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Home My WebLink About1991-09-23 Committee of the Whole MinutesSeptember 23, 1991 7:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT OFFICIALS SPECIAL ISSUES Amendments to the SAO TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL *MOTION CARRIED. Tukwila City Hall Council Chambers Committee of the Whole MINUTES Council President Robertson called the meeting to order at 7:25 p.m. JOE DUFFLE; JOAN HERNANDEZ; CLARENCE MORIWAKI; ALLAN EKBERG; STEVE LAWRENCE, JOHN RANTS. MIKE KENYON, City Attorney; JOHN McFARLAND, City Administrator; RICK BEELER, Director, Department of Community Development; ALAN DOERSCHEL, Finance Director; ROSS EARNST, Public Works Director; JACK PACE, Senior Planner. Senior Planner Jack Pace gave a brief presentation on the draft SAO amendments as recommended by the Planning Commission, noting that after reviewing the proposed amendments, Council would need to decide if they wanted to hold another public hearing. The changes relate to two elements of the SAO: The State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) process and the zoning code. MOVED BY RANTS, SECONDED BY HERNANDEZ, TO MOVE THE SAO AMENDMENTS TO THE SEPTEMBER 30TH REGULAR MEETING FOR ADOPTION.* Council President Robertson stated he assumed by Rants' motion, that he (Rants) felt it wasn't necessary to hold another public hearing. Rants responded that the Planning Commission public hearing last week was well attended and he was satisfied that it "did the job Councilmember Lawrence agreed but added if more alterations were made beyond what was proposed tonight, the public may want another hearing to voice their opinions. Councilmember Hernandez agreed. MOVED BY ROBERTSON, SECONDED BY LAWRENCE, IN 18.450.080 E4 (a) THE THIRD SENTENCE BE STRICKEN AND THE FIRST SENTENCE HAVE A PHRASE ADDED TO REFER IT TO THE WAIVER PROCESS IN 18.45.020 (F). Councilmember Moriwaki clarified the motion, stating the directive increases the DCD Director's flexibility to address industrial or business development as well as multi family As on many other occasions, Councilmember Duffle voiced his opposition to the SAO. *MOTION CARRIED. Rick Beeler will clarify the language for the final document. MOVED BY LAWRENCE, SECONDED BY ROBERTSON, TO CHANGE 18.450.040 (B) STRIKE 100 FEET AND REPLACE THE WORDING WITH A SENSITIVE AREA'S MAXIMUM BUFFER. MOVED BY ROBERTSON, SECONDED BY LAWRENCE, TO ADD THE WORDS "AND F(2) APPLIES" TO THE END OF THE LAST SENTENCE IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH UNDER GENERAL IN 18.45.060; IN SUB PARAGRAPH #2, ADD THE WORD "RESIDENTIAL" BETWEEN THE WORDS "NEW' AND "SUB DIVISION MOTION CARRIED. Councilmember Lawrence inquired whether Councilmember Robertson's amendment changes the ordinance significantly enough to warrant another public hearing. City Attorney Mike Kenyon Tukwila City Council Committee of the Whole September 23, 1991 Page 2 Special Issues (con't' Amendments to the SAO Provision of Legal Services Recess 9:10 p.m. Multi family Standards responded that because the amendment was expanding the rights of property owners rather than contracting them, it was probably not necessary to hold another hearing. However, Rick Beeler would need to check the SEPA determinants to ascertain whether the expansion allowing exceptions in commercial and industrial zones would require another SEPA determination. Council agreed to accept changes regarding refunds as recommended. *ORIGINAL MOTION CARRIED AS AMENDED. MOVED BY LAWRENCE, SECONDED BY MORIWAKI, COUNCIL OBTAIN INDEPENDENT LEGAL COUNCIL REGARDING THE CITY ATTORNEY ISSUE DISCUSSED AT THE 9/16 MEETING.* In general, Council discussed their concerns regarding the City attorney's relationship with an outside law firm. Several Councilmembers expressed their satisfaction with the legal services provided by City Attorney Mike Kenyon. It was determined that the Finance and Safety Committee would meet on September 27 to review possible selections for independent counsel and forward their recommendation to the full Council on September 30. *MOTION CARRIED 5 -2 WITH DUFFIE AND RANTS VOTING NO. Council President Robertson called for 10 minute recess. Back to Order The meeting was called back to order at 9:25 p.m. Associate Planner Vernon Umetsu explained that a draft plan has been completed and forwarded to the Planning Commission. The plan consists of BAR design review criteria, zoning code minimums, and a new section called Illustrative Design Guidelines. It is expected the Planning Commission will complete their review by November 14th. A public hearing will follow in early January. Councilmember Hernandez reported she has received comments from citizens who are concerned about the poor quality of multi family standards. In her opinion, to wait much longer to get the standards passed may result in the remaining properties earmarked for multi- family having already been developed. As it appears it will be well into 1992 before the standards are adopted, Mrs. Hernandez asked Council for their support in introducing a moratorium for multi family housing. Council President Robertson stated he believed in order to pass a moratorium, Council must feel that an emergency exists and that without a moratorium in place, development will occur during this timeframe because of the more restrictive standards. Attorney Kenyon responded Council need only to have a reasonable basis for believing that an emergency exists; however, based upon Umetsu's report of only two or three applications in the past year, he did not feel the basis for emergency existed at this time. There have been no applications for development since the SAO was passed. Joan Hernandez commented she didn't think the number of applications were important; rather, what is important is that the window of opportunity will now expand. Anything that is built during this interim will be vested. Rick Beeler suggested instituting interim regulations until multi family regulations are adopted, stating that both the moratorium and the Tukwila City Council Committee of the Whole September 23, 1991 Page 3 Special Issues (con'tld Update on Multi family Design Standards REPORTS Council interim regulations have some weaknesses. Council discussed this possibility at length. MOVED BY HERNANDEZ, SECONDED BY MORIWAKI, THAT A DRAFT MORATORIUM ORDINANCE FOR MULTI- FAMILY DEVELOPMENT BE PREPARED FOR THE NEXT MEETING. MOVED BY ROBERTSON, SECONDED BY EKBERG, THE MOTION BE AMENDED TO INCLUDE A WAIVER PROCESS WHICH WILL BE IN EFFECT UNTIL THE MULTI- FAMILY STANDARDS ARE ADOPTED.** *MOTION CARRIED *ORIGINAL MOTION CARRIED AS AMENDED. Councilmember Ekberg stated if staff could come back to Council with something better than the moratorium ordinance that addresses the issue, he would like to see it by next week. Robertson suggested the waiver process be based upon the existing code or whatever can be used from the draft standards that is more restrictive. He inquired if Council could adopt a waiver process several weeks after a moratorium was put into place. Attorney Kenyon responded it was possible to do that and added that the waiver process makes the moratorium more defensible. In his opinion, the sooner a waiver process is put into place, the better off the City is. Councilmember Hernandez suggested the criteria used for the SAO waivers be included, i.e., the hardship issue. Discussion of 1992 C.I.P. It was the consensus of the Council to postpone discussions on this item until next Monday's meeting. City Administrator John McFarland noted that two sites in Tukwila have been included on the list for consideration as a site for the regional justice center. He suggested it was the appropriate time for Council to let King County and the Site Selection committee know the City's position on this issue. Council President instructed Council Analyst Lucy Lauterbach to prepare a letter to King County stating Tukwila is not interested in being considered as a site for the justice center. Councilmember Ekberg asked for an update on the housing study, specifically rental houses. John McFarland responded the Housing Code had been passed; however, he was not aware of many complaints that are housing code related. This may be because not many people are aware that Tukwila has a housing code. He explained that even if we see what appears to be a housing code issue from the street, the City does not have the authority to go onto private property unless invited by the tenant. On another issue, Councilmember Ekberg submitted a petition signed by homeowners on So. 161st St. requesting the City perform engineering studies on the cul de sac concurrent with that being done on 160th Ave. So., between 42nd and 51st Streets, to establish estimated per household costs for undergrounding utilities. Mayor VanDusen suggested the issue be put directly into the Utilities Committee. John McFarland stated the City is already planning to look at the possible formulation of LIDs on the cul de sacs in association with the 160th improvements. Councilmember Rants gave some interesting statistics from the Union Gospel Mission. Just 10 years ago, the average age of men being treated through the Mission was 59 years old. Today, the average age is 31. Ten years ago 95 percent of those going through the Mission were male. Today, 40 percent are women and children. Councilmember Duffie participated in ground breaking ceremonies at Washington Memorial in honor of P.O.W.'s. Tukwila City Council Committee of the Whole September 23, 1991 Page 4 EXECUTIVE SESSION 10:25 p.m. ADJOURNMENT 10:45 p.m. MOVED BY RANTS, SECONDED BY MORIWAKI, TO ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR 15 MINUTES TO DISCUSS A POSSIBLE LAND PURCHASE. MOTION CARRIED. MOVED BY DUFFIE, SECONDED BY RANTS, THE MEETING BE ADJOURNED. MOTION CARRIED. Dennis L. Robertson, Council President Jade E. Cantu, City Clerk