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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-06-15 City Council Minutes Approved City Council Minutes—June 15, 2015 At 7:00 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Eric Johnson called to order the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council meeting of June 15, 2015. Councilmembers Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters, Erica Pickett, Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett, John Archibald and Matt Miller were present. The assembly joined in the Pledge of Allegiance. Citizen Hearings No one present wished to address Council. Mayor/Council Communication and Committee Reports Proclamation: Aviation Month: Mayor Pro Tem Johnson read a statement proclaiming June to be General Aviation Appreciation Month in Anacortes and invited all citizens to recognize the occasion. Mr. Adams reported from the Public Safety Committee which met earlier in the evening and discussed possible revisions to the fireworks ordinance, the acquisition of a drug dog at the Police Department, upcoming revisions to the animal ordinance, and downtown parking for the disabled. Ms. Lovelett reported from the Marine Resources Committee which met the prior week. She said the Committee was moving forward to acquire equipment to better monitor forage fish (surf smelt and sand lance)and was seeking funding for a number of restoration projects. Ms. Pickett reported from Port City Liaison Committee which met June 2, 2015 and discussed the recent agreement with the Small Boat Center, the possibility of leasing the 9th Street dog park property to a hotel chain, efforts to re-establish the Tommy Thompson train, and the Anthony's Restaurant expansion. Ms. Pickett reported from the Skagit Watershed Council which met June 10, 2015 and discussed a range of salmon restoration projects. Ms. Pickett said Watershed Council Director Richard Brocksmith would be presenting the group's work to City Council at an upcoming meeting. Mr. Walters reported from the Washington Government Performance Center kick off meeting held at the University of Washington. He said the MRSC website has lots of useful information on lean government and related topics. Mr. Walters reported from the June 11, 2015 ribbon cutting for the LID demonstration parking lot at the County Commissioners building in Mt. Vernon. He described the dramatic demonstration of the pervious surfaces used in that project. Consent Agenda Mr. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Adams, to approve the following Consent Agenda items. Vote: Ayes— Pickett, Johnson, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller and Walters. Motion carried. Approval of Vouchers/Cancellation of Checks Council voted unanimously that the following vouchers/checks audited and certified by the City's Auditing Officer(Finance Director) and subsequently reviewed and approved by the Council Finance Committee on June 3, 2015 and June 10, 2015 are approved for payment as of June 15, 2015. Claims Check Numbers 76501 through 76677 in the total amount of$446,769.60 EFT Numbers 76498 through 76500 in the total amount of$1,275.20 Prewritten Claims Check Number 76497 in the amount of$35,252.95 Payroll for June 5, 2015 in the total amount of$681,714.14 Check Numbers 40497 through 40556 in the total amount of$41,569.45 Direct Deposit Numbers from 59016 through 59214 in the total amount of$387,479.09 Anacortes City Council Minutes June 15, 2015 1 EFT Numbers from 1815 through 1820 1808 in the total amount of$252,665.60 Cancelled Checks Check Number 76465 in the total amount of$1,314.64 In the same motion Council: approved the minutes of June 1, 2015 and June 8, 2015 as if read; accepted as complete the Anacortes Sanitary Sewer Infiltration & Inflow Prevention 2014 Project (14-019-SEW-002, Tiger Construction); accepted as complete the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Project(11-035-TRN-012, Scimitar Construction); and accepted as complete the Guemes Channel Trail Segment VII (13-016-TRN-002), Strandberg Construction). UNFINISHED BUSINESS Conditional Use Permit to Allow Expansion of"Smarter Than Your Dog" Business Planning Director Don Measamer opened the Closed Record Hearing for Conditional Use Permit CUP- 2015-0002 for expansion of the existing Smarter Than Your Dog business at 9121 Molly Lane. Mr. Measamer recapped the history of the original CUP for the business issued in 2012 and explained that per AMC 17.10.100(F) because the proposed expansion of the business exceeded the original CUP area by more than 10% a new CUP was required. He advised that all required noticing was performed, that no appeals had been received and that the only comments received were in support of the CUP. Mr. Measamer distributed those comments and draft minutes from the May 27, 2015 Planning Commission meeting to councilmembers prior to the meeting. He advised that following the open-record public hearing held before the Planning Commission on May 27, 2015, the Planning Commission recommended that the City Council approve the CUP. Mr. Miller asked if this type of business should be added to the list of permitted uses for the zone. Mr. Measamer advised the as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update the city would be looking at how to add some permitted uses in the LM1 and HM use zones and/or to better define the uses already permitted there to reduce the need for conditional use permits. Mr. Johnson invited members of the public to comment on this agenda item. No one present wished to address Council. Ms. Lovelett moved, seconded by Mr. Adams, to approve the Conditional Use Permit to allow expansion of the Smarter Than Your Dog business. Mr. Archibald clarified that that the motion was to approve the CUP subject to the recommended conditions of the Planning Commission's Recommendation and to direct staff to prepare final City Council's Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decision for Council review and approval. Ms. Lovelett and Mr. Adams concurred. Vote: Ayes—Johnson, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Walters and Pickett. Motion carried. Ordinance 2953: Solid Waste Code Revisions Public Works Director Fred Buckenmeyer introduced draft Ordinance 2953 to revise AMC 8.04 regarding solid waste. He reported the collaborative effort between the Finance, Legal and Public Works department to review and update that chapter of the code which dated back to 1981. Mr. Buckenmeyer advised that the revisions were driven by the city's new contract with Waste Management for residential curbside recycling and organics collection and the change to drop box service being taken over by the city. He reviewed with Council the changes proposed in the ordinance as presented in the evening's Council packet. Ms. Pickett had pointed out that the draft ordinance did not address pet waste. Assistant City Attorney Darcy Swetnam suggested including pet waste in the definition of"Refuse". Mr. Walters suggested that the definition of"Refuse" should explicitly exclude recyclable materials. Councilmembers and staff discussed appropriate handling of recyclable materials and the lack of Anacortes City Council Minutes June 15, 2015 2 enforcement provisions in the ordinance. Mr. Adams suggested that the ordinance be referred to the Public Works Committee to address both of those issues and noted that neither the Committee nor the Council had seen the ordinance before the present meeting. Mr. Walters and Mr. Miller felt the ordinance could be adopted as presented and enforcement provisions could be added later. Mr. Johnson invited members of the public to comment on this agenda item. No one present wished to address Council. Ms. Pickett moved, seconded by Mr. Miller, to adopt Ordinance 2953 amending Chapter 8.04 of the City of Anacortes Municipal Code. Vote: Ayes—Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Walters, Pickett and Johnson. Motion carried. Ordinance 2947: Solid Waste Rate Revisions Mr. Buckenmeyer introduced draft Ordinance 2947 to revise solid waste rates. He said the rates reflected the city's new contract with Waste Management for residential curbside recycling and organics collection and the drop box service now being provided by the city. Mr. Buckenmeyer noted that all of those services would now be billed by the city on one monthly utility bill along with refuse, water, and storm drain. He noted that the city's solid waste rates had been unchanged since 1998. Mr. Buckenmeyer presented a series of slide summarizing the required and optional solid waste services that would be offered to residential and commercial customers and the service frequency. Ms. Pickett reported that some commercial customers had requested a 96-gallon refuse tote rather than having to choose between multiple 32-gallon totes or a much larger dumpster. Mr. Buckenmeyer said the city did not currently stock 96-gallon refuse totes but he would look into what it would take to offer that service. Mr. Buckenmeyer then shared a series of slides demonstrating the rates that Waste Management would be charging the city for residential curbside recycling and organics collection and the entire series of solid waste rates that the city would charge to customers as listed in the draft ordinance. Ms. Lovelett asked if high volume organics customers could have a container larger than 96 gallons. Mr. Buckenmeyer advised that the city's contract with Waste Management did not currently provided for larger organics totes, which would require separate trucks and routes. Ms. Lovelett suggested advertising the city's appliance pick up service at the annual spring and fall clean up events. Mr. Johnson asked if customers with no yard waste could have a container smaller than 96 gallons for organics. Mr. Buckenmeyer replied that all subscribing customers would receive 96-gallon organics totes by default but that Waste Management would deliver a smaller organics tote on request. Mr. Walters asked that the 64- gallon organics tote be listed on Attachment A of the ordinance at the same price as the 96-gallon tote. He agreed with Ms. Lovelett that organics dumpsters might need to be negotiated as a new service with Waste Management in the future. Mr. Miller noted that the current solid waste rates were not included in the presentation and wanted to be very clear for the public that the rates were increasing, significantly in the case of residential curbside recycling which would increase from $3/month to$9/month. Mr. Buckenmeyer noted that the city had been charging less than cost for residential curbside recycling since that program began. Mr. Johnson invited members of the public to comment on this agenda item. Bill French, 1411 8th Street, owner of Miramar Machine &Tool at 813 20th Street, observed that as a commercial customer his only choice was to use up to five 32-gallon trash totes or a 1.5 cy dumpster which equates to three 96-gallon bins and costs $100/month. Mr. French said that his shop bags do not fit efficiently into the irregularly shaped 32-gallon trash totes so he needs three totes which he has to store in his shop and then haul out to the street and back again each week. He said that a single 96-gallon trash tote would serve his business much better and be more efficient for both he and the solid waste crews to handle. Anacortes City Council Minutes June 15, 2015 3 Mr. Buckenmeyer repeated from earlier in the evening that he would look into that option. Mr. Buckenmeyer noted that the draft ordinance added an annual CPI increase to the solid waste rates which was new. He said that the CPI reference in the draft ordinance would be updated to match the standard CPI reference used for other city utilities. Mr. Walters asked that the second paragraph on the first page of the draft ordinance reference AMC 8.04.320 rather than to Ordinance 2816 as Council had moments previously replaced Ordinance 2816 with Ordinance 2953. Mr. Buckenmeyer agreed. Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Ms. Pickett, to adopt Ordinance 2947 with the addition to the Commercial Rates table in Attachment A of a rate for a 96-gallon refuse tote for$36/month and $36/month for each additional tote with no minimum number of totes and two maximum totes. Mr. Adams asked if the city solid waste trucks could pick up 96-gallon totes. Mr. Buckenmeyer said he would need to verify that with Operations staff. Several councilmembers said they supported adding that service but did not want to create a rate for a service the city could not offer. Mr. Adams asked Mr. Buckenmeyer to report at the next regular City Council meeting if there would be any additional cost or equipment upgrades required to offer that service so that Council could reconsider its vote on Ordinance 2947 if necessary as allowed by Anacortes City Council Procedures. Vote: Ayes—Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Walters, Pickett, Johnson and Adams. Motion carried. Public Hearing: Docketing - Proposed Comp Plan Amendment(2014) - Evergreen Islands Planning Director Don Measamer introduced a public hearing on docketing a proposed Comprehensive Plan amendment submitted by Evergreen Islands for the 2014 amendment cycle. Mr. Measamer summarized the presentation on this issue from the June 8, 2015 City Council Study Session. He recalled the discussion from that evening that given the current Planning Commission and City Council schedules, it could take 4 to 6 months to move the amendment through the process for adoption or rejection if it were docketed. Prior to the meeting Mr. Measamer had distributed to councilmembers two additional public comments received since the June 8, 2015 study session. Mr. Johnson invited members of the public to comment on this agenda item. Tom Glade, 210 Mansfield Court, representing proponent Evergreen Islands, highlighted controversy currently surrounding water in Skagit County and in the state legislature. Mr. Glade said legal battles since the 2001 instream flow rule had done nothing to resolve the conflict between development and protection of Skagit River fish and wildlife. He said fiercer legal battles threaten. Mr. Glade urged the players in Skagit County to address this problem with cooperation and good governance. He asked Council to docket the proposed amendment. Mr. Glade said the future of water is the most important and most vital issue for the city to consider at this time, that it deserves unfettered scrutiny, and that it is too important to be diluted by considering it as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan amendment. Marilyn Derig, 1302 K Avenue, spoke in support of Mr. Glade's comments. She said the proposed amendment should be docketed as part of the 2014 amendment cycle. Andrea Doll, 1319 8th Street, spoke in support of the proposed amendment as a strong, positive statement about an important issue that had not been addressed in the Comprehensive Plan. She said it assured that the city recognizes the importance of safeguarding its water which takes looking forward 50 years. Ms. Doll asked Council to take responsibility for this critical issue and to address it now. She urged against rewriting or diluting the amendment or letting it get lost in the shuffle as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. Richard Bergner, 15515 Yokeko Drive, agreed with the three previous speakers. Brian Wetcher, 814 26th Street, representing Evergreen Islands, said he could not impress strongly enough how urgent it was to go forward with the proposed Comprehensive Plan amendment as a Anacortes City Council Minutes June 15, 2015 4 standalone statement. He said pending legislation threatened enforcement of the instream flow rule and that litigation threatened the practices of water purveyors, especially if they don't have strong policies to support their practices. Mr. Wetcher said the city did not currently have a well stated policy that it supports the instream flow rule. No one else present wished to address Council. Mr. Johnson closed the public hearing. Mr. Adams supported docketing the proposed amendment, noting the months of work by Evergreen Island and staff and the Planning Commission recommendation that the amendment be docketed. He said water is an important asset to Anacortes and it was okay to let the amendment stand on its own. Mr. Walters suggested that the proposed language should be in the Water System Plan rather than the Comprehensive Plan. He did not support docketing the proposed amendment but did support addressing water in the comprehensive plan update with stronger language than that proposed by Evergreen Islands. Ms. Pickett observed that Skagit County code does not provide for rainwater catchment or trucking of water whereas San Juan County does and suggested that Anacortes encourage Skagit County to do the same. Ms. Pickett indicated that the proposed amendment was a good idea and it should be folded in with the 2016 Comprehensive Plan proposals. Mr. Miller agreed with Mr. Walters that the proposed language needed to be in Water System Plan. He opposed docketing the proposal and noted the large amount of staff time it would require. He said the proposed amendment was not the solution to the problem. Ms. Lovelett said she'd like to see stronger language and teeth in city policies but that the proposed amendment should be considered in its own light, not as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. Mr. Archibald supported considering the amendment as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. Mr. Johnson said the evening's discussion indicated that the proposed language may need more discussion and strengthening and he supported addressing it as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Mr. Archibald, to deny docketing the proposed amendment for the 2014 amendment cycle and to include it in the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. Mr. Adams noted that in the past Council had typically docketed nearly all proposals in order to consider them with public process. Ms. Pickett agreed but said there would be plenty of public process for the 2016 Comprehensive Plan and that staff had significant obligatory deadlines for that update. Vote: Ayes—Archibald, Miller, Walters, Pickett and Johnson. Nays-Adams and Lovelett. Motion carried. Mr. Measamer advised that staff would bring back a resolution for Council action adding the proposed amendment to the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update and would also address it with the Public Works and Planning committees. Interlocal Agreement: WWU Center for Economic& Business Research - Retail Modeling Mr. Measamer presented for consideration a proposed interlocal agreement with the Western Washington University Center for Economic and Business Research (CEBR)to review various economic development reports produced for and considered during the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update, conduct initial modeling and analysis regarding four key questions pertaining to retail business and growth in the city, and facilitate an interactive discussion with the City Council, Planning Commission and Community Advisory Committee regarding retail business in Anacortes. Mr. Measamer introduced James McCafferty, Assistant Director of CEBR. Anacortes City Council Minutes June 15, 2015 5 Mr. McCafferty described the Center's range of services provided to its private and governmental clients and its ability to offer a third person viewpoint from an academic and intellectual position. He advised that the Center is entirely self-sustaining. Mr. McCafferty elaborated on the four study questions identified in Exhibit A to the proposed agreement and explained the Center's strength in providing context to better understand the assumptions underlying existing reports. Mr. Miller objected to spending local tax dollars on the proposed agreement and suggested that community members have the expertise to provide this type of analysis. Mr. McCafferty responded to councilmember questions about the value added by the proposed scope of work. Mr. McCafferty emphasized the importance of understanding the assumptions underlying each study and how that affects how much the community relies on each one. Ms. Lovelett argued that the $6,000 cost was reasonable and that a more objective, academic, third-party contribution to the discussion of retail in Anacortes was valuable. Ms. Lovelett moved, seconded by Mr. Adams, to adopt the interlocal agreement with Western Washington University for Center for Economic and Business Research on retail modeling. Mr. Johnson invited members of the public to comment on this agenda item. No one present wished to address Council. Councilmembers continued discussion with Mr. McCafferty for some time. Vote: Ayes—Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald and Johnson. Nays- Miller. Motion carried. There being no further business, at approximately 9:15 p.m. the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council meeting of June 15, 2015 was adjourned. Mr. Johnson reminded that the June 22, 2015 meeting would begin at a special time of 6:00 p.m. Anacortes City Council Minutes June 15, 2015 6