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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-09-1998MINUTES OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING SEPTEMBER 9, 1998 The regular meeting of the Planning Commission was held on September 9, 1998 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Auburn City Hall. Those in attendance were as follows: MEMBERS: Bill Taylor, Darrell Sharrard, Dave Peace, Garna Jones, Jon Evans, Juan Huseby, and Karen Ekrem STAFF: Lynn Rued, Bob Sokol, Steve Mullen, Ken Olson, and Patti Zook The meeting was called to order by Chairman Dave Peace. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: It was concurred by the Planning Commission that the minutes of the Approval of Minutes of the July 7, 1998 Meeting be approved as mailed. PUBLIC HEARING: · ZOA0004-98 - Amendments to Chapters 17.12, Subdivision Improvements, and 17.14, Short Subdivision, of the Auburn Land Division Ordinance regarding changes to street design standards Planning Commission Chairman Peace opened the public hearing. Assistant Director Rued provided a brief introduction to the proposed amendments and pointed out that Traffic Engineering staff are available to answer questions. The City is striving to have one document which contains all the street design standards. Steve Mullen, Traffic Engineer, advised that the Design and Construction Standards manual will be the lead document for design elements of construction projects. The document will clarify design requirements for developers and staff by providing an easy source of reference. He mentioned that staff is recommending the narrowing of some City streets. Staff recommends that landscape strips be installed on all streets except rural collectors and residential streets for traffic calming effects. Street lighting regulations are now better def'med. The changes should encourage innovation. Allowances have been made for some deViations from the standards. Planning Commission Chairman Peace wondered about maintenance of the landscape strip. Traffic Engineer Mullen remarked that the issue is not yet resolved. The strip will be in the public right of way. Planning Commissioner Evans asked where right of way ends and sidewalk begins. Traffic Engineer Mullen said the edge of the right of way is the edge of the sidewalk. People commonly adopt this right of way as their property. Ken Olson, Traffic Design Engineer, remarked that the landscape strips in the design standards call for trees and shrubs that require very low maintenance. The ground cover is also low maintenance. Planning Commission Chairman Peace hopes that that in 10 years the landscape strip will not be weed infested. Traffic Engineer Mullen said that people treat the landscape strip as part of their front yard. The five foot wide minimum strip will accommodate a tree and lawn. Attention will be paid to the careful selection of tree species and correct planting techniques. Planning Commissioner Jones wanted to know if the pavement is narrowed will there be parking restrictions. Traffic Engineer Mullen advised that on residential local access streets parking is allowed on one side only. The sidewalk where parking is allowed will be adjacent to street. Planning Commissioner Evans remarked that some developers have requested narrow streets and wanted to know if this change is in response to the request. Traffic Engineer Mullen advised that there is a national trend and developer request to have narrower streets. The narrow streets do influence speeds of cars using the streets. -1- MINUTES OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING SEPTEMBER 9, 1998 The traffic moves slower because it appears that the narrow streets are not a thoroughfare. Planning Commissioner Taylor mentioned a problem with boats or trailers parked on the street. Traffic Engineer Mullen cited the restrictions about these types of vehicles parked on the street. Planning Commissioner Jones remarked that wide streets do not allow friendliness or a sense of neighborhood. Traffic Engineer Mullen said that the narrow streets do not allow more lots, it just means less paved surface for runoff and probably also reduces developers' costs. Planning Commissioner Ekrem wanted to know how the narrower streets would effect visitor partying. Traffic Engineer Mullen said that typically a house has a two car and two spaces in the driveway. Parking will be allowed on one side of the street so this will not be totally eliminated. Ifa house has a large party, there will be some spill over. Planning Commissioner Ekrem remarked that it is hard to get through on a narrow street when people do not know where to park or which side of street to park on. Traffic Engineer Mullen advised that narrow streets have proved to be fairly successful in most neighborhoods because the streets influence drivers to slow down. Assistant Director Rued mentioned a few streets on the south side of Main Street that are narrower. The required vertical curbs will prevent any parking on the grass. Traffic Engineer Mullen agreed that there are a variety of street widths throughout the City. Planning Commissioner Ekrem remarked that she does not think narrow streets are aesthetically pleasing and she does not think with City will achieve what it wants. Planning Commissioher Evans agreed that the narrow streets are less aesthetically pleasing. Traffic Engineer Mullen advised that the provisions of street trees and required planting will be aesthetically pleasing. Narrow streets do not have traffic problems because of the traffic's slower speeds on these streets. The streets provide a subtle influence to drivers to slow down. The streets have demonstrated to be very effective in other areas. The Fire Department requires a twenty foot path to get through and they are comfortable with the proposed change. The older roads in town are built to different standard than what is now being proposed. New housings developments have garages and driveways. Planning Commission Chairman Peace wanted to confirm that staff are proposing to take out the current standards in the Land Division Ordinance. Assistant Director Rued said yes. There was no public testimony; therefore, the public hearing was closed. Assistant Director Rued advised that the standards contained in the Land Division Ordinance will be removed from the ordinance and reference made to the street design standards manual. The biggest change is that the standards will no longer be stated in the Ordinance. Planning Commissioner Ekrem said she was uncomfortable in voting on this matter tonight because she did not have a chance to read the material. She wondered why the information was not available earlier. Assistant Director Rued advised that the proposed changes were transmitted to the Commission in August with a memorandum informing them that the matter would be a public hearing in September. The Public Works Committee has been reviewing the street design standards. The Commission is making a recommendation of changes tot he Ordinance. Assistant Director Rued confirmed that the Commission will be voting on changes as seen in Chapters 17.12 and 17.14. He explained that a developer will obtain the Land Division Ordinance which mentions street design standards. The developer will then obtain the street design standards for construction. Planning Commissioner Jones made a motion, seconded by Planning Commissioner Taylor, to recommend approval of the amendments to Chapters 17.12 and 17.14 to the City Council. The motion passed 7-0. -2- M1NUTES OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING SEPTEMBER 9, 1998 PLANNING COMMISSION BUSINESS: · Briefing on the 1998 Comprehensive Plan Amendments Principal Planner Sokol introduced the 1998 Comprehensive Plan amendments. The public hearing on these amendments will be in October. A workshop should be scheduled for later in September. Planning Commissioner Evans requested that the workshop begin at 7:30 instead of at 7:00. Principal Planner Sokol pointed out that there are less amendments this year and that none of the amendments is controversial. He distributed the Capital Facilities Plan for the Kent and Auburn School Districts. He then provided information on impact fees. Both school systems are requesting that Auburn collect the impact fees for them. The City is currently revising its Capital Facilities Plan and looking at different funding sources and impact fees. He then briefly reviewed the other proposed amendments. · Briefing on the Downtown Plan Principal. Planner Sokol provided brief information on this Plan as well as an update to the Plan process. Open houses were held and staff is reviewing a draft Plan. In late October, the draft EIS will be done and a sub-area plan for the Comprehensive Plan will also be done. It is anticipated that the Plan will be adopted early next year. The consultants did a market study which anticipates the need for additional office space in the downtown area. · Briefing on the Non-Motorized Plan Principal Planner Sokol provided brief information and history on the Plan which develops transportation plans for different modes of transportation such as foot, bike, and horse. He mentioned the bike network/trails for the City. Aubum received a grant from the Federal government to develop the Plan. CALL FOR PUBLIC HEARING: · 1998 Comprehensive Plan Amendments The Commission called for a public hearing on this topic for their October meeting. ADJOURNMENT: With no further items to come before the Commission the meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. PC\MIN~8-98 -3-