2013, 12-17 study session minutes MINUTES
SPOKANE VALLEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
STUDY SESSION FORMAT
Spokane Valley City Hall Council Chambers
Spokane Valley,Washington
December 17,2013 6:00 p.m.
Attendance:
Councilmembers Staff
Torn Towey,Mayor Mike Jackson,City Manager
Gary SchimmeIs,Deputy Mayor Cary Driskell, City Attorney
Dean Grafos, Councilmember Mark Calhoun,Finance Director
Chuck Hafner, Councilmember Mike Stone, Parks &Recreation Director
Rod Higgins, Councilmember John Holman, Community Development Dir.
Ben Wick, Councilmember Eric Guth, Public Works Director
Arne Woodard, Councilmember Erik Lamb,Deputy City Attorney
Scott Kuhta,Planning Manager
Mike Basinger, Senior Planner
Rick VanLeuven,Police Chief
Carolbelle Branch,Public Information Officer
Chris Bainbridge, City Clerk
Mayor Towey called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL: City Clerk Bainbridge called the roll; all Councilmembers were present.
Colonel Brian Newberry asked to say a few words and Mayor Towey invited him to the podium. Colonel
Newberry said that although it has been a difficult year for Fairchild Air Force Base, they have adopted
and overcome and even won some major awards; said he celebrates our City and thanks our Mayor and
Council for making a difference.
ACTION ITEMS:
1. Second Reading Proposed Ordinance 13-020,Argonne Road Project--Cary Driskell
After City Clerk Bainbridge read the ordinance title, it was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels and
seconded to approve Ordinance 13-020 declaring public use and necessity regarding 2314 North
Argonne Road regarding the Argonne Road Corridor Upgrades Project. City Attorney Driskell explained
that this ordinance concerns 2314 North Argonne Road and the Argonne Road Corridor upgrades Project,
and declares that the project is necessary as a public use and is in the best interests of the citizens.
Attorney Driskell added that the ordinance also authorizes staff to use any means to acquire the property,
including up to condemnation, and said if that avenue were used, we would be required to pay for the
purchase of the property. Mayor Towey invited public comments; no comments were offered.
Councilmember Woodard asked if we had ever used the condemnation process and Attorney Driskell said
he have not, although we permitted the City of Spokane to do so several years ago. Vote by Acclamation:
In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed:None. Motion carried.
2. Proposed Resolution 13-013 Adopting Amended Parks and Recreation Master Plan—Mike Stone
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels and seconded to approve Resolution 13-013, adopting the
Parks and Recreation Master Plan Update. Parks and Recreation Director Stone explained that the
version in the Council packet is the final, edited and revised version and said he feels we have a product
we can be proud of, and one that is a good supplement to the original 2006 plan. Mayor Towey invited
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public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by Acclamation: In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed:
None. Motion carried.
3. Mayoral Appointments to Planning Commission—Mayor Towey
Mayor Towey announced that his nominations to fill the upcoming vacancies on the Planning
Commission are incumbent Joe Stoy, and Chris Sneider. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels and
seconded to confirm the Mayor's nomination to appoint Joe Stoy and Chris Sneider to the Planning
Commission for three-year terms beginning January 1, 2014. Mayor Towey invited public comment; no
comments were offered. Vote by Acclamation:In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed:None. Motion carried.
4.Mayoral Appointments to Lodging Tax Advisory Committee—Mayor Towey
Mayor Towey announced that his nominations to fill the upcoming vacancies on the Lodging Tax
Advisory Committee are incumbents Herman Meier and Jeff Fiman, and in order to keep the positions
staggered, he is recommending two-year appointments; and said he spoke with the applicants and they
were agreeable with the two-year appointment. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels and seconded
to confirm the Mayoral recommended appointments of Herman Meier and Jeff Fiman to the Lodging Tax
Advisory Committee, each for a two-year term which begins January 1, 2014, and ends December 31,
2015. Mayor Towey invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by Acclamation:In Favor:
Unanimous. Opposed:None. Motion carried.
5. Sweeping Contract Renewal—Eric Guth
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels and seconded to approve the contract to AAA Sweeping in an
amount not to exceed$490,199.94 for the Street Sweeping Contract and authorize the City Manager to
finalize and execute the contract. Public Works Director Guth briefly explained the renewal of this
contract as noted on his December 17 Request for Council Action Form. Mayor Towey invited public
comment; no comments were offered. Vote by Acclamation: In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None.
Motion carried.
6. Street Maintenance Contract Renewal—Eric Guth
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels and seconded to approve the contract to Poe Asphalt, Inc., in
an amount not to exceed$1,506,663 for the Street and Storm water Maintenance and Show Removal and
authorize the City Manager to finalize and sign the contract. Public Works Director Guth briefly
explained the renewal of this contract as noted on his December 17 Request for Council Action Form.
Mayor Towey invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by Acclamation: In Favor:
Unanimous. Opposed:None. Motion carried.
7. Storm«atcr Grant Acceptance Eric Guth Removed from the agenda.
NON-ACTION ITEMS:
8.Pavement Management Plan Update—Eric Guth
Director Guth explained that he has a draft report of the Pavement Management Plan and will be
finalizing that in the near future, but that tonight's presentation is an overview of everything consultant
Infrastructure Management Systems (IMS) came up with as a result of their evaluation. In going through
his PowerPoint presentation, Mr. Guth explained such things as the approach used by IMS such as
focusing on need-year analysis, and analyzing the network using greater knowledge and moving away
from the textbook approach to one of"Spokane Valley-specific." Backlog was described as the streets
that are beyond repair, and Mr. Guth said the target is to have less than 15%, and we are at 9%. Mr. Guth
explained the tools used by IMS to rate the streets,the overall condition index(OCT), and went over some
of those ratings; and said our OCI results for 2013 are above average condition and below average
backlog. Mr. Guth also mentioned some of the funding estimates, projected costs to achieve targeted OCI,
our rehabilitation needs,and our five-year budget analysis and recommendations.Director Guth explained
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that although funding is not zero, it is not unlimited; said we are examining the effects of the current
funding levels with the goal to prevent deterioration in pavement quality, while we work to pursue
additional grant opportunities and continue to grow the economy so that additional money can be
dedicated to preservation.
City Manager Jackson added that we are all aware that our focus is preservation; said we were fortunate
to have secured grants; said some of the projects are not completed and will be carried over, and said staff
can come back again to identify the categories in a little more detail; and said the message they have
heard is that over the last few years, we have done a very good job and we are beginning to bring this
under management; he said we knew that 6% of the general fund would not cover 100% of needed street
preservation; but that we have moved into the ballpark of"manageable" and said for example, next year
we'll do some work on Sprague that wasn't done this year; he said the ideal is to maintain that optimal
OCI and to do that we need to dedicate additional funding to road preservation, but to do that we money;
he said we don't have to do it immediately and of course we cannot continue at this level for the next ten
to twenty years. Mr. Jackson said he is hopeful that as revenue grows for our city, we will fund more and
said after law enforcement, road preservation is our second highest priority, adding that we can fluid
preservation at the current level through 2018, but as time goes on, we can't lose sight that road work is
expensive and that over time,we'll have to dedicate funds to road preservation.
Councilmember Grafos asked about the breakdown on OCI for residential and Mr. Guth said residential
streets have not been done yet and that we will need to discuss that issue and figure out a plan as some of
those streets are reaching that backlog category. Mr. Jackson said we have identified the work plan with
the fund we have and are starting to fine-tune this into sharper focus; he said we will take the money we
have and be more scientific with how we direct those funds; he said not everything that rates high has a
high OCI; and said that the large amount of sub-grade infrastructure is what we are trying to protect; he
said we can have those further discussions so we achieve the goal of getting the most return on the dollar.
Mayor Towey called for a recess at 7:26 p.m., and reconvened the meeting at 7:39 p.m.
9. Recreational Marijuana Implementation Update—Erik Lamb, Scott Kuhta
As an update to the recently state-approved recreational marijuana laws, Deputy City Attorney Lamb
went over some of the basics of the law; said that the law to allow possession and use was effective
December 2012, but no sales could begin until the Liquor Control Board (LCB) adopted marijuana
licensing rules; he said the rules were adopted October 16, 2013, and that on November 18, the LCB
began its thirty-day period to accept applications. Mr. Lamb said notice of applications are sent to local
jurisdictions, and that the actual issuing of licenses should begin during the latter part of 2014's first
quarter.Mr. Lamb went over the types of license; e.g. producer, processor and retailer; and also explained
some of the licensing rules, such as no licensed marijuana facility permitted within 1,000 feet of any
school, playground, child care center, or park; and said that the license does not constitute authorization
for licensees to ignore local zoning or business licensing, but that the State will not review or disapprove
applications based on local zoning or other regulatory issues, and said the state will encourage applicants
to work with the local jurisdictions. Councilmember Hafner asked if our City is obligated to allow this
and Mr. Lamb said the Attorney General's Office is examining that question, but if we were to ban the
licensing, Mr.Lamb said he has heard there are advocate groups ready to sue on the day they are denied a
local license; so it would be an invitation for a lawsuit. Mr. Jackson said in terms of review of the license,
unless we have an objection,we will remain silent and neither endorse or deny the Iicense.
Planning Manager Kuhta went over the zoning analysis and showed the areas on the maps where
production, processing, and retail would be permitted and said staff has received numerous phone calls
from people looking for suitable locations.
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Mr. Lamb said other considerations such as the "Cole Memo" from the U.S. Department of Justice in
August, 2013, states that so long as states enact and implement strong and effective regulatory
enforcement systems that address the public health, safety and other law enforcement issues, the federal
government won't pursue prosecution of citizens or state and local public officials under the Controlled
Substances Act, but that the system must contain "robust" controls and procedures. Mr. Lamb noted that
this is not a change in federal law, although it could be modified over time. There was some discussion
about what constitutes a park and Mr. Kuhta explained that trails do not fall under that category; but we
could put in an objection if such a business were located within 1,000 feet based on our plans. Mr. Kuhta
also noted that for example, if a daycare moved in after a marijuana business was already established,the
marijuana business would not be required to move. There was also discussion about properties purchased
as future school sites and Mr. Lamb said we have not heard at which point the LCB would consider that
use in place in terms of denying the license. Mr. Lamb also noted that it is illegal to smoke marijuana in
public. Mr. Lamb said that having a state license doesn't grant authority to ignore local regulations, but
also that the state law could give pre-emption over local jurisdictions; and said he heard that some view
local jurisdictions as having no authority, but that issue has not been decided by the courts; he said there
are extremely divergent viewpoints about being able to ban the licensing and it is unknown at this point,
and added that we do not want to invite a lawsuit, but we do want to provide protection for our citizens.
10. Permitted Use Matrix Update—John Hohman,Mike Basinger
Community Development Director Hohman said that over the last few months staff has been working on
updating the permitted use matrix; that during the summer of 2012 staff examined the different uses to try
to expand where those uses were allowed within the City; that they looked at such things as townhouses
in neighborhood commercial and other focused approaches; said they wanted to have the permitted use
matrix easier to use; said the matrix is governed by the goals and policies in the Comprehensive Plan and
that is the limitation at this point, and with the overlying limitation of what is contained in the
Comprehensive Plan, he said he recommends coming up with a plan for an update of the Comprehensive
Plan; and said there is a lot to be gained by looking specifically at such things as zones and the land use
chapters; he said everything is still applicable,but as part of the economic development program,we need
to branch this as we move into the 2015 budget cycle. Mr.Holtman said this is just an introduction at this
stage and staff has not finished the details, and once complete, this will go to the Planning Commission
hopefully in January or February, and afterwards,to Council.
Via his PowerPoint presentation, Mr. Basinger explained some of the rationale for the review of the use
matrix, that the present use matrix is difficult to use, is inconsistent with the Comp Plan, the uses do not
correlate to the definitions, supplemental conditions are missing in our Code, and the NAICS (North
American Industry Classification System) codes are outdated and should therefore be eliminated. Mr.
Basinger also noted that this classification system is not widely used, it was designed for statistical
purposes, is scheduled to be reviewed every five years, and that updates were last made in 2012. Mr.
Basinger said the goal with the updated matrix is to be more general and more inclusive by using broader
use categories and grouping similar uses into those broad categories, all which has resulted in moving
from the current 240 uses in the existing matrix, to 166 uses in the proposed consolidated matrix. Mr.
Basinger concurred that the next step is to take this to the Planning Commission in January and February,
and then to Council in February and March.
11. Advance Agenda—Mayor Towey
Councilmember Woodard asked if staff contacted the person expressing concern about the ability to have
honey bees and Mr. Jackson said staff will follow-up on that issue.
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12. Council Check-in—Mayor Towey
Mayor Towey said as this is his last meeting, he wanted to thank the citizens who support the City; said
he felt Council supported him throughout his four years as Mayor and thanked them for that support, and
he thanked staff as well for their support and assistance,
13. City Manager Comments—Mike Jackson
Mr. Jackson said the winter Workshop is scheduled for February 18 and if Council would Iike to include
any topics, to please let him know as he started a tentative list of topics. Mr. Jackson also noted that we
recently learned that the County is considering action to make a code amendment regarding weed control
assessment for Spokane Valley. In closing, Mr. Jackson also thanked Mayor Towey and Deputy Mayor
Schimmels for their service to the City.
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting
adjourned at 9:01 p.m.
Merrfv' ,
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pristine Bainbridge, City Clerk
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Approved by Council:01-14-2014