The land use decision-making process isn’t free.

And for Deschutes County, where land use permit requests and reviews are being submitted at an increased pace, the fees for some of those applications could be going up.

From solar farms to water ski reservoirs, many of the recent land use applications have been complex and are entirely new proposals, which face increased scrutiny from the public.

According to a recent user fee study, the fees the Deschutes County Community Development Department is charging for permits and other land use applications aren’t matching up with the amount of time spent by county officials to review and prepare information for public hearings and decisions.

“There’s a deficit in terms of what we’re charging,” said Nick Lelack, the Community Development Department director. “There should be additional resources to process the number of applications that we have.”

Land use applications include conditional use permit requests, property line adjustments, site plans and reviews of potential changes to the visual landscape due to construction.

Submitting a conditional use permit currently costs an applicant $2,485. In contrast, Clackamas County, in the Portland metro area, charges $3,945 for a conditional use application.

Lelack said Wednesday the department plans to propose fee adjustments — increasing some and decreasing others — during the next budget cycle, if not before.

The Community Development Department presented the user fee study to Deschutes County commissioners last week. The study revealed that the entire department, which is made up of four divisions, is not recovering the cost of providing services. The department is primarily funded by fees from the public.

County planners and other department officials spend about 72 percent of their staff time processing applications, according to the study. The department is adding two full-time staffers this fiscal year.

“The number of applications has steadily increased and the complexity and controversy has increased significantly from any previous time,” Lelack said.

In 2014, nine land use applications were reviewed by a hearings officer, who is contracted to act as an impartial third party in the decision-making process. So far, 15 applications have been or are in the process of being reviewed by a hearings officer this year.

Lelack said applicants are appealing hearing officer denials in many cases recently.

To appeal a hearings officer decision to county commissioners, appellants must pay a $2,600 base fee. In addition, they pay 20 percent of the fee submitted for the application they are appealing.

— Reporter: 541-617-7820,

tshorack@bendbulletin.com