City passes first reading of plan to cut business permit fees

ROCK HILL — Monday night, Rock Hill City Council took its first step in reducing business permit fees for commercial building permits that city staff identified as significantly higher than other cities.

City Planning and Development Director Bill Meyer told council last night the city’s current system calls two pricing tiers for building permits — while many cities have a 3-or-4-tiered system that’s based on the total project cost of the development.

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Meyer said revisiting the pricing tiers makes good sense, especially for larger developments.

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Under the proposed plan that received a first reading last night, developments under 1-million dollars would start seeing the fee breaks — with the rate per thousand-dollars dropping 50 cents from 3-50 per thousand dollars to 3-dollars per thousand dollars.

A third tier would be added for developments worth over 1-million dollars, setting the rate at 2-dollars per thousand dollars.