2015, 01-20 Study Session Meeting MINUTES
SPOKANE VALLEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
STUDY SESSION FORMAT
Spokane Valley City Hall Council Chambers
Spokane Valley,Washington
January 20, 2015 6:00 p.m.
Attendance:
Councilmembers Staff
Dean Grafos, Mayor Mike Jackson, City Manager
Arne Woodard,Deputy Mayor Mark Calhoun, Deputy City Manager
Chuck Hafner,Councilmember John Hohman, Community Development Dir.
Rod Higgins, Councilmember Cary Driskell, City Attorney
Ed Pace, Councilmember Mike Stone,Parks &Recreation Director
Ben Wick, Councilmember Eric Guth, Public Works Director
Erik Lamb, Deputy City Attorney
ABSENT: Steve Worley, Senior Engineer
Bill Bates, Councilmember Micki Harnois, Planner
Rick VanLeuven,Police Chief
Chris Bainbridge, City Clerk
Mayor Grafos called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL: City Clerk Bainbridge called the roll; all Councilmembers were present except
Councilmember Bates. It was moved by Councilmember Pace, seconded and unanimously agreed to
excuse Councilmember Bates from tonight's meeting.
ACTION ITEM:
1. Executive Session: Pending Litigation [RCW 42.30.110(1)(1)]
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard and seconded to adjourn into Executive Session for
approximately ten minutes to discuss pending litigation, and that action will be taken upon return to open
session. Council adjourned into Executive Session at 6:03 p.m. At 6:10 p.m., Mayor Grafos declared
Council out of Executive Session, at which time it was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard and seconded
to approve the settlement of the lawsuit entitled "Gibson, et al., v. City of Spokane Valley," Spokane
County cause numbers 14-2-04849-6 and 10-2-03678-9, in the total amount of$40,000, and authorize the
City Manager to finalize and execute any documents necessary to accomplish the same. City Attorney
Driskell explained that two lawsuits arose from the 2007 construction of the round-about at Montgomery
and Wilbur and Mansfield; that staff went through mediation with the plaintiffs, and that this now
represents a full and final resolution of any possible claim with the Montgomery Court Apartments.
Mayor Grafos invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by Acclamation: In Favor:
Unanimous. Opposed:None. Motion carried
NON-ACTION ITEMS:
2. Review of Various City Marijuana Regulations and Bans Statewide—Erik Lamb
Deputy City Attorney Lamb explained that tonight's agenda item is an opportunity to review what other
cities are doing regarding Initiative 502 and recreational marijuana. Via his PowerPoint presentation, Mr.
Lamb explained the types of regulations of cities throughout the state, with forty-seven cities imposing a
ban, twenty imposing interim regulations, sixty-two using various levels of new direct regulations, forty-
four using existing regulations, and sixty cities passing a moratorium. Mr. Lamb said that this process is
very much in flux as the first retail sales were in July, and people are trying to address issues as they arise,
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both on a state and a local level; he said out of the three retail stores allocated within our City, two have
received licenses and are operating, eleven have a producer license and thirteen have a processor license,
adding that some of those licensees are actually the same individual, making it closer to fifteen businesses
instead of twenty-four.
3. Proposed Text Amendment,Plat Time Extension, CTA 2014-0006—Micki Harnois
Planner Harnois explained that the amendment proposes changing the timeframe for preliminary plat
extensions from a single one-year time extension, to an initial three-year extension with additional one-
year extensions allowed administratively. As noted in her PowerPoint presentation, Ms. Harnois briefly
explained the plat review and approval process, noted that under current regulations, should the five-year
approval expire the plat couldn't be recorded and the project would die; she gave some examples of why
the five-year deadline might not be met, mentioned the time extensions allowed by state law, and showed
comparable allowed time extensions for various jurisdictions. Ms. Harnois also stated that the PIanning
Commission unanimously recommended approval of the change to an initial three-year time extension,
allowing one year extensions at the discretion of the Department, and of the deletion of the current
criteria for approval of an extension.
Councilmember Pace asked what would happen if a federal code changes, and would that change the
developer's plan. Planner Harnois responded that it might require an altered condition. Councilmember
Pace then stated that he would like to have any such change always come out for the good of the
developer; that if a building code changes to impose stricter requirements,that the previous, less-stringent
regulations would apply so as to always benefit the developer. Director Hohman explained that such a
situation would be problematic as it would be difficult to judge the criteria; but if there were some need to
update the regulations for the health, safety or general welfare, that would be the best approach,which he
said might or might not increase a burden on the developer, said that any scenario would be judged at the
time the project came forward; that the main point of the proposed change is the developer wouldn't have
to start again from the beginning as that could represent a large financial burden on the developer. City
Attorney Driskell added that Councilmember Pace's suggestion would present significant problems in
deciding when to allow more or less restrictive regulations, and keeping the regulations as the proposed
amendment suggests would also provide certainty for the development community and the
neighborhoods; and said that having regulations that would benefit one group and not the other would
present some challenges. Councilmember Pace also asked about sending notices to builders when their
expiration time is near; said that he gets a notice from the library when a book is overdue and asked why
we couldn't send out notices to developers. Mr. Driskell explained that failing to bring back a book to the
library is a lot lower risk, and he cautioned taking on any such burden of notifying developers; he said it
is their project and they have a strong interest in following the timeframe, and if we failed to notify
anyone, they would look to the City for recourse. Mayor Grafos said he feels the proposed amendment is
a good change as it would have our regulations the same as Spokane County, and Council concurred to
move the proposed amendment forward.
4. NEPA/SEPA Process—Steve Worley
Via his PowerPoint presentation, Senior Engineer Worley gave an explanation of the processes of and
differences between SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act), and NEPA (National Environmental Policy
Act), and said that the processes are specific to how they apply to individual public works projects. Mr.
Worley discussed the checklists, some of basics of what each law requires and how these processes are
administered, the permits and approval requirements as well as the environmental considerations; and as
an example showed the difference between what is needed for the SEPA and NEPA for the Sullivan Road
West Bridge replacement project,and finally gave a cost comparison.
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5. Street Sweeping Bike Lanes—Eric Guth
Public Works Director Guth explained that over the past year, the City has received an occasional citizen
comment or concern about debris in bicycle lanes. Mr. Guth explained that our current street sweeping
program includes work plans to periodically sweep arterial streets that may have bicycle lanes and/or
bicycle facilities in the roadway section, and that staff continually works to improve the process keeping
in mind the resources and available funding; said that the budget has held relatively steady over the past
years, but two years ago a change order was processed in order to have some additional sweeping done,
which was partly a result of good weather giving the opportunity for additional sweeping. Mr. Guth said
a slight budget increase might be needed for the 2016 budget based on past needs. Director Guth also
noted that complaints have decreased over the years, with seventeen complaints received in 2012,
fourteen in 2013, and eleven in 2014. Director Guth went through his PowerPoint presentation explaining
the sweeping plan, including sweeping frequency and criteria, and that we currently sweep all bike lanes
and shared roadways at least once a year, with changes evaluated through staff and citizen input.
Concerning one of the maps showing a"favorite bike route," Mayor Grafos asked how often that is swept.
Mr. Guth replied that it is swept based on need and inspection by staff; that it is not done on a frequent
basis as the area is not a problem for us and we don't get a lot of complaints, nor does it have the traffic
issue commonly associated with streets that need sweeping. Mayor Grafos said that some of those areas
generate a lot of leaves and that perhaps staff should examine that issue. Mr. Guth said staff will research
that issue.
6. Advance Agenda—Mayor Grafos There were no suggested changes to the Advance Agenda.
7. Highway Safety Improvement(HSIP) Grant Update
This item was for information only and was not reported or discussed.
8. Council Comments—Mayor Grafos. There were no additional Council comments.
9. City Manager Comments—Mike Jackson
City Manager Jackson reported that last week that he and Mr. Driskell met in Olympia and had a lively
discussion with Lobbyist Briahna Taylor, several senators, and the president and CEO of the Community
Banks of Washington and their lobbyist in an effort to gain support for a House Bill to approve cities
having additional lien authority to have a first priority lien for code enforcement cleanups; adding that he
also proposed working with the County Assessor to include a noticein the property tax bills. Mr. Jackson
said the banks were opposed to the idea, that when a mortgage is calculated, there is no inclusion for
some amount for such a lien. Mr. Jackson said we had previously heard from Ms. Taylor that the banks
oppose the plan and that she doesn't think that position would change and that such a bill would gain little
traction in the legislature.
After the initial meeting with those mentioned above, Mr. Jackson said he and Mr. Driskell met with Ms.
Taylor to discuss the possible alternatives of such a bill, or to stay with our initial concept. Mr. Jackson
said that the options are (1) to continue with our original concept knowing that the banks will oppose it
and it likely won't pass, but we could continue pressing this over the years; or (2) set a cap; he said the
community banks proposed a cap of$2,000, which he said staff feels is low, but we could continue that
discussion with the hope of having such a cap at $5,000, which would recover the majority of the code
enforcement actions we have; or(3) exclude the community banks from this legislation; and if we did that
the national banks might oppose it as unfair; and he said he is not sure that is even feasible, adding that
the larger banks are not opposed to this idea. To further clarify the proposed legislation,Mr. Jackson said
this would only apply to those who don't pay, and only then would a lien be placed on their property; he
said Council had previously discussed not wanting to put a lien on property as that option is not popular
with legislators as no one wants to put someone out of their home, so we are proposing to include such an
amount with the property tax, which must be paid. Another alternative, Mr. Jackson said, would be to
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place the burden on the seller only it the property would come into foreclosure, and then perhaps have it
similar to a utility; but in summary, Mr. Jackson said we don't see the banks supporting this option any
more than any other option, and that they are strictly opposed to a lien. The idea of a cap might gain
traction, Mr. Jackson said, but if we dilute it too much, it won't meet the objective to get the property
owner in violation to pay the bill and not spread the cost among all property owners. Mr. Jackson
mentioned that during the group's discussion, most of the participants discussed the idea of simply taking
a little more tax from all the other property owners, but Mr. Jackson said he told them we do not want all
citizens to pay for individual property cleanups.
Councilmember Wick said he likes the cap progression and to see where we can go from there;
Councilmember Pace suggested we stick with the original concept; Deputy Mayor Woodard suggested
having the cap and excluding the community bank, with Mr. Jackson stating that excluding the banks
would be more of a long-term project. Councilmember Higgins suggested the cap of about $5,000 or if
we can't do that, to stay with the original verbiage. Mayor Grafos said he favors the $5,000 cap, don't
exclude the community banks, and try for something we could get passed. Councilmember Hafner agreed
and stated if we exclude the community banks, it would make the situation more difficult, and he too
agreed with the $5,000 cap.
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting
adjourned at 7:24 p.m.
an Grafos,Mayor
A/f :
Christine Bainbridge, City 4 ler'
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