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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-23-1998MINUTES OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE FEBRUARY 23, 1998 The regular meeting of the Planning and Community Development Committee was held February 23, 1998 in the Council Work Area. Those members in attendance were as follows: MEMBERS PRESENT: Trish Borden, Sue Singer, and Pete Lewis STAFF PRESENT: Lynn Rued, Dick Deal, and Patricia Zook ALSO PRESENT: Mayor Booth; Mary Urback, representative for Dieringer School District; Bob Poldervart, Deputy Superintendent for Auburn School District The meeting was called to order by Committee Chair Borden at 6:00 p.m. PUBLIC HEARING: 1. WSC00032-97 - Schneider Homes, Inc. Chair Borden opened the public hearing. BS presented the staff report. Schneider Homes is requesting water and sewer availability certificates for approximately five acres into 30 lots. The proposal is consistent with City Policy CE-3. He then reviewed the four findings of fact. Staff recommends approval of the request. There was no public testimony. Councilmember Lewis made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Singer, to close the public hearing. Councilmember Singer made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Lewis, to recommend approval of the request for water and sewer certificates. Chair Borden concurred. The meeting recessed and reconvened in the Council Work Area. ACTION ITEMS: 1. Little League Concession Agreement Parks and Recreation Director Deal presented the staff report and explained that the agreement is similar to agreements in the past. Councilmember Lewis made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Singer, to recommend approval. Chair Borden concurred. 2. Optimist Club Concession Agreement Parks and Recreation Director Deal presented the staff report and explained that the agreement is similar to agreements in the past. Councilmember Singer made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Lewis, to recommend approval. Chair Borden concurred. 3. School Impact Fee Ordinance Assistant Planning Director Rued presented the staff report and provided background information on the purpose for Chapter 19.02. Pierce County has school impact fees and Auburn does not. The ordinance is a framework ordinance which does not establish the actual fees. The framework ordinance could be used to collect impact fees for school districts if the City receives a request to do so. The City would adopt by reference what Pierce County adopted for Dieringer School District (DSC). The fees will be collected for residential dwellings only and he mentioned the amounts that would be charged. These fees would be collected at the time of building permit issuance and would be collected only for permits issued within the DSC. An administrative fee of $50 per each unit will be collected by Auburn to help offset the PAGE 1 MINUTES OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE FEBRUARY 23, 1998 administrative costs. He explained the time constraints involved in adopting the ordinance because the Lakeland annexation is before the Pierce County Boundary Review Board. The DSC raised concems because the City had not adopted a school impact fee ordinance. He mentioned that Auburn, Kent and Federal Way may want to establish an impact fee collection process also. If so, the impact fees would be established by using the adopted fee amount that the District is using in other jurisdictions, or adopt a separate scheduled based on methodology used by other jurisdictions that have adopted a school impact fee ordinance. If Chapter 19.02 is adopted, then a fee schedule is established, an interlocal with the school district is entered into, and liability matters are outlined. Assistant Planning Director Rued then distributed three pages of "housekeeping" changes to the draft ordinance and proceeded to review the pages. He briefly reviewed the ordinance and explained that it is based on ordinances from Issaquah and Pierce County. He advised that much of the wording in the ordinance is driven by State law and that some of the language, such as the Definitions section, is taken from actual State law. Chair Borden asked about adopting fees for the ordinance. Assistant Planning Director Rued said the City would adopt an ordinance for the fee schedule and identify the fee amount and how they are determined. He then explained how Pierce County determined the fees. Councilmember Lewis wanted to know which fee is correct. He wondered if the DSC comes up with an amount. Assistant Planning Director Rued said that Pierce County determined what to charge county-wide for school impact fees. Mary Urback, representative for the DSC, gave a brief history of impact fees and explained that the formula drives proportion share to be contributed through impact fees. Impact fees are a "fair share" contribution to be paid by a developer. DSD under Capital Facilities Plan was different than fee now. Pierce County agreed with development community on the amount which is much less than the actual amount. The figure is one that everyone can live with. DSD has agreed to accept the numbers that Pierce County has adopted. She pointed out that that there is no argument or problem because of the two fees. Assistant Planning Director Rued reviewed a few of the definitions. If the other school districts in Auburn (Kent and Federal Way) want school impact fees, they must sit down and work out a formula to establish the fee amount. Kent School District has an impact fee ordinance, but no lots developed within Auburn impact the Kent Schools. Kent School District would approach Auburn and base impact fee amount on what they have with King County. Both King County and Kent are collecting impact fees. Assistant Planning Director Rued referred to the interlocal agreement responsibilities. Chair Borden asked about the timing of an interlocal. Assistant Planning Director Rued said that adoption of Chapter 19.02 is the first thing which needs to be done, then a fee schedule is put together, then interlocals signed. Staff is looking at a draft interlocal which they hope to present to the Committee for review in a few weeks. Assistant Planning Director Rued then pointed out the need to adopt the Dieringer's Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) as part of the Comprehensive Plan. He reminded the Committee that this was recently accomplished. Chair Borden asked if the CFP is reviewed yearly. Assistant Planning Director Rued said this must be done in order to collect the impact fees. Councilmember Lewis asked how the Dieringer CFP was adopted by Auburn. Assistant Planning Director Rued explained that this was part of last year's Comprehensive Plan annual amendment process. If Auburn collects impact fees for Auburn, Kent and Federal Way School Districts, these CFPs would have to be adopted also. Councilmember Singer referred to page 6, the section on adopted standard of service, and asked for clarification. Ms. Urback spoke about the standard of service relating to elementary and middle schools. It is a policy determination by the Board of Directors as to the number of students each facility should house. Deputy Superintendent Poldervart said this is directly program related and that some portions of the programs need different space requirements. He emphasized this is part of formulization spoken of earlier. PAGE 2 MINUTES OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE FEBRUARY 23, 1998 Assistant Planning Director Rued referred to page 7, sections 19.02.060 and 19.02.070 and explained that the fee is collected for residential development only. The fee is collected once and is paid before building permits are issued. The City takes the money in and disperses the money to the School District. Auburn keeps the $50 administration fee which is reasonable since the City will have a fair amount of accounting to do relating to the process. The Building Division and the Finance Department will be involved in collecting the fee. Assistant Planning Director Rued referred to page 7, 19.02.080 and briefly mentioned the types of exemptions permitted. He reviewed paragraphs E, F, and G, relating to mitigation. Councilmember Singer asked if the mitigation is over and above the impact fees. Assistant Planning Director Rued explained that the developer only pays once. The development will be mitigated by the impact fee. Councilmember Lewis wondered if a developer could say that he worked with the School District and has mitigated his impact, would Auburn be able to say anything about this. Councilmember Lewis wondered if the ordinance is adopted, could a developer say he has already mitigated with the School District. Assistant Planning Director Rued referred to page 8, 19.02.090, paragraph F. Councilmember Lewis wondered if the City does not agree to the mitigation, can the City say so. Deputy Superintendent Poldervart related that King County will say if the deal is between the developer and the school district and the City acts on their agreement. Chair Borden requested clarification to paragraphs F and G on page 8. Assistant Planning Director Rued clarified that in essence the City is asking for proof that the developer reached an agreement with the school district. Assistant Planning Director Rued then referred to fee adjustment discussed on page 9 and explained that the RCW requires an appeal process to be in place. Councilmember Singer referred to paragraph G on page 9 asked why the part discussion errors is deleted. Assistant Planning Director Rued referred to page 7, 19.02.060, and clarified that the section on page 6 is in place to handle errors. Ms. Urback spoke about the appeal process and said the RCW requirements can be a little confusing. By having the annual Council review, the City Council is not out of the loop. Assistant Planning Director Rued then referred to page 10, 19.02.100, and said that most of the wording, such as the six year time frame, is reflective of State law. The City is acting as a collection agency and forwarding the money to the school district. Mayor told the Committee that a copy of the draft ordinance was forwarded to Linda Cowan, Auburn School District, to review. Councilmember Lewis referred to 19.02.010, Purpose, on page 1 and stated that he prefers the earlier version of the preamble. He wanted to know where the underlined text came from. Assistant Planning Director Rued said the City's outside counsel provided the wording for this section. Councilmember Lewis stated that he did not see the reason for have this underlined wording in the paragraph. Chair Borden asked why the outside counsel wanted this wording. Assistant Planning Director Rued explained that the wording is from the RCW and points out the intent of Chapter 19.02. Ms. Urback pointed out that the City's outside counsel has worked on many ordinances. Even though the statute says Auburn is the collection agency, a finding must be made that there is a need to adopt the ordinance. The f'mding must state the need and determination made by adopting the DSC Capital Facilities Plan. Section 19.02.010 gives Auburn a basis to adopt the ordinance for impact fees. In Washington state, the city is the collecting agency because the collection of funds must go through a municipality other than PAGE 3 MINUTES OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE FEBRUARY 23, 1998 the school district. In order to ensure the ordinance is not attacked, the City must make finding that a need for the ordinance exists. She pointed out that the Pierce County ordinance goes on for several pages listing all the findings. She believes Chapter 19.02 is succinct and will stand up to challenge. Councilmember Lewis referred to 19.02.030, on page 4 and wanted to know how the fees are determined. He wanted to know if it is Auburn's responsibility to determine fee schedule. Assistant Planning Director Rued mentioned what Pierce County did to determine the fee schedule. They adopted a formula, plugged in information from the school district, and the fee amount determined. Councilmember Lewis asked what is City's responsibility if the Auburn School District submits a fee schedule. Assistant Planning Director Rued said the school district can give the City information, the next step is to determine the methodology, and adopt the fee amount. Councilmember Lewis referred to 19.02.050, on page 6, and wanted to confn-m that annually the school district submits the items listed in 1 through 5. Assistant Planning Director Rued said yes. Ms. Urback said this is directly from the statutes; the school district must comply. Deputy Superintendent Poldervart spoke briefly about school enrollment projections and estimated cost of school buildings in 2016 which are subject to fluctuations and matching funds. Councilmember Lewis asked how much it will cost Auburn to implement the ordinance. Assistant Planning Director Rued said that an administrative fee of $50 per housing unit is being charged. He will not know the actual cost until the City starts processing. Mayor assured Councilmember Lewis that the City will keep data to determine if the $50 fee is a sufficient amount. Deputy Superintendent Poldervart said that the Auburn School District has not imposed impact fees in the past. The current enrollment growth of a little over 2% is not extraordinary and has been the growth rate for approximately 15 years. They have been involved in a joint study with DSC regarding the Lakeland development to determine who should serve the students. He mentioned the enrollment increasing because of Lakeland development. School Board needs to decide whether to do impact fees as a matter of policy or not. Ms. Urback mentioned that Dr. Newbill, Superintendent for DSC, was unavailable for tonight's Committee meeting. She mentioned a recent article in the Tacoma News Tribune on Lakeland. The article said the main reason Lakeland's growth is because people want the suburban schools which has turned into a marketing tool used by Lakeland. She spoke about the Dieringer community's impression that the massive size of Lakeland would ruin the school district because the enrollment population will triple. The community now feels that Lakeland will pay its fair share. Ms. Urback complimented City staff on being very helpful in discussing and reviewing the ordinance with the DSD. The City went to outside counsel for a thorough review. Regarding methodology, in Pierce and King Counties' ordinances, they adopted the state-approved methodology, a complicated formula with other municipalities have adopted. This may make the City Council feel more comfortable that the methodology is approved. Deputy Superintendant Poldervart said the formulization is most of the data generated by the school district, such as property values, construction costs, and purchase price of portable classrooms. Councilmember Singer asked if Kent and Federal Way School Districts received copies of the ordinance. Assistant Planning Director Rued said they received copies in the past. He said if the Kent and Federal Way School Districts want to impose impact fees, they will enter into an interlocal agreement. Councilmember Singer made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Lewis to recommend City Council adopt Chapter 19.02. PAGE 4 MINUTES OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE FEBRUARY 23, 1998 o Other Business: Parks and Recreation Director Deal distributed an agenda bill with numerous items to be surplussed. Councilmember Lewis made a motion, seconded by Councitmember Singer, to place this item on the consent agenda. Chair Borden concurred. With no further items to come before the Committee, the meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m PCDCLMIN'~2B-98 PAGE 5