Cheney council approves ordinances updating codes

Not all of the agenda items at the Cheney City Council’s Oct. 28 meeting were budget related.

The council approved the final readings and passage of three ordinances making changes to the city’s municipal code. Todd Ableman, Cheney’s public works director, and city attorney Stanley Schwartz told the council Ordinance W-49 brings municipal code chapter 21, Subdivisions, into compliance with the most recent state standards.

Schwartz directed the council’s attention to a new section in the chapter entitled “Warranty Bond.” The section requires the applicant to provide a warranty bond in an amount, plus 20 percent, established by the engineer before acceptance of the final plat and after the city engineer certifies the construction or improvements.

The applicant must retain a certified engineer 30 days prior to expiration of the bond to inspect the improvements, and must repair or replace any deficiencies prior to release of the bond. If the deficiencies are not addressed, the city may enforce the bond.

“This is a benefit to anybody buying property in Cheney,” Schwartz said, adding it’s not the city’s responsibility to take care of such repairs.

Other cities have implemented such warranty bonds, Schwartz said, but it’s a first for Cheney.

Council approved Ordinance W-50 that also brings the code’s chapter on development administration into compliance with current state standards. The key portion of this ordinance for Schwartz was changing the section entitled “Standing to Appeal” to “Process for Review” and creation of a chart linking specific development applications with the appropriate review body, decision body and appeals body.

Schwartz said the chart essentially ensures that “90 percent” of construction and zoning actions will pass before the council’s eyes at some point in the process, providing more local control.

Council also approved Ordinance W-48 that makes changes to the code’s hearing examiner chapter. The most notable change, Schwartz said is language in the “Type of Hearing and Appeal Procedure” subsection that specifies under which circumstances the examiner will conduct either an “open record hearing” or a “closed record hearing.”

The new language also establishes parameters for the appeal process, particularly when the City Council is making a “quasi-judicial decision following a recommendation from the hearing examiner.”

Finally, the council approved a request from the Public Works Department to make an annual application for funding in 2015 from the Community Development Block Grant program. CDBG funds are federal funds passed through counties to local jurisdictions and organizations.

The city hopes to receive funding for continuation of its water main replacement program, looking at water main replacements on Oakland Street between Ninth and Eleventh streets and Clay Street between Fifth and Seventh streets if their application is successful.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].