Professional fees for certain applications to the Zoning Board of
Appeals and the Town Board. In addition to the fees set forth above,
for applications to the Zoning Board of Appeals, for applications
for amendments to the zoning ordinance to the Town Board, for developers
agreements, outside user agreements, establishments and extensions
of special improvement districts and review and approval of proposed
dedication instruments, including deeds, easements, performance and
maintenance securities and insurance, each of said Boards may in its
sole discretion determine that it requires engineering, legal or other
technical review or preparation of the application, agreement or instrument
in order to assist the Board in making its determination. Having made
such determination, the Board may retain an engineer, attorney or
such other professionals as it deems necessary and the cost thereof
shall be an additional fee to the applicant. Each application is accordingly
required to be accompanied by an initial minimum $750 escrow fee for
the costs of professional review. The Board will secure the professional's
cost estimate once an initial review has been completed and advise
the applicant if additional funds are required to be paid based on
the estimate. The applicant will additionally be advised if review
costs exceed the amounts on deposit and be required to deposit additional
funds to cover the excess costs. Planning review fee deposits shall
be placed in a separate non-interest-bearing account by the Town Comptroller.
All vouchers submitted by professional consultants shall be reviewed
and audited by Town officials in the same manner as other charges.
Payment will be approved of only such fees as are reasonable in amount
and are necessarily incurred by the Board in connection with the review.
A fee shall be considered reasonable in amount if it bears a reasonable
relationship to fees prevailing in the surrounding geographical area
for similar services on similar projects. In determining similarity
of services and projects, the Town may consider the size of the project
and installations, the topography, soil conditions, drainage conditions,
surface water conditions, other site constraints, the nature of the
improvements to be installed or constructed, the nature of the planning,
landscaping engineering or legal issues arising in the factual context
of the application. In determining whether the fees were necessarily
incurred, the Board may consider, in addition to the factors listed
above, the nature of the materials provided by the applicant, the
manner in which the service relates to the issues which must be decided
by the Board in reviewing the application, whether the service provided
reasonably assists the Board in performing a function required by
law or regulation, and such other factors as may be relevant in the
factual context of the application. Records shall be maintained showing
all amounts deposited and all amounts paid from the escrow account
and all bills and vouchers submitted by the Board's professional consultant.
The applicant's account shall in no case be billed for more than has
actually been expended for consultant review fees, and review fees
attributable to environmental reviews under the State Environmental
Quality Review Act (SEQR) shall in no event exceed the maximum amounts
to be charged pursuant to the SEQR regulations. No permit shall be
issued for applications granted final approval unless the fees provided
in this section have been paid in full.