23-100951 - Methodology Memo-PIF |Memorandum
Firm Headquarters Locations page 1
Redmond Town Center Washington | 425.867.1802
7525 166th Ave NE, Ste D-215 Oregon | 503.841.6543
Redmond, Washington 98052 Colorado | 719.284.9168
PARKS IMPACT FEE BACKGROUND
The City of Federal Way (City) wishes to adopt a parks impact fee to help recover the costs of
providing parks services to growth in an equitable manner. Impact fees have a specific definition and
associated constraints in the state of Washington. Impact fees are allowed under RCW 82.02.050
through 82.02.110 and are permitted for:
⚫ Public streets and roads ,
⚫ Publicly owned parks, open space, and recreation fa cilities ,
⚫ School facilities , and
⚫ Fire protection facilities .
The diagram below summarizes the basic outline of an impact fee calculation.
⚫ The eligible cost of capacity in existing facilities is the cost of existing park facilities that will
serve growth. For a parks impact fee , determining the capacity in the existing system available
for growth starts with determining the amount of existing parks facilities that are required for
existing users , commonly measured in park acres . One method for doing so first calculates the
system’s level -of-service after completion of the capital facilities plan. By applying that level -of-
service target to the current population, the City can determine if it’s currently meeting its level -
of-service target. If the City has more park facilities (such as park acres) than needed based on its
level-of-service target, the cost of such facilities can be included in the existing facilities
component of the impact fee.
⚫ The eligible portion of capacity increasing projects is the cost of future projects that will serve
growth. Some projects are intended to only serve growth, some projects do not serve to increase
the capacity of the City’s park system, and some serve the City’s current and future populations.
Determining how projects fall into each category can again be done with a level -of-service
calculation to estimate how many park acres (for example) are needed to serve growth given the
2/21/2023
City of Federal Way FCS GROUP Memorandum
Parks Impact Fee Methodology
page 2
City’s level -of-service target. Other projects that do not add a measurable number of parks
facilities may still be eligible if they will serve both existing and future users.
⚫ The growth in system demand is the anticipated growth in the City’s population. However, as
residents are not the only users of the City’s park system, employees of businesses within will be
included as well, at a separate rate that reflects the parks demand characteristics of commercial
developments.
Finally, summing the existing facilities component with the future facilities component gives the
fully calculated impact fee.