2021-05-05 Planning Commission MinutesPlanning Commission Minutes Page 1 May 5, 2021
CITY OF FEDERAL WAY
PLANNING COMMISSION
May 5, 2021 City Hall
6:30 p.m. Zoom
MEETING MINUTES
Commissioners present: Tim O’Neil, Wayne Carlson, Diana Noble-Gulliford, Tom Medhurst, Dale
Couture, Eric Olsen, Jae So, and Anna Patrick. Commissioners absent: Lawson Bronson (excused) and
Hope Elder. City Staff present: CD Director Brian Davis, Planning Manager Keith Niven, Associate
Planner Chaney Skadsen, City Attorney Eric Rhoades, and Administrative Assistant II Tina Piety.
Consultant Kevin Ramsey BERK Consulting.
CALL TO ORDER
Vice-Chair O’Neil called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M.
MINUTES
The April 21, 2021, minutes were approved as presented.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None
COMMISSION BUSINESS
Discussion, Housing Action Plan (HAP): Strategies Implementation –Planner Skadsen delivered the staff
presentation. This is for information only. She introduced the consultant Kevin Ramsey from BERK
Consulting. Planner Skadsen commented that the city has been working on this effort for over a year.
Overall findings include that the rate of housing development is not keeping up with the demand and
there is a lack of variety of housing type and affordability. She reiterated the HAP objectives, which are:
Promote new housing development that expands housing choices and is inclusive to
community needs.
Encourage homeownership opportunities and support equitable housing outcomes.
Plan for continued growth and ensure that the built environment promotes community
development and increases the quality of life for Federal Way’s existing and future residents.
Preserve the existing affordable housing stock to prevent displacement pressure.
Eight strategies were developed to achieve these objectives as follows:
Planning Commission Minutes Page 2 May 5, 2021
1) Promote a dense, walkable, mixed-use City Center as a complete neighborhood.
2) Promote mixed use, walkable, subareas and neighborhood centers.
3) Increase diversity in housing choice through expanding missing middle development opportunities.
4) Encourage Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) production.
5) Ensure that financial and regulatory incentives for mixed-income housing are effective.
6) Review school impact fees on multifamily housing.
7) Coordinate affordable housing development and preservation with community groups and the
South King Housing and Homelessness Partnership (SKHHP).
8) Protect tenants through the development of a rental housing inspection program.
Planner Skadsen then turned the presentation over to Consultant Ramsey to discuss the proposed
Implementation Matrix and Priority Schedule.
Consultant Ramsey stated that housing strategies are interrelated and work together to encourage new
development that addresses housing needs. Some strategies are dependent upon others to be effective. The
Implementation Matrix and Priority Schedule breaks down each strategy into a set of actions the city can
take to implement each strategy. For each action, the matrix includes:
Priority (short-term, medium-term, long-term).
Level of effort: rough measure of the amount of staff time or resources needed to implement.
Duration: estimate of the number of years it will take to implement.
The lead department responsible for implementing, as well as any partners that will be
essential for success.
Measures of success: Including benchmarks for implementation as well as measures of
actual impact in the community.
City staff can use this document to develop a workplan and allocate resources needed to carry out
implementation of the HAP. He then went over the proposed implementation actions (short-term and
medium/long-term) for each strategy. For each one, he included an example of how a similar strategy is
working in a different jurisdiction. He noted the state is encouraging ADUs. Strategy #5 refers mainly to
multifamily housing. Federal Way does have some incentives that encourage mixed-income housing, but
they are not being used. Consultant Ramsey commented that the city first needs to show that market-rate
multifamily will work in Federal Way; then low-income can be encouraged.
Commissioner Noble-Gulliford had a question on impact fees. She noted that there are apartment
complexes in the works (DevCo and one on 348th & 1st). The needs of our school district and their taxing
authority are different from neighboring districts. A bond for 450 million was approved a few years ago,
but it doesn’t address all the district’s needs. How should they make up the difference with or without
school impact fees? Consultant Ramsey stated that the school impact fees may only be used for new
development. The new development will help support the district’s current needs. It is a balancing act.
Commissioner Noble-Gulliford asked in regard to the city’s proposed rental inspection program, how does
it compare to the current Landlord Tenant law? And in regard to the cost, who will pay? Planner Skadsen
replied that the program is in the midst of being developed and these issues haven’t been dealt with yet.
Vice-Chair O’Neil asked if the addition of specific goals (say so many ADUs by 2025) has been
considered, or is this the Council’s job? Consultant Ramsey replied that some communities do have
specific goals. The city is in the process of adopting growth targets that could be used to develop goals It
is a policy choice the city can make. Vice-Chair O’Neil encouraged the creation of specific goals because
it will be the best way to determine the success of our work.
Planning Commission Minutes Page 3 May 5, 2021
Commissioner Medhurst commented that ADU’s seem more popular in city center then other city
neighborhoods. Are they providing affordable housing or just allowing affordable in the city center? If
you leave out the downside (impact fee) high density mixed-use seems our best option. Planner Skadsen
stated that ADU’s are popular for those downsizing. Consultant Ramsey commented that there is a large
supply of single-family homes with many bedrooms and only one to two people living there. If the city
allowed it, they could use the additional space as an ADU. ADU’s could provide a cheaper way to live in
a single-family neighborhood. They could provide additional housing without a radical transformation of
the neighborhood. Vice-Chair O’Neil stated that in his experience people create an ADU for family, not
to rent it out. Usually it is a new owner who rents it out. Changed regulations may encourage rental
ADU’s. Consultant Ramsey said that in Seattle some people worried that allowing more ADU’s would
negatively affect neighborhoods, but that hasn’t happened. He has seen some homes Seattle where the
builder included an ADU, but they are rare.
STAFF BUSINESS
Manager’s Report – Vice-Chair O’Neil asked about the status of the IRG developments. Director Davis
replied that the city has three applications for the property. SEPA and land use approval have been issued
for the first application. The SEPA and land use were appealed, but upheld with conditions. One
condition was to obtain required federal permits and they are working with the Corps of Engineers to do
so. Once this is completed, they will submit their building permit application. For the second application,
SEPA has been issued and land-use is still under review. The third application is working on SEPA.
Manager Niven has prepared a calendar with tentative Planning Commission topics and dates for the
remainder of the year (enclosed). Not every meeting date has a topic and he encouraged the
Commissioners to make suggestions of topics they feel should be considered.
The meeting was closed.
NEXT MEETING
May 19, 2021, 6:30 p.m., Zoom Meeting
ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 7:37 P.M.
K:\Planning Commission\2016\Meeting Summary 04-21-21.doc
2021 Planning Commission Tentative Calendar Topics
May 2021
Date Potential Topic
May 5 HAP
May 19 Briefing on Short-term rentals
June 2
June 16 HAP Hearing
Sign Code Amendments (Tentative)
July 7
July 21 Briefing on Comprehensive Plan Docket
August 4 Briefing on Downtown planning
August 18
September 1
September 15 Comprehensive Plan Amendment Hearing
October 6 Comprehensive Plan Amendment Hearing Continuance (if necessary)
October 20
November 3
November 17
December 1 Training
Commission Elections
December 15