Planning 2023-11-09 Item 4 - Adoption of 10/26/23 Minutes

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PC Meeting 10/26/23 Page 2 a. Land Use / Housing/ Reasonable Measures Nancy Eklund, Long Range Planning Manager and Neil Tabor noted that some of the evening's comments would be a refresher of discussion from the 10/5/23 meeting, and that tonight's topics would continue that discussion. Staff walked through the presentation pertaining to housing, noting that a significant emphasis of the Housing Element updates would address racially disparate impacts, issues of equity, and requirements of recent Washington legislative actions. Staff walked through new State requirements and directives from the Department of Commerce and King County Countywide Planning policies and how adopted Tukwila policies were consistent or inconsistent. The City's consultant, Ian Crozier, MAKERS Architecture and Urban Design, provided a presentation regarding the Housing Element. He stated they are ensuring that the element is in compliance with the recent legislative actions, as well as King County Countywide Planning Policies. The Commission had questions about the requirements of HB 1220 pertaining to housing plans addressing the provision of housing to persons of different income bands and the City's responsibility to plan for 1,242 emergency shelter beds. He noted how the Comprehensive Plan can remove barriers to ownership through zoning updates and policy language, noting that Middle Housing options may reduce some of those barriers. He noted that one of the things heard at community meetings and in interviews was that housing affordability was critical. They will focus on ensuring consistency with guidance addressing housing, climate change, and equity. Staff walked through the eight goals from the 2015 Residential Neighborhoods Element and provided a consistency analysis of those with Commerce guidance (identifying if a policy was "S - supportive, A - approaching, or C- challenging" of adopted state guidance). The intent of the review is to reorganize the goals (identifying what content in the Residential Neighborhoods Element should be retained and put in which other elements to avoid redundancies, inconsistencies with guidance, and streamline goals and policies). There was discussion on policy examples - some Commissioners were opposed to striking policy 7.3.6 for strict enforcement of codes for neighborhood quality. Staff noted that the city already has a staff of three in code enforcement, and that the language ("neighborhood quality") was vague and guidance from Commerce and others suggested that including this language would be potentially problematic. Staff discussed how intentionally retaining language flagged by Commerce for removal was potentially disruptive to the approval process and could impact the city's ultimate Plan approval and certification by Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) (resulting in their not providing needed transportation funding to Tukwila). • A Commissioner expressed concerns about light pollution as a nuisance or an environmental factor that should be considered and requested future discussion. Director's Report • Director Gierloff provided an update on the ordinance extending the Boards and Commission terms from an expiration date of 12/31/23 to 3/30/24. • To meet the goal for the current PC members to complete their public hearing and provide a Comp Plan recommendation by the end of March staff is requesting that Commissioners reserve additional meetings dates in January, February, and March 2024 (second and fourth Thursdays). Proposed meeting dates include the following: Phone: 206-433-1800 • Email: Mayor@TukwilaWA.gov • Website: TukwiilaWA.gov 2