Sun Valley adopts new P&Z fees
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
Developers and property owners planning
building projects in Sun Valley will be required under new legislation to pay
substantially higher fees for planning services provided by the city.
Sun Valley City Council members Thursday,
June 17 voted unanimously to approve a completely new set of planning and zoning
fees, some of which will climb by more than 80 percent.
Under direction of the council, Community
Development Director Jack Cloud had submitted a proposed set of fees designed to
modestly increase the city’s recovery of planning-related expenses.
City officials have determined that the
city—using a fee structure adopted in 1998—has been recovering less than 20
percent of planning-and-zoning related costs through the fees it charges. In
2002, the city collected a mere $29,000 in fees for services estimated to cost
approximately $150,000.
City Administrator Jan Wellman, in his
second-to-last day of work for the city, said the fee hike was warranted.
"It would bring us into consistency with
other jurisdictions in the valley, particularly Ketchum and Hailey," Wellman
said.
City attorney Rand Peebles said the city
cannot use planning fees to create a "profit center" for the city but advised
the council that the proposed hikes "aren’t anywhere close to getting into that
realm."
Council members ultimately opted to add an
additional 25 percent hike to the new fees proposed by staff.
The city is preparing to publish a new fee
schedule for public use.