Florida Construction News staff writer
The City of Naples is raising its building and planning fees to better align with neighboring cities and cover rising costs for services. The City Council approved an ordinance in March to increase fees for building permits, plan reviews and inspections, and introduce two new fees to address noncompliance at construction sites, stating “it is necessary to increase building permit, plan review, plan revision, and inspection fees that have been identified as being underfunded and below operating costs for certain activities.”
As a result, the conditional use application fee will rise from $1,500 to $3,000, and the preliminary design review will increase from $300 to $1,000. Other fees for rezoning, inspections, and temporary certificates of occupancy will also see increases. These changes are expected to generate an additional $185,240 in revenue for the city.
A review revealed Naples’ fees were much lower than those in surrounding areas. After additional research, the city decided to adjust fees to better align with similar municipalities. Fees were last increased in 2018.
Temporary-use fees, including those for tents, will be addressed later to cover extra costs for Fire Department inspections and Council approval.
