19-105074 - SEPA Comment Reponse Letter - 08-07-2020
August 4, 2020 Job No. 1352-023-019
Ms. Becky Chapin
Senior Planner
City of Federal Way
33325 8th Avenue S
Federal Way, WA 98003
RE: #19 -105072-SU, 19-105073 -SE, & 19-105074-UP
The Woodlands at Redondo Creek Preliminary Plat
SEPA Public Comments Responses
Dear Ms. Chapin:
On behalf of RMJ Holdings, LLC, ESM Consulting Engineers, LLC is providing this letter as a
formal response to the public comments we received from the City of Federal Way on July 21
and 27, 2020. These public comments were in response to Notice of SEPA Determination of
Non-Significance issued on July 3, 2020 with a comment response period that ended July 17,
2020.
ESM submitted a “Public Comments Responses” letter to the City in April 2020 to address
comments provided after Notice of Application. This letter is an addendum to the original
response letter, and some topics will reference the original letter. This letter expands on
related topics to make sure the comments are adequately addressed.
The City of Federal Way received 4 public comments regarding this project. Below is a
summary of each topic of concern from the public comments with our response. A matrix of
respondents and their topic of concern (identified based on numbers correlated with topic from
below) is provided at the end of this letter.
1. TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENTS
Please refer to responses (#1) provided in the original “Public Comment Responses” letter
provided in April 2020.
Any offsite improvements that the City deems necessary will be funded by the City’s
Transportation Impact Fee funds, which the developer is required to pay into at time of building
permit issuance to help finance the City’s transportation infrastructure. Refer to FWCC
Chapter 19.91 for additional information.
2. PEDESTRIAN AND SCHOOL ACCESS
Please refer to responses (#2) provided in the original “Public Comment Responses” letter
provided in April 2020.
Ms. Becky Chapin
August 4, 2020
Page 2
3. WATER
Please refer to responses (#4) provided in the original “Public Comment Responses” letter
provided in April 2020.
4. NATURAL HABITAT AND ENVIRONMENT
Please refer to responses (#6 and 7) provided in the original “Public Comment Responses”
letter provided in April 2020.
This project proposes to meet the critical area and environmental standards required by the
City of Federal Way. As a result, approximately 5.91 acres, or 27%, of the site will remain
undisturbed. Mitigation and enhancement within the undisturbed areas will be provided by
removing debris and installing additional native plants.
5. BUILDING SETBACKS AND FENCING
The proposed project will meet all zoning standards applicable for single-family residential
development, including building setbacks. The RS 5.0 zoning standard for which this project
site is within, the building setbacks are as follows:
Front Yard: 20’
Side Yard: 5’
Corner Side Yard: 10’
Rear Yard: 5’
Note that what was previously shown as Lot 1 (kitty-corner to parcel 798290-0260) in the
original preliminary plat submittal is now an open space tract that will contain landscaping.
During site construction, fencing will be installed according to the City of Federal Way
standards.
6. OPEN SPACE
Open space is provided throughout the project site in various capacities. In addition, the City
of Federal Way Parks Department has agreed to accept a fee-in-lieu of providing additional
usable open space onsite. Below is a summary of each Open Space tract provided as noted
on sheet PP-03 of the Preliminary Plat plan set.
Open Space Category Tracts % of Gross Land
Area
Square Footage
Usable E, F, I 2.8% 27,072 SF / 0.62 AC
Conservation A, D 25.1% 238,433 SF / 5.47 AC
Buffer (from Hwy 99) H 0.7% 6,590 SF / 0.15 AC
Constrained B, G 3.6% 34,170 SF / 0.78 AC
Total 32.2% 306,625 SF / 7.04 AC
Ms. Becky Chapin
August 4, 2020
Page 3
Thank you for the opportunity to provide additional information and clarification to the comment
received from the SEPA Notice of Determination of Nonsignificance (DNS). If there are any
questions or a need for further clarification, please feel free to contact me at (253) 838-6113
and I would be happy to discuss them with you.
Public Record Respondent
/ Commenter Parcel Number
Date Received by the
City of Federal Way Concerns
Washington Dept. of
Transportation N/A
7/7/2020 Addressed by City
Staff
Ricardo Kelly 367440-0186 7/16/2020 1, 2, 3
Trinity Chandler 798290-0260 7/20/2020 1, 3, 4, 5, 6
David Anderson 798290-0270 7/22/2020 1, 3, 4, 5
Sincerely,
ESM CONSULTING ENGINEERS, L.L.C.
SAVANNA NAGORSKI, MS
Planner/GIS Analyst
Enc: As noted
cc: Dmitriy Mayzlin (w/Enc)
Justin Lagers