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WHEELING -- Officials in the city of Wheeling are looking at a proposal that will allow the Building and Planning Department to begin recouping some of the costs incurred by outsourcing plan reviews for larger commercial projects in the city.
During a recent meeting of the Finance Committee of Council, Wheeling's Director of Building and Planning Brenda J. Delbert noted that the city is growing, and more commercial projects are coming to fruition. Under the current operation, however, the city loses money when professional reviews of complex documents incur significant costs.
"The code states that we have to approve construction documents before things can be built to make sure that they meet all of the life-saving fire codes," Delbert said. "But it does leave fees up to the local jurisdiction -- and currently we do not charge for plan review fees."
Delbert said the costs incurred by the city fluctuate depending on the number of larger commercial projects for which plans are submitted, as well as the complexity of each of the plans.
"So far this year, just through August, we've spent $43,563 on plan reviews," she said. "For an average of 15 commercial projects. The most expensive one we did was $11,625. So I'm proposing to start charging for plan reviews."
Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said the city outsources its more complex commercial plan reviews to a private company that specializes in such work.
"To ensure that we have consistency in plan review based on changes in staff and turnover, etc., we actually contract out our plan review to a company that specializes in providing architects and engineers that are current with the International Building Code," Herron said. "These are costs that the city incurs as a result of these plan reviews being sent out for a qualified review."
National company SAFEbuilt, which specializes in municipal services of this nature, has been used by the city since at least 2021, Delbert said. Previously, the city had a qualified individual working in the department who could perform these duties in-house, officials indicated, but it is difficult to keep a person on staff who meets all of the necessary qualifications.
Some reviews can still be handled in-house, but larger projects -- such as the Helping Heroes building renovation on 16th Street and the new DiCarlo's Building construction on Main Street -- require reviews by qualified architects and engineers.
"Development is increasing, so this is a good problem to have," Delbert said. "But these plans are very expensive to review."
Delbert explained that the costs incurred fluctuate depending on the number of edits made to initial submissions, the amount of back-and-forth correspondence and the complexities of each individual project.
A plan review fee of $2,500 for up to 7,500 square feet for commercial projects was proposed, along with a subsequent $1,000 fee for an additional 5,000 square feet. Delbert said that developers that have to pay an up-front fee for plan reviews have more "skin in the game" when they submit their initial plans and are more likely to follow through and bring their proposed projects to fruition.
The proposed fees will still not cover all of the costs incurred by the city for plan reviews, Delbert noted. However, they will help significantly.
Members of the Finance Committee of Council unanimously agreed to move the proposed plan review fees on to the full city council for consideration.