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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02101994 Min Ag j City of Port Townsend Planning and Building Department 540 Water St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 206/385-3000 · PL~GCO~SSIDNAGIDIDA Workshop Meeting February 10, 1994 I. ROLL CALL II. COMMUNICATIONS: Current mail III. OLD BUSINESS A. Growth Management Act 1. 2. 3. · 4. 5. Review of City Council (retreat) discussion of the GMA planning process County-wide Planning Policies Integration of Coordinated Water System Plan with GMA planning efforts Special study areas Draft land use inventory/issues IV. NEW BUSINESS V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Next Scheduled Meetings February 24. 1994 Text amendment for P-l zone (G-2B) VI. ADJOURN · r· . -. . '- City of Port Townsend Planning Commission 540 Water St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 206/385-3000 PL~G COMMISSION AGIDIDA (Revised) Workshop Meeting February 10, 1994 1. ROLL CALL II. COMMUNICATIONS: Current mail III. OLD BUSINESS A. - - Growth Management Act 1. Review of City Council (retreat) discussion of the GMA planning process - 2. _ County-wide Planning Policies 3.- Integration of Coordinated Water System Plan with GMA planning -efforts 4. Special study areas 5. Draft land use inventory/issues IV. - NEW BUSINESS V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Next Scheduled Meetings February 24. 1994 Text amendment for P-1 zone (G-2B) March 10. 1994 Accessory Rental Units (ARU), Workshop meeting VI. ADJOURN {-' ..~ . ~- .; . .- . iCity of Port Townsend Planning Commission 540 Water St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 206/385-3000 Planning Commission Minutes Workshop Meeting February 10, 1994 1. ROLL CALL Meeting was called to order at 7:08 PM by Chair Lois Sherwood. Other members in attendance were Ernie Baird, Karen Erickson, Lisa Enarson, Mark Welch and Bob Rickard. Cindy Thayer was absent. Staff members present were Dave Robison and Sheila Spears. II. COMMUNICATIONS Robison asked if the Planning Commission finds the articles useful that he clips and copies and would they like to continue getting this. material- for optional reading before each workshop. The Commission agreed the information is useful. Robison discussed how regulatory reform is the big topic in the legislature right now. Dennis McLerran is on-one of the governor's committees and has been charged with really looking at how SEPA and growth management can work together. He will probably be asking for advice from the Planning Commission as they go through that process. Planning Commission members were asked to bring in their Growth Management notebook to be upâated. III. OLD-BUSINESS A. Growth Management ·Act 1. Review of City Council (retreat) discussion of the GMA planning - process Robison gave an overview of the Council retreat which took place 2/9 and 2/10. Some of the items brought up at the retreat were how to improve the budgetary process, how to revise the Council meetings to have more public input which includes preparing a more detailed Council agenda, and the possibility of holding more than the two presently scheduled monthly Council meetings each month. Council members were each given five minutes to respond to questions: 1) What are your hopes and dreams over the next five years?; and 2) What would you do if you had a windfall? The answers included: improvements in the infrastructure; affordable housing; ; , -~ . . . i Planning Commission Minutes February 10, 1994 Page Two public safety building; street standards and public safety; and doing something about the economic well-being of Port Townsend. A common theme expressed was for a really integrated and comprehensive bicycle, pedestrian and trail system throughout the city. A dream was expressed about doing something with the Thomas Oil site. 1994 should be the year of the comprehensive plan was expressed by a City Council member. Robison stated that he gave the same presentation to City Council that he had given at the last Planning Commission workshop meeting. Council expressed both enthusiasm and apprehension about being the lead in this process. Some of the newer council members didn't have a firm grasp of what the Comprehensive Plan is really trying to achieve. Robison spent some time going through the procedural criteria for the Council. Robison outlined for the Planning Commission what an element of the Comprehensive Plan might look like. One of the things we will be looking at is the relationship between our growth today and in the future. Staff is going to recommend that the environmental analysis is included in the Comprehensive Plan document. To be useful and binding the Comprehensive Plan will be revised yearly and will be put in a 3-ring binder to make updates easy. Council appeared to like the approach set out by staff and said they want it to be flexible. They want to have the Planning Commission work with Council. One of the big chores in the next two to three weeks is to meet with a couple of council members and work to fine- tune the process. Robison handed out and gave an explanation of a draft GMA Public Participation Strategy that he and Rick Sepler developed a couple of years ago. He said there was some discussion at the Council Retreat about whether we are trying to do too much given our resources. Council, as a whole, felt if we can keep up the pace and maximize public involvement, that would be great. Council directed staff to go ahead with the outlined schedule. 2. County-wide Planning Policies The County-wide Planning Policies, adopted a year and a half ago, were developed between the City and the County on how they were going to collaborate on the GMA process. The previous Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) adopted those county policies. However, today there is not a lot of support by the current board to follow them. Most appeals to the Growth Hearings Board are counties appealing cities' actions for not following the county- wide policies. In our case it will more likely be the opposite. The most important foundation for both city and county planning efforts is to prepare a forecast for a joint management process. This hasn't been done to the City's satisfaction yet. . . . , <, -- I Planning Commission Minutes February 10, 1994 Page Three Under the GMA we are required to use the OFM number. The number is 1.8% annual growth per year for both the County and the City. But this year we are running twice the minimum if not 3 or 4 times. If we plan at 1.8% we are always going to be exceeding our capacities to absorb new growth. There needs to be an understanding of the regional trends and their influence on growth rates. The County prepared a population forecast that the City doesn't agree with. The County didn't look at enough of the external factors involved. It is hard to do a comprehensive plan for 20 years based upon those numbers used in the County report. This is a fundamental problem which we are still trying to correct. 3. Integration of Coordinated Water System Plan with GMA Planning Efforts The two items which the City is trying to coordinate with the County to be more consistent in its GMA planning efforts are: 1) the population forecast; and 2) water supply. The City is the water supplier for a large portion of eastern Jefferson County. Since 1986 there has been a coordinated water system plan which Robison outlined to the Planning Commission. Under state law the players have to revise the CWSP every 5 years. The City and County have been trying to revise it for the last 3 years. Recently, the City shrunk the water service area in the Tri-Area because it is running out of the ability and supply to serve water there. It appears that the City has already exceeded its water allocation for the Tri-Area, and this is why it has such a concern about the growth in the Tri-Area and the City's ability to continue to serve its existing customers and potential future development in the Tri-Area. 4. Special Study Areas There are also real concerns about land use in the Tri-Area. One of the concerns is that sewers are not required and everything is going on septic. The potential exists for contamination of the aquifer or salt water intrusion. If the aquifer fails there could be an emergency situation where the City may have to put in a larger pipe and provide water out there. City residents may have to share in the cost of new infrastructure to increase water supplies. Water is one of the most regulated and costly services that the government provides. Under the GMA the County is not supposed to be a purveyor of urban services (water and sewer). Cities or UGA's are to be the primary providers of urban services. Staff believes that we cannot do good growth management in the County unless we integrate the CWP's, with a joint population forecast. Robison expressed hope that City Council, Planning Commission and the community as a whole is to look at these issues as we prepare the Comprehensive Plan. ~ . . . ~, ~.-;,. " ? , . Planning Commission Minutes February 10, 1994 Page Four 5. Draft Land Use Inventory/Issues Robison asked if the Commission would like to review a very rough draft of the City's land use inventory to review and mark it up with things they thought might be inaccurate. Commission members said they would like to review it. Robison distributed copies. IV. NEW BUSINESS Robison also distributed a hand-out on Accessory Rental Units and asked the Planning Commission to schedule a workshop meeting on the subject for March 10. Robison asked if the Planning Commission wanted future GMA workshops even if they are working on committees. They said yes. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Next Scheduled Meetings February 24. 1994 Text amendment for P-1 zone (G-2B) March 10. 1994 Accessory Rental Units (ARU), Workshop meeting VI. ADJOURN Motion to adjourn was made by Enarson and seconded by Erickson. All were in favor. Meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM. ~~ Sheila Spears Planning & Building Assistant -..-