Article by Madeline Osberger, Aspen Daily News:
To help fund additional staff in anticipation of final approval of the Base Village project, the Snowmass Village Town Council on Monday approved an increase of building permit fees, the first rise in over a decade.
“Fees haven’t changed since 2003,” said Mark Kittle, chief building official for the town.
He said he looked at what is charged in communities from Aspen to Rifle and Breckenridge to arrive at a new permit and plan review fee structure that’s based on building valuations.
While at certain valuations the current fee schedule will almost double, the prices are still lower than what the city of Aspen charges, and in many cases about half, he said.
“Aspen’s way out of line with everyone else,” Kittle added.
For example, on a project valued at $175,000, Snowmass Village currently charges $1,544 for building permit fees. It will now increase those fees to $3,075. According to Kittle, in Aspen the same valuation would now cost $5,900.
In a permit fee schedule comparing current rates across the Western Slope for a $500,000 valuation, Kittle showed Snowmass Village (at $3,600) is on par with Eagle ($3,738) and Summit County ($3,663) but charging slightly less than Garfield County ($3,880). In Aspen, that fee would run $12,775.
But with unanimous approval by the council to update the municipal code with the new fee schedule for building permits, the chasm between developing in Snowmass Village and Aspen has narrowed significantly.
On that $500,000 property, that $3,600 building permit fee will rise to $6,075 under the new fee structure.
“With Base Village coming on, we’re going to have to hire some help,” Kittle said Monday.
In a memo to council he wrote, “The Base Village build-out will require additional staff, and the costs to operate the department effectively will naturally increase. This adjustment is necessary and justifiable due to the additional workload.”
Kittle said Pitkin County, which is now closer in its building permit fee structure to Snowmass Village than Aspen, “is going in the same direction that we are.”
Plan review fees will also be allowed to increase in Snowmass Village and will rise even higher than proposed at the urging of new Councilman Tom Goode.
Kittle had proposed $125 per hour, with a two-hour minimum, for inspections conducted outside of normal business hours. That’s a jump from $55 per hour. But Goode, in his first official meeting as a councilman, urged Kittle to charge $175 per hour, which he said was “more standard.”
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