[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees
of the Village of Williamsville 1-23-2017 by L.L. No. 2-2017.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 21,
Engineering Cost Recovery, adopted 9-27-2004 by L.L. No. 4-2004, as
amended.
The title of this chapter shall be "Development Plan Review
Fees."
The Village Board hereby finds and determines that in order
to protect and safeguard the Village of Williamsville, its residents
and their property with respect to certain land developments within
the Village, all should be designed and constructed in a competent
and workmanlike manner and in conformity with all applicable governmental
codes, rules and regulations and dedicated and conveyed to the Village
in a legally sufficient manner. In order to assure the foregoing,
it is essential that the Village have available to it all necessary
professional expertise to assist in the review of plans, designs,
applications and related materials in order to make recommendations
to the Village Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals.
The Village of Williamsville takes great pride in the skill and professionalism
of its staff. However, from time to time the staff is called upon
to review and evaluate matters outside the range of staff training.
These situations may require the Village to seek out skills not possessed
by the Village employees but which are not required frequently enough
to justify the hiring of new staff. At the same time, the cost of
retaining such outside expertise should not be borne by the taxpayers
of the Village, but rather by those who seek to profit from the decisions
of the Village and its boards. Therefore, it is the intent of this
chapter to establish a mechanism whereby the Village may hire necessary
expertise that is needed infrequently without imposing the cost on
its taxpayers.
This chapter is enacted under the authority of Subparagraphs
(a)(12) and (d)(3) of the Municipal Home Rule Law § 10(1)(ii)
and Municipal Home Rule Law § 22. To the extent that the
Village Law of the State of New York does not authorize the Village
Board, Village Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals to require
the reimbursement to the Village of expenses incurred by the Village
in connection with the professional review of applications for development
and land use approvals, it is the expressed intent of the Village
Board to change and supersede such statutes. More particularly, such
statutes do not authorize the deferral or withholding of such approvals
in the event such expenses are not paid to the Village. It is the
expressed intent of the Village Board to change and supersede Village
Law §§ 4-412, 7-712,7-712-A, 7-712-B, 7-718, 7-725-A,
7-725B, 7-728, 7-730 and 7-732 to empower the Village to require such
payment as part of the approval process.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company, limited liability company or organization of any kind who
or which requests the Village Board, the Planning Board or the Zoning
Board of Appeals, to approve a land use application or take other
action to advance a proposed land use development project within the
Village.
Any consultant or professional, including, but not limited
to, attorneys, engineers, accountants, financial advisors, architects,
surveyors, retained by the Village for any purpose authorized pursuant
to this chapter.
An application for subdivision approval, site plan approval,
area variance, use variance, special use permit, or any similar approval
issued pursuant to the Code of the Village of Williamsville, as amended,
and any additional review for those as needed to comply with any other
applicable state or local law, including, but not limited to, the
New York Village Law, General Municipal Law, Highway Law, Municipal
Home Rule Law, Local Finance Law and the State Environmental Quality
Review Act, Environmental Conservation Law Article 8, and any regulations
adopted pursuant to such laws.
The Village of Williamsville.
A.
Any person who applies to the Village or any of its duly constituted
boards for the issuance of any permit, recommendation, rezoning, approval
and review shall be required to pay a fee in the manner as set forth
in this chapter for each improvement proposed.
B.
No approval, permit, recommendation or review shall be processed
until the required deposit is paid to the Building Department.
C.
Such fee shall be in addition to all other fees required by law.
D.
Deposit and fee schedule:
|
Type of Zoning Class
|
Fee Required
|
Engineering Reimbursement Fee Deposit
|
|---|---|---|
|
Nonresidential and Mixed Use (MU, NMU and M-1)
|
All cases
|
$2,000 per building or structure
|
|
Residential (R-1, R-2, R-3, R-3M)
|
As determined by Building Department
|
$500 per lot or living unit
|
|
For Mixed Use developments incorporating residential units,
only the per structure or building fee is required.
| ||
A.
In addition to any fee required pursuant to § 21-5 or any other applicable law, in the event the Village determines that is necessary to retain an expert or consultant to evaluate a land use application or proposed development plan, it may retain such expert of consultant and charge the applicant for the cost of such service as set forth herein.
B.
Except as otherwise provided in Chapters 100 and 112 of the Code of the Village of Williamsville with respect to applications for special permits for telecommunications facilities, if, prior to the completion of a review of a land use application or development proposal, the Village discovers the need to retain consultant and/or expert services, the applicant shall deposit with the Village funds in an amount determined by the Village to be sufficient to reimburse the Village for the reasonable costs of consultation and/or evaluation in connection with review of the application. The Village will maintain a separate escrow account for such funds.
C.
Upon receipt of such funds, the Village Clerk shall cause the money
to be placed in an account in the name of the Village and shall keep
a separate record of all money so deposited and the name of the applicant
and the project for which the sums were deposited.
D.
The Village's consultants and experts shall invoice the Village
for services rendered in reviewing the application. The Village shall
furnish a copy of each invoice received to the applicant upon receipt
of the invoice by the Village.
E.
The Village shall review and audit all invoices received and shall
approve payment only of such fees as are reasonable in amount and
necessarily incurred by the Village in connection with a review of
a land use application. For purposes of this chapter, a fee is reasonable
in amount if it bears a reasonable relationship to the average charge
by such an expert to the Village or others for services performed
in connection with the review of a project similar to that involved
in the land use application. In this regard, the Village may take
into consideration the size and type of project involved in the land
use application and any special conditions or considerations as the
Village may deem relevant in connection with review of the particular
land use application.
F.
Contracts for the retention of experts shall be let pursuant to the
purchasing policy of the Village of Williamsville unless the contract
is one that must be competitively bid.
G.
After payment of all outstanding invoices, any funds held by the
Village upon completion of a review of a land use application shall
be returned to the applicant.
B.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this chapter,
an applicant or developer shall not be required to reimburse the Village
for any part of a fee incurred by the Village for services performed
in connection with matters, including but not limited to those resulting
from complaints by third parties, as to which the Village determines
the applicant had no responsibility or were beyond the reasonable
control of the applicant.
C.
Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the negotiation of alternative
fee agreements with any consultant or expert containing different
terms than those contained herein, including without limitation, the
timing and amount of payment, whether such different terms are between
the consultant or expert and the Village or the consultant or expert
and the applicant. In the event that such alternative agreement is
entered into, the terms of this chapter shall not apply.
If any section, clause or provision of this chapter or the application
thereof to any persons is adjudged invalid, the adjudication shall
not affect other sections, clauses or provisions or the application
thereof that can be sustained or given effect without the invalid
section, clause or provision or application, and to this end the various
sections, clauses or provisions of this chapter are declared to be
severable.
