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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05082023 City Council Special Meeting Minutes City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes May 8, 2023 Volume 42,Page 302 CALL TO ORDER The May 8,2023 special meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by Mayor Sue McClure. OPENING CEREMONY Police Chief Alan Nickell led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: Sue McClure,presiding and John Osenga Liz DeMoss Mike Calhoon Randy Wells Kevin Finch Robert Barnwell comprising a quorum of the Council; and Janette Bower, City Manager Brenda Ballou, City Clerk Excused—None Absent—None CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING—None APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (Osenga/DeMoss) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda Motion Passed Unanimous The clerk read the following approved consent agenda items: There were no consent agenda items. NEW BUSINESS Other New Business Seward City Code, Chapter 5.22—Developer Incentive and Reimbursement Program. Bower said she wished to discuss this program and knew there would be questions, but wanted to start with an overview.Community Development Director Jason Bickling outlined the City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes May 8,2023 Volume 42,Page 303 process for the program. First an application was submitted to the city clerk,which included a cost estimate for installing the infrastructure.Once the application was approved,one option required the city to pay all costs up front, and then an assessment would be put on each lot;when a lot sold,the developer received the assessment money at closing and paid the city back. An alternate approach was for the developer to pay the costs up front, and then submit receipts to the city for reimbursement up to 50%; this option was less feasible for developers to use because it tied up funds. Bower said the intent of this program was for a developer to apply,not individual property owners.Bickling said this program allowed the city to"play the long game"for investments;the city paid half the cost for utilities, and then after construction was completed received the property tax for the new development. Calhoon wondered if all applications in this program were handled the same way;he asked if there was a manual for standard operating procedures. In response,Bickling said each application was handled as closely to each other as possible,but there were some unique features amongst each developer.Bower said the city code defined the process and the only variants were how things were handled internally; applications were handled on a first come, first served basis. Finch pointed out that code referenced a "person" and that led to confusion because this program was not intended for individual property owners. Calhoon suggested it would be prudent to have each developer sign a subdivision agreement before council was presented with the DRP for approval. Finch wondered if requiring two quotes for cost estimates would be beneficial in mitigating overinflated estimates for infrastructure installation.Bickling said the city's engineers reviewed the cost estimates to confirm the estimates were reasonable. In response to McClure,Bower said the US Coast Guard would not fit this program to create housing for their work force because the intention of this program was to create housing for the community, not for one single entity. In response to Finch, Bower said there were currently no funds available for this program, but she had been thinking of other ways to fund this program. She said a couple years ago council approved a loan from the Motor Pool fund for the animal shelter project; she recalled the loan was approximately$900,000. The intention of that loan was to repay the loan with proceeds from the property sale to Chugachmiut. Bower said council could forgive the loan from the Motor Pool and put$300,000 into the DRP fund to keep it going. DeMoss suggested the city help individual property owners to subsidize the costs of installing infrastructure, like in the Afognak neighborhood of Forest Acres. Osenga suggested caution because there could be a property where the city already installed the infrastructure and the property owner had already incurred an assessment and just had to connect. Wells suggested defining a development as a minimum of three lots to be developed. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes May 8, 2023 Volume 42,Page 304 Calhoon asked administration bring back an amended draft with clarified definitions. Motion (Finch/) Require two bids included in the developer's cost estimate. The motion died for lack of second. Finch noticed there was no definition for private developer under 5.22.030 and requested there be a definition be created. CITIZEN COMMENTS Jaz Odhner,inside the city,wished the city would find a way to help the property owners in the Afognak neighborhood. Eliza Woodworth,inside the city,wondered if a homeowners association(HOA)could be considered a developer;as a group,the individual property owners in Afognak neighborhood could form an HOA. COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION COMMENTS & RESPONSES TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Bower knew this program needed further refinement and said with each application received, new issues were identified. Barnwell appreciated the discussion. He was excited to hear that this program was getting attention in other communities. Wells thought an HOA was a good idea as long as all of the lots in the HOA needed to be developed. DeMoss thought the DRP program was still fairly new and the language needed to continue to be updated. She wanted to continue discussions about how the city could help individual home owners make infrastructure improvements where the city helped. Finch liked the HOA idea as well. He wanted to see more money put into the DRP fund to continue growing the housing. Calhoon was interested in seeing the next iteration for this program; Osenga echoed the comments; tonight's discussion was constructive and helpful. McClure concurred;the program was good and innovative.Improvements would continue to be made. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes May 8, 2023 Volume 42, Page 305 ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:46 p.m. Brenda J. Ballou, MMC Sue McClure City Clerk \CI'5 Pec Mayor (City Seal) C , 1 / 0 t'V ' \ solliiif`stlF SE .• es <cite-010114z. 40 0, • ' SEAL I .