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KITTITAS COUNTY <br />DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS <br />PUBLIC WORKS — BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />2024 STUDY SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />STUDY SESSION DATE: April 22, 2024 <br />TOPIC: Franchise Agreement Transfers and Renewals <br />ACTION REQUESTED: Direct Staff <br />LEAD STAFF: <br />Mark R. Cook <br />RECOMMENDATION: <br />Direct staff to prepare a fee amendment to the 2024 Public Works (PW) fee schedule. <br />BRIEFING SUMMARY: <br />• Currently, PW does not routinely track franchises for expiration. <br />• Increasingly, agricultural franchises are being conveyed to land developers. <br />• The ownership of a franchise agreement currently only transfers with the land. <br />• Abandoned infrastructure in county right-of-way is a growing concern for PW. <br />• There is a growing need for transfer or renewal of existing franchise agreements. <br />BACKGROUND: <br />Recently, a farmer came into PW seeking to renew a franchise agreement that was over <br />twenty years old. The franchise has expired. PW became aware of a pending land sale of the <br />property containing the franchise for possible land development. PW currently does not have <br />a permit process that extends or transfers franchise agreements, unlike leases at Bowers Field <br />Airport. <br />DISCUSSION: <br />Urbanizing agricultural lands is a reality in Kittitas County. Historic franchise agreements <br />with county farming families have not been an issue for PW. Existing infrastructure in <br />county rights -of -way rarely have failed adversely impacting county roads and drainageways. <br />That is beginning to change. As agricultural lands sell and develop into single family <br />housing, PW no longer has a single contact for the franchise agreement. It may make more <br />sense to implement a process allowing transfers or renewals that are triggered by ownership <br />changes or at the request of the franchisee. <br />A companion effort will be to catalog all franchise agreements identifying those that are <br />expired or near their expiration date. PW will identify the state of infrastructure (if possible) <br />and recondition franchise terms accordingly. <br />FISCAL IMPACTS: <br />The cost of developing a new franchise process (renewal or transfer) will be evaluated by PW <br />and a fee proposal brought back to the BoCC prior to any fee hearing. <br />ATTACHMENTS: <br />None. <br />Page 1 of 1 <br />Public Works "Work Session Staff Report", 2024 <br />