Council Meeting: January 5, 2009

Here are more notes from the council meeting last week. The main happenings were covered a week ago, but I thought I’d share more details after reviewing the recording of the meeting. ~ Karen

6 pm Study Session: Silver Cloud Substantial Development Permit Application

The mayor opened the meeting by noting that Councilmember Albertson’s questions at the last meeting led to this study session. The mayor asked the town planner, Rob White, to run through the main points.

White presented some new handouts to help explain the process. He noted that Ruston must follow three main areas of state law on this permit: 1) Shoreline Management Act, 2) Growth Management Act (GMA) and 3) State Environmental Policy Act. The GMA requires the town to adopt a Comprehensive Plan, which is intended to be a 20-year written vision of what the community wants to be by guiding things like density, open areas and such. All of Ruston’s codes must be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. The town must stay within state law, but can be more restrictive (within reason).

White then outlined when a SEPA review would be required (most any development more than a single family home). This environmental review has been completed for this project. White has most of the town’s codes, regulations and land use permits/forms available on the web now.

Albertson felt that SEPA rules required a 35 foot height limit “from the natural state of the land” within 200 feet of the shoreline. He defined “natural” as before remediation of the former smelter property, not after the protective cap was installed. It was noted that Ruston’s code defines natural grade for measuring height as the level of a remediated property (because most properties in town have been remediated). It was also pointed out that Tacoma has accepted the same definition for their portion of the property and that the grade of the land prior to clean up was actually higher than it is now that remediation is complete. If one wanted to go back to the “original” grade, it would be below sea level since most of this property is man-made slag.

Albertson then expressed concern about the process. For this permit, the council is issuing “findings of fact” that he felt required the council to directly take testimony and check the record carefully against the findings. The town attorney pointed out that it was the planning commission’s role to take testimony and determine the findings, which the council then confirmed. This is the process Ruston has set out in its codes and has always used in these situations.

Council Member Stebner was concerned about the insurance ratings that might be impacted by building heights and the fire department. (This issue was researched by the fire committee, who recommended simple steps to meet the concerns – read their report here.) White noted this issue was not addressed as part of this development permit, but would have been addressed as part of the SEPA review.

7 pm Regular Council Meeting

After the flag salute and approval of the agenda and previous meeting minutes, the only business item was brought to the floor, Ordinance 1275: Silver Cloud Substantial Development Permit.

Albertson again stated that he had a problem with the council saying they had this slate of “findings of fact” when no one would confirm they had checked the findings against the formal record.

Council Member Huson felt the public benefit far outweighed Albertson’s concerns and that the project included huge amounts of public access and view corridors.

Council Member Hunt wanted to know what the setbacks on hotel building were going to be. Huson noted this was a closed record hearing and the town attorney advised that she could not ask for new information, only clarification to the current record.

The final vote was a tie with Hedrick and Huson voting to approve, Albertson and Stebner voting against. Hunt abstained since she could not get all the information she felt she needed to make a decision.

The tie pushed the final vote into the mayor’s lap. Mayor Hopkins stated he was in favor of this development and honestly felt it was in the best interest of the town. He felt that Albertson’s concerns about the process needed to be clarified so they don’t run into this issue again, but he respected the opinion of the town planner – therefore he voted in favor of the permit. He noted that he “hoped we could all see our way through this and find some common ground.”

Claims and Payroll were approved.

Public Comment

• Jim Wingard felt the vote tonight was a long time coming and congratulated the leadership on making the right choice.
• Terry Knapp wanted to know if the federal stimulus packages would include grants to upgrade the town’s sewer system.

Mayor’s Time

• Hopkins and Hedrick had met with Tacoma Power and he felt they had made progress towards the goal of re-establishing the former relationship that allowed Ruston to buy material and labor for its electrical system at cost.
• The police chief position has been opened up again until January 31st. There were 4 new well-qualified applicants.
• Tacoma Water will be assessing a $280 fee for each of Ruston’s 25 fire hydrants, so expect an unplanned bill of $7,000.
• After reviewing the council rules, Hopkins noted the council had said they would appoint liaisons each January. After some discussion, it was confirmed each council member would keep the same roles (Stebner ~ Parks, Huson ~ Land Use & Development, Hedrick ~ Public Safety, Albertson ~ Budget & School, Hunt ~ Infrastructure).
• The mayor is exploring pricing on better weapons for the police department and looking into the cost of snow equipment.
• Point Ruston is interested in renting the council chamber space at the school, so future meetings will be held at town hall.
• He is working to upgrade the town web site so more information and forms can be available to people at home.

Council Time

• Stebner welcomed anything would help upgrade the utilities.
• Huson was sorry to see the meetings have to return to town hall but understood the need for revenue.
• Hedrick had confirmed that Ordinance 1267 (which provided incentive based salary increases for the police) had not been included in the 2009 budget. The council would have to find $70,000 to bring the budget up to speed. He also announced there would be a non-binding visit by someone (sorry, didn’t catch who) to review the fire service portion only of the Point Ruston development and assess the cost to upgrade. He pointed out that the Obama grants were focused on projects that could be completed in 120 days. Without having the town sewer system engineered and a plan in place, the utility would not qualify. It was agreed to ask the new town engineer if they could provide that planning within the scope of their current contract.
• Hunt noted that Ruston does not require residents to pay a fee to have a burglar alarm. She wanted a study session to talk about the issue, but the attorney said he would draft an ordinance.

The meeting then went into executive session to discuss pending litigation for 30 minutes (but we didn’t stick around for final adjournment).