SPEAKER_10

All right, good morning.

The September 3rd, 2024 meeting of the Transportation Committee will come to order.

It is 9.31 a.m.

I am Rob Sacca, chair of the Transportation Committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll?

SPEAKER_18

Councilmember Kettle?

Here.

Councilmember Strauss?

SPEAKER_09

Present.

SPEAKER_18

Councilmember Wu?

Councilmember Wu?

Vice Chair Hollingsworth?

Chair Saka?

Here.

Chair, there are three members present.

SPEAKER_10

All right, I think Council Member Wu had joined earlier.

We'll give her a moment to confirm her attendance, but we will go ahead and get started.

We do have quorum.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing and seeing no objections, the agenda is hereby adopted.

All right.

Welcome back, colleagues, from a two-week recess.

Lots going on.

A lot of exciting things here in the Transportation Committee.

We have a very full-packed, stacked agenda today, in part catching up on a backlog of appointments, but also some other substantive items, including a task force resolution to implement an important item from the levy.

Also...

the nuts and bolts of what we do here in the Transportation Committee Street Alleyway Vacation, which is number three on the agenda today.

So without further ado, and colleagues, I hope you all enjoy your coffee.

It's right there at the dais for you and your policy person, courtesy of me and my office.

really courtesy of John and CityGrind downstairs.

I know you're all regular customers as am I, but I hope you enjoy that to help get you started that morning jolt.

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.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

SPEAKER_18

Currently we have six in-person speakers signed up and there are no remote speakers.

All right.

SPEAKER_10

Each speaker will have approximately two minutes.

Two minutes.

We will start with the in-person speakers first.

Clerk, can you please read the public comment instructions?

SPEAKER_18

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

The public comment period is up to 20 minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered.

Speakers will alternate between sets of in-person and remote speakers until the public comment period is ended.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left on their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comment within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

The public comment period is now open and we will begin with the first speaker on the list, Zelma Zeman.

SPEAKER_02

Is there a timer that I can look at?

Oh, okay, I wasn't sure.

I have another question too.

I have a photo.

Is that something that I can...

SPEAKER_10

Yes, ma'am.

You can submit that into the record as well.

Thank you.

You might want to feel free to hold it up if it's incorporated into your comments, your verbal comments as well.

And before you get started, I note that Vice Chair Hollingsworth has joined us.

Welcome.

SPEAKER_18

Zelma Zeman.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_99

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

Hello, my name is Zelma Zeman.

I'm here today with my neighbors to provide comments about an unsafe, uncontrolled intersection located in our neighborhood.

The intersection is at 49th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Graham Street in West Seattle.

In 2015, my 15-year-old son and I were driving to his school for band camp at nine in the morning when our lives were literally turned upside down.

As I was traveling eastbound on Southwest Graham, another car traveling north on 49th Avenue Southwest slammed into our car at this intersection.

Our car was hit so hard that we spun, rolled, and came to a stop, driver's side up.

We had to be cut out of the car by the fire department.

Fortunately, thanks to airbags and seat belts, we were not seriously injured.

And that's the photo of the car we were cut out of.

We like to say our SUV became a convertible that day.

After my accident, two things became clear.

One, almost every neighbor told me about their own near misses or fender benders at this intersection.

Two, a few of my friends and neighbors, especially those new to Seattle, told me that until my accident, they did not realize this was an uncontrolled intersection or they confessed to me they did not understand who had the right of way.

And as an aside, the other driver who hit me, or who was involved in the accident, had moved to Seattle within the previous year.

I do not want anyone else to go through this experience.

Unfortunately, accidents continue to happen.

As the Transportation Committee, please remember those of us who live near these unsafe, uncontrolled intersections.

They are a problem, and to fix the problem, we need your help.

We are at work with us to make these uncontrolled intersections safe.

Thank you.

And if you wanna look, you can submit it.

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you.

SPEAKER_18

Bob Clifford.

Bob Clifford.

SPEAKER_03

Hang on.

Okay.

Ready?

Go.

Good morning.

My name is Bob Clifford, and I am here today to support my neighbors in the effort to bring about some solution to the unsafe intersection at 49th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Graham Street.

We've lived in the neighborhood for 24 years, and I have observed many speeders heading south toward the Graham Street intersection over the years.

Unless you are a resident, Westbound drivers on Graham have no indication that 49th is anything but a sleepy residential street.

This is a recipe for an accident.

Ours is an older area of West Seattle, but it is changing in important ways.

Homes are turning over now as older residents sell and are replaced by younger families.

This means more kids on bikes and playing outdoors.

We also have several sight impaired residents nearby that cross the intersection.

As we all know, shopping online these days and especially during and after the pandemic has exploded and has led to all kinds of delivery services in addition to the usual Amazon, UPS and FedEx delivery trucks that we're all familiar with.

Private delivery contractors for these online sales use their own vehicles and many of these delivery drivers are not aware of the dangerous nature of this uncontrolled intersection.

Our request is for some sort of traffic calming mechanism to slow drivers down.

We would like a traffic circle, but we are open to working with the city on any practical solution.

We are excited to support the upcoming transportation levy.

Thanks for the opportunity to speak today.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_18

We will now hear from Karen Weir.

SPEAKER_01

Good morning.

My name is Karen Weir.

I live on Morgan Street 4908, which is just one and a half blocks from this uncontrolled intersection.

And I've come also with my neighbors here to ask the city council's help in making this problematic intersection safer.

I bought my home about a year ago, partly because of its safe, quiet location, and partly because my daughter and two young grandchildren live nearby.

I do a lot of walking, and I've often seen people speeding through that intersection.

We have numerous young children in the area, and there are a lot of people on bikes.

There are young boys playing basketball.

They run through the streets, and it's a problem.

I often walk just north of this intersection, 49th and Graham, up to Juneau, where there is a small roundabout, and I've seen significant reduction in speed because of that roundabout.

One of my new friends in the area is sight impaired, and I have heard her, I quote, say, I am visually impaired, and I walk using a red-white cane.

This intersection is very dangerous, end quote.

My hope is that the city council will help us in coming to a solution for this problem and make the community safer.

So thank you very much.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you, ma'am.

SPEAKER_18

We will now hear from Roger Schlotten, MD.

SPEAKER_20

Close enough.

Close enough.

Hello, I'm Dr. Roger Scholten.

I'm a recently retired pediatrician.

Our pediatric practice is a bit of a West Seattle landmark, serving our community now for about 70 years.

When it comes to the members of our West Seattle community, especially when it concerns the health and safety of my friends and fellow neighbors, I do something.

We all do something.

Each one of us here, all five of us, are deeply concerned, obviously, regarding the ongoing danger that the uncontrolled intersection at 49th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Graham represents.

I know we appear just as a small group of concerned individuals before you, but we have been tasked to represent the wishes of the vast majority of our neighbors here today.

We represent 70 concerned neighbors in this district.

all of them concerned quite infuriated really because each and every one of them have been involved in at least one near miss at this intersection.

Unfortunately, several have been involved in accidents, most involving a car whose driver is completely oblivious to the fact that this intersection is uncontrolled and they do not have the right of way, but not until recently, not until the latest accident involving Sten here, Did we understand that unless this is an actual police report recorded on the incident, there is no record of any accident ever having occurred.

No police, no record.

One of our neighbors is a paraplegic who was wheelchair bound.

There's a local daycare with a dozen kids just up the street.

There's an adult home two blocks north.

We are simply asking you, the City Council Transportation Committee, to please work with us to make it safe to navigate.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_18

Next up, and I apologize on the pronunciation, is it Jayston Chrissy?

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

My name is Sten Crissy, and I too express safety concerns over the intersection at 49th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Graham Street.

Our family lives on 50th Avenue, and because it is a dead-end street, we cannot leave our home without passing through this intersection.

I drove 63 years with no accidents until April 16th, when I was broadsided, resulting in $16,000 of damages to my car, the totaling of the other car, and a concussion for the driver.

We called 911, but because our accident did not qualify, no police arrived and no police report was written.

So what makes this intersection so dangerous?

First 49th Avenue Southwest runs one and a quarter miles with every four way intersection controlled except this one.

Second from 49th Avenue, Southwest Graham appears to dead end at 50th, which of course it does not.

And third, Same-day delivery services bring many drivers who are unfamiliar with the dangers present in this intersection.

On August 7th, 27 neighbors met with Matt Belier from SDOT to express our concern, and two days later, three of us met with you, Councilman Saka, and we're here in response to your kind invitation to make this presentation.

For a solution, we'd love to have a traffic circle.

If installed, our neighborhood Girl Scout troop has committed to plant and maintain native vegetation approved by SDOT.

For documenting our concern, we provide the following.

72 signed cards from neighbors who are concerned about the situation.

The names of the 27 people, along with a photograph of those who met with Matt.

And finally, a list of the 27 people who met with Matt.

and a photograph of the same.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_18

Our last public speaker is Lily Hayward.

SPEAKER_30

Thank you.

Good morning, Chair Saka, Vice Chair Hollingsworth, and members of the Transportation Committee.

My name is Lily Hayward, here today on behalf of the more than 2,500 members of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce to testify in support of Resolution 32145 and ask for your approval.

As you know, the Chamber and our members were engaged in the development of the proposed transportation levy because a thriving, equitable, and inclusive regional economy, which is our mission, is predicated on Seattleites being able to safely and reliably travel within the city and to its surrounding areas.

The resolution on today's agenda establishes a task force to make recommendations for funding the city's long-term needs, including bridges, roads, and sidewalks.

We appreciate the mayor's office and city council advancing this resolution now so that this important work can begin if voters approve the levy.

We are not alone in struggling to keep up with our transportation funding needs.

WSDOT faces a nearly 1.5 billion annual shortfall to keep the state's infrastructure in a good state of repair.

Since the first transportation levy in 2005, the city has become more reliant on voter-approved revenue to pay for transportation, while the general fund contribution to this core government responsibility has decreased.

And we are not keeping pace with maintenance, preservation, and capital investment needs.

We look forward to working with the mayor's office, the city council, SDOT, and the task force to develop a sustainable transportation funding plan to address the need while keeping in mind voter concerns about affordability.

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you.

SPEAKER_10

That was our last speaker.

All right, thank you.

And I note that Council Member Wu is now present.

Welcome again, Council Member Wu.

And I want to thank all the public commenters that carved out the time to testify this morning and actually show up in person to do exactly that.

Everyone.

And...

The first group are my neighbors in West Seattle and also my constituents in District 1. So really delighted that you all came and shared your story and your perspective with us on really important nitty-gritty safety issues that impact obviously that neighborhood, but it impacts everyone in West Seattle.

It impacts everyone in the broader city.

These neighborhood safety challenges are really, really important for me personally as chair of this committee and helping to drive impact and reduce and achieve, better achieve our Vision Zero goals of zero significant accidents and injuries and traffic-related deaths.

And so we have a huge opportunity.

So thank you for coming.

A few of you, as I think Mr. Stan Crissy alluded to, a few of you, I had the pleasure of joining me in my office hours a few weeks ago, and this is the next iteration of that.

Colleagues, this is really important stuff.

We got to do some exciting and sexy work on the levee and a number of other things very recently.

But this is the nitty gritty stuff that makes a difference in people's lives.

I understand, as they aptly noted, that Our colleagues and partners at SDOT have been very great in being responsive to their needs, and I applaud and appreciate their contributions and their willingness to work with them, including, I think, Matt Beaulieu from SDOT.

Thank you, Matt.

The people, the relevant stakeholders from SDOT, many of them are directly in this room.

I see Mr. Bill Laborde here, our council liaison.

And so I want you all to know, again, publicly, just same thing I shared in that room, is that you have my full support in making sure that SDOT has the resources it needs to carry out the needed safety improvements, whether that be a traffic circle or...

which costs a lot of money, or something more lightweight and doable in the nearer term.

Whatever it is, who was it?

I don't know if it was Ian or Layla.

One of my staffers joined me at that meeting.

We followed up with s.offline.

The people responsible, our partners responsible for actually doing the work, again, are right here.

And I want you all to know that from a resourcing perspective, you have my full commitment that whatever the need is, it will be met from my end.

And I trust our partners in SDOT to live up to their end.

They've been great so far.

And so we'll continue that collaboration to make sure you have what you need.

I think there are a number of sort of buckets or tranches or pots of money that we could potentially use the executive could potentially use to install and address this.

In the levy, for example, the proposed levy, there's this neighborhood-initiated safety program.

I think this is one of many possibilities for creative uses of those funds.

But there are many other ways.

But bottom line, we need to do better.

You talked about the kids and other vulnerable users.

Mr. Chrissy, when you shared with me that You weren't sure.

It wasn't clear to you.

It sounds like, from your perspective at least, this was your incident.

was not captured in the current, the data that our city tracks and collects in terms of significant deaths or significant injuries or deaths because there was no formal report.

That is concerning to me.

And one, our data needs to be accurate.

And I don't know what the standard is currently, but here you are today and Based off of these testimonies, it strikes me as something that should be included in that data.

We need to make data-informed decisions, but we also shouldn't wait until bad things happen either and be reactive.

We need to be proactive in known vulnerability, known vulnerable spots.

We need to target our investments towards those, including this known area near Morgan Street.

specifically Southwest Graham and 49th Avenue Southwest.

So in any event, thank you all for joining us today.

Appreciate the partnership and collaboration from our governing partners at SDOT and your engagement on this matter so far.

And we look forward to working with you all to drive resolution here as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I see Council Member Kettle had a comment.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you, Chair Saka.

I do want to thank you for coming this morning and to highlight that I once was in your shoes.

My block watch cap and hat on, plus with the Queen Anne Community Council, we got Council Member Tom Rasmussen to come to our neighborhood in Queen Anne.

because we had a dangerous intersection.

I won't go into all the details, but bottom line, SDOT came in and now we have a four-way stop, which is so key.

And so I just want to encourage you to continue to engage and do what you're doing and engage all stakeholders.

One of the things that we learned was King County Metro had a line there and I think they were instrumental in solving this problem because the King County Metro bus drivers are having a problem as well.

So, you know, identify all stakeholders, engage, and the reason I wanted to say that, but I also wanted to jump on, because I'm a little bit concerned regarding, from the public safety perspective, so I've already asked my staff to check in, like, why your accident was not included, because it seemed to be serious enough to warrant a response and a report, and so I've already noted my team, and...

Well, my staff will do it afterwards.

But that question's already being asked because we need to ensure, because data-driven decisions need to have good data.

And if your accident's not included there, that's just another example of not good data.

So thank you.

SPEAKER_10

thank you to the chamber shout-out on the levy too thank you councilmember kettle and thank you again neighbors constituents I wanted all these important information I love seeing this by the way right right here here's a picture of presumably all of the neighbors in this area who signed all these cards.

And I don't know if this was done at Neighborhood Night Out a few weeks ago or some other time, but this is lovely.

This fills my cup seeing all the hard work when neighbors organize on seemingly little things that actually make a difference.

And so again, thank you all again for showing up.

You have my full support and making sure from a resourcing perspective, making sure we have what we need to be successful and keep you all safe.

And the same issue is replicated across the city.

So thank you again.

All right, well, We will now move on to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read item number one through six into the record.

SPEAKER_18

Agenda items one through six.

Appointments 2951, 2952, 2956, 2957, 2959, and 2961. Appointments and reappointments of Nicole Calais, Mark Hoker, Nigel Barron, Dan Gatchett, Dan McKesson, and Stanley W. Reiter as members Seattle Freight Advisory Board for terms of May 31, 2026.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you.

And will our presenters please join us at the table and share your presentation?

Once ready, please introduce yourselves and begin your presentations.

SPEAKER_22

Great.

Thank you.

Chair Saka, my name is Chris Eaves.

I'm the Freight Board Liaison, Seattle Freight Advisory Board.

Today we are bringing forward new members for appointment.

Mark Hoker and Nicole Calais.

Mark is here.

Nicole has been unfortunately delayed.

Oh, wait.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Nicole, please come up.

My apologies.

And at this point in time, I would ask that Mark and Nicole introduce themselves just for a moment for counsel, and if you could.

SPEAKER_19

Yeah, Mark Hecker.

Been in this region for about five years.

Came from the East Coast and have worked in rail, both freight and passenger, as well as in Amazon Logistics and Tech and currently at WSP in their freight and logistics practice.

So happy to be here.

Really appreciate the opportunity and look forward to serving.

Thanks.

Welcome.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_25

Hi, my name is Nicole Calais.

I've been working in supply chain for about 14 years now with a transportation background, imports, exports, LTL, domestic freight.

I'm currently working at Boeing and really excited for the opportunity.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you.

Welcome.

SPEAKER_22

Our reappointees are not here at this point in time.

They're busy doing good freight work.

SPEAKER_10

All right.

Thank you.

Anything else to add from your perspective?

Anyone?

All right.

Well, colleagues, do you have any questions, comments?

I do note that we had a significant backlog on these really important committee assignments.

And so we're starting first today with freight.

I know Council Member Kettle's like, freight, freight, freight, freight.

Freight and and pedestrian we also have a I think school traffic safety appointment as well But we all have a few others, but this is the first before the year's end.

This is the first read all the Appointment packages you all you both here today exceptionally well qualified from my perspective as with the entire slate, so I'm excited personally and colleagues to be able to support this group moving forward so they can continue on the city's great work.

But colleagues, I do welcome any additional comments or questions from your perspectives.

Vice Chair Hollingsworth, do you have anything to add?

SPEAKER_17

I like how you put me on the spot, Mr. Chair.

Every time, Madam Vice Chair.

I don't have anything besides just grateful for you all serving.

We know these are all volunteer positions, and I think it's important as our city continues to grow and we are talking about sidewalks and streets that we don't forget that a lot of the goods that we always go down to the store and get or we're ordering, we rely heavily on the freight movement and transportation within our city to be able to get those deliveries.

So very grateful for your service, and that's all I got.

So thank you.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair.

SPEAKER_09

Manager?

Yes, go ahead, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Chair Saka.

I'll be brief.

And Chris, can you remind me, are you the only person in SDOT doing freight work, or do we have one more?

SPEAKER_22

We have another person by the name of Tracy Tate who focuses on rail operations.

SPEAKER_09

So as far as four-wheeled operations go, you are everything we got in SDOT.

Is that correct?

SPEAKER_22

We are working to improve.

SPEAKER_09

it's not, I mean, I'm just calling out how critical you are to our entire department because the ability to move goods and materials throughout our city is both an economic driver as well as a quality of life driver.

And when I say that, I mean, when we look at the 15 minute city, you can only get a 15 minute city if you have a semi truck rolling into the loading dock.

Um, It's really just that simple.

And part of one of the amendments that I put forward to the transportation levy that Chair Saka incorporated in his striker was regarding getting from our MML, our newly designated maritime and manufacturing and logistics zones that has the highest level of industrial protection in our city, making sure that that has connections to our freeways.

Because as we were doing some of the work in Ballard on a transportation project, we recognized that it is very difficult to get from Shell Shoal Avenue, which is the heart of our maritime sector in District 6, to the interstate.

And if we can't connect our maritime manufacturing logistics zones to our interstates, we're stuck.

And I know a number of the people that we're approving today I've worked with on this, and so I can't thank you enough for everything you do, Chris, and to everyone on the advisory board for your volunteer service, because you give an extra bandwidth to Chris.

Appreciate you all.

Thank you, Chair.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

And I appreciate those comments.

And I'm reminded that there are multiple champions of freight on this committee and on this council.

Council Member Kettle, obviously, Council Member Strauss as well.

To be honest, this is something that, you know, I think we can all win.

And because, you know, when we have a strong, vibrant community, freight corridors and you know we're able to preserve the safe free flow of goods and services and you know strong ingress and egress routes uh...

and and you know maintain robust channels of commerce we all win so uh...

and yes thank you for your service you're the only one at SDOT doing this important work uh...

and you know it's it's uh...

it's appreciated by me as well and this entire committee so uh...

I see one more comment.

SPEAKER_99

Yes.

SPEAKER_10

Yeah, go ahead, Council Member Kettle.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you, Chair Saka.

Thank you, Mr. Ease, for you both coming here and for your service.

As Council Member Hollingsworth noted, being a volunteer does take time and effort, and it does take away from your personal life.

But I really appreciate you lending your professional experience and what you can bring to the table.

It's very important.

So Mr. Yu, it's really good to be introduced to you.

I would love to get like your view of the freight world.

Maybe we could set that up with our essential staff team and Mr. LaHood.

I think it would be great because as Chair Saka said, this is very important to me, you know, both from a District 7 perspective, but also from the broader perspective and interest of mine related to the port, the maritime fishing industries, and to what Council Member Strauss was saying, You know, we can have a food desert because there's no grocery store in a certain part of the city.

But if that grocery store is built but it has empty shelves because trucks can't get to it, then you still have a food desert.

And so we really need to ensure that the whole of the city can be, you know, from a logistics point of view, taken care of.

So this is really important.

And so to get your insight would be, YOU KNOW, VERY IMPORTANT.

AND I LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH MY COLLEAGUES HERE WHO HAVE THE MARITIME BOUNDARY WITH ELLIOTT BAY, DISTRICTS ONE AND SIX, ALONG WITH US, PLUS THE OTHER MEMBERS, COUNCILMEMBER HOLLINGSWORTH AND WU ON THESE ISSUES.

IT'S VERY IMPORTANT.

SO THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you, Council Member Kettle, and plus one on all that, especially in highlighting and amplifying even further, Vice Chair Hollingsworth, great comments about noting the nature of this 100% all-volunteer-powered work.

Very, very important.

I've had the pleasure of serving on a number of local boards, all-volunteer boards and commissions over the years before joining the Council, And, you know, it is service work, no different than what I'm doing right now.

And it is service requires sacrifice.

And you all could have chose to be doing any number of great things with your time, talents, and treasure.

And, you know, our city is grateful that you have chosen this as one of them.

So thank you.

I want you to know your work is greatly respected, appreciated, and valued.

I'll tell you that firsthand.

For example, I read the Levee Oversight Committee recently produced a report 15 plus pages or so with a number of recommendations.

I read every last page of that multiple times, dog-eared the heck out of it, marked it up, referenced it multiple times.

And, you know, as we went through our levy deliberations and making sure that certain features and elements of that that I wanted to make sure were reflected in our final proposal were.

And so, you know, I will be closely reviewing and, you know, making sure I have an informed perspective of all your work, whether it's the freight advisory, pedestrian, bicycle, all of them.

And it's really important and impactful.

So thank you all for your dedication and commitment.

That said, I move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointments 2951, 2952, 2956, 2957, 2959, and 2961. Is there a second?

Second.

All right, it is moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments.

Are there any further comments?

Hearing and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the recommendations of these appointments?

SPEAKER_18

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Vice Chair Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Chair Saka.

Aye.

Chair, there are five votes in favor and none opposed.

SPEAKER_10

All right, excellent.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that council confirm the appointments will be sent to the September 10th, 2024 city council meeting.

Moving on to items number seven through 13, which is our next item of business.

Will the clerk please read items seven through 13 into the record.

SPEAKER_18

Agenda item seven through 13, appointments 2949, 2950, 2953, 2954, 2955, 2958, and 2960. Appointment of Delaney Lind as member of Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board for a term of March 31, 2025. Appointments and reappointments of Stevie Ray Brown, Kelsey Nyland, Tracy Timmons Gray, Fallon Boyle, Chris Gergich, and Wes Miles as members Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board for terms to March 31, 2026. Right.

SPEAKER_10

Welcome.

Please join us at the table as you are right now, presenters.

And once ready, please introduce yourselves and begin your presentations.

Good morning.

SPEAKER_05

Good morning, Chair Saka, Vice Chair Hollingsworth, and members of the committee.

Thank you for having us here today.

My name is Chris Kartheiser, and I'm the project development lead for the new sidewalks program at SDOT and also the staff liaison.

to the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board, and we call it SPAB for short because it's a mouthful.

I'm here with appointees for SPAB, and we have new appointments that you listed as well as one returning member is here with us today as well.

I want to thank Wes Mills, who's one of our current co-chairs for SPAB for taking the time to be here today.

And I will let the members that are at the table introduce themselves in the room.

And I believe we have two appointees online as well.

I'm not sure how that works.

It should be Tracy and Stevie online, but I'll start at the table here.

SPEAKER_28

Hi, everyone.

Good to be here.

I'm Kelsey Nyland.

I'm a resident and renter in Georgetown.

SPEAKER_29

Awesome.

Hi, I'm Delaney Lind.

I am a resident of Olympic Hills in North Seattle, and I have been serving as the Get Engaged board member, and I would like to continue as an appointed regular member.

SPEAKER_00

Hello.

I'm Wes Mills.

I live in Northgate, and I've been the co-chair of the Pedestrian Advisory Board for a few months now, and this will be hopefully my first reappointment to do another two-year term.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05

Awesome.

And Tracy, I see that you're online.

Do you want to introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_27

Sure.

Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_05

Yes.

SPEAKER_27

Great.

Hi, my name is Tracy Timmons Gray.

I'm a resident of Lower Fremont.

I've been in Seattle since 2001, and I'm a lifetime pedestrian as I was born with congenital glaucoma and identify as low vision.

So getting around on these sidewalks is how I get around.

SPEAKER_05

Thanks, Tracy.

Stevie Ray, are you online?

He is not online.

No, no.

All right, well then, that's everybody that we have in attendance today.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_10

Awesome.

Thank you so much, Chris.

Proposed members and reappointments of this committee, really exciting and impactful work.

Actually, Chris, would you mind just take a moment or two to just briefly tee up, probably should have done this a little better with the freight advisory appointments as well, but just kind of tee up high level, the thrust of this work, of this committee, their roles and responsibilities and how the city leverages their insights to be better.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you, Chair Saka and members of the committee.

So the Pedestrian Advisory Board is tasked with advising the mayor and city council on tasks related to pedestrian elements at Seattle and SDOT.

So a lot of what comes before the committee, you were talking about the transportation levy earlier.

That's one of the things that came up.

numerous times throughout the year at meetings.

So the board does take stances and make recommendations for policy at the city, as well as certain projects may also come.

Most recently, it was North 130th Street is in the planning stage.

That was something that came to the board as well.

And so generally just kind of anything that impacts the pedestrian realm and how we're working on the pedestrian realm at SDOT, some of that has to do directly with the new sidewalks program that I mentioned, which I work on.

So it's nice to get the advisement of the board on that and other things come up.

Another thing that has come up recently was the ad kiosks, which is something that's going through you know, the design committee and other things right now as well.

So it really varies on kind of anything that can impact the pedestrian realm.

We also have a public comment period.

The board has a public comment period at the beginning of each meeting.

So folks will come and similar to how it works today, bring up things ranging from, scooter share to, you know, specific things in front of their house that might be very similar to what was brought up today in terms of safety improvements and things like that.

So if you'd like to hear from anyone on the board, Wes could potentially speak to it, but that's kind of generally my perception.

SPEAKER_10

Yeah, no, Chris, that's very helpful.

Wes, yeah, if you have anything else to add, we'd love to, you know, hear from your perspective directly as co-chair.

SPEAKER_00

Well, thank you.

Yeah, so to echo what Chris said, it's largely a lot of community involvement for things like we're all pedestrians at some point.

And this is one of the few groups in the city that I know that is solely focused on people who are walking and rolling to get to the various parts of the city.

My wife and I don't drive, and so we're keenly interested in this.

And I know that Tracy, that's one of her motivations as well for applying to join.

And so, yeah, we try to get involved in all of the various things like, you know, Northeast 130th.

We've just opened, as folks probably saw this weekend, opened four new light rail stations.

And so connectivity to those is going to be vitally important.

Discussions around Northeast 145th have come up.

So, yeah, just a lot of what it looks like to be outside of a car in Seattle.

SPEAKER_10

Love it, love it, love it.

So really appreciate this important body of work.

The future for pedestrians in Seattle is very, very bright.

And yeah, you mentioned...

Is that something like everyone's a pedestrian?

It's facts.

I don't know what the specific breakdown of people who choose to walk versus take the bus versus drive versus bike, whatever it is, how they choose to get around from point A to point B in the city.

It's less relevant, but I do know that 100% of us are pedestrians at some point in our journey.

And so that is why this work is very, very important.

And we all win when we can all safely get around you know from a pedestrian perspective and so you know I carefully looked at some some of the work reflected in this the broader committee here and as you know like some of it definitely informed are where we landed in the proposed transportation levy doing more for sidewalks in the proposed transportation levy that voters are going to decide here in a few short months building out you know tons of new sidewalks because again everyone get around and glad to hear there is a diversity of perspective reflected here in this in this slate note Tracy and and you know her low vision and people with it's really important that especially in the pedestrian side we have people that are differently abled, low vision, no vision, reflected on this important body of work.

So really appreciate you all.

Thank you for being here.

I'm excited to be able to vote yes today.

Colleagues, I welcome any comments, questions from your perspective.

And I'll start with Council Member Kitten.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you, Chair Sacco.

Just a quick question.

First, thank you, everybody, for being here and for the work you do at SDOT.

Really appreciate it, Mr. Kartheiser.

On the board, is there any direct District 7 representation on the board?

SPEAKER_05

You know, I would have to look at the roster, and I could get back to your office today on that if you'd like.

SPEAKER_04

I appreciate that.

In the meantime, I'm going to say that Ms. Timmons-Gray, who's lower Fremont, I'm going to count that as part of District 7 as long as Councilmember Strauss doesn't have any objection.

Yeah.

This extension of Queen Anne, if you will.

The reason why I ask is because even in my own district, the neighborhoods are very different in terms of pedestrian pieces.

Like downtown, a big chunk of District 7 has great sidewalks with all the new builds and everything.

But there's other areas where it's bad.

And we recently had a judgment in terms of the poor state of a lot of the sidewalks that we have, like in Queen Anne and Magnolia.

So that's like one element.

And then another thing related to pedestrians, and I'm thinking about our new waterfront, is the new bike path.

And then the idea of geofencing.

because we're trying to have that separation from the pedestrians, from those that are on wheels of different types.

So is that an area that you're working in terms of using technology to ensure that we have that separation for the safety of pedestrians?

SPEAKER_05

Chair Saka, Council Member Kettle, You know, could I ask a clarifying question?

Sure.

Are you asking if the Pedestrian Advisory Board is working on that or as a SDOT?

SPEAKER_04

Is that something that comes up before, I mean, you can answer for both the board and the SDOT.

I know, you know, it's just a matter of, you know, we need to be mindful of how to and how can we use technology like geofencing to help protect our pedestrians.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

Thank you again chair soccer councilmember kettle and members of the committee I will say that since I've been staff liaison Which is about nine months or so that topic has has come up in the context of scooter share Very briefly we haven't gotten into detail on it as far as I can recall I would say that it's something of interest and so I'm fairly certain that scooter share will continue to be a topic that the Pedestrian Advisory Board remains interested in, although obviously that's up to them as board members, but it's something that's come up and come up with a public comment period as well.

I think that it's definitely relevant to the pedestrian realm.

As far as SDOT, I want to be careful not to answer on behalf of SDOT, just because that's not my area of expertise.

But I know that there are folks that are working on our scooter share and other shared mobility things, and SDOT would be happy in general to get you more information on that.

more apt to respond to that question than myself.

SPEAKER_04

I appreciate that.

And you do get public comment.

I get a lot of comments on it too.

And I bring up the waterfront project because I think that's an example of doing it right.

It's not complete yet, I don't think.

But it's an example, at least in terms of the plans, in terms of how to do this right.

But I also know that there's other areas within District 7 in the city that can also use and build on the example of the waterfront in terms of that point.

So thank you.

Thanks.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you.

So appreciate the lively discussion here, colleagues.

I think this is yet another exceptionally well-qualified slate.

really do appreciate and applaud your your great work and contributions toward making a safer more accessible pedestrian experience for all in the city of Seattle and You know as we know we have 27% currently missing sidewalk gaps in the city and this proposed levy makes Great progress towards closing that.

It's not the only thing that voters are going to decide.

It's not the only thing.

And that's kind of a good segue in a few moments to our proposed transportation funding task force that we're going to take up here in a moment.

But we need to make better progress on that.

significantly closing out our missing sidewalk gap so thank you all for your work excited to be able to support you today i move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointments two nine four nine two nine five zero two nine five three two nine five four two nine five five two nine five eight and two nine six zero is there a second second all right it is moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments are there any further comments Hearing none and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on recommendation to confirm the appointments.

SPEAKER_18

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Wu.

SPEAKER_17

Yes.

SPEAKER_18

Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

SPEAKER_17

Yes.

SPEAKER_18

Chair Saka.

Aye.

Chair, there are five votes in favor and none opposed.

SPEAKER_10

All right, excellent.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that council confirm the appointments will be sent to the September 10th, 2024 city council meeting.

We will now move into our 14th item of business.

Will the clerk please read item number 14 into the record?

SPEAKER_18

Agenda item 14, appointment 2962, appointment of Marist of Arts as traffic safety committee for a term of March 31, 2027. Awesome, thank you.

SPEAKER_10

And will our presenters please join us at the table and share your presentation?

Once ready, please do introduce yourselves and begin your presentation.

Welcome.

SPEAKER_28

Good morning, all.

Thanks for having us here.

I am Diane Walsh.

I work on the Safe Routes to School program at SDOT.

I'm the SDOT liaison and member of the School Traffic Safety Committee.

Just as a little background, the School Traffic Safety Committee was created in 1975 to bring together Seattle Public Schools, the city, and parents to improve safe routes to school.

The committee recommends new school crosswalk locations, walk zone boundaries, crossing guard assignments, criteria for placement of crossing guards, advises on traffic circulation plans for new schools, and any other policies that pertain to supporting safe routes to school for Seattle families.

The School Traffic Safety Committee is made up of 11 representatives from SDOT, SPS, King County Metro, and the Seattle Police Department, as well as one representative of parents, one member representing pedestrian safety, one member representing bicycle safety, and three at-large members.

Today, we have one new candidate for appointment, Morris Ziverts from District 2, recommended by Mayor Bruce Harrell as a general member of the School Traffic Safety Committee with a term through March 31st, 2023, or 2027, sorry, excuse me.

Maris is a research and communications director at Unite Here Local 8 and is also a father to a second grader.

He helped organize and chaperone the Othello K-8 bike bus last year in Rainier Beach.

And for those of you that don't know, a bike bus or bike train is an organized bicycle ride to and from school where a number of adults chaperone kids along a designated route so they can safely get to and from school.

And I'll have Maris now introduce himself.

SPEAKER_14

Good morning, committee.

Thanks.

Yeah, my day job, I'm research director for the Hotel Workers Union here in Seattle and live in Hillman City, father of a son who's going to start second grade tomorrow in the Seattle public school system.

And I'm happy to have the opportunity to continue the important work of the committee to make sure that kids can get to school safely.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you.

I appreciate your time and your sacrifice and service to the city here.

Really important stuff.

Safe routes to schools.

I'm a public school dad of three myself.

Yes, kindergarten.

Sorry, three kids.

A lot going on.

So incoming kindergartner, I have an incoming second grader, and then incoming fifth grader.

All public schools.

And so keeping our schools accessible and safe is really, really, really important.

A vital body of work.

And I know that firsthand.

And so thank you for all your hard work towards keeping our schools and our pathways to them safe, clear, and accessible.

Colleagues, welcome any comments, additional comments, questions, if you have any from your perspective.

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

Just very excited to have you in your perspective in an official capacity.

I think we met at a Ryther Child Center event for a new sidewalk, if that's correct.

So glad to see you here in the city family.

Took you long enough.

SPEAKER_99

Thank you.

SPEAKER_09

That was meant as a friendly.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_10

Awesome.

All right.

Well, let's see.

I MOVE.

I WELCOME ANY OTHER QUESTIONS, COMMENTS.

SPEAKER_04

CHAIR, JUST THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR COMING.

VERY IMPORTANT WORK.

WE'VE SEEN A LOT OF THIS WORK DONE ON QUEEN ANNE AND DISTRICT 7, AND WE NEED TO CONTINUE IT IN OTHER AREAS LIKE MAGNOLIA AND OTHER PARTS OF THE CITY.

SO REALLY APPRECIATE WHAT YOU'RE STEPPING INTO.

SO THANK YOU.

SPEAKER_10

COMING FROM ANOTHER DAD OF A YOUNG SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN.

THANK YOU, COUNCIL MEMBER KETTLE.

TODAY.

All right.

And then shout out, by the way, to all the parents who may be watching or in the room, a little apprehensive as I am about school starting tomorrow and what that portends for the safety and security of our kids and integrating that with our work schedules and everything like that.

A lot of feelings, a lot of thanks.

I hear you all.

I'm feeling it too.

We'll all be fine.

A hat tip and shout out to all the working parents out there, especially those of the young kids.

All right.

I move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointment 2962. Is there a second?

Second.

All right.

It is moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointment.

Are there any further comments?

SPEAKER_28

I just have a quick, just a heads up that the School Traffic Safety Committee will be presenting our annual report at one of these upcoming Transportation Committee meetings.

So look for that.

SPEAKER_10

All right, thank you.

It is moved and seconded.

So any other further comments, questions from the committee here?

Hearing none, seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the recommendation to confirm the appointment?

SPEAKER_18

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Wu.

SPEAKER_06

Yes.

SPEAKER_18

Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

SPEAKER_06

Yes.

SPEAKER_18

Chair Saka.

Aye.

Chair, there are five votes in favor and none opposed.

SPEAKER_10

All right, the motion carries and the committee recommendation that council confirm the appointment will be sent to the September 10th, 2024 City Council meeting.

Congratulations.

We will now move on to our 15th item of business.

Lucky number 15. Will the clerk please read item 15 into the record?

SPEAKER_18

Agenda item 15, resolution 32145, a resolution relating to transportation infrastructure, improvement and maintenance, responding to resolution 32137 regarding the establishment and recommendations of a transportation funding task force to develop policy and funding recommendations for long-term transportation infrastructure needs with specific focus on building out Seattle's sidewalk network improving existing sidewalks, improving pavement condition, and replacing or rehabilitating aging bridges.

SPEAKER_10

Awesome.

Thank you.

And it looks like our presenters has joined us at the table.

Thank you.

Once ready, please introduce yourselves and begin your presentation.

SPEAKER_26

Great.

Thank you very much, Chair and Council Members.

My name is Francisca Steffen.

I'm Deputy Director at SDOT.

I'm joined with the Man Who Needs No Introduction Bill aboard, as well as Megan Shepard and Cal, who you also know so well.

Calvin Chow with Council Central Staff.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

This is our first time back since you passed the...

Transportation Levy Amendment or update.

We're here to discuss with you today the proposed approach for the Transportation Funding Task Force.

It was an important companion strategy for the 2024 Transportation Levy.

It was also part of the companion resolution that the council passed when adopting that ordinance and included a number of different dates and requirements for returning back with additional information.

So we did transmit a draft.

The first of those dates was in August of 2024 to come back with a proposal for the Transparency Funding Task Force, which is what we're here to do today.

And with that, I will hand it over to Megan Shepard for the presentation.

SPEAKER_23

Thank you, Francesca.

Good morning, Chair Saka, Vice Chair Hollingsworth, members of the Transportation Committee.

Good to see y'all here again.

When the Levee Oversight Committee wrote a letter to you recommending a renewal of a transportation levy, they did not stop there.

They also recommended a broader transportation approach to consider other revenue sources or approaches in addition to the levy to address our deteriorating roadways, bridges, and our safety needs.

And this recommendation is consistent with what SDOT's been doing internally ourselves towards developing our asset management approach.

It's of our bridge maintenance and our sidewalk programs.

And it's also consistent with what we heard from community throughout development of both the Seattle Transportation Plan and the levy renewal development.

where we heard consistent emphasis and support for investment in bridges and paving in sidewalks and in safety.

So taking a broader holistic look at our assets and the strategies to address them is also consistent with the direction that you provided us in the levy ordinance and the resolution.

So the Transportation Funding Task Force, another opportunity for the good people of Seattle to volunteer their expertise and their input into this critical work.

So our approach would be to begin with our current context.

What do we know?

Where are we today?

So that's our conditions of our assets, our current policies, those audit results that I mentioned, and other places so we can create a shared starting point for all of our task force members.

We'd bring into that life cycle information.

Those are words that are exciting to some people, but it really gives us the chance to think long term about our asset needs and look 30 years into the future and what our infrastructure would require.

So we'd incorporate that life cycle information and those investment scenarios from our asset management approach.

And then we'd bring in We know there's been a lot of thinking recently about the universe of funding tools, and consistent with this resolution, I think, with direction from the council, is to focus on the ones that are currently available to help us address the challenges ahead of us.

So we can put the funding tools and the needs together into scenarios, and the task force can use those to make recommendations.

Another way to look at it is on this slide.

In essence, we start with the big broad picture.

We deeper dive into the policies, the asset needs and the revenue options associated with each one of the critical asset classes that we're talking about.

And then we bring it all together.

We have to synthesize that.

We have to prioritize.

And that's what we'd be asking the task force to do to make recommendations to you and to the mayor.

An example.

of what that could look like.

I think we just brought one, but it's sidewalks because we know the concern and the interest.

So to highlight just what that could look like for the task force, here's looking at both sidewalk repair and strategies to build more new sidewalks.

So for sidewalks, we have the sidewalk audit as a starting point.

It's already looked at existing policies.

It's looked at our practices, particularly around sidewalk repair enforcement.

And it's made recommendations on new programs or changes to existing programs or policies that could increase the rate at which adjacent property owners fix their buckled and cracked sidewalks.

So other cities have created programs, such as sidewalks get repaired when the house sells to a new owner, or they've created programs to provide assistance to low-income property owners to supplement or support the repair of their adjacent sidewalks.

The audit is also a good place to start when considering new sidewalk construction and our 20-year goals for the blocks we want to build.

So it can look, and what we can ask the task force to do, right, is like, well, let's look at the development requirements.

Who's required to build new sidewalks?

And we can also explore strategies for how the city could build more sidewalks more efficiently, more cost-effectively.

And into both of these things, in addition to looking at the current policies and programs, then we bring in the funding.

What funding streams are the most appropriate to apply to this particular challenge?

And we would do this as well for bridges and for paving.

The outcomes of the task force would be a set of actionable recommendations, something for you and for the mayor to look at that could help to guide the next step.

So examples could include policy changes so that more sidewalks are repaired by adjacent property owners, or a defined bond measure for bridge or seawall replacement, or recommended policy actions for us, the city, to pursue at the state that would allow us to build more sidewalks less expensively.

That's just a sample.

So in terms of who we would be helping to come to the task force and bring their expertise, well, it's going to take a lot of technical expertise as well as broad community support to address the funding challenges and the policy challenges ahead of us.

So we would hope to have on the task force business perspectives, community perspectives, particularly from communities that maybe are very reliant on a bridge to get in and out or don't have any sidewalks.

Representatives from the city's modal boards as well as from our transportation equity work group.

the people who build and repair our infrastructure from the labor and the building trades, the development community, and advocates for our transportation system.

We would want to support this group with a skilled professional facilitator and a consultant team that could bring expertise to the issues of transportation funding and finance, to project delivery and policies.

And then we would also support that task force with an internal team of not just SDOT, but likely representation from all the departments who are going to touch on this, SDCI, SPU, law.

FAS, city finance, city budget office.

So the resolution before you today would be activated if the levy is approved by voters in November.

At a high level, we would aim to seat the task force in early 2025. We would provide updates to the city council and to the executive every six months throughout and complete the work in 2027. The first quarter of next year would be focused on recruitment and onboarding of both the consultants and the task force members.

And with the expectation or the goal of calling the first meeting to order in Q2 2025. And with that, we look forward to your questions and discussion.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_10

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Really appreciate this presentation.

While I have our own expert here, Calvin Chow, do you have any comments or questions?

I do note the great memo that you sent out a few weeks back.

Colleagues, I bumped it up to the top of your inboxes earlier this morning just for quick reference, but like I read- And I know you all did as well.

Bill's excellent summary and fiscal note that kind of tees up this bill.

And Cal, you know, we have our own central staff that do our own analysis and great work.

I read it, love it.

Cal, do you have anything else to add from your perspective?

SPEAKER_21

I think I just affirm that the proposal follows the council's direction in the companion resolution from earlier this year, and that with council's approval on this resolution, this would be handled administratively until we get final recommendations.

So we expect that council would be consulted, but we wouldn't expect any formal additional council action until we get recommendations at the end of the process.

and that central staff expects to be engaged and to follow the work of the task force over the next couple years if the levy passes.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you.

Really appreciate that.

And thank you to our partners at SDOT here for teeing this up and sharing your overview.

Really helpful.

And also appreciate our partners at SDOT, our executive SDOT team for your work and co-collaborating on this proposed legislation with me.

We...

took the pen together and created this to implement our great ideas from the levy legislation.

And so here is the results.

Appreciate the partnership and collaboration that went on into that.

This is how government gets stuff done.

And love this bill.

Colleagues, as an FYI, I will have a...

Fairly minor amendment, basically just calling out the companion resolution in addition to the council bill that we passed as part of this and the recitals.

Very, very minor stuff.

I am contemplating something a little more substantive, but still fairly benign from my perspective as well in terms of an amendment.

So for those reasons, and also because this was introduced right before a council recess, and I understand there's a million things that you all are considering.

So we will not be voting on this today.

We will vote on this at our very final meeting, which is in two weeks.

If you have any proposed amendments, one, let me know.

Please have those work with Cal and central staff to make sure those are finalized by early next week Monday or Tuesday Tuesday sounds about good and we'll go from there like I said I have one so colleagues welcome any other comments questions from your perspectives Go ahead, Council Member Kettle.

SPEAKER_04

Chair Osaka, thank you everyone for coming.

Ms. Shepherd's still my favorite briefer, so appreciate that.

And Mr. Child, thank you for your summary, really important.

And for me, two things.

One is good governance.

And two, this good governance point needs to be part of the pitch in terms of promoting the levy and getting the levy passed because I think this is important.

And then, and I do recognize and I support all the discussion about sidewalks, but I will come back to, you know, the fact that District 7 in a lot of ways is Peninsula because of all our bridges.

So please, let's keep a focus on bridges as well.

So thank you.

SPEAKER_10

Great, great comments.

Council Member Kittle noting that great way to tee up this levy proposal that the voters are going to decide on in just a few short months and also you know this this levy it it renders the bell of the ball so to speak for three kind of core asset classes sidewalks Roads, pavement, and then, of course, bridges.

So three things, three important needs.

And so that's the thrust of this committee's work is going to be to, this task force's work is going to be to understanding the various needs, funding sources and strategies and options, and proposing a series of recommendations to help us better achieve, I think, what we all want is to make better, more urgent progress on the overall state of our bridges, for example, our roads, which, you know, in my view, need significant repair and investment.

These potholes are pesky, but, you know, I aspire to be pothole royalty alongside you all, but even better in, you know, being the...

The kings and queens and royalty of pothole repair, but even better than pothole repair is pothole prevention.

And that means doing the work of digging deep and doing some major pavement rehabilitation work, which is more costly and more expensive and more time intensive, more resource intensive, but prevents a lot of potholes.

So the work here of this committee is really important.

It also allows us to...

to, you know, as elected officials, to share some of this important work with community, given the gravity of it, with community groups, and have, make sure that it is, everyone has a say, bring folks together, and TIA recommendations.

So love this work.

Looking forward to supporting this in a couple weeks and taking it up again, but thank you all.

Any other questions?

Final questions, comments from my colleagues or any of our partners here at the table?

Hearing none, seeing none.

Thank you again.

Appreciate this.

We'll take this up again at the very next Transportation Committee.

No, thank you.

We'll now move on to...

Our 16th item of business.

Will the clerk please read item number 16 into the record.

SPEAKER_18

Agenda item 16, clerk file 314497, petition of BRE, BMR, LLC for the vacation of Allie in lots seven through 12, inclusive, block 67, DT Denny's Park addition to North Seattle, being the block bounded by John Street, Thomas Street, Taylor Avenue North, and Sixth Avenue North.

Awesome.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you.

And will our presenters please join us at the table and begin sharing your presentation?

When it's ready, just go ahead and introduce yourselves and start your presentation.

Welcome.

SPEAKER_13

Well, first off, thank you guys for having us here.

SPEAKER_10

You want to hit the mic?

SPEAKER_13

Is that on?

SPEAKER_09

Green light on.

SPEAKER_15

Sure.

Liz Schwitzen, Council Central Staff.

SPEAKER_99

Welcome.

SPEAKER_07

Beverly Barnett, Seattle Department of Transportation.

Welcome.

Good morning.

Michael Jenkins, Director of the Seattle Design Commission.

SPEAKER_99

Welcome.

SPEAKER_16

I'm Brad Rock with Biomed Realty.

SPEAKER_99

Welcome.

SPEAKER_16

And Ryan Bussard, Architect and Design Principal with Parkinson Well.

SPEAKER_10

Welcome, welcome.

Heard you more clearly that time, so great job.

SPEAKER_13

Thank you.

SPEAKER_10

Awesome.

Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_13

Yeah, so first off, thank you.

Looking forward to presenting here our project here at Taylor and 6th Avenue as we look at the alley vacation and its resolves around this development.

Real quick, our team here is Perkins Will, Ryan Broussard, and then myself are doing the presentation today.

Happy to have done the work that we did early on with the committee getting to this point and working through the various efforts.

And as we start to talk about the presentation, we'll get into more of the details, but You know, we are committed to the funding that we've outlined in this as well.

And so that's something we want to continue to dialogue on and just point out is that we're here in support of that as well from our side as we go into this presentation.

SPEAKER_15

So just very briefly, the legislation in front of you would prove the vacation of an alley in the uptown neighborhood.

Biomed owns the property on both sides of the alley and are seeking approval.

You have a public hearing scheduled for this meeting, and at your next meeting, it'll be up potentially for a vote.

SPEAKER_12

Good morning.

We're always happy to be here when we get the chance to bring a new project to the committee.

And I want to thank you for making sure that we were able to get on an agenda before you are fully engaged in budget.

So thank you for that.

I think Lish has outlined kind of why we're here.

And what we really want to focus on a lot is the PowerPoint presentation, that the visual depiction is a much better way to see the project.

And the visual depiction in the PowerPoint reflects all of the processing work that we've all done within SDOT and the Seattle Design Commission and the utilities and everyone.

So that's what we're going to concentrate on.

I did want to briefly remind the committee that you see each vacation three times.

So when the petition is newly introduced, it comes to the committee for an early committee briefing.

And that is advisory only.

There's no conditions, no recommendations.

But it's an opportunity for you to provide us any guidance if you choose and to let the public know that this process has begun.

Street vacations are uniquely legislative.

So the petition, the application is actually to the city council.

So that's your first opportunity.

The substantive opportunity is what's happening here today.

So state law requires that the city council hold a public hearing.

That's been noticed and scheduled for today.

And this is really your substantive decision.

So we have in the SDOT recommendation a summary of all the process and our take on how this complies with the guidance provided in the street vacation policies.

And we have recommended conditions.

And that covers things like summary of the design commission action and some of the more technical aspects And that's just available to provide background to the city council.

The third time you see the project is when we do the final vacation ordinance.

And the city council provides that that's only done after all the conditions are met.

So when you take your action at the next...

committee meeting and refer that to full council whatever the action and assuming if you adopt it with conditions you wouldn't see the final ordinance until all fees are paid and that the developer has met the conditions imposed by the city council so there can be a big gap but the substantive decision happens now and that does allow the developer to go out and actually begin work on the site.

And the council has established that to provide accountability so that we're not closing out and doing a final ordinance before the council gets a chance to check in and say, yeah, fees paid, public benefit in, ready to go.

So this is the middle and the substantive portion.

And as I said, we do want to rely on the PowerPoint presentation.

It's just a better way to see it than talking about the written recommendation.

But we do want Michael Jenkins to provide some background on the design commission review.

Much of the processing work is pretty technical in nature, and so we're not gonna really dig in on utility infrastructure, but the public benefit features have always been critical in the city council making their decision And we also have historically had the council take a close look at what the experience is like for members of the public when they're just walking in the area or walking around a project.

So that access, the streetscape, and the public benefit features have always been a critical piece that's better seen through the PowerPoint presentation.

And we're all here to answer questions either in the meeting or in between before the next meeting.

But I think that's all I have.

And I think, Michael, you want to?

talk about the design commission.

SPEAKER_07

Thank you, Beverly.

The commission's recommendations are embedded in the report.

The only thing I would point out is really the commission looked at this a number of times.

I think we looked at this three times.

What this project is able to do is to realize a vision for Thomas Street that the council and the stakeholders in the neighborhood have really...

And this project, by vacating the alley, it allows this project to not only physically contribute to what we had wanted Thomas Street to be, but really making an unprecedented financial commitment in its timing as well as implementing other physical improvements that you'll see in this presentation.

The Commission was very pleased with the outcome.

They not only protect the remaining functions of the right-of-way, which are called public trust, making sure that circulation and access are provided for in a way that doesn't degrade from the pedestrian environment.

But again, the public benefit package that you'll see in a few moments does two very important things.

Provides money upfront in a very different way than we would normally see, but also creates a series of public investments that are consistent with the size and scale of this project that really speaks directly to the policies that you adopted in 2018. I'm happy to answer any questions later.

SPEAKER_12

Okay, so Brad and Ryan, we're ready for the...

Go for it, Ryan.

SPEAKER_13

I'll let you jump in, Ryan.

SPEAKER_16

Okay, great.

Thank you.

So as you can see here, this is our project site shown on the aerial map here.

You can see with North existing up and some of the aspects that we've just talked about in terms of the presentation.

This is also where we are currently within the process in terms of the overall map.

And we'll give you more details as to the history of the project as we look at this further.

This is something where we've had a fairly robust community outreach throughout the process.

These projects take a long time, so we've been working on this project for over three years.

As Michael mentioned, we've had three design commission meetings, multiple meetings and outreach with the community and different stakeholders within the area.

The site is located in the uptown neighborhood at the juncture, kind of a gateway from Seattle Center and adjacent to Denny Park.

There are a number of different options for the site.

This is the prescriptive zoning on the site.

The thing to point out for this is it existed almost four different components existing within that.

Four different buildings could be constructed with around 12,000 square feet of open space.

Our proposal doubles the open space and removes the functional aspects of the alley so that becomes a pedestrian connector instead.

The other component is, as you can see within the prescriptive zoning for this, you can see how the alley is used for service.

So multiple loading of which is possible for different loading and zoning areas, including different parking access components.

And these are some views of that proposal.

Our proposal changes that quite a bit, in fact, so it makes the public space at the edges and corners of the site, doubling the open space available on this.

You can see on the northwest and southeast quadrants, as well as makes and converts the alley into a public space that connects through the block.

There are a number of different benefits that we've proposed for the project, which include primarily focused not just on the alley space and converting that to a public space, but also thinking about the edges of the site, which is something we've heard from the community as well as from the design commission.

some views of our new open spaces that we're proposing both at the southeast corner and northwest corners of the site the northwest corner is a very important corner for us because of the connectivity to thomas street and the southeast corner which is shown here is important in terms of connectivity to the neighborhood the mid-block connector is seen as a vibrant pedestrian activated space that connects through and connects those kind of parklets as well as a natural connector across the site as we imagine people flow from the various components of the uptown neighborhood denny park downtown area into the gateway and seattle center

SPEAKER_15

So what you're looking at here is a presentation that was originally provided in 2022. I think we have a separate presentation that was created for this meeting.

He's doing a great job of talking about the project.

SPEAKER_16

This is all still relevant.

SPEAKER_15

Yeah, but let's see if we can get the up-to-date presentation.

SPEAKER_10

While we get the latest presentation teed up here, quick question, I guess for Ms. Barnett, if that's not.

So you, and thanks for kind of framing up and reminding all of us where we're at in this great process here.

We're at that kind of second milestone phase, if you will, public hearing.

Can you remind us when the first early committee advisory portion, when that meeting took place?

SPEAKER_12

With this project, that was in August 2022. Okay.

SPEAKER_10

So two plus years ago now.

And is that timeline?

from about two years from the first to the public hearing.

Is that about right in terms of length, duration?

SPEAKER_12

Yeah, it is about right.

The projects vary.

Generally, we see vacations associated with a larger scale and more complex projects.

So...

Once they come in, there's often pretty complicated environmental review, transportation analysis.

And part of it, we have seen things moving a little bit more slowly as there's not as much urgency with some of the projects that we're seeing.

But that's fairly consistent.

SPEAKER_10

So consistent for a project of this complexity and scope, it sounds like, yeah.

I think there's, it varies, there's no standard, but definitely seen six, nine month intervals between those, and here we are for something a little more complex, two years plus, but just to kind of reorient, I know my colleagues are well aware of this now, because we had a presentation, one of our earlier presentations during this year, but yeah, thank you, we all set?

SPEAKER_16

All right, cool.

Okay, great.

As you can see, our renderings got a little bit better and more realistic than were in the right presentation.

As we were saying, there's two components.

This is the more resolved site plan, as you can see, an east and west-facing building.

There's been a lot of discussion, and we'll show more detail around Thomas Street and the importance of that, which is to the left of this area.

So our project composed of two high-rise buildings dedicated to life science research in the neighborhood, composed of eight, nine stories.

As part of it, as we've mentioned, you know, the alley vacation, which will allow us to create more enhanced open space, not only connecting the mid-block, but also the corners of the site, which are dedicated to pedestrian connectivity through the site and to the larger neighborhood.

And some of the things that we heard throughout the process was the importance, and this is from the Design Commission, to the public outreach and also working with the Design Review Board is neighborhood integration, actual connection to the neighborhood in terms of historical references and in particular Seattle Center and the World's Fair and also thinking about the connectivity of the pedestrian realm and thinking of that green street connection and neighborhood fabric.

This is a little more detailed to answer your question about the overall timeline of the schedule.

You can see here starting in 2021 with our neighborhood outreach, which is a key component of the design and the formation of the project, meeting with our friends at SDOT in the city to form the rationale and make sure that we are in alignment with the city's goals and concluding even to this year with our third design commission meeting, as well as continuing our public outreach.

This is the area that we are vacating.

This is the alley.

North is now facing up.

And you can see one of the challenges and things that we had heard is the benefit of this, other than to the project in the neighborhood, but is also disrupting the flow of service-related items into Thomas Street, into the Green Street, by removing this alley.

You can see also within this is a larger context map of a nine square grid.

You can see the pattern of alleys that exist.

And in fact, the alley doesn't continue through our site, through Thomas Street to the block to the north.

So there is no functionality that's disrupted to the north of our site.

You can also see within the photos of this, it's quite a varied neighborhood from other research buildings in the neighborhood to public infrastructure to residential buildings, all kind of the crossroads and kind of gateway of Seattle Center.

As I was alluding to in the earlier section of the presentation, we heard a lot about the informal and formal connectivity across this area of the neighborhood, connecting Denny Park and South Lake Union and other components of the Uptown neighborhood across this to Seattle Center, both formal along Thomas Street, but also kind of desire lines that we found along John Street and cutting through this block to get to the gateway of Seattle Center.

We were also reminded continuously in the process of not just the importance of that midblock connector through the former alley, but also the edges of the site.

So we spent a lot of time thinking about the edge of the site to be active, porous, as you can see on the kind of top left view, active in terms of on Thomas Street with different amenities, public amenities, seating areas, respites, canopies for weather protection, as well as parklets.

And you can see reminiscent of the kind of arches and kind of historical language that we saw in Seattle Center.

As I mentioned earlier, the prescriptive zoning creates several challenges.

The bulk is 50,000 square feet larger than our proposal and has half the open space that we're proposing.

As we'll see here in the floor plans left and right, our proposals to the right, you can see how the service-related items really create challenges along Thomas Street with four separate loading berths and service zones, as well as multiple parking garage entries into this.

We've consolidated all our loading service for both portions of the property into one entry point, which is on the south corner of the site off of John Street.

So all service areas, parking garage and loading areas are below grade below the block, which allows us to open the perimeter of the site for pedestrians and activity.

In terms of the public benefit overview, there's a mix of different benefits that we've provided.

The off-site, the Thomas Green Street funding will be initially contributed to that, which is $2.4 million to complete the kind of gateway piece of Thomas Street right at Seattle Center.

And I'll show a graphic of where that is located.

And then we've provided quite a bit of amenities and improvements on-site, which includes sidewalk improvements.

We'll show in more detail.

Canopies, tree covers, as well as additional pedestrian amenities.

So in this graphic, you can see in the bright pink, the area where the funds would be contributed for the construction of the remaining kind of last significant piece for the Green Street.

This project will also be obviously improving the frontage in blue opposite our site or adjacent to our site for the Green Street.

So in many ways, kind of helps to complete these missing links along the Green Street.

And in more detail, the area that we would be improving as part of this project.

The piece that's kind of left out just the south is actually being built as part of the 223 Taylor and 222 Fifth Avenue projects.

And then, as I mentioned, we've heard about the desire for improvements on site.

So you can see kind of a before or the code minimum option on the left.

And then on the right are improvements in our proposal, which includes additional width onto Taylor Avenue and 6th Avenue, which is then dedicated to tree canopies, physical canopies on the building for weather protection, as well as respite and amenity zones for pedestrians.

The project is anticipated to be phased from west to east.

Our contribution to the Thomas Green, Thomas Street will be as part of phase one in its entirety, and then we will be delivering the additional public benefits on-site as they make sense per the phasing.

So on-site on the west portion, the tree canopies, canopies, and other sidewalk improvements will be delivered as that project is constructed, and then FOLLOWING THESE BUILDINGS, THOSE ADDITIONAL PUBLIC BENEFITS WILL BE CONSTRUCTED.

AND THEN LASTLY, WE WANTED TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF THE TOTAL ESTIMATED COST FOR THAT, THE 2.4 MILLION THAT'S OFF-SITE, BUT ALSO A FAIRLY SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF PUBLIC BENEFITS DELIVERED ON-SITE IN TOTAL TO ALMOST 4.8 MILLION.

AND THAT'S THE CONCLUSION OF OUR PART ONE AND PART TWO PRESENTATION.

Awesome.

Yes.

SPEAKER_12

I would like to thank the committee for their patience while we figured that out.

It kind of took a minute looking at that saying, that seems kind of gray.

So thank you very much.

I think the one value is that it does show that would have been the kind of images you saw in 22 at the beginning.

And it shows how a developer refines their concept on the basis of their own architectural work moving into a greater level of detail.

but the input from all the various agency reviews.

So kind of an accidental review, but thank you very much for your patience.

SPEAKER_10

Oh, yeah.

Thank you so much.

Really appreciate the overview here.

I am going to...

allow my colleagues an opportunity but because to you know share any comments or questions that they may have but before we get there you know this is officially you know a public hearing so we're going to tee that process off right now and so we will now open the public hearing and hold questions colleagues until after the public hearing portion so That said, as presiding officer, I am now opening the public hearing on clerk file 314497. Clerk, how many speakers are signed up for this public hearing?

SPEAKER_18

Chair, we have zero remote speakers and zero in-person speakers.

SPEAKER_10

All right.

Well, being there is not a member of the public registered for this public hearing on clerk file 314497. This public hearing is now closed.

And so I will now open up discussion, colleagues, to the committee.

At this time, our intent is to vote on this item at the September 17th Transportation Committee meeting.

But do any of my colleagues here, esteemed colleagues, have any comments, questions?

I will, as a standard practice, I will start with my distinguished Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

SPEAKER_17

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

At this time, I don't have any comments.

I see that our other council members have questions and comments, so I'd like to pass the mic to them.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

SPEAKER_10

Absolutely.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

First up, but I was going to call on him next anyway because this is his district, Council Member Kettle.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you, Chair Saka.

Thank you everyone for coming.

This is pretty exciting in the sense of this is essentially a new neighborhood.

One thing I know from my tenure on the Queen Anne Community Council in partnership with Uptown Alliance was post the viaduct, as the tumble was coming around, this was a kind of a no man's land.

And so now we're creating these east-west networks, which is really, you know, these pieces, which are so important.

And this is an important piece to that.

So really appreciate it.

So I do have the history to the point in terms of, you know, the skate park, all those little things, particularly with Thomas Street, because Thomas Street was identified early on as that kind of main artery between the two areas.

So thank you very much for this.

Regarding alley vacations, for me, first is logistics, supporting logistics, and this plan speaks to that in terms of the The commercial residential loading docks, as I always say, loading docks are so key, and particularly downtown.

Put that plug in, which is more of a land use question.

But the vice chair, Strauss, is here from land use, so drop that in.

But as it relates to transportation, very important, particularly because this takes it off Thomas Street.

So that was a key point.

And this goes to, in addition to logistics, transportation, and pedestrian safety.

Key with pedestrian safety, we just had the advisory board here in terms of what we're looking to do with Thomas Street.

So thank you for those pieces that are involved.

I also appreciate...

Was it in the note?

I forget which document it was in.

The design review and community outreach.

I recognize design review is a dirty word in some communities, but I favor design review because it really brings in the communities.

And guess what?

There's a lot of smart ideas that come out of the community.

I know this from personal experience in terms of the Queen Anne Community Council, but also Uptown Alliance and Southlake Union Community Council.

And I noted that they're on your list, a great list of community stakeholdering, reaching out, so important.

So I really want to thank you for that community outreach and that review and incorporating.

No doubt there was a lot of comments, because I know these groups, One thing about District 7, there's a lot of very smart and accomplished people who may be at that stage of life where they have time to put all that experience and knowledge and drive to use, which keeps me on my toes as the District 7 council member.

But it goes to a better, you know, projects and stuff.

So really appreciate this bringing, rebuilding this connector between Uptown Alliance and South Lake Union, the Denny area and so forth.

And I think it's fantastic.

One thing, I may have missed it, but for my colleagues, what people don't necessarily know is in terms of this area of the city and this area of District 7 is that there's a lot of talk about tech, tech, tech, tech.

And obviously Amazon, we work closely with Amazon.

I meet with them.

on a regular basis and all the other tech that we have, Google and Facebook and so forth.

But one thing that's not truly appreciated, I don't think, and there's a little bit of it because of the Allen Institute, is the life sciences piece.

I've been down in East Lake, huge life sciences, you know, budding little area that we have in our city, and it goes into South Lake Union, goes into this area.

So I see this project as an extension of that, and I think it's really something that we need to acknowledge as a city, how important it is that we're building up this element of tech, if you will, the bioscience piece.

And because of my work and meeting with different people from the you know, the developer side to folks that are like the Allen Institute and so forth.

One thing that I've learned is, and so I'm kind of saying this not so much for ESOP but for City Light, and I've had discussions with the Director Lindell on this, in terms of electrical utility pieces.

We need to have a stable utility base for our life sciences, particularly in terms of electricity, the electrical side of things.

And so having generators and the like is gonna be key to these kinds of projects.

And I say this because we need to start thinking about what we need to do to move forward in terms of ensuring that we have a strong, stable, electrical source for our life sciences community.

Because if something goes down, the loss of that research and so forth could be catastrophic.

And so I just highlight that as something for us to think about.

It's a little bit beyond...

kind of like transportation, but I just wanted to highlight that because I think that's something that's not really spoken to here in our city, and I just wanted to highlight that.

But again, thank you for the community outreach, great list of organizations, most of which I know quite well, and I appreciate the design review input, and then creating post the Viaduct, creating this new neighborhood.

I think it's fantastic.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you, Council Member Kettle, and appreciate your thoughtful contributions here.

Next up on the list is Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Strauss, if you don't mind, I'm going to allow our colleague, Council Member Wu, who has not yet had an opportunity to speak today, because her hand is up as well.

Council Member Wu, go ahead.

SPEAKER_06

Thank you so much.

Quick question.

I also want to echo Council Member Kettle and everyone else's excitement over progress being made on this complex.

But I had a question regarding garbage collection, and I assume that's going to be through the dock, and I think you may mention it, but it's only one office tenant who's going to be on the ground floor and not expecting any ground floor retail.

And so I assume everything is going through the loading dock?

SPEAKER_16

Correct.

So there's a central loading dock, which will include garbage and recycling size for the entire project.

And that will be constructed as part of the first phase.

So that would support both the east and westerly buildings.

SPEAKER_13

Just to tag onto that, that's all below grade as well.

So that's all inside.

SPEAKER_10

Can you speak into the mics?

Yes.

Sorry.

SPEAKER_13

And just to add to that, that's also all below grade.

It comes in the main entrance, dry valley there.

SPEAKER_06

That's great to hear.

It can be dumpsters outside or waste bins outside.

SPEAKER_13

We took into consideration, too, with the neighborhood being a mixed use with residential as well, having that inside the building helps control the noise as well.

And so that was also a big component of that for our decision making.

SPEAKER_06

And so it sounds like the loading dock would be large enough to actually fit a garbage truck.

SPEAKER_13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

And that's not something that I have to hold.

SPEAKER_13

Seattle Public Utilities and actually I had them confirm that as well already, that their trucks fit within our garage.

SPEAKER_06

Awesome.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you.

SPEAKER_13

Thank you.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you, Council Member Wu.

Council Member Strauss.

I'm just going to be really brief since we're two hours into this and just say thank you for all your work here.

Fully supportive.

Really glad that we didn't go with the no vacation option.

That was fantastic.

beyond the gray scale, not a good design.

And I'll just submit for you, I know that we're legally doing an alley vacation today.

And what I see is that we are actually preserving the alley function in a new way for downtown.

Colleagues, I know that you've probably heard me talk about Thomas, well, I don't know if you've heard me talk about Thomas Street.

It's been about seven years since we've had this program running to try to improve it.

And this is really gonna, I mean, we gotta get it across the finish line.

I know Council Member Kettle is on this work and this is just such a great addition.

So fully supportive, looking forward to the vote.

Thank you, Chair.

SPEAKER_10

Awesome.

Thank you so much, Council Member Strauss.

And I do have two questions, hopefully fairly quick.

It's a two-part question, both related.

So you mentioned that the initial kind of early committee advisory meeting took place in August of 2022, so a little over two years ago now, almost exactly.

Just be curious to better understand what kind of at a very high level, what kind of council direction and feedback did you hear at that early meeting two years ago in August of 2022?

And how was that feedback and direction specifically incorporated into the proposed public benefits in the current planning phase today.

So that's question one.

What kind of feedback did you hear?

How was it incorporated?

And then also on the community stakeholdering side, same question.

What kind of community feedback did you hear along the way in this part of this journey, and how was that incorporated?

So council feedback, community feedback.

SPEAKER_13

Sure, and do you guys?

Sure, okay.

So yeah, the process was actually really insightful.

From the committee side, you know, we looked at looking outward, right, to the community versus inward toward the project, right, so that center connection really not being the public benefit, but looking at how do we really bring in the community to the outside and really leveraging that?

This building was situated in this location, had a lot of great opportunities to take advantage of that, and so we focused in on that.

And you can kind of see that from the first presentation to the second one, how that kind of evolved.

We also heard a lot of great feedback around, you know, bike accessibility, and that was, again, where Thomas Street came in as a really important aspect of getting bike commuters to this building and how do we kind of bridge that into it and look at our street and how do we kind of take that into consideration.

We heard great feedback around just the safety of the neighborhood and we heard that both from the community as well as in the committee.

So that was something that was echoed from both sides is how do we make this feel as a safer neighborhood and develop a safety aspect of this And so that was a big component of how we kind of looked at a lot of our design elements as well.

From a community side, again, safety was a big piece.

Tying back to the city center, when they saw a lot of the imagery of the arches and stuff like that, tying back to Seattle city center and that element, they were really appreciative of that.

And it spoke well to being integrated into the neighborhood, but not being different, right?

And so it was really trying to leverage the community around us and not trying to build something different in the neighborhood.

So that was some of the feedback we got.

Again, one of the feedbacks we got was from the Cascade bike cyclist groups was around our bike accessibility.

Great feedback from them.

We appreciated that as well.

As well as how do we make this like a safe space to get off your bike, walk into the space, not have to go into a loading dock to access the bike storage and actually walk safely into the building, not having to meet around cars and that element.

Again, great feedback from that lens.

Ryan, I don't know if you had others that stuck in your head.

Those are the top.

SPEAKER_16

Yeah, I think those covered.

You know, there's also been a strong desire, as I mentioned earlier, of the connectivity of the larger neighborhoods.

So not just having the focus be inward on, even though the new mid-block connector that replaces the alleys could be fantastic, but the importance of the edges and how they connect to larger communities.

So a lot of focus on the parklets, the open space, how those energize Thomas Street, but how they also connect to the residential buildings and the neighborhoods to the south and southeast of us.

Awesome.

SPEAKER_10

Anything else?

SPEAKER_12

Yeah, I think the committee was overall positive in 2022 and didn't have really specific things like plant more trees.

But it was a positive look that was kind of a consistent sort of message to look at the context of the project and the street environment and a balance of what they achieve with what the public gives up and what the public benefit proposal is.

But we had an early positive meeting and all those concepts that are in the policies and came from the early guidance I think are reflected here.

And of course the design commission does a pretty rigorous review too, so we rely on them a lot.

SPEAKER_07

It is interesting to see the team's commitment.

The commission pushed hard in trying to understand who are the people are going to use this connection and why would they want to use it?

And what I think the architecture and development team really rose to the occasion and looked at ways to make the area activated through architecture through lighting through the way uses were occurring both at grade and in the interior to make sure that not only is this a place that the public wants to be not just simply the people who would be working there but you're providing them with an important connection that they would value the way where the open spaces are provided how the buildings are designed to open up on both ends and making sure that that physical and visual connection is clear so people want to use it and they feel safe and I think that again we pushed you on it and they definitely rose to the occasion and I think the outcome speaks for itself yes excellent thank you for sharing that and uh

SPEAKER_10

Yeah, it sounds like at the last meeting two years ago, I wasn't on the committee at the time, nor the council, but it sounds like high level, there was no specific feedback in terms of plant more trees here or anything of the like, which is perfectly, council feedback can be very specific and granular like that.

Or another example, like make sure you have fixed or add a new or repair a sidewalk.

you know in the abutting area can be more high level like I heard is you know council wanted to make sure you know high level there was safety enhancements improvements it was a shared commitment from community as well.

You know, my whole purpose is I just wanted to flesh out where, you know, like to validate my assumptions there.

My impression there is that council feedback and community feedback was thoughtfully considered as part of this process and specifically incorporated.

And if to the extent it wasn't for whatever reason, there was a rational justifiable explanation for why and why not.

So thank you for sharing that.

Colleagues, any other questions, comments here?

All right.

SPEAKER_09

I know Council Member Strauss is like, Chair Saka, this is a long meeting.

Well, Chair, I could make it a little bit longer.

I'll give you some transportation updates.

Well...

If I may, if we're in good of the order.

Good of the order.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

We had a really exciting weekend this last weekend, opening Sound Transit's new stations, connecting the city of Seattle to Snohomish County.

I got to tell you, eight and a half miles never felt so long in my life.

It really is a...

pretty big generational moment where it's not just connecting King County and Snohomish County with light rail.

We connected the city of Seattle with Snohomish County.

25% of Snohomish County buses, community transit are now ending at the light rail station.

I heard this morning from staff that it was standing room only on the light rail by Roosevelt Line.

This is a really big moment for our entire region.

Just wanted to take the opportunity.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

SPEAKER_10

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you for your leadership and representing our city's voice on that important committee, Sound Transit, and that board, and a huge new project that benefits a lot of people.

So in any event, colleagues, I know this is a fairly longer meeting.

Just brace yourselves.

The next one will likely also be fairly long, and congratulations.

just as we finalize the really important business here.

My hope is we will not need to call a special committee meeting to finalize everything before budget officially kicks off, but stay tuned just in case.

That said, colleagues, members of the public, we have reached the end of today's meeting agenda.

Our next meeting is September 17th at 9.30 a.m.

Is there any further business to come before the committee before we adjourn?

Hearing none and seeing none, first off, before we adjourn, let me give a special shout out, kudos to my staffers, Layla and Ian.

Thank you for your hard work last couple weeks and this weekend and like teeing up this meeting after a long protracted set of time away for folks and, you know, paying attention to detail.

Someone get, Seattle Channel, can you get like the back of me, like, Can you get the back of me?

I want to highlight our clerks here.

Layla and Ian, they've done a lot of hard work right here.

They're sitting right down here, including coordinating logistics and getting things like coffee for you and your staffers, colleagues.

So just hat tip, appreciate the work of everyone, and especially my own.

So thank you all.

Hearing no further business, come before the committee.

It is 11.27 a.m.

We are adjourned.