New fees for subdivision and zoning applications in the Fremont County Planning and Zoning Office which stirred some controversy at a public hearing nearly three weeks ago, have been adopted by the Fremont County Commissioners with some modifications. The Commissioners said they followed the advice of some of those who testified saying that certain subdivision application fees for adjusting lot lines, boundary lines, and vacating of lot lines, would be too much of a burden on small property owners if fees were increased as much as three times. In the final adoption, the Board modified the proposed fees for ten planning and zoning categories.
As an example, the current fee of $300 for lot line and boundary line adjustments, and vacation of interior lot lines will be increased to $600 on March 1st but will not increase to $1,075 as first proposed. The fee for applying for authorization of a home occupation will increase from $150 to $205 on March 1st. Originally that fee was intended to go to $350. The Commissioners said they want to encourage home occupation applications so they can operate legally in various neighborhoods, but did not want the fee to be too excessive that it might discourage someone from filing an application.
The other categories will see fee increases as first proposed. Among them is the fee for a subdivision preliminary plan going from $1,800 to $2,475. The application fee for minor subdivisions will go from $700 to $1,625. The Commissioners say the intent of the fee increases is to recover the costs of providing the service. The original fee schedule as proposed would have recovered 90 percent of the cost. The ten items modified downwards by the Board will see those applications recover fifty percent of the actual cost according to the comprehensive cost study performed by Eric Parrish of the Public Resource Management Group in Denver.
Several contractors and real estate brokers have criticized the fee increases saying they will serve to discourage building and growth in Fremont County. Other citizens have gone on record supporting the fee increases saying it’s a move towards having growth pay its’ own way without being subsidized by taxpayers.
The complete set of new fees have been published as a link on the Planning and Zoning page elsewhere on this web site.
As an example, the current fee of $300 for lot line and boundary line adjustments, and vacation of interior lot lines will be increased to $600 on March 1st but will not increase to $1,075 as first proposed. The fee for applying for authorization of a home occupation will increase from $150 to $205 on March 1st. Originally that fee was intended to go to $350. The Commissioners said they want to encourage home occupation applications so they can operate legally in various neighborhoods, but did not want the fee to be too excessive that it might discourage someone from filing an application.
The other categories will see fee increases as first proposed. Among them is the fee for a subdivision preliminary plan going from $1,800 to $2,475. The application fee for minor subdivisions will go from $700 to $1,625. The Commissioners say the intent of the fee increases is to recover the costs of providing the service. The original fee schedule as proposed would have recovered 90 percent of the cost. The ten items modified downwards by the Board will see those applications recover fifty percent of the actual cost according to the comprehensive cost study performed by Eric Parrish of the Public Resource Management Group in Denver.
Several contractors and real estate brokers have criticized the fee increases saying they will serve to discourage building and growth in Fremont County. Other citizens have gone on record supporting the fee increases saying it’s a move towards having growth pay its’ own way without being subsidized by taxpayers.
The complete set of new fees have been published as a link on the Planning and Zoning page elsewhere on this web site.