Title
Public Hearing on the Preliminary Capital Facilities Plan, 2024-2029 Financial Plan
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a Committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Hold a public hearing for the Preliminary Capital Facilities Plan, 2024-2029 Financial Plan, and allow additional written comments to be submitted until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 20, 2023.
Report
Issue:
Whether to hold a public hearing for the Preliminary Capital Facilities Plan, 2024-2029 Financial Plan and allow additional written comments to be submitted until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 20, 2023.
Staff Contact:
Joyce Phillips, Principal Planner, Community Planning & Development, 360.570.3722
Aaron BeMiller, Finance Director, Finance, 360.753.8465
Joan Lutz, Budget Analyst, Finance, 360.753.8760
Presenter(s):
Joyce Phillips, Principal Planner, Community Planning & Development
Background and Analysis:
The Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) is a Chapter in the City’s 20-year Comprehensive Plan adopted by Council in 2014. The CFP portion of the Plan is updated annually.
The CFP identifies which capital facilities are necessary to support development and/or growth, as well as infrastructure improvements needed in our community. Most projects listed are directly related to the applicable master plan or functional plan, such as the Parks, Arts and Recreation Plan, the Storm and Surface Water Plan, the Transportation Master Plan, and other similar plans. The Comprehensive Plan covers a 20-year time horizon; however, the Preliminary CFP, 2024-2029 Financial Plan is a six-year financial plan. It is required by the Growth Management Act and includes specific projects, cost estimates, funding sources and strategies to implement the plan.
City staff review and update the six-year plan annually to ensure it can fund and implement the Comprehensive Plan’s vision, showing how the City will provide governmental services at adopted levels of service standards for the existing and projected population growth in the City and Urban Growth Area.
On August 7, City staff presented the Preliminary CFP, 2024-2029 Financial Plan to the Planning Commission. The Commission is responsible for reviewing the plan for consistency with the other chapters of the Comprehensive Plan, holding a Public Hearing, and providing comment to the City Council.
Other City Advisory Committees, such as the Utilities Advisory Committee (UAC), Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), and Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (PRAC), review and comment on sections of the CFP related to their committees.
School Districts
The City of Olympia incorporates the capital facilities plans of both school districts that serve our community into the City’s CFP. The Olympia School District (OSD) has submitted a comment letter and its draft CFP (see attached). OSD is scheduled to take action on its CFP just prior to the City Council’s public hearing. North Thurston Public Schools (NTPS) adopted its CFP, which is attached.
The Preliminary 2024-2029 CFP is posted on the City of Olympia’s budget and financial webpage.
Climate Analysis:
The wide variety of projects included in the CFP, to occur over a number of years, can make it challenging to assess changes to emissions. Overall, the projects proposed help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by addressing energy use in City-owned buildings, electric vehicle infrastructure, transportation projects that also benefit bicyclists and pedestrians, and projects designed to increase capacity and efficiency or our drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems.
By continuing to serve our community members, as well as accommodating new growth, within the existing City limits and Urban Growth Areas, we are working to create a compact and urban community. This helps us reduce emissions from the transportation sector by promoting active forms of transportation and providing for shorter trips required in order to meet our daily needs. It allows for the delivery of drinking water, sanitary sewer, and stormwater treatment facilities in a contained, compact area which is more efficient and costs less to serve than it would otherwise.
The CFP supports the following portions of the Climate Mitigation Plan:
• Reduce energy use in existing buildings. The General Facilities chapter includes projects that will improve the efficiency of the HVAC system at the Olympia Center.
• Reduce energy use in new construction or redevelopment. The new maintenance facility for Waste ReSources will meet or exceed current energy efficiency requirements.
• Set land use policies that increase urban density and reduce urban sprawl. Compact, walkable communities help increase urban density and reduce sprawl. The CFP includes several transportation projects that support compact environments for bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Increase the efficiency of the transportation system. The variety of multimodal transportation improvements in the CFP aim to provide greater mobility options and consider people trips rather than only volume to capacity ratios for automobiles. This considers efficiency of the whole system. It also supports the related strategy of increasing the use of active forms of travel, such as walking and biking.
• Increase the adoption of electric vehicles. The CFP includes a project to add Electric Vehicle infrastructure at the City's maintenance facility.
• Increase the use of public transit. Sidewalks, bicycle lanes, safety improvements and streetlights all support use of public transit.
• Increase the efficiency of water and wastewater infrastructure. The CFP includes replacement of aging and small diameter pipes and projects that address seismic issues.
• Divert more solid waste from landfills. The new Waste ReSources facility will help the city address solid waste issues and may help divert more materials from the landfill.
While not every project will directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, by providing the infrastructure and services necessary to support our existing community and anticipated growth within the growth boundary, we can serve a greater number of people efficiently and compactly, while also providing parks, open spaces, and fire protection.
Equity Analysis:
Equity is considered during development of the master plans from which the capital projects are derived. In addition, equity issues are considered during budget decision making. The City strives to balance equity in its capital projects by including projects in various parts of the City, across multiple types of projects (transportation, parks, drinking water, etc.), and by improving accessibility in City facilities (ADA Transition Plan). This work is done within the constraints of the funding sources and limitations.
Some of the high-level data that is considered is that in Olympia, roughly 37 percent of all households are cost burdened, with almost half of those households being severely cost-burdened. BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and other People of Color) members of our community are more likely to be cost-burdened than others.
Approximately 42 percent of Olympians have a household income of less than $50,000. Approximately 15 percent of our population live in poverty. In 2021, 13.5 percent of people in Olympia have a disability, up from 12.9 percent in 2016. Additionally, obesity rates have been rising in children and adults in Washington State.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
Three public comments have been provided to date: one in writing (attached) and two were provided orally at the Planning Commission public hearing. All three commenters focused their remarks on sidewalk and bicycle facilities - and the need for more of them in our community.
Financial Impact:
The CFP identifies multiple projects, includes project estimates, and identifies funding sources for capital projects.
Options:
1. Hold the public hearing and allow additional written comments to be submitted until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 20, 2023.
2. Hold the public hearing at a later date.
3. Do not hold a public hearing.
Attachments:
Budget Webpage
Olympia Planning Commission Questions and Staff Responses
Written Public Comments
Olympia Planning Commission Comment Letter
Utility Advisory Committee Comment Letter
Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee Comment Letter
Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee Comment Letter
Olympia School District Comment Letter
Olympia School District Draft Capital Facilities Plan
North Thurston Public Schools Capital Facilities Plan