By Todd Woosley
Imagine the city of Bellevue runs a road through your yard and garage, so your neighbor can redevelop his house into a massive apartment complex that needs a road you certainly don’t. Then, imagine Bellevue claims this road increases your home’s value (the home now missing half its yard and garage).
Since the city decreed your home is worth more, you have received a “special benefit” and are required to pay a significant new tax.
Sound far-fetched? This couldn’t happen in America! Our state and federal constitutions guarantee the right to just compensation for taking or damaging of private property by our government.
Surely our elected officials wouldn’t have the audacity to not only fail to justly compensate you for a road project taking your property, but also tax you for a project benefiting someone else?
Yet, this is what’s happening in Bellevue. The Northeast Fourth Street extension and 120th Avenue Northeast expansion will wipe out parking, landscaping and buildings along their routes. While these roads are needed for Bellevue’s future development, they don’t improve the value of existing properties that are in their way. It is unfair to charge these impacted properties a Local Improvement District (LID) to pay for roads that lower their value.
It is so unfair that property owners representing over 70 percent of a proposed assessment successfully protested the Wilburton LID last year, repealing a nearly $7 million tax.
However, the Bellevue City Council is again pursuing LID funding for these road projects, once again considering imposing an unfair tax on property owners. This tax would fund transportation projects to accommodate growth in downtown Bellevue and the Spring District development in the Bel-Red Corridor.
The city’s own data shows the existing properties would not generate additional traffic when the road projects are complete. This clearly indicates these properties aren’t expected to gain more business from the projects, so won’t increase in value. In fact, the properties will lose parking and access, and experience worsening congestion. These impacts make a property worth less, not more.
Property value increases from road projects are predominately realized by new development. Be honest about who benefits, and have them pay for the projects’ costs.
Todd R. Woosley is a real estate consultant with his family’s commercial real estate firm. He co-owns one building that will lose half its parking, and another that will be partially demolished, by the Wilburton Connections road projects. He doubts these projects will improve these properties’ value.
