HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-10-2012 - Supplemental MaterialsCITY OF MEDINA
501 Evergreen Point Road, Medina WA 98039
425.233.6400 (phone) 425.451.8197 (fax) www.medina-wa.aov
MEMORANDUM
To: CITY COUNCIL
From: ROBERT J. GRUMBACH, AICP
Date: DECEMBER 10, 2012
Subject: STATUS OF COMPREHENSIVE ZONING CODE UPDATE
GOAL:
The overall goal of the comprehensively update is to consolidate the City's development
regulations into a single Unified Development Code and make the regulations more predictable
and user-friendly.
WHERE WE ARE AT:
Several phases of the update have already been completed. In August 2010, the Planning
Commission started work revising the text of the City's Zoning Code. This work was placed on
hold in early 2011 as the shoreline master program update took priority. Once the shoreline
master program work was completed, the Planning Commission returned to the work on
updating the Zoning Code.
A draft of the updated Zoning Code has been completed. Highlights in the draft include:
• Consolidate arid construct the various structural coverage, impervious surface and
setback requirements together and use lot size to establish the standards rather than the
zoning district.
o Included are new details to allow for certain structure protrusions into setback
areas.
• Consolidate and construct the various height requirements together, but continue to use
the underlying zoning district to establish the standards.
o Included are new details on how to measure height.
o The 25/ 28-foot height standard in the R-16 zone will be the default height
standard for all residential zoning districts with R-20, R-30 and SR-30 zone
properties eligible for the 30/ 36 height bonus (Medina Heights would remain the
same).
Consolidate the definitions into a single chapter with many new definitions added and
many existing definition updated to more current terms.
Establish a new Use Table to identify the different types of land uses and the approval
process for the different land uses.
o A similar use provision is created to provide flexibility.
• Various other updates and details were added to create greater predictability.
NEXT STEPS:
The draft was recently sent for comment to a small group of architects/ developers who
regularly do business in the City. They have been encouraged to share the draft with others
who might want to provide their input as well. The deadline for these comments is January
11, 2013.
• Staff will also review the draft with legal for their input.
2. After the January 11 deadline, comments collected and revisions to the draft will be brought
back to the Planning Commission to develop a final draft.
• Notice of Intent to Adopt will be sent to the state; environmental (SEPA) review will be
performed.
• Public hearing will be scheduled.
• After the public hearing, the Planning Commission will deliberate and make a formal
recommendation to the City Council.
• City Council action on the Planning Commission's recommendation is the final step.
OTHER WORK TO BE..COMPLETED:
1. Draft regulations on permits and other approvals are being developed concurrently with the
updates to the text of the Zoning Code. These provisions will include approval criteria,
permit expiration dates, and other provisions related to each individual permit or approval.
• A staff -approved shoreline substantial development permit for smaller shoreline projects
will be included with this effort.
2. Amend the Official Medina Zoning Map. This might include:
• Rezoning the City -owned parcel adjacent to Medina Beach Park;
• Rezoning the St. Thomas property consistent with other properties containing schools;
• Rezoning properties containing multiple zoning districts so that the property has only one
zoning district:
o Limit this to smaller parcels that are not large enough to be subdivided;
o The chosen zoning will be limited to one of the current zoning designations on the
parcel;
o The chosen zoning designation will be selected based on a combination of factors
such as which current zoning dominates the parcel, public feedback, and the
character of the existing development.
• Combine the Medina Heights Neighborhood Character Preservation Overlay with the
Official Zoning Map;
• Remove the circulation and shoreline setbacks from the Official Zoning Map;
• Fix other elements of the zoning map.
The Map updates will require a separate approval process from the changes to the text as
Map amendments require a more extensive public notification process.
FA
LW
U.S. Department
of Transportation
Federal Aviation
Administration
November 20, 2012
Michael Luis
Mayor, City of Medina
501 Evergreen Point Road
P.O. Box 144
Medina, WA 98039-0144
Dear Mayor Luis:
[Name of Line of Business]
800 Independence Ave., $W
Washington, DC 20591
Thank you for your letter dated September 8, requesting a review of Seattle TRACON's
compliance with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Environmental Assessment (EA)
dated March 1990. 1 apologize for the delay in responding, however, I have been attempting to
gather the information to sufficiently address your concerns.
As you have requested, I have reviewed FAA's compliance with the referenced EA. After
discussions and coordination with the Columbia Terminal District, it appears that FAA is in
compliance with the EA as much as practical taking into account the many variables involved in air
traffic control and management. The enclosed graphics which have been shared with your staff
previously show FAA's attempt to adhere to the requirements of the 1990 EA.
FAA has been and will continue to be committed to working with local communities to not only be
a good noise neighbor but also to assist communities in understanding the complexities involved in
managing the safest air traffic system possible. To that end, I understand the Columbia Terminal
District has met"with your staff and consultants and have responded to your previous inquiries. I
hope this letter helps to assure you that the 1990 EA is being complied with.
Sincerely,
Donna G. Warren
Manager, Environmental Policy Team, AJV-114
Airspace Services, Air Traffic Organization
Enclosure
cc:
- Northwest Mountain Regional Administrator
- Operations Support Group, Western Service Area
- Columbia Terminal District
FEB 26 2012 268 JET 129 PROP
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City of Medina Jet Noise/Part 150 Efforts
December 2012
What's Next: Jet Noise Recommendations for 2013:
Complete the Part 150 Effort: (January/February)
• Draft Part 150 (anticipated in Jan) needs to be reviewed and comments formally submitted with regard
to increasing use of Duwamish during curfew hours and any other issues that are relevant to Medina.
o FAA told the Part 150 consultants that this issue is off the table because it is unsafe and
inefficient.
o FAA told Medina that they conducted a formal study and determined that they could safely route
more flights down the Duwamish on Sat night and Sunday morning thereby increasing curfew.
However they later stated that they would not pursue it because it increased the workload for air
traffic controllers.
o In order for the Four Post EA to be approved, curfew was added as a mitigation measure and the
Four Post EA specifically states that the Duwamish corridor should be utilized for nighttime
flights whenever traffic is light enough to allow for it to be completed safely.
• Medina's formal response to the Part 150 should be copied to the Port Commissioners.
Pursue Southflow arrival non-compliance with a two pronged approach:
• FAA Airspace Management (WA DC) has responded that they consulted with the local FAA office and
based on those discussions they feel they are complying when "practical. " Additionally they sent their
own flight track maps to illustrate their "attempts" to comply.
o At question is whether the FAA has the ability to only comply with the EA when it is practical
and whether they only have to attempt to comply. The City of Medina needs to retain an
attorney with aviation law and NEPA experience to provide a legal opinion on this issue.
Generally their efforts would entail:
■ Reviewing meeting notes and correspondence between Medina and the FAA
■ Review precedence in the courts
■ Provide Medina with legal opinion and recommendations.
• Put pressure on the FAA by getting the Port Commissioners involved.
o Meet with the Port Commission and put pressure on them to review and change how they are
measuring non-compliance. Currently, the noise abatement parameters that the Port uses to
measure compliance are inconsistent with the Four Post Plan. The Port publishes this data to
illustrate that they are good neighbors and how well they are doing their job. The FAA uses it to
show the same. If the Four Post Plan parameters were being used, the compliance numbers
would be in the 60% range, rather than the 90% percent range.
Risks of No -Action:
• No action by Medina clears the way for Greener Skies arrival procedures from the East to be put directly
over Medina, 24 hours per day, roughly 65% of the days of the year.
o Department of Transportation FAA National Policy currently allows for categorical exclusion
from the EA process for Greener Skies procedures that overlay existing procedures. If Medina
allows the existing flight track that regularly overflies Medina to remain uncontested, the FAA
will be able to concentrate all the arrivals from the East over Medina just as they have
concentrated the arrivals from the West. (see attached)
• History shows us:
o that when Medina has been unresponsive in the past, we have ended up with major flight track
shifts overhead. (East Turn Departures)
o that when threatened with legal action, the FAA is more responsive.
City of Medina Jet Noise/Part 150 Efforts
Objectives, Results, 2013 Action
November 2012
Feb 2010: City of Medina Objectives:
City of Medina retains consultant to achieve the following objectives during the Part 150 Aircraft
Noise Mitigation Study:
1. Encourage increased use of open water corridor between MI and Medina for departures
2. Pursue longer curfew hours for departures
3. Improve south flow arrival compliance
4. Ensure future flight track changes will not result in increased aircraft over Medina
November 2012: Consultant Results:
1. Encourage increased use of open water corridor between MI and Medina for departures:
• Consultant requests this issue be included in Part 150 Scope.
• Part 150 Team declines.
• Consultant meets with FAA and is assured that this issue will be addressed with future Greener
Skies procedural changes.
2. Pursue longer curfew hours for departures:
• Consultant requests that the assessment of longer curfew hours be included in the Part 150
Scope.
• It is added to the scope but preliminary documentation suggests FAA will not agree to make
changes.
• Consultant met with FAA on this issue and has documentation that the FAA conducted a study
and results show that the curfew can safely be increased on Sat nights and Sun morning.
3. Improve south flow arrival compliance:
• Consultant requests that south flow arrival compliance be added to Part 150 Scope.
• Port of Seattle states this is outside of the Scope but agrees to work separately with Medina and
the FAA to resolve this issue.
• Consultant gathers documentation and data which supports Medina's concerns that the FAA is
not in adherence with the 1990 Four Post Environmental Assessment.
• Consultant works with local FAA to press for change. Efforts are not successful.
• Consultant works with City to escalate this issue to FAA Airspace Compliance in WA DC.
4. Ensure future flight track changes will not result in increased aircraft over Medina
• Consultant determined that future flight tracks are outside the scope of this Part 150
• Consultant attended Greener Skies Environmental Assessment to understand potential impact
for Medina.
• Consultant focused on Goal #3 above to protect Medina from future Greener Sky procedural
changes that could result in a concentrated south flow arrival flight track directly over Medina.
Other Consultant Activites:,
• Handling citizen complaints about aircraft noise that were forwarded from the City and from
other citizens and neighbors.
• Summarizing and documenting the History of Flight Tracks over Medina as a reference for
future councils and concerned citizens.
Projected 2013 Activities:
Complete the Part 150 Effort:
• Draft Part 150 (anticipated in Dec/Jan) needs to be reviewed and comments formally submitted
with regard to increasing curfew and any other issues relevant to Medina.
Complete efforts with FAA Airspace Management (in DC) with regard to south flow compliance with
Four Post EA.
• City will need to respond to the Air Space Compliance Letter. The FAA may require more
information, they may respond negatively or they may respond positively.
• Consultant recommends utilizing an attorney for future correspondence with FAA.
• Based upon legal advice and response from Air Space Compliance, City will need to determine
whether to pursue resolution by filing in the 9"' District Court.
• City of Medina will need to determine how to monitor the Greener Skies process in order to
protect Medina from a future concentrated flight track over Medina.
Considerations:
FAA has a history of being responsiveness when legal action is threatened and when
involvement occurs early in the process.
FAA has a history of concentrating air traffic on existing tracks. If the City of Medina does
not establish that the current south flow flight track is non compliant with the Four Post EA,
then it is likely that future south flow flight tracks will end up concentrated over Medina.
FAA has a history of taking advantage of Medina when the City chooses not to be involved.
Previous council's lack of involvement during the Four Post Plan EA left a long and costly
legacy for Medina.
Forecast/Estimates for 2013 Costs:
(contract extension required for consultants)
To complete current efforts on the Part 150: Approx $2,150
Plus
To complete efforts with FAA Airspace Management:
• If the City chooses not to retain an aviation attorney
and requires consultant assistance in responding to FAA
Airspace Management in WA DC Approx $ 1,350
EOU
• If the City chooses to retain an aviation attorney:
Total for Limited Legal Assistance for legal assessment and
letter writing Approx $ 4,000 — 8,000
M I HE CEO;, ,1F D
DEC - 5 2012
ROBERT RUDOLPH
1455 EVERGREEN POINT ROAD �
MEDINA, '"7A. 90039 CITY OF
December 5, 2012
Dear Councilmembers,
Rationale for action regarding arrival jet pathway:
The FAA draft Environmental Assessment of 1990 which was nec-
essary for implementation of the 4-Post Plan dealt mainly with
changes to the jet arrival corridors into SeaTac. However, the draft
EA also contained a provision for the East Turn jet departures to
follow a route over the 1-90 corridor just off the tip of Mercer Island.
In response to concern from Mercer Island citizens, the Mercer Is-
land Council hired the Cutler and Stanfield law firm from Washing-
ton D.C. which prepared a legal document stating that, although
outside the 65 DNL, residents of Mercer Island would be adversely
affected by the establishment of a jet pathway so proximate to their
residences. The Cutler firm threatened a lawsuit against the EA
which would delay implementation of the 4-post plan. Several
months later the final EA was published, showing the East Turn de-
parture corridor over Medina. During this time the Medina City
Council had chosen not to act and the East Turn became firmly es-
tablished over south/central Medina.
Because this happened, Temple Johnson, who was FAA Air Traffic
Manager for the Northwest Mountain Region at that time, told me
that the arrival pathway for jets from the east was deliberately not
routed near Medina and was clearly restricted from Medina air-
space. This was accomplished by including the provision in the EA
that all jet arrivals from the NE and SE be established on final run-
way heading no closer to the airport than SR 520 (11 nautical miles
north of the airport). He also told me that this arrival procedure,
while much more efficient than what existed at that time (all jet arri-
vals were brought in over Elliott Bay), was not as efficient as bring-
ing the arrival stream in over the eastside closer to the airport. He
said Medina would have to be vigilant over the years so that future
FAA SeaTac air traffic managers did not try to "cut the corner".
Until the last several years the FAA generally followed the EA, but
then the most recent FAA SeaTac managers (Fincher/Washington)
began "cutting the corner" as never before. This "cutting" makes
the arrivals into SeaTac more efficient and it prepares for a
"Greener Skies" procedure on the eastside, as is currently being
implemented for arrivals into SeaTac from the west. If the FAA es-
tablishes this arrival stream over northern Medina, then it would be
relatively easy for the FAA to claim in a new "Greener Skies" EA
that the new procedure is "a nonsignificant change" because the
jets are already there. That is what the Seattle Times is quoting the
FAA as saying in response to concerns from the people on Beacon
Hill and along the Duwamish who will be living under a more con-
centrated jet noise corridor when Greener Skies is implemented on
the west.
At this time the City of Medina is in a strong position to stop this,
pressure the local FAA management to follow the lawfully estab-
lished procedure, and keep the arrival stream from encroaching
over Medina.
Medina's resources for a successful outcome:
-the EA, which is a legal document, is unequivocal in stating
that arriving jets must be on final runway heading "no closer to the
airport than SR 520 (11 NM north of the airport)".
-this provision was deliberately put in the EA because that
same EA established the largest jet departure corridor out of Se-
aTac over Medina.
-Medina is working with Temple Johnson who is not only a
retired FAA air traffic expert who worked at the senior management
level of the FAA, but was also the top FAA manager in our airspace
at the time this EA was done. As Air Traffic Manager of the North-
west Mountain Region in 1990, he was the FAA signatory to the
document.
PAGE 2
-the City is fortunate to have someone of Allyson Jackson's
knowledge and abilities willing to represent the City on this issue.
Remember that there is no nighttime curfew on arrivals similar
to what exists for east turn departures, and southf low arrivals
occur about 65-70% of days In SeaTac airspace because of
prevailing weather conditions.
If this informal pathway continues until an EA for a Greener Skies
procedure on the eastside is done, it will be too late for Medina to
make a difference.
I urge the Council to take the next appropriate step which is to have
the City consult with an attorney experienced in aviation related is-
sues.
Sincerely,
':•• •• •
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