SOUTH SOUND ISSUES: OLYMPIA CITY COUNCIL

City Council candidates talk impact fees, traffic solutions

MICHAEL BURNHAM, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published November 2, 2001

OLYMPIA -- How much the city should charge for downtown construction and how traffic should flow through Olympia's neighborhoods have become a major focus for eight candidates vying for four council seats in the Nov. 6 general election.

The candidates, all campaigning to improve the quality of life in the city's neighborhoods, all favor some reduction in impact fees. But they split when addressing the city's connected-streets policy.

Impact fees

On Dec. 4, city staff will suggest changes to how the city collects downtown fees, such as construction impact fees.

An impact fee is a tax on development that is used to pay for its share of the impacts caused by growth. The city collects impact fees for roads, parks, fire and school buildings.

Impact fees are charged only for new construction or changes in building use that create a need for street improvements, schools, parks or fire buildings.

The fees are collected at the time the city issues a building permit, but they may be deferred for downtown projects.

Since the city began collecting impact fees in November 1992, it has raised $1.04 million for fire services, $3.32 million for roads, $2.40 million for schools and $2.55 million for parks.

Fees on the stump

Candidates have taken the impact fee discussion on the campaign trail.

Many candidates have proposed creating a two-tiered system in which the city would have lower impact fees downtown and higher fees in suburban areas.

All candidates except Position 4 challenger Mark Daniels, who declined to be interviewed by The Olympian, are calling for a reduction of impact fees.

"I oppose the single approach to impact fees the city has taken," said council Position 6 incumbent T.J. Johnson, who has called for a 40 percent reduction for downtown projects.

Position 6 challenger Doug Mah said he also would consider a graduated structure to encourage growth downtown.

"It does set the stage of where you want to have growth occur," said Mah, who declined to say how much of a downtown impact-fee reduction the council should enact.

Other candidates also wouldn't say how big the reductions should be.

Position 7 candidates Jeanette Hawkins and Steve Hughes agreed that impact fees should be lowered downtown and raised in suburban areas, where the city wants to slow growth.

"The impact fees downtown are an obstacle to developing ... and we need to change that," said Hawkins, a two-term incumbent who advocates raising impact fees in rapidly growing areas, such as southeast and west Olympia.

Hughes said lower impact fees would help the city attract more middle-income housing downtown, while curbing urban sprawl.

While Position 5 candidate Matthew Green embraces the concept of lower downtown and higher suburban impact fees, challenger Jim Boyde disagrees.

The city should not raise impact fees outside downtown if it would result in higher impact fees for suburban homes, Boyde said.

"We need to examine them and reduce them accordingly, so that we can keep affordable housing within the reach of first-time home-buyers," Boyde said.

The numbers

Olympia Community Planning and Development Director Subir Mukerjee, who will lead the Dec. 4 council discussion, said impact-fee reductions must be supported by data.

"There can't be an arbitrary reduction of fees," Mukerjee said.

New Thurston Regional Planning Council and 2000 Census data show that downtown households are smaller than the average city household, Mukerjee said.

Fewer kids downtown mean less of a burden on public schools, Mukerjee said.

"A high number of people who live downtown work downtown, so their trip generation is less," Mukerjee said.

Although the data will support substantial impact-fee cuts downtown, Mukerjee said, staff members have not yet recommended how big the reductions should be.

"In order to make a rational case for reducing impact fees, it needs to be based on data," said Curt Pavola, council Position 4 incumbent.

Connected streets

A grass-roots lobbying effort in southwest Olympia has made a major election impact.

City plans call for Decatur Street to connect with Caton Way in southwest Olympia during summer 2003.

The council also could reopen a stretch of 16th Avenue, between the neighborhood and Capital Auto Mall.

Citizen activists, who call themselves the Decatur Raiders, say opening both connections would usher in unwanted commuter traffic.

The city's comprehensive plan calls for an adequate network of major arterials and collectors to serve residential areas and discourage commuter travel on neighborhood streets.

But the comprehensive plan does not include a policy to assess the impact of opening a connection.

"What they're doing is opening a residential area with a freeway. That's not connectivity; that's destroying a neighborhood," said Dan Leahy, who spearheaded a more than 200-signature petition opposing the 16th Avenue and Decatur Street connections. "We decided to make Decatur Street a neighborhood issue and we have."

Position 7 candidate Hughes has used this grass-roots locomotive as a major election vehicle.

"Connecting one area to another through a neighborhood is much different than connecting one neighborhood to another," Hughes said.

Hawkins' views offer a stark contrast.

"I am definitely for our connected-streets policy because it is probably one of our best tools against urban sprawl," said Hawkins, who favors extending Decatur and reopening 16th after a new Fourth Avenue bridge is built.

Along with the city's planned extension of Decatur, bike lanes, sidewalks and traffic-slowing devices will be installed.

The total package will give residents another route out of their neighborhood, slow cars and promote pedestrian activity, Hawkins said.

According to the city's traffic model, a fully connected Decatur Street is meant to handle a maximum of about 3,400 cars per day. Sixteenth Avenue is meant to handle a maximum of 500 cars.

"If it exceeds that modeling, we owe that neighborhood closure of those streets," Hawkins said.

Michael Burnham covers Olympia for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-704-6869.

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