The La Center City Council heard a presentation on Wednesday, March 11, about potential updates to the city’s Capital Facilities Plan and a proposal to nearly double Transportation Impact Fees (TIFs), one-time charges placed on developers.
The discussion occurred during a council work session, and no formal action was taken. Staff plan to return later with options for council consideration.
The latest Capital Facilities Plan, first adopted in 2016 and revised in 2018, lays out major infrastructure projects over a 20-year period. As part of Washington’s Growth Management Act requirements, cities must periodically update the plan to reflect population projections, infrastructure needs, and updated transportation standards.
Under the city’s current system, the transportation impact fee rate is $7,561 per unit. That rate was set in 2018 and was intended to help fund about $15.5 million in transportation projects. With additional projects now proposed under the updated plan, staff recommends raising the rate to $14,108 to support roughly $28.9 million in TIF-eligible transportation improvements tied to future growth.
A major factor behind the updates is Washington’s multimodal transportation standards, which now emphasize safer travel for pedestrians and cyclists.
The system uses a “Level of Traffic Stress” scale ranging from 1 to 4. Lower levels represent routes comfortable for most users, while higher levels reflect areas with heavy traffic or limited separation from vehicles.
City staff said some La Center streets with sidewalks and lower traffic volumes already meet lower-stress levels, while others with higher speeds or missing pedestrian infrastructure exceed the recommended threshold.
Staff suggested setting a goal that major routes maintain a Level of Traffic Stress of 2 or lower, which aligns with Washington State Department of Transportation guidance and could help the city compete for transportation grants.
The proposed transportation projects span a wide range of improvements, with several along La Center Road accounting for the largest share of the costs. La Center Road connects the city’s downtown core with west La Center and the Interstate 5 interchange, making it a key corridor for both local travel and regional access.
Planned projects on the corridor include widening La Center Road between Paradise Park Road and 13th Avenue to five travel lanes at an estimated $5.2 million, widening the roadway between 13th Avenue and Timmen Road to five lanes for $2.7 million, improving the stretch between Timmen Road and the Lewis River Bridge with a center turn lane south of the bridge for $3.4 million and constructing a roundabout at the La Center Road and Timmen Road intersection for about $3.5 million, with the city expected to contribute $1 million toward that project.
Other projects identified as eligible for transportation impact fee funding include upgrading Fifth Street from a local road to a minor collector and extending it to Golden Eagle Avenue for $2.5 million, extending Bolen Street to 19th Street for $7.5 million, improving Fourth Street from east of Cedar Avenue to west of Highland Avenue for $2.5 million and improving Lockwood Creek Road from Highland Avenue to the eastern Urban Growth Area boundary for $1.5 million.
“No, I'm just watching the numbers climb,” La Center Mayor Tom Strobehn said.
During the workshop, Public Works Director Tracy Coleman told councilmembers that TIFs play a key role in funding those projects, particularly as development continues.
“It’s so (developers) pay for their proportional cost of effective growth on the city, and it isn't put down to the taxpayers to pay for it, who are currently living in the city,” Coleman said. “When somebody comes in, and they're creating congestion that requires a roundabout or a signal or something like that in an intersection, they pay their proportional share to the city to build that road (or) the bike lanes, so on and so forth, for connectivity throughout the city.”
Coleman noted the existing fees have already helped the city leverage outside funding for infrastructure work.
“Had you even taken more (TIF eligible) projects off, (the city) would not have the ability to have paid for the $3 million shortage on the Breeze Creek (culvert) project that just came in, or the $1 million that we're having to put into the (La Center Road) shared use path,” she said. “So, because that money is sitting there, we're able to use matching funds out of the $14 and $15 million that we pulled in from grant dollars and make up that… difference.”
Coleman told councilmembers they are not required to raise the transportation impact fee all at once and could instead phase the increase over several years. Coleman added that phasing in the increase could also encourage development to move forward sooner.
Councilmember Sean Boyle said he supported a gradual increase rather than an immediate doubling of the fee.
“I think doubling it could hinder our growth in ways that we need it,” he said. “I feel like that would not be quite the right move for (the) size of the city, what we have to offer right now. We're still missing out on a lot of basic needs stuff in the city as far as grocery stores and health care and things like that.”
Strobehn also expressed interest in considering a phased approach, noting rising costs already facing residents.
“I'm not a person who wants to impose massive amounts of fees all at once, especially when we've got a sewer plan that's coming up and some other costs that are going to raise some of these fees up for everybody here,” he said. “So, if we did do a method of what Tracy was just talking about, I think that that helps us come into reality a little bit.”
Staff will return to the council with additional options for structuring the transportation impact fee at a future meeting.
