Good evening and welcome to the July 6th meeting of the Issaquah Development Commission. Tonight
we will be looking at a, this is a public, obviously a public
meeting, and the process will be explained For those of you who don't
have a copy of it or didn't look at it, there will be approval of
minutes, which is the next item. Then there will be a session primarily for the
benefit of members of the commission that is a review of the process
that is involved with our work here. And then the agenda item is a site
development permit application for process or
applicant SDP 16-0004 and that will be the primary thing that
we'll be doing this evening is looking at presentation by the city. There
will then be, a part of this will be, and the applicant and then we'll
have questions, clarifications and so on by members of the commission.
There will also, there's also a sign in sheet there if there, Normally there isn't
a part the public comment, but we're going to do that today if there's anybody
that would like member of the public that would like to be heard on this
We'd ask you to sign it in please and then when you come up Excuse
me when you come up to the microphone If you'd give your name and your
address if you'd like to be on the record, okay All right with that The
first item is the approval of the minutes are there any Corrections?
Legions? If not, can we get a second? Mr. Chair, move. Move. Motion, please. Move.
Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move.
Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move.
Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move.
Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move.
Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move.
Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move.
Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move. Move My name is Christopher Wright and I'm
the project oversight manager for the Development Services Department. And in the interest of
continuing to train you, especially the new members, but also as a refresher
for some of you old timers, we thought we would take a few minutes to
go over kind of what the Development Commission's purview is and what kind of applications
you see and why.
This is a list of the different types of applications that you see. There are
site development permits, SDPs, which is what you're reviewing this evening. Community
conference, which is kind of a preliminary meeting that you do for some site development
permits, and I'll get to that in a minute. Master site plans, development
agreements, and then some signs. I put that in there for you, Mel. Thank you,
Mr. Wright. Because there are some signs, if they are outside of an urban village,
outside of central Issaquah, on a major street, new signs not replacing existing
signs that would come to the Development Commission. And we'll be evaluating
whether the Development Commission is going to continue to review signs sometime in the next
year or so, hopefully, when we draft a unified sign code.
Because right now we've got five different sign codes for different areas of the city.
So we'd like to correct that. But just know between now and then, you may
see some signs. So the main
applications we wanted to talk about are site development permits, master site plans, and development
agreements. And again, a majority of what you see are site development permits. And they're
what we call a level three review. And if a project is
outside of an urban village and outside of central Issaquah, level three
reviews are required for projects that either are a level three level of review on
the table of permitted land uses, which in the land use code are the blue
sheets, but also sites that are greater than three acres and on a primary street.
So that's kind of the determining factor on when something is a level three site
development permit or not. And I mentioned a community conference a little bit ago. Community
conferences are a required step in the site development permit process, again, for
projects that are not within central Issaquah. And again, tonight is an example of a
project that is on a major street on Sunset Way and went through the community
conference process a few several months ago. And for a level three
site development permit, the development commission is the decision maker and it's through a quasi
judicial process and Amy's gonna talk a little bit more about that in a minute.
And what you're reviewing there is consistency with the development regulations, the design criteria
checklist or the green sheets in the land use code and technical review
of items that are within the land use code. For a master site plan,
and those are kind of getting phased out as well, because there are no master
site plans either in the urban villages or in central Issaquah. But outside of those
areas, if a parcel is greater than 15 acres and is anything other than
single family residential, it goes through a master site plan process. Examples of
master site plans that you've seen in the last few years, usually it's been schools
like the high school or the middle school because that whole property is greater than
15 acres. Confluence Park was another example because that was greater than 15 acres. But
there's only a couple of parcels left in the city that could possibly go through
a master site plan process. And for those, the development commission is not the decision
maker, but actually you make a recommendation to the city council. And often,
especially in the case with the schools, you'll be reviewing the master site plan concurrently
with a site development permit, usually. And for those, a
master site plan by itself, the plans are more kind of a site plan. You
wouldn't usually see building elevations necessarily. It's mostly the site plan that you're reviewing
for compliance with the comprehensive plan and land use code. And there's specific criteria for
master site plans in the code as well. And then development agreements, I think it's
been a while since you've seen one, but you may be seeing one at your
next meeting for Silverado. uh... but development agreements come to the development commission
for uh... when a uh... cluster development is proposed or when uh... project is utilizing
the transfer of development rights or what we call td ours in a cluster cluster
development uh... just by way of explaining is when uh... there's uh... a
residential proposal and the proposing in a single-family zone to either cluster attached
units or make smaller lots in an effort to preserve more open space.
So we do see those sometimes. And like I said, you may have an example
coming up of that. And that too, like master site plans, you're not the decision
maker on a development agreement, but instead you're making a recommendation to the city council.
So this is just really generally kind of the process that most applications go
through us and then through you. And this is a site development permit, as example.
Usually, we'll have kind of an introductory meeting. Sometimes we call it a project feasibility
meeting internally when we go over with the applicant just what the development standards are,
what the zoning is, the permitted uses. and just kind of see if what they're
proposing will meet the code. And then we will have what we call a collaboration
meeting where they may have some kind of preliminary sketches, some conceptual designs. In that
meeting, we usually have a planner and an engineer, and we kind of share the
vision for whatever area they're proposing their project in and just kind of talk a
little bit more about the process. And then the first real application that's made is
a pre-application and we have a pre-application meeting.
And those are plans that are starting to get a little more firmed up at
least to the point where we would route it to all of the different permit
reviewing departments in the city and kind of gather their comments and share them with
the applicant again talk a little bit more about what recommendations we have before they
make their larger land use application and talk a little bit more detail about the
process and expectations at that point so then the actual site development permits the middle
that's the big one that's the that's the land use permit application and so we
take that in again it's routed it's all of the city departments we notify
adjacent property owners and parties of record what the application is submitted
and then subsequently then we notify them again when the public hearing date is set
And when we set the date for the public hearing, we've compiled all of the
comments from all the departments and the planner drafts a staff report,
which includes our overview of the project, description of the
project, and then also our recommended conditions. And then it becomes
before the development commission in a public hearing, which tonight is an example of. And
then if the development commission approves it or conditionally approves it, we draft a notice
of decision. And this goes into a little bit more detail about the
steps that you're involved in. As I said, the staff report that the staff writes
is sent to you about a week before the hearing. And at the hearing,
And there's kind of two parts to it. I mentioned if you're outside of central
Issaquah and it's a site development permit, we will have had a community conference earlier
on to give just kind of initial comments and feedback without making any kind of
decision. But if it's within central Issaquah, it's kind of a two-step public hearing process.
We'll have the first public hearing where we get your input, get public input, and
then we hear whatever issues or concerns that you have. we kind of go
back, try to work with the applicant to address those, and draft up what we
call a briefing response memo that is kind of an addendum to the staff report
addressing those things that came out in that first meeting. And then in the second
public hearing portion is when you will see when and how and if we've
addressed those things, and at that point you would make your decision on the project.
And the reason for the two parts, I know, I said when we got rid
of the community conference step in central Issaquah, if we just had one hearing, it
would be kind of difficult for you to make your decision and for us to
address all of your concerns all in one meeting. So that's why we've kind of
broken it up so we have a chance to go back and address your concerns.
And then finally, as I said, the staff prepares a notice of decision with the
decision and all the conditions, and we prepare that for the chairperson's signature.
And that is the approval of a site development permit. And I'll just point out
now, for all of the... Because like I said, there are many different codes and
plans and chapters that we use in evaluating
projects. And I just wanted to point out that all of those are available on
the city's website. And in particular, there's a section called the Document Center on the
city's website. And this gives you just an example of where the central Issaquah plan
design standards are. But you can also get to the land use code, the sign
code, the critical area, ordinance you can get to all of our codes that we
use through there so i just wanted to make sure you were aware of that
and do you have any particular questions yes christopher is that process the preceding couple
of slides is that on the on on the website as well the city's website
um no not exactly there's a more detailed flow charts
uh that are part of the land use code and part of centralistic, but this
is kind of an abridged version. Okay. Can I suggest that maybe you
send copies of that to us individually
so that we can always have it, new members can continue to refer to it.
What was that, you old guys, was that the? The old timers, yeah. So we
can refresh our failing memory by looking at it too. It would help, I think.
Also, I think if you go forward a bit, if you notice down the lower
left, you need an N on recommendation there. Oh yeah. Okay. Anything
else? So the two public hearings that's really taken place,
so the first one, would have been called a community conference before? Is there a
difference? Well, there is, yeah. A community conference and a public hearing? The difference between
them really is that at a community conference, the plans are still kind of preliminary.
They're in the early stages. And so...
The goal there is to provide your input before they make their more
detailed plans. But in the site development permit public hearing for centralistic while the plans
are a little bit further along. They're complete basically at that point, but then
they may be revised in between those two meetings. But the level of detail in
the plans is the big difference. I had a question.
With respect to tonight's project, where does it map
to this? The last hearing? Yes, it's
basically this one here. Since it's not in central Issaquah, as I said, there was
a community conference that was done for this project a few months ago. And so
what we're entering into now won't be a two-part public hearing. It'll just be this
one, and this is where you'll be making your decision on the project.
Anything else? Okay, Christopher, thank you. I appreciate it. I think this is the kind
of thing that from time to time we need to do. It's good to back
up. Yeah, and it also helps to have this in the public portion of it
too so people have the opportunity to understand what the process is.
Exactly. And now Amy's going to talk a little bit more about the quasi-judicial aspect
of it.
Thank you, Christopher.
So I think Christopher had already touched on your role
as a development commission. So I am going to skip along to the next slide.
So basically, just a very brief description of what quasi judicial mean.
In this particular instance, basically, the process is like a court basically you serve almost
like a court, and the proceedings have to be fair and appear to be fair.
And there are two aspects of what
your role and your responsibilities are focused on. One is the
procedural due process, and then the other one is the substantive due process. So in
both cases, in both situations, I'm sorry, both situations have to be met.
So for procedural due process, we look at whether we followed all the steps
that's required by law. And also, basically, there's a
focus on your role with the person who's benefiting from
the decision, which is the applicant. For substantive due process, basically, we look at
The adopted regulations, whether or not staff established that the
project met the standards, and also the conditions that we
recommend and that you eventually accept and use for the approval
is reasonable and related to alleviating a problem created by the project.
So this is where we talk a lot about nexus and proportionality.
So for tonight's public hearing, we go through this
exercise for the new members. Basically, we have these six
questions that we ask everyone to evaluate on your own. I'm not gonna read all
of them, but I'll give you time to kind of look through them, and then
at the end, I'm just gonna check and see where everyone's at.
So hopefully everyone's done. Looks like you guys are looking at me, which means you
read a lot faster than me. So is there anyone in the
Commission that would answer yes to any of these questions?
Okay, that's great. And we're good. So the other aspect that...