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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council - Minutes - 02/21/1984 KENT, WASHINGTON February 21, 1984 Regular meeting of the Kent City Council was called to order at 7:00 o'clock p. m. by Mayor Hogan. Present: Mayor Hogan, Councilmembers Biteman, Johnson, Kelleher, Leahy and White, City Administrator Cushing, City Attorney DiJulio, Planning Director Harris, Public Works Director Wickstrom, and Finance Director McCarthy. Council.members Bailey and Woods were absent. Also pre- sent: Personnel Director Webby and Parks Director Wilson. Approximately 75 people were in attendance at the meeting. CONSENT J. JOHNSON MOVED to approve Consent Calendar CALENDAR Items A through M, with the exception of Item D, which was removed at the request of Kelleher, and Item H, which was removed at the request of White. Biteman seconded. Motion carried. MINUTES (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5A) Approval of Minutes. APPROVAL of the minutes of the regular Council meeting of February 6 , 1984 and the minutes of the Special Council Public Hearing held February 8 , 1984 at Totem Junior High School . COUNCIL (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5D) (REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF COUNCILMEMBER KELLEHER) Council Procedures. A resolution has been pre- pared setting forth the procedure governing City Council meetings . Kelleher noted that he had submitted a copy of some proposed changes to the Resolution. He MOVED to have this item delayed for one month, Biteman seconded. Motion carried. HEALTH & (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5K) SANITATION Sewer Franchise Boundary Amendment. ADOPTION of Resolution No. 1009 amending the sewer franchise boundary to include a parcel in the vicinity of 104th Avenue S.E. and S.E. 224th as approved on February 6 , 1984 . LID 315 ( 74th Avenue S. and S. 259th Streets Utility Extensions. This date has been set for the public hearing on the formation of Local Improvement District No. 315 ( 74th Avenue S. and S. 259th Street Utility Improvements. The City Clerk - 1 - February 21, 1984 HEALTH & has given the proper notice to the property owners. SANITATION Public Works Director Wickstrom described the project, noting that this area is zoned M-2 and the proposed LID includes full improvement of streets, including sanitary sewers, water mains, storm drains, storm reten- tion facilities, sidewalks on one side and street light- ing. Also included is a new intersection with SR 516 located just east of the SR 167 interchange. He noted that this included the Foster Plat approved some time ago. The actual LID amount is $1,133,293 and the final Declaration of Non-Significance on the Environmental Impact Statement has been received. Wickstrom noted that due to the magnitude of the project LID guarantees and escrow contracts will be executed by the owners of the Foster Industrial Park property prior to passage of the Ordinance to form the the LID. City funds are involved for oversizing the storm drainage system. It is anticipated that if approved the project would be completed in October, 1984. The public hearing was declared open by Mayor Hogan. No correspondence has been received. Bob Scholles stated his firm had been consultants for the Foster Plat approval and he spoke in favor of the project. There were no further comments and BITEMAN MOVED to close the public hearing, J. Johnson seconded. The motion carried. KELLEHER MOVED to direct the City Attorney to prepare the Ordinance to create LID 315, Biteman seconded, and the motion carried. STREETS (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5I) Green River Bridge Agreement. AUTHORIZATION for the Mayor to sign an agreement with King County for Kent's participation in the rebuild of the Green River Bridge on South Central and also to establish a fund therefor in the amount of $42 , 500 . The monies shall come from a transfer of anticipated unencumbered funds of the S. 180th Street Improvement Project Fund. The Public Works Committee has referred this matter to the Council for action and the Public Works Director recommends approval. (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5J) South 212th Street Interchange Agreement. AUTHORIZATION for the Mayor to sign an agree- ment with the State for returning to Kent a strip of land adjacent to S. 212th for main- tenance after construction of the S. 212th - 2 - February 21, 1984 STREETS and Valley Freeway Interchange project, as recommended by the Public Works Director and concurred with by the Public Works Committee. ( CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5H) (REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF COUNCILMEMBER WHITE) Comprehensive Street Maintenance Program. Upon White ' s question, Wickstrom explained the services to be performed by Seattle Engi- neering International , Inc. and it was determined that this was not an authorization for a study. WHITE MOVED to authorize the Mayor to sign an agreement with Seattle Engineering International , Inc. for the Comprehensive Street Maintenance Program, as recommended by the Public Works Director and conccurred with by the Public Works Committee. WATER (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5M) Water Impoundment Reservoir Condemnation. ADOPTION of Ordinance No. 2457 providing for condemnation proceedings for parcels 6 , 10 and 11 of the Water Impoundment Reservoir Site. WEST HILL Mayor Hogan noted that the following letters PLAN had been distributed to the Council , but had not yet been officially filed for the record: Letter from Nancy Rudy, received February 13 Letter from Lillie Pottsmith, received February 13 Letter from Gene Olsen, received February 21 J. JOHNSON MOVED to file the letters for the record, Leahy seconded. Motion carried. Mayor Hogan pointed out that a memo had been received tonight from Planning Director Harris, noting that the west Hill Plan will be discussed at the Council workshop of February 27 , 1984 . At that meeting, future dates should be set for consideration of the plan. POLICE (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5G) Jail Site Acquisition. AUTHORIZATION for the execution of the necessary documents to complete acquisition of the Myrtle Elliott property. 3 - February 21, 1984 POLICE (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5C) Police Department Safety Program. APPROVAL of the acceptance of a $400 donation from City Beverages to promote the Police Department Safety Education Program. FIRE (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5E) Contract with Fire District 37 (Fire Inspection) . AUTHORIZATION for the Mayor to sign an agreement with King County Fire District 37 whereby the City of Kent will perform inspections within the boundaries of Fire District 37 in accordance with the terms and provisions of the Uniform Fire Code. This matter was discussed at the February 13 workshop. (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5F) Fire Code - Sprinkler System Review. ADOPTION of Ordinance No. 2456 amending Ordinance No. 2434 (Chapter 13 . 02 . 040 of the Kent City Code) providing that all automatic sprinkler systems designed with 50 or more heads be submitted for review by an approved agency for compliance with the current adopted fire codes. This was presented at the February 13 workshop. HEARING The Mayor noted that a public hearing is scheduled EXAMINER/ for this meeting on utilizing the Hearing BOARD OF Examiner ' s office for the Board of Adjustment ADJUSTMENT functions. The matter was discussed at the workshop of January 23 and a memo from the �ity Attorney has been distributed. The Mayor noted that administration had made a recommenda- tion regarding the proposal and that the Chamber of Commerce had also made a study of the matter. Glen Votaw of the Chamber of Commerce said that the Chamber was in favor of maintaining the present system. He noted that the permit process might be expedited with the exception of those cases where both variances and conditional use permits were required for one project. He stated that this doesn' t occur often enough and would not justify elimination of the citizen committee. Votaw noted that it was also felt that the Board of Adjustment provides a source for local citizen participation in shaping the City. It was noted that some cases may require more legal interpretation but that ready access to an attorney would facilitate the Board' s decisions . 4 - February 21 , 1984 HEARING The public hearing was opened by Mayor Hogan. EXAMINER/ Steve Dowell, Christi Houser , Walter Flue and BOARD OF Beth Carroll were present, all Board of Adjust- ADJUSTMENT ment members. Dowell pointed out that it was important to have citizen involvement, referring specifically to comprehensive plans . He opined that the Board does give that involvement and concluded that he would like to see the Board continued. Houser, Flue and Carroll concurred, and all noted the importance of giving service to the community. Mayor Hogan noted that Phyllis Mauritsen who is also a member of the Board was unable to be in attendance tonight but that she had already made her comments on the subject at a workshop meeting. The Clerk noted that no correspondence had been received on the matter. Mayor Hogan clarified that the purpose of the . memo to the Council regarding the issue was to provide the most efficient and objective review of issues that come before the Board of Adjust- ment and suggested that the members of the Board had accomplished that over the years. She pointed out that utilizing the Hearing Examiner might possibly give a more objective view and also that the Examiner had been trained in addressing the pertinent issues. She opined that this would be a very efficient operation and noted that the current Board members could be placed as volun- teers on any number of Boards which need citizen input. J. JOHNSON MOVED that the public hearing be closed, Leahy seconded. Motion carried. Leahy noted that he agreed that citizen partici- pation was vitally important and should always be encouraged. He pointed out that as the Mayor had suggested/ there are many ways by which citizens can provide community input. He referred to the complexity of the land use issues because of the City' s growth, stating that this has put the Board of Adjustment in the unfair position of having to sit in a quasi-judicial capacity, sometimes without enough professional background in land use issues to properly address the issues in the most expeditious and most accurate manner. He clarified that he favored eliminating the Board of Adjustment in order to streamline the entire process and to preserve some of the City' s interests as well . Jim White noted that while he agreed with Leahy that sometimes the Board - 5 - February 21, 1984 HEARING of Adjustment deals with legal matters , he was EXAMINER/ in favor of retaining the Board and of giving BOARD OF new members training and orientation. He suggested ADJUSTMENT that the Board of Adjustment have access to legal counsel to enable them to be better advised so as to avoid problems . Biteman stated that opportunity for similar formal structure exists in both the Hearing Examiner process and in the Board of Adjustment process. He pointed out that through the Board of Adjustment we receive the combined experience and benefit from five members operating in the same fashion as the Hearing Examiner. Rather than one well-qualified judge, he felt that the five member Board of Adjustment should be maintained. He also suggested that if it was deemed necessary, the City should pro- vide the necessary training. DiJulio determined that no action was required if the Board was to continue as in the past. No action was taken by the Council. KING COUNTY Mayor Hogan noted that the Chamber of Commerce ECONOMIC had forwarded the resume ' of Milton H. Douglas ENTERPRISE and recommended that it be submitted for consid- CORPORATION eration as a board member on the King County Economic Enterprise Corporation. BITEMAN MOVED to support the Chamber' s recommendation and to submit the resume' . White seconded. Motion carried. PARKS Municipal Golf Course. Barney Wilson distributed PROPERTY a memo and a proposed ordinance approving the ACQUISITION purchase of property adjacent to the Municipal golf course for the purpose of enlarging the course. Kelleher stated that he thought that approval had been given at the February 6 meeting. He pointed out that at that meeting he had asked for a delay until the City ' s capital improvement needs and revenue sources could be reviewed, and that Wilson had stated that such delay would cost money. It was determined that the purchase agreement had been signed but that the ordinance was required to confirm the agreement. Cushing noted that the capital improvement needs would be available at the next workshop. JOHNSON MOVED to adopt Ordinance No. 2458 , approving the purchase of the real estate, and Leahy seconded. Johnson, Leahy, and White voted - 6 - February 21 , 1984 PARKS in favor, Biteman opposed and Kelleher abstained, PROPERTY and the motion did not pass. DiJulio explained ACQUISITION that passage of an ordinance required affirma- tive votes of the majority of the entire Council. He noted further that the purchase agreement re- quires approval within 10 days and although the Administrator had signed, it would not be valid without the ordinance. JOHNSON MOVED for a fifteen minute recess. Leahy seconded. Motion carried. Upon reconvening, JOHNSON MOVED to adopt Ordinance No. 2458 and Leahy seconded. Kelleher stated he still had the same concerns and that he was not comfortable voting on this measure without the information he had requested. He stated he wanted to compare the overall capital plans with the revenues. He noted that since the Council had gone on record in favor of this pur- chase by a majority, he would vote in favor of the motion. Biteman pointed out that he had opposed this purchase from the start because of insufficient information regarding the financing of the purchase and the loss of revenue involved by taking this property off the tax rolls. The motion carried with Biteman voting against it. PARKS Saturday Market. Wilson distributed a memo regarding the Saturday Market. He noted that he had assigned market activities to the Kent Commons , had hired a new market co-ordinator and had applied for State funding for an assistant. He proposed that the market be moved to 2nd Avenue between Meeker and Smith, and that the entertain- ment would be staged near Meeker where it should serve to connect the downtown business section with the market activities. He requested permis- sion to use this location on Saturdays from May 5th through October 13th from 8: 00 a.m. to 5: 00 p.m. He noted that the vendors were interested in participating in Cornucopia Days , so the dates of Friday, July 13 , and Sunday, July 15, would be included for market activities . Wilson noted that those Saturday market vendors participating in the Cornucopia events would get a special package for fees. BITEMAN MOVED to approve Wilson' s request and Leahy seconded. Upon Johnson' s ques- tion, White noted that the Parks Committee had discussed moving the market to the parking lot. Wilson stated he had met with the downtown mer- chants but had not met with the "Friends of the 7 - February 21 , 1984 PARKS Market. He stated that not everyone was in agreement with this location. Upon White' s question about the merchants , Wilson stated that Les Thomas of Blessings had some concerns about the location. Biteman favored the new location as having better access to ample parking. The motion carried. TRANSPORTATION This date has been set for the continuation of PLAN. the public hearing on the Transportation Plan. At the Februrary 6th Council meeting the goals and policies for the Transportation Plan and the Arterial Plan were reviewed. Councilmembers asked for clarification of several points per- taining to the arterial plan and these were dis- cussed at the workshop of February 13 . The public hearing was reopened by the Mayor. Jim Poston commented on the concerns expressed regarding the proposed S. 224th corridor. He clarified that the S curves on the Benson would be improved. Regarding the environmental con- cerns, he reported that the City' s consultant had examined the area and had determined that the road is feasible, but certainly would not be cheap or easy to build. He noted that it was true that the PSCOG model does assume that roads will be built in accordance with land use, how- ever, he noted that it would be irresponsible for the City to take the position that we would not build any roads until the congestion was to the point that it was intolerable. Poston noted that Mr. Baesman had prepared a model showing that traffic will increase 33 % in the next 15 to 20 years, whereas the Wilsey and Ham model shows an increase of anywhere from 100 to 146 %, Poston clarified that no model could predict traffic forecasts perfectly but noted that the PSCOG model is used by other agencies for economic and planning projections. Poston explained that the City is attempting to estimate the future traffic and at least start the process for traffic improvement now. He noted that if planning is deldyed, new corridors might be impossible in the future because of develop- ment which might occur. - 8 - February 21, 1984 TRANSPORTATION Mayor Hogan noted that copies of letters regard- PLAN ing truck traffic restrictions had been furnished to the Council . JOHNSON MOVED to file the letters from Alaska Shipping, FAM Industries, and NAPA Distribution for the record. Leahy seconded. Motion carried. Mayor Hogan also noted that she had received a call today from Metro Hauling ex- pressing similar concerns. Fritz Baesman, 10106 SE 224th Street, gave a pre- sentation on behalf of the South 224th Street Corridor Coalition. He noted that he had updated his model and that his forecast to the year 2000 now shows a traffic increase of approximately 40% instead of the 33% he had previously forecast. He noted that his earlier figures were from regression analysis and that he had used this method because it was the method used by Wilsey and Ham for their forecast. Baesman noted that he had used Washington Population Growth Factors and Kent Traffic Forecasts for the new model. Based on population increase of 26-28% by the year 2000, the corresponding traffic growth would be approximately 65%. Baesman noted that this was still a big difference from the 146% that was estimated by Wilsey and Ham. He con- cluded that the Wilsey and Ham figures assume 100% buildout of the available land by the year 2000 and that this was not realistic. He stated also that the PSCOG model was good for use for other types of planning such as location of libraries, waterlines and so forth, but it could not be used for predicting roads because of the assumptions used. Baesman suggested that realistic traffic forecasts showed that there is no need for the proposed 224th arterial . He pointed out that the coalition has demonstrated that the 224th corridor is not a suitable location for an arterial; referring to the seismic hazards, the unique and fragile nature of the area and the possibility of landslide hazards when vegetation was removed. He noted that Poston had stated in his letter to the Council dated February 10: "environmental factors may cause unusual construc- tion methods to be used, thus increasing the con- struction cost. " Baesman stated that the cost of I 9 - February 21, 1984 TRANSPORTATION the 224th corridor could be three times the Wilsey PLAN and Ham figure, pointing out that the State Depart- ment of Transportation listed the cost of South 277th at $46 million but that Wilsey and Ham had estimated it would cost $14 million. Baesman stated that it appears that South 224th was chosen as a proposed corridor simply because it was located between James Street and South 208th Street. Connie Huzar, 22401 100th Avenue S.E. , filed a report entitled "The Human Impact Factor in the 224th Corridor. She noted that her study took statistics from five families for the past five years, noting that these families were a cross section of the people who live in the 224th corridor. The study showed that the residents were voters and participated in church, school and community activities. She concluded that the coalition members were in attendance, not only becuase of the prospect of the street going through but were there also to show their involve- ment in all aspects of the community and to show that they cared what happened. Glen Votaw presented a letter from the Chamber of Commerce. He noted that the Chamber had reviewed the Transportation Plan, its goals and policies and the arterial plan. He stated that they felt that the City was taking the right step in develop- ing this sort of plan. He noted that they agreed with the goals and policies that have been set forth with the recommendations i'with only a few minor additions which were significant to the language but minor to the total project. Votaw stated that the Chamber supported the proposed arterial plan and that the planning portion of it was extremely important. Kelleher questioned Baesman with respect to his analysis on the traffic forecast and need situation. He noted that Baesman mentioned the fact that the PSCOG model uses transportation costs and the avail- ability of transportation as part of the input for its projections. He noted also that Baesman sug- gested a couple of alternate population forecasts, one about 40o and one about 60%. He asked whether - 10 - February 21, 1984 TRANSPORTATION they were just talking about a difference in the PLAN timing as to how long it will take before, we have r i February 21, 1984 TRANSPORTATION John Truesdale of S.E. 224th, noted that the en - PLAN tire plan did not have to be adopted and that the proposal for S. 224th could be eliminated and other desirable aspects retained. Upon Don Bogard's question, Poston noted that this plan was for major or arterial streets and that these plans must be made before collector streets could be laid out. Daphne Hyde stated that it appeared that the Wilsey and Ham recommendation was to have all three of the proposed corridors approved. Upon Kelleher's question on this, Poston stated that using Wilsey and Ham predictions, if the 224th corridor was not built, 208th and James Street would each have to be widened to six lanes, and perhaps the Benson would require six lanes in- stead of four. He clarified that the arterial plan could be modified in the future, before actual building began. White noted that we are asked to approve a program for roads to be built in the county and asked who would fund a study for the county roads. Poston noted that inter -agency cooperation was proposed for the county, Kent, Auburn and Renton. He noted that the county was now doing a sub -area update for this area and that some of our information would be included in the county's update. KELLEHER MOVED to continue the hearing to the March 5 meeting, at which time a review will be made of pedestrian, bicycle and truck elements, White seconded. Motion carried. KELLEHER MOVED that the goals and policies used to develop the Transportation Plan be approved and that the Arterial Plan developed therefrom be approved with the understanding, however, that the new east/west arterials noted therein be considered only as study corridors which implies their potential/but recognizes a need for addi- tional joint agency study and concurrence. Bite - man seconded. Leahy proposed to amend the motion and some discussion ensued relating to the modi- fications to the Goals and Policies suggested by the Chamber of Commerce. Poston clarified for Leahy that the motion would approve the Goals & - 12 - February 21, 1984 TRANSPORTATION Policies which guide the formation of the PLAN Transportation Plan. The motion then carried as stated. COUNCIL Public Safety Committee. Biteman noted that COMMITTEES the Public Safety Committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday, February 22nd had been cancelled. FINANCE (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5L) Request for Installment Payments - Charge -In - Lieu of Assessment - Perkins. As recommended by the Public Works Director and concurred with by the Public Works Committee, AUTHORIZATION for deferred payment of charge -in -lieu of assessment for property owner at 10305 S.E. 267th for water main connection in keeping with policy adopted by Resolution No. 975. (CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM 5B) Approval of Bills. APPROVAL of payment of the bills received through February 16, after audit- ing by the Finance Committee at its meeting at 4:00 p.m. on February 29. ADJOURNMENT JOHNSON MOVED to adjourn at 9:25 p.m., Leahy seconded, motion carried. The Council then met in executive session. -- Marie JbFisen, CC City Clerk - 13 -