As I was getting ready to absorb the December 18 Town Council meeting, looking through the printable packet, I came across a memo tied to Ordinance No. 1839. It appeared as a small item on the consent agenda, the kind of thing that can easily slide by without much notice. But it stood out because it fits a pattern that has been showing up more and more in town business, how a very small town keeps taking on bigger and more complex systems in response to rising costs and outside mandates.
Ordinance 1839 proposes changes to an existing policy that allows the Town to defer water and sewer connection fees for certain housing projects. Until now, that option has been limited to nonprofit developers. The proposed change would expand eligibility to for profit developers as well, as long as the project meets defined affordability and income requirements.
The ordinance was framed as part of the Town’s ongoing response to affordable housing pressures. These deferrals are not general development incentives. They are tied specifically to housing with rent limits and income restrictions. The goal is to make housing that meets those requirements more feasible by reducing the up front cost of connecting to Town utilities.
The underlying issue is straightforward. It has become very expensive to connect new housing to Town water and sewer systems. According to the memo, connecting an accessory dwelling unit can cost roughly $29,000, while a single family unit can exceed $42,000. Those costs reflect years of state mandates, planning requirements, infrastructure investments, and regulatory compliance layered onto a very small utility system.
Because those connection fees are now so high, the Town is proposing to allow them to be deferred and repaid over time. The idea is to reduce the initial financial burden so projects with rent and income restrictions can move forward at all. Once the Town steps into that role, however, it also takes on new responsibilities and financial exposure.
Under the proposal, deferred fees would only be approved if a special revenue fund already has enough money to cover the full connection costs up front. That money would be transferred immediately into the water or sewer fund so existing ratepayers are not affected, and the developer would repay the Town over time. Staff also recommended placing a cap on how much of this program could be used by for profit developers.
That cap matters, and it is worth explaining why. Once a cap exists, the Town is no longer just administering a program. It is deciding who gets access to it and who does not. In a small community, that raises obvious questions about fairness, consistency, and preferential treatment.
At the December 18 meeting, Ordinance 1839 did not move forward on the consent agenda. It was pulled and deferred to next year so it can receive a full public hearing. During public comment, local developer Stephanie O’Day spoke about the ordinance and said she had been discussing the concept with planning director Ryan Erickson for some time. She expressed support for the general idea of fee deferrals, particularly for for profit developers trying to build affordable housing without access to nonprofit grant funding.
At the same time, she raised concerns about the income restrictions proposed in the ordinance. Ms. O’Day explained that her project concept is focused on age restricted housing and that adding strict income caps on top of that limitation would make the model unworkable in her case. Her message to Council was not that the idea should be abandoned, but that the ordinance, as written, needs more work before it is ready.
That public comment helped clarify what is really at stake. This ordinance is not just a technical adjustment. Once fee deferrals, income limits, and caps are introduced, the Town moves into a role that involves judgment calls about eligibility and access. If deferrals are offered to some private developers but not others, the Town risks stepping into the business of picking winners and losers.
Stepping back, this is about more than one ordinance. It is another example of how a small town responds to rising costs by creating new programs, which then require rules, limits, enforcement, and long term oversight. What starts as a targeted fix can quickly become a more permanent and complex system that has to be managed year after year.
Programs that involve deferring fees, managing repayment schedules, setting caps, and enforcing eligibility criteria do not run themselves. Even when they are well intentioned, they add administrative complexity and long term obligations that eventually show up in staffing costs, legal review, and higher rates and taxes.
It is a good thing that Ordinance 1839 was pulled from the consent agenda and set for a public hearing. This is exactly the kind of policy that benefits from daylight and public discussion. If the Town is going to move further into managing housing finance through utility fee deferrals, it should do so carefully, transparently, and with clear boundaries.
If this strikes a chord with you, now is the time to speak up. Ordinance 1839 will come back with a public hearing, and Council should hear from residents before decisions harden into policy. Whether you believe this is an area the Town should be involved in at all, whether you support the concept but want changes, or whether you think it should be applied more broadly or more narrowly, your input matters. Write to Council and let them know where you stand before this becomes another system quietly locked into place.