BROOKINGS – The Brookings City Council approved the creation of Tax Increment District No. 8 for future construction in the Timberline Addition during its Tuesday meeting.
P.E.M. Affordable Housing, LLC, requested approval of the creation of the TIF for the development of affordable workforce residential lots, east of West 16th Avenue South.
In July, the council approved a Tax Increment District pre-application for P.E.M. to develop 32 lots in the Timberline Addition as affordable housing. The proposed project is located within the Timberline Addition bounded by the future streets of Brighton Road, Summit Pass, Steamboat Trail and West 16th Avenue.
Mike Smith, who lives on Brighton Road just off West 20th Street South, just south and east of the planned development in the Timberline Addition, said he’d had problems with the sewer after the recent heavy rains and said it was a “stressed area.” He asked if the area can handle additional houses.
City Manager Paul Briseno said he did speak with Brookings Municipal Utilities about the infrastructure in the area.
Mike Struck, Community Development director, said the area does have the capacity and the city can create more capacity downstream. Construction of houses would not start until mid-summer next year, he added.
Smith had concerns about additional runoff.
Briseno asked City Engineer Jackie Lanning if accommodations for storm water is required in the development plan. Yes, storm water accommodations are in the southwest portion of the development, Lanning said.
Councilor Patty Bacon wanted clarification that the developer has to work with the city to develop the drainage plan. Lanning said it is part of the preliminary plan and the final plan has to have a final drainage plan.
Bacon questioned the developers about the design, saying cul de sacs didn’t work well in affordable housing and asked whether they had considered going back to a design with alleys.
David Kneip said developers are going with smaller and smaller lots due to costs to make it more affordable. He added that they are not seeing a lot of alleys in new designs because people like cul de sacs to reduce traffic and less worry about their kids.
“(Cul de sacs) are what sells,” Kneip said.
He said the new development in the Timberline Addition will include straight streets.
“We just work the best we can with the land,” Kneip said.
Bacon pointed out that they will only be building five homes a year, possibly eight at most.
The drainage has to be there, or the development won’t get approval, Kneip pointed out.
“That land also gets very wet,” Bacon pointed out and asked if they planned to do slab on grade, or crawl spaces.
It’s been incorporated into the plans, Kneip said.
The council also approved a Tax Increment District No. 8 project plan, and a developer agreement for the TIF No. 8.
More flooding talk
Flooding from heavy rains remains a hot topic after a 7-inch rainfall the night of July 18 affected numerous homes in south Brookings. Two couples who experienced flooding in their homes were back in front of the council Tuesday.
Jason Evans of Tanbury Lane wanted a status update on the city’s investigation into the sewer.
City staff is still meeting weekly with BMU, Briseno said, adding the investigation will take at least a month. He offered to let them know when the report will be publicized.
His wife, Maria Evans, asked if there was an independent agency helping with the investigation. If BMU discovers the city is liable for the damage, will they admit to it?, she asked.
“We’re asking for an independent investigation,” she said.
“We are so frustrated,” Maria Evans added.
Expenses after the flooding can run $20,000 to $30,000, she said, and it wasn’t fair that homeowners had to pay that much and might have to pay again next time things flood.
“This is what we pay taxes for,” she said.
The city is working with BMU and engineering consultants Banner Associates to understand the system; the city has not hired a third party, Briseno said. He guaranteed the facts discovered in the investigation will be given out in a public meeting.
Jason Evans said they’ve seen the sewer systems being worked on and weeds being cleaned out, but he wanted to know why it was being done now, instead of at the beginning of the season.
“As citizens, our level of anxiety is real high,” Jason Evans said.
Mayor Keith Corbett suggested the Evans could “get on Paul’s calendar” for a more detailed discussion.
Maria Evans asked about changes to the depth of the sewer system. The city’s putting money into making Brookings pretty but should be making sure it’s working properly, she said.
The water treatment plant is working at maximum capacity and has for years, even as the city adds more people, Maria Evans said.
“Are we trying to be too cheap?” she asked.
Matt Schmidt of Windemere Way said Banner designed the system.
“No one likes to be told they did something wrong and admit to an error,” Schmidt said.
He wanted to know when the city was going to start doing something; he’s not getting a sense of urgency or concern for what the homeowners are going through.
It is a very important issue to the city but they are not going to rush it, Briseno said, adding city staff has been working on it since the rain happened.
“We work on this daily,” Briseno said, and they need to “make sure we get this right.”
In other business Tuesday, the council approved:
• Authorizing the placement of four-way stop signs at the intersection of Summit Pass and Telluride Lane/Powderhorn Pass;
• Authorizing placement of two-way stop signs on Copper Mountain Road and Powderhorn Pass at the intersection of Summit Pass.
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.
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