New Parks Impact Fee Not Offset by Prior Land Dedication

In a recent impact fees case, Belleau Woods v. City of Bellingham, the Division I Court of Appeals upheld the City of Bellingham’s application of a new park impact fee ordinance to a development that was already conditioned on a land dedication and payment under a separate parks-related development requirement. The Court reaffirmed its prior holdings that new impact fees can be applied to some developments that have already been approved, and that the doctrine of vesting did not protect the developer from the newly-created park impact fee. Based on its extensive analysis of the provisions of a development agreement and the municipal code, the court reversed the Superior Court on the impact fees issue. The Court reinstated the City Hearing Examiner’s decision that the City could apply the new impact fee and the prior park-related mitigation measures concurrently to the development. The Belleau Woods case highlights the importance of assessing all local code provisions that might require or authorize mitigation, even where separate code provisions seem to target similar development impacts.