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Home My WebLink About1996-03-06 SDC MINSDC Committee Minutes March 6, 1996 4 p.m. Senior Center, Hunter Park Committee members present included Larry Medinger, Kevin Talbert, Don Laws, Jack Nicholson, and Ken Hagen, along with ex officio members Don Greene and Dave Bernard. Staff present included Jill Turner, consultant, Wes Reynolds, Jim Olson and Lynna Batters. Sid Field and Tim Price were absent. Laws called the meeting to order at 4:07. Wes Reynolds made a presentation of the transportation SDCs as covered on pages 17-24 in the draft report. Green asked Reynolds how many arterial miles there are in the City because Ashland does not have nearly the suggested one signal per mile of arterial streets. Reynolds said the City needs more signals. Medinger asked if the methodology reflects that some lights are already needed, so growth only pays for future needs. To illustrate SDCs and associated credits, Reynolds went over a list of building projects in Medford and the credits they were allowed. He noted that the charges and credits are usually determined very early in the process... Alan DeBoer noted that only the projects that are built on main arteries or collector streets are eligible for credits in the SDCs. Arterial and collector streets are defined by code... John Field noted that Office Max SDCs were less than those for Pat and Mikes because a large part of Office Max is classified as a warehouse, which is at a cheaper rate than a retail establishment. The Planning Department determines use and percentages for SDC calculations. When asked about real projects in Ashland, Reynolds said that based on a mile, real projects will vary from the projected costs per mile listed in the report because they will differ in scope... Laws suggested making the transportation methodology project specific... Green voiced the opinion that since the City isn't going to be building arterial streets the transportation SDCs are just a revenue generating device for the City... DeBoer thinks the methodology is planned to get the most money, he questions if it is affordable or fair. In response to the observation that yet another methodology is being used for transportation SDCs, Reynolds said that the methodologies are different because each system is different, as are the capacity measures. Turner noted that when the signal went in at Tolman Creek Rd. and Hwy. 66, the funding for the project came from various sources, including the State, SDCs, an LID, and the City. Such projects that are on the books now do not get all their funding from SDCs, only a portion of it. The Capital Improvement Plan includes $4 million worth of projects but only lists $2 million in funding, very little of which is from SDCs. Medinger asked how many of those projects are actually tied to new construction. Turner said SDCs will pay only a small amount toward those projects. Laws reminded the meeting that the Council has decided that growth should pay for itself... Talbert mentioned that it is somewhat agreed that Ashland won't be building a new major arterial street soon, so what project(s) will SDCs go toward? Reynolds said that current streets do need to be upgraded. Hagen noted that part of the increase in traffic stems from the fact that people are simply driving more these days, not from growth. Reynolds said that currently SDCs aren't tied to actual projects, rather the calculation is an abstract number... One audience member noted that the City needs to keep SDCs fair and as low as possible to keep taxes and assessments low so we don't have to pay more and more to live here. Turner said that the policy for SDCs states that if we have a project that "qualifies," SDC money is used... Laws asked what percent of the transportation projects in the CIP is growth related... Turner said the City doesn't have that information compiled... Talbert suggested looking at the revised transportation plan and the implications for total improvements to figure out what's attributable to new growth. Laws noted that until the City figures out a methodology people can relate to there are going to be gripes and complaints... DeBoer suggested that the upcoming improvements on Oak Street are closer to reality than the abstract which was used in the report... An audience member asked why national averages were being used... Reynolds said that local traffic counts are comparable to the national average because there is an adjustment factor for the size of the town. Also, the costs used to figure the rates are local costs. Bernard asked if the SDCs have to be adopted as a package deal, or if some can be adopted as is while others are changed, or adoption is even postponed... Laws said the committee can propose changes. Medinger asked about having more than just the next two meetings that are scheduled... Laws suggested people come next time with ideas of what the committee wants to accomplish. The meeting adjourned at 5:35. (g:\jill\wp\sdc\sdcmin.306)