[Adopted 5-1-2006]
A. 
It is necessary for the Town of Ellington to incur certain expenses in order to administer the Zoning, Subdivision and Inland Wetlands Regulations of the Town, which includes the expense of required legal advertisements, administrative review of applications, engineering and legal expenses to assure the Town that construction is in accordance with the regulations and approved plans.
B. 
It is appropriate to assess the expense incurred by the Town in processing and administering land use applications and construction against those who precipitate and benefit by that work.
C. 
Pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes § 8-1c, the Town of Ellington hereby adopts the following Schedule of Fees for various land use activities.
A. 
Planning and zoning fees shall be a follows:
Fees For
Fee
Bond reduction processing fee
$200
Earth removal renewal (requires additional special permit fee)
$300
Subdivision and resubdivision processing fee (plus below)
$500 or $150 / lot, whichever is greater
New road
$200/100 linear feet
Existing Town / state road
$50/100 linear feet
Subdivision reapproval/modification (not resubdivision)
$100
Regulation amendment processing
$300
Zoning Map amendment processing (zone change)
$300
Site plan review - entire site area
0 to 25,000 square feet
$250
25,001 square feet to 50,000 square feet
$350
50,001 square feet and greater
$550
Site plan modification - total modification area
0 to 5,000 square feet
$100
5,001 square feet to 25,000 square feet
$200
25,001 square feet and greater
$400
Special permit
$200
Location approval for motor vehicle dealer's and repairer's license
$100
Zoning Permit
Less than $20,000 construction
$20
Greater than $20,000 construction
$150
Use variance
$250
Bulk variance (setback, coverage, height, area, or similar), appeal of decision of ZEO
$150
B. 
Wetlands and watercourses fees shall be as follows:
Fee For
Fee
Permitted and nonregulated uses
Permitted uses as of right
0 to 5 acres of direct impact
$75
5 to 10 acres of direct impact
$150
10 acres and above of direct impact
$250
Nonregulated uses
$50
Regulated uses
Administrative permits
$50
Agency permits
$250
Nonsignificant activity
Significant activity base fee (Fees for significant activities located within a mapped watershed of a public water supply company are double the requirements.), plus:
For each lineal foot of watercourse directly affected, plus
$5
For each new or modified watercourse crossing, plus
$75
For upland review area not protected by easement, plus
$25/acre
An additional fee for inland wetland soils directly affected as follows:
1 to 500 square feet
$75
501 to 2,500 square feet
$150
2,501 to 10,000 square feet
$500
10,000 square feet and above
$750
Map and regulation amendments
$150
Notes:
The Wetlands Agency may recover the costs of any expert retained by the Agency to offer an opinion, substantiate, or refute any subject related to an application for permit from the applicant in accordance with CGS § 22a-42a(e).
The Ellington Planning Department shall collect all other fees or surcharges as required by the Connecticut General Statutes.
It is anticipated that the fees in § 70-11 will reimburse the Town for actual expenses incurred in the processing of each of the applications to a decision. In addition, as to all applications for subdivision, resubdivision, special permit, site plan approval or modification, and wetlands applications requesting watercourse crossing or relocation of wetlands, the land use department receiving the application will require a deposit equal to the anticipated cost of materials and services to be performed by professionals other than Town employees, including but not limited to the review of the applications for conformance with the regulations of the Inland/Wetlands and Watercourse Agency and the Planning and Zoning Commission, including the computation of the cost to construct improvements subject to bonding requirements. Such sums shall be deposited with the Town, and all bills received from professionals other than Town employees in connection with that application shall be charged against that deposit. If the deposit is exhausted, then an additional deposit will be required before any further action is taken on the application. Upon approval of the application and issuance of the requested permit, any excess deposit shall be refunded to the applicant not later than 60 days thereafter.
Prior to issuance of the permit following approval by the appropriate land use commission or agency, the professional who has been engaged to review the application shall provide to the land use agency an estimate of the cost for said professionals other than Town employees, to inspect construction at reasonable intervals to insure that construction complies with the approved plan, conformance with the Phase II Regulations of the Connecticut Clean Water Act, inspections for reductions of performance bonds, review of plan revisions and documents necessary to implement or complete the plans, and review and inspection of all improvements necessary for Town acceptance of the project infrastructure or for issuance of a certificate of zoning compliance. A fee equal to that estimated cost shall be paid to the Town through the agent issuing the permit prior to the recording of any plan in the land records and prior to the issuance of any permit for construction in accordance with the approval. All charges thereafter by said professionals in connection with a permit shall be charged against the deposit. If the deposit is exhausted, then an additional amount shall be collected based upon the professional's additional estimate of costs before any further work or inspections are conducted. Failure to make an additional deposit shall be grounds for the appropriate enforcement officer to issue a stop work or cease-and-desist order. Upon completion of the project and acceptance by the Town of any project infrastructure or issuance of a certificate of zoning compliance, any excess funds shall be returned to the applicant not later than 60 days following said event.
Nothing herein shall prohibit any agency of the Town from requiring the applicant or permittee, at his expense, to provide professional consultant reports or certification as to conditions before or after construction (or test results) nor shall this article in any way impact bonding requirements set forth in any of the land use regulations.
The Town of Ellington and all of its boards, commissions, agencies and departments are exempt from the payment of any and all of the fees or deposits required by this article. Charities, churches and nonprofit organizations are not exempt.