§ 27-198. Application requirements.

(a)

Materials. Current application forms and submission requirements are available from the department of urban planning and land use in the Municipal Office Building and may be obtained during business hours. All materials submitted in support of a development application become part of the public record and are generally not returned to the applicant.

(b)

Technical studies. The director or the director's designee may require applicants to prepare additional technical studies in support of applications for rezoning, planned rezoning or special use permits. Examples of these studies may include: traffic, noise, light, environmental impact, market, economic impact, engineering, or flood. The cost of the study shall be the applicant's responsibility. Appeal of the director's determination may be taken to the planning commission, who shall be the final decision-maker. No further action will be taken to process the application pending the planning commission's determination.

(c)

Deadlines. The department of urban planning and land use will establish and make available at its office a list of submission and revision deadlines for the various development applications. Failure to submit a complete or revised application on or before the deadline will preclude the unified government from placing the application on the scheduled planning commission agenda.

(d)

Completeness. Within five business days of submission, a member of the department of urban planning and land use staff will review a submitted application to ensure that it is complete.

(1)

An application is complete when all of the items required by these regulations and on the application form are prepared and/or answered, and any required supplemental or additional applications (e.g., comprehensive plan amendment) are submitted with the appropriate fee to the department of urban planning and land use.

(2)

Incomplete applications will be held by the department of urban planning and land use with a written explanation of defects provided to the applicant. The director will take no further action on incomplete applications. Appeal of this determination is made to the planning commission, who is the final decision-making body. No further action will be taken to process the application pending the planning commission's determination. Applications that have been returned to an applicant for revisions will not be processed until such revisions have been determined to be complete by the director or director's designee.

(3)

Complete applications shall be processed in accordance with this article.

(4)

If the director fails to act within five business days, the application shall be deemed complete.

(5)

Following a determination of completeness, modification of the application by the applicant without approval of the director or director's designee, or modification that is not pursuant to the directions of the planning commission or board of commissioners shall void the determination of completeness and trigger a new ten-day review period. All processing of the application shall stop until a new, complete application has been filed.

(6)

A determination of completeness shall not constitute a determination of compliance with the substantive provisions of these regulations.

(e)

Fees. Application fees shall be set in an amount to recover the costs of processing, publicizing, and reviewing development applications. The county administrator shall set and may modify the fees, which shall be included as an appendix to this Code.

(Code 1988, § 27-253; Ord. No. O-27-05, § 1, 3-24-2005)