Woodland officials will hold a public meeting next week to talk with town residents about forming a district to raise money for city transportation projects.
Money from a transportation benefit district could match federal or state grants for roads and transportation projects. It would go primarily toward the $60 million Scott Avenue Crossing reconnect project.
City officials will hold an open house 6 to 7 p.m. Monday at Woodland City Hall, 100 Davidson Ave., to answer questions about the proposed transportation district and revenue options associated with it.
“This is a tool that the Washington State Legislature has given municipalities to raise funding,” Woodland Mayor Chuck Blum said.
Such a district would help “our industrial areas as well our circulation problems,” Blum said. He cited a city study that said the project could ease the city’s traffic burden by up to 38 percent.
Woodland has hired a Seattle-based company to evaluate how a transportation benefit district might work, Blum said. The city is evaluating three revenue options that could be implemented by such a district:
• A $20 vehicle license fee.
• A citywide 0.2 percent sales tax.
• A 0.2 percent sales tax levied in a smaller commercial-zoned area.
If the city council votes to create the district, one or more of these options would likely be on the November ballot.
“As far as the city is concerned, it’s wide open,” Blum said, when asked if he was leaning toward one of the options. “It’s a public process, and we definitely want to encourage (discussion).”
The district would allow Woodland to start the planning and environmental review process needed before work on the Scott Avenue Crossing could begin, Blum said. The city would still need substantial state and federal dollars to accomplish the project.
“This is one piece of the puzzle,” said council member Benjamin Fredricks.
Woodland residents can also learn about the potential district at noon Tuesday during a meeting of the Woodland Chamber of Commerce, 900 Goerig St. The Woodland Quality Coalition will also talk about the district at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 20, in the high school’s commons area.
Ridgefield model
Woodland officials point to Ridgefield’s success with a transportation benefit district as an example of what can be accomplished with the additional tax.
Ridgefield raised the sales tax by 0.2 percentage point for businesses in a one-mile area near the Pioneer Street overpass. The project widened the road from two lanes to four and added turning and bike lanes. It will add roundabouts at the ends of the overpass.
The Ridgefield benefit district tax went into effect in 2008 and had raised $66,583 as of Feb. 28, 2011, according to finance director Gaylynn Brien. Yet the tax’s main importance was not as a revenue source.
The city has poured $5 million into the project and received several million more from the Washington State Department of Transportation.
“The legislature liked the idea Ridgefield stepped forward and set up the transportation benefit district,” Mayor Ron Onslow said. “As a result, they were more conducive to helping us because we had wanted to help ourselves also.”
The benefit district will be dissolved once payments on the overpass are finished, Ridgefield officials said. The project’s completion date remains unknown.
Ray Legendre: 360-735-4517, or ray.legendre@columbian.com, Twitter: @col_smallcities
