Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/21/2004 MINUTES Minutes for Planning Commission Meeting September 21, 2004 I. Call to Order Commissioner Buckingham The meeting was called to order by at 5:37 p.m. II. Roll Call Those present were: Commissioner Cockburn, Commissioner Kennedy, Commissioner Kosusko, Commissioner Nelson, Commissioner Streissguth, and Commissioner Buckingham. Quorum certified. III. Approval of Agenda Commissioner Buckingham introduced the agenda. Chris Hugo added to the agenda Section V., “Public Meeting”, item B-5, a short informational discussion of an ordinance which has been prepared by City staff pertaining to revising provisions of the Critical Areas Ordinance relating A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson and seconded by to appeals and enforcement. Commissioner Kennedy to approve the agenda as amended. Called for a vote: Cockburn: Yes; Kennedy: Yes; Kosusko: Yes; Nelson: Yes; Streissguth: Yes; Buckingham: Yes. The motion carried. IV. Approval of Minutes The minutes of the Regular Meeting held on July 20, 2004, were presented for approval by A motion was made by Commissioner Kosusko and seconded Commissioner Buckingham. by Commissioner Streissguth to approve the Regular Meeting Minutes of July 20, 2004 as presented. Called for a vote: Cockburn: Yes; Kennedy: Yes; Kosusko: Yes; Nelson: Yes; Streissguth: Yes; and Buckingham; Yes. The motion carried. V. PUBLIC MEETING A. Call To The Public. (public comments on any item not on tonight’s agenda)Seeing Commissioner Buckingham none,closed this portion of the meeting. B. Public Hearing: Paul Rogerson, Planning Manager , began the Public Hearing portion of the meeting. Paul brought to the Commissioner’s attention that by Thursday, September 23, 2004, staff will have presented the Comprehensive Plan to all Council Districts. On August 19, 2004, the Comp Plan had been presented to Districts #1 & #2; on September 14, 2004, the Comp Plan had been presented to District #3; and on Planning Commission Meeting September 21, 2004 Page 1 of 9 September 16, 2004, the Comp Plan had been presented to Districts #6, #7, #8 & #9. Districts #4 & #5 are to have the presentation on Thursday (September 23). Staff’s impression of all the meetings is that the Plan has been met with widespread approval – there has been virtually no negative comments regarding the Comp Plan. Commissioner Streissguth added that, in addition to the presentations to the Council Districts, staff has also completed a series of presentations to the Council. She noted that feedback from the Council has been very positive and supportive with them complimenting the Community Development staff and the Planning Commission on several occasions on the Herculean effort needed to complete the Comp Plan process. She also reminded all of the Commissioners that the last district meeting was coming up and she encouraged everyone who could attend to do so. This is a regular district meeting, but the presentation of the Comp Plan is the only item on the agenda. The meeting will take place in the Council Office in City Hall on Thursday, September 23, 2004 at 7:00 PM. Paul commented that the Council members often help defend/explain the Comp Plan at Chris Hugo, Director of Community Development the District meetings. , noted that one of the best indicators of a well-designed process is when people at the elected official level show ownership before they vote on it; they respect the process they’ve observed and therefore they will stand up for what the product is. GMA expects that a good inclusive pluralistic process is designed up front and also expects that that process will be respected by the elected officials at the end. Jurisdictions that don’t have a good process get into an eleventh hour situation where they may face a mandate that says they will behave a certain way but are also in a political setting where they may refuse and that’s where jeopardy comes in; it looks like Bremerton is avoiding that situation. Chris thinks it’s interesting that Council President, Daren Nygren, questions how these great ideas work and how they are paid for, particularly on the Capital Facilities side. There is an idea about growing in a certain way but also there is an expectation from the public process about what the character and quality of that growth is, particularly in improving urban service delivery and having conveniences and amenities that start with public sector investments. In the Capital Facilities element, we know that the projects listed from the first 10 years of GMA exceed the historic funding available. That means that, even though GMA is built on the discipline of only drawing as well as you can pay for growth, planning is still being done where what is planned exceeds what can be afforded. Daren Nygren questions that process; if that 20-year budget can’t be balanced, every year you go down that path you lose traction on maintaining quality of life and the ability to provide services that the public expects in any way that’s affordable. Chris continued: “As we continue down this path we will learn more and more about this and just hope that we’re not facing that same kind of thing. We rely on other departments telling us what they need to support these growth patterns and what that will cost – what their facility needs are. When they do that, they should go through a process of saying, along with our financial people, “OK, we need these facilities – how do we pay for them?” Is it out of the 27,000 new tax payers that we expect to get? Just residential taxpayers don’t tend to pay the way so this is where there is some distraction in all of this that eventually catches up and what we’ll continue to work on year after year after year is fiscal reality behind these ideas. One thing that is pretty certain is, maybe as difficult Planning Commission Meeting September 21, 2004 Page 2 of 9 as it is to face this kind of disconnect between cost and good planning and development, doing it the way we have been with no connection between the cost of services and the Capital Facilities budget and Land Use patterns which are demonstrably very costly to serve. The one we’ve been on for the last 50 years was a train wreck and now maybe for a while the train wheels will be wobbling, but things won’t be falling off the track quite as often. The ultimate intent is that as we continue to learn and get more discipline in our planning and spending and get a better connection between how we develop and how we serve, that as we go down this path another five or ten years we’ll finally get a nice running train again. We’re coming out of a long history of having very little discipline and therefore we continue to lose on a lot of level of service values that we have where things continue to go down and down and down. It’s interesting that the council understands that and we spent quite a bit of time talking about that and how knowing what you want in a Capital Facilities element and setting a level of service coming out of the public planning process, how that drives that Facilities and service needs and becomes the real big obligation of government under GMA.” Commissioner BuckinghamPaul moved on to the Draft Zoning Code progress report. responded that staff had been working to prepare “initial zoning” for the most crucial aspects of Comprehensive Plan implementation. Staff has completed preliminary chapters for the residential zone (“R-10”) which covers the largest proportion of land in the city (this zone is made up of zones currently named SF-1, SF-2 and SF-3), as well as chapters for the Wheaton Way Redevelopment Corridor and the Kitsap Way Corridor, and is working through the process of what to do with zoning for the centers. There will be more information in the next few weeks as to the progress on the centers; the initial idea was to have zoning chapters to present to the Planning Commission such as a Neighborhood Zone chapter, a District Zone chapter, an Employment Zone chapter, etc. There is ongoing discussion on how these additional chapters are to be presented. Paul did not bring to tonight’s meeting the draft copies of the completed chapters as staff has more “fine tuning” to be completed before releasing the documents. Paul assured the Commission that the chapters concerning Residential, Wheaton Way Redevelopment Corridor, Commercial Corridor, etc. are all going to be very standard zoning chapters that the Commission will readily recognize in form and format. Chris added that the R-10 zone is going to combine all of the low density zones into a new 5 – 10 unit per acre zone, hence the “R-10” label, with a minimum lot size of 4,350 square feet and a maximum lot size of 8,000 square feet, unless you are in a critical area. At this time under zoning, GMA non-compliant one-acre lots are allowed. The new zoning will prevent the City from challenges based on substance. Multi-family zoning, unless they are associated with a centers designation, will also be absorbed into the new R-10 zone. Because this change will take a lot of work at the local level with landowners and businesses, the proposed strategy is to do some initial “free zoning” where there will be a continued opportunity to do some types of non-residential development in the centers, but not up to the intensity that might have been historically considered; there won’t be any moratoriums, but there will be some restraint on the ability to implement any large projects before the framework is in place, then the door will be opened to considerably more intensive projects. The reasoning behind this process is to reduce the Planning Commission Meeting September 21, 2004 Page 3 of 9 chance of foiling the objective of a true center development by constructing something more traditional such as free-standing commercial building with a large parking lot. Chris assured the Commission that the initial zoning package should be available for the next Planning Commission meeting (October 19, 2004); the hearings will begin shortly after that. Whatever else that can be accomplished along with the Comp Plan will be completed and adopted by December 2004; it’s expected to have enough finished so, at the least, the consistency issues with GMA will be addressed. Staff will continue to refine the zoning package through the winter and into the New Year. Chris commented that he could envision this type of work continuing for the next three years with zoning implementation, design review and urban design mechanisms for downtown and centers that would go beyond the basic centers framework. He used Spokane as an example of the length of time needed to convert to a centers plan; Spokane adopted the centers plan in early 2001 and they are still working on the same issues Chris mentioned. Commissioner Streissguth asked if the Commission should talk about the hearing schedule and how many hearing should be expected if they are anticipating draft hearing Chris ordinance in November; would there be a need for Special Meeting? explained that even though the draft hearing ordinance will not have the extensive public comment review process, the zoning code is going to mimic a lot of the language in the [Comp] Plan, for example the density ranges, the redirection of multi-family in the centers, etc. so the information presented should not be new to Council. The next meeting is October th - 19with the draft being presented to Council in November there was concern about Paul having enough time to be fully prepared before sending the draft to Council. anticipates there would probably be a need for a workshop discussion of the draft before sending it to hearing. He thought this could be accomplished at the next regular meeting th (October 19), then meet again the following week. He didn’t remember the exact date but thought that Council met during the second, third and fourth weeks of the month and Commissioner Buckingham that would give the Planning Commission a bit more time. Paul asked if there was a specific date the draft had to be in to Council. responded that staff had compiled a tentative schedule showing a series of public hearings at the council level for the entire package: Comprehensive Plan, the initial zoning package, SEPA, etc. and if Council meets the second week of November and they complete the hearing process in three weeks, it will keep the package on schedule for adoption on December st 1. Paul cautioned the Commission that even though the goal is to reach adoption by st December 1, there is always the possibility it will take longer because of the public Chris process. promised the Commissioners they would be e-mailed the schedule Paul spoke of plus additional information regarding a possible workshop and special meeting Commissioner Streissguth and scheduling a hearing one or two weeks after that. commented that she would be open to having a special meeting/workshop the week th before the next regular meeting (October 12) as opposed to the week after to give more time in the event of public hearings that may encroach on the time allowed. She was concerned because of how close to November it already was, plus the added factor of the Thanksgiving Holiday falling within that time frame. It was Chris’ opinion that the Planning Commission’s work on this package is to be completed by the end of October, although the Commission may be on the Council’s agenda in November. Commissioner Buckingham continued the meeting with discussion regarding the Chris Critical Areas ordinance update process. proposed combining Agenda items #3 Planning Commission Meeting September 21, 2004 Page 4 of 9 and #5. He distributed draft copies of the ordinance which include changes that the Dri Ralph, Environmental Planner City’s legal staff and , have decided is necessary. Chris explained that this was a housekeeping measure to deal with the process of appeals and enforcement within the changed Hearings Examiner environment that were not caught the last time staff went through the more current procedures. Also, staff removed the wording in §21.22.310 in the ordinance giving the Director and authorized agents authority to enter upon privately owned land for the purpose of performing their duties (please refer to the copy distributed by Chris for a full description). The other items changed do not relate to the rules of critical areas or developing and are purely informational to the Commissioners. The Critical Areas Ordinance update is due on December 1, 2004. Chris commented that the one thing he learned while attending the annual statewide Planning Director’s conference is that he has at least 60 or 70 colleagues who all feel like he does; that there are not enough people to do everything the State demands [the jurisdictions] to accomplish; very few are able to keep up with the huge amount of mandates. Anything that the Director feels won’t be completed by the statutory deadline will be included in a resolution for Council to adopt which will put forth the remaining mandates to be completed with a detailed outline of how it will be accomplished. Chris speculated that [the Critical Areas Ordinance] may be one of those mandates that will not be finished by the statutory deadline; the Comp Plan and the zoning code will be finished on time. Chris used the crematory that is being proposed in West Bremerton/Kitsap County as an example of the large amount of updating and housekeeping that is needed – more than likely the County had not looked at the zoning in that area for 20 years. At this time that area is zoned “Highway Tourist Commercial” which one would think would include motels, gas stations, convenience stores, etc., but not a crematory. Chris also questions the compliancy of the crematory with the County’s Comp Plan as well as the location of the site as it is ½ mile away from the interchange. He feels that this area has been neglected because it’s not close to anybody else. Chris commented that there are people out there with larger issues such as Bainbridge Island proposing to hold on to one acre zoning and will probably be appealed on that item. He feels the best thing for Bainbridge Island to do is disincorporate about 2/3 of the island so they will get back a rural atmosphere with some kind of nodes of urban or suburban. Chris said that the Mayor of Bainbridge Island understands the answer is to tier their growth and development and they can continue what they are currently doing, but they need to have that tiering strategy in their Comp Plan. Commissioner Streissguth remarked that she is aware that other jurisdictions are doing things such as adopting their county’s Critical Areas Ordinance or adopting CTED’s model as an interim measure and she was wondering if that was something Bremerton Chris has looked at. replied that the most stressful area his colleagues [from the conference] were experiencing is Critical Areas and “best available science” and how difficult that is around the state right now; everybody is struggling with this issue of knowing what best available science is and what it means when it is applied. In particular, jurisdictions in urban environments were not happy about the 300 foot buffer rule and viewed it as unreasonable in their environment, but if they come up with something else they are opening themselves up to criticism for not using the CTED guidelines. Are the CTED guidelines really guidelines or are they mandates? They are written as guidelines but the state agencies such as the Department of Ecology, Fish & Wildlife and CTED treat them like mandates when jurisdictions deviate from them. Planning Commission Meeting September 21, 2004 Page 5 of 9 Chris feels it is a good thing that Bremerton is not in the forefront on these issues because of this aggressiveness from the state agencies. Chris said one of the largest discussion items was getting balance between development interests and the environment. The state agencies seem to follow their own mandates to protect their own environmental areas; they seem to be driven by their missions, but their missions seem to have lost the sense under GMA that there has to be balance. How do you balance economic development and ecological interests and the environment and still move forward to a better future? That is where “best available science” is supposed to help, but it is used more often as a punisher than a helper because it is being taken by the state agencies out of other areas and declaring it to be the Best Available Science but it seems to eliminate the idea that localities can do their own investigations and consider other sources of science, but might come to a different conclusion. Chris feels this situation is probably not right and more than likely Bremerton will not be using that process as it would not best serve Bremerton’s needs in the long run; it would create a lot of stress on individual property owners and may not produce the best urban environment. The Planning Commission will be spending much more time on this subject after the New Year and into the spring. The next item on the agenda was “Urban Infill Redevelopment Computer Visualization”. Paul Rogerson explained that this was a follow-up to earlier agenda items regarding the meetings to present the Comprehensive Plan to Council and the district meetings. The computer program employs a PowerPoint technique to demonstrate what centers-type development might look like in various starting environments similar to areas in Bremerton. This tool was also effective in generating enthusiasm at the council and mayoral level. The slides show a gradual change from boxy buildings with large parking lots fronting major streets to a more mixed use environment with buildings closer to the street, hidden parking and increased pedestrian traffic (please refer to printed handouts). It also illustrated how the introduction of mass transit such as a light rail could affect a Chris corridor. commented that this type of change would require a major public investment up front for transit and enhancing the public realm of the street (i.e. Paul sidewalks, urban design, etc.). gave a brief description of each scenario, explaining each step that may be taken to arrive at the final illustration. At the end of the presentation, Paul said that there are a couple extra scenarios available but are not as applicable to Bremerton as the scenarios shown. He added the overall acceptance level has been wonderful and the presentation helped to reduce any anxiety regarding centers and infill and increased the understanding of what the final product would be. Paul anticipates using this visual aid at the upcoming district meeting as well as the public hearings. Chris commented that this presentation shows the role of the public sector in setting the stage by partnering with transit providers because transit is key in attracting density and density is key to providing the kind of urban environments where there are more lifestyle options, activities, and development and the revenues generated on all of those. The public sector is also involved in the streetscapes, unless it can be accomplished through an LID, as well as getting the rules in place to get buildings up to the street to reverse the post-war “modern development pattern” to arrive at something that is truly sustainable, all the while exercising great patience. Chris speculated that [the Planning Department Planning Commission Meeting September 21, 2004 Page 6 of 9 and Commissioners] will be told there is no market for type of development, but he feels that the market for this style is wherever it’s built; it happens all across the country, in big cities and small. The only place it doesn’t happen at is cities that say there is no market for it. Society is changing; the employment sectors have changed, the demographics have changed, how people make money and where they want to live has changed. Everything is changing faster than the rules can be changed so when we go through the Paul adoption process, we’ll see what happens. added that at the previous public hearings it was often heard from citizens that they know what has been going on in areas such as Wheaton Way has not worked for the last 20 years, so [a new approach like what is being presented] couldn’t be worse. Chris reminded the Commissioners that the projects won’t start out looking like [the examples in the presentation] – it will have to start with “baby steps”. For example, through the initial zoning phase there will probably be the ability to do free-standing commercial but it will be a learning process. All of the illustrations in the presentation showcased mixed-use buildings with retail at the street level and residential above. Bremerton has very little experience with that concept, but Seattle and Redmond and similar cities have a lot of experience; currently it’s almost unheard of to construct a new commercial building in the Seattle area without having residential above; imagine the cost of building in Seattle and compare that with the cost of constructing the same type of building here in Bremerton. It comes down to someone willing to be a “pioneer” and being the first to put forth that type of construction. With all the current and future amenities coupled with the affordability that Bremerton and Kitsap County have to offer, Chris can easily envision developers wanting to build here. He has spoken to representatives from Trader Joe’s about building in Bremerton and expects to speak with them again in 2005. Trader Joe’s is a developer that favors the mixed-use (retail + residential) style of construction. Some of the first steps [toward the presentation model] may be free-standing commercial, but the important thing is that, whatever is accomplished, it doesn’t jeopardize the ability to achieve that goal. That doesn’t mean that everything is going to be mixed-use up to the street, but commercial needs to be up to the street so the right type of development can occur behind it. Chris commented that one of the largest struggles he’s had is with developers who want to set a commercial building back 60 feet from the street with parking between the building and the street. Paul added that, at the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council meeting, the Mayor requested the redevelopment slide presentation be shown to the rest of the KRCC group. During the presentation, the Mayor remarked, “We’re going to get this done for Bremerton; we’re going to hire this firm and have them do this for Bremerton centers.” Paul was gratified to hear the Mayor speak of Bremerton centers as something he is ChrisMatthew Keough, Growth Planner, City of excited about. reported that Bremerton , had been in contact with the person who created the computer visualization presentation and found that each scenario costs $5,000 to create, so a set of five would cost $25,000. The Commissioners felt that a set of customized scenarios featuring Bremerton sites would not be necessary. Planning Commission Meeting September 21, 2004 Page 7 of 9 Seeing there were no further comments or questions regarding the Public Meeting, Commissioner Buckingham closed this portion of the meeting. VI. Business Meeting A.Chairman’s Report: None. B. Director’s Report: Chris Hugo began his report with the announcement that a new Planning Commissioner has been named. Judy Friedberg-Nerf has been a very active participant in Shaping Bremerton and had attended many of the sessions the Commission has had. The mayor’s office has continued interviewing Planning Commission applicants in the event there is a future need for a replacement to avoid having a vacant seat as was the case this last time. The Department of Community Development will be relocating to the new Government Chris Center in mid-October. invited the Commissioners to visit the new offices for a tour as soon as the move is completed. Chris commented that, even with the mistakes that were made on the City’s floor, it is far better than the offices that are currently being used. Kitsap Consolidated Housing Authority, the project manager, is working with the City to correct the errors after the building opens. Chris described Kitsap County’s new Community Development office and the seamless environment it provided. Customers there have great views of the water plus easy access to on-line permit information and one-on-one contact with a permit technician sitting at a regular desk. This was the type of environment Chris had envisioned for Bremerton’s DCD but, unfortunately, it did not turn out that way. He reminded the Commissioners that they will also be conducting future Planning Commission meetings in the new conference room on the main floor although it is uncertain if the October meeting will occur there because of scheduling, but it will be sorted out within the next three or four weeks. Chris will be testifying on September 23, 2004 at the Mayor’s request to the county Hearing Examiner regarding the crematory issue. Chris feels that the zoning is inappropriate, antiquated and misdesigned. The applicant has not done anything wrong in terms of their legal rights; under the county zoning they have the legal right to get a permit but just because there is the legal right to do something, that doesn’t make it the right thing to do. This situation has come about because the county zoning allowed an Commissioner application that, in the public interest, shouldn’t have been allowed. KosuskoChris asked when that area was to be annexed to the City of Bremerton. answered that it is an “island” and DCD will probably proceed with a city initiated annexation when there is an annexation program in place. Chris has made a budget request for an additional planner in his department to focus on annexations and some current planning. It’s still a council priority but there is no time to work on it. C. Old Business: Commissioner Buckingham reminded the Commissioners about reviewing the by-laws. There had been some discussion regarding the by-laws in the past but nothing definite had been decided. Commissioner Buckingham suggested this item be added to the next agenda and for the Commissioners to review the information distributed at a previous Planning Commission Meeting September 21, 2004 Page 8 of 9 meeting regarding the Hearing Examiner, ordinances and RCWs that may affect the Planning Chris Commission’s by-laws. said he thought it had been decided that the by-laws should be looked at by Legal before making any changes. Commissioner Streissguth returned to the subject of Planning Commission appointments. She referred to a list she had showing term expiration dates and thought that perhaps Commissioner Kennedy’s and Commissioner Cockburn’s terms were close to ending. After some discussion, it Pam Wilson, DCD Office Assistant, Sr. was decided that , would look into this item and report back to the Commissioners at the next meeting. D. New Business: None. VII. Adjournment Meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m. The next regular meeting is scheduled for October 19, 2004. Respectfully submitted by: _______________________________________ Executive Secretary Approved by: _______________________________________ B. Scott Buckingham, Chairman Planning Commission Meeting September 21, 2004 Page 9 of 9