Naples is increasing its building and planning fees to keep up with other cities and recoup increased costs for time and services.
City Council on March 19 unanimously approved an ordinance to increase fees for building permits, plan reviews, plan revisions and inspections and to add two new fees to help the Building Department manage noncompliance at construction sites and contractors who don’t adhere to approved construction site-management plans.
“The last time [building] fees were increased was 2018,” City Manager Gary Young told Council. “… The Planning Department isn’t self-sufficient, as the Building Department is, but this is a nominal collection and … these fees haven’t been adjusted since 2019.”
The building fee increase would bring in about $183,000, 2.4% of all revenues collected by the Building Department, he said, while the Planning Department fee increase amounts to roughly 40%, $30,000.
The Building Department operates as a special-revenue fund, collecting funds through issuing construction permits and related fees that support department operations, including staffing to enhance customer service.
In 2019, city planning staff reviewed fees in neighboring and similar-sized municipalities and found Naples’ fees were “remarkably lower,” according to a memo by Building Services Director Stephen Beckman and Planning Director Erica Martin. Over the past few months, staff studied fees in Collier County, Marco Island, town of Palm Beach, Lee County, Sanibel and Doral and discovered Naples’ fees again were outdated and lower than all others.
In August 2019, Council approved a fee amendment.
“At that time, we were even more behind — woefully behind,” Martin told Council, noting the city increased fees but didn’t want to match the highest fees charged elsewhere. “We’ve been incrementally trying to become consistent with other municipalities. This will get us there. … We’re not a moneymaker but we’d like to at least cover our costs.”
Most planning petition fees currently range between $200 to $1,000 and are assessed to cover staff time, meetings, noticing to adjacent property owners and advertising costs, the memo said. The amendment increases the base fee for all petitions that require a public hearing and would cover costs involving hearing preparation, including staff time to mail public notices, reviews by multiple departments, preparation of the staff report, advertising of the hearing, and time to present the petition to one or more advisory boards and City Council.
A conditional use application fee would increase from $1,500 to $3,000. Collier County and Marco Island both charge $4,000, while Palm Beach assesses $2,000. A $300 preliminary design review — a cost not assessed by the county or Marco Island — would increase to $1,000, while a final design review would double to $1,000, compared with $3,000 charged by the county. A $150 resubmittal would jump to $500; Marco and the county don’t have similar fees.
A traditional rezoning fee would rise from $3,000 to $4,000, compared with $6,000 assessed by the county and $5,000 by Marco Island. Time-certain inspection fees would rise from $70 to $90. In comparison, Collier charges $130; Marco Island, $54; and Port Charlotte, $50.
Temporary certificate of occupancy fees will remain at $150 and the TCO is valid for 30 days but would rise to $300 for 60 days and $450 for 90 days. Extensions beyond an initial TCO would cost $1,500. That represents $185,240 in increased revenues based on 2023 permit activity, adding 2.4% to the 2024-25 budgeted revenues.
Fees for temporary uses will be addressed at a later date. The temporary-use fees would increase to cover the costs of Fire Department personnel time for review and inspections when a tent is included in the request, and to cover staff time if an application requires Council approval.
