Special Applications

APPLICATION REVIEW FEES SPECIAL ACCOUNT

In accordance with Chapter 593 and Chapter 111 Section 31 of the MGL the Reading Board of Health adopts these regulations to protect the health and safety of the community.

When reviewing an application, the Board of Health may determine that the assistance of outside consultants is warranted due to the size, scale or complexity of a proposed

project, because of a project’s potential impacts or because of the expertise required. The Board of Health may require that applicants pay a “review fee” consisting of the

reasonable costs incurred by the Board of Health for the employment of outside consultants engaged by the Board of Health to assist in the review of an application.

In hiring outside consultants, the Board of Health may engage engineers, planners, lawyers, urban designers or other appropriate professionals who can assist the Board of Health in

 analyzing a project to ensure compliance with all relevant laws, ordinances/bylaws and regulations.

Funds received by the Board of Health pursuant to this section shall be deposited with the municipal treasurer who shall establish a special account for this purpose. Expenditures

from the special account may be made at the direction of the Board of Health without further appropriation. Expenditures from this special account shall be made only in connection with

 the review of a special project or projects for which a review fee has been or will be collected from the applicant. Failure of an applicant to pay a review fee shall be grounds for denial of

 the application/permit.

Review fees may only be spent for services rendered in connection with the specific project from which they were collected. Accrued interest may also be spent for this purpose. At

 the completion of the Board of Health’s review of a project, any excess amount in the account, including interest, attributable to a specific project, shall be repaid to the applicant or the

 applicant’s successor in interest. For the purpose of this regulation, any person or entity claiming to be an applicant’s successor in interest shall provide the Board of Health with

 documentation establishing such succession in interest.

Any applicant may make an administrative appeal from the selection of the outside consultant to the Board of Selectmen. Such appeal shall be in writing and within 10 days

of the Board of Health’s decision. The grounds for such an appeal shall be limited to claims that the consultant selected has a conflict of interest or does not possess the

minimum, required qualifications. The minimum qualifications shall consist either of an educational degree in, or related to, the field at issue or three or more years of practice in the

 field at issue or a related field. The required time limit for action upon an application by the Board of Health shall be extended by the duration of the administrative appeal. In the event

 that no decision is made by the Board of Selectmen within one month following the filing of the appeal, the selection made by the Board of Health shall stand.