[Added 2-25-1980 by Ord. No. 1980-4; amended 4-19-1983 by Ord. No. 1983-5; 3-29-1988 by Ord. No. 1988-6]
Subdivision and site plan fees are to provide
for the administrative, clerical and professional services, the cost
of processing, including but not limited to engineering, planning
consultant and attorney's fees, reviewing, holding public hearings
on and acting upon all development plan applications, including engineering
costs incurred in the inspection of improvements during construction,
and for the cost of plotting subdivisions on the base maps of the
Borough and recording the establishment of new lots or new lot lines
in all appropriate offices.
A. An applicant shall be responsible to reimburse the
municipality for:
(1)
All expenses of professional personnel incurred
and paid by it necessary to process an application for development
before a municipal agency, such as, but not by way of limitation:
(a)
Charges for reviews by professional personnel
of applications and accompanying documents.
(b)
Issuance of reports by professional personnel
to the municipal agency setting forth recommendations resulting from
the review of any documents submitted by the applicant.
(c)
Charges for any telephone conference or meeting
requested or initiated by the applicant, his attorney or any of his
experts.
(d)
Review of additional documents submitted by
the applicant and issuance of reports relating thereto.
(e)
Review or preparation of easements, developer's
agreements, deeds or the like.
(f)
Preparation for and attendance at special meetings.
(2)
The cost of expert advice or testimony obtained
by the municipal agency for the purpose of corroborating or reviewing
testimony of the applicant's experts, provided that the municipal
agency gives prior notice to the applicant of its intention to obtain
such additional expert advice or testimony and affords the applicant
an opportunity to be heard as to the necessity for such additional
advice or testimony and definition of the limitations on the nature
and extent thereof.
B. No applicant shall be responsible to reimburse the
municipality for any of the following:
(1)
The municipal agency shall be entitled to be
reimbursed by the applicant for attendance of the municipal agency’s
professional personnel for that application at regularly scheduled
meetings and at special meetings requested to be called by the applicant.
The applicant shall be billed at the professionals’ regular
billing rates.
[Amended 5-27-1997 by Ord. No. 1997-13; 9-28-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-8]
C. The term "professional personnel" or "professional
services," as used herein, shall include the services of a duly licensed
engineer, surveyor, planner, attorney, realtor, appraiser, architect
or other expert who would provide professional services to ensure
that an application meets performance standards of Stanhope Borough
or any other experts whose testimony is in an area testified to by
the applicant's expert.
D. No plat or site plan shall be signed nor shall any
zoning permits, building permits, certificates of occupancy or any
other types of permits be issued with respect to any approved application
for development until all bills for reimbursable services have been
received by the municipality from professional personnel rendering
services in connection with such application and payment has been
approved by the governing body. The applicant may, however, at his
option, deposit with the Municipal Clerk an amount agreed upon by
the applicant and the municipal agency as likely to be sufficient
to cover all reimbursable items; and, upon posting said deposit with
the Municipal Clerk, the appropriate maps or permits may be signed
and released or issued to the developer. If the amount of the deposit
exceeds the actual costs as approved for payment by the governing
body, the developer shall be entitled to a return of the excess deposit,
but if the charges submitted and approved by the governing body exceed
the amount of the deposit, the developer shall be liable for payment
of such deficiency.
E. No professional personnel submitting charges to the municipality for any of the services referred to in Subsection
A(1)(a) of this section shall charge for any of the services contemplated by Subsection
A(1)(a) of this section at any higher rate or in any different manner than would normally be charged the municipality for similar work as ascertained by the professional's contract of employment with the municipality or by provisions of the Municipal Salary Ordinance. Payment of any bill rendered by a professional to the municipality with respect to any service for which the municipality is entitled to reimbursement under this article shall in no way be contingent upon receipt of reimbursement by a developer, nor shall any payment to a professional be delayed pending reimbursement for a developer.
F. Deposits received from any developer pursuant to Subsection
A of this section shall be held by the Treasurer in a special deposit account, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-53.1, and, upon receipt of bills from professionals duly approved by the governing body, the Treasurer may use such escrow funds to pay the bills submitted by such professional or professionals, return any surplus funds to the developer or bill the developer for any shortfall.
G. Whenever any application which initially has been
submitted to the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of the Borough
of Stanhope is not fully processed within the time frames provided
within this article and is resubmitted within one year of the original
filing date for further action by said Board, there shall be a fee
for resubmission work and review of the Borough Engineer, Attorney
or Planner in the amount of 50% of the initial application fee and
50% of the initial escrow account fee.
H. The Zoning Board shall have the authority to waive all or any portion of an escrow fee otherwise required by §
100-34.3 whenever it shall deem said escrow requirement to be inconsistent with the size and/or nature of the particular application being considered.
[Added 2-28-1989 by Ord. No. 1989-1]