City of Burien
BURIEN PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
August 26, 2003
7:00 p.m.
City Council Chambers
MINUTES
Planning Commission Members Present: Robert Simpson-Clark, chair; Jon Newton, Douglas Rahn, Janet Shull, Barbara Williams
Absent: Bonnie Isenberg, Rebecca McInteer
Others Present: Scott Greenberg, planning director; David Johanson, senior planner; Pat Smith, planner; Kirsten Pennington, planner; Jon Sondergaard, Associated Earth Sciences Inc.; Lloyd Skinner, Adolfson and Associates; Nancy Bird, EDAW; Mark Greenig, EDAW; Mark Personius, affiliated with EDAW; Gerry Lindsay, minutes taker
Chair Simpson-Clark called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Upon the call of the roll all commissioners were present with the exception of Commissioners Isenberg and McInteer.
Agenda Confirmation
The agenda was approved by consensus.
Approval of Minutes
A. August 12, 2003
Motion to approve the minutes as submitted was made by Commissioner Newton. Second was by Commissioner Shull and the motion carried unanimously.
Public Comment
Mr. Gary Hoffman, South King County manager, Master Builders Association, called attention to the section of the proposed critical areas ordinance that allows a 100 percent increase in the wetland buffer. He provided the commissioners with copies of a letter in which he outlined alternatives that have been implemented in Snohomish County.
Commissioner Newton asked if the areas in Snohomish County are as urbanized as Burien. Mr. Hoffman allowed that they are not.
Mr. Robert Ramboll, 13724 10th Avenue South, said he has followed the process of planning for the Northeast Special Planning Area since its inception in about 1995. There were approximately six or seven big property owners in the area who sought commercial zoning for their properties. The business park will never come to be. The Port is going to buy out most of the property in the transitional approach zone, which includes a large portion of the business park area. If the Port owns the property it will have a big say over what goes on there regardless of what the City Council decides. The city is wrong to attempt to rezone single family homes to business park without the express permission of the property owners. The majority of the property owners have small properties and are older people. The Port has paid to insulate a number of homes, and nothing was said about having to move out. The owner of each home that was insulated had to sign a paper agreeing to having airplanes fly overhead. The third runway is going to be built no matter what, so all the money being spent to fight it is being wasted. The City is pushing aside the little property owners because it wants the revenues from warehouse businesses.
Old Business
A. Discussion and Recommendation to City Council on Transportation Element
Kirsten Pennington, transportation planner, briefly reviewed the proposed policy document updates as outlined in the staff memo.
Chair Simpson-Clark noted that commission previously asked if the level of service (LOS) standards need to be raised as high as proposed, especially for 1st Avenue, SR-509 and SR-518. Ms. Pennington said the proposal would relax the LOS from D to E. She said there are certain standards that must be maintained on all highway ramps and state routes within the city; those standards are handed down by the state and the City is required to adopt them.
Commissioner Rahn asked what the net effect would be by relaxing the LOS standards as proposed. Ms. Pennington answered that relaxing the standard allows for more congestion and avoids investment in certain improvements. She said the travel time difference between LOS D and LOS E will only be seconds and not minutes. Commissioner Rahn voiced concern over lowering the standard to allow more traffic and more congestion.
Chair Simpson-Clark pointed out that the congested periods during the day are relatively short. By accepting a little more congestion during the peak hours, the City can save a great deal of money it would otherwise have to spend in upgrading roadway systems.
Ms. Pennington said if the standard is not relaxed the City will most likely need to widen 1st Avenue, creating significant property impacts.
Commissioner Rahn said lowering the standards is backwards thinking. It is putting off facing the issues until forced to. The City should do the planning up front in anticipation of the future.
Commissioner Williams commented that there are three intersections at LOS F. Relaxing the standard to LOS E will not address the problems for the intersections on 1st Avenue at 128th, 150th and 160th. Ms. Pennington said the project list has specific projects to address those issues and bring the levels of service to match the proposed standard.
Commissioner Rahn asked if the proposed Transportation Element update has been reviewed by the Business and Economic Development Partnership. Ms. Pennington said the partnership has not seen the proposal.
Commissioner Newton said he agreed with the proposal to change the LOS standard. He said Burien does not have bad congestion and is not likely to have it in the future. The city is essentially fully developed as a residential community. Even the development of Town Square will not have much of a traffic impact. The dollars that would have to be invested, and the impact on adjacent property owners, does not account for improving travel times by 10 or 20 seconds.
Chair Simpson-Clark concurred, noting that the congestion period in Burien is brief and tolerable. The City’s greatest traffic concerns are related to SR-509 and SR-518, and that must be addressed by a completely different set of development regulations and standards.
Commissioner Rahn said he would like to see some form of rapid transit system serve Burien and the airport as one means of reducing the level of traffic on the roadway system.
Chair Simpson-Clark pointed out that many roadway improvements may be called for by popular opinion instead of a mandate on the books. There is nothing that prevents the City from designing a roadway to a standard higher than the adopted standard.
Commissioner Rahn said other jurisdictions are planning ahead to deal with future projected congestion levels. Lowering the standard is not the way to achieve that goal.
Commissioner Newton said LOS D is something that would be nice to have but not something the City really needs. All indicators are that the traffic in Burien will remain manageable for several years to come. Chair Simpson-Clark concurred, noting that nothing in the forecasts portrays a big change in the population of Burien that would bring about big increases in traffic.
Commissioner Williams said the real question is whether or not the citizens will be satisfied with LOS E given that at least three intersections are already at LOS F, which is much worse than conditions in some neighboring jurisdictions. Chair Simpson-Clark noted that in some of those jurisdictions the congestion period lasts much longer than it does in Burien.
Commissioner Shull said she would not feel comfortable with setting a level of service standard so high that the City will be forced to make improvements that will address conditions that occur only during a very small part of each day. Relaxing the standards will not result in conditions much different from those in neighboring jurisdictions.
Motion to recommend approval of the policy document streamlining, policy additions and transportation improvement project list updates as proposed was made by Commissioner Williams. Second was by Commissioner Rahn and the motion carried unanimously.
Motion to recommend to the City Council the updates noted in the staff report as I (1), (3), and II was made by Commissioner Newton. Second was by Commissioner Williams and the motion carried unanimously.
Motion not to recommend I (2)a was made by Commissioner Rahn. Second was by Commissioner Williams. The motion failed 1-3 with Commissioner Rahn voting for, Chair Simpson-Clark and Commissioners Shull and Newton voting against, and Commissioner Williams abstaining.
Motion to recommend I(2)a and I(2)b as proposed was made by Commissioner Newton. Second was by Commissioner Shull. The motion carried 3-2 with Chair Simpson-Clark and Commissioners Shull and Newton voting for, and Commissioners Rahn and Williams voting against.
B. Discussion and Recommendation on Proposed Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Map Amendments
Commissioner Rahn referred to 2002-2 and 2002-3 and noted that there is a landscaping business operating in the RS-7200 area. He asked if it would be allowed to continue operating. David Johanson, senior planner, said the landscaping business has been in existence for some time and as such has been grandfathered in as a commercial use in a residential zone. It will be permitted to continue operating from its current location.
Referring to 2001-1.d, Chair Simpson-Clark said the area is heavily impacted by wetlands. There are also adjacent multi-family and single-family uses. He said approving a multi-family use would create an intrusion into the single-family area, but denying a multi-family use for the entire area would not be logical. If a request were to come forward for single-family at the north end and multi-family at the south end, and perhaps a proposal for a change to a planned development to take advantage of developable land across the street, it would be easier to approve. He said he could not approve a peninsula of multi-family projecting into a single-family area.
Commissioner Shull said she held a similar view and agreed that there might be a way to develop the property in a manner that would be more friendly to the established single-family neighborhood. She said because of the way the proposal is couched, the application should be denied. The development agreement option might be the better way to proceed to development for the site.
Commissioner Rahn concurred. He said the property owner should be encouraged to bring before the commission a different proposal along the lines suggested by Chair Simpson-Clark.
Commissioner Williams said it appears from the critical areas map that the area in question is in an aquifer recharge area. If it is, development of the site may be questionable under any scenario. Mr. Johanson said sites within aquifer recharge areas are not precluded from developing. Pat Smith, planner, noted that residential developments, including multi-family, are exempt from the aquifer recharge areas regulations.
Commissioner Williams concurred that the site should not be rezoned as proposed.
Motion to accept the staff recommendations to approve 2001-1.a, deny 2001-1.d, approve 2001-1.f, approve 2001-3, approve 2002-1, deny 2002-2, and deny 2002-3, was made by Commissioner Newton. Second was by Commissioner Williams and the motion carried unanimously.
C. Discussion on Northeast Redevelopment Area (SPA-4)
Planning Director Scott Greenberg referred the commissioners to his memo dated August 19, 2003, in which questions and issues raised by the Business and Economic Development Partnership were addressed, along with three additional issues. He said absent contrary direction from the commission, staff will proceed to draft the zoning and design standards for SPA-4 on the basis of the memo. The commissioners were also provided with copies of a draft map that will become map 19.48-1 showing the conceptual internal street system for the area.
Mr. Greenberg said the letter from the Port of Seattle contends that the public benefit approach the City is taking could be illegal. He said staff respectfully disagrees with that position and feels the City has the authority. Under BMC 18.130, the City Council must find that new commercial activities on publicly owned land must be of value to the City. The draft guidelines will clarify that the intent of the section on public benefits is simply to provide a list of examples rather than a list of requirements.
Mr. Greenberg said the Port also claimed in its letter to the City to have exclusive discretionary land use jurisdiction for all of its properties. The issue has been raised several times in working with the Port, and each time the City has respectfully disagreed with the position. Staff believes the City has exclusive discretionary land use jurisdiction on all lands within the city.
The Port in its letter raised several issues regarding specific uses, such as Secure Community Transmission Facilities (SCTFs), religious facilities, eating and drinking establishments and adult entertainment establishments. The gist of the comments made by the Port is that under FAA regulations some of the uses may or may not be allowed. Mr. Greenberg said the City agrees. For land that is subject to FAA regulations, some of the uses may not be appropriate. About half of the land in SPA-4, however, is likely to be owned by an entity other than the Port, and the FAA regulations referred to by the Port most likely will not apply to those properties; that is why the proposed regulations need to be in place. Furthermore, the FAA regulations will only apply if the Port elects to use certain pots of federal money.
Speaking for the Port of Seattle, Ms. Rudge disagreed. Mr. Greenberg said the issue will be dealt with over the next few weeks.
Chair Simpson-Clark commented that if the City is expected to incorporate federal regulations, there will need to be some clear pipeline that will keep the regulations up to date. The City cannot be expected to read the federal register and amend its ordinances every time the FAA passes a different regulation.
Mr. Greenberg said the issue of failing to comply with the Comprehensive Plan policy and design standards will be addressed by adding a reference to aviation standards as requested by the Port. He said the City and the Port are working together to come up with the best set of policies and regulations to encourage redevelopment of SPA-4; that is in the best interest of both parties.
Commissioner Rahn indicated appreciation for the Port being involved in the discussions and continuing to participate in a cooperative manner.
Chair Simpson-Clark allowed that any developer seeking to develop a property within SPA-4 will have multiple jurisdictions to deal with. He said it would do no good to attempt to interpret federal regulations in the Burien regulations. Mr. Greenberg agreed and said the draft will simply say all development will have to comply with all applicable regulations.
With regard to the concept of job creation, Mr. Greenberg said the Environmental Impact Statement done for the policy changes assumes the creation of some 2,500 jobs within the SPA-4 area. The City would like to see the area be home to high employment uses, but is not sure how to limit low-employment uses such as warehouses. Drawing the line too tightly, however, may cause the land to remain vacant, especially if the market is calling for something else. Over the next several weeks staff will be wrestling with how to regulate future uses to maximize the creation of family-wage jobs, what should happen if the highest and best use of the properties is low-employment uses, and if the City should be willing to live with much of the land remaining vacant if the market is not ready to create the right type of development to match the vision for high employment uses.
Chair Simpson-Clark suggested that large warehouse uses are not likely to develop in SPA-4. Low-employment uses such as outside freight handling and parking may develop in the area, however.
Commissioner Rahn asked how successful other cities have been in driving the market by regulating specific types of uses. Mr. Greenberg said local jurisdictions always like to think they are defining the market. The best of both worlds will be to define the range of the market and then focus in more closely on those uses, encouraging one type over another.
Commissioner Rahn suggested staff may want to check out the regulations adopted by the city of Chandler, Arizona.
Mr. Greenberg said in the original drafts there are certain requirements for landscape buffers. Two different options have been proposed for how those buffers might be reduced. One approach would be to allow a 25 percent reduction, and the other would allow a 50 percent reduction. He said no final determination has been made except that it will be appropriate to provide for some flexibility in certain situations.
Chair Simpson-Clark said he would like to see the option of a concrete wall with a small amount of landscaping buffering the wall.
Mr. Greenberg said the development agreement/contract rezone process looks more and more like the right approach. The process would provide a lot of certainty for the neighborhood as well as for the developer and the City. The draft will be written to require the approach in SPA-4 and to allow it in other areas of the city.
D. Discussion and Recommendation on all Critical Area Zoning Code Amendments
Mr. Smith commented that over the past year the focus has been on moving some of the sensitive area sections of the ordinance from Chapter 18 to Chapter 19. That process has included the incorporation of the best available science. Over the past year there have been five public hearings: three on wetlands, one on critical aquifer recharge areas, and one on the full package. Two planning firms have been retained by the City to ensure that best available science principles are being incorporated.
With regard to the letter forwarded to the commission by Mr. Hoffman of the Master Builders Association, Mr. Smith said one suggestion made was that the City should allow clustered development, which permits the full density for a property to be located on the non-sensitive portions of sites. Mr. Smith allowed that under the proposed ordinance clustered development is permitted; the process for it, however, has yet to be outlined.
Commissioner Williams referred to 19.40.220.2.H.ii.c and said it seemed to her that the section should include a requirement to replant using native species. She indicated support for the change to 19.40.250.2 to regulate ditches and artificial drainage features as streams if they are documented to have current fish usage. She noted, however, that the term “current fish usage” could be debated for some streams. She suggested striking the word “current.”
Commissioner Newton asked how often stream classifications are changed. Mr. Smith said changes are made if someone argues against a classification and by study can prove their position using best available science. Such studies must be done by professional biologists.
Commissioner Shull referred to page 6 of the staff report and noted that even though there are not currently any Type 1 streams in Burien, a 125-foot buffer should be established. In time there may be a Type 1 stream and the code should include provision for that. She said one option would be to include a footnote in the code indicating that at the time of adoption of the code there were no Type 1 streams in the city.
Mr. Smith allowed that the issue of mapping known fish and wildlife habitat areas is complicated by the fact that the Department of Fish and Wildlife prohibits cities from releasing the exact location of such areas. One option suggested by the consultant is to map all of the potential fish and wildlife habitat areas. Another option would be to have two maps, one available for public review with general areas outlined, and a second map for use by staff listing the exact locations.
Commissioner Williams held that having a second map behind the desk would prove difficult. Once the public discovered the existence of a second map, there would be a call to see that map. It would be better to just establish a single map showing potential fish and wildlife habitat areas.
Commissioner Williams asked what sources are being documented as being the basis for the best available science used in revising the buffer widths. Mr. Sondergaard answered that the literature does not give a single recommended buffer width; there is a range that varies widely depending on specific conditions and functions. All that must be balanced against other objectives, such as economics and growth management. The science is clear that the larger the buffer the more the protection, and that larger buffers are needed in the more rural areas. The science behind the update recommendations is defensible.
Motion to recommend approval of the proposed critical areas zoning code ordinance, including the change to Section 19.40.220.2.H.ii.c, and the proposed critical areas map, was made by Commissioner Newton. Second was by Commissioner Williams and the motion carried unanimously.
New Business
A. Introduction to Comprehensive Plan Package 2: Land Use, Utilities and Storm Water, Capital Facilities Elements
Nancy Bird, EDAW, presented the commissioners with a gap analysis for each of the three elements. Beginning with the Land Use Element, she noted that it is a requirement under the Growth Management Act. The update will ensure that all policies are consistent with the Countywide Planning Policies. The land use map will be updated to make certain that any changes made over the past few years are reflected on the map.
Continuing, Ms. Bird said the land-use policies are for the most part relatively recent and as such are in compliance. She noted, however, that there are planning efforts that need to be considered in the update process, including Town Square and the vision for the downtown area. The SPA-4 is not in the current Comprehensive Plan, though three other special planning areas are. The review will make sure that all docketed items are included as well.
The current policy framework within the Land Use Element is quite comprehensive. It takes into consideration how the land in Burien is to be used and how development should occur. The land use map update will include a review of what is happening on the ground and a look at why certain areas are not redeveloping. The inventory will include how much space is utilized for public areas such as parks; all new park areas will be added to the map.
One purpose of the update will be to ensure that Burien has the necessary capacity to meet its mandated housing and employment targets.
Ms. Bird allowed that the Community Character Element is not required by the Growth Management Act. Mr. Johanson said one of the debates staff had focused on was how to address the neighborhood planning effort. The northwest neighborhood planning effort is in effect a pilot project that needs to be followed through before amending the Comprehensive Plan during the next cycle.
Mark Personius, a consultant affiliated with EDAW, said the Utilities and Stormwater elements are required by the Growth Management Act. The elements must include policies for protecting ground water and the public water supply, identify stormwater management issues and corrective actions, and the location and proposed location of all utilities. The policies must ensure coordination with all non-municipal service providers. The stormwater element will need to be updated in order to comply with new requirements of the Clean Water Act. One policy shift the Stormwater Element will reflect will be the move toward low-impact development. The annexation of Water District #85 into Water District #20 will be shown in the update. All service area maps will be updated.
With regard to the Capital Facilities Element, Mr. Personius said the required element includes an inventory of capital facilities owned by public entities, including their locations and capacities. It also includes a forecast of the need for future capital facilities, the proposed location of new or expanded facilities, and a six-year financing plan and strategy for providing needed facilities. There is also a requirement to reassess the Land Use Element if the probable funding falls short.
Because the City does not provide all essential public services, there must be coordination with all non-municipal service providers. All capital projects provided by the City must be shown in the CIP, including all transportation, stormwater and parks projects.
Commissioner Williams asked if the potential annexation areas will be considered in the review process. Mr. Johanson said there are ongoing discussions with the jurisdictions to the north. He allowed that potential annexation areas will be handled outside of the review process.
Commissioner Newton commented that coordination between the City and all emergency response agencies should be reviewed.
Director’s Report
Commissioner Rahn said the work of the Economic Development Steering Committee is progressing. The committee was formed by the City Council to discuss economic development. There have been six meetings to date, and the findings of the committee are slated to be reviewed by the Business and Economic Development Partnership on October 24. The Planning Commission is scheduled to conduct a public hearing on the issue on October 28.
The commissioners were urged to make their positions known to the committee.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner Newton. Second was by Commissioner Williams and the motion carried unanimously.
Chair Simpson-Clark adjourned the meeting at 9:49 p.m.
Approved
/s/ Robert Simpson-Clark, chair
Planning Commission
/s/ Scott Greenberg, director
Community Development Department