Oktibbeha County supervisors tacked on a tiered application fee to a proposed development review process at their Monday meeting.
Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the process, its rules and proposed fees on June 6 and could vote to adopt the plan at that meeting.
District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller said the county needs to make a decision on the proposal soon so it avoids creating confusion or delaying developers.
“There are people wanting to develop right now and wanting to know if they have to go through the guidelines,” she said before motioning the June public hearing.
Under the proposal, site development permits would be required for new single-family dwellings, multi-family apartment complexes, commercial facilities, churches, schools and industrial developments.
Before setting the public hearing, supervisors instituted a progressive fee system for the applications. Those wishing to develop single-family homes, commercial properties and schools must pay $21 for the permit, while permits for multi-family complexes and industrial sites will cost $261.
Each fee includes the cost for the permit, a $10 Oktibbeha County Chancery Court filing fee and $1 for the court’s archives.
Site inspections and traffic studies are also required with larger proposals.
Supervisors previously tasked County Engineer Clyde Pritchard to develop the guidelines to “ensure safe development while minimizing the potential for harmful impacts,” a draft of the proposal states, after new apartment complex developments in the Blackjack community damaged the local infrastructure.
The permitting process would focus on a development’s safe and legal access points, flood plain consideration, availability of potable water, sewage disposal and storm water control.
It also sets minimum thresholds — apartment complexes with at least 161 units or light industrial sites with more than 103,000 square feet of gross floor area — that would require a traffic study for developments.
Most small developments — single-family homes, for example — will require minimal inspection from the county. Larger developments, however, could face conditions set by Pritchard, and approval of the construction could ultimately fall to the board of supervisors.
Pritchard said the finished draft “is still a living document” and can be altered by the board after it goes into effect.
The board previously paid the Oxford-based planning firm Slaughter and Associates $4,000 to develop a working subdivision ordinance, but supervisors ditched the 65-page proposal in favor of Pritchard writing a two- or three-page set of rules with fewer restrictions.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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