September 17, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Developers of commercial projects in the City of Smithville will now have to pay a plan review fee in addition to the cost of a building permit.
During a special meeting held Monday evening at city hall, the Aldermen voted 4-0 to adopt the new fee. Alderman Brandon Cox was absent.
The action was taken at the request of the city’s building codes inspector Lewis Bryant who addressed the mayor and aldermen last week to recommend the new fee.
“I recommend instituting some kind of plan review fee. The idea is to make sure a building is built according to code and done properly and to eliminate any problems or headaches before the building is already constructed,” said Bryant.
Building permits are issued for all construction in the city, residential and commercial and the fees are based on the square footage of the project. The cost for a plan review fee will have half the cost of a building permit. For example, if a building permit is issued for $3,000 for a commercial project, the developer would have to pay that in addition to another $1,500 for a plan review.
The plan review fee would apply to all new commercial construction and remodeling projects in which a building permit is required including businesses, industries, churches, and schools. Although building permits would continue to be required for residential construction, no plan review fee would be assessed for those projects.
According to Bryant plans for some commercial developments can be quite detailed and complex requiring a lot of time and effort to ensure their compliance which is one reason for implementing the fee.
“Whether it be a gymnastics building, restaurants, or any commercial project, I have to review the plans and after I do the inspections, I need those plans to look at to make sure the contractor is building according to the way the plans were drawn and engineered. It takes a lot of work and several hours to review some of those plans to make sure they meet the code requirements but it also helps the contractor or owner of the property by having a review process to catch any potential problems on the front end. If there is no plans review process and they get the building framed up and something doesn’t meet the code and hasn’t been done right there would be a lot more costs involved to fix it,” said Bryant.
Bryant has been the city’s building codes inspector since July 1.
The city pays him a commission of 65% from funds collected through issuance of building related permits. Bryant, a certified building codes inspector, also works in a similar role for the City of Algood.