Planning Commission

City Hall Meeting Minutes 601 4th Avenue E Olympia, WA 98501 Planning Commission Contact: Joyce Phillips 360.570.3722 Monday, November 7, 2016 6:30 PM Room 207 1. CALL TO ORDER Vice Chair Auderer called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 1.A ROLL CALL Present: 5 - Vice Chair Mike Auderer, Commissioner Travis Burns, Commissioner Paula Ehlers, Commissioner Negheen Kamkar and Commissioner Carole Richmond Excused: 2 - Chair Brian Mark and Commissioner Darrell Hoppe Absent: 1 - Commissioner Missy Watts OTHERS PRESENT Community Planning and Development: Senior Planner, Joyce Phillips Senior Planner, Nicole Floyd Senior Planner, Stacey Ray Office Specialist/Minute Recorder, Stacey Rodell 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3.A 16-1062 Approval of September 16, 2016 Olympia Planning Commission Finance Subcommittee Meeting Minutes The minutes were approved. 3.B 16-1070 Approval of September 23, 2016, Olympia Planning Commission Finance Subcommittee Meeting Minutes The minutes were approved. 3.C 16-1152 Approval of the September 24, 2016 Olympia Planning Commission Annual Retreat Meeting Minutes The minutes were approved. City of Olympia Page 1 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 3.D 16-1190 Approval of the October 14, 2016 Finance Subcommittee of the Olympia Planning Commission Meeting Minutes The minutes were approved. 3.E 16-1188 Approval of the October 17, 2016 Olympia Planning Commission Meeting Minutes The minutes were approved. 4. PUBLIC COMMENT - None 5. STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS Ms. Phillips announced the following: · The City Council Study Session regarding the Downtown Strategy has been moved from November 22, 2016 to December 6, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. This is the study session where we expect to receive direction from the Council for the Planning Commission’s review, so we will likely move the Downtown Strategy briefing to January. · The Parkside Café project, near Harrison Avenue and Division Street, is scheduled before the Site Plan Review Committee (SPRC) on November 9, 2016. The Hansen and Pioneer Elementary Mini-Buildings will also be considered by SPRC on November 9, 2016 with public hearings scheduled for November 28, 2016. · The Sonic restaurant on the westside (off Cooper Point Road by Pier 1) is likely to open in the next month or so. The Starbucks under construction next door will probably open in early 2017. · The City received an application from the Washington Association of Realtors to demolish their existing office building at 14th and Jefferson and construct a new one (two stories and 13,366 square feet). The project requires board level design review and Land Use approval by the Director. · The Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing at its next meeting. · Applications for Advisory Boards (including the Planning Commission) started being accepted on November 1, 2016 and will close on January 31, 2017. There is a new web-based application process which allows the City to customize applications to specific committees/commissions and accept applications online at this website address: <http://olympiawa.gov/city-government/advisory-committees.aspx> · The first Comprehensive Plan Amendment application has been received. Applications will be accepted through November 14, 2016 - 5:00 p.m. 6. BUSINESS ITEMS 6.A 16-1195 Briefing on a proposed Zoning Code Text Amendment related to drive-through facilities within the Briggs Village City of Olympia Page 2 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 Ms. Floyd presented a briefing on a proposed zoning code text amendment related to drive-through facilities within the Briggs Village. The Briggs Village Master Plan was adopted in 2003 and has been envisioned as a dense mixed use urban village. While residential development has occurred, the commercial (retail and office) uses have not been built-out as envisioned. To address this, amendments to the Master Plan were adopted in 2014 modifying specific standards related to the commercial core of the Village. While these amendments have spurred some multi-family development in the core, commercial development has not occurred. The applicant acquired the property in 2015 and has been actively marketing the commercially zoned areas since. He believes the current limitations on ancillary drive-through lanes have been a key factor as to why the commercial core remains undeveloped today. Currently only banks are allowed to have a drive-through lane, and the applicant believes this has deterred a variety of development opportunities for businesses such as pharmacies, small scale restaurants, and coffee shops. The proposed amendments would allow for a broader range of uses to have ancillary drive-through lanes in certain areas of the Briggs Village outside the planned central square. In order to maintain the strong emphasis on the pedestrian environment within the code, the revisions proposed increase the development and design standards related to drive-through lanes. Drive-through lanes would only be permitted in association with businesses that primarily engage in providing services to walk-in customers. Additionally, any new drive-through lane would be required to be accessed from existing interior parking areas and be designed so that dedicated pedestrian access to the entry is maintained from the primary street. These provisions are intended to significantly limit the potential locations for drive-through lanes and ensure they would remain within areas already dedicated to automobiles. These revisions are intended to help spur the development that has long been anticipated, while maintaining the underlying design intent within the master plan. A Public Hearing before the Planning Commission has been scheduled for November 21, 2016. The Public Comment period closes at 5:00 p.m. on the same day as the Public Hearing. The discussion was completed. 6.B 16-1208 Action Plan Briefing Ms. Ray provided an overview of the Action Plan. In 2014, Olympia adopted a new Comprehensive Plan (Plan) with updated goals and policies that reflect our community’s vision. Early in the Imagine Olympia process, the City Council identified a vital next step: ensure the goals and policies become reality and have real “on the ground” impact by creating an Implementation Strategy or Action Plan with performance measures. In November 2013, the Council Land Use and Environment Committee (LUEC) provided City of Olympia Page 3 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 staff with direction to begin work on an Action Plan. An interdepartmental staff team was formed to take what was learned during the Comprehensive Plan update process, Imagine Olympia, and develop a draft Action Plan. The initial Draft Action Plan was released in April 2015. Throughout the summer, staff sought comments on the draft using a variety of tools and events. A broad range of community members and representatives from diverse interest groups participated, including City Advisory Committees and Commissions, neighborhood representatives, and potential partners for implementation. Feedback received during the public involvement process provided insights into community interests and priorities; how community members and potential partners viewed the Plan’s purpose; and how the Plan was structured and communicated. Specifically, focus group members stressed the need to have clear connections between the major parts of the Plan, which were the desired outcomes (or goals from the Comprehensive Plan), actions, and performance measures. After having reviewed the outcomes from the public involvement process, the interdepartmental staff team made significant revisions to the initial draft, including revisiting the structure and developing logic maps to show clearer connections between the actions and the measures. Each of the five Action Areas now included: desired outcomes (from the Comprehensive Plan); strategies and actions for achieving those desired outcomes; and indicators for measuring progress. The performance measures were also more accurately dubbed ‘community indicators,’ which better reflects the role they play in alerting us to areas that need more attention. She reviewed the following: · Annual Cycle · Community Indicators - Outcome, Strategies and Actions for: o Community Safety & Heath o Downtown o Economy o Environment o Neighborhoods The information was received. 7. REPORTS Commissioner Burns reported he attended the Downtown Strategy open house at the Olympia Center on October 29, 2016. Commissioner Richmond reported she also attended the Downtown Strategy open house. She also indicated the Capital Facilities Plan recommendations have been submitted to City Council. Commissioner Ehlers reported about her attendance of the Washington and Oregon City of Olympia Page 4 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 chapters of the American Planning Association conference in Portland. Vice Chair Auderer reported on some of his current work related projects that relate to local development. 8. OTHER TOPICS - None 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:14 p.m. City of Olympia Page 5