[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Wappingers Falls 12-13-2023 by L.L. No. 3-2023. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A. 
The Village Board hereby finds and determines that in order to protect and safeguard the Village of Wappingers Falls, its residents and their property, with respect to certain land developments within the Village, all buildings, highways, drainage facilities, sanitary sewer facilities, other utilities and parks within said developments should be designed and constructed in a competent and workmanlike manner and in conformity with all applicable governmental codes, rules and regulations and dedicated and conveyed to the Village in a legally sufficient manner. In order to ensure the foregoing, it is essential for the Village to have Village staff and competent engineers, planners and other necessary consultants retained by the Village to review applications, plans and designs, make recommendations to the Village Board, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Architectural Review Board and to recommend their acceptance by the Village. It is also essential to have competent attorneys retained by the Village to negotiate and draft appropriate agreements with developers, to obtain, review and approve necessary securities, insurance and other legal documents, to review proposed deeds and easements to ensure the Village is obtaining good and proper title, and to generally represent the Village with respect to legal disputes and issues concerning these development projects. The cost of staff time and retaining competent engineers, planners, attorneys and other necessary consultants should ultimately be paid by those who seek to profit from such developments rather than from general Village funds paid by taxpayers of the Village.
B. 
This chapter is enacted under the authority of Subdivisions a(12) and e(3) of Municipal Home Rule Law § 10(1)(ii) and Municipal Home Rule Law § 22. To the extent NYS Village Law §§ 7-712-a, 7-712-b, 7-718, 7-725-a, 7-725-b, 7-728, 7-730, 7-732 and 7-738 do not authorize the Village Board, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, or Architectural Review Board to require the reimbursement to the Village of legal, planning, engineering and other consultant expenses incurred by the Village in connection with review and consideration of development applications, it is the expressed intent of the Village Board to supersede such statutes. To the extent that such statutes do not authorize the deferral or withholding of such approvals in the event such expenses are not paid to the Village, it is the expressed intent of the Village Board to change and supersede NYS Village Law §§ 7-712-a, 7-712-b, 7-718, 7-725-a, 7-725-b, 7-728, 7-730, 7-732 and 7-738 to empower the Village to require such payment as a condition to such approvals.
A. 
For any application, or as otherwise set forth in the Village Code, the reviewing board may require an applicant to deposit into escrow a sum of money established by the reviewing board to pay for the fees and/or costs of any consultant designated by the board to review such application. Said sum shall be in an amount estimated to cover the reasonable and necessary costs to the Village in obtaining professional review of the application. Costs may include consultant fees for planning, engineering, legal and other professional and technical services required for the proper and thorough review of an application.
B. 
If a reviewing board requires an escrow deposit, the applicant shall be required to make an initial escrow deposit. The initial escrow deposit does not reflect any estimation of the actual fees that may be charged by the consultants.
C. 
The actual fees and/or costs charged by a consultant in connection with such review will be charged against the sum deposited in escrow.
A. 
Escrow amounts shall be deposited in a separate non-interest-bearing account in the name of the Village, and the Village Treasurer shall keep a separate record of all such monies deposited, including the name of the applicant and the project for which such sums were deposited.
B. 
Upon receipt and approval by the Village Board of itemized vouchers from consultants for services rendered on behalf of the Village regarding a particular application, the Village Treasurer shall cause such vouchers to be paid out of the monies so deposited, and shall debit the separate record of such account accordingly. The Village shall provide copies of the vouchers to the applicant upon request.
If, at any time during the processing of, or before final action on, an application, there shall be insufficient monies in the Village escrow account to the credit of an applicant to pay the approved vouchers in full, or if it shall reasonably appear to the reviewing board that such monies will be insufficient to meet vouchers yet to be submitted, the applicant shall be required to deposit additional sums as is deemed necessary or advisable in order to meet such expenses or anticipated expenses.
In the event the applicant fails to deposit the requested professional review fees with the Village, any reviewing board may suspend application review, and the Code Enforcement Officer may withhold any permits or certificates of occupancy, until such monies are deposited.
Upon completion of the review of, or work associated with, an application, or upon the withdrawal of an application, and after all reasonable and necessary professional review fees already incurred by the Village have been paid and deducted from the escrow account, any balance remaining in the escrow account shall be refunded within 60 days after the applicant's request.
The reviews governed by this chapter shall include all environmental review pursuant to law, including review of the proposed action under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Fees charged strictly as a result of a SEQRA review shall in no event exceed the maximum amounts that can be charged by the lead agency pursuant to the SEQRA regulations.
The review fees provided for herein are in addition to application or administrative fees required pursuant to other sections of the Village Code. Monies deposited with the Village by applicants pursuant to this section shall not be used to offset the Village's general expenses of professional services for the several boards of the Village or its general administrative expenses.
In no event shall an applicant make direct payment to any Village consultant as compensation for services performed for the Village by the consultant in connection with his/her application.