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Nov 08, 2009 (The Daily Progress - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Some officials are calling Albemarle County's proposed increases in zoning fees long overdue, while others fear it would hurt businesses and homeowners.

One fee that Albemarle is considering would increase the cost of a permit for a home business to $4,500 -- up from $440.

"The county continues to confront the same dilemma," said Board of Supervisors Chairman David L. Slutzky. "On the one hand, voters clearly didn't want to raise taxes to pay for things, including the staff time necessary to process these zoning requests, which would suggest that the county should do what staff recommended and raise the fees so the burden is shifted to the developers.

"On the other hand," he said, "it's a terrible idea, when you consider the condition of the economy, that we would impose an additional cost burden at this time on an industry that's suffering."

The Albemarle Planning Commission will have a public hearing on the fee proposals at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the County Office Building at 401 McIntire Road.

By a split vote, the Planning Commission decided in October to advertise a proposed fee structure that would recover 75 percent of the county's costs to process zoning requests.

Some members of the Planning Commission said developers should pay all or most of the cost of obtaining permits, to lessen the burden to the taxpayers at large.

Other members contend that setting the fees too high would damage county efforts to revitalize the local economy.

The Board of Supervi-sors will get the final say.

Mark Graham, the county's director of community development, said supervisors could vote as early as Dec. 2 on how much to increase the fees -- if at all.

Graham said that when supervisors reviewed the county staff's recommendations in August to increase the fees, "they seemed very comfortable with it at that time."

However, county staff had recommended fee increases that aren't as severe as the proposed increases the Planning Commission advertised late last month.

Graham said most supervisors are interested in imposing fees that were comparable to other localities and could cover a significant portion of the costs to the county.

The last full review of the county's fees was in 1991, Graham said, which is why Albemarle's zoning fees are minimal compared with other localities.

Among others, the county is considering new fees as high as $2,600 for site plans reviewed by the Architectural Review Board, as well as a new $590 fee for the ARB to review building permits.

Supervisor Lindsay G. Dorrier Jr. said fees that recover about 75 percent of the county's costs are appropriate for the most part.

"I don't believe they've been raised in a number of years," he said.

However, Dorrier said that some of the proposed fees might be too high, particularly home business fees. Dorrier also said that the county should look at ways to reduce the county's costs for obtaining permits.

"I hear that's a major complaint by the people who purchase the permits," Dorrier said. "The county's process is so slow that it costs them a lot of extra money -- because time is money."

Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd said he cannot say what kind of fee increases he would support without hearing more information. But he added that the proposed increases raise a red flag.

"They look awfully steep to me," Boyd said. "And I think the timing is bad also, but I'll wait until we get the staff report on it before I make a decision."

Duane Snow, who was elected last week to represent the Samuel Miller District seat currently held by retiring Supervisor Sally H. Thomas, called the increases "drastic."

Snow said that if the Board of Supervisors increases the fees prior to him taking office in January, he might seek to have them lowered after he takes over the Samuel Miller seat next year.

"If they pass it the way it is, I would absolutely want to have the opportunity to look at it again," Snow said. "Right now, I think we need to look at ways of stimulating the economy and getting this area going again. And I don't think raising the fees is going to help."

Rodney S. Thomas, who won Slutzky's Rio post, said that the proposed fee increases seem "absurd."

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Brandon Shulleeta

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