By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Developers have been paying less for the work of reviewing plats and plans than the cost to the city but that will likely change. During the discussion Greg Rowley, city council member, called for a moratorium until the council could implement a sufficient fee schedule for such development work. “I would be in favor of a short moratorium,” said Rowley. It was finally decided that the council would discuss the issue next meeting and try to come up with a solution. “Nephi City has many subdivisions and commercial/industrial developments within city limits,” said Seth Atkinson, city administrator. “From the inception of the first subdivision and commercial lot the staff of Nephi City has spent countless hours reviewing plats and plans at minimal cost to the developers.” The cost born by the developer is much lower than the actual cost to the city for the review process. “In the past three years Nephi City has seen an increasing number of building permits and developments and this construction trend is indicative of more growth coming,” he said. “This means more staff time will be spent in the review process of new developments.” In order for the city to pay for the time spent in the review process they will need to institute plan review fees that correlate to the hours spent by the staff to handle the review process. The council has a goal in their annexation policy that new growth should pay for itself and the General Plan has an objective to “update fee structures as necessary to keep pace with current and future growth demands.” By instituting these fees, the city’s utilities and General Fund can recoup some of the costs of development currently borne by existing taxpayers and ratepayers. Atkinson said that the staff has researched what other communities charge for these services and summarized these. He showed the council a table with that information. The staff has also examined city costs and the proposed fees are in line with the costs incurred. “In the Council’s work session it was discussed that the site plan review fee should be reduced to $500 based on the recommendation of the Planning Chair, Glenn Greenhalgh,” said Atkinson. “Many site plans do not require a significant amount of review time and should be more on par with the vicinity plan review.” Some discussion also took place around developing a policy for when the deposit would be used. Many cities use this deposit amount to cover additional review time or additional third party reviews (e.g. engineering, traffic study review, technical reviews, etc.). In the fee schedule for American Fork, that city charges 50 percent of the initial review cost for review of site plans or subdivisions in excess of three submittal reviews. “We would also propose that after three submittal reviews, we would begin to deduct the costs of review based on an hourly rate from the deposit amount,” he said. Atkinson said that the staff was suggesting a deposit of $3,000 and fees for certain items, such as a vicinity/concept subdivision (per plat) which would pay $500; a vicinity/concept subdivision (per lot), $30; a preliminary plat review (per plat), $1,000; a preliminary plat review (per lot), $30; a final plat review (per plat) at $1,000 and a final plat review per lot $30; a site plan review $500; site plan amended at $100. “Now is the time to look at the fees,” said Nathan Memmott, council member. “If after the third review,” said Atkinson, “if the deposit has not been dipped into, the money can be returned.” Atkinson said that after staff discussion, it was determined that three submittal reviews should be ample opportunity to submit clean plans. Third party reviews will typically be charged at the cost of the consultant. For example, he said, no one on staff had the expertise to do a traffic study. Therefore, if an expert was needed, then the deposit would take care of the work. The advantage of a deposit is that the review can move forward without waiting for additional funds to be submitted for the third party reviews. “If the council leans more toward not charging a deposit, then staff would recommend a structure similar to the one used in American Fork,” he said. That fee schedule, with the relevant fees highlighted, was reviewed by council members. The staff recommended that the council consider the proposed plan review fees for subdivision and site plan reviews. In the American Fork fee schedule, said Atkinson, the review of site plans or subdivision in excess of three submittal reviews will be 50 percent of initial review cost, Engineering Development Review, Independent Soils Review, Hydraulic Model Certification will and hydraulic model certification will all be the cost of the consultant. “Growth and development ought to be paid for by those doing the development,” said Rowley.> | 