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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-29-2000HEARING EXAMINER MINUTES FEBRUARY 29, 2000 The rescheduled meeting of the Auburn Hearing Examiner was held on February 29, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Auburn City Hall. Those in attendance were as follows: HEARING EXAMINER: Diane L. VanDerbeek STAFF: Lynn Rued and Patti Zook Ms. VanDerbeek called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. explaining the order of procedures and swore in staff and those in the audience intending on testifying. PUBLIC HEARINGS: 1. APPLICATION NO. REZ0005-99 Hearing Examiner opened the public hearing.. Assistant Planning Director Rued presented the staff report. Valley Pontiac Buick GMC has requested a rezone of property located at the northeast corner of Auburn Way North and 30th Street NE from M-l, Light Industrial, to C-3, Heavy Commercial. The rezone is to accommodate the expansion of the dealership that abuts the north property line of the subject parcel. The Comprehensive Plan was amended last year. The Light Industrial designation was a hold over from the previous ownership of the property by an industrial user to the east of the subject parcel. It is appropriate to rezone to the property to commercial. The rezone is consistent with adjacent zoning and Comprehensive Plan designation. Alan Poe, Poe Engineering, was present, but did nOt speak at this time. He did not have any new information to present and is available to answer questions. Janice Seversen, 1217 37th Street NE, showed photographs to the Hearing Examiner. The pictures depict flooding in January. She is concerned about vegetation and tree removal on Auburn Way North. Flooding on Auburn Way North is consistently occurring. There are semi- trucks now that load/unload vehicles onto the property and she complained to the City about this. She knows.the property did not belong to GMC. When vehicles are parked on the property, the corner of 30th and Auburn Way North is obscured and view of traffic to those entrancing Auburn Way North from 30th is blocked. She wanted to know what kind of landscaping is proposed and tree removal. Cars at the dealerships are placed right against the sidewalk and the bumpers extend onto the sidewalks. No trees should be removed and the greenbelt kept. She is concerned about additional paving and the increased runoff. She asked if the lot will be used by semi-trucks for loading purposes. Hearing Examiner viewed two photographs and then passed them to Assistant Planning Director Rued and the applicant to review. The photographs were not entered as exhibits. City Rebuttal: Assistant'Planning Director Rued commented regarding ~he flooding and said the City requires storm detention facilities on site. The water ponding will be properly taken care of when the facility is developed. The flooding on 30~h Street is not from this project cannot be addressed by this project. The environmental determination addressed vegetation retention, and a landscaping plan is required to retain as many trees as possible. New landscaping is required along the frontage of Auburn WaY North and 30~h Street. The landscaping will be a minimum width of 5 feet and will ~ontain tree and shrubs. He commented regarding the sight distances which contain standards to deal with sight distance issues. Assistant Planning Director Rued added that the project will come in for a variety of additional permits such as building and grading. Engineering drawings for the PAGE 1 HEARING EXAMINER MINUTES FEBRUARY 29, 2000 project will be submitted and review of the storm drainage facilities will be conducted. There are engineering standards to alleviate storm drainage problems. Alan Poe, Poe Engineering, commented that currently there is not a storm system on the property. Their plans show a small pond to be constructed to address the storm drainage problem. It is their intention to remove as many trees as possible within the ordinance and he read a paragraph from the Zoning Ordinance. Their intention is to develop this site similar to adjacent properties. Replacement trees will be provided on the east side of the property and adding some additional landscaping to the east side of the property. Ron Claudon, Jr., Valley GMC, spoke regarding the semi-trucks and is unsure what is meant by unloading. Some semis park in the lot under their own volition. There was parking on the lot when they purchased the property. Parking was not permitted on the lot and these were removed. He called police about vehicles being unloaded on Auburn Way North and the culprit is usually the Subaru dealership. '['hey also block his entrance, When vehicles are dropped off at the GMC dealership, the cars are on their property and this procedure will not change. Hearing Examiner wanted to confirm that cars arrive on the trucks, trucks come onto the property and are off loaded there. Mr. Poe commented that the property was used as overflow parking lot by Hitco previously. Hearing Examiner asked if it is the applicant's intention to take care of storm detention at time of property development. Mr. Poe replied yes. Delia Sanders, 3011 M Drive NE, asked how the applicant was allowed to put an entrance/exit on 30th Street. The entrance is too close to the curb cut on Auburn Way North. She is concerned about trees being taken down in Auburn. She believes there is a moratorium on tree removal. There are too many cars on Auburn Way North. Assistant Planning Director Rued commented on the entrance on 30th Street. The site plan depicts one driveway on the most eastern part of the property. The City does not have a moratorium on tree removal. C-3 landscaping, at a minimum, will be installed. Mr. Poe spoke about the tree replacement formula. It is their intent to create a buffer. Hearing Examiner closed the public hearing. She will issue the written decision within 10 days. APPLICATION NO. PLT0003-99 Hearing Examiner opened the public hearing. Assistant Planning Director Rued presented the staff report. Chuck Henderson has requested preliminary plat approval of three single family lots to be located in Lakeland Division 12 Phase 2 on 51st Street SE. This is a revision to the previously approved preliminary plat. Previously approved were three lots and three lots are still proposed. The primary difference is that the previous approval allowed each lot to have direct access to 51'~ Street which required excavation. The applicant now wants to build a private drive to access the south part of the lots and not access 51s~ Street. As such, there will be reduced amount of excavation performed. Staff recommends approval with three conditions. Hearing Examiner asked the location of the private drive. Assistant Planning Director Rued replied the south side of lot 1 and lot 2 and dead-end at lot 3, shown as Tract A on the site plan. PAGE 2 HEARING EXAMINER MINUTES FEBRUARY 29, 2000 Chan Chou, Pacific-.Engineering, agrees with the staff report. VVhen Lakeland Phase 1 Division 12 was developed, no private road standards existed. The option of private road standards was adopted in 1998 and now can accesS lots via a private road. This is an improvement over the previous proposal. They can proceed with development without extensive grading. Hearing Examiner asked if there needs to be a condition regarding the requirement for a private road maintenance agreement. Assistant Planning Director Rued replied it is assumed such an agreement will be done. ~Hearing Examiner asked about tree roots growing under sidewalk and later disturbing the road. Assistant Planning Director Rued replied that the fire codes requires maintenance of fire lanes. Hearing Examiner believes that a road maintenance agreement should be required. Mr. Henderson stated there will be a private road maintenance agreement. Hearing Examiner closed the public hearing. Hearing Examiner indicated she will issue the written decision within 10 days. ADJOURNMENT: With no further items to come before the Hearing Examiner, the meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m. HE\MIN02-2000 PAGE 3