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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-08-11 Committee of the Whole MinutesAugust 11, 1981 7:00 P.M. FLAG SALUTE AND CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL OF COUNCIL MEMBERS REPORTS Council President Report OLD BUSINESS Eastside Watershed Project TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MINUTES Council President Van Dusen led the Pledge of Allegiance and called the Tukwila City Council Committee of the Whole Meeting to order. LIONEL C. BOHRER, MABEL J. HARRIS, J. REID JOHANSON, GARY L. VAN DUSEN, Council President. 33 Tukwila City Hall Council Chambers Council President Van Dusen reported that there is a 50/50 chance he may leave the Council. This decision will be based on employ- ment that may take him out of the area. Councilman Bohrer explained that he asked for this item to be on the agenda. There seems to be some confusion about the situation regarding the project. Mr. Ted Uomoto, Public Works Director, said that the last time this was before the Council, the Interlocal Finance Agreement was discussed but no action was taken. Also, Renton and Kent did not act on it. On July 8, there was a public meeting held to allow input by the landowners. At that meeting it appeared that there were many objections to the Eastside Green River Watershed Project. The City of Renton mailed a questionnaire to the valley landowners and those that were returned indicated a negative response to the project. King County is proceeding with a study to determine the accurate flood level to be used for the project. In the meantime, Renton is looking into other alternatives to finance a drainage project independently in the event the flood control project does not go through. Kent is waiting to see what Renton decides. King County is proceeding in a positive manner as though the project will go through. Mr. Uomoto reported that the total project cost is estimated to be around 58 million dollars. 20 million is for construction and will be funded by Soil Conser- vation Service with Federal funds. The remaining 38 million dol- lars is for the purchase of land, easements, rights -of -way, etc. This cost would be financed by the three local entities. The City of Tukwila flooding situation is not as critical as Kent and Renton and we can probably solve our own problems. Councilman Johanson said if there is a flooding problem upstream, then Tukwila is very apt to receive the problem. He thought the four valley cities had to agree to the project or it would not go. Councilman Bohrer noted that the development in the flood plain area was permitted on the basis the project was going forward. He asked if the fill elevations are less than flood proof. Mr. Uomoto said the elevations being used are based on the Soil Conservation Study. King County is the agency regulating the height of fill in the valley. Basically, the requirement is that any fill should be one foot above the hundred foot flood level. If the project does not go through, the same requirement will probably still apply. King County's requirement for fill is with the project complete. Councilman Bohrer noted that the draft E.I.S., page 140, in dis- cussing the alternative of no action, it says the requirements for fill would be increased on the average of 6.8 feet in Renton, north of South 180th Street; 2.4 feet between South 180th Street and South 112th Street; and 1.4 feet south of South 112th Street. Figuring the cost of the amount of fill necessary, it would be comparable to what the local people would provide for the project. They are going to pay for it one way or the other. Mr. Uomoto said King County intends to put out an information bulletin so everyone can understand the project. Councilman Johanson said it boils down to no one wanting to pay any money. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL, C.O.W. MEETING August 11, 1981 Page 2 OLD BUSINESS Cont. Parks Recreation Director Upgrade NEW BUSINESS Use of Block Grant Funds for Library Building P L Co. Comp. Plan amendment request for rezone 3373 Councilman Harris noted that this item will be discussed when all members are present. Councilman Johanson asked who filed the grievance against this position. Mrs. Sharon Wylie said the grievance was filed because, they said, the City was taking away a union posi- tion. Mr. Jacob Macias explained that the City did not receive the matching funds for the consultant study of the library, however, there is still $12,217 in unallocated 1981 Block Grant funds. He offered Council three options and recommended they approve the hiring of a structural consultant to examine the building; possibly hire an architect to draw plans for repair if necessary and use the remainder of the block grant money for actual con- struction and rehabilitation. He explained that there are prob- lems with the building floors are warped, foundation is not com- plete, etc. He said he would like to have Council approval to change the scope of work that the block grant funds will be used on. MOVED BY HARRIS, SECONDED BY JOHANSON, THAT THIS ITEM BE FORWARDED TO THE AGENDA FOR THE NEXT REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING. MOTION CARRIED. Prior to starting discussion on the requests by P L Company, Councilman Bohrer noted that the two ordinances necessary to com- plete this item are not in the agenda packet. Attorney Hard said they haven't been drawn yet, cut Council could still discuss the significant elements of the proposal with the property owners. Mr. Brad Collins, Planning Director, said the items for the ordi- nance were being negotiated between the applicants and the City Attorney. The easement document was a problem because a portion of the property is under a lease agreement. Attorney Hard explained that there are two parcels of property; one parcel has the Xerox building on it, and the other is adjacent on the north and undeveloped. The major problem is, if the northerly parcel is rezoned and developed, they have access and egress through the existing Xerox site to Southcenter Boulevard. To assure every- body that this will happen, a Reciprocal Easement Agreement was executed by all parties. Now that this agreement has been executed, he said he doesn't believe a Contract Rezone Agreement between the City and the property owners is necessary. There will be a document drawn up specifying certain requirements of the developer and re- strictions on the development. The document will bind the property owners to certain conditions, but will not commit the City to a binding contract that future legislative bodies can't change. Councilman Harris asked if the ordinance will contain the 14 stipu- lations requested by the neighbors. Attorney Hard said the ordi- nance will have attachments. First will be the recorded easement and second will be a developers agreement containing the restrictions. Councilman Bohrer cited another development in the City and stated that the Mayor feels the agreement is not enforceable. Therefore, some of the provisions have not been enforced. He said he is con- cerned that Council must have everything typed into the text of an ordinance before it has the weight of a law under the current ad- ministration. Attorney Hard reminded Council that with any agree- ment entered into by the City, it still is going to rely on the administration for enforcement. Attorney Hard said he is concerned with contract rezones; they require the City to give up more rights than it needs to. Councilman Harris said a developers agreement is dependent on administration enforcing it. Whereas, an ordinance is law and can be enforced in some manner. This all started out with the neighbors agreeing to the rezone under certain conditions. We have not seen those conditions, but we want to be sure they are being met. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL, C.O.W. MEETING August 11, 1981 Page 3 NEW BUSINESS Cont. P L Co. Comp. Plan amendment request for rezone (cont.) Councilman Johanson said the City uses buffer concept around an area to help protect it. By bypassing two zones and skipping to the third above on property adjacent to single family zoned property is establishing a precedent. If we don't flag this in some manner someone will want to rezone the property immediately north of this property to a higher rezone. Allowing the C -1 in this area with the neighbors approval and requirements is a good place for a Conditional Use Agreement. 33 N Attorney Hard said he doesn't think a City should rezone property from one category to another where it can never be rezoned again. Mr. Collins explained that there are two actions before Council. One is the Comprehensive Plan Amendment that would change the Comprehensive Plan designation from medium residential to office use. Second is rezoning the property from R -3 to C -1. The assump- tion is that, when the area -wide rezone goes into effect, the property would be zoned P -0. In the Planning Department report, the Comprehensive Plan amendment focused on the loss of residential area while the rezone focused more on protection of the adjacent R -1 use property. The property owners and the residents have met and drafted some terms and conditions to help solve the transition problem. The main issues are the access from Southcenter Blvd. and the prohibition of traffic entering on to 64th Ave. South. The first condition has been satisfied by the Reciprocal Easement. The rezone, with deed restrictions, will accomplish the balance of concerns. The residents have asked to be notified when this item goes before the Board of Architectural Review for the final site plan review as well as discussion on the ingress and egress on to 65th Ave. South. It is the Planning Department and the Plan- ning Commission recommendation that both the Comprehensive Plan amendment and the rezone action be approved. Mr. Richard McCann, Attorney for P L Company, distributed copies of the proposed contract for Council review. Mr. McCann explained that this contract is the one presented to the Planning Commission. The document incorporates conditions from several sources. The Planning Commission added the 14 concerns of the residents to the 4 conditions outlined in the staff report. The signing of the Reciprocal Easement relieves one of the major problems. Mr. Omer Mithun, Architect, showed slides that illustrated the project. The new building is almost identical to the existing Xerox Building. They have attempted to keep the activity area to the south to minimize the impact on the single family homes. The mechanical units, proposed for the top of the building, have been redesigned to a unit at ground level at the northwest corner. The front area off of 65th will be kept wooded to give a park like entrance and blend with the park across the street. Some type of landscaping or barrier will assure 64th Avenue will be closed to through traffic. The trees on the site have been tagged and every effort will be made to save as many as possible. They will work with each adjacent neighbor to assure that the greenbelt area along the property line is landscaped to their satisfaction. The ele- vations have been set and the top of the proposed building will be the heighth of the existing house and barn. This development will be an excellent transition to the neighborhood -they will be a good neighbor. Mr. Joseph Lynch, 10800 N.E. 8th, Bellevue, owner, said they have been very sensitive to the requests of the neighbors and the City. This project will consist of a 31,000 square foot building on 3.1 acres. Under the zoning code, we could build up to a maximum of 50,000 feet. The building is undersized to pro- vide additional parking for the existing Xerox facility. He urged Council to approve their proposal. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL, C.O.W. MEETING August 11, 1981 Page 4 NEW BUSINESS Cont. P L Co. Comp. Plan amendment request for rezone (cont.) Upgrade of per- sonnel for Centralized Permit System Sign Code revision proposal Final Acceptance of 1980 St. Imp. Project (59th Ave., etal) Installation of flap gate by Tukwila Pond Mr. Collins noted that in the staff analysis this P -0 zone may provide a better transition zone than the R -3 for the single family residents behind it. MOVED BY HARRIS, SECONDED BY BOHRER THAT THIS ITEM BE REFERRED TO THE NEXT COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING AND HAVE THE ORDI- NANCES READY TO PERUSE. MOTION CARRIED. 3375 Councilman Johanson commented that his concern is not with the developer; he is concerned about the City and the progressive zoning. My agreement is with the process and the establishing of a precedent. Councilman Harris said she wants to see the ordinances and have time to review them. Mr. Collins explained that this proposal addresses the staff re- sources that will be needed to implement the Centralized Permit System. He asked to have this information sent to the Finance and Personnel Committee for review. Councilman Van Dusen asked if when it is necessary to make paper flow more efficient that staff has to be upgraded to do it. MOVED BY HARRIS, SECONDED BY BOHRER, THAT THIS ITEM BE PLACED IN THE FINANCE AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE. MOTION CARRIED. Mr. Collins explained that the sign code revision process has been discussed at three Community Affairs Committee meetings. The Committee approved the statement of purposes presented to Council. Once Council has reached a consensus on the statement of purposes, they will be given to the Technical Committee for their guidance in preparing the draft text for a revised Sign Code. MOVED BY BOHRER, SECONDED BY JOHANSON, THAT THIS ITEM BE FORWARDED TO THE NEXT COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING. MOTION CARRIED. Mr. Ted Uomoto, Public Works Director, reported that the 1980 Street Improvement Project has been finally inspected by Public Works staff and the Public Works Committee and has been found to be satisfactory. Final acceptance of the project is recommended. The cost was within the budgeted amount. MOVED BY JOHANSON, SECONDED BY HARRIS, THAT THIS ITEM BE PLACED ON THE AGENDA FOR THE NEXT REGULAR MEETING.* Council President Van Dusen noted that Gary Merlino Construction did a good job, very quickly and very efficiently. Councilman Bohrer noted that he had a complaint from one property owner that he does not have top soil on his yard extension and that his car drags when going in or out of the garage. Mr. Uomoto assured Council these things will be taken care of. Councilman Bohrer said that there is construction debris across from Old City Hall that has changed the ground level and could kill the trees, and he asked to have this corrected. *MOTION CARRIED. Mr. Uomoto explained that the owner of the Tukwila Pond property has requested that the City install a one -way flow valve so that water from the City storm drain system on Andover Park West will not flow back into the pond area. This was requested last year, but not in time to include it in the budget. The owner has of- fered to pay for one -half of the construction cost. Councilman Johanson wondered why City Light didn't take care of this problem before they sold it. MOVED BY BOHRER, SECONDED BY JOHANSON, THAT THIS ITEM BE FORWARDED TO THE NEXT COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING. MOTION CARRIED. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL, C.O.W. MEETING August 11, 1981 Page 5 NEW BUSINESS Cont. RECESS: 9:05 p.m.- Council recessed for five minutes before listening to the budget 9:10 p.m. proposal of programs, personnel and capital equipment presented by Hubert Crawley, Fire Chief. BUDGET PROPOSAL Fire Department 3 374 Hubert H. Crawley, Fire Chief, gave a presentation on the major requests proposed for the 1982 Budget. He explained the many duties that are the responsibility of the Fire Department and said that their budget is for total operation. The other depart- ments depend on functions budgeted outside of their individual budget; but, their budget includes everything necessary to operate the department. To date the department is running about a 35% increase over last year in calls on emergency activities. As of today, they have made a total of 920 calls; out of these, 420 were medical re- lated. The estimated fire losses in the first six months of this year are $114,729. Chief Crawley summarized the activities and duties of the Fire Prevention Bureau. The secretary has sent out 747 letters on Fire Code violations so far this year. He talked about the amount of time away from work that the fire- fighters are allowed. The men are not taking their allotted vacations, which means that next year more will be away from work for longer times. You cannot force them to take the time off and still they want it off before they lose it. New standards have been set to regulatesickleave. They are all entitled to the same holidays off that the other employees receive. Occasionally, some are off on disability leave which must be approved by the Disability Board. Further they are allowed Military and Emergency Leave. He is projecting, due to the union contract, that it will cost the department 124 twenty four hour shifts next year. Each member of the department will work approximately 118 shifts. When you figure all of the leaves available for the men to take, it comes fo the equivalent of 3.28 men. Chief Crawley listed the following requests in order of priority of his 1982 budget: 1. Put the Assistant Fire Chief /Training Officer back in the budget. 2. Three additional firefighters. 3. A new office clerk. 4. Triple combination pumper. The proposal is to surplus both the mini pumper and the old pumper. This unit will cost about $150,000. 5. Expand computer data storage. A recent survey shows it would be cheaper to expand the computer rather than use the new one proposed for City Hall. 6. Diesel staff car to be used by the Fire Chief. Diesel vehicles have proven to be more economical. Alternate Budget requests for 1982 are: 1. $40,000 to install a heat pump in the headquarters fire station. 2. $15,000 to install a new fire hydrant 300 feet north of the station and to make some physical changes to the hose tower so it can be used for a training aid. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL, C.O.W. MEETING August 11, 1981 Page 6 BUDGET PROPOSAL Cont. Fire Department The budget requests are estimated to cost as follows: (cont.) 1 Asst. Chief /Training Officer $244 p /M +18% 3 Probationary Firefighters $1620 p /M+ 18% 1 Clerk $1217 p /M +18% Class A Triple Combination Pumper Deliver in 1983 Expanded Computer Data Storage 1 Diesel staff car (replacement) Improvements to climate control of fire station Improvements to Training area 3377 28,890 68,890 17,232 150,000 7,650 10,000 $322,662 The alternate budget requests are estimated to cost as follows: 40,000 15,000 55,000 Chief Crawley said that with these new additions, they will be staying just about the same. Councilman Bohrer referred to the information and said by adding three new firemen, they are more than staying even. They are getting two more firemen. Chief Crawley said they need one new man per shift. Council discussed the amount and use of leave time and the num- ber of employees needed to cover these shifts. Council President Van Dusen said that Council needs more justification for three new firefighters. Chief Crawley said that the employees are get- ting more leave time and are saving to take longer vacations at one time. Councilman Bohrer noted the chart and said there is no change in sick leave over the past five years that justifies an additional man. Chief Crawley said that the total shift leaves amount to a lot of time. He asked for some guidance on how to justify his request. Councilman Harris suggested that there be tighter rules on scheduling each year's vacation. Chief Crawley said he uses the same process that is used in the adjacent cities. Again, he asked Council what information they need to understand his problem. 10:00 p.m. COUNCIL PRESIDENT VAN DUSEN LEFT THE MEETING. Council continued an informal discussion with the Chief. Chief Crawley said they have had a slower rate of increase in their budget since 1976 than any other department in the City. The department has remained stationary since 1975 in personnel. They have less programs now than there were in 1975 because they don't have the time to put them on. With the firefighters not taking all of their entitled vacation this year, they have a few less problems, but next year, if they all take their full vacations, the department will be short of manpower at times. Councilman Harris said tighter regulations need to be imposed on the vacation scheduling to prevent the low periods. Chief Crawley said they have the policy that only one man can be on vacation at one time. But next year they have more time coming, so some- one will be on vacation at all times throughout the year. Councilman Johanson said this sounds like a point that needs to be considered in future negotiations. Councilman Bohrer said he understands completely; the workload is increasing, more inspections, fire and emergency calls, etc. When we have compared statistics for Tukwila with those of other jurisdictions, it says they handle more per fireman than does Tukwila. He said it might not be feasible to hire three men at this time. There may be some other way to accomplish the need. Councilman Bohrer noted that last year Council established a procedure to fund major capital purchases for the Fire Department. He suggested that a smaller car be con- sidered in replacing the Oldsmobile diesel. Chief Crawley reminded Council that a car has to be big enough to carry a certain amount of equipment. At the present time, he is carrying about 300 lbs. of equipment. TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL, C.O.W. MEETING August 11, 1981 Page 7 BUDGET PROPOSAL Cont. Fire Department (cont.) ADJOURNMENT 10:30 P.M. Councilman Bohrer said that repair of the Dart should be con- sidered first. The City has to start considering things like this. There was no further discussion. Cit6 Clerk 337