Seattle City Council Land Use Committee 1/11/2023

I'm Dan Strauss chair of the committee will the clerk please call the roll.

Councilmember Mosqueda.

Present.

Councilmember Nelson.

Councilmember Peterson.

Present.

Vice Chair Morales.

Here.

Chair Strauss.

Present.

Board President.

Thank you we have one item on the agenda today so this will be a quick meeting which is public a discussion and possible vote on appointment 02433 to the Urban Forestry Commission.

Before we begin, if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

At this time, we will open the hybrid public comment period for items on today's agenda.

Please remember you must speak to an item on the agenda.

The public comment period is now open, and Clerk, if you could play the video.

Hello, Seattle.

We are the Emerald City, the City of Flowers and the City of Goodwill, built on indigenous land, the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.

The Seattle City Council welcomes remote public comment and is eager to hear from residents of our city.

If you would like to be a speaker and provide a verbal public comment, you may register two hours prior to the meeting via the Seattle City Council website.

Here's some information about the public comment proceedings.

Speakers are called upon in the order in which they registered on the council's website.

Each speaker must call in from the phone number provided when they registered online and used the meeting ID and passcode that was emailed upon confirmation.

If you did not receive an email confirmation, please check your spam or junk mail folders.

A reminder, the speaker meeting ID is different from the general listen line meeting ID provided on the agenda.

Once a speaker's name is called, the speaker's microphone will be unmuted and an automatic prompt will say, the host would like you to unmute your microphone.

That is your cue that it's your turn to speak.

At that time, you must press star six.

You will then hear a prompt of, you are unmuted.

Be sure your phone is unmuted on your end so that you will be heard.

As a speaker, you should begin by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

A chime will sound when 10 seconds are left in your allotted time as a gentle reminder to wrap up your public comments.

At the end of the allotted time, your microphone will be muted, and the next speaker registered will be called.

Once speakers have completed providing public comment, Please disconnect from the public comment line and join us by following the meeting via Seattle Channel broadcast or through the listening line option listed on the agenda.

The council reserves the right to eliminate public comment if the system is being abused or if the process impedes the council's ability to conduct its business on behalf of residents of the city.

Any offensive language that is disruptive to these proceedings or that is not focused on an appropriate topic as specified in Council rules may lead to the speaker being muted by the presiding officer.

Our hope is to provide an opportunity for productive discussions that will assist our orderly consideration of issues before the Council.

The public comment period is now open.

and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.

Please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt of, you have been unmuted.

Thank you, Seattle.

Thank you.

And we have two people signed up, one in person and one virtual.

We have Alex Zimmerman present in person and David Mooring present.

And I see Council Member Nelson has joined us.

Thank you for joining us, Council Member Nelson.

And we have David Mooring present virtually.

And so with the public comment period now open, we'll begin with the first speaker on the list, Mr. Zimmerman.

And I will just remind you, you must speak to an item on the agenda and your entirety of your comments must be to that agenda item.

Thank you very much.

Zeke Heil, Dem-Nazi-Gestapo-Democracy-Fascist-Mob-Psycho.

My name is Alex Zimmerman and I'm always here with my red sign and hello David Starr.

I want to speak about people, what is your church for committee?

I come to Seattle committee for last 15 maybe years.

Mr. Zimmerman, is this on topic of the appointment of David Baker?

Yes, absolutely.

This is exactly what I want to speak about, people who you appoint, yes.

So you appoint people and I have no experience because I come to many committee many times for the last 10, 15 years.

It's very specific people, what is your point?

They look to me like a baby slave.

You know what does mean?

Everybody quiet and nobody doing nothing.

They talking and talking about, but I never see one here, for example, or here.

Mr. Zimmerman, is this on the agenda item?

Yes, exactly.

Mr. Zimmerman, this is not on topic.

No topic, I talk about this guy who you want approved today, you know what I mean?

He same like everybody.

This a problem what is we have.

This a topic what is I talking about.

This guy, nothing different than another hundred what is you appointing.

They all identical.

They all quiet.

They look to me like a baby, you know what I mean?

Like a baby, sick baby, you know what I mean?

Because nobody talking about real problem what is we have.

We will have a ton of real problems.

So many committee, you know what this mean?

100 people and everybody identical.

How is this possible?

Stand up, America, we need.

Our next speaker, remotely present, is David Mooring.

Welcome, David.

Oh, hello.

This is David Mooring, the Urban Forestry Commission position number eight architect.

I just want to say that Chief Seattle was quoted to say, all things share the same breath, the beast, the tree, the man, the air shares its spirits with all the life it supports.

Contrary to Chief Seattle, the housing agenda focuses only on man.

Trees and our natural creatures are to to go elsewhere is what we hear outside of chief Seattle City outside of this land where our claim to honor his name and to honor his people who runs the city.

Volunteer commissioners like myself need to be regulated by building.

Builders unions as a commissioner who actively promotes both density and nature.

I lack an explanation for being removed from the Urban Forestry Commission after 15 months of a six-year term.

The mayor reappointed me on May 2022, followed by a seven-month of no action by this committee.

Who runs this city?

After the mayor's CEO requested my removal to appease his affiliation with the Biller's Union he represents, section six of the urban forestry bylaws states, the mayor may remove any appointed member subject to confirmation by the majority of the city council.

The city council has not met and has not removed me So please follow our bylaws, follow the rules.

I support David Baker as a future Urban Forestry Commissioner.

He has just moved here since 2020, and I'm sure he'll be ready in 2025 to take over when my term is complete.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Seeing as we have no additional speakers remotely or physically present, we will move on to the next agenda item.

Our first and only item on the agenda today is a briefing discussion and possible vote on appointment 02433, appointment of David Baker to the Urban Forestry Commission for a term to March 31st, 2025. Clerk, will you please read the short title into the record?

Appointment 02433, appointment of David A. Baker as member, Urban Forestry Commission for a term to March 31st, 2025, for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you.

I know that we have Patty Backer from the Office of Sustainability and Environment here for this discussion.

Patty, would you like to provide a brief background on the Urban Forestry Commission?

I do understand that David isn't able to attend today, and he did send a statement to you.

So maybe just a brief background on the Urban Forestry Commission and a brief statement of David Baker's qualifications.

I can do it.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

As noted, this item concerns the appointment of David Baker to the Urban Forestry Commission.

Mr. Baker is being appointed by the mayor to serve as the remainder of the current term in this position 8, which ends March 31st, 2025. Some background on the commission.

The Urban Forestry Commission was established by ordinance in August 2009 with the purpose of advising the mayor and city council concerning the establishment of policy and regulations governing the protection, management, and conservation of trees and vegetation in the city of Seattle.

The commission is made up of 13 members who represent various backgrounds and areas of expertise.

Position 8 is a representative of either the development community, including developers, builders, architects, or realtors with experience in projects developed under theater and energy and environmental design or LEED, or it's a representative from a non-city utility.

Six of the commission positions are appointed by the mayor, and six are appointed by city council, and one position is elected by the commission.

This position, position eight, is a mayoral appointment, and David Baker was appointed by the mayor to this position last month.

To share some background on Mr. Baker, David Baker is an experienced real estate and community development professional with over five years experience in the public and non-profit sectors.

Mr. Baker has been living and working in Seattle for over two years as a developer with Homestead Community Land Trust.

Prior to joining Homestead, he received his Master's of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan.

There, he studied the real estate development process and its social, environmental, and equity impacts.

His career in development began with the Detroit Land Bank Authority, where he worked to return vacant property to productive use by partnering with community groups and faith-based organizations.

As you noted, Mr. Baker is not able to join the meeting today, but he does look forward to joining the commission and collaborating on solutions that balance the need for housing, the needs of the environment, and the needs for equitable development.

Thank you, Patty.

That's very helpful.

You know, one of the reasons that we are having committee today just for one appointment is so that the Urban Forestry Commission can have this position appointed ahead of next month as we are going to be spending the months of February and March really drilling into the tree issue with the the hope to be able to pass the tree ordinance in a few months.

And so it is important that we take this time to get the commission settled.

The commission recently sent me a letter regarding the arborist registration legislation and the possible changes being made to that legislation.

And I gotta say, It was really helpful.

The Urban Forestry Commission does a really good job of providing us feedback on legislation and different issues in our city.

And so I am excited to be able to put this appointment forward.

I do also want to take this time to thank David Mooring for his service to our city.

He has Sat, he has continued to sit in this position even though his term had expired and we wanted to make sure that he could retain that position until this appointment was made.

And David Mooring, just a direct message to you.

I wanna say thank you for your service because all of these commissions are volunteer-based.

These are people spending their own time and resources to be able to share their perspective and expertise with our city.

So thank you, Patty, and thank you, David Baker and David Mooring.

Colleagues, do you have any questions at this time?

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

Yes, I also want to thank David Mooring for all his contributions to the Urban Forestry Commission.

I hope he still will stay engaged.

I know a lot of people respect his opinion on these matters, and I was hoping Mr. Baker would be here today.

It's an impressive resume, and I wanted to ask his views on the recent loss of tree canopy, the 255 acres, based on the recent data.

I will be supporting this at full Council.

I'll just abstain today just because I'm not able to ask the questions I wanted to, but it's interesting.

Urban Forestry Commission, as we know, it's got interesting in that each position has specific expertise slots.

This is position number eight, as I understand.

It's a representative of either the development community, including developers, builders, architects, or realtors.

with experience in projects developed under leadership in energy and environmental design, lead, or representative from a non-city utility.

So David Mooring fits that position, Mr. Baker fits that position.

So I want to respect who the Harrell administration wants to appoint here, but I look forward to Mr. Mooring continuing his engagement, and then I'll talk to Patty about how to get any sort of questions to Mr. Baker before full council.

Thank you.

Well said, thank you, Council Member.

Colleagues, any other comments or questions?

I'm seeing none.

Well, with that, seeing no further comments, I move to recommend confirmation of appointment 02433. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of appointment 02433. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Abstain.

Council Member, Vice Chair Morales?

Yes.

Chair Strauss.

Yes.

Four in favor.

Thank you.

Appointment 02433 passes.

The motion passes.

I just want to thank David Baker for his willingness to serve on the advisory board.

Thank David Mooring for your service to our city.

And as Council Member Peterson said, please stay engaged.

And this appointment and the committee's recommendation will be sent to the full city council for a final vote on January 17th.

David Baker, you don't need to attend the meeting, but you're always welcome to.

And before I conclude this committee hearing, just for the good of the order, I know I mentioned it at council briefing and just a moment ago as well, we'll be spending The next meeting of the Land Use Committee will be canceled for January 25th so that we are providing staff adequate time to prepare for our meetings in February where we will be solely focused on tree issues as well as likely scheduling special committee meetings in February and potentially March to address the tree ordinance and other issues.

What I want to be able to do is, if necessary, chunk up the legislation so that we focus on one section of the legislation at a time, have a robust discussion, analysis, amendment process to that specific section.

We will then close that section and move on to the next section.

Once we move on to another section, we will not be coming back so that we can have a fluid process of being able to focus on each section of the legislation at a time, provide enough time for people to have engagement and feedback, and then move on to the next section.

Colleagues, do you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this process?

Sounds good.

So the next meeting, uh, the January 25th will be canceled.

We'll be scheduling some special meetings in February with exact date to be determined.

And this officially concludes the Wednesday, January 11th, 2023 meeting of the Land Use Committee.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.