HomeMy WebLinkAboutWS Item 01 - Development FeesMEMO TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: ROGER NELSON, CITY MANAGER
MEETING DATE: NOVEMBER 5, 2002
SUBJECT: WORKSHOP - AMENDING APPENDIX "B" & "E" RELATIVE TO
DEVELOPMENT FEES
Staff will brief City Council on proposed amendments to development fees. These fees
have not been adjusted in many years and should be reviewed.
BACKGROUND:
APPENDIX B
Platting -
Staff is proposing amendments to the fees related to final plats, re -plats, and easement
and right-of-way abandonments due to the growing costs of processing and recording.
The cost to record a final plat with the Tarrant County Clerk's office is approximately
$100 each. The current fees inadequately recover the cost of the recording and staff
time required for review and comments, re -review and comments, preparation of Council
and Planning and Zoning Submittals, and final processing after Council approval in
preparation for recording.
The current re -plat fees do not recoup the City's costs to review and process the
submittals of re -plats, notify surrounding owners by mail, place notification of the re -plat
public hearing in the Ft. Worth Star Telegram and record them at the Tarrant County
Clerk's Office.
The proposed final and re -plat fees do not fully recoup the City's costs but do reflect an
increase. That increase would partially address the increasing cost of recording the final
document without placing the full impact of the costs of the plat services upon the
developer or subdivider. ( Exhibit "A")
The proposed re -plat fees also reflect an advertising cost of approximately $100 per re -
plat in addition to the recording cost of approximately $100 per re -plat.
Abandonments
The City staff receives numerous inquiries from citizens and property owners during the
year related to requests for abandonment of all or portions of public easements and
street rights of way. These requests consume staff time through:
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• Initial meetings with the requestor,
• Meetings with their surveyor to address our required information
• Determining the need for the abandonment,
• Identifying any existing City facilities in the right-of-way or easement to be
abandoned,
• Confirming agreement with the request from public utilities,
• Preparation of City Council package including memos and ordinances, and
• Recording of abandonment documents.
The City incurs a direct expense in filing fees at Tarrant County, which is not currently
covered by any fee.
Staff feels that the right-of-way and easements that we are asked to abandon have
value to the City and that the City should, at a minimum, be compensated for staff time
and the out of pocket expense incurred with these requests. Staff proposes that fees be
adopted for abandonment requests. (Exhibit "A")
Street Signs
Developers are required to purchase street sign posts, street name markers and stop
signs for each street within their development. Current charges imposed for these signs
is $55 per intersection. This fee is markedly below our cost for these items. Staff
proposes to impose revised fees for these items to recoup the City's Labor and Material
Costs. (Exhibit "A")
As the continued development in Grapevine moves from single family residential to
multi -family and non-residential, staff is committing an increasing amount of time and
effort in the review of private improvements that have a direct impact or connection to
existing or planned public improvements. The expense related to the review time is not
covered by fees. Staff is proposing modifications in the scope of fees imposed upon
developers and sub -dividers relative to construction plan review and approval and
construction inspection.
Staff currently spends significant amounts of time and effort in the review and inspection
of private facilities constructed in association with non -single family residential
developments. Apartments, Commercial and Industrial developments often include
private facilities including roadways, parking lots, driveways, storm drainage systems,
water distribution systems and sanitary sewer collection systems that directly connect to
City systems.
• Private drainaae systems that ultimately connect to the City's receiving systems.
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October 30, 2002 (3:57PM)
If these private systems are not designed and constructed correctly, they can
overflow and flood into the surrounding City streets which do not have the capacity to
collect the overload of surface flow. City streets bordering non-residential property
have drainage systems with provisions for underground connection points for the
private drainage systems. These streets do not provide the capacity for all storm
drainage flow to enter the street as overland flow or surface flow from driveways. If
the onsite private systems to not perform adequately the street system suffers.
0 Private waterlines through an apartment complex or commercial development.
These lines serve the role of major distribution lines in the complexes but have only
one large water meter at the City's water main. it is important to the integrity of the
City's water system and to fire protection within the complex that the private lines are
designed and constructed to meet the City's standards.
• Private sanitary sewer lines through an apartment complex or commercial
development
These lines serve the role of major collection lines in the complexes but have limited,
centralized connection points to the City's sanitary sewer system. it is important to
the integrity of the City's sanitary sewer system to prevent inflow and infiltration and
insure that the private lines are designed and constructed to meet the City's
standards.
Staffs review and inspection of these types of facilities has evolved the past few years
to insure quality construction and to protect the interests of the City and its infrastructure.
The cost of these efforts has not been covered by fees.
The City currently imposes a plan review and inspection fee equal to 5% of the cost of
the public improvements associated with a development. Staff is proposing to expand
this 5% fee to include the inspection of those private improvements that have direct
connection and potential impact upon City systems.
Staff also proposes to impose a re -review fee of $250 for each review submittal after the
first two submittals. This will reduce the staff being utilized as a Quality Assurance
service for private consultant engineers.
The amount of review and inspection time required for non -single family residential
development exceeds the current fees and presents an opportunity for the City to
recoup some its costs thru fee modifications. (Exhibit "A")
Staff also proposes to simplify the Drainage Inspection Fee imposed upon non-
residential development for the review and inspection of lot to lot drainage planning and
implementation. The graduated classification & fee schedule will be eliminated and
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replaced with a flat fee of $350 per acre. This fee modification will only impact
developments greater than one acre which now have a very low fee when compared on
a per acre cost basis with those developments less than one acre in size.
Staff proposes to impose a $500 fee for processing floodplain reclamation applications
on FEMA designated streams within the City of Grapevine. FEMA has recently adopted
rules pushing more of the review responsibility on the Cities by requiring that the Cities:
• Perform the detailed reviews of the computer models, confirm hat the models meet
FEMA criteria and sign off on the Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) application,
• Verify that all other permits have been issued by other regulatory agencies (EPA, U.
S. Army Corps of Engineers, TNRCC, etc.)
• Publish notice in the local newspaper that a LOMR has been requested and is being
considered for a specific area.
• Certify that the fill in the floodplain was placed and compacted to a density of 95% of
Standard Proctor density,
• Provide a letter stating that the property in question is "reasonably safe from
flooding".
These responsibilities represent a significant increase in the City Staffs participation in
the LOMR submittal and will require much more Staff time to process the application.
Out of pocket costs to the City for the publishing of the notice will be approximately $100
per application.
Finally, Staff proposes to increase the Inspection Overtime Reimbursement cost
imposed upon contractors wishing to work before or after normal working hours. The
current fee is $25 per hour and does not recoup the cost to the City for City Inspector's
overtime costs. The proposed fee of $45 per hour will recoup the City's cost.
Staff recommends approval.
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October 30, 2002 (3:59PM)
EXHIBIT "A"
FEE COMPARISONS
ACTIVITY
EXISTING FEE
PROPOSED FEE
APPENDIX B
Final Plat
Residential Zoning, excluding R -MF -1 & R -MF -2
$138 + $ 5 / Lot
$200 + $ 5 / Lot
Residential Zoning, R -MF -1 & R -MF -2
$138 + $ 25 / AC
$200 + $ 25 / AC
Commercial & Industrial Zoning
$138 + $ 25 / AC
$200 + $ 25 / AC
Amendment Plat
$138
$200
Amendment Plat - Reconcile ROW or Easement Conflicts
$50
$100
Re -Plat
Residential Zoning, excluding R -MF -1 & R -MF -2
$138 + $ 5 / Lot
$300 + $ 5 / Lot
Residential Zoning, R -MF -1 & R -MF -2
$138 + $ 25 / AC
$300 + $ 25 / AC
Commercial & Industrial Zoning
$138 + $ 25 / AC
$300 + $ 25 / AC
Amendment Plat
$138
N/A
Amendment Plat - Reconcile ROW or Easement Conflicts
$50
N/A
Plat Vacations
$90
$200
bandonments
ight-of-Way
$0
$390
asement
IE
$0
$390
Street Signs
One sign Including Materials & Labor
$55
$150
Two signs Including Materials & Labor
$55
$225
Three signs Including Materials & Labor
$55
$300
Four signs Including Materials & Labor
$55
$375
APPENDIX E
Plan Review and Inspection Fee
Public Improvements
5%
5%
Private Improvements
N/A
5%
Re -review Fee in excess of 2 reviews
$0
$ 250 each
Drainage Inspection Fee
Less than 1/2 AC
$250
$0
1/2 AC to 1 AC
$350
$0
>1 AC
$450
$0
Fee Per AC
$0
$350
Floodplain Reclamation (LOMR) Fee
$0
$500
Inspection Overtime Reimbursement
$25
$45