Town of Dickinson, NY Fees

The Town of Dickinson's Town Board, Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals, in the review of any application pending before said Board, may refer such application to such engineering, planning, legal, technical or environmental consultant, or professional(s) employed by the Town, as such Board shall deem reasonably necessary to enable it to review such application as required by law.

The applicant shall be responsible for the cost of such consultant services.

Charges made by such consultants shall be in accord with charges usually made for such services in the Broome County, New York region or pursuant to an existing contractual agreement between the Town and such consultant. Charges made by the Town shall be in accord with the hourly rates upon which the Town employs such consultant(s), including fringe benefits and reasonable overhead. However, the applicant will not be charged for the following services rendered by professionals employed by the Town:

(1)

Review by the Town Engineer of preliminary design plans submitted by the applicant and, if required, the second set of design plans and preparation of necessary reports relative thereto.

(2)

Preparation by the Town Attorney of any required public notices regarding said application.

(3)

Attendance by the Town Engineer and Town Attorney at any regular or special public meetings of the Dickinson Town Board, the Town of Dickinson Planning Board or the Town of Dickinson Zoning Board of Appeals.

The Town Clerk shall refund to the applicant the amount deposited pursuant to § 291-2, less any sums expended by the Town to engage the services of attorneys, engineers, and other qualified professionals to provide assistance to the Town's Boards relating to said project (hereinafter the "professional review fees"), excluding those referred to in Subsection C(1), (2), and (3) of this section, unless the applicant fails to obtain any necessary permits for said project within one year from the date of final approval by the Board(s) having jurisdiction over the project.

In the event that an application is required to be reviewed by more than one Board, to the extent practicable, both Boards shall use the same consultant, who shall, to the extent practicable, prepare one report providing data, information and recommendations requested. Wherever practicable, duplication of consultants' reports or services shall be avoided to minimize the cost of such consultants' reports or services to the applicant. The above fees are in addition to any and all other fees required by any other law, rule or regulation.

§ 291-2 Escrow accounts.

At the time of submission of any application that will require professional review services, an escrow account shall be established, from which withdrawals shall be made to reimburse the Town for the costs of said professional review services. The applicant shall provide funds to the Town for deposit into such account in an amount to be determined by the reviewing Board with the advice and recommendation of the Town Engineer, Code Enforcement Officer and Stormwater Management Officer, as appropriate, based on the nature and complexity of the application, using the following schedule as a general guideline, with the decision of the reviewing Board to be final and conclusive on the applicant:

(1)

For one- and two-family residential projects, no fee shall be charged and no escrow deposit shall be required, unless a stormwater pollution prevention plan is necessary. If a stormwater pollution prevention plan is required for such a project, an escrow deposit shall be required at 1% of the total project value. The total project value shall be calculated by the actual purchase price of the land or the fair market value of the land (determined by assessed value divided by equalization rate), whichever is higher, plus the cost of all required site improvements, not including the cost of buildings and structures, as determined with reference to a current cost data publication in common use.

(2)

For three or more family residential projects, the escrow deposit shall be 1% of the total project value. The total project value shall be calculated by the actual purchase price of the land or the fair market value of the land (determined by assessed value divided by equalization rate), whichever is higher, plus the cost of all required site improvements, not including the cost of buildings and structures, as determined with reference to a current cost data publication in common use.

(3)

For commercial and industrial construction projects, the escrow deposit shall be 1/4 of 1% of the total project value. The total project cost shall be calculated on the actual purchase price of the land or the fair market value of the land (determined by assessed value divided by equalization rate), whichever is higher, plus the cost of supplying utility service to the project, the cost of site preparation and the cost of labor and material, as determined with reference to a current cost data publication in common use.

(4)

For projects involving the extraction of minerals, the escrow deposit shall be 1% of the total project value. The total project value shall be calculated on the cost of site preparation for mining. Site preparation cost means cost of clearing and grubbing and removal of over-burden for the entire area to be mined plus the cost of utility services and construction of access roads. Such costs are determined with reference to a current cost data publication in common use. For those costs to be incurred for phases occurring three or more years after insurance of a permit, the value of project value shall be determined using a present value calculation.

(5)

At the discretion of the reviewing Board, for projects governed by Subsection A(2), (3) and (4), an additional escrow amount shall be deposited to cover the expense of reviewing a stormwater pollution prevention plan, if one is required. The amount of such additional escrow amount shall be up to 1% of the total project value, as defined in the applicable subsection, to be determined at the Board's discretion.

The applicant shall be provided with copies of any voucher for such services as they are submitted to the Town. The professionals employed by the Town shall report monthly to the Town Clerk as to the monetary value of their services rendered on each project.

When the balance in such escrow account is reduced to 1/3 of its initial amount, the Town Clerk shall advise the applicant and the applicant shall deposit additional funds into such account to bring its balance up to the amount of 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. An application shall be deemed incomplete if any amount shall be outstanding.

A building permit or other permit being sought shall not be issued unless all professional review fees charged in connection with the applicant's project have been reimbursed to the Town from said escrow account.

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

This article shall be applicable to applications pending at the time it shall become effective, unless the reviewing Board shall determine that its application would be impracticable, unfair or unjust in the particular circumstances. Where this article shall be applicable to a pending application, it shall, in such event, require an applicant only to pay for professional fees for the services rendered after it shall have become effective.