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LUTC MINS 11-03-2008G:\LUTC\LUTC Agendas and Summaries 2008\11-03-08 Minutes.doc City of Federal Way City Council Land Use/Transportation Committee November 3, 2008 City Hall 5:30 PM City Council Chambers MEETING MINUTES In attendance: Committee Chair Linda Kochmar, Committee Member Dini Duclos, Committee Member Jim Ferrell, Councilmember Jeanne Burbidge, Assistant City Attorney Peter Beckwith, Director of Community Development Services Greg Fewins, Acting Deputy Public Works Director Marwan Salloum, Planning Manager Isaac Conlen, Associate Planner Matthew Herrera, Senior Planner Margaret Clark, Streets Systems Project Engineer John Mulkey, Street Systems Project Engineer Brian Roberts, Senior Financial Analyst Mark Turley and Administrative Assistant II Darlene LeMaster. 1. CALL TO ORDER Committee Chair Kochmar called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. All members were present. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The October 20, 2008 LUTC meeting minutes were approved. Moved: Duclos Seconded: Ferrell Passed: Unanimously, 3-0 3. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment was received: 4. BUSINESS ITEMS A. School Impact Fees Mark Turley provided background information on the item. Committee Member Duclos asked if any allowance would be made for senior housing since they have no impact on the schools. Mr. Fewins answered that senior housing or anything that has a “senior” designation is fully exempt from the school impact fee per the school impact fee ordinance currently in place. Committee Member Duclos commented that she wondered if the additional school impact fee may impact the cost of housing in any way and added that this was just a concern, especially in our economic times and with trying to keep cost of housing affordable. Moved: Ferrell Seconded: Duclos Passed: Unanimously, 3-0 Committee forwarded Option 1 to the November 18, 2008 City Council Consent Agenda for approval. B. Construction Hours Code Amendment Matthew Herrera provided background information on this item. Committee Member Duclos commented on the Planning Commission summary in that one Planning Commissioner was concerned more about noise and three Planning Commissioners were anticipating that this Code Amendment may help in speeding up construction time on major projects. Committee Member Duclos is most concerned about noise for residential areas. Mr. Herrera explained that the current code states that noise from development activity or heavy equipment use cannot interfere with any residential use permitted in that zone. Mr. Herrera confirmed that the code amendment would be written to give the Director of Community Development Services flexibility to make a variance revocable at any time. The Washington State Noise Control Act of 1974 has certain parameters that must be maintained. For example, even if later construction hours are allowed, there is still a maximum decibel level that cannot be exceeded under this Act. Committee Member Ferrell asked staff how the request for a code amendment was generated. Mr. Herrera responded that staff, PW staff, actually suggested a code amendment for major projects that involve road repair, asphalt overlay and construction. Committee Member Ferrell also expressed concern that when this request was heard at Planning Commission, that there were only four of the seven members present and that their vote on this item was 3:1, not the majority needed to actually make a recommendation. This item comes to LUTC from the Planning Commission without recommendation. Land Use/Transportation Committee Page 2 November 3, 2008 G:\LUTC\LUTC Agendas and Summaries 2008\11-03-08 Minutes.doc Committee Member Ferrell motioned to refer this item back to Planning Commission for further consideration, hoping that all members may be present and that a unanimous decision may be reached. Councilmember Burbidge is in agreement with the Committee and suggests that more discussion and fine tuning is necessary at the Planning Commission level prior to a recommendation being made at LUTC. Chair Kochmar asked what the criteria would be for the CD Director to revoke work hour variance. Mr. Herrera stated that the code as it is now is open to interpretation. The Code definitely could be made clearer. Committee Member Ferrell also noted that SR 99 HOV Lanes Ph. IV is just around the corner. The area involves both businesses and residential. Committee Member Ferrell’s main concern is in these multi-use areas, what the City may consider allowing that could potentially compromise quality of life to residents living within that area. Before deciding on this code amendment, Committee Member Duclos would like more specifics. She is not in favor of a blanket policy and would request that Planning Commission look more closely at extended hours, especially for heavy equipment use. She feels that extended hours could really benefit businesses; more construction could take place at night and potential revenue loss due to project construction would be decreased. Chair Kochmar also suggested that staff may want to provide notice to the public via the newspaper prior to the next meeting so that residents or business owners can come and comment on this issue. She also suggested contacting the Master Builders Association. Moved: Ferrell Seconded: Duclos Passed: Unanimously, 3-0 Committee approved referring this item back to Planning Commission for further consideration. C. Pacific Highway S HOV Lanes Phase IV – 85% Design Report (18th Ave S to S 312th St) Brian Roberts provided background information on this item. Committee Member Duclos asked if a request for the $3M shortfall was in the 2009-2010 budget. Mr. Roberts confirmed that the request is part of the 2009-2010 budget proposed to Council. Moved: Duclos Seconded: Ferrell Passed: 2-0; 1 Recusal Committee forwarded Option 1 to the November 18, 2008 City Council Consent Agenda for approval. D. S 356th St at SR 99 Intersection Improvement Project – LUD Design – Construction ILA John Mulkey provided background information on this item. There was no discussion. Moved: Ferrell Seconded: Duclos Passed: 2-0; 1 Recusal Committee forwarded Option 1 to the November 18, 2008 City Council Consent Agenda for approval. 5. FUTURE MEETING The next regularly scheduled LUTC meeting will be November 17, 2008 at 5:30 PM. 6. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 6:00 PM.