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Home My Public Portal AboutFW_ CATT letter for agenda item 7.1 2016-02-08From:Becky Bucar To:"Alex Heyman"; "Alexis Ollar (alexis@mapf.org)"; "arosenfeld@TahoeDonner.com"; Bonnie Thompson ; "Dale Creighton"; Dan Wilkins; "Gordon Shaw"; "jfj@surewest.net"; John McLaughlin; "jrfintel@outlook.com"; Judy Price ; "leslie@lsctahoe.com"; "Owens, Ted (towens@TFHD.COM)"; "Pat Davison (pat@ca-tt.com)"; Patrick Flora; "Todd Rivera (trivera@ttusd.org)"; Tony Lashbrook Subject:FW: CATT letter for agenda item 7.1 Date:Monday, February 08, 2016 4:35:52 PM Attachments:CATT Letter 2-8-16 for agenda item 7.1.pdf ATT00001.htm Good afternoon all. Please see the attached letter from the Contractors Association of Truckee Tahoe regarding the Traffic Impact Fee Program. As I mentioned in my previous email, the Council will be considering the approval of the Traffic Impact Fee Study and Ordinance 2016-03 implementing the new fee at tomorrow’s Council meeting. There will be an opportunity for public comment at the meeting if any of you would like to attend and provide comment. Thank you, Becky From: Pat Davison <pat@ca-tt.com> Date: February 8, 2016 at 3:45:15 PM PST To: 'Judy Price' <JPrice@townoftruckee.com>, <dwilkins@townoftruckee.com > Subject: CATT letter for agenda item 7.1 Hi Judy – here is our letter for tomorrow night’s public hearing on the Traffic Fees. Please distribute this letter to the Town Council. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you! pat Pat Davison Executive Director Contractors Association of Truckee Tahoe 12313 Soaring Way, Suite 1G, Truckee, CA 96161 phone 530-550-9999 fax 530-550-9998 www.ca-tt.com pat@ca-tt.com Id's Modem il Trellis Tahoe February 8, 2016 The Honorable Joan deRyk Jones, Mayor The Honorable Morgan Goodwin, Vice Mayor The Honorable Alicia Barr The Honorable Carolyn Wallace Dee The Honorable Patrick Flora Truckee Town Council 10183 Truckee Airport Road Truckee, CA 96161 RE: Agenda Item 7.1- Public Hearing to Adopt Truckee Area Traffic Impact Fee (TIF] Program Mayor deRyk Jones and Council Members: Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the update to the Town's Traffic Impact Fee (TIF) Program. The Contractors Association of Truckee Tahoe (CATT) is a regional, non-profit trade organization representing the interests of the building industry. CATT is composed of 366 member companies, many of whom are based in Truckee. This letter includes several comments related to the Study and Fee as proposed while some comments pertain to future implementation of the Fee program. STUDY and FEE COMMENTS 1) Evolution of Changes Please see the attached worksheet for a brief recap of changes over the last five months. This process has been challenging because of the constantly changing numbers and questionable justification. As an example, we learned from Town staff on January 26 that a comparison of the DUE methodology change from September to December cannot be done because the two methodologies are so different. The end result of the change was that DUEs went down and fees went up. We have no easy way to validate the number given to us by staff. 2) Backup for Numbers Your Study contains several policy components that are extremely difficult to understand. Perhaps the best illustration of that is the 10 -paragraph explanation for the $6,096,491 Placer County credit (Study pages 14-15). When Becky Bucar attended our December 21 LGAC meeting, we asked for some recognition that Truckee fees were being collected to offset the costs of Placer County projects. We were told no actual monetary exchange was necessary between the two jurisdictions because the dollar amounts are very close. We felt this "credit" should be shown to offset the "cost." We expected both amounts to be very close, based on Town comment. 12313 Soaring Way, Suite 1G, Truckee, CA 96161 * 530-550-9999 * www.ca-tt.com The January 12 Study is where the $6,096,491 credit first showed up but the January 12 Study also showed a higher Placer County project cost of $9,595,291. A January 26 email from Becky and the text in the February 1 study alludes to a grueling mathematical exercise but nowhere is a table or excel chart showing how the credit amount was actually determined. A statement is made in the email that "...an analysis was performed to identify the monetary value of Placer's traffic impact on Truckee infrastructure... This value can then be subtracted..." Someone had to have calculated the dollar amount of the $6,096,491 credit paid and resulting "shortfall" of $3,498,800. For an information document to be used by decision makers, it forces you to spend time trying to figure out where the numbers came from. And from a fee payer perspective, how in the world will he/she know what he/she is paying for? We believe the Town should provide better and more accurate information in a more timely manner. As it stands, we are not sure how we or any Council Member could understand the credit/shortfall analysis as written. We are again repeating our request for an excel chart, numerical analysis, or other set of data showing the actual numerical calculations used to determine the credit and shortfall amounts attributed to Placer County projects as shown on Table 2, page 7 of the February 1, 2016 Truckee Area AB 1600 Traffic Impact Fee Study. If CATT has not received this information by February 18, 2016, this request should be considered a formal request under the CA Public Records Act (CA Government Code §§ 6250 et seq.). 3) Past Error Hikes Future Fee Despite the fact that Town staff reports, verbal and in writing, assured all of us over the past several years that inflationary adjustments were being made to project costs, the fact remains that the adjustments were not done for the Placer County project costs. Fee payers from February 2010 (December 17, 2009 Town Council adjustment) to April 2016 have paid or will pay less than they should have paid. The Town has been under -collecting for years and is now asking future fee payers to compensate for your mistake. This is poor policy and a poor way to treat future residents, businesses, and government agencies who want to build in Truckee. If we are talking about correcting past mistakes, perhaps it is appropriate to consider that a Placer County credit should have been shown in years past. The obvious question is how to quantify that credit amount. We suggest the Town use the same methodology it is currently using to recreate the Placer County credit from 2007 to 2015. We do not expect that amount to be a shortfall, given past assurances that the monetary value of each jurisdiction's costs to remedy impacts of the other jurisdiction is close to equal. CATT believes that the credit amount from 2007-2015 would have a positive bearing on the currently identified shortfall of $3,498,800 and result in a net reduction of the $5,651 fee amount. COMMENTS FOR FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION 1) Update the Placer County/Truckee Joint Traffic Impact Fee Study The Fee Sharing Study dates back to 2005. We think this Study, which now takes on more prominence given the imbalance between Placer County project credit and cost, warrants an update. Please add the cost for an update to this year's budget discussion or make it known now that it should be included in the 2017/2018 Budget. 2 Pat Davison Executive Director 2) Change Fee Adjustment Timeframe Until this year, your annual adjustments to both the Traffic and Facilities Fees had been generally using a July 1 -June 30 timeframe for CCI measurements. Your December meeting had been the month when those adjustments were presented and the adjusted fee became effective in February. Please consider getting back to that schedule. Having both fees change in the same month is simpler. Having a fee increase early in the construction season allows plenty of time for the change to be incorporated into quotes for clients, which is very important to CATT members. 3) Look at Definition of Deficiency I would like to reiterate that we are very interested in the General Plan Update so we can examine the Circulation level of service thresholds and the definition of "Deficiency" in a broader context. From our perspective, the definition of Deficiency is an important topic not only in what the definition says but in what it means — what are the consequences of applying the definition. That topic alone has generated considerable discussion from our members as it relates to the collection of impact fees. CONCLUSION CATT members are grateful for the 5% reduction in the fee from the current amount. That gratitude is in sharp contrast to the disappointment we felt when there was no support for a 1% cost share for the Pioneer Trail/Bridge Street Extensions. As a concerned community member, we still believe that the community needs, and will benefit immensely from, the Pioneer Trail/Bridge Street Extensions even if no new development were ever to occur. We remain convinced that a cost share for the Pioneer Trail/Bridge Street Extension project is fair and good policy. Although CATT believes a 35/65 cost share is fair and reasonable, CATT would like to be able to take any cost share on the Pioneer Trail/Bridge Street Extensions to our members and we are open to any cost share proposal from the Town. The ripple effect of this one issue has galvanized and energized CATT members to be more informed and engaged in the decision making process. The CATT "grassroots" are growing! Thank you for considering our concerns. I am happy to answer any questions you might have. Sincerely, CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION OF TRUCKEE TAHOE r — Attachment: CATT Worksheet showing evolution of fee study and fee amounts 3 CATT W orksheet - Evolution of Truckee Traffic Fees between September 2015 to February 2016 Sept. is when Working Group received the chart with Nevada County shoulder widening added to fee calc Dec. is when Working Group received the chart with Nevada County parcels added to fee calc & DUE methodology changed SEPTE MBER DECEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY Factor Truckee # Res DU @ BO 19,289 (1) 19,289(3) 19,289 (7) 19,289 (13) Nev Co # Res DU @ BO not in study 701 (4) 701 (8) 701 (14) Total # Res DU @ BO 19,289 19,990 (5) 19,990 (9) 19,990 (15) !Truckee!Area DU 11,773 (2) 10,715 (fi) 1Q715 (1D) . 10,715 (16) Truckee Projects NevCo. Project (Widening) Truckee & NevCo. Projects + Placer Co. Placeholder 64,882,000 540,000 65,422,000 7,886,941 60,046,100 1,494,000 61,540,100 7,886,941 OTAL PROJECT COSTS �; _173;308;941 { 69,427,041 Placer Co. Credit AB 1600 Fund Balance 7-1-15 Total Cost all projects in fee calc Traffic Impact Fee per DUE 60,046,100 2,490,000 62,536,100 9,595,291 72,131,391 60,846,100 2,490,000 63,336,100 9,595,291 72,931,391 PV117,1410 not in study 6,096,491 6,096,491 6,177,315 6,177,315 6,283,640 6,283,640 67,131,626 63,249,726 59,751,260 60,551,260 $111111P02 $ 5,903 $ 5;576 $5,651 Notes These are not DUEs These are not DUEs These are not DUEs 919 are Nev Co DUEs (Res+Com)(11) Cannot compare Sept to Dec DUEs (12) Feb change added Mousehole cost Jan change extended shoulder to 1-80 *7,886,941 is the Placer County placeholder amo unt shown in TIF Annual Repo rt (December 23, 2014) Exhibit 5 Sources 1)Sept. 23 handout, Table 1 2)Sept. 23 handout, Table 4 All other September #/$ in this column from Sept. 23 handout, Table 2 (3) Verbal assurance from Becky Bucar to me at Dec. 14 WG mtg that Town BO # of 19,289 has not changed since Sept. (4) Math calculation 19,990-19,289=701 (5) Dec. 8 TIF Study, Table 1, page 3 (6) Dec. 8 TIF Study, Table 5, page 17 All other December #/$ in this co lumn from Dec. 8 TIF Study, Table 2, page 7 (7) Verbal assurance fro m Becky Bucar to me at Dec . 14 WG mtg that T own BO # of 19,289 has not changed since Sept. (8) Math calculation 19,990-19,289=701 (9) Jan. 12 TIF Study, Table 1, page 3 (10) Jan. 12 TIF Study, Table 5, page 18 All other January #/$ in this column from Jan. 12 Staff Report, Att B (Revised Table 2) (11) Staff Powerpo int 1-12-16 (12) Becky email to Pat 1-26-16 (13) Verbal assurance from Becky Bucar to me at Dec. 14 WG mtg that Town BO # of 19,289 has not changed since Sept . (14) Math calculation 19,990-19,289=701 (15) Feb. 1 TIF Study, Table 1, page 3 (16) Feb 1 TIF Study, Table 4, page 18 All other February #/$ in this column from Feb. 1 TIF Study, Table 2, page 7