California Code of Regulations
Title 14 - Natural Resources
Division 5 - San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
Chapter 10 - Amendments to the San Francisco Bay Plan or the Suisun Marsh Protection Plan and Other Planning Matters
Article 1 - Plan Amendments
Section 11008 - Payment of Costs of Processing of an Amendment to a Commission Planning Document

(a) Whenever a person, agency, or organization other than the Commission or the Executive Director proposes that the Commission amend any of its planning documents other than deleting a park priority use designation from private property based on an alleged lack of substantial probability that a public entity will be committed to the acquisition of the property within three years beginning on January 1 of the year following the Commission's consideration of the proposed amendment, that person, agency, or organization shall be responsible for paying the Commission's full costs of processing and acting on the application as determined pursuant to this section, provided that the total amount of payments required shall not exceed one hundred and twenty percent (120%) of the estimated total cost as determined by the Commission staff.

(b) At the time of submitting the application required by section 11000, any person, agency, or organization required by section 11008(a) to pay for the cost of amending the Commission planning document shall execute an agreement that obligates the person, agency, or organization to pay all such Commission costs of processing and acting on the application as determined pursuant to this section.

(c) The agreement required by Section 11008(b) shall include in it an estimate of the total cost of the Commission's processing and acting on the application, including the direct costs of all Commission staff time, a reasonable figure for staff overhead, and all consultant costs. The amendment applicant shall not be responsible, and the agreement shall so state explicitly, for the payment of any charges in excess of one hundred and twenty percent (120%) of the estimated cost contained in the agreement.

(d) Before the Commission determines to commence processing the amendment request by adopting and issuing the descriptive notice, the Commission may at the request of the amendment applicant modify downward the estimated total cost of the Commission's processing and acting on the amendment application. If the Commission modifies the estimated cost downward, the agreement between the Commission and the amendment applicant shall be modified to reflect the modified estimated cost.

(e) After the Commission commences processing an application to amend a Commission planning document, the Commission shall submit on a monthly basis to the amendment applicant a bill for the actual costs incurred, including overhead, by the Commission, the Commission's staff, and the Commission's consultants during the preceding month.

(f) The applicant for the plan amendment shall pay the bill received pursuant to section 11008(e) within 30 days of receipt of the bill. Failure to make full payment on any such bill within 30 days of its receipt shall allow the Commission and the staff to discontinue work on the application until such complete payment has been made.

(g) After either (1) the Commission and its staff completes all work, including voting, on a pending plan amendment application, (2) the applicant formally withdraws the pending application, or (3) the applicant abandons the application, the Commission shall within 30 days bill the applicant for all unpaid costs of processing the application.

(h) If the Commission abandons its consideration of an application to amend a Commission planning document pursuant to section 11008(i) or otherwise fails to act on the application, the person, agency, or organization who submitted the amendment application shall remain responsible for paying all of the costs, including overhead, of processing and acting on the application that the Commission incurred prior to the abandonment or failure to act.

(i) Abandonment of a plan amendment application shall occur only when the Executive Director or Commission concludes that no reasonable probability exists that the amendment applicant intends to pursue the application based on all of the circumstances that surround the pending plan amendment application.

(j) Nonpayment of an overdue bill for prior costs associated with a plan amendment application for a period of three months shall constitute evidence that a plan amendment applicant has abandoned the application unless the applicant submits written evidence to the contrary and the Executive Director concludes that the applicant does not intend to abandon the application and that reasonable grounds exist to explain the nonpayment.

(k) A plan amendment applicant may at any time appeal from the amount of funds stated as due in a bill from the Commission staff by submitting in writing within 10 days of receipt of the bill a statement of precisely what the applicant believes is incorrect about the bill, what the amendment applicant believes the correct bill should be, and all documentation that the amendment applicant wants to submit to support his or her contention(s). Thereafter, the Executive Director shall determine within 10 days of receipt of the written appeal whether to grant or to deny the appeal in whole or in part. If the amendment applicant is still not satisfied with the proposed bill after the Executive Director has ruled on the appeal, the applicant may meet with the Chairman to try to resolve the dispute and ultimately present his or her claim to the Commission. The Commission shall be the final arbiter of the fee that the amendment applicant must pay.