Hayden eyes higher impact fees

Hayden’s development impact fee advisory committee will recommend another increase in impact fees for 2026.

Fees will include a 5% annual inflation escalation rate, city administrator Lisa Ailport said Wednesday.

This year, developers saw a 5% increase in impact fees applied to single-family residential properties, while commercial properties saw an increase of 5% or greater.

Hayden’s impact fees are tied specifically to the impact of growth on city parks and transportation.

The city is seeing an average of around 150 new homes being built each year.

Board member John Young brought up concerns surrounding the potential for the city’s continual growth.

“We’re going to start running out of capacity,” Young said. “The town’s not getting any bigger, unless we annex more properties.”

Ailport said that though new projects are still on the table, Hayden is not hitting the projected growth reflected in the city’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan.

“Transportation needs are not ramping up as quickly,” public works director Alan Soderling said.

The DIFAC unanimously agreed to recommend an update to the impact fee methodology study after Ailport cited “density shifts."