Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Park Impact Fees topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lake Stevens clarifies park impact fees: developers pay at permit, single‑family fee about $4,572
Summary
Parks staff explained that developers pay park impact fees at permit submittal (or via approved deferrals), provided current per‑unit fee amounts for several housing types, and estimated next‑year revenue and fund balance.
Parks staff told the board that park impact fees are paid by developers at the time of building permit submittal unless the project participates in an approved deferral program, and that impact‑fee revenues are held in a separate park impact/mitigation fund.
"At the time of building permit submittal, they'll pay for their park impact fees unless they're part of a deferral program," Phil said. He added that all new residences in the city pay park impact, traffic mitigation and school impact fees as one‑time charges.
When asked for dollar figures, parks staff provided specific current rates: "Single family residence, this is $4,572 per residence. The multifamily residence with 2 or more bedrooms, each of those are $3,306. And then ... accessory dwellings with only 0 or 1 bedroom, those are $2,104 each," the staff member said.
Staff said the city expects to bring in roughly $800,000 in impact‑fee revenue next year and estimated the park impact fund may contain about $2.4 million, though they advised consulting the official budget documents for exact figures. Phil emphasized that state statute requires impact fees to be held separately in a park mitigation fund and used for capital projects intended to serve new growth, not the general fund.
Board members raised questions about whether any portion of impact fees is automatically allocated to the parks board; staff replied that the dollars go into the capital program and are prioritized via the capital plan rather than being automatically distributed to the board.
Staff also noted that the city plans to revise fee methodology after completing the PROS plan and may change metrics used to calculate fees (for example, shifting from dwelling type to square footage).
