Source: https://ecode360.com/11128458
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 00:06:18+00:00

Document:
§ 226-1 Legislative findings, intent and purpose.
§ 226-2 Estimate of fees; escrow required.
§ 226-3 Consulting fee not included in administrative fees.
§ 226-4 Fees charged pursuant to SEQRA.
§ 226-5 Receipt of money by Village Mayor.
§ 226-6 Receipt and approval of consultant's itemized voucher by Village Board.
§ 226-7 Review and audit of itemized vouchers by Village Board.
§ 226-8 No direct payment by applicant to Village consultant.
§ 226-9 Request for additional sums from applicant.
§ 226-10 Failure to deposit requested review fees.
§ 226-11 Return of unexpended funds to applicant.
§ 226-12 SEQR documents to be posted on Internet.
§ 226-13 Internet posting requirements.
The Village Board hereby finds and determines that in order to protect and safeguard the Village of Tivoli, its residents and their property, with respect to certain land developments within the Village, all buildings, highways, drainage facilities, sanitary sewer facilities, other utilities and parks within said developments should be designed and constructed in a competent and workmanlike manner and in conformity with all applicable governmental codes, rules and regulations and dedicated and conveyed to the Village in a legally sufficient manner. In order to assure the foregoing, it is essential for the Village to have Village staff and competent engineers and planners retained by the Village to review applications, plans and designs, make recommendations to the Village Board, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and Architectural Review Commission and to recommend their acceptance by the Village. It is also essential to have competent attorneys retained by the Village to negotiate and draft appropriate agreements with developers, obtain, review and approve necessary securities, insurance and other legal documents, review proposed deeds and easements to assure the Village is obtaining good and proper title and to generally represent the Village with respect to legal disputes and issues concerning these development projects. The cost of staff time and retaining competent engineers, planners and attorneys should be ultimately be paid by those who seek to profit from such developments rather than from general Village funds paid by taxpayers of the Village.
This chapter is enacted under the authority of Subdivisions a(12) and e(3) of Municipal Home Rule Law § 10(1)(ii) and Municipal Home Rule Law § 22. To the extent Village Law §§ 7-712-a, 7-712-b, 7-718, 7-725-a, 7725-b, 7-728, 7-730, 7-732 and 7-738 do not authorize the Village Board, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals or Architectural Review Commission to require the reimbursement to the Village of legal, planning, and engineering expenses incurred by the Village in connection with review and consideration of development applications, it is the expressed intent of the Village Board to supersede such statutes. To the extent that such statutes do not authorize the deferral or withholding of such approvals in the event such expenses are not paid to the Village, it is the expressed intent of the Village Board to change and supersede Village Law §§ 7-712-a, 7-712-b, 7-718, 7-725-a, 7-725-b, 7-728, 7-730, 7-732 and 7-738 to empower the Village to require such payment as a condition to such approvals.
A reviewing board may require an applicant to deposit an initial sum of money into an escrow account in advance of the review of an application for a special permit, site plan or subdivision approval, zoning amendment, variance or other appeal or application. Said sum shall be in an amount estimated to cover the reasonable and necessary costs to the Village in obtaining professional review of the application, taking into account the Village's experience in similar applications or the experience of neighboring municipalities. Costs may include staff costs and consultant fees for planning, engineering, legal and other professional and technical services required for the proper and thorough review of an application.
The review fees provided for herein are in addition to application or administrative fees required pursuant to other sections of the Tivoli Village Code. Monies deposited by applicants pursuant to this section shall not be used to offset the Village's general expenses of professional services for the several boards of the Village or its general administrative expenses.
The reviews governed by this chapter shall include all environmental review pursuant to law, including review of the proposed action under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Fees charged strictly as a result of a SEQRA review shall in no event exceed the maximum amounts that can be charged pursuant to the SEQRA regulations by the lead agency.
Upon receipt of monies requested for an escrow account, the Village Mayor shall cause such monies to be placed in a separate non-interest-bearing account in the name of the Village and shall keep a separate record of all such monies deposited and the name of the applicant and project for which such sums were deposited.
Upon receipt and approval by the Village Board of itemized vouchers from consultants for services rendered on behalf of the Village regarding a particular application, the Village Treasurer shall cause such vouchers to be paid out of the monies so deposited, and shall debit the separate record of such account accordingly. The Village shall provide copies of the vouchers to the applicant upon request.
The Village Board shall review and audit all such vouchers and shall approve payment of only such consultant charges as are reasonable and necessary in connection with the review and consideration of applications. A charge or part thereof is reasonable in amount if it bears a reasonable relationship to the average charge by consultants to the Village for services performed in connection with the review of a similar application. In auditing the vouchers, the Village Board may take into consideration the size, type and number of buildings to be constructed, the topography of the site at issue, environmental conditions at such site, the infrastructure proposed in the application and any special conditions the Village Board may deem relevant. A charge or part thereof is necessarily incurred if it was charged by the consultant for a service which was rendered in order to protect or promote the health, safety or other vital interests of the residents of the Village, and protect public or private property from damage.
In no event shall an applicant make direct payment to any Village consultant as compensation for services performed for the Village by the consultant in connection with his/her application.
If at any time during the processing of an application there shall be insufficient monies on hand to the credit of an applicant to pay the approved vouchers in full, or if it shall reasonably appear to the reviewing board that such monies will be insufficient to meet vouchers yet to be submitted, the reviewing board shall require the applicant to deposit additional sums as the board deems necessary or advisable in order to meet such expenses or anticipated expenses.
In the event the applicant fails to deposit the requested professional review fees into an escrow account, any application review, approval, permit or certificates of occupancy may be withheld or suspended by the reviewing board, officer or employee of the Village until such monies are deposited.
Upon completion of the review of an application or upon the withdrawal of an application, and after all reasonable and necessary professional review fees already incurred by the Village have been paid and deducted from the escrow account, any balance remaining in the escrow account shall be refunded within 60 days after the applicant's request.
The following SEQR documents must be posted on a publicly available Web site after the Village, or any board or agency thereof, including without limitation the Village Board, the Planning Board, and Zoning Board of Appeals, acting as lead agency, has issued a positive declaration under SEQR: any environmental impact statement (EIS), including but not limited to draft, final, and supplemental EISs; comments received from any governmental agency, interested party, or member of the public with respect to such EIS; and the responses to these comments. The above-mentioned documents are referred to herein and in § 226-13 as "SEQR Internet documents."
Unless determined by the Village Board to be impracticable, the Village's official Web site (http://www.tivoliny.org) will be the posting site for all SEQR Internet documents. If the Village Board deems posting on the Village's Web site impracticable, the applicant shall post the SEQR Internet documents on a publicly available Web site provided by the applicant for the period required by the lead agency and in any event in accordance with Article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law and applicable regulations.
When an applicant submits a hard copy of a SEQR Internet document to the lead agency, the applicant shall simultaneously submit a copy in digital portable document format (otherwise known as "pdf”) on a compact disc to the lead agency, or other format required by resolution of the Village Board from time to time, which will then be forwarded to the Village's Webmaster for posting. No SEQR Internet document will be deemed officially submitted to the lead agency until the SEQR Internet document is posted and accessible to the public. The applicant shall be responsible for collecting, digitizing and providing to the Village in pdf format all comments received on the EISs. This chapter does not change any of the applicant's other SEQR obligations under state and local law, including, without limitation, the filing and circulation of hard copies of SEQR Internet documents.
Every SEQR public notice and filing must clearly indicate the address of the Web site at which the SEQR Internet documents have been posted.

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