2017, 10-17 Study Session MIN'FITS
SPOKANE VALLEY COUNCIL MEETINCT
STUDY SESSION
Spokane Valley City Hall Council Chambers
Spokane Valley, Washington
October 17, 2017
Attendance;
Couucilancmbers Staff
Rod Higgins, Mayor Mark Calhoun,City Manager
Arne Woodard, Deputy Mayor John Hohman, Deputy City Manager
Caleb Coll icr, Council member Cary Driskell,City Attorney
Pam I Isley, Councilmeniber Mike Stone, Parks& Recreation Director
Mike Munch, Councilmcmbcr Chelsie Taylor, Finance Director
Ed Pace, Councilmemher Mark Werner, Police Chief
Sam Wood, Councilmernber Lori Barlow, Senior Planner
Chan Bates,Econ.Development Specialist
Ienry Allen, Senior Engineer
Mike Basinger,Eco. Dcv. Manager
Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk
Mayor Higgins called the inseting to order at 6:00 p.m.
ROLL CAM: City Clerk Bainbridge called the roll, all Councilmembers wcrc present.
ACTION ITEM:
I. Meridian Construction Change Order—Chclsic Taylor
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard and seconded to authorize the City Manager to execute Change
Order#1710 the Nferidian Construction, Inc. construction contractforthe new City Half, in the wrrrnou€i of
$32,414.27, and approve the resulting total contract amount of$9,974,485.63_ Finance Director Taylor
again went over the information contained in her Request for Council Action form explaining the
background leading up to this change order, after which Mayor I liggins invited public comment, No
comments were offered. Vole by Acclamation:In Favor. arracrrrimous. Opposed: none. Motion carried
NON-ACTION ITEMS:
2. Corn munity Dcvclopancnt Block Grant—Chaz Bates
Economic Development Specialist Bates went over the material concerning the proposed projects for the
Community Development Block Grant; said he has suggested two sidewalk projects; one on Wilbur and
the other on Knox. Mr. Hates explained that is it becoming increasingly difficult to find spaces to
accommodate sidewalk projects, and in the future we may be looking at opportunities for projects such as
working with the County on sewer projects; he noted that there is a substantial lag time from when this
information is presented to Council and when we actually receive funding. There was some discussion
about the two projects, and whether Council would determine one which would be of higher priority.
Council ultimately decided to wait on that determination until after next week's public hearing_
Couneilmember Wood asked which of the two projects has the most traffic, and how many homes would
he served on each project. Mr. Bates said he will have that information for next week's public hearing.
3. Painted 1fills—C'.aiy Driskell, John 1lolaman, Lori Barlow
Senior Planner Barlow explained that due to significant public interest in this project, staff has presented
several project overviews and updates to Council, and felt it was a good opportunity to go over the status
of the project. Through the aid of her PowerPoint presentation, she explained some of the various aspects
of the proposed development,she noled the former Clubhouse was converted to Tap House and Restaurant;
and she went over the zoning of the area. Ms. Barlow also noted the key points of a Planned Residential
Council Study Session: 10-17-2017 Prig 1 err 3
Approved by Council: 11-14-2017
Development (PUD). Councilmember Wood asked about the rezone in 2007 and that the golf coarse was
apparently doing well, why the R3 zoning, and now the R4 is almost encouraging a 11s,+; other than a golf
course_ Mr. l-iohman said the UR 3,5 was where it changed to residenlial, and he did not know why the
County did that, Ms. Barlow added that the City has parallcd existing zoning with that of the County, and
Mr_ Hohrnan noted that even if someone wanted a zoning change, the developers would have still been
vested so we could have made a change to the project,Ms.Barlow said there have no changes to the planned
development regulations. There was some discussion about density population,the fact that this is a vested
application provided the project continues moving forward;concurrency,acceptable street levels of s :rvice
for intersections, SI PA and determinations of significance; and discussion about traffic studies.
Councilmember Munch said at the past workshop on this, some residents complained that the traffic study
was done on a holiday, Ms. Bartow explained [hat the initial traffic count did occur on some dates that were
not valid, so the City called caul. those dates and it was remedied in the second section, adding that all that
information is on the City's website as part of the comments back to the developer. Ms. Barlow noted that.
[hat the property is in a 100-year flood plain designation which means review has been ongoing and will
continue; that it is not at a point where any decision has been made, and this will ultimately be given to
FEMA for their decision_
Mr. Hohman showed the special flood hazard area boundary on the slide, and explained what the choice
means tnr an environmental determination, a determination of no significance, or mitigation determined,
and that a determination of significance means an EIS (environmental impact statement) needs to be done.
He spoke about the area having a significant amount of property inundated by the flood plain, and of the
process that would be followed; said there is water there every year and sometimes worse than others; said
he spoke with the developer and their engineer and recommended they follow through and get that first step
of approval through FEMA;he said more study is required and the applicant has a lot of work to do on the
floodplain;. adding that sometimes these issues take many years before getting settled. Mr. Holianan said
they will have to address maintenance issues as well, and he stressed that staff has not agreed to take on
any liability for the project; that we don't know what type of maintcnanec there will he because we don't
know what they will ultimately come up with; and said that many of these issues will be covered in the EIS,
including what the plan is and who will he responsible.
City Attorney Driskell said that he wanled to clear up some of the misconceptions concerning this property;
that some questioned why the City "dropped the ball" and didn't buy this property; he explained if you
examine the past agendas and minutes, one can see from the fall of 2013 when we became aware this was
going to be up for sale, that we actually started working to see if this would make sense for the City to
purchase; and the City looked at the issues and in August 2013 brought this before Council with a motion
to purchase the property; and at drat time, there was some talk about people wanting to purchase the
property; he said the motion came to Council to ask for authority to go hid for the property at the auction,
but we received negative comments from the public and the City was asked not to buy it, and based on
those comments, the motion failed so we did not participate in the public sale, adding that the developer
had positioned himself so we would likely not have prevailed at the public auction anyway. Mr, Driskell
said sonic people are still asking why the City doesn't buy it now and solve this whole problem; but he said
this is a vested application and they have every right to apply to the City to get this developed and the City
needs to process the application in good faith;he said we take the policy rules this Council adopted and we
process the application pursuant.to that, and to do otherwise would be unfair to the developer or to those
surroundi rig the property.
4. Emergency Management Request for Qualifications—Erik Lamb, Chief Werner
City Attorney Driskell said that he is filling in for Mr. Lamb who is out ill tonight Mr. Driskell said that
tonight's agenda item is in response to Council's re lucsl to develop a request for qualifications (RFQ) to
identify a consultant to assist the City in developing a Spokane Valley Continuity of Operations Plan, and
to gather if there is Council consensus to proceed with this RFQ. Chief Wener said we have a
comprehensive emergency plan with Spokane County, so it is important to make sure whoever gets this
will look at that as well. Mr, Driskell added that since Spokane Valley doesn't operate in a vacuum, we are
council Study Session_ 10-17.2G17 Page 2 of 3
Approved by Counci t: 11-14-2017
in agreement with other jurisdictions for emergency management, and he went over the information
contained in his Request for Council Action form. Deputy Mayor Woodard asked if there arc areas that are
not addressed, and could it be done differently, such as in-house so as not to make information available to
those who might want to do harm to our citizens. Mr. Driskell said there are several components.ponents.of a plan,
including addressing natural disasters;he said for handling acts of terrorism there is a possibility of handling
that in-house and having our own procedures, which would give less chance for someone to be able to
collect our information and do something negative to the City. Chief Werner added that concerning critical
infrastructure,much ofthat is maintained by private entities like Avista;but in any scope of work,we would
keep it broad. Councilinembcr Munch mentioned that legislators have taken up that issue about not
disclosing infrastructure plans, etc to the public, and Mr. Driskell said there would he some limitations on
what could be obtained from outside sources. There was Council consensus to move this forward, and Mr.
Driskell said they will likely advertise for the RFQ this Friday,
5. Advance Agenda—Mayor I I iggins
There were no suggested changes to the Advance Agenda.
6, Council Check-in —Mayor I liggins
Councilmember Wood said he had an opportunity to attend the Board of Health Policy Committee meeting
where they discussed items that would have been put to the general committee, such as a marijuana use-
study; said it appears that 12 to 20-year olds arc the largest.age group that gets marijuana from their parents;
that the study wants to find out what kind of impact this is having also on the college age group, or the 18-
21 year olds;said the Board will recommend this study,adding that.$4.5 million dollars' worth of marijuana
was smoked in an average day in our state; he noted the Board is also talking about raising the tobacco use
age, 10 21, that it would require a resolution and said he might be bringing that torvy-ard; said they also see
sex trafficking becoming a large problem in the region, and they want to do a study using a Minneapolis
model to determine the impact.
Mayor HigOns said the Library Board met again to discuss the extended agi-cement that we previously
passed and the Library Board previously did not pass, and that this time they voted unanimously to adopt
that agreement. Mayor Higgins noted that there is a group working to change the name of a section of
Highway 27 to the Sam Strahan Road in recognition of the young man killed in the Freeman shooting; and
that they are asking for a letter of support from our Council. Councilmenibers nodded in agreement to
having a support letter and Mr. Calhoun said staff will bring such a letter to Council next week.
7. City Manager Comments—Mark Calhoun
City Manager Calhoun mentioned lastSaturday's City Hall grand opening was a very positive event; and
said Wednesday October 25 at 2 pm we will have the dedication ceremony for the three sculptures donated
by the Arts Council.
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting
adjourned at 7:[4 p.m. 1
,,,\," I pin
-
ATTt:. L.R. Higgins, M:
(1
-'liiis[me Bainbridge; City 'jerk
Courted Si ugly iiessinn: 10-17-20117 Page 3 of 3
Approved by Council; 11-14-2017