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Ridgefield staff present economic-development goals as comp plan review continues
Summary
City planning staff told council the draft economic-development element assumes continued job growth through 2045, proposes incentives such as impact-fee reductions for infill and small businesses, and flagged sewer hookup and school-impact fees as potential barriers to new business.
Claire, planning staff, told the council the draft economic-development element is intended to support a balance of jobs and housing and the city’s fiscal sustainability as the comprehensive plan is finalized. She said the planning horizon projects "adding over 9,000 new jobs" through 2045 and noted the draft ties land-use assumptions to the council’s preferred scheme, including a modeled capacity figure of 188 jobs.
The council focused follow-up questions on fees and how they affect business recruitment. One member asked whether Ridgefield’s impact fees line up with neighboring jurisdictions; staff and a council member answered that "Schools, we have some of the highest school impact fees in the state," and that sewer and system-development charges for business hookups are also on the high end locally. Claire described existing city responses: fee-reduction and exemption programs, payment-plan options and targeted incentives aimed at small businesses.
Council members asked planning staff about planning-commission recommendations to reduce fees for infill and downtown redevelopment. Claire said the planning-commission suggestion was driven by a single commissioner and focused on redevelopment of already-developed parcels; she also said council had already broadened some downtown incentives to support small businesses citywide. On the county’s work-from-home assumption, council and staff pushed back on the county model, with one council member calling the county’s 4% work-from-home allowance "archaic." Staff also discussed microindustry and mixed-use overlays as potential tools to create smaller suites and third places for remote workers.
Claire said staff will incorporate council feedback into final draft goals and policies before issuing SEPA notice and bringing the elements to planning commission and public hearings later this year.
