ORD 2001-09 ADEQUATE TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES FOR NEW DEVELOPMENTORDINANCE NO. 2001-09
AN ORDINANCE of the City of Bainbridge Island, Washington,
relating to adequate transportation facilities for new development,
implementing the concurrency provisions of the Growth
Management Act and adding a new Chapter 15.32 to the
Bainbridge Island Municipal Code.
WHEREAS, the State of Washington Growth Management Act, RCW Chapter 36.70A
and related sections, (the "GMA"), requires the city to adopt a Comprehensive Plan that provides
adequate transportation facilities to serve development; and
WHEREAS, the city adopted a Comprehensive Plan that includes a capital facilities plan
and other elements that plan for adequate transportation facilities; and
WHEREAS, the Comprehensive Plan was adopted September 1, 1994, and subsequently
amended, and the capital facilities plan is updated and amended annually; and
WHEREAS, RCW 36.70A.070(6) specifically requires adoption of an ordinance which
prohibits development approval if the development causes the level of service on a transportation
fitcility to decline below the standards adopted in the transportation element of the
comprehensive plan, unless transportation improvements or strategies to accommodate the
impacts of development are made concurrent with the development; and
WHEREAS, the Comprehensive Plan contains a Transportation Element that adopts
kevel of Service standards for transportation facilities on Bainbridge Island; and
WHEREAS, because the city is undertaking a comprehensive transportation plan that
will re-examine such issues as level of service and functional road classifications, the city
council intends to review the provisions of this ordinance when that plan is complete; now,
therefore,
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WASHINGTON, DO
ORDAIN, as follows:
Section 1: The following new Chapter 15.32 is added to Title 15 of the Bainbridge Island
Municipal Code:
Chapter 15.32 TRANSPORTATION CONCURRENCY
15.32.010 Authority.
A. This chapter is enacted pursuant to the City's powers as a non-charter, code city
pursuant to Chapter 35A RCW; Article XI, Section 10 of the Washington State
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Constitution; The Gro~vth Management Act, RCW36.70A, generally, and RCW
36.70A.070, specifically.
15.32.020 Definitions.
"Applicant" means a person who applies to the city for a development permit.
"Application" means an application for a development permit.
"Certificate of Concurrency" means the document issued by the city indicating the
location or other description of the property on which the development is proposed, the type of
development permit for which the certificate is issued, the uses, densities, and intensities of the
development approved for the property, the transportation facilities that are available and
reserved for the property described in the certificate, and an expiration date of the certificate.
"City Engineer" means the City's City Engineer or the City Engineer's designee.
"Concurrency" means that adequate transportation improvements or strategies needed to
~naintain the adopted level of service standards are in place at the time of development or that a
financial commitment is in place to provide the improvements or strategies within six years.
"Concurrency Test" means a comparison of a development's impact on the level of
service standards to determine whether adequate capacity exists on the affected transportation
thcilities.
"Development" means improvements to, or changes in use of land that results in more
dwelling units or buildings, or changes in the use of the land, buildings or improvements on the
land in a manner that increases the impact on transportation facilities, that requires a
development permit from the city.
"Development Permit" means any order, permit or other official action of the city
granting, or granting ~vith conditions, an application for development.
"Director" means the City's Director of Planning and Community Development or the
director's designee.
"Level of Service Standard" means a measurement of the quality of service provided by a
Ihcility including traffic conditions along a given roadway or at a particular intersection.
Descriptions and measuring methodology shall be as provided in the "Levels of Service" section
of thc Transportation Element of the Comprehensive Plan and are in accordance with the
Fransportation Research Board's Highway Capacity Manual (HCM).
"Transportation Facilities" means roads and streets.
15.32.030 Concurrency Requirement.
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15.32.040
A.
The following development permit applications shall be subject to a concurrency
test which shall be conducted in the processing of the development permit
application:
1. Preliminary plat (subdivision of 5 or more residential lots);
2. Site plan and design review;
3. Any other land use plan or permit, the granting of which would increase
the demand for transportation facilities by 50 or more trips per day, per the
ITE Trip Generation Manual.
The following development permits are exempt from this chapter, and applicants
may submit applications, obtain development permits and commence
development without a certificate of concurrency:
Any development permit issued for uses, densities and intensities that
were disclosed in an completed application filed before the effective date
of this chapter.
2. Any development permit for development that generates less than 50
trips per day, except as provided for in Section A above.
The applicant shall, upon request, provide a traffic study sufficient for the city
engineer to perform a concurrency test.
The city shall not issue a development permit until:
1. A concurrency test has been conducted in accordance with Section
15.32.040 and a certificate of concurrency has been issued; or
2. The application has been determined to be exempt from the concurrency
test as provided in Section 15.32.030(B).
A fee as established by city council resolution shall be charged for all
development applications subject to the concurrency test in section A above.
Concurrency Test.
The city engineer shall perform a concurrency test for each application for a
development permit which is not otherwise exempt from the requirements of this
chapter, to determine if adequate capacity exists on affected transportation
facilities.
If the capacity of transportation facilities affected by the proposed development is
equal to or greater than the capacity required to maintain the level of service
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15.32.050
standard for the impact of the development, the concurrency test is passed, and the
city engineer shall issue a certificate of concurrency.
If the capacity of transportation facilities affected by the proposed development is
less than the capacity required to maintain the level of service standard for the
impact of the development, the concurrency test is not passed, and the city
engineer shall issue a letter denying a certificate of concurrency. The applicant
may re-test for concurrency after doing one or both of the following:
1. Amend the application to reduce the need for capacity of transportation
facilities in order to maintain the adopted level of service; or
2. Arrange to provide capacity for transportation facilities that is not
otherwise available.
The city engineer shall conduct the concurrency test first for the earliest
completed development application received. Subsequent applications will be
tested in the same order as the city receives completed applications.
A concurrency test, and any resulting certificate of concurrency, shall be
administrative actions of the city that are categorically exempt from the State
Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).
Level of Service Standards.
In conducting the concurrency test, the city engineer shall use the level of service
standards for transportation facilities adopted in the Transportation Element of the
Comprehensive Plan, as amended.
15.32.060
A.
Certificate of Concurrency.
The city engineer or designee shall have the authority io issue a certificate of
concurrency.
A certificate of concurrency shall be valid for the same period of time as the
development permit with which it was issued, except that if the development
permit does not expire, the certificate of concurrency shall expire after three (3)
years.
A certificate of concurrency may be extended according to the same terms and
conditions as the underlying development permit. If a development permit is
granted an extension, the certificate of concurrency, if any, shall also be extended,
except that certificates of concurrency shall not be extended more than two times.
Certificates of Concurrency shall not be extended beyond the expiration of the
underlying development permit, or any extensions thereof.
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15.32.070
A.
15.32.080
A.
A certificate of concurrency is valid only for the uses and intensities authorized
for the development permit with which it is issued. Any change in use or
intensity that increases the impact of development on transportation facilities is
subject to an additional concurrency test of the incremental increase in impact on
transportation facilities.
A certificate of concurrency is valid only for the development permit with which
it is issued, and for subsequent development permits for the same property, as
long as the applicant obtains the subsequent development permit, and where the
use or intensity has not changed, and the previous development permit has not
expired.
A certificate of concurrency runs with the land, and cannot be transferred to a
different property. A certificate of concurrency transfers automatically with
ownership of the property for which the certificate was issued. Upon subdivision
of a property that has obtained a certificate of concurrency, the city shall replace
the certificate of concurrency by issuing a separate certificate of concurrency for
each subdivided parcel, assigning to each a pro rata portion of the transportation
facility capacity or other measure that xvas reserved for the original certificate.
A certificate of concurrency shall expire if the underlying development permit
expires or is revoked or denied by the city and the Certificate has not been
extended to a subsequent development permit for the same property.
Appeals.
An applicant may, within 10 days of the date of denial of a certificate of
concurrency, appeal the denial on the following grounds:
1. The city engineer committed a technical or mathematical error; or
2. The applicant provided alternative data that was rejected by the city
engineer.
Appeal of denial of a certificate of concurrency shall be to the Hearing Examiner
in accordance with Section 2.16.095 of this code. The period of the appeal shall
be excluded from the permit processing time period of Section 2.16.075 of this
code.
Annual Reporting and Monitoring
The city engineer shall monitor 'the city's transportation facilities and issue an
annual report, no later than June 30 of each year, which shall include the
following:
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A summary of the level of service for the city's roads as currently monitored,
noting ~vhich, if any, are below the adopted level of service standards adopted
in the city's Comprehensive Plan;
2. A summary of significant current and future development activity likely to
have an adverse impact on the level of service on the city's roads; and
Recommendations, based on growth projections and monitoring data, for
amendments to the city's Capital Improvements Program and the city's six-
year Capital Facilities Plan for transportation facilities identified in subsection
A1 above.
Section 2. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force five days from and after its passage,
approval and publication as required by law.
PASSED by the City Council this 25tt~ day of April 2001.
APPROVED by the Mayor this 26th dayx~f April 2001.
Dwight Sutton, Mayor
ATTEST/AUTHENTICATE:
~i~an P. K'asper'~ City Clerk~
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Rod Kaseguma, City Attorney
FILED WITH THE CITY CLERK:
PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL:
PUBLISHED:
EFFECTIVE DATE:
ORDINANCE NO.:
February 7, 2001
April 25, 2001
May 2; 2001
May 7, 2001
2001-09
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