Colrain doubling special permit application fees

COLRAIN — The Selectboard on Tuesday approved doubling from $250 to $500 the individual fees for a special permit, a site plan review and a zoning variance, as well as the cost for an applicant to appeal a decision made by the building commissioner.

Town Administrator Diana Parsons recommended increasing the fees following a discussion with Alice Wozniak, the clerk for the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, who informed her that the $250 fee for each service does not cover all the costs that the town incurs.

“The application fee we charge now is essentially supposed to cover getting the abutters list, having the hearing, doing the advertisement and things like that … but it’s not,” Parsons said. “So we’re incurring costs for these applications and the law allows you to have a permit fee that covers it.”

Parsons added that the last time these fees were increased was in 2017. Since then, the costs associated with holding hearings, particularly advertising costs and postage costs for mailing notices to abutters, have increased.

The Selectboard unanimously approved increasing the fees from $250 to $500. The change is now in effect.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.