H-2286              _______________________________________________

 

                                          SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 1059

                        _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

 

By House Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Representatives Wineberry, Niemi, Walk, Jacobsen, O'Brien, Haugen, Prince, Locke, Valle, Leonard, Brekke, Addison and Barnes)

 

 

Read first time 3/8/85 and passed to Committee on Rules.

 

 


AN ACT Relating to public transit construction projects; adding new sections to chapter 35.58 RCW; and creating a new section.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.     Metropolitan public transportation systems serving downtown areas of cities may enhance the value of properties within such areas by making the properties more accessible and convenient to commuters and other users of the properties.  Certain improvements to metropolitan public transportation systems may especially improve public transportation services to particular downtown properties and thereby may confer special benefits upon the properties. An equitable plan of financing these improvements may include special assessments against property specially benefited by the improvements.

          Properties located in downtown areas are subject to various public and private land use restrictions which affect the use and development of the properties and the special benefits to each property resulting from transit improvements.  For example, property that may lawfully contain a highrise office tower, to and from which hundreds of people travel during peak commuting hours, may receive greater special benefits from a metropolitan public transportation improvement than property that may lawfully contain only a lowrise warehouse building which does not need to be accessible to large numbers of people in peak hours.  This may be true even if the properties are of the same size and are equally proximate to the metropolitan public transportation system.  It is declared to be the public policy of the state of Washington that the metropolitan councils of metropolitan municipal corporations be authorized to consider the lawful uses of property when determining the special assessments to be levied against properties in downtown areas for metropolitan public transportation improvements.

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 35.58 RCW to read as follows:

          Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout sections 3 through 6 of this act.

          (1) "Downtown area" means an area of concentrated business, residential, retail, and/or other urban uses within a metropolitan area, as determined by the metropolitan council.

          (2) "Permissible floor area" means the maximum total floor area, at grade and above and below grade, of a building or other structure that may lawfully be developed on a property, as determined by the metropolitan council considering any public or private land use restrictions that may affect the lawful use of the property.

          (3) "Private land use restriction" means any restriction on the use of property imposed by agreement and enforceable by a court of law.  Such restrictions include but are not limited to easements, covenants, and equitable servitudes that are not merely personal obligations.

          (4) "Proximity of access to the metropolitan public transportation system" means a property's distance from points of user entrance into and exit from the metropolitan public transportation system of which the improvement is a part.

          (5) "Public land use restriction" means any restriction on the use of property imposed by federal, state, or local laws, regulations, ordinances, or resolutions.  Such restrictions include but are not limited to local zoning ordinances and federal historic preservation statutes.

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3.  A new section is added to chapter 35.58 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) When levying special assessments on property for the purpose of paying part or all of the cost of a metropolitan public transportation improvement in downtown areas, the metropolitan council may develop and apply a system of classification of properties based upon public and private land use restrictions at the time the metropolitan council finalizes the assessment roll.  The metropolitan council may classify property into office, retail, residential, public, or other classifications the council finds to be reasonable.

          (2) The metropolitan municipal corporation may levy special assessments under this section upon different classes of property at different rates but in no case may a special assessment exceed the special benefit conferred upon a particular property.  The metropolitan municipal corporation may also exempt certain classes of property from assessment if the metropolitan council determines that properties within the classes will not specially benefit from the improvement.

          (3) For each property within a classification, the metropolitan council may determine the special assessment after consideration of any or all of the following elements:

          (a) Square footage of the property;

          (b) Permissible floor area;

          (c) Proximity of access to the metropolitan public transportation system; and

          (d) Any other element the metropolitan council finds to be a reasonable indicator of the special benefit conferred on the property by the metropolitan public transportation improvement.

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4.  A new section is added to chapter 35.58 RCW to read as follows:

          If the metropolitan council finds after the time it finalized the assessment roll that the lawful uses of a property have changed and the property no longer falls within its original classification, the council may reclassify and reassess the property whether or not the bonds issued to pay any part of such costs are still outstanding.  If the reassessment reduces the total outstanding assessments within the local improvement district, the metropolitan council either shall reassess all other properties upward in an aggregate amount equal to the reduction or shall budget and appropriate revenues of the public transportation system in an amount equal to the reduction so that the bond fund of the local improvement district is not impaired.

          This section shall apply not only to an original assessment but also to any reassessment, to any assessment on omitted property, or to any supplemental assessment.

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5.  A new section is added to chapter 35.58 RCW to read as follows:

          The action and decision of the metropolitan council as to all matters passed upon by it in relation to any petition or resolution initiating proceedings to establish a local improvement district to pay part or all of the damages or cost of a metropolitan public transportation improvement shall be final and conclusive.  No lawsuit whatsoever may be maintained challenging the jurisdiction or authority of the council to proceed with the improvement and to create the local improvement district or challenging the method of assessment or in any way challenging the validity thereof or any proceedings relating thereto unless the lawsuit is served and filed no later than thirty days after the date of passage of the ordinance ordering the improvement, creating the district, and establishing the method of the assessment or, when applicable, no later than thirty days after the expiration of the protest period provided in RCW 35.43.180.

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6.  A new section is added to chapter 35.58 RCW to read as follows:

          The authority granted by sections 3 through 6 of this act is supplemental and in addition to the authority granted by RCW 35.58.500 and by any other statute authorizing a metropolitan municipal corporation to order local improvements, to establish local improvement  districts, to establish methods of computing special assessments on property specially benefitted by local improvements or to levy such special assessments.  This act does not limit or restrict any authority heretofore or hereafter granted to any city or town to order local improvements, to establish local improvement districts, to establish methods of computing special assessments on property specially benefitted by local improvements or to levy such special assessments.

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7.     If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.