Following mayor’s veto, city council to start over with critical areas ordinance

It’s back to the drawing board for the City of Edmonds critical areas ordinance.

In response to Mayor Dave Earling’s veto last week of the City Council-approved regulation — which governs the city’s wetlands, streams and geologically hazardous and frequently flooded areas — the council decided to pull the item off Tuesday night’s agenda and essentially start from scratch.

“It’s a clean slate,” declared City Councilmember Diane Buckshnis. “It’s a new day and a new ordinance.”

The ordinance, which is technically six months behind the deadline for state-required approval, went through extensive Planning Board and City Council review over the past few years and included a public hearing before council made several amendments at its Dec. 15 meeting. Earling — who was on vacation when the amendments were approved — made it known in late December that he would veto the ordinance if the amendments passed as drafted, noting that several of them ran counter to the work performed by city staff and the planning board.

Earling made good on his promise after the council last Tuesday passed the ordinance with amendments unchanged.

“The reality is, we’re just not there yet,” Councilmember Mike Nelson said in supporting the council’s 6-1 decision to remove the technical, 109-page document from the agenda. “To get there, we need more time.”

Nelson noted that the ordinance will be effective for the next 10 years, adding “we have to make sure we have this right.”

Councilmembers also talked about the possibility of holding another public hearing on the reformed critical areas ordinance in the weeks to come.

During the public comment period, Edmonds Senior Center Executive Director Farrell Fleming urged the council “to complete the CAO (critical areas ordinance) update process in a timely fashion.”

“From our perspective, it doesn’t have to be done tonight but please don’t drag it out unnecessarily over many months,” said Fleming, noting that the senior center plans to begin the permitting process soon for a new community center building on the waterfront. “We need the CAO update complete so the legal context of the permit process is clear.”

Fleming reiterated the senior center’s opposition to an amendment, one of those vetoed by the mayor, to measure waterfront buildings from two feet above base flood elevation, while not changing the allowed zoning height — effectively reducing the building height by 2 feet.

Also commenting on the ordinance status was former Planning Board chair Phil Lovell, who offered a pointed response to comments made last week by John Reed of the Alliance of Citizens for Edmonds (ACE). During Reed’s comments, ACE reiterated its support for the amendment that would have kept the current height limit on properties located within the coastal flood hazard zone. He also told the council that the proposed measurement point of 2 feet above base flood elevation in the prior ordinance “may be too low based on observing the combined effects of high tide and wind seen during King Tides.”

ACE “presents conclusions and recommendations which are inconsistent at least, and disingenuous at most,” Lovell said. “In plain English here’s what this letter says: ‘Build a 30 ft occupied first floor level above pending recommended guidelines because we want to assure adequate protection from sea level rise.’

“What the letter means is that while ACE may respect the principles of Best Available Science, it considers current building heights criteria alleging “view protection” to outweight the importance of our city’s response to this science,” Lovell added.

The council also

• Approved by a 6-1 vote (Council President Kristiana Johnson voting no) design changes to the new Veterans Plaza planned for the walkway outside the Public Safety Complex. The design changes reflected concerns by citizens and unanimously approved the allocation of $30,000 to pay for landscaping elements including planter beds/benches and seating area. We’ll have more on this item in a separate story coming soon.
• Approved 7-0 the Marina Beach Master Plan for redesigning Marina Beach to accommodate the daylighting of Willow Creek through the Edmonds Marsh and into Puget Sound. City Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Carrie Hite noted that the Marina Beach Plan does comply with current city ordinances, but the plan may need to be brought back to the council for adjustments depending on future changes to the Critical Areas ordinance. You can see the final plan here.
• Approved 7-0 the Snohomish County ILA Amendment No. 2 for Conservation Futures funds for the purchase of Civic Field.
• Approved 6-1 an ordinance reestablishing the Citizens Economic Development Commission. The commission, which was allowed to sunset on Dec. 31, 2015, will consist of nine members. Applications will be solicited starting Wednesday and will be open for the next few weeks. Councilmember Adrienne Fraley-Monillas voted against the measure, stating that as written, it did not welcome representation from “blue-collar” professions.

Prior to the regular council meeting, councilmembers met in their other role as members of the Transportation Benefit District (TBD), which oversees the administration of funds collected through a $20 surcharge on vehicle registration. The money is used for street maintenance and repair. The state Legislature last year gave Transportation Benefit Districts the authority to collect an additional $20 per vehicle, and representatives discussed the pros and cons of doing so.

TBD members also agreed to pursue another change made by the state Legislature: to allow TBDs to be absorbed into existing city government agencies, as long as the boundaries of the city and the TBD are the same. This will mean that TBD business can be conducted during a regular council meeting, with no need to hold separate meeting.

The TBD also elected officers for the coming year, choosing Kristiana Johnson as president and Tom Mesaros as vice president.

— By Teresa Wippel