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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Economic and Community Development - 07/14/2014 (3) � KENT Wo ...... ECONOMIC & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES JULY 14, 2014 Committee Members Committee Chair Bill Boyce, Dennis Higgins, and Jim Berrios. Boyce called the meeting to order at 5:00 pm. Boyce announced that he had to leave the meeting at 5:45 pm. 1. Approval of Minutes Berrios Moved and Higgins Seconded a Motion to approve the Minutes of June 9, 2014. Motion PASSED 3-0. 2. Sound Transit Lona Ranae Plan Update Chelsea Levy from Sound Transit Government Relations gave an update on Sound Transit's Long Range Plan (LRP), intended to be the vision for future regional transit. Sound Transit is gathering comments on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS); comments and responses will be incorporated into the Final SEIS. The goal is to adopt the updated LRP by the end of the year. The comment period ended July 28, 2014. Sound Transit conducted public outreach through an e-mail list, website announcement, and flyers. Levy spoke about public feedback, next steps, the importance of adopting the plan by December 2014 and planning for ST-3 in early 2015 by the Sound Transit Board. The time frame for ST-3 is early November 2016. About 30-60 people have attended the project meetings. There have been good on-line responses and e-mail comments which support the planning work for the rail transit spine from Everett, Tacoma, and Bellevue. Informational Only 3. Olympic Skyline Condominiums Neiahborhood Council Resolution Adopt Neighborhood Program Coordinator Toni Azzola introduced the Olympic Skyline Community Director Lisa Giuffre. The Olympic Skyline community is located on Kent's East Hill and is situated to the east of 1001h Avenue S.E., to the north of S.E. 2361h Street, to the west of 102nd Avenue S.E., and to the south of Turnkey Park. The community consists of 108 households. Azzola stated that people have been camping on the residential parking lots and that the community's board of directors discussed setting up a block watch, which has not yet been acted on. Giuffre addressed community building efforts, and being more actively involved to make the community a better place. Higgins MOVED and Berrios SECONDED a Motion to recommend Council adopt the proposed resolution which recognizes the Olympic Skyline Condominiums Neighborhood Council, supports its community building efforts, and confers all opportunities offered by the City's Neighborhood Program. Motion PASSED 3-0. 4. Phase II Economic Development Plan Economic and Community Development (ECD) Director, Ben Wolters advised of edits from the previous draft of the Economic Development Plan. Staff is exploring opportunities to work with growing immigrant communities to help meet economic development goals. The section on Designation 4.1.5, Creating Advance Manufacturing Center was removed because the main concern is building collaborations to improve manufacturing companies or build upon the work of C.A.M.P.S. Wolters stated that he represents the City as the lead member of C.A.M.P.S. Boyce questioned what measurements are being used to determine when a goal is complete. Wolters advised that he would add a column in the quarterly report that speaks to the percentage of completion. ECDC Minutes July 14,2014 Page 1 of 3 MOTION: Jim Berrios MOVED and Dennis Higgins SECONDED the motion to recommend to the full City Council APPROVAL of the proposed Economic Development Plan for the City of Kent as prepared by Community Attributes International. Motion PASSED 3-0. S. SEPA Threshold State Legislative Update Principal Planner Matt Gilbert gave an update on the new rules related to the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) also known as environmental review. The SEPA process reviews the environmental impacts of a particular proposal or development. If environmental impacts are not addressed by existing regulations, conditions of approval may be added to the City's approval of a project. State legislators directed the Department of Ecology to update SEPA in 2012 and new SEPA rules took effect on May 10, 2014. Gilbert addressed threshold levels -- the amount of flexibility that jurisdictions are given to decide whether SEPA review is required. Nine times out of ten, there are no additional conditions needed for projects because the City determines that impacts are covered under existing regulations which have become very detailed. For that reason, the SEPA process has become less valuable to the City and more redundant to applicants. This provides opportunities for regulatory streamlining. With the Committee's concurrence, staff will bring a proposal forward at another meeting to raise thresholds so that fewer projects would need to go through the SEPA process. The SEPA process can take months to complete as the City must document notifications to the public, tribes and neighboring jurisdictions, determine what regulations are currently in place to cover environmental impacts of the project, and determine if conditions are needed to address impacts. If threshold levels are raised, it would save the City and the applicant time and money, and would streamline the process. Gilbert addressed categories where the SEPA threshold can change. A new threshold that Council may choose to adopt would be to eliminate the PM peak hour trip requirement currently handled by TIF. Under TIF, any new trips created by development incur an impact fee. The City could also consider SEPA exemption thresholds for a single family development with less than 30 units, multifamily less than 60 units, 30,000 square feet for commercial with less than 90 parking stalls, and 1,000 cubic yards of fill. Projects like the Amazon Warehouse, the Grandview Apartments, and the Levee projects would still go through SEPA as they are larger projects. Smaller projects that easily fall under code will not go through the SEPA process. If the City raised the threshold it would exempt around half of the projects that currently require SEPA review. Gilbert stated that he would report back to the Committee within 60 days. Informational Only 6. Comprehensive Plan Update Planning Services Manager Charlene Anderson discussed the Comprehensive Plan (CP) Update, including the public involvement, and documenting current conditions and trends. The update will include defining a vision, integrating that vision into the Land Use Element, and supporting the vision through Transportation, Capital facilities and public services. New planning initiatives also need to be incorporated into the update. One focus of the update is to make the Plan user friendly, relevant, and useful to the community. Furthermore, there will be consideration of measurements of successwith respect to the goals and policies in the Plan. Anderson spoke about effective implementation and new topics for consideration, such as healthy living, social equity, impacts on people of color and low income communities. Anderson anticipates adoption of the new CP by June 30, 2015. The CP will be processed through the Land Use and Planning Board, Economic and Community Development Committee and full City Council. Planner Gloria Gould-Wessen introduced the public outreach effort, stating that staff is reaching out through media and the website. Staff is working with Multimedia staff and ECDC Minutes July 14,2014 Page 2 of 3 communication officers to create the "Create Kent 2035; It's Your City" tagline. Gould- Wessen spoke about launching information through postcards stuffed into 2000 goody bags for the National Night Out event. She stated that business cards will be distributed at downtown concerts, concerts by the lake, and to neighborhood community groups. The survey and website will be available by August 5, 2014. The thrust of the outreach is based on the City Council's Strategic Plan and the branding effort. The public will be asked about economic and community development, housing, land use, parks, transportation and human services. The feedback will assist staff in understanding what people need in order to ensure a good quality of life in Kent, as well as what we are providing or lacking. Gould- Wessen touched on partnering with Futurewise to reach out to immigrant and refugee communities, to gain an understanding of their needs and definition of a good quality of life. The responses will assist in developing policies and goals in the Plan. Informational Only 7. Economic Development Update Economic and Community Development (ECD) Director Ben Wolters provided an update on the efforts to recruit new business. Wolters mentioned interest among health care providers for a new clinic in Kent and touched on the progression of the Amazon project in terms of construction. Wolters discussed moving along multiple fronts with regard to opportunities for sale of city properties to generate revenue. ECD received word from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that two sites being considered in Kent have passed the initial screening and have met requirements. The end of July is the deadline for submitting a preliminary proposal for the estimated 30 proposed sites around the region, including the two Kent sites. Permitting activity continues to increase and the Operations Committee approved the addition of both temporary staff and resource assistance for the ECD Department for the balance of this year, with one new Engineering Tech position for the Development Engineering Division. This will help the ECD Department catch up with the current work load and maintain the best level of service. There has been an increase of complaints related to lagging permits, and staff is working to address the issue. The primary lag is in residential areas with new plats and some commercial projects. Wolters spoke about the big projects of Grandview and Tarragon Phase III, advising that there is strong interest in Goodman's efforts to pre-lease the Platform. Grandview participated in the design review process for their project in the Midway area. They have been responsive to requests, guidance and direction in terms of design improvements. Wolters spoke about the new Trader Joes on 132nd and Kent Kangley, stating that new market interest is showing up. He stated that staff has stressed to the architect and owner of the shopping center that they should create a third place that can become a walkable destination. Wolters informed the Committee that downtown Meeker and First Avenue within the historic area, along with smaller businesses between Second and Fourth Avenues continue to struggle. Those areas will see a big boost as Airways Brewery moves along with their renovation, outdoor seating and patio space. Wolters spoke about new investments and opportunities that will generate new business as well as concerns raised by the Kent Downtown Partnership. Informational Only Adiournment Committee Member Higgins adjourned the meeting at 6:20 p.m. in Boyce's absence. Pamela Mottram, Secretary Economic & Community Development Committee P:\Planning\E DC\2014\Minutes\06-0g-14 Min.doc ECDC Minutes July 14,2014 Page 3 of 3