PORT ANGELES – The city of Port Angeles is suspending permit fees for multi-family housing and accessory dwellings.
This week, the city council approved an ordinance to suspend permit fees until September 1, next year. That would be for ADUs, duplexes, triplexes, townhouses, cottage developments, and multifamily developments that are used for residential housing available for families at or below 80% AMI.
Mayor Kate Dexter says she thinks it’s worth a shot to see if lower some of the costs will spur developers to build a type of housing the city needs desperately.
“We need all units. We’ve talked about that a lot, but we really wanted to do something to focus on an effort to get some units in place that will specifically serve families that are struggling to pay rent. Even if they can find something to rent. Right now, we’re hoping that for that particular developer, one more line item for them to scratch out we hope will make their project pencil out. So, they’ll actually build it,” said Dexter on Newsradio KONP’s “Todd Ortloff Show“.
Additionally, the city is waiving some utility charges that come from accessory dwellings. The city will remove the current requirement for a separate connections to the main for a water and wastewater services. It will also remove monthly base fee for those utilities.