Kane County Reporter

The Montgomery Village Board discussed its development policies and expressed concern about the impact on certain residents during a recent meeting.

The board had a first reading of a new ordinance for the village code amending the comprehensive fee and deposit schedule for building and development within the village's jurisdiction. Village staff members performed a comprehensive review of their current fee schedule and compared it to those of other local communities.

This was done because, outside of infrequent additions in recent years of fees for development features, such as antennas, solar panels and cell towers, Montgomery's fee schedule had not been studied or changed since 2011. Since many aspects of building, development and permits have changed since then, village officials decided that the code needs to reflect more modern practices.

The review also included examining staff time and dedication to certain permit processes to help discern where to streamline and alter fees and schedules to maximize efficiency for developers and village staff members alike. The board will be adding fees for newer permits in Montgomery such as vehicle charging stations, detached garages, generators and asbestos abatement. 

The main highlights of the proposed changes include the following: increasing the base fee for building permits from $50-$55 to $90-100; raising new construction fees from $25 per 100 square feet to $30 per square feet; and a 100% fee bump for working without a permit instead of a 50% markup. 

Additionally, planning fees would grow from $400 to $600; the annexation fee would climb from $400 to $1,000; and subdivision/PUD fees would move to a base fee model with additional per acreage fees due to additional staff time for reviewing plans for larger developments.

While none of the trustees were opposed to any of the changes at the March 27 meeting, they were concerned about residents trying to annex their land since $1,000, despite being feasible for commercial developers, may be expensive for residential developers. The board asked staff members to study alternate options for their second reading but approved the process overview.

"If that is a concern of the board, we can also look, especially if it's for smaller residential lots for Montgomery Road," Montgomery Director of Community Development Sonya Abt said. "We can look at splitting it up so that anything less than an acre could be kind of the new $600 base fee and then anything over that would be the thousand dollars...if that would make the board more comfortable with those situations."