BURIEN BUSINESS and ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP
(BEDP)
MEETING MINUTES
Date: September 12, 2003
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 AM
Members Present: Chad Campbell, Lucy Krakowiak, Doug Moreland, Kevin Fitz, John Roberts, Debra George, Tom Gehl, Harvey Aulgur, David Elliott, Dean Parkins, Bob Ewing, Nancy Damon, Mark Minium and Kris Jensen
Absentees: Ryan Warnes
Staff: Dick Loman, Ecomonic Development Manager, Joline Wright, Economic Development Assistant and Scott Greenberg, Community Development Director
Guests: Councilmember Joan McGilton, Clare Gallagher, Port of Seattle, Jeff Rowe, Terri Suzuki, Bruce Deen and Alcia Garcia representing the Seattle and Burien Goodwill.
Minutes: Doug Moreland moved to approve the minutes; David Elliott seconded the motion. Motion passed and minutes were approved.
Chair’s Report:
Lucy had made a last minute change in the agenda, which was distributed to all members.
Lucy Krakowiak reminded everyone that the last public meeting for the Burien Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities Plan will be held on September 17 from 7:00-8:45 p.m. at Shorewood Elementary Gym, 2725 SW 116th Street.
September Community Meetings will be held September 18 at Shorewood and September 24 at Sunnydale. There will be Open House at 6:30 p.m. and questions and answers between 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Harvey Aulgur, an active member of SCORE, gave Lucy workshop information and schedules, which were distributed. SCORE is a non-profit organization, dedicated to the education, formation, growth and success of small businesses nationwide. Membership is composed of working and retired executives and business owners who donate their time and expertise providing confidential counseling and mentoring, free of charge.
Burien Goodwill Job Center– Jeff Rowe, Employment Specialist
Jeff Rowe, Employment Specialist for the Burien Goodwill, attended the Partnership meeting to promote the Burien Goodwill Community Job Assistance Center, a non-profit organization in operation for two years. The Center is located at 12808 Ambaum Blvd. SW, Burien, and is operating in partnership with adjacent communities to provide quality, effective employment training and basic education to individuals experiencing significant barriers to economic opportunity. The Goodwill Community Job Assistance Center offers free workshops in job search, career planning, interviewing and resumes. Jeff advised they also offer basic computer classes, adult education classes, and will soon start teaching skills in Spanish. For anyone who would like to contact Jeff his number is (206) 957-1026 or jrowe@seattlegoodwill.org
BBEDP Work Program
#1 – Town Square – David Elliott and Kevin Fitz
· David and Kevin reported their trip to Los Angeles, August 26, with Gary Long and Steve Clark to view two of Urban Partners projects. They toured the Del Mar Station in Pasadena and met with City of Pasadena and Metropolitan Transit Authority officials. Kevin reported this is a $100 million dollar project, which consists of a 42-mile line that runs through LA County. The site features housing, some retail, parking below grade and historic features that were required to be incorporated. Both David and Kevin advised it is a very complicated project and both were very impressed.
· Another site toured was the Caltrans District 7 replacement headquarters. This is a $190 million dollar project including demolition of existing headquarters. The new building consists of 760,000 square feet of gross building area, 13 stories and four underground parking levels. David Elliott reported it is a very high tech, high quality building.
Dick Loman had earlier toured Urban Partners project while attending the ULI Conference in the LA area.
· The trip to Bremerton on August 15 consisted of Dick Loman, Gary Long, Steve Clark, David Elliott and Kevin Fitz. This group toured the Opus project for the City of Bremerton including an in-depth meeting with City officials. Kevin and David advised that this project is similar to the City of Burien’s. The New Center of Bremerton is a mixed-use center including hotel, office space, retail, conference center, restaurant, residential condos and 500+ parking spaces.
In conclusion of their report both Kevin and David said that both companies are quality developers.
#2 Proposed SPA-4 Zoning & Design Standards – Scott Greenberg
Scott Greenberg attended the Partnership meeting for a recommendation from BEDP to go to the City Council on the draft zoning and design standards for SPA-4. Scott distributed a memo dated September 3, with the following BEDP questions and issues and staff responses.
1. BMC 19.15.070.1.G.ix: Clarify that “pervious paving materials” does not mean gravel.
Staff response: “Pervious paving materials” has been changed to “pervious pavement” (Amendments, Page 2). Also, a new definition has been added to BMC 19.10: “Pervious pavement”: A paving material that allows precipitation to infiltrate the undersurface through voids in the material, with a runoff coefficient of 0.65. (Amendments, Page 13)
2. BMC 19.15.070—Use Zone Charts: Clarify that although there is no minimum lot area for a given use, there is a 2 acre minimum lot area for a subdivision or development agreement.
Staff response: A reference to BMC 19.15.070.1.A has been added to the “Lot Area” column in the Use Zone Charts. (Amendments, Pages 4-7)
3. BMC 19.15.070.4: Look into basing the required minimum number of parking spaces to the number of employees as an alternative. These uses have large floor areas that may not require a lot of parking.
Staff response: Parking requirement has been changed from “3 spaces per 1,000 s.f. of net floor area” to “3 spaces per 1,000 s.f. of net floor area” for office area and “0.5 space per 1,000 s.f. of net floor area for non-office area.” (Amendments, Page 4) Using number of employees as a basis for establishing a parking requirement is impractical. The number of employees may change over time and we don’t want to review parking adequacy every time a business comes and goes. The split in parking ratios between office and “other” floor area has been used by the City of SeaTac. In a survey of 6 cities with business parks (Auburn, Bothell, Kent, Lynnwood, Renton and SeaTac) and the Port of Seattle, the required parking ratio for warehouse-type space ranged from 1 per 1,000 s.f. to 1 per 3,500 s.f.
4. BMC 19.15.070.5: Look into whether a rental car business should be allowed. Consider allowing flexibility in impervious surface coverage (auto dealers need a lot of paved surface). Consider basing the required minimum number of parking stalls on the net floor area of the interior sales space rather than on all net floor area (which could include service department, parts department, etc.).
Staff response:
· Rental Car business: BMC 19.15.070.5 has been modified to allow this use. (Amendments, Page 4) There are no special taxes we can levy on rental cars—only our normal share of the sales tax.
· Impervious surface: Leave maximum at 75%. Other solutions such as pervious paving materials can be used to minimize the amount of impervious surface.
· Parking: Change parking requirement to “See Section 19.20.030.2.” (Amendments, Page 4) This is the code section that allows determination of required parking on a case-by-case basis. An auto dealer’s lot is basically a parking lot anyway, with the amount of open parking spaces determined by stock on hand. If there is not customer parking available, a customer will not shop at that dealer. Therefore, determining parking requirements based on what the dealer believes is necessary for his/her business is appropriate for this use.
5. BMC 19.15.070.6: Parking requirement is “1 space.” Is this per person, per a certain amount of floor area, per unit, etc.?
Staff response: This question raises a larger issue: Is a dwelling unit allowed, required or prohibited as part of an artist studio? FAA restrictions may prohibit an artist’s dwelling in portions of SPA-4, but it would be allowed in other portions. Staff recommends allowing an artist’s dwelling as part of a studio (subject to FAA restrictions), but not requiring the living space. (Amendments, Page 5) The intent behind allowing artist studios is to provide the industrial loft-type spaces that some artists need. For example, a sculptor who welds and shapes metal. This is similar to a manufacturing use, which has a parking requirement of 1 space per 1,000 s.f. of new floor area. This ratio should also be adequate for an artist studio. If retail sales of items produced on-site is allowed, an additional 1 space per 1,000 s.f. of net floor area should be provided for customers. (Amendments, Page 5)
6. BMC 19.15.070.15: Discussion was on possibly limiting adult entertainment facilities to SPA 4B and/or SPA 4C.
Staff response: The proposed amendment to BMC 19.17.030.4.A would already limit this use to SPA 4C. For clarity, this has been carried over to BMC 19.15.070.15. (Amendments, Page 7)
7. BMC 19.15.070.17: Consider whether we need a maximum diameter requirement for a monopole (in SPA 4 and/or the city as a whole).
Staff response: We are proposing no change to existing codes at this time.
8. BMC 19.17.040.5: Consider whether the small metal containers used for air cargo shipping should be defined and regulated as a “cargo container” or as another type of container that would be allowed as a primary use.
Staff response: A new definition has been added for “airplane unit load device” to distinguish between these smaller airfreight containers that we want to allow, and “cargo containers” that are more restricted. (Amendments, Page 13) We also added clarifying language to Section 9 on page 15.
Other Issues and Questions
9. Landscaping flexibility: Staff revised the landscaping reduction provisions (Amendments, Page 13) to reflect comments from a landscape designer on our berm slope, and so that the allowable reduction could actually be achieved. We also added a 75% reduction option incorporating use of a solid wall.
10. Do FAA restrictions on land use apply to land not purchased with federal funds? This issue was raised by a Port of Seattle representative at the August 26th Planning Commission meeting. We’ve attached copies of the FAA’s comments on the Draft EIS for the Comprehensive Plan amendments, and a portion of the Planning Commission minutes from your hearing on the DEIS in 2001. Both indicate that FAA land use restrictions do not apply unless federal funds are used to purchase property.
11. Development Agreement Process: Staff is recommending allowing use of the rezone/development agreement process throughout the city—not just for rezones to SPA-4. (Amendments, Pages 16-17) This will allow rezone applicants the option to obtain approval of a specific project design as part of their rezone request. In some cases, this approach will help a community understand what will be built on a property if it is rezoned. This approach would be optional—except for a rezone to SPA-4.
12. Employment density: The vision of SPA-4 is a high employment area. The EIS for SPA-4 assumed about 2,500 jobs would be created, in a mixture of office, business park and warehouse/distribution uses. The previous draft did not limit low employment uses (such as warehouses). Theoretically, SPA-4 could be filled with all low employment uses. Some questions to think about: How should the City regulate future uses in SPA-4 to maximize creation of family-wage jobs? What happens if the highest and best use is low employment warehousing? Are we willing to live with vacant land until the market is ready to create jobs in SPA-4?
We’ve provided two options in proposed Section 19.65.110.5.O (Amendments, Page 18). These are further discussed on the attached employment density summary.
Harvey Aulgur moved to approve the Draft Zoning and Design Standards for SPA-4; David Elliott seconded; Lucy Krakowiak amended the motion to clarify No. 12 (new language) and No. 1.
There was not enough time for Scott to review the Permit Process Improvement Project, but did distribute a list showing Action Items dated September 12 (see attached).
City Manager Report: - Dick Loman
In Gary Long’s absence Dick Loman distributed a City Manager’s Report dated September 10 covering Town Square, Planning Commission, Economic Development Chapter and NEST (see attached).
Discover Burien Report – Debra George
Debra reminded everyone of the Burien Art Walk, Friday, September 19, 4-8 p.m. and Saturday, September 20, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on SW 152nd Street.
Other items:
Mark Minium brought a copy of the 4 page newspaper ad insert, put together by the Auto Dealers Association, which will be good advertising for Burien.
Dick Loman commented that BEDP’s major contribution to the developer selection process for Town Square right now is to try to eliminate rumors and misinformation.
Next Meeting: October 24, 2003, 7:00 a.m.
Adjourned: 8:30 am.