Lansing, MI Accessory Structures: ADU Impact Fees (2026)

Bolt v. City of Lansing, 459 Mich 152 (1998), is the controlling Michigan Supreme Court precedent on municipal impact fees. The Court held that Lansing's stormwater service charge functioned as a tax requiring voter approval under the Headlee Amendment to the Michigan Constitution. Since Bolt, Michigan municipalities including Lansing have been barred from adopting impact fees on new residential development absent specific state legislative authorization, which the legislature has not provided. As a result, an ADU in Lansing pays only legitimate user charges: a building permit fee from the Lansing Building Safety Office calculated from construction valuation per the schedule adopted by the Lansing Building Board of Appeals; plan review fees; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing trade permit fees; and Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) tap and service charges based on the actual service draw of the new connection. There is no Lansing School District impact fee, no parks fee, no transportation fee, and no affordable-housing in-lieu fee on ADUs. Property taxes will reassess based on the change in State Equalized Value under the Michigan General Property Tax Act (MCL 211.1 et seq.), but that is a property tax consequence — not an impact fee. ADUs sharing the primary dwelling's existing water and sewer service typically pay only a nominal additional BWL charge.