City Council - Special Meeting

City of Bellingham City Council Special Meeting Minutes 10/17/2016, 7:00 PM Mayor Kelli Linville Contact: (360) 778-8200, ccmail@cob.org Council Members April Barker, Gene Knutson, Daniel www.cob.org/council Hammill, Pinky Vargas, Terry Bornemann, Michael Lilliquist All meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers at and Roxanne Murphy 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA, unless otherwise noted. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Council President Vargas at 7:00 p.m. Roll Call Present: April Barker, Council Member, First Ward Gene Knutson, Council Member, Second Ward Daniel Hammill, Council Member, Third Ward Pinky Vargas, Council Member, Fourth Ward Terry Bornemann, Council Member, Fifth Ward Michael Lilliquist, Council Member, Sixth Ward Roxanne Murphy, Council Member, At Large Excused: Committee Of The Whole 21247 1. Public Hearing for the Draft 2016 Bellingham Comprehensive Plan Lisa Pool, Senior Planner, gave a brief overview of proposed changes that have been added to the Comprehensive Plan for consideration. Council President Vargas opened the Public Hearing. Michael Luis, representing the Whatcom Affordable Housing Coalition, gave a presentation on housing affordability and the impact the Planning Department and the Comprehensive Plan have on housing affordability. David Nelson, addressed single family housing and gave some recommendations for lots sizes and utilization of the Infill Tool Kit. He recommends new construction could have a provision for attached dwelling units. City of Bellingham Special City Council Meeting Page 1 of 4 10/17/2016  Butch Kvamme, asked that the Council and the Planning Department be mindful of urban sprawl with regard to the building needs of the Comprehensive Plan. Mary Kay Robinson, President of the Whatcom County Realtors Association, feels that density and inventory analysis are inaccurate. Kim Owen, spoke on behalf of the York Neighborhood Association. She relayed a letter from the Association that asks for enforcement of zoning codes, retention of the owner occupancy requirement for ADU, and issue a moratorium on construction of ADUs in their neighborhood until an inventory of what already exists has been completed. Judith Green, relayed her thoughts regarding zoning changes that affect ADU's in single family zoned neighborhoods. She feels adding this provision for ADUs to be built changes the zoning codes. She also mentioned that the Infill Tool Kit is being applied to single family zoned neighborhoods while she was under the impression that the Kit would only apply to multi-family zoned areas. She requested that staff thoroughly inventory ADUs in each neighborhood. Eric Scott, complained that the city's neighborhoods have been allowed to become a neighborhood of investment rentals because the zoning has not been enforced. Jeff Kvamme, addressed current housing needs in Bellingham and relayed his daughter's experience looking for a home. He urged that more housing stock needs to be increased. Linda Twitchell, of the Building Industry Association, expressed that the Association is concerned that Council has not addressed the lack of affordable housing in the City. Their opinion is that there is not enough affordable buildable land. Anne Mackie, requested that Policy H18 in the Housing Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan be removed. She also asked that the Council look into the group, Cities Communities Solutions Workgroup on Affordable Housing. She asked if any members of the group were part of the community and if the Council knows more about this group. She objected to inclusion of the ADUs and cottages in the single family zoned neighborhoods, reduction of impact fees to build ADUs, reduction in parking requirements for residents of ADUs, other code changes and incentives that were recommended. She asked for clarification for "code changes and incentives." Jean Hamilton, spoke about boarding houses, the zoning that she feels is not being enforced and the problems that go with it. Tim Hostetler, President of the Sehome Neighborhood Association Board, asked that the zoning codes be enforced. City of Bellingham Special City Council Meeting Page 2 of 4 10/17/2016  Kelly Hanlon, spoke about the costs of home ownership in the city limits. Justin M. Heckt, Students for the Salish Sea, thanked the Council for including the Salish Sea in the Comprehensive Plan. Bill Geyer, expressed his belief that the housing supply and policies of the Comprehensive Plan are directly linked. He asked for more equitable demographic distribution around the City. He gave recommendations for the Plan. Harry Allison, feels that a detached ADU proposal is less about housing affordability, and more of a proposal of profit from real estate developers. He requests that where ADU's are allowed, a provision for parking be mandatory and the owner occupied requirement stay in place. Louise Bjornson, reminded Council that they voted for attached ADU's in single family zoned neighborhoods. She relayed that this was to preserve the character of established neighborhoods. She urged the Council to retain the attached ADU and owner occupancy requirement for single family zoned areas in the Comprehensive Plan. She also asked that Policy H18, in the housing chapter, be eliminated. Izzi Lavallee, thanked the Council for including the Salish Sea in the Comprehensive Plan. Bill Henshaw, stated that he supports incentives for home ownership rather than building multi-family units. Michael Le Martin, suggested adding parkour parks to the Comprehensive Plan. Alex Zeiler, student of Urban Planning, expressed that she supports the ADU non - attached proposal. Ruth Bailey, requests that Policy H18 be removed from Comprehensive Plan. Mark Schramer, conveyed that he is grateful he was able to buy a home in the City when it was affordable. He is disappointed that the cost of homes in city limits is too expensive for his grandchildren to buy here. He urged Council to consider ways to preserve the character of Bellingham for the future generations. Carla Stellwagen, stated natural resource statistics and asked that they be considered for sustaining the amount of people moving to the area. She urged the Council to consider all natural resources especially water into the Comprehensive Plan. Tom Scott, feels that Policy H18 of the Housing Chapter in the Comprehensive Plan needs to be removed. He relayed that single family demand has gone up and if we do City of Bellingham Special City Council Meeting Page 3 of 4 10/17/2016  not plan for single family homes, Urban Sprawl will increase. He also indicated that inventory needs to be done on ADUs in the city so that we can have an accurate assessment of these properties. Ralph Black, commented that in his experience as a home builder, one cannot point to one thing or reason directly affecting housing inventory. He feels it is many things and the problem is layered. He suggested that many ideas be looked at in order to provide enough housing for residents in the area. Galen Herz, supports inclusionary zoning and increasing density in the City limits in order to limit Urban Sprawl. Cameron Jennings, opposes the Infill Tool Kit in single family zoning. Sean Wheeler, criticized the pooling of speakers time allotments of the Public Comment period. He implored the City to enforce zoning regulations of single family neighborhoods. There being no further comments, the public hearing was closed. Written comment will be accepted until 5:00 pm, October 20, 2016. Council Member Lilliquist indicated that many members of the Public have expressed lack of understanding on policies H18 and H20 of the Housing Chapter and the Citizens Work Group. "Inclusionary Zoning" is also a term many are confused about. He suggested that staff provide definitions to help clarify the terms and policies before further discussion. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:53 p.m. Pinky Vargas, Council President ATTEST: Elisabeth Oakes, City Clerk Representative APPROVED: November 7, 2016 City of Bellingham Special City Council Meeting Page 4 of 4 10/17/2016