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Home My WebLink About10/03/2000 Adjourned Meeting 4 6'6 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON OCTOBER-3, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING The City Council met in session on this date at 7:30 a.m., in the 2nd Floor Training Room, at the Police Station /Legal Center, 200 South 3rd Street, Yakima, Washington. Mayor Mary Place, presiding, Council Members Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan, Larry Mattson, and John Puccinelli were present. Council Member Bernard Sims was absent and excused. Dick Zais, City Manager; Glenn Rice, Assistant City Manager; Marketa George Oliver, Administrative Assistant to the City Manager; Bill Cook, Director of Community & Economic Development; Kay Adams, City Engineer; Doug Maples, Code Administration Manager; Bill Cobabe, Office of Neighborhood Development Services Manager; Bert Tabayoyan, Customer Services Manager; Kathy Coffey, Executive Director of the Visitors & Convention Bureau; and Bev Luby Bartz, Board Member for the Visitors & Convention Bureau were also present. • Mayor Place called the meeting to order at 7:35 a CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT (CBD) PARKING EXEMPTION OPTIONS Bill Cook, Director of Community and Economic Development, introduced the issue and gave some background information. He explained that a parking exemption area is created for several reasons, including: • Public parking or consolidated parking that can meet the needs of customers and employees in the retail area • already exists; or • To encourage public transit; or • To promote density in the central core area and receive a maximum return on land in the Central Business District area. • He suggested that Council use the following four questions to guide the discussion: 1. If the area under consideration becomes fully built, where will the necessary employee and customer parking be located? 2. Assuming that a parking exemption will attract new retail or commercial development, is the area under consideration a logical addition to existing CBD development, i.e. water, streets, sewer, etc.? 3. What impact will a parking exemption expansion have on surrounding neighborhoods? 4. Is the area served by Public Transportation? 467 OCTOBER 3, 2000 - .ADJOURNED MEETING Mayor Place asked whether the Council would want to expand the exempted area at all? Council members discussed the benefits and the negative aspects of expanding the parking exemption area. Benefits include helping to locate businesses in the downtown area, attracting new businesses, and allowing businesses to share • parking. One of the negatives mentioned is that if the City gives exemptions, people still have to park somewhere and they will spill over into the surrounding neighborhoods. Mayor Place asked if the City could adjust its policies for businesses to share parking. ,Doug Maples, Code Administration Manager, said that ability is in the zoning regulations. If there is the opportunity to share parking within 300 feet, the businesses have opportunity to get a letter from the other businesses indicating that their business hours do not overlap. Council Member Puccinelli said that when a prospective business comes to town, the first thing they ask about is parking regulations. The need for parking could also create privately owned pay parking lots. Council Member Buchanan reported he suggested Option Number 7, although it is not exactly what he was thinking about. He said that west of the railroad tracks are warehouses that may have three employees at the busiest time of year and parking regulations need to be changed to consider those situations. Council Member Puccinelli said he likes all of the options except Number 8. Council Member Mattson said he would favor Number 8. because they have had the most requests in that area and the space is there to create an exemption. The only other option he likes is Number 1, which is right around the Convention Center and the Chamber of Commerce. Council Member Sims asked about the cost per square foot for parking. He talked to a major developer and was told that coming to Yakima is prohibitive because it is $3.00 per square foot for parking which is more expensive than anywhere in the state. Mr. Maples said to buy and develop a property into a parking lot is about $5,000 per space. Council Member Sims said that the private sector, would not pay that outrageous of an amount for parking. Mr. Maples said an exemption area would save the business the cost of having to provide the parking. Mayor Place said the County is putting in 77 spaces for $77,000 and asked how that it possible based on Mr. Maples' numbers. Mr. Rice explained that the County is not buying the land. Council Member Sims said he agrees with Council Member Puccinelli. If we are going to be a convention center town, we need to have restaurants, etc. close by where people can eat and shop. It has been 30 years since the City established this area and it is time 2 466 OCTOBER 3, 2000 - ADJOURNED MEETING to look at it. City Manager Zais clarified that the exemption area had been in place for 43 years. Council Member Barnett said residents should be involved in this discussion. Council Member Mattson expanded his favored options to include Numbers 8, 1, 4, and 2. He opined that Number 3 doesn't make any sense because parking is already available there. Council Member Sims suggested a public hearing to talk about the options. Mr. Zais said that the Council could undertake a public hearing process on the selected preferred options and initiate a public zoning process. Council Member Barnett said he would rather see a gradual expansion. He suggested having the Council come to consensus on a few options and having the public hearing on those. Council - Member Puccinelli said he would like to see both sides of North 1st Street included in an exemption area. Mayor Place discussed the needs of the warehouses and said they could be addressed in a separate policy statement. Council Member Puccinelli commented that it was important to encourage the industry on North lst Street to change and get some new motels in town. There was additional discussion about whether or not to include both sides of North 1st Street and the warehouse areas along the railroad tracks. Council Member Barnett said that westside businesses may want this also. Mr. Cook said that parking exemptions should be kept in the Central Business District. Council Member Mattson commented that a parking exemption area is a tool to encourage business in the CDB and to keep the City's core vibrant. Council Member Barnett suggested holding hearings on Option Numbers 1, 4, 2, and 8. Council Member Buchanan said Option Number 7 needs to be expanded to include the warehouses. Council Member Barnett asked staff to respond to the four questions that Mr. Cook mentioned at the beginning of the meeting for Option Numbers 1, 2, 4 and 8. Council Member Buchanan said there are really only three questions because the question regarding public transportation is self- evident. He reiterated his concerns about the parking requirements for warehouses. Mr. Maples stated that there are special parking provisions for warehouses currently in place. Council Member Buchanan said that 60 parking spots for a 100,000 square foot warehouse that is taken care of by two or three people is ridiculous. He said that code was written when warehouse operations were still conducted by hand cart instead of fork lifts, which has decreased the number of people working in warehouses. Council Member Mattson suggested amending that regulation. There was additional discussion about expanding Option Numbers 3 and 7. Council Member Puccinelli said that many of the businesses on North lst Street go through to 2nd Street and therefore, the option should cover those. Council Member Sims suggested expanding the area to include the west and east sides of North 1st Street. Council Member Mattson said he was not supportive of Option Number 7 because the purpose of the 3 469 OCTOBER 3, 2000 - .ADJOURNED MEETING parking exemptions was to encourage development in the CBD and this option seemed to dilute the effect. Council Member Sims agreed. Following discussion about including warehouses in the exemption area, Mr. Zais said staff could draft proposed revisions and bring them back to Council. Mayor Place said that by general consensus Option Numbers 5, 6, and 7 are off the discussion table at this time. Council Member Barnett asked how to notify the public at large about these changes and their impacts. Mr. Zais said this was not triggering a zoning change, but staff would want to make sure there was a lot of publicity about this and get the word out through neighborhood groups. Mayor Place said she would like presentations made to organized neighborhood and business groups. Council directed staff to set a public hearing to discuss Option Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and an expanded Option Number 8. They would like public input on these options before proceeding further. Before the public hearing, however, they would like' staff to meet with business and neighborhood groups. Staff was also directed to draft changes to the parking regulations for warehouses. Bill Cook will follow up with Doug Maples and Council Member Buchanan. Council Member Barnett said there was an item on the agenda that afternoon that calls for an evening meeting on the 17th at 7 p.m., and there is also a Council study session that morning, which makes for a long day. Mayor Place said the study session has already been rescheduled. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 a.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: _ til ( b C�UN L ME B' R DA( () 'el#F1)b / C d C OUNCIL MEMBER DATE ATTEST: City Clerk Mary Place, Mayor Minutes prepared by Marketa George Oliver. An audio of this' meeting is available in the City Clerk's Office 4