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PLANNING & COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
COMMITTEE
September 24, 2007
MINUTES
I. CALL TO ORDER - 5:00 PM, COUNCIL CHAMBERS
Chair Lynn Norman called the meeting to order at 5:00 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, Member Backus and Member Wagner. Also present were
Interim Director, Planning, Building and Community Department David Osaki, Development
Services Coordinator Steve Pitcher, Senior Planner Jeff Dixon, Planner Stacey Borland,
Senior Planner Chris Hankins, Parks, Arts and Recreation Director Daryl Faber,
City Engineer/Assistant Public Works Director Dennis Selle, Assistant City Engineer Ingrid
Gaub, Economic Development Manager Dave Baron, Mayor Pete Lewis and Planning
Secretary Kirsten Reynolds.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
September 10, 2007
Member Backus moved to approve the minutes from the September 10, 2007 meeting
as submitted, seconded by Member Wagner.
Minutes. approved unanimously 3-0.
III. ACTION
A. Resolution No. 4241 -United Way granting funds for the Rainier Middle School
After school Program -Parks, Arts and Recreation Director Daryl Faber talked about
utilizing this grant funding to continue last years pilot program that included a recreation
component and a snack component; the program drew 30-40 kids every day after
school and was very successful; Res. No. 4241 would fund this after school program
for the 2007-08 school year, the City's costs would be approximately $500.
Member Backus moved to forward Resolution No. 4241 on to Full Council
for consideration; seconded by Member Wagner.
Approved unanimously 3-0.
IV. DISCUSSION
A. Access Tract Design Standards
Assistant City Engineer Ingrid Gaub and City Engineer/Assistant Public Works Director
Dennis Selle discussed modifications of the current access tract design standards.
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Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes
September 24, 2007
Ms. Gaub asked the PCD Committee for input on when and what type of pedestrian
accommodations should be required for private access tracts. Committee input included
requiring facilities when two or more dwellings are served by the tract regardless of the
length of the tract, placing facilities on both sides of the tract and using a vertical curb
separation from the travel way within the tract. The pedestrian accommodations can
be either asphalt or concrete. Staff suggested using 5 ft. wide sidewalks, PCD agreed.
Discussion took place regarding the ADA requirements for sidewalk widths and keeping
both the width and materials consistent with the surrounding neighborhoods, ensuring
materials match the neighborhood character. Connection of the vehicle travel way to
the public street will be by a standard driveway apron.
The final decision regarding appropriateness of individual applications and their pedestrian
accommodations on long plats will be determined by Council at the time of a preliminary
plat approval. Current standards allow an access tract to look more like a driveway than
a public roadway. Staff will combine the input received from both the PCD and PW
Committees today, and begin the process to revise the design standards and City codes
to implement these changes.
B. Les Gove Community Center
Parks, Arts and Recreation Director Daryl Faber gave an update on the process.
There will be a new request for qualifications (RFQ) for architectural services issued in
the Business Examiner later this week; responses are due by October 12th. After this
tight three week timeline, interviews will be held the week of October 26th and a
recommendation to Council the first week of November. The goal is to have something
financially feasible by December 2007 and prepare plans over the winter.
There was discussion about ensuring adequate parking, but not overbuilding parking, to
serve a future community center including shared parking between other uses on-site
and considering time of day of usage. The agreement needs to reflect reality in usage.
The next update on the Les Gove Community Center will be brought back for discussion
on November 13 for a report on the consultant selection and progress.
C. Theater Plan
Parks, Arts and Recreation Director Daryl Faber reported that the inside of the theater
all painted and has new carpet; everything looks fresh and clean for the upcoming soft
opening. The outside paint was attempted to match historical colors by researching the
layers of paint. The matching color turned out to be a light cream with red window trim.
New consultant was hired for the facilities redevelopment. Arnet Shore Architects
submitted a plan for the project. This project will be done in two phases; the first phase
done on an hourly rate some pre-design ideas will be discussed. The second phase will
be a typical construction contract which will be 12% of the total construction drawings.
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Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes
September 24. 2007
Mr. Faber reviewed the steps to move forward. Phase one will be presented in three
weeks reviewing the values and constraints of the overall project. PCD Members asked if
it would be possible to do some capital campaigning/fundraising. There was a discussion
about what groups will utilize the facility to perform.
D. Off Street Parking Standards.
Planner Stacey Borland summarized her memo and asked for feedback and suggestions
in areas that the Committee would like to see on the city's parking ratios. Chair Norman
stated the need for a careful balance between encouragement for development to have
enough parking spaces and providing fewer spaces to encourage transit use. Member
Wagner inquired about how the numbers represented in the code from 1987 were picked.
Staff replied that the parking ratios at the time likely came from existing studies and
several other cities that have similar parking standards. The Committee indicated it
priorities were Senior Housing and Downtown land uses.Member Wagner referring to the
parking ratios suggested to make Section #7 related to Senior Housing the same as #3
for multiple family.
The Committee asked for copies of its previous recommendations for codes changes for
senior housing and the .parking standards of the DUC zone. The Committee will review to
decide if further changes are warranted. Considerable discussion occurred on balancing
parking needs of a suburban downtown and pressure for requiring less parking to
encourage transit use.
E. Electronic Message Boards
Interim Director David Osaki recapped the process to date. The Planning Commission held
a public hearing on the proposed code amendments related to elelctronic message signs in
May and recommended that an Ad Hoc Sign Committee be formed to provide advice and
recommendations for consideration.
The Chamber of Commerce formed and ad hoc sign code committee and organized two
meetings. Based on those meetings and other information, staff developed a matrix
reflecting the Ad Hoc Committee's comments on the proposed ordinance as well as
comments by the PCD Committee to date.
The PCD Committee discussed where such signs should be allowed, the number of signs
allowed per a business and controlling the programming of the electronic messages.
The PCD Committee offered several changes to the matrix. Staff will draft another
ordinance reflecting the PCD comments and return it for review. The proposed ordinance
would then still need to go back to the Planning Commission for public hearing and a
recommendation to the City Council.
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Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes
September 24, 2007
V. INFORMATION
A. Latino Friendship Center -The City, the Auburn School District, various non-profit
agencies and leaders of the Latino community have been participating in the
discussions to determine a feasible site. The conversation surrounding this
development has sparked interest and a widening involvement in planning for the next
steps of the Latino Friendship Center. The Committee and Mayor Lewis opposed the
last statement in the memo that the Human Services Center will be located at Les Gove
campus; they would like that statement to be removed. They also recognized that may
not be the intent of the statement.
Mayor Lewis stated that the Latino Center has been discussed but there is no site
available. The city's caretaker's quarters at Cedar Lanes was discussed to be a
temporary home. Director Faber talked about the importance of letting the Latino
agency develop on their own and not have the City tell them what they should be.
B. Shoreline Master Program - Mr. Osaki stated that Aaron will be in a meeting with the
DOE's project manager on October 8th and will provide an updated memo afterwards.
Hwy 18 Signage -Also while not on the agenda, the PCD and Mayor discussed the
DOT response letter to the request for highway signage identification of Auburn. Mayor
requested info on the existing signs NB and SB on SR 167 and then he will escalate the
request to the head of DOT.
C. PCDC Matrix Update with VISION 2016 -The Committee reviewed the Council's
Vision 2016 priority list in efforts to update goals on the Committee's Matrix.
Member Backus listed her preferred line items to focus on: # 2, 9, 12, 22, 28, 32, 36,
43, 49, C, E and Q. Items suggested to be taken off were: 9, 13, and 32.
Chair Norman listed her preferred line items to focus on: #1, 7, 16, 21, 24, 27, C, D,
G, J, P, and BB.
Member Wagner listed his preferred line items to focus on: 49, 30, Q, 11, 36, 41,
(Tribal related issues to be combined and put on the matrix), 7, C, 21, 8, 9 and 24.
PCD agreed upon adding the following line items to their working matrix: 7, 21, 24,
36, 49, C, D, Q, 30 and Tribal issues (items 11, 36 and 41) as one topic of focus.
The committee asked that the developed list be brought back for the purpose of
adding timeframes and prioritizing.
Chair Norman discussed the importance of community input when making decisions
on projects. Chair Norman stated that there are a lot of misrepresentations in the
community's perception of the City's downtown projects. The Committee decided it
would be a good idea to hold an open house for the public to hear what is happening
with some of the downtown projects; items would include, but are not limited to the new
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Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes
September 24, 2007
design standards and Heartland's "talking points" from the Downtown Strategic Plan.
Member Backus stated it would be of benefit to have and share "clear communication of
what we can when we can". Another step, in efforts to keep the public informed on City
projects is to add the Downtown Strategic Plan to the city website. Mayor Lewis asked
to have the open house called "Downtown Redevelopment To Date".
There was a short discussion regarding the B Street Plaza smoking problem.
VI. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Planning and Community Development
Committee, Chair Norman adjourned the meeting at 7:10 p.m.
APPROVED THE __~~,
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