Department of Community Development
Reference: Community Development Department 2023 Fee Resolution Amendments
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of the City Council
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Mike Tylka, AICP, Assistant Director of Community Development
Date Prepared: November 21, 2022
PURPOSE
The Community Development Department (the “Department”) is seeking to amend and add fees to recoup the cost of services. These amendments are proposed to take effect on January 1, 2023, in addition to those previously presented to City Council in the annual fee resolution. As directed by the City Council, the Department is committed to ensuring that development is paying its own way and a major part of this is ensuring that appropriate fees are in place to cover staff time spent on the various land use applications, special requests, and inspections that occur.
City staff presented the below proposals at a City Council Study Session on November 8, 2022 and is now seeking formal approval.
STRATEGIC FOCUS AREA
● Financially Responsible
PROPOSALS
New Residential Electrical Inspection Fee:
This proposed fee is being added as the state now requires municipalities to have a licensed electrician perform all residential inspections. The new fee will assist in recouping the costs to cover the electrical inspector’s salary, benefits, and operating costs (e.g., city vehicle, fuel, office equipment, etc.) that are incurred due to the state mandate.
New Museum Fees:
Many different organizations request presentations on aspects of Brighton’s history. In the past year, Museum staff have given presentations to the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Chamber of Commerce, among others. Each of the presentations requires staff time for research, presentation preparation, travel time, and time for the actual presentation. A total of four hours is typically spent on each speaking engagement. Local presentations to groups based in Brighton are a community service that helps raise awareness of both Brighton’s history and the existence of the Brighton City Museum. Staff recommends that local presentations remain free to help increase visibility of the museum and provide a needed public service. For organizations based outside of Brighton, staff is recommending a fee of $100 per speaking engagement, which would cover staff’s time and travel to a location outside of the City.
As part of an overall plan to increase visibility and visitors to the museum, a series of lectures and classes will be offered beginning in 2023. It is anticipated that subject matter experts would be hired for the lectures and classes. In addition, some of the classes would teach a skill, which may require materials for each attendee. Examples include sewing/quilting, canning, or pioneer cooking techniques. With limited funding available for programming, staff is proposing the addition of an Education Class fee that would be set based on the direct costs associated with the specific class, divided among the minimum number of attendees required to hold the class. This fee schedule is based on the Recreation Center’s Enhanced fee schedule.
Amendments to Development Application Fees:
These fees have not been updated since the City Council adopted the updated Land Use and Development Code and previously were calculated primarily on the planning division’s time on a development application, along with any costs to cover any legal notices that may be required for applications that required a public hearing. The proposed fee amendments below look to recoup all of the costs associated with each application type. So, in addition to recouping the costs for the planning division and legal notices, the new fees have increased to recoup the costs by additional staff that are required in the review and processing of development applications, which includes: administrative staff, attorney staff, engineers from public works, and management/supervisor staff time. It is also worth mentioning that in the time since the last relevant fee amendment, the City has adopted a new Land Use & Development Code that requires more substantial review from planning staff.
The proposed fees have been calculated from time spent by those staff members paid out of the general fund. The time spent by those paid out of enterprise accounts was not used for calculation purposes as that time is to be accounted for separately via impact fees. Example projects were used for calculation purposes for all the above proposed changes. Of those staff members used, the salary mid-point was taken per reviewer, with average benefits costs applied, and multiplied per hours spent on the example projects for each application type. This was done to ensure that the fees are capturing the costs associated with actual time spent on an application type by staff. Staff’s calculations set a new base for each project type or tier that covers the cost of the processing and necessary reviews for any application for a project of that classification. Projects that have per acre multipliers or tiers have fees that are set to encompass the increased time associated with the scope and scale of those projects.
All of the fee proposals presented are for increases. These increases are necessary if the City wishes to have each applicant cover the costs of processing and development review associated with the application that pertains to the project they are developing in the City of Brighton.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND STAFF RECOMMENDATION
City staff finds that the above fee amendments are necessary to recoup costs associated with applicant driven services and therefore recommends approval.
A draft resolution has been provided to the Council should it decide to proceed with the item as presented.
OPTIONS FOR COUNCIL CONSIDERATION
The City Council has four options when reviewing this item. City Council may:
1.) Approve the item via resolution as drafted;
2.) Approve the item via an amended resolution;
3.) Deny the item; or
4.) Continue the item to be heard at a later, specified date if the Council feels it needs additional information.
ATTACHMENTS
● Resolution for Approval
● Redlined Fee Sheets
● Draft Staff Presentation