A Woodland resident who said he had reviewed the packet and prepared a memo told the council the proposed school impact fee increases (referred to as ordinance 15 79 in public comment) appear to use a larger-capacity basis than the near-term need and asked for the methodology to be revisited. He told council the packet shows a projected need of 161 seats by 2031 but said the SDC calculations appear to reflect a 400–450 seat capacity; he said this proportionality difference yields what he called an unexpected increase in up-front housing costs and offered his written analysis for staff review.

Developer Derek Humala of Compass Contractors said he was designing a 23-unit project at Bozarth and Fifth and that a sudden doubling of school impact fees could “kill the project,” estimating roughly a $165,000 increase for his development. Humala said the timing — being told the change might be effective Jan. 1 after design and more than $100,000 in design costs — made it difficult for projects in active permitting.

Travis (city staff) told council he had rechecked the school district’s capital facilities plan and identified an earlier error in growth calculations; the larger increases are primarily the effect of inflation because the district’s facility cost numbers had not been updated for six years. Travis said the planning commission requested the hearing be continued to Dec. 18 so the school district could clarify the calculations and the city could re-run the numbers under the RCW-established equation the district uses to compute impact fees.

Next steps: planning commission will revisit the calculations on Dec. 18; because the change would be by ordinance the city expects the first reading to occur Jan. 5 with a second reading at the subsequent meeting. The council did not adopt the ordinance at this meeting.