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City Council Committee of the Whole Auto captions

Monday, April 24, 2023

6:30 PM · 3h 37m · Council Chambers, 135 E. Sunset Way, Issaquah WA
Topics tracked across meetings:
Good of the Order 5/15
Amendments to Title 18 re: Diversity of Housing Adopt Ordinance AB 8618 2/4
Emergency Housing Program Funding Allocations AB 8619 1/2
2. AGENDA ITEMS
2a
Public Comment Public comment on individual agenda items will also be accepted following Council Q&A
packet pp.5–38
Staff report:
Provide Administration programmatic input to further refine potential space planning options. The Administration recommends Issaquah Police stay in the current facility, and remain adjacent to the Municipal Court.
2b
Police, Court and City Hall Planning: Future Options ID 1350
Director · 60 min · Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator Jen Davis Hayes, Economic Development Manager Christen Leeson, Senior Planner Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager
Topics: Public Safety
2d
Good of the Order
0:03 welcome everyone I council president
0:05 Walsh called the April 24th Committee of
0:08 the whole meeting to order at 6 30 pm
0:12 tonight we've got two council members
0:14 council member Mertz and council member
0:15 Ray that I have excused absences this
0:18 evening
0:18 and there will be multiple comment
0:22 public comment opportunities at
0:23 tonight's meeting there's a general
0:25 public comment opportunity at the
0:27 beginning of the meeting or you can make
0:29 comments after the presentation and
0:31 Council question and answer period on
0:32 tonight's agenda item so looking at
0:35 tonight's agenda item we will start with
0:37 public comment followed by two items
0:40 we've got ID 1350 Police Court and City
0:44 Hall planning future options and then
0:47 that will be followed by
0:49 id1347 affordable housing and housing
0:52 action implementation otherwise known as
0:55 the happy Grant and then we'll have go
0:58 to the order in adjournment we'll just
1:00 keep this riding pretty quickly for the
1:02 these big media topics but to start
1:06 tonight's agenda of
1:09 we have public comment
1:12 um so let me sit over there and read
1:20 let's see members of public May address
1:22 council at this time in person or
1:24 virtually those who signed up in advance
1:26 to make comments will be called on first
1:28 if you're joining us virtually and would
1:30 like to make a comment go ahead and
1:31 raise your hand your virtual hand if
1:34 you're on the phone you're going to
1:35 press star three if you're on a computer
1:37 or smartphone you're going to look for
1:39 the hand icon or you can just send the
1:42 host a chat message
1:43 if you're in the room and did not sign
1:45 up I'll ask for other speakers before
1:47 closing this portion of the meeting
1:50 I'm going to see if anyone online wants
1:52 to raise their hand or if we have anyone
1:54 signed up to speak or indicate a desire
1:57 to speak
1:59 yes
2:01 okay great I'm gonna go on to the rest
2:04 of the information then we'll call
2:06 people up so citizen comments are an
2:09 important part of the public process we
2:11 take them seriously and Factor them into
2:13 the decisions that we make please direct
2:15 comment to the whole Council and not
2:17 individuals while this isn't a question
2:19 and answer session we will contact you
2:21 to follow up if needed when recognized
2:24 if you're virtual you'll unmute your
2:26 microphone or if you're in person you'll
2:28 step up to the lectern and press the
2:30 button to unmute that microphone please
2:33 state your name address and relationship
2:35 to City
2:36 uh speak clearly and pause frequently
2:38 and you'll need to limit your comments
2:40 to five minutes
2:42 if you're attending virtually and do not
2:43 respond after your name or phone number
2:45 is called or if your connection is lost
2:47 unexpectedly the meeting will need to
2:49 proceed you're encouraged to rejoin the
2:52 meeting if able personal attacks obscene
2:55 language derogatory remarks and
2:56 disruptive behavior will not be
2:58 permitted so clerk can you identify the
3:00 first first person who has signed up to
3:02 speak
3:06 um yes I'm
3:07 Eric did me did you write Mariah
3:10 Batista's name down
3:12 okay which was she planning to attend
3:13 virtually Maybe
3:15 yes please come up anyways you are the
3:18 first speaker Eric oliner
3:21 we also have a few people virtually with
3:23 us signed up to speak as well okay great
3:25 my apologies um we we had a a Time snafu
3:29 so Mariah was planning to be here at
3:31 seven
3:33 um and she and I and uh Aaron long
3:37 Cherry planned to speak sort of tag
3:40 teaming on behalf of the isqua food and
3:43 clothing bank so
3:45 um Mariah's comments were to be more
3:48 General in nature and I think she was
3:51 really looking at the city's overall
3:55 strategic plan and the human services
3:57 department strategic plan and noting how
4:00 Central to those
4:04 strategic plans are the
4:08 needs of the community and how the
4:12 clothing bank food and clothing bank
4:14 meet those needs now but the ever
4:19 burgeoning demand means that that we
4:21 need to expand so
4:24 that that's probably all of what Mariah
4:27 was going to say although I I don't have
4:29 her text with me so I'll proceed with
4:32 with my own if I may thank you council
4:35 members for allowing us to speak I
4:39 appreciate the opportunity to again
4:40 support changes to the parking
4:43 requirements in the Municipal Code
4:45 Council recently decided to reevaluate
4:48 parking regulations on a city-wide basis
4:51 the stated intent of which is to balance
4:54 actual parking needs with ensuring the
4:57 highest and best use of properties
4:58 within the city
5:00 and nowhere is that more important than
5:03 within isquas downtown core
5:05 the city's Human Services Department's
5:08 strategic plan of 2021 identified the
5:10 need to support sustain and expand
5:13 access to basic human services as one of
5:16 its five main goals and it highlighted
5:18 the lack of a community multi-resource
5:20 center in each Focus area in this
5:24 context the cities as the city's direct
5:27 resource provider of basic human
5:30 services the iskwa food and clothing
5:32 bank is ideally situated in the heart of
5:35 downtown Issaquah where it provides the
5:37 best access visibility and proximity to
5:40 other services
5:41 our proposed expansion at that location
5:44 would allow us to become the kind of
5:46 multi-resource facility that aligns
5:48 perfectly with the city's strategic
5:51 plans unfortunately due to its limited
5:54 property size and core programmatic
5:57 needs
5:58 providing on-site parking per current
6:00 code requirements is not feasible and
6:03 would seriously reduce the food bank's
6:06 ability to expand the essential programs
6:08 and services it provides to our
6:10 community
6:11 our predicament is a prime example of
6:14 why the city must have the tools to
6:16 creatively address parking needs while
6:19 recognizing the benefits of preserving
6:22 the highest and best use of property
6:24 especially within our downtown core
6:27 arguably having essential Community
6:29 Services in a central location is surely
6:33 a better and higher use of that property
6:35 than his parking
6:37 we hope Council will give serious
6:39 consideration to making immediate
6:41 changes to the IMC
6:43 that would give the city the flexibility
6:46 to consider actual needs and alternative
6:49 Solutions
6:50 for the ifcb that flexibility will
6:54 permit us to move forward with an
6:55 expansion and become the human resource
6:58 Hub that integrates the communities
7:00 needed services
7:04 if I may I have
7:07 Aaron long Cherry's planned remarks with
7:11 me so if if I might proceed with those
7:18 incorrectly building off the remarks of
7:21 of her colleague Eric
7:24 she appreciates
7:26 she Echoes our appreciation of another
7:28 opportunity to support parking
7:30 requirement changes in our municipal
7:33 code to preserve the highest and best
7:35 use of property is utilized for
7:37 essential Human Services it's our
7:39 understanding that the parking spots
7:41 directly in front of our food bank are
7:43 not currently officially designated as
7:46 City on street parking
7:48 as the city considers its overall
7:50 assessment of building or expanding in
7:53 the downtown core we ask that the city
7:55 consider allocating the spaces directly
7:57 in front of the food bank as designated
8:00 on-site parking for the issqua food and
8:03 clothing bank as they are currently
8:05 primary use for this purpose
8:07 these spaces are vital for Neighbors as
8:10 accessing our programs in Paramount to
8:12 our ability to continue providing much
8:15 needed essential Human Services to help
8:18 ensure an equitable and thriving
8:20 Community these spaces are also High
8:22 turnover and short duration use
8:25 and are regularly utilized by the
8:28 general public outside of our operating
8:29 hours
8:30 again we appreciate the council members
8:33 consideration of this request as a
8:36 critical component of balancing parking
8:38 requirements with as I've said before
8:40 highest and best use of existing City
8:43 properties thank you very much
8:47 great timing I mean just hit that one on
8:51 the on the nail
8:53 [Laughter]
8:56 um clerk is there anyone else who has
8:58 identified a desire to speak yes the
9:01 next speaker is a virtual attendee John
9:03 Schwartz John I've just made you a
9:04 panelist so you should be able to unmute
9:06 and you can choose to turn your video on
9:08 if you'd like
9:10 sure
9:12 all right you're able to hear me okay we
9:14 are thank you okay good hi I'm John
9:17 Schwartz
9:18 um I live with 630 650 First Avenue
9:22 Southeast in Bellevue
9:24 um my relationship to Issaquah is that
9:27 I'm currently working on a townhouse
9:28 project there and looking for other
9:30 development opportunities in the city
9:33 um as far as my background An Architect
9:35 by profession have built affordable
9:37 housing day and overnight shelters
9:40 transitional and Supportive Housing
9:42 currently have a family Supportive
9:45 Housing
9:46 project going in Ballard so I'm pretty
9:50 familiar with the long history of how
9:53 affordable housing and and gets built in
9:56 the state and the funding mechanisms in
9:58 place for that I did read with interest
10:02 some of the reporting on your work with
10:04 Echo Northwest
10:06 on identifying barriers to your current
10:09 Iz regulations and I think it would Echo
10:13 a lot of what they're saying there you
10:16 know I've done projects as low as 30
10:18 percent of median income with special
10:21 needs housing
10:22 and for the most part most of the
10:25 projects we work on only happen with
10:27 free land and substantial tax credit and
10:32 grant money is coming into the project
10:36 and you have to find that balance of of
10:40 you know can you get free land that's
10:43 the best and and just about every
10:44 project we work on the land is donated
10:46 it to the project
10:48 second I think is if you want the market
10:52 rate developers to be working in this
10:54 space you have to work within some
10:58 criteria where they can actually get a
11:00 loan placed on on the vertical
11:02 construction to to make it financiable
11:05 you know the the recommendations of
11:08 somewhere around uh you know seven and a
11:11 half to ten percent of your overall unit
11:13 count makes sense
11:16 um I would tell you it's tough to make
11:17 it work at much less than 80 percent a
11:20 median income
11:24 other aspects is you also use in the
11:28 multi-family tax exemption program that
11:30 in combination
11:31 uh with these inclusionary zonings is is
11:34 really important the other thing that
11:37 we've seen in some markets is actual
11:41 zoning envelope incentives or they might
11:44 allow additional height
11:46 also oftentimes from both the market
11:49 perspective and as an incentive reduced
11:52 parking requirements
11:54 you know Issaquah is pretty focused on
11:57 pretty high quality development in your
11:59 town which is great but it also becomes
12:01 an impediment to making the housing
12:04 affordable so I think kind of a broader
12:07 look perhaps under different
12:10 policies around the development
12:13 standards in general might also help to
12:17 create some additional opportunities for
12:19 housing anyway just wanted to share my
12:22 thoughts on that good luck I hope you
12:24 can find the right balance on this
12:26 because uh our area definitely needs
12:29 more affordable housing on the east side
12:31 thank you
12:33 really appreciate it and do we have
12:37 anyone else signed up okay yes we have
12:40 two more virtual attendees the next is
12:42 Brian Brian I've just made you a
12:44 panelist you should have the option to
12:46 unmute and can choose to turn your video
12:56 hi yeah my name is uh Brian runberg I'm
12:59 principal at the runberg architecture
13:01 um address is one yesterday in Seattle
13:03 uh I'm speaking on behalf of the
13:05 ownership and development team of the
13:07 former Red Robin site 1085 Lake Drive
13:09 and Pickering place I'm here to comment
13:11 on the affordable housing action plan
13:15 um and specifically supporting the the
13:18 three items in the strategy six
13:21 recommendations within attachment a I
13:24 think I believe it's on page 82.
13:26 um I've 25 years specialized experience
13:29 in mixed use developments and Tod's
13:31 housing throughout the region
13:34 and our group is in the process
13:36 ironically as you're putting this
13:38 together of evaluating that Red Robin's
13:41 site in Pickering place for
13:43 redevelopment and we're looking at two
13:44 key choices one's between office use
13:46 similar to the Costco Office Buildings
13:49 or mixed-use development which would
13:51 align really nicely with the central
13:53 Issaquah plan SRM develops both they've
13:57 developed the Kirkland Google campus for
13:58 example and then also the mixed use
14:00 housing as well
14:02 collectively and individually both our
14:04 firms produced tens of thousands of
14:06 units in the region over the past 25
14:08 years we we collectively applaud the
14:11 central plan its Vision to quote you
14:14 know create a vibrant uh retail core and
14:16 livable sustainable balance mixed use in
14:19 the urban area and defined there and for
14:23 this Red Robin site it can yield
14:24 somewhere between 275 and 300 units
14:27 however we've just completely stopped in
14:30 our due diligence to execute on this uh
14:33 because of this affordable housing
14:34 policy this
14:37 according to our calculations somewhere
14:39 to 30 to 36 units in the 50 to 60 Ami
14:43 range plus over 700 000 in density fees
14:47 um as a previous speaker I mean we are
14:48 big proponents of affordable housing we
14:50 do both we have a division that does
14:52 both SRM has a division as both and
14:55 we're seeing the same same issue of the
14:57 performance combination here
15:00 um and being able to execute on those so
15:03 in the past 10 years I mean our firm
15:04 loans developed uh are designed and put
15:07 in place 29 Tod projects along both
15:09 sound transit lines some are built some
15:12 are under construction some are in the
15:14 design process but none have for the Ami
15:16 combinations that we're seeing requested
15:19 here
15:21 um thus agree with the strategy six
15:24 recommendations there so for context
15:27 just quick briefly I can say for market
15:29 rate projects again or the previous
15:31 speaker spoke on the same thing but uh
15:34 what is standard in in many of these
15:37 other projects we're doing and again
15:39 there's numerous of them they're they're
15:41 um somewhere they're in the 80 Ami range
15:44 on performance and those are with mfte
15:46 and we understand with Red Robin site
15:48 we're not even eligible for mfte which
15:51 is unfortunate
15:53 um and uh just to be competitive because
15:56 these the property sold for the same
15:58 price per per square foot yet you know
16:00 this light rail or link the system is
16:03 you know 15 to 17 years away where the
16:06 other ones are you know months away from
16:08 from being implemented so there's a
16:10 there's a barrier to Market on there so
16:13 and
16:14 um just on the Ami range and I think the
16:17 previous speaker kind of spoke on this
16:18 as well these are defined as low very
16:20 low income and the key components we
16:22 again we do hundreds of units in both
16:26 um they're mainly developed and operated
16:29 by if they're if they're affordable
16:30 they're developed by and operated by
16:32 non-profit organizations with specific
16:34 criteria to make them viable let alone
16:36 successful meaning land values but
16:38 there's also Bond financing local state
16:40 federal funding and those don't overlap
16:43 is what we've seen with the market rate
16:46 the market rates can perform down to 80
16:48 but they they cannot do that the other
16:50 component with the affordable range
16:53 but the Ami range is excuse me to have
16:56 social services included to make them
16:58 truly successful
17:01 um we are again long-standing experts in
17:04 this specific Market in this as a
17:06 responsible architect and Steward of our
17:08 communities environment we'd love to
17:09 work with Cydia Squad to fulfill the
17:11 central Issaquah plan I think it's a
17:12 great plan and a great vision
17:15 um but it's sadly our we simply can't
17:17 move forward with the mixed use uh
17:19 without those recommendations cited in
17:22 that Eco Northwest report
17:24 um and we fully support those three
17:26 those three changes to make at least our
17:28 specific project viable which is
17:30 revising that inclusionary requirement
17:34 um you know it and the there was
17:37 reducing reduction in structure or
17:39 parking because of the structured
17:40 parking we have an extremely high water
17:42 table which is very expensive and also
17:45 expand the mft program I think all those
17:48 as equal Northwest is cited we'll expand
17:50 the housing overall so um since the
17:54 program has yet to deliver any
17:55 affordable housing uh as it was intended
17:58 we don't understand why the staff's not
17:59 proposing these changes at this time I
18:01 can say that we
18:03 definitely do or uh I think there's an
18:06 opportunity that we could be defined as
18:08 a Pioneer project under your definition
18:10 which is I think we meet all that
18:12 criteria because there is no housing on
18:14 the north side of the of I-90 Corridor
18:18 um and the Pioneer projects defined as
18:21 initial projects in a plan area that are
18:24 given additional incentives to balance
18:26 the risk involved with being the first
18:27 in this market area which we are such as
18:29 mfte and relaxed Brian I'm sorry this is
18:33 good so you've reached that end of your
18:35 comment time right I got most of it
18:37 anyway but thank you very much
18:39 thank you Brian we appreciate it if you
18:42 have anything else you can always email
18:43 us at uh city council at issaquah.gov
18:47 clerk do we have anybody else signed up
18:49 yes Connor Hanson Connor you've been
18:51 made a panelist you should be able to
18:53 unmute
18:55 great thank you everyone can hear me we
18:57 can thank you
18:59 uh good evening everyone uh thank you
19:01 for the opportunity to speak with you
19:03 tonight uh my name is Connor Hansen I'm
19:05 the managing principal at affordable
19:06 housing for SRM
19:09 um I uh prior to me joining us from
19:12 about two years ago I was the director
19:13 of real estate for Mount Baker Housing
19:15 Association in southeast Seattle and
19:18 have developed preserved or in the
19:20 process of creating uh just over 3 000
19:23 affordable units of my career
19:26 um I'm here to speak on the happy today
19:29 um and just provide my perspective on
19:31 the matter I think John and Brian spoke
19:33 prior to me
19:34 touched all my points so I can be brief
19:36 but typically
19:38 um 50 to 60 percent Ami housing is most
19:42 often Crea at scale is created with loan
19:45 capacity tax credits uh in combination
19:47 with low-cost government loans
19:51 um if it's if the 50 to 60 percent is a
19:54 requirement of the zoning it's usually
19:56 offset with some kind of enhancement to
19:59 benefit the project like
20:01 um you know more density far calculation
20:04 less parking
20:06 um you know no property taxes things
20:09 like that
20:10 um and then as others have alluded to
20:12 the 50 and 60 percent housing is much
20:15 different than 80 plus percent Ami
20:18 housing and usually takes a different
20:20 um type of management a different type
20:23 of building program and design
20:25 and it comes with different expenses
20:28 that are hard for a market rate
20:30 developer to perform those duties but
20:33 also Finance those duties so all those
20:36 reasons that I've listed and others have
20:38 listed this evening are kind of the main
20:40 reason why we don't see a lot of this
20:43 type of housing mixed income housing
20:45 mean 50 percent am I having with market
20:47 rate in the region because it really
20:50 requires an expert who is specialized in
20:54 um all the all the items I listed to not
20:58 only just maintain that housing but for
21:00 it to Excel and so uh it's often a
21:04 deterrent for these types of mandates to
21:07 be imposed on on housing for a market
21:09 rate developer to take that on and the
21:11 net effect of all that is the housing
21:14 just doesn't get created so I I'm here
21:18 to just suggest that I think what Eco
21:20 Northwest
21:21 suggested is in line with the rest of
21:24 the region
21:25 and I'm here to recommend that uh the
21:28 staff and city council take their report
21:31 into consideration for moving forward so
21:34 thank you for your time
21:36 thank you Connor and do we have anyone
21:41 else signed up or with a desire to speak
21:46 no one virtually
21:48 is there anyone in the room who would
21:50 like to speak
21:51 go ahead
22:03 yeah well hello everybody
22:06 my name is Mariah Batiste and I have
22:09 lived in Issaquah for over 23 years I'm
22:11 on the board of the Issaquah food and
22:13 clothing bank I want to start by saying
22:16 how lovely it is to see all of your
22:18 wonderful faces I've been delinquent in
22:21 being here and we'll talk about that at
22:23 another time I need to be here more
22:25 often I understand that tonight you're
22:28 talking about Police Court City Hall
22:30 future planning and I I think you were
22:34 able to hear some comments earlier
22:37 from another member of our board of
22:40 directors and other other comments that
22:43 have been put together by Aaron
22:45 longchari our director of operations and
22:47 programs but what I wanted to talk to
22:49 you today about was a 10 000 foot
22:52 journey
22:53 and I wanted to talk about the city
22:55 Journey Through My Eyes back in
23:00 back when I was a human services
23:02 commissioner we were talking about the
23:05 vision for a human services Hub that was
23:09 something that maybe many of you were
23:12 involved in that was even way before I
23:14 started and that was many years ago as
23:17 the city council member we had an
23:19 opportunity to work on the city's first
23:21 strategic plan that identified Human
23:24 Services as a goal a goal area the human
23:27 services department developed its own
23:29 strategic plan which filled my heart
23:32 with joy there's been collaboration
23:35 between the city the police department
23:38 East Side Fire and Rescue and the
23:40 Issaquah food and clothing bank around
23:42 case management that's something that's
23:44 happened for many years but it's
23:46 expanded and the development of the
23:48 Human Services Behavioral Health Team so
23:51 we've made some great strides
23:53 on the other side the Issaquah food and
23:56 clothing bank Journey we've been talking
23:58 for many many years about the fact that
24:01 that organization has outgrown where it
24:06 um it there is a need to update the
24:08 space and and really the inability to be
24:11 able to serve the clients that they
24:13 serve in the space that they're
24:15 currently in the way that it's currently
24:17 configured so there was that years and
24:19 years ago there was the the idea for
24:22 three stories at the Issaquah food and
24:24 clothing bank then there was the
24:25 conversation with East Side Fire and
24:27 Rescue then there was the conversation
24:29 with Our Savior Lutheran Church there
24:32 were three extensive searches with
24:35 commercial real estate brokers now we're
24:38 looking at a two-story remodel of our
24:41 current location why because we've done
24:43 research and a lot of due diligence in
24:46 terms of looking at all of these
24:48 Alternatives and what we found is that
24:50 we're in the best location for the
24:53 clients for the need for the city being
24:56 in that core is is critical to the work
25:00 that the Issaquah food and clothing bank
25:02 does so I'm just going to say that again
25:04 we feel it's critical to our client base
25:06 we believe it's the best use of that
25:09 location I personally can't think of a
25:11 better use of where the Issaquah food
25:14 and clothing bank is setting and in
25:17 addition I just want to point out that
25:18 something about that the Issaquah food
25:20 clothing bank isn't always great about
25:23 bringing up is that for nine years
25:25 they've been working on resource
25:27 navigation and case management we have a
25:31 vision of being able to provide
25:34 Human Services and and being able to be
25:37 part of that Hub to being able to
25:40 provide some of the services that would
25:42 be in that Hub and to be able to be a
25:44 partner to the city
25:46 I want to also say now that we've talked
25:48 about two Journeys I want to also say
25:50 that we very very much respect this
25:53 process the city has to have strategic
25:55 foresight it has to have the the ability
25:57 to look into the future and to look at
26:00 planning and everything that needs to be
26:01 done and we all understand and respect
26:04 that but we've been talking about the
26:06 need for expanded Human Services and a
26:09 hub model and that and what we need to
26:11 do to get that done for so many years
26:14 now
26:15 we right now we have the Issaquah food
26:19 and clothing bank a shining star I've
26:23 called it a shining star before and I'm
26:25 going to call it a shining star again
26:27 it's it's a group that wants to stay in
26:29 the core
26:30 it wants to stay right in the core
26:32 it's right here it's in the right
26:35 location it's the best use of that space
26:38 so I just ask that as you're making all
26:40 of your thoughtful decisions tonight
26:42 that you keep that into consideration
26:44 take it into consideration I thank you
26:46 for your time
26:48 thank you Mariah and do we have anyone
26:51 else in the audience who'd like to speak
26:56 okay
26:57 and give an alas call to anybody online
27:00 we're good there okay fantastic we
27:04 appreciate all of the public comments
27:06 and again a lot of people had a lot of
27:08 things to say if there's anything else
27:10 you want to share with us we all read
27:12 our emails city council at issaquah.gov
27:16 so our next item on our agenda is id1350
27:20 Police Court and City Hall planning
27:22 future uh future options presented by
27:25 Autumn Monahan the administrative
27:27 Services director and Bob Stowe with
27:30 Stow development strategies and Mike
27:32 jobs with the Miller whole partnership
27:35 take it away Adam
27:37 thank you city council again my name is
27:38 Autumn Monahan I'm the administrative
27:40 Services director and I'm here with a
27:42 lot of folks tonight
27:43 including police chief Paula Schwann
27:46 who's joining us virtually Christy
27:49 scharn our court administrator and then
27:51 a few folks from our internal steering
27:52 committee so Jeannie Justice is also
27:54 online who heads up facilities now for
27:56 the city and Robert hamoud our CFO
28:01 so the purpose of tonight is to provide
28:03 some follow-up information following the
28:05 March 13th Committee of the whole
28:07 presentation provides some analysis on
28:09 some key programmatic areas reviews uh
28:12 received City council's feedback and
28:14 then review some next steps
28:17 so what direction we're looking for
28:19 tonight so this project has a whole lot
28:21 of puzzle pieces and before we start
28:23 shaping these puzzle pieces into
28:25 scenarios for your consideration we
28:27 wanted to take the opportunity tonight
28:29 to really discuss and talk through some
28:31 more programmatic questions so the three
28:33 questions we're posing tonight are
28:35 should Issaquah police stay in its
28:37 current facility and make 10
28:39 improvements and expand into the Upper
28:42 Floor or should we be considering a new
28:44 facility and the administration
28:45 recommends its current facility
28:48 the next question is should isopah
28:49 police and Issaquah court remain
28:51 adjacent to each other and the
28:53 administration's recommending yes if
28:54 possible
28:55 and then what options should Issaquah
28:57 further study for our space needs
28:59 building new construction leasing or
29:02 purchasing and renovating
29:09 came from the March
29:11 information on the first was a lot of
29:14 feedback around our project goals and so
29:16 there was some feedback that was
29:19 integrated and is included in attachment
29:20 in your materials tonight where I've
29:23 updated the goals a bit after hearing
29:24 your feedback but just as a reminder the
29:26 goals for this project are ensuring
29:28 safety responsibly storing public
29:30 dollars providing accessible Equitable
29:32 and exceptional customer service
29:35 supporting Economic Development
29:36 delivering enhanced Community amenities
29:38 and embodying environmental stewardship
29:42 there was also a question around we've
29:45 so we're working in a hybrid environment
29:47 uh specifically well in a couple areas
29:48 in the city but one of them is on the
29:50 top floor of City Hall and there was a
29:52 question around staff's use of the
29:55 building
29:55 um and what days they were coming into
29:57 the office so we pulled some key card
29:59 data for two months of 2023 just for
30:02 that top floor as an example and as we
30:05 had guessed the busiest days at City
30:07 Hall for staff to come in are Tuesday
30:08 through Thursday with Friday being the
30:11 day that the least amount of staff are
30:13 coming in so just one data point for you
30:15 to kind of show what's going on as far
30:17 as a hybrid work environment
30:21 there was also some uh some questions
30:23 around you know what are other
30:25 innovative ideas or what else is going
30:27 on kind of in the world of municipal
30:29 buildings there haven't been a lot that
30:31 have opened
30:32 um since the pandemic but we have one
30:34 example in the City of Marysville which
30:36 recently opened and so here's a few
30:38 photos that thankfully Robert took for
30:40 us well he was there on a tour
30:43 um and you know there's a few there's a
30:45 few points of innovation from that most
30:46 recent project they do have a
30:48 centralized customer service desk so
30:50 that you have similar to other cities
30:52 like city of Bellevue where you go to
30:53 one desk and you can receive many
30:55 different Services they have a new
30:57 council chambers which you'll see there
30:58 on the bottom left they have an attached
31:01 balcony to that area and then a side
31:03 work room which is great for also
31:06 hosting community events or other
31:08 Gatherings they also have an outdoor
31:10 Plaza also for the community's use and
31:13 then you'll see here they are
31:14 experimenting with pods so similar to
31:16 what we were talking about just a month
31:17 ago as far as some creative ways to find
31:21 private space for staff to hop in and
31:23 take a quick phone call or join a
31:25 virtual meeting
31:28 all right next I'm going to hand it over
31:30 to Bob Stowe to walk through some cost
31:33 estimates I just I'm going to preface
31:34 this by saying these are all very much
31:36 you'll see rough order of magnitude all
31:39 over our staff report and presentation
31:40 tonight these were created with the idea
31:43 that we're having something to compare
31:45 to so make making sure things were more
31:46 apples to apples
31:48 um for a comparison's sake tonight just
31:50 as we start through this exercise of
31:52 thinking through some of those
31:53 programmatic questions so
31:56 hand it over to Bob
31:59 thank you and good evening Council it's
32:01 nice to be with you this evening you
32:03 know one of the comparisons that are
32:04 important that we're going to be
32:05 evaluating tonight are cost and as
32:07 Autumn had indicated we've developed
32:09 some order of magnitude cost estimates
32:11 for each of the different facility
32:13 options that we're going to be
32:14 discussing this evening and all of our
32:16 raw estimates include a full cost of
32:18 development especially for new
32:20 facilities that include the site prep
32:22 all the construction including lead
32:24 Platinum all the soft costs excluding
32:27 permit fees sales tax ffp e or Furniture
32:30 fixtures and and Equipment contingencies
32:33 and structured parking we're applicable
32:36 as well as new land costs were
32:38 applicable so you have really a total
32:40 cost of of all the different facilities
32:45 and so parking is usually a significant
32:48 cost for any facility especially when it
32:51 deals with a structured parking and
32:54 we've developed this uh Matrix of the
32:57 various number of parking spaces that
32:59 would be required for each facility
33:00 based on the city's code plus also
33:04 adding the additional spaces to
33:06 accommodate any city-owned vehicles and
33:09 depending upon the scenario between 85
33:11 and 104 parking spaces would be provided
33:14 by Structure Parking if all of the
33:16 facilities were located here in Old Town
33:19 and between 103 and 122 structured
33:23 parking spaces of the totals you see on
33:25 the screen if located in central
33:27 Issaquah and the reason why it's more in
33:31 central Issaquah is simply that more
33:32 structured parking is required as a as a
33:35 total of the whole than structured
33:38 parking requirement here in Old Town And
33:40 as you probably have read in the sap
33:43 report all the municipal spaces on the
33:45 registration is recommending that all of
33:47 those on-site spaces also be available
33:49 for public use after hours during the
33:52 weekdays and all day during the weekends
33:56 I'm going to interrupt with a question
33:57 before you uh go on to the next slide
34:00 and it might be a little bit more Autumn
34:01 related but for the parking is this
34:04 mostly or entirely based on code
34:07 requirements so have we done an analysis
34:11 of how many of our employees would park
34:16 or would be interested in parking
34:20 um if they were on site and how does
34:23 this relate between Police Court and the
34:26 general city hall facilities
34:29 I would say before Autumn steps up it's
34:31 based on the the minimum code
34:34 requirement plus additional spaces to
34:36 accommodate city-owned Vehicles so it
34:38 doesn't take into account whether or not
34:40 someone has a ride share or not
34:42 necessarily doesn't have a card and
34:44 therefore would not be using the space
34:47 but it's also not based on a survey of
34:50 you know
34:52 75 percent of employees currently drive
34:54 to work unless we would want to provide
34:56 75 percent of spaces not at this point
34:58 no okay thank you okay
35:02 anything else to add them okay
35:07 so we have evaluated three options with
35:09 respect to achieving the police current
35:11 needs and future needs the first option
35:14 is for the police to remain in their
35:16 current facility and occupying the
35:18 remainder of the space and the building
35:20 that's currently occupied by city hall
35:21 and then remodeling with some tenant
35:23 expenses at a cost of about five million
35:25 dollars the second option is for new
35:28 police station of 24
35:30 455 square feet that's the amount that
35:33 was identified within the space needs
35:34 analysis that you discussed last month
35:38 also including the same size of gun
35:40 range in jail that exist in the current
35:43 facility and that's at a cost of 65
35:45 million dollars if that were to be
35:47 constructed in Old Town the same type of
35:49 facility new construction for the police
35:51 facility gun range and and
35:54 um jail if that were constructed in
35:56 central Issaquah that price would raise
35:58 to 74 million dollars and the difference
35:59 is because
36:01 land costs for one is accounted for in
36:04 the central Issaquah option as well as
36:06 some additional structured parking
36:08 required
36:13 foreign
36:14 police and Municipal Court team see
36:18 value in locating adjacents to to one
36:20 another and you heard Autumn mentioned
36:22 that the police chief and the court
36:24 administrator here to provide some
36:26 information uh for you or to address
36:28 questions that you might have but
36:30 generally the benefits are as follows
36:31 one security and safety in case there's
36:34 a security incident the court police
36:35 officers are more likely to respond
36:37 certainly if they're just adjacent or
36:38 right next door to the court customer
36:40 service sometimes customers come to
36:43 maybe the wrong counter when they should
36:46 be if they're coming to the court
36:47 counter they may be seeking the court
36:48 the the police counter and vice versa
36:50 and simply have an adjacent facilities
36:52 allows that citizen then to immediately
36:55 go to that other counter without sending
36:56 them across town to find the facility
36:58 and then remanding orders when to
37:00 defendant physically is located in the
37:03 court is remanded into to custody
37:04 Issaquah police are more likely to
37:07 respond faster for any sort of
37:08 detainment that might be necessary and
37:10 tonight we sit in a shared space between
37:13 the court facility and the city council
37:15 and although there's not any sort of
37:17 operational need for the two to be
37:19 adjacent with each other there is some
37:21 operational efficiencies and certainly
37:23 cost savings for you to continue to do
37:26 that so that is another option that you
37:27 could consider is to Simply use these
37:29 same facilities going forward in the
37:31 future whether it's a new building or a
37:33 remodeled building
37:38 we have uh evaluated two options yes
37:41 take one moment with it on the previous
37:43 slide
37:44 yes okay council member I had asked to
37:47 ask the question earlier because it in
37:50 the narrative that we were provided uh
37:53 it says that this building isn't uh
37:55 really suitable for remodeling and so uh
38:00 my question at that time was what are we
38:02 what are we talking about are we talking
38:04 about tearing it down are we talking
38:05 about
38:07 selling it are we talking about you know
38:10 changing it repurposing it uh if it's
38:13 not suitable for remodeling
38:16 you know what what are we thinking about
38:17 in terms of this building so that was my
38:20 question and and uh if you could just
38:23 clarify that would be great you bet
38:24 excellent question and a great segue
38:26 into this next slide
38:28 so we we've evaluated two options with
38:30 respect to court facilities the one is
38:33 to build a new court
38:34 um of the size that's recommended in the
38:36 space needs of 8 368 square feet in Old
38:39 Town at a cost of 14 million that cost
38:41 jumps up to 18 million if you build that
38:43 in central Issaquah again because of
38:45 land costs and additional Structure
38:47 Parking now you're right council member
38:49 about the the staff report indicated
38:52 that it would be challenging uh to
38:54 renovate this facility given the site
38:57 size what you could fit on this site in
39:00 terms of expansion to meet the space
39:02 needs analysis as well as just the
39:05 configuration of the building make it
39:07 difficult and challenging to remodel
39:09 this facility and so we viewed that as
39:11 not being a viable option at this time
39:13 you certainly could spend money to
39:15 remodel it but it'd be very expensive
39:17 and you may not ultimately get what you
39:19 really want for from the facility
39:22 so if it's okay
39:24 um so so to follow up and I realized
39:27 we're early early in the process and
39:29 maybe we don't have an answer for this
39:30 but but if it's not conducive for
39:32 remodeling that says to me that uh the
39:36 court is at some point is going to leave
39:38 this building either it you know it's
39:41 going to be a new building or we're
39:43 going to build something over there or
39:45 but the that it's no longer viable for
39:49 the court to be in this building in its
39:51 current state is that what I'm hearing
39:53 that's that's the the preliminary
39:55 outcome that we've that we've come to
39:58 that doesn't mean that a new building
40:00 can't be placed in the same location or
40:01 a similar location or across the street
40:03 or some configuration
40:05 is me thank you
40:12 so we're going to kick off the I'm sorry
40:14 we've got one more okay it's always last
40:15 minute here I'm so sorry
40:18 um I just wanted to ask since we have
40:20 Chief Schwann on the line too so the
40:22 memo talks about how ipd in the courtesy
40:25 value and adjacency you talked about
40:27 efficiency too I'm just curious if
40:29 Beyond adjacency if Chief Sean if you if
40:32 you have any thoughts about just like
40:33 location and just kind of what what your
40:36 analysis might be just as the head of
40:39 ipd
40:44 regarding the location itself
40:48 um in proximity to the court or in
40:50 general
40:51 just in general with regard to any you
40:54 know future city hall future options
40:56 that we're considering does do you and
40:59 do ipdc value in staying put where you
41:01 are and taking over the building I mean
41:03 this is again getting kind of carp for
41:05 the horse here but if we're thinking
41:07 about whether or not we should look
41:09 elsewhere is that something that in your
41:12 opinion ipd would be in favor of or does
41:16 ipd seem like staying put where you are
41:19 adjacent to court services is the most
41:21 valuable option
41:24 I think adjacent to court services is a
41:26 valued option for many different reasons
41:29 um many have been described but there's
41:31 also circumstances with when we have to
41:35 recently there was a circumstance with
41:38 public services and probation and we had
41:41 to take a foot chase to go capture an
41:44 individual who was put into custody so
41:47 that's a big piece but more importantly
41:48 for where the actual PD is located
41:50 currently I think that's also very
41:53 important due to the proximity and we
41:55 are very centrally located right now and
41:58 to find somewhere else we're going to be
42:00 able to have a jail that's in the
42:01 location and as secure as it is would be
42:04 very difficult to find along with the
42:06 the range like we do have it but for us
42:09 to be a centrally located if we need to
42:11 get Southco we're in the center of the
42:13 city so if one of our officers of South
42:14 Cove or needs to get to the station or
42:16 vice versa we're centrally located same
42:19 thing for the highlands I think it's a
42:21 very good proximity to the rest of the
42:24 things in our community and I think
42:25 that's an important piece for our
42:27 response times for getting them the
42:29 services that they need whether it be
42:31 dispatch and it's also not super close
42:35 major thoroughfares which it is but it
42:39 isn't um it's on rain streets but it's
42:42 not like next to the freeway which is
42:45 not a great place for a police
42:46 department to be right next to a freeway
42:48 and a lot of our city is right near 90
42:51 and so
42:52 um I think you know our location in
42:54 proximity especially the court is a
42:56 really big deal because we do a lot of
42:58 work with them we have many people every
43:00 week who even come in like it was
43:01 described to our lobby and say oh is
43:04 this the court no we have to go across
43:06 the street and so having that
43:07 communication whether it's in the same
43:09 building or not but even if just being
43:11 across the street like we are is
43:13 huge
43:15 very advantageous for us and so I think
43:18 changing that would be
43:21 not it would be more difficult it would
43:24 make things a lot more difficult because
43:25 we'd have to transport people further
43:28 around the city so that means we'd have
43:30 to be transporting people in putting our
43:33 officers or transport people in more
43:34 situations where they had to be going
43:37 back and for a cart so there's just a
43:38 lot of different pieces too for court
43:40 being away from us more
43:42 and the people in the court staff they
43:45 if they wanted to take someone to
43:46 custody then that would also put them in
43:48 the the same circumstance which we never
43:50 want to do safety is first and foremost
43:54 um and then like I said for the police
43:55 department we do need more space we're
43:57 growing out of our space we have been
43:59 for quite some time but having the whole
44:00 building will change that drastically
44:04 um we do have all the in that space from
44:06 what we could tell it is has a lot of
44:09 what we need for at least the next 15 20
44:12 years
44:13 even with growth of the population I
44:16 think parking is the biggest thing but
44:18 we're working on that piece as far as in
44:20 the back and having secured parking that
44:22 would be one of the bigger pieces as far
44:24 as um
44:26 that being a bigger part of our building
44:28 planning part
44:31 thank you very much really helpful
44:38 so we're going to kick off the
44:39 discussion regarding uh City Hall
44:41 options with some general sort of
44:44 advantage and disadvantages associated
44:45 with a new facility building a new
44:48 facility uh buying an existing facility
44:51 and renovating at our leasing it
44:52 facility in addition to the wrong costs
44:55 that we'll present
44:58 and so building a new facility some of
45:01 the advantages include more control and
45:02 location of design certainly you are
45:04 able then to build a facility that you
45:06 desire in the way that you want it to be
45:08 built you have more control over how
45:10 those facilities are to be used now as
45:13 well as into the future and of course
45:15 when you when you build a facility you
45:17 own the property You're Building Equity
45:19 into that facility
45:21 into that into that investment
45:22 disadvantage is that you'll have more
45:24 upfront costs clearly new construction
45:26 costs are expensive as compared to
45:29 buying an existing building or Leasing
45:31 and building
45:32 at least over the initial term now as
45:34 buildings have lives of City Halls at
45:37 least 50 years sometimes City Halls are
45:38 lasting these days for 75 or more years
45:40 before you see one removed and rebuilt
45:42 again so you certainly have a lot of
45:46 opportunities for costs and other
45:48 scenarios versus usually your city hall
45:51 is paid for within your first 20 or 25
45:52 years
45:54 it may take longer to construct than
45:56 certainly a remodel project could pay
45:58 certainly probably 12 months could
46:00 easily also go into a year and a half
46:02 construction cycle depending upon what
46:05 else you have to occupy on the site with
46:07 you
46:09 some of the advantages and disadvantages
46:11 with buying a facility and then
46:13 renovating it again similar to the to
46:16 build new is that you have control over
46:17 how those facilities are used now into
46:20 the future since you own the property
46:21 you own the building you're going to
46:23 build equity into it and you're going to
46:24 have some less overall cost you're going
46:27 to have some tenant improvements no
46:28 doubt to try to make sure the building
46:30 is going to serve your needs moving
46:33 forward but generally they're going to
46:34 be less cost than building new
46:36 construction because it's going to be an
46:38 older facility
46:39 some of the disadvantages that you're
46:41 really only can obtain what's available
46:44 in the marketplace at any one time and
46:46 there's very little in the marketplace
46:49 um today for in in Issaquah for facility
46:51 of the size that would be necessary to
46:53 support City Hall functions in fact we
46:55 only found one and we're only able to
46:57 compare three in the last several years
46:59 of a similar size that you could have
47:01 purchased
47:03 and then more maintenance costs of
47:04 course for an older building versus that
47:07 of a newer building
47:09 and then finally advantages and
47:10 disadvantages with lease or rent team
47:12 lower upfront costs really you know easy
47:15 to entry into the market for that you
47:17 simply pay your you sign a 5 10 15 year
47:20 lease or longer and you simply pay your
47:23 your annual ease payments or monthly
47:25 lease payments you have flexibility to
47:27 move out at the end of the at the end of
47:28 the lease period go somewhere else build
47:30 something new
47:31 and maintenance is performed usually by
47:33 the owner but that's going to all be
47:35 subject to your your lease terms
47:36 disadvantages are that again similar to
47:39 when you buy a new building you're going
47:41 to be subject to what's available at the
47:42 marketplace that you can lease at any
47:44 one time you have less control over how
47:46 that space is used sometimes you may not
47:48 be able to use the common space of a
47:50 Lobby in many cases with larger Office
47:52 Buildings You're simply going to be a
47:54 floor or maybe two floors of that
47:55 building and so being able to operate
47:58 the way you want to you're going to have
47:59 to be governed by the rules of the of of
48:02 the of the facility itself
48:04 and then you're going to likely lack
48:06 that institutional presence that usually
48:08 exists with a city facility generally
48:10 people know where City Halls are at
48:11 we're located at sometimes they're in
48:13 the center of the community they're in a
48:14 very prominent space and people really
48:16 are not confused about where to go
48:17 whereas if you have a city hall building
48:19 I've noticed another in business Parks
48:21 or as part of an office building it's
48:23 not readily identifiable that they are a
48:25 city hall there
48:27 um so that's just another Advantage our
48:29 disadvantage for leasing a facility
48:31 existing office building somewhere
48:35 before you move on we've got a question
48:37 absolutely do you have any like examples
48:40 of any peer cities that we might know of
48:42 in the region who have chose to lease or
48:44 rent space for city hall or
48:50 I don't readily some have probably more
48:53 so initially while they're making plans
48:56 to build a facility
48:58 but long-term leases it's just not
49:00 something I've seen very much of at
49:03 least in municipal
49:04 what about Federal Way do they lease
49:07 their campus down there I know they're
49:10 thinking of moving to a more Central
49:12 Area now that they're developing but
49:13 that Office Park that they are in seems
49:17 to be a rental for the big buildings
49:19 they have both for their court and for
49:21 their City Hall maybe we might want to
49:23 check into that sure
49:24 and I think Covington also was in a
49:27 Office Park
49:29 and I don't know if that's a
49:30 quote-unquote temporary yeah it's not
49:34 aware of that I'm sure there are some I
49:36 would imagine the the majority are
49:38 probably owned by the municipality but
49:41 there probably are some that are
49:42 long-term leases as well
49:48 these are the three different scenarios
49:50 that were examined and discussed last
49:53 month at city council that range from 23
49:57 411 square feet from Scenario three up
49:59 to scenario one which included the size
50:02 of a city hall of of 28
50:04 718 square feet
50:10 so there's a lot of information on this
50:12 slide that's been distilled down
50:15 um for for ease of comparison and
50:17 reference again it's more expensive to
50:20 build a new facility in central Issaquah
50:23 than it is an old town because of the
50:25 structured parking requirement of the
50:27 code and the provision for buying at
50:30 least potentially or the need for buying
50:32 land in order to accommodate that new
50:34 facility
50:35 the cost um and so we have cost from
50:38 ranging from 39
50:42 39 million in scenario three all the way
50:44 up to 49 million in Old Town
50:47 um and in central Issaquah they range
50:50 from 48 million scenario three to 57
50:52 million dollars in central Issaquah and
50:55 again these are full costs all costs
50:57 included with exception of permit fees
51:01 so the cost identified for buying a new
51:03 facility and renovating a new facility
51:06 I've been estimated between 17 million
51:08 and 28 million dollars now we came up
51:11 with those numbers based on the three
51:13 limited sales comps that I mentioned
51:15 earlier and then
51:17 um added some some additional tenant
51:20 expenses to those to those facilities
51:22 and based it on a 30 000 square foot
51:25 between 30 000 square foot building on
51:27 one end of the range and the 50 000
51:29 square foot building and they're in the
51:30 range because it'd be unlikely that
51:31 you're going to be able to find in a
51:33 building existing building that meets
51:35 your exact square footage requirements
51:36 whether it be twenty eight thousand or
51:38 Twenty twenty three thousand so we just
51:40 simply picked 30 000 to 50 000 as
51:42 bookends and then looked at the the
51:45 sales as well as the tenant improvements
51:48 and came up with the brains between 17
51:49 and 28 million dollars so considerably
51:52 less than what you'd pay for new
51:53 facilities but again it's going to be
51:56 subject to what's available in the
51:58 market and then whether or not it truly
52:00 meets your long-term needs or not
52:02 then on the lease scenario we looked um
52:06 at a a market lease of 45 dollars per
52:10 square foot escalated that by three
52:12 percent every year for 20 years that's
52:15 where the 36 million dollars
52:17 um is calculated from and then if you
52:19 extend that out to 40 years that's the
52:22 least cost of actual payments that
52:24 you're paying year over year three
52:25 percent interest rate of 102 million
52:27 dollars again that's based on a 30 000
52:30 square foot facility because the
52:32 likelihood of you being able to Simply
52:34 take a piece of a building in exactly
52:37 getting 28 000 or 23 000 is is unlikely
52:40 or be below and so again we just for
52:42 comparison purposes use the thirty
52:44 thousand square foot is maybe what you
52:46 have to lease and those costs are
52:48 between you know 36 and 102. now you can
52:51 start to see that at some point in time
52:52 if you buy it if you purchase or if you
52:55 build a new building for 45 million as
52:58 is in scenario two even with the
53:00 principal and interests associated with
53:02 that
53:03 um certainly well within its life you're
53:05 going to have a payback you're you're
53:08 it's going to the the least costs are
53:10 going to be far more expensive than what
53:12 the total cost would be for the new
53:14 building
53:15 before you move on
53:18 um I've got a question and then did you
53:19 also no okay
53:22 um for the build new in the old town I
53:25 noticed in the memo it talks about the
53:27 parking that's on these two parallel
53:30 streets that's not considered
53:33 um on-street parking so are those
53:35 considered part of what we would use to
53:38 satisfy our
53:41 parking requirements it would be yes so
53:44 with that location that lowers our
53:47 potential costs of parking if we are
53:50 using that as part of the calculation
53:52 that's correct our alternatively if you
53:53 didn't use this very calculation you'd
53:55 put in more structured parking you'd
53:56 raise the cost
53:58 okay and ice
54:00 I don't have a sense of what portion the
54:02 cost that is that's a future
54:05 conversation well it's it would be 65
54:08 spaces at structured parking costs we've
54:10 used 75 000 per space but we also
54:13 include contingency and sales tax it
54:15 comes up to ninety four thousand dollars
54:16 per space multiplied by 65 spaces
54:21 uh five six million dollars it'd be a
54:24 pretty hefty um price tag for the
54:26 parking yes appreciate it thank you
54:31 oops sorry
54:36 this is not advancing item for some
54:38 reason
54:38 everything sorry
54:40 so there was a question last month
54:43 whether or not we should be planning for
54:45 a 50-year growth um given that the
54:47 building will have a light that likely
54:49 exists beyond that
54:51 um you know space planning for new
54:53 facilities is difficult at 20 years let
54:55 alone 50 years and so
54:57 our recommendation is to ensure that
54:59 whatever site you decide to locate a
55:02 city hall on whether it be Old Town or
55:03 Central Issaquah that its size
55:06 sufficiently to accommodate an expansion
55:08 of the building at the time that you
55:10 know the size of building that you need
55:14 um you just think it's a better approach
55:16 than trying to determine what's the size
55:19 of the building you might need now when
55:21 you don't need it for 20 years and you
55:23 don't know if you're going to need it
55:25 all when you get 20 years out
55:28 so that's how we would recommend that
55:30 you approach the uh the 50-year growth
55:33 scenarios just make sure your site has
55:36 ability to expand whatever facility that
55:38 you place on it to meet your space needs
55:42 we're still currently reviewing some
55:44 other opportunities to share space with
55:46 another entity or entities to provide
55:48 some cost reductions if we're able to
55:50 share space we're able to find a partner
55:51 to help share in that expense and so
55:53 that overall cutting your costs down and
55:55 providing more efficient service for the
55:57 public
56:01 did you want me to cover this steps or
56:02 do you want to cover next steps okay
56:04 and I'm available for any questions that
56:06 you'd have on any of the the cost
56:07 estimates or information that we
56:09 presented tonight
56:16 thanks Bob so as far as next steps the
56:19 eighth will be returning to the council
56:22 Committee of the whole to
56:24 process some of the dialogue and some of
56:26 the direction that we hear this evening
56:28 and start thinking about what kind of
56:31 scenarios would be packaging together
56:32 for further review how they align with
56:35 our project goals and talk a bit more
56:38 about perhaps some shared space
56:39 opportunities surplusing of some of our
56:42 properties and funding options and then
56:45 by June 5th we may have some discussion
56:49 and a scenario for Council to consider
56:53 and with that we're here to answer any
56:55 questions
56:57 okay we've got a few starting with
56:59 council member Joe
57:01 thank you
57:03 um Court Administrator Shawn would you
57:05 step up to the the microphone please I
57:08 have some questions about uh the court
57:12 um in 1999 we started this court and I
57:15 was on the little subcommittee that
57:18 evaluated the space and evaluated what
57:20 we needed
57:22 right now as I understand from my
57:24 conversation from the uh from Judge
57:27 Stewart there are a number of things
57:28 that the court would like to see that
57:31 would be in the three-year kind of well
57:33 we need it right now to three years out
57:35 and then some five-year opportunities
57:38 you'd like to see could you touch on
57:40 those a little bit we haven't really
57:41 talked about the court that much sure
57:43 thank you council member
57:46 um thanks Autumn the very first thing I
57:49 think that we're in desperate need of is
57:51 um jury space when we have jurors come
57:54 in there's no place for them right now
57:57 to congregate at all whether we bring
57:59 them all in to the lobby area and then
58:02 there's not really a great place for
58:05 juror deliberations either
58:07 jurors deliberate in this back room
58:10 and our current
58:14 in our where we are right now there's
58:16 not a real great place for social
58:18 distancing for the jurors I don't think
58:20 they're real comfortable when they come
58:22 in for jury trials next is am I told
58:26 Autumn from the very get-go is bathroom
58:28 space we share bathrooms with the public
58:31 and we do drug our probation department
58:33 does drug testing in those bathrooms
58:36 um so it's very awkward at times and
58:41 um so bathroom spaces is a must for us
58:43 and attorney rooms we don't we have one
58:46 attorney room so there's usually a line
58:49 of folks um
58:51 trying to have conversations with their
58:53 attorneys so and
58:56 um like Chief Juan said we really are in
58:59 need of a holding facility a holding
59:03 cell when we take remand folks into
59:05 custody
59:06 so those I think those are our top four
59:09 and that holding facility how does that
59:13 help facilitate moving the calendar
59:15 along
59:16 um I had the pleasure of being on the
59:18 bench
59:19 um during my time after Council between
59:23 this you know second life that I'm
59:25 living
59:27 but it was my experience that at least
59:29 having the jail right across the street
59:31 if we needed to have a defendant in
59:33 court we could send someone over there
59:35 and they could be here in 15 minutes
59:37 rather than going to RJC and in Renton
59:40 or going all the way to King County Jail
59:43 having a holding room over here how
59:46 would that increase the the efficiency
59:48 of the court I
59:53 uh right now we do do quite a few
59:56 remands most of our remans are
1:00:00 because of the drug crisis and could you
1:00:04 tell the audience what a remand is it's
1:00:06 working yeah it's when the judge will
1:00:08 take someone into custody for
1:00:11 non-compliance purposes and we're seeing
1:00:13 a huge increase in that probably in the
1:00:17 last several years
1:00:18 some of our larger calendars I think won
1:00:21 last week a non-compliance calendar we
1:00:23 took remanded four people into custody
1:00:26 so we're asking the police department to
1:00:28 come over
1:00:29 four times and take um take them in that
1:00:33 holding cell will help just for security
1:00:35 purposes alone of course as soon as you
1:00:37 tell somebody they're remanded and and
1:00:39 they're under a substance use their
1:00:42 first some of them their first thought
1:00:45 is to run and so it'd be nice if we had
1:00:48 a holding facility for
1:00:51 thank you very much appreciate it no
1:00:53 problem
1:01:02 no for options for City Hall
1:01:04 size there was one the middle option has
1:01:07 a note about
1:01:09 um about sub Leasing and so I'm
1:01:12 wondering
1:01:13 why that one and why it couldn't also
1:01:17 apply to the largest
1:01:19 City Hall option for that subleasing
1:01:22 it's the slide
1:01:25 on the police
1:01:27 no it's not the city yeah
1:01:31 it's the one where there's a green this
1:01:33 one above one one above where you are
1:01:39 sorry new computer
1:01:43 oh didn't do it one previous one
1:01:46 previous I believe
1:01:48 I thought it was this one yes
1:01:51 um this one so so here it says that
1:01:53 there's unused space could be least
1:01:55 until needed presumably that helps with
1:01:57 cost and I'm wondering why that wouldn't
1:02:00 apply an even more so to scenario one
1:02:07 why there wouldn't be unused space until
1:02:09 needed and why it couldn't be at least
1:02:16 oh I suppose you you could um Wilson
1:02:18 Area one is is for City Halls is looking
1:02:21 at a 28 000 square foot facility and
1:02:24 there if there's space there you could
1:02:25 lease some of that if not needed
1:02:28 initially yes if you had a tenant in
1:02:30 hand you could certainly lease that
1:02:31 space
1:02:32 I think in all the scenarios any space
1:02:34 that's not necessarily needed as you're
1:02:37 growing or as you're Staffing up could
1:02:39 be leased to other tenants okay thank
1:02:42 you and then is is that factored into
1:02:44 the cost estimates for the options no
1:02:47 okay no Revenue potential has been
1:02:50 calculated and how to try to defray some
1:02:52 of the the cost estimates at this point
1:02:54 um so that would also apply for the
1:02:55 shared space that's correct
1:02:57 uh is there is there
1:03:01 um any do you have any opinions on How
1:03:04 likely we would be to be able to share
1:03:06 space with the different options
1:03:08 I think there's there is some there is a
1:03:11 a very serious I think consideration
1:03:13 going on with another entity uh in terms
1:03:15 of sharing space um common space
1:03:16 bathroom lobbies counter space meeting
1:03:19 room space those are some of the things
1:03:21 that typically would
1:03:22 um could be shared if you can work out
1:03:25 the cultural differences between
1:03:26 agencies the operational issues between
1:03:29 the agencies but those are usually the
1:03:30 areas that you can find some ways to
1:03:32 share and the cost of the expense of
1:03:34 shared space
1:03:37 City administrator and if I can just
1:03:40 elaborate on that I think that's an
1:03:42 important piece of feedback from the
1:03:44 council uh what your vision is for this
1:03:47 we're talking uh shared space with a
1:03:50 paying customer uh does the council have
1:03:52 vision of shared space with unpaying
1:03:54 customers I think we've we've heard and
1:03:56 have had silly discussions about uh arts
1:04:00 groups Social Services groups uh being
1:04:02 there there are community meeting spaces
1:04:05 included all this I mean is that where
1:04:08 is that fit should there be more should
1:04:10 we talk more specifically with you
1:04:11 what's contemplated
1:04:13 um you know there's a balance here
1:04:15 between need and ability to pay
1:04:18 um and so we're trying to be as
1:04:19 realistic as possible with this but this
1:04:21 is the point I think where we would
1:04:22 really love to hear from the council if
1:04:25 your vision is that this is roomy uh we
1:04:28 need to know that if your vision is that
1:04:30 you see us having multiple Community
1:04:32 Partners potentially as tenants we need
1:04:35 to know that we also need to know do you
1:04:37 see this in as being a social service
1:04:39 Human Service art Hub that's important
1:04:43 to know because unfortunately most of
1:04:44 those organizations will not pay well
1:04:47 perhaps another public agency or
1:04:50 a compatible private use might pay so
1:04:53 that works in both but now is the time
1:04:55 for the council to express those
1:04:57 opinions
1:05:01 I think this probably is not available
1:05:05 at this time but on a future at a future
1:05:08 date probably be helpful to talk through
1:05:09 how that Revenue piece potentially
1:05:12 affects cost um
1:05:15 thanks
1:05:17 okay and
1:05:19 um chuchuan I know you had your hand up
1:05:21 probably related to the court
1:05:24 comments earlier I didn't get a chance
1:05:26 to get back to do you want to make a
1:05:28 comment
1:05:31 yes thank you great I was just going to
1:05:33 say regarding the holding cell
1:05:34 specifically
1:05:35 um council member Joe had asked about
1:05:37 Expediting some of the court process if
1:05:40 we know in advance that someone needs to
1:05:41 be seen our transport officers if a
1:05:44 holding cell would allow us the safety
1:05:46 option to keep them separate number one
1:05:48 or if there was a trial where someone
1:05:50 that was in custody needed to be over
1:05:52 here we could have them prior to because
1:05:54 we would know they would need to be
1:05:55 there versus report having to wait and
1:05:57 sometimes they do have to wait also I
1:05:59 would recommend or request that the holy
1:06:01 cell could hold up to three people
1:06:03 obviously they would have to be on the
1:06:06 same gender but that if we're not going
1:06:08 to have two separate smaller cells then
1:06:11 we have the ability to hold multiple
1:06:12 people in at least one of those cells
1:06:14 for when they have to be seen one at a
1:06:18 time so just other things to think about
1:06:19 thank you
1:06:21 thank you chief
1:06:24 um looking around council member Joe you
1:06:26 have another one and then we'll go to
1:06:27 Deputy council president Hall
1:06:29 thank you
1:06:31 City Manor City and Ministry boxwoods
1:06:34 I'd appreciate the comments on needed
1:06:37 ability to pay that you just went
1:06:38 through for the other organizations that
1:06:40 are out there and
1:06:42 I think there might be some creative
1:06:44 ways for us to do a little bit of that
1:06:48 uh charging of agencies or groups that
1:06:53 could be coming in and
1:06:55 um one of the groups that recently I saw
1:06:57 a budget for was the South King County
1:07:00 Housing and homelessness project skip
1:07:04 I think it is and
1:07:06 they did something where the space was
1:07:11 donated by the city of Auburn to them
1:07:13 but they put it back in their budget as
1:07:15 a as a piece so it zeroed out but then
1:07:18 the other part of it was they paid part
1:07:20 of the administrative fees for City Hall
1:07:24 just based on a percentage of the space
1:07:26 they're releasing
1:07:28 so that at least the city was not
1:07:31 going into
1:07:33 um a negative situation on that and it
1:07:36 was an interesting way that I had never
1:07:39 seen a non-profit work with
1:07:41 um a city so that they could do their
1:07:44 work in a
1:07:45 um a nice space that was conducive to
1:07:48 good production of you know their their
1:07:51 their output there so
1:07:54 um I would just suggest maybe take a
1:07:56 glance at the skip budget and see if
1:07:59 it's something that might be an option
1:08:01 for us to consider in the future and and
1:08:04 I think there are lots of creative ways
1:08:06 to do that
1:08:07 um right now what you're seeing are size
1:08:09 facilities that don't have a lot of
1:08:11 space for this and I think if the
1:08:13 council's vision is there should be
1:08:16 space we need to hear that uh one
1:08:18 because it increases the overall square
1:08:20 footage it would have impacts on parking
1:08:23 other matters and then I think we have
1:08:25 the discussion on what percentage would
1:08:28 be subject to perhaps more creative
1:08:30 financing again all this is fine but now
1:08:33 is the time to tell us if that's not
1:08:35 your vision and you see the vision along
1:08:38 the lines we've described tonight then
1:08:40 we're going to continue to move forward
1:08:41 if your vision is yes there's lots of
1:08:43 organizations that need space this would
1:08:46 be an excellent opportunity to provide
1:08:47 that that's a really important policy
1:08:50 point to hear from you tonight
1:08:53 okay so continuing on with questions
1:08:55 we've got
1:08:57 um Deputy council president Hall uh
1:08:59 thank you
1:09:00 um two questions first is a quick one
1:09:02 the current city hall police station
1:09:04 space how much longer is that
1:09:07 um facility's useful life do we have any
1:09:10 estimates on that
1:09:16 it's at its 20 years so it does uh there
1:09:19 there will be some Capital Investments
1:09:20 needed for that facility that's part of
1:09:23 the assessment that we're working on now
1:09:24 is part of our facilities team work plan
1:09:27 this year is the assessment of all of
1:09:28 our buildings and that's one of our
1:09:30 firsts really um to really get some
1:09:33 clear cost estimates for what the cost
1:09:34 is for that that 20-year kind of refresh
1:09:38 for the building we're aware of a few
1:09:40 projects some of them are going to be in
1:09:42 the CIP that you'll be seeing soon and
1:09:46 then a further assessment will be done
1:09:47 later this year so that's not included
1:09:49 in the cost estimates for keeping police
1:09:52 in the building it will still be a much
1:09:54 will be very be less expensive to keep
1:09:57 police here and do any rehab work than
1:09:59 purchasing or building new
1:10:02 okay thank you that's helpful
1:10:04 um this is completely different now it's
1:10:06 Bob right yeah okay this one's for you
1:10:08 so you've had this conversation helped
1:10:11 facilitate this with other cities I'm
1:10:13 imagining many cities is that right or
1:10:16 just kind of thinking about these more
1:10:18 generally yes
1:10:20 one and this will be kind of a policy
1:10:24 discussion for us to have too is how
1:10:26 should we how do you think we should be
1:10:28 thinking about opportunity costs between
1:10:30 like when I think of locations like
1:10:32 staying here versus going into Central
1:10:35 Issaquah and potentially encouraging the
1:10:38 kinds of development that we're hoping
1:10:40 for that our next conversation is going
1:10:42 to be
1:10:43 um that you know there's an opportunity
1:10:44 cost of not relocating to Central
1:10:48 Issaquah and potentially encouraging
1:10:49 that market which is aligned with our
1:10:51 goals how should we be thinking about
1:10:53 this just kind of more generally sure I
1:10:55 mean City Hall sometimes are cited
1:10:56 because of the economic development
1:10:58 Catalyst that they might serve a
1:11:00 particular area in a case where you have
1:11:03 a city hall also in a downtown it's also
1:11:06 creates a a vacancy or a vacuum effect
1:11:09 if you're moving that to some other area
1:11:11 and what will be the impact to the
1:11:13 downtown and so you have to look at both
1:11:14 both scenarios but yeah I mean I would
1:11:17 always Advocate if you're looking at
1:11:19 building a municipal facility because
1:11:20 you don't you don't build them very
1:11:21 often you cite it where you think you
1:11:24 can get the most from that investment in
1:11:27 terms of serving the public as well as
1:11:29 what else can it create in terms of a
1:11:31 catalyst or other development
1:11:32 surrounding it
1:11:33 and you have two different areas Central
1:11:37 Issaquah as well as old downtown that
1:11:40 both have Economic Development potential
1:11:41 and both have uh pluses and and probably
1:11:45 minuses associated with them certainly
1:11:47 we know one which is more cost just
1:11:49 simply because of Structure Parking in
1:11:50 the land you already own land here
1:11:52 although you could sell some of this
1:11:54 land and then use that proceeds to buy
1:11:56 new land somewhere else
1:11:59 something for us to mull on you know
1:12:03 just a few things
1:12:04 council member D Michelle
1:12:07 okay so I was holding off because I've
1:12:09 got sort of a comment question and I
1:12:11 realized we need to take public comment
1:12:13 but I'll I'll put this into the formal
1:12:15 question and it follows really closely
1:12:17 on what councilmember Hall was saying uh
1:12:21 you know we want to talk about what we
1:12:22 want uh but are there things that we
1:12:25 absolutely don't want and where do we
1:12:28 put those lists uh I think I may have
1:12:32 the wrong
1:12:33 term but is it drop dead scenarios or
1:12:37 you know the these are absolute no's
1:12:39 that we want to make sure are on the
1:12:42 list and so where are we going to get
1:12:44 the opportunity to have that discussion
1:12:47 which is really a values discussion and
1:12:50 a vision discussion really about I
1:12:54 really like what you just said you know
1:12:55 we don't want to create a vacuum
1:12:57 by you know necessarily but maybe we do
1:13:02 it you know that would be part of that
1:13:04 great discussion about what's our vision
1:13:06 for the future so anyway where do we put
1:13:09 if I'm going to ask a question during
1:13:11 The Question period where do we put the
1:13:13 things that we absolutely don't want to
1:13:15 see I think you could articulate those
1:13:17 in the guiding principles going back to
1:13:20 the needs assessment they had a list of
1:13:21 goals or guiding principles you can
1:13:24 certainly either State them in a
1:13:26 positive sense or also indicate the
1:13:27 things that you want to make sure to
1:13:28 avoid
1:13:29 um in any planning process
1:13:34 sorry busily typing all of this down
1:13:37 with things that I have to bring up
1:13:39 during our conversation so I am not
1:13:42 seeing any other questions so I think at
1:13:44 this point we have an opportunity for
1:13:46 public comment if there is anyone
1:13:49 interested in providing public comment
1:13:51 on this item before we go into our
1:13:53 deliberations
1:13:57 and so anybody online compressed star 3
1:14:01 look for the raise hand icon any of that
1:14:05 or send a chat message and if there's
1:14:07 anybody in person you can just raise
1:14:12 actual hand you know those things still
1:14:16 City Clerks we have anybody indicating a
1:14:18 desire to speak
1:14:19 we have a few individuals online with us
1:14:22 but I'm not seeing that anyone's
1:14:24 indicating a desire to speak
1:14:26 okay and nobody in person looks like
1:14:29 okay fantastic well we always appreciate
1:14:33 the comments that we did hear a lot
1:14:35 ahead of the meeting as well
1:14:38 so at this point when we're talking
1:14:40 through deliberation we've got three
1:14:42 questions in front of us
1:14:45 which we've got handily up there on the
1:14:48 screen talking through so I'm wondering
1:14:51 if we could kind of take the first two
1:14:54 together which is the police and Court
1:14:56 idea and then the other one is what
1:15:01 options should we study further and I'm
1:15:04 sure we're going to have a lot of
1:15:05 General comments and things like that
1:15:06 but first I want to query kind of as
1:15:09 we're thinking through this concept the
1:15:12 first question is should escual police
1:15:13 stay in the current facility at 130
1:15:16 Sunset way and make tenant improvements
1:15:18 or consider a new facility
1:15:20 and then also should the Escuela police
1:15:22 and the Issaquah Municipal Court remain
1:15:24 adjacent to each other
1:15:26 so do we have any comments or thoughts
1:15:30 on those first two before we get into
1:15:33 kind of the bigger concepts of City Hall
1:15:37 and any other options we should consider
1:15:45 council member hunt
1:15:47 thank you uh I I do think that the
1:15:51 arguments in favor of keeping the
1:15:54 um Police Department in the current
1:15:55 facility as well as keeping the police
1:15:58 and the Municipal Court adjacent to each
1:16:00 other all resonated with me and so I
1:16:02 think those two are are the um for me
1:16:05 the ones that are a little bit easier
1:16:08 there are a lot of arguments in favor
1:16:09 and that they made sense to me the third
1:16:12 one is the the bigger one
1:16:17 anybody okay councilmember Joe
1:16:20 I will Echo the comments from uh
1:16:23 councilmember Hines
1:16:26 um I think the the police station uh as
1:16:29 as we're looking at it it's hard to
1:16:33 either find or build a facility that has
1:16:35 a gun range in the basement it's also
1:16:37 hard to build a facility that has a jail
1:16:39 in the basement they're just these sunk
1:16:41 costs that we're not going to be able to
1:16:43 to duplicate without you know running
1:16:45 the the till up really high so I'm in
1:16:49 favor of the the police staying in their
1:16:51 current facility but I would like the
1:16:53 administration to to cons to continue to
1:16:55 look at ways to offer the police some
1:16:59 space on the second floor I know that we
1:17:01 have a detective unit or a detective
1:17:03 area that's locked off from the general
1:17:06 public and you've allowed them to
1:17:08 operate up there and I would encourage
1:17:11 the administration to think about other
1:17:13 opportunities as we're trying to emerge
1:17:16 in this Covenant environment for shared
1:17:18 space for the police on the second floor
1:17:19 as they grow and their needs grow I know
1:17:23 that I've seen the pictures and been
1:17:24 through the police station on the first
1:17:25 floor and
1:17:26 storage is a problem evidence uh keeping
1:17:30 the evidence room
1:17:32 um safe and secure is a challenge
1:17:35 the workout facility that that the
1:17:38 police officers have is is not ideal but
1:17:42 you know not a high priority necessarily
1:17:45 but there's just a lot of things that we
1:17:46 could do to increase the quality of the
1:17:50 work environment for those that protect
1:17:52 us 24 hours a day and then with respect
1:17:55 to the court I think that from my
1:17:56 questions my colleagues and probably
1:17:59 heard that I think it's very important
1:18:00 that the court remain just across the
1:18:02 street there are just many advantages
1:18:04 the foremost one is that that I see
1:18:07 departments that are taking fully sworn
1:18:10 officers and taking them off the street
1:18:12 and having them transport someone from
1:18:15 Northeast district court in Redmond all
1:18:17 the way into Seattle or all the way down
1:18:19 to the RJC and they're off the street
1:18:20 for that time when they really should be
1:18:22 you know patrolling the streets and
1:18:24 doing the community outreach things that
1:18:26 we think our officers do so well and so
1:18:30 they're just so many advantages to
1:18:31 having the jail right across the street
1:18:33 for for transport for convenience of the
1:18:35 court and for the efficiency of the
1:18:38 calendars so those are my opinions on
1:18:40 those two questions thank you
1:18:43 oh we're playing dueling microphones
1:18:46 okay Deputy council president Hall uh
1:18:49 thank you yeah and I won't reiterate
1:18:51 what others have said I completely agree
1:18:52 that the adjacency element of police and
1:18:55 court services are um is important it
1:18:57 seems pretty clear there are a lot of
1:18:58 upsides and efficiencies there
1:19:00 um I also think that
1:19:02 um you know arguments have been made
1:19:04 that keeping Police ipd Services uh in
1:19:08 its current building and expanding use
1:19:10 of that building
1:19:11 um is
1:19:14 makes sense to me though I will say that
1:19:17 the memo talks about how their kind of
1:19:21 current needs first base is a little
1:19:23 over 25 000 square feet and so then the
1:19:26 total for City Hall police station the
1:19:28 main and second floor is just over 23 so
1:19:31 I just want to make sure also that we're
1:19:33 keeping in mind well how are the ways
1:19:35 that we can expand that facility to meet
1:19:37 police needs so that they can Thrive
1:19:39 into the future as well is important in
1:19:42 my mind when I'm thinking about these
1:19:44 issues but other than that I think these
1:19:46 first two questions are pretty and easy
1:19:49 councilmember D Michelle
1:19:52 thank you
1:19:54 so I've been here before at the
1:19:57 beginning of a project and there are
1:19:59 Limitless options that you can be
1:20:02 looking at and so it's you start to
1:20:05 wonder how can we creatively narrow
1:20:08 those down and begin to think about uh
1:20:12 the bigger picture so the first question
1:20:14 should the Issaquah police stay in the
1:20:17 current facility and actually take over
1:20:19 that facility I think is a very smart
1:20:21 choice and makes total sense as
1:20:26 councilmember Joe said with the gun
1:20:29 range and the in the jail and all the
1:20:31 other things also it's the place where
1:20:33 people know right now to go and and it's
1:20:36 centrally located but of course if the
1:20:39 police take over that entire building
1:20:41 that creates the issue of what do we do
1:20:44 with the administration and where do we
1:20:47 take them
1:20:50 um so then uh then the options become
1:20:53 more and more uh intriguing so the
1:20:56 second one about the adjacency yes
1:20:59 absolutely that makes sense we heard
1:21:00 really good arguments tonight but as
1:21:03 I've expressed
1:21:05 um I think when we get to what is going
1:21:07 to happen to this building there are so
1:21:10 many different options so it's a little
1:21:11 bit difficult to say where we might go
1:21:14 with this building
1:21:16 sort of makes sense to me that that we
1:21:19 would
1:21:20 maybe use this location but maybe not
1:21:24 this building so but
1:21:26 there are many different answers to that
1:21:28 but yes the adjacency issue yes let's
1:21:31 keep the court close to the police
1:21:33 station
1:21:34 so then what are the options for further
1:21:37 study I think we're at a place where we
1:21:39 need to keep studying council member D
1:21:41 Michelle can I interrupt before you move
1:21:43 on I just want to make sure we close out
1:21:45 the first two I have some comments on
1:21:48 those first two and then I'm going to
1:21:49 frame up the rest of the conversation oh
1:21:51 okay well that's one I want to talk
1:21:53 about mostly I know so we all do we all
1:21:55 do all right so yes and yes on the first
1:21:58 two all right fantastic uh so I'll close
1:22:02 out and just Echo what you've heard I
1:22:05 think the adjacencies are super
1:22:06 important I think location is great I
1:22:08 really appreciate hearing from court and
1:22:12 chia Schwann about the importance of
1:22:15 those adjacencies and the improvements
1:22:17 and the location the only other thing
1:22:20 that I will add in is I think it is
1:22:22 ultra important that both the police and
1:22:24 especially the Municipal Court are in an
1:22:28 area that is well served by transit and
1:22:31 I think as it is now the only area that
1:22:34 we have any
1:22:36 modicum of uh control over is this
1:22:40 location and so I will throw that in as
1:22:43 well as another reason why it's
1:22:45 important to stay in this area so that
1:22:49 closes out I think we have five of the
1:22:52 five of us so far and I'm sure you'll
1:22:53 talk to the other two who are able to
1:22:55 make it today
1:22:57 um so
1:22:58 the the next question is what options
1:23:02 should Issaquah further study for the
1:23:05 city hall space needs so there's a few
1:23:07 things that we can talk about here one
1:23:09 is the build by lease question that's
1:23:13 been kind of teed up for us another one
1:23:15 is what's the information that you need
1:23:18 in order to make an educated decision or
1:23:23 recommendation on this so I think I'd
1:23:25 like to hear both of those and then just
1:23:28 whether what other things are you
1:23:30 thinking you know City administrator Bob
1:23:31 quits teed up the idea do we want to
1:23:34 look at this as a social services are we
1:23:36 interested in having a paying tenant you
1:23:40 know what do we think about location and
1:23:43 we've also talked up this whole idea of
1:23:45 opportunity cost and economic
1:23:48 development so we can certainly break
1:23:50 them all down but I think ultimately a
1:23:52 lot of them tie in together so I'm going
1:23:55 to throw all of those out to us and we
1:23:58 can start with with councilmember d
1:23:59 Michelle who's fast on the microphone
1:24:01 so I think uh in my eye the we're not in
1:24:06 a position to close out any of the
1:24:09 options that need to be studied I think
1:24:11 there are bigger questions we have to
1:24:14 um at the last time we discussed this I
1:24:16 emphasized my concern and my interest in
1:24:20 the historic value of the buildings that
1:24:22 we're dealing with and preserving and
1:24:25 keeping the character of uh of this
1:24:28 historic area of the old town area and
1:24:32 so one of the one of the things
1:24:35 in the very limited number of people
1:24:37 I've talked to which isn't very many but
1:24:38 there will be more there's been
1:24:41 expressed a strong desire to keep City
1:24:43 Hall in the old town area so are we
1:24:46 talking about creating a municipal
1:24:48 campus in this area knowing what the
1:24:52 costs would be to do that I think it was
1:24:54 really intriguing that it was brought up
1:24:56 that we could we could move to Central
1:24:59 Issaquah and look at it from an economic
1:25:02 development standpoint and that would be
1:25:04 a completely different scenario in a
1:25:05 completely different set of values
1:25:07 certainly one that I'm willing to
1:25:09 consider but I think we need to have
1:25:11 that discussion first I'm you know
1:25:14 building new leasing or purchasing it's
1:25:18 how does that fit into our overall
1:25:20 vision of what we want this to be do we
1:25:24 want a municipal campus with a city hall
1:25:26 you know a court a police station all
1:25:30 located in the old town area or are we
1:25:33 willing to move to a new location that
1:25:36 may be the proper location 50 years from
1:25:38 now you know are we thinking about the
1:25:40 future and what that's going to look
1:25:41 like or are we
1:25:43 um you know are we are we just with
1:25:47 these three options so I think I I don't
1:25:50 want to close off any of these options
1:25:52 building new construction leasing or
1:25:54 purchasing I think that we're not ready
1:25:57 to make that decision and I think we've
1:25:59 got bigger things to think about so my
1:26:01 two cents there you go
1:26:04 okay I'm gonna hear from other people
1:26:07 but then I'm going to come back and
1:26:09 challenge this idea because we have
1:26:12 bright people up here and we've we can
1:26:14 we can have some of those conversations
1:26:17 um so do we have any other comments
1:26:25 go for it and then I'm still mulling
1:26:28 um some other comments I'd like to share
1:26:29 but just in response to our city
1:26:32 administrator kind of talking about you
1:26:33 know now is a good time to share if we
1:26:35 think we want to be more roomy or not
1:26:37 for these kinds of loftier Ambitions for
1:26:39 what a city hall could be you know
1:26:41 sitting where I am I'm very interested
1:26:43 in in kind of creative shared space
1:26:45 opportunities for for co-location when I
1:26:47 saw that slide and when I saw that part
1:26:49 in the memo my mind lit up with
1:26:52 opportunities how cool it would be I
1:26:54 mean if we could if you know in
1:26:56 candidate forums when we're all in
1:26:58 little candidates school before becoming
1:27:00 council members the question that's
1:27:02 often asked is if you had a magic wand
1:27:03 you know what could you do and when I
1:27:06 think about this if I had a magic wand
1:27:07 I'd love a municipal campus right where
1:27:10 a Consolidated call consolidation of
1:27:12 services are located where our customers
1:27:15 and our residents can get them easily
1:27:18 um it would align with our goal around
1:27:19 accessible you know exceptional customer
1:27:22 services and also thinking about well
1:27:23 what are the other kinds of services
1:27:25 that customers that come to City Hall
1:27:28 are seeking
1:27:29 so that's all exciting and I'd love to
1:27:32 but I'm also worried about how much that
1:27:35 would cost and just trying to be a
1:27:38 realist here too we
1:27:40 struggle to find the infrastructure
1:27:43 dollars necessary for
1:27:45 our infrastructure without even
1:27:47 considering facilities you know a lot of
1:27:50 times we just remove facilities from
1:27:52 that conversation because it's even more
1:27:54 challenging to think about so I don't
1:27:58 want to rule out lofty ambitious
1:28:02 um campus style future options but at
1:28:06 the same time
1:28:08 I don't know necessarily how to think
1:28:10 about the reality of this all and
1:28:13 should it just be Zach come on we need
1:28:15 to we need to move on and think about
1:28:16 kind of what is actually going to happen
1:28:18 sometime in the next 15 or so Years
1:28:21 or or should we stay at the high level I
1:28:25 also am interested in
1:28:29 so that's building new construction when
1:28:31 it comes to leasing or purchasing and
1:28:34 renovating I guess I struggle with
1:28:36 understanding where are those
1:28:38 opportunities available to us
1:28:41 especially if we do want to stay here in
1:28:44 this area that's a challenging that's a
1:28:47 tall order for staff to try to dig into
1:28:49 that too it almost seems like building
1:28:51 new construction is the easier
1:28:54 um of the options to investigate further
1:28:57 but if there are other cities in our
1:29:00 region it sounds like there are at least
1:29:01 three who have lease then that should be
1:29:03 something I think we continue to look
1:29:06 um because it does
1:29:09 um bring with it some pretty significant
1:29:11 cost savings so I guess if I were if it
1:29:14 were me and I was making decision today
1:29:16 about where what two options to go
1:29:19 forward it would be kind of lofty build
1:29:21 new construction and super cost
1:29:23 effective leasing of space and it sounds
1:29:26 like leasing is probably going to be
1:29:28 somewhere in our future anyways as we
1:29:30 transition from whatever comes next so
1:29:33 it seems like if we get into that
1:29:35 already we might as well pursue what
1:29:38 that would look like permanently as well
1:29:40 so those are just some of my initial
1:29:41 thoughts and then I'll bounce back to me
1:29:43 later too
1:29:47 council member Jeff
1:29:48 thank you
1:29:50 um councilmember Hall brought some some
1:29:52 great points I I think that while it's
1:29:56 wonderful to think about the what-ifs we
1:29:59 are going to be constrained by the
1:30:00 reality of what properties might
1:30:03 actually be available for purchasing or
1:30:05 Leasing and
1:30:06 frankly there's not much out there that
1:30:09 fits our size we're pretty large for a
1:30:14 city in terms of the number of employees
1:30:16 we have and and the needs that we have
1:30:19 um I think that uh what I would Express
1:30:22 is that is that uh
1:30:26 I believe that the the city hall and the
1:30:30 majority of the people should stay in
1:30:32 the downtown area as we go forward
1:30:35 looking for new opportunities either for
1:30:38 new construction or leasing as they may
1:30:40 come up
1:30:41 but we're going to be constrained by
1:30:44 again just the lack of opportunities to
1:30:46 do things and so my my gut level feeling
1:30:50 is we're going to need to look at
1:30:52 you know all the properties that we own
1:30:55 which we've kind of assessed we've kind
1:30:56 of taken a look at and then what are the
1:30:59 bounds of development that we can do on
1:31:04 each of the pieces of property that we
1:31:05 own for the highest and best use
1:31:08 um you know and not you know building up
1:31:12 to a wetland or building into a creek
1:31:15 stream or anything like that but what
1:31:17 are the what are the things that we can
1:31:19 do on the properties that we own
1:31:22 to provide the space that that we're
1:31:25 going to need for the future until those
1:31:28 opportunities for new construction
1:31:29 releasing and purchasing him up it's not
1:31:33 an ideal situation but it's certainly
1:31:36 the one that we have been dealt with
1:31:38 dealt right now and so
1:31:42 um uh you know they're
1:31:44 if we take a look at all the inventory
1:31:46 of the property that we have I think
1:31:48 there could be some opportunities for us
1:31:49 to do some
1:31:51 good things along the way
1:31:54 uh in in this to to handle this jigsaw
1:31:57 puzzle
1:32:00 with that in mind I think that
1:32:04 providing for
1:32:07 non-profits if there's an opportunity to
1:32:10 use space that the city is not currently
1:32:12 using
1:32:14 in constructive ways for a non-profit to
1:32:18 set up you know a year or two year lease
1:32:21 whatever the the time might be so they
1:32:25 can do some operations and handle
1:32:28 some client intake or some real basic
1:32:31 things that we could as a city just do
1:32:34 to help the nonprofits provide better
1:32:36 service to the clients that are coming
1:32:39 to them and the people in need that are
1:32:41 are coming to our Human Services places
1:32:45 this kind of bleeds into the next
1:32:46 conversation on the Human Services
1:32:48 conversation but I think that
1:32:50 um you know having Human Service
1:32:52 Providers close to our human services
1:32:55 department really makes a lot of sense
1:32:57 such that if there's you know a house
1:32:59 down here that might be open or there's
1:33:03 a house over here hypothetically that
1:33:05 might be open we could put a human
1:33:07 services provider there such that it's
1:33:10 easy for our Human Services people to
1:33:11 travel over there to communicate with
1:33:13 them pick up clients or drop off clients
1:33:15 whatever the case may be there can be
1:33:17 some efficiencies and synergies that
1:33:19 could occur as we look at those needs
1:33:21 going into the future thank you
1:33:28 go ahead
1:33:31 I just thought of a one thing I wanted
1:33:34 to add and then a quick question as well
1:33:35 clarifying question before everyone else
1:33:37 keeps going so um when we're talking
1:33:40 about like co-locating or partnering
1:33:43 with another Organization for space I
1:33:45 see that in my mind as separate then
1:33:47 having space available for like
1:33:49 non-profits and Community groups is that
1:33:51 how the administration is think okay
1:33:53 cool I'm seeing not so just wanted to
1:33:55 make sure also second clarifying
1:33:57 question none of this contemplates
1:33:59 moving Public Works in any way out of
1:34:01 their facility correct okay I'm also
1:34:03 saying not so I'm done things
1:34:07 councilmember hunt do you want to
1:34:08 comment or would you like me to go ahead
1:34:13 on the building new construction leasing
1:34:15 or purchasing renovating it seems to me
1:34:18 that the leasing long term it doesn't
1:34:21 build equity and it also becomes very
1:34:24 costly over the lifetime of the building
1:34:25 so as a long-term strategy that I do not
1:34:29 think makes sense purchasing and
1:34:31 renovating versus building new
1:34:33 construction the purchasing renovating
1:34:35 is considerably less costly if we are
1:34:38 able to find a suitable building for
1:34:41 purchasing and renovating so I wouldn't
1:34:44 want to take that off the table but I
1:34:46 also understand that that's less likely
1:34:49 than building to our own specifications
1:34:53 less likely that we'd be able to find
1:34:55 the a building that could meet all of
1:34:57 our needs and at the location that we
1:35:00 prefer
1:35:01 Etc so I I would prefer to keep open the
1:35:06 purchasing renovating option in case we
1:35:08 find a suitable lower cost option that
1:35:12 meets our our needs for Locating
1:35:14 Services where people will be most
1:35:17 likely to
1:35:18 most accessible to our community and
1:35:21 meets our goals about environmental
1:35:23 stewardship and
1:35:25 and also stimulating the economy and I
1:35:29 if I think if we are able to find the
1:35:31 perfect building that would be great
1:35:33 um that all said
1:35:36 uh the building new construction I think
1:35:39 you know one of our biggest challenges
1:35:41 is in the goals is responsibly
1:35:43 stewarding public dollars and so
1:35:47 um I'm really interested in this shared
1:35:50 space topic with a partner that could
1:35:54 also help us pay for the facilities
1:35:57 that's actually the first
1:36:00 bullet under our goals responsibly
1:36:03 Steward public dollars is find
1:36:04 operational and cost efficiencies
1:36:05 through shared space reuse consolidation
1:36:07 and adjacencies and so that's why I
1:36:11 asked about if there are certain
1:36:13 building types or certain locations that
1:36:15 lend themselves more to that because
1:36:19 I think and that and revenue is the
1:36:23 other piece of
1:36:24 responsibly stewarding public dollars
1:36:27 there's the cost and the revenue piece
1:36:30 um so I would like to further study how
1:36:34 we best
1:36:37 um achieve those cost efficiencies
1:36:39 through shared space use
1:36:44 okay so I will again go last on this one
1:36:50 I think when we're talking about the
1:36:54 build by and Lease conversation given
1:36:57 that we have all expressed that keeping
1:36:59 us about police and the Municipal Court
1:37:02 adjacent to each other and in this
1:37:05 location
1:37:06 that to me basically says
1:37:09 do we want to go back to a city hall
1:37:11 Northwest
1:37:12 situation which is what I would see in
1:37:15 my mind if we were to buy or lease is we
1:37:18 would have our city hall separate from
1:37:21 all of these other things I think
1:37:24 those of us who are on Council when we
1:37:26 were having that previous conversation
1:37:29 heard a lot about the inefficiency of
1:37:33 having staff at different locations also
1:37:36 having people come to
1:37:39 this location when they really needed to
1:37:41 be at another location and so I think
1:37:44 from my perspective
1:37:47 that is a really important part of
1:37:51 making any location choice and so for
1:37:55 that reason I'm pretty strongly in favor
1:37:57 of the idea of staying in the old town
1:38:00 area to create the efficiencies I know
1:38:03 the most important efficiency is between
1:38:05 police and Municipal Court but I also
1:38:07 see efficiencies between human services
1:38:10 and Municipal Court I also see
1:38:12 efficiencies and honestly keeping it
1:38:14 near the food bank if they end up
1:38:15 staying over there I think there's a lot
1:38:18 in this area that is really important
1:38:23 and then when we're thinking about the
1:38:26 form and function of it and the idea of
1:38:29 Campus or not you know
1:38:32 I think many of us have toured the
1:38:34 together Center and see just how amazing
1:38:37 of an idea it is to have those service
1:38:41 agencies together in a single location
1:38:46 um I would think about it this way right
1:38:49 now we have a lot of city property
1:38:52 around the city that we currently rent
1:38:55 out for probably really low cost dollars
1:38:58 to a lot of organizations whether they
1:39:01 be just non-profits or service
1:39:03 organizations so when we're talking
1:39:06 about the cost and the efficiencies of
1:39:10 potentially providing space for some of
1:39:12 those organizations or others in a city
1:39:15 hall the other thing we're talking about
1:39:17 is is the land that they are currently
1:39:20 sitting on it's best use
1:39:22 or could we potentially take that land
1:39:26 which right now is not going to get
1:39:28 redeveloped and if it did it would have
1:39:30 to kick them out and they'd have to find
1:39:32 another place
1:39:34 but the best use of that property
1:39:37 might be a multi-family High affordable
1:39:40 housing unit
1:39:42 and so when I'm thinking about is it
1:39:45 cost effective for us to potentially
1:39:48 have non-profit or other
1:39:52 uses in a city hall location part of
1:39:57 that for me is thinking about all of the
1:39:59 other spaces that we have in the city
1:40:01 that could be utilized in other ways so
1:40:05 I'm pretty heavily in favor of the idea
1:40:08 of considering
1:40:11 using some of that space for non-profits
1:40:15 for service providers something like
1:40:18 that as a campus approach whether we do
1:40:22 that with our growth space
1:40:27 um as we grow as an organization and
1:40:31 just utilize extra space for whether we
1:40:33 really truly bring it into a kind of
1:40:37 service provider campus I'm I'm open to
1:40:41 having that discussion but I think part
1:40:43 of that discussion is well we're already
1:40:45 kind of doing that we just have it
1:40:46 scattered all over the city and not in
1:40:49 the most efficient use of that flat
1:40:52 ground land that could be built up in
1:40:55 other areas so
1:40:57 those would be some of the things I
1:40:59 think were at a point where we're not
1:41:00 going to be able yeah yeah where we're
1:41:02 not going to be able to
1:41:04 um have that full City facilities list
1:41:08 and the understanding of what the future
1:41:09 costs are and all of that I wouldn't
1:41:12 want to hold this conversation back
1:41:14 until we have that data but I think it's
1:41:17 still important to keep in our mind as
1:41:19 potentially it's not just all additional
1:41:23 costs because it frees up other
1:41:26 potential revenue or ability to build on
1:41:28 other sites so
1:41:31 we've all had an ability to say stuff
1:41:34 and come yes I know it's so verbal
1:41:39 um and be able to kind of have some of
1:41:42 those conversations I'm not sure if the
1:41:44 Administration has
1:41:46 I haven't really heard a clear by build
1:41:49 lease and I don't know if we've gotten a
1:41:52 chance to really have those list of
1:41:55 other things that we might need to hear
1:41:58 in order to make an effective decision
1:42:00 so I see councilmember D Michelle but
1:42:03 I'm going to come back to everybody else
1:42:04 and say hey what other information do we
1:42:10 so I just want to and very briefly to
1:42:12 what you said because most of what you
1:42:14 said I I totally agree with and but if
1:42:17 we envision this downtown area from the
1:42:21 community center
1:42:22 where we have sports Recreation and
1:42:25 people are used to coming there to the
1:42:27 garage and the food and clothing bank
1:42:29 and then we have Human Services right
1:42:31 here and then we've got the court and
1:42:34 then we've got the police it we already
1:42:36 have an almost campus we I have almost
1:42:40 you know in the and so the question
1:42:42 really becomes what do we do with that
1:42:44 administrative piece you know and is
1:42:47 there an option do we have property do
1:42:49 we have the opportunity here to create
1:42:52 either a new uh city hall or well that's
1:42:56 about the only option really
1:42:57 realistically uh somewhere around here
1:43:00 and use the property in a creative way
1:43:02 and then take into account the
1:43:04 non-profits that we could also be
1:43:06 serving and my little favorite the Arts
1:43:09 you know could we create a little Art
1:43:10 Center somewhere so if we could just be
1:43:13 thinking about how that would be and and
1:43:15 then what would that cost I mean we're
1:43:17 going to have to hit up against what
1:43:18 does that cost at some point uh maybe
1:43:21 it's it's on realistic but let's at
1:43:24 least think about it about what this
1:43:27 could be for our community and in this
1:43:30 area preserve the historic value and
1:43:33 nature of this downtown area for
1:43:36 generations to come so I want us to
1:43:38 really think big about this we might
1:43:40 have to trim that Vision when we get the
1:43:44 realistic money figures but at least
1:43:46 we've done the big visioning of That's
1:43:49 My Hope
1:43:52 Deputy council president Hall
1:43:56 um council president Walsh I thought
1:43:57 your comments were were well set tonight
1:44:00 I agree with that wholeheartedly
1:44:03 um I also thought
1:44:05 I was going to say council president
1:44:06 again councilmember hunt made a
1:44:09 compelling point to about thinking about
1:44:12 kind of our responsibility to think
1:44:13 about Equity when it comes to Leasing
1:44:16 and whether as fiduciaries
1:44:18 that should take kind of Precedence when
1:44:21 we're talking about using public money
1:44:22 here so that makes me think less of
1:44:27 leasing as an option now that we're kind
1:44:29 of getting into this a bit more but
1:44:31 again I it seems like leasing is going
1:44:34 to have to be some sort of
1:44:37 intermediate option for us anyways
1:44:39 unless we don't plan on moving out of
1:44:41 this city hall until something new is
1:44:43 built which
1:44:45 could be a long time so I don't know how
1:44:48 to think about that and that's not
1:44:49 helpful to Autumn I can see her pouting
1:44:53 no she's not just for the camera she's
1:44:57 um the only other thing here to think
1:44:59 about is you know we've clearly thought
1:45:01 very deeply about what are the different
1:45:03 use cases of a city hall and how are we
1:45:06 planning to make sure the community who
1:45:09 uses the city hall our customers are
1:45:12 their needs are well met the other part
1:45:15 of this is what does the community want
1:45:17 period what what what does the community
1:45:19 think of this and how are we going to
1:45:21 collect feedback about Well Community
1:45:23 engagement around what they want in like
1:45:26 is a campus
1:45:27 even an attractive thing for the old
1:45:30 town community that they would want here
1:45:32 like you bring up
1:45:34 the historic elements and neighborhood
1:45:36 character how do we think about that
1:45:39 through the context of having an
1:45:40 evolving campus in this area
1:45:43 is a tough question so
1:45:47 I think we're going to have to
1:45:49 very soon maybe not very soon but some
1:45:51 of the next steps are going to have to
1:45:53 be having an engaging conversation with
1:45:55 the community not just about like people
1:45:57 who are going to be using the facility
1:45:59 as customers but the people who are
1:46:00 going to be owning it because we're
1:46:01 using public dollars we have to make
1:46:03 sure that they're bought in on kind of
1:46:05 our vision for City Hall as well so
1:46:07 another thing I wanted to throw out for
1:46:09 staff consideration
1:46:15 so I'm going to throw out some of the
1:46:17 things that I want more information on
1:46:23 um to help understand kind of the rough
1:46:26 order of magnitude costs and how it was
1:46:30 calculated with some transparency I
1:46:33 would love a general breakdown of cost
1:46:36 of land versus building versus parking
1:46:41 and to me when we're looking in this Old
1:46:45 Town core area really understanding the
1:46:49 cost of that parking being either the
1:46:52 stuff that's already on the ground there
1:46:54 versus structured parking and weather
1:46:56 whether we consider that part of our
1:46:58 calculation so one of the calculations
1:47:01 being what is it if we include all of
1:47:03 the parking within the parcel rather
1:47:05 than on the ground
1:47:09 and then I'd like to see some
1:47:13 information about what a parking
1:47:16 recommendation would be based on our
1:47:18 expected usage not just the minimum code
1:47:23 and I'd like to see that broken down by
1:47:25 police versus Court versus City Hall
1:47:29 so that we can really understand where
1:47:31 those costs are aligned and where where
1:47:36 we have to kind of fit them into the
1:47:38 picture I think understanding what our
1:47:41 needs are more than what the minimums
1:47:43 are really helps us give a better sense
1:47:45 of what the relative costs are between
1:47:49 everything
1:47:51 and I assume if we bought somewhere and
1:47:56 it had its own surface parking we
1:48:00 wouldn't
1:48:02 be required to like tear it down and
1:48:04 build structured parking or anything
1:48:06 like that yeah so even if it was in the
1:48:09 area that we have a Structure Parking
1:48:11 requirement
1:48:16 yeah I think that's kind of where I'm
1:48:19 going as far as the additional
1:48:20 information that I need that being said
1:48:23 I'm pretty strongly in the build in the
1:48:26 downtown area so you can put me down in
1:48:28 that column and just you know the
1:48:31 information I think is useful in a
1:48:33 better understanding the uh costs of all
1:48:36 of that
1:48:39 and then I think I would like to see
1:48:41 some sense of what the timeline would be
1:48:44 for each of those what what we think we
1:48:49 could do you know obviously with buy
1:48:51 it's very much up to what's on the
1:48:52 market and all of that but a general
1:48:55 sense of what we think the timelines
1:48:58 would be on that idea if there's going
1:49:01 to be any need for any of the buildings
1:49:05 any of the occupants to be out I'd like
1:49:08 to understand if we're looking at lease
1:49:11 or if we're looking at like a temporary
1:49:14 five-year lease at a place and what that
1:49:19 approximate rough order cost would be so
1:49:22 that we can better understand what some
1:49:25 of those ideas because if one of them is
1:49:26 going to take you know 10 years to build
1:49:29 and we're gonna have to lease in the
1:49:30 meantime versus another where we would
1:49:32 be looking at a two-year period and we
1:49:35 could kind of stay put in the meantime
1:49:37 that would be important to me
1:49:39 and Deputy Council of President a ditto
1:49:42 on all those things that would help us
1:49:44 make a better decision also in this is
1:49:47 would come later too but might help us
1:49:50 cross some things off the list is what
1:49:53 are all of our funding levers to
1:49:55 actually make something like this
1:49:56 meaningfully happen so someone's talked
1:49:59 about or council president Walsh already
1:50:01 brought up like all our different
1:50:02 city-owned land through a different
1:50:04 context but another option is just to
1:50:05 sell some things so we have some money
1:50:07 to dedicate to a new city hall campus
1:50:10 but what else do we have because you
1:50:13 know like I was saying earlier so we
1:50:15 often remove facilities from the
1:50:16 conversation when we're talking about
1:50:17 our CIP
1:50:19 and when we're talking about kind of
1:50:21 future Investments and infrastructure
1:50:22 because it's not super clear what tools
1:50:25 we can actually use for that because
1:50:27 we'd have to balance it with
1:50:28 Transportation with parks with
1:50:29 everything else too so
1:50:31 um it might be too soon to have that
1:50:33 conversation but maybe a general idea of
1:50:35 kind of what are the different levers
1:50:37 that are available to us
1:50:41 council member Joe
1:50:43 I agree with the comments for the two
1:50:46 previous speakers I'm wondering if it's
1:50:48 possible
1:50:50 for the administration to take the 28
1:50:53 000 square foot
1:50:54 idea in the 23 000 square foot idea
1:50:58 um but or just the new construction
1:51:01 ideas if you would and uh
1:51:04 put together a
1:51:06 three-story building or a two-story
1:51:07 building with a basement and
1:51:10 show the size and scope of it so we can
1:51:12 kind of take a look at what does that
1:51:13 look like in downtown if we lay it over
1:51:16 the place where the dairy is for
1:51:18 instance just to throw it out as an
1:51:20 example how much does that you know
1:51:22 going to really impact the creek does it
1:51:25 really fit there or not is there a place
1:51:27 downtown that will even fit the facility
1:51:30 that we're talking about for new
1:51:31 construction and if it if there isn't
1:51:34 when we take a look at the the footprint
1:51:36 of it you know I think that'll shape the
1:51:38 conversation as well so if that's
1:51:40 possible if that's something we could do
1:51:42 I would like to try to do that and see
1:51:44 if there's
1:51:46 a realistic place that we could put this
1:51:49 building that we're thinking about where
1:51:50 are we going to really have to tear down
1:51:52 26 houses
1:51:54 or you know whatever it might be right
1:51:56 and what's the impact of that we need to
1:51:58 consider that impact and the re the
1:52:01 realistic ability for us to get all
1:52:05 those properties or a chunk of property
1:52:08 to actually put the
1:52:10 new construction on and if it's not
1:52:12 there if it's not going to be realistic
1:52:15 for us to do it then I think it Slims
1:52:17 down our options and helps us in our
1:52:19 conversation
1:52:21 and just clarify we're not looking at
1:52:23 tearing down 26 houses or anything like
1:52:26 that in case anybody is getting the
1:52:28 wrong idea on that I I think those were
1:52:32 just words
1:52:34 um okay so City administrator Autumn do
1:52:38 you guys have what you need for this
1:52:40 next step we do thank you
1:52:42 thank you okay fantastic I'm going to
1:52:45 check in with the council see we want to
1:52:48 take a five minute break before the next
1:52:50 item okay we are going to take a five
1:52:53 minute recess Chase and we will be back
1:52:56 at 8 28 p.m thank you
1:53:12 foreign
1:53:55 foreign
2:01:49 foreign
2:01:55 thanks everyone for giving us a nice
2:01:58 little break between the two items our
2:02:02 um we are back our next item on the
2:02:04 agenda is
2:02:06 id1347 the affordable housing and uh
2:02:09 housing action implementation or happy
2:02:11 Grant presented by City administrator
2:02:15 Bob quits and Jen Davis Hayes our
2:02:17 economic development manager and Kristen
2:02:19 Leeson our senior planner and Monica
2:02:21 negrila our human services manager
2:02:23 because apparently there's a few things
2:02:24 going on for this
2:02:27 um who would like to start it out I get
2:02:29 to start it out okay council president
2:02:31 members of the council uh it has been a
2:02:33 long time since we've been before you to
2:02:36 talk about the issue of affordable
2:02:37 housing
2:02:38 um we have waited uh largely for the uh
2:02:43 transitory development Opportunity
2:02:45 Center project to uh settle out and as
2:02:48 you all know thank goodness that is
2:02:49 moving forward
2:02:51 um King County Housing Authority has
2:02:53 purchased the property and that
2:02:55 development is now moving forward
2:02:58 um we've waited because as you will hear
2:03:00 tonight there's a still a significant
2:03:02 dollar amount required from the city to
2:03:04 help make that project happen and we'll
2:03:05 refer to that in a little bit but
2:03:07 there's lots of other issues that have
2:03:10 been held in the bands because of that
2:03:12 project because of the pandemic that we
2:03:16 the administration believe now is the
2:03:18 time to move forward with so the purpose
2:03:20 of this evening is to begin those
2:03:23 discussions we have some specific points
2:03:25 that we're going to ask for a direction
2:03:27 on but really this is a beginning of a
2:03:30 much larger conversation about the
2:03:33 future of affordable housing and the
2:03:35 stewardship of quite a lot of money that
2:03:39 we currently have and we want to make
2:03:41 sure that the council is thoughtful
2:03:42 about its options and want to provide
2:03:45 you the information that you need to
2:03:47 move forward so as we talk this evening
2:03:49 we have taken the conversation and put
2:03:51 into three buckets the first is the
2:03:54 policy and regulation uh portion that
2:03:57 the city is regulator in the creation of
2:04:00 affordable housing and Christian Leeson
2:04:01 is here to talk about that you're going
2:04:04 to hear about the happy Grant you're
2:04:06 going to hear about the work that has
2:04:07 been done and our recommendation this
2:04:09 evening
2:04:10 is after any uh General comments that
2:04:13 the council has that we take this topic
2:04:16 to the planning policy committee and
2:04:18 have further discussion there on those
2:04:20 topics uh the second bucket uh that
2:04:22 you'll hear uh from Jen Davis Hayes uh
2:04:25 is regarding Capital funding and before
2:04:27 I get into that let me talk a little bit
2:04:28 about Jen's role last year as we were
2:04:32 working on the budget we knew that we
2:04:35 needed a staff member really to take
2:04:37 leadership uh sort of writ large on all
2:04:40 issues of affordable housing and we put
2:04:42 in the budget of a capital excuse me a
2:04:44 housing planner to do that we went
2:04:47 through a recruitment process weren't
2:04:48 happy with the the individuals that we
2:04:52 were applied and so I asked Jen as part
2:04:55 of her work which was always
2:04:57 contemplated this year to do a little
2:04:59 bit of of this work with Central
2:05:00 Issaquah to expand that portfolio so we
2:05:04 are not going to move forward with
2:05:05 hiring the the housing planner at this
2:05:07 time and I've asked Jen to really kind
2:05:10 of take that lead so you'll hear from
2:05:12 her tonight on the capital funding side
2:05:15 the various options that we have and
2:05:17 again we're our proposed next step for
2:05:19 that is to come back to a future
2:05:21 Committee of the whole to talk further
2:05:23 about funding policies and then finally
2:05:25 it's operations one of the uh Revenue
2:05:29 sources that we have the one-tenth uh
2:05:31 sales tax allows for operation spending
2:05:34 and we have been doing a lot of work
2:05:35 within our human services division of
2:05:38 parks and Community Services
2:05:40 on reaching out to those in need we
2:05:43 believe we need to expand that service
2:05:45 and we believe that that funding source
2:05:48 from the sales tax is an appropriate way
2:05:50 to go and so we're asking the council
2:05:52 this evening to look a little bit more
2:05:54 finally at that proposal and with your
2:05:57 concurrence uh to move forward and bring
2:05:59 it back to the full Council for Action
2:06:01 another piece of that is the Motel 6
2:06:04 pilot I know we have talked at various
2:06:08 points over the last several months
2:06:09 about our inability to find a non
2:06:10 partner we are proposing to move forward
2:06:13 with hiring uh limited term staff to do
2:06:16 that work in a pilot basis and we'll
2:06:18 also need the council's formal
2:06:20 concurrence on that so we're going to
2:06:21 ask to come back and talk about that so
2:06:24 those are the three uh buckets I think
2:06:26 I've got a slider two more or that I
2:06:28 already covered basically what's on the
2:06:30 other two slides I already covered the
2:06:32 purpose slide
2:06:33 next slide
2:06:36 so the direction needed I think I've
2:06:38 covered this as well but I'll quickly
2:06:39 repeat uh the council agree with the
2:06:42 approach to the housing action strategy
2:06:44 the happy Grant does the council agree
2:06:45 with the approach to allocate affordable
2:06:47 housing funding for this biennium uh
2:06:51 another thought that the Administration
2:06:53 has is that this is not a forever
2:06:55 strategy on any of these topics that
2:06:58 there's a lot going on with King County
2:06:59 there's a lot going on with the King
2:07:01 County homelessness Authority but we
2:07:04 feel that an appropriate plan through
2:07:06 the antibiotic the biennium through
2:07:08 December 31st 24 makes sense so as we're
2:07:12 looking at these options where that's
2:07:14 the window that we're looking at
2:07:15 the next steps as we've mentioned before
2:07:19 and then what other information would be
2:07:21 important for future policy and funding
2:07:22 discussions we again this is really
2:07:25 shaking this off in a new way in a fresh
2:07:29 way looking at where we are Circa 2023
2:07:31 and so any further policy and funding
2:07:34 discussions that you have
2:07:36 so I think Jen this is the slide in
2:07:39 which I hand it over to you or I do one
2:07:46 so this is a big topic and as we as
2:07:50 staff have been thoughtful about how to
2:07:53 bring this forward to you we thought
2:07:56 that this graphic is a really handy one
2:07:58 to look at the various phases that we
2:08:01 are are currently engaged you see on
2:08:04 that Top Line
2:08:06 um the work of our Human Services
2:08:09 Division dealing with unsheltered
2:08:11 homeless something when I arrived here
2:08:14 three and a half years ago we had no
2:08:15 real practical approach for but today we
2:08:19 I think are doing a great job in dealing
2:08:21 with that but need additional resources
2:08:24 Emergency Shelters again uh perhaps on
2:08:27 an ad hoc basis what we're proposing
2:08:29 with the Motel 6 pilot is really a a one
2:08:32 of our first large organized efforts in
2:08:34 that regard then you have the next steps
2:08:38 transitional housing Supportive Housing
2:08:40 subsidized housing affordable rental and
2:08:42 ownership and market rate rental and
2:08:44 ownership and as you can see in the
2:08:46 lines below there are different pieces
2:08:49 that help with that our behavioral
2:08:52 health program really helps throughout
2:08:54 all spectrums of the housing Continuum
2:08:56 our Human Services Grants traditionally
2:08:58 have been in the support of Housing and
2:09:00 subsidized housing area the Tod
2:09:03 Opportunity Center really falls into
2:09:05 those last three categories the happy
2:09:07 Grant from a policy perspective falls
2:09:09 into the last two categories and then
2:09:11 that last green bar on the bottom is
2:09:13 Arch the city has a long-term commitment
2:09:16 to Arch we don't lose sight of the
2:09:18 general fund support that our the city
2:09:21 has made to Arch over time and that
2:09:23 carries forward through a large part of
2:09:25 the Continuum so as we talked this
2:09:28 evening
2:09:29 about future challenges that we have
2:09:31 it's important to keep this entire
2:09:33 Continuum in mind there is not one piece
2:09:36 of the puzzle that covers all issues as
2:09:38 it deals with affordable housing as it
2:09:40 deals with homelessness there are
2:09:41 multiple pieces we think we have good
2:09:43 strategies moving forward we think we
2:09:45 have Revenue sources to support that and
2:09:47 that really is the overview of why we're
2:09:50 here tonight and the discussion that we
2:09:52 wish to start
2:09:54 and that's the last slide for me so with
2:09:57 that I'll turn it over to Kristen Leeson
2:09:58 from our community Planning and
2:10:00 Development Department who will talk
2:10:01 about the policy 90s policy pieces
2:10:04 Kristen good evening good evening so yes
2:10:06 I'm here to talk about the housing
2:10:08 strategy work plan implementation and
2:10:10 give you an update on that and the happy
2:10:12 Grant keeps coming up because we
2:10:14 received a hundred thousand dollar Grant
2:10:15 from Commerce which is called the
2:10:17 housing action plan implementation Grant
2:10:19 happy so that's why that keeps coming up
2:10:21 but the purpose of it is to implement in
2:10:24 this case three of our strategies and
2:10:27 the deadline for this work is
2:10:28 anticipated to be done are expected to
2:10:30 be done by June 30th of this year
2:10:35 whoops
2:10:38 sorry
2:10:42 no I just
2:10:44 yeah so thank you though so the as Wally
2:10:48 just mentioned the areas of focus for
2:10:50 this work for these three strategies are
2:10:52 affordable rental and housing and
2:10:54 affordable rental and ownership housing
2:10:56 which means that covenants are attached
2:10:58 to it and then market rate rental and
2:11:01 ownership housing
2:11:04 the three strategies that we're looking
2:11:06 with are specifically inclusionary
2:11:08 zoning and more specifically expansion
2:11:10 of inclusionary zoning then removing
2:11:12 barriers to condo construction and
2:11:15 strategy 8 is allowing a larger
2:11:18 diversity of market rate housing within
2:11:20 the city and I'll let you know that when
2:11:21 we looked at this we've only looked at
2:11:23 multi-family zones knowing that the
2:11:25 state
2:11:25 was looking at making changes at
2:11:27 single-family zones we said let's just
2:11:28 leave it alone for a while see what the
2:11:30 state does and just look at multi-family
2:11:32 zones and mixed use where big
2:11:33 multi-family uses are allowed
2:11:37 so I'm going to start with strategy 6
2:11:39 inclusionary zoning
2:11:40 as you know we have an existing program
2:11:42 that requires affordable housing within
2:11:44 market rate residential developments in
2:11:46 the mixed-use central Issaquah Urban
2:11:48 core and vertical mixed use overlaid
2:11:50 zones
2:11:51 but that hasn't happened so we haven't
2:11:54 had market rate housing we haven't had
2:11:56 affordable housing in those zones so
2:11:57 before we could expand this program our
2:12:00 Consultants here at Eco Northwest by the
2:12:02 way said we need to look at why it's not
2:12:05 working here before we can move on so in
2:12:07 looking at that they found a few things
2:12:10 one is that
2:12:14 we have some stringent development
2:12:16 requirements we have land costs that are
2:12:20 really high assessed high but then you
2:12:23 throw in the market rate and it's much
2:12:24 higher we have
2:12:27 High construction costs construction
2:12:28 costs have shot through the roof in the
2:12:31 past few years and we have some
2:12:33 development some stringent development
2:12:36 requirements such as say parking
2:12:37 structured parking we require 50 of our
2:12:39 parking has to be in structured parking
2:12:42 we have
2:12:46 something that we might need to consider
2:12:48 is that the amount of affordable housing
2:12:50 that we require in these units is too
2:12:52 high and that the percentage of the area
2:12:55 median income is too low and so
2:12:59 developers have said that that doesn't
2:13:00 work so it doesn't mean that this is a
2:13:03 black and white situation we're just
2:13:04 going to cut all structured parking
2:13:06 where that's not what it means but what
2:13:08 we need to do is look at balancing these
2:13:10 different things you know tweak each one
2:13:12 a little bit and see what's going to
2:13:13 work so can we expand it right now no we
2:13:16 can't expand it at this time but what
2:13:18 we'd like to do what we're proposing to
2:13:20 do is to wait until the parking we're
2:13:22 doing a parking study is part of Title
2:13:24 18 we were asked to do that it will
2:13:25 include structured parking so we're
2:13:27 going to wait until that's completed in
2:13:29 2024 and then come back and revisit this
2:13:31 whole issue
2:13:34 so moving on to strategy seven con
2:13:37 condominium development please just ask
2:13:39 questions if you have any questions okay
2:13:41 uh okay then we're going to stop you
2:13:43 there I saw a few uh councilmember head
2:13:47 okay so um for this item The Next Step
2:13:50 was to bring this to
2:13:53 um planning policy commission is that
2:13:54 first of all that's right right we are
2:13:57 going to take yeah we're going to take
2:13:58 this conversation to them yes okay
2:14:01 um so will that include
2:14:03 taking the the revision like revised
2:14:06 inclusion inclusionary zoning
2:14:08 requirements and expand the multi-family
2:14:10 tax exemption
2:14:11 um recommendations from eco
2:14:13 Northwest to them
2:14:19 the conversation keeps changing we were
2:14:21 talking about it today and because our
2:14:23 proposal right now is just to do and
2:14:25 you'll find out about it but our
2:14:26 proposal right now is just to do
2:14:28 diversity of housing amendments
2:14:31 and the deadline for this is June 30th
2:14:33 we are proposing to take just the
2:14:36 diversity of housing conversation that
2:14:37 we have at the Go Eco Northwest take
2:14:40 that to them and then do the public
2:14:41 hearing and then come back to them
2:14:43 afterwards with the inclusionary zoning
2:14:45 and condominium discussion
2:14:49 okay the and the deadline you're
2:14:50 referring to is the deadline for the
2:14:52 grant for the happy grant for using that
2:14:54 funding
2:14:57 okay and you so you don't think it would
2:14:59 be possible to take the other pieces for
2:15:01 scheduling to planning policy commission
2:15:03 we can we just in order to meet the
2:15:05 January the June 30th deadline we were
2:15:07 hoping to do just the diversity of
2:15:09 housing
2:15:10 our original plan was to take all of it
2:15:11 but it took us four hours to make it
2:15:13 through Powerpoints and the report which
2:15:16 isn't done yet is 52 pages long and
2:15:18 that's about halfway through so it's
2:15:20 just we just know it's going to be a
2:15:21 really long really in-depth conversation
2:15:24 and so we're going to take it before the
2:15:26 parking study comes out we just didn't
2:15:27 want to do it before we just wanted to
2:15:28 be able to get the grant stuff done
2:15:31 before June 30th
2:15:33 okay thank you I guess that's
2:15:37 your city
2:15:40 or exactly yeah
2:15:42 um so then just to be clear we are
2:15:44 considering those recommendations it's
2:15:46 just a matter of timing yes when it
2:15:48 happens and what funding we use to do
2:15:50 that right we want to make a really good
2:15:52 layer cake and we can't do it unless we
2:15:53 have all the layers and a big piece of
2:15:54 that is the parking study and you know
2:15:58 other parts are these are really big
2:15:59 policy discussions on whether or not to
2:16:01 decrease percentage of Ami or decrease
2:16:04 or yeah decrease that or you know
2:16:06 decrease the number of housing units
2:16:08 those are big policy discussions to be
2:16:09 had so we don't want to rush through
2:16:12 when as you referenced in or maybe it's
2:16:15 Monica someone responded to one of my
2:16:16 emails and said some of this will
2:16:17 require you know testing and evaluating
2:16:19 you know what's working too so that
2:16:21 might take some time and I buy that but
2:16:23 um the other question I had was well we
2:16:25 had a bunch of developers come during
2:16:27 public comment which was great to hear
2:16:28 from them one of them had said the Ami
2:16:31 levels that we require in our
2:16:33 inclusionary zoning requirements are
2:16:34 just not like what they've seen in the
2:16:36 reading do we have any sense of whether
2:16:38 or not that's true
2:16:40 I need to check with them Arch who knows
2:16:43 what all these cities are doing okay
2:16:46 I I don't know I'm not gonna I hadn't
2:16:48 heard that before it's it's new to me
2:16:51 it's relatively new to me
2:16:53 okay thanks and and Arch I should note
2:16:56 Arch helped us develop our original
2:16:58 program
2:17:01 I'm not sure I don't know if they
2:17:02 propose it
2:17:05 so um can you you've shown
2:17:09 um there's the conversation about
2:17:10 parking there's a conversation about
2:17:12 inclusionary zoning and there's a
2:17:14 conversation about the multi-family tax
2:17:18 exemption the mft are you saying all
2:17:20 three of those are going to go to PPC
2:17:23 then PD and all of that no not not as
2:17:26 separate items that they would all be a
2:17:28 part of it so there's a lot of cities in
2:17:31 in the arch system and some other
2:17:33 elsewhere in the state have inclusionary
2:17:36 zoning along with mfte and so you want
2:17:39 to see how one affects the other okay so
2:17:41 it's all intended for inclusionary
2:17:43 zoning great thanks okay
2:17:46 next slide okay
2:17:48 oh uh strategy seven condominium
2:17:50 development or as we've seen lack
2:17:52 thereof and specifically we're talking
2:17:54 about stacked Condominiums not side by
2:17:57 so our biggest issue right now is that
2:18:04 what we wanted to look at was to see if
2:18:06 we could make local changes changes
2:18:08 locally in our code and to see if there
2:18:10 were issues that we could Lobby the
2:18:12 state changes that we could Lobby them
2:18:14 for to make to help our biggest
2:18:15 deterrent right now is the Washington
2:18:17 Condominium Act which was adopted in
2:18:19 1989 which makes Condominiums subject to
2:18:23 specific liabilities to in order to
2:18:25 protect the property owners of the
2:18:27 Condominiums but what's happened is
2:18:29 these liabilities are actually creating
2:18:30 legal and financial risks for
2:18:33 condominium developers and in turn
2:18:35 insurance companies have said well
2:18:37 you're more liable so we're raising our
2:18:40 premiums which then increase
2:18:41 construction costs and then condominium
2:18:43 developers saying not doing it so we're
2:18:46 not getting it and with these higher
2:18:48 costs developers need to be able to
2:18:50 build bigger higher buildings to get to
2:18:54 make it more financially feasible for
2:18:55 them so that's why you see it in Seattle
2:18:56 and Bellevue but not in places like
2:18:59 Kenmore or Kirkland you know Kenmore or
2:19:01 Issaquah those cities so those are the
2:19:03 biggest deterrents um we also may not
2:19:06 have a housing market that supports it
2:19:07 because like I said we don't issaquah's
2:19:09 not ready for that big bulky huge tall
2:19:11 development that's just not there
2:19:13 uh so we are making two recommendations
2:19:15 here one is there are no changes that we
2:19:18 can make to our code they've looked at
2:19:20 our code and said there's nothing you
2:19:21 can do right now but we do want to
2:19:24 continue to Lobby the state
2:19:26 in our legislative agenda and we can
2:19:28 we'll talk with the Consultants about
2:19:30 more changes that we can propose
2:19:33 and if we I should mention in 2019 the
2:19:35 state did make changes to the
2:19:38 Condominium Act hoping to get to lower
2:19:40 the risk for developers and get more
2:19:42 Condominiums but it's too early to know
2:19:44 whether or not that works so we'll wait
2:19:46 kind of see what happens continue to
2:19:48 Lobby the state but if it if we don't
2:19:50 see changes something that we might
2:19:51 consider is offering some sort of down
2:19:53 payment or some other support to help uh
2:19:56 first home first-time homeowners to
2:19:58 purchase
2:20:00 any questions
2:20:03 council member Joe
2:20:07 thank you for coming tonight and giving
2:20:10 this presentation it's very helpful the
2:20:12 legislature took out the right to cure
2:20:15 with Condominiums and the the right to
2:20:18 cure being that when
2:20:23 the condominium owner brings an action
2:20:26 the Builder would have the right to come
2:20:28 back and try to cure or try to correct
2:20:31 the problem
2:20:32 do you see that as having any Market
2:20:36 input Market impact on this conversation
2:20:39 that we're having tonight thank you
2:20:45 foreign
2:20:48 I don't think
2:20:50 I am not as familiar with it as you are
2:20:52 but from what I know and what we've seen
2:20:54 so far the changes weren't big enough to
2:20:57 make it happen
2:21:00 thank you very much
2:21:06 so one more strategy eight housing
2:21:08 diversity and this is market rate
2:21:10 housing we want more diverse housing
2:21:12 than we have so the three types of
2:21:16 housing that we looked at are Courtyard
2:21:18 Apartments Cottage housing and micro
2:21:20 units and again this was all in
2:21:21 multi-family zones
2:21:26 in general
2:21:28 what we found
2:21:29 this one was a little obvious to us
2:21:31 neither none of these types of housing
2:21:34 are defined in our code currently and
2:21:36 they're not included in the permitted
2:21:37 uses table so change number one that
2:21:40 needs to be done because technically
2:21:41 Courtyard Apartments and micro units
2:21:44 would be allowed but
2:21:46 you could build them but it doesn't it's
2:21:48 not obvious so that needs to be fixed we
2:21:50 also need to reevaluate parking
2:21:52 requirements in these zones we need to
2:21:54 reevaluate impervious surface
2:21:55 particularly in the multi-family High
2:21:57 Zone which currently the maximum
2:21:58 appropriate surface is 50 and we need to
2:22:01 look at increasing allowable density
2:22:03 which right in multi-family High which
2:22:05 right now is only 29 yellow units per
2:22:07 acre so for cottage housing in addition
2:22:09 to the things listed above we need to
2:22:11 make allowances for some of these things
2:22:13 like smaller setbacks between the houses
2:22:15 narrower Drive Lanes in there and how
2:22:18 they're allowed to set it up and then
2:22:20 for micro units everything listed above
2:22:22 plus the recommendation is to remove all
2:22:25 parking requirements especially
2:22:27 structured parking
2:22:28 so again this is not a one size fits all
2:22:32 and we need to evaluate how and adjust
2:22:36 and see how much we need to adjust these
2:22:38 different things that have come up so
2:22:39 our proposal is to take this to PPC to
2:22:42 add definitions and include permitted
2:22:43 use and include these in the permitted
2:22:45 uses table take this to PPC for public
2:22:47 Hearing in May and then from 20 2024 and
2:22:51 Beyond again wait for the parking study
2:22:53 see what it says and potentially address
2:22:55 parking and structured parking and then
2:22:58 also look at potentially height density
2:22:59 and imperative surface in these
2:23:01 multi-family zones
2:23:05 and I'll just do this last one really
2:23:06 quickly our next step would just so just
2:23:08 to be clear the only change that we're
2:23:10 proposing right now would be with
2:23:11 diversity of housing and we would take
2:23:14 this to PPC in May
2:23:17 potentially May 11th and May 25th for
2:23:19 discussion and then June 8th public
2:23:21 hearing back to the Planning Development
2:23:24 environment committee on July 5th and to
2:23:27 Council on July July 17th and I've
2:23:30 already talked to the state and as long
2:23:31 as we have held that public hearing
2:23:32 prior to June 30th we're good
2:23:36 so they just need to know we're making
2:23:37 progress
2:23:40 thank you
2:23:43 any questions before we move on to the
2:23:45 next area
2:23:46 not seeing any thank you Kristen
2:23:53 okay thank you
2:23:55 um again Jen Davis Hayes making clunky
2:23:58 noise over here economic development
2:24:00 manager and
2:24:01 um Wally has expressed
2:24:04 um to share with you my new role of
2:24:07 focusing on affordable housing as as
2:24:10 well as in central Issaquah looking at
2:24:11 barriers to Redevelopment and solutions
2:24:13 for that so what that also means around
2:24:16 affordable housing is really you know
2:24:18 building some tools looking at the
2:24:19 relationships of of folks in the
2:24:22 development community and finding out
2:24:24 what really needs to happen in order for
2:24:26 us to see affordable housing being built
2:24:28 on the ground in projects so less about
2:24:31 policy stuff that's things that we'll be
2:24:34 working with Kristen if we identify some
2:24:35 things but more looking at
2:24:40 what you know how can we influence the
2:24:42 market so we're here tonight uh to talk
2:24:45 about the funding uh for HB 1509 the 1.1
2:24:50 percent uh sales tax revenue so as you
2:24:53 know there have been about three newer
2:24:55 sources that the city has been
2:24:56 collecting for affordable housing over
2:24:58 the past few years few years I'm going
2:25:00 to be talking about the capital portion
2:25:03 of those recommendations and Monica will
2:25:05 be speaking to the Monica
2:25:08 oh my gosh I came as their last name now
2:25:11 it's so late Monica knew
2:25:16 the gorilla thank you
2:25:18 um our City's Human Service Manager will
2:25:20 speak to the operations part so looking
2:25:23 at the housing Continuum this I think
2:25:25 this is a great
2:25:26 um uh image to start thinking about
2:25:29 where we where our priorities are where
2:25:31 we're currently doing things and so the
2:25:34 again the component that I will be
2:25:36 talking about is the transit Orient
2:25:37 development Opportunity Center portion
2:25:39 so the subsidized housing through the
2:25:41 market rate rental piece
2:25:45 so looking at our proposal for again the
2:25:48 capital portion of this is that we're
2:25:51 looking at again HB
2:25:53 1509 uh the 0.1 percent sales tax for
2:25:57 the 21 to 24 funding only we have three
2:26:01 proposals the transit oriented
2:26:04 development Opportunity Center
2:26:06 allocation a strategic opportunity fund
2:26:09 and the motel 6.
2:26:11 program and we're proposing to come back
2:26:14 to the city council Committee of the
2:26:17 whole to discuss the Strategic
2:26:19 opportunity fund
2:26:21 and other additional funding that we
2:26:23 have but once we want to what I better
2:26:26 understand
2:26:27 council's goals and priorities for
2:26:30 affordable housing
2:26:31 so I'm going to skip forward one slide
2:26:34 to kind of just go to this uh how we
2:26:37 approached making these recommendations
2:26:38 so again as Wally mentioned earlier this
2:26:41 is not a this is how we're going to do
2:26:43 affordable housing forever we realize
2:26:45 that we've kind of been on hold for a
2:26:47 bit and but we do have some resources
2:26:50 that we want to move forward with we
2:26:53 again are only looking at one of our
2:26:55 sources of funding right now the larger
2:26:57 pool and we wanted to have a
2:26:58 conversation
2:26:59 with the council about the other sources
2:27:03 the allocation that we'll be talking
2:27:05 about in this future slides for HB 1590
2:27:09 and we'll talk about this next there's a
2:27:11 requirement you have to spend at least
2:27:13 60 percent on Capital and so we've
2:27:16 always shown it as a 60 40 split between
2:27:18 capital and operations for this
2:27:20 recommendation only we're looking at a
2:27:22 75-25 split and then for that uh that
2:27:27 we're looking at a placeholder for the
2:27:29 transit Orient development
2:27:31 Opportunity Center in 2024 and again
2:27:34 I'll speak to that a little bit later
2:27:36 and then again coming back to May 22nd
2:27:39 Committee of the whole
2:27:41 so I want to go over briefly the three
2:27:43 sources of funding that we have right
2:27:45 now for affordable housing the HB 1590
2:27:49 so we've been collecting that since 2021
2:27:54 so right now we expect through the end
2:27:56 of 2024 that we'll have about 9.3
2:27:59 million dollars of Revenue collected now
2:28:01 I will say that you're that we do have
2:28:05 some funding that has been already
2:28:07 allocated in this and you'll see that in
2:28:09 the proposal tonight as well so the
2:28:11 requirements for that again at least 60
2:28:13 percent must be for Capital there's
2:28:15 specific populations that are mentioned
2:28:17 in in the rules and they have to be at
2:28:19 or below 60 percent area median income
2:28:23 the next two sources we are not we have
2:28:26 not come with any recommendations yet
2:28:28 but the next one is House Bill 1406
2:28:31 that's the state pass-through money we
2:28:33 collect about a hundred and twenty
2:28:34 thousand dollars a year so we anticipate
2:28:36 about six hundred and twelve thousand
2:28:37 dollars it's a little less restrictive
2:28:39 same populations of recommendations uh
2:28:43 at or below 60 Ami but there's not an
2:28:45 operations Capital split required so we
2:28:48 could put all of it towards operations
2:28:49 all of it towards capital or whatever we
2:28:52 see necessary
2:28:54 and then the third pot is What's called
2:28:56 the density bonus it's going to be
2:28:58 renamed development bonus as part of the
2:29:00 title 18 update so both of those words
2:29:03 are in there and for those who are aware
2:29:06 the central Issaquah plan has uh if a
2:29:10 builder wanted to build over the base
2:29:11 height they have an opportunity to do
2:29:13 that through this program and so for
2:29:16 commercial projects because they're not
2:29:17 building a fort housing you know it
2:29:19 would be kind of a silly to have them
2:29:21 put two houses two affordable housing in
2:29:23 their office building right so they have
2:29:25 an opportunity to pay a fee so we have
2:29:27 two projects that we will have received
2:29:30 payments by the end of 2024. one of them
2:29:33 is the Issaquah work Lofts which is on
2:29:34 Gilman we have that in hand the second
2:29:37 one is the Costco payment as part of
2:29:41 their development agreement that's a
2:29:42 one-time payment that covers all their
2:29:44 current and future development in the
2:29:46 development agreement those requirements
2:29:49 are that it can be spent for open space
2:29:52 or affordable housing but it does not
2:29:56 have any details in our current
2:29:58 standards about how to split that that
2:30:01 funding between open open space and
2:30:03 affordable housing what priorities we
2:30:05 should have it does have some
2:30:07 indications of you must uh we the intent
2:30:10 is to spend it within 10 years of
2:30:12 collection and within the sub area where
2:30:14 the project is so again we want to hear
2:30:17 from Council to think about the goals
2:30:20 and priorities and then come back and
2:30:22 say this is what we suggest for this
2:30:23 criteria to move forward
2:30:27 and so you probably have seen this slide
2:30:30 before this so This Again HB 1590 the
2:30:34 anticipated collections over the four
2:30:35 years and again this is split out in the
2:30:37 60 40 split just as the initial kind of
2:30:41 um thought process for this
2:30:44 we're getting into what we'll be
2:30:46 speaking to tonight so the um the pieces
2:30:49 on in the white or the original draft
2:30:51 proposal are some of the things that
2:30:53 were put in there potentially again a
2:30:56 housing affordable housing planner the
2:30:59 Tod construction we didn't know what
2:31:00 year we would be putting that allocation
2:31:03 into so what we're going to be speaking
2:31:06 to tonight is the green proposal side so
2:31:09 I will say that Monica will talk about
2:31:12 the capital portion of the Motel 6 pilot
2:31:14 again I will talk about the capital
2:31:17 other portion which is right now the Tod
2:31:20 Opportunity Center Construction
2:31:26 and so after
2:31:29 our our allocations if uh Council agrees
2:31:33 with this and improves it eventually for
2:31:35 this biennium we'll have approximately
2:31:37 1.6 million dollars remaining in this
2:31:39 fund so again we what we want to do is
2:31:42 we'll be good stewards of this money we
2:31:44 want to think about how we can best
2:31:46 utilize this again is it capital is it
2:31:49 operations
2:31:50 um to really uh go into a robust
2:31:53 conversation about that with Council
2:31:55 moving forward
2:31:58 so um the the transit oriented
2:32:01 development Opportunity Center is a
2:32:03 project that the city has been
2:32:04 partnering with King County Housing
2:32:06 Authority and another developer to build
2:32:08 a mixed-use mixed income development
2:32:10 next to the transit Issaquah Transit
2:32:12 Center and there'll be at least 155
2:32:16 affordable housing units and and at
2:32:18 least that many
2:32:19 um market rate units the city will own a
2:32:23 10 000 square foot ground floor
2:32:25 commercial space and that's what's
2:32:27 called the Opportunity Center so the
2:32:29 purpose for that is to provide medical
2:32:32 and Behavioral Health Services to
2:32:34 low-income individuals not only in the
2:32:36 Tod but also city-wide
2:32:39 um and you some of you may remember that
2:32:41 the city council passed a resolution in
2:32:43 2018 to fund up to 5.05 million dollars
2:32:47 for the construction of the Opportunity
2:32:49 Center so we worked hard to try to count
2:32:51 to find other sources for that money and
2:32:54 so we did apply for and received a three
2:32:56 million dollar State Grant to build
2:32:58 Behavioral Health Center and we're
2:33:01 working with the state to ensure that
2:33:02 continues to stay there for us we
2:33:05 identified the 965 thousand dollars
2:33:07 remaining from the Telus development
2:33:09 agreement mitigation payment to utilize
2:33:11 for the opportunity Center and then we
2:33:14 did an RFP and selected a HealthPoint to
2:33:17 provide those Services there and they
2:33:18 will be paying us rent so lease payments
2:33:21 over time will help to pay back down
2:33:23 what we invest in that the one thing
2:33:26 that the project manager wanted me to
2:33:28 make sure we also were reminded of is
2:33:30 that any affordable housing project that
2:33:33 comes into the city is able to waive
2:33:35 their permit fees and impact fees but
2:33:37 the city must provide and for that money
2:33:40 so for the the opportunities the Tod
2:33:43 we're looking at about three million
2:33:45 dollars
2:33:46 so that is why we're looking at again
2:33:49 placing a
2:33:50 creating a placeholder for the the Tod
2:33:54 in 2024 because King County now as City
2:33:58 administrator Bob kowitz mentioned at
2:34:00 the end of last year they they now have
2:34:02 control of the site and so they're
2:34:03 refining their designs they're figuring
2:34:05 out what the new costs are and we'll
2:34:07 have a better handle for that in 2024.
2:34:11 Jen before you move on
2:34:13 um going back to the other side the
2:34:15 three million dollars in waived
2:34:17 permitting fee is saying the city must
2:34:18 provide wouldn't that just be
2:34:20 reimbursing ourselves or is it other
2:34:23 things like School impact fees that go
2:34:25 to another agency so it goes into
2:34:28 um yeah so it also goes into
2:34:29 Transportation impact so it has to be
2:34:30 spent for a certain thing so parks in an
2:34:34 open space you know all of those good
2:34:37 things yes so it's a little bit of
2:34:39 shuffling of money
2:34:40 um within the fund but that's something
2:34:42 that again we wanted to remind Council
2:34:45 about over that's a requirement and for
2:34:47 any affordable housing that that happens
2:34:50 and then next so the next uh
2:34:54 uh thing that we'd like to talk about is
2:34:56 the Strategic opportunity fund it's a
2:34:58 general name right now we'll figure out
2:35:00 what that means but really it's the
2:35:01 purpose is to have a resources available
2:35:04 if there's a timely opportunity or to
2:35:07 pursue prioritized areas of along the
2:35:10 house and Continuum so we want to look
2:35:14 at again the HB 1590 uh there's about
2:35:19 1.3 so this the slide has not been
2:35:20 updated since we were moving some
2:35:22 numbers around a million dollars
2:35:23 available does it make sense to
2:35:26 um create a fund that again looks at
2:35:29 should we focus on a certain percentage
2:35:30 of the area median income to focus on do
2:35:33 we want to look at preservation do we
2:35:34 want to look at new construction is
2:35:36 there housing type you prefer and really
2:35:39 looking at how we can impact affordable
2:35:41 housing because we all know it's a
2:35:43 really challenging thing to get built
2:35:45 and making a ten thousand dollar
2:35:46 investment in something probably won't
2:35:48 move the needle
2:35:49 so again coming back to Council on the
2:35:52 22nd to understand what's important to
2:35:55 you and then we'll we'll come back at a
2:35:57 future council meeting with some
2:35:58 criteria to suggest for this fund and so
2:36:04 do we think this will help you know what
2:36:05 the reason we're suggesting this is that
2:36:07 we really have seen a need for this and
2:36:10 so the little bit of time that I've been
2:36:12 doing this work
2:36:13 um we had two opportunities already come
2:36:15 to to my attention without even having
2:36:18 to look for things so one was a pres
2:36:20 preservation project and the other one
2:36:23 um a developer who actually requested
2:36:25 they were looking at our Central
2:36:26 Issaquah plan and and noticed that it
2:36:28 says that we have a Pioneer project uh
2:36:31 program and I said well we don't
2:36:34 actually have one but in that
2:36:36 um in the central Squad plan it does
2:36:38 Define it as an initial residential
2:36:40 project that are giving additional
2:36:43 incentives to balance the risk involved
2:36:45 in making the first and being the first
2:36:47 in this market area such projects shall
2:36:50 receive incentives such as multi-family
2:36:52 tax exemption to provide provide this
2:36:55 housing and relaxed incentives to
2:36:57 achieve affordability so I'm not saying
2:37:00 that we're going to use this fund to
2:37:01 create a Pioneer project but it is one
2:37:03 tool that is already identified it may
2:37:06 make sense so in the urban core itself
2:37:10 right now and these are two different
2:37:13 um there are two projects our two
2:37:15 properties are looking at um
2:37:17 Redevelopment for housing right now as
2:37:20 you know zero housing in urban core zero
2:37:23 I mean zero affordable housing so and
2:37:25 we've already had uh one developer walk
2:37:27 away from one of those two properties
2:37:29 because it didn't uh pencil for them so
2:37:32 can this fund achieve help us achieve
2:37:34 some of our vision and our goals that we
2:37:36 want to have in central Issaquah we'll
2:37:38 have that discussion so is it
2:37:43 council member D Michelle yeah just
2:37:45 really quickly I think in the narrative
2:37:47 he's there was the statement that the
2:37:49 city had done a survey of potential
2:37:52 properties that um you know are
2:37:56 affordable now and that we could help
2:37:58 preserve be affordable okay so
2:38:01 um any details that you want to share
2:38:02 about those are is that extensive or
2:38:07 um yeah Christian you can talk so we did
2:38:10 we did that inventory back in 2021
2:38:14 and it it's a very very it's a very
2:38:18 extensive inventory attachment number of
2:38:19 units you know how much they cost per
2:38:21 everything that covers so it's very
2:38:23 extensive when we started a conversation
2:38:25 with King County
2:38:26 but then that was stalled because we
2:38:28 were having the conversation about the
2:38:29 Tod so we just need to get back to it
2:38:31 right yeah thank you great and and that
2:38:34 was part of the housing strategy work
2:38:37 plan so yeah so I definitely will be
2:38:39 looking at that source
2:38:42 anything else yeah one more question the
2:38:45 Strategic opportunity fund that you're
2:38:48 proposing there that's separate from the
2:38:51 money that would be left over and
2:38:54 basically just sitting in that fund
2:38:57 because basically what you're you're
2:38:59 recommending is with the
2:39:01 9.3 whatever million taking some for the
2:39:05 Tod and then taking some for strategic
2:39:09 opportunity fund and then some for
2:39:11 operations and then there's still the
2:39:15 1.6 that's a little confusing sorry yeah
2:39:17 then I think I present so right now
2:39:20 um because we
2:39:22 first thing we want to have that
2:39:23 conversation if the Strategic
2:39:24 opportunity fund makes sense and how and
2:39:26 what those goals are so it is not laid
2:39:28 out tonight we know for the the
2:39:30 placeholder that we're asking for the
2:39:33 Tod we know for certain we want to do
2:39:35 this one um is something we want to do
2:39:37 but we're not ready to say okay it's
2:39:38 gonna be 1.2 it's going to be point you
2:39:41 know it's going to be 500 000 and so
2:39:43 again having that more robust
2:39:45 conversation with you on the 22nd will
2:39:47 help to refine that and then come back
2:39:48 and say yes we want to make a two
2:39:50 million dollar fund do we want to make a
2:39:52 whatever
2:39:53 um or or do something different right
2:39:56 yeah that's
2:39:58 so um so our recommendation is again
2:40:01 just the the placeholder for the
2:40:03 opportunity Center uh so the allocating
2:40:05 five million dollars for that in 2024.
2:40:08 turn back talk about uh prioritize
2:40:11 affordable housing goals and then once
2:40:13 that's defined we will uh come back and
2:40:17 propose criteria for the fund again and
2:40:20 as well as for the the state
2:40:23 pass-through money and the density bonus
2:40:25 money
2:40:26 um and so this is what that could look
2:40:28 like again coming back to talk about
2:40:31 more about the criteria than uh on for
2:40:34 final adoption hopefully and then just
2:40:36 so you know
2:40:37 um we uh will be taking any of the
2:40:40 discussions that we have around
2:40:41 affordable housing goals into
2:40:43 consideration when we look at next
2:40:46 biennium's budget recommendations so
2:40:48 we'll have you know about five million
2:40:49 dollars from the HB 1590 and about
2:40:52 another 240 from 1406 so then that again
2:40:56 that approach will be influenced by how
2:40:58 what we're doing now and what
2:41:00 opportunities we see in the next year so
2:41:02 this is something we think is really
2:41:04 important to proceed with
2:41:08 okay before we move on Deputy council
2:41:11 president Hall and will we also be
2:41:14 thinking about like um the potential for
2:41:16 like Arch contributions or additional
2:41:17 contributions at that May 22nd meeting
2:41:20 yes that's all of those all of those
2:41:22 options yeah there's probably a lot more
2:41:24 that uh yeah thank you yes
2:41:33 sorry uh council member hunt that's
2:41:36 great
2:41:37 um on the Pioneer projects
2:41:40 have have you and staff thought about if
2:41:44 there would need to be code changes to
2:41:46 support that or policy changes to
2:41:49 actually support that and if so what
2:41:52 next steps would be process wise
2:41:56 so she's Whispering there would be
2:41:57 requirements um so the the developer who
2:42:00 asked me about it was last Thursday
2:42:04 um so when we created this it wasn't
2:42:06 even you know Pioneer project wasn't
2:42:07 kind of the top of my mind but
2:42:09 um one of the things that uh so
2:42:12 obviously if mfte is part of that
2:42:14 Pioneer project then yes we would have
2:42:16 to come and do code change because right
2:42:18 now the mft program is specifically for
2:42:21 the to site and project as you know
2:42:25 um and again depending what that that
2:42:27 definition if there would be a change in
2:42:30 saying if you're the first 200 units 600
2:42:33 units whatever that number is you would
2:42:36 have you know have to provide less
2:42:38 affordable housing or do this in
2:42:41 exchange for that again that would be a
2:42:43 code change so don't anticipate that if
2:42:47 the council is interested in us pursuing
2:42:48 that that it's a quick thing which
2:42:51 unfortunately that this the one
2:42:53 developer who had asked about it
2:42:54 actually just asked me about the
2:42:55 timeline so I think it's something that
2:42:57 if we do have an interest to really
2:42:59 pursue we can really dive in and try to
2:43:02 figure out some of those details to see
2:43:04 if there's
2:43:05 um political there's there's interest in
2:43:07 pursuing that more
2:43:15 Monica
2:43:17 ready for one more council members
2:43:20 good evening this is Monica and gorilla
2:43:22 Human Services
2:43:24 um I will be focusing on the service
2:43:25 side as as was said before primarily
2:43:29 operations related allocations and some
2:43:31 select small Capital allocations related
2:43:34 to the Motel 6 project
2:43:37 um so with that
2:43:39 oh I'm sorry I'm getting used to
2:43:44 take some minutes Kristin says okay I'll
2:43:47 get used to it
2:43:49 um what you see on the screen again it's
2:43:50 uh just a repeat of of that graph with
2:43:53 the housing continuum
2:43:59 in human services we provide support
2:44:01 services in one way or the other to the
2:44:04 entire spectrum of
2:44:07 housing available
2:44:09 tonight we are not going to focus on all
2:44:11 of them but as Wally mentioned earlier
2:44:14 tonight through the Human Services
2:44:15 Grants we provide funding to a wide
2:44:18 range of Housing Services from emergency
2:44:21 congregate shelters to to Really
2:44:23 affordable rental housing also on the
2:44:27 Behavioral Health in part of the behero
2:44:29 health program really we support
2:44:32 residents from all walks of life all
2:44:34 socioeconomic backgrounds living in all
2:44:36 types of housing so that's why you see
2:44:38 that entire area in green as I mentioned
2:44:42 tonight though we'll focus primarily on
2:44:44 the emergency housing programs those are
2:44:46 Emergency Shelters so we are going to
2:44:48 talk about Motel 6 and a little bit more
2:44:50 about starting a conversation on the
2:44:52 behavioral health program
2:44:54 so with that story
2:44:58 um our goal tonight
2:45:01 is really to come to you and provide an
2:45:04 update on the already allocated funds
2:45:07 then next propose some changes to some
2:45:10 of the allocated funds and then propose
2:45:12 some additional expenditures and then
2:45:15 discuss with you some options
2:45:19 so what we are hoping to hear from you
2:45:22 tonight in terms of a direction that we
2:45:25 are seeking from you on one end we would
2:45:29 like to ask if you're a city council
2:45:30 you're supportive of our recommendation
2:45:33 to utilize limited term positions to
2:45:37 fund the pilot program for the emergency
2:45:39 housing project with Motel 6 I'm gonna
2:45:42 talk a little bit in detail in just a
2:45:45 few minutes
2:45:46 and on the second
2:45:49 part we are wondering if you will be a
2:45:52 city council supportive of the
2:45:54 adjustments that we are proposing and
2:45:56 the newly proposed allocations so kind
2:45:59 of like a three-side question there for
2:46:02 but before I dive deeper in what I mean
2:46:04 with all of our proposals I want to
2:46:07 start by providing you a brief
2:46:09 background
2:46:11 um during the budget process in the Fall
2:46:14 City Council
2:46:16 you adopted
2:46:18 a 700 000 allocation
2:46:22 um to go towards the pilot project in
2:46:26 collaboration with Motel 6 which we
2:46:28 named it emergency housing program
2:46:31 I want to start by saying that right
2:46:34 immediately after the budget was adopted
2:46:37 we issued a request for proposals we
2:46:40 connected with really all the non-profit
2:46:44 service providers on the east side many
2:46:47 of them were interested they they came
2:46:50 back to us they wanted to provide
2:46:52 technical assistance but they also told
2:46:54 us that they just do not have the staff
2:46:55 capacity to take on the project
2:46:59 we also had a couple of large service
2:47:02 providers on the east side who were
2:47:04 going and continue to go through big
2:47:07 leadership changes others were really
2:47:09 impacted by Staffing so they just
2:47:11 couldn't take that on WE issued a second
2:47:14 RFP because we wanted to expand our
2:47:18 search to other areas in King County we
2:47:20 reached out to the
2:47:22 regional homelessness Authority so we
2:47:25 really tried to do our due diligence in
2:47:27 finding a provider and while they're
2:47:29 excited about the project they just
2:47:30 could not take it on
2:47:32 so that's actually the reasoning why we
2:47:35 are coming to you tonight and because we
2:47:37 want to continue and we are committed to
2:47:40 going through the pilot we know that
2:47:42 that's a much needed service we have the
2:47:44 data that proves how needed it is we
2:47:47 have actually people waiting and hoping
2:47:49 to enter into that program we would like
2:47:51 to propose that we reallocate and we
2:47:53 shipped the money that was already
2:47:56 allocated towards that project to to
2:47:58 bring it in-house and hire a couple of
2:48:02 actually three 2.5 limited term
2:48:06 positions to to Pilot that project
2:48:10 part still of the background this is a
2:48:13 brief on just update
2:48:16 still part of the HB 1519 city council
2:48:19 you adopted last month 200 000 towards
2:48:22 rental assistance I don't have much
2:48:25 update for that project other than just
2:48:28 we've been negotiating we completed the
2:48:30 contracts those have been signed and
2:48:32 they are about if perhaps were not
2:48:35 already executed but we are they are
2:48:37 really in the process of that and focus
2:48:39 for for that rental assistance is you
2:48:41 Council indicated was really to focus on
2:48:45 families with school-aged children and
2:48:51 families at or below 60 Ami
2:48:56 so moving on
2:48:57 what diving a little bit more on what we
2:49:00 are proposing tonight I told you already
2:49:01 a little bit about a Motel 6 project and
2:49:04 how we would love to hire a couple of
2:49:08 limited term positions to move forward
2:49:10 with that
2:49:12 I'm gonna talk in just a few minutes
2:49:13 about some shifting in funding we talked
2:49:16 about rental assistance and I'm gonna
2:49:19 talk in a few minutes about also
2:49:22 proposing
2:49:23 um allocating two additional Behavioral
2:49:26 Health coordinators
2:49:27 but before I go there um just in
2:49:31 addition to
2:49:32 Shifting the four hundred thousand
2:49:35 dollars that were initially allocated
2:49:36 for operations and seeking your support
2:49:40 with a hiring limiter limited term
2:49:42 positions for that we also made just
2:49:46 small changes to about the 2023 and 2024
2:49:50 about operations and capitals
2:49:53 allocations for 2023 since the project
2:49:57 unfortunately it's already delayed we
2:49:59 are in April we decreased both
2:50:02 allocations we estimate that we are
2:50:06 going to spend less we still kept a
2:50:08 little bit of cushion just because we
2:50:10 estimate we are going to have some
2:50:11 startup costs also since last year since
2:50:14 we first proposed this program we've
2:50:17 seen huge increases in um in pricing
2:50:21 from especially for food and and just
2:50:24 also for other related expenses and then
2:50:29 for 2024 we are actually proposing a
2:50:32 small adjustment in increasing some of
2:50:35 those costs built for Capital and
2:50:38 operations again to just allow for
2:50:42 increases in pricing that we have seen
2:50:45 as well as related inflation
2:50:50 and so next I want to just talk for just
2:50:53 a couple of minutes about the changes
2:50:56 that we are proposing and the new
2:50:58 allocations that we are proposing
2:51:00 um you've uh you you know you've been
2:51:03 part of this process for the past couple
2:51:05 of years when um we created a behavioral
2:51:08 health program to support the work of
2:51:10 our Police Department we have two
2:51:13 currently two Behavioral Health
2:51:14 coordinators one of them actually it was
2:51:17 the the initial homeless Outreach
2:51:19 coordinator
2:51:21 that was created in in 2020 in
2:51:25 partnership with our non-profit lately
2:51:31 after that it was brought in in-house
2:51:35 then we hired the behavioral health
2:51:37 coordinator focused on on working with
2:51:39 the police to
2:51:42 allow for efficiencies
2:51:45 we bro we combine those two programs and
2:51:50 so that's why we actually have currently
2:51:52 two two staff
2:51:53 um who are working on build homeless
2:51:55 Outreach and um
2:51:57 Behavioral Health in collaboration with
2:51:59 police primarily that work currently is
2:52:02 based on a referral model which means
2:52:04 that police
2:52:05 officers respond to a crisis and
2:52:09 um after the situation has been solved
2:52:12 they refer someone to our Behavioral
2:52:16 Health coordinators for the past few
2:52:19 months we have started in in the last
2:52:21 two three months we also started
2:52:25 piloting an actual core response program
2:52:28 with them what we've noticed however is
2:52:31 that often our staff are out perhaps in
2:52:35 Bellevue trying to get a an ID with
2:52:38 someone they are meeting and they get a
2:52:40 call from police so it's really
2:52:42 difficult to provide that follow-up and
2:52:45 core response at the same time
2:52:47 um and so that is one of the reasons
2:52:50 among really The increased needs where
2:52:52 we just can't keep up with the number of
2:52:54 referrals that we get and we hear from
2:52:56 our uh Partners in police that they
2:52:59 could really benefit from having someone
2:53:00 correspond that's that's the the reason
2:53:03 why we are coming to you tonight and uh
2:53:06 proposing that
2:53:07 um we add to additional Behavioral
2:53:10 Health positions that would really
2:53:13 um work hand in hand with the police
2:53:16 officers will respond as needed to calls
2:53:20 and we will keep the existing Behavioral
2:53:23 Health coordinators to to provide that
2:53:25 that follow-up we've seen that really in
2:53:28 order for repeat calls not to be repeat
2:53:31 in time the follow-up is really needed
2:53:34 and that's where
2:53:36 a lot of our work
2:53:39 is really seen and it's successful so
2:53:44 um as we mentioned a few months ago we
2:53:46 really wanted to see this program grow
2:53:47 organically see what works for Issaquah
2:53:50 and so working and and building that
2:53:53 connection with the community and with
2:53:54 the police department
2:53:56 um we are seeing that both of those are
2:54:00 needed the corresponds and the follow-up
2:54:03 and so that's what we are proposing as
2:54:05 an initial conversation
2:54:07 for tonight
2:54:09 and I can pause for questions or I can
2:54:12 continue and just finalizing our
2:54:15 recommendations really quick
2:54:19 Deputy council president Hall
2:54:21 thank you I have two questions about the
2:54:24 last couple slides so first
2:54:28 and apologies if this is just my
2:54:30 ignorance but what are the capital
2:54:31 expenses that are associated with the
2:54:33 pilot program as opposed to operational
2:54:35 commences yes great question so I'm
2:54:37 gonna go back if I can there oops
2:54:41 so the cap is also the initial
2:54:43 allocation was seven hundred thousand
2:54:45 dollars for operations we dedicated 400
2:54:48 000 and for Capital three hundred
2:54:50 thousand and the capital is really the
2:54:52 least from Motel 664 for the rooms
2:54:56 okay it's we're not making any
2:54:58 improvements to it we're not making any
2:55:00 improvements it's basically the lease
2:55:01 okay thank you that that clears that up
2:55:03 and then um so part of the
2:55:06 recommendation is to have these limited
2:55:08 term employee housing specialists
2:55:11 um what is your sense of
2:55:13 what the workforce for that is right now
2:55:16 I mean I feel like we love all these
2:55:18 creative positions that the city is
2:55:21 is coming up with and wanting to go out
2:55:23 for and then we run into problems
2:55:25 getting people in those roles just by
2:55:27 the nature of the the market right now
2:55:29 do we have any of those concerns with
2:55:31 this position
2:55:32 actually we had some initially and then
2:55:34 we realized that because city the city
2:55:37 pays better uh than the non-profit
2:55:41 providers
2:55:42 um actually we do have
2:55:44 um quite a bit of interest from
2:55:47 Specialists who are interested in either
2:55:50 switching long term to working in
2:55:53 government or just interested
2:55:56 um in in getting better paid
2:55:59 so yes we had a similar concern and we
2:56:03 are pleasantly surprised to see that
2:56:04 actually there's quite a bit of Interest
2:56:06 well that's great thank you
2:56:10 I'm going to jump on a question here
2:56:11 before we move on
2:56:14 I see that we're proposing adding
2:56:17 potentially what looks like four and a
2:56:22 employees hours even if some are limited
2:56:24 term are we looking at adding or freeing
2:56:27 up any management time for someone who
2:56:31 might be a very valuable employee who
2:56:33 might be slightly overworked and who we
2:56:35 don't want to make sure
2:56:37 gets overworked is that in the
2:56:40 consideration
2:56:41 okay can I plead the fifth there or
2:56:44 something else
2:56:49 we are doing our best to leverage
2:56:51 resources as we can I mean Monica has
2:56:54 done an excellent job
2:56:56 there is no additional positions
2:56:58 contemplated here
2:57:04 we'll have that conversation
2:57:13 okay thank you then I think what's left
2:57:17 on my end is really to summarize the
2:57:20 recommendations that we have for you
2:57:22 tonight and I know you had quite a few
2:57:24 forms from all of us but on one end we
2:57:27 are hoping that we can reallocate those
2:57:30 operation funds for the Motel 6 project
2:57:32 for the limited term positions this is
2:57:34 one area that we are a little bit under
2:57:38 a time constraint because it's already
2:57:40 April and so with your permission we
2:57:42 would love to come back straight to a
2:57:43 council meeting as early as May to to
2:57:46 seek approval
2:57:49 um on the second and we would like to
2:57:51 adjust and make those adjustments as as
2:57:54 we know that in decreasing both
2:57:56 operations and capital for 2023 and
2:57:58 increasing some for 2024 that can be
2:58:01 done in parallel in May or with the next
2:58:05 budget amendment
2:58:06 and then third we hope to obtain
2:58:10 approval for the two additional
2:58:12 Behavioral Health coordinators we are
2:58:16 really not under huge time constraints
2:58:18 here so if Council would love to have
2:58:20 additional conversation we can come back
2:58:22 to a committee meeting or to another
2:58:24 Committee of the whole if you would like
2:58:26 additional details or we would also love
2:58:29 just to bring everything back in way to
2:58:31 a regular council meeting but we
2:58:32 understand that there might be more
2:58:34 questions for one or the other so we are
2:58:37 pretty flexible on that but these are
2:58:38 our recommendations and so as I
2:58:41 mentioned if if city council gives the
2:58:43 thumbs up tonight we would love to come
2:58:45 back at to the May 15 regular council
2:58:48 meeting
2:58:54 okay so do we have anything else in the
2:58:57 presentation in the presentation the
2:59:01 very last one is just the summarized of
2:59:05 the needs yep
2:59:10 let's see at this point we've got
2:59:14 opportunity for public comment I think
2:59:18 um before we
2:59:20 our last public member just left
2:59:24 um maybe we have anybody online okay
2:59:27 let's see anybody online
2:59:29 um if you're interested in making public
2:59:31 comments you can press star three if
2:59:32 you're on the phone raise your hand look
2:59:34 for that raise your hand icon if you are
2:59:36 on a smartphone or computer
2:59:39 and uh city clerk do we have anybody
2:59:42 indicating a desire to speak looks like
2:59:45 we have two members of the public
2:59:46 attending virtually but I don't see that
2:59:48 either of them
2:59:49 wish to make comments at this time okay
2:59:51 well as usual you can always email us we
2:59:54 left those emails
2:59:56 um so we've got uh deliberation feedback
3:00:00 a little bit asked I'm thinking we take
3:00:02 it in those kind of three buckets that
3:00:05 we've been given so starting on the
3:00:07 policy and regulation
3:00:10 side with the happy Grant
3:00:13 so does the city council agree with the
3:00:15 approach on the housing action strategy
3:00:19 do we have any comments there
3:00:24 councilmember hunt
3:00:27 thank you
3:00:29 um so there's there's this question and
3:00:31 there's also the closely related
3:00:33 question about does city council agree
3:00:34 with the approach for next steps on the
3:00:36 happy Grant so I think I'll take those
3:00:38 together
3:00:40 um so uh one note is on the condominium
3:00:47 part of our strategic plan I think the
3:00:50 issue that has been identified is the
3:00:52 supply and so while I'm open to policy
3:00:56 that could help us with Supply if that
3:00:58 really is at the state and what we need
3:01:00 to do is continue lobbying our state to
3:01:04 make those necessary changes that I
3:01:05 think we should focus on that it seems
3:01:07 that in that case that solution that was
3:01:09 put forward didn't address the the
3:01:12 problem and so
3:01:14 um that would be my comment on
3:01:16 that particular aspect on the
3:01:21 on the other strategies it seemed to me
3:01:24 that especially for inclusionary zoning
3:01:27 while it was not recommended to expand
3:01:29 exclusionary exclusionary inclusionary
3:01:32 zoning
3:01:34 um at this time there seemed to be
3:01:37 really good thoughts on what we need to
3:01:39 do to make it work which is of course
3:01:42 the point we want to have this zoning
3:01:45 approach lead to increasing the
3:01:49 affordable housing stock in City so I
3:01:55 um I think that while I understand
3:01:57 there's
3:01:59 um understands that there are
3:02:01 constraints on the happy Grant I would
3:02:03 be really interested in how we can
3:02:07 consider through our process which is to
3:02:09 go to PPC consider those those necessary
3:02:14 steps that were recommended to make our
3:02:17 inclusionary zoning policy more
3:02:21 effective and and between that and the
3:02:25 Pioneer program that was mentioned and
3:02:28 then council member Hall's comments
3:02:30 about we'll probably need to try things
3:02:32 I would really be in favor of
3:02:36 bringing forward a
3:02:39 policy conversation about how do we make
3:02:42 this pilot Pioneer program work and a
3:02:46 way to explore those recommendations
3:02:49 that you go Northwest had so those were
3:02:51 things about the mfte as well as the
3:02:55 parking and the um
3:02:58 and the Ami
3:03:01 levels I realize those are all big
3:03:03 pieces but I would be interested in in
3:03:06 exploring how we can start having that
3:03:08 conversation
3:03:09 and maybe I hope it would be that it
3:03:13 would help if we start that conversation
3:03:15 as how do we make this pioneer
3:03:18 Project work in code I also think
3:03:21 interesting that this is in our plan and
3:03:24 so you know it's aligned with our
3:03:27 General goals to have code that supports
3:03:30 our plans so I would like to see us
3:03:33 explore that further
3:03:35 otherwise I agreed with the diversity of
3:03:38 housing the approach on the diversity of
3:03:40 Housing and making sure that we can get
3:03:43 those housing types
3:03:46 and the process on that
3:03:51 that's it on that one great anybody else
3:03:53 on the happy Grant policy and
3:03:56 regulations
3:04:00 I can go while you're still typing if
3:04:02 you'd like okay fantastic
3:04:04 um I will jump on much the same I really
3:04:06 like just the quick feedback that we got
3:04:10 from Eco Northwest their analysis and
3:04:14 just basically like hey these are the
3:04:17 reasons why you're not getting it yes
3:04:19 there's some analysis that we need to do
3:04:21 about like would we do about that and
3:04:24 where would we put a structured parking
3:04:26 requirement
3:04:28 that being said
3:04:31 I you know being on the King County
3:04:35 affordable housing committee I've seen a
3:04:37 lot of stuff come through there about
3:04:40 what has worked regulation wise
3:04:43 regionally and a lot of information
3:04:46 about whose mft programs have been most
3:04:49 successful I would love to be able to
3:04:52 use some of that information
3:04:56 especially as it relates to a potential
3:04:58 pilot project
3:05:02 even if we don't have the parking study
3:05:06 I think there's a lot of
3:05:08 information that we can probably glean
3:05:11 just based on best practices and
3:05:16 things that have worked elsewhere
3:05:19 also I think it's really important the
3:05:22 last time when we because I was on PPC
3:05:25 when we did this consideration of the
3:05:27 structured parking and then also some of
3:05:31 the inclusionary zoning there was really
3:05:33 this push into this 30 to 50 percent and
3:05:36 I think what we've seen more recently is
3:05:40 that that 30 to 60 percent is really the
3:05:43 supportive and subsidized housing and so
3:05:46 I think it's as we look at this
3:05:49 difference in this 60 to 100 percent Ami
3:05:54 what what we can do policy wise versus
3:05:57 just subsidized wise and so kind of
3:06:00 separating out those two conversations
3:06:02 so that we don't expect our market rate
3:06:07 developers and some of those things that
3:06:09 we might do in city code for density
3:06:12 bonuses and things like that to really
3:06:15 provide that 30 to 50 percent that as
3:06:19 we've heard from many cities and the
3:06:22 developers that we're talking tonight it
3:06:24 really takes land so
3:06:26 I'd be open to having some of those
3:06:29 conversations about adjusting the
3:06:31 inclusionary zoning
3:06:33 um there so
3:06:34 I'm really excited and the more we can
3:06:37 do the faster you know that's that's
3:06:40 always the ask
3:06:41 anybody else
3:06:43 thrown in Deputy council president Hall
3:06:48 sure why not
3:06:50 okay yeah agreed on so the housing
3:06:53 diversity aspect of being up first and
3:06:57 getting through that I agree I wonder if
3:06:59 there's any
3:07:01 Community engagement element of that
3:07:03 that needs to happen just in terms of
3:07:07 even just social media notification or
3:07:09 something like that although this is
3:07:11 stuff that could potentially already be
3:07:13 done it's just not specified in the code
3:07:17 okay so then maybe maybe there's a way
3:07:19 to involve the I've just noticed
3:07:21 throughout this whole thing one missing
3:07:23 element that we need to think about is
3:07:25 how are we capturing and involving the
3:07:28 community in these conversations Beyond
3:07:33 um our boys in commissions and is there
3:07:35 a way to do that I guess we I can phrase
3:07:38 that as a question have you thought
3:07:39 through like how we might do something
3:07:41 like that
3:07:42 well this this was part of our housing
3:07:44 strategy action housing strategy housing
3:07:47 action work program so a lot of the
3:07:50 community work was done when we did when
3:07:52 we developed that and when it was
3:07:53 adopted so these discussions about
3:07:55 diversity of housing we had
3:07:57 six or eight different groups that we
3:08:00 worked with
3:08:01 and they said we need these different
3:08:03 types of housing so I feel like a lot of
3:08:05 that Outreach has really been done
3:08:09 yeah I think that's fair
3:08:12 I still run into people though that have
3:08:14 no idea these plans exist and are very
3:08:18 much against some of the things that
3:08:21 they say in it so I I find myself on
3:08:23 this weird like how do we fall on this I
3:08:27 think it makes sense though in terms of
3:08:28 we've done our due diligence with
3:08:30 interested Community groups who have
3:08:32 involve themselves in the process so I I
3:08:34 take your point well anyways housing
3:08:36 diversity as being up first and and
3:08:38 getting through that before June and I
3:08:40 agree condo development also um just to
3:08:43 add to that I know representative sen
3:08:45 are representative from the 41st has
3:08:48 been kind of involved in this issue in
3:08:49 the state so it might be good for us to
3:08:51 connect with her to share our
3:08:53 experiences and even I've been thinking
3:08:56 of how can we like build off the success
3:08:58 of cltc which was the group of cities
3:09:01 and groups that came together to Lobby
3:09:02 the legislature around sr18 maybe
3:09:05 there's something we could we could be
3:09:06 doing joining advocacy groups or
3:09:08 coalitions around
3:09:10 condo stuff
3:09:13 because I I agree I guess it's either
3:09:15 the solution that that was tested
3:09:18 doesn't work or you know covet happened
3:09:21 right after that so we'd also don't
3:09:22 necessarily know
3:09:24 if that's the case or not like you said
3:09:26 earlier it could just be a timing thing
3:09:27 we still haven't waited enough time
3:09:29 um with regard to inclusionary zoning
3:09:31 and all the recommendations around goal
3:09:35 is it goal eight Section 8 strategy six
3:09:38 thank you strategy six I'm very
3:09:41 interested in exploring these
3:09:43 um the timeline though
3:09:47 even though we might lose a potential
3:09:50 development project aligned with our
3:09:52 goals doesn't matter to me as much but
3:09:54 you have that parking study and we have
3:09:56 the missing middle work that's going on
3:09:58 and I understand that that's going to
3:10:00 take a huge amount of bandwidth
3:10:03 um already so for us as Council to say
3:10:05 yes but we also want these to be super
3:10:08 super high on the priority list I don't
3:10:11 know how to
3:10:13 how to parse that or make any kind so
3:10:15 we've already set those two things
3:10:18 parking and missing middle-ized
3:10:20 priorities for us so I think those are
3:10:22 number one priority and then we got to
3:10:24 get to this after we get through the the
3:10:26 happy Grant
3:10:27 um or after we get the parking study I
3:10:29 guess is my
3:10:31 I would love for it to happen sooner but
3:10:33 I just don't see how that happens
3:10:34 logistically so those are my thoughts on
3:10:37 that first one
3:10:38 is there anything else we're giving
3:10:39 feedback on or just that
3:10:42 okay thank you councilmember D Michelle
3:10:46 so I I did take the opportunity to look
3:10:48 at our legislative agenda and see how
3:10:50 the statement about Condominiums was
3:10:52 it's very broad statement we support
3:10:54 measures that would uh you know
3:10:57 encourage condominium development so I
3:11:00 think maybe we need to make that much
3:11:02 more specific exactly what are we asking
3:11:04 the legislature to do that's that's just
3:11:07 my comment there thank you
3:11:09 council member Joe okay since everyone
3:11:12 else talked
3:11:14 I uh appreciate the work that's been
3:11:17 done here that I think the housing
3:11:18 action plan
3:11:20 um is a good start to kind of uh look at
3:11:23 the diversity of our housing stock in
3:11:25 town and how we can facilitate uh
3:11:28 greater Supply I I think that as we look
3:11:32 at all of the potential solutions for
3:11:35 housing one of the things that I would
3:11:37 ask my colleagues to keep in the back of
3:11:39 their mind is if we make this change
3:11:41 does it make housing more expensive or
3:11:44 less expensive because it's already more
3:11:46 expensive not being and and also not
3:11:48 being built right and so as we look at
3:11:52 these Solutions
3:11:54 um you know if it's going to reduce the
3:11:56 cost of housing and potentially increase
3:11:58 the supply of housing I think that's the
3:12:00 the ultimate goal that we should be
3:12:01 shooting for it's a very it's it's a
3:12:06 gordian nod basically when you put all
3:12:07 the different items together and have
3:12:10 Arch underneath it and you know it's
3:12:12 it's uh it's going to be very difficult
3:12:15 but this is the right Council
3:12:17 to meet this Challenge and and uh I'll
3:12:20 just say that you know you guys here my
3:12:23 colleagues are are very dedicated to
3:12:26 finding answers and solutions and I'm uh
3:12:30 kind of uh energized by the fact that
3:12:33 you're asking these hard questions and
3:12:35 we're going to go forward and look at
3:12:37 this in a real comprehensive way I think
3:12:39 that looking at the parking looking at
3:12:41 the parking study first and then
3:12:43 approaching it with that base Foundation
3:12:45 forward I think is going to make us make
3:12:47 good decisions going forward as we go
3:12:52 that's all I'll have to say on that
3:12:53 subject but you know only because you
3:12:55 all talk too all right thanks
3:12:57 Deputy council president Hall I also
3:13:00 just totally forgot to say ditto what
3:13:02 council member hunt was saying about the
3:13:03 Pioneer project if that is something
3:13:05 that where that you know lives in our
3:13:07 plan we should try to find a way to put
3:13:09 that into code and make that a reality I
3:13:10 think that's an exciting thing that I
3:13:12 had never even heard of until this
3:13:13 evening
3:13:20 I do thank you
3:13:30 oh I'm off fantastic okay
3:13:35 one more uh councilmember hunt can I can
3:13:38 I get clarity on what the next steps if
3:13:41 this is
3:13:43 if the Pioneer project had a couple
3:13:45 people talk about it I'm wondering what
3:13:46 the next steps would be
3:13:49 from stuff so um so I that would
3:13:52 probably be in fall under my duty so I
3:13:54 will work actually what I would do since
3:13:57 we do have a developers interested is
3:13:59 talking to him about what what things
3:14:01 are he feels is necessary I know mft was
3:14:03 definitely one of those
3:14:05 um the affordability I'm not sure if
3:14:06 parking was and I think it also look at
3:14:09 again talking to Arch looking at Best
3:14:11 Practices to say okay what makes sense
3:14:13 because I don't want to design a program
3:14:15 on one project but I want to better
3:14:17 understand what that is
3:14:19 um and so then again talking we have a
3:14:21 couple other affordable housing
3:14:22 developers that I'll be talking to in
3:14:24 the next few weeks that I would also
3:14:25 kind of ask those questions of
3:14:28 um so depending on you know again I
3:14:30 don't know how long that would be to
3:14:31 kind of come back but we can talk to
3:14:34 staff here about what that means
3:14:37 there's other programs in place in other
3:14:39 cities so I'll be also doing that
3:14:41 research
3:14:44 okay and so process wise this would come
3:14:46 back to council once there's maybe a
3:14:49 little bit more information she's saying
3:14:51 PPC this is the way you get to the code
3:14:54 changes right so um what we can do is
3:14:56 for sure on the May 22nd uh meeting
3:14:58 provides you an update of where where
3:15:00 we're at as far as that if if we're
3:15:03 proceeding with that and then the
3:15:05 process to do code amendments is my
3:15:08 friend Kristen
3:15:10 I apologize for interjecting we hadn't
3:15:12 had this conversation before then so
3:15:14 it's a back and forth over here but yes
3:15:17 the process that as you know it would go
3:15:18 to PPC for public hearing and there
3:15:20 would be public Outreach and then it
3:15:22 would come back to council
3:15:23 committee and then Council
3:15:26 and I know that Redmond Sammamish and
3:15:28 Kirkland have Pioneer projects in place
3:15:32 great okay I'm going to try and close
3:15:35 this meeting in 14 minutes so with that
3:15:38 in mind we have two other questions the
3:15:41 first is around kind of capital funding
3:15:47 um for the HB 1590 and the seconds
3:15:50 around the operational funding and Human
3:15:53 Services operations
3:15:55 so I'm just going to throw it all in
3:15:58 there and go down the line whoever wants
3:16:00 to jump in councilmember Joe
3:16:05 I think that the proposal is fantastic
3:16:08 bringing on additional uh FTE
3:16:13 Personnel to to handle this issue is
3:16:16 great I have only heard good things
3:16:19 about the Human Services approach that
3:16:21 we have and the plan that we have and
3:16:24 the execution that we've been doing so
3:16:26 please do more of the same with some
3:16:29 more people and
3:16:31 um you know I fully support that so go
3:16:33 ahead and move that Capital around bring
3:16:36 it back put in the budget process as
3:16:39 needed as we go forward and please
3:16:42 continue to be a city that that uh
3:16:47 looks out for the least Among Us and
3:16:50 cares for those people that have you
3:16:55 know reached a hard point in their in
3:16:57 their life as they go forward so thank
3:16:59 you very much
3:17:02 okay we've got councilmember D Michelle
3:17:04 followed by Deputy council president
3:17:06 okay first of all speaking to the
3:17:09 allocation of of
3:17:13 funding I can't remember the number 1509
3:17:15 or 1590 it's getting late it's one of
3:17:18 those numbers so um I think the
3:17:21 allocation of the five million dollars
3:17:23 is great and I really appreciate hearing
3:17:26 that uh
3:17:28 we may have to spend a little bit more
3:17:30 because construction and everything is
3:17:32 going through the roof right now but
3:17:34 setting aside that five million dollars
3:17:35 I think is simply uh continuing the
3:17:39 dedication that we have had on that
3:17:41 project for a long time now and
3:17:46 I appreciated the thoughtful
3:17:47 presentation of the remainder of the
3:17:49 money for the Motel 6 project you know
3:17:53 very very good and thoughtful so thank
3:17:55 you I I have to agree with councilmember
3:17:58 Joe I hear nothing but good things about
3:18:01 the Behavioral Health Specialists we
3:18:03 have on staff already and I look forward
3:18:05 to Bringing on two additional ones I did
3:18:08 want to mention that uh Monica mentioned
3:18:13 that we've had interest and because we
3:18:16 pay perhaps a little bit better but I'm
3:18:18 also going to say that I think we have
3:18:19 interest because people want to work
3:18:21 with Monica
3:18:24 yes so uh we have a secret asset in our
3:18:29 director there uh as a recruiter so I'm
3:18:32 looking forward to us rapidly getting
3:18:34 those additional people on staff and uh
3:18:38 continuing the really good work and also
3:18:41 the recognition that the follow-up is so
3:18:43 important that is such an important
3:18:45 thing
3:18:46 and when we do that deep work with
3:18:49 people that's when we reach success the
3:18:52 first the first touch is sometimes not
3:18:55 certainly not the last time we need to
3:18:58 talk with people so thank you for that
3:19:00 and I totally approve of that proposal
3:19:03 yep thank you
3:19:05 Deputy council president Hull for
3:19:06 goodbye council member hunt I'm gonna
3:19:08 try and be very quick so
3:19:10 um the funding approach so todoc has
3:19:13 been a long a long time project here in
3:19:14 the city so I have no problem with the
3:19:16 allocation for that to ensure that it
3:19:19 stays on track especially with recent
3:19:20 success we want to keep it that way the
3:19:23 Strategic opportunity fund is um super
3:19:26 exciting way to kind of organize how
3:19:29 we're going to spend these resources and
3:19:31 so I'm glad to see I think it's a great
3:19:33 first step I'm glad to see that there's
3:19:34 kind of future conversation about
3:19:36 selecting criteria and goals for that so
3:19:38 that's creative Motel 6 is something we
3:19:40 made a commitment to in our biennial
3:19:43 budget
3:19:44 we're having challenges with it we're
3:19:46 going to solve it so I think that is an
3:19:49 appropriate use of spend and um making
3:19:52 an adjustment here in the mid biennial
3:19:54 budget I want to bring this up because I
3:19:57 am curious what other council members
3:19:58 think I don't know what I think about
3:20:00 the two additional Behavioral Health
3:20:01 coordinators I want a co-response model
3:20:03 we've always talked about that our
3:20:04 Behavioral Health coordinators are
3:20:06 amazing I don't know if that is a mid
3:20:08 buy decision or a budget decision to
3:20:10 meet be made next year for the next
3:20:12 biennial budget especially because todoc
3:20:16 and Motel 6 are previous commitments
3:20:19 that we had either in the budget or in
3:20:22 former budgets that we've just been
3:20:23 updating so I don't necessarily know if
3:20:26 transitioning from a referral service to
3:20:30 co-respondal co-responder model is an
3:20:34 appropriate mid-biennial change or not
3:20:37 so I'm just going to throw that out
3:20:38 there to to see what you all think again
3:20:40 I love the idea I just don't know if we
3:20:42 want to make that change in the middle
3:20:43 of a biennium or not
3:20:45 um let's see is there anything else with
3:20:47 regard to that
3:20:50 I don't think so so those are my
3:20:53 feedbacks for now
3:20:55 loving the speed everyone councilmember
3:21:00 um Tod is a long-standing project and a
3:21:02 long-standing priority that Council has
3:21:05 committed to so I agree that we should
3:21:08 use this funding as proposed Motel 6.
3:21:12 similarly we
3:21:14 um we committed to this project and I
3:21:16 think that's also a good use of of the
3:21:19 adjustment to make sure that it is
3:21:21 successful so also supportive of that
3:21:25 while we did already commit to it I
3:21:27 looked up some information as well from
3:21:29 National Alliance to end homelessness
3:21:31 and there's some interesting information
3:21:32 about the the costs of
3:21:36 um experiencing homelessness in a
3:21:38 chronic way and it really is uh it
3:21:42 really not only benefits the person
3:21:44 who's receiving those services and
3:21:46 provides positive feedback loop for them
3:21:49 but also I believe for the city that if
3:21:53 if they if we are able to help those
3:21:55 people
3:21:57 then we are able to expand what we can
3:22:00 provide to additional folks and so I
3:22:03 think it also provides that positive
3:22:05 feedback loop for for us as a service
3:22:07 provider so I um I'm really excited to
3:22:11 see that growing success of the program
3:22:13 and I think that this approach does
3:22:15 support
3:22:17 to support that
3:22:19 um so I generally all supportive on the
3:22:23 mid biennium for the co-response and the
3:22:26 additional Physicians I think that in
3:22:29 this case we are developing a program
3:22:32 that is new to the city as was pointed
3:22:34 out we we didn't have this sort of model
3:22:38 a couple years ago and so I think
3:22:41 it is
3:22:43 responding to the the need and the
3:22:46 circumstances and so for if we have the
3:22:50 ability to be flexible and provide this
3:22:54 additional support mid-year to address
3:22:57 the concerns as was stated that you know
3:23:00 these two people are being pulled in
3:23:02 literally multiple directions
3:23:05 um I I am supportive of it I realize
3:23:11 we try to plan things out especially
3:23:14 with this two-year process but I think
3:23:17 in this case program has changed a lot
3:23:20 um grown a lot and we we see this need
3:23:23 so I am in favor of being responsive to
3:23:25 it in the mid-year
3:23:29 foreign
3:23:31 add my stuff so again much like you've
3:23:34 heard I agree with the idea of setting
3:23:36 aside money for the todoc
3:23:39 um I appreciate the 75-25 split between
3:23:42 capital and operations costs and that
3:23:44 we're talking about a temporary strategy
3:23:46 through the end of the 2024 biennium I
3:23:48 think that's really great it gives us
3:23:50 some certainty it allows us to see how
3:23:53 that money goes forward and then also
3:23:56 have a later conversation about
3:23:57 strategically how should we think about
3:24:00 this long term
3:24:02 I'm not yet sure about the idea of a
3:24:05 strategic opportunity program setting
3:24:07 aside money for things like that versus
3:24:11 leaving whatever we've spent
3:24:14 um or we haven't spent aside but I'm
3:24:16 willing to discuss that I agree with the
3:24:19 idea of bringing on limited term staff
3:24:21 for the Motel 6 program
3:24:24 um really glad that we are moving that
3:24:26 program forward and all of that
3:24:28 behavioral health coordinators within
3:24:31 ipd I agree that there is a huge need
3:24:35 there but I still have some questions
3:24:38 I'm not sure whether it is most
3:24:40 appropriate to fund that through the HB
3:24:43 1590 affordable housing funds or just a
3:24:47 general fund I could see pros and cons
3:24:51 between each but I do really look at
3:24:54 that HB 1590 and say we could be
3:24:57 building more maybe that's what we
3:24:59 should do with that and just recognize
3:25:01 that there's a general fund need to
3:25:03 provide services
3:25:08 I'd like to kind of have that
3:25:10 conversation whether that happens at
3:25:12 budget time or now I think that's an
3:25:16 appropriate conversation
3:25:18 um I'd also really like to have the
3:25:21 conversation whether a co-response model
3:25:23 is the right approach you know we have
3:25:25 certainly seen a lot of other cities and
3:25:30 areas around the country do very
3:25:32 successful with direct response from
3:25:36 Behavioral Health that allows people to
3:25:39 have more of an open experience and not
3:25:43 necessarily
3:25:45 be confronted by somebody who they may
3:25:47 not already have a interesting
3:25:49 experience in the police situation so
3:25:52 I'd like to hear from both our
3:25:54 Behavioral Health and our police
3:25:56 department and other organizations who
3:25:59 have experience in this so that we can
3:26:02 really be thoughtful on that and not
3:26:04 just default to a co-response so those
3:26:09 are kind of some of my thoughts I think
3:26:10 we've heard a lot that there's a lot of
3:26:13 support for all of this going forward I
3:26:17 will ask the both of you do you have
3:26:19 what you need and then I will turn back
3:26:21 to Wally and see if there's anything
3:26:23 you guys have anything you need I I do
3:26:26 thank you
3:26:27 unfortunately I don't think we do okay
3:26:29 um so I think the the issue regarding uh
3:26:32 federal health is unresolved so uh the
3:26:36 administration proposes moving forward
3:26:38 to council with this on May 15th
3:26:42 um is that the consensus I'm not sure
3:26:44 that it is
3:26:46 so we we also grappled with the budget
3:26:49 issue that maybe I could just add a
3:26:50 couple of comments we also grappled with
3:26:52 waiting and I think decided that the
3:26:54 need was too great and we had a funding
3:26:56 source in place that was doing a
3:26:59 disservice to not at least bring it
3:27:00 forward to the council so that we had a
3:27:03 conscious discussion and mayor Polly
3:27:05 felt it was important to you know bring
3:27:07 this to the council now for its
3:27:08 consideration
3:27:10 um we could bring it to the council uh
3:27:12 with the additional information and had
3:27:14 put on regular business for the
3:27:16 discussion we could save it for the
3:27:19 committee the whole we could send it to
3:27:21 services safety parks for discussion
3:27:27 so I think those are the options and if
3:27:29 there can be a consensus from the
3:27:31 council that would be great
3:27:32 great so I think there was clear
3:27:35 feedback on the limited term Motel 6
3:27:39 staff so it's just it's just the
3:27:41 behavioral health specialist the
3:27:42 proposed two additional positions okay
3:27:45 uh councilmember hunt followed by Deputy
3:27:47 council president Hall uh
3:27:50 in the materials it says that the two
3:27:53 additional Behavioral Health Specialists
3:27:56 will be within the police department
3:27:57 however my understanding is that they're
3:27:59 in the human services department so
3:28:01 first of all I just wanted to clarify
3:28:02 that um in case that helps with the
3:28:05 um they're going to be part of a larger
3:28:07 team however yes for the corresponse
3:28:10 model they will be stationed in the
3:28:12 police department but their part I've
3:28:14 had this city administrator I had this
3:28:17 question really but they're not but
3:28:19 you're still Human Services is still
3:28:21 coordinating their efforts
3:28:27 willing to do so but they will come to
3:28:29 the police department to work
3:28:31 so they will be still members of the
3:28:34 Human Services
3:28:35 the positions would not be allocated in
3:28:37 the police department
3:28:40 um we are we are very open to that my
3:28:42 understanding was that that was the
3:28:45 preference but yes that yeah the the the
3:28:48 the plan I think from the
3:28:49 administration's perspective is that the
3:28:51 positions would report to the police
3:28:53 department would be available in the
3:28:55 ships but they would still be supervised
3:28:57 through parks and Community Services
3:29:01 okay um okay that was my understanding
3:29:04 for my conversation with you earlier
3:29:05 today so I just wanted to clarify that
3:29:07 however sounds like maybe we maybe maybe
3:29:10 more information would be good about
3:29:13 um uh and then
3:29:17 oh I forgot the other one okay go ahead
3:29:23 you know I liked the suggestion of maybe
3:29:26 kicking this item in particular to
3:29:28 services safety in Parks especially
3:29:30 because two of the members of that
3:29:31 committee who would be very interested
3:29:33 in in the contents of this discussion
3:29:35 might want to contribute to that so is
3:29:37 that something that could potentially
3:29:40 um right you and Chris and Tola right or
3:29:42 is it you
3:29:44 um is that something that could happen
3:29:46 before when was this contemplated to
3:29:48 come back to this full City Council
3:29:50 on the 15th I mean I I don't know that
3:29:53 there's an urge the urgency is the Motel
3:29:55 6 project and I think there's
3:29:56 concurrence from the council to move
3:29:58 forward with that
3:30:00 um if the council would feel comfortable
3:30:01 to have this aired further at committee
3:30:03 that's perfectly fine I mean we would
3:30:05 put that on to show up well and I think
3:30:08 yeah maybe just to like you know explore
3:30:10 the need a little bit more with Monica
3:30:12 and then say okay so yeah is this the
3:30:15 need is helping us evolve a program like
3:30:17 we're responding to the need to say okay
3:30:19 co-responder is the right way to do
3:30:21 especially in a mid buy or is it oh okay
3:30:23 maybe maybe this is a different maybe
3:30:26 we're thinking of these programs in
3:30:28 different ways so maybe the committee
3:30:29 can just kind of get into that a little
3:30:30 bit more for for the full Council
3:30:32 especially because it's
3:30:35 so we can come back to services safety
3:30:37 and parks in the 16th of May and then be
3:30:40 back to the full Council hopefully in
3:30:44 I'll go down the line
3:30:48 um we have two members of the Services
3:30:51 committee here if I'm hearing what my
3:30:55 fellow council member is saying we're
3:30:57 both in full support of all the elements
3:30:59 so I don't think it needs to go to the
3:31:02 services committee I think it would
3:31:05 behoove us to go to full commit full
3:31:08 Council to discuss but I think the
3:31:10 services committee without speaking for
3:31:12 my fellow council member is pretty well
3:31:15 set on the direction we'd like to go
3:31:18 my apologies I thought Chris was still
3:31:20 on the committee so I was thinking oh
3:31:21 we're missing two okay that makes more
3:31:23 sense yeah
3:31:28 well yeah it's two minutes after 10 so
3:31:31 not or we can bring it back to committee
3:31:33 the whole on the 22nd of May
3:31:39 again I I
3:31:40 I don't think we feel strongly about we
3:31:43 want the council to feel comfortable
3:31:44 with this that this is the right
3:31:45 approach we desperately need to add
3:31:48 additional bodies and I think I think
3:31:51 from the administration's perspective
3:31:52 we're less concerned
3:31:56 we just need to implement this the the
3:31:59 the the the
3:32:00 you know the police department is close
3:32:03 partners with Community with Parkinson
3:32:05 community services that will continue I
3:32:08 think this will evolve over time uh we
3:32:10 don't have 24 7 coverage and that's the
3:32:12 other piece of this
3:32:14 um you know so it's going to need the
3:32:16 service provision is going to need to be
3:32:18 managed through human services not
3:32:20 police even though the individuals will
3:32:23 be at police work with police closely
3:32:25 but we'll have 80 hours out of a week
3:32:30 to that not very practical than for
3:32:32 police to manage the other hours without
3:32:35 the rest of the Human Services team
3:32:37 being involved so that so there's some
3:32:39 practical applications of this
3:32:41 um I think our concern mostly is let's
3:32:43 get those individuals there and
3:32:45 available and free up the incumbents to
3:32:49 focus on the the sort of the back room
3:32:51 the the case management piece but we'll
3:32:54 do whatever the council would like as
3:32:56 far as additional discussion so I just
3:32:58 feel like we're getting hung up on this
3:33:00 term cold response
3:33:03 the Behavioral Health Specialists go out
3:33:07 on their own uh it depends on they don't
3:33:10 always go with a armed police officer
3:33:13 right yeah so I think we're getting hung
3:33:16 up on that concept I I think that the
3:33:19 police and the Behavioral Health
3:33:21 Specialists have learned how to work
3:33:22 together over the last two two plus
3:33:24 years and how to manage calls when they
3:33:27 come in and sometimes the behavioral
3:33:29 health specialist goes out alone
3:33:30 sometimes a police officer goes out
3:33:32 alone sometimes they go out together
3:33:34 that's my understanding and they make
3:33:37 those decisions as the calls come in so
3:33:39 I don't think we should get hung up on
3:33:41 this cold response model it's it depends
3:33:44 on what calls come in and what they hear
3:33:46 when it calls it comes into the call
3:33:48 center that's my understanding and we
3:33:51 will not have we had 24 7 coverage then
3:33:54 we would deploy it differently but we
3:33:57 won't and so we will not have
3:33:59 co-response we will have close response
3:34:02 for Ada hours a week
3:34:09 that helps that sounds more like you're
3:34:12 saying okay let me ask it plainly are we
3:34:16 proposing that every time a behavioral
3:34:18 health coordinator goes out they go out
3:34:21 with a police escort no no and what
3:34:23 council member D Michelle was mentioning
3:34:25 that's absolutely correct sometimes we
3:34:27 get called right from this patch and
3:34:29 because often dispatch does not know
3:34:31 what type of call it is and so if this
3:34:33 patch is able to assess and they feel
3:34:35 like the behavioral health coordinator
3:34:38 is needed we get dispatched directly by
3:34:40 this patch and we go on our own
3:34:43 sometimes the police officers are
3:34:45 already on the scene and they call us
3:34:47 and say can you come out and then there
3:34:49 are some other times especially if
3:34:51 there's a follow-up or something maybe
3:34:52 someone that we call it the familiar
3:34:54 faces we know already police knows we
3:34:57 know then sometimes we go together with
3:34:58 police so but council member the
3:35:00 Michelle said it's okay in an effort to
3:35:04 kind of
3:35:05 you know take this next step I'm looking
3:35:08 at the calendar it looks like we could
3:35:10 potentially do the May 15th meeting we
3:35:13 don't have a lot on regular business
3:35:15 there we do have a lot on the committee
3:35:19 of the whole for May 22nd so while it's
3:35:24 usual our practice to have anything come
3:35:27 back May 15th do we feel comfortable
3:35:31 with that
3:35:32 most of you suspend the rules
3:35:35 it's not a rule it's just a practice uh
3:35:40 Deputy council president oh and this was
3:35:43 that was the meeting oh
3:35:45 that wasn't me that's the meeting it's
3:35:47 planned to come back to yes right that's
3:35:49 the meaning when we plan to come back
3:35:51 for the limited term anyway
3:35:53 okay oh instead of it coming back for
3:35:56 potential final action it would just be
3:35:58 to have I'm actually based on what I've
3:36:00 just heard now and maybe we just need to
3:36:01 get into more of the specifics of the
3:36:03 need and what corresponds even means but
3:36:05 based on what I've just heard now I feel
3:36:07 more comfortable for it to just come
3:36:09 back into the regular meeting with a
3:36:10 little bit more information
3:36:12 right we'll put our regular business
3:36:14 perhaps we can either have kale in our
3:36:17 mirror here sure uh pleased to continue
3:36:21 to we can answer the question yes okay
3:36:24 great
3:36:26 now do you have everything you need yes
3:36:28 ma'am
3:36:29 fantastic we love it we're seven minutes
3:36:32 over but hey we sped through that last
3:36:35 part thank you everyone for staying with
3:36:37 us until 1007
3:36:40 um checking on
3:36:42 our thing uh go to the order anybody uh
3:36:46 council member Joe uh I know the mayor
3:36:49 probably will announce this at the next
3:36:51 council meeting but there's a
3:36:54 on May 10th there's a business uh
3:36:58 meeting up at the Highlands and I know
3:37:02 that there are various departments that
3:37:03 are going to be there the mayor will be
3:37:05 speaking as well I think it's a morning
3:37:06 meeting at eight o'clock in the morning
3:37:08 until 9 30. you can come late and leave
3:37:11 early if you need to but it would be a
3:37:13 really good opportunity to make contact
3:37:15 with our business community and hear
3:37:16 some of their concerns
3:37:18 I went to that last year and it was
3:37:19 fantastic so definitely okay uh with
3:37:24 nothing else on go to the order we are
3:37:26 adjourned at 10 08 pm thank you everyone

Attendance

Council / Members (5)
Barbara de Michele
Zach Hall
Victoria Hunt
Russell Joe
Lindsey Walsh
Excused
Tola Marts
Chris Reh