City Council Committee Agendas

Development Services Committee Meeting Sept emb er 18 , 20 19 Attendees Present: Mayor Boudreau Council Members: Beaton, Brocksmith, Carías, Hudson, Hulst, Moberg and Molenaar Staff Members: Development Services – Phillips, Lowell, Morrison, Millner; Project Development Manager Donovan 1. Facility Update – Mr. Phillips updated Council on the 2019 Facility Renewal projects 2. SmartGov Update- Mr. Phillips updated Council on the SmartGov program including kiosk utilization, permit module, inspection module, code enforcement module, online pay module and public notice module. 3. Affordable Housing Discussion-  Code Amendments- Ms. Lowell gave a review of the Work Program Completed to- Date items since 2017. She then presented the Density Code Amendments for single family and multi-family developments. In summary the amendments include: • 50% density increase in R-1 zones • Doubling the density in multi-family zones • Doubling density in PUDs (threshold decreased from 10 to 5 acres) • Parking reductions and increased height in C-3 and C-4 zones • ADUs outright permitted use and increased from 900 to 1,000 square feet • Duplex and townhouse subdivision code These amendments should be before Council in mid/late November.  Multi-Family Units in the City- Ms. Lowell gave an overview of the existing multi- family dwelling units compared to other cities that include Anacortes, Burlington, Sedro-Woolley and Mount Vernon. Ms. Lowell then demonstrated a new GIS tool that maps the multi-family units within the City and gives the number of units per building. She then reviewed the pipeline and future projects and what the number of dwelling units would be with the proposed amendments.  Mix of Commercial vs. Residential & Mixed Use- Ms. Lowell gave an overview of the mix of housing and jobs within the City. The City has an imbalance of housing vs. commercial (61% residential, 28% commercial/industrial, 12% other). In the E. D. Hovee report it was stated the City needs 809 additional acres of commercial/industrial property to balance the population we were tasked with accommodating in 2005. The focus of this study is increasing the City’s overall commercial/industrial land base in relation to dwelling units and mixed use housing- unfortunately- would make our existing imbalance even worse.  Response to Suggested Code Amendments- Ms. Lowell responded to a letter that the City Council received from Paul Woodmansee of BYK Construction. 4. Misc./Good of the Order- Mayor Boudreau discussed the need for a Council retreat to review the proposed code amendments. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Morgan Morrison Morgan Morrison, Development Services Department