(A) No application for site approval for a pollution control facility is deemed complete without payment of the applicable filing fee.
(B) The applicant shall deposit with the County Clerk a fee of $250,000 with an application for site approval for a pollution control facility, except that an application for a waste transfer station only shall have a fee of $150,000. Filing fees shall be in the form of a certified or cashier's check made payable to the Lake County Treasurer.
(C) All expenses incurred by the county in conducting the review of the request for site approval, the subsequent hearing, and the site approval decision shall be paid from the fees as provided in this subchapter, as amended. Application fees shall be used by the county to defray the reasonable and necessary cost of preparing to process and processing the application including, but not limited to, cost of site inspection, clerical expenses, copying costs, notice costs, court reporter fees, Hearing Officer fees, attorney fees, professional consultant fees (i.e. qualified professional engineers, planners, appraisers, and the like), tests, exhibits, and testimony, if any, and other relevant costs incident to the consideration of the application for site approval, the public hearing, the decision and all expenses leading up to the consideration not previously reimbursed and preparing the record on appeal. Costs and expenses incurred by the county in defending an applicant's appeal of a denial of a siting application are specifically exempted from reimbursement.
(D) In the event that, at any time prior to the conclusion of the site approval decision, the county has expended such sums as to reduce the balance of the application fee to a figure less than $10,000, the applicant, upon notice from the county, shall deposit an additional $10,000 to the application fee to cover costs as described above.
(E) Upon termination of any proceedings under the hearing process, a final accounting and summary of all authorized expenditures and reimbursements shall be presented to the appropriate County Board committees. Any portion of an application fee not required for reimbursement to the county for costs or expenses incurred by the county under the hearing process shall be returned to the applicant. Should there be costs and/or expenses in excess of the amount paid by the applicant in the application fee, the applicant shall bear any and all additional costs. Any portion of the application fee that remains unexpended at the conclusion of the site approval decision shall be returned to the applicant.
(F) In order to properly administer the application fee received with respect to the hearing process and procedure set forth herein, the Lake County Treasurer is hereby authorized and directed to receive and hold application fees for administration subject to the review and approval of the Planning, Building, Zoning and Environment and the Financial and Administrative Committees.
(G) In order to expedite payment of all bills incurred as a result of administering the hearing process, all bills and questions concerning billing should be directed to the County Administrator.
(Ord. 24-0593, passed 5-14-2024)