Loading...
2007, 11-20 Special Joint Council/Planning Commission Meeting MinutesMINUTES City of Spokane Valley Special Joint Meeting /Study Session Spokane Valley City Council/Spokane Valley Planning Commission 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 20, 2007 Attendance. Councilmembers Diana Wilhite, Mayor Steve Taylor, Deputy Mayor Rich Munson, Councilmember Dick Denenny, Councilmember Mike DeVleming, Councilmember Gary Schimmels, Councilmember Bill Gothmann, Councilmember Others in attendance: Michael Freedman and Hiroyuki Sasaki of Freedman Tung and Bottomley Staff Dave Mercier, City Manager Mike Connelly, City Attorney Greg McCormick, Planning Manager Scott Kuhta, Long Range Planner Steve Worley, Senior Engineer Micki Harnois, Associate Planner Kathy McClung, Comm Development Dir. Neil Kersten, Public Works Director Ken Thompson, Finance Director Greg Bingaman, IT Specialist Chris Bainbridge, City Clerk Planning Commissioners Gail Kogle, Chair Fred Beaulac Marcia Sands Bob Blum Absent: Dave Crosby John Carroll Ian Robertson 1. Call to Order and Welcome: Mayor Wilhite Mayor Wilhite called the meeting to order, welcomed everyone, and then gave Councilmembers and Planning Commissioners an opportunity to introduce themselves; after which Mr. Kuhta introduced the speakers for the meeting: Michael Freedman and Hiro Sasaki. Mr. Kuhta also announced that CDs of the Corridors Subarea Plan are available tonight for members of the public, and said that the Plan will be on the City's website soon. Mr. Kuhta said if members of the public wish to purchase hard copies of the plan, that contact information will be on the website, but he cautioned that the hard copy is expensive. 2. Presentation by Michael Freedman Mr. Kuhta explained that there have been three separate drafts of the subarea plan; that March of last year we reviewed the consultant's recommendation to the City and provided feedback, which was incorporated into this draft; and that this City /Consultant recommendation will go forward for public hearings and workshops, which will result in a final draft incorporating all recommended changes to proceed forward for Council's adoption consideration. Mr. Kuhta said this Plan needs to be consistent with our Comprehensive Plan and any inconsistencies will likely result in amendments to the Comprehensive Plan. Although we recently adopted the zoning, it could change upon adoption of the subarea plan; and tonight's purpose, he continued, is to orientate everyone on how the subarea plan works; and to introduce the three "books" that constitute the Plan, and said that tonight's focus will be on Books I and II. Mr. Kuhta explained that there will be no public comments tonight but there will be ample opportunity for that as we move through the process as tonight's goal is to receive Council /Commissioner feedback. Mr. Kuhta also mentioned that Book III is still evolving, and there are several issues that will be re- worked prior to presenting that book to Council for adoption consideration, as well as determining how to incorporate everything into the Plan. Mr. Kuhta explained that further transportation analysis will be forthcoming from Glatting Jackson, but they are waiting for the new model run from Spokane Regional Transportation Council (SRTC), which figures are anticipated this or next week. Once those figures are received, Mr. Kuhta explained, Glatting Jackson will re- confirm the analysis and perform cost estimates Council Regular Meeting: 11 -20 -07 Page 1 of 4 Approved: 12 -11 -07 on the recommended transportation changes, which should take about one and one -half months to complete; which will be followed by another study session for those transportation recommendations. Mr. Kuhta stated that everything seems to be moving forward as necessary regarding the library. Michael Freedman: Mr. Freedman went over the highlights of Books I and II, and explained that the Subarea Plan was established in response to the community's desire to "reverse the visual and economic decline of the Sprague and Appleway corridors, restore the beauty and vitality of these corridors, and instigate the creation of the City of Spokane Valley's first City Center." He said the planning process includes a series of numerous public workshops and focus groups, that they spoke with stakeholders, auto dealers, and citizens in those groups and community workshops but had little opportunity to speak with the Planning Commission and Council, and tonight is the opportunity to have that discussion to ensure that the document they bring for hearings has the desired content. He said the plan has many dimensions, is a "state of the art" plan so may appear unfamiliar, but if Council or Commissioners have any concerns or if anything is not clear, Mr. Freedman wants to hear those concerns, and those concerns can be addressed to Scott Kuhta who will forward them to Mr. Freedman. Mr. Freedman explained that the Plan includes three books: Book I is the Community Intent which serves the basis for the regulations and describes the goals and strategies to achieve those goals; Book II contains those development regulations which includes directing land use and development on privately owned properties located within the Plan area; and Book III is the City Actions section, which describes what the City will do as resources allow, to make that Community intent effectively happen. Mr. Freedman summarized Book I as the vision and key concept approved by Council for the revitalization of the corridors implemented by the plan; that this is the section which states what it is we intend to do; what the corridor was and how it became what it is today, and how it changes over time. It states the goals and memorializes what was there so we can compare what was and what is needed, and he added that a successful plan will make the Plan obsolete and needed to be updated. He also cautioned everyone to keep in mind that the drawings represent only the kind of place we want and the kind of character envisioned; the story and intent are told in pictures and words and include the strategies to make the physical outcomes happen, which forms the basis for the regulations and planned city actions contained in Books II and III. Book II, explained Mr. Freedman, contains the development regulations; he said that this is new territory and these regulations implement Book I; that the land use and development regulations will govern all the private development that will occur within the Plan area; that the development standards are mandatory and not negotiable, and he said that is essential as we don't want to make exceptions as word gets around that people can do what they want, and if that occurs, it changes the entire direction. He said the design guidelines are discretionary, have lots of detail, and deal with aesthetics with lots of recommendations on how buildings might be designed. Mr. Freedman stressed that the Corridor zoning system is different from what we are used to; he mentioned the existing zoning categories like community commercial and commercial mixed use, and briefly explained about the zoning organization. Mr. Freedman explained that the Plan contains no photographs, but only technical line drawings to describe exactly what the regulations are; as pictures sometimes are too controlling and could contain unintended information leading to confusion. Mr. Freedman explained about the regulatory features and district zones. Required public frontage along Sprague Avenue was also mentioned, and Mr. Freedman said the Plan envisions change over time with staged improvements; he mentioned the traffic changing from one way to two ways, from five to seven lanes, and said that the Plan assumes that all the future changes will be made, but if it turns out later that those changes won't work, such as changing the number of lanes, those can be re- addressed. Mr. Freedman said that Book III, City Actions taken by the City, will be the main subject of the next study session, to complement private investments and achieve the objectives of the plan; that Book III Council Regular Meeting: 11 -20 -07 Page 2 of 4 Approved: 12 -11 -07 contains no regulations as all those regulations are contained in Book II. At the front of Book III, Mr. Freedman stressed that it is crucial to remember that "Given the substantial length of the corridor and the multiplicity of needs represented, this program will need to be implemented in phases over an extended period of time in accordance with the availability of City Resources" and "As opportunities arise that were not known at the time of this Plan's adoption, the City may consider alternative investment strategies and projects to more effectively realize the community vision for the Sprague and Appleway Corridors." [page 85 of the Plan, emphasis added] Mr. Freedman stressed that we can't know everything when you adopt a plan, that things change, markets shift, and the plan needs some flexibility, and he said they intend to react intelligently to those unexpected things. Mr. Freedman said there will be lengthy discussion in the next study session about staged improvements, and that he is pleased to report that all the transactions necessary for the library are on track, as the library is an important part of this Plan. Mr. Freedman said that the preliminary plan which was presented for review the last time he was here, as resulted in modifications made and said that Hiro will discuss specific changes that occurred to the City and Library. Hiro Sasaki: Mr. Sasaki explained that they received lots of positive feedback on the overall layout, on the public open space and connecting open space and on the location of the library building and the City Hall building; that in particular they examined the library parking issues expressed previously and have refined the Plan to solve the parking issue for the library by relocating the Dartmouth Road from its current location, to the east; that the relocation gives the library more parking spaces. Mr. Sasaki said that the parking lot for City Hall would be in the same block as City Hall, as before people had to cross Dartmouth to get to the City Hall parking lot, and with the relocation of the road to approximately 150 feet east from the current location, crossing Dartmouth won't be necessary. In summary, Mr. Freedman said Book II illustrates what kind of development a developer could develop; that Book III is different and represents a new game plan for exactly the kind of design desired; that the regulations provide that the city center will actually be a city center; that he gave a preliminary introduction to the books of the Plan, and he encouraged Council and Commissioners to make a list of issues for the next study session. Discussion then ensued regarding existing buildings, reassuring that people will have a right to continued existence and no one will be forced out; that only properties called out in the City section constitute the City Center Core site; that there is nothing in the Plan to instigate change in any properties; that the Plan exceeds the requirements of the GMA; the idea of form based codes and Mr. Freedman's history and references; overhead utility and undergrounding utilities and that at this point utilities are not addressed and that Mr. Freedman's company does not cover all disciplines and there will be many very important issues to be reviewed by City Staff and others such as police and fire; designing the area as pedestrian friendly; that the development regulations do not regulate public civic buildings but those civic buildings punctuate the fabric of the City by being special; and that City Hall and the Library should be landmarks. Imminent domain was brought up, and Mr. Freedman said that they recommend that cities try to stay completely away from using imminent domain to force somebody out; that the political will, energy and enthusiasm needed to do a city center generally ends up drained by any controversy of forcing someone out; and that they endeavor to work on plans that combine city actions, incentives, capital improvement stimulus and market focus that harness the power of free market and stay away from forced private development, which is not the same as road development. Further discussion included Mr. Freedman talking about transitions between districts, and that there is such a conglomeration out there now that they want to make sure all new investments add to more market focused center segment, and he pointed to pages 16 and 17 of the Plan that show where districts start and stop. Concerning auto dealers, Mr. Freedman said if dealers are not physically in the "auto row" area, the plan supports them where they are, and added that the regulations and street improvements for auto row Council Regular Meeting: 11 -20 -07 Page 3 of 4 Approved: 12 -11 -07 are fundamentally geared to auto sales; and said that without being too heavy handed, they would encourage all new investments in auto sales to go to the auto row, as it is larger and has more opportunities for investments, and an excellent way to keep them competitive is to keep them together. Mr. Sasaki added that regarding larger facilities for the auto dealers, maximum block size is determined by district zone, with four acres as the maximum lot size, and that the plan discusses this more on page 43 where it states that "to maintain the accessibility provided by the block structure of the corridor, existing public streets or alleys may not be closed permanently unless the closure is part of the provision of a network of new streets that satisfy all street regulations." It was also noted that there is nothing in the Plan addressing billboards, which Mr. Freedman said could be an oversight, and that he will be interested to hear what Council and Commissioners think about that; and if they desire, Mr. Freedman can work with staff on billboard recommendations. Mr. Freedman said that to make the city center happen; they need to upgrade the image and identity of the corridor; that others have held information workshops for stakeholders, and they understand that staff is interested in trying to do the public workshops to "keep the heat on and move it forward" but not delay the plan while offering workshops for stakeholders and investors to make them understand the way it works. Mr. Kuhta added that they are scheduling upcoming meetings and have distributed a list of proposed workshops leading up to the hearings. Mayor Wilhite added that if members of the public are interested in being placed on an e-mail listing, to please contact staff. Concerning a question about any reluctance from the development community in adhering to these changes, Mr. Freedman said developers generally don't push back, their incentive is to find out what are the rules and see if they jive with the market, and that they want as much detail as they can get on all the rules; and if there is any pushback, it generally comes from the planning desk as something this unique and unfamiliar can be confusing, and he stressed the need for planning staff workshops; and said perhaps those workshops can be added to the upcoming schedule. There being no further business, Mayor Wilhite thanked Mr. Freedman and Mr. Sasaki for tonight's presentation, and thanked staff and said that Council looks forward to getting back with them for comments and recommendations. The meeting adjourned at 7:58 p.m. ATTE __Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk ti-LetAkAlKit,(WrQ__ Diana Wilhite, Mayor Council Regular Meeting: 11 -20 -07 Page 4 of 4 Approved: 12 -11 -07