HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/18/2006 MINUTESMinutes for
City of Bremerton Planning Commission
Regular Meeting
July 18, 2006
I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Cockburn at 5:30 p.m.
II. Roll Call
Those present were: Chairman Cockburn, Commissioner Friedberg -Nerf, Commissioner
Kennedy, Commissioner Hoell, and Commissioner Streissguth. Quorum certified.
Also present: Chris Hugo, Andrea Spencer, Nicole Ward, and Pam Ransier (DCD staff).
III. Approval of Agenda
Commissioner Cockburn introduced the agenda. It was agreed by general consensus to
approve the agenda as presented.
IV. Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Regular Meeting held on June 20, 2006 were presented for approval by
Commissioner Cockburn. A motion was made by Commissioner Friedberg -Nerf and
seconded by Commissioner Hoell to approve the Regular Meeting Minutes of June 20,
2006, as presented. Called for a vote: Commissioner Friedberg -Nerf. Yes; Commissioner
Hoell: Yes; Commissioner Kennedy: Yes; Commissioner Streissguth: Abstain; Chairman
Cockburn: Yes. The motion carried.
V. Public Meeting
A. Call To The Public (public comments on any item not on tonight's agenda).
Commissioner Cockburn asked if there were any comments from citizens.
Andy Shoos, 524 Juniper Street: "Basically, I'm here because I want to build a garage.
I'm an automotive enthusiast that wants to build a garage on my property and, from what
I understand, as of November 2005 or December 2005, talking to Mr. Hugo, things have
been changed in the development standards of, basically, paragraph 20 -60 -060. I have
more than — the garage that I want to build is bigger than the garage that I am able to
build and I'd like to, basically, see if we can get that changed. I don't necessarily want to
go huge; I don't want to go bigger than my house. I just would like to see - on that
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paragraph C, section 1, `The maximum garage, carport, attached or detached area, shall
be 500 square feet of gross floor area plus 10% of gross floor area of the principle
residence used, provided the carport does not exceed 1,000 square feet." Well, by the
ruling here, the way my garage can be built is 525 square feet because my house is 1,056
square feet. I live on, basically, .22 acres which is approximately 14,000 so I'm not
covering anything. I'm not necessarily asking for approval, I'm just asking that we
address this and re -look at this. I want to, basically, see if I can get a bigger garage. I
mean, there's other enthusiasts out there. Talking to my councilman, Brad Gehring, he
said he's in the same boat. He'd like to actually build a larger garage. I don't want to
see, you know, blue tarp cities all over Bremerton. I drive around Bremerton — you see it
right now. I don't own junk; I'd drive any one of my cars to California today, but I
happen to own two convertibles that, you know, Washington weather's kind of hard on
and, basically, I'd like to store them inside. But, also, I'd like to store inside my daily
drivers and stuff to that nature so I'm just looking to have, maybe, somebody take
attention to that section of this and see if we can possibly do something about it. That's
all I'm asking."
Commissioner Cockburn asked if there were any further comments from citizens.
Seeing none, he closed this portion of the meeting.
B. Public Hearing:
1. Minor Amendments to the Zoning Code: Nicole Ward, City Planner, began the
staff presentation on the amendments to the Zoning Code with a summarization. A
detailed description of the proposed amendments had been distributed to the
commissioners prior to the meeting.
Chairman Cockburn opened the Public Hearing and asked if there were any comments
from citizens. Seeing none, he closed this portion of the meeting.
Commissioner Streissguth asked for additional clarification regarding incubator
businesses and the thought behind having only non -profit organizations and religious
facilities able to utilize this function. Chris Hugo, Director of Community
Development, explained that this amendment affects the R -10 (residential) zone where
churches are an outright permitted use. Andrea Spencer, Planning Manager, further
explained that the definition of "community facility" encompasses the intent of the
amendment.
Chris suggested adding a third condition of the amendment to read: "20.60.060(1)(3)
The Incubator Business shall have frontage on an arterial street."
Commissioner Streissguth expressed concerned about the length of time an incubator
business would be allowed to remain in a church or community facility. [During this
time, Pastor Larry Robertson (Emmanuel Apostolic Church, 6"' Street) entered the
meeting chambers.]
Chairman Cockburn reopened the Public Hearing portion of the meeting and asked if
there were any comments from citizens.
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Pastor Larry Robertson, Emmanuel Apostolic Church, 6th Street: "What I'd really
like to do is to maintain the kind of zoning that we had so that when we got ready to do
things we wouldn't always have to come down and get Conditional Use Permits, [etc.].
That's what I really would like to do. What we propose to do, and what we have always
done in the communities, economic development, and causing people to become
independent and things like that. Incubators in the works: a beauty salon, as you
mentioned. We already have a book store that operates out of [the church facility]. We
have a daycare that also operates on that property. So, what we're trying to do is just not
to have — what we'd not like to do is have our hands tied. You may or may not know that
this property across the street from us is commercial. You may or may not know that the
property just up against us is commercial. You may or may not know that there's no one
living in those houses there; all that property is designated to accommodate ministry and
training and so forth; we're not renting any of our properties out for homes, on 6 th Street
or on 5 th Street; we have property on 5th Street as well. We just don't want to have to run
down and do — when we do ministry and we're going to do nothing wild, we're not trying
to raise rattlesnakes, you know, do that type of thing. We just want to do what we've
always done for 28 years. [We've] been good neighbors and allowed people to grow and
to become independent. So, bottom line: incubators give people the opportunity to have
businesses that could be involved with CPAs, lawyers, in one spot and business plans and
that type of thing. We're also looking to collaborate with Olympic College and other
entities like that so that our people can have just good businesses and be good neighbors,
pay good taxes — all of that."
Commissioner Streissguth asked Pastor Robertson what the church envisioned an
incubator business to be. Pastor Robertson explained that the church is not interested in
maintaining long -term businesses to be run from the church facilities but the church
understands that, to be financially successful, people need guidance with business plans,
demographic surveys, access to resources, etc. and an incubator business would provide
that type of guidance.
Chairman Cockburn and Commissioner Hoell commented that they were not in favor
of putting a definite time period for the incubator businesses before they have to relocate
because of the varying times needed for a business to be ready to launch. Chris added
that a time requirement could not be administered.
Chairman Cockburn closed the Public Hearing portion of the meeting.
Chris suggested providing a definition for Incubator for Business A facility that provides
organizational, mentoring, or capital support intended to accelerate the successful
development of start -up companies, or imparts job and business skills to employees or
trainees. Incubated businesses make progress toward graduation to independence and
relocation into permanent facilities.
Commissioner Streissguth asked if there should be a provision reference to the BMC in
Amendment 7. Andrea explained that it will be included in the final copy but was
omitted in the draft copy for easier reading.
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A motion was made by Commissioner Friedberg -Nerf and seconded by
Commissioner Hoell to recommend that the City Council adopt the amendments 1 -
12 to the Zoning Code as shown in Attachment I and presented by staff with the
following changes: Replace the second reference to "environmentally sensitive" with
"Critical" in Amendment 6 to; use revised language in Amendment S and correct
the spelling of "gentle"; change the definition of "Incubator Business" to " Incubator
for Business A facility that provides organizational, mentoring, or capital support
intended to accelerate the successful development of start -up companies, or imparts job
and business skills to employees or trainees. Incubated businesses make progress
toward graduation to independence and relocation into permanent facilities."; and add
§20.60.020(1)(3), "Shall have frontage on an arterial street." in Amendment 12.
Called for a vote: Commissioner Friedberg -Nerf: Yes; Commissioner Hoell: Yes;
Commissioner Kennedy: Yes; Commissioner Streissguth: Yes; Chairman Cockburn:
Yes. The motion carried.
Chairman Cockburn closed the Public Meeting.
VI. Business Meeting
A. Chairman's Report: Chairman Cockburn had received a memo from Betsy Howe,
CDBG/HOME Administrator, asking for a representative from the Planning Commission
for the Block Grant interviews. Commissioner Kennedy offered to attend.
B. Director's Report: Andrea directed the commissioners to a handout in their packets
regarding parliamentary procedures. This handout was for information only and no
action was needed.
Chris gave an update of the annexation meetings that took place for residents in the
Tracyton area. Because of some resistance to annexation, staff is looking to concentrate
on areas where Outside Utility Agreements have been signed agreeing to annexation into
the city. Another annexation meeting for the residents with council members will take
place on August 3, 2006. The location of this meeting has not yet been determined.
Chris reported on DCD staffmg. The civil service register had been opened for the
position of Planner I. From that list, three applicants made it to interviews but none were
chosen. JoAnn Vidinhar, who came to the City from Kitsap County as a planner in
2005, became the Development Manager for Community Development. Marie Vila will
be starting on August 1, 2006, as the Block Grant Coordinator.
C. Old Business: Commissioner Streissguth asked for an update on the letters sent to
Kitsap County regarding the County's Comprehensive Plan. Chris summarized the three
letters that were sent to the County Commissioners. Electronic copies of those letters
will be sent to the Planning Commission members after this meeting.
Chris reported that the City of Bremerton won the Governor's Smart Communities
Award for updating the Comprehensive Plan and implementing the new zoning code
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within a year of adoption. Certificates were presented to all Planning Commission and
City Council members, as well as staff, who participated in the creation and
implementation of the Comp Plan and zoning code.
D. New Business: None.
VII. Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m. The next Regular Meeting is scheduled for August 15,
2006.
submitted by:
I-
Chris Hugo, ExecutivVSecretary
Approved by:
John�96kburn, Chairman
Planning Commission Meeting July 18, 2006 Page 5 of 5