Bellevue OKs four-fold increase to transportation impact fees

May 6, 2009 6:29 pm

Bellevue will increase its transportation impact fees four-fold over the next six years to help pay for street improvements.

The city, which has one of the lowest transportation impact fees in the state, will increase the citywide average fee of $469 per afternoon rush hour trip peak hour trip to $2,000 per p.m. peak hour trip on Jan. 1, 2010.

Impact fees pay for improvements to roads and intersections that increase capacity and are needed to serve the new growth.

Money from transportation impact fees is tied directly to the size and amount of growth, its timing and land-use type.

The fees are calculated by determining how many more vehicle trips are generated as a result of new development; the more traffic that results from a project, the higher the amount paid by a developer.

Bellevue’s fees will increase again on Jan. 1, 2013, to $3,000 per trip; on Jan. 1, 2016, the rate goes to $5,000 per trip. After January 2016, the ordinance approved Monday allows for an annual adjustment to the rates based on the state Department of Transportation construction cost index.

Bellevue’s current impact fee rate of $469 per p.m. peak hour trip is below other nearby cities. Recent comparisons show Kirkland at $3,787 (2009), Issaquah at $4,839 (2006), Redmond at $8,462 (2007) and Sammamish at $14,707 (2006).

In unanimously approving impact fee changes, council members were particularly concerned about the effect it would have on development and decided to phase in the higher rates. The new fee schedule is expected to generate approximately $45.7 million in revenue from 2010 to 2019 to help pay for transportation costs associated with future development.

In addition to the change in the fee schedule, the council approved simplifying the process by using one citywide district to calculate impact fees rather than the current 14 different districts; it also changed the method used to determine the true cost of growth.

More information on the fees is available at http://www.bellevuewa.gov/pdf/City%20Council/PacketRegularSession5-04-0911a.pdf.