welcome everyone I'd like to call the
April 2nd regular City Council meeting
to order
councilmembers Goodman and Ray are
excused this evening I'd like to ask any
of the you in the audience this evening
that would like to join the council
myself and the Pledge of Allegiance
first item under special business this
evening is a proclamation eb7 570 sexual
assault awareness month and I would like
to call King County sexual assault
Resource Center board member sandy do
pleats to please join me at the lectern
whereas sexual assault awareness month
calls attention to the fact that sexual
violence is widespread and impacts every
person in this community and whereas in
Washington State forty five percent of
women and twenty-two percent of men
report having experienced sexual
violence in their lifetime
and whereas nationally one in five
children under the age of 18 are
sexually abused and in King County last
year 2000 children and youth who have
been sexually abused received services
from the King County sexual assault
Resource Center and whereas working
together to educate our community about
sexual violence supporting survivors
when they come forward speaking out
against harmful attitudes and actions
and engaging in best practice sexual
violence prevention sexual violence
prevention work helps end sexual
violence
now therefore I marry you poly mayor of
the city of Issaquah do hereby proclaim
April
2018 to be sexual assault awareness
month in the city of Issaquah and I
encourage all citizens to join me in
this special observance and join
advocates and communities across King
County and taking action to prevent
sexual violence if witnessed there of I
have Herrin to set my hand and seal to
city of Ithaca the second of April and
I'd like to give her a chance to speak
thank you so much good evening council
members and city residents my name is
sandy duplate and I'm a board member for
King County sexual assault Resource
Center I just wanted to say thank you
first of all for really giving the
importance that this Proclamation
deserves by proclaiming April as Sexual
Assault Awareness Month in the City of
Issaquah as a resident of the city for
20 years over 20 years actually and
having raised three children here it is
just so important to me to know that as
a parent and as a board member of this
really important organization that our
city stands behind the survivors of
sexual assault so thank you so much for
supporting
Sark and Human Services with funding as
well as it's so important and we just we
can't be more grateful so thank you I
also have some buttons for the council
members if that's okay thank you for
coming today sandy next item under
special business is a B 757 for citywide
strategic plan will be hearing our
presentation this evening this is the
first presentation council I'd like to
invite sustainability director David
Fujimoto and consultant Bryan Scott of
BDS planning and urban design to present
an an overview of the our Issaquah
project thank you madam mayor and
council members I'm David Fujimoto
director of the office of sustainability
we're here tonight to talk a little bit
about the launch of our work on the
citywide strategic plan I just give you
a brief overview and share this
information with the public since we're
now getting underway as Mary Lou the
mayor mentioned I'm also joined by Brian
Scott principal of BDS planning and
consulting who we've brought on board to
support us in this effort real quickly
in terms of the overall purpose and
intent of this project it's been a goal
for the city and City Council for many
years to get this work underway so we're
extremely excited about getting this
process underway really we're here to
affirm the vision for Issaquah and
establish a framework for us to be able
to better understand and articulate the
community's priorities and then develop
a framework and a process and tools that
will help us to align our efforts
towards those those processes it's
something that we know needs to be
strategic in nature it needs to be
forward-looking in the process of doing
this work we have some goals to engage
diverse audiences in our community
through a variety of engagement efforts
carrying those engagement efforts
throughout the
we know that we want to as we're
identifying some of those priorities and
articulating goals that will be
developing strategies but also
developing performance measures to help
identify whether or not we're making
progress and then we also know it's
something that in the end needs to be
able to be clearly communicated to our
constituents out to our communities so
that they know what it is that we've
identified and how we're making progress
we see this as something that's a tool
that will also line to the city's
efforts internally in terms of how we
think about our staff how we work
jointly and cross departmental Eon
projects will also align with future
budget efforts so we can align our
community priorities with our budgeting
process as well as other plans and
strategies and tools like our capital
planning process as well I'm going to
turn it over to Brian to talk a little
bit more about BDS and Eko Northwest
who's the the consulting groups that are
working with us and a little bit more
about the process
good evening I'm Brian Scott with BDS
planning and I have the pleasure being
the project director on this project and
I've spoken with most of you on the
phone in the last week so nice to
connect with you face-to-face
BDS planning and echo Northwest are
working together on this project we
often work together and we do a lot of
public sector strategic planning
including municipal strategic planning
we recently did a strategic plan for
Salem Oregon we're currently engaged in
one in McMinnville Oregon BDS who
recently finished facilitating the King
County 911 cluding councilmember Mart's
participating in in that effort Echo
Northwest is the Northwest oldest and
largest economics firm one of its
founding principals Terry Moore as their
lead on this project
along with some others BDS has been I
founded the firm about ten years ago
I've been doing community development
and strategic planning around the
Pacific Northwest for over 35 years had
the chance to work in communities all
across Oregon and Washington and so it's
a pleasure to be in a community that I
haven't worked before and and add add to
the portfolio of work on this particular
project
there are four key parts a situational
assessment community engagement the
strategic plan and implementation
strategy echo Northwest is the lead on
the facility on the on the situation
assessment they're underway on that now
Terry Moore as I mentioned Mike Gleason
who is a longtime public sector manager
he managed four different cities in
three counties so he's a very seasoned
professional he's mostly retired now but
he has a lot of useful advice as well as
Eric rondell who's done some recent work
in Issaquah so he's familiar with the
community help bill to give us that
anchor our Community Engagement Team
will be led by our project manager
gabriel silver blat who is here with me
tonight and we have a team of diverse
folks who we hand-picked to try and fit
the different communities in Issaquah
that we want to engage and then all of
us will be working together on the
strategic planning and implementation
parts of the project the process as I
described to some of you individually
but I haven't done it in public has
three big phases the first one is about
who we are now and who do we who do we
want to be who do we feel about it the
second phase is about where do we want
to go that's really the strategic
thinking phase and then the third phase
is about how we're going to get there
implementation planning for that just
underway for a few weeks now but there
are lots of parts to the community
engagement I think David's going to
mention a few more of those in a moment
we're about to
launched a community-wide online survey
so everybody can have a chance to
express their values about Issaquah and
their dreams and hopes we're engaging a
number of focus groups for people to
talk about what they hope for Issaquah
we're producing a thing we're calling
meeting in a box so we have all the
materials for folks that want to add to
those meetings and organize their own
meetings as well as some community
pop-up events at the same time that echo
Northwest is busy compiling a situation
assessment based on city's existing
documents and interviews with city
department heads to try and sort of
characterize that situation that the
existing situation that'll all come
together at a strategic planning
Charette later in the spring where we'll
meet with the council department heads
and key stakeholders in the community to
try and refine that into some key
strategic priority areas and then we'll
work through the couple of months after
that - in individual workgroups on each
of those priority areas to establish
goals and objectives and then through
the summer on specific action plans and
performance metrics and a first year
work plan so that's the plan for the
process today is just an introduction to
that Thank You Bryan so just a little
bit more information in terms of
timeline going forward we are still
working on some specific dates as we
think about the engagement effort really
as part of that first phase of
engagement that Brian spoke about
there's a pretty concerted effort and
the staff led effort to go out to the
community to reach the diverse audiences
that we have in our community we want to
make sure that we get that part right
and so that's going to take some time we
have a whole variety of different
strategies for doing that but that
really kind of drives our schedule going
forward it's the key and one of the most
important inputs into the community
strategic planning Charette that will be
happening that will be in May or June as
well as the situational assessment
that's coming forward as well in the
process of review
we can't proceed to reach through each
of these steps we'll be working with a
project leadership team with some
various checkpoints and then also
working with City Council's so we'll be
coming back to City Council three
different points in the process before
bringing it forward for adoption and
those will show up as council work
sessions so those are in the process of
being scheduled I think there's some
tentative dates on the planning calendar
but those will be relooked at as we
proceed with the engagement process
concurrent with that is also ongoing
communications that will have out about
the the project as a whole a couple of
pieces in kind of real time or it's
happening right now Brian mentioned the
vision and value survey that is now live
we just launched that today on the
city's website so our communications
team will actually be promoting that
through a variety of different channels
as both electronic as well as just in on
the ground in the different communities
there'll be a resource card that has
here somewhere that will be shared to
different audiences we're talking about
a-frame signs in neighborhoods so we can
get the word out trying to find a whole
variety of different avenues in addition
to direct outreach to different
community voices and leaders to be able
to share that information so vision and
value surveys on the streets there's a
link or a URL to the website if you go
there you can find a link to both the
survey as well as you can sign up to
alert a listserv so you can be informed
about future events and updates on the
website and then we're also working to
schedule the pop-up events the meetings
in a box and then focus groups later
this month and into next month thank you
David and Brian and Gabriel you weren't
there so can you wave it everybody
that's Gabriel or other round team
partner there during special
presentations we usually do not have
questions but if you have a quick
question or two we can probably fit it
in tonight okay thank you thank you very
much
very exciting start next on our agenda
this evening is audience comments this
is your time to address your council
there are guidelines on this on the
bottom of the meeting agenda anyone who
signed up on our speakers list tonight
will be called forward first and if you
did not sign up I will then ask for
other speakers before I close this
portion of the meeting when you're
recognized please come up to the lectern
use the micro and speak into the
microphone state your name address and
relationship to the city just a wave of
hands how many people do we think we're
having speak tonight about ten okay so
we will limit comments to 5-minutes
tonight and if you have anything in
writing please come up after and submit
it to the city clerk there is also a
public hearing tonight regarding a
Street vacation of a portion of
Northeast Gilman Boulevard if you'd like
to make comments on this topic you'll
have an opportunity to do so later in
the meeting thank you for taking the
time to come in and talk to your council
tonight and has anyone signed up to
speak this evening yes Elizabeth my pen
hello I'm Elizabeth mapa I live at 100
Big Bear place Northwest and I've been a
resident most of the time since 1982 and
have served on the Human Services
Commission recently there was another
mitigated determination of non
significance related to the providence
Heights property it seems to me that
there's been considerable public comment
about the significance of that site both
the first time we went through this and
the second time and it doesn't seem to
be making any impact so I'm wondering I
know you can't answer questions now but
I wonder what part that public input
really has in that public comment period
on the final outcome of determining the
significance of destroying properties
in this city that's my concern Thank You
Q Lizabeth Susan Haas
hey good evening staff and city council
and mayor Polly thank you my name is
Susan Haas and I live in Sammamish at
195 to 4 southeast 24th place and I'm a
Thursday morning volunteer at the quad
food and clothing bank so that's my main
connection to Issaquah and also just
being one of the many people interested
in preservation of Providence Heights
campus a very special but very secluded
place I just want to say something great
happened there was a woman named Martha
from the Office of Sustainability that
responded to a question that I had about
the single-family small lot zoning I was
wondering whether social services and
nonprofit organizations whether that
permitted use cannot be overnight
services and she Keith Nibin graciously
asked her and she said yes absolutely it
can be for a shelter it can be for
transitional housing so it was really
good news just to that citywide that
zoning allows that I just was so
heartened by that and also that's the
zoning that's at Providence Heights
campus right now and it would be just
great too if that place can be preserved
to work with the city on what the city's
vision already is for that you know site
through the zoning and all of that so
we're just really thrilled with a lot of
the contact was various staff here Keith
Niven and other people and also I just
wanted to say I really applaud that this
partnership with the his across school
district and working together I think
that is so great the this cooperation
and coordination that you started this
afternoon or I'm sure it was started
before then but it's really wonderful
and I just really encourage that that
process that you really empower
yourselves and the school board to be
and this
staff the city staff the school board
stab to be really equitable in that
process and very just and very
transparent that you know everything you
need to know to be able to make your
decisions em and I guess one small
example is that the testing for the
soils on that site near the Swedish
hospital and the assessment of the trees
it sounds like it has not been completed
potentially because it's expensive to do
but as I understand how people's time is
very precious also that I guess I just
encourage you to ask the school board to
just find out what needs to be found out
before going through all the questions
from City Council and all the you know
the process and the calendars and all
that because I just know how valuable
your time is to you and your loved ones
and I just want to see it I'll work out
well and in terms of other school sites
I just
I've heard of various school sites and
the one that they condemned near
Connie's as far as I understand today I
just really think it's important to look
at the whole picture and the whole
school district and what you're doing
today bringing a map and all your
information and I think that will really
help make some really good decisions and
then see how can you best maximize all
your goals and still you know this is
the city and the special district that
the school district is so thanks a lot
Thank You Susan even know that yes Karen
Lee
hello my name is Karen Lee Elizabeth
Suzanne and I would say I moved to its
the club in 1991 and now it is part of
Sammamish so technically I live in some
amis now Susan Elizabeth and I are on
the board of preserved Providence
Heights we are a 501 C 3 non-profit we
organized in December to help save
Providence Heights for historical
landmark which as the Quad City Issaquah
designated last year and we have been
trying very hard to find another use for
Providence Heights so that the city of
Ithaca could have social services and
housing for the poor and preserve the
buildings that are there now it which
could be reused and including the fact
that is the only bomb shelter on the
east side and we may need it someday we
heard about a couple other sites for
high schools that I don't know if
they're possible but they're both in the
Highlands which would be a great because
most of those students who need us high
school are in the Highlands it would be
great for them to have a local high
school so they don't wouldn't have to be
bused to Providence Heights which is
pretty far away from them and one of
them is lakeside development of five
acres and the other one is shelter
Holdings which has 21.5 acres I know
that they're getting ready to develop it
but maybe something else could be put
there like a high school and our
nonprofit is working very hard to
partner with other nonprofits and we
found another nonprofit who is very
interested in buying the property
- she was here at the last council
meeting to talk about it her vision of
housing women and rehabilitating them to
be functional members of society and
then their families and then finally
later on men and we have other
nonprofits that are very interested in
joining with us so that they also have
some money but together we could
probably come up with enough money -
that would satisfy a church home that
they would be willing to sell it to us I
mean not to us but to her
we're just facilitating this we're not
we're not actually good involved the
other thing is about where was that
going
the in order for this to happen we need
to have the historical and marking stay
in place because Christine could really
she said Oh probably cost about maybe
three to five million dollars to remodel
the buildings as they are so that
they're fully functional to her purposes
and we would have to have the school
district remove the eminent domain which
is why I mentioned the other sites for a
possible high school in the Highlands
instead of Providence Heights and so
with your help we could help fulfill
this provision and it's time for
something really wonderful at Providence
Heights Thank You Aaron before you leave
can I get an address for their preserved
Providence Heights as well or your
address my address is 582 to 40th Avenue
southeast Sammamish and I put it on the
form to fill out to speak thank you
Karen you know one further has signed up
to speak is there anyone else I would
like to speak this evening mr. Kapler
standing up
thank you David Kepler 255 southeast
Andrews traffic-calming in old town
seems to be working including even with
garbage bags on the signs so thank you
we'll see if it keeps working given the
lights issue at the middle school I
think we just demonstrated that the belt
the inquest School District is not
capable of doing their own SEPA and SEPA
for a school site in the highlands needs
to be done by this city we also need a
park on the western part of the
highlands and we got a limited amount of
property where that part could be but
that is a priority for the city and for
the citizens up there the site across
the east of the school of the city's
property up there is an L a parking lot
but that's not the long-term used for
that area I don't know how tall that
buildings gonna be but I think the
school building could be brought to them
they eased as much as possible because
it's going to be completely visible from
whether it's a hundred feet in or ten
feet in it's going to be completely
visible from looking west from the
Highlands the green strip that they show
on their city on their account on the
school district website on the eastern
boundary of that site where those homes
is not going to work gonna those trees
are all in trouble that the land has
been so worked over there drainage has
been changed over time and all the rest
the impacts this that little strip of
green is gonna have to be read redone
restarted from scratch and there's
forest health issues on the more western
part and the slope we've been dealing
with lemonade rut rod up a tradition
plateau for years there's now 20 and 30
foot cedar trees in the middle where
that started and that's how that happens
when the county is likes the idea of a
state forest so they got County Forest
now they're doing two big clearcuts
they're out practically clerical it's
down by Black Diamond because of the
laminated root rot is so bad down there
and they're going back and planning with
cedar and pine and the State Park had
that problem in the parking lot off May
Valley Road it's pine trees now in cedar
are with the replacements thank you
thank you David
my name is Mary Lynch and I recited to
6:9 Oh North West Oak Crest Drive
Issaquah Washington I do what I say I
was glad that there was a meeting with a
school district I would hope that the
school district would do a couple more
steps in getting all the cities and
county representatives together in one
big meeting and down and start
discussing the overall school district
and the impacts because I don't I see
their parcel Mealing it out one of the
things that's very obvious if you look
at the CEPA as dave said that they did
for the Issaquah middle nothing was
really said about traffic and the amount
of busing and Parrott traffic that's
coming into the city due to Issaquah
middle but i know if you're aware of but
there are buses coming over Lake Mont
and s 900 from Newcastle to is a common
middle the new proposed element or
middle school that they have behind
Issaquah Valley probably also will be
busing from those areas because to my
knowledge they have not located any
property yet down in the Newcastle or in
the May Valley area to handle the growth
down there so that means all the traffic
buses and parent traffic's are all going
to be coming into Issaquah and that is
not part of the CEPA I went back and
pulled the sleeper for the middle school
because I did notice the lights going up
and I started questioning that and lo
and behold on March 23rd after the
lights were already installed over there
at this quad middle we find out that
there isn't a permit it wasn't done they
said they had a community process but if
you go back and look at the development
commission meetings you look at the cipa
it's not stated in there that there
would be nighttime lighting there nor
was it said in the traffic analysis that
there would be any nighttime lighting
nor in the sound control when you have
nighttime games you've got a lot of
noise generating from there nothing is
said about noise generating and when you
have there talking to the community
wants these lighted courses then that
means these are probably nonprofits
soccer teams other community
associations that are using those while
the Issaquah middle can be having their
own programs at the school so that means
more traffic at nighttime
more parking congestion nothing is said
about the student parking along Evans in
the traffic nothing is said it said
parents shall always use the main
entrance Issaquah Valley nothing as soon
as the seep of the fact that a lot of
parents are using Evans to go up into
the back side of the the middle school
in conflict with the buses that are
there and the little bus is picking up
and dropping and picking up their kids
or trying to shoot through the buses to
get out the back way because the light
is all backed up with the buses trying
to get out with all the parents from
both schools so that was not any
analysis done in the traffic plan so as
Dave said the city has to be sending
back the CEPA if the school district is
going to do it and make sure it is
complete and it addresses noise sound
emergency access screening of any lights
or noise that are happening and also
nighttime use this is a precedent that
we're setting here or the school
district for lighting the the fields
this hasn't been done before and has had
no real community input and they're in
Issaquah and I've not seen any meetings
where they've talked about it at their
meetings is the board meetings nor have
I seen anything when it was talked at
the development meeting so I got the
announcement that next this week will be
the first public hearing where they're
going to talk about the lighting
and where is the CEPA the city's
basically said there is no impact but
there were also if you remember a lot of
trees were cut down that weren't
supposed to be cut down along 2nd Street
when they put the new entrance to the
bus barn and when they tore down Clarke
so all those big trees that could have
been screening for the neighborhoods for
both noise and lights are gone and I
don't see yet that they're planning any
number of trees that are going to go up
I mean they're small so maybe in 30
years we might have some interim Spurs
trees that would block those noise and
sounds but it's gonna be 30 to 50 years
before you have any of that type of
screening and I think the city needs to
insist that the school district does a
better job with they're SEPA
and we don't approve things without
approves the
but thank you thank you Mary is there
anyone else that would like to speak
this evening miss Marsh
I'm Connie Marsh and I live up on squawk
so I had to laugh and following up on
Mary when I read the response about the
lights because it turns out what
happened is the the school district put
the lights in the CEPA checklist which
basically known in the community reads
the CEPA checklist because it's buried
way in the back and it's very detailed
and then if it's in the CEPA checklist
and it does not come forward as a
conversation within SEPA it is de facto
non studied right even if it's in the
checklist so I would say that was
erroneous and there's no way you should
be putting lights up or allowing lights
up with that sort of situation so that
brings me to my topic which is I've been
watching and reading the development
Commission in the urban village
development commission packages because
it's sort of exciting we have the first
time that we're gonna have the
architectural review and urban design
standards being used except I can't find
him so I had email for them it turns out
they're in a different section they
aren't where all the documents are
because they aren't complete yet and so
I asked if they were had been provided
to the development Commission and they
said no because their draft and I'm
going well this is the big tool this is
the exciting tool we're supposed to be
using to finally get will worship what
we expect so bad and then urban village
Development Commission so well what is
this we are supposedly getting a new
trail along the outside edge of the
Icicle Highlands you know where you peek
over the hill and lake sides on the
right but it's City right-of-way and so
how are we getting a trail that's public
on City right-of-way
through basically a preliminary plat
that is basically going to be decided by
the Issaquah Highlands architectural
review committee and staff so we have a
public thing going on public land
without a public process and so you can
see Corey's been you know getting the
the sharp side of me because I've been
frustrated this week I did like the
meeting that you just had with the
school district and I feel that that is
the first solid progress that I have
ever seen made with the school district
and my time of doing this which is about
twenty years so it's not all the
downside but there's so much work to do
and trying to figure out how we get all
of our new rules to create the city that
we want to have and that the community
expects so one last quick topic on the
strategic plan well we've been creating
the building blocks for the strategic
plan before the strategic plan so one
thing I didn't really understand from
what they were presenting is how they
were going to go and identify the chunks
that we have by force had to create the
bricks so to speak in building a
strategic plan already because we aren't
gonna have a strategic plan and then go
back and redo all of the work and I
don't see how they're getting there just
with interviewing department heads so
that is the missing piece I see in the
strategic plan Thanks Thank You Connie
would anyone else like to speak this
evening I see Steve heading over
ice-t Pereira old town about ten years
so so many topics the first I'd like
having the five minutes but I just want
to say again thank you to all of you for
service I know that taking the extra
minutes adds on to the total time that
you stand and here are another type of
folks in to spend here so thanks for
that public service first topic the the
wraps around the the utility devices
that are art work I'm not gonna be an
art critic I know I like the one on
front and sunset and the one piece like
Sammamish and Southeast Issaquah Road by
the Walgreens there are building of the
environment is kind of featured other
ones kind of be more modern an artwork
I'm not trying to be a critic but I just
think that senses of qual likes natural
environments so much there's a chance to
reflect what is wants and there's dance
to use the more scenic artwork and to
reflect who we are not just as an art
critic but who we are I think going
forward next topic people have already
talked about the combined City Council
and school board meeting echo all those
comments particularly the was there
Providence Heights topic so much has
been said and I don't want to reiterate
the issues
the one thing that curse to me though
going forward does that as we look
forward to lifting the moratorium and
there's really no limits to where or the
number of apartment complexes as it can
be I've gotten a city to school board
meetings and they've said city just
keeps improving development and there's
no way to reflect that or limit that I
think we're opening ourselves up to have
a much wider student body I'm not saying
that number of student body I'm not
saying that because people live in
apartments or less or deserve anything
less or better Bruce we're not prepared
for the infrastructure we're not
prepared for the number of students
these are the things we treasure about
Issaquah and I think we need to look at
the moratorium in building of not just
eliminating the number of storage units
and the number of hotels but also look
at where and the number of
apartment complexes because we've seen
where more and more people are at a
higher density or living in apartment
complexes with students where that
wouldn't used to be true that's
impacting the schools we need to feed
that into account next topic the
citywide strategic plan I'm glad to see
that I know my own feedback or
perspective was when this idea of the
Regional Growth Center was kind of first
brought forward I kind of thought okay
I'm really sure but as long as you leave
Old Town alone I'm okay with that
but the more and more I've been a
development city meetings when I see her
and hear people express concerns what
they say isn't in the terms of
development code or city code but it's
in the term of I like the environment I
like seeing my rabbits and squirrels and
all those things the natural environment
so I don't think people are really
understanding what a regional growth
center means to them and so I think we
need to take a pause maybe and
understand that better that's who we are
and what we want to be in a recent next
topic in a recent meeting it talked
about it develop in a two-year budget
plan which is fine I expect the city is
going to spend a certain amount of money
on finances and technology and insurance
all that but try to speak about it in
terms of this is what the people of the
citizens Issaquah bed I didn't hear that
in the discussion why that's a good
thing I'd get maybe it helps the City
Council and and planning bedding it how
it helps citizens citizens think in
terms of not reading the budget reports
but this is if I spend an extra two
hundred thousand dollars on this I have
two hundred thousand two thousand
thousand dollars less on that so just
kind of keep that as part of the
perspective next topic and I'll just
react or what the folks said about the
school board being responsible for SEPA
that seems I don't know the rabbit you
know the fox guarding the hen house
seems a little not consistent track
record so thank you thank you Steve is
there anyone else who would like to
speak this evening I'm sorry one other
thing real quick
sure it had to do with parks in the san
luis obispo jurisdiction had set aside
and has guidelines as far as just
preserving natural space
not necessarily for parks or design uses
I think the city parks need to look at
that concept not as parks but just for
preserving open space for the natural
environment and I don't think city code
allows for that needs to and I'll talk
more about that in the future Thanks
thank you Steve
is there anyone else who'd like to speak
this evening second call last call for
anyone who would like to speak to the
public comments hearing none I'll close
the public comments person and like to
thank you all for coming tonight
especially those who attended our
earlier is quest school district city of
a squad joint meeting it's good to hear
your comments about school siting the
Highlands SEPA also like to thank people
for talking about the Providence Heights
campus this evening our new introduction
to strategic plan and hearing your
thoughts on our development review
process we appreciate it when you come
and talk to your counsel we're moving on
to committee and regional reports and
first up is councilmember hunt thank you
madam mayor on March 28th I attended the
cascade water Alliance board meeting
with Mayor Polly and details would be
covered in mayor Polly's report this
evening and that concludes my report
thank you council member Ramos Thank You
mayor the council Infrastructure
Committee has one item it's on a public
hearing on tonight's agenda later on now
the other thing is just a reminder that
our next meeting is not the regular
scheduled time it is on Wednesday the
11th of April 6:30 here normal place
regular place excuse me the Regional
Transit Committee met on the 18th of
March there were two items there of
interest one was the community
connectors which includes our new
possible route on talus and squawk as
it's moving forward and other
communities are trying to do some other
things so we're moving hit on those and
the other one was thing mentioned some
of you heard before I mentioned one
Center City a lot of debate on that that
is when the the bus tunnel in downtown
Seattle closes and they call maximum
constraint because buses can't turn
around they're out of the tunnel because
of redesign of the Convention Center
which is going to be a big change to bus
wraps particularly ones going over 5
for sure but ours as well and the
community was very concerned with most
of the proposed changes to deal with the
change of that would be affecting the
East Side bus riders with the most
effect and not others so we're pushing
very hard back to say getting buses off
the street of Seattle the ones coming
from the east side is not the solution
which is way there tend to be geared
towards looking at that as a solution
instead we want to keep our buses
running and all the way into Seattle is
so we get our rides in so I will
continue working on that and keep you
apprised as that's going the good news
is that started that has continued to be
pushed back so we keep pushing that back
as far as we can
next item as I will be attending an
emergency management advisor community
meeting on the 11th coming up here also
agenda to be set and then on the 13th
Friday of April I will be down in
Olympia at the public works board
meeting also generally set and that
concludes my report
councilmember Rommels councilmember
winter Stein thank you madam mayor the
lodging tax advisory commission met last
Friday on March 30th two items on the
agenda we did discuss the questions that
came out of the services and Safety
Committee meeting and I'm working staff
is going to be preparing and presenting
replies to that at the services and
Safety Committee meeting next Tuesday we
also entertained a kind of a first look
at a proposal the the AVP volleyball
tournament at the park in June that
organizing group had asked a local
events coordinator to make a proposal
for to run some parallel community
events to coincide with the AVP
tournament on all of them to take place
actually inside the city park ball
community-related well Thursday Friday
Saturday and Sunday including like a
volleyball camp for kids a movie night
yoga on the beach on Sunday morning or
something like that
and I think that was a it's a good so
they're actually gonna come forward with
a proposal because they're gonna make
some requests for funding i only reason
i bring that up is it is a good example
of how neither LTAC or i think our city
staff right now has really the ability
to kind of field and work with a
proposal like this that comes forward
and it be one of those kind of things
that a DMO can handle very well and just
mention that example so that concludes
LTAC the next meeting of the growth
management policy board is this Thursday
April 5th at PSR C headquarters in
Seattle on the agenda primarily is the
vision 2050 scoping I did also want to
note that last month the ESRC Executive
Board did approve the regional centers
framework update and lastly I want to
mention something about arch it's not a
committee but that I'm part of but I did
attend a meeting that they held last
Thursday March 29th in Kirkland I joined
councilmember hunt and in terms to the
administrator Emily moon joined me at
their presentation about half the time
was spent I'm covering general housing
issues facing East King County in the
role of arch plays in addressing that
need the other half at that time of the
meeting there were four presentations
about different about what different
Eastside cities are doing in certain
areas of housing affordability a arch
staff member actually presented our city
visit cause program on auxilary dwelling
units and I found that informative and I
learned something even though I guess
I've heard it before so hearing it again
was very very helpful Kirkland told a
story about how they worked with a
private landowner that had underutilized
land for the development of the first
permanent women and family shelter here
on the east side so that was it was
interesting to hear a use case story of
one of our east side Cities coalition
members and arts talk about their focus
on doing something housing related with
private landowners that ever had
unutilized underutilized land I thought
that was a good story to hear Redmond
spoke about their success within
genera zoning in their downtown area and
how they were able to get housing at 80%
of AMI and how they're now combined
inclusionary zoning with em FTE
geography based not project-based in
another area of town in there and
they're starting to have conversations
with builders in that area that they see
getting housing at 60% of ami so again
kind of a nice interesting thing to hear
from one of our colleagues here on the
east side and lastly we heard from
Bellevue about their work in preserving
existing affordable housing housing it
is a priority for their council they are
being proactive and identifying
properties that may be lost and they
even told one example where the school
district learned about the potential
loss of housing from their students and
the school district notified the city
they also are finding that their funding
and no surprise here for the
preservation of affordable housing goes
further than their funding for new
development and lastly they mentioned a
thing of interest that they mentioned is
that their approach does if they acquire
housing for preservation affordable
their program does include that
transferring the ownership of those
properties to a non-profit housing
management agency so and that's why I
attended that meeting I want to share
with all of you we can never hear a much
you can never hear too much about what
it's happening around us related
affordable housing I just want to share
that with you that concludes my report
so deputy president tees thank you madam
mayor no report this evening Thank You
council president Mertz
thank you madam mayor the council and in
short committee will not be meeting this
Thursday April 5th it's in fact gonna
mean Thursday April 19th on a special
date and you may be asking why I am
giving this information and it's because
councilmember Goodman is not going to be
able to be there on Thursday April 19th
so I am going to be chairing Landon
Shore and councilmember hunt is going to
be sitting in for councilmember Goodman
of course and of course councilmember
winter Stein will also be there as as
normal sound cities Association pick is
meeting on Wednesday April 11th the pre
pick at 6:00 p.m. a Trenton City Hall is
going to be the second of two
presentations on King County Executive
Constantine's one table
organization and its strategies to
address root causes of homelessness and
then at the main pick meeting there is
going to be a conversation that I'm sure
Issaquah can have some contribution on
school siting best practices and how
municipalities can work with their
school district as well as an update on
the veteran seniors and human services
levy that went into effect the beginning
of this year this concludes my report
thank you council president Mertz
for the mayor's report this evening
there was a special linkage meeting this
evening from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. with our
iskele School District Board the city of
a squad council and mayor and our
respective leadership staff we discussed
impact fees collected from developers to
pay for impacts from growth to the
school system municipal services and
local infrastructure the second item
discussed was future school siting and
the district's desire to purchase
city-owned property it was a good first
step which is what we've already heard
but also I just wanted to talk about how
difficult it is when we're talking about
school siting and other competing
community priorities we need to be
striving to work together to reinforce
the work that we do with each other and
not have these priorities competing
against each other and so this meeting
tonight was a good first step in the
right direction I attended several
meetings in the last couple of weeks
March 28th the cascade water Alliance
board meeting with councilmember hunt
items presented in the chief executive
officers report were mostly related to
the management of the Lake Tapps
reservoir and upcoming barrier dam and
fish passage construction projects we
are working with United States Army
Corps of Engineers on those and the next
board meeting is on April 25th at 3:30
p.m. in cascades bellevue office the
agenda has not
been set March 26 I attended an
orientation meeting with Rima Griffith
from the Washington State Transportation
Commission's
she is the Washington state
transportation Commission's executive
director I'm going to be serving on the
road usage charge steering committee the
seat was for formerly held by surveyor
Sammamish City Mayor Don gerund by
former Samara City Mayor Don Jaron I did
a couple of community and staff outreach
events on March 20th I attended a Senior
Center lunch and conducted a QA over
several projects going on in town on
March 22nd I attended the mountain sound
green We Trust annual breakfast a couple
of announcements Public Works
engineering had to bid openings occur on
the afternoon of Tuesday March 27th
the 2018 water main replacement program
this is a significant amount of work
being done in the South Cove and
Timberlake Lane neighborhoods this
summer the work will start in May and
June and be completed by August
September there's a neighborhood
outreach plan for engagement to the
impacted community also the forest rim
booster pump station was also awarded
and this work involves installing a new
booster pump station demolishing
existing booster pump station on
mountainside Drive Northwest most of the
work will be done on the existing site
although some of the new piping
connecting to the new booster station
will be installed in the right-of-way
this will have traffic control implement
implications and will allow for a
minimum of only one lane to access the
fours Rim neighborhood at that time the
work will start in June and be completed
by the end of the year neighborhood
outreach is also planned for this
project a couple of updates on issues
moratorium there are still two remaining
work items under the moratorium
inclusionary zoning requirements staff
is working with eco Northwest to
evaluate the impact the proposed
inclusionary zoning requirements would
would have had on the atlas project this
is being used as a case study it should
be coming to the land ensure committee
in April the district or community
visions document for Central is
currently in the city land and Shore
committee and will be discussed at the
committee's April meeting there's no new
information in regards to the Cougar
Mountain Bergsma update
at the March 5th City Council meeting I
did share with you that we are
partnering with the trust for public
lands and exploring acquisition options
for this property in that work Park
staff and the trust for public lands are
collaborating on research and grant
options and other funding strategies
that would be needed to support any size
or scale of acquisition also just an
update if you are not paying attention
to our last council meeting the
Highlands development agreement did end
that council acted on March 19th and put
in place replacement regulations also at
the March 19th council meeting the
council referred the ending of the Talz
development agreement and imposing new
replacement regulations to the Planning
Policy Commission for review of the
proposed zoning designation for tellus
parcel 9 that completes the mayor's
report next item on our agenda is the
consent calendar I also had a discussion
at the March 19th meeting about the
reading of the consent calendar by the
clerk going forward in our council
meetings this year the council consent
calendar has been distributed to council
in advance and it has been past practice
at the mayor's preference to read it
into the record if the count if the
council authorizes sorry if authorized
the council will act by single motion on
it I'm proposing that we we do not read
it into the record unless there is a
request to do so so for this evening
we'll just be moving and seconding if
that works
does any councilmember desire to remove
any item from the consent calendar and
considered under regular business do you
like to make a motion madam mayor I move
to adopt the consent agenda as as listed
in this evening they can set in calendar
as listed in this evening's agenda
second it's been moved and seconded all
those in favor signify by saying aye all
right was opposed passes unanimously
next item is our public hearing a b7 485
vacation of a portion of Northeast
Gilman Boulevard this public hearing is
continued from the March
nineteenth Council meeting it was heard
as an informational item in the council
Infrastructure Committee before resuming
the public hearing I'd like to invite
Public Works engineering director
sheldon lin to briefly present this item
thank you madam mayor council citizens
i'm sheldon lin the director of public
works engineering i'm gonna give a short
presentation tonight as a follow-up to
the previous presentation that the
council received at the march 19
initiation of this public hearing
tonight i'm going to speak briefly as
this is a hearing continuance i'm gonna
recap some of the comments as well as
some recommendation as well as i'm going
to recap a little bit about the area to
be vacated or proposed to be vacated I
should say the area proposed to be
vacated is shown in the yellow /
greenish yellow color on the map it is a
section that is located just as an
extension of Northeast Gilman Boulevard
just east of 3rd Avenue Northeast
currently the right-of-way provides for
utilities and access to property that's
shaded in the blue and that property is
all owned by one person
in tonight's continuance the council is
asked the policy question does the City
Council wish to vacate a portion of
Northeast Gilman Boulevard specifically
that portion that was shown in the
previous slide in the testimony and
comments that the city has received
testimony was heard on the 19th by mr.
Sam Kyle his testimony essentially
identified that the origin of this right
away was originally it was owned by the
state of Washington and then as part of
the i-90 improvements and at the end of
that the state did deeded over the
right-of-way to the city of Issaquah I
it was specifically held as right away
to provide access to the multiple
parcels that are shaded in blue on this
map these parcels are currently all
owned by one person or entity
controlled by mr. Kile comments that
were heard at the council Infrastructure
Committee were twofold one was a desire
to keep the right-of-way for public use
and then that was identified as when the
PPC was talking about uses at the
eastern end of Northeast Gilman
Boulevard there was public conversation
about the land but that conversation
occurred and was related to the property
that was west of third Avenue and it
didn't really go into the area that was
the section which is a little tail off
the end of Gilman Boulevard the other
was a concern for how this area may or
may not be used for a trail connection
dealing with mountains of sound Greenway
and the possibility of a connection to
the High Point Way area as you can see
this right away dead ends into the
property of mr. Kyle and his property
abuts and it has a common property line
with the i-90 limited access
right-of-way to be able to accomplish
the any type of trail connection it
would involve property acquisition as
well as going through substantially
environmentally sensitive areas to the
east of mr. Kyle's property to gain
access to the trails around this and
said interchange to help further
understand a little bit about what this
property is I've got some google street
views that will provide a visual for
what the right-of-way is that the
council is being asked the question
about this is a street view taken from
the intersection of 3rd Avenue where 3rd
Avenue meets Northeast Gilman looking to
the east as you can see it's a narrow
access road pretty much the width of a
driveway bounded by the overpass at the
sunset interchange and then the private
property on the right-hand side of the
road this is just another view moving
further along essentially the character
or the right-of-way remains the same and
then at the end of the right away this
shows the larger parcel back in the back
that is the basically the dead end of
the the right-of-way this picture is
taken right about property line where
the right-of-way ends and with that if
there's what one last thing the
administration's recommendation for a
motion tonight is to adopt the ordinance
number whichever comes up
vacating a portion of the street
right-of-way Jason to the property
located at three hundred and 371
northeast Gilman Boulevard subject to
easements and establishing compensation
to be paid for such vacation if there's
any questions this council have any
questions for Sheldon not singing Thank
You Sheldon
guidelines for citizens comments that
are on the agenda also apply for those
made under this public hearing I now
open the public hearing at 8:03 p.m. has
anyone signed up to speak this evening
no thank you
is there anyone who would like to speak
this evening Dave then Steve okay David
Kepler I I would hope that the retained
easement would be enough that a trail
could have if some day a trail goes
through that corridor it would be enough
to provide a trail through this part of
the property when you look at the there
is some space there between Kyle's
property and i-90 and it does get kind
of funny as you go east but the
possibility is there for a trail
sometime maybe when the Kyle property is
redeveloped or something happens in the
long term so I would just hope there's
enough easement retained for a trail on
this part of the property that's the
subject of the potential sale thank you
if you do Steve
ice-t Pereira so I live on northeast
dogwoods so I just am poaching from my
own personal perspective and that's more
I know the PBC recommended that that
district we moved out of the central as
well there's a couple an eye and so I'm
concerned with women's right away what
potential structure could be built there
and whether that's in code or in support
of what not being CI PE I'd like not to
see a large-scale development back there
in what seems to be more of a
residential or at least connected to a
residential area so because that I tend
to lean against approving this thank you
thank you Steve anyone else like to
speak this evening
that that was a pretty pitchy pitch by
the city to to turn this land over which
disturbs me a little bit I think it
should be even-handed pros and cons not
just one direction and so I guess that
that concerns me sort of going along
with my prior public comment it's like
the community now needs to be equal to
any particular landowner and what they
want to do and I would like to see that
change be made for me
I watched the city in this mega planning
effort and no one really knows what's
going to go on all the parcels no one
knows what big changes are gonna happen
we're gonna have a strategic plan our
Park strategic plan is only it hasn't
been approved yet we're looking at
potentially giving up a piece of land
before we have a plan and I just think
that's unwise it might take six months
and we might say you know what it looks
from all of our planning efforts like we
will never give up this piece of land
for me that's one of those connections
that I can see going back into that area
it's sort of a cool area you can have
movies up against i-90 you could have an
auditorium there as a part of a large
parks plan that could be our festival
Street for goodness sake because no cars
use it and we could turn that area of
town into a community amenity rather
than some development now how much would
that cost would we ever do it but I
don't think you want to give up
opportunities before you have had your
planning effort so I would say no
tonight with the caveat when we get are
all of our planning put in place by what
the middle of next year whatever then
come on back and we might say yes thanks
thanks Connie
would anyone else like to speak this
evening Mary
my name is Mary Lynch and I recited 2 6
9 O Northwest Oh Crest Drive and I just
want to build on what Dave and Connie is
that is as part of the central area plan
we had looked at this area as being a
destination place where we could have
old car venues have you know parking for
take off to the to the other trails
within Tiger Mountain and that sort of
thing and I don't haven't really seen
the park plan yet or the Emerald
Necklace the full connections to know
how we're going to connect out of that
area into the other areas so without
that plan in place to vacate land and
not have the full plan I think it's just
premature and I think we need more
public input explaining where this is
and what the impact is thank you thank
you Mary anything else anyone else like
to make a comment this evening think
none ask a second time anyone for public
comment
last time closing the public hearing
acts 807 and it's for counsel here to
make motion I would move to adopt
ordinance number 2 8 3 to make hitting a
portion of Street right away Ajay's
adjacent to property located at 303 71
North East Gilman Boulevard subject to
easements and establishing the
compensation to be paid for such
vacation thank you thank you it's been
moved and seconded council discussion
that's member hunt I am not in favor of
this motion I up this ordinance this
evening I think that this part of town
is potentially very important for the
green necklace and as
has been mentioned in public comment
this evening the parks a strategic plan
is still in the works and I think that
nearby to this property there is
potential for a linear park in the very
wide right of way along Gilman and
potentially also kiddy Korner there are
some areas that may also be part of the
parks plan and of that green necklace
and of that connectivity I think that
there is potential if if currently
undefined potential for public use and I
think that we can't know what this area
looks like in the future particularly if
we vacate this property I because of the
potential for future use
I am in favor of retaining the property
and I'm opposed to the adoption of the
ordinance Thank You councilmember heads
there's council president Mertz I have a
question for the administration which is
timeliness on this if we were to say
that this is something that we would
like to wait for the Parks Recreation
open-space Trails plan before making a
decision what if any would be the impact
on the on the owner in their plans of
the property that's served by this
easement
I can't speak to the impact on the owner
I'm not sure what the owners plans
entail at this moment in time but what I
can say is there's no urgency from the
perspective of the city this has been
our property as Sheldon mentioned for
several years I think we've been trying
to collaborate for at least two years
with the property owner on this transfer
but having said that your parks plan is
imminent and we'll also say that we've
had conversations with the parks and
recreation director about what may or
may not be shown in the draft parks plan
in there's not a foreseen need for this
piece of property as an element in the
parks plan or inter-gold of making other
elements of the parks plan come to
fruition
any other councilmember conversation
council member Ramos yeah I guess I have
some other question you two is
timeliness in discussion there we never
talked about a need to rush to do this
it was just something
it started as a conversation of property
owner wanted it it would take a piece of
roadway out of our inventory basically
they currently functions as a driveway
okay and and it just would relieve us
some of that now what you did talk about
was keeping me right away access for
both washed-out and the city and that
was if I'ma register for utilities
correct so all the underground utilities
would have the right way for us what we
would maintain nothing on the surface
that's corrected the ordinance would
retain all the utility easements as well
as access for maintenance for the washed
out wall that's right there that abuts
that a little roadway any other
questions or comments
I'm deputy council president batise so I
would say just in regard I actually had
a similar question to Tola just in terms
of timing and where we were at with that
but would I I believe at this point
would be echoing a lot of what
councilmember hunt talked about in terms
of this having been talked about in the
past and if it would be part of the
strategic plan or part of the green
necklace if there's if we're not in a
rush to do that then I would consider
delaying thank you neither coming
council member we're interesting thank
you
regarding you know potential park site
or anything like that up against a
highway for me that would be a real
stretch of the imagination to be used as
a park site the property owner does have
ingress egress over it now over that and
that will probably retained there's some
open land south east of there which is
accessible via 3rd Street and Bush
Street if we wanted to get to there
there is other ways to get to the other
open land that's like I said southeast
of there which is still jacent to a
highway I so it's I'm gonna agree with
the administration and this
recommendation I because it's really
difficult imagine at all there's a parks
use for a parcel of land this of this
size and shape in this location it's
probably going to remain a ingress and
egress the property owner for now into
the future so I'm gonna support this
motion any other discussion
it's president Mart's so I am of two
minds on this I am having a hard time
envisioning how it gets used as
recreational space but because there
isn't an urgency to this and because
some of my fellow council members would
like to pursue this a little further I
am also going to vote against this bill
this evening again primarily because of
some of the questions raised this
evening and because there isn't a
imminent urgent need for this to be
transferred right now but I do
appreciate the administration saying
that there isn't currently anything
recreationally planned around this space
and I hear that but nonetheless I'm
going to be voting no any other
discussion this evening are you ready
for a vote there is no further
discussion all those in favor of
adopting ordinance number two eight
three tubes vacating a portion of Street
right away adjacent to property located
at three hundred and 371 northeast
Gilman Boulevard subject to easements
and establishing the compensation to be
paid for such vacations signify by
saying aye aye opposed no motion fails
winter Stein in favor and four others
opposed the next item on the agenda is
regular business there is no regular
business that's the good news we'll move
to go to the order do any of the council
members have something on for good of
the order council president marks I do
madam mayor thank you very much some of
you in the audience and an in the
viewing public may notice that I am not
wearing my standard solid color polo
shirt I am actually wearing this is
Ghanaian meaning from the nation of
Ghana and West Africa I have from the
9th through the 26th of
March I was doing training in northern
Ghana for people who don't know Africa
is really huge right you could fit all
of the United States and China and India
and Western Europe in Africa and still
have room left over and so Ghana doesn't
show up very large on a map but it's
actually about the size of Minnesota and
it has about 25 million people about 70
percent Christian about 25 percent
Muslim the two communities get along
very very well it's a democracy it's had
numerous transit orderly transition of
power as a result of Elections and
that's becoming more and more common in
Africa
and it was an absolute delight to spend
two weeks in Ghana although it was
unmercifully hot it was about a hundred
and five in the northern dry parts and
the populated southern parts it was only
about 85 but it was a 75 degree dew
point which is sticky indeed and I was
undergoing training on how to interview
people in for humanitarian technology so
I was learning how to speak primarily
with smallholder farmers these are the
folks in Africa who are most at risk of
famine and drought when bad things
happen in Africa and and my day job I
developed technology for those folks and
so I mentioned all this as a precursor
to saying as I said before I left how
much I appreciate that my fellow council
members and the administration supported
me in being gone for two weeks I don't
intend to be gone for two weeks again
for a very long time but it was
exceedingly worthwhile and I will be
better able to develop technology and
for that I hope to help the folks in
Ghana and other parts of sub-saharan
Africa and South Asia and for that I
thank you all very much for your
assistance
anything else for good of the order I
have an item if no one else does or
actually I guess for the next item
upcoming council meeting just checking
nothing else for good of the order okay
I've come in council meetings council
will be having a work session on April
9th to discuss property acquisition
and disc disposition practices in the
city this is coming out of our joint its
Crosse school district city of istic web
meeting tonight we're going to be
looking at our practice and in
particular in relation to a parcel that
the school district is interested in
buying in the highlands on April 16th
the council meeting council will be
getting a 2018 legislative summary there
is an awful lot of items on consent
calendar but the main meeting that night
there'll be a public hearing on the
first major amendment to the Costco
development agreement and returning
believe it's no it's a fun new funding
request for temporary staffing I'm just
checking with the interim City
Administrator is that a new or returning
request for additional staffing it's a
new request and that's what we have to
look forward to in our next couple of
meetings last item executive session
there is no executive session this
evening
oh there being no further business the
meeting is adjourned at 8:20
you