HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-09-2009
CITY OF
~ PLANNING & COMMUNITY
All~Dn DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
WASHINGTON
NOVEMBER 9, 2009
' MINUTES
L CALL TO ORDER
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, Vice Chair Nancy Backus and
Member Rich Wagner.
Staff inembers present included: Mayor Pete Lewis, Assistant Director Kevin Snyder,
Principal Planner Elizabeth Chamberlain, Public Works Director Dennis Dowdy,
Government Relations Manager Carolyn Robertson, Director of Human Resources/Risk
& Property Management Brenda Heineman, Senior Planner Chris Andersen, Jennifer
Shih, Assistant City Attorney Steve Gross, Finance Director Shelley Coleman, and
Planning Secretary Renee Tobias.
Audience members include: Robert Whale, Wayne Osborne, Mara Heiman, John
Partridge, Sharon Cottier, and Howard Cottier.
II. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND AGENDA MODIFICATIONS
Agenda modification included the addition of the discussion topic, Transportation Benefit
District, to the agenda.
At 5:02 p.m., Chair Norman recessed the meeting to hold an Executive Session for the
purpose of discussing labor relations pursuant to RCW 43.20.140 for approximately 10
minutes. Staff members required for the Executive Session were Assistant City
Attorney Steve Gross, Chair Lynn Norman, Vice Chair Nancy Backus, Member Rich
Wagner, Finance Director Shelley Coleman and Human Resources/Risk & Property Mgt
Director Benda Heineman. No action is expected at the conclusion of the Executive
Session.
Chair Norman reconvened the meeting at 5:10 p.m.
III. CONSENT AGENDA
A. Minutes - October 26, 2009
Member Backus moved and Member Wagner seconded to approve the Consent
Agenda as presented.
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 3-0
Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes November 9, 2009
IV. DISCUSSION/INFORMATIONACTION
A. Update on Green River Flood Preparation
Using a PowerPoint presentation, Public Works Director Dennis Dowdy provided an
update on the Green River flooding preparation since his October 19, 2009
presentation to City Council.
The work to raise the Green River levee from 8th St Bridge to approximately 12th
Street NE will be completed by approximately November 16, 2009. The contractor
will provide the smaller fill sandbags on site and volunteers will wheelbarrow them
into the tight spots to build up the flood wall. The area from 12th Street to the
Reddington levee at 37th Street NE was completed as of November 7, 2009. The
recent developers of the Auburn 40 have asked that the flood wall be pushed around
the edge of their plat. If the City agreed to this proposal, the developer (Tucci) will
build the east and north side of the levee, tying into the City's contractor work on I
Street NE. Everything on the east side is now under signed contract and work will be
completed by Thanksgiving. Mr. Dowdy assured the Committee that the contractor's
work will be built to the same spec and identical standards of the city contract work.
Both the County and Army Corps of Engineers are inspecting the work.
The Corps provided Supersaks, Hescos, and sandbags and delivery was completed
by October 21, 2009. Materials for the east side for work to be performed by King
County have not been ordered. Director powdy reviewed the cost estimates and
funding sources. The initial working estimate is $15 million without the cost of
pumping contracts. This also does not include costs for the maintenance of the flood
wall until such time as the Army Corp of Engineers has addressed the issues with
the Howard Hanson Dam.
The Corps revised its estimates on November 4, 2009 that the 13,900 CFS event
has a 1 in 33 chance of occurrence with their work on the Dam this summer now
completed with City levee improvements in place. This is up from a 1 in 3 chance.
The City's inundation maps on the City's website illustrate results of the 17,600 CFS
event, without the Primary Containment Plan. Mr. Dowdy reported on staff training
for regional levee patrol monitoring.
Emergency Preparedness Manager Sarah Miller and Director powdy have met with
unprotected neighborhoods where no levees exist to help residents understand the
threat and offer technical assistance to protect property. These areas are on the
east bank north of Porter Bridge and both banks south of the bridge; lower cobble
Creek, south of the golf course, Mullen Slough community on S. 28th Street and
several lots may be at risk in the Trail Run Development on S. 277th. Mr. Dowdy
noted that three homes on I Street NE are now protected by the setback levee due to
the Tucci expansion.
Concerns forwarded to the County are the junkyards on the west bank of the Green
River in Kent that the yard will be flooded and the pollutants will get into the water
shed and potentially into the Mullen Slough well. The County is looking into this but
has not responded with plans to mitigate the effects of the junk yard.
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Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes November 9, 2009
Mr. Dowdy reported confidence that what the City is doing is the right thing and
everything we can so that if the river rise up to 13,900 CFS, the community is
protected.
B. Discussion of the to be determined Transportation Benefit District
A Transportation Benefit District (TBD) is a quasi-municipal corporation and
independent taxing district created for the sole purpose of acquiring, constructing,
improving, providing, and funding transportation improvements within the district.
They are independent taxing districts that can impose an array of taxes or fees either
through a vote of the people or through council action. TBDs are flexible; they allow
cities and counties to work cooperatively on addressing both regional and local
transportation challenges.
Public Works Director Dennis Dowdy and Government Relations Manager Carolyn
Robertson reported on the meeting that was called by King County on November 6,
2009 for discussion of creating a Transportation Benefit District (TBD). King County
was not in favor of establishing a TBD after the legislation was passed in May 2008.
Harold Taniguchi, Director of King County Department of Transportation and his staff
led the meeting, citing multiple reasons for the desire to create a TBD now, which
includes political timing of the outgoing County Executive. King County has a better
pavement management inventory of their pavement conditions and now has a much
better understanding of their needs and revenue shortfall. The County General fund
is no longer able to subsidize county roads. The county has fully bonded their
existing transportation revenues and is seeking a new revenue stream to catch up on
some of their failing pavements. The County has 24 short span bridges that if not
fixed soon, may need to close. The South Park Bridge is the most notable which the
County plans to close in 2010 for safety unless they receive a grant to rebuild it.
The King County meeting was well attended by most cities. In response to the
County's request that each city respond by November 18, 2009 as to whether or not
the city would be willing to join the County via an Interlocal agreement for a
countywide TBD, only Duvall indicated some interest. Staff from most cities
suggested that they either would not join a countywide TBD or felt that the timing is
not right. It does not appear that the County would meet the 60% requirement at this
time for a countywide TBD.
Ashley Probart from Association of Washington Cities cautioned the meeting
attendees that given the amount of effort that cities need to spend with Department
of Licensing and Department of Revenue, cities should not count on collected
revenues being available before 2011. Cities should allow 6-8 months from the time
the TBD is formed before revenues will begin to come to the cities. The Committee
discussed the funds, allocation of such funds if the City opted in for a TBD and other
revenue options.
Committee discussed a scenario of all four counties creating a regional TBD as well
as creating a stand-alone TBD for the City of Auburn. After further discussion, the
Committee was in consensus with staff that there were too many items that were
unclear and questioned the guarantee of the funds collected remaining in Auburn.
Staff will share Committee's comments with Mayor Lewis who will respond before the
November 18, 2009 deadline.
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Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes November 9, 2009
V. ACTIONDISCUSSION
A. Resolution No. 4535
Resolution No 4416 adopted November 17, 2008 established an initial 6 month
moratorium on the filing receipt and approval of applications for development within
areas of the city located within in whole or in part designated 100 Year Floodplains
as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency Resolution No. 4476
extended the moratorium six months. An additional six month extension of the
moratorium is proposed.
Assistant City Attorney reported that he had been asked to review what other valley
jurisdictions have done for a floodplain moratorium or why they hadn't enacted a
moratorium. Many of the cities' circumstances that they are facing are opposite from
why the City put a moratorium in place the first time. Kent adopted the King County
Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO), King and Pierce counties and some of the NPDES
Phase 1 jurisdictions have a robust CAO that provide as much protection for
protected species as the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) required in their
Biological Opinion ("Biop"). Auburn's CAO does not have the level of protection that
King County has in their CAO. The City of Renton indicated that the properties
within the flood plain have mostly been developed. They did not anticipate receiving
any building permits since their CAO was approved last year.
Mr. Gross noted that the circumstances that were present when the Council initially
enacted this moratorium still remain. The City's CAO does not meet the proposed
federal regulations and there are properties in the flood plain that are subject to
development. The draft model ordinance that the working group has been working
on is in consultation between FEMA and NMFS; the City does not have a model
ordinance from the federal government. TMe CAO that the City developed met the
standard of the State and the City was commended on the quality; however, it does
not meet the federal level based on the biological opinion that NMFS issued to
FEMA.
Council spent many years working on the CAO and developed a document that
protected critical areas and seemed to be fair to landowners. The Council
deliberately left off the vegetation piece due to the fact that landowners give up a part
of their property that is next to water for buffers and setback. Additionally, if another
part of the property has a stand of trees, the landowner cannot use that area or
remove trees; the amount of acreage has significantly decreased. Committee
agreed that Council acted in good faith and did so with the idea that they were trying
to save as much property for the landowner as possible while still protecting critical
areas.
Mr. Gross noted that the biological opinion from last year stated that FEMA, by
allowing property owners to fill their property to protect against the flood plain, had
permitted a direct or indirect effect on protected species. Regarding another item in
the opinion, vegetation on levees, FEMA told NMFS that they did not have control
over this and instructed NMFS to talk with thq,Army Corps of Engineers. The
federal-level issue of how much authority NMFS has over FEMA has not been
resolved.
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Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes November 9, 2009
The City has repeatedly told NMFS and FEMA that if they are going give
requirements, that clear and concise guidance is needed. Mr. Gross stated that it
will not do the City any good for property owners to sue the City for denying them a
permit when the regulations are federal regulations. Committee discussed such
scenarios with Mr. Gross and options open to landowners.
For the purposes of the moratorium, Mr. Gross reiterated that the circumstances and
facts that existed a year ago when the moratorium was enacted haven't changed;
Legal's advice hasn't changed. Until such time that the federal government provides
the City with a model ordinance that can be integrated into Auburn's CAO, the City
does not have sufficient guidance to process an application without the risk of being
in violation of the biological opinion.
Committee discussed revisiting the CAO and adding a flood plain subsection. Staff
noted that unless there is an extension, FEMA/NMFS are under a court obligation of
having the model ordinance complete by September 2010 including any local
adoptions.
Staff indicated that the previous Environmental Protection Manager created a matrix
indicating where the City's CAO matched and did not match with the biological
opinion. Staff will update this matrix and bring back to Committee for review. It was
noted that it would take several months to receive feedback and approval from the
federal government. As such, the review would not gain any additional time before
the September 2010 deadline for the model ordinance. In response to Committee's
question, Mr. Gross stated that the City has not heard on the appeal of the flood
plain maps that FEMA provided.
Mara Heiman, 6430 S. 287th Street, Auburn, WA 98001
Ms. Heiman stated that the flooding in her area does not come from the Green River
or flood plain. It comes from ground water flooding due to the reinforced levees and
from Mill Creek due to the berm area at 277th Street. When storm water is routed to
their area, it will be too toxic and low in oxygen for fish to survive. Ms. Heiman felt
that FEMA was in error in their flood plain mapping. Flood plain mapping doesn't
take into consideration any non-certified levee.
Ms. Heiman reported that the Natural Resource Conservation Service developed and
authorized a west side Green River watershed work plan in the 1960s. The plan's
subsequent updates recommend specific measures to manage surFace water run off
and control flooding in the Mill Creek basin.
At 6:25 p.m., Chair Norman recessed the meeting to Executive Session for
approximately 10 minutes in order to discuss pending/potential litigation pursuant to
RCW.42.30.110(1)(i). Staff members required forthe Executive Session were
Assistant Cfity, P~tt~ney S~, i„y A istant Diredt,a 'f4 evirn Snyder, Chair Lynn
Norman, Vice Chair IVancy~a~Tc~, ah~Member Richagher
Chajr Norman reconvened the neeting at 6:36 p.m.
~ eN oE R , ;
iviember Backus moved 46d Member Wagner seconded to forward Resolution No.
4535 to full Council.
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 3-0
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Planning and Community Development Committee Minutes November 9, 2009
VI. DISCUSSION/INFORMATION CONTINUED
A. 2009 Comprehensive Plan Amendments
The Planning Commission held the third public hearing on the 2009 Comprehensive
Plan Amendments, Policy/Text Amendment #5, Capital Facilities Plan at their
November 4, 2009 meeting. Principal Planner Elizabeth Chamberlain reported that
the 6-year Capital Facilities Plan identifies capital projects and their funding sources
and is updated annually. Staff is working on all three utility comprehensive plans, the
transportation comprehensive plan, as well as the Transportation Improvement Plan
(TIP) which all feed into the CFP; the CFP is a working document. Any comments
on the CFP will be taken back to the Finance Department and incorporated into the
final CFP. The other three utility plans (water, sewer, and storm) will be reviewed by
the Public Works Committee. The Committee briefly discussed the capital
improvements identified in the utility plans and how utility rates potentially could be
affected. At the next Public Works Committee the utility rate study will be presented.
Transportation Planner Tiffin Goodman provided the Committee a summary of the
proposed changes to the Comprehensive Transportation Plan. An update bicycle
map was provided to the Committee for review. Ms. Goodman also mentioned that
some of the policies are being updated to include statements of support for
passenger rail in Auburn and potentially an Amtrak stop.
The Committee also reviewed the policy/text amendments to various chapters of the
comprehensive plan. The text changes address the recent code update work, the re-
adoption of the Shoreline Management Plan, and other miscellaneous changes. The
Committee did not have any revisions to the text amendments and concurred with
the Planning Commission recommendation.
Staff reviewed the remaining schedule. The amendments will be presented to the
Public Works Committee on November 16, 2009 and then back to PCDC for their
recommendation on November 23, 2009. The goal is to have the City Council take
action on an ordinance at the December 7, 2009 meeting.
B. PCDC Matrix
At the request of Chair Norman, staff reviewed the matrix and provided a
recommendation to the Committee on the prioritization from staff's perspective which
was included in the packet. The Committee reviewed the matrix, providing feedback
and direction to staff.
VII. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Planning and Community
Development Committee, Chair Norman adjourned the meeting at 7:37 p.m.
~PPROVED T IS DAY OF ~t~'eM OZ-~~ ~
~
Ly Norman, Chair Renee S. Tobias, Planning Secretary
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