Let's test one.
Oh, there we go.
Good afternoon.
Good morning, rather.
This is a special meeting of the Select Committee on Civic Arenas.
It's Monday, July 15th, and the time is 10.34 a.m.
I'm Council President Bruce Harrell, co-chair of this committee with my fellow co-chair, Council Member Deborah Juarez, joined on my left.
I'm joined by Council Members Bagshaw, Gonzalez, and Pacheco.
And if there's no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.
We're going to have two public hearings, basically one on one of the matters in particular, item number one, dealing with the signage, sign overlay district issue.
We do have general comment as well that we'll listen to now.
So we'll take public comment on general public comment.
And I think we have three people who signed up.
Look forward to hearing from them.
So I'll just call you out in order of which you've signed up.
And first we have Scott Shinn, and then followed by James Lobb, and then Kristen Ebeling.
Scott, James, and Kristen, thank you.
Good morning.
Good morning.
My name is Scott Shinn, and I'm the Director of Parents for Skate Parks.
I've been involved in the movement to build public skate parks in Seattle since the 2004 Ballard Bowl campaign.
With regard to the current campaign for the Seattle Center Skate Park, I'm a member of the Seattle Center Skate Park Coalition.
I looked through my old emails and found that my colleagues and I first met with Councilmember Bagshaw regarding the path forward for the skate park on November 1st, 2017. Since that time, we have worked with central staff and Seattle Center staff to identify a replacement site for the skate park.
We have hired a qualified team to design the new skate park and the public space surrounding it.
and we've resolved many technical issues.
I want to thank the city for its continued support of a skate park at Seattle Center.
As you may already know, this is the fifth time this skate park will be built, and I am personally thankful that there was $2.2 million available from Oakview Group and the Seattle Center budget to relocate and rebuild the skate park this time.
Please continue your important work with Seattle Center to relocate this skate park at the Broad Street right of way location.
And vote yes on the transfer of jurisdiction legislation that will add the skate park to the Seattle Center campus.
This action will allow the city to turn a neglected former street into an active, exciting space that skateboarders and spectators of all ages will enjoy.
Additionally, please support Councilmember Bagshaw's statement of legislative intent to build a roof over the skate park in a future construction phase.
These actions will help ensure the future of the skateboarding community in Seattle as skateboarding itself becomes an Olympic event in 2020. Thanks for listening.
Thank you.
James will be followed by Kristen.
Hi, I'm James Love, Executive Director of Pottery Northwest.
Thanks for the opportunity for me to comment this morning.
First of all, I just want to say thanks to the council and to the OQ group.
We are thriving in the middle of this great construction project.
Our classes are full and we have record attendance for a lot of our events.
So we're really grateful that we have that opportunity.
And second, I just want to report from community coordination committee about the signage.
It's rare that we go to these meetings and there's no dissent or opposition.
Everybody was unanimously in agreement that the signage plan is tasteful and well considered.
And we think it's going to be great.
So thank you very much.
Thank you.
Our last general comment speaker is Kristen Eveling.
Hey, y'all.
How's it going?
Just skated over here in the rain.
It was pretty fun.
I made it here safely, which is an accomplishment.
But yeah, my name is Kristen Edling.
I've been skating since I was 12. That was roughly the year 2000. I'm currently the executive director of Skate Like a Girl.
Our organization serves over 7,000 people each year, including skate classes and community building for underserved folks in the skate community, including women, trans, and gender non-conforming folks, as well as low-income youth.
partnering with schools, partnering with community organizations like East African Community Services and Mary's Place and others to make sure that all kids in the great city of Seattle have the opportunity to try skateboarding.
I'm also a member of the Seattle Center Skatepark Coalition and I just wanted to express my gratitude for the support so far for the skate park continuing to be at the Seattle Center campus.
I'm really excited about the direction that the park is going in as it centers the underserved skate communities that I mentioned prior.
It's going to be a really wide open space.
There's going to be lights for all hours of access potentially and the potential for a roof that will provide equity as I see it in the skate community Currently it's July and it's raining.
Can't skate in the rain, unfortunately.
So that presents a problem to young people in this city that want to skateboard all year.
There's currently one indoor skate park in the north end of the city.
So providing a potential for coverage and all hours access for young people can create a space for all kids, regardless of income, to come to the center, to meet at the center of Seattle and come and skateboard and build community together.
So I'm really excited, I'm really passionate about making that happen for the young people in this city.
So thank you again for your support.
Thank you, Kristen.
That'll conclude our general comment session.
I'll ask that the clerk read agenda item number one into record.
Agenda item one, Council Bill 119543, an ordinance relating to land use and zoning, amending Seattle Municipal Code Sections 23.55.002, 003, 005, 23.848.036, and adding new Seattle Municipal Code Sections 23.55.052, 054, 056, to establish a sign overlay district and sign regulations for the Seattle Center including regulations for sub areas containing the Seattle Center arena and the Bessie garage block.
Thank you very much Madam Clerk.
Before we have introductions at the table, there is a public hearing requirement that we will comply with.
So at this time, we'll open public hearing to take comment on agenda item number one that was just read into the record.
That's Council Bill 119543. So those who wish to speak or provide public comment, they've signed up here.
And if you're still here and didn't sign up, you will have the opportunity.
So we have three people that signed up on this particular agenda item.
That'd be Ellen, Solid, Paula Rees, and then Todd Lewicki.
My name is Ellen Solid.
I live at 724 15th Avenue in Seattle.
I've been living in Seattle for 30 years.
I'm the former vice chair of the Seattle Design Commission, member of the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Public Art Advisory Committee, member of the Seattle University Citizen Advisory Committee of MIMP, and also the former director when it was called the Seattle Arts Commission.
I'm here today to oppose this ordinance.
As a public space, the Seattle Center is the city's collective living room and should be a sanctuary for the enjoyment of civic life.
And as such, the visual blight that is proposed through this ordinance flies in the face of all of that.
Over 15,000 square feet of lighted, pulsed, illuminating, and digital signage, moving signage, will overwhelm the center and create a pulsing infringement on the public's enjoyment of public space.
Why would you want to do that?
Each of these signs will carry advertising.
The allowance of these signs means that our public space will be commandeered for private gain, not done in our public spaces.
We have no advertising in public parks.
The ordinate sets a precedent for other users, especially the football stadium and the baseball stadium, where such uses are not allowed.
And it will be difficult for you to now all of a sudden say they shouldn't have such a thing, causing the proliferation of more signs.
Using an EIS to measure this is like taking one's temperature to see whether you have poison ivy, a completely inappropriate instrument.
At a time when we're seriously considering the impact of screen time on children and the robbing of the authentic experience of life lived through living and interaction with other people, it's the wrong direction for Seattle to be going.
Finally, the fact that the council approved a lease that included this language on the come that an ordinance would be changed, if not illegal, is highly unethical.
Please wrap up, ma'am.
Okay.
I would just say that the public's trust in the City Council is at an all-time low, and doing this doesn't help.
I urge you to vote against the ordinance.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Paula Rees, followed by Todd Lewicki.
Hi, my name's Paula Reese.
I'm not sure if you're aware, but the sign code has not been comprehensively reviewed since 1974. I live with the sign code every day with my clients, including people like Nordstrom's, et cetera.
And I know this because in the mid-90s, Jan Drago asked a bunch of us to please help the sign code get improved, and nothing has happened since.
My business is downtown for 40 years.
We work in creating great public spaces from Barcelona to Sunset Boulevard.
I'm not approved to digital signage.
I began my career in professional sports promotion and also stadium design.
Locally, our work has included the Seattle Center, University Village, Port of Seattle, the city of Seattle, and the Sound Transit sign system from Everett to Tacoma.
I've served as the past president of an international group that helps cities define their sign codes of what should be happening and how they see themselves.
I'm going to ask you to please vote against this ordinance.
The reason is because as a professional and reaching out to the community, nobody knew about this.
I'm curious if Father Lyle across the street at Sacred Heart knows that the women's shelter and the preschool and his church will be facing a 2,400 square foot LED sign.
I believe that the owners of these sports teams would want to be sensitive to their community.
The signs proposed are too much, they're too big, they're too tall, they're too active, And they're too bright.
And when I say too bright, the director's report said that this was 500 nits.
It's not 500 nits in the code.
The code says 500 units.
Is that 500 units of bananas or what?
The code is terrible.
The light spill will be a shock and unexpected.
Please, I'm asking you to do this with professional terminology.
It's about luminance, not illuminance.
And we need to use the right terms for what the industry refers to for these signs and not make it a puzzle.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comment.
Our last speaker I have signed up is Todd Lewicki.
Good morning.
I stand before you reporting great progress on our arena.
It's now really presenting itself.
And what we believe we have is going to be one of the most beautiful arenas in the entire world, not just on the interior of the building, but the exterior.
And I am so proud of the impact that this is going to have on all of Seattle Center.
This is a provision that's been negotiated, been negotiated since the origin of this discussion in 2017. We've been thoughtful.
We've done this in a consistent way in which we've done other outreach.
We stood before you last September as one of the most significant projects in the recent history of the city without one challenge to the EIS.
We've traveled that same path here on signage, building consensus in the neighborhood, talking to world-renowned experts.
And this signage plan is not only tasteful, it's going to welcome fans, guests, and others to the building.
And additionally, consistent with everything else we're doing, we're going to turn some of this signage in marquee moments over to the not-for-profits in our community.
And what we're building on Seattle Center is true community.
I applaud this committee for having the courage that you did, because in retrospect, you not only caused the redevelopment of this building at a substantially higher cost than what we might have thought, The team is coming and the team is going to be hugely successful.
We have a project in Northgate.
All of this tied together and really started here with the courage of this committee to say we're going to fix this and we're going to fix it once and for all.
The signage plan shows restraint and in fact self-restraint because in fact it's less signs than what was initially agreed to.
We have eliminated half of the poll banners because it was not consistent with our view of having what we think can be the most beautiful arena in the entire world.
So thank you for your consideration this morning.
Thank you.
So there are no further speakers on the sign-up sheet for this public hearing, and we will close the public hearing.
I don't see anyone rushing to the microphone, so at this point, again, our presenters are already at the table, so why don't we start with introductions first, and then I'll loop back after just introductions to central staff.
Allie Panucci, Council of Central Staff.
Mike Podaski, Department of Construction and Inspections.
Robert Nelum, Seattle Center.
Marshall Foster, Waterfront and Civic Projects.
Gordon Clowers, Department of Construction and Inspections.
Very good, and I did want to make it very clear to my colleagues in the viewing public that we have three items for consideration today, and our plan at this point is to vote on all three items today.
Ali, would you like to sort of tee it off and then I'll just sort of let the presenters present in any way they'd like?
Thank You council members morning, I think I will let the executive staff present the the Proposed legislation and they have some renderings that help illustrate what the proposed changes are I would just know as I'm referencing in public comment that this plan is implementing Or this proposed ordinance is implementing the initial sign plan that was negotiated in the lease agreement and that some modifications have been made as highlighted in the directors reports and executive staff can point some of that as they And I would just remind the committee that if you do just decide to take action today, you will need to suspend the rule to vote on the legislation the same day as the public hearing.
Thank you.
I was prepared for that rule.
Thanks for clarifying that again.
And I did want to say as comments sort of unfold is I think all of us did receive, in addition to the public comments, the letter from the Seattle Design Commission.
And I know I think almost all of our colleagues have read it thoroughly.
We also have responses both from the director and another response, I believe.
I can't remember the author of it.
So we've been apprised of all of the issues, but we look forward to hearing the discussion sort of evolve organically on this issue.
So please proceed.
Thank you very much, President Harrell.
Councilmembers, good morning.
Marshall Foster again with the Office of Waterfront and Civic Projects.
We have enjoyed the opportunity to work with Robert and his team and the Oakview group and the community on the development of the arena plan from you know, early on, and one of the things that we're happy to be able to bring forward today is the signage code amendment, which allow us to fulfill what was really called for in the package of transaction documents last fall.
You'll recall the whole process we've had here.
It started with an RFQ process by the city to select partner development of proposals.
Once a team was selected, Oakview Group, we then developed a whole process with the community to advance the project as a whole.
From the early stages, as was mentioned, the plan anticipated signage and sponsorship recognition as an element on this site, and I think it's important to be very clear on that point that has been understood and anticipated from the city as well as its partners from day one of this project.
It is also historical context for the arena.
The Seattle Center Arena has long been a home of sports.
It has had signage and sponsorships associated with those events for quite a long time.
And it's something that I think the public is quite familiar with and associates with the arena site.
This proposal was analyzed in our SEPA documents.
It looked at actually a little bit of additional signage beyond what is being proposed now.
That was subject to all the steps we go through under SEPA.
And then ultimately a sign plan was adopted as part of the lease agreement and other agreements last fall.
What we're bringing to you now represents several months of intensive work with Oak View Group, communications with all of the affected communities around the arena, Uptown, Belltown, Southlake Union, Queen Anne, about the substance of the sign proposal.
And I'm very happy to be able to say this is a reduction from what was approved last fall.
In terms of the context, there's really nothing that replaces the ability to actually see the pictures and see what it's going to feel like.
So what I'd like to do next is just take you through a set of images of what it will feel like.
I'm going to start on the west side of the arena.
The image on the screen is looking across First Avenue at Harrison Street.
I think this is a view that every Seattleite knows of the arena facility.
What you see are a series of different elements that are part of the larger public space that the Oak View Group is providing.
You see, and I'll just kind of go from right to left and call out some of the different elements, This is a mechanical structure associated with the building.
It provides mechanical ventilation.
It also provides egress for the public around events.
On the first avenue frontage, you see a changing image sign, which is the portion in black, as well as a video element, which is the portion where you see a colored image there.
So there's a portion there of both changing sign and video.
When I say changing sign, what I mean by that is you basically have a still image.
It is on an LED screen, so it is illuminated.
and that image is basically static and then it can change on a certain interval of time.
But it's not a moving, it's not a digital video image, it's not moving.
The portion here on the left would move.
So as was mentioned in some of the public comment, from the early days we envisioned a whole set of pole banners along every facade of the arena.
These are very typical of arena facilities.
The original sign plan as approved allowed for 30, pole banners, pole signs around the building.
In our work with the Oak View group since then, I think we all realized that that felt cluttered.
It felt like a lot of physical elements in between the public and the facade of the building.
And so we came up with a strategy to significantly reduce that from 30 to 12 total pole banners, which you will see on these images.
You can see four of them along the west facade here.
They have a digital board.
on them, which has a changing image.
And so what you would see on this changing image sign, again, it's a static screen, is you would see sponsorship recognition.
So for example, tonight's hockey game brought to you by Alaska Airlines.
It would allow the sponsor to show its logo.
It would not allow any inducement or encouragement to buy a product or a service.
So it would not be advertising in the sense of an off-premises advertisement.
I will also note, and I'm going to show you an image in a moment, including some of the sponsorship images.
We have sponsorships all over the Seattle Center today.
Robert will speak to that a little bit more.
It is part of how we manage and help to support that public environment today.
This is not something significantly new for the public.
This is an image also along First Avenue, a little bit south.
You can see that mechanical egress building.
You can see in the foreground the changing image element as well as the video element.
As was mentioned in the public comment, in addition to recognizing sponsors of events and of the facility, the Oak View group will also be providing time for recognizing all the resident organizations on the campus.
And this is something that you see with the reader boards that already exist on the campus, which are operated by Seattle Center, is you'll have a message up saying Pacific Northwest Ballet, come enjoy all the other great organizations on the campus in addition to the activities of the arena.
So that's, again, an additional public benefit element of this.
Now, this version is showing you what it will feel like when you see a sponsorship message on that board.
Alaska is just an example.
They're not an actual sponsor.
We're just using them as an example of what that would look and feel like.
They are an existing sponsor on the campus.
Good point.
Marshall, just some context here.
I just sort of lose my bearings on some of these renditions.
On the Alaska example, what's across the street?
What is that?
So the Astra apartments are across the street.
This is taken just a little bit north of Thomas Street.
Gotcha.
Thank you.
And this is a rendering actually at the Thomas Street and First Avenue intersection.
So this is one of the most prominent new entries to the arena.
If you remember in the past, there was basically a large building on this corner that was used for storage.
So you can see now the public plaza that replaces it and all those other features.
You'll also notice in these renderings the orange elements.
Those are basically static signs that never change.
You can see in the foreground Seattle Center Arena.
That is kind of a place.
marker signage.
You'll also notice the roof sign that already exists on the arena will continue.
There will continue to be a roof sign on the facility.
So given the fact that these are residences across the street on Thomas Street, how do you deal with the issue of someone's trying to sleep at 2 a.m.
and you have this illumination occurring?
Are there restrictions?
There are restrictions.
I want to say is it 10 or is it 11 a.m.
or 11 p.m.?
10 p.m.
Is the the latest or one hour after an event.
Thank you Okay, I'm gonna keep moving around the building this is on the south On Warren Street, the First Avenue garage is on your left, and we're looking at the south face of the new arena.
Keep in mind, this frontage of the arena as we've known it is basically a loading dock and a chain link fence.
So this becomes the new major public entry to the building.
What you see here are, again, you can see those poll sign elements.
Again, you know, significant reduction in the total number.
There are several ground level digital reader board elements that provide wayfinding as well as they will also have messages about resident orgs, messages about sponsors as well.
You also have a signage for the parking access.
This is the major egress in and out of the parking structure underneath the arena.
One other thing I should just note as we go through is, assuming these amendments move forward, Everything here is going through review by the landmarks board, which hasn't taken place yet.
That's kind of the next step in the process.
And it will include, you know, more kind of review of the details, materials, all those kind of elements as it relates to the historic resource.
All right, I'm gonna keep moving along.
This is moving east along Thomas.
This is right at Thomas and 2nd Avenue.
So this is, we were just talking about the skate park.
The skate park used to be right on this site.
You can get a feel for some of those sign elements.
These are the pole signs you see there.
And there is one element here that we'll talk about in just a moment, which faces east into Seattle Center.
All right, I'll keep moving along.
And then you see here the east facade.
This is looking from the fountain lawn into the arena.
This particular image, you know, the earlier version as was approved at council with the 30 poll signs, this is a significant reduction in the number of poll signs that you would see along there.
So you can get a bit of a flavor for what those would look like.
And I mentioned in the earlier slide, there are some elements that are at ground level as well.
There are other elements as well.
They're not, you know, building entry signs, parking entry signs.
There are LED elements.
I'll go back one slide just to call this out.
There are LED elements on the interior of the building, which are not in the public elements of the building, which, for example, if you see that light purple color in the background, that is a horizontal LED element in the atrium lobby of the building.
And then there is a static sign shown in yellow over the doors into the building.
That gives you a flavor for the whole package.
As was said, we feel really good about what we're bringing to you, council members.
This was a lot of careful thought, a lot of negotiating back and forth between us and the Oak View team to make this tasteful, to make it reflect the context of Seattle Center, but also to recognize that this is an active, vibrant, dynamic site that has had sponsorships.
It has had major events, major sports for many, many decades.
So we're carrying that through.
And I think I'll stop there and ask Robert if he has anything he'd like to add.
Thank you, Marshall.
Marshall laid out this really well, so I won't go on too much longer.
But there are a couple of things I would like to mention.
When we talk about digital signage, et cetera, there are three reader boards.
There were three reader boards at Seattle Center.
One was on First Avenue that represented Key Arena and provided signage to the Key Arena events, et cetera.
There are currently two reader boards that remain at Seattle Center, one at Fifth and Mercer and one at Denny and Broad.
And those reader boards provide sponsors information, event information, resident organizations information.
So this legislation is actually doing and memorializing things that we've been doing at other sites at Seattle Center for a long, long time.
And then the last thing that I say, We have used signage at Seattle Center as a revenue stream for Seattle Center, a program that as part of the transaction documents, you know, estimated that at about a million dollars a year.
We had major sponsors such as Alaska and T-Mobile being the two primary ones.
And you would find those on pole banners across the campus advertising that or on the fly towers or on the, elevator towers at Fisher Pavilion, et cetera.
And to be brutally frank and honest with you is that we only had the means to do pole banners, which are basically static signs, et cetera.
If we had the means, et cetera, to do what this proposal is suggesting, we would have far fewer signs and we would be using these types of signs on our campus as well.
Very good.
Marshall?
Last comment I'll make is just to also bear in mind what this legislation does is create a specific overlay specifically for the leasehold of Oakview Group.
So the arena facility and the properties just south there of Thomas.
You know, it was mentioned, you know, broader implications for the city.
This is not, this does not create a new category for this overall in the city, but specifically for this publicly owned site.
We're good.
Does that on this agenda item, does that conclude your presentation?
It does.
I'll just sort of tee it off that, number one, I want to express my thanks for both Ellen and Paula.
I could use your first names on your comment and the comments from the design commission.
And I appreciate the response back.
I think that everyone started doing their job in the sense that the design commission's job are to make sure that we're not turning our city or areas of our city into a, I was going to say the Blade Runner city, I'll just say Las Vegas.
And but we also understand that the concept of bringing vibrancy and appeal and excitement to this campus is part of the package and the sponsorships are in my opinion at least, remain a vital part of making the pencil out and making sure that the taxpayers are not paying for this huge capital project.
So I think in my opinion at least, and I'm only one vote of several, that we've reached the right balance in terms of the lowering the number of signs and the square footage of the signs and making sure it's regulated.
And I think there's like a 10 second, I think I read in one of the descriptions the time that the signs change so it's not, you know, just nonstop sort of uncontrolled activity.
So I think we've reached a right balance.
But that's just my opinion.
Council Member Baxter, would you like to chime in?
Yeah, thank you so much.
Thank you for all at the table for your presentations today.
And I also want to acknowledge and thank the Design Commission for their recommendations and then giving you the opportunity to respond.
And I know, Robert, you and I have worked for 10 years on various things on Seattle Center.
Many of you in the audience know that I have been a real stickler about the sign code over the years, and I particularly disliked anything that was flashing, things that were disruptive.
Great wheel on the waterfront is an example where we reached a I think a really good compromise It goes off at 10 o'clock.
They've stopped flashing It's colorful, but it's not annoying to those who live around it.
I really want to say thank you both to Seattle storm Thank You Jenny Gilder for for being here and Todd Lewicki for all the work you've done with the community and Your outreach has been unparalleled.
This is my district, seven.
I meet regularly with Uptown, with South Lake Union members, with Belltown.
And I just very much appreciate what you've done and asking them to come to the table and doing that on a consistent basis.
It's made a big difference.
So I know, too, that the sponsorship revenue stream is critical to making this work.
The public money, it's not in there.
Taxpayers are not paying for this.
There's got to be a revenue somewhere, revenue stream to make this work.
So I acknowledge that, appreciate the balance, the care that you have taken, and I'm certainly going to support this.
At the same time, I want to acknowledge what has been done, again, reaching out to the neighborhoods about the art and culture overlay for uptown.
The transportation initiatives that you all have really invested in, whether it's NODOMAP, our North Downtown Mobility Action Plan, or most recently, this past Friday, which I'll talk more about later, Julia Levitt was there.
Thank you for representing Seattle Center, what we need to accomplish.
But this is an opportunity for us to move forward.
was something that's going to be spectacular.
And like you have said, I do believe this is going to be the most beautiful updated arena that our country has ever seen.
And having done it with private money, it makes a big difference to me.
So I also appreciate that you said that it's not going to include advertising.
We're not going to say, you know, see You know, by Marlboro's, we're going to see the sponsors and appreciate the names of the companies that are sponsoring whatever, whether it's the hockey team, and it's going to be the Seattle.
But this ordinance is right.
It's the right time to go, and especially as soon as you told me that we're not going to be flashing signs, I'm all in.
Any other comments on this sign legislation?
We're good to go?
Yes.
If not, let me describe one thing.
I did want to ask if, Council Member Juarez has been sort of a chief negotiator in this project for years.
Is there any truth to the rumor that once a month her mug shot's going to be flashing on this sign?
Not flashing, just appearing.
Oh, appearing.
It'll be subtle.
Okay, here we go.
This bill is listed on the agenda with a public hearing and a possible vote for the same meeting, and the council rules state that a vote shall not occur on the same day a public hearing is held unless the rule is suspended.
So therefore, I move to suspend the council rule relating to voting on legislation on the same day a public hearing is held to allow the committee to vote on Council Bill 119.
543.
Any comments?
Okay.
It's been those in favor of suspending the council rule please vote aye.
Aye.
Those opposed vote no.
The motion carries and we can now proceed with the committee recommendation to the city council.
So I'll move to move the committee the committee's recommended passage of council bill 119543. Okay any further comments?
Those in favor of the recommendation of the council that the Council pass Council Bill 119543. Please vote aye.
Aye.
Those opposed vote no.
The motion carries and Council Bill 119543 will be forwarded to the July 22nd City Council meeting.
Thank you very much.
So we'll move to the second agenda item.
Agenda Item 2, Council Bill 119549, an ordinance relating to the Seattle Center Department, authorizing the Seattle Center Director to execute an amendment to the Facility Use Agreement with Force 10 Hoops, LLC, authorized by Ordinance 125-323, for use and occupancy of key arena for playing of professional women's basketball games.
OK, that has been read in the record.
Any presenters from Force 10 Enterprises, Jenny and others, or anyone else coming up, please come to the table here.
We will describe the legislation a little bit.
Okay, why don't we just do simple introductions and then I'll turn it back over to Brian to sort of key up the matter.
So just introductions, please.
Thank you.
Brian Goodnight, Council of Central Staff.
Tricia McLean, CFO for the Seattle Storm.
Jeannie Gilders, one of the owners of the Seattle Storm.
Ben Noble, City Budget Director.
Very good.
Brian, what do we have this afternoon, this morning?
Okay, thank you.
In May 2017, the Council passed Ordinance 125-323, authorizing a facility use agreement for the Seattle Storm's use of Key Arena through December of 2028. So the legislation before you today, Council Bill 119549, proposes an amendment to that agreement.
In short, the amendment would replace the portion of the agreement that relates to the per season and the per playoff game relocation payments that the city is responsible for paying to the storm during the redevelopment of Key Arena.
And with that, I'll turn it over to Ben to provide more detail on the ordinance.
Thank you.
I think I can be relatively brief in this, we provided you a summary of this I think about a month ago.
As described, we had an existing agreement and we're proposing some modifications.
And the modifications are a result really in the end of the work that the Storm have done to identify a location here in Seattle, in particular at the University of Washington, to play a portion of their home games this year and hopefully next as well.
When we originally negotiated the agreement and the compensation from the city, we anticipated that the biggest – we were trying to make up for two things.
One, increased costs that the storm would face from having to lease a new facility or rent a new facility for their games, and then also to make up for the fact that We expected that they would achieve lower attendance in particular because we thought they'd end up out of the city limits and potentially some distance away.
And as I will describe, they have for some games.
So when we first negotiated the terms, we anticipated that costs rather than lost revenues could be their biggest financial impact.
Excuse me, the other way around, we expected No, sorry, I said this right the first time and I'm getting myself confused by...
Yeah, yeah, I was right the second time.
We thought that lost revenues would be a bigger issue because, again, they would be forced to play out of the city.
What we've discovered, though, with the opportunity that they've had at the UW is that they expect to face relatively higher increased costs but be able to mitigate their attendance losses by, again, playing games here in the city.
So, originally, we had separate arrangements for the payments of costs and revenues and put a bigger emphasis on the revenues.
The proposed changes, pool our total exposure and don't have separate payments for revenues lost and for costs, but rather include it as one overall sum up to, but we haven't increased the total maximum of the city's exposure.
So it's still up to the total of $2.6 million per year.
So we haven't increased the city's total financial exposure.
What we have done is given the store more flexibility to in making decisions about where to play and recognize that they may face increased cost as a bigger issue rather than lost revenues.
So that's really what was proposed here, is to change the essential terms of the compensation but not their total amount.
Very good.
And just for the viewing public, we sort of went in depth on this potential amendment at a last meeting, so I didn't want to have to reinvent the wheel again.
Did Tricia or Jenny, did you have anything else to add?
We know this has been a negotiated arrangement.
It seems like it's acceptable by all parties, but I didn't want to deny you an opportunity to chime in.
Yeah, what I would say is, first of all, our most important partnership as Seattle Storm is our relationship with the city.
And we are grateful for the support, not just financially, but really the civic commitment to the team.
And when we negotiated this lease two years ago, we had no idea what it was going to take to move a team for over two years.
And what we've discovered is that we have to play in two arenas.
There's just a lot of, there was a lot that we didn't know back then.
And we also didn't know that we were going to win a championship last year.
That was not in the plan.
But we're happy about that.
So we just really appreciate that the city is willing to work with us because the costs of moving are really unprecedented, really quite astronomical.
And we really appreciate also what the University of Washington has done to partner with us.
So thank you for your consideration.
Very good.
Good.
Any other comments or questions?
I'll make sure I have my quorum here.
So Council Member Esqueda.
Thank you again and congratulations to your team, but also to the effort to continue to elevate the work of women in this field.
I've heard a lot of people talk about how they've been very excited to take the light rail to the games.
And I think it was really a great way to introduce maybe more people to the sport.
And I'm also just wanting to flag for folks, if people are very interested in taking light rail to the university district, perhaps there's more that we can do as a joint effort to continue to expedite the creation of the light rail to the key arena area so that we are all ready to go at the same time and our new friends and fans, current and newcomers and the folks that have been there for a very long time, that they'll continue to have that type of access.
So I think we're gonna be redoubling our efforts to try to expedite that process and just a shout out to our friends who are in the region who work on ST3.
And other sound transit options that this is a great opportunity for us to get more riders and more participants in the sport And as in terms of viewers and fans So thanks for everything you do and for working with us on this and hoping that more people continue to get to those games on light rail Very good.
Thanks for those remarks counselor.
Miss Kata And I'll just want to say as a sports buff, boy, these injuries are killing our city here.
Great job, despite of that, and I'm watching with enthusiasm.
I think the 4's, 10's, I think they have the smaller, the three on three.
It'll be an Olympic event, I think, that they're in.
I actually watched in practice about a week ago, and so I just love the activity and the vibrancy that your organization brings to the city.
So thank you for that.
Okay, without any further questions, we're going to vote.
Council Member Morris.
Just briefly, a special thank you to Jenny.
I really want to say for you and all the owners, there's nothing better than having a hometown team that's locally owned, that wins, that keeps our team here, Seattle, Storm, and I can't be prouder that it's women, well, locally owned, locally winning, three-time WNBA champions, and we anticipate a fourth.
So thank you.
Okay, just don't hold your breath.
Okay, not for this year.
All right, so I will move to pass Council Bill 119549. All those in favor of passing Council Bill 119549, please say aye.
Aye.
Opposed?
The ayes have it, and we'll present this to the full council.
Okay, thank you.
Please read the next agenda item.
Agenda Item 3, Council Bill 119566, an ordinance relating to Broad Street, transferring jurisdiction over the portion of Broad Street between Thomas Street and Taylor Avenue North from the Seattle Department of Transportation to the Seattle Center Department for purposes of constructing, operating, and maintaining a public skate plaza.
Okay, this will be our last agenda item.
Are you still, Brian?
Okay, so why don't we not have you introduce yourself and start from there and just have introductions first.
Seattle City Attorney's Office.
Beverly Barnett, Seattle Department of Transportation.
Julia Leavitt, Seattle Center.
Robert Nelum, Seattle Center.
Okay, who would like to kick us off here on this one?
I will.
First of all, this is a very exciting moment for us at Seattle Center.
As you heard earlier in public comments, that this will be the fifth move of the skateboard park.
That goes in multiple directions, but the direction I like to go in is that Seattle Center has been and will continue to be a huge proponent of skateboarding in our city.
And that this ordinance will allow us to create a unique environment and a unique skateboard park that has the ability to be here for the long term and hopefully won't need to be moved again.
I'd like to thank all the people in the skate park committee and coalition.
We've reviewed multiple sites.
We came to an understanding and an agreement that this is the preferred site and that we've worked very hard with SDOT.
and the city to look at how we can transfer jurisdiction so that Seattle Center can not just be responsible, but actually own and maintain this site as part of the Seattle Center campus and that our rules and et cetera will be applicable and we can do what we do, which is support skateboarding throughout our region at Seattle Center.
And so with that, I'm just gonna turn it over to Julia and let her walk you through a presentation about This transfer of jurisdiction.
Thank you.
This ordinance transfers partial jurisdiction of the portion of Broad Street between Taylor Ave North and Thomas Street without charge from SDOT to Seattle Center so that Seattle Center can construct, operate, and maintain a public skate plaza.
As everyone here knows, the Seattle Center skate park was among the facilities that were demolished as part of the Seattle Center arena renovation.
And Seattle Center has long been a home to a skate park, and so we've been working very closely with the community to ensure that we have a future skate park.
The 2019 adopted and 2020 endorsed budget includes funding to relocate and replace the Seattle Center Skate Park.
And the portion of Broad Street proposed for the skate park project was permanently closed to vehicular traffic as part of the Mercer Corridor Project West phase.
And Beverly will actually walk you through some of the particulars of the site on this next slide.
So on the map, the red shape is the portion of Broad Street that is proposed to be transferred to the Seattle Center.
So Broad Street was actually planted in 1926, and it was planted at an angle, as you see from the map, and it creates non-standard shapes of adjacent property that can sometimes limit the use of the property.
So in 1955, the city constructed improvements that separated the grid of Broad Street from Mercer Street, Dexter Avenue North, and Aurora Avenue by lowering Broad Street where it crossed those streets.
So all of that changed in 2014. SDOT closed Broad Street between 5th Avenue and 9th Avenue to support the Mercer Corridor project.
And the Mercer Corridor Project really connected the street grid between South Lake Union and the uptown urban centers.
So it was, Mercer was converted and widened to a four-lane, one-way street to a seven-lane, two-way street.
So that work has been completed and Broad Street has been closed since 2014. The City Council has seen changes in Broad Street since then.
There have been three vacations proposed on Broad Street.
The Gates Foundation had vacation and property exchange in about 2012, right before some of the major changes at Mercer Street.
In 2017, the City Council supported the vacation of what we call the Teardrop Site at Mercer and Broad Street.
And just last December in 2018, the City Council supported the vacation of the triangular portion of Broad Street at Harrison to support a small expansion at the City Light Broad street substation.
So the Broad Street has been closed permanently for more traditional traffic purposes since 2014, and there are no current transportation uses within the street.
Moving on to some of the finer terms of the ordinance.
Seattle Center shall be responsible for all costs of the Skate Plaza.
Seattle Center shall be the regulatory authority for planning, constructing, and managing the Skate Plaza.
SDOT shall continue to be the regulatory authority for all activities affecting utilities in the Broad Street right-of-way.
The project, because it remains right-of-way, it will include at least one pedestrian pathway.
And vehicular access for the Seattle City Light Broad Annex shall remain as long as SEL requires that access.
And we've been working closely with them to make sure that we're designing in a way that works for their facility.
And then finally, vehicular access through the skate plaza will provide for alley access and service needs of the block to the north of the skate plaza until access is no longer required.
Very good.
May I just ask a quick question both for Beverly and Julia on that.
I know there's been a lot of conversation around can we vacate that north-south parcel right in between so that the skate park could be connected.
Can you talk a little bit about what the plans are?
I understand there's a phase one, phase two there.
So are you talking about vacating the Broad Street right of way for the skate park or a vacation?
Yes, for the skate park.
And I understand there's conversations with Seattle City Light because they're the entity most interested because their substations right there.
But what can be done in the long term about.
connecting both phases for the skate park to extend.
So my understanding is on the if you're looking at that block on the southwest side, that's the first phase and the second phase is the northeast part of that.
So if you could just discuss that a little bit, tell us what the timing is.
So in terms of a vacation, because the Seattle Center is not an abutting property owner, they can't actually acquire the property through the vacation process.
So the Transfer of Jurisdiction Ordinance does give them permanent authority to manage and use the street right of way for the Skate Plaza purposes.
So the best tool to accommodate Seattle Center's purposes is the Transfer of Jurisdiction Ordinance.
Where the vacation would be appropriate is if they owned on both sides of the street, and then clearly the vacation process would support their needs, but the transfer of jurisdiction ordinance will work here.
Okay.
And then I think to your point about the alley access is what you're asking about.
We are designing it with sort of a number of options so that we design a park that can open on day one and be safe.
and useful but can also provide for the access that is currently important to the users on the block for service and for access into their property that was closed when Broad Street was closed.
And so we have designed, we've worked with our design team, we've worked with the community, and we've worked with the neighbors to come to sort of a compromise design.
that keeps everybody safe from day one and that allows the skate park to then get better and better in future phases.
We feel that there is a good chance that the block to the north, the use may change, it may redevelop in the new zoning that now affects that site.
So we are prepared for that day maybe coming and then being able to renew both sides of the skate park together and to have to have an even better park at that time.
Thank you.
Very good.
Any other comments from the table or from the dais from any of my members?
Council Member Bexhill?
Yeah, but is there anything else from the table first?
Well, that's what I just asked.
Well, thank you.
I didn't see them.
I'll say it again.
Any more comments from the table?
Maybe I didn't say it in the right tone.
Any more comments from the table?
All right.
Thank you.
Are we good?
Finish with the presentation?
Okay.
All right.
It's Monday.
I'm so a bad day.
We got to bring a little levity to this Okay, so those in favor Okay, I haven't even moved it yet.
So let me move it first.
You want to make a comment before?
Okay, please Councilmember Baxter, please make a comment Scott shin Thank you to you and all of your colleagues because it's made a huge difference Having this organized skate park family step up and skate like a girl.
I think they've left but They, too, have really opened people's eyes to the importance of this, not just as a sport, but as a community development opportunity, which I believe they've done.
Julie, I want to underscore and say thanks again to you for coming to the Thomas Street Charette that we had on Friday.
When we're all done, I'd like to make some comments about how important that was, and once again, Robert, I know you'll be hearing more about this, but part of the design that came out was to spill out onto Thomas from the skate park using the good work that Seattle City Light has done as well around art and digital art, so that Thomas Street, as it's coming to Seattle Center, you feel like you're being welcomed into Seattle Center, and then in the reverse, as people are going home after an event, that they feel really comfortable going down through Thomas.
We'll have the skate park there where people can observe but also having that sense of being at light and safe all the way down Thomas Street.
So thank you for that.
I just really want to acknowledge this is a major part of the public benefit that we had agreed upon, and thank you for making it happen.
Thanks for those comments, Council Member Baggio.
We'll have a few moments to say any closing comments after we vote on this last.
Any other comments on this particular piece of legislation?
Okay, I will move to pass council bill one one nine five six six second those in favor of the recommendation that counts past council bill one one nine five six six please vote aye aye those opposed vote no the motion carries and council bill one one nine five six six we forwarded to the July 22nd City Council meeting so that concludes the three piece of legislation this is part of a monumental project and thanks for being here there any closing comments you'd like to say.
Council Member Juarez, please.
Thank you.
First of all, thank you, Mr. Nehlems, for being here and doing this work with us.
Thank you, Council President Harrell, who's been our co-chair, and I'm just going to be very, very brief.
We've been working on this since spring of 2016. We've come a long way.
We have played the long game.
We kept marching forward.
We worked with community.
We got our way through lawsuits.
We worked with business, labor, small businesses.
We welcomed the NHL here.
We continue to support our Seattle Storm.
And of course, our next goal is to bring back our Sonics.
And Council Member President and I were talking about this.
We had a secret plan, our Triple S plan, the Storm, the Sockeyes, and the Sonics.
in that order and so I want to thank you guys because I know this has not been easy and we've all been working with this and like I said this has been going on and sometimes it wasn't very pleasant and sometimes it was but this is all the hard work that this council has put into building and put working with OVG in the NHL reconstructing reimagining and rebuilding to the tune of 1.6 billion dollars And I, personally, am very proud of this.
I'm hoping when I'm in my 70s, which is decades from now, that I can point at this and say, I was a part of something that made this city, this region, this county, this state great.
Because we know that we have over 12 million visitors that come to Seattle Center to see the Space Needle.
And this just revitalizes our great city.
So thank you.
Thanks for those comments, Council Member Juarez.
Any further comments from any of our colleagues before we adjourn?
If not, everyone have a great day and we'll stand adjourned.
Thank you for being here.