0:19
I'll call the December 19th, 2016 regular council meeting
0:25
to order and ask those in the audience who
0:31
would like to join the council and me in
0:37
the Pledge of Allegiance to please stand. I pledge
0:42
allegiance to the flag of the United States of
0:48
America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one
0:54
nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
1:00
We have a number of items under special business this
1:05
evening, the first of which is agenda bill 7203, a
1:11
proclamation honoring retiring city attorney Wayne Tanaka. And so Wayne,
1:17
if you would join me at the mic, please.
1:34
So this is a proclamation. Like most proclamations, there are a lot
1:40
of whereases in it. And I asked Wayne to check this over
1:46
earlier to see if there was anything in here that was not
1:52
true and to get the best legal advice that I could. So
1:58
Wayne has signed off on this, and so I will proceed.
2:04
Whereas Wayne Tanaka is a lead attorney for Ogden Murphy Wallace
2:09
and has served as Issaquah City Attorney since August the 15th,
2:15
1983. And whereas during Mr. Tanaka's tenure, the city
2:21
of Issaquah grew from a small rural town of approximately
2:26
6,000 residents to one of the fastest growing cities in
2:32
Washington with a current population of 34,592. Whereas over
2:38
the last 33 years, Mr. Tanaka has provided legal advice to the
2:43
city and assisted with open space acquisition and preservation, the development of
2:49
two urban villages, the creation of the central Issaquah plan and hundreds
2:55
of infrastructure projects. And whereas Mr. Tanaka graduated
3:01
cum laude from Harvard University in 1972 and
3:07
received his law degree from the University of
3:13
Washington in 1975, And whereas Mr. Tanaka has been
3:19
president and was on the board of the Washington State Association
3:24
of Municipal Attorneys, the statewide organization of municipal attorneys, and whereas
3:30
Mr. Tanaka is active in the Issaquah community and has sponsored
3:36
countless concerts on the green shows, which are beloved by
3:42
Issaquah citizens and whereas the city of Issaquah will
3:47
miss Mr. Tanaka, especially his trademark response of, "It
3:53
all depends the questions asked by the staff." Now
3:58
therefore I, Fred Butler, Mayor of the City of
4:04
Issaquah, do hereby proclaim December 19th, 2016 to be
4:10
Wayne Tanaka Day in the City of Issaquah and I call upon
4:16
the citizens of Issaquah to join in recognizing and expressing their appreciation
4:21
for the dedication and service by Mr. Wayne Tanaka to our city.
4:27
In witness whereof I hereunto set by hand and seal of the
4:33
City of Issaquah this 19th day of December 2016. Thank you, Fred.
4:48
And so Wayne, thank you very, very much. If you have a couple
4:53
of words you would like to say, as long as it's short, and
4:59
as long as it's... Five minutes. No, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And it's
5:04
really a deep honor and a privilege to have served as your city
5:10
attorney for these last years. It means a lot to me to have
5:16
seen the city grow up and to have a small part in helping it do
5:21
so. So to the mayor and to the council and to other mayors and past
5:27
councils, I want to thank you for the opportunity and wish you all the best
5:33
of luck in the future. Thank you. We wish you the best of luck, Wayne.
5:38
Good luck and Godspeed.
5:52
Our next order of business is agenda bill 7320
5:58
State of the County address and I noticed that Kathy
6:04
Lambert King County Council member for District 3 is in
6:10
the back row and I would invite Kathy to the
6:15
to the microphone the rostrum to provide us an update
6:21
on what's going on in the county and Wow You
6:27
should come more often, Kathy. I store it up.
6:33
Some people have little checkbooks, mine is a little bit bigger. She's seen me getting
6:37
down the street with that. So I was just looking and thinking about how many
6:41
wonderful things I've seen each of you do in the last month. And what a
6:45
great team you are, not only in the city of Issaquah, but outside. PSRC in
6:50
the courthouse on adoption day, which is actually my very favorite day in the courthouse
6:54
is adoption day. If you want to have fun with lots of little kids running
6:58
around with happy smiles and happy moms and dads, come to adoption day. Would you
7:01
agree with that, Stacey? It's a very cool day to be in the courthouse. So
7:05
thank you for all you do and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas
7:10
and happy holidays. So I have a couple of things to tell you about that
7:14
you should know about. First of all, we're going to be starting a pilot project
7:19
and we have invited your fire department. We'd like to also invite your police department.
7:24
We will be having a meeting on January the 17th and it'll be out at
7:28
Mount Sai Community Center and we have been chosen in the county to be able
7:33
to kind of be the SWAT team of ACEs. ACEs, as you know, is Adverse
7:38
Childhood Experiences, and we don't believe that any child should be left to deal with
7:43
a traumatic event. So what we're going to do is when there's a traumatic event,
7:48
we're going to ask policemen, firemen, and emergency doctors to call in to the county
7:53
and a certified medical person will, mental health person will come and help that child
7:58
immediately so that they aren't processing big, big, huge adult things as a child because
8:03
that impacts the rest of their lives. So, we're going to be starting this. We're
8:08
going to have two meetings. One will be the 17th and one will be the
8:12
24th. I've already been in touch with Jeff and he's been wonderful and Greg twice.
8:17
By the way, the other night Greg and I did a de-escalation of a very
8:21
bad event and I could go to any bad event with him and feel very
8:26
comfortable. He handled it very well. There was a lot of screaming and yelling and
8:30
we got it all handled. And it wasn't me screaming and yelling. So I wanted
8:35
you to know that your fire department has been wonderful already stepping up to the
8:39
plate and has already talked to me about your chaplains program and how they interface
8:43
with this. So on those two meetings we're going to ask what do you want
8:47
as a city to be able to help with this program and then from that
8:51
time until the beginning of March we'll put that program together and we hope to
8:55
launch it in early March. Also, for your citizens who may not have the formularies
9:00
that they want on their medical insurance, we are going to be launching, after five
9:06
years of negotiating, a piggyback contract with NACO, the National Association of Counties, and it
9:11
will allow any citizen in the county to buy a group insurance to be able
9:17
to buy their prescription drugs and it isn't only for their prescriptions but if you
9:22
have an animal that takes prescription drugs this will have insurance that will your animal
9:28
will also be able to use that. So you'll be seeing in a couple weeks
9:33
Caremark signs in your pharmacies so that's what it's about. We also launched last year,
9:39
as you may have heard, the FERS program and that's a family intervention program where
9:44
if the police get to a scene where there's a family in crisis and the
9:48
child is the perpetrator, we bring the child to our center. It now looks like
9:53
a dorm instead of a jail and there are counselors on board and if the
9:57
parents and the children can make a contract to get along and work out their
10:02
problems, we do not arrest the child. and we have had a 62% reduction in
10:07
children being incarcerated. We are now at the lowest we've ever been in King County
10:13
history of children incarcerated. So good things are happening there. The two things I want
10:18
to tell you at the end is you've probably heard that transit is going to
10:24
have 300,000 more hours. So thank you to the mayor for his great transportation conference
10:30
that he had and I think it's going to be really important that we make
10:35
sure we get our share of those 300,000 hours. So we'll all be pulling for
10:39
that. I'm hoping that there will be more money coming for roads. We did put
10:44
a little bit more money in for roads this year than the executive had put
10:48
in, but as you know we're still short about 350 million dollars a year for
10:52
roads and that's really not a sustainable issue. So the good news of the night
10:58
besides all that is that there was some one-time money and I made some quick
11:02
phone calls to your mayor and he came up with some projects that would help
11:07
the city and the citizens of Issaquah. So you will be having some money for
11:12
your skate park and also for your Tibbett Creek Park. So I wanted you to
11:17
know that that is exciting and it's always funny and It's always fun when we
11:21
get one-time money or any money because for the last eight years all we've done
11:25
is cut. So it was really nice this time to be able to say what
11:30
wonderful things can we do in the city of Issaquah. So I wanted to present
11:34
you all with a check tonight for your money that will be coming from the
11:38
county. So thank you very much and I hope you have a wonderful new year.
11:42
Thank you, Kathy, very, very much for coming. And Thank
11:48
you for your continued support in the district and
11:54
to the citizens of Issaquah. Thank you very much.
12:00
You're welcome. Thank you. And Jeff, our parks director,
12:05
was here. Oh, there you are. Jeff, make sure
12:11
you take that check with you when you go.
12:17
Our next order of business is agenda bill 7-299.
12:23
a presentation on a water update. I'm calling forward
12:28
our Director of Public Works Engineering, Sheldon Lin, who
12:34
will make a few introductory remarks and then introduce
12:40
the consultant who will be presenting the works that
12:45
they undertook for the city. Thank you, Mayor, Council tonight. What the
12:51
Council will hear an update from the previous report that was done by Geo Sintec
12:56
by Bob Anderson of Geo Sintec. This is an update from the hydrogeologic and water
13:02
sampling and quality water quality sampling that was done and you had a report given
13:08
a couple of months ago. We've done some additional testing, some additional monitoring wells,
13:14
and so this is an update of that previous report. And so with that,
13:20
I'm going to bring Bob Anderson of GDSINTEQ up to give the presentation. And
13:26
while Bob is coming forward, I'd like to acknowledge Commissioner Lloyd Warren, Sammamish Plateau
13:31
Water District, who's joining us this evening. Lloyd, thank you for coming.
13:39
And while they're getting set up, I'd also
13:45
like to acknowledge the presence of Chief Jeff
13:51
Clark and his deputy for joining us this
13:56
evening in the front row. So welcome to
14:02
the both of you also. I think we're
14:08
ready. I'm through with introductions, so Bob Rollem.
14:14
Okay, thanks. Hi, everyone. So the saga continues. I think this is
14:19
chapter four. Is this the fourth time I've been here to present on you? So
14:24
this really is just an update. I'm going to show you, I'm going to keep
14:29
it short. So I think previously we've kind of let the presentation be interrupted with
14:33
questions. I think I'll just try and get all the way through it and that'll
14:38
answer your questions afterwards if that's all right. Does that work for everybody? Okay. I've
14:44
got a different base map to show you here. I
14:50
think I've shown you previously this base map has been
14:56
kind of an aerial photo. What this is is a
15:02
geologic map. A little bit ugly. It looks better on my screen here. So this
15:07
is what the surficial geology of the Lower Issaquah Valley looks like, and each different
15:12
color is a different type of sediment or a different type of rock. So one
15:17
of the things, so you'll see all these spots here. These are the wells that
15:22
we've been drilling over the course of this year, the orange ones. And then these
15:27
green spots here are wells that already existed prior to our investigation. So if you
15:32
remember early on we were installing wells in the vicinity of COI well four. This
15:38
is the well here with your, that has PFOS in it. And we put in
15:43
these first five wells, monitored them for a while, came up with some interim sort
15:49
of conclusions and updates to our conceptual understanding of what was going on. And then
15:54
we recommended installing two more wells in this vicinity up here, MW6 and MW7. We
15:59
completed that drilling in the fall. Those wells are in and we've sampled them. And
16:05
this is a, again, this is a geologic map, partly because I want to show
16:11
you some additional geology related to the bedrock. So, you know, you've got bedrock and
16:16
you've got sediments. Bedrock is kind of like the edge of the bathtub. And so
16:22
as we move up valley, you can see that we start getting into areas where
16:27
there's, where we're near the edge of the bathtub. And that's what this red material
16:33
is here. I know it doesn't look too red here, but this is bedrock and
16:38
these are all sediments. So as we go through here, I'll come back to that.
16:43
So we've got underground geology going on from north to south. I'm going to show
16:48
you this cross section. I think I've shown this to you before. After our
16:54
first investigation, that cross section stopped right here, and now we've extended it further south
17:00
with the installation of MW6 and MW7. So this is sort of a slice down
17:05
into the ground. It only goes down about 100 feet, but each of these little
17:11
hatchings here are wells, and this is the area where we've installed a monitoring well
17:17
that samples the groundwater. So City of Issaquah's production well is right here.
17:24
and this is the zone that it's withdrawing the water from. So we've tried to
17:29
kind of focus our study following this aquifer up gradient, so water's gonna be flowing
17:34
from this direction down to this direction. And you can see that we've always hit
17:39
this brown sand. If you look at the material, it kind of looks the same
17:44
immediately as soon as you see it. And as we got up to the most
17:50
recent well, MW6, we saw the same stuff. When we got up
17:55
to MW7, the geology was a little bit different. We started to see more silt.
18:01
And so really along this kind of north-south trend here, this was the most different
18:06
well that we'd seen in the investigation so far. But we did see what we
18:12
think is the same aquifer material, just a little bit deeper and has this silty
18:17
bed in it. Okay, so we sampled all these wells. We sampled them
18:23
for all those perfluorinated compounds, and we installed pressure transducers to measure the water level
18:29
to figure out the direction of flow. And so when you put
18:35
all those things together, here's sort of our composite interpretation of
18:40
what's going on with perfluorinated compounds in that upper aquifer zone.
18:46
So we have our geology map again. That's the washed out
18:51
greens and pinks. This blue line here, these are the groundwater flow contours.
18:57
So if you think of groundwater as flowing like a stream, it's going to flow
19:02
from higher elevation to lower elevation. So this is kind of a contour of the
19:07
groundwater table. So 72 up here, and it slopes down to about 65 when you
19:13
get in this area here, and then it slopes down further into 60 as you
19:18
get in below I-90. So groundwater is flowing in this
19:23
direction and we've terminated these contours against the edge of the
19:29
bathtub, the bedrock that you can see here that slopes all
19:35
the way down here along this ridge here. The different colored
19:40
zones here all correspond to concentrations of that material, the PFOS.
19:46
So if you remember at City Well 4, we were above the screening level.
19:52
And earlier this summer, this was our highest concentration of PFAS that we'd found
19:58
in the whole study area at MW5, and that was at 0.5 micrograms per
20:04
liter. So that's well in excess of the EPA's recommended action level.
20:10
What we found at MW6 was a very high PFOS level. In fact, it
20:16
was 2.2, so it was four and a half times higher than what we
20:22
found at MW5, and that's about 30 times higher than the action level for
20:27
PFOS that the EPA recommends. And then we installed another well at that MW7,
20:33
the farthest upstream. and we found virtually no PFAS there. There was a
20:39
trace detect of PFAS very close to the laboratory detection limit. So with
20:44
the information we've put together now, The only logical conclusion at this
20:50
point is that the source of this PFOS is at the east side fire
20:56
and rescue property so this is where we collected some soil samples over the
21:02
summer. We detected PFOS and we have this very high concentration here. So basically
21:08
our conclusion is that this is a significant source of PFOS to the aquifer. And
21:14
that's really about where we still have not determined what the likely pathways are to,
21:20
for example, the Sammamish Plateaus wells. We know that they have seen some trace levels
21:26
of PFOS, not anywhere near as high as we're seeing at the production well four.
21:32
But we can't tell with the information we have here whether the
21:37
concentration there is related to this distribution of PFOS or a different
21:43
one. We started to talk with the Plateau and their consultants about
21:48
how to try to study that and understand whether those two things
21:54
are related or is it another source altogether. And we also have not
22:00
completely determined whether this is the source and what the pathway is to test well
22:05
five or production well five. So remember, that's the production well that's in the deeper
22:11
part of the aquifer. We know there's some, there's a trace of PFOS there. Again,
22:16
not anywhere near as high as in the shallower well four. But with the information
22:21
we have here, we can't tell if it's for sure coming from here. Again, the
22:27
geology has me thinking that if we do any more exploration, if any more exploration
22:33
is done in this area, we should look for this window. I think it's possible
22:38
that there could be a window because there's probably some additional geologic energy that's been
22:44
going into the valley right here. So if you look at the shape of this,
22:49
it's kind of like a little side channel coming into the valley. So it's very
22:55
possible that this silt here, you can see it starts to get a little thinner
23:00
as you move up valley. It could possibly be eroded there. So our basic conclusions
23:05
here are that the Newport property is a source for that distribution of PFAS that
23:10
we've been monitoring over the summer. Because it's so high, that's a
23:15
pretty high hit. I'll just leave it at that. 2.2 is
23:21
a pretty strong detection of PFAS. I think that what you'll probably
23:27
see at well four is that concentrations will go up a little bit. They're not
23:33
gonna reach the same concentration that we saw at MW5. A lot happens between those
23:38
two locations and there's dilution and things get moved around. But it will probably go
23:44
higher before it goes lower over some period of time. And again, as I said,
23:50
the specific transport pathways The Plateau and Well 5 are still not known.
23:56
So our recommendations are we really think that some sort of soil and groundwater
24:01
investigation needs to be conducted at the Eastside property. That would include some analysis
24:07
of distribution of soil concentrations and some groundwater analysis. We think it should continue
24:13
to install this network of monitoring wells that has been installed now. I think
24:19
we need to go back to revisiting this whole operational scheme at well four
24:24
and well five. Remember when we first started talking about this, there was talk
24:30
of gradients and how the water levels operate depending on which well is on. So
24:35
I think we need to just reevaluate that. I don't think that's a huge thing,
24:40
but look at that. And then consider this further transport modeling to try and understand
24:44
if this is going other places, if it's going towards the Plateau's wells, where it
24:49
might be coming, those sorts of things. The three parties, I guess, the fire district
24:54
and the plateau and the city have been discussing things about how to move forward.
24:59
Nothing is really crystallized yet in terms of what the exact plan of action is.
25:05
but I think we've got a pretty good baseline to move forward and again getting
25:10
back to the original the original response the water that's going into your well into
25:15
your water system is fine the treatment system is working very well so there's there's
25:20
still no new or imminent threat to to public health in any way with your
25:25
water system I think we just are continuing to get closer and closer to understanding
25:31
where this is coming from and and coming up with a plan to clean it
25:36
up. And that's all I have. - Thank you. Questions of Bob or Lou?
25:42
- Probably some are for Bob, but also for Sheldon. I think the first
25:48
one was, at one point in time, we were presented with the scope of
25:54
work, and I actually spoke with Sheldon a bit about this today. So what
25:59
changed in the original scope of work compared to what work was actually done
26:05
and presented in your report? The original scope of work had, remember that we had
26:11
the sentinel well, which was based on the assumption that there was no PFOS in
26:16
the deep aquifer. So the idea was to put in some initial wells, try and
26:22
figure out where we might want to put a sentinel well. After we put the
26:27
initial wells in, it became a little more obvious that we were, we had found
26:33
something a little more significant than maybe we had expected. And so we shifted the
26:39
investigation to characterizing the extent and distribution up gradient from the initial wells. So, we
26:44
transferred those costs into more shallow wells instead of a deeper well. Did we complete
26:49
all of the initial scope or did we just not install? Was there anything else
26:54
besides the Sentinel well that was in the original scope that we did or didn't
26:59
do or that we changed? No. I think the Sentinel well was the only piece
27:04
that got sort of shifted and morphed into a different part of the investigation. I
27:10
have a lot of questions if there's someone else that wants to jump in. Go
27:15
ahead. There were some conclusions in the report and some recommendations
27:21
for further actions. What were the conclusions about other potential sources?
27:27
At this point, we didn't make any specific conclusions about other sources because we didn't
27:32
investigate any other sources. So we were trying to understand how significant this source was,
27:37
which was the intent of those last two wells, because we didn't know if the
27:42
concentrations were going up or down or what they were doing as you got closer
27:47
to the the East side property. The study actually then got more focused on a
27:52
source instead of what many of the other contributing sources might have been. Right. It
27:58
basically was following the flow path from the city's production well towards where we
28:04
thought the source was coming from, yes. We do still have some unanswered
28:10
questions on how it's getting in a deeper aquifer or how it's getting
28:15
in Sammamish Plateaus. Right, we were focused exclusively on your well four and
28:21
five system and tracking that further. There was some, I think, I read
28:26
it in the paper, there were some surface water samples collected and analyzed
28:32
by others. And surface water samples collected as part of this study? That's right.
28:38
And the data that's reported in this study is just the surface water samples that
28:43
were collected by the city? We took two surface water samples in Issaquah Creek and
28:49
Sammamish Plateau took more than one but less than five. I can't remember the number,
28:55
including the North Fork of Issaquah Creek. Okay. But the scope of your report really
29:00
was just to report back on the data that you have. So we haven't got
29:05
a mechanism yet for the council to see the information that's collected by all parties.
29:10
Not really. Like I said, we have been talking to the plateau. They're initiating some
29:15
more work now for their benefit to try and understand these other pathways that might
29:20
be going towards their well field. So I think, you know, the... This wasn't a
29:25
study to blanket the entire aquifer with monitoring wells and come up with a
29:31
regional groundwater analysis. So this was really focused on well four and what was
29:37
contributing to the immediate problem that you had right here. I think that we'll
29:43
start to learn more as the plateau contributes to the effort here. I think
29:48
the rest of my question is actually for staff. Okay. So the report contained
29:54
several recommended actions. What is the next step for us in understanding which recommendations the
30:00
city is going to adopt, when they would do them, and how much they would
30:05
cost? How does that process look? The first
30:11
thing that we're doing is we're working with the partners, Samanich Plateau, Eastside Fire
30:16
and Rescue, and the city are in conversation and discussion about these recommendations. No
30:22
determination has been made as to what the cost and full scope of all
30:28
this is. We don't have any cost estimates on that, and we don't have
30:33
a timeframe specific for when these studies would continue on this. we're still in
30:39
discussions with the partners we're working together as bob mentioned sam platt is you know
30:44
doing more sampling more data uh we're all sharing the data we're sharing everything we
30:49
get would it be possible at some point for council in whatever the next report
30:55
out is to see the compiled data the data that everybody's collecting okay yeah as
31:00
we get the data we can incorporate it within our updates that's great There was
31:06
a recommendation about ongoing monitoring, so do we, are we not, there's discussion about that
31:11
or are we actually planning on completing groundwater monitoring for the rest of 2017? Right
31:17
now what we have is we have the transducers in the wells for water level
31:22
monitoring and the like and then we're monitoring our production wells for the PFAS and
31:28
also monitoring our water quality treatment to make sure that the water stays safe for
31:33
the customers. Thanks, Sheldon. Any other questions? No. I just want to restate, I think
31:39
you answered the question, but not in the words I'm sure of. So the money
31:43
that was set aside for the Sentinel well was then taken and used for monitoring
31:48
well six and seven? That's correct. Okay. So I just wanted to say that. That
31:53
was the transfer that was made. That was the transfer because we already knew that
31:58
we had trace PFAS in the deeper aquifer already with well five. And then that
32:02
went there. Thank you. - I had one more. - Oh, did
32:08
you have a question? - One for Sheldon and one for Bob. Sheldon, could you
32:13
say something about the treatment system that we have? I know that when we installed
32:19
that, that we would be monitoring the output of that and having to cycle the
32:24
carbon on some regular schedule. What is that looking like? Have we had to, what's
32:30
the plan? Schedule any maintenance, place the carbon, do the switchover yet? Is it anywhere
32:35
near what we thought it would be or is it too early still? We've been
32:40
monitoring it. The vessels have sample ports at different elevations in the vessels and we
32:45
have yet to have to replace the first vessel. We're still -- we're thinking it's
32:50
going to be a number of months yet before we even have to replace the
32:55
first vessel of carbon. on that but the system is functioning fine we're not getting
33:00
any traces at all or detections on the output of those vessels so the carbon
33:05
filtration is working very well that first vessel has been in operation for how long
33:09
now been uh since about mid-june so about six months okay i remember when which
33:14
that was about the time where we thought we might have to change out the
33:18
carbon but right now the sampling is showing that we can probably last another few
33:23
months And a question for Bob real quick. Thank you, Sheldon. Could you go
33:29
back to the overhead, the one that showed the gradient, the overhead with boundaries? Yeah,
33:35
that one right there. So those gradient lines, I don't quite understand 72 to 60.
33:40
That seems like it's deeper in the south than it is in the north.
33:46
So this is the slope of the water table. So the water table is at
33:51
an elevation of 72 here and then it drops one foot, one foot, one foot,
33:56
one foot. So it's the slope of the of the water table itself. -
34:02
It's just the water, okay, so. - Right, and then the colors correspond to the
34:07
concentrations of PFOS in the groundwater. - Okay, well, okay, so, okay. I understand that
34:13
there's a downslope, and I look at those gradient lines, and it seems to me
34:18
that it could actually, I mean, you show these question marks boundaries, but it seems
34:24
to me it would, water would just tend to spread out as it flows down
34:30
gradient. Well, it's not necessarily. You know, I mean, once this is
34:35
a confined system, it's kind of discharging through. You know, you've got the edge of
34:40
the bathtub here, so it's going to tend to, obviously, it can't spread out in
34:45
this direction. One of the reasons we have question marks on the concentration here is
34:50
that, you know, it is possible there is some spreading here, but we know we
34:54
didn't see any PFAS in either of these two wells. We also know that we've
34:59
sampled this well repeatedly. You know, this is still a bit of the -- this
35:04
was a well that I was not expecting to not see PFAS in when we
35:08
had the hit here at MW5. So there is something that's sort of keeping a
35:13
steady flow field, and it's moving in one direction, and it doesn't seem to be
35:19
moving around too much in this area here. Or we need some more data to
35:24
see if there's something we don't understand yet. Thank you. Thank you, Bob. Right, Lou,
35:30
did you have another question? More for Sheldon. It's not so much a follow-up on
35:35
the technical report, more of a follow-up. If I was a business person or a
35:39
citizen and I wanted to get information, so we got this report three weeks ago,
35:44
but the media has been asking for information and we haven't been responding. And I'm
35:49
just curious, how do we... How does this work going forward if we have additional
35:53
updates and reports and who's the primary media contact for someone who's watching and concerned
35:58
tonight who would they talk to? Mayor Redekop: I think that's a great question and
36:02
I'm going to leave that one to show. That is a great question. Good punt.
36:07
The media did receive the report when, you know, shortly after we received it. I
36:12
think it was a couple of days difference between when we received it and the
36:18
media got it. We've been sending all the communications out through Autumn, the communications person
36:23
for the city. And then if there are technical questions, she usually fields them to
36:28
us over in Public Works Engineering, which would either be myself or Bob York.
36:35
Does that answer your question? Not really. It's more about when the coverage in the
36:40
media, either on the televised or print media, always says no comment from the city.
36:45
That's the part that I'm wondering if I'm a business or a resident and I
36:51
wanted to get information. There are many parties involved, but who is the primary contact
36:56
here for people who are interested in getting more information on the issue? That would
37:01
be Autumn. Autumn Monaghan, the communications person for the city. Okay. Any additional questions?
37:07
Sheldon, Bob, thank you for that update. We'll now move to
37:13
audience comments. Citizen comments are an important part of the public
37:19
process. We take them seriously and factor them into the decisions
37:25
we make. Anyone from the public who wishes to comment will have the
37:31
opportunity to do so. Please direct your comments to the whole council and not individuals.
37:36
While this is not a question and answer session, we will contact you to follow
37:42
up if needed. If you did not have an opportunity to include your email address,
37:48
you may leave that information on the clipboard on the edge of the dais over
37:53
here. When recognized, use the lectern and speak into the microphone. State your name, address,
37:59
and any relationship to the city. Limit your comments to five minutes. Submit any written
38:04
comments to the city clerk. A visual timer has been placed on the lectern. When
38:09
it turns yellow, you are within the last minute of your comment period. If you
38:14
use the full five minutes, the timer will sound to indicate the end of your
38:19
allotted comment time. Just a reminder, personal attacks obscene language, derogatory remarks and disruptive
38:25
behavior will not be permitted. Again, citizen comments, written and verbal, are an important
38:31
aspect of the public process. The city takes them seriously and we thank members
38:37
of the public for taking the time to address us during our meetings. And
38:42
with that, I'd ask, has anyone signed up to speak? Yes, Rowan Hines.
38:54
Thank you. My name is Rowan Hines. My address is 1571 Sycamore
38:59
Drive, Southeast, here in Issaquah. And I am a retired public official,
39:05
formerly serving as mayor and city council. I want to take this
39:10
opportunity to give Wayne a few reminders. When he first started here
39:16
in 1983, I think, Maybe Dave Kapler might have been the only
39:22
other one in the room besides me that was here then. Were you on the
39:27
council then, Dave? 83. So there's nobody here but you and me, Wayne. When you
39:33
first started, you were still young and wet behind the ears, and we made a
39:38
commitment that we would keep you until you learned to do your job, and I'm
39:44
glad to see you finally learned to do the job. One of the... The
39:49
first things I learned working with Wayne back in 1990 when I was first mayor
39:55
was you never wanted to ask Wayne a closed question, okay? Because if you asked
40:01
Wayne, "Can I do this?" the answer was always no. So I learned very quickly
40:07
that the way you asked Wayne a question, he says, "Well, here's what I want
40:13
to do, Wayne. How can we go about doing this?" Now, Wayne being a good
40:19
attorney, He would say he's creative. I prefer
40:25
devious. And he almost invariably found a way
40:30
to help us. I'll take my chances. But
40:36
we had many fond memories. We did accomplish a lot and a lot I'm very
40:41
proud of to be involved with. And I'm glad that you were a part of
40:47
that and was very helpful to me personally. And I'm very appreciative of that, Wayne.
40:52
And I wish you nothing but the best. And to remind everyone
40:58
again, there is life after retirement. And unlike most
41:03
times I come down here to speak, I do
41:09
not intend to stay for longer in the meeting.
41:15
Thank you very much. Thank you, Rowan. Next we
41:20
have Dane Williams and Sierra Martinson. I'm Dane Williams
41:26
and my address is 2044 Northwest Howis Drive in
41:32
Issaquah. Hi, I'm Sierra and I'm from the
41:37
Issaquah Youth Advisory Board and my address is 3529 264th Avenue and I
41:43
live in Sammamish, Washington. So the Issaquah Youth Advisory Board is a group
41:49
of teenagers in this community that plan events for teens, kids, and their
41:54
parents and we specifically are from Teen Advocacy, which is a subgroup in
42:00
the Youth Advisory Board, and we work on problems that directly affect teens,
42:06
such as mental health and drugs. So this is my second
42:12
year on the board and I'm a junior at Eastside Catholic on the plateau and
42:17
this year on the board we are working for the fourth time on the state
42:23
of mind mental health conferences. So in 2017 we'll be hosting the fourth annual conference
42:29
with Influence of Choice and the Healthy Youth Initiative. and this coming year's state
42:35
of mind will consist of three different conferences, one at Issaquah High School, one at
42:41
Liberty High School, and one at Mary Queen of Peace across the street from Skyline
42:46
High School. At each conference, attendees will be given the opportunity to attend multiple seminars
42:52
led by guest speakers, out of several which are offered. In the past, we have
42:58
had guest speakers and led attendees in mindful meditation, give a presentation on body image
43:03
disorders, explain the effects of technology on one's mental health, and much, much more. So
43:07
I can only imagine how stressful running the city of Issaquah can be. So the
43:12
Issaquah Youth Advisory Board invites all of you to join us at any of our
43:16
state of mind conferences at Mary of Queen of Peace on February 4th, Liberty High
43:21
School on March 11th, and Issaquah High School on April 29th, all of which are
43:25
from 11:30 to 4:30. Thank you. Thanks to
43:31
both of you for coming this evening. Next
43:37
we have Mark Burles. My name's Mark Burles.
43:43
I live at 1689 24th Avenue Northeast, right
43:49
up in the Highlands, right next to Central
43:54
Park. And I'm here to talk about Central
44:00
Park and the upcoming vote. Specifically, the two issues that were
44:06
left out of the budget in the last meeting that occurred two weeks ago around
44:10
the traffic situation and the lights. My only message is, because I know you've heard
44:15
a lot about this, Please don't consider these luxuries to the community immediately impacted by
44:21
the park. I think the traffic issue is fairly obvious when you visit there.
44:27
And with regard to the lights, I think there's some sound reasons around cost
44:32
and sustainability to go with LED. But I just ask if you're driving into
44:38
Issaquah from Seattle, if you look up and you see that bright glow, that's
44:44
pad three. I completely agree with the community
44:49
need for these fields. I just ask that
44:55
you not put too much of a burden
45:00
on the immediate surrounding residents as you fulfill
45:06
that need. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Next
45:12
is Ken Eastman. My name is Ken Eastman.
45:17
I'm resident of Issaquah 2473 Northwest Stony Creek
45:23
Drive. in the Talus community and tonight I'm representing the
45:28
Talus Residential Association and I would like to read a letter of
45:34
appreciation to the city from our association and our residents.
45:41
The 2016 has been a year of disruption and development up
45:46
on the hill. The Timber Ridge addition being finished, medians being
45:52
added to Talus Drive. Spring Peak also coming to a conclusion.
45:58
Parcels 7 and 8 up at the top, significant construction. The
46:03
Parcel 9 hillside on everybody's mind, a pump station installed. at
46:09
our playground and finally Forest Heights on the northeast corner. A lot of
46:15
disruption but we're here tonight to thank city staff, city council for all
46:21
of the support in making all those disruptions manageable and specifically I
46:27
want to cite a few individuals who have gone above and beyond.
46:33
First off, development services, last week was a tense week for all of us
46:38
as we were working through our read on the final plat for Parcels 7
46:44
and 8. With development services help, we managed to reach an agreement and in
46:50
the end, last Friday, we expressed our support for the final plat. A lot
46:56
of hard work by the development services team. A thanks to Denise Perillo, project
47:02
manager. She helped us through the Puget Sound energy changes in the summer, a
47:07
lot of disruption at what we call our four-way stop sign, and she's helping
47:13
to clean up the Spring Peak final issues. I want to cite Doug Schlepp,
47:19
city engineer. Here is a guy, no matter where he is involved, He's just
47:25
the man of knowledge and we just have really good faith that when Doug's involved
47:30
he's going to keep us appraised and he's going to be our advocate. So many
47:36
thanks to Doug for all the things he does for TALIS. Mike Bengree for helping
47:41
us with our sidewalk safety issues. Lucy Sloman of Development Services for helping us
47:47
with the pump station addition to our playground. It's not easy to integrate a
47:53
city utility into a playground when they are within inches of each other, but
47:59
we asked Lucy's help to work with city operations and we really appreciate the
48:05
fact that we think that the project will come out very well. Keith
48:10
Niven and Auden Monahan for keeping our community appraised during the hillside crisis.
48:16
That was a big deal to the community to know what was going on and
48:21
they did a superb job. Many public meetings on that. Brett Heath, back to the
48:27
hillside. That was a big crisis. The city utilities were in jeopardy. I mean, really
48:32
bad things could have happened had that, that the city department not gotten in there.
48:37
City trucks around the clock monitoring the situation. We all appreciate the fact that he
48:42
kept us and his entire team safe. Emily Moon for our continued coaching
48:48
and advocacy and how the city works. We're all volunteers and Emily
48:54
helps us through sort of decoding how city government works and recently
49:00
her help on our streetlight reimbursement and thank you Bob for your
49:05
commitment earlier in the meeting. And Mayor Butler and City
49:11
Council, this is a really big thank you. Thank you for your advocacy on
49:17
pushing back on the potential annexation area of the parcels west of TALIS. and
49:23
the great news from King County recently that they agreed with your decision.
49:28
So that's a double big thank you for the council and the mayor.
49:34
And lastly, I want to just call out Keith Niven. He has been
49:39
tireless in trying to get a resolution to the hillside at Parcel 9.
49:45
That is a difficult situation we recognize. And we look forward to a
49:51
good resolution to that. If you haven't been up there lately, please take
49:56
a look at it. And I think you'll see why that's probably first
50:02
and foremost on the residents' minds. I want to thank you for your
50:08
partnership, city staff. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday.
50:13
CHRIS JERRAM: Thank you, Ken. CHRISTIE WOOD: No one further has signed up
50:19
to speak. CHRIS JERRAM: Lloyd? LLOYD HENRY: Sorry I didn't get down here
50:25
in time sign up before we were just getting out of our meeting. I'm Lloyd
50:31
Warren, currently president of the board of Sammamish Plateau Water and until the end of
50:36
the year we'll have new elections. After hearing the report I thought I'd take a
50:41
minute or two and just explain what activities the district is doing with respect to
50:46
PFCs in the groundwater. I think I could break that down into four different areas.
50:51
The first one is monitoring you've been doing monitoring we've also been doing monitoring we
50:57
don't have a plan to do a lot additional monitoring but we've done quite a
51:03
bit already we've done some initial analysis of that and and we believe in open
51:08
and transparent information and all that information as a consultant said it's been passed on
51:14
to both east side fire and rescue in the city and and and you have
51:20
provided information to us The second is we have two consultants that are
51:26
working with us. The first one is a geohydrologist who basically is working
51:31
on developing a groundwater model for the entire aquifer in the valley. And
51:37
we would hope that in the future we can coordinate with the city
51:43
on that effort. Because as the consultant said, there's a a lot of
51:48
question marks out there and part of it relates to the natural flow of water
51:53
but also both the city and the district are pumping significant amounts of water out
51:58
of their wells and we don't know how that interaction occurs and what happens We
52:03
have found lower levels of PFCs in our production wells. We have tested in
52:09
the creeks and found low levels in the north fork of Issaquah Creek. Now,
52:15
how the heck it gets in the surface water, we have no idea yet.
52:21
So we're going to be working on that hydraulic model to understand how all of
52:26
the pumping and the hydrogeology works so we can make much better decisions in the
52:32
future. The third effort is we do have a consultant that is going to be
52:37
taking all this information and providing us with some alternatives on where to look in
52:43
the future and what to do about our operations and our wells and hopefully in
52:48
coordination with Issaquah and the fire district, try to look at this in a long-term
52:53
solution in terms of what really works for not only our customers but all the
52:59
customers and all the community. And the fourth, which is just as
53:05
important, is at the invitation of the mayor, there's an effort to
53:10
try to get together a group of the three parties, the city,
53:16
the district, and the fire district, to look at this much more holistically and
53:21
try to look at this as a solution for the long term. We have some
53:27
immediate issues, we have some short term issues related to PFCs, and we have some
53:32
long term issues. This groundwater resource is really a treasure for the community. I remember
53:38
Dave Kapler back in the day, we did a lot of groundwater studies under the
53:43
county and it just kind of stopped. and we really should have continued that and
53:48
we really need to reinitiate that and engage for the future because this aquifer is
53:53
going to be around a lot longer than I am and I feel the responsibility
53:57
I think with our board that we continue to look at its health and its
54:02
real contributions to this community. So those are the four efforts we're working on and
54:06
we're looking forward to the new year and working on these efforts with both the
54:11
fire district and the city. Lloyd, thank you very much for coming this evening
54:17
and for that status report. David. Good evening. David Kepler, 255 Southeast
54:22
Andrew Street. I got about five topics. They're all quick and they're
54:28
all positive, so that's great. The lesson, how do I get so-and-so
54:34
done so I get it done and I do it legally? And
54:40
that was the broken record we got from our former city attorney.
54:45
Sounds weird to say former city attorney, but and that was, you
54:51
know, but i was going through uh silverado stuff tonight and i was thinking all
54:56
those all those legal things you had to get just i was thinking you had
55:00
to make sure you covered all these different bases about trails and easements and this
55:04
and that liability there's just so much that and you look at the books that
55:08
we produced for the the highlands and talus and all the legalese and all of
55:12
those and we've been working with them for 20 years almost And I think there
55:17
was a lot of good work done at the base and continues and of course
55:22
there's always updates, there's changes in laws, but it's been good. Senior Center, people are
55:28
quite positive about the city taking over and there's a lot of excitement about that.
55:33
Just the new paint they've done and the brightening up and the cleaning has been
55:39
noticed by the members for sure. Silverado is the committee working on that. Land
55:45
and Shore did a great job. We've been back and forth a lot. Staff did
55:50
a great job on that. Of course, my one of those is the open space.
55:55
protection of the open space but also trails it's kind of a situation we got
56:01
to go through the plotting process but the concept is we're going to see a
56:06
private kind of a private trail system for the plat later when we can make
56:11
connections through with the the regional trail hopefully i don't expect that lake sammamish to
56:16
cedar river trail we'll get all the way from lake sammamish to Cedar River, but
56:21
at least not as neat a trail as possible from the trail from the central
56:27
Issaquah to the city property on Squawk, the open space that we have, which connects
56:32
to the state open space and the county open space, that is a viable option
56:38
in the future. So we'll have a possibility of a trail on this property in
56:43
the future that would be a public trail. And it's really good how it worked
56:49
out. You must have had some kind of a lawyer or
56:54
something write the President's budget message. That was one of the most thorough ones
57:00
I've ever seen. It gave a lot of marching orders to the Council, the
57:06
administration, however, for the future. But it was good. Geology, we got
57:12
another geology lesson. I wish they weren't so expensive, but I think
57:17
it's really great that people are figuring out the geology on this
57:23
whole thing. And Lloyd's point about the aquifer that we have and
57:28
they have is really important to us in terms of if we
57:34
have to go and buy, Lake Taps water or more CWA water,
57:40
it's going to cost a lot more than protecting and retaining our aquifer. And
57:45
I'm still, I hope you can pull off the LED lights up in the
57:51
highlands. I think that just go up there and compare three to one in
57:56
those two areas and think of the impacts on the neighbors for one. Thank
58:02
you. Thank you, David. Does anyone else who has not signed up to speak?
58:08
Jeff? Hi, my name is
58:13
Jeff Walker. I live at 2001 16th Court Northeast in Issaquah in the Highlands. I
58:18
am the chairman of the Urban Village Development Commission and I'm glad to be here
58:23
tonight. I don't get to make it to too many of these meetings so glad
58:28
to be here. Congratulations, Mr. Tanaka. I just want to very quickly echo Mr. Burrell's
58:33
and also David's comments about the LED lights up in the Issaquah Highlands. I am
58:38
a resident there. I'm speaking as a resident tonight. But also on the traffic, whether
58:43
it's traffic calming, traffic issues, the parking, that sort of thing, the widening of the
58:47
street. I just want to throw my support behind that. I just think it's, as
58:52
a user of that park for many, many years, as a resident of the Highlands
58:56
since the first five homes were built, I've been there since '98, I'd love to
59:01
continue to see the growth. but also the smart action around that growth and in
59:06
this particular case I think if there's any way to pull it off I think
59:11
putting the effort behind that and the LED lights would go a long, long way.
59:16
So I just want to put my support behind that. So thank you very much.
59:21
Have a great holiday. Thank you, Jeff. Anyone else desiring to speak this evening? Oh,
59:27
thank you, Ken. Anyone else desiring to speak? Third and final call. Anyone desiring to
59:32
speak? Seeing no one, then audience comments are closed and we'll now
59:37
move to committee and regional reports beginning with Mariah Batiste. Thank you, Mr.
59:43
Mayor. Last week, the Eastside Human Services Forum had their annual meeting. The
59:49
bylaws were amended and the new board was voted in and I'm pleased
59:55
to say I was re-elected to the board, so I'm excited to serve
1:00:01
again. in the next few years. Ilse Flanagan, who's the director of
1:00:06
the National Reframing Initiative, gave the most amazing presentation regarding launching efforts
1:00:12
to create a cohesive voice for human services. And it was all
1:00:17
about how we talk about human services. And it was It was really
1:00:23
very interesting. So if you get a chance to look up the reframing initiative
1:00:29
or the reframing project, it's very interesting to look at. The next meeting will
1:00:35
be in January and I'll also be joining and waiting to hear when the
1:00:40
first meeting will be for me, the King Conservation District Advisory Committee for next
1:00:46
year. Thank you. Bill Ramos. - Thank you. Report on the ninth, I went to
1:00:52
the Eastside Transportation Partnership meeting. If you remember, that was the day with the heavy
1:00:56
snow prediction, so we did not get a quorum. At last meeting, we talked about
1:01:01
the legislative agenda that was supposed to be voted on then. Without a quorum, we
1:01:05
did do some discussion. They're doing a little more tweaking of that, and it'll come
1:01:09
back again in January, and I'll bring that to you then when we get that
1:01:14
little tweaked a little bit better, and for your comments on that. On the 14th,
1:01:19
I was at the Regional Transit Committee, and as Councilmember Lambert mentioned, Metro Transit has
1:01:23
300,000 hours they're talking about adding. And we were trying to pass the Metro Connects,
1:01:28
the long-range plan. And the goal of that was to get that done by the
1:01:33
end of the year, and I didn't think that was gonna happen, and neither did
1:01:38
anybody else. But I'm proud to say that it did get passed on the 14th.
1:01:43
And much thanks to the Uh, King County council member and chair Claudia Valducci. She
1:01:48
led us through that very well, worked on a lot of points with SCA cities
1:01:54
and legislation. And the big sticking point on that was how do you implement those
1:01:59
things? And what we were able to do there was design how the RTC will
1:02:05
work with Metro transit through that process and implementation of the development program, the work
1:02:10
plan and timing and substance of service and capital decisions. The RTC is going to
1:02:15
be very involved as that continues to go and that was a big change in
1:02:19
how things have done in the past. I'm very glad to have been part of
1:02:22
that. That concludes my report. Thank you. Paul Winterside. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll say
1:02:27
first that my two regional committees I'm on, well, one, the Puget Sound Regional Council
1:02:32
Growth Management Policy Board did not have a meeting in December, so no report, and
1:02:37
our local Lodging Tax Advisory Committee also did not meet. But I do want to
1:02:42
report on the Council Infrastructure Committee, which met here in Council Chambers last Thursday on
1:02:47
the 15th. And there's three items I wanna discuss. We did begin a conversation
1:02:52
about one of our council goals about defining funding and other policy to guide our
1:02:58
Complete Streets program. So we had a presentation from staff. It was just a discussion
1:03:04
and basically what I learned was that there's a few words a couple score maybe
1:03:10
in the IMC that define Complete Streets and then there's a bunch of other process
1:03:15
that staff seems to know about. There is no formal council policy around Complete Streets
1:03:21
either for how to select or what guidance to use or even what funding is.
1:03:27
Now we have history and that is a guide. So we did have a review
1:03:32
of that and I think and a really healthy conversation. That's an ongoing process and
1:03:37
I think that I'll be reporting on that again as we go forward. But I
1:03:42
am very optimistic that we can actually put together a very council, from the council,
1:03:48
a coherent process to help us achieve I think what we all want for complete
1:03:53
streets and that is exactly what, as the name suggests, that we have that we
1:03:58
maximize the resources that we do have to complete these gaps in our
1:04:04
projects and our infrastructure for safer pedestrian non-motorized mobility within the city.
1:04:10
We also talked about the Trader Joe's Maple Street intersection. That was a budget item
1:04:15
as well. Now, we did get down into some of the details, but I think
1:04:21
in essence, I think the Council President has asked and we have initiated the intent
1:04:26
to have an agenda bill come forward. And eventually, I think what we got down
1:04:31
to is some guidance in the design of that intersection. And this is also, it's
1:04:37
at the concept level and we'll definitely be getting to more detail,
1:04:42
but some of the key objectives for the improvement to that intersection,
1:04:48
other than doing it for something less than $5 million, And that
1:04:53
was really the big thing that started this was that is there a
1:04:59
cheaper way to actually make a difference? And so we believe that we
1:05:04
can improve the safety both for pedestrians and motorized users of that intersection.
1:05:10
That intersection, We have to make the proper use of that intersection more intuitive for
1:05:15
both pedestrians and drivers. There is a lot of confusion on what are the turning
1:05:20
lanes, what are not turning lanes, and whether or not there's a circle there or
1:05:25
not. It is a non-intuitive intersection. And some of those improvements can be very simple
1:05:29
just with signage and markings as well. But at the same time, to manage the
1:05:34
costs, what we're trying to do is not force changes to either the Target or
1:05:38
the Trader Joe's parking areas. Because if we make changes that forces changes there, that's
1:05:44
where things scale up in complexity and cost quite significantly. So can we
1:05:50
achieve improved safety, more intuitive use without forcing changes on the neighbors nearby?
1:05:55
That's the objective. And then finally, it's not a project to add capacity. So this
1:06:01
idea of an additional kind of bypass lane where we could get more capacity through
1:06:06
there, that is not an objective as well. Now whether or not all of those
1:06:11
can be achieved is to be determined, but those are the primary kind of objectives
1:06:16
that were set out. And one last thing we did discuss is aesthetics, is that
1:06:21
the very cheap option that we all saw during budget. It was just going to
1:06:26
lay on top of concrete, which meant that we couldn't do anything with any type
1:06:31
of landscaping, or at least nothing that would survive. And so we asked that other
1:06:37
options that would allow us to have nice landscaping aesthetics be brought forward as well
1:06:42
for consideration. Now that does up the price quite significantly, but it is certainly an
1:06:47
option that we'd like to see what it would take. And so that was
1:06:53
the discussion around Trader Joe's. And then the last thing we discussed, I'll mention, is
1:06:59
the Traffic Advisory Committee. That's something that Council has asked that we put that governance
1:07:05
structure in place. And the staff did present a summary of the survey of Council
1:07:11
and various commissions and boards about the Transportation Mobility Board. And I just realized I
1:07:17
have it written down both ways, Transportation Mobility Board and Traffic Advisory Committee. So I
1:07:22
apologize for that confusion. So the staff presented two alternatives on what we might do
1:07:27
with that board. And so here's how it went down on the committee. One committee
1:07:32
member liked alternative one. Another committee member liked alternative two. And the third committee member
1:07:37
asked for an alternative three. So we didn't coalesce on any preferred model. So it's
1:07:43
going to remain within that committee for a while among our committee members, whomever they
1:07:48
are in 2017 to try to bring that to a place where at least we're
1:07:54
going to have, you know, we coalesce on an idea that we can all support
1:08:00
and bring back to the entire council for further action. And then, so that
1:08:06
concludes my report on infrastructure. The last thing I'll report is last Thursday, we
1:08:12
had a meeting for the Eastside Fire and Rescue Board and we got a
1:08:17
presentation, Chief Clark, appreciate you being here, gave us a presentation on his understanding of
1:08:22
the issues related to PFAS and let me tell you, we've only had to sit
1:08:28
up here and listen to people talk to us. The chief sat down, taught himself
1:08:33
and then spoke to us and I think that was very helpful and I really
1:08:38
admired that. And I found the information that was provided and the subsequent discussion to
1:08:43
be quite informative. The chief does acknowledge that in the past, foam with PFAS was
1:08:48
used at that site, but it's not being used there anymore. It's not on site
1:08:53
anymore. And so I think that's one key point. And we heard that tonight as
1:08:58
well. I just want to emphasize that. But one of the items that discuss I
1:09:03
think is important for our council members to understand is that According to both the
1:09:08
federal EPA and also our Washington Department of Ecology, there really are no cleanup standards
1:09:12
yet. So we saw that from our consultant that said, do something maybe to treat
1:09:16
that location. But there are no standards. And I've heard that phrase kicked around before.
1:09:21
It really didn't mean anything. I thought the way that the chief presented it really
1:09:25
meant something to me. And that would be, and if I just think about it
1:09:29
this way, is that if they were to go in and do a cleanup, and
1:09:33
without any standards or targets in place, and what if the EPA comes along later
1:09:38
and establishes some cleanup standards, and maybe they missed, maybe we did not clean up
1:09:42
or they did not clean up to that standard. They'd have to do it all
1:09:47
over again. So given the fact that that's an unknown, that the water is being
1:09:52
treated, and as we heard, everything that's being delivered to our customers is safe, the
1:09:57
fact that there's no more of that material on their location is that I think
1:10:01
the, it makes sense to me if I was the property owner as well to
1:10:05
like, okay, let's, um, you know, we don't have to move right now. We got
1:10:09
to, we, you know, without those standards and further, it also, uh, one of the
1:10:12
points that chief made is that, um, that there are, you know, the way you
1:10:16
identify where potential sources are is you talk to people within the community. And I
1:10:22
know, and what type of operations historically happened at different locations. And there are other
1:10:27
fire stations, you know, within the valley. And there are other potential sources, at least
1:10:32
kind of like at an interview level that you could understand. And I know it's
1:10:37
very much in an IFR's interest to investigate them further. as potential sources. And I
1:10:43
think, and I like that idea because as long as, I think we have some,
1:10:48
we don't have cleanup standards. The water that's being delivered is safe. There's no more
1:10:54
of the material on their property. And as we heard from our consultant, and also
1:11:00
from the Sammamish Plateau Water, they changed their name, Sammamish Plateau
1:11:05
Water, that they're also, I like that idea of doing kind
1:11:11
of an entire aquifer model. And so... And so understanding potentially all sources.
1:11:17
And I know Eastside Fire and Rescue is very interested in investigating some of those
1:11:23
other potential sources as well. And so those seem like prudent actions to me. And
1:11:29
I support that intent going forward and I wanted to share that with the entire
1:11:35
council. So that concludes my report of all my committees. Thank you. Tolomars.
1:11:40
Thanks, Mr. Mayor. The Council Services and Safety Committee met on Tuesday,
1:11:46
December 13th. We voted unanimously 2-0 to move forward the Arts Grant
1:11:52
Recommendations, Agenda Bill 7293, which is on regular business this evening. We
1:11:57
also received a report from the Economic Vitality Commission, which has been
1:12:03
very busy indeed. sound cities association public issues committee did not meet in
1:12:09
december uh also on tuesday december 13th was king county growth management policy council gmpc
1:12:15
which county council member lambert and i both serve on and it was uh
1:12:21
There was not a big check involved. There was a big lump of coal for
1:12:27
Carnation, Covington, North Bend, and Suquamish who have conditional certification at the moment. And it
1:12:33
was thought that a... path forward had been identified and then it was realized that
1:12:38
a path forward had not been identified and there will be further conversations and there
1:12:43
are substantive conversations that we should be aware of because it has to do with
1:12:48
growth and it has to do with uh the targets king county has targets of
1:12:52
course and uh our friends in gmpb uh are involved in uh implementing vision 2040
1:12:57
which uh figures how to manage those targets. And some cities have viewed those
1:13:03
targets as floors. I believe our city has at times viewed those targets
1:13:09
as floors. And I think there's a strong case actually that the language
1:13:14
of King County's, these philosophical concepts that we use, I think the language supports actually
1:13:20
a floor, but it's really a conversation about as growth happens in King County, can
1:13:25
cities exceed these targets? Where do we want growth to occur if it is in
1:13:29
fact exceeding the targets? I mean, if businesses are coming in, and we have this
1:13:34
nice plan for how many businesses we want to have come into King County and
1:13:38
in fact twice that is coming in what do we want to do about that
1:13:42
so I don't know if we're going to get that solved by February but GMPC
1:13:46
is going to take up this issue again in February and we certainly hope to
1:13:50
have something that those four cities can use a little bit further to guide their
1:13:54
their ongoing growth And then finally the regional E911 strategic plan scoping leadership group
1:14:00
that Councilmember Lambert and I also both serve on is of course meeting next
1:14:06
in January 19th. And it's going to be the leadership group governance, the leadership
1:14:12
group, which is a subgroup of the working committee, which I would not make
1:14:18
this too esoteric, is going to be presenting a draft of the governance model, which
1:14:23
is important for how E911 system would be governed and how, of course, we as
1:14:28
having a regional PSAP, that's important to us and it's important to all the residents
1:14:33
on how E911 will get implemented. So I'll be excited about that and of course
1:14:38
I will be discussing it further with council. That concludes my report. Thank you. Eileen
1:14:43
Barber. Thank you, Mayor. A final report for King Conservation District, Asmeriah,
1:14:48
will be taking over that. But this is very good news. They have
1:14:54
resolved some litigation that they have been in. And due to this litigation,
1:15:00
there was $1.4 million that can go towards four new programs. So they
1:15:06
are... First of them is an agricultural drainage assistance and this
1:15:12
will be $500,000 over three years to help maintain five miles of drainage
1:15:18
which will return at least 250 acres of farmland to active production and
1:15:24
improve another 250 acres. The next one will be Discovery
1:15:29
Farms demonstration project and this is private farms that enter into collaborative
1:15:35
agreements with the universities. This initiative will spend over $200,000 in three
1:15:41
years to create on-site, I lost it again, on-site production, especially food
1:15:47
production and increase the opportunity for farmers to develop necessary infrastructure to
1:15:53
support the farming business, the industry out there. The next one
1:15:59
is a small lot forest management and fire protection. These projects utilize
1:16:05
$500,000 to assist small lot forest owners to implement firewise practices. The
1:16:11
project will utilize and cooperate cooperative approach encouraging small landowners in King
1:16:16
County to work together to take advantage of the economy of scales.
1:16:26
And the last is the agriculture strategic plan. So that's $200,000 over three
1:16:31
years to support the development of agricultural strategic productive farming lands. The plan
1:16:37
will support the improvement of production lands and bring more acres into production.
1:16:43
And that's my report. Thank you. Mary Lou Pauley. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
1:16:49
Just a clarification, Paul, on the EFER one. The information we saw the other
1:16:55
day was from preliminary information that will be included in a report at some point
1:17:00
would be issued. My understanding was that the historical research that they had done, I
1:17:06
agree with you, it was an interesting approach that they did. I did not hear
1:17:10
that EFRA would be additionally investigating that, but that is something that we can see
1:17:15
when they issue their report. I'm not sure. All I heard was that they were
1:17:19
identifying it. So that's something we would see when it comes out. I had two
1:17:24
committees to report on. Land insurers next meeting is January 5th, 2017. There
1:17:30
are five items on the agenda. First being a moratorium update. The second
1:17:36
being an information session discussion on amending DSD permit fees. The third item,
1:17:42
which is for action, is the majority of the comp plan amendments that were being
1:17:47
reviewed during 2016. One section of the amendments having to do with capital facilities planning
1:17:52
and rate studies is going to come to a second January meeting, so we're going
1:17:57
to pull apart a couple items and we think we need two meetings to get
1:18:02
through all of it. Fourth item on the agenda will be the ninth major amendment
1:18:08
to the Issaquah Highlands two-party DA and this is to do with the transfer of
1:18:13
development units and the development agreement with Polygon. That is supposed to be through the
1:18:18
Land and Shore in January and back to Council either the second meeting in January
1:18:23
or the first meeting in February for a review and a decision. Last item will
1:18:28
be the Gilman Lofts development agreement and that is coming to the Land
1:18:34
and Shore Committee with a transportation recommendation from staff on the south leg
1:18:40
of the Three Tails intersection which I think has also been discussed at
1:18:46
the Infrastructure Committee. The other report is I was not able to attend
1:18:52
this month's Eastside Fire and Rescue update at the FAC, Finance and Administration
1:18:58
Committee. But we did have staff representative there, Jen Olsen represented the city and the
1:19:03
one item that was discussed was the exempt policy number 2025. It's been in committee
1:19:09
for a couple of touches. And basically, the discussion this time was around the deputy
1:19:14
chief's salary compression issue that has been identified over the last several years, as well
1:19:19
as a discussion on performance pay. And this, I believe, is going to be coming
1:19:24
back to the board in 2017. And that's the end of my report. CLARE DUDA:
1:19:29
Thank you. Stacy Goodman. STACY GOODMAN: No report. CLARE DUDA: Thank you for the mayor's
1:19:34
report. You heard some comments about the senior center as we
1:19:39
prepare for a seamless transition of services. We have two scheduled
1:19:45
meetings this month. One has already been held where parks and
1:19:51
rec staff were introduced to the mayors. to the members
1:19:57
and tomorrow I will host to meet the mayors there to
1:20:03
make a number of remarks and to provide an opportunity for
1:20:08
specific feedback. The other item I'd like to, I'm proud
1:20:14
to announce that Warren Kagari, the city's communications coordinator, recently co-authored
1:20:19
an article that was published in the Public Administration Review titled
1:20:25
"Social Media: How One City Opens the Evidence Black Box." The
1:20:31
article covers how Issaquah developed, implemented, and now continually evaluates its
1:20:36
social media program. And the only other item I have is
1:20:42
there will not be an executive session this evening. Moving now
1:20:48
to the consent calendar, I'd ask if the payables and payroll
1:20:53
dated 19 December 2016 have been reviewed? They have. They have.
1:20:59
Thank you. With that, I'd ask the clerk to read into
1:21:05
the record the consent calendar. The consent calendar was distributed to council in advance for
1:21:10
study. If authorized, council action will occur by single motion regarding the following items. Item
1:21:15
A seeks approval of the accounts, payables, and payroll of December 19th. Items B through
1:21:20
D seeks approval of the minutes of the council budget work sessions of November 29th
1:21:25
and December 3rd and the regular meeting of December 5th. Item E, AB 7001, amendments
1:21:31
to Issaquah Municipal Code 18.10 wetland rating system, seeks to adopt ordinance.
1:21:36
If adopted, it will be assigned number 2790. This concludes the reading.
1:21:42
Thank you. Does anyone desire to remove an item from the consent
1:21:48
calendar and consider it separately? Seeing none then,
1:21:53
Stacy Goodman. I would move to adopt the consent calendar as presented. Second. Moved
1:21:59
and seconded. All those in favor of adopting the consent calendar as submitted, signify
1:22:05
by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? That carries unanimously. Moving now
1:22:10
to our next item of business. This is
1:22:16
a continuation of the public hearing and I
1:22:22
would, she's already here Jen. Welcome. You will
1:22:28
recall that the last time we considered this
1:22:34
we I will continue the hearing today, December the
1:22:39
19th. And with that, I will, following Jen's presentation, open
1:22:45
the public hearing. Thank you, Mayor and Council Members. Tonight
1:22:51
is our last public hearing, and there is an ordinance
1:22:57
for your consideration for adopting the 2017 budget.
1:23:05
So the budget process started with an Agenda Bill 7243. That's the
1:23:11
2017 budget. For this year, there were six budget workshops held in
1:23:17
2016. The public hearing for the budget was opened on November 21,
1:23:23
continued to December 5, and then continued to tonight for the proposed
1:23:29
final budget adoption. The proposed 2017 budget provided from
1:23:34
the mayor in the beginning of October 2016 identified maintaining current levels of service
1:23:40
while there were important challenges that needed to be addressed through the budget and
1:23:46
the financial plan that it is, continued an investment in the city's capital assets,
1:23:51
and began to address operating impacts that are proposed for our
1:23:57
transitioning community. The recommended budget is on the city's website. You
1:24:03
can find that at isaquahua.gov, 2017 budget.
1:24:09
The budget was provided, also included city council goals and direction that continued from
1:24:15
previous years with a noted new work plan that was discussed between the council
1:24:21
and administration over the course of the budget development. One thing to note is
1:24:27
that in 2017, the community will go through a strategic planning process.
1:24:32
The council then provided priorities for their 2017 budget
1:24:38
that mainly were surrounding these three priorities: the overall
1:24:43
fiscal sustainability of the budget, moratorium work plan, and
1:24:49
transportation and traffic related needs. The city
1:24:55
council, through their deliberations process, provided some additions to the budget as well as
1:25:01
some reductions to the proposed budget. And those were in the areas of general
1:25:07
fund revenues for adjustments for DSD fees, some increase in sales tax for
1:25:12
B&O taxes and then a sale of fixed assets that we found to
1:25:18
be occurring from a closure that did not happen in 2016 but will
1:25:24
occur in 2017. There was some positions that were eliminated that had been
1:25:30
in the proposed budget. Those were that management analyst position and a public records clerk.
1:25:36
However, the administration will be bringing back those in mid-2017 for review.
1:25:42
There will be a start to work on the proposed classification and compensation study in
1:25:48
2017 with a delay and to finish that study in 2018. The council added funds
1:25:54
for the mobility master planning effort to get that started as well as added funds
1:26:00
for the moratorium work plan. Other adjustments included some changes to the
1:26:05
proposed capital projects, eliminated some funding for Northwest Gilman Safety and Northwest Holley
1:26:11
Pedestrian Improvement projects. There were some added dollars for capital outlay for Complete
1:26:17
Streets with a request for a list of potential projects to come from
1:26:23
administration in 2017. for the Central Park project, a revision of the park
1:26:28
mitigation funds that were expected to come for that project until the bid alternates
1:26:34
are known. And then in the utility funds eliminated some long-term water treatment study
1:26:40
and plant design work until future date and added a new special revenue fund
1:26:46
for the school zone safety camera program. So some numbers. All funds
1:26:51
for all revenue types and sources were $125,493,000. The largest portion or
1:26:57
type of revenue source comes from charges for services. As you can
1:27:03
see in the pie chart, charges for services includes things like utility
1:27:09
rates, so that's those revenues come into those enterprise funds. And on the taxes,
1:27:15
which is the next largest source type, that's primarily in the general fund where we
1:27:21
record things like property tax, sales tax, and B&O tax. So that's revenue for all
1:27:27
funds. On the appropriation side, expenditures by type,
1:27:32
you can see that the largest type of expenditure is personnel, and that includes
1:27:38
salary and benefits in that category. The next largest category in all appropriations is
1:27:44
capital outlay, and that is for those projects that were identified in 2017, either
1:27:50
part of a larger project or the start of a new capital project.
1:27:57
Total expenditures were proposed to be $129,696,000. Because
1:28:02
personnel and benefits are the largest expenditure type,
1:28:08
just wanted to give a brief overview of
1:28:13
the full-time equivalents. As of the end of
1:28:18
2016, would be a little over 267 positions.
1:28:24
The council did authorize new positions and those
1:28:29
3.6 equivalent FTEs included positions for those capital
1:28:35
projects that are coming online. So the total
1:28:41
FTEs for 2017 is 271.125 FTEs.
1:28:47
Brief highlight on the capital projects that were included. The capital
1:28:53
outlay continued with some technology and software implementations and that's otherwise
1:28:58
known as the MUNIS implementation. Capital expenditures for fleet additions to
1:29:04
include some police vehicles and public works fleet. There's dollars
1:29:09
or the park projects included for Central Park, Pad 1, Confluence
1:29:15
Park, and Skate Park. Other capital projects on the transportation side
1:29:21
of things were for Southeast 62nd Street Extension, Newport Way Design,
1:29:27
Street overlay program continues and complete streets and that's where some additional dollars were
1:29:33
part of the council's deliberation. And then of course the South Cove Greenwood utility
1:29:39
annexation and the annual water sewer and stormwater improvement projects.
1:29:45
So if we look at the all funds appropriations by fund, you can see that
1:29:51
the general fund is the biggest fund. It is our largest operating fund. There are
1:29:56
a number of different capital funds for streets, utilities, and so that's why that makes
1:30:02
up that other expenditure type, but they're spread and they're tracked within different capital project
1:30:07
funds. So the general fund being the main operating fund, just wanted to take a
1:30:12
brief look at the general fund specifically. All sources for the general fund are
1:30:18
anticipated at $42,600,000. The largest type of source in the general fund comes from
1:30:24
taxes and that's 68% so that is heavily weighted there with regards to types
1:30:30
of source for the general fund that includes the property tax, sales tax, B&O
1:30:36
tax and utility taxes. The property tax levy
1:30:42
was set by the council for a 1% increase. That is the
1:30:47
max allowed by law. And that equates to $81,142 in increased property
1:30:53
taxes for a total general levy set at $8.4 million plus an
1:30:58
excess debt levy of about $1.6 million. That's based off the
1:31:04
2017 King County assessed valuation, the latest number that the city had
1:31:10
received to base the levy and the tax rate on. So the
1:31:16
tax rate then is anticipated for 2017 to be $0.98 per $1,000
1:31:22
of assessed valuation for a property owner. That also then, just
1:31:28
to make note that the excess levy is $0.18 or almost $0.19 per $1,000
1:31:33
of assessed valuation for a property tax owner. So those two added together make
1:31:39
up the city's total tax rate. The property tax assessed valuation did
1:31:45
go up in 2017 about 6.5% and one might ask that how
1:31:50
come the tax rate is going down? It's large in part due
1:31:56
to the formula for property taxes in that property taxes were raised
1:32:01
about 1%. However, assessed valuations went up to 6.5 so it doesn't
1:32:07
necessarily balance out. Another impact or from a revenue side in the
1:32:13
general fund is that development services related fees are going down. That's primarily
1:32:18
due to what's in the project pipeline from a permitting an inspection standpoint
1:32:24
as well as the plan check fees and this is just some quick
1:32:30
historical information to show that there is a planned reduction in development service
1:32:36
revenues and also in part due to the moratorium work. And then
1:32:42
general fund expenditures, just to give an example of the types of
1:32:47
expenditures, but for law enforcement, that is the largest expenditure appropriations in
1:32:53
the general fund of a little over $10 million. Then we have
1:32:59
our Parks and Recreation divisions, a little over $8 million, fire protection
1:33:04
services over $6 million, and development services a little over $6 million
1:33:10
as well. And then we have our smaller departments in the general
1:33:16
fund that make up that total budget for 2017. And finally, the
1:33:22
general fund fund balance. The proposed ending fund balance for 2017
1:33:27
is just shy of about 15 million. Um, so what's expected
1:33:33
is about 14,953,000 to end the year 2017. Um, and just
1:33:39
as a comparison, the policy with regards to reserves, uh, the
1:33:45
red line shows the minimum amount required at 8% of expenditures.
1:33:50
The green line shows the maximum amount as required, 15% of expenditures. You see
1:33:56
that the general fund, ending fund balance is projected to be very healthy and
1:34:02
that was a council goal for overall financial stability is to make sure that
1:34:08
we were in good financial health for the end of the 2017 budget.
1:34:15
So with that, the final budget adoption steps are to receive
1:34:20
public testimony and consider the proposed ordinance that is in your
1:34:26
packet. And with that, I'd just like to say thank you for your patience as
1:34:32
I have started as the new finance director here. I'd like to say thank you
1:34:37
to Bob and Emily, the executive department, and Mayor Butler for welcoming me, the finance
1:34:43
team for being so supportive, and other departments for also being supportive as I jumped
1:34:49
into the budget. after it started, the budget process. Thank you to Beth Ann Rowe
1:34:54
for helping me so tremendously through this process and I'm very glad to be here.
1:35:00
So with that, I'll end my staff report. - Thank you. Are there any questions
1:35:06
of Janet this time? Seeing none then, oh wait. - Actually I do, but protocol
1:35:11
wise, should we do it as part of afterwards, after the public hearing? - I
1:35:17
think that-- - I'm gonna ask you to, Leave that document nearby. I'm going to
1:35:22
ask you to go back to some pages later on. So with
1:35:28
that, I'll open the public comment at 8:37. The same rules for
1:35:33
audience comments apply. And I would ask those who wish to speak
1:35:39
to come to the lectern, speak into the microphone. And with that,
1:35:45
I would ask, has anyone signed up to speak this evening? No
1:35:50
one has signed up to speak. Is there anyone who has
1:35:56
not signed up desiring to speak this evening? Yes, sir. Hi, Mayor, Council.
1:36:02
My name is Steve Pereira. I live at 170 Northeast Dogwood Street here
1:36:08
in Issaquah for about nine years now. So I guess my thoughts get
1:36:14
back to the Central Park planning. I understand that park mitigation fees are
1:36:20
being held out until further mitigation and bidding for those particular processes are
1:36:26
looked at. - Well that's fine, I guess my concern is in a larger
1:36:31
perspective it seems like there are more funds for that project that are gonna be
1:36:36
needed that were provided for in the recent park bond fund that was put forward.
1:36:41
So because of that it seems like there's gonna be an overage that's gonna be
1:36:46
needed provided from general funds. We had the recent Confluence Park pedestrian bridge. It also
1:36:51
had an overage that was budgeted that wasn't included in park funds. We had the
1:36:56
skate park that had initial fund came forward and then was increased because I think
1:37:01
the city council wanted to see something that met the needs of the public. And
1:37:05
this is where I give a shout out to Kathy Lambert for also providing some
1:37:10
King County funds for that project. So thank you for that. But overall, there seems
1:37:15
to be larger funds that are provided or being budgeted for that there are lots
1:37:20
of needs that could be met for city park and park and roll bike and
1:37:26
pedestrian traffic, upcoming PFAS funds that could be used. It seems like it's better to
1:37:31
say at some point we can't fund everything that we provided for and it's better
1:37:37
to say no to some products upfront and not yes, so because of that, it
1:37:43
seems like the Central Pad project is too big of a project for what the
1:37:47
priorities that the city has said, and I think we need to scale back and
1:37:52
say no rather than bidding projects and have them come back potentially at a higher
1:37:57
cost even more than what has been regulated. I also hear, I mean, obviously we
1:38:02
like parks and recreation because they are places where youth can learn about teamwork and
1:38:07
camaraderie and friendship and all those things that we as a public admire. So while
1:38:12
I'm for those things, it seems too high of a cost. I also hear about
1:38:17
what is a PROST, the acronym Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Trails and those are
1:38:22
good things. I like it better when we can talk about those things and not
1:38:27
the acronym because with the acronym we lose the foundations of what those things are
1:38:33
and how they're relevant to the public. If we're spending that amount of funds for
1:38:38
this particular project, there are parts of this, parks in the city that are places
1:38:43
in the city that don't have parks now and the more we spend in general
1:38:48
funds for Pad 1, the less likely we are to have parks in parts of
1:38:53
the city that don't have parks now. So keep pressing forward with parks, recreation, open
1:38:58
space and trails, prioritizing what the needs of the city as a whole are. The
1:39:03
other related thought was I know the Arts Commission funds are being reviewed
1:39:09
today and will be approved I would like to see and I know it's
1:39:15
probably not reasonable but everything in the in the Arts Fund that isn't part
1:39:20
of community gathering activities such as Shakespeare in the park or concerts in the
1:39:26
park I'd like to see that money reallocated to better use here in Isgoi
1:39:34
While those are good things, maybe we could take a one-year moratorium on
1:39:40
arts projects and use those funds more wisely. Thank you. - Thank you,
1:39:45
Steve. Is there anyone else desiring to speak this evening who has not
1:39:51
signed up? Anyone else? Third and final call. Seeing no
1:39:57
one, then the public hearing is closed
1:40:02
at 8:42. With that, Stacey Goodwin? I'm
1:40:07
going to make a motion. I would
1:40:13
move to adopt ordinance number- 2791. adopting
1:40:18
the final budget of the city for the fiscal year
1:40:24
commencing January 1, 2017, and creating a school zone safety
1:40:30
fund. Second. Moved and seconded. Discussion on the motion? I
1:40:36
have a couple of corrections I'd like to note in
1:40:42
the ordinance. But I guess we can discuss later if
1:40:48
we need to amend the motion, but we can probably
1:40:54
just simply amend it by noting a couple of
1:41:00
the corrections. In the one, two, third whereas,
1:41:05
it talked about workshops. We actually had work
1:41:11
sessions. And in the fourth whereas, it says
1:41:16
on December 3rd, the council deliberated the final
1:41:21
adjustments and I think it was December 12th
1:41:27
we deliberated the final adjustments. That's what I
1:41:32
have. Thanks. - You'll call those Scrivener errors
1:41:37
and make those adjustments to the resolution. Questions
1:41:43
or discussion? Paul Winterstein. - Thank you, I want to make some general
1:41:49
comments. As Jen was flipping through those slides, you know there is a
1:41:54
novel behind every one of those pages. There really is. And if I
1:42:00
had just seen that presentation back in October, I wouldn't have known that
1:42:06
story. I mean, this council and the administration has put in quite an
1:42:12
effort. And I want to point out something, and there was an audience
1:42:17
comment tonight that I think was mentioned something significant. if everybody has seen the council
1:42:23
president's transmittal letter and where we talked about the changes to the proposed budget as
1:42:28
well. I think we capture, council president Goodman has captured in that something, and I'm
1:42:34
speaking as someone who for the last two years wrote those council president letters, and
1:42:39
I never captured, the kind of the the priorities and the intent the goals that
1:42:45
we were trying to achieve with our budget and we discussed that this year and
1:42:50
it became stronger than ever before in shaping i think the resultant budget we we
1:42:55
weighed measures relative to our priorities relative to our priorities and i think it's it's
1:43:01
good for the citizens to realize you know that we work that way it's all
1:43:06
very transparent it's all on camera And I think we've done a very
1:43:12
good job of capturing in this budget the intent of this legislative
1:43:18
body. And I was going to add one thing in particular, though, because
1:43:24
the discussion never really ends. And I've had a kind of a new insight on
1:43:29
something that I'm just going to share with the council really quick. It's not for
1:43:35
discussion or debate or anything. It's just maybe for next year. But Jen, if you're
1:43:41
still here, could you go to page 19 on your deck in this document? Yeah,
1:43:47
that one. So so that's one of our overriding or very powerful policies that
1:43:53
we're very keen to understand how well we're in compliance has to
1:43:58
do with assuring that we're approving expenditures out of the general fund
1:44:04
especially those that are ongoing expenditures such as the hiring of new
1:44:10
staff that those expenditures that we're adopting are covered as much as
1:44:16
possible by the incoming revenues for that same calendar year. So we budget, you
1:44:22
know, it's kind of cash based, it's year to year. And we've heard comments tonight,
1:44:27
it's in the letter too, about being, you know, having strong fiscally sound budget. And
1:44:33
I think that that is one of the key things that we do. But as
1:44:39
far as a policy that we enforce. And we had more conversation about, and it's
1:44:44
difficult to do, and it's all to make changes to the proposed expenditures in the
1:44:50
general budget. I think I find that very taxing, very difficult, but I think we
1:44:56
were very thoughtful and very deliberate and very open and had many conversations about these.
1:45:01
But this chart, the way, Jen, that you put it together, it struck me, if
1:45:06
you look at the amounts of the ending fund balance, one of the difficult things
1:45:11
that we're trying to do is... as is said in the letter and as part
1:45:16
of our policy, is not approve expenditures that will be ongoing year to year, which
1:45:21
we know are in excess of our incoming revenues. I've already said that. And if
1:45:26
we did that, then that blue line would start to go down. It would get
1:45:31
closer and closer to our policy, our min and max policy levels. which is not
1:45:36
a bad thing. I mean, we have those levels for a reason, and we're very,
1:45:40
very high in front of them. But it just occurs to me when you look
1:45:45
at it this way that I think there's a difference between a balanced budget and
1:45:50
then a deficit spending. We're not spending more than we have. We're spending what we
1:45:56
have plus what we take in. And if use of the general fund balance allows
1:46:01
us to kind of smooth out some curves, there will be reductions in revenues, there
1:46:07
will be higher expenses sometimes, sometimes one time, sometimes ongoing. Knowing that we've got this
1:46:13
reserve and that we can use it to kind of smooth out some of the
1:46:18
bumps, I know I'm on the long-term ad hoc finance committee, and I think that's
1:46:24
an area from a policy perspective, especially as we consider creating a strategic plan and
1:46:29
a framework to guide our budgeting next year, that I'm gonna bring back and to
1:46:35
have discussion with the council on how we can use this balance to perhaps think
1:46:40
and act a little bit longer term, and not only for ongoing expenses, but the
1:46:45
other thing that occurred to me when I looked at it this way as well
1:46:50
is that one of the things we did was not fund the contingency fund. And
1:46:56
taking a little bit out of that and stowing it away in the contingency fund,
1:47:01
I'm gonna wanna be talking about that next year as well because We have that
1:47:07
capacity and yet, and that's not an ongoing expenditure. It's putting
1:47:12
in a place where we limit on how we can use
1:47:18
it. So just this graph and showing the relative kind of magnitude
1:47:24
of our policy levels for min/max of ending fund balance and where
1:47:30
our current ending fund balance is, and I started thinking longer term
1:47:36
in our policy about managing expenses, I think has opened my mind
1:47:41
up to having additional conversations going forward on how we can look
1:47:47
longer term these funds. Thank you. - Any other comments? Seeing none
1:47:53
then, all those in favor of adopting ordinance number 2791, adopting the final
1:47:59
budget of the city for the fiscal year commencing January 1st, 2017, and creating
1:48:05
the school zone funds signify by saying aye. - Aye. - Those opposed? That
1:48:11
carries unanimously. - Mayor Butler? - Yes. - I just want to make one
1:48:17
other comment as well. - Go ahead. - You'll notice that in the establishment
1:48:23
of that school camera, School Zone Camera Fund. There's been a lot
1:48:28
of discussion over the years about the collection of revenues from speed cameras
1:48:34
in school zones. And what the city, what we've done with that fund
1:48:40
is we're committing the funds collected from the speed camera to be to
1:48:45
two be used in the future toward traffic education safety improvements rather than it
1:48:51
going in the general fund where it can be used in really any way
1:48:57
so that special fund is assuring that those revenues that we're collecting have to
1:49:02
do with education and safety related to traffic and mobility within the city and
1:49:08
i think that's a very unique and commendable transparent way to demonstrate that We
1:49:14
realize the purpose for those cameras and what we're trying to do and we want
1:49:19
to make sure that we get the best possible outcome with the funds that we
1:49:25
collect for those cameras. And I think I just want to point that out and
1:49:31
I'm proud of this council for having established that new precedent. Thank you for that
1:49:37
comment. Moving now to agenda bill 7293, 2017. Arts Grant Recommendations. This
1:49:43
is coming back from Services and Safety. And I
1:49:49
believe they requested a staff presentation to queue this
1:49:54
up for action. Amy Dukes, our arts coordinator. Thank
1:50:00
you. I am not wearing my glasses. I'm just
1:50:05
not helping. Oh, it's that. Looks like you dialed
1:50:11
a friend there, Amy. Great. Thank you. Thank
1:50:17
you, Mr. Mayor and Council. I'm here tonight just to bring
1:50:22
forth the recommendations from the Arts Commission for the 2017 Arts
1:50:28
Grants. And I presented at services earlier last week. Just a
1:50:33
reminder, these grants are funded through the Municipal Arts Fund, which
1:50:39
is a special revenue fund and which comes from admissions tax,
1:50:45
primarily from our movie theaters. And I don't know
1:50:50
how to get rid of that. So what you have before you
1:50:56
in terms of the recommendations are 33 grants that total $195,100. We
1:51:02
did receive over $300,000 in requests this year, which was a record
1:51:07
high and made for a challenging grant panel. The recommendations include 24
1:51:13
grants to nonprofit arts and community organizations, which is about 93% of the
1:51:19
recommendations, and then nine grants to Issaquah school district schools. And just I wanted
1:51:25
to point out that 97% of the funding is going to local Issaquah organizations.
1:51:32
And then just to give you an idea of what types of things these
1:51:38
fund, this pie chart just shows the types of programs that we're supporting. There's
1:51:44
really a huge range of activities, lots of community festivals, celebrations, performing arts, all
1:51:50
that are free to the community. And really a lot of different programs that
1:51:56
reach seniors, students, lots of special populations. And
1:52:02
then I just wanted to give you an overall estimated participation for these grants. About
1:52:07
400,000 residents, visitors, and students, teachers will be served through these projects. There will be
1:52:13
about 2,500 volunteers that will be involved in these projects. And it really equates to
1:52:19
about 400 events and performances throughout 2017. So it has quite a large impact.
1:52:26
And that is all I have, but I'm happy to
1:52:31
answer questions. Are there questions to Amy? Seeing none then,
1:52:37
Polo Bartz. Mr. Mayor, I move to approve the 2017
1:52:42
Arts Grant Award recommendations as presented for a total expenditure
1:52:48
of $195,100. Second. Moved and seconded. Questions or discussion?
1:52:55
Small little -- thank you for that presentation, Amy. And just looking at
1:53:00
the table in our packet, the attachment in the table, I note that
1:53:06
in most cases the actual grant recommendation is some percentage, not 100%. Maybe
1:53:11
in a few cases it's 100% of the actual request. But there's a
1:53:17
couple where it's actually a little bit larger, not by a lot. Is
1:53:23
that intentional or is there some Scribner error in these as well? Is
1:53:28
there one in particular that you're -- Yeah, I know I just had it and
1:53:33
I just lost it. So I apologize. The Pacific Northwest animal -- We're not talking
1:53:38
a lot. But I just noticed they clearly had some formula. But then you look
1:53:42
at the Izaquah singers where they asked for 2,000 and we're granting them 2,200. I
1:53:47
just wondered if that was just a typo. No, actually I think there was
1:53:53
just a lot of enthusiasm for that project because there's so many volunteers and
1:53:58
because they provide everything free and they serve our senior population by going to
1:54:04
all of our local senior living facilities and bringing joy. That's great. And
1:54:10
also I should note their budget was much larger than what they were requesting
1:54:16
and they did have a gap. They still had a need beyond what they
1:54:21
were requesting. I'm glad you were able to do that. Thank you. Other questions
1:54:27
or discussion? Just a question. Was this an increase over what you had seen
1:54:33
in terms of grant application numbers from - The numbers of grant applications
1:54:39
were slightly larger, but the requested dollar amount was quite a lot larger. -
1:54:44
Thank you. bill and i just want to mention being on on the committee uh
1:54:50
there that we we question whether this should be on consent or not and i
1:54:54
just wanted to make sure we pushed to make sure it was here on general
1:54:58
business this is a great thing we want to get people noting what what events
1:55:01
are happening maybe they can encourage to take place a little more you know take
1:55:05
part a little more in those things and see the kind of things that we're
1:55:09
doing here that uh really involving the community and so forth as some of our
1:55:12
comments have made so uh appreciate all the work done amy thank you Thank you
1:55:17
for that background. Other questions or discussion? Seeing none, then all
1:55:23
those in favor of approving the 2017 Art Grant Award recommendations
1:55:28
as presented for a total expenditure of $195,100 signify by saying
1:55:34
aye. Aye. Opposed? That carries unanimously. Thank you. Moving. Thank you,
1:55:39
Amy. Moving now to agenda bill 7196, Silverado Development
1:55:45
Agreement. This is coming back from the Land and Services
1:55:51
Committee, Councilmember Pauley. I'm assuming that Christopher Wright of DSD
1:55:57
is going to kick it off and provide a briefing
1:56:03
on what this is all about. So Christopher. I will
1:56:09
thank you Mr. Mayor, Council. Hello everyone. Happy Wayne Tanaka Day. I didn't
1:56:15
think I'd ever put those words in one sentence together. Tonight the administration
1:56:21
is asking that you approve the resolution to direct the Mayor to sign
1:56:26
the development agreement with Silverado here's a
1:56:32
description of the project it's a it's a site that's a little less than 22
1:56:37
acres and is currently zoned single family estates and we're entering into the development agreement
1:56:43
because what is proposed is a clustered development and the plot will include a
1:56:48
maximum of 20 dwelling units which will include two parcels that will be dedicated to
1:56:54
the city for future affordable housing units. It includes a bridge, trail easements, and a
1:56:59
significant portion of the site as a native growth protection easement.
1:57:05
This aerial photo shows the vicinity of and where that project is located. It's on
1:57:11
the east side of SR 900, basically directly across the street from the entrance to
1:57:17
TALIS. It's surrounded by a single family residence and it does have the Squawk Mountain
1:57:23
Nursery to the north. And
1:57:28
we are recommending approval of the development agreement because we do feel it
1:57:34
meets the purposes and intent of a cluster development including the purpose listed
1:57:40
here which is achieving a maximum allowable density on a development while preserving
1:57:46
critical areas and other open space. which this development will, provides common usable
1:57:51
and native forested open space within the cluster development that are not part of platted
1:57:56
lots. And I'll show you the plot plan and how we're achieving that. Encourage affordable
1:58:02
housing through provisions of smaller lots. We're achieving affordable housing in a couple
1:58:08
of different ways here. One is, again, just by the nature of clustering
1:58:13
and creating smaller lots versus creating larger estate lots. But also, as I
1:58:19
mentioned, we're also setting aside two lots for specifically affordable housing. And then
1:58:25
finally, provide a more efficient arrangement of structures, providing services and infrastructure.
1:58:33
This is the the general site plan for the development agreement and basically just if
1:58:39
I can explain what this shows the areas in white here and here those are
1:58:45
the developable areas of the site so the 20 units that are allowed on the
1:58:50
site will be clustered within these two areas. This is the location of the bridge
1:58:56
that will cross Tibbetts Creek. And then all of the hatched area will
1:59:02
be preserved as permanent open space. And that's the area that, as I mentioned,
1:59:08
is the native growth protection easement, but will also allow future trail connections as
1:59:13
well with that relocatable trail easement that you see referenced in the development agreement.
1:59:22
And then finally this this project has certainly evolved over time. You may recall about
1:59:28
a year and a half ago the first proposal was for an actual assisted care
1:59:34
facility a building on the site that required a code amendment which was not approved
1:59:40
last year. And then earlier this year when the development agreement application
1:59:45
first came in, what was proposed was basically a clustering of duplex units
1:59:51
that would be used for senior adult family homes. Now all of that
1:59:57
has gone away and now senior housing is no longer a portion of
2:00:02
this development agreement and now it is just a straightforward residential single-family plat,
2:00:08
albeit clustered. And so I wanted to just point out, there's been a lot of
2:00:14
little changes to the development agreement, but I wanted to point out some of the
2:00:18
more notable ones that have happened over that. This project went to the Land and
2:00:23
Shore Committee three different times. And so these are changes that came out of those
2:00:27
meetings since you all last saw it. The first one was a clarification that the
2:00:32
pedestrian and vehicle bridge that crosses Tibbets Creek will be built by the owner, by
2:00:38
the developer, and then maintained by the homeowners association. The second is again what
2:00:43
I showed you was a simplified plan just showing the buildable area because the earlier
2:00:49
version that you may recall actually showed the lot lines and a storm detention vault
2:00:54
and a lot of other things that didn't need to be there. So we've simplified
2:00:59
the plan just showing where the buildable area is and then where the open space
2:01:05
will be. The area outside of the buildable areas I just mentioned will be a
2:01:10
native growth protection easement. which will be owned by the homeowners association but will include
2:01:15
the recreational trail easements dedicated to the city. So there was some discussion within Land
2:01:21
and Shore on whether the native growth protection easement, whether that land should be dedicated
2:01:26
to the city or whether it should be continued to be privately owned and where
2:01:31
we landed is that it should be owned by the homeowners association but again with
2:01:37
the easements for the city. And there was much
2:01:42
discussion about the relocatable trail easement and we further have defined that and in attachment
2:01:48
three shows where we landed with that. And I think it's important to note in
2:01:54
addition to the refinement that we've done so far that the final trail easement language
2:02:00
will come back to the city council for approval when we get to that point
2:02:06
in our review of the preliminary plat application. Since you
2:02:12
last saw it, the total number of dwelling units that is being proposed as part
2:02:17
of this development agreement was reduced from 22 to 20 and that was basically, that
2:02:23
was based on a more detailed calculation of the density credit transfer out of the
2:02:28
land use code where we determined that you could only get 20 units there at
2:02:33
maximum density given the critical areas on the site. And then finally a confirmation that
2:02:39
the plat will not be exempt from the moratorium during the course of the land
2:02:44
and shore review. At one point there was a proposal to exempt this from the
2:02:49
moratorium, but the recommendation that we're making is that it not be exempt. And so
2:02:54
the next steps for this project would be once the moratorium is lifted,
2:03:00
they would be able to apply for a preliminary plat application, which would
2:03:06
go through a public hearing process to the city's hearing examiner and then
2:03:12
enter into construction permits after that. And that concludes my presentation, but I'm
2:03:18
available for questions. Just wanted clarification. So I didn't hear you
2:03:23
say this, so apologize if I missed it. I think it's important to
2:03:29
point out that this is not a, the development agreement is required for
2:03:35
this type of clustered arrangement for five acres and larger. That's right. So
2:03:41
this is not a development agreement that is a request just
2:03:47
just because they want one. This is required under the code for
2:03:52
this type of an arrangement. And so I think two important aspects
2:03:58
are that it's required and also that it's not vested. They cannot
2:04:04
build under the old codes. Thank you for that explanation. Mayor Lupali.
2:04:10
I'll make a motion. Approve resolution number 2016-20. Authorizing the mayor to
2:04:15
execute the Silverado Development Agreement. Second. Chair Jerry Cook: Moved and seconded. Questions or
2:04:21
discussion? Mary Lou? Mary Lou: That was a really good summary, Christopher. This project has
2:04:26
been around for over two years in many different forms. Just a few notes. This
2:04:31
one is not in the central Issaquah area. So this is south and this would
2:04:36
normally be covered by our normal code. The moratorium exemption was discussed at length at
2:04:41
the last Land and Shore. The developer had asked to put it in to have
2:04:45
us consider it. It's something that we all should be talking about tonight as well
2:04:50
because while the moratorium is on, there will be other development proposed development agreements requesting
2:04:55
the same thing. So this has got a significant amount of discussion and whether or
2:04:59
not you think it's appropriate or it should be put back in is a good
2:05:04
question to talk about. And then I just had a little question, Christopher, and after
2:05:08
our last land and shore meeting, there were going to be a few more little
2:05:12
language tweaks. And in the version that we had, it was kind of hard to
2:05:16
see where they are. So some of them were small. The one that I'm interested
2:05:20
in you pointing out is adding a clause that the development agreement does not vest
2:05:25
the project to any code amendments that are made based on the moratorium. Can you
2:05:29
show us where that is in the -- what language is?
2:05:35
The other two edits that were done was there was a cleanup
2:05:40
replacing the word applicant with owner and the last one was they
2:05:46
also amended the definition of how the relocatable trail easement will work.
2:05:52
So those were, these wording edits were not something that we reviewed
2:05:57
at Land and Shore. They are new in the document you're seeing
2:06:03
today. Give me a moment. The vesting's in paragraph 10. It's the
2:06:08
vesting in paragraph 10. About halfway down. Owner shall not be vested,
2:06:14
however, against any changes in regulations enacted by the city in response to the development
2:06:19
moratorium imposed by the city of Issaquah ordinance number 2778, including but not limited to
2:06:24
regulations concerning architectural review and urban design elements, affordable housing, mixed use parking, and the
2:06:29
vision for each zoning district. And then I had a question about that. Thank you,
2:06:33
Stacey, for reading that. I guess, Christopher, the question was that under the housing then,
2:06:38
if there were to be an affordable housing target that was different, this development
2:06:44
agreement would go with what is outlined in here, even though they may
2:06:50
not plat or develop until after the moratorium. Right. Basically, that would be
2:06:56
a possible scenario. And I think when there was a discussion about whether this development
2:07:02
agreement should be exempt from the moratorium or not, that was the big question is
2:07:07
what if we do change something in the code amendments as a result of the
2:07:12
moratorium that would affect this. And one of the main reasons for not exempting it
2:07:17
was just in case something like that, a code amendment like that does happen. And
2:07:23
where's the other language, the part that
2:07:28
was the better clear definition of the
2:07:34
relocatable trail? Yeah, so go to the
2:07:40
website. 6B. 4. 4, third paragraph. And
2:07:46
are you looking at it in track
2:07:52
changes, Stacy, or no? No. Okay. Regional
2:07:57
trail easement. So you want to go
2:08:03
to that one section specifically about the...
2:08:09
Just curious what the edit was since
2:08:15
we don't have it in track changes.
2:08:20
Okay.
2:08:28
There was a lot of discussion about that last time,
2:08:33
but I'm not really clear what changed. There it is.
2:08:39
You passed it. It was in the vesting section, wasn't
2:08:45
it? I thought it was regional trail easement. All the
2:08:51
email notes says better clear definition of how the relocatable
2:08:56
trail easement will work both in the DA and in
2:09:02
the sample recreational trail easement document. Yeah, basically this is
2:09:08
the section that you're referring to that talks about
2:09:13
that it's vested to land use codes, environmental codes, municipal
2:09:19
code regulations, but not vested to international building code and
2:09:25
then also different regulations that may come out of the
2:09:31
moratorium. I think our city attorney's leaning forward towards the
2:09:37
mic to speak to this question. Yes, Councilmember Pauley, if you're
2:09:43
looking for the, I know we didn't do it in track changes in terms of
2:09:48
the relocated trail easement, but the language you're looking for, I think is on page
2:09:54
two, bottom of the page where it talks about regional trail easement. The first sentence
2:10:00
is basically the same as was in the previous agreement. And then the new language
2:10:06
starts and it goes through to the next page and to the words
2:10:12
as provided in this section on the next page and that I think the
2:10:18
remainder is pretty much as it was in the previous document. So we did
2:10:24
insert language that was about the, how the relocatable trail would work.
2:10:30
The preliminary location would be established with the preliminary plat and
2:10:36
then we will be allowed to relocate that at some point
2:10:42
in the future. That language is also reflected in the trail
2:10:48
easement itself on page 269 of your packet. It is section
2:10:54
six of the relocatable trail easement. So the language is
2:11:00
laid out in fair detail in that part as well. Okay. And I think
2:11:05
that was to address the concern that the language we were looking at last
2:11:11
landed shore still was not quite clear enough to understand what the intent was.
2:11:16
So just reading what you pointed out as new makes a lot more sense
2:11:22
than what we saw at the committee. That's great. Other questions or discussion? A
2:11:28
couple questions. Just to clarify again, when you get back and forth on what's
2:11:34
vested and not vested, I'm not sure I followed that exactly. So I heard
2:11:40
you say that it's not vested against any changes from the moratorium, but that
2:11:46
it is vested in some items. Right. Yeah. The land use code, development standards,
2:11:52
environmental regulations, the municipal code, OK, so if any of those
2:11:57
things change from the municipal code, it could change from the moratorium, right? I'm getting
2:12:03
a little-- Well, there's-- yeah, there's the-- is it five things specifically listed in the
2:12:09
moratorium that are going to be addressed over the next year? Yeah, if any of
2:12:15
those affect this development, those changes would not be vested. So they would have to
2:12:21
adhere to those new regulations that come out of the moratorium code amendments. - And
2:12:26
affordable housing? Statement on that was? It wouldn't apply to this development. The affordable housing
2:12:31
component would be as described in this agreement. It wouldn't change. I'd stick with the
2:12:36
two. I'm just trying to clarify what's what. I've got another question, but I'll come
2:12:41
back. But if we were to change the code to require more after the moratorium,
2:12:45
this agreement would not change. It would stay as it is. That's not what it
2:12:50
says. That's not quite correct. That's what
2:12:56
I'm trying to figure out. I'm a little clear. Okay. If you turn
2:13:02
to page 257 of your packet, section 10 of the development agreement, It
2:13:08
says that owner shall not be vested against any changes in regulations enacted by
2:13:13
the city in response to the development moratorium imposed by the moratorium ordinance. And
2:13:19
then it says including but not limited to. So any changes to any regulations, not
2:13:25
just to the five subjects here, they would not be vested to by virtue of
2:13:31
this agreement. So any changes you make in response to the moratorium, they are going
2:13:36
to have to comply with. And the affordable housing is specifically listed here because it
2:13:42
was one of the things that you mentioned in the moratorium. So they would have
2:13:48
to comply with that. - Thank you, that's the way I thought it read and
2:13:53
that's why I was confused. - That's the way I drafted it. Hopefully, Mr. Christopher
2:13:57
and I agree that that's what it's supposed to be. - So any of those
2:14:02
changes, whatever it is, they have to-- - They do apply. - Great. One more
2:14:07
question or somebody else? - Go ahead, Bill. - Getting into SEPA a little bit,
2:14:11
and we'll flash back here to where we were. Talks about mitigated SEPA, and so
2:14:16
that tells me there's something in there. that there are some concerns, but I don't
2:14:21
get much detail anywhere because there's no SEPA anywhere. The best I've got is under
2:14:26
SEPA compliance. It talks about required to include evaluation of critical area impacts, traffic, and
2:14:32
other applicable SEPA elements. So it's telling me we've got some mitigation that must occur,
2:14:37
but I'm... - Sir, what do we know about that? - Well basically there was
2:14:43
a SEPA determination that was done just for the development agreement that addressed the issues
2:14:48
that are in the development agreement which basically is just the clustering of the units.
2:14:53
But then another SEPA review and determination will have to be made with the preliminary
2:14:58
plat application when we know more about the impacts to the critical areas and the
2:15:02
buffers and we know how the lots are gonna be laid out and more about
2:15:07
the bridge crossing. So there'll be SEPA done with the preliminary plat as well. -
2:15:11
Okay, so there's more SEPA coming and you know at least there's those issues, those
2:15:15
three listed that you're definitely gonna have to deal with and that'll be a totally
2:15:19
separate decision. So some other decision from there could affect this. - Right. - Okay,
2:15:23
great, thank you. Thank you. Just wanted clarity
2:15:29
on, I know that it's no longer a senior living
2:15:35
facility, but the entity is Silverado Senior Living Holdings. So
2:15:41
is there no intent for that use as was originally
2:15:46
visioned, as originally proposed? This is just residential housing and I
2:15:52
can answer that market rate oh you can correct me if I'm wrong but it's
2:15:57
my understanding that Silverado was looking at this property for a developing one of their
2:16:03
assisted care facilities but what they're looking at now because senior or I mean a
2:16:08
single family development is not in their wheelhouse I think they will likely sell it
2:16:13
to a residential developer And the development agreement
2:16:19
will provide the framework for that preliminary plat that we will do with
2:16:25
them. All right. Thank you. Any additional questions or discussion? Seeing none, then.
2:16:30
So I just want to make sure that I understand the language on
2:16:36
the history of this bill said that Land and Shore supported it with
2:16:42
the changes that were specified. And so I take it that Land and
2:16:48
Shore the changes that were specified were sufficient and if Land and Char
2:16:54
people here felt they weren't, they would pipe up? - Yes. - Thank you.
2:16:59
- Yes, that's correct. - Pipe up. - Pipe up. - They would pipe
2:17:05
up. - So with that, all those in favor of approving resolution number 216-20,
2:17:11
authorizing the mayor to execute the Silverado Development Agreement, signify by saying aye. -
2:17:16
Aye. - Those opposed? That carries unanimously. Moving to our last
2:17:22
item under regular business agenda bill. I just want to side comment on
2:17:28
this afterwards. I just want to compliment Land and Shore and all this process. This
2:17:32
was a two-year process. It came about and I'm really pleased with the changes that
2:17:37
really I think benefit the city and I just want to mention that because it's
2:17:41
come a long way from something that I wasn't really looking at with much favor
2:17:46
and I'm pleased with a lot of the changes that I think are beneficial for
2:17:50
the long run. So thank you. Thank you. Now, moving now to
2:17:56
agenda bill 7272, election of council president and deputy council
2:18:02
president for 2017. The proposed council action is three parts.
2:18:07
The first is to suspend the rules that conduct the
2:18:13
election of the positions. The IMC specifies that the election
2:18:18
of the council president and deputy is taken is to
2:18:24
take place at the first regular meeting of each calendar year. There
2:18:30
have been a number of times in the history where we have
2:18:36
suspended the rules and conducted the election in December since all of
2:18:41
the council members will be here after the first of the year
2:18:47
and this provides an opportunity for a jump start on committee assignments.
2:18:53
So, the first is a motion to temporarily
2:18:59
suspend council rules of procedure for election purposes.
2:19:04
All? Yeah, so moved. And moved and seconded.
2:19:09
Any discussion? All those in favor signify by
2:19:15
saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? That carries unanimously.
2:19:20
Now, I will call for nominations for Council President. I
2:19:26
would like to nominate Council Member Goodman. Second. Okay. Other
2:19:32
nominations? No, I actually moved to close nominations for the
2:19:37
2017 position for Council President. And all those in favor
2:19:43
signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? All those, well,
2:19:49
We're going to vote anyway, Stacey. All those
2:19:54
in favor of Stacey Goodman for Council President
2:20:00
for 2017, signify by saying aye. Aye. Actually,
2:20:06
you're supposed to, but no. Okay. All those
2:20:12
opposed? By your vote, Councilmember Goodman will be
2:20:17
again Council President Goodman for 2017. Congratulations. Now we will
2:20:23
use the same process for Deputy Council President. Sola? Yes,
2:20:29
I nominate Mary Lou Pauley for Deputy Council President. Second.
2:20:37
I move to close nominations for the 2017 position of Deputy Council
2:20:43
President. Second. All those in favor of closing nominations, signify by saying
2:20:49
aye. Aye. Opposed? Now for the vote, all those in favor of
2:20:54
Mary Lou Pauly for Deputy Council President, signify by raising your right
2:21:00
hand. Wow, that was close, but Mary Lou, by your fellow
2:21:06
by the council members present, you are the deputy council president for
2:21:12
2017. Congratulations. - Thank you, Mr. Mayor. - Thank you. - Okay,
2:21:18
we are winding down. I think our next item is for the
2:21:24
good of the order. The hour is late and
2:21:30
I will keep it brief. I was hoping to have a happy story this evening
2:21:35
about our neighbors to the north. And I just want to briefly mention, as I
2:21:41
think most people know, the Muslim Association of Puget Sound is the largest mosque in
2:21:47
Washington state. They are in Redmond. They had a vandalism on Monday, November 21st. Someone
2:21:53
took a sledgehammer to their sign. They rebounded. They had a sign restaurant.
2:21:59
They built a new base. They offered local community leaders and elected officials
2:22:04
to come and put their handprint on the new base. And on Friday,
2:22:10
December 9th, I was lucky enough to represent Issaquah. Council members Pauly and
2:22:16
Ramos were there as well. And we were all very excited. Unfortunately, Saturday,
2:22:22
December 17th, someone took a golf club according to the Redmond
2:22:27
Police Department to the actual metal sign that was sitting on
2:22:33
top of this new base and so just unbelievable the folks
2:22:39
at the Muslim Association continue to they're emphasizing the support that
2:22:44
they're getting from the community they have a they have sort of a set
2:22:50
of reference information if people want to know how they can help and it really
2:22:55
involves engaging the community and the people around them and coming to talk to them
2:22:59
they actually want their perpetrator to come in and talk to them and get to
2:23:04
meet them so hopefully I know the the Redmond Police Department Mayor Marcioni says they
2:23:08
have some good leads on it but if fellow council members are interested in contacting
2:23:13
MAPS to show their support I'm sure they would very much appreciated. The base that
2:23:18
was part of the ceremony was not damaged. So that will continue. They will use
2:23:23
that. They will, the community outreach that they had received will go on, but the
2:23:29
sign itself will get replaced. Just wanted to share that with my fellow council members.
2:23:34
Thank you. - And I would just comment that your Facebook post, which you mentioned
2:23:40
has been provided to the Seattle Times was a very, very good one. very
2:23:46
accurate description of the position and everything and it is
2:23:52
certainly consistent with the proclamation that each of you signed
2:23:57
at our first meeting in December speaking out against these
2:24:03
kinds of things. So thank you. Anything else? Stacy. Not
2:24:09
winding down quite yet. As I mentioned at our last council meeting, we
2:24:15
talked during good of the order about some possible agenda bills, transportation related.
2:24:21
And so I have three here, I've talked to the administration about
2:24:26
them after last leadership meeting. And then one of them, the Trader
2:24:32
Joe's Target Maple Street intersection, as Paul talked about earlier, we talked
2:24:38
about it at infrastructure. And although we can't direct the administration at
2:24:43
infrastructure, or none of us can individually, I have taken the liberty
2:24:49
to put it into a proposed motion. So I have three proposed
2:24:55
agenda bills. One is regarding Providence Point, one Gilman Safety Improvements, and
2:25:01
one regarding Trader Joe's. So I'm gonna start with the Gilman safety improvements first, because
2:25:07
there was an indication during budget with head nods that we would be interested in
2:25:13
having the administration prepare an agenda bill that has more details about Gilman safety improvements.
2:25:19
As you'll recall, there was $50,000 proposed in the 2017 budget, and a discussion, at
2:25:24
least on my part, I'm still a little bit confused about what that project involves.
2:25:30
And I understand, and to be fair, there is a lack of specificity specifically because
2:25:36
there are some phases that the that would need to be gone through
2:25:41
before we can figure out exactly what the end goal is in
2:25:47
terms of what the plan would be. But I think there was
2:25:52
initially some confusion about that project. So the agenda bill would read
2:25:58
as follows, if I may. direct the administration to prepare an agenda bill
2:26:04
regarding the Gilman safety improvements, which shall include more details about the project so that
2:26:10
the goals as well as short-term and total project costs are more clearly articulated to
2:26:15
be brought back to the council by the end of January, 2017. And if the
2:26:21
administration so desires may ask the council to appropriate $50,000 toward the plan for 2017
2:26:26
that had been in the proposed budget. So I
2:26:32
realize it's kind of long, lawyers do. So anyway, the elements are
2:26:38
directing the administration, prepare an agenda bill, more details, to know more
2:26:44
about the costs, the $50,000 plus the potential possible total costs, come
2:26:50
back at the end of January, which I did clear with the
2:26:56
administration was a doable timeframe, and that we may be asked in
2:27:01
that agenda bill to appropriate $50,000. Understood. So I would make that motion now.
2:27:07
So point of order. I don't -- if history is our teacher at all,
2:27:13
I mean, requesting the administration to prepare an agenda bill doesn't always require a
2:27:19
form of motion by the council. I mean, it is the council president's prerogative.
2:27:26
after especially conferring with other council members just to make that request. And historically,
2:27:31
you know, those have been honored. So are you actually hoping that we actually
2:27:37
do a formal motion and vote on these proposals? Well, head, not our thumbs
2:27:43
are a vote. Yeah. But I believe we understand. If you have
2:27:49
a written description, you have discussed that with the administration. There
2:27:55
is an agreement. That is sufficient for us to act if
2:28:01
you so desire. Mr. Suggestion? Yes. The next one, Stacy. I
2:28:07
guess it was a vote. No, it wasn't a vote. Well,
2:28:13
everybody said yes, so I don't know what the, but it
2:28:19
sounded like a direction, however we want to. Your turn.
2:28:26
So the next one would be about Trader Joe's. And a few
2:28:31
months ago, we directed the administration to come up with a less
2:28:37
expensive, as Paul was talking about earlier, less expensive option for that
2:28:43
intersection, not $5 million, and do it in a, I don't remember
2:28:49
what the words were, but a fairly... short-term timeframe. And
2:28:54
as Paul was talking about earlier, when we talked
2:29:00
at infrastructure, Sheldon talked about the very preliminary concept
2:29:05
and the goals that his department was looking at.
2:29:11
And those goals were improved safety, provide a more intuitive
2:29:17
intersection experience for pedestrians and drivers, not impact the internal circulation for the adjacent
2:29:23
property owners, and not focus on increased capacity. So what I had drafted was
2:29:28
direct the administration to prepare an agenda bill regarding the Trader Joe's Target Maple Street
2:29:34
intersection, which shall include design cost and funding options, recommendations and analysis for an interim
2:29:40
improvement to that intersection and has the following goals in mind, which I already mentioned,
2:29:45
to be brought back to the council by the end of the first quarter of
2:29:51
2017 with policy considerations. And I also ran that time frame by the
2:29:57
administration and that was fine. So however we want to do that. Or
2:30:03
talk about it if not. So directed. Okay, and then the third one,
2:30:09
Providence Point. There had seems to be some sort of an indication from
2:30:15
fellow council members that there is an interest in seeing whether the Providence
2:30:21
Point intersection could be done given its relatively lower cost. compared to
2:30:27
the other larger projects that were on the bond. And
2:30:32
so I also discussed this with the administration and the
2:30:38
language would be to prepare an agenda bill regarding the
2:30:44
Providence Point signalization and realignment project which shall include design, cost and
2:30:50
funding options, recommendations, analysis for options as well as recommendations, and consider new nearby development
2:30:55
to be brought back to the council by the end of the first quarter of
2:31:01
2017 with policy. So, yes. I have one question about that. Do we as part
2:31:06
of that process have any conversation with Sammamish about the design requirements around that given
2:31:11
that it's a major arterial that is very close to their borders?
2:31:17
Do we or should we? Should we? Sure. We can and we could. I would
2:31:22
like to see that language and have that direction. I would want to make sure
2:31:27
that whatever came forward had been there had been some level of discussion between our
2:31:32
two cities as to what that would look like. If I can add to that
2:31:37
especially that the point is made very clear that we're interested in the safety of
2:31:42
our residents and that's our primary concern. Actually had a brief discussion of that today
2:31:47
with the mayor and city manager.
2:31:53
plus one, Stacy. - Okay, all right. - And if you could forward
2:31:59
the exact wording to the clerk, and I bet you've already done that.
2:32:05
- Nope, but I sent it to you. - Well, that's great. -
2:32:11
I'll do it now. - Thank you. - I just want to thank
2:32:16
Council President Goodman for the collaboration and transparency of that process.
2:32:22
There's a number of different ways and historically we've used them to initiate bills,
2:32:28
but these are priorities for the city, for the city council, and even to
2:32:34
the extent of how we are sourcing new agenda bills to achieve objectives for
2:32:39
the city. I appreciate the collaboration and the transparency. Stacey. Hey, anything else for
2:32:45
good of the order this evening, Mariah? I just wanted to
2:32:51
give a reminder that the Count Us In, which was formerly the
2:32:56
One Night Count, which is a point-in-time count of individuals and families
2:33:02
experiencing homelessness in King County, is taking place on January 27th. and
2:33:08
there's an informational meeting that you can find out more on the All
2:33:13
Home website. It's in Seattle on Tuesday, December 20th in the afternoon. Thank
2:33:19
you. And in addition, I included a paragraph in the Mayor's report that
2:33:25
I did not announce because that's distributed to the Council prior to the
2:33:30
meeting that has that information in it also. So thanks for emphasizing that.
2:33:37
Anything else for good of
2:33:42
the order? Seeing none, then
2:33:47
we are adjourned.