Danbury planning director proposes tiered fees to close planning shortfall; commission advances plan

Waleed Al Bakri, Danbury’s planning director, told the Zoning Commission on June 10 that the city’s planning fee schedule has not kept pace with workload or costs and needs to move from flat fees to a tiered structure tied to project size and complexity.

Al Bakri said planning fees “did not change since 2016” and that the department’s records show planning revenues of about $256,000 in the most recent fiscal year compared with planning expenses of roughly $500,020, producing a gap the director characterized as unsustainable. “We are not making money. We are just trying to pay for the consultant,” he said, arguing that some flat fees do not cover staff and consultant time on large or complex applications.

The commission’s discussion focused on balancing fiscal responsibility with keeping Danbury competitive. Commissioner Bennett, who described past building projects, said the current fees are “ridiculously too low” and urged higher charges for commercial projects. Commissioner Botello pressed for analysis showing how fee changes would affect the city’s grand list and economic development goals; Botello asked whether non-planning charges such as water and sewer connection fees were included in staff calculations. Al Bakri replied that connection fees are managed by engineering and ultimately fall under common council authority but said planning staff will coordinate with engineering and economic development on overlapping issues: “Connections fees are under engineering… I can facilitate between anyone who would like to have it and the engineering department,” he said.

Key elements of the proposal presented by Al Bakri included: - Replacing some flat fees with tiered charges depending on project cost or size (for example, adding incremental fees for larger site plans or per-unit charges for residential site plans). - Raising the fee for special exceptions and similar applications (examples in the presentation moved special-exception fees from a flat $150 toward higher, tiered amounts and proposed $500 for some categories, with graduated charges when multiple exceptions are filed at once). - Adjusting the zoning-amendment fee so it better reflects consultant costs for map changes. - Increasing the legal-advertisement fee for public hearings to $500 (notice of decision to remain $100) while noting the state is considering alternatives to newspaper advertising. - Increasing the fee for zoning letters (which staff said can take multiple days of research) to align with peer communities. - Instituting higher fees — in some cases double — for applicants with prior violations, to create an incentive to secure approvals before work begins.

Supporters at the meeting said modest fee increases can be paired with improvements in permitting speed and service. Al Bakri and commissioners repeatedly framed the change as incremental, intended to keep Danbury “competitive” while moving the department toward fiscal stability. “We are trying to make the fees related to how big the project is,” Al Bakri said.

After public comment — including remarks from City Councilman Paul Rotello warning that state legislation (HB 5002) could reduce local control over commercial-to-residential conversions — the commission closed the public hearing on the fee-schedule petition and later voted unanimously to give the proposal a positive recommendation and to make the amendments effective immediately.

The commission’s recommendation does not itself change any state-level rules referenced during the discussion (for example, connection fees or HB 5002). Al Bakri noted the planning office will continue coordinating with engineering, the mayor’s office and the common council on items (such as connection fees) that fall under other departments. The Zoning Commission recorded the recommendation to advance the fee-schedule amendments as its next procedural step.