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Home My WebLink About12.11 MaloneFrom: Daniel Malone <dmalone@desc.org> To: "eprince@rentonwa.gov" <eprince@rentonwa.gov>; "rmcirvin@rentonwa.gov" <rmcirvin@rentonwa. gov>; "rcorman@rentonwa.gov" <rcorman@rentonwa.gov>; "rperez@rentonwa.gov" <rperez@rento nwa.gov>; "apavone@rentonwa.gov" <apavone@rentonwa.gov>; "vohalloran@rentonwa.gov" <voha lloran@rentonwa.gov>; "abenedetti@rentonwa.gov" <abenedetti@rentonwa.gov>; "Kvan@rentonwa.g ov" <Kvan@rentonwa.gov> Cc: "cityclerk@rentonwa.gov" <cityclerk@rentonwa.gov>; "jmedzegian@rentonwa.gov" <jmedzegian@r entonwa.gov> Date: 2020-12-11 15:55 Subject: comments on City of Renton Emergency Ordinance 5996 Attachments: DESC Memo to Renton City Council 12-11-20.docx CAUTION:ThisemailoriginatedfromoutsidetheCityofRenton.Donotclicklinks,replyoropenattachmentsunlessyouknowthecontentissafe. Dear Mayor Pavone and Renton City Councilmembers: Please find attached a memo re: Ordinance No. 5996: Emergency Ordinance Interim Zoning Controls - Homeless Shelters, which is on your agenda for Monday, December 14. I invite you to contact me to discuss this in further detail. Thank you. Daniel Malone Daniel Malone Executive Director DESC 515 Third Avenue Seattle WA 98104 206-515-1523 LR - 000787 To: Renton Mayor and City Councilmembers From: Daniel Malone, DESC Executive Director Date: December 11, 2020 Re: Ordinance No. 5996: Emergency Ordinance Interim Zoning Controls - Homeless Shelters Mayor Pavone and Councilmembers: Thank you for hearing testimony on Monday night from DESC Deputy Director, Nicole Macri, and for your careful consideration of Emergency Ordinance No. 5996. The Mayor, Councilmembers, and other city representatives have repeatedly stated that homelessness in King County—including Renton—has reached crisis levels. In Council meetings and public hearings, community members and city representatives have been clear that they empathize with individuals experiencing homelessness and they want to help these individuals obtain safe and secure housing. Renton community members and City representatives have stated that supportive programs and housing for individuals experiencing homelessness, including those with serious health and behavioral health disorders, are needed to address the crisis of homelessness. The City insists that the Ordinance “responds to the urgent needs associated . . . with homelessness by allowing new homeless shelters to be situated in the City.” Therefore, we ask that the City commit to collaborating with DESC and its partners to find and permit a homeless services use within the City of Renton under the new ordinance. We request that a suitable property be secured and available for move-in by June 1, 2021—the deadline by which the COVID-19 Deintensification Shelter must reduce its population by more than 100 residents. We ask that at Monday’s meeting, the City confirm its intent to: • Support efforts to locate and obtain a suitable pre-existing building for a homeless services use; • Help to ensure the designated pre-existing building complies with fire and building codes; • Assist DESC in efficiently completing its permit application under the Ordinance; • Collaborate with DESC to efficiently move its permit application through the City’s approval process; and • Support DESC in its relocation. In addition to assisting with finding a new location, I want to follow up on DESC’s testimony on Monday night, and ask you to consider including the amendments listed below. As Nicole mentioned during public testimony, City staff had earlier asked for redline edits on the initial draft of the ordinance, which we provided. DESC shares your view that homeless services LR - 000788 programs should operate safely and responsibly, and engage collaboratively with the City and neighbors. However, few of our edits were included in the new draft you discussed on Monday. Several of you expressed interest in seeing updates and improvements to the draft before you vote on Monday, December 14, including Councilmembers Benedetti, McIrvin, Prince, and Van. To this end, we’ve translated the redline edits we originally provided into a list of amendments on the latest draft. The following provisions of the Emergency Ordinance are either prohibitively expensive or infeasible. We request the following amendments: • Insert the underlined language into RMC 4-4-045 Homeless Services Use as shown: o H.5. Modifications to a Homeless Services Use: Conditions of approval for a homeless services use apply for the life of the project. Any increase in the number of beds beyond that applied for by the applicant and included in the City approval, or changes to the population served by the homeless services use shall be processed though a Modification Request, as shown in Table 4-8-120C, Land Use Applications. o I.2.a. Number of Parking Stalls: Homeless services uses are unspecified under the terms of RMC 4-4-080.F.10.d, and required parking stalls shall be established by the Administrator, based on staff demand, feasibility, and available transit, and approved by the Hearing Examiner. o J.1. Crime Deterrence: When and where feasible, the design of any homeless services use shall incorporate Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles and use available technology to deter crime. o J.2. Common Areas: Common areas shall be provided to enhance resident enjoyment through inclusion of features such as libraries, roof decks, patios, and gardens. Unavailability of any one or more of these features will not prevent the approval of a homeless services use application. o K. Mitigation Measures: The City may impose reasonable and feasible conditions relating to the development, design, use, or operation of a homeless services use to mitigate environmental, public safety, or other identifiable impacts. • Delete the following provisions in their entirety from RMC 4-4-045 Homeless Services Use: o F.2.e(vii): Where appropriate and feasible, a plan for developing a community service model that is tailored to the homeless population to be served at the location where the homeless services use is proposed to be located. A community service model is intended to provide a framework for persons experiencing homelessness to work volunteer service hours within the scope of LR - 000789 their ability in the community where they are receiving support from a homeless services use; o F.2.g(ii): A plan for deployment (including time, place and manner) of security patrols; o F.2.g(v): Implementation of registered sex offender background checks and compliance with applicable registration and notification requirements; o F.2.g(vi): A plan for managing individuals excluded from accessing the proposed homeless services; o I. 3.b.(ii): Shelters shall locate greater than one-half (0.5) mile from any other homeless services use, unless they are co-located as part of a single development and do not serve more than a combined one hundred (100) residents. o L. Independent Technical Review: The City may require the applicant pay for independent technical review by a consultant retained by the City for review of materials submitted by the applicant to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Section. • Delete the language from the definition of “Homeless Services Use” in RMC 4-11-080 as shown below: o 2. Overnight Shelter: Any facility that is operated for a long-term and indefinite period (and not in response to a single event such as a disaster) for the primary purpose of providing shelter for people experiencing homelessness in general or for specific populations of people experiencing homelessness. Supportive services may or may not be provided in addition to the provision of shelter. • Delete the language from the definition of “Social Service Organizations” in RMC 4-11- 190 as shown below: o Social Service Organizations: Public or nonprofit agencies that provide counseling, therapy, job training, educational classes, food banks, clothing banks, or other social or human services to persons needing such services, but do not provide crisis intervention, day or night shelter, or case management. This does not include religious institutions, offices, government facilities, schools, hospitals, clinics, day care, homeless services uses, medical institutions, diversion facilities, lodging in any form, or residential uses. • Revise RMC 4-2-060 Zoning Use Table – Uses Allowed in Zoning Designations to allow homeless services uses in some residential zones and additional commercial zones. Specifically, we ask that, in addition to those currently included in the Ordinance, homeless services uses be permitted by Hearing Examiner Conditional Use Permit pursuant to the Ordinance in the following zones: Residential-14 (R-14), Residential Multi-Family (RMF), Commercial Neighborhood Zone (CN), and Commercial Arterial (CA). LR - 000790 The table should read as follows: USES: RESIDENTIAL ZONING DESIGNATIONS INDUSTRIAL COMMERCIAL ZONING DESIGNATIONS RC R-1 R-4 R-6 R-8 RMH R- 10 R- 14 RMF IL IM IH CN CV CA CD CO COR UC G. OTHER COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC FACILITIES Homeless services use H H H H H H H H H To be clear, we believe a better approach would be to vote No on this current proposal and work with service providers and the new regional homelessness authority to collaboratively establish reasonable regulations. This would allow the City to support continued, safe shelter for people within Renton, and grapple with the actual impacts such services have on the other City-provided services and the community at large. We offer these amendments in the spirit of continued dialogue and desire for more collaboration. Thank you for your consideration of these recommendations and suggestions. I invite you to contact me at dmalone@desc.org or 206-793-1183 (cell) for more information or to discuss in further detail. LR - 000791