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HomeMy WebLinkAbout061115CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF JUNE 11, 2015 CALL TO ORDER The Port Townsend Planning Commission met in regular session on June 11, 2015, in the Council Chambers at 540 Water Street. Vice Chair Range called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. ROLL CALL Commissioners present at roll call were Nan Evans, Douglas Frick, Rick Jahnke, Dwight Nicholson, and Jack Range with Monica Mick -Hager excused and Kirit Bhansali absent. Staff members present were City Manager David Timmons, Planning Director Lance Bailey, Planning Manager/Senior Planner Judy Surber, and Deputy Clerk Amber Long. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Motion: Rick Jahnke moved to approve the acceptance of agenda with an addition under Vl. New Business. Douglas Frick seconded. Vote: motion carried unanimously, 5-0 by voice vote. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - MAY 28, 2015 Kirit Bhansali joined the meeting at 6:33 p.m. On page 3, under Evaluation Criteria #3, the word "further" was added: "...there was no need for further discussion." Motion: Douglas Frick moved to approve the minutes of May 28, 2015, as amended. Rick Jahnke seconded. Vote: motion carried unanimously, 6-0 by voice vote. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT There were no public comments. NEW BUSINESS Vice Chair Range read from an email sent by Chair Mick -Hager, who was absent from the meeting. She requested that voice recordings be made of the table discussions at the Town Meeting and that there be a Commissioner at each table, assignments to be determined at the June 11th meeting. Staff responded that it was not certain whether recordings could be made. The breakout table portion of the Town Meeting will be like an open house forum. The intention is not for people to stay at one table with a facilitated discussion. Public feedback will primarily be Planning Commission Meeting June 11, 2015 Page 1 of 4 obtained from index cards. The discussion questions are structured to mirror discussions to be posted on the SpeakUp site. Staff plans to meet with facilitators in the day or two after the Town Meeting to get a sense of the tone of discussions at each table. The plan is to have two facilitators at each table, and City Council members will walk around to different tables during the meeting. Preliminary table assignments have been made based on participation in the workgroups. Staff will provide info -graphics and facilitation tips ahead of the meeting. OLD BUSINESS Discussion of the Planning Commission Assessment of the Comprehensive Plan (per PTMC 20.04.050) Following up on a request at the prior meeting, City Manager David Timmons was present to address questions about the City's financial capacity. He gave an overview of the three-year strategic plan. Until 2007, the City operated on an annual work plan. When the ferry service was stopped in 2007, it prompted the City to create a multi- year strategy to deal with unexpected occurrences, and the first financial strategy was developed in 2008. It was based on the Comprehensive Plan. The GMA- mandated update of the Comprehensive Plan is an important part of the current three- year strategic plan and will inform the next three-year strategy. Mr. Timmons went over his presentation on City Finances from the 2008 Town Meetings. He gave a history of the development of fund accounting. The City is on a one-year budget cycle; the budget is adopted by fund. The City received strong marks on the Standard & Poor's rating review for having very little debt. The current big capital initiatives are Howard Street, Mountain View, and the water projects. Operating funds have been relatively stable the past few years. During the recession, the City was not able to keep up with maintenance costs; parks were hit the hardest. Mr. Timmons answered other questions from the Commission on topics including: - internship programs at the City - infrastructure for Howard Street development - strategies to address affordable housing (working with Habitat for Humanity and other groups, cottage -like developments, land trust) - levies (for a levy to retire, the purpose has to go away) - federal funding (the City does not segregate federal funding; it will be targeted to a specific line item in the budget) - jail and court costs - status of reserve now (goal is 5-8%; City now has about 14% --invested in the State Treasurer's pool; the City is setting up an account to buy secured bonds.) - jurisdiction over break waters along Water Street - City's share of sales tax - estimation of the City's deferred maintenance for parks, pool, and streets ($80 million for streets; $300,000 per year to maintain what we have) - sources of street fund (fuel tax shared through the State and a 10% utility levy against the City's utility funds) - Jefferson Healthcare's financial contribution to City (indirect contribution) He stated that some budgeting options that have been identified for the City are: - create a metropolitan park district Planning Commission Meeting June 11, 2015 Page 2 of 4 - fire and library annexation - police consolidation - partnering with other services - privatization (not a lot of options here) - manage levels of service expectations (for example, does every street need to be paved?) - 6% sales tax on private utilities could be raised to 9% by public vote Mr. Timmons was asked, in the context of the Comprehensive Plan update, what advice he has for the Planning Commission from a fiscal standpoint. He said he would focus on sustainability. The Comprehensive Plan sets a policy of whether you should do something, not how you do it. The Plan is a visioning tool, a future forecast model. If it is too mired in detail, it becomes regulatory and constrained. He recommends looking at the values, philosophies, and vision that we want to set. Planning Manager/Senior Planner Judy Surber offered the following summary: the City's financial capacity was stressed during the recession, but is now stable. Revenue from REET, sales tax, and permit fees is going up; however, there is a long-term concern about overall sustainability, given things such as increased costs to provide services, decreased federal and state funding, and potential costs that may arise due to climate change effects. Mr. Timmons suggested adding to the summary the degree of deferred maintenance in core infrastructure. Ms. Surber reviewed changes to the upcoming meetings schedule and suggested that the Commission continue its discussion at the meeting on July 22nd. She gave an overview of promotion efforts for the Town Meeting. Tentative table assignments are: Quality of life (parks & rec) - Alex Wisniewksi from Parks and Monica Mick -Hager Housing - Kathy Morgan from OlyCAP and Rick Jahnke Jobs - Keith Darrock from the Library and Doug Frick Resiliency - Cindy Jayne from the Climate Action Committee and Jack Range Transportation - Dwight Nicholson and someone to be determined (for issues not addressed by another table) - Judy Surber and someone to be determined Ms. Surber discussed her suggestions for the draft assessment: - Introduction - add some language to clarify that the GMA periodic update is primarily a policy and regulatory audit to make sure we are in compliance with the GMA and secondarily there is an opportunity to insert local options to address changed circumstances. There is similar language in 2008 memo. - Page 2 - key planning assumptions - change wording so as not to confuse with key assumptions in the Comprehensive Plan - Page 3 - clarify that the assumptions are yet to be finalized by the Board of County Commissioners - Page 5 - under Conclusions - there is an opportunity for annual updates if recommended by Council. The Commission might recommend that population projections be reviewed during the mid-cycle assessment. City staff just received the most recent numbers from OFM, there is only a slight adjustment. - Page 7 - no need to ask Public Works for language about parks - Page 8 - add header "Concerns: Uncertainties and Changing Times" to be consistent with other sections. The 2008 memo gives a lot of information about mixed-use centers and the need for more light manufacturing that could segue into discussion of Howard Street corridor. Planning Commission Meeting June 11, 2015 Page 3 of 4 - Page 13 - add "optional" amendments to the header to differentiate from GMA- mandated amendments It was suggested that Commissioners email comments about the draft assessment to Nan Evans and Judy Surber, but not to the whole Commission, and Nan should not reply to any emails. She requested comments by July 8th. The Commissioners briefly discussed the working draft assessment. They expressed appreciation for the work done so far on the assessment, particularly the organizational changes. OTHER BUSINESS - NONE UPCOMING MEETINGS The meeting schedule was discussed earlier in the meeting. COMMUNICATIONS Staff alerted Commissioners to the updated public comment log included in the packet. In response to a question, staff discussed the info -graphics for the Town Meeting. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m. Motion: Kirit Bhansali moved to approve adjournment Dwight Nicholson seconded. Vote: motion carried unanimously, 6-0 by voice vote. Attest: City Clerk's Office Planning Comm Planning Commission Meeting June 11, 2015 Page 4 of 4