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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Mtg Minutes 12-4-13 Final JEFFERSON COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION 621 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368 (360) 379-4450 PlanComm@co.jefferson.wa.us www.co.jefferson.wa.us/commdevelopment/PlanningCommission Page 1 of 9 MEETING MINUTES MEETING DATE December 4, 2013 Jefferson County Courthouse, First Floor Conference Room, Port Townsend Time Topic Action Notes/Follow-up (if needed) A. Opening Business Staff & Chair should coordinate to start digital recorder before gavel. Call to Order Time: 1:30 pm Presiding: Chair: Kevin Coker Roll Call: Quorum 5 Indicate P – Present; AU – Absent & Unexcused; or AE – Absent & Excused (as noted by Chair); Note any late arrivals; Quorum = 5 Quorum Present @ Roll Call Staff Present: C. Smith (Director) ; S. Hoskins (Planning Manager) ; K. Hathaway (Plan Clerk) Invited Guests: Cindy Jayne & Brian Goldstein, Climate Action Committee # Public in Audience: 2 District 1 District 2 District 3 Coker Felder Miller Vacant Farmer Werch Brotherton Giske Hull P P P X P AE P AE P Jefferson County Planning Commission Meeting M inutes Page 2 of 9 Time Topic Action Notes/Follow-up (if needed) Approval of Past Minutes: Miller motioned and Hull seconded. Approval of November 6th 2013 minutes with one change by unanimous decision 5 for, 0 against, 0 obtained. If any revisions are needed, remind Chair to hand write them on the original document (unless extensive), and note them here/on the back of this page. If minutes not approved, make note of reasons why. Staff Updates: Use back side of page to continue if necessary Director Smith New DCD Fees- 1. Pre App fee This fee will cover a pre app site visit and staff time. 2. Consistency Review re-submittal fee 3. Customer Assistance fee  Last year DCD logged over 5,000 hours of costumer assistance and only 3,000 of those hours were covered under the WSRC grant.  We will now be giving 15minutes of free advice to customers, but after that there will be a $76/hr charge. With an hour being the minimum. Planning Manager Hoskins Governor’s Award- South Port Townsend Bay and Port Hadlock Bay Mooring Buoy Management Plan. -Frank Benskin (DCD Plans Examiner) and Hoskins received the award. -This award is a great achievement for DCD, this is the 2nd Governor’s Award DCD has received. -This Plan took a lot of community organization and planning among many jurisdictions. This shows that DCD is able to solve problems effectively in a joint endeavor. Observer Comment Jefferson County Planning Commission Meeting M inutes Page 3 of 9 Observer Comment: Carl Hansen – 1224 Smith St Port Townsend – Chaplain -30 years of residence. Mr. Hansen Believes that affordable housing should be at the top of the commissions list of priorities for the Comp Plan. Brotherton posed the question: What “group” has the greatest need for affordable housing? Mr. Hansen believes that young families have the greatest need for affordable housing. Jim McCardon – Lived here since 1975 – Surgeon/ Developer. Dr. McCardon would like to address the board about the new sign code and its impact on small businesses. He used an example that has occurred to one of his small business tenants in the regard that the City of Port Townsend is forcing Dr. McCardon’s tenant to take down a “flutter” sign. McCardon wants to know why Jefferson County bans these in the new Sign Ordinance? Also Dr. McCardon would like to know if Jefferson County brings in a sign ordinance does it affect the City of Port Townsend? Ms. Hoskins addressed the second question which is no, the Jefferson County Sign Ordinance has no bearing in the City of Port Townsend. Later in the meeting Mr. Smith addresses the first question about the “flutter” signs. Jefferson County Planning Commission Meeting M inutes Page 4 of 9 A. Agenda Item: Cindy Jayne, Climate Action Committee Chair Climate Action Committee (CAC) Update: CAC will present to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) next week Monday, December 9 at 1:30 PM. Climate Action plan was started two years ago the main goal of Jefferson County and the City of Port Townsend was to reduce the green house gases and follow the work plan. Plan Update:  CAC wants to partner with the Planning Commission (PC)  Follow Phases: 1. Phase I:  Implement government lead by example. 2. Phase II:  Transportation and land use policy change for Comp Plan  CAC wants to work with the PC and recommend some policy changes. 3. Phase II:  Try to get help with funding.  Washington State Department of Ecology has a grant that would help fund research and staff hours (up to $250,000).  This grant would allow the county to reach out to other agencies who are also trying to update.  CAC is partnering with Local 2020 to review reports and studies that have already been done so that they can see where in the transportation and agriculture areas of the update the county can change, or alter so that they will comply with climate change regulation. Jefferson County Planning Commission Meeting M inutes Page 5 of 9 B. Agenda Item: Smith UDC Amendment – Sign Code After the last meeting the PC’s changes to the Sign Code were sent to David Alvarez. Mr. Alvarez’s comments came back and he was comfortable with everything about the size and that having a size limit was legal do to the fact that the size limit is to protect community character. Smith would like to insert some minor language criteria to potentially increase the size of the sign depending on the case. PC agrees. Recap of Last week’s meeting and Changes to the sign code:  On page two in the definitions item g last meeting the PC decided to change the word electronic to changing message sign. PC in agreement.  Exemptions page 4 item I sign fixed to a motor vehicle, the language was changed from permanently to affixed.  Page 5 section 6 item b sign size up to 50% higher.  Page 8 section 9 temporary signs. From this week’s discussion it was decided that Mr. Smith needs to go through the definitions of portable and temporary signs. Also he needs to review any sections that regulate these to see if there is any controversy in the language.  Page 3 moving signs. Smith recommends a change in language so that flags and wind socks are permitted as signs. Any mechanical help making a sign move will not be permitted though. PC agrees to this change. (This answers Dr. McCardons Question.) Jefferson County Planning Commission Meeting M inutes Page 6 of 9 C. Agenda Item: Hoskins 2016 Periodic Update – Comp Plan & Development Regulations Hoskins discussed the matrix from Jefferson County Shelter to Housing (JC2H) that was handed out in the PC packets. A note to the PC is that the fourth column was added by Department of Community Development (DCD) Staff. This fourth column addresses what DCD has planned or is doing to address the problems stated by JC2H at present. DCD has a limited amount of resources, on the hand out (Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan & Development Regulation Updates) these are the items that DCD thinks are the top priorities and some of the items already have plans or work groups already working on them. Climate Change: Climate Action plan has already gone through a lengthy review and approved by the BOCC. Bicycle and pedestrian trails: On the county webpage there is a link to our active transportation plan. This plan is to be implemented over a six year period. This plan has already gone through a review process and has been approved by the BOCC. Economic strategy: With help and contribution from many agencies the county and city have a plan and it has been approved by both the city and the county. Affordable housing: The affordable housing plan has been approved by the BOCC. All of these items will be implemented into the Comp Plan, the PC can review these items, but they will not have to re-invent ideas. Jefferson County Planning Commission Meeting M inutes Page 7 of 9 Food Resiliency: Dr. Laura Lewis from WSU has been working on this topic. There isn’t a plan at the moment, but there is a nexus. Smith and Hoskins attended a webinar that had examples from King and Kitsap county. From the information on the webinar Jefferson County is ahead of the curve. We as a county are doing well on our allowances and we exempt a lot of accessory agriculture uses, where as a lot of other counties regulate. DCD is working closely with WSU to figure out where the County can improve. Housing: There is a housing action plan that we are implementing. The first stage is putting in the sewer in Port Hadlock. This will allow Port Hadlock to become a higher density area with smaller lots. Our County Code already allows clustering. Staff Plan to have a tentative calendar out next meeting to show what topics will be talked about at each meeting. Also we are going to have two meetings per month in 2014 due to the extreme work load. Topic Action Notes/Follow-up (if needed) Time Summary of tonight’s meeting/ New Business: CAC would like to work closely with PC to help the county comply with regulations. Smith needs to adjust language in the sign code for the next meeting. PC has narrowed its work load for the comp plan and will begin to focus on making the needed changes so that the county is compliant. Date of next Meeting: 1 / 15 / 14 Month Day Year @BoCC Chambers Jefferson County Planning Commission Meeting M inutes Page 8 of 9 Agenda Topics for next meeting: 1. Unified Development Code Text Amendment (MLA12-226)- Sign Code 2. Comprehensive Plan Update 2016 (GMA Periodic Update) Meeting Adjourned Time 3:20 PM by  Unanimous vote OR