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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/17/2004 Adjourned Meeting ,3 ,17 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 17, 2004 - 7:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS - CITY HALL 1. RoII Call Present: Council: Mayor Paul George, presiding, Council Members Ron Bonlender, Dave Edler, Neil McClure, Mary Place, Bernard Sims, and Susan Whitman Staff: City Manager Zais, City Attorney Paolella and City Clerk Roberts 2. Public Hearing on proposed legislation to create a stormwater utility Chris Waarvick, Director of Public Works, introduced this hearing as the third in a series on the stormwater issue. He asked Council to consider September 21 as the date to review the legislation creating a stormwater utility. In order to generate the revenue to run the program, it is necessary to get the listing of the fee and assessment rolls to Yakima County by late October or early November. We also need to initiate discussions with the County on further interlocal agreements necessary to use the tax assessment mechanism for this charge. He then spoke of the need for another interlocal agreement with the County to cover best management practices, public education, etc. to lessen the cost for all involved. Council Member Edler referred to a Council goal of regionalizing government and asked why we are not creating a regional stormwater utility. Mr. Waarvick spoke about a governmental analysis and how we are not at a point for full consolidation yet. There are legitimate issues that need to be considered such as code inspections and regulatory functions that would have to be combined into one set of rules. He then spoke about "bubble" communities that aren't quite in Phase 2 but are close because of their proximity. City Manager Zais interjected that regionalization will require governing bodies to reach agreement. Discussion continued on the desire to keep this utility minimal. In response to the question of how do we establish proper housekeeping levels, Mr. Waarvick referenced the Washington State Stormwater Guidance Manual and the Minimum Permit Program Guidance document. Ecology has set up limits to comply with programs and we chose the minimum limits. City Manager Zais advised that, in the absence of a stormwater utility, the City has migrated in the direction of compliance and over the last few years it was subsidized out of the street budget to the detriment of other things. We have been doing more than we actually have resources to do in order to be sure we are in compliance. Council also discussed parameters for best management practices and evaluating their impact. Mr. Waarvick advised this ordinance reflects some changes from the previous public hearing; e.g. the definition of stormwater. Also added is a document not 318 AUGUST 17, 2004 ADJOURNED MEETING previously presented but important to establish a link between program needs and revenue requirements. Per request, Mr. Waarvick spelled out some abbreviations used in the documents: ERU Equivalent Residential Unit CIP Capital Improvement Program UIC Underground Injection Control (part of the Safe Drinking Water Act) TMDL Total Maximum Daily Loading • Mayor George opened the public hearing Clarence Barnett, representing Central Washington Home Builders at 3301 West Nob Hill Boulevard, spoke in support of regionalizing the stormwater utility. He also recommended the City defer action until the County's plans are clear. He pointed out that the ordinance refers to application and design requirements using either the 2004 Eastern Washington manual or a design manual adopted by the City. The Eastern Washington manual will not be published until late September or October and the City designed manual is nonexistent. Consequently, builders and developers are not able to plan ahead to meet requirements in order to receive discounts enumerated in the ordinance. Mr. Barnett also questioned the public stormwater control facility that had not been included in earlier versions of the ordinance. They are unclear how it ties in to the stormwater utility being established by the ordinance. The question as to whether the stormwater utility qualifies as a development regulation and is required to meet requirements of RCW 36.70A.030 came up at a prior meeting. The staff response says Legal will review the concern. They have not seen that legal response yet. Frank Hendrix, 433 Ames Road in Selah and a candidate for County Commissioner, asked the City Council to postpone their decision as there needs to be a regional group on the issue. He claimed the County staff put together an ordinance way beyond the federal and state mandates. He claimed that urban homeowners don't realize it but their tax rate will go up an estimated $50 per parcel per month. The County staff desires to charge all agricultural properties and not charge state and federal properties. They want to create a department that has a $1.8 million budget annually. By law this rule has to be seamless between cities and counties and he urged Council to consider postponing a decision until they can work with the County and decrease the ordinance. It is his opinion that the real problem is hydrocarbons from vehicles and questioned why the landowners are being taxed when it should be the vehicles. David Taylor, 1661 Beane Road in Moxee, submitted written material for Council's consideration. He represents the Yakima County Commodity Coalition, various agricultural producers across the industry. He asked that further consideration be postponed until there is a seamless document between the City and the County. He asked Council to identify and adopt overlapping regulations. He mentioned he has not seen a SEPA review consideration on the issue. John Crawford, 8950 Bittner Road; urged the Council to take a regional approach and work with the County for the benefit of the community. He also requested the ordinance not exceed the mandate. 2 31 '9 AUGUST 17, 2004 ADJOURNED MEETING John Knutson, Yakima County Surface Water Manager, clarified that the Commissioner's delay of their public hearing was not in response to the public but was because they didn't have time to prepare an ordinance that could be acted on prior to August 31 At the County level they would like to conduct a public open house and have staff actively respond to the comments of the stakeholders. Mike Leita, 4802 Avalanche, responded to staff's request to make a decision by September 21 urging Council not to react to that deadline. The Department of Ecology has not yet offered a final stormwater mandate manual for Eastern Washington to which we need to comply. He questioned how can you comply with something that doesn't exist yet? He also submitted a written document with suggested changes to the ordinance. He commented that a promised legal review of a document he submitted at the last public hearing has not been received. Larry Mattson, 2810 Shelton Avenue, spoke in support of a regional entity and referenced the City Council's mission to focus on improving public infrastructure and promote a regional approach to services. This is a perfect opportunity to regionalize and have partnerships with local agencies that would promote efficiencies and enable ,doing this with 10 people or less county wide. Council Member McClure asked whether there would be a risk if we waited until after the election to promote regionalization. Mr. Waarvick advised that the permitting process from the state will give Union Gap, Yakima County and the City of Yakima separate permits but that does not mean a consolidated management structure couldn't manage all three permits. He commented that all these things cannot be made seamless and he is emphasizing the resources needed to get the process started. His point being that if we consider this course without providing additional resources it will be at the cost of other programs or services. Council Member Place asked if this is a development regulation that requires a comprehensive plan amendment and do we need to do SEPA? Mr. Waarvick said those questions have been posed to the Legal Department and we are waiting for a response. Mr. Waarvick warned that if it is the City's goal to fully consolidate the program before we begin, we will not make it at this late date although he is not suggesting it cannot be consolidated within the five - year permit cycle. Mayor George commented about the City using other funds to pay for stormwater at this time and asked how the County was handling the cost. John Knutson said the Flood Control District is picking up 50% of the planning effort and County Road is picking up the remainder of the County's share of the project. They have not borrowed against the utility yet. Mr. Waarvick said he didn't see any conflict with Council establishing an achievable goal of consolidation but there are difficult questions to answer in order to have it under one management structure. He spoke about a number of major questions that are going to need money to resolve and that is why they are proposing a ramp up. Then, in a couple years or sooner, we can get answers to those technical legal questions. If the utility is established this year, we have authority to borrow against revenue reserve within the City and pay it back within two years. We would start getting money in the spring through the tax assessment process. 3 320 AUGUST 17, 2004 ADJOURNED MEETING Council Member Place suggested going to DOE jointly to ask for a slackening of the timeframe in order to allow us to do this regionally. The underlying issue is where is the money coming from at this time; it's coming out of City Services. Mr. Waarvick said we know the cost of moving the program forward, we could make a, recommendation to revisit rates in two to three years. The discussion continued on methods of regionalization. City Manager Zais agreed that we believe in the regional approach, we need to be a regional purveyor with other partners in complying with the permit or multiple permits that are out there. This is the opportune time, if ever there was one, in which to bring entities together. There's been hesitancy and questions raised, we've been down this path in terms of study analysis and preparation for some time. This next year is probably the least cost impact above what we're doing today. The time to get this done is in this next year and move in that direction. There is going to be a change in the government structure at the county and as soon as that is known, it is important the City and County meet to confer on this proposal. Clarence Barnett asked again, what is the stormwater facility referenced in both,the City's and County's ordinances? John Knutson said the definition of the stormwater system has been made broad by recommendation of attorneys in order to have an interest in all systems that convey and manage stormwater. It relates to the ability to charge people who may not be connected to a pipe or storm system. Right now a lot of the language added to the ordinance comes from attorneys and makes it hard for people to understand. It is the price paid in order to defend ourselves in the event of a challenge, which we have to plan for. Mr. Waarvick clarified that the City defines it in #19 on page 8 of 17 as the physical world in which this whole management structure lays as opposed to the structure or its programs. The next scheduled action is an August 23rd County Commissioner study session. The City will discuss it again on September 21 Mr. Waarvick tried to get a commitment that a final decision will be made at the September 21 meeting, but Mr. Zais said it may not happen then. Mr. Waarvick warned that if we miss the deadline of the property tax roll, then both jurisdictions have to accept that they will incur additional cost without funding. He also said we need Legal to determine what needs to take place in order to consolidate, e.g. what kind of laws and interlocal agreements may have to be passed. Larry Mattson cautioned that if the City goes forward to get on the tax rolls, we need to make sure there are safeguards in place such as a sunset clause to force the regional issue. • Mayor George closed the public hearing 4 321 AUGUST 17, 2004 ADJOURNED MEETING 3. Adjournment BONLENDER MOVED AND WHITMAN SECONDED TO ADJOURN TO AUGUST 24, 2004 AT 9:00 A.M. FOR A SPECIAL BUSINESS SESSION RELATING TO THE SALE OF BONDS. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 8:43 p.m. - et act READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY COU, - MEM: D • TE COUN EMBER DATE • ATTEST: / g-t1(/ 62 CITY CLERK PAUL P. GEORGE, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. An audio and video tape of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office 5