According to a January 31 Clark County staff report, the fee holiday applies to preliminary plan review and development engineering plan review fees, development inspection fees, building fees and Fire Marshal fees. Unlike last year’s fee holiday, the new resolution does not limit projects to certain geographical areas. However, the following guidelines apply:
• Located in industrial, mixed use, business park, or office campus zoning districts (100 percent waiver) or commercial zoning districts (50 percent waiver)
• Create a minimum of 15 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs after construction is complete, and retain those jobs for two years
• Obtain approval of the first required building inspection no later than September 27, 2013
This year’s resolution applies only to “change of use or construction of an addition requiring Type II Site Plan Review” or construction of new building(s) that require any type of site plan and engineering review. Tenant improvements are not covered. The fee holiday expires at midnight, September 28, 2012.
Steve Horenstein, co-managing partner of Horenstein Law Group PLLC, said that he knew of several developers planning long-term projects that could potentially benefit from the fee waivers.
“But the question is,” said Horenstein, “which of those can get an application in by September?”
Horenstein said it takes considerable time to develop a site plan. Tim Buckley, principal at Greenstone Architecture PLLC, agreed that only if a project is pretty much “ready to go now” would it benefit from the program.
“But,” countered Buckley, “anything that encourages development right now will help the entire community.”
Horenstein also pointed out that the program may have limited value due to the recent federal injunction that requires developers to adhere to the state’s default stormwater treatment regulations, instead of the compromise agreed to between the Department of Ecology and the county.
Horenstein called the stormwater battle the “largest impediment to development we’ve seen since development began,” and stated that “I have projects that are approved that won’t go forward now. The land isn’t big enough.”
Although the county has appealed the injunction, a decision could take months.
“Will developers spend money to develop lands, assuming the appeal will be successful?” asked Horenstein. “Probably not.”
However, the business community remains cautiously optimistic. Bonnie Moore, director of business services for the Columbia River Economic Development Council (CREDC), said she was “very excited” about the program and felt “it will help business development in 2012,” although she said the CREDC would have preferred that the fee waiver resolution had favored projects in the “traded sector” – companies that sell goods and services outside the local economy and therefore tend to expand the county’s tax base.
Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt said that he’d like to see the city council adopt a similar fee waiver program to help fill in the vacancies downtown.
“In the state of Washington and locally, we have few tools to help promote private and public/private investment and development,” said Lance Killian, president of local commercial real-estate development and investment company Killian Pacific. “The commissioners are being proactive in this regard, and this is a step in the right direction.”
