[Amended 9-21-2021 by Ord. No. 1377, approved 9-21-2021]
A. The costs incurred by Middletown Borough and its professional consultants
including, but not limited to, its engineers, attorneys and surveyors,
for handling and reviewing and inspections related to land subdivision
and land development plans, and by the Dauphin County Planning Commission
for reviewing such plans, shall, in general, be defrayed by the payment
of fees by applicants submitting plans for approval, in accordance
with this section.
B. Submittal and processing fees. At the time a subdivision or land
development preliminary, final or combined preliminary/final plat
plan is officially submitted to the Borough of Middletown for approval,
the applicant shall provide a bank check payable to Middletown Borough
as provided herein, and shall provide proof that the plan has also
been submitted to the Dauphin County Planning Commission for its review
and comment.
(1) The amount of the fees shall be determined in accordance with a separate
subdivision and land development fee schedule recommended by the Middletown
Borough Planning Commission and adopted by Borough Council.
(2) For plans which are combined preliminary and final plan submissions,
the payment of both preliminary plat and final plan fees may be required.
(3) A plan will not be accepted for review for conformity with these
and other applicable regulations until the fees required herein have
been paid.
C. Review fees. In addition to the submittal and processing fee, the
applicant shall be responsible for the review and inspection fees
of the Borough's professional consultants in accordance with
this section:
(1) At the time of the submission of any plan, the applicant shall deposit
with the Borough a fee determined in accordance with a separate schedule
recommended by the Middletown Borough Planning Commission and adopted
by Borough Council. The funds shall be held in an escrow account to
be used for the reasonable and necessary charges by the Borough's
professional consultants for review and report thereon to the Borough.
The Borough will notify the applicant if the escrow account balance
decreases to less than the minimum amount for escrow funds adopted
by Borough Council, at which time the applicant shall deposit additional
funds into the escrow account in an amount sufficient to replenish
the escrow account to the amount established by the Borough. A plan
shall not be accepted for review until the escrow amount has been
deposited with the Borough.
(2) During the course of the professional consultant's review, the
Borough 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.
(3) 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 Borough and the
Borough's professional consultant that such fees are disputed,
and shall explain the basis of their objections to the fees charged.
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.
(4) In the event that the Borough and the applicant cannot agree on the
amount of review fees which are reasonable and necessary, then the
fees shall be recalculated and recertified by another professional
consultant licensed as such in the same field in this Commonwealth
and chosen mutually by the Borough and the applicant or developer.
The estimate certified by the third outside professional consultant
shall be presumed fair and reasonable and shall be the final estimate.
In the event that third outside professional consultant is so chosen,
fees for the services of said consultant shall be paid equally by
the Borough and the applicant or developer.
(5) Subsequent to a decision on an application, the Borough 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.
(6) 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.
D. Failure of the applicant or responsible agent to pay all such fees
and invoices shall be sufficient reason to deny acceptance of required
improvements or other certification of the development for occupancy.