Why you got me on mute?
Good morning, everybody.
Let's do a call to order here.
This is a special meeting of the Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities Committee.
The date is January 24th, and the time is 10 a.m.
I'm Councilmember Juarez, the Chair of the Committee, and I'm joined by Councilmember Gonzalez, and Councilmember Bagshaw will be with us soon.
Just a quick review of today's agenda.
We've done the call to order.
We'll do the Chair's report.
We'll move to public comment.
And items of business, we have seven matters, as you know, on the agenda.
Items one to three are appointments to the Seattle Parks District Oversight Committee.
And I understand Mr. Sean Watts and Ms. Dewey Potter will be here today, but not Mr. McBride.
And then, of course, we have an ordinance relating to Department of Parks in Seattle and SPU, Seattle Public Utilities, regarding Discovery Park, which we were briefed on in committee on January 16th.
And items 5, 6, and 7, we'll go into more detail.
Those are three ordinances regarding the central waterfront improvement.
I will now give a brief or another, a more formalized chair's report.
Our three appointments for the Seattle Park District Community Oversight Committee.
I will invite each candidate to the table for a brief discussion.
We'll proceed with a potential vote on whether to recommend the appointment to city council.
Then we will take potential votes on the following legislation.
The first ordinance will transfer partial jurisdiction of Parkland and Discovery Park to Seattle Public Utilities.
Again, we held this in committee last week.
The second part is the central waterfront legislation package that includes three separate ordinances for improving our waterfront.
We'll have a brief overview again.
by the Office of the Waterfront on each ordinance.
We will vote on the ordinances in the following order.
First, the Lid Formation Ordinance.
Second, the Operation and Maintenance Agreement.
And third, the Protest Waiver Agreement.
And with that, let's do public comment.
How many people we got signed up to?
Go ahead, Nagin.
Oh, wait, let me just do a quick, as you know, when we do public comment, we ask that you comment on the items that appear on today's agenda, which I've just read to you.
You have two minutes, and when your name is called, state your name for the record, and thank you for coming here today.
Go ahead, Nagin.
First, we have Joan Paulson.
Mr. Paulson?
Oh, I'm sorry.
My name is Joan Paulson, and I'm speaking on behalf of the at-large, as an at-large member for the Pike Place Market constituency.
I'd like to speak and address the issues of your Council Bill 119447 and 119448. which will undermine the charter for the Pike Place Market Preservation Development Authority.
These two council bills will allow the operations of the Pike Place Market outside the federally designated Market Historical District.
This is being done by the misrepresentation of the boundaries and authority not included in your packet.
The reason for this is because the City Council is being told what you want to hear and not what you need to know.
I am here today to try to avoid what happened with the head tax, as City Council had been tarred and feathered unjustly.
I have brought to you three maps that need to be compared with the maps and information that you do not have in your packet.
Your information does not distinguish these flaws in your voting action today.
The devil is truly in the details and you are not being told what you need to know.
If you think that the Market Historical Commission would be in a position of telling you these issues are mistaken, that's not going to happen because they have to combat the $900 million project before you.
The maps that I have is one is the market historical, I'm sorry, the urban renewal plan of 1974, which shows the boundaries at the edge of the Aurora, Highway 99. It does not extend westward.
Another map is what the Market Historical Commission boundaries, which is in the website for the city, which pooches part of the boundaries within the Highway 99. Not the case, legally speaking.
And a third map has to do with what the market PDA put together for the guidelines for tour licensing, which took the whole area of Highway 99 as the historical district.
The one you want to follow is the urban renewal plan, and you want to ask the hard questions.
So I provided three copies for you today.
You can give them to the clerk.
Thank you.
And I'm just trying to avoid another round of tar and feathering because this is the elephant in the meeting, and it's going to turn into the camel.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
Not a good idea.
Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you for providing the documents as well.
Nikki.
Nicole Grant.
Ms. Grant.
Yes, good morning Council Member Juarez and Gonzales.
Nicole Grant from MLK Labor representing union workers in King County.
And I wanted to take a moment to say that we are supporting the lid for the central waterfront and to thank you for the work that you've done to bring this proposal forward.
We are in support of the legislation, not just as workers, but also as landowners.
As you know, we have half of a city block at First and Broad inside of the LID, and we believe that what's going to happen down there is going to be good for our community.
There are going to be a lot of new City of Seattle union jobs operating the parks downtown on the waterfront, and we're excited to see that.
I know there was some interest in privatizing those positions a long time ago, but that got worked through, and it's great to add this park to our portfolio of city parks completely.
including with the workers that staff it.
And I'm also grateful to the mayor's office and to Councilwoman Mosqueda for helping us establish some labor harmony agreement language inside the ordinance.
And this is a big deal for us because it helps workers who might not be city employees, but who are serving our community down at the park have an easy path to having a voice if they choose to have a union.
And just in general, the union movement is in the quality of life game.
And having a facility like this downtown for everybody to enjoy is foundational to what we do.
So thank you.
Thank you, Nicole.
Okay, so with that, we are done with public comment.
Let's move into our items of business.
And again, let's just read all one, two, and three into the record, and then we'll move forward with the appointments.
Item number one, appointment 01235, appointment of Sean M. Watts as member, Seattle Park District Community Oversight Committee for term to March 31st, 2020. Item number two, appointment 01244, appointment of Matthew McBride as member, Seattle Parks District Community Oversight Committee for a term to March 31st, 2020. And item number three, appointment 01245, reappointment of Dewey Potter as a member of Seattle Parks District Community Oversight Committee for a term to March 31st, 2021.
Great, thank you.
With that, can we have the people that are going to be walking us through these appointments to come on up?
Some of we know some of you.
And we will go through this.
We obviously have your confirmation packets or appointment packets in front of us.
And we can start with the way Nagin read it into the record.
First of all, thank you, Mr. Watts and Miss, I was thought I had it Mr. before, Dewey, for being here.
So we will start with introductions.
I obviously have information about you, but I would like you to talk a little bit about yourselves first.
So why don't we start with you, Sean.
I mean, I could go on and on.
I have a little green sheet here, but I won't.
But I might plug D5, but I'll let it go.
Go ahead, Sean.
OK, well, I'm a proud District 5 resident.
Kids are happy.
Exactly.
So the past three and a half years, I've worked at the Seattle Parks Foundation, working in community engagement and working with communities to design parks and open space in their own vision.
My background is in conservation biology, but with a focus on kind of science translation and science policy interface.
And my kind of personal and professional focus and career is on diversifying the environmental movement.
And now I'm consulting with environmental organizations to help them transform the way that they work in communities of color and in underserved communities.
Sean, I just want to add that we've been working with you, and so we're excited for a while now, at least a couple of years, right?
Sean is involved in the Lake City Collective.
He's involved with Seattle Equity and Environmental Initiative, the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, and the Connected Public Space System.
But I think what has really stood out for some of us is your dedication to, as you say, diversifying the environmental science field.
because it is so clear, particularly not just in the city, but across the nation, where you find the most environmental degradation is where you find communities of color.
And tribes know that very well.
And so I'm really glad that your energy and your experience to have you on the Park Oversight Board is very exciting.
So I want to welcome you.
Thank you.
My colleagues may have questions.
If you're from D5, then she's happy.
That's what I figured.
OK.
So why don't we go ahead with Dewey, then we'll come back.
Or do we want to do a vote first?
We'll do the vote first.
OK.
We'll do the vote first.
I move the committee pass appointment of 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, Mr. Watts.
The motion has been moved and seconded.
Is there any discussion?
Nope.
Those all in favor, say aye.
Aye.
Those opposed?
No, the ayes haven't.
So the motion passes, and the committee will recommend a full council.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Thanks for all your time.
Thank you.
So we do not have Mr. McBride here.
So do we move forward with that anyway?
We just won't?
OK.
So let's talk about Mr. McBride.
So what I have for Mr. McBride, Matt, let's see.
Matt is a chair of the Delridge Neighborhood District Council, that's District 1, serving the eastern half of West Seattle Peninsula.
He's also served on the Camp Long Advisory Council for 14 years.
He's a public information officer for the American Red Cross, King County Chapter, serving on Disaster Action Team 5. Matt is a discovery recovery manager for the University of Washington.
Over the last 20 years, he has worked across the resiliency spectrum of business, continuance, technology, crisis communications, and life safety in pursuit of an ideal answer.
I love this.
To the question, what could possibly go wrong?
I love that.
That's like my life in a nutshell.
He has over 45 years of experience field testing Seattle's parks and green spaces.
I don't know if you guys had a chance to look at his.
It's very impressive.
In 2011, he helped lead the effort to build one of them from scratch, Roxhill Park, field testing Seattle's parks and green spaces.
Is there anything anyone wants to add to that?
No, but I really appreciate the work that he's done, and I saw the Delridge Park when it was getting going, and I appreciate the work.
Okay.
With that, I move the committee pass appointment 01244, Mr. McBride.
Second.
The motion has been moved and seconded.
Any further discussion?
All those in favor, say aye.
Aye.
Those opposed, no.
The ayes have it.
The motion passes and we will recommend this to full council.
Good.
So let's move on to Dewey, who is phenomenal.
Dewey has a lot of info here.
Dewey, I'm going to let you talk about your experience and what you've done.
I don't think I need to read a lot of this into the record, because you're here and I'd like to hear from you.
And of course, and then we'll move forward.
Well, I came to the council in 1978 and worked for eight years for council member Michael Hilt, then spent eight years in the budget office, and then my last 20 years at Parks.
I retired about five years ago.
and was appointed to my first term, I guess, three years ago on the Oversight Committee.
It's been a wonderful experience.
This committee brings diversity to the table and also diversity of points of view, which is really important to the process.
We've had some very rich discussions about a lot of policy issues.
We're about to submit our mid-financial cycle report to you that will come from Parks with a cover letter from the committee recommending a few tweaks that we think will be helpful.
Great.
Dewey, I had the pleasure of working with you when I first came on council 10 years ago.
I appreciate all your help.
Maybe you can just describe a little bit about, with your experience on this committee, how do we make sure that the public knows about these rich conversations that you're having?
because in no small part when we passed the Metropolitan Park District that there were some concerns that we wouldn't be transparent, that we weren't accountable, that the voters wouldn't have a say.
So how do you get that word out to people?
Well, we are about to embark on a series of ongoing visits to community meetings and other opportunities, pop-ups.
where we will go as individuals or pairs or however, to just go and listen, because as with the park board, the same people tend to show up at the meetings with the same issues.
So we're going to branch ourselves out into the community and listen.
And I think it's important, too, to be able to explain that you really are active, that you're not just...
We're not just rubber stamped.
Correct.
Right.
So people can understand that.
I think it'd be very valuable.
Right.
Especially as we embark on work on the next six-year financial plan.
Right.
Very good.
I'm sorry, I should call him, well, Sean, but I think it's really important to point out that people like you are such a gem because you worked for the city for 36 years and you've served on this volunteer committee and you were around when the parks levy was passed in 14 and you've been a face and a voice to give us information and your willingness to serve as a volunteer and show up and do the work.
I mean, I wish more people in the public would be part of the solution.
I want to thank you.
Yeah, I know you are.
And we value your wisdom, your experience.
And again, I made a mistake.
I should have said this is a reappointment.
Yes.
Okay.
All right.
Is there anything else for my colleagues?
No.
All right.
I move the committee pass appointment 01245, Ms. Dewey-Potter.
Second.
Motion is moved and seconded.
Any further discussion?
All those in favor, say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed, no.
The ayes have it.
The motion passes, and we will recommend it to the full council on Monday.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
It's good to have you back.
And welcome to have you on board, Shawn.
We're going to put you to work.
Say hi to Matthew McBride.
I haven't seen him in a while.
Thank you.
All right, so let's have our next group up here.
This is item number four.
This is the Discovery Park partial transfer jurisdiction.
Nageem will read into the record, and then I'll say a few comments, and we'll move forward.
An ordinance relating to the Department of Parks and Recreation and Seattle Public Utilities transferring partial jurisdiction of portions of parkland and park boulevards within Discovery Park from the Department of Parks and Recreation to Seattle Public Utilities for maintenance, repair, replacement, and operation of public water and sanitary sewer infrastructure, associated underground pipes, hydrants, and limited surface ancillary facilities, and finding that transfer of partial jurisdiction meets the requirements of ordinance 118477, which adopted initiative 42.
Are you sure there's nothing else you want to?
I could do it over again if you want.
So Tracy Bradslip, Council of Central Staff.
This is the legislation that we heard last week at the required public hearing.
Pretty straightforward, a simple piece of legislation that just gives that partial transfer of jurisdiction to SPU so that they can take care of their water and sewer pipes.
We don't anticipate there being much disturbance of the parkland when they do that.
And if they do, they will repair it and take care of it.
And so I think that's all we need to talk about in terms of the legislation.
It's ready for adoption.
Any questions council?
We did have a rigorous public hearing last time as I recall.
Rigorous.
Okay, so with that, I move the committee pass Council Bill 119446. Second.
Motion is moved and seconded.
Any further discussion?
No discussion.
Hearing no discussion or no one has anything else to say, all those in favor say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed say no.
Ayes have it.
Motion passes and we will recommend the full passage to the full committee City Council on Monday.
Thank you.
You're staying there, right?
Thank you.
Okay, thank you.
There wasn't anything.
These are items.
So how do we want to do this?
Do you want to do each one?
How should we do that?
I think they're going to go through, the executive will go through the whole package and then you can vote one by one on the pieces.
No, but I'm asking how she reads into the record.
That's what I'm asking.
So, okay, let's do that.
Then I have a few comments before we slide into this.
And you do introductions.
Okay, so you read into the record.
You do introductions.
I'll say a few things.
And then we'll go into this slide, this PowerPoint that I've seen 19,000 times.
No offense.
Love it.
But very short.
All right.
Item five, short titles.
short title.
Ordinance relating to the central waterfront improvement program and the lid improvements identified herein establishing local improvement district number 6751 and ordering the carrying out of the proposed lid improvements as a component of the Seattle central waterfront improvement program in accordance with Resolution 31812, providing that payment for the lid improvements be made in part by special assessments upon the property in the waterfront lid, payable by the mode of payment by bonds, creating a local improvement fund, authorizing the issuance of local improvement bonds, and providing for inter-fund loans and for the issuance and sale of short-term financing instruments, and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts, all by a two-thirds vote of the City Council at a regular meeting.
Council Bill 119-448 is item six and or point of information we can also suspend the rules if you want me to do the short title.
It's okay Nikki.
Okay great.
An ordinance relating to the funding operations and management for central waterfront improvements identifying philanthropic funding for construction and operations and maintenance and safety and security of public spaces on the Central Waterfront, identifying a timeline for philanthropic fundraising and contributions, authorizing the Seattle Department of Transportation and the Department of Parks and Recreation to execute a two-year pilot agreement in preparation for a long-term agreement with Friends of Waterfront Seattle to operate and manage public spaces on the Central Waterfront, dissolving the Central Waterfront Steering Committee and creating the Central Waterfront Oversight Committee.
Item number seven, Council Bill 119449, an ordinance relating to a protest waiver agreement between and among the city, the Waterfront Park Conservancy, and certain property owners affected by the proposed Waterfront Local Improvement District, approving the agreement and authorizing the director of the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects and the superintendent of the Department of Parks and Recreation to execute the agreement and implement its terms.
Thank you.
I'll let you guys do introductions.
I'll say a few things and then we'll go right into your, and I'm understanding that items four, five, and six, we'll just kind of follow through the PowerPoint.
Okay, let's do introductions and then.
Tracy Radslip, Council of Central Staff again.
Marshall Foster, Director of the Office of Waterfront and Civic Projects.
My name is Joshua Curtis, Partnerships Manager at the Office of Waterfront and Civic Projects.
Dory Costa, Finance Manager for the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects.
Good morning, I'm Eric McConaghy.
I'm on the Council of Central Staff.
Very briefly, as the Chair, since the day I got elected, we've been working on this issue.
So, three years.
Last count, seven briefings, not counting private briefings.
I can't tell you how many memos we've read in fiscal notes and analysis.
And of course, we hired the hearing examiner, which had four hearings during the summer in July.
The report came out in September 2018. Like I said, we had four public hearings, well over 250 written comments.
And of course, we had people that showed up for public comment.
I think that was 150, I could be wrong.
In any event, we have been working on this for a long time and I want to thank you for all your hard work and we're kind of in the last stretch.
And I very seldom do this in my committee, but I know some former council members used to do this.
I don't like to open with a poem or anything, but I do want to say that working on this project for as long as we've worked on it and all the work that we've done, this is what my Uncle Billy Frank would say, we're making good change and it's coming from a good place.
I've appreciated my colleagues' comments and concerns that we've tried to address.
I was glad Nicole Grant was here from Labor, and we had Council Member Mosqueda's input, Council Member Gonzalez's, and of course, Council Member Bagshaw's been with me since day one with you folks.
Not that I don't like seeing you, but with that, let's go through, it's four pages, right?
Your slide is four pages?
That's correct.
Great.
OK, let's do it.
Thank you, Chair Juarez, committee members.
Like you said, this is a big moment for us.
It's been a long road with a lot of twists and turns.
We're very excited to be here to take the next step with this package of legislation.
As we discussed at our last committee briefing in depth, there are three elements that we're just going to quickly summarize again this morning, and then we'll let you take the steps after that.
Again, LID formation ordinance, which is the state required step for the actual formation of the Waterfront Local Improvement District.
A protest waiver agreement, which will establish an agreement between affected property owners and the city as to the implementation of both the LID and the operations and management of the new waterfront.
And then finally, an ordinance that will actually establish our O&M strategy and our partnership, as well as our final philanthropic funding.
So Joshua, why don't you walk us through each piece quickly?
Great.
Yeah, so we'll do this quickly.
The LID formation ordinance, of course, is the second in the legislative process to form the LID.
It does a couple of things.
It forms the Local Improvement District, caps the amount at $160 million, and it obligates the city to both fund and complete the improvements.
The actual individual assessments would be addressed later on this year.
Then we have the protest waiver agreement per state law.
We can enter into an agreement with property owners.
This allows us an opportunity to address concerns that we've heard over the past year and a half, over 100 briefings.
We talked all about that last time.
The property owners then commit to waive their protests and also their ability to legally challenge the LID.
And the city then has revised the total amount to 160 million down from 200 million.
And then also commits to approve and implement the operations and maintenance ordinance.
And the operations, the funding operations and maintenance ordinance does a few things.
It recommits Friends of Waterfront Seattle to not only raise the $100 million that they had committed to in the past, but now ups that to $100 million.
$10 million outlines a contribution schedule.
We formalized the long-term partnership between Friends of Waterfront Seattle and Parks.
We talked a lot about that.
Essentially, Parks does all the maintenance.
Friends does all the programming.
There is a pilot agreement that Council would be authorizing us to enter into for two years for Pier 62. That would begin later on this year.
We would be back to review that with you all.
And then it outlines what a long-term management agreement looks like, the budget, and then calls on us to come back with some Park Boulevard legislation.
Finally, it creates the Oversight Committee, and we talked a lot about what that looks like last time.
The last slide that I wanted to just quickly review for you, we went through this last time.
What we added in here in response to Council Member Gonzalez's recommendation is we made it clear that although we would be bringing a budget amendment to you in February, council likely wouldn't vote on that until April.
So after the protest and legal challenge periods have completed.
We've also, I'll just note, we added the hearing examiner's report to the clerk's file after the discussion.
I was just gonna note that I wanted to thank Council Member Gonzalez for her excellent recommendation that in the LID formation document on page four talks about the hearing examiner's report, which will be part of the record and certainly part of the clerk file that was completed August 31st, 2018 and issued in September of 2018. And I think it's important to note that even though it's 170 pages, 16 pages is the report, and of the 16 pages, only eight pages are actually giving comments or stating comments, concerns, and observations.
I don't want people to think that the hearing examiner came to any legal conclusions or findings of facts or conclusions of law, but just mainly noted all the concerns, those for the waterfront and those against the waterfront.
And I think that was good that we did those four public hearings, and thank you for making that recommendation.
Thank you for including it.
Sure.
You told us to, so.
I made a gentle request.
Council Member Beckshaw, I will also just point out that we added that the full council possible vote on Monday is on the LID legislative package.
Very good.
Thank you.
Sure.
Is there anything Dory wants to say, or is there anything for my colleagues?
This would be the time.
No.
how many meetings that we have attended.
But I also want to say thanks to those in the audience.
I mean, we wouldn't be here but for the work of the public, the committee.
Heidi, you've been just awesome with Friends of the Waterfront.
Nicole Grant, thank you for all your help around labor.
Angie, obviously, with the work that you and your colleagues have done for the engineering and the design.
When you were talking about it, and I would say with a slight complaint that you've been doing this for three years, this is my 15th year on this project.
I could not be happier that we are here.
I have also taken many, many meetings over the years with people who are not happy, my next door neighbors, with the lid.
I do have, you know, again, I'm supposed to say every meeting that I am ground zero on this waterfront lid.
That yes, my husband and I will be assuming this passes be participating in the lid I have been authorized by our ethics and elections office now to be able to vote And I fully intend to be voting.
Yes to be supporting this.
I believe that our property values are going to increase I think it's fair that I'm going to be paying an additional $8,000 and over 20 years or whatever my share is.
And I just really respect the work that you, Marshall and Joshua, have been doing with our neighbors.
I know there are a lot of folks who say, well, my property tax is going to go up anyway.
I'll be paying for it.
This is special.
This is different.
This has been for 15 years something that we have discussed.
The local improvement district from the documents that, I mean, I went back and looked at these that I drafted in 2004 when we had our first design charrette.
All of what we had envisioned is coming to pass, and no small part because of the really dedicated work you've been doing.
So many thanks.
Let's vote.
I think Council Member Gonzales may have a gentle reminder of something.
Is there anything you want to say, Council Member Gonzales?
A gentle reminder.
I was like, do I?
No, I just want echoing the thanks and really want to commend the good work of the prior Parks Chair and the current Parks Chair for all of the work that they've done to really make sure that we're getting this right and that it's transparent and judicious and all of those good things.
So thanks also to all the staff that have been working on this and all the volunteers.
I'm excited about finally seeing this move forward and really, really excited about the amount of good union labor jobs that we're creating by virtue of taking this vote as well.
It's a win-win.
For sure.
And wait till we do the NHL Training Center.
More jobs.
Okay, making those jobs.
Yeah, that's what we do.
Yes.
Okay, you threw me off with that one.
As long as they're union jobs.
As long as they're union jobs.
I probably just broke 12 laws there, but okay.
I will move forward on this because I just want to get this thing done.
I feel like I've been pregnant for three years.
I just want it over.
I move the committee pass council bill 119447. Second.
Motion has been moved and seconded.
Is there any more discussion?
I don't know.
Thank you.
All those in favor, say aye.
Aye.
Those opposed?
No one says no.
OK.
The motion passes, and we will recommend to the full council on Monday.
So let's move on with the second one.
This is the Waterfront Legislative Package, and we don't want Nagin to read all that over again.
Operation Maintenance Ordinance.
Right, we'll just move forward, okay.
I move committee pass, pass council bill, I should put my glasses on, 119448. Motions are moved and seconded, any more discussion?
Nope, all those in favor say aye.
Aye.
Those opposed, no, no nos, ayes have it.
It passes and we will recommend to full council.
Let's do the third one.
I feel like I need ice chips.
Would you like some water?
That's what you get when you're in labor, they give you ice chips.
Oh, I got it.
I have not had the experience yet, so I missed the pun.
Okay, item number seven.
This is more of a legislative package.
The protest waiver.
I move the committee pass Council Bill 119449. Last push.
The motion has been moved and seconded.
Oh, all those in favor, say aye.
Aye.
Aye.
All those opposed, no.
Ayes have it.
Motion passes, and the committee will recommend the full council pass Council Bill 119449. Yay.
Congratulations, you have a part.
Thank you.
Yay.
Congratulations, you have a part.
Thank you all very much.
Thank you, guys.
All right.
Thank you.
OK.
Oh, we just need to adjourn.
Oh, thank you.
A gentle reminder.
Wait, don't leave yet.
Let me see.
Okay, here it is.
The next meeting of the Civic Development, Public Asset, and Native Communities Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, February 20th at 2 p.m., and with that, we are adjourned.
Thank you.
you