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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Planning and Economic Development Committee - 02/04/1997 (3) CITY OF Jim White, Mayor CITY COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES February 4, 1997 Plannine Committee Members Present: City Attorney's Office Leona Orr, Chair Tom Brubaker Tim Clark Jon Johnson Other Planning Staff Mark Hinshaw Jim Harris, Planning Director Kevin O'Neill, Senior Planner Fred Satterstrom, Planning Manager Kim Marousek, Planning Intern Margaret Porter, Administrative Assistant III Teresa Beener, Administrative Secretary #ZCA-96-5 MIXED USE ZONING - (K. O'Neill) Senior Planner Kevin O'Neill explained that mixed use development is a mixture of residential and commercial uses together in the same building or on the same site. The concept of mixed use development in the City of Kent was first introduced in the 1989 Downtown Plan. The Comprehensive Plan which was adopted in 1995 established areas that were designated as mixed use. Mr. O'Neill explained that the area designated as mixed use on the east hill is limited in that residential development is only allowed when it is a part of a mixed use development. Stand alone residential development would be allowed outright in the other mixed use areas. Mr. O Neill stated that mixed use development is a new concept. The City hired a consultant, Mark Hinshaw, to help with the implementation. Mr. Hinshaw is an architect and an urban design and planning consultant. Consultant Mark Hinshaw explained that single district regulations have been dominant for the last 50 years. He stated that this makes it difficult to establish comfortable and compatible mixed uses. Mr.Hinshaw remarked that it is important to develop a certain character of development to eliminate the possibility of negative impact from the different uses. Mr. Hinshaw explained the different options the City has to establish mixed use development. The first option is to amend current zoning that exists in the mixed use areas to permit residential uses. The second option is to create a new zoning district,rezone all the areas, and develop a new set of rules to go by. The disadvantage to both those options is that we're assuming mixed use would be appropriate in all the areas. There are some established patterns in some of the areas that are not immediately conducive to residential living_ 220 4th AVE.SO. /KENT WASHINGTON 98032-5895/'TELEPHONE (206)5593300/PAX#859-3934 i City Council Planning Committee Minutes February 4, 1997 The third option which was approved by the Land Use and Planning Board was focused on the idea of creating overlay districts that introduce this concept, selectively apply it, and tailor it to areas that are more conducive to mixing commercial and residential uses. The development community can start to move in that direction. Mr. Hinshaw explained that in time the City could expand the overly district to cover more areas. Mr. Hinshaw stated that in order to promote mixed use development some key concepts had to be considered. One would be to eliminate the need for a conditional use permit. Developers are discouraged from initializing a mixed use development when there exists an uncertainty as to whether a conditional use permit would be approved or not. He also explained that establishing an incentive system to encourage adding residential uses to a commercial development. Mr. Hinshaw clarified that the "incentive"would in no way discourage stand alone commercial. Mixed uses allow for a greater efficiency in the use of parking. It's possible to have a reduction in parking requirements. Finally, the key concept is to add to the quality of the community, building a new form of neighborhood, a new choice of living. The best way to ensure a certain quality of development is . by establishing a layer of design guidelines and an administrative design review process. This would assure that as the new projects are proposed they go through a process of scrutiny and evaluation so you can tailor the development to fit the individual attributes of each project. Mr. Hinshaw described some of the key attributes of the proposed code. Establish two overlay districts. Overlay district A would incorporate the north and west of downtown and B would be the area on East Hill. As described in the Comprehensive Plan, overlay district A would allow multifamily development outright, either free standing, part of a commercial development, or part of a commercial building. However, overlay district B on the East Hill will not allow residential development unless it is proposed as a part of a mixed use development. Mr. Hinshaw explained the concept of floor area ratio (FAR) and gave an example of how the concept could be used to encourage mixed used development. Committee member Tim Clark questioned what would happen if a existing commercial development wanted to expand and added a guard shack to the property and called it a mixed use development. Mr. Hinshaw explained that the guardshack would have to fit the definition of what constitutes a resident. The addition of residential uses on a property would need to be significant to affect the amount of FAR that would be increased for the commercial component. Committee member Clark voiced his concern regarding intense traffic patterns during peak hours. • Mr. Hinshaw explained that there tends to be problems in very intense urban areas. The commercial traffic is generally the cause of peak hour congestion not so much the residential. 2 City Council Planning Committee Minutes February 4, 1997 Committee member Clark questioned the safety issue mixing residential uses that would bring families to commercial areas. Mr. Hinshaw explained that the residential uses would appeal to seniors, singles and young couples. He explained that it may be a long while before conventional families perceive this kind of environment for families. Committee member Clark questioned if there were any significant issues regarding insurance claims. Mr. Hinshaw explained that he wasn't aware of anything and asked Committee member Clark for an example. Committee member Clark explained that he was referring to robbery, cross use of plumbing facilities, security issues, fire hazards, etc. Mr.Hinshaw explained that mixed use will immediately trigger different sections of the building and fire code to be brought into play. He stated that developers will b* hit with a wrath of other applicable codes that are already in place. Mr. Hinshaw stated that he has heard a lot of evidence indicating that when uses are mixed together the crime tends to decrease in the area. He attributed the decrease in crime to having more eyes watching. • He explained the idea of a bonus program for establishing basic height limits and mitigating a greater allowance when the development adds specific amenities. Setbacks could be eliminated except to accommodate a front sidewalk or when the development is adjacent to a residential zone. A more complex parking standard could be developed to accommodate the overlapping uses. Mr. Hinshaw presented different sketches of possible development options. He displayed examples of the standard commercial building with surface parking, and ideas of mixing the different uses between separate buildings, as well as, on separate floors in the same building. Mr. O'Neill explained the proposed criteria to be used in designating the boundaries of the mixed use overlay areas. The criteria was outlined in the October 28 staff report. Mr. O'Neill stated that mixed use development is allowed at this time through a conditional use permit process. He explained that the overlay areas could be expanded if the mixed use development guidelines work in the smaller targeted areas. Planning Manager Fred Satterstrom explained that it was not clarified through the Land Use and Planning Board recommendation what to do with the existing conditional use permit that would allow mixed use development. Fred stated that it is staffs recommendation to eliminate the conditional use permit that would allow for mixed use outside of the overlay areas. • Chair Leona Orr questioned if requiring a conditional use permit delayed the application process. Fred explained that a conditional use permit does require the applicant to go through the Hearing Examiner process. 3 City Council Planning Committee Minutes February 4, 1997 Mr. O'Neill explained the following steps necessary to implement mixed use zoning: Amend the zoning code to implement a mixed use overlay boundary Amend the zoning code to allow mixed use development within the overlay. Limit the overlay area on East Hill so residential development would only be permitted as part of a mixed use development Amend the zoning code to adopt amended development standards within the designated mixed use overlay(FAR,building height,lot coverage,off-street parking, and set backs) Amend the zoning code to require that new development within the mixed use overlay be reviewed through an administrative design review process. Mr. Hinshaw presented a brief slide show displaying existing mixed use development from other local jurisdictions. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 4:58 p.m. • U:\D0C\PC0M\MINUTES\PCO2-4.MIN 4