SPEAKER_09

Good afternoon, everyone.

SPEAKER_08

Are we on?

I think we're on, okay.

SPEAKER_09

Good afternoon, everyone.

The July 3rd, 2024 regularly scheduled meeting of the Land Use Committee will come to order.

It is 2.02 p.m.

I'm Tame Morales, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Moore?

Present.

Council Member Rivera?

Present.

Council Member Wu?

Present.

Vice Chair Strauss?

Chair Morales?

Here.

Four present.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

Council Member Strauss is excused for today.

So we've got three items.

No, we've got two items on today's agenda.

Three appointments and a presentation about the Equitable Development Initiative Advisory Board.

And Council Bill 120761, which is about the office to residential conversion legislation that we've been talking about in this committee.

If there's no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

We will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda and within the purview of this committee.

We are, I believe we've got a couple of folks online and maybe a half dozen here in person.

So we will give each speaker two minutes and we'll start with in person first.

The public comment period will be moderated, is up to 20 minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered and will alternate between in-person and online.

When you hear a chime, that means that 10 seconds are left.

So we'll ask you to please begin to wrap up your comments so that the next person can speak.

The public comment period is now open and Naomi, will you please read the first two names?

SPEAKER_17

First, we have Alex Zimmerman followed by Chris Woodward.

SPEAKER_00

My name, Alex Zimmerman.

Consul, I want to help you.

You know what this means.

Two weeks ago, We present with you in meeting what has come information about planning in community development.

This is a bureaucrat what is annoying for many years.

It's not a question.

When you consult and I want to support you, when something change fundamentally, you know what it means, make...

Thousand and thousand people have roof under head.

You know what is mean?

You cannot believe this bureaucrat.

They have totally different opinion.

Nothing changed 10 year ago.

Nothing will be changed in the day.

So I have simple proposition for you.

And I give you classic example right now.

So you know about why I'm talking.

You have 130. Building, you know what it means, what is totally empty.

And you right now make decision, so when fire comes, owner will be paid.

No city.

Smart decision.

We need something doing about this 130 building.

Because when we renovate this, you know what it means, building.

Thousand and thousand people can have low income housing.

You know what it means, how we can doing this.

People like me cannot go to this committee because nobody will put me in committee when I have different opinion, and I know this.

So only one chance, listen to people who different, like Alex Zimmerman, for example, is to open better room in City Hall, one day per week.

So people who have different opinion will be coming help you.

You know what this mean?

Because I support you.

Low income housing need for hundred thousand people right now in Seattle.

You understand about talking?

We need a new blood.

We need a new blood.

New blood can only come from outside in better room.

One day per week is open.

All question bring new people who interested in real change.

SPEAKER_17

Thank you very much.

Up next we have Chris Woodward followed by Ashley Holland.

SPEAKER_13

GOOD AFTERNOON, COUNCIL MEMBERS.

MY NAME IS CHRIS WOODWARD.

I REPRESENT THE ALLIANCE FOR PIONEER SQUARE.

WE'RE AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION LOCATED IN DISTRICT ONE.

WE SUPPORT THE PIONEER SQUARE HISTORIC DISTRICT.

PROVIDING COMMENT TODAY IN REGARDS TO COUNCIL BILL 120761, SPECIFICALLY IN SUPPORT OF COUNCIL MEMBER MORALES' AMENDMENT 1, V2, which includes specific language stipulating that all projects located within the Pioneer Square Preservation District undergo the full certificate of approval process by the city's Department of Neighborhood staff.

The alliance has long sought to improve housing availability in Pioneer Square.

A recent study conducted in March of 2022 by MIG found that Pioneer Square has a much higher percentage of affordable and subsidized housing than the city overall.

Additional market rate housing through office conversion will create several benefits for Pioneer Square, including economic development opportunities for retailers, overall neighborhood resiliency, and diversity of housing.

In general, we support the bill as it will potentially increase residential housing availability in Pioneer Square.

However, the special review district of the Pioneer Square Preservation District must be explicitly included in the bill.

Land use regulations, including the Pioneer Square Preservation District, ensures that the unique historic character of Pioneer Square's buildings are thoughtfully preserved.

We look forward to continuing this dialogue on the concept of office to residential conversion.

And I thank you for your work on this important issue to date.

SPEAKER_17

Up next, we have Ashley Holland followed by Abigail DeWise.

SPEAKER_11

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Ashley Nicole Holland, and I represent Historic South Downtown, a state-created organization dedicated to elevating the voices of people who live, work, and consider as a home historic neighborhoods of Pioneer Square and Chinatown International District.

Our constituents are in districts one and two.

My comment today is regarding agenda item one, council bill 120761. We appreciate the committee's work to guide the conversation of office buildings in Pioneer Square to critically needed residential housing.

We recognize this opportunity within the district given that current office vacancy rates continue to be much higher than pre-pandemic levels and diverse housing types are needed everywhere.

Thank you, Council Member Morales, for your work on Amendment 1, Version 2. This amendment would restore, quote, regulations regarding special review districts, such as Pioneer Square Preservation District and the International Special Review District, end quote.

We support streamlining this process to convert office to residential uses in our neighborhood.

At the same time, it is important to see specific language that keeps historical preservation criteria intact.

I urge this body to support CB120761 with Amendment 1, Version 2. We look forward to engaging in this important discussion moving forward.

Thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

SPEAKER_17

Up next, we have Abigail DeVise followed by Steve Rubustello.

SPEAKER_01

Hi, good afternoon council members.

My name is Abby Dweese and I'm a local land use attorney here in Seattle.

I'm here today representing the project under construction at Sixth and Battery in Belltown.

This project has been in development for many years and it's exciting to see it finally under construction.

It includes about 900 residential units today.

And in the podium, it includes a proposed hotel space.

The owners who are a joint venture between local developers HB and Concord Pacific from Canada would like to convert that space from hotel to about 100 additional residential units that could be delivered at the same time as the overall project if this legislation advances as proposed.

So just here today in support of the conversion legislation and really ask you to move it forward today and advance it at the full council.

It will absolutely help create more housing in our downtown, which I think is an outcome that we can all support.

separate from my comments from my client.

I'm a land use attorney, so I reviewed all of the amendments.

I would just note that I think all of the amendments make a lot of sense.

I'm concerned with amendment two about MHA applicability outside of downtown, only because there will be buildings that are constructed after 2019, where MHA already applied to them.

And there's no current mechanism in MHA to refund any commercial fees that were paid or offset the additional residential fees that would be paid for the conversion.

So you might get situations where there's kind of a double MHA payment and that could disincentivize use of the ordinance.

So just throwing that out as a concern, but thank you so much for your work on this important topic.

I think it's absolutely the right step forward to create more housing in our city.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_17

Up next, we have Steve Rubistello, and that's the final in-person speaker.

SPEAKER_14

Well, we're halfway through the year, and we still have a zero-treats policy, developers not included in coverage, and we are not looking at MHA fees, which are very, very low.

Everyone claims they're for low-market housing, for people who are not making 100,000 or 200,000 or more a year, but I don't see a lot of action that way.

I've come to the conclusion that incentives are actually more expensive than welfare.

If you wanna take a look at...

the proposal you have today, which inherently is good taking property, which is for offices, which is high vacancy rate.

I think it's about 25% right now.

That's a little bit of an incentive to convert it to residential, which doesn't have nearly as high of a vacancy rate.

Now the state has already thrown in some money because they're not going to charge sales tax on the conversion.

And my one concern is the bottom floor should remain commercial because if you start breaking up commercial districts, you have real problems of maintaining them.

And downtown, you're going to still need grocery stores.

You're still going to need things for the people in the building anyway.

So if you don't maintain the bottom floor as commercial, I see it as bad for the residents.

Now, I keep hearing about how difficult it is to make this conversion and all the subsidies you really need to do it.

One of the big pushes is the fact that the office space is empty.

Kind of a big push in itself.

Please take a look at the perspectives of some of these groups that are doing the changes and see if they tell you how little money they're gonna make.

SPEAKER_17

Switching to online speakers.

Up first, we have Ian Morrison, followed by Mark Angelillo.

SPEAKER_05

Thank you, Council Members.

SPEAKER_06

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes, please go ahead.

Thank you, Council Members.

This is Ian Morrison.

I'm a land use attorney with McCulloch Hill, and I'm here speaking in support of the office residential proposal.

Thank you to the mayor, OPCD, SBCI, Office of Housing, and obviously the Land Use Committee for your work.

It is exciting to be at this stage with this piece of legislation that will bring more vibrancy into downtown and the neighborhoods by converting underutilized vacant office space into housing, especially housing that could include affordable components with the adoption of State Bill 6175. We really appreciate all the work that you have done as a committee to refine this bill, and we are excited to see it go forward.

I do have two comments.

Number one, thank you specifically to Councilmember Morales for Amendment 4, which will allow for projects that are ready to go with pursuing this conversion to get a jumpstart on the permitting and bring the housing forward faster.

So we would encourage the committee to move forward with amendment four.

And also I will speak to the Pioneer Square issues.

We appreciate the comments from both the committee and the stakeholders, and would just encourage that as you are working with incentivizing office to residential conversion in historic districts, We continue to work on ways to streamline the permitting process inside the Pioneer Square Preservation District.

And my last comment is we understand there may be some additional amendments coming to provide additional specificity to street level uses.

We would simply encourage that the council, as you think about that, focus on flexibility, not mandates.

A lot of these buildings on the street level are unique.

And while retail can be successful in some places, if you've got ALLY FACADES OR OTHER UNIQUE FACADES, WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT MAYBE RETAIL AND RESIDENTIAL ON THOSE GROUND FLOORS COULD BE ACHIEVABLE.

SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME.

SPEAKER_17

OUR FINAL SPEAKER IS MARK ANGELILO.

SPEAKER_05

GOOD AFTERNOON, CHAIR MORALES, VICE CHAIR STRAUSS AND COUNCIL MEMBERS.

THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS YOU TODAY.

My name is Mark Angelillo, and I've been a resident of Seattle for 32 years.

I'm the managing member of Stream Real Estate.

We're a small local real estate development investment company based in Seattle, and I'm commenting in support of the proposed Office to Residential Legislation Council Bill 120761. I will not repeat my comments from the last meeting.

I would like to emphasize that the incentives in this bill will be a good step towards making more of these projects possible and helps ensure that not only are we adding units to the housing market, But in our case, we are also adding affordable units to the marketplace because we plan to participate in the MFTE program.

And if the council adopts it later this year, the new state law incentive, Senate Bill 6175 for adaptive reuse of housing that will require 10% of the units of adaptive reuse to be affordable for 10 years at 80% of AMI.

I would also like to express support for Amendment 4 and would like to thank and acknowledge Chair Morales for offering the amendment.

It's an important element to continue progress and seeing these conversions begin as soon as possible.

I understand that there may be some additional amendments proposed relating to the street level uses.

I would recommend that any required street level uses be tied to the last occupied use of the space so that there's consistency.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

We encourage the council to pass this legislation and the Senate Bill 6175 legislation to support more conversion projects throughout the city.

Happy to answer any questions.

Thanks.

SPEAKER_17

That was the final speaker.

SPEAKER_09

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Thanks to everybody who called or came in.

Seeing as how we have no additional speakers, the public comment period is now closed and we'll move on to the next agenda item.

Naomi, if you would please read items one through three into the record.

Before that, if there's no objection, the plan is to vote on the three board appointments in one slate today.

Okay, hearing no objection, will you please read those three items into the record?

SPEAKER_17

Agenda items one through three, equitable development initiative advisory board presentation and appointments 02904, 02905 and 02906 for briefing discussion and possible vote.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you very much.

Okay, so we're joined by Jenna Franklin from the OPCD and James Lovell from Chief Seattle Club.

I'm gonna invite Jenna to give her presentation and then we'll hear from James.

But before I hand it over, I just wanted to make a quick comment.

I wanted to reflect on the discussion that we had yesterday during the Transportation Levy Committee meeting We voted on an amendment that will give low income communities and communities of color greater access to decision making about how local government affects their neighborhoods.

Whether we're talking about sidewalks or housing or access to affordable commercial space, we know that these communities have historically been left out of decision making.

And so throughout our city, we have departments who are working to address the historic harm, and that means sharing some power and resources with communities of color.

So it is a change from the way many municipalities have operated, but it's an important change, and it reflects how Seattle is working to support greater community ownership, wealth building and really giving space for our constituents to demonstrate their community leadership.

So I say all that because the EDI program is an example of that work.

and is very intentionally meant to be an anti-displacement strategy.

So we'll hear a little bit about how this program works and specifically how the board guides the program.

And then we'll hear from the Chief Seattle Club as one of the EDI recipients.

And then we will hear from our appointees.

So I'll ask my colleagues to hold your questions until after we hear the presentation.

And really, my hope is that this is an opportunity to learn more about how the board helps guide the program and to hear your questions about the work that the EDI program does.

So with that, I will hand it over to you, Jenna.

And is Dakota joining us as well?

SPEAKER_12

Dakota is not joining us.

It'll just be me.

And then we'll be presenting on behalf of any of our board appointees who we have one person I know that is out of town and off the grid, but we'll provide a comprehensive overview of the candidates.

SPEAKER_09

Great.

Okay.

Please go ahead.

SPEAKER_12

Go ahead and start sharing my screen.

Great.

Thank you for inviting us to come back.

We appreciate the opportunity to share more about the Equitable Development Initiative and the important role that community has in leading this work, especially our advisory board.

The EDI advisory board is an integral part of how the program functions and how the criteria are set.

And so we're looking forward to sharing more of that with you and answering any questions we can.

Let me minimize this.

We're moving forward.

So I think it's very important to note that the EDI origin story really starts with community leading the work.

EDI, in its eight to nine years since being developed, has matured and still has more room to mature.

And the board guides a lot of that process and holds us accountable as we check in with them for how we are making awards in alignment with the equitable development implementation plan.

And it also looks at fine tuning annual criteria and doing a lot of work with respect to engaging with grantee organizations.

And so we'll cover some of that in this presentation.

Originally, South Core, a coalition, pardon me, of 21 organizations, along with RSET, which is the Race and Social Equity Task Force, were key in standing up EDI.

They worked to advocate and create the initiative, and they continue to be engaged in informing and shaping various South Core groups, or, pardon me, organizations and RSET, informing and shaping how we evolve and also how we hold ourselves accountable to the original intent of the program.

Initially, the interim advisory board was formed to help stand up EDI.

Over time, that interim board became a permanent board, and it was put into ordinance.

And so that permanent board of 13 folks meet monthly.

We have a number of subcommittees or committees that meet also as a part of that work, and then a full board meeting.

The purpose and focus that they hold us accountable to is really anti-displacement, inclusive growth, especially in alignment with the comprehensive plan.

And to create the kind of thriving communities that are necessary for Seattle to be a great place for everyone to live, which is about economic mobility, creating ownership opportunities, and really creating pathways for people folks from diverse backgrounds to feel very included and a part of shaping Seattle tomorrow and in the long term future.

Our board is very involved on a monthly basis in providing us with feedback about emerging issues.

They are involved with comprehensive plan review, and then they also work with a community review panel when we go into the RFP evaluation process.

Advance here.

Sorry, I have a little delay on my side.

Not sure if I've skipped a slide here.

Oh, okay, pardon me.

So as I noted, this board meets as a full body monthly.

There are four subcommittees currently.

They have authority to change their subcommittee orientation.

They meet around things related to policy, to data and monitoring, to manage the executive functions of the board and make sure the board is operating smoothly and provide us with recommendations.

The first three positions are appointed by the mayor.

The second set of positions, four through six, are appointed by council, and seven through 13 are appointed by the board and confirmed by council.

They are guiding the allocation of EDI funds, helping us direct strategies and identify core goals.

They're working with grantees to understand challenges and barriers and help elevate those to us and brainstorm with us on ways to address those.

And they convene as a board for an annual retreat to help make sure that they are staying aligned with the community needs.

But they also bring together grantees for convenings, where those are incredible opportunities both for network building, but also for learning and sharing feedback.

As COVID occurred, those convenings became a challenge, and we look forward to having a convening this year.

And I think that that will be a really important opportunity for the board to engage directly with grantees and continue their work related to improving how the program functions on behalf of communities that it intends to serve.

And they're ultimately asking us as a city to be accountable for how marginalized communities are provided with greater access to opportunity.

So what is the board's role and function in the funding process and decision-making around the grant awards?

The board draws the core criteria from the Equitable Development Implementation Plan, which fundamentally guides EDI overall as a program, and it has a financial investment strategy tied to it.

And it lays out six criteria in the strong communities framework, things like access to mobility, increasing access to housing, et cetera.

And then they fine tune those.

So we look at the past investments, we look at gaps in past years they've directed us to look at doing more engagement to have more projects for communities of color in the north and more LGBTQIA representation.

So they're really looking at where we have strong performance, where we have gaps, and helping us make sure that our annual criteria are fine-tuned so that we're not creating a mass of applications that really aren't competitive or serving the right needs at the right time.

The board works with a community evaluation panel, and this is important for managing any conflict of interest.

As many of our EDI grantee organizations mature, some of their staff may move on.

They may be interested in EDI.

They may join the board or vice versa if we have board members who move on to work in grantee organizations.

The board in and of itself is designed to reflect the diversity of the community that EDI is intended to serve.

And so the community evaluation panel joins us during the RFP process, works with the board.

We segment the different board members and evaluation panel members after doing a conflict of interest assessment process that has been directed to us by Office of Ethics and Elections.

And that allows us to make sure that we're managing for that.

No one is reviewing for projects that they have a conflict with.

And then once or sometimes twice a year, we do the RFP process.

Sometimes the RFP process is looking at accelerating existing projects and taking on new projects, sometimes it's combined, and that can depend on the funding climate and the amount of funding available, but it can also depend a bit on what level of lift it will take for staff to get those RFP processes done and the best way to do it, considering timing throughout the year.

The city would then announce the funding opportunity, and we provide webinars.

The board is involved with helping us develop and review those materials so that the applicants are getting some support and guidance on how to move through the application process, what are the overall goals and eligibility criteria, and that would empower them to write their application.

Those info sessions, I think, are incredibly important to organizations that are new into this grant-making process.

They're informative, and it positions them to also continue applying for grant funds elsewhere, and board members remain available to our grantee partners as they build their additional capital if they need support applying for more funding or identifying even other funding opportunities.

The board is very important with...

maintaining those relationships and ensuring that that information is flowing to grantees.

So the proposals then get submitted and they are assessed for alignment with all the goals and criteria the board meets to participate in that process with the evaluation panel.

That thorough review process also then results in a set of recommendations for award that are reviewed again at the department level to make sure that the solicitation process held integrity.

And then we elevate those recommendations to the mayor's office, and we work with the mayor's office to finalize them.

When those selections are made, we provide notification.

It usually goes out.

to grantees they are notified that there's an intent to award and then a press release happens.

And then we move into the contracting and implementation phase of work.

We contract, our goal is to take the application, ensure that the board has been integral in that process of evaluation, issue the conditional award.

The conditional award is what the board will then expect us to develop contract and contract scope around.

And that also drives the due diligence activities.

Often the board members may help if due diligence issues come up, maybe particularly related to a site location being challenging.

They will come back as thought partners to grantees on ways in which to address issues and barriers and keep their projects progressing.

And so I think the long-term relationship is of great value.

Once we get into this phase of work, we're also looking to assess all of the due diligence documentation that comes in as a program.

That allows us to start to map out where else do we need to apply some assistance.

When we have projects that we know have interesting zoning proposals, we'll be working with SDCI on permitting and on zoning questions.

We will work with councils.

As you know, we worked on equitable development zoning and connected communities.

Those really are incredibly valuable pathways for these projects to have the success that we intend for them to have.

We work with human services that's specifically related to block grant money as well as childcare facilities, Office of Economic Development, their business improvement area program is great.

They really want our grantees as they find their permanent space to have the kind of business network relationships in the geographic location they're in to achieve success and feel supported and welcomed in those communities.

or to have the partnership they need to maintain their viability when they're in ownership and operation.

So that's a great partnership.

We also work with utilities.

We know some of our projects have been challenged by the requirements to up, let's say they're looking for one new utility connection, and that might trigger a full upgrade of a water main and then you know, updating the streetscape.

And we want to make sure that when we're working with utility providers, the city agencies, that they're able to understand what these projects are about and help us address these sorts of barriers to project development and delivery that are really cumbersome for our grantees to navigate.

There's a learning curve there, but also potentially a huge cost challenge to them.

And if we're a major funder in these projects, we are fundamentally paying ourselves if we are paying one of our other city departments.

So we want to work with them to address the need and then also make sure that city funds are not sort of cycling around and not being effective.

With that, I would love to turn things over to James with Chief Seattle Club.

And I'll let James introduce himself as an EDI grant funded organization who has done incredible work.

So what is your own green?

SPEAKER_03

Mine's green, I think, yeah.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Chair Morales and Council Member Moore, Council Member Wu, Council Member Rivera for inviting us here today.

My name is James Lovell.

I'm an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians from Belcourt, North Dakota.

I'm a member of the Sea-Tac City Council, but today I'm representing the Chief Seattle Club as the Chief Community Development Officer for the organization where I oversee the fundraising and also the development of assets for our community, specifically our transitional shelters and permanent supportive housing.

And so I joined Chief Seattle Club as a staff person in May of 2021. And before that, I was born and raised here in Seattle.

My career in human services goes back 22 years here in Seattle.

I've been HSD funded my whole life, my whole professional life.

And But, and I've got a brother who's a resident at one of our buildings after having been on the streets for 20 some years.

So this is deeply personal for a lot of us who grew up here as urban natives.

One of the things we like to remind folks is that the chronically homeless native population is here as a result of federal policy.

In the 1950s, the relocation era brought native people from reservations all over the country into urban centers, promises of resources never materialized.

And so this has been a crisis for our community since 1953. And Chief Seattle Club was founded in 1970 to address that.

For the first, up until 2019, we had only been able to serve folks in our day center, which had been in multiple locations.

2019, we opened Eagle Village, our first transitional shelter.

It's a non-congregate shelter that's being relocated currently, but it was in Soto for the majority of its life.

And around that time was when Chief Seattle Club staff started to see the disparity between the number of people we were referring to partner organizations to house and the number who were staying there past a certain kind of typical stabilization period.

It was very low.

It was obvious that our folks were looking for culturally responsive housing, a place where they could be native.

Many parts of their identity had been illegal, including religious freedoms up until 1978. So it was very challenging to be Native in a non-Native space, or a space that wasn't culturally responsive to Native people.

So a previous leadership, our executive director, Derek Bellegarde, and our previous executive director, Colleen Echo-Hawk, started saying, we need to do something for our community that's gonna get them off the streets, that's gonna start solving this.

The root cause goes back 50-some years, so we're gonna start working on a place that can address the culturally responsive need that is there for our people.

So, all-all is a result.

All-all is the Lushootseed word for home, and Lushootseed is the language of many of the Coast Salish peoples who, where Seattle is located.

And EDI was really one of the first kind of you know, breath of fresh air funding sources for a native organization that had been laughed out of the room when we'd come to public funders.

There's a famous story of our previous leadership being laughed out of the room when we said we wanted to build housing.

And I think that was, you know, honestly, it was like you do that to someone and I guarantee you they're going to find a way to build housing.

And so we did.

So I'm proud to have taken on some of that tradition as we build this out.

But all was really We've got multiple different...

This is just the most complex housing development we could ever imagine.

So we've got three different kinds of federal vouchers in the building.

We've got place-based, we've got VASH vouchers, which is for veterans, and then we've got some emergency housing vouchers left over from the COVID pandemic.

We've got LIHTC.

It's a low-income housing tax credit funded building.

We're at 30% and 50% for our units.

We've got a community preference plan for 50% of the units.

That's been supported by the Office of Race and Social Justice, or Civil Rights, sorry, OCR.

Third-party property management.

The building is condominionized because we have a health clinic in the basement.

We've got a pass-through that cuts into our building next door.

We're still reporting to the Washington State Housing Finance Commission about the building that was in our location that is now demolished because there was a long-term lease on that property that's a forgivable thing, but we still are reporting on the Leroy Helms Center, which has been...

destroyed for five years.

So it's a very complex project, and all of these, you know, whether it's federal, state, county, or local funding sources have, you know, they create conditions where communities that have been disenfranchised and that have been relocated and dislocated You know, you're up against it when you're trying to develop these projects because there's really not anyone on the funding side who has been through the same challenges by and large, right?

EDI is where, as we talk about the composition of the board of EDI and this kind of fluid community nature of how there's that relationship between, you know, past grantees now joining the board or past board members now working for the grantees.

It's one of the only funding sources that understands when you start this process, you know, a five- to seven-year process to build something for your community to address, you know, an incredible disproportionality for, like, chronic homelessness, the most visible crisis, I think, in our region.

EDI is one of the places where you don't have to worry about explaining that culturally responsive services are essential, and that's why the EDI the nature of VDI funding that can be somewhat flexible.

It sometimes takes longer to fully use all the dollars because as other funding streams come in, that's where we've got a partner we can work with to say, okay, great news.

This other thing is going to fund this part of the capital project.

Let's work with EDI to make sure that the entire project is there so that the clinic can be fully built out.

And that's a fully qualified health clinic that serves the entire community.

And so that when we have a building that's primarily permanent supportive housing, which is, you know, you're really looking at development dollars per square foot.

And when you're looking at or for a total number of units divided by the total square footage, it does not benefit you as a developer to build community spaces in your buildings because you're cutting out units, which raises your cost per unit higher, which makes you less competitive for most public funding.

EDI is one of the places where you can actually be competitive while serving your community, especially for chronically homeless folks.

It's a lonely world out there.

especially for Native folks.

When you're 1% of the general population and 32% of the chronically homeless population, it's a lonely, scary world.

And for our building to have funding that could help us build a community in many of these spaces where we can do culturally responsive recovery and healing services, it was really, this is the kind of thing that makes a project work.

I can read from the slide, but I assume, Jenna, did you want me to read the details on the slide or keep going like this?

SPEAKER_12

Keep going like this.

SPEAKER_03

Is that working for the committee also?

Yeah, okay.

So it's, there's a number of things that we try to do in a building like this, right?

And really the first one is to make sure that native people who are chronically homeless, who are so disproportionately affected, the folks who have been in Pioneer Square for the last 54 years, have a place where they will want to stay housed.

So we have 24 seven case, on-site staff 24-7, we have case management, we have traditional wellness programs in the buildings, traditional wellness staff assigned to each of our buildings.

That comes from the spark that all lit for Chief Seattle Club.

The EDI funding, the ability to create a building that was culturally responsive because of funding that understood displacement.

You know, it's weird to personify or anthropomorphize funding as understanding something, but...

you know, as a fundraiser, we think of funding as a thing almost, right, as an entity, because it really can take shape and change over time.

It can be very organic when it's something like EDI.

So for funding to understand the different things that are required to keep people housed, it's not just enough to house them initially.

It's enough to keep them housed is critical.

And that's why we opened that building in January of 2022. A year later, two more buildings.

In May, we were joined by council member Moore and many others as we opened our fourth building.

So all was a spark.

It proved to developers and it proved to King County and the city of Seattle and the state and all the private equity firms that one of these little engines that could really could, one of these community-based organizations that had less than $2 million in capital assets before 2004 could actually build housing.

We now have 340 units of permanent supportive housing open in Seattle, just in city limits.

We have 50 shelter beds that are transitional shelter beds that get folks stabilized before they go into PSH so that PSH can really stick.

This is one of those success stories of a disenfranchised, dislocated, removed community.

And as I'm sure folks have heard of, it was legal in Seattle in 1865. It was illegal to be native in Seattle.

It was a group that was forcibly removed for a two year period.

The last long houses were burned down in the 1890s.

So there was 120 year gap when there was no native housing in the downtown core for people.

There was home ownership by native people.

but no truly native housing, especially if you deal with chronically homeless folks.

So it was the spark of things like EDI that got Chief Seattle Club started in fighting displacement and in fighting the inequitable distribution of housing that has now seen our massive growth.

It's really, we start with that story.

We wish we could change things here and there about the last five years and how we've built housing.

But honestly, this is working.

This is really working.

And it's because EDI has been flexible funding, not flexible in a sense that we use it here and there willy-nilly.

It all goes through a very rigorous RFP process.

There's close tracking.

But it's funding that didn't have the same spend down timeline as we went through a regional concrete strike that delayed the opening of our building by a year.

We had the funding continue to do pre-development and additional design work as we redesigned around things we had no idea.

We're in a historic neighborhood.

When you dig down to build sidewalks, you find electrical conduits to light poles that have been buried for over 100 years that no one knew were there.

We find that through lots of neighborhoods in Seattle.

So it's really, it's a powerful funding source because of the focus it lets us have on building housing for displaced communities, but also on letting us apply it at the right time in the right places to ensure that that housing is actually completed.

Because it's hard to know without that how far we would have gotten in the project.

I think that covers most of what's on the slides as well as a little bit of the impassioned speech from someone who really just thinks this is working and we should be doing more of it.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

I really appreciate that.

Lots of great information.

Did you have something else you wanted to say, Jen?

SPEAKER_12

I was going to add...

I was going to add that early on in the process with Chief Seattle Club, it was identified that multiple contracts with various organizations and internally with EDI and HSD were creating redundant compliance requirements that were burdensome.

They added just layers of work that really we could consolidate.

And so we then worked with HSD to consolidate those contracts to lift that burden.

And in addition, one of the wonderful outcomes of this project for EDI is that Lindsay goes behind who is on the EDI board and also works with Chief Seattle Club has joined the board and is able to share what Chief Seattle Club has learned with other grantee organizations.

And so that sort of legacy of community caring for and serving community continues through those sorts of relationships.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you, thank you very much.

Really interesting to hear the story, the history of the organization.

I was there at the grand opening of All All with Council Member Juarez, Senator Murray was there.

It was very exciting to see not just the housing that you were able to provide, but also having that healthcare clinic in the basement is really important to also make sure that there's access to healthcare for folks, which is not always an easy thing.

So congratulations on that and on the subsequent projects that you've been able to do as well.

I will open it up now if folks have questions or anything you wanted to learn a little more about.

Council Member Rivera.

SPEAKER_16

Thank you, Chair.

And thank you.

Nice to see you again.

Thank you for being here.

You don't have to sell me on the merits of Chief Seattle Club.

I'm very supportive.

And you've hosted me a couple times to do tours and what you're doing.

is really important work and I'm very grateful for it.

I also wanna give a shout out to former council member, Deborah Juarez, who I know has been very supportive of Chief Seattle Club, just very appreciative for all of her efforts in community.

So I wanna give her a shout out.

I have a question, though, getting back to the board, because this is, we're doing board appointments today, so I want to, and I appreciate hearing about the project.

I already knew this information, because thankfully I had gotten those tours a couple times, so super appreciate that.

and looking forward to hearing more from the department when they do the report on the EDI projects that they will be doing later in the year.

So looking very much forward to that.

But in terms of the board, can you talk a little bit about the subcommittees of the board?

And then also, Jenna, you mentioned in terms of conflicts, Do you mean like if, are there folks that serve on the board that might be part of a project?

And so you're trying to mitigate for the conflict of interest.

I wasn't sure what you meant there.

And then finally, my last question was just, you mentioned also Jenna conditional award.

So what you mean by conditional?

SPEAKER_12

Um, with respect to conflict of interest, we knew early on that we needed to work with ethics and elections because it's a for community by community initiative born out of community.

And we anticipate community will always want to be involved and be stewards of this work.

Uh, and that is essential expertise to being successful and having the investments go to the highest priority needs, as well as ensure that we're sort of driving towards the right impacts.

So when we worked with ethics, they identified that we needed to be considering material, emotional, and relational conflicts.

We then provide briefings to the board and the evaluation panel on what that is, work through the process to have them sign their conflict of interest forms, identifying any of those, and then we segment the board into groups so they evaluate applications in grouped segments.

So for example, our board member who works with Chief Seattle Club would not evaluate any Chief Seattle Club proposals or applications, pardon me.

So that's the guidance that we have received from ethics on managing and assuring that we have process integrity and managing for conflict of interest.

All awards from EDI are conditional on meeting program requirements.

And so we know that folks come through and they have a project that is envisioned.

And there's work that needs to happen to refine that vision and do feasibility work and ensure that their operational structure gets set up.

So we're looking at, are you in the right award category?

Do you need to be in capacity building before you move to acquisition?

Do you need to do...

Due diligence work before your acquisition contract is actually approved to move forward so the city can manage its risk.

So again, in that scenario, we work with the law department to assess risk and review all of the due diligence requirements and the documents that are furnished.

ensuring that there are no clouds on title, we can record in first position and ensure that our deed and covenant can be placed to provide the certainty that the intended public benefits package associated this project actually is going to be fruitful and return those public benefits.

And so that is how we condition the awards.

There have been very few instances where we encountered things that were deal breakers, but we have returned to grantees to tell them they need to go back and do more work and then come back again.

And there's more to do before we can move into a contract.

So again, as James noted, we're trying to meet folks where they are and we're trying to be in partnership with them and support their learning and provide the partnership that's necessary for them to understand the process steps to do business with the city and other funders, also making sure that the city's risk of investment is managed because we want these projects to be successful.

The organizations leverage themselves into these projects.

We don't want to do harm to the organization.

They are service providers in most cases to the city and the community, but we also have a financial responsibility here too.

Did I answer all of your questions, Council Member?

SPEAKER_16

I think just thank you.

The subcommittees, how many subcommittees does the board have and what kind of work do they do?

Sure.

Since you mentioned them earlier, but it doesn't say what it is.

Yep.

SPEAKER_12

Currently, there are four subcommittees.

The board's ordinance allows them to consolidate them if they're not fully programmed, if needs change, if the program evolves, so they can be flexible.

Right now, they have a data and monitoring committee that's looking at information that comes in.

That would be a committee that would be involved with supporting our report development process, for example.

We have a policy committee that looks at emerging questions as projects mature, what would be the city's policy around things like carrying forward funds when you acquire, if your acquisition were to be less than what was initially estimated.

Is there a policy on whether your funds can roll forward or not?

And then they'll develop those recommendations and we'll work with the law department and the budget office on something like that.

And then there's the executive committee, which is administrative functions of the board.

And there's also a communications oriented committee that's looking at how do you share EDI stories?

How do you connect with grantees?

So that would be the committee that would work on things like the grantee convening.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

Council Member Moore?

SPEAKER_07

Thank you, Chair.

Yeah, thank you very much for this.

I'm really curious.

You said something, James, that tweaked my interest, which was that EDI is funding that doesn't have the same spend-down timeline.

And I'm just curious about that.

What does that mean and why is that relevant and helpful?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so we end up with a lot of funding that is very time-restricted.

And then when you are in the development world building housing, there are construction delays.

I think we've seen this as permitting delays.

There's the concrete delay.

What was great about EDI is, you know, for example, we initially had envisioned EDI and used EDI to do some of the initial development, pre-development design work.

And then there were, as you can see on the slide, I think it's on here, the residential fund, this infusion of residential funding sources reimbursed the pre-development funds, and then those funds could be reinvested.

So even though we had committed the funds to a certain time period, we were able to use them to kind of shim up one side of the development.

And then as soon as that side was stabled, we could use that same shim over in another part, or actually use it as part of the permanent construction fund of the building.

So I think the fact that EDI didn't have a kind of, once you've used it, once you've committed it to a purpose, we're putting a date on it that you have to have shown us that you've spent every penny that exact way.

There was some flexibility for it where it could actually, you know, it's this incredible leverage tool.

When we're building a $35 million development, $3 million is what we hope to have for leverage to leverage other funders.

It's not a huge amount that it takes for us to leverage big public funders to be able to address the crisis.

EDI is that kind of a really key leverage tool in that.

And because there's folks who can work with you on reallocating or reapplying or reimbursing and shifting it back down, it gives you a longer time span on the funding, which, you know, can make it seem like we haven't spent it all yet, but we're actually now...

EFFECTIVELY DOUBLING THE IMPACT OF THAT SINGLE INVESTMENT, WHEREAS THINGS THAT HAVE, LIKE, A ONE-YEAR TIMELINE HAVE TO BE SPENT DOWN BEFORE WE CAN APPLY FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDING FROM THE SAME FUNDER IS ANOTHER CHALLENGE.

SOME FUNDERS SAY, WELL, YOU CAN'T USE, YOU CAN'T APPLY.

WE WENT TO COUNCIL, WE WENT TO THE CITY FOR SEVERAL DIFFERENT FUNDING REQUESTS FOR THIS ONE DEVELOPMENT, AND THE FACT THAT THIS ONE DIDN'T DISQUALIFY US FROM APPLYING FOR OTHERS WAS ANOTHER BENEFIT TO IT.

I'M NOT SURE IF THAT ANSWERS THE QUESTION SPECIFICALLY,

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, no, that was helpful.

And then, so what was the total timeframe in which you were, you know, utilizing the EDI money?

SPEAKER_03

I'll bet you Jenna could answer that better than me, although maybe neither of us can answer it on the spot.

SPEAKER_07

Roughly.

SPEAKER_12

Yeah, so initially $1 million came through EDI.

That was the seed.

There was more than one round of funding.

Council added money to this project as well, so there were infusions at different points.

and then in the 2019, 2020 timeframe, and then EDI money, the additional money council city EDI at the start of construction all the way through, because as James noted, what happened is housing funding came in and that replenished EDI funding, and then they could wait and then apply it forward.

We have other grantees who are able to reduce the overall interest if they strategically paid for the project, if they strategically wait for the right moment to strike with their EDI funding, for example.

So it can seed fund, then come back and be replenished, and then buy down interest, and then come back and be replenished, and so on and so forth.

So this project is throughout the lifecycle.

SPEAKER_03

So something like between 40 and 48 months, I think, was when we had active EDI contracting of some kind, which is a four-year, almost a four-year period from when it was first.

So 2019 through, because we also, EDI, the whole project, I think I've shared this actually with almost everyone.

We also used, it was a combined capital fund that also remodeled part of our day center so that the PSH would actually be useful and utilized.

And so the entire project funding wasn't really over until late 2022. And I think the initial fund was that 18, 19 cycle.

SPEAKER_07

And it sounds like it was, it sounds all very complicated and like you've got to really be on top of it and funding here, there, and make sure you're getting it at the right moment.

So I just, and I know that, you know, Chief Sealth is relatively sophisticated in how you relatively sophisticated, right?

So I'm just curious about the relationship that you had with OPCD and them being able to be good partners to you and how that might have worked if you had not been quite as sophisticated.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I don't know that we were as sophisticated as we are now, and I don't know that we would be here without OPCD, frankly.

I think it's the nature of the buy-in for, and that this came out of community for EDI funding, that gave us the, like we had great, it was almost like having a second, a development consultant from time to time, where we met with folks from OPCD to talk.

We're hearing this from our development consultant.

This is what they're saying the timeline is.

How does that work for you in this funding?

And we're asking a funding question as a grantee.

And OPCD staff are coming in and saying, Well, that's fine for the grant funding.

Let me also, here's what we heard from another developer of similar background, another displaced community that's gotten EDI funding.

Have you thought to ask your development consultant about this, this, or this?

Because that could be a workaround for it that, again, and it certainly, it wasn't just on behalf of the club.

I think it was helping to leverage the EDI funds and really increase the public benefit of the city investment.

But it was almost like having a trusted checkpoint and a trusted vetting point as an organization that doesn't have a really refined and sophisticated apparatus for working in construction and property development.

As you're stepping into it, it's so hard to know if these delays and these timelines and these terms are all real or if that's just jargon that folks use to kind of baffle you until you just agree to pay, right?

And OPCD was this kind of incredible partner in that where they knew, they were there on our side to get this development.

They wanted the public funding to be as effective as possible.

And the way they knew to do that was to make sure that the public developer, in this case, Chief Seattle Club, was as effective as possible.

I'm not sure if that, does that answer the question?

SPEAKER_07

No, it did.

Yeah, that was very helpful.

Thank you.

Good to hear.

SPEAKER_09

Okay, we actually have three appointments.

Yeah, please go ahead.

Before you go, just want to see if Council Member Wu has a question at all.

No, okay.

Yeah, please go ahead.

SPEAKER_16

Thank you.

Just, did you say you had a development consultant, a private development consultant, separate from the city, I mean?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so Chief Seattle Club, actually a number of the other, I think, EDI-funded organizations have used the nonprofit development consulting group Beacon Development.

And so they were helping us to manage a project, soup to nuts, as we say in the industry.

And this is what they do.

So, you know, they're one of these, there are lots of other development consultants that organizations hire, whether it's TI, tenant improvements on a rapid acquisition, or whether it's, you know, full stick built from the ground up.

Because organizations like Chief Seattle Club, we can hire an experienced developer on staff, someone who's done, you know, who's done major developments in the past.

But that doesn't mean that our accounting team is ready to do cash draws on construction funds that come from the feds.

And so having an experienced development consultant who knows how to stage those kinds of, I mean, these are major amounts of money that the human services industry folks aren't used to.

So as human services organizations make the leap from being human services organizations to being a housing developer, there's a lot to take on and a single hire can't do it.

So sometimes we'll get seed funding to bring on someone who really understands the construction industry but they can't do it all because we've got to shift our entire organizational administrative structure towards housing development while we still run our essential services and human services.

SPEAKER_16

And so does that mean you got federal funding and other outside funding as well?

Outside from the city, I mean, for your projects?

SPEAKER_03

For this building, we have federal, state, county, city, neighborhood, because of historic south downtown, We've got private, we've got individual donor.

I mean, the low-income housing tax credit program, right, is federal funding.

So that also comes through a private equity firm with multiple different private investors.

If you could fund housing in a way, I think we have it in that building, and I have to report on it.

SPEAKER_16

So this EDI project is specific to housing?

SPEAKER_03

I think it was, I don't have the specifics on, I mean, I couldn't tell you where every dollar was spent between the unit cost versus the pre-development for the whole project, which includes the condominiumization, which includes the gallery, cafe space, as well as the clinic, as well as many of these spaces aren't exactly units, but it was for that building and that development.

SPEAKER_12

I could clarify.

The EDI funds did support the overall project, however, specifically the award was tied to the component that was for the rehabilitation of the adjacent commercial.

To support the condominiumized spaces that would provide the community benefit package, which were the service provision elements versus the housing.

It did allow for the additional attraction of dollars, so it provided that incentive for other developers to come in and make this more than a service provision space, but also a fundamental home where the array of services needed could be provided.

SPEAKER_09

Okay, colleagues, we could probably be here for a few more hours.

I will say that at our next committee meeting, we are going to have EDI back.

So if you've got additional questions, please be contemplating them.

And if you want to provide them ahead of time so the team can be prepared to respond to them, that would be great.

But we are going to move on to get the appointments done.

So thank you.

Thank you, James, for being here.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Members.

SPEAKER_09

So, okay, let's go ahead and move to the appointments.

Jenna, can you please review?

I don't think we have any folks here.

SPEAKER_12

Mr. Glover is here.

Finico Glover Jr., Nico, is joining remotely.

And this is a council appointment and confirmation.

The other two are board appointments, council confirmations.

I'd like to provide a brief overview of Nico and then allow Nico to introduce himself as well.

Thank you.

So we ran a recruitment process.

Nico applied to the board, and we were really excited to interview him.

He's quite a dynamic young man.

He is a resident of the Rainier Beach community, born and raised Seattleite, went to high school in West Seattle.

So he is very engaged in EDI, high risk of displacement, communities and neighborhoods.

throughout his life and holds a lot of relationship.

He was a founding member of King County Equity Now.

He started nonprofits, service provider organizations, and he'll talk a little bit about some of his endeavors.

He is pursuing a degree in city and urban regional planning, has worked in economic development in the Rainier Valley area, and...

His call to serve is really about uplifting the marginalized voices and addressing some of the things that create vulnerability in at-risk populations.

And so with that, I'd like to invite Rico to unmute and say hello.

SPEAKER_04

Hello.

Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_09

Yes.

Hello.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you for being here.

No problem, no problem.

It's a pleasure to meet you guys.

Hello to all the council members.

I'm Finico Grover, Jr., or better known as Nico.

It's a pleasure.

I'm happy to be here, like I said.

And just a little bit about myself.

Like Jenna said, born and raised in Seattle.

I have my ties from the Central District to South Seattle.

Basically moved around, went from growing up in South Seattle, school, moving to North Seattle, going to Hamilton International, and then going all the way to West Seattle, and then that's where I graduated high school.

And now, for sure, my city and regional urban planning at Alabama A&M University.

And I would love to, you know, bring that expertise and knowledge when I'm learning and apply it to what I'm doing with the board.

super well connected to my community.

As Jenna was saying, I started a youth development organization called Sprout, where we help youth young adults from the ages of 16 to 24 with everything that you can kind of imagine, internships, scholarships, job opportunities, and even just teaching entrepreneurship.

And, you know, through that endeavor, I was able to meet with fellow leaders of the African-American community, like Joaquin Garrett, the CEO of Africa Town, Land Trust, and Mr. Gregory Davis from Air Beach Action Coalition.

So just through that, I've been able to work in my community and continue to uplift.

And one of my biggest aspirations is to continue to provide economic mobility and opportunities for youth, young adults, especially the marginalized ones that may not have the opportunities or see the opportunities that are right in front of them.

So with me coming to this board or being appointed to this board, I wanted to bring these opportunities of what EDI is, what it looks like, what it feels like as a young African-American man to speak power to other people that look like me and to educate them on the things that they have the opportunity to impact in their community.

So with that, it's a pleasure to meet you guys.

It's a pleasure to work alongside you guys and to be a longtime resident of Seattle and see the work that each and every one of you guys do.

be contributing and what we will be contributing to our city.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you very much.

Yeah, thank you, Nico.

I appreciate you being here.

We have your appointment packet.

Lots of great experience, particularly around economic development.

I see you worked for the city as an economic development manager.

I wonder if you could talk a little bit about how you think your experience can help advance the goals of anti-displacement in the city, particularly for communities of color.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I think how my experience can help advance the goals is just by going into community, speaking with community, and teaching them what economic development actually is, right?

Teaching them about how to put up, what financial literacy is, teaching them about home ownership, teaching them about career mobility and how all that plays into it, and then coming back and investing into your community, right?

talking to people about what tax credits are, what opportunities they can get into if they're trying to improve their commercial space or their viability, and also trying to just go take shape community and low income people from a renter's mindset to a homeowner mindset.

So I believe like with my experience in the city, learning and being under the wings of Mr. Gregory Davis, and Mr. K. Joaquin Garrett and learn from Afrocentric viewpoint, I believe that my experiences can definitely propel me as a role in this board.

SPEAKER_09

Great, thank you so much.

Colleagues, any questions for Nico?

OK, thank you very much.

Jenna, you want to present the other two folks?

SPEAKER_12

Our second board member up for appointment and council confirmation is Eliana Horn.

Eliana's off the grid today, ahead of the long holiday.

But Eliana is a great example of one of our EDI community partners who was involved in the South Corps group, Puget Sound Sage, continuing to engage with EDI.

And we've had other Puget Sound Sage Staff members serve as board members of DDI.

And Eliana is a staff member at Puget Sound Sage.

She has a background, a Juris Doctorate from CUNY, a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia, and is very adept and skilled in policy work.

This is an area where we really want to do even more.

So we're excited to bring on more breadth and depth of experience there with respect to the board's work.

She's very, very engaged in community stewardship of land, lives in the central, pardon me, Columbia City, Rainier Valley area.

And then she also has experience in tenant organizing with the Tenants Union of Washington.

And her motivation to serve was really about ways in which through policy, through co-creation with community, government can learn what community needs to have fruitful and really meaningful partnerships, and the way in which those partnerships can be transformational in terms of community outcomes.

And so we were very moved by her commitment and the level of engagement she has in many ways in bettering communities, both professionally and personally.

I know you have her appointment packet, but if there are any questions about her background or experience that I might be able to answer, I'd be happy to do so.

SPEAKER_09

I don't see any.

Please go ahead.

SPEAKER_12

Our third Board Appointment Council confirmation is Tiffany Kelly Gray.

I am not sure if Tiffany is virtually joining.

I don't see her.

Okay.

Tiffany is the...

Third of our three, and she works with Bird Bar Place as a community impact director.

She did not work with Bird Bar Place when Bird Bar was an EDI grantee.

But when she joined Bird Bar, she was very moved to understand how their work with EDI had been transformative for their organization.

And so when we were recruiting, she approached and applied based on that interest.

She's looking to bring also some of her experience as a wealth manager.

And she's also worked as a community navigator, director of economic development for the Central Area Collaborative.

So she holds deep roots.

She lives and works in the neighborhood.

And she...

has done a lot of work with helping people understand their finances, understand how to build wealth, but also looking at funding sources.

So we think that's going to be a great benefit to not only our staff, but our grantees as well.

She has a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Cultures, and then also sits on the board at the Beartree School.

So we see a long history of service to community, but also a lot of technical skills that we're excited to bring on board.

We had an EDI board meeting earlier today, and Tiffany raised some really critical points around how we might understand the position we're in with respect to grantees' needs in future years.

And so we're also really happy to have her on board as we take on this report and also work towards our strategic planning interests in the next year.

SPEAKER_09

Great.

Thank you very much.

Any questions, colleagues?

Okay, well, it looks like we've got three great additions to the board.

So I move to recommend confirmation of appointments 02904 through 02906. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll on confirmation of the appointment?

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

SPEAKER_09

Aye.

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Wu?

Aye.

SPEAKER_09

Yes.

SPEAKER_17

Chair Morales?

Yes.

Four in favor.

SPEAKER_09

Great.

The committee recommendation that appointments be confirmed will be sent to the July 9th 2024 City Council meeting for final action.

Appointees do not need to attend the City Council meeting, but we do want to thank everybody for their willingness to serve.

SPEAKER_12

Thank you.

Thank you very much, and we look forward to seeing you at the July 17th meeting, and perhaps we'll bring one of our new board members then as well.

SPEAKER_09

Terrific.

Thank you so much.

Okay, Naomi, will you please read agenda item four into the record?

SPEAKER_17

Agenda item four, office to residential legislation for briefing discussion and possible vote.

SPEAKER_09

Okay, we are joined by Jeff Wendland from the Office of Planning and Community Development and Asha Venkataraman from our central staff.

Jeff is here to answer any questions you all may have.

We did have this presentation in June, and you may recall we also had a public hearing.

And Asha is here because we do have several amendments, so she will walk through those.

Before we begin, as you know, this is the Office to Residential Conversion legislation.

We've talked about how bringing more housing into downtown is an important way to reinvigorate our downtown core, and the intent here is to really try to streamline the conversion process.

So I will...

Hand it to Jeff.

Are you going to do a quick overview?

SPEAKER_02

No, I don't have any overview.

SPEAKER_09

I should take it away.

I'll just do a quick reminder.

So that is the intent of this legislation.

We know that not all office buildings will be adaptable to residential use because of their layout, the natural lighting that might be or not be in existence.

And we know that any conversion would need to add plumbing and other amenities, which can be costly.

And so this package also does include incentives without which the conversions would not be possible because they are uniquely expensive to build.

So I will, we've got, I'm not sure how many amendments we're up to now.

Six, I believe.

So Asha, if you will walk through each one and then we will vote on them individually.

So before we do that, I will move Amendment 1, Version 2, which is my own amendment.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded.

Asha, please go ahead.

SPEAKER_15

Sure, so Asha Venkatraman with your council central staff for the record.

Amendment one, as you mentioned, Council Member Morales is sponsored by you.

We previously discussed this at the last committee meeting.

It would remove the exemption for these projects from Subtitle 3, Division 3 of Title 23. which basically is a set of regulations about overlay districts.

So it includes things like regulations for the Shoreline Master Program, special review districts, and major institutions.

And so by making this amendment, it would require those projects to comply with the regulations in that part of the code.

SPEAKER_09

Right, so it basically restores applicability of regulations for the Shoreline Master Program for overlay districts and regulations regarding special review districts.

This was inadvertently left out in the initial legislation, so this amendment is needed in order to comply with SEPA, is that correct?

SPEAKER_15

To comply with the Shoreline Master Program, the Shoreline Management Act.

SPEAKER_09

Okay.

Colleagues, are there any questions about this amendment?

Okay.

I move adoption of Amendment 1, Version 2. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Rivera.

SPEAKER_09

Aye.

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Chair Morales.

Yes.

Four in favor.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

The motion passes.

Council Member Moore, you're recognized to move Amendment 2, Version 1.

SPEAKER_07

Thank you very much, Chair.

So I move Amendment 2 to Version 1 of Council Bill 120761.

SPEAKER_09

I will second that.

Asha, you want to clarify this amendment?

SPEAKER_15

Sure.

So this amendment would remove the MHA exemptions for conversions in specific zones.

It would remove the exemption, which is to say MHA would apply for projects in, excuse me, in the mid-rise and high-rise zones.

SPEAKER_09

Council Member Moore, you're recognized to address your amendment.

SPEAKER_07

Okay, thank you very much.

So this is really a very simple amendment.

It simply restores MHA applicability to the multifamily zones, which is listed in high-rise and mid-rise.

And the reason that I'm making that request is I am very much supportive of the conversion from commercial to residential space and certainly support the exempting conversions in downtown space, commercial space, and mixed-use space, because that's where the 12 projects that are principally identified and contemplated will be pursued and brought to fruition.

So it's my concern about throwing in the multifamily zone to that exemption to MHA is that it's somewhat premature.

I don't think it's necessary to accomplish what is the intent of the bill, which is to activate vacant commercial space downtown and in those commercial zones.

I'm a little bit concerned about making such broad scale changes to MHA in the multifamily zones when we are sort of in the process of still studying what we're going to do with MHA going forward.

And also, my next bill brings us back to review how things are going, and so we always have the option to re-add high-rise and mid-rise multifamily zones, should we determine that everything is going very well in the downtown commercial and mixed-use zones, and that we need additional space.

SPEAKER_09

Okay, so just to clarify, this amendment limits the exemption to just downtown rather than citywide.

SPEAKER_15

So downtown, commercial and mixed use.

SPEAKER_09

Right, okay.

Okay, any questions, Council Member Rivera?

SPEAKER_16

And just to further clarify, does not impact the 12 projects that are being contemplated currently for the conversion, correct?

SPEAKER_07

That is my understanding, yes.

SPEAKER_16

And I just want to actually, I agree with Council Member Moore.

I think this is a prudent way to move forward given that it doesn't impact the 12 identified projects.

And also I too understand there's a assessment of MHA currently underway and we'll get the results then be able to determine later what next steps should be.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_09

Okay.

Very well.

I will say that we understand that each of these units may cost about $500,000 to do the full conversion.

I'm sure that will depend on the particular property itself.

But this is a way for us to be able to continue funding affordable housing and removing the exemption for high-rise and mid-rise is...

Reasonable.

And council can review, as you said, review these projects later and decide whether the exemption should be expanded or lifted in the future.

So this is certainly an amendment I support.

And is there any further discussion?

Council Member Moore?

Okay, do you want to move your amendment for a vote?

SPEAKER_07

Oh yes, thank you.

So I move amendment two to version one to council bill 120761.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of amendment two version one.

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Chair Morales.

Yes.

Four in favor.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

The motion passes.

Council Member Moore, you're recognized to move Amendment 3.

SPEAKER_07

Okay, thank you, Chair.

I move Amendment 3 to Version 1 of Council Bill 120761. I will second that.

Asha, can you review the amendment?

SPEAKER_15

Sure.

So Amendment 3 would add reporting requirements, so it would allow the city to track the progress of projects built under this legislation.

It asked OPCD to report back to the council by January 1st, 2028, information about permitting, completion of conversion projects, as well as affordable housing outcomes to allow a future council to determine whether the outcomes of this legislation as intended are being achieved or whether the legislation needs future changes.

SPEAKER_09

Okay, Council Member Moore, you're recognized to speak to your amendment.

SPEAKER_07

Thank you.

I don't really have much more to add.

It's just a basic reporting requirement just to see how well the program's going, whether we need to tweak it, like expanding the zones that it's applicable to, and really just giving us a chance to come back and see what the success of the program has been.

SPEAKER_16

Okay.

SPEAKER_09

Any further comment?

SPEAKER_16

Council Member Rivera?

Just again, I'm supportive.

I think this just goes back to accountability and making sure that when we are taking actions that we're looking at them and see if they're working.

If not, what we can do.

Should we expand?

Should we change course?

What the best thing is to achieve the outcome.

I'm supportive of the conversions and then we just need to see how things are going.

So thank you for adding that accountability piece to this.

Okay.

SPEAKER_09

Nothing more to add.

I agree.

Okay.

Any final comments, Council Member?

SPEAKER_07

The one thing I wanted to add is that it is a three-year time frame because I think we talked about it being about three years for things to get permitted and to begin going for, well, to have some sense of how it's working.

So I tried to make sure there was sufficient time to have something relevant to look at.

SPEAKER_09

Okay, then if there's no further discussion with the clerk, please call the roll on adoption of Amendment 3.

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Rivera.

SPEAKER_09

Aye.

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Chair Morales.

Yes.

Four in favor.

SPEAKER_09

Okay, we will move on.

I'll move Amendment 4, Version 1. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded.

Asha, back to you.

SPEAKER_15

So this is sponsored by Councilwoman Morales.

This amendment will allow an applicant for a project who has not yet submitted their permit applications for a conversion to do so before the effective date of the bill and still be vested to the regulations in this legislation.

So normally if a project or an applicant submits their permit applications, they vest at the time of that application.

What this amendment would allow the applicant to do is to choose a later vesting date.

So a vesting date that would be in effect so that the regulations in this legislation would apply to the project.

So for example, if they applied today, these regulations are not currently in effect.

And so the benefits in this legislation would not be available to them because they invested to an earlier version of the land use code.

But with this amendment, if they applied today, the legislation would go into effect and upon its effective date, they could choose to vest after that effective date, which means they could take advantage of the incentives in this legislation.

And so this amendment would allow that later vesting to take place.

SPEAKER_09

And just for the viewing public, can you explain what vesting is?

SPEAKER_15

Yes.

So vesting is essentially when you apply for a permit, a certain version of the land use code is in effect.

And so that version of the land use code is what is applicable to your project.

the concept of vesting is basically upon your application, no matter what the later changes are to the land use code, that's the development standards that apply.

And so even if they change later, you have predictability and consistency around what applies to your project.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you very much.

Okay, so there's not much to add to that.

We did hear from some callers who are in this situation right now and would be interested in being able to take advantage of this amendment.

And the idea is really just to save several months of review time to help get the permitting done faster, which we have all understood very clearly might be a problem for some.

So are there any questions about this amendment?

SPEAKER_99

Nope.

SPEAKER_09

Okay.

All right then.

I move that we adopt an amendment for version one.

Is there a second?

SPEAKER_16

Second.

SPEAKER_17

Second.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Rivera.

SPEAKER_09

Aye.

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Wu.

SPEAKER_09

Yes.

SPEAKER_17

Chair Morales.

SPEAKER_09

Yes.

Four in favor.

Thank you.

The motion passes.

I will, where are we?

Amendment five.

I will move amendment five, version one.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

Asha, will you please review this amendment?

SPEAKER_99

Yes.

SPEAKER_15

So this amendment sponsored by Council Member Morales would add some recitals to the bill that encourage developers to use universal design standards for units to make those units more accessible to people with disabilities.

Universal design standards are basically where things are designed to be usable by everybody without the need for additional adaptation or specialized design.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

Colleagues, we're adding this to the recital really just to elevate the need as we've seen particularly in the last several weeks as we have conversation about access throughout the city.

In the transportation levy conversation, we have a similar challenge in the city as it relates to accessibility and housing.

So this isn't changing the base legislation except to include in the recitals that we do need to start having a discussion.

and make it clear that we have an expectation that housing projects also include this universal design element.

SPEAKER_07

Are there any questions about that?

I just wanted to say I was unclear about what this meant.

And so I had to Google universal design and then I think we got, and our council member Rivera got an answer from central staff and I'm fully supportive now that I can totally understand what it is.

So thank you.

SPEAKER_16

And just to add, definitely support, you know, accessibility.

And so this is what this strives to do.

And so support that.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_09

Okay.

Let's, where are we?

Naomi, will you please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 5?

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Chair Morales.

SPEAKER_09

Yes.

Four in favor.

Thank you.

The motion passes.

Okay, colleagues, we do have a walk-on amendment.

Council Member Wu, you are recognized to move Amendment 6.

SPEAKER_10

I move Amendment 1, Version 1, CB 120761.

SPEAKER_09

Okay.

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

So I have this as amendment six, but I suppose it's technically walk on amendment one.

I don't know if that makes a difference, but I will clarify that.

Thank you.

Walk on amendment one.

Okay.

Asha, please go ahead.

SPEAKER_15

Let me just share my screen right here so you can see it for the viewing public.

Give me just a moment.

SPEAKER_09

Yeah, and so I should also say this was circulated, but after the 12 o'clock deadline, which is why it is not on Legistar, but Council Member Wu did circulate it electronically and Asha is...

posting it now.

SPEAKER_15

So this amendment would require that for any structures that included street level uses before conversion occurred, that they would maintain those street level uses after conversion to residential use.

It wouldn't apply to any structures that didn't have those street level uses beforehand.

So if there were not street level uses in the building when it was still an office building, it would not be required to add street level uses in that case.

And lastly, it would apply along major pedestrian corridors in these applicable zones.

Major pedestrian corridors are, they're defined by each city.

And so in the amendment, you'll see a definition of basically of how we as a city define major pedestrian corridors.

And if it's helpful, I've pulled up maps for what that looks like in each of these zones that I can pull up on the screen if that would help with visually understanding what we're looking at.

SPEAKER_09

Why don't you pull one up so we can just take a look.

SPEAKER_15

So this one, so this one, for example, is the map for a downtown zone and it's, And if a project is on one of the streets where street level uses are required on this map, then it would be subject to this amendment.

And so on this map, can you see the mouse?

Yes, okay.

So on this map, anywhere that is in bold here, so any of these areas where street level uses are required, that's where this amendment would apply.

And so similarly in each of these maps, there are designations for where those street level uses would be required.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you very much.

Council Member Wu, you're recognized to address your amendment.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you.

So colleagues, as we heard during public comment, about two or three people called this out.

And I think the main theme of this amendment was to activate downtown, to allow for more walkability, for people to walk.

And...

be able to be part of downtown.

And so I think that to activate downtown, we have to have those storefronts, we have to have the retail, the nonprofits to allow for the activation.

And while housing, having a housing there would activate it, but also allowing for what was previously there, like if there's a retail store there, allowing for that retail to come back.

I know that there are...

Other options you could also put in residential, but allowing for that storefront to remain a storefront, I think will help in terms of activation.

So we want to encourage visitors, we want people to walk around, I think that helps uplift these neighborhoods, especially if we are trying to encourage the pedestrian corridors.

And so I know that we have to have this conversation.

I know there's some other feedback I've heard that, you know, the storefront is vacant.

There are no guarantees that a vendor will take up that vacant space.

And there are just allowances for more vacancy in storefronts.

But I think there are other issues that causes vacancies, but I will love the opportunity for, these buildings that had previously had storefronts to allow those storefronts to continue, to allow for that possibility of activation in terms of a store or pop-up or some kind of activity or nonprofit or services that will help the community.

So while we're adding more residential, we could add more services and grocery stores, cafes.

And this would only apply for a few areas, so not for the entire area.

And I've gotten the question of why these specific areas, they were called out in the state legislation.

And so I think there's a lot of room here to allow for small businesses, entrepreneurs, walkable city down to activation, and just more eyes and feet on the streets.

And so this kind of came about from the historic districts, Chinatown International District and the Pioneer Square area, where storefront use on the ground floor is part of that...

neighborhood plan to allow for walkability and activation.

And downtown has been designated as commercial zones, commercial areas historically, and we'll love to retain part of that going forward.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_09

As I said, this was circulated today, so I do wanna give OPCD an opportunity.

Jeff, I know you haven't had a lot of time to look at this, but if there's anything you think we should contemplate as we're making this decision, let me know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, obviously we didn't have a lot of time to review.

We did see this this afternoon.

One thing I would note for the council is that Most of the conversion projects that I'm aware of that are contemplating conversion do intend to have active ground floor uses.

I haven't seen proposals that are seeking to convert the ground floor to residential uses right on the sidewalk.

Generally, in a high traffic downtown environment, that can be challenging for a variety of reasons you can imagine.

From that standpoint, we don't think that this amendment deviates from the intent and effectiveness of the bill.

I can say that.

Also, the aspect of what's written here that references the existing designations of Major pedestrian corridors is good in terms of just code construction.

If a department was proposing, it would probably make similar references to existing codes.

So in terms of its code construction, we don't see major problems.

I'm also aware that there was a quick review by law and some minor comments, and there were no red flags found during that review.

So those are my thoughts for your consideration.

SPEAKER_09

Great, thank you.

Thank you for bringing this Council Member Wu.

I will say when we first heard this bill in June, I was concerned about similar things, you know, making sure that we have street level activation is part of the goal of how we start to revitalize downtown again and I think this is certainly something that can help ensure that those first floor spaces stay activated and really be able to provide services, whether it's retail or some other service to the neighbors who are now living in the units above.

I will be supporting this amendment.

Are there other comments or questions?

SPEAKER_16

I have some questions actually.

So can you currently, these buildings and even downtown, is there a requirement to have a storefront or is it that you can either have a storefront or residential?

I'm just getting more information.

SPEAKER_15

Sure.

So for many of these zones, there are street level requirements.

And so depending on the zone, street level uses can be required.

Some of the issue is that some of these buildings were built at a much, much older time.

And so before those street level use requirements were even required.

And so there are buildings that don't currently have street level uses, but they're not in violation of the code because they have been around for so long.

And so for those buildings, those buildings weren't, aren't even, wouldn't be necessarily even subject to this amendment because they don't have existing street level uses for those projects that are subject to this legislation.

SPEAKER_16

Sorry, can I just stop you for a second?

You're saying that there are some buildings downtown after a certain date when this then ledge requirement was enacted.

So they're required somewhere grandfathered in so they didn't need to have the street level use.

So now we have a mix of street level and non street level requirements for buildings downtown.

Am I getting that right?

Yes.

Okay.

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_15

Um, and so for some of these projects, um, that are those buildings that don't currently have the street level uses, this amendment would not affect them.

So it's really only for the buildings that have street level uses, regardless of whether those, um, those uses are vacant or existing, but are required to have those uses, um, that would then be subject to this legislation.

SPEAKER_16

Okay, thank you for the clarification.

I'm just concerned that we're having issues downtown with empty storefronts, and those empty storefronts are becoming, it's contributing to, you know, there's graffiti, there's other, difficult situations downtown.

It's contributing to that.

So there are plenty of empty storefronts downtown and I'm just concerned that if we are requiring these to remain storefront versus perhaps residential where people would be living there and then it's activated that space.

that it's activating that space, that we're just contributing to more empty storefronts downtown, that I know OED has done a great job at trying to activate those empty storefronts downtown, but they're having a hard time.

And so I think that currently, if we don't do this, can these projects choose to either have the storefronts or not?

Or...

You mean if this amendment isn't- If the amendment doesn't pass, what are these projects required to do or not required to do?

Can they have the option of doing storefront or doing residential?

And to Jeff's point, it sounds like a lot of these projects are contemplating perhaps having street level uses that are not residential, but do they have the option?

SPEAKER_15

They have the option of putting in street level uses or having the ground level be residential.

SPEAKER_16

So that's what they have currently.

Jeff, you're saying what you're aware of is they're already contemplating street level uses.

So we don't necessarily need this amendment.

This probably applies to if we do additional conversions, then it would limit them to have to do the street level uses if they're already there.

SPEAKER_15

If this amendment went through for future conversion projects that were not otherwise contemplating street-level use, this amendment would require that those street-level uses be a part of the project, assuming they are in the areas that are listed there.

SPEAKER_16

And this is the concern that I have, is just limiting, without the amendment, even those future projects, potential projects still have the option of doing street level or residential, but this would very much limit them to just street level uses.

SPEAKER_07

Council Member Moore.

Thank you.

A thought and a question.

So my question, my thought is that if these, right now a lot of these buildings theoretically are vacant and so we're doing the conversion to bring them alive with having people living in the buildings.

And so I would think that activating that space would perhaps address some of the concerns about the ground levels.

I'm just...

just hear me out the ground level space um you know being vacant and perhaps being uh an attractive nuisance in that regard um so that's just what i'm wondering my question is if we pass this amendment is it possible and maybe even to tweak the amendment to allow for um an application or an appeal to OPCD that if it's turning out that they cannot activate the space for whatever reason, it continues to remain vacant for a period of time, that they could apply to convert it to residential?

SPEAKER_15

We could certainly work on amendment language like that, not necessarily at this moment.

at the table, but we could think through something like that.

It would just need to be not, um, not voted on today.

SPEAKER_02

Is that something that OPC, I mean, would it, do they need to know that in the beginning, I guess is, um, well, just my, I'm one person, but my initial reaction to that based on sort of my experience at the city is that, um, Generally, SDCI and OPCD would prefer not to have that type of a regulation because it calls for discretion on the part.

You have to make a call about what it was based intentionally left vacant.

Are they really having difficulty filling it?

There's perhaps an element of discretion that we...

might like to avoid and typically have the, either be like a clear enforceable standard.

Also, we do see, there have been cases where developers maybe could fill a space if they tried really hard, but if there's an incentive for them to just keep it vacant for a period of time, they might just do that as a workaround.

So again, I'm just reacting in real time here, but those are my initial thoughts.

SPEAKER_09

Council Member Wu, anything you want to add?

SPEAKER_10

Well, I know there's a little bit of a pushback with this, but I thought it was really important we had this discussion.

I really think that having active storefronts help uplift neighborhoods and areas, allow for walkability, help for public safety, because there's more feet on the ground, there's more eyes out there.

And I think it also helps with economic development in helping our small business and entrepreneurs.

And I...

don't think there is an oversupply of storefronts.

I think having storefronts, I mean, there are other issues that cause them to be vacant, not necessarily an oversupply.

But having that opportunity there versus in the long term versus putting housing there, I think that helps expand the possibilities that we could do with our storefronts and with downtown.

Because while we can also put a storefront at the storefront, we could add more housing behind it.

which could help mitigate, you know, what if we can activate it?

Can we put housing there?

But I think having the opportunity in the long term, I mean, some of these buildings have been here for 100 years, having them for another 100 years, but the possibility of having an economic development aspect versus just housing, while we need that, I would love to be able to have more mixed use and be able to have opportunities for people to come into downtown.

SPEAKER_16

Chair, can I just, if you'll indulge me one more.

I just, I think the whole point, thank you, Chair.

The whole point of the conversion is because we haven't been able to activate the buildings downtown.

And so I think given that the developers doing the conversions have the option currently of either doing the storefront or or doing residential, and I fully support small businesses, which is part of my concern, is we haven't been able to figure out a way to have small businesses stay downtown, because we just don't have the activation, and Council Member Moore very much appreciate the comment you made earlier.

We do have people currently living downtown, and that doesn't seem to be having a strong impact on those empty storefronts, and I know they have contributed to some of the situation downtown, the negative situation downtown.

I really appreciate, Councilmember Wu, you bringing this legislation forward, but this amendment, I'm not convinced that restricting that use to street level will be helpful in that way, though you and I share appreciation for the small businesses and I hear you if there are people living there maybe there needs to be a grocery store and all those amenities but because this is specific to these conversion projects which we're trying to address the lack of activation downtown where there's already empty storefronts I just I don't necessarily think that this amendment is needed, but I appreciate your effort, so I won't be in support of it today, but appreciate you for bringing this forward, and please know I'm supportive of the reasons behind which you brought this

SPEAKER_09

I do just want to clarify one more time, Asha.

So we know there are about a dozen projects.

We know that they are, as far as we understand, contemplating street-level uses, activation uses.

And the underlying legislation gives the option of converting.

It doesn't require that they do residential or that they maintain the existing use, is that right?

SPEAKER_15

That's right.

SPEAKER_09

Okay.

Council Member Wu, maybe I will ask you one more question and then we should go ahead and take a vote.

But are there particular projects that you are concerned about that would lose the flexibility of what their ground floor space looks like that you're contemplating here?

SPEAKER_10

No, there isn't just a single project I'm thinking about near in the future.

But I think what kind of...

What I'm thinking about is the larger downtown plan, looking at neighborhoods like the Chinatown International District and Pioneer Square, where they do have that street-level use requirement and have to go before the IRC board, the Pioneer Square board, to get a change of use.

And so that way, it's a more thoughtful and meaningful approach to changing the neighborhood plan and not allowing, instead of retail, having housing there.

Because I think the plan was to allow for walkability.

Every couple of feet, there's a storefront there to allow people to come in and out and vibrancy of the neighborhood.

And so that's what I was thinking about when trying to apply this for downtown.

I know that the flexibility is there.

And as a developer myself, I know when we look at the Performa in terms of The housing versus commercial space, it makes a little bit more sense sometimes up in a commercial space, so I'm not too worried if this doesn't pass.

But I think it sends a statement that we want to activate our downtown, we want to make sure that we have availability and opportunities for storefronts and small businesses to be able to come into downtown.

And this only affects a very small amount of projects, so I'm not too worried.

But I felt like it was really important we had this discussion.

SPEAKER_09

Okay, well, I appreciate that, and I do think it was a fruitful discussion, and I also appreciate understanding that there is flexibility in the underlying legislation, so there isn't a requirement that the buildings do residential.

So given that clarification, I do think that I will not be supporting the amendment and I just wanted to state that.

I appreciate the clarification.

Okay, if there's no further discussion, let's go ahead and move to a vote.

Naomi, will you please read, what am I asking you to do?

Will you please call the roll?

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Mori?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

SPEAKER_16

No.

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Wu?

SPEAKER_16

Yes.

SPEAKER_17

Chair Morales?

No.

Two in favor, two against.

SPEAKER_09

Okay, the motion fails.

And we will...

Okay, are there any final comments before we move to the final bill as amended?

SPEAKER_16

Yes, thank you, Chair.

Just, Councilmember Wu, would love to have a conversation, and I know it's not this particular, maybe it is this committee chair, but a conversation about ways that we can work with OED on activating those empty storefronts is very welcome because I know it's something they're struggling with.

And I agree with you, we need to have more activation.

I just wanted to preserve the flexibility given we know it's been so difficult, but if there's anything this council can do to help activate those empty storefronts downtown, I certainly welcome the conversation.

So look forward to continuing to work with you on that since I know this is something that's important to you as well.

So thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

Okay, I'm going to move to recommend passage of Council Bill 120761 as amended.

Is there a second?

SPEAKER_17

Second.

SPEAKER_09

It's been moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

SPEAKER_17

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Chair Morales.

SPEAKER_09

Yes.

SPEAKER_17

Four in favor.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

The bill passes and the bill will be sent to the July 9th, 2024 City Council meeting for a final vote.

Thank you both for being here.

Okay, if there's no further business to come before the Land Use Committee, we are concluding our business here.

The next regularly scheduled Land Use Committee meeting is July 17th.

Thank you for attending, everyone.

We're adjourned.

SPEAKER_16

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.