The Village Board hereby finds and determines that in order to protect and safeguard the Village of Southampton, its residents and their property with respect to certain land developments and projects within the Village, all buildings and related improvements, highways, drainage facilities, utilities and parks within said developments and projects should be designed and constructed in a competent and workmanlike manner and in conformity with all applicable governmental laws, codes, rules and regulations. Similarly, the assessment of proposals as may be brought before the Land Use Boards of the Village, including the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and the Board of Architectural Review and Historic Preservation, should be made with a full and complete review by each Board. To assure the foregoing, it is essential for the Village Land Use Boards to have and to retain competent engineers and other professional consultants to review and approve plans and designs, make recommendations to the Boards, inspect the construction of highways, drainage facilities, utilities and parks to be dedicated to the Village and to recommend their acceptance by the Village and for the Village to have and retain competent attorneys to assist in the application review process, to negotiate and draft appropriate agreements with developers, to obtain, review and approve necessary securities, insurance and other legal documents, to review proposed deeds and easements to assure that the Village is obtaining good and proper title, to render legal opinions and to generally represent the Village with respect to any legal disputes and issues which may arise regarding such developments and projects. The cost of retaining such competent engineers, attorneys and other professional consultants should ultimately be paid by those who seek to benefit from such developments and projects, including variances, site plans, and special permit uses, rather than by general Village funds which are raised by assessments and/or general taxes paid by taxpayers of the Village. Moreover, to assure the foregoing, it is essential that the Village Land Use Boards may retain competent engineers and other professional consultants, including architectural historians, in order to make the assessments required of them under the Village Law and in accord with the applicable criteria within the Village Code.

This article is enacted by local law under the authority of Municipal Home Rule Law § 10, Subdivision 1(ii)(a)(12) and (d)(3), and the Municipal Home Rule Law § 22. To the extent that the Village Law does not specifically permit the Village Board of Trustees and the Village Land Use Boards to require reimbursement to the Village of legal, engineering and other professional consulting fees, expenses and costs incurred by the Village and its Boards in connection with the review and consideration of applications for subdivision approval, and for the approval, amendment or extension of planned districts, for the approval, formation, amendment or extension of a district and for the review and consideration of applications for variances, site plans and special permit uses, as well as for the review of applications made for certificates of compliance, certificates of appropriateness, and all other applications before the Land Use Boards of the Village, it is the expressed intent of the Village Board of Trustees to change and supersede such statutes. More particularly, to the extent that such statutes do not authorize the deferral or withholding of such consideration, review, acceptance or approvals in the event that such fees, expenses and costs are not paid to the Village, it is the expressed intent of the Village Board of Trustees to change and supersede the Village Law to empower the Village to require such payment as a condition to such consideration, review, acceptance or approvals.

Applications being considered.

Simultaneously with the filing of an application for approval of a project including any of the considerations as included in § 116-40.1A above, the applicant shall deposit with the Village a sum as set forth in § 116-40.6, which sum shall be used to pay the costs incurred by the Village for legal, engineering and other professional consulting services as described in this article.

Upon receipt of such sums, the Village Administrator shall cause such monies to be placed in a separate non-interest-bearing account in the name of the Village and shall keep or cause to be kept a separate record of all such monies so deposited and the name of the applicant or developer and the application, development or district for which such sums were deposited.

Upon receipt and approval by the Land Use Board before which an application is pending of itemized vouchers from an attorney, engineer and/or other professional consultant for services rendered on behalf of the Village pertaining to a project, including any of the considerations as included in § 116-40.1A above, the Village Administrator shall cause such vouchers to be paid out of the monies so deposited and shall debit the separate record of such account accordingly. The engineer and attorney shall furnish copies of such vouchers to the applicant immediately after such vouchers are submitted to the Village.

The Village shall review and audit all such vouchers and shall approve payment of only such legal, engineering, and/or other professional consulting fees, expenses, costs and fees as are reasonable in amount and necessarily incurred by the Village in connection with the above identified projects in accord with § 116-40.1A. For purposes of the foregoing, an expense, cost or fee or part thereof is reasonable in amount if it bears a reasonable relationship to the average charge by engineers or attorneys to the Village for services performed in connection with approval or construction of a similar projects, and in this regard, the Village may take into consideration the size, type, value and number of buildings to be constructed, the amount of time to complete the development or project, the topography of the land on which such development is located, soil conditions, surface water, drainage conditions, the nature and extent of highways, drainage facilities, utilities and parks to be constructed and any special conditions or considerations the Village may deem relevant. For purposes of the foregoing, a fee, expense or cost, or part thereof, is necessarily incurred if it was charged by the attorney, engineer or other professional 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, protect public or private property from damage from uncontrolled surface water runoff and other factors, to assure the proper and timely construction of highways, drainage facilities, utilities and parks and otherwise to protect the legal interests of the Village, including receipt by the Village of good and proper title to dedicated highways and other facilities and the avoidance of claims and liability and such other interests as the Village may deem relevant or to assure the proper and timely and complete review and consideration of an application for a variance, controlled site plan or a specific permit or of such other matter under the jurisdiction of a Land Use Board.

If at any time during or after the processing of such applications there shall be insufficient monies on hand to the credit of such applicant to pay the approved vouchers in full, or if it shall reasonably appear to the Village Administrator that such monies will be insufficient to meet vouchers yet to be submitted, the Village Administrator shall cause the applicant to deposit additional sums as the Village Administrator deems reasonably necessary or advisable in order to meet such fees, expenses and costs or anticipated fees, expenses and costs.

In the event that the applicant fails to deposit such funds or such additional funds, the Village Administrator shall notify the Chair of the Land Use Board or Boards before which the application is pending and the Village's Codes Enforcement Officer of such failure, and any review, approval, building permit or certificates of occupancy shall be withheld by the appropriate board, officer or employee of the Village until such monies are deposited.

After final approval, acceptance and/or the issuance of a certificate of occupancy relating to any project as identified in § 116-40.1A above, and after payment of all approved vouchers submitted regarding such application, any sums remaining on account to the credit of such applicant shall be returned to such applicant, along with a statement of the vouchers so paid.