With three members absent and no clear consensus, the Burns Harbor Advisory Plan Commission on Monday took no action on a Town Council request to reconsider proposed building-permit fee increases.

That means the lower fee hikes sought by the Town Council in September will stand and take effect in January.

Commission president Jeff Freeze was not happy about the situation. “I realize it’s procedural but if the Town Council doesn’t care what we recommend, we shouldn’t see it again.”

Likewise, commission member Jim Meeks said council members Jim McGee and Cliff Fleming voted for the higher fees while sitting on the Plan Commission yet didn’t adopt them at the council meeting.

Fleming said having most fees set at 20 cents per square foot above a base cost as the commission recommended may be easier for the Building Department to administer, but the lower fee increases originally presented by building commissioner Bill Arney wouldn’t put the department in a negative cash flow so his request should be respected.

Those new fees would range from 12 cents to 25 cents per square foot depending upon type of improvement.

Town Council member Toni Biancardi, who also serves as Plan Commission secretary, said she should have commented about the fees at the commission’s Sept. 1 public hearing but did not. She asked how the commission arrived at the 20-cent figure. “Come up with something more reasonable.” In one case a fee would jump from 8 cents to 20 cents, she noted.

Arney said he set his staggered fee increases in part after researching what surrounding towns charge; Meeks said that’s irrelevant. Arney also said different types of inspections require more or less work.

According to Meeks, “Inspecting a 2 by 4 is the same whether it’s new construction, remodeling or an addition. I don’t want to burden any residents or us to fall short, but there’s no reason for us to have a different fee for the same thing.”

McGee and Louis Bain, the latter also a member of both the Plan Commission and Town Council, were absent last night.

Commission attorney Chuck Parkinson said that board had the option of accepting the lower fees, rejecting them or doing nothing. Meeks’ motion to reject the council-amended fees died for lack of a second.

A public hearing was conducted Monday on more amendments to the new zoning ordinance; no one commented.

If approved by the Town Council based on the commission’s unanimous favorable recommendation, the Board of Zoning Appeals will begin conducting both preliminary and public hearings on zoning petitions; communications facilities including cellular towers would require a special exception to locate in certain business and special districts; and detached accessory buildings under 160 square feet including storage sheds won’t have to match the exterior of the principal structure.

In other business, several of the commission’s agenda items were continued until its Nov. 2 meeting. One longstanding item was resolved when the commission voted 4-0 to recommend that the Town Council accept infrastructure improvements, including streets and sewers, in the Harbor Trails subdivision.

The remaining work yet to be done, including paving Salt Creek Road next year, is covered under a maintenance guarantee backed by a letter of credit. Town engineer Hesham Khalil said sand in sanitary sewers that created a dam appeared to be residue from two broken laterals, now fixed.

The commission tabled a request from Stephen Stofko of McMahon Engineers/Architects, who sought to reduce the $150,000 bond which includes the completed reroute and construction of Verplank Road; the work is part of a 2008 two-lot subdivision by Bob Kerr and John Kerr. One lot houses the now-closed Ludington Nissan south of U.S. 20, and the Kerrs plan to build a new Toyota dealership west of Nissan.

The Toyota lot will include stormwater work to correct flooding that occurs on the Nissan property. Stofko’s suggestion the town release $118,390 for Verplank Road while retaining the balance to assure stormwater upgrades are installed wasn’t approved.

Also absent Monday was Virginia Bain.