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HomeMy WebLinkAboutITEM III-A DRAFT PLANNING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE JANUARY 25, 2010 MINUTES I.CALL TO ORDER Chair Lynn Norman called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m. in the Council Chambers located on the first floor of Auburn City Hall, 25 West Main Street, Auburn, WA. Committee members present were: Chair Lynn Norman, Vice Chair Nancy Backus and Member Rich Wagner. Staff members present included: Mayor Pete Lewis, Interim Director Kevin Snyder, Interim Environmental Manager Chris Andersen, Assistant City Engineer Ingrid Gaub, Transportation Planner Joe Welsh, Engineering Aide Amber Mund, Employee Relations/Employment Manager John Fletcher, and Planning Secretary Renee Tobias. Others present in the audience included: Wayne Osborne, Mara Heiman, Yahye Mohamed, Aaron Nguyen, and students from a Green River Community College environmental class. II.ANNOUNCEMENTS AND AGENDA MODIFICATIONS A. Agenda Modification included the addition of Discussion Item V, Resolution No. 4567 – Change Committee Name. This item was later withdrawn. B. Chair Norman welcomed members of the Green River Community College environmental class. III.CONSENT AGENDA A. Minutes – January 11, 2010 Member Backus moved and Member Wagner seconded to approve the minutes as presented. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 3-0 IV.ACTION A. Resolution No. 4558 – Design Agreement for Mill Creek Restoration, Wetland 5K Reach The Planning and Community Development (PCD) Committee reviewed and discussed the revised draft agreement on January 11, 2010. Key issues raised by the PCD Committee at that time included: 1) the need to maintain the linkage between the habitat restoration objectives of the project and the City’s on-going water stormwater and water quality initiatives as they relate to the project’s habitat enhancement objectives; and 2) the need to identify the long term maintenance requirements and associated costs for the Mill Creek project. Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes January 25, 2010 1) In discussion with the Army Corps of Engineers, Interim Environmental Manager Chris Andersen noted that there is some flexibility in coordinating the restoration with the City’s stormwater/water quality efforts in the Environmental Park. While not a primary purpose of the restoration project, there are opportunities to coordinate restoration design to take advantage of any other efforts. 2) As part of the design and ultimately the construction, a monitoring program will be developed. Monitoring typically occurs for a 10 year period following these types of restoration projects and is built into the construction phase. There would be a separate construction agreement with a cost share basis of 75% Army Corps of Engineers and 25% City. Mr. Andersen stated that the goal of construction and monitoring is to have very little maintenance going forward. The objective is that long-term maintenance of the restoration would at most, involve periodic monitoring and small-scale removal of invasive vegetation. Member Wagner reported that the Public Works Committee (PWC) reviewed and discussed the revised draft design agreement on January 19, 2010 and that a correction to Army Corps of Engineers personnel assigned to the project in the Project Management Plan was noted. Committee expressed concern about the maintenance after 10 years, stating that nothing would keep weeds or invasive vegetation from growing. Mr. Andersen gave an example of a historical problem of canary grass in the Environmental Park. With the removal of the grass at the time of construction and planting native and shading plant species, further growth of invasives has, in many cases, been prevented. Interim Director Snyder reported that the City received an Environmental Protection Agency grant at the end of 2009 for the purpose of developing best management practices for mitigation monitoring. One of the outputs of that will be best management practices that we can apply in these situations that will also help control costs as well. Staff will update the Committee on mitigation monitoring performance measures that have worked and where they haven’t worked as well. Staff will update the Public Works Committee as needed. Member Backus moved and Member Wagner seconded to move Resolution No. 4558 to full Council for approval. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 3-0 V.DISCUSSION A. Ordinance No. 6287 – Amending ACC Chapter 2.25 Relating to the Planning and Community Development Department Employee Relations/Compensation Manager John Fletcher summarized information for the Committee regarding. This ordinance amends the Auburn City Code to rename the Planning and Community Development department to the Planning and Development department to more accurately reflect the functions of the Department. Page 2 Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes January 25, 2010 Mayor Lewis responded to the Committee’s question, stating that the committee would remain known as Planning and Community Development Committee (PCDC). Community Services’ items would still come before PCDC. Given this discussion, Interim Director Kevin Snyder withdrew the agenda modification, Resolution No. 4567. Following discussion about the departments under each Council Committee, the Committee supported this Ordinance. B. Resolution No. 4559 -- Right of Way Vacation Application V4-09 Engineering Aide Amber Mund reported that Auburn Dairy Products, Inc. (the applicant) has applied to the City for vacation of the right-of-way of the alley south of West Main Street and west of G Street SW. The applicant proposes to use the alley to assist in the expansion of their plant to increase production and streamline their operations. The application has been reviewed by City staff, other jurisdictions and utility purveyors who have an interest in this right-of-way. Through this review, City staff have determined that the right-of-way is no longer needed to meet the needs of the City and that a public hearing should be set to determine if said right-of-way may be vacated. If adopted by City Council, this Resolution sets the date of the public hearing for March 1, 2010. Ms. Mund responded to Committee’s questions. The City has not asked Auburn Dairy for an appraisal as this right-of-way was obtained at no cost to the City. Committee briefly discussed and provided Ms. Mund with changes to the resolution. Staff will make the requested changes before the item goes forward to Finance Committee and full Council on February 1, 2010. C. Ordinance No. 6218 – Chapter 10.02, Commute Trip Reduction Plan Amendments Transportation Planner Joe Welsh reviewed recent significant changes made to the Commute Trip Reduction Plan as approved by the Washington State Legislature. The Legislative Efficiency Act (Act) amended the Washington Clean Air Act, RCW 70.94 and requires local jurisdictions to revise their commuter trip reduction (CTR) ordinances to incorporate the Act’s new requirements for major employers. Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has also established new CTR rules to implement the Act. In order to meet the requirements of the Act and the WSDOT rules, the City of Auburn is amending Chapter 10.02 of its City Code. The City's CTR plan, which is part of Ordinance 6218, is designed to achieve the 10% Drive-Alone and 13% Vehicle Mile Traveled (VMT) goal reductions established by the CTR Board for the number of drive-alone commute trips traveling to Auburn by 2011. The new goals require stronger programs and employer efforts to help the jurisdiction reach these goals. It was noted that the Auburn School District and Federal Aviation Administration information was missing from the plan. Committee Page 3 Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes January 25, 2010 asked if the City could work with the Muckleshoot Tribe to implement a CTR effort. . Staff will provide follow information to Council regarding these inquiries. Committee provided suggested changes and additions to the Plan. D. Fee Schedule Revision for Storm Permit Fees Related to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Assistant City Engineer Ingrid Gaub reported on a proposed revision to the City’s current storm permit fees associated with the City’s upcoming implementation of the requirements of the NPDES Phase 2 Permit. With the implementation of the NPDES Phase 2 permit requirements, effective Feb. 16, 2010, staff is proposing a revision to the current fee structure to address the additional requirements the City must comply with to satisfy the NPDES permit requirements for private development. A storm permit is issued for all storm improvements on private property associated with development regardless of whether there is a connection to the City’s storm system or not. Under the NPDES requirements, the amount of new impervious area and the amount of area disturbed by a development can trigger widely different requirements for the storm water quality and quantity for a site. Therefore, staff is proposing a permit with three levels to allow a lesser fee for those permits that will not require significant effort. However, for larger developments a sliding scale would be used based on the size of the development due to the increased amount of requirements. Ms. Gaub stated that the storm permitting is more complex than the current permits due to more requirements placed on the City, including a minimum of 3 inspections during construction as well as reviewing all required reports for projects that are impacting more land area and/or adding more impervious. Committee asked staff to create an information sheet that will be distributed with new permit applications received after February 16, 2010. The Committee would like to ensure the public that this isn’t a situation that was created by the City, but rather in response to requirements from regulating agencies that must be met and will take additional time and effort by the City staff. E. Chapter 18.33 – Environmental Park Amendments Interim Director Kevin Snyder discussed potential amendments to Chapter 18.33 with the Committee. In 2009, the Committee, in joint meetings with the Planning Commission, discussed the refinement of Chapter 18.33 - Environmental Park District toprovide increased regulatory flexibility and further establish the Environmental Park District in the marketplace for academic and/or private research and development, environmental and energy related businesses and public information and education. In addition, the Committee discussed an incentive based approach to allow an increase in the maximum lot coverage from 50 percent to 65 percent, primarily through the use of low impact development methods. A key result of these conversations was the Committee’s request for staff to develop an incentive based regulatory approach for the entirety of Chapter 18.33 to encourage and support the area’s transition into the City Council’s previously adopted vision for the use and development of the properties within the Page 4 Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes January 25, 2010 Environmental Park (EP) District. Staff identified questions for the Committee’s discussion and the Committee provided feedback to staff on these questions. Interim Director Kevin Snyder reported that staff will continue to work on the amendments based upon the Committee’s feedback. This item will be brought to a future Committee meeting for further discussion. VI.INFORMATION A. Mayor Lewis provided an update on his recent meetings with officials in Washington, D.C. Projects and grant applications will be subject to a peer review. Grant applications that will have a regional component will have a higher chance of funding. B. Chair Norman announced that the Barrier-Free Playground fund recently received almost $1,500 in donations from Auburn District School students. C. Chair Norman spoke about a discussion at the Growth Management Policy Board meeting regarding a federal requirement for code to include charging stations for electric vehicles. Staff will research this and update the Mayor with findings. VII.ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Planning and Community Development Committee, Chair Norman adjourned the meeting at 6:46 p.m. APPROVED THIS ________ DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2010. Lynn Norman, Chair Renee S. Tobias, Planning Secretary Page 5