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Home My WebLink About03-25-15 YPC MinutesFO THE / FILE City of Yakima Planning Commission (YPC) City Hall Council Chambers Meeting Minutes of March 25, 2015 Call to Order Chairman Dave Fonfara called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Roll Call YPC Members Present: Chairman Dave Fonfara, Vice -chair Scott Clark, Bill Cook, Al Rose, Patricia Byers, Carmen Mendez YPC Members Absent: Ron Anderson Staff Present: Robbie Aaron, Assistant Planner; Valerie Smith, Senior Planner; Jeff Peters, Supervising Planner; Joan Davenport, Planning Manger/ Community Development Director Others: Sign -in sheet in file Staff Announcements Jeff Peters announced that a Spanish-speaking interpreter is present at the meeting for anyone needing interpretation. Raul Barragan, the interpreter, made the same remarks in Spanish. Jeff also announced that a staff report has been written on the topic of mission and community resource service center uses for the commission to review and additional comments received from the public about this issue have been provided to the commission. OM. r None noted. Approval of Planning Commission Meeting Minutes from FebruaKy 25 2015 and March 11 2015 Commissioner Patricia Byers made a motion to approve the Planning Commission meeting minutes from February 25, 2015 and March 11, 2015. Commissioner Scott Clark seconded the motion. The motion carried with five members of the commission voting to approve the minutes and one abstaining, due to not receiving the minutes to be able to review them. Publk Heari n. on Zoning Text Amendment - "Mission" and "Resource Service Center" Use TAT#001-15 SEPA OO -15 Chairman Dave Fonfara remarked that as a public hearing it is important that all members of the Planning Commission be able to make decisions regarding this particular matter in a fair, unbiased, and objective manner. He then asked the present Planning Commission members if they believe that they are capable of making these decisions as it relates to recommendations to Council in that manner, to which the commission agreed unanimously. Fonfara then asked the audience if they believe anyone on the Planning Commission does not have the ability to do so and to state why. No statements from the public were received in reply to the prompt. -1- Peters briefly went through his staff report. Fonfara asked if the required public hearing for a Class 3 use goes before the Hearing Examiner or the Planning Commission. Peters answered that the public hearing would go to the Hearing Examiner. Jeff Cutter restated how this issue and the moratorium on missions came about. James Carmody, on behalf of Yakima Neighborhood Health Services, explained the reasoning behind Neighborhood Health's proposal. Carmody emphasized the importance of the location of the community resource service center to meet the immediate needs of the neighborhood. Don Hinman, chairman of the board for Yakima Neighborhood Health, talked about the intent of Neighborhood Health. Rhonda Hauff, CEO of Yakima Neighborhood Health Services, presented a slide show about the mission of Neighborhood Health and about the homeless in Yakima. Nathan Poel from the Office of Rural and Farmworker Housing discussed other sites that were proposed for the homeless shelter. Nathan submitted to the record a series of support letters received from members of the community. Erin Black, Executive Director of the YWCA, and Janice Black, chair of the Homeless Network of Yakima County, spoke about the Homeless Network. James Carmody spoke about a previous project for the Union Gospel Mission and how the public hearing process for that proposal was necessary as it is for this proposal. Jeff Peters pointed out that the materials Neighborhood Health provided the Planning Department regarding the definition of "community resource service center" does not include some of what James Carmody has said at the hearing. Carmody agreed to provide Planning with a written supplement. Commissioner Bill Cook clarified that there are two separate issues at hand; one regarding Neighborhood Health's proposal and one regarding the incorporation of the definition of "mission" into the zoning code. Dave Fonfara announced that he would like to proceed with the public hearing on the point of the definition and the consideration of the community resource service center as opposed to the mission definition. Fonfara went on to explain how he will call the names listed on the sign -in sheet for them to come up to speak if they choose to do so. Audience member Steve Hill informed the Commission that he supports Neighborhood Health's proposal. Deanna Roy, another audience member, stated that she wants the Commission to go forward with the mission definition but does not believe that Neighborhood Health's definition is fitting. Dennis Macias, who owns property near Roy's Market, added that the people who live in the area that the proposal is for do not want a mission type use to be in their neighborhood. -2- Patty Orona, president of Tieton Square Condominium Association, articulated her concerns about the negative affect this proposal could have on property values. Bob McLaughlin, principal of Davis High School and a member of the Yakima Association of Churches, talked about his experience with feeding the homeless at 4 different church sites. He added that this proposal won't disrupt the neighborhood. Jay Sentz, owner of Westpark Properties, brought up the idea of coming up with a new category for zoning to solve this issue. Reed Ball commented on how widespread the affect of this proposal would be. Carmody made the argument that the definition Neighborhood Health is trying to come up with is meant to be narrow to the point that it won't fit most other locations, reducing the impact. Bev Luby Bartz expressed her opposition to the proposal in order to protect the children in the area. Phyllis Musgrove spoke against the proposal, stating that this is not a proper place for a shelter. She expanded on the potential for a rise in crime rate. Francis Davies stated that this proposal should be rejected because it is too broad of an experiment. Maud Scott conveyed that the neighborhood of Roy's Market needs a grocery store. Maud also added that she and her neighbors would not look forward to an increase in population. Serviano Morales agreed with Maud Scott's comments about needing a store in that area and being opposed to the increase in population that this proposal would cause. He also expressed his concerns for kids in the area. At approximately 5:45 p.m. Commissioner Patricia Byers made a motion to close the public testimony. The motion was seconded. The motion carried unanimously. Byers explained that she would like to consider the new information received from the comment letters and supplemental information from James Carmody and Neighborhood Health before making a decision on this matter. Commissioner Al Rose mentioned that Neighborhood Health has added additional detail to their definition of community resource service center and that the additional detail needs to be put in writing in the proposal. Commissioner Bill Cook asked the Planning Department if there is any land use in Yakima today that has a "needs test". Jeff Peters responded that he will research this but is fairly certain that there has not been a case like that. Patricia asked if other properties were evaluated for this proposal. James Carmody responded that other properties were considered but none were ideal. Commissioner Carmen Mendez said that she has many questions regarding this issue but needs to excuse herself to attend another meeting so she would like to table this discussion. -3- Scott Clark said he is willing to table the discussion but he is leaning towards not allowing this proposal in the SCC zone at this time. He added that he is ready to move forward with the issue of the definition of mission. Chairman Dave Fonfara also said he would like to table the issue. Al Rose made a motion to continue the resource service center discussion to April 8, 2015 as a workshop. The motion was seconded. The motion carried unanimously. Scott Clark made a motion to incorporate the definition of mission from the City of Yakima Hearing Examiner's interpretation in 1992 and 1995 into the ordinance and Table 4-1 as stated in the interpretation. Other Business Al Rose clarified that he did in fact receive the minutes from February 25, 2015 and March 11, 2015. A motion to adjourn to April 8, 2015 was passed with unanimous vote. This meeting adjourned at 6:14 p.m. Chairman Dave Fonfara Date This meeting was filmed by YPAC. Minutes for this meeting submitted by: Lisa Maxey, Department Assistant II