Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. This is chair Artsy calling to order the rents and planning commission meeting for Wednesday, 02/04/2026 at 6PM. Our first order of business will be roll call. Commissioner Paddock, will you please make the roll call?

Commissioner, I see. Here. Commissioner Bayan? Yeah.

She's just transferring over to the attendants.

K. Commissioner Fiskell? No. Commissioner Kelly? Here. Commissioner Madsen? Got your name on the list.

Headache. Commissioner Mads, can can you unmute and let

Vee, I said here too fast. I'm here. Thank

you. He's here.

Vice chair of plants? I'm here. Commissioner Pool and secretary Roche?

Here. Thanks for filling in for me.

Hey, Tyler. I think I was not called, or did I miss that? Yes. Commissioner Bayan, you were there. You were your name was called, but I don't think we had you heard you say here. So thank you for the record. Commissioner Bayan is also here. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. So at this point, we have, seven commissioners in attendance, and therefore, we have a quorum to hold this meeting. Next up is correspondence received. So far, we have no correspondence received since the last planning commission meeting held on 01/21/2026. Next up is audience comments. Since this we have a public hearing today, this specific section is for nonpublic hearing items. So those attending virtually will be offered an opportunity to speak after the in person comments are completed. Each speaker will be provided three minutes to address an item. Interested parties may also provide written comments to planning commission at rentandlaw.gov. Groups or organizations may select a spokesperson to speak on a group's behalf.

However, as of today, no one has signed up to speak on non agenda items. Okay. Next up are the approval of meeting minutes of 01/21/2026. Is there a motion to approve the meeting minutes from the last session? There's only one person here today, so someone else is gonna have to second. Motion to

a second, Dana.

Okay. Perfect. Motion made by, commissioner Pitick and seconded by commissioner Roshae. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Not in favor, say nay. And the motion passes. The minutes are approved.

Mister chair, Patrice Kent from the city attorney's office noting for the record that commissioner Fixdal is in attendance now.

Thank you.

Okay. Next up is commissioner comments. Are there any, comments from commissioners at this time? Okay. Hearing none, the next item on the agenda is for director's report. Matt, if you wouldn't mind, giving report whenever you're ready.

Thank you, chair Hardtsey, members of the planning commission. Good to see you tonight. Before we get to our, two public hearings, the next agenda item, just wanted to let the commission know that we had a great, groundbreaking event, for our new transit center in our Rainier Grady, sub area. We had, numerous elected officials there. Obviously, all of our city council mayor was there.

We also had some regional electeds. The new executive director of Sound Transit, Del Constantine, was there, and, it was really great. It kicked off. I'm telling you this third hand. We had a number of staff there that told me it was a great event, but, it kicked off with our own council member, Ed Prince, who is, represents the city on a number of boards, Sound Transit being one, PSRC being the other, but, had great opening remarks, and, we're really looking forward to construction beginning, in the next several weeks, going into the year and into next year.

This is, obviously, I don't need to tell the commissioners you did so much work on the Rainier Grady sub area plan, but this is really just the start of, hopefully, what we see a real transformation of that area in the next twenty years. And then, second item, just wanted to let commissioners know, and I believe Margaret already sent out an email. But I thought I'd note our next meeting, in addition to our, typical agenda items, our own, Patrice Kent, is going to give a, give a training on Robert's rules of order, which I think is, really important. I don't think we've done this in quite some time. So, if you're able to attend, next meeting on the eighteenth, you could obviously remote.

It works as well, but, just getting a brush up on those Robert's rules of order. And then the meeting the first meeting in March, March 4, we're gonna have our city clerk, Jason Seth, come in and provide a training on the Open Public Meetings Act and the Public Records Act, all important state laws, that the commission should be apprised of. And with that, that's the director's report. Thank you.

Awesome. Thank you, Matt. Okay. Next up on the agenda is public hearing docket 20 GroupCDDash246 electric fence code update. Is there a motion to open a public hearing on this docket at this time?

I move to open the public hearing for the first docket. Second.

Okay. Motion made by commissioner Bayan and sec and seconded by commissioner Fixdal. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. All those gonna say nay. And the motion passes. Sorry. Ashley, I think, was it? If you're ready? Okay.

Hi. Yes.

Perfect. Yeah. I'm gonna type on that one. Okay. So, yeah, whenever you're ready, feel free.

Hello. Can you hear me alright? Okay. So, just to reintroduce myself, my name is Ashley Rag. I am an assistant planner.

I typically do current planning projects, but here I am today, to speak to you about our electric fence code update. And so a little bit of a refresh for the background. One of the the main impetus behind us deciding to take a look at our, electric fence, code regulations is house bill sixteen eighty eight, electric security alarm systems, and that specifically is to offer regulations for jurisdictions that don't have any. Renton does regulate our electric fences through RMC four dash four dash zero four zero. And so in this opportunity to revisit the code to kind of update some of our language and whatnot, we are also, looking at the purview of the special fence permit to see if, the electric fence, should be regulated through there or variances.

And so as requested last time, I, am presenting some of the main, the differences from our existing code to our proposed code. And so on this first page here, you will see that it's labeled terminology. So these are mostly just, kind of term updates. So, our exist existing code, references electric and barbed wire fences specifically. And I am the city is planning to change that just as a blanket statement of deterrent fences, so we're not getting too specific in just the general statements of the general intention of the fence.

And so then electric fences are specifically going to be updated to electric security alarm systems, and that that is to kind of keep in congruency with what the house bill states. And there are currently no existing definitions for electric security alarm systems, so we are intending to adopt one under as, like, a sub a definition under fence. And the next section addresses the permissibility. Currently, residential barbed wire and electric fences may be permitted under the special administrative fence permit for large domestic animals. We are intending to clarify the animal categories since we do have definitions for the different animal types, and we are going to be updating some of the language.

And then, these fences will remain under the purview of special administrative fence permits. In our industrial zoning, barbed wire and electric fences are outright permitted, and we don't plan to change the permissibility of that. And then commercial barbed wire and electric fences are currently permitted under special administrative fences, and we are intending to amend that to be permissible through a variance. And then barbed wire fences in commercial and industrial zones may only be used on top of fence I mean oh, sorry. Barbed wire, specifically.

I think I might have said electric there, but just barbed wire. Maybe used on top of fences at least six feet tall, and there aren't any anticipated changes, in that regard. So that's kind of a a bit there. And then, under the requirements section, there's kind of this big change from the existing code to the proposed code. So currently, electric fences in commercial and industrial zones, must include warning signs and then be installed kind of accordant in accordance with manufacturing and electric code standards.

And so we're intending to amend that to continue to have warning signs and then continue to comply with manufacturing standards and electric code standards. And then in addition, we're hoping to incorporate some of the standards, outlined, outlined in the house bill, and that includes, voltage limits, height limits, and then deactivation ability for first responders. So the height limit, the intention is for it to be no more than two feet taller than the associated fence that the electric part is associated with. And overall, no more than 10 feet. And then in an organizational perspective, how our code is organized, it addresses variances in special administrative fence permits in the same area.

And staff has gotten feedback from different applicants and people that try to come visit the city city hall to talk to us about this, that it tends to be confusing. And as a staff member, I can also see where that confusion is coming from. So to try and help some of that confusion, we are intending to separate the variance parameters into its own section and then kind of beef up the applicability section of the special administrative fence permit part of the code to just kind of explain the parameters there. So they're kind of located in different sections so that hopefully doesn't continue to be a confusion. And then coming up next, there will be a second public hearing, and that is scheduled for the eighteenth.

And then following that, deliberations should be on March 4. And then at the bottom, you will also see my contact information. And that is all I have prepared for the presentation. Do you have any questions or comments?

Thank you, Ashley. I guess I'm going to start off. I noticed in the presentation, you required, signs for commercial and industrial use with the electric fences. Is there nothing in there about providing signs for residential use as well, or is that, like, a different section? Or

Our code doesn't specifically state warning signs to be in the residential section. That is a suggestion that we can completely visit.

Any other questions from me also at this at this time? Okay. Sure. Any public, any comments from the public? Okay. Hearing none at this time. We'll go ahead and make a motion to or is there a motion to close public hearing on this docket at this time? I get one more. I'll second the yep. Okay.

Motion made by commissioner Pitick and seconded by commissioner Roshea. All those in favor of closing the public hearing at this time, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. All those who are not in favor, say nay. And this motion passes. Okay. Next item on the agenda is docket 20 group c d dash two forty seven indoor recreation in IL and I'm zones. Is there a motion to open the public hearing on docket on this docket at this time? So moved, commissioner Kelly. Okay. Motion favor sorry. Who's the That was me, commissioner Vichtal.

Okay.

Motion made by, commissioner Kelly and second by commissioner Vichstahl. So, Maya, whenever you're ready, feel free to present.

You. Maya Simon, associate planner with Long Range Planning, and this is a public hearing on indoor recreation. So indoor indoor recreation facilities are currently defined in our code as a place designed and equipped for the conduct conduct of sports and leisure time activities within an enclosed space. It's a pretty broad definition. It applies to all the things in those images, basically anything that is fun inside.

So under the current code, this is broken into two separate uses, one for existing indoor recreation facilities and one for new facilities. Both are allowed in all the zones shown on the map there, various residential, commercial, and industrial zones, And they have different conditions applied, whether it's existing or a new facility in those various zones. As these are facilities that can really help activate vacant buildings and promote a healthy community, we wanna make the regulations a little bit more permissive to these uses. So we propose to condense those two uses into one use and that would simply apply to new facilities and simplify the conditions associated with that. Any existing facilities impacted would be treated as non conforming uses and could continue in their current form.

So in the residential zones, these are currently only allowed in r four and then only for existing facilities in r 14 if they're under 5,000 square feet. And since we have an upcoming docket item regarding neighborhood scale retail, which would allow limited commercial uses in lower density residential zones, we feel that it's appropriate to kind of take these off of being an allowed use in just r four and r 14, and instead they would be permitted under the upcoming neighborhood scale retail in any of those lower density residential zones. In the industrial zones, existing and new facilities are allowed in the light industrial, so the lighter gray areas on that map in the yellow area which is basically the valley area, and we would keep that requirement the same. And then in the industrial medium and industrial heavy areas, so the medium and darker shades on that map, only existing facilities are allowed also in that yellow area. I reviewed that area.

I didn't find any existing facilities, so we would take that off of being allowed there. And instead, new facilities, would be kind of opened up to the East Of Rainier and allowed east of that red line on the map. The reason for not allowing new facilities in that yellow area is that we have a upcoming sub area plan, which will kind of look more holistically at the area and what usage should be allowed, what shouldn't be allowed, where should it be allowed. So we don't really wanna touch and change things and in terms of what's allowed there until that sub area plan is adopted, we've done all the outreach and engagement for it. In commercial zones, we would keep these pretty open.

They're commercial zones. It makes sense for a gym or an indoor recreation facility to be there. So we'd remove a condition that refers to commercial laundry facilities for some reason in the CN zone, and then we would remove a condition in the CD zone, that had a requirement for any indoor recreation facility to have kind of commercial area along the Ground Floor frontage, and instead they would just be outright allowed and they wouldn't need to have that kind of mixed use structure. In our couple of specialty zones, we have commercial office, and this would indoor recreation facilities would remain permitted in commercial office with a mixed use requirement, and they would be limited to 25% of the space of that building. And that's the same condition they have now for new facilities, and that's to kind of keep it being a focus on office development in that commercial office zone.

In the commercial office residential zone, there was a condition that these facilities need to be in a mixed use structure with a certain number of listed uses, and we would remove that condition because we feel that a standalone indoor recreation facility may be more appropriate among the other buildings already built up in the COR zones. In UC one and two, which is the zones covering the landing area, there's some very specific conditions there which I won't read out, but these are a list of conditions that are applied to many uses including under recreation in the landing area and we would keep those exact same conditions and have no change to those conditions in the landing area and that's to kind of help ensure that development looks how we want it to look and feel in the landing. So we recommend that you approve the amendments as described. There's deliberations and recommendations coming February 18. There's no two public hearings for this item.

And then, recommendations at playing and development committee on February 23, and my contact information is there. Msimon@rentandwa.gov. If anyone has, questions or comments for me during the public hearing, which is open for a week.

Something you may. Are there any comments or questions from commissioners at this time? Nope. I guess one question for you. I know we talked about this last time, but what was the purpose for the Park Ave entrance as part of the I think it was the landing or Owens' on the landing. I'm really sure where we left off there.

I think I got it. So I added a little sentence there. I had abbreviated it too much when I put it on the slide, but the full thing was that if they have frontage onto Park Avenue, they had need to have pedestrian entrances onto Park Avenue. So it's not just any pedestrian entrances, but specifically trying to make Park a more pedestrian oriented corridor.

Okay. Gotcha. Thank you.

Okay.

Commissioner Blantz, did you have a question or comment?

You actually asked the exact question I was gonna ask already, so thank you.

Perfect. Okay. Hearing no questions or comments from commissioners at at this point, are there any comments or questions from the, general public at this time? Okay. Hearing none, is there a motion to close the public hearing on docket 20 group c dash or d dash two forty seven indoor recreation in IL and I'm zones? Moved by commissioner Kelly. Okay.

Second.

So we have a motion made by commissioner Kelly and seconded by commissioner, Pettig and, Bayan. All those in favor, aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

All those who are not in favor, say nay. And the motion passes. Next topic are, on the agenda are commissioner comments. It do any commissioners have any general comments at this point? Okay.

If no one has a comment at this time, but we have the last item on our agenda, which is adjournment. Can we get a motion for adjournment?

I move to adjourn the meeting.

Okay. Motion to adjourn made by commissioner Pettig and second by commissioner Baihan. All those who are in favor of adjourning, please say aye. Aye. Aye. All those who are not in favor, say nay. And motion passes. Thank you all for attending.

Alright. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.