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HomeMy WebLinkAbout041416 CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND MINUTES OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR SESSION OF APRIL 14, 2016 CALL TO ORDER The Port Townsend Planning Commission met in regular session on April 14, 2016, in the Council Chambers at 540 Water Street. Chair Frick called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. ROLL CALL Commissioners present at roll call were Nan Evans, Rick Jahnke, Douglas Frick, Monica MickHager, and Paul Rice, with Kirit Bhansali and Dwight Nicholson excused. Mayor Deborah Stinson was present. Staff members present were City Manager David Timmons, City Attorney Steve Gross, Planning Director Lance Bailey, Planning Manager/Senior Planner Judy Surber, Senior Planner John McDonagh, Public Works Director Ken Clow, City Engineer David Peterson, GIS Coordinator Tyler Johnson, and Deputy Clerk Amber Long. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Motion: Paul Rice moved to accept the agenda. Monica MickHager seconded. Vote: motion carried unanimously, 5-0 by voice vote. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - MARCH 24, 2016 Motion: Rick Jahnke moved to approve the minutes of March 24, 2016. Paul Rice seconded. Vote: motion carried unanimously, 5-0 by voice vote. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT Paul Marks spoke about his property on Washington Street and building permit issues. NEW BUSINESS Update on Advisory Board Policies & Procedures Revisions before Council Mayor Deborah Stinson introduced the topic of advisory board policies and procedures. City Manager David Timmons gave a brief overview of the proposed changes and the reasons for them. City Attorney Steve Gross explained in more detail the specific proposed changes that would affect the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission asked clarifying questions of staff regarding transparency and what is considered a subcommittee. Planning Commission Meeting April 14, 2016 Page 1 of 5 There was extensive discussion about why the changes are being proposed and how the changes are being perceived by volunteers. Commissioners expressed concerns about term limits, frequent chair rotation, and requiring meetings to end by 5 p.m. There was general support for the idea of a Council liaison. The Commission expressed interest in finding a balance between minimizing risk to the City and encouraging citizen involvement. Staff explained that similar feedback has been received from other boards on term limits and frequent chair rotation. These issues will be looked at again. Proposed Interim Provisions for Merging of Medical and Recreational (1-502) Marijuana Regulations Senior Planner John McDonagh gave an overview of the interim provisions, which merge medical and recreational marijuana regulations. Changes include collective gardens being changed to cooperatives and Port Townsend being allotted one additional retail store license. No new language is being added to the code that is not a direct quotation from State law. Staff answered questions from the Commission and confirmed that the medical marijuana stores in Port Townsend will be closing. In six months, staff will come back to talk about optional items, such as the 1000-foot buffer. OLD BUSINESS GMA Periodic Update — Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element—Wrap Up City Engineer David Peterson led a discussion on the Transportation Element. The Commission has been provided with a clean copy to review, showing the proposed changes that had been discussed at prior meetings. Staff clarified that all internal comments contained within the draft have been addressed. Follow-up items for staff include: Page 6-3: In the second sentence of the second paragraph under Street Network, change "develop of safe" to "develop safe." Page 6-4: In the fourth sentence under Parking, the Commission generally agreed to strike "of the year" from the end of the sentence. Page 6-7: Some of the numbers in Table 6-1 do not add up to the totals shown. Pages 6-10, 6-16, and 6-20: There was a suggestion to change "Schools" to "Public Schools" on the map keys. Page 6-18: In the first sentence of the last paragraph, change "do not justify" to "may not justify." Page 6-19: In Policy 7.3, strike "to serve commercial, recreational. . ." and replace it with "in areas of highest demand (e.g. commercial, recreational. . ." For Policy 7.8, there was general agreement to change "increase" to "encourage." Page 6-23: Clarify that the City owns the Cotton Building/Elevated Ice Cream parking lot to make this bulleted item consistent with the others on parking lots. Page 6-24: In Policy 9.3.2, insert a space between "revitalization" and "adaptive." Page 6-25: Staff will fix the formatting in Policy 9.14. Planning Commission Meeting April 14, 2016 Page 2 of 5 Motion: Nan Evans moved to direct staff to prepare the draft Transportation Element for the Commission's further consideration at a noticed public hearing. Monica MickHager seconded. Vote: motion carried unanimously, 5-0 by voice vote. The meeting went into recess at 8:29 p.m. and reconvened at 8:35 p.m. GMA Periodic Update —Comprehensive Plan Capital Facilities Element Mr. Peterson gave an overview of the Utilities draft, which addresses water, sewer, storm water, and telecommunications. This draft contains only policies; the inventory for utilities will be in the Capital Facilities Element. There was general agreement to consider the proposed edits in more detail at the next meeting. This draft was only discussed briefly and comments included: Page 7-5: There was a suggestion to add information on low flow levels for the Big Quilcene River (27 cubic feet per second) and Little Quilcene (6? cubic feet per second). Page 7-8: There was general agreement to change either Policy 12.7 or Policy 13.1 to incorporate a reference to reduced summertime water supply due to climate change. Page 7-13: There was a suggestion to add "and long term use in light of sea level rise" to Policy 19.6. Staff mentioned that there is a general policy regarding planning for sea level rise elsewhere in the Element (Policy 9.9). Commissioners expressed positive feedback for the historical photo on the first page of the Element draft and for the idea of putting a historical photo on each front page. At the next meeting, staff will provide a draft of the Capital Facilities Element for discussion. GMA Periodic Update — Comprehensive Plan Housing Element—Wrap Up Senior Planning/Planning Manager Judy Surber provided a handout with updated wording for the "Challenges and Opportunities" section (page 4-5 of the Housing Element) based on input from Commissioner Rice. The Commission reviewed each of the challenges and asked clarifying questions of staff. There was general agreement that the new wording in the handout should be used for the version of the Element that goes to public hearing. The Commmission discussed Attachment B (Blended Strategies: Staff Tracking Table) and generally agreed that more, rather than less, detail is better, because there is no separate functional plan for the Housing Element. Regarding #2 on the table, there was a suggestion to change "tiny homes" to "small homes" to be consistent with the terminology used elsewhere in the Element. There was general agreement to strike "As determined by the results of an updated BLI" from #3 and to add "assess the need to conduct a buildable lands inventory" to #9. Staff will rework on the language in #9. The Commission then discussed the draft Housing Element. Follow-up items for staff include: Planning Commission Meeting April 14, 2016 Page 3 of 5 Page 1: Suggestion to reword the sentence beginning "For a family with very little income. . ." (third paragraph) to make it more readable. Page 5: Under Housing Supply, there was general agreement to add language regarding climate change, similar to what was used in the Land Use Element. Page 6: For the last sentence of the paragraph under Housing Affordability, staff will pull language out of the housing study to explain why the gap has worsened. Page 13: There was general agreement to change "In the past" to "Prior to the 1996 Comprehensive Plan" at the start of the first full paragraph of the Introduction. Staff will double check to make sure that "affordable housing" and "AMI" are in the Comprehensive Plan glossary. Motion. Paul Rice moved to direct staff to prepare the draft Housing Element for the Commission's further consideration at a noticed public hearing. Monica MickHager seconded. Vote. motion carried unanimously, 5-0 by voice vote. GMA Periodic Update — Temporary Encampments (Docket Item #24) — PTMC Amendment Ms. Surber stated that staff had asked stakeholders from the community the same questions about temporary encampments that had been asked of the Planning Commission at the previous meeting. The stakeholders were the Fire Chief Gordon Pomeroy, Police Chief Michael Evans, Jared Keefer from Environmental Health, and Kathy Morgan from OlyCAP. Ms. Surber reported on the feedback received from the community stakeholders, who cautioned against a broad application of the RCW and recommended limiting the sponsor/hosting group to religious organizations. Staff clarified that a separate managing agency, with the expertise to facilitate a temporary encampment, would not be limited to religious organizations. The Commission would like to consider allowing encampments on properties not owned by religious organizations, so staff will look at size limitation issues, such as acreage, buffers, or parking requirements. For the maximum size of the encampment (#2 on Attachment A), there was not a consensus among the Commissioners. Staff will use a maximum of 30 for now, as recommended by the stakeholders, and the Commission can discuss later. Staff will begin working on a draft ordinance. GMA Periodic Update — Comprehensive Plan Economic Development Element and Remaining Chapters — First Touch Ms. Surber discussed the staff memorandum. She shared that she will be meeting with representatives from the Food Policy Council, a non-profit, to get further input. A draft of the Economic Development Element will be available for discussion at the next meeting. OTHER BUSINESS Ms. Surber stated that the short course on planning will be held at the Cotton Building on May 11th and asked the Commissioners to let her know if they will be attending. Planning Commission Meeting April 14, 2016 Page 4 of 5 UPCOMING MEETINGS Planning Director Lance Bailey informed the Commission that, although no action was taken, there was a consensus at the recent City Council workshop on short term rentals to task the Planning Commission with the issue. Staff plans to bring a tasking resolution to Council at the May 2nd meeting. In response to a question from staff, a quorum of Commissioners present indicated the ability to attend a tentative special meeting on May 19th to discuss short term rentals. COMMUNICATIONS - NONE ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:55 p.m. Attest: F , Planning Commission Chair City Clerk's Office Planning Commission Meeting April 14, 2016 Page 5 of 5