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

Excused

Stacy Goodman