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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-018 ORDINANCE NO. 2011-018 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF ARLINGTON, WASHINGTON AMENDING CHAPTER 20.96 OF TITLE 20 OF THE ARLINGTON MUNICIPAL CODE WHEREAS, the City of Arlington, Washington has the authority to regulate land uses within the City; and WHEREAS, the City of Arlington has adopted a land use code and development design guidelines; and WHEREAS, following adoption of said land use code, various technical corrections or amendments are necessary to provide for internal consistency and to improve the code; and WHEREAS, the Planning Commission considered these amendments at a public hearing on June 7, 2011, in which the Planning Commission recommended to the City Council to adopt the amendments. The City Council considered these amendments at their May 9, 2011 workshop and at a public hearing on June 20, 2011 and determined approving the amendments was in the best interest of the City and its citizens; and NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Arlington do hereby ordain as follows: Section 1. Arlington Municipal Code §20.96.010(d) shall be amended to read as follows: (d) With the exception to those instances listed in AMC 20.96.010(e), the Comprehensive Plan may not be amended more than once per year (RCW 36.70A.130) and therefore requests for amendments will be deferred to the time of an annual public hearing. Only amendments submitted no later than the last working day of January each calendar year will be reviewed for the annual cycle. Section 2. A new Arlington Municipal Code section 20.96.010(e) shall be added to read as follows: (e) Exceptions to Annual Cycle. Amendments to the Comprehensive Plan may be considered more frequently than once per year in any of the following circumstances: 1. Resolution of an emergency condition or situation. Council shall confirm the Director's finding that such an emergency exists. 2. Resolution of a decision by an administrative agency or court of competent jurisdiction. ORDINANCE NO. 2011-018 1 3. For any reasons specified in RCW 36.70A.130(2), as hereafter amended. Section 3. A new subsection (d) shall be added to Arlington Municipal Code §20.96.020 to read as follows: (d) Comprehensive Plan amendments shall comply with the procedures as required by §20.96.030 and §20.96.040. Section 4. A new Arlington Municipal Code §20.96.022 shall be added to read as follows: 20.96.022 Docketing Procedures—Comprehensive Plan Amendments. (a) The City shall compile and maintain a list, known as a "docket," of all City-initiated and privately-initiated proposed Comprehensive Plan amendments. The list shall be organized as to amendment type and include a description of the amendment in nontechnical terms, as well as the name of the applicant and date of submission to the City. The preliminary docket shall be made available to the public for review and comment for at least 15 days prior to consideration by the Planning Commission. Written comments that are submitted by the end of the comment period shall be added to the preliminary docket. The final docket will be determined as described in AMC 20.96.030(b). (b) Preliminary review—Determination of Final Docket. 1. Staff Evaluation. The Community Development Director shall conduct a brief initial evaluation of all privately-initiated proposed Comprehensive Plan amendments to ascertain whether the proposals meet the preliminary review criteria in AMC 20.96.030(c) and to assess the extent of review that would be required under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). The Director shall make a recommendation to the Planning Commission as to which proposed amendments should be included in the final docket, along with any City-initiated proposed amendments. 2. Joint Workshop. During each annual amendment cycle, the City Council and Planning Commission may, at the City Council's discretion, hold a noticed joint workshop to serve as an informational meeting between the two governmental bodies. 3. Planning Commission Hearing. The Planning Commission shall hold a noticed hearing on selection of proposed amendments for the final docket. 4. City Council Decision. The City Council shall consider the Planning Commission's recommended final docket. Council may adopt the proposed final docket without a public hearing; however, in the event that a majority of the Council decides to add or subtract amendments, it shall first hold a public hearing. ORDINANCE NO. 2011-018 2 No additional amendments may be considered after Council adoption of the docket for that year, except as provided in AMC 20.96.010(e). The final docket shall be approved by resolution. Section 5. A new Arlington Municipal Code §20.96.024 shall be added to read as follows: 20.96.024 Selection and Decision Criteria—Comprehensive Plan Amendments. Considering that the Comprehensive Plan was developed after significant study and public participation, the principles, goals, objectives, and policies contained therein shall be granted substantial weight when considering any proposed amendment. Therefore, the burden of proof for justifying a proposed amendment rests with the applicant. The City Council's approval, modification, deferral, or denial of an amendment proposal shall be based on the following criteria: (a) Proposed amendments that meet one of the following criteria may be included in the final docket: 1. If the proposed amendment is site specific, the subject property is suitable for development in general conformance with adjacent land use and the surrounding development pattern, and with zoning standards under the potential zoning classifications. 2. State law requires or a decision of a court or administrative agency has directed such a change. 3. There exists an obvious technical error in the pertinent Comprehensive Plan provision. (b) Proposed amendments that do not meet one of the criteria in subsection (1) of this section shall meet all of the following criteria: 1. The amendment represents a matter appropriately addressed through the Comprehensive Plan, and the proposed amendment demonstrates a public benefit and enhances the public health, safety and welfare of the City. 2. The amendment does not raise policy or land use issues that are more appropriately addressed by an ongoing work program approved by the City Council. 3. The proposed amendment addresses significantly changed conditions since the last time the pertinent Comprehensive Plan map or text was amended. "Significantly changed conditions" are those resulting from unanticipated consequences of an adopted policy, or changed conditions on the subject property or its surrounding area, or changes related to the pertinent Comprehensive Plan map or text, where such change has implications of a ORDINANCE NO. 2011-018 3 magnitude that need to be addressed for the Comprehensive Plan to function as an integrated whole. 4. The proposed amendment is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and other goals and policies of the City, the Countywide Planning Policies, the Growth Management Act, other State or Federal law, and the Washington Administrative Code and other applicable law. Section 6. A new Arlington Municipal Code §20.96.026 shall be added to read as follows: 20.96.026 Selection and Decision Criteria—Text and Zoning Map Amendments. (a) The City Council's approval, modification, deferral, or denial of an amendment proposal shall be based on the following criteria: 1. The proposed amendment is consistent with the goals, objectives, and policies of the Comprehensive Plan; 2. The proposed amendment is consistent with the scope and purpose of the City's zoning ordinances and the description and purpose of the zone classification applied for; 3. Circumstances have changed substantially since the establishment of the current zoning map or district to warrant the proposed amendment; 4. The proposed zoning is consistent and compatible with the uses and zoning of surrounding property; 5. The property that is the subject of the amendment is suited for the uses allowed in the proposed zoning classification; 6. Adequate public services could be made available to serve the full range of proposed uses in that zone. Section 7. Arlington Municipal Code §20.96.030(a) shall be amended to read as follows: (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), an open record public hearing before either the Planning Commission or City Council is required for all amendments to this Title or the Comprehensive Plan. In addition, on text, major map amendments or Comprehensive Plan amendments, a hearing before the City Council may also be held if the Council so chooses. ORDINANCE NO. 2011-018 4 Section 8. Arlington Municipal Code §20.96.060 shall be amended to read as follows: (a) On text or minor map amendments, the Council shall hold a closed record hearing prior to rendering a final decision. For text, major map amendments or Comprehensive Plan amendments, the Council may, at their discretion, hold either a closed or open record hearing prior to rendering a final decision. (b) At the conclusion of its consideration on a proposed amendment, the Council may proceed to vote on the proposed ordinance, refer it to a committee for further study, or take any other action consistent with its usual rules of procedure. (c) The Council is not required to take final action on a proposed amendment within any specific period of time, but it should proceed as expeditiously as practicable on petitions for amendments since inordinate delays can result in the petitioner incurring unnecessary costs. (d) Voting on amendments to this Title or the Comprehensive Plan shall proceed in the same manner as other ordinances. Section 9. Arlington Municipal Code §20.96.070 shall be amended to read as follows: In deciding whether to adopt a proposed amendment to this Title or the Comprehensive Plan, the central issue before the council is whether the proposed amendment advances the public health, safety, or welfare. All other issues are irrelevant, and all information related to other issues at the public hearing may be declared irrelevant by the presiding official and excluded. In particular, when considering proposed minor map amendments: (a) The Council shall not consider any representations made by the petitioner that if the change is granted the rezoned property will be used for only one of the possible range of uses permitted in the requested classification. Rather, the council shall consider whether the entire range of permitted uses in the requested classification is more appropriate than the range of uses in the existing classification. (b) The Council shall not regard as controlling any advantages or disadvantages to the individual requesting the change, but shall consider the impact of the proposed change on the public at large. (c) The Council shall consider Comprehensive Plan Amendments and Text and Zoning Map Amendments as recommended by the Planning Commission using the criteria established in AMC 20.96.040 and AMC 20.96.050, respectively. If there are substantial changes to the proposed amendments after the public hearing by the Planning Commission, a second public hearing before the Council is required. If there are no substantial changes, the Council may choose whether or not to hold another public hearing. The City shall transmit a copy of the ORDINANCE NO. 2011-018 5 Comprehensive Plan amendments to Department of Commerce within 10 days of the City Council's final adoption. Section 10. A new Arlington Municipal Code §20.96.080 shall be added to read as follows: 20.96.080 Minor Corrections Exempt. An amendment that does not result in any substantive change to the content or meaning of a development regulation, such as a correction to punctuation or numbering or a typographical or technical error, shall be exempt from the notice and hearing requirements of this chapter. In such cases, the Director may make a recommendation directly to the City Council. Section 11. Severability. If any provision, section, or part of this ordinance shall be adjudged to be invalid or unconstitutional, such adjudication shall not affect the validity of the ordinance as a whole or any section, provision or part thereof not adjudged invalid or unconstitutional. Section 12. Effective Date. A summary of this Ordinance consisting of its title shall be published in the official newspaper of the City, and this ordinance shall take effect and be in full force five (5) days after the date of publication. PASSED BY the City Council and APPROVED by the Mayor this _day of 2011. CITY OF ARLINGTON Margaret Carsoti, Mayor ATTEST: Kris ' Banfield, City C erk ORDINANCE NO. 2011-018 6 APPROVED TO AS FORM: 4��k 'i Ste en J. P i e, y Attorney ORDINANCE NO. 2011-018 7 CERTIFICATION OF ORDINANCE 1, Kristin Banfield, being the duly appointed and acting Clerk of the City of Arlington, Washington, a municipal corporation, do hereby certify that the following Ordinance #2011-018 was approved at the June 20, 2011 City Council meeting. ORDINANCE #2011-018 "AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF ARLINGTON, WASHINGTON AMENDING CHAPTER 20.96 OF TITLE 20 OF THE ARLINGTON MUNICIPAL CODE" A true and correct copy of the original ordinance is attached. Dated this 21 st day of June 2011. Kristin field City Clerk or the City of Arlington