In last night’s regular meeting, the Albermarle County Planning Commission voted to recommend an increase in zoning fees to the Board of Supervisors.
The recommendation proposes a 30-35 percent average increase in zoning fees, with a few special provisions. One such provision was the exemption of fees for temporary fundraising activities—a change made in response to Robert Walters, a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America who asked that fees be removed for nonprofits who do fundraising activities such as selling Christmas trees.
Another provision was the lowering of the original application fee for home-based businesses that have two employees who are not family members. That increase had been the subject of recent public discussion. While staff recommended an increase of $2,000, the commission amended that to $1,000.
While a 25 percent adjustment to zoning fees was made in 2002, the last comprehensive review of fee structure was in 1991.
The commission voted in favor of the recommendation in a 4-1 vote. Commissioner Linda Porterfield voted against adopting the new fee structure.