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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-27-2024 - Final Decision -Appendix A -- Harmony Ridge Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 1 of 18 Appendix A November 19, 2024 Hearing Transcript Preliminary Plat Harmony Ridge -- PR21-000076 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 at the City of Renton Community and Economic Development Department should anyone need an accurate rendition of the hearing testimony. Examiner Olbrechts: (00:02): For the record, it is November 19th, 2024, 11:30 AM and Fallbrook's Hearing Examiner for the City of Renton holding a hearing this afternoon on an application for preliminary plat approval. Lot line adjustment in a street modification project. File number is PR 23 dash 0 0 0 7 6 and it's called Harmony Ridge. The hearing format is, we'll start off the presentation from staff. I believe that is Mr. Morgan Roth. There will give us an overview of the project once he's done, we'll move on to applicant comments after that, then we'll move on to public. So if you are attending virtually, you certainly will have an opportunity to speak and we'll make sure that it tells you know how to do that. Once we are done with public comments, we'll move back to Mr. Morgan Roth to answer any questions that were previously raised, as well as complete the record with any information he finds necessary. And then the applicant gets final word and final presentation of evidence. And after that I get 10 business days to issue a final decision. And Mr. Ros, you want to start sharing the exhibit screen? Speaker 2 (01:07): Yes. Examiner Olbrechts: (01:08): Alright. Yeah. By state law I'm only allowed to consider evidence put in the record today. I'm not allowed to speak to staff or the applicant, read about it in the newspaper or anything. All the information I get is the information being made accessible to all of you today, Mr. Morgan Roth in preparing a staff report has put together an exhibit list of other documents he wants considered and made part of the record, which includes the environmental review. That's where you determine whether an environmental impact statement is necessary or mitigation measures are necessary to mitigate the impacts of the project. We have planned drawings, topography, we had arborist report, tree retention workshop, geotechnical evaluation, preliminary technical information report, which assesses the drainage. We've got a wetlands evaluation and Mr. Ro, can you scroll down a little further or there we go. Just a few more there. We have the traffic impact analysis and transportation concurrency as well as notes from the city development review staff making recommendations for conditions and that kind of thing, plus more tree analysis and any other exhibits. Mrs. Neros, those are one through 14. Speaker 2 (02:16): I'm sorry, this is part of the hearing examiner, Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 2 of 18 Examiner Olbrechts: (02:23): Right? Yeah, we have the staff report. We got some comments from the Duwamish tribe. The determination and environmental impact statement isn't necessary. There was also a neighborhood meeting held and we have a little summary of that meeting and some correspondence. Renton school district looked at this probably for a walking analysis and then we have a lot line adjustment map And then Mr. Snar, I believe there's a final Speaker 2 (02:46): Yes, we do have three Examiner Olbrechts: (02:47): Exhibits. Okay. Speaker 2 (02:49): Would like to be added to the public hearing today. Yeah, Examiner Olbrechts: (02:51): There we go. We've got, Speaker 2 (02:54): Oh yeah, this Examiner Olbrechts: (02:54): Is, oh yeah, that's it. Yep. The stat PowerPoint. Speaker 2 (02:56): Actually you know what? It did not add the 22 through 25. We did have a comment from the public. Oh, okay. Who's the person that wrote the comment Examiner Olbrechts: (03:07): Letter? Speaker 2 (03:08): So I think I have it open here in a Word document so I can just pull that up. Can you see that? Examiner Olbrechts: (03:14): Not yet. Speaker 2 (03:15): Okay. I think I'm just sharing my screen so lemme me try that again. So yeah, here's the correct one. Examiner Olbrechts: (03:25): Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 3 of 18 Oh okay. From Scott Fujita dated November 15th. Then we had the staff PowerPoint City of Rent and Maps, which is available at the website, gives you aerial view zoning, critical areas where those are environmentally sensitive areas such as wetlands and streams. Then finally Google Earth gives us some aerial photos as well. So just want to ask at this point if there are any objections or anyone needs to see any of the exhibits one through 25, if you do just hit the raise hand button on the bottom of your zoom screen. Not seeing any takers? Nope. Okay. So we'll admit exhibits one through 25. I don't know why my raised hand is up but I didn't put it up there. Okay. Alright, so with that Mr. Morro, let me swear in, just raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm and tell the truth nothing but the truth in this proceeding? Speaker 3 (04:15): I do. Examiner Olbrechts: (04:16): Okay, great. Speaker 3 (04:17): Go ahead. Okay, thank you. Let me share my screen quick. Okay, is that coming through? Okay? Yeah. Okay, awesome. Thank you. Well, I'm Alex Morgan Roth, principal planner with City of Renton current planning division and I'm going to be making a staff recommendation for the Harmony Ridge subdivision project here. That's LUA 23 dash 0 0 1 43. So a little bit about the project site and you can see a map down below there with north to the top of the screen. This site is at 1 5 5 0 9 1 16 Avenue Southeast. It's about 6.27 acres zoned R eight, which are residential eight dwelling units per acre. It's in the residential medium density comprehensive plan land use designation currently developed with a religious institution. The United Christian Church, which includes a couple buildings, the main building a school or a daycare, small building there, pre-K and then a couple accessory buildings currently access then via two existing driveways off of one 16th Avenue Southeast. (05:36): And then the south side of the site to the south half or two thirds of the site. Where this project is proposed is generally wooded undeveloped, probably logged at some point historically but hasn't been touched in a while. And then surrounding the site we've got mostly single family residential to the east, south and partially west, similar zoning designations, R eight and then to the north, the large site we've got the Rolling Hills Reservoir site, which is administered by public works, just what it sounds like a water reservoir site got some cell facilities on there, also heavily forested and that backs up to Puget Drive Southeast there. (06:23): So the applicant, they're proposing a phase preliminary plat approval. They went through environmental review and then a lot line adjustment and a street modification for this project. So this is a little unique and I'll get into this a little bit more about the phasing, but basically this is a 22 lot subdivision, so it's 21 single family lots and then one lot for the existing church building. So the church is essentially selling off a portion of their property for development by a single family home developer. So it'd be 21 new single family homes, but 22 lots including the church lot comes out to about 5.3 dwelling units per acre. Four tracks proposed which include three tree tracks and one stormwater track, which is a below grade vault. Access is proposed to the new subdivision via 2 53 foot wide streets identified as road A and B on the preliminary plat plan, a new alley for some alley loaded lots 12 approximately denoted as alley Z on the plat plan. Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 4 of 18 (07:26): And then there's street improvements proposal on one 16th Avenue Southeast and that's street improvements in front of both the church, the future church site and the subdivision. Again, because this whole parcel is part of the subdivision, it triggers front improvements across the entire site. One access point to the church is to be relocated off of future Road a, although that may change, which I'll get into in a little bit, but there will still be one existing access off of one 16. So two proposed to the church might go down to one, which I will get into Utility connection. So again, a little unique, I'll have a map coming up, but they're proposing storm and sewer, which are going to be owned and operated by the city of Renton or maintained by the city of Renton across the Rolling Hills site. So basically connecting to Puget to existing infrastructure and Puget Drive Southeast there. (08:20): And that's going to be located along the kind of west West boundary. I'll just back up here of the Rolling Hills site here. And so again that's just storm and sewer water will connect out to one 16th through the new roads they're proposing there. And that is kind of a separate process from this entitlement. So basically the applicants and the church have been working with public works on getting approval for that. It does need city council approval and I believe they went through committee already and it's got to go through full council, but public work does support the proposal so we anticipate it to be approved so they have a utility connection there. (09:04): So here's the plat map here. So you can see all the 21 single family home sites. You've got 12 accessed off of Alley Z there and that's preferred in ra. Zoning district is alley access, so alley access a little over half of the total units. So one 16th won't have any curb cuts on it except for the existing church. We'll have one which is good for pedestrian safety and access there and vehicular safety as well. We've got the cul-de-sac identified as road B, accessing vehicular access to lots 13 through 18 and then pedestrian access to the others. And then you've got two lots up here north of road A and then you can see the tracks kind of sprinkled around here. The road raised dead ends right now and that's for a potential future extension. The city as far as I know, doesn't have any plans to sell off a portion of the Rolling Hill site, but there is some topography challenges on this portion of the site and so it might be difficult to have the site support additional water infrastructure, things of that nature. (10:12): So I just wanted to leave the option open, which is what our code asked for is if there's potential connection possibilities in the future. That's kind when we allow dead end roads like that. And then you can see the utility connection there, which would run up to Puget Drive and connect the stormwater vault here. And then the sanitary sewer critical areas. So moderate coal mine hazard, like a lot of this area up here. Historically there was coal mining but again it was just a moderate hazard there. Sensitive slopes, you can see on the map there in the orange and yellow areas, there's definitely some larger topography changes there, but mainly on the Rolling Hills site. And then there was a wetlands report and the reason why is we had mapped a possible wetlands there, but the wetlands biologist found that there was an area that was wet during some times created from a stormwater outfall pipe. But basically it didn't meet the criteria of a formal wetlands and it's a very small kind of area. You can see my cursor, kind of think right around here, maybe a little bit over. And basically we reviewed that and concurred with his assessment that it was not a regulated wetland there. (11:36): Oops. So this project did go get APA determinations that a determination of non-significant issued October 30th, 2023. No, no appeals were filed and the reason for the big gap there is they were looking Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 5 of 18 at some utility options during that period. So the project was on hold for a little while. While they looked into that and worked with public works on that connection, we did get one comment from the Duwamish tribe, which is kind of their typical comment, which is that there could be a artifacts, cultural artifacts found. So there is one condition of approval related to that and that's asking for the applicant to submit an inadvertent discovery plan, just making sure that work stops if anything is found on the site that that could be culturally significant for the tribes. And then we did receive one recent public comment from the neighbor regarding the potential for a fence and that would be a fence between the utility corridor basically across the city site. (12:38): There will be obviously some tree removal associated with that and there will be a paved paved access road which will not be, it'll be gated, not open to the public. And that's for maintenance for sewer cleanouts and storm cleanouts. Again, this is something we kind of separate. We wanted to make sure the process was kind of separate in that we're doing the entitlements for the subdivision and public works. We as CED as the permitting entitlement authority didn't really have kind of turned it over to them and they worked with the applicant on this connection. So this is something I will chat with about to the applicant and to public works, but it's a city, it's a public works site so any fencing would kind of need to go through them, but that is something I will certainly be bringing up with them. And that said, that just came in Friday, so there's not any analysis in the report related to that availability of public services. (13:34): So Renton Police Department and the Renton Regional Fire Authority indicate that there's sufficient resources to furnish services to the development as long as all the conditions are complied with and the code required improvements and fees are there and then schools and we did get a letter back from the Renton school district that they can accommodate any additional students generated by the proposal. We did do an analysis for Safe Routes to School, which was found in the body of the staff report, found that there were safe routes between, but the bus stops the two bus stops, which I think were for middle school and high school students. And then elementary school students will walk to their school and did find that there are safe routes to school available for future students of the subdivision stormwater. So a stormwater vault is proposed and attract and that's going to connect across to the existing storm main and Puget Drive Southeast. So again, crossing the Rolling Hills site, it will be maintained by the city obviously when it's all done. And the main reason for this is just the topography challenges of getting storm water going the other direction. And so this was kind of their same for sewer. So this was an alternative that the applicant pursued with Public works and like I said, if not they're going to expect council approval shortly with support from the Public Works administrator. (14:59): They're also required to comply with the 2022 and Surface Water Design manual. They did submit a preliminary drainage report, A TIR and they'll have to submit a final one making sure they're compliant with all the criteria and requirements in there as part of their civil construction permit. San Terry Sewer. So provided by the city of Renton by our wastewater division. So again, same with the stormwater new extension across the Rolling Hills Reservoir site being working with public works on that pending approval from city Council water. So there is a water connection in one 16th that's available that they proposed to use new eight inch water main on the project site would connect to the existing six inch water main in one 16th Avenue Southeast there. So in conclusion found that public services are available to the applicant for the 21 lot subdivision, 22 lot subdivision with the 22 new single Family Homes subdivision analysis. (16:00): Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 6 of 18 I won't read through each one of these and I could say these are all contingent on the applicant meeting all the conditions of approval. But in the analysis which can be found in the staff report, found that the project proposal was consistent with the comp plan goals and policies complies with the RA zoning standards, complies with the subdivision regulations, complies with the critical areas regulations complies with the street standards. They did propose a street modification. This was just, and we do our transportation division does support this modification, essentially reducing the amount of dedication that they need to provide. They basically reviewed this corridor section of one 16th in front of the site. Found that we, even though it's technically the Complete Street standards calls for 91 feet, we're okay with what's there right now as far as the curb to curb width and they've got enough. (16:54): And so we're just requiring them to do a little less dedication, but they do still need to do the sidewalk and landscape, the normal street frontage improvement, street lighting, all of that. So they're still getting all those improvement benefits, just not adding another lane, changing the width of the road there. So did find that they satisfied five of five modification criteria. The lot line adjustment again, more analysis in the staff report, but I just didn't want to make this presentation 45 minutes long. So basically they're just doing a little bit of cleanup where there was some kind of deed overlaps with a parcel with an adjacent parcel essentially. So I'm talking like half, I think it was like six inches or something or seven inches, very small amount where there was a little bit of an issue of saying both property owners own this piece of land, this little tiny strip and that's not actually the case. So that is the lot line adjustment. Very, very minor as far as that goes. (17:55): Again, they're safe walking routes to school as discussed earlier and there's adequate public services and facilities. And so just before I get into recommendations really quick on the phasing. So as far as phasing what that's going to look like. So again, the church who owns the site right now, United Christian Church, they are wanting to sell off the portion of their site to the applicant for the single family homes and they worked out working with the applicant, they would like to basically divide that land right away and then into two different parcels. So you'd have the church site and then you'd have the site that's getting prepared for the single family homes, sell that off right away. So the church, the sale can happen, the church can get money for maintenance and other reasons they needed to sell the property and then the applicant can move forward with the second phase, which includes all the improvements and getting the site prepped for single family homes, all the front engine improvements, things of that nature. (19:01): So still the normal five-year period, they're just basically as soon as the decision comes out, if it's approved in their favor, they would like to again separate off the church site and then sell the remainder to the applicant. So that's kind of the reason for the phasing. So a little unique but just so they can get that sale done quicker. And it is a phasing proposal that SAF does support based on, we've had a lot of conversations with them going back a few years to make this work for the church and for the applicant. So I'm recommending approval of the phase preliminary plat as well as the lot line adjustment and the modification as depicted in the planned drawings. I won't read through each one of these conditions, but there are 12 conditions related to landscaping trees as far as the, we want to make sure that there's enough parking at the church and the schools. (19:57): So just asking for a parking analysis, they are going to be reducing a little bit of the parking at the church site there. Submitting the inadvertent discovery plan for the Duwamish tribe comment. We have a Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 7 of 18 couple lot configuration requirements in the code for kind of variation for single family lots and we just want to make sure that before they start submitting permits that there's kind of a understanding of how that's going to work. So asking for a narrative there requiring the use of the public alley, which they obviously already show, but just making sure we don't get any curb cuts off of one 16th that weren't shown on the original plans. (20:34): This is one I wanted to get a little more into. So we had a condition the applicant shall relocate the proposed secondary entrance to the church site. So that's the entrance. I'll just go back really quick here so we're all on the same page. That's the entrance you can kind of see right here off of future road a pretty recently both the applicant and the church representative of the church have said they don't really want that second entrance there, they'd better just have it be the one entrance off there. We are tentatively supportive of that but we didn't have really time to verify with the Renton Regional Fire Authority as well as just making sure, we want to make sure there's still adequate circulation in there. There's not people dropping off for daycare and having to go back out and make sure there's no other kind of traffic impacts we're not aware of. (21:21): So it's something we might be supportive of but it's not something I wanted to include bring into as a new condition or anything. So I think we still support keeping, sorry I'm going back here. Keeping this condition as written, just understanding that it might be eliminated completely. This condition was written essentially to shift the alley over to align, sorry, shift the entrance of the church site over to align with the Alley Z. So kind of get it a little bit further away from the intersection there just because we're worried about queuing and we've had some other projects where we've had had issues with just backup stuff like that because churches sometimes get a lot of traffic and at different times of the day than usual on weekends when people are moving around. So anyway, we're not recommending change to this condition, but just an FYI, the chance that it'll go away, which would solve the problem the condition is trying to solve is intended to solve. (22:20): So ask for a photometric study and street lighting plan. Pretty typical. If for some reason the stormwater vault is converted to a detention pond, we would consider that a major platinum. That's a big change. Don't anticipate that because of the size of the tract, but just a condition we usually put in there based on kind of the previous issues we've had when that's happened. We've also asked for a pedestrian focused design for track B. So essentially can we get some kind of soft trails or pathways to connect the cul-de-sac sidewalks over to one 16th without having to walk back through the entire site. There's basically a narrow strip on the, that's part of the track B that goes along the south side kind of intended to buffer from the neighbors to the south, but also just to provide a little more opportunity for tree retention. (23:10): So we wanted to look and see is there a chance that we could, is there a potential to get a trail soft trail back there? Just again if students are wanting to walk to school and cut off a few minutes if they live in the subdivision or if they want to access that area. So just something we wanted the applicant to look into and we've talked to 'em about that a bit already and we'll work with them on what that might look like. Okay, lastly, so again, wanting to make sure that we get the street street improvements in front of the church in a timely manner requesting a condition that they install the frontage improvements within two years. This is in front of the church site now within two years of preliminary PLA approval and lesson alternative schedules approved. And again, that's just kind to make sure we're getting those, that's kind Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 8 of 18 of top priority, getting those improvements there so we get 'em across the entire site. Again, it is triggered by code so it's a requirement no matter what, but just kind of want to prioritize that as something and also just so the church can just be done with this and not have to have their site ripped up as well. So I guess I did go through all of those that I was going to summarize, so sorry about that. But if you got any questions on any of those, lemme know. But like I said, staff is recommending appro val with the 12 conditions as outlined in the staff report. Examiner Olbrechts: (24:30): Okay, perfect. Thank you Mr. Morgan Roth. Alright, let's move on to applicant applicants. You don't have to add anything but certainly can. Does anyone want to speak? Is that Ivana there? Okay, Ivana, what's your last name for the record? Speaker 4 (24:42): Good morning, Ivana. Halverson. Examiner Olbrechts: (24:44): Okay Ms. Halverson, I'm swear in. Raise your right hand. Do you swear Affirm tell the truth, nothing but the truth in this proceeding? Speaker 4 (24:50): I do. Examiner Olbrechts: (24:51): Okay, great. Go ahead. Speaker 4 (24:52): Alright, thank you Mr. Examiner and thanks to city staff. This has been, this hearing is a long time coming. If I freeze up, our company's internet doesn't like video, so I'll try not to freeze up. But I think staff for the detailed staff report and for all of the work I'm getting us to this point in general, the applicant does agree with the staff report and the conditions of approval. We have gone through all of the conditions with the applicant and actually some of them with the city as well to get clarification and I'll talk about that some of that today as well as I might propose a couple of modifications to some of the conditions as Mr. Morgan Roth stated, this is a proposed phase project with the church being on a standalone parcel and their modified parking lot on the standalone parcel. And then the rest of the project would be phase two, which would be the frontage improvements, the right of way, dedication, and the remainder of the plat property that's proposed to be developed into 21 single family detached lots or lots for detached homes. A stormwater vault is proposed with an offsite alignment for stormwater and sewer and I can share my screen if you'd like to see that again. (26:40): So just to zoom out a little bit, this line designates the approximate location of the offsite stormwater and sanitary sewer easement and agreement that the applicant has reached with City of Renton Public Works. And that will allow stormwater and sewer to discharge over to Puget Drive to existing facilities in Puget Drive and or Southeast 19th Street. So there are some offsite utilities to be constructed by the project. I want to briefly talk about the street modification and this is exhibit four, sheet four and it's a zoomed in picture of the proposed church property. So as Mr. Morgan Roth stated, this driveway over Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 9 of 18 here on the left hand side is potentially to be removed subject to city agreement. The applicant doesn't want it, the church doesn't need it or particularly want it, so it's an extraneous access that can be removed. So we'll talk about that condition here in a minute. (27:56): But I also wanted to talk about just the frontage improvements. Pardon? The modification was a reduced dedication specifically at the Montessori school that exists on the site because that Montessori school is located closer to the right of way than would be allowed today. And what that does is it eliminates the ability of the applicant to provide the full 35.5 foot right of way dedication in that area. So that's reduced to 33.5 so that there's a little bit of separation between the new right of way, the back of sidewalk and the existing school building. So we have looked at that and we can still provide access to the school from the public walk, it'll be reconstructed and in a different location, but it will still have access, direct access to the sidewalk there. So I wanted to talk about that. (28:56): The other thing I want to mention is that the staff report indicated a desire for a pedestrian focus for track B and I want to clarify that and modify that condition so that it's specifically identifies that the linkage that's desired is from the termination of road B, the cul-de-sac of road B to 116th Avenue Southeast north, yes, Southeast. I will stop sharing. And so again, the applicant does generally agree with the staff report. We would like to go on record as stating that condition eight where it says the applicant shall relocate the proposed secondary entrance. (29:53): I would like that condition to be modified to allow for the removal of the secondary entrance. And I don't have that language available to me right at this moment, but I can submit it by the end of the hearing for review or we can leave the hearing open for that proposed language. The next condition that I'd like to talk about again is condition 11, and that pertains to the pedestrian focus for track B and I want to specifically identify that that's from the termination of the cul-de-sac of road B out to 116th Avenue Southeast. Other than that, I don't have anything additional to add. The staff report and presentation was very thorough and I'm happy to answer any questions. Examiner Olbrechts: (30:46): Okay, sounds great. Yeah, and probably what I'll do with the requested condition modification is leave the record open a day or two so that it's always best to give staff and applicant a little time to try to work language out. So we'll go that way. I'll probably, I'll address it at the end of the hearing. Let's go on to public comments at this point, if any of you out there in the public want to say something at this point, click on the virtual hand at the bottom of your screen and we'll tell you how to participate. We have somebody from Galaxy A three, two, got a couple speakers there. So Mr. Ros, you want to, oh, okay. Four so far. Alright, we'll start with the Galaxy. You want to bring that person up? Speaker 2 (31:28): All right. You're able to speak now if you'd like. Examiner Olbrechts: (31:31): Okay. Galaxy. And your video's not on, you don't have to have it on, but just letting you know you are muted. You'll want to click the bottom right hand corner. There's it. There you go. Speaker 2 (31:42): Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 10 of 18 There you go. Okay. Examiner Olbrechts: (31:43): Okay. Who do we have there from Galaxy? Speaker 5 (31:50): Hello? Can you hear me? Examiner Olbrechts: (31:53): Yeah, now I can hear you. And ma'am, what's your name for the record? Speaker 5 (31:56): My name's Janet. Janet Metcalf. I live on hundred 16th. Examiner Olbrechts: (32:01): Okay. mcc, let me swear you in. Just, do you swear Affirm tell the truth, nothing but the truth in this proceeding? Speaker 5 (32:08): Yeah. Yes. Examiner Olbrechts: (32:08): Okay, great. And how do you spell your last name for the record? Speaker 5 (32:12): M-E-D-C-A-L-F. Examiner Olbrechts: (32:14): Oh, perfect. Okay, go ahead. Speaker 5 (32:17): I live right across the street from this proposed site and my question is that there will not be any access from the hundred 16th Street and I guess you sort of have answered that by eliminating that one road. Examiner Olbrechts: (32:41): Yeah, and I'll, I'll let Mr. Morgan Roth when he comes back and answers questions, he'll clarify that a little bit about what the status is of that access point. Speaker 5 (32:52): I would like to comment, I've lived here 20 years almost, and on the corner here, 1 1 6 0 4 and the traffic on hundred 16th has gotten heavier, especially every morning. And I just feel that an extra road going in from hundred 16th would not be good, let's put it that way. Examiner Olbrechts: (33:25): Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 11 of 18 Okay. Anything else? Speaker 5 (33:31): I used to belong to the church, but it was very, very disturbing when a community church did not go to their community to sell this land. And that's about all I can say. Examiner Olbrechts: (33:47): Okay, thank you Ms. McCab. Alright, next is Nancy. Speaker 2 (33:55): Okay. Examiner Olbrechts: (33:57): And Nancy, you'll have to unmute yourself there. Okay. And again, your video's not showing that's not necessary. What, could you tell us your last name though and how to spell it for the record? Speaker 6 (34:05): Yes. Nancy Osborne, O-S-B-O-R-N. I am a member of the church, member of the, okay. Examiner Olbrechts: (34:14): Ms. Osborne, I have to swear you in. Do you swear affirm to tell the truth, nothing but the truth in this proceeding? Speaker 6 (34:19): Yes I do. Examiner Olbrechts: (34:19): Okay, great. Go ahead, Speaker 6 (34:21): Sorry. So I'm a member of the land use committee and have been working with the city for more than six years on something that we could make use of the land that has been in our possession for a long time, knowing that there's a lot of need for more housing and we also would like to be able to use that resource to do some of the outreach projects that we have as a church. So I'm very pleased with the work that we've done so far. It's been slow, but other than that we're very pleased with working with the city, Examiner Olbrechts: (35:01): Ms. Osborne. Alright, next is Justin Baker and you want to bring him up? Mrs. SROs? Speaker 2 (35:08): Yes. Examiner Olbrechts: (35:12): Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 12 of 18 Okay. Mr. Baker, let me swear in real quick. Do you swear from tell the truth nothing but the truth in this proceeding? Speaker 7 (35:18): Yes I do. Examiner Olbrechts: (35:19): Okay, great. Go ahead. Speaker 7 (35:21): I dunno if it's a comment more of a question, but there's roughly four and a half acres of wooded area that's going to be cut down for the development. Is there any plan in place to deal with the potential of the wildlife that's going to be that will there be any kind of animal control onsite to help relocate those animals? Examiner Olbrechts: (35:44): Okay. And yeah, like I said, I'll let Mr. Morgan Roth answer all those questions once it's turned to speak. Did you have any other comments Mr. Baker? Speaker 7 (35:51): Nope, that's it. Thank you. Examiner Olbrechts: (35:52): Okay, sounds good. Alright, and then we had a Wallace, Speaker 5 (35:57): Go ahead. Examiner Olbrechts: (35:59): Okay. Alright. And Mr. Or Mrs. Wallace can't tell if it's, are you there? Speaker 8 (36:08): Yeah. Mr. Examiner, Alan Wallace, can you hear me Examiner Olbrechts: (36:10): Okay, Mr. Wallace let you swear in. Do you swear or affirm tell the truth, nothing about the truth in this proceeding? Speaker 8 (36:15): I do. Examiner Olbrechts: (36:16): Okay, great. Go ahead. Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 13 of 18 Speaker 8 (36:18): Thank you Mr. Hearing Examiner Alan Wallace of Land Real Estate Council for United Christian Church. We've been working on this project for three years with Alex and Young Key, so it's been a long path to get here. I won't go through all that, but the important point I hope you understand is that it's a two phase final plat because we don't have a legal lot to sell to the purchaser or the applicant each Joe Homes. So that's been a solution the city has offered, which is great. So it'll be initial phase final plat to split the property into two to create the sale parcel and then the purchaser of the sale parcel. Then we'll proceed with the plat improvements to obtain final plat as a second phase final plat. We have talked to Alex and also to the applicant's engineer at Bar Hausen Ivana about the second driveway. That was a bit of news to us. We weren't aware that a second driveway was proposed. And then secondly, the alternative that the staff report identifies of taking that second driveway up to the west in support. And maybe Jennifer, can you bring up the map again? Speaker 2 (37:39): I don't have it handy, but yeah, Speaker 3 (37:41): I can bring it up. Okay. Just give me one second. Sorry, I accidentally closed it, so give me one second here. Speaker 8 (37:59): Okay. Hey Mr. Examiner, good to see you here today. It's been a few years. Examiner Olbrechts: (38:04): Yeah, I would say I didn't recognize you from the name at first, but yes, you're still practicing. That's great. So am I. Oh, you are too. Speaker 8 (38:13): Yeah, here Speaker 3 (38:16): We go. Here sharing it up here. Okay, let me know if that's coming through loud and clear. Speaker 8 (38:28): Great. And Alex, could you blow that up on the church site and Speaker 3 (38:34): The cannot because it's a PowerPoint. Okay, I'm Speaker 8 (38:37): Sorry. So Mr. Examiner and I was appointed just to briefly exchanged emails with Alex with regard to this, but the staff report identifies an alternative of having a second driveway lineup with the alley. The problem with that is you're going to sterilize two or three parking stalls to then provide a drive lane that would then line up with the alley alley, which is a little bit there to the west. So losing parking stalls is a Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 14 of 18 problem. The other difficulty is if you look at track D, which is where this driveway would have to run, track D is an important part of the tree retention, tree code compliance, because the church offered that to ETO for tree planting. And because you're cutting down, this is very much a second growth forest, it's dominated by alder and cottonwood, some big leaf maple and so forth. So to accommodate the residential development, you have to cut a fair number of trees. And so offering a location to replant trees for its tree credits are granted to comply with the code. A major part of that is to create a forest area where track D is. And Mr. Examiner, I don't, I don't, do you get out to sites these days? Do you actually view the site or Examiner Olbrechts: (40:10): Yeah, yeah. Speaker 8 (40:11): Okay. Well if you look at that area of track D, that's a large grass lawn at present. So that's going to be forested and if you run a driveway through there, you're probably going to lose maybe not quite half of that track D for the tree replanting. So the current plan is again for that to be a new forest tract and to affect compliance with the city's tree code. So I'd also, in terms of need for the second driveway, the church membership currently is about 25 members. Obviously not everyone shows up every Sunday, so there's just not a really robust demand for parking or is there, in terms of the church's need, is there a need for a second driveway? There is a Montessori school, but the population of the Montessori school is fairly modest. The church doesn't believe there's any queuing issue of cars on one 16th during the Montessori school. It's a pre-K Montessori school, the morning drop off or evening drop off and the traffic count on one 16th is not so robust either. Has to present, we believe a peak hour attorney movement for issue there too. So anyway, enough on that second driveway issue, but it is one of these details, it's to work out that needs some attention and we support Ivana's request to modify that condition and to work with the city to ideally eliminate second driveway. Examiner Olbrechts: (41:52): Thank you. Thank you Mr. Wallace. Alright. And then we have, Jeanette wants to make some comments. Speaker 2 (41:59): Okay. She can unmute herself. Examiner Olbrechts: (42:01): Alright, Jeanette, could you tell us your last name for the record? How to spell it and then I'll swear you in. Speaker 9 (42:07): Whitefield, W-H-I-T-E-F-I-E-L-D. Examiner Olbrechts: (42:11): Okay. Mr. Whitefield swear you in. Do you swear affirm tell the truth, nothing but the truth in this proceeding? Speaker 9 (42:15): Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 15 of 18 Yes. Examiner Olbrechts: (42:16): Okay, great. Speaker 9 (42:17): I actually mostly just have questions that may not be directed towards you guys. I got the letter of this public hearing, my house is one of the houses that there's the potential of the road being built along our property line of our backyard. And so I just wanted to know, according to Alex, you guys maybe aren't the people I talked to, so if I could know who I need to reach out to about the concerns and questions I have regarding that plan, that would be great. Examiner Olbrechts: (42:48): Okay. Alright. Alright, well I think that's it for the public comments at this point. We'll go back to Mr. Morgan Roth, got a few questions to answer how the wildlife we will be dealt with that go to the project sites, how the project accesses one 16th and then I guess city contacts for issues dealing with the road construction. Speaker 3 (43:14): Yeah. Cool. Thank you. Yeah, and I wrote 'em down so I got 'em here. I'll run through 'em quickly and happy to expand on any if needed. So really quick, I'll just say that staff again does support, this is all related to a few comments, but really to Yvonne's comment, we do support modifying that condition and we will work with them on that to figure out how best and get that over to you. As far as one 16th, the first comment, there's really no other options for access to develop this parcel except one 16. What we've tried to do is the city is reduce the impacts of that access. So by requiring the alley access, instead of having seven new curb cuts there with the road and six new houses, you've got one just the house, or sorry, just the road where road A which will funnel out to one 16th. And so yeah, I'm sure, I know one 16th has gotten busier, but this certainly will be better than having individual driveways come off there as far as from a safety perspective. But again, that's the only, there's no other access potential for this site, but we have tried to reduce the impact as much as possible through the reduction of curb cuts. (44:22): Nancy's comment, I don't think Nancy had a specific comment. I've worked with Nancy on this for a while and she's been great to with as part of the churches, I said land use committee, if I'm missing something let me know. Animal mitigation. So we don't have anything in our code with regards to in city code regards to when there's wildlife, obviously there's wildlife and lots of urban areas and especially in areas like this where you've got heavily wooded areas been heavily wooded for a while. So I will leave that to the applicant if they want to respond to, if they have any mitigation efforts that they utilize when working on a site, when prepping a site like this that I'm not familiar with. So again, I don't have an answer for that in that we don't have any code or regulations requiring the removal of animals, but I would recommend I would turn that over if the applicant wants to respond to that. (45:22): The other questions, again, remove those removal of access by Mr. Wallace. And so yeah, I think the city again tentatively supports the removal. We've got to work with Renton Regional Fire Authority, make sure that they're able to get their truck as close to the building as they need. And then I know the church membership has decreased, that doesn't mean it'll be decreased forever. It is also the school there. We Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 16 of 18 have had challenges with circulation and stuff for date drop off and things like that. So again, tentatively supportive but probably would want to look into that a little bit more, which is why we're open to the condition being a little more flexible. And then the utility road. The last question, that's a great question. Can, it depends on what your question is exactly, but you can reach out to me. I will say that is a utility access. (46:05): It's private. Private, it's not open to the public. Essentially it'll be gated. It's only city vehicles back there be lit or anything for people to walk on. It is just kind of an access road for cleanouts essentially or slimmer than a normal road in access driveway if you will. But feel free to reach out to me. I think if you got a letter you probably got my contact info on there, so just shoot me an email and I'll be happy to discuss more with you or get you to the right person. And I think that was all of the questions. Okay, Examiner Olbrechts: (46:37): Sounds good. Applicant, final word, you don't have to say anything again, but if you want to, now's the time. Speaker 4 (46:45): Thank you Mr. Examiner and thanks to the members of the public for your comments. I did write them down as well as Alex stated. Yeah, the site only has furnish on one street and that's one 16th, so that is where the access must come from, but it is consolidated to one access for the entire residential property. So it's been minimized as much as we can as to the four and a half acres that will be cleared and wildlife displacement. It's an unfortunate reality of infill development that whoever lives there now in the critter world does find their way to a different, an forested location when that's available. There's not a specific mitigation that's done by the development team or the construction crews as that happens in this case, there aren't any protected species in that area. So those animals will relocate on their own as construction occurs. So other than that, I'd like to leave the record open if we can, to work with the city regarding conditions eight and 11, to modify those for clarity on number 11 and to either eliminate the condition for number eight or modify it so that the driveway is a and if proposed situation so we don't end up with a condition that we can't meet at final plat if the connection is eliminated with concurrence of staff. Examiner Olbrechts: (48:30): Okay. So how about leaving record open until this Friday the 22nd? Is that That's Speaker 4 (48:36): Enough time for our side? Examiner Olbrechts: (48:38): Yeah. Okay. Yeah, for the staff and applicant to work out the language on if they can agree on anything on conditions eight and 11. And if you can't agree, just if you want to provide a written pitch as to why it should be modified, of course you can include that as well. If any members of the audience out there want to get any of that information, shoot an email to Mr. Morgan Roth there and he'll be sure to forward you any revised conditions or comments that are submitted to me for that decision. Also, if any of you want a copy of the final hearing examiner decision that'll be issued in a couple of weeks and just email Ms. Ciro, she's got her email address behind her right there, Jay cisneros@rewa.gov and she'll be Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 17 of 18 sure to send that out to you. And of course, for whatever reason you don't have email capability, you can call the planning department, ask for Ms. Cisneros and give her your mailing address and that'll work. Real quick, Mr. Baker, did you want to say something? I mean we're done with the hearing, but if there's something still you needed to get in there, Mrs. Ros, you want to bring 'em up or? Speaker 2 (49:46): Yeah, I have Examiner Olbrechts: (49:46): You got a raised hand? Yeah. Mr. Baker, was there something? Speaker 7 (49:49): Yeah, thank you. Sorry. I appreciate the response for the wild animals and my concern is the self relocation and that they're going to relocate into the existing homeowner's properties. That's really my concern with the question. There's a lot of rats and mice and possums and raccoons and all sorts of pests and sorry, I didn't clarify. I am property owner along track B 2300 Southeast 19th Street, so that's actually was my, Examiner Olbrechts: (50:20): Oh, it's kind of more pest control. Yeah. Mr. Morgan Roth. Does the city kind of address that issue ever? If you happen to see large kind of pest population there, does the city have any means to address that problem? Speaker 3 (50:34): We do not, no. I mean certainly with any, we have construction inspectors and staff and stuff and we have regulations regarding erosion control and everything else you can think of. We don't, I guess I will say we don't typically run, I have not heard complaints about the issue. I'm not saying it's not a problem, especially when you have an infill site like this, obviously we can condition it through our or recommend conditions of approval related to that as far as mitigation, which we haven't done with this, but I think that that's something that you, Mr. Examine, think would be appropriate to look into. That's something we could certainly we're keeping the record open look into. I Examiner Olbrechts: (51:15): Have in past cases where there's an abandoned barn or something that just has a huge brat population and then I'll require measures be taken. I mean, Mr. Baker, is there something unusual about the property where there is a large population of rats or something of that nature? Speaker 7 (51:33): Well, I don't know if the property is unusual, but there are certainly a large number of rodents, pests. I have security cameras and I see them walk by everywhere in my yard every night. Oh, okay. Examiner Olbrechts: (51:44): Okay. Speaker 3 (51:44): Appendix A -- Harmong Ridge November 19 (Completed 11/30/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 18 of 18 Yeah, Mr. Aand, so King County does have language related to this type of thing, kind a standard condition and obviously we'll talk with the applicant as well, but we can certainly something we can set the record staying open, we can look into a possible recommended condition. I've had rats in my crawlspace. No, it's not pleasant. So I definitely understand. Yeah, we can look into that for the residents and per Mr Figures comment, yeah, Examiner Olbrechts: (52:11): You could include that in the conditions and yeah, sounds good. I'll take a look at that as well. Alright, well thank you all. Sorry for that half hour delay. I managed to double book myself at the seven hour hearing in Kitsap County. I'm doing this hearing during the lunch hour, so I appreciate y'all waiting that half hour and glad we were able to get everyone's comments in. So have a great rest of the day and I'll look forward to seeing those hopefully agreed upon conditions at the end of the week. So have a great day. Speaker 3 (52:38): Thank you.