Camas Council to hold public hearing on fire impact fees

The Camas City Council this week signaled its willingness to increase the city’s fire impact fees developers pay to help cover residential and non-residential developments’ future strain on the Camas-Washougal Fire Department.

Although the Council is leaning toward bonds to fund the replacement of two CWFD fire stations — station 41 in downtown Camas and station 43 in Washougal — fire department officials and consultants have also said the department has critical fire apparatus needs that could be partially funded by impact fees placed on new development.

“Our fire department apparatus is failing,” CWFD Fire Marshal Ron Schumacher told the Council in April, adding that, with the Council’s adoption of the fire department’s 20-year capital facilities plan — something the Council approved in April and again this week during Monday’s regular Council meeting — “fire impact fees would become available to replace our aging fleet.”

The Camas Council will hold a public hearing at its regular meeting Nov. 21, to consider adopting a new fire impact fee schedule.

On Monday, the majority of the Council indicated support for a unified fee between the cities of Camas and Washougal, and increasing the impact fees, which would take effect in 2024, from Camas’ current fee structure — 20 cents per square foot for new residential developments and 40 cents per square foot for new, non-residential developments — to 68 cents per square foot for single-family residential developments, 37 cents per square foot for multi-family residential developments and 88 cents per square foot for all other developments, including commercial and industrial buildings as well as assisted living centers, which have more service calls to the CWFD than other developments.

If approved, the fee structure would bump fire impact fees for a new 2,530-square-foot home in Camas from $506 to $1,720, and increase fees for a new, 50,000-square-foot industrial development from $20,000 to $44,000.

Consultants from the FCS Group told Camas city councilors in April that the city’s current fire impact fee structure, when compared to other Washington cities with no bonds for financing fire department capital facilities needs, is near the bottom, with developers in Camas paying $506 in fire impact fees for every 2,530-square-foot residence while developers in other areas of Washington pay far more – $830 in Renton, $2,213 in Issaquah and $2,311 in Shoreline.

Despite more than doubling its population since 2000, the city of Camas has not approved a fire impact fee increase in nearly 20 years.

“It has been a while since the city has updated these fees,” FCS Group project manager Martin Chaw told the Council in April. Had Camas officials “indexed” the fire impact fees to account for increased costs and inflation, the city’s fire impact fees would now be 30 cents per square foot for residential developments and 61 cents per square foot for non-residential developments, Chaw added.

On Monday, Councilman Greg Anderson said he supported the impact fee increase on new development to help fund increased service demands on the fire department. .

“We have a demonstrated need for funding,” Anderson said, “and it’s a balancing act — does the money come from new growth or existing property owners?”

Consultants said this week that, out of the Camas-Washougal Fire Department’s $35.1 million in total capital needs, $22.7 million — including the $4.4 million the department needs to purchase four new fire engines, a ladder truck capable of reaching taller structures, four rescue tools and two brush fire rigs — can be funded by impact fees.

Councilman Don Chaney this week questioned the inclusion of a $1.1 million ladder truck in the fire department’s list of capital facilities needs.

“We were led to believe (a ladder truck) might not be a viable apparatus for us for various reasons,” Chaney said Monday.

CWFD Fire Chief Cliff Free explained that, when the consultants conducted the capital needs assessment, they were projecting out 20 years.

“With increasing heights of buildings and the proximity of other resources … there will eventually be a need for a ladder truck,” Free said Monday, adding that the department may not need the ladder truck in the next few years, but would likely require such an apparatus within the next two decades. “The way Camas-Washougal is growing, this needs to be in (our) capital plan.”

The Council will hold a public hearing to discuss the proposed fire impact fee increases during its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 21, at Camas City Hall. The meeting also will be livestreamed and available to the public via Zoom. For more information, visit cityofcamas.us/meetings.