[Ord. No. O-08-17]
(a)
Where the Common Council, Planning Board or the Zoning Board
of Appeals employs the services of private engineers, attorneys or
other consultants for purposes of engineering, scientific design,
land use planning, environmental or legal reviews of the adequacy
or substantive details of applications, or issues raised during the
course of review of such applications, for special use permit approvals,
site plan approvals, subdivision approvals, use or area variances,
appeals of determinations, applications for rezoning of parcels to
accommodate site-specific land development proposals or otherwise,
applications for permits to extract topsoil or natural resources,
or any other principal or ancillary land use or development permits
or approvals required under the Code of Ordinances of the City, as
well as to assist in assuring or enforcing an applicant's compliance
with the terms and conditions of all the aforementioned administrative
and legislative permits or approvals, the applicant and landowner,
if different, shall be jointly and severally responsible for payment
of all the reasonable and necessary costs of such services. In no
event shall that responsibility be greater than the actual cost to
the City of such engineering, legal or other consulting costs.
(b)
The Common Council, Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals,
through or with the assistance of the City Planning staff, City Zoning
staff, and Commissioner of Finance, may require advance periodic monetary
deposits, to be held on account of the applicant or landowner by the
City of Poughkeepsie, to secure the reimbursement of the City's
consultant expenses. When an initial deposit is required upon the
filing of the application, that deposit shall not exceed 50% of the
average cost of such services for applications of similar type, size
and complexity based upon the City's experience over the preceding
period of three years. The City may make payments from the deposited
funds, for engineering, legal or consulting services, after audit
and approval by the Common Council of itemized vouchers for such services.
The City shall supply copies of such vouchers to the applicant, appropriately
redacted where necessary to shield legally privileged communications
between City officers or employees and the City's consultants.
When it appears that there may be insufficient funds in the account
established for the applicant or landowner by the City to pay current
or anticipated vouchers, the City shall cause the applicant or landowner
to deposit additional sums to pay such expenses or anticipated expenses.
(c)
The Commissioner of Finance shall review and audit all vouchers
and shall approve payment only of such engineering, legal and consultant
expenses as are reasonable in amount and necessarily incurred by the
City in connection with the review and consideration of applications
for land use or development approvals, appeals of determinations or
for the monitoring, inspection or enforcement of permits or approvals
or the conditions attached thereto. For the purpose of this review
and audit, a fee shall be reasonable in amount if it bears a reasonable
relationship to the average charge by engineers, attorneys or other
consultants to the City for services performed in connection with
similar applications and, in this regard, the Commissioner of Finance
may take into consideration the complexity, both legal and physical,
of the project proposed, including the size, type and number of buildings
to be constructed, the amount of time to complete the project, the
topography of the land on which such project is located, soil conditions,
surface water, drainage conditions, the nature and extent of highways,
drainage facilities, utilities or parks to be constructed and special
considerations as the Commissioner of Finance may reasonably deem
relevant. A fee for service which was rendered in order to protect
or promote the health, safety, or other vital interests of the residents
of the City, protect public or private property from damage from uncontrolled
surface water runoff and other environmental factors, assure the proper
and timely construction of highways, drainage facilities, utilities
and parks, protect the legal interests of the City, including receipt
by the City of good and proper title to dedicated highways and other
facilities and the avoidance of claims and liability, and such other
interests as the Commissioner of Finance may deem relevant.
(d)
The owner(s) of the subject real property, if different from
the applicant, shall be jointly and severally responsible for reimbursing
the City of Poughkeepsie for funds expended to compensate for services
rendered to the City under this section by private engineers, attorneys
and other consultants. In order for a land use application to be complete,
the applicant shall provide the written consent of all owners of the
subject real property, both authorizing the applicant to file and
pursue land development proposals and acknowledging potential landowner
responsibility, under this section, for engineering, legal and other
consulting fees incurred by the City. In the event of failure to reimburse
the City for such fees, the following shall apply:
(1)
The City may seek recovery of unreimbursed engineering, legal
and consulting fees by action venued in a court of appropriate jurisdiction,
and the defendant(s) shall be responsible for the reasonable and necessary
attorney's fees expended by the City in prosecuting such action.
(2)
Alternatively, and at the sole discretion of the City, a default
in reimbursement of such engineering, legal and consulting fees expended
by the City shall be remedied by charging such sums against the real
property which is the subject of the land development application,
by adding that charge to, and making it a part of, the next annual
real property tax assessment roll of the City. Such charges shall
be levied and collected at the same time and in the same manner as
City assessed taxes and shall be paid to the Commissioner of Finance,
to be applied in reimbursing the fund from which the costs were defrayed
for the engineering, legal, and consulting fees. Prior to charging
such assessments, the owners of the real property shall be provided
written notice to their last known address of record, by certified
mail, return receipt requested, of an opportunity to be heard and
object before the Common Council to the proposed real property assessment,
at a date to be designated in the notice, which shall be no less than
30 days after it is mailed.
[Ord. No. O-08-17]
(a)
The Common Council, the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of
Appeals, as applicable, shall not make any final determination in
a matter pending before it until all applicable fees and reimbursable
costs imposed by the permitting authority on the applicant under authority
of this chapter have been paid to the Commissioner of Finance with
reasonable written proof of such payment delivered to the Chairman,
Secretary or Clerk of the permitting authority or the Commissioner
of Finance, or an adequate escrow account exists to pay such fees
and reimbursable costs.
(b)
Escrow funds may be refunded to the applicant when the applicant
formally withdraws the application from consideration by the permitting
authority, and all actual reimbursable fees and reimbursable costs
incurred by the City are first deducted from the escrow account leaving
an unencumbered balance that is not required by the permitting authority
to pay consulting costs or fees attributable to the application being
withdrawn or being finally acted on.
(c)
The imposition of fees authorized in this chapter are in addition
to and not in place of such other fee schedules currently in force;
provided, however, the fees shall not duplicate consultant fees reimbursed
under Chapter 94, Environmental Quality Review.
[Ord. No. O-08-17]
This chapter shall not apply to an area variance application
for a residential use for a single-family home located entirely in
a residential zone.
[Ord. No. O-08-17]
The Commissioner of Finance shall set up escrow funds as part
of a trust and agency fund item whereby consultant fees incurred by
the City pursuant to this chapter shall be audited and paid from such
special fund and not the general fund. The Commissioner of finance
is empowered to delegate to the Planning Board Secretary, the Zoning
Board Secretary, the Bookkeeper or the City Chamberlain, the functions
of having custody of escrow account records.
[Ord. No. O-08-17]
This chapter shall apply to all land use permit applications,
requests for interpretation and appeals of determinations pending
before the Common Council, Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals
at the time when this chapter is enacted into law. All consulting
fees incurred by the City thereafter shall be paid as provided herein.
