The rules and regulations outlined in this section apply to
all applications under these Regulations.
A.
Consent
of Owners Required for All Applications. The applicant must state
the nature of its interest in the property and all owners must sign
any application. Where an owner is not a natural person, documents
must be submitted indicating who has the authority to enter into an
agreement on its behalf.
B.
Rights
of Others in Land Shown on Plan. The Board's approval of a plan does
not affect any rights others may have in or on the land to be subdivided
or improved, nor does it give the applicant the right to perform work
on land owned by others.
A.
Contact
with Town Departments Through Planning Office. The Planning Office
should be the point of contact for other Town departments when requesting
information about site construction for developments subject to these
Regulations.
B.
Preapplication
Conference. The Planning Office staff may hold a preapplication conference
with an applicant. The purpose of the preapplication conference is
for the staff to give an interpretation of these Regulations and an
explanation of the Board's procedures. Review of proposed plans occurs
after an application is filed.
C.
Applications
Submitted Through Planning Office. Requests for action on development
activities must first be submitted to the Planning Office staff to
be reviewed and scheduled for action at a Board meeting. Such requests
may not be presented directly to the Board at a meeting.
D.
Delivery
of the Application and Plan.
(2)
Filing or delivery to Board of Health. The applicant must submit
an application for approval of a preliminary subdivision plan or a
definitive subdivision plan to the Board of Health in accordance with
its regulations.
(3)
Notice to Town Clerk. Where required by Massachusetts law, the applicant
must give a written notice of an application to the Town Clerk.
E.
Document
and Plan Formatting Requirements.
(1)
All plans and other application material intended to be recorded
must meet the latest version of either the Deed Indexing Standards
for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or the Manual of Instructions
for the Survey of Lands and Preparation of Plans to Be Filed in the
Land Court. These documents are available on the Board's website.
(2)
Vertical datum. All elevations shown on profiles and topographic
plans must be based on the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88)
and identify all benchmarks used and their elevations.
(3)
Typewritten or printed material must be submitted in eight-and-one-half-inch
by eleven-inch format. Oversized brochures or reports will not be
accepted.
(4)
Information in digital form. All submitted information and plans
must be supplied both in written form as required elsewhere in these
Regulations and in digital form. The digital information must be submitted
in its native format (e.g., MS Word, or AutoCAD) and in Portable Document
Format (PDF).
F.
Complete
and Correct Information. The applicant is responsible for the submittal
of complete and correct information to the Board, which if not provided
may constitute grounds for the rejection of a plan for review, disapproval
of a plan or rescission of a previously approved plan.
G.
All
Actions at Public Meetings. All reviews, decisions and other actions
of the Board related to an application must be made at a public meeting
of the Board for which public notice has been given under MGL c. 30A,
§§ 18 through 25.
H.
No
Alteration to Approved Plan. No alteration may be made to a plan after
it has been approved or endorsed by the Board.
I.
Obtain
All Permits and Rights. The failure, or inability, to obtain all necessary
permits, licenses, releases, or rights may constitute grounds for
the disapproval of a plan or rescission of a previously approved plan.
A.
Objectives.
The objectives of the fee schedule are:
(1)
That the costs incurred by the Town of Lexington in the review, approval,
and inspection of plans submitted in compliance with these Regulations
result primarily from and should be considered as part of the ordinary
cost of the business of real estate development;
(2)
To approach a full reimbursement to the Town for the cost of providing
the review, approval, and inspection of a subdivision or other development
proposal and other actions to administer these Regulations; and
(3)
To create incentives so that applicants will comply fully and accurately
with these Regulations to reduce the time spent by Town employees
on review, inspection, and administration, particularly of material
submitted several times.
B.
Fees
Required. An applicant submitting a proposed plan, a revision to an
approved plan or an application for rescission of a previously approved
plan must pay the fees indicated in the fee schedule. If the fees
do not come with the application, the application will not be accepted
for processing. Fees must be paid for the Town's actions relative
to the recording of an approved subdivision plan and for the implementation
and construction of an approved plan as in the schedule.
C.
Costs
of Advertising and Holding Public Hearing. The applicant is responsible
for the costs of publishing the legal notice of any public hearing.
If the Board is required to hold the public hearing in a building
other than the Town Office Building and there are costs associated
with meeting in another building, the applicant is responsible for
those costs.
D.
Expense
of Preparing Plans and Other Documents. The applicant is responsible
for the expense of the design, preparation of legal documents, studies,
review of plans, recording and filing of plans, reproduction of plans
and copies of them or studies and reports related to them and all
other expenses in relation to the submittal, review, and actions on
an application for approval or endorsement of a plan whether it is
approved by the Board or not.
E.
No
Refund upon Withdrawal. No fees will be refunded if an application
for endorsement or approval of a plan is withdrawn.
F.
Fee
Schedule.
(1)
Administrative fees.
(a)
Applicability. An administrative fee will be assessed to offset the expense of review by the Town with regard to all applications set forth in Subsection F(1)(c), below.
(b)
Submittal. Administrative fees must be submitted at the time of the
submittal of the application. Failure to submit this payment is grounds
for denial of the application.
(c)
Schedule of administrative fees. The following schedule applies to
the types of applications to the Board:
[Amended 9-22-2021]
|
Type of Application
|
Administrative Fees
|
|---|---|
|
Approval not required (ANR) or MGL Chapter 41, 81X plan
|
$150 for application, plus $100 per new additional lot created
|
|
Preliminary subdivision
|
$1,000, plus $500 per lot
|
|
Definitive subdivision
| |
|
When a preliminary subdivision application was filed
within the past 7 months
|
$2,000
|
|
When a preliminary subdivision application was not
filed within the past 7 months
|
$4,000, plus $500 per lot
|
|
Modifications to a plan not deemed a minor field change
|
$500, plus $250 per lot impacted
|
|
Modification to covenant, decision, or other subdivision document
|
$250
|
|
NOTE:
| |
|---|---|
|
1
|
One payment of a fee for a residential preliminary plan is creditable
to the initial fee for a definitive plan. If more than one fee is
paid for a preliminary plan, only the first of those payments is creditable
to the initial fee for a definitive plan.
|
(d)
Fees for revised applications. Because the administrative fee is
based on the proposed number of lots, should the proposed number of
lots increase, the applicant must pay a fee equivalent to the difference
between the original fee paid and the fee that would have been paid
had the original submission included the additional lots. Failure
to make this payment is grounds for denial of the application.
(e)
Fee waivers. The Board may waive or reduce any administrative fee,
if, in the opinion of the Board, unusual circumstances exist regarding
the subject property or the applicant.
(f)
Refund. Once the review process has begun, the Board will not refund
administrative fees, including the case of withdrawal of the application
by the applicant.
(2)
Project review fees.
(a)
Applicability. In addition to an administrative fee, the Board may
impose a project review fee on those applications which require, in
the judgment of the Board, review by outside consultants due to the
size, scale or complexity of a proposed project, the project's potential
impacts, or because the Town lacks the necessary resources to perform
the review work related to the permit or approval. In hiring outside
consultants, the Board may engage engineers, planners, lawyers, designers,
or other appropriate professionals able to assist the Board and to
ensure compliance with all relevant laws, ordinances, bylaws, and
regulations. Such assistance may include, but shall not be limited
to, analyzing an application, monitoring or inspecting a project or
site for compliance with the Board's decisions or regulations, or
inspecting a project during construction or implementation.
(b)
Submittal. Should the Board require outside review, a project review
fee must be submitted to the Planning Office for deposit in an account
established pursuant to MGL c. 44 § 53G (53G Account). Failure
to make this payment is grounds for denial of the application.
(c)
Schedule of project review fees. The following schedule applies to
the types of applications to the Board set forth below. Where more
than one type of application has been submitted for Board action,
only the largest of the applicable project review fees may be collected
for deposit into the 53G Account, and not the sum of those fees.
[1]
Initial preliminary plan, modification of a preliminary plan,
or modification of a definitive plan:
|
Project Size
|
Fee
|
|---|---|
|
1 to 15 lots
|
$2,000
|
|
16 to 20 lots
|
$3,000
|
|
21 to 25 lots
|
$4,250
|
|
More than 25 lots
|
$5,000
|
[2]
Initial definitive plan:
|
Project Size
|
Fee
|
|---|---|
|
1 to 15 lots
|
$4,000
|
|
16 to 20 lots
|
$6,000
|
|
21 to 25 lots
|
$10,000
|
|
More than 25 lots
|
$20,000
|
(d)
Replenishment. When the balance in an applicant's 53G Account falls
below 25% of the initial project review fee, as imposed above, the
Board may require a supplemental project review fee to cover the cost
of the remaining project review. Failure to make this payment is grounds
for denial of the application.
(e)
Inspection phase. After the approval of a definitive plan, the Board
may require a supplemental project review fee to ensure the availability
of funds during the inspection phase of the review process. Failure
to make this payment is grounds for rescission of approval.
(f)
Handling of project review fees. Project review fees must be turned
over to the Town Treasurer by the Planning Office for deposit into
a 53G Account.
[1]
Outside consultants retained by the Board to assist in the review
of an application must be paid from this account.
[2]
The Board must provide the following information in a timely
fashion on request of the applicant:
[3]
Remaining funds in the 53G Account, including accumulated interest,
must be returned to the applicant or the applicant's successor in
interest, at the conclusion of the review process, as defined below.
For the purpose of this section, any person or entity claiming to
be an applicant's successor in interest must provide the Board with
documentation establishing such succession in interest.
(g)
Appeal. The choice of a consultant by the Board for the review of
an application may be appealed by the applicant in writing to the
Select Board as provided in MGL c. 44 § 53G. The required
time limits for action upon an application by the Board are automatically
extended for the duration of the appeal.
[Amended 3-27-2019 ATM by Art. 34]
(3)
Delinquent accounts. The following rules apply to fees owed to the
Board by applicants:
(a)
Due date. Administrative fees are due at the time of submittal of
an application. Project review fees and supplemental project review
fees are due within 14 days from the date that the Board determines
that they are required.
(b)
Monthly interest charge. All fees past due by one month from the
date of invoice are subject to a monthly interest charge based upon
an annual interest rate of 14%.
(c)
Costs of collection. All costs of collection associated with past
due accounts must be borne by the applicant.
(d)
Current delinquents. All applicants owing fees to the Board at the
time of any amendment to these provisions of the Regulations must
be sent the following:
(e)
Failure to pay. Failure to pay delinquent fees, interest, or costs
of collection after 30 days' notice is grounds for denial of an application
or rescission of an approved application.
A.
Waiver
of Specific Rules and Regulations. In accordance with MGL c. 41, § 81R,
the Board may waive strict compliance with specific provisions of
these Regulations in any particular case where such action is in the
public interest and consistent with the intent and purpose of the
Subdivision Control Law and of these Regulations. An applicant is
not entitled to a waiver, and the Board, in its discretion, may decline
to approve a request for a waiver.
B.
Application
for a Waiver. Any person requesting a waiver must submit the following
with the application for approval of the subdivision plan:
(1)
A written request that identifies the specific provision of these
Regulations for which the waiver is requested;
(2)
A plan showing how the site would be developed if the plan complied
with that provision of these Regulations and no waiver were granted
or a statement that such development is not possible; and
(3)
A narrative statement that explains how granting the waiver would
be in the public interest and consistent with the intent and purpose
of the Subdivision Control Law.
C.
Effect
of Not Requesting or Granting a Waiver. If a request for a waiver
is not submitted and one or more features of a proposed plan do not
follow these Regulations, or the Board does not grant the waiver,
the noncompliance may be the basis for disapproval of the application.
