City Council Committee of the Whole · Monday, September 8, 2025 · City Council Digest

3. AGENDA ITEMS

Prioritization of Future Long Range Planning Work COM 0169

60 min · Minnie Dhaliwal, Community Planning & Development Director · packet pp.5–127

▶ Watch from 0:43 Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

Over the last few years Council has taken action on a number of large land use and planning related efforts. A few of these items include: 1) Title 18 overhaul to meet the thirteen goals and outcomes identified by council was competed in 2023. A future updates list was created of items that came up during this effort (

2666 segments .txt ↗

0:10 ↗ Okay, welcome everyone. I, Council

0:12 ↗ President Walsh, call the

0:15 ↗ September 8th Committee of the Whole

0:18 ↗ meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. As a

0:22 ↗ reminder, we continue to have a remote

0:23 ↗ aspect to our meetings and both staff

0:25 ↗ and members of the public may be

0:27 ↗ participating in tonight's meeting

0:29 ↗ remotely via WebEx.

0:32 ↗ Um, there are multiple public comment

0:34 ↗ opportunities at tonight's meeting.

0:36 ↗ There's a general public comment

0:37 ↗ opportunity at the beginning of the

0:39 ↗ meeting or you can make comments after

0:41 ↗ the presentation council question and

0:43 ↗ answer period on tonight's agenda item.

0:46 ↗ Um, so I am wondering if there is

0:48 ↗ anybody, we've got lots of folks here,

0:50 ↗ but I think many of them are staff and

0:52 ↗ consultants. So, we have anybody wanting

0:54 ↗ to make public comment?

0:57 ↗ Okay, we are going to have public

0:58 ↗ comment. Let me uh read through a few

1:00 ↗ things. Uh, members of the public may

1:02 ↗ address council at this time in person

1:04 ↗ or virtually. those who signed up in

1:06 ↗ advance to make comments will be called

1:08 ↗ on first. Um, if you're joining us

1:10 ↗ virtually,

1:13 ↗ >> yeah, it's not that we're having a

1:14 ↗ little bit of an echo issue and so maybe

1:18 ↗ Tim will uh help us troubleshoot.

1:22 ↗ Um, but in the meantime, if you're

1:24 ↗ joining us virtually and would like to

1:25 ↗ make comments, please raise your virtual

1:28 ↗ hand. If you're on the phone, you're

1:29 ↗ going to press star three. If you've

1:32 ↗ joined by computer or smartphone, look

1:34 ↗ for the hand icon or you can send the

1:36 ↗ host a chat message. Um, if you're in

1:39 ↗ the room and did not sign up, I'll ask

1:40 ↗ for other speakers. Um,

1:43 ↗ so in general, you are invited to

1:46 ↗ address council regarding matters that

1:48 ↗ are directly related to Isquat's

1:50 ↗ programs projects uh services or

1:53 ↗ events. Comments related to political

1:55 ↗ campaigns are not permitted. Please

1:57 ↗ direct comments to the whole council,

1:59 ↗ not to individuals. And while we can't

2:01 ↗ answer questions on the dis at this

2:03 ↗ point, um if you want to give your

2:05 ↗ information, we can contact you to

2:06 ↗ follow up if needed. When recognized,

2:09 ↗ you will come up to um the left turn.

2:12 ↗ You're going to press the button on

2:14 ↗ there and it will turn red. Or if you're

2:16 ↗ virtual, you'll unmute your microphone.

2:18 ↗ State your name, address, and

2:21 ↗ relationship to the city. Speak clearly

2:24 ↗ and pause frequently and limit your

2:26 ↗ comments to five minutes. Um, if you're

2:28 ↗ attending virtually and do not respond

2:30 ↗ when your name or phone number is called

2:32 ↗ or if your connection is lost

2:33 ↗ unexpectedly, we will have to move on,

2:36 ↗ but you're encouraged to rejoin the

2:37 ↗ meeting if available. Um, personal

2:39 ↗ attacks, obscene language, derogatory

2:41 ↗ remarks, and disruptive behavior will

2:43 ↗ not be permitted. And so now I saw a

2:46 ↗ hand if you'd like to

2:49 ↗ love to hear from you.

2:55 ↗ >> Good evening. Uh,

2:58 ↗ this one. Uh, I can I approach the day

3:02 ↗ with some flyers from the library?

3:11 ↗ I don't know if there's a way to

3:14 ↗ I allowed to hand them to the

3:25 ↗ Thank you, Wally. Good evening. Um, my

3:27 ↗ name is Brian Kendallori. I'm joined

3:29 ↗ with one of my colleagues, Dan Hilton.

3:32 ↗ Um, I am the regional manager uh over

3:35 ↗ this library and a few others in the

3:37 ↗ area. So, thank you for allowing us to

3:39 ↗ come, council president and um the board

3:42 ↗ uh city council. Um, it was really nice

3:45 ↗ to see Wall-E last week at uh the Reton

3:47 ↗ branch, which is the southernmost branch

3:49 ↗ in my region. uh along with Mark uh from

3:52 ↗ Parks and Recck. We are looking to uh I

3:55 ↗ need to get Mark's email. Uh we Jeff,

3:59 ↗ that's probably why it didn't go

4:00 ↗ through. Um I will work on that. Uh but

4:03 ↗ I'm coming to you with good news. So, uh

4:06 ↗ our library down the street, uh we see

4:08 ↗ an explosion in our interest to summer

4:10 ↗ reading this year. So, hopefully some of

4:12 ↗ you with little ones have come by and

4:14 ↗ gotten our summer reading kits. Uh they

4:17 ↗ come with a a coupon to Red Robin. Uh

4:21 ↗ but more importantly, they come with

4:22 ↗ band-aids if they're for kids. They have

4:24 ↗ the I always call them Chewbacca, but

4:27 ↗ the um

4:30 ↗ Oh, god. Assist Sasquatch. Thank you,

4:32 ↗ Wally. And please don't tell our

4:34 ↗ director.

4:36 ↗ >> Yeah.

4:37 ↗ Sorry about that. Um so, uh the

4:41 ↗ Sasquatch Chewbacca, he comes. We also

4:44 ↗ have a free books for the kids that come

4:46 ↗ in. Um, and just last year, in fact, uh,

4:50 ↗ one of the there was a little girl that

4:52 ↗ came in. And there we go. I think um,

4:56 ↗ uh, and they I never ceases to amaze me

4:58 ↗ as a librarian how excited little kids

5:00 ↗ get just to write their name on a piece

5:03 ↗ of paper. And then I think they think

5:06 ↗ I'm slapping it against the glass, but

5:08 ↗ this little girl just she hopped up and

5:09 ↗ then just kind of tapped it on. Uh, so

5:12 ↗ thank you. Um, we have a number of

5:15 ↗ programs that are starting soon uh at

5:17 ↗ the Isqua branch. We're excited to

5:19 ↗ announce that we have a full-time adult

5:22 ↗ and teen librarian there now, which took

5:25 ↗ us a good year to get going. Uh, Dan

5:27 ↗ joins us from Seattle Public uh with a

5:30 ↗ number of uh a great deal of experience

5:32 ↗ over there. So, Dan will be coming uh

5:34 ↗ next year. Uh, and we are looking

5:36 ↗ forward to uh once I get Jeff's email

5:40 ↗ down. Thank you, Wall-E. Uh we we are

5:43 ↗ looking for other ways to partner with

5:44 ↗ your uh with our city. Um we also have a

5:47 ↗ librarian day coming up in a week or so

5:50 ↗ uh down the street. So I'm here to

5:52 ↗ answer any questions you might have uh

5:54 ↗ and really just to thank you and your

5:56 ↗ community for its strong support. I also

5:59 ↗ came as Wally mentioned in fact Dan and

6:01 ↗ I both worked uh small world at Brooklyn

6:04 ↗ Public Library uh while not at the same

6:06 ↗ time. Um, but King County Library and

6:10 ↗ its communities really support the work

6:12 ↗ it does here, which is what attracted me

6:13 ↗ to it. Um, so yeah, I'm happy to answer

6:16 ↗ any questions and thank you for the

6:18 ↗ support of the community.

6:20 ↗ >> Excellent. Well, we appreciate you being

6:22 ↗ here and dealing with uh this.

6:27 ↗ I would love to spend some time thanking

6:29 ↗ you for everything, but I think I'm

6:31 ↗ going to pause for a second and see if

6:33 ↗ we can fix this echo um if you don't

6:36 ↗ mind. But thank you for coming and

6:38 ↗ making public comments.

6:42 ↗ >> Fantastic. Okay. So, I will see if we've

6:46 ↗ got any other public comments now that

6:48 ↗ we've fixed our echo issue. Um, but I'm

6:52 ↗ not seeing any. So, I'll just make a

6:54 ↗ note. At the July 21st city council

6:57 ↗ meeting, the city council referred the

6:58 ↗ motion to approve AB9026,

7:02 ↗ the washd transfer of development rights

7:04 ↗ development agreement extension for

7:06 ↗ Belleview College to tonight's committee

7:08 ↗ of the whole meeting. However,

7:11 ↗ additional time is required to gather

7:12 ↗ the information requested by the city

7:14 ↗ council. So, the item has been delayed

7:16 ↗ to the October 20th city council

7:19 ↗ meeting. So, if anybody was looking for

7:20 ↗ that on tonight's meeting and didn't see

7:22 ↗ it, that is why. Um, Wally, I know you

7:26 ↗ had one item that you wanted to just

7:28 ↗ jump in before our agenda item. So, go

7:32 ↗ ahead.

7:32 ↗ >> Yes. Thank you, Council President,

7:34 ↗ members of the council. Good evening. Uh

7:36 ↗ we are fortunate uh for the third year

7:38 ↗ in a row uh to be participating with the

7:41 ↗ International City County Management

7:43 ↗ Association and the Department of the

7:44 ↗ Army uh on a fellow program where the

7:48 ↗ Army matches cities uh with senior army

7:52 ↗ civilian executives who manage uh bases

7:55 ↗ around the world. And uh I'm happy to

7:57 ↗ introduce Ken Esbrook uh who's with us

8:00 ↗ this evening. Why don't you come up to

8:01 ↗ the podium? We can say a few words. Uh K

8:04 ↗ K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K

8:04 ↗ K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K

8:04 ↗ Ken K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K

8:05 ↗ K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K

8:05 ↗ K K Ken um has been uh involved in

8:08 ↗ installation management uh uh for much

8:11 ↗ of his career um as well as a stent with

8:14 ↗ the General Services Administration. Um

8:16 ↗ and will be with us through the week to

8:18 ↗ uh shadow a little bit about what we're

8:21 ↗ doing. The similarities between an Army

8:24 ↗ post and a city's management are are

8:27 ↗ strikingly similar. uh and Ken as he

8:30 ↗ approaches the the end of his army

8:33 ↗ service uh is very interested in

8:35 ↗ continuing his public service and so was

8:37 ↗ keen to uh come here to Isqua and and

8:40 ↗ see how cities operate. So Ken happy to

8:42 ↗ have you say just a couple words if

8:44 ↗ you'd like but we're just really pleased

8:46 ↗ to have you and hope it's a good

8:47 ↗ learning experience for you during the

8:49 ↗ course of the week.

8:49 ↗ >> Thank you. I appreciate it and uh this

8:51 ↗ has been a blessing opportunity for me.

8:54 ↗ Uh I've uh served 33 years in the US

8:56 ↗ government and uh now I'm getting an

8:59 ↗ opportunity to retire from one aspect of

9:01 ↗ the US government and transition into

9:03 ↗ another and I and I so desire and dream

9:05 ↗ to continue my public service and uh

9:08 ↗ it's been an opportunity but this is a

9:10 ↗ wonderful opportunity because the US

9:12 ↗ military carries o over 114 US army only

9:16 ↗ carries over 114

9:18 ↗ cities around the world. Uh, and uh,

9:21 ↗ I've I've uh, worked my career through

9:24 ↗ public works and kind of city management

9:26 ↗ programs and I've made up set my my

9:29 ↗ career up into a senior civilian

9:31 ↗ position which is like, you know, very

9:34 ↗ similar to what Wall-E does as as city

9:36 ↗ administrator. And so I'm taking the

9:38 ↗ opportunity and this has been a very

9:40 ↗ blessed opportunity to work with ICMA

9:42 ↗ and Wall-E as a shadow and see how

9:45 ↗ Isiqua runs the city over here and learn

9:48 ↗ some new things and and just kind of

9:51 ↗ compare what I do to what you guys do

9:53 ↗ here to run this beautiful city and and

9:56 ↗ so far it it is not uh disappointed.

10:00 ↗ This is a very beautiful city. I've

10:02 ↗ heard a lot about it over the years

10:03 ↗ because my oldest son lives in in the

10:05 ↗ area and decided to retire to this area

10:08 ↗ in Washington and uh so this is this is

10:11 ↗ very a beautiful city and and I'm

10:14 ↗ looking forward to shadowing more with

10:15 ↗ Wall-E and learning more about the city.

10:17 ↗ >> And Ken, before you step down, could you

10:19 ↗ share with the council your where your

10:21 ↗ last post was? Oh, so Wall-Ally met me

10:23 ↗ through uh virtual through the ICMA uh

10:26 ↗ fellows program and I was well currently

10:29 ↗ technically I'm still currently assigned

10:31 ↗ to Marshall Islands in Quadrilene

10:34 ↗ Marshall Islands and uh I'm kind of used

10:37 ↗ to doing remote and isolated locations.

10:39 ↗ So I decided to challenge me and my

10:41 ↗ family and go as remote as we possibly

10:43 ↗ could and the Marshall Islands did not

10:45 ↗ disappoint. So it it is literally if you

10:48 ↗ think of a uh an aircraft carrier uh the

10:51 ↗ Quadrilene atl. And if you look it up,

10:53 ↗ you'll see it. It is literally an

10:55 ↗ airirst strip with a little bit of

10:57 ↗ support services and have approximately

10:59 ↗ 1,500 uh US uh expats uh serving there

11:04 ↗ on the island and then probably another

11:05 ↗ 3,000 local marshales. uh with our

11:08 ↗ agreements and our and our collaboration

11:11 ↗ with the marshales. We do a lot of uh uh

11:13 ↗ technical and scientific stuff in

11:16 ↗ Quadrilene and uh it it is a very unique

11:19 ↗ and unusual assignment and I learned a

11:22 ↗ lot from it but uh I did my time there

11:24 ↗ and now it's time to come back to the

11:25 ↗ real world.

11:26 ↗ >> Great. It's been a great opportunity.

11:29 ↗ >> Thank you sir.

11:31 ↗ Thank you, Ken, and thank you, Director

11:33 ↗ Buck Bob Quitz, for uh including us and

11:36 ↗ telling us all about this program and

11:38 ↗ what we're getting out of it. Um, we

11:40 ↗ have one agenda item for tonight's

11:43 ↗ meeting, which is COM 0169, the

11:45 ↗ prioritization of future long range

11:48 ↗ planning work. Some may know this as our

11:51 ↗ title 18 future updates list. And so um

11:56 ↗ we are going to get a presentation from

11:58 ↗ director Dollywal from community

12:00 ↗ planning and development. Thank you.

12:02 ↗ >> Good evening members of the council and

12:05 ↗ any community members that may be online

12:08 ↗ before we jump into the presentation

12:10 ↗ piece. I want to take a minute uh to

12:12 ↗ invite Kristen Leon, our planning

12:14 ↗ manager to introduce our new planning

12:16 ↗ team. Uh some of our new planners are

12:19 ↗ here who will be touching the various

12:21 ↗ forms of work plans. So,

12:28 ↗ >> good evening, Kristen Leon. And as you

12:30 ↗ uh probably know um we've been downsized

12:33 ↗ a little bit, not um so we are we're

12:36 ↗ sort of in a rebuilding year. So, I

12:38 ↗ wanted to introduce um who we have here

12:41 ↗ tonight. Uh we have two brand new

12:43 ↗ planners to us. Um we have Yi Chen who

12:46 ↗ comes to us most recently from Kent. You

12:48 ↗ want to stand up? And um from Kent and

12:50 ↗ Lynwood and has lots of um uh work with

12:55 ↗ other cities. And then we have Andrew

12:57 ↗ Love, another associate planner who most

13:00 ↗ recently comes to us from AHBL

13:01 ↗ consulting. And then as you know, we you

13:04 ↗ know Emily Medina, I believe, I'm not

13:06 ↗ sure, but Emily has just recently been

13:08 ↗ promoted from associate planner to

13:10 ↗ senior planner.

13:12 ↗ And then uh last but definitely not

13:14 ↗ least, we have Thomas Valdres who is our

13:17 ↗ senior transportation planner. I know

13:19 ↗ you're familiar with him. We are also in

13:21 ↗ the process of hiring an assistant

13:23 ↗ planner and then another principal

13:27 ↗ planner to fill my role. So those

13:30 ↗ resumeumés are in the applications are

13:32 ↗ closed and we will start those soon and

13:33 ↗ then we'll be back up to full speed.

13:35 ↗ Thank you.

13:41 ↗ Thank you Kristen. So let me quickly

13:44 ↗ share my screen.

13:59 ↗ Um so we're here tonight u to share with

14:02 ↗ you um some of the multiple lists that

14:05 ↗ we've been maintaining of uh different

14:06 ↗ long range planning work items um and

14:10 ↗ and solicit your input on prioritization

14:13 ↗ of various items with the goal of

14:20 ↗ um

14:21 ↗ So, we ch we chose a time frame of 2026

14:24 ↗ to 2028 primarily because one year is

14:27 ↗ left for this budget cycle and then

14:29 ↗ there'll be a two-year additional budget

14:31 ↗ cycle. Uh but

14:37 ↗ uh larger projects may straddle um uh

14:41 ↗ years here and there. Um so before we

14:44 ↗ get into what's on in the hopper

14:47 ↗ currently uh we wanted to kind of remind

14:49 ↗ of where we are in you know what we've

14:51 ↗ accomplished in the last few five years

14:54 ↗ uh four years uh since I've been here.

14:56 ↗ Um, so we we were kneedeep in title 18

15:00 ↗ land use code overhaul as you all read

15:03 ↗ every week. All our our boards and

15:05 ↗ commissions read all those detailed uh

15:08 ↗ memos and and uh that work was completed

15:11 ↗ in 2023 um based on 13 goals and

15:15 ↗ outcomes that council had uh identified

15:18 ↗ at the time. During those conversations,

15:21 ↗ uh we um started hearing about things

15:24 ↗ that were not within the scope of those

15:26 ↗ uh goals and outcomes, but were good

15:28 ↗ ideas that we didn't want to lose. And

15:31 ↗ so through council's advice at the time,

15:33 ↗ uh we started what was initially called

15:35 ↗ a whiteboard list. Uh but then we've

15:37 ↗ termed it as a future updates list. So

15:40 ↗ that was maintained throughout those

15:41 ↗ couple of years uh of the title 18

15:43 ↗ update. The other thing we we committed

15:46 ↗ to during that update was to do an

15:49 ↗ annual code update that we won't repeat

15:51 ↗ the mistake of the past of letting go of

15:53 ↗ things that need to get cleaned up. So

15:56 ↗ the idea here was that they would be you

15:58 ↗ know small housekeeping type of uh

16:00 ↗ amendments. But what happened in the

16:02 ↗ last two years was stuff came from the

16:04 ↗ state that we had to deal with also um

16:07 ↗ and in terms of code updates. So we

16:09 ↗ bundled them into housekeeping, some

16:11 ↗ policy discussions and some legislative

16:13 ↗ updates that we were required to. So

16:15 ↗ those were all done. Uh multiple touches

16:18 ↗ with different boards and commissions

16:19 ↗ and council uh ordinances were adopted

16:22 ↗ um in 2024 and 2025.

16:26 ↗ We finished that work. We didn't really

16:28 ↗ get a break and we moved into the

16:29 ↗ comprehensive plan periodic update. So

16:33 ↗ that was uh thank you to council for

16:34 ↗ funding that work. We had a consultant

16:36 ↗ working on that. Um because Esiqua had

16:40 ↗ developed in different master plan

16:42 ↗ communities and an EIS was done for

16:44 ↗ central Esiqua, we felt it was time to

16:47 ↗ kind of do a full environmental impact

16:49 ↗ statement for the entire city. So that

16:52 ↗ work was uh funded through budget asks

16:54 ↗ and uh that was also concluded. Uh a lot

16:57 ↗ of technical work um but it sets us up

17:00 ↗ for uh better foundation for the future

17:02 ↗ comprehensive planning work. Um the

17:05 ↗ other projects um you know this is not a

17:08 ↗ comprehensive list but I we picked a few

17:10 ↗ that we wanted to highlight. We got a

17:12 ↗ $100,000 grant from Department of

17:14 ↗ Commerce uh to because council had

17:16 ↗ adopted the housing strategies action

17:18 ↗ plan through a lot of community

17:21 ↗ conversations in 2018 171 18 and um so

17:27 ↗ this was to implement what we had in our

17:29 ↗ comp plan uh in our uh action plan and

17:33 ↗ we identified three strategies out of

17:35 ↗ the total nine uh that we took a deeper

17:37 ↗ dive uh and so this was this work was

17:39 ↗ funded by the grant and econ Northwest

17:42 ↗ produced a report. We summarized some of

17:44 ↗ the key takeaways for us and those are

17:46 ↗ included in your packet. Um middle

17:49 ↗ housing code update. So for community

17:51 ↗ members that may be listening, these

17:52 ↗ are, you know, allowing duplexes and

17:54 ↗ edus on all lots that have single family

17:58 ↗ zones, but we also had to tackle cottage

18:01 ↗ housing and co-living and things of that

18:03 ↗ nature. So robust community

18:05 ↗ participation. Uh council adopted those

18:08 ↗ code amendments earlier this year. Um

18:11 ↗ some of the other um items that came on

18:14 ↗ the housing realm from the state uh co-l

18:16 ↗ livingiving housing. So this is your uh

18:19 ↗ you know where you share a kitchen but

18:21 ↗ you have your separate units. Uh there

18:23 ↗ were some code flexibility required. So

18:25 ↗ we have we brought that code for council

18:28 ↗ adoption. Uh reuse of commercial

18:30 ↗ buildings to how to from a land use lens

18:33 ↗ uh to allow ease of uh conversion of

18:36 ↗ these existing commercial buildings. Um

18:38 ↗ was a state bill. uh those are those are

18:41 ↗ incorporated into our code. Now uh

18:43 ↗ impact fees to be based on residential

18:45 ↗ units. We had we recently did that work

18:48 ↗ and brought that uh for council

18:50 ↗ adoption. Uh the idea that from a policy

18:53 ↗ objective fewer fees for smaller units

18:57 ↗ in terms of incentivizing that um uh the

19:01 ↗ building community would build smaller

19:02 ↗ units and hence more affordable units is

19:05 ↗ sort sort of the process. The other

19:08 ↗ really unique thing to Esiqua that I

19:10 ↗ think some of that credit goes to Wall-E

19:13 ↗ for callulling code you know cross

19:15 ↗ departmental team to to do this work

19:18 ↗ which was housing continuum work was

19:21 ↗ sort of what was called what we gave it

19:23 ↗ a title there's a cool graphic so it's

19:26 ↗ human services community planning and

19:28 ↗ development and economic uh development

19:31 ↗ came together and and talked about

19:33 ↗ housing from a holistic approach um for

19:36 ↗ different segments of

19:37 ↗ uh the Isiqua community the needs and

19:40 ↗ how to make it happen on the ground. Um

19:42 ↗ so through that uh initiative um was

19:46 ↗ formed this housing um investment pool

19:49 ↗ um um program. So the city had already

19:52 ↗ adopted onetenth of um 1% sales tax uh

19:57 ↗ house bill 1590 that allowed cities to

19:59 ↗ do it. Um otherwise if they didn't then

20:01 ↗ King County could do that. was one of

20:03 ↗ the few cities that in initiative

20:07 ↗ and so we have a funding source uh to

20:10 ↗ help housing uh within our city limits.

20:12 ↗ Um also some of the other things that

20:15 ↗ had come up from u the previous work

20:18 ↗ from Eco Northwest was looking at

20:20 ↗ Pioneer program and and seeing um using

20:23 ↗ that as a basis to to remove some of the

20:26 ↗ barriers for first in the market sort of

20:28 ↗ a conversation. um you know we've drum

20:32 ↗ rolled the housing dashboard uh so

20:34 ↗ that's all done and that sort of gives

20:36 ↗ the higher picture of tracking where the

20:39 ↗ housing is going and what's happening in

20:41 ↗ that um fashion as we all have heard

20:44 ↗ we're data driven

20:47 ↗ you know uh um decision- making here um

20:51 ↗ so moving on from all of all of the work

20:54 ↗ that has been done what's in our hopper

20:57 ↗ currently so again this is not a

20:59 ↗ comprehensive list, but we wanted to

21:02 ↗ tease out a few of the larger things

21:04 ↗ that we know we either have to do it or

21:06 ↗ they're high priority for council, but

21:08 ↗ we're soliciting input uh from this. So,

21:11 ↗ comprehensive plan update, you know, we

21:13 ↗ get requests for plan updates. Uh we

21:16 ↗ maintain a docket, we add to it, we have

21:19 ↗ the conversation uh what which ones to

21:21 ↗ do. uh sometimes uh these um are coming

21:25 ↗ away from legislative bills uh that we

21:28 ↗ need to change some of our policies

21:29 ↗ related to one item or the other. So

21:32 ↗ that's number one. Um, we had

21:35 ↗ conversations with council around

21:37 ↗ wildland urban interface code update and

21:40 ↗ at the time department of natural

21:42 ↗ resources at the state was producing

21:44 ↗ these wildfire risk assessment maps and

21:48 ↗ that work needs to then inform how we

21:50 ↗ want to regulate u other standards. But

21:54 ↗ council picked one of the items which

21:56 ↗ was you know long turnaround. If you're

21:57 ↗ over 300 feet you need to have a

21:59 ↗ turnaround. So that was adopted as part

22:02 ↗ of the building code. Um so now we're

22:05 ↗ waiting for these co the new maps to get

22:08 ↗ come out which we understand are going

22:10 ↗ to happen next summer uh that will then

22:12 ↗ inform um how best to um to come up with

22:17 ↗ regulations uh whether it's structure

22:19 ↗ hardening because there's there's stuff

22:21 ↗ that's in the building code uh that

22:24 ↗ relates to what type of roofs you can

22:25 ↗ have you know how to have your openings

22:27 ↗ and protect your structure to vegetation

22:30 ↗ management and they call it a defensible

22:32 ↗ space That's could be a significant

22:34 ↗ amount of work. Um impact fee study. So

22:38 ↗ we heard from the development community

22:40 ↗ while we were soliciting input on title

22:42 ↗ 18. Uh as well as the work that was done

22:45 ↗ um that establishes our feases was done

22:48 ↗ in 2020 which is quite recent than some

22:51 ↗ of the other cities. Uh but a

22:53 ↗ comprehensive look at that after the

22:55 ↗ concurrency update on the transportation

22:57 ↗ is done the new models are updated we

23:00 ↗ should look at that's our

23:01 ↗ recommendation. Um but it could be um

23:05 ↗ you know a budget ask if if council

23:07 ↗ decides to um invest into that. Um

23:11 ↗ Belleview College development agreement

23:13 ↗ uh you know as it was mentioned that's

23:15 ↗ coming up for some discussion um because

23:18 ↗ a portion of that expires at the end of

23:20 ↗ this year. Uh so depending on council's

23:23 ↗ direction uh there may be work involved

23:25 ↗ with that shoreline master plan periodic

23:28 ↗ update. So we have the lake and we have

23:30 ↗ two streams um Isiqua Creek and the and

23:34 ↗ the north fork of Isqua Creek that are

23:36 ↗ shorelines of the state. Uh and there's

23:39 ↗ a state law that we have to update these

23:41 ↗ regulations every 10 years. The last

23:43 ↗ periodic update we did was 2019. Um so

23:47 ↗ we have to do you know get our stuff

23:49 ↗ done by 2029 but that a lot of that work

23:53 ↗ in public outreach starts a couple of

23:55 ↗ years prior to the actual uh update that

23:58 ↗ we have to adopt. So that's in our

24:00 ↗ hopper. Um number six and seven are

24:04 ↗ >> director before you go on can you go

24:06 ↗ back to the other slide um the shoreline

24:11 ↗ master plan

24:13 ↗ I I believe we updated that in 2025 if

24:17 ↗ I'm looking at the document correctly.

24:19 ↗ >> Yeah but except for the periodic update.

24:22 ↗ Um so the department of ecology doesn't

24:24 ↗ consider you know that was we did the

24:26 ↗ periodic update in 2019 and then we said

24:29 ↗ we we need to go further on outdoor

24:31 ↗ lighting dock lighting and then the

24:34 ↗ critical area code update that we were

24:36 ↗ doing those got embedded in in the

24:38 ↗ shoreline master program because they're

24:40 ↗ not separate. So ecology wants those you

24:43 ↗ know embedded in as a package but they

24:46 ↗ have a ecology has a whole protocol of

24:49 ↗ like what the periodic update includes

24:51 ↗ >> looking at best available science for

24:53 ↗ this that and the other and so that work

24:55 ↗ was done in 2019. So they don't consider

24:57 ↗ the the the update the last update to

25:00 ↗ meet that periodic update requirement.

25:03 ↗ >> Okay. Thank you. And there's a lot of

25:05 ↗ debate in the community because Fish and

25:07 ↗ Wildlife has come up with a guidance

25:08 ↗ about stream buffers which is much more

25:12 ↗ larger.

25:12 ↗ >> I'm sorry. We Can we turn the volume up?

25:15 ↗ >> We can see if we can turn the volume up

25:18 ↗ or if you can speak more closely into

25:20 ↗ the microphone.

25:21 ↗ >> I will try.

25:22 ↗ >> Thanks.

25:24 ↗ >> Okay. I apologize for that. Um, yeah, we

25:27 ↗ were having an echo problem before and I

25:29 ↗ was trying to stay away from the mic a

25:32 ↗ little bit, but I'll I'll talk into it.

25:34 ↗ Um, so moving on. So number six and

25:38 ↗ seven are housing strategy um or housing

25:41 ↗ action work plan um that the city

25:44 ↗ finished in 2018.

25:46 ↗ Um and then the Eco Northwest was the

25:49 ↗ the report that was done. So we probably

25:52 ↗ need to have some conversation with

25:54 ↗ council about updating the strategy work

25:57 ↗ plan. Um and also anything else from

26:00 ↗ those two documents that we need to

26:02 ↗ prioritize uh in the coming years. Um

26:05 ↗ number eight is um you know as you know

26:08 ↗ the city we'll get into the

26:10 ↗ transportation slide and Thomas can u

26:12 ↗ talk more eloquently about

26:13 ↗ transportation related items there. Um

26:16 ↗ but this is an item that once we once

26:18 ↗ the city selects its preferred uh

26:21 ↗ station location then we need to start

26:24 ↗ thinking about transitori um oriented

26:26 ↗ zone or overlay around it. Uh what does

26:29 ↗ that look like? What what are some

26:31 ↗ policies and some regulations um that we

26:34 ↗ want to have have uh adopted.

26:37 ↗ Number nine is neighborhood plans. So,

26:40 ↗ as part of the comprehensive plan

26:41 ↗ update, um there was discussion about

26:44 ↗ neighborhood plans uh and talking to

26:47 ↗ communities in in members in each of

26:49 ↗ these neighborhoods and and coming and

26:51 ↗ the template for the neighborhood plans

26:53 ↗ was finalized during those conversations

26:56 ↗ with planning policy commission and

26:57 ↗ council as part of that comp plan

26:59 ↗ update. But now we need to start doing

27:02 ↗ them um for each of the neighborhoods.

27:04 ↗ So it won't all happen at the same time

27:06 ↗ but coming up with a game plan of uh how

27:09 ↗ the which ones to tackle first and how

27:11 ↗ and and all of that. Uh the other

27:14 ↗ housing related work um that uh you know

27:16 ↗ as I mentioned the dashboard um PJ

27:20 ↗ regional council has lot of reporting

27:23 ↗ things that come our way office of

27:25 ↗ financial management has reporting doc

27:29 ↗ information that we have to produce

27:30 ↗ based on buildable lands analysis and

27:32 ↗ all of that kind of stuff. So it's

27:34 ↗ tedious work. It takes time but it's

27:36 ↗ required for us to kind of do all of

27:38 ↗ those. Um Pioneer program you know we

27:41 ↗ want to kind of revisiting that. Is it

27:43 ↗ working? Is it not working? What do we

27:45 ↗ want? How do we want to tweak it? Um

27:48 ↗ and then um some so we've got the title

27:53 ↗ 18 updates. We've got the future updates

27:56 ↗ list.

27:57 ↗ We have our legislative updates. That's

28:00 ↗ an attachment of all the bills that were

28:02 ↗ passed in the last uh session. Um and we

28:05 ↗ teased out a few things here um to

28:07 ↗ highlight for you all. When we did the

28:10 ↗ title 18 update, we had this uh job

28:13 ↗ preservation requirement on a parcel by

28:15 ↗ parcel basis. So if you took out

28:17 ↗ commercial, you had to preserve that

28:19 ↗ many number of jobs for that parcel. It

28:22 ↗ was impractical for us to implement. uh

28:24 ↗ it had unintended consequences of

28:27 ↗ getting more traffic trips because it

28:29 ↗ was based on number of transportation

28:31 ↗ trips. So we don't necessarily want to

28:34 ↗ have all our you know people clogging

28:36 ↗ our streets because transportation is an

28:38 ↗ issue here. Um but we do want to figure

28:40 ↗ out mixed use. Currently, it's only

28:42 ↗ allowed in one mall street. Um, with the

28:45 ↗ tod work, uh, that will h transit

28:48 ↗ oriented development overlay work with

28:50 ↗ the light rail station. Potentially,

28:52 ↗ this could happen with that work. Uh,

28:55 ↗ but we do need to have some conversation

28:57 ↗ about how to create it a complete

29:00 ↗ community and as we look at

29:02 ↗ transitioning from um single-use to a

29:06 ↗ mixeduse district. Um, we also heard

29:10 ↗ from council to keep an eye out for

29:11 ↗ middle housing implementation. How is it

29:13 ↗ going? Um, do we want to continue the

29:16 ↗ impact fee exemptions? What should we do

29:18 ↗ about frontage improvements? Um, so

29:21 ↗ we'll keep tracking that and and uh, you

29:23 ↗ know, stack it up for your conversation.

29:26 ↗ State legislative updates uh, that may

29:28 ↗ come our way that are already uh, you

29:31 ↗ know, included. So we want to make sure

29:33 ↗ we stay ahead of them and not surprised

29:35 ↗ if we've missed something in state law

29:37 ↗ that we should be aligned with. Uh we

29:40 ↗ also heard stepback requirements were

29:42 ↗ more ownorous. Uh these conversations

29:44 ↗ happened with the to project and also

29:47 ↗ with a private developer who was looking

29:49 ↗ at developing but um in central Isiqua.

29:52 ↗ So we put that on this list. Um and then

29:57 ↗ um this is a new one. Um but you know,

30:00 ↗ council did um reszone um a church

30:03 ↗ property. Um so we've been engaged with

30:06 ↗ them sending them to Arch uh for some

30:09 ↗ options and things that they can uh look

30:12 ↗ at doing on their property. But they,

30:14 ↗ you know, this is a this is a Bellev's

30:16 ↗ done some work in this area and there

30:19 ↗ are lot of land um under religious

30:23 ↗ institutions that potentially could be a

30:26 ↗ good partnership to get some housing at

30:28 ↗ a at a different scale than perhaps you

30:30 ↗ would get in a central Isiqua. So we

30:32 ↗ want to explore that um see if that uh

30:35 ↗ is something that council's interested

30:37 ↗ in in adding to the work plan. And then

30:39 ↗ of course our cleanup updates. Um

30:43 ↗ that sort of is more housing kind of uh

30:46 ↗ other long range planning updates. Uh

30:48 ↗ I'll invite uh Thomas Valdres, senior

30:51 ↗ transportation planner to talk about

30:53 ↗ this slide because he can talk better

30:55 ↗ than I can.

30:56 ↗ >> Great. And again I'm Thomas Vald, senior

30:58 ↗ transportation planner. Thanks for

31:00 ↗ having me tonight. So I do have six

31:02 ↗ items related to transportation. Uh the

31:05 ↗ first one is finishing the central Isqua

31:07 ↗ station and alignment study. So council

31:10 ↗ did uh provide 100k this year. Uh that

31:14 ↗ project has kicked off. Um we do need to

31:16 ↗ finish it and hoping to finish it by the

31:18 ↗ end of 2026 with another um 100k. Um so

31:22 ↗ this project ultimately will uh lead to

31:26 ↗ us developing a locally preferred

31:27 ↗ alternative uh for the station and track

31:30 ↗ alignment. providing those

31:32 ↗ recommendations to Sound Transit will be

31:34 ↗ in 2027.

31:37 ↗ Many mentioned previously that we are

31:39 ↗ looking to uh you know look at a transit

31:42 ↗ overlay zone. So this project will also

31:44 ↗ um sort of tease out some of those ideas

31:47 ↗ um for a transit overlay zone things

31:48 ↗ that we should be thinking about but

31:50 ↗ then implementation wouldn't happen um

31:51 ↗ after.

31:53 ↗ So again, Sound Transit as early as 2027

31:57 ↗ uh will be looking at their planning

31:58 ↗ phase. So assuming a 2041 delivery goal,

32:03 ↗ we've then worked backwards and we're

32:05 ↗ hoping to have the study given to Sound

32:08 ↗ Transit as early as 2027.

32:11 ↗ Uh for East Link Connections, um I guess

32:14 ↗ I'll say uh this is underway. So we are

32:17 ↗ uh kind of looking at phase two now. Um

32:19 ↗ phase one finished up August 30th. So we

32:23 ↗ have we now have a a new bus line which

32:26 ↗ is very exciting. Um, so it's the 203.

32:29 ↗ It runs from uh South Belleview station

32:32 ↗ down Newport. Um, connects to the

32:34 ↗ transit center and then it'll connect uh

32:37 ↗ Costco employees uh and folks, you know,

32:39 ↗ trying to go uh pick up their Costco run

32:42 ↗ um ultimately terminating at uh the at

32:45 ↗ the Highlands. So, uh this is underway.

32:48 ↗ Um

32:49 ↗ CPD staff, public works staff, we worked

32:52 ↗ directly with uh with Metro. Um we're

32:55 ↗ also working with uh Sound Transit. Um

32:58 ↗ there's they have a couple buses here.

32:59 ↗ So looking to um incrementally improve

33:02 ↗ our bus system and so this is uh we're

33:05 ↗ kind of entering phase two on this. Uh

33:08 ↗ for the tip, uh CPD supports public

33:12 ↗ works who's kind of the the lead on

33:14 ↗ this. Um we we do this obviously every

33:16 ↗ year. um for the six-year tip. Um we

33:19 ↗ help with project development and sort

33:22 ↗ of thinking about uh ways to improve our

33:24 ↗ transportation network. So this is just

33:27 ↗ sort of aligned with our our mobility

33:29 ↗ action plan and our transportation

33:31 ↗ elements. So just trying to make sure

33:33 ↗ that our highle goals are then fed into

33:36 ↗ um project level sort of uh priorities.

33:39 ↗ The active transportation study um so

33:42 ↗ this would be a new ask. Um this uh you

33:45 ↗ know is basically meant because we have

33:47 ↗ not had a major update in our active

33:50 ↗ transportation uh planning um since

33:52 ↗ 2014. Uh so it is long overdue. Um this

33:56 ↗ would uh this project would evaluate our

33:59 ↗ existing and future bike and pedestrian

34:01 ↗ network. Um identifying projects,

34:04 ↗ policies, programs and importantly um

34:07 ↗ updating our uh engineering design

34:09 ↗ standards which have not been updated

34:10 ↗ significantly since 2010. So um this uh

34:14 ↗ kind of study would accomplish many

34:17 ↗ goals um but sort of over uh

34:20 ↗ encapsulating lots of the the priorities

34:21 ↗ that we need to um address. Uh lastly

34:25 ↗ I'll just say um we are interested in uh

34:29 ↗ developing an annual traffic collision

34:30 ↗ monitoring report. Um this is something

34:33 ↗ that we kind of do informally but it

34:34 ↗ would be good to publish um and just

34:37 ↗ sort of show how we're doing in terms of

34:39 ↗ collisions. Um so washdoc collects data.

34:43 ↗ Um we can then sort of uh take that data

34:46 ↗ and see how that aligns with our safety

34:48 ↗ priorities and provide just an ongoing

34:52 ↗ uh pulse on how we're doing over the

34:53 ↗ years.

34:55 ↗ Thank you.

35:01 ↗ >> Thank you Thomas. Um

35:04 ↗ so those were sort of the long range

35:06 ↗ planning pieces. So we just wanted to

35:08 ↗ quickly remind the other things this

35:10 ↗ team um this is part of the other um

35:13 ↗ community planning and development team

35:16 ↗ is working on permit process

35:17 ↗ improvements. So that was a priority uh

35:19 ↗ for this year. We have an update coming

35:21 ↗ to you on September 15th where we'll get

35:23 ↗ into the details of that. Uh we also

35:26 ↗ have some large um projects in the

35:28 ↗ hopper. So the school district project

35:30 ↗ uh is a major modification going to

35:32 ↗ development commission. um you know that

35:34 ↗ generally garners a lot of community um

35:37 ↗ comments and feedback and tracking and

35:40 ↗ reporting and all of that that goes with

35:41 ↗ it. Um we also have the trail head to

35:44 ↗ project. So that's the large uh

35:47 ↗ development uh that will involve not

35:49 ↗ only land use but building construction

35:51 ↗ and all that. Uh high street um we this

35:55 ↗ is the shelter development agreement

35:57 ↗ that council had adopted. So, we have a

35:59 ↗ I've sent you construction updates on a

36:01 ↗ quarterly basis, but in that uh you

36:04 ↗ know, they they're building 72 town

36:06 ↗ homes 220

36:08 ↗ um assisted living facility, and uh we

36:11 ↗ are currently have a land use

36:12 ↗ application for another 200 uh

36:14 ↗ apartments, which leaves still room for

36:17 ↗ other projects that will come between

36:18 ↗ those two bookends. Uh on 9th um we have

36:23 ↗ Parkplace uh which development

36:25 ↗ commission just approved uh to demolish

36:27 ↗ an existing office building and build 72

36:29 ↗ town homes. Uh we have another informal

36:32 ↗ inquiries about uh another uh reuse of a

36:36 ↗ commercial building going on. Um um and

36:39 ↗ then um some other projects like that.

36:42 ↗ So this is not a comprehensive list uh

36:44 ↗ but just wanted to tease out some larger

36:46 ↗ scale projects that that we are

36:48 ↗ currently looking at.

36:50 ↗ So that's sort of a overall uh picture

36:53 ↗ of what we think is in our hopper. Um

36:57 ↗ and uh what I think we also wanted to

37:00 ↗ put this slide up uh just so that as

37:02 ↗ council you know has this discussion and

37:05 ↗ the timing of this work and you see how

37:07 ↗ this fits in with the overall city

37:09 ↗ initiatives um and if you pick one as a

37:13 ↗ priority what implications it might have

37:15 ↗ for some infrastructure investments for

37:18 ↗ instance or other upgrades that might be

37:20 ↗ needed. So there they're sort of

37:21 ↗ interconnected with other pieces that

37:23 ↗ that councils uh may care about more uh

37:27 ↗ or may need to do in order for this to

37:29 ↗ work. Um so we we didn't get into that.

37:32 ↗ Uh but as as you think about

37:33 ↗ prioritization, you may want to keep

37:35 ↗ that in mind. Um so in terms of next

37:38 ↗ steps, uh we are looking for council

37:41 ↗ feedback. Um and we can return to

37:43 ↗ council with a 2026 funding request uh

37:46 ↗ resulting from prioritization if you

37:48 ↗ want us to cap do other things you know

37:51 ↗ prioritize that uh in the next year uh

37:53 ↗ that we didn't anticipate during the the

37:55 ↗ budget cycle.

37:57 ↗ So I think that concludes our

38:01 ↗ presentation. So again we're looking for

38:02 ↗ council input.

38:07 ↗ Okay I will start with questions.

38:09 ↗ Obviously, this is a big old meaty

38:12 ↗ topic. Um, and brought together a lot of

38:14 ↗ stuff that we've been talking about for

38:15 ↗ several years. Um, so any questions

38:20 ↗ starting out? Council member Ray.

38:23 ↗ >> All right. Um, love the stuff around um,

38:26 ↗ transportation of course, but um, so a

38:29 ↗ collision report, if we were to build

38:31 ↗ that, what kind of collisions would that

38:34 ↗ Thomas uh, would that would that

38:36 ↗ include? I'm uh I'm I'm I'm I'm kind of

38:40 ↗ riffing on the active transportation

38:42 ↗ part of this too. And does it include

38:45 ↗ pedestrian? Does it include bike? Does

38:46 ↗ it include car and bus? And just what

38:50 ↗ what's include?

38:52 ↗ >> Yeah. Um so collision report uh has not

38:55 ↗ uh you know it's kind of intangible at

38:58 ↗ this point. We're sort of thinking about

38:59 ↗ what could be in it. Um the thing we're

39:02 ↗ mainly concerned based off of the you

39:04 ↗ know council's priorities in the

39:05 ↗ mobility action plan are uh fatalities

39:08 ↗ and serious injuries. Um so there's also

39:12 ↗ like more minor injuries. Um I think

39:14 ↗ wash has like many classifications.

39:16 ↗ Those are the two main things. Um so we

39:18 ↗ really want to track to make sure that

39:19 ↗ we're meeting our safety goals.

39:22 ↗ um when washd has their data, it also

39:26 ↗ includes factors that uh contributed to

39:29 ↗ the the collision. So maybe it's um you

39:32 ↗ know the vehicle ran off the road or

39:34 ↗ maybe um it was there was an object that

39:37 ↗ somebody um hit. So these are all

39:39 ↗ contributing factors. We'd want to sort

39:41 ↗ of know if there's trends so that we can

39:43 ↗ proactively address many concerns.

39:46 ↗ >> Great. I I just think it sounds uh

39:48 ↗ really very valuable and interesting,

39:50 ↗ but that's for later in the discussion.

39:53 ↗ Um and then second question for you. Um

39:56 ↗ so what's the impact of Sound Transit's

39:58 ↗ current financial wos um on our timeline

40:01 ↗ because last I heard we were uh maybe

40:04 ↗ slipping a bit.

40:06 ↗ >> Yeah. And very very timely. This is kind

40:08 ↗ of I would say a week and a half ago

40:09 ↗ that was hot off the press. Um so just

40:12 ↗ for everybody's knowledge uh Sound

40:14 ↗ Transit board met uh a week and a half

40:17 ↗ ago and it was announced that um they're

40:20 ↗ basically 20 to 25%

40:23 ↗ uh behind budget where they where they

40:25 ↗ said they were going to be. Um the

40:27 ↗ contributing factors to that is

40:29 ↗ basically uh their their assumptions on

40:32 ↗ um you know their finances. uh they use

40:34 ↗ some kind of crude budgeting uh

40:38 ↗ principles and they're they're now using

40:40 ↗ more uh recent data based off of their

40:43 ↗ uh West Seattle Ballard uh project. So

40:45 ↗ um all that to say uh in September, like

40:50 ↗ midepptember, they're meeting again.

40:51 ↗ We're going to have a better picture on

40:53 ↗ a project by project basis of like what

40:56 ↗ each of their several projects in ST3

41:00 ↗ uh will cost um in today's dollars. Um

41:03 ↗ and then they're going to go through a

41:04 ↗ lengthy conversation through the end of

41:06 ↗ the year to sort of talk about what

41:09 ↗ needs to happen. They have four levers

41:10 ↗ that they've mentioned um that they can

41:12 ↗ use. Uh one of those would be pushing

41:15 ↗ the project back. Um so that's that's

41:17 ↗ the one you're referring to. Um we don't

41:19 ↗ know yet and uh we're going to kind of

41:21 ↗ keep tabs on that, but it's a really

41:23 ↗ great point. Yeah.

41:24 ↗ >> Great. Thank you very much,

41:27 ↗ >> Council Member Hall.

41:28 ↗ >> Um thank you. And Thomas, one of my

41:30 ↗ questions is for you, so you might as

41:32 ↗ well stay up. So, um, the active

41:34 ↗ transportation plan I or um study, I

41:36 ↗ remember we talked about this a little

41:37 ↗ bit during budget, but can you walk us

41:39 ↗ through the difference between um the

41:42 ↗ outcomes of that document and whatever

41:44 ↗ we might have in the mobility action

41:46 ↗ plan that kind of describes the current

41:48 ↗ state of active transportation?

41:51 ↗ >> Yeah, they're they're very similar, I

41:52 ↗ would say. Um, one of the key

41:55 ↗ deliverables that would be great to get

41:57 ↗ is new projects. So our our our

42:00 ↗ transportation improvement program

42:01 ↗ project list uh comes like all all the

42:04 ↗ active transportation related biking,

42:06 ↗ walking like sidewalk kind of stuff that

42:09 ↗ all comes from 2014. So we haven't

42:11 ↗ really updated any of our projects since

42:13 ↗ then. So we're we are chipping away at a

42:15 ↗ lot of those projects. Um but we just

42:17 ↗ haven't developed any new projects since

42:19 ↗ then.

42:22 ↗ >> Okay. Thank you very much. Um, okay.

42:24 ↗ Director Dollywal help us develop new

42:27 ↗ projects. Um, so two questions for

42:29 ↗ MFTTE. Is that okay? Can I ask one? Um,

42:32 ↗ MFTTE. Can you refresh my my brain? So,

42:36 ↗ this council um created MFTTE um pathway

42:41 ↗ for High Point or whatever it's called

42:44 ↗ up in the Highlands for the Pioneer

42:45 ↗ Project. we had tabled kind of a broader

42:48 ↗ discussion of like a central ISOqua wide

42:51 ↗ MFT until being able to say does this

42:54 ↗ work as a a lever that's available to us

42:57 ↗ right and letting kind of the data bear

42:59 ↗ out there first how much time do you

43:01 ↗ think we really need to be able to say

43:03 ↗ does this MFT thing work as a tool for

43:05 ↗ us here before we can have that

43:07 ↗ conversation

43:08 ↗ >> sure uh good question um so you're

43:10 ↗ you're right uh the the currently the

43:12 ↗ city's multif family tax exemption is

43:15 ↗ available for the TOD trail head project

43:19 ↗ um and High Street shelter development

43:22 ↗ agreement uh and um any two new projects

43:27 ↗ under the Pioneer program um the you

43:29 ↗ know that that could apply. So it's not

43:32 ↗ like it's not available to anyone and so

43:34 ↗ any two new projects could qualify for

43:37 ↗ that under the Pioneer program in

43:39 ↗ central Isiqua. So it's uh outside of

43:42 ↗ central Isiqua, you know, it's it's not,

43:44 ↗ but that's city's policy to to get some

43:47 ↗ of this um growth where future transit

43:50 ↗ is going to be. So um but in terms of

43:54 ↗ the timing the other thing that happened

43:56 ↗ with the legislative bill was the to

43:59 ↗ bill that got passed which uh said uh at

44:04 ↗ 80% AMI um is you know 20% of the units

44:08 ↗ within the transit um diameter of

44:11 ↗ quarter mile or whatever the you know

44:13 ↗ the around the transit center has to be

44:16 ↗ affordable at 80% AMI 20% units and the

44:21 ↗ cities have to get no impact fees and uh

44:25 ↗ give 20-year um um MFTTE. So, it's not

44:30 ↗ 12 years, it's a 20-year multif family

44:32 ↗ tax exemption. So, where the future

44:34 ↗ growth around transit is going to be,

44:36 ↗ there are already these incentives that

44:38 ↗ the city would we have, you know, some

44:41 ↗ time to do this work for to areas, but

44:44 ↗ that would be the program we would

44:46 ↗ establish in that that overlay. Um, so

44:50 ↗ that's that's available. Uh, some of it

44:53 ↗ is available and some of it when we

44:54 ↗ align our codes with the to overlay will

44:57 ↗ will come into play. But beyond that,

44:59 ↗ it's council's um, you know, priority.

45:02 ↗ If you want us to look at the, you know,

45:05 ↗ multif family citywide, then we would

45:08 ↗ add it to the work plan. One of the

45:10 ↗ things I think the um, the Eco Northwest

45:13 ↗ report was saying that these are stacked

45:15 ↗ on top of the others. So, you know,

45:17 ↗ parking is With the new bills, the

45:20 ↗ parking numbers are going down anyways.

45:23 ↗ So that's not an incentive the city can

45:25 ↗ offer that you do less parking and

45:27 ↗ therefore you get that. So that

45:28 ↗ incentive is no longer available. But

45:30 ↗ but there's an option or flexibility

45:32 ↗ built into the regulations that you you

45:35 ↗ know and then and then we've already

45:37 ↗ taken out the structured parking

45:38 ↗ requirement. So then it leaves what else

45:41 ↗ do you trade for multif family tax

45:44 ↗ exemption in terms of an incentive or is

45:46 ↗ it just an entitlement that council can

45:48 ↗ do? So it's it's an in-depth policy

45:50 ↗ discussion to expand it citywide and

45:53 ↗ then the other part of it is the

45:55 ↗ economics. You know how much does the

45:57 ↗ city not get in additional tax revenue

45:59 ↗ shortterm long-term? How does that all

46:01 ↗ work out?

46:04 ↗ >> All right. I'm sure we'll talk about it.

46:06 ↗ And then just more broadly, can you help

46:08 ↗ me? I mentioned this to you right before

46:10 ↗ the meeting too, but um the what's

46:13 ↗ required of us and what's come through

46:15 ↗ the state is overwhelming. There's a lot

46:16 ↗ there and we have limited staff capacity

46:19 ↗ just like cities everywhere. Um

46:23 ↗ and building back up. Um,

46:26 ↗ can you help me in the council

46:28 ↗ understand given that and given what's

46:31 ↗ required of us, how much room do we

46:32 ↗ really have to play in in terms of

46:36 ↗ trading off some policy conversations

46:39 ↗ that we'd like to have in the upcoming

46:41 ↗ bienium. Um, like

46:43 ↗ >> yeah, the reason

46:44 ↗ >> I know it might be kind of hard to say,

46:45 ↗ Zach, you can have two we've got all

46:47 ↗ these required things and we can have

46:49 ↗ two more conversations about things. But

46:51 ↗ that's kind of what I'm looking for in

46:52 ↗ my head is how much flexibility do we

46:54 ↗ really have?

46:55 ↗ >> Yeah. You know, we're excited about our

46:56 ↗ team. You know, they come with a very

46:59 ↗ happy, excited attitude of rolling up

47:01 ↗ their sleeves and getting into it, but

47:03 ↗ they're also humans that have lives

47:06 ↗ outside of work. And so, we don't want

47:07 ↗ to burn anyone out. And yet, we want to

47:10 ↗ give them the ability to to enjoy

47:12 ↗ planning work and and be a fulfilling

47:15 ↗ work. So, we are trying to balance that

47:17 ↗ out with um all of them. Obviously,

47:20 ↗ there's a learning curve. There's what's

47:22 ↗ in the, you know, there's also the

47:24 ↗ priority of people asking for permits.

47:26 ↗ Obviously, that will prioritize than

47:29 ↗ some of the the long range piece. The

47:31 ↗ one of the the things with merging the

47:34 ↗ two long range and current planning

47:35 ↗ teams, which I'm a firm believer, is

47:37 ↗ that you're a better planner if you

47:39 ↗ understand what it means on the ground.

47:41 ↗ Uh, and you can do your code writing and

47:43 ↗ long range planning. So, it's the two

47:44 ↗ sides of the coin. And so not ha not

47:47 ↗ having two separate teams with two

47:48 ↗ separate managers, we're building the

47:51 ↗ capacity to do both current planning and

47:53 ↗ long range, the benefit for the city is

47:55 ↗ it's an agile team. So if if

47:58 ↗ construction slows down, we can pivot

48:00 ↗ them more towards long range and if if

48:02 ↗ long range um you know, if we've

48:05 ↗ accomplished other things, we can have

48:06 ↗ them work on the current planning piece.

48:09 ↗ Um so but it, you know, it it it's a

48:12 ↗ learning curve part. uh we're excited

48:15 ↗ where they are today. We we'll build two

48:17 ↗ more planners to the team, but the

48:19 ↗ capacity isn't unlimited. So, I think as

48:21 ↗ we talk about council's priorities, then

48:25 ↗ we can better evaluate, you know, where

48:28 ↗ if if it is a one big project, maybe

48:30 ↗ it's a one-time cost for a consultant to

48:32 ↗ to help us out with that. Um if it is a

48:36 ↗ lot of other things, you know, what does

48:38 ↗ that look like? So we can we can figure

48:40 ↗ out what can be done in-house, what we

48:42 ↗ can have consultant help for and put

48:45 ↗ some dollars and cents to it. Um but I I

48:48 ↗ think we've done large projects in the

48:51 ↗ past um with thank you to council with

48:54 ↗ some consultant help. Um but we also

48:56 ↗ want to now sort of do things really

48:59 ↗ deep and well. So as you think about

49:02 ↗ prioritization, my recommendation would

49:04 ↗ be instead of doing 20, can we pick five

49:08 ↗ that we can do really well on or

49:10 ↗ something? You know, I don't know what

49:11 ↗ the num right number is at this point,

49:13 ↗ but um and and council's uh desires to

49:17 ↗ do what you need to do. And so that will

49:19 ↗ then inform us and do we need more FTE?

49:22 ↗ Do we have the capacity with existing

49:24 ↗ staff? Do we can we offload some of this

49:27 ↗ stuff for consultant help? Um, if it's a

49:31 ↗ very high priority for council getting

49:33 ↗ it done in the next year, what does that

49:35 ↗ look like?

49:38 ↗ >> Sorry, concrete

49:40 ↗ >> or excuse me,

49:42 ↗ city administrator Bob Quiz. I'm looking

49:44 ↗ at one. Yeah, thanks.

49:47 ↗ >> Uh, thank you, Council President.

49:48 ↗ Members of the council, let me put a

49:50 ↗ finer point on this. Um, the

49:52 ↗ administration has heard the council's

49:53 ↗ frustration that we are not moving as

49:55 ↗ fast as you would like on some of these

49:57 ↗ projects. We feel even with uh the

50:00 ↗ exceptional staff that uh we have uh

50:03 ↗ that we are at the limits of our

50:04 ↗ staffing capability. Your exercise

50:07 ↗ tonight is very important for us because

50:09 ↗ if you come and say thank you, we really

50:12 ↗ appreciate all the good work that you're

50:13 ↗ doing. However, here are the things we

50:15 ↗ still would like to see the city

50:17 ↗ accomplish. We need to go back to the

50:19 ↗ drawing board to see what other

50:21 ↗ resources we can allocate. And then uh

50:24 ↗ the timing of this is very important

50:25 ↗ because we are preparing for you the uh

50:28 ↗ uh for your consideration any

50:30 ↗ adjustments to the uh bannual budget

50:33 ↗ over the course of October and November.

50:35 ↗ And so if you come up tonight and say

50:37 ↗ these are really important projects and

50:38 ↗ you have said to us previously that our

50:41 ↗ work some of these initiatives are very

50:43 ↗ important to have to look at other parts

50:45 ↗ of the city government to fund this uh

50:48 ↗ either through additional staffing

50:49 ↗ either through consultant dollars. but

50:51 ↗ we will then come to you with potential

50:53 ↗ reductions and other things that we do

50:55 ↗ that perhaps are less important. Um, and

50:58 ↗ so these are always difficult

50:59 ↗ conversations to have. We certainly

51:00 ↗ don't anticipate layoffs. And I want to

51:03 ↗ be very clear that we're not uh

51:05 ↗ suggesting that, but there may be other

51:07 ↗ projects, other infrastructure, other

51:10 ↗ initiatives that the administration may

51:12 ↗ come back and say, "Okay, in order to do

51:14 ↗ what you'd like, here's what you have to

51:16 ↗ give up." And so that's we're trying to

51:18 ↗ get a ring around tonight so that when

51:20 ↗ you do have these budget discussions,

51:21 ↗ it's not general. It can be as specific

51:23 ↗ as possible.

51:26 ↗ >> Okay. I think I saw Council Member Jen

51:28 ↗ then Deputy Council President D.

51:30 ↗ Michelle.

51:31 ↗ >> Um I have a few questions. So number I

51:34 ↗ guess my first question was are we you

51:37 ↗ know is there any point at which we

51:38 ↗ would revisit the MFTTE and

51:40 ↗ affordability levels that we've put into

51:41 ↗ the Pioneer program given that we

51:43 ↗ haven't had uptake to date? It sounds

51:45 ↗ like when we do the TOD overlay, we'll

51:47 ↗ just do basically, you know, what this

51:49 ↗ what's in the state law. So, that

51:51 ↗ supersede the uh Pioneer program or kind

51:54 ↗ of how do we see those two things

51:56 ↗ fitting together?

51:58 ↗ >> Yeah, we haven't figured that out. Um,

52:00 ↗ you know, the the the Pioneer program is

52:03 ↗ for the first two projects. So if those

52:05 ↗ come into play before that and then

52:07 ↗ council can then decide to to extend it

52:10 ↗ to more if you uh choose to do but um

52:13 ↗ the to stuff um you know there's a bare

52:16 ↗ minimum that the state wants us to do

52:19 ↗ which is at 80% AMI 20% of the units but

52:23 ↗ if council desires uh deeper

52:25 ↗ affordability say at 60% or whatever you

52:28 ↗ can lower that number or percentage. So

52:31 ↗ there's there could be you can go above

52:33 ↗ and beyond what the state law requires,

52:35 ↗ but you at least have to meet the

52:36 ↗ minimum. So there'll be some policy

52:38 ↗ discussions around what does this want

52:40 ↗ around transit.

52:42 ↗ >> Yeah, that makes sense. Um I guess my

52:46 ↗ other questions are around, you know,

52:47 ↗ we've been discussing, you know, as

52:49 ↗ various things come up with different

52:51 ↗ development projects, you know, what are

52:53 ↗ some of the ways that we could change

52:54 ↗ our code to address some of the things

52:55 ↗ that we've been learning? Um, so I'm

52:57 ↗ wondering if there's anywhere that we're

52:59 ↗ keeping a running list of those because

53:00 ↗ there's a couple of them that we talked

53:03 ↗ about that weren't on this list. For

53:04 ↗ example, like providing more optionality

53:06 ↗ with the green building certifications

53:08 ↗ or um, you know, one thing we talked

53:11 ↗ about a lot and that was like one of our

53:12 ↗ top priorities from our council retreat

53:14 ↗ was the neighborhood businesses um,

53:16 ↗ which I didn't see on that list either.

53:18 ↗ So, I'm curious like is there somewhere

53:20 ↗ that's like a parking lot for all of the

53:21 ↗ ideas which even if they're not, you

53:23 ↗ know, we're not able to prioritize them

53:24 ↗ given staff time, I would like to have

53:26 ↗ like a running list that we just, you

53:29 ↗ know, add things to.

53:30 ↗ >> Sure. A couple ways we could do that.

53:32 ↗ We, you know, we have hardwired that

53:34 ↗ future updates list because we wanted to

53:36 ↗ capture that snapshot of what those

53:38 ↗ conversations were. We can start adding

53:40 ↗ to the bottom of that. those two items

53:42 ↗ that you mentioned, council member Jang,

53:44 ↗ are somewhat in that future updates list

53:46 ↗ because there's a sustainability IAP uh

53:49 ↗ goal piece um that wasn't done in, you

53:51 ↗ know, so so we did make some

53:53 ↗ sustainability options there, but we

53:54 ↗ were waiting for energy code and all

53:56 ↗ that kind of stuff. So that would be my

53:58 ↗ recommendation that we we start adding

54:00 ↗ to that future updates list. You know,

54:02 ↗ we we say here's what was decided in

54:04 ↗ 2023, but then here's some other things.

54:07 ↗ In addition, we have our annual code

54:09 ↗ update which you know we maintain

54:11 ↗ internally of of things that come up. So

54:14 ↗ that would be the other place we could

54:15 ↗ um add these to

54:18 ↗ that we can tackle that year. But if

54:19 ↗ they're long-term, they could be tackled

54:21 ↗ under the future updates list or added

54:23 ↗ to that. Yeah.

54:24 ↗ >> Thank you. Um okay, last question. Um,

54:27 ↗ so you all know I'm personally quite

54:29 ↗ skeptical of, you know, large language

54:31 ↗ models and AI, but I'm very curious if

54:33 ↗ we've considered the potential,

54:34 ↗ especially with like updating code

54:36 ↗ language where large language models are

54:38 ↗ b it's basically like the task that is

54:40 ↗ best suited to them because it's

54:41 ↗ language related. if that's something

54:43 ↗ that we could do to potentially help

54:45 ↗ increase staff capacity in terms of, you

54:47 ↗ know, we could have the large language

54:49 ↗ models do a first pass and then have the

54:51 ↗ staff, you know, more like review it.

54:53 ↗ Um, as a way to potentially, you know,

54:55 ↗ increase staff capacity given like

54:59 ↗ options we have a

55:00 ↗ >> and council member Jang, members of the

55:02 ↗ council, that's the kind of feedback

55:04 ↗ we're looking for because that's a

55:05 ↗ different kind of resource. That's an IT

55:08 ↗ resource. That is third party consultant

55:10 ↗ resource. And so if that's something

55:12 ↗ you're interested in, we need to know

55:14 ↗ because that's something we need to

55:15 ↗ budget. I mean, we, you know, certainly

55:18 ↗ there are communities that are looking

55:20 ↗ at this. Um there are several firms

55:22 ↗ around the country that are assisting uh

55:24 ↗ communities doing this. Um but again,

55:28 ↗ it's time, it's money uh that we

55:30 ↗ currently don't have budgeted. So if

55:32 ↗ it's something you'd like us to

55:33 ↗ consider, we'd like you to hear about it

55:35 ↗ tonight.

55:36 ↗ >> Yeah. And I definitely don't mean to

55:38 ↗ suggest that we should AI everything

55:39 ↗ that we're doing. I'm just saying, you

55:41 ↗ know, for the specific task of updating

55:45 ↗ language where it, you know, could be it

55:48 ↗ could be a tool that could be useful.

55:50 ↗ >> And our challenge is we have no AI staff

55:52 ↗ members. We have no staff members

55:54 ↗ currently budgeted to work on any of

55:56 ↗ these projects. Um, and so if this is

55:58 ↗ something that the council feels is

55:59 ↗ important in the second year of the

56:01 ↗ bienium, we need to hear from you so

56:03 ↗ that we can come back to you uh in

56:05 ↗ October uh with some budget proposals.

56:12 ↗ I think that's it. I mean, I I guess for

56:15 ↗ that, you know, I'd be interested to see

56:17 ↗ what the level of cost would be in terms

56:20 ↗ of staffing.

56:21 ↗ >> And that's what we're asking for this

56:23 ↗ evening. So if that's something then we

56:24 ↗ would work on you know some budget

56:27 ↗ projections of you know the technology

56:30 ↗ piece plus just the staffing piece and

56:32 ↗ we would come up and if it's something

56:33 ↗ that the council's interested then we

56:35 ↗ would say these are things that you may

56:36 ↗ consider reducing in 2026 in order to do

56:39 ↗ it.

56:40 ↗ >> Okay. Thank you.

56:43 ↗ >> Quick followup there. Council member, a

56:45 ↗ >> super quick followup to and I imagine

56:47 ↗ like municipal vendors that produce this

56:49 ↗ kind of IT software are still kind of

56:52 ↗ like in this space. I imagine this is

56:53 ↗ still emerging within municipal like

56:56 ↗ vendors.

56:57 ↗ >> There are vendors that have partnered

56:59 ↗ with cities all over America. I don't

57:01 ↗ have a count. I mean, I would bet it's

57:03 ↗ anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen

57:05 ↗ vendors that are offering things similar

57:07 ↗ to what Council Member Jen has

57:09 ↗ described. um you know we would have to

57:12 ↗ evaluate uh what those vendors are, see

57:16 ↗ what the technology is, see what the

57:17 ↗ costs associated are. Again, we're happy

57:20 ↗ to do all this. That's the reason we we

57:21 ↗ asked you to have the session tonight.

57:23 ↗ It really just comes down to making that

57:25 ↗ list, adding up the dollars, and then

57:27 ↗ coming back to you and saying, "Here are

57:29 ↗ things that you may not be able to then

57:30 ↗ do perhaps somewhere else in the city

57:33 ↗ government in order to accomplish those

57:34 ↗ goals."

57:37 ↗ >> Yeah. If I may add uh just today in

57:39 ↗ government tech magazine uh there's

57:42 ↗ Belleview's show showcased in that of

57:45 ↗ how they're using in the development

57:47 ↗ services department of um answering

57:50 ↗ public inquiries and questions but it's

57:52 ↗ like um um Wally said it's very vendor

57:55 ↗ driven you know it's a startup that's

57:58 ↗ providing that service so we can look

57:59 ↗ into what that is costing them you know

58:01 ↗ but it's also a much larger city um that

58:04 ↗ probably is resourcing it uh to take a

58:08 ↗ take the first initiative around that.

58:10 ↗ Uh but we also heard from economic

58:12 ↗ vitality commission when I went and

58:14 ↗ talked to them about permit process

58:15 ↗ improvements. That's one thing they said

58:17 ↗ well what's the city doing about you

58:19 ↗ know using AI kind of thing.

58:22 ↗ >> Thank you uh deputy council president D.

58:25 ↗ Michelle.

58:27 ↗ >> Thank you. So um I was really interested

58:29 ↗ in the housing strategy work plan update

58:32 ↗ um when I was running for council. That

58:35 ↗ was one of the documents that I just

58:36 ↗ read front to back and back again. Uh it

58:39 ↗ really wasn't a really welldone um plan

58:43 ↗ and it's hard to believe that we are at

58:46 ↗ a point and going back to it um how much

58:50 ↗ things have changed and and really it

58:52 ↗ does need to be updated. So, and then

58:55 ↗ I'm looking at um I'm also very

58:58 ↗ interested in the in the MFT that we've

59:01 ↗ already talked about, but also the

59:03 ↗ exploring expanding housing incentives

59:05 ↗ for faith-based owned organizations. And

59:08 ↗ so I'm kind of if you could walk me

59:10 ↗ through um

59:13 ↗ would it be possible to roll uh like the

59:16 ↗ MFTTE study or the uh faith-based owned

59:19 ↗ organization study into into this

59:22 ↗ overall update to the strate uh housing

59:26 ↗ strategy or is there a good reason to

59:29 ↗ keep these as standalone projects? Yeah,

59:34 ↗ you know, from a from a thoughtful way,

59:37 ↗ if you want to approach this, you would

59:38 ↗ do the the strategy work plan first and

59:42 ↗ then that will have a prioritization

59:44 ↗ within it of what what you want to do

59:47 ↗ for each strategy. Uh and in that you

59:50 ↗ could prioritize these other two which

59:51 ↗ are more implementation than perhaps the

59:55 ↗ the work plan piece. um if that would be

59:58 ↗ a better way to kind of talk about the

1:00:00 ↗ big picture and then do these two things

1:00:02 ↗ that are more implementation level.

1:00:05 ↗ >> So are we um sorry but are we looking at

1:00:10 ↗ if we were to put them all under the

1:00:12 ↗ plan update it would actually perhaps

1:00:14 ↗ delay implementation of

1:00:17 ↗ >> in other words how fast do we want to

1:00:19 ↗ get this done?

1:00:20 ↗ >> Yeah.

1:00:21 ↗ >> Yeah. But if they identified as action

1:00:23 ↗ items in the plan, then you could delay

1:00:26 ↗ the updating the plan and just focus on

1:00:29 ↗ the implementation pieces.

1:00:31 ↗ >> Yeah, those would be the tradeoffs.

1:00:33 ↗ >> Okay, thanks.

1:00:37 ↗ >> Any other questions

1:00:39 ↗ at this time? Okay, um then I think I

1:00:42 ↗ will take an opportunity for public

1:00:45 ↗ comment. We have a few people in the

1:00:47 ↗ audience. Anybody interested in making

1:00:49 ↗ public comment?

1:00:53 ↗ Seeing you lean forward. Yes. No. Yeah.

1:00:56 ↗ Fantastic. If you'll come up to the

1:00:58 ↗ microphone and then um if you press the

1:01:01 ↗ button, it turns red. That will give you

1:01:03 ↗ an opportunity. Uh they're all staff. So

1:01:12 ↗ Okay. So, hello. My name is Linda

1:01:14 ↗ Bailey. I live three blocks down in

1:01:17 ↗ Oldtown on the other side. And uh old

1:01:21 ↗ school, I was coming back from dinner at

1:01:23 ↗ sunset and I thought there's a meeting

1:01:25 ↗ tonight. I'm going to stop in there and

1:01:27 ↗ let them know what's on my mind. So,

1:01:28 ↗ it's interesting that this was a topic

1:01:31 ↗ tonight. And Wally, I agree with

1:01:33 ↗ everything that you have to say or city

1:01:35 ↗ administrator, not sure what I should

1:01:37 ↗ call you, but um I live downtown. I've

1:01:39 ↗ been downtown for years. And what's

1:01:42 ↗ changed for us besides the new daycare

1:01:44 ↗ moving in and messing with our alley

1:01:46 ↗ that we park in is the sound. We've got

1:01:50 ↗ 18 when 18 closes or the 90 construction

1:01:54 ↗ the the city changes for us. The sound

1:01:58 ↗ coming down second the sound going up

1:01:59 ↗ sunset to 90 and the other way is

1:02:03 ↗ insane. And so when I hear your nice

1:02:06 ↗ presentation about transportation and

1:02:08 ↗ planning, where is the sound control for

1:02:11 ↗ old for Oldtown? There was a thing at

1:02:14 ↗ one point about sound control and

1:02:16 ↗ calming traffic or whatever for Oldtown.

1:02:18 ↗ it. Believe me, we need that initiative

1:02:21 ↗ back. Oldtown is taking traffic. If you

1:02:24 ↗ don't like the traffic on Sunset, then

1:02:25 ↗ zip over and grab Andrews or Bush. How

1:02:28 ↗ many accidents? I can count

1:02:31 ↗ just in this year. I think there's been

1:02:33 ↗ five accidents at Bush and Second. And

1:02:37 ↗ these are a lot of times folks cutting

1:02:39 ↗ through, coming down from 90 or the

1:02:42 ↗ Highlands or wherever, cutting through,

1:02:44 ↗ come over to Bush and cut in. People get

1:02:46 ↗ confused about the crosswalks or

1:02:48 ↗ whatever, so they think they're going to

1:02:49 ↗ turn. I think it was just a few days

1:02:51 ↗ ago. It was a motorcycle and a car. We

1:02:55 ↗ the transportation around Oldtown. We're

1:02:59 ↗ taking the brunt of I90 and 18

1:03:03 ↗ traffic and what's happening there. We

1:03:05 ↗ want to be good neighbors. We want to

1:03:06 ↗ help, but we are taking the brunt of it

1:03:08 ↗ between Second and Sunset East. And I'm

1:03:11 ↗ just hoping that someone could bubble

1:03:14 ↗ this to the top. I have all the respect

1:03:16 ↗ for government process. I've heard a lot

1:03:18 ↗ of that tonight. But we really need

1:03:21 ↗ oldtown traffic calming or whatever it

1:03:24 ↗ used to be called to come back and take

1:03:26 ↗ notice of what's happening between

1:03:28 ↗ second and sunset. 18 and 90 isn't done

1:03:30 ↗ yet. And a whole lot of people knew now

1:03:33 ↗ know the trail of coming down Hobart

1:03:35 ↗ Road and up second or up sunset. It's

1:03:38 ↗ insane. Yeah, there's signs. No trucks.

1:03:41 ↗ No truck. We might as well put a please

1:03:42 ↗ no trucks on that because the trucks are

1:03:44 ↗ still coming through. There's there's no

1:03:46 ↗ penalty for trucks coming through. I

1:03:48 ↗ work I'm a home office person. I work in

1:03:51 ↗ the window of Sun East Sunset Way. Just

1:03:55 ↗ the amount of traffic and trucks that

1:03:57 ↗ come through there every day, especially

1:03:58 ↗ when 18 or 90 is construction problems.

1:04:02 ↗ We we can't be we can't turn a blind eye

1:04:05 ↗ to that, right? It's changing our

1:04:08 ↗ community. is changing the neighborhoods

1:04:10 ↗ around in this area. Our Oldtown, the

1:04:13 ↗ history of Oldtown is fantastic and

1:04:16 ↗ we're not capitalizing on that

1:04:19 ↗ interesting fact. When we look at our

1:04:21 ↗ neighboring cities like North Bend and

1:04:24 ↗ Snowqualamy and even up in the wine

1:04:27 ↗ district, we're missing an opportunity.

1:04:29 ↗ And instead of growing in interest and

1:04:32 ↗ other reasons to grab our local

1:04:34 ↗ neighbors to come through, we're getting

1:04:36 ↗ the traffic. That's it. We're going to

1:04:38 ↗ be the traffic headquarters. We're not

1:04:39 ↗ even biking headquarters anymore because

1:04:41 ↗ bikers are afraid of sunset. So,

1:04:44 ↗ just as speaking up today to please

1:04:47 ↗ bring attention back to the traffic

1:04:49 ↗ that's coming in and out of I90 and in

1:04:51 ↗ and up Iscoart. They need to go

1:04:53 ↗ somewhere. I know 20 years ago the

1:04:56 ↗ bypass was was a perfect opportunity and

1:04:59 ↗ it was a missed opportunity, but maybe

1:05:01 ↗ we could send business traffic through

1:05:03 ↗ another way rather than Sunset and

1:05:06 ↗ Second Avenue East. Thanks.

1:05:11 ↗ >> Thank you, Linda.

1:05:14 ↗ >> Okay, any other public comments?

1:05:17 ↗ Only one other public folks. Nobody

1:05:21 ↗ coming in. No. Okay, fantastic. Well, we

1:05:24 ↗ appreciate hearing from residents. Um,

1:05:28 ↗ we have an opportunity here to provide

1:05:32 ↗ feedback. Um, so in general, you know,

1:05:35 ↗ was there any direction here?

1:05:40 ↗ Was there any big question or is it just

1:05:43 ↗ what do we want to see? Okay, who wants

1:05:46 ↗ to start us out?

1:05:50 ↗ Wow.

1:05:57 ↗ Okay, Council Member Hull.

1:05:59 ↗ >> Yeah, I can just share some preliminary

1:06:01 ↗ um thoughts. Thank you again. Number

1:06:02 ↗ one, thank you staff for being here with

1:06:04 ↗ us tonight. Um thank you for allowing us

1:06:07 ↗ to have this kind of prioritization

1:06:08 ↗ conversation and thank you council for

1:06:10 ↗ agreeing to do it. Um a couple just

1:06:12 ↗ thoughts off the top of my head. There's

1:06:14 ↗ a lot I'm done.

1:06:19 ↗ My five minutes are up. um uh there's a

1:06:22 ↗ lot that's required of us almost

1:06:25 ↗ overwhelmingly um is kind of one of my

1:06:28 ↗ initial impressions from the packet. So

1:06:29 ↗ I would want to of course when we ask

1:06:33 ↗ input on prioritization

1:06:35 ↗ prioritizing prioritizing what's

1:06:37 ↗ required of us of course um I also would

1:06:40 ↗ want to since this is related to the

1:06:42 ↗ question I asked earlier personally I

1:06:44 ↗ would want to avoid any major changes to

1:06:47 ↗ budget or reallocation of resources

1:06:49 ↗ during the midby. um seems like that

1:06:53 ↗ would be a much more pertinent

1:06:54 ↗ conversation to have as we head into the

1:06:56 ↗ next bianial budget and from the outset

1:06:58 ↗ of moving to bianial budget making. We

1:07:00 ↗ were all very um we were warned um just

1:07:05 ↗ to ensure that we don't end up doing

1:07:08 ↗ supplemental budgets every midby. And so

1:07:10 ↗ that's just one concern I've always had.

1:07:12 ↗ Um though, and I think former council

1:07:15 ↗ member Hunt would appreciate this, there

1:07:17 ↗ is still a lot within the Eco Northwest

1:07:21 ↗ report that we can prioritize and that's

1:07:23 ↗ where I would like to see the focus on

1:07:25 ↗ outside of what's required of us. Um we

1:07:28 ↗ have we have done quite a bit in that

1:07:31 ↗ work already. Um but there are some

1:07:33 ↗ things related to does our inclusionary

1:07:36 ↗ zoning um um makeup really actually make

1:07:39 ↗ economic sense to developers? There's

1:07:41 ↗ the development

1:07:44 ↗ density bonus program or bonus density

1:07:46 ↗ program, one of the one of the two that

1:07:49 ↗ needs kind of a hard look at it. Um, and

1:07:52 ↗ then yeah, there was parking, although I

1:07:54 ↗ guess the state legislature has made

1:07:55 ↗ changes to that, too. So, we'll we'll

1:07:57 ↗ have to be looking at that anyway. So,

1:08:00 ↗ that is kind of where my head sits right

1:08:02 ↗ now is do what's required of us. try not

1:08:05 ↗ to make too many major changes to um

1:08:10 ↗ budget going into the midby, but

1:08:12 ↗ prioritizing what was told of us by the

1:08:15 ↗ consultants that we paid to or was it

1:08:18 ↗ two years ago? Was it 2023? The Eco

1:08:20 ↗ Northwest report. Um really trying to

1:08:22 ↗ check that whole report off with a box

1:08:24 ↗ would be where I'd like to see our

1:08:26 ↗ resources. Thanks.

1:08:28 ↗ Oh, and um if you don't mind, one other

1:08:31 ↗ thing. I completely agree with Council

1:08:32 ↗ Member Jen around kind of adding on to

1:08:35 ↗ our future updates list. Um I have kind

1:08:39 ↗ of a little list just from conversations

1:08:41 ↗ that we've had in committee that would

1:08:43 ↗ make sense to add to that. We've had

1:08:44 ↗ conversations around setbacks. Um

1:08:47 ↗ although we've created kind of this new

1:08:50 ↗ flexibility or sorry, that's for outdoor

1:08:51 ↗ amenity space. Um setbacks. Then there's

1:08:54 ↗ outdoor amenity space. um we've created

1:08:56 ↗ this new flexibility option, but then

1:08:58 ↗ there's also is that really the right

1:08:59 ↗ policy? Um the commercial space height

1:09:04 ↗ um 15 feet and 17 feet I I think

1:09:06 ↗ something we were talking about same

1:09:08 ↗ with the window facade transparency. Um

1:09:11 ↗ and then as was said kind of the menu of

1:09:14 ↗ certification options instead of just

1:09:15 ↗ lead um and then also the corner storms.

1:09:18 ↗ Oh, by the way, should I ask? You're

1:09:20 ↗ right. In the title 18 um future update

1:09:24 ↗ list, it has like neighborhood cafes in

1:09:26 ↗ that. Is that the same thing as kind of

1:09:28 ↗ this corner store conversation that we

1:09:30 ↗ want to have? Is that what you meant by

1:09:31 ↗ it's reflected in?

1:09:32 ↗ >> Yeah. And I think some of that

1:09:33 ↗ conversation happened with a comp plan

1:09:35 ↗ update. Okay.

1:09:35 ↗ >> Uh with planning and policy commission

1:09:37 ↗ and I believe council um where the idea

1:09:40 ↗ was that this should happen at a

1:09:42 ↗ neighborhood level. Um, so as we do the

1:09:45 ↗ neighborhood planning, that could be one

1:09:46 ↗ of the things that could be asked.

1:09:49 ↗ >> Um, all right. Well, anyways, that was

1:09:51 ↗ the list of things that I had seen come

1:09:53 ↗ up at PTE. If anyone else has anything

1:09:55 ↗ else that they'd like to add, make sure

1:09:56 ↗ to incorporate that into your comments.

1:09:58 ↗ Thanks,

1:10:02 ↗ >> Deputy Council President D. Michelle.

1:10:05 ↗ >> So, I think Council Member Hall said

1:10:07 ↗ that we could get choose two or three.

1:10:10 ↗ So um I think uh mine would be six and

1:10:14 ↗ seven. Uh again the housing strategy

1:10:16 ↗ work plan to me is a just a foundational

1:10:19 ↗ document and uh I think the last

1:10:22 ↗ strategy housing strategy work plan

1:10:25 ↗ informed a lot of the work that we did

1:10:28 ↗ over the past six years or so. And I

1:10:31 ↗ would expect that that update would help

1:10:33 ↗ help us give direction um especially we

1:10:37 ↗ have a new director coming in or do new

1:10:40 ↗ manager coming in for economic vitality.

1:10:42 ↗ I just think it would be a great time to

1:10:45 ↗ to do that. Um and I do think that the

1:10:49 ↗ faith-based uh own land and MFTTE are

1:10:55 ↗ part of that strategy that we would be

1:10:57 ↗ thinking about. So, at least think about

1:11:00 ↗ um covering those through the strategic

1:11:05 ↗ work plan update. Um and then I agree

1:11:07 ↗ with council member Hall that the

1:11:09 ↗ housing analysis that was done by Eco

1:11:11 ↗ Northwest that we need to follow up on

1:11:13 ↗ that. And then I think I've spoken

1:11:17 ↗ many times in the transportation area

1:11:20 ↗ about my support for um the study for um

1:11:24 ↗ the central isqua station and alignment

1:11:27 ↗ study and uh so I will just reiterate

1:11:30 ↗ that very briefly that that would be uh

1:11:33 ↗ certainly a top priority for me as well.

1:11:35 ↗ Thanks

1:11:40 ↗ >> council member Jen. Um yeah, generally

1:11:42 ↗ agree with everything that uh we've

1:11:44 ↗ heard so far. Um you know to council

1:11:47 ↗ Hall's point about you know we don't

1:11:49 ↗ necessarily need to make like massive

1:11:50 ↗ changes in the mid benium in terms of

1:11:52 ↗ budgeting staff and all those things. I

1:11:54 ↗ think on the list that was provided the

1:11:57 ↗ three high priority items seem right to

1:12:00 ↗ me in terms of the things that are you

1:12:02 ↗ know the most imminent high priorities

1:12:04 ↗ which is implementing the eco northwest

1:12:06 ↗ reports um transit orange development

1:12:09 ↗ and updating the housing strategy. I

1:12:11 ↗ think probably doing the housing

1:12:13 ↗ strategy will then help us figure out,

1:12:15 ↗ you know, for the next cycle of the work

1:12:18 ↗ plan would or the code updates that we

1:12:20 ↗ might need to actually implement that

1:12:21 ↗ housing strategy. So, you know,

1:12:23 ↗ generally aligned with that. Um, I I do

1:12:27 ↗ think, you know, if there's some really

1:12:29 ↗ small updates like this uh green

1:12:32 ↗ building certification thing should not

1:12:34 ↗ take very long. we should just take what

1:12:37 ↗ a city like Bellev does and just uh I

1:12:41 ↗ mean in terms of oh you know these

1:12:43 ↗ certifications are in the same category

1:12:45 ↗ of stringency and then put it in into

1:12:47 ↗ our code in terms of you know these are

1:12:49 ↗ like the different requirements because

1:12:51 ↗ there's anyway um and I as someone who

1:12:54 ↗ works in the green building industry

1:12:56 ↗ offer my expertise for free for that

1:12:58 ↗ one. So, um, but yeah, I think in terms

1:13:00 ↗ of, you know, which ones we want to

1:13:02 ↗ spend significant staff time on, I think

1:13:03 ↗ the three that were identified as high

1:13:04 ↗ priority in the report seem to be

1:13:06 ↗ corrected to me.

1:13:09 ↗ >> Thank you. Next,

1:13:13 ↗ >> Council Member Ch.

1:13:14 ↗ >> Thank you.

1:13:17 ↗ Uh, first, thanks for the presentation

1:13:19 ↗ tonight, keeping it quite clear and

1:13:21 ↗ simple for for us. I appreciate that.

1:13:24 ↗ Um, I do agree that 6, seven, eight are

1:13:26 ↗ the high priority ones. We should keep a

1:13:28 ↗ focus on those three. Out of those

1:13:30 ↗ three, I agree with uh Deputy Council

1:13:33 ↗ President D. Michelle that the central

1:13:34 ↗ Esqua plan update to incorporate

1:13:36 ↗ transitory development overlay as a high

1:13:39 ↗ priority. I'd put that at the highest

1:13:41 ↗ for me of the of the three. Um, to me

1:13:44 ↗ it's a long-term planning piece that uh

1:13:48 ↗ is going to take a significant area in

1:13:51 ↗ our valley floor when we get done with

1:13:54 ↗ the zoning around it and then the

1:13:55 ↗ overlay that we may put on top of it. Um

1:13:58 ↗ it's going to take careful planning to

1:14:00 ↗ figure out what um we would like to see

1:14:04 ↗ there and then feedback from the

1:14:05 ↗ community to find out what they would

1:14:07 ↗ like to see there and um trying to work

1:14:10 ↗ and and continue that process and

1:14:12 ↗ continue to move it forward um I think

1:14:15 ↗ is very important for us. 2043

1:14:18 ↗ um might not be the new day. uh it might

1:14:20 ↗ be out a little bit farther to 2044 or

1:14:24 ↗ 48, but um those uh dates roll quickly

1:14:27 ↗ to us and we need to make sure that we

1:14:29 ↗ are keeping the momentum on that

1:14:31 ↗ project. Thank you,

1:14:36 ↗ >> Council Member Marks.

1:14:37 ↗ >> Uh thank you.

1:14:40 ↗ I would say items six and seven uh the

1:14:44 ↗ housing related pieces uh those two of

1:14:46 ↗ the high priority uh are the highest

1:14:49 ↗ priority for me personally. You know, I

1:14:51 ↗ have been um following um the election

1:14:55 ↗ cycle uh this year. I'm I guess I'm

1:14:58 ↗ technically a candidate. Uh so it's

1:15:00 ↗ probably a good idea. Um, but you know,

1:15:02 ↗ my understanding is what the public is

1:15:04 ↗ saying they care about the most is, you

1:15:07 ↗ know, traffic and affordability of

1:15:09 ↗ housing. And so what they're not saying

1:15:12 ↗ is, you know, do you guys have a plan

1:15:15 ↗ for when uh, you know, light rail gets

1:15:17 ↗ here? So I think that's I I'm I mean, I

1:15:23 ↗ supported um that everybody knows I have

1:15:25 ↗ concerns about how that gets executed.

1:15:28 ↗ that's important to do, but the housing

1:15:29 ↗ pieces are really dire direly urgent.

1:15:33 ↗ And so, um, six and seven are are the

1:15:36 ↗ highest priority for me. Eight should

1:15:38 ↗ get done. We've we're funding it. Uh, it

1:15:40 ↗ will get done, but um, I'm desperate to

1:15:43 ↗ hear more about housing strategies and

1:15:46 ↗ how we can get affordability. I I note

1:15:48 ↗ some development that's occurring right

1:15:50 ↗ now um in the valley um in multif family

1:15:54 ↗ housing that I'm excited about that I

1:15:55 ↗ hadn't hadn't known about right on

1:15:57 ↗ Newport. Um and so, you know, maybe that

1:16:00 ↗ means the economy is starting to pick up

1:16:02 ↗ a little bit. I don't know. I'm not a

1:16:04 ↗ expert in uh uh real estate, but I'm I'm

1:16:08 ↗ excited about that. And I just we have

1:16:11 ↗ to be able to look our residents in the

1:16:13 ↗ eye and say, "Yes, we're doing

1:16:14 ↗ everything we can to make Isiqua more

1:16:16 ↗ affordable." So, six and seven are the

1:16:18 ↗ highest priority for me. Thank you.

1:16:23 ↗ >> Nothing to add, Council Member Beret.

1:16:26 ↗ Okay. Well, then I will take a moment

1:16:29 ↗ just to kind of step back on this. Um, I

1:16:33 ↗ think the report that we got from Eco

1:16:36 ↗ Northwest was phenomenal and that we

1:16:40 ↗ should be full steam ahead on making

1:16:43 ↗ those changes. And I would note that

1:16:45 ↗ they really

1:16:47 ↗ recognized that

1:16:50 ↗ parking

1:16:52 ↗ and whatever adjustments we need to make

1:16:55 ↗ to MFTts or things like that all has to

1:16:58 ↗ come together. So my preference would be

1:17:02 ↗ then we have the state requirement to do

1:17:04 ↗ parking rather than wait until the end

1:17:07 ↗ when that is required. take that on and

1:17:09 ↗ really be able to do the proforma

1:17:12 ↗ analysis that says look if we change the

1:17:15 ↗ requirements on parking and the whatever

1:17:18 ↗ structured require structured parking

1:17:20 ↗ requirements does that enable our

1:17:24 ↗ pioneer project does that enable

1:17:27 ↗ opportunities in the light rail area

1:17:30 ↗ does that enable MFTTE feasibility so I

1:17:34 ↗ think that is from my perspective a

1:17:36 ↗ really important way to address what Eco

1:17:40 ↗ Northwest told us in that report was

1:17:43 ↗ here's all the things that all the

1:17:46 ↗ reasons that you're not getting more

1:17:48 ↗ affordable housing. Um, so that's really

1:17:51 ↗ important. I will also mention just

1:17:54 ↗ permit streamlining from my perspective.

1:17:57 ↗ I know that wasn't, you know, like

1:17:59 ↗ necessarily one of the new work plan

1:18:02 ↗ items, but I want to make sure that the

1:18:04 ↗ process improvements and the customer

1:18:06 ↗ service focus and utilizing technology

1:18:09 ↗ for things like an AI first draft review

1:18:13 ↗ so that our staff members get the

1:18:15 ↗ opportunity to do things that they love

1:18:18 ↗ rather than having to do the manual, all

1:18:20 ↗ of those pieces. I think that's a

1:18:22 ↗ phenomenal way for us to be responsive

1:18:26 ↗ to the community, get more um

1:18:30 ↗ affordability, and have our staff not be

1:18:32 ↗ burnt out um from those types of

1:18:35 ↗ reviews. So, that's something I want to

1:18:38 ↗ emphasize. Um I also want to emphasize

1:18:41 ↗ what council member Jen said. I think we

1:18:43 ↗ have a few things here that are probably

1:18:46 ↗ small enough or that we could borrow

1:18:50 ↗ from another city easily enough that we

1:18:53 ↗ don't have to make it into a big

1:18:54 ↗ project.

1:18:56 ↗ And toward that idea, I would

1:19:00 ↗ respectfully

1:19:02 ↗ ask council members and staff to just

1:19:05 ↗ really I feel like the Eco Northwest

1:19:08 ↗ report

1:19:10 ↗ gives us something that we need to act

1:19:13 ↗ on now and that if we spend our time on

1:19:16 ↗ a housing strategy work plan,

1:19:19 ↗ we're going to delay implementation of

1:19:22 ↗ things. And I don't like the idea of

1:19:24 ↗ spending time planning on something when

1:19:27 ↗ we already have a plan that we haven't

1:19:29 ↗ acted on completely.

1:19:31 ↗ So I'm really concerned if we're going

1:19:34 ↗ to say, "Oh, it's been a while since we

1:19:37 ↗ did this, so we need to step back."

1:19:38 ↗ Well, it's also been a while since we

1:19:39 ↗ got the Echo Northwest report, and I

1:19:43 ↗ really want to make sure that we are

1:19:44 ↗ getting everything out of that that we

1:19:46 ↗ can before we go on another planning

1:19:49 ↗ journey. And from my perspective, that

1:19:51 ↗ also includes the neighborhood. um plans

1:19:54 ↗ because I feel like we we have a good

1:19:58 ↗ set of neighborhoods, but we have things

1:20:00 ↗ like traffic calming that people are

1:20:03 ↗ asking for or things like Thank you. Um

1:20:08 ↗ things like the

1:20:11 ↗ um just things that we can take care of

1:20:16 ↗ without

1:20:18 ↗ putting the time in a big planning

1:20:20 ↗ project that sometimes we've done these

1:20:24 ↗ things and then haven't been able to act

1:20:25 ↗ on all of them.

1:20:28 ↗ Um and then let's see there were a few

1:20:30 ↗ other things. Um, I am,

1:20:34 ↗ I'll be frank, concerned about putting

1:20:36 ↗ too much time into light rail station

1:20:39 ↗ planning given Sound Transit's budget

1:20:41 ↗ wos. I would love to have a

1:20:44 ↗ conversation, with council, with the

1:20:46 ↗ community about, you know, I I know when

1:20:50 ↗ Kirkland was looking at Sound Transit 3

1:20:52 ↗ originally, they were like, "Hey, you

1:20:54 ↗ could get us bus rapid transit now and

1:20:57 ↗ it would cost a third of the cost." And

1:21:01 ↗ I'm willing to have that conversation. I

1:21:04 ↗ I think we still need the central plan.

1:21:07 ↗ We still need um an overlay there, but I

1:21:13 ↗ think that if we are the last stop on

1:21:16 ↗ this, that there is a possibility that

1:21:18 ↗ we are going to spend lots and lots of

1:21:20 ↗ money on planning for something that is

1:21:23 ↗ going to be ultimately out of our

1:21:25 ↗ control and that we won't end up

1:21:27 ↗ receiving. Um, so I have a little bit of

1:21:29 ↗ concerns about putting

1:21:32 ↗ um those funding there. And then I also

1:21:34 ↗ have a little bit of concerns about an

1:21:37 ↗ MFT program that focuses on that 80% um

1:21:41 ↗ area immediate income as um the income

1:21:45 ↗ requirement given the Seattle Times

1:21:47 ↗ article about um the market actually

1:21:51 ↗ providing that 80 to 100% AMI housing um

1:21:56 ↗ at a more affordable rate in some cases.

1:21:59 ↗ And so before we go into a deeper dive

1:22:03 ↗ on MFTTE and ways that we can provide

1:22:07 ↗ tax exemptions to get this level of

1:22:09 ↗ housing, I think we should be really

1:22:12 ↗ clear about what is our role as

1:22:14 ↗ government. Is our role providing the

1:22:16 ↗ housing that the market cannot or is our

1:22:19 ↗ role creating an incentive that u will

1:22:23 ↗ create some of that through a developer

1:22:26 ↗ and what is the cost to that being a

1:22:30 ↗ barrier for um housing that could serve

1:22:34 ↗ that at a market rate um rate and anyway

1:22:37 ↗ so

1:22:39 ↗ okay

1:22:41 ↗ I'm gonna take a step back here because

1:22:43 ↗ I've written a a lot of stuff down. I

1:22:46 ↗ saw a lot of um uh mentions of Eco

1:22:51 ↗ Northwest report. Um a lot of housing

1:22:55 ↗ strategy work plan. Um some different

1:23:01 ↗ ideas on light rail station study and um

1:23:06 ↗ where we fall as a council there.

1:23:08 ↗ Anybody want to take a second stab at

1:23:11 ↗ any ideas or should I ask staff? Council

1:23:15 ↗ member Hall.

1:23:16 ↗ >> Well, I just wanted to completely agree

1:23:19 ↗ with you on the sequencing of we have

1:23:23 ↗ the eco eco I don't know why I can't say

1:23:25 ↗ this word eco northwest report ahead of

1:23:28 ↗ us with action items that we have been

1:23:31 ↗ slowly ticking off over the years too. I

1:23:33 ↗ would really like to see our focus on um

1:23:36 ↗ finalizing implementation of that plan

1:23:38 ↗ before well and maybe I can phrase this

1:23:41 ↗ as a question director Dolly Wall. My

1:23:43 ↗ instinct would be I' I'd like to phase

1:23:46 ↗ that where that is phase one and then

1:23:49 ↗ potentially now what are the next steps

1:23:50 ↗ in a new housing strategy work plan

1:23:52 ↗ comes after that. But is that do we need

1:23:55 ↗ to be thinking about it that way or

1:23:56 ↗ would those things be happening kind of

1:23:59 ↗ next to each other? I think we can start

1:24:01 ↗ with the report and say here were the

1:24:03 ↗ recommendations, here's what we've done,

1:24:05 ↗ here's what we can do conversation with

1:24:07 ↗ council and then tease out real

1:24:09 ↗ quantifiable things from that report. Uh

1:24:13 ↗ it studied three strategies out of the

1:24:15 ↗ nine strategies out that are in the

1:24:16 ↗ housing action plan. So more work could

1:24:19 ↗ be done about those other strategies,

1:24:22 ↗ but these were prioritized because we

1:24:24 ↗ had to quantify, you know, there was

1:24:25 ↗ only so much money and we, you know,

1:24:27 ↗ have that conversation with council

1:24:28 ↗ about which ones out of the nine to pick

1:24:31 ↗ to study. Um so we can look at the other

1:24:34 ↗ strategies but we can also look at the

1:24:36 ↗ the plan update um more holistically

1:24:39 ↗ before we study other strategies because

1:24:43 ↗ you know some of the lay of the land has

1:24:44 ↗ changed just with legislator's focus on

1:24:48 ↗ housing. Um now with the new governor's

1:24:52 ↗ um you know roundt that we attended

1:24:54 ↗ there's probably more stuff go you know

1:24:57 ↗ in the in the works of what to do at the

1:25:00 ↗ state level that we will have to to kind

1:25:02 ↗ of uh pivot and and do as well. So um

1:25:07 ↗ but but it it provides a good foundation

1:25:10 ↗ and you know the the nine strategies it

1:25:12 ↗ gives you something tangible uh rather

1:25:14 ↗ than differences in opinion and it's a

1:25:16 ↗ community conversations that inform that

1:25:18 ↗ plan. So that's a good place but really

1:25:22 ↗ first step would be looking at that plan

1:25:23 ↗ and saying okay what have we done uh out

1:25:26 ↗ of implementation one would be the eco

1:25:28 ↗ northwest and these three strategies is

1:25:30 ↗ there other things there or do we start

1:25:33 ↗ having you know a an update to the plan

1:25:37 ↗ because things have changed at the state

1:25:39 ↗ law level or we've learned a few things

1:25:41 ↗ or you know middle housing has come into

1:25:43 ↗ play that didn't exist when in 2018. So

1:25:46 ↗ what does that shift look like from a

1:25:50 ↗ from a housing act, you know, strategies

1:25:52 ↗ plan piece? So we're happy to do

1:25:55 ↗ whatever, you know, council prefers in

1:25:58 ↗ terms of the order um that you'd like us

1:26:01 ↗ to do, but there's there's starting with

1:26:03 ↗ the phase one um of looking at

1:26:06 ↗ implementation in the Eco Northwest is

1:26:08 ↗ certainly something we can start off and

1:26:10 ↗ then build from there.

1:26:14 ↗ Council

1:26:14 ↗ >> member Shane

1:26:16 ↗ Um to your point, I liked your point

1:26:19 ↗ about, you know, just given some

1:26:21 ↗ transits funding situation exploring

1:26:23 ↗ different options. I'm curious if we

1:26:26 ↗ could potentially retool part of the

1:26:28 ↗ light rail station area and alignment

1:26:30 ↗ planning to also include some potential

1:26:32 ↗ alignments for bus rapid transit so that

1:26:34 ↗ we could like compare, you know, what

1:26:36 ↗ those look like and just be cleareyed

1:26:38 ↗ about, okay, well, you know what? and

1:26:41 ↗ some transit will probably have some

1:26:42 ↗ budget implications, but just seeing,

1:26:44 ↗ you know, how that's going to change

1:26:46 ↗ potentially the level of transit service

1:26:48 ↗ that we get and what that would look

1:26:50 ↗ like for a city, I think that could be a

1:26:51 ↗ really interesting way that we could use

1:26:52 ↗ this budget that we already have. um as

1:26:55 ↗ far as you know planning for the transit

1:26:59 ↗ oriented development and like the

1:27:01 ↗ overlays and fitting in with the MFTts

1:27:03 ↗ from the state. I think that kind of

1:27:06 ↗ goes back to my original point of, you

1:27:08 ↗ know, are we going to revisit the MFTTE

1:27:11 ↗ in general? Um, with the Pioneer

1:27:13 ↗ project, we haven't really seen uptake

1:27:14 ↗ of it constru, you know, given where

1:27:17 ↗ construction costs have changed over the

1:27:20 ↗ last like five years compared to a lot

1:27:22 ↗ of the data that we have from MFT

1:27:23 ↗ programs is from like pre- pandemic. So,

1:27:25 ↗ I think we really need to, you know, if

1:27:27 ↗ we really are serious about doing this,

1:27:29 ↗ I think we might need to take another

1:27:31 ↗ look at this. Um, that said, you know,

1:27:33 ↗ given the con constraints with

1:27:35 ↗ resources.

1:27:37 ↗ It's probably fine if we prior I think

1:27:40 ↗ it's good for us to prioritize what's in

1:27:42 ↗ the Eco Northwest report because that's

1:27:44 ↗ like actionable projects that we can

1:27:46 ↗ implement now. Um and then you know

1:27:48 ↗ these other things figure out how we can

1:27:50 ↗ fit it in given staff capacity over

1:27:52 ↗ time.

1:27:53 ↗ >> Yeah. One thing to um you know to add to

1:27:56 ↗ this whole discussion about a bus rapid

1:27:58 ↗ uh versus light rail. Uh that was some

1:28:01 ↗ transits bone to the communities that

1:28:02 ↗ didn't get light rail. So Reon and

1:28:04 ↗ Kirkland long haul there's a study that

1:28:07 ↗ the state um you know funded where urban

1:28:11 ↗ land institute sort of did that study

1:28:13 ↗ and I had attended some of the

1:28:14 ↗ presentation what they found was um and

1:28:17 ↗ the first time I heard this say in that

1:28:19 ↗ fashion highost cities and lowcost

1:28:21 ↗ cities. So they looked at, you know,

1:28:24 ↗ places like Isukqua, light rail would be

1:28:26 ↗ heavily used and people would shed their

1:28:28 ↗ cars much more than if say city of

1:28:31 ↗ Auburn got light rail because they still

1:28:33 ↗ need to go, you know, depend on their

1:28:35 ↗ vehicles to go to their warehouse u you

1:28:38 ↗ know and those connections and seem to

1:28:40 ↗ be missing. So, so there's a little

1:28:43 ↗ there's a lot that the region is

1:28:45 ↗ learning in terms of um light rail. Uh

1:28:49 ↗ but the city's investment, you know,

1:28:51 ↗ would one it would be the biggest public

1:28:52 ↗ investment if Isuk were to get the light

1:28:55 ↗ rail station. Um the the bus rapid

1:28:58 ↗ transit that SD was part of the SD3 was

1:29:01 ↗ a billion dollar project to run a bus

1:29:05 ↗ every 10 minutes from Burian to Lynwood.

1:29:08 ↗ And that that's what you see happening

1:29:09 ↗ on 405. Uh so that also comes at a cost

1:29:13 ↗ because if you have bus rapid transit,

1:29:15 ↗ you need a new lane where you're not

1:29:18 ↗ behind cars. So so in terms of what we

1:29:21 ↗ know at this point, um based on the

1:29:25 ↗ comparisons between those two, we

1:29:26 ↗ already know some of these things. um

1:29:29 ↗ and city's planning has predicated the

1:29:32 ↗ central court plan and everything sort

1:29:34 ↗ of anticipates um and and from the

1:29:37 ↗ voters who've been paying and you know

1:29:40 ↗ waiting for their grandchildren to ride

1:29:42 ↗ the ride the light trail in the future.

1:29:44 ↗ So, so it's complicated but but at this

1:29:47 ↗ stage I think um we are studying the

1:29:49 ↗ preferred location and and the other

1:29:52 ↗ thing that I think public works is uh

1:29:54 ↗ taking a lead on is the over and under

1:29:56 ↗ crossing uh discussion with council

1:29:59 ↗ related to that. But where yeah

1:30:04 ↗ deputy council president Michelle

1:30:06 ↗ >> yeah I just uh I was going to make

1:30:08 ↗ remarks very similar. Um I think uh

1:30:12 ↗ probably it would help us to take a look

1:30:14 ↗ at what is bus rapid transit. Um uh the

1:30:18 ↗ perfect example of bus rapid transit is

1:30:21 ↗ Pacific Highway where you have a long

1:30:24 ↗ long corridor with many many businesses.

1:30:27 ↗ Um and it is not at all similar to what

1:30:30 ↗ we have here. We have really good

1:30:33 ↗ connections

1:30:35 ↗ um down I90

1:30:37 ↗ um already which uh take us places very

1:30:40 ↗ rapidly. Uh but where rapid bus rapid

1:30:44 ↗ trans would fit into Isiqua uh is very

1:30:48 ↗ difficult to tell because we don't have

1:30:51 ↗ that long long corridor of uh businesses

1:30:54 ↗ and housing and businesses and housing

1:30:58 ↗ uh where people get off and on every two

1:31:00 ↗ three blocks. Uh we just don't have

1:31:03 ↗ anything like that. So, um

1:31:07 ↗ I think it would be very good for us to

1:31:09 ↗ have like a work study session to

1:31:10 ↗ explore those two and just explain what

1:31:14 ↗ uh the advantages and disadvantages of

1:31:18 ↗ light rail versus bus uh rapid transit

1:31:20 ↗ would be for a location like Isiqua. Um

1:31:25 ↗ we the other thing I I would hate to see

1:31:28 ↗ us in a moment of headlines

1:31:32 ↗ give up on a major project uh because

1:31:36 ↗ we're facing financial problems. We have

1:31:38 ↗ faced financial problems

1:31:41 ↗ on on this on these kinds of projects

1:31:43 ↗ forever and yet somehow we have a light

1:31:47 ↗ rail system that now goes all the way to

1:31:50 ↗ Redmond. And so I think for us to toss

1:31:53 ↗ in the towel at this point uh with just

1:31:56 ↗ one headline what they're doing I think

1:31:58 ↗ in my opinion is they're aligning

1:32:01 ↗ uh their budget with reality. That

1:32:03 ↗ doesn't mean that we're going to lose

1:32:05 ↗ this project. It means that uh we're

1:32:08 ↗ going to have better budgeting. So uh

1:32:10 ↗ I'm not ready to throw in the towel on

1:32:12 ↗ the light rail project at this point. Uh

1:32:15 ↗ I'd like to wait and see where we're

1:32:17 ↗ going to go. A lot of things are

1:32:19 ↗ happening in this country economically.

1:32:21 ↗ We do not know where this is going to

1:32:23 ↗ end up. So those are my two comments.

1:32:27 ↗ >> Council member Mertz.

1:32:31 ↗ So, one of the challenges when talking

1:32:33 ↗ about the light rail project and sound

1:32:36 ↗ transit and and uh uh transit in in this

1:32:40 ↗ area is the combination of it's not like

1:32:44 ↗ are we going to not get a super great

1:32:47 ↗ mass transit system that would come to

1:32:50 ↗ Isiqua. Whenever I talk to people in the

1:32:53 ↗ community about how this is going to

1:32:55 ↗ shape up and about how we're going to

1:32:56 ↗ have to go into Belleview before we can

1:32:58 ↗ get into Seattle, people are miserable

1:33:00 ↗ and they say, "What the heck, man? I can

1:33:02 ↗ take the 554 right now straight into

1:33:04 ↗ Seattle." So, this this whole thing

1:33:08 ↗ needs a lot of care and attention. Uh we

1:33:10 ↗ all in this area spend a lot of money on

1:33:12 ↗ our tabs every year um to pay for for

1:33:15 ↗ sound transit and and what's coming um

1:33:19 ↗ is is

1:33:22 ↗ not even not perfect. It's it's it's

1:33:24 ↗ really in a lot of ways will look worse

1:33:26 ↗ than than what we have right now.

1:33:28 ↗ Meanwhile, you know, this massive job

1:33:31 ↗ center that is South King County is

1:33:33 ↗ completely unserved for us, right? Like

1:33:35 ↗ getting to South King County from Isiqua

1:33:38 ↗ with transit is is just a non-starter.

1:33:41 ↗ You you can't do it. And that's where

1:33:43 ↗ the jobs are, right? If we want to talk

1:33:45 ↗ about connecting folks in Isiqua with

1:33:47 ↗ where the jobs are, and there's jobs in

1:33:49 ↗ Seattle and there's jobs in Belleview,

1:33:51 ↗ but I've spent most of the last 25 years

1:33:53 ↗ commuting to Kent and and dealing with

1:33:56 ↗ the S-curves and and they're miserable

1:33:58 ↗ and they would it would so benefit from

1:34:00 ↗ having some sort of transit. So, I I say

1:34:03 ↗ all these things just to say that um you

1:34:06 ↗ know, we measure all that against what I

1:34:08 ↗ continue to believe is a real risk of

1:34:11 ↗ getting lots and lots of parking here

1:34:13 ↗ for the folks who live further east. So,

1:34:16 ↗ you know, I I I want to see it happen. I

1:34:19 ↗ want that all this money that I've been

1:34:20 ↗ pouring into tabs for all these years

1:34:22 ↗ and the and the and the aspiration that

1:34:25 ↗ East King County showed when it

1:34:26 ↗ supported ST3, I want to see all that

1:34:29 ↗ happen. I'm not I'm not ready to throw

1:34:32 ↗ in the towel, but there's there's just

1:34:33 ↗ there are a lot of uh dragons in the in

1:34:37 ↗ the public policy between here and

1:34:39 ↗ getting the transit that would impact

1:34:42 ↗ Isiqua residents and would um would

1:34:45 ↗ reduce uh traffic and reduce the amount

1:34:48 ↗ of um the amount of pollution that's

1:34:51 ↗ generated by car trips in and out of

1:34:53 ↗ Isiquas. we have, you know, whatever it

1:34:55 ↗ is, 12,000 cars per hour um in the for

1:34:58 ↗ the morning commute and the afternoon

1:35:00 ↗ commute. So, um you know, I I'm I'm I'm

1:35:04 ↗ sticking with it. Um but I'm I I have

1:35:07 ↗ just really really serious concerns. So

1:35:09 ↗ meanwhile, I think that we should uh

1:35:13 ↗ move forward with the housing pieces

1:35:14 ↗ that we can, you know, part of, you

1:35:17 ↗ know, if part of our solution is to get

1:35:20 ↗ um better mass transit here, an equal

1:35:23 ↗ part of the solution is to provide

1:35:24 ↗ houses for the people that work here and

1:35:27 ↗ provide jobs for the people who live

1:35:28 ↗ here. And let's work on if we have if we

1:35:31 ↗ have those keys in front of us and

1:35:32 ↗ they're and they're in our destiny to

1:35:35 ↗ change, let's go let's go get that done.

1:35:38 ↗ And then if sound transit happens in my

1:35:40 ↗ lifetime, I will say huzzah.

1:35:45 ↗ >> Well, maybe that's a wonderful way to

1:35:48 ↗ take it. Uh, Council Member Jen.

1:35:50 ↗ >> Yeah. Uh, Council Member Mart mentioned,

1:35:53 ↗ you know, our residents who complain

1:35:55 ↗ about um the how light roll will not

1:35:59 ↗ improve their transit service. I have a

1:36:01 ↗ constituent in my household who

1:36:02 ↗ complains about this literally every day

1:36:04 ↗ who r fears the day that the light rail

1:36:07 ↗ bridge over I90 will open because that

1:36:09 ↗ will mean that you know to go to Seattle

1:36:11 ↗ to go to work you're going to have to

1:36:12 ↗ transfer at the south south Belleview

1:36:14 ↗ station which is out of the way. Um so

1:36:17 ↗ you know that's a daily discussion in my

1:36:20 ↗ household. Um I think you know I your

1:36:23 ↗ point on

1:36:25 ↗ just like the general transit service in

1:36:28 ↗ this area is very well taken and one

1:36:30 ↗ thing that voters are very concerned

1:36:32 ↗ about um including our public commenters

1:36:34 ↗ is the amount of traffic going through

1:36:35 ↗ Oldtown from people who live in Reton

1:36:38 ↗ Highlands or Maple Valley south of here

1:36:40 ↗ and work north of here in Belleview or

1:36:41 ↗ Redmond or Seattle. And you know there

1:36:44 ↗ really is no way about it that we are

1:36:47 ↗ very severely constrained by geography.

1:36:48 ↗ the most direct way is to go between

1:36:50 ↗ Squawk and Tiger Mountain or between

1:36:52 ↗ Squawk and Cougar Mountain. And guess

1:36:53 ↗ what? The only way to go through there

1:36:54 ↗ is on our neighborhood streets. And so,

1:36:57 ↗ and currently there's no transit

1:36:58 ↗ options. And so, one thing that, you

1:37:01 ↗ know, we've been talking with voters

1:37:02 ↗ about is the potential to add more

1:37:04 ↗ transit options there. If there is I

1:37:06 ↗ mean and this would you know be a whole

1:37:08 ↗ other can of worms but if there is the

1:37:10 ↗ potential to say you know hey just

1:37:12 ↗ thinking about where our actual needs

1:37:14 ↗ are as a community in terms of reducing

1:37:16 ↗ traffic reducing pollution in our

1:37:18 ↗ residential neighborhoods is you know

1:37:20 ↗ okay sure we we want bus rapid transit

1:37:22 ↗ to Kirkland but really what we need is

1:37:24 ↗ bus rapid transit to Maple Valley. And

1:37:27 ↗ so if there I mean if there's any way

1:37:29 ↗ for us to say okay, you know, we're in

1:37:31 ↗ this budget situation. How can we figure

1:37:33 ↗ out what is actually the best use of our

1:37:35 ↗ dollars instead of just going down this

1:37:36 ↗ path that we approved 10 years ago

1:37:38 ↗ because that's what was presented to

1:37:39 ↗ voters in 2016. We're in a totally

1:37:42 ↗ different place now. I think basically

1:37:44 ↗ everything is on the table and that's

1:37:46 ↗ something where, you know, just given

1:37:48 ↗ everything that we've people are not

1:37:50 ↗ excited about having a train to

1:37:51 ↗ Kirkland. I mean really. So I think you

1:37:54 ↗ know how can we as a city kind of

1:37:58 ↗ facilitate that discussion and see if if

1:38:02 ↗ this is the point that we need to just

1:38:03 ↗ totally rethink what transit service

1:38:05 ↗ we're getting and bus rapid transit is

1:38:06 ↗ less expensive than light rail. So maybe

1:38:09 ↗ if we don't get the light rail we could

1:38:11 ↗ do BRTs which would actually be way

1:38:13 ↗ better.

1:38:14 ↗ >> Yeah. You know one thing I would like to

1:38:15 ↗ add is the communities that didn't want

1:38:17 ↗ light rail at the time were the were

1:38:20 ↗ where the alignment was running through

1:38:21 ↗ residential neighborhoods. So that was

1:38:23 ↗ sort of the the push back. I know that

1:38:26 ↗ for Reton and I know that for Kirkland

1:38:28 ↗ as well. Uh so so it was more about

1:38:30 ↗ impacts to people that were living in

1:38:33 ↗ those areas. Here we're connecting a dot

1:38:35 ↗ of a future potential. It may not exist

1:38:37 ↗ today, but you know the consultant who's

1:38:40 ↗ done um some case studies for us is also

1:38:43 ↗ what this can look like. And I wish we

1:38:46 ↗ could share some of those photos with

1:38:47 ↗ you because it it's phenomenal of what

1:38:50 ↗ transit and land use, how well connected

1:38:52 ↗ those two items are and and it isn't

1:38:54 ↗ what's on the ground today, but what a

1:38:57 ↗ future light rail station could bring to

1:38:59 ↗ Isiqua. So I think it it's a good debate

1:39:01 ↗ and it's a good conversation. Um perhaps

1:39:04 ↗ we need to do more work in terms of

1:39:06 ↗ sharing some of the success stories of

1:39:07 ↗ light rail and other things.

1:39:11 ↗ So, I guess one thing I would say is as

1:39:15 ↗ much as we may have some questions about

1:39:19 ↗ whether or not light rail and sound

1:39:20 ↗ transit is going to, you know, other

1:39:23 ↗ things that are appearing on here. I

1:39:26 ↗ don't think that changes our commitment

1:39:28 ↗ to the central Isiqua plan and the idea

1:39:31 ↗ that we still need to do something that

1:39:34 ↗ enables housing on the valley floor that

1:39:40 ↗ makes it feasible.

1:39:42 ↗ um whether that is through parking um

1:39:46 ↗ adjustments, you know, what level of

1:39:50 ↗ height requirement or height um is

1:39:52 ↗ allowed, the density um in those spaces.

1:39:55 ↗ So, it it may be that we can still move

1:40:00 ↗ toward that idea even with um some of

1:40:04 ↗ the

1:40:06 ↗ differing opinions on um what the light

1:40:09 ↗ rail area is. there's still that sense

1:40:11 ↗ of um the central plan and the housing

1:40:14 ↗ that we need to figure out how to unlock

1:40:16 ↗ that um in that area.

1:40:20 ↗ Okay. Anybody else coming through?

1:40:25 ↗ Okay. City administrator.

1:40:28 ↗ >> Um C President, members of the council,

1:40:31 ↗ thank you for this great feedback. We

1:40:33 ↗ would like to take a couple minutes

1:40:35 ↗ recess to make sure we compare our notes

1:40:37 ↗ to hear what we've thought we've heard

1:40:40 ↗ and to see if we've identified anything

1:40:41 ↗ that might require additional resources

1:40:43 ↗ or can we address what you've done what

1:40:46 ↗ you've said this evening with the

1:40:48 ↗ resources we have. So we could take five

1:40:50 ↗ minutes or so that'd be great.

1:40:52 ↗ >> Yeah. And I guess what I would say is

1:40:54 ↗ there was some feedback on what do we

1:40:56 ↗ want to do, but there was also some

1:40:58 ↗ feedback on what um timeline, which

1:41:02 ↗ things get handled first. And so if

1:41:04 ↗ there's any sense of that that you can

1:41:06 ↗ come up with during the recess, that

1:41:08 ↗ would be great.

1:41:08 ↗ >> Very good.

1:41:09 ↗ >> Okay, we'll take a fivem minute recess.

1:41:11 ↗ >> Sure.

1:41:12 ↗ >> Thanks. We'll be back at 8:20.

1:41:26 ↗ Okay, we are back from our recess. You

1:41:29 ↗ all have had an opportunity to chat and

1:41:32 ↗ talk. What is your feedback?

1:41:35 ↗ >> Uh again, thank you. Um few topics we

1:41:38 ↗ wanted to cover. First of all, let me

1:41:39 ↗ talk about transportation. Um it's a

1:41:42 ↗ multifaceted topic. It certainly goes

1:41:44 ↗ far beyond uh planning and zoning

1:41:48 ↗ requirements. Um you know, Mayor Paulie

1:41:51 ↗ feels very strongly about this. We've

1:41:53 ↗ expended a lot of resources uh dealing

1:41:56 ↗ not only with the future of light rail,

1:41:59 ↗ but also uh there are policy issues. You

1:42:02 ↗ know, Thomas Vald is here. Thomas's time

1:42:04 ↗ gets pulled in lots of different

1:42:06 ↗ directions and is getting pulled even

1:42:08 ↗ more and more into the policym at Sound

1:42:12 ↗ Transit. Um the administration feels

1:42:14 ↗ very strongly that we need to continue

1:42:17 ↗ to be very active advocating for what's

1:42:19 ↗ in ST3. The voters of Isiqua have

1:42:21 ↗ approved it. The voters of King County

1:42:23 ↗ have approved it and we are going to do

1:42:24 ↗ everything in our power uh to make sure

1:42:27 ↗ that Sound Transit Board uh with under

1:42:30 ↗ Mayor Paulie's direction understands

1:42:32 ↗ that this is still a priority for Isqua.

1:42:34 ↗ But that said, there are absolutely

1:42:36 ↗ issues happening today uh that we need

1:42:38 ↗ to continue to be mindful of. internal

1:42:40 ↗ traffic issues in Oldtown and elsewhere,

1:42:43 ↗ um, uh, advanced transportation systems,

1:42:46 ↗ all the things that we have talked

1:42:47 ↗ about. Uh, and so we are committed to

1:42:49 ↗ doing that. We have, uh, various pots in

1:42:52 ↗ the budget, uh, to deal with it. We're

1:42:54 ↗ looking at continuing, uh, to reallocate

1:42:58 ↗ existing staff. Uh, Andrew Snyder is on

1:43:00 ↗ the call, uh, this evening. uh more and

1:43:02 ↗ more of her time is being spent in uh

1:43:05 ↗ transportation planning uh working with

1:43:07 ↗ our partners and so that will continue

1:43:10 ↗ uh for both uh short-term and long-term

1:43:14 ↗ transportation needs. So we will

1:43:15 ↗ continue to work on that. Um you know we

1:43:19 ↗ also heard from you this evening um

1:43:21 ↗ interest about central Isiqua and how uh

1:43:25 ↗ light rail does or does not impact

1:43:28 ↗ central Isiqua.

1:43:30 ↗ Kristen is here to talk maybe just a

1:43:32 ↗ little bit about um you know some of the

1:43:35 ↗ assumptions that we've been under and

1:43:37 ↗ any changes to light rail coming or not

1:43:40 ↗ coming will have impacts on how central

1:43:43 ↗ is plays out.

1:43:45 ↗ Yes, the central isqua plan was actually

1:43:47 ↗ started in 2007 prior to any discussions

1:43:51 ↗ about light rail coming to Isiqua and

1:43:52 ↗ then discussions started. So then we put

1:43:55 ↗ it in there. But the whole idea is that

1:43:56 ↗ our development would occur in central

1:43:58 ↗ Isiqua before or the rest of our

1:44:00 ↗ development would occur in central

1:44:01 ↗ Isiqua prior to light rail coming here.

1:44:03 ↗ But it does play a factor. But even if

1:44:05 ↗ light rail were to go away and we did

1:44:07 ↗ bus rapid transit that come comes

1:44:09 ↗ through here. I live in Kirkland. I'm a

1:44:11 ↗ mile from the rapid transit station that

1:44:13 ↗ they're planning now. It's a huge

1:44:15 ↗ planning process. So whether it's light

1:44:16 ↗ rail or bus rapid transit, there is

1:44:19 ↗ planning that has to occur around where

1:44:21 ↗ that stop will be. So it it does play a

1:44:24 ↗ role either way in central Isiqua.

1:44:27 ↗ >> And I and thank you Kristen. I think it

1:44:29 ↗ just reinforces for us uh that this is

1:44:32 ↗ just a multi-prong approach and we hear

1:44:33 ↗ loud and clear from the council that

1:44:36 ↗ your expectation of the administration

1:44:37 ↗ is to attack it in a multi-prong way. uh

1:44:40 ↗ Mayor Paulie's direction to her staff is

1:44:42 ↗ to uh attack it in a multi-prong way.

1:44:45 ↗ So, we will do that, but there are many

1:44:46 ↗ consequences. We just need to continue

1:44:48 ↗ to be mindful of them. Uh the last piece

1:44:50 ↗ we wanted to talk about was the Eco

1:44:52 ↗ Northwest report. Uh there seems to be

1:44:54 ↗ consensus there to take a report that's

1:44:56 ↗ already there, recommendations that are

1:44:58 ↗ already in hand. What do we need to do

1:45:00 ↗ to make that happen? And so again,

1:45:03 ↗ Kristen, if you could talk a little bit

1:45:04 ↗ about where we stand with that report

1:45:06 ↗ and what you think it will take uh to

1:45:09 ↗ make more meaningful progress in 26.

1:45:11 ↗ >> Sure. So as many mentioned earlier, the

1:45:13 ↗ housing the Eco Northwest report was

1:45:15 ↗ addressing three of the different

1:45:16 ↗ strategies that are currently in the

1:45:19 ↗ housing strategy action plan. So to do

1:45:22 ↗ those, you know, that would that would

1:45:24 ↗ be implementing what we already have in

1:45:25 ↗ place as far as the plan goes and that

1:45:28 ↗ could be done earlier with consultant

1:45:30 ↗ help. We would need that to do the

1:45:33 ↗ housing action plan to update the

1:45:35 ↗ housing strategy action plan requires

1:45:38 ↗ much broader outreach because then you

1:45:40 ↗ take in you get new information you get

1:45:44 ↗ new input from the public and you

1:45:45 ↗ completely whoops excuse me redo a plan

1:45:49 ↗ um and then you start addressing that as

1:45:51 ↗ well. So, um, yes, we did talk about how

1:45:54 ↗ addressing Eco Northwest and the actions

1:45:56 ↗ that they provided in there could happen

1:45:58 ↗ much sooner than the housing strategy

1:46:00 ↗ plan.

1:46:04 ↗ We think that uh, additional resources

1:46:06 ↗ would be needed to do what we're hearing

1:46:08 ↗ the council say you'd like to do. Those

1:46:10 ↗ resources, I think, can vary depending

1:46:13 ↗ on the outside help we can get. Arch may

1:46:16 ↗ be a resource and if they're a resource

1:46:17 ↗ with their staff, that's probably less

1:46:19 ↗ dollars than going to a third party. So,

1:46:21 ↗ what we'd like to commit to do this

1:46:23 ↗ evening is take that as a to-do. Um,

1:46:26 ↗ we'll uh do a little bit more uh

1:46:28 ↗ investigation as to uh what we think

1:46:32 ↗ would be needed and we'll include that

1:46:34 ↗ in your uh midby budget discussions. And

1:46:36 ↗ so, if we make sense and we can find a

1:46:39 ↗ funding source, great. If not, we'll

1:46:41 ↗ stay the course. But of all the things

1:46:43 ↗ you've talked about this evening, um

1:46:45 ↗ that's the one piece that we're going to

1:46:47 ↗ take from tonight and work on a little

1:46:49 ↗ bit. So, Council President, I'm just

1:46:51 ↗ looking to you and your colleagues to

1:46:53 ↗ confirm that's a reasonable takeaway

1:46:56 ↗ from this evening. Otherwise, we'll stay

1:46:58 ↗ the course with what we're planning on

1:47:01 ↗ doing during 26.

1:47:04 ↗ >> I'm seeing some good head nods. So, I

1:47:06 ↗ think I'm seeing some good head nods. So

1:47:09 ↗ I think the focus on the eco northwest

1:47:12 ↗ um is great. So are we understanding

1:47:16 ↗ that then the housing strategy work plan

1:47:18 ↗ as an update because it requires more

1:47:20 ↗ public engagement would be longer and

1:47:22 ↗ larger would be after that and are we at

1:47:26 ↗ this point adding it to the work plan or

1:47:30 ↗ saying that we can evaluate again before

1:47:34 ↗ that becomes a an item?

1:47:38 ↗ So we can add it to the work plan for

1:47:41 ↗ 207 and 28 and and we'll discuss that

1:47:45 ↗ with the ne that year's budgets. Um and

1:47:48 ↗ and I'll have a discussion about how

1:47:50 ↗ much it'll cost and part of the so no

1:47:54 ↗ midyear budget adjustment needed because

1:47:56 ↗ we'll focus on the implementation for

1:47:58 ↗ next year and then for the next the next

1:48:00 ↗ two years budget 27 and 28 we'll add it

1:48:04 ↗ to the work plan.

1:48:07 ↗ Okay. So, how are we feeling about all

1:48:10 ↗ of this? So, potentially a midbian

1:48:15 ↗ adjustment to enable the Eco Northwest

1:48:19 ↗ um recommendations

1:48:21 ↗ and then looking beyond that would be a

1:48:24 ↗ 2728 budget decision.

1:48:28 ↗ Yeah. Okay. Sounds good.

1:48:31 ↗ >> Thank you.

1:48:33 ↗ >> Excellent.

1:48:34 ↗ Okay. Um, looking at the agenda. Again,

1:48:37 ↗ that was our only agenda item. So, we've

1:48:40 ↗ got good of the order. Anybody have

1:48:42 ↗ anything?

1:48:44 ↗ Okay. Council member Hall,

1:48:45 ↗ >> just really quickly to say thank you to

1:48:47 ↗ the city. I was at the farmer the rainy

1:48:49 ↗ farmers market this weekend and the city

1:48:51 ↗ had a booth with a bunch of boards and

1:48:53 ↗ maps and design pictures for the

1:48:55 ↗ Northwest Samish Road project and John

1:48:58 ↗ Mortonson was there with other staff

1:48:59 ↗ holding down the fort and talking to

1:49:01 ↗ community members. He told me they're at

1:49:03 ↗ 90% design, which is outstanding. And uh

1:49:06 ↗ I heard nothing but good things

1:49:08 ↗ community members coming over and being

1:49:09 ↗ like, "What's this?" Oh, really?

1:49:10 ↗ Awesome. So, anyways, just thank you to

1:49:12 ↗ staff. That seemed to go very well.

1:49:16 ↗ >> Excellent. Um just one more item for go

1:49:19 ↗ to the order. Just a reminder. Oh, okay.

1:49:22 ↗ Two more items. Give me one second. um

1:49:24 ↗ the east side fire and rescue um chief

1:49:27 ↗ uh there's a an event at Samish City

1:49:30 ↗ Hall uh tomorrow from 2 to 4. So if

1:49:33 ↗ anybody wants to meet the finalists

1:49:36 ↗ candidates for that um please join me

1:49:39 ↗ and council member Jen.

1:49:41 ↗ >> Um I just wanted to make sure everyone

1:49:43 ↗ knows the salmon on sunset celebration

1:49:46 ↗ is the Saturday from 10 to 6. It's

1:49:49 ↗ basically you can watch the salmon with

1:49:50 ↗ way less crowds than salmon days. So, um

1:49:53 ↗ I enjoy going to that and uh encourage

1:49:56 ↗ everyone else to attend as well.

1:49:58 ↗ >> Deputy Council President.

1:50:00 ↗ >> All right. As long as we're praising, uh

1:50:03 ↗ I attended the culture fest on Friday

1:50:06 ↗ and it was amazing. You were there, too.

1:50:08 ↗ I mean, I think we had a good pretty

1:50:10 ↗ good representation from the council. Um

1:50:13 ↗ I think it was the best crowd. This is

1:50:15 ↗ the fourth or fifth year that I've

1:50:17 ↗ attended. I think this is the best crowd

1:50:18 ↗ they've ever had. And uh the amount of

1:50:22 ↗ uh of people performing and engagement

1:50:26 ↗ was just uh over the top. It was just a

1:50:28 ↗ really nice evening and again the city

1:50:31 ↗ staff did a wonderful wonderful job.

1:50:34 ↗ Thank you.

1:50:35 ↗ >> Yes. And pointing at Clerk Geyser did a

1:50:39 ↗ wonderful job. So appreciate that. Okay.

1:50:43 ↗ Well, our uh love fest and announcements

1:50:46 ↗ uh going on. We appreciate you all for

1:50:49 ↗ being here. And at that we are adjourned

1:50:52 ↗ at 8:33 p.m. Thank you.

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (7)

Barbara de Michele

Zach Hall

Kelly Jiang

Russell Joe

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh

Staff (3)

Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator

Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator

Tisha Gieser, City Clerk

Audience commenters (1)

Brian Candelori

Recommendations & actions (1)

Sentences extracted from the narrative containing words like recommended, requested, directed, moved, or approved. Best-effort — verify against the full minutes for context.

However, additional time is required to gather the information requested by the City Council.