Lake Stevens council adopts 2026 fee resolution but defers transportation impact fees

Lake Stevens — The Lake Stevens City Council on Oct. 14 approved a 2026 fee resolution that increases most municipal fees, updates several long-unused charges and adds new permit and event fees, but the council removed the proposed traffic mitigation (TIZ) fee table for additional study.

The resolution, which city staff said will take effect Jan. 1, 2026, raises most fees by a five-year CPI-U adjustment of 5.36% and updates long-unused schedules including business-license and public-works right-of-way fees. The council voted to approve the package with the section titled “Traffic Mitigation Fees” (Table A, Section 2) omitted; council members said they want more time to review consultant methodology and potential project reductions before adopting transportation impact fees.

City staff and department managers told the council the package reflects several policy and technical changes. Carol Manis, the city’s building official, said, “The fee resolution will be implemented 01/01/2026,” and summarized the CPI-U approach and several new or changed fees, including a new annexation notice fee and updated business-license tiers that staff said had not been revised since 2006.

Planning manager Christie Schmidt led discussion of impact fees and proposed splitting the resolution so park impact fees — increased by the same CPI-U percentage — could move forward while traffic impact fees were studied further. “This evening, you were sent later this afternoon a copy of a comment letter received from Master Builders,” Schmidt said, noting the city had shared workbooks and that a fuller methodology document remained in draft and would be shared in follow-up sessions.

Staff showed traffic impact fees calculated by three Traffic Impact Zone (TIZ) areas. The unadjusted recommendation for the downtown TIZ was roughly $11,000 per PM-peak hour trip; staff proposed a 40% reduction for TIZ 1 (bringing the illustrative figure to roughly $7,000) to better align with neighboring cities and to reflect potential project-scope changes. TIZ 2 and TIZ 3 were presented at approximately $4,000 and $5,000, respectively, in staff materials. Council members asked for additional examples (including small projects such as a fourplex) and an estimate of worst-case fiscal exposure if the council adopted state-authorized discounts for affordable housing.

Parks and recreation proposed multiple adjustments and new fees. Staff asked to increase Mill building rental rates (noting the upstairs room “the stack” remained underpriced), add microphone and AV rental fees, raise shelter reservation fees to $125 per day ($75 half day), add synthetic turf and pickleball rental rates for Frontier Heights, and raise the boat-launch first-day fee to $300 (additional days $150). Staff also proposed charging for electricity and water usage at events and charging for recycling-container rentals.

Other changes in the resolution include: increasing the city’s development-technology fee from 3% to 5% (the parks technology fee remains at 3%), setting a minimum administrative fee for fire permits processed by city staff, and aligning right-of-way permitting logic with Planning & Community Development for time-based cost recovery after included inspections/reviews.

Council action and next steps

Councilmember Kim Dodger seconded the motion to approve the resolution with the traffic mitigation table omitted; the council voted in favor with no recorded opposition and the motion passed. The council did not make a final decision on the state options for reduced or exempt impact fees for low-income housing or early learning facilities — the staff memo summarized two RCW-based options (partial exemption up to 80% or full exemption) and explained that the city would be responsible for offsetting lost impact-fee revenue if it adopted exemptions.

Schmidt and other staff said they will provide additional materials at future study sessions: the traffic-fee methodology report, project workbooks, worked examples for small-scale affordable projects (for example, fourplexes), and estimates of fiscal impact to the city budget if exemptions are adopted. Staff also indicated they will bring draft revisions to the TIZ project list and fee tables back to council for further study before any final adoption of transportation impact fees.

Why this matters

Impact fees affect development costs and, depending on council choices, can influence housing prices and developer decisions. Council members repeatedly noted the balance between recovering capital costs and avoiding unintended increases to housing costs. Staff emphasized the legal and procedural constraints in Washington law and the need for council direction about whether to adopt state-authorized exemptions for affordable housing and early learning facilities.

Staff contact and materials

City staff said the full traffic-fee methodology is a draft but available for review; staff shared project workbooks with Master Builders and indicated the planning commission and council will see the draft methodology in upcoming study sessions. The packet included a draft resolution labeled 2025-09 and supporting spreadsheets and handouts. The fee changes in the adopted parts of the resolution are effective Jan. 1, 2026.