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What are TSDCs?
These are one-time fees paid by developers when they build a new residential or commercial development. The fee covers part of the cost of building transportation facilities to serve new development—like the roads and sidewalks that people use to get where they need to go.
How are the fees calculated?
Development that adds more traffic has higher rates. For example, the low amount of traffic to and from a new single-family home will have less impact than the larger amount of traffic generated by a new grocery store or movie theater. As a result, the fee will be lower for the home.
What is the money spent on?
The county uses the money for projects that provide space for the additional traffic created by new development.
We have used TSDC revenue as matching funds for projects all over the county, including:
- Government Camp
- Clackamas Regional Center
- Stafford/Borland Area
- Sunnyside Road/172nd Avenue
- Canby and the Arndt Road area
What is the TSDC update?
County staff is working with a group of representatives from the development community, home builders and engineering firms to make recommendations related to the future of TSDCs in Clackamas County.
This group is considering:
- Developing a new rate that balances the need to fund transportation improvements while taking into account the constant increase in total development costs.
- Identifying criteria for selecting projects that are eligible to be funded with revenue from these fees.
- Ways to simplify the rate structure, making it easier for developers and community members to estimate fees.
We need your feedback.
On the following pages, you can learn about the changes we’re considering, and provide your comments. We will take your input into account as we make decisions about the program.
How does a project make it onto the TSDC project list?
The working group identified projects that focus on growth created by new development based on the following criteria:
- Increase traffic connections to daily needs and services.
- Reduce congestion at intersections.
- Are located in or near a current or future employment area.
- Improve safety on roads.
- Provide the greatest benefit to the entire community by keeping projects on roads with significant amounts of traffic, such as arterials and collectors.
The group removed the following projects from the list:
- Projects not planned for construction in the next 10-years.
- Studies, with no construction planned.
- Multi-use pathways.
- Projects that are already funded or under construction.
Draft Project List
Explore the Project Map and Project List Table tabs below to learn about the 76 projects on the draft TSDC project list. Then answer the questions on the QUESTIONS tab.
Project Map
Map Legend
| Project |  | Project List Menu | |
 | County Border |  | View Full Screen |
Explore the map below to learn about the 76 projects on the draft TSDC project list. Then answer the questions below.
Project List Table
(The projects listed in this table are the same as shown on the project map.)
Many of the projects on this list are still under development and will be defined in more detail as they get closer to implementation.
Download the Clackamas County TSDC Project List (pdf, 99kb)
Specific rates or general categories?
Currently, Clackamas County has 94 separate rates. Reducing the number of rates would make it easier for developers and community members to identify the correct rate, but general rates could change the amount paid for different types of development.
We can use the current approach, or we can reduce the number of rates. A change may cause higher traffic generating uses to pay less and lower traffic generating uses to pay more.The table below briefly describes each option and gives an example of the associated TSDC rate for three typical development types.
Please answer the questions below to give feedback on the option you prefer.
Option* | Explanation | Fee (Based on current cost per trip**) | ||
Single- Family Home | Specialty Retail (5,000 Sq. Ft) | Bank (1,500 Sq. Ft) | ||
1. No ChangeRetain specific land use rates. | Keep the current practice; adopt rates for specific land uses for new development types. This requires staff review of a change of use permit to identify changes in traffic; changes can trigger a charge if additional trips are generated by the proposed development. | $3,560 | $45,904 | $61,496 |
2. ReductionReduce land use rates by removing those with less than four studies available that estimate traffic rates. | Adopt specific land use rates for new development types, but eliminate rates when fewer than four traffic studies support the amount of traffic generated for a single type of development. This requires staff review of a change of use permit to identify changes in traffic; changes can trigger a charge if additional traffic is generated by the proposed development. (Reduces number of rates by about 10%.) | $3,560 | $45,904 | $61,496 |
3. Consolidation by TypeConsolidate land uses into similar use categories. | Combine similar land use categories (e.g., different types of commercial in one category, different types of industrial in another, etc.), and average the traffic generated by the similar uses to establish a broad category rate that generally matches the proposed development. This would reduce the need to capture fees on a change of use if the proposed use falls within the same use category. (Reduces number of rates by about 50%.) | $3,560 | $50,155 | $61,496 |
4. Consolidation by ZoneConsolidate land uses based on land use zoning. | Combine land uses based on allowed uses within the land use zone in which the development is located; average the traffic generated by the uses to establish a rate for that zone. This would eliminate the need to capture fees on a change of use if the proposed use is also a permitted use in that zone. (Reduces number of rates by about 80%.) | $3,560 | $70,830 | $21,249 |
* Under any of the options above, an applicant may choose to pay for a traffic study to gather traffic data for a use similar to the development proposal. Studies must comply with the ordinance in effect at the time.
** Fees differ from the current SDC Fee schedule due to updates to trip rates for land use categories.
Questions
Traffic created by new development
Fees are based on the amount of traffic a development is likely to create. We are considering two options for determining the amount of added traffic:
- Average daily trips to and from a site - Charge fees based on the total amount of traffic that a land use generates in a full day.
- Afternoon rush-hour traffic - Traffic is heaviest during weekday afternoon commute times. Road improvements are often needed to accommodate these high traffic flows. Because of this, many communities use afternoon rush-hour traffic to assess fees.
Using afternoon rush-hour traffic as the basis for the fees would mean higher rates for uses with more traffic during afternoon commutes. Here are some examples of how traffic impacts could differ under the two options.
| Adjusted Trips to and from a site | ||
Land use type | Option 1: | Option 2: |
Single-family home | ≈ 10 trips | ≈ 1 trip |
Specialty retail (5,000 Sq. Ft.) | ≈ 123 trips | ≈ 9 trips |
Medical Office (5,000 Sq. Ft.) | ≈ 66 trips | ≈ 5 trips |
School (10 classrooms with 25 students per class) | ≈ 128 trips | ≈ 37 trips |
Questions
Next Steps
- The work group will meet to review public input and develop recommendations.
- Staff will present work group recommendations to the County Board of Commissioners.
- County Board will hold public hearings and take action on the recommendations.
For More Information
- Visit the County System Development Charges webpage: www.clackamas.us/engineering/sdc.html
- Contact Jimmy Thompson, Clackamas County Senior Policy Analyst, at 503-742-4333 or JThompson2@clackamas.us
- Sign up for project updates by providing your contact information below.
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