2021-10-06 Architectural Design Board MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN BOARD
Minutes of Virtual Meeting
Via Zoom
October 6, 2021
Chair Lauri Strauss called the virtual meeting of the Edmonds Planning Board to order at 7:04 p.m.
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT
Lauri Strauss
Alexa Brooks
Maurine Jeude
Joe Herr
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT
Bruce Owensby
Kim Bayer (excused)
STAFF PRESENT
Eric Engmann, Senior Planner, Development Services
Lauri Strauss: Calls the meeting to order
Eric Engmann: Does roll call.
Present: Lauri Strauss; Maurine Jeude; Joe Herr; Alexa Brooks
Absent: Kim Bayer (excused); Bruce Owensby
Approval of Agenda
Lauri Strauss: Asks for a motion to approve the agenda.
(Moved and seconded)
Agenda is Approved 4-0.
Approval of Minutes
Lauri Strauss: Asks for a motion to approve the July I' minutes. (Motioned and seconded)
Maurine: Mentions that they are pretty verbatim.
July 111 Minutes are Approved 4-0.
Lauri Strauss: Discusses the agenda components. Confirms these is one item on the agenda.
Discussion Item- Multifamily Design Standards
Lauri Strauss: Introduced the new item and reads the memo. Asks if Eric has a presentation for
the Board.
Eric Engmann: Introduces himself as a new planner in Edmonds, who primarily works on code
amendments. Mentions that tonight's meeting will be an introduction of the topic
and to hear initial thoughts from the Board.
Asks for a quick introduction from each Board member so he can get to know them
and a bit about their background.
Lauri Strauss: Introduces herself.
• Chair/president of ADB
• Is an architect who lives and works in Edmonds
• On the Board for at least seven years
Maurine Jeude: Is a citizen member of the Board.
• Always was interested in architecture
• Second year on the Board
• Retired after career at the Seattle Times as a writer
Alexa Brooks: Als a resident of Edmonds.
• Lived here for a little over two years
• Found out about the Board from her neighbor, Lauri Strauss
• Is a landscape designer
Joe Herr: Has been on the Board about six years.
• Is a professional building designer
• Talks about he became Board member after working on a project in Edmonds
• Talks about affordable housing and how design standards can mean that the costs
of projects go up
Eric Engmann: Talks about the three phases of a code amendment.
• First is the formation phase. This phase is for creating the initial ideas,
brainstorming, early outreach, scoping, and big picture thinking
• Next is articulation phase. This takes the big picture and refines it into a workable
draft. There is lots of scenario testing and public input, then results in the draft code.
• Last phase is the adoption phase. There is formal draft that requires public meetings.
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It goes through environmental (SEPA) and then City Council review.
• The best processes have engagement and public involvement early in the process
and allows for in in all three stages.
Talks about the dual role with ADB and the Planning Board (PB)
• Mentions the ADB specialized role with design and building
• Lists the responsibilities listed in the Code for ADB
• PB is the local planning authority
• PB holds public hearings and makes official recommendations on code
amendments to council
• Sees ADB as diving deep into the issues and working with residents on the draft
solutions. Utilizing their expertise.
• Mentions PB has a lot of background in public outreach and will really utilize them
to help with that strategy.
• Sees PB reviewing a lot of the components of the plan and making suggestions and
asking questions
• Mentions there will be some meeting dialogue between ADB and PB
Talks about the set goals, what this is set up to do.
• Discusses the related goals in the Comprehensive Plan, the overarching document
that sets the City's goals for the future
• Housing Goal J1 "encourage flexibility in housing types while ensuring
compatibility with the surrounding neighborhoods"
• Talks about the consensus from City Council to move this project forward
• Mentions the minutes from the Council meetings are summarized as an attachment
Discusses how to establish the scope of the project
• Talks about creating the framework of what goes into this multifamily design
guideline code amendment
• One set of scoping is the development types and zones of the city
• Not discussing single-family
• Focus will be on multifamily zones
• Talks about other zones that already have existing design standards
• The other set will be the design components themselves
• Talks about buildings form, setbacks, facades, and many other topics
Discusses the types of topics
• Mentions that form and massing are important
• But will also want to consider things like sustainability, affordability, and equity
Discusses the intended stakeholders. Sees three main groups.
• Government- city staff, boards, and council that will review and rule on the
regulations
• Residents- people and groups that live in the community
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• Developers- people that will be building using these regulations
Talks about the importance of balancing between flexibility and specificity
Mentions the pros and cons of having each of these components
Suggests a balanced approach
Asks the Board for any questions up to this point.
Laurie Strauss: Mentions specificity can limit creative design and can lead to some bad decisions.
Provides an example about window requirements that can be bad for energy
efficiency. Agrees with a balanced approach.
Joe Herr: Talks about a specific project that required window specificity where there was no
room to allow interpretation.
Lauri Strauss: Agrees that if it gets too specific, it can end up with bad design.
Eric Engmann: Mentions that he likes scenario testing to see potential outcomes of the code.
Introduces the second part of the presentation. Would like to hear/interview the
Board about the current regulations. Would like to hear about what works well,
what doesn't, and final goals for this code amendment.
Starts with asking about what works well with the current guidelines. Mentions that
it is ok if some of the members aren't very familiar with the existing code. There
will be time to understand the background moving forward.
Alexa Brooks: Still unfamiliar with the code.
Joe Herr: Likes how the requirements are shown in the staff reports. Feels that it helps a lot.
Mentions that there are a lot of different guidelines to keep track of. Mentions the
need for flexibility in some instances.
Lauri Strauss: Provides an example of code conflicts on a project on Main Street. It required an
entrance off Main Street but wasn't ADA accessible because of the slope. Would
like to see some flexibility in the Board's decisions.
Talks about the good and bad of the 30-foot height limit. Doesn't want to change
the feel of Edmonds but the code doesn't allow for different roof types.
Eric Engmann: Asks the Board to talk about areas outside of downtown. Mentions they have a lot
of townhome type projects there.
Lauri Strauss: Talks about multifamily in many mixed (uses) now. Talks about multifamily having
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more density and concerns from the neighbors. Mentions the Board doesn't have
control about the zoning components, but how it looks.
Joe Herr: Talks about the difficulty on the Board to address resident concerns about zoning
when that isn't part of the ADB decision.
Eric Engmann: Mentions that problem is a struggle with decision making planning (type) board
across the country. States that is often difficult.
Asks if anyone else has a comment on what works well.
Maurine Jeude: Also appreciates the staff reports that show the criteria and how they have been
addressed. It is very helpful
Lauri Strauss: Mentions it is important to have different guidelines for different areas- Westgate.
Talks about having a theme. Likes the lower, middle, top design components for
downtown. Like guidelines that are specific but open to interpretation.
Eric Engmann: Reiterates that she is talking about blending those type of standards.
Asks about the guidelines that they don't like.
• Asks what hasn't worked well
• Things that are difficult to ensure established goals are met
• Mentions there have been several discussed already
Lauri Strauss: Talks about what happens with minimum standards.
• That contractors and developers are going to do the minimum, gives examples
• Likes the idea about testing the new guidelines to see if they will work in most
situations.
Eric Engmann: Mentions staff will look at getting outside help with graphics to help with this.
Alexa Brooks: Asks to correct that she represents landscape designers, not landscape architects.
Asks how residents can have a say in the process.
Mentions that the Edmonds landscape can have a lot of different challenges. How
do the standards affect wildlife, native plantings, sustainability, all those
challenges?
Lauri Strauss: Agrees with Alexa's point. Talks about how minimum landscape standards affect
sites differently. Reiterates that minimum standards can be a major challenge. Will
need to think about many different scenarios: area, zoning, lot size, etc.
Alexa: Says that it can't be one size fits all.
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Eric: Mentions this will be one of the things talked about moving forward. Provides an
example of a five-foot landscape strip. States this is the specific requirement, but
the guideline can influence how and where it is located. There is the standard itself
and the guideline that can be more flexible.
Lauri Strauss: Adds that this example could also discuss an environmental benefit; a habitat
benefit for wildlife or wetlands.
Maurine Jeude: Talks about the variance process. Mentions the difficulty the Board has will not
being able to grant some form of variances. How allowing some small changes to
a project, that would require a variance today, could have a positive impact.
Eric Engmann: Talks about that flexibility. Mentions it is a double-edged sword because some
people may not like the flexibility the Board could have if it could grant some
variance type approvals. Mentions it is something to discuss in this process.
Talks about having public involvement early. Mentions this will go to the planning
board next week to discuss the outreach plan.
Joe Herr: Asks if the Master Builders will be involved as a stakeholder.
Eric Engmann: Confirms that he has contact with the Master Builders and will reach out to be a
developer stakeholder.
Lastly, asks about what the Board wants to see as the goal of this code amendment.
What does the end of this process look like? Mentions that it is about the goals for
these multifamily design guidelines.
Lauri Strauss: Would like to see more leeway for sustainability. Allowing things like extra height
for LEED Gold buildings, as an example. Would like to have "carrots" for doing
more sustainability, such as extra area or height.
Joe Herr: Mentions that Lauri is mentioning incentives. All developers love incentives.
Lauri Strauss: Reiterates that this could lead to better design and help mitigate effects of climate
change, etc.
Maurine Jeude: Mentions that the overall idea is to account for the character of Edmonds. How will
these new buildings fit into what is envisioned for Edmonds? Would like to protect
that character and not another small city that got big. Mentions the theme of
development.
Lauri: Also talks about the character of Edmonds. Wants to keep that character.
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Maurine: Talks about the sense of community throughout every district, even as someone
walks from one district to the next.
Alexa: Discusses the charm being the community. Would like to integrate the community
more with these decisions.
Lauri: Reiterates that the guidelines should bring in sustainable design and keep historic
buildings. Talks about resiliency, from storms and tsunamis as an example.
Eric: Mentions a lot of this is getting the tools to make those decisions.
Ends the discussion by thanking the Board. Discusses Next Steps:
• There will be bigger discussions with a lot of different groups
• Will be sending out a survey to the Board about some preferences
• Will continue initial discussions with stakeholders
• Asks the Board to let people know about this.
• Will come back next month to talk about the big picture and the scope
• Let's the Board know about the webpage for this code update topic
Lauri Strauss: Mentions the Boards interest in other areas too, downtown, Westgate, Five Corners,
(Highway) 99. But says that multifamily has been difficult for approving projects
over the past five or six years. Mentions the roofing, how they fit on the site,
windows as examples. Talks about the scenarios as being a good place to focus.
Member Comments
Maurine Jeude: Mentions she won't be able to attend next month's meeting.
Lauri Strauss: Hopes Kim and Bruce will be there. Mentions they will have some good comments
to discuss.
Asks for any other comments. (None)
Moves to adjourn the meeting. (Moved and Seconded)
ADJOURNMENT
The Board meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
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