January 19, 2005:
Including Sky Harbor (62 s.f. units) and the recent application for 15 s.f. homes north of that development on Robert Kaeser's property, the total for planned new homes on SBR is 164. This assumes no plat revisions to those applications.
Add to that the 20 s.f. homes being planned for Stratford Place at 7th and Fir Street downtown, and that means 184 new homes for Sultan in the next 12-18 months.
What does that mean? It means 515 more people to our city using up current infrastructure (based on 2.8 people per dwelling unit, an OFM standard). It means at least 515 new rush hour vehicles added to Sultan city roads, county roads and SR2. (And, unfortunately, the boilerplate traffic generation estimates still being used by traffic consultants in their traffic studies when a development is reviewed, assume that only one person per family works, and uses only a single car. You betcha.) It also means over 5,000 additional daily vehicle trips added to those roadways. And don't forget that York's Rosewood Estates is not yet completely inhabited, so you can add some more vehicle trips there, as well.
Additionally, I viewed yesterday what is always the first sign of a new development on yet another Sultan Basin Road property, located west of SBR and just north of 132nd Street (the large horse-grazing pasture that borders Pleasantview on the north: A survey crew was working smack in the middle of that pasture. While, admittedly, this might have something to do with surveys for SBR or other roadway improvements eventually, it's my understanding (from an excellent personal source) that the owner of that land has been wishing to develop for a lo-o-o-ng, long time now.
Sewer and Water Needs:
It was good that the City increased the water and sewer capital facilities (hook-up) fees recently, but let's look at how much the city will "profit" from these recent developments: From comments made in council, we know that at least 116 of these 184 planned connections for water and sewer were paid in advance last fall, in anticipation of greatly-rising rates, especially for sewer. Water fees rose from $4,400 to $5,254 per connection, and sewer rates rose heftily, from $4,496 to $7,983. Using the 116 connections as the base, the city actually "lost" a total of $503,556 in fees by allowing pre-payment: Total revenue using old fee amounts = $1,031,936, total revenue using new fee amounts, $1,535,492. Perhaps they had no legal choice in the matter (I admit I have not had time to check into this aspect). It's interesting how a fee here and a fee there can add up to some real Power in your Pocket, or, conversely, how a few homes here and a few there can really begin to take a bite out of existing (or planned) infrastructure.
Number of Total Connections Estimated/Planned by City:
This is an interesting challenge, worthy of our now-departed Discussion Forum Don Quixote: The City initially (in August/September, 2004), developed four alternative fee structures, using 277 connections as a base, through Year 2010, the year consistent with the City's not-yet-then-completed Comprehensive Plan. By the end of the process, the total number of estimated connections through 2008 (instead of Year 2010) had decreased to 145. It was communicated at all public workshops, hearings and council meetings (and even during a council Public Works Committee meeting) that the 277 figure included Sky Harbor as well as all pending applications. If true, that would leave only 113 new connections (new homes) planned through 2008 (or, perhaps, 2010??). Could any reasonably intelligent person believe that could be true?
So what I'd like to know is this: (1) how did the length of the planning window decrease from 2008 from 2010?; and (2) how did the total number of planned connections through 2008 (nd what happened to Years 2009 and 2010?) drop to 145?