Capital Improvements Advisory Committee Meeting
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
What Happened
The Capital Improvements Advisory Committee voted unanimously to approve the Police Facility Impact Fee Capital Improvement Plan, keeping development impact fees unchanged despite the police facility project cost doubling from $33 million to $71 million.
Key Decisions
APPROVED — Police Facility Impact Fee Capital Improvement Plan and fee schedule — Unanimous — Keeps impact fees at $12.9 million total (to be collected over 30 years) rather than raising them, despite $71 million total project cost. Fees are split: $6.8 million from residential development, $3.2 million from commercial/retail, $2.2 million from office uses, $646,000 from industrial development.
Debated But Not Resolved
Cost escalation accountability — Commissioners expressed concern that project costs more than doubled from late 2019 estimates ($33 million) to 2023 ($71 million). Staff attributed increases to final design changes, added square footage, and COVID-era construction inflation. No mechanism was established to trigger a fee review before the mandatory 3-year review if costs escalate further.
Extended fee collection timeline — Commissioners questioned why impact fee collection would stretch 30 years instead of 6-7 years. Committee acknowledged the extended timeline but approved it unchanged, with the $54 million general contractor agreement locked in and $35 million coming from city cash reserves and bonds.
What to Watch
$71,000,000 — Police Safety Center construction at 955 Kuenzli Street — Bonds ($35 million), city cash reserves, $5 million grant, and impact fees ($12.9 million)
$55,000,000 — Building construction (portion of $71 million total) — Mixed funding sources
$12,900,000 — Police facility impact fees collected from new development — Development impact fees over 30 years
Impact fee review in 3 years — City will reassess the $12.9 million impact fee target in 2026. Watch whether actual development activity supports the extended 30-year collection timeline or whether fees need adjustment earlier.
Trigger mechanism decision pending — No safeguard was created to automatically re-examine fees if construction costs escalate further. Council could establish one before the 2026 review.
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