[Amended 12-9-1996 by Ord. No. 1389-96]
The Chief Financial Officer of the municipality
shall make all of the payments to professionals for services rendered
to the municipality or approving authority for review of applications
for development, review and preparation of documents, inspection of
improvements or other purposes under the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1
et seq. The initial fees or charges shall be as hereinafter set forth.
The application review and inspection charges shall be limited only
to professional charges for review of applications, review and preparation
of documents and inspections of developments under construction and
for review by outside consultants when an application is of a nature
beyond the scope of the expertise of the professionals normally utilized
by the municipality. The only costs that shall be added to any such
charges shall be actual out-of-pocket expenses of any such professionals
or consultants, including normal and typical expenses incurred in
processing applications and inspecting improvements. No applicant
shall be charged for any municipal clerical or administrative functions,
overhead expenses, meeting room charges or any of the municipal costs
and expenses except as provided for specifically herein, nor shall
a municipal professional add any such charge to his bill. When the
salary, staff support and overhead for a municipal professional are
provided by the municipality, the charge shall be 200% of the sum
of the products resulting from multiplying the hourly base salary
by the number of hours spent by the respective professional upon review
of the application for development or inspection of the developer's
improvements, as the case may be.
The applicant shall be responsible to reimburse
the municipality with regard to specific professional services in
accordance with the following:
A. Charges for any professional for required attendance
at a regular or special meeting during which hearings are held on
the application in question; provided, however, that where hearings
are held on other applications at the same hearing, the cost of attendance
of the municipality's professionals shall be reimbursed on a pro rata
basis.
B. The municipality shall be entitled to be reimbursed
for the review of applications both as to completeness and as to content;
for the review and preparation of documents such as but not limited
to drafting resolutions, developer's agreements and necessary correspondence
with the applicant or applicant's professionals.
C. The cost of all necessary inspections and for such
other services necessary to assure that all work is performed in compliance
with the approved plans and governing laws or ordinances.
[Amended 12-19-1996 by Ord. No. 1389-96; 5-10-2016 by Ord. No.
2052-16]
At the time of filing an application for development, the applicant
shall pay to the Board Secretary the standard fee and an initial deposit
for professional services. The initial deposit for professional services,
called the "escrow fee," shall be five times the standard fee. Deposits
shall be made by check, money order or cash.
Deposits received from any applicant in excess
of $5,000 shall be held by the Chief Financial Officer in a special
interest-bearing deposit account, and, upon receipt of bills from
professionals and approval of said bills as hereinafter provided for,
the Chief Financial Officer may use such funds to pay the bills submitted
by such professionals or experts. The municipality shall not be required
to refund an amount of interest paid on a deposit which does not exceed
$100 for the year. If the amount of interest exceeds $100, the entire
amount shall belong to the applicant and shall be refunded to him
by the municipality annually or at the time the deposit is repaid
or applied for the purposes for which it was deposited, as the case
may be, except that the municipality may retain for administrative
expenses a sum equivalent of no more than 33 1/3% of that entire
amount, which shall be in lieu of all other administrative and custodial
expenses. All sums not actually so expended shall be refunded to the
applicant within 90 days after the final decision by the appropriate
municipal agency with respect to such application, upon certification
by the Board Secretary that such application has been finally decided.
No zoning permits, building permits, certificates
of occupancy or any other types of permits may be issued with respect
to any approved application for development until all bills for reimbursable
services have been received by the municipality from professional
personnel rendering services in connection with such application and
payment has been made.
If the municipality retains a different professional
or consultant in the place of a professional originally responsible
for development application review or inspection of improvements,
the municipality or approving authority shall be responsible for all
time and expenses of the new professional to become familiar with
the application or the project, and the municipality or approving
authority shall not bill the applicant or charge to the deposit or
the escrow account for any such services.
The cost of the installation of improvements
for the purposes of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-53 shall be estimated by the Municipal
Engineer based on documented construction costs for the public improvements
prevailing in the general area of the municipality. The developer
may appeal the Municipal Engineer's estimate to the County Construction
Board of Appeals, established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:27D-127.