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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-02-1994 special CITY OF AUBURN CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING NOVEMBER 2, 1994 6:00 p.m. A special meeting of the Auburn City Council convened at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers located at Auburn City Hall. Attendance Those participating in the discussions included Mayor Charles A. Booth and the following Councilmembers; Virginia Haugen, Jeanne Barber, Pat Burns, Stacey Brothers, Trish Borden, and Rich Wagner. Councilmember Kurle was excused. Staff members in attendance included Public Works Director Frank Currie, Finance Director Victor Thompson, Parks & Recreation Director Len Chapman, City Engineer Dennis Dowdy, Senior Engineer Dennis Selle, Traffic Engineer Steve Mullen, Transportation Planner Nick Afzali, Planning Director Paul Krauss, and Senior Planner Bob Sokol. Other staff in attendance included Acting City Attorney Michael Reynolds, Personnel Director Brenda Kennedy, Police Chief Dave Purdy, Fire Chief Bob Johnson, and City Clerk Robin Wohlhueter. Summary The purpose of the special meeting was to conduct a work session where the Planning staff could make a presentation and answer any questions with regard to the draft amended Comprehensive Plan for the City of Auburn. Planning Director Paul Krauss briefed the Council on the public process over the last several years in development of the amendments to the City's Comprehensive Plan. He said during the last six months staff promoted public input through a series of Planning Commission workshops. Staff notified service groups such as the Auburn Downtown Association and the Auburn Chamber of Commerce. He further said open houses were held where over 100 people attended. At these meetings, the Comprehensive Plan and the Commuter Rail Plan were available for public review. Public hearings are currently open at Planning Commission meetings, and are expected to remain open until December. Tonight's overview will present the major changes to the Comprehensive Plan, he said. Mr. Krauss stated the major issues to discuss at this meeting include levels of service as it relates to the concurrency requirement of the Growth Management Act (GMA), potential impacts of commercial development, and the potential of changing the City's annexation policies. Senior Planner Bob Sokol briefly described the events leading to the proposed amendments to the City's Comprehensive Plan. He said in 1990 Washington State adopted the Growth Management Act, and since then the City has been involved in updating its plan. Mr. Sokol stated the first step in amending the Comprehensive Plan to bring it into compliance with GMA requirements was the adoption of the Urban Growth Element of the Comprehensive Plan was in 1991. He said in 1992, City Council Special Meeting Minutes November 2, 1994 Page No. 2 amendments to the Comprehensive Plan included the Critical Land Protection element. At this time a series of neighborhood meetings were held where over a 150 people attended. The Draft Amended Comprehensive Plan was released for public comment in early September. Mr. Sokol pointed out there are 14 pages of amendments to the Comprehensive Plan based upon public comments, He touched on the existing plan, and highlighted the proposed amendments available. Councilmember Burns raised a concern with regard to the designation of arterial streets level of service. Councilmember Burns felt the law allows for alternatives methods of meeting level of service standards and does not specify a timeframe for mitigating existing deficiencies. Paul Krauss stated the issue of whether or not the City is obligated to bring the infrastructure to a certain standard is one part of the decision; the other part is the impact of the level of service standard from this point forward. Brief presentations were made by Traffic Engineer, Steve Mullen, and Transportation Planner Nick Afzail describing and illustrating the main arterial streets in Auburn and designated levels of service. Mr. Mullen pointed that not all facilities in Auburn are currently operating at a LOS of C or better. He also described what level of service is and how it is measured. City Engineer Dennis Dowdy discussed what LOS is and how the City's expects to use it. LOS is a complex subject, he said. Dennis Dowdy explained that the Growth Management Act requires the City to perform to the standard that it adopts, identify the deficiencies, and develop a project list to correct the deficiencies. He said the project list, according the Growth Management Act, must then be integrated into the City's Six Year Transportation Improvement Plan. Mr. Dowdy stated it is important to adopt a standard that is consistent with surrounding communities. GMA requires the City to build those intersections and the lanes up to whatever level we set with a reasonable time period. Mr. Krauss stated that the level of service is a complex issue. Discussion centered around LOS "C" and LOS "D" as it relates to development and financing in accordance with GMA concurrency. Bob Sokol pointed out GMA concurrency requires the City to balance land use plan, capital facilities plan, and the finance plan. Nick Afzali, Transportation Planner, explained and illustrated the existing LOS in Auburn. Discussion centered around financing options for LOS. He also presented the number of intersections that are below a level "C" in Auburn. Councilmember Brothers requested another opportunity to discuss the draft amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, and the higher densities as they relate to transit availability within a quarter of a mile of an R-2 zoning designation, at a future workshop session. The work session took a 15 recess at 7:50 PM. The work session reconvened at 8:05 PM. City Council Special Meeting Minutes November 2,1994 Page No. 3 Other amendments to the Comprehensive Plan were discussed. Bob Sokol directed attention to some of the policy amendments. He discussed the public concerns about commercial development in residential areas under a conditional use permit process. Changes are now recommended to alleviate those concerns. Paul Krauss discussed changes to the City's current annexation policies, and pointed the areas designated as future annexation areas into the City. Currently the City requires a pre-annexation agreement as a condition of the City to provide services, and developers in unincorporated areas are required to develop according to City standards, he said. Mr. Krauss feels the policy is not working as effectively as it should to require development to meet city standards. The draft amendments propose that major development be required to annex to the City in order to receive city utilities. It is felt that this change will prevent leap-frog development, rationalizes the annexation process, allow for the establishment of interlocal agreements between the City and the County, and protect the long-term interests of the City. Bob Sokol mentioned that not all changes to the Comprehensive Plan have been presented. He said more work sessions will be scheduled with Councilmembers for further review of the amendments as the work program proceeds to finalization. The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Charles A. Booth, Mayor Robin Wohlhueter, City Clerk f:\clerk\council\94M11-2