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PL 040506 Rhode Warehouse City of Yelm Community Development Department 105 Yelm Avenue West P.O. Box 479 Yelm, WA 98597   Pre-Application Meeting April 5, 2006 These comments are preliminary in nature and are not intended to represent final comments and or requirements for the City of Yelm. Until a complete application is made, the Community Development Department can only attempt to inform the applicant of general requirements as they appear in the form presented by the applicant at the time of pre-submission. Proponent: Dick Rhode 1202 Berkley Avenue Fircrest, WA Project Proposal: Annex 13 acres within the Yelm Urban Growth Area into the City of Yelm and construct industrial warehouse and workshops Project Location: 9144 Rhoton Road SE Annexation The property is currently outside the corporate limits of the City of Yelm, but is within Yelm’s Urban Growth Area. The property is currently zoned light industrial by Thurston County and is pre-zoned Industrial by the Yelm Comprehensive Plan. The City’s current Water and Sewer Comprehensive Plans prohibit the extension of urban services outside the City limits. The City’s Water Comprehensive Plan establishes an Interim Water Service Policy which states “Annexation of properties in the future water service area will only be allowed for parcels within an existing sewer LID area or parcels that provide at least enough water rights to the City to allow service of the property seeking annexation.” Annexation into the City is a City Council Decision. The Council bases its decision on not only the benefit to the City, but also the projects impact to the City. An annexation area must be adjacent to the existing City limits and must create a logical new City boundary. The annexation process includes the following steps: 1. A petition for annexation with the boundaries of the proposed annexation area is presented to the City by the proponent. 2. Staff reviews the proposal and makes a recommendation to allow, or not allow annexation, based on the policies of the Comprehensive Plan and the joint plan with Thurston County, including: The impact of additional roads brought into the City’s system. Availability of adequate water and sewer capacity. The boundaries of the annexation as it relates to ease of service delivery. The Water System Comprehensive Plan requires that any area annexed into the City provide sufficient water rights to offset the impacts of the development. In order to transfer water rights, the petitioner must present the City with the water rights certificate and information showing beneficial use within the previous five years. If, in the City’s opinion, the information appears sufficient that Ecology would approve a water rights transfer, the application will be submitted to Ecology and the annexation petition will be processed concurrently. 3. The City Council reviews the petition and takes action to allow the annexation to proceed as submitted, to allow it to proceed with different boundaries, or to not allow the annexation. 4. If allowed to proceed, the petitioner must gather the signatures of at least 50% of the owners of the gross land area of the proposed annexation area along with the signatures of 50% of the registered voters or at least 60% of the owners based on land value within the proposed annexation area. 5. Once the signatures are presented to the City, the petition is submitted to Thurston County for certification of the signatures and to the Boundary Review Board for approval. 6. If approved by the Boundary Review Board, staff prepares a report to the City Council to finalize the annexation, which completed by the Council at a public hearing. The entire annexation process may take up to six months, assuming that signatures are collected in a timely fashion. The requirement that annexations not be approved unless water rights sufficient to serve the development are included in the application is a policy that was adopted by the City Council as part of the Water Comprehensive Plan. City staff would not recommend that the Council amend its policy unless there were significant advantages to the public interest in having a parcel annexed. Zoning and Setbacks Assuming the property is annexed into the City, the property would be zoned Industrial (I), which allows warehousing and storage of equipment, commodities, and products as a permitted use. This district does not allow office buildings, but does allow accessory uses clearly subordinate to, and an integral part of the primary use of the property, which would include offices and living quarters associated with a permitted use. A site plan review approval would be required for the development of the property and all standards found in the Zoning Code and Development Guidelines would have to be met. Minimum lot area – 10,000 square feet Setbacks – 15 feet Lot coverage – 85% Maximum height – 40 feet Parking Section 17.72 YMC establishes requirements for off-street parking and loading facilities and their design shall be regarded as the minimum; however, the owner, developer or operator of the premises for which the parking facilities are intended shall be responsible for providing adequate amounts and arrangement of space for the particular premises even though such space or its arrangement is in excess of the minimum set forth in the chapter. Industrial act ivies require one space for every employee based on the largest shift, one space for every 200 square feet of display or retail area, and one space for every company owned vehicle. Parking lots must be paved, striped, and landscaped pursuant to City standards. Landscaping Type II landscaping is intended to provide visual separation of uses from streets, and visual separation of compatible uses so as to soften the appearance of parking areas, and building elevation. A typical type II landscaping buffer is a landscape strip 8 feet in width with a mix of trees and shrubs. This landscaping is required along all sides of the property. Type III landscaping is intended to provide visual relief where clear sight is desired. This landscaping type is utilized along pedestrian corridors and walks for separation of pedestrians from Street and parking areas. Typically, this includes a 6 foot landscaping strip with street trees every 35 feet on-center and grass or sod. This landscaping buffer will be required along Rhoton Road. Type IV landscaping is intended to provide visual relief and shade in parking areas. A conceptual landscaping plan is required with application for Site Plan Review. A final landscaping and irrigation plan is required prior to building permit issuance. A refuse area must be provided that is large enough to accommodate a dumpster and recycle bin. Refuse areas must be of a material and design compatible with the overall architectural theme. If fencing is used to enclose the refuse area, it must be landscaped with sight obscuring vegetation. No refuse container shall be permitted between a street and the front of a building. The refuse area will be required to be upgraded through the site plan review process. Traffic The City has adopted a Transportation Facility Charge (TFC) of $750.00 per peak PM trip. This is a one time fee designed to mitigate the projects impact to the City’s transportation system, and is used for system-wide improvements such as recent improvements to Stevens Street, 103rd Street, and Yelm Avenue East. The Code provides a default table that the applicant can use to determine new PM trips generated. For a warehouse, the trip generation rate is 0.74 per 1,000 square feet. Based on a 50,000 square foot building, the TFC would be $27,750. State Environmental Policy Act An environmental checklist will be required if the building is over 4,000 square feet or more than 20 parking spaces are provided. The environmental checklist identifies possible impacts to the environment and is the document the City relies on to determine if an EIS should be required or if conditions are appropriate to mitigate potential adverse impacts. If the project is expected to generate more than 20 trips through any intersection, a Traffic Impact Analysis will be required along with the environmental checklist. Site Plan Review Chapter 17.84 YMC establishes the Site Plan Review process for new and expanded land uses within Yelm. Site Plan Review is an administrative process which is heard by the Site Plan Review Committee, comprised of staff from the Community Development Department. The minimum application requirements are located in Section 17.84.060 YMC and are listed on the application form, attached. A project of this size can expect completed review in approximately 10 to 12 weeks. Land use approval typically contains conditions of approval that the applicant must complete prior to receiving a building permit. Upon satisfactory completion of all conditions of land use approval, the applicant can submit building plans for approval.