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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council Workshop - Minutes - 03/19/2002 R COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES MARCH 19, 2002 COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: President Tim Clark, Connie Epperly, Leona Orr, Julie Peterson, Bruce White, Judy Woods,Rico Yingling STAFF PRESENT: Mike Martin, John Hillman, John Hawkins, Larry Blanchard, Levin Conway, John Hodgson, Katherin Johnson, Merina Hanson, May Miller, Jackie Bicknell PUBLIC PRESENT: Joe Blatinea, Dini Duclos, Randy Kyte The workshop began at 5:03 PM. Three items were added to the agenda: Radcliffe Place Senior Apartments, Legislative Update, Investing in Kent Station. Radcliffe Place Senior Apartments Parks Director John Hodgson said the Multi-Service Center was applying for federal money to build a low income senior apartment complex on the East Hill in a project where the City would need to write a letter of support and ultimately provide a$10,000 match towards the $9 million project. When staff allocates the Human Service Budget, basically everything is budgeted which never gives a mid year opportunity to fund a program, and one of the things staff will be talking about during the budget process is creating a reserve in the Human Service Budget like is done in the General Fund Budget for rainy day opportunities or opportunities that come around after everybody else is pretty much funded. • Dini Duclos,Multi-Service Center, said they are proposing to build 80 units of affordable senior housing at 13510 SE 272Id, Census tract 317.01, Block 9 (the property is zoned for residential us), and have been in touch with the City's Planning Department about getting a conditional use permit. Unfortunately, the federal funding cycle does not allow going through the normal funding process with the Human Service Commission and CSBG funding because cash isn't needed, but a commitment from the City of Kent gets points and not having a commitment loses point. The project will be going for HUD 202 housing which will allow putting very low income seniors onto the property and enough cash flow so it won't be putting in a property that will lose its value over the years because the federal government will make up the difference. Tenants will be limited to seniors 62 years and older who make 40% or under of median income. The Multi Service Center will be able to maintain the property. The property is going to look and feel like Kent East Hill. It's a little over five acres and will accommodate 80 units or more. There is wetland, but that will not be disturbed as there is enough acreage that the construction won't be close. Senior housing is becoming a real issue as the adult population gets older and it's also a lot larger in numbers now than it has been in the past. There has also been a wave of immigrants come into the area,many of whom are older. A lot of those people will not have money to afford senior housing when they reach that period in their life. In addition, there is the difference in wage structure and earning power in this country that must be considered. Women traditionally earn less than men and have less retirement benefits, and they tend to outlive men. If their spouse dies, they lose that portion of social security. Those are the types of households that would go in there. The complex shouldn't cause a lot of traffic because not too many of the • people will have cars, and there is bus transportation right up in that area. The Center will probably work with Metro to see if a bus stop can be located close by if not right at the entrance to the complex. Council Workshop,3/19/02 2 The Multi Service Center has other housing in Kent and has worked with the City very well and also the Police Department regarding possible drug problems and other things,but that type of problem isn't usually associated with senior housing. It tends to be quiet and is usually an asset for most cities. Julie Peterson commented that the plan wasn't going through the Human Services Commission's regular process which would have required it to meet a variety of standards for the City to fund it She inquired if those standards were still being bypassed. Dini Duclos said there could still be the same restrictions from the county,plus HUD will definitely have restrictions that will have to be followed and probably the state. John Hodgson said the letter of support does not bind anything as it relates to the permit process, and all is subject to the approval of permitting. The letter would just say that the City is in support of the project. The $10,000 would eventually be budgeted out of the Human Service Budget. Le0slative Update Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Dena Laurent said there doesn't appear to be a problem with the Governor's concurrence on the things that have passed that are important to the City. The big news the $900,000 that the City was able to secure for the Kent Station Project. Geoff Simpson was key in helping advocate for that project as an economic stimulus package. It's clearly going to be important for the redevelopment of the downtown and should also help free up general fund monies to help pay down the debt on Clark Lake. ♦ The Transportation Package: Staff worked with our partners in other cities and also the business community and the Chamber in advocating projects that are important to Kent to make sure those . specific projects, such as the HOV lanes extending to the Pierce County line on SR-167, HOV lanes on 1-5, fixing the SR-167/1-405 interchange, which is really important to our north industrial area business, money going to Freight Mobility projects, and also public transit. ♦ The Regional Transportation Package ended up turning out like the Senate version where there will be a board of county representatives making decisions about the projects and the projects will mostly be on roadways of state significance. It's less likely the money would come specifically to local projects. On the other hand, anything that helps the system should help Kent. So it's not a lose, lose situation. ♦ The No Revenue Package was adopted. One thing that Council had expressed significant concern about was King County's request for additional utility tax authority of our citizens as that would be double utility tax on our residents as the City already has that authority and uses a portion of it. It was something that we were reserved about to let the county try to find revenue methods but weren't out front in supporting. ♦ Pension Rate Reductions. This is a reduction in the City's contribution for the employee pension funds and the intention of the legislature was to offset the motor vehicle excise tax, the MVET backfill that we weren't going to get this year, and it almost pencils out. The City will be losing $360,000 in MVET backfill,but the pension rate reductions will save $300,000. ♦ Retiree Access to Public-Agency Health Care Plans. This bill clarifies that the responsibility for paying for that kind of coverage rests with the retiree not with the City and that is going to be what makes it possible to do something. ♦ The Sex Predator Siting Bill. That bill passed and is likely to be signed by the Governor. It requires counties and their cities to get together and identify a plan for the siting of the number of sexual predators who have completed their sentences back into the county that those sexual predators came from. The requirement has actually been in place since last year but the county has taken no action to convene a group or to make any overtures so the cities are now talking Council Workshop,3/19/02 3 among themselves about how to retain all of their zoning authority so they have some way to determine where the facilities go. Kent Station Open House—Investine in Kent Station Chief Administrative Officer Mike Martin said that one of the major themes and questions from the last Community Forum was about the budget for the project. The comments were very, very supportive, but the community was curious about how the City was going to pay for it. We've run numbers that are getting more and more sophisticated and using them in negotiations with Langly Properties and eventually we are going to strike a deal with them that will structure the way that the land options are sold or taken down. The bottom line is, on the left hand column of the packet materials there is a range of costs for the land between$13 and $20 million. Site preparation is $1.5 to $2 million, infrastructure improvements $4.5-6.5 million and potentially a public space costing $1- 1.5 million for a total project cost of$20-30 million. If somebody said how much does the City have invested in this project by the time you're ready to break ground, or in the close distance that would be the right answer. The next question is, how the City will pay for it. The easy answer is there are no new taxes generated by this. There is no increase in existing taxes, including property taxes. This will be paid for through existing revenue sources that include sales retail excise tax, utility taxes, and all of the funding sources that are currently in place. That will provide bridge financing through the short term until the project generates its own revenue and taxes to pay the debt service. It is the City's intention over a period of time to recover all costs, and that should happen between 15 and 20 years from now. (This does not take into account spin off benefits,jobs, spin off sales to other properties or anything like that— $20-30 million total cost— Short term financing instruments that do not include new taxes • of any sort nor any increases in existing taxes and recovery of all city costs between 15 to 20 years.) We are refining these numbers as we go along. A lot of it depends on what we put on the property and how to develop. The phasing is very, very critical. If we only put half of what we expected to in the first phase on the property, obviously it won't generate as much in the way of taxes. All that is very much in flux. We still continue to break ground on the road in August or September. We still intend to have all the land use issues resolved by this summer. It is still our intention to break ground on the anchors for this project some time in the spring, probably April of 2003. That remains on track and has been for the last 9 months or so. Those are kind of the over arching things. There's no great news about this but I wanted to let you know because this is information I haven't brought to you directly and I wanted you to hear it first. I did talk with the Editorial Board this morning about it so they got it straight. We're fine with the newspaper because this will be in the public come Thursday. Randy Kyle, Langly Properties, said they continued to be amazed at the pace the project was moving which was really being driven by the city itself, and the City should be commended,being frankly very aggressive in bringing the project about. We're moving through the land use and entitlement process, the planned action ordinance is under way and the EIS component of that is about ready to be issued for public comment. We're involved in the anchor deals and still working with Green River and trying to solidify what their needs are going to be for the first phase of the project and then ongoing phases because they are looking at a multi year phased approach, as well as the theater. That's continuing to grow, but we're working with that trying to figure out how to bring that all about with its performance component. Mr. Kyle introduced Joe Blamer, from Tarragon,partners in the project. Council Workshop,3/19/02 4 Mr. Kyte said there wouldn't be much office space in the first phase. Right now things were being driven by theater and entertainment type uses and what the theater should draw in terms of restaurants. Hopefully a grocery as a trip generator, specialty shops that will create demand, and then Green River Community College and maybe some additional office space for a mix use building with retail at the base. The goal is to get as much closure on Second Avenue as we can. Rico Yingling asked about the Economic Development or Project Manager the City was intending to hire. Mr. Martin said they were down to four finalists and interviews would be done the first week of April. He said private as well as public sector would be involved and he was particularly interested in having Randy help select the person that he'd be working so closely with through the duration of the project. Annual Public Works Operations Presentation Public Works Operations Manager Larry Blanchard gave a PowerPoint presentation of the accumulated work efforts in 2001 of the Operations Division of the Public Works Department. There are five basic sections or functions in Publics Works Operations: Administration, streets, utilities, water, and fleet services; and approximately 102 employees, which includes part time workers. The mission is about insuring that the City provides professional services to the citizens of Kent and a strategic goal of efficient, effective, innovative, and responsive government. Mike Martin commended Mr. Blanchard for an outstanding job and said that he was a very, very fine manager for the City and had a great crew working with him. . The workshop adjourned at 6:20 PM. Council Office 2'd Floor, City Hall 220 4Lh Ave. South, Kent, 98032 PLEASE SIGN IN G A-)��<4 DATE: �6 Name :address Phone dumber xAI&S )��.J /Z 3Lwwc'~ pub l« Wo2ks LV1 Pont-k WVRk5 OPEPAT1vN5 n 4�6 of �a.vk.5 �� -Slcx3 BSIo - �i✓� �u C��IU s Y�l t4 W-