Spokane County explores deferring permit fees and faster reviews to spur affordable housing

Spokane County commissioners on June 1 directed staff to draft policy options that could speed up and reduce upfront costs for affordable-housing developers, including deferring some permit fees until certificate of occupancy (CO) and offering expedited review for qualifying projects.

Commissioner sponsors framed the idea as a way to lower upfront costs and speed construction. One presenter summarized the proposal: "what if we were to defer payment of permits and fees until the certificate of occupancy as a way to save affordable housing developers money on the front end, and let them get their projects off the ground more quickly." Staff presented models from other jurisdictions: the City of Spokane has recently deferred building and street-obstruction fees until CO, Bellevue reduces review and inspection fees for qualifying affordable projects, and Puyallup waives building-permit fees for certain nonprofit builders.

Legal and operational points: planning staff said legal review indicates counties can lawfully defer or reduce fees and set certification and clawback rules (for example, charging back waived fees with interest if a developer does not maintain affordability terms). Staff cautioned that some pre-application fees should remain nonrefundable because the county expends staff time evaluating early proposals. Staff also noted certain utility and outside-agency approvals (school districts, fire districts, water purveyors) lie outside county control and can slow timelines even if the county expedites its internal review.

Eligibility and thresholds: staff and commissioners discussed using 80% of area median income (AMI) as a common threshold for qualifying projects, aligning the county with state and HUD-related programs. Staff suggested a short form application and software flag so permit reviewers can mark qualifying permits and trigger a deferral or expedited path; one planner said the software change is doable and would likely require a check box or dropdown to indicate eligibility.

Next steps: commissioners asked staff to draft a suite of policy options (expedited review, deferral of payment, and partial fee reductions for homeownership projects), to quantify fiscal impacts, and to solicit developer feedback (including Habitat for Humanity) before returning with draft code or administrative procedures. Staff tentatively agreed to return in about a month with drafts and impact estimates.

What it means: deferred payments reduce up-front capital needs for developers but do not eliminate fee revenue in the long term; staff emphasized that if affordability commitments are not kept, the county could recapture waived or deferred fees with interest.