Staff brings updated fee schedule; committee forwards changes to business meeting

City staff presented proposed changes to the city’s fee schedule at the Committee of the Whole, explaining modest fee adjustments and a new specialized plan-review service for projects needing engineering review. Staff said most routine administrative and zoning services would remain covered within the first hour but that larger requests would incur additional fees and that the city would charge reinspection, reschedule and no-show fees to recover inspector time.

Specifics in the presentation included a small reduction to the electric reconnect fee (from $87 to $85 as stated in the transcript), a new inspection requirement and associated fee for gas reconnects, additional inspections tied to replacement-window work, and an increase to the zoning special-use/variance flat fee from $125 to $150 (the new flat fee would include three hours of staff time; additional hours billed at $65/hour plus applicable legal fees). Staff also proposed exploring a rebate or discounted-fee program to encourage downtown rehabilitation — one example discussed was returning a portion of fees (for instance, 50%) after a project passes inspections and secures a certificate of occupancy.

Council members and staff discussed balancing developer-friendly incentives for downtown revitalization with the need to recover city costs for inspections and legal review. A council member said the rebate concept merited further detail for the business meeting.

The committee voted to move the updated fee schedule forward to the business meeting for formal consideration and potential adoption.