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Record of Proceedings

Shoreline Planning Commission Ground Floor Commercial Code Amendments Study Session - September 22, 2023

Planning Commission — Friday, September 22, 2023
BodyShoreline, Washington
SessionPlanning Commission
DateFriday, September 22, 2023
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:04:55

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0:35

Recording in progress.

0:39

Good evening.

0:40

I'd like to call to order the Shoreline Planning Commission regular meeting for Thursday, September 21st, 2023.

0:48

First item will be roll call.

0:51

Ms.

0:51

Hoxma.

0:54

Commissioner Brinson.

0:58

Here.

0:58

Thank you.

0:59

Commissioner Callahan.

1:02

Here.

1:03

Commissioner Galusca.

1:05

Present.

1:06

Commissioner Lin.

1:08

Yeah.

1:09

Commissioner Mosier.

1:10

Yeah.

1:11

Vice Chair Wamashan Jay.

1:13

Present.

1:14

And Chair Sager.

1:16

Here.

1:16

Thank you.

1:17

All right.

1:18

Next item is approval of the agenda.

1:20

Does anybody have any changes for the agenda?

1:24

Great.

1:25

Next is approval of the minutes from August 3rd and September 7th, both 2023.

1:32

Does anybody have any additions, questions, comments?

1:36

Excellent.

1:37

That brings us to general public comment.

1:48

Well, I did have someone that was going to uh attend, but they're not here, so we have none at this point.

1:55

Okay.

1:56

Great.

1:56

Thank you.

1:57

All right.

1:58

We are on to our study item, which is ground floor commercial development code amendments.

2:04

Take it away, Mr.

2:05

Baller.

2:06

All right.

2:06

Thank you.

2:08

So we are here to speak with you about the ground floor commercial development code amendments, as you say.

2:14

Um and so I've got here tonight with me Nate Dom, our economic development program manager.

2:21

Um, and I'll let him introduce Patrick here to his right.

2:26

Thank you, Andrew, and good evening, Chair Sager and members of the Commission.

2:30

As Andrew said, I'm the economic development program manager for the city.

2:34

Um in that role I get to see a lot of the interest out there, and it's really clear that our marketing uh, you know, our market positioning and our regulatory conditions are very attractive to development in general.

2:47

Um in fact at the state of the Seattle Market Conference that I went to this morning, I was told by an architect that our promotional video made him laugh.

2:55

And of course that made me deeply uncomfortable until he clarified um that we don't need a promotional video.

3:02

He said everyone wants to do a project in Shoreline.

3:05

So we have a lot of good good things going for us.

3:08

And um, and I'm glad we have Patrick Doherty.

3:11

He's our consultant um on this work and uh has a bachelor's in urban planning, a master's in urban and regional planning, and recently retired from a career in public service, uh, including six years as the director of economic development and community services for the city of Edmonds.

3:28

Before that, he uh at the City of Federal Way over the course of I think 13 years.

3:33

Patrick uh served as the director of economic development, the deputy director of the community development services department, and director of community and economic development.

3:43

Um I don't know if there's any other ways you can combine those, but you you think you did them all.

3:46

He also worked for the City of Seattle, Department of Construction and Land Use for 15 years, I think 17 in roles ranging from associate planner to manager of the design review program.

3:56

So he's helped us draw upon the work of the planning commission in this area and council over the past few years, um, as well as his considerable experience with mixed-use policy planning and implementation.

4:09

And um, you know, we began this work, I think as you're all aware, with a significant pipeline of multifamily projects emerging in the city's commercial areas with many of them, including no commercial uh space in their plans.

4:21

And so um we uh wanted to obviously address that, and I think everybody here knows about that.

4:28

It and our city originally developed as a bedroom community, of course, with kind of limited local services, yet over the years of guiding documents and adopted policies have sought to address that jobs housing imbalance and to see it as such, and examples are the uh increase inventory of business spaces per the uh 2018 to 2023 economic development strategic plan.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Land Use Planning███████████████████████████████████████████43%
Economic Development█████████████████17%
Parking Minimums Elimination████████████12%
Procedural█████5%
Affordable Housing████4%
Building Codes████4%
Public Works███3%
Live Work Spaces██2%
Public Engagement██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Shoreline Planning Commission Ground Floor Commercial Code Amendments Study Session - September 22, 2023

The Shoreline Planning Commission held a study session on September 22, 2023, to discuss and provide direction on permanent ground floor commercial development code amendments. The amendments aim to replace interim regulations that expire in December 2023 and apply citywide. Staff presented recommendations on key topics including use definitions, corridor distinctions, design standards, parking, and incentives. The Commission provided clear guidance on most items, directing staff to draft code language for further review.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved the agenda.
  • Approved the minutes from August 3, 2023, and September 7, 2023.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Natalie Chu, a Shoreline resident from the Echo Lake neighborhood, urged the Commission to consider electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in new multifamily buildings and retrofits, noting the approaching 2030 and 2035 deadlines. She also suggested applying for federal grants to fund battery backup systems for resilience.

Discussion Items

  • Terminology Change: Staff proposed changing “commercial” to “non-residential” to allow a broader range of uses (e.g., offices, civic, nonprofit). Commissioners supported the change but cautioned against uses that do not activate the street, such as storage or certain offices.
  • Primary and Secondary Commercial Corridors: The current requirement of 75% ground floor non-residential would remain on primary corridors (principal and minor arterials). On secondary streets, a lower requirement of 60% was proposed. Commissioners preferred a distance-based approach from key commercial nodes rather than street classification, and requested maps to visualize the boundaries. They generally supported the 60% figure for secondary corridors.
  • Depth of Space: The Commission agreed to reduce the absolute minimum depth from 20 feet to 15 feet, while keeping the average minimum at 30 feet, to provide design flexibility.
  • Height: Support for a 15-foot floor-to-floor height (instead of the current 18 feet in the pilot area and 12 feet in the interim ordinance). The height bonus would be reduced from 8 feet to 5 feet. For grocery store-ready spaces, the Commission favored a case-by-case height bonus through administrative design review.
  • Transparency: The Commission supported increasing the minimum transparency from 50% to 60% on primary corridors, with the requirement that transparency be located between 30 inches and 8 feet from the sidewalk. On secondary corridors, transparency would be 45% (proportional to the lower non-residential requirement).
  • Live Work Residential: Staff proposed allowing live-work units on secondary corridors as an interim measure (e.g., five years) to help lease space in less commercial areas. Commissioners expressed interest but raised concerns about enforceability and long-term conversion. Staff will return with options (e.g., allowing half of the required space as live-work).
  • Parking Requirements: A strong consensus emerged to eliminate parking minimums for ground floor commercial spaces. Commissioners noted that developers will still provide parking where needed, and that on-street parking can be managed. However, they emphasized the need for accessible parking spaces and drop-off/loading zones, and requested coordination with public works on these provisions.
  • Fitness Center Allowance: The Commission unanimously agreed to remove the allowance for multifamily fitness centers to count toward the ground floor commercial requirement, as such spaces rarely function as public commercial amenities.
  • Future Phase Topics: Staff outlined additional issues to be addressed in a second phase, including preserving land for commercial uses, design standards, a vacancy ordinance, and converting existing residential spaces to commercial in commercial zones.

Key Outcomes

  • Directed staff to draft code amendments reflecting the above guidance, with the goal of presenting a first draft on October 5 or October 19, 2023.
  • Eliminate the fitness center allowance.
  • Remove parking minimums for ground floor commercial, with attention to ADA and loading needs.
  • Change terminology to “non-residential.”
  • Adopt a 15-foot floor-to-floor height requirement and reduce the height bonus to 5 feet.
  • Increase transparency to 60% on primary corridors, with lower on secondary.
  • Allow a minimum depth of 15 feet (with 30-foot average).
  • Further refine primary/secondary corridor definitions using a distance-based approach, and develop live-work options for secondary corridors.
  • Staff will incorporate results from an ongoing public survey (closing October 5) and a developer stakeholder meeting.

Meeting Transcript

Recording in progress. Good evening. I'd like to call to order the Shoreline Planning Commission regular meeting for Thursday, September 21st, 2023. First item will be roll call. Ms. Hoxma. Commissioner Brinson. Here. Thank you. Commissioner Callahan. Here. Commissioner Galusca. Present. Commissioner Lin. Yeah. Commissioner Mosier. Yeah. Vice Chair Wamashan Jay. Present. And Chair Sager. Here. Thank you. All right. Next item is approval of the agenda. Does anybody have any changes for the agenda? Great. Next is approval of the minutes from August 3rd and September 7th, both 2023. Does anybody have any additions, questions, comments? Excellent. That brings us to general public comment. Well, I did have someone that was going to uh attend, but they're not here, so we have none at this point. Okay. Great. Thank you. All right. We are on to our study item, which is ground floor commercial development code amendments. Take it away, Mr. Baller. All right. Thank you. So we are here to speak with you about the ground floor commercial development code amendments, as you say. Um and so I've got here tonight with me Nate Dom, our economic development program manager. Um, and I'll let him introduce Patrick here to his right. Thank you, Andrew, and good evening, Chair Sager and members of the Commission. As Andrew said, I'm the economic development program manager for the city. Um in that role I get to see a lot of the interest out there, and it's really clear that our marketing uh, you know, our market positioning and our regulatory conditions are very attractive to development in general. Um in fact at the state of the Seattle Market Conference that I went to this morning, I was told by an architect that our promotional video made him laugh. And of course that made me deeply uncomfortable until he clarified um that we don't need a promotional video. He said everyone wants to do a project in Shoreline. So we have a lot of good good things going for us.

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