Village of Pleasantville, NY Article III Professional Consultant Fees

[Adopted 5-23-1994 by L.L. No. 13-1994; amended in its entirety 10-26-2020 by L.L. No. 4-2020]

§ 91-10 Purposes.

The Village of Pleasantville incurs significant expenses in professional consultant review of applications for subdivisions, site plans, special permits, wetlands permits, zoning amendments, zoning variances, appeals, building permits and any similar or related local, county, state or federal laws and procedures, and such professional consultant review is necessary to carry out the purposes of the Municipal Code. There is hereby established an article whereby the Village of Pleasantville shall have the authority to submit any such land use application which may come before any board or commission in the Village to a professional consultant, such as a planner, engineer, environmental expert, attorney or other professional consultant as it may deem necessary to enable it to review such applications as required by law.

§ 91-11 Professional review fees.

A. The Village Board of Trustees, Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals or Board of Architectural Review may, in the review of any application or appeal which may come before it, refer such matter presented to it to a planner, engineer, attorney, environmental expert or other professional consultant as the reviewing board shall deem reasonable and necessary to enable it to review such application as required by law. In such instances, the applicant shall reimburse the Village for all reasonable and necessary fees and expenses incurred by the Village for such services.

B. All charges for consulting services shall be audited by the Building Inspector and/or the Village Administrator. Reimbursable applicant costs shall be limited to those that are reasonable in amount and necessary for the Village's review and action on the application or appeal in accordance with the law.

(1) Fees charged by such consultants shall be deemed reasonable when in accord with fees usually charged for such services in the metropolitan New York region and pursuant to a contractual agreement between the Village and such professional consultant.

(2) Such consulting charges shall be deemed necessarily incurred when the underlying services were performed to protect or promote the health, safety or other interests of the residents of the Village, including without limitation services to assure the timely and thorough review of potential adverse environmental impacts; to protect neighboring properties from excessive surface water runoff, nuisance or other harmful impacts; to assure the proper and timely construction of roads, drainage facilities, utilities, sidewalks and public spaces; to protect the legal interests of the Village, including receipt by the Village of good and proper title to dedicated roads and other facilities and the avoidance of claims and liability; and to protect such other interests as the Village may deem relevant based upon any of the features, conditions or considerations associated with the application or appeal under review.

C. The applicant shall be provided with copies of any Village invoice for such professional consultant review services as they are submitted to the Village. The applicant shall reimburse the Village for the cost of such professional consultant review services in accordance with the procedures described in this article. The payment of such fees shall be a condition of any approval and shall be required in addition to any and all other fees required in connection with the review of the application as set forth in any chapter of the Village of Pleasantville Municipal Code or the Master Fee Schedule.

D. Proof of payment of all professional consultant review fees shall be obtained by the applicant from the Village of Pleasantville Treasurer and presented to the Clerk of the reviewing board having jurisdiction over the application. No building permit or certificate of occupancy shall be issued nor shall any use or work be authorized under any resolution of approval unless all professional review fees charged in connection with the applicant's project have been reimbursed to the Village.

E. In the event that an application is required to be reviewed by more than one reviewing board, then in such event, and to the extent applicable, each such reviewing board shall use the same consultant who shall in such case prepare one report providing the data, information and recommendations requested. In all instances, duplication of consultant's reports shall be avoided wherever possible in order to minimize the cost of such consultant's reports to the applicant.

§ 91-12 Escrow accounts.

A. At the time of submission of any application which may come before it, an escrow account shall be established by the applicant in an amount to be determined by the Building Inspector pursuant to the Master Fee Schedule from which withdrawals shall be made to reimburse the Village for the cost of professional review services, including but not limited to planning, engineering, environmental and legal expenses actually incurred by the Village. For applications to the Zoning Board of Appeals or Architectural Review Board which the Building Inspector determines are unlikely to require review by Village professional consultants, the Building Inspector may waive the initial establishment of an escrow account for the application. All costs charged to the applicant shall be those reasonable and necessary to the decisionmaking function of the reviewing board as defined in § 91-11B. The applicant shall provide funds to the Village for deposit into such account in an amount to be determined by the Building Inspector based on an evaluation of the nature and complexity of the applications. Such a deposit in escrow may be required at any stage in the application process, including but not limited to preapplication discussions with the applicant. The applicant shall be provided with copies of any Village invoice for consultant fees as they are submitted to the Village.

B. No application shall be considered complete for review purposes until said escrow account is funded in accordance therewith.

C. When the balance in such escrow account is reduced to 1/3 of its initial amount, the applicant shall deposit additional funds into such account in an amount to be determined by the Building Inspector, which funds shall bring the escrow account balance up to an amount not to exceed the initial deposit. If such account is not replenished within 30 days after the applicant is notified, in writing, of the requirement for such additional deposit, the reviewing board may suspend its review of the application. The reviewing board or commission shall not be obligated to comply with any time periods for review of the application or appeal pursuant to state or local law if the applicant fails to replenish the account as aforesaid, except in the case of applications for wireless telecommunication facilities in which case all time periods shall remain applicable. Any such time periods shall begin to accrue again upon receipt of the required payment.

D. A building permit or certificate of occupancy or use shall not be issued unless all costs have been reimbursed to the Village.

E. After all pertinent charges have been paid, the Village shall refund to the applicant any funds remaining on deposit.

§ 91-13 Collection of fees.

All fees required pursuant to this article shall be collected by the Village Clerk.

§ 91-14 Unpaid fees.

Any fee imposed pursuant to this article that remains unpaid shall become a lien against the real property for which the application was filed if not paid within 30 days of written demand. Such unreimbursed fees, including, but not limited to, application fees and professional review fees, shall become and be a lien upon the property involved and shall be added to and become part of the property taxes next to be assessed and levied upon such property by the Village and shall bear interest at the same rate as and be collected and enforced in the same manner as taxes.

§ 91-15 Waiver of certain fees.

In the event that the Building Inspector certifies to the Planning Commission that a site plan application involves the preservation, restoration and/or adaptive reuse of buildings in existence on February 4, 1986, which are located within the Special Character Overlay District, 50% of the professional consultant review fee shall be waived.

§ 91-16 Supersession.

This article shall supersede any inconsistent provision of Article 7 of the Village Law, §§ 7-706, 7-712, 7-725-a, 7-725-b, 7-728, 7-730 and 7-738.