she's gone as of Friday let me text
barking yeah that's real you're right
i'll call the july 21st special meeting
of the City Council we've got one item
on our agenda that's agenda bill 70 35
old town terrain walk that will be a
presentation of old town of the old town
vitality goal the old town vitality task
force update and then our walk which
will not be televised and then we will
return back here for final observations
and that portion of the council meeting
will be televised this special meeting
focuses on Old Town and provides the
council an opportunity to discuss
current vitality efforts as well as the
future of old town with the mayor's Old
Town vitality task force and the
downtown issaquah Association who are
here and will be walking with us and
serving as guides as we take our tour
the public is invited to accompany us on
the terrain walk of the central business
district our first stopping point will
be pedestrian park at the corner of
sunset and front and there we will
discuss potential changes to the park
and perhaps how to invest the twenty
thousand dollars the council has set
aside for the park this year of staff
will be seeking feedback from the
council on these ideas at at that time
the tour will then proceed down Front
Street and each task force member will
pair up with a council member to
highlight specific observations and
themes
the task force has discovered our next
stop will be at the historic shell
station where deal will present on their
efforts to add vibrancy to that space
finally as I mentioned before we will
return via the Rainier trail to council
chambers where there will be an
opportunity to discuss final thoughts
and observations and to kick the meeting
off this evening our economic
development director Keith Niven for the
staff presentation
Thank You mr. mayor City Council Keith
Niven with economic development so this
evening we're not going to spend much
time here because the point is really to
get out and see some things and talk
about kind of what's going on downtown
but I wanted to just kind of give a
little bit of context so the city
approved the old town plan in October of
1999 and here's the geography that
encompasses old town and you know the
plan itself has some very different
design standards and Development
standards for the old town and the CBD
area of our city and the idea was that
this area should stand out and be it'd
be different perceptually from the rest
of the city and so you know as we went
through the 2014 goal-setting session
there were a number of goals that were
proposed by the City Council that were
aimed at at the old town area and here's
a list of those proposed goals now after
we talked through those with the council
we kind of came to an understanding that
we would consolidate those into one city
council goal and that was to enhance old
town vitality now that goal had really
two actions associated with it the first
one was to identify an execute an
immediate public investment opportunity
for old town that will help enhance the
old helms vitality and we'll talk about
that tonight and I think that's part of
the conversation that we're going to
have at pedestrian park and the second
part is to form an ad hoc committee to
provide recommendations to the mayor and
what the community can do to enhance old
town's vitality and that's that's kind
of the balance of the conversation this
evening is to kind of talk with you
about how the conversations have been
going so far so with that I'm going to
stop and I'm going to turn it over to
Andrea who is going to I think lead you
through the next part of the
conversation Thank You key
so I just like to give you an update on
what the task force has been doing so
far first starting off with an
introduction of the task force members
who many of whom are here tonight so
we'll start with who's here first Karen
Donovan with the downtown issaquah
Association and also Keith woth who's a
commercial downtown property owner also
i'm going to pick on Cyrus who just
joined us Cyrus coron Cyrus Kron is
serving as representative for the
Chamber of Commerce on our task force
and he's also a downtown resident we
have Todd sergeant who is the city's
representative on the historic landmark
in committee and he's also affiliated
with the history museums and as an
architect so he brings those skills and
perspectives with him to the task force
Michelle drove doll who manages the
issaquah library Karen able with art
East and I'm just making sure I'm not
forgetting anyone else who maybe have
snuck in all right the other members who
were not able to make it our include
Corey Walters with disco food and
clothing bank and she's also a downtown
resident Trey Bailey with uphill running
which is a store in the front street
plaza area and he's also a downtown
resident and Barack rosenblum who's a
member of dia and he is an issaquah
entrepreneur and also a downtown
resident and then finally but not least
we have Rob hunts who is of course the
director of the village theater also a
commercial downtown property owner and
he has been involved in previous old
town planning efforts so he brings with
him that historical perspective as well
so as you can see we have a wide
representation of all sorts of
stakeholders within the downtown area
and I've been saying downtown because
while the goal is related to old town
and Keith showed that big old town map
which is actually a bigger area than
many of us realize that we've been
really focusing on the CBD
so the process so far has included a
walking audits that the task force has
performed we've also taken a look at
what other cities have done so what do
we like about these other cities what do
we think might work here in issaquah and
what would that look like here in
issaquah they perform their own version
of us strengths weaknesses opportunities
and threats analysis and we've also
taken some look at the existing city
code that governs old town in the CBD
and how it relates to city code in other
parts of the sea such as the newly
adopted central issaquah plan or the
highlands or other parts of our city so
one of the first questions that we had
to ask was what is vitality so as the
goal is to find their Charter the task
force's Charter is to give the mayor a
list of recommendations on things the
committee can the community can do to
enhance Old Town vitality so what is
vitality what does it mean to this group
what does it mean for downtown issaquah
and the first thing that we talked about
were all these images that come to mind
about what vitality is so we talked
about images that include you know lots
of outdoor public spaces people sitting
in cafes people having coffee playing
games interacting on that level local
stores that serve the community needs
and this is they they really emphasize
this point that it's a functional
downtown one that serves the community
that it's in that it's not 11 worth or a
Disney or something like that that's
more focused on tourists and serving
tourists but that it's authentic in the
way that it serves the local community
first and that if they do that really
well then the tourists and others will
come and appreciate it in the same way
that the locals will so if you hear that
word authentic being thrown around a lot
tonight that's what we really mean by
that where it's something that serves
the local community first also when we
talked about vitality there were other
images that came up of being walkable
that we have transit that there's more
housing than what we have now that
there's parking that it's safe that it's
well lit all these kind of images of
what that looks like
but with that focus that it's still
functional and well designed so what all
of these things kind of distilled down
to these are a lot of images and what
all of these things distill down to for
the task force was that that vitality
really for vitality sake doesn't doesn't
mean much but what it really means is
that it's it's facilitating interactions
among neighbors and that if that that's
our guidepost for this process so any
recommendations that they come up with
any discussions that we have we say how
is this facilitating these interactions
how are how are these recommendations
helping us and keep that that town feel
that we are having these interactions
and that's what really brings vibrancy
and vitality to our town so throughout
our discussions we've had some emerging
things and so I'd like to present some
of those findings and I think along the
tour and the walk we will probably get
into those a little bit more
specifically but keeping it a little
more higher level we found that first
design that the existing design of much
of our CBD can actually be a barrier to
facilitating those interactions so for
example right now the sidewalk in some
places is six feet wide which doesn't
allow for street furniture or places for
people to linger it instead Usher's
people on through giving them no other
options than to move along and go along
their way so which is really sending the
wrong message our downtown one of the
findings of the task force is that our
downtown is one where people really run
their errands they drop off their kids
for music lessons they go pick up what
they need from fishers meets and then
they're on their way so the space isn't
really designed in many parts of our CBD
at least the space really isn't designed
to compel them to stay and linger and
enjoy those interactions with their
neighbors it doesn't send them the
message that there's a reason to do that
and while that's functional to do your
errands it doesn't fill other needs for
social interaction
similarly another thing that we found is
underutilized spaces and some of these
spaces are places where we could have
those social needs that are met where
people could linger and so you see this
picture of pedestrian park for example
we're a growing community and such a
small downtown and yet there are these
spaces that could be adding to the
vibrancy and vitality but are just kind
of sitting there so we'll be visiting to
a few spaces tonight that are currently
or the task force finds that are
currently under utilized which are
pedestrian park and the historic shell
station but along the tour I bet you can
probably spot a few more areas that are
tucked away here and there that could
probably doing more to add to the
vibrancy of the downtown so as you're
walking around tonight I want you to
look around and think of the messages
that the current design and aesthetics
are sending and ultimately how that
affects the neighbors and how they
interact within that space task force
members feel free to talk with Council
and others about what we have been
discussing in our meetings and how a few
changes could affect how we use this
space and what you feel the benefits the
community would be if those changes are
made because I think that's what tonight
is really all about before we go on our
walk are there any questions i do Andrea
well could you just just remind us the
CBD the cultural business district what
just remind us you know well you know
how that exists what Foreman exists what
you know when when I see the word
district and people see the word
district that usually has some meaning
to it and I know that there are certain
design standards and the like but could
you just summarize the district and and
and how what it's supposed to achieve
and and how we should keep that in
context as we as we go through this
evening sure sure so um most other
cities have what they call a commercial
business district is the croisé
distinctive and that we've established a
cultural business district
and that's because we have a great
concentration of Arts and other cultural
amenities within our downtown area so
obviously that's the village theater
that's first stage but we also have a
lot of other historical amenities as
well and so and knowing that we have a
historical downtown and wanting to
celebrate that as well as that getting
to what your question is yes so it's
really just a description of an area I
mean there's you know I I know that we
have a sub area I think I might do one
at the end of this looking at Keith's
map so um so here's the here's one of
our zoning maps the CBD is in the dark
red so you can see at the top it's
defined in Northwest Holly Street that
would be to the north and then the south
border would be southeast which bush
street and then there's some spots along
sons that way so it's defined
geographically and it's kind of a
geographic zone so in a way it's it's
similar to the CIP and that the CIP has
the core zone which is kind of the most
active portion of the central issaquah
area and so within the old town area the
CBD zone is envisioned to be the most
active portion of this sub area and
there are special land use zoning or
other like building heights and
character development standards that are
attributable to that zone okay thank you
Mary Lou I'm a question about private
and public spaces so I assume one of our
exercises tonight is that we're kind of
imagining or envisioning how to activate
some of the spaces what is currently
allowed for example for restaurants and
bars the space that they occupy now in
front of them is permitted by the city
or it's their space like I'm trying to
figure out when we walk through
pedestrian part how that might connect
to those private businesses that are
there yes that's a great question and
some of those conversations we can have
in context
because it might differ on where we are
but I'm going to give you a general
answer right so general answer is that
where their sidewalk that's typically
city right of way and that is currently
governed by a special use permit so if
there is enough space that then
businesses could put out outdoor seating
and so you see some of this in front of
las margaritas for example or some of
the other businesses have some outdoor
seating that's there along the sidewalk
and they have to apply for special use
permit to do that every year they also
would have to comply with special
regulations to make sure there's enough
room for 88 clearance and things like
that so so I think there might be we've
been taking a look at that with the task
force I'm thinking how can we make it
easier for private businesses to take
advantage of some of that space and
maybe bring more activity to that space
and invest into it a little bit so I
think we can talk about that more within
the context of our walking tour hey
thanks hmm so we'll have an opportunity
after the walking toward to me back here
to talk about what we saw in there may
be a number of follow-up questions or
things like that but it's such a
beautiful evening and there's a lot
going on in our city this evening that
we're going to to recess from the
council chambers go on our walking tour
and return and that part of the meeting
will be televised so we are now recessed
for the walking tour
we have a few more meetings left to go
and in those next meetings will be
forming recommendations that speak to
the themes that we've been talking about
this evening and will also be examining
partnerships among the community to look
at programming like we discussed and how
we can activate some of these spaces
downtown we also want to come up with a
really thoughtful list of
recommendations so we don't want to give
the mayor a laundry list of things 105
things that ways that we can enhance
downtown by talat we want them to be
well thought out we want them to be
vetted we want them to also identify
who's responsible for these things it's
because it's a list of things the
community can do it's not just what the
city can do so we want to be able to
identify those partners and get some
partners on board we also want to have
an idea of what these costs are we want
to be realistic and grounded in these
recommendations so I think we still have
some more process to go through before
we come back to you and our deadline is
the end of the year and I think we're on
board on track and meeting that deadline
we're doing pretty well so those are the
basic next steps and wondering you know
what's next I think we still have a few
more things to do in a few more meetings
to have any questions about the task
force and next steps before we move on
to synthesizing thoughts from our walk
about Mary Lou I'm just one thing Andrew
that I was talking with keith watts
about when we were heroes Keith maybe
can't remember we were walking was that
we didn't talk a lot about sunset today
and one of the council members who
sponsored the school and it isn't here
this evening is 92 Milligan and one of
her areas of interest was to understand
how sunset would be integrated into it
so not asking for an answer tonight but
just making sure when you come back that
you know there's that that's discussed
as much as you have discussed it with
your group because that was very
important to her
yes yes thank you I think initially at
the beginning of this year when we put
the focus on the CBD at that time the
conversations about sunset and her her
wishes for that goal were more absorbed
into the master Mobility plan but as
those changes have occurred I I think
what we're looking at is there will be
some recommendations for perhaps in old
town plan re looking at the old town
plan which incorporates sunset so I
think we can probably address some of
her concerns through that and I'm trying
to recall whether they're at the
transportation survey that we recently
completed or getting the final report on
did that include a project on sunset yes
thank you other questions before we let
Andrea sit down okay well thank you very
very much we are back from our art or it
was exciting to be joined by the task
force and to hear some of the good work
that they are doing and the projects
that they are considering as they refine
their recommendations of their report
submitted to to the mayor discussion
observations or comments as a result of
our tour and we'll start with all thank
you then thank you for the members of
the task force and staff support very
pleased with what we were able to
achieve this evening I had a couple
comments on some of the Andrea some of
your opening comments I've wondered for
a long time what we meant by vitality
and what what did that really means I
was pleased to see that you tackled that
and two words that stood out authentic I
think that was the first word that you
used was authentic and I that resonates
with me very much i like that but then
the second mention and I'm looking at my
notes here is that it for it to be vital
to have vitality the that the goal it
should facilitate interactions among
neighbors I think I captured that so so
I like that sounds like something i
would write but you know that that
facilitates interactions and and when we
were so I like that a lot its what binds
people together right its what binds
community members together there's a
place to gather of common interest where
it's safe and they enjoy being there I
really could feel a lot of that
possibility more when we were in
pedestrian park the comments so just
this is just you know high level right
the comments I heard about creating you
know maybe tables or places where people
from can gather I see people use the
shelter down at confluence park quite a
bit I have a garden in the pea patch
down there and there was always people
coming and going at least during the
summer so this idea that we have places
where people can say i'll meet you there
for a picnic for example i'm not sure
that would happen at confluence park but
that so that is a very attractive idea
to me and I want to echo what was said
there as well in Andrea and your opening
comments you talked about the Arts and
how we have this association this
cultural district has associated with
the Arts and I and I shared with with
some of you during the walk that in my
my I like to think about both the
Performing and visual arts and when we
were at pedestrian park as well there
was the mention i think tola may be
mentioned someone asked the question
what about the opportunity to create
more of a space where you know
performances can take place of what
performing arts and I would just add I
think Josh talked about some type of
installation and
to me to me to celebrate and to and to
create further attraction and continue
this momentum of facilitating
interactions if a pedestrian Park
destination also had reminders of the
Performing and visual arts as part of
its plan and because that is so so
central to the identity and the
attraction of downtown I mean I would
look for those kind of elements in in
some type of long-range plan thank you
other comments or discussion reactions
oh I'm just very excited about where we
are right now as a city I'll say my own
journey to arrive at issaquah the having
the downtown that we have was one of the
two factors why I moved here I lived in
a very pleasant near the top of all the
ratings in Minnesota a city that had no
downtown its downtown was the mall and
so they shot off the fireworks from near
the mall and so to have to have what we
have here was it was really deeply
meaningful for me and combine that with
the school system and that's why I'm
here and not some other place and I feel
that you know I'm sure that the
community has seen how many that list of
goals that were submitted for last year
was just so formidable there was so much
that related to downtown and I just feel
we have we have done a good job with the
central issaquah plan and it now just
feels like the time has arrived for us
to put the focus to downtown and so I
took old town to downtown here and I
think that tonight was it was a good
jumping-off point for that there was a
lot of things that I learned about the
forgive me the the gas station I forget
that we get the new of it but I had I
didn't know they used it for for
multiple purposes I didn't know they had
events there and I think what I heard
the most that I was most excited about
was the club or
in between the different organizations
between dia and the various
organizations around and I feel those
collaborations will yield a lot of
things that I'm hoping that we as a
council are well prepared to engage on
Thanks other comments right Josh thanks
um so first I just want to thank all the
folks who came tonight and joined us for
the walking tour tour still here for
this portion of the meeting I'm just
constantly in all of the commitment that
folks have to not just as a koala but
particularly the CBD and just really
really impressed and amazed by the
commitment and the enthusiasm that
surrounds the work that's being done on
old town and the vitality enhancements
that we've really been striving for over
the last several years so you know the
other day we took a drive down south on
esqui Hobart road and just drove around
for a while it's better to sit in the
air conditioning I suppose and as we
were coming back up on Front Street
entering into the city I actually took a
moment to look at downtown issaquah from
the perspective of someone who might be
coming into it for the first time or
coming up from the south and it was an
interesting exercise just to think about
that for a moment as you come up front
street and what are the first things
that you see and the first thing I
noticed is that the 25 mile an hour as
you get into town is a suggestion and
then you finally get up to sunset and
you see the the library and you see the
gas station and you see the businesses
beginning to proliferate on that corner
and it's a really welcoming entrance
into the city and you know if you looked
at that corner at front and sunset which
is has long been the heart of the city
you you almost would have no idea about
any other development that's going on in
the rest of town you know we're tall
buildings or you know intersection
issues or anything you just sort of
drive in and you look at it is as just a
historic part of the city and I think
it's it's really a credit to everyone
who's worked together to make it
continued to be vibrant and looked at
way there are still challenges I mean as
we walked along it was still apparent
that getting people to these great
locations is difficult a lot of it has
to do with the topography some of it has
to do with parking availability ingress
and egress and just making sure that
there's enough spots for people who want
to stop and partake in businesses and
partake in recreational opportunities
and you know a lot of folks use the
library parking garage because that's
the parking garage that's available and
closest to a lot of the CBD so it still
is a challenge when it comes to issues
like parking and that's something that I
think since I've been on the council has
still really not been resolved or move
forward and we did a parking study and
that seemed to suggest that there wasn't
a problem which conflicts with a lot of
anecdotal evidence I think you'd hear
from folks around the city but be that
as it may the other thing I would just
say is there's a real big emphasis on
art and I think rightfully so because it
is really the center of the city when it
comes to promoting the arts and you know
you look at all the art galleries and
artiste and just the the the confluence
that we have of the arts community in
the downtown core and the opportunities
that exist and you know there's a lot of
cities around the country that go even
in the details one step further you know
paint garbage cans paint the fire
hydrants paint the lamp posts you know
do things that really bring out the
vibrancy add color add lighting there's
other things you know little details
that can be done that's more than just
reconfiguring a space but actually
making it visually attractive for people
who come downtown and then the last
thing is and I talked with a few folks
about this but emphasizing the family
friendly nature of coming downtown that
you know even though we've got bars and
potential beer gardens and pubs still
making it family-friendly because we've
got a library on the corridor and we've
got children who come to this area with
their families and we've got a memorial
field over here where there's a lot of
kids activities and so you know just
finding ways that you can really
emphasize the family friendly nature and
it's great to have colorful tables and
sort of an adult
hip atmosphere you know where you can go
in the evening after you've had glass of
wine and dinner but also look at the
families that will come to downtown and
spend time walking through this area and
making sure that we do something to
promote interest for them as well and so
if there's ways that we can use art
installations active sculptures that
sort of thing or just vibrant colors
activities there's things that can be
done that were really emphasize that as
well and so that was one thing that
really stood out at me is taken to
account the overall population and not
just a subset in terms of future design
you other observations or comments Stacy
I want to echo the comments I'm that
I've heard so far about thanking the
task force for all the wonderful work
that you've done it's we had a really
great presentation about the
possibilities over at pedestrian park
and the simplicity of the ideas stand
out but to get to that point takes a lot
of a lot of thought and a lot of
consideration about what could happen
and what what we might want to use that
space for and I thought it was tomorrow
what Josh mentioned the colorfulness of
it the you know the bistro sets the
lights all of those things are sound
very simple but the way that they might
be able to transform the space is just
super super exciting I as I mentioned a
couple people have were on the walk I
feel like I don't get out much sometimes
and so maybe one of these tuesdays we
can have a tour of concerts on the green
so that we can enjoy that but but but um
it really was an opportunity for us to
interact with a task force which was
planned and I'm glad it was planned it
was an opportunity to meet with folks
who have really done a lot of work
downtown and
really invested a lot of time downtown
and can give us a very thoughtful
feedback about what we could do down
there and so I'm deeply grateful for all
of the time that you've put in anyone
else well again my thanks to the task
force for being our guides and our
leaders this evening and for the work
that you are involved in I look forward
to the completed recommendations this
has been very enjoyable it's fun walking
around our city in the evening because
you do see a lot of activity and a good
cross-section I talked to someone who
was returning from the concerts on the
green as we were returning to the
council chamber and she was a lady with
a walker and she said Neil Diamond was
one of my favorite singers along with
above when I was very very young so we
indeed are appealing to a broad
cross-section of our community and with
that we are adjourned this evening
you