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Staff proposes modernized development fee schedule, recommends 50% cost recovery for plan reviews
Summary
Staff recommended updating Chapter 103 fees to reflect current staff costs and administrative expenses, proposing a 50% cost recovery benchmark and a preliminary development plan fee structure (first 10,000 sq ft $1,500 + $0.05/sq ft, capped at $5,000). Staff illustrated impacts on recent projects where fees would rise from the current hundreds to thousands for large mixed‑use applications.
City planning staff recommended a comprehensive update to the community development fee schedule (Chapter 103) to reflect actual staff time, consulting costs, noticing, and software subscriptions. Brian Scott said many fees had not been adjusted in two decades and recommended a policy of approximately 50% cost recovery for complex plan review work; for preliminary development plans staff proposed a structure of $1,500 for the first 10,000 sq ft plus $0.05 per additional square foot with a $5,000 cap.
Scott illustrated the proposal by applying the new schedule to recent projects: a project that previously paid about $765 would pay roughly $2,987 under the new schedule, and a larger preliminary development plan without the cap could have a calculated review cost exceeding $6,500, though the draft proposal imposes the $5,000 cap. Council members asked staff to benchmark fees with Overland Park and Olathe and to solicit reaction from the development community before adoption.
