A. Application Fee
An application for site plan review must be accompanied by an application fee. This fee is intended to cover the cost of administrative processing of the application, including notification, advertising, mailings, and similar costs. The fee shall not be refundable. This application fee must be paid to the municipality, and evidence of payment of the fee must be included with the application.
B. Engineering or Legal Review Escrow Fees
In addition to the application fee established in this Section, the applicant for site plan review must also pay an Engineering or Legal Review Escrow Fee to cover the Town’s technical costs of reviewing the application. This fee is specified in the current Fee Schedule, set annually by the Town Council, and must be paid to the Town.
This fee shall be deposited in the Development Review Account, which shall be separate and distinct from all other municipal accounts. The application will be considered incomplete until this fee is paid.
The Planning Board may reduce the amount of the Engineering or Legal Review Escrow Fee or waive collection of said fee if the Planning Board determines that the scale or nature of the project will require little or no outside technical or expert review. The Engineering or Legal Review Escrow Fee collected shall be used by the Board to pay for reasonable costs incurred by the Planning Board, in its review of the application, which relate directly to the review of the application pursuant to the review criteria. Such services may include, but need not be limited to, planning consultant reviews, peer reviews, consulting engineering, legal review, or other professional fees.
If the balance of the applicant’s escrow payment is drawn down by more than seventy-five (75%) percent, the Town Planner shall notify the applicant and require an additional amount to be deposited, equal to no more than 100% of the previous Engineering or Legal Review Escrow fee. The Town shall provide the applicant, upon written request, with an accounting of their account and shall refund all of the remaining monies in the account after the payment by the Town of all costs and services related to its review of the application. Such refund of remaining monies shall be made no later than sixty (60) days after the Planning Board’s final decision with regard to the application.
C. Establishment of Fees
The Town Council may, from time to time and after consultation with the Board, establish the appropriate fees following posting of the proposed schedule of fees and conducting a public hearing.
