When reviewing an application for approval of a subdivision Preliminary Plan or Definitive Plan for approval, the Board may determine that the assistance of outside consultants is warranted due to the size, scale or complexity of a proposed project or because of a project's impacts. The Board may require that the Applicant(s) pay, in addition to the general filing fee, a "review" fee [as defined in §§ 117-17A(5) and 117-18A(5)] for the employment of outside consultative services (provided by either a public or private entity) engaged by the Board to assist in the review of an application.
In hiring outside public or private consultants, the Board may engage engineers, planners, traffic specialists, lawyers, urban designers, hydrologists, or other appropriate professionals who can assist the Board in analyzing a project to insure compliance with all relevant laws, ordinances, bylaws and regulations.
Funds received by the Board pursuant to this article shall be deposited with the Town Treasurer who shall establish a special account for this purpose. Expenditures from this special account may be made at the direction of the Board without further appropriation. Expenditures from this special account shall be made only in connection with the review of a specific project or projects for which a review fee has been or will be collected from the Applicant. Failure of an Applicant to pay a review fee(s) shall be grounds for denial of the application.
Review fees may only be spent for services rendered in connection with the specific project for which they were collected. Accrued interest may also be spent for this purpose. At the completion of the Board's review of a project, any excess amount in the account, including interest, attributable to a specific project, shall be repaid to the Applicant or the Applicant's successor in interest. For the purpose of this article, any person or entity claiming to be an applicant's successor in interest shall provide the Board with documentation establishing such succession in interest.
Any applicant may take an administrative appeal from the selection of an outside public or private consultant to the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Newbury. The grounds for such an appeal shall be limited to claims that the consultant selected has a conflict of interest or does not possess the minimum required qualifications. The minimum qualifications shall consist of either an educational degree in, or related to, the field at issue or three or more years of practice in the field at issue or a related field. The required time limit for action upon an application by the Board shall be extended by the duration of the administrative appeal. In the event that no decision is made by the Board of Selectmen within one month following the filing of the appeal, the selection of the Planning Board shall stand.