- The annual license fee for a spayed or neutered dog has increased from $13.50 to $15.00.
- The fine for leaving your car parked overnight on the wrong side of the street has increased to $25.00. If memory serves, it had been $18.00.
- There is now a $100 fee for swimming lessons at Oakdale Lake for nonresidents.
- Area variance: $250.00
- Use variance: $300.00
- Code interpretation: $100.00
- Non-conforming use: $300.00
- Special use permit: $500.00
- Site plan approval: $300.00
- Minor subdivision: $250.00 + $75 for each lot
- Major subdivision: $500.00 + $75 for each lot
- Lot improvement or lot line adjustment: $100.00
The new fees were the subject of discussion at the HPC meeting on July 24. The topic was introduced by code enforcement officer Craig Haigh, because he thought the members of the HPC might be unaware of the new fees. HPC chair, Phil Forman said he had hoped the Common Council would ask the HPC to weigh in on the fee and suggested that it should be progressive. The fee for a new stoop or door on a historic building should not be the same as the fee for a major restoration. "When you charge people fees they believe to be unfair," Forman said, "they try to avoid it."
Victoria Polidoro, counsel to the HPC, explained, "The fees are supposed to offset administrative expenses," which Haigh defined as "the time it takes to receive [an application] and pass it along." HPC member John Schobel argued, "The scope of the work does impact the scope of the administrative stuff." Polidoro then recommended that the HPC propose a fee schedule and present it to the Council.
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One would assume in a functioning municipal body these fees would have been discussed and fleshed out with the HPC before rollout.
ReplyDeleteThe increase for the overnight parking is ridiculous. It's not a big deal when people don't abide by that rule - it only inconveniences the street sweeper, and that doesn't happen every night.
ReplyDeleteI was biking on Allen Street recently and came across a very old sign that read OVERNIGHT PARKING RULES IN EFFECT. Then I saw another one on a different street. There are none of these signs on STATE, WARREN, COLUMBIA, 5TH, UNION, and others, at least as far as I can tell. If the HPD, DPW and City Hall are serious about keeping cars on one side every night, these types of signs should be all over and conspicuous. Otherwise, HPD is just playing GOTCHA and now it's a more costly GOTCHA ticket. We will abide by your rules if offer us the rules by displaying them properly AND reminding us of them. That's like a kindergarten lesson. My guess is that these OVERNIGHT PARKING RULES IN EFFECT signs were once all over town but just disappeared one by one for whatever reasons and they weren't replaced. Maybe only 2 survive. It's time to replace them, HPD and DPW, if you really feel that there is a problem with overnight parking. Just raising the cost is insulting. You are not doing enough.
The alternate side parking rules are utterly pointless, nothing but an obvious ploy to catch unsuspecting people and to make some easy money for the city. The rules were suspended during the first few months of the pandemic and somehow we all survived. I rarely ever see street sweepers coming through. Except during snow emergencies this rule is just a gotcha.
DeleteHudson has always been SIGN AVERSE...learned that first night I arrived after I got a ticket. I was told the sign is posted at the city limits, true, never thought of looking there. Hudson has so many hold over quirky bits, it hard to understand the logic ... don't try!
DeleteLS, on my own FIRST NIGHT I had the same experience!
DeleteI arrived at my new place in the wee hours, fully laden, and the next day was told the same thing: read the sign when you enter the city.
I thought, what kind of place is this?
In the context of the ZBA application, what pray tell is a
ReplyDelete"non conforming use," and how is that different from a "use variance?"