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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12162003 Min Ag · · · I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA City Council Chambers, 7:00 pm Call to Order Roll Call Acceptance of Agenda Approval of Minutes General Public Comment (limited to 3 minutes per person) Unfinished Business Growth Management Indicators (GMI) 1. BCD Staff presentation 2. Public Comment 3. Planning Commission Deliberation & Action Upcoming Meetings: Communications Adjournment December 16, 2003 · · · CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES December 16, 2003 I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Cindy Thayer called the meeting to order at 7: 10 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. II. ROLL CALL Other members answering roll were Lyn Hersey, Richard Berg, Alice King, and George Randels; Jim Irvin was excused; Frank Benskin and Jeff Kelety were unexcused. Bernie Arthur arrived at 8: 10 p.m. Also present were BCD Senior Planner Judy Surber and Eric Toews, consultant. Vanessa Brower, Affordable Housing Task Force was also present. III. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Mr. Randels made a motion to accept the agenda. Ms. Hersey seconded. All were in favor. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES -- There were none V. PUBLIC COMMENT -- There was none VI. UNFINISHED BUSINESS -- There was none VII. NEW BUSINESS Growth Management Indicators (GMI) Ms. Surber made the Staff Presentation. She pointed out the GMI program is not state mandated, but the City elected to use this program to monitor core policy objectives of the Comprehensive Plan. The City retained Eric Toews to assist with the Comp Plan update including a benchmarks report. She explained many indicators could be selected, but they chose to limit the number of indicators to 10-12. Attachment A of the December 11,2003, Staff Memo to the Planning Commission includes a menu of Staffs suggestions for potential indicators and benchmarks. It is anticipated that at a public workshop to be scheduled in January, choices of the 10 - 12 indicators will be selected from that menu and/or from other suggestions. The Planning Commission will make their formal recommendation to the City Council and hopefully a resolution will be made to include those choices in a GMI program. Ms. Surber indicated that the task tonight is to review the menu and give input to it. She turned the presentation over to Eric Toews, Cascadia Community Planning Services, consultant retained for the Comp Plan update process. Mr. Toews discussed the goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan. He also spoke to the IndicatorslBenchmarks Program and said that although it is not state mandated many communities throughout the state are using the program to determine whether or not they are achieving their community goals, and if not what can be done to accomplish them. Program steps to be taken include: · Identifying the key objectives or desired outcomes; · Selecting indicators for each desired outcome; · Identifying targets and benchmarks; · Locating reliable long-term data sources for the identified benchmarks. Core obiectives of the ÇQnm Plan · Maintaining the small town character: creation of mixed use centers; creation of an interconnected system of open spaces and trails; · Achieving a better "jobs/housing balance; Planning Commission Minutes, December 16, 2003 / Page 1 · · · · Strategy to encourage businesses to provide "family wage jobs"; an affordable housing strategy that provides more land for high density housing, permits more creative housing types, and increases housing choices available to residents; · Accommodating Port Townsend's share of county-wide growth; · To provide public facilities and services within the City's fmancial resource. Mr. Towes spoke of identifying the desired outcomes of the Comp Plan, determining if it is sound and distilling outcomes into a clear statement. He welcomed input from the Planning Commission to refme what the team had put together. Ms. Hersey asked if they had made any attempt to prioritize. Mr. Toews replied they had not prioritized at all. Principles to be used to identify indicators. benchmarks and data sources ~: · Use reputable data sources; · Avoid complex measurement methodologies, e.g. "black box: · Create a model program to be used in the future, (trends for the future). Indicators and benchmarks and additional considerations. ~: · Complexity; · Relevance; · Influence -- (Ms. Surber noted this is important: social, demographic and economic conditions and things beyond the city's control); · Data Availability. Mr. Towes said there are questions to think about before the workshop in January. Are the desired outcomes accurately identified? Are there others relevant? Can they narrow them down to four outcomes? Can they identify 10- 15 benchmarks related to outcomes? Chair Thayer asked if the City is going to get the same information for the joint workshop. Mr. Toews said the Community DeveIopment/Land Use (CD/LU) Committee and Council had been copied with this same material. Ms. Surber will notify other Commissioners who were not present. Mr. Randels asked regarding five outcomes, and if a target of 11 or 9 would be okay? Mr. Toews replied they would be used to develop a matrix; that is not an issue. Chair Thayer asked if everyone had copies of the Comp Plan. Mr. Randels replied he did not. Ms. Surber will see that he gets a copy. Ms. Hersey asked if there were any priorities in the six chapters, such as the Community Direction Statement. Mr. Toews noted implemelJtation sections in each chapter, and the City's capital budget. He said otherwise there were none. Ms. Hersey spoke of cottage industries in the Community Direction Statement, and asked if the benchmarks are looking backward or forward. Mr. Towes explained they are setting a baseline, compiling data to which they can compare. Mr. Randels spoke regarding potential benchmarks that can be used, that it would be nice to be able to factor out things that are disproportionate. He asked regarding mixed-use centers. Mr. Towes explained the concept of mixed-use centers and that they had not been accomplished as anticipated. There were questions about Attachment A regarding the impact of retirement income and its impact on #3, the employment growth rate; and #19, the housing affordability index. The proposed joint meeting with the Planning Commission, City Council, and the public was discussed, a town meeting type public workshop. Mr. Towes said the Planning Commission would make recommendations to City Council to hopefully prepare a resolution. Chair Thayer asked about those who were not at this meeting. Ms. Surber will contact them and offer information. Ms. Hersey asked about the set elements, if they should they select one or two each. Mr. Toews discussed the process they went through in determining the key objectives. Chair Thayer expressed appreciation for their thorough work. Planning Commission Minutes, December 16, 2003 / Page 2 · · · Mr. Randels asked regarding data sources, if with the government sources there was reason to preclude community sources. Mr. Toews indicated that was not the intent. Ms. Hersey asked about EDC and the reference to stakeholders in Mr. Toews' memo. Mr. Toews concurred that would be one stakeholder. Ms. Vanessa Brower, CD/LU subcommittee chair of the Affordable Housing Task Force, added there is no perfect way to do data crunching. She stressed that the Comp Plan allowed the city to obtain needed funding, that the Comp Plan has served the community well, and she applauded the efforts that went into it. It was determined that Ms. Surber would receive input for changes no later than January 9,2004. A joint meeting with City Council was discussed and difficulty the Planning Commission had previously experienced in trying to deliberate on their material. Ms. Surber suggested that Staff could be the driver of the first part of a joint meeting, leaving the last part for a Planning Commission meeting. Mr. Arthur brought up a recent issue of City Council remanding the Cottage Housing ordinance to the Planning Commission to prepare an interim ordinance and a new ordinance within 120 days. He thought it behooved the Commission to first discuss this with Staff. Ms. Surber eXplained the difficulties BCD had with the ordinance following the Liz Berman project. She said many objections were raised, that the process is working thereby bringing them to reevaluate the ordinance. She agreed with Ms. Hersey that educating the public was also part of the process. Mr. Berg suggested the Planning Commission would be tasked with that process by January or February. Chair Thayer noted that Planning Commission elections for a Chair and Vice Chair are due the first meeting in January. She said some terms are expiring, and there are going to be vacancies. Mr. Arthur announced his term is expiring, and he does not intend to continue to serve on the Planning Commission. Ms. Brower said the Planning Commission has a direct link to the Affordable Housing Task Force. She asked for the appointment of Commissioner as liaison. Chair Thayer noted that Mr. Randels had been suggested. Mr. Randels agreed to consider the appointment. Chair Thayer noted they were also looking for appointments to the Shorelines Advisory Group, and that there had been some interest expressed. X. UPCOMING MEETINGS XI. COMMUNICATIONS -- There was none X. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Mr. Randels and seconded by Ms. Hersey. All were in favor. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. ___ /j ê'l ...-t _."....~ . ."/..., v. ;/ ~ Sheila Avis, Minute Taker Planning Commission Minutes, December 16, 2003 / Page 3