Welcome everyone. I'm calling the
November 10th city council meeting to
order. Uh this meeting is being held one
week later than normal due to the
general election which was held last
week. I'd like to excuse Council Member
Hall who will be arriving later to join
us for tonight's meeting. As a reminder,
we still continue to have a remote
aspect to our meetings and both staff
and members of the public may be
participating in tonight's meeting
remotely via WebEx. The next item on the
agenda is the pledge of allegiance and I
invite you to join.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
Thank you. So, we have several special
business items this evening and also a
lot of other items that uh the public
would like to speak to. So, it could be
a a little bit of a longer night for us
all tonight. The first item is ID 1925
and it's the recognition of Fire Chief
Ben Lane. Chief, can you join me at the
lect turn?
Unless you're willing to stay on.
>> Ben loves being embarrassed like this.
It's his favorite thing. So, tonight I
just want to on behalf of the city
council and the mayor and the
administration just say thank you to
Chief Lane for all that he's done in the
last few years as our uh chief of East
Side Fire and Rescue. I got to meet Ben
way back in the day for me 12 years ago.
He's been here a lot longer than that,
but uh since the day I got on council, I
was already working with Ben and the
East Side Fire and Rescue team. It's
really impressive what Ben has been able
to do, the leadership, the transition
process that he's run, and he's been
really easy to work with. He's somebody
that I can call up and and really ask a
hard question, and he just digs in and
goes through it with me. We've had a
wonderful partnership. I'm so proud of
the leadership that he he has delivered
to our community and to his team, but
I'm going to miss him and I think we're
all going to miss him. He's been a
fixture around here for a long time. So,
I'm going to let Chief Lane have an
opportunity to talk for a little bit
about the time that he's been with the
fire department and it it's quite a long
time. Ben,
>> thank you. Madame Mayor, members of the
council, members of the community, city
staff, um Ben Lane, your outgoing
retiring fire chief. Um to think that uh
somebody who was hired in by this
organization over 31 years ago uh would
be here in front of you tonight as the
fire chief. Absolutely no way. Um some
of my best memories are responding out
of the fire station directly across the
street um from here today. Uh first I
want to recognize and appreciate the men
and women throughout East Side Fire and
Rescue and the service they provide to
this community. others. I want to say
thank you to council, city staff, the
mayor for the unwavering support uh of
your fire department. It's been an
absolute honor and privilege to serve as
your fire chief. Um I wish the city and
all involved nothing but the best in the
future and maybe I'll be back someday
providing public comment or something
like that. But uh thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[Applause]
could you take a picture
for a sec?
>> We're just giving Ben um a recognition
of his service. So, it's a tile from the
city of Isiqua with his name on it and
congratulations.
We have another recognition coming up
under special business ID 1929. It's the
recognition of police officer John
Linder. And I'd like to invite the
police chief Paula Schwan and officer
Linder to the lect turn. Come on up.
Thank you, Council President Walsh,
Council, Madame Mayor, and the public.
Um, John Lindner comes from a family of
law enforcement. Um, his father worked
for the King County Sheriff's
Department, and he has graced and been
so professional with our city for the
last 27 years. And in that capacity in
the 27 years, Linder has been a patrol
officer, a detective, an SRO, active
shooter trainer, a mentor, special
operations team leader, a motor officer,
background investigator, and a station
officer, handling all online reports as
a station officer. And since late
January of 2023, as a station officer,
he himself has handled 823 calls in one
year.
um and 18 arrests, which a lot of online
calls are follow-ups. So, the fact that
he handled that many was even a huge
task. And in his career, total he's had
more than 11,042
calls for service,
which is a lot. Um his experience and
dedication will be greatly missed.
Please join me in wishing him a huge
thanks in all his service and dedication
and professionalism over the years and a
happy retirement.
[Applause]
So while John is
recovering um I also just want to say
that um this is the first retirement of
a police officer that I've been here
that is almost as long as I've lived
here. So he has been a familiar face to
me for years and years and it is sad to
see him retire but happy for him as
well. So congratulations.
>> Do you want to say anything?
>> Um
>> it's not required.
>> Well, let me just get through this. Um
>> um last four years haven't been easy for
me. Um
um I lost my wife in 21. So these are
hard because
um she supported me, you know,
throughout this career and you can't do
it without family.
Um,
but I have a backup family and that's
the men and women in the back room that
I work with and
um at the department. So, a lot of
people ask, well, how come you just not,
you know, you got the age, you got the
time, why not retire out? And it's
because I still needed to find some sort
of strength or whatever to carry on. And
that's finally happened. I want to thank
the community. Um, some probably my
favorite memories of this working in
this community, even when I'm pulling
them over for traffic violations.
Um, just their support. I mean, I can't
stop I can't walk into a store. I can't
do a traffic stop without someone
driving by or walking by saying, "Thanks
for your service. Don't listen to what
they're saying to you guys." Um, you're
needed here. You're loved here. Um,
another reason why I didn't want to like
hang it up early, um,
27 years ago in this room, I did my oral
boards. Um, back then when we, um,
were were sworn in on the oath, we did
it in this room with everyone. And so,
it's kind of fitting that I'm back here.
I'm retiring out from here. So
um I have zero regrets of working here.
It's been a blast. Um
the last four years I also lost my
parents. My father was 31 years as a
detective sergeant and it was
the blessing of that was I had another I
had a mentor the whole time and someone
who I could talk to about the job. And
so anyway, you know, I miss everyone.
I'm going to miss this place. So, um,
thanks for having me along, I guess.
>> Can we take a picture with your family
up here? Guys, you want to come up?
Girls, let's go. Do you want to come?
>> Yeah. Where is it?
>> You got a flag,
>> John. This is from all of us. Just a
reminder of how proud we are and how
we're going to miss you. And I would
love it guys if we go right in front of
the DAS and girls and let's take our
picture with John's family.
Come on over.
>> You guys have done this before.
>> There you go.
>> Mhm.
[Applause]
Our
next item of business is not necessarily
as emotional as the one we just had. It
is the accounting day proclamation. This
is ID1865
and finance director Kristen Garcia and
senior financial an analyst Brittney
Hensley are here with us virtually to
accept the proclamation. So welcome
ladies and I will read your proclamation
from here.
Whereas international accounting day is
celebrated on the 10th day of every
November to recognize the accounting
experts that ensure our financial health
and stability. And whereas accounting
accountability, transparency, and
organization are tantamount in municipal
government stewardship of taxpayer
resources, accountants in the city of
Isiqua's finance team provide
responsive, diligent, and accurate
service to the city of Isqua and its
community members. Whereas the finance
department supports isquest services
through the development of the budget,
accurate financial reporting, audit
preparation, monitoring, business tax
administration and collection,
procurement and accounts payable,
utility billing and payroll. And whereas
the city of Isiqua wishes to show
appreciation for the many valuable
contributions made by its dedicated
finance department professionals and
extend our heartfelt thanks for the
continued commitment to public service.
Now therefore, I, Mary Lupali, the mayor
of the city of Isiqua, do recognize
November 10th, 2025 to be accounting day
in the city of Isiqua and invite the
community to join me in thanking Isqua's
finance department for their service and
outstanding contributions.
Thank you for coming and Kristen, I'm
sure there's a few words you'd like to
share.
>> Yes. Um, thank you so much and I want to
thank Britney for um, being on screen
tonight to um, accept this honor. Um,
thank you so much for acknowledging uh
the great work that we do in the finance
department. This recognition is a
reflection of the team's unwavering
dedication, professionalism, and
commitment to transparency and
accountability. Uh, the team's
exceptional work ensures the integrity
of our financial operations and streng
strengthens the trust that's placed in
us by our community. I'm just I'm really
proud to be part of this team and I want
to congratulate every member of the
finance department for this well a
well-deserved honor and thank you mayor
for the recognition.
>> That's fantastic. And if you can hang on
for a second, Wally, should we get a
picture with the proclamation with the
ladies?
Thank you to both so much and to the
whole department. You really do provide
us a amazing professional service in
such a friendly and accommodating way.
We appreciate you all so much.
>> Thank you. Thank you.
For our last item of special business,
we're going to do ID 1866, Isiqua
Recycle Day Proclamation. And I'm going
to invite our public works director,
Emily Moon, to come over to the lectern.
Okay, welcome.
So whereas November 15th recognizes the
30th annual American Recycles Day, a
nationally recognized day for
businesses, government agencies, and
individuals to consider the importance
of recycling and commit to reducing and
diverging diverting waste. Whereas the
city of Isiqua seeks to effectively
steward our natural environment to
ensure a sustainable legacy for future
generations. And whereas the city of
Isiqua strives to reduce waste, conserve
natural resources, prevent pollution,
and save energy, these goals are
advanced through robust compost and
recycling programs. And whereas Isiqua
is a leader in demonstrating the next
generation of sustainability in the
Pacific Northwest and serves as a model
for innovation, collaboration, and
effectiveness in large part due to
Isiqua's public works department and
solid waste and sustainability programs.
And whereas the city of Isiqua wishes to
show appreciation for its environmental
and sustainability program
professionals. Now therefore I Mary
Lupali the mayor of the city of Isiqua
do recognize November 15, 2025 to be
Isaqua Recycles Day. Emily, would you
like to share some thoughts with the
group?
>> Sure.
>> Thank you all very much. I will just say
read up on how you can save some money.
Get a smaller garbage cart. Get a bigger
recycling cart. Get a yard waste cart
for your use and support our businesses
in their efforts to also recycle. Make
your voice heard as you go out to those
establishments. Thank them for
participating actively in our programs.
Thank you very much.
>> Thank you, Emily.
[Applause]
There's a question for the clerk. Um,
are there comments were there comments
added for the audience comments portion
of tonight or am I winging it? I'm
winging it. Okay. So, the next item of
business this evening is audience
comments and members of the public may
address the council at this time in
person or virtually. In the room, you
would use the microphone there in the
center. Those who signed up in advance
to make comments will be called on
first. And if you're joining us
virtually and would like to make
comments, please raise your virtual hand
or send the host a chat message. If
you're on the phone, press star free
three. And if you have joined by
computer or smartphone, you could look
for a hand icon. If you're in the room
and didn't sign up, I'll make sure to
ask for other speakers before closing
this portion of the meeting. And city
clerk, I believe we do have people
signed up today. So, I will read the
guidelines for those making comments.
You're invited to address the council
regarding matters that are directly
related to Isqua's programs, projects,
services, or events.
Oh, and here it is. Actually, it's in
the script. Sorry. So, the city clerk
has added a clarification in here
tonight on one of the items that we have
on the agenda. So, um we are uh have an
agenda bill this evening with the
Belleview College development agreement.
And I just want to make sure because
there's been information out there in
many different formats that isn't
exactly accurate. And so I want to make
sure that people are here joining us
tonight either in the room or virtually
and are going to make comments that
tonight the vote that the council is
taking does not include an approval for
the location of a Belleview College
campus or any high school in the Isqua
Highlands at this time. It's a different
question that the council will be
dealing with tonight and there'll be a
presentation and questions and answers
from the council to make sure that this
is clear when we get to that item.
So, please direct your comments to the
whole council and not an individual. And
while this is not a question and answer
session, we will contact you to follow
up if needed. When you are recognized,
if you're a virtual attendee, unmute
your microphone. If you're in the room,
please step up to the lectern in the
center. And the microphone is on right
now, but if somebody turns it off, you
do have to turn it on in the center of
the the stand in order to get the red
light. State your name and address or
relationship to the city. Speak clearly
and pause frequently and list comments
to five. Limit comments to 5 minutes. If
you are attending virtually and you do
not respond after your name or phone
number is called or if your connection
is lost unexpectedly, the meeting will
need to proceed and you are encouraged
to rejoin the meeting if you're able to.
Personal attacks, obscene language,
derogatory remarks, and disruptive
behavior will not be permitted. Public
comments, written and verbal, are an
important aspect of the public process,
and the city takes comments seriously. I
want to thank everybody online and in
the room tonight for taking time to talk
with the city council and city clerk, if
you could please identify the first
person who signed up to speak this
evening. Yes, mayor. Uh we currently
have 13 people signed up to speak. The
first is Kevin Nichols.
Good evening. Uh my name is Kevin
Nichols and I live at 352 Wilderness
Peak Drive Northwest. I'm here to
provide public comment on the Belleview
College development agreement extension.
This vote looks very technical, just
another extension, but in my opinion,
it's not. In practice, this can decide
who controls the future of 19 acres that
could serve our community for
generations.
Since the September 8th committee of the
whole meeting, where this was last
discussed, amendments were made to
require council approval of new
development, but only if the development
is entirely standalone housing. These
amendments still allow Belleview College
to pursue its publicly stated goal of
revenue maximization with minimal if any
oversight in most circumstances.
With the new amendments, if Belleview
College builds solely standalone
standalone housing, they do need your
approval. That makes sense. But if they
build for example up to 20 228 housing
units and a single 1,200 ft public
library, it's about the size of one
residential equivalent unit under the
agreement and roughly the size of this
room. Uh they can bypass you completely
and require no further review. There is
no written requirement to meaningfully
incorporate feedback, just a requirement
to hold some public discussion. There's
also no council review in most of those
situations. At a bare minimum, this
agreement should require council
approval for anything beyond purely
institutional use. But I think there's
an even bigger point. Who is best
positioned to facilitate community
discussions and make discuss decisions
in Isiqua's best interests? Let me be
clear. I deeply respect Belleview
College and I value its contribution to
our region. But a state institution's
budget difficulties cannot be balanced
on the back of a small city's limited
budget and limited land resources.
The college is honestly admirably
transparent that their goal is
maximizing revenue and I understand why
they have to do that. I appreciate that
honesty. But when revenue for a state
institution is the primary goal, I think
that creates a conflict of interest in
determining what serves isqua's best
needs and a conflict of interest in
facilitating discussion.
The city can't force a school to be
built, no matter how many people want
it. I appreciate that. You can't make
affordable housing or community centers
just appear. But you can put your thumb
on the scale. You can preserve
possibilities and bring the right
parties to the table. You can facilitate
conversations between the school
district as well as nonprofits and
community groups.
If you vote no and likely maintain
institutional use only past the end of
the year, you're more likely to
establish influence and put the city in
a stronger bargaining position. If you
vote yes, which we should be honest that
the vast majority of those 19 acres will
become market rate housing.
I recently had the opportunity to knock
on many doors throughout the Highlands
and the desire for a school on that site
was overwhelming. Not unanimous, but
overwhelming. And I know schoolboard
members who want to explore this
location to relieve pressure on other
sites. But that exploration needs
someone to facilitate it in ways that
haven't happened yet. The city is very
well positioned to do that. Belleview
College is not. I sincerely hope the
college finds solutions to its state
funding difficulties. But those
solutions should not come at the expense
of Isiqua's long-term flexibility and
needs. So the fundamental question is,
should a state institution's budget
needs drive development of one of
Isiqua's last large parcels? And if not,
what can you do about it? At a minimum,
the council should amend this agreement
to require council approval on all but
institutional use. That will help
prevent bad outcomes. That's still not
optimal, though, as to get a good
outcome, we'll need a good public
process and coordination between
multiple nonprofits or government
entities. The city will be able to do a
better job. While you of course can't
vote on that directly, that's not what
this vote is. You can put your thumb on
that scale and you can make it more
likely to become your responsibility and
yours to lead. Please vote now. Thank
you for your thoughtful consideration.
City clerk, who's next on the speakers
list tonight?
>> Yes. Uh Shuyu Cow
is Shuyu here.
Are they online potentially?
>> I don't see anyone by that name online.
>> So I'm going to move to the next
speaker. Uh, Chinme Nagar.
>> I don't see Chinme here.
>> All right. Next is Sarah Hoie.
>> I do see Sarah Hoie.
>> Good evening, council members. How are
you? Um, I'm Sarah Hoy. I'm the
executive director for Isiqua Highlands.
Um, I'd like to speak to you about this
Belleview College development agreement.
This was originally signed in 2010
between Grand Glacier and the city of
Isiqua.
The agreement clearly outlines the
authorities of the parties and the
agreement contains several key
provisions directly binding IHCA.
Sections 10 of the CCR CCNR state all
development on the property is subject
to the rule standards and approval of
the IHCA arc including cost sharing
fees. Section 11, authority, explicitly
affirms IH's authority over
architectural review and compliance,
as well as section 12, which establishes
that the city will extend the term of
the development agreement from December
31st, 2005 to 2040
if needed.
Isqua Highlands is mentioned over 400
times in the development agreement.
However, during your PDE or planning
development environmental committee and
the city city council meetings in July,
none of the listed recommendations for
actions were to contact IHCA and discuss
it with us.
Given these facts, IHCA as the largest
HOA in the state of Washington is asking
for city council to vote for what is
right.
Whether it be an extension or a
termination of the current agreement,
all parties need to work together to
establish a fair and legal plan. IHCA
must have a seat at the table. Having
this development agreement decision 28
years later without IHCA's input is a
procedural flaw. It is disrespectful to
the thousands of IHCA residents and the
IHC administration and the board of
directors.
As the IHC director for more than more
than a decade, I've worked tire tously
to uphold community standards and design
guidelines. I have own overseen
personally the final transition from GR
Grand Glacier and Port Blakeley. This
work is not simple,
nor should it be rushed. It is a legal
process that has to be done properly. So
I must ask tonight, why the rush? Why is
the city moving to end a longstanding
agreement without public input or a
professional courtesy of consulting with
the IHCA board and management? The
optics for this process have been
terrible.
Uh it is also crucial to clarify with
city council members again that there
are three separate corporations in the
highlands, IHCA,
Highlands Council and Highlands Fiber
Network. While some council members may
have discussed with the uh the Highlands
council director respect respectfully
the organization that organization has
no legal authority to speak on behalf of
IHCA's on matters of architectural
control compliance or development
agreements. That responsibility lies
solely with IHCA.
Finally, I urge you to consider the
impacts of adding more residential homes
to an institutionally planned parcel.
Our streets are already at capacity with
traffic. Infrastructure demands are not
being met. Our community is still
waiting for a promised bike park at
Central Park.
City of Isiqua as well as Isiqua
Highlands residents would benefit from a
new community center with a pool to
support sports groups such as the Isiqua
swim team and local teen teen
activities.
Most importantly, IHCA would be greatly
impacted by new housing.
If that was to move forward, adding new
housing would require extensive legal
expense on behalf of IHCA to ensure that
our associations rights are protected
and our governing docu documents are
reflected on these new parcels.
This is not just about the process.
It's about honoring nearly three decades
of careful development, planning,
ensuring accountability, and doing what
is right for the Isiqua Highlands
community with full transparency.
Please take the time to bring IHCA and
its residents to the table so that we
can collaborate collaborate for the
community's best interest. Thank you for
your consideration.
>> Thank you, Sarah. I apologize. I think I
said hoey and you said hoey.
>> I will get it at some point.
>> Apologies.
>> Um, city clerk, who's next up? Natalie
Anderson.
>> Good evening, madame mayor. Council
members, my name is Natalie Anderson and
I am speaking as a parent of the Isiqua
School District and a member of this
community. My family and I live in the
Maple Hills community uh on the Retina
Isiqua border. I prefer not to give my
physical address for security purposes.
I'm here to speak on the Belleview
College agreement. The Highland parcel
represents a rare opportunity. Our
school district is heavily constrained
geographically and there are very few
parcels like this anywhere within
district boundaries. Finding sites large
enough for school facilities is
difficult. This 19 acre site is
especially valuable because of the size
and location. Its proximity to Central
Park also creates an opportunity for the
district and city to collaborate on
sports fields that could serve students
and the broader community. I recognize
this puts you in a challenging position.
Only the school district can ultimately
decide to build a school, but that
option depends on the city's land use
decision today. You're being asked to
preserve a possibility for something
that might not happen for years. This
kind of forward thinking is hard, but
it's also what makes this moment so
important. Opportunities like this don't
come around often. And in regard to
land, believe me when I tell you, they
aren't making any more of it. In all
serious though, tonight's vote isn't
directly about whether to build a school
here, but it will determine whether that
remains a possibility. If this agreement
is extended, this land will uh almost
certainly be developed for housing and
the option to use it for educational
facilities disappears. So, while you're
not voting to build a school, you are
deciding whether to keep the door open.
The site could serve as a standalone
school as part of a full buildout for
the high school currently planned in
Providence Point or for other
educational needs as our community
grows. Additionally, school capacity
will be needed as our region grows. The
more sites we preserve now, the better
positioning the district will be to make
good decisions when the time comes. When
the city sold this land to Belleview
College in 2011, it was with the
understanding that it would serve a
public purpose. I hope we can honor that
intent and preserve this possibility for
our community's children. Thank you for
your consideration.
>> Thank you, city clerk. Who's next up?
Dave Osmer.
I had somebody on my list as well, Jay
Sternoff. Is he in a different order on
the list?
>> He's asked to be moved down. Yes.
>> Okay, great. Welcome, Dave.
>> Good evening, council members and uh
Madame Mayor. Um my name is Dave Osmer.
I live in Providence Point. Um and many
or most of you actually have heard me
numerous times. And usually I'm up here
complaining about something, but I'm
going to flip the switch, flip the
script, and actually support something
for a change. Um, and I'm going to do it
very quickly so I don't use too much of
your time. Um, we, as you well know, uh,
have an issue with this high school at
Providence Heights. We would absolutely
love to see a high school on this
Belleview College property. And whatever
you can do, I don't know what the right
answer is. Whatever you can do to
preserve that option, we'd very much
appreciate it and and put it there
instead of in our backyard. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Dave. Uh, city clerk.
Now we have Jay Sternoff. Welcome, Jay.
My name is Chase Sternoff and I also
live in Providence Point. Uh I have deep
roots in this uh uh community going back
to uh Belleview College uh uh being in
the first graduating class at the
current campus and uh then continuing to
move to uh uh Cougar Mountain uh in the
uh early uh late 70s. With that said,
this was before it was part of the city
of Isiqua. Uh the the commonality was
the owner of the Seattle Seahawks at the
time worked on the development for what
you know as areas like Talis as well as
Port Plley that is being discussed right
now. Uh my father always talked about
living in a neighborhood where he uh
work uh working in a neighborhood where
he lived and unfortunately uh in the
last 50 plus years since World War II
that hasn't happened and
we are trying to build communities where
people work where live where they work
and yes there is important need to have
affordable housing, senior housing Uh
even though the previous speaker spoke
about uh the largest homeowners
association, uh Province Point happens
to be the largest senior uh community in
this city. With that said, I can
strongly suggest whatever you can do,
whether it's voting for it tonight or
voting against it, but public education
is important. It's important to not only
the children themselves, but to the
grandparents like myself. And I hope
tonight that the decision you make will
move education closer to the community
rather than moving the community further
away from education. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Jay. City clerk, do we have
anyone indicating a desire to speak
online?
>> Uh, we do, but we have a few other folks
in uh the room. You're listening. Yeah,
it's okay. Uh, so Corby Castler is next.
>> Good evening, council members and madame
mayor. I'm Corby Castler and I'm here
speaking on behalf of myself as a
resident, but also on behalf of Dia as
the executive director. Um, I sent you
another letter this evening and I don't
want to get into the details around
that, but I do want to ask the council
to reconsider and affirm the original
commitment to fundia for 2025 and 2026.
We were told just this month that the
city would no longer fund DIA through
the Main Street Tax Credit incent, which
again gives you 25 cents on the dollar.
It's an investment that no other
nonprofit um has that kind of return on.
Um it it really makes it difficult to
manage a budget when you're given such
short notice and it also makes you
question the the responsibility when
such funds are given to back to the
state because they we it won't go
through the tax credit incentive
program. Um I know it's a complex issue.
It's it's one of those that people find
hard to understand. That's why I keep
going back to the 25 cents on the
dollar. And if it isn't spent here, it's
spent elsewhere.
This has been devastating to me
personally as a resident just because I
had high expectations of my leaders and
I expected more. But it's also
devastating because I support the
businesses downtown. I know them. I've
become close to many of them. Um I I
work on their behalf tirelessly. That's
what DI is all about is to support the
small businesses in downtown Isiqua. Um,
it's all about bringing together
volunteers and community members and the
businesses to find commonality and to
build build a community that is second
to none. DIA provides economic stimulus,
beautifification, and technical
assistance to downtown's vulnerable
businesses.
They depend on foot traffic, single
simple processes, and support derived
from true understanding of their needs.
They can be vulnerable. Some of these
businesses are struggling. Um, even in
the Q4, we're finding that our
businesses are not getting the foot
traffic that they need, and we are
intent and focused on making sure that
that is improved for the final quarter
of this year. DIA understands and
champions those businesses, but I worry
about their future. I worry about what
happens without this funding in a lot of
ways, but I will fight like hell on
their behalf. So, thank you for
listening.
>> Thank you, Kirby. City Clerk.
>> Yes. Next, we have Judy Ecklund.
Good evening, Madame Mayor and Council
Councilwoman Amen.
Um, I too represent the downtown Isiqua
Association.
I my name is Judy Ecklund and I've been
a longtime resident of Isiqua and for
the last several years I've been doing a
lot of volunteering with DIA and the
last two years I've chaired the economic
and design committee.
As a taxpaying citizen of Isiqua and
former business owner on Front Street, I
was very disappointed last week when I
found out that the funding that was
promised to DIA has been cancelled.
These are Isiqua taxpayer dollars that
should be utilized here and not sent
anywhere else.
One way deal uses these funds is to help
promote the businesses by providing
experiences that help drive patrons to
downtown
ensuring an increased revenue.
Many of our local artists and musicians
and cottage businesses benefit from
these opportunities as well.
This helps enhance the downtown
experience for the patrons.
DIA does does its best to be good
stewards with the funds provided by the
hardworking citizens.
So please I ask the city to reconsider
and continue continue funding the
downtown is association and I thank you
for your service and for your time.
Thank you Judy. City clerk.
Yes. David Kappler.
Mr. Kappler.
>> Good evening. Uh David Kappler, 255
Southeast Andrew Street. Um couple of
people here tonight. Um, I should pass
this on to them as well, but last week
they had a meeting at the fire station
over on Newport about PAS, the chemical
used in firefighting, the foam, and the
problems it has created in our water
supply and the region's water supply.
They did an excellent job at having a
very informative forh format, and it was
just really a well a well welldone
event.
Um,
after I graduated from Belleview High
School in 1966,
>> louder please.
>> Um, I I um attended a college at the
Newport High School where Belleview
Community College at that time was there
for two years while they were building
their campus. Um, I had a very excellent
time there. I was working a lot during
the day and going to school at night was
um worked into my schedule quite well.
Um I'm sure I had a soft spot um later
when I was on the council and um was um
met at the count at at which which then
I believe then was called Belleview
College, not Belleview Community
College. and I met with the president
and um she maybe had some some other
staff there and there were another
council member or community member with
me and um we talked about the
possibilities of um a college um not the
full campus but some kind of um facility
there. Um and so I'm kind of been
involved or interested in this for a
long time.
Um now I'm was glad to see the the the
compliance list here for that the city
has established um um with compliance
with applicable um applicable
environmental critical area storm water
tree preservation requirements and the
effect the time of devel effects that
are in in effect at the time of proposed
development.
Um, I've been on that site a lot. I
hadn't been on it. I was on it a couple
years ago when the largest homeless camp
was on the site. Um, finally it got
cleaned up. Um, but um, and I was up
there today. I just had to go check and
I found two pieces of litter on the site
which maybe weren't missed by them but
came in later. But um, I'm familiar with
the ground.
Um, I think it's for some it's it's got
some limitations for what could be done
there. That's that's a very big concern
I have. Um,
it's when you if if you looked at the
bailless concept in your packet, it
shows a sea of roofs, okay? and that
storm water has to go somewhere and
there's a U of city park surrounding the
developable in quotes area. It's got
it's got some real complications there.
Um my personal interest in seeing that
is um getting the King County Land um
park and open space people interested in
the site. I think that's the the the
best chance we have to to bail out the
college um on on the site. I just it's
to to develop it I think is extremely
difficult to do. Um, one thing I would
like to see this that in that same area
is taken on just to the north of that
property adjoining it is um I don't know
how many depth feet deep a pile of clay
and terracing the eastern part of Isiqua
Highlands all the junk soil was stacked
there and nothing hardly grows on it.
Um, uh, puddles are there for long
periods after rain because clay is a
great way to seal soil so water can't
get down through it. And that's what
it's happened there. We're trying to
figure out how we deal with that park
property there in some way. And then you
and this in and the college property as
part of an open space plan, I think is
the realistic way to deal with it over
time.
So, um, thank you for the opportunity to
speak here.
>> Thank you, David. City Clerk, Barbara
Mayfield.
>> I'm not as tall as he is.
>> My name is Barbara Mayfield. I am not a
resident of Isiqua. I live in Northbend,
but I opened my own business in 2015
uh on the west side of Isiqua and I
recently moved two and a half years ago,
almost three to the downtown Isqua
Plaza. On the very day that I moved in,
I was approached by DIA offering their
resources to find
uh sources for signs for permits to be
an active business in the downtown Isqua
core and I have really enjoyed and
thrived in the downtown Isqua uh plaza.
I a year later I joined DIA. I am on
their board. I don't want to hide that.
I think they are a valuable asset in the
downtown Isqua area. They support the
businesses constantly
and I would be very sad
to see the council not stand up to their
commitment a year ago to support them
and I'm sad to see the possibility that
the the tax funds that could come to
Isiqua may be diverted somewhere else.
Thank you for your time.
>> Thank you, Barbara. City clerk. Linda
Timone.
>> I was Hi, I'm Linda Timone. I live in
the Highlands on 10th Avenue Northeast.
Um, I didn't realize I got actually
signed in online apparently. I just want
to speak briefly. I think that the
Belleview Community College had
wonderful foresight in 2010 when they
bought the property for educational
purposes and in 2013 wrote that
wonderful summary 45 pages as I recall
of why this is such a benefit. I agree
and it should be maintained for
educational purposes. Thank you. Or
whatever the Highlands management thinks
should be go there.
>> Thank you, Linda. City clerk Elizabeth
Men is with us virtually. Elizabeth, I'm
making you a panelist now, so you should
be able to unmute and can choose to turn
your video on.
We can hear you.
>> My name is Elizabeth Mopen. I've been a
resident of Isiqua since 1982
and um I'm one of those people who
doesn't have a very high income. I have
a great appreciation
for the work of ARCH, a regional
coalition for housing.
Um, I understand you're considering
something from them and I hope that you
will consider that people who make 80%
or more of the area median income can
usually find housing. So, I hope that
the housing that you're supporting from
Arch is more like
60% and below because those are the
people who are really struggling to find
housing
and many of them are long-term members
of this community. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Elizabeth. City clerk.
Yes. Next, we have another virtual
commenter, Landon Halverson.
Landon, I'm making you a panelist now.
You should be able to unmute and can
choose to turn your video on.
>> All righty. Can folks hear and see me?
>> We can hear you. We cannot see you.
>> I'm so sorry.
>> My apologies. My Wi-Fi is not
outstanding. I'm in Los Angeles right
now on a work trip. However, I did want
to call in and and have my voice be
heard tonight.
>> We can see you now, Landon. So, it's all
good. It was just delayed.
>> Wonderful. Well, I just wanted to say
tonight, um, as you consider the
Belleview College campus in the
Highlands, I am very concerned just from
a a taxpayer perspective, uh, that we
would, uh, be in a position where we
have allowed Belleview College
essentially to take this land um, with
the idea that it would serve a public
purpose um, and then ultimately not
serve a public purpose. uh it was given
or or not given but rather sold at a at
a significantly discounted rate um again
with the idea that it would have some
sort of benefit some sort of public
benefit uh to the residents of not just
Isqua Highlands but the entire city of
Isiqua and my hope is that as you
consider the future of the development
agreement you'll consider uh the the
sacrifices the city made uh when they
did that when they made that choice in
2010 and thinking about the ways uh that
we can work on behalf of the entire city
to ensure that um young people have a
place to go to school, whether that be
through Belleview College or through um
a a K through2 school with a school
district or another proposal. But I
would ultimately encourage you all on
council to consider um what we did for
Belleview College um and the and what
sort of expectations we have in return
um just to respect the taxpayers who who
made the sacrifice uh in the beginning
in 2010.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Landon. City Clerk,
that is the end of the advanced signup
list. Okay. So, we'll look into the room
first. Is there anyone else who would
like to speak this evening that did not
have an opportunity to speak? And city
clerk, can you look on
this bad? Okay.
>> And city clerk, I'll give you a minute
to look uh online to see if we have any
additional raised hands. No additional
raised hands.
>> Thank you. So, I want to just say thank
you to everyone who provided comments
tonight. We heard a lot of information
about the Belleview College Development
Agreement proposed extension. Um, and a
a big focus on making sure that there is
a public benefit to this property. Um,
also lack of coordination with the
Isqua. Say it wrong, Sarah. Isa IHCA.
I'm not I'm not even going to say it.
I'm just going to use the acronym. IHCA.
Um, we heard about Diaz funding for
2020,
2026, 2020 or sorry, 2025 and 2026. We
heard about PIFA. Uh, and also a comment
about Belleview College potentially
parks and open space as well. Uh, we
also had a caller talk about affordable
housing and the item we have from a
regional coalition for housing. That's
on the agenda this evening.
And I believe that covers all the
topics. So I just want to thank you all.
It's so beneficial whether you can join
us in the room or join us online to be
able to share your thoughts and
comments. And I hope that you are able
to stay as this agenda bill uh for the
Belleview College Development Extension
is talked about later. So thanks very
much. As a reminder uh for anyone
watching or out in the audience,
comments can be submitted at any time to
our city council at city councilwah.gov.
And the next item of business is the
consent calendar.
Um, we have I have a couple of comments
to share before we actually move to a
motion for that. On item M, BNO tax
online payment processor agreement on
tonight's consent calendar. There is a
vendor agreement with a company called
authorized.net, net, which is the final
step needed to enable local business
taxpayers to submit their business and
occupation tax returns online and also
to be able to pay vi via via credit
card, debit card or electronic check. I
want to thanks a big thank you out to
our finance and our IT team for
partnering together to find this
creative solution to provide customers
with a secure, modern, and convenient
online payment system. Once this
agreement is approved, our teams will be
testing this new system with a goal to
go live early next year. Moving forward,
our team is also researching longerterm
end-to-end software solutions that will
be able to improve our efficiencies
within our internal business and
operation processing. I'm going to go to
some committee chairs. Are there any
committee chairs or chair designs who
would like to report on any items on the
consent calendar this evening?
Not seeing any. Um I do have a couple of
comments to share from council member
Hall who's not yet been able to join the
meeting tonight. Uh he had a lot of
items that he wanted to address on the
um consent agenda. First, tonight's
consent calendar includes AB9063, the
2025 comprehensive plan amendments and
reason for your approval. This agenda
bill represents a year's worth of hard
work from staff, the planning policy
commission, the transportation advisory
board, the mobility and infrastructure
committee, and the planning development
and environment committee, all of which
approved it unanimously.
This year's comprehensive plan docket
included adding policy allowing co-l
livingiving housing to comply with state
house bill 1998, a reszone for the food
bank site from community facilities to
retail, an updated transportation
element to comply with state house bill
1181 and two other items that have been
deferred for future consideration. They
were trickier than we had anticipated
this time around and they were change
the name of single family zones to more
accurately reflect multi-unit
capabilities and the removal of the
capital facilities land designation
regarding co-living and housing. HP 1998
requires cities to allow co-living
housing in all zones that allow at least
six units per site. It restricts some
local parking requirements and it was
adopted into title 18 back in February.
Now we're adopting it into the comp plan
to ensure consistency with our city
code. With regards to the reszone of the
food bank site, the hearing examiner
reviewed and agreed, we want to ensure
that count we want to ensure council
that the land use change doesn't impact
any redevelopment limitations due to its
partial historic landmark status. And
regarding the update on the
transportation element,
there were changes to the mobility
implementation plan or the M.Y.I.P. and
to the mobility action plan or the MAP.
And I want to thank this is a call out
to council member Ray for his stroke of
genius. According to council member
Hall, it also includes some housekeeping
to ensure consistency with the map,
which is the mobility action plan. The
other changes were made to comply with
the state house bill 1181 regarding
multimmodal concurrency.
Once again, the planning policy
commission, the transportation advisory
board, um M&I, which I forget what that
is, mobility and infrastructure and PDE,
planning development environment were
all unanimous. And so, uh we are
recommending on the consent agenda
tonight that the council approve this
along with all the other items.
One last chance for any chair comments
and if not we'll move into the consent
calendar was distributed to council in
advance and if authorized the items on
the consent calendar will be considered
together and approved by one motion.
Have the payables and payroll been
reviewed.
>> They have
>> that was okay. Thank you. Um does any
council member desire to remove any item
from the consent calendar and consider
it under regular business?
Not seeing an indication to do so. Would
somebody like to make a motion? Council
President,
>> I move we approve the consent calendar
as distributed.
>> Second.
>> Thank you. Uh the motion is to approve
the consent calendar as presented. It's
been moved and seconded. All those in
favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
>> Those opposed. That carries unanimously.
6 and0. We're going to move into regular
business. And the first item here
tonight is AB9095.
It's a city council statement regarding
immigration enforcement and the request
before council this evening is to
approve the resolution. This item was
brought forward by council leadership
and there is no staff presentation plan
for this item. So um if nec okay um
would somebody care to make a motion to
approve and if you don't have the
wording I can give it to you. Council
President,
>> I move we approve resolution number
2025-
>> 20 making a statement regarding federal
immigration enforcement in Isiqua.
>> Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Is there
any council discussion? Council
President,
>> thank you. I know there was some
feedback um that I had heard and did
agree with um regarding changing the
statement from uh citizen or non-citizen
to um regardless of immigration status.
And so I would be open to that idea. I
just wanted to bring that up um as a
concept and for the community or anybody
watching um as the
as Isiqua faced quite a challenging um
period of immigration enforcement um at
a local preschool and with other members
of the community. The council felt it
was important to make a statement in
support of our community members
regardless of immigration status. Um,
and speak to the next steps that were
needed because of the keep Washington
working act um, at the state does have
some opportunities to push back, but
this is a federal enforcement activity
and so there are certain things that are
out of our hands. And so part of the
letter and statement was um talking
about um our interest to speak to other
levels of government that may be better
um able to
make the changes needed to support our
community.
>> So those are my statements. Um I'm happy
to make an amendment to make the
adjustment to that or let other members
do so. Um I do think we have one other
comment there. Yeah, I will get to
council member Jen. Deputy council
president.
>> Oh, sorry. No.
>> Um, council member Jiang, you proposed
some wording changes. I wonder if you
could describe that and then maybe
council president can just emo amend it
in the motion instead of going through
two steps.
>> Great. Yeah, I would like to amend all
the instances in the uh statement where
it says citizen or non-citizen to say
regardless of citizenship or immigration
status.
Can we consider that a friendly
amendment? Uh,
>> could it be friendly?
>> There are no such thing as a friendly
amendment, but we could say mayor could
say, is there any objection to the
amendment? And if there's none, it could
be adopted.
>> Is there any objection to that
amendment?
>> There we go. Um, so thank you for that.
And then I'd like to go back and check.
We have five other council members here.
Additional council discussion.
Council member Joe.
>> Thank you. Uh under the first bullet
point um the right to legal counsel um
where we're saying that every citizen or
non-citizen deserves a constitutional
right to due process under law blah blah
blah. The right to legal counsel
technically speaking the right to legal
counsel attaches to criminal cases,
misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor, and
felonies. In the immigration
uh arena, legal counsel is not a
constitutional right necessarily. While
I would love to have that as a right for
um those proceedings are civil in nature
and legal counsel does not directly
attach as a legal right in that case. So
um I just want to point that out. I I
think the language would be fine as
adopted as were a a council, but um
technically speaking, the sixth
amendment rightfully council would only
attach in criminal cases and not in
immigration cases that are uh
technically civil in nature. So, I don't
know if my colleagues want to change the
language or not. I'm comfortable with it
as it is, but I just wanted to point
that out and make that clear uh on any
record that that might be um heard by
the outside world. Thank you. Any
additional comments?
Um, Council President, it's your motion.
Um, would you like to consider any
rewarding or just pro provide a motion
to vote on it as amended by council
member Jen?
>> Unless I hear anything from other
members of the council, I think I would
stay with the adjustments from council
member Jen.
>> Okay. Additional um council member
conversation, discussion.
Okay, it has been moved and seconded. I
have to find that. It has been moved and
seconded to approve resolution number
2025-20
making a statement regarding federal
immigration enforcement in Isiqua as
amended. All those in favor signify by
saying I.
>> I.
>> Those opposed and that carries
unanimously. 6 and0. The next item of
business is AB9026,
the wash dot transfer of development
rights, uh, TDR, development agreement
and extension for Belleview College. And
at this time, I'm going to check in with
the city administrator. Do we have an
ETA on Council Member Hall?
>> Uh, he should be here shortly. Um, you
might want to move on to the the school
impact fee item. Um, if you'd like,
perhaps that can be uh disposed with
quickly. There's not a representative
here from the Isqua school district. So,
>> okay.
>> Um,
>> ask a question. Um, I believe is Council
Member Hall going to be recusing himself
from the legislative agenda?
>> Uh, he is. I But I don't know that Miss
Helder is Oh, may not be
>> here. We can try to rustle her up, but I
I suspect that
>> council member Hall will be here
shortly. So, I apologize to all those
that are here for that particular agenda
bill, but council member Hall has
expressed an interest in being here for
that presentation and also the question
and answer. So, um Minnie, let's Oh, is
it Kristen or you tonight?
>> Uh Kristen is on.
>> Okay, fantastic. Um we're going to make
a little adjustment in our agenda
>> because he's pulling in. So, okay,
>> we are going to just take a fivem minute
break and then he'll be here. So, five
minute recess.
Sorry for the short delay. We're back.
Uh the next item we're going to be
dealing with is the one that is listed
next. AB Oh, now we're back. Sorry for
the delay. We are going to stick with
our original agenda and do AB9026,
the Washington State Department of
Transportation Transfer of Development
Rights Development Agreement Extension
for Belleview College. And the action
before council this evening will be to
amend and approve the resolution. So
before I invite staff to present, I have
a few comments on this topic, which is a
request from Belleview College to extend
their existing development agreement for
two years. The purpose of this extension
is to provide the college with
sufficient time to conduct a robust
community informed public outreach
process and develop a comprehensive
development plan for their property
ensuring compliance with the latest
environmental codes. I want to emphasize
what this action is and what it is not.
This extension is not an approval for
the location of a Belleview College
campus or any high school on this site
at this time. It is an approval to allow
the college to seek community input and
explore all prevent potential
development options including
institutional uses. Through this
process, Belleview College has committed
to a robust public outreach that will
then inform future development
scenarios. Following that outreach,
institutional use or mixed use would be
allowed. However, standalone housing
would still require a separate council
approval before Belleview College could
submit a land use application. It is
also important to note the potential
consequences of our decision tonight of
your decision tonight. If this council
does not approve the extension,
Belleview College can still develop the
property with any publiclyowned
institutional use, not necessarily an
educational institution.
Approving this extension allows us to
guide the conversation, ensure the
future of this property is truly
informed by robust community input. And
I'd like to invite community planning
and development director Minnie Dala to
present this item. Welcome, Minnie. Good
evening, Madame Mayor, members of the
council, and community members who are
here uh in person or online. Um, so this
item has been in front of council and
the council committee uh previously. So
the first few slides uh just to refresh
everyone's memory um this is um
oops
um an agreement that was entered in 2011
as uh was mentioned earlier. Uh the
bigger picture with this agreement was
uh there was a lot of uh open space that
was preserved about 144 acres of
forested land was preserved and um this
uh development was contemplated on this
property. Uh this is a map that shows uh
Park Point was about 101 acres. Most
members in the in the community that
were involved in that uh probably know
this. Uh, additionally 43 acres of the
washd property uh were preserved with
the idea that four of these parcels
would uh get some of those development
that was transferred over from those um
locations. Um a little bit close-up uh
map. Uh so parcel 2 1 2 and three were
developed at the time. Um parcel 4 is
the only remaining pending um
undeveloped property which is about 20
acres. Um back in the day at the time uh
a master site development plan was
approved by a city council uh that
envisioned uh the these academic
buildings um however things have changed
in the past decade shifting enrollments
online learning and so on. Um that
Belleview College could probably go go
into more detail about that. Um and uh
what what is currently entitled for this
property under the development agreement
is um about 372,000
square ft of institutional use uh or 310
equivalent residential units. And
there's a formula if you divide 372,000
by 1200. So one unit equates to about
1,200 commercial space and you come up
with 310. However, there are other
provisions in the development agreement
that limit the density to uh 3 to 12
dwelling in units per acre which the
math on that turns out to be there's a
maximum of 228 residential units. So,
just want to be clear that there's this
confusion between 310 versus 228. That's
how it comes about. Um the proposed
amendments that are in front of you uh
here tonight are a two-year extension to
develop a uh an actual plan for parcel
4. So you're not approving of one
particular proposal tonight. Um and as
part of this request, uh Belleview
College has also agreed to comply with
uh applicable environmental critical
area storm water and tree preservation
requirements. Um there is provision
under the agreement that they can um the
city will has to extend development of
this property for an institutional use
but under the terms of the development
agreement which is the old storm water
code which we know we cannot do legally
under our uh city's NPDES permit um
which is a pollution discharge uh
permit. Um so what has happened in the
past um feedback that we received
through uh the council uh committee we
discussed this at July 8th meeting um it
was agreed to uh pass this on to full
council the and to you know but the some
of the feedback was to ensure public
benefits from the development of the
property. Um there was some interest in
partnering um with Belleview College to
gather community input. Um there was
also interest in soliciting input from
Esco school district. Um and also if uh
the development included residential
housing, we wanted to ensure that
pre-existing paved trails on the
property are maintained and have access
points that emergency evacuation was in
the minds um to see how this could be
mitigated during development. So um
there was also interest in understanding
market rate versus affordable housing
options. Um
and then at the full council uh meeting
on July 21st uh council referred this
motion to September 8th committee of the
whole meeting by unanimous consent. Um
council members were expressed interest
in hearing a discussion about different
building types. What's currently
allowed? What exposure is there to
housing under the development agreement?
what are the tax implications options
with ISD? Uh what's the surplus process
for Belleview College? What are the
affordable requirements and so on? And
in your packet there is the um uh
answers to some of these uh council uh
questions. Um but the short of it is um
if uh the tax implications, if it is
owned by Belleview College, yes, there
are no taxes paid currently. if it is
leased to a development um that is not
otherwise exempt. So, you know, if it's
not a nonprofit or anything like that,
then those are not do not get those uh
same exemptions. The city would get the
the tax dollars from the from those kind
of leases even though Bellev College
would maintain the ownership. um the
affordable housing requirements as part
of the washd project. The overall
development agreement was to build about
50 um um homes on parcel D which is not
those four parcels but another parcel D
that city owned. Some of that
responsibility was on the city to build
those 50 homes. Uh however over time the
city transferred that ownership of
parcel D to Westridge to develop 10
homes. In exchange, Westridge
development up in Highlands built 49
affordable units in as part of their
block development. Um so we'll get into
what's allowed and not allowed. There's
a chart uh later in the in the
presentation that uh lays it out more
clearly. Um so since that meeting uh
with full council there are some
proposed changes to the resolution based
on direction from Mayali and council
feedback uh what we've proposed here is
um Belleview College is required to do
community outreach and subsequently can
develop the property with institutional
uses or mix of residential and
institutional uses. However, standalone
housing will require another action from
city council after community input is
completed and shared with council. Um
any proposed development um is required
to comply with the current storm water
critical area and other environmental
codes um regardless of institutional use
or uh mixed use or um that. So in in
this table it kind of lays out what is
currently allowed under the development
agreement until 2025. What happens if
the council approves a two-year
extension as proposed in the resolution
in exhibit B? That's part of your
packet. And what happens if the council
does not approve it? So, I'll go through
it one line item by one line item. So,
the first is um institutional use. Um
so, it's currently allowed.
If council uh extends this extension pro
or grants this extension, um it'll be
allowed after public outreach is
completed. Um so they can factor in what
type of institutional use and um and any
uh design standards from Highlands
Association and all of that. Um they
they are subject to the design standards
as you heard the testimony today. So
that comes part of that uh public
outreach and formal approval uh when
they're ready to uh develop. Um if the
city council does not approve then only
publiclyowned
um uses, institutional uses can go on
but they can go on till 2040 and they
they will be built under the development
standards that are baked in the
development agreement. Um and not the
current storm water regulations and so
on is is what that binding agreement
with with um the Bellev College that we
currently have. Uh obviously there's
some language we would need to get into
and and make them uh comply with um the
rules to the to the to the extent um we
can.
Um the other the second line item is
really talking about that um what is the
equivalent of 372,000 square ft uh in
institutional uses about 229 residential
units with a maximum density of 3 to 12
units per acre. um that particular
standalone housing uh as it's currently
proposed in your uh resolution
um is allowed after public outreach, but
there would but only if council um has a
second chance to say yes or no and and
address some of the more detailed
nuances of that proposal. how much you
know should be affordable, how much
should not be and and things like that
will come as a subsequent council
discussion when it comes back to you
after public outreach. Um if council
does not approve this amendment, then
that would not be allowed at all. Um in
the third um row here is really talking
about any combination of institutional
and residential uses um along with
accessory uses. um they are currently
allowed. Um if you grant them the
extension then they would do the public
outreach obviously um before they can
apply for the uh land use application.
Um but if you don't allow this extension
or grant this extension, it would not be
allowed and only publicly owned
institutional uses. Those necessarily
won't be just educational. Those can be
any institutional uses that are part of
the appendix. Um so that sort of um lays
out what the the three what the two
options are to approve not approve and
as recommended. Um there's a pending
motion that was made at your last
meeting uh which was to approve
resolution authorizing the mayor to
approve the amendment extending the
expiration date uh to seek you know so
that Belby College can evaluate
development options. Um, and if there is
a proposed motion to amend, then there
would be a substitute and and I think
our city clerk would be happy to assist
you as you talk about um that
conversation after your presentation.
But I also want to acknowledge uh
Belleview President U. Dr. May is here
as well as other members from Belleview
College and um they're here to answer
your questions but also talk to you
about what they their thoughts are. So
unless you have questions for me, I can
turn it over. Or
>> it looks like there may be a few.
>> Okay. Deputy council president.
>> Uh thank you so much, Minnie. Uh I have
three questions. So if we don't approve
um the extension tonight, then is
Belleview College required to do a
public outreach uh uh process? Uh if
>> they do not. Yeah. So the the process
under the development agreement would be
when they're ready to do their
development that would go through a
development commission approval. There
will be a public hearing as part of the
actual development of the the proposal.
But there is not a requirement to seek
community input on what uses do you
desire? What what are your concerns? The
people that will have this development
in the backyard uh you know what are
their concerns um and so on. So there
that those will come in through the
permitting process not prior to as
they're seeking development partners.
>> Uh and the second question is uh if we
do not approve this uh a amended
extension um does that foreclose the
possibility of a hybrid, a mix? Um in
other words, do we completely take
housing off of the off the uh plate if
we don't approve this uh extended
amended extension? That's correct. So
they will, you know, if if you don't
approve the extension then and later
council wants to allow something after
community outreach or or you know you or
there's a more information that makes
you reconsider that decision, then it
has to go through a process of the whole
development agreement amendment or
setting up the zoning. it it yeah it it
goes it can't just be redone without the
entitlements go away and then you would
have to go through a process to rechange
whatever that path
>> and then my and my last question is uh
and I just want clarity here is there
any scenario under the uh amendment that
Belby College would not have to come
back to us uh for approval of their next
steps is there any scenario No.
>> Is there any scenario where they would
not have to come back? Um
if they were to build in say an
institutional use, they would do the
community outreach. They don't council
doesn't need to formally approve the use
at that point because they already have
the use approved till 2040. They could
then file their land use application.
But being a public agency and they want,
you know, as they hear community input,
they would factor that in into whoever
they choose as their development p uh
partner to do this development with. Um
if there was a mixeduse proposal, that
would also the way it's uh we have
presented it tonight. Um that would also
be they would seek the community input,
fold that into their proposal. That
would still go through a public hearing
process, but it won't need uh touch from
council to formally approve that. The
standalone housing piece would be the
one that would come to council for
formal approval before they can proceed
with filing permits for that.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Um Minnie, institutional versus
educational. Could you explain the
difference? What are institutional uses?
Yeah. So, in your packet um is this
question and answer. Uh let me see if I
can pull that up. So, the way the
development agreement is written, it has
a list of uses under the institutional
use. And you know, it's not just
Belleview College. It is uh let me see
if I can share this. Um so, it could be
a community center. Um
it could be a chapel, art gallery,
cultural facilities, social services and
nonprofit organizations, you know, that
could be the the category is pretty
broad under that. It could be any of
those. Um and uh private community
organizations,
uh vocational tech, you know, of course
that religious facilities, um government
facilities
and and of course educational under the
accessory uses. It has things that you
generally see with these kind of things.
Libraries, cafeterias, bookstores,
theater, recreation facilities, gym,
coffee shop, and
>> thanks for sharing that. You did a great
job in the packet. But there's such a
discussion on education tonight. I just
wanted to make sure that you said out
loud what all the other options were.
Thank you. I think it's council member
Rutz followed by Council Member Hall.
>> Can you explain again the uh
use uh used an adjective around housing
uh freestanding or standalone or can you
explain a little bit more about how the
type of housing matters here? Because
the chart that you have in here is is
very good. I I'm very appreciative of
it, but I'm still a little confused
about housing types and potential impact
on on the decision decision-m process.
>> Yeah. I think what we were trying to
draw the distinction was if you have a
commercial use and and or I mean an
institutional use and then you have a
housing combination. It was one category
but no institutional use and just
primarily residential.
So just only people living in the
facility and not having another use is
what I think that we were getting at
with the standalone housing.
>> So it wasn't a certain type, it was just
housing
>> only. Yeah.
>> Thank you.
>> New new word to us. Um council member
Hall.
>> Oh, thanks. I also have three questions,
so I hope that's okay. Um first, um
apologies for not being here earlier. I
did listen to the public comment on
YouTube on the drive over and there was
one public commenter, I think it was
Dave, who was talking about critical
area impacts and how difficult and
challenging it would be to develop on
the site. I was just wondering if you
could speak to kind of the critical area
impacts that exist on the property.
>> Yeah, we know there's wetlands and
streams and and coal mine hazards. um
the coal mines up on highlands were
pretty well studied and so you know
there there's a whole map that sort of
establishes that it it doesn't quite
impact but we have to be careful with
the geotechnical studies and reports
around it. Um but the the appendices in
the development agreement actually
establish some of those uh wetlands and
the buffers um that we have to honor uh
because of this legally binding contract
that we have. Um at this time the only
thing that's expiring is um the two
years but but it says the city without
taking any action has to extend it you
know as to the other portions are good
till 20 240 and institutional publicly
owned institutional use.
>> Okay thank you. Yeah important to note.
Um
can I well actually my second qu I'll
take this a little out of order. I want
to ask a hypothetical question. So, if
council decides not to extend the
provision of the DA, if um if the school
district isn't um particularly
interested in acquiring new property, if
Belleview College makes the internal
decision and decides it's not
financially feasible to build an
institutional use on the site, there's a
public surplusing process, right? Can
you describe to us what that process is
like and what are the kinds of things
that could end up there if it went on
surplus?
um you know it will have to follow the
policies of um Belby College board uh
for surplusing. It will be their
decision
>> and I am going to invite Dr. Mayap and
his team give them an opportunity to
speak. So think about that question
>> rather than have many guests.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Thank you. No, I appreciate it's
always good to have the appropriate
person asking. So yeah, they'd be great
to to hear a little bit about that. And
then I'm also interested in exploring
with council the the word standalone and
potentially considering an amendment to
remove the word stand standalone. So
that way both options that include
housing would have to come back to the
council for final approval. And I'd be
curious to hear your thoughts on that as
well. Um
yeah or and if you have any thoughts too
as the administration, it would be
helpful to hear that as well.
Yeah, I I think um our recommendation
was to only have council touch at the
point where it's only residential but
not mixed use. But if council wants to
li you know have another say in
even for mixed use um then that that
would be the amendment you would make
>> and that would be a proposed change but
something we could talk about tonight.
Any other questions? Council member Ray.
Oh, sorry. Council member Jen, Council
Member Ray.
>> Um, so is it possible to amend this uh
development agreement to allow
institutional use only and also amend it
to require community input?
>> Well, if the and u I think what you're
asking is
the what the language in the development
agreement is pretty broad. It just says
the city shall uh allow institutional
uses without any action till 2040
publicly owned institutional uses. So if
you want public outreach for
institutional uses
um and but not allow any mixed use or
anything else then technically you know
Belby College could say but they've been
good partners so far and you know if if
that's something that council is
interested in I'd let them weigh in.
However, there isn't anything that
requires them to do it as the contract
is currently written.
>> Were you Were you trying to find out how
to get community input on institutional
only?
>> I'm I'm asking if that is a possibility
as something we could amend the contract
to say like could we amend the contract
to say that?
>> It's a it's a development agreement.
>> Give it a guess.
>> Good evening, Rachel Turpin, city
attorney. You could, but you'd have to
have Belleview Colleg's agreement to do
so. And they don't. Right now, they they
can um even if the council takes no
action tonight, they can develop any
public institutional use without public
outreach till 2040. So, you could ask,
but they could say no and they could
still go move forward.
>> Understood. Um and then if we don't
extend the develop that provision of the
de development agreement um but then in
the future you know through public input
we decide that you know it becomes clear
that the best and highest use to the
community includes some component of
housing. How would that development
agreement amendment process be different
than what we're doing right now?
>> Well I think that it's expired so it's
not just an extension. If it's already
expired then you start a new development
agreement process. We'll have to look at
the terms of the development agreement,
but it it's not just, you know, you
can't really take an old amendment
development agreement many years later
and then try and change it. Once the
once it expires, then it expires.
>> Okay.
>> Do you want to reframe that because it
looks like you still didn't get the
answer you wanted?
>> Yeah. I guess I'm saying like how
>> I guess my my question is like how much
work is it to you know start a new
development agreement versus you know do
this extension like we're doing now
>> significant
>> significant
>> and and if I may madam mayor members of
the council um it takes both parties
concurrence again there are vested
rights that Belleview College has um
they would have to come to the table and
be willing willing to uh amend those
vested rights through a new agreement.
Uh the city attorney I think is still
here. Am I that a fair
that a fair uh estimate of this?
>> I haven't looked at this a lot. Um but I
was actually anticipating this question
and looking at this section of the
contract this evening.
>> Development agreement.
>> The development agreement. It's a
contract. It's a contract. It's a
contract
>> and it's
it's a really oddly worded um term
provision in a development agreement.
It's not one I've ever seen before.
And it does on one hand somewhat imply
that the development agreement just sort
of ends at the end of this year unless
the unless um the city agrees without
additional action, which makes really
not a lot of sense in practice to um
extend the term until
December 31st, 2040. in order to
facilitate the build out of publicly
owned institutional use. So I do think
there is an argument to be made that you
could amend it
after
uh this year to add something. However,
based on the age of the agreement and
the complexities of it, I think it would
be my recommendation that at that point
you just start over.
better
or do you want to take a third shot?
>> Uh, I'll think about if I have
additional clarifying questions. Council
President.
>> Oh, Council Member Ray. Council
President.
>> Um,
so my question is really um, one of them
is sort of a a formatting question and
then I have a subs question. But when I
look at the table that you is included
in the PowerPoint and you've got the
three um,
uh options and then is the um text
that's in red is that um what has been
negotiated with the Belleview College
for inclusion in the extension? So
that's that's that's negotiated um terms
and conditions.
>> That is correct. And and that is a
change from when you last saw it as
council. So we wanted to highlight what
has changed,
>> right? But this wasn't something we just
said, "Oh, this is what we're going to
do." This is something we negotiated
with Belleview College. I think that's a
really important point. Um, so this may
be a question more for Belleview College
than it is for you, Director Dollywal,
but it goes to the last one where it's a
mixed use. Um, and it doesn't have the
council approval. Was that is there
what's the rationale for for that
consideration as opposed to all
residential consideration?
>> I think that was getting at some of the
feedback we heard from council about um
housing in a master plan community. does
how much uh and should there be a
balance of things. So um the idea being
if it if it is part of another mixed use
then it was it got its own category or
whole uh line. We understood the concern
to be um just only housing. council
needed some more shy around that
>> and it does sound like many council
members are interested in talking about
whether or not it's not some all housing
but even if it's some housing that's our
concern
>> exactly and and then so maybe our
friends from Belleview College can speak
to their yeah
>> thinking about that.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Council Member Ray. And
again, we have Minnie's not leaving, so
it's this is not your last opportunity
for staff questions, but uh we'll go to
Council President, and then if it's okay
with the group, we'll invite Belleview
College to come up and ask do a
presentation. Council President,
>> thank you. I'm going to take another
stab on uh Council Member Jen's
question. So in the future if we didn't
approve this extension but found through
community engagement that mixed use or
something similar was the highest and
best use for that property.
Could we move forward with a more
traditional way of adjusting the zoning
of that property such as a comp plan
amendment in order to facilitate and
enable that type of use or would there
be requirements considering there would
be a continuing development agreement?
>> Um sure we can always um you know start
the comprehensive planning process and
and the zoning establishment for the for
the property. Uh the issue is that
contract itself doesn't sunset until
2040 because it says without city action
that still remains. So you could give it
an underlying zoning and this would stay
as in on top of that. But if it is
Belleview College, they would still have
legal contract that's binding to the
city to allow an publicly owned
institutional use till 2040 based on the
development standards in that agreement.
>> Yes. And if that was something that
through community engagement we came up
with a plan that was beneficial to the
community and to the college and to the
city, we could still find a way to do it
that wouldn't necessarily require this
entire
recreation of a development agreement.
>> Yeah. But creating a comprehensive plan
is still in, you know, resource
intensive in terms of the comparison,
what's the rules, what's, you know, what
makes sense and all of that. Yeah. But
we wouldn't have to create new standards
that apply just for that property to
storm water and you know all of those
things in order to change the zoning.
>> Sure. Um but the the Belleview College
would have to voluntarily give up their
entitlements. Um you know if we were
talking to a developer would be a very
different conversation. I mean it's a
public agency that that is willing
partner and wants to do do it right and
have the community outreach and
conversation. And so I think this this
partnership between two public agencies
is the is the part that I think is also
sort of important here to keep in mind
as you contemplate this issue. Um
>> okay and then another question um is
there a way when looking at these kind
of three options to require
collaboration or engagement with the
ESCO Highlands Community Association
IHCA?
>> Absolutely. And you know, when we first
started back in February, um these
conversations, we did have Belvy College
reach out to Isiqua Highlands Community
Association. I think there was some
phone calls back in the day. Um but
obviously we we want everyone to be at
the table. Uh we want to hear from them.
They know their community the best. Um
so we that's definitely a part that we
want to facilitate, help improve. Um
>> Okay. I I want to be very clear on that.
it is that required or just suggested?
>> Well, as part of the community outreach
process, so we I gave you a little
sample of what that would look like. You
know, it would be to the development
partners, to the Highlands Council, to
the community members that live there.
So, and then, you know, that could
happen through
>> meetings, sharets do or you know,
surveys. So there's there's a whole tool
we work with the communications team to
come up with by based on city's public
outreach tool to what what that public
outreach should look like. Um so yes
there there would be definitely
a seat at the table for IHCA u from the
get-go for sure.
>> Okay.
Um so thank you Minnie. Don't go far.
Yeah. So at this time I would like to
invite Dr. May Bellev College's
president and any of your team to come
up. And we did hear some public comment
this evening that I would like you to
include in your presentation. And you
might have to do it off the top of your
head, but um out on social media and in
testimony or public uh comments we heard
tonight, the um intended message that
most of the community has about this
process is that Belleview College wants
to maximize profit to deal with its
state funding cuts. And I think it's
very important that you talk about that
even if it isn't part of your
presentation.
Come on up, Dr. May.
Uh, Mayor Paulie, members of the
council, thank you very much for a few
minutes of your time today. And thank
you also for those of you who carved out
some time this summer and we were able
to get together and have some good
conversations around these issues.
Um,
I do want to introduce Dr. Jorge
Delator, who's the vice president for
administrative services, and Dr. Lori
Keller, who is the director of policy
and governmental relations at Belleview
College. I think they would prefer to
not stand up right now, but but I may
turn to them when when I lose track or
lose the thread.
>> No problem. Doctor, if you're going to
have them come up to have them to answer
a question, still have them introduce
themselves at the mic would be great.
>> Thank you. Um, I just have to say it's
great to it's great to see Belleview
College or Belleview Community College
alumni and I think in in this moment it
is a representative of the connection
that Belleview College has with the city
of Isiqua. Um, in the last 5 years there
have been 14,500ish
students come to Belleview College from
Isiqua and more than 4,000 credentials.
And if you don't know about community
colleges, those are local students who
then stay local. And so there is a there
is a deep connection and there has been
a long-standing partnership. Um
the amendments um there's been a lot of
discussion about the amendments. We're
very pleased with the amendments. Um
speaking to the um to the environmental
codes, we have a deep commitment to
environmental responsibility. Our
environmental plan is out there and it's
a plan to be carbon neutral um in the
future. Not for a while, but we're
working toward it every day. Um sorry, I
have notes on my notes, so it's And my
handwriting is terrible. Anyway,
>> and we have all night, so take your
time.
>> I I'll skip that. Um to your to your
point uh Mayor Paulie, there has been
created a very loud public narrative
that the college is um interested only
in profit maximization and that um the
only thing that we have considered is
the 220 plus standalone single
residential housing. And I think that
that came in part from the report from
the emerald initiative. We engaged with
the emerald initiative. I so this isn't
a conversation that actually started in
February when I arrived at Belleview
College two and a half years ago. I said
what we own property and then I had a
very interesting phone call with you
mayor Paulie about that property um and
some things that had happened there some
some negative outcomes. Um so I this has
been on my mind and this has been part
of my conversation and so we engaged
with the Emerald Initiative in an effort
to understand what was possible there
because it's it's a sloped property. It
has a wetlands at the bottom. No one's
ever really sat down and said, "Can we
build something here?" And if so, what
could that something be? And so that was
where this conversation began. Now, the
Emerald Initiative is connected to a lot
of development. And so, their bent is to
find ways to do what this narrative has
become, maximize profits. But that's not
what I'm here to commit to today. Um,
we're dealing with our state budget
issues. We're doing that right now. We
had our board of trustees meeting last
week and we're dealing with it. So, this
is this conversation is not about a
budget reduction from the state in the
last legislative session. This is about
hoping to find a way to utilize this
property in a manner which is beneficial
for the city, for the residents of the
city, and also for Belleview College.
And so, that's that's the goal of the
conversation. If this extension is
granted, if if this extension isn't
granted and we're not required to do
public outreach, we will still do public
outreach. The goal isn't to try to
steamroll ride roughshod, whatever
phrase you want to use. The goal really
is to find something that we can be
continue to be partners with the city of
Belleview. City of Belleview. Sorry, I
say city of Belleview so often in my
day-to-day life. The city of Isiqua. um
and move this property forward. Um
and if it's the will of the council to
to seek to amend this agreement to um
require us to come back for mixed use, I
will not I promise I won't have any
issue with that. We we will be happy to
come back and have additional
conversations on mixed use because I
understand that concern.
Um
then there was a question might have
been council member Hall asked about
surplus
>> surplusing.
>> So the state has a process because we
are a state agency and so we can't just
simply decide that we're going to sell
this property to anyone. The state has a
process that we have to go through and
it's multi-stage. I'll I'll just read
this list here so I don't mess it up. So
we have to issue a formal surplus
declaration saying that we no longer
wish to control this property and we
have no intent to utilize it. We notify
the department of of enterprise services
dees our friends and dees initiates a
screening period for state and public
use. So they basically say is there is
there another state agency that wants to
use it? Is there another public agency
that wants to use to purchase it? Um, of
course, we know that affordable housing
is given priority in that process under
the RCW.
And then if no interest is expressed
from any state or public agency, then
the uh the state board could uh sell the
property at market value. And so that's
the process that we would go through. U
if if that came to that final
determination and the property was sold,
the money doesn't come to Belleview
College. So, we're not actually talking
about this as,
you know, trying to trying to balance
the budget by even selling the property.
It's just not the way the state system
works.
Um, I think that's most of the
indecipherable scribblings that I have
on my notes.
>> And I'm going to get you to stay up
there then.
>> I'll stay up here.
>> Yeah. And thank you for working with my
team over the last couple of years on
this. Thanks very much. You know, I I
neglected to thank um the folks in the
mayor's office as well as the city
council members who I've met with.
They've been incredibly helpful,
incredibly generous with their time and
with their thoughts and um it's really
been a pleasure to continue to build
relationships and partnerships.
>> Thank you, Dr. May. Council members,
questions for Belleview College. We'll
start with Council Member Shen. Um, so
the first paragraph of text in the
consultant report says, and I'm reading
verbatim, the college has shared that
its primary goal for the site is to
maximize revenue generation with
secondary goals of building community
partnerships and or driving learning
outcomes. Um, and you're saying that
that is not true. So, I'm curious how
why that was in the consultant report if
that was not true.
>> It's not true that that is my highest
goal. I I don't know why the consultants
wrote that in there. I mean, so we're a
public agency. I'm not looking to lose
money on a development agreement with a
developer, but maximizing profit is not
my goal. I'm on the public record. The
president of Belleview College is saying
that.
>> Okay.
>> Next uh question, council members.
>> Okay. And we will still have the
Belleview College team here during um
the the council conversation in case
another question comes up. Thank you
very much, Dr. May.
>> Thank you, everyone.
Okay.
So, city clerk,
even for me doing this for 14 years,
this next step is a little confusing. I
wonder if I wonder if you would walk us
through the motions that could happen
tonight so that those in the audience
their brains don't blow up as we start
having that conversation on the ties.
>> Sure. So, at the July 21st city council
meeting, um, a motion to approve a
resolution number 2025-15,
which would extend the development
agreement was moved and seconded and
then it was referred um to a committee
of the whole and eventually landed us on
tonight. So that motion is pending. And
so uh the administration's uh suggestion
tonight as you know uh Minnie provided a
revised resolution in the agenda packet
and so the motion in the packet is to
replace that pending resolution with the
revised version that includes the
additional community engagement. So you
would make one vote to replace the
resolution and then the second vote
would be whether to approve or uh fail
the revised resolution. Um we've heard
there might be an additional amendment
desired to remove the word standalone
from exhibit A and that could be
achieved through that motion to
substitute. You could say move to uh
substitute the pending resolution with a
revised version dated November 10th and
removing the word standalone from
exhibit A. You could do that all
together or you could do one at a time.
Move an uh vote on the revised version
and then have someone move any
additional amendments.
>> Thank you. And uh I wonder just in case
everybody doesn't have a packet or the
information if you could read what the
substitute motion is and then we'll
start moving through these council
actions.
>> Mayor, do you mean that motion to
substitute the pending resolution?
>> Uh actually
no, but I think I think it's fine. Let's
just start with the first one. First
motion on the table is to substitute the
pending uh the first motion that you may
consider if you'd like to. We'd need a
someone to move it. Second is to
substitute the pending resolution with
revised version dated November 10th. Do
we have somebody who wants to make a
motion?
>> Deputy council.
>> So moved.
>> Is there a second?
>> Second.
>> It's moved and seconded. Um it is moved
in its original form. Would someone care
to make an amendment to that motion? Are
we allowed to do that now?
>> Uh, I would recommend taking a vote on
Okay.
>> this revised version first.
>> Okay. So, it has been um moved and
seconded to substitute the pending
resolution with the revised version
dated November 10th, 2025. Is there
council discussion?
Uh, you um deputy council president, you
have your mic on. Would you like to
speak, Tori?
>> No.
>> Well, just to Yeah. Um, I guess I'll
I'll do it. Yeah, just to say that if
we're going to vote on any motion
tonight, it might as well be the most
current one. So, I would um suggest that
everyone on the council support this
amendment. Thanks.
>> Any other
council discussion?
Not seeing any indication. All those in
favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> Those opposed?
That carries unanimously. Seven. And
um city clerk. Now, do we move to the
main motion or the amendment that some
council members are considering?
>> So, you now have that revised resolution
um pending and so any additional
amendments could be made at this time.
>> Council member Jen, would you like to
talk about the amendment you were
proposing?
>> Or Council President.
>> Um so, I would amend the substitute
motion to remove the word standalone
from exhibit A. Is there a second?
>> Second.
>> And council discussion.
>> Council President.
Um I appreciate Belleview College um and
President May coming and uh making these
comments um and suggesting that uh even
a mixeduse development would require uh
council feedback and approval. And so I
think that is the latest latest motion
for us to discuss.
>> So it's a moved and seconded to remove
the words I forgot it's called
>> stand alone um from the other
motion all the if there's no more
council discussion all those in favor
say I. I
>> um opposed that carries unanimously. 7
and0
and on to the next step, right? Which is
the final vote on the amended
resolution.
Uh I'm seeing two are these questions or
would someone like to make a motion
first?
>> Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. We have a
motion that's been amended. Uh so we're
calling for a vote on the
Uh it's an opportunity for discussion
and and any other future amendments and
then the you'll just take the vote on
the resolution.
>> Thanks council president followed by
council member Mertz.
>> Thank you. So
council has known about this for a
little while, albeit not as long as the
development agreement has uh necessarily
been going on has this discussion
happened. But we have been having
conversations with Belleview College um
since that kind of June period. Um, I've
heard a lot from the community uh about
this and about the desired potential
uses for this large of a property. And I
think as I am thinking through this, I
would say first and foremost, I'm not
opposed to housing um on even in this
location.
But there are some very specific
specifics about this parcel that are
really important for us to consider. Um,
it is not often that we have a 19 acre
site in the city that is
located right next to a school and a
city-owned park that is adjacent to
areas where there are sports fields um,
and that has a community that very much
supports an institutional use on this
property. So I think those are the first
things that come to mind. Um the second
thing that really is important for me in
considering this is the intended use and
um the significant discount that was
given to um Belleview College to
purchase this property along with a lot
of community benefits um in order to
have a public benefit on this site. And
I think that's an important piece that
we need to consider as we are thinking
through um all of the options here. So I
am not necessarily in favor of extending
this development agreement. Um I think
there are certain adjustments that have
come through this
um staff negotiation that could make it
a little bit more feasible. Um,
but I think the public benefit portion
and the exploration of institutional use
and particularly a potential school site
and talking really truly
getting a conversation happening with
the Isiqua School District um is really
important at this point and it's
something that the community supports
and it's something that we don't get
often. Um, one of the reasons that the
school district
pursued the property that they did was
because they wanted a single property
owner and a large enough site. And so I
I think these are very important things
that we really need to consider as we
are looking through this. I am not sure
that
extending the development agreement
helps us potentially achieve that or
create that portion of a community
conversation. I think that's going to
take
Isiqua City staff leadership
and our ownership of the process. Um, I
I think there is a conflict of interest
in having the
community conversation
if there is a potential school use that
would not maximize um profit on this
site by having the community
conversation owned by Belleview College.
Once that's out of the way, I think um
creating that community conversation
with Belleview's College ownership is
fantastic. Um but I do think we really
need to understand our role in
stewarding through possibilities and not
shutting the door on certain
possibilities. So that's where I am
sitting now. I would love to hear from
other council members.
>> Mertz.
>> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh I am against
extending the uh development agreement
this evening. Development agreements
first of all I love development
agreements. Uh they are some of the most
aspirational things that we do as a city
council. We offer a heck of a deal to
the part to who we partner with. We
basically enshrine zoning policy. We
give developers certainty um in return
for a benefit for our community. Right.
And some of the pillars of our city have
been built through development
agreements. Isiqua Highlands, Talis, the
Rowley developments that have occurred.
Costco, the amazing things Costco has
done, the amazing things Swedish has
done.
I was here on this council at this
podium in 2010 when we made the
development agreement with Belleview
College and it has had a heartbreaking
neglect for the last 15 years. nothing
has happened uh other than residential
uh housing being put in place. And you
know, they did a study 3 years ago.
They've they've known for a while uh
that that that the clock was coming up.
And now in November, uh we're supposed
to rush into a decision. No. Um this
public outreach process and community
engagement doesn't guarantee anyone
anything. Um, I think at this point we
just need to ref revert to the default
zoning. I uh uh director Dolly Wall is I
really appreciate the institutional uses
list. I think it's a good list. I think
everything on that list is things that
they're all things that we would be
proud of to have in the Highlands. So I,
you know, respectfully I love Belleview
College. I'm glad that they're there,
but you've had 15 years to develop this
property. Times up. So I'm I'm a no.
Thank you, Council Member Hall.
Oh, sorry. Uh, deputy council president
and then council member Halt having
trouble with my button tonight. There we
go. So, uh, well, it's time for a
counter voice. So, I will provide that.
Um, I am supporting the extension um and
the amendment and the extension of the
development. And um I think that the
amendments that we've seen um and uh the
guarantee that they will be coming back
to us for approval of of a plan um uh
makes a lot of sense to me. Uh by
approving the extension, we're giving
everyone the opportunity to take a deep
breath and consider the near and
long-term impacts of any plan that Belby
College proposes. As taxpayers, we don't
construct institutional buildings just
because we think it's a good idea. We
construct institutional buildings
because there's a demonstrated need. And
that applies to anything that Belleview
College might do. It also applies to
anything that the school district might
be interested in. We have to have a
demonstrated need. We have to understand
the short and long-term impacts on the
environment, on the slopes, on
transportation and traffic, on the
neighborhoods, on public safety and
evacuation routes. All of these have
been raised by um emails that we've
received from the public and most
importantly on student education and
that's just to name a few of the
considerations that need to be taken in
into consideration. So, we're nowhere
close to uh understanding exactly what
this property could be. A two-year
extension, which requires consideration
of both the institutional and the
housing development needs, also provides
us with the opportunity to know who is
interested in the Belleview College plan
and who is not. Uh to those folks who
are interested in having a high school
um up on that property, uh you have to
understand and and understand that there
is no guarantee that the um school
district has an interest in that
property. And if they do have an
interest in the property, there's no
guarantee that they will be able to fund
the development of that property. Uh
that would be a long and complicated
process. And we just heard what the
process for surplusing the property
would be. That would be another one that
would be completely out of our control
and completely out of the control of the
school district as well. So there's a
lot of in Robfeld's famous
uh formulation of known unknowns and
unknown unknowns that just have to be
identified through some kind of process.
And I believe that the extension, the
two-year extension gives us that
opportunity for that process. Um, if the
council doesn't approve the extension
tonight, then Belleby College is not
under an obligation to do a public
outreach. Although I I know that you
would, but uh you're not under any
obligation to do that. Um, with the uh
agreement, we would be able to work in
partnership on that outreach. Um, if we
don't pass it, it also puts Belby
College in a kind of a bad position. The
original intent of the agreement was a
satellite campus and that was 15 years
ago and 15 years ago satellite campuses
were very popular and we've seen with
the closure of Central Washington
University up on the plateau that
satellite campuses simply aren't working
anymore. So what can we do um if we
don't pass uh the uh extension tonight?
We completely foreclosed the opportunity
for a mixeduse development uh which I
think has a lot of possibilities and
that would be with an educational
institution and then some kind of
housing. There's a lot of possibly
creative ideas out there about that. We
foreclosed that. We forclosed the public
outreach. Um and um we're again we're
talking about two years. That's the
length of the extension. So, uh, I'd
like to I know that if we were to,
uh, approve the extension tonight that
Belleby College would have a tremendous
amount of work to do in two years to
understand what the community needs to
hear all kinds of creative and maybe not
so creative ideas about what could be
there. Uh but um I think that through a
community process, listening to the
community, um doing a lot more research
on the on the developility of that land.
I really appreciate uh Mr. Kappler's
comments tonight. Uh because um when you
look at it, there are some slopes there.
There's there's valleys. There's all
kinds of things that needs to be taken
into consideration environmentally when
you look at that property and see how
much of it actually is developable. So,
I think a two-year extension gives us
the opportunity to work together to find
a a really good solution for that
property and to determine what really is
viable there. So, I will be voting for
to support and I keep messing this up,
the amendment to the agreement.
>> I don't know.
>> I don't know.
>> The amendment to ex to the extension.
Yes, there we go. All right.
>> Thank you. Um I believe it's council
member Hall followed by Council Member
Ray.
Yeah, thank you. Um, ditto to what the
deputy council president said. I also
support um um approving the two-year
extension now as amended in particular.
Um, and I think voting no would be a
mistake. So, let's let let's walk
through some of my thoughts here. I
think first and foremost, I actually
want to thank Belleview College for
being a willing and good partner here in
this space. First, with previous
investments um and community benefit
already on the property with commitment
to many current rules and regul
regulations for future future
development with commitment to community
input and now council approval approval
on both options that would include
housing.
With all that, I think we've struck a
really good balance here that does
address much of the community and
council concern that I've heard tonight.
um and in emails um for the last few
days that we've been receiving from
community. Um like I said at our
previous meeting, Belleview College is a
critically important partner to the city
of Isiqua, to our community, um and
provides tremendous community benefit
not only to post-secary students but
also secondary students here in the city
of Isiqua and the broader area. Um, and
this represents an opportunity to give
them a bit of time recognizing they've
had challenges just like any other
public institution just like us. I see a
lot of similarities here and this is an
opportunity to help and I don't see why
we wouldn't. Um, and it also allows them
to do that planning and then figure out
how best to utilize the property for
them, for community, for the city. um
especially now in its current form, it
it doesn't prevent collaboration with
the school district and especially if
their future interest on in the in the
site um shifts. Um and it doesn't
prevent some form of institutional use
from the college themselves as well. Um
now it requires um council uh approval
for housing too, which means we have
another touch in the future where we can
incorporate community concerns and an
opportunity to hear from community. Um I
I worry about what happens if council
doesn't support the motion tonight
though. I agree the institutional use
list is a good list. It is. Um but we're
hearing that the feasibility for those
options just isn't there especially
right now. So that means surplusing and
from what we've heard today there's a
lot of uncertainty in the surplusing
process and then we have community and
city has no say whatsoever at that
point. So with this amended motion,
community has say,
we have another touch in the future. By
relying on
what could likely be an eventual
surplusing process, we lose that.
There's uncertainties and it means no
benefit for the community, for for the
college, for the city. So, in my mind,
this is a pretty easy vote, especially
because we have a future opportunity to
um collect community engagement and
giving Belleview College some more time
to put in some really thoughtful
exercise into this. So, I'll be voting
yes. Thanks,
>> Council Ray. You no longer have your
Okay, there you go.
>> You didn't leave it up, so I didn't know
if you changed your mind.
>> Not be annoying.
>> Okay.
>> Um, first I want to thank U Belleview
College leadership for being here
tonight. It is so important and and
gratifying to hear from from you all. I
concur with council member Hall that the
proposed extension addresses the issues
that have been raised by the community.
There were some as I was reading through
the extension and listen and and reading
through all of my emails, um there were
a number of things that made me pause,
but I think we've done a good job of of
addressing that. And I don't think we're
rushing into a decision. I really think
we're doing just the opposite. We're not
giving up control. What we're doing is
moving forward with more flexibility in
how we move uh how we address this
parcel of land. And I've heard about
uncertainty and really the extension
provides us a foundation for more time
to examine and better uh gain that
certainty to the deputy council
president's Rumsfeld uh reference. um
because there are a lot of uh unknowns
and we can um we can develop those and
have a better sense of them. Large
parcels in Isqua are hard to come by. Um
we really need to figure out how to
explore what's the best way to use this
land. I don't think a two-year extension
um you know doesn't limit us. It
actually just provides us an opportunity
for more control and an opportunity for
engagement. Um gives us more control
over the development. we have the better
a better ability to if we see fit to
push towards a community um
good and um you know it's really about
listening to your community and not
closing any doors at this time because
we don't really have to. So let's leave
the doors open and find out what the
community really wants us to do with
this parcel of land and then find a way
to move forward on that.
Uh we have two council members we
haven't heard from. Council member Jiang
and then uh we'll leave it up to council
member Joe if he has comments.
>> Great. Um yeah I also want to give
thanks for uh the Belleview College uh
staff for being here with us today. Um I
think we've heard quite a lot of
community input over the last few days
um that you know they want to ensure the
long promise institutional use at the
site. I've also heard from some folks
that, you know, we shouldn't build
anything there unless we also improve
transportation infrastructure, like put
in a new road. That is a strong case to
me that we should actually potentially
consider a new development agreement
that includes infrastructure
improvements. Um, but whether it's, you
know, high school, elementary school,
community center, middle school, pool,
you know, library, whatever, all those
lists on the institutional list of
institutional uses, I think those would
all be great. I think the residents of
the Isqua Highlands deserve for this
land to become something that provides a
public benefit. It's what they've been
promised for over a decade. We've seen
in multiple other development
agreements, some of the things that were
supposed to be public benefits ended up
not panning out and we just got more
housing, which is great because people
need to live somewhere. But given that
there's this 19 acre parcel that has
been zoned and intended for
institutional use for, you know, the
last 15 years, I think that's something
that we shouldn't give up lightly. I
also want to note that we really
received an exceptional amount of public
feedback from a community we do not hear
from very often and that is our Chinese
community in the Isqua Highlands.
Typically, you know, Chinese Americans
are not politically active and engaged,
but they really care about their
children's education. And I think that's
why that kind of rose to the level of
salience that it did amongst that
community. And as we continue to grow
and diversify as a city, I think we
should really, you know, take care and
respond to the needs and desires of our
increasingly diverse community. I'm also
very sympathetic to Belleview College's
budget situation. You know, we're facing
similar challenges here in Isiqua, but I
think ultimately, you know, it is a
state funding challenge. I'm more than
happy to go to the state legislature and
say, you need to be funding higher
education more, and I I'm happy to work
with you on that. Um, but I think that's
kind of a separate issue from, you know,
what we're discussing on this parcel,
which is maximizing the um, public
benefit to the city of Isqua. And I
think I do want to commend Belby College
for their partnership on this. But I do
think, you know, I think ultimately the
path forward is going to have to be some
kind of institutional use and there's
going to have to be a community
conversation about um, what that is. And
regardless of I mean like whether we
adopt this amendment or not, there isn't
really any teeth for the public outreach
for publicly owned institutional uses.
So that essentially is the same whether
we amend this or not. I think it's more
so just a question of, you know, whether
we approve this extension of the
provision to allow housing to be built
with public input and outreach and, you
know, then bring it back to us, which
again, I think just given everything
that's happened in the Highlands over
the last 15 years with the shelter
development agreement where there's
going to be like 1,200 new homes built
in the Highlands. Lakeside development
agreement just down the street, another
10,000 homes. I think I mean I don't
really see how not adding some kind of
institutional use could be the best and
highest use of this land just given
everything else that we have planned
around there. And you know one of the
reasons why cities like one of the key
functions of cities is land use is
managing land use. And so for us to kind
of, you know, it essentially we're just
kicking the can down the road in, you
know, within the next few years. We can
decide on a specific proposal or what
have you. But ultimately, um, I will be
voting no on this proposal. I do think
what the ultimate the original intent of
this uh, you know, land sale to
Belleview College was for publicly owned
institutional use. I think we need to
honor the intent of the original uh of
the original sale and maintain that this
land needs to be used for institutional
use moving forward and it needs to and
as we develop that we need to engage
with all the community stakeholders
whether it be you know IHCA Highlands
Council residents of the Highlands um
and and also do more than what's just
you know in the public engagement plan
you know like receiving a postcard in
the mail or you know like having one
public meeting I think we can do better
than that in terms of public outreach.
Council member Joe,
>> thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I'd like to
thank Belby College for being a active
partner during this process and being
quite open and transparent about uh what
they would like to see with the property
as we go forward. When we first put this
together as a city, uh there was a
different vision for the Highlands that
has changed over time. And in general,
I'm going to support the amendment to
the extension. Um, it does address the
community concerns. It keeps our options
open, which I think is probably the most
important thing. Um, foreclosing
options, as we've seen in other
communities, just ends up with property
that does not get developed. The
property the property just remains um
an eyesore and a potential for homeless
camps or other issues along the way.
This agreement, if it's approved
tonight, uh does uh give us an
opportunity to protect the environmental
uh uh beauty there along with developing
it in a thoughtful way. The danger is
council member Hall points out is that
uh not approving the agreement puts us
on a road to potentially have the
surplus property process get involved.
At that point, um, we do lose control
over what might happen there and and and
it just depends on which state agency or
agencies wants to develop that property
and what kind of use can come in there
is is not really something that we have
a a um big say in uh going forward. So,
I believe the amendment to the extension
gives us opportunities to um have that
community conversation, stay active as a
city in that conversation and try to
work to find solutions that are going to
make um sense for the institution of
Belleview College makes sense from an
economic point of view uh to put in um
pieces that make sense for the Isqua
Highlands in the future. uh gives the
citizens an opportunity to discuss that
and the citizens that live closest to it
and the highlands an opportunity to have
some say in the future as it goes
forward. So, I'll be supporting the
motion. Thank you.
>> Thanks, Council President.
>> Thank you. And this may be a question
for Director Dolly. Um if we
several of the council members have
talked about foreclosing options and um
things like that.
If
a property, if this property went to
surplus or there was a buyer, what would
be the land use and zoning that they
would be able to develop out of that?
Because we've talked a lot about the
potential for affordable housing because
that's what the state uses land for, but
we ultimately control
land use and zoning. So, what are the
possibilities there? Yeah, the situation
we have with um with all the areas that
are under the development agreement,
there really isn't an underlying zoning.
Um it's the DA terms that determine
what's allowed and what standards apply.
So in this case, even though numerically
it might say, you know, your village or
whatever uh is the zoning, it really
sends you back to the development
agreement terms for for firm and
intensity for the permitted uses and all
that. So, um, somewhere we want to get
to is to have an underlying zoning for
these DAs so that when the development
agreement sunset that the the
development agreement acts like an
overlay over the underlying zoning, but
that's not what we have currently.
I don't know if that answers your
question. So,
yes, the ultimate decision with the
surplus would lie with the legislative
body at the time. Um,
>> so if this went to surplus,
it would be very difficult, I would
imagine, to sell unless we created
a set of zoning for the property that
would give anyone who is developing this
outside of the development agreement.
>> Yes, sometimes there are federal and
state preeemptions for certain type of
facilities that don't have to abide by
this local regulations. A lot of those
places don't like to use those
preeemptions. They want to work with the
local agencies. But there are some uses
that sometimes can
overrule the local uh rules for federal
and state type of uses. Um
>> I'm not sure I understand how to
interpret those comments. Well, we I I
guess if that we would have to go
through a surplus pro if they go through
a surplus process, the the selection
through that would go through their
their normal process. They would come to
the city to say this is what we want to
do. And if we have our zoning in place
at that time, they would then we would
review it under the zoning in place. If
if they come in and say because we are a
state agency or a federal agency and we
have these preeemptions that you we
don't need to meet the local rules that
can sometimes happen uh with publicly
proposed uses that are necessary. But
>> could you give us like an example? Could
that be a crisis care center? Could that
be affordable housing?
>> Not you know those generally wouldn't uh
fall but like a federal agency. You know
what comes to mind is like railroads for
instance. I mean that's not an actual
use here but if they had a need for a
facility they don't really need to
comply with city's rules. There may and
I'm not you know there are state law
things that we would have to look
through as I'm looking
>> I can't think of one off the top of my
head but there are many is correct that
there are um some
federal laws that allow certain
facilities to be built without regard to
local zoning but it's
it's not common.
Okay. Any additional comments?
Council member Jiang, Council Member
Hall, can I propose another amendment?
Okay. Um, I would like to amend the
amended amendment to say um to remove uh
the for housing in addition to the word
standalone to say thereafter no land use
application can be filed unless
specifically approved by the city
council. because currently my
understanding is that if there's
publiclyowned institutional use that
doesn't have to be approved by council.
So this kind of just makes all of those
uses on an even playing field.
>> Could you explain that a little more?
>> Um so
previously I believe we had uh approved
the amendment to remove the word
standalone. Um so it said
uh during this extension period the
college may consider may continue to
evaluate additional development
scenarios and potential uses consistent
with the community informed plan for a
mix of uses with no land use application
to be filed until the public outreach is
complete and thereafter no land use
application for housing can be filed
unless specifically approved by the city
council. So, I'm proposing to amend it
to thereafter no land use application
can be filed unless specifically
approved by the city council to um
extend the city council approval to
publicly owned institutional use as
well. So, inserting the council into all
decision-m and we're probably going to
have to get some feedback on that before
like let's have somebody second it so
that we can discuss it.
>> Second. Um, so this is a major change
and I'm not sure um either how the city
or how Belleview College feels about
putting the city in and creating the
land use process for even the um
institutional use.
It's a taking without a giving. I mean
that's part of the development agree
process and this is going back to just
converting a development agreement to
just a regular process.
That's a big that's a big question.
Maybe we take a five minute break and we
regroup and let them talk about it
because that that basically just turns
it into a regular process.
Okay. Okay. Let's take a five minute
break.
Yeah. Oh, there we go. Thanks. So, we
are back from our break. Um, and Council
Member Jen, could you repeat your um
proposal and then I'm going to have Dr.
May come up and address. Okay. So my
proposal was to uh amend the amended
amendment to say thereafter no land use
application can be filed unless
specifically approved by the city
council whereas previously it said
thereafter no land use application for
housing can be filed unless specifically
approved by the city council.
>> Thank you. Um Dr. May, can you talk to
that please?
>> Yeah, we had a few moments to talk.
Thank you for the recess and the
opportunity to do that. Um the answer is
that it doesn't feel like it's a land
use agreement. Then it feels like it's a
normal city process where everything is
coming back to the council. This if if
we were to
desire to move forward with an
institutional use, public institutional
use, the city still has another
opportunity, just not the city council.
The city still has the opportunity to
review that land use application. And so
the short answer is I don't the college
is not going to be willing to agree to
that at this point.
What we would be um very friendly toward
is an amendment that required the same
kind of um community outreach and
engagement for institutional use
proposals as for the other two types of
proposals.
>> Okay. Um so council Oh, thank you, Dr.
May. Um council, um it's been moved and
seconded to make the um council member
Jenang amendment to the amendment. Uh
discussion,
council president.
>> Yeah, I mean I seconded this so that we
could have conversation. Um I think I I
probably won't be supporting this
because I don't think there is a viable
way to change our development agreement
um at this time for institutional use.
But I would be interested in having
conversations about any uh public
outreach.
>> Council Mujing.
>> Yeah, I mostly proposed this just to
discuss it. Um and so I think you know
given the feedback from Belby College, I
think you know adopting a similar public
outreach uh plan or public outreach
requirements and actually having that
within the development agreement
amendment is something that I would be
open to. If you'd like to withdraw your
original motion, you may propose what
you just made as a additional motion.
>> Could you repeat that?
>> Sure. If you want to not have the vote
on the amendment, you can just say you
would like to withdraw it.
>> I would like to withdraw my amendment.
And you may propose a new amendment very
similar to what you just said is that a
uh community engagement process be
included for even only a institutional.
>> Okay. And I would like to propose that a
community engagement process be included
for institutional use.
>> Okay. Is that clear enough, city clerk?
>> I think that's already covered. Mayor
Polly uh in the in the
>> in the attachment to the resolution the
exhibit A already has that expectation.
Okay. That during this extension period,
college may continue to evaluate
additional development scenarios and
potential uses consistent with the
community informed plan for a mix of
uses with no land use application filed
until the public outreach is complete.
And so I think that sort of implies that
there would be public outreach
regardless of what option they choose
because
yeah, so there's no question that there
won't be any community outreach for one
use versus the other.
>> Okay. Thank you. And can I ask a
question? Are there any contractual
obligations as to what the community
outreach needs to include?
Um, I've included a sample community
outreach piece, but I'm sure um, you
know, we'll work in partnership with
Belleview College and council uh, and
share a draft once, uh, we finalize what
that looks like. Um, we will ensure
that, uh, you know, it's not just
Belleview College. We, the,
uh, a, you know, interested folks are
informed as we finalize the plan for
community outreach.
>> Okay. Thank you.
Is there any other amendments?
So the main motion which also uses the
word amendment is it has been moved and
seconded to approve resolution number
2025-5
authorizing the mayor to am I reading
the right one? Mayor to approve an amend
amendment to the wash.tdr development
agreement extending the expiration date
to allow Belleview College to evaluate
development options and seek community
input as amended. All those in favor
signify by saying I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> Can you raise your hands? So I get Thank
you. Uh all those opposed?
>> No.
>> N.
>> Council member Jang, that was an A.
Correct. That is correct. Yeah. Okay. Um
so that passes 4 to three and I would
like to thank you for staying u this
late hour with us, but we have
additional business to do which do not
feel like you are obligated to stay with
us. Um but thank you for coming tonight.
The next item on our regular business
agenda tonight is AB8968, the 2026
school impact fees. And the action
before council is to adopt the
ordinance. I'd like to have I'd like to
invite planning manager Kristen Leon to
present this item. And Kristen, I
believe, is joining us online.
>> I am. Good evening, Madame Mayor and
Council. Um
I'm just I don't have a presentation. I
am going to briefly state that based on
the 2025
to 2031 capital investment plan from
capital improvement plan from the Isiqua
School District. Based on the
information provided, they are not going
to require impact fees from future
developments in the year 2026.
So when developments come through there
will be no impact fees st uh paid to the
school district. And if you all have any
more questions regarding that then I am
asking that you please refer to the
letter that was submitted to you in the
agenda bill u by the isqua school
district
>> and Kristen I would like to get you to
expand on that a little bit. So as the
central Isiqua area develops and
applications come in, they are subject
only to pay the fees that are in place
at the time of their application
submission, not the completion of their
project.
>> That is correct. When they pay impact
fees when their building permits are
submitted, that is when we collect
those.
>> And the actual completion and occupation
of those projects could be two to three
years.
>> Correct. So in terms of school
population, the school is not going to
see an impact till 2 to three years
after the impact fees are not collected.
>> Correct.
>> Okay. And I think that is the only
clarification we were trying to provide
tonight. Um, not that there's any
recommendation not to go with the
original motion that is there, but just
a recognition for council to understand
that this needs to be revisited not just
when the school populations go up, but
also during the time period that allows
for the city to collect those fees on
behalf of new development. That gap in
when you collect and when the students
show up in school was not discussed in
the original presentation.
And madame mayor, if I may, may I
clarify? Yep.
>> I believe I said that we collect those
when they are submitted where they're
actually collected. They're assessed. We
figure out what they are when they're
submitted. Yet, we don't collect those
fees until the permits are actually
issued. So, yes, it is a lot of
>> So, they are told what the fees are at a
certain point in time and there may be a
year or two leg until they get their
building permits and that's when they
pay. But, if the city if the school
district changes and starts to collect
one, two, three, four years later, they
do not have to pay.
That is correct.
>> Okay. Thank you for that clarification.
Uh does council have any questions?
Not seeing any. Uh is there a motion?
>> I move to adopt ordinance number 3121
>> amending subsection 3.63.100 63.100
PNA of the Esqua municipal code to
revise the amount of the school impact
feeo imposed by the city.
>> Second.
>> I'm not seconding. Okay.
>> Sorry.
>> Deputy council president. Thank you for
that. Is there any council discussion?
>> Oh, council president.
>> Yes. So, the clarification and kind of
commentary that I want to make is just
referencing
the Isiqua School District's October 8th
letter to us um explaining
that based on their 2025 capital
facilities plan
um showing their um school growth needs
um that they believe that does not
demonstrate the minimum eligibility for
requesting school impact fees. And so if
that changes um if their enrollment
changes um if we have building that
happens that generates students that um
puts them over that realm um they could
make a change in the future, but that
right now they do not feel that they are
eligible to request school impact fees.
Council comments.
It's been
Oops. Here we go. It's been moved and
seconded to DOMP ordinance number 3121
amending subsection 3.63.100
PN A of the Isiqua Municipal Code to
revise the amount of school impact fees
proposed by the city. All those in favor
signify by saying I.
>> I.
>> Those opposed? That carries unanimously.
The next item on our agenda this evening
is AB9077,
fire code permit fee increase and fee
pass through. And the action before
council this evening is to adopt the
ordinance. And I'd like to invite
building official James Gray and East
Side Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal Jeremy
Hicks to present this item.
Madame Mayor and council members, thank
you for having us again. Uh we were at
PD PDC here just a couple months ago and
did this presentation on the fire code
fees. And so we are here with our
partners with East Side Fire. I'd like
to introduce Chief AO who is going to uh
run the uh run the presentation for us
tonight. Um get my panel together. We we
have uh we we have two uh
recommendations tonight. Uh the
recommendation is to amend the fire
permit fees as shown in in exhibit A and
authorize passing the collected fire
permit fees on to East Side Fire and
Rescue. And with that, I will turn it
over to Chief Aho.
>> Well, good evening, Mayor and Council.
Appreciate the opportunity um to come
and speak before you tonight. Uh my name
is Will Ao. I'm the assistant chief for
East Side Fire and Rescue. Uh
uh tonight, as you heard, we're here to
talk about uh something exciting, fire
permit fees and fee pass through. No,
we'll we'll we'll make this exciting. Uh
just a little brief reminder of how East
Side is uh structured. Uh we are made up
by an interlocal agreement, which means
that we have a partnership and Isiqua
has been an incredible partner since the
inception of uh uh East Side Fire and
Rescue. As you see, we have three
cities, two districts that we are
partners with, and then we have um uh
several contract agencies. Uh part of
the services that we provide is fire
marshall services. Uh particularly focus
on all of our um city uh partners.
When we were building our 2526 budget
process, uh our fire marshall's office
really wanted to take a very much of a
proactive look as to how we are
supporting our cities. They had three
objectives that they were taking a look
at. One was to support the growth that
is in occurring in all of our cities and
what does that look like to make sure
that not only are we meeting the
expectations of the city but also
meeting the expectations of the state.
uh standardizing um uh our fee schedule
across all of our partner agencies.
Again, that makes it easier for that
transparency and consistency. So,
anybody that is trying to do any kind of
building or construction project, then
they have a good understanding with that
when you come into east side service
area, here's what our process is, here's
our standardization. The other thing is
making sure that our uh we're aligning
our fee structure that supports the cost
of providing uh the services, excuse me,
uh uh to support the work that is being
done by our fire marshall's office.
Part of this discussion that we had
during our budgetary process uh we had
asked for an additional assistant fire
marshall. Again, that was our evaluation
to make sure that we are keeping up with
supporting the city growth.
Unfortunately, uh there was a lot of
pressure to maintain our cost control by
all of our partners and to do that we
lost the ability to uh addition
addition, excuse me, the assistant fire
marshall.
However, the board did give us the the
ability to come up with some creative
solutions uh to try to generate some
revenue to help offset some of those uh
costs uh to supporting our uh our
communities. And one of those things was
looking at doing a fee structure
alignment, right? That that supported
one of our objectives. It also um uh was
coming up with passroughs. though that
pass through monies was would then allow
us to support uh some of the fee
structure cuts.
So how we are staffed today? Uh our fire
marshall's office is currently staffed
with six people. East Sid's portion, so
that's the core partnership is the same
staffing that we have today as we did in
1999. We have three people. So the value
to uh East Side Fire and when it comes
to partnership and uh contract service
agencies is they have brought that
additional staffing with them uh to
support the growth which then supports
east side service area overall. Um we
have seen that uh the uh growth in our
uh plan reviews has gone up by nearly
15%. and we're at that tipping point
where uh the anticipated growth, as we
just heard a little bit ago, is uh some
additional uh growth. We want to make
sure that we're in a position to be able
to support and meet the the expectations
of each of our city partners. Um which
is why we're asking for the support and
the fee alignment and passroughs.
With that, I will turn over to Fire
Marshall Hicks.
Thank you. Good evening, madame mayor,
city council, staff. Thank you for
having me. Uh, for the record, Jeremy
Hicks, fire marshall with East Side Fire
South Division. I'm going to talk about
kind of some nuts and bolts of this, and
I realize everybody's been here for a
little bit, so I will uh I will push
this along, but I want to make sure I do
get all your questions answered. Uh,
when we did look at these fire permits,
we kind of did a assessment of what kind
of what the objective is and what the
problem statement is. Um, you know, one
of them was the fee structure and the
fee levels weren't consistent across the
ephford board. All the different
jurisdictions were different, which
really caused a problem with customer
transparency. People do business here in
Isiqua also do business in all the other
jurisdictions that we represent. Um,
that also came with the inconsistency of
the fee structure that was confusing not
only to the contractors, developers, but
the end user, the citizens that were
were using or requiring these permits.
and that was not only the fee structure
but the naming convention of what these
permits were and how they were listed on
the different fee schedules. So we've
completely revamped that through all our
jurisdictions to be the same. Um then we
looked at the cost recovery. What what's
the cost it what does it take what's the
cost for doing the work? And we did a
really in-depth look at the uh the
amount of time it takes to do these
permits. Uh the amount of work it goes
into them from the permit issuance to
the review to the to the inspection to
the final signoffs and what that takes.
And we collected analytics. You know, we
have uh 2100 permits roughly uh that go
through our system and reviews and and
the inspections to to cover that also.
So, we have a lot of analytics on what
these different uh permit uh line items
look like and then um basically trying
to keep up with the permits that are
coming in. Um the customer satisfaction
of getting these permits out the door in
a timely manner and that was really uh
kind of coupled with some of the the new
state regulations that came out and
examples would be middle housing. Uh,
another one would be um the Senate bill
that came out talking about permit
review times, putting time limits and
how long it takes to do these permits.
And you have to have the staffing to be
able to get these permits out the door
in a timely manner.
So, uh, just a little bit of alignment
here. Um, here's all the the cities and
partners that we represent. uh the the
partners in the contract, you'll see um
that we're we're working through the
process and with with uh Isiziqua and
Seamish once we uh once we move that
forward, we'll be aligned across all our
different jurisdictions. That's not only
the permit fees, that's the naming
convention, the times it takes to put
these permits out and the work that we
do.
This uh just represents a pretty quick
overlook of what a residential fire
sprinkler system would take to install
in a house. Do note that residential
there's no uh sprinkler ordinance in
Isiqua to require sprinkler systems.
This would be uh this system here, this
13D system is used to mitigate
deficiencies whether it has to do with
fire flow, distance from a hydrant, road
access, grade, stuff like that. This is
the number one mitigation option that
that uh homeowners choose to put in
their residences. And this would show
you that the the price of that that
permit all the way through the
inspection to the the fully loaded uh is
roughly $728.
And that would go up from $544. And I
got a couple examples of that.
>> Oh, sorry. Um council member Hall
question.
>> Quick clarifying question. Thank you.
So, has Seamish adopted the new rate
yet?
>> So, uh we actually go in front of
council Seamish uh next week.
>> Oh, I thought it had already Okay, got
it.
>> Yeah, we we have already done the uh um
first reading. It uh it's scheduled to
go on consent agenda next week.
>> Oh, okay. Understood.
>> Um here we did uh the planning committee
and now we're here for for full counsel.
Thank you. So, yes, hopefully uh fingers
crossed both here very soon.
Um some of the the analysis behind this
is data. Um, you know, I think
historically in permits and and how
they're done, especially kind of in the
world that I work in is, you know, fees
were developed some time ago, probably
if not before I was born, if uh, you
know, definitely before I was in this
this field and they've they've gone up
by usually like a cost of living
escalator. But um being a being a
spreadsheet guy and a numbers guy, I
really wanted to make sure that when we
started doing this and our agency wanted
to support what is the what's the time
it takes to do this? We have the
analytics. Let's just figure out what it
is. So we were able to do how much time
it takes to do it, what these time
estimates are. We're able to take the
permits that we have in the system and
put that time to the different permits
and put the the variability in there. uh
some of this some of the permits that
are in the system weren't in the fire
code or the ones that were in the fire
code weren't in the weren't in the
system. So we have al aligned all that.
We looked at what it costs to do the
work. What's the hourly rate of our
employees to do the work fully loaded?
Then what all that does is allow us to
make annual adjustments extremely easy.
Every year when we go and we look at
these fees, we could look at our
analytics. We can look at the cost that
does it. We can assign that value and
print out a sheet and say here it is. we
could almost immediately in real time
say this permit is uh takes more work or
less work and assign the value to it.
And then we use regional benchmarking
too and we're um we're below average
with our permit fees and how we're
assessing these. Um and we're able to
look at different agencies around us and
and their cost of of doing the the work
may be a little bit higher for different
reasons, but we're able to to also track
that because we're using the same naming
conventions throughout our permits.
So here's a couple examples. Um uh I'll
spend a little time on this slide and
then the next two will will fall in
line. But at the top, this is a single
family residence with a sprinkler
system. So this would be assuming that a
a house is being built and they have to
install a fire sprinkler system for some
sort of mitigation option. Why I picked
this is just because they pair well
together and it gives you the a better
example. Um the top is what we currently
collect or I'm sorry the far uh left is
what we currently collect. Fire permit
review fee or plan review fee. That's
where we do access check hydrant fire
flows, size of the building, where the
building is going to be and then the
fire system is is the sprinkler permit
and that's what we currently collect.
The proposed is well that's the proposed
and then the difference is the the
difference between them. So you can see
the difference here uh would be $838 for
the whole package. And this is from the
beginning of the plan review. This is
the pre-application meetings. This is
the permit review. This is the issuance.
This is the inspections. And this is the
final sign off. Down below is uh what
the city fees would be attached to this
building. So they have a a building
permit plan review fee and a building uh
permit fee. um those are you would add
those together and that's what the the
permit fee would be for those residences
and that's just for the house now that's
not subsequent permits that the city
would issue I just used I'm trying to
compare apples to apples here and I'm
using that as those numbers there
because the plan review fee is a we base
it on a percentage of the plan review
fee for the building so the fire plan
review and the building plan review
we're kind of again comparing apples to
apples and if you take that um 15% %
that's pretty commiserate with the work
that we do compared to the building side
of the plan review.
This would be a town home, a 4-unit town
home. These are actually these are real
permits that are in your system. This
isn't they're not something we just we
made up. This is actually a permit that
we pulled. Um this is a four-unit town
home it went in. um at the at this
particular one required a fire sprinkler
system and a fire alarm system for the
way it was built. Um and this shows you
a fully loaded package. The difference
would be $1,48 for four units. And
that's the building itself. That's not
per unit. Also, um as you go up in
units, the price for the fire alarm
system is buil based on the building.
The sprinkler system is based on the
building. It's not based on per unit.
So, um, that that cost is spread out
across the whole building.
And this is a larger TI. Um, this is a
this is a very intense TI that we did
here in Isiziqua. And I I use it. And I
don't want to say the worst case
scenario, but what I do want to say is I
picked this one specifically because it
had all the different systems in it. Uh,
the plan review, the sprinkler system,
the fire alarm system that had to be
installed because of this business and
what they were doing. Then also with a
fire sprinkler system, a commercial
system, they had to install an
underground. And I chose this because
the underground work that we do is one
of the most labor intensive uh not only
for plan review but also for
inspections. They take somewhere around
7 hours of inspection and 2 to three
hours of review time. So it's a very
labor intensive and you can see that we
had it at $283 which is way below the
total cost recover that. So that brings
it up. Again, these permits are still
lower than um than regional uh regional
partners that are doing this. Um but it
is in line with our total cost recovery.
And you can see I I think the valuation
on this building was somewhere around
$2.1 million in just construction costs.
So $2.1 uh $2.1 million building. Total
permits out the out the door. uh inspect
it would be $7,100 and change.
So historically uh thanks to the city
they helped provide some of these slides
for us. Um this is the um revenue that
was generated by fire permit throughout
the years from 2020 to 2025.
Uh like anything you can see some years
people build more some some don't. Um,
so th that that changes around. 2021
must have been a really really bitty
busy year here in in the city of
Isiziqua.
This right here illustrates um just some
differences. So, uh, in 2024,
uh, the plan review fee that we did, and
this is again just reviewing the
buildings, was around $19,000 and the
fire systems, that's sprinkler systems,
alarm systems, hood systems,
underground, anything that's a system
permit was around $43,000.
Um the proposed increase applying the
values that I showed you in the slides
before um using the 2024 numbers would
change uh show you the difference there
and the review fee of 26,000 and the U
fire system permits at 25,000.
Anticipating using those same number of
value uh or those uh same variables
would be about $110 to $125 uh $25,000
uh permit fee range for that. Now, that
will change depending on number of
permits, type of permits, uh building
construction type, stuff like that.
So, where we're at, um well, we went to
the PD&E uh committee on the 7th with a
recommended move to the full council
whole um with the recommendation uh to
be here tonight. And we're we're here
November 10th um to do this. What you
have in front of you is a recommendation
to amend the fire permit fees as shown
in exhibit A within your um packet and
then uh the recommendation passing the
collected fees permit fees through to
East Side Fire and Rescue. I am able to
entertain any questions that you may
have.
>> Thank you very much. Do we have
questions? Because I'm also going to go
to uh the committee chair as well.
questions now. Oh, Council Member Ray.
>> Yes.
>> So, we risk really, really, really not
doing cost recovery because these are
fairly steep increases in fees. And so,
I'm trying to gauge, you know, if I've
got a 200x%
increase year-to-year. Um, what's what
am I getting for that additional
dollars? I mean, and how were we paying
for it before? and give me the backstory
here about why why all of a sudden we're
seeing, you know, not incremental
increases, but I'm seeing a big step
function.
>> Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so I
think the the beginning of your
conversation there was where you were
with permit fees. Um, were you low? I
think the answer is obviously yes in
some of those categories. The big part
was in the plan review fee. As you
notice in that that um $2.1 million
building that went, we collected $236
per plan review. I know we spent
probably 25 hours in plan review working
on that building. So that was the the
largest part here is that getting the
plan review commiserate with the work
that's actually being done. Um the other
thing is just sheerely the the time that
we've put on task. We now have the
analytics that we could look back at
these permit 2100 or 2600 permits a year
that we're able to look at in the
inspections and go. This is the cost
that that an employee takes. This is the
time it takes to do the work. Now when
you see the 236,
I get you. I mean I'm with you on that
one. But if we also take if we go back
to kind of a basler level and look at
that permit and then compare it with
regional partners,
we're not we're not 236% above regional
partners. We're actually at or below um
what the regional partners are at.
>> So we just weren't doing a very good job
of cost recovery historically. we were
spending more time than we were really
um billing for the service and we were
finding other ways to kind of cover
those costs.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> Thanks. Um council member Hall is chair
of planning development environment
committee. Would you like to summarize
the committee's recommendation on this
item?
>> Yeah, sure. Thank you. So the committee
felt um that this update met all the
major kind of policy objectives that the
Epher board um had originally spoke to.
Standardizing fees across the service
area for both uniformity and
consistency. That new formula developed
to more accurately reflect true costs as
we were just talking about and then of
course supporting the fire marshall
services um by acknowledging uh growth
and sustainable growth. Um we at
committee also acknowledged that this is
a large increase and so we as ask staff
to uh track whether it becomes a barrier
to development or a hardship to
residents and also to monitor its impact
on our own revenue needs. Um um but we
still felt coming into consistency with
the rest of the epher service area was
the right call and we recommend council
adoption tonight.
>> Thank you. Council questions.
I am not seeing any. Uh, Council Member
Hall, would you be care to make a
motion?
>> I would as soon as I
>> find it.
>> Um, I move to adopt ordinance number22.
>> That was 3122
amending section 16.06.245
245 of the Isiqua Municipal Code to
adopt updated operational permit fees
for permits issued under the
International Fire Code, repealing and
replacing section 16.06.250
of the Isqua Municipal Code relating to
the fire code permit fees and
authorizing the city to collect and
remit fire permit fees to East Side Fire
and Rescue.
>> Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Is there
any council discussion?
Nothing else to add. Just I um urge
everyone's adoption.
>> Any other council discussion?
Okay. Um all those in favor say I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> Those opposed?
That count carries unanimously. Seven
and O.
>> Thank you very much. Sorry for the late
hour. Thanks for coming back.
Uh the next item on regular business is
AB9074,
the 2026 legislative agenda. And I'd
like to invite management an analyst
Jillian Stro and government affairs
consultant Shelley Helder who's joining
us virtually to present this item.
All right.
Thank you, Mayor and City Council. happy
to be here tonight to discuss the 2026
legislative session, our priorities, um,
and what we can expect, uh, from the the
legislature this year. So, tonight we're
going to discuss the proposed changes or
updates to the 2025 2026 legislative
agenda and policy manual that was
adopted by council in late 2024. Items
have been removed uh that were addressed
in the previous session. Um, and items
have been added that are emerging
issues. Um, we'll also be providing an
overview of the expectations for the
2026 session. We'll also be seeking your
adoption of the legislative policy
manual um and agenda at this meeting.
We'll be recommending um approval of the
2026 legislative agenda and policy
manual as proposed tonight um in advance
of the session so we can begin work with
our legislators.
And with that, I'd like to pass it off
to Shelley Helder, our lobbyist um to
take the bulk of this presentation.
Thank you, Jillian, and good evening,
mayor and councel. Um,
the 2026 legislative session is going to
be the second year of the bienium, and
that makes it a short 60-day session.
The primary purpose of the short session
is to adopt updates to the bianial
budgets, and those updates are referred
to as the supplemental budgets.
In addition to adopting the supplemental
budgets, every bill that was introduced
in the 2025 session that did not pass
into law will be automatically
reintroduced for consideration in 2026,
and legislators can introduce new bills.
In uh the 2025 session, the legislature
made um pretty substantial cuts to um
state expenses and raised new revenue um
in order to achieve a balanced operating
budget. Um since the legislature has
adjourned, there has been um couple
revenue forecasts. The most recent
forecast showed a decrease of over 400
million in state revenues in the current
bianium and nearly 500 million in the
next bianium.
This means that uh the legislature will
need to look for additional cost savings
um and or find new revenue to balance
the supplemental budget during the 2026
session.
It um is worth noting that the state has
three budgets. So while the operating
budget is the largest of the three um
the capital and the transportation
budgets are not facing the same
challenges. The capital budget is the
most stable of the three budgets since
it's funded primarily through the sale
of bonds. Um the state has 349 million
in bonding capacity for a supplemental
budget. That's a relatively small amount
when you consider the bianial capital
budget is $7 billion.
The transportation budget funds a mix of
both operations and capital projects uh
focused on the state's transportation
system. Um relative to past years, the
transportation budget is not facing a
major deficit. Uh but budget writers
have said they will plan to remain
focused on delivering the projects that
are already underway and increasing the
state's commitment to maintenance and
preservation funding.
Um Democrats will continue to hold safe
majorities in both the House and the
Senate. Um and caucus leadership and
committee assignments will remain the
same for the 2026 session. Following the
short session, the entire House and half
of the Senate will be up for reelection.
For this reason, um, as well as just the
logistical challenges of passing a bill
in 60 days, um, we typically don't see
controversial policies, uh, pass in
short sessions.
Next slide.
So the city adopts two legislative
documents that guide our engagement in
Olympia. The first is the legislative
agenda which lists the city's uh top
three to five priorities. And these are
the issues that have the greatest and
the most direct impact on the city. And
um they're either they can either be
funding requests or requests to change
state law.
The second document is the policy manual
and this is more of a reference document
and this lists the city's positions on
various policies that may or may not
arise during the legislative session. So
this is a more reactive document whereas
the legislative agenda is proactive.
Um because the legislative process is
fast-paced, the policy manual allows us
to engage in a meaningful way if a bill
um that would impact city business is
introduced um say on a Friday and then
scheduled for a public hearing on a
Monday. So the policy manual is an
important document for that reason. Um
next slide.
So before I describe the proposed
priorities for 2026, I just want to
remind you all that as a best practice,
we um have advised the city to adopt a
legislative agenda that takes into
account the state's 2-year budget cycle.
So this means that in even numbered
years the city's legislative agenda
typically includes items that were
either not achieved in the first year of
the bienium or items that are laying the
groundwork for the next bianium.
So for 2026 we have three priorities
being recommended to carry forward.
um complete the safety improvements on
State Route 18. Um city financial
sustainability and digital permitting
system upgrades
for the State Route 18 improvements. We
are continuing to coordinate with the
Southeast Area Legislative
Transportation Coalition or CLTC.
And I will note that in 2025, the city's
legislators fought to keep the funds for
SR18
um phased in accordance with the
project's needs. And based on recent
correspondence with washd um the project
timeline, the delivery has not been
delayed because of the phasing of those
funds. So I think that's a really um
significant outcome.
The the ask for this coming session is
to retain the funds that have been
allocated to phase one of the project.
And as a reminder, phase one is from
Deep Creek to Tiger Mountain Summit and
includes the construction of roundabouts
at Isaqua Hobart Road.
There is also a desire from the CLTC
group to look for more um interim safety
improvements since while phase one is
funded it is going to take a long time
to come to be constructed.
Um and then finally as a longer term
request um there is still a need to
identify funding for phase two which is
Tiger Mountain Summit to Isaqua Hobart
Road and that would complete the
widening and safety improvements through
the corridor.
The second priority is to continue
highlighting the city's financial
challenges. Um, as the state has
discussions about cutting their costs
and identifying alternative revenue,
it's important for legislators to be
reminded of the limitations as well as
the obligations that are placed on the
city.
And then finally, we um are continuing
with the request in partnership with
other ECD gov alliance jurisdictions in
asking the state for 2.7 million towards
a new back-end permitting software
system. Um and for those of you who are
uh still sharp at this uh late hour,
you'll think, well, why are we asking
for 2.7 million if the state's facing a
really challenging budget? Um,
yes, the state is facing a challenging
budget, so this amount does feel
unlikely, but um we know that addressing
permitting delays is one of the
governor's priorities. And um in their
agency budget request, the Department of
Commerce, um has highlighted or has
requested $3 million to administer
grants to local governments for permit
system improvements.
Um, so there's there's clearly still um
momentum out there to um improve local
government permitting,
we know there's also going to be bills
coming forward um wanting to streamline
and expedite local permitting.
And because the need still exists at the
with the ECG gov alliance um and because
this aligns with the governor and the
legislaturator's desire to um minimize
or reduce barriers to housing
construction, we still think it makes
sense to advance this request. Um
particularly because it is a coalition
request is why the amount um is
reasonable.
We are not recommending adding
priorities to the list at this time. Um
but we have removed the items that have
been achieved um at the first part of
the bienium or are no longer um city
priorities.
Next slide.
The proposed policy manual is mostly
unchanged from the current version.
There are three new statements um that
are being recommended to address
emerging issues. The first is a
statement in support of legislation that
would clearly define e motorcycles. Some
sometimes people are referring to these
as ebikes. Um but really I think one of
the challenges is there's not a
definition um of what this vehicle is.
There's some gray area between whether
it whether it's an ebike or whether it's
a motorcycle. Um, and so the request is
for legislation to establish definitions
and standards for ownership and
operation of these vehicles.
>> Shelley, I know you can't see the room,
but council pres deputy council
president D. Michelle would like to ask
your question.
>> Um, okay.
>> Yeah, I'm sorry. I was going I was
hoping to wait till you were finished,
but when we were at the chamber, um, we
heard a lot of angst about the um the
new taxes been imposed on uh,
professional services. Um, do you have
any idea of how um how the legislature
might address that or might mitigate
some of those some of those new uh taxes
and uh should we be thinking about
adding that to this list?
>> Yes, you are actually you took my next
statement right out of my mouth.
So the the second statement there is a
statement in support of um refining the
recently implemented taxes uh on digital
advertising and other services that have
historically not been subject to sales
tax. Um for example live presentations
and um as council member DM Michelle
mentioned or deputy council president D.
Michelle mentioned the the particular
concern is impact on small businesses.
Right. So there is a statement in the
policy manual that um is looking for
solutions of how to minimize impact on
small businesses. One one idea that I
will say is is um not broadly floated
but has been discussed is potentially
pushing out the um effective date for
businesses below a certain size. Um that
would have to be implemented
retroactively because the law is already
in effect. Um the reason that that is a
a proposed idea as opposed to
eliminating it completely is because of
the state's budget challenges. Um
there's a lot of mindfulness around any
policy being proposed that has an really
significant hit to the state's budget
and the reality that if it it is going
to further um minimize the state's
revenue, it will decrease the chances of
it of it passing. So, and can I just uh
say that well, first of all, I got
confused by the words digital
advertising. So, sorry. So, but uh yeah,
I I've just been hearing from a lot of
nonprofits. I think it's because it's so
murky. They not not really sure. And uh
the presentations part of that,
especially for like PTAs who um hire
people to come in and just give a
presentation to kids or uh and even um a
small organization like influence the
choice. we do educational outreach uh
and uh there might be a small fee. So
it's like it's really unclear uh are the
are we should we pay taxes on that? Uh
you know traditionally these have been
really um sort of pass very small
income. It's almost uh incredible that
we'd have to do uh reporting on it and
so forth. So anyway, it's a big interest
from people that I'm hearing from.
>> Yeah. Yes, there I I do know
um because the bill was introduced and
passed so quickly at the end of session,
there's a lot of confusion about what
the legisl what the legislature intended
and I know that there will be um efforts
to clarify what that legislative intent
is,
but there's not um there so Department
of Revenue is requesting a bill to
clarify legislative intent, but there's
not an expectation that that
clarification and those technical
changes will have a fiscal impact. Um I
do know there are other legislators that
are interested in bringing forward
changes um to help particular groups the
um
I I've had um conversations with
Department of Revenue um Association of
Washington Business, Washington retail
association. There's lots of ideas
floating around how viable any of them
are. Um I I don't know at this time.
>> Shelley, could you also share a little
bit about the DR do conversation we had
which is that for all these smaller
entities non-compliance during confusion
could be a significant issue if they are
randomly chosen for an audit uh and
found not to have submitted during this
period of time. uh the the penalties
could actually put small organizations
out of business and there is no leniency
right now in the application of the do
rules. So somebody who doesn't know what
to do and isn't doing it three years
from now could be found to um they have
to pay the penalty.
>> Yeah. Yeah. And I and I think uh Mayor
Paulie that's a a good point. We we
discovered that in our conversation with
Department of Revenue that there um
there's no in this time while there's
there's not even official rules out yet.
There is interim guidance for businesses
and they did that because the effective
date of the taxes was so quick after the
legislature passed
the bill. Um there hasn't been time for
the agency to get the rules fully out
there. So there is a lot of confusion.
They're working towards the rules. Um
but in the meantime, businesses are
expected to comply. We were we meaning
mayor and I when we met with department
of revenue were told that um businesses
can reach out to department of revenue
and ask for an official ruling on
whether they need to comply or not. Um
but that means individual businesses are
reaching out requesting rulings and um
there there may not be consistency in
what department of revenue is telling
one business versus another. Um so
that's I think one of the concerns that
the legislature is wanting to address
this upcoming session.
>> And I think you're good to continue now.
>> Okay. Great. The um the final statement
that's being um proposed for the policy
manual is a statement in support um of
state resources for migrant due process
and uh protections from racial profiling
in immigration enforcement.
Next slide.
So on the screen are upcoming dates that
are relevant for this discussion. Um, of
course, this evening is opportunity for
council to discuss and decide on um
these documents. On December uh 3rd,
fourth, and fifth, the House and Senate
will be in Olympia for committee
assembly days, which is kind of the
unofficial start to the legislative
session. Um it's when a lot of the work
that um that needs to be done in order
to get bills through the process um in
the short 60 days, it it's done during
committee days. Um and then the official
start of the legislative session is on
January 12th. Um the Association of
Washington Cities is hosting their city
action days, the second week of session.
That's the January 21st and 22nd. Um,
and then with the with the short 60
days, um, there's amp ample opportunity
and I think it's important to stay
connected with our state legislators and
engaged um, with other key legislators
on the issues that we're working.
And with that, I will turn it back over
to Jillian.
>> That really wraps up our presentation.
We're seeking council feedback and
approval of the legislative agenda at
this at this time.
Thanks. Okay, so we've had a few
questions, but let's just go around and
see. Are there any other council
questions on Jillian or Shel's work?
I'm not seeing any. Um, is there a
motion?
Council President,
>> I move we approve the 2026 legislative
agenda as presented.
>> Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Is there
council discussion?
Council President.
Oh, um, before we proceed, can I just
see if Council Member Hall,
Representative Hall might have to put in
a disclosure here?
>> Thanks. Yeah, I'll just read this little
short statement. Um, so, as you know, in
addition to serving on the Esqua City
Council, I serve in the state's House of
Representatives. Because of this, it is
possible that my vote on the legislative
agenda could be viewed as creating the
appearance of appearance of a conflict
of interest. Accordingly, I've chosen to
recuse myself from this vote. Thank you.
>> Does he have to leave?
>> No.
>> Bye, Zach. Bye.
>> No, you don't have to leave. You can
stay. It's not It's not quas judicial.
>> You're good.
>> I thought I was looking at her. She kind
of looked like you had to leave. Okay.
Um, so now we're into council
discussion. Council President,
>> thank you. Um, I always appreciate uh
the work of our legislative team and all
of the hard work that goes into this.
Um, I think we can clearly see uh the
work of our lobbyists in the fact that
we have accomplished many of the things
that were on our legislative agenda. So,
I want to start with that and just
create a a clear appreciation. Um I also
understand that this is a second year in
the cycle and typically we would not
make um large changes to this but I have
to reference you know what has happened
in our community and the um large impact
there has been to having
you know fear uh related to immigration
enforcement and um the potential for
masked law enforcement um within our
cities. And so I would like to offer an
amendment um which would add a fourth
section to the legislative agenda page
as follows. Immigrant protections um and
I know I had sent this I don't know if
it's possible to put it up on the screen
or anything like that. Um, but I will
read out Isiqua requests the legislature
strengthen monitoring and policies of
the Keep Washington Working Act to close
data sharing loopholes such as those
from ALPR cameras, automated license
plate reading cameras, strengthen
protections and access to vulnerable
locations such as healthc care
facilities, courouses, shelters, and
schools. and require all law enforcement
display visible identification including
agency emblems and badges while banning
the use of face concealing items.
>> Is there a second?
>> Absolutely. Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Is there a
discussion? Council President,
>> thank you. Um I feel like this is the
important commitment that we made by
adopting a letter and statement in order
to say this is something that happened
to our community. This is very important
to many residents as we saw from the
community um
the deep community commentary that we
received um last month as well as the
gosh over 1,500 people I believe that
came out to um the Dia de Lasuertos
event um showing their support. And so
this um merely takes some of the items
that were in our statement and makes it
clear that this is an important uh
legislative item to us as council.
>> Any other comments? Um council Jang.
>> Um I fully agree with everything that's
been said. I think you know one of the
things that we've acknowledged in our
response is that that you know we as
cities can't really do that much. And I
think, you know, passing these
protections at the state level is really
kind of how we have to go about it. Um,
I do have a question about the amendment
language on vulnerable locations. Um,
like specifically on shelters. Is that
something that's been defined as a
uh sensitive location in the past?
Um, I took that information out of the
attorney general's um, interpretation of
sensitive locations and so it was a
specific list out there.
>> Perfect. Yeah, cuz I know one that we've
also spoken about, you know, is churches
and other religious facilities that's
not on this list,
>> but I think if it's from the attorney
general's list, then that's great.
>> Uh, council Ray,
>> I have a a question. It's more
procedural than anything else. Are you
suggesting that this language is a new
priority for 2025 or is it an addition
to the policy manual?
So my suggestion was that as our
legislative agenda, so not the policy
manual, but the actual legislative
agenda, which
>> with the proposal here would shrink from
what five or six items to three that we
then add this fourth item to recognize
the important.
>> Yeah. I just wasn't sure kind of where
you were you were slotting it. So you're
you're put putting a new priority on the
on the 2025 agenda. Great. Thank you.
>> Yeah. And I think the difference is that
that there'd be an expectation then that
the council will actively participate in
testimony at the state level.
That's the difference between the two.
Any other questions?
Any other discussion?
Not seeing any.
Um if there's no further discussion, the
motion before council Oh, hang on a sec.
I'm going to do the amendment. Uh the
amendment before council is a proposal
to add a fourth priority
uh of immigrant protections. Thisqua
requests the legislature strengthen
monitoring and policies of the keep
Washington working act to close data
sharing loopholes such as those from
ALPR cameras. Strengthen protections and
access to vulnerable locations such as
healthc care facilities, courouses,
shelters, and schools. and require all
law enforcement display visible
identification, including agency emblems
and badges while banning the use of face
concealing items. All those in favor of
the amendment say I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> Those opposed? That carries seven
nothing. And are there additional
amendments or comments or going back to
um the main motion?
Not seeing any additional.
>> Mayor Polly, can I make a quick
clarification with council member Hall?
Um, so if you choose not to vote, um, it
will be considered an abstension and
counted as a yes vote. If you truly do
not want a seventh, uh, count on this
vote, then you you would need to leave
the room. So, I'm just wanted you to be
aware of our of your procedure, our
procedure.
>> My apologies. It's in the council rules
of procedure,
>> not state law.
>> Do you want to be the seven and no?
>> That was just the amendment of
>> that was the amendment.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. Bye, Zach. Okay. Uh, thank you for
the clarification. And if there's no
additional council discussion, the
motion before council is to approve the
2026 legislative agenda as amended. All
those in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> Those opposed.
That carries six and no. Council member
Holly can go back in the room. Okay. Uh,
committee and regional reports and we'll
start with council member Jen.
>> Great. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, so I
have reports from the King County Cities
Climate Collaborative or K4C. We had an
in-person meeting of the electeds
committee on uh October 24th. Um, the
two main events were that representative
Joe Fixgiven came and spoke about the
climate commitment act and answered
questions from electeds from dozens of
cities. So that was really great. Um and
then also uh staff from Puget Sound
Energy uh came and spoke about the
status of you know their compliance with
the uh climate uh requirements from the
state. Um and a lot of what they talked
about was actually some of the
challenges they're facing with things
like grid reliability. You might have
seen that report in the Seattle Times.
Um and then also challenges related to
building out transmission infrastructure
and challenges related to citing battery
energy storage systems within
communities. One particularly memorable
um in exchange was a mayor of the town
of Pacific asked, "Oh, you know how we
would love to have a small nuclear
facility near us. Um would you do that?"
And the guy from PSC said, "I can't even
get any of you to sight a battery."
Um so that uh that was definitely really
interesting. Um and then we also had a
K4C electeds committee meeting on uh
last Friday, which was November 7th. So
there were some questions about you know
kind of what are the so uh someone from
the department of ecology presented
about uh the CCA and so you know there
are a lot of questions about how CCA
funds are spent particularly around
mitigating air pollution in overburdened
communities. Um and so I think that's
something that there's you know ongoing
discussions about and I will keep you
updated on any such conversations. Um,
and then an update. There is an East
Side Transportation Partnership meeting
this Friday, uh, November 14th.
>> Thank you, Council Member Joe.
>> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, Cascade
Water Alliance Board will be meeting on
November 19th. Um, a Cascade Water
Alliance monthly report has been sent to
your email boxes. Should be there
tomorrow. Uh Elac will be meeting on the
17th
uh 3:30 in the afternoon for our
quarterly meeting at the Spring Hill um
Suites Hotel. Chamber board will meeting
on 11:21. uh Wally and I will be
liaisoning with uh the board to let them
know what's going on with the uh council
and the mobility and infrastructure
committee is scheduled to meet on Monday
11:24, the Monday of Thanksgiving week
to discuss uh an item that's on the
docket that I can't remember right now,
but look at the docket when you have a
chance. Thanks. Goodbye.
>> Thank you, Council Member Joe. Council
Member Hall, welcome back.
>> I'm back. Um, uh, one quick report, East
Side Fire and Rescue. Our next board
meeting is this Thursday, November 13th.
Our agenda includes, uh, several
promotions. We have our apparatus
financing agreement with Fire District
10, which is great news and means we can
finally, uh, get back on track with
purchasing some muchneeded apparatus,
starting with a couple engines and aid
cars. Um, an update on an interim
agreement with Fire District 27, this is
Fall City, um, to provide fire
administrative services. So incoming
chief um Aaho will essentially act as
their fire chief just like what we did
with Mercer Island when they were
starting off not before they were a
contract city. Um I just want to be
clear there's no added cost to the Epher
partners. Everything is paid for by fall
city in this um um contract and there's
no expectation of partner um costs in
the future. um this is simply a way to
bring them a little bit into the Epher
family as we have a broader conversation
about the region's funding and
governance um structure moving forward.
Um anyways, if you have more questions
about that, let's chat. Um we'll also be
approving the firefighter collective
bargaining agreement, which was a major
year and a half effort. So, um we
couldn't thank Chief Lane before he
walked off, but um he has put so much
effort into that. Um, also we'll be
approving Chief Lane's performance
review for the year and adopting the
incoming fire chief uh, Will AO's new
contract, which I have been very busily
negotiating over the last few weeks. Um,
also mark your calendars in case you'd
like to join. Chief Lane's retirement
celebration is scheduled for Monday,
November 24th, uh, at Station 31 in
Woodenville where he started. Um, so if
you'd like to come, let me know and I'll
make sure to get you RSVPd. Oh, you
would? Okay.
>> I got a committee meeting.
>> Oh, there's a committee meeting. Ah,
shoot. Um, and then the last thing I
wanted to mention is that this Thursday
will be my last meeting as Epher chair.
Um, Seamish Director Pam Stewart will be
taking over um, in December. And, um, I
would just like to put in a plug to talk
with anyone current council member or
perhaps incoming council member who
might like to serve as a East Side Fire
and Rescue alternate in the new year.
And that concludes my report.
>> Thank you, Council Member Ray.
>> No report this evening.
>> Council member Mertz.
>> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, the Sound
Cities Association has two things coming
up on Wednesday, November 12th. They
have a pre-pic presentation that's
actually open to all PIC members or
sorry, all SCA members. So, it's not PIC
specific, but it's occurring right
before the PIC to discuss the upcoming
rate summit uh that will be occurring.
Uh there's going to be a summit meeting
uh at the Hilton Seattle airport on the
14th. And so this meeting on the 12th is
really to discuss uh to sort of tee up
the conversation and it's really being
driven by uh rates uh skyrocketing
across utilities uh throughout the King
County area and strategies that cities
can come up with to uh address that.
Then at 7:00 uh and that's a that's an
online meeting by the way so everybody
should have received an invitation to
that. Then at 7:00 there is the uh
public issues committee meeting. uh a
number of issues, SEA 2026 state
legislative agenda and county
priorities,
uh transit safety and security briefing,
unapproved food vendors briefing, and a
PSRC committee restructuring discussion,
which should prove to be extremely
lively. And hopefully as a two-touch
system, I will be back to talk to
council about uh how that uh how that
conversation goes. And then, pardon me,
services, safety, and parks will be
meeting on Tuesday, November 18th, uh,
at 6:30 here in council chambers. We
only have one item on the agenda
currently, and that is COOM0128,
uh, E motorcycle and Ebicycle ordinance,
proposed ordinance. So, uh, we will be
seeing that in committee and then
reporting back to the full council. This
concludes my report.
>> Thank you, Deputy Council President D.
Michelle.
>> Oops. Thank you, Mayor Mayor Paulie. Is
this an appropriate time to report on
our convening or
>> Oh, I think that would be great. Yeah,
please add that in.
>> Yeah. Otherwise, I have I have no
regional reports, but uh Thursday
morning, uh Mayor Paulie and I did a I
think our fourth convening of nonprofits
in the Isiqua area. Uh we had 16, uh
different agencies that attended. Um and
uh we heard um and I'll just be very
general about it, but again uh the
impacts of federal and state cuts on uh
local uh provision of human services. Um
uh discussion from many that u there is
a great deal of fear and anxiety um uh
not understanding whether or not uh SNAP
benefits would arrive. I believe I heard
from the governor governor's office that
they did arrive this month but uh not
sure about next month and there was a
large infusion of uh state money into
local food banks which was uh I'm sure
very welcome. So uh we continue to take
uh input from our local human services.
Um and then Mayor Paulie is uh putting
together a uh a letter or a memo that
goes to our elected officials, our state
and um federal officials so that they
can represent what's happening on the
ground uh to their colleagues. So uh I
think we um settled on December 12th for
the next one. uh because the situation
is so volatile, we decided to have these
a little bit more often uh so that we
have a really good picture of what's
happening from month to month. So um
that's my report. Thank you. Yeah.
Thanks,
>> Council President. No report this
evening.
>> And for the mayor's report,
there will not be an executive session
this evening. Um I'd like to pro provide
an update on the union negotiations for
AFSCME
contract extension. The collect
collective bargaining agreements with
seven of the city's eight unions expire
at the same time December 31st 2025.
While negotiations continue with six of
the units for successor agreements, ask
me or the Washington State Council of
County and City Employees is aqua
administrative staff association have
come to an agreement for a one-year
contract extension which is placed on
tonight's consent was placed on
tonight's consent agenda. The one-year
extension is helping the city move
towards its goal to stagger the contract
end dates over a three-year period
versus having them all expire, mostly
all expired together. Tonight, the city
council approved on consent the vendor
agreement. And I think I talked enough
about that in the main meeting, so I
think I'll skip to the next one, which
is upcoming events. Please join me at
the Veterans Day service event at the
senior center tomorrow. VFW Post number
3436
um is please join them for this Veteran
Day celebration for two special events
honoring the courage and sacrifice of
America's heroes. Begin with the
Veterans Day service at 11:00 a.m.
featuring a stirring performance by
Liberty High School Junior's ROC, a
formal flag presentation and special
recognition of veterans in attendance. I
will also be there to deliver the
keynote address. Then return at 7 p.m.
for an inspiring presentation detailing
the powerful story of the USS
Indianapolis and its brave crew during
World War II. Guest speaker Kim Rolller,
an honorary survivor named by the ship's
actual survivors.
Uh Kim um as as an honorary survivor
named by the ship's actual survivors
will share their extraordinary
experience with family members of the
crew in attendance. Join your community
in honoring those who served and
sacrificed for our freedom.
this uh there is a um learn an
opportunity to learn tips for a
zerowaste holiday. This class that's
being offered will share ways to store
food to keep it fresh longer, meal
planning and using parts of food we may
not normally use. All attendees will
receive a guide to online tools for meal
planning and storing food with samples
and live demos included. Register today
for this first class on Friday, November
14th at noon. The class is part of a
series of free monthly online classes
that can help you learn useful
sustainable tips. Further details can be
found on the city's website.
And
we are now going to move to good of the
order. Items for good of the order.
Council president followed by council
member Hall.
>> Um thank you. So, I want to bring
something in front of council um related
to the conversation about Metroflex and
the contract. Um per the administration,
we would need to make a motion to
encourage or direct um staff to work on
making amendments. Um, but to do that,
we need to wave the council new business
request rule to allow discussion of
potential amendments
on the November 17th council agenda. So,
I'm wondering are if there are any um
concerns to waving our rules to allow
the administration to put this on the
November 17th council agenda.
>> Are there any objections to waving the
rules?
Um, as long as it's not on the topic
because we're not allowed to actually
talk about this without having noticed
people that we might be talking on
something.
>> No process is great.
>> Okay. Yeah. I just have a process
question because so am I hearing right?
Because I thought council gave direction
to the administration to pursue funding
Metrflex with TBD dollars. Is the
administration asking for something more
formal? Is that why?
>> No. council president would like to have
a conversation at a council meeting and
is asking to wave the rules to get it
added to the next Monday's agenda but
not about that
>> there it wasn't about the funding
portion but rather um the terms of the
contract so for example one of them was
the boundaries of that contract
>> which would require us to take action
separate from budget conversations
>> so your action for tonight is very much
procedural do you want to wave your
rules head nods will do and then add it
as an agenda item and it will come back
on November
17th. Yes.
>> Okay. Head nods waving the rules. So, it
will be an agenda item. Is there any
other good of the order business? Uh,
Council Member Hall, Council Member Joe.
>> Um, yes. I'm sorry. I I would skip, but
I I have to say this tonight. Um, and
I'm sorry. I know it's late, but um and
like I've said a couple times before um
today even. As you all know, I was
appointed to the state legislature back
in June. Um, and as the legislative
session is quickly approaching, I've
been thinking more seriously about my
service here on the city council and
have decided to resign my seat at the
end of the year. Um, I have submitted a
letter to that effect to city clerk, to
our city administrator. I have another
one here for the mayor and for the
council president. Um, I will have a lot
more to say about my time here, about
the professionalism of our staff, and
about the promise of our work in the
coming weeks. I think we have a meeting
in December where the three of us that
are are taking off can can speak a
little bit. Um, but for now, I just want
to say that serving the Isqua community,
my hometown, in this way has been the
greatest honor and privilege of my life.
And I look forward to partnering with
you all in new ways. And I also just
want to say that this decision comes
primarily from a sense of comfort and
confidence that this council is in very,
very good hands with all of you. Very
much so. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Any else? Oh, sorry, Council
Member Joe.
>> Thank you. Um, I just uh would like to
thank the mayor and council members that
attend the Dia de lotos event last
Sunday. It was mentioned that there were
15 to,700 people in attendance. It was a
great event. Very nice to see our whole
community come out uh supporting one
another and enjoying fellowship with
each other. Thank you to everyone that
attended and supported that event.
>> Great event. Any other good of the
order? I have a few meetings to
announce. The next regular council
meeting is on Monday, November 17th, and
the anticipated agenda items include
central Isqua multimmoal I90 crossing
study update, the 2026 property levy
tax, the 2025 2026 bidenium budget
adjustment, and a conversation on
metroax. There is no executive session
this evening. And so therefore, oh, I
can't look at that one. Therefore,
we are adjourned at 10:48.