HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 60651
CITY OF RENTON, WASHINGTON
ORDINANCE NO. 6065
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF RENTON, WASHINGTON, EXTENDING THE
INTERIM ZONING CONTROLS ESTABLISHED BY ORDINANCE NO. 5974, AND
EXTENDED AND AMENDED BY ORDINANCE 5997, EXTENDED BY ORDINANCE
6018, AND EXTENDED AGAIN BY ORDINANCE 6039; PROVIDING FOR
SEVERABILITY; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY; AND ESTABLISHING AN IMMEDIATE
EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, on July 13, 2020, in response to business-related impacts due to the novel
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the City Council adopted interim zoning controls via
Ordinance No. 5974, valid through December 31, 2020 or the date that the City enters Phase 4
of the Governor’s Safe Start plan, whichever occurred first; and
WHEREAS, Ordinance No. 5974 established a new type of temporary right-of-way permit
known as an “Economic Recovery Revocable Right-of-Way Permit” which is similar to existing
right-of-way permits but does not carry a permit fee to assist businesses that are able to use
public right-of-way and/or their private parking lot areas in order to expand the area within which
customers could be served – in keeping with appropriate social distancing standards and other
public health guidelines – in order to help struggling businesses including restaurants survive and
help keep the employees who depend on the jobs that have been impacted and jeopardized by
the coronavirus shut-downs employed; and
WHEREAS, Ordinance No. 5974 also established and temporarily allowed businesses to
place signs known as “Economic Recovery Signs” in the form of A-Frame Signs and Event Signs,
through December 31, 2020; and
ORDINANCE NO. 6065
2
WHEREAS, on December 7, 2020, the City Council passed Ordinance No. 5997 extending
and amending Ordinance No. 5974, which was valid until June 7, 2021, in response to the
continued impacts the COVID-19 public health emergency has had on businesses; and
WHEREAS, in order to assist the struggling downtown business community, Ordinance
No. 5997 approved the designation of a limited number of existing public parking stalls within
the area zoned Center Downtown (CD) as short-term parking for curbside pick-up or to go orders;
and
WHEREAS, Ordinance No. 5997 also established that parklets and prefabricated outdoor
spaces meet the intended purpose of “expanding the area within which a business may provide
goods or services to customers while keeping with public health guidelines” that served as the
basis for establishing Economic Recovery Revocable Right-of-Way Permits, and, thus, the City
Council wishes to allow for them as an element of encouraging economic recovery in the City;
and
WHEREAS, in addition to extending and amending the interim zoning controls established
in Ordinance No. 5974, Ordinance No. 5997 waived the requirement to obtain a Temporary Use
Permit for the temporary expansion of a business into an adjacent vacant space in a multi-tenant
building in compliance with the Governor’s Safe Start plan and public heath guidelines for COVID-
19; and
WHEREAS, in order to accommodate the anticipated increases in short-term parking in
the area zoned Center Downtown (CD) and to assist the struggling downtown business
community, Ordinance No. 5997 added the designation of temporary short term parking stalls
within the Center Downtown (CD) zoning district for curbside pick-up or to go orders, and
ORDINANCE NO. 6065
3
temporarily waived hourly parking fees in the City’s City Center Parking Garage located at 655 S
2nd St. for parking periods of up to 10 hours; and
WHEREAS, on June 7, 2021, the City Council passed Ordinance No. 6018 extending
Ordinance No. 5997 in response to the ongoing impacts the COVID-19 public health emergency
has had on businesses through December 7, 2021; and
WHEREAS, on December 6, 2021, the City Council passed Ordinance No. 6039 extending
Ordinance No. 6018 in response to the ongoing impacts the COVID-19 public health emergency
has had on businesses through June 6, 2022; and
WHEREAS, since the adoption of Ordinance Nos. 6018 and 6039 the “Safe Start
Washington” and “Healthy Washington- Roadmap to Recovery” plans are no longer in effect and
on June 30, 2021, Washington state reopened under the “Washington Ready” Plan, and on March
17, 2022 released the “ForWArd” Plan; and
WHEREAS, the most recent Proclamation issued by the Governor, 20-25.19 states that
Proclamation 20-25, et seq., will continue to be in effect until the state of emergency, issued on
February 29, 2020 pursuant to Proclamation 20-05, is rescinded; and
WHEREAS, due to the continued state of emergency the City Council has determined that
there is a need to extend beyond June 6, 2022 the interim zoning controls establishing the
Economic Recovery Revocable Right-of Way Permit, establishing and allowing Economic
Recovery Signs, waiving the requirement to obtain a temporary use permit for temporary
expansion of business into an adjacent vacant space in a multi-tenant building, permitting the
temporary designation of short term parking stalls within the Center Downtown (CD) zoning
ORDINANCE NO. 6065
4
district for curbside pick-up or to go orders, and waiving parking fees for the City Center Parking
garage; and
WHEREAS, the City Council held a public hearing on May 23, 2022, to consider a six-month
extension of the interim zoning controls established in Ordinance No. 5974, extended and
amended by Ordinance No. 5997, extended by Ordinance No. 6018, and extended again by
Ordinance No. 6039;
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RENTON, WASHINGTON, DO
ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION I. The above recitals are adopted as findings of fact in support of the interim
controls extended herein pursuant to RCW 35A.63.220 and RCW 36.70A.390 and are found to be
true and correct in all respects.
SECTION II. The interim zoning controls established by Ordinance No. 5974, extended
and amended by Ordinance No. 5997, extended by Ordinance No. 6018, and extended again by
Ordinance No. 6039 are hereby extended and shall remain in effect until November 23, 2022
unless ended earlier by subsequent City Council action, or unless subsequently extended by the
City Council pursuant to state law.
SECTION III. The Mayor or his designee is authorized to implement any and all
administrative procedures necessary to carry out the directives of this legislation.
SECTION IV. A public hearing was held on May 23, 2022.
SECTION V. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this ordinance
should be held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a court or competent jurisdiction, such
ORDINANCENO.6065invalidityorunconstitutionalitythereofshallnotaffecttheconstitutionalityofanyothersection,subsection,sentence,clause,phrase,orwordofthisordinance.SECTIONVI.TheCityCouncildeclaresanemergencyfortheprotectionofthepublicwelfareandtoenablethepurposeandintentofthisordinancetobeaccomplished.ThisordinanceshalltakeeffectimmediatelywhenpassedbytheCityCouncil.TheCityClerkshallcausetobepublishedasummaryofthisordinanceintheCity’sofficialnewspaper.Thesummaryshallconsistofthisordinance’stitle.PASSEDBYTHECITYCOUNCILthis23rddayof2022.JasonkA.Seth,CyClerkAPPROVEDBYTHEMAYORthis23rddayofjyjy,2022.AroPavone,MayorApprovedastoform:ShaneMoloney,CityAttorneyDateofPublication:5/26/2022(Summary)ORD-CED:2221:5/19/225