2022-09-28 Planning Board MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS PLANNING BOARD
Minutes of Webinar Meeting
September 28, 2022
Chair Pence called the virtual meeting of the Edmonds Planning Board to order at 7:00 p.m.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Board Member Rosen read the Land Acknowledgement.
Board Members Present
Roger Pence, Chair
Matt Cheung
Richard Kuehn
Mike Rosen
Lily Distelhorst (student rep)
Board Members Absent
Beth Tragus-Campbell (excused)
Judi Gladstone (excused) (newly
elected Vice Chair)
Todd Cloutier
Staff Present
Kemen Lien, Planning Division Manager
Susan McLaughlin, Development Services Director
Mike Clugston, Senior Planner
Brad Shipley, Senior Planner
READING/APPROVAL OF MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 MINUTES
Chair Pence noted that board members had been mis-titled as commissioners in some places. He also requested
more detail about the nice comments that had been made regarding Alicia Crank's service. There was consensus
to send the minutes back for correction.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF AGENDA
THERE WAS UNANIMOUS CONSENT TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS PRESENTED.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS
Mr. Williamson referred to the Reimagining Neighborhoods and Streets presentation at the September 14
meeting. During the presentation Development Services Director McLaughlin had presented a draft map and
nine new street types. He stated that Director McLaughlin had said the land use and zoning of the adjacent areas
would need to correspond to the new street types. This seems to mean that there will be a significant amount of
rezoning in Edmonds. He requested clarification on this at some point.
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Chair Pence responded that any change to the zoning code would need to come through the Planning Board. It
would also have to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan which is just at the beginning phase of a major
rewrite. There are a lot of steps that would have to happen before they get to anything like the changes Mr.
Williamson was talking about.
PUBLIC HEARING
A. Public Hearing on BD Designated Street Front
Senior Planner Mike Clugston made a presentation regarding the BD2 designated street front (DSF). He stated
the meeting objectives would be to discuss the proposed permanent BD2 DSF map and updated use table,
discuss market demand analysis and recommendations from the consultant, take public comment, and make a
recommendation to Council.
He compared maps showing the Council's interim extended DSF map and the proposed permanent B132 DSF
map which would extend "the blue line" to all B132 parcels to be consistent with the Downtown Mixed
Commercial designation in the Comprehensive Plan. This was the consensus that came out of the Planning
Board/EDC meeting in August. He recapped requirements for DSF which include commercial use within the
first 45 feet of the "blue line", 12-foot minimum ground floor height (15 feet in BD1), and specific design
standards.
He reviewed the consultant Otak's market demand analysis takeaways. They concluded that one floor of
residential over ground floor commercial is not economically feasible for most boutique developers. Two floors
residential over ground floor commercial is economically feasible but exceeds the 30' height limit. The
consultant recommended a zoning change of a minor increase in building height (2'-5') to allow "two over one"
development. This would make a three-story development feasible in those locations. The Planning Board and
EDC had previously recommended extending the ground floor requirements but also taking a look at zoning
changes that would be needed to implement the extended "blue line".
Along with the changes to the map was the changes to the BD Uses table to clarify ambiguities, fill in blanks in
uses created by Ordinance 3955, and reference ground floor in ECDC 16.43.030.B for locational requirements.
Mr. Clugston concluded that if they are fully extending DSF to all BD2 parcels, staff recommends future work
on a code amendment to increase height limits to allow three stories to feasibly work in the BD2 zone.
Public Comments:
Mr. Williamson referred to the recommendation to increase heights 2'-5'. He noted there is a big difference
between two feet and five feet and asked what was really necessary to meet the goal of three stories. Mr.
Clugston replied that the recommendation from the consultant was a range. He thought that this might depend
on the typography of the site but noted they could check with the consultant to see if there is a more specific
number.
Discussion:
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MOTION MADE BY BOARD MEMBER ROSEN TO RECOMMEND TO THE COUNCIL THAT
THEY MAKE PERMANENT THE FULLY EXTENDED DSF TO ALL BD2 PARCELS, APPROVE
THE UPDATED USE TABLE, AND THAT THEY CONSIDER CODE AMENDMENTS DURING
THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE TO INCREASE HEIGHT LIMITS. THE MOTION WAS
SECONDED BY BOARD MEMBER CHEUNG.
Board Member Rosen emphasized that he intentionally was not bundling the motion for the extended DSF to
all BD2 parcels with the increased height limits but that he was just recommending that Council consider it.
Board Member Cheung agreed with Board Member Rosen's recommendation to not bundle the two issues
because the increased height limits will likely be a hot topic.
Chair Pence added that when they get to the point of detailed rewriting of the zoning code, they will probably
want to look at other sites within the Downtown Business zones. This will be after the Comprehensive Plan
update process is complete.
Board Member Kuehn spoke in support of the motion. He agreed that more work needs to be done before he is
ready to recommend a height increase.
THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. 2024 Comprehensive Plan Update
Planning Manager Lien gave an update on the Comprehensive Plan Update.
Comprehensive Plan Branding: PRR was the consultant selected to help with the branding and came up with
the "Everyone's Edmonds" branding. They also developed some templates and mini surveys. They provided
some translation services and looked through past outreach materials.
Six -week Themed Visioning Outreach: The work with PRR led into a community -guided visioning process
which was a six -week temed outreach on key topics. These key topics included Identity, Quality of Life,
Economic Growth, Environment, Culture, and Livability and Land Use. The approach involved tabling at local
events, coffee chats in various neighborhood centers, some walk and talks, a panel discussion, and a community
survey. One of the most successful parts of the outreach was the yard signs. These greatly increased the number
of comments on the survey. The overall outreach goal was to solicit 3,500 comments from the community and
over 8,500 comments were received. Over 600 comments were received from events and nearly 7,900 were
received from the community survey.
Visioning Next Steps: The next step will be to organize the comments by theme and evaluate the results. A draft
vision statement and community values will be developed based on the outreach results. There will be a
presentation to the Planning Board and Council followed by a public reveal of the draft on November 5.
Feedback will be collected on the draft visioning and it will again be presented to the Planning Board and to the
Council for final adoption.
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Comprehensive Plan Update Workplan Overview: Over the next couple months there will be a lot of work
behind the scenes getting ready for Comprehensive Plan Update. The Core Project Team will be a multi-
disciplinary team of key staff involved with review and development of various elements. There will also be a
Community Champions Advisory Committee which is one of the suggestions that came out of the Equitable
Engagement Framework as a way to get some of the underrepresented communities involved in the process.
They are also looking at establishing a Boards & Commissions Advisory Committee which would include
representatives from all the city boards and commissions who would participate in development of the
Comprehensive Plan and report back to the various boards and commissions. There will still be detailed briefs
back to the Planning Board, Economic Development Commission, and other boards, but the Boards &
Commissions Advisory Committee would be one way to keep boards and commissions involved throughout
the process. There will be more consultants involved as needed for various tasks related to development of the
Comprehensive Plan.
Mr. Lien reviewed the project timeline. Adoption is due at the end of 2024. Visioning will be wrapping up this
year, and scoping will begin this winter. Neighborhood scenario development and concurrency reviews will be
happening this winter. 2023 will be spent developing the draft documents to have them ready for early 2024.
Comments and Questions:
Chair Pence referred to the comments received and asked how many unique individuals that represented. Senior
Planner Brad Shipley replied they did not always measure individual persons. He clarified that they received
8,500 comments; this did not represent 8,500 individuals. There were close to 600 responses to the full survey
which only allowed one individual per survey. The mini surveys had around 100 responses each week, but some
people may have answered multiple surveys so it is hard to know how many people this represents.
Board Member Rosen commented there is value in knowing the number of responses even though they don't
know the exact number of people who responded. He cautioned against leading people to believe there were
8,500 participants. He then questioned the order of the project timeline which seems to show neighborhood
scenario development before the Comprehensive Plan development. Mr. Shipley explained that the citywide
visioning is what they are doing first. This will be overarching and broad and should guide the rest of the work
on the Comprehensive Plan. Getting into the neighborhood level planning is just talking to neighborhoods about
what they would like to see in the future. Director McLaughlin agreed with comments to be clear about
characterizing the number of comments. She spoke to the value of neighborhood planning but stressed the
importance of linking back to a citywide conversation about where we are accommodating growth.
Board Member Cheung referred to the number of comments and suggested adding an estimated number of
individuals to clarify that the number of responses is different than the number of individuals.
Chair Pence referred to the City's website for Comprehensive Plan Updates and noted that under Initial Steps
there are two sections — one on waterfront issues and one on gap analysis regarding equity and climate. He noted
there is no information under the second item and asked for an update. Mr. Lien explained that ECONorthwest
had been hired to review the current Comprehensive Plan for equity issues in policies and implementation. They
identified a number of policies to be looked at in more detail. As part of that work, they also looked at public
engagement. There was some overlap with this and the work that was done on the Equitable Engagement
Framework. He indicated he would get those up on the website or at least distribute them to the Planning Board.
Chair Pence asked how there will be a community conversation after November 5 when they unveil the draft
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visioning statement. Director McLaughlin explained they are looking at ways that can help to validate whether
they got the community vision right. They will substantiate the vision with documentation and data that will be
robust from PRR. It will be a defensible and transparent process. Chair Pence said he hopes that once the draft
visioning statement is revealed there is a chance for some good, robust civic conversation. Director McLaughlin
pointed out that the community vision won't require a public hearing process but she hopes the Planning Board
will provide feedback, especially through the survey. Chair Pence said he thinks the process ought to allow for
residents to hear responses from each other.
Board Member Rosen said he liked the idea of creating a group of representatives from all the boards and
commissions. This is a great way to get feedback.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Chair Pence explained that with the loss of Alicia Crank they are down one member. He has defaulted into the
position of Chair. They also need to elect a Vice Chair.
Mr. Lien said he couldn't find any rules or procedures for the Planning Board but recommended confirming
Roger Pence as Chair and electing a Vice Chair through the end of the year. They will have another election of
officers in December. He noted that Beth Campbell moved from the alternate position to Alicia Crank's
position.
MOTION MADE BY BOARD MEMBER ROSEN, SECONDED BY BOARD MEMBER CHEUNG,
TO ELECT ROGER PENCE AS CHAIR, FILLING OUT THE REST OF THE TERM VACATED
BY ALICIA CRANK.
There were no other nominations.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY TO ELECT ROGER PENCE AS CHAIR.
Chair Pence said he had a conversation with Board Member Gladstone about serving as Vice Chair. She was
interested in doing the job but wasn't able to attend tonight's meeting. He solicited any other nominations or
volunteers.
MOTION MADE BY BOARD MEMBER ROSEN, SECONDED BY BOARD MEMBER CHEUNG,
TO NOMINATE JUDI GLADSTONE TO SERVE AS VICE CHAIR, FILLING OUT THE TERM
PREVIOUSLY HELD BY ROGER PENCE.
There were no other nominations.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY TO ELECT JUDI GLADSTONE AS VICE CHAIR.
PLANNING BOARD EXTENDED AGENDA
Chair Pence reviewed the extended agenda. There is a joint meeting with the City Council planned for October
4; however, there is a chance that the Board may be bumped to a different date because the Council has a packed
meeting. He will let the Board know as soon as possible. He discussed possible topics of conversation. Board
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Member Rosen encouraged Chair Pence to reach out to the Council President to see what topics they would
like to hear about. Chair Pence concurred. He commented that the Council President had expressed an interest
in having a member of the Planning Board present when staff presents Planning Board recommendations to the
Council. He recapped a situation that happened with staff last year regarding a recommendation they disagreed
with and thought this might be a good solution.
Chair Pence said he would like to see a topic on the extended agenda for the Five Corners Plaza which is for
sale. The zoning for this is Neighborhood Business which he believes needs to be updated. Mr. Lien agreed but
wasn't sure about the timing of updating this.
Mr. Lien asked about the Board's preference to have a special meeting on November 30. All board members
indicated a willingness to hold the meeting if it is needed. Mr. Lien said he would come back with more
information on this at the next meeting.
PLANNING BOARD CHAIR COMMENTS
None
PLANNING BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS
None
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 8:37 p.m.
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