Cheney council enacts transportation impact fees to pay for growth infrastructure - The year in review - top 10

CHENEY — One of the last acts of 2018 by Cheney’s City Council was the imposition of a six-month construction moratorium on developer Steve Emtman’s Terra Vista project located east of the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks.

Over Emtman’s objections and vague references to taking legal actions, the city imposed the moratorium – which temporarily stopped construction of a 224-unit apartment complex that would have added to the 258 existing units. The city’s reasoning for the moratorium was the rate of development and increasing traffic caused by the new units along with conflicts that created for infrastructure and ever-increasing rail traffic.

An engineering study by an outside firm concluded that another 3,000 people could come to live on that side of the tracks if the area was fully developed. The issue headed to the Cheney Planning Commission, which held several hearings and workshops on the issue and eventually produced a proposal for an ordinance that would set up an impact fee structure to help pay for infrastructure improvements along Cheney-Plaza, Cheney-Spangle roads as well as 1st Street in the area and Alki Street.

The moratorium was set to expire in June, but was extended to July by the council so that the commission could finish its work on the fee structure needed to help raise some funding to what was estimated at just over $4.23 million worth of work in four projects. The City Council had previously approved the new fees in May.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].