Builders of new homes in Woodinville, Washington, are looking at a new school impact fee schedule for 2027. The Woodinville City Council reviewed the Northshore School District's recommended fees at a study session on Oct. 6, and the choice in front of the council, as the staff report puts it, is "whether to adopt the recommended fees as shown in the table."
School impact fees are charged on new homes to help pay for school space. Woodinville collects them for the Northshore School District, and it resets them each year from the district's capital facilities plan.
The proposed fees
For a new single-family house, the proposal changes who pays:
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- Three or more bedrooms: $11,395, down from $17,550, a cut of $6,155
- Two or fewer bedrooms: $8,400, up from $0
Fees on attached homes would drop:
- Duplexes, townhomes and other attached homes, not stacked, with two or more bedrooms: $3,228, down from $4,878
- Stacked apartments and condos with two or more bedrooms: $255, down from $2,023
One-bedroom attached units would stay at $0.
Part of the big drop on larger houses is a correction. The current fee for a new house with three or more bedrooms is $1,000 above what the school district asked for, the staff report notes.
Why small houses pay nothing now
A 2023 state law, E2SSB 5258, requires impact fees to be scaled to the size of the home, so smaller homes like those in middle housing pay less. Woodinville's Ordinance No. 800 last year started setting school fees by number of bedrooms. But the district's previous plan didn't have the analysis to back fees on every size, "and as a result some fees were set at zero to ensure compliance," staff wrote. The new plan fills that gap, which is why two-bedroom houses would start paying.
The district's numbers
Northshore's high-range forecast adds 1,438 students between 2026 and 2031, going from 22,079 to 23,517, and leaves the district short 1,178 seats of permanent capacity by 2031. Voters approved a $698 million capital bond in February 2026 for projects across the district. In Woodinville, Phase 1 of the new Leota Middle School opened this fall, and Phase 2, which rebuilds the rest of the school, is in the 2026 bond.
The Northshore School Board adopted the 2026-2032 Capital Facilities Plan on June 22. The district sends the plan to each city and county it serves "as a basis for adoption and collection of school impact fees."
What's next
The Woodinville Planning Commission held its public hearing on the plan Sept. 23. The Oct. 6 study session was a discussion only, with no vote. The new fees would take effect once the council adopts the plan and the 2027 fee schedule.
Sources
- Study Session: 2026-2032 Northshore School District Capital Facilities Plan and 2027 School Impact Fees, City of Woodinville staff report
- Woodinville City Council agenda, Oct. 6, 2026, City of Woodinville
- Capital Facilities Plan, Northshore School District
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