LUTC MINS 03-05-2001
MEETING SUMMARY
In attendance: Committee members Dean McColgan, Chair, and Jeanne Burbidge; Deputy Mayor Linda
Kochmar; City Manager David Moseley; Director of Community Development Services Kathy McClung; Public
Works Director Cary Roe; City Attorney Bob Sterbank; Senior Planner Margaret Clark; Traffic Engineer Rick
Perez; Administrative Assistant Sandy Lyle.
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair McColgan called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of the February 21, 2001, meeting were approved as presented.
3. PUBLIC COMMENT
Dave Kaplan, an active and interested citizen, quoted an article he read in the USA Today. He provided
the clipping to the Committee. It will be copied and distributed to the Council and interested staff.
4. BUSINESS ITEMS
A. Draft RFP for Downtown Market Study – The Committee m/s/c a recommendation
that the Council approve the draft Request for Proposals to conduct a market study for the City
Center Core and Frame zoning districts. Conducting the study is the first step to determine
residential and housing capacity the City can expect to see in the downtown area in the next
several years. The information gathered will be used as the basis for completing the Planned
Action SEPA budgeted and planned for this year’s work program.
B. 2001 Site-Specific Comprehensive Plan Map Change Requests – Staff introduced
the site specific Comprehensive Plan Map Change Requests. There are six new requests and
one request to amend the text of the Comprehensive Plan. There are four previous requests
that have been through the selection process and are waiting for the Transportation Model to be
finalized prior to moving forward. The selection criteria were discussed and reviewed for each
request. The Committee m/s/c recommendation to the Council to go forward and study further
Site Specific Requests #’s 3-6. Request #1 was recommended not to go forward for further
analysis, because it did not meet Criteria #1 and 2. Site Specific Request #2, a request from
Paul Benton, to change the comprehensive plan designation and zoning of 4.03 acres located
north of South 312th Street and east of First Avenue South from Professional Office (PO) to
Office Park (OP) was withdrawn by Mr. Benton on the basis that Federal Way has a sufficient
number of senior housing units. De-En Lang complimented staff on bring responsive to
telephone calls, and clarified that Site Specific Request #6 was only for that portion of the site
east of the Class II wetland, as only that portion of the site would be served by sanitary sewer.
Dave Kaplan reminded staff that the wetlands on this site were contiguous to the wetlands on
the Silverwood site.
City of Federal Way
City Council
Land Use/Transportation Committee
March 5, 2001 City Hall
5:30 pm Council Chambers
C. Allowed Maximum Heights and Other Miscellaneous Changes and Amendments –
As part of its regular review of development regulations, staff has identified the need to amend
the text of Federal Way City Code (FWCC), Section 22, to address some inconsistencies and
other clarifications regarding the definition, height and location of schools; ensuring consistency
of building height in multifamily residential zones; and modification of parking regulations for
churches to address a wide range of uses associated with churches. The Committee agreed to
add “professional training or continuing education in these or similar professions” to the
definition of Business or Vocational Schools. The Committee also agreed that schools should
be able to build higher if setbacks are increased. The Committee thought it reasonable to
require churches to provide a transportation management plan addressing the varied uses of
the specific site in order to assess parking needs.
Len Zickler of AHBL Engineers, the firm working on the new High School, commended staff for
responding to the needs of the school district, even though he, personally finds the language in
the use charts confusing. He stated that the School District supports the proposed
amendments before the Committee.
The issue of increased heights generated much discussion among Committee members
because any time a height increase is proposed, the impairment of a view is possible. The
Committee would like to preserve Council’s right to review such cases. As a result the
Committee added to the future work program a comprehensive overview of height issues.
The Committee then m/s/c the amendments to the Code as amended and recommended
approval to the City Council at its meeting on March 20, 2001.
5. FUTURE MEETINGS
The next meeting will be held in Council Chambers at 5:30 pm on March 19, 2001.
6. ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 7:05pm.
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