A press release from the McHenry County Board:
Overhaul of Application Fees Will Benefit Residents in Unincorporated McHenry County
WOODSTOCK, IL – On July 7, 2015, the McHenry County Department of Planning and Development received approval from the McHenry County Board to implement a new system of fees for building permit, stormwater permit, zoning, and subdivision applications.
The new fee schedule goes into effect for all applications on August 1.
However, if the new fee is lower, it will be retroactively applied to all pending building and stormwater permit applications.
The fee schedule has been significantly reorganized to align with the recently adopted Unified Development Ordinance and Stormwater Management Ordinance.
It greatly simplifies how fees are calculated.
Most application types have a flat fee based on project type and size.
This allows for easier calculation of the total permit cost.
For building and stormwater permits, the simplified fee schedule also facilitates determining the amount that is due at the time of application, which is $75 or 25% of the total permit fee, whichever is greater. The balance of permit fees will be due at either the first application resubmittal or, if no resubmittal is required, when the permit is issued.
Zoning fees remain due in their entirety at the time of filing and subdivision fees will be due at the time of filing for each stage of the process.
Also with the new fee schedule, double-fees will now be applied to all building, stormwater, and zoning applications submitted after-the-fact. This applies to construction work or a change in use that has commenced prior to obtaining the necessary approvals.
Compared to the previous rates, the fees for some projects will increase while others will decrease.The new fee schedule increases fees where necessary to cover the cost of providing services, but reduces fees that exceeded processing costs or which were deemed out-of-line with surrounding jurisdictions.
The new fee schedule is available on the McHenry County Department of Planning and Development website at www.co.mchenry.il.us/PlanDev. For more information about the fee schedule, contact Dennis Sandquist at DASandquist@co.mchenry.il.us or (815) 334-4560.