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City Council Special Meeting Auto captions

Monday, June 24, 2024

6:30 PM · 1h 28m · Council Chambers, 135 E. Sunset Way, Issaquah WA
Topics tracked across meetings:
2025-2030 Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program AB 8820 6/6
Solid Waste Contract Electric Vehicle Joint Feasibility Study Memorandum of Understanding AB 8864 4/4
Black Nugget Wall Project COM 0058 2/2
Newport Way SR 900 to SE 54th Street Improvements Design Contract Amendment AB 8797 2/2
Amendments to Financial Policy re: Change Orders and Retainage Bonds AB 8860 2/2
Ziply Fiber Pacific, LLC Franchise Agreement AB 8861 2/2
Topic
4. CONSENT CALENDAR
4a
Accounts: Payables and Payroll of June 24, 2024, $5,224,966.32 ID 1640
Approve · packet pp.5–24
Topics: Budget
Staff report:
Finance Department P.O. Box 1307 Issaquah, WA 98027 PH: 425-837-3050 www.issaquahwa.gov
4b
Minutes: City Council Special Meeting, Jan. 30, 2024
Approve · packet pp.25
Staff report:
CONSENT CALENDAR b) 01-30-24 City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page (1) CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Special Meeting 7:30 AM Hilton Garden Inn, 1800 NW January 30, 2024 MINUTES Gilman Blvd, Issaquah, WA
4c
Minutes: City Council Regular Meeting, Feb. 5, 2024
Approve · packet pp.27–32
Staff report:
CONSENT CALENDAR c) 02-05-24 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes Page (0000) CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Regular Meeting 7:00 PM Council Chambers February 5, 2024 MINUTES 135 E. Sunset Way
4d
Newport Way SR 900 to SE 54th Street Improvements Design Contract Amendment AB 8797
Authorize · packet pp.33–43
Topics: Transportation
Staff report:
City Attorney Review Rachel Bender Turpin City Attorney Review Date: June 20, 2024
4e
Third 2023-24 Budget Amendment AB 8819
Adopt Ordinance · packet pp.45–59
Topics: Land UseBudget
Staff report:
Budget amendments are required when the expenditures of a fund are forecast to exceed the adopted appropriation level or when changes are needed to interfund transfers - or transfers between funds. This budget amendment is the result of the mid-biennium budget forecast and adjustments, incorporating changes for both years of the biennium. This budget amendment includes 19 items adjusting 9 of the City's 22 financial funds. In total, these adjustments account for $2,929,409 in increased revenues and $3,420,083 in increased expenditures. the General Fund accounts for $181,620 of increased revenue and $418,968 of decreased expenditures.
4f
2025-2030 Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program AB 8820
Approve Resolution · packet pp.61–128
Topics: Transportation
Staff report:
RCW 35.77.010 requires all cities to develop and adopt a six-year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) consistent with its Comprehensive Plan. This state law requires the City review and update its TIP every year, following one or more public hearings. The law establishes a deadline for adoption of the TIP on July 1 each year. Within 30 days of adoption, the TIP is required to be filed with the Washington State Secretary of Transportation. The TIP is a planning document that allows the state to identify the financial needs to support transportation within the state.
4g
Amendments to Resolution No AB 8857
Approve Resolution · packet pp.129–132
Staff report:
In 2023 the City adopted Resolution No.2023-07, establishing The Seattle Times as the City's newspaper of record. The resolution also specifies that "City staff shall use The Seattle Times for all required publications". This made the City's requirement more stringent than state law, which allows for flexibility in the newspaper that certain legal notices can be published in.
4h
Sewer Rehabilitation Program AB 8858
Award Bid · packet pp.133–136
Topics: Water
Staff report:
City Attorney Review Rachel Bender Turpin City Attorney Review Date: June 20, 2024
4i
Amendments to Financial Policy re: Change Orders and Retainage Bonds AB 8860
Adopt Ordinance · packet pp.137–168
Topics: Land Use
Staff report:
Last year, the Administration worked on comprehensive revisions to the City's Financial Management Policy to facilitate more efficient procurement and contracting and address existing ambiguities. The City Council appointed an Ad Hoc Committee to review and provide input on the Administration's recommendations. Further revisions were then made to the Policy, which was then adopted by the City Council on January 16, 2024 (Ordinance #3045).
4j
Ziply Fiber Pacific, LLC Franchise Agreement AB 8861
Adopt Ordinance · packet pp.169–192
Topics: Land Use
Staff report:
Ziply Fiber Pacific, LLC is requesting a new franchise agreement for telecommunications within the City of Issaquah. Ziply Fiber Pacific, LLC currently does not have a franchise agreement within the City, and is a new provider.
4k
Solid Waste Contract Electric Vehicle Joint Feasibility Study Memorandum of Understanding AB 8864
Approve · packet pp.193–196
Topics: Climate
Staff report:
The City of Issaquah and Recology entered into a Comprehensive Garbage, Recyclables, and Compostables Collection Services Contract commenced on July 1, 2023.
4l
Department of Ecology Water Quality Stormwater Capacity Grant AB 8871
Accept Grant; Authorize Agreement · packet pp.197–220
Topics: WaterCritical Areas
Staff report:
This state program provides funding assistance to jurisdictions covered under Phase I and II Municipal Stormwater National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permits. This program provides funding for local governments to address stormwater management and control by: 1. Public education and outreach 2. Public Involvement and participation 3. Illicit discharge detection and elimination (IDDE) 4. Activities to support programs to control run-off from new development, redevelopment, and construction sites 5. Pollution prevention, good housekeeping, and operation and maintenance 6. Annual reporting 7. Establishing and refining stormwater utilities, including stable rate structures 8. Water quality monitoring to implement permit requirements for a Water Cleanup Plan (TMDL) 9. Structural stormwater controls (Phase I requirement) 10. Source Control for existing development (Phase I…
4m
Black Nugget Retaining Wall (TR AB 8873
Authorize · packet pp.221–260
Staff report:
D. 2022-2027 CIP Project
5. REGULAR BUSINESS
5a
Hillside Park Bid Award AB 8762
Carried 7-0
Award Bid; Authorize Funding · 20 min · packet pp.261–268
Topics: ParksBudget
Staff report:
The Hillside Park and Wetland Mitigation Improvements project scope includes constructing a nature-inspired playground, pathways, pads for picnic tables, planting areas and drainage for the informal ball field within Hillside Park in the Squak Mountain neighborhood. The project also includes off-site wetland mitigation at Park Pointe, which includes wetland enhancement and wetland creation.
Roll call:
Moved by MARTS · seconded by WALSH
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall (Attended virtually due to illness), Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh
0:06 good evening everyone and welcome to the
0:08 June 24th special city council meeting
0:12 that I'm calling to order this meeting
0:14 is being held one week later than normal
0:16 due to the association of Washington
0:17 City's conference that was held last
0:19 week uh after this meeting please note
0:22 that the mobility and infrastructure
0:24 committee will be meeting immediately
0:25 following the special meeting as a
0:27 reminder we continue to have a remote
0:29 aspect to to our meetings both staff and
0:31 members of the public may be
0:32 participating in tonight's meeting
0:33 remotely via WebEx and we do have
0:36 council member Hall with us tonight but
0:38 he is remote thank you for joining us
0:41 sock first item on the agenda this
0:43 evening is the Pledge of Allegiance and
0:45 I invite you to join
0:48 us I pledge aliance to the flag the
0:52 United States of America the repblic for
0:56 it stands one nation under God
0:59 indivisible
1:04 andice we're going to move into audience
1:06 comments and members of the public May
1:08 address council at this time in person
1:10 or virtually if you have signed up in
1:12 advance we will call on you
1:14 first if you are joining us virtually
1:17 and would like to make a comment please
1:18 raise your virtual hand or send the host
1:20 a chat message and if you're on the
1:22 phone you can do that by pressing star
1:23 three if you joined by computer computer
1:26 or smartphone look for a hand icon and
1:28 if you're in the room and did not sign
1:29 sign up uh I will ask for other speakers
1:32 before closing this portion of the
1:33 meeting C clerk has anyone signed up for
1:35 General audience comments or indicate
1:37 desire to speak this evening yes thank
1:39 you so if you are making comments you're
1:41 invited to address the council uh as a
1:44 whole regarding matters that are related
1:47 to isqua's programs projects services or
1:50 events comments related to political
1:52 campaigns are not permitted please
1:54 direct your comments to the whole
1:55 Council and not individuals and while
1:57 this is not a question and answer
1:59 session we will contact you to follow up
2:01 if needed when you are recognized if you
2:04 are virtual attendee please unmute your
2:06 microphone or step here in the room
2:08 please step up to the elector and in the
2:09 center state your name address and
2:11 relationship to the city and speak
2:13 clearly and pause frequently please
2:14 limit your comments to 5 minutes if
2:17 you're attending virtually and don't
2:18 respond after your name or phone number
2:19 is called or if your connection is lost
2:21 unexpectedly the meeting will need to
2:23 proceed and you are encouraged to rejoin
2:25 the meeting if able personal attacks
2:27 obene language derogatory REM marks and
2:29 disruptive Behavior will not be
2:31 permitted public comments written and
2:33 verbal are an important aspect of the
2:34 public process and the city takes
2:36 comments seriously we thank you for
2:38 taking the time to address US city clerk
2:40 could you please identify the first
2:41 person who signed up to speak yes we
2:44 have three people signed up two in the
2:45 room and one person virtually the first
2:48 is in room Corby castler on up
2:57 Corby Kirby I'm going to get you to push
3:00 the button in the center of the pad that
3:01 should make it light up
3:04 red hang on H
3:08 come I'm high maintenance so I'm Corby
3:11 castler I'm executive director of The
3:13 Downtown isqua Association and I'm
3:15 honored to be here this is the month
3:18 that we're celebrating Main Street and
3:20 Main Street both of America and washing
3:22 Main Street has principles for economic
3:25 development that we follow at DIA and I
3:28 would um really like to say on behalf of
3:30 our volunteers DIA has Mak made some
3:33 real inroads especially this summer
3:35 we're doing quite a bit and I hope you
3:37 joined us for some of these events but
3:39 Judy is in the room too and I wanted to
3:41 let you know that this is what our
3:42 volunteers do she's leaving here
3:44 immediately to go water the flowers in
3:47 downtown isqua so that's how dedicated
3:49 our volunteers are I'm the only staff
3:51 member but I would really like to
3:53 acknowledge them and I'm just honored to
3:56 speak on their behalf um so I just
3:58 wanted to say that d is a main street
4:01 program we're both affiliated with again
4:04 the state and um the um federal
4:07 government and it's really a
4:09 comprehensive revitalization strategy
4:12 that not only looks at Economic
4:14 Development it's all about our
4:15 businesses of course to make sure that
4:17 they're successful but it's also about
4:19 engaging being very inclusive of all
4:22 stakeholders whether it's visitors it's
4:25 our residents it's our government other
4:27 nonprofits we can't do it without all of
4:30 you it's really critical that we have
4:32 this full engagement to make sure that
4:34 we are successful in keeping our small
4:37 businesses alive in downtown you all
4:39 know that downtown is really the heart
4:42 of a lot of communities and we are
4:44 seeing that within downtown isqua we
4:48 recently did a study it's called a net
4:51 promoter score study and if you don't
4:52 know what that is it's really looking at
4:54 are people advocating on behalf of isqua
4:58 are they recommending to 's Word of
5:00 Mouth that yes we want people to come to
5:03 downtown isqua we're we're excited about
5:05 your community and we want others to
5:07 come which is really the most important
5:09 marketing Avenue you can go to is this
5:12 word of mouth in this recent study we
5:15 surpassed industry average for net
5:17 promoter scores and it's considered
5:19 excellent and I'm happy to share data
5:21 with you on another Forum but we doubled
5:24 what other Industries are doing in terms
5:27 of people saying we really recommend you
5:29 visiting downtown isqua um it's it's
5:34 very rare for a nonprofit to do this um
5:36 I've done it in a previous life so we're
5:39 really leading the way in this Avenue so
5:41 we're looking at other Industries and
5:44 really we're up there with some of the
5:45 biggies we're not quite as high as apple
5:47 or Costco but people are really saying
5:50 that they want to recommend you so we'll
5:51 Aspire for some of those higher Avenues
5:54 um so this summer we've seen a lot of
5:57 progress with economic impact program
6:00 I I hope you all came but we had a Wine
6:02 Walk um when was it it was just recently
6:05 a couple weeks ago but we had more than
6:07 500 people show up for that and it was
6:09 all ages you know obviously only 21 and
6:12 above can drink but the best thing about
6:14 our Wine Walk is we put the wineries
6:18 inside our businesses and so they got to
6:20 know our businesses and they didn't just
6:22 go there to drink they were eating too I
6:24 made sure I went into all these
6:25 restaurants to see are they just
6:27 drinking no they are sitting down and
6:29 eating and it was standing room only it
6:31 was
6:32 really gratifying to see that this
6:35 economic impact program is really
6:36 working um the same is true with fenders
6:39 fenders on front I hope many of you have
6:41 again have gone to these but we had
6:43 about 7,000 people and I get teased for
6:46 using this is aetric but I saw over 200
6:49 lawn chairs and the reason I call that
6:52 out is because people feel that this is
6:54 their Community they are sitting down
6:56 they're making a day of it they're
6:58 spending time in isqua which means
7:00 they're frequenting our businesses and
7:02 our businesses and the visitors that I
7:05 interviewed told us I didn't know these
7:07 businesses were there I'm coming back
7:09 and that is what we're looking for and
7:11 we heard this from the artists along
7:13 Front Street we heard it from
7:15 restaurants we heard it from a number of
7:16 different businesses and during fenders
7:19 we had um people lined out the door even
7:21 before some of these restaurants opened
7:24 um people were drinking at stands before
7:25 10:00 a.m. um but you know that's you
7:28 know whatever floats their boat so we're
7:31 very proud of what we've done make music
7:33 day is another example of how we are
7:35 making a difference um I talked to
7:38 several people who said that normally
7:40 they just commute right on through Front
7:41 Street they stopped they wanted to know
7:44 what was going on that is what we need
7:46 we need something going on where people
7:48 are saying there's some activity here we
7:50 don't want to just go home let's see
7:51 what's going on and stop listening to
7:53 the music you know have this camaraderie
7:55 with other community members that's
7:57 exactly what we're looking for um so
8:01 bottom line small businesses are vital
8:03 to our community and that's what we're
8:04 all about and we want to make sure that
8:06 we are representing them in the best way
8:08 possible and I think we couldn't do it
8:11 without all of you the city has been
8:13 phenomenal about supporting us um elac
8:16 for fenders we had people staying
8:18 overnight so we're supporting the motels
8:20 and the hotels in the area this is what
8:22 we want to do is that me yeah Kirby if
8:25 you just want to take a second to
8:26 summarize that' be great okay I just
8:28 want to summarize by saying invite all
8:30 of you I sent an email about coming to
8:32 visit us to learn more about Main Street
8:34 meet with our businesses we have some
8:36 representatives from the state and the
8:37 senator coming to talk about it as well
8:39 so I'd love to hear from you thank you
8:42 very much thank you Kirby city clerk
8:45 who's up next Judy Eckland come on up
8:54 Judy hi I'm Judy Eckland I volunteer
8:57 with the Downtown isqua Association
9:00 thank you Madame mayor and council
9:01 members for recognizing the Washington
9:04 Main Street anniversary this month I
9:07 started volunteering for the Downtown
9:09 esqua Association when I moved here in
9:11 2009
9:13 and a few years later I joined the board
9:17 during the co pandemic I became more
9:19 involved and became more appreciative of
9:21 all the Di has was able to contribute in
9:24 helping our small downtown
9:26 businesses I volunteer because Community
9:28 is important to
9:30 me I made many new friends here and
9:34 business acquaintances and I strive to
9:36 help our businesses succeed and I'm
9:38 always happy to share my the volunteer
9:41 experiences with others thank you thank
9:43 you very much Judy city clerk who's next
9:49 up excuse me next we have a virtual
9:51 attendee Robert Lurch Robert I'll be
9:54 making you a panelist now you should see
9:56 an option to unmute and can choose to
9:58 turn your video on
10:02 well good evening all can you hear me
10:04 yes we can oh terrific my name is Robert
10:07 lch no laughing and I'm one of the
10:09 owners of pickles playline I heard
10:11 somebody Snicker uh additionally I a
10:14 current member of the DIA economic
10:16 development committee and also my
10:18 partner Nikki Johnson is also Committee
10:20 Member so Madame mayor and members of
10:22 the council I'm virtually here tonight
10:24 to invite you to come and celebrate
10:26 Washington State Main Street so for
10:28 those of you who don't know pickles
10:30 Playland is located right on Front
10:32 Street we're nestled in between H&H and
10:35 vello so it's a great place to get a
10:37 drink and also we have a beer and wine
10:39 license too so we moved to isqua open
10:43 our store in isqua in September of last
10:45 year so we're fairly new to the downtown
10:48 scene but that being said I lived in
10:50 isqua for 20 years both my kids
10:52 graduated from isqua high school so for
10:55 opening a location in isqua was like a
10:57 homecoming for me and little background
10:59 on pickles pickles was actually a real
11:01 dog as for you that don't know pickles
11:03 Playland is a boutique Doggy Daycare and
11:05 grooming salon and we're named after a
11:08 little hippo that was dumped on the side
11:10 of 520 when he was just a little pup and
11:13 turned out that he ended up being 100
11:14 pounds of of dumb he was Kan Corso which
11:18 is it which is an Italian Mastiff and
11:20 Pitbull and he was the sweetest dumbest
11:22 boy ever and so we opened started
11:25 opening a Doggy Daycare because nobody
11:27 he felt uncomfortable any place else
11:29 and my partner and I in six years we've
11:31 opened three locations we have 25
11:33 employees including the one in in isaa
11:35 so one in Kirkland one in Redmond and
11:37 then the one in isqua and and not to
11:40 brag but I'm going to to a little bit
11:42 here so you know who you're you're
11:44 talking who we are and how we fit down
11:47 but um over the past two years 425
11:51 magazine has named us the best dog
11:52 daycare on the east side of Seattle and
11:56 likewise last year right when we opened
11:59 The Seattle Times ranked us as the best
12:01 Dog Daycare in the entire Pacific
12:02 Northwest so we feel like we're we're a
12:06 value ad to the
12:07 community and so why are we members
12:10 because both my partner and I are
12:11 members of Dia well in all cander we've
12:14 been in the
12:15 Kirkland um Redmond Area for about six
12:18 years and we're not a part of any
12:20 association or any group in those
12:21 communities but isqua was different
12:24 right from the get- going I embarrassed
12:25 I don't Christina isn't there the
12:27 president of Dia but even before the ink
12:29 dried on our lease and I'm not kidding
12:31 even before the ink dried on our lease
12:33 she had reached out to us and welcomed
12:35 us to the community and offered her
12:37 assistant and in assistance in
12:39 introducing us to other members other
12:41 business small business owners up and
12:42 down the downtown
12:44 Corridor and frankly that type of uh
12:48 welcoming that type of communication
12:50 just doesn't happen in other communities
12:52 at least not that we've experienced and
12:56 it it truly builds a a sense of communic
12:59 and and I know sometimes people use that
13:00 as sort of like this this really
13:02 superficial platitude but in our
13:04 experience this was revelatory and it
13:06 was real and right from the get-go I we
13:09 we we started using her her being
13:12 Christina once we she introduced some
13:14 folks we we asked her advice on on
13:16 zoning on parking on events coming up
13:19 and we got integrated into the system
13:21 into the not system into the downtown
13:23 community almost from the get-go and
13:25 again that just doesn't happen other
13:27 places not in our experience
13:29 so when when Dia asked for committee
13:33 members both my partner and I
13:35 volunteered we raised our hands now
13:36 we're not watering plants but still we
13:38 volunteered and we also open our doors
13:42 to those events that that Corby spoke
13:44 about the wine walks the uh art walks we
13:48 open our doors for free and have and and
13:50 for other vendors to come and and set up
13:52 in there just because we want to be part
13:54 of that Community because we believe
13:56 truly that a healthy and verdant down
13:59 town is essential for a business or
14:02 essentially for for a city and for the
14:04 small businesses that that operate there
14:07 so I guess in closing I want to say I
14:10 want to ask you Madame mayor and members
14:12 of the council um could you also join
14:15 with Dia and celebrating Washington
14:17 State Main Street with us and with that
14:19 I thank you for your
14:21 time thank you Robert you forgot to
14:24 mention about the lineup of puppies you
14:25 have when you start your puppy training
14:27 program I know people who just come to
14:29 look at the puppies outside of your
14:31 store well I I if I still have five
14:34 minutes yeah if I still have any time so
14:36 we do puppy education hour on Saturday
14:38 morning and I well so I get to make up
14:40 my own title since I'm the owner and so
14:43 again we have a beer and wi license so
14:44 my my title is director of wine and
14:46 puppies because I want to make everybody
14:47 feel bad about their life choices I'm
14:49 gonna try to shoehorn chocolate in there
14:51 someplace or really make everybody feel
14:52 bad when I femil but um but yeah so we
14:56 we have puppy hour we'll have a a whole
14:58 Litany of different people with their
14:59 little pups and they're all playing
15:00 wrestling outside because they want to
15:01 come in and socialize and it's it's
15:03 better than a sharp stick in the eye I
15:04 know I've had a sharp stick in the eye
15:05 and this is substantially better so um
15:08 and I speak too quickly sorry about that
15:10 but you guys have a great meeting and I
15:11 appreciate your time thank you Robert C
15:14 clerk is there anyone else sign up to
15:15 speak this
15:16 evening just see we had someone else
15:18 join us virtually but I'm not seeing
15:20 that they're raising their hand to make
15:22 public comment uh so no right thank you
15:26 well thank you Corby Judy and Robert for
15:28 coming and talking about about uh Dia's
15:30 impact the upcoming event volunteer
15:32 experiences and puppies that's a great
15:35 combination thanks a
15:37 lot um as a reminder folks can make
15:40 comments and submit them to city council
15:42 at is
15:43 quad. uh the next item of business is a
15:45 consent calendar and I do not have any
15:47 remarks on this consent calendar but I
15:49 wanted to see if any of the committee
15:50 chairs or chair designat would like to
15:52 report on any of the consent I'm seeing
15:55 head nods no the consent calendar was
15:57 distributed to Council in advance if
15:59 authorized the items on the consent
16:00 calendar will be considered together and
16:02 approved by one motion have the payables
16:04 and payroll been
16:06 reviewed they have they have thank you
16:09 does any council member desire to remove
16:11 any item from the consent calendar and
16:13 consider it under regular business I'm
16:15 not seeing any indication to do so is
16:17 there a
16:19 motion council president y I move to
16:22 approve the consent calendar as
16:25 presented second it's been moved in
16:28 second to to approve the consent
16:29 calendar as presented is there any
16:31 Council
16:33 discussion not seeing any indication
16:36 keeping my eyes on council member Hall
16:38 um hearing none all those in favor
16:40 signify by saying I I I thanks those
16:45 oppose
16:46 nay that carries unanimously 7
16:50 and0 next item of business uh on regular
16:53 business is AB 8762 the hillside Park
16:56 bid award the request before c this
16:59 evening is Award of the bid and
17:01 authorization of the funding so I'd like
17:02 to invite Parks Community Services
17:04 director Jeff Watling to the podium
17:06 thank you mayor good evening Council uh
17:08 Jeff Watling parks and Community
17:10 Services director uh no PowerPoint
17:12 tonight so you just uh you just get me
17:15 um happy to provide a quick overview on
17:17 this agenda bill um we're seeking uh for
17:20 you to award the Construction contract
17:22 for the hillside Park improvements and
17:24 Wetland mitigation and also seeking
17:27 additional funding uh for this project
17:30 that I will um highlight in my report
17:32 it's also in the written report but
17:33 first a little bit about the project
17:35 itself um design was completed and
17:38 greatly informed by extensive community
17:40 outreach that began in
17:42 2021 um and really continued throughout
17:45 this project um I know some of you
17:47 attended that first uh public meeting
17:49 you may recall how emotional that was
17:51 how divisive it felt uh there felt to be
17:54 a a huge difference of opinion between
17:57 preserving the character of that Park
17:58 and adding needed amenities um
18:01 throughout the the concept design
18:03 process it was really great to see by
18:05 the time we got to the final proposed
18:07 concept which is before you in the Bida
18:08 War tonight
18:10 86% um of respondents supported and felt
18:13 like that final project or that final
18:16 concept really Blended preservation of
18:19 uh the site and the importance of the
18:21 character of the site and added
18:22 amenities uh so really felt like that
18:24 Outreach made a lot of um a lot of
18:27 inroads in finding common ground uh the
18:30 project itself within the park will add
18:32 a new nature inspired play area um
18:35 improved Ada access uh from the entrance
18:38 down to the play area and seating areas
18:39 and the field um we'll also um add more
18:43 seating and for picnicking and and
18:45 seating um improved field drainage so
18:47 better function of the field and a trail
18:50 connection um Around Upper Hillside
18:52 Cemetery where currently there's a a bit
18:55 of a trail conflict as people walk
18:57 directly through Hillside Cemetery this
19:00 will um provide a a more separated route
19:04 uh through this process and through this
19:06 project um first for me in my career a
19:10 wetland was identified on the existing
19:12 field um that uh became uh increasingly
19:17 um complex uh to to try and address and
19:20 so uh what's before you tonight is also
19:24 um seeking full Wetland mitigation uh we
19:27 went back out to the community when that
19:28 wet W was discovered and asked them
19:30 realizing that a a functioning Wetland
19:33 and a field can't coexist what was more
19:35 important to them it was pretty clear
19:37 and unanimous amongst the neighbors that
19:39 they wanted and felt that the importance
19:41 of that field and the function of that
19:42 field did so much for their neighborhood
19:44 and to lose that would be detrimental uh
19:47 we worked uh very extensively with not
19:50 only our own planning and permitting
19:51 department but State Department of
19:53 ecology and in deciding and identifying
19:55 where to best locate uh that w that full
19:59 mitigation uh we identified a space on
20:02 Park point which is property we
20:03 currently own uh this bid award um
20:07 includes that Wetland mitigation which
20:08 is about 6,000 square ft of new Wetland
20:12 uh created uh closer to uh the creek and
20:15 a better function with with other
20:16 Wetlands as well as about 50,000 over
20:20 50,000 Square F feet of wetland buffer
20:22 that we needed to enhance and create uh
20:24 so a pretty extensive uh project there
20:29 um so in this that that's a little bit
20:31 of the outline of the project uh as we
20:33 open bids um earlier this month uh we
20:37 had one responsive bidder A1
20:39 Landscaping um their bid much like many
20:43 of the the bidding climate these days
20:45 came in higher than uh we estimated U
20:48 given increasing cost of materials and
20:50 labor um we identified and uh that we
20:54 needed to to seek some additional
20:56 funding uh we worked very closely with
20:58 the finance department and identified uh
21:01 three funding sources that would not
21:03 impact a general fund fund balance those
21:06 three funding sources are within our our
21:07 Park capital budget um those three
21:11 proposed funded uh funding sources uh in
21:13 the agenda bill that you'll see are uh
21:16 the parks Levy proceeds uh we're seeking
21:18 an additional
21:21 38,000 um within uh Levy proceeds
21:24 forgive me uh 200,000 uh additional
21:28 funds from Park impact fees uh given the
21:31 capacity building nature of this project
21:33 um with a new play area um on site and
21:37 $26,000 from um a another project PK 44
21:42 which is our Park signage wayfinding uh
21:45 project that project was completed uh
21:47 first phase was completed earlier this
21:49 year under budget uh there is a enough
21:52 of a fund balance that this 206,000
21:54 could be considered to be uh reallocated
21:57 to this project still leaving about
21:59 $250,000 in that wayf finding project uh
22:03 to decide what we might want to do uh
22:05 with Phase 2 should you decide to to
22:07 reauthorize that um separate decision
22:09 that's not a decision obviously tonight
22:13 u a little bit is why we we feel we need
22:15 this additional funding um obviously
22:17 that Wetland creation uh was a new
22:19 element to this project uh the not only
22:22 the creation of the Wetland but the
22:23 additional permitting costs and design
22:25 costs that were incurred um the fact
22:27 that we now have two two sites um that
22:30 we'll be managing as part of this
22:31 project um and then as I said earlier
22:33 the current bid climate um we're seeing
22:37 higher higher bids coming in on a number
22:39 of of of City
22:42 projects so with your possible award
22:44 tonight um of this bid uh we do realize
22:47 this is an additional public investment
22:49 but we feel confident uh that the result
22:51 of this work will be not only a much
22:53 improved neighborhood park uh for that
22:56 squawk Mountain communities and
22:58 neighborhood hoods but we also feel like
23:00 we it will result in a better
23:01 functioning
23:02 Wetland within the ISA Creek Basin it's
23:06 the end of my staff report uh Robin
23:08 spear our Park planning and development
23:10 manager and project manager are here if
23:12 you have any
23:15 questions cancel
23:20 questions looking around not seeing any
23:23 questions um would someone care to make
23:25 a motion then
23:28 I think toet would
23:30 like counil MZ thank you uh Madam mayor
23:34 I move toward the Construction contract
23:38 uh including bid alternates 1 and two
23:39 excluding bid alternate three for the
23:41 hillside Park and Wetland mitigation
23:43 improvements project in the amount of
23:46 1,384
23:48 737 including sales tax the A1
23:51 Landscaping Construction Incorporated
23:53 and authorize the mayor to enter into
23:55 and execute the related agreement and
23:57 authorize inclusion of of
24:02 $724,999 from the 2020 to 2025 King
24:07 County Levy 200,000 from the park impact
24:09 from Park impact fees and
24:12 $26,250 from PK 044 WF finding and park
24:17 signage implementation project the PK
24:20 031 and a subsequent 2024 budget
24:23 amendment increasing the project total
24:25 to 1,
24:27 83836
24:29 $6 president second it's been moved and
24:34 seconded Council
24:36 discussion CC
24:38 Ms well this is very
24:42 exciting uh I I still live on squawk
24:45 Mountain uh we still uh look with
24:48 envious Eyes Upon Talis and the
24:51 highlands and the wonderful Park
24:52 facilities uh they have there we have
24:54 wonderful Trail heads uh off into the
24:57 woods but we don't have something like
24:59 this high up on the mountain and it's
25:01 going to make such a difference for kids
25:02 that live in the neighborhood my kids
25:04 are a little too old to play there they
25:06 may still probably pick a Blackberry or
25:08 too when they when they visit uh but
25:10 this is uh you know I commend the parks
25:15 department it was a challenging
25:17 conversation initially and to come up
25:19 with a design that that would not in any
25:22 way make gudi a uh location that was uh
25:26 so important to so many people in the
25:28 Community this is just a wonderful uh
25:31 way to both accomplish something for the
25:33 kids uh but also have the adults U be
25:36 able to continue to have a similar
25:38 character to the location so I really
25:40 really applaud the efforts um and
25:42 believe this will be a real uh you know
25:45 there's 5,000 people on squawk mountain
25:47 and uh this will be a real resource for
25:50 uh kids and their parents so I'm I'm
25:53 incredibly
25:54 supportive thank you councilman ber Mars
25:56 any other comments
25:59 ah council member hunt thank you also uh
26:02 very supportive this is a a long time
26:05 coming and um it will definitely be a
26:07 big Community Asset for especially the
26:09 families with young children up there
26:11 who uh can now use this playground which
26:14 is really exciting for that neighborhood
26:16 which really doesn't have anything like
26:17 that right now um I also wanted to uh
26:21 commend you for the action on the
26:24 wetlands I know that was kind of a
26:26 curveball and unexpected and um to to be
26:29 adding uh at a functional Wetland and to
26:33 make sure that we're taking care of our
26:34 our functional wetlands and um better
26:37 taking care of the creek buffer there
26:39 that makes a lot of sense to me and so I
26:41 also appreciate that aspect of this
26:42 project thank you any other
26:46 comments looking at council member Hall
26:49 all looks good so I'll reread the motion
26:51 it's been moved and seconded to award
26:53 the Construction contract including bid
26:55 Alternatives 1 and two and excluding bid
26:57 alternative three for for the hillside
26:58 Park and Wetland mitigation improvements
27:00 project in the amount of
27:03 $1,384
27:05 737 including sales tax to A1
27:07 landscaping and Construction Inc and
27:09 authorize the mayor to enter into and
27:11 execute the related agreement and
27:13 authorize inclusion of
27:15 $24,600
27:19 $318,900 from the 2022 to 20125 King
27:22 County Levy $200,000 from Parks impact
27:25 fees and $26,250
27:28 from PK 044 W finding way finding and
27:31 park signage implementation project to
27:34 project PK 031 in a subsequent 2024
27:38 budget amendment increasing the project
27:40 total to
27:41 1.838m all those in favor signify by
27:45 saying I
27:47 I those
27:50 opposed thank you that carries
27:52 unanimously the next item of business
27:55 evening on our short meeting is
27:56 committee and Regional reports and head
27:58 over to council member Joe thank you
28:00 Madame mayor um the lodging tax advisory
28:03 committee which was mentioned in the
28:05 comments uh from the public this evening
28:08 I will be meeting on um July 18th there
28:11 was previously a meeting set for June 26
28:14 that had to be rescheduled the new
28:16 meeting date is July 18th Cascade water
28:19 Alliance uh first if I can take a moment
28:21 of personal privilege is having their
28:23 25th anniversary on the 27th of June
28:27 from 11:30 to 1:30 in bellw if you
28:29 haven't registered for it please do um
28:32 it should be a great event celebrating
28:33 25 years of bringing water to isqua the
28:36 public affairs committee for Cascade
28:38 water Alliance was going to have a
28:39 meeting on July 3rd but canceled
28:42 mercifully thank you um the board
28:45 meeting uh for Cascade water Alliance is
28:47 the 26th of June at 3:30 p.m. that
28:50 concludes my report thank you thank you
28:53 council member
28:55 Hall thank you um bear with me I kind of
28:58 a lengthy report this evening um so
29:01 first for E fire and rescue um board of
29:03 directors last met on Thursday June 13th
29:07 um we had a number of promotions to
29:09 engineer it's always nice to see um the
29:11 promotions at our board meetings and all
29:13 their families come together for
29:15 photos um we also had a presentation on
29:17 the agency's technical rescue deployment
29:20 model um so that presentation has been
29:22 shared with you in case you're
29:23 interested in learning more but um
29:25 essentially staff shared how the need
29:28 for technical rescues especially Trail
29:30 rescues like those at puku Point um are
29:32 on the rise as more and more people come
29:34 to the iSell Alps and beyond for
29:37 recreation and where previously a ladder
29:40 truck a literal ladder truck would be
29:42 sent up to respond to these situations
29:44 imagine the service road for pooo point
29:46 a ladder truck driving up there um staff
29:49 are now proposing using two modified
29:51 Ford F350s which is a trend that staff
29:54 have been following closely across the
29:56 country um this change would actually
29:58 cost less than we've currently budgeted
30:00 for this and would be much easier to
30:02 maneuver in difficult terrain um amongst
30:05 other positive so that was a very cool
30:07 presentation they shared out with you
30:08 earlier today and um let me or council
30:11 member Marts or um council president
30:13 Walsh know if you have any questions and
30:15 we can get those answered for
30:17 you um some updates from the fire chiefs
30:20 briefing that I thought were worth
30:22 sharing with everyone um King County
30:24 Fire District 45 or or Duval um is
30:27 holding a special meeting in early next
30:29 month to vote on a contract for services
30:31 with Eastside fire and rescue uh and it
30:34 will be presented to us at the next
30:35 board meeting on July 11th um Chief Lane
30:38 will also be presenting a new leadership
30:40 structure for the agency at our next
30:42 meeting to accommodate the added
30:45 responsibilities of that contract and
30:46 we'll be sure to share those
30:47 organizational charts with you
30:50 then um earlier this month the Fire
30:53 Chiefs and Union reps of Duval East Side
30:56 Fire and Rescue false City and snow
30:58 kwami all met to discuss uh expanding
31:01 their shared Staffing agreement to
31:03 include Eide fire and rescues so
31:04 essentially during times of shortage
31:07 each department can call on Partners to
31:08 help with Staffing Resources resource
31:11 sharing um so that's good news for our
31:14 organizations obviously but also very
31:16 good for our relationship building with
31:17 Fall City and sto kwami and we thought
31:19 that was we're sharing with
31:20 everyone um another heads up we heard
31:23 that Redmond Fire Department will be
31:25 officially presenting a proposal to form
31:27 a Regional Fire Authority to their City
31:29 Council next month so that will be very
31:31 interesting to
31:32 watch um the King County EMS Levy
31:35 planning committee and subcommittees are
31:38 well underway if you don't already know
31:40 um at the last meeting of the BLS
31:43 subcommittee that's basic life support
31:45 So how we pay for our EMS Services um it
31:48 sounds like there was an pretty
31:49 extensive conversation about adjusting
31:51 the funding model um for the levy for
31:54 those services so right now it's based
31:56 on 50% call volume and 50% assessed
31:59 value and it seems like the committee is
32:01 interested in moving that shifting that
32:03 to a 60% call volume 40% assessed
32:07 value um so we'll keep you updated on on
32:10 how that develops and what kind of
32:11 impact that might have on on our
32:13 agency and here in
32:16 isqua um oh finally just for fun uh we
32:20 wanted to I wanted to share that the
32:22 Seattle Channel um epher participated in
32:25 the Seattle Channel documentary called
32:27 the fight against fental to talk about
32:30 our Naran leave behind kit program which
32:32 you may remember last year I I gave a
32:35 little update on that and that we was a
32:36 kind of first in the first of the West
32:38 Coast kind of thing to do definitely
32:40 first in the state to do and anyways
32:43 that film won a Northwest Regional Emmy
32:45 Award so I thought that was kind of cool
32:48 thought I'd share that with you um and
32:50 the next meeting of the finance and
32:51 administration committee is this coming
32:53 Wednesday at noon at our headquarters on
32:55 on Newport Way um we'll be talking about
32:58 the budget um at that meeting and
33:01 um um Deputy City administrator Snider
33:03 will be joining me uh and then at the
33:05 next meeting of the full board is on
33:08 July 11th at
33:10 4M um one more update I was also able to
33:15 attend my first meeting of the East Side
33:17 Transportation partnership on June 14th
33:20 um I am isqua's newest representative
33:23 behind uh Deputy council president D
33:25 Michelle who is the chair of that
33:27 organization and universally adored by
33:29 everyone on that
33:31 partnership um we heard presentations
33:34 from King County Metro and Washington
33:36 State Department of Transportation
33:37 focused on Safety and
33:39 Security um we also shared those
33:42 presentations with you in case you'd
33:44 like to get into it a bit more but kind
33:45 of at a high level there are some things
33:47 that Deputy council president and I
33:49 wanted to share with everyone first King
33:51 County Metro showed us data that
33:53 incidents are down since the pandemic
33:56 and uh drug incidents incidences in
33:58 particular are down 34% which is good
34:00 news and trending in the right direction
34:02 um originally data showed that there was
34:04 a spike but they were able to show us
34:06 that that was actually due to a fall in
34:08 writers ship at the same time not
34:10 necessarily an increase in incidents and
34:12 the data was showed as per capita rides
34:15 so it was a little
34:17 misleading um they walked us through
34:19 what contributes to Safety and Security
34:21 and and what their three pillars are
34:23 which is built environment uniformed
34:24 presence and support um All About Shi
34:27 shifting from that kind of traditional
34:29 model of security to a care and presence
34:32 model of security which um we thought
34:34 was very interesting and it seems like
34:36 their pilot programs are very successful
34:37 with regard to behavioral health
34:39 Navigators or Specialists and um safe
34:42 ambassadors as
34:44 well with uh Washington State Department
34:46 of Transportation they gave us a really
34:47 quick presentation because we spent so
34:49 much time with Metro but um they were
34:51 talking to us about how traffic
34:53 fatalities are way up and are continuing
34:56 to go up uh in Washington in in 2023
34:59 there were 810 traffic fatalities in the
35:02 state which is the highest it's been in
35:04 the last 10 years um they're noticing a
35:07 marked increase in speeding in reckless
35:10 driving in impaired driving all over the
35:12 state and so they see pedestrian and
35:14 bicycle um program projects as critical
35:17 to you know both empowering active
35:19 Transportation but but also reducing
35:21 traffic fatalities um so they walked us
35:24 through some of the projects that they
35:25 funded across the state and talked a lot
35:26 about how complete streets build that
35:29 more balanced and Equitable and
35:30 resilient transportation system which of
35:33 course we and AA quad know very well
35:35 we're big fans of complete streets so
35:37 that was great to hear um and our next
35:40 meeting of easts side Transportation
35:42 partnership is on Friday July 12th at
35:44 800 a over Zoom thank you for bearing
35:47 with me and that concludes my report
35:49 thank you for the warning council member
35:53 hen um thank you there was no meeting of
35:56 the um Planning Development and
35:58 environment Committee in the month of
36:01 June and so I have no report this
36:04 evening council member Ray that's a
36:06 tough one to follow uh the council
36:08 mobility and infrastructure committee is
36:10 meeting immediately after this meeting
36:12 this evening to discuss the black nugget
36:16 retaining wall replacement project
36:18 Landscaping standards and then I also
36:21 wanted to note that the um mobility and
36:24 infrastructure committee will be meeting
36:26 on July 9th and has a sing Le agenda
36:28 item which is solid waste contract
36:30 administrative fees because I'm not sure
36:32 that we would have a chance to talk
36:34 about that before then and uh that
36:36 concludes my report you council member
36:38 Ray council member Mars thank you Madame
36:39 mayor the sound cities Association
36:41 public issues committee met on Wednesday
36:43 June 12th uh we were going to maybe get
36:46 an update on the pck operating policies
36:49 update U but that has been deferred uh
36:52 we had a discussion about a
36:54 recommendation to the executive board on
36:57 Regional alignment on a s and Refugee
36:59 crisis and I would have loved to discuss
37:01 it uh with our Council but we received
37:04 it about 3 hours before the meeting
37:05 started and it was due about 48 hours
37:07 after the meeting so there was Zero
37:10 opportunity to bring it back to council
37:12 that is extremely
37:14 unfortunate Council services safety and
37:16 Parks committee will be meeting tomorrow
37:18 6:30 here in council chambers uh we have
37:21 two issues Comm 0013 Park system Plan
37:25 update uh that is very exciting and Comm
37:28 0052 Credit Card fee cost recovery maybe
37:31 not quite as exciting but also important
37:34 uh this concludes my report thank you
37:35 council member MZ uh Deputy council
37:38 president D Michelle thank you mayor
37:40 Paulie uh on June 10th the regional
37:42 transit committee was provided with the
37:45 tour of the Metro Transit Control Center
37:48 and uh pardon me but I'm going to geek
37:50 out on this because it was just
37:52 fantastic uh we got a real appreciation
37:54 for the massive data center in which at
37:56 least one dispatcher out of the 10 to 12
37:59 that they have on site at any given time
38:01 is in touch with every single bus in the
38:03 Metro System at any given time the setup
38:07 is very similar to our Police Dispatch
38:09 Center except the room is massive and
38:10 there are 10 to 12 stations rather than
38:13 the three that we have in our Center um
38:16 the uh the T gu said that they receive
38:18 around 200,000 inquiries per month
38:21 coming from customers bus drivers police
38:23 and fire cities County School District
38:26 and so forth everything from a customer
38:29 wondering why their bus hasn't arrived
38:31 yet to a city staff member calling uh to
38:34 a uh to a bus driver requesting
38:37 assistance for a medical emergency or a
38:40 city staff member calling to advise of
38:42 an emergency road closure and on and on
38:45 and on their highest um time of pressure
38:49 is during snow events or when there is a
38:53 massive protest like the women's March
38:55 in uh downtown Seattle or of the uh
38:59 protests that took place during uh the
39:01 black lives matters um and so all hands
39:05 on deck during those kinds of
39:07 situations uh they also have this
39:09 fantastic software and this is really
39:11 for for Transit nerds but they have this
39:14 fantastic U software where you can watch
39:16 all of the buses on a single route and
39:19 how they are progressing around their
39:21 route and then they talk to the buses
39:23 and they tell them whether to slow down
39:25 or go faster so that all the buses don't
39:28 Bunch up or all the buses aren't delayed
39:31 and yeah and it's fantastic you're
39:33 watching the routes like this and uh the
39:36 dispatchers are talking to them so
39:38 anyway there was just a whole bunch of
39:41 amazing data and graphics and
39:44 conversations with the
39:45 dispatchers um I think I mentioned on
39:48 our tour of the fire station that they
39:50 have the same issues there about uh what
39:54 emergency calls come in the the um
39:57 stress on the whole environment is
40:01 constant and so they are also just like
40:03 our fire station is looking for a
40:06 different kind of noise to uh signal an
40:08 emergency they are also doing the same
40:11 kind of research to reduce the stress on
40:13 their dispatchers anyway it was nerd
40:15 heaven for all of us transis nerds so
40:18 and then on June 13th East Side uh Human
40:21 Services Forum held its regular board
40:23 meeting and we got a report from Lisa
40:25 representative Lisa Ken on the
40:27 Investments made in behavioral health
40:29 during the last legislative session uh
40:32 and very briefly uh the legislature
40:34 invested millions of dollars into
40:36 improvements for Youth and adults
40:38 experiencing both mental illness and
40:40 substance abuse um disorders uh it was a
40:44 historic investment in one that is was
40:47 long overdue um and one that really
40:50 needs to be built on and I have to
40:52 commend representative Kalen for her
40:55 investment of time and effort in um
40:58 ensuring that that investment continues
41:01 forward she is currently working and she
41:03 talked about this um across the state
41:07 she actually came into the meeting from
41:09 spoken where she was meeting with
41:11 healthc care uh uh people in that area
41:14 to develop a Statewide Continuum of Care
41:18 um and I've often used the word broken
41:20 when I talk about the substance abuse of
41:23 mental health system in Washington state
41:25 um representative Ken is doing her best
41:27 to work to reform that system and to
41:30 make sure that uh we have a rational and
41:34 logical system in rid of the instead of
41:36 the patchwork system we have now she is
41:38 expecting that those uh conversations
41:42 and efforts will yield results in the
41:45 next legislative session and so I also
41:48 want to um I command representative
41:50 Kellum but also another one of our
41:52 Representatives representative s is also
41:54 very much involved in that effort and
41:56 that concludes my report thank you
41:58 Deputy council president council
41:59 president
42:00 Walsh I'm going to be boring and say no
42:03 report thank you real mix of reports
42:07 this evening for the mayor's report
42:09 there will be no executive session this
42:11 evening but I did want to give a couple
42:13 of updates so um first one is the sister
42:16 City's update I recently traveled to
42:18 Morocco to help deliver the donated
42:20 items to those most impacted by the
42:22 September 2023 earthquake our community
42:26 in close partnership with
42:27 moroccan-american groups helped to ship
42:29 over 17,000 cold weather items and 200
42:32 computers for more information uh I just
42:35 put a newsletter out which you can find
42:37 at isqu w.gov mayor but big thank you to
42:41 um mayor sefiani and our sister city
42:44 shasa
42:45 Morocco what's next the sister city
42:47 commission and the Arts commission are
42:48 working together to bring an artist from
42:50 shaan to isqua this October this
42:53 includes School visits and participation
42:55 at the isqua Salmon Days Festival the
42:57 featured artists will engage with
42:59 students teachers and the community to
43:01 share the Moroccan culture and to
43:03 demonstrate their craft a few upcoming
43:06 events the Energy Smart East Side heat
43:09 pumps cool incentives heat pumps are an
43:11 efficient way to heat and cool your home
43:12 but how do they work do they work in
43:14 cold weather and aren't they expensive
43:17 for more information join Energy Smart
43:20 Eastside online tomorrow June 25th at 6:
43:22 p.m. for a practical overview of heat
43:24 pumps for homeowners we'll cover
43:26 Technologies efficiency ratings what to
43:28 ask your contractor and how to stack
43:30 your rebates and incentives to get the
43:32 most value so for more information
43:34 please visit our website is
43:36 s.gov the Heritage and Natural History
43:39 tour Confluence Park in Gilman Village
43:41 on June 26th we will have a guided tour
43:43 of Confluence Park in Gilman Village you
43:45 will hear stories of some of the
43:47 earliest families to arrive here and
43:49 learn about the landscape they
43:50 encountered and compare it with what is
43:52 here now done in collaboration with the
43:54 isqua History Museum and the City of
43:56 isqua the tours will blend the stories
43:57 of people and Landscape that shaped our
43:59 town to register please visit isqua
44:02 w.gov and concerts on the green every
44:04 summer concert on the green presents
44:06 free familyfriendly concerts in a
44:08 beautiful outdoor setting on the isqua
44:10 community center Green the series starts
44:12 in July and continues every Tuesday
44:14 through the last Tuesday in August for
44:16 more details you can look at our
44:18 website and also is was down home 4th of
44:21 July celebration this event will uh
44:24 commence with the parade at 11:00 a.m.
44:26 uh and then family fund activities will
44:28 be available at the community center
44:30 until 2 pm for more information there is
44:32 more information on our website and City
44:34 Hall will be closed on Thursday July 4th
44:37 and Friday July 5th for the holiday that
44:39 concludes the mayor's report good of the
44:42 order are there any items for good of
44:44 the order council member Hall then
44:46 Council or sorry council member hunt and
44:48 then council member Joe thank you Madame
44:50 mayor um on June 15th I uh was able to
44:55 join the pride events that the city
44:58 hosted um so that was a welcoming Pride
45:00 perspectives panel and there were uh
45:03 members um speakers from Jen pride pride
45:06 across the bridge Lambert house and
45:07 isqua high school Saga Club um this is
45:10 the third time that the city has
45:12 participated in this panel and I've been
45:14 able to attend and have learned
45:15 something every time and I really
45:18 encourage checking out the video which I
45:20 uh just checked and the video is
45:21 available um so you can uh see the
45:25 conversation that was had great thank
45:27 you um and thank you to all of the staff
45:29 members that made it possible that was
45:31 great council member
45:32 Joe thank you Madame mayor um I know
45:36 members of the council received the
45:38 email from uh sound cities Association
45:42 uh they're having their networking
45:43 dinner on June 26th at 5:30 in Renton if
45:47 you're able to attend also um put on
45:50 your calendars the port unplugged event
45:52 on July 17th uh it is being held at
45:55 Pickering Barn here in town so it's
45:57 really a a great event to go to gives us
46:00 a chance it gives us a chance to meet
46:02 other electeds and talk about issues
46:04 such as economic development cruise and
46:06 tourism uh and also the good things that
46:10 are happening at the Seattle uh
46:11 International Airport the guest speaker
46:13 will be Beth Knox from the Seattle
46:15 sports commission uh this is uh priming
46:18 us for um the FIFA World Cup that's
46:21 coming in
46:22 2026 uh there are a number of different
46:24 things that we can do as a region to
46:26 make make that a great event and uh and
46:29 tout the great things that we have in
46:31 our natural environment as well as our
46:34 our wonderful cities here on the east
46:36 side so if you can attend on the 17th at
46:38 5:00 p.m. at picking Barn I would
46:39 encourage you to do it I attended the
46:41 one in Woodenville last year and it was
46:43 just a great
46:44 event thank you council member council
46:46 member Council Deputy president D
46:49 Michelle so just in regard to concerts
46:51 on the green uh just a reminder to
46:54 everybody that there is a hamburger and
46:55 hot dog dog stand that you will want to
46:58 stop by and get some of the best
47:00 hamburgers there are around and and have
47:03 those during the concert thank you any
47:05 other good of the order
47:08 items not seeing any there are a couple
47:10 upcoming Council meetings Monday July
47:12 8th is the regular city council meeting
47:14 and this meeting is being held one week
47:16 later than normal to avoid having a
47:18 meeting in the week of the 4th of July
47:19 holiday tentative agenda items include
47:22 the isqua climate action plan midpoint
47:24 check-in on Monday July 15th there is a
47:27 committee of the whole meeting this
47:28 meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. at the
47:30 King County District Court and will
47:32 include a tour of the district court
47:34 Fire Station 72 and the Redmond Police
47:37 Department uh there is no executive
47:39 session this evening um so before we
47:41 adjourn I just want to give a reminder
47:43 that the mobility and infrastructure
47:44 committee will be meeting immediately
47:46 following the special meeting the same
47:48 WebEx meeting will be used virtual
47:50 attendees wanting to attend the
47:52 committee meeting please stay in the
47:53 virtual meeting and there'll be a short
47:55 break before the committee meeting
47:57 starts to allow the special meeting
47:58 attendees to exit so there being no
48:00 further business the meeting is
48:02 adjourned at 7:17 p.m.
48:25 thanks
51:25 e e
52:03 council member Hall we're getting ready
52:04 to call back to order as a heads up
52:53 all right chance we ready
53:15 council member Hall can you hear us okay
53:16 we comeing
53:18 through yep all
53:23 good all right um good evening and
53:26 welcome everyone I council member Chris
53:28 Ray and I'm going to call to order the
53:30 June 24th 2024 city council mobility and
53:33 infrastructure
53:36 committee um with me this evening are
53:38 Deputy council president Barbara D
53:40 Michelle and council member Zach Hall is
53:43 joining us
53:45 remotely there are multiple public
53:48 comment opportunities at tonight's
53:50 meeting there's a general public comment
53:52 opportunity at the beginning of the
53:54 meeting or you may make public comment
53:56 comments after the presentation and
53:58 Council question answer period at
54:00 tonight's agenda
54:02 um members of the public May address the
54:05 council at this time in person or
54:08 virtually those who signed up in advance
54:10 will be make comments will be called
54:13 first clerk has anyone signed up for
54:16 comment this evening no and it doesn't
54:19 appear that we have anyone from the
54:20 public in our virtual meeting room nor
54:23 in our physical meeting room tonight I'm
54:25 heartbroken
54:27 okay um then we are going to move on to
54:30 our uh first and only oh that's not true
54:34 the first thing we're going to do is
54:36 we're going to see if there's any
54:38 objection to approving the minutes from
54:40 our May 14th meeting any objection
54:44 without objection the minutes of the May
54:46 14th meeting are approved now we'll move
54:49 into our one agenda item which is Comm
54:52 0058 black nugget wall project uh tr0 33
54:57 Landscaping standards and Jim jacobe um
54:59 senior Transportation engineer will be
55:01 presenting this evening so Jim
55:05 or director Emily Moon maybe first huh I
55:09 just wanted to let committee members
55:10 know this is Jim's first presentation he
55:13 is one of our new but not so new he
55:16 joined us in February of last year
55:19 Transportation engineers and we're
55:21 really lucky to have him because Jim's
55:23 background includes geotechnical
55:26 expertise and so that's been a fantastic
55:29 thing to add to our
55:31 staff well Jim welcome uh to the city
55:35 and uh welcome to your first Council
55:37 committee meeting we were pretty
55:40 nice well thank
55:45 you see if I can share the point
55:49 correctly here
56:00 all right well thank you council members
56:02 um my name is Jim jacobe I'm a senior
56:04 Transportation engineer with public
56:06 works I'm here to talk to you tonight
56:08 about the black nugget retaining wall
56:10 project the landscape standard that
56:13 relate to
56:16 that so the purpose for this uh
56:21 presentation tonight is the black n wall
56:24 project has limited adjacent
56:27 roadway
56:29 um adjacent to the wall so the existing
56:34 Southeast black Nugget Road next to the
56:36 wall and design alternatives for the
56:38 road do not meet current city of isqua
56:45 standard so the direction we're asking
56:47 for tonight is uh ministration would
56:50 like approval to proceed with public
56:52 engagement on non-compliant roadway
56:54 sections for black Nugget Road that
56:56 provide more injection for critical
56:59 areas get more into that in a little
57:03 bit so here's an aerial view of the
57:06 project um so the wall itself is the
57:10 large red line you see in the middle for
57:13 reference
57:15 the white rectangle in the center is the
57:18 roof of Fred Meyer so the this wall and
57:21 the Json Road are directly behind the
57:23 Fred Meyer uh and Home Depot
57:28 so kind of above and to the right of the
57:30 wall there's a steep slope critical
57:34 area take a look at
57:36 the other view of the project so this is
57:41 uh looking down at an angle at the wall
57:45 um from above Fred Meyer down in there
57:48 in the center of the photo the wall
57:50 itself is about 1,000 ft long and up to
57:54 35 ft high in some places is um as I
57:58 said there's a steep slope above the
58:00 wall and you have obviously the roadway
58:03 adjacent to the wall and then on the
58:05 other side of that you have another
58:07 steep slope existing trees and then a
58:10 retaining wall not owned by the city
58:12 behind the Fred Meyer
58:16 well lot of lot of constraints on the
58:21 space um so some background in history
58:23 of the project the wall itself and black
58:26 Nugget Road were constructed a quick
58:28 question council member Michelle yeah
58:30 just a quick question so we don't own
58:32 that wall uh do we own the wall do we
58:36 own the land adjacent to that wall or do
58:40 we just own the
58:42 wall so um we'll look at that here in a
58:45 second but there's we own the wall AB
58:49 uphill from the road and the road but
58:51 not the wall below the road right right
58:54 yeah I'm more concerned about the do we
58:57 have RightWay on the other side of that
58:59 wall that we own in the area where the
59:03 dirt is the fill and so forth not much
59:07 not much okay yeah most of that is is
59:10 privately owned okay that's what I
59:11 wanted to know thank
59:16 you oh so the wall and black neuger Road
59:20 were constructed in 1999 2000 by a
59:23 private developer um at the time that
59:25 was King County jurisdiction um the city
59:28 later annexed that in
59:30 2000 um as part of the north isqua
59:34 annexation um from 2010 to
59:38 2020 the city notice uh started noticing
59:41 deterioration of the uh the wall
59:43 conducted several
59:44 repairs during that time uh then in 2021
59:48 and 2022 City hired Engineers to do
59:52 evaluations on the wall uh the engineers
59:55 noted corrosion to structure elements of
59:57 the wall and recommended replacing the
59:59 wall which is ultimately why we're
1:00:02 looking at this project
1:00:05 now so here's some current pictures of
1:00:07 the wall you can
1:00:10 see uh in the upper picture you can see
1:00:12 the X and some of these kind of diagonal
1:00:16 looking pieces those are some of the
1:00:18 repairs that were done you notice all
1:00:20 the dark spots where water is seeping
1:00:22 through the wall um it's not shown in
1:00:26 this photo but there's several places
1:00:28 where there's Vines and vegetation
1:00:30 growing through the wall um so it's it's
1:00:32 not in great
1:00:37 shape so some additional background uh
1:00:40 the administration brought a similar
1:00:42 question to this committee on another
1:00:44 project squawk Mountain back in April um
1:00:47 so that project had its similar question
1:00:51 U not wanting to disturb mature trees
1:00:53 and existing critical areas so kind of a
1:00:57 similar situation here where we have a
1:00:59 steep slope critical area above the wall
1:01:02 we're not wanting to disturb that um so
1:01:07 the committee in the April uh meeting
1:01:11 gave Direction the administration to
1:01:13 amend the street standards to allow for
1:01:15 more protection of existing trees and
1:01:18 CRI so that's similar to what we're
1:01:22 asking for tonight
1:01:26 so for reference here are the current
1:01:30 Street standards for roadways like black
1:01:32 Nugget Road um so on the left you have a
1:01:35 5 foot sidewalk then a 5 foot planter
1:01:38 strip 5 foot bike lane the two travel
1:01:41 Lanes in either direction and on the
1:01:44 other side you have 5 foot bike lane
1:01:46 another 5 foot planter strip and another
1:01:48 5ft sidewalk so you add all those up
1:01:52 it's about 53 ft of width that you need
1:01:56 minimum um that will not be on the quiz
1:02:00 later um so if we look at what is
1:02:04 existing have the wall on the right
1:02:07 there um and directly adjacent to that
1:02:09 you have the sidewalk there's very
1:02:12 little Gap in most places between the
1:02:14 sidewalk and the
1:02:15 wall um then you have gol fo travel Lane
1:02:19 a 12T Center turn lane another 12T
1:02:22 travel Lane and a 5 and 1/2t sidewalk on
1:02:26 the other side which is about 47 ft
1:02:29 total so a little less than the the 53
1:02:33 that we would need minimum to meet the
1:02:36 current uh standard
1:02:39 section so if we look in the next
1:02:42 slide superimposed what that would look
1:02:45 like for this project if we were to try
1:02:48 to meet current Street
1:02:51 standards um you can see we would need
1:02:54 more than 5 ft
1:02:57 of additional space into the existing
1:03:00 wall and into that steep
1:03:03 Hillside um so several feet of critical
1:03:06 area impact not only for the wall itself
1:03:09 but above that to construct it um you
1:03:13 can see the existing RightWay line is uh
1:03:17 a little to the left so we would need to
1:03:19 purchase additional rway as well um so
1:03:22 it' be pretty difficult
1:03:28 quick question before you you march off
1:03:30 this one so you're
1:03:31 you're to create additional real estate
1:03:34 you're you're proposing I guess moving
1:03:36 the wall back into the
1:03:38 Hillside and and then I guess I want to
1:03:40 poke a little bit I think at the same
1:03:41 place that Deputy council president D
1:03:43 Michelle was going on the west side of
1:03:45 the road there are there's some grass
1:03:48 before you get to the wall and it's got
1:03:50 some trees in it that's what I see from
1:03:52 the AAL view is that private property or
1:03:54 is that part of our right away or is
1:03:55 that already accounted for so some of
1:03:58 that is our right away um you see kind
1:04:00 of the dash line on the left of the the
1:04:03 picture here that's our RightWay line so
1:04:05 we do own a little bit of that um
1:04:08 there's
1:04:10 some other factors uh here
1:04:13 though this graphic doesn't show it
1:04:16 quite well but it is also a steep slope
1:04:18 area to the to the left side there as
1:04:21 well as you know if we try to move the
1:04:22 roadway to the left that would impact
1:04:25 those existing trees um and we' also
1:04:27 impact the existing wall that city does
1:04:29 not own behind Fred Meyer um so we would
1:04:33 potentially you know need to mitigate
1:04:35 that and you know do some repair and
1:04:39 upgrade to a wall that City doesn't own
1:04:43 great thanks
1:04:48 yeah so as I said um critical area
1:04:51 impact would be the geologically
1:04:52 Hazardous area or the steep slope above
1:04:54 the wall if we were to try to meet
1:04:57 current uh Street
1:04:59 standards um it also goes against you
1:05:03 know City policy and goal in the
1:05:05 comprehensive plan to conserve and
1:05:07 protect environmentally critical
1:05:14 areas so here's another nice photo this
1:05:16 one actually shows some of the uh The
1:05:19 Vines and things growing through the the
1:05:21 currently talk about some analysis
1:05:26 uh CPD previously determined um for
1:05:29 squawk Mountain that only a safety issue
1:05:31 could warrant a deviation away from the
1:05:34 landscaping or planer strip rule um
1:05:37 within the street standards so our
1:05:40 recommended designs currently for black
1:05:42 NE wall do not include a planter strip
1:05:45 due to impacts to the critical area you
1:05:47 know the limited space as we talked
1:05:49 about and significantly increased costs
1:05:56 so taking a look at some of the the
1:05:58 options that we're considering
1:06:01 currently um this would place the new
1:06:05 wall a new wall in front of the existing
1:06:08 wall so if you see on the far right it
1:06:11 kind of grayed out very light colored
1:06:13 that's the existing wall so directly in
1:06:16 front of that would be a new wall we
1:06:19 would lose about 2 feet of usable
1:06:21 rideway there with this
1:06:24 option um
1:06:26 we can make that up by reducing the size
1:06:29 of the travel Lanes from 12 feet down to
1:06:33 11et so essentially very similar section
1:06:36 to what's there
1:06:37 currently
1:06:39 um without
1:06:41 impacting crickle
1:06:44 areas and here's a very similar option
1:06:48 so same situation with the existing wall
1:06:51 a new wall about 2 feet sticking out in
1:06:54 front of it
1:06:56 um and but instead in this case instead
1:06:58 of keeping the center turn lane we would
1:07:00 add uh two 5 foot bike
1:07:10 Lanes right so our
1:07:13 options are one uh support adjustment to
1:07:16 the street
1:07:17 standards share design Alternatives with
1:07:19 the community with assumption that
1:07:21 Council will adopt an amendment to the
1:07:22 street standards that will provide more
1:07:24 flexibility to protect existing critical
1:07:26 areas or two do not support adjustment
1:07:29 to Street standards and provide
1:07:30 community members only design
1:07:32 Alternatives that meet code a
1:07:33 significant additional expense to the
1:07:35 city and impact to the existing critical
1:07:43 area and administration's recommendation
1:07:47 or Administration requests permission to
1:07:49 present non-co compliant Road sections
1:07:51 to Tab and the public
1:07:58 kind of our next steps um assuming the
1:08:01 committee agrees we would like to
1:08:03 present uh to tab actually later this
1:08:06 week uh and depending on feedback from
1:08:11 uh tab we would potentially seek
1:08:13 additional public
1:08:15 feedback um and then hopefully you know
1:08:19 if uh no significant changes are needed
1:08:23 we will bring the preferred wall and
1:08:26 Road alternative back to this committee
1:08:28 and then eventually to full
1:08:33 Council outstanding Jim thank you um
1:08:37 questions um council member Hall I'm
1:08:40 going to with your big yellow hand i'm G
1:08:41 to go with you
1:08:44 first that's perfect thank you very much
1:08:46 I have um three questions um so first of
1:08:49 all thank you for highlighting the need
1:08:52 here and coming to to council um
1:08:56 I'm just curious two the to top two
1:08:58 questions are just Curiosities but have
1:09:00 we considered any design Alternatives
1:09:02 that meet the Landscaping part of Street
1:09:06 standards like half how do I how do I
1:09:09 say this is it possible to adhere to the
1:09:12 street standards on just one side of the
1:09:14 road have we explored that option yes I
1:09:18 don't have it shown here but um if I go
1:09:21 back to the one of the options here we
1:09:25 could replace the bike lanee on the
1:09:27 right side of the the picture here with
1:09:30 a landscaping strip um you know the
1:09:33 thought being that people riding down
1:09:35 that Steep Hill on black Nugget Road on
1:09:38 a bike could easily get up to speed
1:09:40 limit of of
1:09:42 vehicles um without needing a separate
1:09:45 bike lane so that that is a potential
1:09:48 option for for one side of the
1:09:51 road okay and so so it is these are all
1:09:55 things that that you're considering
1:09:57 nothing is set in stone right
1:09:59 essentially okay and you bring up um
1:10:02 vehicle speeds um that stretch of road
1:10:06 in particular yeah people Coast down
1:10:09 down that that road pretty quickly so
1:10:11 I'm curious for the roadway adjustments
1:10:14 is the does that include traffic calming
1:10:17 measures I mean shortening the travel
1:10:19 Lanes is in effect is traffic caling but
1:10:22 is that part of the scope of this
1:10:23 project at all
1:10:25 no the the main focus of this project is
1:10:28 the wall itself um you know the the
1:10:31 safety risk of of leaving a
1:10:32 deteriorating wall alone so that that's
1:10:35 the the main focus really um
1:10:44 um I guess my other question is since
1:10:47 this is the second time yeah this this
1:10:49 is very similar to um up on squawk
1:10:52 mountain and I'm very much looking
1:10:55 forward to that
1:10:56 conversation uh on Street standards it
1:10:59 it does seem clear this is leading up to
1:11:01 a question it does seem clear to me that
1:11:03 Public Safety isn't the only rationale
1:11:06 um that benefits public good um we had
1:11:11 existing tree retention up on squawk
1:11:14 driveway impacts and now we have
1:11:15 critical area impacts potentially even
1:11:18 Co cost could be a factor worth
1:11:20 considering in the public good um but
1:11:23 it's also important to look at you know
1:11:24 the public good of the Landscaping
1:11:26 requirements because we put them there
1:11:28 for a reason right um they exist for a
1:11:31 reason so I'm curious and I'm not sure
1:11:34 who's who best to address this question
1:11:36 to but are we planning to have a council
1:11:41 policy discussion on on this before
1:11:44 updates are actually proposed in 2025 it
1:11:47 seemed to me like it might be good to
1:11:49 get kind of high level guidance from the
1:11:51 full Council on when and when not to
1:11:56 um all these kinds of Street
1:12:03 standard maybe that's for Dr Moon or
1:12:06 CH sure um I can answer that our plan
1:12:10 right now is to bring those proposed
1:12:14 Street
1:12:15 standard I'll say
1:12:17 deviation criteria to you uh later uh
1:12:22 this fall or certainly by the end of the
1:12:24 year so we're going to have a
1:12:26 conversation policy conversation with
1:12:28 tab we want to get their input first and
1:12:31 we'll have the same sort of policy
1:12:32 conversation with the committee and the
1:12:35 hope would be we'd be able to bring uh
1:12:38 all of that forward in early
1:12:42 2025 okay perfect so everything
1:12:44 everything's nicely planned then okay no
1:12:46 I appreciate that that's good um and it
1:12:50 would be good too to get a sense of and
1:12:52 maybe you have kind of just a sense off
1:12:54 the back of your hand but like how many
1:12:57 projects that are currently envisioned
1:13:00 or envisioned by the city might be
1:13:02 impacted by this kind of problem like do
1:13:05 we have a sense of kind of scale
1:13:08 here council member it's an excellent
1:13:10 question I see John maybe has a better
1:13:14 handle on how many additional projects
1:13:17 might need similar
1:13:20 consideration I'm not aware of any
1:13:23 projects that would need additional
1:13:24 consider itation for the Landscaping
1:13:26 standard that this and squa are the only
1:13:29 two that we have that we anticipate
1:13:31 asking this
1:13:35 question all right thanks very much
1:13:37 those are my questions for
1:13:41 now Deputy council president any
1:13:43 questions from
1:13:46 you no um council member Hall answer
1:13:50 asked the questions that I was going to
1:13:51 ask so I will I will defer to you well
1:13:54 there are three members of the committee
1:13:56 three questions so one for each of us
1:13:57 right yeah no I don't have any
1:13:59 additional questions either I have some
1:14:01 thoughts but I'll I'll save those until
1:14:03 we get to that point of the the program
1:14:07 so um all right let's uh kind of wrap it
1:14:10 up and then let's uh going of talk about
1:14:12 what we want to
1:14:14 do me
1:14:16 want any
1:14:19 final final stuff from you
1:14:25 Sor right yeah forgot I give me that
1:14:28 direction needed slide that's the one
1:14:29 I'm look that's the one I forgot to show
1:14:31 you outstanding great all right uh
1:14:34 comments uh discussion deliberation uh
1:14:37 counil Deputy council president D
1:14:40 Michelle so I think that council member
1:14:42 Hall and I are are uh thinking about the
1:14:45 same direction um first of all so you uh
1:14:49 just so you understand where I'm coming
1:14:51 from I do agree uh that the street
1:14:53 standards on this should be revised or
1:14:56 adjusted um however this is a to me this
1:15:00 is a little bit different situation than
1:15:01 the one on squawk uh on squawk we had uh
1:15:05 really mature trees that are overhanging
1:15:07 and provide that canopy and that really
1:15:10 nice look to the street this street is a
1:15:14 really ugly
1:15:17 Street sorry black Nugget Road but it
1:15:21 really it really needs uh and I think
1:15:23 the intent of the standards were were to
1:15:27 bring uh more green more canopy more you
1:15:31 know more of that beautifying of the
1:15:34 roadways to uh to isqua and so that was
1:15:38 part of the intent of my previous
1:15:40 question is could we use the land above
1:15:44 that wall to plant trees or landscape or
1:15:48 provide some mitigation for this what is
1:15:51 going to be basically a a wall and it's
1:15:55 going to have some of the same visual
1:15:56 problems that the current wall has it'll
1:15:58 be prettier but it's still going to be a
1:16:01 wall and um and over time that's going
1:16:04 to you know could get graffitied and all
1:16:07 of that and so I'd really like us to to
1:16:09 think about how we could possibly
1:16:12 mitigate that big blank wall with some
1:16:16 Landscaping uh Greenery um some some
1:16:20 ways that we can uh look to um to just s
1:16:24 soften that up just a bit uh I think
1:16:27 this is a great opportunity to really
1:16:29 engage our community and to be open to
1:16:31 creative SE suggestions from our
1:16:35 residents and so when we go out to the
1:16:38 public with some different options uh I
1:16:42 think we should just have a willingness
1:16:43 to listen to uh the thoughts that people
1:16:47 have when they see uh our plans for for
1:16:49 that roadway um and I know that the
1:16:52 residents of isqua really love trees and
1:16:55 Greenery doesn't have to be trees you
1:16:58 know there's there's you know some of
1:17:00 these huge grass things are really are
1:17:03 really nice softeners as well so I'm not
1:17:06 just focused on trees but um I think the
1:17:08 intent of that um of the standard is to
1:17:13 uh make our roadways more green more
1:17:15 Lush more canopy Etc so um bottom line I
1:17:21 agree entirely that uh median strip with
1:17:25 trees is not appropriate for this
1:17:27 roadway but I'd like us to look at some
1:17:30 creative ways that we can work with the
1:17:32 project to uh to at least carry out the
1:17:35 intent of that standard or try to as
1:17:39 best we can within the engineering
1:17:41 guidelines that we have so is that
1:17:44 clear okay great thank you nuty council
1:17:48 president council member Hall your
1:17:53 thoughts yeah sure um really well said I
1:17:56 you know I was thinking a lot of the
1:17:58 same things when when we look up at
1:17:59 squawk and the deviation there we were
1:18:03 able to step back and
1:18:05 say what is the intent and is it being
1:18:08 fulfilled fulfilled anyways and because
1:18:11 there are so many trees and because it's
1:18:12 so green up there already we could say
1:18:15 that the purpose is being filled in
1:18:17 another way we can't say that here um
1:18:21 and it Deputy council president D
1:18:25 Michelle is you at least partly right
1:18:27 that that the intent behind these
1:18:29 standards is to make it green and
1:18:31 walkable and some shade as you're
1:18:35 walking along and creating some
1:18:37 resilience for the walking experience
1:18:39 which which we wouldn't have without
1:18:41 this um so that makes it challenging
1:18:44 that said I don't see an alternative it
1:18:46 seems
1:18:47 debilitatingly expensive to move past
1:18:49 the wall um it
1:18:53 seems like you've made a very compelling
1:18:55 case just like you did up in squawk that
1:18:58 our comprehensive plan
1:19:00 policies um um tell us that doing this
1:19:05 kind of work in critical areas is a no
1:19:07 no um so because of those two things yes
1:19:11 I agree that we should move forward with
1:19:13 um public engagement with designs that
1:19:17 um accommodate the administration's
1:19:20 designs that don't meet this the
1:19:22 Landscaping part of the street standards
1:19:24 but I agree with council member D
1:19:25 Michelle it makes me very uneasy that we
1:19:27 would then be creating a walking
1:19:29 experience that is vastly different um
1:19:33 than what was intended as opposed to the
1:19:35 walking experience up on Salk which
1:19:38 wouldn't be vastly different than what
1:19:39 was intended um so I agree that finding
1:19:42 kind of a creative Alternatives seems
1:19:45 like a good idea if it if it's possible
1:19:47 to create a very nice walking experience
1:19:50 on one side of the road at the expense
1:19:51 of another maybe that's something we
1:19:54 look into I know Newport Way Northwest
1:19:57 um part of that Newport Way Northwest
1:19:59 Southwest Northwest um part of that was
1:20:02 considering not having sidewalk on one
1:20:04 side of the road um for the preservation
1:20:08 and the slope is that something worth
1:20:11 considering I don't know but um at least
1:20:15 as for right now I think that you've
1:20:16 made a compelling case and yes I think
1:20:18 we should move forward in with your
1:20:20 recommended version thanks
1:20:24 but again actually I'll say one more
1:20:26 thing again if it does concern me a
1:20:29 little bit that so soon after us
1:20:32 considering change having a deviation
1:20:35 we're now back um it makes me think
1:20:38 there are while there might not we might
1:20:39 not have identified other projects where
1:20:41 this might come up again it makes me
1:20:43 think that there are more coming up
1:20:45 between now and when we have that policy
1:20:47 decision in
1:20:49 2025 um so anyways again looking very
1:20:53 much looking forward to that to that
1:20:54 policy conversation seeing what um tab
1:20:57 has to say about it but
1:21:00 um yeah those are my thoughts
1:21:03 thank thank you council member Hall I
1:21:05 have a couple of couple of thoughts and
1:21:07 they're actually on a little bit of a
1:21:08 different track and they and they kind
1:21:10 of go to I think this is very different
1:21:11 than what we saw with squawk I thought
1:21:13 squawk was pretty clearly a case of
1:21:16 there were a lot of mature trees that we
1:21:18 didn't want to have to disrupt so that
1:21:21 we could conform with the standard um so
1:21:24 said well go out and look at what the
1:21:28 standard uh should be and do we need to
1:21:30 have broader criteria other than simply
1:21:32 Public Safety for a deviation to the
1:21:35 standard and I think that's the track
1:21:37 that we were talking about that we're on
1:21:38 right where we're we're going to going
1:21:39 into to Tab and getting their input and
1:21:41 then we'll come back to this committee
1:21:43 and then next year we'll be uh adopting
1:21:45 probably New Street standards we have a
1:21:47 broader criteria so I my thing is I
1:21:51 think this is actually is a public
1:21:52 safety thing that that wall is a public
1:21:54 public safety hazard and so we have to
1:21:57 do it and we have to do it in an
1:21:58 economic way so um in a manner of
1:22:01 thinking I think you can justify the
1:22:03 things that you're talking about as a
1:22:04 public safety uh consideration that
1:22:07 being said the what I really want us to
1:22:10 focus on is yes let's go look at how we
1:22:13 can build this uh this project out and
1:22:16 and take this road um first fix the
1:22:20 frigon wall because it's um it's it's a
1:22:23 it's it's a hazard and then secondly how
1:22:25 do we make the the road as positive as
1:22:27 possible but the bigger question the
1:22:29 bigger challenge that we've got to solve
1:22:31 for is what are the criteria that we can
1:22:33 apply in a consistent manner so we can
1:22:35 come back and you don't have to come and
1:22:37 talk to us you can say oh yeah the the
1:22:40 exceptions for the streets Scapes are
1:22:41 this this and this because
1:22:45 um we should have ordinances and and and
1:22:49 standards in place that are conformed to
1:22:51 and uh variances are minimized so
1:22:55 let's take a look at it we've got a
1:22:56 couple of test cases where it's like oh
1:22:58 okay here's one where it conflicts with
1:23:01 um our um you know climate action plan
1:23:05 our comprehensive plan you know our tree
1:23:07 City USA all of these things are
1:23:09 important to us so what s criteria I can
1:23:11 apply to say okay in that situation I
1:23:13 should have had an exemption or this one
1:23:15 where I've got another situation where
1:23:17 it's clear we need to do this right
1:23:19 there I don't think there's any argument
1:23:21 that we shouldn't be having exemption to
1:23:24 the standard but let's make sure that we
1:23:27 do it in
1:23:29 a u consistent way so we can point to it
1:23:32 and say yeah the reason that we're not
1:23:33 conforming to the standards is because
1:23:35 of this because last time when we talked
1:23:37 about this I my fear was the slippery
1:23:39 slope which is a steep slope
1:23:43 too so um you know we don't want to be
1:23:47 kind of rolling down
1:23:49 the rolling down this hill of every time
1:23:52 we we find something that that is a
1:23:54 little little bit off that we're coming
1:23:55 back and looking for an exemption we
1:23:57 want to be U consistent with our own
1:23:59 rules and Rags or they have no meaning
1:24:01 at all so that's that's my uh my go
1:24:05 forward is yes ABS positively got to do
1:24:07 what you're talking about because this
1:24:09 is not a a a a a piece of real estate
1:24:12 that lends to what we want to do but
1:24:14 we've got to fix the underlying
1:24:17 streetscape code so that we've got a
1:24:22 well-defined um set of EX exception
1:24:25 criteria and
1:24:26 conditions that's my thoughts all right
1:24:30 um anything else uh Deputy council
1:24:33 president council member Hall Mr chair
1:24:36 yes if I may just a couple of comments
1:24:38 on some of the concerns that were raised
1:24:41 absolutely um first of all thank you um
1:24:45 this is a complicated situation um and
1:24:49 one of the points you've all made is
1:24:51 concerns about what president the sets
1:24:53 and what are the parameters I think as
1:24:55 you heard from John Mortenson earlier uh
1:24:58 we believe that this is the last of
1:25:00 these prior to that larger discussion so
1:25:02 I just wanted to amplify uh that point
1:25:05 um secondly um these projects are
1:25:09 complicated because of the extensive
1:25:12 Community involvement that the city
1:25:13 council and this mayor have requested
1:25:16 that we go and so what you're seeing
1:25:18 tonight really is just the first little
1:25:20 chip of what that Community involvement
1:25:23 is dealing with the street stand the
1:25:25 makeup of the wall the Aesthetics of the
1:25:28 wall the other those other factors are
1:25:30 not before you this evening but are a
1:25:33 very big piece of what this will all be
1:25:35 about so I don't want uh the committee
1:25:38 or the community to think that we are
1:25:40 trying to solve problems merely with an
1:25:43 exemption to Street standards that there
1:25:45 is going to be a lot of other
1:25:47 discussions but to sort of been the the
1:25:49 the area of order of importance we
1:25:51 needed to come to you first before we
1:25:53 went back to the community and said
1:25:55 we're not going to follow our rule we
1:25:56 just we need to get some concurrence
1:25:59 before we do that uh but the comments
1:26:01 made regarding Aesthetics uh we've heard
1:26:04 L and clear something we are already
1:26:05 thinking about uh and as we have these
1:26:08 discussions with the community we want
1:26:10 to be transparent we want to be clear
1:26:13 but there's also sort of a pecking order
1:26:15 and the first piece of that pecking
1:26:16 order is what you have before you
1:26:18 tonight uh with Street standards so by
1:26:20 giving us some flexibility with that
1:26:22 we'll be able to start that conversation
1:26:24 and then we'll also then begin to start
1:26:25 talking about the other pieces of this
1:26:28 which will include what the wall looks
1:26:30 like what materials are used other
1:26:32 aesthetic issues that may not have
1:26:34 anything to do with so uh I just want to
1:26:36 make clear uh especially for those uh in
1:26:39 the community that this is a multiphase
1:26:42 process other communities would skip
1:26:44 right to the end and we are not other
1:26:47 community we start in a particular order
1:26:49 of things and tonight we are starting
1:26:51 with Street standards rather than simply
1:26:53 saying here's a solution we think will
1:26:54 cover all of these things we start six
1:26:57 spaces behind
1:27:00 that and and correct me if I'm wrong any
1:27:03 of you um but when we get to the point
1:27:05 of actually talking about the this
1:27:08 Capital project
1:27:09 t033 or whatever it was the the wall um
1:27:13 we'll get we'll have a more in-depth
1:27:15 discussion about what that's going to
1:27:16 look like uh what it's looking feel is
1:27:18 going to be this is just us kind of
1:27:22 saying keep on rolling because it you
1:27:24 can move forward with with eliminating
1:27:27 one of the constraints that you're
1:27:28 perceiving absolutely because we agree
1:27:30 with what the committee has said ton I
1:27:32 this is a major safety issue over time
1:27:35 and that we do not want to get so caught
1:27:37 up in some of the isqua technicalities
1:27:41 of all of our projects we do not want to
1:27:43 lose sight that we need to replace this
1:27:45 wall and do it as expeditiously and as
1:27:48 responsibly as professionally as
1:27:50 possible absolutely all right all right
1:27:54 right uh Jim um City Administration you
1:27:57 have what you need move forward I'm
1:28:00 seeing nods that's good
1:28:02 um council member Hall Deputy council
1:28:06 president D Michelle any
1:28:09 announcements all right I saw a thumbs
1:28:11 up from Council me member Hall so with
1:28:13 that we're at the end of agenda thank
1:28:15 you all this evening and we're adjourned
1:28:17 at uh 758

Attendance

Council / Members (7)
Barbara de Michele
Zach Hall (Attended virtually due to illness)
Victoria Hunt
Russell Joe
Tola Marts
Chris Reh
Lindsey Walsh

Motions and votes (2)

APPROVE THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS PRESENTED. THERE BEING NO OBJECTION, THE CONSENT CALENDAR WAS APPROVED (7-0). a)
Moved by WALSH · seconded by DE MICHELE
Award the construction contract including Bid Alternates 1 and 2, excluding Bid Alternate 3, for the Hillside Park and Wetland Mitigation Improvements project in the amount of $1,384,737 (including sales tax) to A-1 Landscaping and Construction, Inc.; and authorize the Mayor to enter into and execut…
Moved by MARTS · seconded by WALSH
Carried 7-0
In favor: Barbara de Michele, Zach Hall (Attended virtually due to illness), Victoria Hunt, Russell Joe, Tola Marts, Chris Reh, Lindsey Walsh