Commissioner Scott Gibbs told Public Works Director Ken Rearden Monday to make sure Hall County remained competitive and 'we did not price ourselves out of business'. Rearden assured Gibbs that would not be the case, adding that Hall's fees were much lower than surrounding counties.
"The fees are going up but we were way out of alignment with everybody else in the surrounding area," Rearden said. "We were at $175 for a commercial development base fee and we're going to $400. Everybody else had been like that; we had not looked at these fees for over ten years."
Rearden said Hall's fees would be competitive with neighboring cities and counties and lower than some of them.
Three amendment resolutions to raise permit fees get a first reading and the first of two public hearings at Thursday's voting session. One increases fees for final inspection and as-built plans and stormwater management facilities. Another raises fees for land disturbance permits and a third resolution increase fees associated with preliminary plat review and final plat review.
A FINAL STEP
Commissioners gave the preliminary go-ahead to monitor the North Oconee River, a final step in getting the state environmental permit for Hall County's new North Hall sewer plant.
Rearden said over two years of work led to this step; the next step is getting the permit.
"It's the end of the permitting process of the plant," Rearden said. "The Commission had approved us to move forward with still permitting the plant in North Hall so I've been marching down that road for over two years with the processes to build the North Oconee Reclamation Facility."
Rearden said once the state reviews and approves construction plans, building could start early next year on the $8-million plant. At their last meeting commissioners opted to build the plant and skip their sewer agreement with Lula to serve the Gateway Industrial Park on Highway 365.
Public Works Dir. Ken Rearden
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