FW Lutheran Church impact fees - Final.pdfFrom: Bjorback, Leif
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2018 4:39 PM
To: Johns, Kristin
Subject: FW: Lutheran Church impact fees - Final
Please attach in Bitco. Thanks.
From: Hope, Shane
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2018 4:31 PM
To: Bjorback, Leif <Leif.Biorback@edmondswa.gov>
Subject: Lutheran Church impact fees - Final
To Leif and interested others:
Representatives of the Edmonds Lutheran Church at 23525 84th Avenue have been exploring, over the
last several years, options to build low-income housing on part of the church's property. In 2016, the
City Council adopted a code amendment to Chapter 3.36 (Impact Fees) EMC to allow both a 100% park
impact fee reduction and an 80% transportation impact fee reduction for low- income housing
projects. (See EMC 3.36.040.B.) A covenant or lien is required to ensure that the qualifying property
stays in low-income housing use. If the property stops meeting the requirements for low-income
housing, it may be required to pay the City the amount that would otherwise have been due for park
and transportation impact fees.
At the time of the Lutheran Church's pre -application and initial building application, a lien or covenant
form for the impact fee reduction had not been developed by the City. In fact, the Church's proposal
marked the first time an application for the impact fee reduction had ever been submitted to
Edmonds. Both the applicant and staff proceeded in good faith to submit and approve (respectively) a
building permit, BLD2017-1842 , for the project without having a specific lien or covenant for the impact
fee reductions. Meanwhile, City staff and attorney worked together to prepare a draft template for the
lien/convenant. The template was completed in early May of 2018 and sent to the applicant. Within a
week of receiving the template, the applicant prepared information to include in the document,
referenced the appropriate low-income threshold under HUD guidelines, signed the lien/covenant, and
submitted it to the City. Shortly after this, staff realized the print margins of certain pages technically
did not meet county requirements for document recording and some formatting would have to be re-
done. Clearly, the applicant had met the intent of the code and could be expected to fix the format and
bring back a recordable document,
While the payment of impact fees are typically required at time of building permit issuance, the
lien/covenant template was not ready in this case and he applicant was eager to move the project
along. Regardless, EMC 3.36.040.D authorizes the department director to determine whether a
particular development activity falls within an exemption identified in the impact fees chapter.
Even though the formal claim for recognition as a low income project was not a part of the original
application as required by the code, it has been apparent that this project has been planned for low-
income housing even from the applicant's earliest conversations with the City. As the department
director, I find that the project proposed by the Lutheran Church for low-income housing meets the
criteria for an exemption under EMC 36.040.B.
The status of this project with regard to low-income tenants will need to be monitored over time. The
building permit has been conditioned to require the submittal of a properly formatted lien/covenant
which shall continue to be in effect until the City deems otherwise.
Shane Hope, AICP
Development Services Director
City of Edmonds
425.771.0220 x-1216
shone. hope@edmondswa.gov