Chapter 19.04
TRANSPORTATION IMPACT FEES
Sections:
19.04.010 Authority and purpose.
19.04.040 Imposition of transportation impact fees.
19.04.050 Fee schedules and establishment of service area.
19.04.060 Calculation of impact fees.
19.04.090 Funding of projects.
19.04.100 Refunds and credits.
19.04.120 Relationship to SEPA.
19.04.130 Relationship to concurrency.
19.04.140 Necessity of compliance.
19.04.010 Authority and purpose.
A. This title is enacted pursuant to the city’s police powers, the Growth Management Act as codified in Chapter 36.70A RCW, the enabling authority in Chapter 82.02 RCW, Chapter 58.17 RCW relating to platting and subdivisions, and the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), Chapter 42.21C RCW.
B. The purpose of this title is to:
1. Develop a transportation impact fee program consistent with the Bonney Lake comprehensive plan for joint public and private financing of transportation improvements necessitated in whole or in part by development in the city;
2. Ensure adequate levels of transportation and traffic service within the city consistent with the comprehensive plan;
3. Create a mechanism to charge and collect fees to ensure that all new development bears its proportionate share of the capital costs of off-site transportation facilities directly necessitated by new development, in order to provide an adequate level of transportation service consistent with the comprehensive plan;
4. Ensure that the city pays its fair share of the capital costs of transportation facilities necessitated by public use of the transportation system; and
5. Ensure fair collection and administration of such impact fees.
C. The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to effectively carry out its purpose in the interests of the public health, safety and welfare. (Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1230 § 25, 2007; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.015 Definitions.
The following are definitions provided for administering the transportation impact fee. The mayor or mayor’s designee shall have the authority to resolve questions of interpretation or conflicts between definitions.
A. “Adequate level of transportation service” means a system of transportation facilities which have the capacity to serve development without decreasing levels of service below the city’s established minimum (see Chapter 19.02 BLMC).
B. “Capacity” means the maximum sustainable flow rate at which vehicles or persons can be expected to traverse a point or uniform segment of a lane or roadway during a specified time period, usually expressed as vehicles per hour, passengers per hour, or persons per hour.
C. “Development activity” means any construction or expansion of a building, or structure, or use, or any changes in the use of land, that creates additional demand and need for public facilities. For the purposes of this chapter, the remodel of existing buildings where the permit valuation is less than $35,000 shall not be considered development activity.
D. “Director” means the director of the department of community development of the city of Bonney Lake or his/her designee.
E. “Chief financial officer” means the chief financial officer of the city of Bonney Lake or his/her designee.
F. “Health care provider” means a licensed physician, chiropractic physician, optometrist, dentist, dental hygienist, or nurse practitioner, or a clinic providing one or more of these services.
G. “Impact fee” or “transportation impact fee” means a payment of money imposed upon development approval to pay for public streets and roads needed to serve new growth and development, and that is reasonably related to the new development that creates additional demand and need for public streets and roads, that is a proportionate share of the cost of the public streets and roads, and that is used for public streets and roads that reasonably benefit the new development. “Impact fee” does not include a reasonable permit or application fee otherwise established by city council resolution.
H. “Jurisdiction” means a municipality or county.
I. “New commercial retail business” means a new retail business which sells retail goods and services which are subject to retail sales tax and which applies for a building permit, and which has not operated nor been licensed to operate in the city of Bonney Lake within 12 months previous to the date of opening the business in Bonney Lake. For the purposes of this definition, an additional location of an existing business shall qualify as a new business.
J. “Off-site transportation road improvement” means improvement, except a frontage improvement, to an existing or proposed city road or street outside the boundaries of a development, which improvement is required or recommended in accordance with this title.
K. “Project improvements” means on-site improvements and facilities that are planned and designed to provide service for a particular development project that are necessary for the use and convenience of the occupants or users of the project, and are not system improvements. No improvement or facility included in the capital facilities plan approved by the city council shall be considered a project improvement.
L. “Service area” means a geographic area defined by ordinance or intergovernmental agreement in which a defined set of public streets and roads provide service to the development within the area.
M. “Six-year transportation improvement program (TIP)” means a subset of projects contained in the city’s community facilities and services element of the comprehensive plan. The TIP is a set of comprehensive street programs/projects which after a public hearing is annually adopted by the city council for the purpose of qualifying for federal and/or state transportation funding and advancing plans for not less than six years as a guide for carrying out the coordinated transportation/street construction program.
N. “System improvements” means public facilities that are included in the community facilities and services element of the comprehensive plan and are designed to provide service areas within the community at large, in contrast to project improvements.
O. “ITE manual” means the eighth or most recent edition of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) trip generation manual. (Ord. 1675 § 3, 2022; Ord. 1641 § 21, 2020; Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1318 § 1, 2009; Ord. 1282 § 1, 2008; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.020 Applicability.
A. The requirements of this chapter apply to all development activity in the city of Bonney Lake.
B. Mitigation of impacts on transportation facilities located in jurisdictions outside the city may be required as part of an environmental impact statement (EIS) or mitigated declaration of nonsignificance (MDNS) pursuant to the Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) process. (Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.030 Geographic scope.
The boundaries within which impact fees shall be charged and collected are co-extensive with the corporate city limits, and shall include all unincorporated areas annexed to the city on and after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter. (Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.040 Imposition of transportation impact fees.
A. The director is hereby authorized to impose transportation impact fees on new development according to the provisions of this chapter. Impact fees shall be due and payable as specified in BLMC 19.04.070. When a development used to exist on a parcel, and the owner applies for a permit to build a comparable or replacement development within five years of the previous development’s demolition, destruction or removal, and the director determines that the new development will not substantially increase the impact upon transportation facilities, no impact fee will be charged.
B. Transportation impact fees:
1. Shall only be imposed for system improvements that are reasonably related to the new development;
2. Shall not exceed a proportionate share of the costs of system improvements that are reasonably related to the new development;
3. Shall be used for system improvements that will reasonably benefit the new development;
4. May be collected and spent only for system improvements which are addressed by the Bonney Lake comprehensive plan, identifying:
a. Deficiencies in public facilities serving existing development and the means by which existing deficiencies will be eliminated within a reasonable period of time;
b. Additional demands placed on existing public facilities by new developments; and
c. Additional public facility improvements required to serve new development;
5. Shall not be imposed to mitigate the same off-site transportation facility impacts that are mitigated pursuant to any other law;
6. Shall not be collected for improvements to state transportation facilities outside the city boundaries unless said improvements have been required as mitigation actions pursuant to the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA);
7. Shall not be collected for improvements to transportation facilities in other jurisdictions unless said improvements have been required as mitigation actions pursuant to the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA);
8. Shall be collected only once for each building permit, unless changes or modifications to the building permit are proposed which result in greater direct impacts on transportation facilities than were considered when the building permit was first approved;
9. Shall not be collected from any new or expanded city facilities, post offices or libraries; and
10. Shall not be collected from any health care provider who supplies to the city documentation proving that at least 51 percent of his or her patients are covered by Medicare; provided, that the impact fees for such development activity shall be paid from public funds other than impact fee accounts. (Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1318 § 2, 2009; Ord. 1230 § 26, 2007; Ord. 1123 § 1, 2005; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.050 Fee schedules and establishment of service area.
A. A transportation impact fee (TIF) schedule setting forth the amount of the transportation impact fees to be paid by a development is set out in Attachment B, attached to the ordinance codified in this section, and incorporated herein by this reference.
B. The impact fee schedule of costs, as set out in Attachment B, attached to the ordinance codified in this section, shall be updated annually at a rate adjusted in accordance with the Washington State Department of Transportation Construction Cost Index, using an October to October annual measure to establish revised fee schedules effective January 1st of the subsequent year; provided, however, that said annual rate adjustment shall not go into effect except by an authorizing motion of the city council duly recorded in the minutes of the council meeting.
C. For the purpose of this chapter, the entire city shall be considered one service area. (Ord. 1555 § 2, 2016; Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1313 § 1, 2009; Ord. 1284 § 1, 2008; Ord. 1273 § 1, 2008; Ord. 1210 § 1, 2006; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.060 Calculation of impact fees.
A. The director shall calculate the transportation impact fees as set forth in Attachment B subject to the provisions of this chapter.
B. In determining the proportionate share, the method of calculating impact fees shall incorporate, among other things, the following:
1. The cost of public streets and roads necessitated by new development;
2. An adjustment to the cost of the public streets and roadways for past or future payments made or reasonably anticipated to be made by new development to pay for particular system improvements in the form of user fees, debt service payments, taxes, or other payments earmarked for or proratable to the particular system improvement;
3. The availability of other means of funding public street and roadway improvements;
4. The cost of existing public street and roadway improvements; and
5. The methods by which public street and roadway improvements were financed.
C. A credit, not to exceed the impact fee otherwise payable, shall be provided for the value of any dedication of land for, improvement to, or new construction of any system improvements provided by the developer, to facilities that are identified in the community facilities and services element and that are required by the city as a condition of approving the development activity. The determination of “value” shall be consistent with the assumptions and methodology used by the city in estimating the capital improvement costs.
D. The director may adjust the standard impact fee at the time the fee is imposed to consider unusual circumstances in specific cases to ensure that impact fees are imposed fairly.
E. The amount of fee to be imposed on a particular development may be adjusted by the director giving consideration to studies and other data available to the director or submitted by the developer demonstrating to the satisfaction of the director that an adjustment should be made in order to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
F. The impact fee shall provide for system improvement costs previously incurred by the city to the extent that new growth and development will be served by the previously constructed improvements; provided, that such fees shall not be imposed to make up for any system improvement deficiencies.
G. As applies to residential development activity, the amount of the impact fee calculated pursuant to this section shall be charged for each single-family residential unit (including new accessory dwelling units), and for each dwelling unit included in a multifamily residential development (e.g., duplex, apartment, condominium, mobile home park).
H. As described in this section, the impact fees set forth in the schedule included in Attachment B shall be the presumptive impact fees, subject to revision as required by subsections C through E of this section. (Ord. 1675 § 4, 2022; Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1123 § 3, 2005; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.070 Payment of fees.
A. All developers shall pay an impact fee in accordance with the provisions of this chapter at the time that the applicable building permit is ready for issuance; except:
1. When a development proposal is subject to a development agreement approved by the city council, said agreement may contain alternate terms and conditions under which the impact fees shall be paid; or
2. When a deferral is granted for a single-family home consistent with the requirements and limitations provided in subsection F of this section.
B. All developers shall pay an impact administrative fee at the time of application for a building permit as set forth in the fee schedule adopted by resolution of the city council.
C. If the development is modified or conditioned in such a way as to alter the trip generation rate for the development after building permit issuance, the impact fee will be recalculated accordingly.
D. No building permit shall be issued until the impact fee is paid unless the development is the subject of a development agreement with alternate payment terms or a deferral is granted as provided in subsection A of this section. If the building permit expires through suspension or abandonment, the impact fee shall be refunded at the request of the applicant as provided in BLMC 19.04.100(A); provided, that if the applicant reapplies for a new permit, the impact fee shall be recalculated at current rates and the amount of the impact fee already paid and not refunded may be credited toward the new impact fee.
E. Impact fees may be paid under protest in order to obtain a permit or other approval of development activity.
F. An applicant for a building permit for a single-family detached or attached residence may request a deferral of the full impact fee payment until final inspection or 18 months from the date of original building permit issuance, whichever occurs first. Deferrals of impact fees are considered under the following conditions:
1. The applicant shall submit to the city a written request to defer the payment of an impact fee prior to issuance of the building permit.
2. To receive a deferral an applicant shall:
a. Submit an impact fee deferral application form for each building permit;
b. Pay an administrative fee of $350.00 for each impact fee deferral application;
c. Grant and record at the applicant’s expense a deferred impact fee lien in a form approved by the city against the property in favor of the city in the amount of the deferred impact fee that:
i. Includes the legal description, tax account number, and address of the property;
ii. Requires payment of the impact fees to the city prior to final inspection or 18 months from the date of original building permit issuance, whichever occurs first;
iii. Is signed by all owners of the property, with all signatures acknowledged as required for a deed and recorded in Pierce County;
iv. Binds all successors in title after the recordation; and
v. Is junior and subordinate to one mortgage for the purpose of construction upon the same real property granted by the person who applied for the deferral of impact fees.
3. The amount of impact fees deferred shall be determined by the fees in effect at the time the applicant applies for a deferral.
4. The city shall withhold final inspection until the impact fees have been paid in full. Upon receipt of final payment of impact fees deferred under this subsection, the city shall execute a release of deferred impact fee lien for each single-family attached or detached residence for which the impact fees have been received. The applicant, or property owner at the time of release, shall be responsible for recording the lien release at his or her expense.
5. The extinguishment of a deferred impact fee lien by the foreclosure of a lien having priority does not affect the obligation to pay the impact fees as a condition of final inspection.
6. Any application for deferral must be submitted prior to building permit issuance. Any request not so made shall be deemed waived.
7. If impact fees are not paid in accordance with the deferral and in accordance with the term provisions established herein, the city may institute foreclosure proceedings in accordance with Chapter 61.12 RCW.
8. An applicant is entitled to defer impact fees pursuant to this section for no more than 20 single-family attached or detached home building permits per year in the city.
9. For purposes of this section, an “applicant” includes an entity that controls the applicant, is controlled by the applicant, or is under common control with the applicant. (Ord. 1558 § 2, 2016; Ord. 1555 § 3, 2016; Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1230 § 23, 2007; Ord. 1123 § 4, 2005; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.080 Project list.
A. The director shall periodically review the city’s community facilities and services element of the comprehensive plan, including those transportation related plans adopted by reference, and shall:
1. Identify each project in the comprehensive plan that is growth-related and the proportion of each such project that is growth-related;
2. Forecast the total moneys available from taxes and other public sources for road improvements over the next six years;
3. Calculate the amount of impact fees already paid; and
4. Identify those comprehensive plan projects that have been or are being built but whose performance capacity has not been fully utilized.
B. The director may use this information to prepare a transportation system improvement project list, which shall comprise:
1. The projects on the comprehensive plan that are growth-related and that should be funded with forecast public moneys and the impact fees already paid;
2. The projects already built or funded pursuant to this chapter whose performance capacity has not been fully utilized; and
3. An update of the estimated costs of the projects listed.
C. The council, at the same time that it adopts the annual budget and appropriates funds for capital improvement projects, may include an updated transportation system improvement project list as part of the adopted budget.
D. Once a project is placed on the transportation system improvement project list, a fee shall be imposed on every development that impacts the project until the project is removed from the list by one of the following means:
1. The council by ordinance removes the project from the transportation system improvement project list, in which case the fees already collected will be refunded if necessary to ensure that impact fees remain reasonably related to the traffic impacts of development that have paid an impact fee; provided, that a refund shall not be necessary if the council transfers the fees to the budget of another project that the council determines will mitigate essentially the same traffic impacts; or
2. The impact fee share of the project has been fully funded, in which case the director shall administratively remove the project from the project list. (Ord. 1675 § 5, 2022; Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.090 Funding of projects.
A. Transportation impact fees shall be placed in appropriate deposit accounts within the streets capital improvement fund.
B. The transportation impact fees paid to the city shall be held and disbursed as follows:
1. The transportation impact fees collected shall be deposited in accordance with subsection A of this section;
2. When the council appropriates streets capital improvement fund funds for a project on the project list, impact fees held within such fund may be used in accordance with the project list. The non-impact fee moneys appropriated for the project may comprise both the public share of the project cost and an advancement of that portion of the private share that has not yet been collected in transportation impact fees;
3. The first money spent by the director on a project after a council appropriation shall be deemed to be the fees from the impact fee account;
4. Fees collected after a project has been fully funded by means of one or more council appropriations shall constitute reimbursement to the city of the public moneys advanced for the private share of the project;
5. All interest earned on transportation impact fees paid shall be retained in the account and expended for the purpose or purposes for which the transportation impact fees were imposed.
C. Projects shall be funded by a balance between transportation impact fees and other sources of public funds, and shall not be funded solely by transportation impact fees.
D. Transportation impact fees shall be expended or encumbered for a permissible use within 10 years of receipt, unless there exists an extraordinary or compelling reason for fees to be held longer than 10 years. The finance director may recommend to the council that the city hold fees beyond 10 years in cases where extraordinary or compelling reasons exist. Such reasons shall be identified in written findings by the council.
E. The city shall prepare an annual report on the transportation impact fee account showing the source and amount of all moneys collected, earned or received and projects that were financed in whole or in part by transportation impact fees. (Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1182 § 2, 2006; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.100 Refunds and credits.
A. A developer may request and shall receive a refund when the developer does not proceed with the development activity for which transportation impact fees were paid, and the developer shows that no impact has resulted; however, the impact fee administrative fee shall not be refunded.
B. If an owner appears to be entitled to a refund of transportation impact fees, the finance director shall notify the owner by first class mail deposited with the United States Postal Service at their last known address. The owner must submit a request for a refund to the finance director in writing within one year of the date the right to claim the refund arises or the date the notice is given, whichever is later. Any transportation impact fees that are not expended or encumbered within the time limitations established by this chapter and for which no application for a refund has been made within this one-year period, shall be retained and expended on any project.
C. In the event that transportation impact fees must be refunded for any reason, they shall be refunded with interest earned to the owners as they appear of record with the Pierce County assessor at the time of refund.
D. When the city seeks to terminate any or all impact fee requirements, all unexpended or unencumbered funds shall be refunded pursuant to this section. Upon the finding that any or all fee requirements are to be terminated, the city shall place notice of such termination and the availability of refunds in a newspaper of general circulation at least two times and shall notify all potential claimants by first class mail to the last known address of claimants. Claimants shall request refunds as in subsection B of this section. All funds available for refund shall be retained for a period of one year. At the end of one year, any remaining funds shall be retained by the city, but must be expended on any city projects. This notice requirement shall not apply if there are no unexpended or unencumbered balances within an account or accounts being terminated.
E. Credits. Should a business who is the owner occupant of a commercial building construct a new business in another part of the city of Bonney Lake for the purpose of relocating said business, said business owner shall be entitled to a credit towards the new building of up to 50 percent of any transportation impact fees said business owner had previously paid on the building that is being vacated. (Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.110 Appeals.
A developer may appeal the amount of an impact fee determined by the director as provided in BLMC 14.120.020. The developer shall bear the burden of proving:
A. That the director committed material and substantial error in calculating the developer’s proportionate share, as determined by an individual fee calculation or, if relevant, as set forth in the fee schedule, or in granting credit for the benefit factors; or
B. That the director’s decision was based on data that was materially and substantially incorrect and which, therefore, necessarily resulted in an erroneous decision. (Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 988 § 3, 2003; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.120 Relationship to SEPA.
A. All development shall be subject to environmental review pursuant to SEPA and other applicable city ordinances and regulations. Any off-site in-city transportation actual mitigation costs required by SEPA for public facilities that are included in the community facilities and services element of the comprehensive plan shall be credited against traffic impact fees paid to the city.
B. Payment of the impact fee shall constitute satisfactory mitigation of those traffic impacts related to the specific improvements identified on the transportation system improvement project list.
C. Further mitigation in addition to the impact fee may be required for identified on-site adverse impacts appropriate for mitigation pursuant to SEPA that are not mitigated by an impact fee.
D. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit the city’s authority to deny building permits when a proposal would result in significant adverse traffic impacts identified in an environmental impact statement and reasonable mitigation measures are insufficient to mitigate the identified impact. (Ord. 1675 § 6, 2022; Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.130 Relationship to concurrency.
Neither compliance with this chapter or the payment of any fee hereunder shall constitute a determination of concurrency under Chapter 19.02 BLMC. (Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.140 Necessity of compliance.
A building permit issued after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter shall be null and void if issued without substantial compliance with this chapter by the department, the approving authority and the director. (Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 984 § 1, 2003).
19.04.150 Traffic impact fee (TIF) funding source adjustments.
Repealed by Ord. 1555. (Ord. 1439 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1424 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1419 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1316 § 1, 2009; Ord. 1282 § 2, 2008).
Attachment A
Repealed by Ord. 1675. (Ord. 1199 § 1 (Att. A), 2006; Ord. 984 Att. A, 2003).
Attachment B1
(Ord. 1457 § 1, 2013; Ord. 1273 § 1, 2008; Ord. 1198 § 1 (Att. B), 2006; Ord. 984 Att. B, 2003).
Code reviser’s note: The rates in this section have been updated pursuant to BLMC 19.04.050, which permits this update without an adopting ordinance.