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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAppendix A -- Rainier Ave Noise Variance Transcript by Rev.com Page 1 of 7 Appendix A September 12, 2023 Hearing Transcript Rainier Ave. Corridor Noise Variance -- LUA23-000241 Note: This is a computer generated transcript provided for informational purposes only. The reader should not take this document as 100% accurate or take offense at errors created by the limitations of the programming in transcribing speech. A recording of the hearing is available from the City should anyone need an accurate rendition of the hearing testimony. Examiner Olbrechts: (00:07): Progress. There it is. Okay, for the record, it's September 12th, 2023, 11:00 AM I'm fall break's hearing. Examiner for the City of Renton. Have a request for a noise. Noise ordinance variance file number L UUA 23 dash 0 0 0 2 4 1. See we have Mr. Clark here. This is the planner who's in the lead planner for the project. And also this looks like the applicant is here with us as well. The hearing format is we'll start off presentation from Mr. Clark, then applicant gets a chance to speak and then we'll move on to public comments. And so far, Jenny, it looks like no public, is that correct? You think? Looks like it, I believe, yeah. Yeah, I know we did receive one written letter anyway, which is actually, that's even unusual for these noise variances. But if we do get any members of the public, they'll be allowed to join us. (00:56): After applicant speaks, then we'll go back to Mr. Clark for final comments and then applicant and then get 10 business days to issue a decision. So let's deal with exhibits real quick and let's see. I can share screen. Great. They're there. It's on the screen. It's already there. Okay. So we got exhibits one through 21, and since we don't have any members of the public, I'll just ask real quick any objections of entry of exhibits one through 21? Okay, hearing none, we'll let those in then. So Mr. Clark, let me swear you in. Just raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, nothing but the truth in this proceeding? I do. Okay, great. Go ahead Speaker 2 (01:31): Mr. Brooks. We do want to add some exhibits to the record as well for those ones that we typically add. Examiner Olbrechts: (01:37): Oh, okay. Sure. Oh, the other ones? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. The other ones, we got the staff PowerPoint and the core maps and Google Earth. Any objections over that? 22 through 24. Alright, hearing on those are in there as well. Okay. Alright. Mr. Clark, did I swear you in Mr. Clark? I don't know if I got that far. Yep. Okay, great. Go ahead. Alright, Mr. Clark: (01:57): Lemme go ahead and share the PowerPoint presentation here. Everybody can see that? Examiner Olbrechts: (02:11): Yeah, yet are you sharing screen? I don't think I don't see anything on the screen. Transcript by Rev.com Page 2 of 7 Mr. Clark: (02:16): You don't see anything yet? Okay. Examiner Olbrechts: (02:24): No, now it's coming up. We got it. Mr. Clark: (02:29): You got it? Okay. All right. Are you seeing the notes page or the regular Examiner Olbrechts: (02:40): Notes page? Mr. Clark: (02:41): The notes page. Okay. How about now? Examiner Olbrechts: (02:50): Yeah, now it's got the full screen. Mr. Clark: (02:53): Perfect. Okay. All right. Thanks for entering those exhibits into the record. And this is going to be staff's PowerPoint presentation or exhibit 22. Like I said, we have the applicant here today, the City of Brenton, public Works transportation design engineering division, and this is the noise variance for the Rainier Avenue South Corridor improvement phase four. And so first I'm going to start off by giving a brief description of what the cret request is here today. And then I'll go into project goals zoning and conclude with staff's recommendation. But the city of Renton Transportation Division is requesting a noise variance from Rent municipal code eight dash seven dash two to complete construction on the Rainier Avenue South Corridor improvements Phase four project from 2008 to 2014, the city completed the first three phases of the Rainier Avenue South improvements here. The purpose of continuing the corridor improvement is to further improve transit, mobility, pedestrian access, and improve safety. (04:01): The nighttime work would occur along Rainier Avenue South from South third Street, past airport way up to Northwest third street, or third place, rather, just west of the south end of the Renton airport. The project construction runs approximately 0.6 linear miles that's going on the map there. And the applicant is requesting approximately 500 non-consecutive working days and nights between now or now as part of this particular land use application to the completion of the project. And the primary reason for conducting this nighttime work is to lessen daytime traffic congestion along Rainier Avenue South Corridor. All right, go to the next slide here. So some of the benefits listed for this project include benefits to overall traffic flow and safety through access management traffic, signal upgrades and coordination to improve the pedestrian environment and safety, resulting in aesthetically vibrant transportation corridor provides intersection improvements at South Third Street and South second Street. (05:13): In preparation of the two-way conversion, it extends the southbound business access transit lane from South second Street to South third Street. It will include construction of a segment of the regional Transcript by Rev.com Page 3 of 7 pedestrian bike path trail or the Lake Washington Loop Trail from airport way to 1000 feet north of airport way. We'll also include the installation of a pedestrian activated traffic signals at South Victoria Street Northwest third place. And then the final project goal listed on the slide here is sidewalk widening, street scaping, decorative roadway and pedestrian illumination, as well as new landscaping and buffers in the median. And just pulled an image there from Google Maps, which shows how much of a desperate need this street is for these improvements. (06:10): All right. The zoning along the corridor consists of mostly ca zone. However, there are some sprinkled in residential properties kind of on the periphery, and those would be R eight, R 10, and R M F. The applicant did receive a tier one temporary use permit with 13 conditions of approval earlier this year. Project work began about six months ago. Under that land use application listed jumping into the Washington Administrative Code 1 73 60 0 4 0, it does set the maximum permissible noise levels based on the environmental designation for noise abatement. Nighttime work hours are considered by this code from 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM and during these hours, the noise levels are reduced by 10 decibel levels for those receiving properties. In the table listed there, you can see the class A, class B and class C Class A properties would be those residential or residential uses. Commercial uses are the Class B properties and the light industrial are the class C properties. (07:28): Because the nighttime construction work has proposed along Rainier Avenue South, which is a principal arterial with mostly abutting CA zone properties, the noise limitations for the project would be on the higher end of that table. In addition, the nighttime work levels may exceed those numbers under certain circumstances. For example, the receiving properties can bump up an additional five D B A for 15 minutes for a one hour period or 10 D B A for five minutes for a one hour period or 15 D B A for one and a half minutes in a one hour period. So there's a little bit of flexibility within the decibel levels based on the receiving properties during those nighttime work hours. And if we jump then to the construction equipment list here, project noise would come from a variety of construction equipment supporting these construction activities, which would include grading, hauling, dumping material, removing asphalt structure, braking and removal, paving operations, and dust control. (08:44): Some of the noises, pieces of equipment I've included in the table here, those would include an excavator, a boom truck with an auger concrete saw, forklift jackhammer, and a vacuum truck. The full list of construction equipment is included in Exhibit 16, and it also identifies what the decal levels would be at 50 feet, a hundred feet, 200 feet, and 300 feet from the source. The sound levels can range for each piece of equipment from anywhere from 61 to 92 decibels at a level of 50 feet from the source down to a range of 45 to 76 decibels at 300 feet from the source. And noise and nighttime noise levels are not expected to be concentrated at one location for more than two weeks at a time. And not all sound created by the project would be equally bothersome. For example, like I said, this was a fairly long stretch of Rainier Avenue South and so multiple intersections, and so the work would be moving as it's scheduled. And the schedule is also listed in Exhibit 21. (09:59): All right, just a couple more slides here. Residents along the project corridor with perceived construction sounds of various deductible levels due to varying distances. You also have a little bit of topography in the area, and then it's a fairly well developed portion of the city, so you have other buildings which would break the line of sight and sound as well. And staff, as was mentioned, did receive one public comment email on August 4th of this year regarding construction noise, which indicated that the lady Transcript by Rev.com Page 4 of 7 who made the comment that this construction has the ability to disrupt sleep for her who was a teacher and then also her high school aged son and staff was able to respond to this public comment on August 8th of this year. And then the applicant has also indicated that they would develop a monitoring plan that would address all the impacts to the residents that would be impacted to minimize any possibility that the public health or safety would be diminished, and that can be signed in the staff report under finding of fact nine (11:15): And quickly. In addition, the applicant has proposed several other noise mitigation measures that follow R M C eight dash seven dash eight D four in order to lower the risk to project noise impacts. For example, night work would only occur on Mondays through Thursday nights. The project team would notify folks within 300 feet of the site or the type of work and the phone number or email to address would be available. And also the applicant has offered to provide hotel accommodations, which would be available if the noise proofs to be too much for the zoning property owner. For example, if earplugs and sound noise machines do not work, then we'd resort to the hotel accommodations. And then the full list of mitigation measurement can be found under the variance analysis in the staff report. And that can be found under finding of fact nine D. (12:18): So staff is recommending approval of the written Avenue South corridor improvements phase four and subject to two conditions of approval. And briefly number one here, implement the noise mitigation measures described in the project narrative address any kind of complaints received within 24 hours or when business day provide a summary to the city project manager within one week receiving that complaint. And then number two, post an after hour noise complaint, phone number, and all scheduled nighttime work plan for the transportation on the city's transportation system webpage so that residents do have access to when and where the nighttime work would occur along the corridor and where to provide complaints to. And with that, I'll stop sharing. I'll be happy to answer any questions. Examiner Olbrechts: (13:10): Some quick questions. I think you mentioned that there'd be no point along the route that would experience more than two weeks continuous noise, I guess, of construction. Would that be total for the whole construction period or, I mean, is it possible that there'd be more work a few weeks later that would take a few days or I was just trying to figure out what you meant by that two weeks. Mr. Clark: (13:34): Yeah. I would anticipate that the nighttime portion of the work would not exceed two weeks at any given period. However, the schedule in Exhibit 21 lists out all the placements of the project as it goes through. So there will be work that takes place during the day. There will also be work that may have to come back. They may not tackle an entire intersection all at once. Examiner Olbrechts: (14:03): And then I was trying to remember on the Noyce standards for the receiving properties, you mentioned they're all zone ca, which is commercial. Are the no standards based on zoning or was it actual use? Like I say, I can't remember off the top Mr. Clark: (14:15): Of that. It's more use, Transcript by Rev.com Page 5 of 7 Examiner Olbrechts: (14:16): Yes. Yep. Okay. And then, I mean, I really liked that exhibit two with the aerial, with the construction area overlaid on top of it, but the aerial is really faded. Can't quite tell. I can't distinguish between commercial and residential uses on here. I was just wondering real quick, maybe if you could kind of point out where the closest residences, are there non-conforming residential uses in some of the CA's own properties or I'm just curious if there's going to be any that are actually along the route at all. Mr. Clark: (14:49): Yeah, no, there's just a handful of residential properties that are just off the principal arterial street. So most of the businesses along Rainier that are zone ca are actually commercial businesses. So retail and what have you, residentials are just one or two properties behind, but they fall within the 300 foot feet of the work that is being proposed. Examiner Olbrechts: (15:16): Oh, okay. So are you saying that none are right along Rainier Avenue Mr. Clark: (15:20): Then? Yeah, there's no residential Examiner Olbrechts: (15:21): Properties along Rainier. Oh, okay. So I guess what the closest are going to be like what, a hundred feet or something like that maybe? And we're talking about what was the formula for reduction D B A over distance? I can't remember. It was like, well, I can look it up. I know you've got it in there somewhere, I think. Mr. Clark: (15:42): Yeah, so it really depends on where the noise source is coming from, so what property it's coming from to where it's being received. And the noise levels do decrease significantly with distance. Examiner Olbrechts: (16:02): Yeah, that's what I remember. Okay. Alright. Thanks Mr. Clark. Really good. Okay, let's move on to the applicant's. Are you Ms. Altos, is that correct? Okay. I'd have to unmute yourself there. Lemme swear in. Just raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm and tell the truth nothing but the truth this proceeding? Ms. Faltaous: (16:18): I Examiner Olbrechts: (16:18): Do. Okay, great. Go ahead. Ms. Faltaous: (16:22): So sorry. The project itself, so right now we have the project down to one lane in each direction to allow for the construction work. And oftentimes there are instances where the contractor needs more real estate to be able to perform the work to get the joint utility trench in and just various underground Transcript by Rev.com Page 6 of 7 utilities. And it becomes very problematic to perform that work during the day, reducing Rainier Avenue down to one lane. So it is in the best interest to allow for some of the work to happen at night that allows for additional closures to help it lessens the impact on the surrounding businesses as well as the traffic. Examiner Olbrechts: (17:24): Right. Yeah. And just to make it clear for the record, sure. Everyone who's participating in this hearing knows what the traffic is like on Rainier Avenue South during the day, and that's ample justification probably for doing it any construction work at night. But of course, if this were to be appealed, the judge wouldn't know that. So if we could describe what the traffic's during the day, do you have any idea what the level of service is at the intersections along Rainier Avenue South there, or, Ms. Faltaous: (18:02): I am not sure what the A D T is along the corridor, but that is information that I can gather. Examiner Olbrechts: (18:11): Yeah, yeah. I mean, just kind of an estimate would, well, Ms. Faltaous: (18:15): It's a principal arterial, right? And so you're talking hundreds of thousands of Examiner Olbrechts: (18:23): Cars that are actually talking about level of service. I mean, you can't estimate it'd be down at a D or E or something, or, yeah, okay. No, that's fine. Ms. Faltaous: (18:35): No, sorry, hold on. My supervisor Bob is also on the call. Examiner Olbrechts: (18:40): Oh, okay. Speaker 5 (18:41): Yeah. The level of service at several of the intersections falls Ms. Faltaous: (18:46): Below F Examiner Olbrechts: (18:46): F Oh, okay. During Ms. Faltaous: (18:48): Daytime? Examiner Olbrechts: (18:49): Transcript by Rev.com Page 7 of 7 Yeah. Yeah. I could say it kind of feels that way when you're driving along there. Mr. Hansel, let me swear you in real quick. Just if you could raise your right hand. Do you swear firm that your testimony is the truth to the best of your ability? Yes, I do. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Alright. Yeah, yeah, like I said, yeah, I think it's one of those things that's obvious to everybody, but on a judicial appeal and all the judge has is the transcript. It's good to say. Yeah, we've got roads that are operating at L O S F here and we don't want to reduce these by any number of lanes. Okay, thanks next for your assistance on that. So let's move on to Jennifer. Is there any members of the public out there? It looks like it's all staff to me. There is not. Pardon? Ms. Faltaous: (19:26): There is Examiner Olbrechts: (19:27): Not. Okay. Alright. Clark, any final comments? Nope. Okay. I think that, yeah, I think we can go ahead and close the hearing and yeah, I think it's definitely night work is warranted here, so I should be able to prove that pretty easily and get out the decision in the next couple of weeks. So thanks all for participating. We're adjourned for this morning. Have a good day. Ms. Faltaous: (19:47): Recording stopped.