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Home My WebLink About030926 City Council Workshop (Joint with PC) Meeting MinutesCITY OF PORT TOWNSEND MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING OF MARCH 9, 2026 CALL TO ORDER/ ROLL CALL The City Council met in a regular session with Planning Commission on the 9th day of March 2026 in Council Chambers at 540 Water St, Port Townsend, WA 98368. Mayor Howard and Commission Chair Bair Jones called the meeting to order at 6:00pm. Councilmembers present at roll call were Amy Howard, Owen Rowe, David Faber, Fred Obee, Neil Nelson, Libby Wennstrom, and Monica MickHager. Staff members present were Planning and Community Development Director Emma Bolin, Senior Planner Adrian Smith , Housing Grants Coordinator Renata Munfrada, Public Works Director Steve King , City Manager John Mauro, and City Clerk Alyssa Rodrigues. Planning Commissioners present at roll call were Corrina Coorsen, Rick Jahnke, Andreas Andreadis, Stephen Mader, Samantha Bair -Jones, Dylan Quarles, and Viki Sonntag. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT (REGARDING ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA) Public Comment Staff or Council response, as needed Ben Thomas spoke about appreciation for amount of work they are carrying. JOINT EXECUTIVE SESSION WITH PLANNING COMMISSION: PURSUANT TO RCW 42.30.110(1)(1)) DISCUSSION WITH LEGAL COUNSEL ABOUT CURRENT OR POTENTIAL LITIGATIONS (APPROXIMATELY 20 MINUTES) Mayor Howard stated that Council and Planning Commission will go into Executive Session pursuant to RCW 42.30.110(1)(i)) Discussion with legal counsel about current or potential litigation for approximately 20 minutes. No action to follow. Council and Planning Commission went into Executive Session at 6:04pm. Council and Planning Commission came out of Executive Session at 6:24pm. Mayor Howard stated they are extending the Executive Session for 10 minutes. March 9, 2026 City Council Workshop (Joint PC) Meeting Page 1 of 4 Council and Planning Commission went into Executive Session at 6:24pm. Council and Planning Commission came out of Executive Session at 6:34pm. No action was taken. DISCUSSION ITEMS Scoping Annual Work on Development Regulations and the Comprehensive Plan - Joint Discussion with Planning Commission Planning and Community Development Director Emma Bolin presented the 2026 Docket, Affordability brought to you by the Comp Plan... and beyond, Past Development Patterns, Exclusionary development codes still survive and cost staff/applicant time, Code updates needed to help streamline new code implementation, R-II Example, building across lot lines @ density, Old visions for a home change with time..., Docket Process, and Capacity Limitations. In response to Council's clarifying questions staff explained setbacks from lot lines. Public comment: Jude Rubin spoke about agriculture amendment, process, did everything requested, need to get it done, farmers/growers are not the reason for burden of staff work, and needs to be baked into what is happening with development. Lexi Koch spoke about enthusiasm about offering amendment, make a living farming, world is crazy and plants save me, imperative to keep growing for others in community, need to use voice as farmer/business owner to include open space/ag space, needs to be baked in process, and can't ignore this. Eric Jones spoke about moving the needle on affordable strategies this year and into future, multifamily tax emption, explore strategies outlined in white paper, and to try to make progress. Candice Gohn spoke about support for importance of open growing space, support local schools, affordable flowers, additional beauty in community, and essential to look seriously at amendment. Jean Camfield spoke about annual report, land use and agriculture/farms, farmers support Farmers Market, grow for food bank, school gardens, and part of community. Discussion ensued around the City considering the Comprehensive Plan Amendment from Quimper Growers group, small scale agriculture definition, current comp plan does not hold widely held community value in regard to agriculture, importance of agriculture, Port Townsend growers shouldn't have to wait another year or two and should be represented in community plan, forwarded amendment to Mayor Howard and City Manager, upcoming meeting next week, may be able to start this year and address staff time, staff capacity, line in/line out not sent to all Council members, staff reviewed line in/line out, email public comment, drafts of line in/line out amendments, option of reading through current amendment, review at meeting March 9, 2026 City Council Workshop (Joint PC) Meeting Page 2 of 4 next week, will be part of the record of the meeting, purpose of upcoming meeting, Docket Process, take feedback that it should have been forwarded to full Council, public comment, and Planning Commission public comment process, purpose of the meeting tonight, no decisions made tonight, confusion around scope of Planning Commission re agriculture, length of amendment request, March 16 meeting, complexity of request, and plan for order of how things happen. Discussion continued around I&D meeting discussion, whitepaper, and affordable housing, income -based discount, infrastructure incentive, densities and old development codes, Comprehensive Plan goals, multifamily tax exemption, additional strategy depending on staff capacity, staff priorities and multifamily tax exemptions/affordable housing strategies, expand residential target area, make MFTE incentives available to community members, doing process twice, mandated by law, staff struggling to keep up with permits, high school campus and permits, streamlining permits, time consuming to have MFTE process twice but gives people more time to become familiar with code, legal definition of the "Docket", state required list for Docket, lot splitting, commercial to reservation, historic preservation code, handout, Engineering Design Standards, GIS map, not good for clients to be hit with constantly changing code, complete one category of code at a time, appeal pushing other mechanisms off the docket, examining Planned Unit Developments and inclusionary zoning, PUD and bonus density, PUD and required affordability, and look at subdivisions and affordability. Discussion continued around spending time focusing the Planning Department's work, not a great time for more ideas, looking to staff for input, two-year work program, simple docket as a result of appeal and staff time, prioritization process and readjusting, Council decision, put it all on the table, remove urban forestry and conservation project from Docket for this year, importance of tree ordinance and urban forestry something to keep working toward, grant period ends Spring 2027, what do we do to improve staff capacity, surge positions, prioritization process of workplan and budget, aggressive measures to help their staffing needs, setting precedent if staff can't absorb and keep moving forward, affordability at crisis levels, prioritize affordability strongly, make sure we take up tools that we can use to fund affordability this year, use a process we already have and look at it through the lens of affordability, and Rezone R-III parcel for Parks and Open Space at 13th/Hancock. Discussion ensued around doing required work with lens of affordability, include consideration of agriculture/food system as possible, come up with various tools outside of Docket for affordability, curious to hear how Mayor Howards meeting goes with agriculture community, keeping affordable housing focus is good, Evans Vista, simplify process and increase staff time, prioritization, what will serve the most people the quickest, trying to go at the right speed, meet needs in Port Townsend, looking forward to meeting with agriculture community, most good for the most people, appreciation for staff, prioritize mandatory work, look for opportunities for tools for affordability while looking at mandatory work, through docket or other means, look at other areas to research affordable housing and otherwise support agriculture, white paper identified financial tools, financial tool dedicated to affordable housing, MFTE, revolving infrastructure fund, water rate model update, Engineering Design Standards, administrative procedures related to Comprehensive Plan, expectation from Planning Commission regarding agriculture meeting, scheduling for upcoming Planning Commission meeting, and appreciation for staff. ADJOURN March 9, 2026 City Council Workshop (Joint PC) Meeting Page 3 of 4 There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:22pm, Attest:. Alyssa Rodrigues City Clerk March 9, 2026 City Council Workshop (Joint PC) Meeting Page 4 of 4