City Council Services, Safety & Parks Committee · Tuesday, January 28, 2025 · City Council Digest

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of Sept. 30, 2024

packet pp.5–6

▶ Watch from 1:41 Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 09-30-24 City Council Services, Safety & Parks Page (1) Committee Minutes CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Services, Safety & Parks Committee 6:30 PM Council Chambers, 135 E. September 30, 2024 MINUTES Sunset Way, Issaquah WA

Minutes of Oct. 15, 2024

packet pp.7–8

▶ Watch from 2:05 Open packet at p.7 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES b) 10-15-24 City Council Services, Safety & Parks Page (1) Committee Minutes CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Services, Safety & Parks Committee 6:30 PM Council Chambers, 135 E. October 15, 2024 MINUTES Sunset Way, Issaquah WA

4. AGENDA ITEMS

Inclusive Housing Investment Pool (IHIP) Application COM 0079

45 min · Jen Davis Hayes, Economic Development Manager · packet pp.9–47

Topics: Housing

Previously discussed: City Council Regular Meeting · May 22, 2023

▶ Watch from 2:29 Open packet at p.9 ↗

Staff report:

Administration recommends awarding Life Enrichment Options (LEO) $482,687 to preserve 4 units of housing, affordable at and below 40% AMI, at Emily House. The Administration does not recommend funding the annual operations request of $54,000.

2025 Arts Grant Recommendations COM 0084

15 min · Amy Dukes, Arts Program Administrator · packet pp.49–68

Topics: Arts & Culture

Previously discussed: Arts Commission · Jan 13, 2025

▶ Watch from 42:02 Open packet at p.49 ↗

Staff report:

Administration recommends allocating the 2025 Arts Grants as proposed by the Arts Commission.

Urban Forest Management Plan Draft COM 0078

60 min · Dan Hintz, Urban Forester · packet pp.69–342

Topics: Trees

Previously discussed: Park Board · Sep 23, 2024

▶ Watch from 55:13 Open packet at p.69 ↗

Staff report:

Since the initial presentation to SSP on July 23rd, the first draft of the UFMP was shared with the Environmental Board who returned comments (

2717 segments .txt ↗

0:08 ↗ welcome everyone I council member toam

0:10 ↗ Mars call the Tuesday January 28th City

0:14 ↗ Council services safety and Parks

0:16 ↗ committee meeting to

0:19 ↗ order first up is public comment uh

0:24 ↗ there are multiple public comment

0:25 ↗ opportunities at tonight's meeting

0:27 ↗ there's a general public comment

0:28 ↗ opportunity at the beginning of the

0:29 ↗ meeting or you can make comments after

0:32 ↗ the presentation and Council question

0:33 ↗ and answer period on tonight's agenda

0:36 ↗ items members of the public May address

0:38 ↗ council at this time in person or

0:40 ↗ virtually those who signed up in advance

0:42 ↗ to make comments will be called on first

0:44 ↗ if you're joining us virtually and would

0:45 ↗ like to make comments please raise your

0:47 ↗ virtual hand if you are on the phone

0:49 ↗ press star three if you have joined by

0:51 ↗ computer or smartphone look for a hand

0:54 ↗ icon this varies by device one option

0:56 ↗ may be to go to the participant panel

0:58 ↗ and choose the raise hand icon in the

1:00 ↗ lower right hand corner you're in the

1:02 ↗ room did not sign up I will ask for

1:04 ↗ other speakers before closing this

1:06 ↗ portion of the meeting wait to see for a

1:08 ↗ moment to see if anyone wishes to raise

1:10 ↗ their hand physically or

1:14 ↗ virtual Chris is anyone signed up to

1:16 ↗ speak or indicated a desire to speak

1:18 ↗ this

1:19 ↗ evening uh chair Marts no one has

1:21 ↗ previously signed up to speak and uh

1:24 ↗ there are no virtual hands raised at

1:25 ↗ this time all right as a reminder

1:28 ↗ written comments can be submitted at any

1:30 ↗ time to city council at isqua

1:35 ↗ w.gov next up uh on the agenda we have

1:41 ↗ approval of minutes and we have two sets

1:43 ↗ of minutes to approve um so we will

1:47 ↗ first take the September 30th 2024

1:49 ↗ minutes Mr chairman I had move to

1:52 ↗ approve the minutes from September 30th

1:55 ↗ our service of safety and Parks

1:57 ↗ committee

1:57 ↗ meeting second

2:00 ↗ any discussion all in favor say I I I

2:04 ↗ opposed extensions motion carries now

2:07 ↗ the minutes of the October 15th

2:10 ↗ meeting Mr chairman I'd make a motion to

2:12 ↗ adopt the service Safety and Parks

2:14 ↗ committee minutes from October 15

2:18 ↗ 2024 second any discussion hearing none

2:22 ↗ all in favor say I I I opposed

2:25 ↗ abstentions motion carries with that

2:29 ↗ we'll move on to agenda item C

2:32 ↗ 0079 inclusive housing investment pool

2:35 ↗ iHip application with her own Jen Davis

2:38 ↗ Hayes economic development manager take

2:40 ↗ it away Jen thank you council member

2:43 ↗ Marts um so we are going to be joined by

2:47 ↗ two staff members of arch virtually they

2:49 ↗ had to be at a council meeting in

2:51 ↗ Belleview the same evening so appreciate

2:54 ↗ um their ability to do two things um in

2:57 ↗ one evening and um so so we can make

3:00 ↗ them participants that would be great

3:02 ↗ and so um sorry we need to press share

3:07 ↗ twice um so we are here um to talk

3:11 ↗ about not work let me try again

3:16 ↗ sorry there we um to talk about as you

3:20 ↗ mentioned iHip so the inclusive housing

3:22 ↗ investment pool and um so tonight we're

3:25 ↗ here to rec uh present a recommendation

3:27 ↗ from the administration for the Leo

3:31 ↗ that's the uh life oh Life Enrichment

3:34 ↗ options uh Emily house uh for funding of

4:00 ↗ housing discussion we have we bring up

4:02 ↗ the housing Continuum and so um this

4:04 ↗ iHip is uh because of the the source of

4:07 ↗ funding these are the the uh types of

4:09 ↗ housing that would be eligible for the

4:11 ↗ types of of uh for the types of housing

4:14 ↗ for affordable housing so for those who

4:17 ↗ were not part of the creation of this

4:19 ↗ the um inclusive housing investment pool

4:22 ↗ the iHip was created uh at the end of

4:25 ↗ 2023 and we worked throughout that year

4:28 ↗ with Council and and are looking at our

4:30 ↗ plans to determine what the funding

4:32 ↗ priorities are uh preservation of

4:35 ↗ existing housing Transit oriented

4:36 ↗ development and Community Based

4:38 ↗ affordable housing projects for the top

4:40 ↗ three this project hits those the uh two

4:43 ↗ of them and is pretty close to frequent

4:46 ↗ Transit Service as

4:48 ↗ well now again as a reminder these this

4:51 ↗ funding is from uh our. 1% sales tax

4:55 ↗ which has a requirement which is the HB

4:58 ↗ 1590 so you must serve uh individuals

5:02 ↗ with 60% Ami or lower and then you also

5:06 ↗ must make sure that you serve one of the

5:07 ↗ following populations so again this

5:09 ↗ project meets those

5:12 ↗ requirements um this we added an oh I

5:14 ↗ forgot to mention we added a new slide

5:16 ↗ uh into this PowerPoint so for those of

5:19 ↗ you who are following on uh it has been

5:21 ↗ updated to the um to the packet this is

5:24 ↗ the slide that originally had I want to

5:26 ↗ keep in here just to mention that um

5:30 ↗ for iHip itself we have not spent

5:32 ↗ anything out of it this is the first

5:34 ↗ application we've had so there is about

5:36 ↗ $2 million allocated from the uh the 21

5:40 ↗ through 24 uh time frame of collection

5:44 ↗ and we anticipate about a million

5:46 ↗ dollars uh each each uh year for the

5:49 ↗ next two but this slide uh as a request

5:52 ↗ from uh Deputy council president um D

5:55 ↗ Michelle to ask okay what are those

5:57 ↗ things that are the revenue and expenses

6:00 ↗ for uh not just iHip but for the

6:02 ↗ affordable housing um taxes and so right

6:06 ↗ here again uh you'll see stars because

6:10 ↗ um we are still doing year-end

6:11 ↗ adjustments for um expenses and revenue

6:14 ↗ we haven't gotten the the full uh

6:17 ↗ Revenue collected and then that should

6:19 ↗ say through

6:20 ↗ 20124 sorry just notice that but um so

6:24 ↗ again we had anticipated a $5 million

6:27 ↗ set aside for the Tod and iHip of about

6:31 ↗ $2 million and so um and then in the

6:35 ↗ budget that you guys passed that Council

6:37 ↗ passed uh we have about a million

6:40 ↗ dollars a year so about $2 million so uh

6:43 ↗ talks about the expenses we plan to

6:45 ↗ spend that

6:48 ↗ on and um so again this was part of the

6:51 ↗ policy document that was approved by

6:53 ↗ City Council in December um so Bas

6:56 ↗ instead of us going at this on our own

6:59 ↗ we coordinated very closely with Arch to

7:02 ↗ um go at the same to have the

7:05 ↗ application coordinated with their

7:06 ↗ Housing Trust Fund application time

7:08 ↗ period And so instead of having uh

7:11 ↗ applicants do four different kinds of

7:13 ↗ applications for you know four different

7:15 ↗ funds basically they could uh fill out

7:18 ↗ the endumisweni

7:29 ↗ committee which included two economic

7:32 ↗ Vitality Commissioners so thank you to

7:34 ↗ uh Chris Richley and Barb pexa who spent

7:37 ↗ time looking over the 60 documents that

7:41 ↗ we received um and then myself and uh uh

7:45 ↗ Community planning and and development

7:46 ↗ director mini dalwa um were the staff um

7:50 ↗ we then present it to the administration

7:52 ↗ and then we are here at uh the committee

7:56 ↗ and so I'm going to pass this off to

7:57 ↗ Arch to um

8:00 ↗ share the next few slides and um I'm not

8:03 ↗ sure if it's gonna be Lindsay or

8:06 ↗ Patrick uh great Patrick is gonna begin

8:09 ↗ speaking and I just want to give a heads

8:11 ↗ up that we apologize in advance if we

8:13 ↗ have to get called over um to go present

8:17 ↗ at the council here in bellw so

8:18 ↗ apologies in advance but we're also very

8:20 ↗ happy to answer follow-up questions

8:22 ↗ after the meeting if they come up after

8:24 ↗ we leave Patrick so I want to talk a

8:27 ↗ little bit about the application that

8:28 ↗ it's a received for the iHip funds the

8:31 ↗ application came from Life Enrichment

8:33 ↗ options a nonprofit based in issaqua to

8:35 ↗ acquire an existing group home serving

8:38 ↗ uh individuals with intellectual and

8:40 ↗ developmental disabilities and this is

8:42 ↗ for the acquisition they applied to iHip

8:44 ↗ for approximately $490,000 of iHip funds

8:48 ↗ they also applied to Arch for about

8:50 ↗ $490,000 and then uh an application also

8:53 ↗ to the the State Department of Commerce

8:56 ↗ uh their proposal is to support uh four

8:59 ↗ household holds uh earning incomes

9:01 ↗ between 30 and 40% of the area Medan

9:03 ↗ income uh and and the funds that they've

9:06 ↗ requested will be to acquire this

9:07 ↗ existing uh existing property and

9:10 ↗ continue to operate it in the long term

9:11 ↗ to continue to serve future uh future

9:14 ↗ residents uh with intellectual and

9:16 ↗ developmental disabilities this uh

9:18 ↗ proposal uh really aligned well with the

9:20 ↗ preservation of the existing affordable

9:23 ↗ housing as well as a community partner

9:25 ↗ and also aligned with many elements in

9:26 ↗ the uh City FIS CL comprehensive plan

9:30 ↗ uh the total project cost is

9:33 ↗ approximately $1.9 million and again a

9:35 ↗ quarter of the funds are requested from

9:37 ↗ iHip a quarter from Arch which have been

9:39 ↗ recommended by the arch executive board

9:42 ↗ and then uh nearly a million dollars

9:44 ↗ from the state of Washington which has

9:45 ↗ been awarded to the project so we're

9:47 ↗ doing a really good job of leveraging

9:48 ↗ the iHip dollars with other available

9:50 ↗ sources to preserve this housing in the

9:56 ↗ community thank you Patrick um the other

9:58 ↗ part of the application was a request

10:01 ↗ for C uh

10:03 ↗ on oh no I'm sorry I'm going to ahead

10:05 ↗ too much so um so we do recommend this

10:07 ↗ Capital funding again these are the

10:09 ↗ reasons um why uh we talked about

10:11 ↗ preservation we talked about serving

10:13 ↗ lower than even it was required for the

10:15 ↗ affordable housing and it's within

10:17 ↗ walking distance of frequent Transit

10:19 ↗ service right across the street here um

10:22 ↗ and we're really excited that um again

10:24 ↗ they were able to leverage other money

10:26 ↗ to preserve this housing availability

10:30 ↗ um part of the application as well was

10:33 ↗ not only for Capital but for ongoing um

10:36 ↗ annual operating request of $55,000 a

10:39 ↗ year um after looking at that uh

10:42 ↗ recommendation or that uh application we

10:46 ↗ uh we the Review Committee have

10:47 ↗ recommended not to fund the annual

10:50 ↗ operations we believe there are other

10:52 ↗ sources for that um and Arch and City

10:55 ↗ staff uh have volunteered to help them

10:57 ↗ look into that I know that Arch is work

10:59 ↗ very closely with them about uh with

11:01 ↗ their staff to you know be able to act

11:04 ↗ to uh apply for other grants but we

11:06 ↗ really felt that the I uh iHip as we've

11:10 ↗ heard from Council before should be

11:11 ↗ focused on actually preserving and

11:13 ↗ creating not uh spending money on

11:16 ↗ studies or other things that may not um

11:19 ↗ be a you know what it is intended for

11:22 ↗ from this Council to actually create

11:24 ↗ housing we have very limited funds and

11:27 ↗ so that again is our recommendation but

11:30 ↗ uh we're more than willing to hear more

11:32 ↗ about it I'm going to turn it back to uh

11:38 ↗ Patrick so yeah I can I can jump in here

11:41 ↗ um so the recommendation includes some

11:44 ↗ specific things that uh would typically

11:47 ↗ come with an arch funding recommendation

11:49 ↗ so it includes the amount of funds um

11:52 ↗ the proposed terms of the dollars and um

11:57 ↗ many of what are now standard conditions

11:59 ↗ that come with Arch awards that ensure

12:02 ↗ um the funds are going to preserve that

12:04 ↗ affordability long term um and the

12:06 ↗ dollars are used for their intended

12:08 ↗ purpose uh so those are all laid out in

12:11 ↗ the memo and would um align with the set

12:14 ↗ of conditions that we've also

12:15 ↗ recommended for the arch set of funds

12:18 ↗ that a company

12:21 ↗ iHip um just one final note about this

12:24 ↗ also uh this is a new program for isqua

12:28 ↗ um we have experience administering City

12:32 ↗ funds through your arch um through your

12:35 ↗ arch account held in the city of

12:38 ↗ Bellevue and so we're we're open to

12:41 ↗ using that as a way to help you

12:42 ↗ administer These funds as well which

12:44 ↗ would would allow us to do the

12:46 ↗ administration of the contract um but

12:48 ↗ that is is we're happy to answer

12:50 ↗ questions about how that would

12:52 ↗ work and I was just going to mention

12:54 ↗ that as our recommendation as well to

12:56 ↗ rely on their expertise um to manage the

12:59 ↗ contract and that would work the same

13:01 ↗ way as our Housing Trust Fund dollars

13:04 ↗ where uh we would transfer the money and

13:06 ↗ they would um you know obviously keep us

13:08 ↗ in in informed and be part of that but

13:11 ↗ uh utilize their expertise for

13:14 ↗ managing so we're back to the discuss uh

13:18 ↗ uh discussion questions or Direction

13:25 ↗ needed council member Joe thank you uh

13:29 ↗ um first a question for Lindsay or

13:31 ↗ Patrick do do you know um if this house

13:35 ↗ is uh named the Emily house after Emily

13:38 ↗ Ernst uh Mike Ernst uh daughter or

13:43 ↗ not uh I I do believe that it uh does uh

13:48 ↗ the name is from a prior owner or

13:51 ↗ current owner and a previant resident of

13:53 ↗ the home yes oh okay um MERS was a

13:56 ↗ longtime board member and one of the

13:59 ↗ houses was named the Mike Ernst house

14:01 ↗ that opened in the west disa Highlands

14:04 ↗ uh in

14:05 ↗ 2022 um so I've I was just curious um

14:09 ↗ when when you said Patrick when you said

14:11 ↗ that there would be um

14:14 ↗ four uh I think you said families or

14:18 ↗ living units that would be supported by

14:20 ↗ this house um could you clarify that a

14:23 ↗ little bit is is it just for individuals

14:26 ↗ with special needs that would be living

14:28 ↗ in the house with a caretaker uh to help

14:31 ↗ with uh day-to-day

14:34 ↗ activities yeah that's correct it's a

14:36 ↗ five-bedroom home there are four people

14:39 ↗ uh with intellectual developmental

14:40 ↗ disabilities who live there who are

14:42 ↗ Income qualified the fifth bedroom is

14:44 ↗ lived in uh by a caretaker who is not an

14:47 ↗ income qualified and so our proposal

14:49 ↗ would characterize that unit as a common

14:51 ↗ area unit so meaning the person does not

14:54 ↗ need to be income qualified to to reside

14:56 ↗ there though they do they are included

14:58 ↗ under the rental assistance contract uh

15:01 ↗ of the for the operations of the home

15:03 ↗ okay no I appreciate that thank you yeah

15:05 ↗ I um H break ground on the first Rose

15:09 ↗ finnean house in the early 2000s and

15:11 ↗ fully support this program um uh the

15:15 ↗ challenge day race uh that was put on by

15:18 ↗ rotary here in town and now in snow

15:20 ↗ kwami um helped support the the ongoing

15:24 ↗ uh work of of this group and I don't

15:26 ↗ have any further questions other than to

15:28 ↗ say that this is a need that um Rose and

15:32 ↗ Leo finnean saw in our community and

15:35 ↗ filled it by doing a mom and pop um

15:39 ↗ nonprofit in essence that that grew and

15:41 ↗ grew to what we see today um uh which

15:45 ↗ involves now five houses and now going

15:47 ↗ on to the sixth house um to uh give

15:51 ↗ opportunities for people with special

15:52 ↗ needs um the opportunity to live

15:55 ↗ independently in our communities um I

15:58 ↗ love seeing being the group uh walk

16:01 ↗ around downtown together and go to

16:04 ↗ concerts on the green together and um

16:07 ↗ just enjoy isqua for everything that it

16:10 ↗ has to offer because they have the

16:11 ↗ opportunity to live in our great in our

16:14 ↗ great City so uh thank you to Leo for

16:16 ↗ all their work and uh thank you to Arch

16:18 ↗ for the hard work to make this happen um

16:21 ↗ I think it's fantastic we're able to put

16:23 ↗ in uh one quarter of the funds and get

16:25 ↗ the other three Partners or two partners

16:28 ↗ to devote the other um three quarters of

16:31 ↗ the funding it's a fine example of uh a

16:34 ↗ partnership uh to fill a need in our

16:37 ↗ community so thank

16:38 ↗ you thank

16:42 ↗ you Deputy council president do you have

16:44 ↗ any questions right now

16:47 ↗ just

16:49 ↗ um so I'm uh I understand and uh I love

16:55 ↗ what uh council member Joe said about uh

16:58 ↗ Leo and Rose finigan because they really

17:00 ↗ were Pioneers in this area and I know

17:03 ↗ that Leo Life Enrichment opportunities

17:07 ↗ uh is an expert at fundraising and

17:09 ↗ finding those grants but what happens if

17:14 ↗ um they're not able to sustain these

17:16 ↗ operating costs for this for this uh

17:20 ↗ facility and also do the residents pay

17:23 ↗ uh even part of the funds or are these

17:26 ↗ 100% subsidized housing uh

17:31 ↗ situation yeah I'll start with answering

17:33 ↗ your second question of residents are

17:35 ↗ asked to pay onethird of their income uh

17:38 ↗ for for rent and then the remaining

17:40 ↗ portion of their rent is paid through uh

17:42 ↗ Section 8 Contra uh contract for their

17:45 ↗ for their units um and then regarding

17:49 ↗ the uh the operating expenses I think

17:52 ↗ that uh fundraising is a is a portion of

17:54 ↗ that I think that the uh you know there

17:58 ↗ are other Grant and contract

18:00 ↗ opportunities available that Leo's

18:02 ↗ seeking and I do think they're building

18:03 ↗ their staff to be able to successfully

18:06 ↗ access those funds and support the

18:07 ↗ continue to support the residents and I

18:10 ↗ apologize we were just called uh over

18:12 ↗ but we again we'd be happy to follow up

18:14 ↗ with any other questions by email thanks

18:17 ↗ for having

18:18 ↗ us thank you Lindsay and Patrick good

18:21 ↗ luck with your next one thank you Jen I

18:25 ↗ I have a question so this is already

18:28 ↗ home

18:29 ↗ for uh developmentally disabled folks um

18:35 ↗ so what what do we get for the

18:38 ↗ $482,000 then it's if it's already so

18:41 ↗ it's preservation because they the the

18:43 ↗ current operators of the group home want

18:46 ↗ to retire and so they would could

18:49 ↗ potentially sell the house on the open

18:51 ↗ market and get their $2 million or

18:53 ↗ whatever it would be and walk away in

18:56 ↗ these four individuals um would be

18:59 ↗ without housing um there has been talk

19:02 ↗ with from Leo House of looking at that

19:04 ↗ house maybe even being able to add a

19:06 ↗ fifth um room uh so in the you know

19:10 ↗ having another person live there so that

19:12 ↗ would also help with their operations um

19:14 ↗ but yeah it's it's they want to retire

19:19 ↗ so and is um so Leo would run the home

19:25 ↗ yes um are they okay with the arch

19:28 ↗ attachment seat

19:29 ↗ terms MH which were added after the

19:32 ↗ initial

19:34 ↗ conversation yeah I mean they've yes

19:37 ↗ they they have been in in Communications

19:39 ↗ and they also again they have received

19:41 ↗ an award from the state um and so they

19:44 ↗ have those terms as well from the state

19:46 ↗ okay Department of Commerce

19:50 ↗ okay well uh this would be a point where

19:54 ↗ I will ask again whether there's any

19:56 ↗ public comment on this particular item

19:59 ↗ any members of the public either uh here

20:02 ↗ in the room with us or remote uh have an

20:05 ↗ interest in uh making a comment on this

20:08 ↗ before we make a final decision I'll say

20:10 ↗ again it's uh star three on your phone

20:13 ↗ or look for a hand icon uh that may be

20:16 ↗ to go to the participant panel and

20:18 ↗ choose the raise hand icon in the lower

20:20 ↗ right right hand corner Chris any

20:22 ↗ indication that anyone wishes to speak

20:23 ↗ this

20:24 ↗ item chair marks there are no online

20:27 ↗ attendees but I do you see some hands

20:29 ↗ raised in the uh in the audience all

20:31 ↗ right well then let me uh mention that

20:38 ↗ uh uh public comments are an important

20:40 ↗ part of the public process we take them

20:42 ↗ seriously and Factor them into the

20:43 ↗ decisions we make during audience

20:45 ↗ comments members of the public are

20:46 ↗ invited to address the council regarding

20:48 ↗ matters that are directly related City

20:50 ↗ programs projects services or events

20:52 ↗ anyone from the public who wishes to

20:53 ↗ comment will have the opportunity to do

20:55 ↗ so please direct comments to the whole

20:57 ↗ Council and not individuals while this

20:59 ↗ is not a question and answer session we

21:01 ↗ will contact you to follow up if needed

21:04 ↗ uh so when recognized uh state your name

21:07 ↗ address and relationship to the city EG

21:09 ↗ resident property owner business owner

21:11 ↗ speak clearly and pause frequently and

21:13 ↗ limit your comments five minutes if you

21:16 ↗ are attending

21:17 ↗ virtually uh well I'll read the part

21:19 ↗ even though we don't have any virtual

21:20 ↗ right now and do not respond after your

21:22 ↗ name or phone number is called or if

21:23 ↗ your connection is lost unexpectedly the

21:25 ↗ meeting will need to proceed you are

21:27 ↗ encouraged to rejoin the meeting if able

21:29 ↗ written comments can be submitted at any

21:31 ↗ time to city council at is w.gov

21:33 ↗ personal attacks obscene language

21:35 ↗ derogatory remarks and disruptive

21:37 ↗ behavior such as shouting booing capping

21:40 ↗ and stomping feet will not be permitted

21:41 ↗ the speaker is out of order the

21:43 ↗ presiding officer will direct the

21:44 ↗ speaker to return to his or her seat

21:46 ↗ virtual attendees may direct staff to

21:49 ↗ mute their microphone the speaker does

21:51 ↗ not comply the presiding officer may

21:52 ↗ take a recess to restore order the

21:54 ↗ disruption to the meeting occurs and

21:56 ↗ Order cannot be restored residing office

21:58 ↗ officer May proceed to use one of the

22:00 ↗ options provided for in RCW

22:03 ↗ 42305 to ensure orderly continuation of

22:06 ↗ the meeting again public comments

22:08 ↗ written in verbal are an important

22:09 ↗ aspect of the public process City takes

22:12 ↗ comments seriously and we thank members

22:14 ↗ of the public for taking the time to

22:15 ↗ address US during these meetings with

22:19 ↗ that we will take our first commenter

22:29 ↗ you need to press

22:31 ↗ the hello okay great um thank you um uh

22:36 ↗ chair uh council member Mars and all the

22:39 ↗ other council members uh for the

22:41 ↗ opportunity to provide public comment on

22:43 ↗ this issue um I think this is a great

22:45 ↗ project um Leo's a great can I interrupt

22:47 ↗ and ask you to state your name oh record

22:50 ↗ thank you uh sorry my name is Kelly Jen

22:51 ↗ and I'm resident of isqua um and

22:54 ↗ homeowner in Talis um so I think

22:59 ↗ um the ihit program it's super exciting

23:02 ↗ to see this kind of get off the ground

23:03 ↗ and I couldn't think of a better first

23:05 ↗ project to um to be you know the one to

23:08 ↗ kick off this project uh this program um

23:11 ↗ and I think the partnership with a local

23:14 ↗ organization Leo is fantastic um they've

23:16 ↗ done a lot over the last 40 Years to you

23:19 ↗ know serve as a real model in the

23:20 ↗ community of how um individuals with

23:23 ↗ intellectual and developmental

23:24 ↗ disabilities can you know be a great

23:27 ↗ part of our community here in is

23:29 ↗ additionally I'm interested to learn

23:31 ↗ more about what the pipeline is for new

23:33 ↗ um projects in um the program you know

23:36 ↗ this is a great first project um and

23:38 ↗ it's also really great to hear that you

23:40 ↗ know we're leaning on the expertise and

23:43 ↗ you know Staffing um within Arch which

23:45 ↗ is a great you know Regional

23:47 ↗ collaboration um so I'm excited to learn

23:49 ↗ more about how you know we can find

23:52 ↗ other of these types of projects to

23:53 ↗ support super low income residents

23:55 ↗ veterans um formally homeless people um

23:58 ↗ individuals with developmental

24:00 ↗ disabilities and you know make sure that

24:02 ↗ um everyone has a place here in isqua so

24:04 ↗ thank

24:05 ↗ you thank you for your

24:07 ↗ comment did we have one other person or

24:10 ↗ two yes

24:17 ↗ next uh thank you chair Marts last time

24:19 ↗ I blew it so let me introduce myself

24:22 ↗ Jason voice 700 Front Street South and I

24:26 ↗ am a resident so let me second what

24:28 ↗ Kelly just said that was fantastic but

24:31 ↗ also as someone who has worked a little

24:33 ↗ bit with Arch um what a great outfit

24:35 ↗ what a great

24:36 ↗ organization I was not aware of this uh

24:39 ↗ Leo or these houses that um sounds like

24:42 ↗ we have four this would be the fifth and

24:45 ↗ so I thank council member Joe for giving

24:47 ↗ us a little background about the

24:48 ↗ finnigans I had never heard of that so

24:52 ↗ again um great work it seems like a

24:54 ↗ pretty fair trade again to council

24:57 ↗ member Joe's point

24:59 ↗ if we provide a quarter of the funding

25:01 ↗ two other partners would provide three

25:03 ↗ quarters of that funding um again so I

25:05 ↗ applaud the effort by Arch by Leo by

25:08 ↗ iHip and uh looking forward to seeing

25:11 ↗ what you guys will do with it thank

25:13 ↗ you thank you for your

25:15 ↗ comment anyone else wishing to

25:20 ↗ speak CL any chance we've added anybody

25:23 ↗ online still no online attendees chair

25:27 ↗ all right so should we go go through uh

25:30 ↗ the three

25:31 ↗ questions council member Joe um thank

25:34 ↗ you uh Mr chairman thank you for the um

25:38 ↗ also personal privilege to compliment uh

25:41 ↗ our Arch staff before they had to go um

25:44 ↗ my comments didn't necessarily um stay

25:48 ↗ contained to questions but I appreciate

25:50 ↗ the the personal privilege and leeway

25:52 ↗ that you gave me there um I don't have

25:54 ↗ any questions about the the the

25:56 ↗ recommendation here I think again it's a

25:58 ↗ a great project to put a quarter in and

26:01 ↗ have other partners join us we always do

26:04 ↗ get that question what has Arch done for

26:07 ↗ us recently or what does arch do and I

26:10 ↗ think that we need to be quite vocal

26:13 ↗ about this is what Arch does to help

26:15 ↗ preserve housing for the 0 to 40% um Ami

26:20 ↗ and that housing does not get built

26:22 ↗ unless you have a nonprofit or other

26:24 ↗ partner that's willing to come in and do

26:26 ↗ it and so I applaud the administration

26:28 ↗ and Jen Davis Hayes for trying to uh

26:31 ↗ seek out and find those opportunities

26:33 ↗ and then gain partners that could uh

26:35 ↗ work with us to preserve this essential

26:38 ↗ housing in our community um I don't

26:42 ↗ necessarily think I need any additional

26:43 ↗ information for this um I believe that

26:46 ↗ it's

26:47 ↗ appropriate to have um Arch and Leo the

26:51 ↗ Leo house uh uh organization go out and

26:54 ↗ get the um the everyday administrative

26:58 ↗ funding for this um we bring something

27:01 ↗ to the table and they bring their

27:03 ↗ expertise to the table in terms of how

27:05 ↗ to um take care of these places and take

27:08 ↗ care of the the citizens that are are

27:10 ↗ living there in a in a cost effective

27:12 ↗ way and um I think it's a good

27:14 ↗ partnership to um make sure that all

27:16 ↗ parties have um some type of interest

27:19 ↗ and skin in the game through this

27:21 ↗ process so that concludes my uh comments

27:23 ↗ thank you Deputy council president

27:28 ↗ uh thank you um I I think this is a a

27:31 ↗ wonderful project and so I had the great

27:35 ↗ privilege of serving with Leo finnean on

27:38 ↗ the atwork uh board of directors and uh

27:41 ↗ he also served um with me uh at the

27:46 ↗ Metro Transit committee Advisory Group

27:49 ↗ and uh Leo was also a member of the King

27:53 ↗ County uh developmental disability

27:56 ↗ Advisory Group so he and I

27:58 ↗ did a lot of car pooling back in the day

28:01 ↗ and one thing uh in our

28:05 ↗ conversations um that we talked about

28:07 ↗ was um and and Rose and Leo uh of course

28:10 ↗ their son is uh a person with uh

28:13 ↗ developmental disabilities and he shared

28:15 ↗ with me the uh concern that most parents

28:19 ↗ who have children with developmental

28:21 ↗ disabilities have and that is how do

28:24 ↗ they get along after I am gone and so

28:27 ↗ this housing fits and meets a need for

28:31 ↗ that community of people that is just

28:34 ↗ unbelievably urgent I believe if I read

28:37 ↗ it correctly in the packet we received

28:39 ↗ there are

28:40 ↗ 39,000 um people with developmental

28:43 ↗ disabilities in Washington state who do

28:46 ↗ not have stable housing um and do not

28:49 ↗ have access to this so this is a

28:50 ↗ wonderful thing that the city of isqua

28:52 ↗ has done working with the finans uh to

28:57 ↗ um get this kind of housing available in

28:59 ↗ our

29:00 ↗ community uh I'd also like to remind

29:02 ↗ everybody that the iHip fund uh did come

29:06 ↗ from capturing from King County the

29:08 ↗ 1110th to

29:09 ↗ 1% um tax revenues which we would have

29:12 ↗ been paying anyway but they would have

29:14 ↗ been going to King County and instead

29:16 ↗ they've come to us and provided this

29:18 ↗ wonderful pool of money that I think we

29:20 ↗ are putting to really really good causes

29:22 ↗ so thanks to the staff for bringing this

29:25 ↗ forward uh and thanks to Arch uh for the

29:28 ↗ work that they did on this project as

29:30 ↗ well so I do not have any concerns about

29:33 ↗ this recommendation I think this is a

29:35 ↗ great preservation project I also went

29:37 ↗ online and looked at maps to find out

29:40 ↗ exactly where the house is perfect

29:43 ↗ location for this kind of a of a housing

29:46 ↗ solution uh with an easy reach to so

29:49 ↗ many different um uh vanities in our

29:52 ↗ community so everything about this

29:54 ↗ project just seems right and um I think

29:57 ↗ it'll will be great I don't have any

29:59 ↗ questions or any additional information

30:02 ↗ that I need and I hope that we can send

30:04 ↗ this forward to the council and get this

30:07 ↗ project moving thank you thank you

30:11 ↗ Deputy council president uh so I am in

30:14 ↗ support of uh this motion uh and taking

30:18 ↗ this back to the full Council uh I'm

30:21 ↗ particularly excited to see that at 0 to

30:23 ↗ 40 um we so rarely get opportunities to

30:26 ↗ move the needle anything less than 80%

30:29 ↗ or 90% uh so that's very exciting um I

30:35 ↗ you know hold Leo in high regard they'll

30:38 ↗ they'll do a good

30:40 ↗ job so I don't have any additional

30:46 ↗ questions I think it sounds like we are

30:48 ↗ three to0 in support of sending it back

30:50 ↗ is there uh I probably should know this

30:54 ↗ but was uh there is a date date certain

30:57 ↗ for it going back right the second

30:59 ↗ meeting in

31:00 ↗ February I I think it says February 24th

31:05 ↗ and yeah February

31:06 ↗ 24 and we'd recommend consent if

31:09 ↗ committee's right

31:10 ↗ with Y Yep looks head nods all

31:16 ↗ around all right thank you very much

31:19 ↗ appreciate this thank you Jen appreciate

31:21 ↗ it so with that uh we'll move on to the

31:25 ↗ second item

31:28 ↗ uh which

31:30 ↗ is uh Tom 84 2025 Arts Grant

31:35 ↗ recommendations by Amy Dukes our arts

31:37 ↗ program administrator

32:05 ↗ sorry good evening um committee members

32:09 ↗ thank you for having me here this

32:11 ↗ evening um I am here to present to you

32:13 ↗ the 2025 Arts Grant

32:17 ↗ recommendations um these are the 2025

32:20 ↗ Arts Grant recommendations as proposed

32:22 ↗ by the Arts

32:23 ↗ commission and we'll share them with you

32:28 ↗ um the direction that we are seeking um

32:30 ↗ is just for the award and allocation of

32:33 ↗ this year's Arts

32:37 ↗ Grant so I want to provide a little bit

32:39 ↗ of quick background about the Arts

32:41 ↗ grants I think you all are fairly

32:43 ↗ familiar with them it's an annual

32:45 ↗ program that the Arts commission does um

32:47 ↗ facilitate through the arts

32:49 ↗ program um and the primary uh reason

32:53 ↗ that we do the Arts grant program is to

32:55 ↗ provide meaningful Arts engagement and

32:57 ↗ opportunity ities for our community and

32:59 ↗ visitors um to celebrate our community's

33:02 ↗ cultural

33:03 ↗ diversity to cultivate a creative and

33:05 ↗ vibrant Arts community in esqua and of

33:08 ↗ course to support our local Arts

33:10 ↗ organizations and artists and creative

33:15 ↗ economy um a few years ago the Arts

33:18 ↗ commission decided to formalize the

33:20 ↗ program a little bit more and uh create

33:22 ↗ some different categories so that we

33:24 ↗ could better uh manage the grant

33:26 ↗ requests and so the Arts Partnerships

33:29 ↗ are one category that we will be talking

33:31 ↗ about this evening um those are really

33:33 ↗ General operating support provided to

33:36 ↗ our isqua based nonprofit Arts

33:38 ↗ organizations that really have arts and

33:40 ↗ culture as their primary singular

33:43 ↗ Mission so that's the business that

33:45 ↗ they're in um we do uh allow up to 10%

33:50 ↗ of their operating budget to be

33:52 ↗ requested um or up to

33:55 ↗ $25,000 um this is a change from

33:58 ↗ 2024 um previously we allowed up to

34:01 ↗ $35,000 requests um and it was one of

34:05 ↗ the changes that the Arts commission um

34:07 ↗ recommended due to uh decreased uh

34:10 ↗ funding in this category for

34:14 ↗ 25 um and then the other category that

34:16 ↗ we'll be presenting recommendations for

34:18 ↗ this evening is Arts projects um these

34:21 ↗ are projects um that can come from

34:23 ↗ really any type of organization um

34:26 ↗ informal group group of artists um an

34:29 ↗ individual artist with an idea that

34:31 ↗ provides um a project that provides

34:34 ↗ benefit to isqua Residents and visitors

34:37 ↗ and so this year um the max request in

34:39 ↗ this category is

34:41 ↗ $5,000 we did um break it into two

34:44 ↗ categories and asked hey if you could

34:46 ↗ get $2500 what could you do for that and

34:49 ↗ so we did have some groups that actually

34:51 ↗ propos projects for

34:52 ↗ $2,500 um so that was another sort of

34:56 ↗ strategy to manage having less

35:00 ↗ funding and the Arts commission uses

35:02 ↗ three different criteria to evaluate the

35:06 ↗ applications um the first um primary

35:08 ↗ criteria is public benefit so they're

35:11 ↗ really looking for projects and programs

35:13 ↗ that provide a meaningful engagement in

35:16 ↗ arts and

35:17 ↗ culture um and they want the program to

35:19 ↗ reach or collectively they want the

35:21 ↗ recommendations to reach diverse

35:23 ↗ audiences so a lot of the projects and

35:25 ↗ programs reach very Broad audiences um

35:29 ↗ and then there are certainly projects

35:31 ↗ that are intended to reach an

35:33 ↗ underserved um group like uh seniors

35:37 ↗ living and Senior Living

35:39 ↗ centers the second criteria is Artistic

35:42 ↗ value um so we really want to support

35:46 ↗ programs that are well conceived

35:48 ↗ compelling and again have art as the

35:50 ↗ primary component and reason um for for

35:54 ↗ the project and that they're providing a

35:56 ↗ really meaningful Arts engagement

35:58 ↗ opportunity for our

36:00 ↗ community and then third the final

36:03 ↗ criteria is feasibility and managerial

36:06 ↗ capacity um so we want to make sure that

36:08 ↗ the money that we're investing is

36:10 ↗ actually used um well and that the

36:13 ↗ budget of the program our project is

36:15 ↗ realistic and clear and that the project

36:18 ↗ has um endeavored to receive Community

36:21 ↗ involvement or support in its

36:25 ↗ creation oh

36:28 ↗ no that's right um Amy thank you for

36:30 ↗ coming tonight and appreciate your um

36:33 ↗ constant work in in the Arts uh Arena um

36:36 ↗ could you touch on where we get the

36:38 ↗ money from um and you know um the

36:42 ↗ citizens might not know how the money

36:44 ↗ gets uh um to us and if you could touch

36:46 ↗ on that I'd appreciate it yeah that's

36:48 ↗ great thank you for bringing that up

36:50 ↗ council member Joe because I just assume

36:52 ↗ everyone knows that but that's actually

36:54 ↗ not the case um so the arts program in

36:56 ↗ isqua is funded through primarily

36:58 ↗ through admissions tax um which is

37:01 ↗ collected from our movie theater um

37:03 ↗ Regal and also from the small movie

37:06 ↗ theater um big picture um that is a

37:09 ↗ small tax on each individual um U movie

37:12 ↗ ticket and that amount um as you might

37:16 ↗ be able to imagine has decreased um over

37:19 ↗ the years um and pretty significantly

37:23 ↗ obviously during the pandemic and while

37:25 ↗ we um actually have had decent year in

37:29 ↗ 2024 it is um still about a 50%

37:32 ↗ reduction to what it was at its height

37:34 ↗ um so just to give you an idea we're

37:36 ↗ coming in um just under $200,000 a year

37:39 ↗ from the emissions tax um the arts

37:41 ↗ program also does get funded through a

37:43 ↗ small percentage of um Capital

37:45 ↗ Improvement projects that the city um

37:47 ↗ does and that amount goes to public art

37:50 ↗ so this program is funded um entirely

37:53 ↗ through emissions tax great thank you

37:56 ↗ very much I appreciate that yeah thanks

37:58 ↗ for that opportunity um so tonight's

38:00 ↗ recommendation um from the Arts

38:02 ↗ commission is to support 24 arts and

38:05 ↗ culture projects and two um two Arts

38:09 ↗ Partnerships um for a total of

38:13 ↗ $125,000 um I would note that the

38:16 ↗ recommendations are made um by the Arts

38:19 ↗ commission evaluating all of the

38:21 ↗ applications using a rubric with those

38:24 ↗ three criteria we discussed and then

38:26 ↗ they scored them and kind of a um a

38:29 ↗ breakoff of

38:32 ↗ funding the two Arts Partnerships are um

38:35 ↗ to Village Theater and to the esqua

38:37 ↗ history museums um both of these amounts

38:40 ↗ do um do demonstrate a little bit of a

38:43 ↗ reduced amount um compared to

38:47 ↗ 2024 and then here are um Grant

38:51 ↗ recommendations for the Arts projects

38:53 ↗ there are 24 of them um primarily at the

38:57 ↗ the $5,000

38:59 ↗ level um there are a handful at 2500 and

39:02 ↗ then a couple that are just odd numbers

39:06 ↗ because people requested something

39:08 ↗ different um and then also a couple of

39:11 ↗ ones at the end that I want to highlight

39:13 ↗ um that were really seeking just support

39:15 ↗ for uh facility rental and the facility

39:18 ↗ rental they were seeking support for was

39:21 ↗ something that the city maintains and

39:23 ↗ owns and so we figured given the uh

39:26 ↗ reduced amount of funding that maybe

39:28 ↗ another way that we could provide

39:29 ↗ support this year this year would be to

39:32 ↗ um cover in kind those rentals and that

39:35 ↗ freed up a little additional money so we

39:37 ↗ were able to give a few more grants um

39:40 ↗ another change this year was that uh

39:43 ↗ applicants couldn't submit more than

39:45 ↗ three projects um which sounds like a

39:48 ↗ lot but in the past we've had applicants

39:50 ↗ submit five and six so that also um

39:54 ↗ reduced the the sort of strain on the

39:58 ↗ funding um I just wanted to point out um

40:01 ↗ I think this didn't make it into your

40:02 ↗ packet so I'm sorry I wanted to point

40:04 ↗ out a couple of things about the impact

40:06 ↗ of these grants um and that is uh that

40:11 ↗ the collectively um these programs and

40:15 ↗ projects would uh result in about

40:18 ↗ 150,000 participants those might be

40:21 ↗ duplicated in some instances but 150,000

40:24 ↗ participants in isqua um over the course

40:27 ↗ of the year um that there's a very wide

40:30 ↗ range of activities supported through

40:32 ↗ these grants so we have Visual and

40:34 ↗ Performing um literary Arts Cultural

40:37 ↗ Arts um the funded projects um through

40:40 ↗ the organizations and the project teams

40:44 ↗ represent um 300 creative workers um

40:48 ↗ lots of volunteers are leveraged through

40:51 ↗ these projects and then you can see

40:55 ↗ collectively um it's a 17 .5 million

40:59 ↗ support um that's provided to the local

41:04 ↗ economy um so timing and next steps um

41:08 ↗ just to give you an idea of how we got

41:09 ↗ here the application was released in

41:12 ↗ October of 24 the deadline was December

41:16 ↗ 5th um the Arts commission took the

41:19 ↗ month of December and early January to

41:22 ↗ review the applications and then

41:24 ↗ reviewed them at two public meetings um

41:27 ↗ in January that were attended by uh

41:30 ↗ applicants I'm here tonight to present

41:33 ↗ these to you and then we're hoping they

41:35 ↗ can go to Council in February and then

41:38 ↗ we'll begin our Contracting

41:43 ↗ phase so just back to the direction

41:45 ↗ needed um hoping uh you can provide

41:48 ↗ Direction on the award and the

41:49 ↗ allocation for this year's Arts grants

41:51 ↗ as recommended by the Arts commission

41:54 ↗ and I am always more than happy to take

41:56 ↗ questions you might have have yeah Amy

41:59 ↗ can you when you talk about the

42:01 ↗ requested amount versus the funding

42:03 ↗ recommendation can you talk a little bit

42:05 ↗ about I don't need to know when there's

42:07 ↗ like a 10% difference but there's three

42:10 ↗ or four of these where the request is

42:12 ↗ substantially more than what we decided

42:14 ↗ on so can you can you talk a little bit

42:16 ↗ about that thought process sure um I

42:19 ↗ don't have the list in front of me but I

42:22 ↗ I can I should it starts with is history

42:26 ↗ m okay with their $12,000 request and

42:30 ↗ and uh the 6500 recommendation great um

42:33 ↗ so that is them requesting the maximum

42:37 ↗ amount that they are eligible for um and

42:41 ↗ the the in many instances the scoring um

42:46 ↗ affected the amount um that was

42:49 ↗ recommended so the application scored

42:52 ↗ well but it didn't score sort of high

42:55 ↗ enough to get recommended for the full

42:57 ↗ amount and then also um just sort of

43:02 ↗ those two Arts organizations the Arts

43:05 ↗ partnership category um did take the

43:08 ↗ sort of hit of having less funding this

43:10 ↗ year the projects are sort of a little

43:12 ↗ more straightforward and that they're

43:14 ↗ either 5,000 or 2500 um sort of you get

43:18 ↗ the money to do the project or not do

43:20 ↗ the project they're a little bit more

43:21 ↗ binary so the Arts Partnerships I think

43:24 ↗ are the is the category that kind of

43:26 ↗ suffered from our um production and and

43:28 ↗ Grant funds um but um I believe the

43:33 ↗ history museums received like $8,000

43:36 ↗ last year um so that is you know a

43:38 ↗ reduction but not a dramatic one the

43:41 ↗ Arts commission also sort of recognizes

43:43 ↗ that the history museums does receive a

43:46 ↗ lot of support from the city um in terms

43:49 ↗ of um its facilities so they felt like

43:53 ↗ well you are getting a lot of support

43:55 ↗ from the city in other ways

43:57 ↗ um so that's kind of the Myriad of

44:01 ↗ reasons why their funding is uh is less

44:05 ↗ than they

44:06 ↗ requested okay and then uh isqua free

44:10 ↗ little art galleries requested 5,000 and

44:12 ↗ we recommended 2500 yes so this was um

44:15 ↗ the case of one where they uh said we

44:18 ↗ could do this for 2500 or this for 5,000

44:22 ↗ um they are offering to put up two free

44:24 ↗ little art galleries for 2500 or they

44:27 ↗ could do four or 5,000 um we did uh do

44:32 ↗ another project years ago that was a

44:34 ↗ free little art gallery and just knowing

44:36 ↗ the sort of um timeline for that and the

44:40 ↗ issues of finding a location um it's

44:43 ↗ probably much more realistic to do too

44:44 ↗ than four anyway so that's why that one

44:47 ↗ was supported in that

44:49 ↗ way okay um and then

45:02 ↗ uh Global grub and oh

45:06 ↗ no no I guess uh I guess that was it oh

45:11 ↗ uh Master course Eide All-American

45:14 ↗ independent celebration requested 2500

45:16 ↗ and we re 500 and so 2,000 of their

45:20 ↗ $2500 request was to rent Pickering Barn

45:24 ↗ um so we're going to uh in kind

45:27 ↗ let them rent picking and then give them

45:29 ↗ the $500 I believe is for like sheet

45:31 ↗ music and some marketing so all right

45:34 ↗ thank you for that explanation I

45:35 ↗ appreciate it I guess there were a

45:38 ↗ number that were uh requested and and

45:41 ↗ did not get anything that's correct but

45:44 ↗ I see that some of those requested

45:46 ↗ multiple programs so like fish requested

45:49 ↗ on multiple programs and got correct and

45:53 ↗ of the ones that did not get funded um

45:55 ↗ the the biggest Factor was the score of

45:58 ↗ the application there was a little bit

46:00 ↗ um factoring in how many applications

46:02 ↗ they had and they were receiving funding

46:04 ↗ but primarily it was a

46:06 ↗ scoring all right thank you you have any

46:09 ↗ other questions before we go to public

46:11 ↗ comment council member Joe thank you um

46:14 ↗ on page five of your presentation you've

46:17 ↗ got a a picture of the the um chalk

46:21 ↗ event um there's a young boy um drawing

46:24 ↗ a salmon um would which program is that

46:28 ↗ um for this cycle and did we fund it

46:32 ↗ again um so that is actually a 2024

46:36 ↗ funded program um at the Hatchery uh

46:40 ↗ they actually added a lot of art

46:42 ↗ elements to their um public programming

46:45 ↗ and I believe that one was when they

46:47 ↗ released um the baby salmon um so they

46:51 ↗ had a chalk artist um provide a

46:54 ↗ engagement opportunity okay and is um

46:58 ↗ and that's different from the chalk art

47:00 ↗ event that we do correct concerts on the

47:03 ↗ green um maybe our Parks director can

47:06 ↗ tell me where that funding comes from

47:07 ↗ and I'm sure that's going to continue

47:09 ↗ again this year I just want to make sure

47:10 ↗ that we uh have that as a great

47:12 ↗ Community event yeah Amy can certainly

47:14 ↗ Echo that but yeah Jeff Watling Parks

47:16 ↗ Community Services director absolutely

47:18 ↗ that is funded through um other

47:20 ↗ operational uh budget so that is a u

47:23 ↗ event uh we look forward to doing again

47:25 ↗ in fact I'll te up Amy Amy and the Arts

47:28 ↗ commission are looking at some creative

47:29 ↗ ways um of um making that a little bit a

47:33 ↗ little bit bigger a little bit different

47:35 ↗ um in the coming

47:37 ↗ year yeah I just see some wonderful

47:40 ↗ creative uh art that gets uh put on the

47:44 ↗ sidewalk there and and um believe it or

47:48 ↗ not some of the high school students

47:50 ↗ from the garage actually participate in

47:52 ↗ and and do that and and it's interesting

47:55 ↗ to see how um their creativity comes out

47:58 ↗ as well during during that event so um

48:01 ↗ thank you so much for all the the hard

48:03 ↗ work you're doing with uh the Arts

48:04 ↗ grants and uh I don't have any

48:06 ↗ additional

48:09 ↗ questions I think we're ready to take

48:12 ↗ public comment so I will ask again uh if

48:15 ↗ there's anyone either virtually or in

48:16 ↗ the room who'd like to make comment on

48:18 ↗ this before

48:20 ↗ we fond not seeing any clerk anything

48:24 ↗ anyone remote no attendees chair all

48:29 ↗ right so pretty

48:36 ↗ straightforward okay thanks

48:41 ↗ um having served on the Arts commission

48:43 ↗ I think for 12 years and gone through

48:45 ↗ this process I think that Arts

48:48 ↗ commission and the Human Services

48:50 ↗ Commission are the two commissions that

48:52 ↗ really put in hours and hours and hours

48:56 ↗ into review doing uh scoring like you

48:59 ↗ said um and then deciding the funding

49:01 ↗ amounts for uh all these applications so

49:05 ↗ it really is a huge job so please convey

49:08 ↗ our appreciation again for the hard work

49:11 ↗ that the Arts commission all of the Arts

49:13 ↗ Commissioners do because every Arts

49:15 ↗ commissioner takes a certain amount that

49:17 ↗ they work on and it is a true

49:19 ↗ collaborative uh effort um I think the

49:24 ↗ um the awards are are fantastic but and

49:28 ↗ I trust the commission to do a good job

49:30 ↗ because I know the process is so

49:32 ↗ thorough and uh sometimes decisions are

49:35 ↗ very hard because of the funding amount

49:38 ↗ so um it it's difficult um and I think

49:43 ↗ that's I think that's all I have to say

49:45 ↗ is I think that it looks great uh I know

49:49 ↗ some of these uh organizations do great

49:51 ↗ things I know I had one more thing to

49:52 ↗ say we're going to have another Film

49:54 ↗ Festival I saw it on there

49:57 ↗ it's true yeah that's that has turned

50:00 ↗ out to be an amazing project there's

50:02 ↗ lots of really good stuff in there but

50:04 ↗ that one kind of left out at me and I

50:06 ↗ thought oh great that film festival is

50:08 ↗ going to continue so that's wonderful

50:10 ↗ news so those are my only comments um I

50:13 ↗ think it's great thank you so

50:16 ↗ much thank you

50:18 ↗ Joe I'm currently the chair of the ltac

50:21 ↗ committee and and I couldn't help but um

50:25 ↗ uh noticed that a number of these

50:28 ↗ projects are art related but they do

50:30 ↗ bring in visitors from outside of isqua

50:33 ↗ and perhaps overnight stays and so the

50:36 ↗ the the two uh funding sources do cross

50:39 ↗ over and support each other um isqua

50:43 ↗ Highlands Global grub and groove um was

50:46 ↗ one that we had supported in the past

50:47 ↗ and I appreciate the the number that you

50:50 ↗ put up there for the amount of economic

50:53 ↗ support or Economic Development dollars

50:54 ↗ that come into the city um because of of

50:57 ↗ um the work that we do here I I think of

51:00 ↗ these grants as kind of um priming the

51:02 ↗ pump so to speak in terms of encouraging

51:06 ↗ artists to uh take a risk and do

51:09 ↗ projects or organizations to take a risk

51:11 ↗ and and hold a festival or an event um

51:15 ↗ in the city and I see that uh Thea for

51:18 ↗ instance has a number of events that

51:20 ↗ have been going on for a number of years

51:21 ↗ and have grown in popularity and and the

51:24 ↗ number of people that come out for those

51:26 ↗ events so I appreciate the hard work

51:28 ↗ that gets done by the Arts commission to

51:31 ↗ review these um and I think that the

51:33 ↗ selections are are uh pretty good this

51:36 ↗ year and I would fully support uh the

51:38 ↗ presentation and the um uh recipients uh

51:42 ↗ in your presentation thank

51:45 ↗ you so I always love when we do this

51:48 ↗ when we review uh art Grant proposals it

51:52 ↗ just reminds me first of all of the hard

51:54 ↗ work uh that you and the and the Arts uh

51:57 ↗ board does but also just how many great

52:00 ↗ Arts organizations we have operating in

52:02 ↗ the city and the thoughtfulness put

52:06 ↗ in to their requests so yeah I'm very

52:09 ↗ supportive and uh just want to thank you

52:13 ↗ and the commission uh for your

52:17 ↗ definitely pass that along

52:20 ↗ to City administrators there anything

52:22 ↗ else you need on this one uh just a

52:24 ↗ recommendation on uh placement before

52:27 ↗ the full Council the administration

52:29 ↗ would recommend

52:30 ↗ consent yep head nods thank you thanks

52:34 ↗ seey thanks so much all right last and

52:38 ↗ certainly not least we have Comm

52:42 ↗ 0078 Urban Forest management plan draft

52:46 ↗ with Dan hints or Urban

52:55 ↗ Forester e

53:56 ↗ he

53:58 ↗ to stayed on um yeah thanks again for

54:00 ↗ having me here tonight council members

54:02 ↗ really excited to come present a

54:04 ↗ hopefully near complete final draft of

54:06 ↗ the urban Forest management plan um I

54:08 ↗ guess just as a little reminder we'll

54:10 ↗ we'll go over a little bit of a recap

54:12 ↗ but this was brought to Committee in

54:14 ↗ July of

54:15 ↗ 2024 um and uh I guess before I get into

54:18 ↗ it too I do want to introduce Chris

54:20 ↗ Piper is online from planet Geo they are

54:23 ↗ a urban forestry consultant that has

54:24 ↗ been working with us to write and

54:26 ↗ publish this plan so Chris will be

54:28 ↗ available for um questions if if they

54:30 ↗ come up throughout the presentation or

54:32 ↗ at the end as well um so just just a

54:35 ↗ reminder this is the city's first urban

54:37 ↗ Forest management plan um it is a

54:40 ↗ foundational piece of any urban forestry

54:42 ↗ Program in city government um so this is

54:45 ↗ a really exciting opportunity to you

54:47 ↗ know build out our first urban forestry

54:50 ↗ program and this plan looks at a about a

54:52 ↗ 10-year uh road map or guide um to

54:55 ↗ develop that program um really at the

54:59 ↗ heart of this is hopefully most people

55:01 ↗ in this room and certainly in our

55:02 ↗ community recognize the Myriad benefits

55:05 ↗ that trees and Forest provide our

55:07 ↗ community whether that's uh

55:09 ↗ environmental and ecological aesthetic

55:12 ↗ economic social uh Health um there there

55:16 ↗ just so many reasons that we're

55:17 ↗ continuing to learn you know the the

55:19 ↗ benefits trees provide um but kind of

55:23 ↗ the opposite of that is that you know

55:25 ↗ there are challenges of course that come

55:26 ↗ with managing trees in a built

55:28 ↗ environment so this plan is really you

55:30 ↗ know looking at how do we balance those

55:32 ↗ benefits with some of those challenges

55:35 ↗ um and how do we continue to maximize uh

55:38 ↗ enhance and maintain those those

55:39 ↗ benefits that our uh trees and urban

55:41 ↗ Forest provide so I'll be giving just a

55:44 ↗ quick recap of the work that was done

55:46 ↗ prior to the July uh meeting touch point

55:48 ↗ with you all um really the big section

55:51 ↗ that was included since then was

55:53 ↗ implementation and monitoring um we'll

55:56 ↗ do

55:56 ↗ quick little detour but certainly

55:58 ↗ related on a little recap of uh kind of

56:00 ↗ work since the bomb Cyclone event um and

56:03 ↗ then we'll be looking for direction on

56:05 ↗ adoption of the plan and discussing next

56:07 ↗ steps for

56:09 ↗ implementation so uh this slide kind of

56:11 ↗ Recaps that that we're looking um

56:13 ↗ providing a final update and seeking

56:15 ↗ recommendation from the safe uh services

56:17 ↗ safety and park committee for adoption

56:19 ↗ of the urban Forest management plan uh

56:21 ↗ to full

56:24 ↗ Council um so these next couple slides

56:26 ↗ are kind of hopefully be kind of a quick

56:27 ↗ recap but this is the timeline for the

56:30 ↗ process we um got under contract with

56:32 ↗ Planet Geo and Chris's team back in

56:34 ↗ October of 2023 uh really looked at uh a

56:38 ↗ update of our canopy assessment that was

56:40 ↗ originally done in 2019 the city's first

56:44 ↗ uh Citywide tree canopy assessment so

56:46 ↗ this is the second edition of that that

56:47 ↗ is included in the forest management

56:49 ↗ plan I really started Gathering data

56:52 ↗ putting together an engagement plan and

56:54 ↗ you know uh doing a lot of background

56:55 ↗ research

56:56 ↗ uh towards the end of 2023 and uh the

56:58 ↗ first quarter of 2024 really focused on

57:01 ↗ both uh staff uh input um so we had 50

57:05 ↗ plus staff members uh provide uh

57:07 ↗ responses to a survey and uh a good

57:09 ↗ portion of those members have follow-up

57:11 ↗ meetings with with Chris's team and

57:13 ↗ myself um and then really uh focusing on

57:15 ↗ the public engagement through public

57:17 ↗ survey public events and I'll touch on

57:19 ↗ this briefly on the next side uh touch

57:21 ↗ points with our environmental and Par

57:23 ↗ boards um after really a lot of that

57:26 ↗ Gathering uh last spring April through

57:29 ↗ June is when we really started

57:30 ↗ developing um I should I should maybe

57:33 ↗ say first we did the urban Forest audit

57:35 ↗ and benchmarks which kind of compare our

57:37 ↗ community to communities of similar size

57:39 ↗ there's a slide coming up on that a

57:40 ↗ little bit later in the uh

57:42 ↗ implementation and monitoring section um

57:44 ↗ but that information really started to

57:47 ↗ shape the draft strategies the vision

57:49 ↗ guiding principles and then the

57:51 ↗ associated uh goals and priority actions

57:54 ↗ with those so um that you know about

57:57 ↗ where we uh met with you back in July um

58:00 ↗ that produced the first draft we took

58:02 ↗ that to this committee to the park board

58:04 ↗ to the environmental board to make sure

58:05 ↗ we felt really good about those guiding

58:07 ↗ principles the associated uh strategies

58:10 ↗ and as I mentioned goals and priority

58:12 ↗ actions once we felt pretty good about

58:14 ↗ that that's when we published the third

58:15 ↗ section of the uh plan which is

58:18 ↗ implementation and monitoring we wanted

58:19 ↗ to make sure we felt uh good consensus

58:22 ↗ around like I said those those goals

58:24 ↗ strategies priority actions before we

58:26 ↗ actually talk about what it looks like

58:27 ↗ implementing those um so that was really

58:30 ↗ you know kind of end of last summer uh

58:32 ↗ that we produced that first draft uh

58:34 ↗ another round of public comment and

58:36 ↗ board engagements and then um you know a

58:38 ↗ second draft and and now brought the uh

58:41 ↗ uh final draft was intended to go to

58:43 ↗ this Committee in November and I think

58:45 ↗ everyone remembers that uh uh night uh

58:47 ↗ changed our plans a little bit so we're

58:49 ↗ here a couple a couple months later

58:50 ↗ after the um bomb Cyclone event um so

58:54 ↗ that that's why this last last part on

58:56 ↗ the timeline's a little extended in

58:58 ↗ terms of um you know Council adoption

59:00 ↗ and

59:02 ↗ delivery um so I do want to just kind of

59:04 ↗ review some of the uh feedback that we

59:06 ↗ received from you in July from the three

59:09 ↗ of you um really urged uh staff to

59:12 ↗ consider lowcost economical ways to

59:14 ↗ enhance the city's Urban Forest um these

59:17 ↗ were addressed in the memo but I'll do a

59:19 ↗ quick recap for these bullet points here

59:21 ↗ too we are going to continue to grow

59:23 ↗ green is aqua lean on our volunteers

59:25 ↗ lean on our great Community Partners we

59:27 ↗ have a few representatives from isels

59:29 ↗ Trails Club here tonight Mount sound

59:30 ↗ Greenway trout unlimited we've actually

59:32 ↗ been really successful working with

59:34 ↗ those groups to um uh for them to

59:37 ↗ receive grant funding and work on

59:38 ↗ projects in isqua so that's been a

59:40 ↗ really great strategy with actually all

59:41 ↗ three of those organizations over the

59:43 ↗ past year um working with DNR King

59:45 ↗ Conservation District on looking for uh

59:48 ↗ grant funding opportunities for our tree

59:49 ↗ inventory which I would say is really

59:51 ↗ the other foundational piece of an urban

59:53 ↗ forestry program that we hope to launch

59:55 ↗ here this year here um and some other uh

59:58 ↗ Forest assessment work for some of our

59:59 ↗ larger uh Native growth areas like

1:00:01 ↗ tradition plateau uh so we're going to

1:00:03 ↗ continue to to to lean on those

1:00:05 ↗ resources and and and you know be as

1:00:07 ↗ creative as we can to continue to um

1:00:10 ↗ build this program um the next two

1:00:12 ↗ bullets touch on the focus around

1:00:14 ↗ riparian areas um which was great to

1:00:18 ↗ hear there was generally positive

1:00:19 ↗ feedback around that so this plan was

1:00:21 ↗ the first time we did a riparian canopy

1:00:23 ↗ assessment looked at some canopy changes

1:00:25 ↗ from from that 2019 study to our

1:00:28 ↗ 2024 uh canopy update um you know for

1:00:31 ↗ our main uh five or so uh salmon bearing

1:00:35 ↗ streams throughout uh throughout isqua

1:00:37 ↗ um I just wanted to call out that that's

1:00:39 ↗ something that really complements work

1:00:41 ↗ that Community planning is doing they uh

1:00:43 ↗ I think just published their uh riparian

1:00:46 ↗ assessment and recommendation report so

1:00:49 ↗ our uh work here really provides kind of

1:00:52 ↗ the canopy cover the areas that's

1:00:53 ↗ lacking the areas that are priorities

1:00:55 ↗ where there could possibly priority

1:00:56 ↗ Acquisitions I would say this one has

1:00:58 ↗ really come to light in the last couple

1:01:00 ↗ months as we've been working around

1:01:01 ↗ trees and Creeks Hazard trees and

1:01:03 ↗ riparian areas adjacent to homes and I

1:01:06 ↗ would say some of the benefits you know

1:01:07 ↗ where we can if possible U you know

1:01:09 ↗ bring some of those areas into into

1:01:11 ↗ public land ownership um so the the

1:01:14 ↗ second to last bullet point was on tree

1:01:16 ↗ canopy as an equity issue uh the report

1:01:19 ↗ does use a tool called the tree Equity

1:01:21 ↗ score which is a tool put together by

1:01:23 ↗ American Forest um so we're really

1:01:25 ↗ looking at that in terms of how we uh

1:01:27 ↗ prioritize a tree giveaway program that

1:01:29 ↗ we're looking at launching uh parks and

1:01:31 ↗ sustainability working on that we are

1:01:33 ↗ working with a community partner called

1:01:35 ↗ 300 trees and they're looking at doing

1:01:36 ↗ our first uh giveaway for private

1:01:38 ↗ residents in isqua in November of this

1:01:41 ↗ year uh so really looking at certain

1:01:43 ↗ areas of the city um that you know maybe

1:01:46 ↗ don't have as much canopy maybe have

1:01:48 ↗ more issues with air quality storm water

1:01:50 ↗ issues um so that's the tree Equity tool

1:01:53 ↗ and also there's the Washington Health

1:01:55 ↗ disparities map um and some of those

1:01:57 ↗ Maps uh for priority planting based on

1:02:00 ↗ some of the factors in the Washington

1:02:01 ↗ Health disparities like storm water like

1:02:03 ↗ air quality like existing low canopy are

1:02:06 ↗ actually um synthesized in the appendix

1:02:09 ↗ and uh you know you can look at each of

1:02:11 ↗ those indicators for census blocks in

1:02:14 ↗ isqua uh in terms of where we want to

1:02:16 ↗ prioritize tree planting as it relates

1:02:18 ↗ to some of those

1:02:19 ↗ factors um lastly there was some

1:02:21 ↗ concerns raised about illegal tree

1:02:23 ↗ removals um that is a goal in our

1:02:26 ↗ guiding principle C which is looking at

1:02:28 ↗ you know our tree preservation code and

1:02:30 ↗ policies um it kind of complements um

1:02:33 ↗ our guiding principal e which is focused

1:02:35 ↗ on Community Education and engagement I

1:02:37 ↗ would say this is certainly an area for

1:02:38 ↗ growth that I am wanting to work on with

1:02:41 ↗ our community planning department

1:02:42 ↗ especially as we are potentially looking

1:02:43 ↗ at some tree preservation code

1:02:45 ↗ amendments this year um how do we convey

1:02:48 ↗ that information to the public I would

1:02:49 ↗ say you know legal tree removals is a

1:02:51 ↗ concern but we see more and more issues

1:02:53 ↗ with aggressive if not excessive pruning

1:02:55 ↗ as we have defined in our code and

1:02:58 ↗ sometimes it's just it's just ignorance

1:02:59 ↗ it's not necessarily people trying to do

1:03:01 ↗ something I would say especially on the

1:03:03 ↗ pruning side that is you know harmful to

1:03:05 ↗ the trees but it's really kind of

1:03:06 ↗ educating about the the needs for proper

1:03:09 ↗ care and maintenance so this is

1:03:10 ↗ something that we had conversations with

1:03:12 ↗ uh Talis uh HOA with Isa Highlands

1:03:15 ↗ Community ass Association there was a

1:03:17 ↗ lot of interest of how we could

1:03:18 ↗ collaborate on messaging both through

1:03:21 ↗ possibly Community meetings and

1:03:22 ↗ certainly online and some physical

1:03:24 ↗ resources around proper Tree Care and

1:03:26 ↗ also just how to connect with the right

1:03:28 ↗ people in the city to get that

1:03:31 ↗ information so board touch points um

1:03:34 ↗ this is just a list of Park Board and

1:03:36 ↗ environmental board meetings that kind

1:03:38 ↗ of followed along with that timeline uh

1:03:40 ↗ a couple slides back um really the two

1:03:43 ↗ major touch points since we met uh last

1:03:46 ↗ July was in August with the

1:03:48 ↗ environmental board when the draft of

1:03:50 ↗ the plan was presented uh their memo

1:03:52 ↗ summarizing some of their comments was

1:03:54 ↗ attached to this uh agenda

1:03:56 ↗ um they are very interested in staying

1:03:58 ↗ involved with implementation of the plan

1:04:00 ↗ so we are definitely looking at

1:04:01 ↗ potentially joint Park Board and

1:04:03 ↗ environmental board moving meetings

1:04:04 ↗ moving forward hopefully once or twice a

1:04:06 ↗ year uh to update on progress and and

1:04:09 ↗ get feedback um but then ultimately it

1:04:11 ↗ went to the park board in September uh

1:04:13 ↗ to recommend the adoption process move

1:04:15 ↗ forward to council so that was the last

1:04:17 ↗ touch Point uh in late September with

1:04:19 ↗ the park

1:04:22 ↗ board um so I'll go through these maybe

1:04:24 ↗ a little bit more quickly since this

1:04:26 ↗ stuff was touched on in July but

1:04:28 ↗ essentially the plan has three major

1:04:30 ↗ sections the first section is this

1:04:32 ↗ current conditions this is essentially

1:04:33 ↗ what do we have and it's broken into um

1:04:36 ↗ about eight subsections we're looking at

1:04:38 ↗ tree types I would say this is something

1:04:40 ↗ that's lacking a little bit because we

1:04:42 ↗ don't have a public tree inventory a lot

1:04:44 ↗ of the information used in there we

1:04:45 ↗ pulled from the green isqua 20-year

1:04:47 ↗ implementation plan that really focuses

1:04:49 ↗ more on our open spaces and and not as

1:04:51 ↗ much on Street trees trees and

1:04:53 ↗ maintained Park areas um but still gives

1:04:56 ↗ us some pretty good indications on uh

1:04:58 ↗ composition of our of our Urban Forest

1:05:01 ↗ uh already touched on the Urban Tree

1:05:02 ↗ canopy the riparian uh canopy analysis

1:05:05 ↗ we have recommendations in the plan to

1:05:07 ↗ update that riparian canopy analysis

1:05:10 ↗ ideally every three years and a Citywide

1:05:12 ↗ kind of comprehensive tree canopy

1:05:14 ↗ analysis every 10 years so that would be

1:05:16 ↗ looking at

1:05:17 ↗ 2027 um since we a little confusing I

1:05:20 ↗ said 2019 for the first tree assessment

1:05:23 ↗ we did but that was with 2017 data so we

1:05:25 ↗ went to make sure we're doing that at a

1:05:27 ↗ minimum every decade to track uh some of

1:05:29 ↗ our canopy goals um both in sub areas

1:05:33 ↗ and by land use uh Urban Forest

1:05:35 ↗ composition as I also mentioned that

1:05:37 ↗ kind of relates to what we have with the

1:05:38 ↗ green isqua implementation plan that

1:05:41 ↗ looked at the um value of uh some of our

1:05:44 ↗ existing forests so uh stand diversity

1:05:47 ↗ age of forest and then also the threats

1:05:50 ↗ which is really primarily looking at

1:05:51 ↗ invasive species so the areas that

1:05:54 ↗ scored really high in that Matrix are

1:05:56 ↗ areas we want to focus on preservation

1:05:57 ↗ and monitoring the areas that scored

1:05:59 ↗ really low don't have much value

1:06:02 ↗ existing canopy and honestly are

1:06:03 ↗ probably a bigger lift than maybe it's

1:06:05 ↗ worth taking out taking on it's some of

1:06:07 ↗ those areas in the Middle where there's

1:06:08 ↗ some canopy that's worth protecting and

1:06:10 ↗ a lot of potential to do uh the habitat

1:06:13 ↗ and Forest restoration and that's really

1:06:15 ↗ how we've been using that tool to

1:06:16 ↗ prioritize some of the sites we're

1:06:17 ↗ working in um as part of green as

1:06:20 ↗ a um Management Programs is really

1:06:23 ↗ looking at about the cross Department

1:06:25 ↗ Parks operations where where I'm at uh

1:06:28 ↗ Public Works how that relates to our

1:06:30 ↗ community planning and our tree code um

1:06:32 ↗ so really really trying to tighten up uh

1:06:34 ↗ cross Department collaboration and our

1:06:37 ↗ programs and protocols as relates to

1:06:39 ↗ Tree

1:06:40 ↗ Management um alignment with existing

1:06:42 ↗ plans really looked at how the urban

1:06:44 ↗ Forest management P plan complements

1:06:47 ↗ hopefully a few things might be

1:06:48 ↗ contrasting to but really looked at Park

1:06:50 ↗ system plan um isqua climate action plan

1:06:54 ↗ uh comp plan and really kind of where

1:06:56 ↗ the alignment is with uh what we're

1:06:58 ↗ doing here in urban forestry uh already

1:07:01 ↗ touched on staff and Community

1:07:02 ↗ engagement um but that is a big part of

1:07:04 ↗ the current conditions and some of the

1:07:06 ↗ feedback we got from the community and

1:07:08 ↗ our city staff um Urban Forest

1:07:11 ↗ vulnerabilities is really looking at

1:07:13 ↗ climate change how do we select the

1:07:15 ↗ right trees for obviously the right

1:07:17 ↗ location but a moving Target with a

1:07:19 ↗ changing climate that relates to one of

1:07:21 ↗ our priority uh actions we have in the

1:07:24 ↗ plan and hope to take on in the the next

1:07:25 ↗ year or two is updating our preferred

1:07:27 ↗ tree list there's definitely a lot of

1:07:28 ↗ potential work to do there um it's

1:07:30 ↗ looking at pest we are hoping to put

1:07:32 ↗ together an emerald ashore preparedness

1:07:34 ↗ plan that's something that is just a

1:07:36 ↗ matter of time before it starts

1:07:37 ↗ impacting asht trees in our community

1:07:40 ↗ it's been devastating to the Midwest a

1:07:42 ↗ lot of the east coast and it has just

1:07:44 ↗ been uh discovered in Oregon and British

1:07:46 ↗ Columbia it's likely in Washington but

1:07:48 ↗ has not been actually identified yet um

1:07:51 ↗ so those are just examples of some of

1:07:53 ↗ the vulnerabilties sorry pause this for

1:07:55 ↗ second Deputy council president has a

1:07:56 ↗ question so on the forest

1:07:58 ↗ vulnerabilities I know in Seattle that

1:08:00 ↗ they've got a issue around aging trees

1:08:03 ↗ and trees

1:08:04 ↗ are trees that were planted 40 50 60

1:08:07 ↗ years ago are now you know nearing the

1:08:09 ↗ end of their life and they're figuring

1:08:11 ↗ out how to replace all of those and do

1:08:13 ↗ we have that same problem here or is our

1:08:15 ↗ community just that much younger that

1:08:17 ↗ it's not yet a issue I think as it

1:08:19 ↗ relates to Street trees it's maybe not

1:08:22 ↗ as much of an issue um since a lot of

1:08:24 ↗ our especially newer devel Vel Ms like

1:08:26 ↗ ISO Highlands Talis are you know 20 30

1:08:28 ↗ years old I would say there are some

1:08:29 ↗ issues with trees that are maybe

1:08:31 ↗ outgrowing their space you know um in

1:08:33 ↗ those places and some of the conflicts

1:08:35 ↗ we have with sidewalks and and things

1:08:36 ↗ like that I'll say s some of our Open

1:08:38 ↗ Spaces that's where there's really a

1:08:40 ↗ need to do a little bit more

1:08:42 ↗ microanalysis of some of the uh you know

1:08:44 ↗ kind of forest age structure where we do

1:08:46 ↗ have older declining specifically

1:08:48 ↗ deciduous forest that we want to try to

1:08:50 ↗ transition into more coniferous forest

1:08:53 ↗ and you know have that next kind of

1:08:54 ↗ cohort of trees coming up there so I'd

1:08:56 ↗ say in those places we certainly do um

1:09:00 ↗ sound like a little bit of a broken

1:09:01 ↗ record but this is just another reason

1:09:02 ↗ why a tree inventory is so important to

1:09:04 ↗ it's both knowing what types of trees

1:09:06 ↗ age and size and and health is

1:09:08 ↗ ultimately what starts to decline as

1:09:10 ↗ those trees get older so we we don't

1:09:12 ↗ really have that data yet but that's

1:09:15 ↗ definitely probably the top priority

1:09:16 ↗ coming out of this plan that we hope to

1:09:18 ↗ take on over the next

1:09:20 ↗ year

1:09:21 ↗ yeah um so Urban Forest vulnerabilities

1:09:24 ↗ and lastly Urban evaluation and I'll

1:09:26 ↗ come back to this a little bit more this

1:09:28 ↗ uh is what I touched on very briefly

1:09:30 ↗ this benchmarking exercise and the uh

1:09:33 ↗ Urban Forest audit which is a United

1:09:35 ↗ States Forest Service protocol that we

1:09:37 ↗ use to sort of see where our programs at

1:09:39 ↗ and and where the areas are we need to

1:09:41 ↗ continue to grow and

1:09:43 ↗ build so section two is really looking

1:09:46 ↗ at those Visions uh Vision I should say

1:09:48 ↗ not plural and

1:09:49 ↗ recommendations um so you all should

1:09:52 ↗ have seen this last time but we have our

1:09:53 ↗ vision statement that was you know

1:09:55 ↗ um derived from the public survey U

1:09:58 ↗ workshopped with the uh Park Board and

1:10:01 ↗ environmental board and this is really

1:10:03 ↗ kind of the uh overarching uh vision for

1:10:06 ↗ our forest here in

1:10:07 ↗ isqua um then underneath that we have

1:10:10 ↗ five guiding principles and these are

1:10:13 ↗ really meant you know if if program

1:10:16 ↗ scale changes Staffing changes you know

1:10:18 ↗ these These are kind of The Guiding

1:10:19 ↗ lights that you know we come back to if

1:10:21 ↗ we need to amend the if the plan if we

1:10:23 ↗ need to kind of reassess some of the

1:10:24 ↗ goals in the plan these are really The

1:10:26 ↗ Guiding areas and we're looking at an

1:10:28 ↗ equitable and resilient canopy cover so

1:10:30 ↗ that's you really the trees and the

1:10:32 ↗ urban Forest itself we're looking at how

1:10:34 ↗ we maintain and manage um those trees

1:10:36 ↗ and our and our more contiguous forested

1:10:39 ↗ areas our Open Spaces it's definitely

1:10:41 ↗ how we um administer that through our

1:10:44 ↗ tree preservation uh code and tree

1:10:46 ↗ protection uh looking at funding and

1:10:48 ↗ level of services and last but certainly

1:10:50 ↗ not least is that Community Education uh

1:10:52 ↗ engagement and stewardship pce so each

1:10:54 ↗ of those guiding principles kind of have

1:10:56 ↗ their own vision statement which I won't

1:10:58 ↗ read out loud but that's what's under

1:11:00 ↗ each

1:11:02 ↗ of um so lastly this is really what is

1:11:05 ↗ the new uh sort of piece that uh has

1:11:08 ↗ been added to the draft or now you know

1:11:11 ↗ near final draft since we met back in

1:11:13 ↗ July it's the implementation and

1:11:15 ↗ monitoring section section three So

1:11:18 ↗ within this section there are strategy

1:11:20 ↗ tables so it kind of looks at

1:11:21 ↗ prioritization it looks at co- benefits

1:11:24 ↗ uh cost most of the cost are qualitative

1:11:27 ↗ kind of a one to four dollar sign system

1:11:30 ↗ but there are some high priority items

1:11:32 ↗ that we are looking at actual estimate

1:11:33 ↗ estimated dollar cost um level of effort

1:11:37 ↗ who the key players are you know kind of

1:11:38 ↗ initial steps uh short-term targets and

1:11:41 ↗ and time frames uh city implementers as

1:11:44 ↗ I mentioned you know it's really

1:11:45 ↗ important we this this touches on almost

1:11:47 ↗ every Department in the city um lots of

1:11:50 ↗ teams within those departments so we

1:11:52 ↗ have been uh meeting monthly as a city

1:11:54 ↗ tree team uh really mainly folks from

1:11:57 ↗ city um Community planning

1:11:59 ↗ sustainability parks and Public Works uh

1:12:02 ↗ really trying to kind of build that

1:12:03 ↗ coordination there uh you know working

1:12:05 ↗ with our city boards uh City partners

1:12:07 ↗ and uh you know interested parties as

1:12:09 ↗ well so really looking at who is taking

1:12:11 ↗ lead and who is who is often sharing uh

1:12:14 ↗ implementation of some of these items uh

1:12:16 ↗ the worksheet is a way to really track

1:12:18 ↗ this so it's sortable you can filter it

1:12:20 ↗ um you can use the priority actions um

1:12:23 ↗ so that's really a tool to kind of track

1:12:24 ↗ some of the implementation efforts uh as

1:12:27 ↗ I mentioned briefly we do have cost

1:12:28 ↗ estimates for some priority actions for

1:12:30 ↗ example an update to our riparian canopy

1:12:33 ↗ analysis I believe is about a you know

1:12:35 ↗ $10,000 uh item about $25,000 for that

1:12:39 ↗ more comprehensive Citywide canopy

1:12:41 ↗ assessment I will note that my

1:12:43 ↗ understanding is those are getting

1:12:44 ↗ cheaper as the technology is getting

1:12:45 ↗ better but that's kind of the current

1:12:47 ↗ estimate uh and then supporting

1:12:49 ↗ resources so there's a lot of appendices

1:12:52 ↗ as you'll see a tree data summary report

1:12:54 ↗ uh where some of those Maps around tree

1:12:57 ↗ Equity Health disparities uh climate

1:12:59 ↗ vulnerabilities you know preferred tree

1:13:01 ↗ list that's where a lot of those uh

1:13:03 ↗ items and Analysis

1:13:05 ↗ live um we did include this just as a

1:13:08 ↗ kind of cost comparison and example of

1:13:10 ↗ the benchmarking activity I would say

1:13:12 ↗ some of these bar graphs are out of

1:13:14 ↗ proportion a little bit um but you can

1:13:15 ↗ see the essentially per capita this is

1:13:18 ↗ compared to um 19 uh best matches here

1:13:23 ↗ in western Washington this is all data

1:13:25 ↗ that we submit annually as part of our

1:13:27 ↗ tree City USA application so we can then

1:13:29 ↗ see what other communities uh have

1:13:32 ↗ submitted as well so you know we are we

1:13:34 ↗ are on par if not a little bit above in

1:13:36 ↗ the per capita spending um we do a

1:13:38 ↗ really good job on tree planting and

1:13:40 ↗ initial care relatively out would say

1:13:42 ↗ tree maintenance pruning Cycles uh care

1:13:45 ↗ for trees that are kind of more at the

1:13:47 ↗ end or near extending the uh lifetimes

1:13:49 ↗ of some of these as an area where you

1:13:50 ↗ definitely have uh room for growth uh

1:13:53 ↗ tree removals I think that's interesting

1:13:56 ↗ one to look at obviously there's

1:13:58 ↗ necessary responses like we've had over

1:13:59 ↗ the last two months um and then there's

1:14:02 ↗ kind of more proactive risk management

1:14:03 ↗ around tree removals where I think

1:14:05 ↗ there's some areas for growth there

1:14:06 ↗ especially with the amount of open space

1:14:08 ↗ we have adjacent to private developments

1:14:11 ↗ and homes uh and then kind of some other

1:14:13 ↗ categories around management um and

1:14:15 ↗ other items there too so you can see we

1:14:18 ↗ we we stack up pretty well compared to

1:14:20 ↗ uh you know the the best matches the 19

1:14:22 ↗ communities that were compared as part

1:14:24 ↗ of this benchmark

1:14:26 ↗ exercise um and I believe the last slide

1:14:29 ↗ for this section is kind sorry council

1:14:31 ↗ member Joe has a question yes um Dan

1:14:33 ↗ thanks for the presentation I really

1:14:35 ↗ appreciate it um on in the executive

1:14:40 ↗ summary for the um plan uh you stated

1:14:44 ↗ that um if you can go back one slide you

1:14:47 ↗ stated that there's a $2.2

1:14:49 ↗ million e environmental benefit by

1:14:52 ↗ having the tree cover that we have so if

1:14:54 ↗ I'm looking at just solely at the

1:14:56 ↗ numbers and I see that we're spending

1:14:59 ↗ $9.11 per capita here in the city per

1:15:02 ↗ year um and I'm a little cynical what

1:15:06 ↗ can I say to citizens in terms of what

1:15:08 ↗ are we getting back for that investment

1:15:12 ↗ that's that's that's tough because it's

1:15:13 ↗ not a revenue of course but it is you

1:15:15 ↗ know a value so so just for a little

1:15:17 ↗ context that is a tool called it tree

1:15:20 ↗ that does a lot of um estimates on on um

1:15:23 ↗ uh benefits trees Prov

1:15:25 ↗ I would say probably the largest

1:15:27 ↗ component of that is storm water

1:15:29 ↗ management so trees um are a huge

1:15:32 ↗ resource for storm water interception

1:15:34 ↗ essentially slowing down that um Hydro

1:15:37 ↗ period or how fast the water moves

1:15:39 ↗ through the system especially in areas

1:15:40 ↗ where we have high impervious surface um

1:15:43 ↗ there's certainly benefits around Air

1:15:44 ↗ Quality Heating and Cooling I I should

1:15:46 ↗ have touched on that in terms of urban

1:15:48 ↗ Forest vulnerabilities but heat island

1:15:50 ↗ is a big one and how do we prioritize

1:15:52 ↗ trees and areas that we know um are

1:15:54 ↗ going to going to be more difficult as

1:15:56 ↗ it relates to summer temperatures and

1:15:57 ↗ asphalt and pavement so yeah so I once

1:16:01 ↗ again coming back you know we would

1:16:02 ↗ probably have a more accurate number

1:16:03 ↗ once we do our tree inventory um but

1:16:06 ↗ that that is a really kind of broad

1:16:08 ↗ brush Strokes of you know I think I

1:16:10 ↗ would say probably two-thirds or more of

1:16:12 ↗ that estimate I think you could connect

1:16:13 ↗ to storm water and then some of the

1:16:15 ↗ other ones uh Heating and Cooling

1:16:16 ↗ benefits energy use um as well I would

1:16:21 ↗ say just to kind of call out one of the

1:16:22 ↗ really really neat resources that I've

1:16:23 ↗ come across in my um almost two years

1:16:26 ↗ working for the city now is city of snow

1:16:27 ↗ qualy did a really great natural

1:16:29 ↗ infrastructure assessment it's really

1:16:31 ↗ been looked at as a um great great

1:16:34 ↗ document to justify investment into uh

1:16:37 ↗ uh storm water as it relates to the

1:16:39 ↗ urban forest and I I might have

1:16:40 ↗ mentioned this in the last meeting but

1:16:41 ↗ actually our annual permit through

1:16:43 ↗ ecology for um the national pollutant

1:16:46 ↗ discharge elimination system I think I

1:16:48 ↗ have that right npdes that uh our Public

1:16:51 ↗ Works team manages uh that's usually on

1:16:53 ↗ a 5-year interval and in the next uh uh

1:16:56 ↗ iteration of that they're going to be

1:16:57 ↗ asking for more data on riparian canopy

1:17:00 ↗ work riparian canopy assessment and just

1:17:02 ↗ Citywide tree canopy so you're seeing it

1:17:04 ↗ on the regulatory side too where this is

1:17:06 ↗ being brought in as like hey we need to

1:17:08 ↗ make sure we are we are um factoring in

1:17:10 ↗ the natural or green infrastructure as

1:17:12 ↗ well as the kind of traditional ways we

1:17:15 ↗ manage that was a great answer and and

1:17:18 ↗ um you almost got them all they're on

1:17:19 ↗ page 46 um carbon storage okay uh

1:17:24 ↗ Wildlife habit yeah stress reduction and

1:17:27 ↗ one that kind of was highlighted for me

1:17:30 ↗ was soil stabilization yes after the

1:17:33 ↗ fires in La we're seeing the rains and

1:17:36 ↗ just all the soil getting washed into

1:17:37 ↗ the ocean um I don't think we really

1:17:41 ↗ appreciate all the soil that that the

1:17:43 ↗ trees hold in place especially on squawk

1:17:47 ↗ Mountain where I live it's pretty rocky

1:17:48 ↗ soil and the trees are essential uh to

1:17:51 ↗ have that stabilization so thank you

1:17:53 ↗ very much for that answer thank you

1:17:54 ↗ council member Joe and yes carbon

1:17:55 ↗ sequestration is is a a huge part of

1:17:58 ↗ that that I should have called out as

1:18:00 ↗ well um so coming back to this last

1:18:02 ↗ slide on section three um you know

1:18:05 ↗ evaluate um evaluate Monitor and report

1:18:08 ↗ and then revise as needed is is is the

1:18:10 ↗ really high level framework to the uh

1:18:12 ↗ monitoring section so the two tools that

1:18:15 ↗ I've touched on briefly already is a

1:18:17 ↗ followup to that Urban um or the usfs

1:18:20 ↗ the uh United States Forest Service uh

1:18:23 ↗ Urban Forest audit um so that's

1:18:25 ↗ something we'll look at doing ideally

1:18:27 ↗ every two years and Reporting out on

1:18:28 ↗ progress made there um and then that

1:18:30 ↗ benchmarking exercise as well so that

1:18:33 ↗ will really kind of guide progress uh

1:18:35 ↗ towards this plan um that worksheet as

1:18:38 ↗ well where we track implementation items

1:18:39 ↗ is another way that we'll document that

1:18:42 ↗ so we'll kind of look at those Benchmark

1:18:43 ↗ values that have been established over

1:18:45 ↗ the last two years as part of the

1:18:46 ↗ monitoring process uh see where we're

1:18:48 ↗ growing see where there's still room for

1:18:50 ↗ growth and see how we're doing on those

1:18:52 ↗ indicators as part of the audit um as I

1:18:54 ↗ mentioned I would like to uh at at a

1:18:57 ↗ minimum minimum bring this annually to

1:18:59 ↗ the park and environmental boards but

1:19:00 ↗ would love to come to council or or at

1:19:03 ↗ the very least committee meetings as

1:19:04 ↗ well to provide annual updates uh

1:19:07 ↗ publish reports I'll admit I have not

1:19:09 ↗ been as good on that our our green isqua

1:19:11 ↗ volunteer coordinator Taylor has been

1:19:12 ↗ great at publishing annual reports I

1:19:14 ↗ think that got shared with Council about

1:19:15 ↗ a month ago our park rangers has been

1:19:17 ↗ doing a really great job publishing

1:19:19 ↗ annual reports and I think the three of

1:19:21 ↗ us uh need to continue to work together

1:19:23 ↗ and how we kind of wrap that all under

1:19:25 ↗ the urban forestry program here as it

1:19:27 ↗ relates to the the work with trees and

1:19:29 ↗ implementation of this plan as well so

1:19:31 ↗ looking at some annual reporting on

1:19:33 ↗ progress uh implementation that can be

1:19:35 ↗ shared uh out through City networks um

1:19:38 ↗ and then revising so I would say in

1:19:39 ↗ general these plans are often updated

1:19:41 ↗ every 10 years um it says five to 10

1:19:43 ↗ years here I think there's certainly mid

1:19:45 ↗ value and midpoint check-ins in terms of

1:19:47 ↗ you know kind of progress and possibly

1:19:50 ↗ making some adjustments as needed um but

1:19:52 ↗ that's really you know looking at these

1:19:54 ↗ steps here to uh you know revise as

1:19:57 ↗ necessary the strategies goals and

1:20:00 ↗ priorities in the

1:20:02 ↗ plan so um this is where just going to

1:20:05 ↗ shift gear for just a slide and a couple

1:20:07 ↗ slides with pictures um just uh just to

1:20:10 ↗ give a kind of brief update on um

1:20:12 ↗ Cyclone response because I believe

1:20:14 ↗ there's probably a lot of interest there

1:20:15 ↗ in terms of how that's been going over

1:20:17 ↗ the last two plus months um so it

1:20:20 ↗ doesn't tie directly to the urban Forest

1:20:22 ↗ management plan but there's elements in

1:20:24 ↗ there of course that uh you know relate

1:20:26 ↗ to how how we react and respond to big

1:20:28 ↗ events that have uh pretty pretty

1:20:30 ↗ significant impacts on our Urban Forest

1:20:33 ↗ um and you've probably seen a lot of

1:20:34 ↗ this but you know our team with Parks

1:20:36 ↗ operations Public Works of course really

1:20:39 ↗ prioritize clearing roads trails and

1:20:41 ↗ structures from down trees so that was

1:20:43 ↗ really the first few weeks a lot of that

1:20:45 ↗ debris was cast aside so that really led

1:20:47 ↗ to debris hauling dispersal that is

1:20:49 ↗ still ongoing but we were getting close

1:20:51 ↗ there where all of a sudden you know

1:20:52 ↗ there's not uh you know branches and

1:20:54 ↗ large rounds of Tree Trunks you know All

1:20:57 ↗ Over The Meadows at Confluence Park so

1:20:59 ↗ our our our teams have been so

1:21:01 ↗ impressive I've been so proud to work

1:21:03 ↗ with with these folks and see how much

1:21:04 ↗ they've gotten done over the last two

1:21:06 ↗ months and the effort and energy and and

1:21:08 ↗ positive attitude they've put in I would

1:21:10 ↗ say where my roles come in a lot more is

1:21:12 ↗ risk assessments for damag trees and

1:21:13 ↗ flood risk at trees and Creeks this is

1:21:16 ↗ ongoing the calls have tapered off a

1:21:18 ↗ little bit maybe in the last couple

1:21:19 ↗ weeks but there was quite a bit coming

1:21:21 ↗ in people that might have had one tree

1:21:23 ↗ come down now they're very concerned

1:21:24 ↗ about the others um so really trying to

1:21:27 ↗ kind of triage where yes that tree needs

1:21:29 ↗ to come out because there is significant

1:21:31 ↗ damage to it and it poses a high Hazard

1:21:33 ↗ where we can try to retain trees as best

1:21:35 ↗ we can and working with the state

1:21:37 ↗ Neighbors on uh you know flood risk and

1:21:39 ↗ you know the priority or the benefits of

1:21:41 ↗ uh leaving trees and Creeks is uh it

1:21:43 ↗ relates to Salmon habitat but the added

1:21:45 ↗ flood risk that can come with that so I

1:21:48 ↗ have a few photos in the next couple

1:21:49 ↗ slides that give examples of those so uh

1:21:51 ↗ contractor coordination has been huge we

1:21:53 ↗ have several contractors both helping

1:21:55 ↗ with some of the assessments and then

1:21:56 ↗ the removal work we had both of them in

1:21:58 ↗ isqua today doing some work but that is

1:22:01 ↗ hopefully tapering off here pretty soon

1:22:03 ↗ too as we're getting through the

1:22:04 ↗ priority Hazard tree removals um I think

1:22:06 ↗ one of the very interesting points and

1:22:08 ↗ something that I you know I'm excited to

1:22:09 ↗ call out here is and how do we get into

1:22:11 ↗ replanting how do we get into recovery

1:22:12 ↗ right now it's still very much the

1:22:14 ↗ cleanup the risk assessment and the

1:22:16 ↗ associated work with that um but we're

1:22:19 ↗ really excited we have pinned down um

1:22:21 ↗ April 5th as our uh annual Arbor Day

1:22:24 ↗ event so we will be having volunteers

1:22:26 ↗ out at Confluence Park replacing some of

1:22:28 ↗ the large trees we've we've lost there

1:22:32 ↗ continuing to work in the critical area

1:22:33 ↗ riparian buffer we're hoping to have a

1:22:36 ↗ large turnout for that as really kind of

1:22:38 ↗ a opportunity for the community to get

1:22:40 ↗ involved and start to do some things

1:22:42 ↗ tangible to actually you know build back

1:22:44 ↗ some of these areas that we had a lot of

1:22:46 ↗ uh Tre tree loss from the Windstorm um I

1:22:49 ↗ would say realistically it's going to

1:22:50 ↗ take us years to get through the amount

1:22:51 ↗ of replacement that that that we have

1:22:54 ↗ and that's partly because we still have

1:22:55 ↗ a lot of stumps to grind we still have a

1:22:56 ↗ lot of things to prep to even just get

1:22:58 ↗ the trees back in the ground um you know

1:23:00 ↗ we have a conservative estimate of about

1:23:02 ↗ 300 trees lost in um you know rideways

1:23:05 ↗ maintained um areas sorry I said

1:23:07 ↗ rideways and maintained areas of parks

1:23:10 ↗ um that number is a lot higher when you

1:23:12 ↗ factor in Open Spaces I would say that

1:23:15 ↗ is a different approach though and

1:23:16 ↗ that's my last bullet there selective

1:23:18 ↗ approach to replanting in Open Spaces um

1:23:21 ↗ all the benefits we've talked about for

1:23:22 ↗ storm water uh for you know heat island

1:23:25 ↗ effect you know that that really relates

1:23:27 ↗ more to our street trees trees in the

1:23:29 ↗ built environment Open Spaces you know

1:23:31 ↗ some of these natural disturbances can

1:23:33 ↗ actually be really good for long-term

1:23:35 ↗ Forest development we have a lot of

1:23:37 ↗ forests that

1:23:38 ↗ are monocultures of Douglas fur that are

1:23:41 ↗ all the same age from maybe the last

1:23:43 ↗ clear cutting on Tiger Mountain in the

1:23:45 ↗ 1980s or early 1990s and you know some

1:23:47 ↗ of those areas where you lose trees

1:23:49 ↗ actually open up gaps and U you know

1:23:51 ↗ more complexity and structural uh

1:23:54 ↗ diversity in our forest so that is

1:23:56 ↗ something I'm really excited one of the

1:23:58 ↗ items we have as part of implementation

1:24:00 ↗ is a specific uh tree or say forest

1:24:02 ↗ management plan for tradition Plateau we

1:24:05 ↗ have over 1500 Acres of forest at open

1:24:07 ↗ space in the city almost a third of that

1:24:09 ↗ is on tradition Plateau within the

1:24:11 ↗ natural resource Conservation Area and I

1:24:13 ↗ should say the you know kind of slopes

1:24:14 ↗ going down from the plateau too so

1:24:17 ↗ that'll be a focus so we actually have

1:24:18 ↗ some grant funding to work with King

1:24:20 ↗ conser through King Conservation

1:24:22 ↗ District working with Northwest Natural

1:24:24 ↗ res ource group that does amazing work

1:24:26 ↗ around Forest Health um and Forest

1:24:28 ↗ planning they are the group that works

1:24:31 ↗ with Seattle public utilities on the

1:24:33 ↗ Cedar River Watershed they do the uh

1:24:35 ↗ Forest Stewardship Council certification

1:24:37 ↗ for King County's forest all things that

1:24:39 ↗ we're looking at potential options to uh

1:24:42 ↗ you know certify parts of our forest but

1:24:44 ↗ this is a really first step where we'll

1:24:45 ↗ look at hey what were the impacts of

1:24:47 ↗ this Windstorm where do we just kind of

1:24:49 ↗ let the forest do its thing where do we

1:24:51 ↗ actually need to do more replanting

1:24:53 ↗ restoration and could there actually be

1:24:56 ↗ uh you know uh beneficial areas where

1:24:58 ↗ we're actually thinning uh you'll hear

1:25:00 ↗ the term ecological thinning you know

1:25:01 ↗ some of these really really dense stands

1:25:03 ↗ of uniform kind of species and height so

1:25:06 ↗ that's something I'm really excited

1:25:07 ↗ about and it would just kind of

1:25:08 ↗ acknowledge that we are still kind of

1:25:09 ↗ assessing the impacts in some of our

1:25:10 ↗ Open Spaces as we've really been focused

1:25:12 ↗ on the built environment and getting

1:25:14 ↗ things operating and making things safe

1:25:16 ↗ for our residents and neighbors uh but

1:25:18 ↗ that's a big area we're going to

1:25:19 ↗ continue assess you know where

1:25:21 ↗ replanting is warranted where other are

1:25:24 ↗ is this is actually beneficial as much

1:25:26 ↗ as it looks pretty devastating when you

1:25:29 ↗ go out there but that is a natural part

1:25:30 ↗ of of forest succession is is some of

1:25:32 ↗ these big disturbances whether that's

1:25:34 ↗ snow ice storms wind

1:25:37 ↗ events as hate to say wildfires that's

1:25:40 ↗ probably one I shouldn't bring up don't

1:25:42 ↗ use that word Russ Russell does have

1:25:45 ↗ council member Joe does have a question

1:25:46 ↗ for you yeah have a couple questions on

1:25:48 ↗ on this slide um let's talk about um um

1:25:54 ↗ the editorial that was submitted by our

1:25:57 ↗ mayor January 8th talking about the

1:25:59 ↗ challenges with uh removing trees on uh

1:26:03 ↗ some of the property um was that city

1:26:06 ↗ property or was that DNR property in the

1:26:09 ↗ state if it was our property have we

1:26:11 ↗ worked out some agreements so that down

1:26:13 ↗ trees can be removed by

1:26:15 ↗ volunteers yeah so so one of the things

1:26:18 ↗ that that Jeff and I had a call on days

1:26:21 ↗ after the bomb Cyclone is how do we

1:26:23 ↗ mobilize vol to get out and support

1:26:25 ↗ Neighbors on private property and we

1:26:27 ↗ really wanted to use green isqua as a

1:26:29 ↗ tool to essentially play matchmaker kind

1:26:32 ↗ of connect so so this I'll come back to

1:26:34 ↗ maybe Trails here in a second but this

1:26:35 ↗ is you know more folks that have just

1:26:37 ↗ large trees don't have the resources

1:26:38 ↗ don't have the tools to literally clean

1:26:41 ↗ up their driveway stuff around their

1:26:42 ↗ houses and you know in the worst

1:26:44 ↗ circumstances things that fell on their

1:26:45 ↗ structures too on their building so um

1:26:49 ↗ that was really a challenge as we kind

1:26:51 ↗ of work through the legal side of that

1:26:52 ↗ that you know even if the city is isn't

1:26:55 ↗ necessarily um signing up the volunteers

1:26:57 ↗ but if we're publicizing it if we're

1:26:58 ↗ doing it through an established program

1:27:00 ↗ like green isqua that's where you know

1:27:02 ↗ there was there was some of the

1:27:03 ↗ challenge of like pretty much that got

1:27:06 ↗ got shot down based on some liability

1:27:08 ↗ concerns there so I'd say that would be

1:27:10 ↗ one area that kind of came up where

1:27:12 ↗ there was momentum to see how we can you

1:27:14 ↗ know bring people out and and really

1:27:16 ↗ just support neighbors and you know

1:27:17 ↗ connect people that might have a truck

1:27:19 ↗ have saws be able to go out and do that

1:27:21 ↗ but when you're starting to use tools

1:27:23 ↗ like chainsaw

1:27:24 ↗ that do have a lot of required training

1:27:27 ↗ and skills with it um that just I guess

1:27:30 ↗ became kind of a non-starter there I

1:27:32 ↗ would say in the um Open Spaces um it's

1:27:37 ↗ it's a mix we ended up actually doing

1:27:39 ↗ some great collaboration with DNR and

1:27:41 ↗ some of their uh their volunteers that

1:27:43 ↗ have a lot of Sawyer training really

1:27:45 ↗ established and then there were some

1:27:47 ↗ people I think that just wanted to kind

1:27:48 ↗ of go out and do that on their own and

1:27:50 ↗ and and I personally have some concerns

1:27:52 ↗ it's one thing if you're using hand

1:27:54 ↗ tools handsaws stuff like that but as

1:27:56 ↗ soon as you start firing up a chainsaw I

1:27:58 ↗ do believe there's a little bit elevated

1:28:00 ↗ need of of experience and kind of

1:28:02 ↗ credibility and whether that's

1:28:03 ↗ associated with organization like d DNR

1:28:06 ↗ or WTA Washington Trails Association I

1:28:08 ↗ think that's really important so so to

1:28:11 ↗ answer your question actually it's been

1:28:12 ↗ a combo of working with DNR and some of

1:28:14 ↗ their volunteers some of our staff we

1:28:17 ↗ actually have Washington conservation

1:28:18 ↗ Corp crew out right now that's been

1:28:20 ↗ helping with some cleanup on trail so

1:28:22 ↗ there are Amore volunteers

1:28:24 ↗ um so yeah we we I would say we are

1:28:26 ↗ actually at the point now where

1:28:27 ↗ tradition Plateau is very passable

1:28:30 ↗ there's still a few sketchy trees that

1:28:32 ↗ probably require contract to work at

1:28:34 ↗ some point but we've made a lot of

1:28:35 ↗ progress in that in the last two or

1:28:37 ↗ three weeks uh getting our Trail systems

1:28:39 ↗ up great I really appreciate that answer

1:28:41 ↗ I know that we have such a tradition of

1:28:43 ↗ volunteerism in in the city and and I

1:28:46 ↗ know that there are many people that

1:28:47 ↗ would like to help out and they just

1:28:49 ↗ need to find the right Avenue to do that

1:28:51 ↗ um my next question concerns uh is as uh

1:28:54 ↗ concerning the selective approach to

1:28:56 ↗ replanting in Open Spaces um when I was

1:28:59 ↗ driving around town I would see trees

1:29:01 ↗ that had fallen that had very uh shallow

1:29:04 ↗ root bases and as you're thinking about

1:29:07 ↗ replanting are there um is there thought

1:29:09 ↗ to certain trees that we would select

1:29:12 ↗ for our open spaces and rideways that

1:29:14 ↗ have deeper root systems that could

1:29:16 ↗ perhaps handle windstorms and other uh

1:29:19 ↗ catastrophic events like that that's a

1:29:22 ↗ really interesting question I think it

1:29:23 ↗ does tie back to one of your comments

1:29:24 ↗ earlier about some of the poor soils we

1:29:27 ↗ have especially in the Foothills which

1:29:28 ↗ is a lot of glacial till where you may

1:29:30 ↗ not have more than 6 8 12 inches of

1:29:33 ↗ actual organic material stuff can root

1:29:35 ↗ in so that's where it starts to get more

1:29:37 ↗ broad rooting system versus deeper

1:29:39 ↗ rooting systems um yeah that has not

1:29:43 ↗ been too seriously considered and I do

1:29:45 ↗ think some of just the existing soil

1:29:47 ↗ profile and conditions make that a

1:29:48 ↗ little bit challenging especially we're

1:29:50 ↗ talking about more of our uh you know

1:29:52 ↗ Foothills and slopes uh um yeah I think

1:29:55 ↗ that's something worth worth considering

1:29:56 ↗ but um yeah not thought about that too

1:30:00 ↗ much okay I um again would agree with

1:30:05 ↗ you that our parks and wreck and our our

1:30:08 ↗ um Public Works has done a great job

1:30:09 ↗ clearing the trees and it's going to be

1:30:11 ↗ a long-term process I look forward to um

1:30:13 ↗ helping out in any way that we can and

1:30:15 ↗ and I'm glad we have the right people on

1:30:16 ↗ the team to handle that thank you thank

1:30:19 ↗ you I'd say yes I mean we we certainly

1:30:21 ↗ want to publicize these both Arbor Day

1:30:23 ↗ but um subsequent planting events as you

1:30:26 ↗ know storm recovery work so I mean I

1:30:28 ↗ think that's an area that we'll really

1:30:29 ↗ hope try to kind of galvanize the

1:30:30 ↗ community around tangible ways with you

1:30:32 ↗ know our established Maris

1:30:35 ↗ program both ReStore Habitat but then

1:30:37 ↗ we're also talking about a lot of you

1:30:39 ↗ know individual Park trees that um you

1:30:41 ↗ know may not necessarily be native

1:30:42 ↗ species and also

1:30:48 ↗ be so so I guess just moving forward

1:30:51 ↗ these are just a few examples um this is

1:30:53 ↗ on the East Fork of iso Creek just off

1:30:55 ↗ of dogwood this is one of the worst log

1:30:57 ↗ jams I saw where there was about four 3

1:30:59 ↗ to four foot diameter cottonwoods that

1:31:01 ↗ all just crisscrossed was already

1:31:03 ↗ starting to rack up other debris this is

1:31:06 ↗ all stuff we've been working with um

1:31:07 ↗ Washington State Department of Fish and

1:31:09 ↗ Wildlife and their Regional bi

1:31:10 ↗ biologists to um you know make sure that

1:31:13 ↗ we are you know doing the right steps

1:31:15 ↗ for their um hydraulic permits uh make

1:31:18 ↗ sure that we're doing the right steps

1:31:19 ↗ for any mitigation that might be

1:31:21 ↗ required with that and this is a tricky

1:31:23 ↗ one a lot of the the sites were able to

1:31:25 ↗ cut reposition the tree so maintain some

1:31:27 ↗ of that habitat in the Stream while

1:31:29 ↗ allowing for better flow and conveyance

1:31:31 ↗ Downstream reducing some of those flood

1:31:33 ↗ risks this is a tricky one where a lot

1:31:34 ↗ of these we had to pull out store on a

1:31:36 ↗ city parcel on on Crescent there and

1:31:39 ↗ then our Public Works team will be

1:31:40 ↗ working on a plan to actually put those

1:31:43 ↗ logs back in the creek so I think

1:31:44 ↗ hopefully most folks are familiar these

1:31:46 ↗ are State codes around fish habitat that

1:31:49 ↗ require those logs to stay in or be

1:31:52 ↗ replaced repositioned elsewhere and

1:31:54 ↗ depending how aggressive that

1:31:56 ↗ repositioning replacement is there might

1:31:58 ↗ be additional mitigation tree planting

1:32:00 ↗ additional logs being put in so this is

1:32:03 ↗ really the trees I would say we've

1:32:05 ↗ myself Matt Ellis Allan Quinn folks with

1:32:07 ↗ our Public Works engineering team have

1:32:10 ↗ really been taking lead on this I've

1:32:11 ↗ been focusing on the ones that have more

1:32:12 ↗ of a Parks or open space

1:32:14 ↗ Nexus um there's been at least a dozen

1:32:17 ↗ sites we've had contractors out to to

1:32:19 ↗ remove I shouldn't say remove to cut and

1:32:21 ↗ relocate or reposition trees in our

1:32:23 ↗ Creek to reduce that flood risk and then

1:32:26 ↗ these are just two of of of many

1:32:28 ↗ examples of trees that did not fully

1:32:30 ↗ come down during the storm but uh pose

1:32:33 ↗ pretty imminent hazards uh you know edge

1:32:35 ↗ of open space the the cedar tree on the

1:32:37 ↗ left is right on the edge of Hillside

1:32:39 ↗ Cemetery uh right on the backyard of a

1:32:42 ↗ of a resident there where one of the

1:32:44 ↗ stems just totally split out now you

1:32:45 ↗ still have a foot diameter probably 60ft

1:32:48 ↗ tall stem that's pretty weakly attached

1:32:50 ↗ to the rest of that trunk there and will

1:32:52 ↗ continue to rot that is not the type of

1:32:54 ↗ wound that a tree will unfortunately be

1:32:56 ↗ able to heal over um and then the one on

1:32:58 ↗ the right is a big leaf maple behind an

1:33:00 ↗ apartment complex on Newport Way that

1:33:03 ↗ also had a large stem failure and now a

1:33:05 ↗ huge cavity and wound in the tree too so

1:33:08 ↗ these are the examples of more priority

1:33:11 ↗ removals um uh and now I'd say we're

1:33:14 ↗ kind of the next tier of trying to

1:33:16 ↗ figure out maybe some of these less uh

1:33:18 ↗ concerning uh trees and whether they can

1:33:20 ↗ be safely retained that's work that I'm

1:33:22 ↗ doing more of but then we work with a

1:33:24 ↗ third-party um uh consultant called tree

1:33:27 ↗ solutions to provide risk assessments

1:33:29 ↗ for us as well so they've been out quite

1:33:31 ↗ a bit and we'll be out here quite a bit

1:33:33 ↗ over the next few weeks as well so just

1:33:35 ↗ wanted to give some kind of photos

1:33:36 ↗ images of you know kind of what we're

1:33:38 ↗ looking at I would say there's been

1:33:41 ↗ dozens three four dozen trees like this

1:33:44 ↗ that I've come across um or or public

1:33:47 ↗ works as well so a lot of these partial

1:33:49 ↗ failures and and concerns about the rest

1:33:51 ↗ of these trees coming down near near

1:33:53 ↗ building buildings and

1:33:55 ↗ Roads um if there's any last questions

1:33:57 ↗ on the bomb Cyclone if not I'm going to

1:33:59 ↗ kind of wrap back up on the forest

1:34:01 ↗ management

1:34:02 ↗ plan thank you Mr chairman um I had a

1:34:06 ↗ question on our our tree inventory work

1:34:09 ↗ um we received a an email from the

1:34:12 ↗ esques club concerning Alders red Alders

1:34:15 ↗ and the makeup of uh our forested Hills

1:34:20 ↗ yes and red Alder are taking um a lot of

1:34:23 ↗ the territory and and um elbowing out

1:34:26 ↗ some of the um pine trees that we'd like

1:34:28 ↗ to see in in the forest how are we

1:34:30 ↗ thinking about addressing that um

1:34:33 ↗ through this plan or through other

1:34:34 ↗ options uh in the near future so yeah

1:34:37 ↗ within this plan as I kind of touched on

1:34:39 ↗ you know the the the first large

1:34:41 ↗ contiguous open space we are going to

1:34:42 ↗ focus on is tradition Plateau there's

1:34:44 ↗ certainly Alder deciduous trees up there

1:34:46 ↗ there's aging maple trees that we are

1:34:48 ↗ kind of losing that canopy and not

1:34:50 ↗ seeing the natural regeneration of other

1:34:52 ↗ trees there that we want to see so those

1:34:53 ↗ are examples of spots that we might look

1:34:55 ↗ to actually replant I think what Kelly

1:34:57 ↗ sent was looking um more at areas on

1:35:00 ↗ Cougar Mountain I would say that would

1:35:02 ↗ be hopefully a next phase we' move into

1:35:04 ↗ for a more specific um Forest management

1:35:07 ↗ plan for the Talis native growth area

1:35:09 ↗ there um where we see a lot more

1:35:11 ↗ deciduous trees and yes there are are

1:35:13 ↗ strong arguments to be made to as I

1:35:16 ↗ mentioned that's ecological thinning Gap

1:35:18 ↗ clearing and then you know really trying

1:35:19 ↗ to restore with uh Cedar Weare

1:35:21 ↗ appropriate Douglas fur and some of our

1:35:23 ↗ native Conifer trees so um that is

1:35:26 ↗ something that is you know a

1:35:28 ↗ recommendation for a little bit more of

1:35:30 ↗ these kind of micro Forest management

1:35:32 ↗ plan especially for our larger Open

1:35:34 ↗ Spaces um kind of my decision to to to

1:35:38 ↗ focus on tradition Plateau first partly

1:35:40 ↗ just based on the amount of Acres there

1:35:43 ↗ um and I would say maybe less on the

1:35:44 ↗ Alders but there's still a lot of um

1:35:47 ↗ kind of homogeneous Douglas fur forest

1:35:48 ↗ in there too where there there could be

1:35:50 ↗ arguments too for actually Conifer

1:35:51 ↗ removal to let some of those trees grow

1:35:54 ↗ grow faster and stronger too we do see

1:35:57 ↗ issues with and we saw a lot of trees

1:35:58 ↗ fail like this near East Sunset way

1:36:00 ↗ trail head where there are trees of the

1:36:01 ↗ same age same species pretty densely uh

1:36:04 ↗ planted or or regrowth is pretty dense

1:36:06 ↗ in there and trees just don't develop

1:36:08 ↗ good taper essentially stronger bases

1:36:10 ↗ and kind of narrowing to the crown when

1:36:12 ↗ they're really kind of hemmed in with

1:36:13 ↗ trees of the same size so trees with

1:36:16 ↗ poor taper are are are much more likely

1:36:18 ↗ to fail in big wind events like that so

1:36:21 ↗ um so so to that point I guess to answer

1:36:22 ↗ your question yes we are going to look

1:36:23 ↗ at continuing to do uh for for instance

1:36:26 ↗ this um uh Forest management plan for

1:36:29 ↗ the tradition plateaus about $10,000

1:36:31 ↗ we're spending about $90,000 on this

1:36:33 ↗ Urban Forest management plans that gives

1:36:34 ↗ you kind of an idea relatively what the

1:36:36 ↗ scale and scope of these look like for

1:36:38 ↗ you know some specific uh contiguous

1:36:41 ↗ open space areas like Palace like

1:36:44 ↗ tradition Plateau definitely some stuff

1:36:46 ↗ potential on squawk Mountain

1:36:48 ↗ too great thank you very much that

1:36:50 ↗ concludes my questions

1:36:53 ↗ Deputy council president do you have any

1:36:55 ↗ questions well uh we had we got this

1:36:58 ↗ wonderful letter from the isal Alps tra

1:37:00 ↗ Club so I'll ask the other the other

1:37:02 ↗ part of the of the letter uh do we have

1:37:06 ↗ any way of incentivizing our private

1:37:08 ↗ property owners to maintain their canopy

1:37:12 ↗ um and when we say private property

1:37:14 ↗ owners that could be the owners of large

1:37:17 ↗ apartment complexes or it could be

1:37:19 ↗ single family houses so uh there's a

1:37:22 ↗ wide range of private properties that um

1:37:25 ↗ that we could be working with but what

1:37:27 ↗ do we have in mind in terms of

1:37:29 ↗ incentivizing those private properties

1:37:31 ↗ to uh maintain their tree canopy yeah so

1:37:34 ↗ so work to do there and as the the one

1:37:37 ↗ program that I have mentioned is a a

1:37:39 ↗ tree giveaway initiative so that's

1:37:41 ↗ something you'll see a lot of cities do

1:37:42 ↗ where we are funding looking for grant

1:37:45 ↗ funding working with nonprofit Partners

1:37:47 ↗ I mentioned a group called 300 trees

1:37:48 ↗ they're really active in bellue area and

1:37:50 ↗ are now working with us in isqua that's

1:37:52 ↗ a connection I've made with our

1:37:54 ↗ sustainability team um so that that

1:37:56 ↗ would be the opportunity to get new

1:37:58 ↗ trees in the ground I would say coming

1:38:00 ↗ back to one of the comments that I heard

1:38:02 ↗ from her Committee in terms of Education

1:38:03 ↗ around illegal tree removals I was

1:38:05 ↗ talking about tree care and maintenance

1:38:06 ↗ is really important too so I think

1:38:08 ↗ that's where we really need to work

1:38:10 ↗ together um myself Community planning

1:38:12 ↗ and then how we can tap into some of the

1:38:14 ↗ larger HOAs to do education and then I I

1:38:17 ↗ would like to see that as Community

1:38:18 ↗ meetings and I would like to see that as

1:38:20 ↗ just better online resources and

1:38:22 ↗ materials that we can connect the

1:38:23 ↗ community with um I would say it gets a

1:38:27 ↗ little trickier and this is where I'm

1:38:28 ↗ still learning you know how that relates

1:38:30 ↗ to actual building codes and incen

1:38:32 ↗ incentivizing that we do have uh in our

1:38:35 ↗ guiding principle C which looks at tree

1:38:37 ↗ preservation we do have a goal in there

1:38:39 ↗ that does look at recognizing and

1:38:42 ↗ incentivizing uh development projects

1:38:44 ↗ that maintain or incorporate higher

1:38:47 ↗ standards of tree canopy than are

1:38:48 ↗ required by our current tree

1:38:51 ↗ code I still don't know exactly what

1:38:53 ↗ that looks like in practice I'll admit

1:38:54 ↗ so that's something that we we we have

1:38:56 ↗ in there something that I want to

1:38:57 ↗ continue to work with Community planning

1:38:58 ↗ on but uh what exactly that looks like I

1:39:01 ↗ think is still to be

1:39:05 ↗ determined all right well um if we don't

1:39:08 ↗ have any other questions uh we are back

1:39:10 ↗ for the third and final time uh to offer

1:39:13 ↗ audience comment see at least one hand

1:39:15 ↗ going up at least two uh so let's start

1:39:18 ↗ with the folks that we have in the room

1:39:26 ↗ great thank you chair Marts I wanted to

1:39:28 ↗ jump in here before Kelly got the

1:39:31 ↗ microphone um Jason voice resident 700

1:39:34 ↗ Front Street South I appreciate Dan for

1:39:37 ↗ the great presentation I learned more

1:39:38 ↗ about trees in the last 30 minutes and

1:39:41 ↗ uh maybe my entire time with his Aqua so

1:39:43 ↗ thank you um I'm currently in an HOA and

1:39:46 ↗ this is always a long time ago when I

1:39:49 ↗ was part of that HOA even as President

1:39:52 ↗ we are surrounded by trees um Arrington

1:39:55 ↗ place right across from our savior and

1:39:57 ↗ we have always had to hire outside

1:39:59 ↗ arborists and a lot of like we have

1:40:02 ↗ Trails we have everything we're right by

1:40:04 ↗ the rineer trail and again the entire

1:40:06 ↗ property is surrounded by um trees

1:40:09 ↗ underbrush things like that is there I

1:40:12 ↗ guess the question or I guess the what

1:40:15 ↗ I'd be hoping for is there's some type

1:40:18 ↗ of City function where the city can come

1:40:19 ↗ out and see that we're properly

1:40:21 ↗ maintaining our grounds um there

1:40:24 ↗ probably isn't anything like that as far

1:40:25 ↗ as I know we're still calling arborists

1:40:28 ↗ after the bomb Cyclone um it took and I

1:40:31 ↗ know there was a lot of people and

1:40:32 ↗ Sawyers out there trying to take care of

1:40:34 ↗ emergency stuff but it took we had a

1:40:37 ↗ tree that was sitting at a I don't know

1:40:39 ↗ a 30° angle uh ready to take out the

1:40:41 ↗ clubhouse so there were some concerns

1:40:43 ↗ and I just don't know I mean if the city

1:40:45 ↗ works really well with these HOAs and

1:40:47 ↗ what type of leeway they do my hope is

1:40:49 ↗ that they would get better at it um so

1:40:53 ↗ again I do appreciate the conversation

1:40:54 ↗ it's always interesting to hear about

1:40:55 ↗ the tree canopy and then the other thing

1:40:57 ↗ is I have not gotten an opportunity to

1:40:59 ↗ read your plan um but I didn't hear a

1:41:02 ↗ lot I heard a lot about maintenance and

1:41:04 ↗ introducing I'm wondering if there's

1:41:06 ↗ also things obviously Los Angeles is top

1:41:09 ↗ of mine for everybody so I'm just

1:41:11 ↗ thinking about fire breakes and cleaning

1:41:13 ↗ out underbrush and things like that as

1:41:14 ↗ part of the program so I'm hopeful to

1:41:16 ↗ hear more about this and then uh just a

1:41:20 ↗ thought is when you made the comment

1:41:22 ↗ about revisions every 5 to 10 years

1:41:24 ↗ seems like this one at least until it

1:41:26 ↗ gets off the ground for maybe 20 years

1:41:28 ↗ should be seen every 5 years so it could

1:41:30 ↗ be revised so again thank

1:41:34 ↗ you thank you for your

1:41:38 ↗ comment our next

1:41:43 ↗ speaker hello oh okay you can hear me

1:41:46 ↗ now um hello my name is Kelly Jen I am

1:41:49 ↗ uh the president of isqua Alps Trails

1:41:51 ↗ Club board member of the mountain sound

1:41:53 ↗ Greenway and a resident of isqua in

1:41:55 ↗ Talis um so first of all I wanted to say

1:41:58 ↗ I'm it's super exciting to see that the

1:42:00 ↗ city of isqua prioritizing tree canopy

1:42:02 ↗ and really you know putting in the time

1:42:04 ↗ and effort and funding to developing an

1:42:07 ↗ urban Forest management plan you know

1:42:09 ↗ living in Talis and actually a moved

1:42:11 ↗ here in the pandemic because of you know

1:42:15 ↗ just in that time how important it was

1:42:17 ↗ to be outside um and so that's part of

1:42:20 ↗ why I moved to Talis in isqua and so I

1:42:21 ↗ know firsthand how important it's you

1:42:23 ↗ know to have these natural areas um for

1:42:25 ↗ our quality of life here in isqua um as

1:42:28 ↗ the president of IC I also really

1:42:30 ↗ appreciated the focus in the plan on you

1:42:31 ↗ know engaging with private and nonprofit

1:42:33 ↗ Partners um and you know it's been

1:42:35 ↗ really great for us to have this

1:42:37 ↗ partnership with green isqua both you

1:42:38 ↗ know with our first project site at Park

1:42:40 ↗ point now with the miwaukee uh pocket

1:42:43 ↗ Forest which we've gotten some great

1:42:44 ↗ grants for and hopefully some more um

1:42:46 ↗ project sites in the future so it's been

1:42:48 ↗ really great to work with Dan and the

1:42:49 ↗ whole team on that um and also you know

1:42:52 ↗ it's a really great opportunity for

1:42:53 ↗ people to get involved and feel like

1:42:55 ↗ they're making a tangible difference at

1:42:57 ↗ the local level which is very important

1:43:00 ↗ for all of us right now um and yeah and

1:43:05 ↗ so um thank you for uh reading my

1:43:07 ↗ comments and asking my questions um Dan

1:43:09 ↗ I really appreciated what you said about

1:43:11 ↗ you know the um need to you know

1:43:14 ↗ potentially do some thinning for Forest

1:43:16 ↗ Health and I think it's really important

1:43:17 ↗ to acknowledge that even though we have

1:43:19 ↗ this goal of tree canopy sometimes you

1:43:21 ↗ know in the short term we might need to

1:43:22 ↗ do things that will reduce tree canopy

1:43:25 ↗ but will have a better you know impact

1:43:27 ↗ on long-term Forest Health um so

1:43:29 ↗ actually I was kind of hoping that in

1:43:30 ↗ the text itself who would say something

1:43:32 ↗ like there might be some actions that

1:43:34 ↗ might reduce uh you know tree canopy in

1:43:36 ↗ the short term but are important to

1:43:38 ↗ long-term Forest Health which is one of

1:43:39 ↗ our objectives um but you know hearing

1:43:41 ↗ from you and from Jeff and everyone that

1:43:43 ↗ that's something that's top of mind for

1:43:45 ↗ you as well that's great um and I think

1:43:48 ↗ also you know working with the other

1:43:50 ↗ Land Management agencies that adjoin um

1:43:53 ↗ you know the city owned natural areas

1:43:54 ↗ like Cougar Mountain I know they're also

1:43:56 ↗ engaging Northwest Natural Resource

1:43:58 ↗ Group to do their uh Cougar Mountain

1:44:00 ↗ Forest planning uh stuff um and

1:44:02 ↗ similarly with DNR so I think you know

1:44:04 ↗ we are so fortunate to have such amazing

1:44:08 ↗ natural areas that are actually managed

1:44:09 ↗ by like a patchwork of agencies um and

1:44:12 ↗ so it's great to um hear about the

1:44:14 ↗ collaboration there and I think you know

1:44:16 ↗ moving forward potentially that's

1:44:17 ↗ something where the isqua Alps Trails

1:44:19 ↗ Club could you know convene the

1:44:20 ↗ different agencies and see like hey how

1:44:22 ↗ can we manage the forest as a whole you

1:44:25 ↗ know habitat and Collective area rather

1:44:27 ↗ than what is defined by political

1:44:30 ↗ boundaries of

1:44:31 ↗ ownership um and again um the last point

1:44:35 ↗ that I wanted to make is um what uh

1:44:37 ↗ Deputy council president de Michelle was

1:44:39 ↗ talking about which is you know Central

1:44:41 ↗ isqua is where we have the lowest

1:44:43 ↗ percentage of tree canopy currently and

1:44:45 ↗ that's also where a lot of the deel

1:44:47 ↗ development is going to go in and so you

1:44:49 ↗ know what are some of the policies that

1:44:50 ↗ we can do to encourage new developments

1:44:53 ↗ whether they be like middle housing or

1:44:55 ↗ apartment buildings to include more tree

1:44:58 ↗ canopy there's I mean I had like random

1:45:01 ↗ ideas but I think that's definitely

1:45:02 ↗ something that you know as we're looking

1:45:04 ↗ into the central isqua plan which was I

1:45:06 ↗ think last updated in like 2012 um I

1:45:09 ↗ think you know moving forward thinking

1:45:10 ↗ about how we can maintain and increase

1:45:13 ↗ tree canopy um as we develop into the

1:45:15 ↗ next phase of isqua so yeah that's it

1:45:18 ↗ for me um it's super exciting to see

1:45:20 ↗ isqua you know putting effort and money

1:45:23 ↗ and resources into you know maintaining

1:45:26 ↗ what makes our city so special and uh

1:45:29 ↗ yeah so that's it for me thank you for

1:45:32 ↗ your

1:45:33 ↗ comments anyone else any comments how

1:45:36 ↗ about

1:45:37 ↗ online currently no online attendees

1:45:40 ↗ chair marks there you go council member

1:45:42 ↗ Joe thank you uh Dan uh some of the

1:45:46 ↗ Wildland Urban interface uh question was

1:45:50 ↗ was brought up could you comment on the

1:45:52 ↗ current status of woi and and what's

1:45:55 ↗ going on at the the state level with the

1:45:57 ↗ maps yeah I I am trying to track that as

1:46:00 ↗ best with Jared Schneider um my

1:46:02 ↗ understanding there hasn't been an

1:46:03 ↗ update this has been about over a year

1:46:05 ↗ now and and for for context there was a

1:46:07 ↗ map that was published as part of the

1:46:09 ↗ proposed state building code updates

1:46:11 ↗ sorry if everyone's familiar with this

1:46:12 ↗ it was a pretty aggressive map that

1:46:14 ↗ showed the vast majority of isqua as

1:46:16 ↗ part of the wild Urban Land uh Urban

1:46:18 ↗ interface the wooi um that would have

1:46:20 ↗ really significant impacts on any

1:46:23 ↗ development Redevelopment and what that

1:46:25 ↗ means for a tree canopy so that is

1:46:27 ↗ certainly acknowledged in the urban

1:46:29 ↗ Forest management plan but that I think

1:46:30 ↗ ties into the needs to uh you know

1:46:33 ↗ revise as some of that uh Comes live so

1:46:36 ↗ I I do not have an update on when we

1:46:38 ↗ expect to see that um I I will continue

1:46:41 ↗ to connect with Jared and he'll be my um

1:46:45 ↗ source for that once there's more

1:46:46 ↗ information but they are refining that

1:46:48 ↗ and I do think it will be a little less

1:46:51 ↗ um aggressive in terms of how much of

1:46:53 ↗ our city limits is included in that

1:46:55 ↗ movie there there are certainly parts of

1:46:56 ↗ our city that that make a lot of sense

1:46:58 ↗ but to see that throughout the whole

1:47:00 ↗ valley was sort of surprising and that's

1:47:01 ↗ not how that DNR map was ever intended

1:47:03 ↗ to be used so so basically uh we are

1:47:08 ↗ watching it we're concerned about it

1:47:10 ↗ we're waiting for the state to give us

1:47:11 ↗ guidance on the on the maps that we

1:47:14 ↗ expect soon whatever state Works soon

1:47:17 ↗ means um along the way and but so we are

1:47:21 ↗ making efforts to continue to watch it

1:47:22 ↗ but it's not um final in terms of the

1:47:25 ↗ guidance from the state is that kind of

1:47:26 ↗ the summary that that's that's my

1:47:28 ↗ understanding yes perfect thank

1:47:31 ↗ you all right so

1:47:36 ↗ uh Direction needed really are we is it

1:47:39 ↗ ready for prime

1:47:41 ↗ time I think that's the consensus that

1:47:44 ↗ I'm hearing

1:47:46 ↗ um I assume it would come back uh to

1:47:49 ↗ full Council not on consent yes uh Mr

1:47:53 ↗ chair members of the committee um we

1:47:55 ↗ would like to take this opportunity to

1:47:58 ↗ first of all put it on regular business

1:48:00 ↗ but also to talk a little bit more about

1:48:03 ↗ the bomb Cyclone uh and the financial

1:48:05 ↗ impacts our abilities working with the

1:48:08 ↗ state and federal government to get the

1:48:09 ↗ funding as well as to talk a little bit

1:48:11 ↗ about fire issues because certainly that

1:48:14 ↗ has been in the news we've not had that

1:48:16 ↗ opportunity uh to talk with the council

1:48:18 ↗ the questions that council member Joe

1:48:21 ↗ raised uh so we would we will put this

1:48:23 ↗ on regular business we will also add an

1:48:26 ↗ item to talk about the financial pieces

1:48:29 ↗ of the bomb Cyclone um and also have

1:48:31 ↗ Jared Schneider here our emergency

1:48:33 ↗ manager to talk a little bit about our

1:48:35 ↗ plans uh dealing with trees and fire um

1:48:40 ↗ over the course of the next six months

1:48:41 ↗ or so as we get ready for the summer so

1:48:44 ↗ it's going to be a busy meeting next

1:48:45 ↗ week uh but our plan is to bring this to

1:48:48 ↗ you next week um there's not much else

1:48:51 ↗ on for regular business other than the

1:48:53 ↗ council's uh beginning the interview

1:48:55 ↗ process for the uh vacancy uh but we we

1:48:58 ↗ can make that all work we so that's all

1:49:02 ↗ right we'll put this on regular business

1:49:04 ↗ with those

1:49:05 ↗ additions with what the city

1:49:07 ↗ administrator has just describes there

1:49:09 ↗ any

1:49:11 ↗ particular

1:49:14 ↗ about that all sounds that all sounds

1:49:17 ↗ good and appropriate all right I think

1:49:19 ↗ we're good thank you all right well I

1:49:22 ↗ want to thank everyone this has been a

1:49:24 ↗ couple hours but we covered a lot of

1:49:26 ↗ good material uh today so uh we

1:49:31 ↗ are uh announcements I'm sorry

1:49:35 ↗ announcements

1:49:40 ↗ announcements any announcements from the

1:49:43 ↗ committee oh

1:49:45 ↗ Barb well I just uh you know to round up

1:49:48 ↗ we uh I think we all agree that this is

1:49:50 ↗ a great plan and just uh thank you to

1:49:53 ↗ you for I'm sure an immense amount of

1:49:56 ↗ work uh the plan reads very easily I

1:49:59 ↗ think people lay people in the community

1:50:01 ↗ will be able to understand it without

1:50:04 ↗ any problem and uh I you certainly have

1:50:07 ↗ uh done a great job of addressing a lot

1:50:09 ↗ of the major issues facing us when it

1:50:11 ↗ comes to our Urban Forest

1:50:14 ↗ management uh the only thing a slight

1:50:19 ↗ the the acronym is a little bit hard to

1:50:23 ↗ say yeah and that's the only drawback

1:50:26 ↗ that I see there but other than that I

1:50:29 ↗ mean it's a really great job and I do

1:50:30 ↗ want to thank you thanks you want to say

1:50:34 ↗ anything okay you said it all okay there

1:50:37 ↗ we go do any council members have any

1:50:41 ↗ announcement all right well then we are

1:50:44 ↗ adjourned at 8:21

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