Meridian council adopts text amendment to incorporate impact-fee studies into comprehensive plan

The Meridian City Council on Nov. 18 approved a city-initiated text amendment to the city’s comprehensive plan that incorporates county and city impact-fee studies, adds several planning documents and updates glossary language.

Carl Anderson, the city’s long-range associate planner, told the council the amendment contains four elements: adopt by reference the Ada County Emergency Medical Services and Ada County Jail capital improvement plans and impact-fee studies (dated 05/24/2024); adopt by reference the City of Meridian development impact fee study (dated 09/16/2022) and amended capital improvement plans; perform a set of technical cleanups (including changing the label from “adopted” to “incorporated” where appropriate); and add the city’s wastewater resource recovery and facility plan (2018) to the list of incorporated documents. Anderson said notification requirements were met and that public works had submitted comments but was not opposed.

“This request would not be the enabling action that the city would undertake to collect those impact fees; that would be done through an ordinance,” Anderson said, distinguishing the plan amendment from any future fee ordinance.

Commissioner Ron Beck, speaking from the room, urged the council to prepare the enabling ordinance quickly. He said other jurisdictions in the county have adopted impact fees and asked Meridian to move promptly: “we had asked you to if you could get the ordinance ready to go because after the after you pass the ordinance, it can't be impacted until 30 days after as as you know.”

Councilman Overton moved approval of file H2025-0045 “as presented in the staff report during the hearing date of 11/18/2025.” The council closed the public hearing by motion and then approved the text amendment by roll-call vote. The clerk recorded ayes and the motion passed (the vote was announced as unanimous).

The planning staff noted the Planning and Zoning Commission considered the application on Oct. 16, 2025 and recommended approval with a glossary amendment (changing language from “program” to “plan”). The council’s approval incorporates those changes into the city’s comprehensive plan; staff said a separate ordinance would be needed later if the city decides to begin collecting the impact fees.

Next steps: the amendment is incorporated into the comprehensive plan; staff and the council indicated the adoption does not itself establish fees or fee schedules and that any enabling ordinance and implementation schedule will be considered separately.