October 6th Planning Commission Meeting
October 6th Planning Commission Meeting
Planning Commission held two public hearings. One for the Housing Strategy Plan (HSP) update and the other for the Zoning Amendments.
PUBLIC HEARING 1: HOUSING STRATEGY PLAN
Todd gave a brief presentation of the history of the work that has been done, both by Staff and the Planning Commission, to arrive at the four priority actions of multi-family tax exemption (MFTE)/inclusionary zoning, faith-based/public surplus lands, mobile home community preservation and a housing outcomes report. They anticipate that this will come to Council on November 16th. The near-term actions would be initiated in the next two years, but results may take three to five years.
Public Comments:
There was only one (virtual) public commenter who spoke about the importance of the affordability of the Mobile Home Communities for low-income residents.
Discussion
VC Dorrian said he was absent for one meeting last month and asked if the commission had reviewed the executive summary of the HSP since this was new material to him. He wanted to discuss the land-capacity analysis (LCA), and noted that we’re very dependent on mixed-use zones. We’d need 35 100-unit developments, or 13 more Pulte group developments. He has reservations about this. He noted that the commission has received emailed comments about whether the outcomes report would be duplicative of County work.
Andrew from ARCH said he has been sitting in on some of the meetings for the County reporting, and the level is going to be quite high since it covers a lot of territory and may not be granular enough to include all of the details that are important to the community. He will coordinate with staff to make sure it isn’t completely duplicative.
C. Macias said that we’ve made changes to the zoning code, including eliminating all of R1 from middle housing, since the LCA was done, so the capacity may not be accurate. She noted it also doesn’t reflect deed restrictions. She asked that “outcomes supported” include repairs to aging homes for MHPs.
C. Thompson asked if the LCA reflects environmental regulations. He is concerned that if they put the majority of the density in the TOD, it doesn’t take into account where exactly it would go. He said there are difficulties creating a walkable city with all the hills around. He thinks to maintain Kenmore as a livable city we have to keep our density down by 522 and not believe that we can create something like Capitol Hill in our residential areas. He is OK with the middle housing, and neighborhood commercial as long as the City adopts something reasonable, but to have a livable city the density needs to be along 522. What happened with the STEP housing project really made big headlines in Olympia, and there is still discussion of how Commerce and other agencies and the legislature are going to deal with that. He acknowledged that everyone needs to take their portion of the housing, and believes we need to focus ours in the TOD and not put so much pressure in the residential neighborhoods where middle housing could be done and neighborhood commercial will be difficult.
Chair Banaszynski tried to focus the Commission away from the LCA numbers. All of this is set. She asked about the LCA completion year and what year the data came from. She said that in conversations with the mobile home community residents they talked about the importance of preservation, and repair assistance. Regarding the ADU Plan Catalog priority, she wants Staff to analyze regional uptake before implementing it.
Todd said that the completion date for the LCA was at the end of 2024, and it looked at the density types, and permitting pipeline projects. The largest capacity is in downtown given the height and density allowances, and that was 3,600 units. The target number of units in the LCA was allocated by the County.
Andrew said that the manufactured home community priority addresses preservation preferences, and that it can include home repair.
Motion
C. Vanderlinde moved to forward the recommendations to Council. C. Thompson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING 2: ZONING CODE AMENDMENTS
Todd overviewed the amendments discussed at the previous meeting, including minor amendments to comprehensive plan, land use map amendments, and zoning map amendments.
Public Comments
One person had signed in to comment, though was not present by the time the hearing began.
Discussion
VC Dorrian commented that becoming a “countywide growth center” is quite a coo. He reminded Commission that he was not here last time, and asked about removing the Lakepointe master plan.
Todd confirmed that the Countywide Growth Center is a big deal, and the only master plan we have in effect currently is Tl’ awh-ah-dees.
Chair Banaszynski asked if there were any changes to the amendments from the previous meeting other than removing parcels on 73rd. Todd said that there were not; these were changed because of Commissioners’ concerns about the heron rookery and proximity to Swamp Creek Wetlands.
Motion
C. Thompson moved to send this to Council as a recommendation; C. Vanderlinde seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
The commission will come before council with a recommendation on October 19th on the zoning amendments; November 16th on the HSP. The next PC meeting is on the 20th of October and will be to discuss Neighborhood Commercial.
C. Macias said she feels passionately about mobile home communities and would like to present this to Council when the time comes.
C. Thompson said this is only a step towards resolving our housing and density issues in the long term. He would hate the public to get the idea that we’ve loaded the shotgun and pulled the trigger. Council has a lot of work to get this implemented.
VC Dorrian said he missed the last meeting but the minutes look pretty good. He thinks it’s worth raising the issues that are in the minutes to Council when they present.
Todd said that in 2027 they will be having a series of guest speakers to help newly-seated and existing commissioners understand how planning works, and how the policies that they make impact development in Kenmore.
Chair Banaszynski said she will not be on the dais in 2027 for these meetings, but she will attend.
