LUTC MINS 09-19-2005G:\LUTC\LUTC Agendas and Summaries 2005\09-19-05 LUTC Minutes.doc
City of Federal Way
City Council
Land Use/Transportation Committee
September 19th, 2005 City Hall
5:30 pm Council Chambers
MEETING MINUTES
In attendance: Council Member Michael Park, Council Member Eric Faison, Mayor Dean McColgan; Deputy Mayor Linda
Kochmar; City Manager David Moseley; Assistant City Manager Derek Matheson; Assistant City Attorney Amy Jo Pearsall;
Public Works Director Cary Roe; Community Development Director Kathy McClung; Public Works Deputy Director Ken
Miller; Deputy Community Development Director Greg Fewins; Development Services Manager Will Appleton; Engineering
Plans Reviewer Kevin Peterson; City Traffic Engineer Rick Perez; Traffic Engineer Sarady Long; Streets Project Engineer Al
Emter; Senior Planner Margaret Clark, Senior Planner Jim Harris, Senior Planner Deb Barker, Community Development
Consultant Janet Shull, Planning Intern Reilly Pittman, and Administrative Assistant Marianne Stiles. A number of citizens
people also attended.
1. CALL TO ORDER
Councilman Park called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm. Councilman Jack Dovey was excused as he is out of the state.
2. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES
The minutes of September 6th, 2005, were approved.
3. PUBLIC COMMENT
Robert LaBounty: Commenting on Item ‘C’, Cottages at Hoyt Road. He has a tape measure and says that of eighty feet
of greenbelt there is only sixty-two feet left. They’ve (Trinity) dropped 20% of the trees they were supposed to keep
up. They mismanaged the survey and the retaining pond, they’ve made past mistakes and why should they be
allowed to continue?
Pete Bristow: He measured and has only fifty feet (50’) from his fence line- it should be 80’. Some one should be
accountable. This needs to be looked at.
Andrea McDowell: She received a letter about more trees coming down and questions the definition of “hazardous
trees”. When did they become hazardous? Did they only become that way after the clearance began?
4. BUSINESS ITEMS
A. Windswept Final Plat
Deb Barker provided the background information.
Cmte PASSED staff recommendation to fwd approval to the October 4th Council Consent Agenda. She noted
that the final plat was submitted Oct. 12th, not on the 21st as written. That was a typo.
MOVED by Councilman Park. SECONDED by Councilman Faison . PASSED Unanimously.
B. The Greens Preliminary Plat
Jim Harris provided the background information.
Cmte PASSED staff recommendation to fwd a recommendation approving the Plat to the September 20th
Council Consent Agenda.
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Greg Sears (Bellevue), representing FW LLC, urged the Council to approve the Plat.
MOVED by Councilman Faison. SECONDED by Councilman Park. PASSED Unanimously.
C. Cottages at Hoyt Road Preliminary Plat - Revisions
Jim Harris provided background information. Staff provided no recommendation. The revision for this already
approved preliminary plat is necessary due to a surveying error. The site is steep and the original survey was off by
ten feet (10’). Trinity wants to add one new retaining wall and to extend and increase the height of an additional one.
They want to increase the land clearing and remove ‘hazardous’ trees in the Natural Growth Protection Area
(NGPE). The Applicant has an arborist’s report on the hazardous trees. The City also retained an arborist who
concurred with the first arborist and expanded the list of trees. The tree danger stems from root disturbance & wind
exposure.
Citizen Comment:
Paula Kramer (lives at north end above the plat) said that the company admitted to removing more trees than they
should have but they have offered to replant. She said the Applicant spoke with her and her husband and resolved
things to their satisfaction. She now wants the project to move forward.
Sean McDowell (lives above the plat to the East) questioned that, if the Council approved the Applicant’s planned
revisions tonight what precedent does it set for future developers to get away with ruining green spaces?
Chris Austin, Trinity Land Development, Puyallup, WA. Mr. Austin said that City staff has been very helpful. Trinity
has spent lots of money on this project. He has three clarification to the staff report:
a. Increased Height of Wall: There will be nothing taller than eight feet (8’) at the pond and ten feet (10’)
at others.
b. Trinity is not proposing to grade and clear the bottom corner of the lot, at least, not beyond the
clearing limits.
c. Couldn’t remember ‘c’.
The original project in 2001, the Touma Plat (at the time) established distances of clearing with the eastern
neighbors. Trinity has eliminated five lots (at a cost to them of about one million dollars) and made no changes to
the south,, east, and north borders of the buffer.
80’ – 50’ buffers: Mr. Austin suggested that the neighbors are misunderstanding the 80’ buffer zone issue. He said it
consists of 50’ from a 30’ drainage line. He cannot speak to commitments made prior, but said Trinity has NOT cut
into buffer zones. They cleared trees to get the pipe in to attach to the upper drainage system. He said the arborist’s
report is due to previous work done by Touma.
Trinity has had to deal with unforeseen conditions. They spoke to the Kramer & Jones families. He admitted that
clearing the site made the hazard. He said Trinity had addressed the issue to the Kramer’s satisfaction and noted
that the Mrs. Kramer came to the meeting and spoke.
Regarding the grading issue, he said there would be no extension of clearing and no change to the intersection.
He said that Bob Strong has a park tract adjoining and supports the removal of three dead trees. Mr. Austin says
Trinity has tried to make the project as sensitive as possible.
Dan Balmelli, Barghausen Engineering. Mr. Balmelli said that Barghausen are the engineers of record. They
redesigned the original project and, while staking the property, found the 10’ discrepancy. Their options varied but
they feel what they are offering now has no significant changes.
Councilman Faison asked if there have been any changes in the vegetation on the East side. Mr. Balmelli
responded that they have not changed the property lines. The buffer changes at the South end. Mr. Austin said
they’ve re-staked the edge of clearing limits. Ken Miller said the city does not have a surveyor and relied on the
developer’s stakes. The contractor went 6’ beyond clearing limits at the north side and 12’ on the other sides. There
have also been some intrusions into the NPGE. Councilman Faison asked how far in the intrusions are? Ken
Miller responded that he has measured 6’ or 5’ intrusions and they have found six different intrusions into the
buffer. They are up to 20’ long. Councilman Faison asked what the remedy is. Ken Miller responded that the
developer is coming up with a mitigation plan. Councilman Faison asked what the timeline would be on this. Mr.
Balmelli said they could have it in a couple of days. Councilman Faison said it looks like they will be moving
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straight to the remedy. He asked what staff recommends. Ken Miller stated that the retaining walls and clearing are
the two issues. Once Barghausen submits the plans staff can devise a plan. He estimated it will take a week to come
up with a plan. Mr. Greg Fewins said there are two questions: 1) North end changes, & 2) Removal of the 30 trees.
He said the third issue is unrelated, although the construction violations do need to be dealt with. Mr. Fewins
wanted staff to deal with the violation and leave the Council with the two main questions. Mayor McColgan
interjected that his confidence in this project and these entities is waning. Moving forward he is skeptical, thinking
‘What will be the next violation?’ He strongly recommended looking at the whole project and would like more
information. Deputy Mayor Linda Kochmar urged delaying the approval until the Council has more information.
Her questions involve re-vegetation and the walls. She stated she is not ready to approve this at the full Council and
wants more time. Councilman Faison said he is not comfortable with the issue staying ‘staff administrative’
because of the violations. He suggested this return to the next LUTC. He urged Trinity to meet with the neighbors on
the east side of the plat and said he wants to hear about the results of those meetings. Councilman Park noted the
next LUTC is October 3rd. He suggested tabling the issue until the next meeting and requested a report on October
3rd. Councilman Faison asked Mr. Austin if this would affect Trinity’s timeline. Mr. Austin said that if staff allows
construction, they plan to move forward. They will not leave {the site} unless told to. He said he was not aware of
the comments of the neighbors to the east and said he would meet with everyone who wanted to meet. He is strongly
against tabling this for two weeks and noted that the two issues are: 1) hazardous trees, & 2) the north end changes.
He said the buffer violation is a third issue. He urged moving forward. Councilman Park asked staff if it was
possible to separate the two issues. Can they move forward with the North end changes and hold off on the buffer
for two weeks – the next meeting. {After continued conversation, the outcome was set. At that point, Mr. Austin met
with citizens in the Hylebos Room with Kathy McClung.}
i) The issue of hazardous trees PASSED, in that it was sent to the September 20th Council Agenda.
Staff will work in the time given to identify which trees should be removed to ensure the safety of existing
residential homes.
ii) The rest the revision issues DID NOT PASS. They were tabled until the next LUTC meeting, October 3rd,
when they will be reviewed. There is the possibility of going to the October 4th Council Meeting.
D. Lakehaven ILA Preliminary Engineering
Al Emter was prepared buy not required to present background information.
MOVED by Councilman Faison. SECONDED by Councilman Park . PASSED Unanimously.
E. Neighborhood Business Code Amendment
Janet Shull presented background information.
Citizen Comment:
Vilma Taylor said that she would like her property to be included in the BN zone; she has had a family business
there for 20 years and it does well there.
Brian Loller, of the Ernest Gerald Foundation, (sp), supports the amendment.
Cameron Smock, Bonney Watson Funeral Home, also voice support for the amendment.
Councilman Faison said he supports most of the changes but has a concern: self-storage in a NB zone; he’d like it
to be not auto-oriented. He does not want U-Hauls driving up all the time. Mr. Loller noted that vehicular access is
usually required but that staff has put a size limit in place and a vehicle storage area. Councilman Faison said he
was concerned that self-storage units are already allowed in BP & BC zones, are rows of single story buildings, &
do not fit in ‘residential’ areas. He mentioned an increase in height in the BN zone and suggested setting back the
discussion. He asked what Fred Meyer was currently zoned. Janet Shull said it is BN, but it was zoned before
Federal Way incorporated and was grand-fathered in. Councilman Faison replied that perhaps the BN zone should
be reviewed; he is not sure it is working. He suggested Brian Loller try to re-zone his property and said he wants
further discussion on this issue. Deputy Mayor Linda Kochmar asked if Councilman Faison would move this item
forward without a recommendation to the Council? It was approved by the planning commission unanimously.
Mayor McColgan then asked if perhaps they could move forward with the items Councilman Faison did not
disagree with. Councilman Faison supported the Mayor’s statement.
Items 1,3-7 were MOVED by Councilman Faison. SECONDED by Councilman Park . PASSED Unanimously.
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Items 2, 8-10 DID NOT PASS. They were removed to return to the next LUTC on Oct 3rd.
F. 2005/2007 Implementation of Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) Plans & Program Agreement with WSDOT
(CGA4567) – Rick Perez provided the back-ground information.
MOVED by Councilman Faison. SECONDED by Councilman Park . PASSED Unanimously.
G. 2005/2006 Implementation of Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) Plans & Program Agreement with King
County – Rick Perez provided the back-ground information.
MOVED by Councilman Faison. SECONDED by Councilman Park . PASSED Unanimously.
6. FUTURE MEETINGS
The next scheduled meeting will be October 3rd, 2005.
7. ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 7:36 p.m.