The news greatly pleased Susan Draine that neighboring property owners had turned in enough signatures to stop the city of Kent’s plan to charge them extra fees to pay for Southeast 256th Street improvements.
“You just made my stomach jump,” said Draine during a phone interview. “I’m delighted to hear that.”
Despite protests by property owners, the Kent City Council voted 4-2 on March 5 to approve the formation of a Local Improvement District (LID) to pay about $2 million of a $7 million project to upgrade and widen 256th Street on the East Hill from the “Y” intersection at Kent-Kangley Road to 116th Avenue Southeast.
“I was so upset at that meeting,” said Draine, who testified in front of the council. “We’ve done the petition twice and they made us do it again.”
The signatures turned in at the council meeting didn’t have the legal authority to stop the LID. But the council’s approval started a 30-day period for property owners to dissolve the LID if they gathered signatures from those who own at least 60 percent of the assessed land value within the LID boundaries.
“The petition received over 60 percent so the petition dissolved the LID,” said City Public Works Director Tim LaPorte last week in a phone interview.
Property owners also opposed the 256th LID when the city proposed the project four years ago. City officials dropped plans at that time to find other funds because of the recession but figured now would be the right time to fund the street improvements.
The rush also is on by city staff to get the project funded because a $2 million grant awarded six years ago to the city from the state Transportation Improvement Board (funded by the gas tax) could be taken back and given to another jurisdiction if the city isn’t ready to start construction by July 1. The board wants evidence that the city has a funding package to pay for the project.
The city plans to use $1 million from the city Transportation Impact Fee (charged to new developments and pre-existing structures with a major change in use) and $1 million from the city drainage utility fund to help pay for the project. City officials hadn’t determined how to raise the final $1 million needed for the project – a figure that now hits $3 million because of the dissolved LID.
The council’s Public Works Committee plans to discuss potential funding options for the 256th Street improvements at its May 6 meeting.
“I was disappointed,” said Councilwoman Elizabeth Albertson, who chairs the three-member Public Works Committee, about the dissolved LID. “The challenge is the assessment is based on the value of your property so (the out-of-state property owner of) one large apartment complex can shut down a project for an entire neighborhood of single-family residents who may desire a LID to move forward.”
The large Washington Park Apartments sit between 256th Street and Kent-Kangley Road in the LID area.
“The folks who live in the apartment buildings don’t have a vote or a voice in this process and yet they are the ones who daily use that street needing the sidewalks, walking in the ditches and it’s their children who are standing out there at risk,” Albertson said.
But Draine, who along with her husband has lived near 256th Street for about 25 years, said the city needs a plan that spreads out the bill to pay for the project. Crews would turn a two-lane road without sidewalks and lights into a three-lane road with a center turn lane, sidewalks and lights.
“A very small amount of people are expected to pay for it but a large amount of people use it,” Draine said about the popular commuter route for Covington and East Hill residents. “Why not have Mr. and Mrs. Covington help pay for it as well as the truckers who come off of Highway 18.”
A total of 370 properties would have been impacted by the 256th LID with payments spread out over 15 years. The average assessment for the single-family homes would be about $3,000 to be paid over 15 years, according to city officials. The area includes 107 single-family homes, 1,224 apartments, 82 condos, 17 duplexes and nine commercial parcels.
LaPorte said this marked the first time in his 35 years of working for about a half-dozen jurisdictions that he has seen a LID dissolved by property owners. He said that includes about 20 projects since 1990 in Kent. But he added funding roads has become a problem statewide and nationwide as well.
“Everyone wants to drive on them but no one wants to pay,” LaPorte said.
Now the council and city staff must come up with another funding plan.
“”We’re going to have to make some hard decisions on what we need to do to fix this and look at the structure we use,” Albertson said. “We need to look at other options or resources we may have at our disposal. It may mean we have to take out a low-interest loan or for the council to do something outside the normal box.”
Albertson doubts whether the council would spend any revenue from the city’s new business and occupation (B&O) tax to fund 256th Street.
“At this point all options are on the table but the only B&O that might possibly be used – and that would not be my first choice – would be the small part that could be used for overlays because that’s what the B&O money was designated for,” Albertson said.
Draine said she thinks the city needs to be wiser with where it spends money.
“I don’t understand why the taxes we already pay are not going to roads,” Draine said.
Albertson said the state Transportation Improvement Board has worked closely with the city to keep the $2 million grant an option.
“They were very kind in their extension in saying that they knew the LID may be at risk but they were still supportive of us moving forward with whatever strategies we can use,” Albertson said. “They did not say if the LID fails we’re pulling the money back. They said it’s your issue and you need to come up with what your plan will be.”
But the board has not extended the July 1 deadline to see a solid funding plan from the city.
Despite the major bump in the road project, Albertson expects the council to find funding answers.
“I know this council is committed to fixing that stretch of road,” Albertson said. “It’s a matter of how.”
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