Builders will soon face higher fees to operate in the City of Williamsburg, but city leaders say the hikes are needed to cover increased demands for services.
At its Sept. 11 meeting, the Williamsburg City Council approved increases to the city’s permit fee schedule, the first major changes since 2006.
The changes included increases in the flat fee of some permits, and altered the per square foot rate for commercial and multi-family buildings.
City Manager Jack Tuttle said the rates were needed to fund an additional staff position in the city codes compliance office. The Codes Compliance Division had seven staff members in 2009, but dropped to four in 2011.
Codes Compliance Administrator Matt Westheimer said the new fee schedule would pass the costs of the permitting process onto those using the office’s services.
“The intent is to have the development community and property owners who require specific services offered by the division move toward covering more of the costs of operation, thus requiring less reliance on the general fund money to operate,” Westheimer said.
Beginning Oct. 1, the minimum fee for any permit issued by the city will increase from $50 to $75. The last such increase was in 2005.
The administrative fee charged on all permits issued by the city will also increase for the first time since 2006, from $40 to $55. Westheimer said the administrative time for issuing permits had increased due to a rise in the number of permit applications submitted online.
The city’s elevator renewal fee will also rise from $50 to $75. Building owners are required to renew annually compliance certificates for all elevators located in the city. The last change to the elevator permit fee occurred in 2006.
Council members also approved a change in the square foot rate for commercial and multi-family building permits. The rate for commercial buildings currently stands at $0.17 per square foot up to the first 10,000, and $0.16 for every additional square foot. The current rate for multi-family units with three or more units is $0.16 per square foot for all finished area.
City staff prepared two options for the council’s consideration. The first increased rates per square foot to a flat rate of $0.20 per square foot for both commercial and multi-family buildings. The second based permit fees on a percentage of construction costs. The permit fee would be $4 for every $1,000 of construction costs.
Westheimer said most of the metro Richmond area, Newport News and the City of Norfolk use valuation of construction to set building permit fees, and that a similar approach allowed for the greatest cost recovery for the Codes Compliance Division.
While Westheimer said the valuation of construction option would provide greater revenue to the city, council members questioned whether it could negatively affect the quality of buildings in Williamsburg.
“New development should pay for itself,” Vice Mayor Paul Freiling said. “The challenge, though, is, at the same time, we want to encourage, motivate, stimulate development — when it’s appropriate — and redevelopment.”
Councilmen Scott Foster and Douglas Pons said approving the second option could disincentivize quality building.
“It seems a bit counterintuitive that a higher finished building that’s going to cost more you’re charging them more, where a lower cost building at a lower finish would ultimately seem to me to require more inspection and more time. You’d tend to I would assume get better performance out of someone who’s going to be working on a higher finish building,” Foster said.
In a unanimous vote, council members approved the first option.
City staff reports estimate the rate increases will yield about $84,160 in additional revenue.
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