Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council Workshop - Regular Minutes - 03/16/2021 Approved City Council Workshop Workshop Regular Meeting Minutes March 16, 2021 Date: March 16, 2021 Time: 5:02 p.m. Place: THIS IS A REMOTE MEETING I. CALL TO ORDER Council President Troutner called the meeting to order. Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Toni Troutner Council President Present Bill Boyce Councilmember Present Brenda Fincher Councilmember Present Satwinder Kaur Councilmember Present Marli Larimer Councilmember Present Zandria Michaud Councilmember Present Les Thomas Councilmember Present Dana Ralph Mayor Present II. PRESENTATIONS 1 Kent Housing Options Plan Hayley Bonsteel 45 MIN. Kaelene Nobis Long Range Planning Manager, Hayley Bonsteel and Planner, Kaelene Nobis provided Council with an update on the Kent Housing Options Plan (KHOP). The KHOP has eight chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Gathering Data about Housing Needs Chapter 3: Housing Policy Analysis Chapter 4: Community and Stakeholder Engagement Chapter 5: Evaluating and Prioritizing Housing Strategies Chapter 6: Funding Mechanisms Chapter 7: Strategic Policy Objectives and Actions Chapter 8: Implementation Plan Bonsteel and Nobis reviewed results of the community and stakeholder engagement public meetings, survey and focus groups. One of the focus groups was with area youth. What we have heard so far is that the public has a lot of interest in townhomes, cottages, duplexes and ADUs. Many wanted the City to prioritize homeownership in addition to more affordable rental housing. There is a high level if intervention required on behalf of the City to promote ownership City Council Workshop Workshop Regular March 16, 2021 Meeting Kent, Washington Minutes options. This would look like enabling more duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes that are more common to be condominium/ ownership opportunity. Feedback included concerns with permitting barriers and code barriers and a general split amongst those who wanted more and less design requirements. The unintentional effect of too strong of design regulations can be material costs, and construction costs no longer pencil, and the project might not be completed. A focus group with Kent Community Development Collaborative (KCDC) was held on February 19, 2021. KCDC is comprised of seven organizations that are focused on equitable community development and supporting communities of color, immigrants, refugees, and low-income residents in an advocacy capacity. The presentation focused on the role of government in housing and potential strategies to address increased housing capacity, as with the organization for future engagement opportunities. Bonsteel discussed Chapter 5: Evaluating and Prioritizing Housing Strategies. Staff took the four recommended policy areas and recommended actions from SoKiHo and then expanded on them in KHOP as a jumping off point to establish our own strategic policy objectives and actions, which staff will bring back to the Council for discussion. SoKiHo work identified 4 areas of focus, each with a series of strategies beneath those. Staff reviewed these them as a starting point, and the re prioritized them into High-Priority Near term, Medium/Medium, and Low priority/ Long term, and Existing/ Continual Improvement as follows: Near-Term High-Priority: · Updated Mobile Home Park Preservation Policy · Multi-Family Development Code Calibration · Middle Housing Zoning Code · Redefine ADU Code · Evaluate, encourage and expand TOD near the I-Line Medium-Term Medium Priority: · Preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing · Culturally specific support · Tenant protections · Middle housing incentives · Reduced parking requirements Page 2 of 4 City Council Workshop Workshop Regular March 16, 2021 Meeting Kent, Washington Minutes Long-Term Low Priority: · Establishment of revolving loan fund for preservation and affordable housing · Other funding mechanisms for affordable housing production · Density bonuses Existing/Continual Improvement · Rental housing inspection program · Transit Oriented Development in downtown and Midway · Capital plan alignment · Multi-family tax exemption The next steps for the KHOP are to conduct an internal review, incorporating comments and getting the Mobile Home Park study results in April. Publish for the public to review in April. Return to the April 20th City Council workshop, hold a public hearing, return to a Committee of the Whole in May and then bring to the Council for adoption in June. 2 Sound Transit Operations and Mark Howlett 30 MIN. Maintenance Facility - South Sound Transit Staff Engineering Supervisor, Mark Howlett introduced South Corridor Government and Community Relations Manager, Andrew Austin, Project Director, Curvie Hawkins and South Corridor Development Director Chelsea Levy who then provided Council with an update on the Sound Transit Operations and Hawkins detailed the Operations and Maintenance Facility South Environmental Impact Statement Findings and the draft EIS evaluation process. The OMF South is included in the Sound Transit 3 Plan, is one of four OMFs planned for the region, will store 144 light rail vehicles, location and size supports light rail expansion in multiple corridors, and will create living-wage jobs for over 470 people. Hawkins provided details and key features of the Draft EIS evaluation of thth three sites: Midway Landfill, South 336 Street and South 344 Street. Hawkins discussed the job creation that the OMF South will create and the various new positions that will be available. He also discussed at length what was studied during the environmental review including transportation impacts, the natural environment as well as the built environment. Information was provided on the OMF South Environmental Review Milestones and how and when there are opportunities for public comment on Page 3 of 4 City Council Workshop Workshop Regular March 16, 2021 Meeting Kent, Washington Minutes the project. Meeting ended at 6:29 p.m. Kimberley A. Komoto City Clerk Page 4 of 4 OMMUNITY ESULTS NGAGEMENT TAKEHOLDER C AND SER Focus Groups Survey Public Meeting ROGRAM P IDWAY M AND XEMPTION E NSPECTION I AX T ALIGNMENT OWNTOWN OUSING PLAN D H FAMILY - IN ULTI ENTAL APITAL RTOD CM / XISTING ONTINUAL E C MPROVEMENT plan - options - housing - OME Kaelene Nobis, AICP Long Range Planner H Knobis@kentwa.gov OF planning/kent UTURE - F THE business/city - HAPING S ! Hayley Bonsteel, AICP Hbonsteel@kentwa.gov Long Range Planning Manager YOU HANK T https://www.kentwa.gov/doing Facility South Operations and Maintenance – Key Features Three Site Alternatives Site Comparisons & Differences Draft Environmental Impact Statement Way Sites Mainline Information for Federal & Public Outreach Environmental Review Timeline