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The Village of Lansing made a change to its zoning code Monday that will raise the application fee for one and two-unit buildings.  Mayor Donald Hartill said the new fees are about double the previous cost for submitting a building/land use or Special Permit application.  But he adds that it covers the costs of additional inspections modern building code requires Code Enforcement/Zoning Officer Mike Scott to conduct.

"Mike ends up making several extra trips for a variety of reasons," Hartill said. "You first see the foundation is there, and then you see that the framing is OK, and then you see whether the exterior coatings are OK, and then you see whether the interior coatings are OK.  Then our electrical inspector looks at the electricity, and Bolton Point inspects the plumbing.  There is an overall final inspection that says you can now have a temporary Certificate of Occupancy subject to some conditions.  Once those conditions are satisfied you get your terminal Certificate of Occupancy."

Village Attorney William Troy said that the rise isn't as high as it first appears, because the old fee-structure had base fees and add-on fees.

"It was broken down into subcategories," said Troy "I think they decided if it's one unit it's this much, and if it's two units it's this much -- we're not going through and have all these subcategories of fees.  They just lumped them together so there is one fee listed for each of those types of building."

The new law only impacts applications for a building/land use or Special Permit for residential buildings (§ 145-57D in the Village zoning ordinance).  The earlier fee schedule started at $220 for one or two-unit residences up to 1,400 square feet, $300 for up to 2,400 square feet, $400 for up to 3,400 square feet, and so on.  There were additional fees for accessory buildings, demolition, changing the category of use for a building, and land use site improvements.

The new flat-fee for a one-unit building is $800, and $1,200 for a two unit building. 

"This had not been updated in decades," said Village Trustee Ronny Hardaway. "Mike went through all of the fees and determined that we were behind the times compared to all the local municipalities around us.  He determined that these two numbers are fair, and bring us up to date as far as the fee schedule is concerned."

"It's still lower than most other municipalities," Hartill said.

Local Law #4 of 2019, setting the new fee structure, passed unanimously after a brief public hearing.

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