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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-13-2000 - MinutesMEDINA CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING AND REGULAR MEETING MINUTES November 13, 2000 Medina City Hall 7:00 PM 501 Evergreen Point Rd. EXECUTIVE SESSION At 7:00 p.m. and under authority of RCW 42.30.110, Mayor Becker called the Medina City Council into executive session to discuss pending litigation. The executive session was adjourned at 6:55 p.m. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Becker called the public hearing and regular Medina City Council meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was recorded on audiotape. ROLL CALL Present: Council Members Paul Demitriades, Suzanne Cohen, Jim Lawrence, Mary Odermat, Steve Preston and Mayor Dan Becker Staff Present: City Manager Doug Schulze, City Attorney Kirk Wines, Police Lieutenant Roger Skinner, Planning Director Jenny Schultz, and Interim City Clerk Caroll Wedlund ANNOUNCEMENTS MAYOR Mayor Becker announced two upcoming Trans -Lake open -house meetings to receive public comment on mitigation design concepts for SR-520 crossings. The meetings will take place on November 15, 2000 from 6-8 p.m. at the Montlake Community Center and on November 16, 2000 at the Museum of History and Industry. He also mentioned two additional Trans -Lake meetings, one for residents on the west side of 1-405 on November 29, 2000 at the First Presbyterian Church on Bellevue Way, and again on November 30, 2000 for residents on the east side of 1-405 at the North Bellevue Senior Center. Mayor Becker added that representatives of the four points would be present at the November 29 all -day Trans - Lake meeting and at the open house in the evening. POINT OF ORDER City Manager Schulze requested addition of a second agenda item under New Business. Mayor Becker added this agenda item under to consider adoption of proposed Ordinance No. 697, Authorizing the Use of Checks to Pay Claims and Other City Obligations to Replace the Use of Warrants. CONSENT AGENDA Council Member Morgan moved, seconded by Council Member Odermat, to approve the consent agenda. The motion was passed by unanimous consensus. A. Minutes from the regular Council Meeting of October 9, 2000 B. Study Session Meeting of October 23, 2000 City Council Meeting November 13, 2000 Page 2 C. Approval of October, 2000 Warrants/Treasurer's Report Regular Warrants - #14250 - #14377 $ 427,954.20 Personnel Warrants - #17596 - #17654 $ 112,114.25 D. Confirmation Appointment of Municipal Judge E. Approval of Change Order No. 2, Overlake Drive East Retaining Wall STAFF REPORTS PUBLIC SAFETY REPORT As requested by the Council, Police Lieutenant Skinner provided background information on the four felony crimes that were committed in Medina during the month of October. PUBLIC WORKS REPORT Public Works Superintendent Carl Burris was unable to attend the meeting, but his report was accepted as written. POINT OF ORDER The R-16 Committee report and the report on Recommendations for Conforming Small Lots were deferred until after the audience participation portion of the meeting agenda. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION Mayor Becker opened the meeting to the audience for non -agenda items. Henry Paulman — 1415 80th Ave NE, asked about the Council review of proposed Ordinance No. 659 setting forth policy for the appeal process of Planning Commission decisions. Mayor Becker stated that nothing had been done yet. A number of Medina Citizens spoke in favor of continuing the fight to mitigate jet noise over Medina. The citizens expressed a very significant amount of dissatisfaction and frustration with the Part 150 process, the FAA, and most notably, Port of Seattle officials. They asked the City Council to authorize an expenditure of $15,000 to hire a former FAA official who now contracts with private citizens attempting to reduce jet noise. The consensus among these residents was that this consultant could provide a fresh insight in dealing with the FAA. The following residents voiced the same opinion as stated above: Bob Rudolph — 1455 Evergreen Point Road Linda Enkema — 314 Overlake Drive East Skip Voorhees — 3430 Evergreen Point Road Charles Davidson — 7757 Overlake Drive West Barbara Cole — 2033 — 771h Ave NE Jim McGraw — 1465 Evergreen Point Road Mike Hyatt — 925 — 881h Ave NE Chris Dicerchio — 8905 Groat Point Drive Rich Leshgold — 1849 — 77" Ave NE Catherine Brady — 1018 — 841h Ave NE Shawn Blazey — 8338 Overlake Drive West City Council Meeting November 13, 2000 Page 3 Alyson Jackson — 7633 NE 14'h St Mayor Becker reminded the residents that to date, the City had already spent over $65,000 in the fight to curb jet noise over Medina. He also stated that the City had hired former FAA officials in the past, with no measurable results. Mayor Becker wanted the citizens to know that the Council was not refusing their request, but that they needed to be certain about the best way to be heard. DISCUSSION R-16 COMMITTEE REPORT Council Member Morgan briefed the Council on recent progress made by the committee and reiterated the R-16 zoning goals as follows: 1. To preserve neighborhood and City character; 2. To allow the construction on small Medina lots of comfortable homes to contemporary design standards; 3. To recognize the wide range of R-16 lot sizes and to achieve parity in the largest R-16 lots with recently enacted zoning changes for R-16 and R-30, and 4. To achieve these goals in a simple and equitable manner while also reducing the need for homeowners to seek variance requests for legal, non -conforming homes. Council Member Morgan recommended that the Council allow larger lot coverage on the smaller lots and gradually reduce the coverage to the amount now allowed for R-20 and R-30 lots, plus 2 percent additional for porches and decks. He suggested that due to building heights, the Council should also allow ten feet for side yard setbacks rather than five feet. He also emphasized that the committee recommendations should conform to existing R-20 language. ORDINANCE TO REPLACE THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT WITH A HEARING EXAMINER City Manager Schulze briefed Council Members on meetings he and City Planner Schultz had with James Driscoll, a land use attorney with over 20 years of experience as a hearing examiner, who was also president of the Hearing Examiners' Association. He referred to the memo from Planning Director Jenny Schultz regarding the types of permits that could be heard by a hearing examiner and permit types that could be converted to administrative review. Planning Director Schultz presented an analysis of the current caseload and reviewed a preliminary listing of code requirements necessary to transition to a hearing examiner process. City Manager Schulze interjected that the hearing examiner process would give the City a fairly significant amount of flexibility. Planning Director Schultz noted that the types of cases proposed for administrative in-house review were those that were fairly straight forward, and were nearly always approved by the Planning Commission and the Board of Adjustment. She added the proposed administrative review cases could also include a public notice and mailing to surrounding property owners. Council Member Demitriades recapped that the Council was interested in moving most of the Board of Adjustment responsibilities to a hearing examiner process. He added that the staff recommendation was to move some of the functions presently performed by the Planning Commission either to a hearing examiner or to administrative review by in-house staff. Council Member Morgan supplemented that the judicial part of the Planning Commission's responsibilities, plus all of the Board of Adjustments duties would be moved to a Hearing Examiner. City Manager Schulze stated that the Planning Commission's responsibilities would be reassigned to focus upon the legislative issues, rather than judicial. He added that the administrative review process was primarily a method of reducing the workload that would go to the hearing examiner. However, it required very specific criteria outlined in the ordinance and an objective decision -making process, so that staff would not be in a position that required them to make subjective decisions about land use issues. City Council Meeting November 13, 2000 Page 4 Mayor Becker suggested that a committee be formed to review the issues surrounding a hearing examiner process. City Manager Schulze pointed out that the process would essentially remain the same as it currently was, except the hearing examiner would perform the judicial review function, rather than a citizen board. Council Member Morgan queried how much a hearing examiner would cost the City. City Manager Schulze responded that the process for using a hearing examiner would be no different than for using a consultant. The fees would reflect the hourly cost of the hearing examiner. He projected that it was quite likely the costs to both the City and to the individual would remain very close to the same, and in some instances, they might even be reduced. City Manager Schulze continued that the hearing examiner would reach a decision for each hearing within a ten-day period. Planning Director Schultz added that the City could modify that time period if desired, however, a ten-day time frame was the industry standard. City Manager Schulze stated that the Town of Hunts Point used a hearing examiner process. City Planner Schultz offered to inquire about the Council observing the hearing examiner process at Hunts Point. City Manager Schulze suggested that the hearing examiner could explain to the Council the processes used by other communities and the issues that he would consider appropriate for administrative review. Mayor Becker explained that any hearing involving a judicial decision would be forwarded to a hearing examiner. City Attorney Wines stated that one of the reasons a decision had been made to eliminate appeals to the Council was due to regulatory reform, which stated that there could only be one open record hearing for any land use application. That had transformed what had been an informal appeal process from the Planning Commission to the City Council into a very formal appeal process that included transcripts, written briefs and oral arguments. City Attorney offered to research whether or not any other city had an appeal process from a hearing examiner to the City Council. Speaking from the audience, citizen Henry Paulman warned that an appeal to Superior Court could result in the Council not having an opportunity to review issues that would be subverted into this new system. He emphasized that there should be an easier appeal process. Mayor Becker explained that the Council should set policy and the ordinances that should be followed. He continued that the way the Council handled such issues was through the ordinance process, and that the state precluded the Council from being the appeal board. Mayor Becker noted that unless all the issues were presented during the initial hearing, the Council could not consider the case. Council Members agreed by consensus to move forward with the hearing examiner process, and to request Board of Adjustment members to remain for another month or so until such action was completed. NEW BUSINESS APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS Mayor Becker announced that he was appointing Medina resident James Shiplett as a member of the Medina Planning Commission. The Council unanimously concurred. ORDINANCE NO. 697 — AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE USE OF CHECKS TO PAY CLAIMS AND OTHER CITY OBLIGATIONS Council Member Cohen moved, seconded by Council Member Lawrence to adopt ordinance No. 697 as written. The motion was passed unanimously. City Manager Schulze added that the policy would basically remain the same, and that this ordinance would eliminate a few extra steps. Finance Officer Burdue stated that the present process did not allow for issuance of a warrant stop payment, but that it was possible with checks. City Council Meeting November 13, 2000 Page 5 OTHER BUSINESS 2001 BUDGET HEARING Mayor Becker opened the Public Hearing for consideration of the proposed 2001 budget. City Manager Schulze presented a slideshow for Council and audience discussion and deliberation of the proposed 2001 budget. Following discussion, the Council unanimously concurred to adjust the building -related fee structure to recover project costs incurred for individual projects. They were also in favor of billing pass through expenses directly to the projects that incurred the costs. The Council also requested that the City Manager research the projected costs related to moving the building and planning functions to another location, in order to isolate the associated costs. Council Member Morgan suggested that the amount of subcommittee meetings could be reduced, in order to save staff and consultant costs. Mayor Becker agreed, noting that the subcommittees could call upon staff support at such time as it was necessary to develop ordinances. He did not think the subcommittees should be involved with the day-to-day operations, but rather with policy issues. City Manager Schulze suggested that the Council should have a work plan approved by them for the upcoming year in order to properly identify expenses and to budget for them. Following discussion, the Council agreed by consensus not to move forward this year with any capital improvement projects that was not absolutely necessary, and to consider both safety and cost -related issues before taking any action. Mayor Becker suggested that value -engineering studies could be conducted for cost effectiveness. Council Member Morgan emphasized that money should be reserved to provide legal process funding for the upcoming 1-520 issue. Mayor Becker added that the City might also face fees in 2001 for a legal challenge to the draft Environmental Impact Statement, and that the City could achieve some recovery through sales tax revenue. He noted that the three points communities would also contribute to this cause. By unanimous consensus, the Council decided to hold a special meeting at 5:00 p.m. on November 20, 2000, in order to review the proposed 2001 budget. They also requested that the City Manager revise the proposed budget to include building and planning figures supported by different revenue bases. Due to a possible shortfall as a result of the impact of Initiative 722, Council Member Cohen moved, seconded by Council Member Demitriades, to increase the 2001 preliminary tax levy, but maintain the same tax rate. The motion passed unanimously. NEW BUSINESS Council Member Lawrence was of the opinion that heavy equipment construction on Saturdays should be eliminated, and suggested that the construction ordinance be changed to reflect this. Mayor Becker cautioned that an acceptable measurable decibel level would have to be established. He also requested an ordinance change to reflect a limitation on construction activities only on major national holidays, versus all holidays observed throughout the year by the City. OLD BUSINESS Council Member Lawrence asked about progress with retaining a consultant to provide for an estimate of the value of a fiber optic cable easement. City Attorney Wines responded that he City Council Meeting November 13, 2000 Page 6 had just received an acceptable proposal covering the scope of work from an attorney with the Ogden and Murphy firm. He continued that research would begin in the near future regarding the value of the right to use as well as negotiations for this project. Council Member Lawrence queried about progress regarding an ordinance to declare a moratorium on the demolition of buildings of historic significance. City Attorney Wines stated that a report with recommendations would be forthcoming. ADJOURNMENT Council Member Lawrence moved to adjourn the Regular City Council meeting, seconded by Council Member Demitriades. All were in favor, and the meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m. EXECUTIVE SESSION At 10:30 p.m., and under authority of RCW 42.30.110, an Executive Session was held for the purpose of discussion of pending litigation. By unanimous consensus, Council members closed the Executive Session at 10:37 p.m. Daniel F. Becker, Mayor Attest: Caroll P. Wedlund, Interim City Clerk