City gets updates on land use, capital facilities plans

Following April and May workshops on Moses Lake’s capital facilities and land use plans, Seattle-based BERK Consulting senior associate Kevin Gifford presented Tuesday to city council on these two elements of the overall comprehensive plan, which is headed for adoption in October.

So far, $218.6 million may be needed for facilities development through 2038, he said.

Moses Lake’s Housing Action Plan, an outgrowth and evolution of the city based on housing needs assessments, was submitted to the Department of Commerce for review at the end of June. Council is set to receive feedback later this summer to incorporate it into the plan before final October adoption.

A goal of the land use element is to reinforce community identity through design, Gifford said. This means developing design standards for new developments and creating signage, landscaping and monuments to create a welcoming presence at the city’s entrances.

Another goal, overlapping with goals of the Housing Action Plan, is to promote a wider range of housing types. This means small-lot, single-family developments, cottage housing, duplexes, triplexes and townhomes.

To promote a more vibrant urban character, a goal is to promote more mixed-use developments downtown for work, living and entertainment.

Along with enhancing the town’s aesthetic, these changes will boost housing affordability by creating more options, Gifford said.

A third goal of the land use element is to cater to pedestrians, he said. This means making sure new developments have sidewalks, small block sizes for convenient walking and pedestrian-accessible open spaces in residential areas.

Pedestrian spaces overlap with the goals of the Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services Comprehensive plan as well, and can be in the form of small parks in residential areas or cluster housing around an open space.

All of these goals, of course, must balance new developments with the ability to serve them. Sewer, water, emergency response and other services must be able to access these areas.

This creates a fourth goal of encouraging development in urban areas first, where services are more easily provided. The land use element promotes infill developments, building in open areas in town, as opposed to expanding city limits.

Making sure new areas are serviceable overlaps with the goals of the capital facilities plan as well, which balances the city’s level of service of its facilities – parks, fire, police, water, sewer and transportation – with ways to fund them.

The first draft of the capital facilities plan was submitted to the Moses Lake Planning Commission at the end of May.

The bottom line is new police, fire and transportation infrastructure will be needed to serve new outlying area growth, Gifford said.

Some common ways to pay for new facilities is with real estate taxes, park mitigation fees and money transferred from other department budgets.

With all of this identified, BERK Consulting came to a total of around $218.6 million for the development of facilities through 2038, Gifford said.

The next step in the process is to solidify a list of projects to compare this funding to, he said, to make sure it’s feasible.

“We don’t want to give you an overly rosy projection of how much revenue you have and your ability to fund and simply if projects have not been adequately planned out; and that’s one of the things we’re working on right now,” he said.

If there is a discrepancy between project list and funds, his firm will strategize some additional funding sources, he said.

BERK has completed analysis on water, sewer, fire and parks, he said. They are currently in the process of analyzing police, transportation and municipal facilities, and still have stormwater facilities to study.

After this project information is finalized, the land use element draft is due to the city council and city’s planning commission by the end of July.