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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-06-12 Special MinutesJune 12, 1995 8:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL OFFICIALS CITIZEN'S COMMENTS PUBLIC HEARING An ordinance extending a moratorium on specific developments along Hwy 99 TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES Mayor Rants called the Special Meeting to order at 8:05 p.m. JOE DUFFIE; JOAN HERNANDEZ; ALLAN EKBERG, Council President; DENNIS ROBERTSON; STEVE MULLET; PAM CARTER; JIM HAGGERTON. JOHN MCFARLAND, City Administrator; RHONDA BERRY, Assistant City Administrator; LINDA COHEN, City Attorney; LUCY LAUTERBACH, Council Analyst; ROSS EARNST, Public Works Director; RON CAMERON, City Engineer; DOUG MICHEAU, Public Works Coordinator; DON WILLIAMS, Parks Recreation Director; STEVE LANCASTER, DCD Director. None. Mayor Rants opened the public hearing at 8:17 p.m. Tukwila City Hall Council Chambers Steve Lancaster, DCD Director, explained that the moratorium prevents the issuance of building permits and business licenses for hotels, motels, taverns, liquor stores, pool rooms and night clubs and was enacted on December 6, 1993 and renewed on June 20 and December 12, 1994. The current ordinance will expire on June 20, 1995. He said the situation has not changed although planning progress is being made in developing a strategic plan for the area. Criminal incidents prompting the ordinance and the recommendations of the Draft Comprehensive Plan for a more neighborhood/community focus for the area continue. Both the Comprehensive Plan and the Revitalization Plan for the area are progressing. Additionally, Mayor Rants has appointed a Task Force of individuals, property owners, citizens, business owners in the Hwy 99 area to look specifically at the Hwy 99 corridor. Obviously, a lot of the decisions that the Council make in the Comprehensive Plan and decisions and recommendations that will come out of the Hwy 99 Task Force are going to be important in terms of determining the long term future of that area. Lancaster stated that while those efforts are pending, this ordinance should be extended. Special Meeting Minutes June 12, 1995 Page 2 Public Hearing (Cont'd) Proponent Opponents Anna Bernhard, 14241 59th Avenue South, commented that another incident involving a shooting had happen in one of the motels on Hwy 99. She says this is why she continues to encourage the Council to work with swiftness toward the completion of the Comp Plan so that the Hwy 99 area can be addressed appropriately. Wen Lin, Econolodge, 13910 Pacific Hwy South, commented that Econolodge's long term goal is to take down the deteriorating motel building to the north, known as the Airport Motel; and to replace it with architecturally attractive buildings. This would eliminate the crime problem considerably. He says the moratorium ordinance, as written, makes it tough for proprietors to improve their buildings. He requested that the Council do not renew the moratorium as it stands. Martin J. Jerkin, Jr., 330 SW 43rd Street, Renton, WA, expressed concern about what the moratorium does during the interim of the Comp Plan if there are no allowances for uses that are already in existence. He read an excerpt from the Attorney General Opinion under the Takings Clause; and discussed the I -164 Initiative, which is the property rights initiative that will go into effect on July 22 if it's not repealed. He explained that in the "takings," when you impact the property owner in the long term from a moratorium into a land use designation that's non conforming and the property owner is no longer able to do what he wants to do, the government may become liable for payment of compensation to private property owners whose land has either been physically occupied or invaded by the government on a permanent basis. Regarding I -164, he said as of this morning, the opponents of I -164 had 51,000 signatures. The likelihood of them acquiring 110,000 valid signatures between now and July 22 is very slim. He suspects that I -164 will become law. He urged the Council to carefully look at what's proposed in the Comprehensive Plan and allow some type of ability for those uses that are already in existence so that property owners such as Mr. Lin can reinvest in their property. Special Meeting Minutes June 12, 1995 Page 3 Public Hearing (Opponents Cont'd) Rebuttal Public hearing closed Council discussion Ord. #1737 extending a moratorium on specific developments along Hwy 99 Dwight McLean, 13015 38th Avenue South, commented that he had approached the Council on several different occasions regarding Mr. Lin's situation but to no avail. Therefore, he took the matter to the residents who live in the general vicinity of the motel. He said the feeling he got from this effort was that residents just want to see the area cleaned up and old, dilapidated building renovated. The residents want help, and the only people who can help them are the businesses. However, the businesses can't help because the City's moratorium ordinance has tied their hands. Eleanor Smith, 13016 37th Avenue South, commented that though she understands the Council's concerns in trying to control certain types of businesses via a moratorium ordinance; she did implore the Council to please consider the fact that when people try to improve, that they not be discouraged in the area of upgrading their property. She stated that it appears all Mr. Lin is attempting to do is use the grandfather clause to improve his property. It's very foolish to deny him this right. She said it's a distinct error for any of the councilmembers to forsake an opportunity to at least consider positive efforts by the business people here in Tukwila to improve the Hwy 99 situation. Martin J. Jerkin, Jr. commented that Mr. Lin applied for a waiver under the original moratorium and the DCD staff recommended approval of the waiver. However, after long deliberations by the Council and concern over opening a wide loop hole, the waiver was denied. He said if there is support from the Council now, he would recommend that Mr. Lin re -apply for a waiver. Mayor Rants closed the public hearing at 8:48 p.m. Councilmember Hernandez inquired if Mr. Lin could take advantage of the waiver process again if the moratorium is passed, even though he had done so previously. Mayor Rants stated that Mr. Lin can apply again. MOVED BY ROBERTSON, SECONDED BY DUFFIE, THAT THE MORATORIUM BE READ BY TITLE ONLY. MOTION CARRIED. Special Meeting Minutes June 12, 1995 Page 4 Ord. #1737 extending a moratorium on specific developments along Hwy 99 NEW BUSINESS An ordinance adopting the 1994 Uniform Bldg/Mechan. Codes City Attorney Linda Cohen read an emergency ordinance of the City Council of the City of Tukwila, Washington, relating to land use and zoning in the C -2 Zone along Highway 99 from South 137th to South 154th Street; renewing a moratorium on acceptance of applications for, and issuance of, new business licenses and building permits for certain uses. MOVED BY DUFFLE, SECONDED BY ROBERTSON, TO APPROVED ORDINANCE #1737 AS READ.* Councilmember Robertson commented that he doesn't believe any councilmember enjoys delaying any improvements of any kind on Hwy 99. Secondly, he said he believes all members of the Council is concerned about the Hwy 99 crime problems and would like to do something that will mitigate them. The issue is deciding on how to go about the process of eliminating the Hwy 99 problems. Hopefully, the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan will set forth policies toward this end. In the meantime, a waiver process has been established; however, this must be done through quasijudicial hearings and should not be discussed in open forum such as this. Councilmember Hernandez expressed her regrets for the inconvenience the moratorium might cause anyone. Yet, the absence of a moratorium could allow new applications for business licenses and building permits to develop and locate in the Hwy 99 neighborhood. This would be contrary to the intent of the City Council to carefully and thoroughly provide for the regulation of such entities. She feels it is in the City's best interest to renew the moratorium at this time. However, she did encourage those impacted to pursue the waiver process. *MOTION CARRIED. Councilmemer Hernandez informed the Council that this issue had been discussed at the Finance and Safety Committee meeting. MOVED BY DUFFIE, SECONDED BY HERNANDEZ, THAT THE PROPOSED ORDINANCE BE READ BY TITLE ONLY. MOTION CARRIED. Special Meeting Minutes June 12, 1995 Page 5 An ord. adopting the 1994 Uniform Bldg/Mechan. Codes (Copt' d) Ordinance #1738 adopting the 1994 Uniform Housing Code. City Attorney Cohen read an ordinance of the City Council of The City of Tukwila, Washington, amending Ordinance 1547, as codified at Chapter 16.04 of the Tukwila Municipal Code adopting the 1994 Washington State Building Code, providing for severability, and establishing an effective date. MOVED BY HERNANDEZ, SECONDED BY ROBERTSON, TO APPROVE THE ORDINANCE AS READ.* Councilmembers commented that the June 2, 1995 memo from the Mayor (included in packet) references a fee schedule. However, most of the councilmembers had not reviewed such a schedule and requested that a copy of said fee schedule be provided to each of them. A Lengthy discussion ensued with councilmembers making minor, grammatical corrections. Steve Lancaster, DCD Director, agreed he would provide the Council with the fee schedule. *MOTION CARRIED AND FORWARDED TO NEXT REGULAR COUNCIL WITH MINOR AMENDMENTS PENDING COUNCIL REVIEW OF FEE SCHEDULE. Councilmember Hernandez explained that this issue had been discussed in the Community Parks Committee. The Committee agreed that the 1994 Code will replace the currently adopted 1988 Code. Changes in the code are minor and include local language that will refer appeals to application of the code from the Board of Adjustment to the Hearing Officer. MOVED BY HERNANDEZ, SECONDED BY ROBERTSON, THAT THE PROPOSED ORDINANCE BE READ BY TITLE ONLY. MOTION CARRIED. City Attorney Cohen read an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Tukwila, Washington, amending Tukwila Municipal Code Chapter 16.06 to adopt the 1994 Edition of the Uniform Housing Code, providing for severability, and establishing an effective date. c Special Meeting Minutes June 12, 1995 Page 6 Ord. #1738 adopting 1994 MOVED BY DUFFIE, SECONDED BY HERNANDEZ, TO Uniform Housing Code (Cont'd) APPROVE ORDINANCE NO. 1738 AS READ.* Interurban Avenue Bridge PS &E Allentown Water and Sewer Neigh. Revitalization Plan Councilmember Carter asked for clarification on the sections of the code that had been deleted. Assistant City Administrator Rhonda Berry explained that Section 4 through Section 6 of the code had been deleted because basically those sections list publications that are available from the International Conference of Building Officials. Section 1305.1 and other sections of 1305 refer to the appeals process and were amended to allow for consistency with other appeals under the Civil Violations Provisions of the Tukwila Municipal Code. *MOTION CARRIED. Ross Earnst explained that the Council should select a design alternative to proceed with preparation of PS &E for the widening of the Interurban Avenue Bridge for HOV and a river crossing for the Interurban Trail. He said there will be no cost to the City. All construction and other costs will be picked up by Federal Grants and/or King County Open Space funds. A discussion ensued with the Council renewing all alternatives submitted. MOVED BY MULLET, SECONDED BY HERNANDEZ, THAT THE INTERURBAN AVENUE BRIDGE PS &E FOR ALTERNATIVE #3 BE APPROVED, WHICH IS WIDEN THE INTERURBAN AVENUE BRIDGE FOR HOV ONLY. BUILD A SEPARATE BRIDGE TO THE EAST FOR THE TRAIL CROSSING AND CONNECTION TO THE GREEN RIVER TRAIL. MOTION CARRIED. Councilmember Robertson explained that Allentown has no sewers except the lines being installed with the Metro project along 43rd and 44th Avenue South. A city -wide unsewered area plan has been developed with Allentown being the number one priority. He said a three phase water and sewer plan has been developed for Allentown. Phase I would provide design details and preliminary cost estimates for the full neighborhood and PS &E. Robertson z;) Special Meeting Minutes June 12, 1995 Page 7 Allentown Water /Sewer Neigh. Revitalization Plan (Cont'd) said the Utilities Committee's recommendation is to authorize Allentown funding to prepare design report for the full three phase plan and PS &E for Phase I. The estimated cost is $150,000. MOVED BY DUFFIE, SECONDED BY ROBERTSON, TO APPROVE THE DESIGN REPORT FOR THE ALLENTOWN WATER AND SEWER NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION PLAN. Councilmember excused The Council agreed to honor Councilmember Jim Haggerton's 10:15 p.m. request to be excused from the meeting at this time. REPORTS ADJOURNMENT 10:15 P.M. Joh Rants, Mayor Celia Square, Deputy ity Clerk �cp Mayor Rants reported on recent state legislation he had received via a narrative from the Law Offices of Keating, Bucklin McCormick. He said the Governor had signed into law the Bill on Regulatory Reform. He shared some of the excerpts from the document which could impact Tukwila: the review of projects such as SEPA, shoreline, health department, permitting or road dedications have been streamlined into one process; local decisions hearings will be limited to two -where testimony is taken and a decision is rendered; and, one appeal; GMA counties require local government to use data from the Comp Plan and Development Regulations as a guideline for project review; and, consolidated project and permit review processes to be established by local jurisdictions no later than March 31, 1996. The Mayor informed the Council that the document is available for review. MOVED BY EKBERG, SECONDED BY ROBERTSON, TO ADJOURN TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING TO CONTINUE DELIBERATIONS OF THE CO PRE ENSIVE PL MOTION CARRIED.