Washington Revised Code Title 82. Excise Taxes § 82.02.090. Impact fees--Definitions

(1) “Development activity” means any construction or expansion 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 facilities. “Development activity” does not include:

(2) “Development approval” means any written authorization from a county, city, or town which authorizes the commencement of development activity.

(3) “Impact fee” 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.

(4) “Owner” means the owner of record of real property, although when real property is being purchased under a real estate contract, the purchaser is considered the owner of the real property if the contract is recorded.

(5) “Project improvements” mean 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. An improvement or facility included in a capital facilities plan approved by the governing body of the county, city, or town is not considered a project improvement.

(6) “Proportionate share” means that portion of the cost of public facility improvements that are reasonably related to the service demands and needs of new development.

(7) “Public facilities” means the following capital facilities owned or operated by government entities: (a) Public streets, roads, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities that were designed with multimodal commuting as an intended use; (b) publicly owned parks, open space, and recreation facilities; (c) school facilities; and (d) fire protection facilities.

(8) “Service area” means a geographic area defined by a county, city, town, or intergovernmental agreement in which a defined set of public facilities provide service to development within the area. Service areas must be designated on the basis of sound planning or engineering principles.

(9) “System improvements” mean public facilities that are included in the capital facilities plan and are designed to provide service to service areas within the community at large, in contrast to project improvements.