Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-04-25 Committee of the Whole MinutesApril 25, 1988 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT REPORTS Interlocal Agreements with City of Renton TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL Committee of the Whole M I N U T E S Tukwila City Hall Council Chambers Council President Harris called the Tukwila City Council Committee of the Whole meeting to order. MABEL HARRIS, Council President; MARILYN G. STOKNES; JOAN HERNANDEZ; DENNIS ROBERTSON; and CLARENCE MORIWAKI. Rick Beeler, Planning Director, explained that the proposed annexation of Fire District #1 has prompted Renton to take a look at the southern portion. They want to annex it. An interlocal agreement has been drawn at a Staff level. It calls for: (1) coordinated participation in planning and permitting in this area. (2) coordinated annexation of the southern most portion of this area to Renton. The timing of this is in two phases: (a) At the time this annexation goes to the Boundary Review Board they would be asked to drop this area from Tukwila's annexation so Renton can annex it. It is part of the interlocal agreement that this would happen. This would correspond with the prior agreement we have with Renton where the railroad tracks are the boundary between the two cities. (It was noted that the Black River Quarry) is located in this area.) (b) The second and adjacent section Renton is interested in would remain in King County until they are ready to annex it. No time table is set on this. (3) The third part of the agreement is for a joint legal challenge of the proposed incinerator going in to the Black River Quarry site. Council President Harris expressed con- cern that the City is jeopardizing the whole annexation by breaking it in pieces. The area is a long narrow piece, and if the southern portion is removed, it would be contiguous to the City at a very small section. Very likely, the Boundary Review Board would feel they could also separate the very northern portion and give us only the small middle section. It does not make sense to jeopardize the annexation we have been working on for two years at this point in time. She said she is very much against this. Mayor Van Dusen explained that the City of Renton is looking at the continuation of our Interlocal Agreement making the railroad tracks the boundary between the two cities. He does not want to see the Black River Quarry site remain under the County jurisdiction. It should go to Tukwila or Renton. If this area did go to Renton, Tukwila should have some say on future development through the Interlocal Agreement. He will meet with the Mayor of Renton to discuss this further. Council Member Robertson said he is also afraid the Boundary Review Board may propose to leave part of the Fire District #1 area in the County. We need to annex the whole thing, and then work on an agreement with Renton to straighten the boun- daries. By that time the issue of the Black River Quarry should be known. Mayor Van Dusen said he feels we need an Interlocal Agreement to keep Renton from going to the Boundary Review Board and protesting Tukwila's annexation of the southern portion. This area is in their sphere of influence. 00 70 TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE April 25, 1988 Page 2 SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS Transportation Issues Several transportation funding issues that are related were presented for Council discussion and consideration. Local Bill Hoffman, King County, discussed the Local Transportation Transportation Act of 1988, Countywide Transportation Funding Strategy and Act of 1988 the County's effort toward setting up a South County PUD. These three items relate to funding and are very important. The County has recently completed a County wide transpor- tation plan. The focus is on unincorporated King County but it includes major projects from local jurisdictions and it includes State projects. It tries to give an overall view of what transportation needs might in King County. It has 900 County projects in it for a total cost of 1.4 Billion dollars between now and the year 2000. As a part of this, they anti- cipate receiving 1 Billion dollars. There are four main categories with respect to financing alternatives they are looking at. These are (1) Contributions to financing needs (2) Maximizing use of existing financing sources (3) Imple- menting currently authorized new funding sources (4) Explor- ing new funding strategies. The Transportation Plan involves and needs a lot of local agency coordination and cooperation. They would like to look for opportunities for joint funding of projects. Look at projects within Cities and in the unincorporated areas that benefit both and take a coopertive view toward transportation improvements. Mr. Hoffman continued and discussed the Local Transportation Act. This is a complicated act and they are still reviewing it trying to interpret the meaning. It does provide the ability to provide impact fees and provide an expressed authority to provide impact fees within the County or within areas that involve a number of jurisdictions, if they do it through a Transportation Benefit District. The purpose was to provide a fair and predictable system for joint funding of growth related projects. The administration of the program provides for an appeal project to resolve fee disputes. Countywide Mr. Hoffman then discussed the Countywide Transportation Transportation Funding Strategy. King County Council passed Motion #7102, Funding Strategy which requested the County Executive to develop a County transportation funding strategy. The directive was to work with local agencies to put together the strategy. This has caused concern among the local elected officials about the mechanism's method and timelines. A lot of local agencies are concerned about the County trying to dictate to them about a Countywide Bond Issue. They are working toward their own bond issue. The proposed mechanism for composing regional transportation funding initiatives is meant to promote a common agreement of regional needs and a process for addressing those needs. South King Co. This item was also requested by the County Council, because Transportation of the work with the private sector to explore how best to Benefit District deal with a Transportation Benefit District. County Council asked how one could be set up in the South County. Cris Crumbaugh, President of VATA, explained that VATA (Val- ley Area Transportation Alliance) was formed last spring by the private sector. The people in the private sector were seeing that there were tremendous transportation needs. VATA identified approximately $300,000,000 worth of potential improvement projects that needed to be done in the Green River Valley. The private sector saw this need, it is not going to get better, it is going to get worse. Tukwila and 00 7/ TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE April 25, 1988 Page 3 SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS (cont'd) Kent had some major projects and some of these projects crossed boundary jurisdictions. The projects are identified, how do you get them done? No public sector funding was available so that private sector contributions could be com- bined with public contributions to get these projects done. They are quite concerned because the business community is making contributions toward the improvements. There is no commitment that the improvements will ever be constructed. We do know that there will be some fee system that is going to be able to be imposed by all jurisdictions. VATA worked very hard last year on the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax to get it passed by the Legislature but it didn't occur. They will try again at the next session. They are also looking at Tax Increment Financing. When a project comes into the City, it raises the real property values. Tax Increment Financing allows a municipality to specifically direct those revenues toward a project needed because of the development. One of the main things they are doing in the private sector is work- ing with the County and the Valley Transportation Committee on the formation of a Transportation Benefit District in South King County. They could take some of these large projects, put them into a TBD, and collect the revenues, identify them for the projects and build the projects. This is a key. It is going to take intergovernmental cooperation to get some of these massive projects done. Everyone is cooperating and working together the cities, the County, the private sector, the C.O.G. as they have never done before. On May 25, 1988, VATA is holding a forum for the Valley representatives and City people at the Doubletree Inn. They will discuss where they are. To form a TBD, they are going to need all of the valley cities to agree to do it. CBD Street Rich Kato, consultant from Kato and Warren, Inc., explained Financing Study that the CBD Street Financing Study addressed several ques- tions: 1. Can currently projected funds meet the needs of the street system? There is a huge capital need out there, with a great capital shortfall. 2. What should City policy be regarding additional street improvements in the CBD and in residential areas. They discuss G.O. Bond funding for a portion of the CBD road- ways. A part of the recommendation is to continue the policy of funding residential streets. 3. How should property that benefits from street improve- ments contribute to the cost of the improvements? One of the recommendations is a late comers fee which puts the cost to the benefitted properties. 4. If additional funding is needed for streets, what is the best way of obtaining the needed funds? Recommendations are to: a. Establish Capital Improvement Program priorities for the City. The CIP should take a project -by- project approach to a mix of funding. b. The General Obligation Bond issue is a key to their presentation. This is the only way to meet the needs. c. Continue with the policy of funding streets in the residential area. They recommend not putting this policy on the newly annexed parts of town. QO7 TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE April 25, 1988 Page 4 SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS (cont'd) (80 /COW.4- 25.1,2) 0 ©73 d. Consider alternatives that are available to the G.O.B. issue. e. The City should still use the L.I.D. approach to get some of these funds back in the program. f. Another alternative to the G.O.B. is an employee tax. In the range of $50 to $60 per employee per year would be needed to fund the CIP /TIP financial short- fall. You would have to have the support of the commercial area to do this. Councilmember Robertson noted that there are a lot of very important issues here and they should be discussed further with the consultants that wrote the report, and the Council should discuss them to arrive at some kind of an agreement. The report is fascinating and very educational. The basic assumptions are based on the Tukwila 2000 and it has not been made available to the Council. The Council continued to discuss the Street Financing Study prepared by Kato and Warren, Inc., consultants. They ex- pressed their concerns on the way the report reads. Council President Harris said the study was intended primarily to be a study on how to finance the streets in the Central Business District. Mr. Kato said it would have been short sighted to focus in specifically on the CBD without considering some of the re- gional connections. The residential street funding issue is one that should be mentioned. Councilmember Robertson said he would have preferred a docu- ment that established a need for raising the money and listed the different types of financing. This document should not be used to set transportation policy prioritization. Mr. Kato explained that they got into the financing study because of the Council's request on grid streets in the CBD. This was the focus but was expanded once they got into it. Council President Harris explained that this study is to give the Council facts to work with. We don't have to agree with them; we can question them. She suggested that the study be placed in both the Transportation and Finance Committees, have them work through it and bring it back to the Committee of the Whole. This is a very unique city; the merchants who work here are not the ones who vote. Everyone in the industrial /commercial area goes home at night and we have to decide what needs to be done. ADJOURNMENT MOVED BY HERNANDEZ, SECONDED BY STOKNES, THAT THE COMMITTEE 11:00 p.m. OF THE WHOLE MEETING OF THE TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL BE AD- JOURNED. MOTION CARRIED. Mabel J. Harris, Council President iM a(in Anderson, City Clerk