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City staff seek council consensus to pursue multi‑zone transportation impact fee study
Summary
Staff recommended forming multiple impact‑fee zones and asked council to proceed with a rate study that will use the regional travel demand model to set fees and project lists; council expressed support and managers outlined next steps toward a Q4 2025 adoption target.
City traffic engineers and staff told the Spokane Valley City Council on May 6 they will seek council direction to proceed with a citywide transportation impact fee rate study built on regional travel demand modeling and a multi‑zone fee structure.
Jeremy Clark, the city’s traffic engineer, reviewed the background: the city currently has three small, geographically limited impact‑fee areas (South Parker, Mirabeau and North Pines) adopted between 2020 and 2022. Those areas generated about $2.22 million in mitigation fees through 2024 across 92 permits, Clark said, but roughly 40% of projected new trips in the city occur outside the existing fee areas while approximately 75% of identified project costs are likewise outside them — a mismatch the study seeks to address.
Options and staff recommendation: Clark outlined three broad options: (1) keep current small fee areas and add a single citywide zone for the rest of the city; (2) replace the small areas with a single citywide zone for the whole city; or (3) adopt a multi‑zone system (staff recommended adopting multiple zones and described a preliminary three‑zone map tied to project locations and trip patterns). Clark said zones should balance administrative simplicity with a legally defensible nexus between where trips are generated and where projects are funded.
Next steps and schedule: staff said it will update the project list and funding likelihoods, run the updated trips through the newly available regional travel demand model, complete a detailed rate study with consultant support, solicit public feedback and return to council with proposed zones and rates; staff targeted Q4 2025 for formal adoption if council concurs.
Planned Action Ordinance (PAO) and economic development: City Manager Holman and others highlighted the South Parker PAO as a prior example that expedited environmental review and supported industrial development; Holman said the PAO had been effective for economic development and that the city could consider expanding it in coordination with comp plan and UGA decisions.
Council response: councilmembers generally supported staff’s recommendation to pursue a multi‑zone study, discussed practical matters such as possible zone boundary adjustments (particularly in the central district), and stressed retaining flexibility to revise zones later.
Ending: Staff will proceed with the consultant study, modeling and public outreach and return with proposed zones and a draft rate study later in 2025.
