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Renton council adopts ordinance removing council from closed‑record land‑use appeals
Summary
The Renton City Council adopted Ordinance No. 6157 to remove City Council closed‑record appeal hearings from the land‑use appeals process, a change council members said will let them engage more directly with residents without creating ex parte communication issues.
The Renton City Council adopted Ordinance No. 6157 at the meeting to remove City Council closed‑record appeal hearings from the land‑use appeals process, the council announced during legislative action.
Council members and staff said the change is intended to prevent ex parte communication rules from blocking elected officials from engaging with residents who raise land‑use concerns. "By passing this tonight, we're removing ourselves from that process, and we'll be able to better engage with members of the community about issues such as this," Council Member Prince said during debate.
The ordinance amends multiple sections of the Renton Municipal Code to clarify references to the appeal process and repeals section 4 8 1 10 f. The text presented and adopted at the meeting cites revisions to subsections including 4310(f)(2)(e), 47230(p), 48070(h)(1), 48070(i), 48080(g), 48110(a), 48110(c), 48110(e)(4) and 49240(k)(3)(p) of the Renton Municipal Code (as read into the record).
Council members discussed the tradeoffs between streamlining appeals and the council's role in representing constituents. One council member who described themselves as both an attorney and an elected official said the change followed local practice in other jurisdictions and should speed the process. "There are 17 jurisdictions around our area that went with eliminating the engagement of council members in the process so that it would be speedier of a process," the council member said.
The ordinance was advanced for second and final reading and then adopted by roll call. The roll call vote recorded all ayes: Council President Albertson, Council Member Fung, Council Member Perez, Council Member Prince, Council Member McCurveen, Council Member O'Halloran and Council Member Rivera. The clerk announced "all ayes." The ordinance was authorized to be corrected for minor clerical matters and given an effective date, as stated in the adopted motion.
The council framed the change as a way to allow more open conversations between members and community residents about matters such as the Logan 6 development, which had drawn commenters to the meeting. The city clerk and staff will implement the code changes and prepare the updated ordinance language for the municipal code.
Earlier and later references to the ordinance in the meeting record include the full text read into the record and the subsequent roll‑call adoption.
