Today is another AMA episode, (Ask Me Anything). Our question comes from Tracy in Washington State who writes:

I’m working on a 144-unit apartment project in an older jurisdiction where the city is charging about $7,000 per unit for water and sewer—so roughly a $1M fee. At the same time, we’re bringing the main to the site, installing all laterals, and handling all on-site infrastructure.

Based on public records, the sewer system is operating at around 50% capacity, and the fees from this one project would represent a large portion of their annual water improvement budget. So it’s hard to see how the fee is tied to actual impact versus funding broader system upgrades.

On top of that, they’re requiring roughly 1,000 SF of open space per unit plus additional private open space. This equates out to over 3A on a 6A site, obviously this significantly impacts density and overall feasibility.

I have built in 5 different jurisdictions near by and they all have different requirements compared to this project. but similar requirements to each other: Water/sewer would be approx $42K and the open space requirement 200-300 sf per unit.

I feel that my project is right in line with the City goals stated in the comprehensive plan, but the development requirements would prevent almost any multi-family project from getting built.

In your experience, how do you actually get a city to move on issues like this? Push for a development agreement, challenge the fee structure and nexus, or leaning into the economic impact and negotiate

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