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LUTC MINS 05-16-2005G:\LUTC\LUTC Agendas and Summaries 2005\05-16-05 LUTC Minutes.doc City of Federal Way City Council Land Use/Transportation Committee May 16, 2005 City Hall 5:30 pm Council Chambers MEETING MINUTES In attendance: Council Member Michael Park, Council Member Eric Faison, Deputy Mayor Linda Kochmar; Council Member Jim Ferrell; Council Member Jeanne Burbidge; City Manager David Moseley; Assistant City Manager Derek Matheson; Assistant City Attorney Karen Kirkpatrick; Community Development Services Director Kathy McClung; Community Development Services Deputy Director Greg Fewins; Public Works Director Cary Roe; Public Works Deputy Director Ken Miller; Street Systems Manager Marwan Salloum; Planner Janet Shull and Administrative Assistant Marianne Stiles. 1. CALL TO ORDER Councilman Faison called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm for Chairman Dovey, who was excused from attending. 2. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES The minutes of May 2nd, 2005, were approved. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT None 4. BUSINESS ITEMS A. Saghalie Firs Preliminary Plat Janet Shull presented the background information on the project. Greg Sears, Saghalie Firs LLC: Noted that they had made two recommendations but they did not appeal the Hearing Examiners denial of their recommendations. They do not want to leave a “hole in the ground that will fill with water”. He said that three lots have no drainage or outfall. Flooding will depend on the type of winter we have. It will be a hardship to work around a pond. John Morris, Morris Homes, the builder for Saghalie: Used a picture of the plat from Janet’s ppt. He showed the blue patch that may pond. He reiterated that they do not want to leave a hole in the ground. The lots must be brought up to the height of the road to be built at some point, and waiting to grade those portions until later will require twice the work and twice the cost without saving any trees or any positive outcome. Janet Shull: Staff concurs with Mr. Sears on the potential of ponding. Staff in PW & CD did not see this as a critical issue; the contract engineer thought there was some permeability; there are no significant trees but there is onsite vegetation. Staff must follow Section 20-179 to reduce the amount of time a site is bare dirt, for neighborhood aesthetic reasons. Deputy Mayor Kochmar: Asked, will the land be filled and graded at a later date? Janet answered that grading and clearing is limited due to code. Councilman Faison clarified the intent of the statutory provision is to prevent land from being totally cleared – for the neighbors. This land has no residential neighbors and this does not meet the intent of the code. They should allow clearing and grading to a reasonable extent; not delay to Land Use/Transportation Committee Page 2 6/7/2005 G:\LUTC\LUTC Agendas and Summaries 2005\05-16-05 LUTC Minutes.doc fulfill the code and cause problems later. Deputy Mayor Kochmar agreed that the code’s intent is to create a buffer for current residents. Janet Shull stated that staff was not offering a solution but was remaining consistent to plat recommendations. Councilman Ferrell clarified that underlying policy is not to clear-cut for aesthetic reasons. Shull stated that clearing of vegetation can cause flooding and erosion. Ferrell asked if staff was worried about erosion. Shull said they are not. Staff concurred with applicant regarding the northside of the property, but could not come to an agreement regarding the south side. Kathy McClung stated that staff stayed ‘comfortable’ with the recommendation. Councilman Ferrell: What financial impact this will have on the project? John Morris responded that the financial cost is the interest carried by each lot over the amount of time the building and selling is delayed. Increased cost would be 7% for each of the 34 lots at $150,000 each. (10,500 per lot. For 34 lots: 357,000). Mr. Morris said staff is correct to follow the code, but that it does not apply here. In addition to the extra work of bringing in the dirt later water that will collect in the hole could undercut the newly built road. Councilman Ferrell recommended doing all grading at one time. Councilman Park concurs with Councilman Ferrell. He asked the applicants how soon the project would be completed. John Morris said every house in their last development, Devonshire, was pre-sold and they are using the same plans. Average sale price will be $375,000 - $425,000 per house, it will be a function of how much it costs to buy and build. Janet Shull asked if council was going back to the idea of the applicant saving two green spaces, but smaller than staff recommended. Yes. Councilman Faison moved to allow applicant’s proposed grading. Park seconded. PASSED with this modification. B. Proposed Interlocal Agreement between Federal Way & King County Relating to Annexation Areas Karen Kirkpatrick provided background information. Staff recommends Option 1. Councilman Faison asked if the City had been unable to acquire additional parkland. Karen Kirkpatrick said they had not been. David Moseley clarified that the city had tried but the land in question was owned by King County’s Public Works department and could not be transferred. The city is still working on it. Moved by Park. Seconded by Faison. Passed C. Lloyd Enterprises, Inc. Request for Amending the Designated Truck Route Ordinance Cary Roe provided background information. He said that staff is seeking direction from the council and provided four options: Option 1: Inquire and confirm that Lloyd’s will pay for the asphalt overlay ($80,000 - $100,000) before proceeding with any further steps or analysis Option 2: Move forward with the Intersection Analysis ($6,000) Option 3: Conduct a neighborhood meeting on this issue Option 4: Not approve Lloyd’s request Dean Justice: Presented a petition signed by 40 people (in two days). He opposes changing FWCC 15-183 and mentioned streets, wetlands and the fisheries in Hylebos Creek as reasons why it should not be changed. Gravel/haul trucks increase the danger on the streets. The roads are narrow, the average width is 18’ and the trucks are 10’ wide. Other cars are forced to the shoulder when passing. The bridge is 22’ wide. The 40 trucks mentioned are only Lloyd’s trucks. There are many school bus stops along 375th & 8th Ave. S. J-Brake noise from trucks is also a problem. The trucks are 60,000 – 85,000 lbs per trucks and gravel debris is left along the road causing damage to cars. There are no sidewalks and the road is built on wetlands. The vertical curvature of the road does not meet standards. They are worried about damage to fish. He finished by saying that the citizens do not support Lloyds. Marta Justus – Marta read a letter from her mother, Madeline, that said that a traffic light on hwy 99 would be nice but that there is too much gravel in the creek. She also noted that kids play on the edge of the road at the school. Patty Justus – Her daughter takes the public bus on main roads. She has looked up statistics of trucks involved in fatal accidents: 2/3 were in rural areas. 355 accidents in Washington State dump trucks. Todd Beamer HS Land Use/Transportation Committee Page 3 6/7/2005 G:\LUTC\LUTC Agendas and Summaries 2005\05-16-05 LUTC Minutes.doc students also drive on the road. She measured the bridge and the widest part is 18’6”. Many school buses drive that road and there are no side walks except on the overpass (I-5). She says a weight limit makes sense. Diane Lane – Thanked the council for their time and said that if Lloyds wants to be more efficient, why don’t they turn at 356th? There is already a light at that intersection and it is not a residential street. She suggested it was a viable alternative. Will they be opening 5th in the future? Why use 373rd when it is curvy and expensive and 5th is straight? You will have to pay for improvements and there are bicycles, walkers, wetlands, salmon, and neighborhoods. She requested an environmental impact statement be done. She questioned the number of 40 trucks – round trip that is 80. Trucks other than Lloyd’s will use the newly opened route to bypass the weigh station. She does not want to open the road to so many trucks. Dave Bridges – Noted the very steep hill up from 8th Ave. There are 4 driveways, and how long does a loaded truck take to stop? There are no sidewalks and it will be very dangerous in winter. John Moe – He has a hidden driveway on a corner and thinks that it’s an accident site – students speed down the hill. 373rd also floods twice per year and the water can get to 8”-10” over the road. He asked if weakness of the roadway and water taken into account during the roadway analysis? Cary Roe – Staff chose the number of 40 trucks, directional, for their study. Regarding saturation of the roadbed, he confirmed it would have an impact and suggested restricting trucks in winter. The cores they took were conducted under dry roadbed conditions. They are planning a new bridge, in the future. Tom Campbell – Says when trucks cross I-5 and reach 8th Ave, they turn east to get to hwy 99 but they cannot make the turn. Also, west on 373 to turn onto 8th avenue, trucks do not have turning radius to make that turn. Ted Entiaknap – He has lived 56 years in Federal Way. Ted reminded everyone that removing the load limit signs will open that road to all traffic. Trucks could go up past Todd Beamer HS; trucks have knocked over signs before. There are many crooked roads there and from 12th to the high school, the road is narrow without sidewalks. Diane Lane – She said she was living there when Lloyd’s ran trucks before it was loud and dangerous. She asked Lloyd’s if they would use 5th avenue, or 356th to turn? John Long – Moved here is 1982 and says the noise pollution would be devastating. Trucks drive in 1st gear and some do use j-brakes despite ban. Bob Couper, of Lloyd’s – Regarding 5th Avenue, Mr. Couper said that the Milton pit is in reclamation and the Federal Way council has approved their master plan with traffic mitigation. At a given point within the plan, industrial truck trips to a certain point, Milton will be forced to open 5th to Lloyd’s traffic. HE said that Lloyd’s will pay for road improvement, triggered by commercial development with in 20 years. He mentioned they can’t use it now due to the road width and Hylebos creek. He said Lloyd’s is able to deal with the noise and has been a good neighbor, they have self-imposed restricted speed limit. He says Lloyd’s has letters from residents on the curve that appreciate they’re self-imposed limits. He says it is an economic hardship on Lloyd’s to not use 373rd. He says 356th has too much traffic to be useful; it backs up and it is quicker to go around. The cost of gravel is truck time. He says that from the top of the bridge on 373rd he can get to hwy 99 in five minutes. When they go up to 348th it takes 20 minutes. [Citizens in the audience disagreed with the time given.] Mr. Couper said that Lloyd’s proposes stringent speed limits on 373rd and will work with the city on overlay costs. He stated, “Trucks need to travel”. He did say that two trucks couldn’t manage the turns but that it’s the safest way out of the pit. Councilman Ferrell thanked Cary Roe for providing the requested information as requested and thanked those attending the meeting. Councilman Faison stated there are two clear options: 1) Move forward 2) Sent the applicant home. He suggested a separate neighborhood meeting where residents can bring forward their solutions. Deputy Mayor Kochmar asked Cary: Is 373rd a neighborhood street or an arterial? Mr. Roe stated that 373rd is classified as a rural neighborhood street. The road is not built to support industrial traffic. Land Use/Transportation Committee Page 4 6/7/2005 G:\LUTC\LUTC Agendas and Summaries 2005\05-16-05 LUTC Minutes.doc Councilwoman Burbidge stated this is a serious request based on economic concerns & neighborhood concerns. We are at the start of the process. Before spending more money, we should discuss and think on this further. Councilman Faison moved – NOT TO COUNCIL – to further inquire as to options 1, 2 & 3. Mostly 3: he is interested in finding out what solutions the neighborhood can come up with. Restate Mr. Roe’s options: Option 1: Inquire and confirm that Lloyd’s will pay for the asphalt overlay ($80,000 - $100,000) before proceeding with any further steps or analysis Option 2: Move forward with the Intersection Analysis ($6,000) Option 3: Conduct a neighborhood meeting on this issue Option 4: Not approve Lloyd’s request David Moseley suggested passing Options 1 & 3 but not 2. The Montessori School was suggested as a meeting location and Marta Foldi agreed to it. The council and residents will be informed in advance. Staff will return to LUTC at a further date with updates. This does NOT go to the Council Consent Agenda. Passed 1 & 3. 6. FUTURE MEETINGS The next scheduled meeting will be June 6, 2005. 7. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 7:16 p.m.