Land Use Fee Increase

Posted by:

Erin Eddy

www.ourayland.com
www.ridgwayland.com

Written by: Patrick Davarn

November 14, 2008

RIDGWAY — Agreeing with the county staff that it is "long overdue," county commissioners will raise some of the fees charged by the Land Use Department in time for the new year.

Mark Castrodale, interim county planner, said after consensus by the Board of County Commissioners that he will have a comprehensive fee schedule prepared by early December for consideration of adoption by resolution.

Castrodale presented an analysis of fees charged by the Land Use Department for various processes; not including building permit fees. "My records show … fees have not been reviewed or modified since 2004 … we appear to be grossly undercharging for some of our services," Castrodale wrote.

Castrodale explained to the BOCC on Monday that he used his salary's hourly rate and calculated the amount of time necessary for him to process various services – ranging from sketch plans to final plats – then reduced the total by one-third to propose a fee's rate. "The issue, in general, is that it's been long overdue," he said."I tried to be hugely conservative."

For example, Castrodale said current fees for a limited planned unit development (PUD) of three lots or less are $750 for a sketch plan, $750 for a preliminary development plan, and $250 for a final development plan. He proposes raising the preliminary development plan fee to $1,500 and the final development plan to $500 in addition to establishing a $250 fee for the final plat. During the process of estimating new fees for Ouray County, Castrodale said he called Montrose County for a comparison. For these same four services, Montrose County will charge a total of $6,445. "We are subsidizing development," said Castrodale.

BOCC Chairman Keith Meinert said an increase is needed, especially in comparison to Montrose County, but asked if higher fees could be charged at the end of a project when a developer is more certain of a successful outcome. "I agree that it's time consuming," Meinert said, "but I wonder if front-end costs would be so high it might discourage people from trying."

Castrodale said the bulk of work by Land Use staff is "front-end loaded" and requires the same amount of time whether the project is successful or not. He would prefer to deal with those "isolated situations" of projects that are unsuccessful, or withdrawn, on a case-by-case basis.

Commissioner Heidi Albritton backed Castrodale's reasoning. "If they (developers) are working with staff, there is no reason it shouldn't go through," she said. "The hand-holding and direction takes place at the beginning. No outcome is guaranteed. If they choose to go through with a plan despite advice of staff, it's not Mark's problem. We need to get on a proactive track and keep up with the times."

Commissioner Don Batchelder likewise agreed the fee review is long overdue, saying he first asked about it six years ago. "Let's say Mark's ideas are good and take them at face value," said Batchelder. "I think your (proposed) fees are low. You took off one-third, you should have added 50% more and it probably still would not have covered the costs."