Response: The applicant is not proposing to develop Drake as a thru street connecting to Orchard. The applicant is responsible for preparing a site plan that depicts all encumbrances on the site – one such encumbrance is an unopened right-of-way (ROW) at 38th Street, which runs the length of the site from Drake Street at its western extent to Orchard at its eastern extent. The plans depict that this unopened ROW is to remain unopened and undeveloped. Access at the site is proposed as follows:
A. Restricted emergency access only at Holly Drive
B. Right-in-right-out only access at Emerson
C. Full access at Orchard across from S. 36th Street. During their presentation to Council, the applicant indicated that they’ll propose this intersection to be improved as a lighted intersection.

As such, the City would not expect impact mitigation for Drake Street.

Response: The proposed small-lot development would require administrative design review, SEPA, critical area review, preliminary plat, and preliminary planned development review. Additional permits may be determined to be necessary during the City’s full review of a submitted application. In Fircrest, applicants may elect to process their applications sequentially or as one consolidated permit suite; if the latter, the applications would all be reviewed under the highest “type” of permit, which is the preliminary planned development application.
The application would undergo an iterative review with City technical staff or consultants from planning, building, fire, and Public Works (utilities and streets) disciplines until the application has conveyed consistency with all germane provisions of the Fircrest Municipal Code and other applicable regulations. At that point, the City’s planner would prepare a staff report presented to the City’s Hearing Examiner, who would review the staff report and prepare a recommendation to City Council at an open record public hearing. City Council would ultimately consider the Hearing Examiner’s recommendation and complete project record at a closed record public hearing, and issue a decision on the preliminary land use entitlements.

If approved, the applicant would then obtain their civil improvement approvals and would install all civil improvements (roads, utilities, sidewalks, building pads). After the improvements have been approved by the City Engineer, the applicant would apply for final plat and final planned development. A final plat in Fircrest is a Type 4 application which is recommended by the Hearing Examiner and decided on by City Council.
If approved, the applicant would then apply for a building permit for each residence and construction of homes would begin.

Response: The City reviews impacts to emergency services via SEPA. The City has adopted Level of Service (LOS) standards for capital facilities in its recently adopted Comprehensive Plan; the LOS identified for fire/EMS response time is 4 minutes, and the LOS identified for police is to have 1.33 uniformed officers per 1,000 population. The City will review the proposal for its impacts to these adopted LOS standards and will require mitigation from the applicant for any impacts to these standards via SEPA. It is depicted in the City’s Capital Facilities Element and Appendix that private development should be responsible for their impact to capital facilities and that the City should remain fluid in its annual review of the 6-year Capital Improvement Program to ensure revenue sources are strategically applied to maintain capital facilities at adopted LOS standards.

Response: Development is not allowed to cause unmitigated impacts to protected critical areas. The application will require submittal of a critical areas report and mitigation plan, which will be reviewed by the City’s third-party critical areas consultant for consistency with the City’s critical area ordinance. A qualified professional will act on behalf of the City to ensure its adopted critical area codes are correctly interpreted and applied, and that the applicant is conforming with the application of such codes. Mitigation measures may be imposed via SEPA or as conditions of approval that the City Council could include with a decision on the preliminary planned development.

Response: Increases in traffic and vehicle congestion would be reviewed by the City’s third-party traffic engineering consultant to ensure all traffic-related impacts are mitigated for. Presently, the applicant has proposed to install a traffic light at the intersection of 36th Street and Orchard to more effectively control traffic resulting from the proposed development – this proposal would be reviewed by the City’s consulting traffic engineer, and additional mitigation may be required to offset any remnant impacts to traffic. Mitigation measures may also be imposed via SEPA or as conditions of approval to Council’s decision on the preliminary planned development.
As to road maintenance, the applicant has proposed to develop all roads in the plat as private roads. The roads would not be dedicated as public infrastructure to the City, and the City would require the applicant to demonstrate road maintenance responsibility for the life of the plat. Typically, this manifests as an HOA being created that stipulates the responsibility of homeowners at the plat to pay for the maintenance of roads via HOA dues.