A.
Plan review fees may include reasonable and necessary charges by the Township's professional consultants or the Township Engineer for review and report thereon to the Township. Such review fees shall be based upon a schedule established by ordinance or resolution. Such review fees shall be reasonable and in accordance with the ordinary and customary charges by the Township Engineer or consultant for similar service in the community, but in no event shall the fees exceed the rate or cost charged by the Township Engineer or consultant to the Township when fees are not reimbursed or otherwise imposed on applicants.
(1)
In the event the applicant disputes the amount of any such review fees, the applicant shall, within 10 days of the billing date, notify the Township that such fees are disputed, in which case the Township shall not delay or disapprove a subdivision or land development application due to the applicant's request over disputed fees.
(2)
If, within 20 days from the date of billing, the Township and the applicant cannot agree on the amount of review fees which are reasonable and necessary, then the applicant and Township shall jointly, by mutual agreement, appoint another professional engineer licensed as such in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to review the said review fees and make a determination as to the amount thereof which is reasonable and necessary.
(3)
The professional engineer so appointed shall hear such evidence and review such documentation as the professional engineer in his or her sole opinion deems necessary and render a decision within 50 days of the billing date. The applicant shall be required to pay the entire amount determined in the decision immediately.
(4)
In the event that the Township and applicant cannot agree upon the professional engineer to be appointed within 20 days of the billing date, then, upon application of either party, the President Judge of the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas (or if at the time there be no President Judge, then the senior active judge then sitting) shall appoint such engineer, who, in that case, shall be neither the Township Engineer nor any professional engineer who has been retained by, or performed services for, the Township or the applicant within the preceding five years.
(5)
The fee of the appointed professional engineer for determining the reasonable and necessary review fees shall be paid by the applicant if the amount of payment required in the decision is equal to or greater than the original bill. If the amount of payment required in the decision is less than the original bill by $1,000 or more, the Township shall pay the fee of the professional engineer, but otherwise the Township and the applicant shall each pay one-half of the fee of the appointed professional engineer.