City of Burien
BURIEN PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
April 27, 2004
7:00 p.m.
City Council Chambers
MINUTES
Planning Commission Members Present: Robert Simpson-Clark, chair; Jim Clingan, Jon Newton, Janet Shull, Michael Sumner, Barbara Williams
Absent: Rebecca McInteer
Others Present: Chip Davis, planner
Chair Simpson-Clark called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. Upon the call of the roll all Commissioners were present with the exception of Commissioner McInteer.
Agenda Confirmation
Motion to approve the agenda as printed was made by Commissioner Williams. Second was by Commissioner Newton and the motion carried unanimously.
Public Comment – None
Approval of Minutes
A. March 23, 2004
Motion to approve the minutes as submitted was made by Commissioner Newton; second was by Commissioner Williams and the motion carried unanimously.
Old Business
Commissioner Clingan asked if there was any additional information about the issue of the paving company raised by citizens at the April 13 Commission meeting. Chip Davis, planner, said a Citizen Action Request (CAR) was filed, which triggered a staff investigation. Shortly afterward Superior Asphalt applied for a business license and home occupation permit. The city is in the process of evaluating the application and resolving the CAR. It is too early to report findings or progress. A landscaping contractor was previously approved for the location in question; it was ordered by the Hearing Examiner who overruled the staff recommendation. It will be necessary to show that there are significant differences between the landscaping contractor and the asphalt company.
Chair Simpson-Clark asked how long the property sat vacant between the two businesses. Mr. Davis said the landscape contractor moved out shortly before the asphalt company moved in.
Commissioner Newton suggested that there likely will be some groundwater issues raised, along with residue from the trucks affecting the groundwater. Mr. Davis agreed but suggested that the city may have to allow the company to present a plan for mitigation.
Answering a question asked by Chair Simpson-Clark, Mr. Davis explained that the landscape contractor operated as a legal nonconforming use. Under the city regulations, any similar use can be grandfathered in. Chair Simpson-Clark suggested that an asphalt company should not really be permitted as a home occupation business. Mr. Davis allowed that the previous use was permitted as a home occupation; the original use was permitted under King County and came into the city by default. A home occupation permit is needed because business licenses can only be issued for approved home occupation businesses or businesses located on commercially zoned properties. Under the current code, such uses would simply not be permitted in residential areas.
Commissioner Williams noted that the citizens who testified before the Commission on April 13 also appeared before the City Council on April 19.
New Business
A. Presentation on Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan and Emergency Operation Plan
Mr. Davis said the Burien Emergency Operation Plan is reviewed every two years. The idea behind having such a plan is to be ready to perform effectively as a jurisdiction during an emergency. The mission statement behind having the plan is to provide a community education preparedness program to develop self-sufficiency for citizens for a minimum of 72 hours following a disaster; to build a capable disaster response community of fire, police, emergency medical and public works into an integrated emergency management system; to develop and maintain a plan that will provide a framework for organizational activities during a disaster operation; and to develop a plan that will foster interagency cooperation as well as a coordinated response with local, county, state and federal response efforts. The Emergency Operation Plan provides guidance to the emergency management organization for the various aspects of an emergency, which are mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
Mr. Davis said by being involved in the development of the Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan, Burien is trying to head off some of the adverse impacts that could happen in an emergency. In the mitigation and preparedness phases the city is looking to conduct a hazard and risk analysis to highlight capabilities and resources, as well as the impacts that could occur, and develop appropriate contingency plans to coordinate with local, county, state and federal agencies, and with volunteer organizations.
Commissioner Newton noted that during major emergencies the focus of the city government will be on the larger issues. The role of individual communities cannot be oversold. Appropriate training can be of great benefit to the city during and immediately following emergencies. Being able to communicate with communities that do not speak English will be very important. Mr. Davis said recent efforts by staff to better define the city’s demographics raised awareness of the fact that there are more non-English speaking Burien residents than were previously known. It is one thing to have a plan, but it is quite another to be able to effectively communicate the plan to all parties.
Mr. Davis observed that there is a great deal of emergency information available, but there is no one place to go to get it. Within the individual jurisdictions and communities, no one is taking an active role in disseminating the information. The city has posted information on its website as a first step, and the information will also be included in an upcoming edition of the city newsletter. From that point there will need to be a concerted effort to work with community groups, service clubs and the like to get the word out about available programs and resources.
Commissioner Newton said the Emergency Operation Plan includes an excellent hazards analysis. He suggested that it would be good to communicate with the public with regard to what the hazards are and what can be done to be prepared.
Mr. Davis noted that in the Northwest many of the disasters that come along are areawide. In developing the Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan, there were too many possible disasters to address in the first go-around. A different set of disasters will be addressed each year for the next five years. By the end of the fifth year the developed plans will be reviewed. In the first year the included disasters are winter storm, earthquake and civil disturbance or terrorism. For areas prone to hurricanes and tsunamis there are established evacuation routes, but such routes cannot be determined beforehand for earthquakes.
Chair Simpson-Clark noted that many people overlook the fact that the city building codes are designed to make structures better able to withstand earthquakes and the like. They are not intended to make it more difficult for people to build homes and buildings. Mr. Davis agreed, and pointed out that in both San Francisco and Los Angeles the newer homes proved that they could survive the quakes. What did not survive, however, was the city infrastructure. While people were safe in their homes, they were without water, sewer and electrical services. They could not go anywhere because bridges and roads failed. The Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan has a public education component, but much of the focus of the jurisdictions will be on maintaining infrastructure. In Burien, the code states that every new home and every significant remodel must have their utilities undergrounded, but the power line that brings the electricity to the homes is for the most part overhead.
Mr. Davis informed the commissioners that in June 2002 the city signed on to participate in developing the King County Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. A task force was established to identify and recommend projects and programs focused on mitigating impacts associated with manmade and natural disasters. Development of the plan is a requirement of future Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) funding; the plan must be in place by November 2004 in order to be eligible for grants to conduct mitigation efforts ahead of time. The indication was that FEMA also may limit response funds for jurisdictions not having a plan in place by that date.
A planning effort designed by FEMA was undertaken. It involved setting up a process for planning and updating a plan, and conducting a risk assessment to determine what disasters the jurisdiction may be susceptible to and the level of vulnerability. That work led to the development of a mitigation strategy with goals and a list of actions and programs necessary to address the goals and risks. In addition to earthquakes and severe winter storms, tsunamis cannot be ruled out in the Puget Sound area.
Commissioner Newton asked if the business community was involved in the planning process. Mr. Davis said they have not been involved in the development of a regional plan because they are exempted by FEMA. Commissioner Newton suggested that at the very least there should be an effort to talk with the various business organizations to encourage the local businesses to have disaster preparedness plans. Churches and other major centers where people congregate also should have preparedness plans. Mr. Davis said that is more of an outreach effort of the King County Emergency Management Center.
Mr. Davis said vulnerable businesses in Burien have been contacted. However, for reasons of security that information is not being made publicly available.
Commissioner Williams asked if the cost/benefit analysis for critical facilities, including City Hall, includes a useful life factor. Mr. Davis said the fact that development of Town Square could limit the life of the current City Hall building is why the structure was included on the chart. There has already been one study of the facility and its vulnerabilities are known. The next step will be to determine whether it should be strengthened before a disaster, or whether effort should be put into planning a new building to address the outlined concerns. A level of importance had to be assigned in order to qualify for funding. Within a couple of years a new City Hall may be under construction, and it would be good to qualify for FEMA funds to allow for installation of a card access security system to protect those within the building.
In addition to security considerations, there also are communications considerations associated with City Hall. The emergency operations group convenes either in City Hall or in the Sheriff’s precinct office. In any emergency City Hall should be standing and functional, and that is why the building was placed top on the list. The King County area operations center just happens to be the Sheriff’s precinct office, which gives Burien a redundancy option.
Mr. Davis said the hazard mitigation strategy has been reviewed by the state Emergency Management Center. They offered some recommendations for changes, which have been incorporated. The plan has been sent to FEMA for review; it is anticipated that before the end of the second quarter approval will be handed down from that agency, well ahead of the November deadline. Twenty-nine jurisdictions participated in the development of the plan. An additional 13 jurisdictions are working through the same exercise currently and hope to have their plan completed by the end of the month. Once their plans are approved, it will be adopted as an addendum to the adopted plan and then will be sent on to FEMA. The cities of Tacoma and Seattle have chosen to develop and submit their own hazard mitigation plans apart from King County.
The plan is to be updated on an annual basis. More involvement on the part of the Planning Commission and others is anticipated in developing future portions of the plan. There was insufficient time during development of the initial plan to incorporate other bodies given the strict deadline involved and other work underway. For the future updating the plan likely will be integrated with the regular Comprehensive Plan update process.
Commissioner Newton proposed that for each piece of legislation the Commission works on some consideration should be given to how it will affect emergency preparedness, if at all. Mr. Davis concurred and added that as new developments are permitted there may be opportunity to improve infrastructure within the immediate area.
Commissioner Newton informed the Commission that as a part of conducting emergency preparedness information he consolidated a lot of useful information and posted it on the web at www.shorewoodonthesound.org.
Mr. Davis said Citizen Emergency Response Teams (CERT) is a program that was founded in the Los Angeles area on the notion of training and empowering citizens to look out for one another during the initial phases following a disaster, during which the fire, police and emergency personnel will be responding to the biggest disasters first. The big disasters are unlikely to occur in the neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods may in fact be relatively isolated for a period of time. The hope is to have a core group of people in each neighborhood participating as a CERT.
Commissioner Newton suggested that if a person has to go through the Citizens’ Academy before being permitted to train in emergency preparedness, too many will see it as a barrier and will choose not to participate in the training. The CERT program was not designed that way and is not run that way anywhere else in the country. He said he has spoken with the north end fire service about offering CERT training and found them willing to offer the program. The concern is that the city will not officially recognize the efforts once the Emergency Operation Plan is in place.
Director’s Report
Commissioner Shull pointed out that a conflict exists on May 11 between the community center planning meeting and the informational presentation on the North Highline Annexation Area. It was agreed to move the May 11 Commission meeting to May 25.
It was noted that there will be a City Council meeting on May 24, the date chosen for the joint Planning Commission meeting with the city of SeaTac. It was agreed that since a Councilmember may want to attend the joint meeting, the date should be changed. June 28 was tentatively selected.
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 8:45 p.m.
Approved:
/s/ Robert Simpson-Clark, chair
Planning Commission
/s/ Scott Greenberg, director
Community Development Department