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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/05/2001 Adjourned Meeting / Study Session 21 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON ADJOURNED MEETING /STUDY SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL JUNE 5, 2001 - 7:30 A.M. CITY HALL - 129 NORTH 2 STREET - COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1. ROLL CALL Present: Council: Mayor Mary Place, presiding, Council Members Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan, Larry Mattson, John Puccinelli, and Bernard Sims Staff: City Manager Zais, Assistant City Attorney West, Joan Davenport, Supervising Traffic Engineer, and City Clerk Roberts 2. REPORT RE: ALTERNATIVE TREE ORDINANCE PROPOSALS • The Alternative Ordinances are Reviewed By consensus, Council reviewed the ordinance alternative prepared by Council Member Mattson. Referencing Section 8.80.040 (5), Council Member Puccinelli asked if 18' provides high enough clearance over the street. It was the general consensus, after discussion, to incorporate a 16' maximum clearance requirement into the ordinance. Council Member Sims stated he would like to see a survey done to determine how many trees will be removed from the City by all these regulations if this ordinance is passed. Council Member Puccinelli stated that Section 8.80.115 (A), tree planting and maintenance, should be deleted from the ordinance; it is not an enforceable provision. Mr. West pointed out that paragraph has been in the Municipal Code since the 1960s and its elimination could put the city in jeopardy of lawsuits for trip- and -fall incidents. Council Member Puccinelli stated the term "noxious fruit" mentioned in Section 8.80.200 (5) is too abstract. Mayor Place said that we need to include 10 feet from a fire hydrant. Council Member Puccinelli suggested adding it to Section 8.80.115 as the new number D. Mayor Place asked if Section 8.80.200 in Section 14 could end after Item A. She also directed staff's attention to an error in that Sections 11 and 12 are printed in reverse order in the ordinance.- Council Member Beauchamp commented that we need to make sure that we plant trees that have roots that will go down. Randy Murphy, the City's arborist, reported that staff has prepared a list of undesirable trees to plant in the City's rights -of- way. 2 2. 0 JUNE 5, 2001 ADJOURNED MEETING /STUDY SESSION Leslie Bratton, Arboretum, spoke about the policy she followed while working in a California city that included a list of trees that could be planted and those to avoid. She commented that it was a long list of permitted trees. Mr. Murphy stated he has similar lists for this area. Council Member Mattson stated those lists could be added as items D and E depending on what is done with Item A. Council Member Barnett asked if existing trees would be "grandfathered" in so they wouldn't have to conform to the new ordinance. Council Member Buchanan responded that we would have to do an inventory before we could regulate what is out there. Mr. West cautioned that an inventory of problem areas would create a duty for the City to address the problem and a liability if the problem is not fixed and someone gets hurt. • Lynne Kittelson Presents Her Proposal Lynne Kittelson, 305 North 9 Street, asked Council to accept the fact that trees are a valuable asset to the city. If an inventory of trees were accomplished, we would find we have millions of dollars of value in trees as an asset. She asked Council to re -think this entire issue. We have a tree committee and we are looking at a tree ordinance and becoming a Tree City USA. The ordinance is simple and easy to read and is non - threatening. This ordinance should preserve what we have and should enhance ,trees in the future. She distributed a leaflet on Tree City USA that includes a list of the American Forestry Association recommended trees that are located in Yakima. She also reported the committee plans on doing an inventory of the trees in Yakima, using volunteer help. • Council Continues Review of Ordinance Council Member Barnett asked to delete "to maintain or permit" in Section 8.80.115 from this point on. Randy Murphy suggested that the sidewalks don't have to be in a straight line; the sidewalk could curve around existing trees if the homeowner would allow it. The Street Department has a 50/50 sidewalk program and if those funds were larger, a lot of people would take advantage of it. City Manager Zais stated that Council Member Barnett's suggestion would work. It would preserve the basic intent along with the application with the next section, 8.80.200 (3). Council discussed the intent of the ordinance to clarify the responsibility of the homeowner to care for the trees in the City's right -of -way and ownership of the trees. Council Member Buchanan commented that 99% of the trees were planted by the property owner and one of the reasons for putting some kind of tree ordinance in place is so people can have the rules and regulations in one place in the Code Book. He further commented that he doesn't believe that we can transfer the responsibility of the City's right -of -way to the property owner. 2 • JUNES, 2001 2 2; 1 , ADJOURNED MEETING /STUDY SESSION The property owner planted the trees and it should be their responsibility. Mr. West stated that in the current law, it is unclear who is responsible, and by law, we can clarify that law. Council Member Sims stated that the City would hold the property owner responsible for caring for the trees in the right -of -way, but they would need the City's permission to remove any trees. Mayor Place stated that it would not be fair to give the property owner the right to plant a tree, but not the right to remove the tree. In Section 8.80.200, Jeff West stated they tried to establish a quick method to remove those trees. Under the other two versions, they were required to get Council's permission to remove a tree. Some of the trees, especially those in the downtown were planted by the City. He asked Council if they want the property owner to be able to remove those trees without the City's permission? Council Member Puccinelli spoke in favor of adding a list of trees that are acceptable and make it so the property owner does not need permission to remove a tree. Council Member Mattson summarized the discussion, saying that we are in agreement with all the changes being proposed except .115 tree planting and maintenance. Proposed changes include: • Include ten feet from fire hydrant • Remove Section 14, #5, on page 9, and put in-a list of unacceptable trees that we do not plant provided by Randy Murphy • Change the order of Sections 11 and 12 in the ordinance • Bottom of page 8 in Section 13, Council Member Barnett suggested we put in "to plant" or eliminate that section. On the second line, after Yakima, take out "to maintain or permit" and put in "to plant" under A in Section 13. It was the general consensus to accept these recommendations. Council Member Beauchamp stated he thinks if the property owner is made responsible for the tree in the City's right -of -way, the City should share the cost of tree removal with the property owner. Council Member Mattson stated this ordinance amendment had three tasks assigned to it: 1) Consolidate all the sections relating to trees into one section of the Municipal Code. 2) From a legal aspect, what do we see, as legislators, that needs to happen? 3) Educational components — put in list of undesirable trees He stated that with Council Member Barnett's change to Section .115, we need the legal aspect, with the fire hazard and other changes 3 222 JUNE 5, 2001 ADJOURNED MEETING /STUDY SESSION Jeff West stated we are not creating a new responsibility for the property owner; we are clarifying the situation and, in many cases, it is already their responsibility. Without this ordinance the street trees are the responsibility of the property owners. If we can clarify it, it helps everyone. Jeff West also clarified that we had changed the clear view triangle maximum height to 16'. We are creating a gap between two -feet and 16 -feet to look through. He asked if Council still wants to maintain the larger height in 8.08.005 in the last section of the Mattson version that is 12 -feet over streets and 16 -feet over truck thoroughfares. This change was added at the request of the Mobile Home Owners Association. Joan Davenport recommended staying with 16 feet in that section also. Council Member Buchanan asked if this recommendation included Linden Way? He doesn't think one standard should be applied everywhere in the city. Mr. West suggested we could do it 12 -feet for all streets except streets with speed limits over 25 or arterial or classified streets could be regulated to 16 -feet. It was the consensus to change truck thoroughfares to • classified arterial collectors. ® Summation Council Member Barnett requested staff to prepare a separate list of changes to the ordinance when this comes before the Council for action. City Manager Zais asked if Council members wanted to conduct a public hearing. It was the general consensus of the Council to not hold a public hearing, but rather, give the public an opportunity to address this issue when it comes back to Council. Mayor Place asked Joan Davenport to meet with Council member Buchanan about the letter sent to citizens asking them to trim their trees to 18 -feet for the seal coat program. 3. ADJOURNMENT BUCHANAN MOVED AND MATTSON SECONDED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 9:00 A.M. The motion carried by unani •us voic- vote. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: L J � . a.A1L4%f4 ' d, OUNCIL R V A T - COP MBER DATE ATTEST: 4 CITY CLERK MARY/L MAYOR An audio tape of this meeting is available in the City Clerk's Office 4