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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning January 13 20091 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL 2 Planning and Development Committee 3 4 January 13, 2009 5 6 Committee Chair Seth Fleetwood called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. in the 7 Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. 8 9 Present: Absent: 10 Laurie Caskey- Schreiber None 11 Carl Weimer 12 13 Also Present: 14 Sam Crawford 15 Barbara Brenner 16 Bob Kelly 17 18 19 20 COMMITTEE DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL 21 22 2. RESOLUTION APPROVING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OPEN SPACE CURRENT 23 USE ASSESSMENT APPLICATIONS (AB2009 -053) 24 25 Erin Osborne, Planning and Development Services Department, gave a staff report. 26 27 Weimer moved to recommend approval to the full Council. 28 29 Motion carried unanimously. 30 31 32 COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 33 34 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING URBAN GROWTH AREAS REVIEW PROCESS, 35 INCLUDING CONSIDERATION OF A JOINT HEARING WITH THE PLANNING 36 COMMISSION REGARDING ALTERNATIVES (AB2009 -052) 37 38 David Stalheim, Planning and Development Services Department Director, gave a 39 staff report. He suggests a joint meeting with the County Council and Planning Commission 40 on February 12, 2009. Look at the range of alternatives to study as part of the urban 41 growth area (UGA) process and environmental impact statement (EIS). To keep the 42 timeline, they must finish the environmental scoping process by the end of February. Get 43 the consultants to start working on these range of alternatives. 44 45 Brenner stated she wants to see the alternatives before the hearing. She asked 46 when they will get that information. Stalheim stated they would have that information at 47 least a week ahead of the hearing. The public would also like to see the information. They 48 will proceed with three alternatives. One of those alternatives has to be the no action 49 alternative, which is the existing Comprehensive Plan and its associated policies. Therefore, 50 the debate will be on the two other alternatives. 51 52 Initial recommendations will be focused on land use strategies rather than population 53 and employment projections. County and city staff don't want to look at alternative growth Planning and Development Committee, 1/13/2009, Page 1 1 forecasts. They prefer to study alternative land use strategies. One of the two strategies 2 they came up with preliminarily is to consider how to transfer growth out of the rural and 3 resource lands and into urban areas. The existing Comprehensive Plan policies aren't 4 working. The second strategy is the issue of shifting growth to other urban areas. Look at 5 different patterns of growth. An idea is to shift growth away from Bellingham and into other 6 urban areas. 7 8 Kelly asked if the purpose of the joint meeting is to have one public hearing instead 9 of two. He's hearing from people that they want two hearings. They want more time. 10 Stalheim stated a primary reason of the joint meeting is to have one hearing instead of two. 11 The staff needs the Council's decision about the alternatives by the meeting on February 24. 12 13 Crawford stated they don't have time. They have to have this done by June 30. 14 15 Rebecca Craven, Council Policy Analyst, stated the alternatives have to be scoped 16 and to the consultants by the last week in February, or the consultants can't get the work 17 done on schedule. 18 19 Brenner stated they must involve the public more instead of rushing through it. If 20 they don't, they will have to do it over because someone will sue the County or rappeal the 21 decision. That will cost more time and money. The information isn't being written for a lay 22 person to understand. The Council is obligated to make sure that it takes the time it needs. 23 That isn't happening. 24 25 Fleetwood stated they are under a court mandate. 26 27 Brenner stated go to the court, show they are working diligently, and request more 28 time. 29 30 Fleetwood stated the County could ask, but a court will see that the County has 31 already had a number of continuances. 32 33 Craven stated they are scheduling a number of public workshops around the date of 34 the joint meeting. They will talk with the public in the UGAs about the various alternatives 35 being discussed. They hope to identify each of the geographic areas that the cities and 36 UGAs want to have analyzed in the EIS for potential boundary changes. Those maps will be 37 available to the public the same time as the public hearing. 38 39 Stalheim stated they should be in the land capacity analysis results and the draft 40 allocation. The alternative allocation to each urban area will also be available. Quite a bit of 41 background information will be available. 42 43 Brenner asked if the Council will have that information a week before the hearing. 44 Stalheim stated they will. It will help inform the discussion on alternatives. The hearing is 45 not on their preferences for a particular alternatives. The hearing is to identify what should 46 be studied. The main task for the County Council is to bracket the choices in the EIS that 47 are in the range of alternatives that the Council wants to consider. The purpose of the 48 hearing is to make sure staff really understands those brackets. 49 50 Brenner asked if the Council is supposed to make decisions that night on what is to 51 be looked at. Craven stated not that night. 52 53 Brenner asked if that night is to listen to comment from everyone about alternatives. Planning and Development Committee, 1/13/2009, Page 2 1 2 Stalheim stated the upcoming timeline is on Council packet page 255. The Council 3 won't see the Planning Commission recommendation a week ahead of time. They will see 4 staff's recommendations going into the hearing. The Council won't see the Planning 5 Commission output until they're done with their deliberations. 6 7 Caskey- Schreiber stated she has to consider the Planning Commission 8 recommendation. She wants to hear what it has to say. She doesn't want to make a 9 decision until she hears the Planning Commission information. Delay the Council action 10 decision date until they have that information. 11 12 Weimer stated the Planning Commission decision just won't be in the Council packet 13 a week ahead of time, but the Council will have the Planning Commission decision before its 14 meeting on February 24. Stalheim stated that's correct. 15 16 Caskey- Schreiber stated she is fine with the schedule, then. 17 18 Crawford stated he supports this schedule. It makes sense. 19 20 Fleetwood moved to approve the schedule for the joint Planning Commission and 21 Council meeting on February 12, as shown on Council packet page 255. 22 23 Motion carried unanimously, 24 25 Craven stated she must emphasize how tight the schedule is to meet their deadline 26 in June. The Planning Committee will be exceptionally busy the next six months with many 27 issues. Keep that in mind. Many planning issues are coming forward. 28 29 2. DISCUSSION OF THE PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDING WHATCOM 30 COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN CHAPTER FOUR — CAPITAL FACILITIES, 31 CHAPTER SIX — TRANSPORTATION, AND APPENDIX G — TRANSPORTATION 32 IMPACT FEES BACKGROUND INFORMATION (AB2009 -065) 33 34 David Stalheim, Planning and Development Services Department Director, gave a 35 staff report. This is not the transportation impact fee ordinance. This proposed ordinance 36 sets the policy basis for the impact fee ordinance. This is the policy background to 37 transportation level of service issues and transportation impact fees. He wants to make 38 sure the councilmembers are comfortable with it at this time. One question is whether they 39 should have a public hearing. He asked if the Council wants a presentation during a work 40 session from, the consultant, Transpo Group. This is a Comprehensive Plan amendment. If 41 the Council wants to approve it, it must be approved with concurrent review of the other 42 Comprehensive Plan amendments during a concurrency hearing. That will happen in March 43 or April. 44 45 Brenner asked if it would be better to do all the impact fee elements together. 46 Stalheim stated there seems to be confusion between the concurrency policy ordinance and 47 the transportation impact fee ordinance. He and the Executive felt it was best to address 48 this first, before getting to the impact fee ordinance. The fee ordinance is more complicated 49 than the policy ordinance. 50 51 Brenner stated she would like to have a hearing on it at some point. She asked if 52 they are required to have a hearing on Comprehensive Plan amendments. Stalheim stated Planning and Development Committee, 1/13/2009, Page 3 1 the Council isn't required to have a hearing on Comprehensive Plan amendments. The 2 Planning Commission has the hearing. A Council hearing is optional. 3 4 Crawford stated he has information that transportation impact fees aren't a cost - 5 effective program for counties that have implemented them. They must have that debate. 6 7 Mike Donahue, Public Works Department, stated some of that is true. Transpo 8 Group has worked with those other counties. At this time, given the economy, it is feasible 9 to use transportation impact fees. 10 11 Crawford asked if it is the position of the Public Works Department that 12 transportation impact fees are cost - effective, and should be implemented. Donahue stated 13 it is. 14 15 Crawford stated the Council hasn't had that debate or seen that information. 16 17 Caskey- Schreiber stated she disagrees. The Council advocated for this for years. 18 She's glad to see this ordinance, and she's ready to move it forward. It shouldn't lose 19 money. There is flexibility for using the money. 20 21 Brenner asked how those counties are losing money. Donahue stated there are a 22 variety of ways those counties are losing money. It depends on how they use the money. 23 They have to use those fees in the area they are collected. Small cities can collect the fees 24 and use them citywide. However, Whatcom County has set its areas so they can use the 25 funds within six years. The bottom line is that they don't have that many projects. 26 27 Crawford stated that developers indicate that the use of their business developments 28 is one that will require the least amount of impact fees. When businesses move in to the 29 development, they're required to pay thousands in transportation impact fees because the 30 actual use is more than what the developer claimed. This is an administrative issue. Some 31 counties are starting to find that administration of the transportation impact fees are costing 32 them more than projects they're able to get done. 33 34 Donahue stated impact fees are based on use, not zoning. The Transpo Group has 35 developed eight zones for impact fees. Impact fees will be looked at during the building 36 permit stage. If another use requires a building permit, they will review the permit and use 37 for fees. 38 39 Crawford stated they haven't adopted the plan yet. There is fallout from what they 40 actually do. He doesn't know much about what is happening in the other counties. They 41 are unintended consequences. 42 43 Brenner asked if any counties have based their impact fees on zoning rather than 44 use. Donahue stated some counties have some minor zoning built into their impact fee 45 ordinance. 46 47 Stalheim stated the impact fees are collected by use. Most ordinances are tied to 48 use. A statutory requirement is that the impact fee account for the proportional impact of 49 the development. The only way to do that is to look at the amount of traffic being generated 50 from the development. 51 52 Brenner asked if the buyer of a building will have to pay impact fees if the business 53 doesn't require a building permit, but does create more traffic. Stalheim stated those are Planning and Development Committee, 1/13/2009, Page 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 implementation questions within the ordinance. The Council will need a work session with Transpo to answer these detailed questions. Crawford stated there is new information that says this may not work for counties. He doesn't know why Councilmember Caskey - Schreiber is in favor of the added Policy 6B -6 on Council packet page 270. They should have the discussion. Staff has considered the downside, and still recommends going forward. They're talking about making a clear statement in the Comprehensive Plan about implementing this. They must have a discussion rather than accept this at face value. Other counties are regretting doing it. Fleetwood stated Policy 6B -6 is written with enough nuance to address those concerns. Caskey- Schreiber stated this was a crucial tool for Birch Bay to fulfill their list of road improvements. At the time, developers wanted to participate, but the County didn't have this tool in place. Use this tool where it will provide a benefit. If the tool won't benefit the County when used on a particular project, the County staff are wise enough to not collect the fee. Crawford asked if impact fees have to be applied countywide. He asked if the County can have a program that applies the fees just in certain areas that would benefit from them. He would agree that certain areas, such as Birch Bay, may benefit. Donahue stated that may be a special assessment area. They may have to treat the entire geographic area the same, and then divide into transportation analysis zones. Crawford stated that in some areas, they will have problems creating a nexus to a project and collecting a fee. In six years, they will have to give back the money. Stalheim stated a list of projects eligible for impact fees begins on Council packet page 272. There are projects in each of the eight analysis zones. The system has been set up to identify and collect fees for the larger areas. The Planning Commission has gone through this twice and has made its recommendation. Spend time before the concurrent review to have a work session. Kelly stated the concern they've been discussing today is specific to how they run the program once they make the decision to initiate the program. He's ready to approve the policy for impact fees in Whatcom County, with Councilmember Crawford's concerns in mind. The staff is able to address all of those concerns. They can learn from the mistakes of other counties. In his experience, many other people around the state are surprised that Whatcom County doesn't have impact fees. Brenner asked if they can use impact fees for increased road maintenance requirements. Donahue stated they will look at applications on a case -by -case basis. Some businesses may not have to pay for an impact fee. Fleetwood stated the Council will introduce the item tonight, and schedule a work session on January 27, with no public hearing at this time. COMMITTEE DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL 1. ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 21, LAND DIVISION REGULATIONS, REGARDING GENERAL PROVISIONS, EXEMPT LAND DIVISIONS AND BOUNDARY LINE ADJUSTMENTS, SHORT SUBDIVISIONS, PRELIMINARY Planning and Development Committee, 1/13/2009, Page 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 LONG SUBDIVISIONS, FINAL LONG SUBDIVISIONS, SURVEYS AND DEDICATIONS, AND DEFINITIONS (AB2008 -404) -AND- 1A. ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 21, LAND DIVISION REGULATIONS, REGARDING GENERAL PROVISIONS, EXEMPT LAND DIVISIONS AND BOUNDARY LINE ADJUSTMENTS, SHORT SUBDIVISIONS, PRELIMINARY LONG SUBDIVISIONS, FINAL LONG SUBDIVISIONS, SURVEYS AND DEDICATIONS, AND DEFINITIONS (AB2008 -404A) David Stalheim, Planning and Development Services Department Director, gave a staff report and stated there are many housekeeping changes. Staff recommends version AB2008 -404A. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) Stalheim continued to state that there alternatives for language in section 21.03.040 on Council packet page 350. Staff recommends alternative one. He described the three alternatives and other language changes. Fleetwood stated certain members of the public have expressed concerns about the ordinance, and would like more time to work on it. He asked if staff has worked with those citizens. Stalheim stated he has spent 12 hours in meetings to go through this.ordinance in fine detail with people in the development community. Staff has addressed most of the issues. He doesn't know how much more staff can do. There are choices within these ordinances. The issues are mostly minor, not large policy issues. Most of the issues have been worked out. Fleetwood asked for a description of the consensus and the agreement. Stalheim stated the biggest concern was the degree of review for critical areas during the application process. People are concerned about how much information is necessary at the time of application and the criteria used for review and approval, particularly how it applies to boundary line adjustments. Staff has spent time working with the development community to reduce the requirements from how the ordinance was first written. Caskey- Schreiber stated she is in favor of alternative one. They must identify critical areas, especially within the subdivision process. Brenner stated that when subdividing land, developers must not create lots that aren't developable. She doesn't understand the argument. Stalheim stated this ordinance doesn't change the underlying critical areas ordinance or zoning ordinance. It doesn't change on any kind of subdivision. The department will essentially get the information requested eventually. This ordinance changes the timing of when the department receives that information. They are front- loading the application requirements so the staff don't have to spend time reviewing an application that doesn't have all the information they need. The ordinance requires an applicant to bring in the critical areas information at the time of application. That is a procedural change. There are no changes to any standards. Crawford asked if the items listed in 21.01.040 are the exemptions referred to in section 21.03.040. Stalheim stated that the items in 21.01.040 are items that are exempt from subdivision and short subdivision provisions. They are not exempt from the ordinance. At some point in Whatcom County's past, it was decided the exemption level for Planning and Development Committee, 1/13/2009, Page 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 environmental mitigation sites should be at five acres, not 20 acres. The Planning Department was assigned the task of reviewing and stamping those five -acre and 20 -acre tracts as exempt. The department isn't changing them at all, just reviewing them and stamping them as exempt. Those projects are exempt from the subdivision or short subdivision process, but the department must still review and stamp those projects. Alternative two would eliminate altogether that required review. Weimer asked the benefit of reviewing those projects for exemption. Stalheim stated they have seen 20 -acre tracts with issues. They do catch those issues during the review process. Crawford stated they are doing that currently. Stalheim stated they are. That's why he wrote an alternative, to make it clear. They are doing critical areas review currently, but it's not clear in the ordinance. If they are going to do a review, they should have criteria. Caskey- Schreiber stated alternative one is today's actual practice. Brenner asked if alternative, one is a clarification. Stalheim stated it is, of the existing procedures. There is concern about it, which is why there are other options. Crawford stated add language to the end of 21 03 040(1) on Council packet page 370, "...with the Countv auditor. Co�.nty rev eui► :aind %ar,�a count�`eertifreate�af ex =ert�r troy that. Caskey- Schreiber moved to add la Motion carried unanimously. Stalheim stated they can do on Council Crawford stated amend section 21.03.085(2)(j) on Council packet page 377 to add language, "Approximate location of existing'; buildings and sfng on -site septic systems." Stalheim stated that makes sense. Caskey- Schreiber moved to amend section 21.03.085(2)(j) on Council packet page 377 to add language, "Approximate location of existing buildings and existing on -site septic systems." Crawford stated the concern with boundary line adjustments was that they weren't developing a new site plan proposal. They are trying to clarify that this is only for existing buildings and septic systems. Motion carried unanimously. Brian Jones, Jones Engineers, stated the committee has taken care of some of his concerns. This code formalizes critical areas ordinance review and creates a burden for landowners. The code doesn't include any assurance by the agency that the property will be and remain a buildable lot. A landowner may not file for a building permit for a few years after the application procedure is over. Planning and Development Committee, 1/13/2009, Page 7 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Brenner stated that once the lot is accepted, its vested. That is State law. If the rules change, the owner already has a lot of record. Jones stated vesting isn't mentioned. In fact, the word is deleted from the text. Stalheim stated no changes to vesting are proposed. A land division is vested at the time of application. The owner is vested for land division, not for subsequent development permits. This ordinance doesn't change anything from the existing ordinance. They are changing the vesting date to a pre - application date. According to State law, a subdivision owner has five years to develop under the rules in effect at the time of that land division. This ordinance doesn't change current standards. Brenner asked if someone could go through a process to make sure their property is buildable according to the critical areas ordinance, and then that effort would be for naught if there were changes. Stalheim stated staff would go through a review of a short subdivision under today's critical areas ordinance. However, there's no guarantee of a building permit if they change the critical areas ordinance tomorrow. That's not anything to do with the land division ordinance. That has to do with the critical areas ordinance and other ordinances. Brenner asked if it would be better to have that critical areas review during the time of platting the lots rather than through the subdivision process. Stalheim stated that's what they propose to do. Do the critical areas review during the time the lots are platted. The critical areas ordinance allows the delineation to remain for five years, so they don't have to do another delineation. Crawford stated this issue will be further'tested in court. They haven't heard the last of vesting issues and environmental regulations. If they keep the minimal provision regarding reasonable use, there is some protection. Jones stated they haven't addressed the same issue for reserve tracts. They are the same part of a project, yet it will be future development, critical areas, access analysis, and a plat. If a reserve tract were to be sold, they would have to start over again with the permitting processes. Bill Quehrn, Building Industry Association of Whatcom County Executive Director, stated he sent a memo yesterday. Most of the concerns were with clarity. Take more time to address all the concerns. Brenner asked how much more time they want. Quehrn stated their due diligence to represent their members is to be sure they communicate on behalf of all the folks who need to be heard. He is glad to try and help the County address the concerns through a meeting with those folks. Mary Dickinson, Building Industry Association of Whatcom County Governmental Affairs Director, stated they need more time. She agrees with everything Mr. Jones and Mr. Quehrn said. Vesting is the issue that no one wants to address. County legal counsel should look at how things are being applied at the County. It depends on how something is vested. The issue of vesting will keep coming up, so legal counsel really needs to look at it. The language is vague. She and others came up with 13 pages of questions that need clarifying. Consult with the professionals who deal with the code every day when writing the code. Spend more time with the community to work on this. Planning and Development Committee, 1/13/2009, Page 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 Fleetwood stated the Council gave direction to do this code scrub years ago. They've gone through a lot of work, and are at the end of the process now. Time is not of the essence on this. He's inclined to allow more time to clarify these items. He asked if that is objectionable. Stalheim stated this ordinance isn't much difference from the Planning Commission on November 13. The same comments were made. His plate is full. If they want to delay it, that's fine. They will continue to go around and around the same questions. Things are clear in his mind. Now, the staff is reviewing ten urban growth areas and working on many other things. Time is getting short. Fleetwood stated staff doesn't have time to prepare clarifications. Weimer stated he supports the alternative ordinance with alternative one on Council packet page 350. Like anything, they can spend forever on this issue. The same people who want more time are the same ones who show up and yell at the Council because they never get anything accomplished. Move the alternative forward. Brenner stated this isn't time critical. Make those tweaks to the language to clarify things. That shouldn't be a problem. Weimer asked if the changes would require another hearing. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side B.) Stalheim stated legal counsel has said a hearing is not required,. He won't -have time to sit down in another meeting. People can provide written comment's Crawford stated he's ready to go ahead and do this. He's' °-not sure they will get much further with it if they wait. They have to try it. There are bigger, over - arching issues with subdivision and land use activities in Whatcom County. This item is not the., mechanism to address those bigger issues. Some of it will have to be resolved i-b - -: court or by the political will of the people of Whatcom County. It's probably time to move,on`and'60mmit to this one way or another. There are some issues he's not settled with. For instance, he prefers that the pre - application meeting for short subdivisions was optional, not `required. However, it's time to put this to a vote. Fleetwood stated he's inclined to clarify some aspects of this that seem to be vague to people. If someone brings forward proposed changes to clarify the language in question, he's inclined to allow more time. He supports the motion for approval now, but he supports any motion to allow more time to make changes. Crawford stated they didn't hear anything specific to be changed, other than the larger philosophical issues. Staff doesn't have time to address those changes. The Council would have to docket those items. Fleetwood stated he's talking about minor refinements that people have talked about. Unfortunately, they didn't offer any particulars. If the citizens who spoke have specific solutions, then they should bring them forward. The Council can get those done in a couple of weeks. Brenner stated she is in favor of waiting two weeks to clarify some of these things. She's not interested in addressing the over - arching issues. Someone said they had little wording changes to make it clear. That's reasonable. Planning and Development Committee, 1/13/2009, Page 9 1 Dominique Zervas, 709 Dupont Street, stated someone, not staff, could bring 2 forward the document with specific changes. Allow two weeks to get that clarification work 3 done. The folks at the BIA should do that work. 4 5 Crawford stated a list of 30 questions doesn't do any good for this process. He 6 asked if the BIA can come up with the specific language, which is what the Council needs. 7 8 Weimer moved to recommend approval to the full Council of the alternate 9 ordinance (AB2008 -404A) with alternative one language and as amended. He's not 10 opposed to leaving the record open for two more weeks if people want, but he hasn't heard 11 what the problem is. They're hearing the same thing the Planning Commission heard six 12 weeks ago. 13 14 Motion carried 2 -0 with Caskey- Schreiber absent. 15 16 17 ADJOURN 18 19 The meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m. 20 21 22"' 23 Jill Nixpii, %IMIHif6fts /Transcription 24 ,,��� -� Y C p �' %, 25 26 00. 27 _ V ; COUNTY 28 0 = 29 - T _ 30 ,9 31 32 D'ztaia Br* C ncil Clerk WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON i �/ .�! = /R Planning and Development Committee, 1/13/2009, Page 10