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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Minutes 10132021 MINUTES PLANNING COMMISSION #¨³¸ #®´­¢¨« #§ ¬¡¤±² 0®±³ !­¦¤«¤²Ǿ 7 ²§¨­¦³®­ ΘΗΒΕΑ October 27Ǿ 20Αΐ Ε:00 p.m. 2%'5,!2 -%%4).' Chair Schwab opened the regular meeting at 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Commissioners Present: Andrew Schwab (Chair), Benjamin Stanley (Vice-Chair), Richie Ahuja, Marolee Smith, Steven Switzer, Colin Young, City Staff Present: Allyson Brekke (Director) Emma Bolin (Manager) Ben Braudrick (Associate Planner) Chris Cowgill (Assistant City Attorney) Bob Bengford (Consultant) Scott Bonjukian (Consultant PUBLIC COMMENT: None ChairSchwab closed public comments APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Commissioner Young moved to accept the minutes from the September 22, 2021 meeting. Commissioner Smith seconded, all were in approval ACTION ITEMS 1. Action: Building Residential Capacity Code Update Public Hearing Chair Schwab invited Director Brekke to introduce the item and the Consultants from MAKERS Architecture and Urban Design. Director Brekke introduced Consultants Bengford and Bonjukian. The consultants then presented an overview of the proposed code changes to build residential capacity. Chair Schwab opened the public hearing. Annie O'Rourke: Concerned about the speed this document/code revisions is being considered. It’s really important to understand the details of the code and the implications of the details. She applauded reduction of parking and increase of density but feels doubling is too much. There is a lack of attention to historic buildings in the proposed changes. Erik Marks: Submitted a written comment. Agreed with Annie's comments about an extensive amount of code change. He is deeply concerned with 17.22 as substantially different that is proposed and feels design criteria is not needed. Port Angeles is a transitional economic development community and the real problem is that no buildings are being built and adding design criteria will further affect the ability to build new construction. He encouraged the Planning Commission Minutes October 13, 2021 Page 2 Planning Commission to study Sequim's example of design standards. Erika Holzhauer - Concerned about the speed of the revisions. There needs to be a better defining of the problem the City is trying to solve. Key to successful zoning in a holistic approach. The code changes should consider all stakeholders. John Ralston - Solid "A" for code work. Recommends a relook at code every two years. He wants the code to permit 25-foot frontage for lots in all residential zones. Taller buildings should be allowed on both sides of Lincoln Street. Code changes do not mean an automatic building boom. Duplexes should be considered as conditional in commercial zoning due to construction codes and financing reasons. Encouraged Planning Commission to adopt the code. Seth Rodman - Concerned that design standards will make Port Angeles look the way that Port Angeles has never looked. He is also concerned about parking buffers and stated that he will submit written public comment at a later time. Michael Peters Agreed with Erik Marks' letter. The tribe objects to the design standards proposed in 17.22 and agree that it is too much for Port Angeles. It will have a direct effect on the tribe's project. Tom Curry - Agreed with Erik Marks's letter of October 12th and Annie O'Rourke's comments and will make public comment in the future. Tony Billera – Commended staff for this forward-looking vision that has been presented here. From his point of view the draft is an excellent plan. Electric vehicles are coming quicker that people would like to think - spoke to specific vaults to be required with multi-household Christian Hampp - Would like the City to relax zoning requirements, specifically talking about permitted residential uses in CA zoning. Chair Schwab closed the public hearing and described the next steps. He moved the Façade Grant Item ahead of the Climate Action Plan Discussion 2. Action: Façade Grant 21-01 Planner Braudrick presented the Application for Façade Grant 21-01 located at 214 North Eunice Street. Applicant Christian Hampp provided further details on the proposal and other phases of updates to the apartment building that he is planning. Commissioner Stanley commented that this proposal is a fantastic project and exactly the type of housing the community needs and is a great use of this grant program funding. Commissioner Young made a motion to approve the funding for Façade Improvement Grant 21- 01, citing seven findings, three conclusions, and six conditions. Commission Stanley seconded the motion, all were in approval. 3. Discussion: Climate Action Plan Green House Gas Inventory Planner Braudrick presented the findings of the completed Climate Action Plan Greenhouse Gas Inventory. He invited Commission Stanley to provide further information, as he worked with the Climate Action Planning Group to request information from some local businesses and organizations. He stated that he was surprised by the results, mostly because of the electric utility. He asked if woodfire stoves were a part of the fugitive emissions. Planner Braudrick stated that he believed it did, but that he would confirm that with Cascadia Consulting. STAFF UPDATES Planning Commission Minutes October 13, 2021 Page 3 Manager Bolin let the Commission know that staff was working on providing a special meeting for the Climate Action Plan Workshop. November meetings are running up against Veteran’s Day th and Thanksgiving. The special meeting will likely take place on November 17. She thanked Commissioner Switzer on his work with the Planning Commission and notified the Commission that this was his last meeting. Director Brekke commended the Commissioners on their patience during the long meeting. She let the Commission know that staff would continue to engage the public on the Draft Code Updates th presented at the meeting. Public comment on the draft code is open until October 29. Planner Braudrick let the Commission know that the Peninsula Section of the American Planning st . Association would be holding an educational forum on October 21 REPORTS OF COMMISSION MEMBERS Chair Schwab reminded the Commission that they had been involved in the Building Residential Capacity Code update since April with the first workshop and interactive survey. He asked staff how long MAKERS had been involved. Director Brekke responded that they had been involved since 2020. They held stakeholder interviews last winter and worked up to the Public Workshop in June. Commissioner Young asked about the timeline for the code update now that the public hearing had been closed. Director Brekke responded that the staff would provide a Staff report with the entire record to Commission at their next meeting where they would enter final deliberation of the draft code and a recommendation to City Council. City Council will hold a public meeting on the th draft code on December 7. There is not a public hearing scheduled with City Council for the code update. Commissioner Young requested that the Planning Commission hold one more workshop prior to deliberation. He stated that he was sympathetic to Staff’s timeline and limitation, but that public comment on the design standards presented in the draft code led him to believe that further review and possible revisions may need to be made. Director Brekke informed the Commission on the implications of extending the process. The Department of Commerce Grant for the code update has already been extended, and further delay could jeopardize the funding award. It could also jeopardize other grant funding opportunities that the City had either been awarded or has recently applied for. Commissioner Young responded that he didn’t know how the rest of the Commission felt, but that he was open to having more meetings on the code update. The Commission discussed potential dates for future meetings to hold extra workshops on the code update. Commissioner Smith asked when the Commissioners would get copies of the written public comment. Manager Bolin explained that the entire record, including public comment would be provided with the Staff Report for the Commission’s deliberation. Chair Schwab asked if there were issues with extending the comment period. Manager Bolin responded that the comment period was 30 days in length and in order to extend the comment period,a new noticed comment period would have to be made. Commissioner Young asked for a vote to hold more public meetings for the code update prior to holding deliberations and providing a recommendation to City Council. Chair Schwab asked that th the extra meeting be held after the October 29 comment period has ended. Director Brekke agreed. She would look at the calendar and provide an option for Planning Commission at a later date. She was concerned about the number of projects that were occurring and the confusion that might occur for the public. Commissioner Stanley asked whether there was an issue making a recommendation after the end of the public comment period. Director Brekke responded that Staff was recommending that Planning Commission let the public comment period end prior to making a recommendation in order to receive all public comment on the matter. He agreed that the public comment made at the public hearing gave him pause on some of the design standards. He didn’t want to rush the decision. Director Brekke supported the extension, but requested that Planning Commission Minutes October 13, 2021 Page 4 Commissioners come to the next meeting prepared with very specific ideas about revisions to the code update. Commissioner Stanley updated the Commission on the Lincoln School and asked if the Director of the North Olympic History Center could present at a future meeting. He stated that although the Lincoln Street project was an improvement, that the public was not given the opportunity to comment on the design. Commissioner Smith commented on the existence of the Hearing Examiner being problematic to the public process and role of the Planning Commission. Commissioner Switzer thanked the Commission for helping him prepare for planning work in Mendocino County. Chair Schwab asked for a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Young moved to adjourn. Commissioner Switzer seconded the motion, and all were in approval. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m. Ben Braudrick, Secretary Andrew Schwab, Chair PREPARED BY: Ben Braudrick, Secretary