Tigard's utility bill for a typical single-family home has eleven lines. One of them, the $5 Transportation Utility Fee, shows up only on bills in one part of the city. According to the City of Tigard's utility billing page, the fee "is dedicated to capital construction in the River Terrace subdivision and is only charged to customers in that area of the city." It pays for bridges, roads, intersections and sidewalks there.
The fee is small, and it shows how west Tigard's newest neighborhood is financed. River Terrace pays for more of its own infrastructure than the rest of Tigard does, part of that cost is built into new homes before anyone moves in, and some of what the neighborhood is waiting on runs on a timeline set by rooftops, not by builders. If you're comparing a new River Terrace home with a resale house in another part of Tigard, it helps to know how much of that price is still paying for the neighborhood.
Two charges that stop at the River Terrace boundary
The first charge comes before anyone owns the home. New construction in Tigard is charged system development charges, or SDCs. These are one-time fees meant to cover the roads, parks, water and sewer capacity that new homes need. The city's SDC and excise tax schedule, updated July 1, 2026, says "Tigard's River Terrace neighborhood has a slightly different rate structure for some TSDC and PSDC fees," meaning transportation and parks.
The table below uses the city's own worked examples.
| City example, permits on or after 7/1/2026 | Outside River Terrace | In River Terrace | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached home: Tigard transportation SDC | $8,737 | $12,777 | $4,040 |
| Detached home: Tigard parks SDC | $12,955 | $13,653 | $698 |
| Detached home: total SDCs and excise taxes | $61,727 | $66,465 | $4,738 |
| Townhouse: total SDCs and excise taxes | $47,268 | $50,151 | $2,883 |
These figures come from the city's assumptions. The detached example is a $500,000 valuation, 2,000 square feet and a three-quarter-inch water meter. The townhouse example is a $400,000 valuation and 1,500 square feet. Every other line in those examples is the same inside and outside River Terrace. That includes the Washington County transportation tax, water, sewer and the excise taxes. All of the gap is in Tigard's own transportation and parks charges.
The second charge is the $5 monthly fee from the opening. It was the same in the city's July 2025 and July 2026 rate columns. The River Terrace Plan District chapter of Tigard's code shows both charges are deliberate. It lists a citywide transportation SDC, a River Terrace transportation SDC and a River Terrace transportation utility fee surcharge as funding sources for the district, along with sewer and stormwater surcharges.
Who actually pays the SDC
According to Tigard's SDC page, SDCs are calculated using the date the permit application is submitted. Water SDCs are paid when the water meter is purchased, and the other SDCs are due before final inspection or an occupancy permit. All of that happens during construction, so for the builder the extra few thousand dollars per house is one more project cost, alongside lumber and labor. How much of it ends up in a given sale price depends on the builder and on how strong demand is.
Demand has been softer lately. RMLS data for August 2026 put the median sale price in the Tigard/Tualatin/Sherwood/Wilsonville area at $605,400. The area's average sale price that month was $641,400, and homes took an average of 54 days to sell. The rolling 12-month average sale price through August 2026 was down 3.4% from the year before. Across the Portland metro, RMLS reported 3.8 months of inventory in August 2026 and a median price of $540,000, down 1.8% year over year.
Builder pricing reflects that softer market. As of October 12, 2026, Lennar's South River Terrace community was advertised as actively selling between $428,400 and $759,900, with its Pioneer plan starting at $429,900. On the same date, Ichijo's River Terrace Crossing listed single-family homes starting at $749,990 and advertised a $35,000 limited-time Flex Cash offer. Parts of that page labeled the community sold out while other parts showed available homes, so check availability with the builder directly.
When builders are offering incentives, the River Terrace SDC difference is one of several costs competing for room in the price. A $4,738 fee difference on the city's example house is roughly the size of a concession some builders might negotiate. That's why it helps to understand the fee structure before you sit down with a builder's sales team.
The grocery store runs on a different timeline
SDCs and the utility fee pay for the infrastructure the city builds. Shops and restaurants are paid for by private developers, and they decide when to build.
In May 2025, Tigard hired Johnson Economics to study the two commercial sites in the River Terrace Plan. The River Terrace Retail Sites Assessment put the timing plainly:
"Commercial development will typically lag residential as the rooftops and demographic support needs to be present to support commercial development tenants... adequate support for new grocery-anchored commercial space is likely five to ten years out. The area is already served by multiple full-service grocery stores which can serve interim grocery needs."
The study treats the two sites very differently. The site on SW Scholls Ferry Road, just south of Beaverton's South Cooper Mountain plan area, is the one most likely to become a grocery-anchored center. The site at the northeast corner of Roy Rogers and Beef Bend roads currently has less visibility and fewer nearby homes. For now, the study suggests targeting coffee shops, small medical and dental offices, and quick-service restaurants such as Chipotle, Jersey Mike's or a local family-friendly restaurant. It says traffic on Roy Rogers could support a three-to-five-tenant strip or a gas station, and that future development under the Kingston Terrace Master Plan should make that site much more viable.
The study's explanation for the wait draws on nearby history. It says residential is typically the leading use in a master plan, with commercial space following as demand grows, and it cites Murray Scholls Town Center and Progress Ridge Townsquare as local projects that followed the residential buildout and performed well. The commercial land on the River Terrace planning maps is waiting for enough homes to support it.
The roads around it are still changing
Some of the transportation work is already done. Washington County lists the Roy Rogers Road widening, from Scholls Ferry Road to 2,500 feet south of Bull Mountain Road, as significantly complete, with construction expected to finish in February 2022.
Scholls Ferry Road is still in progress. The county's Scholls Ferry Road project page estimates the project at $7.8 million and expects construction to start in summer 2027. It also notes that on August 25, 2026, the project's scope was reduced, with an updated description expected this fall. Until that description is posted, nobody outside the county knows what the smaller project will include.
Inside the neighborhood, Tigard's construction page lists South River Terrace Phase 3 and River Terrace Park Phase 3 as complete and awaiting home construction. Development work continues east of Roy Rogers Road, south of Scholls Ferry. Anyone buying in the newer sections should expect active job sites nearby for a while.
Next door, the funding plan for River Terrace 2.0 isn't settled
The SDCs and the monthly fee described above apply to the River Terrace that exists now. The larger question is the roughly 500 acres west and south of it, known as River Terrace 2.0. Metro added that land to the urban growth boundary through a land swap in February 2023. A May 2025 draft housing plan targets at least 3,000 homes at 20 units per net acre and assumes the city will create new zones specific to the area. That plan is still a proposal.
Here is where the city's decisions stand as of October 12, 2026:
- September 2025. Planning-level sewer estimates came in at $5.610 million for the West Upper area, $12.466 million for West Lower and $5.757 million for South, with a pump station needed in West Lower. A separate stormwater addendum noted that Tigard, King City and Clean Water Services had not yet adopted a regional South Bull Mountain stormwater concept.
- March 2026. Council discussed street designs and financing and asked for more information on tiered SDCs and supplemental fees. It did not adopt a fee package.
- June 2, 2026. The annexation hearing for 39 properties was continued to a future date "yet to be determined."
- August 11, 2026. Council heard a finance strategy and estimated SDC update at a study session.
- September 1, 2026. Staff presented SDC rate options for River Terrace 2.0 and for the city as a whole. According to the council recap, Council "expressed support for a tiered SDC rate structure and a redistributed policy discount citywide, and the addition of a flat-rate option for apartments."
- October 13, 2026. The posted agenda lists two fall supplemental budget hearings and no River Terrace 2.0 hearing.
The River Terrace 2.0 project page still targets "Summer/Fall 2026" for Council to consider the final plan and code. No recap through early October reports a vote, and none of the published summaries give dollar amounts for the tiered options. Supporting a direction is not the same as adopting a rate. Until Council votes, the cost structure for the next phase of west Tigard hasn't been set.
That matters even for people buying in the existing neighborhood. The roads, sewer lines and commercial sites that River Terrace 2.0 depends on connect directly to the River Terrace being sold today. The study also links the eventual grocery center to more homes being built to the west.
Questions to bring to a River Terrace sales office
- Is this lot inside the River Terrace fee area, and when was its permit application filed? The SDC rates in effect depend on that date.
- Which phase is this, and what is still under construction around it? Tigard's construction page shows which phases are finished and which areas still have active work.
- Are incentives such as closing credits or flex cash being offered, and how do they compare with a price reduction? With the area's rolling average sale price down 3.4% through August 2026, this is a reasonable question to ask.
- What is on the nearest commercial-zoned parcel, and what has the city or county published about it? For the Scholls Ferry and Roy Rogers/Beef Bend sites, the May 2025 retail study is the best public source on expected timing.
- How would the Scholls Ferry Road project affect your commute? Check whether Washington County has posted its revised description for the smaller project.
Josh Halemeier brings hands-on construction experience to the comparison between a River Terrace build and a Tigard resale. He can walk the lot with you, explain what is finished and what is still coming, and help you weigh a builder's incentive against what similar resale homes are selling for. Schedule a free consultation and bring the builder's price sheet with you.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
