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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Planning and Economic Development Committee - 03/07/1995 CITY OF 1 V\LE!J . l d CITY COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES March 7, 1995 4 : 00 PM Committee Members Present City Attorney' s Office Leona Orr, Chair Laurie Evezich Jon Johnson Tim Clark Other Citv Staff Planning Staff May Miller Bill Wolinski Margaret Porter Don Wickstrom Fred Satterstrom Kristin Langley Jim Harris NanSea Potts Other Guests Matthews Jackson Linda Phillips List Available on Request Kevin O'Neill DRAFT KENT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN #CPA-94-1 (L. Orr) Leona Orr, Chair of the City Council Planning Committee, called the public hearing to order at 4 . 00 p.m. Chair Orr introduced the Planning Committee members, Tim Clark and Jon Johnson. Chair Orr explained the progress to date of the Draft Kent Comprehensive Plan. She explained the intended procedures for today' s meeting. She stated that only individuals with new issues will be permitted to testify, and said each person would be allowed three to five minutes to speak. She said another meeting on April 4, 1995, is proposed before recommending the plan to the full Council, as deliberations will not conclude today. PUBLIC TESTIMONY Raymond Frey R. Frey and Associates 1075 Bellevue Way NE #117, Bellevue Mr. Frey submitted a petition signed by property owners and introduced new testimony concerning extension of the Comprehensive Plan designation previously recommended by the Planning Commission. The subject properties are located on the north side of James Street, from 1st Avenue to 5th Avenue . Mr. Frey asked the Committee to extend the Mixed Use or Commercial designation to include the signatory' s properties, instead of remaining designated Single Family Residential . He said the property is difficult to rent, and high traffic volume on James as reasons to change the designation. 1 CITY COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 7, 1995 Ernie Patty Andover Company 415 Baker Blvd, Tukwila Mr. Patty said he represents two individuals who invested in 4 . 5 acres known as "the old Orillia School" in 1971 which was previously zoned M-1 . He read a letter to the Committee asking for relaxation of the restrictions in this zone to allow full retail and drive-up windows as permitted uses in now the M-I (C) zoned parcel . Nancy Glaser Seattle solid Waste Utility Ms . Glaser stated that the Seattle Solid Waste Utility agrees with the Planning Commission' s recommended Comprehensive Plan designation of SF-6 for the Kent Highlands Landfill area. She outlined the environmental constraints pertaining to the property. She said the Utility and the City need to work together so as to allow Kent a wide range of affordable housing. Ramona Monroe 3600 One Union Square 600 University, Seattle Ms . Monroe testified on behalf of Michael Lotto, the owner of property on the north side of Southeast 240th, between 116th and 120th Avenues, in Kent' s potential annexation area. She said an operating commercial nursery is presently on the property. Ms . Monroe requested an urban level or low to medium density, multifamily development designation to go with the urban level of services for this area, and to remain consistent with the designation of the property in the King County Comprehensive Plan. She listed several reasons supporting the request including road improvements and availability of sewers. David Halinen 10500 NE 8th St #1900, Bellevue Mr. Halinen spoke on behalf of Joel Ross' request for an SF-2 designation of the 29 acre site in the Chestnut Ridge area. He read several goals and policies from the Housing and Land Use Elements of the Comprehensive Plan to support of the request for SF-2 . Mr. Halinen presented a chart of the proposed development site, indicating the critical areas . He stated the critical areas were irrelevant to the Comprehensive Plan designation as protection of these areas would be achieved at the time application was made to develop the site. He urged the Committee to approve an SF-2 designation, reminding them the Planning Commission had already recommended approval of an SF-3 designation. Emil Scarsella 11330 SE 240, Kent Mr. Scarsella said he was speaking in behalf of his parents, Sylvio and Teresa Scarsella, who reside at 11405 SE 240th Street . He said the intersection of 116th and 240th Street Southeast should be 2 CITY COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 7, 1995 designated Commercial . He outlined several reasons to support the request including the widening and improvement of 240th, existing small businesses, and the need for local services to the area. Bob Bauer Cascade Conservation League PO Box 58032, Seattle Mr. Bauer submitted two letters in response to staff' s response to denying an Agricultural designation for property located north of South 204th Street . He said staff' s recommendation for SF-1 designation is inconsistent with present and past land use. He submitted snapshots showing the water on the property. Chair Orr closed the public hearing. She said the next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 4th, from 4 : 00 to 6 :00 p.m. Chair Orr said staff will respond to the new testimony at that time . Fred Satterstrom, Planning Manager, said the staff report is a comprehensive consolidation of testimony and exhibits received from the February 14th public hearing, and additional exhibits received. He distributed a map of the Meridian Annexation Area reflecting technical corrections which will bring the City' s proposal into conformance with existing county zoning. Mr. Satterstrom said a brief discussion of the issues from the report will follow, and Committee members can ask questions concerning the issues . Policy Issues: Issue #1 Capital Facility Staffing - Why is it not included in the Capital Facilities Element? How will safety issues be addressed? Linda Phillips, Planner, said this issue is an information item, and explained the City' s procedure for staffing through capital facility project lists, completed by each department . The form includes equipment costs as well as staffing needs . She said these expenditure amounts are included in the annual budget requests which are approved by the City Council . Regarding increased demands for safety personnel due to annexations, Ms . Phillips said the City has an ongoing departmental needs assessment system which allows for staffing increases for areas needing additional staff . Issue # 2 Request to remove proposed property rights section from the Land Use element . Ms . Phillips said a requirement of the Growth Management Act is that cities include goals for respecting private property rights . She said the City added goals in its framework planning goals, which set policy for respecting private property rights . She said the City does support private property rights, but also supports the present system of land use regulation. The Comprehensive Plan also supports making changes to balance the needs of the community 3 CITY COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 7, 1995 and the needs of individual property owners . Possible alternatives would be cluster housing and lot size averaging. Ms . Phillips said staff supports the request to strike the proposed addition to the property rights section. Committee member Johnson offered to assist staff in drafting the language to address government down-zoning of private property, and clarifying arbitrary loss as opposed to discriminatory loss. Planning Committee member Johnson MOVED to delete the Planning Commission' s recommendation on property rights and recommend to the Council, with some modified language change which will be presented at the next meeting, regarding property rights in the framework policies . Planning Committee member Clark SECONDED the motion. Chair Orr clarified that the Committee is not making a recommendation as to the specific language, but will do so at the next meeting. The motion CARRIED unanimously. Issue #3 Overlap in Potential Annexation Area Boundaries Kevin O'Neill, Senior Planner, said the letter from the Cascade Conservation League' s letter is correct in stating Kent' s potential annexation boundary does overlap with Tukwila' s and SeaTac' s potential annexation area. He said that the Countywide Planning Policies discourage overlap of boundaries, and that Planning staff from the three cities were meeting to try to resolve this issues . Correction to the boundary may be completed before the plan goes to the full Council for consideration. When asked by Chair Orr what designation the other cities assigned ,for this area, Mr. O'Neill said SeaTac did not make a designation in their draft plan and that but the final plan has not arrived. Mr. O'Neill was not aware what Tukwila' s designation for the area was, and would report back to the Committee . Issue #4 Designation of Wetland and Critical Areas Mr. O'Neill responded to an inquiry made by Cascade Conservation League stating the wetland/Critical areas maps are incomplete. He said in 1990 and 1991, the City completed a comprehensive wetland inventory to update the critical areas regulations . Mr. O'Neill said during the course of developing the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Comprehensive Plan, the City became aware of the need to update this information both for the existing city limits and potential annexation areas . Policies in the Land Use Element support this effort . This project is underway as it is included in the Planning Departments' 1995 work program, and other departments are assisting with effort . 4 CITY COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 7, 1995 Issue #5 Adequacy of the City' s water supply plan. Don Wickstrom, Public Works Director, said the City has a water supply comprehensive plan which assesses the adequacy and development options to accommodate Kent' s future water needs . Originally developed in the early 1980' s, he said it was intended to span the needs for the next fifty years . He acknowledged impoundment of property which contained a substantial amount of wetland area, and said mitigation will be necessary on the impacts created. Chair Orr asked for a clarification if the City' s reservoir is inside the city limits of Kent . Mr. Wickstrom said a special state law allows annexation of property purchased for municipal purposes by a city. He said the project is proposed to be on line in the year 2008, and with a five year lead time, the reservoir project is in the City' s long range plans . Mapping Issues Site A 78th Avenue Properties Mr. Satterstrom said the testimony was divided for requests for agriculture or industrial zoning. He said this area is entirely in the County and zoned Agriculture. King County' s Comprehensive Plan also designates this area as agriculture. Upon inquiring with King County on the present status of their development rights purchase program, Mr. Satterstrom said they reported approximately $1 .4 million is still available, pending the King County Council' s authorization to spend it . Another $3 million was appropriated in the King County 1995 budget, making the total amount available to purchase development rights approximately $4 .5 million. Final determination of purchasing the 78th Avenue properties will be decided when certain conditions are met . A letter from King County Executive Gary Locke was read by Chair Orr which supported Mr. Satterstrom' s statements, stating recommendation of appropriation of the funds will be made by the Agricultural Commission by the end of the year. Committee member Johnson asked Mr. Satterstrom if this area had a suffix zoning attached which would allow for a higher use. Mr. Satterstrom said to his knowledge, the County discontinued the policy of assigning a potential zoning. Committee member Clark questioned consistency in Comprehensive Plan designations for adjacent parcels of land. Mr. Satterstrom said consistency is not an issue as the City and the County have the same proposed designation of Agriculture for this 75 acre area. 5 CITY COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 7, 1995 Action was deferred to the next meeting. Site B Matelich Property - Request for Commercial Designation Matthews Jackson, Planner, said this site is located between the Kent-Des Moines Road and Frager Road, and said staff' s recommendation remains agriculture. The issues supporting staff' s recommendation included the negative impact of increased traffic on Frager Road, existing surrounding agricultural land uses, and the precedence a commercial designation would set for future properties on Frager Road. Action was deferred to the next meeting. Site C Lands adjacent to agricultural area west of the Green River. Mr. O'Neill said additional testimony today from Ms . Glaser and Mr. Bauer was relevant to his response. He asked Chair Orr if the new testimony should be considered before staff responds . Chair Orr agreed and deferred Site C staff' s response until the next meeting. Site D Industrial designation for area on Russell Road designated as Open Space. Mr. O'Neill said due to a major Public Works project, a few parcels of private property adjacent to the project was designated as open space in the Comprehensive Plan. He said this should not be designated open space, and an Industrial designation would be more appropriate for this area. However, he said the area should not be zoned to a more intensive industrial designation then it has presently, due to its location and lack of sewers . Action on this deferred to the next meeting. Site E 2907 S 244th Ms . Phillips gave the background concerning this property, stating this property was zoned as Mobil Home Park, and their request for a commercial designation. Ms. Phillips said staff agrees this property should be zoned as the surrounding commercial properties . She said, after adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, the designation would be Mixed Use Limited Multifamily which would allow commercial uses . In response to Chair Orr' s question why the City couldn' t zone it commercial now, Ms . Phillips explained the term Mixed Use Limited Multifamily is a new designation which would blend commercial and residential uses . 6 CITY COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 7, 1995 Action was deferred until the next meeting. Site F Change in density for a 29 acre site between South 208th and 212th Streets, east of 92nd Avenue South. Mr. O'Neill deferred comments until further review of the new material presented. Site G Mixed Use Designation on West Hill Mr. O'Neill said this is a mapping issue as well as a policy issue . He said the recommended designation for West Hill, along Pacific Highway South is Mixed Use Limited Multifamily. He discussed the intent of the designation is to ensure stand-alone multifamily project would not be permitted, provides closer proximity of residential to services and jobs, utilization of the potential light rail transit system as well as helping to achieve the City' s housing target for the Comprehensive Plan. Action was deferred to the next meeting. Site H 240th and 116th Avenue SE - Request for Commercial Design Mr. Satterstrom said even though comments were given on this issue today, he wanted to make a few comments . He said testimony was received concerning each corner of the intersection, however only parcels west of 116th Avenue were located within the City limits . Property east of 116th is in unincorporated King County. Also, parcels south of 240th Street and east of 116th Avenue are in the proposed Meridian annexation area. Mr. Satterstrom said an SF-6 designation was recommended by staff and the Planning Commission. He said a couple of residential plats have been established in the area since Council adopted an amendment which allowed for a 20% reduction in multifamily housing east of 112th Avenue. To reinforce the interest for additional single family, Mr. Satterstrom said an application for a tentative subdivision was requested today for a location in this vicinity. He said additional comments will be made regarding this issue at the next meeting. Site I 256th Street at 127th Avenue - Request for Commercial Designation. Matthews Jackson explained the Comprehensive Plan designation for this property is SF-1 to 8, consistent with King County' s designation, and is within the potential Meridian annexation area. He said staff recommends not making designation changes in this area until the entire Comprehensive Plan and zoning update for this area is completed. 7 CITY COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 7, 1995 In response to Committee member Clark' s question whether there was anything to gain by zoning it now, Mr. Jackson said there was not, as there would be additional requests on other issues and properties to consider from the public hearings during the annexation process . Chair Orr requested staff to prepare a response to the new information received, and a brief report for previous issues discussed this afternoon for the April 4, 1995 Planning Committee meeting. She thanked the attendees for interest, input and time, and instructed them to forward additional comments in writing to the Committee within the next two weeks . She said she does not anticipate additional testimony at the April 4th meeting. Chair Orr adjourned the meeting at 5 :45 p.m. 8