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City Council Committee of the Whole Auto captions

Monday, January 13, 2025

6:30 PM · Council Chambers, 135 E. Sunset Way, Issaquah WA
Topics tracked across meetings:
Central Issaquah Light Rail Station Alignment Study - Draft Evaluation Criteria (D) COM 0093 1/8
Central Issaquah Station Area Vision and Guiding Principles AB 8955 2/3
3. AGENDA ITEMS
3a
Draft Light Rail Station Area Vision and Guiding Principles COM 0046
45 min · Thomas Valdriz, Senior Transportation Planner · packet pp.5–379
Staff report:
C. Draft Central Issaquah Light Rail Station Area Visioning and Guiding Principles D.
3b
Central Issaquah Station Area Planning Study & Engagement Plan COM 0093
30 min · Thomas Valdriz, Senior Transportation Planner · packet pp.381–415
Topics: Land Use
Staff report:
The City of Issaquah is proactively preparing for the South Kirkland to Issaquah (SKI) Link light rail extension, expected to begin service to the Central Issaquah Regional Growth Center between 2041-2044 as part of the voter-approved Sound Transit 3 (ST3) plan. Central Issaquah’s planned growth (which will focus on higher- density, mixed-use, and pedestrian friendly development within walking distance of frequent, high-quality bus and light rail services) will generate the transit ridership potential to warrant Sound Transit’s investment in the Central Issaquah Station that will serve as the end-of-the-line for SKI Link.
3c
Public Safety Facilities Next Steps COM 0094
Director · 45 min · Autumn Monahan, Administrative Services · packet pp.417–431
Topics: Public Safety
Staff report:
Administration recommends: • Appointing a community task force focused on police station renovations; community needs for meeting space; long-term City Council chambers and City Hall space planning. • Pausing the long-term planning for Fire Station 71.
0:06 he welcome everyone I council president
0:08 Walsh call the January 13
0:12 2025 Committee of the whole meeting to
0:14 order at 6:30 p.m. as a reminder we
0:18 continue to have a remote aspect of the
0:20 meeting so some staff or members of the
0:22 public may be participating
0:25 remotely uh there will be multiple
0:27 public comment opportunities at
0:29 tonight's meeting
0:30 there's a general public comment
0:32 opportunity at the beginning or um you
0:35 can make comments after the presentation
0:37 and Council question and answer period
0:39 on any of tonight's agenda
0:42 items so members of the public May
0:45 address council at this time do we have
0:49 anyone who has signed up um if you're
0:51 joining us virtually would like to make
0:52 comments please raise your virtual hand
0:55 if you're on the phone you're going to
0:56 press star three if you're on a computer
0:59 or smartphone look for the hand icon or
1:02 you can send the host a chat message and
1:06 we have a few people in the room so I
1:08 will also ask for other speakers before
1:11 closing the portion of the
1:13 meeting so clerk do we have anybody who
1:16 has signed up to
1:19 speak M check right we don't have anyone
1:23 uh from the public with us virtually I
1:25 did not grab the signup sheet from the
1:27 back so if anyone in the room was hoping
1:28 to make comments indicate to us no okay
1:32 no General comments I'll check again
1:34 after each of the agenda items as well
1:38 so looking on we have three agenda items
1:42 tonight we're are going to discuss Comm
1:45 0046 the draft Light Rail station area
1:48 vision and guiding principles and then
1:50 we'll move on to Comm 0093 the Central
1:53 isqua Station area planning study and
1:56 engagement plan and our final item is
1:59 Comm 00 94 the public safety facility's
2:02 Next Step so we'll start with the first
2:06 item the draft Light Rail station area
2:08 vision and guiding principles presented
2:11 by Thomas valre the senior
2:13 Transportation planner thank
2:21 you and thank you very much for having
2:24 me here tonight I appreciate the
2:26 opportunity just be sharing my SC moment
2:36 and again my name is Thomas PES I'm
2:37 Senor Transportation planner tonight
2:39 I'll be uh discussing the draft Light
2:42 Rail stationary vision and guiding
2:45 principles so hoping to get the
2:47 council's feedback on two questions the
2:50 first is do you have any uh feedback on
2:53 the draft vision and guiding principles
2:55 and do you have any changes you'd like
2:57 to see
3:00 um and so this is a topic that we've
3:02 brought to council uh several times so
3:04 just wanted to just provide some
3:05 background information that I'm sure
3:07 you've seen before so we have been
3:09 planning for growth in central isqua for
3:11 many years in 2012 uh Council adopted
3:14 the central isqua plan this envisions
3:17 Central isqua to be a very walkable uh
3:20 very uh more dense area that's a Transit
3:23 oriented in in development um pattern
3:26 this green area uh was designated as a
3:29 regional growth Center by the city and
3:32 pedit sound Regional Council in 2015 and
3:35 so this is where we're we're expecting
3:37 the majority of jobs and housing growth
3:39 over the next 25 years to be
3:42 located in
3:45 2016 the uh King County voters uh voted
3:48 in st3 a ballot measure uh aimed at uh
3:53 expanding mass transit throughout the
3:54 region including the development of the
3:57 ski link the South Kirkland is
4:00 link extension uh in addition to that
4:03 there is supposed to be a Central isqua
4:05 Station at the end of the
4:09 line so we've really been prepping for
4:11 this uh we're expecting sound transit to
4:13 approach the city in
4:15 2027 so one of the first steps we took
4:19 uh and this was adopted in March of last
4:21 year was the development of a planning
4:23 guide and so this planning guide talks
4:25 about the expected timeline for ski link
4:28 talks about strategic considerations
4:30 that we're thinking about as we're
4:32 prepping to discuss with Sound Transit
4:34 um it also talks about some proactive
4:36 steps that we've been taking and so this
4:39 discussion that we're having tonight is
4:40 one of those proactive
4:45 steps and I just wanted to level set
4:47 again this is something I've mentioned
4:48 previously but when we talk about the
4:50 station area we're really referring to
4:52 the quarter mile to half mile walking
4:56 distance in the vicinity of wherever
4:58 that station would be located um so
5:01 again station is TBD we'll be talking
5:03 about that uh tonight um but at this
5:07 point we're just sort of talking about
5:08 the walkable distance around the
5:13 station so why are we developing a
5:16 vision and set of guiding principles um
5:18 first off it's called for in the
5:20 planning guide um this is something that
5:22 really uh sort of formalizes the
5:25 community's vision of what we're hoping
5:27 to get out of the station area
5:30 it can help us uh prioritize where to
5:33 put the station and also its track
5:36 alignment so just thinking about where
5:38 that could
5:39 go it also will help us better
5:42 understand what changes we need to make
5:44 to fully realize that Vision this can be
5:47 thought of in terms of land use and
5:49 Zoning changes that could help support
5:52 create that Vision around that light ril
5:55 station lastly I'll just say that having
5:58 a concrete Vision some something that
6:00 has been adopted and vetted through the
6:01 community really does Aid in our ability
6:04 to advocate for our community's
6:05 interests um this is a very important
6:07 thing this is sort of why we're going
6:09 through all this effort we really want
6:11 to document we really want to uh go to
6:13 the community and really vet all the
6:15 best options so that we have that best
6:17 option to provide a sound
6:22 transit so this is the community
6:24 engagement summary uh this talks about
6:26 everything that happened to create that
6:28 vision and and guiding principles um so
6:31 just to summarize What's um available to
6:34 you in exhibit B we reached out to 75
6:38 organizations throughout the community
6:40 um so this this work was done between
6:42 September 2023 um and and we can think
6:45 about today um so we reached out to 75
6:48 organizations uh just telling them what
6:50 we're up to asking if they wanted to get
6:53 involved um many of these organ
6:55 organizations were interested in getting
6:56 involved so we had lots of conversations
6:58 with them we held three popup events uh
7:01 over that time period uh really just
7:04 asking people you know what their
7:05 interest is in Light Rail and things
7:07 that uh we should be thinking about uh
7:09 around the station location um and like
7:13 vicinity again we had three popup
7:16 events uh we then used those learnings
7:19 and build that into a community survey
7:21 so we asked um many questions about you
7:25 know preferences of Light Rail and like
7:27 sort of what you um in people's
7:29 experiences what they like about Light
7:31 Rail stations what they don't like um
7:33 things like that so we received 805
7:36 responses which at the time was the most
7:40 uh heavily responded survey um only to
7:43 be eclipsed by the I90 Crossing uh study
7:45 that came out shortly after um but this
7:48 was a really great show um 85 responses
7:51 it was taken in um English uh Spanish
7:54 and Mandarin um and it was represented
7:58 by over 30
8:00 uh what is it
8:02 uh ZIP codes so it you know it was it
8:05 was taken by many folks in the area
8:08 primarily by isqua residents lots of
8:10 from samamish bellw Redmond um and all
8:13 over so we can see that this topic is
8:15 really important to a lot of people um a
8:17 lot of people come to isqua for various
8:20 reasons and this is a really important
8:23 thing that we're doing um and it's it's
8:24 really getting traction around the the
8:27 region so having gone through the 805
8:31 responses which took a very long time
8:33 but we were able to sort of summarize a
8:35 lot of this in exhibit
8:37 B there were a lot of key ideas that
8:40 came out of that so we really wanted to
8:42 drill in deeper and understand more
8:45 about these these uh various features so
8:48 we formed seven focus groups with 28
8:50 members from the community um a lot of
8:52 folks uh raised their hands immediately
8:55 some of them we reached back out to
8:56 those 75 organizations to see if anybody
8:58 was interested
9:00 did we held focus group discussions uh
9:04 with lots of diverse voices we learned
9:06 about youth interests uh interests of
9:09 older folks um Transit Riders um a lot
9:12 of the uh developer interests and like
9:15 larger land owners we reached out to
9:16 them uh anyways we we talked to seven
9:20 different groups got a lot of different
9:22 ideas on the table we then held a
9:24 culmination event to summarize
9:26 everything that we said uh this was held
9:29 locally over here um this was really the
9:32 beginning of creating the guiding
9:34 principles so at that meeting we hashed
9:36 out uh four sort of large guiding
9:39 principles uh that we then took to the
9:41 boards and commissions and so at that
9:44 point uh there were five boards and
9:45 commissions that uh we've gone through
9:48 um so the first one was the economic
9:50 Vitality commission and then we took it
9:52 through uh many other
9:55 commissions so the the version of The
9:58 Guiding principles that you see tonight
10:00 is the fifth version that we've worked
10:01 on so a lot of venting has gone into it
10:04 uh the community has been really uh
10:06 interested in making sure that this is
10:07 really uh comprehensive and we do
10:09 believe that it is so I'll just cover
10:12 very briefly uh what we have here in the
10:14 document in Exhibit
10:17 C so in this vision statement it really
10:20 does summarize the guiding principles it
10:22 talks about the station area having
10:25 seamless accessibility and strong
10:26 connections to Transit and just just
10:29 general multimodal connections uh the
10:32 the station uh should be a catalyst for
10:35 change in the regional growth Center um
10:38 it should be Equitable and it should uh
10:40 be a community Hub that is highly
10:43 walkable it also has a safe and
10:45 welcoming atmosphere and it benefits the
10:48 entire
10:51 Community um so the first of three
10:53 guiding principles that I'll talk about
10:54 is accessibility and
10:57 connectivity so this generally
10:59 talks about um the need to have the
11:02 station area as a local and Regional
11:04 Transportation Hub and for it to be
11:06 strategically located near key
11:11 destinations uh we also talk about the
11:14 need to have high quality multimodal
11:16 connections and that parking is right
11:18 size to fit the need without detracting
11:21 from the walkability that we uh that we
11:24 are looking for and the Redevelopment
11:26 potential of central isqua
11:30 the second area is uses and experiences
11:33 this is really talking about the need to
11:35 have the area being Transit oriented in
11:38 development and to support the overall
11:40 Community well-being with lots of good
11:42 things to do and places to
11:46 go the third and final uh guiding
11:49 principle this is talking about
11:50 Community connections and
11:52 values really this is focused on
11:55 ensuring that this is an integral part
11:57 of the community it's a celebrated area
11:59 area that people like to go to um it's
12:01 adaptable to current and future needs it
12:04 Fosters a sense of Pride for the entire
12:06 city um in the community beyond that um
12:09 it's really a nice place to be it's
12:12 meticulously maintained it's sustainable
12:14 it's a safe spot to be it feels like
12:17 it's incorporated into the community and
12:19 it it really does um feel like a great
12:22 spot to be in so these are generally The
12:26 Guiding principles and again the they've
12:29 been developed through many
12:31 conversations um so just to sort of
12:33 briefly talk about what was said at
12:35 boards and commissions we took the first
12:37 draft to the economic Vitality
12:39 commission they really wanted to focus
12:41 on sustainability and safety as well as
12:44 topics such as accessibility to other
12:47 employment opportunities and um right
12:50 sizing
12:51 parking we took the second version to
12:54 the planning policy commission they
12:56 wanted to emphasize more about housing
12:58 that than was currently there so that's
13:00 been added um they talked a lot about
13:02 balancing walkability with development
13:04 potential um are some of the the key
13:06 themes that we
13:08 discussed we then took the third version
13:11 to Human Services and Equity board uh
13:13 they really wanted to add more Equity
13:15 components into the vision and guiding
13:17 principles they talked about the
13:19 importance of safety again um some of
13:21 the themes included rightsizing parking
13:24 and uh easing congestion as well as
13:27 ensuring that decision- making was
13:28 really clear um within the vision
13:31 statement that was provided to them uh
13:34 they mentioned that there was a lot of
13:35 terms that were great to have but it
13:37 didn't seem very uh there was no clear
13:41 Direction at that point so that's
13:42 something that we've really added so
13:44 we're hoping that um the document that
13:47 you see in front of you really does
13:48 paint the flavor that we're trying to
13:50 get and really does um provide that
13:52 context that was lacking
13:55 previously with the transportation
13:57 Advisory Board they wanted us to double
14:00 down on that they wanted us to include
14:02 pure City examples written within the
14:05 document they wanted to talk about the
14:06 key challenges that we're going to
14:08 expect in the future some of the ways
14:10 that cities have dealt with that um
14:12 things that we're constantly learning uh
14:15 as we discuss with other peer cities um
14:18 and ways that generally uh have worked
14:20 when uh When approaching Sound
14:23 Transit we clarified the role of the
14:26 vision and guiding principles in terms
14:28 of uh how the city can can use it uh to
14:32 to work with Sound Transit and we we
14:34 included a discussion on the constraints
14:36 acknowledging that the city um is
14:39 working with Sound Transit it is not our
14:41 project but we do have two great tools
14:43 to work with Sound Transit um we have
14:46 the ability to permit their project and
14:49 we have land use components so we can
14:50 tell them specifically uh where Light
14:53 Rail is in allowed use or not so these
14:55 are really the the big tools that we
14:57 have and that's been uh better clarified
15:00 within the vision guiding principales
15:02 document so hoping that context uh added
15:05 a lot to the conversation but again are
15:08 looking forward to uh your feedback on
15:11 this as
15:12 well so just looking generally at the um
15:16 potential impacts there's no Financial
15:18 impact or regulatory impact at this
15:21 point um but what what it does is we're
15:23 for formalizing what the community has
15:25 said the vision that we've uh
15:27 crystallized uh it provides strategic
15:30 guidance for future decision-making we
15:32 can think of this as our North Star for
15:34 future uh
15:36 decisions it supports future policy
15:38 development such as land use or zoning
15:40 changes if we think it would be helpful
15:42 to achieve that vision and it aids Us in
15:45 Regional collaborations and future
15:47 discussions with Sound
15:50 Transit um so at this point I'll pause
15:53 here and receive any questions or
15:55 comments that you have thank you thank
15:58 you yeah we'll start with any questions
16:00 that the council Committee of the whole
16:02 has and then we'll go to the community
16:05 uh council member right just a couple of
16:07 quick ones one is you use the word right
16:08 sizing parking what does that
16:12 mean yeah that term is uh open to uh
16:15 interpretation I we can um we can
16:17 crystallize it further if you want if
16:19 it's too yeah um so what what we mean by
16:22 that is essentially um providing the
16:24 parking that we will need without overp
16:27 parking it um so so an example is if an
16:30 apartment building has way too much
16:32 parking um that cost will be accepted by
16:36 the people that live in that building so
16:38 we want to make sure that the parking
16:39 that we do provide is only getting us
16:42 what we need and not anything more great
16:45 um that's going to be uh fun to watch
16:47 you uh Cipher that um that that problem
16:52 um second one is um just looking really
16:54 briefly at the feedback looked like I
16:57 did see little bits and pieces of
16:58 conflicting uh guidance from the various
17:01 boards and commissions how are you
17:03 rationalizing the different if one says
17:06 it should be this one says it's and
17:07 they're at
17:09 odds yeah we do live in a diverse
17:12 community so there's always going to be
17:13 conflicting uh points of you um we're
17:16 trying to find the through line between
17:17 all that and we think that this vision
17:19 and guiding principles does uh follow
17:22 that through line great again be fun to
17:24 watch you uh sprad that through line
17:29 any other
17:31 questions I have one you mentioned the
17:35 light rail planning guide and so can you
17:37 talk about how the vision and guiding
17:41 principles that we're creating now
17:43 relate to that is it going to become
17:45 part of it is this is is it the start of
17:48 a new set of documents that like that
17:51 was here's what you need to do in order
17:53 to plan here's what we're thinking for
17:57 the specific site or does this just live
17:59 on its
18:01 own I would say that this uh can be
18:05 attached to it this is really the first
18:07 of many actions that are called for um I
18:11 don't know that I've thought that
18:13 through all the way but I think
18:14 ultimately when we go through and we
18:16 give sound sound transit everything this
18:19 will all be part of it it will be
18:20 batched as one um compendium of these
18:24 are all the things we've done we've
18:26 talked to the community for years uh
18:28 We've vetted these options and there's
18:31 hundreds of pages of like things that
18:34 we've done to prove it so I think
18:36 altogether it will be
18:38 connected okay so that goes into my
18:41 second question which is how do you see
18:43 us using this is this merely
18:46 documentation for 20 years down the road
18:48 for Sound Transit or is this something
18:51 that we would use for any of our interim
18:54 decision making on some of those
18:57 elements like housing and parking and
19:00 sighting and such yeah that's a great
19:02 question and um I'm excited to talk
19:04 about this in the next topic um this
19:06 vision and guiding principles will be uh
19:09 further refined as we look at um the
19:13 station location for example uh in its
19:16 alignment um that the guiding principles
19:18 will inform that so uh where we have
19:21 this document for five pages and that
19:24 talks about lots of good ideas um we're
19:27 g to then create uh criteria that we can
19:31 then measure Alternatives based on how
19:34 it matches with the vision and guiding
19:37 principles great any other questions
19:39 council member
19:41 Hall um well thank you and we spoke a
19:44 little bit over email so I only have one
19:46 more question just because I was
19:47 flipping through some of the responses
19:49 from the community um and I'm curious um
19:53 based on kind of what you've seen in
19:56 other cities that have been planning for
19:58 Light Rail I mean flipping through some
20:00 of the responses there are actually a
20:01 lot more like don't don't put Light Rail
20:04 in there than I thought in some fairly
20:06 ugly comments too so I was just
20:08 wondering is that common in this process
20:10 that that we've seen across King
20:12 County it is yeah I think there's a lot
20:14 of misinformation on like sort of what
20:16 light rail is going to do for a
20:18 community and there's a lot of fear
20:20 obviously so and that I think you saw
20:23 that fear um stated in in text so I
20:26 think a lot of it has to do with
20:27 messaging um that's something that we're
20:29 really hoping to do uh with this next
20:31 step with looking at alternative
20:33 analysis um for different station
20:35 locations um there's going to be more
20:37 fear and we need to get in front of it
20:39 and we need to say like okay well let's
20:42 be proactive and like let's take care of
20:44 the things that you're concerned about
20:45 so that they're less scary um and if we
20:49 if we work together and we have a plan
20:52 of approach uh we can get in front of a
20:54 lot of those concerns and they're not
20:56 going to be issues in the way that
20:58 people might
21:02 think okay so before we provide our
21:04 feedback we have an opportunity for
21:06 Community comments if anybody has
21:08 comments on this
21:11 topic not seeing any and do we have
21:14 anybody online nope okay great feedback
21:17 time everybody so we've got two
21:19 questions does the committee support the
21:21 draft vision and guiding principles and
21:23 are there any changes the committee
21:25 would like to
21:26 see Deputy council president pres D
21:29 Michelle thank you so much so first of
21:32 all um I want to commend you on the uh
21:35 public Outreach which was really I think
21:37 very very thorough and um the the
21:42 progress of it has been great as well
21:44 and I do think that we've got a lot of
21:46 body of work here that we can uh use in
21:49 the future um I support the content of
21:54 the of the vision statements but I have
21:57 to say that I totally agree with the
21:58 equity board that it's kind of a word
22:01 soup and it's kind of uh a a document
22:05 that trans Transportation planners would
22:08 love and would understand such as right
22:12 siiz parking or even multimodal I was uh
22:16 you know and I know you you tried to
22:18 explain it in some of the some of the U
22:22 uh comments you explain a little bit
22:23 later what it is but I have a feeling
22:25 that multimodal for a lot of non
22:28 transport ation planning type people
22:29 would be a stopper I don't know what
22:31 that means and so they'll stop right
22:33 there so I guess my suggestion is um
22:37 that uh we try to run this through a
22:39 plain speak uh interpreter of some kind
22:42 who can turn this into a document that
22:45 we can put out in front of the public
22:47 we'll be using this with a lot of people
22:49 going forward and we don't want the
22:51 language to stop them from doing the
22:54 planning that that's needed so uh that
22:58 was really when I was reading it I
22:59 thought I don't think that the general
23:02 public is going to understand a lot of
23:04 this language and it it really needs to
23:06 be uh un you know understandable and
23:09 plain spoken uh presentation so that we
23:12 can continue to use it over the years so
23:15 um and then I I have some suggestions
23:18 for outreach but I'm going to wait to
23:19 your next presentation to talk about
23:21 that
23:23 um and uh other than that I I just think
23:27 U other than that uh I I think it's a
23:30 really good job of Outreach and we got
23:32 some very very useful information out of
23:35 it I just think the final product needs
23:37 another pass through so that we can have
23:39 a document that we can really use thank
23:43 you council member
23:47 Hall uh thank you um well I thought we
23:50 got great feedback from the boards and
23:51 commissions so thanks for doing that uh
23:54 it really seemed like you captured the
23:56 major challenges really well like
23:57 parking multimodal connections I hadn't
24:00 really thought about displacement deeply
24:03 yet for a long time too so I'm really
24:04 eager to kind of get into that as well
24:06 and I'm glad that I was that was
24:07 highlighted so well
24:10 um I think the vision and guiding
24:12 principles look great and capture
24:14 everything that they need to I think
24:16 it's a good point about whether we need
24:19 to find a balance between plain spoken
24:21 and Technical my only worry in that
24:23 would be one of the main main audiences
24:26 of this document is sound Trend right
24:28 and
24:29 if it's too plain spoken will they not
24:31 take us will they not think we're taking
24:33 it seriously as opposed to techn you'll
24:35 find the right balance of where that
24:36 needs to be but in terms of content
24:38 what's there I'm happy I think it it
24:41 captures what we need to there were some
24:42 set in structures in The Guiding
24:43 principles three but you said you're
24:45 going to take care of that um and then
24:47 we received um some comment I don't know
24:49 when it's appropriate to say this but we
24:51 received some comment in email too about
24:53 like going to see um some Light Rail
24:55 stations that I thought could be
24:57 interesting and then also
24:59 um not just looking about uh success in
25:02 light rail planning here but where
25:04 across the continent has there been
25:05 success and what are the lessons learned
25:07 to pull from there as well so when we're
25:08 looking at our peers I was just thinking
25:10 maybe it' be helpful to kind of open it
25:12 up if we have
25:15 B um other than that I think it's great
25:19 thanks council member Ray um thank
25:23 you um so I think guiding principal
25:27 document guiding principal documents by
25:30 their nature are interesting and helpful
25:33 and necessary but far from sufficient so
25:36 um I agree that it should be written
25:39 in um a language that is consumable by
25:43 uh the average person and and granted
25:46 that maybe we are writing this for Sound
25:48 Transit but we can have two versions if
25:50 that's what we're doing but we need to
25:51 have a version of this that is uh
25:54 consumable by um Fox populi and then um
26:00 then you know my my big thing is the
26:02 devil's in the details here I mean these
26:03 are great and we can use it to to guide
26:06 the ship but um the ultimate thing is
26:09 there's a lot of ambiguity and guiding
26:10 principles that um if we do move forward
26:13 with this it's going to have to be
26:14 driven driven out of the process so um
26:17 you know as it stands and as a first
26:18 step great um Lots left to do
26:28 sure uh I'll just plus one the Devils
26:31 ofin details um there's this is s going
26:33 to be such an impactful uh project on
26:37 the future of the city and it could go
26:39 in so many different ways it might still
26:42 meet the letter of uh guiding principles
26:46 U but yet
26:48 still come up short in various ways I
26:51 think this is a good start um but uh we
26:53 need to maintain Relentless uh uh Vigor
26:58 and attention whole
27:01 process well I think I'll second that
27:04 concept but maybe with a little
27:06 different field to it
27:10 um I like the vision the uh vision and
27:15 guiding whatever it is the Exhibit C
27:19 that's the whole visioning document I
27:22 really appreciated the
27:25 um uh Commission back I like seeing how
27:30 it um changed over
27:34 time I really like that you've put in
27:36 there the conflicts and the
27:39 challenges but it feels unbaked for me
27:45 because I don't know what to do with
27:47 that as a policy maker um it feels like
27:52 I'm left with recognizing that there's
27:55 really big conflicts in these decisions
27:58 and that doesn't leave me with a Clear
28:01 Vision and in some cases it feels like
28:04 the learning from peer cities leans one
28:07 way out of those conflict
28:10 areas which I didn't
28:13 necessarily
28:16 see that conclusion coming from the
28:18 feedback that was received by the
28:20 community so I think there's some
28:22 assumptions and biases in there which is
28:25 natural but I don't think we are plainly
28:28 stating this is the conflict this is the
28:31 challenge and this is the direction that
28:34 we're going to go as a city and maybe
28:36 that's because we haven't resolved that
28:39 but it feels
28:42 undone to leave it like this without
28:45 making a statement about either this is
28:49 where we're going or here's how we're
28:50 going to make the decisions about these
28:53 conflict points um because otherwise it
28:56 it feels like we're trying to
28:58 thread many needles and trying to come
29:01 up with something that's going to solve
29:03 all of the problems and that's
29:04 inherently
29:05 impossible um so I think I would like us
29:08 to come across with a little bit more
29:11 either clarity or recognition that this
29:15 is a problem and here's how we're going
29:17 to solve it um because again without
29:21 that I I feel like I just have a really
29:23 hard time utilizing this document in
29:26 order to make those types of decisions
29:31 so anybody else I know we've got another
29:34 portion of this topic coming up so it's
29:37 possible that some of the pieces will
29:39 come through at that so the direction
29:43 that you needed was does the committee
29:45 support the draft Vision are there any
29:47 changes so it sounds like maybe some
29:50 comments about changes to um how plane
29:54 smoking it is you know I had some
29:57 comments about how are we going to
29:58 utilize this and does this leave us with
30:01 a little bit of conflicts we had a lot
30:02 of comments about you know Devil's in
30:05 the details and ultimately there's a lot
30:08 that's left um undone with just this
30:11 vision statement does that give you
30:13 everything that you need or there any
30:15 questions that gives me plenty yeah
30:17 thank you I appreciate it
30:19 okay administrator and council president
30:22 uh before we move on uh Thomas what's
30:25 then the next steps we come back uh to
30:27 the council with the revision what's an
30:29 approximate time frame yeah uh we'll
30:31 come back with a revision um I was
30:32 slated for two weeks from now but I will
30:34 need more time so I will come back to
30:36 full Council um in February so the
30:40 question back to the council then um we
30:43 were planning on bringing it back next
30:45 stop to full Council are you okay with
30:47 that or would you like it back at a cow
30:50 um you know from the budget discussions
30:52 this year the administration feels it's
30:54 really important to have the full
30:56 Council deal with like rail issues
30:59 versus committee um so if you'd like to
31:01 talk more we probably would bring it
31:03 back to a cow before it would come back
31:06 to the council that'd be my sense from
31:09 your comments this
31:11 evening I wouldn't mind seeing it come
31:13 back to a cow I think there were enough
31:15 enough questions that could go in a lot
31:16 of different directions having another
31:18 turn as a group would be a
31:20 good great so we'll we'll we'll we'll
31:22 see we'll we'll talk internally if we
31:25 can do it in February great if not
31:27 you'll see tomorrow
31:30 sounds good well then Thomas I think
31:33 you're staying up there for the next
31:35 item which is Comm 0093 the Central
31:37 isqua Station area planning study and
31:40 engagement plan so you've done a lot of
31:43 Engagement and now you're planning to do
31:45 way more engagement so talk about
31:51 it I'm very excited to talk about this
31:54 um it's a very lovely project to work on
32:06 so yeah again I'm Thomas valdres senior
32:08 Transportation planner um tonight we'll
32:10 be discussing more about Central isqua
32:12 Station area planning um specifically
32:14 we'll be talking about the planning
32:15 study that we're hoping to embark on
32:17 very shortly as well as the engagement
32:19 plan to support
32:22 that so again two more questions for
32:25 this committee to uh provide feedback on
32:29 first is uh do you have any questions or
32:31 concerns about the uh primary
32:33 deliverable of this uh planning study
32:36 which is the stationary planning
32:39 report acknowledging that uh budget is
32:42 very limited uh we really do appreciate
32:45 the the monies that were provided to
32:46 this project um we're really not hoping
32:49 to expand the scope beyond what we have
32:51 here but I would love to get your
32:53 feedback on questions or concerns you
32:55 have for this and then secondly um would
32:58 love to get more feedback on the
33:00 proposed engagement plan that we have
33:01 for
33:04 you so I won't uh go too deep into this
33:07 these are slides I literally just talked
33:09 about um but we are planning for growth
33:11 in central isqua the majority of growth
33:14 will be in the regional growth Center
33:16 we're expecting sound transit to
33:17 approach Us in 2027 as part of their
33:20 scaling
33:21 project and in anticipation of that we
33:23 developed a planning guide this guide
33:25 talks about all the proactive steps
33:27 we're going to take to be prepared for
33:30 that and we just talked about the vision
33:32 and guiding principles which will be fed
33:34 into our uh planning study the guiding
33:38 principles will be the North Star it
33:40 will help with Alternatives development
33:42 and looking at how each alternative we
33:45 match to criteria that we will
33:48 develop so here's the proposed timeline
33:52 for the
33:53 study we're hoping to put a request for
33:56 proposals out in February or March
33:59 getting a consultant on board to support
34:01 this project and kicking off in April or
34:04 May we then go to the community and
34:07 start with initial engagement
34:08 discussions uh really trying to
34:11 understand um General ideas for where a
34:14 station could go what the criteria could
34:16 look like for how we're thinking about
34:19 where a station could go as as it
34:21 relates to the vision and guiding
34:23 principles as well as other planning
34:24 documents that we
34:26 have in q1 and Q4 we will develop that
34:29 criteria based off the vision and
34:31 guiding
34:32 principles we'll talk about that through
34:34 boards and
34:35 commissions as well as other community
34:37 events which I'll talk about in a moment
34:41 in Q4 2025 to the first quarter of 26
34:46 we'll start looking at some of these um
34:48 Alternatives four of which were
34:51 initially very high level developed
34:54 within the light rail planning guides so
34:56 we'll look at those four and uh we're
34:58 hoping to potentially look at a couple
35:00 more depending on uh discussions that
35:02 we've had at that
35:04 point we're then going to just refine
35:07 these ideas a little bit in the first
35:09 quarter of 26 and hopefully uh would
35:13 love to adopt that locally preferred
35:16 alternative uh towards the end of
35:19 2026 uh just in time for those
35:22 discussions that we anticipate with
35:23 sound transit in 27
35:28 so first question which is about the uh
35:32 primary Transit study deliverable which
35:35 is uh stationary planning report this is
35:38 really the meat and potatoes of what
35:40 we're doing here uh we want to know
35:44 essentially what does central isqua look
35:45 like now what is it going to look like
35:47 in the future Um this can be in terms of
35:50 like the types of businesses or like
35:52 housing that we have we're also going to
35:54 want to think about any plan uh
35:58 Transportation infrastructure that we
36:00 will have by that point so really
36:03 thinking about how a station could look
36:05 in terms of its
36:07 context we're then going to take that
36:11 vision and guiding principles document
36:13 and make measurable criteria to evaluate
36:15 all our Alternatives these are going to
36:18 be vetted through a very robust
36:20 community-driven process um making sure
36:22 that the criteria that we develop is
36:25 really going to match our needs
36:28 we're then going to look at between four
36:30 and six conceptual uh locations uh and
36:33 their alignment
36:35 options and again trying to identify
36:38 that preferred alternative uh that's
36:40 going to best match what we're hoping to
36:42 get in terms of a vision and guiding
36:48 principles second part we've got a
36:50 question before we move on go ahead so
36:53 uh Thomas can you just tell us a little
36:54 bit more about uh so you know we talked
36:57 talked earlier about an inter interative
37:00 process where you go back and forth
37:02 build build build and so when does that
37:05 process start uh are we uh does Sound
37:07 Transit know that we're starting this
37:09 project and is the conversation actually
37:12 going on now and just building as we
37:15 learn more and they learn more and uh
37:17 they identify locations and we identify
37:20 what we want them to be and so forth is
37:21 that an ongoing thing it's we're not
37:24 going to just drop this report on their
37:26 desk uh you know
37:29 yeah that's a great question so uh this
37:32 this study will exist before they've
37:34 started their study um we are planning
37:38 as part of our engagement process to
37:40 invite sound transit to participate with
37:43 us um we have a pretty good working
37:45 relationship with them at this point uh
37:48 we also want to talk to wot the
37:50 Washington Department of Transportation
37:52 um as they have the right of way for I90
37:55 right and sr900 um
37:58 we're going to talk to all the major uh
38:00 you know players uh King County Metro um
38:04 DJ Regional Council we're going to want
38:06 to talk with all of them um in our uh
38:10 approach we're hoping to have those
38:11 conversations and like bring them along
38:14 uh through the process but just to sort
38:16 of summarize my thoughts
38:18 here uh that preferred location will not
38:21 be something that I assume Sound Transit
38:23 will be working with us on other than
38:25 they will provide General information on
38:28 whether or not a location is like
38:31 completely ridiculous or it's not um
38:34 they're not going to really work with us
38:35 in terms of like is this a good option
38:38 for isquad that's for us to uh work
38:41 through um we will give that to sound
38:43 transit um in 2027 and they will add
38:46 that to their list of options that
38:48 they're going to independently look
38:51 at thank
38:54 you great yeah just continue on here
38:58 um there will be another robust
39:01 Community engagement plan to support
39:02 this uh we want to do this right and so
39:05 this is sort of a very high level
39:07 approach of what we're hoping to do
39:09 we're going to have a project website
39:11 this will be the first point of contact
39:13 for many people to you know push
39:16 information out to them um through all
39:19 of our engagement efforts something that
39:21 I really uh gathered from the last
39:24 Community engagement effort that I did
39:27 was it's it's really nice to just grabb
39:28 emails from people when you're talking
39:30 to them uh and a lot of people also
39:32 interact with uh the city via like
39:34 social media so i' love to learn like
39:37 how people are getting access to uh
39:40 information from the city and sort of
39:41 work with them on like best way to
39:44 approach them
39:45 so along with the highle project uh
39:49 Milestones I would love to push out
39:51 updates so that people know what we're
39:53 doing hoping to do some more direct
39:55 engagement chatting with Folks at pop-up
39:58 events um we're likely going to do a
40:01 couple open houses this is a almost
40:03 two-year long project so at least two
40:05 open
40:07 houses City boards and commissions are
40:09 going to be working really hard on this
40:11 we're we're going to approach them
40:13 generally just to make sure that they
40:14 know what we're doing we want to take
40:17 the um evaluation CR criteria to them as
40:19 well as well as um looking at the
40:22 different Alternatives we want to make
40:23 sure that they have eyes on that um the
40:26 committee of the whole um I have a slide
40:27 to talk about touch points but
40:29 essentially committee the H is going to
40:30 be brought through this whole process we
40:32 want to make sure that you all are
40:33 involved um you know what the latest is
40:36 with this project and um ultimately
40:39 we're hoping to have another summary
40:41 report just really compiling everything
40:44 that we've done um this will be a very
40:47 uh extensive document that will just add
40:49 more to the validity of the process that
40:52 we're
40:55 doing so again really appreciate the
40:58 budget that we were given for this
40:59 project uh it's a very important project
41:02 um it does inform future amendments to e
41:05 planning Frameworks so we will be
41:06 amending the light rail planning guide
41:09 this will also uh the light um locally
41:12 preferred alternative will be
41:14 incorporated into the mobility uh master
41:16 plan um it will also be incorporated
41:19 into the uh comprehensive plan so this
41:21 is really going to make a lot of changes
41:24 with key foundational documents um again
41:27 it's strengthens our ability to uh
41:29 Advocate with Sound Transit by doing
41:31 this and it's going to lead to Future uh
41:34 policy changes with respect to um zoning
41:38 and land
41:41 use so key Council touch points uh I'm
41:45 here today talking about the scope of
41:46 work and engagement plan hoping to uh
41:51 approach again in Q4 with evaluation
41:53 criteria that we can work through in q1
41:56 will be looking at uh alignment
41:58 Alternatives and then ultimately in the
42:01 last half of 2026 we'll be working
42:04 towards adopting that locally
42:09 preferred I'll pause here again and
42:12 happy to take your questions or comments
42:13 thank
42:14 you okay again starting with questions
42:17 council member Hall thanks uh yeah I
42:20 have a couple so um I know they're
42:22 naturally connected but as we get closer
42:25 to selecting the locally preferred
42:27 alternative is the station sighting and
42:30 the track alignment happening at the
42:33 same time is that process the same or
42:34 are they separate process yeah that's
42:35 all the same process we'll want to make
42:37 sure that um the the tail of the of the
42:40 station as well as the track itself is
42:42 all considered when we're thinking about
42:45 where the station could
42:47 go um for um now I'm kind of Switching
42:52 gears into public engagement it's a
42:54 community survey year right where doing
42:57 a community survey is it possible to
43:00 have kind of focused questions around
43:02 Light Rail in our community survey or um
43:05 I know we've talked about the community
43:07 survey before City administrator and
43:09 sometimes there's value in like not
43:10 changing it so year over year you see
43:12 any changes and things but just curious
43:15 if we could have anything in
43:18 there uh ccil member Hall members of the
43:20 council I don't know that we know what
43:22 we would ask at this point so you know
43:26 as we go through through this process uh
43:28 if it makes sense to do a broad
43:30 Community survey regarding options we
43:32 can certainly do that um perhaps two
43:34 years from now uh it may make more sense
43:37 to incorporate something but uh at this
43:39 juncture and we're almost out the door
43:43 with the 25 survey so and I'm not sure
43:47 what we would ask other no that's a
43:49 that's a really fair point yeah and it
43:50 is kind of early so okay got it um that
43:54 answers my next question that do so
43:57 thanks Deputy council president D
43:59 Michelle yeah in the list of um of uh
44:04 groups that we're going to contact
44:06 through the process there's one that
44:08 says neighboring uh communities and um
44:11 I'm wondering uh how we're going to
44:13 select those I you know I saw kind of a
44:15 list and I thought well that's a pretty
44:17 broad list are we looking at that
44:19 strategically in terms of who's going
44:21 down you know I90 to North Bend and
44:23 still qual me or are we just going to
44:25 put like a net out to all of our
44:28 neighboring communities and are there
44:30 any communities that really aren't
44:32 contiguous with us that would also be
44:34 impacted by this
44:38 project yeah something that we did as
44:40 part of the transit study was we
44:42 approached uh City staff who are
44:44 involved in a lot of this we also
44:45 approached Snow kwami Valley Transit um
44:48 a lot of their transit services are sort
44:50 of tied to the it's the 208 that goes
44:53 out to Northbend um so that's sort of
44:55 what we're thinking at this point but um
44:58 you know folks from all over attend uh
45:02 you know salmon days and they attend
45:03 various other uh you know Farmers Market
45:07 um so that's that's probably how we
45:09 would primarily get a lot of those those
45:11 comments um at this point but yeah we're
45:14 we're always open to getting more
45:15 feedback uh a lot of folks that don't
45:18 live in the area will likely drive to
45:20 our area so we definitely want to hear
45:22 their thoughts on this um so all that to
45:25 say we we're excited to just gather as
45:28 much feedback as possible and just a
45:31 little followup are we going to be
45:32 looking for official commentary from
45:35 City councils in other neighboring
45:37 cities or is this mostly just people
45:39 would be using the the
45:42 service I think at this point we are
45:43 envisioning the users of it um not
45:46 official um council members
45:51 yeah any other
45:53 questions no okay I'll look again to
45:57 community members in the room anybody
45:59 who has any comments at this point not
46:04 seeing any again no one online okay well
46:08 then we will move on to feedback so
46:10 we've got two questions are there
46:13 questions or concerns about the study's
46:14 proposed stationary planning report and
46:17 questions or concerns on the study's
46:18 proposed public engagement
46:21 plan who's going first
46:25 feedback deputy council president D
46:28 Melle nobody else will speak I will so
46:31 first of all oh this is so exciting to
46:33 think that two years from now we're
46:34 going to have an alternative picked out
46:37 I it's just amazing so I am so excited
46:41 um looking at your uh Outreach list uh
46:45 just a few
46:46 suggestions um I did notice under the
46:49 human services and faith-based groups
46:51 that we have you know we are outreaching
46:54 to Maps which is the Muslim uh area of a
46:58 Muslim of FIA sound and then St Joseph's
47:01 and Catholic Community Charities but I'm
47:03 wondering if we could also reach out to
47:05 um we have a large Hindu population in
47:08 our area we've to got two Jewish
47:10 synagogues that are close um and then s
47:14 St Michaels is very involved with social
47:16 justice issues and um Our Savior
47:19 Lutheran church and I'm just wondering
47:21 if we shouldn't broaden uh in that
47:23 category broaden out to some other Faith
47:25 groups there is a group uh called the
47:28 East Side Interfaith social concerns
47:31 Council uh and I can get you there an
47:33 email there and uh that would be a
47:36 really efficient way of maybe getting
47:38 the information out to those groups so
47:41 you don't have to go chasing a long list
47:43 of churches so uh and similarly I was
47:46 going to suggest that you include the
47:48 isaa nurturing Network on that list um
47:51 as a good way to reach uh Human Services
47:53 providers so uh those would be my
47:56 suggestions uh I don't have any concerns
47:58 about you're doing a good job on this uh
48:01 planning uh I think it will be done very
48:04 well just as the last was I I looking
48:06 forward to hearing what everybody has to
48:08 say and uh uh I just uh I'm just
48:12 thrilled that we're this close to
48:13 getting to a preferred alternative so
48:15 thank
48:18 you any other
48:20 feedback okay I will go ahead and go
48:23 then um first of all I think this
48:26 document is great this is kind of what I
48:28 wanted to know what the $200,000 was
48:32 going to be used on and so this provides
48:34 a lot of clarity compared to what we had
48:38 in our budget period um one piece of
48:43 feedback I saw the school district there
48:46 as part of the youth provider but
48:48 they're also one of our largest um
48:51 business and so I think it would be
48:53 important to also include them in there
48:56 I think that's particularly important
48:58 because they have a diverse um set of
49:03 staff that are going to multiple
49:05 locations and so that perspective might
49:08 be useful there I really like um seeing
49:11 the potential groups and kind of what
49:14 the conversations are designed to key up
49:17 there um and then I think what I would
49:21 like to know coming out of that is kind
49:25 of what is the report back cycle on this
49:30 um and is there kind of a midpoint where
49:35 it comes back to the commissions or like
49:39 a conversation there or is the goal to
49:43 kind of have a larger period where you
49:45 talk with everyone and then synthesize
49:47 it and bring it back um I just want to
49:50 make sure that there aren't questions
49:53 that are missed in that conversation
49:55 that might be brought up if some initial
49:57 feedback is brought forth so okay
50:02 anybody else we're speeding through this
50:05 I guess having only five members up here
50:07 does make it a little bit little bit
50:08 quicker on this time but do you have the
50:11 feedback you need I do thank you very
50:13 much for the time appreciate it okay
50:16 fantastic um and looking on Autumn you
50:20 are up next we've got Comm
50:24 0094 the public safety fac facilities
50:27 next
50:29 steps and presented by Autumn manahan
50:31 our administrative Services director
50:41 thanks good evening council members my
50:43 name is utum manahan Administrative
50:44 Services director happy to be before you
50:47 tonight to talk about my favorite
50:48 subject public
50:52 facilities so purpose of tonight to Pro
50:54 to provide proposed next steps for our
50:56 Public Safety facilities work and re
50:59 your
51:01 feedback um specifically the direction
51:03 we're looking for is confirming a
51:04 community task force work plan for the
51:06 year which would include focus on uh
51:08 police station Renovations Community
51:10 needs for meeting space um City Hall
51:13 space planning and then long-term plans
51:15 for council
51:17 chambers so we were before you uh late
51:20 last year with a proposal that included
51:23 leasing space at King County District
51:25 Court for our Municipal Court
51:27 relocating city council chambers to a
51:29 new location renovating our police
51:31 building uh in the near-term leasing
51:34 space for City Hall so that we could
51:36 clear out that building just for police
51:38 and longterm look to either build a new
51:41 city hall perhaps at the current station
51:43 of fire station 71 or to buy and
51:45 renovate if good options came available
51:47 on the
51:48 market uh the proposal also included
51:50 demolishing this building City Hall
51:52 South and potentially using this
51:54 property for a new fire station and then
51:56 also related to the fire station
51:57 demolishing that building and
51:59 potentially making that the new city
52:01 hall so that was the plan late last year
52:03 as far as a proposal we did get some
52:05 feedback from Council and our summary is
52:07 here um there was agreement on
52:08 relocating the court we are currently in
52:10 active negotiations with King County on
52:12 that lease uh we're also moving forward
52:14 with a lot of planning around it needs
52:16 and Furniture needs and um all the
52:18 things that are needed to move Court uh
52:21 further assessment is needed on
52:22 relocating of city council chambers an
52:25 agreement on the urg emergency and
52:27 priority of police space and functional
52:29 needs a desire for a Clear Vision and
52:31 long-term plan for City Hall an interest
52:34 in expansion of a potential bond package
52:35 to include other community facility
52:37 needs uh a need for Community engagement
52:40 extensive engagement including
52:42 recommendations from a diverse Community
52:44 task force and then mix thoughts on next
52:46 steps for a new fire station in
52:49 71 so we're here tonight with some
52:52 proposed next steps that includes uh
52:54 finalizing a lease for court um I'll be
52:57 before you um hopefully very soon as we
52:59 finalize those negotiations with King
53:01 County for a lease uh also come back to
53:04 you um fairly soon as well with some
53:06 short-term options for relocating
53:08 council chambers uh we would like to
53:10 vacate this building as it has a lot of
53:13 um outdated facility needs uh so we're
53:15 hoping to vacate this building
53:18 soon uh since our last Council briefing
53:20 East Side Fire and Rescue membership has
53:23 discussed some potential organizational
53:25 changes uh which could impact the future
53:27 responsibility of fire infrastructure
53:30 and Facilities um those are some
53:32 important discussions coming up that
53:34 we'll take some time so we want to
53:36 ensure we're aligned long term with
53:38 what's next with Eastside fire and
53:39 rescue so that said Administration is
53:42 recommending that we pause work on
53:44 further assessing next steps for fire
53:46 station 71 at this time and instead
53:49 focus on Space needs for the community
53:52 as well as police and city
53:54 hall and then finally launching
53:56 Community task force this year that
53:57 would help us in refining some options
53:59 moving
54:02 forward so our community task force uh
54:05 the idea is that it'll be appointed by
54:07 the mayor we have a lofty goal hopefully
54:09 getting up to 23 um members um I'll we
54:13 will do our best in all of our Outreach
54:15 to get a very diverse group I have a
54:17 long list um all based off of our
54:20 engagement toolkit of different groups
54:22 that we can reach out to um to see who's
54:24 interested in participating we hope to
54:26 form this group in February so next
54:28 month uh meeting approximately six times
54:31 this year we'd like two co-chairs just
54:33 to help in um carrying that load as well
54:36 as backing each other up uh on meetings
54:39 um we'd also love some city council
54:41 representation similar to the Strategic
54:42 plan task force that was really helpful
54:45 uh for some council members to be a part
54:46 of that process and we would kick off
54:48 the community engagement with this
54:50 recruitment process and then continue it
54:52 throughout uh the year as we're working
54:54 with this task force so all of our
54:55 meetings would be very much promoted and
54:57 open to the public for folks to
55:00 join so the focus of this task force
55:02 would include reviewing all of our
55:04 workto date on the city's facility needs
55:06 we've we've done about two years now of
55:08 research we have plenty of data and
55:09 information to share uh with this with
55:11 this community group and then U
55:13 prioritize our identified facility needs
55:16 uh refining our long-term plans
55:18 evaluating options for a potential
55:20 ballot measure providing feedback on
55:23 community engagement um both as we go
55:25 through this process this year and then
55:27 moving forward and then delivering
55:29 recommendations to the mayor since it's
55:30 a mayor appointed task force but then
55:32 also to the city council uh for further
55:36 review so the timeline uh would be that
55:39 we would uh we put together this task
55:41 force in q1 uh as like I said first
55:44 meetings would really be a review of our
55:45 work to date as well as some group
55:47 visioning uh we would also be further
55:49 refining our space needs so we are
55:52 hiring um a consultant called DLR Group
55:54 which has extensive experience spe
55:56 specifically in public safety facilities
55:58 planning um we're really excited to work
56:00 with them on refining our design and the
56:02 work we've done to date on our space
56:03 needs they have a lot of experience on
56:05 best practices especially with police
56:07 stations uh then presenting a final
56:10 Municipal Court Le to city council Q2
56:13 would then include continuing those task
56:14 force meetings uh which would then be
56:16 reviewing some space needs as we're
56:18 working on this process with DLR Group
56:20 which would also be helping us in
56:21 facilitating the task force getting into
56:23 that prioritization continuing the
56:25 community engagement
56:27 um by Q2 we hope to be moving municipal
56:29 court and presenting you with some
56:31 short-term options for council chambers
56:33 and Q3 then the task force would develop
56:36 its
56:37 recommendations um for delivery to the
56:39 mayor and Council uh the engagement will
56:41 continue throughout this entire process
56:44 along with some feedback from the task
56:45 force on how to implement that
56:46 engagement uh with the goal of a city
56:49 council decision by summer or fall or
56:51 end of of this year in
56:54 2025 um that was just a a short short
56:58 recap of our plan mostly focused on this
57:01 community task force and uh we're
57:02 looking for your
57:05 feedback third time's a charm looking
57:07 for questions as we start
57:14 out just to clarify can you remind us if
57:16 we don't move out of this building
57:18 there's significant investment that
57:19 needs to happen in this building is that
57:21 right can you can give us a summary
57:23 reminder of what we need to do I'm sorry
57:25 I didn't give you a heads up sure uh I
57:28 believe the investment in total was I'll
57:32 have to remember that number I think it
57:33 was immediate about 5 million uh needed
57:36 for investment in this
57:40 building and and that's just for um some
57:44 really outdated repairs there'd be no
57:45 upgrades to this building when it comes
57:47 to a lot of the Ada work or other things
57:49 that are needed
57:53 yeah okay just a quick question
57:56 um you talked a little bit about the
57:59 task force evaluating Bond options does
58:02 that also include um timing and what
58:05 that what we would need in order to
58:07 prepare for a bond yes definitely okay
58:10 fastic look again at that audience any
58:13 public comments y'all are just listening
58:16 I you know what we appreciate it
58:19 but it always email us uh nobody online
58:23 nope okay back to council feedback
58:27 feedback council member Marts thanks for
58:29 starting us up sure um well as the uh
58:34 grumpiest member of the Council on this
58:36 whole effort for the last 12 months I
58:38 appreciate the summary of where we were
58:41 previously and where we are today I
58:44 think that's a very strategic way to
58:46 describe what the process has looked
58:48 like thus far um I'm very comfortable uh
58:51 with this with this change in Direction
58:53 and I'm excited about the task force I
58:56 think our task forces task forces is
58:59 that the plural for yeah uh over over
59:01 the last year or two have have uh done a
59:04 lot of really good work and heavy
59:06 lifting and I'll be looking forward to
59:10 this last one on the uh just excellent
59:14 work of the task force uh task forces uh
59:18 anybody else
59:21 feedback uh Deputy council president
59:24 I'll just plus one that and and uh
59:27 thanks for listening uh it the the uh
59:30 proposal tonight uh put it put in front
59:32 of us really reflects a lot of the
59:34 conversations we had over the last year
59:36 which is very appreciated I'm glad to
59:38 see that they'll be that we're aiming at
59:40 least for 23 members and uh which to me
59:44 says it's going to be a broader um net
59:46 across the community and getting more
59:48 voices at the table so I think that's
59:50 great so I'm very comfortable with this
59:54 well once member h yeah another Well
59:57 Done
59:58 um the conversations that we're having
1:00:01 at East Side Fire I think it's just
1:00:03 prudent to press pause on fire station
1:00:05 planning the conversations that we're
1:00:06 having there are going to take a long
1:00:08 time um and so the other thing that's on
1:00:10 my mind too is just making sure that
1:00:12 we're also thinking about Public Safety
1:00:14 operations and the needs that are in
1:00:15 that space and how do we have that
1:00:16 conversation sounds like we are going to
1:00:18 have an opportunity to kind of dig into
1:00:19 that alongside this but separately um
1:00:22 from facility needs so I'm just glad
1:00:24 that we're we're able to do both both
1:00:26 and it's going to be a big
1:00:31 year council member a I was just going
1:00:33 to say I have nothing to add I I thought
1:00:34 the summary was
1:00:36 great okay well I will add in agreed I
1:00:41 appreciate this shift as listening to
1:00:44 what we were able to say as Council um I
1:00:48 do still have some questions about you
1:00:51 know council chambers whether we really
1:00:54 need to put my into moving um in this
1:00:58 temporary time period but we'll have
1:01:02 conversation um one thing I would like
1:01:06 to recognize is just our
1:01:10 overall facility maintenance needs and
1:01:15 so if there is a way in the conversation
1:01:17 either about just recognizing what those
1:01:19 needs are not only for these major
1:01:22 buildings but also across the city
1:01:25 whether that is something that could
1:01:27 work into a bond um or whether that is
1:01:31 just something for those major um
1:01:34 options to recognize the lifetime cost
1:01:38 of the building I don't know if that's
1:01:39 something that can happen in with a bond
1:01:42 but much like council member Hall was
1:01:44 talking about the operations costs for
1:01:47 Public Safety I'm not just thinking
1:01:49 about the capital facility creation but
1:01:53 that long-term need and so if there's a
1:01:55 way to kind of reference and recognize
1:01:59 that as part of our costs
1:02:02 um and then completely agree that I love
1:02:06 the idea of aiming for 23 members I
1:02:11 happen to know 21 people who showed up
1:02:13 for the uh city council 101 how to
1:02:17 become an elected official so I suggest
1:02:20 that those uh people get contacted as
1:02:24 one opportunity um
1:02:26 we we are a wealthy community when it
1:02:29 comes to public engagement and not only
1:02:32 does staff do an amazing job of leading
1:02:36 these and creating these conversations
1:02:37 but the community really steps up and
1:02:40 provides that deep um information and
1:02:43 feedback which is great so I think we're
1:02:48 ready do you have everything you need I
1:02:51 do thank you very much
1:02:54 okay so I know this meeting was supposed
1:02:57 to take two hours but I'm thinking are
1:03:00 we okay getting it done in an hour
1:03:03 anything else you need from us okay well
1:03:06 uh we've got good of the order anybody
1:03:09 there okay otherwise I will adjourn us
1:03:13 at 7:33 p.m. thank you everybody

Attendance

Council / Members (6)
Barbara de Michele
Zach Hall
Victoria Hunt
Tola Marts
Chris Reh
Lindsey Walsh
Excused
Russell Joe