2013 2:00:00 PM

Monday, March 11, 2013 2:00 PM
Sparks Council Chambers, 745 4th Street, Sparks, NV

Planning and Zoning Public Hearings and Action Items: 8.1

Title: Public hearing, consideration and possible action on Resolution No. 3235, revising fees for development services provided by the City of Sparks and specifically considering fees for Annexations, Special Use Permits, Site Plan Reviews, Code Amendments, and Expired Tentative Subdivision Maps.

Petitioner/Presenter: City of Sparks/Jim Rundle, Senior Planner

Recommendation: Staff recommends the City Council amend the Resolution amending Special Use Permit fees associated with development services provided by the City of Sparks.

Financial Impact: Not applicable

Business Impact (Per NRS 237):
A Business Impact Statement is not required because this is not a rule.

Agenda Item Brief: To facilitate business investment and promote job growth in the City of Sparks, staff is proposing to continue the reduced fees for Special Use Permits, Site Plan Reviews, Code Amendments, and review of expired Tentative Maps. The current resolution expires this March of 2013. The proposal extends the resolution indefinitely and proposes increasing the Special Use Permit deposit from $1,250 to $2,500. Site Plan Reviews and Tentative Maps would remain at the $1,250 deposit.

Background: The Development Services Enterprise Fund (DSEF) was created by City Council action in 1999. The intent was to have the development community pay for services the City provided to review, entitle, permit and inspect land use approvals and development activity. Services included in the fund range from Planned Developments to Special Use Permit review. Last year, the City Council approved a resolution amending the fees for Special Use Permits, Site Plan Reviews, Code Amendments, and Tentative Maps with a time and materials billing mechanism. A deposit of $1,250 is currently required for Special Use Permits, Site Plan Reviews, and Tentative Maps; all with an amount not to exceed of $7,495. The Council also approved keeping the “Major” Special Use Permit which requires a deposit of $10,000 credited toward actual staff time. Prior to adoption of this resolution, routine Special Use permits were $13385, minor Special Use Permits were $7,495, routine Site Plan Reviews were $6,975, minor Site Plan Reviews were $4,250, and review of expired Tentative Subdivision maps were $16,050. When the fees were reduced last year, the council wanted to review how this new system was working and therefore included an expiration date in the motion approved in October 2012. Staff brought the item back to the Council for review last October (2012) and presented that 12 Special Use Permits and 11 Site Plan Reviews had been submitted from October 2011 to October 2012. The Council voted to continue the existing resolution for six months so as to provide a full year’s worth of data to the Development Services Users Group and solicit input prior to proposing any changes to the City Council. The six month continuance permitted staff the time to provide complete billing details for a full year of having the amended fee schedule in place. As stated above, there were 12 Special Use Permits submitted from October ’11 to October ’12. All but one of those applications is paid in full. However, every Special Use Permit applicant had to be billed as each project exceeded the $1,250 deposit. The average cost of a Special Use Permit in 2011-2012 was $2,830 and therefore the bill received by the applicant at the end of the project averaged $1,605. At the November 6th 2012 Enterprise Fund Advisory Committee meeting, staff proposed raising the Special Use Permit deposit to reduce the difference between the actual costs and the deposit. The Enterprise Fund Advisory Committee recommended raising the deposit of the Special Use Permit up to $3,500. Since the November meeting, billing and collections have been completed for the 12 Special Use Permits. Since the City has succeeded in collecting the difference for all but one of these cases staff is proposing to raise the deposit for a Special Use Permit from $1,250 to $2,500. Increasing the deposit will bring the amount closer to what actual costs have been. A deposit of $2500 will reduce the amount the City bills for at the end of the project. Currently, the average bill to applicants is approximately $1,600. Resolution #3206 has been attached to this staff report and the fees are listed.

Analysis: See "Background"

Alternatives: The Council may choose to re-approve the current resolution for a time certain or indefinitely.

Recommended Motion: I move to adopt Resolution 3235 revising fees related to development services provided by the City of Sparks for Special Use Permits.

Attached Files:

Resolution Revising Fees.pdf

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