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Home My WebLink AboutCAP 2014-04-29 Item 4D - Grant Award from the Washington State Department of Commerce rs City of Tukwila � y a - `=- -5'+ Jim Haggerton, Mayor 2 908 . INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Haggerton Community Affairs and Parks Committee Members FROM: Jack Pace, Director, Department of Community Development BY: Lynn Miranda, Senior Planner DATE: April 17, 2014 SUBJECT: National Estuary Program: Watershed Protection & Restoration Grant Award ISSUE The Council is being asked to accept a grant award of $42,060 to fund an evaluation of the feasibility of implementing a state program promoting urban redevelopment and watershed protection in Tukwila. BACKGROUND The National Estuary Program (NEP) has designated the Puget Sound as an estuary of national significance. Under this program, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) receives federal funding to support local efforts to protect and restore Puget Sound and implement the Puget Sound Action Agenda. EPA selected the Washington Departments of Ecology and Commerce to receive some of this funding for'Watershed Protection and Restoration". The Department of Commerce then established a grant program under which the state will pass through a large part of the federal funding as sub-awards to local governments for the purposes of protecting and restoring watersheds that drain into Puget Sound. DISCUSSION Tukwila was awarded $42,060 to evaluate how new state legislation promoting urban redevelopment and resource land conservation (the Landscape Conservation Local Infrastructure Program, or LCLIP) could be implemented in the City's urban center (Southcenter) and Tukwila International Boulevard (TIB) Corridor. LCLIP authorizes eligible cities to access tax increment financing to invest in infrastructure improvements as an incentive to spur redevelopment in areas where cities are planning for growth. Cities may access a portion of county property tax in exchange for adopting policies that incentivize protection of resource lands that are important to watershed processes, like upland forest, riparian lands, and floodplains. Through infrastructure investment, LCLIP directs development towards urban areas targeted for growth, removing barriers to increasing density, and reduces development pressure on lands that are important to watershed processes. Implementation of LCLIP in Tukwila could result in updates to the City's growth management efforts, including planning, revisions to land use policies, and changes to regulations to encourage infill development. FINANCIAL IMPACT The grant does not require a cash match from the City; however, the grant does show City staff time as "in-kind" funds that will be contributed to the implementation of the project. Overall, the City will be matching the grant with $7,430 of staff time dedicated to implementing the project over the one year period of the grant. 47 INFORMATIONAL MEMO Page 2 RECOMMENDATION The Council is being asked to accept the $42,060 grant award from the Washington State Department of Commerce, and to consider this item on the Consent Agenda of the May 5, 2014 Regular Meeting. ATTACHMENTS Notice of Intended Grant Award - Email 48 W:\Long Range Projects\LCLIP Grant\Info memoi.doc Lynn Miranda From: Peters, Doug (COM) <doug.peters @commerce.wa.gov> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2014 1:54 PM To: Lynn Miranda Subject: Notice of intended grant award - National Estuary Program:Watershed Protection & Restoration Dear Ms. Miranda, Congratulations on being successful in pursuing a grant award for Watershed Protection and Restoration:Theme 1 - Improving Land Use. Your proposal was among those selected to be.offered funds. If you accept this offered grant of $42,060, please let me know. If you accept this grant, we will draft a scope of work based on your submitted proposal, and send that to you for confirmation of the details. We will also send you the General and Special Terms and Conditions that apply to this grant agreement, several of which are unique to the federal NEP grant that is the source of our award funds. Please ensure that you read these and ask for clarification on any points that are not clear. As this is a federally funded program, we are required to report at least semi-annually to EPA using 2 forms;to address the project and expenditure activities (Financial and Ecosystem Accounting Tracking System - FEATS form) and to address your actions that may result in hiring minority and women owned business enterprises (MWBE form.) However, Commerce requires that you report quarterly in order to track progress and provide a basis for quarterly billing. We ask that you use the FEATS form for quarterly and semi-annual reports.We will send you a copy of this reporting form when •we are closer to an agreed upon scope of work. Another important grant requirement is that all projects are required to complete a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP)waiver form, to determine whether you will need to complete a formal QAPP or not. As QAPP usually focus on collecting and using environmental data, it is uncertain if these requirements will apply to many of the proposed projects under Theme 1—Improving Land Use. If you will be collecting environmental data for your project, then you will likely need to write a quality assurance project plan (QAPP). Ecology has a quality assurance website for all the NEP grants (linked below.) This website includes a waiver form with a required checklist, which will help to determine if you need to write a QAPP or if your project qualifies for a waiver from this requirement. Please walk through this waiver checklist soon so you know whether you need to include the cost of preparing a QAPP in your scope of work. If you believe your project is entitled to a waiver of the QAPP requirement,then completing the waiver form and submitting it to Tom Gries at Ecology may expedite your contract development and award. Tom Gries is our NEP Quality Coordinator for these grants. If you have questions on quality assurance issues,you can reach Tom at Tgri461@ecy.wa.gov or 360-407-6327. Please read through the web page before contacting Tom, as it has a lot of useful information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/qa/docs/NEPQAPP/index.html. If you think it would be helpful, we can schedule a conference call to explain how to fill out all of the forms and answer any questions. Sincerely yours, Doug Peters 1 49 Watershed Planner, Growth Management Services Local Government& Infrastructure Division Office: 360.725.3046 Washington State Department of Commerce 1011 Plum Street SE, Olympia, WA. 98504 www.commerce.wa.gov Follow us @WAStateCommerce Learn why you should Choose Washington 2 50