Form revised May 26, 2009
FISCAL NOTE FOR NON-CAPITAL PROJECTS
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Department: |
Contact Person/Phone: |
DOF Analyst/Phone: |
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Office of Economic Development |
Nancy Yamamoto 684-8189 |
Amanda Allen 684-8894 |
· Summary of the Legislation:
This legislation will amend the applicable fee schedules to reduce permitting fees required by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and Seattle Fire Department (SFD) to site regularly recurring farmers markets on public and private property. The legislation will also designate the Office of Economic Development (OED) to develop the eligibility criteria and administrative rules for program participation and coordinate the permitting process with the other departments
· Background: (Include brief description of the purpose and context of legislation and include record of previous legislation and funding history, if applicable):
The City has a substantial interest in farmers markets because of the public benefits to consumers, local farmers and businesses in the adjacent neighborhood business districts. These benefits include providing:
· Improved access to high quality fresh fruits and vegetables (over $10 million in sales for the 2008 season with more than 70,000 pounds of food donated to local food banks);
· An important source of revenue for local farmers;
· A regular gathering place for people to interact in their neighborhoods (over 535,000 shoppers in 11 local markets in 2008); and
· Increased commerce for adjacent businesses on market days.
However, due to widespread redevelopment of property in Seattle’s neighborhood business districts, existing farmers markets are experiencing difficulty staging markets on privately owned sites. Market sponsors have asked the City to assist them in securing more stable locations on public property. For example, OED has facilitated the relocation of the Queen Anne Farmers Market to West Crockett Street. One of the impediments to using City-owned property for farmers markets is the frequency and expense of obtaining the required permits. There are also permitting costs and fees associated with the staging of farmers markets on private property.
A recently adopted multidepartment (SDOT, DPR, OED, SFD) Director’s Rule began to implement a streamlined permitting process as an interim farmers market pilot program for 2009. This legislation will formally legislate the permit fees contained in the Director’s Rule, address an additional SFD public assembly permit fee, and establish an ongoing program to support the city’s farmers markets, especially those markets that need to be relocated to public property due to redevelopment pressure. Eligible farmers markets will also qualify for annual permits coordinated by OED. Specifically, this legislation will:
· allow market operators to apply for permits once per year instead of every week or month;
· reduce fees for street and parks use permits;
· waive SDOT on-street parking service permit fees, including parking meter hood fees for markets staged on public streets;
· allow a blanket annual permit for the use of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) for heating purposes at a reduced fee; and
· waive the assembly use inspection fee required by the Fire Department.
Please check one of the following:
____ This legislation does not have any financial implications. (Stop here and delete the remainder of this document prior to saving and printing.)
__X__ This legislation has financial implications. (Please complete all relevant sections that follow.)
Note: There are no changes in 2009 appropriations or revenues as a result of this legislation. DPR, SDOT, and SFD fee schedules do not presently contain specific references to permits for farmers markets. This legislation will clarify the applicable fees. The proposed fee structure for the use of DPR parks property, SFD LPG – fueled heater permits, and SDOT street closures associated with farmers markets will be used annually beginning in 2009 to reflect the reduction in fees. Additionally, SDOT parking meter hood permit fees and SFD assembly use permit inspection fees will be waived for qualifying farmers markets.
Neither DPR nor SFD projected revenues from these sources in 2009, resulting in no change to budgeted revenues to DPR or SFD in 2009. However, the estimated loss in future revenue for the SFD assembly use permit inspection fee is approximately $23,800. SDOT estimates a reduction of approximately $11,500 in the historic street use permit fees charged by the Department, which is considered an immaterial project revenue impact.
Individual vendors at a farmers market who use LPG for cooking must each continue to obtain the currently required annual or single event permit and pay the applicable fee, as provided in the SFD Fee Schedule B. The individual vendors who obtain an annual LPG permit for cooking are able to utilize the permit at other fairs, festivals, and public events, as well as at the farmers markets.
· What is the financial cost of not implementing the legislation? (Estimate the costs to the City of not implementing the legislation, including estimated costs to maintain or expand an existing facility or the cost avoidance due to replacement of an existing facility, potential conflicts with regulatory requirements, or other potential costs if the legislation is not implemented.)
There is no financial cost for not implementing the legislation. The cost would be measured in terms of unachieved public benefits. This is due to the fact that some farmers markets would not be able to be relocated and remain sustainable without the fee reductions proposed.
· Does this legislation affect any departments besides the originating department? • If so, please list the affected department(s), the nature of the impact (financial, operational, etc), and indicate which staff members in the other department(s) are aware of this Bill.
This legislation changes the fee schedule for SDOT, DPR and SFD, In some cases the fees are reduced, in other cases the frequency of fee collection is decreased, though the actual cost of the fee remains the same. The table below reflects possible charges that may be applied to a farmers market under the existing and proposed fee schedules. The figures estimated represent the potential cost to one farmers market lasting 28 weeks. The figures presented do not represent what farmers markets have actually been charged in 2009, because of the differences between markets. For example, farmers markets that are not located on street closures or parks property would not incur those fees. Additionally, it is important to note that not all current fees should be interpreted to be ‘forgone revenue’, because the market would not relocated to a public property were the fees in place. This is because the existing fees would be cost prohibitive.
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Department Fee Title |
2009 Fee Structure |
Proposed Fee Structure |
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Per Week |
Per Season |
Per Week |
Per Season |
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SDOT Permit for Farmers Market Street Closures May – October (28 weeks) |
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Field Review and Traffic Control Plan |
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$150 |
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$150 |
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Base Permit Fee (Administrative Cost for Issuing Permit) |
$101 |
$2,828 |
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$101 |
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Final Inspection (if necessary) |
$75 |
$2,100 |
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Complaint-based |
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Additional Inspection Charge ($75 per inspection, as needed) |
$75 |
$2,100 |
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Complaint-based |
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SDOT Metered/Paid Parking Reservation Fees |
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Service Parking Meter Hood One-Time Hooding Charge |
$18.50 per metered space |
$18.50 per metered space x 28 weeks |
Waived |
$0 |
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Yellow Service Parking Meter Hood Lost Revenue Charge (to reserve Monday – Saturday; 7 am – 6 pm) |
$15 per metered space per day |
$15 per metered space x 28 weeks |
Waived |
$0 |
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Red Service Parking Meter Hood Lost Revenue fee (to reserve 24 hours/day) |
$18 per metered space per day |
$18 per metered space x 28 weeks |
Waived |
$0 |
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Truck permit (to stand a truck in metered space) |
$16 |
$16 per metered space x 28 weeks |
Waived |
$0 |
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Park Event Use Fees for Farmers Market Season May – October (28 weeks) |
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Parks Application Fee (one-time for season) |
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$75 |
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$75 |
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10% of vendor revenues |
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Waived |
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Parks Rental Hourly Fees, $10/hr for a minimum of 5 hours (including set-up and tear down) |
$50 |
$1,400 |
$50 |
$1,400 |
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Staffing Fee – to open and close markets $20/hr for 5 hours |
$0 |
$0 |
$100 |
$2,800 |
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Load/Unload fee (if necessary) |
$10 per vehicle |
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$10 per vehicle |
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Electrical/Water Hookup (if necessary) |
$55 |
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$55 |
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Supplemental Late Application Fee (if necessary) |
$75 |
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$75 |
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Commercial Signage (if necessary) |
$100 |
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$100 |
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SFD Permit for Farmers Market Street Closures May – October (28 weeks) |
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Public Assembly Permit |
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$1,702 |
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$ 0 |
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LPG Permit – propane heaters |
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$396 |
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$277 |
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In addition to the fee schedule changes, OED will accept applications from farmers markets that wish to participate in the program and convene an annual permitting meeting between the market operator and applicable departments. The individual departments will continue to collect the relevant fees and issue the necessary permits directly with the market operator.
Department contacts:
Seattle Department of Transportation, Angela Steele, 684-5967
Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, Joanne Orsucci, 233-3948
Seattle Fire Department, Diane Hansen, 386-1451
· What are the possible alternatives to the legislation that could achieve the same or similar objectives? (Include any potential alternatives to the proposed legislation, such as reducing fee-supported activities, identifying outside funding sources for fee-supported activities, etc.)
None.
· Is the legislation subject to public hearing requirements: (If yes, what public hearings have been held to date, and/or what plans are in place to hold a public hearing(s) in the future.)
No, there are no public hearing requirements.
· Other Issues (including long-term implications of the legislation):
None.
· List attachments to the fiscal note below: (Please include headers with version numbers on all attachments, as well footers with the document’s name (e.g., DOF Property Tax Fisc Att A)
None.
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