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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-02-18 City Council Minutes Approved City Council Minutes—February 18, 2014 Special Meeting: From 5:00 p.m. to approximately 5:20 p.m. Mayor Laurie Gere, Planning Director Ryan Larsen and City Council attended an advertised site visit at 2313 R Avenue regarding the MJB Comprehensive Plan Map Amendment and Rezone Request. No public testimony was taken. City Councilmembers Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters, Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett, John Archibald and Matt Miller were present. At 7:00 p.m. Mayor Laurie Gere called the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council meeting of February 18, 2014 to order. Roll call found present: Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters, Erica Pickett, Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett, John Archibald and Matt Miller. The assembly joined in the Pledge of Allegiance. Minutes of Previous Meeting Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Ms. Lovelett, that the minutes of February 3, 2014 and February 10, 2014 be approved as if read. Vote: Ayes—Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller and Johnson. Motion carried. Citizen Hearings Jim Taylor, 301 5th Street, spoke regarding the proposed Ad Hoc Committee for the 2016 Comprehensive Plan Update. Mr. Taylor suggested a number of groups that should be represented on that committee including schools, the medical community, libraries, schools, police and fire, public works and finance in the government sector; developers and builders and refineries in the business sector; and neighborhood groups, environmental groups, historical preservation groups, commuters, native Americans and geriatrics in the community sector. He suggested removing the landowner classification. Mr. Taylor said to be useful the plan must represent a consensus of the City's citizens. Dan O'Donnell, Town of La Conner, addressed Council about water rates. Mr. O'Donnell said that Ordinance 2919 adopted on January 21, 2014 set capital rates for the next 4-5 years but not the true up costs. He asked that Table 5 of the agreement be disregarded, saying that the table lists projects that were due to be accomplished in the three year period but were not. Mr. O'Donnell objected to paying for things that weren't done. Mayor/Council Communication and Committee Reports Ms. Lovelett reported from the Skagit County Marine Resources Committee meeting the prior week that Councilmember Pickett had been recognized for her 10 years of service on that committee and her intrinsic involvement on many of the group's projects. Mr. Adams reported from the Parks and Recreation Committee which met earlier in the evening to review activities including the Washington Park centennial celebration coming up in 2015, the Washington Park restroom upgrade, and youth sports programs including youth sailing. Mayor Gere announced the Mayor-Council-Staff retreat from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, February 21, 2014 at the ESD building to discuss Council procedures, governance, communication styles, and an overview of departmental operations among other topics. Mayor Gere announced an opening on the Planning Commission following the resignation of Commissioner Sheri Muntean. The unexpired term runs through the end of 2014. The mayor said the City would be accepting applications through March 5, 2014 with details posted on the City website and also published in the Anacortes American. Unfinished Business: Real Estate Contract for Willette Business Park -Walt Meagher Planning Director Ryan Larsen recalled that Walt Meagher had been introduced to Council in 2013 after he was chosen as the preferred consultant to advertise and promote the Willette Business Park. Mr. Larsen presented a draft contract with Mr. Meagher, prepared with the assistance of City Attorney Brad Anacortes City Council Minutes February 18, 2014 1 Furlong, to run for one year beginning April 1, 2014 with Mr. Meagher's sole fees being a commission of 7% of the first five years of base rent should the property be leased. Mr. Larsen recommended approval of the contract. He added that Mr. Meagher would present status updates at City Council study sessions every other month once the contract began. In response to a question from Mr. Adams, Mr. Furlong clarified that the City was not obligated to keep the property listed for the entire one-year duration of the contract. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Walters expressed concern that the contract appeared to allow Mr. Meagher to lease or sell the property but Council had not agreed that the property was for sale. Mr. Larsen explained that the contract was a lease agreement and that the property could not be sold unless Council decided to do that. Ms. Lovelett and Mr. Archibald suggested that the Council needed to determine what sorts of tenants or uses it wanted to see on the property before marketing began. Mr. Miller pointed out that the property is zoned LM1 which already constrains the type of operations there. Mr. Archibald suggested a study session and Mr. Johnson suggested sending the contract back to committee. In response to a question from Mrs. Pickett, Mr. Furlong and Mr. Larsen confirmed that any lease or sale agreement would have to come back to Council for action and noted that the proposed contract used standard CBA language. Mr. Furlong added that he had worked with Mr. Meagher for eight years in connection with Port of Skagit properties and recommended including Mr. Meagher's market expertise in any committee discussions. Councilmembers discussed having Mr. Meagher attend a study session. Mr. Adams urged expediting the process to list the property by April 1. Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Mr. Walters, to refer the proposed contract back to the Planning Committee. Mr. Larsen said he would invite Mr. Meagher to an upcoming study session. Vote: Ayes— Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson and Walters. Motion carried. MJB Comprehensive Plan Map Amendment and Rezone Request Mr. Larsen called Council's attention to his memo dated February 11, 2014 outlining issues for Council to consider. He noted that Council held a public hearing on the request on January 21, 2014 and February 3, 2014 and accepted written comments through 5:00 p.m. on February 7, 2014. Mr. Larsen said all public comments had been provided to Council. Mr. Larsen outlined the specific decisions Council would need to make depending on whether it supported the rezone request or not. Mayor Gere then invited councilmembers to share their thoughts. Mr. Miller asked about Goal 4 of the existing Comprehensive Plan and asked if that language would have to be altered to grant the rezone request. Mr. Larsen said comprehensive plan goals are treated as advisory by the courts and that the existing Comprehensive Plan language would not preclude granting the rezone request. Mrs. Pickett asked where in the existing Commercial zone there is room for a 100,000 SF facility. Mr. Larsen indicated the MJB property between 17th and 22nd Streets zoned CM1. Mr. Walters said he was enthused by all the comments and community participation, said that granting the request would not be an illegal spot zone, said that this was a legislative matter, and said that Council had all year to complete an annual comprehensive plan update so this proposal could be considered at greater length without being postponed to be part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. He discussed a number of issues raised including community identity, pricing competition, retail leakage, and the carbon footprint of driving out of town. Mr. Walters proposed not rezoning the property but adding language to allow a 105,000 SF building with frontage on R Avenue which would have to have LEED gold certification and meet a number of specific aesthetic criteria. He said that would allow industrial uses to continue on the site if a Fred Meyer did not locate there. Mr. Adams said he also appreciated all the public comments. Mr. Adams encouraged discussion of the permitted and conditional uses allowed in the proposed C2 zone and said conditional uses are the best way to get public involvement in a project. He discussed capturing retail leakage tax base and offering convenience for young families. Mr. Adams agreed with Mr. Walters that this proposal could be considered parallel to the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. He urged balance among the various sectors of the community including manufacturing, commercial, residential, etc. He said Council needed to decide if adding more retail to land currently zoned industrial was a good idea. Mr. Johnson addressed the issue of retail leakage which he said had been raised years ago by the Berk study. He said Council should also consider the needs of residents including people who can't or don't Anacortes City Council Minutes February 18, 2014 2 want to drive 14 miles to shop at a Fred Meyer and would like Anacortes to be more self-contained and self-sufficient. He called for more affordable options. He urged looking at other communities where box stores have been built. He asked how long Anacortes would want to be frozen in time and whether the town really wants an entire new shopping area separate from the downtown. Ms. Lovelett called it a gross injustice for the Hebert study to suggest Anacortes would collect nearly$1 M of retail sales tax instead of the more realistic$250K. She said a lot of that would be eaten up by additional law enforcement, roads, and infrastructure. Ms. Lovelett said among those testifying more people were concerned about losing the character of the community to a faceless corporate entity. She said this would be inviting sprawl into town and that SR20 was substantially better suited to that kind of retail. Ms. Lovelett said downtown Mount Vernon is still recovering from the impact of the malls and said $300K of sales tax is not worth that. Mr. Miller said he was inclined to follow the Planning Commission's recommendation. He said the quasi- judicial nature of this matter curtailed the public discussion and that addressing it as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan would allow more open discussion. He said he appreciated the wealth of information provided by the public and had a lot more questions than solutions. He said he did not favor Mr. Walters' suggestion. He said he was not interested in chasing sales tax and that$300K of sales tax was not enough to justify the project. Mr. Miller said industrial jobs have been coming to the area but retail has not. He noted that a rezone would provide no guarantee a Fred Meyer would be built or would stay in business on the site or that lower prices would result. He said a 100,000 SF facility would be out of scale with what Anacortes has now. He said the 2016 Comprehensive Plan is where and when this discussion should occur. He called the proposal a spot zone. He noted that consumers are unpredictable and that the trend is away from brick and mortar, towards Internet sales; retail leakage exists but the Internet is going to absorb a lot of it. Mr. Miller asked if rezoning MJB's property would gift a property value increase to MJB and asked how it might affect property values in the CBD. He noted that property tax is 15% of the City budget. He said the Hebert study did correctly predict 320 increased car trips per hour on R Avenue. Mr. Archibald said he was inclined to agree with Ms. Lovelett and Mr. Miller. He said that when he sat on the Planning Commission he argued that the Commission should look further at MJB's proposal to see if they were missing something that the MJB proposal offered to Anacortes but that after reading all of the testimony submitted to Council he didn't see anything. Mr. Archibald said there is retail leakage but that the City can capture some of that by revitalizing the existing CBD rather than adding a box store. He said Anacortes is unique and needs to capitalize on that, bring in more visitors. He said he was inclined to follow the Planning Commission recommendation to deny the request and consider it as part of 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. Mrs. Pickett thanked everyone who commented thoughtfully and sent research. She noted that Oak Harbor has as much retail leakage as Anacortes even though it has big boxes stores. She acknowledged the inconvenience of shopping across the valley but said this is a big decision and it belongs in the comprehensive plan discussion. She referenced Comprehensive Plan Goal 4 and said the proposal includes no inventory of existing and potential commercial property so Council doesn't know if Anacortes is out of commercial space or not. Mrs. Pickett asked what the future of retailing really looks like with Internet sales increasing each year and noted there are 4000 empty big box stores in the country. She cited studies showing that towns with small businesses work better together and are healthier. She encouraged Council field trips to places where a big box has come to a town and the downtown continued to thrive which she said should be part of the Comprehensive Plan update. She reminded that the City is still considering where to put retail marijuana and may need the industrial area to accommodate that. She recalled that Council rezoned MJB's property between 17th and 22nd Streets to CM1 for retail and mixed use but nothing has happened there, perhaps because of its proximity to the barge dock. She urged considering that in the comprehensive plan context. Mrs. Pickett concluded that Council needed a larger discussion as the Planning Commission had recommended. Mr. Walters spoke in favor of an independent dry goods retailer and said Port Townsend and Sedro- Woolley are getting them but none have come here. He said Council could look at why that is as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. He said if Anacortes wants a 100,000 SF store it would have to Anacortes City Council Minutes February 18, 2014 3 expand the commercial area. He said there's a danger that a Fred Meyer would to out to the reservation which would have no reinforcing effect downtown. He said he didn't support anything out of scale and that Fred Meyer may want a bigger store than Anacortes can offer but that R Avenue could handle a 100,000 SF store. He said the parcel shape limits industrial uses because tenants would have to cross the Tommy Thompson trail to get to the water, hence large retail might be better suited to that site than industrial. He cautioned against creating a second commercial shopping area with multiple stores. He said existing small businesses won't all go out of business and that they are threatened by the Internet and Costco as well. Mr. Walters said Anacortes should not chase sales tax, should look for balance in its economy and character of town, and help reduce the cost of living which includes less driving. Mr. Johnson said he liked the idea of field trips to see how these things have worked out in other places. He said the Futures Project discussion included the idea of a Trader Joes in Skyline but said an isolated retail store isn't good. He said the Comprehensive Plan process should look at if and where Anacortes wants another retail section and what kind of retail customers it has. Mr. Adams said he was interested in Mr. Walters' idea to leave the land industrial but allow a retail store there through conditional use which would involve a public process. He said he was worried that the 2016 Comprehensive Plan would push out any development for quite a few years, which is why there is an annual comprehensive plan amendment cycle. He warned against missing out on opportunities. Mr. Miller asked what had been done to attract industrial businesses to the MJB property. He said he'd like the town to try to work with MJB to develop industrial uses there. He said the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update process is the way to look at something significant like this. Mr. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Archibald, to accept the Planning Commission recommendation to deny the request for now subject to review during the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update process. Mr. Adams said this was the first discussion Council had had on this request and that he would prefer to take the time to review the comments and come back to another meeting to make a decision. He said if the matter came to a vote at this meeting he would vote no because he had not had time to absorb the evening's discussion. Ms. Lovelett said she'd like to meet with MJB about what it intends to do with the rest of its land and how it all ties together. She said over and over the community has said it doesn't want a big box store. She said she appreciated convenience and lower prices but that Fred Meyer wouldn't answer all those needs. She asked how many more times Anacortes would have to have this discussion. Mr. Walters agreed with Mr. Johnson that he would like to have field trips to other places where this has happened. Mr. Johnson supported doing that as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. Mr. Miller agreed. Mr. Johnson said he also liked considering this in a strictly legislative process so Council could get more input from more constituents outside of the public hearing. Mr. Walters reiterated that Council could take more time to look at the current proposal, for a current year comprehensive plan amendment rather than as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. He noted that the 2016 update was already going to be a large, challenging process. Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Mr. Adams, to postpone consideration of the motion on the floor for two weeks. Mr. Miller said he was against postponing and favored the holistic approach of the comprehensive plan. Mr. Adams said he was in favor of postponing to further consider the evening's discussion. Mrs. Pickett reiterated that this should be in the realm of the comprehensive plan update so it could be considered in the legislative sphere. Mr. Walters asked if the matter would still be quasi-judicial if it were considered as part of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Furlong said no and explained why. Vote on the motion by Mr. Walters: Ayes—Adams and Walters. Nays - Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson and Pickett. Motion failed. Anacortes City Council Minutes February 18, 2014 4 Mr. Walters reiterated that he did not want to foreclose the opportunity for a Fred Meyer by denying the proposal now. Mr. Miller said the 2016 Comprehensive Plan could result in C2 zoning for that parcel but the risk/reward quotient didn't warrant approving it now. Ms. Lovelett asked what the tribe's intention was for its land. Mr. Johnson said that was not part of the public record for the proposal. Mr. Archibald clarified with Mayor Gere that the motion by Mr. Miller was to deny the current request by MJB and follow the Planning Commission recommendation to fold this topic into the 2016 Comprehensive Plan update. Vote on the motion by Mr. Miller: Ayes - Lovelett, Archibald, Miller, Johnson and Pickett. Nays—Walters and Adams. Motion carried. At approximately 8:58 p.m. Mayor Gere called five minute break. At 9:03 p.m. Mayor Gere called the meeting back to order. Consent Agenda Mr. Johnson moved, seconded by Mr. Walters, to approve the following Consent Agenda items. Vote: Ayes—Archibald, Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett, Adams and Lovelett. 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 February 5, 2014 and February 12, 2014 are approved for payment as of February 18, 2014. Claims Check Numbers 71354 through 71503 in the total amount of$547,898.25 EFT Numbers 71352 through 71353 in the total amount of$2,395.40 Prewritten Claims Check Numbers 71350 through 71351 in the total amount of$1,107.75 Payroll for February 5, 2014 in the total amount of$846,814.33 Check Numbers 39229 through 39278 in the total amount of$34,195.87 Direct Deposit Numbers from 52558 through 52754 in the total amount of$596,246.37 EFT Numbers from 1635 through 1639 in the total amount of$216,372.09 Cancelled Checks Check Number 71198 in the amount of$109.89 Check Number 71068 in the amount of$13,362.70 Purchase Option Contract - Udd Property Parks and Recreation Director Gary Robinson presented a proposed Grant of Option to purchase 20 acres of real property on the south side of Mt. Erie currently owned by the Chikondano Trust(Darrell Winston Udd, Trustee)for a total price of$260,000. Noting that the transaction had been discussed with Council in several past executive sessions, Mr. Robinson summarized the terms of the agreement including the property appraisal. He explained that the City would pay$130,000 out of quarry revenues in a series of payments during 2014 while working with the Friends of the ACFL and others to raise another $130,000 of the purchase price from the community. In December 2014 the City would have to exercise its option to complete the purchase or lose its investment in the transaction up to that point. Mr. Robinson thanked City Attorney Brad Furlong and Parks and Forestlands Manager Jonn Lunsford for their ongoing efforts to arrive at the current agreement. Several councilmembers endorsed this use of quarry funds. Ms. Lovelett moved, seconded by Mr. Adams, to approve the purchase option contract for the Udd property. Vote: Ayes—Miller, Johnson, Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett and Archibald. Motion carried. Anacortes City Council Minutes February 18, 2014 5 Contract Award: 2014 Utility and Street Improvements Project Public Works Director Fred Buckenmeyer requested Council approval to award a contract for 2014 utility and street improvements including installation of new water main, sanitary sewer main, two manholes and reconnection of existing services in several locations of past line breaks. Mr. Buckenmeyer reported that the City received 13 bids with the low bid of$422,160.81 from C. Johnson Construction, Inc. He added that the Engineering Estimate was $475,000. Mr. Buckenmeyer recommended awarding the contract to C. Johnson. Mr. Walters moved, seconded by Ms. Lovelett, to award the contract for 2014 utility and street improvements to C. Johnson Construction, Inc. in the amount of$422,160.81. Vote: Ayes— Johnson, Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald and Miller. Motion carried. Authorization to Surplus City Equipment Mr. Buckenmeyer requested Council approval to surplus and dispose of a list of City-owned vehicles and equipment listed in the Council packet including four sanitation trucks. He said surplus equipment is typically disposed of via on line auction on PublicSurplus.com but proposed that the fire truck be sold to Guemes Island Fire District for approximately$5000. Mr. Buckenmeyer reviewed the RCW allowing that direct sale and noted that the resale value for fire trucks is low due to safety regulations. Council discussed the use of on line auctions and the prices received for surplus items and requested data on historical sales. Mr. Adams moved, seconded by Mr. Miller, to declare surplus and authorize the sale of the listed equipment including the potential direct sale of the fire engine to the Guemes Island Fire District. Vote: Ayes—Walters, Pickett, Adams, Lovelett, Archibald, Miller and Johnson. Motion carried. There being no further business, at approximately 9:21 p.m. the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council meeting of February 18, 2014 was adjourned. Anacortes City Council Minutes February 18, 2014 6