Legal Notice - Planning

Details
Please note: This hearing was originally scheduled for March 6, 2012 but has been cancelled on that date due to the election. The hearing has been rescheduled and re-noticed for March 20, 2012.

LEGAL NOTICE
Planning Board
TOWN OF NEEDHAM
NOTICE OF HEARING


In accordance with the provisions of M.G.L. Chapter 44, Section 53G, M.G.L. Chapter 41, Section 81-Q, and M.G.L. Chapter 40A, Section 9, the Needham Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 7:50 p.m. in the Charles River Room of the Public Service Administration Building, 500 Dedham Avenue, Needham, Massachusetts, regarding a proposed amendment to the Subdivisions Regulations and Procedural Rules of the Planning Board. The proposed amendment would allow the Planning Board to impose and collect reasonable fees to pay for the employment of outside consultants, engaged by the Board, for specific expert services deemed necessary by the Planning Board to adequately review applications submitted to the Board. The Planning Board proposes to impose a consultant fee on those applications, which, as designated by the Planning Board, require the services of outside consultants for the review process due to the size, scale, complexity or potential impacts of a proposed project or because the Town lacks the necessary expertise to perform the review work related to the approval. The specific sections proposed for amendment are as follows:

1. Amend the Subdivisions Regulations and Procedural Rules of the Planning Board, Section 4, “Planning Board Rules for Planned Residential Development Specials Permits, Residential Compound Special Permits, Flexible Development Special Permits, Site Plan Review Special Permits”, Article II, “The Application”, by inserting a new Section 9, entitled “Permit Review Fees” as follows and by renumbering the remaining sections accordingly:

“Section 9. Project Review Fees

Any applicant who submits an application pursuant to these Rules and Regulations may be required to submit a project review fee in accordance with the following provisions of this section:

(a) When reviewing an application for approval, the Planning Board may determine that the assistance of outside consultants is warranted due to the size, scale or complexity of a proposed project or because of a project’s potential impacts or because the Town lacks the necessary expertise to perform the review work related to the approval. The Planning Board may require that applicants pay a “project review fee” consisting of the reasonable costs incurred by the Planning Board for the employment of outside consultants engaged by the Planning Board to assist in the review of a proposed project.

(b) In hiring outside consultants, the Planning Board may engage engineers, planners, traffic consultants, attorneys, architects, housing specialists, financial analysts, and/or other appropriate outside consultants who can assist the Planning Board in reviewing and analyzing the proposed project. The minimum qualifications shall consist either of an educational degree in, or related to, the field at issue, professional licensure or three or more years of practice in the field at issue or a related field.

(c) Funds received by the Planning Board pursuant to this section shall be deposited with the Town Treasurer who shall establish a special account for this purpose in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 44, Section 53G of the General Laws. Expenditures from this special account may be made at the direction of the Planning Board without further appropriation. Expenditures from this special account shall be made only for services rendered in connection with a specific project or projects for which a project review fee has been collected from the applicant. Any accrued interest may also be spent for this purpose. At the completion of the Planning Board’s review of a proposed project, any excess amount in the account, including interest, attributable to a specific project, shall be repaid to the applicant or the applicant’s successor in interest. A final report of said account shall be made available to the applicant or the applicant’s successor in interest. For the purpose of this section, any person or entity claiming to be an applicant’s successor in interest shall provide the Planning Board with documentation establishing such succession in interest.

(d) The Planning Board shall give written notice to the applicant of the selection of the outside consultant(s), which notice shall state the identity of the consultant(s), the amount of the fee to be charged to the applicant, and a request for payment of said fee in its entirety. Such notice shall be deemed to have been given on the date it is mailed or delivered. No such costs or expenses shall be incurred by the applicant if the application or request is withdrawn within five days of the date notice is given.

(e) The fee must be received in its entirety prior to the institution of consulting services. The Planning Board may request additional consultant fees if the necessary review requires a larger expenditure than originally anticipated or new information requires additional consultant services. Failure by the applicant to pay the consultant fee specified by the Planning Board within ten (10) business days of the request for payment shall be cause for the Planning Board to deny the application.

(f) Prior to paying the consultant fee, the applicant may appeal the selection of the outside consultant(s) to the Board of Selectmen. The grounds for such an appeal shall be limited to claims that a selected consultant has a conflict of interest or that a selected consultant fails to possess the minimum required qualifications. The written appeal must be received by the Board of Selectmen within ten (10) days of the date consultant fees were requested by the Planning Board. A copy of the appeal shall be simultaneously provided to the Planning Board. The time limit for the Planning Board’s action on the proposed project shall be extended by the duration of any administrative appeal to the Board of Selectmen. In the event that the Board of Selectmen makes no decision regarding the appeal within thirty days following the filing of such appeal, then the selection of the Planning Board shall stand.”

2. Amend Section 3, Subdivisions, Sub-Section 3.2, Submission of Definitive Plans, Paragraph 3.2.2, by inserting a new second paragraph to read as follows:

“Any applicant who submits an application pursuant to these Rules and Regulations may be required to submit a project review fee in accordance with the regulations established for special permits pursuant to Section 4, “Planning Board Rules for Planned Residential Development Specials Permits, Residential Compound Special Permits, Flexible Development Special Permits, Site Plan Review Special Permits”, Article II, “The Application”, paragraphs (a) through (f).”

Persons interested are encouraged to call the Planning Board office (455-7500) for more information. A copy of the text of the proposed amendment will be mailed on request. Copies of the text may also be examined in the offices of the Planning Board in the Public Services Administration Building, 500 Dedham Avenue, Needham, MA and the Town Clerk in the Needham Town Hall, 1471 Highland Avenue, Needham, Massachusetts. Interested persons are encouraged to attend the public hearing and make their views known to the Planning Board.