Olympia Transportation Director Sophie Stimson announced that the city council and the Land Use and Environment Committee are contemplating reviewing different policy approaches for sidewalk repairs, including enforcing an existing code involving property owners' roles.
Stimson was at the Planning Commission meeting on Monday and gave a briefing on the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) finance overview.
Regarding transportation funding, Stimson said the city council focuses on sidewalk repair and pavement management.
The city council is examining a policy, including the city's and the homeowners' roles, and whether or not some changes to the code are appropriate, she added.
Citing OMC 12.36.010, Stimson claimed the adjacent property owners are responsible for repairing sidewalks. "We don't have a program that proactively enforces a code on property owners. We have seen minimal success in having property owners repair sidewalks."
Stimson added that the city is more proactive in the downtown and some high-density corridors, with transit and a higher volume of pedestrians.
In addition to revisiting the code, Stimson said Olympia Transportation proposes hiring a contractor to do some repairs. She said the city manager had identified about $300,000 in year-end funds, and they may find other sources to add to the funding for the project, which would focus on the downtown area and major corridors.
The transportation director explained that the city's maintenance crew could not do the number of repairs. She added that the city is facing challenges in hiring staff.
"We are having trouble filling existing operations and maintenance crew vacancies. So we are not confident that we could just add staff to own maintenance crews to go out and do this work," Stimson said.
In the pavement management program, Olympia Transportation routinely monitors and rates each street segment to determine what street needs resurfacing or overlay.
"The ratings help us determine the ideal funding levels overall for the program," Stimson said, adding that they hire a contractor to assist in updating the program.
According to Stimson, the Transportation established system targets for these projects, and they have been strategic about where to bring the improvements as not all streets need it.
Typically, Transportation spends about $6.5 million per year on transportation capital projects. The funding came from the general fund, Transportation Benefit District (TBD), Voted Utility Tax, grants, real estate excise tax, and impact fees.
Annually, Transportation funded project types are classified as:
Stimson noted that these projects are eligible for grants. She did not include the funding sources because they vary from year to year. "But when we think about our dedicated funding sources, these are generally how the funding is spent on categories of projects."
Transportation has identified the gap between the projects they think they need to build and those they can afford to make in 20 years based on $6.5 million in annual funding.
The graph presented at the meeting showed that the city could build 12 roundabouts out of 52 projects they identified; pathways, 15 of 81 projects; bike corridors, 10 miles of 34 miles; and sidewalks, eight miles of 65 miles.
Stimson said the transportation department had identified potential new revenue sources, including TBD sales tax, property tax increase, private utility tax increase, city public utility tax, commercial parking tax, and Local Improvement Districts.
The department is also eyeing transportation impact fees, but Stimson said they held back on increasing them because of the community's interest in creating affordable housing.
"However, we are below average in other Washington cities. We charge less for single-family homes than parks and schools impact fees. So I think there is room here to increase impact fees, but I also recognize their implications on other city goals," Stimson said.
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pheong
in a homeowner maintains the sidewalk for 7 years may they then claim the property as theirs? seems fair.
this is the same horseshit the city has been shoveling for years. they plant the trees that heave the sidewalks. now you fix it and no, you may not remove the tree that caused the damage, it's ours.
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 Report this
BobJacobs
This article shows a HUGE shortfall in transportation budgets.
1. It would help to know which of these projects are necessary to maintain existing infrastructure, which are required by legal obligations, and which we can do without.
2. Considering this huge deficit in transportation funding, one has to wonder why the city is considering a huge annexation in Southeast that would add to the transportation deficit big time, as well as in other services.
Bob Jacobs
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 Report this
KatAshe
If a sidewalk is a public right of way, then the responsibility for maintaining it belongs be the city. A homeowner already pays for a sidewalk’s maintenance through their property taxes. Quite simple, actually.
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 Report this
psterry
I see a new tax on the horizon...
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 Report this
C K
If a sidewalk is public property then it's the city's responsibility to maintain it. NO MORE TAXES, FEES, CHARGES/EXTORTION MONEY of any sort from the citizens. Budget properly, stop over-spending and wasting our hard-earned money.
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 Report this
elexarus
Olympia has many neighborhoods that do not have sidewalks and this is often an issue on dark and rainy nights where pedestrians tend to walk down the center of the roads because there is no good place to walk safely due to parked cars, puddles and brush that dominates the edges of our street. Many homeowners have appropriated areas that are actually part of the roadways into their landscaped areas, there are fences that are located on the city right of way and many many trees, bushes and plantings that obstruct the City right of way. On my block I see that a homeowner has placed raised beds in this area. It creates and unsafe situation for everyone. One solution is for the City to clearly delineate the areas that are the right of way (perhaps by spray painting the right of way line) and for the City to establish some work projects to be staffed by the many idle folks who are not considered a public nuisance. This is not a high tech issue; the construction of sidewalks requires some wooden form (or metal forms) a bunch of people with shovels and picks, a bit of work with a builder's level or transit and some fresh concrete. I personally built the portion of sidewalks that runs up the north side of Harrison and around the corner at Division in the early 70's and it was done exactly that way. If you really want to stimulate the local economy, the best way to do so would be to finish a system of sidewalks that is right now in bits and pieces all over town. The local economy is stimulated; its a great way to show young people how to work and it helps to promote civic pride and public safety. Yes, it costs money, it does increase taxes and property values, but almost all of that money is returned to the local economy in the form of increased consumer spending, employment opportunities for youth and better access for people in wheelchairs. Olympia should spend more and not less money to improve sidewalks
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 Report this