Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Sdcs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City staff briefs council on how system development charges are calculated
Summary
City staff explained how SDCs (improvement and reimbursement fees) are calculated, showed historical park SDC changes, and previewed a proposed parks SDC methodology and fee to be presented at the next meeting.
City staff provided the council with a step-by-step explanation of system development charges (SDCs), why they exist and how they are calculated, and reviewed the local history of park SDCs and the reasons for proposed changes.
Assistant city manager Matt Cortell explained that SDCs are one-time fees imposed on new development to pay for capacity-increasing capital projects and to reimburse the community for use of existing fixed assets. "SDCs are charged to new developments, not rate payers," he said, and summarized the two fee components: the improvement fee (for capacity increases) and the reimbursement fee (for depreciated fixed assets). He walked the council through the methodology: (1) adopt a system master plan/CIP, (2) list projects and cost estimates, (3) forecast growth in demand over the planning horizon, and (4) allocate eligible growth-related costs to units of demand to produce per-EDU fees.
Staff reviewed local SDC history: earlier park fees were about $903 in the early 2000s, later calculated as $5,570 after a parks master plan, then revised to $7,368 when a recalculation captured previously uncounted items. In 2019 the council reduced the parks SDC to $2,500 per EDU to prioritize wastewater treatment plant funding. Staff said the new parks master plan and updated methodology produce a proposed parks fee of $6,868 per EDU; a consultant (Steve Donovan) will present the full methodology and the formal fee proposal at the next meeting before the formal 90-day notice period is issued.
Councillors asked technical questions about trip-generation calculations for transportation SDCs; staff said they use the Institute of Transportation Engineers manual and choose the lowest-impact similar use when an exact category does not exist. Staff also clarified credit rules for redevelopment: properties carry trip/EDU credits for prior uses and only pay for increases in impact.
What happens next: Steve Donovan, the consultant who prepared the parks methodology, will present the proposed methodology and fee at the next staff presentation; staff expects to bring a formal proposal and initiate the required 90-day notice for any fee adoption.
