Sammamish Planning Commission reviews proposed square‑foot impact‑fee formula, hears questions on affordability and data

Sammamish Planning Commission members heard a staff presentation Sept. 10 on proposed changes to the city’s impact‑fee system that would scale transportation and parks fees by unit square footage, and they received public comments questioning the underlying traffic and housing data and the effect of fee waivers on city revenues.

The proposal — presented by city staff members Evan and David — follows Senate Bill 5258 (2023), which requires jurisdictions planning under the Growth Management Act to scale impact fees by unit characteristics such as square footage, bedrooms or trip generation. "Impact fees are a one‑time fee assessed on new development," Evan said during the presentation, and the staff recommended square footage as the easiest and most objective scaling measure to administer.

Commissioners and residents pressed staff on the data and legal defensibility behind the proposed minimum and maximum fee caps. Resident Richard Johnson questioned the traffic analysis referenced in the environmental review, arguing the model used inconsistent commercial‑square‑foot inputs and altered trip‑generation assumptions; he told the commission, "the traffic numbers are probably wrong." Resident Cheryl Wagner asked, "Where is the affordable housing?" and said, "Sammamish is required by the state to plan for and accommodate 1,550 units of extremely low income housing," urging staff to show how the town‑center proposals meet that need.

Why it matters: the city has not updated its impact fees in about 10 years, and the chosen scaling method will change the per‑unit fee paid by smaller units (which state lawmakers wanted to protect) and by very large homes. Staff said the…