passed ordinance

Assess benefited properties for street, sidewalk and stormwater improvements in the NE 55th-57th Aves and Killingsworth St Local Improvement District (Hearing; C-10062)

transportation
infrastructure utilities
local improvement

Department: Transportation
Introduced by: Former Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty
Status: Passed

Impact statement

Purpose & background

This legislation imposes final assessment and closes out the NE 55th-57th Avenues & Killingsworth Street LID.

Financial impacts

The total project cost is $1,328,946 of which $1,107,558 were expenses incurred by the City of Portland and $221,388 were expenses incurred by Habitat for Humanity. City of Portland expenses incurred included $913,696 in incurred PBOT expense, $5,551 in pending PBOT expense for Bureau of Revenue & Financial Services costs, and $188,311 in utility relocation expense incurred by the Portland Water Bureau. The final assessment for the core LID is in the amount of $312,012 which is 50.9% below the amount estimated in 2016 prior to LID formation. This is primarily attributable to Habitat for Humanity building the first phase of construction at their own expense in lieu of an LID assessment for street costs, with PBOT’s contractor building the second phase of construction. Construction of the project in two phases was anticipated during the LID formation process and was invoked to avoid delays to construction of affordable housing due to right-of-way acquisition negotiations which successfully avoided the need to file for eminent domain. No LID funds were expended on payment for property rights. This LID is being assessed on a square footage basis. Non-LID funding has been provided by PWB in the amount of $188,311 for utility relocation costs. A billing of $8,238 is pending to Pacific Power due to payment to the contractor for utility delays on NE 55th Avenue in breach of Pacific Power’s franchise agreement with the City of Portland for timely relocation of utilities. Habitat for Humanity provided $221,388 in in-kind funding. PBOT’s project costs are $598,997 including $133,294 from General Transportation Revenue (GTR) for direct costs; $330,277 from Transportation System Development Charge (TSDC) revenue, $30,000 in House Bill 2017 funds, and $105,426 from General Transportation Revenue (GTR) for overhead costs . Each $1 of LID funding leveraged $2.43 in City funding and each $1.00 in PBOT funding leveraged $0.39 in Habitat for Humanity (HFH) funding. Much of the HFH funding otherwise would have been throwaway, because the street would not have been built to the proper grade for the larger and more comprehensive neighborhood infrastructure project that was built in conjunction with the HFH frontage improvements. The LID is being closed out in advance of issuing a certificate of completion to the contractor to avoid delays to final assessment.

Community impacts

The first complaint about this street was received in January 2010. Exploration of a possible LID began in April 2017. The first of multiple property owner meetings was held in September 2017 and this this LID was initiated by Council prerogative in April 2018. Community stakeholders in the Cully neighborhood were consulted on the scoping of this project. The LID was formed following a junkyard fire and a hostage taking incident and provides two new paved north-south street connections Creative engineering minimized impacts to property on NE 57th Avenue, prioritizing this objective over maximizing on street parking. The new NE 55th Avenue connection eliminated two (2) dead-end streets and provided new pedestrian and bicycle access to Trinity School. This LID improved 709 feet of unpaved street in the Cully neighborhood, which had 10.3% of its streets unpaved prior to completion of this LID versus a Citywide average of 2.8%. The is the seventh-largest proportion in the City behind the Far Southwest, Markham, Linnton, Brentwood-Darlington, Cathedral Park and Multnomah neighborhoods. This project also built new sidewalks connecting to a school, with the Cully neighborhood having a sidewalk coverage ratio of only 29.8% versus a Citywide average of 63.0% as of 6/30/21. This LID follows multiple recent completed LIDs in the Cully neighborhood, including the NE 47th Avenue Phase I LID, the NE 52nd & Alberta LID, and the NE Alberta Street Phase I LID. An additional LID in Cully is nearing completion of the design phase: the NE 46th & Bryant LID reflecting PBOT’s commitment to remedying infrastructure deficiencies in the most diverse neighborhood in Portland.

▸ Full text (the legislation as adopted)

The City of Portland ordains: Section 1. The Council finds: The Council stated its intent to construct improvements in the NE 55th-57th Avenues & Killingsworth Street Local Improvement District (LID) by the adoption of Resolution No. 37351 on April 25, 2018 declaring its intent to initiate local improvement district formation proceedings and establishing the name of the local improvement district. The Council approved formation of the NE 55th-57th Avenues & Killingsworth Street LID with the passage of Ordinance No. 188997 on June 6, 2018. The record related to Council approval of Resolution No. 37351 and Council approval of Ordinance No. 188997 is incorporated into the record of this Ordinance, except that no part of the record of Resolution No. 37351 nor of Ordinance No. 188997 shall be considered an objection to final assessment for purposes of Section 17.08.130 of City Code, nor for purposes of Section 9-405 of the City Charter. The Council authorized award of the construction contract to Moore Excavation Inc., accepting Bid No. 00001493 on September 16, 2020. Contract No. 30007442 was executed on September 16, 2020. The street improvements to NE 55th Avenue, NE 57th Avenue and NE Killingsworth Street were substantially complete as of October 31, 2021 as indicated in Exhibit A. The project scope included 126 centerline feet of street and west side sidewalk improvements on NE 55th Avenue, 384 centerline feet of street and sidewalk improvements on NE 57th Avenue and 198 centerline feet of sidewalk improvements on the south side of NE Killingsworth Street for a total of 708 centerline feet. A sanitary sewer extension was deleted from the scope of the project pursuant to directive ‘i’ of Ordinance No. 188997 because the Chief Engineer of the Bureau of Environmental Services determined that such an extension was not necessary to serve properties within Assessment Zone ‘A’ of this Ordinance. No sidewalk was built on the west side of NE 55th Avenue pursuant to directive ‘o’ of Ordinance No. 188997; however the abutting property owner at 5414 NE Emerson Street cooperatively removed a nonpermitted encroachment from the NE 55th Avenue right-of-way prior to construction at no expense to the project. This enabled the elimination of two dead-end streets (NE Emerson Street west of NE 55th Avenue and NE 55th Avenue north of NE Sumner Street), as well as the elimination of a street connection gap on the Seventies Neighborhood Greenway. Nearby NE 60th Avenue remains a two-way street notwithstanding property owner concerns during formation of this LID that it would become a one-way street under a separate PBOT capital improvement project (CIP). The new NE 55th Avenue street connection coupled with newly-paved NE 57th Avenue disburses north-south traffic among three (3) parallel streets within a distance of 1,550 feet. This significantly improves street connectivity and now nearly meets the requirements set forth in Code Section 17.88.040 which is improves neighborhood traffic circulation and emergency response. An Extra Work Agreement was approved as to form by the City Attorney and executed on February 17, 2021 pursuant to directive ‘j’ of Ordinance No. 18897. The amount of the Extra Work Agreement was $5,962 and is included in the proposed assessment amount for Pending Lien No. 164822. The LID assessment also includes $80,775 for water meter installation pursuant to directive ‘n’ of Ordinance No. 188997 and is included in Pending Liens No. 174146 through 174160. Speed bumps were installed on NE 55th Avenue at the discretion of the City Traffic Engineer pursuant to directive ‘k’ of Ordinance No. 188997. No speed bumps were installed on NE 57th Avenue; however, a double yellow centerline was added on a vertical curve to improve traffic safety after the street was newly paved. The City Traffic Engineer lowered the speed limit of NE 57th Avenue from 25 MPH to 20 MPH pursuant to directive ‘l’ of Ordinance No. 188997. Completion of this local improvement district does not fulfill future frontage improvement requirements for street, sidewalk and stormwater improvements to NE Emerson Street, the west side of NE 55th Avenue, the existing NE Sumner Street, nor to a future easterly extension east of NE 55th Avenue of a new street between the existing NE Emerson Street and NE Sumner Street. The total cost of the project is $1,328,946 as shown in Exhibit B based on amounts in Exhibit C. The property owner’s share for this project is $312,012 which is a decrease of $324,022 or 50.9% below the amount estimated at LID formation. Additional funding was provided by the Portland Bureau of Transportation in the amount of $133,293 in General Transportation Revenue for direct costs, $330,277 in Transportation System Development Charge revenue, $105,426 in General Transportation Revenue for overhead costs and $30,000 in House Bill 2017 funding for a total of $598,997 in PBOT funding. Additional funding was provided by the Portland Water Bureau in the amount of $188,311 for utility relocation costs and $8,239 is pending from Pacific Power for utility relocation delays. Habitat for Humanity also provided $221,388 as in-kind funding, including $107,500 for direct payments to design engineering by AKS Engineering, $109,738 for direct payments to Interlaken Inc. for civil construction and $4,150 in a direct payment to Christensen Electric for electrical construction, relieving PBOT staff from having to design the LID and also relieving the LID contractor from having to construct a larger scope of improvements pursuant to Finding No. 22 of Ordinance No. 188997. The Revenue Bureau mailed notice of the June 15, 2022 final assessment hearing to the owners of benefited properties within the local improvement district on May 25, 2022. The benefited properties are legally described based on Multnomah County property tax records as of the filing date of this Ordinance. The property owner was notified of the time and location of the final assessment hearing conducted by the Council; the total project costs, the deadline and procedure for filing objections to the final assessment of the local improvement district; and the amount of the proposed final assessment on benefited properties as set forth in Exhibit D. The deadline to file objections to final assessment was at 5:00 PM on June 8, 2022. The properties are specially benefited in the amounts shown in the assessment roll in Exhibit D and the apportionment worksheet in Exhibit E. The Local Improvement District Administrator submitted for publication two notices of the local improvement district final assessment hearing in the Daily Journal of Commerce on May 27, 2022 and on June 1, 2022. The Council has considered any and all objections made by owners of the benefited property. The Council accepts the summary of objections and findings as set forth in Exhibit F and adopts these findings as its own. A Portland Fire & Rescue analysis of improvements to emergency response is attached as Exhibit G. This Ordinance provides for assessment of benefited properties for local improvements. Assessments for local improvements are not subject to the property tax limitation established by Article XI, Section 11b of the Oregon Constitution. In the event of any finding or any directive within this Ordinance conflicting with any prior Council action involving this local improvement district, the finding or directive within this Ordinance shall prevail. The Local Improvement District Administrator’s level of confidence in the cost estimate for this project is “High” per Exhibit A of Resolution No. 36430 adopted by City Council on July 26, 2006 because the project is complete. NOW, THEREFORE, the Council directs: That any and all objections received are overruled and the assessment roll contained in Exhibit D and the apportionment worksheet contained in Exhibit E of this Ordinance are hereby approved and adopted. The Revenue Bureau to enter the assessments as shown in Exhibit D in the Docket of City Liens. The Revenue Bureau to mail final assessment notices to owner of benefited properties as set forth in Exhibit D based on the amounts identified in Exhibit E. The Portland Bureau of Transportation to complete remaining pending obligations associated with the acquisition of property rights from the owner of 5305 SE 57th Avenue. The Portland Bureau of Transportation to complete remaining pending obligations associated with the acquisition of property rights from the owner of 5542 NE Killingsworth Street, the vacant lot east of 5542 NE Killingsworth Street, and the vacant lot addressed as 5606 NE Killingsworth Street. The Local Improvement District Administrator to calculate increased property tax increment of properties assessed by this LID for a 20-year period following Council passage of this Ordinance pursuant to Resolution No. 37205 approved by Council on April 20, 2016.

Tally

4 yea 0 nay 1 other