City Council OKs Fair, Split on Land Purchase for Cole Street Public Park

The Enumclaw City Council, minus Councilman Mike Ennis who was excused, passed a resolution Monday night allowing a Tennessee-based fair and festival production company to take over the management of the King County Fair, making it official that from July 7 through July 10.

The city had been looking for a third-party organization to run the fair since King County handed management of the historic fair to the city in 2009 due to county budget constraints. 

According to Expo Center Manager Kristen Damazio, she knew she'd found the right company after Universal Fairs President Mark Lovell told her, 'I'm just trying to keep the American tradition alive.'

Universal Fairs currently manages six other fairs and festivals across the United States including the Delta Fair & Music Festival in Memphis, Tenn., the Austin Fair & Music Festival in Austin, Texas, and the Down on the Bayou Fair & Music Festival in Gonzalez, La.

The news that the 149th year of the King County Fair would take place at the Enumclaw Expo Center was welcome by Mayor Liz Reynolds, who said she looked forward to an "old fashioned country fair," the City Council and a young man who addressed the Council later in the meeting, who talked about the tradition in his family of going to the fair together. "It means a lot to me," he said. 

Practically, according to Damazio, the city would lease the grounds of the Expo Center to Universal Fairs who would then take care of virtually all other aspects of the fair. 

The city estimates its expenses amount to about $6,000 in electricity, water, utilities and staffing for the event -- staffing in itself is expected to run about $3,840, said Damazio. 

On the revenue side, the agreement is expected to net the city about $18,000 plus 10 percent of all concessions sales, including the beer garden, she said.

In total, that's a net gain of between $12,000 to $15,000 for the city, she said

Split on a Cole Street City Park

The Council was not so quick to approve the purchase the vacant lot that currently sits adjacent to City Perk Home & Garden.

City Attorney Mike Reynolds introduced a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a real estate purchase of the property from current owners Roger and Megan Sherwood.

Mayor Reynolds indicated that in her conversations with local business owners, they supported turning that land into a public park and gathering place, particularly in the summer when films could be projected for a community night out.

However, the roadblock toward consensus in purchasing the land was the price, which according to City Attorney Reynolds is $295,000 and deemed to high by Councilmen Glen Jenson, Kevin Mahelona and Jim Hogan.

Jensen said an appraisal should have been done first, and while City Attorney Reynolds said he agreed that that would have been a logical step to take, an accurate appraisal in this case would be hard to come by because there is no comparison price to measure by -- there is no other empty lot for sale on Cole Street. Similarly, because there is no building on the site, it would be difficult to come up with an appraisal based on income or even the cost of building a building.

Reynolds indicated that the owners had themselves invested money into the land and continue to pay taxes on it; Jensen indicated that the taxes they pay are based on an assessed value of $100,000.

Hogan similarly asked about the value of such a park, given that there are other public parks within walking distance from that area. He also wanted to know what spending plans were in place, should the city acquire the property, to turn the lot into a park.

Mayor Reynolds answered the plan is to involve the community in putting the park together and would present opportunities for different entities to sponsor items like benches or bricks in order to get the park built.

The Council split on moving forward with the resolution, with Jensen, Mahelona and Hogan opposing. A motion was put forth to revisit this issue at the next meeting with a full quorum would be in attendance.

City Attorney Reynolds indicated that the property has just been put up for sale; the owners may move forward with another offer before the next Council meeting though ironically, once the property is on the market, it would be easier to do an appraisal.

More from Monday night:

1) Councilmen Sean Krebs and Jeff Beckwith opposed an ordinance that otherwise passed allowing for a preliminary plat approval in order to subdivide 9.85 acres at 445 Semanski Street into 48 lots for single-family homes.

Community Development Director Erika Shook addressed several concerns Council raised about the project, called Libery Meadows, at related to traffic and access. She indicated that the existing proposal includes two Type 9 streets that follow the 20-foot-width standard to service dead-end units though city staff would recommend connecting the two streets. Either way, the streets would have No Parking signs but not One Way signage as they'd be wide enough for two-way traffic. They also wouldn't have sidewalks.

Several council members didn't like the Type 9 options though the current proposal does not violate city code, Shook said.

Shook also addressed concerns about increasing traffic at the intersection of Semanski and Warner, which is currently rated at a D. The intersection would downgrade to an F (failing) by 2015 regardless of whether or not the development was in place, she said, due to an expected two percent population growth.

With the passage of this ordinance, Council agreed that the issue of Type 9 streets as well as other zoning issues should go back to the Community/Economic Development Committee for review and possible recommendations regarding needed changes.

2) The Council passed a resolution outlining the final docket of . 

3) In his Public Works Committee report, Hogan suggested now as a good time to lock in the price for natural gas for heating in the winter 2011-12 season. A motion was passed authorizing Public Works Director Chris Searcy to make the purchase at $5.10/million BTU.

4) Council voted to award the Garrett Street & Battersby Avenue Improvements Project to Johansen Excavating, Inc., for $1,528,600.01.