Impact fees are collected from new construction for a variety of uses, one of these is for schools. Although Lake Washington School District has schools in the city boundaries of Redmond, Kirkland and Sammamish, there are also schools that fall in the boundaries of unincorporated King County. A map of King County (Generalized Comprehensive Land Use) shows the unincorporated areas in pale yellow -- for Redmond this is mostly Redmond Ridge and north of 124th. I posed several questions to King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert regarding Impact Fees collected by the county; April Sanders, Chief of Staff from her office provided links and answers to those questions.
King County Impact fees for Unincorporated King County residential development 2017 rates:
Fee per dwelling Multi-family Unit $956.00
Fee per dwelling Single family Unit $10,822.00
King County Impact fees for Unincorporated King County residential development 2018 request rates:
Fee per dwelling Multi-family Unit $733.00 ($223/unit DECREASE)
Fee per dwelling Single family Unit $11,954.00 ($1,132/unit INCREASE)
Developments exempt from school impact fees are:
Any form of housing exclusively for the elderly including nursing homes and retirement centers
Replacement or remodeling of existing homes
Shelters for temporary placement
Relocation facilities
Transitional housing facilities
Low-income housing
Community residential facilities (i.e. group homes)
Temporary dwellings for medical hardship
Accessory Dwelling Units
The fee schedule is located here under "Building - Single Family Dwelling" Guide 3
A deferral of impact fee payment can be requested and individual low or moderate income home purchasers can seek an exemption if they meet the criteria that is listed here
Each district has an account with the jurisdiction (County or City) and funds as collected are distributed in full to the District. Permitting credits impact fees to the custodial accounts for school districts at the time of fee collection (daily upload via County financial system). After that the withdrawal of impact fee revenues by districts is instigated by the districts themselves.
In my next post I'll cover School Impact fees collected through the City of Redmond.
Stay informed, stay involved.
~ Paige