Identification of Potential Fee Structures for Land Development Reviews by the Virginia Department of Transportation

About the report:

This report describes an effort to determine the costs incurred by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) when reviewing land development proposals, such as traffic impact studies, comprehensive plan amendments, rezonings, and subdivision and site plans. Cost estimates were derived from a survey of land development staff from VDOT's districts and residencies who perform the reviews on a regular basis. The VDOT reviewers who participated in the survey were shown actual land development proposals taken from the archives of VDOT's Culpeper District Office and asked to provide an estimate of how long it would take to review each proposal. The resulting estimates suggest that a review of even a relatively simple land development proposal will cost more than $1,000, which at the time of this writing is the statutory fee cap. The report, therefore, recommends that $1,000 be used as the fee for review of a land development proposal. The report also recommends that additional studies be conducted to develop a fee schedule that is fair and easy to administer and that recovers most of the costs VDOT incurs in performing reviews of land development proposals.

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