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Commissioners recommend fee changes to let city pass through third‑party review costs
Summary
Planning staff told commissioners the amendment would let the city invoice applicants for third‑party legal and engineering reviews and recover fees billed after approval; the commission voted unanimously to recommend council approval.
Planning staff asked commissioners to let applicants cover the city’s third‑party review costs and the commission agreed.
Senior Planner Sean Lupano told the commission the city relies on third‑party reviewers for site plans and site‑plan amendments and that the current fee schedule does not allow the city to recover those consultant costs. “And really just the basis for this amendment is cost recovery,” Lupano said, adding the change would allow the city to “apply the third party legal and engineering review fees, as invoiced to the city.” He said the change also would create a mechanism to collect fees invoiced after a site plan has been approved.
The staff presentation cited recent workload: “over the last year, we’ve had a total of 8 site and NPS applications as well as 7 site plan amendment applications,” which Lupano said represents a significant share of applications and review effort. Commissioners voiced support for the change as prudent stewardship of taxpayer dollars. The Chair opened and closed a public hearing with no speakers and the commission moved, seconded and voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council adopt the ordinance amending Appendix A (fee schedule) of the Unified Development Code.
The recommendation now goes to the City Council; staff said separate procedural changes are forthcoming that will relocate the fee schedule from the UDC to the city’s general ordinances this summer so future fee changes will require council action only.
