Housing advisory urges council to draft SDC waiver ordinance to compete for CHIP funds; launches "Build Together" idea pipeline

A city-appointed Housing Advisory Committee member urged the Leavenworth City Council on July 8 to direct staff to draft a system-development-charge (SDC) waiver ordinance to make the city eligible for the state’s Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP) and outlined a separate early-stage idea pipeline called Build Together.

PJ Robinson, who identified himself as a member of the Housing Advisory Committee, said the committee is shifting to a proactive role to help early‑stage housing concepts reach construction. Robinson described Build Together as “not a grant program” but an invitation for two‑page idea submissions focused on solutions for households earning roughly 50–80% of area median income (AMI). "What we're looking for is early thinking...What's the idea? Who does it serve, especially in the 50 to 80% AMI?" Robinson said, adding examples and calling for council promotion and partnership.

On CHIP, Robinson said the program was included in the 2025–2027 Washington state capital budget and that it includes a statewide fund and a regional carve‑out. He said "CHIP includes 20,000,000, 20,000,000 regional carve out for Chelan Douglas and open up accounts," and credited Representative Mike Steele for leadership on the carve‑out in the transcript remarks. Robinson told council the city has already adopted the required housing sales tax ordinance (referred to in packet materials as "Ordinance 16 27" passed in 2021) but does not yet have the required SDC waiver ordinance.

City staff clarified that the city can apply for CHIP with a written intent to adopt but that funding cannot be awarded without the ordinance and associated code changes. Staff noted the waiver involves amendments to Title 13 to add language specific to CHIP and that preparing the ordinance will take staff time. The council asked for training and more details; Robinson encouraged council members to attend a July 10 CHIP training.

Council members asked how applications are evaluated; staff and Robinson said CHIP grantors typically expect demonstration that a project is viable when awarded and that earlier projects in other jurisdictions were often permit‑ready, which affects how quickly grantees can use the funds.

Council direction recorded at the meeting: the council agreed to move forward with drafting an SDC-waiver ordinance so the city could be eligible to apply for CHIP grants. Staff said they will draft code language—using examples from other cities—and return to council for formal action.

If funded, Robinson said the CHIP pilot could enable infrastructure funding for projects that would include a mandated portion of permanently affordable units; he cited an example that a two‑acre project might yield six or seven permanently affordable units using CHIP reimbursement of infrastructure costs.

Next steps: staff to draft the SDC‑waiver ordinance and associated code amendments, participate in the July 10 CHIP training, and return to council with draft ordinance language for adoption and to position the city to apply for regional CHIP funds.