The Peachtree City Council adopted a limited range of fee increases Thursday night, but tabled a final decision on a host of others that are being challenged or questioned.

The fee increases adopted include:

• Increasing the cost of solicitor's permits to $25 for the first day of the permit and $10 for each additional day the permit is effective in the same week;

• Eliminating the maximum $500 fee for building permit review by the fire department;

• Increasing the fire sprinkler and fire alarm plan review from $50 to $100 each;

• Adding a new $100 fee for the second construction site follow-up visit and a new $150 fee for the third such visit;

• Increasing the daily pool pass fees for $1 per pass for ages 3 to 64 only;

• Increasing the family pool package an average of 9 percent. All out-of-county pool passes will be double the in-county rate.

Council also voted to decrease the out-of-county fees for recreation classes only in an effort to build more participation in those classes. This reduces the 50 percent fee surcharge to 25 percent.

City Finance Director Paul Salvatore said the fee evaluations conducted by the city was not done in response to the recent downturn in sales tax revenues. Instead the impetus behind it was a city policy that requires the city's fees to be evaluated every few years. The fees recommended by staff came from an evaluation of what other cities are charging for similar functions, officials said.

Postponed fee increases involved a slate aimed at the development community in large part to help reduce the workload on city staff, which is often having to do "quality control" reviews of plans with multiple reviews instead of reviewing one final document, said City Planner David Rast.

Scott Bradshaw of the Midwest Homebuilders Association asked for the developmental services fees to be tabled since this was the first meeting they'd been unveiled at. Council agreed and tabled the matter along with all other proposed recreation fee increases.

The city has proposed allowing civic groups and non profit organizations located in the city to have up to three free meetings a year in a city classroom space. Those meetings could be bumped by a paying class or event up to one week before the meeting date, explained City Recreation DIrector Randy Gaddo.

After those three free meetings, each organization would have to pay the regular $30 per hour meeting room rental fee, Gaddo said.

Paul Van't Hof of the Peachtree City Civic Association said he thinks the city should only be charging such groups the cost of heating and providing electricity for that particular room instead of looking to "make a profit" from those groups. Van't Hof argued that the city shouldn't charge those groups for staff time involved because the meetings are held when city staff are already present, for example, to supervise the Kedron Fieldhouse and Aquatic Center.

Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett asked how those groups are different from the soccer players who are charged fees, part of which are set aside by the city for improvements to the soccer fields. Civic Association member Beth Pullias said those fees go towards other things that benefit the individual player.

Councilman Don Haddix said when his homeowners association had a yearly banquet in December, it had to pay a $120 deposit and an hourly fee to have it at the Gathering Place recreation facility. He said he didn't see how the civic association was different from his homeowners association.

Also proposed and tabled is a $10 fee for in-county and a $20 fee for out-of-county residents annually for attending groups that meet at the Gathering Place. Gaddo said the idea is to defray the recreation department's increasing costs.

Van't Hof said the city should look at charging a similar per-head fee on civic groups and non-profit organizations for meeting space.

Councilman Don Haddix said he had a problem with the Gathering Place proposed fees because most of those users are elderly and on a fixed budget, and often their time at the facility is their main recreation for the week.