Pasco staff outlines annexation into Franklin County Conservation District and $4,000/acre shrub-step mitigation proposal

Deputy City Manager Sigdell presented a proposal for the City of Pasco to annex into the Franklin County Conservation District and adopt an interlocal agreement (ILA) intended to streamline shrub-step habitat mitigation for development.

Sigdell said the conservation district has been delivering services that benefit city residents, including technical assistance on water-right transfers, education programs and shrub-step mitigation work. She told the council that annexation would add an estimated $5 per parcel per year for city households and that the district proposed a mitigation payment of about $4,000 per acre to be paid by developers in-lieu of locating mitigation acreage themselves.

"For every dollar of local funds that the district leverages, they essentially bring in $20 worth of grant funding to bring that to the community," Sigdell said, summarizing the district's grant-leveraging argument and benefits such as heritage garden programs and education in schools.

Representatives from the Franklin Conservation District described program benefits and funding needs. The district's representative said annexation would allow the district to serve city residents directly and restore programs that were curtailed by funding shortfalls. She noted administrative costs associated with buying, easementing or enhancing mitigation land and cautioned that $4,000 an acre was an initial baseline that may not cover all acquisition and administrative costs.

Developers and local business groups spoke in favor of the annexation and ILA as a way to reduce delays and uncertainty that happen when projects negotiate mitigation with state agencies. Land developer Peter Harps said projects that navigated mitigation directly with state regulators took months of delay, while mitigation through the conservation district in one example took weeks.

Sigdell outlined alternatives: approve annexation and the ILA (staff recommendation), negotiate an ILA without annexation, approve annexation but not the ILA, or reject both. Staff also noted they are pursuing a critical-habitat ordinance update later in the year as part of the comprehensive-plan amendment work to provide additional mitigation clarity.

Council members generally expressed support, noting the small per-parcel cost and benefits for predictability and education programs; staff said the matter would return for formal action in a subsequent meeting with associated ordinance and ILA language.