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Fishkill board adopts updated building and planning fee schedule, adds commercial solar fees
Summary
Trustees approved the first comprehensive update since 2012 to the village's building and planning fee schedule, unifying variance fees and adding charges for commercial solar and battery storage applications; the move aims to align fees with comparable municipalities and recover administrative costs.
The Village of Fishkill Board of Trustees voted to adopt an updated building and planning fee schedule, including new fees for commercial solar and battery storage facilities and higher site‑plan fees, during a regular meeting.
The board approved the proposed schedule after a presentation from the building department and the village's staff. The adopted changes correct typographical errors in the schedule, unify commercial variance fees, raise some site‑plan fees and create a fee category for commercial solar and battery storage applications that the village did not previously have. The board discussed setting commercial interpretation and appeal fees higher than residential equivalents and agreed to make the commercial appeal and interpretation fees $1,500 each.
Nick, the village building inspector, said the schedule "had not been revised since 2012" and that staff added new categories to address developments the old schedule did not anticipate, including solar and battery storage projects. "We did also put in here fees with respect to solar facilities and battery storage facilities because we did not have anything that talked to this in our prior schedule," Nick said.
Trustees asked several procedural questions about how variance fees apply (one fee per application even if multiple variance requests are included) and confirmed the board can amend the planning and building fees by resolution under chapter 81 of the village code. The motion to adopt the revised fee schedule, "to adopt the proposed fee schedule with those changes," was made and approved by voice vote.
The update is intended to better reflect current workload and costs, increase parity with neighboring municipalities and provide a clear process and fee structure for emerging project types. The implementation details and effective dates were discussed in the meeting packet; staff said they would proceed to implement the changes as adopted.
The board moved on to other agenda items; the change takes effect per the terms discussed in the packet and as provided by the village's resolution.
