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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-10-21 Regular MinutesOctober 21, 1991 7:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL OFFICIALS Agenda Amended APPOINTMENTS AND PROCLAMATIONS OF '1'13E MAYOR CITIZENS COMMENTS CONSENT AGENDA Ord. #1609 Zoning Classification for Foster Island PUBLIC HEARINGS TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Tukwila City Hall Council Chambers Mayor VanDusen called the Regular Meeting of the Tukwila City Council to order and led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. JOE DUFFIE; JOAN HERNANDEZ; DENNIS ROBERTSON, Council President; CLARENCE MORIWAKI; ALLAN EKBERG; STEVE LAWRENCE, JOHN RANTS. MIKE KENYON, City Attorney; JOHN McFARLAND, City Administrator; RICK BEELER, DCD Director; RON CAMERON, City Engineer; ROSS EARNST, Public Works Director; TOM KEEFE, Fire Chief; RON WALDNER, Chief of Police; DON WILLIAMS, Parks Recreation Director; DARREN WILSON, Assistant Planner. MOVED BY ROBERTSON, SECONDED BY MORIWAKI, TO MOVE EXECUTIVE SESSION TO FOLLOW PUBLIC HEARINGS. MOTION CARRIED. Mayor VanDusen read a proclamation designating the week of October 20 -26 as Business Women's Week. John Swartzman, 16251- 52nd Ave. So. (McMicken), stated he feels the fire department is taking longer than necessary to respond to calls in his neighborhood. On another issue, Mr. Swartzman stated he was tired of re- election politics interfering with City business and suggested candidates put their politics aside and get back to business. City Administrator John McFarland responded that the McMicken neighborhood continues to be served by the same fire station that served it prior to annexation, Station #51. In addition, another station has been added to respond to the McMicken area #54). McFarland stated he feels the coverage has increased rather than decreased; however, he would look into Mr. Swartzman's concerns if Council requested. Councilmember Duffie asked McFarland to proceed. a. Approval of Minutes: September 16 October 7, 1991 b. An ordinance relating to zoning classification for the Foster Island neighborhood. MOVED BY MORIWAKI, SECONDED BY DUFFIE, TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS SUBMM ED. MOTION CARRIED. Darren Wilson, Assistant Planner, explained the applicant is requesting the property commonly known as North Hills Office, located at 5900 Southcenter Blvd., be rezoned from P -O (Professional Office) to C -1 (Neighborhood Retail). The Planning Commission adopted staff's findings and conclusions and recommended approval of the rezone at their meeting on September 26, 1991. Staff is requesting Council's concurrence with the Planning Commission's decision. The Board of Architectural Review approved the site plan in July of 1990 for an office building. In June of 1990 the Council approved the waiver process to proceed with the environmental checklist. The applicant complied; a determination of non significance was issued. Council denied a rezone from PO to C -1 in December 1990 due to lack of information pertaining to the traffic analysis. In January 1991 the applicant resubmitted the traffic analysis report. On September 20, 1991 City Engineer Ron Cameron indicated the rezone would have Tukwila City Council Regular Meeting October 21, 1991 Page 2 Public Hearings (con't) Request for Rezone from PO to C -1, North Hills Office Hearing Declared Open (r no measurable effects on traffic. In addition, the applicant has provided a geotechnical soils report and has exceeded the landscape requirements for the site. Wilson added the site plan has not changed nor have the parking requirements. The setback requirements for C -1 zoning are less than they are for PO. Council President Robertson noted if the rezone request is granted, it is possible that any of the proposed uses in the new rezone could be used. Wilson clarified that the design of the building must conform to the C -1 standards. If any significant changes were made to the structure, the applicant would have to go back to the Board of Architectural Review for approval. Steve Friedman, Gencor Development, 750 6th St. So., Kirkland, explained the traffic study was done by Entranco Engineers. Entranco used the traffic standard for general retail use, which combines the most maximum uses along with the lesser uses of retail and contains a traffic impact engineering analysis that allows for that. Using a conservative factor for pass through traffic, there is almost no traffic impact for this retail use versus professional office. According to Friedman, neighborhood retail doesn't cause individual cars to go down that road in particular. A number of the cars are pass through and are already on the road anyway. Not every car that stops by the place is a new car on the road. This rezone fits in Tukwila's comp plan. There is no need or demand for additional office space at this location. Retail zoning is more strict for property development than for professional office; therefore, if the request were acceptable under PO, it would be acceptable under retail. In conclusion, Mr. Friedman stated their main need was to provide compatible use for this property that doesn't generate more traffic than professional office but provides the applicant the ability to develop the property and provide the neighborhood with a needed service. Don Moody, 16443 SE 35th St., Bellevue, originally had the property rezoned to PO. Although many people have been interested in the property, the standard user looking at the site has been a quasi retail use. Rich Kato, 7502 Woodlawn, Puyallup, whose parents owned the property, urged council to rezone the property to retail. Leon Grunstine, GenCor Development, told Council his firm had been commissioned by the Kato's to develop the property. The Kato's consider this development to be their retirement. The only way they can benefit from it is to have something built on the property. Councilmember Hernandez asked Mr. Moody to what extent he had tried to locate professional office tenants. Mr. Moody responded the property was shown to prospective tenants 25 to 30 times from 1984- 1988; however, because of the restrictions of the site, i e limited parking, they were unable to find office tenants. Councilmember Duffie stated his concern for ingress and egress to the site during peak traffic hours. Leon Grunstine responded that according to the engineers, the traffic study for the retail C -1 zone is equivalent for the PO zone so essentially there is no difference in the amount of traffic that will be generated. Additionally, GenCor has worked out an agreement with the adjacent property owners, A.M./P.M. and Denny's, allowing for joint access ingress and egress programs to tighten up the traffic flow in and out of the project. Steve Friedman agreed that there is a problem at the site. There are three driveways that are currently being shared with the A.M./P.M. and Denny's. There will continue to be problems at the site until one of the three driveways is cut off and people can figure out who's supposed to go in and who's supposed to go out and just where. Friedman explained that as a condition of an earlier permit, GenCor signed an agreement with the City that they would cooperate in Tukwila City Council Regular Meeting October 21, 1991 Page 3 Public Hearings (con't) Request for Rezone from PO to C -1, North Hills Office Hearing Closed at 8:10 p.m. whatever solution the City traffic engineers plan for resolving the problem from that property to the west. Mr. Friedman reiterated that the rezone from professional office to retail won't complicate the problem. There will be more traffic with the existing zoning (PO); it will be the same traffic with the rezone. Sherman Gong, Entranco Engineers, reported on the traffic analysis done by his firm. The results of the analysis, conducted for the North Hills Apartment driveway intersection with Southcenter Blvd., showed that with retail zoning the trip generation indicated only a small difference of three trips would occur due to a change in land use from office to retail use. A signal warrant analysis showed that at this time the intersection does not warrant installation of a signal. Councilmember Lawrence added the real issue is access onto the boulevard and onto North Hills from the boulevard, not really the number of trips added to the boulevard. Gong noted many of the trips that will use the retail development will be generated by the trips traveling to the apartments. Lawrence asked if the pass throughs are commuters going to the apartments or pass throughs that are just going along Southcenter Boulevard. If they're going along Southcenter Boulevard they pull off and get back on, possibly creating a hazard; but if they're going to North Hills Apartments, they're going up the hill anyway and not getting back onto the boulevard. Gong responded the pass through figures he used were based on Southcenter Boulevard. The worst case would involve the traffic coming off of the North Hills driveway and onto Southcenter Boulevard. Lawrence commented the implication the data presented was very confusing. He inquired about the distance between the North Hill driveway and Southcenter Boulevard. Gong reported the distance to be approximately 140 feet. Councilmember Moriwaki asked if a study had been done for the eastbound traffic that's turning across three lanes of oncoming traffic. Gong responded the level service analysis takes into account the operations of that intersection are based on the left turn conflicting movements. The right turning movements referred to by Mr. Moriwaki already destined westbound, going right in and again right out, are not considered conflicting movements although worse -case level of service will be measured for left turning vehicles headed eastbound into the site then coming out of the driveway and heading eastbound again. With the painted dual left turn lane already in place, there is currently about 200 feet of storage in the left turn lane. Council President Robertson stated he had researched the issue and found that in 1991 there were 10 accidents on Southcenter Blvd. in the vicinity of the A.M./P.M. and Denny's. Eight of the accidents were related to the driveways or backup up traffic waiting to get in or out of the driveways. Three of those accidents produced injuries. In 1990 there were four driveway related accidents and 24 accidents between the S -line bridge and Macadam Road. Eight of those were injury producing. In 1989 there were 12 accidents, with six of them in the area of the A.M./P.M. driveway. Two were injury accidents. Robertson inquired whether it would be feasible to put a stoplight at the driveway location. City Engineer Ron Cameron responded it would make more sense if the driveways of the A.M./P.M. and North Hills apartments could be combined. Assuming approval of the development, the City will impose a condition of that approval whereby the developers will agree in the future and perpetuity that their site will share in the cost of driveway consolidation when the other property owner comes in. Councilmember Duffie restated his concern for the traffic problems at this location. MOVED BY RANTS, SECONDED BY EKBERG, TO CONTINUE THE VOTE FOR THIS ISSUE FOR TWO WEEKS AND DIRECT Tukwila City Council Regular Meeting October 21, 1991 Page 4 Public Hearings (con't) Request for Rezone from PO to C -1, North Hills Office Appeal of SEPA DNS -M for the McLeod Exhibition Facility. EXECUTIVE SESSION 8:30 p.m. 9:30 p.m. Executive Session Reconvened 9:30 p.m. 10:30 p.m. OLD BUSINESS Discussion of Report from Independent Legal Counsel Res. #1193 Endorsing the Multi Family Design Standards STAFF TO PREPARE AND ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION. MOTION CARRIED. The hearing was declared open at 8:25 p.m. At the request of Mayor Clymer of Renton, Mayor VanDusen asked for a continuance to November 4, 1991. MOVED BY ROBERTSON, SECONDED BY RANTS, TO CONTINUE THE APPEAL TO NOVEMBER 4, 1991. MOTION CARRIED. MOVED BY ROBERTSON, SECONDED BY EKBERG, TO ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR ONE HOUR TO DISCUSS PERSONNEL MALEERS. MOTION CARRIED WITH DUFFIE VOTING NO. Mayor VanDusen called the meeting back to order at 9:30 p.m. with Councilmembers present as listed above. MOVED BY ROBERTSON, SECONDED BY LAWRENCE, TO RECONVENE EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR ONE MORE HOUR. MOTION CARRIED. Mayor VanDusen brought the meeting back to order at 10:30 p.m. and turned the meeting over to Council President Dennis Robertson. Robertson stated he had two items to address. First, the report distributed to Council and the administration by the Bender law firm is at this point still confidential material because it deals with personnel matters. Second, there was a consensus taken of the Council. The consensus is this: the Council would like to continue with Mike Kenyon as the city attorney with the understanding that the city attorney will not have any financial relationship with any law firm that the City does business with. Mayor VanDusen added that the administration will still follow the recommendation of the Bender report. City Administrator John McFarland thanked the many City employees present to express their support of Mike Kenyon. Speaking for the staff, McFarland stated that staff is very pleased with the professionalism and the level of service Kenyon provides and they are very proud to work with him. They are pleased that Council has given him a vote of confidence. MOVED BY RANTS, SECONDED BY DUFFIE, THAT THE PROPOSED RESOLUTION BE READ BY TITLE ONLY. MOTION CARRIED. City Attorney John McFarland read a Resolution endorsing the multi- family design standards update draft of February 26, 1991, as amended by the Tukwila Planning Commission, as generally reflecting the minimum design standards desired by the City Council and requesting the Board of Architectural Review to rely upon these standards in their application of the design guidelines in TMC 18.60.050. MOVED BY DUFFLE, SECONDED BY RANTS, THAT RESOLUTION NO. 1193 BE APPROVED AS READ.* MOVED BY MORIWAKI, SECONDED BY LAWRENCE, TO AMEND THE MOTION BY CHANGING THE WORD SHOULD" IN THE SIXTH "WHEREAS" CLAUSE TO READ "SHALL".** MOVED BY ROBERTSON, SECONDED BY LAWRENCE, TO AMEND THE MOTION BY ADDING THE WORD Tukwila City Council Regular Meeting October 21, 1991 Page 5 Old Business (con't) Res. #1193 Endorsing the Multi Family Standards NEW BUSINESS Res. #1194 Increasing the Petty Cash and Change Funds "RECREATION" IN THE FIFTH "WHEREAS" CLAUSE AFTER THE WORDS "COMMON OPEN SPACE MOTION CARRIED. **MOTION CARRIED. Council President Robertson spoke against the main motion, stating the problem is that the resolution merely requests that the Board of Architectural Review look at the new design standards. It does not insure that the guidelines will be followed. The resolution appears to be challengeable. Robertson clarified his concerns stating it seems that what Council is doing is adopting an ordinance without adopting one. Council is suggesting to the Board of Architectural Review that they use the new zoning guidelines that have not been before a public hearing yet. Even if the BAR chooses to follow Council's suggestion, Robertson feels the decision could be challenged as it is an ordinance and it has not even been before a public hearing let alone passed by the Council. According to Mike Kenyon, the resolution could be challenged. The resolution itself is a first step of a phased -in process to address how to prevent a rush to filing. The best suggestion was to amend the BAR provision in the zoning code to require the BAR to consider the multi- family report; however, the amendment cannot be done until it's gone to the Planning Commission. This resolution is a stop -gap expression of legislative intent. Robertson suggested the first phase should be a moratorium, complete the rest of the legislation, and then cancel the moratorium. Rick Beeler explained that a moratorium does not interrupt the vesting of building permits. Someone could still rush to file a building permit during the moratorium Interim zoning controls are more effective and less challengeable. Mike Kenyon noted there is far less risk of a successful challenge to the resolution pending the process through the planning commission because it is just an expression of legislative intent. It is probable that the BAR could consider the draft multi family now with or without a resolution. This is an expression of what Council would like to see done until we can get an amendment through the Planning Commission and into the Code. A moratorium is an alternative; however, it can be challenged. Speaking in favor of the motion, Councilmember Lawrence commented there clearly is not an emergency. Council should give the staff recommendation a chance. The resolution has its weaknesses, but enacting a moratorium, especially if there is no clear cut emergency, also has its weaknesses. Councilmember Rants agreed with Lawrence, adding that he adamantly opposes the moratorium concept. MOVED BY MORIWAKI, SECONDED BY LAWRENCE, TO AMEND THE MOTION BY STRIKING THE WORK "WOULD" IN THE "THEREFORE" SECTION AND REPLACING IT WITH THE WORD "SHALL MOTION CARRIED. City Administrator John McFarland read a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Tukwila, Washington, increasing the petty cash and change funds and repealing Resolution No. 1132. MOVED BY RANTS, SECONDED BY LAWRENCE, THAT RESOLUTION NO. 1194 BE APPROVED AS READ. MOTION CARRIED. *ORIGINAL MOTION CARRIED AS AMENDED. ROBERTSON AND MORIWAKI VOTING NO. MOVED BY LAWRENCE, SECONDED BY DUFFLE, THAT THE PROPOSED RESOLUTION BE READ BY TITLE ONLY. MOTION CARRIED. Tukwila City Council Regular Meeting October 21, 1991 Page 6 ADJOURNMENT MOVED BY RANTS, SECONDED BY LAWRENCE, THAT THE 10:56 p.m. MEETING BE ADJOURNED. MOTION CARRIED. 7 Van:Dusen Mar/or Janie E. Cantu, City Clerk