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Board authorizes revision of land‑use fee schedule, schedules public hearing
Summary
The county director of land use told supervisors the fee schedule (last updated in 2016) understates actual costs for ads, staff time and inspections; the board authorized the county administrator and director to revise fees and set a public hearing in June.
Richard Stewart Jr., the county's director of land use, asked the board on May 13 to authorize the acting county administrator to work with his office to amend the land‑use fee schedule before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
Stewart said the current fee schedule (last updated Sept. 1, 2016) does not fully cover advertising costs, staff time, mileage for planning commissioners, site inspection costs and other administrative expenses associated with planning commission and BZA cases. Using conservative estimates for ad costs, staff time and commissioner reimbursements, Stewart explained that a planning commission case requiring a public hearing could exceed the current base fee once those components were considered.
Board members asked questions about scope and targets; Stewart said the intention is to align user fees with the reasonable incremental cost of processing applications while continuing to provide advice to citizens without charge. The board voted to authorize the county administrator to revise the schedule and to schedule a public hearing (anticipated in June) so any fee changes could take effect July 1.
No specific fee amounts were adopted at the meeting; the action simply authorized preparation of amendments and a public hearing.
