Bellingham Municipal Code, City of Bellingham, WA

19.06.030 - Transportation Impact Fee »»

City of Bellingham Municipal Code

Title 19 IMPACT FEES
Chapter 06 TRANSPORTATION IMPACT FEES

19.06.020 - DEFINITIONS

A. For the purposes of this chapter, the terms listed shall have the following definitions and meanings consistent with RCW 82.02.090:

1. Capital Improvement Program (CIP) means the section of the annual City budget that contains a comprehensive list of the adopted city-wide capital improvement needs, including specific transportation facility improvements. The CIP is cross-referenced in the Capital Facilities Element of the Bellingham Comprehensive Plan and transportation capital improvements are derived from the annually adopted Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).

2. Development activity means any construction or expansion or use of a building, structure, or use, any change in use of a building or structure, or any changes in the use of land that creates additional demand and need for public transportation facilities.

3. Development approval means any written authorization from a county, city, or town which authorizes the commencement of development activity.

4. ITE Trip Generation Manual: Institute of Transportation Engineers Trip Generation Manual (most current edition).

5. Level of Service (LOS) means the ratio of the forecast peak hour traffic volume to the capacity of an arterial street or signalized intersection compared to the level of service (LOS) standard, as adopted in the Transportation Element of the Bellingham Comprehensive Plan.

6. Owner means the owner of record of real property, although when real property is being purchased under a real estate contract, the purchaser shall be considered the owner of the real property if the contract is recorded.

7. Peak Hour Project Trips means the traffic estimated to be generated by a proposed development during the one-hour weekday afternoon period during which the greatest volume of traffic uses the road system. The peak hour project trips shall be estimated based on procedures identified in the City's Development Guidelines and Improvement Standards Manual.

8. Peak Hour Traffic means traffic volumes during the one-hour weekday afternoon period during which the greatest volume of traffic uses the road system, as identified separately for each segment of a transportation facility. Bellingham measures the heaviest 60-minute traffic period between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. during weekdays Monday through Friday.

9. Proportionate Share means that portion of the cost of public facility improvements that are reasonable related to the service demands and needs of new development.

10. Project Improvements means site improvements and facilities that are planned and designed to provide service for a particular development project and that are necessary for the use and convenience of the occupants or users of the project, and are not system improvements. No improvement or facility included in a capital facilities plan approved by the governing body of the county, city, or town shall be considered a project improvement.

11. Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) means the expenditures programmed by the City for capital purposes over the next 6-year period in the Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program pursuant to RCW 35.77.010. The financial plan underlying the adopted Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program identifies all applicable and available revenue sources, and the plan forecasts these revenues through the six-year period with reasonable assurance that such funds will be timely put to such ends.

12. Transportation Impact means the generation of new vehicle trips on the city-wide transportation network, which reduces the transportation capacity available to the general public and/or causes public arterial streets to fall below adopted LOS standards.

13. Transportation Impact Fee (TIF) means a payment of money imposed upon development as a condition of development approval to pay for public facilities needed to serve new growth and development, and that is reasonably related to the new development that creates additional demand and need for public facilities, that is a proportionate share of the cost of the public facilities, and that is used for facilities that reasonably benefit the new development. "Impact fee" does not include a reasonable permit or application fee.

14. Transportation Service Area means the entire geographic area defined by the incorporated City limits of Bellingham in which the publicly funded transportation network provides service to new and existing development throughout the City. Land in the designated Bellingham Urban Growth Area (UGA) is under the jurisdiction of Whatcom County until annexed into the corporate limits of the City of Bellingham.

15. Transportation Strategies means transportation demand management strategies and other techniques or programs that reduce single-occupant vehicle commute travel or improve the capacity of a transportation facility and that are approved by the Public Works Department. Strategies may include but are not limited to vanpooling, carpooling, and public transit, access management, signalization, and channelization.

16. Transportation System Improvements means those publicly funded transportation facilities projects that are included in the Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program and Capital Improvement Plan and are necessary to accommodate the transportation demands generated by land use development as adopted in the Bellingham Comprehensive Plan.

17. Travel Demand Forecast Model is the City's computerized transportation model, which is used to develop and analyze peak hour travel demands on the City's transportation facilities. The model is used to forecast travel demand on the Bellingham arterial street network based on current land use designations and employment data. This information is used as the basis for the Transportation Element of the Bellingham Comprehensive Plan and in other transportation planning and traffic engineering applications.

[Ord. 2006-11-106; Ord. 2006-03-021]