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HomeMy WebLinkAbout15. Planning Commission Meeting Minutes 1-25-23 PLANNING COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES City Hall - Council Chambers 525 North Third Avenue Pasco, Washington THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2023 6:30 PM Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 17 January 25, 2023 CALL TO ORDER City of Pasco Planning Commission meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m., by Chair Jerry Cochran. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Chair Cochran led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Commissioners Present: Paul Mendez, Kim Lehrman, Rachel Teel, Rosa Torres, and Mitchell Moffitt, Jay Hendler, and Dana Crutchfield, a quorum was declared. Commissioners Absent: Jerry Cochran, Abel Campos Staff Present: Community & Economic Development Director Rick White, and Senior Planner Jacob Gonzalez and Administrative Assistant II, Carmen Patrick. WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Mendez explained the Planning Commission is an advisory board made up of volunteers appointed by City Council. He further explained the purpose of the Planning Commission was to provide recommendations to City Council regarding changes to the City’s Comprehensive Plan, Land Use Updates, Block Grant Allocations and Zoning Code. The Planning Commission is tasked with considering the long-term growth and development of the community, the impact of land use decisions on community, livability, economic opportunity, housing affordability, public services, and the environment. Chair Mendez reminded the audience tonight’s proceedings were being broadcast live on City of Pasco’s Facebook page and on Charter Cable PSC Channel 191 and will be rebroadcast several times during the next month. He stated the meeting was also being recorded and could be watched on City of Pasco’s website, which is Pasco-wa.gov. Click on the VIDEO ON DEMAND link and make your selection there. Chair Mendez stated copies of the meeting agenda were available on the back table. He then asked that everyone silence cell phones to prevent interruptions during the meeting. For those present this evening, when you are given the opportunity to address the Commission, please come to the podium, speak clearly into the microphone, and state your name and city of address for the record. Chair Mendez reminded the audience and the Planning Commission that Washington State Law requires public meetings like the one being held this evening not only be fair, but also appear to be fair. In addition, Washington State Law prohibits Planning Commission members from participating in discussions or decisions in which the member may have a direct interest or may be either benefited or harmed by the Planning Commission’s decision. An objection to any Planning Commission member hearing any matter on tonight’s agenda needs to be aired at this time or it will be waived. Chair Mendez asked if there were any Planning Commission members who have a declaration at this time regarding any of the items on the agenda. Page 12 of 218 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 17 January 25, 2023  No declarations were made. Chair Mendez asked if anyone in the audience objected to any Planning Commission member hearing any of the items on the agenda.  None heard, record shows there were no declarations. Chair Mendez stated the Planning Commission needed and valued public input explaining it helped the Commission understand the issues more clearly and allowed for better recommendations to City Council. Furthermore, in many cases, this could be the only forum for the public to get facts and opinions placed into the official record and City Council will use to make the Commission’s decision. He encouraged those present to take full advantage of this opportunity. APPROVAL OF MINUTES No meeting minutes to approve. OLD BUSINESS None PUBLIC HEARINGS A. Code Amendment 2022 Pasco Comprehensive Plan Amendments Good evening, members of the Planning Commission and those in the audience. This is a Special Public Hearing to consider the docket for the 2022 Comprehensive Plan Amendments. This has been a total of 16 applications that were proposed for the 2022 year cycle. It's a process that is allowed to happen only once per year as dictated by state law via the Growth Management Act. And so, staff, because there's 16 applications, we want to sort of summarize kind of how the process would go tonight and hopefully make this a more efficient and easy process for folks in attendance today. So what there being 16 items, staff proposes to introduce and summarize each proposal as we've done in the past. And then the Planning Commission can deliberate amongst themselves and ask any questions of staff. Then there will be an opportunity to ask if the applicant or the proponent of the application as the audience, an opportunity for them to come to the podium and ask or share their perspective of the application. And then an opportunity to open up the public hearing, close the public hearing, and then deliberate and render a decision. I do want to make one clarification that under each application there are three options. The staff report did cut some of those short, but there are three options for three motions. You can only pick one tonight, and that is either to approve the proposal, deny the proposal, or modify the proposal. If you choose to modify any proposal, then staff would ask that you identify any criteria or specific components that you are identifying that that proposal be modified against. So, with that said, we have a list of 16 items, and we'll try to run through these as we can. Page 13 of 218 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 17 January 25, 2023 Comprehensive Plan Amendment CPA2022-001 Applicant Representative: Rick Simon, West Richland: The Kidwell’s have submitted this application with the intent that they would build a fuel station convenience store on a portion of this site. And so, we are in agreement with staff's recommendation for approval. So, I'm going to keep my comments short, but I just have a couple of points that I wanted to make. One, that this site is at the location of two arterial streets, Broadmoor and Burns, so it has great visibility and is accessible for neighborhood commercial services. As Mr. Gonzalez indicated, there is significant residential development proposed and in the works both along Broadmoor and Burns, making this an ideal location for neighborhood commercial services. And approval of this application will implement several important Comprehensive Plan policies. And finally, I'd like to point out that previously there were quite a few letters that were submitted on behalf of this application. The great majority of those were in support. And so I like to encourage the Commission to approve and approve the proposed Comprehensive Plan and recommend its approval to Council, thank you. Chair Mendez opened the proposal for public hearing. No comments were made, Chair Mendez closed the public hearing. Commissioner Lehrman made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Torres, motion passed by a 6-1 vote. Comprehensive Plan Amendment CPA2022-002 Applicant not present. Chair Mendez opened the proposal for public hearing. No comments were made, Chair Mendez closed the public hearing. Commissioner Moffitt made a motion to approve, seconded by Commissioner Hendler, motion passed unanimously. File Number: CPA2022-001 Applicant: Stacy and Todd Kidwell Description: Future Land Use Map Amendment: Medium Density Residential to Mixed Residential and Commercial Current Zoning R-4 High-Density Residential Address / Parcel(s) 11518065 Total Area (Acres) 3.89 Environmental Determination Determination of Non-Significance, issued 06/07/2022 File Number: CPA2022-002 Applicant: Roland Jankelson / Devi E Tate Description: Future Land Use Map Amendment: Low Density Residential to Mixed Residential and Commercial Current Zoning: R-S-12, C-1 Address / Parcel(s) 117642098, 117642105 Total Area (Acres) 2.18 Environmental Determination Determination of Non-Significance, issued 06/07/2022 Page 14 of 218 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 17 January 25, 2023 Comprehensive Plan Amendment CPA2022-003 Applicant: Ralph Broetje, 716 Sunset Dr., Burbank Well, thanks, commissioners. I'm Ralph Broetje, living in Burbank, but I'm with Broetje Orchards and Broetje Family Trust and, like to give us just a short vision of what we had for this land. Yeah, like, in the early 2000s, we bought about 80 acres on the north side of A Street, on the end of A Street that was totally vacant land and developed that into Tierra Vida, which is now home for about 250 single family homes and 120 apartments. We have a community center, and our foundation family trust offices are located there. Our vision for that piece of property was to develop a safe community on the east side of Pasco. It was always an area that was kind of looked down on as far as people wanting to live there. So, we wanted to show that there could be a really nice, safe neighborhood for hardworking families to afford to live there and be proud of it. I think it's proven out to be just a wonderful place to live. Everybody's invited to come out and visit the foundation there at the end of A Street, Leo Center, and take a look and see what's happening. So, our vision for this property, it would be about a little twice as big as Tierra Vida now, and we would like to develop another community that's safe and affordable for working families. Most of the jobs now are being created on east end of Pasco, but all the housing developments going out west, so the traffic's back and forth. And I think we've learned from Tierra Vita how to be good neighbors. We talked to Amazon, when they bought that piece of property next to us, we were in contract to buy that property. So we ended up selling to Amazon, and they agreed to put up a sound barrier wall and landscaping barrier between us because they knew that we would eventually try to build housing there, which they're excited about. They would need workers, laborers that had live close by within walking distance. I'm not I'm not a developer, I'm an apple farmer. But it's been a fun project, and we don't do it to make a profit. We don't leave the community. We stay there. Like, I see a community center there's, community projects for the people that are living in the houses there. So, we stay, and we're involved. So, I appreciate you supporting us on this issue. Thank you very much. Chair Mendez asked is the majority of the development residentials? Are we proposing any commercial development in that area? Mr. Broetje answered yeah, it's going to be mixed use. There'll be some commercial development along with it. Parks and trails, biking trail, so multi use., still be single family homes. Around 400 single family homes, some apartments, duplexes, triplexes diverse community. I think it's not going to be too much dissimilar from what's being planned at Osprey Point, so I think community is File Number: CPA2022-003 Applicant: Broetje Orchards / New Heritage Description: Future Land Use Map Amendment: Industrial to Mixed Residential and Commercial Current Zoning: I-2 Medium Industrial District Address / Parcel(s) 112470014, 112430012, 112430021, 112462078, 112462096 Total Area (Acres) 197 Environmental Determination Determination of Significance, issued 06/07/2022, EIS Required Page 15 of 218 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 17 January 25, 2023 working together. Commissioner Lehrman asked so is there a commercial aspect of the land that you want to develop? Mr. Broetje answered yeah, there's about five acres set aside for commercial and retail development. We didn't draft up a clear master plan on it yet, exactly how it's going to be laid out, and potentially we may set aside location for elementary school if that's needed. Public Hearing: Stephen Bauman, 2715 St. Andrew Loop, Pasco My name is Stephen Bauman. I'm a resident of Pasco. I also have my business in Pasco, and I speak with you from two hats tonight. One of them is I'm working closely with Mr. Broetje on this project as well as I'm also a landowner of four different parcels in this area that's actually on this map and wanted to share with you a few things. Thank the staff. This has been a multiyear project. This was originally began working with staff prior to 2020 to the Comp Plan and they've put a lot of hard work in it. And as well as we have and look forward to this project. The intention is to build a master plan community and that would happen closely with staff and look forward to that process. A few things for consideration. We've worked closely and have had extensive outreach with the neighbors trying to make sure that we have an understanding of their concerns. And I believe in your materials that you'll find that we have in the neighborhood of 100 letters of support. And I think that would indicate that we have worked diligently with the neighbors trying to understand their concerns. And there is certainly some people that feel that this isn't necessarily I believe that there are three or four letters that people that are concerned that this is not a compatible use. I think if you'll look at the community that Mr. Broetje has built both before the Tierra Vida community out on the apple orchard in the farm, he built community there. And not only is he building housing, but he's also building community. And if you have the opportunity, I would encourage you to go and see that community. I've spent a lot of time there and find it nice, which is one of the reasons I bought land adjacent to the Tierra Vida community myself and believe in this area. Some areas for consideration as Mr. Broetje pointed out, a majority of the jobs are being created in eastern Pasco and a majority of the housing is being built in northwest Pasco. We believe this community would help relieve some of the traffic that that would generate. The number of housing units here and the number of jobs that are being created in this area, we think that could be helpful for that. We've sat down with and talked with the school district, and they have, because of the nature of building a school, requires a larger land use area. They absolutely have interest in this as a potential site for school. If you look at, they have a bond before them and their intention is to develop a high school within a mile of this site and believe that there is a lot of compatibility with the school district. We have done a lot of work looking at traffic, how this area would develop and the City and their master plan. We've looked at that. We've provided input in traffic studies to how to mitigate some of Page 16 of 218 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 17 January 25, 2023 those concerns and believe that can be mitigated. We've sat down with and talked extensively with the developer of the Osprey Point, which is just across the railroad tracks from this, a very similar use. We talked with them about ways to collaborate and be helpful with each other and feel like that we have a good partner and neighbor there. And the mixed use ball fields that the City has already has a contractor working on. We believe that some of the industrial use that is coming to the west of this property, we believe that there's a good way to buffer that and to mitigate for that concern that is potentially there. Peter Harpster, 2705 St. Andrews Loop, Pasco Good evening, commissioners. My name is Peter Harpster. I'm here for another matter, but I did want to address the fact that I live at 444 Appaloosa Court, that's in the Road 100 Broadmoor Boulevard area of the City. And I'm consistently looking at the crime statistics that are available online. And generally speaking, from what I've seen historically, that area of Pasco is the safest, for lack of a better term. But when you take the statistics from the Broadmoor Boulevard 100 area and compare them to Tierra Vida, the other community that they've done, Tierra Vida actually has around a 50% lower crime rate than Road 100 Broadmoor area. So, it's worth mentioning that what they've done in the past, Commissioner Hendler, Commissioner Moffit, to your points, you take the safest area of our City and then this pocket kind of over here that they developed, it's even lower than that by a considerable amount. So, thank you. Ray Aparicio, 215 W Sylvester, Pasco Officer Ray Aparicio with the Pasco Police Department. And on that same note, I'm glad he brought that up. So, I've been working with the Pasco Police Department for 20 years. Most of my 20 years, 18 years of it has been with East Pasco area, Tierra Vida being within my area. I'm a community officer, so I work with not only residential, but community and businesses, anything in the East Pasco area. And I have to tell you this, this is a model community. We talk about the stigma of Pasco and they as community themselves have changed that perspective, and not only statistically, which I apologize, I don't have that with me now. But I will tell you, he is correct. Statistically, the crime rate in that area is much lower than in other areas and in East Pasco in the past. Part of the reason for that, though, is because they are such a close knit community that works very well with the police department and other businesses around them. I would obviously and most likely be working with them when they're working in this bigger community that they're planning on developing if it's approved. They do have other commercial things like the Leo Center, and they do have a school there, and they do have the Collegium, they do have the Rec Center. They do have other things that many of the community members are involved in. Now I think that's the key to keeping such a low crime rate area is keeping the community involved. They do a great job of doing that, and I appreciate that they're allowing me to speak on behalf of them because I couldn't imagine not being up here in support of them and everything they do. I do believe if this was approved, it's going to be an extension of the current development that they have now as far as the closeness and the working with us. Thank you. Justin Baerlocker, JUB Engineering, 3611 Zintel Way, Kennewick Justin Baerlocker, I'm with JUB Engineers. I live in Pasco, but my work office is in Kennewick. We were approached by the applicants in 2019 to help them with their vision of creating this new urbanism style development within east Pasco. As the applicant has identified, things have changed Page 17 of 218 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 17 January 25, 2023 a little bit over time. When we started, nothing has been going on in this area except for the residential and the community that they've created, and they wanted to continue on the creation of that. So, we have assisted the applicant putting together the application packet. I don't know if do they have that with them in their packet? So, we've gone through a supplemental report with the application that's gone through how the project addresses the City Council goals, the comprehensive goals, and the approval criteria of this project. And I do have a handout that I wanted to provide. So, what we've provided was staff provided their findings, and we had also provided findings in our initial application. And so, we've gone through their findings and also identified our response to the findings as well. There's one item that I wanted to address with those. So, in addition to the application, we did do the Environmental Impact Statement and worked with the City on getting that completed and we've gotten comments back. We've addressed those comments and a draft of the Impact Statement has been provided to the City. We're waiting for their discussion to finalize that at this point. One item I wanted to address is on page four where it talks about the trips to the site, saying that 1314 peak hour trips would be generated from the site. One clarification on that during our analysis of the traffic is that when the Conference of Plan was updated, they used information from the Council of Governments on the TAZs. The TAZ in this area had no employment identified and traffic generated from the site. So, during our traffic analysis, when we wanted to compare full build out as industrial versus full build out as a mixed use, we had to make those assumptions of what it would be as a full build out. So, when you compare the two trip generations for the two uses, it comes out as a wash, so similar to what they've identified for the water and sewer that the potential impact would be insignificant. There still would be improvements needed, but they'd be the same improvements that would be required if there is industrial development. The last item I wanted to address is the land use, and it's after page five. There's a map that we have prepared and it kind of graphically shows you in red where the proposed site is. To the northwest is the green, where the proposed park is that the City has identified. To the east, we have Amazon facilities. South of the Amazon is the Tarragon, which is more warehouse distribution. Immediately south of the red of the proposed site, this property is also owned by the applicant. This property is the only other property in the area that's identified as an I-2 medium industrial zone, and the applicant owns that and can control how that's going to be developed. To the west is the existing industrial development for Grow Bounty, that is in an I-1 zone. If you identify in the zoning code, the purpose of an I-1 zone is to be a compatible land use with all uses and not to provide any impact to the air quality, noise quality, and so forth. So, in such, we've identified that most of the industrial uses can be mitigated, as they've already worked with Amazon to mitigate the eastern property line with the sound wall and buffer, there's other mitigation options available. Ryan Brault, 617 Esperanza Ct., Pasco Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening. My name is Ryan Brault. I am a resident of Tierra Vida here in Pasco and also a business owner in Pasco. My wife and I moved to Tierra Vida in 2010 and we were inspired by the opportunity to be part of an intentional community that was more than just a group of houses. Since moving to Tierra Vida, we have made lifelong friends with our neighbors and have experienced a sense of community that's beyond anything we've Page 18 of 218 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Page 8 of 17 January 25, 2023 experienced in any of the other neighborhoods we've lived in. Also, since moving to Tierra Vida, we've adopted three children. We're in the process of adopting a fourth. And so, this is the place that we have chosen to raise our family. And in fact, our children, their best friends, live right in the community. When the idea of our kids asking if we'd ever think about moving away, they're like, no. How often do you have your best friend live down the street? And I was like, yeah, that's pretty cool, isn't it? So, the reality is that we also in 2020, remodeled our home significantly to accommodate for the growth of our family, but also because we didn't want to leave the community that we're in. I completely understand the concerns of housing being located near an industrial area, but the reality is that across the street from where these trucks are traveling down A Street are homes like mine and like my neighbors. And the environmental impact of additional industrial development happening right across the street is going to be a greater impact than if across the street there were more houses and more commercial development. There clearly is a need. Nobody is going to refute the need for additional housing. And we've talked about where is that housing currently being built? Most of it is west. Right? And what does those prices look like? So, there's a need for affordable housing. There is no doubt in my mind that the stewardship and the care that will be given in the development of this community is going to be something that is a model for folks anywhere to really come and see and experience and learn from. So there are a number of families have had the opportunity that we have to have this sense of community that we've lived in and understood in Tierra Vida. But the fact is, now that it's currently full, there's a need to expand and change the zoning to allow for further expansion. Gracie Velle-Chimal, 3702 Milagro Dr., Pasco So good afternoon, Planning Commissioners, thank you so much for the time that you have given us so we can come here and bring you some of our opinions. My name is Gracie Velle-Chimal. I live at 3702 Milagro Drive, which is a home inside the Tierra Vida community. I wear many hats in the community, but today I'm going to wear the hat of a mom and a resident of Tierra Vida, as well as the president of the homeowner’s association of that community. So, when I found out that they wanted to build a phase two, I was super excited. So, living in Tierra Vida and talking to my friends about how awesome that neighborhood is and the reason why we moved there is for to build the community intentionally. I was super excited when this other phase was going to come to be, because in Tierra Vida we have how I'm going to echo the words of Officer Aparicio and Mr. Broetje from a community garden to scouts in the rec center. They have the multipurpose room where we can hold meetings and we can convene. We have families with disabled children. They come together and unified and we also work a lot with the police department and have a neighborhood watch and we celebrate National Light Out. So just events that just bring community together. To me that's like the best policing we have because everybody's watching out for each other's children. And so, when I found out that the second phase was going to be built, to me, Tierra Vida would be a model community. And to see that in the sister of it to be born and just down the street from us would be amazing. Because I do have lots of friends that want to move in, but obviously because we don't have that many housing in that area, I'm just pretty much telling them get in line or get on the list because it is a place to be. And as far as community coming together and celebrating community, Page 19 of 218 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Page 9 of 17 January 25, 2023 that's very unique when we pretty much just have like neighborhood block party gatherings and so much so we can not only take care of each other's homes, but as well as our children, our pets. And so, I would really encourage you, if you do have the time, to stop by and see what Tierra Vida is all about and just to take a tour of the beautiful Leo Center and go grab a treat at the Collegium Cafe and check out our community garden and our parks and you'll see how awesome it is just to see people walking, greeting each other, getting to know each other's name. And it's kind of like the Cheers episode, or even the Pasco Chamber where everybody gets to know your name. So, I would really encourage you to stop by and to really support this plan because I feel we need more types of these communities in Pasco so we can continue to thrive. So, thank you so much for your time. Darrel Moore, JUB Engineering, 3611 S Zintel Way, Kennewick Hello. My name is Darrel Moore. I'm from Kennewick and I'm with JUB Engineers. Just wanted to give just a brief description of sort of the sites traffic circulation. There was the issue of traffic that we're all aware of. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement has a traffic study in it at a planning level purpose, but it describes mitigation components of this project. But the map we provided in the Red is the project and there's no plan road connections to Amazon or Tarragon that's going to be all internal within the Red community area. So, access points will be along A Street at probably matching to existing road intersections. Potentially there could be a connection to south Elm. South Elms is being extended down or by bounty in the City park. So, there's not a connection point between Tarragon or Amazon back to this development. So, trucks are not going to be entering this development from an industrial standpoint. It's completely separated. Obviously, there'll be trucks on A Street. A Street is a very busy truck route already. We're aware of that. Traffic studies can be looked at and more mitigation can be done to take care of those issues. If this is not turned into residential, more industrial will potentially come in and you're going to have more trucks on the road. Another thing about this, if you think about it, if all the housing is coming from the west, all the traffic drives in town to the employment centers. So, all that traffic comes in creates traffic issues with this concept that this change would allow less traffic because you're closer to employment centers. So, traffic is not leaving and going to the opposite end of town or across. So, it's just want to give a brief description of the traffic components of the project. Chair Mendez closed the public hearing. Commissioner Lehrman made a motion to approve, Commissioner Moffitt seconded, the motion passed unanimously. Comprehensive Plan Amendment CPA2022-004 File Number: CPA2022-004 Applicant: Paul Lavrentiev Description: Future Land Use Map Amendment: Low Density Residential to Medium Density Residential R-S-1 Suburban District Address / Parcel(s) 115180075 Total Area (Acres) 32.26 Environmental Determination Determination of Non-Significance, issued 06/07/2022 Page 20 of 218