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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/04/2021 - Minutes AUGUST 4, 2021-PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES MINUTES PLANNING COMMISSION 6:00 PM - Wednesday, August 4, 2021 Zoom Video Conference CALL TO ORDER Commission Chair Shannon Matson called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. ROLL CALL Secretary Bayan called roll. Present: 1. Josephine Bayan 2. James Alberson 3. Mara Fiksdal 4. David Fleetwood 5. Sunayana Kannur 6. Shannon Matson 7. Charles Seil 8. Dana Rochex Absent: 1. Kevin Poole (Excused) STAFF PRESENT 1. Paul Hintz- Principal Planner 2. Katie Buchl-Morales- Senior Planner 3. Angelea Weihs- Associate Planner 4. Angie Mathias-Long Range Planning Manager 5. Vanessa Dolbee- Planning Director 6. Matthew Herrera- Current Planning Manager 7. Patrice Kent- Senior Assistant City Attorney 8. Danielle Marshall-Recording Secretary CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED There were 16 emails on Retail Pet Sales received: 1. Michael Hecht- 08/03/2021 2. Denisse Yates- -08/03/2021 3. Justin Kerr-08/03/2021 4. Kayla Kerr-08/03/2021 5. Carlos Pedraza-08/03/2021 6. Sabrina Nasalroad-08/03/2021 7. Analeeze Rodriguez-08/03/2021 AUGUST 4, 2021-REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES 8. Brandon Lincoln-08/03/2021 9. Breanne Guyette-08/03/2021 10. Breanne Kadrmas-08/03/2021 11. Amy Walen-08/02/2021 12. Amy Jesse-07/28/2021 13. Amy Davis-07/17/2021 14. Elizabeth Oreck-07/18/2021 15. Jill Servais-06/14/2021 16. Paula Sardinas-08/04/2021 AUDIENCE COMMENTS No Audience Comments on Non-Agenda items. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Commissioner Seil reported that they had a great ground-breaking Ceremony at Top Golf with nice turnout. Commissioner James Alberson was also present during the activity. Commissioner Seil was happy to see Jennifer Henning. ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT No Administrator’s Report. Angie mentioned about Seattle Times article featuring the best eight (8) new playground in the Seattle region lately. The article featured Gene Coulon Park being the No. 1 and Sunset Park was also on the list. Commissioner Fiksdal confirmed these fantastic observations from the Author based on her experience with her kids. DOCKET 16 GROUP B BRIEFING Katie presented D-191: ADUs as Accessory Uses to Religious Institutions (See Attached Powerpoint Presentation) DISCUSSIONS COMMISSIONER COMMENTS 1. Commissioner Fiksdal asked for an example of a third-party entity that would help to monitor the ADUs. Katie stated Renton Housing Authority and King County Housing Authority are potential candidates. 2. Commissioner Fleetwood raised concerns on affordability (type of people permitted to rent). He asked if this has undergone legal review or if it is a proposal that would hold up or be unenforceable and can just end up as luxury units for big donors of the church. Katie confirmed that she is unaware of the cases he was referring to. AUGUST 4, 2021-REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES 3. Commissioner Fleetwood asked if the City Attorney has taken a look about whether this is likely to hold up or not. Angie confirmed that this has not sent to the City Attorney’s for review but this is something that should be done and hoped to receive comments prior to the public hearing. She added that we are hopeful this is something that will hold up because Washington State Law actually changed and so we do have a sort of supportive background to that in requiring the supportability level in those things. 4. Commissioner Fleetwood also raised a question on discriminatory housing related to sexual/gender preference (not allowing gay couple), income, race and civil status. Katie confirmed that she has a list that explicitly shows where discrimination is not allowed which can be provided to him. AUDIENCE COMMENTS No audience comments. Angie presented D194- Retail Pet Sales. Please see attached PowerPoint presentation. AUDIENCE COMMENTS 1. Jill Servais, asserted that City of Renton is absolutely allowed to pass Ordinance to make puppy sales illegal and stated that since opening of Puppyland in February, over 650 puppies have been imported from Midwest puppy mill. She urged Planning Commission to cut off the Puppy mill pipeline and to recommend a humane pet sales ordinance to the City Council. 2. Breanne Guyette, testified that she recently purchased a puppy from Puppyland in Puyallup which had seizure after 13 days, she contacted Puppyland and they have never taken any responsibility. She sought justice for her puppy and for all puppies out there so people should not purchase puppies from place like Puppy Mills. 3. Albert Sardinas, said this type of Ordinance is not a solution for raising welfare of dogs and cats in Renton and Washington State as a whole. He stated that it will not create additional oversight in the animal breeding industry nor will it shut down puppy mills, instead it just runs the risk of following same path of California. He suggested a smart solution for Renton residents is to choose where to get their pet from and raise the standards of care of potential pets 4. Paula Sardinas, PETA member testified that she became an advocate for retail pet store when she was unable to get a pet for her daughter who was a victim of sexual assault and needed a puppy for emotional support. She further added that Renton Ordinance and some of these regulations might have prevented her, veterans and other people from getting the puppies that they deserve. She also commended the Commissioners for doing this difficult work. 5. Kayla Kerr from Puppyland testified about who they are and how their business operates. She mentioned that she and her husband are very much involved with their breeders, they are professional and licensed with clean inspecttion reports, visit them frequently and look for exercise, socialization, veterinary and retirement programs, all of them exceed the USDA standards. She requested written testimonies from industry professionals to give Commission a better insight for next meeting. 6. Justin Kerr, Owner of Puppyland, confirmed that Puppyland does not support puppy mills, animals come first not just a profit. He shared that they work with breeders who genuinely care AUGUST 4, 2021-REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES about their dogs, they give them space, healthcare and attention that they deserve, they go over and beyond any requirements. He offered personal tour of their store to address concerns. 7. Ashly Dale, Director for Operations for “Bailing out Benji” encouraged the Commission that if this Ordinance will move forward, require that breeder information would be provided in their website and social media so people will have the opportunity to do their research in their decision before walking in the store. She urged Renton to pass an Ordinance and protect the constituents. 8. Jessie Friedman called in for strong support of comprehensive humane pet store ordinance to protect Renton animals and consumers. 9. Sabrina Nasalroad, employed at Puppyland for almost 2 years testified that she gets to see day- to-day operations of the store, Puppyland is not just a store but a family that has something in common, compassion, love and dedication to puppies from the breeders to the puppy counselor and to the puppy parent. She added that there are many lies and harassment about Puppyland which forced them to keep personal information of customers to protect them to be publicly harassed. Commissioner Fleetwood reminded everyone to address all comments to the Commission not to anyone else in the chatbox. Commissioner Alberson concurred. Angie emphasized that comments made in the chatbox will not be part of the record. 10. Michael Hecht, Employee of Puppyland, testified that Kayla and Justin Kerr are among the most strict and vigilant people in the industry, doing what is right for the puppies and the parents as well. He said that general public is often misled where to get a puppy from and having a place that offers a full transparency gives customers a peace of mind. He also added that Puppyland teaches them about all the supplies and how they are going to use these and that all families are fully educated on what they are getting themselves into. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS No Commissioner comments. Angelea presented D196- Height and Setbacks in RMF Zone. DISCUSSIONS COMMISSIONER COMMENTS 1. Commissioner Alberson clarified possible issue/s why amendment is proposed. Angelea explained that one of the issues in the current Code is the height increase of 4 townhouse development that allows up to 4 stories and one challenge is that frontyard setback of 10 feet with 4 story limit, if you have a very tall house structure with a very limited yard setback, it appears to be out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood. She added that when you have existing structures that comply with the previous Code regulations that include 20-foot frontyard that can be more significantly intensive that what we previously intended. Code in 2016 requires 20-foot setback to a 10-foot setback and amendment will serve as middle ground after reviewing all regulations while also making it consistent with other zone. AUGUST 4, 2021-REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES AUDIENCE COMMENTS No audience comments. Paul presented D199- Residential Accessory Structures. Please see attached PowerPoint presentation. DISCUSSIONS COMMISSIONER COMMENTS 1. Commissioner Fisdal asked for clarification on the developers that was mentioned in the presentation. Paul explained that new development is required to treat stormwater runoff that comes from impervious surface like concrete driveway, etc. For new subdivisions, typically what we see is a detention pond so that in a storm or rain event, runoff is deposited through engineering into the stormwater pond is allowed to sit there or evaporate, that way it is more effectively treated than an engineered storm facility in roadways which is too much for the City to handle. When a developer subdivides the land, made official by establishing a plat, you record the plat with the County, setting the regulations, lot dimensions and then there are further restrictions on each lot such an HOA to regulate. Paul further explained that this may also include other restrictions such as environmentally- sensitive areas which are within or adjacent to the development. Developers have the right to make greater restrictions on their new development than our Code allows. State Code set standards, Cities can make that provision related to that state law more strict to suit local circumstances. In this instance, developers can record restrictions in the plat that restrict impervious surface in the lots below what the City determines as appropriate. By doing so they dictate the terms of our building coverage or impervious coverage limitations, then our Code does not mean much. When a new subdivision is developed and recorded, Staff look up the plot and determine whether or not the developer adjusted the maximum impervious coverage or the Code actually pertains the homeowners question of how much or how big a patio can be built. Staff would like to simply say you cannot design your stormwater vault, retention ponds, to not be able to accommodate all stormwater runoff if each lot is not 65% of lot coverage to be impervious coverage. Vanessa added that it is basically saying that it saves the developers’ money to build a smaller pond and a smaller vault which means they get another lot and make more money by selling the additional lot. How they get there is utilizing this stormwater in our manual that they choose to record in each lot that instead of allowing the homebuilder to have 70% cover, it will be 40% and the person who buys his home can not rely on our Code for what that is and actually have to pull the plat up at King County to see what his lot has on it. So we are requesting that we eliminate that option for the developers and require them to build a pond that meets the requirements that exist in our Code today. AUDIENCE COMMENTS No audience comments. AUGUST 4, 2021-REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn made by Commissioner Alberson, seconded by Commissioner Fleetwood. All ayes, motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 PM. Shannon Matson, Commission Chair Josephine Bayan, Commission Secretary Danielle Marshall Recording Secretary