HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/24/2009 04B Minutes 02-04-2009 Council Economic Development Committee •
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Council Devethpment Committee
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
4:00 _p.m.
Members present: Micah Cawley, Rick Ensey, Kathy Coffey
Staff: Bill Cook, Michael Morales
Update on State Stimulus Plan
Michael Morales reported on the status of the stimulus plan. Currently it is expected that
there will be two allocations: one grant that goes to the transportation planning
organizations, in our case YVCOG; and a second grant that will be allocated at the
Governor's discretion. Bill Cook talked about the status of the YVCOG list. The City plans
to send a letter to the Department of Transportation asking them to work with YVCOG to
update their list.
Update of House Trade & Economic Development Committee testimony
Michael Morales traveled to Olympia the last week in January to talk to the House Trade &
Economic Development Committee about the LIFT project. Not all of the Committee
members are part of the CERB Board so the entire Committee needed to be brought up to
speed on the various LIFT projects that are beginning to take shape.
• Potential Update of Ordinance 2005 -06
Bill Cook reported that Council approved this Ordinance in 2005 to create a process that
would establish a building permit fee schedule tied to a building valuation table that would
be adjusted annually according to the Consumer Price Index for Washington. Recently it
was determined that there was an error in the Ordinance that required that both the permit
fee `schedule and the building valuation table to be adjusted annually. Bill stated that only
the building valuation table should be adjusted. Micah asked how many citizens had been
affected by this error. Bill said that the error amounts to approximately 3% of a building
permit (or approximately $25 on a permit for a 4,000 square foot building). Council had also
requested in 2005 that the City try to stay even with or close to. Yakima County's building
fees, and Bill said that has been the case. Rick said he thought it was a good time,
considering the economic situation, to consider not raising building permit fees for awhile.
Bill reported that the last time they checked the CPI in September 2008, the adjustment was
3 %, down from 6% earlier in 2008. It is possible that the .CPI .oan be a negative number,
which would in fact result in a reduced fee. Kathy Made a motion to recommend an update
Of the Ordinance to the full Council. The motion carried 3 -0.
If necessary, the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Council Economic Development
Committee will be Wednesday, March 4, 2009, at 4:00 p.m
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10 Micah Cawley, Chair
a Date