(a) The City may hire any consultant and/or expert necessary to assist the City in reviewing and evaluating the application, including the construction and modification of the site, once permitted, and any requests for recertification.
(b) An applicant shall deposit with the City funds sufficient to reimburse the City for all reasonable costs of consultant and expert evaluation and consultation to the City in connection with the review of any application, including the construction and modification of the site, once permitted. The initial deposit shall be $8,500.00. The placement of the $8,500.00 with the City shall precede the pre-application meeting. The City will maintain a separate escrow account for all such funds. The City's consultants/experts shall invoice the City for its services in reviewing the application, including the construction and modification of the site, once permitted. If at any time during the process this escrow account has a balance less than $2,500.00, the applicant shall immediately, upon notification by the City, replenish the escrow account so that it has a balance of at least $5,000.00. Such additional escrow funds shall be deposited with the City before any further action or consideration is taken on the application. In the event that the amount held in escrow by the City is more than the amount of the actual invoicing at the conclusion of the project, the remaining balance shall be promptly refunded to the applicant.
(c) The total amount of the funds needed as set forth in division (b) of this section may vary with the scope and complexity of the project, the completeness of the application and other information as may be needed to complete the necessary review, analysis and inspection of any construction or modification.