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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-09-08 Regular MinutesSeptember 8, 1987 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER and PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL INTRODUCTIONS SPECIAL PRESENTATION Doug Gibbs Resolution #1052 expressing apprecia- tion rtb Doug Gibbs for his years of service in the City. CITIZENS' COMMENTS Dick Goe reports com- plaint on activities at Crystal Springs Park Valley View Estates CONSENT AGENDA TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting M I N U T E S 7 Tukwila City Hall Council Chambers Mayor Van Dusen called the Regular Meeting of the Tukwila City Council to order and led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. MABEL J. HARRIS; JOE H. DUFFIE; WENDY A. MORGAN, Council President; EDGAR D. BAUCH; CHARLES E. SIMPSON; MARILYN STOKNES; JOHN McFARLAND. Mayor Van Dusen noted that Attorney Larry Martin is sitting in for James Haney. Ross Earnst introduced Greg Neustel, Senior Engineer /Con- struction Manager, who was recently hired by the City. Mr. Neustel has been working in engineering for about fourteen years and will be actively involved in most of the capital improvement projects once contracts are awarded. Mayor Van Dusen introduced Doug Gibbs, former City employee. Mr. Gibbs has recently been appointed the new Fire Chief for King County Fire District No. 40. MOVED BY DUFFIE, SECONDED BY HARRIS, THAT THE PROPOSED RESO- LUTION BE READ IN ITS ENTIRETY. MOTION CARRIED. Mayor Van Dusen read a resolution of the City Council of the City of Tukwila, Washington, expressing appreciation to Doug Gibbs for his years of service to the City. MOVED BY HARRIS, SECONDED BY STOKNES, THAT RESOLUTION NUMBER 1052 BE ADOPTED AS READ. MOTION CARRIED. Mayor Van Dusen expressed appreciation to Mr. Gibbs for all he has done for the City during his past fourteen years. Mr. Dick Goe, citizen, reported that one of the neighbors of Crystal Springs Park was expressing concern about being kept awake at night by the shouting, yelling and profanity that goes on in the park after what could be considered a reasonable hour. There must be some way this type of action can be controlled. Maybe the lights should not be accessible after a certain hour. Mr. Goe suggested that the Police patrol the area occasionally. He asked the Council to con- sider what might be a reasonable action to keep the problem to a minimum. Councilman Duffie offered that the Parks Committee will investigate this. Mr. Goe asked that he be given the opportunity to speak to the Council before the Council makes their decision on the Findings and Conclusions for the Valley View Estates appeal. Attorney Martin stated that many councils will allow limited public input that doesn't bring up any new information. Mayor Van Dusen noted that it is their custom to allow public input on any issue before the Council. a. Approval of Minutes Regular Meeting, August 17, 1987 Special Meeting, August 10, 1987 TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING September 8, 1987 Page 2 CONSENT AGENDA cont'd BID AWARDS North Hill Reservoir and Pump Station OLD BUSINESS Findings and Conclu- sions in the Valley View Estates Appeal b. Approval of Vouchers Claims Fund Vouchers #31543 #31714 Current Fund City Street Arterial Street Land Acq.,Bldg. Dev. Water Fund Sewer Fund Water /Sewer Construction Foster Golf Course Equipment Rental Firemen's Pension MOTION CARRIED. 101,826.88 10,450.08 690.90 1,912.62 2,237.78 49,360.67 582.99 4,373.56 19,796.98 130.29 191,362.75 MOVED BY SIMPSON, SECONDED BY HARRIS, THAT THE CONSENT AGENDA BE APPROVED AS SUBMITTED. MOTION CARRIED. MOVED BY SIMPSON, SECONDED BY HARRIS, THAT COUNCIL AWARD THE BID FOR THE NORTH HILL RESERVOIR AND PUMP STATION, PHASE I, TO SCOCCOLO CONSTRUCTION COMPANY IN THE AMOUNT OF $389,862.00. Council President Morgan asked if the easements for the haul road had been settled. Attorney Martin said the easements for the haul road are still being negotiated. At this time, one of the property owners has not made an offer that the City is willing to accept. There are still negotiations going on. If the Coun- cil goes ahead and awards the bid, it is good for 60 days from the bid opening. The City needs those easements to proceed. Council President Morgan has discussed these easements with one of the property owners and there appears to be other issues involved. She offered to put her discussion in writing to the Council. There is something wrong with the process. We need to look at how we work with people when we construct City projects in their areas. Ross Earnst, Public Works Department, said there are two property owners involved. Both pieces of property have been appraised, with and without the easements and with and with- out the improvements the City will construct. Councilman Duffie stated that this is a problem he has not been aware of. He does not like the idea of condemning citi- zens' property. We need to have an executive session so the Council can find out what the problems are. From what he hears at this time, he will vote against the motion. It was agreed by the Council to award the bid conditioned upon prior resolution of the easement issue and that an exec- utive session be held next Monday to discuss the easements with the City Attorney. Councilman McFarland stated it was inappropriate for him to stay at the Council table because of his earlier involvement in this issue. He asked to be excused. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING September 8, 1987 Page 3 OLD BUSINESS cont'd Findings and Conclu- sions in the Valley View Estates Appeal Continued Larry Martin, attorney, explained that the Council has heard this issue and made decisions twice. Most everyone is aware of the history. It is back before the City after the State Supreme Court ruled that there were vested rights and that the development application must be processed under the zoning code which existed at the time an application for a building permit was submitted. Despite the change in zoning that today would not permit the project, the City was directed by the Court to process it under the prior zoning code. The design review was approved by the BAR and there was an appeal filed to the City Council. In April of this year the City Council adopted its written Findings and Con- clusions and made a decision that permitted the project to go forward, but also offered the opportunity to look more specifically at the actual design of the proposal. In reviewing the site plan on the proposal in June, Council took action on the specific portion of the site design which made modifications and placed conditions on the development in response to concerns that had been raised by residents of the area and others. They did permit the project to go forward. Building permits must be obtained and there will be addi- tional review and, perhaps, conditions at that stage. The matter before the Council tonight is to adopt written Findings and Conclusions. There were numerous public hear- ings, then the Council closed the hearings and made a decision. When Mr. Goe asked if he could address the Council, it was a difficult question. Now is not the time to get back into the issues. If he wants to make comments based upon the Coun- cil's normal procedure, they have to be the type of comments that will not get back into the substance. The hearing has been closed. Mr. Goe explained that the nature of their comments have to do with the substance of the information that was presented which are called the Findings in the report to be considered tonight. They feel they are flawed and, therefore, the conclusion must be flawed. Attorney Martin explained that the Council has made its decision and to ask them to change it is not in order. The meeting following the meeting where the decision was made is where they would have had to discuss a motion for recon- sideration. Tonight the action is to adopt Findings and Conclusions to support earlier actions. The decision to approve or deny has already been made. Attorney Martin suggested that the Council decide their own procedure. Does the Council want to entertain comments upon the correctness of the proposed Findings and Conclusions. If the Council does, then Mr. Goe may give his points; if the Council does not, it will end the matter and the Council will decide among themselves if the Findings and Conclusions are appropriate. Mr. Goe asked, if the Findings are found by the Council to be erroneous, then conclusions based on those Findings might be flawed. Is there no way to change an unreasonable decision based on unreasonable information? TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING September 8, 1987 Page 4 OLD BUSINESS cont'd Findings and Conclu- sions in the Valley View Estates Appeal Continues. 8:40 p.m. 9:05 p.m. Attorney Martin explained that there is an applicant here that has spent a lot of money on this project and, back in June, the applicant got approval. Now, it is a little late for the Council to reverse its position. Mr. Goe explained that his question is to get clarity and truth to what we are doing here. It seems that there is enough doubt about the process that it might be reasonable somehow for them to have the opportunity to reconsider. He was given some information before the June meeting and did not bring it out because it was to be the function of a staff member so that some clarity would be given to the Staff Report. This was never brought out. It is important that this come before the Council. If the Findings and Conclu- sions had been available at the next meeting, they could have challenged then, but they were not available. Attorney Martin said the Council needs to make a decision on whether or not they want to hear the input. The bottom line is that the Council is not permitted to reconsider their decision. Dharlene West, citizen, asked Mr. Martin if it would change his decision in this matter if, during the April 27th hear- ing, an oral report was given by the staff and they did not have a chance to object to any part of it. Attorney Martin said he listened to the tape and heard the Mayor clearly soliciting any more input before he closed the hearing. MOVED BY STOKNES, SECONDED BY DUFFIE, THAT COUNCIL GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR 20 MINUTES TO DISCUSS THE LEGAL EFFECTS OF RECONSIDERING THE APPEAL. MOTION CARRIED. Mayor Van Dusen called the regular meeting of the Tukwila City Council back to order with six members present. Council- man McFarland had been excused. MOVED BY SIMPSON, SECONDED BY HARRIS, THAT THE COUNCIL CON- TINUE WITH THE DELIBERATIONS ON THE FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS BEFORE THEM AND LIMIT DISCUSSION TO COUNCIL MEMBERS ONLY. MOTION CARRIED WITH DUFFIE VOTING NO. Councilmember Harris commented that she had read the Findings and Conclusions, and that they say what she remembers. Mayor Van Dusen reviewed each of the Findings. There were no problems with #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7 or #8. On Finding #9, Councilman Bauch noted line five where it says Fred Brown testified "and would place the living levels of these build- ings below the parking area and the adjacent roadway known as Slade Way They have already placed the living levels on Buildings 1, 3 and 18 below Slade Way. This was nothing new. It wasn't the result of cutting off the top two floors. It was the result of the original design. They are inferring here that if we cut off the top two floors we are going to place the bottom floor below Slade Way. That is where they placed it. This is not a finding, it was there from the beginning. All of the other buildings are below Slade Way. They testified that they wanted to minimize the cut. That is why they set those buildings back. Those bedrooms have no windows because they are underground. He recommended that a period be placed after the word "grade" and delete the rest of the sentence. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING September 8, 1987 Page 5 OLD BUSINESS cont'd Findings and Conclu- sions in the Valley View Estates Appeal Continued. MOVED BY BAUCH, SECONDED BY HARRIS, THAT A PERIOD BE PLACED AFTER "GRADE" AND THE REST OF THE SENTENCE BE DELETED. MOTION CARRIED. The Council continued. There was no problem with Finding #10. Councilman Bauch said he has a problem with Finding #11, but if Mr. Brown testified that if the buildings are moved away from the hillside, it would mean larger cuts and we accept it as the opinion of Mr. Brown, then it is a finding. He said he has no recommendation on this statement. On Finding #12, Councilman Bauch said he does not accept the fact that if you move a building away from the hillside that you have to dig deeper. This is what #12 says. He recommended that the second sentence be deleted. This was discussed. MOVED BY SIMPSON, SECONDED BY HARRIS, THAT "EXCAVATION AND MORE ON THE FIFTH LINE, BE DELETED. MOTION CARRIED. No problem with Finding #13. On Finding #14, Councilman Bauch commented that, during the hearings, Staff members said they were here to defend the Board of Architectural Review or the Planning Commission. They repeated this constantly. However, when the City Coun- cil unanimously adopted the Findings and Conclusions and took the BAR out, the Staff came back and advocated a position that was other than what the City Council had established, and recommended Option 2 which was a developer's option. The The City Staff did a "flip flop They were no longer defend the BAR; they were defending the developer and giving the developer what he wanted and not what the City Council wanted. No problems with Findings #15 or #16. Councilman Duffie commented that he is not in favor of build- ing on the hill. They have not shown that it will be safe. The Council reviewed the Conclusions. Councilman Bauch said the only comments he has on the Conclu- sions is on #1. He does not agree that Option 2 is so much better that it makes Option "0" a less visually interesting project. The project as a whole was not interesting. The 18 buildings are identical. For the Council to infer that this design has quality or that it is visually interesting is a mistake because it won't be. He recommended that #1 be deleted. Council took no action. Council President Morgan said she wanted to leave in language which indicates that the Council was a caring unit in its attempt to find what was the best of what they could get and the best response to the concerns of the appellants and the concerns of the City. This body acted in a responsible and caring fashion. Council found no problems with Conclusions #2, #3 or #4. The Decision was left as written. MOVED BY HARRIS, SECONDED BY STOKNES, THAT THE FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS BE ADOPTED AS CORRECTED. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING September 8, 1987 Page 6 OLD BUSINESS cont'd RECESS 9:35 p.m. 9:50 p.m. Dharlene West, referring to the Findings and Conclusions for Valley View Estates NEW BUSINESS Amend Agenda Fire District #1 Annexation Councilmember Harris said she believes that none of the Coun- cil members wanted this project. Since it has been mandated by the Court, they have each done their best to make it as good looking a project as it could possibly be and have tried to do what was best for the City. ROLL CALL VOTE: Harris YES Duffie NO Morgan YES Bauch NO Simpson YES Stoknes YES MOTION CARRIED 4 YES, 2 NO. MOVED BY MORGAN, SECONDED BY HARRIS, THAT COUNCIL RECESS FOR FIVE MINUTES. MOTION CARRIED. Mayor Van Dusen called the Regular Meeting back to order with Councilman McFarland returning to the table. Dharlene West had requested to speak before the Council. She said that when the Council makes a decision, the citizen ex- pects and assumes that it is the final decision. They have learned, to their dismay, that when it comes back written out in nice legal language to make it proper, it doesn't neces- sarily say the same thing that the motion said or that the Council said. She expressed regret that Council chose not to hear about the errors in the paperwork that they just okayed. The errors were definitely not what the Council said origin- ally. They were written up in a different manner. She does not think this was fair to the citizens nor to the Council in their dealings with the citizens. MOVED BY SIMPSON, SECONDED BY STOKNES, THAT THE AGENDA BE AMENDED TO ADD ITEM "b" UNDER NEW BUSINESS, SEWER EXTENSION FOR SINGLE FAMILY HOME. MOTION CARRIED. Council Bauch reported that the Committee thought that, because of the large commercial /industrial base and the complex questions involved, Council should refer this item to the Planning Commission and let them start the process. The large businesses in the north end will not agree to annexation if there is any question on the zoning. At this time, the City does not have a category in the zoning code for steel mills, tank farms and chemical plants. MOVED BY BAUCH, SECONDED BY HARRIS, COUNCIL SHOULD ESTABLISH THE PRE ANNEXATION COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AND ZONING FOR FIRE DISTRICT NO. 1. Moira Bradshaw, Planning Department, reviewed the Council's intentions: 1) County islands within the annexation area; and 2) Boundary discrepancies will be studied by City staff; 3) Pre annexation Comprehensive Plan Amendment and zoning will be sent to the Planning Commission; 4) The Council's role and level of involvement in upcoming public meetings will be decided at a later date. MOTION CARRIED. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING September 8, 1987 Page 7 NEW BUSINESS cont'd Allow sanitary sewer connection to City sewer system for 14219 53rd Ave. S. REPORTS Service Level Survey 1988 Budget EXECUTIVE SESSION 10:30 p.m. (5 minutes) ADJOURNMENT 10:45 p.m. (C/RM.9- 8.1 -7) Dusen, Mayor Maxine Anderson, City Clerk MOVED BY BAUCH, SECONDED BY HARRIS, THAT THE ISSUE OF COUNCIL REPRESENTATION BE REFERRED TO A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEET- ING. MOTION CARRIED. MOVED BY SIMPSON, SECONDED BY STOKNES, THAT COUNCIL ALLOW THE SANITARY SEWER CONNECTION REQUESTED BY MR. RON STEWART FOR A HOME AT 14219 53RD AVENUE SOUTH. MOTION CARRIED. Mayor Van Dusen reported on the results of the recent Service Level Survey. It shows that, basically, the citizens are pretty satisfied with the City's service levels. 7.35% of the questionnaires were returned. Mayor Van Dusen introduced the new initiatives that will be included in the 1988 Budget. A couple of the new ones are to create a storm drainage utility, and a new position in the Police Department called a Community Service Officer. MOVED BY SIMPSON, SECONDED BY STOKNES, THAT COUNCIL GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS THE PURCHASE OF PROPERTY. MOTION CARRIED. MOVED BY SIMPSON, SECONDED BY STOKNES, THAT THE EXECUTIVE SESSION BE CLOSED. MOTION CARRIED. MOVED BY SIMPSON, SECONDED BY STOKNES, THAT THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL ADJOURN. MOTION CARRIED.