Tumwater to manage sewer connection fees collection at residential development on Littlerock Road

Tumwater is looking to administer the collection of sewer connection fees at Sienna II, a residential development on Littlerock Road near Black Hills High School.

The site developer, AMH Development LLC, built a wastewater lift station in 2022. Tumwater has since integrated the facility as part of its sewer system. In return, the city would reimburse the developer by collecting connection fees.

On Thursday, October 19, Tumwater’s Public Works Committee met to recommend to the city council an agreement with AMH Development, allowing the city to administer the collection of connection fees as reimbursement for the construction of the lift station.

Jared Crews, an engineer for the city, told the committee that the wastewater lift station would not only provide sewer service to Sienna II, but also to the surrounding areas. The station would provide sewer service to 335 acres, an area Crews noted was not yet connected to the city sewer.

Each residential unit owner in the area would need to pay a connection fee that would represent a fair share of the lift station’s construction cost.

As the developer has certified the cost of the life station’s construction to be $989,752, and since it is expected to provide sewer service for 1,288 residential units, the rate to be paid by future residents to connect with the sewer would be $768.

The city would collect the fee at the time of the construction of a building or during the issuance of a building permit.

The city would deduct 8% of the fees for administrative purposes, while the remainder shall be reimbursed to the developer.

The agreement lasts for 20 years, after which future homeowners would only need to pay the city’s standard connection fee.

Now that the agreement has been approved by the city’s Public Works Committee, it will be forwarded to the city council, which will likely approve it as part of its consent agenda in a future meeting.