Town of East Hampton, NY Fees and Costs

An applicant seeking the approval of one or more local agencies in order to undertake an action shall, if a DEIS is prepared for the action, remit to the local agency acting as lead agency a DEIS preparation or review fee determined as set forth herein.

Recoverable costs. The fee charged for preparation or review of a DEIS shall not exceed the actual costs of the lead agency in preparing or reviewing the DEIS, and shall be limited to the following:

(1)

The cost of assisting in the preparation or review of the DEIS by the Planning Department and Natural Resources Department, as calculated by multiplying the number of hours worked by each employee of each such department, exclusive of secretarial staff, by the estimated hourly wage or salary of the respective employee;

(2)

The cost of preparation or review by the Town Engineer or said Engineer's subordinate, as billed to the lead agency, or, if the Town Engineer is an employee of the Town, as calculated by multiplying the number of hours worked by the Engineer or his or her subordinate by the estimated hourly wage or salary of the Engineer or his or her subordinate;

(3)

The cost of personal or professional services rendered and billed to the lead agency by persons or individuals retained to assist in preparing or reviewing the DEIS, such as, by way of example and not by way of limitation, printers, stenographers and specialists in disciplines for which the Planning Department or Natural Resources Department lack the necessary expertise (e.g., archaeology);

(4)

The cost of such goods or services as paper, supplies, postage, telephone or facsimile transmission line time, publication charges and the like, whose use or expenditure is directly attributable to the preparation or review of the DEIS; and

(5)

Photocopying costs, at a rate which may be established by the lead agency to reflect its estimated actual cost per photocopied page.

Scope of recoverable costs. For the purpose of calculating the costs recoverable under the preceding subsection, the preparation or review of a DEIS shall include the following:

(1)

The actual preparation of the DEIS, if done by the lead agency, or the scoping and critique of a DEIS prepared by an applicant; and

(2)

The preparation of a final EIS by the lead agency, and the preparation and dissemination of all required public notices and copies of the DEIS and final EIS.

Limitations on fee. Notwithstanding any computation of costs made under the preceding subsections, no fee shall be charged an applicant for the review of a DEIS which exceeds the following amounts:

(1)

For residential or commercial subdivisions of land or projects involving residential or multiple residential construction, 1% of the fair market value of the land which is the subject of the application plus, for subdivisions and multiple residential construction projects only, the cost of site clearing and regrading, road and parking improvements and installation of drainage, all as estimated by the Town Engineer;

(2)

For projects involving commercial or nonresidential construction, 1/2 of 1% of the total cost of project construction, including the cost of construction materials, labor, site clearing and regrading, road and parking improvements and utility and drainage installation, as estimated by the Town Engineer with reference, if practicable, to current cost data publications in common usage;

(3)

For projects involving the extraction of minerals, including sand and gravel mining but not dredging, 1/2 of 1% of the total cost of site preparation, including the cost of clearing and grubbing, removal of overburden, access road and parking improvements and utility and drainage installation, as estimated by the Town Engineer, with project costs to be incurred three or more years after project approval to be calculated on the basis of present value; or

(4)

For dredging projects, 1/2 of 1% of the total project cost, including the cost of the dredging itself, plus site preparation, construction of dikes or retaining structures, spoil drainage structures, removal or redeposition of dredge spoil, and the like, as estimated by the Town Engineer, which project costs to be incurred three or more years after project approval to be calculated on the basis of present value.

Cumulative limitations on fee. Where an action for which a DEIS is prepared involves more than one of the activities enumerated in the preceding subsection, the limitation on the review fee which may be charged to the applicant shall be determined by computing a separate maximum fee for each discrete activity and adding them together.

Notice of fee payable. The lead agency shall provide an applicant with written notice of the amount of the fee payable to the agency under this article for preparation or review of a DEIS, with notice to be given in the following manner:

(1)

The said notice shall be given either no later than the date on which the final EIS on the action is filed or, if a final EIS is not prepared, no later than 10 days from either the close of the public hearing on the DEIS or from the filing of the notice of completion of the DEIS (if no hearing is held).

(2)

Failure to give timely notice of the amount of the fee payable shall not affect the lead agency's right to collect the fee, but it shall stop the agency from withholding its decision on the application until the fee has been paid in accordance with the following subsection.

Payment of fee before issuance of agency's determination; relationship to Town Law. Any fee required of an applicant under this article shall be remitted in full to the lead agency before the issuance of the lead agency's final determination on the application, and the time deadline for agency decisionmaking contained in 6 NYCRR § 617.11 shall be tolled accordingly. Should this provision be deemed in any way inconsistent with the time deadline for the Zoning Board of Appeals to decide an appeal or other matter before it, contained in § 267 (effective until July 1, 1992) or § 267-a (effective July 1, 1992) of the New York Town Law, or with the time deadlines for the Planning Board to decide on an application for site plan approval or issuance of a special permit, contained in § 274-a of the New York Town Law, or with the time deadlines for the Planning Board to conditionally or unconditionally approve or disapprove applications for preliminary or final subdivision approval, contained in § 276 of the New York Town Law, the aforesaid time deadlines contained in Town Law §§ 267 (effective until July 1, 1992), 267-a (effective July 1, 1992), 274a and 276 are hereby superseded to the extent that they could be construed to require local agency action before the remittance of the fees required herein.

[Amended 2-9-1999 by L.L. No. 3-1999]

Additional charges. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Subsection E or F above, where the lead agency's cost of preparing or reviewing a DEIS includes costs or charges which are not billed to the lead agency until after expiration of the agency's time for giving written notice to the applicant of the fee payable, the lead agency may nonetheless charge these additional costs to the applicant, either by conditioning its approval of the action on payment of these charges or by otherwise charging the applicant.

Supplemental EIS; uncompleted DEIS. Where proper consideration of a proposed action necessitates the preparation of a supplemental EIS (SEIS), the imposition of a fee for the lead agency's preparation or review of the SEIS shall be governed by the provisions of this article governing the computation and collection of the fee for preparation or review of the DEIS. If a DEIS being prepared for an action is not completed, for whatever reason, the lead agency preparing or reviewing the same shall nevertheless be entitled to compute and collect a fee for its preparation or review of the uncompleted DEIS. Where necessary to the computation and collection of fees in the foregoing circumstances, the provisions of this article shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate their general purpose of allowing the lead agency an equitable reimbursement for its cost of preparing or reviewing an EIS.

Waiver of fee for not-for-profit or public applicant. Where the applicant in an action for which a DEIS is prepared is a not-for-profit corporation, another municipality, a school district or similar governmental or quasi-public body, the lead agency may, with the consent of the Town Board, waive the payment of all or any part of the DEIS preparation or review fee required by this article.

Appeal to Town Board. If an applicant contends that a fee charged by a local agency (including the Town Board) under this article for preparation or review of a DEIS exceeds the agency's actual cost of preparing or reviewing the DEIS, or that the fee was improperly determined under the procedures and criteria set forth in this chapter, or that it is in some other way inequitable, the applicant shall make written appeal to the Town Board, setting forth the grounds for the appeal and the amount of the fee which the applicant believes should have properly been charged.

Processing of appeal. Upon receipt of an appeal brought under the preceding subsection, the Town Board or its designee shall examine the records of the lead agency upon which the fee was computed for the purpose of deciding if the fee was properly and equitably determined. Thereafter, and within two weeks of its receipt of the written appeal, the Town Board or its designee shall make written response to the applicant setting forth the reasons why the fee was properly determined or, if that is not the case, stating why the fee was improperly determined and the correct amount of the fee.

Town Board's failure to answer appeal within two weeks. Failure of the Town Board or its designee to make written reply to an applicant within two weeks of receipt of a properly presented appeal shall not affect the lead agency's right to collect the contested fee, in such amount as the Town Board may ultimately determine to be correct. However, such failure to make a timely written reply shall stop the lead agency from withholding its decision on the application (in accordance with § 128-4-10F) until the contested fee has been paid, but if and only if the applicant notifies the lead agency in writing of the Town Board's failure to timely respond to the applicant's appeal.