HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council - Minutes - 10/29/1991 Kent, Washington
October 29, 1991
Special meeting of the Kent City Council was called to order at
7 : 00 p.m. by Mayor Kelleher. Present: Councilmembers Dowell,
Johnson, Mann, Orr, White and Woods, Assistant City Administra-
tor Hansen, Assistant City Attorney Brubaker, Planning Director
Harris, Public Works Director Wickstrom, Fire Chief Angelo,
Police Chief Crawford, Finance Director McCarthy and Personnel
Director Olson. Councilmember Houser, City Administrator Chow,
City Attorney Lubovich, Parks Director Wilson and Information
Services Director Spang were not in attendance. Approximately 30
people were at the meeting.
Mayor Kelleher noted that a Growth Management Review Program is
being carried out through City Administration and the Kent Plan-
ning Department. He noted that some of the growth management
issues have come about because of changes in State law which re-
quire that city and county governments coordinate their planning
better. He stated that some of the State laws are now forcing
city officials to do what should have been done all along. He
explained that if cities have a land use plan which says there
will be 10, 000 new residents in their community, they must also
have a plan for streets, sewers, water and other types of muni-
cipal services to accommodate 10, 000 residents. He noted that
this has not always been done, and the result is overburdened
schools, roads, parks and infrastructure system. He noted that
although the process will be a difficult one requiring hard
choices for the community, it is essential in planning for the
impacts that growth will have on the community.
Fred Satterstrom, Kent Planning Manager, explained that the Forum
Foundation is a non-profit educational research foundation which
initiated the community forum approach to citizen involvement.
He introduced Dick Spady, President; Jim Spady, Executive vice-
President; and Fawn Spady, Director of Development and Consult-
ing. He then explained that the first part of tonight' s meeting
will be an explanation of the community participation program and
the second part will be an informal hands-on opportunity to par-
ticipate in a community forum. He noted that the Forum Founda-
tion will lead participants through an actual forum process and
that the end result will be to determine the focus issues for a
growth management video.
Laurie Anderson of the Planning Department noted that one of the
things Planning has always tried to do is ensure public partici-
pation in their projects, but that there has not been good atten-
dance at public meetings. She added that one of Council ' s target
issues is to enhance citizen participation. She noted that the
City of Redmond has used the community forum method and that they
received input from over 400 citizens. She explained that the
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City would prepare an educational video on growth management, and
that they hope to get input tonight on the issues to target in
the video. She noted that once the video is prepared, it would
be used by citizen groups throughout the community who would then
complete a questionnaire within a certain time frame. The ques-
tionnaires would be returned to the Planning Department and the
results would be presented to Council. She also noted that part
of the proposed program involves a series of slides which help
people visualize what their community would look like in the next
20 years, which is helpful in land use planning.
Fawn Spady of the Forum Foundation distributed handouts and
explained that getting participation from citizens is a difficult
thing to do because everyone is so busy. She said that their
Fast Forum technique allows a large number of people living in
different areas to communicate easily. Dick Spady noted that in
his research he found that people had no constructive way to con-
tribute their opinions and that people are not apathetic, but
simply exhausted by previous efforts to get their ideas across.
He said most people feel going to meetings is a waste of time.
He has concluded that in addition to large meetings, there must
also be meetings of small groups at times and places that are
convenient to participants.
Fawn Spady then reviewed the Fast Forum technique as follows:
1) Use of audio, video or written material to educate par-
ticipants on the issue
2) People meet in small groups with one person organizing
the meeting and showing the video tape
3) People fill out an opinionnaire
4) Opinionnaire results are tabulated by computer and sum-
marized in a report
Spady explained the responsibilities of the people who partici-
pate as follows: to learn about the issues, contribute their
opinions, listen to the opinions of others, and respond to ques-
tions from community leaders. She then explained that after the
Council meeting is adjourned tonight, small groups will be formed
and participants will go through the forum process and discuss
the key issues in growth management and what the focus of the
growth management video should be. Opinionnaires will then be
filled out and the results will be available next week.
Laurie Anderson urged all who are interested to stay after the
meeting and participate. The Mayor adjourned the special meeting
at 7 :45 p.m. He noted that there would be a ten minute break,
and urged citizens to stay and give their input in the community
forum. � �
Brenda Jacober, CMC
Deputy City Cl rk
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