City of Tacoma Notice of Public Hearing September 2, 2015

City of Tacoma Notice of Public Hearing September 2, 2015 On Tuesday, September 29, 2015, at approximately 5:30 p.m., the City Council will conduct a public hearing on the proposed amendments to the Municipal Code relating to live/work and work/live units. This hearing will take place in the City Council Chambers on the first floor of the Tacoma Municipal Building, 747 Market Street, Tacoma, Washington. All persons will have an opportunity to present their oral comments at the meeting. Those wishing to submit written comments may do so at the public hearing, or may submit them to the City Clerk's Office at cityclerk@cityoftacoma.org or 733 Market Street, Room 11, Tacoma, WA 98402, by 4:00 p.m., on Tuesday, September 29, 2015. Resolution No. 39263, which set the public hearing date, can be viewed in its entirety on the City's website at www.cityoftacoma.org/recentlegis by clicking on the link for September 1, 2015, or by requesting a copy from the City Clerk's Office at (253) 5915505. For more information, please contact Ms. Molly Harris at 253-5915383. Doris Sorum City Clerk CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING September 29, 2015 SUBJECT Proposed Land Use Regulatory Code, Building Code, and Tax and License Code Regulations pertaining to live/work and work/live units. SUMMARY Live/work and work/live units are types of mixed-use developments that further community goals of helping eliminate the need to commute to work, providing more affordable work and housing space, and supporting the creation of new businesses by expanding entrepreneurial opportunities. This proposal is a packaged code amendment project that includes revisions to the Building Code, Tax and License Code, and Land Use Regulatory Code that are designed to provide some additional flexibility for this type of use and better tailor those incentives to promote this use within older, underutilized buildings. BACKGROUND In 2012, the City Council adopted live/work and work/live code amendments to promote community goals with a particular emphasis on the adaptive reuse of existing buildings in Downtown Tacoma and the City's other Mixed-Use Centers. These proposed regulatory code amendments are intended to be incremental to and build upon the amendments that were adopted in 2012. These changes are largely based on recommendations from a recently finalized consultant study on code compatibility, which identified additional code changes that could further facilitate this type of use. The Planning Commission conducted a lengthy public review process of the proposed amendments pertaining to the Land Use Regulatory Code. This culminated in a public hearing on July 15, 2015, after which the Commission adjusted the proposal to emphasize the importance of providing additional flexibilities with better tailoring of incentives to promote this use within older, underutilized buildings. The Commission made a recommendation for adoption to the City Council on August 19, 2015. The Board of Building Appeals completed its review and analysis of the proposed amendments pertaining to the Building Code, and made a recommendation for adoption to the Infrastructure, Planning and Sustainability Committee on July 31, 2015. City staff completed its review and analysis of the proposed amendments pertaining to the Tax & License Code, and recommends that a regulatory license be established that requires a $75 license fee and a written agreement between the City and the occupants of live/work or work/live units. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Please visit the Planning Services Division's website at www.cityoftacoma.org/planning and click on "Live/Work & Work/Live Code Amendments." CONTACT Molly Harris, Senior Planner, 253591-5383, mharris@cityoftacoma.org Sue Coffman, Building Official, 253.594.7905, sue.coffman@cityoftacoma.org September 4