to the dollar amounts were proposed in committee. The effect of the emergency suspension, if approved by the full council, would be to make the clarified fee language active upon the council vote rather than at a later effective date.

The committee did not record a numerical roll-call tally in the transcript for AD-2522; the motion was adopted by voice vote.