• The City has received a request to partially exempt transportation and park impact fees for a low income apartment development.
• City Council may fully waive or partially exempt Transportation and Park development impact fees to stimulate affordable housing through VMC 20.915. The applicant in return is required to record a covenant on the property to maintain the low income affordability restrictions on the project in perpetuity.
• If the applicant fails to comply with the requirements of the impact fee ordinance the applicant will be required to pay impact fees at the rate at the time the property use changes.

Goal 3, Objective 3.2: Improve services available to underserved or vulnerable residents.

The Neals Lane apartment project is for 9 multifamily units (1 existing / 8 new) for households earning at or below 50% of the area median income. The project is located at 2705 Neals Lane in central Vancouver. Upon completion the project will be owned and operated by Second Step Housing.

The impact fee waiver is for 8 housing units. (One of the units is an existing single family residence that will be retained for a total of 9 units) Standard Park impact fees for the development are $13,112.00. The applicant is requesting a partial exemption of Park impact fees at 80% or $10,489.60. The resulting Park impact fee will be $2,622.40. The standard Traffic impact fee is $7,343.15. The applicant is requesting a partial exemption of Traffic impact fees at 80% or $5,874.52. The resulting Traffic impact fee will be $1,468.63.The total of the combined forgone Traffic and Park impact fees is $16,364.12. Staff sent a request to the school district to waive impact fees for this project. The school district responded and declined to waive any portion of the impact fees.

In return for the impact fee waivers the applicant is required to record a covenant against the property attesting that:

• The property is prohibited from being used for any purpose other than for low-income housing. Low-income housing is defined as housing for which the monthly housing expense is no greater than thirty percent of eighty percent of the median family income adjusted for family size for Clark County, as reported by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• If the property is converted to a use other than for low-income housing, the current property owner must pay the applicable impact fees at the rate in effect at the time of conversion.

1. Adds 8 new units of low-income housing.
2. Low-income restriction on the units will remain in perpetuity by covenant.
3. Will provide short term job creation.
4. Additional residents will benefit Fourth Plain businesses.