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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEX10_Modification_Request_Sierra_Homes_SP_230602 Western Washington Division Eastern Washington Division 165 NE Juniper St., Ste 201, Issaquah, WA 98027 108 East 2nd Street, Cle Elum, WA 98922 Phone: (425) 392-0250 Fax: (425) 391-3055 Phone: (509) 674-7433 Fax: (509) 674-7419 www.EncompassES.net Date: June 2, 2023 To: City of Renton – Department of Community and Economic Development From: Encompass Engineering & Surveying on behalf of Dan Finkbeiner Re: Street Modification Criteria, Sierra Homes Short Plat, LUA22-00042 _____________________________________________________________________________________ In addition to the narrative submitted with the exemption request, responses to the following criteria are provided below. a. Substantially implements the policy direction of the policies and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Element and the Community Design Element and the proposed modification is the minimum adjustment necessary to implement these policies and objectives; Per the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Designation Map, the project is within RLD- Residential Low Density. This project will create single-family residential lots which are consistent with those created in the vicinity from the Weston Heights and Weston Heights North plats. Furthermore, the project falls in line with Renton’s Land use goal to “meet and exceed Renton’s targets for housing” by adding two additional single-family residences. Per the Community Planning Areas Map, the project is within the East Plateau planning area. This project meets the community planning goal to “assure sensible growth and development, consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.” This project will create single family lots consistent with the surrounding community by redeveloping a large lot with only one residence which fulfills Policy L-3 to “Encourage infill development of single-family units as a means to meet growth targets and provide new housing”. Without this modification, the costs of undergrounding utilities make the redevelopment of this lot infeasible, and the opportunity to add single family residences to this location will be lost. Exhibit 10 DocuSign Envelope ID: E8F3519A-7ED6-45DC-9D09-CCC7C7005129 City of Renton – Department of Community and Economic Development Sierra Homes Short Plat Street Modification Request 06/02/2023 Page | 2 b. Will meet the objectives and safety, function, appearance, environmental protection and maintainability intended by the Code requirements, based upon sound engineering judgment The existing power poles on Nile Ave NE are fully functional, easily accessible and provide no safety hazard, or environmental danger to the public. These power poles run north-south on the east side of Nile Ave for the entirety of the two-mile stretch between NE 4th St and SE May Valley Rd. In addition to the utilities attached to the poles, there are light fixtures that provide additional street lighting and safety for vehicles and pedestrians. The appearance and maintainability of the poles along the project frontage will remain consistent with the rest of this two-mile run of power poles owned and operated by PSE. c. Will not create substantial adverse impacts to other property(ies) in the vicinity Retaining the existing power poles on Nile Ave will create no adverse impacts to other properties in the vicinity. The undergrounding of power will create temporary construction and traffic control impacts which will affect surrounding properties in a much greater capacity than retaining the existing system. d. Conforms to the intent and purpose of the Code The intent of code in 4-6-090 Utility Lines- Underground Installation is to lower maintenance cost and frequency of power lines and improve street aesthetics. Due to the small size of the project and minimal street frontage on Nile Ave, the section of power lines that would be undergrounded would be minimal, and would have little effect on the overall aesthetic or maintenance in the area. As mentioned above, the power lines on the east side of Nile Ave run the entirety of the two-mile stretch between NE 4th St and SE May Valley Rd. In addition, the majority of the property south of the project site has already been redeveloped, so the power poles running towards NE 4th St are unlikely to be undergrounded in the future. A few parcels north of the project site, the jurisdiction changes to unincorporated King County and the parcels are zoned RA-5 which is unlikely to be redeveloped due to minimum lot size restrictions. The requirement to underground this small section of utilities would likely have no impact to the future maintenance or aesthetic as it is unlikely to change the current pole configuration on this 2 mile section of Nile Ave. e. Can be shown to be justified and required for the use and situation intended The retention of above ground utilities for this project is justified by the extremely high ($500,000+) cost of undergrounding which would make the redevelopment of the site infeasible. The frontage of the site along Nile Ave has already been improved to the current standards by the Weston Heights North Plat done in 2017. The undergrounding of utilities would necessitate the DocuSign Envelope ID: E8F3519A-7ED6-45DC-9D09-CCC7C7005129 City of Renton – Department of Community and Economic Development Sierra Homes Short Plat Street Modification Request 06/02/2023 Page | 3 removal and rebuilding of this already conforming frontage area, for minimal public benefit. In addition, the majority of property south of the project site has already been redeveloped. Sincerely, Encompass Engineering and Surveying, Inc. Ian Dahl, PE Project Engineer DocuSign Envelope ID: E8F3519A-7ED6-45DC-9D09-CCC7C7005129