Kirkland, WA Development Impact Fees (2026)
Normalized development impact fees, water & sewer connection (tap/SDC) fees, and mitigation fees for Kirkland, Washington — per dwelling unit, by category, with links to every official source.
What a single-family home pays in Kirkland
$47,431 total per unit across 7 fee categories.
- Water connection (tap / SDC)$14,125
- Parks & recreation$9,317
- Transportation / roads$8,115
- Schools$7,277
- Sewer connection (tap / SDC)$5,124
- Fire / EMS$1,874
- Drainage / stormwater$1,598
Kirkland’s $47,431 is about 2.5× the Washington tracked median of $19,206 — among the higher-cost places to build in the state.
Full fee schedule — single-family
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee — Kirkland charges the transportation impact fee at $4.39/sq ft (2025) for Residential Non-Stacked, raised 2.7% CPI-W to ~$4.51/sf for Jan-Jun 2026, capped at a per-dwelling-unit max of $8,115.35. The max is reached at ~1,800 sq ft, so essentially every detached single-family home pays the $8,115.35 cap. Figure is the Jan-Jun 2026 maximum from the official fee-change notice. KMC Ch. 27.04, Ord. O-4904. VERIFIED via Jina proxy of source 1 and an independent search snippet. | per dwelling unit | $8,115 | City of Kirkland Jan 1, 2026High |
Parks & recreation Park Impact Fee — Charged at $5.04/sq ft (2025) Residential Non-Stacked, +2.7% CPI-W for Jan-Jun 2026, capped at per-dwelling-unit max of $9,316.94. Max reached at ~1,800 sq ft, so a typical detached single-family home pays the $9,316.94 cap. KMC Ch. 27.06, Ord. O-4901. VERIFIED via Jina proxy of source 1 and an independent search snippet. | per dwelling unit | $9,317 | City of Kirkland Jan 1, 2026High |
Fire / EMS Fire Impact Fee — Fire impact fee is per sq ft of conditioned floor area: $0.73/sf (2025), +2.7% CPI-W = ~$0.7497/sf for Jan-Jun 2026. Unlike park/transportation, the fire cap ($2,399.07 in 2026) is NOT reached until ~3,200 sq ft, so a representative ~2,500 sq ft home pays ~$1,874 (2,500 x $0.7497 = $1,874.27). Amount shown is COMPUTED for a 2,500 sq ft home; actual fee scales with home size up to the $2,399.07 max. KMC Ch. 27.10, Ord. O-4901. Per-sf rate and max VERIFIED in source 0 (Jina proxy); confidence downgraded high->medium because the exact dollar is a derived computation at an assumed home size, not a published figure. | per dwelling unit | $1,874 | City of Kirkland Jan 1, 2026Medium |
Fire / EMS Fire Impact Fee (maximum cap, large home) — Maximum per-dwelling-unit fire impact fee (Jan-Jun 2026), reached at ~3,200+ sq ft of conditioned floor area. Excluded from total as an alternative tier to the per-sqft primary row above. VERIFIED verbatim in source 1 (Jina proxy). alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $2,399 | City of Kirkland Jan 1, 2026High |
Schools School Impact Fee (Lake Washington SD No. 414) — Flat fee per detached single-family unit, set by Lake Washington School District No. 414 and collected by the City of Kirkland under RCW 82.02 / KMC Ch. 27.08 (Ord. O-4910 for 2026). 2025 was $5,972; Jan 2026 is $7,277. A separate $142 school impact fee administrative fee is also charged per the July-Dec 2025 schedule. VERIFIED verbatim in source 1 (Jina proxy) and corroborated by LWSD Impact Fees FAQ (SF $7,277 effective 1/1/2026). | per dwelling unit | $7,277 | City of Kirkland Jan 1, 2026High |
Schools School Impact Fee admin fee — Administrative fee charged in addition to the school impact fee. Value shown is from the 2025 schedule ($142); the 2026 admin amount may differ slightly with CPI but was not separately published in the Jan 2026 notice. Excluded from total to avoid double counting; add to school fee for an all-in figure. VERIFIED verbatim in source 0 (Jina proxy). alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $142 | City of Kirkland Jan 1, 2025Medium |
Drainage / stormwater Surface Water Capital Facility Charge (SWCFC), one new detached dwelling — Kirkland stormwater/surface water capital facility charge for one new detached dwelling on a single lot (Jan 2026). For other development types the charge = (impervious sq ft added / 2,600), rounded down, x $1,598. Alteration/expansion of an existing single dwelling on a single lot is exempt. VERIFIED verbatim by direct pdftotext of source 2. | per dwelling unit | $1,598 | City of Kirkland (hosted by MRSC) Jan 1, 2026High |
Water & sewer connection fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water Capital Facility Charge (WCFC), 5/8" x 3/4" meter — City of Kirkland Water Capital Facility Charge for a new connection at the base residential 5/8"x3/4" meter (Jan 2026). This is the city portion. The additive Cascade Water Alliance RCFC ($8,852) is a separate row; combined total for a 3/4" connection is $13,724. VERIFIED verbatim by direct pdftotext of source 2. | per meter | $4,872 | City of Kirkland (hosted by MRSC) Jan 1, 2026High |
Water connection (tap / SDC) Cascade Water Alliance Regional Capital Facility Charge (RCFC), 3/4" meter — Cascade Water Alliance regional wholesale capacity charge collected by Kirkland on all new water connections, ADDITIVE to the city WCFC (correctly NOT excluded; applies to the same connection alongside WCFC). 2026 = $8,852 for a 3/4" meter (Cascade Board Resolution 2024-13). No vesting; rate due is the rate in place at time of payment. Levied by a separate regional entity (Cascade Water Alliance) but mandatory for Kirkland builders. VERIFIED verbatim in source 1 (Jina proxy) and cross-checked against source 2 total ($13,724). | per meter | $8,852 | City of Kirkland Jan 1, 2026High |
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water meter installation (drop-in), 5/8" x 3/4" — One-time water meter drop-in (installation) fee for the base residential meter (Jan 2026). Separate from and additive to the WCFC/RCFC capacity charges. VERIFIED verbatim by direct pdftotext of source 2. | per meter | $401 | City of Kirkland (hosted by MRSC) Jan 1, 2026High |
Sewer connection (tap / SDC) Sewer Capital Facility Charge (SCFC), single-family — City of Kirkland Sewer Capital Facility Charge for a single-family residential connection (Jan 2026). Multi-unit: 2-unit $8,301; 3-unit $12,451; 4-unit $16,602; 5+ units $3,228/unit. Does NOT include the separate King County sewer treatment capacity charge (see coverage notes). VERIFIED verbatim by direct pdftotext of source 2. | per dwelling unit | $5,124 | City of Kirkland (hosted by MRSC) Jan 1, 2026High |
Sewer connection (tap / SDC) King County Sewer Treatment Capacity Charge (monthly, separate district) — SEPARATE regional charge by King County Wastewater Treatment Division, billed in addition to Kirkland's SCFC on all newly connected sewer customers. NOT a one-time lump sum: $77.99/RCE/MONTH, billed quarterly for 15 years. A medium single-family house (1,500-2,999 sq ft) = 1.0 RCE = $77.99/month (~$936/yr; ~$14,038 nominal over 15 years before any early-payoff/interest discount). Excluded from the one-time SDC total because it is a financed monthly charge, not a connection lump sum. A builder/buyer should budget for it separately. VERIFIED verbatim via WebFetch of source 5 (billed quarterly for 15 years). alternative · not added to total | $77.99 | King County Wastewater Treatment Division Jan 1, 2026High |
Coverage & caveats
PRIMARY = detached single-family, representative ~2,500 sq ft home, fees effective Jan 1, 2026 (Jan-Jun 2026 period). Kirkland is in King County, WA; school impact fees are collected by the city on behalf of Lake Washington School District No. 414 under RCW 82.02. ONE-TIME FEES A SINGLE-FAMILY BUILDER PAYS (Jan 2026), summed from non-excluded rows: Transportation $8,115.35 + Park $9,316.94 + Fire ~$1,874 (size-dependent) + School $7,277 + Water WCFC $4,872 + Cascade RCFC $8,852 + Water meter drop-in $401 + Sewer SCFC $5,124 + Surface Water $1,598 = $47,430.56 (add $142 school admin for ~$47,572 all-in). Note park and transportation hit their per-unit MAX caps at ~1,800 sq ft, so any normal-size detached home pays those caps; the fire fee scales with conditioned floor area until ~3,200 sq ft where it caps at $2,399.07. IMPACT FEE MECHANICS: Kirkland's park, fire, and transportation impact fees are assessed per square foot of new structure (Residential Non-Stacked rate), but capped at a per-dwelling-unit maximum. 2025 rates: park $5.04/sf (max $9,072), fire $0.73/sf conditioned floor area (max $2,336), transportation $4.39/sf (max $7,902). All increased 2.7% CPI-W for Jan-Jun 2026 (new maxes $9,316.94 / $2,399.07 / $8,115.35). These fees auto-adjust by CPI-W every 6 months through 2027 (Ords. O-4901, O-4904). The current best official source for exact 2026 maxes is the city's "Fees Are Changing" Jan 1 2026 notice, which gives a worked 3,400 sf example hitting all maxes; the underlying per-sf rates are from the July-Dec 2025 schedule PDF. WHAT EXISTS HERE: transportation, park, fire, and SCHOOL impact fees (all four — school is real and large, $7,277 SF for 2026); water capital facility charge (WCFC); Cascade Water Alliance regional capital facility charge (RCFC, additive); water meter install; sewer capital facility charge (SCFC); surface water/stormwater capital facility charge (SWCFC); plus the separate King County sewer treatment capacity charge ($77.99/RCE/month for 15 years). WHAT DOES NOT EXIST / NOT FOUND for Kirkland: NO police impact fee, NO library impact fee, NO open-space impact fee, NO affordable-housing impact/in-lieu fee, NO general/capital "facilities" impact fee, and NO standalone drainage CONNECTION tap fee beyond the SWCFC above. Washington's RCW 82.02 authorizes only transportation, parks, fire, and schools as GMA impact fees, and Kirkland has adopted exactly those four (KMC Title 27). ADUs 800 sq ft or less are EXEMPT from park/fire/transportation impact fees; ADUs over 800 sf begin paying phased impact fees for complete permit applications received on/after July 1, 2026; ADUs are NOT charged a separate school impact fee (treated as adjunct to the primary structure, KMC 27.08). CAVEATS: (1) Park/transportation/fire amounts are the Jan-Jun 2026 figures; they re-index +CPI-W on July 1, 2026 and Jan 1, 2027. (2) Fire fee primary row ($1,874.27) is COMPUTED at 2,500 sf using the published $0.73/sf 2025 rate x 1.027; the city has not published a separate per-sf 2026 table, only the max — so the exact dollar depends on home size (confidence downgraded to medium for this row). (3) Cascade RCFC has NO vesting — the rate at time of PAYMENT applies. (4) Water/sewer/stormwater capital facility charges shown are the base residential 3/4" / single-family tier; larger meters and multi-unit tiers exist (some captured as excluded rows). (5) The Jan 2026 city PDFs are bot-protected (Akamai 403 to curl/WebFetch); both the official notice (source 1) and the July-Dec 2025 schedule (source 0) were successfully retrieved via the Jina text proxy (r.jina.ai) and confirmed identical numbers; the notice was additionally corroborated by a verbatim search-engine snippet — confidence remains high on those rows. VERIFY: confirmed 17 of 17 rows; dropped 0. Independent confirmation: MRSC-hosted PW fee schedule (source 2) downloaded and pdftotext-verified directly — WCFC $4,872 / RCFC $8,852 / total $13,724, meter drop-in $401, SCFC single-family $5,124, SCFC 5+ unit $3,228/unit, SWCFC $1,598 all match verbatim. LWSD FAQ (source 3) confirmed SF $7,277 and MF $170 effective 1/1/2026. King County (source 5) confirmed $77.99/RCE/month billed quarterly for 15 years verbatim. City notice (source 1) retrieved via Jina proxy confirmed Transportation $8,115.35 max, Park $9,316.94 max, Fire $2,399.07 max, School $5,972->$7,277, RCFC 3/4" $8,852, and the 5-unit townhome example (Park $46,584.70, Transportation $40,576.75, School $850) all verbatim; also corroborated by an independent search snippet. July-Dec 2025 schedule (source 0) retrieved via Jina proxy confirmed Park $5.04/sf max $9,072, Fire $0.73/sf conditioned floor area max $2,336, Transportation $4.39/sf max $7,902, and "Single-family dwelling (detached unit) $5,972 Dwelling Unit $142" admin fee verbatim. Source 4 (codepublishing KMC 27.08) returned HTTP 403 and could not be re-fetched, but it is only a corroborating ordinance citation for the school-fee program — no fee row depends solely on it (school amounts are confirmed by sources 1, 0, and 3), so no row dropped. Math re-derived: SF non-excluded total = $47,430.56 (sane, no double-counting); fire $1,874.27 = 2500 x 0.73 x 1.027; all three caps = 2025 max x 1.027 exactly. excludeFromTotal corrections: NONE — all flags verified correct. Confirmed correctly excluded: fire max cap (alternative tier), school admin $142 (additive), all multifamily variants (school $170, transportation $8,115.35, park $9,316.94, SCFC $3,228/unit), and King County monthly capacity charge (financed monthly, not a lump-sum SDC). Confirmed correctly NOT excluded: Cascade RCFC $8,852 (additive to WCFC on the same connection). Confidence downgrade: fire primary row ($1,874.27) lowered high->medium because the dollar amount is a derived per-sf computation at an assumed 2,500 sf, not a published figure (per-sf rate and cap are themselves confirmed).
Single-family one-time impact + connection fees total = $47,430.56 (Jan 2026), or ~$47,572 including the $142 school admin fee. Park and transportation are at their per-unit max caps for any typical-size home. Fire scales with floor area (~$0.75/sf in 2026) up to a $2,399.07 cap reached around 3,200 sf; the $1,874.27 shown is computed for a representative 2,500 sf home. The King County sewer treatment capacity charge ($77.99/RCE/month for 15 years; ~$14,038 nominal for a 1.0-RCE medium home) is billed quarterly and is excluded from the one-time total — budget separately.
Sources
6 official sources · 14 high-confidence figures.
- 1Park, School, Fire and Traffic Impact Fee Schedule (July-Dec 2025)City of Kirkland · fee schedule · effective Jul 1, 2025 · retrieved Jun 17, 2026
- 2Development Services Fee Changes Effective January 1, 2026 (FEES ARE CHANGING)City of Kirkland · fee schedule · effective Jan 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 17, 2026
- 3City of Kirkland Public Works Fee Schedule - January 2026City of Kirkland (hosted by MRSC) · fee schedule · effective Jan 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 17, 2026
- 4Impact Fees FAQ - Lake Washington School DistrictLake Washington School District No. 414 · municipal webpage · effective Jan 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 17, 2026
- 5KMC Chapter 27.08 School Impact FeesCity of Kirkland (Code Publishing) · ordinance · retrieved Jun 17, 2026
- 6About the capacity charge (2026 rate $77.99/RCE/month)King County Wastewater Treatment Division · municipal webpage · effective Jan 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 17, 2026
Kirkland impact fees — FAQ
- How much are development impact fees in Kirkland, WA for a single-family home?
- As of 2026-06-17, total development fees for a single-family detached home in Kirkland are about $47,431 per unit — roughly $28,182 in impact/development fees plus $19,249 in water/sewer connection fees. Figures are normalized from official sources; verify with the jurisdiction before relying on them.
- Are impact fees in Kirkland 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 Kirkland'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 Kirkland on 2026-06-17.