City Council Special Meeting · Tuesday, November 26, 2019 · City Council Digest

2. AGENDA ITEMS

The purpose of this special meeting is to allow the City Council to recess into Executive Session to discuss pending/potential litigation per RCW take approximately 30 minutes. Please note, Executive Sessions are closed to the public. Action, if needed, would occur during the open session of a Regular Council meeting

▶ Watch from 1:10

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0:44 ↗ okay good evening and welcome to the

0:47 ↗ Sequoia Council study session for

0:49 ↗ Tuesday November 26th first I want to

0:53 ↗ start out by saying that councilmember

0:55 ↗ Goodman is excused for tonight and I

0:57 ↗ want to welcome our newest councilmember

1:00 ↗ barb de Michelle who has joined and been

1:03 ↗ sworn in today and will immediately sit

1:05 ↗ for her first meeting welcome yep and so

1:10 ↗ tonight we have three agenda items the

1:14 ↗ tree canopy update id0 for five for the

1:19 ↗ healthy community strategy and id0 580

1:23 ↗ Title 18 update for each we will have a

1:26 ↗ presentation by staff council questions

1:29 ↗ then public comments and public comments

1:32 ↗ tonight we'll be at the lectern of sorts

1:37 ↗ and then council direction ultimately

1:40 ↗ back to the administration and so

1:43 ↗ tonight we're going to start with the

1:44 ↗ tree canopy update presented by jeff

1:47 ↗ Watling our Parks and Recreation

1:49 ↗ Director thank you so much good evening

1:52 ↗ Council yes so tonight the tree canopy

1:58 ↗ assessment was completed and excited to

2:01 ↗ provide you this update as you know this

2:06 ↗ was one of our 2019 work plan items

2:10 ↗ tonight is an informational update in

2:13 ↗ fact it was originally scheduled for

2:15 ↗ December 2nd but I think given time and

2:19 ↗ opportunity we squeeze it in into this

2:21 ↗ study session so thank you very much for

2:23 ↗ that given our a lot of time and

2:26 ↗ certainly the the items on the rest of

2:28 ↗ the agenda I'm not planning to go into a

2:31 ↗ deep dive into all of the data the very

2:36 ↗ rich data that's in this assessment what

2:38 ↗ I'm hoping to do and this a lot of time

2:40 ↗ is to provide an overview to help

2:42 ↗ further acquaint you and and others with

2:44 ↗ the format of the data and then spend

2:47 ↗ some time on the recommendations that

2:50 ↗ are in

2:51 ↗ in the document and then thus allow

2:53 ↗ ample time for counsel feedback public

2:57 ↗ comment etc so with that we'll jump into

3:02 ↗ this so the purpose why why this was put

3:06 ↗ on our work plan was certainly I think a

3:10 ↗ shared goal that we wanted to update the

3:13 ↗ prior tree assessment tree canopy

3:16 ↗ assessment that was done in 2012 you're

3:18 ↗ gonna notice in the document it's gonna

3:20 ↗ reference 2011 data that 2011 data is

3:24 ↗ what was in the 2012 report you'll also

3:26 ↗ notice in the report this report that

3:30 ↗ we're talking in 2019 references 2017

3:33 ↗ data cuz that's the data that was used

3:35 ↗ for the wrote the assessment we have in

3:38 ↗ front of us to do this work we partnered

3:41 ↗ with our our colleagues and friends at

3:44 ↗ King conservation district and utilize

3:47 ↗ the consultants planet geo to staff from

3:51 ↗ King Conservation District are here

3:53 ↗ tonight I wanted reduce bay Covington

3:55 ↗ and Mike Lisicki from K CDs so thanks

4:00 ↗ for for joining us tonight

4:04 ↗ so that I don't bury the lead

4:06 ↗ overall in this assessment it's a tree

4:12 ↗ canopy cover our tree canopy cover at

4:15 ↗ 51% this does represent a change from

4:19 ↗ the 2012 assessment that had our tree

4:22 ↗ canopy cover at 48 percent and so

4:25 ↗ certainly represents progress though

4:28 ↗ this is informational tonight there is a

4:31 ↗ council question both for tonight and I

4:34 ↗ think really as we move into 2020 and

4:37 ↗ that's something we're even asking

4:39 ↗ ourselves obviously staff but how can

4:41 ↗ this assessment and how can this data

4:43 ↗ set inform and further support the

4:46 ↗ city's strategic and comp plan goals I

4:49 ↗ would add to that also our operational

4:50 ↗ goals

4:56 ↗ so the data itself the the document and

5:01 ↗ the analysis itself is really broken up

5:05 ↗ the core of this the body of this

5:07 ↗ documents broken up into two sections of

5:09 ↗ data and evaluation the first one really

5:14 ↗ has to do with our current what's called

5:17 ↗ the state of the canopy so what is our

5:19 ↗ current canopy cover and within our

5:23 ↗ current existing city boundary I'll

5:25 ↗ point something out a little bit later

5:27 ↗ when I get to the second item that's

5:29 ↗ important to note

5:31 ↗ so not only looking at this collective

5:34 ↗ citywide 51% the assessment then in this

5:40 ↗ section of the state of our current

5:42 ↗ canopy then begins to tabulate the

5:47 ↗ information in some really helpful ways

5:49 ↗ and some useful ways by running it

5:52 ↗ through a variety of boundary types you

5:54 ↗ may have noticed those boundary types

5:56 ↗ include ownership so really trying to

6:00 ↗ help us

6:00 ↗ maybe analyze the damage data and see

6:03 ↗ what it says between public spaces

6:06 ↗ what's canopy cover look like in public

6:08 ↗ spaces versus private lyon spaces zoning

6:13 ↗ is a another boundary type that that we

6:18 ↗ look at sort of asking ourselves what

6:21 ↗ does canopy cover look like and what is

6:24 ↗ it telling us within our various uses

6:27 ↗ land uses and this is zoning city zoning

6:30 ↗ so really looking at that from a city

6:32 ↗ scale the land-use lens takes a look at

6:36 ↗ that canopy data through King County

6:40 ↗ comprehensive land comp planned land

6:43 ↗ uses to maybe help us get some

6:45 ↗ perspective on if we're wanting to seek

6:48 ↗ some county wide scale in terms of how

6:50 ↗ we compare or what what canopy cover

6:52 ↗ looks like compared to some of those

6:54 ↗ county land uses a really helpful

6:58 ↗ breakdown I think for us as we look at

7:02 ↗ development planning and other land-use

7:05 ↗ planning is the planning sub-areas so

7:08 ↗ the 16 planning sub areas this tree

7:10 ↗ canopy analysis is broken down into

7:13 ↗ those sub areas and then lastly we have

7:18 ↗ 24 census block groups within the city

7:20 ↗ that data is filtered through that

7:24 ↗ boundary lens to see if there's any

7:27 ↗ indicators for us with canopy cover in

7:31 ↗ terms of demographic or and/or

7:34 ↗ socio-economic data or comparisons so

7:39 ↗ with that section of sort of our current

7:41 ↗ state of the canopy the next section of

7:44 ↗ the document then begins to say alright

7:46 ↗ now that we have a sense of where our

7:47 ↗ current canopy is how does it compare

7:49 ↗ how do we begin to look at that prior

7:52 ↗ assessment and see where and let's

7:55 ↗ analyze change from that 2011 data to

7:59 ↗ the 2017 data I want to point out when

8:02 ↗ you get into this section the boundaries

8:04 ↗ are a little bit different in that I

8:07 ↗ think the report did a really good job

8:09 ↗ of making sure in this section we're

8:11 ↗ looking at apples to apples so where is

8:14 ↗ in the first section the state of our

8:17 ↗ canopy were we were looking at the

8:19 ↗ current city boundary so there were some

8:21 ↗ boundary changes that occurred between

8:22 ↗ these dates Lake Sammamish State Park

8:24 ↗ was annexed so that land was identified

8:30 ↗ in that first section the state of the

8:32 ↗ canopy in this analysis the change

8:34 ↗ change analysis the consultants were

8:36 ↗ really good at making sure we go back

8:39 ↗ and let's do an apples-to-apples with

8:41 ↗ our current data but let's compare it to

8:43 ↗ that same boundary as we had in 2011 so

8:48 ↗ important to see and understand that

8:52 ↗ that distinction

8:53 ↗ what's interesting to note is even with

8:55 ↗ that apples to apples comparison there

8:57 ↗ was a three percent positive change in

9:00 ↗ in canopy cover from 11 to 17 2011 to

9:05 ↗ 2017

9:08 ↗ and then we often like to ask ourselves

9:11 ↗ how do we compare to our neighbors and

9:13 ↗ our other county cities this is a

9:17 ↗ helpful tool that Planet geo did a lot

9:20 ↗ of work tree assessment work on all

9:22 ↗ these other cities so helpful to see

9:24 ↗ this comparison though ultimately we do

9:27 ↗ certainly measure ourselves to our

9:30 ↗ community vision and values and goals

9:32 ↗ it's it's it's always nice to see how we

9:34 ↗ stack up and I think we stack up quite

9:36 ↗ well in comparison with the other cities

9:40 ↗ you see us in the darker green they're

9:43 ↗ at 51% in the last item of my staff

9:49 ↗ report before discussion is just looking

9:52 ↗ at the recommendations and calling out

9:54 ↗ what the recommendations were on you'll

9:56 ↗ see this on page 26 of the document

9:58 ↗ there were five suggested

9:59 ↗ recommendations that came from this as I

10:03 ↗ go through the recommendations also

10:05 ↗ highlights some of the operational work

10:07 ↗ that's both underway but also as we're

10:11 ↗ heading into 2020 areas and ways with

10:15 ↗ which we see us beginning to address

10:18 ↗ these these recommendations the first

10:21 ↗ was let's let's find ways to leverage

10:23 ↗ these results to promote the the urban

10:26 ↗ forests and this promotion can happen

10:29 ↗ both in how we maintain and steward the

10:31 ↗ urban forests and also how we're

10:34 ↗ planning so within the maintenance side

10:36 ↗ of things you're aware that another 2019

10:40 ↗ goal of ours was launching our green

10:42 ↗ Issaquah initiative in doing a forest

10:45 ↗ assessment that's underway in fact on

10:47 ↗ December 10th the team from for Terra

10:50 ↗ and us in the parks department will

10:52 ↗ providing you an update on where we're

10:54 ↗ on in that work but a lot of that work

10:57 ↗ really coincides well with looking at

11:00 ↗ best practices looking at where we're

11:02 ↗ seeing our forests are publicly owned

11:04 ↗ forests most threatened and beginning to

11:07 ↗ develop some strategies there other ways

11:10 ↗ we see this first recommendation coming

11:13 ↗ into play as we've had some meetings and

11:16 ↗ conversations with development services

11:17 ↗ about this assessment you

11:19 ↗ later tonight some of the work with

11:22 ↗ updating Title 18 and how this data and

11:27 ↗ and this tool can can help in that in

11:30 ↗ that work that the second recommendation

11:32 ↗ was let's use the results to prioritize

11:36 ↗ future plantings and yes absolutely and

11:40 ↗ as I said earlier as we begin to

11:43 ↗ complete that forest assessment with

11:45 ↗ green Issaquah we'll be putting together

11:47 ↗ a management plan that you'll be seeing

11:50 ↗ in early 2020 that plan will include

11:54 ↗ priorities and those priorities also

11:57 ↗ include not only restoration but where

11:59 ↗ can we target plantings so this

12:03 ↗ assessment will certainly be a great

12:06 ↗ source of information for that work

12:09 ↗ maintenance of street trees was seen as

12:11 ↗ a recommendation and yes certainly

12:14 ↗ absolutely and as the department that

12:16 ↗ oversees a majority of that Street

12:17 ↗ maintenance we really see this not only

12:20 ↗ in ongoing maintenance and stewardship

12:23 ↗ of those trees but also the systems and

12:27 ↗ and processes that support those Street

12:30 ↗ trees so I would as an example note

12:33 ↗ irrigation so street trees often don't

12:37 ↗ survive and thrive on their own they

12:39 ↗ need support systems and so we do have

12:42 ↗ some tired irrigation throughout our our

12:45 ↗ infrastructure and that's something

12:46 ↗ we're certainly paying attention to not

12:49 ↗ just the trees but those systems

12:51 ↗ another example is as we work with

12:53 ↗ development services on Title 18 work

12:55 ↗ let's look at planting standards how are

12:58 ↗ we planting those Street trees to assure

13:02 ↗ best practices and ensure the survival

13:06 ↗ that we want within those street trees

13:10 ↗ fourth recommendation was education and

13:12 ↗ outreach programs towards private

13:14 ↗ landowners I think this is something

13:15 ↗ that we do informally but I do think

13:20 ↗ that there's opportunity for us to look

13:25 ↗ at maybe more intentionality and how we

13:27 ↗ further explore

13:31 ↗ informing educating private property

13:34 ↗ owners of the forest that exists on

13:38 ↗ their the trees on their property are

13:40 ↗ part of the urban forest and what can

13:42 ↗ they be doing to support that so that's

13:44 ↗ certainly something we can work further

13:45 ↗ on and the last recommendation was

13:47 ↗ calling out this interactive canopy

13:52 ↗ planning tool that really came with this

13:55 ↗ assessment and what this is is Planet

13:57 ↗ geo who does this work around the

13:59 ↗ country they support a very robust

14:04 ↗ interactive software system that this

14:07 ↗ data is now fed into this would allow us

14:12 ↗ as staff u.s. city council residents

14:15 ↗ other community members to access this

14:18 ↗ interactive tool to not only I think dig

14:21 ↗ a little deeper into the data but but

14:23 ↗ look at ways scenarios if we were to

14:29 ↗ plant trees in certain areas what would

14:32 ↗ that do to to the data so a great

14:35 ↗ opportunity there to not only use that

14:38 ↗ as staff but will be working with the

14:40 ↗ communications team and administration

14:43 ↗ on how we can further promote that that

14:46 ↗ resource and that tool again not just

14:48 ↗ for us as staff but for the community as

14:50 ↗ well so with that that's it's my quick

14:55 ↗ staff report and questions comments

15:01 ↗ council member were to present parts

15:04 ↗ shortly thank you for that report

15:07 ↗ I want to first mention it's it's a

15:09 ↗ little bit tough there's an information

15:11 ↗ in this presentation tonight that isn't

15:14 ↗ in the packet this presentation itself

15:16 ↗ is not in the packet there's specific

15:18 ↗ technical data that's in this

15:19 ↗ presentation that's not in the packet

15:21 ↗ about comparable cities and then the

15:24 ↗ recommendations are not in the packet

15:26 ↗ also so it's a little bit tough for us

15:28 ↗ as as it'd be nice to be able to preview

15:32 ↗ this this information yeah I apologize

15:34 ↗ for that and I know with the schedule

15:36 ↗ change we we worked really really fast

15:38 ↗ to get this in but that's a great a

15:41 ↗ great point thank you two specific

15:43 ↗ questions how did we go up I don't

15:47 ↗ recall transferring a bunch of I don't

15:52 ↗ recall large large new swaths of canopy

15:56 ↗ bland how did how did we get from 48 to

15:58 ↗ 51 yeah the assessment I think asked

16:03 ↗ that question and I think on page 20 its

16:07 ↗ I think identifies I think a number of

16:09 ↗ reasons I think there has been growth in

16:13 ↗ growth in the trees

16:15 ↗ I'll read from the assessment itself I

16:18 ↗ think there's also an increased accuracy

16:21 ↗ quite frankly and in some of the the

16:24 ↗ base information though evidence of

16:27 ↗ canopy losses due to urban development

16:28 ↗ were observed there were also evidence

16:31 ↗ of expansion of forest resources through

16:33 ↗ tree plantings and natural growth there

16:35 ↗ were many instances where the 2011 data

16:37 ↗ appeared underestimated however the use

16:40 ↗ of lidar data from 2017 assessment

16:42 ↗ combined with the natural growth allowed

16:44 ↗ for easier capture of some of the

16:46 ↗ smaller trees resulting in a citywide

16:48 ↗ gain so I I say that quote because I the

16:53 ↗ report itself is is I think saying yes

16:56 ↗ there's probably some game but some of

16:58 ↗ that 3% is probably just a sharper

17:01 ↗ assessment and evaluation of the

17:04 ↗ got it and I note that the plus or minus

17:07 ↗ on this is the gain is within the plus

17:10 ↗ or minus so as it points out it could be

17:13 ↗ statistically not significant the second

17:16 ↗ question that have is could you bring up

17:17 ↗ the comparable cities again so part of

17:24 ↗ me is a little concerned that I don't

17:28 ↗ see what I think of as comparable cities

17:31 ↗ here I don't see Sammamish I don't see

17:34 ↗ Redmond I don't see Kirkland I don't see

17:39 ↗ Snoqualmie I don't see North Bend

17:43 ↗ I see cities that are all substantially

17:45 ↗ more urban than our city so part of me

17:49 ↗ is just a little skeptical that this is

17:52 ↗ an actual comparables list so I won't I

17:55 ↗ don't know if I'll feel warm and fuzzy

17:57 ↗ about being number two on this list

17:59 ↗ until I see some cities that I feel look

18:01 ↗ more like us yeah great point we weren't

18:05 ↗ going for warm and fuzzy we were going

18:07 ↗ for information that planet geo had on

18:09 ↗ hand but it's a great point

18:11 ↗ deputy council president batiste I just

18:14 ↗ to follow up on that question manat

18:17 ↗ positive if every city has has every

18:21 ↗ city done a tree canopy assessment I

18:25 ↗ seem to have some recollection that it's

18:29 ↗ not a requirement so I haven't so we may

18:32 ↗ we may not have that data and then with

18:37 ↗ the with the urban forests I know we

18:40 ↗ talked a lot about that and we to think

18:44 ↗ back on our initial conversations about

18:46 ↗ this and the tree canopy was something

18:48 ↗ that really came forward as work that we

18:52 ↗ would do in the upcoming year are there

18:55 ↗ other elements of just the urban forest

18:59 ↗ work plan in general that will be coming

19:02 ↗ up or is this sort of our top I'm trying

19:06 ↗ to think back on the conversation yeah

19:09 ↗ it was it's really it's two two key

19:11 ↗ items in 2019 so this canopy assessment

19:15 ↗ update and

19:16 ↗ and the work we're doing with for Tara

19:18 ↗ that you'll hear on December 10th in

19:20 ↗ terms of launching green the green is

19:22 ↗ Squa and he should okay okay thank you

19:24 ↗ you bet Kelton beret Thanks

19:29 ↗ so I think this is great I don't think

19:32 ↗ we're hit in the right direction on tree

19:33 ↗ canopy we all want to be greener but I

19:38 ↗ can't help but think about urban

19:39 ↗ wildfires and what are we doing and how

19:43 ↗ can we use this data to help us better

19:45 ↗ prepare in the unfortunate event that

19:48 ↗ something like that should occur great

19:54 ↗ question I think both in this I think

19:56 ↗ that question has come up as we've been

19:58 ↗ talking with for Tara I know as we've

20:00 ↗ been in conversations with East Side

20:02 ↗ Fire and Rescue and some of the the

20:04 ↗ preparedness work that they're doing

20:06 ↗ it's certainly something that you'll see

20:09 ↗ in the management plan coming forward

20:14 ↗ before you in the first quarter of next

20:15 ↗ year yep council member winterspring

20:23 ↗ thank you Jeff thanks to the report you

20:26 ↗ know as I've talked to people over the

20:27 ↗ years that a lot of times people are

20:29 ↗ aware of what happens across the street

20:31 ↗ or down the road from them or something

20:32 ↗ that they pass all the time and if

20:33 ↗ there's been some change in their

20:34 ↗ neighborhood there Wow a couple big

20:36 ↗ trees are gone and I think that message

20:38 ↗ that that you know for sometimes that

20:42 ↗ happens but look let's let's look at

20:44 ↗ what's happening at the neighborhood

20:45 ↗ overall and what kind of policies and

20:48 ↗ what we're trying to do to encourage

20:49 ↗ this and so I I tell you that story

20:53 ↗ because my number one or a top priority

20:56 ↗ I would ask is is that communication are

20:58 ↗ those campaigns is that ability to get

21:00 ↗ that to communicate these facts I know

21:04 ↗ they're just numbers but there's some

21:05 ↗ really good stories in all of these as

21:07 ↗ well I think that are very important to

21:09 ↗ what a lot of people hold dear about

21:11 ↗ Issaquah but when they see something in

21:13 ↗ their proximity they might I know for a

21:16 ↗ fact many people out some it's going in

21:17 ↗ the wrong direction but when indeed when

21:19 ↗ you look at it at this level at this

21:20 ↗ city level it's it's a different story

21:23 ↗ and so however through communications or

21:26 ↗ whatever programs that you do I think

21:27 ↗ this is one that

21:29 ↗ is well I hope we can communicate

21:33 ↗ effectively communicating that bigger

21:36 ↗ picture and realizing that the minute

21:38 ↗ the urban forest is a dynamic changing

21:41 ↗ evolving thing that you know I'll add

21:44 ↗ one more thing to that when we don't

21:46 ↗ have the flag up here anymore but at

21:49 ↗ Harbor City USA and I and when a couple

21:51 ↗ years ago when we were receiving that

21:52 ↗ award the day afterwards I spoke to the

21:56 ↗ representative from that organization

21:58 ↗ and get an interesting conversation when

22:00 ↗ they when they talk when they assess

22:02 ↗ cities of being you know tree cities

22:04 ↗ they allow for policies the fact that if

22:08 ↗ you take some trees down but there's for

22:10 ↗ a public good there's there's it could

22:13 ↗ be it could be somebody's house or it

22:15 ↗ could be some other it could be roadway

22:18 ↗ related right but there's some public

22:20 ↗ amenity that's being built or improved

22:22 ↗ that they don't hold that against you

22:24 ↗ they at least you have a plan you're

22:26 ↗ wearing that if there's a if there's a

22:27 ↗ public benefit for what was done that

22:30 ↗ assessment you know didn't hold that

22:31 ↗ against you the fact that you had a plan

22:33 ↗ and we were looking at that and trying

22:34 ↗ to measure and manage it that tree

22:36 ↗ canopy was a big part of their scoring

22:37 ↗ as well and I I just think and that is

22:40 ↗ counter-intuitive to what a lot of

22:42 ↗ people I think imagined that would they

22:45 ↗ see this going how can you be a tree

22:47 ↗ city when you're taking trees out the

22:49 ↗ middle of a planning on a street well

22:51 ↗ we're doing this to improve the roadway

22:52 ↗ and and I think that's that's kind of

22:55 ↗ the education that this not everybody

22:57 ↗ has the same kind of understanding of

22:59 ↗ how these measurements are done but

23:02 ↗ again if you just look at one project

23:03 ↗ you might you might draw the wrong

23:06 ↗ conclusion and whereas that's always

23:08 ↗ unfortunate but when there's a public

23:10 ↗ benefit that's something good I guess

23:12 ↗ but the comprehensive story is important

23:14 ↗ Thanks

23:17 ↗ councilmember Dee Michelle thank you so

23:20 ↗ I learned a lot from this Jeff it was a

23:23 ↗ really thorough report and I think I'm

23:26 ↗ following along with councilmember

23:28 ↗ winter Stein it seems to me that a

23:31 ↗ number of years ago we had a we had a

23:35 ↗ code that said if you took down a tree

23:37 ↗ in your yard you had to figure out a way

23:39 ↗ to replace it and that apparently it's

23:42 ↗ not the case anymore is there anything

23:44 ↗ like that in policy I would phone a

23:47 ↗ friend services to confirm that but I

23:51 ↗ believe there's still code that is

23:55 ↗ active code down

23:57 ↗ yeah okay so Nevin is making his way

24:07 ↗ good evening Keith Nevin development

24:09 ↗ services so the code right now talks

24:13 ↗ about trees in terms of number of trees

24:16 ↗ you can remove per year with or without

24:20 ↗ a permit and then when properties are

24:23 ↗ redeveloped how much of the tree canopy

24:26 ↗ needs to be preserved as part of that

24:28 ↗ activity so the code that where the

24:32 ↗ council has landed on this previously is

24:34 ↗ not to expect that everybody has to keep

24:36 ↗ every tree in the city for the rest of

24:39 ↗ time it's recognizing there's hazard

24:42 ↗ trees there's all sorts of reasons why

24:45 ↗ trees periodically need to be removed

24:47 ↗ you know the hope is when we redevelop

24:50 ↗ and when things come back in that there

24:52 ↗ are always new opportunities to replant

24:56 ↗ and to densify the canopy and I think

24:58 ↗ that's part of what this study showed so

25:04 ↗ Jeff from my perspective in this edge is

25:06 ↗ quite nicely out of this on page 20 of

25:10 ↗ the report there are some pictures of

25:14 ↗ the urban tree canopy loss in the urban

25:16 ↗ tree canopy gain so what I would hope

25:19 ↗ the city would take as an action item

25:22 ↗ from this is to take a look at

25:25 ↗ particularly the loss because it

25:28 ↗ it's one thing to compare ourselves to

25:29 ↗ other cities it's another thing to

25:32 ↗ compare ourselves to previous versions

25:37 ↗ of ourselves and to take a look at that

25:39 ↗ and say okay for example in the lost

25:42 ↗ scenario was that because of

25:46 ↗ redevelopment and did the what actually

25:49 ↗ happened meet our expectation of what

25:53 ↗ our code said would happen so we're more

25:56 ↗ trees removed where they replanted you

25:59 ↗ know something like that that gives us a

26:01 ↗ sense of are we getting what we expect

26:05 ↗ from code to help our tree canopy or is

26:11 ↗ there an adjustment that we need to make

26:13 ↗ maybe to title 18 or education to land

26:18 ↗ owners or something like that that helps

26:21 ↗ us get the result that we're looking for

26:25 ↗ okay

26:26 ↗ so do we have any other questions or

26:28 ↗ comments before I go to public comment

26:31 ↗ okay so at this time I'm going to ask

26:33 ↗ for public comment we've got an area up

26:36 ↗ there if anybody has a public comment

26:38 ↗ you can stand and go over there I will

26:43 ↗ go right ahead yep

26:51 ↗ yeah and go ahead and state your name

26:53 ↗ and any relationship okay yep good

26:57 ↗ evening my name is Michael osechi

26:58 ↗ I'm the Forest Stewardship programs

27:00 ↗ manager at King Conservation District so

27:04 ↗ yeah I guess for my public comment I

27:05 ↗ just wanted to say that you know we we

27:07 ↗ really are excited about the work that

27:09 ↗ the city of Issaquah has been doing not

27:12 ↗ only with the you know this urban tree

27:14 ↗ canopy assessment but also the green

27:16 ↗ Issaquah partnership which we also

27:18 ↗ helped fund through an MJ grant and then

27:20 ↗ also just this past week we executed a

27:25 ↗ cost share agreement with the Tallis

27:26 ↗ Community Association to implement a

27:29 ↗ Forest Stewardship project on some of

27:30 ↗ their community open spaces that will

27:32 ↗ restore about four acres of forest land

27:36 ↗ the other things I wanted to talk about

27:38 ↗ were that we are gonna be doing a free

27:41 ↗ fourth hour seminar at the Icicle

27:45 ↗ library and this is going to be a free

27:47 ↗ to our sort of community presentation

27:50 ↗ and it's open to anyone WSU extension

27:55 ↗ staff

27:56 ↗ Kevin's Oberst will be talking about

27:57 ↗ forest health issues really helping

28:00 ↗ people understand why we're seeing tree

28:02 ↗ deaths in our region and then one of our

28:05 ↗ staff members Matthew axe who is our

28:07 ↗ wildfire services program coordinator

28:09 ↗ he'll be talking about wildfire on the

28:12 ↗ west side the Issaquah I 90 corridor

28:15 ↗ area specifically in sort of the unique

28:18 ↗ challenges and opportunities it presents

28:20 ↗ and then also be talking about what

28:22 ↗ landowners and communities can do to

28:25 ↗ sort of help prepare for wildfire so

28:30 ↗ yeah that's that's pretty much all I

28:31 ↗ wanted to say and appreciate so that's

28:34 ↗ gonna be December 17th and it will be

28:38 ↗ from 6 to 8 p.m. no registration

28:42 ↗ required and if you go to the WC

28:45 ↗ extension website they'll have details

28:46 ↗ our website and I think it's already up

28:49 ↗ on the library website as well all right

28:52 ↗ thank you excellent thank you and do we

28:55 ↗ have anybody else would like to make a

28:57 ↗ public comment fantastic

29:08 ↗ and my name is Mary Lynch and I recited

29:11 ↗ 216 I know Northwest Oak Crest Drive

29:13 ↗ Issaquah Washington and I want to thank

29:15 ↗ the city for funding this it's something

29:18 ↗ that I've personally been asking for for

29:20 ↗ a number of years because be very honest

29:23 ↗ I've asked for the copy of the 2012

29:25 ↗ document I'd have never received it the

29:27 ↗ only thing I have available is a 2006

29:30 ↗ study so it's really interesting to see

29:32 ↗ that we had two 2012 that being said I

29:35 ↗ haven't really had a chance to dig into

29:38 ↗ it and read through it still have a

29:41 ↗ little bit of concern is and kind of to

29:44 ↗ back up some of the comments from the

29:47 ↗ council is this was done in 2017 we've

29:50 ↗ had quite a little bit of development

29:52 ↗ and trees canopy lost since then with

29:55 ↗ some developments along Newports way

29:57 ↗ those up are on the Providence point

29:59 ↗ along 43rd kill Kerry and other areas

30:02 ↗ where we've had old established bigleaf

30:06 ↗ maples that have gone down just recently

30:08 ↗ along Newport Way with an expansion of

30:12 ↗ weather we also had some canopy trees

30:15 ↗ come down and basically we're told by

30:17 ↗ the city that straight trees are not

30:18 ↗ protected because when those came down

30:21 ↗ we tried to say what's going to be

30:22 ↗ replanted there and we're told that

30:24 ↗ there is no code there is no protection

30:25 ↗ for Street trees so something going

30:28 ↗ forward especially since it's been noted

30:30 ↗ in here how important our street trees

30:32 ↗ are to our canopy is I really think we

30:34 ↗ should have some assessment and I know

30:37 ↗ that it can be public benefit to remove

30:39 ↗ them but if we remove trees just and

30:42 ↗ what I just died this week when I drove

30:45 ↗ down and saw them looking at the

30:46 ↗ Sycamores along Newport Way and luckily

30:50 ↗ they just trimmed them up but I know

30:51 ↗ there is some has been some talk with

30:53 ↗ the skate park that all those have to

30:55 ↗ come down if we widen Newport way there

30:57 ↗ and those trees ought to be replaced and

30:59 ↗ if at all possible saved but replace

31:03 ↗ someplace else the other thing that

31:05 ↗ happens that I notice that happens with

31:07 ↗ code is yes we replace a certain number

31:09 ↗ in

31:10 ↗ in a complex but what like happened with

31:13 ↗ ours many years ago is they require them

31:16 ↗ to plant cedar trees

31:17 ↗ well those cedar trees now are become

31:20 ↗ hazardous trees and there's no real code

31:23 ↗ now our tree code that I worked on and

31:26 ↗ tried to get so it really meant

31:28 ↗ something is really weak and watered

31:30 ↗ down there is really no homeowners don't

31:34 ↗ have to replace the major trees that

31:36 ↗ they cut down so most of those trees

31:38 ↗ that were planted 30 years ago as part

31:41 ↗ of the code are coming down because

31:44 ↗ they're hazardous trees because they're

31:45 ↗ too big and close to the house and don't

31:47 ↗ have to be replaced we also had citizen

31:51 ↗ about three weeks ago cut down two

31:53 ↗ beautiful oak trees because he said they

31:56 ↗ were hazardous trees they weren't they

31:58 ↗ weren't close to his house that they

32:00 ↗ caused anything except leaves but he

32:02 ↗ didn't have to replace and these are

32:03 ↗ again 25 year old beautiful oak trees

32:06 ↗ that were removed and didn't have to be

32:08 ↗ replaced so I think we need to really

32:10 ↗ strike strengthen our codes for tree

32:13 ↗ removal and make sure that we're

32:14 ↗ replacing and replacing wherever when we

32:18 ↗ have mitigation I've seen no documents

32:21 ↗ of when somebody doesn't have to plant

32:23 ↗ trees because of mitigation I Eve

32:25 ↗ evergreen forward where is that tree

32:28 ↗ fund being monitored and where are those

32:30 ↗ number of trees that are being allowed

32:32 ↗ to be cut where are those being replaced

32:34 ↗ and what are they being placed with and

32:36 ↗ although I like street trees I don't

32:39 ↗ think Street trees do the amount of

32:41 ↗ stormwater management that a big leaf

32:43 ↗ maple or tall evergreen does and I

32:48 ↗ really appreciate working with Kent

32:49 ↗ County and I think going forward because

32:50 ↗ of climate change we do need to look at

32:52 ↗ the different types of trees that we use

32:54 ↗ so we need to improve the code for

32:56 ↗ existing residential for new development

32:59 ↗ and for city parks schools which we

33:03 ↗ don't really maintain and require them

33:06 ↗ as well as our public operations that

33:09 ↗ are public right away thank you

33:12 ↗ Thank You Connie

33:31 ↗ Oh Connie Marsh and I agree with Mary

33:38 ↗ I've had many a conversation about all

33:42 ↗ of those things and made little forward

33:45 ↗ progress it just seems like if when

33:48 ↗ you're looking at this city and all

33:50 ↗ those functions there should be a

33:52 ↗ standardized way to go through and

33:54 ↗ ascertain what your tree impacts are

33:56 ↗ going to be and what all departments

33:58 ↗ right away or not

33:59 ↗ are required to do for a replacement and

34:02 ↗ right now there because it's

34:04 ↗ right-of-way they don't have to go

34:05 ↗ through our regular land use code they

34:07 ↗ have their own standards and the parks

34:13 ↗ arcs is fascinating because Parks is

34:16 ↗ madly planting trees in some places and

34:20 ↗ we don't really know where or how or

34:23 ↗ whether they're growing or whether all

34:25 ↗ those Boy Scout projects do what they

34:29 ↗ hope and then they also take down trees

34:33 ↗ and try to maintain steep street trees

34:36 ↗ very complex so my overarching thing

34:42 ↗ that I didn't see in their report is

34:44 ↗ there's trees then there's reasons for

34:46 ↗ trees and then there's the right trees

34:48 ↗ in the right places to do the right

34:50 ↗ things and it's it's you don't just

34:55 ↗ plant a tree because you're planting a

34:58 ↗ tree and that's automatically a good

35:00 ↗ thing when we have parking lots we have

35:04 ↗ security we have concrete shading we

35:07 ↗ have all all types of reasons for those

35:09 ↗ trees and Heights in the central

35:12 ↗ Issaquah plan we don't even have to

35:16 ↗ plant trees in parking lots we can use

35:18 ↗ man-made decorative screening instead of

35:22 ↗ any green pretty much at all and I

35:25 ↗ totally disagree with that because that

35:27 ↗ is just asking for a heat sink because

35:29 ↗ one of the reasons that we have trees in

35:31 ↗ parking lot is to offset this heat that

35:34 ↗ you get in in parking lots and provide

35:37 ↗ shade and respite for people so you so

35:40 ↗ when we plan where we should have our

35:44 ↗ trees we

35:45 ↗ also have to figure out why we should

35:48 ↗ have them there and then we have to

35:50 ↗ figure out how we are going to maintain

35:52 ↗ them and how on private development we

35:54 ↗ are actually going to make sure that

35:56 ↗ they maintain them because you know if

35:58 ↗ we aren't looking and they cut down the

36:00 ↗ trees then they can do more bad things

36:03 ↗ to their property in the future because

36:05 ↗ it's not in as good a condition and if

36:07 ↗ your property is in bad condition then

36:09 ↗ you don't have to improve it because

36:11 ↗ it's in bad condition it sounds crazy

36:13 ↗ but it's true you only have to offset or

36:18 ↗ mitigate your impacts often so if it's

36:21 ↗ bad it can stay bad you just don't have

36:23 ↗ to you can make it worse so we don't

36:26 ↗ have really any review of private

36:29 ↗ plantings that are required after our

36:32 ↗ five-year maintenance and monitoring

36:34 ↗ period and that's a public person

36:36 ↗ complains about it it's it could be gone

36:40 ↗ we don't even know so unless they want

36:42 ↗ something if they want to put in a new

36:44 ↗ irrigation then we can bat them and yes

36:48 ↗ it's about tree canopy when you're

36:52 ↗ thinking about what to do with tree

36:53 ↗ canopy information I think you have to

36:56 ↗ look at it in a more complex way Thanks

37:00 ↗ Thank You Connie and yeah go ahead Steve

37:17 ↗ I steeper living all down for about 12

37:21 ↗ years now so I don't want to repeat the

37:24 ↗ comments everybody sent and just kind of

37:26 ↗ highlighted a couple things one was it

37:30 ↗ talks about street trees and other trees

37:32 ↗ often the trees are replaced or replaced

37:35 ↗ with little scrawny trees that don't

37:36 ↗ seem to me the same definition of type

37:38 ↗ of tree or provide the same benefits of

37:40 ↗ trees so I'd like to see some

37:41 ↗ standardization as far as language or

37:43 ↗ what's required for tree replacement I'd

37:46 ↗ like to see some and looked at of what

37:49 ↗ is why standards are for what percentage

37:53 ↗ of tree canopy were seeking to maintain

37:54 ↗ in as a hoie if it went from 48 to 51

37:57 ↗ percent I've heard of 50 percent is what

37:59 ↗ we wanted to keep it at what are we

38:01 ↗ willing to do to make that happen no

38:02 ↗ it's just some goal statements in there

38:04 ↗ that aren't in place today I'd like to

38:07 ↗ see the and it sounds like there's some

38:09 ↗ I'd like to see the city parks

38:11 ↗ department have more of a standardised

38:13 ↗ role in implement implementing and

38:16 ↗ managing both these city-owned

38:18 ↗ properties and maybe enforcement or

38:20 ↗ mechanisms for non city-owned properties

38:23 ↗ not just partnering but what does that

38:25 ↗ partner look like this or some ways that

38:27 ↗ we can maintain or enhance that

38:29 ↗ environment I'd like to see some

38:31 ↗ standard that says when we talk about

38:33 ↗ tree canopy we're not just saying that

38:35 ↗ looks pretty what we're looking at what

38:36 ↗ the benefits are of having a tree canopy

38:39 ↗ is there water filtration that happens

38:41 ↗ that we lose when we lose a tree canopy

38:44 ↗ I don't think that's been talked about

38:45 ↗ as all we see is that looks pretty and

38:47 ↗ what that benefit is from that isn't

38:49 ↗ measured or seeming to be valued we're

38:52 ↗ just looking at having runoff from less

38:56 ↗ tree canopy more impervious surfaces

39:00 ↗ when you're our waterways that what's

39:02 ↗ that do to the salmon what's that do to

39:04 ↗ the long term environment

39:08 ↗ it seems like as we continue grow we're

39:11 ↗ gonna have this everyone decrease in the

39:15 ↗ amount of tree canopies unless we're

39:16 ↗ actively managing that and I talked

39:18 ↗ about the city right away probably where

39:20 ↗ I think the state should the 15 percent

39:22 ↗ of three canopy exists with planned

39:25 ↗ infrastructure growth what does that we

39:28 ↗ can't be lost look like with all these

39:31 ↗ areas I didn't see numbers I didn't see

39:32 ↗ that reflected in report it seems were

39:35 ↗ destined to shrink over time maybe some

39:39 ↗ quicker than others and I guess the last

39:41 ↗ point as we look at the zoning and

39:44 ↗ coding that's gone into place do want to

39:47 ↗ look at maybe as we've opened up the

39:49 ↗ belly floor do we want to look at some

39:51 ↗ spots that have Creek canopy remaining

39:53 ↗ have them down zoned so we lose less of

39:57 ↗ that tree canopy I don't know that I

39:58 ↗ have the answer I know of its

39:59 ↗ controversial thing that I think that

40:01 ↗ needs to be part of the discussion going

40:02 ↗ forward thank you thank you Steve and do

40:07 ↗ you have anybody else who'd like to make

40:08 ↗ comment on this asking for a second time

40:12 ↗ any comments and a third time okay and I

40:18 ↗ would just like to take the moment say

40:20 ↗ for anybody who's watching at home we

40:22 ↗ know you have opinions

40:23 ↗ we know you might not be able to come

40:25 ↗ down here I'd like to encourage

40:26 ↗ everybody you have questions comments

40:28 ↗ concerns suggestions email City Council

40:32 ↗ at ESSEC wha-wha gov we'd love to hear

40:35 ↗ from you so thank you on that the next

40:38 ↗ item on our agenda is ID 0 for five for

40:42 ↗ the healthy community strategy and this

40:46 ↗ is going to be presented by director

40:48 ↗ Fujimoto our sustainability director

40:50 ↗ David

41:11 ↗ good evening councilmembers again David

41:13 ↗ Fujimoto is sustainability director

41:15 ↗ thank you for having us here tonight I'm

41:18 ↗ also joined here by a couple of folks

41:21 ↗ Monica and new gorilla who's relatively

41:23 ↗ well sort of new to the city I should

41:25 ↗ say she's almost just about a year here

41:27 ↗ she's our human services and social

41:31 ↗ sustainability coordinator she comes to

41:33 ↗ us from a regional nonprofit she was

41:36 ↗ previously the executive director of a

41:38 ↗ behavioral health organization so we're

41:40 ↗ really glad to have her join us here and

41:42 ↗ then I'm all we're also joined by Erika

41:44 ↗ Rhett who's been working who works with

41:46 ↗ Burke consulting has been working with

41:48 ↗ us on this project on some of the

41:49 ↗ technical aspects as well there are a

41:52 ↗ couple of additional team members who

41:54 ↗ are not here I'll talk a little bit more

41:56 ↗ about how we've integrated some of this

41:57 ↗ work it relates to some housing strategy

42:01 ↗ work on strategy 9 specifically Trish

42:04 ↗ Heinonen and our long-range planning

42:05 ↗ group has been part of that as well as

42:07 ↗ Cortney Garcia with the Senior Center in

42:09 ↗ looking at some of the senior needs so

42:12 ↗ there's some additional team members as

42:16 ↗ a little bit of a background or overview

42:18 ↗ for what we'll be covering this evening

42:19 ↗ to talk about the healthy community

42:21 ↗ strategy I'm all going to talk a little

42:23 ↗ bit about some of the history and some

42:25 ↗ of the origins of the work the overall

42:27 ↗ approach to the strategy development

42:29 ↗ some of the initial findings from kind

42:32 ↗ of our deeper dive into some of the data

42:34 ↗ and some conversations with the

42:36 ↗ community and the associated focus areas

42:39 ↗ that we've identified and then we'll

42:40 ↗ talk some more about the next steps

42:45 ↗ first off I also want to note as as

42:49 ↗ we're kind of starting this

42:50 ↗ consideration of the healthy community

42:51 ↗ strategy we've identified a number of

42:53 ↗ policy considerations moving forward and

42:56 ↗ so I just want to highlight those right

42:58 ↗ off the bat we're going to be talking

43:00 ↗ specifically about this first bullet

43:02 ↗ because there's a large quantity of

43:04 ↗ information we really want to kind of

43:05 ↗ focus in on that area we're kind of at a

43:08 ↗ juncture in this project where we're

43:10 ↗ identifying some of those key focus

43:12 ↗ areas and then the next step going

43:13 ↗ forward will be to start to work more

43:16 ↗ actively with some of our community

43:17 ↗ stakeholders to look at strategies

43:19 ↗ designed around those focus areas so

43:21 ↗ this is a good juncture to kind of get

43:23 ↗ you up to speed

43:24 ↗ with project talk about some of the

43:26 ↗ details and some of the findings and get

43:28 ↗ some feedback on those areas as we go

43:31 ↗ forward we'll have more opportunities to

43:33 ↗ talk more about the resources that

43:35 ↗ should be applied to those ways in which

43:38 ↗ we could leverage partnerships ways that

43:40 ↗ the city can have a role either in

43:43 ↗ supporting some of those services or

43:45 ↗ finding other opportunities to deliver

43:47 ↗ those and then because we know that

43:50 ↗ there's a very large number of needs

43:53 ↗ that we also know that prioritization is

43:55 ↗ going to be important we're looking at

43:57 ↗ developing a five-year strategy and so

43:59 ↗ that kind of feedback about what the

44:01 ↗ criteria should be that we apply to the

44:03 ↗ strategies is really important and then

44:05 ↗ also because we want to follow a

44:08 ↗ continuous improvement path those

44:10 ↗ performance measures that will help to

44:11 ↗ guide us in terms of feedback about how

44:13 ↗ we're doing as well as kind of some

44:15 ↗ larger or some broader population level

44:17 ↗ indicators to inform our progress will

44:20 ↗ be some pieces but as I mentioned tight

44:24 ↗ we're gonna be focusing mostly on that

44:25 ↗ first bullet the review and discussion

44:28 ↗ of key focus areas and to provide some

44:34 ↗ background and context for the healthy

44:35 ↗ community strategy the strategy actually

44:38 ↗ has some history with the council goal

44:40 ↗ that dates several years back that was a

44:44 ↗ process that pre-existed or existed

44:48 ↗ prior to that the strategic planning

44:49 ↗ process which has largely been replaced

44:53 ↗ by that approach the the council goal

44:56 ↗ actually led to a kind of a multi-step

44:58 ↗ process beginning with the development

45:00 ↗ of a white paper to help put some shape

45:02 ↗ and form around healthy communities and

45:05 ↗ provide the area of focus for that so

45:08 ↗ that was the building a healthy

45:09 ↗ community white paper which was

45:10 ↗ completed the next step in the process

45:13 ↗ was development of the community needs

45:14 ↗ assessment and that was an opportunity

45:17 ↗ to take a closer look at secondary data

45:19 ↗ some qualitative and quantitative data

45:21 ↗ to help get us a little bit more

45:23 ↗ information grounded in terms of what

45:26 ↗ we're seeing in the community it also

45:27 ↗ had the benefit of providing some

45:29 ↗ foundations for our work with the Human

45:31 ↗ Services Commission and our granting

45:33 ↗ process that came forwards that gave

45:35 ↗ some more foundation to that

45:37 ↗ Commission's work and how they viewed

45:39 ↗ the grants and made the selection

45:40 ↗ process and so that's informed our

45:42 ↗ latest grant cycle which continues which

45:45 ↗ was for 2019 and 2020 and then most

45:49 ↗ recently the healthy community strategy

45:51 ↗ was incorporated into the strategic

45:54 ↗ strategic plan under this social and

45:56 ↗ economic vitality section it's listed as

45:59 ↗ an action under one strategic plan

46:03 ↗ objective which was that services and

46:08 ↗ resources reduce inequities and health

46:10 ↗ and well-being in the community and it

46:12 ↗ spoke about adoption and implementation

46:13 ↗ of a healthy community strategy knowing

46:16 ↗ that this work was underway but we

46:17 ↗ hadn't fully finalized what those

46:19 ↗ actions were so we're in that process of

46:21 ↗ outlining those actions that will give

46:23 ↗ you some further consideration of how

46:24 ↗ this will play out in the future a

46:29 ↗ couple of pieces and important for

46:32 ↗ background the white paper and the

46:35 ↗ community needs assessment spoke about

46:37 ↗ this approach of using a social

46:39 ↗ determinants of health a framework for

46:41 ↗ thinking about healthy communities and

46:44 ↗ really the idea here is that there are a

46:45 ↗ large number of factors which extend

46:47 ↗ beyond medical health and personal

46:50 ↗ choices that really affect the health of

46:52 ↗ a community a lot of these are upstream

46:55 ↗ a lot of them are co-related

46:57 ↗ but there are a variety of things that

46:59 ↗ are really important to the health of

47:01 ↗ the community and so this is a broader

47:03 ↗ view of health it takes into

47:05 ↗ consideration a variety of factors such

47:09 ↗ their social and physical nature such as

47:11 ↗ income and employment education the

47:14 ↗ built in natural environments and the

47:16 ↗ social relationships in the community

47:18 ↗ and then the other framework that we're

47:21 ↗ also looking at with this project is

47:23 ↗ because we're looking at strategies is

47:25 ↗ looking at an outcome based approach one

47:28 ↗ of these is a results based

47:30 ↗ accountability approach there are

47:32 ↗ several others we're kind of using that

47:33 ↗ as a guiding tool for us we're not

47:35 ↗ following it to the strictest sense of

47:36 ↗ the manor but the idea is really that

47:38 ↗ the focus is on outcomes and results

47:41 ↗ that we're desiring to see in the

47:42 ↗ community so as we think about these

47:44 ↗ focus areas and these populations we'll

47:47 ↗ be working to further outline

47:49 ↗ - one of the results that we're hoping

47:50 ↗ to achieve or work what are the changes

47:53 ↗ that we're hoping to see in the

47:53 ↗ community and then we work backwards

47:55 ↗ from those those desired outcomes to

47:58 ↗ develop strategies that will help to

47:59 ↗ move the needle if you will on those

48:01 ↗ different strategies and then we also

48:05 ↗ know that because these strategies will

48:08 ↗ take multiple actors in the community is

48:10 ↗ not just a city effort on its own we do

48:14 ↗ have a robust community of nonprofit

48:16 ↗ organizations in town a large part of

48:18 ↗ this is working collaboratively with

48:21 ↗ those organizations because we know that

48:23 ↗ each of our individual contributions

48:26 ↗ will help them make the change over time

48:27 ↗ so that's a big part of it and then the

48:30 ↗ other part is that it really uses data

48:33 ↗ to inform progress that provides for

48:35 ↗ accountability it's a way for multiple

48:39 ↗ organizations which have common goals to

48:41 ↗ align I'm going to take a look at the

48:43 ↗ data and to use that to inform how we

48:46 ↗ shape the work how do we make changes

48:48 ↗ and how we proceed forward so in that

48:50 ↗ way it also helps to foster

48:52 ↗ collaboration and you'll see that kind

48:54 ↗ of that box on the lower right talks

48:57 ↗ about that that's actually related to

48:59 ↗ some - an approach on data it talks

49:02 ↗ about both quantity and quality of date

49:04 ↗ data and outcomes and results and both

49:07 ↗ the effort and the effect and so we can

49:09 ↗ talk about how much of a thing we

49:11 ↗ deliver how well we did it but

49:13 ↗ ultimately what matters is is anybody

49:15 ↗ ever actually better off and so that's

49:17 ↗ really thinking about the effect of the

49:19 ↗ work that's being done and then as I

49:24 ↗ mentioned before we had a couple of

49:27 ↗ other staff who have been working on

49:28 ↗ this project with us as we started to

49:31 ↗ scope the work that we identified that

49:33 ↗ there was some related work that was

49:34 ↗ planned or underway in the city that was

49:37 ↗ related to the housing strategy 9 as I

49:39 ↗ mentioned that was kind of the strategy

49:41 ↗ that was focused in on the services

49:43 ↗ related to housing so it was a little

49:45 ↗ bit more about thinking about kind of

49:46 ↗ how what are the supportive things that

49:48 ↗ actually help affordable housing or

49:50 ↗ vulnerable populations be successful

49:53 ↗ because we know that just having the

49:54 ↗ housing by itself won't lead to success

49:57 ↗ so it talks about seniors individuals

50:00 ↗ who are experiencing homelessness or

50:02 ↗ housing it's

50:02 ↗ security individuals with disabilities

50:05 ↗ kind of those special populations and so

50:07 ↗ we took a look at that knew that that

50:09 ↗ work was happening had some

50:11 ↗ conversations with our development

50:12 ↗ services department and incorporated

50:14 ↗ that work at the same time the senior

50:17 ↗ city was starting to take over services

50:19 ↗ for the Senior Center and starting to

50:22 ↗ look at how do we best serve our senior

50:25 ↗ population and so there is a grant that

50:29 ↗ the senior center was able to secure I

50:32 ↗ think it's actually coming to Council in

50:33 ↗ the next month but as a part of that

50:36 ↗ there was a senior needs assessment that

50:37 ↗ was being looked at and that pert will

50:39 ↗ help to provide a nice supplement to the

50:42 ↗ community needs assessment and also

50:44 ↗ think about kind of senior services

50:46 ↗ beyond the doors of just the Senior

50:47 ↗ Center but services to seniors overall

50:49 ↗ in the community so this is a better way

50:52 ↗ a way to provide for a more holistic

50:54 ↗ look at those those populations in the

50:57 ↗ community and kind of bring them all

50:59 ↗ together under one overall strategy and

51:04 ↗ then I'm going to turn it over to Monica

51:07 ↗ next to talk a little bit more about

51:09 ↗ kind of the specifics of the approach

51:11 ↗ and how we kind of dove into the details

51:13 ↗ and then also Erica will be going into

51:16 ↗ some of the findings as well and that

51:18 ↗ will we're happy to take questions along

51:20 ↗ the way thank you David

51:23 ↗ I can scroll free if you like so as

51:32 ↗ David mentioned I will provide some

51:34 ↗ additional information regarding the

51:36 ↗ approach and methodology we use for the

51:38 ↗ healthy community strategy we started by

51:41 ↗ building upon the work provided and

51:45 ↗ conducted in the community needs

51:47 ↗ assessment our intent was not to redo

51:50 ↗ the needs assessment but rather to

51:52 ↗ further analyze and provide for a deeper

51:56 ↗ understanding of the gaps identified in

51:58 ↗ the community our work centered around

52:01 ↗ the experiences reported by the

52:03 ↗ community members and in the next few

52:06 ↗ minutes I will also talk a little bit

52:08 ↗ more about our engagement and outreach

52:10 ↗ process

52:14 ↗ so for the community needs assessment

52:17 ↗ based on both the quantitative and

52:19 ↗ qualitative data then during that work

52:22 ↗ the community needs assessment

52:24 ↗ identified four major themes also

52:28 ↗ referred us to needs or gaps in our

52:30 ↗ presentation the first one was

52:32 ↗ disparities by race and ethnicity sex

52:35 ↗ and income next was lack of stable

52:38 ↗ housing barriers to accessing services

52:41 ↗ and resources and behavioral health

52:43 ↗ norms and resources during the next

52:48 ↗ phase of work the themes identified in

52:51 ↗ the community needs assessment were

52:52 ↗ confirmed and then further explored to

52:55 ↗ provide for an in-depth understanding of

52:57 ↗ the gaps we accomplish this by

53:00 ↗ conducting stakeholder interviews

53:02 ↗ community engagements such as focus

53:05 ↗ groups and informational interviews

53:08 ↗ outreach to the community and attending

53:13 ↗ events in the community where we could

53:15 ↗ meet with residents we also gathered

53:19 ↗ demographic demographic and statistical

53:22 ↗ information the quantitative data and

53:24 ↗ then we conducted an inventory of

53:27 ↗ housing and supportive services further

53:33 ↗ stakeholder interviews for this project

53:35 ↗ we conducted interviews with 18

53:39 ↗ organizations that provide support and

53:41 ↗ services to our residents we selected

53:44 ↗ the organizations based on the work they

53:47 ↗ do in the Issaquah community and based

53:50 ↗ on the variety of services and supports

53:52 ↗ they provide we also considered the

53:56 ↗ development of new programs and services

53:59 ↗ since the last round of interviews and

54:02 ↗ we also consider the variety of sectors

54:05 ↗ that would be represented such as the

54:08 ↗ educational system health fire first

54:12 ↗ responders faith communities or

54:14 ↗ nonprofits in addition to the list of

54:17 ↗ organizations that you see on the screen

54:20 ↗ there are also a few other organizations

54:22 ↗ that were not able to participate into

54:26 ↗ inter

54:27 ↗ the interview so it's not a full

54:28 ↗ comprehensive list for the engagement

54:32 ↗ part we participated in a series of

54:39 ↗ community engagements specifically we

54:43 ↗ conducted three focus groups with youth

54:47 ↗ in the community including cultural

54:49 ↗ groups three other focus groups with

54:53 ↗ adults and this one also included a

54:56 ↗ focus group with cultural groups we also

55:00 ↗ engaged with individuals who are

55:01 ↗ homeless

55:02 ↗ we held a focus group at the Senior

55:04 ↗ Center with seniors and we participated

55:09 ↗ and engage with residents at a health

55:10 ↗ fair that was held at the Swedish

55:15 ↗ hospital and in addition we conducted

55:17 ↗ interviews with city staff who from

55:22 ↗ multiple departments at the city who

55:23 ↗ served the community we engaged with

55:28 ↗ over a hundred and twenty residents in

55:31 ↗ this process and then next as a result

55:37 ↗ of the interviews and the engagement

55:38 ↗ efforts the areas of focus were

55:42 ↗ identified and grouped by populations to

55:45 ↗ help distinguish between the specific

55:47 ↗ challenges that each population group is

55:49 ↗ facing in Issaquah for example

55:52 ↗ behavioral health norms are reflected

55:55 ↗ differently for the different age groups

55:58 ↗ what a youth may be facing may be

56:03 ↗ different than what an older adult or

56:06 ↗ aging adult may be facing

56:08 ↗ for example a youth may be dealing with

56:10 ↗ anxiety and peer pressure or educational

56:16 ↗ pressures whereas an aging adult my face

56:19 ↗ isolation so for that reason we decided

56:22 ↗ to group the data that we gathered by

56:27 ↗ the different populations by the

56:29 ↗ different my apologize by the different

56:31 ↗ age groups in addition we also realize

56:34 ↗ that people have multiple needs that are

56:36 ↗ interconnected and therefore taking a

56:39 ↗ more holistic

56:40 ↗ person-centered approach makes more

56:42 ↗ sense and so that was the other reason

56:45 ↗ why we decided to group the data by the

56:51 ↗ different age groups so now I'm gonna

56:56 ↗ let Erica take it from here and provide

57:00 ↗ us with technical data for children and

57:04 ↗ youth adults aging adults and

57:06 ↗ individuals experiencing homelessness

57:07 ↗ thank you can you turn on your mic

57:17 ↗ Thanks

57:20 ↗ better now when we start to look at the

57:23 ↗ focus areas by population group we

57:28 ↗ really the information that I'm about to

57:31 ↗ present on pulls pulls data from both

57:34 ↗ the quantitative results that were

57:37 ↗ presented as part of the community needs

57:40 ↗ assessment in 2017 updated quantitative

57:44 ↗ information that we pulled together

57:46 ↗ related to some of the special housing

57:49 ↗ populations and older adults to

57:53 ↗ supplement that as well as this writ

57:56 ↗ these rich sources of qualitative

57:58 ↗ information that came through the

58:01 ↗ engagements and the interviews that

58:02 ↗ Monica spoke about and so by combining

58:07 ↗ both those quantitative and qualitative

58:09 ↗ sources I think he gives a really rich

58:12 ↗ picture of the types of needs that

58:14 ↗ residents in Issaquah have so when we

58:17 ↗ start to think about children and youth

58:19 ↗ we know that youth in the community are

58:23 ↗ challenging a whole or are facing a

58:27 ↗ whole host of challenges one of the

58:31 ↗ things that was reported to us has to do

58:34 ↗ with bullying bullying generally occurs

58:39 ↗ we don't have a specific statistic to

58:41 ↗ Issaquah but state rates of bullying and

58:44 ↗ national rates of bullying tend to hover

58:46 ↗ around 20% in interviews and discussions

58:51 ↗ with youth

58:52 ↗ that number wasn't specifically

58:54 ↗ confirmed but the extent of the bullying

58:57 ↗ that youth face was was confirmed

59:01 ↗ particularly issues bullying occurs due

59:05 ↗ to appearance issues of culture race and

59:08 ↗ ethnicity gender and gender identity

59:12 ↗ sexual identity disability and religion

59:17 ↗ another another challenge that youth

59:21 ↗ face is really has to do with the amount

59:24 ↗ of pressure that they feel they feel

59:27 ↗ pressure to keep up academically they

59:30 ↗ tend to feel pressure to please their

59:33 ↗ parents and families and also pressures

59:36 ↗ to keep up with other youth or their

59:38 ↗ perception of how well other youth are

59:42 ↗ doing and so what we see is some some

59:50 ↗ issues with anxiety depression we know

59:53 ↗ that according to the healthy youth

59:55 ↗ survey which is done every two years by

59:58 ↗ the state of Washington that 17% of

1:00:02 ↗ Issaquah 12th graders have considered

1:00:05 ↗ suicide at what some point which is a

1:00:08 ↗ fairly alarming statistic I think we

1:00:13 ↗ also know that drug and alcohol use and

1:00:18 ↗ and the use of e-cigarettes is also an

1:00:23 ↗ important challenge for youth in the

1:00:27 ↗ statistics from the healthy youth survey

1:00:29 ↗ 37 percent of 12th graders have used

1:00:33 ↗ alcohol in the last 30 days which is

1:00:35 ↗ considered to be current or active use

1:00:38 ↗ of alcohol there's also a fairly high

1:00:41 ↗ number of 12th graders who've engaged in

1:00:46 ↗ binge drinking drug use was about the

1:00:51 ↗ the percentage of drug use was about

1:00:54 ↗ average with numbers around the state or

1:00:58 ↗ slightly lower but

1:01:01 ↗ there's in when we talked with you they

1:01:04 ↗ acknowledged that drug use is prevalent

1:01:07 ↗ in the community and there were some

1:01:10 ↗ indications that it is likely to be

1:01:12 ↗ underreported the use of vape pens is

1:01:17 ↗ increasing by youth all across the

1:01:20 ↗ country

1:01:20 ↗ about 22 percent of 12th graders are

1:01:25 ↗ current users of vape pens which means

1:01:28 ↗ they according to the healthy youth

1:01:30 ↗ survey they've used a vape pen in the

1:01:32 ↗ last 30 days when we take the number of

1:01:37 ↗ challenges that youth face and we talked

1:01:40 ↗ with people in the community about the

1:01:43 ↗ types of resources that are available

1:01:46 ↗ what we ran up against in almost every

1:01:49 ↗ case is that the demand for assistance

1:01:54 ↗ almost always exceeds the resources that

1:01:57 ↗ are available in the community

1:02:04 ↗ adults have a variety of needs and it's

1:02:09 ↗ really interesting in the the needs that

1:02:14 ↗ we're going to talk about for adults

1:02:15 ↗ including housing insecurity and housing

1:02:19 ↗ affordability many of these needs affect

1:02:24 ↗ all people in Issaquah so when we start

1:02:27 ↗ thinking about children and youth what

1:02:30 ↗ we know is that youth tend to have

1:02:34 ↗ higher rates of mental health challenges

1:02:38 ↗ in areas where housing is not as

1:02:41 ↗ affordable for example and so a lot of

1:02:45 ↗ the needs and gaps that we talk about

1:02:47 ↗ for adults have very specific

1:02:50 ↗ consequences for people of all age

1:02:52 ↗ groups but in the context of talking

1:02:55 ↗ about housing insecurity for adults we

1:02:59 ↗ know that adults are cost burdened by

1:03:04 ↗ households are cost burdened across

1:03:07 ↗ incomes the average the median income

1:03:11 ↗ needed to buy a a median priced home is

1:03:17 ↗ a hundred and ninety seven thousand

1:03:19 ↗ dollars in Issaquah but the median

1:03:21 ↗ household income is about a hundred

1:03:23 ↗ thousand dollars so even for

1:03:27 ↗ middle-of-the-road median income

1:03:30 ↗ families the challenge of being able to

1:03:33 ↗ find housing that they can afford is is

1:03:38 ↗ extremely difficult when we look at all

1:03:42 ↗ households about a third of all

1:03:45 ↗ households in Issaquah have cost burden

1:03:48 ↗ cost burden is defined by HUD as

1:03:51 ↗ households that spend 30 percent of

1:03:54 ↗ their income or more on housing expenses

1:03:58 ↗ it's considered extremely cost burdened

1:04:01 ↗ for households that spend 50 percent and

1:04:05 ↗ so when we take a look at the variety of

1:04:09 ↗ income levels clearly for the the lower

1:04:14 ↗ the income the more likely a household

1:04:17 ↗ is to be cost burdened which is shown on

1:04:19 ↗ the bar graphs as the the light blue is

1:04:22 ↗ the regular cost button and the dark

1:04:26 ↗ blue is the extremely cost burdened so

1:04:31 ↗ you would expect that the lower the

1:04:33 ↗ incomes more likely to be cost burdened

1:04:35 ↗ but it is important to see even for

1:04:37 ↗ moderate income we have more than we

1:04:41 ↗ have 38 percent cost burdened at those

1:04:44 ↗ median income what happens when

1:04:48 ↗ households are cost burdened they tend

1:04:52 ↗ to make trade-offs they spend they don't

1:04:55 ↗ have money to spend for childcare or

1:04:58 ↗ which means that children are more

1:05:00 ↗ likely to be taking care of other

1:05:02 ↗ children or adults have to make

1:05:03 ↗ trade-offs to make the childcare work

1:05:05 ↗ they're less likely to spend money on

1:05:08 ↗ medical care or to get needed medical

1:05:11 ↗ treatments there may be less money for

1:05:13 ↗ healthy food or investments in

1:05:16 ↗ transportation or to be able to pay for

1:05:19 ↗ transportation or utilities so

1:05:21 ↗ households are

1:05:23 ↗ at all levels are making these these

1:05:27 ↗ trade-offs when we look at the housing

1:05:30 ↗ options that are available for adults in

1:05:34 ↗ Issaquah or for families in Issaquah a

1:05:37 ↗ couple of interesting points of

1:05:39 ↗ information first of all it's a coil has

1:05:42 ↗ a match mismatch between housing stock

1:05:44 ↗ and household size if you take a look at

1:05:47 ↗ the number of one-person households in

1:05:49 ↗ Issaquah it's 30 percent but they're

1:05:52 ↗ only 13 percent of the housing stock is

1:05:55 ↗ available in studio in 1-bedroom units

1:05:57 ↗ now we know that not everybody who has a

1:06:00 ↗ 1 one-person household wants to live in

1:06:03 ↗ a one-bedroom unit but what happens when

1:06:06 ↗ the when the unit sizes and the

1:06:09 ↗ households don't have a closer match is

1:06:11 ↗ that there's a lot of pressure on those

1:06:15 ↗ few units that are one-bedroom for maybe

1:06:18 ↗ older people who are looking to downsize

1:06:20 ↗ that there aren't smaller units

1:06:23 ↗ available and that increases the

1:06:25 ↗ pressure and the and creates affordable

1:06:27 ↗ affordability issues for larger sized

1:06:31 ↗ units as well and so the there's this

1:06:36 ↗ having a mismatch between the housing

1:06:38 ↗ stock in the housing size does freeze a

1:06:41 ↗ fair amount of housing from being able

1:06:43 ↗ to go through a cycle of exchange the

1:06:48 ↗ other thing that we know about housing

1:06:49 ↗ options is that there's very few rentals

1:06:52 ↗ available that accommodate people in

1:06:55 ↗ wheelchairs one one thing that I forgot

1:07:00 ↗ to mention in housing housing security

1:07:03 ↗ and insecurity is that according to

1:07:07 ↗ rental statistics someone making eighty

1:07:12 ↗ percent of the median income in Issaquah

1:07:15 ↗ is not able to afford a two-bedroom

1:07:18 ↗ apartment here and so when we talk about

1:07:23 ↗ housing affordability there's both a gap

1:07:26 ↗ in in the ability to rent appropriate

1:07:30 ↗ units of affordable units as well as I'm

1:07:33 ↗ buying them

1:07:35 ↗ child care came up repeatedly in our

1:07:40 ↗ discussions with people about a need in

1:07:43 ↗ the community the interesting thing is

1:07:46 ↗ that survey statistics American

1:07:51 ↗ Community Survey Statistics find that

1:07:53 ↗ households that that a fair majority of

1:07:59 ↗ households with children need child care

1:08:01 ↗ in Issaquah for households that have

1:08:05 ↗ children under the ages six and under

1:08:10 ↗ 50% of those households have all of the

1:08:13 ↗ adults in the household working which

1:08:16 ↗ means that they need childcare full-day

1:08:20 ↗ childcare in order to support they're

1:08:24 ↗ very likely to need full-day childcare

1:08:25 ↗ for households in which children are

1:08:29 ↗ ages seven or older - in two-thirds of

1:08:33 ↗ the households all of the adults in the

1:08:36 ↗ household work so that speaks to the

1:08:39 ↗ need for the availability of programs

1:08:42 ↗ that have care around school hours but a

1:08:47 ↗ vast majority of households family

1:08:49 ↗ households in Issaquah do need childcare

1:08:51 ↗ of some sort income expenditures on on

1:08:55 ↗ childcare are pretty interesting for

1:08:58 ↗ infant care which is that six and under

1:09:00 ↗ care it's about it varies because it

1:09:07 ↗ varies because the the range of infant

1:09:11 ↗ care is I believe about thirteen to

1:09:16 ↗ seventeen thousand dollars thirteen to

1:09:19 ↗ sixteen thousand dollars per year is the

1:09:22 ↗ average cost of infant care in this

1:09:25 ↗ region outside of the City of Seattle

1:09:27 ↗ and when we look at income expenditures

1:09:31 ↗ on infant care for a family that has to

1:09:35 ↗ a two-parent household with one infant

1:09:40 ↗ the income expenditure tends to be about

1:09:43 ↗ fifteen percent of their household

1:09:47 ↗ come on child care for a single parent

1:09:50 ↗ with an infant that tends to be about

1:09:54 ↗ 40% of their household income in order

1:09:57 ↗ to have child care we also know that

1:10:01 ↗ with child care there's a great need

1:10:05 ↗ there's there's a lot of options for

1:10:08 ↗ child care in Issaquah but those options

1:10:11 ↗ tend not to have there's not a lot of

1:10:14 ↗ affordable options for example for

1:10:17 ↗ someone who receives a childcare subsidy

1:10:20 ↗ from the state there's only one place in

1:10:23 ↗ Issaquah that accepts that subsidy which

1:10:25 ↗ is the Bright Horizons at the YWCA

1:10:27 ↗ family village and they only accept the

1:10:30 ↗ subsidy for residents of the YWCA family

1:10:34 ↗ village so if you receive a subsidy and

1:10:38 ↗ you don't live in the YWCA family

1:10:40 ↗ village the closest place you can use

1:10:42 ↗ your subsidy is Redmond we also know

1:10:46 ↗ that for the childcare program that's

1:10:51 ↗ run before and after school care with

1:10:54 ↗ the Issaquah School District the

1:10:56 ↗ elementary school program is completely

1:10:59 ↗ full and runs quite an extensive waiting

1:11:03 ↗ list at every school so it's very

1:11:07 ↗ difficult to find childcare that's

1:11:10 ↗ affordable in Issaquah for and when you

1:11:14 ↗ compare that with the number of families

1:11:16 ↗ who may be struggling to afford the cost

1:11:18 ↗ of housing they have less money to spend

1:11:20 ↗ on childcare and there's not that

1:11:23 ↗ available in the community we also heard

1:11:25 ↗ from immigrant communities that child

1:11:28 ↗ care is really important to them

1:11:32 ↗ establishing in the community oftentimes

1:11:36 ↗ when immigrant women will come with a

1:11:39 ↗ husband who may be employed in the

1:11:41 ↗ workforce their ability to have

1:11:43 ↗ childcare on an as-needed or a drop-in

1:11:47 ↗ basis or even a semi-regular basis

1:11:50 ↗ without that childcare support in the

1:11:54 ↗ community

1:11:54 ↗ it affects their ability to learn

1:11:56 ↗ English to navigate the variety of

1:11:59 ↗ that they need to navigate to keep their

1:12:01 ↗ families healthy and to integrate into

1:12:04 ↗ life in the US so speaking of welcoming

1:12:10 ↗ and culturally supportive services about

1:12:14 ↗ one in four people in Issaquah

1:12:16 ↗ foreign-born and about fifth of the

1:12:20 ↗ households in in in Issaquah speak a

1:12:23 ↗ language other than English what we

1:12:27 ↗ found is that in terms of welcoming

1:12:30 ↗ culturally supportive services that

1:12:34 ↗ there's a number of concerns that people

1:12:38 ↗ have that that tend to be of different

1:12:42 ↗ cultural backgrounds now it's very

1:12:45 ↗ interesting because in some of the

1:12:47 ↗ engagement that we did people both

1:12:50 ↗ adults and youth felt that Issaquah was

1:12:53 ↗ an extremely welcoming community and

1:12:55 ↗ valued the growing diversity of the

1:12:57 ↗ community and I think that for I think

1:13:03 ↗ that there's there's there's a lot of

1:13:06 ↗ truth and there's some there's some

1:13:08 ↗ basis for that but for people who are

1:13:11 ↗ from different cultures who are trying

1:13:14 ↗ to live their day-to-day life they may

1:13:16 ↗ have experiences different from that

1:13:18 ↗ that other people don't see because they

1:13:21 ↗ don't walk in their shoes every day

1:13:23 ↗ there was a lot of concern from parents

1:13:27 ↗ and adults about racial and ethnic

1:13:29 ↗ bullying of their children in schools

1:13:32 ↗ that as I mentioned in youth the youth

1:13:36 ↗ that was also mentioned by youth

1:13:37 ↗ themselves we also know that from city's

1:13:43 ↗ survey that people of color tend to feel

1:13:45 ↗ less comfortable and safe in their

1:13:47 ↗ community and in their neighborhoods

1:13:51 ↗ also when we talked with people these

1:13:54 ↗ types of language and cultural barriers

1:13:56 ↗ that they experience are very very

1:13:59 ↗ isolating so whether it's the it's the

1:14:04 ↗ mom who's home taking care of children

1:14:07 ↗ and can't get to the the ESL class

1:14:12 ↗ or sometimes it's it's the older adult

1:14:17 ↗ who doesn't who doesn't feel comfortable

1:14:21 ↗ joining in programs that are that are in

1:14:26 ↗ English because they don't feel their

1:14:27 ↗ English is very strong there's a variety

1:14:30 ↗ of language and cultural barriers also

1:14:34 ↗ sometimes some of those cultural

1:14:36 ↗ barriers aren't limited just to people

1:14:39 ↗ who are amongst the foreign-born

1:14:40 ↗ population people of people who aren't

1:14:47 ↗ from other countries but still

1:14:49 ↗ ethnically ethnically diverse in the

1:14:53 ↗ community have reported that they have a

1:14:56 ↗ really difficult time finding an

1:14:58 ↗ ethnically and culturally appropriate

1:15:00 ↗ providers and the way that that was

1:15:03 ↗ explained to me is that if if you go in

1:15:08 ↗ and you have a serious medical concern

1:15:12 ↗ or a mental health issue it's really

1:15:17 ↗ really important to know that the person

1:15:19 ↗ who's providing service can understand

1:15:22 ↗ where you're coming from and for some

1:15:25 ↗ people of color that means having

1:15:27 ↗ another person of color available that

1:15:31 ↗ they feel like they can relate to so

1:15:34 ↗ these are some of the issues that in

1:15:37 ↗ terms of welcoming culturally supportive

1:15:39 ↗ services mental wellness is a category

1:15:47 ↗ when we take a look at some of the

1:15:49 ↗ statistical information

1:15:51 ↗ it's a qua is not Issaquah is doing

1:15:55 ↗ about average in terms of mental

1:15:58 ↗ wellness if we're just looking at

1:16:02 ↗ statistics mental wellness for adults

1:16:05 ↗ but what we see is reports that this is

1:16:09 ↗ a pretty stressed out community when we

1:16:13 ↗ look at symptoms of people feeling

1:16:15 ↗ stressed and having challenges to mental

1:16:19 ↗ illness wellness it looks like your

1:16:22 ↗ ability anxiousness fatigue

1:16:25 ↗ sadness and low-energy and over and over

1:16:29 ↗ again when we talked both with staff and

1:16:34 ↗ businesses and people in the community

1:16:38 ↗ they say that there's evidence of stress

1:16:41 ↗ in the community and it looks like these

1:16:44 ↗ things it shows up in short behavior

1:16:48 ↗ people acting on edge with service

1:16:51 ↗ people who are providing service in the

1:16:53 ↗ community sometimes it can manifest as

1:16:57 ↗ things like domestic violence substance

1:16:58 ↗ abuse and it puts a lot of pressure on

1:17:02 ↗ the court system on the police on any

1:17:05 ↗ places where people are providing some

1:17:08 ↗ sort of service to the community in

1:17:11 ↗ terms of behavioral health gaps there's

1:17:14 ↗ few providers that are accepting public

1:17:16 ↗ insurance so for those for providers who

1:17:21 ↗ are providing behavioral health most

1:17:25 ↗ people are going to have to have some

1:17:27 ↗ sort of a private insurance to get

1:17:29 ↗ service in this community again there's

1:17:32 ↗ a gap in ethnic providers for culturally

1:17:35 ↗ supportive care and we also know that

1:17:38 ↗ there's no low-cost drug and alcohol

1:17:41 ↗ treatment in the community in the

1:17:45 ↗ community so people experiencing

1:17:51 ↗ homelessness so when we try and

1:17:55 ↗ understand homelessness it's it's a

1:17:58 ↗ pretty complicated topic actually the

1:18:01 ↗ Department of Commerce has been looking

1:18:03 ↗ at some of the origins of homelessness

1:18:06 ↗ what they found is that one of the the

1:18:10 ↗ biggest contributing factor to the

1:18:12 ↗ increase in homelessness that's happened

1:18:15 ↗ over the past few years has been the

1:18:19 ↗ combination of rising rents and limited

1:18:21 ↗ housing supply so there's a number of

1:18:25 ↗ factors that contribute to homelessness

1:18:27 ↗ which include mental illness substance

1:18:32 ↗ substance use and addiction gender

1:18:35 ↗ identity

1:18:37 ↗ there's a variety of factors that

1:18:39 ↗ contribute that you find in the end

1:18:43 ↗ people experiencing homelessness that

1:18:46 ↗ contribute to to homelessness

1:18:50 ↗ essentially but even accounting for all

1:18:53 ↗ of those things the Commerce the

1:18:56 ↗ Commerce evidence is pretty clear that

1:18:58 ↗ the dramatic increase is related to

1:19:02 ↗ rising rents we know that in the

1:19:05 ↗ point-in-time count this year there were

1:19:07 ↗ over 900 individuals in East King County

1:19:11 ↗ experiencing homelessness there's over a

1:19:14 ↗ hundred and seventy children receiving

1:19:17 ↗ services under McKinney Vento Act in the

1:19:20 ↗ school district this year and what we

1:19:23 ↗ hear from law enforcement and the legal

1:19:25 ↗ service and the legal system is that

1:19:28 ↗ they're dealing with issues of

1:19:30 ↗ homelessness daily a lot of the work

1:19:34 ↗ that or a lot of the people who are

1:19:36 ↗ coming through those systems are the the

1:19:41 ↗ crimes and the issues that are that are

1:19:44 ↗ bringing them into that system tend to

1:19:47 ↗ be related to their state of

1:19:48 ↗ homelessness and and less to what you

1:19:53 ↗ would consider purely criminal activity

1:19:57 ↗ we also heard a lot of interesting

1:20:00 ↗ information about how homeless

1:20:03 ↗ encampments in and around Sukhois are

1:20:06 ↗ creating a number of public health and

1:20:09 ↗ environmental health hazards the cleanup

1:20:12 ↗ measures related to homeless encampments

1:20:16 ↗ when they need to be cleaned up

1:20:18 ↗ they're extremely extremely dangerous

1:20:21 ↗ situations and what we heard over and

1:20:25 ↗ over again is that people who are

1:20:27 ↗ working in businesses and staff of

1:20:29 ↗ public facilities they don't feel that

1:20:32 ↗ they have the training or resources to

1:20:34 ↗ help they feel that there's more and

1:20:36 ↗ more people who have no place to go in

1:20:39 ↗ the community during the day in

1:20:41 ↗ particular and

1:20:42 ↗ so they show up at the Senior Center the

1:20:46 ↗ Community Center the pool the library

1:20:49 ↗ they show up in businesses around the

1:20:52 ↗ community and the staff who are there do

1:20:56 ↗ not have the ability to provide them

1:20:58 ↗ with training and resources and so when

1:21:05 ↗ we are thinking about homelessness

1:21:07 ↗ there's really these three different

1:21:09 ↗ areas there's outreach to individuals

1:21:14 ↗ who are already homeless

1:21:16 ↗ there's prevention of homelessness for

1:21:18 ↗ people who are on the edge and then

1:21:21 ↗ there's for people who are transitioning

1:21:23 ↗ out of homelessness gaps and programs

1:21:27 ↗ for self-sufficiency for outreach

1:21:30 ↗ Issaquah has a variety of agencies doing

1:21:33 ↗ outreach none of them specify it are

1:21:36 ↗ specifically located in Issaquah they're

1:21:39 ↗ part of a much larger much larger

1:21:43 ↗ service area so sometimes they can only

1:21:46 ↗ get to Issaquah once every six weeks

1:21:48 ↗ frequent contact is expecially important

1:21:52 ↗ for building trust with individuals

1:21:54 ↗ experiencing homelessness in order to

1:21:57 ↗ try and get them into programs and

1:22:00 ↗ resources there's a variety of reasons

1:22:02 ↗ why people experiencing homelessness

1:22:04 ↗ don't necessarily trust in the system so

1:22:08 ↗ having regular contact with outreach

1:22:11 ↗ workers is really important to that we

1:22:14 ↗ know that outreach professionals are

1:22:17 ↗ needed in in to be working in the

1:22:20 ↗ community on a more frequent basis in

1:22:22 ↗ terms of prevention there's a number of

1:22:26 ↗ programs of the that are around the city

1:22:29 ↗ there's the community meals program

1:22:31 ↗ Issaquah food and clothing bank has a

1:22:34 ↗ number of programs people who are on the

1:22:38 ↗ bubble and who are experiencing

1:22:39 ↗ homelessness use those programs all of

1:22:42 ↗ the time and those can be some stopgap

1:22:46 ↗ measures but oftentimes the demand

1:22:49 ↗ exceeds the capacity for local resources

1:22:52 ↗ in

1:22:53 ↗ some things like assistance with utility

1:22:55 ↗ bills that can only be offered to people

1:22:59 ↗ who need it a couple of times a year in

1:23:02 ↗ order to spread the resource to all of

1:23:05 ↗ the people who need it there's also

1:23:07 ↗ people who aren't really aware of the

1:23:10 ↗ services that exist in the community and

1:23:12 ↗ again prevention is really tied to the

1:23:16 ↗ housing affordability issue in terms of

1:23:20 ↗ self-sufficiency for someone who's

1:23:22 ↗ living in the community and

1:23:24 ↗ transitioning out of homelessness

1:23:25 ↗ they're going to have a difficult time

1:23:28 ↗ getting the support they need there's

1:23:30 ↗ not education or employment programs in

1:23:32 ↗ the community the lack of substance

1:23:35 ↗ abuse treatment options can also be

1:23:38 ↗ limiting as well as transportation

1:23:40 ↗ barriers if you live here and you're

1:23:43 ↗ trying to get to Bellevue or Seattle or

1:23:46 ↗ other places where there's services that

1:23:48 ↗ can be extremely difficult in terms of

1:23:52 ↗ aging adults again we find the issue of

1:23:56 ↗ housing older adults are are very cost

1:24:03 ↗ burdened in this community there's about

1:24:06 ↗ let's see I think there's 2800 older no

1:24:13 ↗ I

1:24:14 ↗ there's 7800 residents ages 55 and older

1:24:19 ↗ and and of the number of households

1:24:25 ↗ about 1,600 of those households are

1:24:30 ↗ facing a cost burden you're more likely

1:24:32 ↗ to face a cost burden if you're an older

1:24:35 ↗ adult living alone and you're more

1:24:38 ↗ likely to face a cost burden as you age

1:24:41 ↗ so when we look at the median income by

1:24:43 ↗ age cohort we find that adults younger

1:24:48 ↗ older adults in the 55 to 64 category

1:24:53 ↗ they tend to be still in the working

1:24:57 ↗ world and so being kind of more toward

1:25:01 ↗ the their

1:25:02 ↗ maximum earning potential in their

1:25:04 ↗ careers it's not surprising that their

1:25:07 ↗ household income is higher that tends to

1:25:10 ↗ be higher than average for the age

1:25:14 ↗ cohort of 65 to 74 people are entering

1:25:18 ↗ retirement time and their household

1:25:21 ↗ income tends to be about the average but

1:25:25 ↗ as people age and they're 75 or older we

1:25:29 ↗ see that those household incomes start

1:25:31 ↗ to draw there's a variety of reasons for

1:25:35 ↗ that but for but but you type you start

1:25:43 ↗ to see some issues with housing

1:25:47 ↗ affordability but let me just take I'm

1:25:50 ↗ going to go back so some other issues

1:25:55 ↗ with housing is the availability of

1:25:57 ↗ housing that mismatch of housing that I

1:25:59 ↗ spoke to before can affect the ability

1:26:02 ↗ of older adults to transition into

1:26:05 ↗ smaller housing when they need to

1:26:07 ↗ downsize that may be cost affordable

1:26:09 ↗ cost efficient for them we also know

1:26:12 ↗ that as adults start to need more

1:26:17 ↗ service and assistance with daily living

1:26:19 ↗ the options for adults who need that

1:26:23 ↗ type of assistance tends to be pretty

1:26:25 ↗ limited

1:26:26 ↗ there's Eastside friends of seniors has

1:26:29 ↗ a program that helps people with a few

1:26:31 ↗ transportation and some daily living

1:26:33 ↗ things who are living independently in

1:26:36 ↗ their homes but once people aren't able

1:26:38 ↗ to live independently there's very few

1:26:43 ↗ affordable affordable housing that has a

1:26:49 ↗ service component that goes with it in

1:26:53 ↗ terms of transportation 16 percent of

1:26:57 ↗ older adult households don't have access

1:26:59 ↗ to a car because of because of the

1:27:02 ↗ suburban nature of development in

1:27:04 ↗ Issaquah it tends to be more auto

1:27:08 ↗ dependent what that means for older

1:27:12 ↗ adults is that as long as they're able

1:27:14 ↗ to keep a driver's license

1:27:16 ↗ or afford to have a car they can they

1:27:20 ↗ can get around okay we heard that from

1:27:23 ↗ focus group participants at the Senior

1:27:25 ↗ Center for sure but as people lose their

1:27:29 ↗ ability to drive they become more and

1:27:31 ↗ more socially isolated the transit

1:27:35 ↗ system in Issaquah is highly focused

1:27:38 ↗ around moving people on commute patterns

1:27:42 ↗ so it's going to go to parts of Seattle

1:27:44 ↗ it's gonna go to Bellevue it's gonna go

1:27:47 ↗ to red Redmond over Lake but there's

1:27:51 ↗ really one bus that's moving that's

1:27:53 ↗ circulating through the community for

1:27:56 ↗ older adults who aren't able to drive a

1:27:59 ↗ car that lasts mild transportation of

1:28:02 ↗ getting from their home to the bus stop

1:28:05 ↗ or back can be extremely challenging

1:28:08 ↗ especially if they have to carry any

1:28:10 ↗ kind of a bag or a parcel with them and

1:28:14 ↗ the number of programs there are a

1:28:16 ↗ variety of programs but they all have

1:28:19 ↗ pretty special qualifications so there's

1:28:21 ↗ access for people who qualify for

1:28:24 ↗ paratransit services there's a service

1:28:27 ↗ that brings people to Medicaid medical

1:28:30 ↗ appointments so there's a variety of

1:28:33 ↗ services but not not all of them provide

1:28:37 ↗ a full coverage for older adults in

1:28:39 ↗ terms of wellness we know there's gaps

1:28:42 ↗ in preventative care and things like

1:28:45 ↗ mammograms for for women in in

1:28:50 ↗ preventive in vaccinations for

1:28:53 ↗ preventative illness we also know that

1:28:57 ↗ older adults report needing behavioral

1:29:00 ↗ health support there's a variety of

1:29:03 ↗ issues related to grief and loss that

1:29:07 ↗ happen as adults age either as people's

1:29:12 ↗ own capacities start to dwindle and they

1:29:15 ↗ experience grief and loss over that

1:29:17 ↗ sometimes it's the loss of friends loved

1:29:20 ↗ ones or a spouse but those those issues

1:29:24 ↗ need significant behavioral health

1:29:26 ↗ support older adults also

1:29:30 ↗ sometimes this may be the first time

1:29:32 ↗ that they really need to rely on

1:29:34 ↗ community resources they may not know

1:29:36 ↗ what those are and with a variety of

1:29:40 ↗ issues that they may be managing they

1:29:42 ↗ need some sort of assistance in managing

1:29:44 ↗ a continuity of care and understanding

1:29:47 ↗ what resources are available to them for

1:29:50 ↗ people who don't speak English which is

1:29:53 ↗ about 18 percent of older adults in the

1:29:55 ↗ community there's a number of barriers

1:29:57 ↗ cultural barriers to accepting care it

1:30:00 ↗ also should be noted noted that people

1:30:03 ↗ stress that the cost of health care and

1:30:05 ↗ health insurance was extremely stressful

1:30:08 ↗ to them and one of those one of those

1:30:11 ↗ factors that influences their financial

1:30:15 ↗ stability social isolation is the real

1:30:19 ↗ the more we learn about social isolation

1:30:22 ↗ we realize that it is the biggest public

1:30:26 ↗ health issue for older adults not just

1:30:28 ↗ in Issaquah but across the country

1:30:31 ↗ social isolation statistically increases

1:30:36 ↗ an older adults chance of death as much

1:30:39 ↗ as someone who smokes who regularly

1:30:42 ↗ smokes cigarettes that's how dangerous

1:30:45 ↗ it is for people's physical health you

1:30:49 ↗ see poor physical outcomes in all kinds

1:30:52 ↗ of things like stroke and cardiovascular

1:30:56 ↗ disease social isolation tends to be

1:31:03 ↗ tends to be when people are tends to

1:31:06 ↗ happen when people start to have

1:31:08 ↗ cognitive impairments they start to

1:31:10 ↗ realize I'm not sure if I can if I leave

1:31:13 ↗ the house if I'll be able to remember to

1:31:15 ↗ come back or they feel embarrassed about

1:31:17 ↗ memory loss they'll tend to isolate

1:31:20 ↗ themselves grease and grief and loss as

1:31:23 ↗ well disability or changes in in

1:31:26 ↗ physical needs lack of transportation

1:31:30 ↗ and also English proficiency keeps

1:31:33 ↗ people socially isolated

1:31:37 ↗ you can keep that there so I'll just

1:31:40 ↗ jump back in and say that that was a ton

1:31:43 ↗ of information so we fully recognized

1:31:46 ↗ that and also the I just want to make

1:31:49 ↗ note that there this I think what Erika

1:31:52 ↗ was sharing was a lot about the needs

1:31:54 ↗ that were identified and what was heard

1:31:55 ↗ from the community but there is also a

1:31:57 ↗ lot of really good things are going on

1:31:59 ↗ the community that by many accounts the

1:32:01 ↗ health of individuals in Issaquah is

1:32:04 ↗ quite good we know that from information

1:32:06 ↗ from our Department of Health we have a

1:32:08 ↗ robust nonprofit network here in town

1:32:11 ↗ and so we have and we have a very good

1:32:14 ↗ school district as well so there are a

1:32:16 ↗ number of things to work from kind of

1:32:17 ↗ working from an asset based strength

1:32:19 ↗ based approach the point here was to

1:32:21 ↗ highlight some of the things that we had

1:32:22 ↗ heard from the community and some of the

1:32:24 ↗ gaps and needs so that we could be more

1:32:26 ↗ pointed in terms of our strategies going

1:32:28 ↗ forward so I just want to provide that

1:32:29 ↗ context this page shows a quick kind of

1:32:33 ↗ summary of some of those key points for

1:32:36 ↗ each of those populations that we had

1:32:38 ↗ spoken about and then if we go to the

1:32:40 ↗ next slide the in terms of where we're

1:32:44 ↗ going to give you a sense of the

1:32:45 ↗ strategy conversation as I mentioned

1:32:48 ↗ before those will start to provide a

1:32:50 ↗ foundation for our work with community

1:32:52 ↗ stakeholders we're envisioning having

1:32:55 ↗ some workshops around those in December

1:32:57 ↗ and probably into January in those areas

1:33:00 ↗ we have been working with our Human

1:33:03 ↗ Services and planning policy commission

1:33:05 ↗ and formed a joint commission to help

1:33:07 ↗ advise us in this work and so we held

1:33:10 ↗ one meeting in November we're planning

1:33:12 ↗ to take the results of the strategy

1:33:14 ↗ meetings to them in January and then

1:33:19 ↗ also follow up with those work groups in

1:33:21 ↗ February before starting to progress to

1:33:24 ↗ prepare a draft plan and with that I'm

1:33:28 ↗ happy to take any questions

1:33:31 ↗ councilmember winters today thank you

1:33:35 ↗ thank you for the information and I do

1:33:37 ↗ recall before you started you talked

1:33:39 ↗ about how you compared this work recent

1:33:43 ↗ to the community needs assessment that

1:33:46 ↗ was published in 2017 you talked about

1:33:48 ↗ maybe going a little bit deeper maybe

1:33:50 ↗ going

1:33:50 ↗ some qualitative and getting recognizing

1:33:56 ↗ the commonality of the senior housing

1:33:59 ↗ perhaps and their needs and programs

1:34:02 ↗ that are happening at the Senior Center

1:34:03 ↗ you talked about our housing strategy so

1:34:06 ↗ David that my question really is for you

1:34:09 ↗ that from that assessment from 2017 I

1:34:16 ↗ mean is this is this and I pulled it up

1:34:19 ↗ I'm looking at it right now is this

1:34:22 ↗ addressing half of what we identified

1:34:24 ↗ back then a third of it is or is it a

1:34:27 ↗ broad cover on most of the primary focus

1:34:31 ↗ areas that we identified back there I'm

1:34:33 ↗ just trying to understand what have we

1:34:34 ↗ actually you've talked about that I just

1:34:37 ↗ told you what I heard was different I

1:34:38 ↗ just want to hear again from your words

1:34:40 ↗ like how this is built upon how it went

1:34:43 ↗ beyond what we did in 2017 that's an

1:34:46 ↗ excellent question I'm not sure I can

1:34:47 ↗ answer the coverage percentage but

1:34:50 ↗ certainly it's trying to to address some

1:34:54 ↗ of those issues so for example

1:34:56 ↗ behavioral health was definitely

1:34:57 ↗ identified within the community needs

1:34:59 ↗ assessment that had some impact in terms

1:35:02 ↗ of how the Human Services Commission

1:35:04 ↗ chose to fund different agencies back

1:35:06 ↗ then and so that's caught that's had

1:35:09 ↗ some progress but we also know that

1:35:11 ↗ we've heard from the community that

1:35:12 ↗ there continues to be some concerns in

1:35:14 ↗ those areas there have been some changes

1:35:16 ↗ in progress that we've seen with a

1:35:19 ↗ healthy community serve or healthy youth

1:35:21 ↗ survey for example but we also have

1:35:24 ↗ heard from a number of the organizations

1:35:26 ↗ that we find that they're still

1:35:28 ↗ continuing to see challenges and so that

1:35:30 ↗ we know that there's some unmet needs

1:35:31 ↗ even though there's some resource

1:35:33 ↗ changes that have occurred the school

1:35:35 ↗ district for example has counselors that

1:35:37 ↗ most every I believe it's every High

1:35:39 ↗ School in the school district and so

1:35:41 ↗ there have been some improvements but I

1:35:43 ↗ think there there still remain some

1:35:46 ↗ opportunities I don't know if that's

1:35:47 ↗ fully answering your question yeah can

1:35:49 ↗ you go back one slide yes

1:35:52 ↗ so the way I'm understanding this is is

1:35:56 ↗ this this was and I'm a deeper look into

1:36:02 ↗ some of these areas would you say that

1:36:05 ↗ these now because they've made this list

1:36:10 ↗ work I'm not sure if narrowing our focus

1:36:13 ↗ is the right way to describe it but

1:36:15 ↗ based upon that work from 2017 this body

1:36:18 ↗ at work you're yo you and everybody here

1:36:23 ↗ and others that you work with you're

1:36:24 ↗ kind of you're focusing in on these as

1:36:27 ↗ areas that we may I think that's your

1:36:31 ↗ question before us like help us were

1:36:32 ↗ help us with the focused area and

1:36:34 ↗ because these are the areas now that are

1:36:36 ↗ bubbled to the top that's correct and so

1:36:39 ↗ I think the major the the one

1:36:41 ↗ significant change here is that we're

1:36:43 ↗ we're suggesting that we have a focus

1:36:45 ↗ around populations and really this this

1:36:48 ↗ operates on both dynamics and so I don't

1:36:50 ↗ want to overstate that because there are

1:36:52 ↗ there's a continuum of need kind of as

1:36:56 ↗ people age through in through life and

1:36:58 ↗ in the community but our but our thought

1:37:02 ↗ is that being centered around that

1:37:03 ↗ population there's also a continuum of

1:37:06 ↗ need of different different types of

1:37:08 ↗ intervention from prevention through

1:37:10 ↗ intervention for example for me to go

1:37:11 ↗ populations yeah and the presentation

1:37:16 ↗ that we just went through had certain

1:37:18 ↗ slides where it clearly noted said okay

1:37:21 ↗ here the gaps now but it wasn't as clear

1:37:23 ↗ in some of the areas as well I know if

1:37:27 ↗ that was just a style thing or those one

1:37:29 ↗ that you called out as lis me actually

1:37:31 ↗ said okay gaps I think there's like two

1:37:33 ↗ slides where they're listed really

1:37:34 ↗ clearly

1:37:37 ↗ is that suggestive of anything you're

1:37:40 ↗ you're recommending or is it again just

1:37:43 ↗ a style the way you did the presentation

1:37:47 ↗ Thanks I think it may be in part because

1:37:50 ↗ of a distinction between some

1:37:52 ↗ qualitative information and some

1:37:54 ↗ quantitative information and then I

1:37:57 ↗ think maybe there was just maybe a finer

1:37:59 ↗ point on some of the different gaps okay

1:38:04 ↗ because you have a really really nice

1:38:05 ↗ you know

1:38:06 ↗ slide on number 25 of the it even its

1:38:10 ↗ gaps and services for homeless and

1:38:11 ↗ housing and the insecurity in Issaquah

1:38:13 ↗ and impre-- and prior to that on page on

1:38:15 ↗ slide you know twenty two something

1:38:17 ↗ similar for mental wellness really

1:38:19 ↗ focused in on what those gaps were you

1:38:24 ↗ know I will say in listening all of this

1:38:26 ↗ it's really ironic I think that barb is

1:38:28 ↗ sitting next to me because it was a

1:38:30 ↗ little more than ten years ago when I

1:38:31 ↗ started working with her when she was

1:38:33 ↗ are you still on the board of the

1:38:34 ↗ together Center in Redmond until

1:38:39 ↗ recently and that's when they were

1:38:41 ↗ looking for potentially placing a

1:38:44 ↗ something similar a Human Services

1:38:47 ↗ campus some hair here in Issaquah and

1:38:49 ↗ I'm pretty sure we were talking about

1:38:52 ↗ all of those issues and and in a lot of

1:38:54 ↗ way is what's available up in Redmond

1:38:56 ↗ you could probably find some service

1:38:58 ↗ provider at the that can be together

1:39:01 ↗ center up there that slots into one of

1:39:04 ↗ these areas and if I've heard anything

1:39:06 ↗ through this presentation is that there

1:39:09 ↗ isn't something big and new that's

1:39:12 ↗ emerged a lot of these have been

1:39:14 ↗ standing issues for a long time that

1:39:16 ↗ there are models around at a community

1:39:18 ↗ level at least that like the heavens

1:39:20 ↗ together Center where we're not only for

1:39:25 ↗ the benefit of the community but also

1:39:26 ↗ perhaps for the service providers for

1:39:29 ↗ economic and other advantages you know

1:39:31 ↗ having something like a community center

1:39:33 ↗ together center like that it would be

1:39:35 ↗ very beneficial because I think a lot of

1:39:37 ↗ these issues there's somebody up there

1:39:39 ↗ who is focusing on from child care in

1:39:42 ↗ health care and mental services and

1:39:43 ↗ prevention a lot of the ones that are

1:39:46 ↗ mentioned up there behavior health have

1:39:48 ↗ service providers up there so that one

1:39:50 ↗ of my takeaways is like these are a lot

1:39:52 ↗ of the same issues I know people with

1:39:53 ↗ the communities in the east side and we

1:39:55 ↗ have been struggling with together

1:39:58 ↗ for as long as I've been kind of

1:40:00 ↗ thinking about thinking about the matter

1:40:02 ↗ so you know I so I'm going to I'm going

1:40:05 ↗ to continue listening to what my other

1:40:07 ↗ colleagues have to say here but I'm

1:40:09 ↗ gonna have a hard time kind of narrowing

1:40:11 ↗ down and say you know I really think you

1:40:13 ↗ had a focus on this population or that

1:40:15 ↗ these are real issues for every one of

1:40:17 ↗ these populations and I'm gonna be and I

1:40:21 ↗ mentioned the gaps earlier because where

1:40:23 ↗ you've highlighted gaps I think that's

1:40:25 ↗ going to draw my attention Thank You

1:40:29 ↗ Council deputy president Vitesse thank

1:40:34 ↗ you for the presentation

1:40:35 ↗ a lot of really great information and

1:40:38 ↗ really great to see that we've been able

1:40:41 ↗ to do a deeper dive into a lot of these

1:40:44 ↗ areas that will help inform us going

1:40:46 ↗ forward my first question is maybe a

1:40:49 ↗ little far out in terms of the maybe

1:40:54 ↗ it's in the future is what I'm trying to

1:40:56 ↗ say in terms of the Human Services

1:40:59 ↗ Commission grants I know you know

1:41:02 ↗ recently those are now bucketed in

1:41:06 ↗ different different areas where they

1:41:08 ↗ didn't used to be before and so is there

1:41:12 ↗ a thought around those buckets now being

1:41:16 ↗ kind of looked at in terms of the

1:41:18 ↗ populations that and the topics that

1:41:21 ↗ you're focusing on

1:41:24 ↗ yes thank you absolutely we started

1:41:28 ↗ thinking about the Human Services grants

1:41:30 ↗ and whether or not it might be too early

1:41:33 ↗ for the next round of funding that's

1:41:37 ↗ coming up or maybe we can make some

1:41:39 ↗ changes definitely we are considering

1:41:41 ↗ perhaps aligning those grants with some

1:41:44 ↗ of the strategies coming out from the

1:41:46 ↗ healthy community strategy so thank you

1:41:47 ↗ so much great suggestion and yes and so

1:41:50 ↗ with that we hope to as we continue the

1:41:53 ↗ work on the healthy community strategy

1:41:55 ↗ and at the same time we continue the

1:41:58 ↗ work on the Human Services grants

1:42:00 ↗ hopefully we came back we can come back

1:42:02 ↗ to Council with a proposal later on in

1:42:06 ↗ the next few months great and I actually

1:42:08 ↗ have a follow another question about the

1:42:11 ↗ capacity-building grants we often have

1:42:14 ↗ treated those in sort of two different

1:42:16 ↗ ways there's different analysis based on

1:42:19 ↗ those but in regard to the

1:42:21 ↗ capacity-building grants I guess I would

1:42:23 ↗ ask the same question in terms of

1:42:25 ↗ whether there might be able to be more

1:42:29 ↗ of a focus on what is coming out of the

1:42:32 ↗ healthy community what has been the the

1:42:37 ↗ body of work that's been done here

1:42:40 ↗ that's an excellent question as well I

1:42:43 ↗ think the capacity-building grants has

1:42:45 ↗ been kind of going under undergoing kind

1:42:47 ↗ of improvement on a year-to-year basis

1:42:50 ↗ it doesn't necessarily have a focus on

1:42:52 ↗ human services organizations there have

1:42:55 ↗ been at least especially this last

1:42:57 ↗ go-around a number a large number of

1:42:59 ↗ Human Services agencies that have been

1:43:01 ↗ applying I think that I would suggest

1:43:04 ↗ that that could be something that should

1:43:06 ↗ be taking a look at and the next go

1:43:08 ↗ around for the next grant cycle in terms

1:43:09 ↗ of the goals and the focus of that

1:43:11 ↗ certainly we've seen a growing need for

1:43:16 ↗ organizations that are community based

1:43:18 ↗ so based organizations like India

1:43:21 ↗ Association of Western Washington Muslim

1:43:23 ↗ community Resource Centre organizations

1:43:25 ↗ that are more directly tied to some of

1:43:28 ↗ the populations and they're they tend to

1:43:31 ↗ be smaller organizations that kind of

1:43:33 ↗ needs

1:43:34 ↗ capacity and so there is an opportunity

1:43:36 ↗ for doing that as well

1:43:38 ↗ that is one of the things that we're

1:43:39 ↗ looking at with the Human Services

1:43:40 ↗ grants is if we can take a look at a

1:43:43 ↗ subset of those grants to think about

1:43:45 ↗ how we might structure some grants to

1:43:47 ↗ some of those agencies that might be

1:43:49 ↗ smaller and simpler we've had lots of

1:43:51 ↗ feedback from those agencies about how

1:43:53 ↗ do you support an organization that

1:43:55 ↗ doesn't have like a professional grant

1:43:56 ↗ writer on staff where it doesn't really

1:43:58 ↗ have the financial kind of accounting

1:44:00 ↗ systems in place that might be required

1:44:02 ↗ for typical grants and just one last

1:44:06 ↗ quick question so as we're going forward

1:44:08 ↗ then outside of Human Services grants

1:44:11 ↗ and the questions I just ask then a

1:44:14 ↗ strategy will be coming forward and in

1:44:17 ↗ terms of work that could be looked at

1:44:21 ↗ for the future in the strategic plan

1:44:23 ↗ correct correct and so it will take the

1:44:27 ↗ place of the healthy community strategy

1:44:29 ↗ which is a strategy plan action great

1:44:32 ↗ thanks okay I saw council member a

1:44:36 ↗ followed by council president Mart's and

1:44:39 ↗ councilmember Michelle so if you said

1:44:43 ↗ this forgive me I missed it but what

1:44:44 ↗ what kind of direction are you looking

1:44:46 ↗ for from us this evening I think we're

1:44:49 ↗ looking for any feedback on in

1:44:51 ↗ particular on these kind of sub bullets

1:44:54 ↗ I guess there's two things one is kind

1:44:57 ↗ of the organization by these different

1:44:58 ↗ populations and then the other is some

1:45:01 ↗ of these sub bullets any feedback about

1:45:04 ↗ them any thoughts any questions we may

1:45:07 ↗ not have all the answers but certainly

1:45:09 ↗ we could dive a little bit deeper if

1:45:11 ↗ there's some more questions about any

1:45:13 ↗ one of these categories as I said before

1:45:15 ↗ we will be using this as a starting

1:45:18 ↗ place for strategies but we also will be

1:45:21 ↗ coming back with draft content we'll

1:45:24 ↗ also be talking about our prioritization

1:45:25 ↗ so there'll be multiple touch points all

1:45:28 ↗ right let me share a couple thoughts

1:45:29 ↗ great that was a ton of stuff and I'm

1:45:33 ↗ glad you said something like we're doing

1:45:35 ↗ something right because as I listened to

1:45:36 ↗ that I was like oh my god the world is

1:45:38 ↗ coming to an end and this is a horrible

1:45:40 ↗ community

1:45:40 ↗ living so we've got to focus on what

1:45:44 ↗ we're doing right and leverage that

1:45:45 ↗ going forward that message was

1:45:46 ↗ overwhelming to me and when I look at

1:45:50 ↗ everything we just looked at I am lost

1:45:52 ↗ in the priorities and so if we can't

1:45:55 ↗ figure out what we're gonna focus on

1:45:57 ↗ we're gonna focus on nothing and we're

1:45:59 ↗ gonna be completely ineffective so going

1:46:00 ↗ forward the plan has got to focus on

1:46:02 ↗ some some priorities where we can move

1:46:05 ↗ the needle and then the final thing is

1:46:07 ↗ this is a regional problem this is an

1:46:09 ↗ initial problem people in need don't

1:46:12 ↗ care about where the city boundaries are

1:46:14 ↗ so we have got to find a way to

1:46:17 ↗ integrate this into a larger regional

1:46:19 ↗ service delivery framework because we

1:46:22 ↗ can't solve this problem it's not our

1:46:24 ↗ job so that's my thoughts Thank You

1:46:29 ↗ chair Walsh so I was I was just really

1:46:33 ↗ struck that the first two sets and

1:46:36 ↗ comments from the council this evening

1:46:39 ↗ or was from council members when

1:46:40 ↗ interests died and councils deputy

1:46:41 ↗ president bethy's of course the two

1:46:44 ↗ former Human Services Commission chairs

1:46:47 ↗ that we have been lucky enough to have

1:46:50 ↗ on council

1:46:51 ↗ I remember going with councilmember

1:46:53 ↗ winter Stein up to meet with Pam Mach

1:46:55 ↗ and the folks at the together Center

1:46:56 ↗ before Paul was even on council he

1:46:58 ↗ wanted me to understand the services

1:47:00 ↗ that they were offering up in Redmond

1:47:02 ↗ and it was it was very impactful for me

1:47:06 ↗ and I will miss both of their voices on

1:47:09 ↗ this subject as we move forward could

1:47:12 ↗ you go to the next step slide please so

1:47:15 ↗ yeah this is I mean this is what we're

1:47:17 ↗ talking about right where does the

1:47:18 ↗ rubber meet the road getting human

1:47:20 ↗ services in PPC and stakeholders to talk

1:47:24 ↗ about what is possible to councilmember

1:47:27 ↗ Ray's point to get past the possibility

1:47:30 ↗ of feeling overwhelmed to understand

1:47:33 ↗ what what we can do with finite

1:47:38 ↗ resources in terms of the feedback I'd

1:47:41 ↗ like the organization by community you

1:47:44 ↗ know we used to Human Services grants

1:47:46 ↗ used to be organized by you know sort of

1:47:50 ↗ crisis at one end of the spectrum and

1:47:53 ↗ sort of strategic at the other end and

1:47:55 ↗ then well point and sort of life's

1:47:58 ↗ journey so you know we had neonatal all

1:48:01 ↗ the way up through end-of-life and I was

1:48:03 ↗ loved seeing that map and understanding

1:48:06 ↗ where our service organisations were

1:48:07 ↗ operating and I see this organizing by

1:48:09 ↗ community as uh as sort of a follow up

1:48:12 ↗ to that making sure that we left that we

1:48:14 ↗ don't leave major areas of need

1:48:17 ↗ unresolved you know the big topic that

1:48:21 ↗ will be in front of us is the ongoing

1:48:24 ↗ conversations around an opportunity

1:48:26 ↗ Center as part of a transit oriented

1:48:29 ↗ development I would urge my fellow

1:48:32 ↗ council members as council members

1:48:35 ↗ winter Stein and councillor deputy

1:48:37 ↗ president Batista coming down off

1:48:38 ↗ council to remember their comments

1:48:41 ↗ tonight and to remember what we're

1:48:43 ↗ hearing about the need in the community

1:48:45 ↗ and and see that hopefully in the draft

1:48:50 ↗ plan that comes forward and help use

1:48:53 ↗ that to inform our conversations around

1:48:56 ↗ an opportunity center or other service

1:48:58 ↗ delivery opportunities that we have in

1:49:01 ↗ this upcoming year thank you first of

1:49:09 ↗ all was a really great amount of

1:49:14 ↗ information and I've been following this

1:49:17 ↗ process for a number of years as you

1:49:19 ↗ know involved in the needs assessment

1:49:21 ↗ and and so forth and I think looking

1:49:25 ↗ back we remember a time when people on

1:49:27 ↗ the east side and in Issaquah would say

1:49:29 ↗ well we don't have any social service

1:49:31 ↗ needs and so it's really good to know

1:49:36 ↗ that we move the conversation forward by

1:49:39 ↗ this time a couple of things so I was

1:49:41 ↗ going through the materials I really

1:49:43 ↗ wanted to start a dialogue on not not

1:49:46 ↗ necessarily you know this is the way

1:49:48 ↗ it's got to be but

1:49:50 ↗ we were all there were several of us

1:49:53 ↗ that were at a conference on Thursday

1:49:54 ↗ Monica was there and me or Paulie was

1:49:57 ↗ there talking about hopes and concerns

1:50:01 ↗ and there was a deputy fire chief from

1:50:06 ↗ Eastside Fire and Rescue and during the

1:50:10 ↗ course of the conversation he said we

1:50:12 ↗ had over 2,000 calls last year that had

1:50:16 ↗ some element of social service in those

1:50:20 ↗ calls and I know from talking to the

1:50:23 ↗ police officers here in Issaquah that

1:50:25 ↗ they have a very similar situation

1:50:28 ↗ another firefighter told me that about

1:50:31 ↗ 30% of their calls are focused on social

1:50:35 ↗ service needs and so when we're talking

1:50:39 ↗ about gaps and I didn't see it reflected

1:50:43 ↗ anywhere in the materials that were

1:50:45 ↗ given to us I think we really have to

1:50:48 ↗ start looking at the fact that our

1:50:49 ↗ firefighters and our auntie's and our

1:50:52 ↗ Jail personnel have become our de facto

1:50:55 ↗ social service workers here in Issaquah

1:50:57 ↗ and we really need to start to grapple

1:51:00 ↗ with is that a good thing and I don't

1:51:03 ↗ want to speak for efr or for the police

1:51:07 ↗ department or the jail they may have a

1:51:11 ↗ perspective on that that we really need

1:51:13 ↗ to hear because in many ways they're

1:51:14 ↗ always going to be the frontline people

1:51:16 ↗ but I think we need to address it and

1:51:20 ↗ really start talking about it how do we

1:51:22 ↗ deploy our personnel and into this role

1:51:26 ↗ of taking care of our social service

1:51:28 ↗ needs and does that constitute a gap and

1:51:31 ↗ how do we dress it and if it is

1:51:33 ↗ something that they want to take on or

1:51:36 ↗ is it something that they would prefer

1:51:38 ↗ that we looked at getting trained social

1:51:41 ↗ workers to do so that's one of the

1:51:45 ↗ things that left out to me you go back

1:51:47 ↗ to the slide about about the difference

1:51:51 ↗ yes okay so

1:51:54 ↗ as everybody has mentioned it was a lot

1:51:56 ↗ of a lot of information and when I was

1:52:00 ↗ looking at the focus areas I do agree

1:52:04 ↗ that we should do it by ages because all

1:52:06 ↗ the different elements affect each of

1:52:11 ↗ those age groups differently I was a

1:52:13 ↗ little bit muddled by pulling out

1:52:17 ↗ individuals who are homeless as a

1:52:20 ↗ separate category because that does

1:52:22 ↗ affect youth it does affect adults and

1:52:25 ↗ it does affect seniors and so I couldn't

1:52:28 ↗ understand why that particular element

1:52:31 ↗ was pulled out and so and I'm also just

1:52:36 ↗ thinking about what councilman beret

1:52:40 ↗ said it's just a massive information and

1:52:43 ↗ how does the public process it and so I

1:52:47 ↗ would like to suggest that we you know

1:52:50 ↗ we retain children and youth and adults

1:52:52 ↗ and aging adults as as the categories

1:52:56 ↗ that we're looking at but that we look

1:52:57 ↗ at it continuum for homelessness

1:53:01 ↗ behavioral health so what I call social

1:53:05 ↗ justice which would be the language and

1:53:08 ↗ and all those things that affect diverse

1:53:10 ↗ populations and then the affordability

1:53:13 ↗ issues and those would be the categories

1:53:15 ↗ I would like but I will let you I'll let

1:53:19 ↗ you grapple with that but I just think

1:53:22 ↗ we need to look at it through the lens

1:53:23 ↗ of how are we going to explain and salt

1:53:25 ↗ to the public because it is a huge

1:53:27 ↗ amount of data and how is it going to be

1:53:30 ↗ easily understood by people as they're

1:53:34 ↗ looking at this that the final

1:53:36 ↗ strategies and then my final point would

1:53:40 ↗ be my interest is are we going to be

1:53:44 ↗ able to use their recommendations from

1:53:47 ↗ these strategies for the 2021 budget

1:53:49 ↗ deliberations and we had a person come

1:53:53 ↗ to the last council meeting who wanted

1:53:56 ↗ to see us increase arts visitors from 1%

1:53:58 ↗ to 2% well we have enough information to

1:54:02 ↗ be able to look at that request

1:54:06 ↗ objectively I guess as of course is the

1:54:08 ↗ word I would use so I think our hope is

1:54:12 ↗ that we would have the strategy done in

1:54:15 ↗ time to consider it as a part of 2021

1:54:18 ↗ budget process so that's definitely our

1:54:20 ↗ hope the earlier piece is the Human

1:54:23 ↗ Services grants process and there may be

1:54:25 ↗ the timing is very tight for that

1:54:27 ↗ because we need to release that in March

1:54:30 ↗ but there might be some early things

1:54:32 ↗ that we could consider as a part of that

1:54:34 ↗ Thank You councilmember Oh interesting

1:54:38 ↗ yeah thank you so I've had a little

1:54:41 ↗ chance to think about this a little bit

1:54:42 ↗ more actually it's interesting that barb

1:54:44 ↗ actually looked pulled out or

1:54:46 ↗ highlighted that the one that stood out

1:54:48 ↗ the homelessness I agree that it does

1:54:50 ↗ span all the age groups and and yet it

1:54:54 ↗ does still feel unique to me in that I

1:54:57 ↗ think as you've said many times with

1:55:00 ↗ housing affordability being such a

1:55:02 ↗ driver and you know that is being

1:55:05 ↗ addressed at so many different levels by

1:55:08 ↗ the city and by the region that it's

1:55:11 ↗ gonna be difficult

1:55:13 ↗ I don't what we do from a healthy

1:55:15 ↗ community strategy isn't gonna bend that

1:55:17 ↗ curve I think we we have a housing

1:55:19 ↗ strategy we have we have affordability

1:55:22 ↗ requirements for as far as new

1:55:25 ↗ development that happens and we have

1:55:27 ↗ that housing strategy as well so it

1:55:29 ↗ seems like that in terms of levers we

1:55:33 ↗ may have we have some action going in

1:55:37 ↗ all of those and I think it is that idea

1:55:39 ↗ especially out of outreach I'm still

1:55:41 ↗ part of the meals program and I do

1:55:43 ↗ encounter individuals who are there

1:55:45 ↗ regularly and some who show up one time

1:55:47 ↗ and then that and you're so correct that

1:55:51 ↗ those of us there you know really don't

1:55:54 ↗ have the skills or the resources

1:55:55 ↗ necessarily to be able to do anything

1:55:56 ↗ but yet I still see members of the

1:55:59 ↗ community doing whatever they can and at

1:56:01 ↗ that moment in trying to help and that's

1:56:03 ↗ not the right plan I wanted to stop the

1:56:07 ↗ conversation and say hey who are those

1:56:08 ↗ people that we can contact you only get

1:56:10 ↗ here once every six weeks because I have

1:56:13 ↗ you know places in Times or I wish they

1:56:15 ↗ would be there more regularly and so it

1:56:17 ↗ just seems to me that those who are

1:56:19 ↗ actually at that crisis stage or that

1:56:21 ↗ still needs some special attention so

1:56:24 ↗ there there's that comment about the

1:56:27 ↗ rest of this list David I know it's in

1:56:29 ↗ the plan and you mentioned it earlier

1:56:31 ↗ this evening that in many ways we may

1:56:34 ↗ just be a convener and that there are

1:56:37 ↗ existing service providers or

1:56:39 ↗ stakeholders or other interests around

1:56:41 ↗ us that have the ability and the will

1:56:42 ↗ and the backing to continue to do what

1:56:46 ↗ you're doing they're doing but maybe do

1:56:48 ↗ it within this larger context with us

1:56:50 ↗ and I'm not interested in taking

1:56:54 ↗ anything off that list but it seems to

1:56:57 ↗ me that an exercise and maybe you've

1:56:59 ↗ already done this pick it back to my

1:57:01 ↗ point about the gaps that you identified

1:57:03 ↗ I think there are probably some that

1:57:07 ↗ there are very little gap of in terms of

1:57:12 ↗ services available because there may be

1:57:16 ↗ community members or community

1:57:17 ↗ organizations that are providing part of

1:57:19 ↗ that there may be some others where

1:57:21 ↗ there's a really huge gap and it seems

1:57:23 ↗ to me there's a there's a matrix in

1:57:25 ↗ there somewhere about all of these key

1:57:28 ↗ areas and some with smaller gap somewhat

1:57:31 ↗ bigger gap sums with some with you know

1:57:34 ↗ a lot of maybe a program or a strategy

1:57:36 ↗ behind it to address it some that we

1:57:37 ↗ have we have nothing about and it would

1:57:40 ↗ it would be I would want to see that

1:57:43 ↗ type of assessment and I think that for

1:57:48 ↗ myself that from a city resource you

1:57:52 ↗ know in terms of you know barb brought a

1:57:54 ↗ budget right well those gaps were we

1:57:56 ↗ really think we can be effective but we

1:57:58 ↗ have to take the lead on it

1:58:00 ↗ okay that would be a focus but there are

1:58:02 ↗ going to be other gaps or other areas

1:58:04 ↗ where we have community partners and

1:58:06 ↗ what can what if anything what can or

1:58:09 ↗ should we be doing to assist them to be

1:58:11 ↗ successful what they do I think we're

1:58:12 ↗ going to that type of comprehensive look

1:58:15 ↗ is going to be I think a logical next

1:58:19 ↗ step to help us may even put a finer

1:58:21 ↗ point on how to prioritize

1:58:26 ↗ council participant the teeth so

1:58:28 ↗ speaking again I just had a few more

1:58:31 ↗ thoughts and I just wanted to say while

1:58:35 ↗ while the presentation provides us with

1:58:37 ↗ so much information about gaps and and

1:58:41 ↗ it does seem overwhelming as you're

1:58:45 ↗ probably listening to it but I've also

1:58:46 ↗ said in conversations when we've been

1:58:49 ↗ talking about Human Services grants and

1:58:51 ↗ council members have asked for data and

1:58:53 ↗ metrics and more information and we

1:58:56 ↗ didn't have all this information in past

1:59:00 ↗ years and so the point of going forward

1:59:03 ↗ with these sorts of surveys is to help

1:59:06 ↗ identify those needs and while there are

1:59:09 ↗ a lot of great things that go on both

1:59:13 ↗ with in Issaquah and throughout the

1:59:14 ↗ region we are very heavily reliant on on

1:59:19 ↗ the region and a lot of times we would

1:59:22 ↗ talk about needing to really step up in

1:59:24 ↗ terms of helping maybe something isn't

1:59:27 ↗ completely focused on Issaquah but for

1:59:31 ↗ example we don't have a shelter in

1:59:33 ↗ Issaquah so we we have to really be

1:59:35 ↗ reliant and part of the pool helping our

1:59:38 ↗ neighbors who have taken on having

1:59:41 ↗ shelters so when we talk about the

1:59:43 ↗ upcoming idea of the opportunity center

1:59:47 ↗ we talked about the past

1:59:49 ↗ trying to put together a human services

1:59:51 ↗ campus we still have a million dollars

1:59:55 ↗ sitting out there that that is focused

1:59:57 ↗ on on on that and it and when we talked

2:00:01 ↗ about the Opportunity Center it really

2:00:02 ↗ is an opportunity for Issaquah to step

2:00:05 ↗ in and be a piece of that regional

2:00:08 ↗ puzzle that right now we're very reliant

2:00:11 ↗ on and I also wanted to say I think that

2:00:14 ↗ we should not it's great that we're

2:00:18 ↗ doing this and we're being able to focus

2:00:19 ↗ on what we could do within the strategic

2:00:22 ↗ plan and something outside of the Human

2:00:24 ↗ Services grants because we can't be

2:00:27 ↗ completely reliant on the Human Services

2:00:29 ↗ grants when we're thinking about what is

2:00:31 ↗ needed within our community that is a

2:00:33 ↗ teeny

2:00:34 ↗ piece of the puzzle it's this much money

2:00:37 ↗ there's always this much need and this

2:00:39 ↗ much money to go around so we have to be

2:00:42 ↗ able to focus on what we can do with

2:00:44 ↗ this int within the city and the

2:00:45 ↗ strategic plan and it is our job to take

2:00:49 ↗ care of all of the the people in our

2:00:51 ↗ community as best as best as we can by

2:00:54 ↗ providing things there were a few

2:00:56 ↗ surprises in here as well I'm going to

2:01:00 ↗ point out a couple of them

2:01:01 ↗ the rental units not being able to

2:01:04 ↗ accommodate people in wheelchairs that

2:01:07 ↗ was surprising to me and seems like

2:01:09 ↗ something that we could kind of delve

2:01:11 ↗ into why is that happening

2:01:13 ↗ and under a da rolls and and that kind

2:01:16 ↗ of thing and then just I also wanted to

2:01:19 ↗ finally say I think there's some things

2:01:22 ↗ within here that we found out about that

2:01:24 ↗ don't cost a lot of money but things

2:01:26 ↗ that we could do within the strategic

2:01:28 ↗ plan and one that stood out to me was

2:01:30 ↗ sort of the that conversation around

2:01:34 ↗ being welcoming community that's

2:01:36 ↗ something that we talk a lot about and

2:01:38 ↗ obviously there are still struggles

2:01:41 ↗ around that we talked about bringing in

2:01:43 ↗ cultural conversations that was

2:01:45 ↗ something that was happening in other

2:01:46 ↗ cities and starting to happen I think

2:01:48 ↗ through the Highlands Association but

2:01:50 ↗ there's a lot of small things in here

2:01:53 ↗ that wouldn't cost a lot of money that

2:01:55 ↗ could help us focus in on some of these

2:01:58 ↗ areas so I'm not going to push my button

2:02:02 ↗ again I can't remember do Michelle your

2:02:06 ↗ lights still on right do you know okay

2:02:08 ↗ then I will take a moment here after all

2:02:12 ↗ of this from my perspective I think what

2:02:16 ↗ councilmember winters sign said about

2:02:18 ↗ the difference between a city as a

2:02:20 ↗ convener of nonprofits and other

2:02:22 ↗ organizations versus actor is really

2:02:25 ↗ important and so when looking forward to

2:02:30 ↗ a draft plan I would note that we have

2:02:35 ↗ planned and studied multiple times and

2:02:38 ↗ so what I would like to see out of that

2:02:41 ↗ then is how are we going to act as a

2:02:44 ↗ convener what act

2:02:47 ↗ can we take and so noting some of the

2:02:50 ↗ things that deputy council president

2:02:52 ↗ batiste said also I noticed there were

2:02:56 ↗ things like hey there's only one

2:02:58 ↗ childcare provider that uses the state

2:03:01 ↗ childcare subsidy what can we do to make

2:03:04 ↗ a difference on that what can we look at

2:03:08 ↗ our code to look at that housing size

2:03:10 ↗ diversity mismatch what opportunities do

2:03:14 ↗ we have as an actor versus as a convener

2:03:19 ↗ and what other things are just more on

2:03:22 ↗ the strategy side of we would like to be

2:03:25 ↗ a welcoming community but I don't want

2:03:27 ↗ everything to be hey we need a strategy

2:03:30 ↗ to address this I want to see actions

2:03:33 ↗ and things that we can actually do and

2:03:35 ↗ then other things where we really talk

2:03:37 ↗ about either finding an existing

2:03:40 ↗ provider or finding a new provider to

2:03:42 ↗ meet the gaps that we see in this

2:03:45 ↗ assessment great that's I love that

2:03:48 ↗ comment I think that is very much our

2:03:50 ↗ hope we want this to be very specific

2:03:52 ↗ and actionable so thank you for that

2:03:53 ↗ okay so I think at this point we will

2:03:57 ↗ take public comments do we have any

2:04:00 ↗ members of the public who would like to

2:04:02 ↗ speak asking for a second time and a

2:04:09 ↗ third time and I will again mention we

2:04:13 ↗ have an email address City Council at

2:04:15 ↗ ESSEC wha-wha gov we would love to hear

2:04:18 ↗ from the public whether it's with their

2:04:22 ↗ own experiences some suggestions ways

2:04:26 ↗ that they think we could address this

2:04:28 ↗ what they want to see out of the draft

2:04:29 ↗ plan we would love to hear from you

2:04:32 ↗ thank you so at this time

2:04:36 ↗ how does council feel I'm seeing a

2:04:38 ↗ little bit of tiredness could we take a

2:04:41 ↗ five minute break okay I think we are

2:04:44 ↗ going to take a five minute recess as we

2:04:47 ↗ queue up our next presentation

2:04:54 ↗ you

2:05:40 ↗ you

2:05:42 ↗ you

2:06:04 ↗ you

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2:11:34 ↗ okay we are back thank you everybody so

2:11:38 ↗ the last item on our agenda tonight is

2:11:41 ↗ ID zero five eight zero which is our

2:11:44 ↗ Title 18 update which for anybody who

2:11:47 ↗ says Title 18 what is that it's

2:11:49 ↗ basically our building code for the city

2:11:52 ↗ and so this is presented by Keith Niven

2:11:55 ↗ development services director thank you

2:11:58 ↗ very much

2:11:58 ↗ councilmember Walsh and rest of the City

2:12:00 ↗ Council Keith Niven director development

2:12:02 ↗ services outside with me this evening

2:12:04 ↗ Lucy Sloman land development manager so

2:12:07 ↗ we're gonna go through this at a fairly

2:12:11 ↗ high level you guys approved us to

2:12:15 ↗ update our land use code this year in as

2:12:19 ↗ part of budget deliberations last year

2:12:22 ↗ and so we started with a contract with

2:12:26 ↗ makers Planning and architecture in

2:12:31 ↗ January of this year and started going

2:12:34 ↗ through this and you know why why would

2:12:39 ↗ we update the land use code

2:12:40 ↗ well first reason is it hasn't been done

2:12:44 ↗ holistically since 1996 which is the

2:12:48 ↗ year I moved to Washington State you

2:12:51 ↗ know but basically it's a patchwork of

2:12:53 ↗ ordinances it's hard for staff to

2:12:57 ↗ navigate it's hard for applicants tent

2:13:00 ↗ to navigate and so you know the idea was

2:13:03 ↗ we're looking for a product that is

2:13:05 ↗ clearer more concise language with

2:13:08 ↗ greater predictability for applicants we

2:13:10 ↗ are looking for it to be better

2:13:12 ↗ organized and easier to use and we have

2:13:16 ↗ a bunch of neighborhoods in the city

2:13:18 ↗ that have different development

2:13:21 ↗ requirements and they are some of them

2:13:23 ↗ aren't even in eighteen not in the code

2:13:27 ↗ publishing part that you can find online

2:13:29 ↗ you actually have to go to a different

2:13:32 ↗ place to find them so it's it's really

2:13:33 ↗ difficult to get through you know we

2:13:37 ↗ pride ourselves on being a kind of a

2:13:40 ↗ green and sustainable City and this is

2:13:42 ↗ an opportunity for us to look to

2:13:44 ↗ kind of further those agendas and then

2:13:48 ↗ one of the things that we heard from

2:13:49 ↗ counsel is that our existing code has

2:13:53 ↗ some disconnects with our approved plans

2:13:55 ↗ or proof comp plan our sub area plans

2:13:58 ↗ and this is an opportunity to kind of

2:14:02 ↗ bridge those gaps where there are gaps

2:14:05 ↗ between the plans and the existing code

2:14:08 ↗ and then last but not least you know

2:14:10 ↗ we're doing a 23 year update to a code

2:14:14 ↗ and we don't want to just get it to a

2:14:17 ↗ 2019 level we actually want to say we

2:14:20 ↗ know what we want to have happen in our

2:14:22 ↗ city from growth and development

2:14:24 ↗ standpoint for the next 20 years we

2:14:26 ↗ adopted the central Issaquah plan we

2:14:28 ↗ know what we want our city to look like

2:14:30 ↗ as we move forward so really you know

2:14:33 ↗ number six is there's we should

2:14:36 ↗ anticipate some of those things coming

2:14:38 ↗ along so this is actually a code that

2:14:41 ↗ should target 2039 and not just 2019 so

2:14:46 ↗ that's where we are so so this was like

2:14:48 ↗ opening that closet that you haven't

2:14:50 ↗ opened in a long time and a bunch of

2:14:52 ↗ stuff fell out and you know really where

2:14:54 ↗ we are right now is just really taking

2:14:58 ↗ inventory of what things of substance we

2:15:02 ↗ really want to tackle with this project

2:15:04 ↗ and so which you can see in that first

2:15:07 ↗ column are the things that we've

2:15:09 ↗ identified so far that we think really

2:15:13 ↗ need to change as part of this process

2:15:16 ↗ this is a this is a list that it almost

2:15:20 ↗ adds to on a weekly basis I've got a new

2:15:24 ↗ one that just kind of came across my

2:15:26 ↗ desk today architect not architectural

2:15:30 ↗ archaeological resources our code

2:15:33 ↗ doesn't address that at all we defer to

2:15:35 ↗ the state but if you look at the maps

2:15:38 ↗ and because of the lake and the rivers

2:15:41 ↗ that we have in our community we really

2:15:44 ↗ should be doing something locally for

2:15:46 ↗ archaeological resources so so that's

2:15:49 ↗ not in the list it probably needs to be

2:15:51 ↗ on the list and so this is a work in

2:15:53 ↗ progress

2:15:55 ↗ what I tried to do with this table is to

2:15:58 ↗ say okay if these are kind of the big

2:16:00 ↗ things that we're looking to change how

2:16:03 ↗ do they fulfill those goals that we

2:16:05 ↗ listed on the previous slide call it

2:16:07 ↗ driving factors on this slide one of the

2:16:12 ↗ things that we obviously need to do and

2:16:14 ↗ this list is changing on a weekly basis

2:16:17 ↗ as well is to go out and meet one-on-one

2:16:21 ↗ with our stakeholders that are going to

2:16:23 ↗ have an interest in this update process

2:16:26 ↗ we have currently scheduled a number of

2:16:29 ↗ meetings to start these conversations

2:16:32 ↗ with those stakeholders I'm gonna add

2:16:36 ↗ the tribes to this list and I'm also

2:16:39 ↗ gonna add anybody who's in the

2:16:42 ↗ permitting process but not vested so

2:16:45 ↗ we've got a bunch of people that have

2:16:47 ↗ filed for applications for development

2:16:50 ↗ of some kind if you don't have a

2:16:52 ↗ complete building permit or a complete

2:16:54 ↗ subdivision plat in by the time this new

2:16:56 ↗ code is adopted you're gonna be affected

2:17:00 ↗ by the new code and so we want to make

2:17:03 ↗ sure that everybody who's in the process

2:17:04 ↗ in the stream now knows that probably by

2:17:08 ↗ September of next year the rules are

2:17:10 ↗ gonna change and they can make some of

2:17:12 ↗ whatever decisions I can make between

2:17:14 ↗ now and then that might help them along

2:17:16 ↗ the way and then we kind of put together

2:17:20 ↗ this project timeline initially kind of

2:17:24 ↗ before we got started and as you can see

2:17:27 ↗ we're kind of we're sitting kind of up

2:17:32 ↗ here in November you guys appropriated

2:17:35 ↗ some additional funds for us for

2:17:36 ↗ critical areas thank you very much

2:17:38 ↗ that's going to help we got those

2:17:39 ↗ contracts started and we still hope to

2:17:43 ↗ get a first draft out to the community

2:17:46 ↗ in February and and that's that is

2:17:50 ↗ that's moving as as fast as we can

2:17:53 ↗ but really what we want to talk about

2:17:55 ↗ with you this evening

2:17:57 ↗ talk about whatever you want but what I

2:17:59 ↗ would love to get some direction on from

2:18:01 ↗ you is how really best to work with the

2:18:04 ↗ council to get this adopted

2:18:07 ↗ sometime next year I still think we will

2:18:09 ↗ get it over the goal line next year but

2:18:12 ↗ it's going to take it has been a huge

2:18:15 ↗ amount of staff work up to this point

2:18:17 ↗ I'm expecting a lot of council

2:18:20 ↗ interaction for you guys to also

2:18:22 ↗ understand the thought processes that we

2:18:25 ↗ are going through and so the first thing

2:18:27 ↗ I think the administration would like to

2:18:29 ↗ ask from you would be you know would the

2:18:31 ↗ council entertain the idea of forming an

2:18:34 ↗ ad hoc committee to really work out

2:18:36 ↗ projects go process and kind of how to

2:18:40 ↗ move forward with that we will continue

2:18:45 ↗ drafting code meet with stakeholders to

2:18:47 ↗ gauge level of engagement desired and

2:18:51 ↗ then we will proceed with counsel

2:18:52 ↗ engagement as we need to

2:18:56 ↗ I think the ad hoc committee idea is

2:18:58 ↗ great you guys okay we have heard from

2:19:07 ↗ councilmember winter Stein account the

2:19:09 ↗ president Mart's so the timeline my

2:19:15 ↗ understanding for an ad hoc committee is

2:19:19 ↗ to really get cracking and that there's

2:19:22 ↗ some work even in December for such a

2:19:26 ↗ body and it's also my understanding that

2:19:30 ↗ if we so choose the ad hoc committee

2:19:34 ↗ would not need to be all currently

2:19:38 ↗ sitting City Council members is that

2:19:42 ↗ correct yes so I would suggest to my

2:19:45 ↗ fellow council members I like the ad hoc

2:19:49 ↗ fight right it's pretty that's all - we

2:19:53 ↗ had that

2:19:55 ↗ the this ad-hoc committee I would

2:19:59 ↗ seriously consider that we asked once

2:20:03 ↗ and future council number hunt to

2:20:05 ↗ consider being part of that committee

2:20:08 ↗ okay do we have any other councilmember

2:20:13 ↗ absol deputy president batiste

2:20:15 ↗ so I think that this all kidding aside

2:20:18 ↗ about saying yes to an ad hoc committee

2:20:21 ↗ since I won't be here but I I think that

2:20:25 ↗ this as we move over to our you know

2:20:28 ↗ have moved over to our new format and we

2:20:30 ↗ don't have our our committees anymore

2:20:33 ↗ this is a perfect example of something

2:20:35 ↗ that really I think could use an ad hoc

2:20:39 ↗ committee to really have a smaller group

2:20:42 ↗ working on this and bringing back some

2:20:44 ↗ recommendations so I'm really supportive

2:20:48 ↗ of that and I was also going to bring up

2:20:50 ↗ your same question I think that I'd be

2:20:52 ↗ great if councilmember hunt was part of

2:20:55 ↗ this okay

2:21:00 ↗ comment questions okay so I'm also going

2:21:03 ↗ to support the idea of an ad hoc

2:21:05 ↗ committee I would be happy to

2:21:07 ↗ participate I think this is something

2:21:11 ↗ that is key to our community for the

2:21:15 ↗ next 20 years and it's something that

2:21:19 ↗ our that affects the business community

2:21:24 ↗ individuals our city staff just

2:21:30 ↗ everything so I think it's very

2:21:31 ↗ important and I'd love to see how this

2:21:35 ↗ goes forward because I think that is a

2:21:36 ↗ very challenging time frame for getting

2:21:40 ↗ everything right and having it reflect

2:21:42 ↗ our community values not just simplify

2:21:47 ↗ councilmember Rey I lied I do did want

2:21:50 ↗ to say something I love the idea of an

2:21:51 ↗ ad hoc committee I think it's great I

2:21:53 ↗ have a name in mind but I'll share that

2:21:56 ↗ with you later

2:21:59 ↗ but I guess one of the things I'd like

2:22:01 ↗ the ad hoc committee and staff to

2:22:03 ↗ consider is that this may have a 20 year

2:22:06 ↗ planning horizon

2:22:07 ↗ HBU horizon but that we build in ways to

2:22:10 ↗ update this on an ongoing and continuous

2:22:13 ↗ basis so that we don't get to 20 years

2:22:15 ↗ down the road and look back and say wow

2:22:17 ↗ last time we touched that wasn't one

2:22:18 ↗ okay so so it just as part of scope I'd

2:22:23 ↗ like to include that in it and I will

2:22:27 ↗ similarly say on that scale I get

2:22:30 ↗ concerned when we open Pandora's box

2:22:33 ↗ that we're going to continue to find

2:22:35 ↗ things like the need to address

2:22:38 ↗ archaeological items and other things I

2:22:41 ↗ don't want to get bogged down and not be

2:22:46 ↗ able to complete this project

2:22:48 ↗ I would rather as we progress through it

2:22:51 ↗ develop a hit list of things that maybe

2:22:55 ↗ aren't going to make it into this

2:22:57 ↗ initial review but have a timeline for

2:23:02 ↗ being able to address those things as

2:23:04 ↗ we're going forward I think that allows

2:23:07 ↗ us to complete something without having

2:23:10 ↗ it take two three four years okay do we

2:23:17 ↗ have any other comments here

2:23:20 ↗ deputy council president Matisse I was

2:23:23 ↗ just a question about the stakeholders

2:23:26 ↗ you've got a large group of stakeholders

2:23:29 ↗ which seems like that was one of the

2:23:31 ↗ questions it seems like that was the

2:23:33 ↗ appropriate group in and with the

2:23:36 ↗ additions that you talked about is there

2:23:39 ↗ it's a lot of people to talk to so how

2:23:41 ↗ does that could you just talk speak a

2:23:44 ↗ little bit more to how that fits within

2:23:46 ↗ the timeline how does that work sure and

2:23:50 ↗ I want to also mention that I didn't

2:23:52 ↗ check our webpage today but I believe

2:23:54 ↗ that a webpage got set up for this

2:23:56 ↗ project

2:23:57 ↗ maybe you loose you can check while I'm

2:23:59 ↗ talking because I can't do two things at

2:24:01 ↗ once so because it's so complicated and

2:24:06 ↗ every group is going to have a different

2:24:08 ↗ lens I think the only way that this made

2:24:10 ↗ sense for me was to sit down with each

2:24:13 ↗ of them individually and say okay here's

2:24:15 ↗ what we're doing like so for example I

2:24:18 ↗ can tell you right now

2:24:19 ↗ the Chamber of Commerce's like number

2:24:21 ↗ one thing will be what are we doing with

2:24:23 ↗ the sign code and so we'll talk about

2:24:26 ↗ that and we'll talk about how we think

2:24:28 ↗ the sign code will be changing from what

2:24:31 ↗ it is today to what it's going to be and

2:24:33 ↗ how that's going to affect businesses

2:24:34 ↗ there might be another short list of

2:24:36 ↗ things that will be of importance to

2:24:39 ↗ smaller businesses that we know that's

2:24:42 ↗ going to be part of this code update

2:24:44 ↗ Kathy may bring her own list of things

2:24:47 ↗ that are important to her that that we

2:24:49 ↗ may not even be thinking about and

2:24:51 ↗ that's part of what this is is it's a

2:24:53 ↗ two-way conversation you know when we

2:24:55 ↗ talk to master builders that'll be an

2:24:58 ↗ interesting conversation most of Master

2:25:00 ↗ Builders clients are single family

2:25:01 ↗ builders and you know I know I know they

2:25:05 ↗ know they need to transition to more

2:25:07 ↗ multifamily as as kind of just the

2:25:10 ↗ housing industry changes in Puget Sound

2:25:13 ↗ as we run out of green space but for now

2:25:16 ↗ most of their clients are single-family

2:25:19 ↗ builders so we'll talk about how much

2:25:22 ↗ single-family we have left and how this

2:25:25 ↗ code changes might affect subdivisions

2:25:27 ↗ because there's a section on

2:25:28 ↗ subdivisions we'll talk about you know

2:25:31 ↗ the the missing middle housing effort

2:25:34 ↗ that we're going through figuring out

2:25:36 ↗ how do we get maybe cottages and

2:25:38 ↗ courtyard apartments and some other

2:25:39 ↗ types of housing that aren't prevalent

2:25:41 ↗ in our city right now and see if they

2:25:43 ↗ have ways to maybe think about that and

2:25:45 ↗ help us kind of craft some code language

2:25:47 ↗ that will work so so my hope is to go

2:25:50 ↗ through these stakeholders as more of a

2:25:52 ↗ just a kind of a back and forth dialogue

2:25:54 ↗ of here's what we're trying to do here's

2:25:57 ↗ what we think you guys would be

2:25:58 ↗ interested in what what can we do that

2:26:00 ↗ you guys might find interesting

2:26:02 ↗ we had a land use attorney who

2:26:05 ↗ represents a number of clients in town

2:26:07 ↗ say you know I'll review this I'll just

2:26:09 ↗ do it because it'll help my clients and

2:26:11 ↗ so we're gonna get one of our

2:26:12 ↗ stakeholders is just going to be land

2:26:14 ↗ use attorneys that might be interested

2:26:16 ↗ in reviewing our draft code so I think

2:26:18 ↗ all all the voices I think will help get

2:26:20 ↗ us a better product in the end

2:26:22 ↗ Thank You councilmember Dee Michelle so

2:26:27 ↗ Keith you know I'm new to this so

2:26:30 ↗ where is the environmental voice in here

2:26:33 ↗ and is that appropriate I'm not familiar

2:26:37 ↗ enough to know whether of iron mental

2:26:40 ↗ concerns would go here yes okay so so

2:26:44 ↗ what so so River and streams you know

2:26:49 ↗ the expectation that we have is there is

2:26:53 ↗ right now so so part of if you look at

2:26:55 ↗ the table of contents that were part of

2:26:57 ↗ the packet tonight one of the things

2:26:58 ↗ that I like is that we are we are

2:27:01 ↗ creating parts so the new title 18 will

2:27:04 ↗ have parts which would be like bigger

2:27:07 ↗ sections and there is now going to be a

2:27:09 ↗ part called environment so the

2:27:11 ↗ environment part which is going to you

2:27:15 ↗ know it then starts drawing other pieces

2:27:18 ↗ to it that makes sense like for example

2:27:19 ↗ Lucy and I talked about does does

2:27:22 ↗ landmarking want to go in the

2:27:23 ↗ environment as opposed to being buried

2:27:26 ↗ somewhere else in the code I actually

2:27:27 ↗ think it does so we'll have that

2:27:29 ↗ conversation about suppose structure

2:27:31 ↗ because part of this is making it

2:27:32 ↗ clearer for people to find the things

2:27:34 ↗ they're looking for but you know things

2:27:37 ↗ like outdoor lighting you know for me

2:27:38 ↗ outdoor lighting is a dark sky thing

2:27:41 ↗ that's environment I think it should go

2:27:42 ↗ in the environmental section so there's

2:27:44 ↗ a whole conversation about that but

2:27:46 ↗ talking with you know so so we've hired

2:27:50 ↗ two companies we've hired Herrera for

2:27:53 ↗ kind of the water related stuff so

2:27:56 ↗ streams lakes wetlands cara Golders

2:28:03 ↗ doing landslides seismic geology stuff

2:28:09 ↗ we will bring all of that and have a

2:28:12 ↗ conversation at River and streams so

2:28:13 ↗ they are really kind of our

2:28:15 ↗ environmental kind of conduit

2:28:18 ↗ the best one we have if there are other

2:28:21 ↗ interested parties in the community that

2:28:23 ↗ have an environmental lens and tribes

2:28:27 ↗ tribes will have a very environmental

2:28:28 ↗ lens

2:28:30 ↗ you know more than happy to talk to them

2:28:31 ↗ but part of why I wanted to put the this

2:28:34 ↗ list of stakeholders up on them up on

2:28:36 ↗ the wall was to get any feedback from

2:28:38 ↗ you guys if there are stakeholders we've

2:28:40 ↗ missed would love to kind of reach out

2:28:42 ↗ and make this as inclusive as possible

2:28:45 ↗ okay follow-up for this all right so

2:28:47 ↗ what about environment

2:28:51 ↗ the cycle in a different part of the

2:28:52 ↗ code or is that part of this so there's

2:29:00 ↗ I think there's pros and cons either way

2:29:03 ↗ either you kind of incorporate it in

2:29:05 ↗ throughout Title 18 or it goes you know

2:29:09 ↗ as a separate item under the environment

2:29:11 ↗ and I think we need to talk about that a

2:29:14 ↗ little bit more but part of it is also

2:29:16 ↗ scoping out how far we want to reach

2:29:18 ↗ with those kind of green building

2:29:20 ↗ sustainable measures

2:29:25 ↗ councilmember winters time thank you

2:29:27 ↗ it may be a small group but I was

2:29:29 ↗ thinking about our how our Housing

2:29:31 ↗ Strategy has when we did quite a bit on

2:29:34 ↗ just the ad use for example so I know

2:29:37 ↗ there's quite a bit of activity in this

2:29:39 ↗ area just on remodeling and I don't I

2:29:41 ↗ mean I saw when I saw the master

2:29:43 ↗ builders on there I thought okay though

2:29:46 ↗ they represent people who just do that

2:29:49 ↗ type of remodeling which can sometimes

2:29:50 ↗ be pretty significant and would probably

2:29:52 ↗ hit upon a couple of these areas but

2:29:54 ↗ then you talked about them as kind of

2:29:56 ↗ builders owners but I think just that

2:29:59 ↗ there is a significant amount of

2:30:00 ↗ activity that would be affected by this

2:30:02 ↗ was just in the remodeling sector that

2:30:05 ↗ was the one note area I thought totally

2:30:08 ↗ totally agree and maybe one of the best

2:30:10 ↗ ways and as you were talking one of the

2:30:11 ↗ best ways maybe to help them understand

2:30:14 ↗ this is going on is to put a notice up

2:30:16 ↗ in the permit center that this is

2:30:19 ↗ ongoing and how they can get involved so

2:30:21 ↗ we will do that that makes that makes

2:30:23 ↗ sense council president Mertz how do we

2:30:29 ↗ deal with the fact I mean the sim was

2:30:31 ↗ made we haven't touched this at 20 years

2:30:33 ↗ we shouldn't wait another 20 years in

2:30:34 ↗ touch it the missing middle we have

2:30:36 ↗ actually touched fairly recently and we

2:30:39 ↗ had this you recall we had

2:30:42 ↗ what was it called a moratorium one of

2:30:45 ↗ the seven focal areas to come out of

2:30:47 ↗ that was housing and we developed a

2:30:50 ↗ housing plan that we shared with other

2:30:53 ↗ cities because it was so thoughtful they

2:30:55 ↗ comprehensively done so some of these

2:30:58 ↗ topics that some have had a recent touch

2:31:00 ↗ and while they could use additional

2:31:03 ↗ updating our are a small update to hard

2:31:08 ↗ work that's already been done and others

2:31:10 ↗ haven't been touched in 20 years yes

2:31:11 ↗ thank you for that clarification and for

2:31:14 ↗ you know the missing middle that's

2:31:17 ↗ clearly an implementation of one of the

2:31:20 ↗ measures from our Housing Strategy so

2:31:21 ↗ yes thank you for that clarification

2:31:25 ↗ council deputy president the t's I'm

2:31:27 ↗ just a quick question to and maybe you

2:31:30 ↗ already went over this but when we say

2:31:32 ↗ public and the the stakeholders so even

2:31:35 ↗ people who you had mentioned somebody

2:31:37 ↗ who might be in the middle of the

2:31:39 ↗ process or thinking about it that kind

2:31:41 ↗ of thing but it'll be open to

2:31:42 ↗ communicated well and open to everyone

2:31:44 ↗ so even even if you're never going to

2:31:48 ↗ build that you know that kind of thing

2:31:50 ↗ you'd still could attend absolutely and

2:31:54 ↗ you know so we'll have some public

2:31:56 ↗ conversations at these boards and

2:31:58 ↗ Commission meetings the webpage

2:32:01 ↗ hopefully will get you know for people

2:32:04 ↗ who do look at our website and then you

2:32:07 ↗ know if somebody just you know were to I

2:32:11 ↗ hear about this and call you know we

2:32:14 ↗ would definitely sit down I think we

2:32:16 ↗ would sit down with anybody who would be

2:32:17 ↗ interested in wanting to talk about this

2:32:18 ↗ because I think again we're trying to

2:32:20 ↗ hear from as many people as possible

2:32:21 ↗ great thanks oh thank you and and

2:32:27 ↗ because this zoning code will affect

2:32:31 ↗ every property in the city there is

2:32:34 ↗ nobody who's going to be shielded from

2:32:36 ↗ what we're doing everybody will get a

2:32:38 ↗ postcard identifying everybody who lives

2:32:42 ↗ in the city will get a postcard

2:32:43 ↗ identifying we are changing our land use

2:32:45 ↗ code and how they can get more

2:32:49 ↗ information about that if they're

2:32:50 ↗ interested so that will be happening too

2:32:54 ↗ so

2:32:54 ↗ director Avenue mentioned hey there

2:32:58 ↗ could be stakeholders who are in the

2:33:00 ↗ community who you haven't thought of who

2:33:02 ↗ you'd like to talk to how can they reach

2:33:06 ↗ out so they can either email or call

2:33:11 ↗ either myself or miss Loman are both of

2:33:14 ↗ our contact information is on the

2:33:16 ↗ webpage is it on these it's not up it

2:33:26 ↗ should be entered maybe development

2:33:27 ↗ services I don't know do you find it ok

2:33:34 ↗ we will find the webpage we are of

2:33:39 ↗ course like ten days from launching a

2:33:42 ↗ whole new website and so I what we're

2:33:44 ↗ trying to do is comment about both of

2:33:46 ↗ that we'll make sure it's prominent on

2:33:48 ↗ the front page of the current site and

2:33:49 ↗ then will be easily found on the new

2:33:51 ↗ site as well fantastic that's what I was

2:33:53 ↗ looking for so I think at this point we

2:33:56 ↗ will take public comment so do we have

2:34:00 ↗ any members of the public who are

2:34:02 ↗ interested in commenting fantastic come

2:34:06 ↗ on up hi I'm Trish Blair I live in the

2:34:15 ↗ Issaquah Highlands 1970 112th Court

2:34:19 ↗ northeast I would be remiss if I didn't

2:34:22 ↗ talk on behalf of the people for climate

2:34:25 ↗ action it's a fledgling group but we're

2:34:28 ↗ making momentum and we would like to be

2:34:32 ↗ thought of as a major environmental

2:34:34 ↗ stakeholder on this list and we do we

2:34:37 ↗ have a meeting set up with you on

2:34:38 ↗ December 5th oh great yeah that's all I

2:34:43 ↗ have to say thanks Thank You Trish and

2:34:48 ↗ Connie

2:35:02 ↗ oh it's it's there but it looks old no

2:35:18 ↗ resale okay sorry

2:35:21 ↗ it is under major projects list if you

2:35:24 ↗ knew enough to look and it's called a

2:35:27 ↗ code overhaul or something early

2:35:31 ↗ colloquial which colloquial which brings

2:35:36 ↗ me to gee how do you talk code to people

2:35:39 ↗ and normal people which I am NOT one so

2:35:47 ↗ I think that is the biggest barrier you

2:35:51 ↗ will be able to talk to people who know

2:35:55 ↗ they're gonna go through it soon who go

2:35:58 ↗ through it all the time but you're gonna

2:36:04 ↗ have to look at it from 30,000 feet for

2:36:07 ↗ the normal community because they have

2:36:10 ↗ an idea of what they want to happen in

2:36:14 ↗ our town and we've set up this whole

2:36:16 ↗ vision of what we think it's as kua

2:36:18 ↗ should be and then we created this

2:36:20 ↗ strategic plan that supposedly points to

2:36:23 ↗ you know prioritize what we should do

2:36:26 ↗ next and then we have the implementation

2:36:30 ↗ language which would be the code that in

2:36:32 ↗ theory is going to gain us our vision

2:36:34 ↗ yet I don't have a sense that this code

2:36:39 ↗ update is starting with this overarching

2:36:43 ↗ vision and everything is going to have

2:36:45 ↗ to feedback in that if we change this

2:36:49 ↗ code is that gaining the community the

2:36:52 ↗ vision that they want and and I want to

2:36:57 ↗ see that feedback emphasized over and

2:37:00 ↗ over and over so if you're talking to a

2:37:02 ↗ person and they say wow I I know that my

2:37:06 ↗ city is supposed to be and I want it to

2:37:08 ↗ be this and how is that code can you

2:37:12 ↗ tell them how that code is

2:37:14 ↗ get them that consistently and easily

2:37:17 ↗ and so in the end we get the future that

2:37:21 ↗ we expect and we bought into yeah I'm

2:37:24 ↗ gonna I'm gonna back up a smidge in the

2:37:27 ↗ past we created a small town and

2:37:30 ↗ everybody loved the small town and the

2:37:33 ↗ small town was very very successful so

2:37:35 ↗ we are still holding on to our vestiges

2:37:38 ↗ of small-town charm while we are trying

2:37:41 ↗ to still grow and and become more

2:37:46 ↗ contemporary and get enough money to

2:37:49 ↗ sustain ourselves so you're gonna have

2:37:51 ↗ this natural tension that is going to

2:37:54 ↗ need the council to point at and say how

2:37:59 ↗ green do we want to be how dense do we

2:38:01 ↗ want to be where do we want to be those

2:38:03 ↗ things and where can we sacrifice one

2:38:06 ↗ thing for another

2:38:08 ↗ it shouldn't be up to City DSD staff to

2:38:14 ↗ have to make those decisions every time

2:38:16 ↗ because really it's not it's not their

2:38:18 ↗ job maybe 3% of the time they might have

2:38:21 ↗ to decide that but the rest of the time

2:38:24 ↗ they should be easily able to point to

2:38:26 ↗ some clear direction that you have given

2:38:29 ↗ them because I think the burden needs to

2:38:33 ↗ stop everything can't be a judgement

2:38:35 ↗ call it's too onerous and so if that

2:38:39 ↗ makes sense to you on what I think the

2:38:44 ↗ public needs to have if it doesn't then

2:38:48 ↗ ask me what the heck I'm talking about

2:38:49 ↗ because I think it's super super

2:38:51 ↗ important thanks and thank you Connie to

2:38:59 ↗ have any other public comments okay

2:39:03 ↗ fantastic thanks

2:39:07 ↗ glad Connie fixed that good evening

2:39:11 ↗ council members I'm Kristy triple with

2:39:13 ↗ Raleigh properties at one five nine five

2:39:15 ↗ Northwest Gilman Boulevard I will do my

2:39:18 ↗ best to articulate at this hour it's

2:39:20 ↗ well past my pumpkin time so a couple of

2:39:25 ↗ things as you're thinking about code

2:39:28 ↗ revamp one I'm super excited as an

2:39:32 ↗ organization that is consistently using

2:39:34 ↗ it or working to it to interpret and

2:39:38 ↗ support our tenants through it I think

2:39:40 ↗ what would be very helpful to everyone

2:39:45 ↗ involved I'm a big believer in usability

2:39:47 ↗ so testing a couple of projects

2:39:51 ↗ hypothetical projects or not to see if

2:39:53 ↗ the code actually supports what the

2:39:55 ↗ intended outcome is we heard earlier

2:39:58 ↗ during David's and his team's

2:40:01 ↗ presentation that there are few ATA

2:40:04 ↗ units in the multifamily environment

2:40:07 ↗ part of that is because there was a time

2:40:09 ↗ when multifamily was disincentivized it

2:40:12 ↗ wasn't easy to build so when we were

2:40:14 ↗ looking back in 2007 and doing a product

2:40:18 ↗ it didn't really support it wasn't easy

2:40:21 ↗ to do and the costs involved just for

2:40:23 ↗ impact fees were about a hundred dollars

2:40:25 ↗ more per hour even building smaller

2:40:27 ↗ units and so thinking about what's

2:40:30 ↗ important to us as a community and

2:40:32 ↗ finding ways to kind of prioritize that

2:40:34 ↗ I think is super important the other

2:40:38 ↗ thing I would suggest is looking to

2:40:40 ↗ organizations like Urban Land Institute

2:40:43 ↗ and neh up multi-family housing office

2:40:49 ↗ we we hear the community talking about

2:40:52 ↗ wanting to have more jobs here how do we

2:40:54 ↗ support some of those commercial

2:40:56 ↗ developments to happen on the valley

2:40:57 ↗ floor where where the community may want

2:41:01 ↗ it and then having consistency and

2:41:05 ↗ clarity in the code is super important

2:41:08 ↗ for anyone using it not only for staff

2:41:10 ↗ but for developers going through the

2:41:13 ↗ process will often find a time when

2:41:16 ↗ we're in the middle of a project review

2:41:18 ↗ where there's no prioritization

2:41:20 ↗ of what takes precedence and maybe those

2:41:24 ↗ two things maybe between parks and pwo

2:41:26 ↗ they bump up against one another both

2:41:30 ↗ equally important but how do you kind of

2:41:32 ↗ work through that so I think those are

2:41:35 ↗ important things I think the other

2:41:37 ↗ organization back when the community was

2:41:39 ↗ going through the central is Squa plan

2:41:41 ↗ that was helpful with for Tara talking

2:41:44 ↗ about complete connected and compact

2:41:46 ↗ communities but also they share that

2:41:49 ↗ value with our community of a green

2:41:51 ↗ Issaquah and they're already looking at

2:41:54 ↗ the tree canopy for us I think there's

2:41:57 ↗ some ways to kind of look at that as you

2:41:59 ↗ look at the environmental piece as well

2:42:01 ↗ about what works well in the urban form

2:42:03 ↗ what works well in our open space and

2:42:05 ↗ natural environments so a great

2:42:09 ↗ opportunity I'm excited it is a huge

2:42:11 ↗ heavy lift I don't envy the DST staff

2:42:15 ↗ but I'm hopeful and have faith that when

2:42:19 ↗ it's done it's gonna make everybody's

2:42:21 ↗ life easier

2:42:22 ↗ and your staff help them with their the

2:42:26 ↗ time that they spend each day working on

2:42:28 ↗ projects and trying to navigate through

2:42:29 ↗ that so thank you thank you and do we

2:42:34 ↗ have other community ok second time any

2:42:40 ↗ other public comments and a third time

2:42:44 ↗ okay this has been a weighty evening

2:42:48 ↗ with a lot on our docket the

2:42:52 ↗ administrator Bob quits

2:42:53 ↗ so just to come back to the ad hoc the

2:42:58 ↗ the council can have point a dock to a

2:43:00 ↗ is one the council president could

2:43:01 ↗ appoint or the council itself can

2:43:03 ↗ appoint and would suggest perhaps if the

2:43:06 ↗ council is comfortable that the council

2:43:07 ↗ president at a point then we wouldn't

2:43:09 ↗ have to bring it back to a regular

2:43:11 ↗ agenda so there's interest certainly I

2:43:13 ↗ think the council president could

2:43:14 ↗ solicit it but if we could get at least

2:43:16 ↗ a general consensus the vessel or the

2:43:18 ↗ council would like to go we'd appreciate

2:43:20 ↗ that

2:43:21 ↗ okay and I did see a council member

2:43:26 ↗ Stein do you do that's a question for

2:43:31 ↗ staff can you just take a moment and

2:43:34 ↗ tell me what this is not it is not it's

2:43:40 ↗ not zoning we're not changing any zoning

2:43:44 ↗ it's not land-use it might drive

2:43:50 ↗ comprehensive plan changes no maybe not

2:43:55 ↗ so it's something there was there was

2:43:56 ↗ some talk this evening that is I mean

2:43:58 ↗ it's this big talk and and I get that

2:44:01 ↗ but I I think in fairness to everybody

2:44:03 ↗ who's trying to participate let's make

2:44:04 ↗ sure you know where the boundaries of

2:44:06 ↗ this so we're not doing like like a you

2:44:09 ↗ know an all new you know vision for the

2:44:12 ↗ entire city and all of that like we did

2:44:14 ↗ for the sub areas that we have so this

2:44:16 ↗ is not even a sub area plan and I was

2:44:18 ↗ looking at the categories that you have

2:44:20 ↗ on slide three of your presentation and

2:44:22 ↗ and a couple others jumped out at me

2:44:25 ↗ like like allowable uses that's one of

2:44:27 ↗ the things that we recently looked like

2:44:28 ↗ looked at in the central area for

2:44:30 ↗ example so so that is that that's that

2:44:34 ↗ can be a big deal I think but but I

2:44:37 ↗ think it's just very important for

2:44:39 ↗ everybody involved I think it's a fair

2:44:41 ↗ it's even as even as I sit here and I

2:44:43 ↗ think about this and the comment made

2:44:45 ↗ about for maybe the average citizen who

2:44:48 ↗ may be involved I think making sure we

2:44:50 ↗ it's just very clear and what this what

2:44:52 ↗ we're not doing with this not that word

2:44:54 ↗ throwing a wet blanket on it and on

2:44:56 ↗ anything but this is this is god

2:44:58 ↗ boundaries to it let's just make sure

2:45:00 ↗ with what those are clear absolutely

2:45:03 ↗ well and I think I think that's a great

2:45:04 ↗ point because our starting was that sort

2:45:07 ↗ of synthesis and integration of the

2:45:09 ↗ pieces and trying to get consistency and

2:45:12 ↗ then having targeted pieces that we're

2:45:15 ↗ looking at because for instance signs

2:45:18 ↗ does not comply with a Supreme Court

2:45:20 ↗ decision or we know trees have been we

2:45:23 ↗ have the tree canopy assessment and we

2:45:26 ↗ have a lot of challenges with both staff

2:45:29 ↗ and citizens working with our tree code

2:45:32 ↗ so there I think that's part of the

2:45:34 ↗ reason that we put

2:45:35 ↗ that list up there is because we're not

2:45:36 ↗ trying to change everything we're trying

2:45:39 ↗ to focus on the pieces where we feel

2:45:42 ↗ we're out of sync or an update is needed

2:45:51 ↗ okay

2:45:52 ↗ council president parts so I want to

2:45:54 ↗ look to my fellow council members you

2:45:56 ↗ can see if there's anyone who would be

2:45:58 ↗ uncomfortable with my dude putting or

2:46:01 ↗ appointing a an ad-hoc committee for

2:46:05 ↗ this I don't see any so I would ask that

2:46:08 ↗ if you have any ideas for potential

2:46:10 ↗ members of the ad-hoc I think I heard

2:46:15 ↗ one volunteer another person who was

2:46:21 ↗ suggested on the outside on the outside

2:46:24 ↗ and then a third person who has a secret

2:46:26 ↗ nominee that hopefully I'll hear from

2:46:28 ↗ later but if you if you have an interest

2:46:32 ↗ please let me know as soon as possible

2:46:34 ↗ I'll also mention for the sake of our

2:46:38 ↗ newer council members and for the folks

2:46:40 ↗ at home as they say to point out that

2:46:44 ↗ well I guess it's not changing code but

2:46:46 ↗ that you know hearing from a

2:46:49 ↗ representative of Riley properties

2:46:50 ↗ points out to me that we have

2:46:52 ↗ development agreements with Costco

2:46:54 ↗ lakeside Riley properties Swedish

2:46:56 ↗ Issaquah how would so it obviously

2:47:02 ↗ they're vested I believe is the word for

2:47:06 ↗ code but would they be potentially

2:47:08 ↗ impacted by any of these activities or

2:47:12 ↗ are they is their vesting include the

2:47:15 ↗ topics that we've got in front in front

2:47:16 ↗ of us in front of this potential ad hoc

2:47:19 ↗ committee so it's a little bit of a

2:47:22 ↗ mixed bag what I would say is so

2:47:25 ↗ Costco's development agreement was very

2:47:28 ↗ clear that they were going to rely on

2:47:30 ↗ city code for a lot of it there was just

2:47:34 ↗ certain things that got changed the

2:47:37 ↗ rally's development agreement is much

2:47:38 ↗ more comprehensive so but also you know

2:47:42 ↗ as the city adopts different standards

2:47:46 ↗ or updated standards

2:47:48 ↗ there's always conversations with those

2:47:50 ↗ development agreement owners about you

2:47:55 ↗ know that there may be a better way to

2:47:56 ↗ do something and so there's

2:47:58 ↗ opportunities to then adjust based on

2:48:01 ↗ the updates to the code so it's very

2:48:03 ↗ relevant plus both Costco and Rowleys

2:48:06 ↗ are a long long long long long time

2:48:09 ↗ property on which they will be here when

2:48:11 ↗ their development agreement is done some

2:48:13 ↗ some generation of them will be here so

2:48:16 ↗ so you know they are they will be

2:48:19 ↗ ultimately impacted by what we adopt and

2:48:22 ↗ what is the future iterations of that

2:48:25 ↗ which hopefully won't wait for 23 years

2:48:29 ↗ okay councilman beret did you have

2:48:31 ↗ something nope okay

2:48:33 ↗ looking around I think we're at the end

2:48:36 ↗ of our rope here wanted to thank

2:48:39 ↗ everybody for coming out again for the

2:48:43 ↗ public please feel free on any of these

2:48:46 ↗ media issues to email us I don't think I

2:48:49 ↗ have to repeat it at thus this point and

2:48:51 ↗ council president smarts Thank You chair

2:48:54 ↗ Walsh I just wanted to mention I know

2:48:56 ↗ we're not having for good of the order

2:48:57 ↗ but new councilmember de Michelle was

2:49:00 ↗ not the only person that had their

2:49:02 ↗ status changed with the certification of

2:49:05 ↗ the vote today I believe you had your

2:49:07 ↗ seat confirmed yes so congratulations

2:49:11 ↗ thank you and you're a real boy

2:49:23 ↗ okay and with that I think we will close

2:49:27 ↗ our meeting at 10:05 p.m. thank you

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

Open PDF

Attendance

Council / Members (6)

Mariah Bettise

Barbara de Michele

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh

Paul Winterstein

Staff (5)

Mary Lou Pauly, Mayor

Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator

Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator

Tisha Gieser, Deputy City Clerk

Ray Liaw, Legal Counsel

Excused

Stacy Goodman