City of Chewelah

Planning Commission Meeting

February 21, 2008

Call to Order / Roll Call

The regular meeting of the Planning Commission was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Vice Chairperson, Irv Schick.  Roll call was taken as follows:  Tom Bristol, excused; Irv Schick, present; Bill Davies, present; Alice Crowley, present; Kevin Herda, excused; Daniel Voltz, excused; and Doug Sassman, present.  Staff members in attendance were Curt Kelling, Tracy Ferrell and Chaz Bates from Studio Cascade.

Agenda Additions, Deletions and/or Changes

There no additions, deletions and/or changes to be made to the agenda.

Meeting Minutes

The minutes from the January 20, 2008 meeting were reviewed.   Doug Sassman made a motion to approve the minutes as presented.   Alice Crowley seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

New Business / Old Business

Pinebrook Development Commercial Zoning Issue:   Chaz Bates presented a Staff Report.  A map that was included in the written staff report was discussed.  The request being presented is an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan land use designation from Single-family to Commercial for 4.9 acres and rezone from Single-Family Residential (R-1) to Retail Business (RB), and implementing zone to the Commercial designation.  The staff report recommended that the Planning Commission take the proposed amendments and incorporate them into the Comprehensive Plan update or forward a recommendation of approval to the City Council.  The Public Hearing would then be held at the City Council level.  A third alternative would be to request the applicants submit a completed application.  Chaz noted that the Staff report is actually a pseudo report because there is no application at this time.  The total effected area is approximately 10 acres.  Adjacent property is zoned Single Family Residential.  Chaz went over the findings and conclusions noting that the requirements for SEPA have not been met at this time and City Staff members and other utility providers have not had an opportunity to review and comment on the proposal.  

Curt Kelling added that when the engineering was done for Meadowcreek, it was taken into consideration that this land would be designated as commercial.  All utility easements have been established for commercial use. 

Chaz restated the options for the Planning Commission as:

·        Planning Commission can deny this as an independent amendment to the Comp Plan and allow staff to consider it in the total Comprehensive Plan Update.

·        Request that staff review and prepare a complete application for the proposed amendments and forward it to City Council for review.

·        Request that applicant for this proposal submit a complete application for City review. 

Mr. Kelling recommended that the Planning Commission keep in mind that this proposal needs to be resolved.   He feels that a good solution would be to have the City submit a formal application to allow it to take ownership of the amendment.  The SEPA review would have to be completed and as would compliance with other regulatory agencies.  As soon as these items are completed the application can be presented at a Public Hearing at the City Council level for a legislative decision. Curt will be speaking with a representative from WSDOT about possible turn lanes in the area of this project next week. The Public Participation Plan will be reviewed to assure that all required steps are met. 

Alice Crowley asked for an interpretation of the designations on a map.  Chaz provided this information to her, which included questions on zoning.

Mr. Schick clarified that the attempt was to get the area to have three overlays (the platting, the comp plan, and zoning) to all be consistent. It appears that (according to records) effort was made to do this at least one time

 in the past.

Bill Davies asked for a definition of RB and CF.  RB is Retail Business, and CF is Community Facility.  On the maps that the Planning Commission were reviewing, CF refers to the Peye Creek Park. Curt noted that this property is now owned by the City.

Doug Sassman made a motion that the amendments be passed on to the City Council with the findings, conditions and report as presented by Staff, with confidence that this will be carried through and completed.  Alice Crowley seconded the motion.   Mr. Schick tabled the motion for a few moments to allow for any public comment.

Steve Crisp, 148 Richmond Lane, Chewelah, WA commented that he is personally involved with the property being discussed, as he has a client that is interested in purchasing it. He represents this client’s interest in moving forward with the project.  He also has a historical perspective on the project.  Park Street Group (Mr. Crisp’s employer) has been involved with this project from the beginning.  He noted that prior to the comp plan approval the land had been designated as commercial.  However, somehow it was incorrectly identified in the final comp plan.  He stressed an eagerness to have this situation resolved quickly and effectively. He agrees with the motion that has been presented.

Mr. Schick asked if there was access to any maps prior to the comp plan.  The response was that there are no official maps that have been located, although there are several good maps that were presented by Bill Grimes in 2001.  Even the maps that the staff is currently using are “patched”.   Curt pointed out that at this point the older maps are a mute point. 

Mr. Kelling commented that he will be dealing extensively with the Hearings Board in the next couple of months as the Comp Plan is updated. So it will be important to make sure that protocol is followed.

Roll call was taken on the motion as presented:  Bill Davies – yes, Alice Crowley – yes, Irv Schick – yes, Doug Sassman – yes. The motion was approved unanimously.

Annual Report – Tracy Ferrell presented a copy of the Annual Report as prepared Tom Bristol and her.   This is basically a summary of all the Planning Commission events in 2007.  It was presented to the City Council at their meeting on February 5, 2008. 

Comprehensive Plan Updates – Mr. Kelling has been communicating with the hearings board.  A schedule of what has been completed and what will be completed by the end of June was provided. The Transportation element is still the primary element to be worked on.   Mrs. Ferrell contacted the CPAT (Community Planning Assistance Team) representative today, but the representative was out.  The City has passed the first step of the application process.  Mr. Kelling noted that the Transportation element will also affect the Land Use and Capital Facilities elements.  Draft language on the Land Use and Capital Facilities is currently being worked on.  Mr. Sassman asked if the CPAT will be coming to Chewelah.  It was answered that yes, the team will visit Chewelah and noted that the visit will consist of ONE all day workshop.   Public will be invited.  There was further discussion on the CPAT process and who would be attending.

Public Comments Period

None

Reports

Mr. Kelling reported that he and Mrs. Ferrell will be working on the downtown parking situation.  A map has been provided so that the current parking spots can be drawn in.   They are attempting to get some assistance from the high school, perhaps as a Senior Project. 

Mr. Bates also reminded the Commission that the State Planning Conference will be held in Spokane in October 2008.

Meeting Schedule

The next regular meeting is scheduled for March 20, 2008.

Adjournment

There being no further business, Doug Sassman made a motion to adjourn the meeting.   Alice Crowley seconded the motion.  The motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 7:45 P.M. 

Respectfully Submitted

______________________________________           _______________________________________

Irv Schick, Vice Chairperson                                                       Tracy Ferrell, Executive Secretary