23.06.120 Fees

a. General. All permit fees, surcharges, plan checking fees, fees for inspections and reinspections, and all other fees, shall be those established by resolution of the City Council.

b. Expiration of Plan Review. Applications for which no permit is issued within 180 days following the date of application shall expire by limitation, and plans and other data submitted for review may thereafter be returned to the applicant or destroyed by the building official. The building official may extend the time for action by the applicant for a period not exceeding 180 days on written request by the applicant showing that circumstances beyond the control of the applicant have prevented action from being taken and that extension will not result in violation of this code or any other laws. An application shall not be extended more than two times. An application may be extended at the discretion of the Building Official if this code or any other pertinent laws or ordinances have been amended subsequent to the date of the application. In order to renew action on an application after expiration, the applicant shall resubmit plans and pay a new plan review fee, and the plans shall comply with the codes and other pertinent laws or ordinances in effect at the time of resubmittal.

(1) Planning Applications. For applications for which a planning application was approved, a completed building permit application shall be filed before the two-year expiration date of the planning approval; and a building permit shall be issued no later than six months after the expiration date. Extension for issuance of a building permit may be granted at the discretion of the building official if the applicant demonstrates that the delay in performance was caused by circumstances beyond the control of the applicant and that the applicant has diligently pursued approval of the permit.

c. Investigation Fees—Work Without a Permit.

(1) Investigation. Whenever work for which a permit is required by this code has been commenced without first obtaining a permit, a special investigation shall be made before a permit may be issued for such work.

(2) Fee. An investigation fee, in addition to the permit fee, shall be collected whether or not a permit is then or subsequently issued. The amount of the investigation fee shall be adopted by resolution of the City council. The payment of such investigation fee shall not exempt an applicant from compliance with all other provisions of either this code or the technical codes nor from the penalty prescribed by law.

d. Fee Refunds. The building official may authorize refunding of a fee paid hereunder which was erroneously paid or collected.

The building official may authorize refunding of not more than 80 percent of the permit fee paid when no work has been done under a permit issued in accordance with this code.

The building official may authorize refunding of not more than 80 percent of the plan review fee paid when an application for a permit is withdrawn and if no plan review services have been rendered.

The building official shall not authorize the refunding of any fee paid except upon written application filed by the original permittee not later than 180 days after the date of fee payment.