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Home My WebLink About10/19/2011 - Minutes RENTON PLANNING COMMISSION Meeting Minutes October 19, 2011 Renton City Hall 6:00 p.m. Council Chambers Planning Commissioners Present: Michael Chen, Gwendolyn High, Michael O’Halloran, Nancy Osborn, Ed Prince Planning Commissioners Absent: Michael Drollinger, Ray Giometti, Kevin Poole, Martin Regge City Staff Present: Chip Vincent, Planning Director; Angie Mathias, Senior Planner; Judith Subia, Administrative Secretary 1. CALL TO ORDER: Commission Chair Prince called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL: Commission Secretary O’Halloran called roll. Commissioners Drollinger, Giometti, Poole, and Regge were absent and excused. Commissioner Chen arrived late. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Minutes of October 5, 2011 were approved as written. 4. CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED: Letter from Tom Carpenter regarding membership to the Suburban Cities Association. 5. AUDIENCE COMMENTS: None 6. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: Commissioner Osborn was appreciative of the opportunity to attend the Glennwood Townhomes Groundbreaking. It was well attended. Commissioner O’Halloran inquired about a presentation on trees. 7 DIRECTOR’S REPORT:  Based on the comments raised by Commissioner Giometti at a previous meeting regarding the removal of trees in City Center, Terry Flatley, Urban Forestry & Natural Resources Mgr, will make a presentation at an upcoming meeting. This presentation will explain the City’s plan and net effect on trees.  Chip discussed the Glennwood Townhomes Groundbreaking. Staff and the Commission spend a lot of time on planning and policies. It is nice to be at groundbreaking for projects that meet new rules, such as residential design standards, complete streets, LID. For more information or to view materials that were provided at the groundbreaking, let Chip know.  SMP was scheduled for 2nd reading last Monday. Due to a Councilmember’s absence, this issue has been tabled for another week. 2nd reading is scheduled for next Monday.  Save the Date for the Boards and Commission Training scheduled for November 30 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Renton Senior Center. 8. IMPACT FEES DISCUSSION: Randy Young, consultant from Henderson, Young & Company, made a presentation regarding this item. An Planning Commission Minutes Page 2 of 3 October 19, 2011 impact fee is a one‐time payment, paid by new development for capital costs of facilities needed by new development. The reasons to charge these fees are for revenue (for needed public facilities), policy (growth pays a portion of costs so taxpayers don’t pay the whole cost), and quality of life (public facilities keep up with growth). Impact fees can pay for “system improvements” in adopted CIP, however, not for “project improvements” (local streets for the development) or for repair, replacement, or renovation. There are three types of impact fees: transportation, parks, and fire protection. For residential development, the basis of fees for transportation and parks is by the type of dwelling and for fire protection, it is by dwelling unit. For non‐residential development, the basis of fees for transportation and fire protection is by type and number of square feet. There is no impact fee for parks for non‐residential development. The following changes are being made for the transportation impact fees: updated traffic model, completely new list of projects and costs, updated trip generation. In addition, a more detailed way for apportioning costs for the following: deficiency vs. growth, internal vs. external trips, 20‐year growth vs. reserve capacity, and revenue credit. The following changes are being made for the park impact fees: investment per capita as basis for need, $/capita x growth = investment needed, investment needed ‐ adjustments = growth cost/capita, cost/capita x persons/du = fee, and adjust fee to CIP (58.8%). The following changes are being made for the fire impact fees: capital cost per call, calls per unit of development, cost per call x calls per unit = cost/unit, and subtract revenue credit = fee/unit. The updated fee rates (maximum allowable), per single family home, are as follows: transportation $8,579 (currently $718), parks $2,740 (currently $531), and fire $719 (currently $488). The total fee is $12,038 (currently $1,737). The suggested maximum is $6,554. The difference between the current and suggested maximum is $4,871. Four years is suggested to phase in the difference, starting on January 1, 2013, with an annual increase of $1,204. The alternatives to impact fees are to raise taxes (growth pays less, taxpayers pay more) and reduce level of service (less infrastructure, quality of life reduced). 9. DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS (TITLE IV) AMENDMENTS DOCKET #7 BRIEFING: UD‐68: Food Systems Sustainability Angie presented this item. The request for this docket item, made by the Planning Division, is to comprehensively review Code to ensure opportunities to access food. Also, the request from the public/Council regarding small animals has been folded in. Many cities have zoning code that was established to make a clear distinction between rural and urban or sub‐urban. Recently, there has been concern about the sustainability of fruits and vegetables that are available in urban areas. This relates to the environmental section of this docket item. Also, there has been concern about the lack of food available in urban areas ‐ especially fresh fruits and vegetables. This relates to the access section of this docket item. Staff review includes increasing the number of opportunities Renton residents have to obtain fresh food, especially fruits and vegetables. This docket item amends code related to animals and bees, agriculture, and grocery stores. Staff proposes to reduce the minimum lot size required to keep small animals from 6,000 square feet to 4,500 square feet and eliminate requirement to have minimum lot size to apply for Additional Animals Planning Commission Minutes Page 3 of 3 October 19, 2011 Permit. Staff also proposed to reduce the lot size required for keeping bees from 1 acre to 7,500 square feet, allow one additional hive per 10,000 square feet, and add the additional conditions. Hives may be allowed on lots 4,500 square feet if additional criteria is met. This docket item amends the definition of Agriculture to include a statement that accessory sales are permitted and cite vineyards as one of the examples and to increase the number of zones Agriculture is allowed in (currently only RC and R‐1) to include R‐4, R‐8, R‐10, R‐14, RMH, and RMF. Other conditions for Agriculture will be added. This item also defines Home Agriculture as an accessory to residential and the food is principally grown for personal and/or household consumption, or donation. Home Agriculture allows limited sales of home agriculture with conditions, including that the produce is grown on‐site and is not a value‐added product. Grocery stores are considered retail sales in Renton’s zoning use table. They are allowed in all commercial and industrial zones, as well as within the RMF and R‐14 zones. In the R‐14 zone, they are allowed as an Administrative Conditional use with size limitations. The size limitations are not stated and need to be. Staff proposes setting the size limit at a maximum of 5,000 square feet. The CN zone also includes a condition that the size be limited, but there is no stated maximum size. It is recommended to also be set at a maximum of 5,000 square feet. The footnote associated with this condition limits the types of retail sales that are allowed in the CN zone. Retail sales are limited to flowers/plants and floral supplies, mini‐marts, crafts, gift shops, and specialty markets. Staff proposes adding grocery stores to this list of allowed retail sales. Audience Comment Lenny Lee (Renton) is a bee keeper and discussed crop pollination. Honey bees are extremely valuable for pollination. He also explained that colony collapse disorder is extremely scary. He feels that backyard bee keepers are a key solution to this disorder and should be encouraged. Bees also play an important part of the green movement. Adam Lin, representing Sustainable Renton, said that there are a lot of people who support the staff recommendation. The main focus is about urban agriculture. He is happy to see this happening and very supportive. 10. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: The next Commission meeting will be on November 2, 2011. 11. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Ed Prince, Chair Michael O’Halloran, Secretary