PC APPROVED Minutes 05-10-18 APPROVED Minutes
Spokane Valley Planning Commission
Council Chambers—City Hall
May 10,2018
I. Chair Rasmussen called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. Commissioners,staff and audience stood for
the pledge of allegiance. Secretary Deanna Horton took roll and the following members and staff were
present:
James Johnson Cary Driskell,City Attorney
Danielle Kaschmitter Lori Barlow, Senior Planner
Tim Kelley Jenny Nickerson,Assistant Building Official
Mike Phillips Marty Palaniuk, Planner
Michelle Rasmussen Micki Harnois, Planner
Suzanne Stathos,arrived at 6:04 p.m. Karen Kendall,Planner
Matt Walton Deanna Horton, Secretary for the Commission
Hearing no objections the Commission excused Commissioner Stathos
II. AGENDA: Commissioner Johnson moved to accept the May 10, 2018 agenda as presented. The vote
on the motion was six in favor, zero against and the motion passed.
III. MINUTES:There were no minutes to approve.
IV. COMMISSION REPORTS: The Commissioners had no reports.
V. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT: Senior Planner Lori Barlow informed the Commission the city of
Millwood is holding a Planning Short Course May 23,2018 and suggested anyone who had not attended
one previously should consider attending. This Short Course is produced by the Washington State
Department of Commerce and provides good information.
VI. PUBLIC COMMENT: There was no public comment.
VII. COMMISSION BUSINESS:
i. Planning Commission Findings of Fact for CTA-2018-0002, a privately initiated code text
amendment to the Spokane Valley Municipal Code 19.60 and 19.65 to allow lodging in the
Industrial zone.
Planner Marty Palaniuk presented the Planning Commission's Findings of Fact for CTA-2018-
0002, a privately initiated code text amendment to Spokane Valley Municipal Code (SVMC) to
allow hotels/motels in the Industrial zone. Mr. Palaniuk explained the Findings reflect the Planning
Commission's recommendation to the City Council: to allow hotels/motels with a building
footprint of 25,000 square feet or lessin the Industrial zone, a building footprint of more than
25,000 square feet, would need a Conditional Use Permit (CUP). Also adopted were minor
language changes recommended by staff, to bring the original amendment language in line with
the way the rest of the SVMC code is written. Commissioner Johnson clarified the 25,000 square
foot footprint only referred to the building size on the ground and did not dictate the overall size
the building could be.
Commissioner Kelley moved to accept the Findings for CTA-2018-0002 as presented.
Commissioner Walton stated he was still strongly opposed to the language allowing a structure
with a building footprint larger than 25,000 square feet. He said the applicant was not seeking
anything larger and it would be a mistake to allow larger structures to take up more Industrial zoned
land. Commissioner Kelley confirmed Mr. Walton is comfortable with a structure which has a
25,000 square feet or smaller footprint. Commissioner Walton noted he had moved to adopt
language which excluded a larger structure but that motion had died for lack of a second.
Commissioner Kelley renewed his support of the hotels/motels for what they can bring into the
City by means of tax base,employment, other services, retail sales, business sales. Commissioner
Johnson agreed the amendment was a good idea but feels the CUP process was extra regulation
which was unnecessary, and felt this part of the amendment needed further discussion and should
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have been removed from the proposal. He also felt that the location of the project should be closer
to the arterial, and that not adding language to the amendment to require it lacked proper prudence.
The motion passed, by a show of hands, with four in favor and three against, with Commissioners
Johnson, Stathos and Walton dissenting.
ii. Deliberations: 2018 Comprehensive Plan Amendments
CPA-2018.0001
Planner Micki Harnois reminded the Commission that CPA-2018-0001 is located approximately
300 east of Pines on Valleyway. The request is to change the Comprehensive Plan designation
from Single Family Residential (SFR) to Multifamily Residential (MFR) and from R-3 to
Multifamily zoning. The property is bordered to the north and south by MFR and to the west by
Corridor Mixed Use(CMU).
Commissioner Johnson said he sympathized with people who did not want to have development
intrude into their neighborhood but this was only a few hundred feet from the corridor and nothing
stays the same forever. Commissioner Walton stated he felt it would match the rest of the
surrounding areas.
Commissioner Johnson moved to recommend approval of CTA-2018-0001. Commissioner Stathos
asked where the line is drawn in order to stop development from encroaching into the
neighborhoods. Commissioner Walton said he sympathized with Commissioner Stathos' comment
and felt the Planning Commission exists to determine where change was appropriate, and he felt
this change was appropriate in this area.
The motion passed with a vote of six in favor, one against with Commissioner Stathos dissenting.
CPA-2018-0003
Mr. Palaniuk reminded the Commission that CPA-2018-0003 was located on Bowdish Road just
north of the intersection with Sands Road. The request is to change the designation from SFR to
CMU and the zoning from R-2 to CMU. Mr. Palaniuk said this parcel is located in a floodplain,
has alluvium soils, has a fish-bearing stream running through it and is south of the railroad tracks.
The contiguous parcels which meet the criteria to make the request for the change are across the
railroad right-of-way to the north,which is designated CMU.
Commissioner Kelley discussed many of the objections which had been raised during the public
hearing, schools would be over crowded, the traffic would increase, property values would
decrease,there was not enough notice given and crime would increase. He noted that these issues
are often brought up when a multifamily project is proposed. He commented that rarely do any of
these things actually happen. He noted Ms. Barlow said there was plenty of notice given.
Commissioner Walton said the request was to change from SFR to CMU has more uses than just
multifamily which need to be considered when before allowing the change. Commissioner Johnson
said when he visited the site in February and the homes in the front of the site are an extension of
the surrounding neighborhood. He felt the transition between those homes and Dishman-Mica
needed to be preserved, and this is not the right change for this area. Commissioner Phillips said
he does not feel the CMU should reach across the railroad tracks to the south into the residential
neighborhoods. Commissioner Stathos said she was concerned about the floodplain on the property
and comments the citizens had made. Commissioner Kasehmitter said she had concerns regarding
the floodplain,fire evacuations, soil contamination and the outpouring of people who were against
the change. Commissioner Walton said he noted all of the citizen comments,but in the staff report
it noted that the request was not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. The allowable uses for
the CMU designation were not appropriate for the area and the requested change was not consistent
with the Comprehensive Plan. Commissioner Rasmussen said she was concerned about neighbors
who live next to the request stating they have had water in their backyards and not allowing the
CMU to encroach past the logical division of the railroad tracks.
Commissioner Johnson moved to recommend denial of CPA-2018-0003 to the City Council. The
motion passed with a vote of six in favor and one against with Commissioner Kelley dissenting.
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CPA-2018-0004
Mr. Palaniuk said CPA-2018-0004 was located at the corner of 7th Avenue and University Road.
The request is to change the designation from SFR to Neighborhood Commercial (NC) and the
zoning from R-3 to NC. The applicant owns an adjacent parcel which was designated NC during
the 2016 Comprehensive Plan Update.
During the public hearing, several citizens had commented that language on the subdivision plat
could prohibit commercial development on any property located within the subdivision without a
vote of the subdivision members. The Commissioners asked City Attorney Cary Driskell to opine
on how this covenant would affect the property change. Mr. Driskell stated that covenants are a
civil matter between parties and does not affect any decision that the Commission would make.
The City has the legal right to rezone the property. The covenants could affect development in the
future; however,a single-family residence is still an allowed use on the property.
Commissioner Johnson said he understood the comments regarding increased in traffic in the
neighborhood as was suggested by many who testified, but there was also a need for more NC in
many areas. He also confirmed a Councilmember had requested that staff add more areas of NC
in the City during the Comprehensive Plan update, Commissioner Walton said he understood the
objections but since both parcels were owned by the same person, he felt it placed the property
owner at a disadvantage when the parcels were zoned differently. Commissioner Kelley said the
Commission had discussions during the Comprehensive Plan Update about having more services
in the neighborhoods. The two parcels are right on University Road and fit all the criteria discussed
for the NC during the Update. Commissioner Kaschmitter agreed.
Commissioner Johnson moved to recommend approval of CPA-2018-0004 to the City Council. The
motion passed with a vote of seven in favor, and zero against.
CPA-2018-0005
Commissioner Phillips recused himself from this amendment and left the room.
Planner Karen Kendall reminded the Commission this amendment was correcting a mapping error
where several parcels were split zoned during the Comprehensive Plan Update. The parcels are
located at the apex of Progress and Forker Roads. The City is proposing to correct the zoning by
having the NC zone along the north and east portion above the Bonneville Power Easement and
south and west of the easement changed to SFR. The Commissioners had no concerns regarding
this amendment.
Commissioner Johnson moved to recommend approval of CTA-2018-0005 to the City Council. The
motion passed with a vote of six in favor and zero against.
CPA-2018-0006
Commissioner Phillips returned to the room,
Ms.Kendall explained the parcel for this amendment is located on Trent Road just east of Sullivan,
and the easterly 15 feet of the parcel is designated as SFR and the remainder of the parcel is
designated Industrial Mixed Use (IMU). The proposal is to designate the entire parcel as IMU.
The Commissioners had no concerns regarding this correction.
Commissioner Johnson moved to recommend approval of CTA-2018-0005 to the City Council. The
motion passed with a vote of seven in favor and zero against.
iii. Discussion to Rescind CTA-2018-0002
Commissioner Walton moved to rescind the motion regarding CTA-2018-0002 due to a procedural
error.
Commissioner Walton stated he felt the topic needed more discussion, especially since the vote to
approve the findings was four to three. He also felt there had been an error in parliamentary
procedure during the April 26, 2018 meeting while recommending approval of the amendment, a
privately initiated code text amendment to allow hotels/motels in the Industrial zone. The vote on
the motion to recommend approval of the amendment as submitted with minor changes passed with
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a vote of five in favor, two against. Although the Commissioners had discussed the merits of the
amendment under small board rules, when the adopted motion was put to the floor, there was no
discussion on the merits of the main motion itself before the Commission voted on it, which
Commissioner Walton felt was in error. There was discussion as to whether the motion to rescind
was the proper main motion and the Commission took a break for staff to research the topic.
After review of Roberts Rules of Order, it was determined the motion to rescind was in order,
however it would have been more timely had it been made prior to the Findings of Fact supporting
the Planning Commission's decision on CTA-2018-0002. If the motion to rescind passes, then
there will need to be extra work to reconsider the Findings since they currently support CTA-2018-
0002 as it passed.
Commissioner Walton stated he felt the Commission moved too quickly to take the vote on the
adopted motion and Commissioners should have been given an opportunity to discuss the merits
of the main motion on the floor. He feels that were several strong viewpoints that could have
changed minds,there could have been amendments to the motion had the opportunity been there.
However in moving to vote right after the motion was made,did not allow for the proper discussion
of the merits of the motion itself.
Commissioner Kelley said there is a proper procedure but many times based on small board rules
all the elements are there, but not necessarily in the correct order. While he agrees there should be
discussion every time, it does not always happen with this group and up until now,no one has had
an issue with this process. He believes the topic was thoroughly discussed before it was voted on.
Commissioners Stathos and Kaschmitter had no comment.
Commissioner Johnson said he remembered Commissioner Kelley making a motion without the
25,000 square foot requirement with the CUP requirement but the motion was not very clear to
him. After some conversation, Mr. Kelley made a motion to accept the amendment as it was
written. Commissioner Johnson said it seemed the motion was unclear, and then all of the sudden
there was a vote on it. Commissioner Kelley said his only confusion was when Ms. Barlow
interjected that he adopted staff's proposed language changes, otherwise he said he was aware of
what his motion was.
Commissioner Walton added he understands that while at times the Commission does follow small
board rules,it does not relinquish its right to follow the proper procedures when adopting a motion
for Commission business. He also said to Commissioner Johnson's point,he was confused about
what the actual motion before he was asked to vote on it. Commissioner Phillips stated he seconded
the motion made by Commissioner Kelley and he understood the motion,whether it was understood
by anyone else, five people voted in favor of it. Someone understood it enough to vote on it.
Commissioner Walton said he was going to make one more plea that there is order and procedure
for a reason. If they are not followed, there has to be a remedy for it, especially if there was an
opportunity to seek clarification or to add additional clarification. He appreciates the extensive
discussion prior to the motion being made, but after the motion is made there needs to be
opportunity offer amendments and additional discussion based on the language of the motion itself
before there is a vote. This did not occur during the vote of CTA-2018-0002,which violated proper
procedure; he encourages the Commission to consider this when voting on the motion to rescind
the motion.
The motion failed with a vote of three in favor and four against with Commissioners Kaschmitter,
Kelley, Phillips and Rasmussen dissenting.
VIII. GOOD OF THE ORDER:Thanks to staff and Commission members for discussion on parliamentary
procedure.
IX. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Johnson moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:46 p.m. The vote on
the motion was unanimous in favor, the motion passed.
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Michelle Rasmussen, Chair Date signed
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Deanna Horton, Secretary