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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-23-2002 MINUTES OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE SEPTEMBER 2_~3 20d2 The regular meeting of the Planning and Community Development Committee was held September 23, 2002 in Conference Room 1. Those members in attendance were as follows: MEMBERS PRESENT: Sue Singer, and Stacey Brothe~s STAFF PRESENT: Paul Krauss, Daryl Faber, Lynn Rued, DaVid Osaki, Aaron Nix, Shirley Aird, and Patti Zook ALSO PRESENT: Mayor Lewis ';~, .... Oci'! The meeting was called to order by Committee Chair Borden at 5:00 p.m. ACTION: :' 1. Approval of Minutes of September 9, 2002 Meetin,q The minutes were approved. 2. Human Services Committee (HSC) Recommendation for 2003 CDSG Granh; Planner Aird said that staff went back to the HSC on contingency plan because of additional money from HUD that could be folded into the budget process. This Committee to discuss and address domestic violence (DV) funding out of block grant money or not. HSC is looking for guidance from Council so that in future years there is a better way to allocate any additional funds. Councilmember Singer was looking for an idea of human services activity, but did not hear 'advocate' type of information presented. If a victim does not want to prosecute, but wants other services, does DV help out. Planner Aird said the DV position has been shifted some over the years and deals with confidential issues and is not pure community advocate like at the Y. The position works with victims when they decide they want an advocate, does resource referral, and quasi-legal advocates are in agencies and offer different support. The City has prosecutor based advocacy if victim wants to pursue prosecution. Planner Aird said Auburn has prosecution-based advocate and position has been clarified with each person in the position and is not really human service advocacy like the Dawn shelter. There is task force interaction, but not at client level. The request for block grant funds was for translation services, evidence collection, and support for victim who wants to prosecute. This is an applicable use in other communities. Domestic violence has a great impact on jail services, the court system, and human service agencies. Councilmember Brothers wanted to know what the additional $5,000 will cover and Planner Aird explained there will be an agreement with the Legal Department to reimburse for translation costs. City cannot use CDBG for small equipment purchases and there are not enough funds for a full time position. Contracting out translation services is discrete. The Committee agreed to retain DV funding in the Prosecutor's office. Planner Aird will discuss with HSC about how to tie in with CDBG with overall idea of what is best for the community. The CDBG Plan will be updated in one and a half years and entails rigorous public involvement, HSC involvement and Council involvement. Councilmember Singer spoke of the need to be proactive versus reactive. Planner Aird commented that CDBG is the City's money and grant is to the City. Some cities never let CDBG money 'out of the door'. The CDSG money does not have to go out to agencies. However, this would have political ramifications as Auburn has history of CDBG money to agencies for CDBG projects. HSC will be asking for more direction from Council on their priorities. Planner Aird said the Committee will see this as a budget ordinance with hearing on October 7. She will also notify agencies. Councilmember Brothers made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Singer, to recommend approval. PAGE I MINUTES OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE SEPTEMBER 23, 2002 3. Solicitation for Bids for Buildinq Game Farm Park's Shop AdditiOn Parks and Recreation Manager Faber presented the staff report. Councilmember Brothers made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Singer, to recommend approval. DISCUSSION: . 1. Plannin~ Department Budqet -'! ' ~.. Planning Director Krauss stated that 2003 budget is the first one combined with the Building Division and includes the property management function, Moving the Building Di.vis on under Planning Department was considered for a number of years. The City is centralizing property management acquisition and maintenance. Compliance and Facilities Administrator passed out updates from ihe Finance Department. He described the number of staff and their duties. These salaries and wages are typical. The janitorial supplies line item is for the entire City. He spoke about the City Hall remodel and evaluation of its HVAC system. Larger projects such as renovations to the plaza will require outside helP. City Hall was recently reroofad and should help to alleviate the wet basement. He spoke about repairing and replacing ail City facility signage to make it consistent and professional looking. City Hall bathrooms are to be remodeled. He spoke about resurfacing and striping the public parking lots in the downtown area. The restriping should enable the provision of additional parking spaces by providing compact parking spaces. The property management component is for management of City owned property. Planning Director Krauss said hat in working with Compliance and Facilities Administrator and Jeff Weir, Assistant Building Official, it was confirmed that permit fees have not increased since 1998. The 1997 UBC schedule is being used. A number of cities such as Federal Way are tying the COLA to fees. The Mayor has asked to look at increasing revenue streams and increasing the building permit fees to align closer to adjacent cities. The land use application fees were last increased in 1998. The fees charged by the City are very Iow. The permit advisory committee is supposed to talk about processes and the code; fees are whatever market charges. All departments ara re-examining their fees at the Mayor's request. The City Attorney is proposing not to have permit fees in ordinance and believes he can update without ordinance and do fees by resolution. Councilmember Singer asked about fees for Comprehensive Plan amendments as the requests come from the community. Planning Director Krauss is proposing fee difference for homeowner versus developer. Compliance and Facilities Administrator spoke about the civil code violation abatement program to clean up junk cars and overgrown grass, etc. Funds are proposed for microfilming plans for archives because commercial plans are saved forever and this enables disposal of the paper drawings, People will be charged nominal fee for microfilming at time of application. This will make it easier to retrieve data. Mayor commented that the actuals for salaries and FICA are plugged in automatically by the Finance Department. Departments do not have any control over the actual amount. Planning Director Krauss spoke about funds for maintenance of parking garage and security of the garage. Spreadsheets are being developed to track City's investment in the building in order for the City to be fully compensated. City is working on three leases now, Council wants to be sure the garage can be spun off to the private sector later on and there is necessity for cash flow information. The Auburn Update is now managed by the Mayor's Office. Planning Director Krauss reviewed the homeless prevention project in detail. The City is exploring the best way to have another agency manage the program. The City's locally funded human services contracts come out of Planning based on one percent formula. If the general fund budget goes down, the PAGE 2 MINUTES OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE SEPTEMBER 23~.2002_ human services budget goes down. He described the emergency voucher program which is new in 2003. The City's contribution to Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, Puget Sound Regional Council, Suburban Cities Association, Seattle/King County EDC, all come o~t of Planning'S budget. Planning Director Krauss spoke about the public parking management program which will use downtown money which is accruing for this. The parking study spOke of the r~eed for parking management program. Downtown Plan premise is that parking requirements are rfiet by pUblic parking lots. There is the goal of not having preponderence of surface lots and to maintain a~d impfe?e~ 'What exists The downtown business community will have to pay back through either LID or fee'f~r use. Al Hicks, Economic Development Manager, will be doing the parking management. He talked about other possibilities of additional parking near City Hall. He provided information on architectural design for the Public Safety Building and money set aside for this and possible construction time frame. In response to Councilmember Brothers' questions, the idea of a regional facility was discussed and determined that this is a tough political road and does Auburn really want to get involved in this. Other cities may say it is a good idea, but no one appears ready to contribute financially. Aaron Nix, Environmental Compliance Manager, is seeking environmental grants which will require a City match. ESA funds have been set aside to address this issue. 2. Increase Fees for Land Use Applications Planning Director Krauss remarked that the Association of Washington Cities publishes a fee survey which clearly shows that Auburn's fee structure is always much lower than adjacent cities. Some cities and King County go for full cost recovery, but Auburn is not sure this is the best goal because accounting for this would be difficult. An easier route is to develop a fee structure that is understandable and is nearer to or matches adjacant jurisdictions, but does not exceed any. The City will try to keep fees for residential or single family Iow. Other cities charge for Comprehensive Plan amendments which often affect large properties. Mayor believes that when someone comes in with Comprehensive Plan amendment for personal use no fee should be charged. Planning Director Krauss said that some Comprehensive Plan text amendments are proposed by commercial developers. Councilmember Singer said that if tied to a specific piece of property, and Comprehensive Plan amendment is to benefit your property versus change as overall planning tool for City - the good of the City versus the good of the individual. Parks and Recreation Manager Faber said that he is also working on proposed revenue changes and anticipates having this to the next Committee meeting. Mayor has requested that all departments look at their fees in order to bring Auburn on a par with other cities regarding fees charged. The City has been subsidizing developing too heavily for years. He said that an individual will not notice any fee increase. Planning Director Krauss confirms it is no longer warranted to subsidize fees in order to lure development. INFORMATION: 1. Downtown Plan Implementation Matrix Summary DO commented that the matrix helps with monitoring the progress of strategies in the Downtown Plan. He will update the matrix every few months. The Plan has been in effect for a little over a year and lots of activity has been going on. The City should be proud of what has been accomplished. Councilmember Singer said the Downtown Plan took a long time to develop and adopt and it appears that some things are being taken and done out of order of priority list. Planning Director Krauss reminded that the priorities were controversial and City needs to take opportunities when they arise and some of the work will at times be out of sequence. There was thought previously that JC Penney was the heart of PAGE 3 MINUTES OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COM~I'I-FEE SEPTEMBER 23, 20{ downtown and now that has shifted to the Transit Center. The plaza, pedestrian bridge, David Allen building, and leases at garage, the area will be center next year· 2. Correspondence from Washin.qton State Dept; of Transportation Re,qardin.q Participation in th,~ Community Partnership Forum ' ' No discussion on this item. With no further items to come before the Committee, the meeting ~-~S adJ°urned at 6:35 pm. Submitted by Patricia Zook, Planning Secretary. Approved by the Planning and Community Development Committee,on October 14, 2002. PCDC~IIN09B-2002 PAGE 4