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County updates planning fees, adopts hearing-examiner deposit and approves voluntary abatement policy
Summary
Commissioners adopted planning and building fee-schedule amendments (including a $100 legal-notice fee and $800 hearing-examiner deposit) and approved a voluntary abatement disposal policy to let qualifying property owners access the transfer station under a repayment contract.
Planning staff presented an update to the planning and building fee schedules, the first planning fee update since 2019. The staff report compared Columbia County fees with neighboring counties and proposed 29 changes to the planning schedule and minor changes to the building schedule to better reflect staff time and simplify record keeping. Among the changes, staff proposed adding a flat $100 fee to cover legal-notice advertising for applications that require public notice and an $800 deposit to cover potential hearing-examiner fees for cases that require that process.
A staff member summarized the intent: "We compared, so in the staff report... we're generally lower, but it's an increase over what we have been." The board closed public comment and adopted Resolution 2024-42 to amend the fee schedules.
Separately, code-enforcement staff presented a voluntary abatement disposal policy intended as a tool to facilitate cleanup of nuisance properties. Under the policy, staff may arrange limited disposal access (about $1,500 worth) at the county transfer station under a contract or payment plan; if a property owner fails to repay the county the cost would roll to a lien similar to a formal abatement. The board adopted the voluntary abatement disposal policy as presented.
