ARTICLE
On Tuesday, June 7, the Beaverton City Council passed Resolution 4795 adopting updated fee schedules including a new fee for the middle housing expedited land division process mandated under SB 458. The staff proposal included the fee at $24,000, but council decided to halve the amount to $12,000 after city staff and HBA testimony. The new fee was not included in the originally proposed fee schedule or prior council work session with HBA staff only becoming aware the Friday before the hearing. After reaching out to city council members, HBA submitted testimony to council highlighting our concerns with the exorbitantly high fee including its effect of deterring and even stopping some middle housing projects, the lack of supporting documentation and no prior public or council engagement on the proposed fee. After city staff testimony, it was apparent that the originally proposed fee was erroneously based on the same amount of review for current expedited land division procedures, although SB 458 substantially truncated that process, for middle housing, by limiting review as well as excluding timely and costly planning commission and city council approval including the required public comment periods.