North Bend moves forward with climbing wall plans
January 29, 2009
By Michael Rowe
A climbing wall, a leaky roof and impact fees were discussed at North Bend’s Jan. 20 City Council meeting.
City Administrator Duncan Wilson presented the council with a plan to have interested companies prepare designs for the centennial climbing wall at Torguson Park, before deciding on a company to build the project.
Wilson said that the nature of the project lends itself to a design-build approach, where the city will select the company to build the wall based on their designs.
Torguson Park is the planned site of a future climbing wall in North Bend.
The city hopes that the climbing wall will draw inspiration from the city’s local landmark, Mount Si.
“You can actually choose what will be the best fit for the city,” Wilson said.
The council approved the plan to request design proposals from interested companies.
Wilson also updated the council on fundraising efforts for the climbing wall.
“We’re quite pleased with where we’re at,” Wilson said in regard to funding.
The city is about $40,000 shy of the $150,000 it needs to build the climbing wall. So far, the city has received a $60,000 grant from the county for the project, and a $10,000 gift from a local corporation that wishes to remain anonymous. Wilson said two individuals have made $1,000 gifts for the project. The city has also pledged $35,000 for the climbing wall.
Wilson expects the fundraising efforts to focus on local businesses and individuals to make up the difference.
After the climbing wall discussion, the council turned its attention to the leaky roof at the Community and Economic Development building. Wilson asked for approval to spend up to $30,000 and solicit bids from the city’s small works roster of contractors. Selecting from the small works roster for a project under $30,000 would allow the city to avoid the more formal competitive bidding process required for bigger projects. However, money for the roof repairs was not budgeted to be spent this year, and some council members wondered if the informal bid process would get the best results.
The council asked Wilson to bring back bids on the project for council approval.
Wilson told the council members that the city has been aware of the leaky roof at the community and economic development building since early last year, but the leak was not serious until the recent storms. Recently, city employees noticed mushrooms growing on one wall.
Council members also questioned the Snoqualmie Valley School District’s choice to collect no impact fees from new developments this year.
The school district determines the amount of impact fees to collect based on its capital facilities plan. State law requires that impact fees collected for school districts can only be used to support new school building projects included in a district’s capital facilities plan. This year the Snoqualmie Valley School District is not planning on building any new facilities and it has asked the cities in the district boundaries to not collect impact fees for the district.
Collecting impact fees without the authorization of the school district could create legal problems for the city. North Bend’s city attorney told the council that the city’s liability was minimal, as long as it did not collect impact fees. The city’s building moratorium does not expire until later in February and it would be unlikely for anyone to apply for a residential building permit in the meantime, which makes it unlikely that the city would have the occasion to collect impact fees for the district.
Before deciding to not ask for impact fees this year, the school district had approached North Bend with a plan that would raise school impact fees to more than $9,000 per each new single-family residence.
Council member and mayor pro tem Jonathan Rosen asked that someone from the school district meet with the council to explain its decision to not collect fees. He questioned whether the city could collect some fees to help the district pay for portable buildings.
Earlier this month, Snoqualmie’s City Council approved a similar ordinance.
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I’m confused, why is the city wasting $30K on a climbing wall. There is plenty of natural climbing walls in the area. Although the wall would be a nice addition to the park, I think there is much better things the city could spend the $30K on. In this economy, maybe we should be donating that money to a food bank, or to help people find jobs. Perhaps the money could be used to help flood victims. The last thing people need when they are struggeling to pay their mortgage is to pay for flood damage. Also why did the city wait an entire year to fix the roof. It could have been done for a lot cheaper if they would have had it fixed right away. Now they will not only have to fix the roof, but take care of the mold and mushroom problem.