Zoning hearing fee changes up for discussion

Staff propose hike for applications

Several changes to the borough’s fee schedule are up for discussion as North Wales officials finalize their 2018 budget.

Borough Manager Christine Hart outlined several changes Tuesday night that she and staff are proposing to better balance the costs of borough staff performing certain inspections and services.

“The last fee schedule amendment was in 2014. Last year, in 2017, our (tax) millage increased by one mill, so this is not an additional increase there — it’s an amended, draft fee schedule,” Hart said.

She and Assistant Manager Alan Guzzardo described the proposed changes during budget talks Tuesday night, and said the largest change they are proposing would be to increase fees for zoning hearing board applications. Current fees are $500 for residential applications and $1,000 for commercial, and Hart and Guzzardo said they’re proposing an increase to $1,000 and $1,500 respectively, to better match the costs associated with each.

“The cost of a zoning advertisement, and the cost of our solicitor, $500 is not covering that. The borough is, unfortunately, (paying) out of pocket on residential zoning, and also on commercial” applications, Hart said.

In 2016 the borough fielded seven zoning hearing board requests, and four more in 2017, and Hart said each ended up costing the borough money that would now be paid by the applicant under the new fee amount. Advertising costs alone for each type of hearing can run from $300 to $900 depending on the length of the ad, and solicitor costs typically range between $500 and $600, with costs for a stenographer required at such a hearing usually in the range of $150 to $250, according tot eh manager.

“We need a minimum of $700 for residential. When we did an evaluation in 2015, $750 seemed to be more comparable with townships, and some of the larger boroughs, and $1,500 was the minimum we saw on commercial” applications, she said.

“We’re not here to make money, we’re here to break even, and we don’t want to extend the hardship to the residents,” Hart said, by using tax dollars to pay costs that would be covered under the higher fee.

Councilman Jim Cherry asked if more variance could be created in the costs, so those with smaller projects could be charged a lower fee than those with larger ones.

“I worry about that; that the guy looking for a variance for his fence height, is lumped into the same category as the guy building a duplex,” he said.

“When people are on budgets, to put out that extra expense on a resident — we should be making things easier for our residents in that aspect,” he said.

Hart and solicitor Greg Gifford said any changes along those lines would need to be addressed by updating the borough’s zoning code, rather than complicating the fee structure.

“This is just so it doesn’t cost the municipality too much, because that’s the bare minimum you’re put out: you’re asking the permit to cover it. Otherwise, you’re asking other taxpayers to pay for someone else’s variances,” Gifford said.

“You can change the zoning, so they don’t need the variance or special exception,” he said.

“So this (fee) probably should’ve been changed years ago?” Cherry replied. “Absolutely,” Hart answered.

Several much smaller changes are also proposed in the draft fee schedule, including an increase from $80 to $100 for borough use and occupancy permits, a fee hart said has not been changed since 2004.

“This is very comparable with other municipalities. Some actually charge more than that, but the $80 is not cutting it, for the amount of work Alan has to go out and do, going back and forth,” she said.

Guzzardo said much of his responsibilities since joining the borough late last year have been catching up on inspections that had previously been done by an outside contracted firm, and ensuring that older houses comply with the latest state and national property maintenance codes.

“Being an old borough, there’s a lot of houses that the properties aren’t proficient, aren’t in compliance with the property maintenance code, for a lot of little maintenance things, so I had to do a lot of legwork” to document those deficiencies, he said.

“I think the $100 would be modest. I don’t think we’re asking for too much, and I think it helps us beautify our borough: it allows us to kind of follow up on property conditions, and improve them,” he said.

In the updated fee schedule, roofing permits will be changed to a flat $100 fee for borough inspections, instead of the previous fee schedule which varied depending on the cost of the job, and the type of materials used. Hart said that change was prompted by several recent roof repairs in the borough’s historic district, where residents sought to use slate or other materials much more costly than the standard asphalt roof.

“Their permit fees were extremely more expensive, even though the building inspector would check for the same thing,” she said.

Other new proposed fees including charges for borough police to provide photos or videos when requested by residents, and a new permit for inspection of sewer laterals, which Guzzardo said had been handled under other applications previously. The fee schedule will also be updated to remove a deed registration fee that council voted to eliminate last month, since that function is how handled by Montgomery County.

“No longer is it required to have title companies register the deed, so we’ve removed that ordinance, and we also need to remove it from our fee schedule,” Hart said.

The draft fee schedule will be discussed again when council next meets on Nov. 28, and council could vote to publicly advertise it that night, and formally adopt it Dec. 12, simultaneously with the borough’s 2018 budget. Both meetings will be held at 7 p.m. at the borough municipal building, 300 School St.