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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council - Minutes - 01/16/1967 Kent , Washington January 16 , 1967 Regular meeting of the Kent City Council called to order at 8:00 p.m. Present : Mayor Thornton , Councilmen : Armstrong, Buxton , Durand, Mooney, Pozzi, Strain and Woodworth, City Engineer Sherwood, City Attorney Bereiter Minutes of the last meeting approved as printed and accepted by motion . Alexander Evans Smith was sworn in by the City Clerk, as new patrolman for the Police Department. Strain moved to recess the meeting to the Junior High School , Durand seconded, motion carried. Mooney moved to reconvene at 8 :20 p.m. at the Junior High, Woodworth seconded, motion carried. There were approximately 320 people in the audience. POLICE & Woodworth noted that the Fire Chief has submitted a FIRE letter regarding fire zones in the city which will be directed to the City Attorney to draft a covering ordinance. LIGHTS Durand moved for the installation of a street light on the West Valley Highway in front of Fire Station #6 , Strain seconded,. motion carried. COR ECTED - REFER TO Durand moved for the installation of one 7000 lumen MIN TES OF Z_/,�(� light on the corner of 212th and the West Valley High- way on the NE corner, Strain seconded, motion carried. WATER Emergency Ordinance. A proposed emergency ordinance was read by the City Attorney providing for redemption of $33 ,000.00 face value city warrants plus interest for the Water Land Purchase Fund. By motion , the public hearing on the emergency ordinance was set for February 6 at 8 :00 p.m. STREETS Vacation . Upon Woodworth' s motion , seconded by Mooney, the public hearing was set for February' 20th for the vacation of a portion of Weiland Street . Motion carried. A letter from Northern Pacific Rail-way Co. was read re- questing the City of Kent to grant a franchise for con- struction of a spur track across Temperance Street between First and Second Ave. No. in Kent. Upon Mooney' s motion , seconded by Strain , this was referred to the Street Committee for study until the next meeting. Motion carried. A petition was read from 11 residents in the Scenic Hill area regarding the necessity for a dedicated and city main- tained service alley from the lower loop of Scenic Way to Kennebec Street. Pozzi moved to refer this to the Street Committee , Buxton seconded, motion carried. HEALTH & A letter was read from James D. Hogan , Health Officer, SANITATION requesting action to alleviate the septic tank problem in the apartment buildi ng located at 3012 S. 240th St . , Kent , which is owned and operated by Francis J. and Jacqueline Richter. Upon Mooney' s motion , seconded by Strain , the City Engineer was instructed to notify the property owner by registered mail that the necessary work should be done in 20 days in accordance with City ordinances. Motion carried. Mooney noted that he had been sent a copy of Resolution #32544 regarding air pollution adopted by King County. He requested the Mayor to review it for possible adopt- ion at the next meeting. The City Engineer suggested that the Mayor and City Clerk be authorized to sign a supplement to Permit #97233 for sanitary pipe line installations for LID 250 on Northern Pacific Railroad property. Mooney so moved, Strain seconded, motion carried. BIDS The City Clerk reported that 11 bids were received on the Yorkshire Off-Site Sewer project . Mooney moved that these bids be referred to the Health & Sanitation commi- ttee for study, with recommendations to be presented at the next meeting. Strain seconded, motion carried.0 EAST HILL The public hearing was opened on the proposed East Hill ANNEXATION Annexation. It was noted that the Board of Review recommends approval. There were no objections or comments from the floor and the hearing was closed by motion . Ordinance 1423 , approving the East Hill Annexation , to be effective February 20th, was read by the. City Attorney. Durand moved for passage and adoption of the ordinance , Buxton seconded, motion carried. ZONING Upon Woodworth' s motion , seconded by Mooney, public hear- ings were set for February 6th for the following rezones : Blessing R-2 to R-3 Echtenkamp & First R-1 , R-3 to C-3 Baptist Church Final Plat of Cambridge #5 Monarch Investment R-1 to R-3 Mooney seconded, motion carried. Dunning Annexation . The public hearing was opened on the initial zoning of R-3 for the Dunning Annexation . There were no objections or comments from the floor and the hear- i a � ing was closed by motion . Mooney moved to approve--R-3 'zoning for this newly annexed area for reasons outlined by the Planning Commission , Strain seconded, motion carried. Bereiter was instructed to draft the proper ordinance. ZONING S S & M Co.' The public hearing was opened for a rezone from R-1, R-2 and R-4 to MHR, submitted by the SS & M Co. Coundilman Durand asked to be excused, and took a seat in the audience as a property owner. Mr. Sandwick of SS&M Co. was present , as were about JO property owners from the area who protested the rezone. Among those heard were Mr. Hammons , Mrs. Thatcher, Mr. Durand, Mr. John Fournier, Jr. , Mr. Raefus , Mrs. Payne , Mr. Clements and Mr. Bouldron. Durand stated that he understood there were plans to remove from 1 to 4 million yards of dirt from the site and that a contract for the same had 'been let . Mr. Sandwick stated there had been no contract let , but that development of the property included using some of the fill from the hill on the floor of the property. The City Attorney stated that in order to remove fill from the site a Conditional Exception from the Board of Adjustment was necessary, however, dirt could be moved around within the property boundaries freely. Residents of Hilltop Ave. ob- jected to heavy equipment using that street for access to the site. Mr. Sandwick stated he was not aware of this and that the practice would be halted immediately, that access was planned to be from the East Valley Highway. Sandwick displayed plans for the proposed development stating that accommodations for 500 mobile homes including adequate facilities for parks were scheduled. Ile further explained that the plans for the development provided that trailers would be replaced by apartment houses in 5 years. Property owners expressed concern over the. danger of slides if material was removed from the hillside. They further stated that this R-1 hilltop area should be preserved, as there was not much R-1 zoning remaining in the City. Strain moved to close the. hearing, Seconded by Woodworth. Motion carried. Woodworth moved to deny the request , seconded by Armstrong. Under discussion , several councilman opined that this whole area need not be zoned MHR, and that the lower portion would be sufficient . Mr. Sandwick stated that he would withdraw the request for MHR in favor of zoning which would allow 10 units of high rise apartment buildings per acre. The City Attorney advised that this would necessitate another application starting at the Planning Commission level. Woodworth' s motion passed unanimously upon roll call vote , with Durand abstaining. I Hancock & Tinnerman. The public hearing was opened on the application submitted by Hancock & Tinnerman for a rezone from R-1 to R-4 . It was noted that the Planning Commission recommends denial of the rezone . There were no Qbjections or comments from the floor and the hearing was closed by motion . Pozzi moved to uphold the Planning Commission ' s recommendation for reasons outlined in their report and to deny the rezone , - Buxton seconded, motion carried. James Welch. The public hearing was opened on the application submitted by James Welch for a rezone from C-1 to C-3. • It was noted that the Planning Commission recommends approval. There were no objections or comments from the floor and the hearing was closed by motion . Strain moved to approve the request for reasons outlined by the Planning Commission and for the City Attorney to draft the proper ordinance. Durand seconded, motion carried. Kent Center. The public hearing was opened on the Kent Center application for a rezone from M-A to M-1. It was noted that the Planning Commission recommends approval. Mr: Shutte of 24013 Military Road asked what the proposed plans were for the property but Mr. Herbert Reeve , repre- senting Kent Center stated that he did not wish to reveal these at this time. The public hearing was closed by motion. Pozzi moved to approve the rezone and for the City Attorney to draft the necessary ordinance. , Woodworth seconded, motion carried. Kent Highlands , Inc. The 'City Attorney explained that a hearing was to be held on the appeal filed against the Board of Adjustment 's decision to allow a sanitary land fill operation on property belonging to Kent Highlands , Inc. The City Attorney read Resolution 59 of the Board of Ad- justment , granting the Conditional Exception , and listing the provisions thereto. He then read a letter from Mr. Tollefson of the Dept . of Fisheries and Mr. Biggs of the Dept. of Came stating that hese departments were concerned over the proposal to establish a land fill in the canyon as this might cause leaching contamination to the fish. Another letter was read by Mr. Bereiter from Mr. Ehrlichman , Attorney for Griffen & Jensen , abutting property owners , advising that they are now in favor of the land fill and requesting that their names be removed from the list of objectors. The public hearing was declared open. Darrill Bastian , Attorney representing those protesting the Condi- tional Exception presented a petition to the clerk, stating that over 800 names were contained thereon. Mr. Bastian declared that the Board of Adjustment erred in granting the Conditional Exception , under two provisions of Ordi- nance 1390: 1) the Ordinance provides that the proposed fill site be "dangerous , useless , or wasteland" , and Bastian charged that the Board of Adjustment made no such findings in their report 2) Bastiin noted that Ordinance 1390 specified that any natural drainage will be preserved, and declared that the canyon is such a drainage area. He showed slides of the area involved and called upon several of his clients who protested the land fill on the grounds that it would attract rodents and sea gulls. Objectors also stated that it would bring much truck traffic to the area, estimated to be at the rate of one truck every 8 minutes. Mr. Glen Butler, a real estate appraiser, was introduced and stated that the proposed fill operation would damage the property values in the area. i i i Mr. James Curran , representing Kent Highlands read portions of the Shannon & Wilson report describing the character of the land, a copy of which is filed with the city. lie read a letter from W. H. Blecker, former owner of the site, in which he stated he had owned the land since 1935 , and had attempted. unsuccess- fully to farm the bottomland. He noted that the site was ex- tremely wet , making it necessary to ditch both sides of the canyon , to protect the property from water damage. He stated that the taxes which were $162.00 in 1935 were $150.00 in 1957 when. he sold it and that he still owned 22 lots of canyon view property, and was in favor of the proposed land fill. Curran then read a letter from St•oneway Concrete stating that the proposed site contains more than 6 times the required cover material , well within the limits specified by the city' s ordi- nance, thus eliminating the rodent and sea gull problem. Curran stated that provisions are made for protectin g,the drai.nags ,. through tiles , as is pointed out in the report . Mr. Murray, consulting engineer, stated that a meeting had been held with the State Dept. of Fisheries and that a letter of approval would be forthcoming from them. Curran summarized, stating that this site had never been productive for the owner br the community and that ample protection is provided in the Board of Adjustment Resolution #59. He stated that the trucks would not use the residential route. Iie noted that when the fill is completed, 21 acres will be donated to the city for park use. Mr. Fairbanks of Seattle Utility Dept . stated that in the 11 months of operation , figures for Site #1 show that 60% of the garbage deposited therein came from the valley area. Upon Durand' s motion , seconded by Mooney, the public hearing was closed. Pozzi moved that the decision of the Board of Ad- justment be upheld for the reasons outlined in their recommenda- tion and that the appeal therefore be denied. Woodworth seconded. Under discussion , upon being questioned, the City Attorney stated that there had been an allegation that there was a necessity for specific findings by the Board of Adjustment that the land in question was dangerous , useless or wasteland. I-Ie stated that he was not in a position at this time to render an opinion as to whether or not , 1) such a finding had or had not been made by the Board of Adjustment , 2) whether or not Ordinance 1390 required the Board of Adjustment to make such a finding and that he would require more time before he could render such an opinion. Durand asked Bereiter to give his opinion of Sec. 4 , Item l of the ordinance , pertaining to drainage. Bereiter noted that the intent was to preserve and protect , not to prohibit . Pozzi ' s motion carried upon the following roll call vote : Armstrong, Durand and Starin NAY, and Buxton , Mooney, Pozzi and Woodworth voting AYE. CONFERENCE A letter from the City Attorney was read requesting permission & to attend the Western Regional Traffic Court Conference at San CONVENTION Francisco from January 30 through February 3 , 1967. Woodworth so moved, Mooney seconded, motion carried. Strain 's motion seconded by Armstrong was passed', approving the following claims : End of ' 66 Bills Current Expense 9,419.85 Water 1,780.66 Street 13 , 104.57 Sewer 3 , 127.74 Garbage 6 ,176.52 Library 116.40 Park 1,441.83 LID 249 831.41 35 , 998.9$ Interest Bearing Warrants N. Kent Water Hill & Ingman 8 ,000.08 66 Sewer Constr. Issue II Daily Journal of Commerce 25.20 Mottner & McCutchen 43 ,882. 39 � i January Bills Current Expense 11 , 99o.65 Water 7o4.o6 Street 1, 131.73 Sewer 1 , 8o6.43 Garbage 2 ,022.25 Park 718. 32 Firemen R&P 195 .50 P Wash. 3339 59 186.00 7 7 MEETING ADJOURNED: 12 :45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, MAYOR Ma or Marie Jensen , City Clerk Alex Thornton , y I