Drafter

Clerk 08/19/2024

title

AN ORDINANCE related to expanding eligible uses of transfer of development rights bank amenity funding; and amending Ordinance 13733, Section 14, as amended, and K.C.C. 21A.37.150.

body

STATEMENT OF FACTS:

1.  The Washington state Growth Management Act chapter 36.70A RCW ("the GMA"), establishes a policy of directing growth and development into urban areas, protecting rural and resource land, and encouraging the use of innovative land use tools like transfer of development rights ("TDR") to accomplish these outcomes.

2.  The GMA encourages the conservation of productive agricultural and forest lands and the retention of rural open space to conserve fish and wildlife habitat and enhance recreational opportunities.

3.  The Washington state Legislature affirmed the value of Regional TDR programs by adopting a framework for a Regional TDR Marketplace as codified in chapter 43.362 RCW.

4.  King County adopted a TDR program ("the TDR program") in 2001 to conserve rural and resource lands by transferring rural development potential into existing incorporated and unincorporated urban areas.  Since 2001, the TDR program has protected over 147,700 acres of rural and resource lands in unincorporated King County.

5.  King County recognizes the role of TDR in achieving the goals of the Land Conservation Initiative and supporting the Strategic Climate Action Plan.

6.  King County desires to expand TDR amenities under K.C.C. chapter 21A.37.150 to include acquisition, design, or construction of affordable housing.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:

                     SECTION 1.  Ordinance 13733, Section 14, as amended, and K.C.C. 21A.37.150 are hereby amended to read as follows:

                     A.  Expenditures by the county for amenities to facilitate development rights sales in cities shall be authorized by the TDR executive board during review of proposed interlocal agreements, and should be roughly proportionate to the value and number of development rights anticipated to be accepted in an incorporated receiving site pursuant to the controlling interlocal agreement, in accordance with K.C.C. 21A.37.040.  Expenditures by the county to fund projects in receiving areas located in urban unincorporated King County shall be authorized by the TDR executive board and should be roughly proportionate to the value and number of development rights accepted in the unincorporated urban area.

                     B.  The county shall not expend funds on TDR amenities in a city before execution of an interlocal agreement, except that:

                       1.  The executive board may authorize up to twelve thousand dollars be spent by the county on TDR amenities before a development rights transfer for use at a receiving site or for the execution of an interlocal agreement if the TDR executive board recommends that the funds be spent based on a finding that the expenditure will expedite a proposed transfer of development rights or facilitate acceptance of a proposed transfer of development rights by the community around a proposed or established receiving site area;

                       2.  King County may distribute the funds directly to a city if a scope of work, schedule and budget governing the use of the funds is mutually agreed to in writing by King County and the affected city.  Such an agreement need not be in the form of an interlocal agreement; and

                       3.  The funds may be used for project design renderings, engineering or other professional services performed by persons or entities selected from the King County approved architecture and engineering roster maintained by the department of finance or an affected city's approved architecture and engineering roster, or selected by an affected city through its procurements processes consistent with state law and city ordinances.

                     C.  TDR amenities may include the acquisition, design or construction of: Public art; cultural and community facilities; parks; open space; trails; roads; parking; landscaping; sidewalks; other streetscape improvements; transit-related improvements; affordable housing for households whose income is at or below the median income level, as more fully defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, for the designated receiving site area; or other improvements or programs that facilitate increased densities on or near receiving sites.

                     D.  When King County funds amenities in whole or in part, the funding shall not commit the county to funding any additional amenities or improvements to existing or uncompleted amenities.

                     E.  King County funding of amenities shall not exceed appropriations adopted by the council or funding authorized in interlocal agreements, whichever is less.

                     F.  Public transportation amenities shall enhance the transportation system.  These amenities may include capital improvements such as passenger and layover facilities, if the improvements are within a designated receiving area or within one thousand five hundred feet of a receiving site.  These amenities may also include programs such as the provision of security at passenger and layover facilities and programs that reduce the use of single occupant vehicles, including car sharing and bus pass programs.

                     G.  Road fund amenities shall enhance the transportation system.  These amenities may include capital improvements, such as streets, traffic signals, sidewalks, street landscaping, bicycle lanes and pedestrian overpasses, if the improvements are within a designated receiving site area or within one thousand five hundred feet of a receiving site.  These amenities may also include programs that enhance the transportation system.

                     H.  All amenity funding provided by King County to cities, or to urban unincorporated receiving areas to facilitate the transfer of development rights shall be consistent with federal, state and local laws.

                     I.  The timing and amounts of funds for amenities paid by King County to each participating city shall be determined in an adopted interlocal agreement.  The interlocal agreement shall set forth the amount of funding to be provided by the county, an anticipated scope of work, work schedule and budget governing the use of the amenity funds.  Except for the amount of funding to be provided by the county, these terms may be modified by written agreement between King County and the city.  Such an agreement need not be in the form of an interlocal agreement.  Such an agreement must be authorized by the TDR executive board.  If amenity funds are paid to a city to operate a program, the interlocal agreement shall set the period during which the program is to be funded by King County.

                     J.  A city that receives amenity funds from the county is responsible for using the funds for the purposes and according to the terms of the governing interlocal agreement.

                     K.  To facilitate timely implementation of capital improvements or programs at the lowest possible cost, King County may make amenity payments as authorized in an interlocal agreement to a city before completion of the required improvements or implementation programs, as applicable.  If all or part of the required improvements or implementation programs in an interlocal agreement to be paid for from King County funds are not completed by a city within five years from the date of the transfer of amenity funds, then, unless the funds have been used for substitute amenities by agreement of the city and King County, those funds, plus interest, shall be returned to King County and deposited into the originating amenity fund for reallocation to other TDR projects.

                     L.  King County is not responsible for maintenance, operating, and replacement

costs associated with amenity capital improvements inside cities, unless expressly agreed to in an interlocal agreement.