Bellevue, WA Development Impact Fees (2026)
Normalized development impact fees, water & sewer connection (tap/SDC) fees, and mitigation fees for Bellevue, Washington — per dwelling unit, by category, with links to every official source.
What a single-family home pays in Bellevue
$12,913 total per unit across 2 fee categories.
- Transportation / roads$8,185
- Schools$4,728
Bellevue’s $12,913 is close to the Washington tracked median of $13,063.
Full fee schedule — single-family
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee — Single-Family Detached — BCC Ch. 22.16, adopted by Ordinance 6888 effective 1/1/2026. Base rate $8,185 per p.m. peak-hour trip; single-family = 1.00 trip. Applies to ALL new SFD in Bellevue. Rates auto-increase 3% each Jan 1 (2025 rate was $7,946 per MRSC). Trip rates per ITE 12th Edition. | per dwelling unit | $8,185 | City of Bellevue Jan 1, 2026High |
Schools School Impact Fee — Issaquah School District No. 411 (Single-Family) — Levied by Issaquah SD No. 411, COLLECTED BY the City of Bellevue per BCC 22.18.100 (Ord. 6815, using 2025 CFP). Applies ONLY to parcels in the Issaquah SD portion of Bellevue. Mutually exclusive with Renton SD fee and with the $0 Bellevue SD area. | per dwelling unit | $4,728 | City of Bellevue (Municipal Codes / Code Publishing) —High |
Schools School Impact Fee — Renton School District No. 403 (Single-Family) — Levied by Renton SD No. 403, collected by City of Bellevue (BCC 22.18.100). Mutually exclusive with Issaquah SD fee (excluded from total since Issaquah SFD is the primary school row); applies only to parcels in the Renton SD portion of Bellevue. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $1,003 | City of Bellevue (Municipal Codes / Code Publishing) —High |
Drainage / stormwater Storm & Surface Water Capital Recovery Charge (bi-monthly, 10 yrs) — RECURRING storm capital recovery charge, $9.87 per 2,000 sq ft of chargeable area per month for 10 years. Ord. #6820, BCC 24.06.120(C). Not a one-time fee; excluded from total. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $9.87 | City of Bellevue Utilities Jan 1, 2026High |
Water & sewer connection fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water Capital Recovery Charge (bi-monthly, 10 yrs) — Single Family Equivalent — Bellevue's substitute for a one-time water connection/SDC: a RECURRING capital recovery charge billed bi-monthly (stated per-month) for 10 years, not a lump-sum fee. Ord. #6819, BCC 24.02.275(E). Excluded from one-time total because it is recurring. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $47.98 | City of Bellevue Utilities Jan 1, 2026High |
Sewer connection (tap / SDC) Sewer Capital Recovery Charge (bi-monthly, 10 yrs) — Single Family Equivalent — Bellevue's substitute for a one-time sewer connection/SDC: RECURRING capital recovery charge billed bi-monthly (stated per-month) for 10 years. Ord. #6818, BCC 24.04.275(E). Excluded from one-time total because it is recurring. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $25.60 | City of Bellevue Utilities Jan 1, 2026High |
Full fee schedule — multifamily
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee — Multifamily Low-Rise (representative MF) — Representative multifamily primary. $8,185 base x 0.52 trip rate. BCC Ch. 22.16 / Ord. 6888. | per dwelling unit | $4,256 | City of Bellevue Jan 1, 2026High |
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee — Multifamily Mid-Rise (3-10 stories) — Mutually-exclusive multifamily variant (mid-rise); low-rise is the included primary. $8,185 x 0.38. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $3,110 | City of Bellevue Jan 1, 2026High |
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee — Multifamily High-Rise / Mid-Rise Downtown-TOD — Mutually-exclusive multifamily variant (high-rise, and discounted Downtown/TOD mid-rise both = $1,555). $8,185 x 0.19. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $1,555 | City of Bellevue Jan 1, 2026High |
Schools School Impact Fee — Renton School District No. 403 (Multifamily) — Renton SD multifamily school impact fee per BCC 22.18.100. Mutually exclusive variant (only Renton SD area). alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $3,268 | City of Bellevue (Municipal Codes / Code Publishing) —High |
Coverage & caveats
Bellevue (King County, WA) levies only TWO development impact fees under RCW 82.02 / its Development Code (Title 22): (1) TRANSPORTATION impact fees (BCC Ch. 22.16) and (2) SCHOOL impact fees (BCC Ch. 22.18), which the City collects ONLY for the Issaquah School District No. 411 and Renton School District No. 403 (the two districts whose boundaries cross into Bellevue). IMPORTANT: The Bellevue School District (BSD405) — which covers most of the city — does NOT impose a school impact fee, so most new SFD homes in Bellevue pay $0 school impact fee; only homes in the Issaquah or Renton district portions of the city pay those fees. WHAT DOES NOT EXIST in Bellevue: no parks impact fee, no fire impact fee, no police impact fee, no library/open-space/affordable-housing impact fee, no drainage impact fee, and no general/capital impact fee (Title 22 has no such chapters; these categories are omitted because they are not adopted here). WATER/SEWER/STORM: Bellevue does NOT charge a conventional one-time water/sewer connection 'capacity charge'/SDC/GFC. Instead it recovers capital cost through a 'Capital Recovery Charge' billed BI-MONTHLY over 10 years on the utility bill (Water $47.98/SFE/month, Sewer $25.60/SFE/month, Storm $9.87 per 2,000 sq ft of chargeable area/month, per BCC 24.02.275(E)/24.04.275(E)/24.06.120(C), Ords. #6818/#6819/#6820). These recurring capital recovery charges are included as informational rows with excludeFromTotal=true because they are monthly recurring charges, not a one-time fee comparable to other jurisdictions' connection fees; a builder should budget ~$73.58/month (water+sewer SFE) for 10 years. Bellevue's separate sewer/water 'connection charges' (BCC 24.04.260) are direct-facilities/latecomer reimbursement charges that vary by project and are not a fixed published per-unit fee. TRANSPORTATION rates are tiered by ITE land use and trip rate (base $8,185 per p.m. peak trip, effective 1/1/2026 per Ord. 6888); SFD = 1.00 trip = $8,185; multifamily tiers (low/mid/high-rise) are mutually exclusive variants — low-rise included as the representative multifamily primary, others marked excludeFromTotal. Transportation rates auto-escalate 3% each January 1. CAVEATS: bellevue.municipal.codes is behind Cloudflare and bellevuewa.gov blocks non-browser clients/served 404 to the 2026 rate PDF after year rollover; the school-fee schedule and the 2026 transportation rate table were obtained via search-engine renders of the official City Code page and the official City PDF (bellevuewa.gov/.../2026-impact-fee-rates.pdf, effective 01/01/2026), corroborated by the 2025 MRSC statewide comparison ($7,946 SFD in 2025, consistent with $8,185 after 3% escalation). The 2026 utility rate sheet was extracted directly from the official PDF. School fee figures (Issaquah SFD $4,728 / MF $0; Renton SFD $1,003 / MF $3,268; ADU = 50%) are from BCC 22.18.100, adopted via Ord. 6815 (on agenda 11/19/2024) using the districts' 2025 Capital Facilities Plans.
Totals are dominated by the transportation impact fee. For a representative ~2,000-2,500 sq ft single-family detached home: transportation = $8,185 (always applies). School impact fee depends on which district the parcel is in: $0 if in Bellevue School District (most of the city), $4,728 if in Issaquah SD, or $1,003 if in Renton SD — these are mutually exclusive by location, so only the transportation fee and (where applicable) one school fee apply. Utility 'Capital Recovery Charges' are recurring bi-monthly charges over 10 years, not one-time fees, hence excluded from any one-time total.
Sources
7 official sources · 11 high-confidence figures.
- 1Transportation Impact Fee Rates, effective 01/01/2026City of Bellevue · fee schedule · effective Jan 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 2Transportation Impact FeesCity of Bellevue · municipal webpage · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 3BCC 22.18.100 School impact fee scheduleCity of Bellevue (Municipal Codes / Code Publishing) · ordinance · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 4BCC Ch. 22.18 School Impact Fees for Issaquah School District No. 411 and Renton School District No. 403City of Bellevue · ordinance · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 5Ordinance 6815 — updating the school impact fee schedule (Issaquah & Renton CFPs)City of Bellevue (Legistar) · ordinance · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 62026 Utility Rate Information (Water/Sewer/Storm bi-monthly rates & Capital Recovery Charges)City of Bellevue Utilities · fee schedule · effective Jan 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 7Comparison of Transportation Impact Fee Rates (2025)Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) · government report · effective Jan 1, 2025 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
Bellevue impact fees — FAQ
- How much are development impact fees in Bellevue, WA for a single-family home?
- As of 2026-06-16, total development fees for a single-family detached home in Bellevue are about $12,913 per unit — roughly $12,913 in impact/development fees plus $0 in water/sewer connection fees. Figures are normalized from official sources; verify with the jurisdiction before relying on them.
- What are the impact fees per multifamily unit in Bellevue, WA?
- Total development fees for a multifamily unit in Bellevue are about $4,256 per unit as of 2026-06-16.
- Are impact fees in Bellevue the same as building permit fees?
- No. Impact fees (and water/sewer connection fees) fund off-site capital — roads, parks, schools, utilities — and are charged per new dwelling unit. Building permit and plan-review fees are separate and are not included here.
- How often do Bellevue's impact fees change?
- Most jurisdictions adopt fees by ordinance and escalate them annually (often by a construction cost index), with occasional mid-year updates. Always confirm the current adopted schedule with the jurisdiction. ImpactFeeAtlas last verified Bellevue on 2026-06-16.