EHB 1398 -
By Committee on Financial Institutions, Housing & Insurance
ADOPTED AS AMENDED 03/01/2012
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"Sec. 1 RCW 82.02.060 and 1990 1st ex.s. c 17 s 44 are each
amended to read as follows:
The local ordinance by which impact fees are imposed:
(1) Shall include a schedule of impact fees which shall be adopted
for each type of development activity that is subject to impact fees,
specifying the amount of the impact fee to be imposed for each type of
system improvement. The schedule shall be based upon a formula or
other method of calculating such impact fees. In determining
proportionate share, the formula or other method of calculating impact
fees shall incorporate, among other things, the following:
(a) The cost of public facilities necessitated by new development;
(b) An adjustment to the cost of the public facilities 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;
(c) The availability of other means of funding public facility
improvements;
(d) The cost of existing public facilities improvements; and
(e) The methods by which public facilities improvements were
financed;
(2) May provide an exemption for low-income housing((,)) and other
development activities with broad public purposes((,)) from these
impact fees, provided that the impact fees for ((such)) development
((activity)) activities with broad public purposes shall be paid from
public funds other than impact fee accounts. Local governments that
grant exemptions for low-income housing under this subsection (2) are
not obligated to pay the exempted fees. An exemption for low-income
housing granted under this subsection (2) must be conditioned upon
requiring the developer to record a covenant that, except as provided
otherwise by this subsection, prohibits using the property for any
purpose other than for low-income housing. At a minimum, the covenant
must address price restrictions and household income limits for the
low-income housing, and that if the property is converted to a use
other than for low-income housing, the property owner must pay the
applicable impact fees in effect at the time of conversion. Covenants
required by this subsection must be recorded with the applicable county
auditor or recording officer. A local government granting an exemption
under this subsection for low-income housing may not collect revenue
lost through granting an exemption by increasing impact fees unrelated
to the exemption;
(3) Shall provide a credit 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
capital facilities plan and that are required by the county, city, or
town as a condition of approving the development activity;
(4) Shall allow the county, city, or town imposing the impact fees
to 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;
(5) Shall include a provision for calculating the amount of the fee
to be imposed on a particular development that permits consideration of
studies and data submitted by the developer to adjust the amount of the
fee;
(6) Shall establish one or more reasonable service areas within
which it shall calculate and impose impact fees for various land use
categories per unit of development;
(7) May provide for the imposition of an impact fee for system
improvement costs previously incurred by a county, city, or town to the
extent that new growth and development will be served by the previously
constructed improvements provided such fee shall not be imposed to make
up for any system improvement deficiencies; and
(8) For purposes of this section, "low-income housing" means
housing with a monthly housing expense, that is no greater than thirty
percent of eighty percent of the median family income adjusted for
family size, for the county where the project is located, as reported
by the United States department of housing and urban development."
EHB 1398 -
By Committee on Financial Institutions, Housing & Insurance
ADOPTED AS AMENDED 03/01/2012
On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "fees;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "and amending RCW 82.02.060."
EFFECT: A local government that exempts low-income housing from paying impact fees may not automatically also exempt the housing from any fees otherwise due under the State Environmental Policy Act. Provides a definition of low-income housing and requires the developer's recorded covenant to include restrictions on rental payments and household income.