(A) System development charges shall be established and may be revised by resolution of the City Council. The resolution shall set the amount of the charge through a methodology developed pursuant to § 31.33 herein, the type of permit to which the charge applies, and, if the charge applies to a geographic area smaller than the entire city, the geographic area subject to the charge. Changes in the system development charges shall also be adopted by resolution, excepting those changes resulting solely from inflationary cost impacts.
(B) All system development charges will be indexed. The indexing will be based on the Engineering News Record Construction Cost Index for Seattle, Washington for December of each year, and they will be increased on April 1 each subsequent year.
(C) Unless otherwise exempted by the provisions of this subchapter, or by other local or state law, a system development charge is hereby imposed upon all development within the city upon issuance of permit, as stated in § 31.37 herein, or upon the act of making a connection to the city’s water or sewer system within the city, whichever occurs first, and upon all development outside the boundary of the city that connects to, or otherwise uses, the sewer facilities, storm sewers, or water facilities of the city.
(D) Administrative costs for the city’s system development charge program are estimated and include the periodic and on-going direct and indirect costs associated with complying with the requirement of state law and the cost of administering system development charges. An administrative charge shall be incurred when one of the following occurs.
(1) When a redevelopment occurs that changes the use of a building in its entirety, and it is determined that usage of any capital improvement is increased or there is need of additional capital improvements, the associated administrative fee will be calculated as either a percentage rate of the net charge after credits are applied, or at a flat rate, whichever is higher, as listed in division (E) below.
(2) When a redevelopment permit application (other than for redevelopment that changes the use of a building in its entirety) requires a detailed review to determine that there will be no increased usage of any capital improvement and no additional capital improvements will be needed, the associated administrative fee will be applied at a flat rate as listed in division (E) below.
(3) When an system development charge is imposed for all other development, the associated administrative fee will be calculated as a percentage rate of the net charge after credits for previous use and impact reduction are applied, or at a flat rate, whichever is higher, as listed in division (E) below.
(E) The administration fees charged in accordance with division (D) above will be as follows:
(1) If based on percentage, as described in division (D) above: 5%; or
(2) If based on flat rate, as described in division (D) above: $100.
(F) An administrative charge calculated shall not exceed a maximum amount of $30,000 for a single permit issued. If multiple permits are issued for different phases of the same development, the maximum administrative charge shall be applied to each permit independently.
(Ord. 2021-02, passed 3-22-2021)