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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1703 '. RESOLUTION NO. 1 7 0 3 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUBURN, WASHINGTON, ADOPTING AND APPROVING A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR THE CITY OF AUBURN, WASHINGTON, PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF R.C.W. CHAPTER 35A.63 OF THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, DESIGNATING ITS POLICIES AS GUIDELINES FOR EXERCISING THE CITY'S AUTHORITY UNDER SEPA, AND DIRECTING THAT THIS RESOLUTION AND THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN IT ADOPTS AND APPROVES BE FILED WITH THE AUBURN CITY CLERK AND BE AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION. WHEREAS, the City of Auburn determined the need to revise the Comprehensive Plan, the City Council has directed the City Planning Commission and the Planning Department to propose such a revision; and WHEREAS, studies were prepared to identify existing conditions which include estimates of future population growth in the City and alternative growth and development policies were considered; and WHEREAS, neighborhood meetings were held for community members and City officials to discuss existing and future land use and development concerns; and WHEREAS, a "Sta ff Draft and Recommendati ons II was prepared by the Pl anni ng Department as a proposed revision to the City of Auburn's Comprehensive Plan; and WHEREAS, the "Sta ff Dra ft and Recommenda t ions II was transmitted to the Planning Commission in January, 1986, and public meetings and a hearing were held to review these recommendations; and WHEREAS, the envi ronmenta 1 impacts of the "Sta ff Draft and Recommenda- tions" were considered in accordance with the procedures of the State Environmental Policy Act; and WHEREAS, after proper notice published in the City's official newspaper at least ten (10) days prior to the date of hearing the Auburn City Planning Commission at a public meeting on May 6, 1986, conducted their final hearing on the adoption and proposed approval of a new Comprehensive Plan for the City of Auburn, Washington; and Resolution No. 1703 Page One 7/29/86 t. . 4c 1 WHEREAS, at said hearing the Auburn City Planning Commission heard public 2 testimony and took evidence and exhibits into consideration of said 3 Comprehens i vePl an; and 4 WHEREAS, thereafter the Auburn City Planning Commission transmitted a copy 5 of its recommendations for the Comprehensive Plan to the Auburn City Council 6 through the Mayor, who acknowledged receipt thereof and directed the Clerk to 7 certify thereon the date of receipt; and 8 WHEREAS, the Planning and Community Development Committee of the Auburn 9 City Council reviewed the "Staff Draft Recommendations" and the Auburn City 10 Planning Commission's recommendations and made additional revisions and recom- 11 mend approval to the Auburn City Council; and 12 WHEREAS, within sixty (60) days from the receipt of Auburn City Planning 13 Commission recommendation for the Comprehensive Plan the Auburn City Council 14 after proper notice published in the City's official newspaper at a public 15 meeting conducted hearings on the proposed adoption and proposed approval of 16 said new Comprehensive Plan at which hearing the Auburn City Council heard 17 public testimony and took evidence and exhibits into consideration of satd 18 Comprehens i ve Pl an. 19 WHEREAS, the "Staff Draft and Recommendations" includes land use policies 20 whi ch constitutes a 1 and use el ement that desi gnates the proposed growth 21 distribution, general location, and extent of uses of land, including state- 22 ments of recommended standards of population density and buildinglntensity, 23 and the land use element includes policies directed at the protection of the 24 quality of ground water used for public water supplies and includes policies 25 and programs addressing drainage, flooding, and storm water run-off; and 26 WHEREAS, the "Staff Draft and Recommendations" incorporates by reference 27 as modified previously the adopted circulation element. 28 NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUBURN, WASHINGTON, IN A 29 REGULAR MEETING DULY ASSEMBLED, HEREWITH RESOLVES THAT: 30 31 32 Resolution No. 1703 Page Two 7/29/86 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 I. . ., '. " Section 1. The aforementioned Comprehensive Plan to include the "Staff Draft and Recommendations", City of Auburn Planning Commission recommen- dations, and City of Auburn City Council revisions is herewith adopted and approved and it is herewith directed that it be filed along with this Resolution with the Auburn City Clerk and be available for public inspection. Section 2. The aforementioned Comprehensive Plan replaces in its entirety the previous Comprehensive Plan adopted on February 17~ 1969, and modifies as described in the text of the Comprehensive Plan such other planning elements which have been previously adopted by the City. Section 3. The aforementioned Comprehensive Plan is herewith designated as a basis for the exercise of substantive authority of the Washington State Environmental Policy Act rules by the City's responsible environmental offi- cial in accordance with R.C.W. 43.21C.I10. /~ / (;/'v ATTEST: 7 {2 .? . 'A?ii:L ,C ~7'-~ /' /~u/~.L .'"" City Cl erk ----------------------------- 32 Resolution No. 1703 Page Three of Three 7/29/85 .. "l. "\ of , ,~"', r~ i ,_ .~ Meeting Dale: '- ~ Auburn City Council AGENDA BILL APPROVAL FORM August 18, 1986 Item Number. VI Agenda Sub;ect: Date: 8-13-86 " Comprehensive Plan Oip..entJ I Attachments: Administrative Recommendation: Budget Impact: City Council to adopt Resolution No. 1703 thereby adopting the proposed City of Auburn Comprehens ive Pl an as mod i fied by the Planning Conmiss ion andreconmended by the Planning and Community Development Committee. - Background Summary: The City of Auburn has determined the need to revise its Comprehensive Plan. Extensive reports and studies were prepared to examine the issues and options! Neighborhood meetings also were held to discuss how the City should handle growth and development. Based on this work, a draft plan was prepared by the Planning Department titled "City of Auburn Comprehensive Plan -- Staff Draft and Reconmendations." This document was transmitted to the Planning Commission in January, 1986. The Planning Conmission reviewed the "Staff Draft", held two public hearings, and made specific revisions. On May 19, 1986 the Auburn Planning Conmission transmitted to the City Council its reconmendation on adoption of a new Comprehensive Plan for Auburn. The proposed Plan was referred to the Planning and Community Development Conmittee for review. A public hearing was held before the full Council on June 16 to help the Conmittee focus its review, and alert all Council members to major issues concerning the proposed Plan. The Planning and Conmunity Development Conmittee reviewed the proposed Plan and made text and map revi- sions. The Conmittee now reconmends Council adoption of the Plan as amended by the Planning Commission and Planning and Community Development Committee. The Planning and Community Development Conmittee thus recommends that the Auburn City Council adopt as the City's Comprehensive Plan, the document titled "City of Auburn Comprehensive Plan -- Staff Draft and Reconmendation," as revised by: 1) 31 specific modifications approved by the Planning Commission, and 2) the amendments approved by the Planning and Community Development Committee. (The Planning Commission and Planning and Community Development Committee changes are attached. ) In addition, the Planning and Community Development Committee recommends that the policies of the proposed Comprehensive Plan should be designated as guideli- nes for the exercise of Auburn's authority under the State EnvironmentalPo11cy Act (SEPA). REVIEW LIST: Council Committees & Commissions Departments & Divisions -Finance _ Board 01 Adjullmenta -Municipal Servlcel- Board 01 Appeal. - Planning & _ Cemelery Board Community _ Civil Service Com. Development _ library Board - Public Works _ Park Board _ ....rlng ExamlMr __ Planning eomm6aa1on ~ Alrpott _ Building _ Cem.tery _ Finance _ Fire _ Legal _ Ltbrary ~M&O _ Mayor _ Parka & RK. _ Peraonnel _ Planning _ Pollee _ Publ6c WorM ~"c,,' ,~'1T .' " . ~ ..v. Auburn City Council AGENDA BILL APPROVAL FORM v 1__ Doll: . Item Number. AuQIl~t 1 A 1 1 QAi\ -,-- Agenda Subject: Date: Deoartment: -Plannlng Comprehensive Plan I Attachments: R- 1 ~_Ai\ Budget Impa: Continued page: The City Council at their August 4th meeting referred two elements of the Comprehensive Plan back to the Planning & Community Development Committee for further review. Areas to be reviewed were the Mount Rainier Vista Special Planning Area and the 35 acre area on the Auburn/Enumclaw Highway. The Committee revised its recommendation for the Auburn/Enumclaw Highway area. (This recommendation is attached.) The City Administration supports the Planning and Community Development Committee's recommendation to adopt the proposed City of Auburn Comprehensive Pl an. . ':.,,'.1_;,01 . '..' ;'. ,':':.~:~,:.: ., . .. "'. .', :;t~.:~:[ :( : :,;.' . ~ :.,'.' \.... ~. .:" ." ".""; .... ...:.2 .~ :i'!f."~:~:~i; · \" : .'::, ,: -:";..! ;>:~/~~.L. ~i 9. Add a policy #6 to page 66, as follows: "6. A limited neighborhood commercial center should be con- sidered at an intersection along."M" Street N E in the vicinity of the 4500 to 5000 blocks, when developed " 10. Revise Special Planning Area's description on page 95, as follows: "This designation currently applies to #-i-v~ six specific areas identified as being appropriate for mixed, urban level development on a planned basis." 11. Add new language for an additional Special Planning Area on page 97, as follows: "MT. RAINIER VISTA SPECIAL PLANNING AREA: This 145 acre Special Planning Area is located south of Coal Creek Springs Watershed. Overall development of the Mt. Rainier Vista Element shall be con- sistent with the following conditions: 1. Primary consideration in use and development of the property shall be given to protection of Coal Creek Springs' water quality. Development types, patterns and standards deter- mined to pose a substantial risk to the public water source shall not be allowed. 2. The maximum number of dwelling units allowed shall be 145, all of which shall be detached single family units. Dwelling units shall be concentrated in accord with appropriate urban single family zones, to be located within portions of the property where development poses the least risk of con- tamination for Coal Creek Springs. Lands upon which any level of development would have a high. risk for contaminating the water supply shall not be developed, but would be retained as open space. The development pattern shall pro- - vide for a logical transition between areas designated for rural uses and those designated for single family residential use. 3. All dwelling units shall be served by municipal water and sanitary sewer service, and urban roads. If 53rd Street S.E. is the major access to serve the Special Planning Area., the developer will be responsible for developing the street to urban standards, from the property owners eastern property line that abuts 53rd Street, west to the intersection of 53rd and Kersey Way. 4. Percolation type storm sewer disposal systems shall not be permitted. All surface water drainage shall be conveyed to the Stuck River via Bowman Creek or municipal stormwater facilities. Treatment of stormwater shall occur prior to its discharge to any surface water body, consistent with standard public works or other requirements in general effect at the time of development. -3- '~ .. ;.: f ; f x ._ :: "~ f . ~.~ :: ,. .a: V C 5. The site shall be zoned tempora rily, at one unit per four acres, until the Special Planning Area Element is completed and the long-term urban zoning determined." 12. Add a second policy under section #4 on page 100, as follows: "The 35 acre area on the Auburn/Enumclaw Highway in Southeast AUDUrn is designated as Rural by the Plan Map The primary reasons for this Rural dent Hatton is the current lack of urban faci ides and the existin attern of ots arce s between an 6~- acres Once ro ert owners are able to demonstrate to the Cit that the can rovide net essa r urban se rvices munict a water and sewer service urban roads an storm water mans ement for the entire area the Plan desi nation for this a rea s ou d be than ed to urban residential 4 to 6 units er acre and the area zoned R 1." 13. Revise Plan Map designation in the a rea between Auburn Way South and Howard Road as shown by Attachment A. This revision maintains a band of High Density Multiple Family property adjacent to Auburn Way South, while changing the High Density designation adjacent to Howard Road to Single Family. 14. Revise Plan Map designation in the a rea south of Coal Creek Springs as shown by Attachment 6. This revision shows: 1) the Mt. Rainier Vista site as a Special Planning Area. 15. Revise Plan Map designation in the area near Kersey Way and the Pierce County boundary as shown by Attachment C. B. The following are minor edits to the proposed Plan to prepare it for publi- cation. These edits have no policy implications to the Plan. 1. Add a numbering system for Plan goals, objectives and policies. Goals will be numbe red 1., 2., 3, etc. Objectives will be num- bered 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc. Policies will be numbered 1.1.1, 1.2.1, 1.3.1 etc. 2• Add letters to major headings of Chapters (A.1., B.1., etc.). 3. Revise the Table of Contents to reflect editing changes. 4. Add paragraph at top of page 1, as follows and change letters of remaining maps in document. "This Comprehensive Plan will guide the physical development of all iana lying within the corporate ltmtts of the City of Auburn Auburn is located where the Green and White Stuck River valle s converge in south King County Map A shows the location of Auburn to relation to net hbortn cities and untncor orated a reas. The map also indicates Auburn's unique situation with regard to the ~u~KieSnooL inatan Reservation a roxtmatel two and one-half square miles of the six square mile Reservation ies w thin the Auburn city ltmtts " -4- ,. ,`:, ~ y, '_ ~'* :.; t ... i 1. ', ,t ,..~ ~. 1 > ( ~ ~, .a, ~,. , .~ . ' c 5. Add paragraph at bottom of page 5, as follows: "The Appendix includes a glossary of terms used by this Plan summary of _background reports and studies, and an index." 6, Add sentence to end of third paragraph on page 6, as follows: "See Appendix B for a description of these studies.)" 7. Add two new paragraphs after third paragraph on page 7,'as follows: "The "Staff Draft and Recommendations" for the City of Auburn Comprehensive Plan was submitted to the Planninq Commission in early January, 1986. The Planninq Commission reviewed and refined the Draft Plan during several regular and special meeting Burin the next four months assisted b ublic in ut received at two public hearings held during that period. On May 6, 9 6 the Planning Commission completed its review and formulated its recommendation to the City Council on adoption of the proposed Comprehensive Plan, The Commission's recommendation to adopt the "Staff Draft and Recommendations" as revised by 31 specific modi- ficati_o_ns,_ was transmitted to the City Council on May 19, 1986, The final step in the process occurred during the summer of 1986. Following receipt of the Planninq Commission's recommendation, the City Council held a public hearing and referred the proposed Com rehensive Plan to its Committee on Plannin and Communit Develo ment P&CD The Committee com leted its review in Jul and forwarded its recommendations to the full Counci ,which held a second public hearing on August 4. The Comprehensive Plan was 8. a. Revise first two sentences of last paragraph on page 7, as follows: "The Comprehensive Plan presents-the results of #.~s the comprehensive planning process. J~e~we~,--a A wide variety of other documents have been prepared or utilized in #.#a-s~ the process." b. Revise second paragraph on page 8, as follows: "This section w~ a-de~~i-~jc identifies those documents:" -5- ,. ,.- ~~-. is ,, ~T .i _ ~ ;°: ,., ~_ ~~ x _;~~ ~_ Y ,. ~~ .... . ~~ _ Move "Reports and Studies:" section (bottom of page 7 through page 16) to Appendix. Make it a new Appendix B. Make the following edits to this section: ~J c. Revise third paragraph, second sentence on page 9, as follows: "Three major demographic phenomena have strongly influenced the sociological character of the community tr'~-~ ~•~~--• between 1981-1984: the post-war baby boom, the subsequent baby-bust, and the growth of the elderly popula- tion." 9. Revise first paragraph on page 17, as follows: "Information gained Burin the com rehensive Tannin rocess from the studies, reports, and public input ~ provided the basis for the City's Comprehensive Plan. See Appendix B for a description of these documents )" 10. Revise second sentence, paragraph two on page 18, as follows: "No City policy or program +4e~ addressed agricultural soils." 11. Revise headings in Land Use Issues, Section III. a. Revise heading on page 21, as follows: "RESIDENTIAL d,SS~E,~:" b. Revise heading on page 23, as follows: "COMMERCIAL :" c. Revise heading on page 25, as follows; "INDUSTRIAL ;;~~-~Eo; R~~:" 12. Move definitions at bottom of page 29 to legend of "Urban Form Map". 13. Revise headings in Chapter II, as follows: a. Revise heading on page 52, as follows: "RESIDENTIAL iicc neon nr~~r~ nnur.rr,u b. Revise heading on page 61, as follows: "COMMERCIAL "rTT'rsv~-riiTira:" c. Revise heading on page 66, as follows: "INDUSTRIAL nr~~r~ nnur~~r.n d. Revise heading on page 70, as follows: "CIRCULATION #~;~~ -6- ,; . . T - z' . 1J ..L(. 51 ~ ,~ ~ kfl i Y~ . ~i ~~ j 14. Revise second sentence of the first paragraph on page 82, as follows: "The Comprehensive Plan Map presented in t-be-~,~,=e;~ this chapter applies those policies to the various areas of the City, by indi- cating the appropriate locations for various categories of land use." 15. Revise the Comprehensive Plan Map legend (between pages 85 & 86), as follows: a. Take out residential, commercial and industrial headings and add residential after each of the residential categories. b. Reorder the commercial categories going from the least intense to the most intense use. c. Add a note to the legend as follows: "Note: This Map illustrates Plan policies for several areas in unincorporated King County." 16. Add heading to left column on chart at bottom of page 112, as follows: "Priority Action Work Effort" 17. Add an Index as Appendix C. -7- ~.: ' Y. ~~~ ~~ ...Y. ~. ti' .. ~~~~ ~ ~'- i I .~ l- -;-- tT ~. '2 1 TTI w ~~'NT. ~- r; :: ~~.. "' ~ •.;.~ ~~1 .f ~.~- ... s ~; \ r4 t ~.• C J 1 M' ' [ ~ ,. .J, 1 T SAT S s, -- - -- -- \ ~~H~IE1~'~ ~C`~~=-~ Eck 'v~ruNc 2C%a/ `~~ '~~~~ ~~ ... i~~ ~\' '~.'R' / / ,, /' u6/ia~ 'fir •a Q~~ 1,~ ~.. ~~~i. J/~ Fi a U 1\~9 ~r~' ., r •I~ 1 ~ • ` • ~~ ~' R S • ...»~~~ ~~ CITY OF AUBURN * PLANNING COMMISSION MEMO T0: Auburn City Council, via REF.NO.: 86-385 Mayor Bob Roegner .. FROM: Auburn Planning Commission May 14. 1986 SUBJECT:. Planning Commission Recommendation to Adopt Comprehensive Plan On May 6, 1986 the Auburn Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council adopt a new Comprehensive Plan for the City of Auburn. The Commission further recommends that the policies of the new Comprehensive Plan be designated as guidelines for exercising the City's authority under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). RECOMMENDED PLAN The Comprehensive Plan recommended for adoption consists of the document titled "City of Auburn Comprehensive Plan -- Staff Draft and Recommendations" dated December, 1985, together with the following revisions to that document: 1. Policy #5 under Objective C on page 45 is revised to read as follows: "5. Land fill proposals affecting the rp ime wetlands identified ~ Map "B" shall s~tetri-~ be related to specific development projects or. needs. Land fill for speculative purposes within such rime wetland areas shall be rohibited. Speculative fill within other wetlan3-areas s ou be discoura ed. Sites without adequate public facilities to support deve opment should not be filled until such facilities are available." 2. Anew map indicating the location of prime wetlands, consistent with Attachment II, is added. 3. Policy #2 on page 48 is revised to read as follows: "2. New commercial (other than retail commercial) or industrial uses which involve the transport or storage of hazardous materials shall be located only in that ortion of the designated Region Serving Area of the City lying west of the Burlington Northern R.R. Tracks." - _ 4. Policy #3 on page 49 is revised to read as follows: "3. Additional quarries shall be permitted only where it is adviseable to modify slope to create usable land (or to provide another public benefit associated with the site) and where the community will suffer no substantial short or long term adverse effect. New quarries and expansion of existing uarries will not be permitted in areas designated for "open space„ uses." 5. Policy #4 on page 49 is revised to read as follows: "4. All new sites not previously mined 5fietr}d• shall be studied thoroughly under the provisions of SEPA prior to their development, and the City shall employ all reasonable mitigating measures identified in those studies prior to approval." 6. Policy #7 on pages 49 and 50 is revised to read as follows: "7. A final grading plan s~Ftonr{~} shall be submitted with every applica- tion. Conditions of operation sitov}>f shall be spelled out in detail with performance bonds required to ensure compliance. Failure to comply with the provisions will be adequate grounds for tersination of the permit." ;. 4j~,. ,- - w~:~ J ~ ~ r . ~n ;~ :. ~ '. zr ~i~ ` < is ~, x _ _t .G. ~/ Mayor and City Council Recommendation to Adopt Comprehensive Plan May 14, 1966 Page Two `...:-'' 7. Policy #8 on page 50 is revised to read as follows: "8. Aesthetic qualities, erosion control, the effect on community and the creation of usable land st~otrl-~ shall be the primary considerations in a decision to grant a new quarry permit or to extend the scope of the quarries previously operating. Any of these concerns can be grounds to deny a permit." 8. Policy #10 on page 50 is revised to read as follows: "10. The zoning ordinance she~rl~ shall contain a provision that any gravel operation in the City which is now operating in a legal noncon- forming status without a City permit, shall secure such permit in accord with these policies or be phased out within 5 years. Past gravel operations whose nonconforming status has lapsed shall not resume operations without a permit." 9. Add the following to Policy #5 on page 51: "It is recognized that designating rivate property for o en s ace uses does not establish or romote a_..Y ublic access rights to such property." 10. The last sentence of Policy #3 on page 52 is revised to read as follows: "Mobile home park densities should not exceed ~$ 8 units per acre." 11. Policy #5 on page 58 is deleted. 12. Policy #4 under objective C on page 69, is revised to read as follows: "4. 6efter~a-l-~- Heavy industrial uses siton}et shall be strictly prohi- bited fit from the Community Serving Area of Auburn see Map A~ The only -' --°' `' `'. exception to this eneral op licy shall be the con- tinued heavy industrialuse of the area east o~A"~treet~.E., as shown ~ the Comprehensive Plan Map•" 13. Policy #B.a). on page 73 is revised to read. as follows: "a). Existing dead-end streets that are greater than 800 feet in length should be linked to other streets whenever the opportunity arises, unless it can be demonstrated that such connections would lead to a substantial rerouting of through traffic onto the street. Such dead-end streets shall not be allowed to serve substantial new development unless linked to other streets. Where such linkage would substantiaTTy reroute through traffic onto the street, the new development mfr be denied." 1. Revise Policy.#1 on page 73 to read as follows: "1. The City shall continue to enforce the policy of requiring develo- pers of new developments to construct streets directly serving the development, including specific off-site improvements. The City shall also ex lore ways that new developments can encourage van pooling, car pooling, up blic transit use and other alternatives to single occupant vehicle travel." _ 2. Revise Objective F on page 74 to read as follows: Objective F. To encourage the continued development of mass transit systems and other alternatives to single occupant vehicle travel, t0 relieve traffic congestion and to reduce reliance on the automobile for uersonal transnnrt~t;nn a~~~~. 4 ~ ! r[ 4. `' ~ f. . t ~; ~ { a~s.y( s, a Mayor and City Council Recommendation to Adopt Comprehensive Plan May 14, 1986 Page Three 16. Add a Policy il6 (under Objective F) on page 75, as follows: ~~ ~4. The City shall explore importunities to romote alternatives to single occupant vehicle travel, including car oop ling and van fooling." - 17. Policy il6 on page 16 is revised to read as follows: "6. The City shall encourage the formation of LIDS to develop sidewalks in existing residential areas. The City shall also ex lore the formation of a partnership with the Auburn School District, aimed at aggressively promoting the formation of LIDS to develop sidewalks along routes used ~ schoolchildren walking to~ and from school." 18. An additional Policy ~8 is added on page 16, to read as follows: "8. Whenever the City contem later reconstruction or major maintenance includin resurfacing work on a Cjty street not having sidewalks, the ab9lity to rovide sidewalks at that time should be fully explored. This m_.Y. include the identification of potentiaT~ funding sources; aggressive promotion of an L D to finance the sidewalk ortion of the work; and including sidewalks as an "alternate" in construction bid documents." 19. The language immediately following the heading "COMPATIBLE USES" on page 84 is revised to read as follows: "COMPATIBLE USES: Uses that serve or support family values and ameni- ties, such as schools, d~.Y care centers, churches and parks shall be considered appropriate and may be permitted on a conditional basis." 20. The third sentence under the heading "COMPATIBLE USES", starting on page 84 and continuing on page 85, is revised and a fourth sentence is added to read as follows: "Except where CUPS have been previously granted, alternate structure types shall not exceed more than 40~ of the units, and alternative structures should in most cases contain no more than four dwelling units each. However where substantial offsetting communit benefits can be identified, such a ternative structures mfr be a owe t~- tain more than three units each. 21. The sentence under the heading "DESCRIPTION" at page 86 is modified as follows: "Dwelling types would generally range from single family to four-plex units, with larger structures allowed at the same overall densit where offsetting community benefits can be identified~- 22. Revise the first sentence under the heading "APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION" at page 88, to read as follows: Where appropriate, the public use zone should be applied to these areas; however, in most cases rivatei owned ro ert in an area designated for open s ace uses wi be zoned for ow density residen- tial use." 23. The third sentence on page 97 of the proposed Plan is revised to read as follows: "This approximately 468 560 acre area shall ultimately have no more than X868 2675 dwelling units, no more than 300 of which shall be multiple fame y or mobile home park units." i {;. L ~.. i . .. ... v~ .... . ': r ~ ~ :• ,: ., _~5. ~, Mayor and City Council Recommendation to Adopt Comprehensive Plan May 14, 1986 Page Four ~..~ 24. A new second paragraph is added on page 97 under the STUCK RIVER ROAD SPEC PAL PLANNING AREA heading, as follows: "The City recognizes the potential for expanding the Stuck River Road S ep cial Planning Area to include additional land east of K~er~se,~ W~ and north of the Covington-Chehalis powerline easement, an~will consider a proposal ~ all affected Qroperty owners. A_..~Y. such proposal shall she- cifica~ apportion the types and quantities of development to occur within each separate ownershi Under an expanded SPA, the number of non-multiple family non-mohi a home park dwelling units mfr be increased proportionate to the increase in acreage." 25. The language following the subheading "Policy" under item ~3, "East Main Street" at page 101 is revised to read as follows: "Land use decisions shall seek to minimize any adverse impact on adja- cent residential uses. Existing commercial uses should be allowed to continue as permitted uses. New development should be consistent with the office/residential use designation." 26. The Comprehensive Plan Map designation of approximately 15 acres of land south of State Route 18 and between "C" Street S.W. and the Union Pacific R.R. Tracks/Interurban Trail is changed from "Heavy Industrial" to "Light Industrial", as indicated by Attachment I. 27. The boundaries of the Stuck River Road Special Planning Area (shown on the Comprehensive Plan Map) are revised as indicated by Attachment III. 28. The Comprehensive Plan Map designations at the intersection of 37th Street N.W. and West Valley Highway are revised to add a commercial designation, as indicated by Attachment IV. 29. The Comprehensive Plan Map designations near the west end of 15th Street N.W. are revised to recognize the current commercial zoning in that area, as shown by Attachment V. 30. The Comprehensive Plan Map designation of Open Space north of Mt. View Cemetery is revised to more accurately reflect the area's topography, as indicated by Attachment VI. 31. A new map is added, indicating the location of the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, consistent with Attachment VII. PLAN MAP The Planning Commission approved revisions to the Comprehensive Plan Map (see revisions 26 through 30 above) are reflected by the 1" = 800' scale Proposed Comprehensive Plan map signed by myself and Planning Director Mary McCumber. EDITORIAL REVISIONS The Planning Commission is aware that the final, published version of the Comprehensive Plan will involve certain changes to format and minor editing, to enhance the document's readability and usefulness. Examples of such changes include the re-numbering of objectives and policies for easy reference, and the editing and condensing of information contained in the introductory material. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Following approval of the proposed Comprehensive Plan as detailed above, the Planning Commission adopted a motion recommending that the City Council pay par- ticular attention to two issues in its consideration of the Plan. :.~ .r l i .r .Y ' A L ' ~. N'J~ ,., - 4 ~ R ;'` .. ~.4 ,. x za+.i is a a 9 ~ ~~ _ T~ 4 ~~ ~ ! ~ t ~ 1 i;.A C YTa 7. U Mayor and City Council Recommendation to Adopt Comprehensive Plan May 14, 1986 Page Five First, the Planning Commission recommends that the Council consider the possi- bility of creating an additional residential designation with minimum lot size somewhere in the range of 35,000 square feet to 2 acres; and that the use of this designation be considered for the vicinity of the property commonly referred to as Mount Rainier Vista, while maintaining the 4 acre designation for the Hidden Valley area. Second, the Planning Commission recommends that the Council consider expanding the Stuck River Road Special Planning Area (SPA) consistent with "Option 3" as described in the Planning Department memorandum to the Planning Commission dated March 25, 1986. Option 3 would add approximately 80 additional acres to the SPA, as shown by Attachment VIII. CONCLUSIONS To summarize, the Planning Commission recommends: 1) That the Auburn City Council adopt a new Comprehensive Plan for the City, consisting of the document and revisions described under the heading "RECOMMENDED PLAN," above; 2) That in its deliberations regarding the Planning Commission's recommended Plan, the City Council give consideration to a revision in the proposed designation for the Mount Rainier Vista area and to expansion of the Stuck River Road Special Planning Area, as described under "OTHER CONSIDERATIONS", above; and 3) That the policies of the Comprehensive Plan adopted by the City Council be designated as guidelines for exercising the City's authority under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). Respectfully Su~fiitted: Robert E, est, Jr., Chairman ate Auburn Planning Commis Receipt Eck wledged this l day of May, 1986. i~ Bob Roegner, Mayor . ~G Darlene Parks, t Clerk ;,~. .. ~ ;. ~ ; ' y. ~ ' .~ • t. - ~ ."~ . '1. 3 ~ • I' -...~ ~. -~~ 3 .. ~. M 1 `- ~ . ~.`.. 1 1 I ~ • ~~ = .. I ~ ~ --- I p !f) 1 1 1 ~ I • ' I~'~ M h , w -- :- j 1, ~ l 1 y ~x, 1 ', C _ ern"40'0"Caporote Por- Owi~an I st ~~ I ~• ~ ss I >. tr e~ ,. ,. iS .'1'1 :~~.-. ' ' ~-i • ~: # : a: C ;'.. ,~ _ ' >, : . •, :5:. f11•; ~v.• T.r..~.#~ .. .' ~.t.F 'ti ;~ , - :,: } p'.. . ~ ~: ~ . r , ~.. _. ~ • ;.:f •~~ ~~: :. ~ ; :: r '•.1: .:i.'. l.'. . ~r.l.:~l~• f ~..: } 1..R: ' T 3 { 1.1.1 r t ~YY.:~ ~t _ . ~~ . -- • •~+~-~~ w~ILHNUS ATTACHMENT II - : .:. : J: ; ~; •" .~ , ~ . " '~ • :~, r=. ~ ~.i : - 'r. ~ • .t~ . . ~ :'1~''' ,yq ' ' r~ ' 1 .. ~•~.• C • 1' . r....... r...y~ i •y ., Y ~•{iR ,. ~ 'h` ~: ' ,f.i. , ..~: ~ ,• ' -- ' ~~ :: ~ ,a ~ ~~ ~-!;: .:• :, . : ] ~ { ~ ": . ..• ~ . ,' `, ~-- ~. off: :• r ' . lY r r ~ i~~ t.. :4.r.. 1 )~~'~ Q., ~" P J, / /~" l~ 1 f --~ ._- . _ _ _ -„~._ V U ~ Z ~~ .~ ~ ~ r T.T L .~~ ,~ `,,, ' fr.. A ~ . ~~ • , J __~ ti H \~~ ~ ` ' 1) ~ .~ N ~ .J ~ L ~ Q Z~ _ :: ,1 ri. ATTACHM[NT JIJ n ~= •~ 1 \\\ ` 1 1 ~ f 1. y y. ,.~ + f,•.. ,.. 1 1~~ i - ~ r,' ~ : •, ~ i~~ i j ~r~n• -1 i ~ - . 1.. ~ ~° 1 e! r "T. r tE. ' , .~~ 1~ , ark i ,: ~ 1 ~ -g 1 i u i~,yf 1 ,1 ...~ ~` ... t ~.~ ..{ . -r - ~. ~ i ~a't itc , :' > ' ~ ai .. i t r x ~' ;' c ~ ,.":a t' 1 y 1 \. .~ - ~- ~ ~ ~ ~ I ~ it ,. I~ -~I -_. ~~, _ I I Gh ~_ _ _._. ~ ' ~ •: ~ r- '~ ~~ -- -----~- ~: i ~:_ ~,y~~~ uNCI~ .. ~: ~ .; ~._ ~~ ._ M ~.Y , it :.: ~- ~ ~ -- T .: .. ~' .. .. +. ~ .. I ~_ 1 ._ ... _ .. _, .1. ~ ~ r •~ ~ i I .._ 1 r E ~ ~ ~ ' :- I (SPu)~ « UNC~ ,.:: ~~~ ATTACHMENT IV w'M4 .. 1~~~ __..». n • ~ ~~~~ • ~ ,• a; ~.. .~ . -- __ ._ ~. ~~: ..:,-• .. t , , . ., ;:.. „.. • j ~ ~~ ~~ ,~., ,~,. ,,,~ . ~ ,. ..,, „ „ ~. ~ ~~ ~~ I i I ~~ ~~ u ~~ ' • • U .• ~~ ", ~~ ~~ „ ~ I ~ J t .., ~ ,• r . ~ ~. L I ' •MI• . .. , •~ __ ---- .`. ' . U MI ~ ~ ~ •h y • r . ~ :- ~' . . _ • r w ~' ~ I t .. ,: . }• ~. 1 _.... ~ i ~ f ~: • . •' M ,, ~ b ~~ t, ~~ ' V 1 . _~ w UNC • .. MI . ,~ ~!•~ ~;Ji~ : t /'. ,. ; •. . ~ 4 S'': ' vI •. .` ~. .Y ~t'i :'r . 1 ''.'t Syr!%.~ ~{~ ,. 1 ~ ~ ~ .' i .'.'. l' l'~ ~ •:1 ,~~.4 ` '~~~:5: .~ ~ r , '' iz _ ~ .f; i -; -~: r':; !! I ~t. i M' i. ,,s~• .- \.\ ~C - - ~~/ .. ~ ~ _ C3 . ~.- . - I ~ ~ ' •ti ~ ~~~ ~ • I . • ~yp~ ~~r M ~/1.' • '• ww ~ 1 , ~ , .... ' M -- R2 ~ ~U" ..__. , (CUP .~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ,.. ., ,. UNCL ~ ~ M ,. ,. . _ -, r---i--, - .- . ~ ~~r~ ~ . _ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~A ~ . - . ~ ... • ~., ~~ • - ..._... ~ -- ~ - U ~_Q~ _ w ......~ _- R- r, ~ -- ~. _ ~ - .. ~'~ . . - ;. -- • ; ^., .. . -jI G; 5~~, ~ -,--.- . r ~ _ :~ ~ i ~i~Id;~jCi N • • I • w •~ r - ~ ~ ` '• ` .~ ~ ~ .; _ - ,F. - ,. ,. s~ 1 ~----~ I ~ •,\ ATTACHMENT VI ~ ~~~ ~~~ - -• . . ~- .~~ :~.r.:Y..,:C: ,~ ° ~ t`~ • e.~ ~' ~ :#i. ,, rl.r. .:r :ii;. _. ~ : v.. x ~Y: t ~ Yr_ . _! t .' ~ rr . e: i r .t ~~ . '. ~ ;f F` ,t ! _ _ ~ s ~i ~ may. CITY OF AUBURN COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AS ADOPTED BY RESOLUTION N0. 1703, August 18, 1986 CITY OF AUBURN COMPREHENSIVE PLAN "STAFF DRAFT AND RECOMMENDATIONS" CITY OF AUBURN PLANNING DEPARTMENT DECEMBER, 1985 TABLE OF C~NTENT~ PAGE N0, INTRODUCTION .................................................... 1 CHAPTER I: BACKGROUND OF THE PLAN .............................. 6 THE PLANNING PROCESS ................................... 6 REPORTS AND STUDIES .................................... 7 DESCRIPTION OF PLANNING ISSUES ......................... 17 CHAPTER II: COMPREHENSIVE PLAN POLICIES ........................ 28 I. GENERAL PLANNING POLICY ............................. 28 II. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ............................... 43 III. LAND USE POLICY ................................... 52 IV. PUBLir. FACILITY POLICY ............................. 70 CHAPTER III: COMPREHENSIVE PLAN MAP ............................ 82 LAND USE DESIGNATIONS ............................... 82 PLAN MAP POLICIES ...................................... 98 CHAPTER IV: IMPLEMENTATION .....................................104 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT ELEMENTS ............................104 POLICY ELEMENTS ........................................108 REGULATORY MEASURES.......... ........................110 IMPLEMENTING PRIORITIES ................................112 ZONING CODE ADMINISTRATION .............................113 PLAN REVIEW, UPDATE, AND AMENDMENT .....................114 HIERARCHY OF POLICY ....................................115 INTERIM MEASURES .......................................116 APPENDIX: GLOSSARY .............................................117 INTRODUCTIQN WHAT IS A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN? A comprehensive plan is a policy statement adopted by City officials to guide decisions affecting the community's physical development. A comprehensive plan indicates, in a general way, how city officials envision their community's future, and also sets forth strategies for achieving the community's desired future. A plan generally has three characteristics. First, it is comprehen- sive: the plan encompasses all the geographic and functional elements which have a bearing on the communityy's physical development. Second, it is general: the plan summarizes the major policies and proposals of the City, but does not usually indicate specific locations or establish detailed regulations. Third, it is long range: the plan looks beyond the current pressing issues confronting the community, to the community's future. Why Is A Comprehensive Plan Needed: Many of the day-to-day decisions made by City officials have a profound impact on how the community develops and functions, both now and in the future. When these decisions are made in a piecemeal, uncoordinated manner, the result is likely to be land use and development patterns that are conflicting, inef- ficient and diffucult to serve with public facilities and services. Piecemeal decisions also frustrate a community's ability to manage its own destiny. By establishing the community's long-range general policy for its own physical development, a comprehensive plan coordinates and guides individual decisions in a manner that most efficiently moves the community toward its overall goals. While other government agencies, financial institutions, developers and citizens all have a substantial impact on the community through their individual invest- ment and development decisions, City government is the only entity with both the -1- r~ opportunity and responsiblity to influence the community's overall development. The city is the only entity in a position to effectively coordinate and balance the often competing needs and pressures that confront the community as it approaches the future. WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS OF A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN? A comprehensive plan serves many functions, including the following: Policy Determination: In developing a comprehensive plan, the Planning Commission and the City Council set forth a coherent set of policies. This process has two functions. First, it encourages City officials to look at the big picture, to step away from current pressing needs in order to deve- lop overriding policy goals for their community. Second, this process allows the City Council to make explicit the policies that have been implicitly guiding their decisions, so that those policies may be viewed critically and subjected to open and democratic review. Policy Eff actuation: A community can more effectively move toward its goals and give effect to its policies after they have been agreed to and for- malized through adoption of a comprehensive plan. Once a comprehensive plan is adopted, it serves as a basic source of reference for elected officials when they consider the enactment of ordinances or regulations affecting the community's physical development (e.g. a zoning ordinance or a particular rezone), and when they make decisions pertaining to public facility invest- ments (e.g, capital improvement programming or construct-ion of a specific public facility). This ensures that the community's overall goals and poli- Gies are furthered, or implemented, by those decisions. ~ ~ ~ -2- The Plan also provides a practical guide to City officials as they admi- nister City ordinances and programs. This ensures that the day-to-day decisions of City staff are consistent with the overall policy direction established by the City's legislative body. Communication/Education: The comprehensive plan communicates to the general public and to the City staff the policy of the legislative body. This allows the staff, the public, private developers, business people, financial institutions, and other interested parties to anticipate what the decisions of the City are likely to be on any particular issue. As such, the plan pro- vides predictability. Everyone is then better able to plan their own activi- ties knowing the probable response to their proposals in advance. It also protects investments made on the basis of that policy. In addition, the comprehensive plan can educate its readers - the public, the business com- munity, the staff as well as the legislative body itself - to the workings, conditions, and issues within their City, both current and in the future. This can help stimulate interest within the community about the community's affairs and increase the participation of the citizenry in government. Basis for Coordination: B,y providing a general comprehensive statement of the legislative body's policies and goals, the plan serves to focus, direct and coordinate the efforts of the numerous programs of the various depart- ments within City government. In addition to the above functions, the Comprehensive Plan provides a comprehensive means for the Planning Commission and the Planning staff to supply advice to the legislative body; it fulfills certain prerequisites for the regu- lation of land use and development as required by law; it can serve as a basis for coordination between various agencies of local governments; and it serves as -3- ~ a guide to the courts when deciding on the validity of the City's land use deci- sions. HOW IS THE CITY'S POLICY EXPRESSED: This Comprehensive Plan is a "policy plan" which sets forth policy guidance in two forms. First, it sets forth the City's policies in verbal statements addressing the full range of issues which confront the community. second, it lays out in the form of maps, how that policy should be effectuated geographi- cally within the community. These two aspects of the Cityy's policy are interre- lated and must be considered together when considering a land use or development decision. Policy planning is relatively new, a response to an earlier style of comprehensive planning which attempted to prescribe a specific future physical form for the City. These "end-state" plans would describe the community as the planners would desire it to be at a given year, usually 20 years in the future. They seldom worked because they did not address in a usable format the policy questions that were actually being asked on a day to day basis in the development process. A policy plan on the other hand, is considered to be a dynamic docu- ment, designed to provide guidance and predictability while being flexible and responsive to changing times and conditions. A good policy plan must be able to balance the need to anticipate the future with the need to be flexible to respond to actual demands as they occur. End-state plans, inflexible in anticipating future change, often had to be abandoned soon after adoption due to changes which occurred that were not anticipated. A comprehensive plan should be based upon sound planning principles and practices and be a professionally developed document. However, it is critical that the Comprehensive Plan also take into account the uniqueness of the place and community it addresses. -4- 1 1 1 1 1 v 1 STRUCTURE OF THIS COMPREHENSIVE PLAN: This Comprehensive Plan includes four basic parts. Chapter I provides a description of the process that was used to develop the plan, including a summary of the knowledge gained about the City of Auburn and its future challenges during that process. Chapter II presents the main body of policy. This Chapter sets forth the goals and objectives which are sought by the plan for various functional topics. These goals and objectives go from very general policy issues (such as what should the general shape of the City be) to very specific policies (such as what is the appropriate size for collector streets). For each goal there are one or more objectives which further articulate that goal and seek to provide a means by which to measure the progress towards achieving the goal. Each objective is followed by specific policies which the City will seek to follow to achieve those objectives. The goals, objectives and policies of Chapter II are presented under four categories: 1) General Planning Policy; 2) Environmental Policy; 3) Land Use Policy; and 4) Public Facility Policy. Chapter III presents the Comprehensive Plan Map. The Plan Map gives geographic form to the Comprehensive Plan.'s land use policies by designating appropriate land use categories for the various areas within the City. Since it is intended that these land use categories guide future policy deci- sions, the Plan Map is accompanied by text which describes in some detail the purpose of each category. Chapter III also provides policies regarding how some specific areas should be managed. Chapter IV describes how the Comprehensive Plan will be used, and how its policies will be implemented. -5- CHAPTER I BACKGROUND OF THE PLAN THE PLANNING PROCESS: Urban planning is a means by which a community can come to terms with the internal and external forces that shape its future. It was just such a need to organize, clarify and expand the City's view of its future which led the City of Auburn to enter into the comprehensive planning process which produced this. document. With many potentials and problems lying in its future, the City felt compelled to prepare itself with this Plan. A comprehensive planning process is a process in which a community seeks to understand itself, its problems and potentials, and the forces which will shape its future. (ln the basis of this understanding a city then prepares a response. which can shape and prepare the community for the future. This plan culminates this process and states the Cit.y's policy to guide its way into the future. This planning process has involved a range of diverse activities organized by a work program. This work program has involved three general steps. First, staff of the Planning Department has completed an extensive range of studies which analytically assessed various aspects of the community and the change which has and will be occurring. These studies were prepared by professional planning staff in close consultation with the City Planning Commission and the City Council Committee on Planning and Community Development in order to assure relevance of those studies to the concerns of the City's policy officials. The second step in the process was to actively solicit and encourage general public comment regarding the community and the public's view of its future. The process used to solicit this input consisted of a series of neighborhood - 6~ meetings held between April 11th and June ?_7th of 1985. For the purpose of these neighborhood meetings the pity was divided into eight neighborhoods. A meeting was held with wide publicity in each of these neighborhoods. The pri- mary purpose of the meetings was to provide input to the plarming process and to ensure that the City officials have a good understanding of citizen views as they establish the goals and policies of the Plan. The third step in the process was to develop the policy itself. The wealth ' of information gathered and obtained regarding the community and the views of its people, became the basis for the Plan's policies. These policies were deve- to ed throw h an anal sis of s P 9 y is ues that were rased by the first two. steps. This analysis identified various alternative policies for each issue, outlined the view of City residents and the development community, and the results of the staff analysis. The staff then prepared a recommendation regarding which alter- natives seemed to be the most appropriate policy basis for the Plan. The Planning Commission spent approximately 6 months reviewing these recommendations and directing staff. In addition during the spring of 1985 one further innovative step was taken to ensure broad based participation in the planning process. The City, in cooperation with Auburn's elementary schools, distributed to school children throughout the City, a questionnaire seeking their views on the community. ' Approximately 10% of all children attending school in Auburn responded to the ' survey. REPORTS AND STUDIES: The Comprehensive Plan presents the results of this comprehensive planning process. However, a wide variety of other documents have been prepared or uti- lized in this process. These other documents contain the background upon which - 7- the policy issues were assessed and the decisions made. Consequently, while separately published, the "Comprehensive Plan" should be considered the full body of this information. These documents are all available for review in the Planning Department at Auburn City Hall, and many of them are also available at the City Library. This section will identify those documents: A report to the Mayor on the Status of Planning In Auburn, December 1982: Upon taking office in 1982, Mayor Roegner requested the Planning Department to deve- lop a comprehensive review of the status of the City's Planning Program and its Comprehensive Plan. This report was prepared by the then new Planning Director and published in December of 1982. The purpose of this report was to establish a common base of understanding regarding the role that comprehensive planning should take in the City. It culminated in a recommendation that the planning program be completely revised and a new Comprehensive Plan developed. While the original recommendations have been modified subsequent to the publishing of the. 1982 report, it was this report which began the policy discussions leading to the development of this Comprehensive Plan. Population Trends, 1984: This report assessed the overall growth rate of the community and how it is related to the growth rates in other areas. The report took a detailed look at the growth pattern in Auburn over the last decade and compared this pattern to other areas in the Green River Valley, King County, and the State. The report concluded that the growth in Auburn is highly interrelated with the general growth that has occurred over the decade in the Green River Valley. The consistency of this interrelationship between the growth patterns of Auburn and the Green Valley as a whole indicates that Auburn will continue to grow at a rate similar to the overall growth rate of this part - 8- of the f'ounty~. Growth in Auburn itself has been higher than in most other incorporated areas. General Population Characteristics 1980, January 1984: This report presented an overview of the population characteristics of the City of Auburn. The report explored the population change in more detail than the previous report, par- , ticularly in terms of change in sex, age, and racial composition. The report also analyzed the composition of the City's families and the employment patterns of its residents as well as general income levels. Finally the report zeroed in on the characteristics of the City's low income population. Age Group Analysis, 1984: This report provides perhaps the most detailed exami- nation of some aspects of the City population of any of the Planning reports. Three major demographic phenomena have strongly influenced the sociological ' character of the community over the last three years; the post-war baby boom, u the subsequent baby-bust, and the growth of the elderly population. This report extensively anlayzes the implication of these demographic phenomena on the com- munity and compare these demographic patterns to other communities. This report noted that since different age groups exert different demands for various types of goods and services, these demographic patterns have a profound effect on the problems and needs of the community. Since age groups are also closely related to housing and employment needs, the relevance of this report to many of ' the policies of the Plan is very significant. Housing Market Patterns and Characteristics in Auburn, November 1984: This report reviewed the housing supply of the City of Auburn and how it has been changing. The purpose of the report was to assess the nature of th.e housing supply in order to assist in the development of appropriate land use policy. The report was divided into three sections, the first of which described the _9 _ ~. supply of various types of housing within the ('ity itself. The second section described how the broader Auburn area community housing stock compares to the housing stock of other communities. The third section described current construction patterns and assessed the proposed housing development plans by the private sector. This report provides the background that was used by the planning process to develop residential policies in this document. Population Forecasts, February 1985: Any comprehensive planning process requires an understanding of where the community seems to be headed in the future. This report forecasted the City's population based on a variety of variables. The report is closely related to the Age Group Analysis report and the Housing Report identified above. The report concluded that due to the availability of buildable land and the development pressure of the last decade there is considerable potential for a very high rate of growth in the community. The report also noted that: the need for school services, after a lull that is occurring at the present time, it expected to resume; demand for preschool type services will increase, the demand for retired age group services will increase; the impact of substantiated growth in the young adult population that has shaped much of the last decade, is largely over; the need for new entry type jobs in the labor force should subside; and the aging of the labor force should result in very significant increases in family incomes and demand for jobs appropriate for that age group. An appendix to this report assessed the interrelationship between the growth forecasted in this report, and the growth forecasted by the Puget Sound founcil of Governments for the region. Existing Land Use Management Policy, December 1984: This is perhaps the most significant of the reports for many of the policy issues addressed by this Plan. It is particularly important in terms of its implication on the Comprehensive Plan map itself. This report (which is closely related to the - lfl - ' original report to the Mayor) contains a complete analysis of planning in the City and policy issues which are present in the current policy framework. It addressed both very general policy issues as well as site specific conflicts in City ordinances. i Land Use and Development Policy of the City of Auburn, September 1983: One of the basic problems identified in the original report to the Mayor was the problem of the City's land use policy being contained in a wide variety of docu= ments. This report was originally prepared in order to assist. in identifying ' those policies. As such, it provides a very useful step in the planning process by combining all the key land use policy statements that have been adopted by the City in one place. This report merely compiles and restates that policy. ' Downtown Report, November 1984: One of the most important concerns identified early in the planning process was the problems, needs and potentials of the ' c;ty's central business district. Due to this concern a special committee was formed, both to address downtown needs independently of the planning process, and to provide a source of advice to the planning process regarding those needs. As a part of the Committee's work, the Downtown Report was prepared and issued. The report reviews and analyzes the downtown of the City in order to provide a ' common understanding of downtown issues in developing thefomprehensive Plan. The report reviews types of concerns that generally present themselves in down- , town planning and applies those concerns to the current condition and viability. of Auburn's downtown. Related to this report is a report which implements some of the Committee's proposals for downtown in the form of off -street parking f acilities. ' Economic Analysis, December of 1985: This report presents an economic base study of the City. This base study is prepared from several different perspec- ~ ,~- tives. First the report assesses how the people who live in Auburn gain their livelihood. Second, the report describes the type of employment that is available in the City. Third, the report describes the structure of the Cit.y's business community as measured by taxable sales activity. Finally the report compares the structure of the f,ity's employment base to the employment structure of the surrounding area. On the basis of this analysis a pro,~ection of future economic activity can be gained. i_and Use Analysis, December 1985: This report analyzes the current use of the land in the City and how it is changing. It also describes and assesses change in various regulatory actions related to land use such as rezones and platting. Neighborhoods Meeting Program, August 1985: This report documents and sum- marizes the citizen input that was received by the City during its eight neigh- borhood meetings. The first part of the report provides an overview of the neighborhood meetings taken as a whole, identif ying and discussing those issues that appeared to be most important to meeting participants. The following sec- tions then provide a record of each meeting including a paraphrased listing of questions and comments offered by the participants. KidsPlan, ,luly 1985: This report provides the results of the KidsPlan program which was conducted during the spring of 1485. A survey form was distributed to school children throughout Auburn in both public and private elementary schools. Responses were received from 375 children, or approximately 10% of all children attending school within the City of Auburn. The survey was intended to obtain information regarding the types of places and aspects of the community that are important to children. Issues Papers, from August to December of 1985: The Planning Commission and Planning Department prepared a series of issue papers which identified the n ,_ ~ ~ ' various issues which needed to be addressed by the policies of the Comprehensive Plan, i~hese issue papers serve as the basis for the Comprehensive Plan and are L derived from the studies and public participation process described above. Each issue paper includes an identification of alternative responses to the par- s ticular issue, a description of the issue, the views of the neighborhood groups, the view of the development community, the results of the studies as they relate to the issue, a general recommendation by the Planning staff, and recommended ' goals, objectives and policies. This report contains all twenty-six of those issue paper'. Environmental Constraints and Opportunities, January 1985: This report seeks to ' develop an understanding of the environmental conditions existing in the City. The report describes and assesses the environmental conditions related to cli- mate, air quality, geology and soils, hydrology, and wildlife habitat. The v report notes the constraints that are imposed by environmental conditions on development within the City. It refers to a series of maps that have been used in the planning process. ' Other Reports: ' All the reports described above were prepared by the Planning Department for the Comprehensive Plan itself. In addition to these studies there are a series of other reports that have been prepared by or for the City in recent years, independent of the comprehensive planning process. These reports nonetheless provided substantial information used in the development of this plan. 1982 Comprehensive Traffic Plan, City of Auburn, July 1982: This report replaced the original traffic element which was adopted as part of the 1969 ' Comprehensive Plan. As the traffic element of the Plan, it describes both the present and anticipated future traffic problems that will be confronting the -13~- community, the goals to be achieved in the management of traffic and a recom- mended traffic plan, It also includes policies and recommendations related to financing the traffic improvements. This document was adopted formally as an .element to the City's Comprehensive Plan. Auburn Park and Pecreation Plan, 1981: This plan assesses the park and recreation needs of the community and presents a recommended capital improvement program to develop those facilities. The plan also includes standards for parks and recreation and recommends methods of financing facilities. The document also includes recommendations relating to open space. .This plan was formally adopted as an element of the Comprehensive Plan. Comprehensive Sewerage Plan, 1982: This plan idendifies sanitary sewerage needs of the community and recommends steps to meet those needs. It contains stan- Bards for service which should be applied to new development. This document is based upon and is considered to be an implementing tool for the 1969 Comprehensive Plan. Comprehensive Water System Plan, ,June 1983: This plan identifies the water ser- e vice needs of the community and recommends facilities and programs to meet those needs. It also contains standards for water service that should be applied to new development. This document is based upon the 1969 Comprehensive Plan and is considered to be an implementing tool for that plan. Community Development Block Grant Plan, December 1984: This is an annual plan developed to guide the administration of the City's Block Grant Program. The Plan identifies important community needs and seeks to develop a program to address those needs. The plan also identifies and describes low income neigh- borhoods within the City. -14- ~i~ ~ Auburn Wa.y South Sanitary Sewer Study: This report analyzed the capacity of sewer service in southwest Auburn and identified significant deficiencies in ' ~ that service. Housinc~,gssistance Plan, October 1984: This plan is adopted in order to guide any decisions related to the development of assisted housing in the City.. It ' specifically identifies high priority areas for such development. The plan also presents a comprehensive analysis of housing conditions in the City and cost of ' housing for various income groups. r Fire Services Study, 1982: This report analyzed fire services needs in the corn- ' munity and laid out a plan of action to meet those needs. Of particular impor- tance, thus report identified standards for fire station location and needs. t Environmental Reports: In addition to studies and plans identified above, there have been a series ti_ of environmental reports that were used in the development of various maps and reports identified above. Most of these reports are referenced in the Environmental Constraints and Opportunities report described above. In recent years several environmental impact statements were prepared and were available ' duri~~g the planning process as further background information. These impact statements included: 1. Lakeland Hills 2. Auburn Downs 3.. Au~urn 400 4. Mountain View Terrace ' a. 8algray Holdings ~a Oreen Meadows -15- 7. Academy Area Water System Improvements 8. Surface Mining Operations (Lakeview) 9, London Square 10. Mount Rainier Vista 11. Skyview 12. Proposed Groundwater Withdrawals (Wells 3 and 4) 13. Stuck River Estates 14. Auburn Way South Sanitary Sewer System. Finally a series of reports, prepared by other agencies were used to assist in analyzing environmental conditions: 1. King County, Sensitive Areas Map Folio, March, 1980. 2. Dames & Moore, Report of H_ydrogeologic Investigation, coal Creek and West Hill Spring Systems, 1976. 3. Pool Engineering,. Ground Water Supply Study, September 1982. 4. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Inventory of Wetlands Green-Duwamish River Valley, August, 1981. 5. U.S. Soil Conservation Service, Soil Survey, King County Area, November 1973. 6. King County, King County Wetlands Inventory, January 1983. 7. Green River Basin Program, Mill Creek Basin Profile, (n.d.). 8. King County, A River of Green, (n.d.). 9. State of Washington Department of Natural Resources, Draft Aquatic Land Management Plan for the Duwamish/Green River, December 1981. 10. King County, Saving Farmlands and Open Space, ,luly 1Q79. 11, 11.5. Department of Interior, I1.S. Wetlands Inventory, Auburn, Wash., ,luly 1973. -16- DESCRIPTION OF PLANNING IfiSUES Information gained from the studies, reports, and public input described above provides the basis for the City's Comprehensive Plan. From this background of informations a series of issues were identified for the Planning process to address. This section of the Plan will describe the nature of these issues and provide a brief summary of the concerns addressed in the plan policies. This discussion is ors~an-i-zed in the same manner as the Goals and Policies presented in Ci~sapter II so that this discussion can be read=sly compared to those policies. First, general planning issues are described, followed by enviromental issues, then land uze issues, and finally public facility concerns. I. GENEpAL PLANNING ISSUES STYLE OF PLANNING. There are a range of answers to the question "How should the City prepare for future development ?" The overall "style" of a planning program can be. Should the answer be; reactive (accent flexi- bilty in responding to changing conditions and to individual situations problems and issues as they arise); predictive (anticipate future needs and plan to meet them); or prescriptive (seek to influence future events to achieve community objectives). The answer to this issue establishes a key element of the City's basic philosophy regarding land use management and planning. The prescriptive style would assure that basic community values and aspirations are reflected in the City°s planning program. This prescriptive approach should, however, be balanced with a strong 'predictive' element, which would -seek to understand pressure for growth and change. URBAN FORPJ: Planning deals with the basic geographic form of the city and as such it addresses the question "What should be the general shape of the community and '~~~ere should various ma,ior uses be located?" While plane-~ng theory ss~ggests a range of possible forms to consider, the ursi-~a_~e c:haracter, setting and history of a community usually indicates its ~~3,~"n. Auburri's existing form separates the City into two parts; a region serving employment base on the west (region serving area) and local residential and business uses to the east (community serving area). This ex~sti-ig policy of a "split" form has been effective in avoiding gross land use canflicts between residential uses and more intensive (e.g. industrial) land uses. This Plan's policies maintain this basic split policy. However, Auburn°s downtown area is also treated as a unique (both region and community-serving) part of the.' City's form. ?mother aspect of a City's form is deg/elopment. Different intensities corsfigurai.ions of City services and ;ides create different impacts on its intensity of rural and urban of development require different facilities, and differing inten- the -i7- community. The location of different intensities can also assist in establishing the City's character and identity, and can be instrumental in furthering other important goals (protection of agricultural soils,. protection against natural hazards, etc). Policy established by the 1969 Comprehensive Plan assumed that the City would eventually be completely urban in character and the pity approach to developing it's service delivery system was driven by this assump- tion. No City policy or program now addressed agricultural soils. While extensive areas with rural development would require expensive restructuring of the City service delivery system, strategic placement of some rural areas can assist in limiting urban sprawl, maintaining diversity of living environments, and protecting important environmen- tal resources. This Plan designates a limited amount of rural area for this purpose. This limited amount should not significantly affect the overall cost of City's services. PREDICTABILITY AND FLEXIBIITY: Another basic question for any planning program is "should the City's land use and development policies and regulations stress predictability or flexibility?" Predictability in land use regulation fosters confidence in land and improvement investments (both private development and public facilities), and can have a positive effect on long term property values. It has the further advantages of fostering fairness and consistency, and ease of administration. It has the disadvantage of not dealing well with changing conditions (e.g. new manufacturing technologies) or unique circumstances. Flexible regula- tions can deal with such conditions and circumstances, but require a very large committment of time, expertise and other resources to manage. Auburn's policy will be mixed; stressing predictability in single family neighborhoods, while allowing flexibility in areas com- mitted to industrial or commercial uses where performance standards .are usually more important than specific use restrictions. COORDINATION: While most aspects of land use and community development are managed locally (by the City), other important aspects of community development are significantly influenced or even controlled by other governmental entities (regional, state and federal). It is therefore important that the City monitor and, when necessary, influence the decisions of those governmental bodies. GROWTH: Perhaps one of the most important questions that this Comprhensive Plan must address is "How should the City respond to the potential of substantial growth pressure?" Planning studies have indicated that there may be substantial growth pressure in the future. Much of this pressure is due to basic growth factors beyond the City's control. Studies also describe some imbalances in the character of the community (due to recent growth); e.g. -18- high proportion cif lo~~ income groupsy heavy employment and tax base dependence on one industry; law proportion of single family homes (especially in recent construction). Strong policies are suggested to influence patte~~ns of future Growth. Influencirsr .~~_pe rate or timing or development is an important means of controllirag gr~c?wt~r. This also ensures that new development can he assimilated into the existing community without serious disruptions or adverse impar..ts. This Rlan establishes strong policies to allow deve- loprrtent: only wherj and where al i public facilities are adequate, and only when and where such development can be adequately served by essen- tial public servir_es without reducing tine level of service elsewhere. CNARACTP=1~ C~ ~~C t,il'~G~i.D~~l"~~': Con~~r~~~ties often ar~e associated with a particular character. "1"iris character. r°mot only shop id be reflected in the compre- he~~sive plan bur the plan can aid in the development or reinforcement o~ desirab;e character•-~stics. A distinct character for a community alv~~ aids in estat,lisl°sing the community's identity both to its self and its °r~egior. Auburn's flavo~° and values as a 'familyy' community should be protected and er,i~anced, This should be the priority basis of City pol ic,ym ~io4rever, farnp~ly community does not consist sale1y of resi- dential neighborhoods~ A healthy familyy community needs expanding employment, convenient. shopping areas and a strong fiscal base to sup- port the sP.Y'V1Cec needed by growing families. Consequently a balanced policy which apprapriatel.y nurtures and manages all these roles is ndeded. `JTSdAL CHARACTER: ~lhile the regulation of visual qualities is often a basic component of urban regulatory systems, it is also one of the most controversial, since many people feel that such regulation is inherently sub,jecti+y~e and hence inappropriate for government. However, such regulation is capable of making a substantial difference in the character of a community and its quality of life. The study of recent land use issues indicates that poorly designed development can hinder~ the development of desired land uses. The reaction of neighborhood groups to the appearance of some new multiple family dwellings prevents r~ew propi~sals. 1='r~°~rly sited and designed industrial uses can adversely affect, the ability to ai.tract the mast desireable kinds of industry. ~ynalysis i~f r_.a~a~mercial development indicates poor separation of various -;types cif crmmr~rcial u=;es tends to create clutter along commercial -19-- strips. Neighborhood groups have urged that the regulation of the .visual impact of new development be elevated in priority. The plan policies reflect the concerns of these groups. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Economic development policy is a particularlysignificant issue confronting the City. Concern over the region's faultering eco- Homy has accented a need to develop new jobs in order to assure our citizens of ample employment opportunities. The City's policy of main- taining low tax rates requires continued development and diver- sification of the tax base in order to provide the level of service needed and desired by Auburn's residents on an ongoing basis. Analysis of the City's economy indicates that there is precarious lack of econo- mic diversification. This not only threatens the stability of Auburn's employment base but also constrains the fiscal ability of the City to support needed urban services. Findings regarding future economic potentials are less clear. The current economic situation casts a pessimistic picture regarding the potential for industrial growth throughout the region. However, analysis based on longer term trends and factors indicate that there will be substantial opportunity for industrial development in the City. This is particularly true for land extensive, heavier types of industry which seek to avoid higher land values, tax rates, and tighter regulatory approaches in other ,iuristic- tions. The appeal of the community for lighter types of industry is less apparent and active pursuit would be needed in order to attract these industries. CITY EXPANSION: Development of unincorporated land surrounding Auburn, particularly in the Lake Tapps and the Lea Hill areas, significantly affects City services and facilities. The most obvious impact is the additional traffic and congestion on City streets; but increased demand for parks, generation of stormwater, groundwater contamination and other environmental impacts can also affect the quality of life in Auburn. Also, the City may be pressured to annex nearby unincorporated areas that have been allowed to develop to County standards, and thus inherit public facilities and private developments which do not meet Auburn standards (this is of particular concern with regard to streets). Recently, both King and Pierce Counties have expressed interest in working with Auburn to cooperatively manage new development in the surrounding area. Such cooperation might involve agreement as to areas appropriate for annexation; development standards; development review; and impact mitigation. II. ENVIROMENTAL ISSUES Another basic planning issue in any community is "What role should environmental constraints and opportunities play in land use decision makinq?'° The City's overall environmental policy should describe the kinds of environmental information and factors that are. important to the community in deciding if, where and how certain kinds of develop- ment and other activities should be allowed. The City's current. -20- approach to environmental management is almost entirely reactive, relying heavily on the State Fnviranmental Policy Act (SEPA). City policy should recognize the natural constraints placed on development by such factors as unstable slopes, flooding and poor drainage. Another critical enviromental concern is the proper management of gra- vel extraction. In addition, City policy should clearly establish policies to guide the retention of valued aspects of the City's environment, suc°rr as protection of the City's open space and signifi- cant wildlife habitats. The policy should seek to ensure. ample oppor- tunity for the City's residents to meet their recreational needs. Policies should be established to protect the public health, safety and quality of life, and to also protect the area's most unique, sensitive and productive environmental resources. New development should be directed toward areas where their adverse impacts can be minimized. This Plan has increased the specificity of City's policies relating to use and protection of the natural environment. It aloe provides a set of general policies which will be used to require the mitigation of significant adverse impacts. III. LAND USE ISSUES RESIDENTIAL ISSUES: Some of the most important and complex issues that compre- hensive plans need to address rwelate to the protection and development of residential areas. Density: This issue addresses the question "What range of housing den- ' cities is appropriate for Auburn?°' Within most communities a range of housing densities is allowed in order to provide a variety of housing opportunities. The wider the range, the greater the ability to provide for the housing needs and desires of different individuals and socio- ' economic groups. However, housing densities near opposite ends of the density scale place very different demands upon local government with regard to public facilities and services. The wider the range of den- ' shies, the more difficult it is to plan and deliver such facilities and services. While the Cityy's policy provides for a relatively wide range of resider~tiai densities, development over the past decade has been heavily conc~sretrated toward the mid and upper levels of that ' range. Intrusion of these housing types into established single family neighborhoods has threatened the viability of those neighborhoods. As is appropriate for a suburban area, the Plan's policies designate a ' relatively broad range of housing densities toward the lower end of the density scale. The policies reflect the desire to maitain the residen- tial areas of the communit„y as predominately family environments. ' Housing Mix and Neighborhood Quality: Closely related to the question of housing densities is "Should City policies influence the overall mix of housing t,ypesa" The relative quantity of various kinds of hous~nq has a significant effect on the overall character of the community. A '"family-oriented" community requires a relatively high proportion of -21-~ ~ single family housing, with a limited quantity of multiple family housing limited to moderate densities. The mix of housing types also. affects the kinds and levels of public services needed by community residents. Less than 15 percent of the new housing units built in Auburn during the last decade have been single family homes. in 1974 roughly 68 percent of the City's housing stock was single family homes. This percentage dropped to slightly less than 50 percent by 1980, and to less than 45 percent by 1984. The Plan provides that the City should seek to restore the family character of the community by encouraging preservation and development of housing that is suitable to the retention and attraction of families within the community. This would be best accomplished by protecting the residential character of existing single family neighborhoods and promoting the development of new neighborhoods of detached single family homes. While some flexibi- lity in development standards is desireable, emphasis in the policies is placed on creating traditional single family neighborhoods which will seek to restore balance in the City's housing stock. Two of the most significant community needs to be addressed by this planning processes are the need to move traffic through the city and the need to protect residential quality. Unfortunately these two needs are often in conflict. All expectations are that the pressure of traf- fic will increase. Current congestion along maior through routes can only be alleviated b.y the construction of new though routes. The most feasible of these routes sometime lie in nearhy residential areas which are not now heavily impacted b.y traffic. The Plan's policies seek to recognize these problem as early as possible, and to proceed cautiously with careful study and analysis of potential alternatives and possible mitigation measures. Siting Residential Uses: Single Family: The relationship of single family homes to other kinds. of residential structures is perhaps the most basic of zoning issues. Over the last decade multiple family development has dominated the construction of new residential units. This has altered the character of the community and has weakened its identity as a f amily community. This strong demand for multiple family dwellings has lead to the intru- sion of these units into single family neighborhoods. It has also led.. to the commitment of large undeveloped areas to higher density housing. The factors which contributed to this are, however, changing; and there is considerable potential to restore more of the family character to Auburn by taking advantage of the anticipated resurgence in demand for single family housing. consequently, existing viable single family residential areas should be designated as such, and should be protected from the intrusion of incompatable development. Priority in the siting of residential uses will be directed at enhancing and expanding the City's family character. -22- Multiple Family: Siting of multiple family dwellings is a complex issue. On one hand they often create conflicts with single family homes. On the other hand market forces have created a high demand for such dwelling types and in older single family nieghborhoods there is a low demand for new single family dwellings. It is clear that the intrusion of multiple family dwellings into single family areas has created an adverse reaction. The problem of conflict between single family neighborhoods and. multiple family dwellings must be reduced. Since much of this reaction is related to the design of these struc- tures, design standards could substantially reduce this problem. City policy must. also realistically respond to the need for these types of dwellings by people who cannot afford or do not prefer single family dwellings. Also the problem of effective use of vacant land in older single family areas should be addressed b,y the City's policy. Controlled siting of multiple family dwellings can benefit single family neighborhoods by buffering them from heavier uses and from busy arterials, and by reducing blight in areas where single family units are begining to deteriorate. Mobile Homes; Auburn°s past liberal policies have resulted in both the highest number and proportion of mobile homes of any city in the State. Mobile homes provide the most affordable form of home ownership. As such they are sited in two ways, each of which pose signii:icant land use issues. When sited in mobile home parks, the density of use raises all of the same issues that multiple family developments pose. When sited on individual lots, poor design can adversely affect ad,iacent site-built homes. Both of these problems can be mitigated. Well designed and appropriately sited mobile home parks can greatly reduce problems otherwise associated with such development. Modern design of modular units, especially with appropriate landscaping, can be vir- tually indistinguishable from site-built housing. Review of past development in the city indicates that mobile home parks tend to attract other parks, and discourage the use of ad.iacent areas for other purposes. Consequently, very high densities can develop over large areas if some natural limits to the spread of mobile home parks are not present. This Plan's policies continue to recognize the benefits that mobile homes can have to the affordability of home ownership, but greater care is sought in the design and siting of mobile home parks and modular units on individual lots. CQMMERCIAL USES: • There are a variety of issues which were addressed in this Plan relat ing to commercial uses. Downtown: Central business districts (CBD's) have historically served as the business, cultural and governmental focal points of their com- munities. In many communities like Auburn this role has been -23- challenged by new shopping patterns focused on regional malls. However, maintaining a healthy and vital downtown Auburn continues to , he important. Auburn's downtown is recognized by residents as a focal point of the community, and is thus a very important element of the r,;ty's identity, The image that downtown projects affects the way that people (long time residents, newcomers and visitors alike) think about Auburn, which in turn affects all kinds of decisions important to the community's future. Among the CBD's strengths are the presence of a growing, region-serving medical sevices and professional office area to the north; a large supermarket to the south; generally adequate parking (although some localized parking problems exist); relatively low vacancy rate; continued public and private investment; good transit ' access; good diversity; and an active business community. Weaknesses include localized parking problems; pedestrian and traffic conflicts; cluttered visual appearance; and the lot configuration of land available for new development. This Plan provides that Downtown Auburn should remain the commercial, cultural and governmental focal point for the community. While it is unlikely that downtown could ever recapture its dominance of the area's retail trade markets, a strong ' downtown retail sector can be maintained by nurturing the CBD's other strengths. The City and the downtown business community will need to continue to work closely together to maintain and upgrade the quality , of the downtown working and shopping environment, especially as down- town becomes further challenged by a new regional mall, ' Regional Mall: City planning analysis and independent analysis have concluded that there is considerable market potential for another regional shopping center to be located in youth King/North Pierce Counties. Auburn is in the approximate center of this market poten- tial. Therefore it is likely that a regional center will be developed in the vicinity of the City. The fiscal benefit of the center would be substantial; in excess of $2,000,000 per year. The City has perhaps ' the most appropriate site in the region for the center at the intersec- tion of the .two ma,ior highways serving the area. This .site is now zoned appropriately for the center and has been environmentally reviewed for such intensity of use. While the center will produce ' some adverse impact on downtown, most of the competition that would be lost probably has already been lost to existing malls. The downtown would be similarly affected by a new center irrespective of whether it ' is located in or near Auburn. Also, downtown cannot accommodate the market potential of the mall. The Comprehensive Plan supports the development of a regional mall within the City. ' ' -24- Highway Commercial: The proliferation of commercial uses along arterials (often called "strip comme°rcial" developmentl raises several land use planning issues. nn the negative side, strip commercial deve 1 opment creates traff i c f 1 ow probl erns anti r;~;r%f ~i ~i ct with ad i anent land uses. Due to their "linear" nature, commercial strips result in a maximum area of contact bei:ween commer•Ginl uses and other land uses. Potential for lard use conflicts therefor very high where strip commercial development occurs, nthe+' problems associated with arterial commercial development ar°z: poor t~iudl character; and pedestrian shopping is made difficult, r~~szli:i~sg in greater generation of automobile traffic, Despite the problems associated with commercial development along arterials, many such locations are often ci°~i'+re unsuitable for other uses, due to the impacts associated with heavy traffic. volurroes. Also, many commercial uses thrive at such locations due to high visibility and accessabilit,y. "the P~ian seeks to manage existing arterial commer- cial areas to take advantage of the accessability they provide, while minimizing traffic and land use conflicts, ' Neighborhood Commercial: small commercial center` within or adjacent to residential r~eighbori°soods serve a useful furlctiorr ~iry providing con- venient access to .neighborhood residents fc~r their "everyday°' or "convenience°' shopping needs. However, such commercial areas can adversely affect a neighborhood by generating traffic and land use conflicts. Due largely to the extensive commercialization of Auburn Way and the northisouth orientation of the ;-ieveloped po°r~tions of ' Auburn, few residential neighborhoods witirira the city lie more than several blocks from a commercial area, fiignifi~;ant outlying commercial centers have also been developed, so that the currently developed resi- dential neighborhoods are adequately served. However, future large scale residential developments will create a need for new small-scale commercial centers. This Plan's policy toward neighborhood commercial centers balances needs for shopping convenience with the protection of ' residential neighborhoods, and seeks to limit:. the development of new inappropriate commercial strips. INDUSTRIAL DEVEL(?PMENT: Industrial development issues relate to the types and location of industry. Type: There is a wide variety of possible industrial uses that could be sited 'in Aubur~rr. As with the mix of residential uses, the mix of industry also affects the image of the city, The regional image of the City is that of an industrial suburb. Its industrial character is con- ' sidered to be of a heavy nature. Consequerit.l;y, most industrial interest i n the C i t,y i s by firms i nteres teCi i n f i rid i ng s ~i tes for industry of this character. Due to the ror~tinued development of ware- housing in the valley, it may also be anticipa'ed that this type of use will also continue to ba a major corrrpones3t of rew development in Auburn. If the City°s current image remai~~s unchanged these types of -~25-- u uses may be expected to dominate Auburn's industrial character. While the best potential for development in the city lies in the heavier industrial uses, there may be considerable potential in other ser..tors if actively promoted. Different types of industrial areas should be separated since some types of industrial activities conflict with other industrial activities (especially those of a more desirable character.). Such separation should be based primarily on performance standards. Location: Generally there has been little separation of various types of industrial uses. There is ample land in the City to accomodate a wide variety of industrial uses. However, since there is no well understood policy basis regarding the separation of different types of industrial uses, some areas very suitable for high quality light industrial uses have been prematurely committed to heavier uses. High visibility corridors are now developing with a heavier industrial character. This pattern establishes a heavy industry image for the City. The Plan provides clear distinction between different industria l uses. It also reserves prime light industrial areas for that type of use. IV. PUBLIC FACILITIES CIRCULATIIDN: State planning law requires that municipal comprehensive plans include a circulation element. The 1969 Comprehensive Plan included a circulation element, which was superceded by the 1982 Comprehensive Traffic Plan. The 1982 Traffic Plan was .formally adopted as the cir- culation element of Auburn's Comprehensive Plan in 1983. The 1982 Comprehensive Traffic Plan should form the basis of the Circulation Element for this Comprehensive Plan. Minor modification of the Recommended Road Plan will be necessary to reflect changes in proposed land use; this will be accomplished in conjunction with development of the Comprehensive Plan Map. Wherever conflicts may arise between the policies of the Traffic Plan and the Comprehensive Plan, the latter should prevail. Separation of regional traffic from the community serving portion of Auburn, and separation of heavy traffic (whether regional or local) from single family residential neighborhoods, should be emphasized; however, it should be recognized that in some cases the need to provide for community transportation needs will make neigh- borhood impacts unavoidable. In such cases, mitigation of impacts should be given high priority. More attention should be paid to collector street planning, to promoting the continuity of local streets, and to the coordination of parking needs with traffic and development needs. More attention should also be paid to measures which reduce traffic generation or promote public transit and Para- transit use. The City should attempt to more definitively identify circumstances under which developments are responsible for off-site street improvements, and under what circumstances the city should par- ticipate financially in improvements initiated by private development projects. The Circulation Element of the Comprehensive Plan should also recognize the important transportation role played by Auburn Municipal Airport. ~ ~ D r~ ~~ ~s ~ UTILITIES: As a sanitary sewer and domestic water service provider, the City develops and implements plans for these utilities, and these plans are periodically (every five years} upd«ted. The City's current Comprehensive Sewerage Plan was adopted in 1982, and the Comprehensive Water System Plan was adopted in 1983. Both Plans relied heavily on the policies and proposed ultimate developr~c~nt patterns of the 1969 Comprehensive Plan in designing future systems that would meet the associated needs of the community. The utility plans are, in fact, a very powerful tool for the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan. It is therefor crucial that the utility plans and the Comprehensive Plan are consistent with one another. Peview of these ratility Plans against the policies of this Comprehensive elan in-.iicates that very little adjustment will be needed to implemen~i €:h is Plan. Tt should also be noted that State law requires that municipa comprehensive plans "provide for protection of the quality and quantity of ground- water used for public water supplies". ' The City's Sewerage Plan is alrnost emir°ely technical in orientation, and does not attempt co establish policies r~ela':ed to factors other than technical system development, system design and location con- siderations. The Water System Plan, on the Esther hand, is both policy ' and tecnically oriented. The City should adopt the unitary Sewerage and the Water System Plans ' as elements of the Comprehensive Plan. However, it should be recognized that changes in planned land use and density between the 1969 Comprehensive Plan and the new Comprehensive Plan will alter some ' ultimate sewer and water system needs, and utility system improvements will have to be evaluated in this light. The City should continrae its policy of requiring utility extensions to be built at their ultimate needed configuration as new land is developed or land is redeveloped. ' The use of latecommers agreements in such eases should be continued as an important system funding mechanism. ' As part of the update of the existing Water System Plan, existing and identified future groundwater sources should be evaluated for potential threats to water quantity and quality, anew a strategy to protect such ~ resources should be developed. -2~- i Chapter II rc~MPREHENSIVE PLAN POLICIES This .Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan identifies the City's Policy Goals for the future. It-also prescribes objectives and policices to achieve those goals. This text of Policy Goals are also achieved by the Comprehensive Plan Map which is presented in Chapter III along with policies addressing specifically the location of planned uses. Implementation of this entire policy framework is outlined in Chapter I~/. The Policy Goals are divided into four categories. First overall goals are presented describing the general shape and character of the community. Then goals addressing the management of environmental concerns are identified. Third goals and policies which makeup the City's land use element are stated. Finnally the city policy regarding urban facilities and their development is presented. I. GENERAL PLANNING POLICIES PLANNING APPROACH: STYLE GOAL: To actively influence the future character of the City by managing land use change and by developing City facilities and services in a manner that directs and controls land use patterns and intensities. Policies: 1. The City should strive to assure that basic community values and aspirations are reflected in the City's planning program. 2. The Auburn Comprehensive Plan should prescribe policies and programs to achieve the kind of community desired by the residents of they City. 3. The City should develop its plans and programs after through analysis of community problems, potentials and needs. 4. The Planning Department will develop an annual work program that includes work elements directed toward studying basic community needs, policy development, and code administration. -28- i~ i u i 1 URBAN FORM AND DESIGN: GOAL: To establish a orderly urban form which separates uses on the basis of their functional relationship to the community, and which reinforces the iden- tity of the community. Objective A: To physically separate region-serving employment centers and other regionally oriented land uses from areas that are residential or local in character, while maintaining Auburn's downtown as an ar°ea that uniquely serves both regional and community needs. Policies: ~ 1. Areas on the .valley floor which are suitable to support large scale economic development projects should be ' reserved, for the most part, for uses which support Auburn's role as a regional employment and commercial center (to be known as the Region Serving Area - See Map A). ' 2. The downtown area shall be the focal point of the Auburn community with a mix of uses appropriate to fulfill that role. 3. The remaining areas as delineated on the Urban Form Map should be reserved for uses which are local in character or which serve local markets (to be known as the Community Serving Area). Definition: Local: Areas commonly identified as "Auburn°'. Such identification would include areas served by the Auburn School District or within the Auburn zip code areas. Term would be synonymous with the "Auburn Community". Regional: Areas outside the vocal area, including at least South King County. Objective B: To protect community identity while promoting diversity and conserving rural amenities, by designating rural areas along the City's _2g_ f ~5 i.. a ira!Xli..i.. ~ t~ 2~ 1 a tXtn ~ . lt_ ~~ e~e~ ~ i ~~~••• ,~ ., ~::~.~~ a.ri*:a ~ .d ~ yCh~~ ~ ~'~' ~~~ a: ' ~ :. ~e,,,l r~,_. I ~.~ ~ (:: ,;,,,~, I a+r r ,~ C' 4 ~~, . '1rtn ~ y I a. .1 ~~: 1~ a ~, i~~i 1^..I _ ~ 1A.,tii...~.~~~ ~ 1 }W ` ~ rL __ .. { ~ ~ %I ~ ~ i i ~ __. p , Miy J` yiy11 r Qt~ n~ri _- *r ~,nu sltlg I ~~ o ,~ MILE \~~ __ _~ , _ J ~ ~ ` '~? ~~ ~ GREEN RIVEN GOa .~/tl~TY wry - ~.._ Les ~,. ~ C\!W `' ~ ._' t ~- _ rN1E1~N dfMM _.. Lu1___.-y/ E~ j t AJ~ ? t /+ MAP A l1P~AN FORM MAP ~~~~~~~~~~'~°~ Region-Serving Area .....:5 eI•: k:: Community -Serving Area periphery and in areas with significant environmental values, Policies: ' 1. The City shall suppor°t the county agricultural program in securing the development rights to strategically located parcels, especially along the northern City boundary and at the start of the Upper Green River Valley. ' 2. The Cit shall not extend accessible City utility systems Y into the Upper Green Valley, and shall thus protect these ' agricultural soils from conversion to urban uses. 3. The City shall protect Coal Creek Springs by limiting density ' to less than one residential unit per four acres within the area tributary to the Coal Creek Springs Watershed. 4. The City shall support low density county zoning adjacent ' to the City on the Enumclaw Plateau and will not extend City sewer service into the area. FLEXIBILITY GOAL: To provide predictability in the regulation of land use and development, especially where residential uses are affected, and to accent performance standards that address the specific impacts of development in areas that are designated for large scale commercial or industrial development. Objective A: To provide assurance that designated residential areas will be protected from intrusions by incompatible land uses. Policies: 1. Ordinance provisions designed to protect residential areas shall give priority to providing predictability and stability to the neighborhood. 2. Adequate buffering shall be required whenever new commercial or industrial uses abut areas designated for residential uses. -30- 3. Spot zoning in designated single family neighborhoods (Map B) shall be prohibited. Objective B: To provide flexibility for major new commercial or industrial developments to respond to changing market conditions without threatening the purposes of this Comprehensive Plan. Policies: 1, Ordinances regulating developing commercial or industrial areas should be based on performance standards which provide flexibility to respond to market conditions. 2. Such performance standards shall ensure compatibility with the Comprehensive Plan, and with present and potential ad.i scent uses . 3. Review procedures for new commercial and industrial developments should be integrated with SEPA as much as possible. 4. In interpreting plan provisions or in considering a plan amendment, plan designations in the Region Serving Area should be treated in a more flexible manner than in the Community Serving Area (see Map A). Objective C: To provide flexibility in areas where a transition from existing uses to planned uses is appropriate. Policies: 1. Contract zoning can be used to manage the transition between existing uses and future uses. Contract zoning allows new uses to be conditioned in a manner which controls potential conflicts during such transition. Contract zoning may be particularly useful as a timing devise to ensure that the. necessary public facilities are available to support new development. 2. Spot zoning may be appropriate to facilitate the transition from an existing zone and use to a planned use. This is only appropriate where the proposed zone is in clear and full -31- compliance with the Comprehensive Plan. COORDINATION Goal: To promote a coordinated system of regional development based on local comprehensive plans. Objective: To ensure that the concerns of the City are reflected in the affairs of other agencies whose decisions and activities affect the develop- ment of the Auburn community and its environs. Policies: t 1. The City should continue its participation in various state organizations concerned with land use planning and development. 2. The City should maintain an active role in regional planning agencies and organizations. 3. The City should support interjurisdictional programs to address problems or issues that affect the City and larger geographic areas. 4. The City shall seek to be involved in county land use planning programs. 5. The City should seek, where appropriate, to coordinate its planning with the Muckleshoot Tribe. GROWTH POLICY: GOAL: To create a balanced community by controlling and directing growth in a manner which enhances, rather than detracts from community quality and values. Objective A: To provide a policy framework to support growth management. Policies: 1. In its land use management decisions the City shall seek to influence both rates and patterns of future growth in order to achieve the goals of the Comprehensive Plan. -33- 2. The City shall resist growth presseares which. could adversely affect community values and amenities. 3. It is City policy not only to seek to avoid an undesirable rate of growth and to direct growth, but to seek and support development which would further the goals of the community. Objective B: To establish a procedure to assess the growth impacts of major development proposals. Policy: 1. The growth impact of major development proposals on community facilities, amenities and services, as well as the City's general quality of life, shall be throughl,y studied under the provisions of SEPA prior to development approval, f~itigating measures to ensure conformance with this pi an shal"I h,e required where appropriate. Objective C: To ensure that new development does not out-pace the City's ability to provide and maintain adequate public facilities and services, by allowing new development to occur only when and where adequate facilities exist or will be provided, and by encouraging development types and locations which can support the public services they require. Policies: 1. Development shall be allowed only when and where all public facilities are adequate, and only when and where such development-can be adequately served by essential public services without reducing level of service elsewhere. 2. If adequate facilities are currently unavailable and public funds are not committed to provide such facilities, developers must provide such facilities at their own expense in order to develop.. 3. The City should continue to assist through LIDs and latecomer agreements, where possible. Where general funding is available, the City may participate in developer initiated facility extensions or improvements, but only to the extent that the improvements benefit the broader public interest, and are in accord with the specific policies and recommendations of the appropriate City public facilities plan. 4. Emphasis should be placed on the adequacy of street systems (through -34- such measures as 'level-of-service' standards) and storm drainage systems. 5. Demand for City services (e.g, fire, police, recreation) compared to level of support for such services will also be given substantial consideration when reviewing large development proposals. Objective D: To establish and support an effective regional system of growth management, based on an efficient system of urban service delivery and appropriate development of unincorporated areas. Policies: 1. Auburn endorses the designation of the City as a suburban activity center by the Puget Sound Council of Government and as an Urban Activity Center in the King County Comprehensive Plan. 2. New commercial, industrial, higher density residential ' and other intensive activities should locate in existing urban or suburban incorporated activity centers in the region and be discouraged in unincorporated areas. Concentrations of jobs, shopping, government, business, service and commercial activities should locate in designated incorporated activity centers. 3. Provision of urban level services by a municipal government should be made a prerequisite for suburban tract development. Developments should look to the appropriate City as the ultimate service provider. 4. Infill development in unincorporated areas should be compatible with the type of use or density prevailing in the area. 5. The cities and counties in the region should coordinate planning and infrastructure development in order to: a) ensure a supply of buildable land sufficient in area and services to meet the region's housing, commercial and employment needs; located so as to be efficiently provided with public facilities and services. b) ensure a diversity of living environments and a diverse economic base. c) ensure protection of important environmental -35- ~ resources. d) avoid unnecessary duplication of services. e) avoid overbuilding of public infrastructure in relation to future needs. COMMUNITY CHARACTER: GOAL: To maintain and enhance the character of Auburn as a family community by placing priority on family values, while managing potential economic oppor- tunities in a manner that provides necessary employment and fiscal support for needed services, and while responding to the need to provide affordable housing. Objective A: To strike a balance between the need to protect Auburn's residen- tial qualities and the need to ensure an adequate economy for the area. Policies: 1. Auburn's character and values as a 'family' community will be a priority consideration in the City's land use management decisions. a). Within this priority of protecting family values, City policy will address various related community needs. This includes appropriately nurturing and managing the other roles necessary for both maintaining a healthy community and responding to regional needs. Such roles include ensuring expanding employment opportunities, providing effective shopping areas, and managing and accommodating traffic. b). Included within this priority is the need for the City to develop a strong fiscal base to support the services required for a growing community of maturing lower and middle income families, while coping with regional problems. c). To the extent consistent with this priority the City should also respond to the needs of a relatively. -36- ~ ~ ~ ~ high share of the community's families and single residents who cannot afford, or do not choose to live in traditional single family structures. 2. Within areas designated for economic development the City shall actively promote desired types of development in order to assure an expanding range of employment opportunities and to build the City's fiscal base. 3. The City should seek to establish and maintain an image appropriate for the community to assist in most effectively attracting the types of economic activities which best meet the needs and desires of the community. URBAN REDEVELOPMENT POLICY GOAL: To take full advantage of investment in existing facilities and structures by promoting-and supporting the maintenance, redevelopment and reuse of the City's built environment. Objective A: To conserve the livability of viable residential areas. Policies: 1. The most affordable types of housing are existing housing units. 2. The City shall seek available assistance for housing rehabilitation, both for the development of residential infrastructure and for the rehabilitation of individual properties. 3. The City shall identify priority rehabilitation areas ' based on the quality and age of housing stock, on the income levels of residents, and on the policies of this Comprehensive Plan. ' 4. Housing codes shall be evaluated on an ongoing basis for effectiveness and shall be appropriately enforced. ' 5. Special attention should be given to maintaining and improving the quality of public services in declining areas of the City. -37- Objective B: To conserve the character and viability of downtown Auburn as the focal point of the community. Policies: 1. Downtown shall continue to be recognized as the business, governmental and cultural focal point of the community. 2. The City shall continue to support the redevelopment efforts of the private sector in the downtown area. 3. The City shall continue to give priority consideration to the maintainance and improvement of public facilities and services in the downtown area. 4. The City shall continue to support legislation to improve fiscal leverage in urban rehabilitation programs. VISUAL QUALITY: GOAL: To insure a quality visual environment through appropriate design standards and procedures. Objective A: To promote urban design which utilizes significant natural features to enhance the identity of the City. Policies: 1. Development on each of the hill areas of the community should seek to enhance the visual distinction and uniqueness of each. 2. Commercial strip development along Auburn Way South should be limited to north of the R Street Overpass. 3. Suitable natural and cultural features should be utilized to buffer industry and commercial uses from surrounding land uses. 4. The design of new development along the Green and Stuck Rivers shall be sensitive to the unique character of each as a visual resource of the entire community. -38- 5. Development along the inter-urban bike trail shall be compatible with the trail and buffering measures shall be used where. appropriate. Objective 6: To improve the visual quality of new development. Policies: 1. The visual impact of large new developments should be a priority consideration in their review and approval. 2. The City should establish design review of multiple family dwellings in order to maintain this housing option as a viable alternative near single family neighborhoods. 3. Priority shall be given to protecting industrial sites with quality visual amenities in order to attract industries that seek such amenities. 4. All new development shall be required to underground utilities. Objective C: To improve the visual quality of developed areas. Policies: 1. Sign clutter and mixed commercial development should be reduced by improved zoning measures. 2. The City should employ its regulatory authority to encourage the retention of scenic views of Mount Rainier and the east and west hills. 3. The City should require the undergroundinq of utilities whenever opportunities arise. Objective D: To develop a comprehensive program to improve the visual quality of the entire City. Policy: 1. An Urban Oesign Element to the Comprehensive Plan should -39- 1 be developed which identifies and establishes policies to govern the protection and enhancement of the City's visual amenities and image. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GOAL: To assure a diversified economic base through the promotion of quality industrial and commercial development which matches the aspirations of the community. Objective A: To promote a diversified economic base. Policies: 1. Auburn should continue to provide an economic base not only for the Auburn area but for the South King County and Northern Pierce County region. 2. The City should develop a formal economic development strategy as an element of the Comprehensive Plan to specifically identify the types of industry most consistent with community aspirations and lay out a program to attract those industries. a. The City should work cooperatively with other governmental agencies in its economic development efforts, including King County, the Port and the State. b. The City should implement its economic development strategy through a partnership with the private sector. 3. Development of industrial areas should be based on performance standards appropriate for the site and with appropriate flexibility within those standards to accommodate changing market conditions. 4, Land suitable for large scale development in the Region Serving Area of the City should be identified and designated for economic development. a). The integrity of large, contigously owned properties suitable for industrial use should be conserved by use of appropriate industrial subdivision standards. b). The City should identify and resolve any environmental constraints affecting such land by -40- 1 1 ~J 1 1 means of the appropriate environmental review procedures as early as feasible. c). The need to support such land with the necessary infrastructure should be considered in the development of the City's public facility plans. 5. The Auburn Downs (a proposed harness racing track) project offers opportunities for economic diversification which should be built upon by the City. 6. Auburn's location in the region offers a significant economic development opportunity as a potential site for a new major regional shopping center. Objective B: To assure that new industry matches the aspirations of the community. Policies: 1. Economic development programs are a important means of implementing the Comprehensive Plan. Such programs should be viewed as a way to shape the character of the City's future economy rather than merely respond to market trends as they occur. ' 2. City promotion of new industry shall be directed at attracting light industry which is sensitive to community values, develops attractive plants and offers secure, quality employment opportunities. 3. Implementation of economic development programs shall be 1 consistent with the policies of this Plan. 4. Uses which serve regional needs and purposes (such as major industrial plants) must be separated from community serving uses in order to minimize traffic and other conflicts. 5. Economic development plans and programs should be based ony City infrastructure plans and programs. ' r,ITY EXPANSI(1N POLICY COAL: To provide consistency and compatability between the land use patterns of the City and adjacent jurisdictions. OBJECTIVE A: To influence the development of unincorporated land near the -41- City, in a manner that minimizes adverse impacts upon the City and its residents. POLICIES: 1. The City should develop a Comprehensive Plan Element to establish City policy regarding the development of the unincorporated areas near the City, and to guide City actions regarding such development. a). Until the City can adopt a policy to guide City decisions affecting unincorporated areas the City shall recognize current county zoning. b). The City urges King County to apl scrutiny to development proposals in area until the general access to the improved. The County should require offsite measures to mitigate adverse especially traffic impacts. ply greater the Lea Hill area can be appropriate impacts, c). Pierce County should ensure that adequate park land is provided before granting requested development approvals for Lakeland Hills. 2. The City should pursue with King and Pierce Counties the establishment of agreements which recognize the City's interest in development within nearby unincorporated areas. Such agreements shall seek to: a. Identify logical future annexation areas; b. Identify logical utility service areas, within which the City shall be the only utility provider; c. Identify planning areas, within which the City shall prepare or participate with the County in preparation of land use policies; and d. Identify impact areas, within which new development is likely to have an impact on the -42- c;ty. 3. 277th Street shall be the northern boundary of the City. Objective R: To ensure an orderly transition from unincorporated status to incorporated status in the annexation process. Policies: 1. The City shall encourge annexation of property adjacent to the City limits (south of 277th Street) if desired. by the residents of the area. 2. The City shall seek to annex unincorporated islands and ' peninsulas: 3. The City should zone property in a manner consitent with the policies of this plan during the annexation process. The City shall consider the desirability of advance zoning during the development of the Plan Element addressing the unincorporated area. 3. Any property annexed and not zoned should be zoned R-1 until an appropriate planning study can be made. II. ENVIROMENTAL POLICY ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY GOAL: To maintain and promote a safe and healthy environment and preserve the quality of life, and to protect the area's most unique, sensitive and productive natural resources, by identifying significant environmental constraints and opportunities and developing specific policies and development regulations. Objective A: To continue to enhance and maintain the quality of surface water resources in the City and Region. Policies: -43- 1, No economic development shall be allowed on the Green and White Rivers, unless such development adds new public access to the shoreline area. 2. The uses along the rivers are limited to residential, agricultural, open space, recreational and quasi-public. Limited commercial uses providing new public access to the shorelines will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 3. Where possible, streams and river banks should be kept in a natural condition. 4. The capacity of natural drainage courses shall not be diminished. 5. The City will seek to ensure that the quality of water leaving the City is of equivalent quality to the water entering. 6. The City shall continue to work with adjacent jurisdictions to enhance and protect water quality in the region. 7. A Storm Water Management Plan should be developed as an Element of the Comprehensive Plan. 8. The City shall consider the impacts of new development on water quality as part of its environmental review process and require any appropriate mitigating measures. Impacts on fish resources shall be a priority concern in such reviews. 9. The City Shoreline Master Program, hereby adopted as an element of this Plan, shall govern the development of all designated Shorelines of the City. Lands adjacent to these area should be managed in a manner consistent with that program. Objective B: To continue to enhance and maintain the quality of air resources in the City and Region. Policies: 1. The City will continue to support and rely on the various State, Federal and local programs to continue to protect and enhance air quality. -44- 2. The City shall encourage the retention of vegetation and encourage landscaping in order to provide filtering of suspended particulates. 3. The City shall support public transportation as a means to reduce locally generated air emissions. 4. The City shall consider the impacts of new development on air quality as a part of its environmental review process and require any appropriate mitigating measures. Objective C: To continue to enhance and maintain the quality of land, wildlife and vegetative resources in the City and Region. Policies: 1. New development. should be directed toward areas where their adverse impacts can be minimized. 2. Auburn will seek to retain areas with slopes in excess of 25% as primarily open space areas in order to protect against erosion and landslide hazards and to help conserve Auburn's identity within the metro- politan region. Land clearing or other significant removal of vegeta- tion on such slopes shall be regulated by permit. 3.The City should discourage .the use of septic tanks except in those areas which are designated for rural uses. 4. The City. shall consider the impacts of new development on the quality of land, wildlife and vegetative resources as a part of its environmental review process and require any appropriate mitigating measures. Such mitigation may involve the retention of significant habitats. 5. Land fill proposals should be related to specific development projects or needs. Land fill for speculative purposes should be discouraged. Sites without adequate public facilities to support development should not be filled until such facilities are available. Objective D: To continue to enhance and maintain the quality of historical resources in the City and Region. Policies: 1. The City should develop a Historical Preservation Element to the Comprehensive Plan in order to identify and protect, City historical resources. -45- 2. The City shall consider the impacts of new development on historical resources as a part of its environmental review process and require any appropriate mitigating measures. 3. The Carnegie Library and nld Jeff's Home are recognized as unique community resources and the City should assist appropriate efforts to rehabilitate these buildings. Objective E: To recognize the aesthetic, environmental and use benefits of vegetation and to promote its retention and propagation. Policies: 1. The City shall encourage the use of vegetation as an integral part of development plans. 2. The City shall discourage the unnecessary disturbance of natural vegetation in new development. Objective F: To promote energy efficiency in the development and operation of public facilities and services, as well as in private development. Policies: 1. The City of Auburn Energy Management Plan is hereby incorporated as an element in this Comprehensive Plan. 2. The City encourages site design practices that maximize winter exposure to solar radiation. HAZARDS GOAL: To minimize the risk to present and future residents from environmental and manmade hazards. Objective A: To reduce potential hazards associated with flood plains without unduly restricting the benefits associated with the continued development of the Lower Green River Valley floor. Policies: 1. Flood prone properties outside of the floodway are developable provided that such development can meet the standards set forth in the federal flood insurance program. 2. Any subdivision of property within the flood plain shall avoid creating lots which would be of limited value due to flood -46- hazards. 3. Site plan review shall be required under SEPA for any significant (e.g, over the SEPA threshold) development in the flood plain. Appropriate mitigating measures shall be required whenever needed to reduce potential hazards. 4. Any development within the floodway, which would reduce the capacity of the floodway, shall be prohibited. 5. The City shall enact ordinances and review development proposals in a manner which restricts and controls the discharge of storm water from new development. At a minimum the peak discharge rate after development shall not exceed the peak discharge rate before development. 6. The City should establish a storm drainage utility to control and manage storm waters. 7. The City shall consider the impacts of new development on flood hazards or storm water discharge as a part of its environmental review process and require any appropriate mitigating measures. Objective B: To ensure that development is properly located and constructed with respect to the limitations of the underlying soils. Policies: 1. Where there is a high probability of erosion, grading should be kept to a minimum and disturbed vegetation should be restored as soon as feasible. In all cases appropriate measures to control erosion and sedimentation shall be required. 2. The City shall consider the impacts of new development on hazards associated with soils as apart of its environmental review process and require any appropriate mitigating measures. 3. Soils subject to poor drainage shall be adequately drained prior to development. -47- Objective C: To reduce risks associated with the transportation and storage of hazardous materials. Policies: 1. The risk of hazardous materials shall be incorporated into the City's emergency management programs 2. New commercial (other than retail commercial) or industrial uses which involve the transport or storage of hazardous materials shall be located only in the designated Region Serving Area of the City. 3. Any existing wholesale storage or manufacturing of hazardous materials in the designated Community Serving Area of the City, or within 2000 feet of a school or medical facility, shall be considered anon-conforming use and the City should assertively seek its removal. 4. The storage and disposal of any hazardous material shall be only in the strictest compliance with any applicable local, state or federal law. 5. The City shall consider the impacts of new development on the risk of hazardous materials as apart of its environmental review process and require any appropriate mitigating measures. SAND AND GRAVEL MINING GOAL: To respond to the regional need for the aggregate resources located in the City in a manner which enhances, rather than detracts from, the orderly development of the City. Objective: To establish management policies which rigidly control: the operation of all pits in the City, in order to reduce the inherent adverse impacts that such activities produce in an urban environment. Policies: 1. Gravel removal is needed in order to support the development of .freeways, roads, public works, and private construction, and may be permitted if in accord with these -48- policies. 2. Existing sand and gravel pits (as specifically authorized by a City permit to mine) may be allowed to continue operation for the duration of, and in accord with their existing permits. 3. Additional quarries shall be permitted only where it is advisable to modify slope to create usable land (or to provide another public benefit associated with the sitel and where the community will suffer no substantial short or long term adverse effect. 4. All new sites not previously mined should be studied throughly under the provisions of SEPA prior to their development, and the City shall employ all reasonable mitigating measures identified in those studies .prior to approval. 5. Gravel operations shall not be considered a permitted use in any zone, and shall be considered as a privilege, to be conducted only in accord with the measures needed to mitigate any adverse impact. Whenever any impact is considered unacceptable, and cannot be acceptably mitigated in the opinion of the permitting authority, permits for the operation shall be denied. The burden for meeting these tests for operation shall be on the operator. 6. In reviewing proposed operations, care must be exercised to ensure that creating usable land will be the real end result of the quarry operation and that it is not simply put forth as an excuse for a permit. The amount of material to be removed shall be an amount appropriate for the end use. While this policy shall be rigidly applied to developed areas and to all areas north of the Stuck River, some flexibility may be appropriate South of the Stuck River until development patterns begin to conflict with ongoing gravel operations. 7. A final grading plan should be submitted with every application. Conditions of operation should be spelled out in detail with performance bonds required to ensure compliance. Failure to comply with the provisions will be -49- adequate grounds for termination of the permit. 8. Aesthetic qualities, erosion control, the effect nn community and the creation of usable land should be the primary considerations in a decision to grant a new quarry permit or to extend the scope of the quarries previously operating. An.y of these concerns can be grounds to deny a permit. 9. The burden to demonstrate compliance with these policies and to demonstrate the need for the operation rests solely on the operator. The burden to operate in compliance with these policies and an,y permit issued thereto shall also be on the operator. 10. The zoning ordinance should contain a provision that any gravel operation in the City which is now operating in a legal nonconforming status without a City permit, shall secure such permit in accord with these policies or be phased out within 5 years. Past gravel operations whose nonconforming status has lapsed shall not resume operations without a permit. PARKS AND OPEN SPACE: GOAL: To provide a comprehensive system of parks and open spaces that responds to the recreational, cultural, environmental and aestetic needs and desires of the City's residents. OBJECTIVE A: To provide a broad and comprehensive park system that meets the recreational needs of all segments of the community. Policies: 1. The 1981 Auburn Park and Recreation Plan is hereby adopted and incorporated as part of the Auburn Comprehensive Plan. 2. The City shall continue its policy of requiring the dedication of appropriate and usable park land in conjunction with the approval of new developments that substantially increase the demand for recreational facilities. -50- 3. The City shall evaluate the impacts of new development on parks and recreational resources through the SEPA environmental review process, and shall take appropriate steps to mitigate significant adverse impacts. ~ 4. The City recognizes the important recreational and transportation roles played by regional bicycle trail systems, and will support current efforts to develop a Green River Bicycle Trail extending from the Duwamish Waterway to Flaming Geyser State Park. The City will also continue to protect the viability and aesthetic value of the ~ Interurban Bicycle Trail. OBJECTIVE B: To provide for an adequate and diverse supply of open spaces. POLICIES: 1. The City shall seek to retain as open space, areas where the soils have been identified as having severe or very severe erosion potential, landslide hazard or seizmic hazard. 2. The City shall seek to retain as open space, those areas that provide essential habitat for any rare, threatened or endangered plant or wildlife species. 3. The City shall seek to retain as open space, those areas having a uni- que combination of open space values, including: separation or buffering between incompatable land uses; visual delineation of the City or a distinct area or neighborhood of the City; unusually productive wildlife habitat; floodwater or stormwater storage; stormwater purification; recrea- tional value; aesthetic value; and educational value. 4. All areas of Regulatory Floodway within the City shall be retained as undeveloped open space. However, this shall not preclude the relocation of the Mill Creek floodway as long as an_y such relocation is consistent with the requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program and with the design criteria of the "Proposal for Mill Creek Corridor" study. The Mill Creek Corridor shall be a minimum of 140 feet in width. 5. Development within areas designated for open space uses shall, in general, be low density or non-intensive in character. Developments shall be designed and sited in a manner that minimizes or mitigates disruption of ' the most important open space values of the site. Appropriate uses within designated open space areas may, under proper circumstances, include (but not necessarily be limited to): parks and other recreational facilities; ' low density residential; agriculture; stormwater storage; and watershed. -51- III. LAND USE POLICY RESIDENTIAL USE AND DEIIELOPMENT DENSITY: GOAL: To emphasize housing development at single family densities, while recognizing the need and desire for both rural density and moderate density housing appropriately located, and while also recognizing the unique housing needs of certain target populations. Objective A: To give priority to single family areas. Policies: 1. In applying the land ease designations of the Comprehensive Plan to various areas, first consideration shall be given to designating the area for single family residential use. 2. The burden shall be on demonstrating the unsuitability of an area for single family use whenever considering a conversion from single family to another use. Objective B: To establish a system of residential densities which accommodates a range of housing choice appropriate for the r'ity. Policies: 1. Residential densities in areas designated "rural" should be no greater than 1 dwelling unit per 4 acres. 2. Residential densities in areas designated for single family residential use should be no greater than 6 units per acre. Densities should decrease from this level as average slope increases. The bulk of the residential community should be developed at a density of between 4 and 6 dwelling units per acre. 3. Residential densities in areas designated for multiple family development should not exceed 20 units per acre. Multiple family densities should generally decrease with proximity to single family areas. Mobile home park densities should not exceed 10 units per acre. 4. Multiple family densities may exceed 20 units per. acre for specific housing projects targeted to populations not requiring outdoor recreation areas and having low private. automobile usage (e.g. elderly housing). Such -52- developments should be located in close proximity to shopping, medical and public transportation services. HOUSING MIX: GOAL: To reestablish a balanced mix of housing types appropriate for a family community, by conserving existing single family neighborhoods and promoting the development of new single family neighborhoods. Objectives: Objective A: To encourage the preservation of housing that is suitable to the retention of families within the community. Policies: 1. Existing residential neighborhoods which provide a desirable family living environment should be conserved and protected from the intrusion of incompatible land uses. Traffic and other impacts which detract from this character should be avoided. Such neighborhoods shall be formally designated (Map B). 2. Development standards and regulations for single f amily areas should avoid unnecessary barriers to the renovation and improvement of homes in established neighborhoods built to previous standards. ' 3. The City should give special attention to improving the quality of low income neighborhoods and seek to implement programs which encourage rehabilitation of deteriorating structures and facilities in such neighborhoods. (Guidance for this policy is provided by the City's annual Block Grant Program Plan.) Objective B: To encourage development of housing that is suitable to the attraction of families to the community. Policy: 1. In designating areas for the various kinds of residential uses, priority shall be pi aced on designating appropriate areas for single family housing development. -53- l " ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ' u' ', ~ _- ~ 4, p, Ar-f` 1 r ~ M41fiM ~ t ~~ ti0.P j ~ C0.Yt6E . 1. {iM!^. iL e ! r l 1 .I .i ~ I 4!~Ll Snn 11~':~ EVM1~ w /r, -.. i ~~ Rk c Y ._ _~ I ~} I }+d J1 1 Z ~ MbIMiR N MPT ~ = ~ lL \ ~ ~,j. ~ ~ E 4. ~_ ~ r ( /" L yy ~ n - ~ ~ C ~ , iJ ~ ~~ '` \ ! ~ y lb,~%' ~ _ -tl~~- i.. •_ I e ` i ~~, - I t e i j Yens 1 N I w:. i ~ a~ ~Ly `~'pK Mtt t_ z:. - L S '~ _~- wl.n YT ~ _ 1 I Wp t~ ~E/E IE RY y> ~I ~ I I 1 iW }y.4yt~ [.. /7 ~ ~l ~ ~ I~ _ , ,.,,~ ~, OW[ . ~ r {MRM ~ ; r, ~ ~ _ l ~ ~ t~.~ l' _..i _.. ~..~ k ~r f ~ ~~\ ff/ __~.-- ~~~ r ~~~t '•,\ __ \~-_ ,. ~ .~,~ y : 0`EEOM MINTYR + Y•~ ~~ cgyJEpQ _ a' t.. _~_. ~~~/ 4 -- ... __. . i ~ ~~ +w~ w.iw we t! i / MAP B ~`~ _ DESIGNATED SINGLE FAMILY NEIGHBORHOODS MILL i~ ~.l ~I t i 1 i Objective C: To respond to the housing needs of local individuals and families that cannot afford or do not choose to live in traditional single family housing. ' Policies: 1. The Comprehensive Plan recognizes the existing housing stock as the most affordable form of housing. The existing supply of relatively inexpensive housing should be conserved. 2. The City's strategy for providing "affordable housing" shall rely on; a) protecting the quality of Auburn's older neighborhoods, b) allowing appropriately designed manuf actured housing within single family neighborhoods, c) ' allowing mobile home parks and multiple family developments in appropriate but limited areas. 3. The City should use its Housing Assistance Plan to guide the development and location of assisted housing units. 4. A detai-led housing element should be developed as part of the Comprehensive Plan. Until such plan is developed the Housing Assistance Plan and these policies should serve as the Housing Element. 5. Any assessment of the need for such housing in the community shall be based on the community providing a fair ~ share of the regional need for such housing. NEIGHBORHOOD QUALITY: Goal: To protect all viable single family residential neighborhoods from intrusions by incompatible uses. ' Objective A: To designate for protection specific single family residential areas. Policies: 1. Viable residential neighborhoods shall be specifically identified in the Comprehensive Plan (see Map R, Designated Single Family ' Neighborhoods). a). Any intrusion shall be only as specified in the Comprehensive Plan. b). Approval of any unanticipated intrusion by a nonresidential land use shall occur only after full environmental review and amendment of the Comprehensive Plan. 2. Spot zoning shall be prohibited in designated single family neigh- borhoods. 3. .The City shall seek to abate existing incompatible uses in designated single family neighborhoods. 4. Home occupations in designated neighborhoods shall be permitted only if they comply with performance standards that ensure computability with adjacent residential uses. Greater flexibility may he appropriate for home occupations near the border of such neighborhoods as a transition to adjacent uses. 5. Limited commercial uses may be carefully permitted, only with appropriate conditions, by means of conditional use permits in certain circumstances: a). Along the border of designated neighborhoods. b). In specific areas where site specific concerns may limit the use of the site for residential uses. c). Along arterials transecting designated single family neighborhoods. Objective B: To establish new neighborhoods in a way that will minimize the potential for intrusion of incomputable uses. Policies: 1. Development design should use natural features, including topography, to separate land uses and densities. Elevation can serve as an appropriate buffer between different densities and types of land use. -55- 2. Development design should use open spaces, including parks, to separate incompatible uses. Objective C: To respond to the growing need to accommodate traffic ' through the City with a minimum of adverse impact on designated urban residential neighborhoods. Policies: 1. Development of new through routes should occur as early as possible, before neighborhoods are developed to urban r residential densities. 2. Needed traffic measures should receive priority in City ' planning in order to identify potential issues, possible alternatives, and to provide ample opportunity to mitigate impacts. 3. Routes which bypass developed, designated urban neighborhoods shall be preferred over routes that would pass through them. Routes passing through such neighborhoods shall be supported by the City only when present and future traffic benefits are substantial and alternative ways to meet the need are not feasible. t 4. Where the only feasible traffic solution results in a significant adverse impact on a residential area, care shall be taken to identify any feasible opportunity to mitigate potential ' impacts. 5. Arterial routes should be planned to serve undeveloped ' areas prior to development and should be built as the area is developed. 6. Improved linkages in the the City's residential collector system, such as completed connection of lengthy dead-end streets, should be sought at every opportunity. ' 7. The City should develop and adopt a collector street plan and an official map. TRANSITIONAL RESIDENTIAL AREAS ~ ,s. GOAL: To provide for an orderly transition from older residential areas that are no longer viable, to other uses. Policies: 1. The management of areas in transition from existing residential to a planned non-residential use, should balance the needs of existing residents with the need to accommodate new uses. 2. The conditional use procedure should be used to ensure that new uses are no more disruptive to existing uses than is reasonably necessary. 3. Interim spot zoning, with appropriate conditions, may be an appropriate transitional devise where the spot zone is fully consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. 4. Greater flexibility should be provided for home occupations in transitional areas. SITING AND DESIGN OF RESIDENTIAL AREAS GOAL: To facilitate the development of appropriate residential developments to accommodate present and future needs, consistent with the policies of the plan. Objective A: To relate the design and types of residential areas to important natural and manmade features of the community. Policies: 1. Residential development should be related to topography, circulation, and other amenities, as guided by policies of this Plan. 2. Residential. development should be discouraged in poorly drained areas. 3. Special subdivision regulations should be devised to allow greater flexibility for design in hillside areas. 4. The development of residential areas should relate to the importance of community and public facilities in developing a sense of neighborhood and community. -57- J 5. Residential developments on the hill areas should encourage design elements which increase the visual distinction of each area. h. Residential development of Shoreline areas shall be in accord with the City's Shoreline Management Program and should provide for the retention of public access to these areas. Special care should be taken in the design of residential areas in shoreline areas in order to reduce the potential conflict between residential use and public access. 7. Priority shall be given in the design and approval of any residential development to the manner in which the recreational needs of the residents shall be met. Single Family Objectives: Objective A: To protect and enhance the quality of residential areas providing viable family living environments, and to reserve an adequate supply of appropriate undeveloped land to provide for the future development of such areas. Policies: 1. Specific areas shall be designated as single family neighborhoods (see Map B). Priority in any regulatory decision in these areas shall be given to maintaining or enhancing the single family character. 2. Most of the undeveloped areas of the Community Serving Area of the City (see Map A) shall be reserved for single family dwellings. A). In designating currently undeveloped areas for future single family use, the ability to buffer the area from incompatible land uses and heavily traveled arterials or highways should be considered. B). Such buffering can be accomplished by taking advantage of topographic variations and other natural features, by orienting lots and houses away from arterials, by designating moderate density multiple f amity areas as transitional areas, and by other means. 3. Any change from the rural designation shall be to a ' single family designation. Single family residential areas I' -58- should also be used to buffer rural areas from other urban uses. 4. Areas abutting major arterials should be carefully planned in order to avoid potential conflict between the development of the arterial and single family uses. Single family uses in such areas should be platted in a manner which orients the units away from the arterial. Where such orientation is not possible, a transition area should be zoned for moderate density uses. In areas with existing single family developments, substantial flexibility can be permitted for street front buffering. Objective B: To promote the development of quality detached single family neighborhoods. Policies: 1. The development of new single family neighborhoods should be governed by specific, uniform development standards. 2. Some flexibility in siting standards may be explored during development of implementing ordinances. Any such flexibility should meet the following criteria: high level of predictability; ease of administration; maintenance of conventional single family neighborhood character and densities. Multiple Family Objective: Objective A: To provide for-the need for multiple family dwellings by people within the local area, while avoiding conflict with single family residential areas. Policies: 1. Multiple family dwellings shall not be permitted as a matter of right in designated single family neighborhoods, but should be permitted only where necessary to remove potential blight, to buffer single family uses from incompatible uses or activities, or to allow effective use of vacant areas. Standards for such siting should -59- provide for design review to ensure compatibility and provide that the density of development is consistent with the density of the ad,ioining single family uses. 2. Siting of moderate density units shall be encouraged as a buffer between single family areas and more intense uses. Such buffering is appropriate along arterials where existing platting prevents effective lot layout for single family units. Also, such buffering is appropriate between single family areas and commercial and industrial uses. Where there are established single family areas the design and siting of these units shall be controlled to reduce potential conflicts and to ensure buffering of uses. Higher density units are not to be considered such a buffer. 3. Higher density developments or larger scale multiple family developments should be limited to residential areas which are either not well suited for single family uses or areas in which such development can be developed as a unit ' with the necessary supporting facilities. Such development shall provide adequate access by developed arterials with minimal potential to generate traffic ' through designated single family areas. Extensive buffering measures may be required where such areas ad,ioin single family residential areas. Where feasible, new multiple family development should be planned in ' conjunction with single family and moderate density development. ' 4. In considering where future higher density development should locate, priority shall be given to designated special planning areas where such use can be balanced and ' planned with single family areas. 5. Unless required for other purposes, the need for new higher density developments shall be based on local need for such units and should not substantially exceed a fair regional share of such housing. ' 6. Multiple-family developments should be located functionally convient to the necessary supporting facilities including utilities, arterials, parks, transit -60- service, etc. Mobile Homes Objective: Objective A: To continue to allow mobile homes as an affordable form of home ownership, provided that such developments are carried out in a manner which supports rather than detracts from the quality of the community and adjacent uses. Policies: 1. Mobile home parks shall be considered a form of high density residential development and shall be subject to the same policies as those relating to high density multiple family development. In addition any mobile home park shall be bordered or contained by physical features, or shall be planned and designed as part of a larger development incorporating other housing types in a manner which limits further mobile home park expansion into adjacent areas. 7. Modular homes may be permitted on single family lots provided that they are sited and constructed in a manner which would blend with ad.iacent homes. COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES GOAL: To create a variety of commercial environments which provide the full range of commercial services to the community and region in a manner which reduces conflicts between different types of commercial services. OBJECTIVE A: To preserve and enhance the role of downtown Auburn as the focal point of the Auburn community for business, governmental and cultural activities. POLICIES: 1. For the purpose of implementing the goal and policies for downtown Auburn, "downtown" shall be considered that area bounded on the south by Highway 18; on the east by "F" -61- u Street; on the north by Park Avenue (extended); and on the west by the Burlington Northern tracks. 2. The downtown area shall comprise a mixture of uses consistent with the area's role as the focal point of the community. These uses shall be primarily "people-oriented" ' as opposed to "automobile-oriented,'° and shall include commercial, medical, governmental, cultural and residential uses. ' 3. The area north of First Street North, west of Auburn Avenue, south of Fifth Street North and east of the Burlington Northern tracks should be designated and managed ' as a medical and professional services area. New heavy commercial and industrial uses should be prohibited and existing ones amortized. Commercial uses supporting medical and professional uses should receive priority. 4. Regulations for the retail core of downtown should discourage automobile oriented uses which produce auto/pedestrian conflicts ar~d damage the pedestrian shopping environment. A high level of visual amenity should be pursued, and no heavy outdoor uses or outdoor storage ~ should be allowed. 5. The City, along with the downtown business community, ' should explore alternative methods of ensuring the adequate provision of parking for new development. The objective should be to promote new commercial development with adequate parking while avoiding disruption of the pedestrian shopping environment. 6. Emphasis should be given to enhancing pedestrian ' linkages between the Hospital area, the Main Street retail core and the Safeway Superstore. An important element of this will be to reduce the pedestrian barrier effect of ~ Auburn Avenue. 7. The City should build upon past efforts to improve pedestrian amenities, through public improvements, sign ' regulations and development standards. The maintainance of public and private improvements should be given priority commensurate with downtown's role as the focal point of the -62- £~. TF~~e over°all v€~hicular traffic pattern should continue to direct; thr or~gh traffic around the periphery of the ~~3D. 9. _~"he ~„ i t y sNrar~ 1 d Conti raue 'to support:. the deve 1 opment and rehabi~l ita~tian of multiple family housing in the Cf3f7, -incluriing hauling targeted toward special needs ~s.g. elderly and hanciicappsd housing). 1Ct. .~.~?o ar~•ea lying gensrMa1ly east of 'g D'° Street S.E. and south of P~a~in Street ~nt~~t incluriing the Main Street frontage) shall bs rissign£=t~Qd for residential uses. 11.. Ti~~e a.rc'~t lying generally between Auburn wa_y North (but not propet~•tir4t; abutting AWN) and Auburn i-iigh School should be desigr~at,ad for multiple family uses. ~?. Aut.arr~ob-~~ls errisn~tad uses within the f;BD should be directed to Auburn Jay North and the area lying south of the Safeway Superstars. 13. 1°he ('ity shall rnaintain are ongoing downtown planning and action program involving the downtown business cammunity. This activity should bs guided by a Downtown Element to the Cornprehensivs Plan. 1.~. A strong i;PD shall bs encouraged through improved parkir~gY cir°~:~:.alation, and grouping of retail outlets and governmental services. The development of pubic parking lots 'r-o sews the downto~an should be guided by the Downtown Parking Flan. 1.`. ~iti~w~r"ita:;wa1 diver°sity s~ro±ald bs encouraged in order to mair~tair~r ar active and competitive retail core. ~1~. '-~~aail uses s~~ould have priority ire the ;enter of the daa~rRtown ar°ea. ~`~bjective b~~ To establish Auburn as a mayor retail commercial center for the region. Poliuies° ia, -~. ~g r~~e~v r°~:~giP~nal shopping center serving the Auburn area shcs~~.~~ kse 1oc:atas~ w~it;hin the 6~egion Serving Area of the City see ~la~r A~, l.ha r: oty wauld appose t.hs dsvslapment of such a -~6~_ ' center in the unincorporated area in the vicinity of the City. 2. The preff Bred location of the center is in the immediate ' proximity of the Highway 18 - Valley Freeway interchange. Appropriai:e modification should be made to this interchange to accommodate the traffic flowing to the center. 3. The City shall contir±ue to recognize and support the development of downtown Auburn as the focal point of the Auburn community. Objective C: To encourage the appropriate use of areas adjacent to heavily travelled arterials while minimizing land use and traffic conflicts, by: a. Managing the continued commercial development of existing commercial arterials in a manner which minimizes traffic and land use conflicts. b. Conserving residential qualities along heavily travelled arterials which are not yet commercialized, by restricting commercial development to types which provide an appropriate buffer. c. Protecting existing, viable residential areas along lesser-travelled arterials, from commercial development. d. Planning and establishing new arterials in a manner which prevents strip commercial development. POLICIES: ^ 1. The City shall identify those existing commercial arterials that are appropriate for continued general ' (heavy) commercial development, and those arterials that are appropriate for continued or future limited (i.e. professional office type) commercial development. ' 2. The City shall encourage the grouping of individual commercial enterprises along commercial arterials in order to promote the sharing of parking areas, access drives and ' signs. Such groupinq~ can be encouraged through land division regulations, sign regulations and development standards. 3. The City shall review its standards relating to the number, size and location of driveways to ensure -64- 1 consistency with goals and policies relating to arterial commercial development. 1 4. Moderate density multiple family residential development shall be used to buffer general (heavy) commercial arterial ' development from single family development. Extensive screening and landscaping shall be used to buffer general commercial uses from multiple family uses. 5. Arterials experiencing strong pressure for commercial development, but not yet committed to general (heavy) commercial uses, shall be designated for. mixed light ' commercial / moderate density multi-family uses. Development regulations should encourage the development of professional office and similar uses and small scale multiple family housing, with development and design , standards carefully drawn to ensure preservation of a quality living environment in adjacent neighborhoods.. Development regulations could also allow other light , commercial and higher density multi-family housing, subject to an extensive public review, and possibly a design review process, ' 6. Residential arterials having good potential for long term maintenance of a quality living environment should be protected from the intrusion of commercial uses. In some ' instances, these may be appropriate locations for churches and other religious institutions, or moderate density multiple family uses. ' 7. Newly developed arterials shall incorporate design features, and development of adjacent land shall he managed such that creation of new commercial strips is avoided. Land division regulations shall result in single family residences being oriented away from the arterial, with , access provided by a non-arterial street. OBJECTIVE A: To provide for the convenience commercial needs of residential areas, while protecting existing and future residential neighborhoods from ' n i -65- ' ' the disruptive effects of commercial intrusions. POLIr,IES: ' 1, Fxisting neighborhood oriented commercial centers should be identified and designated. Commercial uses within these centers should be limited to those having primary market r areas considerably smaller than the entire community. 2, Designated neighborhood rnmmercial centers should be prevented from spreading along the arterials that serve ' them, 3. A prime consideration in permitting the expansion of ' existing neighborhood commercial areas shall be the ahility to adequately buffer any nearby residences from disruptive impacts. ' 4, In some instances of existing neighborhood commercial centers, a transition zone of moderate density residential uses should be designated between the center and single ' family residential areas. 5, New neighborhood commercial centers should be considered ' under the "Special Planning Areas" concept. Such areas should be carefully designed and integrated into the overall area development plan so as to minimize traffic and land use ' conflicts, Commercial uses should be limited- to those having primary market areas approximately the size of the special planning area.. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT TYPE OF INDUSTRY GOAL: To provide a balance of industrial uses that places a priority on developing a quality, light industrial character for the City, Objective A: To create a physical image for the City conducive to attracting light industry. -66- Policies: 1. Highly visible areas which tend to establish the image of the City should be reserved for lighter industrial uses. 2. The City shall promote industrial park like development of all light industrial and warehouse areas. 3, The City shall aggressively seek to abate all potentially blighting influences in industrial areas, especially in highly visible areas to regional traffic flows and in areas designated for light industrial uses. Objective B: To establish performance standards appropriate for developing industrial areas. Policies: 1. Compatibility among land uses should he enhanced through landscaping, building orientation and setbacks, traffic control and other measures to reduce potential conflicts. ?_. The City shall encourage aesthetic building and site design in all industrial areas. a). Procedures shall be established to ensure aesthetic building and site design in areas designated for light industrial areas. Preference shall be given to design control by the private sector by means of approved industrial parks with covenant restrictions. b). Appropriate landscaping and site development standards shall regulate site development in heavy industrial areas. c). Unsightly views, such as heavy machinery, service entrances, storage areas, loading docks, and parking areas should be screened from view of adjacent retail, commercial, light industrial and residential areas and from public streets. 3, Needed rights-of-way, on-site and off-site road -67- improvements, and utilities should be assured before development occurs. 4. Individual development projects shall provide the following minimal improvements: a. Full standard streets and sidewalks. b. Adequate off street parking for employees and patrons. c. Landscaping. d. Adequate storm drainage control. e. Public water supply. f. Public sanitary sewers. g. Controlled and developed standard access to developed arterials and intersections. LOCATION OF INDUSTRIAL USES GOAL: To establish an efficient arrangement of industrial uses. Objective A: To reserve areas appropriate for industrial development. Policies: ' 1. Any significant industrial activity shall be limited to the designated Region Serving Area of the City (see Map A). ' 2. Intrusions of residential uses into industrial areas shall not be allowed, and intrusions by commercial uses should be controlled. ' 3. The grouping of uses which will mutually benefit each other or provide needed services will be encouraged. ' a). Compatible commercial uses may be permitted in designated industrial areas. -68- b).Planned developments (such as "office parks") which provide a mixture of light industrial with supporting commercial uses are encouraged. c). Uses which support industrial and warehouse activities should be located near those uses. 5. Development of designated industrial sites shall be consistent with applicable environmental standards and policies. Objective B: To reserve and protect areas which are highly suitable for development as light industrial parks. Policies: 1. Designation of light industrial areas shall have priority over heavier industrial uses, 2. Highly visible areas which tend to establish the image of the City should be reserved for lighter industrial uses. objective C: To identify areas appropriate for heavy industrial uses. Policies: 1. Heavy industrial uses shall be separated from lighter industrial, commercial and residential areas. 2. The most appropriate areas for heavy industrial uses are in the central part of the Region Serving Area adjoining the rail lines. 3. Heavy industrial uses are appropriate in the southern portion of the region serving area which is now developed in large scale industrial facilities. 4. Generally heavy industrial uses should be strictly prohibited in the Community Serving Area. The only areas where such uses ma.y be allowed in the Community Serving Area is the area now developed in this character along A Street SE. -69- Iv. PUBLIC FACILITY POLIr,Y CIRCULATION ELEMENT GOAL: To develop, in cooperation with other transportation agencies, a balanced, safe, and efficient community circulation system to serve all segments and activities in the community. Objective A: To provide an integrated street network of different classes of streets designed to facilitate different types of traffic flows and access needs. Policies: 1. Except as further modified by this Comprehensive Plan, the 1982 Traffic Circulation Plan is herein adopted and incorporated into this plan. 2. The City street system is made up of three classes of streets: a). Freeways -- Two in the City under ,iurisdiction of the State; Highway 18 and Valley Freeway. These routes are intended to handle traffic passing through the City from and to other parts of the region. The freeways also offer an opportunity for traffic originating in or destined for Auburn to move very efficiently into or out of the City. As such the City circulatory system will be focused on these regional systems and will seek to place regional traffic onto this state network as efficiently as possible, to minimize congestion of the local street system. b). Arterials -- a system of City, state and county streets designed to move traffic from or to one area within the local area to or from another area. These streets should be adequate in number, ' appropriately situated and designed to accommodate moderate to high traffic volumes with a minimum of disruption in the flow. c). Collectors -- a system of City streets which collect traffic from sites adjacent to such streets to carry the traffic to the arterial ' system. 3. The "Recommended Road Plan'", appearing as Figure 8 of the 1982 Comprehensive Traffic Plan, is superceded by Map C herein, entitled "Arterial Street, Plan", ' 4. The design and management of the street network shall seek to improve the appearance of existing street corridors -70- and shall incorporate high standards of design when developing new streets, Where appropriate, landscaping measures should be implemented to enhance the appearance of City street corridors. To the extent feasible without impairing street capacity, safety, or structural integrity existing trees along street right of ways should be conserved. Objective B: To accommodate through traffic in the City as efficiently as possible with a minimum of disruption to the local community, Policies: 1. The City shall continue to support the activities of the state Department of Transportation to facilitate the movement of through traffic through the City. 2. Wherever possible the City shall encourage the State and County to develop through routes which bypass the Community Serving Area of the City. 3. The City should actively solicit action by the State and King County to program and construct those improvements to state and county arterial and freeway systems needed to serve Auburn. Objective C: To provide an efficient arterial street network. Policies: 1. The City has three classes of arterials: A. Major Arterials constructed to a standard to accommodate five lanes of traffic. B. Arterials constructed and striped to a standard to accommodate four lanes of traffic. C. Residential arterials constructed to a standard to accommodate four lanes of traffic, but stripped to accommodate two lanes of traffic. Additional lanes would be provided if and when traffic flows require such stripping for efficient -71- A.IRR ~~ ~~ 5 Nf VEW C ff'~ETOn'~ -. ~i ~wf111~f At •.! SCALE- 1':pppp'_ MAP C ~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ARTERIAL STREET PLAN Existing Arterial ~ ----- Planned Arterial ••••• Planned Arterial -~- (General Location ) s Number of Lanes ,~- ~""`°~ ~ (if other than 4 ) • f RCEE~RRI~R ~ e COLtEOE - ~~ • ~~~ _ ^-~N•~N•N r r • '• •• traffic flow. 2. The City shall encaurage King County to develop and implement a similar system of arterial designation for areas designated as urban under its comprehensive -plan. 3. The City shall encaurage and support the development of new arterials which provide opportunity to by-pass Community Serving Areas; including a new connection between the Enumclaw Highway and Highway 18, and an extension of 277th ' Street to serve the Lea Hill area. 4. The City shall designate new arterials to serve ' developing areas before such development. Such arterials shall be spaced in accord with good transportation network planning principles. ' Objective D: To provide an effective street system of local collectors to collect local traffic. Policies: 1. Through trafific shall be discouraged in local residential ' areas. 2. Collector streets shall be constructed with curbs, gutters, and sidewalks on both sides; have at least 34 feet of pavement and 50 feet of right of way. 3. Except where now provided, private streets shall only be ' permitted within developments under a common management or to serve four or fewer lots. 4. An efficient collector system seeks to spread the opportunity for movement over alternative routes rather than directing traffic to a few collectors. Also, ample alternatives should exist for emergency vehicles to access ' areas in case of a blockage on a street and to facilitate police patrols. Ali developed areas shall be served by at least two accesses. A. Access in new development: ' -72- l i). Cul-de-sacs (or other streets, public or private, which provide only one outlet to the circulatory system) shall not be more than 600 feet in length. ii). Residential developments with fewer than 75 units and under a common management (apartment complexes and mobile home courts) may limit general access to one route, provided that additional access routes are made available for emergency vehicles. B. Access to Existing areas: a). Existing dead end streets that are greater than 800 feet should be linked to other streets unless it can be demonstrated that such connections would lead to a substantial rerouting of through traffic onto the street. 5. An Official Map designating all anticipated collector streets should be developed to complement the arterial street plan. ObTective E: To finance new streets and transportation systems needed to serve new development, without adversely affecting the fiscal capacity of the City to finance general transportation needs. Policies: 1. The City shall continue to enforce the policy of requiring developers of new developments to construct streets directly serving the development, including specific off site improvements. 2. All new development should contribute by means of a system development charge or similar fiscal devise, to the cost of needed improvements to the City arterial system. 3. The City should continue its policy of actively pursuing the formation of LIDs to upgrade existing streets and construct new streets to the appropriate standard. ~ i '~~ ~ 1 1 1 -73- 4. Improvements to serve new developments will be constructed as a part of the development process. All costs should be borne by the development where the development is served by the proposed streets. In some instances the City may choose to participate in this construction where improvements serve more than adjacent developments. The City will encourage the use of LIDS to facilitate their development. 5. Improvements to upgra~e e;~isting streets are considered to benefit the abutting ~,rcp:rt,y, and improvements should be funded by the abutting property owners. Some City participation may be appropriate to encourage the formation of LIDS to remove particular problem areas. 5. General revenues for strF=et improvements should be primarily directed at providing for the orderly development of general circulation in accord with the adopted six year street plan. The bash, criteria for such funding should be the benefit of the project to general circulation, not the benefit to affected properties. Use of general revenues to encourage formation of LIDs should only be a secondary concern and considered appropriate only to address particularly significant problems. Where it is possible to establish a direct relationship between a needed improvement and a development, the development should be expected to contribute to its construction. Objective F: To encourage the continued development of mass transit systems to relieve traffic congestion and to reduce reliance on the automobile for personal transportation needs. Policies: 1. The City shall continue to coordinate with Metro to provide adequate b~,s service between Auburn and other King County areas. ' 2. The City shall e;~plore opportunities for improved bus service within Auburn itse"If. 3. The City should encourage Metro to explore linkages to the south with Pierce ~;`ounty Transit, -74- 4. The City shall consider both transit impacts and opportunities posed by maior development proposals in its reviews under the State Environmental Policy Act. 5.-The City support$ Metro's development of adequate-park and ride facilities in appropriate locations. objective G: To facilitate the use of bicycles not only as a means of recreation but also as an alternative means of local transportation. Policies: 1. The City should develop a Bicycle Element of the Comprehensive Plan. 2. The City shall continue to support the continued development of the inter-urban trail as an integral part of the county transportation system. 3. The City shall include the need to accommodate bicycles safely in its management and design of the City street network. objective H: To recognize pedestrian movement as a basic means of circulation and to assure adequate accommodation of pedestrian needs in all transportation policies and facilities. Policies: 1. Sidewalks, trails, and other walking facilities should be extended throughout the City to allow for more convenient and safer pedestrian movement. 2. City street standards shall provide for sidewalks on both sides of the street. 3. The City shall encourage subdividers to include pedestrian trails in new plats. 4. The City shall continue to enforce the "half street ordinance" as a means of continuing to develop pedestrian access through the City. 5. Development of sidewalks for pedestrian access between areas of the City where it is now inadequate should be considered as an important criteria in selecting streets for development in the City's 6 ,year street plan. -75- 6. The City shall encourage the formation of LIDs to develop sidewalks in existing residential areas. 7. The City should continue its use of federal funds for neighborhood rehabilitation to develop sidewalks in low income areas. Objective I. To provide an efficient municipal airport, serving light general aviation aircraft, as an integral part of the City's circulatory system. Policies: 1. The City shall continue to develop the Auburn Municipal Airport in accord with the Airport Master Plan. 2. The airport shall be managed as -a general aviation facility and use for jet aircraft shall be discouraged, due to potential noise and land use conflicts. ' 3. Use of the airport by non-conventional aircraft such as ultra lights shall be discouraged. 4. The City zoning ordinance and other appropriate regulatory measures shall enforce the airport clear zones in accordance with the Airport Master Plan and FAA guidelines. ' The impact of development on air safety shall be assessed through the f>ity SEPA review processs and any indicated mitigating measures shall be required by the City. Objective J. To ensure adequate coordination of parking needs with traffic and development needs. Policies: 1. In commercial areas special care is needed to ensure adequate parking in order to reduce potential congestion. ^ 2. On-street parking should be allowed only when consistent with the function of the existing street, and with traffic ' volumes. 3. Adequate off-street parking should be provided by new development to meet its needs. Except in the downtown area ' and in transit related lots, parking should be provided by the use it serves. 4. It is a matter of public policy in the City to promote adequate parking in the downtown area as a critical measure i~ ~ ,6 ~ in implementing the downtown policies and the rehabilitation policies of this Plan. All business in the downtown area will be hindered if adequate parking is not available and all business will benefit from the development of parking. However, parking needs coupled with rehabilitation needs in the downtown area require special policies: al Some flexibility in the general parking requirements of the City may be necessary in order to accommodate reuse of existing buildings and to accommodate new development. Such flexibility however should be directed at seeking to pool parking resources through such mechanisms as payment in lieu of parking when such parking cannot be provided by the business. b) Since rigid parking requirements will interfere with redevelopment of downtown, and the pattern of existing development restricts the amount of parking available, public development of parking in the downtown area is appropriate. c) The downtown parking plan will be used to manage provision and development of parking in the downtown area. The Plan is hereby adopted as an element of the Comprehensive Plan. UTILITIES: GOAL: To protect the public health and safety by providing efficient and cost-effective water and sanitary sewer services to the community. Objective A: To ensure safe and adequate water service, for both domestic and fire protection purposes, to meet the needs of the existing community and provide for its planned growth. POLICIES: 1. The Water System Plan for the City of Auburn shall, by 1988, be updated to reflect the planned land uses and densities of this Comprehensive Plan. In the interim, -77- i r~ ii ii ~ the 1983 Water. Plan shall continue to be in effect, and ' proposed water system improvements shall be evaluated in terms of any changes in planned use and density between the 1969 Comprehensive Plan and the current Comprehensive ' Plan, on a case by case basis. 2. The 1988 update of the Water System Plan shall evaluate existing and potential future groundwater sources regarding any threats to the quantity and quality of such sources. The Plan shall establish strategies for the protection of groundwater sources used or likely to ' be used for public water supplies. 3. Protection of the City's Coal Creek Springs and West ' Hill watersheds shall be a high priority in the designation of appropriate land uses in the vicinity of these facilities. 4. The City shall continue its policy of requiring that water system extensions needed to serve new development shall be built prior to or simulteneous with such development, according to the size and configuration identified by the Water Plan and Comprehensive Plan as necessary to serve future planned development. The City ' shall continue to use LIDS and latecommers agreements to assist in the financing of such oversized improvements. Wherever any form of City finance is involved in a water line extension, lines that promote a compact development ' pattern will be favored over lines traversing large undeveloped areas where future development plans are uncertain. 5. Whenever a street is to be substantially reconstructed or a new street built, water facilities in that street right of way shall be constructed or brought up to the size and configuration indicated by the Water Plan and Comprehensive Plan. ' 6. The City shall continue to recognize the overall system impacts of new development upon the City water system, through the collection and appropriate use of ^ system development charges or similar assessments. ii 17 ii i~ ,a Objective B: To ensure the efficient transportation of sanitary sewage to the appropriate treatment and disposal facilities, in order to meet the needs of the existing community and provide for its planned growth, 1. The Sewerage Plan for the City of Auburn shall, by 1987, be updated to reflect the planned land uses and densities of this Comprehensive Plan. Tn the interim, the 1982 Sewerage Plan shall continue to be in effect, and proposed sewer system improvements shall be evaluated in terms of any changes in planned use and density between the 1969 Comprehensive Plan and the current Comprehensive Plan, on a case by case basis, 2, The City shall continue its policy of requiring that sewer system extensions needed to serve new development shall be built prior to or simulteneous with such development, according to the size and configuration identified by the Sewerage Plan and Comprehensive Plan as necessary to serve future planned development, The City shall continue to use LIDS and latecommers agreements to assist in the financing of such oversized improvements, Wherever any form of City finance is involved in a sewer line extension, lines that promote a compact development pattern will be favored over lines traversing large undeveloped areas where future development plans are uncertain. 3, Whenever a street is to be substantially reconstructed or a new street built, sewer facilities in that street right of way shall be constructed or brought up to the size and configuration indicated by the Sewerage Plan and Comprehensive Plan. 4. The City shall continue to recognize the overall system impacts of new development upon the City sewer system, through the collection and appropriate use of system development charges or similar assessments, 5, The City shall continue to require the separation of sanitary and storm sewer facilities wherever combined sewers may be discovered, and shall continue to aggressively seek to minimize any stormwater infiltration -79- of the sanitary sewer system. PUBLIC BUILDINGS GOAL: To maximize public access to public services by the appropriate siting of public buildings. Objective: To site public buildings in accord with their service function. Policies: 1. Downtown shall continue to be the business center of City government and the City shall. seek to site all of its business functions in the downtown area. 2. City human services should be located in high amenity sites. Les Gove Park is a particularly appropriate site for services such as senior services, community center, library, museums, etc. 3. City maintenance activities should be located in heavy industrial areas. 4. City park buildings should be developed in accord with the Parks and Recreation Element. 5. City fire stations should be developed in accord with the City fire services study. While the siting of new fire stations should avoid designated single f amily areas, fire saftey and access shall have a very high priority under this plan. 6. Accessability for all segments of the community, including handicapped persons, shall be given high priority in the siting, design., construction and improvement of public buildings. 7. The City shall encourage other agencies to follow these siting principles in considering new sites for public buildings. ' PUBLIC AND QUASI-PUBLIC USES GOAL: To provide for the appropriate location and development of public and quasi-public facilities that serve the cultural, educational, ' recreational, religious and public service needs of the community. Objective A: To provide for the appropriate location and development of -80- public and quasi-public facilities that are regularly visited by those served. Policies: 1. The location of religious institutions, private schools, community centers, parks and similar public or quasi-public facilities shall be related to the size of the facility and the area served. Small facilities intended to serve one or two residential neighborhoods ma.y be located within a neighborhood. Larger facilities with larger service areas shall be located along arterials, and may require buffering where adjacent to residential uses. Unusually large facilities having service areas that extend substantially beyond the City limits should be restricted to principal arterials, and may require extensive buffering from adjacent uses. 2. The Les Gove Park area is an appropriate location for "people-oriented" public and quasi-public uses serving the entire Auburn community. Such uses would include recreational and cultural resource facilities. Objective B: To provide for the appropriate location and development of public and quasi-public utility, transportation, maintenance and operation facilities. Policies: 1. The necessary location of utility facilities is often dependent upon the physical requirements of the utility system. Sewerage lift stations, water reservoirs, electric power substations and other similar facilities should be sited, designed, and buffered (through extensive screening andlor landscaping) to fit in with their surroundings harmoniously. When sited within or adjacent to residential areas, special attention should be given to minimizing noise, light and glare impacts. 2. Public facilities of an industrial or heavy commercial character should be confined to the Region Serving Area of Auburn. Examples of such facilities are the City maintenance and operations facility, and the Auburn School District bus barn. -81- CHAPTER III COMPREHENSIVE PLAN MAP The previous chapter presented the goals, objectives and policies intended to guide Auburn's future physical development. The Comprehensive Plan Map pre- sented in the current chapter applies those policies to the various areas of the City, by indicating the appropriate locations for various categories of land use. The Plan Map should be consulted together with the written policies of this Plan when decisions about land use and public facility development are considered. This chapter also explains the reasoning and intention behind the Plan Map's land use designations. This should be useful in developing and app lying imple- menting tools (such as zoning provisions); for interpreting the Plan Map as it applies to specific regulatory decisions or development proposals; and in adjusting or amending the Plan Map where changing conditions or land use markets warrant. Finally, this chapter sets forth some special policies intended to deal with ' the unique problems or opportunities that exist in certain specific locations within Auburn. These specific policies supplement the general goals, objec- tives and policies of Chapter iI. LAND USE DESIGNATIONS RESIDENTIAL CATEGORIES RURAL: PURPOSE: To protect areas with significant environmental constraints or values fro, urban levels of development. In so doing, areas with significant rural amenities will be reserved for rural uses, thus providing a diversity of living styles within the community. DESCRIPTION: This category should consist primarily of either very low density residential uses (with densities not exceeding one unit for four acres) or agricultural uses, depending on the character of the area involved. COMPATIBLE USES: Very low density residential uses are appropriate as well as uses of an agricultural character. Low intensity cottage industry appropriate for rural areas may be allowed, subject to review. Various public and quasi-public uses which are consistent with a rural character may be permitted as conditional uses. Resource extractive uses can only be allowed if the basic environmental character of the area is preserved. Uses which are -82- i of an urban character or would encourage urban development should not be permitted. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: This designation should be applied to areas with either significant environmental values worthy of protection, such as agricultural soils, or those areas which may pose environmental hazards if developed, such as areas tributary to public water sources. It may also be appropriate, to a limited extent, as a means of delimiting the edge of the City or to areas that are impractical. to develop to urban levels due to pre- existing development patterns. CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING THIS DESIGNATION: Due to the costs of providing City services to rural areas, this designation should be applied sparingly. It should be applied as a means of conserving significant environmental resources or areas where urban development is impractical due to pre-existing use patterns. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: Anew low density zoning district would be needed to carry out this designation. Extension of urban public facilities should be avoided. Agricultural designations would be implemented by supporting the King County agricultural program, and where appropriate, by a revised agricultural zone. Intensive agricultural uses would be directed to the agricultural zones or areas. Agricultural uses in the rural residential zone would be low intesity activities which are compatible with rural residential uses. SINGLE FAMILY: PURPOSE: To ensure a family character for the community by designating and protecting areas for predominantly single family dwellings. DESCRIPTION: This category includes those areas reserved primarily for single family dwellings. Implementing regulations would provide for two types of single family areas within the single family map category: Urban: A large proportion of the developed area of the city has an established density 1 1 i -83- i ~ ---.. 4~Z" ~, ~y. I I' 1 \~ ..~ i~ COMPREHENSIVE. PLAN MAP 1 y ) I S~ G ~~ .~.~_ xxe: r.xood: _ z i ~, ,~' ' ~ _ Legend H ICY {{ 1 t ;. ~ z ,\ '. i ~ ® Planned Business Pocks/ © Special Planning Area IAKEVIEW 1 t ~ ~ ;:: \\ _ Area { ~~ .~~ c~ c - o ~ ~..r p b ~ ACADEMY AREA w r` k \~ ~ ~ ~•t ~G"~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .. .. ---- ii k ~. ~ ~M ~ ~tF P ~ `~ .. ~. N Ct ~ .~ F ~ n \ ~t ~~~^~r~ ~~` ~ LAKE LARD MILlB (~ *'~w„ ~ ~ p ~ 15`f ~~ ~uee, GuY i. ~, ~-ta PiERC2 COUNTY 't• Rural : RESIDENTIAL O Single Family D Moderate Density ~ ~e.,. ~ H1gh Density ~, COMMERCIAL ® General Commercial Neighborhood Commercial ® Heavy Commercial .m .:'~ ~ Offbe /Residential INDUSTRIAL Light Industrial Heavy Industrial Public aQuasi-Public ~ , . Open Space ' developed many years ago. The development pattern and lot configuration in these areas ' is different than what would now be developed under modern subdivision techniques. Consequently, single family zoning in these ' areas would need to reflect the existing pattern of development. Suburban: Newer single family areas of the ' City are developed by subdivisions with curvelinear streets and irregular lot configurations. Zoning in these areas should ' reflect these patterns. Also, some mixture of single family dwelling types is now incorporated into modern subdivision design. ' COMPATIBLE USES: Uses that serve or support family values and amenities, such as schools, churches and parks shall be considered appropriate and may be permitted on a conditional basis. Other public buildings and semi-public uses may be permitted if designed and laid out in a manner which enhances rather than detracts from the family character of the area. In siting such ' uses, however, special care shall be given to ensuring adequate .parking, landscaping, and traffic circulation with a minimum of conflict with residential uses. Uses which generate significant traffic (such as large churches) should only locate on ' developed arterials. Since some urban single family areas already have had some intrusion of other uses, and there may be some deteriorating buildings in need of rehabilitation, the types of conditional uses appropriate for these areas may be somewhat different than in the newer or developing areas. Intrusion of industrial uses into any of these single family areas shall be prohibited. Only very limited commercial uses as home occupations or strictly limited appropriate conditional uses can be allowed. In suburban areas some flexibility by means of a conditional use permit may be desired to accomodate varying structure types (such as common wall dwellings). In providing such flexibility the emphasis should be on family types of dwellings and a mixture of types, and design diversity should be sought. Except where ~l1Ps -84- have been previously granted, alternate structure types shall not exceed more than 40~ of the units. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: Areas suitable for this designation include those areas designated in goals and policies of this plan as single family areas. Consistent with those policies, areas within the Community Serving Area of the City suitable for this category should be reserved for these uses. This designation should also be applied to areas adjacent to those areas designated for rural uses. CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING THIS DESIGNATION: This designation would not be generally appropriate (although exceptions may exist) in the following areas: 1. Areas with high volumes of through traffic 2. Areas developed in or more appropriate under the plan policies for another use. 3. Areas within the Region Serving Area of the City. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: Three zones are needed to implement this category: a zone intended to fit the lot configuration in the older, developed area; a zone to guide development of new single family areas; and a zone to provide a lower density zone for higher quality single family areas. Thefirst of these zones should provide minimum lot sizes between 6000 and 8000 square feet. The minimum for the latter zone should be 35000 square feet. Single family dwellings would be the only uses permitted outright, with other uses permitted only on a conditional use permit basis. The urban single family zones could allow some flexibility in dwelling types by allowing duplexes as a conditional use in order to encourage rehabilitation of deteriorating areas or needed infill. The other zones would not allow multiple family dwellings, although some flexiblity to allow alternate dwelling types by a con- ditional use permit on a planned basis at the time of subdividing pro- perty may be appropriate. The low density zone may also permit some rural activities. MODERATE DENSITY: PURPOSE: To provide a transition between single family residential areas -85- and other more intensive designations, as well as other activities which reduce the suitability of potential residential areas for single family uses (such as high traffic volumes). In so doing this designation will offer opportunities for housing types which balance residential amenities with the need to provide economical housing choice, in a manner consistent with conserving the family character of adjacent single family areas. DESCRIPTION: Moderate density residential areas are planned to accommodate moderate densities of varying residential dwelling types. Appropriate densities in these areas shall range from 6 to 10 units per acre. Dwelling types would range from single family units to four-plex units. Structures designed to be occupied by owner-managers shall be encouraged within this designation. COMPATIBLE USES: Public and quasi-public uses that have land use impacts ' similar to moderate to high density residential uses are appropriate within this category. Also, uses which require access to traffic (such as schools and churches) are appropriate for these areas. Carefully developed low intensity office, or ' residentially related commercial uses (such as da.y care centers) can be compatible if developed properly. This designation can include mobile home parks. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: Areas particularly appropriate for such designation are: 1. Areas between single family residential uses and all other uses. 2. Areas adjacent to, or close to major arterials designated in the circulation element. 3. Existing mobile home parks. 4. Areas sandwiched between higher intensity uses, but not directly served by an arterial. 5. Urban infill areas not appropriate for single .family uses but also not capable of supporting higher density uses. CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING THIS DESIGNATION: Areas to generally be avoided -86- by moderate density residential designations include: 1. Areas surrounded by lower density uses. 2. Areas more appropriate for commercial or higher density uses due to traffic or extensively developed public facilities. 3. Areas within the Region Serving Area designated by this Plan (except as otherwise provided by the Plan). 4.-Any areas not planned to be served by water and sewer systems. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: An implementing zone would allow single family dwellings and duplexes as permitted uses. Multiple family structures of up to four units would be permitted as conditional uses. Other compatible uses, including low intensity office uses, could be allowed only on a conditional basis. HIGH DENSITY: PURPOSE: To provide an opportunity for the location of the most economical forms of housing in areas appropriately situated for such uses under the policies of this Plan. DESCRIPTION: This category shall be applied to those areas which. are either now developed or are reserved for multiple family dwellings. Densities may range from 10 to 20 units per acre. Dwelling types may range from single family units to apartment complexes, and would include mobile home parks. Adequate recreation areas shall be provided by the developer for any development involving more than 10 units. Higher density developments and special development standards may be authorized for senior housing projects. COMPATIBLE USES: Compatible uses are similar to those identified under the other residential categories, except higher intensities of use may be appropriate. Public uses and open spaces which tend to visually relieve the high density character of these areas should be encouraged. This category can include mobile home parks. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: In addition to areas already developed to this density, this designation should be applied only to areas which have or may be most efficiently served with high capacity and quality of public services and facilities. ~f particular concern is the provision of adequate traffic circulation, and this category shall only be applied to areas with developed arterial. -87- access. Other siting concerns may include access to commercial services and open space amenities. This category may also be applied to areas which are threatened with deterioration and multiple family dwellings offer the potential for rehabilitation. Finally, areas uniquely suited for public housing or for mobile home parks may also be designated by this category of use. CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING THIS DESIGNATION: Areas not appropriate for this zone include areas surrounded, without physical separation, ~by lower intensity uses. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: This category should be implemented by a zone similar to the existing R-4 zone, (and through mobile home park zoning). In no case should these uses be authorized for construction until all appropriate public facilities are available to full stan- dard. The present R-M zone should be abolished and treated as a con- ditional use for housing designed and restricted to senior citizens. PUBLIC CATEGORIES: OPEN SPACE: PURPOSE: To ensure adequate open space amenities for present and future residents by reserving and protecting important open space resources. DESCRIPTION: This category shall be applied to areas which are to be managed in a largely open space character. It includes parks, water-sheds, shoreline areas, significant wildlife habitats, large storm drainage ponds, restricted utility corridors and areas with significant development restrictions, such as steep slope and flood hazard areas. COMPATIBLE USES: Appropriate uses include low intensity recreational uses, low density residential uses and associate open areas, wildlife habitat, stormwater detention, watershed and similar low intensity uses. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: This designation should be applied to any site in which exists a significant developmental hazard or open space value suitable for public protection without unduly encroaching on private ' property rights. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: Where appropriate the public use zone should be ' applied to these areas. Where the open space is linear it may be appropriately managed by means other than zoning, such as ownership, easements, or environmental review of development proposals. The Shoreline Management Program shall regulate ' the open spaces designated adjacent to the rivers. Subdivisions of property involving steep slope or shoreline areas shall consider these development limitations and avoid creating -88- '. inappropriate, or unbuildable lots. ' PUBLIC, RECREATIONAL AND INSTITl1TI0NAL: PURPOSE: To designate areas of significant size needed to provide public ' and quasi-public services to the community. DESCRIPTION: This category includes those areas which are reserved for public or quasi-public uses of a developed character. It is ' intended to include those of a significant extent, and not those smaller public uses which are consistent with and may be included in another designation. Public uses of an industrial character, such as GSA, are included in the industrial designation. Streets, utilities and other public activities supporting other uses are not considered separate uses and are not so mapped. , This designation includes large churches, private schools and similar uses of a quasi public character. Developed parks are also designated under this category. , CQMPATIBLE USES: Uses more appropriately designated under another category should not be designated under this category, irrespective of ownership. Industrial and commercial uses which are affiliated ' with and managed by educational institutions for vocational educational purposes may be classified as a public use and permitted on a conditional basis. :CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: Designation of these areas should be consistent with the character of adjacent uses. ' APPROPRLATE IMPLEMENTATION: This designation will generally be implemented by an institution zone. It can also be implemented as a conditional use under various zones. Approval of these types of ' uses (and open space used , not individually designated on the plan map, under a conditional use permit or rezone consistent with or related to adjacent zoning, shall not be considered inconsistent with the designations under this plan. ' r,OMMERCIAL CATEGORIES ' GENERAL COMMERCIAL:. PURPOSE: To create people oriented commercial areas to supply a wide range -89- of general commercial services to area residents. DESCRIPTION: This category represents the prime corr~nercial designation for small to moderate scale commercial activities. "Chase commercial areas should be developed in a manner which is cansistent with and attracts pedestrian oriented activities. The ambiance of such areas should encourage leisure shopping and should pro~eide amenities conducive to attracting shoppers. COMPATIBLE 19SES: A wide range or'~ consumer oriented goods and sec°vices are compatible within this designation since the emphasis would be on performance criteria which create an attractive shopping environment. However, uses which rely on direct access by vehicles or involve heavy truck traffic (other than for° merchandise delivery] are not appropr°iate in this category. Unsightly outdoor storage and similar activities should be prohibited. Permitted uses would consist of retai'~ trade, offices, personal services, indoor eating establishments, financial institutions, governmental offices, and similar uses. Multiple family dwellings should be encouraged on a conditional basis where they do not interfere with the shopping character of the area, such as within the upper stories of buildings. Since taverns can break up the continuity of people oriented areas, taverns would be permitted generally only as a conditional use and not at all within the retail core of the central business district. Drive in windows should only be allowed as ancillary to a permitted use, and only when carefully sited under the conditional use permit process in order to ensure that an area's pedestrian environment is not seriously aff acted. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: This designation should include downtown areas, moderate sized shopping centers, and centrally located shopping areas. This designation should be preferred for commercial sites where visual and pedestrian amenities are an important concern. CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING r1-(IS DESIGNATION: Commercial areas which can not be readily separated from high traffic volumes (such as shallow lots along busy arterials) should not be included in this designation. Areas not large enough for separation from any adjacent heavier commercial or industrial area should not he designated as general commercial. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: This designation would be implemented by zoning -90- provisions similar to the current C-1 and r,-2 zones. Two zones (or one with two divisions) are needed in order to reflect the different development standards which would be needed for general commercial uses in and outside the CBD. HEAVY COMMERCIAL: PURPOSE: To provide automobile oriented commercial areas to meet both the local and regional need for such services. DESCRIPTION: This category is intended to accommodate uses which are oriented to automobiles either as the mode or target of providing the commercial service. The category would also accommodate a wide range of heavier commercial uses involving extensive storage or heavy vehicular movement. COMPATIBLE USES: A wide variety of commercial services oriented to automobiles are appropriate within this category. This includes automobile sales and service, drive in restaurant or other drive in commercial business, convenience stores, etc. Since these uses are also compatible with heavier commercial uses, lumber yards, small scale warehousing, contractor yards and similar heavy commercial uses are appropriate in this designation. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION:. This designation should only he applied to areas which are highly accessible to automobiles along ma,ior arterials. Generally this category would characterize commercial strips. This zone is appropriate for the intersections of heavily travelled arterials, even if ad,iacent sites are best suited for another commercial designation. CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING THIS DESIGNATION: Areas which conflict with single family residential areas or areas more suited for other uses. Whenever possible this category should be .separated from single family areas by extensive buffering or another, less intensive use. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: This category would be implemented by a zone similar to the current C-3 zone. NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL: -91- PURPOSE: To provide accessible commercial services frequently needed in residential areas without creating land use conflicts between those commercial uses and the residential areas they serve. DESCRIPTION: Residential areas require commercial services almost on a daily basis. Such services, while necessary, can also conflict with the quality of residential areas. Consequently commercial areas need to be reserved that are either carefully restricted (if located within residential areas) or are accessible to, but buffered from, residential areas. COMPATIBLE USES: The restricted areas (those within neighborhoods) must be carefully controlled both in the kind of uses permitted and in terms of design and other performance criteria. A much less restricted type of neighborhood commercial use can be designated near intersections of a major arterial and a residential arterial. A much wider range of commercial activities are appropriate in such an area; including gro- cery stores, convenience stores, service stations, hardware stores, small restaurants and drinking establishments. However, activities (such as outdoor storage) which can alter the character of these areas into heavier commercial areas should only be permitted on a conditional basis in order to control potential adverse impacts. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: In all cases neighborhood commercial areas should be at the intersections of major streets. In the case of restricted types, such streets may be residential arterials, while in the case of the less restricted type at least one of the streets should be a major arterial. Adequate buffering should be planned in the process of designating any new areas as neighborhood commercial. CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING THIS DESIGNATION:. This designation should be avoided whenever it is not possible to adequately buffer the commercial uses from adjacent residential uses. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: This category would be implemented by two zones. The first less restricted zone would be a new C-2 zone. The more restricted form of community commercial would be similar to the current C-N zone. OFFICE-RESIDENTIAL: -92- :.PURPOSE: To reserve areas to accommodate professional offices for expanding medical and business serves, while providing a transition between residential uses and more intensive uses and activities. DESCRIPTION: This category is a restricted commercial designation reserved only for certain types of activities. As a growing medical center, areas need to be reserved to accommodate growth in this sector, which is largely expressed in the form of professional offices. This category also assures space to accommodate the rapid growth that is occurring in business services and other service oriented activities. Such uses also provide a means for an appropriate transition for areas originally developed as a residential area but now not appropriate for that type of use. COMPATIBLE USES: To be fully effective as a transition or a buffer, residential uses should be permitted on a conditional basis. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: As a transition this .designation can serve as an appropriate buffer between heavily travelled arterials and established single family areas. It would be particularly appropriate in areas where large traffic volumes have affected an established residential area. It can be applied where amenity values mitigate against heavy commercial uses along ma,ior arterials. This designation should also be used to accommodate the expansion of medical services in the area around Auburn General Hospital. CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING THIS DESIGNATION: This zone is intended for particular. applications as described. It generally should not be applied on a large scale basis. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: This category would be implemented by a new zone permitting offices and a limited range of similar commercial uses as a permitted use. Residential and general commercial uses may be permitted on a conditional basis. INDUSTRIAL CATEGORIES LIGHT INDUSTRIAL: PURPOSE: To reserve quality industrial lands for activities that implement the city's economic development policy. DESCRIPTION: This category is intended to accommodate a wide range of industrial or large scale commercial uses. it is distinguished from heavier industrial uses by means of performance criteria. All significant activities shall take place inside buildings, and the processing or storage of hazardous materials shall be strictly controlled and permitted only as an incidental part of another -93- use. The siting and design of industrial buildings shall be of an "industrial park" character. COMPATIBLE USES: A wide range of industrial and heavy commercial uses may be permitted, subject to performance standards. These uses include warehousing and indoor processing of materials. Uses requiring outside storage and processing shall be discouraged. Outside storage shall be permitted only by means of a conditional use permit, provided that such storage is found to be compatable with the adjacent existing and planned uses and that such storage would not detract from the potential use of the area for light industry. In all cases such storage shall be extensively screened. Uses involving substantial storage or processing of hazardous materials as well as substantial emmissions should not be permitted in these areas. A wide range of commercial activities may be allowed on a conditional basis provided that such uses support rather than detract from the industrial character of the area. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: This designation should be applied to a majority of the Region Serving Area designated under this plan. It is particularly appropriate along high visibility corridors. This cate- gory should separate heavy industrial areas from other uses. CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING THIS DESIGNATION: Within the Community Serving Area, this designation should only be applied to sites now developed as light industrial sites. Sites along rail corridors are generally more appropriate for heavier industrial uses, unless in high visibility corridors. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: This designation would be implemented by a new M-1 zone which accents performance standards. HEAVY INDUSTRIAL: PURPOSE: To provide a place for needed heavy industrial uses in areas appropriately sited for such uses. DESCRIPTION: This designation allows the full range of industrial uses. COMPATIBLE USES: While this zone should be reserved. primarily for the heavier forms of industrial activities, a wide range of industrial and commercial activities may be permitted. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: The most appropriate area for this designation is in the central part of the Region Serving Area adjoining the rail lines. This designation is also appropriate in the southern portion of the area which is now developed in large scale -94- industrial facilities (the Boeing and GSA facilities 1, CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING THIS DESIGNATION: This designation can only be applied in the Community Serving Area to sites now developed in this character along A Street SE. These areas should not abut commercial or residential areas; heavy industry should be buffered by light industrial uses. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: This designation would be implemented by means of a zone similar to the current M-2 Zone. PLANNED AREAS: Special Planning Areas: PURPOSE: To allow large areas within the f.ommunity Serving Area, under a single or a coordinated management, to be developed as a planned unit. This designation can also be used to provide flexibility when there is uncertainity regarding how an area may be most appropriately developed in the future. DESCRIPTION: This designation currently applies to five specific areas identified as being appropriate for mixed, urban level development on a planned basis. The designated areas lie within the "Community Serving" part of Auburn, and shall be primarily of a residential or institutional character. It is intended that the future development of these areas will be guided by indivi- dual "elements" of the Comprehensive Plan, to be developed and adopted at a later date. The Plan elements should be consistent with the following. COMPATABLE USES: Uses and intensities within Special Planning Areas shall be determined for each area through individual planning processes. Each individual planning process will result in the adoption of a Comprehensive Plan Element for that particular Special Planning Area. Each Plan Element shall be consistent with the general goals, objectives and policies of the Comprehensive Plan. Development of the individual Plan Elements shall also be based upon the following guidelines: ACADEMY SPECIAL PLANNING AREA: The Academy Special Planning Area will include a diverse mixture of uses, all of which shall. be related to the mission and objectives of the Auburn Adventist Academy. In general, such uses will be related to the education of Academy students (including work-study or similar employment -95- opportunities); to the residential and residential care needs of elderly or handicapped persons; or to religious activities. Single family homes shall also be permitted within the Academy Special Planning Area. LAKELAND HILLS SPECIAL PLANNING AREA: The Lakeland Hills Special Planning Area will be a residential community that includes a variety of residential environments and supporting recreational, commercial, public and quasi-public facilities. Overall development of the Lakeland Hills Plan Element shall be guided by the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Lakeland Hills, October 1981. Development of the portion of Lakeland Hills in Pierce County should be accomplished in a manner consistent with City of Auburn standards. Implementation of this plan shall only occur as f aclities are developed to support the development. Especially important f acilities include the expansion of the "A" Street Bridge and adequate parks. LAKEVIEW SPECIAL PLANNING AREA: The Lakeview Special Planning Area is currently the site of a large sand and gravel mining operation. Following completion of the mining activity, the area should be developed as a single f amily residential neighborhood of relatively low urban density. This 235 acre (approximate) area shall be limited to 4 dwelling units per acre, in recognition of the existing and anticipated post-mining terrain. Special consideration shall be given to the environmental, recreational and amenity value of White Lake, in the development of the Lakeview Plan Element. The Lakeview Plan Element should be adopted prior to any extention of the existing Special Property Use permit for the mining operation. The environmental information and analysis included in the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Lakeview (November 1980), shall be considered in the development of the Lakeview Plan Element. While continuation of the present heavy industrial use of the property in the area now zoned for heavy industry is appropriate in the interim to support the minning activity, these uses shall no longer be appropriate when the minning activity ends. While heavy commercial or industrial uses would not be appropriate as permanent uses of this area, coversion of the area now zoned for heavy industry to office commercial (or similar) uses would be appropriate. -96- ~ STUCK RIVER ROAD SPECIAL PLANNING AREA: A portion of the Stuck River Road Special Planning Area is currently the site of a large sand and gravel mining operation. The Stuck River Road Special Planning Area is intended to ultimately be developed as a residential area, to include supporting recreational and possibly limited commercial facilities as well. This approximately 400 acre area shall ultimately have no more than 2000 dwelling units, no more than 300 of which shall be multiple family or mobile home park units. The Plan Element should be adopted prior to the extension of any Special Property Use permit for mining operations in the area, or issuance of any new permit. Development of this area should not occur until adequate public facilities are available to support the development. DRIVE IN THEATERS: This Special Planning area is located east of Auburn Way North just south of 277th. The existing drive-in-theater is an appropriate use for this site. However, if the owners seek to convert the site to another use, the appropriate ulti- mate use is not now clear. If 277th is extended to serve Lea Hill this area would be appropriate as a commercial site due to its access to two major regional arterials. However, if the bridge is not extended, commercial designation would not be appropriate east of Auburn Way. Amore appropriate use would be multiple family. The drive-ins should initially be zoned residential and allowed as a con- ditional use. If the 277th Street Bridge is built a rezone to commer- cial would be appropriate. u ~ L~~ CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION:. Additional Special Planning Areas should ' be designated only through amendment of the Comprehensive Plan. , APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: Plan Elements establishing City policy regarding the development of the Special Planning Areas shall be adopted by amendment of the Comprehensive Plan, or shall be adopted concurrent with adoption of the Comprehensive Plan. Special Planning Area Elements shall be implemented in the same manner as other elements of the Comprehensive Plan; that is, under the City's zoning and subdivision ordinances, development standards and public facilities programs. Planned Business Park: -97- u ~ PURPOSE: To accommodate modern business parks which may involve a variety of commercial and industrial uses on a planned basis. DESCRIPTION: This category is intended to recognize that large industrial sites may be developed under a overall plan which may involve a mix of uses. Usually these parks will be under a common ownership. COMPATIBLE USES: These parks will usually involve light industrial uses or commercial uses, including the potential for a regional shopping center. Considerable flexibility should be allowed in developing these parks. Heavy industrial uses can be permitted as part of the overall plan provided that the overall character is of a lighter nature. While generally discouraged, residential uses can be allowed only on a very limited basis. CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: While industrial parks now under development are included in this designation, additional parks ma.y be designated by applying the proposed zone without the necessity of a comprehensive plan amendment. Designation of any area in the Region Serving Area is encouraged. CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST APPLYING THIS DESIGNATION: Designation of these areas shall be limited to the Region Serving Area. APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION: A new zone designed to accommodate planned business parks should be developed. However, this designation can also be implemented through a combination of other zones. PLAN MAP POLICIES: In .some cases the general policies established by this plan need further articulation or clarification due to particular geographic concerns associated with specific areas. In other cases, the application of the Plan's general policies may be inappropriate for a specific area due to unique circumstances, requiring that speci- fic "exceptions" to these general policies be established. This sec- tion identifies these specific areas and establishes either supplemental policies or exceptions to the general policy, as appropriate. -98- INFRASTRUCTURE RELATED POLICIES ' 1. Pike Street ~ Area: North of 8th NE; east of Harvey Road, and south of 22nd NE. Problem: This area is inadequately served by residential arterials. Further intensification of use in this area would compound this problem. Policy: No increase in density or other development which would increase ' traffic demand in this area should he approved. 2. 8th Street NE ' Area: 8th Street NE between Auburn Way and M Street. Problem: The Comprehensive Plan Map designates multiple family use as the ulti- , mate use in accord with the Comprehensive Plan policies. While 8th Street is designated as a maior arterial, it is not currently constructed to that standard and is not able to support current traf- ~: fic demand adequately. The Plan designation would greatly increase traffic volumes. Water service is also not sufficient to support multiple family density at the present time. ~. Policy: Implementation of the plan designations should not occur until 8th Street is constructed to the adequate arterial standard and water ser- vice is upgraded. Up zones should not be granted from current zoning until these systems are upgraded or guaranteed. 3. 37th Street S.E. Area: Area served by 37th Street SE between M Street and A St SE. Problem: Due to the existing development pattern, much of this area is designated as multiple family. 37th Street is only gradually developing as a maior arterial. ' Policy: New development should be coordinated with the development of 37th Street in order to avoid exceeding the capacity of the street. -99- 4. Auburn Way South Area: Enumclaw Plateau Problem: While this Plan substantially reduces the intensity of planned uses in this area (in part due to the weakness of the City's infrastructure to support growth of that magnitude), the development intensity now planned will still need to be coordinated with the necessary infrastructure to support that growth. Particularly significant is tFse ability of Auburn Way to support continued increases in traffic volumes. Policy: Major development proposals shall be carefully assessed under SEPA to ensure that the development can be supported by the available facilities. TRANSITION AREAS 1. 15th Street Commercial Area Area: Area served by 15th Street NE and NW between D Street NE and B Street NW. Problem: The Plan Map designates the area immediately served by 15th Street as commercial. Most of the rest of the area retains the industrial designation of the previous Plan. Actual development of this area-will depend on market trends, and commercial use is as appropriate as light industrial. Expansion of the .area designated as heavy industrial would conflict with the westward expansion of the commercial area from .Auburn Way. If Auburn Downs develops, development of related commercial activities in this area would be prefered. Policy: Additional appropriate commercial zoning in this area would not be in conflict with this Plan. If Auburn Downs ~s developed, use designations in this area should be reevaluated. Further heavy industrial zoning beyond the area now designated would conflict with this Plan. 2. Area North of West Main Area: North of West Main between the rail lines. Problem: This area has been undergoing a transition from residential to heavy industrial for a long period of time. Some scattered residential uses remain. This plan extends that transition forward as continuing City policy. However this policy is not intended to penalize existing residents who seek to expand or -100- improve their homes. Policy: Administration of the zoning ordinance in this area should not prevent residential rehabilitation, provided that property owners are aware that adjacent property is planned to be industrial. Industrial development in this area will not be required to buffer such residences. 3. East Main Street Area: East main Street between Auburn Way and M Street Problem: A full range of commercial uses will seek to locate in this area. Such uses could adversely affect adjacent residential amenities. Heavy commercial strip zoning would be particularly detrimental, not only to adjacent areas but also to the capacity of Main Street. Existing commercial uses have nonetheless been accommodated. Policy: Land use decisions shall seek to minimize any adverse impact on adjacent residential uses. Existing commercial uses should be allowed to continue as permitted uses. 4. M Street Residential Area: Area along '°M'° Street S.E., south of East Main and north of Highway 18 Problem: This is a high quality viable residential. area. Pressure will con- tinue for conversion to commercial uses. Once some conversion occurs, the area will no conger be viable as a residential area. Policy: The City will resist conversion in this area from single family. PROBLEMS RELATED TO EXIS~I~G USES 1. West Auburn Area: South of West Main between the rail lines. Problem: This is an older part of town developed in a pattern of commercial uses along main street and residential uses south to Highway 18. This area is in the Region Serving Area as designated in this Plan. ~lhile the lot configuration, and existing development pattern is not suitable for industrial or -101- cornmercial development, the area is suitable for multiple family use. Multiple family development would provide a much smoother transition from the old single family development in the area than manufacturing uses. Policy: The southern portion of West Auburn r;hould be planned for local serving multiple family uses even though it is ig~ the Region Serving Area. 2, Western and Clay Area: Existing residential area north of West Main Street served by Western and Clay Streets. Problem: There is an established residential area in the middle of the designated industrial.. This Plan recognizes the desire of the area's residents to maintain residential use. However, economic pressure coupled with ad,iacent development patterns will ultimately convert this area to other uses, Policy: As long as this area remains viable as a residential area City policy will try to support that use in assessing the industrial development of ad,iacent areas. 3. Airport Area Area: ?ndustrally designated area east of the airport. Prvb1em: This area is highly suited for air related activities. Other industrial type uses are now located here. Policy: The City will encourage use in this area to take advantage of its proximity to the airport, 4. 15th Street !VW Industrial Area. Area: P~orfih of 15th Street NW and along West Valley Highway Problem: Under the Comprehensive Plan policies this area is highly appropriate for designation as light industf^ial uses. Tn fact it is probably some of the most highly suitable land for this use. However under the pr°evious Plan it was designated as heavy industrial and some uses of this character have been established -?02- here. Policy: Implementation of the light industrial designation should be directed at gradually reinforcing the light industrial character of the area without unduely affecting the established uses. OTHER 1. 29th Street SE Area: The-area at the east end of 29th Street SE. Problem: This area is now used as a nonconforming industrial site, not authorized under this Plan. This Plan designates the area as single family. It may, with proper buffering meet the criteria for moderate density or as residential mobile home park designation. The ultimate use should be studied. Policy: If an environmental impact statement demonstrates that this area is appropriate for moderate density residential or mobile homes, such use would not be inconsistent with this Plan. -103- CHAPTER IV IMPLEMENTATION A Comprehensive Plan is a set of policies intended to guide and coordinate other decisions. These policies are dependent on other actions for their effectuation. Some of these actions may consist of a complicated series of related steps which themselves may need to be carefully planned. Plans that are further implementations of a comprehensive plan are usually referred to as "Elements" of the comprehensive plan. Other types of actions include regulatory measures which control the physical development of the City. This chapter will describe the various actions, plans and measures necessary to implement this Plan. Some implementing actions expand and develop the policy of the Comprehensive Plan. These actions, usually in the form of policy plans themselves, should be formally added to the comprehensive plan as elements. To be formally adopted as an Element the plan must be passed through a formal process of study and hearings before both the Planning Commission and the City Council. Other actions, regulatory measures, need to be adopted as legal instruments in the form of ordinances. Still other implementing actions are administrative in character. While these should be based on the Comprehensive Plan, they usually need to be more flexible and therefore should not be formally adopted into the plan and thereby be difficult to amend. This discussion will identify the appropriate means of adoption for the various implementing actions. This Plan is a policy plan, intended to provide a policy framework for future decision making. It is not intended to be a rigid blueprint that will not be changed. The Plan is designed to be subject to change and will be periodically reviewed for that purpose. This is not say, however that the Plan should be lightly changed to fit any particular need or interest, but that change should be anticipated and provided for. In order to avoid frivolous change, or change for change's sake, policy changes within this Plan should follow a procedure designed to assess the need and appropriateness for the change. This process should allow related policy issues to the proposed change to be identified and ad.iusted in the same process. This chapter will describe this process. PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS 1"he most effective implementing actions for a Comprehensive Plan are often the development of key public facilities. Anew street or water line can provide a powerful stimulus for new development. However, development of these facilities uncoordinated with use regulations or with the development of other facilities, can result in facilities either too small or too large to serve the development which could -104- ~ otherwise occur in an area. The Comprehensive Plan serves as the coordinating device for this purpose. development of a public facility system, such as a municipal water system, itself requires extensive planning since it involves a series of construction projects, built to appropriate standards, over a Tong period of time. Since fiscal resources for the development of these systems is usually quite limited, accurate, coordinated planning is important to avoid wasting these resources. Particularly complex systems may involve more than one plan. Public facility elements not only outline series of public construction projects. These plans should also establish standards which private development projects must meet as they relate to those facilities. These standards are often implemented by various regulatory measures. These facility plans or planning elements then are intermediate implementing plans between the comprehensive plan and the actual construction of individual projects. The facility plans necessary to implement this plan are: CIRCULATION ELEMENT: The circulation element plans the transportation system of the City. While it addresses all transportation systems serving the City, if focuses particularly on those aspects of the system which are the responsibility of the City itself. While the goals and policies of the Comprehensive Plan provide overall policy guidance, these concerns require further articulation in separate planning documents. There are several components to the Circulation element: Arterial Street Plan: The current "Recommended Road Plan" was adopted in 1982 as part of the Comprehensive Traffic Plan, and has been reviewed under this planning process. Map C incorporates needed changes in the road plan map. The 1982 Comprehensive Traffic Plan policies are consistent with this Comprehensive Plan. The Traffic Plan should be completely reviewed and updated in five year cycles. Collector Street Plan: The 1982 Comprehensive Traffic Plan discussed above did not address the development of the City collector system in any great detail. This deficiency makes it difficult to adequately assess the impact of many site ~ i~ J -105- i~ i~ ' plans on traffic circulation and has greater difficulty in ensuring adequate connection of collectors through independent development projects. The 1982 Comprehensive Traffic Plan should add a collector element. Airport Plan: A Municipal Master Airport Plan was adopted in 1978. The Airport Master Plan is completely consistent with this ' Comprehensive Plan and further modification is not now needed. This element should be periodically reviewed by airport management and updated as needed. ~' ' Official Street Map: State Law (RCW 35A.63.100) provides code cities with the authority to restrict development in projected, needed street right-of-ways if the City adopts an Official Map of such right-of- ' ways. The City does not have such a map, and should develop and adopt one as a part of the Circulation element of the Comprehensive Plan. All of these elements should be formally adopted and revised as part of the City Comprehensive Plan pursuant to State Law. Street development projects are further planned and coordinated by means of a six year street plan, which is annually. updated and adopted by the City Council pursuant to State law. While the six-year plan is a very significant implementing measure, it is a working document, imple- menting the policy set forth in the Circulation element, and should not be considered a formal planning element. WATER FACILITIES ELEMENT: All development in the City requires access to water. Except for the designated rural areas, such water will need to be provided through the C;ty's municipal water system. Consequently, development of the City water system is an essential implementing measure for the Comprehensive Plan. Development of the City water system involves two general planning components: the development of the source of water, and its transmission to the City's customers. The goals and policies of the Comprehensive Plan provide general guidance for the development of this system and its coordination with the other planning elements. More detailed plans for the development of this system are found in The Comprehensive Water Plan, adopted in 1983. This document should be comprehensively reviewed and updated every five years. It should continue to be formally incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan as a Planning Element. -106- ~ SANITARY SEWERAGE ELEMENT: As in the case of water, all development in the City should be served by adequate sanitary sewer service. Such service is provided through the City's system. Consequently, development of the City sanitary sewerage system is also an essential implementinq measure for the Comprehensive Plan. Sanitary sewer service involves two general types of activities: the collection of the waste from each residential, commercial and industrial establishment in the City, and its treatment and disposal. While the collection system is the responsibility of the City, the treatment and disposal of the waste are the responsibility of a regional system. The goals and policies of the Comprehensive Plan provide general guidance to the development of the City collection system and its coordination with the other planning elements. More detailed plans for the development of this system are found in the Comprehensive Sanitary Sewerage Plan, adopted in 1982. This document should be comprehensively reviewed and updated every five years. It should continue to be formally incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan as a Planning Element. PARKS AND RECREATION ELEMENT: Adequate parks and recreation facilities are an essential urban amenity to maintain a suitable quality of life in the community. These are particularly important in implementing the overall goals of this Plan directed at ensuring a quality family environment. Unlike street, water, and sewer systems, however, these facilities are not a necessary prerequisite for development to occur. Consequently, good planning and vigilant implementation is even more important in order to ensure that community growth does not out-pace the development of these facilities and create a deficiency in these services. The goals and policies of the Comprehensive Plan set the overall policy guidance for the development of these facilities. The Parks and Recreation Plan, adopted in 1981, provides more detailed planning of these facilities and programs. The current Park Plan is generally consistent with this Plan, but is due for review and update during 1986. This element should continue to be formally incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan. STORM DRAINAGE ELEMENT: All of the elements identified above have previously been developed as parts of the old Comprehensive Plan and are being updated in this Plan. There is, however, no Storm Drainage Element now. This Plan calls for one to be -107- developed as a high priority, since storm drainage is perhaps the most significant environmental constraint confronting the physical development of City. In fact development of the Storm Drainage Element was directed to be developed at the same time the Comprehensive Plan was budgeted by the Council. The development of this element has been coordinated with the development of this Plan. The Storm Drainage Plan should be formally adopted as an element in the Comprehensive Plan. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS: Perhaps the most difficult aspect of implementing a Comprehensive Plan is funding the full range of public facilities needed. Since only a limited amount of funds are available for constructing such facilities, careful planning is needed in order to ensure maximum benefit from the expenditure of those resources. To maximize benefits the development of facilities should be planned over a period of years during which all the various functional facility needs can be balanced and addressed. A capital facility program should be developed and annually updated for this purpose. Since some flexibility is needed in the administration of such a program it should not be adopted into the Comprehensive Plan as a formal element. However, its development should be carefully coordinated with the plan policies. The Gapital improvement program should include all capital improvement needs of the City in addition to the facilities identified in the specific Planning Elements discussed above. This list of Elements is not intended to be limiting and other elements can be added if needed. POLICY ELEMENTS In addition to plans which organize the development of the City's public facilities, other planning elements are needed which provide policy guidance for City decisions for various functional concerns which require coordination with the Comprehensive Plan. These elements are generally programmatic plans providing greater detail than is possible within the Comprehensive Plan itself. These plans are usually extensions of the more general policies of the Comprehensive Plan. These elements include: HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLAN: The City adopts annually a Housing Assistance Plan which identifies and plans for the housing needs -108- ~ of the City's low income residents. This plan is developed by the Human Resources Committee and is adopted by the City Council. The plan is prepared in order to maintain the City's eligibility for federal Community Development Block Grants. The annual nature of this plan makes it difficult to adopt as a formal element of the Comprehensive Plan, even though it does contain significant policy components. The policies of the Comprehensive Plan call for the development of a Housing Element which would provide the basis for the annual Housing Assistance Plan (HAPI. However, until a housing element can be developed, the HAP should be recognized as the Housing Element. COMMUNITY DEVEL(1PMENT BLOCK GRANT PLAN: In addition to the HAP the Human Resources Committee also prepares annually a block grant plan to guide the use of the City's Community Development block Grant. This plan guides much of the city's neighborhood rehabilitation efforts and consequently is a significant implementation measure for those Comprehensive Plan policies addressing neighborhood rehabilitation. This Plan is primarily administrative in nature and need not be formally adopted as a planning Element. ENERGY MANAGEMENT PLAN: In 1984 the City added an Energy Management Plan as an Element to the City's Comprehensive Plan. Since land use as a very direct impact on the consumption of .energy in the community, this element should continue to be an Element to the City Comprehensive Plan. While no adjustment is needed to the current plan under this Comprehensive Plan, this element should be reevaluated once every five years. DOWNTOWN PLAN (including a Parking Plan): The future of the downtown area is a key concern of this Comprehensive Plan. Consequently the policies of the Plan callfor a detailed plan for the downtown area. This plan, which has already begun under the comprehensive plan process, will be adopted as an element to the Comprehensive Plan itself. The Downtown Plan will incorporate the City's downtown parking plan which was recently updated by the City Council. URBAN DESIGN ELEMENT: The Comprehensive Plan contain several policies regarding the enhancement of the City's visual quality and the visual impact of new development. These policies reflect a very strong community desire expressed in the neighborhood meetings, that the City should give greater attention to the role that visual character plays with regard to the quality of life in the City. However, the policies contained in this plan only point out a general. direction to be followed. A much more detailed analysis of the visual character of the community, upon which to base a much more effective and cohesive set of policies, is needed. This should be accomplished -109- ~ ~ ~~I u D i ~~ ~ h d nt n i n lem nt of the Com rehensive by t o evelopme of a special Urba Des g E e p ' Plan, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ELEMENT:. Current economic conditions and the policies of this Plan require development of a special City policy to facilitate the desired kinds of economic activity in the City. ANNEXATION AND EXPANSION ELEMENT: Due primarily to time limitations and other practical considerations this Plan has not considered in any detail, issues associated with the development of the unincorporated area adiacent to the City, This deficiency ' should be corrected through development of a special Planning Element, One of these practical concerns was the need to coordinate City plans in this area with King County planning. During 1986 the county ' and City will be exploring agreements on the management of this area. This planning element could logically follow from those discussions. This list of Elements is not intended to be limiting and other elements can be added if needed. REGULATORY MEASURES The planning elements and other implementing actions identified above addresses primarily public actions to implement the Comprehensive Plan. However, private actions also must be addressed if the goals of the plan are to be achieved. These private actions are related to the implementation of the Plan through the City's regulatory powers. Since regulatory measures are developed and instituted by procedures required under State law, these measures are not usually considered or adopted as policy elements of the Comprehensive Plan, even though they may have a similar character. Some of these measures are intrinsically related to the Comprehensive Plan. For example the City°s power to zone is based upon the City°s Comprehensive Plan. Other regulatory measures are independent of the Comprehensive Plan. For example, state law prescribes standards and policies for shoreline manage- ment which the City must follow. However, good government requires that all the physical development regulatory programs of the City be coordinated with the Comprehensive Plan in order to ,avoid inconsistency and conflict, Since the Comprehensive Plan has endeavored to provide such coordination, each of these regulatory measures will be treated as though they were direct implementing measures for the plan. ZONING ORDINANCE: Perhaps the most important of all the regulatory measures is the City zoning ordinance, since it has the most direct bearing on the actual development and use of property.. -110- The current zoning ordinance originated around 1962, and is very out of date. Even though the 1969 Comprehensive Plan called for a complete revi- sion of the Zoning Code, these recommendations were never implemented. Since 1962 a series of regulatory "patches" were made to the code in efforts to keep up with the changing circumstances of the City. This has made the code internally inconsistent and difficult to administer, requiring extensive administrative interpretation to be workable. In addi- tion, this Plan establishes many policies which cannot be carried out under the current Zoning ordinance. Consequently, an entirely new zoning code needs to be developed. Development of a new zoning code should have the highest priority under this plan. SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE: Until recently the subdivision ordinance was also badly out of date. In addition, it was in conflict with State law. Tn 1984 a complete revision of this code was adopted. Many of the policies in this Plan are derived from the process of developing that ordinance. Oue to this relationship the ordinance and this Plan are very close in their policy direction and no major revision is needed in order to implement the policies of this plan. Some procedural measures are, however, being studied to improve its effectiveness in achieving those policies. STATE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY (SEPA) ACT: State law establishes the obligation for local government to assess the impact of new development on environmental conditions, and to mitigate any significant adverse impacts as appropriate. The law also provides that local govern- ment must establish policies for such review and mitigation. The drafting of this Plan has considered this need in identifying policies to guide SEPA review and determinations. As such the SEPA program becomes an imple- menting system for the policies of the plan. This assures consistency bet- ween the SEPA program and other regulatory programs of the City. Since SEPA procedures allow considerable flexibility in formulating mitigating measures appropriate for individual projects, SEPA provides an effective vehicle to implement those policies of the Plan which require such flexibi- lity. The City's SEPA ordinance will need to be modified to incorporate these new policies. SHORELINE MANAGEMENT ACT: The Shoreline Management Program is a State mandated regulatory system designed to protect the -111- I U i !I u ~J ~_ 1 ~ shoreline resources of the state. Once developed by local government (under State guidelines) and approved by the State, the program can only be modified with State approval. Most of the provisions and policies of the management program have been incorporated into this Comprehensive Plan. The Shoreline management policies are recognized in this Plan as a Plan Element. Only minor policy changes of a low priority nature are suggested in this plan. While there are no known policy conflicts, the Program is nearly 10 years old and should be reviewed. ' BUILDING CODE: For the meost part the building code addresses regulatory matters of a technical nature and does not involve policy considerations of the type provided in this Plan. There are nonetheless situations, such as grading and fill permits, which may involve policies of the Plan. Whereever this arises the building official should rely on this Plan for the ' appropriate guidance. (These policy concerns would also be addressed under SEPA procedures.) OTHER ORDINANCES: There are a variety of other ordinances which ' may affect the physical development of the City. Whereever appropriate this Plan and its elements should be used for guidance in the development and administration of those ordinances. IMPLEMENTING PRIORITIES: Not all the necessary implementing actions can be accomplished immediately. Also, the various implementing actions vary in their urgency. Consequently, the relative priority for implementing these programs should be identified. The annual work programs of the ' various City Departments can then be developed to carry out -these priorities over time. Action Critical: Zoning Code Revision Storm Drainage Plan SEPA Policies High: Work Effort Very Extensive Very Extensive Minor -112- Collector Street Plan Extensive Economic Development Plan Moderate Capital Improvement Prog. Moderate Park Plan Update Moderate Downtown Plan Extensive Moderate: Official Street Map Moderate Housing Element Moderate Urban Design Element Moderate Expansion Element Moderate Low: Arterial Street Plan Moderate Airport Plan Update Minor Water Plan Update Moderate Sewerage Plan Update Moderate Energy Management Plan Minor Shoreline Management Review Minor On-Going Code Administration Extensive Housing Assistance Plan Minor Block Grant Plan Minor Six Year Street Plan Minor ZONING CODE ADMINISTRATION There is a particularly direct relationship between the implementation of a Comprehensive Plan and a zoning ordinance. While this Plan seeks to establish a comprehensive framework to guide future development, it also recognizes the need to provide for an efficient decision making .process in order to avoid needless and often expensive delays for pro,iects. Consequently, the zoning ordinance and its administration should provide for decision making processes which are related to the significance of the policy issue involved. Minor issues (such as whether a proposed conditional use complies to standards established in the Plan) should be determined in relatively quick administrative processes. Major issues (such as a possible conflict with the .Comprehensive Plan Map) should be thoroughly assessed and subject to full public scrutiny. -113- Rezones: There are three types of rezones that will be made under this plan: A rezone which clearly implements or is it full conformance with the Comprehensive Plan; a rezone which involves a Plan policy question, issue or interpretation; and rezones which are in conflict with the Comprehensive Plan. The zoning code should provide different procedures for each type of rezone, Rezones that implement the Comprehensive Plan should be processed by the hearing examiner system and be subject to Council review. Rezones involving potential policy decisions or interpretations of the plan should be considered by the Planning Commission and City Council, with appropriate hearings at each stage. Rezones that are in conflict with the Comprehensive Plan should be subject to the plan amendrent process (both the Plan amendment and the rezone can be processed simultaneously). ^ Conditional Use Permits: Conditional use permits should be divided into two classes under the zoning code. Routine permits intended to ' merely check compliance with standards should be an administrative process with appropriate appeals provisions. Permits involving more substantive policy questions or interpretations should be processed through the hearing examiner system, with appeal to the City Council. PLAN REVIEW, UPDATE, AND AMENDMENT This Comprehensive plan wi11 be amended in several ways: Adoption of A Plan Element: The formal adoption of a plan element is an amplification of the policy of the Comprehensive Plan. As such it may involve some change to these policies. When a plan element is being processed the policies of the Element should be compared to the policies of the Plan itself and other ' planning elements. Appropriate adjustments shod.ild be made to either resolve conflicts or to clarify, These adjustments can be processed along with the consideration of the Element. Adding ' u-~related policy changes to the consideration of a planning element should be avoided, Special Amendment Due To Regulatory Process: Requests will be made for Plan amendments to accommodate development projects which would be inconsistent with the Plan. Usually these amendments would also involve a rezone. These amendments shall be processed ' in .accord with the law governing plan amendments. Special scrutiny will be made during the SEPA process to assess potential -114- t impacts of the Plan change. In addition to the information needed to assess any rezone, staff analysis of the proposed rezone should include a detailed assessment of the implications of the proposed change to the Plan and its goals. Special care should ' be given to include policy statements in this analysis as well as the policy of the Comprehensive Plan Map. All needed changes should be identified and considered in the same process. While any affected rezone can be processed at the same time as a Plan amendment, the amendment process will usually involve more time than a regular rezone. ' Regular Plan Review: The Planning Commission shall monitor the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan. The Commission may periodically identify Plan changes or studies that assess planning ' issues and make appropriate recommendations for Plan amendments. -These amendments may be made to any Plan element or to the main text of the Comprehensive Plan itself. Such amendments would be processed according to law. Full Update: The entire planning framework should be periodically reviewed and assessed; approximately once every 5 to 8 years. This review should receive a high priority in the City budget process in order to ensure that the Plan remains relevant to future conditions. ' HIERARCHY OF POLICY In general, this Comprehensive Plan is intended to establish the overall , guiding policies for the orderly development of the City. However, it is also intended to be an organic policy that can be changed and adjusted through time with procedures described herein. The regulatory ' framework implementing this plan-also needs to recognize State legal principles. While every effort should be made to identify potential conflicts or inconsistencies when considering new planning elements, the latest formally adopted Plan should rule. This policy provides maximum currency for the planning framework established herein. In ' conformance with State ,judicial rulings, specific ordinance provisions .supersede plan policies. However, .care will be used to incorporate deference to plan policies within the ordinances themselves in order to ' avoid potential conflicts. Where such deference is provided, the Plan policies shall govern. Excepting ordinances or state law, formally adopted plans and policies will supersede other implementing measures. ' In interpreting and applying City Code provisions, the City administrative personnel, including the hearing examiner, should be primarily guided by the policies of this plan. 1 -115- INTERIM MEASURES ' Not all of the plans and ordinance measures prescribed herein can be immediately implemented. The priority of the various implementing measures are identified above. As noted, revision of the zoning ordinance is the most critical of these. This is particularly important since W?~sh~ington State ~Wourt interpretations (unlike other States) prescribe that current zoning ~zapersedes comprehensive plan policies. Unfortunately, the zoning code cannot immediately be revised and ' adopted. Consequently sor~ie interim procedures are necessary to provide a transition until the zoning code can be revised. SEPA: SEPA review will implement policies of this Plan which are intended to protect environmental quality. Where a development poses an adverse environmental impact, these Plan policies (when incorporated into the City SEPA policy) will control. Interpretations Under The Current Code: While much of the zoning code requires modification under this plan, there are also many aspects of the existing cads that must legally rely on the Plan for guidance in decision making. These include conditional use permits, special use permits, variances, administrative interpretations, etc. Contract Toning: Contract zoning for a new development project will allow a use to be be conditioned in accord with these policies when a rezone is necessary. Spot Zoning: Spot zones which implement a land use designation under this p1 an would be appropriate. ' Facility Extension Policies: Significant new extensions of public facilities into areas which are zoned inconsistent with ' the Comprehensive Plan should be discouraged until the new zoning ordinance can be implemented. ' Interim Zoning Code Amendments: It may be appropriate to make some interim zoning anode amendments in order to facilitate the transition. In order to avoid unnecessary confusion during the transition such amendments should he kept to a minimum. However, ' if the zoning ordinance revision process appears to be quite a lengthy, the appropriateness of inireri~ amendments would increase. ' Conflicts With Existing Planning Elements: While every effort was made in this process to identify and address potential inconsistencies between existing Plan Elements and this Plan, the Comprehensive Plan should govern in case of any conflict until the Plan Element can be updated. w115- APPENDIX GLOSSARY POLICY TERMS: The following terms are used deliberately in the text with an intended dif- f erence in policy implications: Shall, should, and may: Shall: Expresses a policy mandate to be followed. The policy should he followed unless the most compelling of circumstances warrant other- wise. Should: Expresses a desired direction to be followed. Can be over-ridden but the burden of proof is on the factors indicating against the stated policy. May: Expresses an option. The desired course of action would depend on the circumstances with no particular burden of proof. Goals, Objectives, and Policies: Goals: Goals are general statements of the desired long term future state towards which the Plan aims. Objectives: Objectives are statements of the desired short-term and more measurable aims of the Plan; the objectives should show how a goal shall be pursued. Policies: Policies are a definate course or method of action to guide and determine present and future decisions, both legislative and administrative. Area terms: Community-Serving: Refers to the area of the City reserved for purposes that are distinctly local in character or which provides services to just. the Auburn community (including residential areas). Region-Serving: Refers to that area of the City reserved for providing services to areas beyond the Auburn Community. Designated single family neighborhoods: Specifically designated areas in which policies are established and designed to protect single family resi- dential amenities. -117- GENERAL TERMS: Community: The area in which there is an identity among the residents as being a part of "Auburn". Generally associated geographically with the Auburn School District and the Auburn postal address. Compatibility: Capable of existing together in harmony. Refers to uses or activities which do not conflict when sited next to each other. Conditional Use: Uses which may be permitted in an area if certain conditions are present, or if certain conditions are met, Conditional Use Permit: An administrative process used to determine whether a conditional use should be allowed. Conflicting uses: Uses or activities which are not ir7 harmony when sited together. Contract rezone: A rezone with conditions which are agreed to by the property owner, Density: The amount of an activity for a given area. Usually refers to the number of dwelling units per acre, Design review: This term refers to a process which requires a review of the design or siting of structures prior to their approval by the City, This process can range from administrative review under prescribed standards to a more formalized hearing process involving approval by an appointed board. Down-zone: A rezone decreasing the intensity of use (as opposed to a up- zone whir_h increases the intensity). Element: This term technically refers to a part which deals with a functional planning circulation plan. More commonly it re published planning documents which are Comprehensive Plan. In this report it comprehensive planning framework which of the city; and is distinguished from of the Comprehensive Plan concern such as a traffic Pers to separately related to the refers to parts of the address functional systems the term comprehensive -118- i Plan which herein refers to this document eventhough both the Comprehensive Plan and the planning elements are part of the same comprehensive planning system. The terms "element" and "plan" will be used interchangeably when referring to functional plans. ..Facilities: Structural improvements which support the physical development of the City; as used here, it generally refers to municipal facilities which provides city services and/or supports the development of the City. 7 1 1 Floodway: The .area that must be reserved in order to safely discharge the "one-hundred year" flood. This area is specifically set forth by maps prepared under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFiP). ~. Focal Point: As used here, this refers to the center of community attention; the area which establishes the identity of the community. Framework: As used here the term identifies the type of plan which this is intended to be. A framework plan is a plan which provides a framework of policy to which additions and deletions can be made to adjust to changing circumstances or additional information and policy development. The term connotes flexibility and is used to distinguish from an older style of planning which sought to establish a more rigid policy system directed at achieving a prescribed end state of development. Intensity of use: Refers to the manner in which land is used, zoned or planned. The more a site or area is .developed and the more busy are activities associated with that development, the more intense the use is considered to be. The most intensive use of land is heavy industrial uses, with the least intensive use being open space. Generally refers to a hypothetical scale which places rural uses as least intense, proceeding through residential densities, commercial uses to industrial uses. Local: Generally the same as "community". Open Space: Areas which are either not developed, or developed to an intensity of use which appears generally not developed. Would include very low density residential uses. Performance Standards: A regulatory approach which accents the manner in which a proposed use affects adacent uses and property, and the manner in which a use is conducted. It is usually distinguished from more traditional zoning which separates use by type, rather than how a particular use is carried out. -119- 1 ~~i Predictability: The ability to anticipate future events. As used here it refers to being able to anticipate future planning decisions. Public Uses:. Generally refers to uses or land owned or operated by governmental agencies. Quasi-Public Uses: Refers to uses that serve public or general community needs of a non-business or non-profit character; but are not conducted by governmental entities. Includes religious uses. Regional: Used here in a variety of contexts to identify an area larger than the Auburn community. Unless the context indicates otherwise, refers to the general South King County and North Pierce County area. SEPA: State Environmental Policy Act (RCW 43.21r,), Spot zoning: Technically this term refers to and rezone that is not in accord with the comprehensive plan. More common use of the term refers to rezoning property in a manner differently than adjacent sites. In this Plan it refers only to this latter use of the term in order to indicate in what circumstances zoning a property differently than adjacent sites would or would not be appropriate (generally appropriate as a transititional device to gradually rezone an area from a old designation to a new designation under this Plan). This use of the term in this manner is intended only to communicate such situations and is not intended to alter the legal meaning of the term. Transition: Refers to a change in use, either over time or through space; or both. Up-zone: A rezone increasing the intensity of allowed use (as opposed to a down-zone which reduces the intensity). Urban Design: The process of planning the urban form of the City. It refers to the entire range of the Cit,y's appearance, from overall planning policies which address the entire urban form, to the regulation of how particular sites appear. It also refers- to asub-discipline of urban planning. Urban Form: The general shape of physical development in the City or the pattern of uses. Also refers to the physical appearance of the City. -120-