Clyde Hill News: Stormwater utility, Tree Code ahead
Also: Unanimous approvals of appointees; smaller lots in Clyde Hill?
At Tuesday night’s city meeting, administration staff described the next step in forming a city stormwater utility: agreeing on a rate structure.
Also, the city council unanimously approved three appointments to fill vacancies on the council and the Planning Commission, and agreed that a “Tree Code” for the city should be part of the city’s plan of work.
More details on these topics after news about a “lot splitting bill” relevant to Clyde Hill residents.
Disclaimer: while I am a councilmember on the Clyde Hill City Council, I write this newsletter in my capacity as an individual resident. Any opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the position of the city. City information and references here are from public sources. I welcome email responses — and if the topic is about city business I will respond from my city email account.
“Lot splitting” bill
A “lot splitting bill” that would effectively override local regulations about minimum lot sizes in Clyde Hill and other cities passed in the House, 94-4. It now moves to a Senate committee. From the website (link) of Rep. Andrew Barkis (R-Olympia) who sponsored the bill:
Under House Bill 1245, splitting a single residential lot into two would be legal throughout Washington, provided specific conditions are met, including minimum lot size [2,000 square feet] and ensuring no displacement of existing tenants. Cities would be prohibited from imposing certain regulations on resulting lots, such as excessive parking requirements, frontage width, or impact fees. Construction on resulting lots would still be subject to all existing state and local laws.
While the minimum residential lot size in Clyde Hill is 20,000 square feet, just over half the lots in Clyde Hill are smaller than that minimum. The average lot size in Clyde Hill is less than 19,000 square feet:
Stormwater utility
The administration informed the community Tuesday night that
“King County requires that the City define its rate structure by February of 2024 to be eligible for billing in 2026.”
Missing the February deadline will defer city stormwater utility revenues until 2027.
A possible rate structure could be a single rate for all properties in Clyde Hill. An alternative structure would be tiered pricing based on lot size or the impervious surface of lots. Defining a rate structure is separate from setting the rates residents are charged. You can watch the discussion here (link).
Yarrow Point, for example, has had a stormwater utility in place since 2011 with a single rate for all properties. An advisory committee of residents (link) makes recommendations to the town about utility rates and other aspects of the stormwater utility.
A stormwater utility in Clyde Hill has been under discussion for many years. The plan for a comprehensive stormwater plan in Clyde Hill started last year.
Unanimous appointments
The city council appointed Lisa Wissner-Slivka by a 4-0 vote to serve in city council position 1. Steve Friedman vacated that seat when he began his term as mayor.
The vote occurred after an executive session that followed questions to the candidates from the council and public statements from the candidates. You can see both candidates’ statements and answers here (link, link).
Mayor Steve Friedman appointed residents Mark Kroese and Jared Wheeler to the city’s Planning Commission. The city council approved both appointments unanimously.
Tree Code
The city council agreed that a “Tree Code” should be part of the city’s plan of work. The recommendation was clear about the priority of completing the city’s Comprehensive Plan and associated updates to the Land Use Code (related to recent changes to Washington State’s housing laws) ahead of creating a Tree Code.
Some readers of last week’s post (link) on this topic expressed concern that any additional tree protection would make preserving views even more difficult. At the very least, they suggested, work on a Tree Code should take the view ordinance into account.
It’s a fair concern given how hard it is for residents to work through Clyde Hill’s view ordinance process (link).
There are many scenarios around tree preservation that do not involve views. For example, consider a lot with trees that do not block any protected views. Currently, if the owner removes all the trees, there are no requirements about tree replacement to maintain the city’s tree canopy.
Part of the challenge for residents here is that Clyde Hill’s city code has three different related regulations in place and no “user’s guide” (to use the City of Medina’s term, link) for how to apply the different provisions. A diagram like the one in Medina’s code showing where a Tree Code would fit in might help:
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Dean Hachamovitch