Welcome everyone. I want to call the
March 2nd city council meeting to order.
Council member Walsh is joining us
remotely and everyone else is here. And
the first item on the agenda is the
pledge of allegiance. Please stand if
you're able and join me. Yeah.
The next item is special business ID
1985 American Red Cross month
proclamation.
Uh Red Cross board members and his squad
residents
Chen Civitz and Emily Oone the lectctor.
So whereas for more more than a century,
the American Red Cross has been at the
forefront of helping Americans prevent,
prepare for, and respond to large and
small disasters, families and
communities depend on the Red Cross in
times of need, and the Red Cross depends
on the American people to sustain the
foundation. And whereas in Isiqua, the
American Red Cross works tirelessly
through its volunteers to support us
when disaster strikes when someone needs
life-saving blood or the comfort of a
helping hand. It provides 24-hour
support to members of the military and
veterans and their families and provides
training in CPR, aquatic safety, and
first aid. And whereas the American Red
Cross makes is safer and stronger. This
formally recognizes the American Red
Cross and its critical humanitarian role
in our community and honors the King
County Chamber contribution to the city
and a better place. Now, therefore, I,
Mark Mullet, mayor of the city of Isqua,
do hereby proclaim the month of March
2026 to be American Red Cross month in
the city of Isiziqua and encourage all
residents to recognize and support the
vital work of the American Red Cross and
it consider volunteering, donating
blood, or contributing other meaningful
ways to help neighbors in need.
This is our little photo op. This is
Wally's favorite part.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Hi there, everyone. Uh, thank you, Mayor
Mullet. Yes. Can you guys hear me? Yes,
you can. Uh, good evening everyone. Uh,
thank you for having us today. My name
is Jen Civitz. I am an Isqua resident.
I've been here for 22 years. I've also
been on the Red Cross board for King
County for the last 14. This is my
colleague Emily. She also lives in
Isiqua and she's on the board with me as
well. Um, I joined personally the Red
Cross to to help out because my husband
was an ex Army. He's a retired army
ranger and I saw what the Red Cross did
for our um our our armed forces. I saw
what it did for our veterans, being
there for them. And um you know, through
my 14 years, I've seen that how it's
expanded in terms of being there for our
communities when there's natural
disasters. Nationally, we help um with s
over 60,000 disasters each year. We
collect 5 million units of blood across
the country. We help millions of
Americans uh get first aid and and and
help with uh life- saving skills. Um
here in Isiqua, I'm proud to say that
there are over 30 folks that are signed
up as regular um volunteers for the Red
Cross. The there's actually two that if
you took up their their time to
together, Norm and Joyce Botnam
Bottenberg, they have 60 years of
service to our mission, which is pretty
incredible if you think about that. Uh
the Red Cross has been around for over
140 years um caring for communities like
like uh Isiqua. So um we're grateful for
your recognition. We're grateful um that
you allowed us to speak today and and
thank you for having us.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much.
The next item of business is audience
comments. Comments can be made in person
or virtually. Those who sign in advance
will be called on first. If you join us
virtually, please raise your virtual
hand. If you're on the phone, you can
press star three. And if you're in the
room and did not sign up, there will be
an opportunity for you to raise your
hand at the end to speak before we close
this portion of the meeting. And in
terms of people's comments, political
campaigns comments are not permitted.
And when you're called on, we just ask
everyone to be respectful. Limit your
comments to 3 to 5 minutes. Please state
your name and relationship to the city
as well. And madam clerk, is anybody
signed up for audience comments?
>> Yes. The first speaker is with us
virtually.
Joe, I'm going to make you a panelist
now. You should be able to unmute and
can also choose to turn your video on.
Give me just a moment here.
All right,
Joe Cunnler, you're you're up. Say hi.
Hi. Hello. This is Joe Conor here. Good
to see you. Um, OSU was under different
circumstances, but uh I understand your
light and rails under some trouble and
I'm a huge supporter of Sound Transit.
Um, I I have to say uh at the outset
that um you know what sometimes what you
see in the roofer boardroom and hear is
not exactly how everyone feels. Um, I
strongly appreciate very much the Isiqua
residents who came to Sound Transit
headquarters last week and spoke up in
support of transit. We rarely see that
out of a community. Uh, what we hear a
lot as transit advocates is people
coming to complain about the agency and
not support it. Uh, so it was definitely
a breath of fresh air. Um,
I will say and I hope this doesn't
violate your rules
that it seems you're in competition with
a community that is that doesn't have
council rules that allows Alex Zimmerman
to attack, you know, other people. And I
don't think that's fair or right. And
I'd rather that we prioritized rare
Sound Transit resources on communities
that are willing to work in partnership
with enthusiasm
and without harmful welfare.
Um, and I want to I also give you this
far as a sound supporter. You know, we
have welfare and as the chair Dave
Summers has said, time is money, money
is time. that lawfare can make a cost
curve that's like this go like this
because it takes time and res not just
resources of addressing the welfare like
complaining about environmental impact
statements but also um you know just the
time wasted as costs go up construction
materials permitting that kind of thing
you know it's really again it's really
really important that you keep your
enthusiasm up because you've certainly
got me on your side and and I would
rather see you guys prioritize over
Kirkland that frankly isn't exactly
terribly supportive in my opinion. So,
thanks for all you do and keep being
awesome. Go Hawks.
>> Thank you very much, Joe. We like the
positive Hawks enthusiasm still. Uh,
Madam Clerk,
>> no one else has signed up in advance.
>> Is there anybody else in the room who
wants
Oh, come on up. Yes, please. You can go
to the lecture right here in the middle.
You just have to turn on the microphone.
Then you can state your name in
relationship to the city and then give
us your comments.
>> Hey,
good evening mayor and council members.
First, I would like to thank Minnie and
Christina from the city for their time
and the guidance in helping us submit
the proposal. We truly appreciate the
opportunity to work collaboratively with
the staff throughout this process. So
during the last council meeting we
requested considering for 100% impact
fee exemption for our proposed childcare
center. Tonight I would like to briefly
remind you of the key reasons behind
that request.
Um my name is Mahesh Raaka. I have been
a Washington state resident for over 16
years and uh Ishaka is where I had my
first job in United States. So opening
this center here is both a professional
investment and a personal commitment to
this community. We are proposing a
building kids childcare center focused
on infants, toddler, preschoolers and
low-income families and young parents.
This center would also creates stable
employment for more than 20 local
families. The need is clear within 5
miles radius.
Uh actually like there are over 9,000 ch
uh childrens under the age of six but
only about 4,000 licensed childcare
seats. That means nearly half of the
children's doesn't have the access to
the license of child care. The shortage
is most severe in infant and toddler
care where many providers choose not to
operate due to the cost and staffing
requirement. At the same time about 15%
of students in in the Ishaka school
district are from economically
disadvantaged households. So these
families are already living here and
their needs begin work before the
kindergarten. At our existing Lynwood
center 30% of the families we serve are
low-income households. We intentionally
provide infant and toddler care even
though it is most difficult and
expensive to operate.
And at the corporate level, the building
kids franchiser donates 25% of its
profits to support the unprivileged
children. Serving families is in need is
not an afterthought. It is a central to
who we are. The impact fees for this
project is approximately 400k.
Jail centers cannot absorb this cost at
that level. For these reasons, we
respectively ask the council to consider
a 100% impact fee exemption.
uh condition to miserable public
benefits including the infant and
toddler care support for the low-income
families and the local job benefits
including um the childrens who need care
today will be the students in your
schools tomorrow. Supporting early child
care is one of the most meaningful
investment we can make in Isaka's
future. Thank you. Thank you for your
service.
>> Thank you very much and we appreciate
you wanting to bring more child care to
Isqua. Madam clerk, is there anybody
else signed up to
or anyone signed up? Anyone else in the
audience?
Not seeing any. Going once, going twice.
And that closes audience comments. The
next item
>> and teachers in the classroom
>> on the calendar is the consent calendar.
And I do not have any comments on
consent calendar items, but are there
any committee chairs or design who would
like to report on the consent calendar
items? I think council member Walsh
Thank you. Um, just a quick report out
from the services, safety, and perks
committee on AB 9160.
The committee unanimously supported um,
whoops, scrolling up the emergency
management's update to our hazard
mitigation plan annex as part of the
King County Plan. This plan identifies
our top hazards along with mitigation
strategies for the next five years. It
also enables us to qualify for grant
funding. So, we supported all of that.
In addition to supporting adoption of
the plan, the committee recommended that
we add these mitigation items to our
next capital improvement plan, CIP, so
we can better account for the needed
projects to mitigate major hazards such
as earthquakes and wildfires. Thank you.
>> Excellent. Thank you, Council Member
Walsh. Any other council members have
any comment on the consent calendar?
Not seeing any. The consent calendar was
distributed to the council in advance.
If authorized, you have the consent
calendar will be considered together and
approved by one motion. Have the
payables and payrolls been reviewed?
>> They have.
>> They have.
>> They have.
>> Does any council member want to remove
any items from the consent calendar and
put them on regular business?
Not seeing any. Is there a motion?
>> Thank you, Mayor Mullet. I move to adopt
the consent agenda as presented.
>> Second.
>> All right. There's a motion to approve
the consent calendar as presented. It's
been moved and seconded. All those in
favor, please say I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed? Nay. And that passes
unanimously. The next item of business
is under regular business. Agenda Bill
9139, early learning facility traffic
impact fee waivers. like to invite
planning manager Kristen Leon to present
this item.
Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of
the council. This set up and I
apologize.
There we go. There we go.
Okay. Again, good evening. Yes. Tonight
we are here to uh consider approval of
traffic impact fever uh ad adopting a
definition of and waving traffic impact
fees for earning early learning
facilities.
There we go. An early learning facility
is a facility that regular has regularly
scheduled care for children from zero
months or one month up to 12 years for a
period of less than 24 hours. And we're
talking about impact fees, which is a
one-time payment against a development
for the future impacts that that
development is going to have on our
system.
So it has been
discussed that traffic impact fees have
been found to have a financial impact or
impediment negative impact toward the
development of early learning
facilities. However, the state does
allow impact fee waiverss park traffic
and fire impact fee waivers for these
facilities.
There are two options. The state offers
an 80% fee waiver in which case there
are no conditions tied to it. They also
offer a 100% fee waiver, but there are
two conditions tied to that. First
condition is that 25% of your enrolled
students must be eligible for state
subsidies. And the second condition is
if at any point during the year that
enrollment falls below 25%, then the
daycare center, the property owner is
required to pay back 20% of the wave
impact fees.
There are other cities that have adopted
this. De Moines's waves 50% of the
impact fees. Lane and Tacoma wave 80% of
the impact fees. Shoreline has a 100%
fee waiver. And Mount Lake Terrace
waves it proportionate uh to the number
of enrolled income students or up to
100%. Meaning that if 15% of the
students are eligible, Thank you.
If 15% of the students are eligible,
then 15% of the fees can be waved.
I will note that Shoreline and Mount
Lake Terrace, neither one has had
someone submit and do the fee wavers
yet. So when we check to say how does
this work, um they they hadn't had
anything in place.
So, the proposal tonight is to allow 80%
and 100% traffic impact fee exemptions
for early learning facilities.
Here are some examples of why we're just
proposing the traffic impact fees.
Recently, we had a daycare center come
in in Oldtown. It had 60 students. Its
traffic impact fees were almost
$121,000.
Its park impact fees were around $2,200
and its fire impact fees were $410.
We have a proposed one coming in
converting an existing building and an
existing office building into a daycare.
The traffic impact fees would be about
$379,000.
Park impact fees would be about $2,300
and the fire impact fees would be
$11,131.
You can see the totals totals are pretty
big. $123,500
for one and $392,434
for the other. And had you just removed
the traffic impact fee, that takes the
total impact fees for the first one down
to $2,600 and the second one down to
$13,500.
So that makes a significant difference
when you remove those.
We did also look at potentially
waving park and it fire impact fees but
for the reasons that I just mentioned in
the previous slide uh the uh idea was to
just wave traffic impact fees.
So this went to the planning development
and environment committee on February
3rd. The committee voted unanimously to
recommend both the 80% and the 100%
traffic fee waiver to developers and
owners of early learning facilities.
And our that is our recommendation to
amend chapter 3.71 of the isqua
municipal code to allow for fee wavers
for early learning centers.
And that's that's all I have.
>> Are there any questions for
Kristen? Thank you very much, Kristen.
That was excellent. And council member
Jen, as chair of the planning,
development, and environment committee,
would you like to summarize the
committee's recommendations for this
agenda bill? Yeah. So, um the
committee's recommendation is to allow
uh the 80% impact fee traffic impact fee
exemption for all childcare centers and
offer a 100% traffic impact fee
exemption for child care centers that
provide at least 25% of their spots to
uh students receiving state subsidized
childare. The reason being that, you
know, there's a child care shortage in
Isiqua and the entire state and the
entire country. And so anything that we
can do to make it easier to open you,
you know, childcare facilities so that
parents can get their kids to care so
they can do whatever else they need to
do in their lives, um, is useful. I will
also note, I think there's been some,
you know, given where we're at with like
the general fund budget. I want to note
that impact fees do not go into the
general fund. They go into a special
traffic, basically it's like a traffic
impact fee fund that can only be spent
on transportation projects. And so not
charging this fee basically means that
you know then instead we have to rely on
other grants or other funding for
transportation improvements. Um in
contrast um the fire impact fee is
actually directly passed through to East
Side Fire and Rescue. So if we did not
collect that fee from the um child care
center then we would actually have to
pay. So that's more of a you know kind
of direct subsidy. Um, and also one
thing to note is that the fire impact
fees do depend on whether it's
residential or commercial buildings. So
that's why this one was so much higher
than the previous one. But overall, our
recommendation is to offer the 80%
impact fee exemption for all childcare
centers and then also add that
additional 20% uh exemption to encourage
uh childcare centers to be able to take
on um subsidized uh child care students.
All right. So, I got choose your own
adventure for childcare fee waivers.
What uh any other questions from the
council?
Oh, council member Adair.
>> Oh, I just had a quick technical
question in terms of the for the 100%
waiver there's, you know, they need to
meet that minimum. Is it forever? Is
there a period of time they need to meet
that that child care uh percentage or
how long does that last?
>> That would be forever.
>> So, every year they'll need to be kind
of confirming with the city. There will
need to be some sort of administration
to that effect in order to maintain
that.
>> Correct. DCYF has a program that they
enroll in and they keep track and then
the applicant or the property owner is
required to submit their information to
the city every year.
>> All right. Not seeing any other
questions. Is there a motion?
We question.
Oh, sorry. Councilor Walsh. I see you
waving now. Sorry. I got to look at my
screen.
>> Thank you. No, I know it's it's very
hard to manage somebody virtually. I
appreciate it. Um, so we've talked about
the potential cost to the city of not
collecting these funds. Um, I'm
wondering if um, Kristen or someone can
talk to what the cost is in revenue to
the city of a project that doesn't
happen. Um can you discuss the various
revenues that we get when a project is
um in the works or completed? Things
like construction sales tax, REIT, uh
business occupation tax, sales tax. Do
we have any sense of what that revenue
is to the city for a potentially lost
project and how it compares with these
impact fees?
Can you answer?
>> John, can you under I I'll take a try.
Um, you know, loss projects are hard to
hard to estimate. I think, uh, the
reality of our budgeting is is that we
estimate for a 12-month period what we
might see. Um, you know, in some cases
it's granular per project. Other cases,
it's looking at historical averages. Um,
so I don't know that we have a good
answer to your question, uh, Council
Member Walsh, as far as, uh, what a
specific you've you've named off the
various revenues that we receive from,
uh, let's say a sample project, uh, and
then depending on size and scope, those
revenues vary. Uh, but it's it's
difficult to estimate what we lose for
projects that don't happen.
All right. Any other
Okay, we're back to a potential motion.
Great. Uh, I move we adopt ordinance
number 3134 amending chapter 3.71 of the
Isiqua Municipal Code to allow for fee
wavers for early learning centers.
>> Second.
>> All right. There's been a motion and a
second. Is there any discussion?
All right. Not seeing any.
>> Oh, Council Member Nichols. And I'm off
my game tonight. I'll try to be faster.
Um,
I just I want to speak briefly in
support of this and also um look at a
few things that I think it indicates we
should try to take a a broader look at
that this um this ordinance reads on.
Um, first of all, one of the reasons I'm
supportive of this is we are trying very
hard as a council to try to help with
affordability, but we only have so many
we don't have that many knobs that are
actually that we can we can turn. Um, if
we look at the expenses that the typical
family has to um shoulder on their their
monthly budgets, housing
often the biggest, but child care either
tied or second most of the time. Um,
having a a business that wants to come
into town and offer and promise and
commit to affordable child care is
something that I think we we simply
cannot afford to ignore. That is a
wonderful opportunity. Um, if we when we
we have when we look at the housing
space, we have very few analogous
opportunities and we try to take them
whatever we possibly can. I think we
should look at affordable child
childcare in much the same light. Um,
secondly, I just want to make a a a
broader point about our our impact fees
overall and question if there's some
lessons that we can learn from these.
Um, I'm unclear. It's unclear to me that
a development like this will actually
increase traffic, frankly. Um, and so if
since our impact fees are designed to
mitigate impacts, um, if we have
situations like this where people are
likely having to drive less, drive not
as far, um, possibly be able to walk,
um, I think that's a a good flag that
there might be something wrong with how
we're assessing our impact fees overall.
Um, I know in my personal experience,
um, when we had our our our when our
daughter was born 12 years ago now
almost, um, we used to drive about 40
minutes on Front Street to a childcare
facility back and forth every day
because that was less expensive. Um, but
we were contributing to traffic. Um, if
there was more childcare in Isqua, we
would have produced less traffic. Um,
that argument of course can't work for
everything, but there are some things
where I think it can. And it it serves
it it strikes me as a an indicator that
we should perhaps evaluate think very
critically about how our impact fees are
calculated and whether they are serving
the intention that we want them to or
perhaps in some cases and this may be
one actually
making the problems that they intended
to address uh possibly bigger.
Excellent.
Is there any Oh, no other comments.
There's no further discussion. Motion
before the council is adopt ordinance
number 3134 amending chapter 3.71 of the
ESQA municipal code to allow for fee
waiverss for early learning centers. All
those in favor please say I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed? Nay.
And that passes unanimously. The next
item of business is agenda bill 9091.
Newport would Newport Way be able to
sunset improvements
design agreement supplement. I like to
my transportation engineering manager
John Morgensson to present this item.
>> See Kristen John brought up big water
bottle with him. You got
Thank you very much, Mayor Mullet. Good
evening, council members. I'm
transportation engineering manager John
Mortonson. Greg Lucas is going to be
giving the presentation tonight, but I
want to say a few words about this
project before the presentation.
The Newport Way Maple to Sunset project
is a bold and ambitious project.
It hits on many of the community's
priorities.
It is an intraisiqua mobility project
that mitigates the impacts of growth.
Improves safety along a corridor with a
history of serious injury accidents.
Improves storm water from the roadway to
protect the salmon that the community
values
and it builds out the bicycle and
pedestrian network
for the city of Esqua. Leading up to
this item, a lot of questions have been
asked about what happens if the city is
unable to
secure the construction funds and would
the city need to pay back the design
funds that have been received so far.
The good news is thanks to a change in
state or not state law, federal law, the
design funds would no longer need to be
paid back if the city is unable to
secure construction funding.
Currently, the city has a an award in
2028 for right-away funds, and the rules
for those funds are that the city will
have 10 years to begin construction on
the project. At that point, if the city
has not secured construction funds, wash
said there's a process to get a 10-year
extension. But basically the um anytime
a project goes after 10 years before
between rightway and construction that
wash then needs to monitor it which is
why they have the extension process.
In other words the city will have 20
years to construct the project.
Um, and if after 20 years the city was
unable to secure construction funding,
the city would only be responsible for
the funds that were used to acquire
rightway.
Although the there's that, the
administration is also very optimistic
about the ability to
secure construction funding for this
project. This project has been very
competitive in grant funding
competitions. In the most recent
competition through the Puet Sound
Regional Council and the King Countywide
Competition, this project was the second
highest scoring project and was one
point off from being the highest scoring
project.
Tonight's request from council is
authorization of a contract amendment to
the design contract to allow the project
to reach the 60% milestone. This is a
really important step because it'll
allow the administration to begin
planning construction phasing and
applying for construction grants.
With this, I'd like to pass it over to
Greg Lucas, who will give tonight's
presentation.
>> All right. Uh, good evening, Mayor
Mullet and council members. My name is
Greg Lucas. I'm a transportation
engineer in public works and I'm here to
present on behalf of the Newport Way
Maple to Sunset Improvement Project.
Uh so the purpose of the presentation is
sync seek authorization to execute a
design supplement uh needed to complete
the 60% design submitt. And given the
project's long history and varying
degrees of familiarity, uh the
presentation will provide an overview of
the project
as the administration seeks action on
this item.
And so we'll start uh with the
introduction to the project starting
with the uh existing conditions of
Newport Way uh specifically between uh
Maple Street and Sunset Way as
classified as an urban uh principal
arterial street that moves up to 15,000
vehicles a day. While there's shoulders
to use for cyclists, there's no
dedicated signed and channelized bike
facilities.
And there's some walkways along Newport
Way as well, but there's no continuous
walkway on either side of the road.
Uh there are
stop controlled intersections u only on
the side streets. So Maple is a
signalized intersection. So, sunset, uh,
juniper, holly, and dogwood are all
stopped before they can enter onto
Newport Way. And another element of the
existing conditions, it's one of the
older kind of countywide
county uh, roadways with open drainage
ditches to convey water. Uh,
about a mile long, includes five
intersections.
Um and another element of this project
is that the Isqua Valley Elementary
School is located within the project
limits.
Um there's been some housing going on um
in this along the corridor as well. And
while part of the port part port part of
the project lies within the growth
center, the there's also been some
housing um outside of the growth center
limits.
So, what the project uh would implement
would be an extension of a second
southbound lane. Currently, there is an
existing second southbound lane near
Maple merges into one lane prior to
Juniper, and we'll get into that on the
next slide a little bit in more detail.
This project also implements 6 foot wide
sidewalks on both sides of the streets
with a slightly wider sidewalk in front
of Isqua Valley Elementary School. It
would add protected bike lanes which
would be protected by landscape strips,
roundabouts at a few of the
intersections
as well as getting rid of the open
drainage ditches and treating water
before it enters into uh larger regional
waterways.
Deputy President Marks,
>> thank you. Why does the picture only
show a total of two lanes?
Oh,
>> this crosssections in front of Squ
Valley Elementary School where uh the
second southbound lane would have merged
into one.
>> So, so how how far is the second
southbound lane? it would be extended um
so back to the previous slide um more or
less can have right in front of Isqua
Valley Elementary School it'll merge
down to one southbound line
so it' be two southbound lanes from
Maple past Holly and I think it's about
900 ft south of Holly is when it starts
to merge into one
>> so it would extend the the second
southbound lane 900 ft versus its
current where it truncates just past the
the intersection.
>> It would extend it more than that. It
would extend it past currently emerges
north of Juniper. It extend it past
Juniper, past Holly, and then 900 more
feet.
>> But before I
>> kind of right in front of their right in
front of that school. Okay.
Holl's kind of the north portion of IB.
And so you about 900 ft of a second
southbound lane. And how much of that
stretch that down to Sunset would be
left only two lanes?
>> The rest of that would be two lanes
until you get back to Sunset with a left
turn lane.
>> Gotcha.
>> Okay. Thank you. Y
done with this slide as well.
>> And so this slide is intended to address
why the southbound lane extension is
needed. Um
future long range uh planning modeling
shows uh that the intersections at
Juniper and Holly would fall below the
adopted level service of Due to
increasing uh traffic demand.
The primary reason why these
intersections fall below the um adopted
level service is the cars on the side
streets themselves will have a difficult
time turning onto Newport Way. They got
to fight traffic moving northbound and
southbound.
>> Secondary reason is cars turning
left going south on Newport onto the
side streets. would they be forced to
wait for a gap um for cars moving north
and the and the consequence of that is
there'll be a little bit of a cue for
the cars coming south and then the cars
on Juniper would have to wait for
southbound traffic to clear out and a
gap in the traffic.
And so in order to address um these
intersections that fall below the level
of service, the roundabouts and the
extension of the southbound lane would
keep these intersections compliant.
Uh, this modeling was done for year
2040. That could happen, I guess,
sooner. It could happen and it hits the
area.
>> Deputy President Marks.
>> Sorry, I'm confused. So, if we do
nothing, the 2024
traffic model would show in order levels
of service C, F, E, C, and B. Right?
Feel like I'm reading an eye chart. What
are the levels of service if we uh
implement this plan at those five
intersections? I don't have all five
memorized, but uh the two that fail,
which I looked more recently at, would
be A and B.
>> So, Juniper would go from F to an A and
Holly would go from an E to a B.
>> Yep.
>> All right. Thank you.
>> Yep.
But um I I I want to say maple goes to a
D in in the long range uh but stays
above doesn't fail. It's either C or D.
It doesn't get better. This project you
only improves those two Juniper and
Holly.
Yeah.
>> Council member.
>> Um and so but Dogwood would not get a
roundabout. Correct. So that would still
be kind of maintained at this sea level,
correct? Or or
what what happens on the Dogwood
intersection?
>> Dogwood, um it's a good question.
Dogwood has uh a roundabout as part of
the scope. Uh however, there's been some
um development that made us look at that
intersection a little closer. And while
it it doesn't need it to mitigate the or
to improve uh that traffic level of
service. So we we're also looking at
doing other options there such as a
raised intersection with flashing
beacons that could be a little cheaper
to implement
and less impacts to um the surrounding
properties due to the roundabouts do
take a lot more real estate than the
like a raised intersection would. So
we're evaluating that intersection more
closely.
I just want to know the design
consultant did look at different areas
for the merge point uh whether keeping
it where it's at
uh moving the merge point between
Juniper and Holly and ultimately in
order to meet the level of service uh
requirements the merge point needed to
be moved south of Holly.
So in addition to the traffic
improvements, uh this project would
improve safety for all mobility options,
bicyclists and pedestrians,
Federal Highway Administration releases
uh findings on studies on makes
recommendations to meet their own uh
safety goals and they encourage local
agencies such as ours to implement these
And this project includes nine of those
uh safety improvements.
And I'll highlight a few of those. The
big ones are the protected bike lanes,
the crosswalk visibilities, including
the the beacons, roundabouts, and
the the sidewalks themselves.
Uh the raised crosswalk at Holly would
help improve safety for students walking
to and from Esqua Valley Elementary
School. Then the administration plans to
engage with the school district during a
60% design review to discuss these
improvements and get their thoughts.
So this project's been around for a long
time.
Um there was a traffic study done about
15 years ago which led to some of the
scoping of this project and in January
of 11 uh council at that time approved
the roundabout concepts with the
southbound lane extension.
Five years later, the administration
applied for and received a design grant
through PSRC.
And the next year, uh, I'd selected and,
uh, contracted with Patit
to begin design, and the need for the
roundabouts and the southbound lane was
approved.
And in 2022, there was a modification to
the design, which we'll get into in some
subsequent slides, and that was approved
by council.
And more recently, a rightaway grant was
applied for and um yeah, like John
mentioned, awarded uh for the year 2028.
And this slide just shows some of the
previous um actions taken by council on
the design work itself to advance the
project. uh first to accept the design
uh grant funds, then to execute the
contract, approve the revised corridor,
and then two out of the three
supplements needed council action, and
there was a third one there that didn't
require council action.
Along the way, there's been um some
challenges during the design process.
Uh the initial concept uh for the design
which was a 30% the initial 30% submitt
included a raised and landscaped median.
Uh this stemmed from a 2012 central
isqua plan and this was not well
received by the public and they
encouraged some design changes.
Ultimately, this led to a resubmit of
the 30% design submitting
removed to help facilitate uh left turn
movements from private properties. And
at that time, um uh bike lanes were
moved from adjacent to the vehicles to
behind the landscape strips as well.
My understanding there's been some staff
shortings along the way where this
project's unable to be advanced.
Um and then there's been two
environmental regulations that have
impacted the design process.
First emerging site emerging science
around the impacts that tire wear has on
salmon. And so that required some design
refinement to treat the water before it
could potentially impact the salmon. And
then more recently, um there's a bloom
of POS underneath m much of the roadway,
uh due to a chemical and the fire
suppressant used at the fire station.
And while this was known, it it wasn't
clear that this would have a negative
this project would have a negative
impact on the POS. So the project
advanced
uh but eventually ecology decided to
regulate it and designated as a
contaminant and so we had to go back and
compliant with the regulations
and that required a lot of redesign work
getting additional geotechnical work and
infiltration data
and then there's just industrywide
increase in cost as time moves on.
This brings us to the uh current status
of the project. Uh project's near the
60% design submitt.
The funding uh for this contract
supplement would help get us to that
point. Um there's a biological
assessment was submitted to the state.
So once the administration knew we
wouldn't have enough funds to complete
the 60% design submitt
made a decision to keep the project on
the critical path which was to
prioritize the biological assessment.
This is a multi-year review process
and we've already received some feedback
from the state before we send it to the
National Marine Fishery Services. So
that would be our first order business
if we got I think the design supplement
approved. And again, there's a a grant
awarded for purchasing the prop property
rights starting in 2028.
This slide shows the timeline for the
project moving forward. Uh starting with
the environmental process biological
assessments kind of the longest first
discipline report needed. There'll be a
few more um needed prior to NEPA
approval. Those can be done after the
biological assessment or at least near
completion of that.
And this year we'd
want to finish the 60% design submittal,
look at construction phasing to develop
an approach to maximize external
funding,
start applying for grants after that,
and then use the uh right away
property rights acquisition grants 2028,
begin 90% design and permit the first
phase of construction
in 2030.
brief synopsis of oh
president Mart.
>> Sure. So um my ears perk up at phase one
of the project. So I see TR23
Newport Way Maple to Sunset Improvements
lists on the six-year CIP adds up to
something like $34 million. Is that the
total cost of this project
for the the entire FA the entire project
will I mean we'll know more at 60% uh
but our 30%
uh estimate compounded over with some
inflation I think we're closer to 60
potentially but again it's really hard
to estimate it with 30% uh estimate
that's that's where we're at
>> okay but the 34 million that's in TR23
is not intended to be the entire
project.
>> That's why you said phase one.
>> Yeah,
>> there's a phase two and it's something
like as large of a magnitude as phase
one
>> potentially. Um and so the 60% help us
break this out into phases. Um but kind
of
without the 60% kind of a preliminary
look at it would be we wanted to do as
much as we could particular the north
portion where the roundups are um and
the second southbound lane that's the
most expensive portion of the project.
So as much of that we could do in the
first phase uh would you know would be
ideal. At the beginning where you talked
about the benefits of this project was
that the benefits of phase one or the
benefits of the entirety of the project
and entire entirety the the mobility the
intra is mobility was more for I guess
potentially what I was describing in
that first phase for the traffic.
>> Thank you.
>> Yep.
Um, so this design has had uh the PSRC
surface transportation grant as well as
1.2 million in uh funds that were
originally anticipated for the bypass
project that were able to be utilized
for this project and we got the rideway
grant for this project.
And this slide shows options for
construction funding from external uh
agencies. There's the same PSRC surface
transportation that this project's been
awarded twice now. There's state
administers two federal grants. Uh one's
safe routes to school. Uh this project
would be very competitive for that
particularly for the front engine in
front of the Isqua Valley Elementary
School.
The projects with a history of
collisions are competitive for the
highway safety improvement program. Even
though it's uh a local road, this
project would be compatible competitive
for that as long as it's implementing
the FHWA countermeasures. Um
and then there's one big grant that
there's not much history of the city
applying for, but it's
been renamed a few times. It's been
called the Tiger Grant. It's been called
the raise grant. Now it's called the
Build Grant.
That's up to 25 million and 20% of that
needs to be non-federal funds.
And the hope would be
the administration could apply for that.
Um we understand
usually takes more than one submitt to
get it. They so you can apply for it,
get some feedback and refine your u
application for the subsequent year.
That'd be an action we'd want to look at
doing as soon as we could.
>> And both just got a couple of those big
USD grants, right?
>> Uh there's a few agencies around here. I
think both might be one and Shoreline's
got one. Um back when it was called
Tiger and Belle had some. So yeah,
there's also some state grant
opportunities. the transportation
improvement board. Uh once you have a
project ready for construction, they got
some uh
programs available to help
supplement the the cost to to get the
projects implemented.
And state has a program through the
climate commitment act called the
pedback program that this project would
also be competitive for.
And then I made a note here at the
bottom that um other agencies have had
legislation
fund uh some of their projects as well
and similar to this project as well as
other projects that are on the mountain
greenway trail which this project is
from Maple and to Holly and then that
trail is supposed to go east from there.
The other option is to not authorize the
design agreement supplement. Um
um John gave you some information about
how um the repayments changed a little
bit and while our agreement doesn't
state that there's laws that have
changed that wouldn't require repayment
necessarily
um at least for the design funds.
However, some of the granting agencies
may look at futuristic across the middle
a little less favorably if we decide not
to construct some of their projects that
we said we would.
Then the administration's recommendation
is to authorize the mayor to enter into
the design agreement supplement for the
project for about $105,000
in the
federal template.
Next steps would should the supplement
be executed would be to receive the 60%
design submitt after we're contracted
and the works completed by prite the
administration would then review the
submittal and provide feedback to prite
on it and determine a construction
phasing approach
and then other near-term uh steps would
be to look at value engineering. This is
an independent look to help reduce
overall costs of the projects and
generally a requirement on federal aid
projects over I think $40 million.
We'll also be incorporating the comments
both from the review and the value
engineering and then start preparing
rightway phase documents. Um, this
requires the NEPA, the environmental
approval and then an approved
ride-of-way plan and a cost estimate for
it and start applying for the build
grant.
Hopefully receive it, but at least get
some feedback on future submittals for
it.
And that is the end of the presentation.
Are there any questions for Greg or
John?
Council member Jen.
>> Okay. I have a few questions. Um, so
just to clarify on the construction
funding. Um, so for the build grants,
are those distributed by PSRC or do we
directly apply to the feds to get that
money?
>> I've never applied for one, but I have
my understanding that's directly through
the US DOT.
>> Okay. Um, I guess my other question is
how confident are we that construction
will start in 2030? Like would that be
dependent on us receiving this federal
funding presumably?
>> Yeah, I mean it's it would require un
unless you don't if we don't get the the
federal funds there would be a much more
financial commitment from the city. Um
you know other risks to the schedule are
you know the property acquisition um two
years is a a good estimate for that.
That can take longer and there's also
eminent domain but we try to do friendly
acquisitions with the property owners.
Um and then the other risk is um uh uh
just the biological assessment. You know
that this two years is a long time.
Sometimes it might it could take more.
Um but
uh our approach will be ready. It's just
>> yeah I guess so. Um John you mentioned
we feel very confident we'll get the
build grants but you know during this
conversation I was looking at like what
projects have received that funding.
It's like one project per state per
year. So like how are we confident that
we're going to be the one in the entire
state of Washington to get the money?
>> I don't know if I don't did you say
build grant or just grants in g I think
this project's very competitive for
grants in general.
>> Yeah. I guess this was just the
tiger/build
grant from 2009 to 2025.
>> Yeah, those that's a competitive process
and they fund a lot of different types
of projects and planning efforts. So, I
think a priority for us would be to just
get an application in there and and see
where we stack up um be for this one or
the next ones.
>> And I think Council Member Jen, what
we've tried to convey this evening is
that this has been a very competitive
project that there are measures that are
used that this project meets those
measures. And certainly as as you've
heard this evening, once we have the 60%
design, um we're going to be as
aggressive as we need to be uh with our
federal partners uh to show that this
meets the requirements and if there's
going to be one in Washington state,
then it should be disqu.
>> Great. Thank you, Wally.
>> Oh, one more question. Um so, uh you
mentioned that we do have we have
secured a grant of like $5 million to do
rightway acquisition. If we don't need
that whole amount, is it possible to
apply some of that towards construction
or no?
>> I think only a very little amount.
>> Yeah. 100,000.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> I'm just curious.
>> Yeah.
I like the way you're thinking.
Any other questions for Greg
or John? Okay. Thank you very much. Uh
not seeing any other questions. Is there
a motion?
>> Thank you, Mayor Mullet. Uh, I authorize
I move that we authorize the mayor to
enter into and execute a design
agreement supplement for the Newport Way
Maple to Sunset Improvement TR23
project.
Motion. Is there a second?
I second. Council member second.
>> Is there any other council discussion?
Deputy President Martfully,
I'm going to oppose this motion this
evening. I've been hearing about this
project for 17 years. Uh it was
allegedly important 17 years ago, but we
haven't done it. Um, it's something
north of $60 million for a couple of
bike lanes and 2600 feet worth of a
third lane that
will won't improve the traffic at either
end, but it'll improve a couple of side
streets. So, it's it's two roundabouts
and some bike lanes for 60 plus million
dollars. And whoever pays for it isn't
the question to me. The question is, are
there better ways to improve mobility in
our in our city for $60 million? I'm
pretty sure there are. So, uh, I've
never understood this project, but we've
also never actually moved on it. So, who
knows how it'll go this evening, but
this is a huge amount of money for a
very, very small impact um that won't
substantially improve things for the
mobility uh in our city that our voters
tell us is is the most important
subject. So, thank you,
>> Council Member Mair.
>> Um, I would say that while I agree 60
million is a is too much to spend on the
current problems, I like I travel this
road every day. My kids go to Esqua
Valley. I biked on it and I see this as
a road with a lot of structural problems
that it that have to be addressed at
some point in terms of how it functions,
especially with the growth we want to
hopefully be successful at in central
Isiqua. That this road is one of the key
connections from what will be that
central district to Oldtown to heading
down, you know, south. And I think um
the multimmodal aspects as well as you
know the roundabouts and everything like
that that this road will become a very
serious problem as we grow and it's
something that has to be addressed at
some point and while the price tag is
huge it's something that I don't see a
way that we do it in a cheaper way
because there are so many structural
things such as the big ditches on the
side that cars run into all the time as
well as the safety for the children on
that. And so though it is a price tag,
it is something that I believe we need
to continue to try to accomplish and
that's why I support it.
>> Council member Nichols
Jen, sorry.
>> Yeah, I think the thing with this price
tag is that I think a lot of it is
actually related to like fixing the road
that currently exists. So right now I
think you know when we saw the pavement
management presentation that's like one
of the worst sections of road in the
entire city. like the road is actively
falling apart and it's not just the road
surface. There's like the concrete bed
underneath it that's failing and you
know there's like all these cracks that
are sealed that I don't know how many
more times we're going to be able to
seal them before we're going to have to
like redo the entire road anyway. And to
the extent that and my understanding is
like we basically kind of like kicked
the can down the road because we think
that we'll be able to pull in external
funding to fix the road along with doing
some you know improvements. Um, so I I
do think the additional cost to do these
improvements relative to, you know, if
we were going to actually just have to
fix the road, I I would be curious to
see what those numbers are. Um, I also,
you know, am someone who bikes on
Newport Way to get here mostly. Um, and
I think it's like not a fun road to be a
pedestrian or biker on. there's like the
giant ditch, so you're between the car
and the ditch and you could just, you
know, end up in the ditch. Um, and also,
you know, with the cost of doing storm
water, like if we were to do anything to
this road, we would have to bring it up
to modern storm water codes. We would
have to move the utilities. So, I think
to the extent that we can also take that
opportunity of we're going to have to
redo the road anyway at some point,
unless it's literally going to
completely fall apart. If we use that
opportunity to do some improvements, I
think that makes sense. I would like to
see, you know, what the marginal cost
is. Um I'm, you know, I think the price
tag is very hefty and I'm very hopeful
that we can get um additional grants,
but also understanding it is a very
competitive process. So, we'll be good
to revisit um you know, what it looks
like when once we've submitted some of
those grant applications, it is good to
know that we aren't going to have to
return the design funding. And I think,
you know, at this juncture, the question
is, do we want to put in like another
couple hundred,000 to get it to the
point where we can start actually making
progress on this project? And I do think
that is something that I will support
tonight.
>> Council member Nichols.
>> So,
I think it's important to look at how to
to frame this decision and the process
correctly. If this was
just a $60 million pot that we already
had and we were trying to debate what
the most effective use of that is, I
don't know that I would support that. I
think would take a lot of analysis. Um,
that's not what I see this as though. I
see this as a
a relatively lowcost re investment um
that may pay off quite substantially in
the future if we are able to continue at
approximately the rate that we've been
going with city funding into this and
eventually get these very large grants.
Um that seems like a very good use of
the city's finances for the city's
residents. Um so it does matter to me
where that money comes from. um in part
because the things that we can apply for
that we the things we can potentially
apply for grants for are not unlimited.
Um one I had a couple questions that the
staff walked me through in great detail.
One of which was why this project in
particular is most amendable to the type
of granting strategy that has been
proposed. Um
the combination of safety issues uh with
potential mobility improvements. um the
overall scores as I looked at the scores
that it received it that's that's true
it it has scored quite well in the past
um by no means guaranteed that we will
get this I mean as W council president
said it has been a long time coming and
we still haven't done it um that said I
think from the perspective of of a
potential investment is
it's a good it's a good path to go down
um I am I had initial concerns about
having to potentially return the funds
uh if we don't get to it in in part
because of our history moving this
project forward has been slow. Uh I
appreciate the staff's time and effort
that they've spent with me walking me
through why that is at this point based
on largely changes to federal law a very
lowrisk
uh situation. And then finally, I just
want to say um there wasn't much
analysis done in this but that I've I've
seen but I do think it's important to
note that um as council member Jang
brought up um this is an important bike
corridor. Um, we
biking in Isqua is it's hit or miss.
There's some places that are good,
there's some places that are terrible.
This is not terrible, but it's not it's,
you know, at best okay. Um, I also take
it all the time. And I don't want to
understate the difference in traffic
reductions that good comprehensive bike
infrastructure can have. Most cities
that have gone through the process of
trying to modernize their bike bike bike
infrastructure go from essentially a
step function where you get a couple a
small number of people that will bike
initially and then once all
neighborhoods are connected well you see
a very large increase. Victoria, Canada
for example uh went from 5% bike uh
transport in its in an area about the
size of Isqua um at least square mileage
wise um in 2014 to about 14% by 2022.
That's a a a very if an impressive
improvement through simply encouraging
and building good infrastructure. Um
that
if we could reduce our traffic by 10% in
any other way, we would happily pay that
money. Now, I'm not saying this is going
to do that. This is what but one piece
of that puzzle. But I don't think we can
neglect the importance of a
comprehensive bike network without gaps.
Um because if there's a gap, like the
whole thing is basically unsafe. um and
what that could do for mobility in the
city at some point. So, I will also be
uh a yes on this.
>> Thank you very much, Council Member
Walsh. And then, Council President
Michelle, Council Member Walsh,
>> thank you. Um, you know, I've gone back
and forth on this project because it's
such a large number, uh, dollar-wise,
um, because I know we don't have the
funds within the city to spend on that,
and I certainly wouldn't plop down $60
million worth of city funding for this.
Um,
and because I recognize that there
really isn't anything for this evening
southbound traffic um, going down to
Maple Valley, etc. that is going to
improve things, including lane capacity
because everything funnels at the end.
So, when I'm thinking then about this
project um and what the needs are on
Newport Way, I kind of have to take that
idea aside and say if we spent the money
to acquire land area and added a second
lane in there going southbound, all that
would do is just be land that we
acquired that's going to fill up in the
southbound area and it's not going to
actually improve people's ability to get
around. What I do see in this project
that improves people's ability to get
around is the bike capacity and safety,
the safety for pedestrians near the
school, um, and the roundabouts and the
ability for people to get through on
those areas. So, I think those are
important elements of this project. I
also agree with council member Menang
about the idea that a lot of this is for
not just capacity but real problems that
we have with the roadway currently.
Whether that's the pavement, the fact
that we're using ditches for storm water
um movement and are not treating the
water. um the fact that, you know, there
aren't um rapid rectangular flashing
beacons or raised crosswalks and safety
for students. And so I
I think I'm comfortable with putting
forth the additional 304,000
um for this project to get it to the 60%
standpoint. But I do think as we go into
that, it's really really important for
me
that we take a moment just to rank out
what are the most important things to
accomplish with this project. And I
think from my perspective, it's safety
per for pedestrians near the school,
filling in those ditches and having
treatment of that and bike capacity. So
I would look for ways that we can maybe
adjust or alter the amount of land that
we have to acquire for this which will
significantly reduce potentially the
cost of the project. And so I'd look at
ways um that we can do that that could
potentially save fund some funds. But I
think given the fact that this is asking
the 304,000 here, fact that we have some
opportunity to um go forward with a
competitive project and that there could
be grants out there, I will be
supporting this at this time.
>> Thank you very much, Council Walsh and
Council President Michelle.
>> Uh thank you, Mayor Mullet. Uh I'm
speaking as someone who lived on Dogwood
for 17 years and that so speaking from
the that experience that was 17 years of
seeing cars that went into the ditches
on each side and seeing people take
really dangerous uh swipes at going left
and right when the traffic was heavy and
the long line up every afternoon. Um to
me this is primarily a safety project
and it's long long overdue. It is the
equivalent, the council equivalent of
watching paint dry uh the way that this
has taken so many so many years to get
done. But it is a major project that I
think will serve our community well. And
we often talk about how um
people who use our roads really don't
know the intricacies behind them. They
just know need to know that they can get
from point A to point B in a relatively
safe and efficient way. Um, I think this
project will do that for us eventually
when we get to uh actually doing the
construction for it. I think it will be
a great improvement. Uh, just having
lived there for a long time and use
those roads all the time. Uh, this is, I
think, a very necessary project for our
city. So, I will be supporting the
motion.
>> All right. Is there any other council
council member Marks?
So, I uh used to bicycle a lot through
the city. I I want to make it clear, I'm
very much in favor of more uh paths
through the city, uh more bicycle paths.
A few years ago, we attempted to improve
what would have been one of the biggest
impacts we could have possibly had,
which was bicycle uh paths on Sunset.
and it was part of a transportationbased
bond that the voters did not approve. So
I look at Newport, I'm looking at a map
of physical right now. Newport is
considered one of the um places you can
get through the town, get through town
on a bicycle. There are east-west
conduits through the city from the east
half of the city to the west half of the
city are almost zero. Um you can come
down uh Isiqua
uh Fall City Road I think and kind of
connect to the Highlands. Um but I all
this to say um if we want to improve
bicycle mobility in the city, we should
improve bicycle mobility in the city.
this bill, this $60 million bill,
whoever pays for it. Um, not a lot of
that is for bicycle mobility. Um, if we
want to fix bicycle mobility, let's fix
bik bicycle mobility. This, again, this
bill is $60 million for two bike paths
and two roundabouts. My problem is what
you get for your $60 million. Not that
those things are are bad things to have.
It's just such an immense amount of
money for what we get. Thank you. And I
would feel differently if, by the way,
that that extens that third lane going
down the middle, that's half of of
Newport, right? If that went um down to
Sunset, it would have a tangible impact
on traffic in the city, but because it
doesn't it doesn't have that impact. So,
I don't I don't see $60 million worth of
benefit to this bill. Thank you, Council
Michelle.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, this is an
expensive project. It's been in the
works for a long time. Um it's an old
country road in essence and we're
putting arterial traffic on it on a
daily basis and um it does need to be
improved and it's not a full solution to
the problem but we need to take it a
little bit at a time and this is a
little bit that we can do and the little
bit that we've been working on and the
little bit that we can get funding for.
So I'll be supporting this uh this
motion this evening. Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you very much. If there
is no further discussion, the motion for
the council is to authorize the mayor to
enter into and execute design agreement
supplement number four of the Newport
Way Maple to Sunset Improvements TR023
project with pretit
incorporating the amount of 34,641.26
is substantially the same form as the
attached agreement exhibit A is approved
by the city attorney. When all those in
favor, please say I.
>> I.
>> All those opposed, nay. Nay.
>> And that passes 6 to1 with Deputy
President Marts voting nay. The next
item is agenda bill 9147 Blue Farm
Development LLC fu of furniture
improvement agreement for new way
northwest and Holly Street. We're going
to invite community planning and
development director wall to present
this item.
Good evening, Mayor Mullet, members of
the council, and members of the
community um both in the room and
online. Um,
so let me quickly share.
So you just heard the big project. Um,
and now here's u private development and
how that fits in with the bigger
picture. Um so what we're asking here is
um to receive authorization
uh for Mayor Mullet to enter into a fee
in lie of frontage improvements for this
project what um with a developer called
Blue Fern Group and um let's see
um so as you saw on the map um this is a
little um map that shows you where this
project sits. So it's in the northeast
corner of Newport and Northwest Holly
just across the street from the school.
Um
and um happens the one of the roundabout
happens to be on this uh particular
street. Um and as we received this
development for a 28 uh unit town home
projects and we understood that the city
had this other um project in design. um
there was coordination between this
private developer and the city's
project. What that led to was uh it
didn't make sense to put the frontage
improvements at this time and then
having to come back and rip them apart
when the city did this project. So in
keeping with the spirit of coordinating
how this development would fit in uh yes
the timing would be not you know at the
same time uh but sometimes these things
happen at a different time but with good
planning and uh foresight we can um
avoid creating problems for the city's
project um and it's a betterment for
this particular project itself. Um so
what we're uh have brought forth uh for
council's approval is for the city to
accept $199,90
um as part of a fee inlue uh agreement.
Uh there's a separate thing about the
rightway dedication. Um so where the
corner the uh there's going to be this
roundabout they have dedicated a portion
of the their land uh to facilitate the
city's roundabout project for the
future. Um so the the city's code itself
allows um
um
a refund of the uh or a credit and for
the impact fees uh traffic impact fees
uh in for the dedication and and you
know it was a collaborative process with
them. uh it's uh much harder when there
are 28 homeowners and they all have to
agree to a dedication for the city in
both in terms of the money and also
coordination of getting everyone to
agree for the dedication the HOA. Um at
this time we're dealing with one
developer who's willing to enter into um
this dedication. So the dedication gets
an offset with the impact fees. So it
gets kind of nuanced but bear with me
for a second. So the $170,000 that
they've paid for impact fees is already
allowed under a code to give them the
credit for the dedication that will
happen with a plat. So as they're, you
know, platting their whole 28 unit uh
development, each of those lots is an
individual lot with some tracks for
common roads and parking. Um and uh so
um we're getting this land dedicated as
part of that plat. When it gets
recorded, it shows that that becomes
city land. And there's also a statutory
warranty deed that gets recorded that
actually transfers the land to city
ownership. Um, so that's not in front of
council, but we included that in our
agenda bill just so that we could give
you a complete picture of how all of
that is going to play out uh for this
particular development and how that fits
in with the rest of the development. Um,
what's in front of you is to um um allow
the city to accept $199,090
uh for the frontage improvements. So the
sidewalk and other things that they our
code requires them to put in place. Um
so the city would get this money. Um we
have five years uh to do this work uh or
use the money for this wonderful project
that you all got a briefing on. Um and
uh if we don't use the money then we
have to return it with interest but uh
the developer is still responsible for
finishing up the frontage improvements
at that time. uh we don't anticipate
that it's going to get get into that
point. I think um the idea is that this
project would then use the funds and
then then the city would uh do these
frontage improvements at at some future
point. Um
so that's what's the proposal is. Uh
let's see what's so the other options
you know you uh we could require blue
fern to install all the improvements. I
would say that they have worked in good
faith effort with the city to um for all
these uh all this time uh and they're
ready to sell their town homes. Um so
this would delay them uh if we uh did
not um uh enter into this agreement. Um
and the other part would be that if the
city were to construct this um
roundabout and all that um some there
would it would negatively impact some of
the frontage improvements that would
need that would be constructed now. So
it's a waste of everyone's time to put
it in place and then take them out. Um
and lastly, like I mentioned, it would
require additional coordination with the
homeowners association to really do this
and get them on board to do the
dedication for the city's project. Um
but uh so our recommendation at this
point is that you authorize me to enter
into and execute this fe of frontage
improvement with blueorn in the same
form that's attached in your packet as
exhibit A and as approved by city
attorney.
>> Are there any questions for many
council member J? Um, so going back to
the first slide with the recommendation
or like the proposal to be clear, what
we're voting on tonight is just whether
to do the fee in lie of like $190,000,
not whether to do the land thing cuz the
um in the proposal it said accept the
land and the $190,000.
>> Yeah. the the the implementation uh you
know that's somewhat intertwined but the
council action is to just take the
money. Uh the dedication happens with
the plat that's an administrative
process that they've already gotten
approval for. So that you you you don't
make a motion to get the dedication that
happens through an implementing uh
decision. Uh yes, the the only the thing
that's in front of council is to accept
the 199k
um for future uh and deferring the
frontage improvements to a later date.
>> Okay.
>> But we will be getting the right of and
they are giving us their right of way.
>> It's just it's happening through a
process that's administrative, not
council.
>> Makes sense.
>> Correct.
>> Oh, council member Walsh. Oh, wait.
Council member Jang still going. Hang on
a second. I was just going to ask I mean
generally I think this approach makes
sense. Is it would we consider having
this be something that we can do in the
code is a more you know normal thing
where other develop like if anyone wants
to do this kind of develop you know
vanlu thing it doesn't have to come back
to us every single time.
>> Uh good question we'd like to streamline
the process. uh we do have in our street
standards an opportunity in central
Isiqua to get this fee in lie of uh I
think there's also the state law of
82.0202 02 I think I shared that with
you. Uh so we'll be using that as our
basis for this. Um but whenever there's
a money exchange happening, you know, in
the spirit of transparency that comes to
council, but we'll look into it to see
if if it's allowed by code um and if we
if council is okay with um pushing this
to an administrative process, we could
uh look into that and codify it.
>> Great. Thank you, Council Walsh.
Thank you. Um, Director Dolly Well, I'm
just trying to understand exactly what
is happening here. When a multifamily
housing development is created, usually
there's a requirement to build out the
rightway and sidewalks and things like
that on the exterior of that. Is that
not happening here because of the future
project that we have coming up?
>> Uh, no. Yeah, good question. So, there
are intram temporary um, you know,
accessibility standards in place. So,
there's an asphalt sidewalk instead of
your our standard typical. So, if
someone is in a wheelchair, they you
know, it's still accessible. Uh, but
it's not built to our um our exact
standards. So there's an intram frontage
uh in place that includes this asphalt
path uh along uh Holly and Newport. Um
but the official you know per this
approved design which is at 30% today.
Uh we didn't have 60% designs and based
on engineering the grades wouldn't work
if we were to just make them put in a
sidewalk now. It would have it wouldn't
work with this future uh project. And so
yes, they're not they're we're deferring
the improvements, but there are some
interim improvements in the ground um
today.
Okay. So they are building out what
amounts to a temporary but adequate
sidewalk system that will meet our ADA
requirements or something like that, but
they are not being required to build out
even whatever standards we have in place
currently.
>> That's correct. Is that correct? So, I'm
just trying to find a a drawing here
that might help um cuz I like the visual
uh graphic to go with it. So, as you see
in here, this little triangular piece
called tract E, uh that is getting
dedicated to the city. Um this little uh
path that you see shaded light gray all
the way along. So, you do have a walking
path along the frontage, but it's not
per our uh adopted standards. It's an
intrum um until the city does the
project.
>> Okay. I'm just trying to understand how
this is fair um compared to other
developments. So other developments are
going to have the cost of
putting forth,
you know, what is up to our standards
for
um right of way and um sidewalk and
things like that. So what I'm seeing
here is yes, we're asking them to pay
money into a fund via LI,
but we're also not requiring them to put
in things up to the current standards,
let alone up to the future standards,
and they're getting a credit against
their transportation impact fees. Is
that
>> correct? any project that dedicates land
for a city project. The the the adopted
code for impact fees allows that credit
for it. So this the government cannot
take land without compensation. The idea
is that and so if the if the if the
cities need some land then you get it
through that process but you have to
offset it by giving credit against the
impact fees. that's available to any
development that is in the same boat of
where they are required to dedicate uh
land. So, so that's treating everybody
the same. The only thing in this one is
the city's getting the money instead of
the getting the development on the
ground. So,
>> okay.
>> I think we feel like this
>> Sorry. Do we feel like this amount of
money is effective for us to be able to
build this out to current uh standards
if say for example the Newport Way
project were not to happen or are we
putting ourselves potentially in a hole
to get ourselves up to standards? uh you
know I I think they went through a whole
analysis of the their fair share um of
um the impact because it's not you know
they're not we're not collecting money
from them to do the Newport project.
It's just for their frontage
improvement. So what is their prora
share of the overall uh concept? Um so
yeah I think there was a lot of math
involved with that um working with our
public works uh team uh to come up with
that number and with working with the
developer on that.
So, as an aside, give keeping ignoring
the Newport Way project. If I was to
give the city $200,000
to build out a sidewalk to current
standards along that property, that
money would be enough to complete that
project.
>> In this particular case, that's the
amount we came up with. It can vary
based on how much grading you need to
do, you know, what are the utilities,
infrastructure, and all that. But in
this case, I think the $200,000 is what
everybody agreed to was the fair cost.
>> Yeah.
>> Council member Adair.
>> Thank you.
>> Uh I think just to further clarify just
cuz I see this development on a daily
basis. Am I correct in like they still
had to keep up the rest of the sidewalk
around their property and all the
frontage elsewhere. It's just this
little sliver corner section that
they're essentially getting out of of uh
having to do themselves. Correct.
>> Yeah. and the sidewalk all along along
Holly is not up to the the you know
it'll all get uh redone when the city
does the project. So that little
triangular piece will be used for the
the roundabout. Um and then the the
northwest Holly would get a new sidewalk
cuz then it ties in into where the the
lane will end and all that kind of
stuff.
>> Okay. Is there any other discussion?
If there's no further discussion. Oh,
wait. First, is there a motion?
>> I move to authorize the mayor to enter
into and execute the fee in lie of
frontage improvement agreement with Blue
Fern Group in substantially the same
form as the attached agreement uh
exhibit A as approved by the city
attorney.
>> Second. There's a motion and a second.
Is there any other discussion?
Council member Jen.
>> Um I'm I will be supporting this motion
tonight and I'm very supportive of this
general concept. I think you know where
you see redevelopment happening in some
other cities. You sometimes see these
just totally bizarre things where it's
like there's one new house and then
there's the one sidewalk in front of the
one new house that's like 20 ft. Then
there's and it's like in a very weird
space and then there's like nothing on
either side and it just looks really
silly. And I think you know the if that
were to happen here, what would happen
would be they would put in the sidewalk
and then we would have to redo the whole
thing in 5 years when four years
potentially when we get the build grant
from the US Department of Transportation
and it would appear to the public that
we basically just wasted money. Um, so I
think it makes a lot of sense to, you
know, just like actually use this as an
opportunity to coordinate better and,
you know, get the money that otherwise
they would have spent $200,000 doing the
sidewalk. We would have spent $200,000
redoing the sidewalk of our own money.
And so I think this approach makes a lot
of sense. And I do think this is
something we should be looking at
elsewhere in the city as well as kind of
a standardized practice. you know, if
there's a section where it's like, oh
yes, you know, you and it's it's kind of
like does it make sense for each
individual project to like have their
own little sidewalk that is related to,
you know, what was in the code at any
given time and then it's just like a
weird patchwork looking thing. It like
it just looks weird to your average
person. You see this in Seattle.
>> Um, and you know, it just it's not good.
And so I think using this approach where
we can kind of you know collect the
money which for all intents and purposes
seems to be a fair reasonable number
that was come that um our engineers
helped come up with to be able to
actually you know do a bigger and better
project later I think makes a lot of
sense and I think we should consider you
know whether or not this is something we
want to do in our code in general so
that we can apply a similar standard
elsewhere.
>> You did get a smile from John Mortonson
for your faith in his grand writing
abilities. Uh, Council Member Nichols,
>> thank you. Um, my only concern with
this, um,
>> specific item and the concept overall is
in the context of the overall Newport
project. Um, as has been accurately
pointed out, this project has been going
on for a very, very long time. Um, and I
think there's a pretty good chance we're
not going to be building these features
out within the next 5 years. Um,
I'm still aligned with the concept of
not having to have 20 feet of sidewalk
that's awesome but basically unusable
and not connected to anything. That
doesn't make sense. So, I'm not I'm not
uh I I will be in favor of this and I'm
uh generally supportive of that concept.
The only thing that I would like to
request and I had I had some
conversations with staff but I don't I
feel I've still got some gaps of my own
knowledge here. But um it seems like it
would be nice if we in in future
situations where we want to do this. So
if we can find a way to negotiate a bit
more flexibility in what we can do with
this these monies. Um
I don't know what the limits of state
law are there. I'm not going to I don't
want to come up with anything right now.
That would just be a general request
that um if we're in a situation if we're
in a future fee and lose situation, it
would be nice to not to just have to
have this money sitting in an account
unused for five plus years um and
eventually have to pay interest back on
it if somebody does have to build this.
Um it's just going to be more expensive.
Um so I'd like to request we put some
effort into figuring out how we might be
able to be more flexible in the future.
That's all. But otherwise, I'm
supportive.
>> Thank you. I think we are looking at
those options right now as we speak. Are
we not?
>> Sure. Yeah, some of it is state law. Uh,
and I shared that link with it. It it
has that 5-year limit on it and it also
has this whole idea that it's set aside
for a particular project. Um, but we'll
certainly look into, you know, if we
codify something in our in our code,
like we're talking about making it
administrative or anything like that,
uh, through our street uh, standards
update has a section in there that I
also shared with you all. Uh we'll
research that for sure to see if if how
we can build in more flexibility
for future projects.
>> Okay. There is no further discussion.
I'm not seeing any. The motion for the
council is to authorize the mayor to
enter into and execute the fee in le of
frontage improvement agreement with blue
fern group in substantially the same
form as the attached agreement exhibit A
is approved by our city attorney. All
those in favor please say I. I.
>> All those opposed nay.
And that passes unanimously. For the
record, I did make my unanimous vote
count make it all the way to March 2nd,
almost two months into my term. Uh, it's
okay.
I'm still going to sleep all tonight.
It's okay. Uh, committee reports,
regional reports. We're going to start
with council member Adair. I do not have
any, uh, committee or regional reports.
We'll go to council member Nichols.
>> Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, one brief
council committee report. the king
conservation district advisory board. Um
we discussed the uh king conservation
district election process further. Um
this is currently conducted utilizing an
online voting process separate from the
standard Washington mail and balloting
mechanisms. Uh while no actions were
taken or specific advisory statements
made uh both the low voter turnouts of
approximately 1% associated with this
method uh how but the significant
barriers both legal and financial to
switching methods were discussed by the
advisory board at length.
Excellent. Far from Jang.
>> Um, no major update for me other than I
would like to flag that the Cross Lake
Connection light rail, um, there is
going to be a big event on Saturday,
March 28th. So, it'll be very exciting.
Um, and potentially if there's going to
be a quorum of council members
attending, we may consider noticing this
as a public meeting. I will plan to be
there along with my fellow members of
the East Side Transportation Partnership
as well as any other uh council members
who are excited about light rail and
want to see it expanded in our region.
So
>> nice council member Joe.
>> Thank you Mr. Mayor. Eltech grants will
be coming back to the council on March
16th for your review and potential
adoption. March 10th, the mobility and
infrastructure committee will be meeting
for the first time this year. Amendments
to the street standards utility
facilities and street standards
landscaping update will be on the
agenda. Cascade Water Alliance will be
holding a oversight meeting. Um
they're trying to figure out how they
want to uh
look over and and monitor the spending
of billions of dollars on a pipeline
that'll be coming from Tacoma to connect
to our system up here in Belleview. and
staff wants feedback on what kind of
oversight they want, what kind of
information the uh Cascade Board Allian
Cascade Water Alliance Board will want
to make sure that they're giving us the
information that we need for decision
making. That's March 6th. Thank you.
That concludes my report.
>> We're going to first go to Council
Member Walsh virtually.
>> Well, thank you. The services, safety
and parks um met last week and I
previously reported out about AB 9160
and our unanimous support of adopting
the hazard mitigation plan annex. Our
next meeting in March has been cancelled
due to a lack of items and to allow the
PTE meeting to happen on that date. Um
with East Side Fire and Rescue, this is
an important one. Um we are beginning to
move forward with one of the major work
items for the year which is analyzing
alternative long-term funding and
governance models. As many of you know
who were on council uh two years ago, uh
we had a very difficult budget season in
which um costs were going up quite
dramatically for our fire um and
emergency services and the cities that
are involved in East Side Fire and
Rescue Isaac, Mammish, and Northbend all
said, "Whoa, we can't um deal with that
additional cost to our budget.
So that has initiated this conversation
about well what other ways can we fund
our fire um fire and rescue um needs.
And so during our meeting next week,
we'll get an initial overview of three
possible funding options. The first one
would require all three of the cities to
go out for public safety levies to
voters and all of the fire districts to
pursue levy lid lifts because they're
also experiencing uh revenue shortfalls.
The second big option is yes, we have
some fire districts here, but if the
cities were to merge into any of the
fire districts, um much like um we've
seen in other areas of the state, we
could then take that cost off of our
city's budget and it would be a cost
going directly to the property tax
owners along with a fire benefit charge.
charge to manage the addition add
additional risk of larger buildings and
more complex fire needs.
And option three um is create a regional
fire authority. And so a regional fire
authority is similar to the idea of a
fire district in that we would again
have the cost go directly to the
property tax um properties for property
taxes and utilize a fire benefit charge
but there are different governance
models and reasons for adopting that
rather than merching into a single fire
district. So I'm giving you the just
this initial basic overview to let you
know the process is starting. We are
going to continue these conversations
over the next few months. Happy to meet
with anyone.
The projection at this point is if the
East Side Fire and Rescue Board believes
that a regional fire authority is the
right um process, the right path to go
down, then the next step would be coming
back to each of the cities and fire
districts, including potentially the
contract cities of Woodenville and
Mercer Island and Fall City and coming
back to council and requesting a letter
of intent to create a um
trying to remember a planning committee
that would then take on the work to
establish what all of the parameters
would be. So that is potentially
looking at a June around June time
frame. And so I will keep you guys
updated, but want to let you know this
is a big impact potentially to our city
budget and to our taxpayers. Um, and we
are going to be asked to evaluate
whether or not we want to establish a
planning committee. So I'll keep you
updated and that concludes my report.
Thank you very much, Deputy President
Marts.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, Sound Cities
Association board directors had its 2026
retreat on Tuesday, February 24th. Uh,
amongst other things, we did a SWAT
analysis. We talked policy priorities
and talked operational priorities. And I
will present on that when the uh,
facilitator presents their report back
to the board. SCA networking dinner will
be held this Wednesday, March 4th at
5:30 PM at the Mercer Island Community
Event Center. Um, this is uh close by,
so we have all all the reason in the
world to have a strong turnout uh from
our city for that dinner. Uh, lots of
interesting regional leaders uh will be
there. And then the SCA pick meeting
will be Wednesday, March 11th at 7 p.m.
The agenda is yet to be determined. This
concludes my report.
Council President D. Michelle.
>> Thank you, Mayor Mald. I have no report
tonight.
>> Okay. For the mayor's report, the
Cascade Water Alliance Board did meet on
Wednesday, February 25th. And as council
member Joe mentioned, it was the
discussion at the upcoming retreat on
March 6th of how much delegated
authority to give staff as we try to
build this $1.2 billion pipeline to
connect Koma Water to Cascade Water. And
we are also have an interim executive
director of Casc Water Alliance right
now. And so the board also is looking
at, you know, options of, you know,
maybe doing a search, but the interim
director will be part of those candidate
pools to determine who is going to be
the leader of Cascade Water going
forward. And and so those decisions will
be made in the months ahead. In terms of
local community events, sad to announce
that the annual fundraiser for the
Kuanas Club of Isiqua is coming up this
Friday, March 13th. And uh enjoy craft
brews, wine dinner, raffles, and in
great company at the beats, barrels, and
brews. Abigraphs. There you go. Little
abba. Abaqua. What more could you want?
It will be at the bickering barn. So,
this will be on Friday, March 13th at
6:30 p.m. I also do want to share a
comment. Obviously, we did a a council
or community meeting in January on a lot
of the immigration enforcement issues in
our community. And I do feel it's
important to kind of share an update of
where we are on the resources in the
city. And I will, as you know, beginning
last past fall, the administration
became aware of federal immigration
enforcement activity occurring in
Isiqua. Understandably, this activity
and the tone and manner of the arrest
and subsequent activity led to a great
concern among members of our community
and great fear for many others. In
January, we hosted a town hall to
provide information, answer questions,
and clarify the city's role. Over the
course of the intervening months, the
Isqua Police Department has responded to
any calls from residents reporting
potential ICE activity. When contacted,
officers have confirmed other
individuals involved were federal
immigration agents and when appropriate,
follow up to verify whether a person was
in federal custody. Custody cannot be
confirmed. The police department took
reports and open cases as necessary.
These actions reflect our ongoing
commitment to public safety,
transparency, and ensuring accurate
information. Following the January
meeting, the city created the
immigration resources web page to
centralize know your rights materials
and connect residents to trusted legal
and community-based organizations. We
are now adding additional language to
the top of that web page to clarify
explain what the city will do when
notified of federal immigration
enforcement activity. Specifically, the
update outlines that the Esqua Police
Department will attempt to verify
whether an individual is in federal
custody, take a report of custody cannot
be confirmed, and address public safety
concerns such as securing unattended
homes or vehicles. It also clarifies
that if minors are left supervision, our
human services team will work to connect
them with child protective services or
known family members. These additions do
not create new policy. They summarize
our existing public safety practices and
reinforce that our role is to protect
people and property, not to enforce
federal immigration law. Unlike some
larger jurisdictions that have adopted
new ordinances or executive actions
regulating federal use of public
property, our approach remains narrowly
focused on community stability and care.
This keeps us aligned with state law,
minimizes legal risk, and ensures
clarity for our residents. The intended
impact is straightforward. provide
transparency, reduce confusion during
stressful situations, and reinforce
public trust by clearly stating what the
city will and will not do. And as we
mentioned, those updates and resources
are currently available on the city's
website. And we are now
at the good of the order. Anyone have
any go to the order?
>> Thank you, Mayor Mullet. Uh I would like
to read a statement to the council.
Um it is with deep sorrow that I tender
my resignation from the isquest city
council effective immediately. Working
with the council and representing my
city has been an amazing honor and a
true joy.
Um however given my current uh health
challenges I do not feel I can
adequately fulfill my duties as a
council member or as president of the
council. I am well aware and this was a
deep part of my consideration that this
presents the council with its third
appointment process in just a little
over a year. But after thinking about
it, I thought about how many
well-qualified candidates we have seen
come before us. And I trust everyone on
this council to make a very wise choice
regarding my replacement.
So, um,
uh,
I want to give special thanks to city
administrator Wally Bob Kowitz, Deputy
Deputy Council President Marts, and
Mayor Mullet for their support and
understanding during this difficult time
for myself and my family. And thank you
all for your service,
your high aspirations which inspire me
always and and uh the fellowship that
we've developed over the past six years
and two months. I'm always proud to say
I'm an Isiqua City Council member
because of you. And I would be remiss if
I didn't publicly uh thank and uh
mention and thank the very good folks at
Eastside Fire and Rescue and Swedish
Isiqua for their professional and caring
service during my health emergency. So
I'm so very sorry, but I really do not
feel it's best for me to go on. So I am
I am resigning as of tonight. Thank you.
Thank you. Well, council president
Michelle, I I want to say the community
of Isiqua owes you a great deal of
thanks. You were my wife first started
teaching the school district. You were
on the school board. Uh you've served
the district through your volunteer
efforts with Kowanas and most recently
with your time on the city council. And
I think in all those situations, school
board and city council, there's a lot of
very tough emotional decisions to be
made. And if you have a temper, I don't
know where it is cuz I've never seen it.
Uh,
I mean, you keep a very cool head
through very difficult situations. And I
think what you bring to this community
in terms of, I mean, I go to events from
the, you know, concerts on the green
summer. No matter where I go, you are
there
>> basically doing everything you can to
make Isqua the best possible community
to live in. And I think we're very
blessed to have had your level of public
service to this community over the years
and and you deserve a round of applause
for your public service.
>> Thank you.
Uh, you can ask my son about my temper.
Uh, and I've had great support from my
son and my daughter-in-law and also want
to express my appreciation. So, thank
you.
>> Are there any other comments?
Okay, let's go to Council Member Walsh
and then Deputy President Marts.
I believe you called me. I couldn't
quite hear just my shirt. Okay, great.
Um, I just really want to recognize uh
Council Member D. Michelle and her
service.
Um, I remember in 2019 when I was a very
new council member and I was going
around to meet with all of the
nonprofits and um, at one point I went
around to meet um, with Kaye Jake at the
garage and council member or at the time
Barb D. Michelle was there um, as one of
the founding members and
you know I had seen Barb around. I had
known she had done a lot of things, but
it really struck me her passion um for
the human services um area of the city.
And at that point,
you know, I mentioned, hey, we're going
to have an open seat on council at the
end of the year. Would you consider
applying? I'm really looking for
somebody who can fill that need. And
after Mariah Batist left um the council,
we really had a hole as far as someone
who had a big passion area of human
services and nonprofits. And so I was
just absolutely grateful that Barb took
that request seriously and decided to
run. Um,
since then I've really really
appreciated and been very grateful to
serve with Barb on council as my
colleague and especially as my deputy
council president. Um, during that time
she was one that kept me organized. Um,
listened to me as I was talking about
all of the uh, needs of council
president. Um, she also really helped me
follow through. I think we did a
wonderful job of creating some uh
council retreats and I credit Barb for a
lot of that. Um, and so at this point I
will absolutely miss your contribution
to council, but I know between
Gowanas and the arts commission and
Isqua school board and the garage and
um, influence the choice and all of the
areas that you've touched in the city
that this will not be the last we've
seen of your contribution to the city at
large. And so I look forward to seeing
what you are able to do next.
>> Thanks. Deputy President Martins. Thank
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I I agree with
Council President D. Michelle that there
have been um some some well-qualified
candidates uh in the last year, but
there's nobody like Barbara D. Michelle.
Um her commitment in this community over
the decades, particularly to young
people, is just unmatched. Um my first
uh first time I was lucky enough to work
with her was in 2011 where we were
identifying the need for um kids who
kind of fell through the cracks and uh
that led to the initial conversations
that that got going for the garage and
uh looking at some of the other regional
uh players in this space and her
understanding of these problems and her
ability to bring people in the room
together to solve problems was just
unmatched.
So, I had been really looking forward to
the next four years as her deputy
council president and learning from her
and becoming a better leader. And I know
you're not going away. I know this is
not goodbye. Um, but uh I I uh I will
miss that time, but I look forward to
your next endeavor. I know, pretty sure
you're already plotting uh the next
adventure and so I can't wait to see it
and uh I wish you great luck with that
and of course complete recovery um with
your ongoing health stuff. So, thank you
so much for all that you have done and
continue to do in this community. Thank
you so much,
>> Council Member Joe.
>> Thank you. Um
when I think about Barb, I think about
resiliency.
Um, many of you weren't here when she
ran for state office at least twice.
>> Good.
>> And lost. And it was 5446 both times.
And the margin didn't move. But that did
not deter her from coming back and
looking for ways to serve the public uh
through influence of choice, her work on
the garage, and then finally coming back
to council. Um, for those of you that
might be thinking of applying for the
position and you didn't get chosen last
time, just remember that Barb D.
Michelle got rejected twice and then
came back to be one of our most
influential and loved council members.
I'm going to miss you, Barb. The the
laughs that we had when we were
discussing big problems, the approach
that you had to always find solutions
and to find a way to Yes.
Um, I know this is not the last I'll see
of you. I'm still going to pester you
and ask for your advice and I hope that
you'll still answer my phone calls.
>> Absolutely.
>> You'll be missed. Thank you for your
service.
>> Thank you.
>> Let's go to Council Member Nichols and
then Council Member Jang. Oh, you were
first. Council member Nichols. I was
watching this time.
Um,
thank you. just first of all, thank you
um for all of your many years, decades
of service and dedication to our our
city, our community um in in so many
facets. Um
I as I've gotten to kind of observe the
council over the years um and now a part
of it, I've I've always thought of you
as kind of the the heart of it in many
ways. um you the from the the human
services perspective in particular um
that's a lot of what the heart of what
local government can do is and you have
you have been a exemplar of that and a
teacher um so
thank you for both of those thank you
for taking the time to to educate those
of us who knew who still know very very
little about this but are always willing
to learn and for taking the time to to
help us. Um, I will um
I've asked you many questions, so many
questions and you've been so helpful and
uh even setting up tours of uh
facilities for myself and others um just
so that we can learn more. Um
I took a moment to just briefly look at
your web page um when I was looking at a
couple things that I could think of to
comment on. Um, and I I wanted to point
out just to everybody else, I think it's
worth just looking at um, council
president's uh, last campaign web page.
Uh, she ran unosed, but uh, she has
nevertheless campaigned beautifully. Um,
was out there with the community all the
time. and just looking through the
accomplishments and the the the the
depth and the breadth of service across
our community. I I there are there are
few people that can that will ever be
able to do that in their professional
careers and their their service careers
and um just thank you so much. Thank you
for all of your years of service and uh
please uh please stay in touch and uh uh
allow us to keep learning. So thank you.
I will say, council president, there is
a little irony in the process you
developed to pick new council members
through appointment that you did such a
good job that it'll now be used to
>> fill your own fill your own seat.
Council member Jay,
>> yeah, I want to echo what everyone's
saying that council member D. Michelle
leaves really big shoes to fill. I mean,
you know, the depth and breadth of
experience. You know, we've touched on
Isiqua School Board, her experience and
passion for human services, but also one
thing that hasn't been mentioned is her
18 years of service uh working for King
County Metro and her passion for
transit. She's been chair of East Side
Transportation Partnership. She's our
representative on the regional transit
committee. So, now we got to find
someone else. And I think, you know,
just the depth and breadth of experience
she has not only in Isqua, but also
throughout our region. Um, a few months
back, uh, Council Member D. Michelle had
the chance and I had the chance to spend
a whole day together. We drove up to um
visit the acres of diamonds transitional
housing up in Duval and then we headed
to the together center where she was
having a meeting with other council
members in the area to it was like the
very beginnings of the discussions for
the east side human services partnership
which has now officially launched and so
that's going to be you know a
partnership that bears fruit for the
years and decades to come and you know
she had a chance uh a hand in really
shaping that and one thing that really I
one thing that someone said that I
remember is um council member Melissa
Stewart from Redmond said, "Barb's a
legend."
And I really think, you know, you
through your decades of service to Isqua
and for a broader region, human
services, transit, school district, that
really is legendary and something that
we should all aspire to. I hope that,
you know, when I'm your age, I'm still
um getting into all of the different,
you know, things in the city. and I'm
sure that you'll continue, you know,
making an impact in nonprofit civic
spaces, um, even if it looks a little
bit different than being on city
council. Um, so I just, you know, I'm so
grateful for the opportunity to have
worked with you for this past year and
hope to uh continue working with you in
on whatever you're up to next. And I
wish you the best um in, you know,
recovery from your ongoing health
issues. And I'm sure that this will uh
see more of you moving forward. Thank
you. Thank you so much.
>> Right
over here.
>> Uh thank you. I obviously uh keep this
short. I cannot add on all the amazing
things said and obviously our time
together has been very short. I just
wanted to put in um that the bit that I
can add is that in my process of
applying for council, the coffee we had
together as I was getting started was a
key moment for me. It was, you know, up
until that point I was coming very
nervous, figuring out my way, figuring a
lot and our conversation was so joyful,
so interesting, so fascinating your
history, talking about the city and our
mutual love for the city. And it was a
just truly inspiring conversation and
one that really I feel set the stage for
my journey to here. And so I want to
just personally thank you for that and
thank you for this time we had together.
And and though you know directly working
to each other has been short I hope to
continue that relationship and because
there's it you know I learned so much
from you in one conversation I I I want
to have many more and so thank you for
all that you've done.
>> I loved that conversation. That was
great. Yeah.
>> Okay Barb you're getting one more round
of applause before we close this meeting
out.
Thank you everyone. Thank you so much.
>> Okay, our next council meeting well
should be March 9th. Really originally
was committee of the whole has been
rebranded to a regular council meeting
followed by another council meeting on
March 16th. I know we we thought March
was going to be light on council
meetings and now it's heavy on council
meetings. But uh the March 16th we will
as as council member Joe mentioned go
over the ELTAC advisory committee
funding recommendations and there is no
executive session tonight and so with
that at exactly 9:00 this meeting is
adjourned.
>> Thank you. pictures.