HomeMy WebLinkAboutSTA200800002 Legacy Document 2009-05-11COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
AGENDA TITLE:
Subdivision Ordinance Fees: STA 2009-
002
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST:
Public hearing to consider amending
fees associated with applications and
reviews required by the Subdivision
Ordinance
STAFF CONTACT(S):
Messrs. Tucker, Foley, Davis, Kamptner,
Graham, Fritz, and McCulley.
LEGAL REVIEW: Yes
AGENDA DATE:
May 13, 2009
ACTION: X INFORMATION:
CONSENT AGENDA:
ACTION: INFORMATION:
ATTACHMENTS: Yes
REVIEWED BY:
BACKGROUND:
At the December 5, 2007 Board meeting, staff presented a Community Development Fee Study
and a recommendation for a fee policy. Subsequent to that study, staff proposed changes to the
fees in the Building Regulations and Water Protection Ordinances, which were approved by the
Board in August 2008. Staff then presented a recommendation for Subdivision Ordinance fees
to the Board in September 2008. The Board directed staff to present that recommendation to the
Planning Commission and the Planning Commission to return a recommendation to the Board.
The Planning Commission held worksessions in October 2008 and January 2009. The Planning
Commission then held a public hearing on the text amendment in March 2009, resulting in a
recommendation to the Board for fees set at 75% of cost recovery, except for family subdivisions
where the fee was recommended at 50% of cost recovery. The Board held a worksession on April
8th and directed staff to advertise fees at 50% of cost recovery.
Staff has assumed it was not necessary to attach all of the previous executive summaries to this
report. For those interested in those materials, they are attached to the April 8th Executive
Summary available on-line.
STRATEGIC PLAN:
Goal 3: Develop a comprehensive funding strategy/plan to address the County's growing needs.
DISCUSSION:
The purpose of this public hearing is to consider adopting an ordinance to amend the fees in the
Subdivision Ordinance (Attachment A). This text amendment has undergone an extensive review
process. Staff has approached the fee recommendation based on earlier guidance from the
Board that focuses on balancing two considerations. Namely, fees should recover the County's
cost for assuring compliance with ordinance requirements while maintaining reasonable
consistency with the fees in other localities.
With respect to the Subdivision Ordinance fees, the main point of consideration has been how
much of the review cost should be the responsibility of the applicant and how much should be the
responsibility of the County. Staff has recommended a 50% cost recovery recognizing much of
the cost is related to providing opportunities for public participation rather than the technical
review of ordinance requirements. Basically, staff is assuming the cost of public participation
should remain with the County while the applicant is responsible for the cost of technical review
by County staff. Staff notes that this approach provides reasonable consistency with fees in
other localities, although there is a wide range in fees among the localities.
Next, in finalizing this text amendment for adoption, staff has gone back and reviewed all of the
fees as well as considered comments and concerns that have been raised. Based on that
analysis, staff is recommending two changes to the advertised fees that reduce certain fees. This
is further detailed in Attachment B and summarized below:
Under subsection 14-203(C), staff recognized that lumping a boundary line
adjustment with other reviews has skewed that fee. A boundary line adjustment is a
simpler review than that required for a subdivision that creates an additional lot. As a
result of this analysis, staff recommends splitting subsection 14-203(C) into two
separate fees and recommends a fee of $200 for a boundary line adjustment. This
change is incorporated into Attachment A.
Under subsection 14-203(D), staff recognized that it reviews easement plats that
are occasionally required with a site plan and concluded that fees for such easement
plats should be separated from the fees for other easement plats. Staff recommends
adding a third fee class to subsection 14-203(D) for easement plats required with a
site plan and recommends a fee of $200 for that plat. This change is incorporated
into Attachment A.
Staff notes a question was raised with respect to post -construction easement
plats. As a result of field changes during construction, it is often necessary for
developers to obtain easements before roads can be accepted into the state -
maintained system. Those easements are often across lots that that have already
been sold. For convenience in dealing with the new property owners, the developer
will often create a separate easement plat for each lot rather than have one
easement plat for the entire easement. When multiple plats are submitted together
for review, staff has historically treated them as a single easement and charged a
single fee. The proposed text amendment has been revised in Attachment A to
expressly codify this longstanding practice.
Finally, staff notes there is a need to establish an effective date for the new and amended fees.
Staff normally recommends a minimum of 30 days from adoption to give time to publish notices
and assure that applicants are aware of the change. In this case, staff recommends the effective
date be established as July 1, 2009. Setting the effective date at the start of the fiscal year will
simplify administration of the fees.
BUDGET IMPACT:
The County currently collects approximately $145,000 from subdivision fees in an average year.
Under the attached draft text amendment, the revenue would increase to approximately
$476,000, increasing County revenues by approximately $331,000 in an average year. Due to
the building downturn, staff anticipates applications will be one-half of an average year for FY 09
-10. Assuming the text amendment is adopted with the recommended July 1 effective date, staff
anticipates a revenue increase of approximately $90,000 in FY 09 -10.
No significant drop in the number of applications is anticipated as a result of the new and
increased fees. While the increase is significant in many circumstances, the fees remain very
small in comparison to the value of the subdivided property.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
After conducting a public hearing, staff recommends that the Board adopt STA 2009-002 with an
effective date of July 1, 2009.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A — STA 2009-002
Attachment B —Staff memo detailing recommended fee changes
Return to regular agenda