Johnston council approves franchise fee increase, multiple bond issuances, utility franchises and site plan; bundle of routine measures pass

The Johnston City Council took several formal actions on Feb. 18, approving utility franchise ordinances, multiple general-obligation bond proceedings for capital projects, a site plan and several routine consent items.

Franchise fee and ordinances

The council approved third reading and final adoption of an electric franchise ordinance (Ordinance No. 11-29) with MidAmerican Energy Company and separately approved a gas franchise ordinance (Ordinance No. 11-30) with MidAmerican. Staff noted that the city had previously replaced a 1% local option sales tax on utility bills with a 1% franchise fee in 2023; the new action increases the electric franchise fee to 5% and staff said projected revenue from the increase would produce about $1.1 million annually to fund elements of the city’s five-year staffing plan, largely new public-safety positions. Staff said the franchise fee helps avoid an overall property-tax levy increase for fiscal year 2026 and that certain large tax-exempt entities that use utilities would contribute via the franchise fee.

Bond proceedings (public hearings and resolutions)

Council approved three resolutions instituting proceedings for general-obligation bonds:

- Resolution 25-58: proceedings for issuance related to an estimated $13,150,000 total planned issuance; this particular hearing addressed an “essential corporate purpose” portion not to exceed $2,750,000 to fund a range of projects, including trail connections, a portion of a rescue fire engine, station alerting equipment and pavement management and street reconstruction projects.

- Resolution 25-59: proceedings for issuance not to exceed $900,000 for corporate purposes including the water trail and the dog park; staff said prior amounts had funded design/planning for the dog park.

- Resolution 25-60: proceedings for issuance not to exceed $250,000 to finalize the purchase of the city hall solar array (the city previously leased the system and the resolution will fund the purchase agreement).

Each bond resolution was introduced, opened for a public hearing (no speakers addressed the council on these items), and approved by the council at the meeting.

Zoning, site plan and development updates

The council continued two public hearings for rezoning items (Ordinance Nos. 11-33 and 11-34) until the March 3, 2025 meeting at applicants’ request and approved second readings for other rezoning ordinances as noted on the agenda.

The council approved Resolution 25-50, a site-plan approval for a 14,170-square-foot commercial building at 8700 Thomas Avenue submitted by Fraser Valley Properties LLC. Planning staff and the project engineer answered council questions about stormwater and detention; staff explained a new detention basin for the north half of the site and that the rest of the site would drain to an existing pond sized when Windsor Office Park was platted. An engineer noted that pond-sizing methods have changed over decades and that older basins may be smaller by today’s standards; staff said ponds require maintenance and that the applicant proposes additional detention in the northeast corner of the parcel.

Other actions

The council approved Amendment No. 7 to the purchase-sale-and-development agreement with Johnston Golf Development LLC (Resolution 25-55), extending certain dates by approximately 60 days to allow the developer to secure and execute a term sheet and to provide documentation for equity and financing; staff said the overall completion date in the agreement did not change. The council also approved claims totaling $1,242,632.36.

Votes and outcomes

The council recorded motions, seconds and affirmative votes for the items above and declared the motions passed. No item in this group was rejected at the meeting.