The Pasco Planning Commission on Thursday reviewed an emergency amendment to the city comprehensive plan to adopt Pasco School District No. 1’s updated capital facilities plan and discussed the practical effects of revised school impact fees.

Staff told commissioners the emergency amendment is an out‑of‑cycle action the City Council initiated by resolution and that required notices to the Washington State Department of Commerce will be provided. The district adopted the updated capital facilities plan on June 15, 2025, and the City Council adopted ordinance 47‑74 to revise school impact fees, staff said.

Denise Diffar, outside counsel to the Pasco School District, said the fee changes reflect which projects remain in the district’s impact‑fee calculation. “The elementary school projects and the high school projects are now complete, and so they are removed from the impact‑fee calculation,” Diffar said. She added that the district’s current planning is based on a new middle‑school project, and because middle‑school student generation rates are lower than elementary rates, the calculated per‑unit fee declines.

As a result, staff reported, the city’s ordinance eliminated the single‑family dwelling impact fee and reduced the multifamily fee from $4,525 per unit to $2,595 per unit. Staff and district counsel said that the district’s enrollment projections included analysis of the development pipeline and that the revised fees directly reflect the district’s current capacity needs.

Commissioners asked whether the fee changes result from zoning and pipeline shifts and how the reductions affect developers’ economics. One commissioner said they hope developers attend the December public hearing to offer practical feedback on cost impacts. Chair noted that public comment at the Planning Commission creates an official record the City Council will use when making decisions.

The commission agreed to schedule a public hearing on the Pasco School District capital facilities plan update at the December Planning Commission meeting. No formal recommendation or vote on the amendment occurred at the workshop.

Next steps: staff will publish a notice for the December public hearing and include developers’ and residents’ comments in the staff report to the commission and, subsequently, to the City Council.