HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-10-06-minutes-200pm-public-hearing10/06/2020 MINUTES 1
COMMISSIONERS' MINUTES KITTITAS COUNTY, WASHINGTON WEBEX SPECIAL MEETING
TUESDAY 2:00 P.M. OCTOBER 6, 2020
Board members present via WebEx: Chairman Brett Wachsmith and
Commissioner Cory Wright. Recused: Vice-Chairman Laura Osiadacz.
Others present via WebEx: Julie Kjorsvik, Clerk of the Board; Dan
Carlson, CDS Director; Doug Fessler, Network Administrator; Jessica
Miller, Administrative Assistant; Mike Flory, Building Official;
Mandy Buchholz, Deputy Clerk of the Board II; Taylor Crouch, Deputy
Clerk of the Board I; Neil Caulkins, Deputy Prosecutor; Mark Cook,
Public Works Director; Rachael Stevie, Planner I; Pat Nicholson,
Fire Marshal; Kelly Bacon, Planner I; Bridget Pechtel, Planner II;
Jeremy Johnston, Planner II; and approximately 32 members of the
public.
Kittitas County is currently in Phase 3 and in person participation
is prohibited. The public was encouraged to join the meeting by
joining a WebEx event online.
PUBLIC HEARING MARIAN MEADOWS DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT CDS
At 2:00 p.m. CHAIRMAN WACHSMITH opened a Public Hearing to consider
the Marian Meadows Development Agreement (DV-19-00001).
DAN CARLSON, CDS DIRECTOR reviewed a Staff Report which included
general information on the proposal; site information;
administrative review; environmental review; agency and public
comments; Development Agreement review; and Staff conclusions. He
said the proposed Development Agreement is consistent with the
County’s Comprehensive Plan, all applicable County Development
Regulations, and Ordinance No. 2018-006. He recommended that based
on the Conclusions and Findings of Fact, Staff recommends approving
the Development Agreement subject to the proposed changes to Section
2.5 and 4.3.
DEAN WILLIAMS, REPRESENTING THE APPLICANT provided information for
the Board’s consideration and addressed concerns that had been
expressed relating to the proposed Development Agreement. He said
the Easton School District had sent a letter to the Board
recommending denial of the Development Agreement. He said the Easton
School District’s reasoning for having to build a new school is not
justified or attributable to the proposed development.
THOSE REQUESTING TO TESTIFY: DEB OGURA explained how the convenance
runs with the property and she said the road across from it is
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illegal and should not be there. She said the last 10 years
residents of Easton have fought against the proposal for various
reasons and urged the Board to place a moratorium on the proposal. DUANA KOLOUSKOVA, REPRESENTING THE APPLICANT said they supported
Staff’s recommendation and urged the Board to approve the request. JASON MOULTON said he owns the Moulton Lodge on Sparks Road and
although he is not against development in general, he does have
concerns with the proposal because there is not adequate egress in
the area. He questioned where the additional water would come from
and what the impacts would be to the School District due to the
influx of students who would be moving into the area. JENNIFER PHILLIPS expressed concerns relating to the proposal and impacts
from the increased amount of people in the area. JOHN JENSEN said he
was confused with the preliminary approval being subject to the
conditions of the Development Agreement because the developer has
failed to meet requirements which includes meeting with the Easton
School District and the Easton Fire Department Commissioners to
discuss mitigations. JOHN REEVES said due to the Coronavirus there
will be a lot more people tele-commuting and felt the estimated
increase in student population is very low. He expressed concerns
relating to the potential of lowering the reservoir by 80-100 more
feet which would affect the Easton water table. JUSTIN WEIS said
they’ve worked with Dean and Duana on mitigation issues over the
past 10 years and that if the Board had any questions, he’d be
available to answer them. JESSICA KARRAKER believed the
prediction/modeling with the School District is outdated especially
with COVID-19. She said there would be an influx of residents and
students that would be moving into the area due to the proposed
development. MIKE GERBER, EASTON WATER DISTRICT COMMISSIONER said
they submitted a significant amount of comments to County Staff and
those should have been forwarded to the Board. He said they were
committed to serving the area as it was annexed into the area. He
noted there has not been any contact from the Easton Ridge Land
Company since October when they were provided with documents. He
said speaking as a citizen who lives next to the area, he expressed
concerns relating to secondary/emergency access. NOLAN WEIS said he
would be available for questions if needed. He indicated they have
talked to different agencies in preparing their proposal. He thought
they might see less kids attending school due to online school
resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic. PATRICK DEHUFF, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE EASTON SCHOOL DISTRICT said OSPI has no idea
of their student population, and their School District could not
accommodate the number of students that would result from the
proposed development. He explained how the applicants presented the
District with a $500.00 mitigation fee, but with no rational behind
it as to why their impacts would be different from others. He said
the proposed development will push them into having single
classrooms versus their current multi-grade classrooms. He noted
they have made several calls to the County on the advice of their
legal counsel to discuss the future growth and they have never
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received a call back. PHILLIP MEEHAN expressed safety concerns
regarding the proposed project. He said the Easton Fire Department
is solely volunteer and does not have the means to provide EMS
Services for an additional 80+ families beyond their current
residents, and the number of travelers who are in the area. SCOTT DOWNES from the Department of Fish & Wildlife, said if it were to
have future growth out into the hills they would have concerns
relating to wildlife connectivity, but for the time being the issues
they have had seems to have been resolved. TERRI CAMPBELL, FIRE DISTRICT #3 COMMISSIONER said there hasn’t been anyone from Easton
Land Company who has contacted them. She addressed issues relating
to getting medical aid to the development during the winter and
summer months. TOM BARR questioned why the developers who see
opposition to their proposal, insist on pushing forward. He felt
there must be a point where people must start saying no. MONICA (NO LAST NAME PROVIDED) agreed with what others have said and the amount
of proposed homes would bring an average family of 4 to each one of
them. She said they are already being inundated with people coming
over from the west side of the State. TRACI JONES felt the Board
needed to step back and listen to the residents of the Upper County.
She said they do not have the resources that the Lower County has
available to them, including water. TIM RILES expressed concerns
relating to safety issues including increased traffic; emergency
response; and water due to the increase in population due to the
proposed development. MS. McGLAUGHLIN brought up various concerns
relating to the proposal. She asked the Board to reconsider and
urged the applicants to discuss the proposal and affects with the
Fire District. RYAN THOMAS, REPRESENTING THE EASTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
said they provided comments on the proposal earlier. He said the
School District hired a third party consultant to develop a plan
which was adopted in 2018, and they have not seen a downward trend
for impacts. He said there would be an increase of approximately 100
students from K-12 which are currently combined classes. By adding
those students, it would require expanding classrooms and those
impacts need to be mitigated. MARGE BRANSRUD questioned the
definition of recreational vehicles as it’s referenced in the
agreement. She also expressed concerns of where the additional
boats, & ATV’s, would be stored as well as the increase in noise,
and wear and tear to the pavement. THERE BEING NO OTHERS REQUESTING TO TESTIFY, THE PUBLIC PORTION OF THE HEARING WAS CLOSED. MR. CARLSON explained why Commissioner Osiadacz had previously
recused herself from the proposal. He said it related to the
Appearance of Fairness Act and was a conflict of interest in the
matter and had recused herself from meetings relating to Marian
Meadows. MR. WILLIAMS, REPRESENTING THE APPLICANT said if the Easton School
District believes it has budgeting concerns for the future, then the
appropriate step would be to work with the County and develop a
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Comp. Plan update rather than go to Easton Ridge Land Company to
address those concerns. He addressed concerns relating to fire and
water and thanked the community for expressing their concerns. MR. CARLSON addressed issues that had been brought up relating to water
connectivity and other conditions. He said the number of students
that were used at the time of application and were part of the
conditions that were due to vesting. He said that had been appealed
by the School District, but there was a subsequent Settlement
Agreement done in Nov 2018 where extra notice and comment would be
provided. The appeal was dropped, and the language vested, therefore
they cannot go back and remodel those numbers.
COMMISSIONER WRIGHT commented on mitigation requirements for Fire
District #3 and the impacts to facilities and equipment. He said he
was unclear if both fire & medical responses get analyzed. PAT NICHOLSON, FIRE MARSHAL said he was not involved in the preliminary
work, but the impacts analyzed would include both EMS and Fire
response in a category of service calls.
COMMISSIONER WRIGHT moved to close public comment and continue the
Public Hearing to December 15, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. via WebEx. CHAIRMAN WACHSMITH seconded.
COMMISSIONER WRIGHT said he understood the concerns that have been
expressed, but at some point, the record needs to be closed and for
the Board to make their determination on the Development Agreement.
He noted how there had been a significant amount of comments
provided to the Board in both written form and over WebEx. He said
with a substantial amount of information in the record, he would
like to have more time to digest everything that has been provided.
Motion carried 2-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:47 p.m.
KITTITAS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS CLERK OF THE BOARD KITTITAS COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Julie Kjorsvik Brett Wachsmith, Chairman