Is First place good

According to the Washington Policy Center, Washington state consistently places in the top five states as far as the number of new business started. Then again, it also placed in the top 3 for business terminations during the same years.

It was noted that just because a business terminated does not mean that business failed. Businesses could have terminated because the Owners retired and closed the business or sold it to another company.

Business Starts and Closures
According to the latest data available, Washington ranks 3rd in business starts and 2nd in business terminations (2006).

Washington ranked 5th in business starts in 2005 and 3rd in 2004. The state ranked 1st in business closures in 2005 and 1st in 2004.

Excuse me sir, would you like your new home facing the club house or sewage lagoon?

Saint Consulting interviewed 1,000 people to find out what they thought were the most undesirable projects to be built near them. Not too surprising, landfills, casinos, and gravel pits topped the list. Heck, even Walmart was on there.


Maybe it was just too obvious to identify but, how about a sewage plant? Well, a group of landowners in Washington State just learned that exact thing may be happening literally, right next to them. The development is approved for 120 new homes. Individuals bought lots with plans to build vacation homes. With designs for a clubhouse, equestrian center and gated entry, this new development was on its way to becoming one of the nicest in the county.

Not only will the new development be affected but also the existing farms and orchards that surround it. Local farmers and longtime residents strongly oppose the lagoon and have been busy writing letters.

The application was made by a company that hauls sewage. The property they selected for the lagoon includes critical slope areas on it. The applicant stated that their plan is to dump the raw sewage into an open lagoon. Then wait for the “liquids” to evaporate out. Then they’ll scoop up the “solids,” haul them away and repeat the cycle. This is a poorly thought out project. In one part of their application they said they anticipated no adverse impacts of smell to the surrounding residents.

The small site they selected also has a ravine on it. The ravine heads down a steep embankment towards dozens of farms and the river running through town. Since little to no evaporation will occur during the winter months, the rains and snow melt will add to the level of the pond and increase the chances of an overflow.

A week ago the County issued a Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance for the sewage lagoon and opened it up for public comment.

This whole lagoon idea has left a bad taste in many people’s mouth.

What’s happening in your neighborhood?

Which neighborhood are you developing in? The Government Affairs issue tracker developed by the Master Builders Association provides a brief status report on current local and regional issues.

http://www.mba-ks.com/library/issues/GA_Issue_Tracker.pdf

New Legislation Extends Time Period for Final Plat Approval

Finally, a little good news for builders and developers who are trying to plat properties. The legislature has granted a temporary extension to save preliminary plats that could expire during this economic downturn.

The Municipal Research and Service Center of Washington (MRSC) has issued an opinion on the Washington State Legislature’s recent adoption of Substitute Senate Bill 6544. The legislation, signed by the Governor, extends preliminary plats for two years, from five to seven years until 2014.
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Opinion:
In SSB 6544 (Ch. 79, Laws of 2010), the 2010 legislature extended the statutory time period for submitting final plats for city or county approval from five years after preliminary plat approval to seven years after that approval. It also extended the vesting period for approved final plats from five to seven years. This legislation, which is effective June 10, sunsets on December 31, 2014.

It appears that the purpose of this temporary extension is to save preliminary plats that are in jeopardy of lapsing because of the economic downturn. This purpose should help explain which preliminary plats this legislation applies to. The original bill included an intent section that, although deleted in the substitute bill that was adopted, sheds light on legislative intent:

(1) The legislature finds that active land use permits are expiring due to a downturn on the state economy. Considerable cost has been expended by applicants and local jurisdictions to approve projects. Allowing these projects to expire would make it difficult for the state to meet its housing needs in the future and impose considerable staff costs on local governments to perform work that has already been completed.

(2) The legislature further finds that, in the current period of economic challenge, an extension for plat approvals will contribute to the overall employment of the state by employing citizens of Washington as soon as is practicable in the family wage jobs of the land development and home building industries.

The public testimony in favor of the bill, as summarized in the various bill reports, also focused on the current economic climate and its effect on development activity.

To read the full opinion, please go to: http://www.mrsc.org/Subjects/planning/ssb6544.aspx

All in a day's work

During the final days of their feasibility period to purchase a property, a client requested that I go the Seller’s office to review some documents.

It seems that the Seller had located some additional material that had not previously been disclosed. I was asked to run down and make a quick review of the materials and report back on my findings.

(Note the 21 banker’s boxes of new material)

Permit & Plat Extension Ordinance

The Economic Stimulus Tracker is a matrix of all the permit and plat extension ordinances and other economic stimulus measures being pursued by the King & Snohomish County Master Builder's Association. The matrix is broke down by jurisdiction and is a good tool to follow how cities and counties are working with builders during this down economy. http://www.mba-ks.com/library/issues/esp_matrix.pdf

Starbard picked to direct DDES

March 2, 2010
Daily Journal of Commerce
SEATTLE — King County Executive Dow Constantine appointed former Newcastle City Manager John Starbard as director of the Department of Development and Environmental Services.
The appointment must be confirmed by the King County Council.
DDES issues building and land use permits for properties in unincorporated King County. Constantine said in a press release that he wants to reduce the processing time for permit applications.
While at Newcastle, Starbard worked on upgrading Coal Creek Parkway and making downtown into a walkable urban village. He helped manage incorporation of Maple Valley, and was its first city manager. Starbard worked as a planner and senior management analyst for Bellevue.
Starbard will manage a budget of nearly $22 million and a staff of about 150.

Rural zoned condominium lot

A family owned some property in the rural area of King County. The property included the main home as well as a secondary home that was built many years ago. They wished to have the ability to sell one of the homes and keep the other.

The normal way would be to subdivide the property via a short plat. Short platting the property probably would have cost them about $110,000 for applications, engineering, site construction, bonding etc. and taken about 3 years to complete. Unfortunately, they didn’t even have enough area (a large enough lot) to subdivide, so that wasn’t an option.

In talking with their engineer, they learned of a creative solution for their problem. Cramer Northwest Inc. advised them to do a Condo Survey. The Condo survey accomplished their objective utilizing a different code. In the end, they got their two lots (just like in a short plat) but at a fraction of the time and expense of one.

Method..............~Cost............Time

Short Plat.................$110,000...........3 years
Condo Survey..........$9,500...............7 months

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Savings................91%..............80%

Disclaimer: The codes in your jurisdiction may not be the same. The key to this example is that the clients had two existing homes on the same lot. Please consult a professional such as Cramer Northwest http://www.cramernw.com/ to discuss your particular case.

Report Cards are in

Last week the Municipal League released a study titled "Rights, Wrongs and Reforms: Selected Issues on Land Use regulations in King County." Issues from multiple perspectives are discussed and worth considering.

http://www.mbaks.com/library/issues/LandUseReportFinal.pdf