good evening everyone and welcome I'd
like to call to order the Monday June 18
2018 City Council regular meeting and
the first item up I would like to invite
you to join if you choose to pledge
saying the Pledge of Allegiance thank
you very much for joining us on this
gorgeous sort of feels like first night
of summer first item this evening will
be audience comments if you have sign
there is a sign up sheet going around
for anyone who would like to address us
this evening if you're here on behalf of
a group and you are spokesperson for the
group it would be great if you stated
that if you're an audience member and
you support the speaker and the points
that they're making please raise your
hand
so council understands who's here for
which issue and how much support is
there each speaker will have up to three
minutes to address the council this
evening when your name is called please
come to the lectern and state your name
address and relationship to the city
there is a lighted timer that sits on
the Dyess with you and when it's
flashing yellow it's telling you're
getting close so I'm going to hits red
it means you've used up your three
minutes please address your comments to
the seated council members and myself
Gina I'm trying to if I've missed any of
the direction good okay so has anyone
signed up this evening to speak
I have several Susan novelle Thank You
Susan
hello Thank You councilmembers and Mary
Lou Polly Mayor Polly for being here
this evening I have to breathe hold on a
minute the month of June is a meaningful
month for Save Cougar Mountain
initiative and all the involved
residents one year ago every Issaquah
city council member voted against mm-hm
the Bergsma windward development
agreement we took a stand you took a
stand and voted no to destroying acres
of important old-growth forests on a
highly visible portion of southeast
Cougar Mountain you voted no to building
in critical areas filling in wetlands
and building a connector road from talus
to Newports way one year later we are
asking you to stand behind your original
decision the current Bergsma windward
development plant includes all three of
the original critical area variances the
construction of the connector road and
the removal of 8,000 truckloads of
topsoil nothing has changed except the
new plan requires more variance
modifications by adding a fourth storm
water vault which are all located within
the critical areas more retaining walls
up to 20 feet high all this in hopes of
stabilizing the mountain one year later
five of the current City Council members
in front of me made the first decision
to stop this invasive development and
you're all sitting here today little do
we all realize the important decision
this would spark in the support of
hundreds of residents
our active email list has grown ship
1400 residents
1700 residents have signed a petition in
support of the acquisition and citing
the view shed in open space as number
one priorities the Save Cougar Mountain
initiative collected enough donations to
hire a lawyer and submit an extensive
mdns document showing this the adverse
effects and the impact to the
environment in the mountain this
development would make happen we
realized this is a difficult acquisition
due to the complexity and increase in
property values the price to preserve
this area for open space and parks in
general but help with the help with but
with the help of King County in
Washington State this is achievable and
June of last year you told us our voice
counted you took a stand and voted to
protect our valuable mountain forests in
open space
we hope the same is true today one year
later thank you for your time thank you
there are several hands and science
going up in the audience thank you thank
you my name is Tyson garbage oak
I am the the owner of booms candies and
the property owner of booms candies we
are located at two to five and 255 North
East Gilman Boulevard I'm here to speak
in the regard to the changes being
considered to the designation and Zoning
at the end of Northeast Gilman Boulevard
including two of our properties as you
may know bones Candis has been a
family-owned company for over 76 years
including 62 in Issaquah over these
years we've employed a few thousand
people including many high school
students who are just starting out in
the job world in addition to local
customers we also welcome travelers from
Eastern Washington and tour buses daily
spending money not only at bones but at
other local establishments we have been
proud to be part of this growing
community in these times of more sales
going to online and chain stores we take
pride
and our family-owned business and our
gourmet confections this akua's grown
and thrived especially in the last five
to ten years but like many small
businesses we've we have challenges in
front of us
ranging from higher property taxes to
finding employees to the hard cost of
being a brick-and-mortar operation that
manufacturers wholesale and retail
confections in order for our family
business to be sustainable for the long
term we know we are going to have to
make some improvements on our properties
but by route but by removing but buying
being removed from the central area
we've lost we've lost some of the
opportunity that we had and will be
faced with lower building heights
greater setbacks and a lower maximum
impervious surface threshold though we
don't have to make any improvements at
this time we do believe that the
replacement regulations being considered
will seriously impact what we can do
with our property and that in turn feels
like a threat to our long-term viability
I know that the process for establishing
the replacement regulations has just
started and it hasn't been in front of
the council yet the PPC will be taking
them up this Thursday booms is asking
the city to seriously consider our needs
and to work with us to make sure that
whatever is done doesn't threaten the
threatened Bohm's Candis thank you thank
you tasting
Geraldine Carrie
my name is Geraldine Cary I live at 955
17th Avenue Northwest Issaquah I'm here
today because I just want to say I want
to thank the City Council and Mayor poly
for supporting the taking taking the
city's interest in not developing the
many homes that they were going to put
on the birds my property I think that
Mike's my sign says for all and if we
keep a green many more people than 52
homeowners can appreciate it so I would
I would hope you support again not to
allow the property to be used for
residential homes and I know it's not
particularly your voice right now that
that will make the difference but if it
comes to your attention I hope you will
support the people who would like to see
see it kept green for all the people
there's a car Thank you Thank You
Geraldine and last on my list Julie
Clark lots of hands and signs in the air
good evening my name is Julie Clark I
reside at nine one five bear Ridge Court
Northwest in talus and I am here
representing safe Cougar Mountain and as
Susan Deville had mentioned earlier it
was one year ago that the city is across
City Council denied the Bergsma windward
development agreement I want to thank
each of you for participating in the
discussions and making that decision I
know that the residents of talus in the
neighbors along Newports way felt that
you had listened to our concerns and
supported us we appreciate your decision
due to the fact that the Issaquah
municipal codes have not changed I
understand that the council cannot tell
the windward developers that they cannot
build however I thought it might be
helpful to be reminded of some of the
reasons the council gave that evening
last year for denying the DA and ask
each of you to consider if those reasons
might still resonate today here are the
quotes a lot of land would be pulled off
the hillside following the talus parcel
9 landslide I thought why would we ever
build on any of our steep slopes again
the public risk and public cost is
pretty high impact to the forested
hillsides traffic impact slide hazards
these are all reasons that the Issaquah
City Council voted to deny the
development agreement at this time no
work has been done on this property
none of these concerns have been
eliminated so why would anyone want to
see the northeast corner of Cougar
Mountain built out as we understand the
current scope of the work the developer
has made public the impacts of the
development would be very similar to
what was at risk with the development
agreement in terms of reconstructing the
hillside 84,000 cubic yards of soil
would be removed filling in at least two
wetlands
reducing the buffer on salmon feeding
streams destabilizing steep slopes slide
hazards 57 homes to be built Dow
Constantine stated in his land
conservation initiative just a couple
weeks ago saving these places and
creating green space for all is
important to our future and it it is as
important as investments in affordable
housing or in transportation or in any
other aspect of infrastructure please
use the resources necessary to acquire
the Bergsma windward property and save
cougar Middleton thank you thank you
Julie
there are signs and about a dozen hands
raised in the air in support of Julie is
there anyone who did not sign up this
evening that would like to address
council I will ask a couple of times you
did not have to sign up ahead second
time anybody like anybody else wishing
to address the City Council this evening
and last time anyone wishing to address
council so we'll close audience comments
and we will move to committee and
regional reports and we'll start with
councilmember hunt thank you madam mayor
I attended the Cascade Water Alliance
Resource Management Committee meeting on
June 14th last week we discussed several
items which are recommended for action
at the June 27th board meeting the first
one was update of the lake tap system
model contract authorization this is a
model to assess the reliability of water
supply under different conditions and
the software is several years old and
there's a need to update it with new
data and the other item was updating and
maintenance of a GIS contract and
discussion on this focused on how the
member cities might work with cascade
water alliance as the member cities also
have GIS capabilities and could help
with the inventory potentially and this
concludes my report
Thank You councilmember Rea Thank You
mayor Poli the services and Safety
Committee met on June 12th we took up
agenda bill 7600 which was an interlocal
agreement with the Department of Natural
Resources for the maintenance
use of the highly high point trailhead
that will be on today's consent agenda
agenda bill 76 17 an inter-agency
agreement with the Department of Natural
Resources for incident management team
participation that is also on today's
consent agenda we took up agenda bill 73
94 this is Park strategic plan
that will be on the July 16th council
agenda regular business we also received
a briefing on the senior center and
Parks will be coming back to services
and safety either in July or August with
an update as we know more about how that
is evolving and then we also received a
update on the economic development and
economic vitality commission by annual
update and the next services and Safety
Committee meeting will be July 10th at
6:30 here in councilors chambers
councilmember Goodman and I both
attended the June 14 the site Fire and
Rescue board meeting of significance was
an update by the chief on P Foss in the
water and remediation efforts and then
of a special note particularly to
council president Mart's was the
donation of a dj1
m to ten grown from Barbara hammer to
the sci-fi rescue to assist with with
the rescue efforts it was very
impressive the level of visibility that
this drone can provide to our rescue
workers particularly on rivers and in
wooded areas and that concludes my the
next East Side Fire and Rescue board
meeting will be on July 12th at a sci-fi
rescue headquarters that concludes my
report for this evening Thank You
councilmember a councilman veromos Thank
You mayor
the Infrastructure Committee is set to
meet this Thursday as usual at the third
Thursday of the month but the start time
has changed from 6:30 to 5:30
so those coming these come an hour
earlier so you don't miss all the good
stuff the items on the agenda are all
pending consent calendar approval so
hopefully they won't be there the first
one being a B 7621 old town traffic
coming which is taking our pilot study
into a proposed permanent solution and a
B 7637
will be dealing with again water quality
and our pee fuss pilot study and work
there so those two remember 5:30 on
Thursday night 6:30 concludes my report
Thank You councilmember winter saying
thank you Mira Pauley
last Thursday June 7th I met with the
Puget Sound Regional Council's growth
management policy board and we discussed
during our pre meeting SCA caucus
preparation for topics to discuss at a
pre Sound City Association public issues
committee pre-meeting workshop on July
11th so the topic will be for the the
PSR sees vision update also in the board
meeting we did recommend passage of the
scoping report for the vision 2040
update so that process to update vision
really has started and I'll run through
about two years from now to 2020 to
complete that update will be called
vision 2050 and a major part of the
vision document is something called the
read the regional growth strategy and
the balance of our meeting last Thursday
was spent breaking into groups and kind
of brainstorming a lot of issues related
to the regional growth strategy so this
will just be the first in multiple
sessions where we discussed that and we
should be wrapping up our that portion
of the vision update at least from the
GMP B perspective in this fall that
concludes my report
Thank You councilmember we're just
saying councilmember Goodman Thank You
mayor Poli the land and Shore committee
met on June 7th and we had four items
two of them are companion items
the first one is agenda bill 76-14 it's
called high street conversion up in
Oh Highlands and the proposal is to buy
the developer is to vacate High Street
and turn that into a linear park slash
trail and its companion bill is agenda
bill 7480 West Ridge north preliminary
plat and that plat the North West Ridge
plat is the development that the high
street conversion is related to it's a
quasi-judicial matter both of those
items were are coming back for a second
touch at our next landed short meeting
and then we and our last two items were
agenda bills 75 75 Timber Ridge easement
modifications and that we viewed as sort
of a housekeeping item and that would be
coming I believe we recommended it for a
consent consent agenda of upcoming
meeting and then the last item agenda
bill 76 12 amendments to the code
regarding transfer of development rights
resulting from the end of the Issaquah
highlands development agreement and that
is on the consent agenda for approval
tonight and that was just amending the
code to match what we did with
replacement regulations when we ended
the squad's development agreement our
next meeting is July 5th 6:30 here in
Council Chambers and that concludes my
report thank you Thank You councilmember
Goodman council president Mertz
thanks about a mayor SC a public issues
committee met last Wednesday we did not
have any action items but there's a
couple things that I'll mention that
we're in updates we're an update on the
King County land conservation initiative
the big news there is that the big
effort currently is the open space
equity objective of which we get no
peace because it is for cities that
either don't have any open space or
aren't adjacent to any open space that
have a massive open space deficit and
they have a very nice map and we are not
included in that map there was a
conversation about the countess in vote
formerly one night count that occurred
in January but we got the numbers we
talked about the fact that five thousand
seven hundred ninety two people were
sheltered in transitional housing or
emergency shelters sixty three hundred
people were outside in general we're up
four percent from the last year
sheltered was actually down and the
reason that it was down is there is an
ongoing effort to move away from
transitional housing and so to move to
permanent housing so in the future they
expect that number to keep going down
emergency shelters are different but
there's a focused effort to move away
from transitional housing there was some
good news three specific areas where
there's been a lot of collaboration
between federal state and local
governments veteran homelessness was
down 31% second is homelessness among
minors was down 22 percent from last
year
and finally family homelessness had
decreased seven percent so there was
some good news
and then the final big note from that is
that although it was twelve thousand one
hundred and twelve people were found on
January 26 the actual total number of
people process are captured through the
region's homelessness management
information system approximately 30,000
people per year so that while the
snapshot had 12 had affected about
30,000 people last year finally I just
want to thank councilman ray for
mentioning I'm excited to hear more I
want to see this
efore own I actually flew the little
cousin of that DJI last night for
Father's Day with with my son and my
wife so I want to hear a lot more about
it thank you that concludes my report I
didn't see drones on your original
report but we'll give you a pass on that
Thank You council president Mart's No
More community reports going to the
mayor's report I apologize it's a little
long tonight there's been a lot of stuff
going on and I want to give a
significant update on our strategic
planning process going over a few of the
meetings that I've attended since our
last council meeting June 4th I met with
the business and elected leaders of the
southeast Alliance of cities the
discussion focused on how the cities can
work with Issaquah to provide a focused
set of transportation priorities to the
state that would resolve the gridlock on
highway 169 in Issaquah Hobart Road and
other regional connectors between these
cities on June 5th they attended the
strategic planning community charettes
with counsel and community members to
review the five
main priority themes that were distilled
from our community engagement activities
on June 6th I attended the mounts of
Sound green wait' Trust Board annual
meeting and will begin as of next month
serving as an advisory board member on
June 12th I attended a pee fast meeting
with interim city administrator the
Department of Ecology and Eastside Fire
and Rescue P Foust is the constituent
that has impacted the aquifer and we are
working to jointly study and address the
issue on June 14th I attended the PSR C
transportation policy board meeting
there was a discussion only item related
to accessibility to transit and PSR C
has been tasked with developing
technical products to improve access for
pedestrians and cyclists next meeting of
the transportation policy board will be
July 12th at 9:30 at PC PSR C's
boardroom and their offices on Western
Avenue the major topic will be recommend
selection of projects proposed for the
2021 2022 federal highway administration
and Federal Transit Administration fund
I'm sure that won't be really well
attended and a lot longer than the one
we just had on June 14th I attended
Sound Transit's Capital Committee
meeting and this evening before our
council meeting we had a special council
meeting and it was to introduce our
council to our new city lobbyist team
who are still here this evening with us
we're really excited to be working with
the team helping his squad to get our
community voice heard in Olympia
community outrage on June 6 I attended
the visit is visitors Information Center
in Issyk was familiar ization tour of
trailheads in Issaquah we're promoting
ourselves as trailhead City and the
place to come hiking June 13th I
attended a ribbon-cutting for the agency
Northwest which is a real estate company
in Issaquah Highlands a couple of issues
update first Cougar Mountain Bergsma
update I'd like to share some
information that the council was I
received and the council received last
week an email from Sam Plotkin Trust for
Public Lands trust for public lands has
completed an option to purchase
agreement on a portion of the Bergsma
property this option provides for an
it's an Avenue through which the trust
for public lands can negotiate to
acquire additional portions of the
Bergsma property through a secondary
agreement the next steps for the trust
for public lands will be to initiate an
appraisal and now that the option has
been completed a little update on the
southeast 62nd Street Road and grid
project and if you have a graphic you
can share with the group I have provided
counsel and I have provided counsel and
also the public this evening a graphic
to give you some updates on our South
East 62nd project this is our project
over by Costco the one that closed the
our secret little under crossing of i-90
really proud that staff is able to
report out that as different components
of the project are completed they're
being opened so the first component to
be completed is the Pickering trail from
4th Avenue to Issaquah Creek it was
paved on June 15th and the city plans to
open the trail between 4th Avenue and
where the trail turns north on the west
side of the creek on June 21st so you
can see that section shown in yellow on
the plan it is not the East Lake
Sammamish trail but it is that portion
of the trail which can then connect you
into Pickering place in Cusco and our
amazing farmers market so really proud
of staff to that I can share that with
you this evening some updates on our
strategic planning process we are making
progress and we wanted to thank all the
1,300 individuals who provided input
through our survey meetings pop ups and
focus groups following the completion of
this broad community engagement in May
we've been working with our consultant
BDS planning on two pieces one updating
the city's vision mission and guiding
principles and to identifying community
based strategic priority areas we need
your input to help us shape these
priorities or your input helped us shape
these priorities we now want to come
back and check with you to make sure
that we're headed in the right direction
we held our planning charrette on
Tuesday June 5th we involved over 50
folks from our community including
council staff and representatives from
many organizations who provide service
in our community and are involved in our
community a full range of sectors was
represented from arts culture and Human
Services to business development and
housing as well as recreation
environment education and more thanks to
the community input and the work of
these participants we're starting to
form five draft strategic priority areas
these are growth and development
mobility infrastructure environmental
stewardship and city leadership and
services we want your feedback we want
to know if these sound right to you are
we on the right track and is there
something significant missing there's a
survey on these strategic priority areas
available online please visit Issaquah
waka slash our Issaquah for a link to
the survey you can also learn more and
provide input in an open house this
Wednesday June 20th 6:30 p.m. at the
historic train depot in downtown
Issaquah the City Council will consider
the draft strategic priority areas at
its work session on June 25th I'd like
to provide an update on the potential
highlands elementary school there's been
a lot of discussion over the last year
with the school district and with
council this mystical school district
has been looking at a piece of
city-owned property located northeast
Discovery Drive in sixth Avenue
Northwest in the Issaquah Highlands as a
potential site for a new elementary
school as part of their due diligence in
assessing the site for school
construction the district retained
consultants to perform arborist and
geotechnical studies on the site the
results of the geotechnical review were
presented to the Issaquah School Board
of Directors and discussed at the June
13th meeting the school district has
decided not to pursue this parcel
additional information is available on
the school's website at WWE Sequoia
wednet edu / district / departments /
cap projects and we can provide that
email if anyone is interested in it and
that concludes the mayor's report next
item on the agenda this evening is the
consent calendar it was distributed to
counsel in advance
if authorized the items on the consent
calendar will be considered together and
approved in one motion have the pimples
and payroll been reviewed they have
thank you there's any councilmember
desire to remove anything any item from
the consent calendar and consider it
under regular business seeing none is
there a motion until president Mertz
I move we adopt adopt the consent
calendar as listed in this evening's
agenda okay it's been moved and seconded
all those in favor signify by saying aye
as opposed thank you that passes
unanimously the next item on our agenda
this evening under regular business is a
b7 632 lobbyists contract this is the
first time that this item has come
before council I'd like to invite Emily
Moo interim city administrator to make a
presentation good evening
I have only a brief presentation for you
based on the materials in your packet
you can see that the city administration
is recommending approval of a contract
for new lobbyists for the city we have
had lobbyists serving the city for more
than six years our lobbyists individuals
or firms advocate for our interests they
monitor legislation seek funding for
capital and operating budget needs they
craft beneficial changes to legislation
that we might seek foster partnerships
and track interim studies and task
forces city administration has found
that this use of lobbyists is very
effective in fact we have been
successful in securing millions of
dollars of investment in city
infrastructure and services over the
years we are at this time recommending
entering into a contract with the firm
Gordon Thomas honeywell's governmental
affairs group Breanna Murray and Shelley
Helder are here this evening and we had
an opportunity to meet them in the
special meeting ahead of this regular
business meeting both have extensive
experience in this arena and have
represented other local government
clients they have a proven track record
of accomplishments
and we think they're a great fit for our
city and for our legislative agenda the
contract that's in front of you is for
three years which is our standard term
and a maximum annual amount of fifty
eight thousand dollars that's the same
amount that we've had in our contract
with our previous lobbyist and it is the
amount that has been budgeted for this
fiscal year so with approval of this
contract we will execute the agreement
and get underway with our partners and
look forward to having opportunities for
you to engage with them in the future
happy to answer any questions you have
thank you and thank you for coming this
evening in addressing council that's
great
are there any questions there emotion
it's madam mayor I move to authorize the
mayor to enter into and execute the
contract for lobbying and advocacy
services in the amount of fifty eight
thousand dollars with Gordon Taylor
Honeywell second I said I'm sorry it's
been moved and seconded is there any
council discussion I'm just gonna
clarify the name when I read the motion
name on a contract okay no discussion
all those in favor of authorizing the
mayor to enter into and execute the
contracts lobbying and advocacy services
in the amount of fifty eight thousand
dollars with Gordon Thomas Honeywell
Honeywell Jenks me signify by saying aye
opposed thank you that passed Thank You
Nancy thank you for coming this evening
ladies
the next item on the agenda is a b7 five
nine nine the 2019 to 2024 six-year
transportation Improvement Program this
item was heard at the council
Infrastructure Committee a public
hearing was conducting at conducted at
the june 4th 2018 council meeting I'd
like to invite Kurt seaman
transportation manager to make
presentation
Thank You mayor poly city council happy
to be back as you know we discussed this
six-year transportation improvement plan
at the June 4th meeting we had a public
hearing at that time the hearing is
closed there were a few audience
comments and questions what you see in
front of you here is our is the six-year
project list the subset of a larger list
but these are the projects that we are
most focused on over the next six years
and I'd be happy to I think rather than
go through each project which we did
some last time I'd be happy to do that
but I would rather use this time to
answer any questions that you may have
Thank You Kurt does counsel have any
questions no just don't I'd like to
clarify the the writing in here up day
one says that staffs discovered that
11th Avenue Northwest was left off could
you get a little more description of
that because I don't see that title as
stated that way in the CIP okay so that
so the 11 thank you mr. Ellison for that
I did want to clarify that so the 11th
Avenue project is part is one of the
Avenue projects which are generally
south of Gilman on the west side of
central asou qualm there are actually
connections planned for 15th Avenue 13th
Avenue and 11th Avenue and those are all
north-south connections that help
complete the grid they're generally in
this portion of town right here so the
11th Avenue project we're not sure what
happened but has always been part of the
plan 11 13 15 for some reason it was not
on the latest EIP it's been on previous
T IPs it's always been a plan for
projects that's likely to be constructed
as redevelopment happens in that part of
town so we're not adding a project it's
just a
is reinstating a project that has been
there in the past so what's the actual
number on the list I'm sorry what's the
actual project number on the list so I
think that says 11th Avenue there is it
11 12th Avenue I 90 Crossing so this is
a this is a prior to have to look back
on the list to get the exact project
number this is not one of the projects
you'll see on this map here this is a
project in future years it should be way
down on the very almost bottom of your
overall list
it's TR zero five zero work from the
bottom yes so way down there not that
that's when we're going to build it but
that's where it is located thank not
it's not shown none of those Avenue
projects are shown on the map that you
have in front of you thank you Thank You
councilmember almost any other questions
and would someone care to make a motion
I moved to approve resolution number
twenty 18-10 adopting a six-year
transportation Improvement Program and
directing the same to be filed with the
state secretary of transportation and a
transportation improvement board okay
it's been moved and seconded is there
any discussion sir council member Ramos
I just like to say because I think
people see this in the sometimes read it
a little differently because we say and
here a lot of times these aren't
prioritized projects it's a list of
projects and they're not prioritized but
when you see them in a list it looks
like - everyone did their prioritize
projects particularly ones that have
money closer to a year near here than
further out so I just maybe you could
just explain that little twist a little
bit so the public can understand that
prioritization or list sure so I think I
think both are both of those statements
are true this is not a prioritized list
clearly as you look at the list you'll
see the projects at the top of the list
which are the
one's shown up here on the screen are
the projects that we have proposed
funding for and they are the projects
that we're currently either in design or
shortly will be in design certainly
within the next six years so so
certainly those are prioritized in terms
of staff focus and the city's focus the
projects you see on this list but
they're not prioritized in a sense that
they're in a specific order and we
certainly have the ability council has
the ability the community has the
ability to move projects around on this
list and any projects that are in
further years out certainly could become
part of this a six-year plan we're
thinking just clarify again this list is
is a requirement if we ever want to look
for funds grant funds from federal
dollars and those kinds of partnerships
we need to have this filed properly or
those that couldn't happen is that
correct correct this is a this is a
state law requirement that we have a six
year TI P in plan to show that we have a
plan for transportation improvements
it's essential for many grant
opportunities that we have this in place
and adopted any other questions if
there's no further discussion all those
in favor of approving resolution number
2018 - ten adopting a six year
Transportation Improvement Program and
directing the same to be filed with the
state Secretary of Transportation and
the Transportation Improvement Board
signify by saying aye as opposed that
carries unanimously
thank you next item on the agenda is a
motion postponed from our June for 2018
council meeting that motion was to
direct the administration to reevaluate
the permitted land uses abel 4.3 be in
the central s quad development and
design standards and to make
recommendations to the city council as
to whether changes are needed after the
moratorium is lifted this motion was
made at the May 21st council meeting
moved by Goodman invitees and postponed
to the June 4th and then the
18th council meeting before council
discusses this evening I'd like to
invite Keith Niven economic and
development services director to come to
the lectern to present the options in
the staff memo that was included in the
council packet thank you madam mayor
good evening city council so when when
the council was working through one of
the related moratorium work items
related to hotels and storage units the
council posed a question about whether
or not the administration should go back
and look at the existing list of allowed
land uses within central Issaquah to see
if there are any other uses that are
allowed now which might want to be
revisited and looked at again and so at
the time we the motion was tabled until
the administration put together some
options about whether or not we could
fit it into our work plan this year and
and what might that mean
and so I provided the council with a
memorandum dated the 29th of May and
within that memo basically present three
different options for the city council
one is to pursue this this year and that
would mean potentially moving around
some of the other things that we have on
our on our plate to make room for this
work item the second would be to do it
next year in 2019 and then the third
option would be to do it potentially as
a bigger look at central Issaquah which
we know we need to do which probably
won't happen until 2019 or maybe 2020 so
and as you guys think about those
options one of the things that we need
to talk about is the scope of this work
effort because we really didn't talk
about that at a minimum what's being
identified in the memo is
we would need to go to planning policy
commission twice most likely once is a
presentation and once for decision we
would least need a couple council
committees to talk through that and then
one full council meeting for decisions
so so that's what I've included here if
there's an expectation that there's a
bigger public outreach obviously that
would impact you know if we're gonna
move something aside I think you know
that delays maybe three months if
there's a bigger work plan envisioned
you know then that would be a bigger
delay of whatever it is we have to move
out of the way so I'm going to stop
talking and let you guys ask questions
if you'd like to right so I just want to
kind of remind everybody where we are
right now so there's a motion on the
table it's appropriate at this time to
ask questions or to begin a discussion
and deliberations before we call for a
vote on this motion or an amended
version of this mission
so let's start with questions I've got
councilmember handsome member Goodman
thank you I had a question about the
note under option one so if the council
were to entertain option one there's a
note about the US Supreme Court reversed
town of Gilbert decision and I wondered
if you could explain that and explain
also how if the council were to
entertain option one if how that would
work in terms of the timeline for the
sine code and the timeline for the land
use overview okay so so right now
there was a Supreme Court case related
to the town of Gilbert Arizona where the
courts declared that a city cannot
regulate its signage based on content
and this really focused around cities
like ours which allow political signs in
the right away vote for me and a church
kind of wanted a similar sign in the
right away to advertise one of their
Sunday congregations and you know the
city declared that they couldn't do that
because it was
aloud and so they pushed that went to
the Supreme Court and the justices
decided you know that was inappropriate
unconstitutional based on you know free
speech and so our code needs to be
changed because right now it allows for
political signs in the right away as a
temporary sign but it would not allow
you know a business or a church
similarly to do the same thing and so we
know we need to make that code change
where it gets a little bit more
complicated for us as a workplan item is
we right now have a multitude of sign
codes in the city we have a sign code
for Tallis we have a sign code for
Issaquah Highlands we have a sign called
code for Old Town we have a sign code
for central Issaquah we have a sign code
for rallies and we have a sign code for
the rest of the city so part of this
work plan was envisioned by staff as an
opportunity not only to fix our
inconsistencies with the Gilbert
decision but also potentially to
condense the number of sign codes into
hopefully a singular or maybe less
number of sign codes so for us it's it's
a it became a bigger work product and so
the expectation is we probably wouldn't
have a deliverable in 2018 anyway it's
probably gonna get pushed until 2019 and
so if we're talking about like a three
to four-month delay we can still deliver
a product in 2019 it'll just be maybe
three months later than it otherwise
would have been so so from a if so that
was the reason why the administration
suggested the sign code as a good choice
to put something aside the risks are
fairly low right now if we would have
picked up the save Cougar Mountain signs
from right away I think we would have
been in trouble because those ones are
technically not allowed but you know
we're using some common sense knowing
where we are with the
code right now so so I think the risk is
fairly low I think it is a it is going
to be a little bit of a delay to get the
work product done but it'll still get
done in 2019 and we'll move it as
quickly as we can once we kind of get it
back on track but I needed to find time
at PPC because that actually ends up
being kind of my choke point because
we've we've got topics at PPC through
the rest of the year so I need to pull
something off PPC for this to kind of
really work and councilmember Goodman
thank you so Keith I'm going to ask you
a question but I want to preface it
because I don't want you to think it's a
tricky question or a critical statement
about the agenda Mel I want to take note
of your thoroughness here in what what
the process would include but I want to
take it one step back and ask a question
and it has to do with the intent of my
since I wasn't the person who suggested
this initially the intent really was a
staff look at the at the table first not
a noticing and then going out to have a
public process first it really was a
proactive internal step rather than a
reactive and so is it possible for the
direction to be just just exactly what
it says which is to internally take a
look at the table in light of the
changes that we just made during the
moratorium and all that we've learned
since 2012 when we adopted the CIP and
see if there might be recommendations to
the council of some changes that might
be made before we were to decide whether
we want to embark on this time-consuming
process yes so so if that is what the
council would like I think the
administration could provide that by the
next council meeting the idea is that'll
just be the administration's position
right I think still you know to vet that
then through a public process at PPC I
mean that's if if the council wanted to
move for
with amending the table it's gonna have
to go through PPC and ultimately get
decided by the council so I think I was
assuming that we were just gonna go I
think there are things that we probably
don't want or don't envision in central
that's currently on the table so there
will be some changes that will come out
of this when it does happen so the
question is is do you want to does the
council want to see the administration's
kind of scratch list first before we
work we launched a work product if so we
can do that I think you clarify too that
if that is the ask and if that is the
motion that they do this evening that
the work items that you suggested be
removed for the fuller process that and
the schedule all still fits
is that so that make sense yes okay
that's a memory so sort of a comment
along those lines if we were to do as
council member Goodman just suggested
and do a look at what's possibly should
be modified first and then take a look
at that and then really evaluate the
magnitude of that change I think that
would help us better inform the urgency
with which we'd want to move on some of
this issues so from from I know I'm not
asking I'm sure I asked that as a
question here in discussion question
mode whatever you would like so you can
ask that as a question okay just it
seems to me that it would make sense if
we could have a little more information
on the magnitude of this potential
problem before making a determination of
how urgent it is it seems to me that
would be a good idea what do you think
that's why I knew I interrupted
administrator would like to weigh in on
the conversation to just interject a
little bit about timeline first next
meeting is probably not possible the
reason for that is
and I believe DSD staff could probably
do that review and economic development
staff but I are part of our protocol is
to also get other staff that's involved
with land-use decisions to review it and
so I would love for those staff to have
an opportunity to do that first that's
our protocol before we bring kind of
policy considerations back in front of
the council second thing is we're
entering into a few weeks here where the
mayor's office is going to be down staff
and I would like to ensure that both the
mayor and I have a chance to look at
those recommendations before it comes to
Council since it's also our protocol and
then lastly this is the type of item
that doesn't lend itself very well to an
agenda bill particularly if we're not
directing staff to do anything or you're
not taking action to implement anything
and so I would propose that it come back
to a work session where you can have a
conversation about it did you have a
suggested - I can let's I would propose
that we discussed that with council
leadership the next work session is
quite full so that would be something to
consider
councilmember interesting councilmember
Goodman thank you I would prefer to see
a draft following your analysis before
deciding on the action proposals in the
memo Thank You Emily when you're talking
about sorry I forgot your long title I
was going to say something okay
talk about what at work session um can
you clarify sure I just think it lends
itself to the work session format a
little bit better we can have
back-and-forth dialogue on what staff
found in their evaluation and then you
could have a dialogue about what you
think the next action should be should
it be the staff proceed as outlined in
this staff memo with formalizing some
recommendations and taking them to PPC
or do you want us to go back and get
some more research done on particular
land-use topics I think it just fits a
work session format and and the only
reason that I preferred as an agenda
bill is because I think it's a fairly
sensitive topic that we went in several
years with fairly unhappy I'll call it
generally community about what we were
getting in the central Issaquah plan and
I so I would like a time certain when
the analysis will be back before the
council for consideration that's the
reason that I if I if I knew it was if I
was being told it was gonna come back at
a certain time I think s maybe that
would be one thing but I don't
maybe you just said it and I didn't
listen so I I just want to make sure it
gets done so if we need to keep it as an
agenda bill than I'd like to do that so
let me ask the interim City
Administrator couple questions
June 18th work session pretty full July
ninth work session capacity you were
saying
not just development services
an economic development review but all
departments I mission assuming that
means a senior leadership team type
review with returning with some
information at some point is that
possible to do by the July 1990 s staff
could definitely do that right now and
I'm looking at something that's a bit
dated I thought there were two items on
July water system plan and I think
there's one other that I don't have on
the copy in front of me and then a
clarification for councilmember Goodman
so in a sorry mayor and the strategic
plan so two to sizeable items so it
depends on what you think the length of
those I'm sorry those are on the 25th on
on the ninth we don't have that in front
of this but I think there are two items
on July 9th as well just can't recall I
want to make sure I understand your
expectations at that point in time it
would not be an agenda but coming back
would be a council memo saying here's
what the table top staff review look
like and here's a potential issues
identified and a potential you'd be
actually looking at this an agenda book
coming forward later on with a motion
similar to when you would like to do
that is that what you're asking I would
be comfortable with that if my fellow
council members are comfortable with
that so discussion I would be
comfortable with that thank you that's
my right I would be comfortable with
that too what I like is setting this
expectation we're gonna we're gonna work
through what it is specifically we want
before making a decision about when to
do it so I think there's still a lot of
information that's missing about what
the magnitude of this change is and if
we can have something come back on in
early July which is great and then we
can make a determination at that point
at how urgently we want to drive it
forward and whether we're going to do
this year next year or somewhere way out
in the future
here Thank You councilmember a other
counts my overwinter Stein just for
clarification could could somebody tell
me what that is what we do with that he
was comfortable with that a
councilmember coming to the July 9th
work session which is the kind of review
that councilmember Goodman described to
our director that our interim City
Administrator said she would like to
have fully vetted internally before it
came to the work session so so if we
take a vote this evening it's not on any
of the elements in this memo perhaps
pre-work correct thank you the motion
would be to I've just provided some
advisory councilmember Goodman she wants
to use it it would be to bring it back
to the July 9th work session as
information that's member hunt and this
is a question about that process at the
work session we would be discussing
would we be discussing both the content
of the land uses as well as the amount
of further public planning policy
Commission meetings etc and the rest of
the timeline or would it be focusing on
the Lillian juice recommendations that
are I don't think you're going to be
getting fully-baked recommendations
you're going to be getting a quick
review from our staff that says here are
some issues were highlighting and
recommending that we do start a process
with the following timeline it's more or
less to give you enough information to
decide do I want to do it this year next
year or urgency to it thanks more
questions
council president Mertz I like the idea
because I like longer council meetings
when they're like tonight is only gonna
be maybe an hourish and I feel a lack of
a sense of closure Thank You anyone else
any other comments I counsel my friend
um I have a quick comment which is just
that in the strategic planning meetings
we've heard a lot I think about from the
community about being more proactive and
so I generally like the idea of looking
at the land uses in a more proactive way
rather than our reaction to something
that pops out thank you for that comment
I'm just gonna double check with the
city administrator scheduled that we can
commit to that sounds great Keith now
has a short term homework so you get it
to me before I leave so I have an
opportunity to look at it councilmember
Goodman we have a motion on the table
and I'm not sure I understand it do we
let what do we do with this if we're
getting a commitment instead to come to
the July 9th work session do we let it
die I don't want to vote no when an end
the motion and if the second degrees
oh oh okay look I'm sorry take me what
Emily said was the motion okay is okay
we just have clarity on what it is and
what it is okay
any other discussion any other questions
if there's no further discussion all
those in favor of directing the
administration to reevaluate the
permitted land uses table 4.3 be in the
central square development and design
standards and make recommendations to
the City Council as to whether changes
are needed
after the moratorium is lifted signify
by saying aye okay let's post a motion
carries unanimously thank you a good
discussion the next order of business is
for good of the order do any council
members have anything for good of the
order that's member winters day real
quickly thanks the staff and mayor for
this the thing about the picnic trail
I'm gonna add something to your comment
about this when with this trail opening
up it actually does reconnect on the
north end with the the Sammamish trail
so people traveling south can get off at
56 I think it is and travel and get back
on without going out on East Lake
Sammamish and northbound as well and I
just want to make sure that if people
were aware that that connection is there
even such showing on this map thank you
for doing that it's very exciting very
exciting anything else we're gonna the
other council member a I just wanted to
recognize Issaquah Police Department and
Public Works operations or their
presence at the June ninth farmers
market they were amazing they were
engaging they had a line of people you
know around the block to spend time with
them I think we came across as a really
incredibly great city and with really
great people and they were to a person
farming and engaging so thank you to
everybody who participated in that
that's fantastic anyone else for good of
the order I have a couple of little
things to add
we're done I just want to let everybody
know that the June 18th council meeting
oh sorry that the June 25th consul work
session has some items which include
citywide strategic plan and water system
plan as our interim city administrator
stated July 2nd regular council meeting
some of the potential agenda items
include old town traffic calming project
and that is a funding request for a
permanent installation P fasts pilot
study and that will also be a funding
request coming to Council and that's it
there is no executive session this
evening and if there's no further
business we are adjourned at a
record-breaking 804 p.m.
you