After supervisor Ken Boyd shared concerns about the efficiency of county staff who deal with development plans, this afternoon members of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, including new supervisors Duane Snow and Rodney Thomas, voted 4-2 against an increase in zoning fees for developers. A second motion was unanimously passed to revisit the fee increase at a later date.
Boyd told fellow supervisors that he’d like to see a greater analysis of the time it takes the county to complete tasks addressed in the proposed amendment, such as reviewing zoning map amendments and site plans. "I haven’t seen that," said Boyd. "If I’ve seen that report, I could go along with that."
"I certainly think we ought to become as efficient as possible," said Supervisor Dennis Rooker. "But I don’t want to throw good money after bad." Both Rooker and Supervisor Ann Mallek voted in favor of passing the fee increase.
The fee increase would help Albemarle County recover a greater percentage of the cost of zoning services. An August 2009 meeting showed that Albemarle County imposed substantially lower fees for some services than some neighboring counties and the City of Charlottesville.
Prior to the meeting, the Free Enterprise Forum released a "Cost of Complexity" report that shows the percentage change between the proposed fee increases and the fees from 1991, the last year that a comprehensive review of zoning fees was performed. Albemarle County last increased fees in 2002, which raised zoning amendments for planned developments under 50 acres from $815 to $1,020, and those over 50 acres from $1,255 to $1,570.
