Post Falls URA updates policy on parking reimbursements, raises plan fees and directs OPA drafting for East 2nd project

Post Falls — At its Dec. 18 meeting, the Post Falls Urban Renewal Agency considered and moved forward several policy changes and directed staff to prepare an owner participation agreement for a downtown project.

Agency staff presented revisions to Agency Policy 7 (Addendum 3), prepared by Councilor Bridal following prior Commission direction and reviewed by the Finance & Policy Committee. Staff said the revised paragraph A "allows for up to 100% reimbursement of City required costs associated with the 2018 City Center parking plan for mixed use or residential development projects in the downtown urban renewal district," and cited a Nov. 14 letter from Community Development Director Bob Seal describing the policy application.

During discussion the staff explained how the change would allow comprehensive support for the city center parking plan "regardless of property type," and that the change was intended to facilitate reimbursement of city-required frontage and parking-related costs when projects meet the plan standards.

The Commission also reviewed revisions to Agency Policy 15. Staff said the plan fee has been increased from $15,000 to $25,000 for creation or modification of each new urban renewal district, and that a plan amendment fee of $7,500 (new paragraph b) was added. Committee members said the update reflects increased legal and city workload associated with plan creation and amendments.

Policy 16 was revised to remove descriptive language about the prior July 2020 revision; staff said the committee recommended the change to make the policy clearer to proponents while retaining the agency's administrative fee approach.

On project participation, staff briefed the Commission on the East 2nd LLC project in the Downtown District. Staff said the project had prior Commission consideration and that, with the Policy 7 revision now in place, project costs have been resubmitted for possible owner participation through an OPA. Staff requested direction to have counsel draft an OPA that would attach the submitted costs as an exhibit; the Commission directed counsel to prepare the OPA to be presented at the next meeting.

Votes and next steps: Commissioners moved and seconded the Policy 15 and Policy 16 revisions and recorded roll-call votes with 'Aye' responses; those revisions were adopted. Staff will return the drafted OPA for East 2nd LLC at a future meeting for Commission action.