(1) The hearings official shall issue a written decision on an appeal of an Expedited Land Division application or a Middle Housing Land Division application within 42 days of the date the appeal is received by the city.

(2) Except as provided in subsection (5) the hearings official shall affirm, reverse, or modify the decision of the planning director. Before reversing or modifying the planning director’s decision, the hearings official shall make findings and conclusions clearly stating how the planning director failed to properly evaluate the application or make a decision consistent with applicable criteria. The hearings official shall seek to identify means by which the application can satisfy the applicable approval criteria.

(3) The decision of the hearings official is final.

(4) The hearings official’s decision is not a land use decision or limited land use decision.

(5) If the hearings official finds that the application does not qualify as an Expedited Land Division application or a Middle Housing Land Division application, the hearings official shall remand the application to the appropriate initial decisionmaker for consideration as a land use application or limited land use application.

(6) The hearings official’s decision may not reduce the density of an Expedited Land Division application.

(7) The hearings official shall assess the costs of the appeal as follows:

(8) As used in subsection (7), “costs of the appeal” include the compensation paid the hearings official and other costs incurred by the city, but not the costs incurred by other parties.