CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
Memo Date: June 28, 2021
Agenda Date: July 13, 2021
Prepared By: Charlene Neuterman, Interim Community Services Director
Through: Stockton Whitten, City Manager
Requested Action:
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Approve Resolution 2021-058 revising the building permit fee schedule related to the issuance of building permits pursuant to the Florida Building Code and repealing Resolution 2021-040 in its entirety.
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BACKGROUND:
Under Florida’s regulatory system of building construction, local governments are responsible for administering and enforcing the building code provisions of the Florida Building Code. Toward that end, Section 553.80, Florida Statues, enables local governments to provide a schedule of fees for the purposes of carrying out its statutory responsibility to enforce the Florida Building Code. The fee schedule shall be based on direct costs and reasonable indirect costs associated with review of building plans, building inspections, re-inspections and building permit processing; building code enforcement; and fire inspections associated with new construction. building code enforcement; and fire inspections associated with new construction. The fees may also include training costs associated with the enforcement of the Florida Building Code and enforcement action pertaining to unlicensed contractors.
At the April 26, 2021 Council Budget Workshop, the Council approved Resolution 2021-040 adopting the building permit fee schedule related to the issuance of building permits pursuant to the Florida Building Code. The Resolution became effective on June 1, 2021. On March 1, 2021, the City began accepting permits electronically through Citizenserve. The process has been extremely successful, reducing the time for processing permits and allowing for online scheduling of inspections. When the new fee schedule went into effect, the Plan Examination Fee on the schedule could not be implemented effectively in the new Citizenserve online permitting program. The Plan Examination Fee called for 50% of the permit fee collected upon application submittal. Staff experienced significant errors in processing the permits due to calculation errors. Staff directed Citizenserve to remove the Plan Examination Fee so the permits would process correctly.
Staff is requesting approval of Resolution 2021-058 revising the City of Cocoa permit fee schedule without the Plan Examination Fee as part of the schedule. No other changes to the schedule are necessary.
STRATEGIC PLAN CONNECTION:
N/A
BUDGETARY IMPACT:
Budgeted N/A
PREVIOUS ACTION:
April 26, 2021 Cocoa City Council Budget Workshop - Resolution 2021-040 adopted the revised Cocoa building permit fee schedule.
RECOMMENDED MOTION:
Recommendation
Approve Resolution 2021-058 revising the building permit fee schedule related to the issuance of building permits pursuant to the Florida Building Code and repealing Resolution 2021-040 in its entirety.