Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Issaquah committee backs drafting ordinance to offer 80% or 100% impact-fee waivers for early learning centers
Summary
The Planning, Development & Environment Committee directed staff to draft ordinance language allowing either an 80% traffic-impact fee waiver or a 100% waiver (with a covenant requiring 25% of enrollees be state-subsidized) and to bring the item to full council as regular business on March 2, 2026. Applicants and proponents said fees as high as $400,000 block new child-care projects.
The Issaquah Planning, Development & Environment Committee on Feb. 3 directed city staff to prepare ordinance language that would allow applicants to choose either an 80% traffic-impact fee waiver or a 100% waiver conditioned on a covenant requiring 25% of enrolled families to qualify for state-subsidized child care.
Planning manager Kristen Leeson presented the ordinance options for early learning facilities, telling the committee traffic-impact fees can be a substantial upfront barrier to child-care development. She presented sample assessments showing traffic fees dwarf park and fire fees: one recent daycare’s traffic fee was about $120,000 compared with roughly $2,200 in park fees and $410 in fire fees; a larger proposed facility’s traffic fees were estimated near $380,000, with parks about $2,300 and fire just over $11,000.
“Traffic impact fees are significantly more than the fire and park fees that are charged…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
