A Note from the City Manager

Good Afternoon Residents,

On behalf of King City I felt it necessary to set the record straight on a couple matters.

- 1st - There is some misleading information being plastered over the social media and throughout the City that gives residents the perception that they will be paying exorbitant tax rates to subsidize the urban growth being planned by the City in the Urban Reserve Area 6D. These claims could not be further from the truth.

A simple read of the infrastructure funding plan included with the concept plan illustrates that development will have to pay its own way, through a series of supplemental fees and system development charges. The estimated charge per unit is roughly $32K. The estimated costs of King City's infrastructural improvements for the growth area is roughly $100 million. The total density being proposed is 3300-3400 residential units, a simple math calculation would illustrate that the projected infrastructure costs would be more than covered with the proposed fees and charges, leaving no fiscal responsibility for current King City Residents (Essentially, Current King City residents will have NO fiscal responsibility, and therefore NO Tax increases). Additionally, The City does NOT have the authority to raise your taxes!! It would be nearly impossible for the City to collect an additional 5-10 thousand dollars from you as someone has alleged. The only way to do so would be a City wide levy put out to vote for government services and we assume that would fail.

As a side note it is important to realize that King City is out of buildable land. Without growth the city will not be able to continue to fund street and park projects. Many of our residents who have lived in King City for any duration of time may recall that the city was nearly bankrupt in 1999 before coming to the hard realization that expansion was their only alternative; thereby, expanding the urban growth boundary beyond 131st Avenue to the Bonneville Power Lines. The City now has operating reserves of 1.2 million dollars and additional restricted funds of nearly 3.3 Million. So on a personal note please beware of wolves in sheep's clothing that are trying to sell you on a bill of false goods.

- 2nd - The City is required to plan for future growth in accordance with Statewide Planning Goals 10 and 14, this is not a development requirement, it's a City requirement. We are required to plan for a 20 year supply of buildable land. The City is currently out of compliance with Goal 10. Regardless, a recent claim that the City approved 35K for a traffic study is true, with the caveat that those funds are fully reimbursed by a private development organization; therefore again, the false claim that King City residents are somehow subsidizing development runs afoul of the truth.

- 3rd - Wednesday the Planning Commission will review a Land Use Zone being proposed by the City for a Neighborhood Mixed Use - I encourage residents to review the proposed zone and provide feedback to the Planning Staff so that they can ensure our community values are reflected in our zoning ordinances. The meeting will take place at 9:30 April 11th in the King City - City Hall. More zoning amendments will be forthcoming with the urban growth expansion and the turn from concept planning into master planning.

Recent estimates indicate that there are roughly 100 people a week moving to our area. We can't just stick our heads in the sand and ignore the growth, the growth is coming. We can either determine how that growth comes or have it dictated to us by another City. Again Planning for our future is our responsibility and required by State Law, paying for the growth that is sure to come is going to be on the shoulders of the developers and those buying the new homes. This can either be planned and developed in accordance with our terms or the terms of some other municipality.

I hope this information has been found to be informative and helpful, and if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out to the Staff or Myself at City Hall.

Kind Regards,

Mike Weston

Information Pertaining to the Concept Plan can be found at the Following Web Address: http://www.ci.king-city.or.us/departments/parks_and_recreation/king_city_ura.php