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Public commenters raise concerns about city communications, civic-center loan amounts and high SDCs for new construction
Summary
Public commenters told council they had difficulty obtaining responses from the communications director and alleged combined loan figures for the Independence Civic Center exceed $15 million; a local developer warned system development charges (SDCs) and construction costs make new building unaffordable in Independence.
Several public commenters used the Dec. 10 meeting to press the city on transparency and development costs.
A visitor who said they live in Salem told council they had made repeated inquiries to the communications director by email, in person and by phone with no response. The speaker said a university researcher had located a $3.9 million figure associated with a council member and referenced about $10.8 million on loan documents tied to construction of the Independence Civic Center; the speaker said those numbers together indicate a total project characterization of more than $15 million and said city officials and the communications director had been emailed about the findings. The speaker also described an uncomfortable hallway encounter with the city manager and said they planned to include their attempts to get the city's side in forthcoming reporting.
Developer Jack Woodell urged council to reassess SDCs and the cost of construction, saying current SDC levels make new construction unaffordable in Independence and citing private development examples with SDCs in the multimillion-dollar range. "We've basically gotten to a point to where you cannot work in Independence," Woodell said, asking the council to consider replacement permits and other measures to preserve housing and local construction jobs.
Council thanked the commenters and did not take immediate formal action on the claims; the meeting record preserves the allegations and the speakers' request for follow-up.
