Son or Eric could let me know if Seattle Channel's ready to go.
You are good to go.
Great.
Good morning, everyone.
The December 16, 2020 regular meeting of the Transportation and Utilities Committee will come to order.
The time is 9.31 AM.
I'm Alex Peterson, chair of the committee.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Council President Gonzalez?
Here.
Council Member Herbold?
Here.
Council Member Morales.
Council Member Strauss.
Present.
Chair Peterson.
Here.
You have four present.
You have a quorum.
Thank you.
If there's no objection, today's proposed agenda will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.
Colleagues, we have 14 items on today's agenda, including two proposed ordinances for which we already had a public hearing during our December 2nd committee.
So those are items 10 and 11 on the agenda.
To set the table for today's meeting, I want to let you know that I generally support all the items on today's committee agenda.
Please note that the last item, item 14, an alley vacation, is in the early stages.
And today is just a briefing and discussion on that item.
There'll be more time for input and consideration as it moves through the process.
Regarding the schedule, any items voted on today will advance to the first full city council meeting in January.
We will have our next meeting of this committee on Wednesday, January 20. We will have our meeting in the afternoon on January 20 to avoid conflict with the inauguration in Washington, D.C.
of both President Biden and Vice President Harris.
So at this time, we will open the remote general public comment period.
I don't see anybody signed up right now, but we'll give them a couple minutes here.
I'll go ahead and read what we normally read about the public comment situation that is virtual.
I ask that everyone please be patient as we learn to operate this new system in real time and navigate through the inevitable growing pains.
We are continuously looking for ways to fine tune this process and adding new features that allow for additional means of public participation in our council meetings.
It remains the strong intent of the City Council to have public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.
However, the City Council reserves the right to modify these public comment periods at any point if we deem that this system is being abused or is unsuitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and in a manner in which we are able to conduct our necessary business.
I'll moderate the public comment period in the following manner.
We'll be given up to 20 minutes if needed, each speaker will get two minutes to speak.
I'll call on the speakers two at a time and in the order in which they are registered on the council website.
If you've not registered but would like to speak, please sign up before the end of the public comment period.
The public comment link is also listed on today's agenda.
Once I call the speaker's name, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone, and an automatic prompt of, you have been unmuted, will be the speaker's cue that is their turn to speak, and the speaker must press star six to begin speaking.
Please begin speaking by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.
As a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda.
Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.
Once you hear the chime, we ask that you begin to wrap up your public comment.
Speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided.
The speaker's microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next speaker.
Once you've completed your public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line.
And if you plan to continue following this meeting, please do so via Seattle Channel or the listening options listed on today's agenda.
The regular public comment period for this committee meeting is now open.
And looking for speakers, I wanted to read all those remarks to give people a chance to sign up.
If I could just have our information technology colleagues confirm, are you also not seeing anybody signed up at this time for public comment?
Correct.
That is confirmed.
There are no public commenters.
OK.
Thank you very much.
If there's no objection, we're going to end the public comment period.
Hearing no objection, the public comment period is finished, and we will move on to the first legislative item on the agenda.
Will the clerk please read the first set of four appointments into the record?
Appointment 01711 is the appointment of Yasser Al-Farag as member of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board for a term to August 31, 2021. And my apology for not getting pronunciations right.
Appointment 01712 is the appointment of Maimouna Rahim as a member of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board for a term to August 31st, 2022. Appointment 01713 is the reappointment of Andrew Dannenberg as a member of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board for a term to August 31st, 2022. And finally, appointment 01714 is the reappointment of Sarah Udelhoven as a member of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board for a term to August 31, 2022, all four of which are for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.
Thank you.
So colleagues, we do have today with us some of the applicants who will be able to answer questions.
And I'd like to first introduce, though, the person who will be working on this from SDOT.
One moment.
That's Simon Blensky.
Yes.
Let's hear from SDOT first.
Hi, Simon.
And then we will talk to some of our applicants if they're available.
Thank you.
Please go ahead.
Simon, please.
Hi, good morning.
Good morning.
My name is Simon Blonsky.
I'm a transportation planner with SDOT.
I'm the staff liaison for the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board.
I'm here today recommending two reappointments and two new appointments, as Toby had mentioned.
I first wanted to remind you that the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board advises the mayor, city council, and city departments on projects, policies, and programs that improve or affect bicycling conditions in Seattle.
The board's vision is to make bicycling a viable transportation choice in Seattle and build a more inclusive bicycling community by representing the needs of the diverse population of bicyclists in the city.
So we mentioned there's two reappointments, Andrew Dannenberg and Sarah Udelhoffen, both have been active members of the board.
And we do have the two new appointments here today, and I'll let them both introduce themselves, starting with Yasir Al-Farag.
Hi, good morning.
My name is Yasir Alfarag.
I'm a current student at the University of Washington studying political science and urban planning.
I'm also currently interning for the Office of Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.
I got interested in the board position because I'm an active cyclist myself, and I really would like to see more families and more people from all backgrounds using biking as a valid method of transportation all throughout Seattle in every single part of it.
And I'm really passionate about the city and the improvement of it.
And I really would like to see the carbon emission reduced in our city.
And I believe that biking is a valuable method that we must utilize for the future.
Thank you.
We can introduce the other applicant and then council members can ask questions if they want.
Simon can you introduce the next.
Next up is yeah next up is Maimouna Rahim.
Hi.
Good morning.
My name's Maimouna Rahim.
Currently I work at Cascade Bicycle Club and I'm interested in joining the board because I'm passionate about bicycling in Seattle and would love to be involved in making Seattle a safer place and a more equitable place regarding biking and infrastructure.
Being on the board would give me the opportunity to advocate for the needs of my community and ensure that Black and Brown cyclists, in particular Black and Brown female, femme or trans cyclists are represented and considered when decisions are made.
Thank you very much.
Thanks to both of you for your willingness to serve and for being here today to tell your story.
to my colleagues on the committee.
If you have any questions or comments at this point, we have a couple more rounds of appointments.
We'll have more appointments on January 20th as well.
But if you have any questions or comments for these applicants or about this board, please.
I would have to see your video.
I'm not able to see if your hand is raised.
Let's see here.
Okay, now I can.
All right.
Well, I appreciate, again, the applicants for your willingness to serve and to volunteer your time for this.
And as we try to allocate the transportation dollars that we have in the city to multiple modes of transportation, but here's one that we know is free from emissions.
So we want to expand that as well.
So I'm very excited to read about President-elect Biden's appointments to the various climate change boards and departments in Washington, D.C. I feel like we're going to really finally make some progress on this issue.
So Again, thanks for your willingness to serve.
And colleagues, what I'd like to do, unless my council colleagues wish to separate out any of the four appointments, I'd like to vote on all four of them at the same time for the Bicycle Advisory Board.
This is a time, if you want to separate out any of them, please let me know of these four.
Otherwise, I'll go ahead and move all four.
Council Members, hearing no wish to separate it out, I'll move that the committee recommend approval of appointments 01711 through 01714, items one through four on our agenda.
Is there a second?
Second.
Thank you.
It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of these appointments.
Any final comments, Council Members?
Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation that the four appointments be approved for forwarding to the full council?
Excuse me, Council President Gonzalez?
Aye.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Chair Peterson?
Yes.
And I don't believe I've seen Council Member Morales yet, so four yes.
All right, the motion carries, and the committee recommendation is that the appointments be sent for approval to the next city council meeting, which is on January 4th.
Will the clerk please read the next set of appointments into the record?
Appointment 01715 is the appointment of Arthur Kuniyuki as a member of the Seattle Transit Advisory Board for a term to August 2nd, 2022. 01716 is the reappointment of Keiko Budich as a member of the Seattle Transit Advisory Board for a term to August 2nd, 2022. And 1717 is the reappointment of Barbara Wright as a member of the Seattle Transit Advisory Board for a term to August 2nd, 2022, all for briefing discussion and possible vote.
Thank you.
I'd like to turn this over to the Seattle Department of Transportation to Niko.
Good morning, Niko.
Good morning.
Thank you so much.
Toby mentioned we have one appointment and two reappointments recommended for you here today to the Seattle Transit Advisory Board.
As quick background, the board was created by the city council back in 2015. So it's one of our newer modal boards at SDOT staff.
The board has two main charges.
First, advising the city and our partners on transit and transit issues within Seattle, and more specifically, providing oversight of funds collected and spent under the Seattle Transportation Benefit District Proposition 1, which was initially passed by voters back in 2014 and was very recently renewed by voters just last month.
The board is made up of 12 members, six mayoral appointees, five council appointees, and one Get Engaged member, all three of the appointments in front of you today are mayoral appointees.
Art, who is with us today, who I will let introduce himself, is filling one of those positions after a current member reached the end of her term and chose not to seek reappointment.
And with that, I'm happy to pass it over to Art to introduce himself.
Thanks.
Let me see if I can.
IT can confirm, but it looks to me like Art has fallen off.
No, I still see Art.
Hi, Art.
Good morning.
Can you hear me?
Hello.
Yes.
Yes, we can.
Please introduce yourself.
I don't think I control my video, so I'll let other people take care of that.
But thank you for letting me speak.
Thank you.
Oh, one second here.
I have a notice here.
Hello.
Good morning.
Welcome.
Morning.
Hi.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself, why you'd like to serve, and thank you.
My name is Art Kanuki.
I'm a third generation satellite.
My partner and I live in West Seattle and I work in downtown Seattle for the marketplace market PDA.
I think around 2015 or so, I was one of 25 people appointed to a community advisory group for Metro Transit that helped create the Metro Connects report.
So that sparked my interest in transportation and as a transit rider, since I was like a teenager here in Seattle, it was always an interest.
So when I saw this opening, I applied and I'm fortunate to have gone through the interview process and I'm here today, I guess, to get to the final step.
So thank you.
Thank you.
And council members know we've all read the applicant packages and such.
So we might not have questions because we've already looked at this.
But if you do have any questions for Art, please go ahead and let me know.
Otherwise, we can keep going through the items.
Art, I do want to thank you, as with the other applicants, for your willingness to serve.
And we really rely on these advisory boards.
In fact, I'll be at the Transit Advisory Board meeting tonight.
So if you're able to attend, that would be great.
So colleagues, last call for any questions for Art.
Well, again, thank you.
Thank you, Art, for your willingness to serve.
Thank you, Nico, for being here today and helping shepherd these applications for us.
Committee members, again, this is an opportunity if you want to.
There are three appointments.
We'll vote on them all at once, but we can also separate one or more of them out.
Please let me know if that's the wish of anybody.
Seeing that's not the case, we'll vote on all three at the same time.
So I would like to move that the committee recommend approval of appointments 01715 through 01717, items five through seven on our agenda.
Is there a second?
Second.
Thank you.
It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of these appointments.
Any final comments, council members?
All right.
Oh, Council Member Strauss, please.
Just a thank you to everyone for their willingness to serve.
I've been able to review everyone's packets I'm very excited to have everyone serving on the board.
Thank you.
OK, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation that these appointments be approved?
Council President Gonzalez?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Chair Peterson?
Yes.
Four yes.
The motion carries, and the committee recommendation is that these appointments be sent for approval to the January 4 City Council meeting.
Thank you, Art.
Thank you, Nico.
All right, next item.
Will the clerk please read the next set of appointments into the record?
Okay, items eight and nine.
Appointment 01718 is the appointment of Akshali Gandhi as a member of the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board for a term to March 31st, 2021. And 01719 is the appointment of Emily Davis as a member of the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board for a term to March 31, 2022. For briefing, discussion, and possible vote.
Great.
All right, so I'd like to turn it over to SDOT again to introduce folks is Pollyann.
Yes, thank you Councilmember Peterson.
I'm the SDOT liaison for the Pedestrian Advisory Board, which is a board of 12 volunteers who are mayoral and council appointed who oversee the Pedestrian Master Plan and also advise SDOT and the Council and the Mayor on pedestrian projects, programs, policies and other things of interest to pedestrians in the Seattle area.
So I'm here today with two mayoral appointments who have regularly attended our past several meetings and are very excited to be up for appointment today.
And that is Akshali Gandhi and Emily Davis.
And I will let them introduce themselves.
Thank you.
Hi, good morning.
Thank you for having us here today.
My name is Akshali and I am a resident of West Seattle.
I've been, I've been, I guess, informally on the board since I think spring.
And I became interested in this because my I work in transportation, but at a more regional level for King County.
And notice that as a Seattle resident, I don't get to do a lot of I don't get to touch a lot of programs that are actually happening in my own community where I live, and in the city and So that's what got me interested in learning more.
I started attending a couple of the board meetings and as someone who has lost family due to a pedestrian crash, a hit and run, and also as someone who before this year didn't didn't have a car and did rely on my own two feet to get everywhere.
I was excited and interested in joining the pedestrian board to make Seattle a safer place to walk and to be able to be involved in something in my own community.
Thank you, and thank you for having us.
Thank you for sharing that.
Emily, please.
Good morning.
I'm Emily.
I work for King County Roads as an environmental scientist, so I am already in the transit world.
Like I think so many people on these boards, it's your job and your passion.
So walking is probably my main form of transportation and my main form of exercise as well.
And I feel so lucky to live in a place where that's a possibility.
And having moved from Southern California, it was such a relief to be in a city like that.
Seattle is a wonderful place to walk and be able to use that as your main form of transportation, but it could be better and it could be more accessible.
So I'm happy to be involved in a board that is working towards those goals and also towards carbon neutral goals because what better way to get to carbon neutral than to try to make a better walking and biking and transit area.
So that's about it.
Thank you, Emily.
Thank you both for your willingness to serve.
Council members, any questions for our two applicants for the pedestrian advisory board?
And again, we've read your packets and so, oh, Council Member Strauss, please.
Sure.
Thank you, Chair.
A question for each of the applicants.
Akshali, I see that you worked on Pittsburgh's first complete streets planning policy for the city of Pittsburgh.
Do you have any lessons learned from there?
Anything that we should be thinking about as we look to create complete streets here in the city of Seattle?
Yeah, I mean, I moved here from Pittsburgh last year and I think one big lesson was we tried to pack everything in the kitchen sink into that policy and and try to appease everyone, everyone who was involved.
And while it was great to have so many stakeholders, I think perhaps once you try packing the policy with everything that you could possibly imagine, sometimes it whittles down to nothing and it's not as enforceable.
So I think one lesson learned was to pack the punch with a few key elements rather than trying to do everything.
Thank you.
That's very helpful.
And Emily, I see that you are a volunteer trail builder in your volunteering time.
When we hike and walk, it's also another form of walking around.
And how do you take any of your experience trail building and apply that to how we build our streets and make a more pedestrian friendly environment?
Sure, yeah, that's a fun one.
I guess it's like how do you make a place enjoyable when you're trail building or looking at a forest and you're thinking, hey, how do we cut a trail through here that is the least impactful but also the most enjoyable?
So that's something to kind of think about.
So you want to make pedestrian infrastructure that flows nicely with the other elements and a trail that's like nature in a city that's all of the cars and bikes and how do all of those things flow together.
the best I got.
Fair enough, thank you both.
Thank you, thank you, Council Member Strauss.
Any other council questions for our applicants?
All right, so consistent with the last two boards that we voted on, I'll prefer to vote on both together in one motion, but if Council Members, if you want to separate them out and do it separately, let me know.
OK, so we'll go ahead and proceed voting on both at the same time.
I now move the committee recommend approval of appointments 01718 and 01719, items 8 and 9 on our agenda.
Is there a second?
Second.
Thank you.
It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the appointments.
Any final comments?
All right, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation that these appointments be approved?
Council President Gonzalez?
Aye.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Chair Peterson?
Yes.
Four yes.
Great.
The motion carries and the committee recommends that these appointments be sent for final approval to the January 4 City Council meeting.
Congratulations to our applicants for moving forward.
All right.
Those are the end of our appointments.
Now we're going to get into the legislation.
Again, the first two items we already had public hearings on and discussed at the last meeting.
So if people are viewing this from their homes and wondering why we moved so quickly, we actually did have an extensive discussion at the previous council meeting or committee meetings.
Will the clerk please read the short title of item 10 into the record?
Item 10 is Council Bill 119955, an ordinance relating to Seattle Public Utilities relating to certain properties in the city of Renton at the intersection of Interstate 405 and Seattle Public Utilities, Cedar River Pipelines right of way.
All for a briefing discussion and possible vote.
Thank you.
And as is common for these legislative items, we'll turn it over first to our city council central staff to see if they have any introductory comments or analysis for us.
So good morning, Brian.
Good night.
Good morning.
Thank you very much.
As you said, Brian, good night, Council Central staff.
So as you mentioned, this item did come to the committee's last meeting on December 2nd.
SPU provided a presentation and a public hearing was held.
As a brief reminder, this legislation relates to a Washington State Department of Transportation project for Interstate 405 that occurred in the late 1980s.
The project straightened 405 east of downtown Renton and affected the location of three large diameter SPU pipelines that are used for water transmission.
The pipelines were relocated into a new alignment by WSDOT and that work was completed in 1993. In order to allow SPU to have the necessary property rights to maintain the pipelines in their new locations, and for WSDOT to meet its state and federal highway requirements, the ordinance would authorize SPU to quit claim property to WSDOT covering the original path of the pipelines in exchange for accepting properties and easements from WSDOT that cover the new alignment.
Maps depicting the property exchange are included in SPU's PowerPoint presentation, which was presented at the last committee meeting and is included as a link on today's agenda as well.
And SPU staff is on the call in case there are any questions.
Thank you.
So with Seattle Public Utilities, thanks for joining us.
Eugene, do you have any comments that you want to make, or do you just want to take questions, if there are any, from my colleagues?
I'll just take questions.
This was a great summary by Brian.
OK.
And again, as a reminder, we did have the presentation last time.
It is on the agenda today as well, if you wanted to peruse that again.
Council members, do you have any questions about this item that we heard a couple weeks ago?
Thank you, Chair.
It was a very robust presentation last time, and thank you again, Eugene.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Council Member Herbold.
Can you just refresh my memory on this one?
Are these easements and transfers only between the state and the city, or does Renton have a stake in this as well?
It is only between the state and the city.
Renton is not a party to this transaction.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Okay, Council Members, any final questions before I make a motion to pass this?
Okay, Council Members, I now move the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 119955, item 10 on our agenda.
Is there a second?
Second.
Thank you.
It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of this bill.
Any final comments?
Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation that this bill pass?
Council President Gonzalez?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold?
Sorry, yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Chair Peterson?
Yes.
You have four yes votes.
Great, the motion carries and the committee recommendation that the bill pass will be sent to the January 4 City Council meeting.
Thank you to Brian and Eugene.
Will the clerk please read, oh, I guess you're probably staying on for the next one, or at least Brian is.
Will the clerk please read the short title of item 11 into the record?
Item 11 is Council Bill 119958, an ordinance relating to the Cedar River Watershed authorizing two years of ecological thinning in accordance with the Cedar River Habitat Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan.
Briefing discussion and possible vote.
Thank you.
Again, we'll turn this over.
This is an item we had a public hearing for last time, had a briefing presentation.
We'll turn this over again to city council central staffer, Brian.
Good night to lead us off.
Thank you very much council member.
So as you stated, there was a public hearing on December 2nd for this item.
The legislation would authorize SPU to perform ecological thinning on approximately 225 acres of second growth forest in the Cedar River watershed over the next two years.
The thinning would be performed in accordance with the watershed's habitat conservation plan, and the intent of the thinning is to improve forest habitat and biodiversity by reducing forest density and creating gaps in the canopy.
The ordinance would extend the authorization that was granted by Ordinance 124853 that was passed in September of 2015. So that action authorized the projects and surplus log sales between 2016 and 2020 and approval of this bill under consideration today would extend that authority through 2022.
Thank you, Brian.
And I did want to note for the public that on the agenda today, we did add the support letters from Muckleshoot tribe and Sierra club.
So thank you for everybody who helped to make that happen.
And we appreciate their support for this.
Amy at SPU, any comments that you want to make or else you could take questions.
And I see Ralph is there too.
Thank you, Council Member Peterson.
Just to introduce myself, I'm Amy Labarge, Watershed Management Division Director for Seattle Public Utilities.
And I think that Mr. Goodnight covered the background of the ordinance.
I'm available to answer any questions if there are any.
We had a thorough discussion of this item.
Lots of good questions from the council members and some good commentary as well.
And I think there's a lot of comfort with this.
So any final questions or comments council members before we make a motion?
Okay.
All right.
Council members, I would like to move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 119958, which is item 11 on our agenda.
Is there a second?
Second.
Second.
Thank you.
It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of this bill.
Any final comments?
OK, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation that this bill pass?
Council President Gonzalez?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Chair Peterson?
Yes.
We have four yes votes.
Excellent.
The motion carries, and the committee recommendation that the bill pass will be sent to the January 4 City Council meeting.
All right, item 12. Will the item please read the short title of item 12 into the record?
Item 12 is Council Bill 119963, an ordinance relating to Seattle Public Utilities updating water regulations to conform to current standards, making technical corrections, and amending numerous sections of the Seattle Municipal Code for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.
Thank you, colleagues.
We heard this item two weeks ago at our December 2nd committee meeting, and there were lots of questions.
There were lots of stuff going on there as we update these regulations.
So I wanted to give it a little bit more time in case the public or anybody else had questions as we dug into this.
And I really appreciate Seattle Public Utilities in answering any questions that we had.
Brian, did you want to introduce this item as well?
Sure, thank you.
I will take an attempt at summarizing the legislation.
And of course, SPU staff is on the line and they know it much better than I do.
So just in brief, the intent of the legislation is to update portions of the Water Code, which is included in Title 21 of Seattle Municipal Code, to create consistent terminology and clarify requirements and SPU practices.
There was a nice table in SPU's presentation from last time, which is included on the agenda that summarizes all of the actions.
But a few of the highlights are that it would add a new section disallowing water service from permit-exempt wells.
It would clarify water main requirements for corner lot parcels, clarify requirements for inactive service and water service retirement.
It would update the penalty for violating the water code to make it consistent with the standard for gross misdemeanors.
And it would align the code with SPU practices regarding separate service connections, fire hydrant usage, and water shutoffs.
And Michelle and Carrie are on the line and can answer questions.
So thank you very much.
Please go ahead, Michelle and Carrie.
If you have any introductory remarks, otherwise we might have questions.
Yeah, I think we've appreciated all the back and forth, the questions.
We are here to answer any further questions that you might have.
I just wanted to compliment you again on the chart that you have in the PowerPoint.
I was showing it around to other folks saying, this is really helpful how this is presented and the detail that's provided to help decision makers.
So thank you again for putting that together for not only us, but also for the public.
Thank you.
Chair, you're on mute.
Colleagues, any questions?
Any questions, colleagues, for colleagues at SPU about this ordinance?
Michelle did a great job briefing me ahead of the last committee meeting.
We had a very robust meeting last time, and that chart is extremely helpful.
Thank you so much, Michelle and Carrie.
Thank you.
Okay, thank you.
All right, council members, I'd like to move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 119963. Is there a second?
I will second that.
Thank you.
It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of this bill.
Any final comments, colleagues?
Well done.
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
All right, let's take a vote on this.
It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of this bill.
Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation that the bill pass?
Council President Gonzalez?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Chair Peterson?
Yes.
You have four yes votes.
Uh-oh.
Sorry folks, the motion carries and the committee recommendation that the bill pass will be sent to the January 4 city council meeting.
Thanks to everybody for being here today.
Will the clerk please read the short title of item 13 into the record.
Item 13 is council bill 119976. An ordinance relating to the East Marginal Way grade separation project authorizing the director of the Seattle Department of Transportation to acquire, accept and record on behalf of the city of Seattle, three quick claim deeds and an assignment and assumption of easement agreement for the East Marginal Way overpass from the Port of Seattle.
Thank you.
I know we have Escott here, and they're going to have a presentation for us.
I did want to thank Calvin Chow, central staff, for also being available in case he wants to make any introductory remarks.
Calvin, did you want to introduce this item at all?
If not, that's fine.
No, Council Member, I think the presentation is good to go.
OK, thank you.
Turn this over to Bill Laborde of the Seattle Department of Transportation.
Good morning, Bill.
Good morning, Council Member Peterson.
And again, I'm Bill Laborde from the Seattle Department of Transportation.
And let's go into the next slide, please.
And SDOT's vision is that Seattle's a thriving equitable community powered by dependable transportation.
Our mission is to deliver a transportation system that provides safe and affordable access to places and opportunities.
And our six core values are equity, safety, mobility, sustainability, livability, and excellence.
Let's actually just move on to the next slide.
Screen, so the background on this ordinance is that in 2014, council passed an ordinance authorizing the city to enter into an MOA with the port regarding a grade separation project that the port had was priority for the port and that it had received state freight mobility funding for.
And the agreement was that the port would construct the grade separation project.
with a $1.4 million contribution from the city.
And once the project was completed and including several related pieces that the port would transfer the properties to the city.
And that property transaction would include some easements for the utilities as well as an easement for maintenance and access across the BNSF tracks that are under the Everpass.
So this ordinance completes those property transfers, authorizes the or certifies the deed transfers to the city and as well as the easement that will benefit Seattle City Light for their transmission wires across the area, as well as stormwater easement for SPU, and again, those maintenance easements.
The port completed their surplusing of the properties last July, and the final step in this process is for the city to pass this ordinance.
Next slide, please.
This shows the actual overpass under construction.
The overpass was completed in 2014. And in July 2014, and you can see it in the image to the right as well, the area image.
And if you want, I think another image worth looking at that's attached to the summary and fiscal note is attachment two, which is the site plan for the project.
And that gives you, I think, a good idea of where exactly it's located in relation to these photos here.
Next slide, please.
Here are a couple of images of the facility, which is just south of Spokane Street and connects Duwamish, Spokane, and East Marginal.
And I think, and this just explains the property conveyances that are included in this ordinance, the three quick claim deeds, the easement agreements, including the ones for the utilities.
And if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them, but otherwise we just ask for your approval of this ordinance, of this council bill.
Thank you, Bill.
Colleagues, any questions for SDOT?
appreciate the clear presentation here and the explanation setting the context for us on what's already been approved and what the port has done to on their side.
So I'm comfortable moving ahead with this.
Again, colleagues, if any final questions before I make a motion.
Yes, Council Member Herbold.
Just want to say that in addition to our vote today, I believe the council has signed a couple letters in the past in support of this project.
So I feel like today's action is consistent with prior actions as it relates to this project.
So thanks to SDOT for bringing it forward.
Thank you, Council Member Herbold.
Okay, colleagues, I'd like to now move the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 119976, item 13 on our agenda.
Is there a second?
Second.
Thank you.
It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the bill.
Any final comments?
Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation that this bill pass?
Council President Gonzalez?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council member Strauss?
Yes.
Chair Peterson?
Yes.
You have four yes votes.
Thank you.
The motion carries and the committee recommendation that the bill passed, we sent to the January 4 city council meeting.
Thank you, Bill.
Will the clerk please read our final item, item 14 into the record.
Item 14 is a clerk's file.
It's clerks file 314459. regarding a petition of Grand Street Commons LLC for the vacation of the alley in block 14, Kinnear's addition to the city of Seattle being the block bounded by South Grand Street, 22nd Avenue South, South Holgate Street, and 23rd Avenue South for briefing and discussion.
Thank you.
Yeah, thanks for the reminder that this is a clerk file, that this is just the beginning of a longer process that this project will go through.
And we've got our dream team here on Zoom.
And we'll start off with our city council central staff, Lish, good morning.
Good morning.
So this is a petition from Mount Baker Housing, who's entered a partnership with other parties to develop a three block area.
Mount Baker Housing is seeking to vacate an alley in the block that's basically surrounded by Rainier Avenue South and 23rd Avenue South, south of South Grand Street.
It's about three blocks south of the future light rail station at I-90 and two blocks north of where 23rd Avenue South and Rainier Avenue South cross.
This is an early initial briefing on the project.
This opportunity for initial briefing was added to the street vacation policies when they were updated a couple of years ago.
It's intended to provide an opportunity for council members and members of the public to provide early input into the project as it goes through city review.
So this is your opportunity to weigh in early before the project gets finalized.
and comes back to you hopefully in the next six months or so.
Just a quick reminder, alleys are intended to provide access.
This alley is undeveloped, and the vacation is intended to facilitate a affordable housing project.
They're required to provide additional public benefits in addition to providing affordable housing, but the policies are clear that you should consider the affordable housing on the site when you're considering whether or not the public benefits they're proposing are appropriate.
And with that, I'll hand it over to the project team unless you have any questions about generally the process or the street vacation policies.
Colleagues, any questions for Lish before we turn it over to our other presenters?
And they can go ahead and start sharing their screen or PowerPoint screen.
OK, and we'll ask questions during as well if they come up.
Chair, can you clarify if we're on presentation one or presentation two?
I noticed there are two links on the agenda.
This is presentation one.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Connor, are you?
Yeah, is this me?
Okay.
I didn't know if Michael or...
Hey, everyone.
Thank you very much.
My name is Connor Hanson with Mount Baker Housing Association.
Mount Baker Housing is a nonprofit that operates and develops affordable housing in the Rainier Valley and we've been doing so for about 30 years.
I'm really excited to talk to you about this Grand Street Commons project today.
I've spoken with some of you in the past about it.
The council passed a redevelopment opportunity zone to help deal with the funding of the contamination with the Department of Ecology.
So that remediation is underway and happening.
But today we're talking about the project itself.
This will be an office of housing, affordable housing projects.
So all the units will be reserved for families, individuals earning 60% of the area median income.
but what the alley vacation does is it allows Mount Baker housing to construct a one building project instead of a two building project.
And so it increased the efficiency in terms of the leverage of the debt proceeds to allow the city ask or the amount of money that we need from the city to come down by around four and a half million dollars.
And this project is, and it's also gives us another 45 affordable housing units by vacating the alley.
But this project is part of a bigger project.
I believe it's one of the biggest TOD projects in the region.
We're partnering with Lake Union Partners to develop this underutilized, unused, really, three acres just south of the East Link light rail station.
And we're hopefully the timing of this project will open up right when the East link light rail station opens up.
So our goal is to create a mixed use miss mixed income to the community at the north end of the rainier valley where there really isn't a lot of there really isn't that kind of a focal point or an anchor for that community yet.
obviously do a brownfield cleanup, and then provide and connect open space and improve the pedestrians experience along Rainier and 23rd to get to the light rail station.
This is a really exciting project for the region, for the Rainier Valley, and with the alley vacation, it would definitely help the taxpayers in terms of less money, but also provide 45 more affordable units.
Oh, sorry.
Thank you, Connor.
And thank you, Connor, just for the viewing public.
If they're following along with our agenda, it looks like this is presentation number two on the agenda, which is fine.
We can go through them as Mount Baker wishes.
So please continue, Connor.
Yeah, and I forgot to say next slide.
So a lot of what I said is here, but here's a general idea of where the project is in relation to I-90 and the future light rail station.
And then there's just some numbers.
The alley vacation really has a dramatic effect on the amount of units, but also the ask of the city.
You're reading that correctly.
We get 45 more units for $4.7 less million from Office of Housing.
So I just wanted to make that clear.
Next slide.
Okay, hi, everyone.
My name's Melissa Wexler.
I'm one of the architects working on the project.
I'll walk you through the project fairly quickly, so please, I'm happy to answer any questions at the end.
This aerial photograph shows where we are at the north end of the Rainier Valley.
At the top of the screen, you can see I-90 and the location of the future Judkins Park light rail station.
So we're very close to mass transit, which is great.
As Connor mentioned, these are three brownfield sites that are being remediated with Department of Ecology.
And there will be a significant influx of housing and other mixed-use opportunities on these three blocks.
The neighborhood right now has a lot of access to outdoor green space.
You can see Judkins Park and Jimi Hendrix Park to the northeast of the site.
It's kind of an eclectic neighborhood right now.
A lot of the industrial, former industrial warehouse-type buildings along Rainier are being changed now.
A lot of projects are in design or construction to make this more of a true mixed-use corridor.
But there are also pockets of residential to the north of our site and then also to the east of 23rd Avenue.
So while there's a lot going on at the north end of the Rainier Valley, there's actually not that much to walk to, and that's something we heard from the residents that we met with.
You know, they would like to have places where they could walk and get a cup of coffee, drop off their dry cleaning, really just those neighborhood services.
There isn't much of a center like that right now, and we're hoping to provide that with this project.
Next slide.
So this is a diagram we put together at the beginning of working on Grand Street Commons, trying to synthesize all these great opportunities that we have for brownfield remediation, transit-oriented development, and our connections to education and cultural amenities in the neighborhood.
But what we really wanted to drive the point home was that not only is the South Block 100% affordable, but of the 771 apartments proposed for these three blocks, 360 of them will be affordable.
The east and the west blocks are also participating in the MHA program and MFTE.
MHA will be installed on site, so they are not paying in lieu of.
So this really will be a true mixed-use, mixed-income community.
Next slide.
This slide summarizes the differences in efficiencies that we get by eliminating the alley and combining the two projects into one.
So rather than having two separate lobby spaces, additional circulation, and actually having to push the parking below grade, which is very expensive, we're able to combine and come up with a much more efficient building program that generates 45 additional units of housing at a lower cost to the Office of Housing.
Next slide.
We've already gone through our public trust review with the Seattle Design Commission.
It was unanimously approved, primarily because this alley is not connecting to the rest of the neighborhood.
You can see this diagram.
Our alley is shown dashed in in red.
It's not part of a contiguous alley network, so if it's removed, it will not impact or prohibit opportunities for future connectivity throughout the neighborhood.
Next slide.
This is an aerial photograph of our site.
You can see our site is dashed in black.
We should mention that there is one other property owner on the block.
It's Deer Auto Repair.
Currently, they're actually using the south end of the alley as part of their overflow parking area for their private business.
The site itself is cleared and ready for remediation.
There's no access at the north end either.
It's actually fenced off with a chain link fence at the moment.
The other important thing to note is that, you know, our site is nestled kind of right near where 23rd Avenue comes south and then it's about to meet a point with Rainier.
And it's connected via Grand Street to the north and South Holgate Street to the south.
But one of the things we want to improve is you can see there are two points of connections to Rainier Avenue right now.
There's Grand Street and then there's also the 22nd Avenue spur.
And there's a pedestrian island with three mature street trees in between those two.
to improve safety and security in the neighborhood, we're proposing to condense those down into one point of vehicle connection.
Next slide.
Melissa.
Yes.
Melissa, could we go back to that previous slide?
Sure.
Thank you.
And just for my colleagues, what was really, I know we weigh so many different things when we're talking about vacating rights away, in this case, vacating an alley.
One of the considerations is, what does the fire department think about it in terms of getting their emergency vehicles?
That's a big issue in the university district.
This slide was really powerful in terms of showing that the alley is really not usable by emergency vehicles.
So we're not giving up that emergency vehicle access.
So that's helpful.
Even previous slides on the public benefits and the number of affordable housing units is also very powerful.
other departments of city government, the fire department, this is really powerful for me to see that we're not giving up emergency access.
Thank you.
No, no.
Yes, Council Member Strauss, did you have a question?
Yes, thank you, Chair.
Thank you.
And I'm not sure if this is a question for Connor or Melissa.
On the last slide from this satellite picture, it looks as if the alleyway may have been I know that it was unapproved, but was it unusable?
It looks as if on the north end of that slide, the hedges blocked access to that space anyhow.
Was this previously vacated or was it just so- No, it's a planted alley that was never installed.
So there's actually a continuous curve along that north edge on Grand Street.
Great.
So to the Chair's point, this was- never fully utilized by the public and the public is gaining benefits by this formal vacation.
Is that a correct understanding?
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
Next slide.
Melissa, just real quick, back on that slide.
You reminded me of the question about the, you said the 23rd Avenue spur on the right side of the photo.
Is that, are you, did you say you are removing those trees?
Is that part of it?
No.
No, we would like to get the trees, but we want to reduce the amount of vehicular space and increase the amount of pedestrian space.
So you'll see that in our proposal.
Thank you.
Okay, next slide.
So these two diagrams on the left, you see a diagram.
If we do not vacate the alley, so if we actually install the alley running north-south through our block and we maintain the street alignments the way that they are currently, all of that pink salmon kind of color shows vehicular space.
And there's not a lot of area left over for pedestrian space.
You can see that kind of yellow oval that we've diagrammed in there.
So what we're proposing to do, and this is a great opportunity since we have control over all three of these blocks, we can actually influence the right-of-way development on both the north and the south side of Grand Street, and that gives us the opportunity to really make some pretty significant modifications that should enhance the pedestrian realm.
So on the right-hand side with the alley vacation, what we're proposing to do is realign Grand Street and basically eliminate the Spur Street connection so there's only one point of connection to Rainier.
What this does is it gives us two nice pedestrian plaza spaces on either side of the vehicular roadway.
And it also allows us to soften the curve of Grand Street so that when drivers come through here, they understand this is not a place to speed through and cut through real quickly, but that it's a place that's dedicated to retail, commercial use, and pedestrian use.
Next slide.
Before the pandemic, we were able to actually host an in-person open house and get to meet with neighbors face-to-face, which was great.
And at that time, a lot of what we heard was concern about safety and security, and then also what I mentioned before, just the ability to walk through the neighborhood and access just basic neighborhood services that they feel they were lacking.
Since that time, we've reached out to several of the local groups and haven't had a great amount of success having smaller group meetings, but we've had a lot of feedback via online survey.
So what we've asked the neighbors on the survey is, you know, what's most important to you with these projects?
And overwhelmingly, having more affordable housing was their priority.
There have been a lot of new townhouse developments and other things coming into the neighborhood, but not a lot of it is affordable.
So that's their main priority.
They also asked for an engaging pedestrian experience.
So building on that, we asked them, OK, if you have a plaza, what would you like to see there?
More green space was the number one thing, more green space and trees, and then pedestrian lighting.
And I think that that goes back to that idea of safety and security in the neighborhood.
There are also some other activating uses that we're exploring with neighborhood feedback as well.
Next slide.
So this is our preliminary site plan, what we're working with now.
You can see how Grand Street has been realigned with this proposal.
So it's a significant investment that the project is looking to make in the right of way to enhance it, not just for these three buildings, but also for the neighborhood at large.
Some of the things that we're proposing to do would be to enhance the paving patterns in the plaza so that it really provides a sense of place.
And influence this area with some activating uses.
You can see there's a number two and sort of a bluish circle on the upper left-hand side of the page in the middle of a plaza.
Yes, right there, thanks.
So we're considering putting in a water fountain, a water feature that would be able to be shut off at times.
Say, you know, if the neighborhood wanted to use this plaza space for a gathering like a farmer's market or some other community event, it could be shut off.
So it could be just occupied space.
but something that would provide noise and interest, maybe for families to come down and actually use the plaza.
It's one of the things we're thinking about.
We're definitely going to put a lot of feeding in the plaza.
That's something the neighborhood has asked for, and increase the canopy cover with additional street trees.
Next slide.
So the building itself will be 202 apartments, and I think one of the things we're most excited about is that it's got space for family-style units.
So we have over 40 three-bedroom apartments here, which is really unique.
Not just in this neighborhood, but throughout the whole city.
So that's something that as an architect, I'm just really excited we're able to make that happen.
And Connor already talked about all the benefits of the cost for Office of Housing.
But this is a rendering of the north facade with our main building entry along Grand Street.
Next slide.
This is kind of a before and after sketch.
of that pedestrian island with the existing street trees on the left.
And you can see how there's kind of streets all around it.
And what we're proposing to do is close that off, really make this much more of a pedestrian space with plazas on either side.
Next slide.
Okay, and to wrap it up, we are getting into our public benefit proposal.
So in addition to the affordable housing, our main effort will be installing the plazas and realigning the streets.
It's a fairly significant capital cost.
But in addition, to provide a sense of place and speak to the safety and security, we're proposing to have supplemental lighting.
You can see some illustrations or some photographs of what the lights will look like.
This neighborhood used to be referred to as the Garlic Gulch.
I don't know if you're aware, but in the beginning part of the 20th century, there's a large Italian-American community that lived here, mostly before I-90 came through and disrupted the neighborhood.
But we're looking at garlic bulbs as inspiration for how we can execute that lighting in a sculptural way.
And then we're also still looking through different activating uses.
As I mentioned, a fountain would be one of the ideas, definitely some seating.
But there's been some feedback from the community about installing gaming tables or some other play spaces for children too.
Last slide.
And this is a rendering that shows what this plaza could look and feel like with our building in the background.
So we're standing on Rainier Avenue looking to the east.
You can see Mount Baker's building with the kind of curved form at the top and the brick base with the lighting proposed, the suggestion of a fountain in the background, and a lot of people and greenery coming in to really make this a nice neighborhood destination.
That's all, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Colleagues, any questions for the nonprofit developers?
And then we also have, I know he's trying to be below the radar screen here, but we also have Michael Jenkins here in case we have any questions for him.
I might have a question for him.
But any questions for Mount Baker Housing on this amazing project?
I do have a question for, For Michael, good morning, Michael.
Thanks for joining us from the Design Commission.
Good morning.
For this project, what is the type of, we're here for the alley vacation, but I just, while you're here, what is the type of Design Commission, what level of Design Commission review is this project undergoing?
Because there's lots of discussions about different levels and exemptions.
Sure.
Can you hear me okay?
Grace.
I did have a brief presentation, if that would be helpful.
And the first slide actually shows our involvement and the status.
And Shana, if you can go to the next, please.
Thank you.
Could you go to the next slide, Shana?
Great.
So when the design commission is involved in alley vacations, throughout the process.
And this graph shows you where the design commission involvement begins.
And it's really at the very beginning of the project, before any design review or entitlement, land use entitlements takes place, as well as before the petition is filed.
We did conduct a pre-petition review before design review commenced and before the petition was filed to SDOT.
And you can see where we are now relative to that process.
Does the graphic help explain that?
Yes.
Great.
If I could go to the next slide, Sean.
So at the pre-petition review in November of 2019, I think the commission flagged some high-level concerns about how South Grand would function if it's closed off.
in favor of the 22nd Avenue spur that Melissa showed you.
And I think just general concerns about the location of the public space on Rainier and how it would appear actually public as opposed to an extension of the commercial or retail space.
And I think also the commission was concerned about the extent to which the spaces that were being created reflected local community preference policies.
We, again, we did that review and we provided the review to the applicants before the formal petition process started.
Could I have the next slide, Shauna?
So Melissa spoke to this a little bit.
The commission did vote unanimously to support public trust, which is the first phase.
And that being that if you take that alley out of service, How are the remaining functions of the alley addressed?
And again, I think the biggest concern that the commission had wasn't necessarily the removal of the alley, because I think it's clear that it really doesn't provide much function at all, and it certainly isn't improved.
And I think the commission recognized that the additional units that would be created are much more efficient and make much more sense with the loss of the alley.
They were concerned, though, size and the scale of the building that results from the alley vacation, that there could be additional design solutions to reduce the overall bulk and scale of that building.
But again, I think the commission also flagged, again, the identity and function of that open space as being public, as opposed to an extension of the uses that are in the commercial and retail spaces.
And also kind of the, you know, sort of the larger problem with safe crossing to the site from the abutting arterials.
Both Rainier and 23rd are carrying a significant amount of traffic and the commission was concerned that if the public would be utilizing the space, how would they pass through those arterials?
Can I have the next slide, Sean?
At that meeting in November, the commission did flag some issues with the public benefit package that was previewed.
Again, I won't believe, I think you've heard, again, the concern about the open space, in particular its proximity to Rainier Avenue South.
And again, that location and relationship to commercial space.
Um, and, and also I think that there's a lot of concern about the nature of the grand street alignment and how that functions as part of the larger, um, public space and its relationship with the open.
Oh, what we typically do is we, um, when issues like this are flagged and raised, we'll hold what's called the subcommittee.
And we do that before they come back to the next full commission meeting.
So there's a focused review about the issues that were raised by the commission and they can meet informally with the team and really roll up their sleeves and figure out ways how to resolve the issues that were raised in a way that works both only both with the development team, but also I think works with the commission and having a better understanding how the community actually benefits from that public benefit proposal and how it reflects community desire and expectation.
And I will say at this point, the commission, I think, has a lot of confidence that this team will be able to address those issues and present those solutions in a way.
You said it, Council Member, when you started, this is an A team and it's a pleasure to work with them.
I'm confident they'll be able to address what are important issues, but one that I think elevates identity and function of those open spaces in a way that truly provides public space for the community.
Thank you, Director Jenkins.
This is very helpful.
I think it shows that the benefit in a lot of cases of the design commission process that we have to point out things where we can create a win-win situation for all the different stakeholders and see things from different angles that maybe the real estate developer by themselves might not see otherwise without the input.
So thank you.
Colleagues, any questions for Director Jenkins or for developers?
Council Member Herbold.
Thank you.
I just want to say the focus on making sure that the public benefits are truly public benefits and not building amenities is very elevated for me given the presentation that we just received about the community input and the importance that the broader community placed on these very elements that you're now critiquing.
So thank you.
So colleagues, again, we will be able to hear we'll hear more about this item as it as it proceeds, but really want to thank the colleagues who came before us who helped set up this process whereby we do get to learn about these projects earlier when there's a street vacation or alley vacation.
I think it is important to understand that this is not a one-time thing.
As I understand it, as I recall from years ago, these allegations would happen very quickly and we have now an extra chance to weigh in and understand and absorb the project and ask questions.
Just again, wanted to thank everyone for their presentations and Director Jenkins, thank you for your input here.
I'm gonna seeing you at the coffee cart at City Grind down in John, but really great to see your face today for the first time since the pandemic started.
Well, thanks everybody.
So again, we'll hear more about this item later.
And thank you to Estad also for being here.
Hi, Beverly, good to see you.
Thank you.
So we'll hear more about this item later.
Thanks for everybody being here.
Colleagues, this concludes our December 16, 2020 meeting of the Transportation and Utilities Committee.
The committee will meet again on January 20th in the afternoon while we're enjoying the inauguration in the morning of January 20th.
So everybody, thank you for attending and we are adjourned.
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