Spring Lake City Zoning Code
ARTICLE IX
Fees, Guaranties and Inspections
§ 225-46 Fees.
[Amended 5-27-1986 by Ord. No. 9-1986; 3-9-1992 by Ord. No. 5-1992; 9-18-1995 by Ord. No. 18-1995; 8-17-1998 by Ord. No. 14-1998; 8-26-2003 by Ord. No. 18-2003; 2-7-20006 by Ord. No. 3-2006; 9-5-2006 by Ord. No. 16-2006; 3-20-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-05]
A.
Every application for development shall be accompanied by a check payable to the Borough of Spring Lake in accordance with the Master Fee Schedule, as adopted by resolution of the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Spring Lake, unless specifically waived by the Planning Board. The application fee listed shall be nonrefundable and shall be used solely for the purpose of processing said application or review. It should include all work done in connection with said application or review other than those fees charged for engineering or legal reviews. The escrow fee charged for the application and reviews shall be used exclusively of professional reviews by the engineers, attorneys, or other consultants in a particular field, such as traffic, ecology, etc., employed by the Borough or any of its boards and agencies to provide an independent study or report regarding the impact of the applicant's proposed development and/or recommend appropriate treatments. Said escrow fees shall be segregated for each applicant so that the fee that is paid shall be utilized only for that particular application. In the event that any of the escrows remain unused at the conclusion of the application, said amount that is not utilized shall be returned to the applicant. If the escrow fee charged is insufficient as to cover the legal and engineering fees applicable to that particular applicant, then that applicant shall be required to pay all deficiencies within his individual account.
B.
Fees for the Engineer's pre-hearing review and compliance review, as well as the Board Attorney's fee, shall be paid out of the escrow account. Any funds remaining will be returned to the applicant.
C.
Where one application for development includes several approval requests, the sum of the individual required fees shall be paid.
D.
If the applicant desires a court reporter, the cost of taking testimony and transcribing it and providing a copy of the transcript to the Borough shall be at the expense of the applicant, who also shall arrange for the reporter's attendance.
E.
Additional/Nonrefundable fees. Where the application for land use development to the Planning Board requires more than two professional reviews by the Board's staff and consultants and/or more than two caucus meetings, if applicable, and/or more than two public hearings, subsequent to the initial filing of such application and prior to the final determination on such application, the applicant shall be required to pay an additional fee in the amount representing 25% of the base fee, as submitted under Subsection A above, for each required additional procedure.
F.
Compliance review. It shall be the condition of final site plan approval, subdivision approval, and/or variance approval that the applicant shall post an additional fee equal to 25% of the base fee as submitted under Subsection A above for each requested review of the application for compliance with the terms of the resolution granting such approval.
G.
All applications shall be subject to a fee for updating the Borough's geographic information system (GIS). The "Land Use GIS Fee" shall be specified in the Borough's Master Fee Schedule.
H.
All applications which require revision to the Borough's Tax Map shall be subject to a "Tax Map Update Fee" as specified in the Borough's Master Fee Schedule.
§ 225-47 Guaranties and inspections.
A.
Performance guaranty estimate.
(1)
No final application for development (whether for an entire tract or section thereof) shall be approved by the Board until satisfactory completion and performance of all required improvements have been certified to the Board by the Borough Engineer unless the owner shall have filed with the Borough a performance guaranty, sufficient in amount to cover the cost of all remaining required improvements as estimated by the Borough Engineer, and assuring the installation of said improvements as agreed and provided for in this chapter.
(2)
A performance guaranty estimate shall be prepared by the applicant's engineer and submitted to the Borough Engineer for review and approval setting forth all requirements for improvements as fixed by the Board and their estimated cost.
[Amended 2-12-2001 by Ord. No. 4-2001]
B.
Approval by Borough Attorney.
(1)
The owner shall present two copies of the performance guaranty in an amount equal to 120% of the approved performance guaranty estimate for approval as to form and execution by the Borough Attorney.
(2)
The Borough Attorney shall notify the Secretary of the Board prior to the meeting that the performance guaranty is properly executed and can be added to the agenda.
C.
Bonding and cash requirements.
(1)
The performance guaranty shall be made payable and deposited to the Borough of Spring Lake and shall be in the form of cash, letter of credit, certified check or a performance bond in which the owner shall be principal, the bond to be provided by an acceptable surety company licensed to do business in the State of New Jersey. The Borough shall issue its receipt for such deposits and shall cause the same to be deposited in the name of the Borough to be retained as security for completion of all requirements and to be returned to the owner on completion of all required work or, in the event of default on part of the owner, to be used by the Borough to pay the cost and expense of obtaining completion of all requirements.
(2)
Ten percent of the amount of the approved performance guaranty estimate shall be deposited by the owner in cash with the Borough. The remaining 90% may be in cash, letter of credit or surety bond. In the event of default, the 10% fund herein mentioned shall be first applied to the completion of or requirements and the cash or surety bond shall thereafter be resorted to, if necessary, for the completion of the requirements. The cash or surety bond shall recite the foregoing provisions.
D.
Inspection and tests.
(1)
All improvements and utility installations shall be inspected during the time of their installations under the supervision of the Borough Engineer to insure satisfactory completion. The cost of said inspection shall be the responsibility of the owner who shall deposit with the Borough Treasurer an inspection fee to be applied to the payment of the inspection costs, equal to 7% of the amount of the performance guaranty estimate of the cost of the improvements.
(2)
In no case shall any paving work be done without permission from the Borough Engineer. At least two working days notice shall be given to the Borough Engineer prior to any construction so that he or a qualified representative may be present at the time the work is to be done.
(3)
The Borough Engineer's office shall be notified after each of the following phases of the work has been completed so that he or a qualified representative may inspect the work:
(4)
Inspection by the Borough of the installation of improvements and utilities shall not operate to subject the Borough of Spring Lake to liability for claims, suits or liability of any kind that at any time may arise because of defects or negligence during construction or at any time thereafter; it being recognized that the responsibility to maintain safe conditions at all times during construction and to provide proper utilities and improvements is upon the owner and his contractors, if any.
(5)
Upon the completion or substantial completion of all required improvements, the obligor may notify the Borough Council in writing, by certified mail in care of the Borough Clerk, of the completion or substantial completion of the improvements and shall simultaneously send a certified copy thereof to the Borough Engineer. Within 10 working days of receipt of the notice, the Borough Engineer shall inspect all the improvements of which such notice has been given and file a detailed report, in writing, with the Borough Council, indicating either approval, partial approval or rejection of such improvements with a statement of the reasons for any rejection. The costs of the improvements as approved or rejected shall be set forth.
E.
Release. The Borough Council shall approve, partially approve or reject the improvements on the basis of the report from the Borough Engineer, and shall notify the obligor, in writing, by certified mail, of the contents of the Engineer's report and action of the Borough Council, not later than 65 days after the receipt of the notice of the obligor of the completion or substantial completion of the improvements. Failure of the Borough Council to send or provide such notification to the obligor within the 65 days shall be deemed to constitute approval of the improvements and the obligor and surety, if any, shall be released from all liability pursuant to the performance guaranty for such improvements.
(1)
Where partial approval is granted, the obligor shall be released from all liability pursuant to the performance guaranty for such improvements, except for the portion adequately sufficient to secure provision of the improvements not yet approved, provided that 30% of the performance guaranty posted may be retained to insure the completion of all improvements and that said 30% may be applied against all improvements, regardless of when completed.
F.
Conditions and acceptance of improvements. The approval of any application for development by the Borough shall in no way be construed as acceptance of any street or drainage system, or any other improvement nor shall such approval obligate the Borough in any way to exercise jurisdiction over any such street or drainage system or other improvement. No improvement shall be accepted by the governing body unless and until all of the following conditions have been met:
(1)
The Borough Engineer shall have certified in writing that the improvements are completed and that they comply with the requirements of this chapter;
(2)
Any relevant application for development shall have been approved by the appropriate Board;
(3)
The owner shall have filed with the Borough Council a maintenance guaranty in an amount equal to and not more than 15% of the cost of installing the improvements. The maintenance guaranty shall run for a period of two years. The procedures and requirements governing such maintenance guaranty shall be identical with the procedures and requirements for a performance guaranty set forth in this chapter. The requirements for a maintenance guaranty may be waived by the Borough Council only if the Borough Engineer has certified that the improvements have been in continuous use for not less than two years from the date the Borough Engineer certified completion of such improvements and that during this period the owner has maintained the improvements in a satisfactory manner; and
(4)
An as-built plan and profiles of all utilities and roads (three black-and-white prints plus a Mylar copy to be sent to the Borough Engineer) have been given to the Borough with certification signed and sealed by a New Jersey licensed professional engineer as to the actual construction as approved by the Borough Engineer.