City Council

City Hall City of Olympia 601 4th Avenue E Olympia, WA 98501 Information: 360.753.8447 Meeting Minutes City Council Tuesday, September 16, 2014 7:00 PM Council Chambers Special Study Session 1. ROLL CALL Present: 7 - Mayor Stephen H. Buxbaum, Mayor Pro Tem Nathaniel Jones, Councilmember Jim Cooper, Councilmember Julie Hankins, Councilmember Steve Langer, Councilmember Jeannine Roe and Councilmember Cheryl Selby 2. REVIEW OF COMPREHENSIVE PLAN CATEGORIES 2.A 14-0880 Decatur Street and 16th Avenue Street Connections Public Works Director Rich Hoey briefly discussed street connections in general, and Decatur and 16th streets in particular. He commented on implementation issues if the Council moves forward with policy direction to remove these street connections from the Comprehensive Plan update. Council Discussion: - Adding transit to the priority list of pedestrian, bicycle and emergency vehicle access in the street connections policy. - Including option to delete mention of Decatur and 16th Streets from the Comprehensive Plan. - Adding language to acknowledge geography, topography, historical configuration, character and quality of neighborhoods, environment, and unique areas that need protection, as additional principles to consider for connectivity. - Non-motorized connectivity is important. - Distinction between old and new neighborhoods, with an expectation that new developments will continue making connections according to current transportation plans. - If we want to see a connection made in new development, it should be built right away. If we intend it, we should see it gets built. - It's important to make it very clear in the beginning what future intentions are by the City. The work session was completed. 2.B 14-0877 Provision of Alleys Public Works Senior Planner Sophie Stimson reviewed language updates regarding City of Olympia Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes September 16, 2014 alleys as proposed by the City Manager (Option 1), the Land Use and Environment Committee (Option 2), and public comments during the public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan updates (Option 3). Council Discussion: - Preference of option 2 over option 3 because option 3 seems to allow for any reason allowed not to build alleys. Too many exceptions are problematic. - Concern with option 2 is that there are no criteria to allow for exceptions. - Ask staff what criteria needs to be considered so Council can move forward. - Is it feasible to build a neighborhood if a back yard will be mostly alley? - Important to reduce points of conflict between people and vehicles, particularly on arterials and collectors. - Disagree that alleys contribute to safety on streets other than collectors and arterials. Need to provide flexibility for developers to allow other options for back yards instead of alleys. Council agreed to bring back options 1 and 3 for future consideration, but remove the second sentence in PT3.6. Criteria and details can be addressed during implementation. The work session was completed. 2.C 14-0869 Scenic Views and Waterfront Community Planning & Development Principal Planner Todd Stamm gave a brief overview of street, waterfront and scenic view policies. Council Discussion: - Express a policy regarding scenic views, but leave the examples out of the Comprehensive Plan; include in the implementation plan. - A scenic byway is valuable; don't want to eliminate the possibility of a dynamic view. - Identification of valued public views and the perspective from which they are viewed should be part of the implementation plan. Council direction was to eliminate examples and in PL8.5 end the sentence after landmark views so that the sentence reads, "Set absolute maximum building heights to preserve publicly-identified observation points and landmark views." Staff will modify the language and bring it back for Council consideration. The work session was completed. 2.D 14-0868 Capitol Lake Public Works Director Rich Hoey discussed Comprehensive Plan language related to Capitol Lake and noted the Lake is owned by the State. Council Discussion: - The policy should identify that Capitol Lake doesn't live in a vacuum. It's influenced by the Deschutes River and Budd Inlet. Suggestion that everywhere it says Capitol City of Olympia Page 2 City Council Meeting Minutes September 16, 2014 Lake, Deschutes River and Budd Inlet should also be noted. - Suggest PN4.4 modify wording to say, "... a balanced, scientifically grounded, and sustainable approach to the management of Capitol Lake, Deschutes River and Budd Inlet". - Consider economic impacts regarding Capitol Lake. - Consider adding to earlier PN4.4 language modification to include, "... management of what is now Capitol Lake ...". - Disagree with adding "what is now Capitol Lake" because it seems like the City supports a potential estuary. - The Council is not intending to take a position on whether Capitol Lake should remain a lake or estuary. - PN4.4, suggest a different option. Insert in front of Capitol Lake the words, "State-owned" Capitol Lake. Leave everything else the way it is. - After the first sentence in PN4.4, add language to encourage the State Legislature to move forward with their decision making. - Leave potential City actions and suggestions for the implementation plan and only include policy information in the Comprehensive Plan. - The status quo is not working for us. Something needs to be done. - Deal with other areas separately, such as modeling a building agreement and communicating with the State. - PN4.4, Suggest keeping the first clause, include State-owned, add a period after Capitol Lake and delete the rest. - Request to include Deschutes River and Budd Inlet with Capitol Lake, as well as "scientifically grounded" in the management approach regarding communication with the State for next steps, outside the Comprehensive Plan. - Bring suggested options forward to the business meeting for consideration. Add additional amended sentence per Councilmember Cooper's request. - Don't want to lose the statement that the City is a party of significant interest. Mayor Buxbaum summarized the two options to come forward for consideration at the business meeting: (1) modify PN4.4 to, "As a party of significant interest, support the process for determining a balanced and sustainable approach to the management of the State-owned Capitol Lake." (2) modify PN4.4 to, "As a party of significant interest, support the process for determining a balanced, scientifically grounded and sustainable approach to the management of State-owned Capitol Lake, Deschutes River and Budd Inlet." The work session was completed. 3. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:53 p.m. City of Olympia Page 3