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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning 2013-05-21 Minutes - Work Session - Comprehensive Plan Southcenter / Tukwila Urban Center and Transportation Element111111111 ir Date: Time: City of Tukwila Planning Commission Planning Commission Work Session Minutes May 21, 2013 6:35 PM to 7:50 PM Location: City Hall Council Chambers Present: Thomas McLeod - Chair, Louise Strander - Vice - Chair, Mike Hansen, Cassandra Hunter and Miguel Maestas Absent: Brooke Alford, Sharon Mann Staff: Nora Gierloff - Deputy DCD Director, Lynn Miranda—Senior Planner, Rebecca Fox - Senior Planner, Cyndy Knighton - Senior Program Manager (Transportation), Robin Tischmak - City Engineer ISSUE Updates to the Comprehensive Plan Southcenter/Urban Center and Transportation Elements DISCUSSION Nora Gierloff explained that this work session was a continuation of the phased review of Comprehensive Plan elements for the 2015 Comprehensive Plan update. Southcenter/Urban Center Element: Lynn Miranda reminded the Planning Commission that they had seen the Southcenter /Urban Center Element, Southcenter Plan, Design Manual and revised TMC in October, 2012 and forwarded them to the City Council. Since then, Tukwila has contracted with Berk to refresh and edit the Comprehensive Plan. Few changes have been made to this element since the Comprehensive Plan was approved in 1995, so this update is an opportunity to edit for greater conciseness and clarity. Lynn went through the element, highlighting changes. The "Purpose /Issues /Vision" section was reorganized to emphasize consistency with Vision 2040, and to highlight that this is a centers plan. Linkages with Tukwila's 2012 Strategic Plan are made. Bullets are added for greater readability. Some redundant policies have been deleted, and others have been relocated to more appropriate parts of plan. Starting, with Goal 10.2, on Page 10 implementation strategies have been grouped according to specific Goals and Policies, rather than all implementation strategies being placed at the end of sections. New wording has been added to Policy 10.2.2. per Fire Department request: ...Ensure that street design 444 eliminates potential conflicts, etlifi promotes safety for all modes of travel and maintains emergency services response capabilities Z: \DCD \PC minutes - -5.21 & 5.23 \ 5-21-13--Work_Session_Minutes.doc PC Work Session Minutes Starting with page 16 of the strikeout /underline document, transportation and parks policies have been deleted, and relocated to other sections. New policy 10.2.10 addresses economic development, and incorporates information in the EcoNorthwest study as follows: "Work collaboratively with Southcenter property owners, businesses and community members to implement the vision for Southcenter, assess the potential to catalyze development in the Southcenter area, and form an economic redevelopment strategy. Commissioner Strander asked for an explanation of the redevelopment strategy: "Establish a lead redevelopment entity on the public side to coordinate implementation of an urban center redevelopment strategy and provide it with people, resources, and tools to succeed." Who is that entity? Lynn Miranda explained that there is nothing in place now, but in the future it might be desirable to form an economic development administration to coordinate public /private partnerships, potentially develop tool boxes and tax strategies and take the lead to implement Comprehensive Plan policies. Commissioner Strander wanted to know if the entity would be the City's Economic Development department or the Community Development Department? Where would people go to implement new development? Lynn Miranda explained that there is no intention to implement this now, but that it could be a good idea in the future. Nora Gierloff commented that the approach would probably be similar to what had been done for Tukwila Village to attract a development proposal, and work with private developer and make a partnership between the public and private sides to facilitate growth. Commissioner Maestas commented that the Southcenter Plan and Vision 2040 show the Southcenter area will grow significantly, and will take the majority of the City's population and housing growth. Lynn Miranda explained that Tukwila is required to demonstrate that it can accommodate its growth targets. Single family areas don't have room, and would need to be upzoned to take more growth. By definition a regional growth center brings together jobs and housing. So, the new Southcenter plan allows that growth to happen. Commissioner Maestas asked whether there will be plans to ensure that housing will be affordable to people who live and work in the Southcenter area, as the area develops further. He is concerned about the ability to walk to work, and the need to reduce cars in the area. 2 Rf Z: \DCD \PC minutes- -5.21 & 5.23\5-2 1 -13- -Work Session Minutes.doc 6/20/2013 PC Work Session Minutes Lynn Miranda indicated that there has not been much talk about housing affordability. There is a lot of affordable housing in the City already, and the direction has been to explore all kinds of housing in the Southcenter area. Commissioner Maestas expressed concern that as the Southcenter area develops, it could become too expensive for the majority of people who live in the area. There might be a lack of walkability for people who work there. Commissioner McLeod questioned the viability of area workers being able to buy condos since most of Southcenter jobs are retail and perhaps part time. Nora mentioned that staff had thought about reconsidering zoning regulations to handle topics like the large Circuit City redevelopment, and said that zoning might be a way to address affordable housing. Since incentives for such things as frontal improvements, etc. are now built into the code, an additional incentive could be an affordable housing provision. If desired, perhaps staff could provide some options for affordable housing incentives. Commissioner McLeod asked about the difference between affordable and low- income housing. Nora explained that these types of housing are usually based on a percentage of area median income, and might provide different tax credits. Lynn said that affordable housing would be discussed next year in the Housing element, which the Planning Commission will review next year. Commissioner Maestas encouraged staff to develop the option of zoning incentives for affordable housing and for development including some affordable housing. He would like a discussion of affordable housing around Southcenter, and cautioned that affordable housing can decrease around light rail stations as economy improves. Nora said that the Growing Transit Communities project is looking at growth around light rail and rapid transit from Tacoma to Lynnwood, and considering issues such as how equitable transit - oriented development can be built so that benefits of transit are shared. The Growing Transit Communities work will ultimately result in jurisdictions being asked to make commitments toward affordable housing and economic development. Planning Commission concerns over affordable housing are very timely. Commissioner Hunter expressed her long -term concern for affordable housing. She also requested options for implementing different rates of affordable housing, and indicated her desire to see and study alternatives. Nora said that staff would provide a link to the Growing Transit Communities Strategy report from the PSRC website. The website contains evaluation of conditions of 3 Rf Z: \DCD \PC minutes- -5.21 & 5.23\5-2 1 -13- -Work Session Minutes.doc 6/20/2013 PC Work Session Minutes different centers. Some can do inclusionary housing i.e. you must make 10% of housing affordable. South King County has different market conditions and so incentives will be more appropriate. Lynn concluded discussion of the Southcenter /Urban Center element by reporting that an update of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Southcenter Plan is being prepared, and must be completed before the Planning Commission sees the Development Regulations again. Once the Planning Commission approves changes, the entire Southcenter Plan /Development Regulations /Design Manual package will go to the City Council. Transportation Element: Nora introduced Cyndy Knighton of the Tukwila Public Works Department. Cyndy Knighton, Senior Program Manager provided background on the Transportation Element, including how it was developed and, Growth Management Act (GMA), regional requirements and other concerns. As background to the current update of the Transportation Element policies, staff prepared detailed modeling projections with Public Works and Planning working closely to see what will happen in the future. The GMA requires Tukwila to update its Transportation element, and to assess where we are and where we want to be. Our big concern is funding. The Transportation Element is a tool to implement the City's vision, including city growth and regional growth, and other City plans, including the Strategic Plan, Commute Trip Reduction, sub -area plans, and GTEC. Tukwila must also provide infrastructure for non - motorized facilities. The Transportation Element is lock -step with land use. We have already established Level of Service (LOS) for all locally -owned facilities, but are affected by state -owned facilities even though we don't control them. Transit LOS is required even though we don't control the agency. We need to work cooperatively with other agencies. Financing CIP projects is also key. New regional requirements mean that policies must be tweaked, for example, to include a multi -modal LOS for pedestrian, bicycle and transit. We must evaluate our financial capabilities and recognize that the projects we propose to achieve this are fiscally constrained. Multi -year financing plan goes with budget, and raises questions of how additional funding will be raised. GMA requires balancing growth with capacity. Concurrency /Level of Service standard allows us to say that we have to have adequate capability to meet growth targets and where the growth will happen. Tukwila must be able to balance growth, capacity and funding. In 2005, the City established Level of Service Standards, including mostly LOS E in commercial areas, and LOS D for larger residential intersections. Commissioner McLeod asked for an explanation of the LOS lettering system. 4 Rf Z: \DCD \PC minutes- -5.21 & 5.23\5-2 1 -13- -Work Session Minutes.doc 6/20/2013 PC Work Session Minutes Cyndy explained that LOS A means very little traffic, and LOS B has a few more cars. LOS C and LOS D have progressively more congestion. LOS E is considered to be at capacity and LOS F is failure or breakdown of the traffic flow. Multi -modal LOS (MMLOS) must be developed. We got a grant for $70,000 with federal stimulus funding to study and implement new MMLOS using the 2010 Highway Capacity Manual, incorporating information from the Walk and Roll Plan. Tukwila was among the first to use this new method in the country, but when completed, the method didn't meet the City's needs. We need to do additional work to customize the method, and will return to this topic in future work plans. We have language that METRO and Sound transit have set for their LOS and headways. We do not control this, although we want to support these agencies' efforts. We have transit priority streets, and perhaps in the future will have different levels of service on these streets. Tukwila staff is working King County METRO to include transit signal priority at signalized intersections along the future RapidRide F -Line route to allow the RapidRide buses to stay on schedule without significantly affecting our traffic flow. Commissioner Strander asked about the RapidRide F line. Cyndy explained that RapidRide is Metro's version of Bus Rapid transit. Special buses will operate on a frequent headway, with a 7 to 10 minute arrival interval rather than 30 minutes. With frequent service, a timetable will not be needed. The RapidRide F line will replace Route 140. There will be fewer stops, but more frequent, higher capacity buses. This will be very good for Tukwila. Commissioner Strander asked if street lights would be coordinated with RapidRide. Cyndy reported that there would be transit signal priority along the route. A transponder on the RapidRide buses will communicate with the signal controllers to help the buses, but not at the expense of other uses. She continued that GMA concurrency requires that LOS service standards must be met, per Ordinance #2305. We are ok today, with only a few intersections falling to LOS F. Transportation concurrency must be met within six years due to the cost, and magnitude of projects. The Southcenter area has different way to calculate LOS that considers how quickly one gets through a corridor, rather than an individual intersection. Southcenter Boulevard and Grady Way /Interurban /West Valley Highway is under Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) control and currently operates at LOS F. This is a problem, but can't be addressed until I 405 work is done. All other corridors are at LOS E or better in Southcenter. 5 Rf Z: \DCD \PC minutes- -5.21 & 5.23\5-2 1 -13- -Work Session Minutes.doc 6/20/2013 PC Work Session Minutes Determining an LOS for pedestrians and bikes presents a challenge, despite work done through the federal grant. For example, results showed that in some areas we have an LOS C, although we actually have no pedestrian or bicycle facilities in that location. We are trying to implement projects from Walk and Roll, while we work on new methodology for determining MMLOS. Commissioner McLeod used the example of Starfire, where people park over the river and somehow walk to the site without sidewalks to ask if this is what was meant by "having no service ?" Cyndy used the example of Southcenter Boulevard west of City hall. Analysis indicated an LOS D on both sides of street even though there is a sidewalk on one side only. The 2005 Transit Network Plan was developed by the City with the last Transportation Element update with focus groups, etc. It was not updated for this update.An exciting development is that we are now working on design and work for the undersized bus facilities at the Westfield Southcenter Mall. Expanding and relocating this stop was the top priority from the Transit Network Plan. Once it is complete, Tukwila will have a really nice on- street transit center, perhaps the only one in the area. GMA requires us to plan under fiscal constraint. Revenue forecasts anticipate $71 MM to $105 MM over next 20 years. Thru the impact fee ordinance, multiple zones have been established so that transportation impacts to a certain area are paid for by fees in that area. Cyndy referred to the project list in the Transportation Background Report. Priority A projects are those that are needed to maintain our current LOS levels (sidewalks, roads, transit.) Tukwila can afford to construct projects on this list during the 20 -year planning period given our current priorities. On average, the City must spend $4 MM /year to maintain our LOS. The City must also construct the projects on the B list, but that goes beyond our expected funding ability. More funding is needed. Priority C list projects are also very important, but we don't think we need them or are likely to build them before 2030. $85 to $187 MM additional revenue is needed, which is about $4.8 MM additional per year. Available revenue includes all the taxes that are earmarked for roadway /transportation projects. Tukwila has been very successful at getting grants, and has also used bonds and impact fees to fund transportation projects. However, new revenues are needed or we will need to modify our vision. Commissioner McLeod asked about ideas for new revenue sources. Cyndy explained that a range of new funding sources was palatable to a greater or lesser degree. For example, Tukwila could consider a B & 0 tax, transportation benefit 6 Rf Z: \DCD \PC minutes- -5.21 & 5.23\5-2 1 -13- -Work Session Minutes.doc 6/20/2013 PC Work Session Minutes districts, or assess the option to increase local sales tax. Grants are harder and harder to get. Tukwila could consider more voter - approved general bonds or councilmanic bonds. Local Improvement Districts are not the tool for all projects, since they must prove special benefit. LIDs can be effective for larger projects. Tukwila could consider reciprocal agreements w /neighboring jurisdictions to share impacts of projects. A specific transportation fee could be assessed, similar to the Revenue Generating Regulatory License which is a per employee fee. She acknowledged that none of these possibilities are easy. The choices are to find additional funding, accept slower growth or more congestion. The Comprehensive Plan provides clear policy direction but we have inadequate funding to achieve this. The Capital Facilities element states that without enough funding we will need to slow growth, change LOS or find new funding sources. All modeling shows that we fall short, so we need to do something. The Transportation Improvement Plan has good projections and we also make projections yearly with the Planning staff. Tukwila is not in dire straits today, but will be at some point. Cyndy recommends that policy direction is needed before a budget decision is needed. In any event, she feels this topic is worthy of discussion, whether or not there's policy direction. Commissioner Hansen asked how the actual traffic flow on Klickitat has turned out vs. the traffic projections prior to project construction. Cyndy described expectations that the buttonhook off ramp would be at extreme LOS F with backups onto freeway without the project. Projections also showed extreme delays from people wanting to go left onto Strander after coming off the buttonhook, and stopping traffic on peak hours. With today's project, it's hard directly compare. Southbound traffic doesn't stop at the signal. Northbound has dramatic improvements. The buttonhook is no longer able to make the left turn on to Strander, so that both hazardous driving conditions and LOS are addressed. The Nordstrom signal gets more traffic, but conditions are still in C and D range. Although she thinks that Tukwila will be able to make LOS goals beyond 2030, she couldn't anticipate if what would happen if Tukwila South traffic becomes a problem once that area is eventually developed. Commissioner Hansen remarked that people tend to find alternate routes to level out traffic. Cyndy commented that all today's modeling may show growth in different ways, such as residents of the Circuit City project foregoing cars. Commissioner Strander inquired if the Background Report by Fehr and Peers is online? Rebecca replied that there was a link in staff report if more detail was desired. 7 Rf Z: \DCD \PC minutes- -5.21 & 5.23\5-2 1 -13- -Work Session Minutes.doc 6/20/2013 PC Work Session Minutes Commissioner McLeod stated that he doesn't favor head tax or sales tax on businesses to generate new revenue since it isn't popular. He suggested that the best way to generate new revenues is to create environments and destinations where people want to be. He used the example of I -Fly and Bicycles West now being located adjacent to each other, and forming a destination. He asked about the City's creating a public /private partnership w/ REI at Tukwila Pond, or the possibility of using vacant warehouses to attract art and entertainment. He feels that Tukwila needs destinations for entrepreneurs. Cyndy stated support for visionary documents that guide us, but indicated that Public Works staff always asks how to make this happen. Her desire is to give the Planning Commission sufficient background to have some idea of the ramifications of vision. There are many ways to change this, perhaps more incentivizing certain types of activity that will change current lifestyles or ways of travel. But, under what we know today, there is an issue for funding and we must be aware of that as we make policy recommendations. Commissioner McLeod noted the relative lack of bus routes serving the Community Center, and asked if there is a currently an effort to increase public transportation there. Cyndy said that she was not aware of anything specific to TCC. King County Metro wants to provide routes where there are destinations and patrons. We can try to bring this forward to guide them in future, but right now it's a challenge since King County is having its own problems. Commissioner McLeod asked if there were any further talks about light rail at Boeing Field. Nora replied that there is a policy about looking for a station at Boeing Field. Although Tukwila brings this up at regional meetings, momentum is to extend service areas rather than going back and adding stations. The Boeing Field station is not as big a priority for Sound Transit as it is for us, we are trying to keep it on their radar. Transit goal, Policy 1,.4.1 states: Support and encourage the location of a light rail stop at Boeing Access Road. (P 23 of strikeout /underline version.) Commisioner Maestas inquired about the option to deny /delay /reduce new growth if sufficient funding is not available. He wanted to know how does new growth not fund itself? How would we increase funding in relation to new growth since it doesn't fund itself? Cyndy explained that the transportation impact fee program assesses new growth to pay for new growth. This doesn't necessarily always pay for itself, and this is by design. There is hesitation to pass on full cost of growth. Tukwila doesn't want to set fees to low or too high, but it's a balancing act that doesn't always achieve that directive. 8 Rf Z: \DCD \PC minutes- -5.21 & 5.23\5-2 1 -13- -Work Session Minutes.doc 6/20/2013 PC Work Session Minutes Commissioner Maestas remarked that Tukwila's roads are used by people that come from somewhere else and we have to subsidize this. Cyndy mentioned that every jurisdiction needs to do this. Projections assume a certain amount of regional growth. Renton growth will be on our streets. For example, when 405 is very congested, people will get off I -5 and drive on our surface streets to Renton. Cities must accept this, but you have a good point on why growth pays for growth. There were no additional questions from the Planning Commission, and no requests to go through individual policies. Nora requested that the Planning Commission make any changes they felt were appropriate prior to these elements going forward to the City Council, and reminded them of the upcoming hearing on May 23. She indicated that she would send a link to the Growth Transit Communities website. Minutes By: Rebecca Fox 9 Rf Z: \DCD \PC minutes- -5.21 & 5.23\5-2 1 -13- -Work Session Minutes.doc 6/20/2013