City Council Committee Agendas

Development Services Committee Minutes June 18, 2025 Police Court Campus, 1805 Continental Place Councilmember Beaton called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Present Mayor Donovan Councilmembers: Beaton, Brocksmith, Hudson, Tercero and Vander Stoep Staff: Special Projects Manager Sexton, Development Services Director Pratschner, Permit Technician Danielle Freiberger Citizens: 4 1. Approval of May 21, 2025 committee minutes Councilmember Hudson moved to approve the May 21, 2025 committee minutes. Motion seconded by Councilmember Tercero. Motion carried 5-0. 2. Building Project Updates Ms. Pratschner gave an overview of various projects which are nearing completion, including a number of new multifamily, commercial new and tenant improvements, and a preliminary plat. 3. Comprehensive Plan Update a. Review of Citizen Advisory Committee/Planning Commission Meeting The CAC worked through a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) at their last meeting similar to what was done with Council.  Land Use Goals and Policies Development Services Committee June 18, 2025 Page 2 of 3 It is apparent that there needs to be a paradigm shift to respond to the housing crisis. The plan is to have a joint Planning Commission/Citizen Advisory Committee meeting in July.  Periodic Update Schedule Proposed is a phased schedule with Phase I (Housing Accelerator Strategy) to be completed by the end of 2025. This would include the Land Use, Housing and Economic Development Elements as well as zoning updates to support middle housing, accessory dwelling units, mixed-use housing in the C-2 (General Commercial) zone and STEP housing (emergency shelters, transitional housing, emergency housing and permanent supportive housing). Public outreach to bring awareness to the comprehensive plan update is ongoing at various events around the city. Phase II is proposed for 2026 to include updates to the development standards and the remaining comprehensive plan elements. Per Council direction, they will be working with the CAC instead of an ad hoc committee over the course of the update. b. Washington State Department of Commerce Agreements Deliverables are due to Commerce by June 30th. Staff is currently working on a Climate agreement. 4. Memorandum of Understanding – Welcome Home Skagit/First United Methodist Church This is a temporary shelter associated with a religious organization. As such, legal counsel has proposed allowing up to 4 years without renewing. Council asked to simplify the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to remove redundancies with existing regulations. 5. Agenda Requests A Skagit County consultant is conducting a site analysis for the Senior Center. Council is willing to consider a rezone to allow residential and put affordable housing as a requirement but wants to keep in mind if this encourages the county to own more land in the city and the impacts of that. Council would like to know specifically what the County is asking for. Staff asked council to consider a procedural update to the conditional use permit process (and others), as well as whether they want to do early adoption. 6. Miscellaneous There is a CIE (Center for Inclusive Entrepreneurship) dinner coming up. Development Services Committee June 18, 2025 Page 3 of 3 There was discussion regarding the bridge and possible avenues to encourage WSDOT to consider making it pedestrian-friendly, including lobbying representatives and commissioning an engineering study. Permit Technician Danielle Freiberger will be leaving city employment and the mayor and council thanked her for her service. Meeting adjourned at 7:26 pm. Submitted by: Danielle Freiberger Permit Technician