Olympia, WA Development Impact Fees (2026)
Normalized development impact fees, water & sewer connection (tap/SDC) fees, and mitigation fees for Olympia, Washington — per dwelling unit, by category, with links to every official source.
What a single-family home pays in Olympia
$30,720 total per unit across 5 fee categories.
- Sewer connection (tap / SDC)$12,453
- Parks & recreation$6,995
- Transportation / roads$5,721
- Water connection (tap / SDC)$5,551
Olympia’s $30,720 is about 1.6× 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
Parks & recreation Park Impact Fee — OMC 15.16.010 Schedule A, Park Impact Fees (Ord. 7451 §1, 2025). VERIFIED verbatim against codepublishing.com (retrieved via curl; WebFetch was 403-blocked). Applies to all new residential development; reviewed/updated annually. Note: City must adopt a new compliant park impact fee methodology by June 30, 2026 (FCS Group study underway) — figure may change. | per dwelling unit | $6,995 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2025High |
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee — OMC 15.16.040 Schedule D, Transportation Impact Fee Rate Schedule Effective January 1, 2026 (Ord. 7451 §3, 2025). VERIFIED verbatim. Cost per new person trip generated = $3,672. Downtown/High-Density-Corridor zones have reduced rates. | per dwelling unit | $5,721 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2026High |
Schools School Impact Fee (North Thurston Public Schools) — OMC 15.16.030 Schedule C(B), North Thurston School District service area. VERIFIED verbatim. Only the portion of the City within the North Thurston boundary pays this; the dominant Olympia School District area is $0. Single-family 2BR/less = $0; multifamily 2+BR = $566. Marked excludeFromTotal because the primary OSD-area school fee is $0 and the two districts are mutually-exclusive service areas. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $1,847 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2025High |
Drainage / stormwater Stormwater General Facility Charge (GFC) — OMC 4.24.010(D) / OMC 13.16.080. VERIFIED verbatim. Assessed at building/engineering permit issuance. One Impervious Unit = 2,882 sq ft of impervious surface; a typical single-family home (house + driveway) is roughly one impervious unit, so ~$2,051 for a representative SFD. unitBasis recorded as per_acre (schema lacks a per-impervious-unit option); actual basis is per 2,882-sq-ft impervious unit. 50% low-income discount. | per acre | $2,051 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2026High |
Drainage / stormwater Water Quality GFC (per daily vehicle trip) — OMC 4.24.010(D). VERIFIED verbatim. Additive water-quality GFC assessed at building/engineering permit, charged per ITE average daily vehicle trip. A single-family home generates roughly 9-10 ITE daily trips, so the per-home charge is roughly $130-$145, but the exact trip count is not fixed in the schedule. Excluded from per-unit total because amount shown is per-trip, not per-unit. 50% low-income discount. alternative · not added to total | per trip | $14.52 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2026High |
Water & sewer connection fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water General Facility Charge (GFC) — OMC 4.24.010(A)(7) / OMC 13.04.375 (Ord. 7456 §1, 2025). VERIFIED: table shows 3/4-inch meter, AWWA capacity factor 1.00, GFC $5,551. One-time water system GFC for a standard 3/4-inch residential meter. 50% discount for qualifying low-income housing. Larger meters: 1-inch $9,270, 1.5-inch $18,484, 2-inch $29,586 (all verified). | per meter | $5,551 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2026High |
Sewer connection (tap / SDC) Wastewater (Sewer) General Facility Charge - City of Olympia — OMC 4.24.010(B)(3) / OMC 13.08.205. VERIFIED verbatim ($4,646 per ERU). One-time City of Olympia sewer GFC (1 single-family home = 1 ERU). 50% low-income discount. Reduced rate of $1,963.58/ERU applies only to properties on public combined sewers in the Downtown Deferred GFC area (verified). | per meter | $4,646 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2026High |
Sewer connection (tap / SDC) LOTT Capacity Development Charge (regional wastewater treatment) — OMC 4.24.010(B)(1) / OMC 13.08.210. VERIFIED verbatim ($7,806.74 per ERU). Separate REGIONAL charge levied by the LOTT Clean Water Alliance (Lacey-Olympia-Tumwater-Thurston regional wastewater treatment authority) but collected by the City; additive to the City sewer GFC. Subject to rebate for qualifying low-income housing. | per meter | $7,807 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2026High |
Full fee schedule — multifamily
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Parks & recreation Park Impact Fee — OMC 15.16.010 Schedule A. VERIFIED verbatim. Non-downtown multifamily per unit. Downtown multifamily/townhouse is $4,709 (separate variant); senior housing also $5,991. | per dwelling unit | $5,991 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2025High |
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee — OMC 15.16.040 Schedule D, effective Jan 1, 2026. VERIFIED verbatim. Apartment 3-10 levels/studio is $2,343 (separate variant); ADU/senior/SRO is $1,491; mobile home $2,449. | per dwelling unit | $2,982 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2026High |
Schools School Impact Fee - Multifamily (North Thurston Public Schools) — OMC 15.16.030 Schedule C(B), North Thurston School District area only. VERIFIED verbatim. Multifamily 1BR/less = $0. Excluded because the dominant Olympia School District area is $0 and the districts are mutually-exclusive service areas. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $566 | City of Olympia (Code Publishing) Jan 1, 2025High |
Coverage & caveats
All figures are from the City of Olympia Municipal Code, current and effective for 2026 (impact-fee Chapter 15.16 cites Ord. 7451, 2025 with transportation schedule "Effective January 1, 2026"; utility Chapter 4.24 is "Revised 5/26," latest Ord. 7456, 2025). Confidence is HIGH across the board — all from the official hosted municipal code with verbatim quotes that were independently re-confirmed. WHAT EXISTS (residential impact/development fees a builder pays in Olympia): - PARK impact fee: SFD $6,995; multifamily $5,991; ADU/studio/SRO $2,991; downtown MF/townhouse $4,709; mobile home $5,230 (OMC 15.16.010). NOTE: the City is under a deadline to adopt a new compliant park impact fee methodology by June 30, 2026 (FCS Group study), so this figure is the most likely to change soon. - TRANSPORTATION impact fee (eff. 1/1/2026): SFD $5,721; multifamily $2,982; apartment 3-10 levels/studio $2,343; ADU/senior/SRO $1,491; mobile home $2,449 (OMC 15.16.040). Cost per new person trip $3,672. Reduced rates in Downtown and High-Density-Corridor zones. - WATER GFC: $5,551 for a standard 3/4-inch residential meter (OMC 13.04.375). - SEWER (City) GFC: $4,646 per ERU (OMC 13.08.205). - LOTT capacity development charge: $7,806.74 per ERU — a SEPARATE regional charge from the LOTT Clean Water Alliance, collected by the City, additive to the City sewer GFC. - STORMWATER GFC: $2,051 per impervious unit (2,882 sq ft) plus a WATER QUALITY GFC of $14.52 per ITE average daily vehicle trip (OMC 4.24.010(D) / 13.16.080). - All GFCs and impact fees carry a 50% discount for qualifying low-income housing. SCHOOL IMPACT FEES — important nuance: Washington allows school impact fees and Olympia's code HAS a school impact fee schedule (OMC 15.16.030), but the amounts depend on school district. Most of the city is in the OLYMPIA School District, which has set its fee to $0 for SFD, MF and downtown. The portion within NORTH THURSTON Public Schools pays $1,847 (SFD 3+ bedroom) / $566 (MF 2+ bedroom); 2BR-or-less SFD and 1BR-or-less MF are $0. The primary SFD school row is therefore $0 (OSD area); the two North Thurston rows are included but marked excludeFromTotal because the districts are mutually-exclusive service areas and the dominant area is $0. WHAT DOES NOT EXIST in Olympia: no FIRE impact fee, no POLICE/public-safety impact fee, no LIBRARY impact fee, no general/capital-facilities impact fee, no open-space impact fee, no affordable-housing impact/linkage fee, and no standalone mitigation fee schedule. Olympia's RCW 82.02 impact fees are limited to PARKS, SCHOOLS, and TRANSPORTATION only. NORMALIZATION/CAVEATS: - Representative SFD primary rows used for totaling: park $6,995 + transportation $5,721 + water GFC $5,551 + city sewer GFC $4,646 + LOTT $7,806.74 + stormwater GFC $2,051. School (OSD area) = $0. Representative SFD one-time total ~$32,770 (before per-trip water quality GFC). - Water/sewer GFCs priced by meter size/ERU — primary uses the base 3/4-inch residential meter / 1 ERU; larger-meter variants noted but not added. - Stormwater GFC unitBasis recorded as per_acre (schema lacks a per-impervious-unit option); actual basis is per 2,882-sq-ft impervious unit. - Water quality GFC is a genuine ADDITIVE charge but is priced per ITE daily trip, so it is marked excludeFromTotal. - ADU and downtown/HDC/multifamily-variant and alternate-school-district rows: mutually-exclusive size/zone/service-area variants and per-trip rows are flagged excludeFromTotal. VERIFY: confirmed 14 of 14 rows; dropped 0. All sourceQuotes re-confirmed verbatim against the official municipal code (codepublishing.com fetched via curl with browser UA after WebFetch returned HTTP 403). Source 0 (Ch. 15.16): all 9 impact-fee amounts matched exactly (park SFD $6,995 / MF $5,991 / ADU $2,991; transportation SFD $5,721 / MF $2,982 / ADU $1,491 with $3,672/person-trip; school OSD-SFD $0, North Thurston SFD $1,847 / MF $566; ordinance Ord. 7451 §§1-3, 2025 and "Effective January 1, 2026" both confirmed). Source 1 (Ch. 4.24, Ord. 7456, 2025): water GFC 3/4" $5,551 (AWWA cap factor 1.00), city sewer GFC $4,646/ERU (downtown deferred $1,963.58 confirmed), LOTT $7,806.74/ERU, stormwater $2,051/impervious unit (2,882 sq ft) and water-quality $14.52/ADT all matched exactly. Population 55,605 = 2020 census (current ACS estimate ~56,271). excludeFromTotal corrections: none required — all flags were already correct. The non-excluded multifamily park ($5,991) and transportation ($2,982) rows are correctly NOT excluded because they represent the multifamily land use rather than mutually-exclusive variants of the SFD primary; the SFD total only sums SFD-landUse rows. ADU rows, alternate North-Thurston school-district rows, and the per-trip water-quality GFC are correctly excludeFromTotal=true.
Primary single-family-detached one-time development/impact/connection fees in Olympia (2026): Park $6,995 + Transportation $5,721 + Water GFC (3/4") $5,551 + City Sewer GFC $4,646 + LOTT Capacity Development Charge $7,806.74 + Stormwater GFC $2,051 + School (Olympia SD) $0 ≈ $32,770 before the per-trip water quality GFC (adds roughly $130-145 for a typical home). All subject to a 50% discount for qualifying low-income housing. If the parcel is instead in the North Thurston Public Schools area, add $1,847 (SFD 3+BR) for school impact fees. All amounts independently re-verified verbatim against OMC Ch. 15.16 (Ord. 7451, 2025) and Ch. 4.24 (Ord. 7456, 2025).
Sources
2 official sources · 14 high-confidence figures.
- 1Olympia Municipal Code Chapter 15.16 - Appendix A, Impact Fee Schedules (Parks, Schools, Transportation)City of Olympia (Code Publishing) · ordinance · effective Jan 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 17, 2026
- 2Olympia Municipal Code Chapter 4.24 - Utility Charges (Revised 5/26)City of Olympia (Code Publishing) · ordinance · effective Jan 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 17, 2026
Olympia impact fees — FAQ
- How much are development impact fees in Olympia, WA for a single-family home?
- As of 2026-06-17, total development fees for a single-family detached home in Olympia are about $30,720 per unit — roughly $12,716 in impact/development fees plus $18,004 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 Olympia, WA?
- Total development fees for a multifamily unit in Olympia are about $8,973 per unit as of 2026-06-17.
- Are impact fees in Olympia 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 Olympia'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 Olympia on 2026-06-17.