Although it still has the hurdle of receiving approval from City Council, the Bridgeport Planning Commission gave a green light for something that almost never happens on the development front. And that is to charge fees for services beyond building permits and business licenses.

 

The Commission unanimously approved, with member Bob Greer abstaining as he will vote on the matter when it comes before Council, a fee schedule for services. The fees would be added to various items Community Development Director Andrea Kerr said every city is charging for currently.

“Basically, we’re the only city that does not charge any fees at all,” said Kerr.

 

Fees, under the proposal, would be added to major boundary adjustments, Planned Unit Development (PUD) concepts, PUD amendments, rezoning on both the commercial and residential front, alley abandonments, commercial plan reviews, commercial and residential zoning board appeals, zoning map adjustments for commercial and residential, zoning text amendments, and commercial and residential zoning variances.

 

The Bridgeport Board of Zoning Appeals still needs to approve the proposed increases on matters they oversee. Because of needing that board to meet, it is likely it will be October or November before the matter is brought to City Council.

 

The matter came up in August’s Commission meeting. At that time, Kerr said during discussion with City Manager Randy Wetmore it was determined a study should be done to see what, or if, other municipalities were charging for the services Bridgeport was providing for free – including cost of legal fees, publishing of legal notices, sending of certified letters along with staff time.

 

Kerr had staff member Staci Unger contact 12 cities statewide. What they found was municipalities were all charging for the fees, and some of the fees were in the thousands of dollars.

 

Member Doug Gray was hesitant on charging fees on Planned Unit Developments. The PUDs are generally part of large developments that, when development takes place, provide revenue for the city.

 

“When they see that they’re going to say, ‘what other fees are we going to get hit for down the road.’ I’m not sure if it’s the best way to move forward,” said Gray.

 

The PUD fees were the largest at $2,500 for review of a concept and $2,500 for an amendment. A review of a PUD, it was discussed during the August meeting, is a heavily time-consuming process on the staff along with legal fees billed to the city.

 

Commission President Rodney Kidd said the PUDs are generally done by large developers. He said those developers know there are going to be fees when they begin doing work with a city; fees that have not existed in Bridgeport.

 

Greer questioned the impetus of doing the fees. Kerr said the reason to begin looking stemmed from, beyond the PUDs, the requests and work being done by the city for things such as rezoning and subdivisions benefitted individuals.

 

“The majority of these (outside the PUD) are basically what it costs us to record, postage, legal fees … It’s not city staff time, but if someone is comes to us wanting us to change something or do something, they should do something, they should be responsible for paying things like legal fees … this is to basically pay those costs,” said Kerr when explaining the process behind being asked to come up with a fee structure for review.

 

Greer then asked if the city had funds to cover this. Kerr said the city did have the funds to continue paying for the services. Gray, however, said the matter would put skin in the game for individuals or entities requesting services from the city.

 

“How many times have we spent our time, with certified letters going out, announcements made to subdivide a property and here it is five or six years later, and nothing has been done with it … It’s half committed,” said Gray.

 

Kerr said Gray’s point was another reason for consideration. She said those requesting change would be “more committed” to moving ahead with their plans if fees were involved.

 

Most of the fees are not higher than $100. Abandonments and zoning text amendments were at $500, while plan reviews for commercial and residential development was listed at .00075 x total cost of construction. A major boundary adjustment would be $100 for one to four lots with a fee of $25 for each parcel at five or more added on.

 

“I’m not sure Council is on board with this process yet,” said Greer, who is City Council’s representative on the Commission.

 

Greer seconded the motion, but then abstained from voting yay or nay. He said he would “have a second bite at the apple” as far as a vote when it comes before Council.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Community Development Director Andrea Kerr, left, reviewing legal ads with staff member Staci Under, while Commission member Doug Gray is shown in the second photo. Bottom photo shows Commissioner and City Council member Bob Greer.