The Vancouver City Council is considering removing some barriers to encourage redevelopment a the vacant former Kmart on Northeast Andresen Road and the empty former Fred Meyer on Fourth Plain Boulevard.
The developers of the properties are asking that the city waive traffic impact fees, arguing that the fees were paid when the sites were originally developed. Traffic impact fees are charged to new and redeveloped businesses, to pay for the increased road demands their new ventures would cause. The money goes into the city’s capital road fund; impact fees represent about 5 percent of the fund.
There’s little in the city’s toolbox to encourage new economic development, Vancouver Business Development Manager Alisa Pyszka said Monday. But removing the fees for these properties could be a help — traffic impact fees can run a commercial business about $70,000.
“Just because it’s vacant, should they really have to pay that all over again?” Pyszka said.
The owners of the Kmart property, KEIRE LLC of Vancouver, will bring a development agreement before the council Nov. 15 asking for the impact fees to be removed.
Mayor Tim Leavitt said there should be a larger discussion of possibly putting all of the city’s traffic impact fees on hold as local developers struggle to get back on solid economic ground.
“I don’t believe that transportation fees should be limiting to development,” he said, adding that he’s heard of developments that have gone by the wayside due to the cost of the impact fees.
The former Fred Meyer on Fourth Plain has been vacant since 2006; owners GJD Properties of Redwood Shores, Calif., may seek the same concession, Pyszka.
The owners of the Fred Meyer and Kmart are joined by the local owners of the Wellons Industrial site off Fruit Valley Road in also seeking what is known as concurrence on their properties.
Each owner is petitioning the city council to agree that future development would be subject to codes as they are now. Concurrence also would mean the city would accept site review plans and other pre-development work done on the properties, even if a potential tenant was not found for a year or more down the road.
Typically, new site review plans and other work must be done again if a property has been vacant for more than 30 months.
Each site will still face zoning review, Pyszka said.
Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com.
