Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

We'll do it that way. Good evening. My name is Kim Lehrman, and I would like to call the City of Pasco Planning Commission meeting to order. I would like to welcome all those in attendance this evening and ask you to join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

To begin tonight's meeting, I would like to ask the clerk to call the roll.

The Planning Commission is an advisory board made up of volunteers appointed by the City Council. The purpose of the Planning Commission is to provide recommendations to the City Council regarding changes to the city's comprehensive plan, land use updates, block grant allocations, and zoning code. The Planning Commission is tasked with considering the long-term growth and development of the community, the impact of land use decisions on community, livability, economic opportunity, housing affordability, public services, and the environment. I would like to remind the audience tonight's proceed

All right. Commissioner Jones made a motion for approval. Do I have a second? All right. Commissioner Tungsten? Close enough. Tungsten? Yes. Yes. Seconded. Okay. So let the record. Okay. Next, let's go ahead and take a vote. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye. Okay. It is unanimous. Let the record show. We have no old business for tonight. We do have a public hearing for the 2025 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report, also known as CAPER. And I'll go ahead and turn it over to staff.

Commissioners, do you guys have any questions? which I recognize as Commissioner Jones.

Thank you very much. Since the repayment of Section 108 loans is by far the largest part of it, could you just give us some examples of what kind of projects Section 108 loans supports?

Any other commissioners? I do have a question for Ms. Webb. Current year entitlement, the 26,000, can you share where that comes from?

saying that again so if you go on to page one after overview assessment goals and objectives the source of funds so yeah I just wondering what that 26,000 what it represents oh that's um so that's program income you're looking at stop report so anytime in the past

And I'm just curious, on page 19, it talked about the city employees bilingual staff that is available. It also talks about participating in a language line. What contract service do you guys use for that?

Wonderful. I don't remember that being included in the past. Excellent job.

know maybe a year or so yeah excellent good job and another question and I could begin confused with another programs that CBG that we carry out with it Thought I remember like a cap of no more than 20% of administrative fees. And here it says 20% plus planning. So I wasn't sure if planning was added to that or this is a different criteria, a different standard.

Okay, so seeing no other additional questions from the commissioners, we'll go ahead and open it for public hearing. At this time, any individual who wish to speak on a particular item, now is the time to come forward and speak and please state your name and city of address for the record. And do we have anyone online? Nope, okay. Do I count to three Mississippis? All right. Well, let the record show that the public hearing is now closed. All right. Do I need to do a motion for closing the public hearing? No.

There is a motion in the staff report? Oh, okay.

We may need help where to find that, but I'm sure it's something to do about forwarding this on.

Okay. All right. Is there a commissioner that would like to make a motion at this time? Okay, Commissioner Jones.

I move the Planning Commission recommend the City Manager approve the 2025 Consolidated Annual Plan Evaluation Report as presented.

Okay, I'll let the record show that Commissioner Jones stated the motion and that Commissioner Miranda seconded the motion and now if I can have commissioners vote on it all in favor say aye aye aye aye all right so let the record show that it passed unanimously okay all right so next we have director Are you ready for the workshop? Yes.

Commissioners, welcome to ask questions, fire away. So how many master plans do we have? Because I think I can think of at least two, maybe three more for our list.

I guess I was thinking of transportation as well as parks and shoreline master plan.

I want to say that I appreciate so much these fantastic graphics. I can definitely tell you guys took the time to, like you said, put it at a high level, kind of chunk it. So a little easier to digest and not just for us, but as well as for the public. So thank you.

Well, I wasn't going to jump in because I jump in too much, but since you opened the door, Chair, I'm going to. I came here with 14 years of city council experience back in South Dakota and have sat in on many, many trainings on stuff like this. this is by far the best one i've ever seen with with the graphics and everything and the way you took us through one leads to the next the next this was awesome because each term i mean this stuff can be it's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together with the pieces upside down it's very very baffling and confusing And they do, everything has to work toget

I also want to piggyback on what Commissioner Jones said. So your guys' next steps, if we can continue to include that in every meeting, I think that would really help the public know what to expect as well as when they can be able to step forward around whatever topics that interest them. I appreciate also how you have dates in there too, so that helps them lock that into their calendars. So the more public input we can be able to get, the better informed decisions we can make in order to be able to make our recommendations to the council.

No. Crutchfield. I am sorry. That's okay. Sometimes the Hatfields and McCoys, you never know. Anyway, in this setting, thank you for basically these sheets as a review of something that I've kind of known about for a long time, at least on the perimeter. But you did kind of, you know, simplified as far as comprehensive plan, zoning, municipal. And there's several things interfacing here that I really especially like, and I highlighted them. It talks about this process in municipal code, avoiding conflicting or piecemeal changes, providing meaningful public input. And it talks about changes tha

Okay. For Commissioner Tumsvik? Yeah. There we go.

Commissioner Crutchfield, there you go. This has to do with zoning, though. And what do you do if something happens that obviously isn't permitted in the current zone? Then what's the process? What do you do? I mean, we don't have code enforcement, at least not much. How do you handle that? Specifically, I'll give an example. On Court Street. about road 16 of Court Street. There's an existing home and there is a home connected to this home. It's not a detached garage or structure. It is huge. The pitch of the roof of this new building is much higher than the roof of the extending building. It

conforming to the current code status, in my opinion. And it also, although the market's changing, it still is necessary to recognize the current development of where you're putting something next to something else that has been there for a long period of time and the neighborhood has you know, made a substantial investment in that, so. I mean, that's, to me, kind of at the top of the food chain on that. I just wondered, at that point, maybe, you know,

Well, it's easy enough to find out just by going into the website and looking and seeing if it's permitted, but I was never, you know, under the impression that the roof pitch could be, you know, it just looks.

And yeah, this is, this is definitely, yeah. Yeah.

Okay. All right. Director? Yes, chair. Now that we're done with that discussion, is it okay to open up for other business or other inquiries? Oh, you've got more.

Thank you. So this could be developed based on the land the way it is now?

here's the zone and this is how many dwelling units per acre could fit based on all those other factors i showed you based on underutilized parcels utilized parcels and all of that math so but some land is is buildable right away some would require significant site development yes this is pushing that to the side and just saying this is how much site we have available yes correct like capacity yes okay thank you yes

Can I ask a question? Of course. Cause it'll slip. It's kind of within this. Remember when we taught, and I'm not sure I'm going to come exactly right on this, but remember when we talked about projections and that the projections that were before this comp plan were so many hundred thousand or what have you, and that that didn't actually materialize. We actually haven't even reached that at this point. Yes. Do you remember that part? I do. So my question is, with the shortage that we're talking about and the projections where we're not even at the projection that we were supposed to be out, y

So that does explain some of it, and some of the really beautiful apartments that are up in the Broadmoor area, which, you know, the sand dunes are gone. It's sad, but they are. But those kind of, for people that need an apartment, are wonderful. But all the smaller, smaller houses, I don't know how that is... helping people that need the lower income. Like some of the really small lots, and you are in real estate, so you know I went into like a 1,700, 1,600 square foot home. They're right next, I mean, it's, and it was 410,000. Yeah. That's not a, that's not a, you know, a low or, I don't thi

And they're building, building, building, building, building those, thinking that's a source for low. I don't know. I don't.

So I do have a question. So what if you keep getting permit proposals for a certain band that's

Thank you. I know there are a lot of cities that when they're working with contractors to encourage them to provide low-income housing, they will require them to, let's say in the 10-story building, have two floors of low-income and then two floors of mid-range and then a couple floors of upper level. Does that take place in Washington, or is that something that the city of Pasco does to work with contractors when they build? Sure.

It's a quick one. how do we determine how much is enough at a certain point in time I know that other cities have done that and I'm not saying it's an easy or necessarily popular with some part of the business community others it may be a wiser just to take a pause so that it just doesn't get to be more than what the market may be hot until it's not. And you're probably too young to remember Seattle. You probably all are, except maybe you. Anyway, my grandma told me this. The last person to leave Seattle, please turn off the lights. things just fell. And I don't remember when that was, like I

And that's what I was, that's what I'm getting. Yeah. We don't have to go above and beyond.

by increasing the density get us to this number of units okay thank you chair as well as uh oh sorry you might want to agree with what commissioner i'm sorry brian um said respecting where these are going to go in like areas like areas like

you mentioned I think that's paramount paramount has to be and by putting housing together coupling it in like areas then you can be able to utilize the infrastructure there parks systems roads things like that the walkability that was discussed earlier that is yep a characteristic of Pasco that we're aiming towards Commissioner Jones

Thank you for saying infrastructure because bigger water lines, bigger sewer lines are likely already going to be there and be able to tolerate another layer or two or three of things being built. So that would be, again, easier to adjust in those things. So all, yeah, easier to do. I'm all for that.

Thank you. Based on our discussions in our last couple meetings about the Riverview area and everything, obviously, you know, areas like that increasing, that would be a risky proposition to say the least. But there will probably be areas where it could be done. And I think the pace of doing that would be the key. Look at it strategically, slowly, how it's gonna impact the area, and then perhaps allow it to be done in a slowly, well-planned, strategic manner following everything that you just showed us in that initial presentation. It could be done. It would just really need to be done careful

All right. Understood. Commissioner Crutchfield? Yes, I agree with these thoughts. Proceed cautiously, slowly, with the idea in mind of, you know, what developments you're coming up adjacent to. One of your comments in the beginning was I could just say I don't like it. And I don't, but I realize that change is necessary. I obviously realize that. And I think that there's one really good example on Court Street that has been there for some time. And granted, it's probably something that we're used to seeing. That may be part of it. But it's higher density than the surrounding, and that's Ivy G

know fits into that area so anyway thank you yeah we do have some model areas in pasco like teravita you know higher density living um two three-story um homes but also a community um park uh recreation center um things like that that people fill feel proud and connected with their neighbors. And so these housing opportunities can absolutely have that as long as proceeding with caution, slow rollout, and being very intentional about these housing opportunities. Any other commissioners? Here you go.

I want to talk about the possibility of loft housing above commercial buildings downtown. When I was on the city council in Rapid City, we have a beautiful downtown area that was impacted by malls and everything that we talked about earlier on. And we allowed all of the buildings in the business area, the business improvement district, if you will, to do that, to go above their main level shop and create residential. Some of them have had it for 100 years because they're old buildings. Some of it was just blank space. And we said, you know, to increase housing, to develop more foot traffic dow

All right, Commissioner Crutchfield. Yeah, it's just on this last number three. So going up, like the building over by the casino, the white apartments that are relatively new, how high are they then? Because they look very nice.

I mean, I've never, oh, river off the eighth street along the river and crazy news casino.

It looks very nice. I mean, it really does. And I think the other concept is kind of cool too. But again, I say it depends on where you're going to put it. I've seen the commercial on the bottom and residential and I'm sure you're familiar because you've lived over there Pine Lake it used to be forested and now that city's developed and they have that Mercer Island same concept city of Mercer Island but different than here for sure sure but so I think both are great ideas it just depends where you're going to put it yeah well for this instance it would be the red areas on the screen

And I think in that area of Broadmoor, I think that that is doable, really. I mean.

Right. Thank you. Of course. So downtown Pasco, I believe there's only one building that is commercial and then residential up above. I could be wrong about that, but I have heard from others that there is, there is interest. Sure. Um, like commissioner Jones talked about, you know, um, having those coffee shops, walkable city on those services that are available. Um, I think a well planned out community would be excellent. I think it would be difficult to, um, well, I guess added to downtown without a whole lot of destruction of current and historical buildings. So that would be, be interesting about where that could be placed.

Okay, I feel like I have good input on that topic.

Commissioner Crutchfield? It sounds really complicated, but I would say just not really.

I'm not in favor of losing any current residential areas. Neighborhoods are to be cherished. One of the cool things about Pasco, especially in this part of town, are the neighborhoods that are around the pool and all of this area over here. I love it. It reminds me of where I grew up in Rapid City in the Robbinsdale part of town. Shout out to Robbinsdale. It's beautiful and they should not be allowed to be disseminated and government One of the roles of government should be to keep those intact, not dissect them. So I would not be in favor of doing something like that.

Do we have a healthy lot of commercial zoning acreage?

I think I remember a couple years ago, a former director said that we were under stock of industrial area. And isn't it usually goes more like industrial to commercial?

Well, I'll remember evolution, not revolution. I was surprised you didn't say that. I was like, oh, that's good. Any questions from commissioners? Okay. I guess seeing none, then we'll close the workshop. Here we go, Commissioner Ludwig.

Commissioner Crutchfield? It was along the line of what Commissioner Bryan said with the fire. The importance for the city of making sure that all those hydrants and what serves the hydrant has the capacity, because as the city has annexed and grown, a lot of that was in Franklin County. And it was a different method of delivering of the water to put out the fire, whether it was a pump or truck or whatever. so as development just explodes we need to make sure that all of those hydrants and so forth that serve those will be functional to prevent a disaster because i yes it has happened yep and

Because a lot of these places were annexed from the county and it went kind of rapidly.

Thank you. I'll wait. Okay, so speaking of those donut holes and absorbing the county land into the city, when is those five last donut holes going to be absorbed? What is the timeline on that?

Well said. Any other commissioners? Okay. Director, as we've talked about state mandates and different issues in current legislation, is there any House bills or Senate bills that as a planning commission that we should be in the know to be able to do our research and decide if we want to write in or advocate for or against?

One more from Commissioner, or more, from Commissioner Tungvik.

We had very, very robust conversations about what the state is shoving at us and our lack of delight in that. to what you're saying. So yeah, those discussions have most certainly taken place. I think that's a good idea. As all of this moves forward, I'm sure a lot of people are going to react the way this group has, and it's going to be a hard pill to swallow.

So my view is similar to what you said, and as an educator, as much as we can possibly be able to educate the public, then they're in the know as much as we can be able to put in a variety of languages as well as graphics to be able to help bridge that gap between first language English and our second language English learners, as well as not painting ourselves as a commission that leans a certain way either Um, we make recommendations up to the city council that is supposed to be nonpartisan. And so, um, allowing our, um, residents in public to be able to come in here and feel, um, that their

Another value that our planning commission does a really good job at, and once again, this is an introduction to our two new planning commissioners, is showing value to the director and your staff. We recognize you guys are working hard and doing a good job, but make sure we take the time to say it because, yeah, your job, all your guys' jobs are pretty thankless. Like you said, when people show up, in the revolution phase right um so we appreciate you um as well as um showing courtesy and respect to our um consultants that come online and or meet in person and so um one thing i've heard throu

Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Okay. Move to adjourn. Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. Good night.