To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Katherine Smith, Acting Director, Public Works & Development
Prepared By:
prepared
Kat Hammer, Senior Planner, Public Works and Development
end
presenter
Presenter: Kat Hammer, Senior Planner, Public Works and Development
end
Subject:
title
Fee Waiver Request: Colorado Muslim Society Islamic Center (Case No. AA26-006)
end
Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The property owner and applicant, Colorado Muslim Society (the “Applicant”), is requesting a waiver of all review fees for their Use by Special Review Administrative Amendment application (Case no. AA26-006). The 3.77-acre property is located at 2071 S. Parker Road, Denver, Colorado 80231. The administrative amendment application proposes relocating the trash enclosure and adjusting the entrance, including new automated gates. The letter requesting the fee waiver and the Applicant’s justification for this waiver are attached.
end
Alignment with Strategic Plan: Good Governance - Deliver mandated and essential services with excellence.
Background and Discussion:
Historically, Public Works and Development staff have not supported fee waiver or reduction requests. The Board of County Commissioners (the “Board”) has directed the Public Works and Development Department to recover costs associated with land development review by applying application review fees that are commensurate with the amount of staff time required to review and process each type of application. Those fees were established within the adopted fee schedule. The Land Development Code allows applicants to request fee waivers, and the Board may approve or deny those waiver requests (Section 5-2.1.B.4.b and c).
Pursuant to Land Development Code (“LDC”) Section 5-2.1.B.4, an applicant may submit a written request to the Public Works Department for the waiver of all or a portion of all required fees. In the written request, the applicant should put forth the extent of the waiver and the reasons for the request. The Planning Division Manager or a designee will review the request and provide a recommendation to the Board. The County Commissioners will approve or deny the request based on a review of the evidence and the recommendation of the Planning Division Manager or designee.
The development review fees for this administrative amendment total $4,450, including Public Works and Development ($4,300) and Arapahoe County Public Health ($150). The applicant has requested a waiver of all fees for this project.
Arapahoe County Public Health found that their project review will require significantly less review time than a typical administrative amendment and recommends a waiver of their $150 review fee for this case. The project will require a typical amount of Public Works and Development staff review and processing time. Public Works and Development does not recommend waiving the Public Works and Development Fees. The attached staff report provides additional findings and background information.
Alternatives:
The Board of County Commissioners has the following alternatives:
1. Approve County staff’s recommended partial fee waiver of $150 for health department review and deny the request to waive Planning and Engineering fees in the amount of $4,300.
2. Approve the Applicant’s requested full fee waiver in the amount of $4,450.
3. Approve a partial fee waiver other than the staff recommendation.
4. Deny the fee waiver.
Fiscal Impact: If development review fees are waived, County revenues anticipated on the basis of application fees will be reduced by $4,300. Approving the waiver of the health department review fees results in a loss of fees in the amount of $150.
Alignment with Strategic Implementation Strategies: This proposal is a quasi-judicial application and is evaluated against criteria in the Land Development Code.
Staff Recommendation: Based on the findings in the attached staff report, staff recommends that the Board grant a partial fee waiver of $150 for the Arapahoe County Public Health review. Staff recommends denial of the Planning and Engineering fee waiver. This would result in total fees of $4,300 for the Administrative Amendment.
Concurrence: The Public Works and Development Planning and Engineering Services Divisions find that it is unreasonable to reduce the Planning and Engineering fees associated with the review of Case No. AA26-006. Staff review time for the proposed amendment is expected to be typical for this case type, and the fees are intended to cover staff review time.