[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township of Franklin 4-11-1988 by Ord. No. 88-4 (Ch. 87 of the 1988 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fees — See Ch. 182.
Land use — See Ch. 220.
Subdivision of land and site plan review — See Ch. 310.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 - Escrow Agreement
[Amended 12-1-1988 by Ord. No. 88-14; 12-30-1991 by Ord. No. 91-17; 9-8-1994 by Ord. No. 94-9; 4-18-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-02; 10-31-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-12; 8-8-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-05; 10-8-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-09]
Each application or appeal to the Land Use Board shall be accompanied by payment of a fee. The fees are nonrefundable and are as shown on the attached Schedule A. (Please note that Schedule A will be changed from time to time by ordinance. Make sure that you refer to the most recent ordinance regarding fee schedules.)
Schedule A
Application Fees
Application For
Fees
Minor subdivision
Creation of new lot, each
$100 plus $75, remaining land
Variance application, each
$250
Major subdivision
Sketch, per lot
$50
Preliminary, per lot
$500, plus $200 each new lot
Final, per lot
$500, plus $200 each new lot
Variance, per request
$250
Site plan
Preliminary
Minor/waiver
$50
Major
Nonresidential
$750 plus $250 per acre, plus $0.05 per square foot of new building, plus $0.01 per square foot of disturbance
Residential, per lot
$750 plus $250 per acre, plus $20 per dwelling unit
Maximum preliminary fee: $20,000
Final
Major
Nonresidential
50% of preliminary major site plan fee
Residential, per lot
50% of preliminary major site plan fee
Maximum final fee: $10,000
Change of use
$150
Appeal pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(a)
$75
Appeal pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(b)
$75
Appeal pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(c)
$250 plus $150 per meeting
Appeal pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d)
$250 plus $150 per meeting plus cost of transcript
Informal/conceptual review
$100
Formal (professional) review
$1,500 escrow, plus $100 per meeting (single-family) or $300 per meeting (all others)
Extension of approval request
No charge
Resubmission for amended approval
20% of original fee
Application to Land Use Board for property rezoning
$500
Tax Map changes
$150, plus $50 per lot
Environmental impact statement filing fee
No charge
Boundary line adjustments involving the relocation of lot lines among two or more lots where no new building lot is created
$200
Request for special meeting of Land Use Board
$750, $100 of which is paid as a nonrefundable administrative charge; the Land Use Board shall have the right to waive this fee if it is deemed appropriate
[Amended 9-8-1994 by Ord. No. 94-9]
A. 
In addition to the foregoing nonrefundable application fees, all applications for development shall establish one or more escrow accounts with the municipality to cover all professional and expert review and consultation fees and services of the municipality, including testimony and costs of certified reporters and transcripts, associated with the review and processing of the application. The escrow fees shall be required for all applications for development, and also for appeals pursuant to the Franklin Township ordinances.
B. 
At the time of submitting an application for development and periodically thereafter, the applicant shall deposit to the escrow account the amounts hereinafter provided and shall execute an escrow agreement. The escrow agreement shall be in a form prescribed by the Land Use Board, or the municipal governing body, as applicable. The current form of escrow agreement to be used with all developments is found at the end of this chapter and is adopted herein. All application fees and escrow deposits must be paid prior to certification that the application is complete. In the event that the amounts required to be posted by this chapter are not sufficient to cover the municipality's estimated anticipated professional charges associated with the application, the Land Use Board, or municipal governing body shall request additional escrow funds.
[Amended 11-1-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-11]
C. 
After development approval and prior to commencement of any construction or issuance of any certificate of occupancy, the applicant shall enter into a development agreement with the municipality and deposit to the escrow account an amount sufficient to pay for professional services in connection with the development agreement.
D. 
Following approval of a major subdivision or site plan and prior to commencement of construction, the applicant shall deposit to the escrow account an amount sufficient to pay for anticipated inspection fees and any anticipated additional professional review services.
E. 
The Township Chief Financial Officer shall advise the administrative assistant of all escrow deposits made by any applicant, and the amount thereof. If additional escrow funds are required, the administrative assistant shall notify the applicant of the amount required. If there is a refusal or failure to make payment, the administrative assistant shall notify the approving authority, and the Land Use Board, municipal governing body or municipal professionals and consultants shall take no further action on the application.
F. 
"Total cost of improvements," as utilized hereinafter in §§ 225-4 and 225-5, shall be defined as the total estimated construction costs that the Township could reasonably expect to pay a contractor to perform the work required by either subdivision or site plan review and approval and shall be the same amount as required for a performance bond, excluding costs of engineer stakeout, contingencies and cost of escalation during the performance period.
[Amended 12-1-1988 by Ord. No. 88-14; 4-6-1989 by Ord. No. 89-14; 9-8-1994 by Ord. No. 94-9; 12-6-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-14; 4-18-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-02; 10-31-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-12; 10-8-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-09; 11-12-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-11]
The escrow amounts to be applied to subdivision and variance review are shown on the attached Schedule B. (Please note that Schedule B will be changed from time to time by ordinance. Please reference the most recent ordinance regarding subdivision and escrow amounts.)
Schedule B
Subdivision and Variance Escrow Fees
Escrow Account
Fee
Subdivision and variance
Subdivision and review sketch plan/minor subdivision/boundary line change/merger
$1,500 per lot
Major subdivision, preliminary
$1,500 per lot
Variance applications not associated with applications for subdivision of land or site plan review
N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70a
$500
N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70b
$500
N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70c
$1,000
N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d
$1,500
Relating to size of design
$500
Variance applications associated with a site plan review brought before Land Use Board
$1,500
Applications to Land Use Board for property rezoning
10 acres or less
$1,250
More than 10 acres
$2,500
Submission of environmental impact statement
$300
Site plan
Preliminary
Change of use
$500
[Amended 9-8-1994 by Ord. No. 94-9; 12-6-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-14]
A. 
The escrow amount for site plan applications shall be a minimum of $4,000 or 3% of the estimated cost of all site improvements, exclusive of all buildings, whichever is greater. The applicant shall submit its engineer's estimate of the cost of proposed site improvements with its application for site plan approval.
B. 
In the event that the escrow fee calculated hereunder exceeds $20,000, the applicant shall establish an initial escrow account of $20,000, which account shall be replenished to reestablish a balance of $20,000 within 10 business days of notice to the applicant by the administrative assistant that its remaining escrow balance is $10,000 or less.
[Amended 9-8-1994 by Ord. No. 94-9]
All land use improvement applications requiring construction and final inspection of improvements shall provide an inspection escrow. The escrow amounts shall be based on the percentage of the total costs of improvements as shown on the attached Schedule C. (Please note that Schedule C will be changed from time to time by ordinance. Be sure to reference the most recent ordinance on inspection escrow amounts.)
Schedule C
Construction and Final Inspection Escrow Fees
Final Inspection
Fees
Total cost of Improvement
Less than $5,000
$1,000
$5,000 to $10,000
$2,000
$10,001 to $50,000
$3,000
$50,001 to $75,000
$4,000
$75,001 to $100,000
$5,000
More than $100,000
$6,000 plus 4% of the excess over $100,000
[Amended 9-8-1994 by Ord. No. 94-9; 12-6-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-14]
The escrow associated with each application shall be replenished whenever the escrow account is reduced by charges billed against the account to 50% or less of the original amount. The administrative assistant shall notify the applicant of the requirement to replenish the escrow, and the applicant shall be required to deposit the required sum within 10 business days. No further consideration, review, processing or inspection shall be performed by or on behalf of the Board until the additional escrow has been paid.
[Amended 9-8-1994 by Ord. No. 94-9]
A. 
The applicant may request an accounting of the expenses or fees paid by him for professional review, in writing, to the administrative assistant. The applicant shall be responsible for any costs incurred by the municipality in having its professional and administrative staff prepare an accounting of the fees expended.
B. 
In the event that the applicant believes the fees charged to be unreasonable, the applicant shall pay such fees under protest, the Land Use Board shall hear and decide at a public hearing whether such fees are reasonable, and the applicant may appeal the decision of the Land Use Board to the municipal governing body, provided that the applicant shall provide the governing body with that portion of the transcript of the Land Use Board hearing on fees, at the applicant's cost, and the appeal shall be on the record made before the Board. The governing body shall consider the appeal in accordance with the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-17.
A. 
The Township Engineer, planning consultant or approving agency attorney and any other professional engaged by the Board in connection with the application shall submit vouchers for all fees for examination, review or testimony to the approving agency for approval, after which the bill shall be forwarded to the Township and shall be paid in the ordinary manner.
B. 
If any money deposited in the escrow account is unexpended upon completion of the project and the satisfactory completion of the maintenance period, if any, or phased section in the case of a sectionalized application, said amount shall be returned to the applicant or, at the developer's request, be applied to the next phase. All interest accrued on escrowed funds shall be paid to the Township to defray the costs of administrative expenses unless said interest is required to be returned to the applicant pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
An applicant may request a special meeting. The Board shall schedule such special meeting(s) at a date and time convenient to the applicant, the Board and the public. There shall be paid to the Township, prior to the meeting, a special meeting escrow deposit of $750, $100 of which shall be paid as a nonrefundable administrative charge. If the applicant has in escrow at the time of the request for a special meeting more than $750 net of any vouchers presented or to be presented, then no additional special meeting deposited shall be required. If the special meeting is continued for additional hearings or additional review which requires further professional services to the Board, the applicant shall, if the applicant's escrow is less than $750 at the time of the next meeting, post with the Township an additional $750 for each of said additional hearings.
If any interested party requests a transcript of any development hearing or duplicate recording in lieu thereof, the same shall be furnished upon payment to the Township of the following charges:
A. 
For a transcript, a fee of $1 per page will be charged.
[Amended 12-4-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-10]
In accordance with the Board of Health contract between the County of Hunterdon and the Township of Franklin, the following health inspection fees shall be charged:
A. 
Retail food establishments (as defined under N.J.A.C. 8:24-1.3):
(1) 
For news stands, pharmacies, liquor stores, video stores and other retail establishments which handle commercially prepared, prepackaged, nonpotentially hazardous foods as an incidental part of their business, the inspection fee is $125.
(2) 
For bed-and-breakfasts, which serve full breakfasts, and for agricultural markets (with no on-site food preparation), where potentially hazardous foods are offered for sale or where grocery food items account for 50% or more of the agricultural market's sales area, the inspection fee is $125. Bed-and-breakfasts which only serve continental breakfasts and agricultural markets which only sell raw agricultural products and an incidental amount of grocery food items are exempt from inspection fees.
(3) 
For all other retail food establishments, the inspection fee is $250.
B. 
For temporary retail food establishments (as defined under N.J.A.C. 8:24-1.3) that are operational for a period of not more than three days, the inspection fee is $100.
C. 
For temporary retail food establishments (as defined under N.J.A.C. 8:24-1.3) that are operational for a period of four or more days, the inspection fee is $150.
D. 
New well: $150.
E. 
New septic system: $150.
[Added 3-1-1990 by Ord. No. 90-1; amended 4-2-1992 by Ord. No. 92-12]
Satisfactory percolation tests and soil log reports, as required by the Code of the Township of Franklin, New Jersey, and other county and state rules, regulations and statutes, shall be required prior to the issuance of a building permit for each new structure intended for human occupancy and for each proposed lot to be subdivided prior to subdivision approval, for which the applicant shall pay a fee of $200 per lot, per day or part thereof, which fee should include up to three percolation test holes and two soil log test holes, and the applicant shall pay a further fee of $50 for each additional percolation test hole and each additional soil lot test hole. These fees shall defray the Township of Franklin's expenses for the inspection, processing and witness provided by the Township. Each percolation test shall be witnessed and inspected by a designated representative of the Township.