Planning Commission MINS 12-05-2016CITY OF FEDERAL WAY
PLANNING COMMISSION
October 5, 2016 City Hall
6:30 p.m. City Council Chambers
MEETING MINUTES
Commissioners present: Lawson Bronson, Hope Elder, Sarady Long, Tim O'Neil, Wayne Carlson, Diana
Noble - Gulliford, and Anthony Murrietta. Commissioners absent: Tom Medhurst (excused). Deputy Mayor
Jeanne Burbidge. City Staff present: Acting Director Scott Sproul, Principal Planner Margaret Clark,
Community Services Manager Jeff Watson, Assistant City Attorney Ryan Call, and Administrative
Assistant Tina Piety.
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Bronson called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
'File minutes of July 6, 2016, were approved as presented.
AUDIENCE COMMENT
None
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
None
COMMISSION BUSINESS
Briefing — Multi - Family Development Moratorium
Principal Planner Clark delivered the staff report. She introduced Community Services Manager Jeff
Watson, who will be delivering part of the report. She went over the background, potential actions (18 of
them), and potential impacts. Community Services Manager Watson went over possible unintended
consequences that may be a result of the potential actions and to what extent the potential actions may be
counter to the affirmative fair housing act. Principal Planer Clark went over other potential impacts and
how the potential actions fit (or do not fit) within the King County Countywide Policies (CWPPs), Puget
Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Vision 2040, and Growth Management Act (GMA) goals and policies.
Commissioner O'Neil expressed concern that he didn't see his biggest concern addressed in this report,
namely traffic congestion. What degree is traffic taken into consideration when considering a new
project? Multi- family development is likely to generate a lot of traffic. Principal Planner asked that
Commissioner Long (who works for the city) respond to this concern. Commissioner Long stated that the
city verifies that there is adequate capacity for a development through the requirement of a traffic
concurrency report. Any project deemed inadequate, must mitigate the impact. Commission O'Neil
commented that it seems the city will have to have new roads in order to handle the additional units
needed to meet the city's capacity target.
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Planning Commission Minutes Page 2 October 5, 2016
Commissioner Elder is concerned that a large number of people are not able to afford rent. Many
landlords require a renter to have an income double that of the rent, which many people do not have.
Principal Planner Clark noted that according to the statistics, the city has a large need for very -low
income housing.
Commissioner Carlson asked in regards to capacity targets, does the city carry forward pervious growth
assumptions (possible made before the recession), or change them to reflect the current conditions.
Principal Planner Clark responded that while the city researched to prepare the updated comprehensive
plan, staff considered if the city had enough capacity to meet the target, which we do. Commissioner
Carlson suggested staff pursue both the proposed potential actions and the proposed legislative approach.
He commented that he does not believe that restricting the amount of units in a building will bring a
greater mix of market and low- income rate units. He feels going higher is a better solution because it
would be more expensive to construct and therefore, would encourage more of a mix.
Alternate Commissioner Murrietta stated the proposed action to require multi- family developments to
provide supportive social services (mental health, chemical dependency, etc.) to tenants gives a negative
connotation. Community Services Manager Watson replied that it is a negative connotation; however,
sadly the reality is that many people in low- income units have a need for these types of services.
Commissioner Long questioned who will enforce the requirement to have social services. Who will
determine who qualifies for counseling? It was stated that such services should be done by private
agencies, not the city. Community Services Manager Watson clarified some of the issues and further
discussion was held on this issue.
The Commission discussed traffic concurrency, the level -of- service for roads, and its impacts. It was
noted that a lot of our traffic comes from outside of the city and are just passing through. Commission
Long noted that the city does use the State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) to mitigate possible
impacts from projects outside of the city.
Commissioner Noble - Gulliford stated she feels the proposed action to require maintenance plans for
developments and to adopt an inspection program to monitor the plans is a good idea. The city currently has
a number of apartment properties that are in poor shape. Acting Director Sproul commented that the city's
code compliance program does handle a number of issues in regards to multi - family developments. It was
noted the city's program is complaint driven, though they are developing a more pro- active approach. Chair
Bronson asked how the city could inspect properties without being too intrusive.
Commissioner Long asked if the city has design guidelines for multi - family developments. Principal
Planner Clark replied that we do; the proposed actions would go above our current guidelines.
Chair Bronson commented that for the proposed action to require a safety plan, a better word would be a
security plan. Staff agrees.
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS
Commissioner Carlson asked staff if the stormwater permit has been worked on. Principal Planner Clark
responded that Planning and Public Works staff have recently met and have begun to work on this issue.
ADJOURN
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
KAPlanning Commission\2016\Meeting Summary 10.05- 16.doc