HomeMy WebLinkAboutITEM VIII-A-1~
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CITYOF a
~ AGENDA BILL APPROVAL FORM
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WASHINCTON
Agenda Subject:
Date:
Ordinance No. 6217
March 10, 2009
Department:
Attachments:
Budget Impact:
Public Works
Ordinance No. 6217, Letter from
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Chamber of Commerce
Administrative Recommendation:
City Council introduce and adopt Ordinance No. 6217
Background Summary:
In June 2007, the Mayor convened a Citizens' Arterial Task Force to study an emerging problem with the
maintenance of Auburn's streets. Specifically, the City's arterial streets are breaking down because of
the high volume of truck and other heavy vehicle traffic. The Task Force was asked to study this issue
along with the maintenance and preservation of our overall arterial street system, document the problem
and identify the scope and financial scale of a solution; then propose a reasonable program to be
implemented.
The Task Force was charged with identifying attainable funding sources to finance the $25 million needed
for rebuilding some 16 miles of truck routes over a five year period in addition to an estimated $60 million
package to the overall arterial system over the next ten years.
The Task Force considered the question of who should bear the burden of paying for arterial truck route
improvements and determined it is a shared responsibility among:
Fright haulers, who must have safe and convenient access from their place of business or
Delivery destinations to the State highway system.
Local retail businesses, which rely on freight delivery to sustain operations.
The Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, who must be able to rely on warehousing districts in
Auburn and other cities to support port operations.
State government, which, as a collector of taxes from multiple transportation sources, has a
duty to local government to assist in the maintenance of local arterials supporting state
highways and interstate commerce.
Local residents, who use our arterial street system and want the assurance of safety and
convenience in their daily travels.
W0316-7 F6.6.10, 07.1
Reviewed by Council & Committees:
Reviewed by Departments & Divisions:
❑ Arts Commission COUNCIL COMMITTEES:
❑ Building ❑ M&O
❑ Airport ❑ Finance
❑ Cemetery ❑ Mayor
❑ Hearing Examiner p Municipal Serv.
❑ Finance ❑ Parks
❑ Human Services ❑ Planning & CD
p Fire ❑ Planning
❑ Park Board OPublic Works
❑ Legal ❑ Police
❑ Planning Comm. ❑ Other
❑ Public Works ❑ Human Resources
❑ Information Services
Action:
Committee Approval: ❑Yes ❑No
Council Approval: ❑Yes ❑No Call for Public Hearing
Referred to Until
Tabled Until
Councilmember: Wa ner
Staff: Dowd
Meetin Date: March 16, 2009
Item Number: VIII.A.1
,Aj.j$URN * MORE THAN YOU IMAGINED
Agenda Subject:
Ordinance No. 6217
Date:
March 10, 2009
Each of these users has everything to gain from a well-operating truck route system; each could suffer
significant effects if our system breaks down. Thus we believe that each should absorb some share of
the $25 million solution.
Staff Recommendation:
Since the acceptance of the Citizens' Task Force's Final Report, the City has pursued other sources of
funds to rebuild the 16 miles of future truck routes which remain deficient to serve the long term needs of
the freight industry. As of present time, the only revenue source that we have identified that appears to
meet the findings of the Task Force is the potential Door Tax, which several Valley Cities have been
recently considering. While other cities and counties have also been pursuing legislative action to provide
for establishment of the Street Utility, this legislation is not gaining serious support during the ongoing
legislative session.
With the receipt of the letter from the Chamber, stating support for a city-wide tax for streets, staff
recommends tabling the door tax issue pending Chamber action.
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AUBURN AREA
CHAMBER of
COMMERCE
"Connecting Peaple f'or Success"
To: Honorable Mayor and City Counciimembers
From: Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce
Re: Ordinance No. 6217
Date: March 5, 2009
CC: Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors
Dear Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers,
The Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce does not support the City's proposed Ordinance No. 6217 for the
following reasons:
1. In the Whereas section immediately following item (e); "WHEREAS, in order to act on these
recommendations of the Citizen's Arterial Task Force the proposed Door Tax is not an
option that was reviewed by the Arterial Task Force. In fact, the Task Force in their final report to
the City Council, "Report of the Citizens' Arterial Task Force", on Page 3, item 2.; "The burden of
paying for truck and arterial street improvements should not be placed on one specific user, but
should be a shared responsibility between freight haulers, local businesses, the Ports, the State
and Federal governments, and local residents."
a. The proposed Door Tax specifically targets one industry alone, and places an undue
burden, once again, on business.
b. The proposed funding from monies collected under the Door Tax comes nowhere near
the funding necessary to repair the arterial streets, the approximately $25 million
needed to facilitate arterial street repair. In fact, once a business comes to understand
the total dollar amount their company will need to pay for "open" doors, they will
immediately close and lock all unnecessary doors, which will further deplete the city's
expectation of revenues from a Door Tax.
The Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce would support the City in an effort to take a vote to the people
along the line of the "Save Our Streets", which has been a very successful program for the City of Auburn;
to have a"Save Our Arterial Streets" program that would spread the burden of a tax on all businesses and
citizens to preserve truck routes in the City of Auburn. The Chamber recognizes the need to fix the
arterials, as this is the route for all our goods to and from our city. Each citizen benefits from the
commerce generated in our city from the businesses and industries that support our goods and services,
and provide good wages for our citizens.
Sincerely,
Nancy E. Wyatt, I.O.M.
President & C00
Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce
10$ S. DIVISiON ST., SUITF., f3 • AUI3URN, WA 98001-5316 • 253-833-0700 • Fax 253-735-4091
e-muil: AubzrrnCG;i'i,AuGtrrn~1reaWA.org • http:i%www.Aubur~f?AreaWA.org
ORDINANCE NO. 6 2 1 7
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
AUBURN, WASHINGTON, CREATING A NEW CHAPTER 3.96 OF
THE AUBURN CITY CODE, IMPOSING AN EXCISE ON THE
OPERATION OF LOADING DOCK DOORS WITHIN THE CITY,
FOR THE PURPOSE OF RAISING REVENUE TO IMPROVE
FREIGHT MOBILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR MATTERS
PROPERLY RELATED THERETO
WHEREAS, the December 20, 2007, Final Report of the Auburn Citizen's Arterial
Task Force found that:
(a) The strength of Auburn's economic base is highly dependent on the heavy
vehicles that travel along its arterials to Highway 18 and State Route 167 to our ports
and other communities;
(b) The condition and durability of these arterials must be maintained;
(c) The Auburn community has historically been a regional center for this branch
of commerce, and is currently one of the nine Valley Cities that comprise the second
largest Industrial Center on the West Coast;
(d) Auburn's ability to retain these businesses has been harmed by tax policy
changes such as the Streamlined Sales Tax, and will be further harmed if its arterial
system cannot be relied upon; and,
(e) Funding for this program will have to come from mostly local sources,
including increases in some taxes, creation of some new funding sources and allocation
of General Fund monies currently dedicated to other, unspecified uses until such time
as the State secures adequate funding to help Cities and Counties meet this regional
and interstate burden; and
WHEREAS, in order to act on these recommendations of the Citizen's Arterial
Task Force and to help the City contend with the costs to the City and its taxpayers
caused by significant truck traffic from warehousing businesses, it is appropriate for the
City Council to impose an excise that compensates the City for its investment in
warehousing infrastructure; and
Ordinance No. 6217
March 10, 2009
Page 1
WHEREAS, Section 35A.82.020 of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW)
authorizes the city councils of code city to impose excises for regulation or revenue
applicable to various kinds of business.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUBURN,
WASHINGTON, DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. NEW CHAPTER CREATED TO CITY CODE. That a new
Chapter 3.96 of the Auburn City Code is created to read as follows:
CHAPTER 3.96
EXCISE ON OPERATION OF LOADING DOCK DOORS
Sections:
3.96.010
3.96.020
3.96.030
3.96.040
3.96.050
3.96.060
3.96.070
3.96.080
Findings.
Chapter Purpose and Scope.
Definitions.
Loading Dock Door License Required.
Loading Dock Door License Excise.
Use of Revenues.
Penalties and Remedies for Violation.
Expiration of Chapter.
3.96.010 Findings.
A. The City Council finds that certain City freight corridors are in critical need of
repair, restoration, and enhancement. The City's economy, the ability to move goods to
market, and the overall mobility and safety of the citizens of the City rely on these key
links in the transportation system.
B. The City Council finds that the shipping of freight over certain City streets
causes extraordinary wear and tear on those routes within the city. Many studies have
demonstrated that:
1. Most of the City's freight routes were never designed or constructed with a
structural base support that can support routine frequent heavy loads, and
2. Freight truck traffic causes considerably more damage to streets than
passenger vehicles - sample calculations using the methodology prescribed in the
Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Pavement Guide, published
in 1995, of the relative impact that compares a typical passenger vehicle to various
legally loaded freight vehicles show 60% to over 90% of pavement impacts on a freight
route is a direct result of freight traffic; and
3. Depending on the size and load of the freight vehicle, the impact of a typical
3 axle freight vehicles on street surfaces is approximately 4300 times more damaging
Ordinance No. 6217
March 10, 2009
Page 2
than a passenger vehicle. (Reference: WSDOT Pavement Guide calculation
methodology), and
4 Correspondence received from the State Secretary of Treasury indicates that
historically and currently cities and counties have never received any of the special fees
or taxes collected by the State that have a nexus to freight impacts on street
infrastructure, and
5 Without action from the State Legislature that recognizes this unfunded
mandate that interstate freight places on local jurisdictions Cities and counties will not
be receiving any of the weight related revenues collected by the State.
C. The City Council finds that the significant impacts to certain freight corridors
relating directly to business operations containing loading dock doors far outpaces the
potential for recovery of those costs through current taxing mechanisms of such
operations.
D. Accordingly, the City Council concludes that it is in the best interests of the
City to impose a business license excise for the purpose of raising revenue, as
authorized by RCW 35A.82.020, upon businesses engaged in the business of operating
a loading dock door as a means to assist in addressing the need to maintain and
improve the City's street infrastructure and to enhance freight and passenger mobility
within the City.
3.96.020 Chapter purpose and scope. This Chapter provides for an excise for
regulation and revenue under RCW 35A.82.020, which shall be referred to as a
licensing excise or "excise." This Chapter does not repeal, abrogate, annul or in any
way impair or interfere with the existing provision of other laws or ordinances.
3.96.030 Definitions. In addition to the definitions provided in Auburn Municipal Code,
Section 5.20.020, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the
context clearly requires otherwise.
A. "Commercial vehicle" means every device designed or regularly used for
carrying freight that is capable of being moved upon a public highway and in, upon, or
by which any property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, except
devices moved by human or animal power or used exclusively upon stationary rail or
tracks.
B. "Freight" means goods transported by a person for commercial purposes.
C. "Freight mobility purposes" means the construction, reconstruction,
maintenance, operation, preservation of arterials streets related to truck routes within
the City intended to provide for the movement of freight.
D. "Loading dock" means an elevated architectural fixture or platForm designed
to permit the transfer of freight to or from a commercial vehicle.
E. "Loading dock door" means a movable structure accessing and adjacent to a
loading dock. For the purposes of this Chapter, the term "loading dock door" shall not
include any door that has been clearly posted and marked as closed, locked and not for
access, in conformity with the requirements of Section 504 of the International Fire
Code, which posting and marking must be visible from both the inside and outside of the
building on which the door is located.
Ordinance No. 6217
March 10, 2009
Page 3
3.96.040 Loading Dock Door License Required
A. In addition to any other required licenses, each person engaged in the
business of operating a loading dock door within the City shall apply for a license under
this ordinance and shall pay the license excise provided for in Section 3.96.050 of this
Chapter.
B. Upon payment of the appropriate excise amount, the applicant shall be
issued a loading dock door license which the applicant shall post prominently outside
each loading dock door that it operates within the City.
C. Each loading dock door license shall be renewed annually and such
renewal shall coincide with the renewal date of the business' annual City business
license.
D. The City shall, in a form and manner prescribed by the City, update the
business license application to accommodate this license excise.
E. Federal, tribal, state and local governmental entities and entities exempt
from licensing requirements under Chapter 5.10 of the City Code shall be exempt from
the requirements of this Chapter.
3.96.050 Loading Dock Door License Excise
A. In addition to any other taxes or fees that may be imposed from time to time,
the City hereby imposes a business license excise for the privilege of operating a
loading dock door within the City.
B. The excise provided in this section shall be paid by the operators of
businesses licensed pursuant to this Chapter, the amount of the excise set forth herein
for each loading dock door that is available for operation by the business during the
succeeding twelve month period. However, each business operating loading dock
doors within the City shall, upon application, receive two loading dock door certificates
at no charge.
C. The initial rate of the excise collected under this section is hereby set at One
Hundred Twenty-five Dollars ($125.00) per door per year for excises collectable in the
year 2009.
D. The rate of the excise collected under this section shall be revised
periodically and shall be levied at a rate that, when fully collected on all loading dock
doors within the City, will not exceed 50% of the City's anticipated annual expenditures
for freight load impact and pavement infrastructure improvement purposes.
3.96.060 Use Of Revenues. The proceeds of the business license excise imposed
under this ordinance shall be deposited into the Freight Mobility Fund, which is created
within the office of the City Finance Director. Amounts in the Freight Mobility Fund shall
be used solely for load impact and pavement infrastructure improvement purposes
consistent with the recommendations of the Citizen's Task Force with the goal of
bringing all City freight routes up to a system average of Pavement Condition Index
(PCI) of 70. To the extent possible, these freight mobility purposes should be consistent
with the adopted transportation and land use plans of the City or any applicable and
adopted regional transportation plan for the metropolitan planning area.
Ordinance No. 6217
March 10, 2009
Page 4
3.96.070 Penalties and Remedies for Violation.
A. Civil Penalties. A violation of the provisions of Sections 3.96.040(A),
3.96.040(C) and 3.96.050(B) of this Chapter shall be civil infractions, punishable by a
maximum penalty of $250.00. Each day of such violation constitutes a separate
infraction under this Chapter.
B. Additional Relief. The city may seek legal or equitable relief to enjoin any
acts or practices and abate any condition which constitutes or will constitute a violation
of the applicable provisions of this Chapter when penalties provided herein are
inadequate to effect compliance. Furthermore, violation of the terms of this Chapter
shall be grounds for revocation of any public ways agreement, franchise, or lease
issued or granted pursuant to Title 20 of the City Code.
C. Other Remedies. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed as limiting any
judicial remedies that the city may have, at law or in equity, for enforcement of this
Chapter.
3.96.080 Expiration of Chapter.
This Chapter and its provisions shall automatically expire and be of no further
effect or validity upon the event that an equivalent on-going state or federal funding
source is provided to the City that is directed to and earmarked for the City's freight
mobility purposes to which the revenue derived from this excise is to be used pursuant
to Section 3.96.060 of the Chapter.
Section 2. Captions. Captions used in this act are not any part of the law.
Section 3. Severability. If any provision of this Ordinance or its application to
any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the ordinance or the
application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.
Section 4. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall take effect and be in force
five days from and after its passage, approval and publication as provided by law.
INTRODUCED:
PASSED:
ATTEST:
Danielle E. Daskam, City Clerk
Ordinance No. 6217
March 10, 2009
Page 5
APPROVED:
PETER B. LEWIS, MAYOR
FORM
iel B. H64_,_q4 Attorney
PUBLISHED:
Ordinance No. 6217
March 10, 2009
Page 6