No preview available
02/01/2002 City CouncilCity Council Retreat February 1 & 2, 2002 Third Floor Brackett Room — Edmonds City Hall FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2002 Elected Officials Present: Staff Present: Gary Haakenson, Mayor Peggy Hetzler, Adm. Serv. Director Dave Earling, Council President Brent Hunter, Human Resources Director Deanna Dawson, Councilmember Stephen Clifton, Community Serv. Director Jeff Wilson, Councilmember Duane Bowman, Development Serv. Director Richard L. Marin, Councilmember Police Chief David Stern Michael Plunkett, Councilmember Fire Chief Tom Tomberg David J. Orvis, Councilmember Arvilla Ohlde, Parks & Rec Director Noel Miller, Public Works Director Absent: Scott Snyder, City Attorney Lora Petso, Councilmember Dave Gebert, City Engineer Don Fiene, Asst. City Engineer Jeannine Graf, Building Official Steve Koho, Manager, Wastewater Treatment Plant Jana Spellman, Sr. Executive Assistant to Council (Recorder) Linda Carl, Sr. Executive Assistant to Mayor Sandy Chase, City Clerk CALL TO ORDER Council President Earling called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. He asked the Council for a consensus that summary minutes be taken and the Council agreed to have summary minutes taken. He thanked the Councilmembers for coming up with suggestions for agenda items and thanked the staff for all their hard work. Council President Earling called on Duane Bowman, Development Services Director, for his presentation. Review of City Policy Regarding Fee for Service to Cover Permitting Costs & Permit Process Expectations Presented by: Duane Bowman, Development Services Director Mr. Bowman gave a history of the issue of fee for service to cover permitting costs and said for the most part fees for permits are covering the costs. He explained that permit fees alone will not cover the costs of the operations of the Development Services Department because there are a number of services that are outside the permitting process and not appropriate costs to be borne by permit applicants. He felt for the most part that fees were reasonable and fair but should be re-examined as part of the 2003 budget process. He gave details regarding the permitting process when he first came on board and how he and his staff had made improvements to that process and were continually looking at ways to streamline the process. He felt that the biggest improvements will come with the updating of the Edmonds Community Development Code explaining that the current version was adopted in 1980 and is in serious need of revisions. The DSD will begin a two-year update process in July of 2002. Mr. Bowman touched on his involvement with a group of stakeholders from the community that met and talked about economic development and the betterment of business in Edmonds. He told Council that this Committee meets monthly. He explained the Committee is identifying concerns and issues regarding the permitting process and discussing possible solutions. He gave an overview of accomplishments throughout his tenure that have helped the permitting process. The next topic spoke to an "expedited permit review process". Mr. Bowman informed the Council that this involved challenges which included: what type of projects should be allowed to use the process, would employees support working Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 1 & 2, 2002 . Pagel overtime, should the work be out -sourced to a consultant, and how would consistency be maintained with work that was out -sourced. He commented that if an expedited review is to be implemented, it should be limited to major projects, with a limit on the number that could be undertaken at any given time. This was all predicated on staffs' willingness to work overtime. Duane spoke for a short time about the possibility of using a Board of Appeals for developers who wanted to appeal a decision made by the Building Official and how the Hearing Examiner usually dealt with planning appeals. Scott Snyder, City Attorney, discussed fee for service issues and stated that there are a number of major activities of a department that politically, practically, and morally you cannot charge people for bringing up. A question and answer period followed between staff and Council. A discussion took place about what it would take to expedite permits. Mr. Bowman gave a detailed explanation as to why it hadn't worked in the city he had previously worked. Mr. Clifton said that Federal Way out -sourced the work for expedited permits but that it took a full year for all the wrinkles to be ironed out. Councilmember Marin stated he would like to see the Development Services Department head in the direction of being able to offer expedited permits for an additional fee as an option. The pros and cons of expediting the permit process were discussed along with which projects would qualify. Council President Earling asked how much the Engineering Division was able to recoup as far as fee recovery and where the Division stood as far as other industry standards. He asked Mr. Bowman how far off the Division was and Mr. Bowman replied he thought the fees needed to be increased but needed to be re-evaluated first. Mr. Earling asked to have that re- evaluation done before next year's budget cycle. Encroachment Permits (formerly called Street -Use Permits) were discussed briefly along with the fees charged for that permit. Mr. Earling asked Mr. Bowman to further explain the potential exploration of a Board of Appeals as opposed to the Hearing Examiner process. Council President Earling asked how it would be organized, how the selection process would be determined, criteria for serving, and how to avoid it becoming a political body. Mr. Bowman explained the potential make up of the Board of Appeals would be experts from outside as well as inside the City and that there are limited items that can be taken to a Board of Appeals. Mr. Snyder explained that the City did away with the former Board of Appeals approximately 10 years ago because it met so infrequently that when appeals did come about it was always a scramble to find qualified people, train them, only to have the appeal get settled without the Board. A discussion ensued regarding pros and cons of having a Board of Appeals, clarification of what the Board of Appeals would hear, how the Building Division reviews projects, timelines for building permits, the Hearing Examiner process, and reviews by the Architectural Design Board. Councilmember Marin stated that he had met with a stakeholders group that brought the matter of a Board of Appeals for building decisions to his attention. He went on to say there is a perception among developers there could be some things done to help them in the building process and a Board of Appeals is one of those things. He continued by saying he is confident City staff is on top of it but to overcome the perception he would like to consider forming a Board of Appeals. Mr. Earling asked for further questions. Mayor Haakenson asked if the Council was ready to come to consensus regarding staff overtime for expediting permits and the formation of a Board of Appeals. Council President Earling stated that some answers needed to be defined regarding both issues and requested sending those two items back to the Community/Development Services Committee for review. Council President Earling then asked Mr. Bowman to continue with the next part of his presentation. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 1 & 2, 2002 Page 2 Economic Development/Redevelopment — What role could/should the City take? Presented by: Duane Bowman, Development Services Director Mr. Bowman started by giving a history of efforts focused on economic development and talked briefly about some of the studies that have been done. He then gave an overview of the role City staff has played, the recently completed parkinc study and how the new parking consultant would help in reviewing parking standards, and a newly -formed stakeholders meeting which discusses ways to improve the permitting process. He mentioned the high-rise zone created in the '80's on Highway 99 and why he didn't think it had been successful and had some ideas how to make it successful. He felt that the question of what role the City should take regarding economic development was a good policy question for the Council to discuss because, as staff member, he wasn't sure what role the Council had in mind for the City. He continued by recommending a number of ways the City could help in economic development along with questions that needed to be addressed. He talked about establishing a planned action that would essentially do the review of the environmental impacts for a designated area based upon code regulations which would eliminate the State Environment Policy Act (SEPA) process for any new business located in a planned action area such as Highway 99. He explained that this would take some of the onus off the developer and would make the permitting process more expedient. A general question and answer period followed between staff and Council. Councilmember Orvis asked if a fee could be established for doing a planned action and what that fee would be. Mr. Bowman listed a number of criteria involved for setting that fee. Scott Snyder, City Attorney, explained that the City could elect to incorporate some portion of the cost for a planned action back into the fee for development. Mr. Earling called on Councilmember Deanna Dawson. She stated that Mr. Eyman has a new initiative, Son of 747, which he is developing which would cap all revenue increases to 1% a year (less than what the rate of inflation is) and felt that the City should not make any decisions on new revenue streams at this time. Ms. Dawson pointed out that this proposed initiative was not just for property taxes but was all revenues and would have dramatic consequences for economic development and may radically change the way the Council looked at economic development. Councilmember Dawson said it is being portrayed as affecting property taxes only but that is not what it is about. It is about capping all revenue streams at 1 % per year. She stated the initiative was a nightmare. Mr. Snyder stated that often the titles of Mr. Eyman's initiatives and the body of the initiative text are very different. Council President Earling called on Councilmember Wilson who explained to staff and Council why he asked for this agenda item. Council President Earling asked if the Community/Development Services Committee would take the time to look at Hwy 99 keeping the planned action item in mind and look at the profiles of the property on Hwy 99 to see where planned action would apply. Mr. Earling asked Councilmember Marin, Chair of that Committee if he was willing to look at that item and Mr. Marine agreed. Councilmember Wilson discussed the Stakeholders Group and asked Mr. Bowman if that group could be expanded to include a cross-section of the community. Mr. Bowman agreed that it needs to be expanded to a broader range of people and not just a focus group as it is now. Mr. Orvis asked Ms. Hetzler to bring information regarding the initiative labeled "Son of 1-747" to the Finance Committee. Council President Earling agreed with that idea. Mr. Earling called on Mr. Bowman for the next presentation, ESA Update. Council President Earling reminded the staff and Council that WRIA 8 would be making a presentation to the Council on February 26, 2002. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 1 & 2, 2002 Page 3 ESA Update Presented by: Duane Bowman, Development Services Director Mr. Bowman began by explaining he was giving an update, not only for newly -elected Councilmembers, but for the Council in general of how the City is dealing with ESA issues. He gave an overview of the history of ESA and the Chinook salmon which has been listed as an endangered species. He covered the following information: document and information review, philosophy, principles and approach, regulatory gap analysis, plan of action and milestone report, and the City's involvement with WRIA 8. A question and answer period followed between staff and Council. Mr. Orvis asked Mr. Bowman if he had monitoring numbers for salmon from WRIA 8. Mr. Bowman stated he would obtain them for Councilmember Orvis. Council President Earling called on Peggy Hetzler for the next agenda item GASB 34 GASB 34 Presented by: Peggy Hetzler, Administrative Services Director Duncan Rose, Steve Koho, Manager, Wastewater Treatment Plant Ms. Hetzler included in the Council packet a brief overview of Governmental Accounting Standards Board Pronouncement 34 (GASB 34) and how it will affect the City. It explained that GASB 34 is designed to move government accounting toward a business accounting model while retaining certain core aspects of governmental accounting. It continued by pointing out that one major intent of the statement is to provide information to the users of financial statements (financial institutions) about the long-term viability of all the infrastructure assets of a community. GASB 34 requires governments to: 1. Report on the overall state of the government's financial health, not just its individual funds, in a consolidated, government -wide statement prepared on a full accrual basis. 2. Provide the most complete information ever available about the cost of delivering services to citizens that includes a charge for the consumption or preservation of infrastructure and other capital assets. 3. Include for the first time, information about the work and condition of the City's infrastructure and capital assets. This change will require extensive efforts on behalf of the City to identify and establish original cost information for the past twenty years on all roads, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, traffic signalization, street lighting systems, parks landscaping and vegetation, trails, bike paths and rights of way. The handout gave a synopsis of what requirements will need to be fulfilled by the City to meet these requirements. She next called on Steve Koho, Manager, Wastewater Treatment Plant, to introduce Mr. Duncan Rose, a partner with Parsons Engineering who proceeded to give a presentation on GASB 34. Mr. Koho asked Council for direction after assimilating Mr. Rose's presentation. Mr. Rose gave an all-inclusive presentation, which included an extensive explanation of the packet information, addressed the policy ramifications of the statement, and described the level of effort needed for compliance by the City. A question and answer period followed. The Council meeting was adjourned at 4:45. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 1 & 2, 2002 Page 4