A. “Act” means the Growth Management Act as codified in Chapter 36.70A RCW as now in existence or as hereafter amended.

B. “Building permit” means an official document or certification which is issued by the building official and which authorizes the construction, alteration, enlargement, conversion, reconstruction, remodeling, rehabilitation, erection, change of use, demolition, moving, or repair of a building or structure or any portion thereof.

C. “Capital facilities” means the facilities or improvements included in a capital budget or capital facilities plan.

D. “Capital Facilities Plan” means a capital facilities plan of a comprehensive plan adopted by the city of Lacey.

E. “City” means the city of Lacey.

F. “Council” means the city council of the city of Lacey.

G. “Concurrent” or “concurrency” means that the improvements are in place at the time the impacts of development occur, or that the necessary financial commitments are in place, which shall include the impact fees anticipated to be generated by the development, to complete the improvements necessary to meet the specified and defined standards of service within six years of the time the impacts of development occur.

H. “County” means Thurston County.

I. “Department” means the Lacey community and economic development department.

J. “Development activity” means any construction, expansion, or change in the use of a building or structure that creates additional demand and need for public facilities.

K. “Development approval” means any written authorization from the city of Lacey which authorizes the commencement of a development activity.

L. “Director” means the director of the community and economic development department or designee, unless specified in this chapter.

M. “Encumbered” means to reserve, set aside, or otherwise earmark the impact fees in order to pay for commitments, contractual obligations, or other liabilities incurred for public facilities.

N. “Feepayer” is a person, collection of persons, corporation, partnership, an incorporated association, or other similar entity, or department or bureau of any governmental entity or municipal corporation commencing a land development activity which creates the demand for additional system improvements, and requires the issuance of a building permit. “Feepayer” includes an applicant for an impact fee credit.

O. “Hearing examiner” means the examiner who acts on behalf of the council in considering and applying land use regulatory codes as provided under Chapter 2.30 LMC. Where appropriate, “hearings examiner” also refers to the office of the hearing examiner.

P. “Impact fee” means a payment of money imposed by the city of Lacey on development activity pursuant to this title as a condition of granting development approval in order to pay for the public facilities needed to serve new growth and development. “Impact fee” does not include a reasonable permit fee, an application fee, the administrative fee for collecting and handling school impact fees, the cost of reviewing independent fee calculations, or the fee for deferring payment of impact fees.

Q. “Impact fee account” or “account” means the account(s) established for each type of public facility for which impact fees are collected. The accounts shall be established pursuant to LMC 14.25.120 and comply with the requirements of RCW 82.02.070.

R. “Independent fee calculation” means the school impact calculation, and/or economic documentation prepared by a feepayer, to support the assessment of an impact fee other than by the use of the city’s impact fee schedule, or the calculations prepared by the director where none of the fee categories or fee amounts in the city’s impact fee schedule accurately describe or capture the impacts of the new development on public facilities.

S. “Interest” means the average interest rate earned by the city of Lacey.

T. “Interlocal agreement” or “agreement” means an agreement between the city and a governmental agency, department or district authorized under this title as authorized in LMC 14.25.120.

U. “Low-income housing” means, for the purposes of this chapter, any form of housing occupied by households whose income when adjusted for size, is at or below eighty percent of the area median income, as annually adjusted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

V. “Occupancy permit” means the permit issued by the city of Lacey where development activity results in a change in use of a preexisting structure.

W. “Open space” means, for the purposes of this chapter, undeveloped public land that is permanently protected from development (except for the development of trails or other passive public access or use).

X. “Owner” means the owner of record of real property, or a person with an unrestricted written option to purchase property; provided that, if the real property is being purchased under a recorded real estate contract, the purchaser shall be considered the owner of the real property.

Y. “Project improvements” mean site improvements and facilities that are planned and designed to provide service for a particular development or users of the project, are necessary for the use and convenience of the occupants or users, or users of the project, and are not system improvements. No improvement or facility included in a capital facilities plan adopted by the council shall be considered a project improvement.

Z. “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.

AA. “Public facilities” means capital facilities owned or operated by the city of Lacey or other governmental entities.

BB. “Residential” or “residential development” means all types of construction intended for human habitation. This shall include, but is not limited to, single-family, duplex, triplex, and other multifamily development.

CC. “Senior housing development” means a residential development of ten units or more that is occupied exclusively by residents fifty-five years of age or older. In order to qualify for the senior development impact fee rate, a restrictive covenant is required to be placed on the deed limiting the development to residents fifty-five years of age or older.

DD. “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 in the area. Service areas shall be designated on the basis of sound planning or engineering principles.

EE. “Single-family attached or detached dwelling unit” means a dwelling designated and intended for use by one family that may be site built or manufactured, or a townhouse defined as an attached single-family dwelling unit that is contained on a separate legal lot of record for the purposes of LMC 14.25.140, Deferral of impact fees.

FF. “Square footage” means the square footage of the gross floor area of the development.

GG. “System improvements” means public facilities that are included in the city of Lacey’s capital facilities plan and are designed to provide service to service areas within the community at large, in contrast to project improvements.

HH. “Use or use area” means the portion of property or a building that is physically occupied or used by the land use activity. (Ord. 1507 §7 (part), 2017).