Town looks at law to recover unpaid planning fees
Town Board members expect to set a public hearing on a proposed law that would allow the town to add unpaid planning application costs to tax bills.
Supervisor Neil Bettez said the law was drafted after developers from Wilmorite left the town with $73,000 in expenses for the failed Park Point student housing proposal.
“We kind of got left on the hook for money owed by Wilmorite when there wasn’t enough money in the escrow to pay bills that we had paid,” he said.
“This is to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Bettez said. “So if there is a project on the board and the applicant walks away or there’s a project before the Planning Board that you have on your own property and you decide you’re not going to pay money that you owe us, we can put it on your taxes.”
Wilmorite was seeking to construct 228 apartment units for students and 30 units for staff on 42 acres along state Route 32. Town Planning Board members in April 2014 had approved the project site plan under the condition that developers not be given a payment-in-lieu-oftaxes agreement. The project application was withdrawn after the developer lost a court case challenging the town’s decision.
The Park Point project was project to be on property owned by SUNY New Paltz supporters, while Wilmorite was responsible for covering costs for the application process.
Bettez said the proposed law would require applicants to obtain a property owner’s acknowledgment that unpaid expenses could be levied on tax bills.
“As a land owner, they would have to say they understand that, with anyone who proposes a project, they will be responsible for any unpaid fees,” he said.
The law would also apply to costs associated with abandoned properties that have required town action to deal with safety issues.
“If there is a zombie home and no one is maintaining the property, currently, if there is a code violation, we can’t do anything,” Bettez said. “We can’t even mow the grass because we’re not allowed to give anything away and we can’t have someone else do it because there’s no way to collect that money except maybe take them to court and, by the time you do that, you’ve spent more money.”