Report from Shoreline council meeting Sept 10, 2018

Shoreline City Council

By Pamela Cross

The September 10th Shoreline Council meeting was primarily clean up work which is a nice way to ease back into a busy schedule after a two week summer break.

Public comments covered three issues. (1) Family and friends of the two young men who died in the motorcycle accident on 205th two months ago, requested the City consider the installation of a permanent memorial at the intersection where the accident occurred.

(2) A Lynnwood man complained of Shoreline traffic police targeting drivers on Aurora for using the bus lane. Specifically, he was northbound on Aurora intending to turn right on 200th, but was cited $138 for not turning at 198th which he said is an entrance to an apartment. He felt improved signage was needed.

(3) The final speaker cautioned the City to not duplicate activities already provided by the YMCA when the new $82M Rec Center is designed.

The Consent Calendar was unanimously approved.

There was one Action Item: bringing the Shoreline Municipal Code into adherence with the Association of Washington Cities Business License Model. After a few questions, the Ordinance was unanimously approved.

There were three Study Items.

Prior to the discussion of each item, Mayor Hall asked all Council members if they had any ex parte communications regarding the item about to be studied. This would include any communication with just one council member present. Examples given were personal emails, conversations, postings on social media such as NextDoor or Facebook, or yard signs. Council members were then asked if they simply viewed or heard comments, or whether they engaged with the other party, and if they felt such communication would affect their opinion of the item to be studied. Some Council members stated they had viewed but not engaged in such communications and this would not affect their opinion.

Study item 9a-1 discussed the rezone at 922 N 200 Street from R-12 to R-24 (Ordinance 836). Because there had already been a hearing, there was no additional discussion. A brief Staff report was followed by unanimous approval to move this to an Action item.

Study time 9b-1 discussed the rezone at 17127 and 17201 15th Ave NE, and 17414 and 17062 12th Ave NE (Ordinance 837). This is a zoning change for planned Senior Housing. There was a brief Staff presentation followed by some discussion. It was agreed the zoning change was in compliance with the Comprehensive Plan. Some of the questions could not be answered by Staff because of the timeline. That is, the developer first applies for the zoning change based on a preliminary design plan for the property. Questions regarding details of the design of the future development could not be answered because the developer would not move forward with a finalized plan until the zoning made the design feasible. Apart from that, Council’s concerns included the transition in height from current buildings to the proposed design. There is a change in topography that may increase the impact of increased height. Additionally the Hearing Examiner had made an unusual note that attention should be paid to regulatory requirements. No additional detail was provided and Staff was asked to see if they can identify an area of concern. Unless the “regulatory requirement” applies to rezoning, Staff may be unable to address this until the design stage. The Council agreed on the importance of more Senior Housing in Shoreline but did want to know if there would be any significant impact on traffic on busy 15th Ave NE.

The final Study Item was the Residential Survey results. This survey has been completed every other year since 2004 by ETC Institute that specializes in public entities. They received great public response to the questionnaires. They send out questionnaires to random households, equally distributed throughout the City, with a target response from 800 households. Shoreline residents returned 1,024. Volunteered questionnaires are not included in the results. Overall results continue to be favorable in nearly every area. Residents’ target the following for improvement: police, travel time within the City, sidewalks, and prescription drug abuse and addiction. Shoreline shines compared on a national level. Full results will be posted on the City of Shoreline website.