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A recent ruling by the Westhampton Beach Village Board, one that alters the way the municipality calculates building fees for large structures, is expected to save at least one applicant a significant amount of cash.
On Thursday night, November 3, board members voted 4-0 to modify the way the village calculates the estimated construction costs of buildings larger than 20,000 square feet—a figure that is ultimately used to determine how much money an applicant must pay to secure the required building permits. Trustee Brian Tymann was absent from the meeting.
With the modification, Metro Self Storage, a national company based in Illinois that is looking to construct a 100,000-square-foot, three-story storage facility on the west side of Old Riverhead Road, is now expected to pay about $45,000 for its building permits—less than a quarter of what it would have been charged under the old system. Originally, village officials estimated that the company would have to pay more than $200,000 in fees, if their application is ultimately approved.
“The purpose of the building permit is not to generate revenue for the village but to offset expenses,” Westhampton Beach Village Attorney Anthony Pasca said during a public hearing this past Thursday night. “There was just no rationale behind charging so much.”
The modification was triggered by the storage company’s application that seeks to develop a 2.6-acre flag lot on the west side of the highway, near the Westhampton train station.
As per village code, the processing fees are determined by calculating the gross area of a structure’s finished space, which is needed to calculate the building’s estimated construction value. The village then multiplies the number of proposed square feet by $250 if a building measures less than 5,000 square feet, or by $350 if it is larger than 5,000 square feet.
Under the revised law, the village will now charge $75 per square foot for buildings larger than 20,000 square feet. It will then charge $6 for every $1,000 of a building’s estimated cost under the revised code.
The modification is not expected to impact any other future building applications in Westhampton Beach. In an earlier interview, Village Building Inspector Paul Houlihan explained that there are no undeveloped lots remaining in the village that could accommodate a building that exceeds 20,000 square feet in size under current zoning. He also explained that the village’s parking restrictions are different and much more lenient for storage units, noting that it requires only one space for every 10,000 square feet of space. In contrast, a traditional commercial building requires a parking space for every 200 square feet of interior space.
No residents addressed the board about the change at last week’s public hearing. The modification took effect immediately.
Erin McKinley on Nov 4, 2016