Council adopts Resolution 3205 to update unified fee schedule, shifts stormwater review costs to applicants

The Anacortes City Council adopted Resolution 3205 on Feb. 17 to update the city's unified fee schedule, including cemetery fees and planning-related fee clarifications, and to add hearings-examiner and stormwater-review policies that shift certain costs to applicants.

Planning Director John Coleman told the council the changes do not raise the base permit fees but align permit categories and add flat fees for hearing-examiner services. "We're actually looking at having [the hearing examiner] just have a flat fee for every type of permit that they will review," Coleman said, explaining the change is intended to recoup costs billed to the city. Appeals to the hearing examiner would be assessed a $275-per-hour fee in line with typical practice.

Public works staff also proposed a policy change: ending the city's prior practice of covering the first two third-party stormwater reviews for applicants. Coleman said that policy cost the city approximately $64,000 in 2025 and could slow permitting due to iterative reviews; under the proposed change applicants would pay third-party stormwater-review fees, encouraging more complete initial submissions.

Council discussed the potential effect on builders and whether higher fees would discourage development. Public works staff and council members said developers prioritize certainty and timely approvals over modest fee changes, and the motion to adopt Resolution 3205 passed by voice vote.

Next steps: staff will finalize the fee schedule edits and the proposed hearing-examiner contract; the updated fee schedule will be incorporated into the municipal codification of long-term policies.