Tretheway: Status of North Natomas Finance Plan

Dear Community Stakeholder,

One of the most fulfilling parts of serving on the Sacramento City Council is listening to the many needs of the diverse constituents in district 1 and finding creative solutions to address these needs. On Tuesday, May 26, the Sacramento City Council will take up the fourth update to the North Natomas Finance Plan since its adoption in 1999.

The North Natomas Finance Plan identifies the development community’s obligation for funding essential infrastructure projects in North Natomas. This finance plan provides that developers pay their fair share of the community’s needs. In the last 10 years, developers have paid millions of dollars in fees into the plan, which has been used to build roadways, bike trails, bridges, traffic signals, landscaping, a fire station and a library.

Every three years the City updates the Finance Plan. This update is an accumulation of nearly two years of meetings between community members, the developer community, and the City of Sacramento. I began meeting with Natomas residents in July, 2007 to both educate residents on how the city funds infrastructure in North Natomas and most importantly to ensure that this update would place the priorities of the community first and foremost.

Last June, after nearly a year and several drafts, I forged agreement on an update to meet the community’s needs. The new update will fully fund a fire station west of I-5 and fully fund a new community center to meet the needs of North Natomas residents. The update would also modify some transportation projects to bring them inline with current and future traffic demand. During these tough economic times when other cities are lowering developer fees, this update would increase developer fees by 15% and add a new automatic inflation adjustment.

Completing the update has not been a simple task. I want to thank the many Natomas residents who spent seven Saturday mornings and time off from work to lend their voices and their oversight to the process. I want to thank Mark Griffin, the City’s Public Improvement Finance Manager, who spent many hours with community members at after hour meetings. At one point in the process I was approached to not build a new fire station, but to instead find a vacant office building and convert it to a temporary facility. I believe strongly that we should
build the fire station once—and build it right. Some developers argued against any increase in fees given the dramatic economic situation, but I simply could not allow us to wait another few years to address the serious infrastructure needs facing North Natomas, especially in light of the dollars already being collected by the City.

In the upcoming months we will begin to plan and design the new fire station and, hopefully, a police complex. We need Congress to pass legislation written by Congresswoman Matsui, which would allow public safety facilities to be built even if they are built in areas that do not have 100 year flood protection. We will also begin planning the new community center, which will be a true jewel for the community.

Again, I want to thank so many of you for your work and your patience. Although the process can be drawn out and at some points challenging, in the end our community will ultimately be better for the collaborative process that has led to this new update.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (916) 808-7001.

Sincerely,

Ray Tretheway
Councilmember, District 1
City of Sacramento
(916) 808-7001