The City of Snohomish has decided to increase the cost of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) by requiring separate sewer and water connections which can add an additional $20,000 to $40,000 to the construction cost of the ADU.

Since the passage of House Bill 1337 (HB 1337) in 2023, cities over 20,000 in population, have been required to pass local ordinances to support ADU development with the goal of providing additional, low cost housing on existing home lots. The legislation allows some flexibility in the specific rules a municipality adopts to regulate ADU construction and use.

The City of Snohomish is following many of the other cities in the region with its rule making process, however, in one area city leaders have decided to make ADU’s less affordable.

Despite the City of Snohomish Planning Commission and the Washington Department of Commerce recommending not to require a separate utility connection impact fee for an ADU, the Snohomish City Council decided to ignore the recommendation and went ahead with requiring a new utility connection.

Councilmembers Karen Kuzak, Lea Ann Burke and David Flynn were in support of the additional fee.

Connection fees can be almost $20,000 for the smallest sewer line according to the cities website. For ADUs that cost an average of $100,000, this represents a tax of 20% of the value of the building. A separate water and sewer connection is not required to meet the requirements of the Washington state accessory dwelling legislation.

It’s not the first time the city has got itself in hot water with the fees charged for sewer services.

In 2014, the City failed to collect $391,620 in mitigation fees from property developers and instead placed a lien on each of the homeowners of 39 homes several years later. The liens ranged from $6,000 to $20,000 each and prevented the homeowners from selling or refinancing their homes. At the time, Mayor Karen Guzak stated the city is “willing to give these people time until they sell their homes or refinance, but we absolutely must collect.’’ The situation was created by the city’s mismanagement of the development fee process, but the residents were still expected to pay.  The situation was resolved after considerable public outrage and the city reversed position, deciding the homeowners were not responsible for the city’s mistake.

Representative Suzan DelBene recently secured $3 million in funding for the city to help improve the sewer line infrastructure indicated one of the goals was to reduce the cost of housing in the city. The decision to add significant costs to the construction of an ADU offsets the savings the city could have passed onto homeowners attempting to build affordable ADUs.

If a homeowner chooses to run separate utility lines to an ADU, the regulations support that scenario, but the city should not require a separate utility connection. Requiring a separate connection will drive up the cost of an ADU and ultimately the cost of a rented unit to recover the development costs.

The City of Snohomish should reconsider its position on requiring a separate utility connection for ADUs.