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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/06/2005 Business Meeting 24r CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON BUSINESS MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 - 2:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS - CITY HALL 1. Roll Call Present: Council: Mayor Paul George, presiding, Council Members Ron Bonlender, Dave Edler, Neil McClure, Mary Place, Bernard Sims, and Susan Whitman Staff: City Manager Zais, City Attorney Paolella and City Clerk Roberts 2. Invocation /Pledge of Allegiance Council Member Edler led a moment of silence for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and then gave an invocation, followed by the pledge of allegiance led by Council Mernber 3. Open Discussion for the Good of The Order /Special Presentations A. Proclamations • Hike the William O. Douglas Trail Day Mayor George read a proclamation declaring Friday, September 9 as William O. Douglas Trail Day. David Huycke accepted the proclamation. The hike will begin on Friday at 9:30 a.m. at Davis High School. • Centennial Celebration of the Yakima Professional Fire Department Council Member Whitman read a proclamation declaring September 6, 2005, as the 100 anniversary of the Yakima Professional Fire Department. Chief Dennis Mayo accepted the proclamation on behalf of the Fire Department. Members of the Fire Union have gathered the history of the department into a book to commemorate the event. B. Citizen service requests: • Report regarding weedy lot complaints at 7 and 15 North 40`h Avenue and in the 4100 block of Summitview Avenue Joe Caruso, Code Inspection Supervisor, advised that the 15 North 40 Avenue location doesn't meet the criteria of a weedy lot. Council Member Place requested we look into changing the criteria, as the lot looks terrible. Mr. Caruso advised that the owners of the 4100 block of Summitview Avenue have always taken care of their own weed abatement. As to the property at 4701 Summitview, they were issued a notice of non - compliance July 22 after which they dozed the property. These properties have now met the criteria for abatement of the violation, therefore, that is all the City can do. Council Member Place expressed concern about the way the weeds were cleaned up at 15 North 40 Avenue and recommends staff advise them it isn't acceptable. 2 4.1,: SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 • Hurricane Katrina assistance Fire Chief Mayo told of the four firemen that have gone to the hurricane area for a month; Harlan Peterson, Kai Nishida, Tim Kerns, and Mark Ancira. They are expecting to work 12 hours a day for 30 days. This will • cause an additional overtime impact of roughly $50,000 to this year's budget but about 98% of it will be reimbursed by FEMA next year. Police Chief Granato advised that law enforcement received a call from the National Sheriff Association requesting volunteers. Captain Greg Copeland and Lieutenant Tom Foley are on the list in case they are called up through FEMA. At this time we are not deploying any personnel although numerous officers have volunteered. The National Association of Police Officers is taking donations for police officers in the hurricane area. We have also agreed to allow the City's forensic specialist to go with the Red Cross as a volunteer. C. Consideration of appointments to boards and commissions (if any) None 4. Consent Agenda Mayor George referred to the items placed on the Consent Agenda, questioning whether there were any additions or deletions from either Council members or citizens present. Items Nos. 6, 7, 8 and 14 were added. Although not taking it off consent, Council Member McClure commented on Item No. 18. He is still requesting to see the rezone category (CBDS) refined. The City Clerk read the Consent Agenda items, including resolutions and ordinances by title. BONLENDER MOVED EDLER AND SECONDED TO ADOPT THE CONSENT AGENDA AS AMENDED. The motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Subsequent paragraphs preceded by an asterisk ( *) indicate items on the Consent Agenda handled under one motion without further discussion.) *A. Approval of the minutes of the July 19, and August 16, 2005 Business meetings, and the July 12 and 25, and August 9 and 23, 2005 Adjourned meetings The minutes of the July 19, and August 16, 2005 Business meetings, and the July 12 and 25, and August 9 and 23, 2005 Adjourned meetings were approved, having been duly certified accurate by two Council members and no one present wishing to have said minutes read publicly. 5. Audience Participation Bill Hambelton, 615 South 32 Avenue, complimented the City road crews on the outstanding job they did of repairing the potholes and sealcoating on 32 Avenue as well as repairs made on Mead Avenue. Mike Murphy, 4411 Snowmountain Road, said he will continue to appear before the Council until "things are straightened out ". He first commented to Mayor George that the Kissel Park issue has not yet been settled. He then asked the 2 242: SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 Council members what would happen if the Doty dump and the Coson property were moved across from their homes. He emphatically stated that there is a problem in Yakima and it needs to be cleaned up. Council Member McClure responded to Mr. Murphy's comments. He agreed that there is a lot of frustration when these things occur and tried to explain the struggle we have when our hands are tied. They are difficult laws to enforce when it comes to aesthetics. We are limited by state law as to how aggressive we can be on cleaning up private property. Private property is an important part of our constitutional rights. He said he wished we could contact our state legislatures and have them give the cities and citizens more authority when people are abusing their rights. It is incredibly frustrating that we are not able to just go out and fix it. It's a tough balancing act to bring the authority of government upon its citizens when we are asked by our citizens to use government to enforce their desires. Council Member McClure then appealed to the citizens to look to our state legislators to help us and to think of our neighbors. Council Member Place commented that For a Better Tomorrow has started an initiative to clean up Northl st Street. CITY MANAGER'S REPORTS *6. Consideration of Resolution authorizing execution of a professional services agreement with Data Centric Solutions for utility system project management RESOLUTION NO. R- 2005 -133, A RESOLUTION authorizing and directing the City Manager of the City of Yakima to execute a professional services agreement between the City of Yakima and Data Centric Solutions for consulting and other services related to a request for proposals in support of the implementation of a Municipal Management System. *7. Consideration of Resolution authorizing execution of a professional services contract with Grindline Skateparks, Inc. for outdoor skateboard park design services RESOLUTION NO. R- 2005 -134, A RESOLUTION authorizing and directing the City Manager of the City of Yakima to execute Grindline Skateparks, Inc., Agreement for Design Services to build a skateboard park at Kiwanis Park. *8. Consideration of Resolution authorizing execution of easement to Pacific Power for a transformer and power line located in the vicinity of the Arboretum RESOLUTION NO. R- 2005 -135, A RESOLUTION authorizing and directing the City Manager of the City of Yakima to execute an easement in favor of Pacific Power. 3 2 4,:3 SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 *9. Consideration of Resolution setting a date of public hearing for September 20, 2005 to consider an amendment to the 2005 -2010 Six Year TIP to include additional funding for the Washington Avenue Reconstruction Project RESOLUTION NO. R -2005 -136, A RESOLUTION fixing the time and place for hearing for September 20, 2005 in the Council Chambers at City Hall on an amendment to the 2005 through 2010 Six Year Transportation Improvement program (STIP). *10. Consideration of Resolution consenting to and authorizing the assignment • of a contract for professional services to update the Yakima Metropolitan - Transportation Model from T -Model Corporation to PTV America, Inc. RESOLUTION NO. R- 2005 -137, A RESOLUTION consenting to and authorizing the assignment of City of Yakima Contract No. 2002 -53 for professional services to update the Yakima Metropolitan Area Transportation Model from TModel Corporation to PTV America, Inc. *11. Consideration of Resolution declaring the City's intent to issue bonds and /or other tax - exempt obligations to reimburse prior expenditure for various construction projects RESOLUTION NO. R- 2005 -138, A RESOLUTION declaring the City of Yakima's intent to issue bonds and /or other tax - exempt obligations to reimburse prior expenditures. *12. Consideration of appointment of Jim Adams to the Yakima Air Terminal Board The Council accepted and approved the recommendation of the Air Terminal Board to appoint Jim Adams to the Air Terminal Board for a four -year term to expire on June 30, 2009. *13. Approval of Finance Reports: A. Second Quarter 2005 Treasurer's Report The Second Quarter 2005 Treasurer's Report was accepted and approved. B. Second Quarter 2005 Accounts Receivables Report The Second Quarter 2005 Accounts Receivable Status Report was accepted and approved. 4 2 : :4- SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 ORDINANCES *14. First reading of Ordinance amending the 2005 budget and appropriating funds to address the unanticipated and extraordinarily increased fuel costs for City vehicles (Read ordinance only at this meeting; second reading scheduled 9/20/05) An Ordinance amending the 2005 budget and appropriating funds for unanticipated and extraordinarily increased fuel costs for City vehicles, was read by title only, and laid on the table until September 20, 2005 for a second reading. 15. First reading of Ordinance amending the 2005 budget and appropriating funds for Public Safety overtime Police Chief Granato explained that additional overtime was incurred in homicide investigations (three more than the same time last year), and the expense of three weeks of emphasis patrols. But, the overtime required for the courts continues to be highest cost. Staffing levels are still down as the department continues to run about ten under. Fire Chief Mayo said 85% of their overtime is the result of being understaffed. It was originally intentional but recently due to injuries and vacations, being understaffed has become a problem. Adding the station in West Valley has created more overtime as well. City Manager Zais spoke about the impact of the annexations. He also noted that the Budget Strategy Team has some recommendations to be considered with regard to the time spent in court. Their report is expected in the next few weeks. The City Clerk read the ordinance by title only and it was laid on the table until September 20, 2005 for a second reading. *16. First reading of Ordinance amending the 2005 budget and appropriating funds from the Public Works Trust Fund to the Parks Capital Budget for the removal of Miller Pool and construction of three basketball courts at Miller Park An Ordinance amending the 2005 budget and appropriating funds for the removal of Miller Pool and construction of three basketball courts at Miller Park, was read by title only, and laid on the table until September 20, 2005 for a second reading. *17. Consideration of Ordinance adopting the Hearing Examiner's recommendation to approve the rezone of property at 1005 West Washington Avenue, requested by Ron Valicoff ORDINANCE NO. 2005 -46, AN ORDINANCE concerning land use regulation and planning and rezoning, with conditions, one parcel of property located in the vicinity of 1005 West Washington Avenue from Two - Family Residential (R -2) to Local Business (B -2) as more fully described herein, and approving, with conditions, the recommendation of the Hearing Examiner for the City of Yakima regarding the same; Ron Valicoff, applicant herein. 5 SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 *18. Consideration of Ordinance adopting the Hearing Examiner's recommendation to approve the rezone of property at 1407 and 1409 South 16 Street, requested by Francisco Luna ORDINANCE NO. 2005 -47, AN ORDINANCE concerning land use regulation and planning and rezoning, two parcels of property located in the vicinity of 1407 and 1409 South 16 Street from Two - Family Residential (R -2) to Central Business District Support (CBDS) as more fully described herein, and approving the recommendation of the Hearing Examiner for the City of Yakima regarding the same; Francisco Luna, applicant herein. *19. Consideration of Ordinance adopting the Hearing Examiner's recommendation to approve the rezone of property at 1814 South 10 Avenue, requested by James C. Noel ORDINANCE NO. 2005 -48, AN ORDINANCE concerning land use regulation and planning and rezoning, with conditions, one parcel of property located in the vicinity of 1814 South 10 Avenue from Two - Family Residential (R -2) to Local Business (B -2) as more fully described herein, and approving, with conditions, the recommendation of the Hearing Examiner for the City of Yakima regarding the same; James Noel, applicant herein. *20. Second reading of Ordinance amending the 2005 budget and appropriating funds from the Irrigation Budget Operating Fund to the Irrigation Capital Fund An Ordinance amending the 2005 budget.and appropriating funds to provide for a transfer to the Irrigation Capital Fund previously having been read by title only, was brought before the Council for a second reading. ORDINANCE NO. 2005 -49, AN ORDINANCE amending the 2005 budget for the City of Yakima; and making appropriations of $307,000 within the 475 — Irrigation Operating Fund for expenditure during 2005 to provide for a transfer to the Irrigation Capital Fund. QUASI- JUDICIAL PUBLIC HEARINGS 21. Open record public hearing to consider the Hearing Examiner's recommendation regarding the right -of -way vacation requested by Larry Loveless for property in the vicinity of South 80th Avenue and Tieton Drive Mary Lovell, Associate Planner, explained that this is a right -of -way vacation requested by Larry Loveless for property in the vicinity of South 80th Avenue and Tieton Drive. The Hearing Examiner conducted a public hearing on July 14, 2005 at which there was no opposition. He concluded that all criteria required had been met and issued a written recommendation for approval on July 28. City staff recommends upholding the Hearing Examiner's recommendation. 6 246: SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 • Mayor George opened the public hearing Larry Loveless, 1011 Prospect Way, agreed with the Hearing Examiner's recommendation. He asked that the 35' utility easement requested by the City be designated as an access easement also. He was informed that request should not come forward now but during the short plat process. • Mayor George closed the public hearing. PLACE MOVED AND SIMS SECONDED TO ACCEPT THE HEARING EXAMINER'S RECOMMENDATION WITH THE STATED CONDITIONS. The motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. 22. Open record public hearing to consider Amendments to the SEPA Ordinance Doug Maples, Code Enforcement and Planning Manager, described the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) as potentially the most important legal tool for protecting the environment of the state. The last time the SEPA ordinance was updated was in 1994. This hearing is an opportunity for citizens and agencies to review and comment on the proposed changes. The two major changes are category exemptions and the appeal process of threshold determination. The proposed appeal process provides for consistency of all SEPA appeals. In the current process the determination of non - significance and mitigation of determination of non - significance are appealed to the Hearing Examiner. Only the determinations of significance that result in an EIS go to the City Council. The proposed amendment will make all three go to the Hearing Examiner for a legislative process. If there is further disagreement, the existing judicial process would remain, elevating it to Superior Court for any appeal process. Council Member McClure described the challenge for Council members. They need to know a lot about land use and are also asked to be judges on some of the issues when an appeal comes back. He said it is frustrating because once they are into the quasi - judicial role they are not allowed to have contact with the people they represent. There is even a question of whether they can have contact with the staff that works for them. The proposed change takes it out of a political arena and puts it with land use professionals who understand the arguments much better. Mr. Maples explained the proposed change in the size of categorical exemptions, reducing it from 12,000 to 10,000 square feet. He said that staff was finding a significant number of buildings falling within the 10,000 to 12,000 square foot range that potentially had environmental impacts associated with them. Therefore, it was felt it was appropriate to recommend the reduction. State law allows a reduction to 8,000 square feet. 7 • 2 4, 1 } SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 Discussion then went into the change in the public notice section where the City may require an applicant to complete the public notice requirements at their expense. Wal -Mart public notice expenses were used as an example, currently about $150,000. Ken Harper, legal counsel for the City, clarified that the recommended change is to enable the City to require the applicant to pay the expenses but it isn't a directive that the City will require the applicant to pay that expense. The proposed change is to give the City the authority to sit down with a developer and give them an example of how much it may cost and let them know they have to help defray these costs. • Mayor George opened the public hearing Rockey Marshall, 805 North 16 Avenue, who also sits on the Regional Planning Commission, said the Commission has reviewed this proposal extensively. He disagrees with the recommendation of moving appeals of a determination of significance to the Hearing Examiner. He preferred having seven people review it rather than just the Hearing Examiner. He also suggested looking into the public notice process as he felt it was inconsistent. Wilma Koski, 6403 Terry Avenue, questioned the wording in Section 6.88.040, preferring "shall" to "should ". She also said she had a problem with the word "may" in Section 6.88.130. She commented that the proposed change infers that the government procedures are too complicated for the average person to understand, and suggested that maybe the Council just doesn't want to be bothered with it Maud Scott, Southeast Yakima, appreciates that this is technical information, but emphasized the importance of having the public involved. She noted that the $505 fee to appeal the Hearing Examiner's decision makes it almost impossible for people to do. She said she preferred keeping the Council involved and not changing it to the Hearing Examiner. Council Member Sims commented that the process is complicated and really requires a land use attorney. Council Member McClure recommended making the process consistent and leaving it with the professionals. • Mayor George closed the public hearing Council Member Bonlender questioned how many of these issues does the Council deal with in a year and which method best serves the public. Council Member Place commented that we want to make sure these issues do not become political and having the Hearing Examiner deal with them should accomplish that. Mr. Harper pointed out that one of the goals of the policy deliberation on 6.88.170 was to streamline the review process. It has to be a full disclosure of the environmental impact but it should not cause the developer or neighbors to have an entirely different secondary review. They are supposed to be integrated. He also pointed out that one important thing facilitated by going to 8 2 4 8 . SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 the Hearing Examiner is a lot of underlying permit decisions are made by the Hearing Examiner already. We were trying to put all associated reviews with SEPA and the underlying process in front of the Examiner. There are really only two ways to further streamline SEPA with the development permit process; either have the SEPA process decided with the underlying permit process by the Hearing Examiner (this proposal), or have the underlying permit process gravitate to the Council along with the SEPA process, (preserving the procedure of having the determination of non - significance and determination of significance come to Council). The rub is that SEPA says there can only be one agency appeal. Where does that appeal come to; the Examiner along with underlying decision or to the Council along with underlying decision? If the Council, as policy, wants SEPA brought before them to preserve that consistency and streamlining, it would be inevitable that we would have to go back to Title 15 and have other underlying permits coming before Council. Right now one of the few underlying land use decisions coming to Council is the rezone. The Hearing Examiner recommends, and Council has the final decision. Streamlining the process is one of the points for the proposal that SEPA decisions go to the • Hearing Examiner. Following a short recess, the meeting resumed at 4:13 p.m. Discussion continued on the various wording in the ordinance. The City Clerk read the ordinance by title only; EDLER MOVED AND SIMS SECONDED TO PASS THE ORDINANCE. The motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. ORDINANCE NO. 2005 -50, AN ORDINANCE relating to the City of Yakima's local ordinances pertaining to environmental review required under the State Environmental Policy Act ( "SEPA ") and revising and amending sections of Chapter 6.88, Yakima Municipal Code. 23. Other Business Council Member Bonlender raised the issue of holding a public hearing on the proposed gas tax. City Manager Zais clarified that, to keep consistent with the law, the Council can take a position on the ballot issue as a governing body. They can also do it individually. But, for the governing body to take a position it must be done pursuant to a public hearing allowing all sides to have input. He suggested working with other jurisdictions and holding a joint public hearing, allowing all jurisdictions that are impacted by the issue to be at the table. The hearing should be held in early October prior to absentee ballots being mailed out. Bill Cook, Director of Community and Economic Development, gave a status report on the final WaI -Mart Environmental Impact Statement. It was mailed last Thursday, September 1 and concludes a two -year EIS analysis on the proposed Wal -Mart in West Valley. 1300 parties of record received copies. The City mailed out compact discs (cd's) and offered hard copies. The final EIS, including comments received 9 2.49 SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 from three significant public meetings, consisted of approximately 2,700 pages. The final EIS is concluded; there is no more opportunity for public comment. The appeal, if one should be brought forward on the contents of the EIS, would go to Superior Court. Wal -Mart now has a decision to make. They have their preferred development site (72 Avenue) for which a permit is pending. They have a LUPA hearing scheduled for Friday, September 16 However, should they choose to ' move to one of the other sites, the most likely alternative to the preferred site is the southwest corner of 64 Avenue and Nob Hill Boulevard and their next step would be to proceed with the rezone application already submitted. It is not subject to the 2001 Comprehensive Plan amendment, therefore, it is not tied to the outcome of the LUPA hearing. It would be a new process and would go to the Hearing Examiner next for recommendation and then to the Council for final decision. City Manager Zais spoke to the Wal -Mart subject with regard to Council candidates. There are many public forums that have been held or may be scheduled in future and candidates might be questions about where do they stand on the rezone. It is a clear requirement in state law that the members of an elected body cannot prejudge or predetermine the outcome of a rezone. If a Council member up for re- election gave their stand on the issue, they could be prejudicing and disqualifying themselves from hearing that future rezone. The same could be true for candidates filing for office. Mr. Zais suggested they meet with the City's legal counsel to discuss this situation prior to placing themselves in jeopardy. City Attorney, Ray Paolella, emphasized that state law is very clear about not pre - judging any rezone prior to the end of the public hearing process. If there were some indication of prejudging, the consequences are that the Council member could be disqualified or the entire rezone process could be invalidated and it would have to go back to square one. It's clear and it's critical that Council members must have a completely open mind and not have formulated any decision • Information Items Items of information provided to Council were: 8/31/05 News Release re: Miller Park renovation project begins Tuesday; Flyer on the William O. Douglas Trail Hike; Second Quarter 2005 Municipal Court / Probation Office Statistics; August 2005 Yakima Basin Storage Alliance Report; Planning Division Assignments. Pending as of September 6, 2005; 8/31/05 E -mail from Ethan Raup re: Seattle Post lntelligencer "China Faces Water Crisis "; and June 13, 2005 Business Week article, "Hole Sink Hole! How public pension promises are draining state and city budgets" 24. Executive Session McCLURE MOVED AND PLACE SECONDED TO ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR APPROXIMATELY 45 MINUTES TO DISCUSS PENDING LITIGATION AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOLLOWED BY ADJOURNMENT TO SEPTEMBER 13, 2005 AT 7:30 A.M. FOR A STUDY SESSION ON POLICE /CODES /ONDS EMPHASIS AREA RESULTS. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. 10