Fees

Fees. (a) The Department shall collect the following fees: (1) A prospective developer who submits an application for a proposed brownfields agreement for review by the Department shall pay an initial fee of two thousand three hundred seventy-two dollars ($2,372). (2) A prospective developer who enters into a brownfields agreement with the Department shall pay, on a time schedule that the Department may specify, a fee in an amount equal to the full cost to the Department and the Department of Justice of all activities related to the brownfields agreement, including but not limited to negotiation of the brownfields agreement, public notice and community involvement, and monitoring the implementation of and compliance with the brownfields agreement and requirements of this Part regarding the Notice of Brownfields Property. The procedure by which the amount of this fee is determined shall be established by agreement between the prospective developer and the Department and shall be set out as a part of the brownfields agreement. If, in an effort to implement and monitor the brownfields agreement, it must recover costs unanticipated in the agreement, the Department must provide to the prospective developer or then current owner documentation supporting any fee it charges a prospective developer or current owner pursuant to this section. (3) Any owner of property subject to a recorded Notice of Brownfields Property that is out of compliance with the requirements of this Part regarding the Notice shall pay a fee to the Department and the Department of Justice equal to the documented costs to the State to enforce or otherwise seek to correct the noncompliance. (b) Fees and interest imposed under this section shall be credited to the Brownfields Property Reuse Act Implementation Account. (c) If a prospective developer fails to pay the full amount of any fee due under this section, interest on the unpaid portion of the fee shall accrue from the time the fee is due until paid at the rate established by the Secretary of Revenue pursuant to G.S. 105-241.21. A lien for the amount of the unpaid fee plus interest shall attach to the real and personal property of the prospective developer and to the brownfields property until the fee and interest is paid. The Department may collect unpaid fees and interest in any manner that a unit of local government may collect delinquent taxes. (1997-357, s. 2; 1999-360, s. 17.3; 2007-491, s. 44(1)(a); 2025-53, s. 2.)