City of Burien
BURIEN PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
January 8, 2002
6:30 to 9:00 p.m.
City Council Chambers
MINUTES
Planning Commission Members Present: Gerald Robison; Len Boscarine; Mickey Conlin; Douglas Rahn; Robert Simpson-Clark; Bruce White
Absent: None Robert Pierce, chair; Jon Newton; Kirsti Weaver
Others Present: Scott Greenberg, planning director; David Johanson, senior planner; Gerry Lindsay, recording secretary
Roll Call
Commissioner Simpson-Clark called the meeting to order at 6:38 p.m. Upon the call of the roll all commissioners were present with the exception of Commissioner Robison, who arrived at 6:56 p.m.; and Chair Pierce and Commissioners Weaver and Newton.
Agenda Confirmation
The agenda was confirmed by consensus.
Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes as submitted was made by Commissioner Boscarine. Second was by Commissioner Rahn and the motion carried unanimously.
Motion to approve the minutes as submitted was made by Commissioner Boscarine. Second was by Commissioner Rahn and the motion carried unanimously.
Public Comment
Mr. Robert Ramboll, 13724 10th Avenue S., said he understood from reading the minutes that the commission has already voted to recommend to the City Council acceptance of the SPA-4 area as a business park. He noted that the Port of Seattle has yet to identify which specific properties they will be buying out. As such, the commission’s recommended action is premature given that not all of the information is in hand. The Joint Advisory Committee has been studying the issue and has chosen not to make a recommendation because all information is not in yet. It appears the commission has just voted on their own opinion. The people who live in the SPA-4 area would rather not have an industrial zone anywhere near their homes. Any zoning decision by the City Council would negatively affect the local property owners. The Supreme Court will soon issue a ruling on some planning moratorium in the Lake Tahoe area where some people with property were denied the right to build a home by some planning agency in California. There is a question of property rights. Not one person on the Planning Commission, except for Chair Pierce, actually lives in the SPA-4 area, and his opinion is that the City should move forward with the business park idea. Chair Pierce should disqualify himself from any votes or opinions with the Planning Commission because he will be affected by the decision. Mr. Ramboll requested that the Planning Commission should decide whether or not Chair Pierce should be allowed to voice any opinion; his vote should be disqualified. The whole commission is unqualified to make any decisions about the area.
Mr. Bob Akimoto said he owns two homes in the SPA-4. One is at 901 S. 138th Street and the other is at 926 S. 137th Street. He said his life savings are tied up in those two homes. He said he would prefer that the Planning Commission take no action regarding the SPA-4 zoning. Many people in the area have lived there for a very long time. The neighborhood is quiet and peaceful and should remain so. The property owners do not want the threat of seeing their life savings go down the tube. The City should not be seeking to take away the property of citizens. Mr. Akimoto noted that during WWII his family was interned in a camp because they were Japanese-American; he said he volunteered for duty and was sent to fight in Italy. He said he has paid his dues and has earned the right to live where he wants to without threat of having it all taken away by the government. It appears that the City is trying to create a business park just to earn more tax dollars. The playing field is not level; all those who are voting are biased. He said he is so disturbed that he cannot sleep at night.
Commissioner Conlin asked Mr. Akimoto to explain how the City was trying to take his land and cause him financial harm. Mr. Akimoto answered that any home within a few blocks of the buy-out area will have a business park very close, and the neighborhood will no longer be quiet and peaceful. There will be much more traffic. Where there is now horse pasture there will be commercial buildings. No one wants to have a business right next door.
Commissioner Robison arrived.
Mr. Alfonso DeSimone, 13723 10th Avenue S., said he has lived in the neighborhood for 38 years and is not at all happy about someone all of a sudden telling him there will be businesses in his front yard. If that happens no one will be able to enjoy his or her retirement. The people in charge should look into it. The people who have lived there for a long time should be left alone. The City needs money but should not take it out of its citizens.
Speaking for a second time, Mr. Robert Ramboll noted that both Mr. Akimoto and Mr. DeSimone are neighbors of his. He said his property is right across the fence from what is now a horse pasture and what will become a business park. No one in the neighborhood has a For Sale sign on their house. Most in the area are older citizens and retired. He said that had he known that Burien would eventually want to take his house or zone him out of it he would never have bought it. The politics in Burien are predicated upon which way the wind blows. The wind should be blown the other way by having the Planning Commission recommend to the City Council that a decision be delayed until all of the information is in hand. Decisions should not be based on politics; rather, the politicians should ask the local residents what they would like to see happen.
Commissioner Simpson-Clark commented that the Planning Commission has made a recommendation to the City Council regarding those particulars over which it has jurisdiction. There are still two independent groups that will make recommendations to the City Council. The council will have the final say. Scott Greenberg, planning director, said the Joint Advisory Committee will meet again on January 29, and the Business and Economic Development Partnership will be meeting some time in February. Both groups could make a recommendation at their next meeting. Once that is done, the City Council’s General Government Committee will review the matter, then the full City Council will take up the issue and hold a public hearing. The initial work of the Planning Commission was completed when it formulated a recommendation to forward to the council. The final Environmental Impact Statement will likely be issued during January.
Continuing, Mr. Greenberg said the SPA-4 matter will be on the commission’s work program for 2002 to develop zoning and design requirements. However, that is predicated on the council voting in favor of the rezone. If the rezone is not done, the matter will not be on the commission’s work program.
Commissioner Robison indicated his appreciation of the concerns voiced by the residents. He allowed, however, that the concerns that were raised are based on entirely unfounded fears. For one thing, what is proposed will not produce new traffic going through the neighborhoods; any traffic in and out of any commercial development will gain access from Des Moines Memorial Drive South toward the freeway. There also will not be any huge buildings allowed. The focus has been on a business development, not an industrial park. Because of the airport any buildings will have to be low scale, and there will be setbacks, buffers and landscaping required. He suggested that the local residents should take a closer look at some of things that have been discussed and visit areas where similar types of development have occurred.
Mr. Ramboll said the position of the local residents is to just say no.
New Business
Mr. Greenberg announced that following the departure of Stephanie Beckman, David Johanson was promoted to the position of senior planner and will be staffing most commission meetings in the future.
Having distributed the projected 2002 Planning Commission calendar for review, Mr. Greenberg noted that the first item listed was the Northeast Special Planning Area Comprehensive Plan amendments and rezones. He said the assumption is that the recommendations of the Planning Commission, the Business and Economic Development Partnership and the Joint Advisory Committee will be before the General Government Committee and the City Council in the February-March timeframe.
The sign code matter will be taken up by the General Government Committee in the months of March and April, then the City Council will review the issue in May and June.
The commissioners were informed that for 2002 the commission will have five major work program items on its plate. The first will be zoning code amendments that should be relatively focused on housekeeping. The City is still operating under two zoning codes while work is progressing to fold them into only one. The focus will be on four chapters. Chapter 18.30 deals with density and dimensions. Chapter 18.35 is focused on design requirements and miscellaneous requirements. Chapter 18.80 deals with temporary uses. Chapter 18.105 includes criteria for dealing with temporary uses. Chapter 19.65, the chapter on process in the new code, includes a process for how to amend the Comprehensive Plan on an annual basis. Some minor changes in the timing, not the process, need to be made to be more closely aligned with the budget process. The problem is that the City Council approves the budget at the end of one year for the next year, yet requests for Comprehensive Plan amendments come forward during the first part of the next year. It is possible that a request for an amendment will require the hiring of consultants, but the budget will not have anticipated that extra expense. The timing needs to be revised to allow the Comprehensive Plan amendment requests to come in before the budget is adopted. The Planning Commission will have the Comprehensive Plan amendment items on its plate between February and April. The General Government Committee will see it in May and the City Council in June and July.
Toward the middle of the year the Northwest Burien Neighborhood Plan work will be restarted. Commissioner Newton is president of the Shorewood Community Club and was heavily involved in the process the first time around. The loss of Jeff Caines put the issue on hold for a time, but it remains a priority of the City Council.
The SPA-4 zoning and design standards work will come before the commission beginning in July provided the council elects to rezone all or some portion of the study area. The commission’s work should be wrapped up by August, and the General Government Committee and the City Council will take up the issue in September and October.
Mr. Greenberg said the critical areas update is mandated by state law and will be the issue that will take up most of the staff time and resources in 2002. All critical areas regulations and policies having to do with geologically hazardous areas, flood areas, critical aquifer recharge areas, wetlands and streams must be reviewed. The regulations and policies must all be based on best available science. Consultants will be hired to assist in the process, which will come before the commission in July, August and September.
At the request of the City Council and the City Manager, the City’s tree retention requirements also will be revisited. Several issues have arisen concerning the current regulations that were adopted in 1999 and 2000. Some clarifications need to be made, as well as an overall simplification of the requirements. The tree retention review will be folded in with the critical areas update.
Once the critical areas update work is completed, the state-mandated Comprehensive Plan review will kick off. Under state law, the Comprehensive Plan must be reviewed at least every five years. New population and employment projections must be added, though that in and of itself will not be a huge issue. The City’s current plan projects out to 2020 and the new state population projections reach out to 2022. From a quick analysis, it appears that there is plenty of zoned capacity in the City to accommodate two additional years of growth. The Comprehensive Plan also must fully comply with the Growth Management Act.
Commissioner Boscarine asked who would be representing the needs of the builders, developers and property owners throughout the review process. Mr. Greenberg said they will be made a part of the public process; all segments of the community will be involved.
Commissioner Boscarine said he wanted to make sure the rights of property owners will be represented to avoid another debacle like the Shoreline Management Act that the courts recently threw out and for which a great deal of City dollars were spent. Mr. Greenberg said all segments of the City will be involved in the process as it proceeds.
Commissioner Simpson-Clark said he saw nothing on the schedule relating to development standards. Mr. Greenberg said the development/subdivision standards issue is most generally focused on road standards. The standards are one thing that has been on the commission’s to-do list that there simply will not be time to tackle in 2002. The Public Works Department had started working with a consultant on the street standards. That work was progressing well until the earthquake hit in February 2001; since then the schedule has slipped.
David Johanson, senior planner, provided the commission with a quick update regarding the second phase of the Downtown Master Plan. He said the City has entered into a contract with the Pomegranate Center, a firm that specializes in community-based projects. The City also has hired Earling Mork, former city manager for the City of Tacoma, to serve as a temporary employee focused on the Master Plan. Mr. Mork was highly involved in the redevelopment activities along the waterfront in Tacoma and has a lot of experience with economic redevelopment. His role will be primarily advisory.
Mr. Johanson said the early indications are that some manner of public involvement will occur in early Spring 2002.
Commissioner Simpson-Clark asked if the Planning Commission would be involved in the development of design requirements for the Downtown Master Plan. Mr. Johanson answered that the downtown design guidelines already are in place. The Master Plan process will look at things like facilities in the downtown, arts and cultural aspects, and what should go where, the latter of which the commission might play a role.
Mr. Greenberg added that one important aspect will be the establishment of relationships between uses. For instance, the City has had several discussions with the Educational Service District about its need for additional meeting space. One approach might be to jointly develop meeting facilities that can be used by the ESD during the day and by the City Council at night; others also might be able to use the space. Other types of relationships are being investigated among various cultural and arts groups.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner Boscarine and seconded by Commissioner Robison. Commissioner Simpson-Clark adjourned the meeting at 7:43 p.m.
Approved:
Robert Pierce, chair
Planning Commission
Scott Greenberg, director
Community Development Department