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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-13-1997 - MinutesMEDINA CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES October 13,1997 Medina City Hall 7:00 PM 501 Evergreen Point Rd. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Medina City Council was called to order at 7:00 PM by Mayor Potts. The Council meeting was recorded on audio tape. ROLL CALL Present: Councilmembers Daniel Becker, Lynn Benz, Ray Cory, Tom Morgan Grahame Ross and Mayor Susan Potts. Absent: Councilmember Dewey Taylor. City Staff Present: City Manager Doug Schulze, City Attorney Kirk Wines, Asst. City Mgr./City Clerk Woody Edvalson MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING Councilmember Becker moved the approval of the minutes for the September 8, 1997 Regular Council Meeting. Councilmember Ross seconded the motion. All were in favor. ANNOUNCEMENTS Mayor Potts announced the annual Medina Elementary School Walk-a-thon to be held October 22, 1997. She asked that the police provide their normal assistance for the event which would run between the hours of 12:00 Noon and 3:15 PM. Mayor Potts also asked if any new developments had occurred regarding landscape lighting in trees. City Attorney Wines offered to research the topic with the Association of Washington Cities and report back on his findings. Councilmember Becker notified the Council that the Eastside Transportation Partnership ETP) was holding a workshop and town meeting on October 16, at 7:00 PM at the Redmond City Hall. He said they would be discussing mobility action projects including, Medina City Council Minutes October 13, 1997 Page 2 the 405 corridor, Bel -Red Road and Overlake Areas, and the Trans -Lake Washington Improvements. He also announced the 1st workshop on the Trans -Lake Washington Study, which would be a meeting to discuss the structure of the Stake Holder's Committee. This meeting was to be held on October 24, in the PSRC 6th floor conference room from 1:30 - 4:30 PM. Councilmember Ross inquired into the street striping on 24th Ave. NE. He expressed concern for safety due to the difficulty in discerning the true center lines. He described conditions under which several sets of center lines that had been blacked -out were reflecting light and confusing drivers. Assistant City Manager Edvalson responded that the restoration process had been slowed by difficulties with the contractor. He said that steps would be taken to expedite the corrections. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION Susie Marglin, 2623 Evergreen Point Road, displayed a copy of a publication called Three Reasons Not to Use Weed & Feed." She urged that the City Council sensitize the residents through the newsletter about the problems with inorganic fertilizers. She encouraged the use of organic fertilizers. She also suggested that the City test its ponds to determine the types of nutrients that were entering the ponds through run-off. Mayor Potts suggested that the City's parks might be used to display appropriate use of organic fertilizers. STAFF REPORTS FINANCE COMMITTEE Councilmember Morgan, Chairman of the Council Finance Committee, noted that contrary to his comments in the September Council meeting, the Chief Building Official's billings were in fact still behind. He encouraged timeliness for Mr. Erickson's bills. Councilmember Morgan moved the approval of September finance warrants numbered 10719 to 10798 in the amount of $82,131.78. He also moved the approval of September personnel warrants numbered 15623, and 15627 to 15672 in the amount of 67,371.98. Councilmember Benz seconded the motion. Approval was unanimous. PUBLIC SAFETY REPORTS City Manager Schulze gave a brief summarization of the past month's police department statistics. Councilmember Becker asked if it was the City's responsibility to provide security, clean up and maintenance to the park -n- ride on Evergreen Point Road. City Manager Schulze responded that he would talk to METRO about the cleanliness of the lot. Medina City Council Minutes October 13, 1997 Page 3 City Manager Schulze reported that the police chief selection was progressing. The selection committee narrowed the list to 15 for written examination. He hoped to have the list narrowed to five for interviews in November. Councilmember Cory asked for a clarification of the allocation and use of reserve hours for Medina and Hunts Point. He noted that the cumulative donated reserve hours for 1997 differed between the two municipalities. City Manager Schulze offered to research an answer. Councilmember Morgan reported that recently he had difficulty getting the Marine Patrol to respond to his call. He said the dispatcher's response had been that the Marine Patrol Service had been terminated for the `97 season. He asked that the City investigate what provisions are made for winter emergencies, and who citizens are to call. Mayor Potts suggested that the contract for services might be made available to the City Council for review. PUBLIC HEARING TCI - CONSIDER IMPOSING PENALTIES FOR FRANCHISE NON-COMPLIANCE Hearing Continued from September 8, 1997.) City Manager Schulze reported that TCI was waiting for a franchise hearing with the Town of Clyde Hill before they could begin the improvements to the Medina system. He added that TCI anticipated being able to install the improvements within 6-8 weeks from the time of the franchise approval. This activity would include the removal of the existing short -wave reception tower next to the Medina Grocery. Gary Corbett - 8405 NE 7th St. - asked what type of service Clyde Hill had. He was informed that they do not use TCI and have indicated no intent to become part of that system. City Manager Schulze suggested that the Council continue the public hearing so that the Council might impose penalties should TCI fail to achieve an agreement with Clyde Hill and announce delays in the implementation schedule. Councilmember Cory moved that the public hearing be continued to the next regular Council meeting. Councilmember Morgan provided the second to the motion. Approval was unanimous. Medina City Council Minutes October 13, 1997 Page 4 ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS ORDINANCE NO. 614 - PRESERVATION OF QUALITY COMMUNITIES City Attorney Wines reported that although a mailing had been made to architects doing business in Medina, the response had been minimal. Mayor Potts opened the public hearing. Gregory Wharton, Architect with Demetriou Associates in Kirkland, provided the Council with some written comments and diagrams based on the language of the proposed ordinance. He was concerned about the negative impact to steeply sloped lots. His general impression was that this ordinance was not the way to regulate the size of homes. He suggested that adding flexibility to architects in building design was a positive incentive to achieve the Council's goals. Vassos Demetriou, 205 Lake St. South, #100, Kirkland, recommended that the Council deal with proportional dimension restrictions, e.g., a percentage of setbacks and lot coverage with a fixed roof height. Paul Saad, 7644 NE 8th St., a Planning Commissioner, offered to personally contact more architects. He added that the municipal code was an evolving thing. He warned that no one here today could truly measure the long term impact to the community of adopting a new method of calculating and restricting house size. He did agree, however, that if the Council adopted something new, it should be based on proportional restrictions rather than absolute restrictions. Maryel Duzan, 2227 Evergreen Point Road, a former Planning Commissioner, felt that the concept of volumetric measurements was a good one. She felt that the Council had bent over backwards to gather input. She felt that the current builders in the City took advantage of the municipal code to maximize the bulk of homes to the detriment of neighbors. James P. AP -Roberts, 5737 64th Ave. NE, Seattle, speaking for Ms. Ruth Perkins a Medina resident, was opposed to increased height limits. He said Ms. Perkins was currently being impacted, that her property values would diminish with the construction of a new home below her property. He said that when views are cut, the property values decline and the property assessments decrease, thus cutting the tax revenue to the City. The Council discussed their impressions of the ordinance. A majority liked the approach, but were concerned about the impact of being the first to implement an ordinance based on the volume concept. They asked that greater effort be made to receive input from the academic community. City Manager Schulze was instructed to make contacts and return to the Council with recommendations. Medina City Council Minutes October 13, 1997 Page 5 RESOLUTION NO. 250 - A RESOLUTION APPROVING an EMERGENCY MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT Assistant City Manager Edvalson explained that the resolution allowed the City Manager to sign an emergency response agreement that would be used by multiple agencies to provide mutual aid in the event of emergency or disaster. Councilmember Becker expressed concern about the liability exposure to the City of such an agreement. After additional discussion by the Council with input from City Attorney Wines, they expressed support for the resolution if a letter was obtained from the Washington Cities Insurance Authority (WCIA) clarifying the coverage available to Medina as a signatory to the agreement. Councilmember Cory moved to approve Resolution No. 250 subject to the City Manager's receipt of a letter from WCIA explaining the City's coverage. Councilmember Benz seconded the motion. All were in favor. DISCUSSION ACCESSORY STRUCTURES IN THE SET BACKS Mayor Potts and City Attorney Wines explained that the item had been back to the Planning Commission for review and input. Wines submitted a memo describing the Planning Commission's recommendations. The Council discussed the impacts of the Commission's recommendations. A consensus formed to grandfather existing accessory structures and take the Planning Commissions recommendations with only slight modification. Councilmember Becker moved that the City Attorney be instructed to prepare an ordinance that would include many of the Commission's recommendations and that would grandfather existing accessory structures in the set backs, limit enclosed structures to 100 sq. ft., allow no mechanical equipment within the side yard set backs, and allow new accessory structures only upon receipt of approval from the neighbors on four sides of the property. Approval could be granted administratively with a notification process similar to an administrative variance. Bill Henningsgaard, 1645 Rambling Lane, liked the fact that his structure would be grandfathered. He felt that the Board of Adjustment should be involved to apply some logic to applications that do not fit the standard or anticipated types of requests. By common consent the Council agreed with Councilmember Becker's motion to direct the City Attorney in preparation of an ordinance. BEACH PARK PLAN MODIFICATION City Manager Schulze introduced the topic by describing a discussion held at a recent Park Board Meeting, wherein two Planning Commissioners and another resident Medina City Council Minutes October 13, 1997 Page 6 proposed that the police parking be moved from in front of City Hall. The Park Board recommended that the Council be asked to review the situation. The Council discussed the situation and agreed with the recommendation that off -duty and personal cars of police officers be parked at the City shop. Provision would be made to minimize the visual impact of on -duty cars parked at City Hall. The Council asked the City Manager to continue study of parking limitations at City Hall. EXECUTIVE SESSION At 9:30 PM, and under authority of RCW 42.30.110 Mayor Potts announced that the Council would hold an executive session with the City's attorney to discuss fire contract negotiations, potential litigation and personnel issues. She announced the session would conclude at 10:00 PM. ADJOURNMENT At 10:20 PM, the Council reconvened the regular session and by common consent adjourned the meeting. Attest: i3O 6j J. e5,A arwood T. Edvalson, City Clerk Susan Potts, Mayor