Planning 2011-04-28 Minutes - Manufacturing Industrial Center

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PC Hearing Minutes April 28, 2011 Development Regulations Review: 1) Delete several permitted uses and add them to conditional uses as follows: - Beauty and barbershops, banks, outpatient medical, indoor recreational facilities, hotels and motels. 2) Reorganize and clarif the MIC uses by adding verbiage on their expected impacts. 3) Add a design review requirement for offices. 4) Educational uses in the MIC should have a vocational focus. 5) Delete nightclubs, billiards or pool rooms, extended stay hotels, and dormitories from permitted uses. Boundary Review: 1) Change the zoning and Comprehensive Plan designation on the Duwamish Hill Preserve area to Low- Density Residential and add a Public Recreation Overlay to reflect its current use. Environmental Review: 1) Review the Planned Action document to see if it needs to be updated. This is an environmental document that anticipates the impacts of development in advance to streamline project review. Nora Gierloff, Deputy Director, Department of Community Development, explained that the schedule for the MIC review is driven by the Council's desire to adopt the MIC changes before the expiration of the current moratorium on non - industrial uses, which expires in July. TESTIMONY: Joe Sabey, representative for The Sabey Corporation, asked the PC to consider an addition to the MIC Boundary review. Mr. Sabey showed slides of a parcel inside the 62 acre unified grocer parcel, which he said is currently zoned differently from the rest. He requested the parcel be rezoned from MIC Heavy to Commercial Light Industrial, to make the entire site consistent. He said that 32 acres of the parcel are in Tukwila and 30 acres are in Seattle. He said that in 2007 the Tukwila portion was rezoned from MIC Heavy to Commercial Light Industrial. In 2009, the City of Seattle rezoned the acres in Seattle from Industrial Commercial to General Industrial. This item is scheduled to go before the PC at a quasi-judicial public hearing at a later date. Bill Summers, owner of the old Red Lion Hotel, requested that the PC take a look at the entire MIC zone, adjacent to Tukwila International Blvd and East Marginal Way. He stated that the zoning taking place in the area and the zoning decisions are based on an image of a zone that does not exist. He said that the statistics are very misleading as to what is really happening there. He suggested looking at the 15 % of businesses that are impacted by the changes made in the MIC zone. He also said that special zoning or flexibility for businesses that really need it should be allowed, or they are going to go out of business because it is not an economically feasible area. Commissioner Alford said that it would be interesting to hear what the manufacturing uses are exclusively in the area because it is unlike the other uses. Ms. Fox listed various manufacturing uses in the area. She explained that the name "Manufacturing Industrial Center" was determined by King County. She said a traditional manufacturing use may be different from what's in the area, but the uses are manufacturing. She also said the zone is not specifically manufacturing but is also industrial and there is a range of industrial activity that takes place in the area. Staff addressed questions from the PC. Page 2 of 3