Council adds new application fees for state‑required housing adjustments and emergency shelter siting

The Monmouth City Council adopted Resolution No. 20-17 on June 17 to add two new land‑use application fee categories and set fees: a housing adjustment application (authorized by Senate Bill 1537) at $337 and an emergency shelter siting application (House Bill 3395) at $730.

Suzanne Deppner, community economic development director, explained the housing adjustment application is intended to allow limited deviations from quantifiable code standards that may impede housing production under the state statute; staff proposed the $337 fee because the workload is similar to the city’s existing minor variance/adjustment process. "We're proposing that [$337] for a housing adjustment… because the housing adjustment seemed to most closely align with the workload with the minor adjustment," Deppner said.

For emergency shelter siting the staff proposal set a $730 fee, basing that level on the city’s fee for design review of buildings under 15,000 square feet; staff noted the first such application processed locally took more time than a typical case and that the proposed fee is a reasonable estimate to recover a portion of staff effort.

Councilor McKeel asked whether applicants who could not afford the fee could request a waiver; staff said the city’s ordinance allows exemptions or council‑level consideration of fee waivers on a case‑by‑case basis, and applicants could request waiver or reduced payment through the council process. Councilor McKeel moved adoption of the resolution; the motion carried on roll call and the resolution was adopted.

Staff said the new fees will be adjusted annually by a cost‑of‑living index and that staff conducted an internal workload‑based estimate rather than a comprehensive cross‑jurisdictional fee survey.