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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-11-28 Committee of the Whole MinutesCALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Calling the meeting to order and leading the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:00 p.m. was Pamela Linder, Council President. OFFICIALS: Present were Pamela Linder, Council President; and Councilmembers Joe Duffie, Joan Hernandez, Pam Carter, Jim Haggerton, Dennis Robertson and David Fenton. ATTENDANCE: Steven M. Mullet, Mayor; Rhonda Berry, City Administrator; Shelley Kerslake, City Attorney; Lucy Lauterbach, Legislative Analyst; Jane Cantu, City Clerk; Jack Pace, Deputy Director of Community Development; Jim Morrow, Director of Public Works; Kevin Fuhrer, Director of Finance; CITIZEN COMMENT: TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL Council Chambers City Hall November 28, 2005 7:00 P.M. COMMITTEE OF WHOLE MEETING MINUTES Katherine DeYounq. 24712 233 Place. Maple Valley. raised concern regarding insufficient parking spaces in Tukwila for those who utilize (bus) park and ride services. Riders and residents are frustrated over the issue especially as it relates to those who are receiving illegal parking citations. She spoke out of concern for personal safety, the need for increased lighting and "the bigger picture" Those who hold bus passes may begin considering other transportation options if the issues are not addressed and improved. Council President Linder reported the lot in question is King County Metro's parking lot. Mayor Mullet questioned the community member and asked Derek Speck (Economic Development Administrator) to address the issues and potential options. Councilmember Robertson spoke in favor of having police staff look into any reported criminal activity at the lot in question. Anna Bernhard. 14241 59 Avenue South. Tukwila. spoke of concern regarding a proposed budget amendment wherein a transfer of funds is required (for 2006) to assist with golf course funds shortages. Patrick Javbush. 5320 South 137 Street. Tukwila. spoke of concern regarding a recently built fence in the area which is encroaching into an alley. He is concerned the fence may actually prevent pedestrian friendly walking in that area. Jack Pace, Deputy Director of Community Development agreed to address the issue with Mr. Jaybush. PUBLIC HEARINGS: a. An ordinance extending the current moratorium on certain land divisions and development activities within the transit oriented development (TOD'i planning area AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, RENEWING A SIX MONTH MORATORIUM ON ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS FOR CERTAIN LAND DIVISIONS, AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AND LAND USES WITHIN THE AREA DESIGNATED FOR TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT AROUND THE TREMPORARY COMMUTER RAIL/AMTRAK STATION AT LONGACRES; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILTY; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY City of Tukwila Page 2 of 7 City Council Committee of Whole Meeting Minutes November 28. 2005 Lynn Miranda. Senior Planner, Department of Community Development. reported the moratorium was put into place to preserve the available land for the development or redevelopment and to restrict land uses which do not support the vision for the area until land use and transportation plans and regulations supporting the TOD at the station are in place. With one exception the proposed amendment is the same as that which is currently in place. The modification proposed allows the City to preserve the land necessary to relocate a 100 foot -wide UPR right -of -way to the area immediately adjacent to the western border of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad right -of -way. The modification provides additional restrictions to those already imposed, prohibiting any development activities on properties within the corridor, unless the property is to be developed under an approved developer agreement with the City of Tukwila. The proposed ordinance (like the 6 previously adopted) is slated to last six months, at the end of which Council may hold another public hearing to renew, modify, or allow it to lapse. City staff has not been made aware of any negative impacts /affects from the moratorium. 7:18 p.m. 7:19 p.m. Councilmembers Hernandez, Carter and Robertson proposed grammatical edits to the proposed ordinance. For action /consideration, the proposed ordinance was forwarded to the City Council Special meeting to immediately follow this meeting. b. A development agreement between the City of Tukwila, WEA (Westfield) Southcenter. LLC, and Prudential Financial, Inc., for the expansion and renovation of Westfield Southcenter Mall Shelley Kerslake. City Attorney,, reported the development agreement is a result of lengthy negotiations between the parties and will facilitate the smooth development of the Westfield expansion and give certainty to both parties as well. It vests the developer to the current development regulations and gives certainty with respect to development regulations with the exception of building and fire codes. 7:22 p.m. Council President Linder opened the public hearing and called for citizen comment. Dave Kautz. Westfield Corporation, 633 Southcenter, thanked the Mayor and staff for countless hours in working through the terms of the agreement. Westfield looks forward to the beginning of construction during the first quarter of 2006 and a full grand opening in March, 2008. Councilmember Hernandez thanked Mr. Kautz for the inclusion of maintaining the City's Community Resource Center at the mall. Council President called again for citizen comment. None was received. 7:24 p.m. Council President Linder closed the public hearing. For action /consideration, the proposed ordinance was forwarded to the City Council Special meeting to immediately follow this meeting. SPECIAL ISSUES: Council President Linder opened the public hearing and called for citizen comment. Council President Linder closed the public hearing as no citizen comment was received. a. An ordinance extending the current moratorium on certain land divisions and development activities within the transit oriented development (TOD) planning area AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, RENEWING A SIX MONTH MORATORIUM ON ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS FOR CERTAIN LAND DIVISIONS, AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AND LAND USES WITHIN THE AREA DESIGNATED FOR TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT AROUND THE City of Tukwila Page 3 of 7 City Council Committee of Whole Meeting Minutes November 28. 2005 TREMPORARY COMMUTER RAIL /AMTRAK STATION AT LONGACRES; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILTY; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY As this matter was considered under an earlier public hearing (this evening), no additional discussions were held. b. A development agreement between the City of Tukwila, WEA (Westfield) Southcenter. LLC. and Prudential Financial. Inc., for the expansion and renovation of Westfield Southcenter Mall Council President Linder stated appreciation for the work staff has done in connection with Westfield representatives. Ms. Linder explained practices used in conjunction with a project of this magnitude and asked Shelley Kerslake, City Attorney, to answer questions previously submitted (in writing) by Councilmembers. Councilmember Robertson asked about the word "DRAFT" stamped on the proposed agreement presented to Council (in the Council agenda for this meeting). Ms. Kerslake said this is not an issue so long as when the Mayor is authorized to sign the document, a note is made that Council indicates "it is substantial form as it relates to the draft." Next, Mr. Robertson asked about the signators to the proposed development agreement. Ms. Kerslake noted parties to the agreement include the City of Tukwila, Prudential Financial, Inc., and WEA Southcenter LLC. Additionally, exhibits to the proposed development agreement (as previously provided, yet not clearly marked) were identified for members of the Council. For the record, exhibits to the proposed development agreement were identified as follows: Exhibit A Exhibit B Exhibit C Exhibit D Exhibit E Exhibit F Site map Legal description for parcels 35970000246 2623049086 Parking decision Notice of Decision dated December 3, 2004 Board of Architectural Review Notice of Decision Frontage Improvements Exhibit Plan Bill of Sale of Utility Facilities Councilmembers sought clarification to terms within the proposed agreement as well as the exhibits thereto. From there, a page -by -page review of the proposed developer's agreement was conducted. Brent Carson. WEA Southcenter LLC. reported that any exhibits watermarked with "Unofficial Document" would be replaced in the final development agreement with official documents. Those in the packet were pulled from the King County Assessor's Office in preparation of agenda packet materials. The environmental impact study prepared by the City encompassed a full potential build -out of 787.903 square feet. At this time, a smaller footprint is being considered (as described in the EIS), yet the full project could be built under a related provision within the proposed development agreement. Approvals received for BAR have looked at design for project presented to BAR and were for a project roughly the size of 597,009 square feet Should the additional 200,000 square feet be built, parking requirements would be affected. With Ms. Kerslake and Mr. Carson present, questions relative to the proposed developer's agreement were answered. The agreement is presented for the benefit of all parties and provides assurances and reduces risks to all parties. Ms. Kerslake, in response to Council inquiry, noted Council is not restricted from changing language within the proposed agreement so long as it is mutually agreeable to all parties. Proposed edits were discussed as it related to grammar, editing of words, and minor (non substantive) changes. All edits will be made before presentation of the final document to the Mayor for signature, should that be the direction of Council. City of Tukwila Page 4 of 7 City Council Committee of Whole Meeting Minutes November 28. 2005 It was noted that (pursuant to Section 4.2 of the agreement) that Westfield shall comply with the conditions of the BAR Decision and Parking Decision or seek modifications thereto. The parties also agree that design review approval is required for the remained of the project not included in the BAR Decision. All agree that any additional design review approval required for the remainder of the project shall not require an amendment to the propose agreement so long as it does not increase the project's gross building area. The City cannot impose conditions on the project inconsistent with any provision of the proposed agreement. Jim Morrow, Public Works Director and Jack Pace, Community Development Deputy Director. were present to discuss provisions and answer inquiries of Council relative to the proposed agreement and project. To assist in putting the conversation into context, Jack Pace reported the "big picture" includes a major redevelopment of a majority of Westfield's Shopping Center by adding new development, moving sewer and water, improving access, frontal improvements and circulation improvements. The project should be completed in two phases. Phase I of the project is the main mall including two parking structures and the area currently known as the Food Court. Phase II will be improvements to pad sites such as where the Olive Garden is located and other places where additional tenants may be placed. Questions regarding the Transportation Improvement Project Credit (Section 5.4 of the agreement) arose, and Ms. Linder asked Mr. Morrow to "clean it up." If impact fees received are not those which were calculated, the City must pay the difference. To that end, an analysis behind that calculation was requested (by Mr. Robertson) to be included as an attachment to the Transportation Impact Fees section (Section 5.2) of the agreement. Mr. Morrow reiterated that which should be incorporated is a note stating, "the original mitigation fee for Klickitat is $1.35 million and is allowed to be reduced by the cost of the dedicated right -of -way ($504,000). That will be covered by the language in Section 5.4 and is "referenceable to the CIP. Mr. Morrow reported Section 5.3 of the proposed agreement notes two retaining walls could be required. One of the walls would be built on the west side of the property between Sears and where the former hotel was located (against the steep bank). The other is to support the roadway for the Klickitat project. Other edits previously agreed upon and to between the City and the developer were reviewed with staff. All such edits shall be made before the agreement is finalized and signed by all parties. Councilmembers spoke in favor of postponing other agenda issues, if necessary, so that diligent focus may be placed on this item and so that it may be approved. Westfield's plans to upgrade their existing Qwest Communications main point of presence space located inside the mall to meet the anticipated increased voice and data services demand generated by the project. The City Attorney reported on Section 10.4 of the proposed agreement and noted it means the owner and Westfield LLC are required to perform the duties outlined within the agreement and shall not be alleviated of such duties of business names and /or purposes change or are amended. All parties present agreed upon the proposed edits. For action /consideration, the proposed developer's agreement shall be edited in total as prescribed at this meeting and considered at this evening's City Council Special meeting. c. Neiahborhood Resource Center (NRC) Lease Agreement By consensus of Council, this item was postponed to a time certain December 5, 2005. d. Employment Contract with Rhonda Berry, City Administrator City of Tukwila Page 5 of 7 City Council Committee of Whole Meeting Minutes November 28. 2005 Shelley Kerslake, City Attorney, presented the proposed employment contract for the City Administrator's position. Tukwila Municipal Code Section 2.26.030 states, "The City Administrator shall be required to sign a contract with the City..." Said detail was overlooked at the time Ms. Berry was appointed to her position in 2004. The proposed contract represents substantially the same offer made to a candidate for the position before Ms. Berry was considered and /or offered the position. It shall be reviewed every three years. Councilmember Haggerton expressed concern that the car allowance of $800 per month may be excessive. Ms. Carter pointed out the Tukwila School District Superintendent is provided the same allowance. Other councilmembers noted the same provision in the contracts of other area City Managers /Administrators. For action /consideration, the proposed contract was forwarded to the City Council Special meeting to immediately follow this meeting. e. Annual Comprehensive Plan Amendments: Planning Commission's recommended Transportation Element Councilmember Haggerton complimented staff on "a tremendous amount of hours" and work put into this project. This item has been before the Transportation Committee and the Planning Commission. Each has provided recommendations for the consideration of Council. Jack Pace. Denutv Director of Community Development, noted the City's Transportation Committee reviewed the recommendation of the City's Planning Commission relative to the Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element at their November 14, 2005 meeting. He reported on several proposed edits to the document as suggested by the Transportation Committee. Proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Plan were submitted before December 31, 2004. The City Council held a public meeting on the proposed changes on July 18, 2005. Those were forwarded to the Planning Commission for review. Together, the Planning Commission and the City Council were briefed on June 9, September 8, and October 12, 2005. A Transit Plan and Comprehensive Transportation Plan are proposed for this (annual) update. The Transportation Element will guide the City's transportation needs for the coming years and will provide a framework for implementing ordinances on concurrency and impact fees. Councilmember Robertson suggested inclusion of a new policy (perhaps Goal 13.2.5) to read: "Consider using traffic calming techniques on residential collective arterials and residential local access streets, where necessary, to curb speeding traffic." Cvndv Kniahton. Senior Transportation Engineer, stated her hesitancy to include the words, "to curb speeding traffic." Other proposed edits, grammatical and /or Scribner's errors were pointed out and /or suggested. Said changes were noted by Ms. Knighton and will be made before Council consideration of the document at the December 5, 2005 Regular meeting. Ms. Knighton will return to the December 5, 2005 Regular meeting with the proposed ordinance as well as a Power Point presentation outlining an overview of the entire process. The goal is to inform and enlighten those in the audience and those on the Council as well. f. An ordinance regarding concurrencv management AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, REGARDING CONCURRENCY MANAGEMENT; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE 9 :23 p.m. Due to the lateness of the hour, consensus existed to forward this item to the December 5, 2005 Regular meeting agenda for consideration. City of Tukwila Page 6 of 7 City Council Committee of Whole Meeting Minutes November 28. 2005 9. An ordinance regarding impact fees and transportation concurrencv standards AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, REPEALING TMC 9.48 REGARDING TRANSPORTATION IMPACT FEES; ADOPTING A NEW TMC 9.48 REGARDING TRANSPORTATION CONCURRENCY STANDARDS AND IMPACT FEES; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE This issue has been reviewed and considered by the City's Transportation Committee State law requires the City to plan under the Growth Management Act. A substantial update to the Transportation Element has been proposed for adoption this year which includes an updated transportation impact fee schedule. The proposed impact fee schedule was developed through identification of future roadway improvements necessary tb maintain the City's adopted concurrency standard and a fiscal analysis on the amount/limit of Tukwila's funding capacity. RCW 892.02.909 defines Impact Fees as, "...a means of payment of money imposed upon development as a condition of development approval to pay for public facilities needed to serve new growth and development which is reasonably related to the new development, which creates additional demand and need for public facilities, that is a proportionate share of the cost of the public facilities, and that is used for facilities which reasonably benefit the new development." Tukwila City staff proposes four areas for impact fee levels. Zone 1 is the Urban Center; Zones 2 and 3 are residential (though they include TIB and Interurban businesses), and Zone 4 includes Ryan Hill and the industrial area in the north part of Tukwila. Discussing Section 15 (C), Councilmember Robertson asked if the City's Public Works Director may waive impact fees. Mr. Morrow answered in the negative. Washington State law does not allow an such provision. The only way said impact fees may be waivedis by entering into a developer's agreement. In response to Council inquiry, Mr. Morrow noted at least two current projects shall be vested under the conditions of the currently proposed ordinance. Said projects include the Tukwila South project, Westfield's, "and one or two others." As proposed, applicants are vested if they have submitted a building permit application that the City has deemed complete, entered into formal negotiations with the City for a development agreement in accordance with RCW 36, or have a signed agreement (with the City) that is still in effect. Consensus existed to forward this item to the December 5, 2005 Regular meeting agenda for consideration. h. Two ordinances re: 2006 Property Taxes 1. Setting the regular levy AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, LEVYING THE GENERAL TAXES FOR THE CITY OF TUKWILA IN KING COUNTY FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING JANUARY 1, 2006, ON ALL PROPERTY, BOTH REAL AND PERSONAL, IN SAID CITY WHICH IS SUBJECT TO TAXATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAYING SUFFICIENT REVENUE TO CARRY ON THE SERVICES OF THE SEVERAL DEPARTMENTS OF SAID CITY FOR THE ENSUING YEAR AS REQUIRED BY LAW; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE The 2006 Property Tax ordinances were discussed concurrently. Kevin Fuhrer. Finance Director, reported King County will not have final property valuations prior to the cutoff date of December 2, 2005 for submitting levy requests. That being said and given the preliminary nature of the valuations and consideration of a 1% levy base growth constraint, Mr. Fuhrer has set the recommended levy amount slightly higher than the value he calculated for the estimated allowable levy. City of Tukwila Page 7 of 7 City Council Committee of Whole Meeting Minutes November 28. 2005 Mr. Fuhrer cited a proposed increased of 1 while the valuation of the City increases 5.4 The rate per 1,000 is decreasing by 7 cents, "relative to last year." That's because our levy is not growing much more than 1 but the valuation is growing significantly more. Councilmember Robertson reported review and approval of the proposed ordinances at the November 21 Finance Safety Committee meeting. 2. Increasina the reaular Ievv by 1% AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, INCREASNIG THE CITY OF TUKWILA REGULAR LEVY FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR, COMENCING JANUARY 1, 2006, ON ALL PROPERTY, BOTH REAL AND PERSONAL, IN COMPLIANCE WITH RCW 84.55.120; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE REPORTS: Council consensus existed to consider reports after this evenings' City Council Special meeting. ADJOURN TO SPECIAL MEETING: 9:36 p.m. COUNCIL PRESIDENT LINDER ADJOURNED THE COMMITTEE OF WHOLE MEETING AND NOTED A CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING WILL IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW. cLL, Pamela Linder, Council President Date minutes approved j(,' (c, an¢ E. Cantu, CMC, City Clerk