Consider Waiver of St. Katharine Drexel Land Use Review Fees (Project #21-103)

In 2021 the Church of St. Katharine Drexel received approval of an Interim Use Permit (IUP) for the purpose of constructing a shed on their property located north of 161st Ave NW and east of Central Park.  As part of the approval, two resolutions were adopted.  The first #21-054 approved an IUP for a shed with a second #21-218 amending the original to identify the inclusion of restroom facilities and connection to city water and sewer services.

The amended IUP was recommended by staff mainly for two reasons.  First, the original plans for the shed did not show restroom facilities.  Second, for transparency purposes given the fact that two Planning Commission abstained from discussions due to their involvement with the Church of St. Katharine Drexel.

As part of land use applications, applicants are required to provide escrow funds to offset costs associated with the review of the application.  In this scenario, the escrow fund had not been released after the initial approval and staff opted to not require a new application to amend the IUP.  Instead, the original escrow fund was utilized to finish the review.  It is common for additional steps after Council approval.  In this case, the engineering department incurred time on the request due to water and sewer line questions, and planning staff incurred time to finish establishing an address for the site and to mail an executed IUP to the applicant.

St. Katharine Drexel has submitted a letter requesting a refund of fees that occurred after the original approval by the City Council.  The Church recalls staff explaining that no additional costs would be incurred to the escrow for the amendment.  No charges were passed to the applicant for the amendment other than engineering time related to water and sewer questions. 

Some staff involved at the time of the review have since moved on to other employers.  Current staff did reach out to the prior staff to confirm how charges would be identified.  It was confirmed that current charges identified are accurate from a staff perspective.

Alternative #1: Collect fees identified.  This recognizes costs incurred by the City to finalize the request and to answer questions related to water and sewer services.  Staff supports this alternative.

Alternative #2: Grant the Church's request to waive fees incurred after Council approved the IUP in March 2021.

 

Motion to collect fees identified in invoices sent by the City's Finance Department.

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Motion to waive fees incurred against the project after City Council approval in March 2021.