Although the city intends for municipal staff to review applications to the extent feasible, the city may retain the services of an independent technical consultant and attorney of its choice to provide technical and legal evaluations of permit applications. The technical consultant and attorney shall have recognized qualifications in the field of small wireless facilities. The review may include, but is not limited to the accuracy and completeness of the items submitted with the application; the applicability of analysis and techniques and methodologies proposed by the applicant; the validity of conclusions reached by the applicant; and whether the proposed small wireless facilities comply with the applicable approval criteria set forth in this chapter. The applicant shall pay the cost for any independent technical consultant and attorneys’ fees through a deposit, estimated by the city, within ten business days of the city’s request. When the city requests such payment, the application shall be deemed incomplete for purposes of application processing time lines until the deposit is received. In the event that such costs and fees do not exceed the deposit amount, the city shall refund any unused portion within 30 days after the final permit is released or, if no final permit is released, within 30 days after the city receives a written request from the applicant. If the costs and fees exceed the deposit amount, then the applicant shall pay the difference to the city before the permit is issued. The technical consultant and attorney shall provide an itemized description of the services provided and related fees and costs. The fees shall be limited to a reasonable approximation of costs and the costs shall be reasonable.
(Ord. 708, passed 12-2-2020)