As used in this Part 2, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANT
Any person(s) who provides expert or professional advice,
including but not limited to architects, attorneys, certified public
accountants, engineers, geologists, land surveyors, landscape architects
or planners.
The Township hereby authorizes the Township
to charge the property owner or applicant the actual costs for professional
consultant services rendered in connection with land development and
subdivisions within the corporate limits of the Township of Muhlenberg.
Review fees payable by the applicant may include
reasonable and necessary charges by the Township's professional consultants
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 for similar service in the community, but in
no event shall the fees exceed the rate or cost charged by the professional
consultant for comparable services to the Township for services which
are not reimbursed or otherwise imposed on applicants. Fees charged
to the Township relating to any appeal of a decision on an application
shall not be considered review fees and may not be charged to an application.
A. The Township
shall submit to the applicant an itemized bill showing work performed,
identifying the person performing the services and the time and date
spent for each task. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit interim
itemized billing or Township escrow or other security requirements.
In the event the applicant disputes the amount of any such review
fees, the applicant shall, no later than 100 days after the date of
transmittal of the bill to the applicant, notify the Township and
the professional consultant that such fees are disputed and shall
explain the basis of his objections to the fees charged; in which
case, the Township shall not delay or disapprove a subdivision or
land development application due to the applicant's dispute over fees.
Failure of the applicant to dispute a bill within 100 days shall be
a waiver of the applicant's right to arbitration of that bill.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
B. In the event
that the Township's professional consultant and the applicant cannot
agree on the amount of review fees which are reasonable and necessary,
then the applicant and the Township shall submit the matter to arbitration,
provided that the arbitrator resolving such dispute shall be of the
same profession or discipline as the professional consultant whose
fees are being disputed.
C. Subsequent to
a decision on an application, the Township shall submit to the applicant
an itemized bill for review fees, specifically designated as a final
bill. The final bill shall include all review fees incurred at least
through the date of the decision on the application. If for any reason
additional review is required subsequent to the decision, including
inspections and other work to satisfy the conditions of the approval,
the review fees shall be charged to the applicant as a supplement
to the final bill.
The applicant shall reimburse the Township for
the reasonable and necessary expense incurred in connection with the
inspection of improvements. The applicant shall not be required to
reimburse the Township for any inspection which is duplicative of
inspections conducted by other governmental agencies or public utilities;
the burden of proving that any inspection is duplicative shall be
upon the objecting applicant. Such reimbursement shall be based upon
a schedule established by resolution. Such expense shall be reasonable
and be in accordance with the ordinary and customary fees charged
by the Township's professional consultant for work performed for similar
services in the community, but in no event shall the fees exceed the
rate or cost charged by the professional consultant to the Township
for comparable services when fees are not reimbursed or otherwise
imposed on applicants.
A. The Township
shall submit to the applicant an itemized bill showing the work performed
in connection with the inspection of improvements performed, identifying
the person performing the services and the time and date spent for
each task. In the event the applicant disputes the amount of any such
expense in connection with the inspection of improvements, the applicant
shall, no later than 100 days after the date of transmittal of a bill
for inspection services, notify the Township and the professional
consultant that such inspection expenses are disputed as unreasonable
or unnecessary and shall explain the basis of his objections to the
fees charged; in which case the Township shall not delay or disapprove
a request for release of financial security, a subdivision or land
development application or any approval or permit related to development
due to the applicant's dispute of inspection expenses. Failure of
the applicant to dispute a bill within 100 days shall be a waiver
of the applicant's right to arbitration of that bill under this section.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
(1) Subsequent
to the final release of financial security for completion of improvements
for a subdivision or land development, or any phase thereof, the professional
consultant shall submit to the Township a bill for inspection services,
specifically designated as a final bill. The final bill shall include
inspection fees incurred through the release of financial security.
B. If the professional
consultant and the applicant cannot agree on the amount of expenses
which are reasonable and necessary, then the applicant shall have
the right, within 100 days of the transmittal of the final bill or
supplement to the final bill to the applicant, to request the appointment
of another professional consultant to serve as an arbitrator. The
applicant and professional consultant whose fees are being challenged
shall, by mutual agreement, appoint another professional consultant
to review any bills the applicant has disputed and which remain unresolved
and make a determination as to the amount thereof which is reasonable
and necessary. The arbitrator shall be of the same profession as the
professional consultant whose fees are being challenged.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
C. The arbitrator
so appointed shall hear such evidence and review such documentation
as the arbitrator in his or her sole opinion deems necessary and shall
render a decision no later than 50 days after the date of appointment.
Based on the decision of the arbitrator, the applicant or the professional
consultant whose fees were challenged shall be required to pay any
amounts necessary to implement the decision within 60 days. In the
event the Township has paid the professional consultant an amount
in excess of the amount determined to be reasonable and necessary,
the professional consultant shall within 60 days reimburse the excess
payment.
D. In the event
that the Township's professional consultant and applicant cannot agree
upon the arbitrator to be appointed within 20 days of the request
for appointment of an arbitrator, then, upon application of either
party, the Presiding Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the Judicial
District in which the municipality is located (or if at the time there
be no presiding Judge, then the senior active Judge then sitting)
shall appoint such arbitrator, who, in that case, shall be neither
the professional consultant nor any professional consultant who has
been retained by or performed services for the Township or the applicant
within the preceding five years.
E. The fee of the
arbitrator shall be paid by the applicant if the disputed fee is upheld
by the arbitrator. The fee of the arbitrator shall be paid by the
charging party if the disputed fee is $2,500 or greater than the payment
decided by the arbitrator. The fee of the arbitrator shall be paid
in an equal amount by the applicant and the charging party if the
disputed fee is less than $2,500 of the payment decided by the arbitrator.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Pursuant to the Muhlenberg Township Subdivision
and Land Development Ordinance of 1980, as amended, the Board of Commissioners
of the Township of Muhlenberg shall not affix its original signature
to any proposed final plan for recording with the Berks County Recorder
of Deeds unless and until the Township Secretary, as defined by the
First Class Township Code, attests that all actual costs for professional
consultant services rendered as herein defined have been paid in full
by the applicant.