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Home My WebLink About6426 � . , FTRST �RICAIV. �v �' '✓��1 -- � �� IIIIIIIIIIII I IIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIII I 38� ��30111�0200 Return Address: PQ ET001EOFC009 �D Auburn City Clerk KING1COUNTY1gWQ0 City of Auburn 25 West Main St. Auburn, WA 98001 RECORDER'S COVER SHEET Document Title(s) (or transactions contained therein): 1. Rezone (Ordinance 6426) Reference Number(s) of Documents assigned or released: NONE ❑Additional reference#'s on page of document Grantor(s)/Borrower(s) (Last name first, then first name and initials) CITY OF AUBURN GranteelAssignee/Beneficiary: (Last name firs4) RPG Auburn Propertie.s LLC Legal Description (abbreviated: i.e. lot, block, plat or section, township, range) See parcel numbers below � 31 _ZZ�� /V (k�. ❑Additional legal is on page_of document. Assessor's Property Tax Parcel%Account Number 0002200007,9360000200, 002200001 and 9360600350 ❑Assessor Tax#not yet assi9ned ORDINANCE NO. 6 4 2 6 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUBURN, WASHINGTON, APPROVING THE REQUEST OF RPG AUBURN PROPERTIES, LLC FOR REZONING OF FOUR PARCELS TOTALING APPROXIMATELY 11 ACRES FROM C3, HEAVY COMMERCIAL TO C4, MIXED-USE COMMERCIAL TO IMPLEMENT THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AND AMENDING THE CITY'S ZONING MAPS WHEREAS, the City of Auburn on August 18, 1986 adopted a Comprehensive Plan by Resolution No. 1703 which includes a Map establishing the location of the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Designations throughout the City; and WHEREAS, on April 17, 1995 the City of Auburn adopted Comprehensive Plan Amendments by Resolution No. 2635 to comply with the Washington State Growth Management Act; and WHEREAS, the City of Auburn on September 5, 1995 reaffirmed that action by Ordinance No. 4788; and WHEREAS, RPG Auburn Properties LLC, the applicant, submitted a rezone application for the Auburn Gateway 2 Project Area rezone on June 19, 2012 for four parcels identified by parcel numbers 000220-0007, 936000-0200, 00220-0001 & 936060-0350; and WHEREAS, the environmental impacts of proposed rezone were considered in � accordance with 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 City of Auburn Hearing Ezaminer on Ordinance No. 6426 , October 3, 2012 Page 1 August 15, 2012 conducted a public hearing on the proposed RPG Auburn Properties LLC, Auburn Gateway 2 Rezone; and WHEREAS, at the public hearing the City of Auburn Hearing Examiner heard public testimony and took evidence and exhibits into consideration; and WHEREAS, thereafter the City of Auburn Hearing Examiner made a recommendation to the City Council on the proposed RPG Auburn Properties LLC, Auburn Gateway 2 Rezone; and WHEREAS, on October 15, 2012, the Auburn City Council considered the proposed RPG Auburn Properties LLC, Auburn Gateway 2 Rezone as recommended by the City of Auburn Hearing Examiner; and NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUBURN, WASHINGTON, DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. The City Council ("Council) adopts and approves the RPG Auburn Properties LLC, Auburn Gateway 2 Rezone from C3, Heavy Commercial to C4, Mixed Use Commercial and directs 4hat the rezone application and all related documents be filed along with this Ordinance with the Auburn City Clerk and be available for public inspection. Section 2. The Zoning Map amendment is herewith designated as a basis for the exercise of substantive authority under the Washington State Environmenfal Policy Act by the City's responsible environmental official in accordance with RCW 43.21 C.060. -------------------------- Ordinance No. 6426 October 3, 2012 Page 2 Section 3. The Council adopts the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, in the Hearing Examiner's recommendation outlined below: FINDINGS OF FACT Procedural: 1. Applicant. The Applicant is RPG Auburn Properties, LLC. 2. Hearinq. The Hearing Examiner conducted a hearing on the application at 5:30 p.m. at Auburn City Hall in the Council Chambers on August 15, 2012. Substantive: 3. Site/Proposal Description. The Applicant has requested a rezone of four parcels totaling 11 acres from C3, Heavy Commercial, to C4, Mixed Use Commercial, The parcels are adjacent to and will serve as an extension to the Auburn Gateway project, which the Council approved in 2011. As depicted in the vicinity maps of Ex. 2, the rezone area is located along the northern city limits, generally bounded by Auburn Way N. to the west, S. 277th St. to the north, D St. NE to 4he east, and 49`h St. NE to the south. As shown in the rezone map, Ex. 4, three parcels are excluded from the area bounded by fhe afore-mentioned streets: one parcel on the northwest corner that was recenfly developed with a gas station and two parcels on the southeast corner. As proposed, the three excluded parcels are not owned by the Applicant and will retain their C3, Heavy Commercial zoning designation. The proposed C4, Mixed Use zoning is necessary to integrate the parcels into the previously approved Auburn Gateway Project. The Auburn Gateway Project will be composed of retail, office and multi-family uses. C4 authorizes all of the uses proposed in the Auburn Gateway Project. C3 does not authorize multi-family development and, therefore, is not consistent with the uses contemplated for the Auburn Gateway Project. The original Auburn Gateway Project as originally approved consists of approximately 60 acres including the Valley Six Drive-In Theater and several adjacent properties that the Applicant owns, could acquire, or could cooperatively develop. The original project area borders the proposed rezone area to the east, across D Street NE. The Auburn Gateway Project has a long regulatory history. A Final EIS for the Auburn Gateway Project was issued in 2004. The proposed retail/office/multi-family land use mix for the project was identified and assessed in the EIS. On June 16, 2008 the Aubum Gity Council passed Ordinance No. 6183, which amended the City's Comprehensive Plan (map and text) and zoning ordinance (map and text). The comprehensive plan amendment included the adoption of a sub-area plan related to the -------------------------- Ordinance No. 6426 October 3, 2012 Page 3 development of the Auburn Gateway Project. Approval of Ordinance No. 6183 was provisional, conditioned upon the subsequent execution of a Development Agreement (DA) and Planned Action Ordinance (PAO). Subsequent to the adoption of the provisional comprehensive plan and rezone amendments (Ordinance No. 6183), the Applicant acquired the four parcels subject to the currently proposed rezone. The Applicant prbposed to include the four parcels in the Auburn Gateway Project approved in Ordinance No. 6183. The four parcels were not part of the "Planning Area" iden4ified in fhe 2004 EIS but the amount of total proposed development will remain the same. As a result of the addition of the four parcels, an EIS addendum was issued for the project on November 2, 2011. The Addendum also addressed changes since the 2004 EIS in development standards, p�oject phasing, road network and external circumstances. A development agreement for the Auburn Ga#eway Project was approved by the City Council on November 21, 2011. This adoption served to remove the "provisional" status of Ordinance No. 6183. The City Council theretiy adopted Ordinance No. 6382, which adopted the "Northeast Auburn Special Area Plan and Auburn Gateway Planned Action" ahd amended ACC 16.06.020 to provide for a planned action process in the city's SEPA regulations and to add a new zoning code section related to planned actions. The City Council subsequently amended the Northeast Aubum Special Area Plan on December 5, 2011 to include the changes to the Auburn Gateway Project addressed in the November 2, 2011 EIS addendum, including the addition of the four parcels that are the subject of this rezone recommendation. As finally delineated in the development agreement, the Auburn Gateway Project.is a single or two-phase development that will be constructed over a period of 15 years of an approximately 70-acre site generally located east of Auburn Way North, west of the extension of I ST NE, south of S 277th ST, and North of 45th ST NE consisting of the Valley 6 Drive-In Theater site and surrounding properties owned by RPG within the NW and SW quarters of Section 31, Township 22 North, range 5 East, W.M. The project would consist of 4he site preparation and construction of up to 1,600,000 square feet of professional office buildings, up to 720,000 square feet of retail buildings or up to 500 multiple family dwellings or combinations the�eof and associated site improvements. The project wbuld include associated filling and grading, including filling of floodplain wi4h compensating replacement storage volume and filling and displacement of wetlands with compens.ation. The project would also include the extension of utilities and roads (I ST NE) and widening of existing roads and the installation of traffic signals associated with street intersections. The currently proposed rezone site contains a vacant house on 49th Street NE and farmed fields located to the north. The site is relatively flat and slopes slightly Ordinance No. 6426 October 3, 2012 Page 4 downward to the northwest. The site range ranges in elevation from 52 feet near the SE corner to 44 feet near the NW corner. 4. Characteristics of the Area. The rezone area is adjoined by farm fields to the north, commercial and single family resideritial uses to the south, a drive in movie theater to the east and a gas station, auto sales, vacant land and single-family residential use to the west. 5. Adverse .lmpacts. At the hearing Jeff Catell asserted that wetlands had been illegally filled in order to avoid environmental assessment and protection by #he City's wetland regulations. If correct, 4hese are serious allegations that could lead to civil or criminal liability as well as a re-assessment of environmental imp.acts. However, Mr. Catell's allegations are limited to the drive-in property which is located outside of the rezone area subject to this recommendation. Despite questioning by the Examiner at the hearing, there is nothing in the record to suggest that the filling of wetlands on 4he drive-in movie property as alleged by Mr. Catell would have any bearing on 4he environmental impacts of developing the properties subject to this recommendation. Consequently, although Mr. Catell's assertions are certainly significant and may warrant further investigation by the City, they are not relevant to the subject rezone application. Mr. Catell also alleged that the illegal tree removal has already occurred on the site of the currently proposed rezone. As noted by Mr. Dixon during the hearing, the City has tree retention standards that limit the number of trees that may be removed. Any violations of those requirements would be subject to a code enforbement action, which is outside the purview of this rezone request. The EIS and EIS Addendum for the Auburn Gateway Project thoroughly assess all environmental impacts associated with the proposed rezone and accompanying development or the rezone property as authorized in the development agreement. The rezone on its own, from C3 to C4, would not be reasonably anticipated to generate any significant environmental impacts, since the maximum intensity of development permitted by the C4 zone is actually less than that of C3. The C4 zone prohibits some highly intense commercial uses such as gas stations that are authorized in the C3 zone and authorizes correspondingly less intense multi-family development that is prohibited in the C3 zone. If the impacts of the rezone are more broadly construed to encompass its role in facilitating the development of the Auburn Gateway Project, those impacfs as well are not fourid to be significantly adverse. All environmental impacts are thoroughly assessed by qualified professionals in the EIS, Ex. 12, and EIS addendum, Ex. 11. The EIS and EIS addendum identify all mitigation measures necessary to ensure that none of these impacts are significantly adverse. The City will be able to impose those mitigation measures during the land use review of more specific project applications. There is no evidence in the record that suggests that the mitigation measures Ordinance No. 6426 October 3, 2012 Page 5 recommended in the environmental review documents are insufficient to mitigate all significant adverse environmental impacts. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW Procedural: 1. Authoritv of Hearing Examiner. ACC 18.68.030(B)(1)(a) grants the Hearing Examiner with the authority to review and make a recommendation on rezone requests to the City Council if the planning director determines that the rezone requests are consistent with the comprehensive plan. The planning director has determined that the rezone request is consistent with the comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan map designation for the subject rezone is Heavy Commercial. Page 14-12 of the Comprehensive Plan, as updated in Exhibit A to Auburn Ordinance No. 6183, provides that the C4 zoning district is consistent with the Heavy Commercial comprehensive plan map designation. Substantive: 2. Zoninq Desiqnation. The property is currently zoned C3. 3. Case Law Review Criteria and Application. The Auburn City Code does not include any criteria for rezone applications. Washington appellate courts have imposed some rezone criteria, requiring that the proponents of a rezone must establish that conditions have substantially changed since the original showing and that the rezone must bear a substanfial relationship to the public health, safety, morals or welfare. See Ahmann-Yamane, LLC v. Tabler, 105 Wn. App. 103, 111 (2001). If a rezone implements the Comprehensive Plan, a showing that a change of circumstances has occurred is not required. Id. at 112. The proposed rezone clearly meets the judicial criteria for a rezone. A change in circumstances does not have to be established since the prbposed rezone implements the Comprehensive Plan. Ordinance 6394 amended the Comprehensive Plan in November, 2011 in order to provide that C4 zoning was contemplated for the properties subject to this rezone request in order to enable the mixed use development authorized by the development agreement adopted in November, 2011. The C4 rezone is further necessary to enable the Auburn Gateway Project as planned for in the Northeast Auburn Special Area Plan, which is a part of the Comprehensive Plan. Multi-family housing is one of the uses contemplated in the Special Area Plan and this type of use is not authorized under the current C3 zoning but is authorized by the proposed C4 zoning. ---------------------- Oriiinance No. 6426 October 3, 2012 Page 6 The rezone bears a substantial relationship to the public health, safety, morals and welfare because it will not result in any significant adverse environmental impacfs while at the same time furthering economic development in the City of Auburn. DECISION The Hearing Examiner recommends approval of REZ12-0003. Section 4. Upon the passage, approval, anii publication of this Ordinance as provided by law, the City Clerk of the City of Auburn shall cause this Ordinance to be recorded in the office of the King County Recorder. Section 5. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this Ordinance or any of the Zoning Map amendments adopted herein, is for any reas.o.n held invalid or unconstitutional by any Court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed a separate, distinct and independent provision, and such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions thereof. Section 6. The Mayor is hereby authorized to implement such administrative procedures as may be necessary to carry out the directives of this legislation. Section 7. This Ordinance shall take effect and be in force five days from and after its passage, approval, and publication as provided by law. INTRODUCED: �7- �� PASSED: �o �5• a�� A PRO � � � � � Peter B. Lewis MAYOR ------------------------- Ordinance No. 6426 October 3, 2012 Page 7 I � � I I i II � � I ATTEST: T�i -�Ci�..�.F��-�t�.�� Danielle E. Daskam, City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: Daniel B. Heid, City Attorney Published: Jc}Jbc� � 3 , �o�� ------------------------- Ordinance No. 6426 October 3, 2012 Page 8