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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJ_Conditional_Use_Permits_221010_v1 1 Project Name: Sounders FC Center at Longacres Conditional Use Permit Justification Insert This insert responds to the applicable Conditional Use Permit decision criteria set forth in RMC 4-9-030.D. INTRODUCTION The Proposal The proposal is to establish the Sounders FC Center at Longacres to house all soccer training, team development and officer operations for Sounders FC. The proposal results in 239 new jobs located within the City of Renton, and it is a long-term commitment to the City of Renton. As explained by Sounders FC Majority Owner Adrian Hanauer in the Sounders FC at Longacres press release: Today is one of the most important moments in our club’s history, as we begin this new partnership with Unico Properties and take our first steps in the future of Seattle Sounders FC. Our organization has invested a great deal of time and thoughtfulness into the process of both selecting the ideal site for a new home and reimagining what that home represents, for our team and the greater community. With Longacres, we’ve found a location brimming with Pacific Northwest history where the Sounders – a team that brings its own deep roots, growing since 1974 – can plant our flag and create a home for our next 50 years. We’re excited to work with terrific partners in Unico and the City of Renton as this project comes to life …1 The Sounders FC and Unico prepared this proposal in close partnership with an interdisciplinary team of professional consultants, including biologists, wetland consultants, arborists, urban planners, architects, and civil engineers. This interdisciplinary team held regular working meetings to share expertise and collaborate on the proposal site’s plan, and to develop a design that would maintain and protect the natural resources and environment. Through this informed process, the proposal is located in and around the existing structure commonly known as Building 25-20 within the Longacres Campus. The proposal is also located on the grounds and surface parking adjacent to Building 25-20 (collectively, the “Site”). See the CUP Project Narrative for a broader explanation of the proposal and description of the Site.2 Sounders FC will manage and operate the outdoor facilities consistent with professional FIFA and MLS standards. Sounders FC requires three uses at the Site: (1) office, (2) recreational facilities, indoor, new, and (3) recreational facilities, outdoor. 1 Sounders FC Longacres press release available here: https://www.soundersfc.com/news/in-partnership-with-unico- properties-sounders-fc-reveals-new-state-of-the-art-fa. 2 The CUP Project Narrative is incorporated into this response by this reference. 2 - The Sounders FC’s use of Building 25-20 requires (1) the existing “office” use and (2) a change of use from “office” to “recreational facilities, indoor, new.” Both uses are permitted uses in the Commercial Office (“CO”) zone. The indoor recreational facilities meet the square footage limitations of the CO zone, as applied to Building 25-20. - Related to this CUP application, the Sounders FC Center also requires a “recreational facilities, outdoor” use to establish up to five soccer pitches, a goalkeeper training area, and the accessory structures supporting the “recreational facilities, outdoor” use. The “recreational facilities, outdoor” use is a conditional use in the CO zone.3 As described below, the proposal satisfies the conditional use approval criteria. The proposed use revitalizes Boeing’s former corporate office park and advances the City’s comprehensive planning efforts (discussed in detail in Appendix A). The proposed use also locates the unique Sounders recreational use next to an existing office building where the Sounders will be a tenant, and minimizes impacts to the environment by reusing existing facilities. Longacres Background Additional background regarding Longacres may be useful in the evaluation of this CUP proposal. Portions of the broader 158-acre Longacres Campus functioned as a thoroughbred horse racetrack for much of the 20th century. In the 1990s, the Boeing Company (“Boeing”) purchased the Longacres Campus for the construction of Boeing’s corporate headquarters, commonly known as Longacres Office Park (“LOP”). Boeing prepared a master plan for the LOP, including the construction of 3.0 million square feet of office and light industrial office space, related support and utility facilities, and open space amenities. The City of Renton (“City”) and Boeing completed environmental analysis of the LOP master plan, resulting in the issuance of a FEIS in March 1995 and an associated Mitigation Document issued by the City in May 1995. In December 2000, the City and Boeing executed a development agreement for the LOP, which authorized the development in phases. In 2002, the City and Boeing rescinded this development agreement and executed a subsequent development agreement to govern the LOP phase IV.4 The LOP entitlement materials do not identify total employment figures, but a 2021 Seattle Times article estimated 3 City Planning Staff have confirmed that “recreational facilities, outdoor” is the appropriate use classification for the Sounders FC outdoor uses. RMC 4-11-180 defines “recreational facilities, outdoor” as “[a] place designed and equipped for the conduct of sports and leisure-time activities with little or no enclosed space. Examples include: private (commercial or private club) outdoor tennis courts, private outdoor swimming pools, batting cages, amusement parks, miniature golf courses, golf driving ranges, and playgrounds. This definition excludes marinas, parks, golf courses and outdoor sports arenas.” 4 See City Resolution 3579 and King County Recording No. 20030221002405. The 2002 development agreement vests future development to specified development standards and terminates on December 23, 2022. To avoid any confusion, this CUP application does not rely on the development agreement and complies with today’s development standards and critical areas regulations, which are more protective of critical areas than the vested development standards. 3 “more than a thousand workers”5 and the City estimated that the LOP would generate 27,000 average daily trips.6 In 2021, Boeing terminated operations at Longacres. Several tenants remain throughout the Campus, such as Alaska Airlines; however, Boeing’s departure significantly reduced the employment, use, and activation at Longacres. In 2021, Unico Properties purchased Longacres. Unico is in the preliminary phases of preparing a broader master plan for Longacres. The Sounders FC Center at Longacres is the first step to reposition Longacres after Boeing’s departure, although this proposal does not rely on any aspect of Unico’s master planning at Longacres. APPROVAL CRITERIA 1. Consistency with Comprehensive Plan and Regulations “The proposed use shall be compatible with the general goals, objectives, policies and standards of the Comprehensive Plan, the zoning regulations and any other plans, programs, maps or ordinances of the City of Renton.” The proposal is compatible with the general goals, objectives, policies and standards of the Comprehensive Plan. See Attachment A for the comprehensive plan analysis. The proposal is also consistent with the City’s zoning regulations and other plans, programs, maps or ordinances of the City of Renton. See the Site Plan attached to this application for this analysis. 2. Appropriate Location “The proposed location shall not result in the detrimental overconcentration of a particular use within the City or within the immediate area of the proposed use. The proposed location shall be suited for the proposed use.” The location is an area approved for a phased office park development. The proposal will reuse an existing office building and parking area. The only element that is a conditional use is the outdoor recreation area. In this unique case, the use is appropriate at this location. The code does not define “detrimental,” “overconcentration,” or “immediate area.” When applying the accepted meaning of these terms,7 the proposal does not result in a “detrimental overconcentration” of outdoor recreational facilities within the City or within the “immediate area” of the proposed use. 5 “Boeing clears out its Commercial Airplanes headquarters complex in Renton.” Seattle Times, February 18, 2021 (“The emptying out of the headquarters, where more than 1,000 people worked before the pandemic, is a clear sign that Boeing is preparing the site for sale.”). Available at: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing- aerospace/boeing-clears-out-its-commercial-airplanes-headquarters-complex/. 6 See TENW Trip Generation Memo dated June 27, 2022. 7 RMC 4-5-060.A.3 (providing that Webster’s Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, latest edition “shall be considered as providing ordinary accepted meanings” for undefined terms). 4 - Within the City of Renton, no outdoor recreational facilities are located in the immediate area of Longacres. - Outside of the City limits, Starfire Sports and Tukwila Family Fun Center are located to the north of I-405. These facilities are not located within the City, and logically it can be concluded that they are not located within the “immediate area.” The proposal will not create a “detrimental overconcentration” of outdoor recreational facilities. The proposal would not create an “overconcentration” because the uses are more than a mile apart. The proposal also would not create a “detrimental” overconcentration because the code- compliant proposal was further refined during the permit preparation and review process to mitigate any “detriment,” which could include traffic, parking, noise, light, etc. This CUP Justification addresses each of these elements in greater detail below. Sounders FC will manage and operate the outdoor playing facilities consistent with FIFA and MLS standards. The proposed location is suited for the proposed use. The proposed location of the outdoor recreational facility is within the area set aside for phased development for commercial uses. The outdoor soccer facilities are a requisite component of a comprehensive new Sounders FC corporate headquarters and training facility. The Sounders FC Center at Longacres proposal places the outdoor recreational use component next to an existing office building and makes efficient commercial use of a predominantly vacant grass field and existing surface parking stalls. Drainage for the proposal also uses and existing stormwater pond (Pond B) adjacent to the Sounders Site. A wetland regulated by the City’s critical areas ordinance is located to the west of the project Site (Wetland A). A playing field and goalkeeper training area would extend into the 100’ wetland buffer associated with Wetland A, resulting in approximately 15,000 SF of impact to the wetland’s buffer, but not to the wetland itself. All impacts to the wetland buffer will be fully mitigated as outlined in the Talasaea Critical Areas Report and Conceptual Mitigation Plan (the “Wetland Mitigation Report”).8 The Wetland Mitigation Report also details the Sounder FC siting and avoidance considerations used to avoid and minimize impacts to the wetland buffer. As described in this CUP Permit Justification, the proposal is compatible with adjacent properties. 3. Effect on Adjacent Properties “The proposed use at the proposed location shall not result in substantial or undue adverse effects on adjacent property.” (emphasis added) The proposed use is located in an existing office park (“LOP” or “Campus”). The Campus was designed and entitled to be developed as an office park in phases. The Campus has existing utilities and infrastructure that served a once significant employment hub in the City. The existing infrastructure includes oversized stormwater ponds that were utilized for existing development and intended to be utilized for future unbuilt phases of the Campus. The CUP Approval criterion #3 asks about effects on “adjacent” properties. The code defines “adjacent” as “lots located across a street, railroad, or right-of-way, except limited access 8 Talasaea Critical Areas Report and Conceptual Mitigation Plan dated October 7, 2022, Ch. 7. 5 roads.”9 The code defines “street frontage” to include public or private right of way. In contrast, the code defines “abutting” as “lots sharing one or more property lines or easements …” Considering the codified definition of “adjacent,” some property that is “adjacent” to the proposal is located a significant distance from the proposal. This response addresses both “adjacent” and “abutting” properties. The proposed use does not result in a substantial or undue adverse effect on adjacent or abutting property because the proposal is a commercial use, as are all of the adjacent and abutting properties in the City of Renton. The only “adjacent” property outside the City of Renton is to the west and located more than 1,000 feet from the proposed use, as further described below. The proposed use does not result in a substantial or undue adverse effect on adjacent property. The simple distance between the Sounders FC outdoor recreational use (soccer fields) and adjacent uses attenuates possible impacts, as depicted in the image to the right and described below. Green: Sounders’ Fields Site for CUP Blue: Building 25-20 and existing parking Orange: Right of Way Yellow: Adjacent Parcels - North. 1301 SW 16th St, Parcel 2423049022 (the “North Parcel”) is adjacent to the proposed use. Unico Properties, the co-applicant to the proposal, owns the North Parcel. The North Parcel is located across a private access street from the Site. The North Parcel includes an office building commonly known as Building 25-01 As shown in the photo insert, there is a category II wetland identified as “Wetland F” in the Talasaea Existing Conditions Report, which separates the North Parcel from the Sounders Site. Building 25-01 on the North Parcel is approximately 500 linear feet distant from the nearest edge of the proposed soccer fields. The Site includes Building 25-20, which will partially block the proposed playing fields from the North Lot. Building 25-20’s existing northerly surface parking area and the existing access road will further separate the proposed use from the North Parcel. Wetland F, located on the North Parcel, and its wooded buffer, further separate Building 25-01 from the proposed use. The Wetland Mitigation Report concludes that the proposal will not result in any impact on Wetland F. 9 RMC 4-11-010. Vicinity Map to inform the “adjacent property” analysis 6 - West. Longacres Binding Site Plan Tract A, parcel no. 0886700360 (the “West Tract”) is abutting the proposed use. The West Tract includes Wetland A and its associated buffer and Stormwater Pond B as identified in the Wetland Mitigation Report. The Wetland Mitigation Report explains that the proposal results in no direct impact to Wetland A and that the impact to Wetland A’s buffer is fully mitigated. In addition to compensatory mitigation, the proposal includes voluntary wetland buffer restoration to replace invasive species with native plants. West of the West Tract lies undeveloped real property within the Unico-owned Longacres Campus. The western edge of the campus is bordered by railroad right-of-way. Thus, the nearest “adjacent” lot as defined by the code would be a vacant lot owned by the City of Tukwila.10 The proposal will not result in a substantial or undue adverse impact on this lot because it is separated from the proposed use by a vegetated buffer surrounding the play fields, existing vegetation in Wetland A’s eastern buffer, Wetland A itself, existing vegetation in Wetland A’s western buffer, vacant parcels located within the Longacres Campus, and railroad tracks. - South. The nearest existing development to the south of the Site is commonly known as the Kaiser Permanente property.11 The Bow Lake Pipeline Right of Way separates the Kaiser Permanente property from the Site as depicted in the Longacres Binding Site Plan. In addition, the soccer fields do not extend to the southern boundaries of Tract B and Lot 14, which adjoin the Bow Lake Pipeline Right of Way. As depicted in conceptual landscaping plan sheet F101, fields 4 and 5 will be located on the northernmost portion of the Site’s applicable lots. A vegetated buffer surrounding the southern edge of the playing fields,12 an existing stormwater pond, and the undeveloped remainder of Lot 14 will separate the outdoor recreational facility use from the Kaiser Permanente property. - East. Oakesdale Ave SW separates four lots from the Site.13 Oakesdale Ave SW is a five- lane arterial with four lanes of traffic and a turning lane. Sidewalks and bike lanes are located on both sides of the right-of-way. Mature trees line the western side of Oakesdale Ave SW where the proposal is located. Unico Properties, the co-applicant to the proposal, owns these four lots. The northern most parcel is a daycare center, which is separated from the proposed “outdoor recreational facility” by the Oakesdale ROW improvements and by Building 25-20. Considering these existing improvements, it is highly unlikely that there will be any interaction between the 10 King County parcel no. 2423049034. 11 See Binding Site Plan Sheet 4 of 7, listed “Bow Lake Pipeline ROW A.F. 4131067.” The Kaiser Permanente property is King County parcel no. 0886700100. 12 See Detailed Landscape Plan Sheet F102. 13 The King County Assessor Parcel numbers for the four lots are: 0886700230 (the day care parcel), 0886700240, 0886700250, and 0886700260. 7 proposed use and the daycare. Thus, the proposed use will not have a substantial or undue adverse effect on the daycare property. The remaining three parcels are undeveloped and separated from the use by the Oakesdale ROW improvements, mature trees, and a surface parking lot. The proposed location will not have a substantial or undue adverse effect on these vacant lots. In addition, Lot 20 abuts the Site.14 Lot 20 is located in the Southeast corner of the Longacres Campus. Unico Properties, the co-applicant to the proposal, owns Lot 20. The proposal abuts Lot 20’s western boundary. There will be no change to Lot 20’s north, east, and southern boundaries. The proposal will not have an adverse impact on this vacant parcel due to the mitigating factors described in this section, which include fencing and landscaping. 4. Compatibility “The proposed use shall be compatible with the scale and character of the neighborhood.” The code defines “neighborhood” as “a sub-area of the City in which the residents share a common identity focused on a school, park, community business center or other feature.”15 The code does not define “resident.” Webster’s Dictionary defines “resident” as “living in a place for some time.” This approval criterion is likely inapplicable as the use is not located within a “neighborhood” where residents live. Instead, the Site is located in the Comprehensive Plan’s designated Employment Area. The proposal is compatible with the Employment Area designation as described in the response to criterion #1 above. If this criterion is applicable, the scale and character of the “neighborhood” could be described as an office park. The proposed use is compatible with the office park use by providing a core tenant to Building 25-20. As described throughout this proposal, all other aspects of the proposal are mitigated to make the proposed outdoor recreational facility use compatible with the office park and the surrounding properties. 5. Parking “Adequate parking is, or will be made, available.” The proposal provides adequate and code compliant parking as demonstrated in the TENW Parking Analysis Memorandum dated August 8, 2022. The report concludes: “the total proposed future on-site parking supply of 766 stalls for Building 25-20 and the Seattle Sounders FC outdoor soccer training facility would accommodate the weekday parking demand of 732 stalls (568 code- required stalls for Building 25-20 office use + 164 stalls for the outdoor soccer training facility use).” 14 King County Parcel No. 0886700200. 15 RMC 4-11-140 (defining neighborhood). 8 6. Traffic “The use shall ensure safe movement for vehicles and pedestrians and shall mitigate potential effects on the surrounding area.” The proposal ensures safe movement for vehicles and pedestrians and mitigates potential effects on the surrounding areas. Longacres and the existing vehicular / pedestrian infrastructure was designed to accommodate Boeing’s Headquarters and its estimated 27,000 trips. The proposal will include approximately 239 new employees and rely upon the existing vehicular and pedestrian infrastructure previously used for Boeing’s headquarters. Vehicles. See the attached Trip Generation Memo from TENW dated June 27, 2022. TENW’s analysis confirms that the proposal’s uses (including Sounders FC staff, training, academy, and camps) “would generate less than 20 net trips during the AM and PM peak hours.” Under the City’s code, no additional traffic analysis is required for proposals generating 20 or fewer PM peak hour trips. The co-location of the fields next to the Sounders FC uses of Building 25-20 further reduces vehicular trips. Pedestrians. The Site is adjacent to Oakesdale Ave SW and the broader Longacres campus. A sidewalk is located on both sides of Oakesdale Ave SW. Existing private walkways and trails traverse the Longacres Campus. ADA accessible walkways and entrances will be provided with all new improvements located at the Site per submitted plans. 7. Noise, Light and Glare “Potential noise, light and glare impacts from the proposed use shall be evaluated and mitigated.” The proposed use includes soccer training activities, MLS academy league matches, weekend public events, and youth camps. To avoid any confusion, the proposal is not for a “sports arenas, auditoriums, exhibition halls, outdoor” use, which would likely generate additional noise or other impacts from large events. Any generated noise will comply with the City’s noise ordinance codified in Ch. 8.7 RMC. Noise. Noise will primarily be associated with the use of the outdoor playing fields, such as whistles and on-field communication, and music during certain training sessions. These sounds will be mitigated by compliance with the City’s noise ordinance. Further, the distance between the fields and the adjacent uses to the North, West, South and East will serve to mitigate potential impacts. The Sounders’ commitment to the public and community will result in noise during other events, including: - Approximately 100 fans may attend first team training sessions. The training sessions are generally limited in duration, typically conducted between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm. - MLS Next Academy training activities and matches are typically conducted from 4:00 pm to 8:30 pm. These events typically have attendance below the 100 fans who view 9 training sessions (approximately 50 – 100 spectators). Adjacent office and daycare uses would be winding down or closed for much of this window. - Sounders FC youth programs typically operate during school year breaks and are operated between 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (approximately 10 weeks per year). - Partner activities, such as RAVE Foundation fundraiser or charity matches.16 Noise impacts are mitigated through compliance with applicable noise regulations, the timing of events, and through limiting the number of attendees / participants at events that are open to the public. Light / Glare. Field lighting distribution is concentrated and directed onto the playing field. See Electrical Lighting Plan, Sheet E100. Field 1 and the goalkeeper training area will not be used for evening practices, thereby reducing any light / glare into Wetland A’s buffer.17 8. Landscaping “Landscaping shall be provided in all areas not occupied by buildings, paving, or critical areas. Additional landscaping may be required to buffer adjacent properties from potentially adverse effects of the proposed use.” The proposal includes general and detailed landscaping plans as set forth in RMC 4-4-070 and 4-8-120. Pursuant to the plans, the proposal provides landscaping in areas not occupied by buildings, fields within the perimeter fencing, paving, or critical areas. As depicted in Detailed Landscaping Plan Sheet F102, the proposal provides a vegetated buffer that surrounds the playing fields and goalkeeper training area to the north, west, and south. A portion of this buffer will include the removal of invasive species and planting of native species in the buffer for Wetland A. From the southern edge of the playing fields, the proposed vegetated buffer continues along the eastern edge of the playing fields until it reaches the existing surface parking lot.18 Additional landscaping is proposed in the restriped secure parking area per code requirements. 9. Specific Requirements for Kennels and Pet Day Cares Not applicable to this proposal. 10. Specific Requirements for Secure Community Transition Facilities (SCTF), Crisis Diversion Facilities (CDF) and Crisis Diversion Interim Service Facilities (CDIS) Not applicable to this proposal. 11. Specific Requirement for Live-Work Units Not applicable to this proposal. 16 See CUP Project Narrative subsection e.ii for a more detailed description of the Sounders’ proposed use of the Site. 17 Talasaea Critical Areas Report and Conceptual Mitigation Plan dated October 7, 2022, p. 27. 18 See Detailed Landscape Plan Sheet F102. 10 11 ATTACHMENT A Comprehensive Plan Analysis This attachment A responds to the approval criteria in RMC 4-9-030.D.1: “The proposed use shall be compatible with the general goals, objectives, policies and standards of the Comprehensive Plan, the zoning regulations and any other plans, programs, maps or ordinances of the City of Renton.” The analysis in this attachment demonstrates that proposal is compatible with applicable general goals, objectives, policies and standards of the Comprehensive Plan. The Sounders Site is within Renton City limits, not within the Regional Growth Center, nor the Airport Influence Area. No housing is proposed or removed with the proposal, and the proposal is not an essential public facility. Accordingly, goals and policies relating to those particular topics have been omitted. Applicable Designation / Zoning: - Comprehensive Plan designation: Employment Area (“EA”) - Zone: Commercial Office (“CO”) Proposed Uses: - The proposed conditional use is “recreational facilities, outdoor.” The “recreational facilities, outdoor” is a conditional use in the CO Zone. - Other proposed uses are: “Office” and “Recreational facilities, indoor, new.” Both of which are permitted uses in the CO zone. Land Use Element A. Meeting Demands of Growth Goals Goal L-A: Comply with the Countywide Planning Policies established by the Puget Sound Regional Council and the Countywide Planning Policies adopted by King County. Goal L-C: Ensure sufficient land capacity to meet the growth targets, as shown in Table L-1. Policies Policy L-2: Support compact urban development to improve health outcomes, support transit use, maximize land use efficiency, and maximize public investment in infrastructure and services. 12 SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE. The proposal helps the City meet the demand of growth by providing additional employment in a Comprehensive Plan-designed “Employment Area.” The proposed use maximizes land efficiency and minimizes impacts to the environment by reusing existing infrastructure, structures, and facilities that Boeing constructed during the development of the Longacres Office Park. The proposal does not remove housing and it does not remove land that is designated to provide housing in the future. B. Planning for the Efficient Use of Land Goals Goal L-G: Pursue transition of non-conforming uses and structures to encourage development patterns consistent with Renton’s land use plan. Goal L-J: Develop well-balanced, attractive, convenient Centers serving the City and the region that create investment opportunities in urban scale development, promote housing close to employment and commercial areas, reduce dependency on automobiles, maximize public investment in infrastructure and services, and promote healthy communities. Goal L-K: Provide an energetic business environment for commercial activity providing a range of service, office, commercial, and mixed-use residential uses that enhance the City’s employment and tax base along arterial streets and in Centers. Goal L-L: Transform concentrations of linear form commercial areas into multi-use neighborhood centers characterized by enhanced site planning, efficient parking design, coordinated access for all modes of transportation, pedestrian linkages from adjacent uses and nearby neighborhoods, and boulevard treatment. Goal L-M: Strengthen Renton’s employment base and economic growth by achieving a mix of industrial, high technology, office, and commercial activities in Employment Areas. Goal L-N: Sustain industrial areas that function as integrated employment activity areas and include a core of industrial uses and other related businesses and services, transit facilities, and amenities. Goal L-O: Support the Auto Mall to concentrate auto and vehicular related businesses and increase their revenue and sales tax base for the City and to present an attractive environment for doing auto-related business. Policies Policy L-11: Encourage non-conforming uses to transition into conforming uses or relocate to areas with compatible designations. 13 Policy L-12: Identify potential areas for rapid or temporary housing in case of emergency or natural disaster. SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: Goal L-K is one of the most applicable Comprehensive Plan goals for the proposal (“Provide an energetic business environment for commercial activity providing a range of service, office, commercial, and mixed-use residential uses that enhance the City’s employment and tax base along arterial streets and in Centers.”) The Sounders FC Center at Longacres is a significant move to reposition Longacres after Boeing’s departure in 2021. The proposal will bring 239 new employees and a professional sports team to the City, thereby enhancing the City’s employment and tax base along an arterial street.19 Consistent with Goal L- M, the proposal strengthens the City’s employment base by providing office and other diverse employment uses, such indoor and outdoor recreational facilities. The energy and notoriety that the Sounders FC Center at Longacres will achieve will help attract an additional high profile lessee or lessees to fill the remainder of Building 25-20. Goal L-G and Policy L-11 address nonconforming uses and structures. All proposed uses and development conform to today’s regulations. The proposal also reduces the nonconformity of an existing surface parking lot by providing secure parking that conforms to today’s parking standards. C. Renton Land Use Plan. Renton’s Land Use Scheme identifies six types of land uses, including the Employment Area (EA) land use applicable to the proposal. The Comprehensive Plan’s policy for the EA land use is pasted below.20 Policy L-18: Place areas primarily used for industrial development or a mix of commercial and industrial uses such as office, industrial, warehousing, and manufacturing, with access to transportation network and transit, in the Employment Area (EA) land use designation. Employment Areas provide a significant economic development and employment base for the City. Maintain a variety and balance of uses through zoning that promotes gradual transition of uses on site with good access and visibility to more intensive commercial and office uses. [Following this passage, Policy L-18 provides an explanation of appropriate locations for light industrial, medium industrial, and heavy industrial.]21 SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: As noted in the response above, the proposal helps to revitalize the EA land use area by repositioning Longacres following Boeing’s departure. The proposal brings 239 new employees to this largely abandoned “employment base” for the City. 19 City of Renton Comprehensive Plan, Figure T-1 (identifying Oakesdale Ave SW as a principal arterial). 20 This appendix does not cite Policy L13-L18 because these policies address land use schemas that are inapplicable to the EA designation. 21 Comprehensive Plan, p. 9. 14 Policy L-18 contemplates industrial uses, but the Longacres Campus in the EA designation is zoned commercial office (CO), not light industrial (IL), medium industrial (IM), or heavy industrial (IH). The proposal successfully co-locates the proposed indoor and outdoor recreational facilities with the Sounders’ required office uses in existing Building 25-20. Thus, this proposal provides a mix of commercial and office uses as contemplated in Policy L-18. Proposed fencing and landscaping transition the “recreational facilities, outdoor” use to the uses within Building 25-20. D. Protecting the Natural Environment and Ensuring Natural Resources for the Future Goals Goal L-P: Minimize adverse impacts to natural systems, and address impacts of past practice where feasible, through leadership, policy, regulation, and regional coordination. Goal L-Q: Support commercial and hobby agricultural uses such as small farms, hobby farms, horticulture, beekeeping, kennels, stables, and produce stands that are compatible with urban development. Goal L-R: Maintain extractive industries where their continued operation does not impact adjacent residential areas, the City’s aquifer, or critical areas. Goal L-S: Maintain Urban Separators to provide visual and physical distinction to the edges of Renton, protect critical areas, and provide a transition to the rural area. Goal L-T: Create a functioning and exemplary urban forest that is managed at optimum levels for canopy, health, and diversity. Goal L-U: Preserve, protect, and enhance the quality and functions of the City’s sensitive areas including: lakes, rivers, major and minor creeks, intermittent stream courses and their floodplains, wetlands, ground water resources, wildlife habitats, and areas of seismic and geological hazards. Goal L-V: Protect the natural functions of 100 year floodplains and floodways to prevent threats to life, property, and public safety associated with flooding hazards. Goal L-W: Reduce the potential for damage to life and property due to abandoned coal mines, and return this land to productive uses. Goal L-X: Support and sustain educational, informational, and public involvement programs in the City over the long term in order to encourage effective use, preservation, and protection of Renton's resources. 15 Goal L-Y: Protect clean air and the climate for present and future generations through reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the individual, household, and community levels, and promote efficient and effective solutions for transportation and development. Goal L-Z: Promote regional air quality in coordination with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and the Puget Sound Regional Council, consistent with the Countywide Planning Policies, through its policies, methodologies, and standards. Policies Policy L-20: Recognize the importance of fresh food in improving health and building community resilience, and encourage local food by allowing cultivation and sale of vegetables, herbs, flowers, or similar crops in residential areas, as an accessory use and/or home occupation and allow community gardens on private property, vacant public property, and unused rights-of-ways. Policy L-21: Apply conditional use permits, or other approvals as appropriate, for extractive industries including timber, sand, gravel, or other mining to ensure that potential impacts are confined, limited, or mitigated. Policy L-22: Designate Urban Separators on lands characterized by individual and interconnecting natural features, critical areas, open space, parks, agricultural areas, and water features and by areas that provide a logical and easily identifiable physical separation between urban communities or with the rural area. Policy L-23: Promote urban forests through tree planting programs, tree maintenance programs that favor the use of large healthy trees along streets and in parks, residential, commercial, and industrial areas, programs that increase education and awareness, and through the protection and restoration of forest ecosystems. Policy L-24: Manage urban forests to maximize ecosystem services such as stormwater management, air quality, aquifer recharge, other ecosystem services, and wildlife habitat. Policy L-25: Educate the community about sustainable neighborhood concepts as part of planning processes to build support and understanding for future policy and regulatory changes. Policy L-26: Utilize education and outreach programs to inform the public and build support for initiatives promoting sustainability, health, and emergency preparedness. Policy L-27: Manage water resources for multiple uses including recreation, fish and wildlife, flood protection, erosion control, water supply, energy production, and open space. 16 Policy L-28: Minimize erosion and sedimentation in and near sensitive areas by requiring appropriate construction techniques and resource practices, such as low impact development. Policy L-29: Protect the integrity of natural drainage systems and existing land forms, and maintain wildlife habitat values by preserving and enhancing existing vegetation and tree canopy coverage to the maximum extent possible and by restoring hydrological flows and improving the condition of shorelines. Policy L-30: Maintain or increase the quantity and quality of wetlands. Development activities shall not decrease the net acreage of existing wetlands. Policy L-31: Protect buffers along wetlands and surface waters to facilitate infiltration and maintain stable water temperatures, provide for biological diversity, reduce amount and velocity of run-off, and provide for wildlife habitat. Policy L-32: Emphasize the use of open ponding and detention, vegetated swales, rain gardens, clean roof run-off, right-of-way landscape strips, open space, and stormwater management techniques that mimic natural systems, maximize water quality and infiltration where appropriate, and which will not endanger groundwater quality. Policy L-33: Acquire the most sensitive areas such as wetlands, flood plains, and wildlife habitat for conversion to parks and greenbelts. Pursue an overall net gain of natural functions and values by enhancing sensitive areas and providing incentives for the enhancement of functions and values through private development. Policy L-34: Ensure buildings, roads, and other built features are located on less sensitive portions of a site when sensitive areas are present. Policy L-35: Re-establish self-sustaining fisheries resources in appropriate rivers and creeks through habitat improvement projects that encourage and enhance salmonid use. Policy L-36: Land uses in areas subject to flooding, seismic, geologic, and coal mine hazards should be designed to prevent property damage and environmental degradation before, during, and after construction. Policy L-37: Emphasize non-structural methods in planning for flood prevention and damage reduction. Policy L-38: Dredge the Cedar Riverbed within the existing engineered channel as one method of flood control. Policy L-39: Provide information for and participate in informing and educating individuals, groups, businesses, industry, and government in the protection and 17 enhancement of the quality and quantity of the City's natural resources and to promote conservation. Policy L-40: Coordinate with the Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency and the Puget Sound Regional Council to develop policies, methodologies, and standards that promote regional air quality. Policy L-41 Conduct all City operations to minimize adverse environmental impacts by reducing consumption and waste of energy and materials; minimizing use of toxic and polluting substances; reusing, reducing, and recycling; and disposing of waste in a safe and responsible manner. Policy L-42: Encourage environmentally friendly construction practices, such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Built Green, Salmon Safe, and Living Building Challenge. Policy L-43: Support and implement the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, climate pledges and commitments undertaken by the City, and other multi- jurisdictional efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, address climate change, sea-level rise, ocean acidification, and other impacts to global conditions. Policy L-44: Recognize that a sustainable community requires and supports economic development, human health, and social benefit, and makes decisions using the “triple bottom line” approach to sustainability (environment, economy, and social equity). SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: Of relevance to this proposal, these natural resources and natural environment goals / policies primarily address: (1) urban forests, (2) sensitive areas, and floodplains. The Sounders FC and Unico prepared this proposal in close partnership with an interdisciplinary team, including qualified biologists, wetland consultants, arborists, and civil engineers. This interdisciplinary team held regular working meetings to share expertise and collaborate on the proposal site’s plan and project that would maintain and protect the natural resources and environment in and around the Site. Sounders FC also will bring their internal goals for environmental sustainability to the community, which supports of Policies L-39 and L-44. In 2019, Sounders FC became the first professional soccer team in North America to declare and implement carbon neutrality, furthering Policy L-43. Sounders FC is committed to protecting the planet through immediate and future efforts to address their own actions, and by engaging youth and community partners to do the same. Sounders FC is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by mitigating the impacts of construction and using the natural environment to educate youth. Sounders’ efforts in these areas also support City Goal L-Y and Policy L-26. The outdoor recreational use locates new building structures and the highest intensity fields farther from Wetland A, and places the lowest intensity, natural grass fields proximate to the Wetland A buffer, in keeping with Policy L-34. 18 1. Urban Forests. Advancing Goal L-T and Policy L-23, the proposal complies with the newly updated City Tree Protection Ordinance (revised in August 2022 through Ord. 6076, codified at RMC 4-4-130). The updated Tree Protection Ordinance requires protected tree tracts and compliance with a new tree credit requirement (requiring 30 credits per acre). The American Forest Management Arborist Report dated August 1, 2022, details the project’s tree preservation plan with supplemental tree protection measures. The DA Hogan landscaping plans dated August 8, 2022, identifies new trees that the Sounders FC will plant at the Site. The Wetland Mitigation Report explains how the proposal will continue to provide a vegetated buffer around Wetland A, which will include voluntary restoration on the vegetated wetland buffer edge. For its site at Longacres, Sounders FC will use a multi-faceted approach to repurpose and replant trees, which includes relocating and replanting trees on-site, where practicable, donating relocated trees to community partners, planting a mix of native species to benefit the long-term sustainability of the Site and Tract A as an improvement in forest conditions, and intentionally repurposing trees that cannot be replanted for on-site restoration. Sounders FC’s future sustainability efforts will include integrating a sustainability curriculum into their youth camp programming, collaborating with EarthGen to build a sustainable playscape and/or rain garden in the City of Renton, and planting trees in the community to offset their own carbon footprint. 2. Sensitive Areas. Advancing Goal L-U, the proposal preserves and protects Wetland A as identified in Wetland Mitigation Report. Consistent with Policy L-30, the proposal maintains the net acres of wetland. The proposal involves no fill of Wetland A (or the fill of any other wetland on the Campus). Consistent with Policy L-34, the Wetland Mitigation Report documents the proposal’s exhaustive avoidance and minimization efforts before finalizing the field placement on this site. The proposal impacts approximately 15,000 SF of the wetland’s buffer. This buffer impact is fully mitigated through the Springbrook Creek Wetland Mitigation Bank as identified in the Wetland Mitigation Report. In addition to this mitigation, the proposal enhances the wetland buffer through voluntary invasive species removal and native plant restoration. Other wetlands are located on the Campus, but these wetlands are located some distance away from the proposal. The Talasaea Wetland Existing Conditions Report and Wetland Mitigation Report identify these wetlands and conclude that the proposal will have no impact on these wetlands or their buffer. 3. Floodplains. Advancing Goal L-V, the proposal protects the natural function of the 100- year floodplains and floodways. The proposal complies with the City’s recently updated stormwater manual and all other floodplain regulations. Additional floodplain details are located in the Civil Engineering Narrative prepared by Coughlin Porter Lundeen, dated August 8, 2022. In addition to these core items, the proposal advances other general goals and policies in this subsection of the Comprehensive Plan: 19 - Construction Mitigation. Consistent with Policy L-28, the proposal is accompanied by a construction mitigation plan for erosion and sediment control. - Air Quality. The proposal does not involve any use that would adversely impact clean air. The co-location of the playing fields with the office reduces the vehicular trips associated with Sounders FC operations. The location of hard rail on the western edge of the campus creates opportunities for multi-modal transit. - Extractive Industries. The proposal does not involve any extractive industry, which would also require a CUP. - Educational Efforts. As addressed above, Sounders FC is proud to be the first carbon neutral professional soccer team in North America and the first carbon neutral pro sports team in the United States. Sounders FC are engaged in community education for environmental sustainability on and off the field. Sounders FC are developing an environmental sustainability curriculum to use in their youth soccer camps. Although the youth camps are focused on soccer instruction, the setting lends itself to other educational opportunities. In addition, Sounders FC have partnered with EarthGen since 2012, and together they have supported thousands of young people from hundreds of diverse communities across Washington learn to protect the planet, starting in their schools and neighborhoods. - Social Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Sounders FC emphasizes social justice, and celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion throughout its organization and through community engagement. Sounders FC was proud to publish its first annual Social Impact Report in 2021, in which it renewed its investment in a Social Justice Framework as a long-term commitment. In partnership with the RAVE Foundation and others, Sounders are out in the community regularly listening and responding to community need, such as: o Transforming an unplayable playground into a greenspace, raingarden, outdoor classroom and mini pitch at Seahurst Elementary; o Providing free US Soccer Community Coaching Clinic in Spanish for Seahurst/Burien rec and community organized teams; and o Teaming with the Puyallup Tribe to create a special kit, which features the salmon logo of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. The first 30 days of sales proceeds of this special “Jimi Hendrix Kit” were donated to five local nonprofits, including Tacoma Public Schools Indian Education Program. E. Promoting a Safe, Healthy, and Attractive Community Goals Goal L-AA: Maintain the City’s cultural history by documenting, recognizing, and protecting its historic, archaeological, and traditional cultural sites. 20 Goal L-BB: Maintain a high quality of life as Renton grows by ensuring that new development is designed to be functional and attractive. Goal L-CC: Support and sustain programs in the City to encourage effective use, preservation, and protection of Renton’s resources. Goal L-DD: Maintain and promote Renton as a center for arts and culture where traditional and contemporary arts thrive and creative industries are cultivated. Goal L-EE: Build neighborhoods that promote community resiliency through healthy lifestyles, active transportation, proximity to goods and services, access to local fresh food, environmental sustainability, and a feeling of community. Goal L-FF: Strengthen the visual identity of Renton and its Community Planning Areas and neighborhoods through quality design and development. Policies Policy L-45: Identify and catalog historic, cultural, and archaeological resources on an on-going basis and as part of project specific review. Policy L-46: Preserve and incorporate historic and archaeological sites into development projects. Policy L-47: Accommodate change in a way that maintains Renton’s livability and natural beauty. Policy L-48: Address privacy and quality of life for existing residents by considering scale and context in infill project design. Policy L-49: Maintain existing, and encourage the creation of additional, places and events throughout the community where people can gather and interact. Allow for flexibility in public gathering places to encourage place-making efforts and activities. Policy L-50: Respond to specific site conditions such as topography, natural features, and solar access to encourage energy savings and recognize the unique features of the site through the design of subdivisions and new buildings. Policy L-51: Include human-scale features such as pedestrian pathways, quality landscaping, and public spaces that have discernible edges, entries, and borders to create a distinctive sense of place in neighborhoods, commercial areas, and centers. Policy L-52: Orient buildings in developments toward the street or a common area, rather than toward parking lots. Policy L-53: Encourage creative and distinctive focal elements that define the entrance to the city. 21 Policy L-54: Protect public scenic views and public view corridors, including Renton’s physical, visual and perceptual linkages to Lake Washington and the Cedar River. Policy L-55: Preserve natural landforms, vegetation, distinctive stands of trees, natural slopes, and scenic areas that contribute to the City’s identity, preserve property values, and visually define the community and neighborhoods. Policy L-56: Complement the built environment with landscaping using native, naturalized, and ornamental plantings that are appropriate for the situation and circumstance and provide for respite, recreation, and sun/shade. Policy L-57: Provide complete arranged as an interconnecting network or grid. Locate planter strips between the curb and the sidewalk in order to provide separation between cars and pedestrians. Discourage dead-end streets and cul-de-sacs. Policy L-58: Encourage signage that guides and promotes business without creating visual clutter. Implement sign regulations that balance adequate visibility for businesses while protecting Renton’s visual character. Policy L-59: Balance the need for appropriate lighting levels for safety and security to avoid light intrusion and glare impacts, and to preserve the night sky. Policy L-60: Improve the appearance of parking lots through landscaping and screening. Policy L-61: Promote environmentally friendly, energy-efficient development, including building and infrastructure. Policy L-62: Create a supportive environment for cultural activities and the arts. Policy L-63: Collaborate with schools, businesses, and faith-based groups to promote healthy lifestyles through education, activity, and nutrition. Policy L-64: Design buildings with provisions for evacuation in case of all types of emergency events. SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: The proposal is safe, healthy, and attractive. - Consistent with Goal L-BB, the proposal is attractive and functional. It will provide new landscaping and retain mature trees as identified in the American Forest Management Arborist Report dated August 1, 2022. The proposed fencing will help to maintain a safe environment (e.g., keeping soccer balls within the recreational facility and off of the Oakesdale arterial). The proposed fencing is surrounded by landscaping as identified in Detailed Landscape Plan Sheet F102. Field lighting will be energy efficient LED lighting which will be directed onto the fields in a 22 manner to minimize light intrusion off-site and impacts to the night sky, in support of Policy L-59 and L-61. Sounders FC also has programs that support community health objectives of Policy L-63, such as a collaboration with community partners to educate youth most affected by environmental injustice and empower them to improve community health outcomes. In addition, Sounders FC’s affiliate RAVE Foundation has a program that emphasizes the value of play to the growth and wellbeing of all children. Toward this end, RAVE is implementing a “26 by 2026 Initiative,” in which RAVE will build fields in communities where access to free play is limited. Two similar field investments in Renton include RAVE’s investment in a mini pitch in partnership the City of Renton at Highlands Park in 2021, and a pledge to build another mini-pitch in Renton at Tiffany Park together with Seattle Storm. These mini-pitches come with programmatic support by RAVE Foundation and partner organizations. Sounders FC Center at Longacres pays tribute to Renton’s cultural history by bringing a new professional sports venture to the former thoroughbred race track site. While not a sports arena, the professional soccer use will inspire a focus on health and athletics to redevelopment of the Longacres campus. Opportunities for community connections with the site will come with local children who may attend youth programs or summer camps, or who may join the Academy Team. Some events will be open to small gatherings (up to 100) for viewing such as occasional Academy matches, similar to those currently held at Starfire Sports Center. Transportation Element SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: The Transportation Element generally seeks to maintain an efficient, balanced, multimodal transportation system. While this CUP does not list each goal and policy of the transportation element, it generally advances this element by reusing a largely abandoned corporate office park. The attached TENW transportation and parking memoranda demonstrate that the proposal will not adversely impact the City’s transportation system and that adequate parking is provided. See TENW Trip Generation Memo dated June 27, 2022 and TENW Parking Analysis Memorandum dated August 8, 2022. Housing and Human Services Element SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: The proposal does not remove or provide housing. The Site is not zoned for residential development. The proposal will not require any human services. The proposal supports the City’s efforts by expanding the City’s tax base and providing new revenue for the provision of services. Economic Development Element Goals ED-A: Promote and maintain diversified economic growth by utilizing resources and amenities to stimulate economic development while protecting quality of life through 23 environmental sustainability and increased employment opportunities to ensure competitiveness in the market. ED-B: Recruit and retain businesses to ensure a dynamic, diversified employment base. Nurture entrepreneurship while fostering successful partnerships with business and community leaders. Invest in and grow workforce training and retraining opportunities to support targeted local industry clusters. Build a diverse economic industry base in areas of aerospace, healthcare, and creative industries (high-tech, design, software, local artisan, gaming, and architecture, etc.). ED-C: Leverage public and private resources to focus development on targeted economic centers, in addition to industry clusters, and pursue transportation and other regional improvements and services that support and improve quality of life. Foster commercial and residential development, and cultivate optimism and focus towards redevelopment of public and private spaces throughout the City. Policies Policy ED-1: Develop incentives for businesses to locate, stay, and expand within the City; provide incentives for economic development within the City’s Growth Center, neighborhood business districts, and commercial corridors. Policy ED-2: Promote targeted local and regional industry cluster development: meet with top employers and key organizations to identify and discuss their future needs to determine how the City can assist them in being successful in expanding in Renton. Policy ED-3: Foster communications with, and support for key local and regional economic foundations. Support partnerships between businesses, government, schools, and research institutions to implement economic development policies and promote workforce development programs. Policy ED-4: Develop a retail recruitment strategy with an emphasis on business district development. Policy ED-5: Implement strategies to foster and expand knowledge-based businesses, high profile companies, and locally owned startups. Policy ED-6: Ensure Renton’s Economic Development Element is consistent with countywide economic policies and strategies in accordance with relevant Countywide Planning Policies. Policy ED-7: Provide transparency, efficiency, and uniformity of City regulations, policies, and procedures. Allocate sufficient resources to process development projects quickly and professionally. 24 Policy ED-8: Define and develop Renton’s unique cultural, historic, recreational, educational, and environmental assets as important marketing and image-building tools of the City’s business districts and neighborhoods. Policy ED-9: Support Downtown Renton redevelopment by engaging Downtown stakeholders and business community members with efforts to implement the City Council’s priorities for the City Center Community Plan. Policy ED-10: Promote incentives for multifamily development in Downtown. Work with prospective single-family and multifamily developers to facilitate new residential development with a diversity of housing types and price ranges to meet the needs of Renton citizens. Policy ED-11: Encourage growth that balances employment and housing opportunities within designated urban centers by promoting investment in mixed-use centers with compact urban development, specifically advocating for redevelopment and quality infill design that maximizes allowable density. Policy ED-12: Facilitate the Sunset Area Community Revitalization; engage with Renton Housing Authority and prospective developers to identify additional opportunities for the City to successfully leverage capital investment in the Sunset Area. Policy ED-13: Foster economic and employment growth by encouraging local investment, planning, and financial policies that advance the development of commercial, manufacturing, and industrial development centers. Policy ED-14: Encourage investments that address future needs; focus investment in infrastructure and services in designated centers that align with the City’s projected population, housing, and job growth targets. Policy ED-15: Implement the Renton Airport Compatible Land Use Program when guiding development within the Airport Influence Area. Policy ED-16: Further the provisions of Creating Renton’s Clean Economy. Attract low-carbon and clean-energy sectors and promote green job development. Encourage economic activity that is highly resource-efficient and minimizes the generation of waste and pollution. Policy ED-17: Promote the efficient use of services and resources, including conserving water and energy, reducing waste, and protecting resource lands. Work cooperatively with local businesses to help protect the natural environment in a manner that is efficient and predictable. Policy ED-18: Provide peripheral support to community services to facilitate the growth of a regional food economy through the development and expansion of farmers’ markets, food co-ops, and community supported agriculture programs. 25 Policy ED-19: Support collaboration with the Renton Housing Authority to encourage economic development strategies that address disparities in income and employment opportunities for economically disadvantaged populations, including minorities and women. Policy ED-20: Develop and promote local arts and culture programs, particularly by supporting the Renton Municipal Arts Commission. Encourage investments in creative industries and centers, bolster earned income for local attractions, and generate new tax revenues by attracting cultural tourists to the City while expanding cultural experiences for residents. Policy ED-21: Identify and encourage the preservation of lands, sites, and structures that have historical, cultural, and/or archaeological significance. SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: The relocation of the headquarters and training center for a professional soccer team and the associated 239 new jobs in the City of Renton advances each economic development goal and their associated policies. This proposal is a long-term commitment to the City of Renton. As explained by Sounders FC Majority Owner Adrian Hanauer: Today is one of the most important moments in our club’s history, as we begin this new partnership with Unico Properties and take our first steps in the future of Seattle Sounders FC. Our organization has invested a great deal of time and thoughtfulness into the process of both selecting the ideal site for a new home and reimagining what that home represents, for our team and the greater community. With Longacres, we’ve found a location brimming with Pacific Northwest history where the Sounders – a team that brings its own deep roots, growing since 1974 – can plant our flag and create a home for our next 50 years. We’re excited to work with terrific partners in Unico and the City of Renton as this project comes to life .... Sounders FC Longacres Press Release.22 More specifically, the proposal advances each economic development goal as in the Comprehensive Plan: ED-A: The Sounders FC Center at Longacres will directly bring 239 employees to Renton’s Employment Area. Also important, the Sounders’ proposal plants a new flag at Longacres, promoting economic growth and stimulating economic development at the Longacres Campus and in the EA. City approvals have previously acknowledged that professional sports centers contribute high economic value when developed at scale. The Sounders’ proposal, with 14 acres of outdoor recreational use, and team branding, will be at a scale that also generates high value and economic opportunities, addressing Renton’s economic development goals. An interdisciplinary team of biologists, arborists, civil engineers, and architects, designed the proposal to protect the quality of life and the environment, all as 22 Sounders FC Longacres press release available here: https://www.soundersfc.com/news/in-partnership-with- unico-properties-sounders-fc-reveals-new-state-of-the-art-fa 26 described in Land Use response above (Protecting the Natural Environment and Ensuring Natural Resources for the Future). ED-B: Sounders FC is a new business in the City, which further diversifies the City’s employment base, and together with other major league practice facilities in the City, fosters a sports + healthcare and wellness industry cluster. ED-C: The proposal is located in the designated Employment Area. The proposal reuses an existing office building vacated by Boeing and fosters new commercial redevelopment in an area that is appropriate for growth. Parks, Recreation, Natural Areas, and Trails Element Goals P-A: Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resource Areas provide the opportunity for the community to connect to, participate in, support and encourage a healthy environment and active lifestyle. P-B: Support a city where residents and visitors can recreate and exercise, contributing to a healthy lifestyle and where using an integrated trails/road network becomes a realistic transportation alternative. Policies Policy P-1: Expand parks and recreational opportunities in new and existing locations with an identified need, in order to fill gaps in service and keep pace with future growth. Policy P-2: Create a connected system of parks corridors, trails, and natural areas that provide nearby and accessible opportunities for recreation and non-motorized transportation. Policy P-3: Cultivate strong, positive partnerships at the local and regional level with public, private, and non-profit organizations in order to unite community efforts to develop and sustain the park system. Policy P-4: Create a distinct identity that celebrates the natural, historic, and diverse character of the community through park and facility design, recreation programming, interpretation, and education. Policy P-5: Ensure long-term economic and environmental sustainability in system planning, design, operation, maintenance, and decision making. Policy P-6: Promote healthy and active lifestyles and build community through programs that are inclusive, fun, and accessible for a diverse population. 27 Policy P-7: Protect, conserve, and enhance the area’s diverse natural resources for the long-term health of ecosystems, and for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: The Sounders FC outdoor recreational facility design has carefully maintained the existing trail system along Wetland A. Activating the adjacent fields will support trail use and activities. The proposed outdoor recreational facility is not a City-owned or - operated park. However, the private recreational facility will be used for soccer camps, which will complement the Comprehensive Plan’s goals of encouraging recreation and exercise, and contributing to healthy lifestyles within the community. In addition, along with the Sounders FC, the RAVE Foundation will be active in the community. RAVE’s plans for additional future free-play soccer pitches in Renton and associated programming support Policy P-6, promoting healthy and active lifestyles and building community through programs that are inclusive, fun, and accessible for a diverse population. Community Planning Element SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: The proposal is located within the Valley Community Planning Area. The City has not adopted a Valley Community Plan. Nonetheless, consistent with Goal CP- B and CP-C, the proposal will enhance the character of the Longacres Campus and implement the goals of the City and the Growth Management Act, as detailed in this Appendix. Utilities Element SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: The City has confirmed that adequate utilities exist to serve the proposal. The proposal will have no adverse impact on water supply resources. Capital Facilities Element SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: The proposal is not a capital facility. The proposal satisfies all relevant levels of service standards. Shoreline Management Element SOUNDERS FC RESPONSE: The proposal is not located within the regulated shoreline.