Seattle City Council Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee Special Meeting 11/1/2021

Good morning.

The November 1st 2021 meeting of the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee will come to order.

It is 11 a.m.

I'm Dan Strauss, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Member Peterson?

Here.

Council Member Lewis?

Present.

Council Member Juarez?

Here.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Chair Strauss?

Present.

Four present.

Thank you.

The Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee, we pause at the start of our committees for reflection because this is the Land Use Committee of the City of Seattle to have a moment of reflection with a land acknowledgment.

I also want to, Council Member Juarez, your comments this morning at Council Briefing were completely spot on, and I think that it's important to recognize that land use acknowledgments are not They are at the end of the day just words and that it is not a passport to behave however we want.

It is not a rote behavior that we engage in.

It is a moment of reflection for us to think about how we are stewarding our land with what is going on in Major League Baseball right now.

I think the words I heard this morning were fed up, and it's been going on since 1833. Was that the?

I digress, just to say that this land acknowledgment is not supposed to make everything better.

And we recognize that.

And it is important, since we are stewarding our land within this committee, to pause and reflect.

So we begin this committee by acknowledging we are on the traditional and ancestral lands of the first people of this region, past and present, who are represented in a number of tribes and as urban natives.

And we honor with gratitude the land and the people of this land.

And we start with this acknowledgement to recognize the fact that we are guests on this land and must steward our land as such as guests.

Thank you, colleagues.

On today's agenda, we have one item.

It's a vote on Clerk File 314367, an application for contract rezone at 14302 30th Avenue Northeast.

The next meeting of the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, December 8, although we are looking at scheduling a special meeting after budget, likely on Friday, December 3, hopefully in the morning.

Before we begin, if there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

At this time, we will open the remote public comment period for the items on today's agenda.

But before we begin, I ask everyone please be patient as we learn to operate this new system in real time.

And as a reminder, public comment is limited to items on the agenda.

However, because today's only agenda item is a quasi-judicial matter, council rules prohibit public comment on it.

And so I will open public comment and then close it.

While it remains our strong intent to have public comment regularly included on meeting agendas, the City Council reserves the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem this system as being abused or is unsuitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted in an efficient manner in which we are able to conduct our necessary business.

We'll moderate the comment period in the following manner.

Public comment period is open for 10 minutes.

Each speaker will be given two minutes to speak.

I'll call on each speaker by name and in the order in which they registered on the council's website.

If you have not yet registered to speak and would like to, you can sign up before the end of the public comment by going to the council's website.

The public comment period link is also listed on today's agenda.

Once I call speakers' names, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone and the automatic prompt if you've been unmuted will be the speaker's cue.

It is your turn to speak.

Please begin speaking by stating your name and the items in which you are addressing speakers We'll hear a chime when 10 seconds are remaining.

Once the speaker hears the chime, we ask you to begin wrapping up your comments.

If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's microphone will be muted after 10 seconds to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Once you've completed your public comment, we ask you to please disconnect from the line.

And if you plan to continue following this meeting, please do so via Seattle Channel or the listening options on the agenda.

Seeing as we have no speakers remotely present, we will move on to the next agenda item.

Clerk's just confirming there's nothing else that I need to do to close public comment.

I believe you can begin.

Public comment is now closed.

Thank you.

Moving on to our next agenda item, our only item of business today is Clerk File 314367. Mr. Ahn, will you please read the abbreviated title into the record?

Clerk File 314367, application of 14302 Development LLC and the Seattle Housing Authority to rezone portions of the lot located at 14302 30th Avenue Northeast from single family 7200 to low-rise 3 multi-family residential.

Thank you.

We are joined today by Lish Whitson of Council Central staff.

We had this bill before us in committee last Monday.

Lish, can you provide us with a brief refresher on the application and the process for considering?

I'm happy to.

I will share my screen and refresh your memories about this item.

Can you see that?

So this is a proposed rezone of the northeast corner of Northeast 143rd Street and 30th Northeast.

The site is two blocks west of Lake City Way and one block south of the city border at 145th.

The area to be rezoned is currently zoned single-family 7,200.

The adjacent zoning to the north and east on the block is low-rise three with a mandatory housing affordability suffix.

The proposed rezone covers portions of two lots that are both split zone between single-family 7,200 and low-rise three.

The northern lot is owned by the Seattle Housing Authority and the southern lot is owned by 14302 Development LLC.

This is the proposed development under the rezone on the Seattle Housing Authority site.

They currently have no plans to redevelop that portion of their property.

It's in use as a parking lot to serve an apartment complex.

And on the southern lot, they propose to develop 12 townhouses in four buildings.

The eastern half of the lot is a riparian corridor, and that area is proposed to be rehabilitated with native plantings.

And here, let's see.

30th Avenue Northeast in this area is the arterial.

And there is a bus stop adjacent to the site.

And this diagram shows parking layout, the location of the riparian corridor, and the townhouses.

And this is an image of what the development would look like.

Happy to answer any questions about the project and proposal.

I have process questions, Lish, but I just want to wait to see if colleagues have any questions on the overall proposal.

I'm seeing no questions at this time.

Colleagues, you can continue.

ask at any point.

My question, Lish, is can you remind us of the two amendments that we will consider today to amend the title of the bill and affix findings, conclusions, and decisions document?

What is the process?

And can you remind us of the content of those proposals?

So the proposal that came to you from the Seattle Housing Examiner, Seattle Hearing Examiner, is to rezone the property.

It's a recommendation to rezone the property to low rise three with the M mandatory housing affordability suffix.

The code indicates that instead you should consider a M2 housing affordability suffix, which increases the housing affordability requirements.

And that's because of the degrees of difference between single family 7200 and low rise three zoning.

So in order to make those changes, you need to do, if the committee supports the rezone, there should be two changes to the clerk file that's in front of you.

First is to change the title to reflect the mandatory housing affordability to suffix.

As shown at the bottom of this screen, And the second is to add the committee's findings, conclusions, and decision that is attached both to the agenda and to my memo on the, which is attached to the agenda.

So there's draft findings, conclusions, and decision that would reflect both the hearing examiner's recommendation and the change to mandatory housing affordability to suffix And one other change, which would be, because this is two different property owners and only one of them is proposing development, the conditions would require compliance with permits that are under review and would be approved for development on the southern site.

the committee should consider not applying that requirement to the Seattle Housing Authority property, which isn't covered by those permits.

So amend the hearing examiner's recommendation so that compliance with the land use permits that have been filed for the Southern side is not required for the Northern SHA property.

And that's reflected in the draft findings, conclusion, and decision that's in front of you.

Is that clear enough?

Yes, it is.

It's clear for me.

And that's partly because, Lish, you and I have spent so much time with these processes.

Colleagues, any other questions here?

Nope.

There we go.

If we have no further questions, I would say we should, um, and before we take up the move the amendments, I will move the clerk file.

I move to recommend approval of clerk file 314367. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

We will for the title amendment, we will now turn our attention to the first of two amendments, both of which were discussed last week and are described in the central staff memo, and which is just verbally described as well.

This amendment would correct the title of the clerk file to reflect a higher mandatory housing affordability requirement.

Mr. Whitson, anything to add here?

No, thanks.

Thank you.

Colleagues, are there further questions or discussions before we go?

Seeing none, I move to amend the title of clerk file 314367 to replace multifamily residential with M2 as shown in the central staff memo.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded to amend the title of the clerk file 314367 as shown in central staff memo.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Yes.

Chair Strass?

Yes.

Four in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries.

The next amendment, we will attach the proposed findings, conclusions, and decisions to the clerk file.

The proposed attachment is listed on today's agenda and included in the central staff memo.

It includes corrections to the errors that Mr. Whitson has previously described to us.

Mr. Whitson, anything to add?

No, thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any questions or comments before we vote?

Seeing none, I move to amend clerk file 314367 to attach findings, conclusions, and decision as shown on the agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to amend clerk file 314367 to attach the findings, conclusions, and decision as shown on the agenda.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Peterson?

Yes.

Councilmember Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Yes.

Chair Kraft?

Yes.

Four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

And now we are going to take up the underlying bill as amended.

Mr. Whitson, anything to add?

Only that this is a clerk file.

This is the clerk file.

Thank you.

See, this is why we have quality control here.

Is there anything to add or any further discussion before we vote on the clerk file?

Seeing none, I move to recommend approval of clerk file 314367 as amended and direct central staff to prepare legislation effectuating the rezone.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to recommend approval of clerk file 314367 as amended, and direct central staff to prepare legislation effectuating the rezone.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Mr. Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Yes.

Chair Strass?

Yes.

Four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

Thank you all.

The legislation effectuating this rezone will be introduced next Monday, November 8th, and this will come before full council for a vote on the following Monday, November 15th.

This does conclude Monday, November 1st, 2021 meeting of the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee.

As a reminder, our next regularly scheduled committee meeting will be on Wednesday, December 8th, starting at 9.30 a.m., with a special meeting likely on Friday, December 3rd at 9.30 a.m.

Thank you all for attending.

Anything for the good of the order?

Thank you, Lish.

Thank you, Noah the Great, also known as NTG.

And we are adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.