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Sandpoint council schedules public hearing on updated development impact fees
Summary
Council received a final draft of a development impact fee study that raises the maximum supportable fee levels and scheduled a July 16 public hearing to consider adoption and fee amounts; consultants and staff outlined methodology, possible phasing and an affordable-housing exemption option.
Sandpoint councilors on Wednesday reviewed a consultant’s final draft of an updated development impact fee study and voted to schedule a public hearing on the ordinance-setting fees for July 16. The city’s community planning director, Jason Welker, and consultants from Tishler Bisson presented the study, which recommends maximum-supportable fees that would replace the city’s 2012 fee schedule.
The study models five fee categories — parks and recreation, pathways, roads, police and fire — and calculates maximum supportable fees by measuring the city’s current levels of service, identifying growth‑related capital costs and apportioning a proportionate share to new development. The consultants said the maximum total fee for an average single‑family home could be as much as $11,246, with category breakdowns including about $5,074 for parks and recreation and $4,248 for road-related fees. Adoption at lower levels is permitted, the consultants said.
Welker told council that staff will incorporate council input and prepare the ordinance and fee schedule for the July 16 hearing so the fees can be adopted before the budget is finalized. “We will not be on track for July 9 adoption,” Welker said, citing timing and noticing requirements.
Consultants Nicholas Huff and Colin McElhinney (Tishler Bisson) summarized the methods: parks and recreation and public safety fees use an incremental‑expansion approach that preserves current levels of service for future residents; roads use a plan‑based approach that attributes a growth‑related share of a committed 10‑year roadway CIP to impact fees. The consultants noted that most CIP projects are partly growth related and therefore partially eligible for impact fees but that other funding (grants, urban renewal, existing fund balance) will still be required for non‑growth shares.
Councilors asked detailed questions about phasing, impact on affordable housing and the potential to exempt qualifying affordable units. The consultants said Idaho law allows an affordable housing exemption in the ordinance and that the exemption’s eligibility criteria would be a council decision.
Several council members signaled support for phasing the fees rather than immediately adopting the full maximums; one proposed a three‑year ramp (75% first year, 90% second year, 100% third year). Tishler Bisson said phased adoption would be administrable and that revenue projections would be updated in the city budget process. The development impact fee advisory committee recommended adoption of 100% of the maximums; council may elect any uniform reduction instead.
The council’s action to set a July 16 public hearing does not adopt fees; it directs staff to publish notices and bring the ordinance forward for formal public hearing and possible adoption.
