Bothell planners briefed on pairing transfer-development rights with county tax-increment funds

City of Bothell planning commissioners were briefed March 18 on a feasibility study exploring whether the city should pair a transfer-development-rights program with Washington’s Landscape Conservation and Local Infrastructure Program, a county tax-increment tool that can help pay for infrastructure in receiving areas.

Planner Jaclyn Samson opened the study session and introduced Morgan Shook, director at Eco Northwest, who led the technical briefing. Shook summarized TDR as “at its essence, it’s exactly what it says. We are trying to take a development entitlement in one place and transfer it to another,” and explained that LCIP can supply incremental county property-tax revenue to pay for infrastructure tied to that growth.

Shook told commissioners that the Puget Sound Regional Council allocates a numeric growth entitlement to eligible cities; Bothell’s allocation was discussed as 365 credits. He said counties participating in LCIP typically offer about 75% of their incremental property-tax share to a participating city’s LIPA (Local Infrastructure Project Area). As an illustrative market datapoint, Shook said developers in the region have been tracking sale prices of individual credits in the neighborhood of $30,000 each, though the exchange ratio and value will be set locally in code and adjusted to local market conditions.

Shook pointed to Seattle’s South Lake Union program as a precedent: that city’s paired TDR/LCIP area has generated multiple years of incremental infrastructure funding, and he estimated the revenue scale for similar programs could be in the low tens of millions over decades, depending on uptake and design.

Commissioners focused questions on how the 365-credit allocation translates into entitlements in Bothell zones and who tracks the conversions. Shook said the city would set an exchange rate in local regulations (for example, a defined square-foot or dwelling-unit yield per credit) and that the county and city would coordinate annual reporting to track credits retired and thresholds met.

Other topics included intercounty coordination (Bothell lies in parts of both King and Snohomish counties), the need for interlocal agreements to clarify revenue-sharing and threshold remedies, and the tradeoffs of prioritizing particular sending areas: “you have to spend a lot to prioritize that relative to the infrastructure dollars you may get,” Shook said, noting that stronger receiving-area incentives can steer buying toward selected sending lands but will reduce the total number of credits that can be retired.

Commissioners also raised implementation concerns. Commissioner Westerbeck described the credit-to-entitlement math as “a little squishy” and pressed for clarity on how the program would be tracked and adjusted. Commissioner Lever urged staff to study why Bothell’s existing Canyon Park TDR allocation has seen no transactions; staff and the consultant said Sound Transit has not yet offered its rights for sale but that opportunities may appear as projects proceed.

Samson and Eco Northwest emphasized that the study is a feasibility and design exercise only; no code or ordinance changes were requested at the meeting. The team will proceed to analyze proposed study areas—Canyon Park, the North Creek / NE 195th area and downtown—estimate plausible credit retirement under different code-exchange scenarios, and forecast revenue and infrastructure spending options for those LIPAs.

The planning commission did not take formal action; staff will return with the feasibility analysis and recommended next steps for additional discussion and public engagement.