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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Economic and Community Development - 03/10/2014 1, 0 KENT ECONOMIC & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES March 10, 2014 Committee Members Committee Chair Bill Boyce, Dennis Higgins, and Jim Berrios. Boyce called the special meeting to order at 5:30 pm. 1. Approval of Minutes Higgins Moved and Berrios Seconded a Motion to approve the Minutes of February 10, 2014. Motion PASSED 3-0. 2. Possible Par 3 Development-Entitlement Process Economic & Community Development Director Ben Wolters stated that City Council discussed pursuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for private management of the golf complex as one pathway to deal with the financial and operational challenges. Council expressed interest in examining criteria to guide future development. Staff is prepared to discuss regulatory and land use changes that would be necessary should there be a future decision to sell the site and to ensure that it is the type of development Kent seeks. A development contract tied to the sale of the property where both the regulatory and the contract approach would be used would be one way to ensure that Kent has a development that meets the communities' aspirations. Wolters stated that it will take staff six months to prepare regulations and entitlements for the types of development Council is interested in and that would generate the price for the property that meets Kent's financial goals and expectations for preserving the golf complex over the next 25 years. Having entitlements and regulations in place in advance of any potential sale shortens the timeline of any future development. Planning Director Fred Satterstrom stated that the Par 3 Golf Course is a challenging site. The current comprehensive plan land use is designated Open Space and the zoning is designated SR-1/Single Family Residential - which does not allow for commercial, multifamily, mixed use or residential development in an intensive sort of urban setting as envisioned by Council. Staff proposes changing the land use designation from Open Space and Medium Density Multifamily to a Mixed-Use land use designation to allow for a variety of development uses. Satterstrom stated that redevelopment first requires comprehensive plan land use and zoning designation amendments. To proceed outside the normal comprehensive plan cycle requires a resolution authorized by Council and includes a public process with SEPA review, 60-day notification to the State of any proposed amendments, workshops and hearings before the Land Use and Planning Board (LUPB), consideration of the LUPB recommendation by the Economic and Community Development Committee (ECDC), then on to City Council. Staff estimates a five to six month completion timeline. Satterstrom stated while crafting the Downtown Subarea Action Plan (DSAP) and expanding the downtown boundaries west of SR-167; staff rediscovered a Green River Corridor District Code (GRCDC) requirement that applies to all lands within 1000 feet of the Green River and affects portions of the downtown planning area within those 1000 feet. Although height limits were increased to 65 feet within the 1000 foot area, they are not permitted and will be addressed as a code amendment to effectuate that taller building envelope in the new downtown plan. Wolters stated that the GRCDC is a vestige of how the city used to regulate the riverside environment. This regulation became moot when Kent passed the Critical Areas Ordinance. Wolters addressed questions concerning replacement of the bridge on the Par 3 site were it developed. Staff will return to Committee in April with a comp plan amendment resolution to pursue this outside of the normal calendar cycle. Informational Only ECDC Minutes March 10,2014 Page 1 of 3. Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) Extension Satterstrom stated that Kent's Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) Ordinance is basically an eight year property tax exemption for multifamily market rate rental housing and applies to multifamily units being built in the residentially targeted area of downtown. The local portion of the property taxes that apply to the improvement value of the residences themselves may be exempted for a period of 8 years. Kent has had a MFTE in downtown since 1998. Council passed an ordinance in 2009 extending the MFTE from condominiums to multifamily rentals for developments with a minimum of 30 units. The ordinance had a five-year sunset clause due to expire in June 2014. Staff recommends extending the exemption for five years which would also address one of the DSAP actions to expand residential development incentives. Satterstrom stated that the recently adopted DSAP extended the MFTE area to the west side of 167 and allowed Mixed-Use in that area. Council would have the option of including that area. He stated that based on recent Planned Action Ordinance (PAO) action in North Park; the MFTE would incentivize development in the MRT-16 area. Satterstrom addressed parking requirements, stating that existing ordinance requires that all residential parking be structured. Staff is evaluating requirements to determine whether or not there should be some flexibility built into what required parking should be. Wolters stated that the theory behind the tax exemption is to incentivize the type of transit oriented development that we are seeking in downtown. Factors in the marketplace that have put pressure on future developments include a 25 percent increase in construction costs throughout the region which the tax exemption would help defray. The tax exemption is a tool that other jurisdictions have used with some success. The Committee spoke in favor of a five year tax exemption extension, not expanding the exemption to encompass the whole DSAP area and maintaining the structural parking requirements. Satterstrom stated that this would be an action item brought before the Committee in April. Informational Only 4. ShoWare SMG Contract Wolters stated that staff took this item to the Operations Committee to seek direction on how to proceed with the management contract for ShoWare. The five year agreement and contract with SMG expires at years end. Staff recommends negotiating a new contract with SMG while preserving the option should we not reach terms acceptable to the city, to entertain submitting a Request for Proposal (RFP) the second half of this year. Wolters stated that as contract administrator he recommends that the City rebuild on what SMG has done over the last five years and on the momentum they developed in the market place for our building and see if Kent can reach similar favorable terms as was negotiated at the time of the two year extension; where the City received a 48 percent reduction in management fees and an extension of a no-interest capital equipment loan. The Operations Committee was in agreement with staff's recommendation. Wolters questioned if the Committee would consider a term longer than five years that would tie into a significant capital investment by SMG back into the ShoWare Center. Wolters stated that he will explore a variety of contractual structures with the end goal to obtain an agreement that would be most favorable for the future of the building. As negotiations move forward, the Committee and Mayor will be kept informed. Informational Only S. Downtown Design Guidelines (DDG) Update Planner Gloria Gould-Wessen stated that the update of the DDG fits with the Council's strategic goal of beautifying Kent and is part of the DSAP passed in December. One of the DSAP's actions items within the Urban Design Section applied appropriate downtown design guidelines and updated development standards to downtown consistent with the vision. ECDC Minutes March 10,2014 Page 2 of Gould-Wessen directed the audience to the 'venturedowntownkent.org' website for further information. The DDG was established in 1992, supports the downtown plan established in 1989, and was updated in September 2000. The current version of the DDG incorporates multifamily and mixed use design review. The reformatted guidelines have been updated for clarity, brevity and consistency. Staff expanded the boundaries of the downtown urban center west of SR-167, further north of James along Central Avenue. Those areas are included in the design guidelines to ensure pedestrian friendliness, good quality new construction and beautiful designs in the future. Gould-Wessen described key elements of the DDGs which included: site planning, landscaping, site design, and building design. Part of building design is considering historic buildings, making sure that special details are brought forward so that new construction is compatible with the city's historic buildings. A series of workshops and hearings will be held before the LUPB in April or May. Staff anticipates bringing this item back to Committee by July than onto the Council for adoption. Informational Only 6. Sound Transit Federal Way Link Light Rail Extension Planning Planning Manager Charlene Anderson stated that this discussion would be a continuation from the last meeting where staff spoke about five guiding principles and nine best practices described in Bellevue's light rail best practices report. Sound Transit (ST) is currently working to complete the Draft Environmental Impact Statement scheduled to be issued later this year. Staff has been scheduling meetings with Bellevue and Tukwila in order to gain more knowledge about their experience in light rail projects. Additionally, Kent staff is included in an interagency working group with ST, several other agencies and jurisdictions to comment on process and materials being generated for the South Corridor light rail extension project. The last interagency working group meeting was held February 241h and reviewed ST's public outreach schedule and discussed their transit-oriented development (TOD) scope of work. Sound Transit has an internal TOD division, and it is important that Kent ensures the work we have done in the Midway area related to TOD is supported in Sound Transit's light rail project. Anderson described the action strategies included with Bellevue's nine best practices and spoke about the code and comp plan amendments generated by both Bellevue and SeaTac. Anderson spoke about the importance of the light rail system stations becoming valued community places. She stated that Kent would likely want to execute a development agreement with ST similar to what Bellevue and SeaTac have done to solidify Kent's expectations, ST's expectations, and the obligations of both parties. She spoke about maintaining a collaborative relationship with ST and the importance of public involvement. She spoke about how the multimodal transportation systems and connections must be clearly marked and how the stations must be well integrated with street connections in the Midway area. Anderson spoke to issues related to construction and operation and the need for mitigating impacts related to noise, vibration, train headlights and shadowing. SeaTac was able to procure two civil engineers and a permit coordinator from ST to review plans. Staff or Sound Transit will continue to brief the committee on concerns and questions related to light rail impacts. The impetus behind these updates is to prepare staff and council to be able to respond to the Draft EIS when it is issued later this year. Furthermore, ST has offered City Council members a tour of the rail line and construction site underway at South 2001h Street - the Angle Lake station. Anderson directed the Committee to contact Satwinder Kaur or herself to arrange a tour. Informational Only ECDC Minutes March 10,2014 Page 3 of 7. Branding/Marketing Kent Wolters stated that a branding and marketing consultant Annette Muldrow and Associates led a three-day exercise, held five focus group meetings, leading to the development of a brand statement and tag line. The work was conducted under the auspices of the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) who has moved towards a new strategy with a focus on promoting Kent, as opposed to just being part of the South County marketing efforts lead primarily by Seattle South Side. There is a desire to market Kent's identity positively and proactively for travel, tourism and economic development purposes. Kent Downtown Partnership and Kent Chamber of Commerce have participated in this effort. Next steps include licensing and trademarking to protect the logo and tagline that begins at the time of use. Staff is exploring options for using the logo and tagline constructively; such as starting a website or designing city letterhead, than using those tools as promotional opportunities. The City retained the Curran Law Group to guide the City through the trademark process. This item will go before City Council at their March 181h workshop to further determine what Council is seeking. Staff established a contract with the Genesis Marketing Group (GMG), directed by the LTAC, to develop steps for implementing a broader marketing and branding campaign for the purposes of tourism, travel and business development. The GMG begun preliminary work to identify and purchase potential website names to serve as a basis for any kind of marketing and branding campaign. The Mayor asked staff to ensure that the logo shape and design doesn't hold negative connotations for other cultures due to the variety of ethnic communities in Kent. Anyone is welcome to go to Kent's website which will direct them to a video of the presentation given by Arnette Muldrow, which captures how their group came to embody the positive attributes and direction that Kent wants to go. Informational Only S. Platting Activity Status Wolters stated that Kent went through a disruptive time with national recessions causing a housing market collapse but Kent is now seeing the results of resurgence in development. The Residential Design Guidelines (RDG) adopted in 2007 may be updated in the near future. Staff applied those guidelines for the first time this year as all prior development were for plats grandfathered under the old standards. Principal Planner Matt Gilbert stated that single family residential development does not represent the majority of development projects within Kent but are the most time intensive, using over fifty percent of staff time. Staff works closely with land owners, engineers and land developers in the early stages of their development. Other staff works with homebuilders from the permitting to the building of the home. Staff utilizes code that is predominately applied statewide. When analyzing land use applications, staff applies Kent specific codes related to street standards, wetland standards, and zoning. Engineers conduct cost analysis with developers on every nine lot short plat project. Owners and developers may invest from $600,000 to $700,000 dollars to develop their property, leading to detailed questions of the staff before committing their money. Staff will discuss conditions of approval, how to address existing conditions, how to tie streets and utilities together, and how to ensure that neighboring communities are not impacted by new development. Staff passes their recommendations on to the hearing examiner or the short plat committee for a list of requirements that go with any land development and whether or not it should be approved. Gilbert stated that the development pipeline captures the history of Plats and Short Plats. Short plat approvals are good for four years and long plats for eleven years. The pipeline informs staff of what is out there, what they are working on, and what they can expect to work on later. From a real estate perspective, the pipeline gives staff an idea of the supply of lots that are out there. Seventy-eight projects exist on East Hill. Forty-five of those projects are active with twenty-four projects guided by new residential standards. Kent received 167 permits in 2008, averaging 230 new home permits over the last twelve years, ECDC Minutes March 10,2014 Page 4 of indicating a continued demand for housing in Kent and that the market is fairly consistent in absorbing lots that are created. Informational Only 9. Economic Development Report Update Wolters stated that he participated in a business networking function at the Puget Sound Business Park (PSBP) an older industrial park located northwest of 2121h and East Valley Highway. The PSBP recently came under new ownership and is being renovated, a model that Kent hopes to emulate where larger spaces are redeveloped into smaller more flexible spaces responding to the market. Eleven businesses attended this function. Staff held follow-up meetings with three businesses that plan to expand their businesses in Kent. Staff used this function to promote the T-Birds; who gave away a suite as part of a drawing which drew additional interest from two other parties for suites for the upcoming playoffs. Staff toured the Platform development project with George Petrie the President and CEO of Goodman Real Estate which is making good progress. The developer is looking at late summer for their opening. Staff has been involved for over a year in a process to recruit a major aerospace company to Kent that would employ as many as 100 people. Wolters stated that he will be speaking to this soon. Wolters stated that he believes IDS, developer of the Boeing surplus properties, is close to signing an agreement with a major tenant and he is hopeful that by next month staff will be able to speak to this more broadly in the community. Informational Only Adiournment Committee Member Boyce adjourned the meeting at 7:20 p.m. Pamela Mottram, Secretary Economic & Community Development Committee P'VPlanningAECDCA2014\MinutesV02-10 P'VPlenningAECDCA2014eMnu@sV03-10-14 Mn.dc 14 Mn.dm ECDC Minutes March 10,2014 Page 5 of