Seattle City Council Briefing 111219

Thank you for being here.

We're joined by Councilmembers Bagshaw, Pacheco, Herbold, Juarez, O'Brien, and Gonzales.

And if there's no objection, the minutes of the October 28, 2019 meeting will be approved.

If there are no objections, the minutes are being approved.

We do have a presentation at the end of this short briefing.

I'll dispense with the President's report and there's nothing for vote this afternoon from the Governor's Equity and Technology Committee.

I'll turn it over to Capable Budget Chair, Council Member Charles.

And just as a reminder, everybody, thank you, that's a $20 fine.

We have no votes tomorrow night or tomorrow day while we're having our first discussion around Form C's, but you will have an opportunity to co-sponsor if you want.

And then a week from today is when we're going to have our final balancing package in front of all of us.

And it's at that point, a week from today, that we will be voting on the entire package.

So if you've got anything you want me to know about, please come on down to my office.

I'll be meeting with council central staff today to get the update on Form C's and how we're going to pay for anybody's.

new requests.

And that's it for this week, but we're getting real close.

So tomorrow, Forum C's.

Next Tuesday, we vote.

The Monday before Thanksgiving, done.

Thank you all very much for all your hard work.

Thank you, Council Member Bakeshaw.

Council Member Pacheco.

Good morning.

Good morning.

So there are three plus related items on introduction and referral today.

Council Bill 119695, which is an ordinance that would approve the Seattle modern living on Willow.

Clerk file 314440, which is an application by John DeFeo for a contract reason from single family.

5,000 to low rise 2 and then clerk file 3 1 4 4 3 9 is the initial filing of a subdivision at 1417 East House Street So that's all on the plus committee.

Thank you very much customer herbal

Thank you so much.

No items on the full council agenda from the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development, and Arts Committee, nor do we have any meetings this week.

I do have a regional committee to attend this week on Thursday.

I'll be attending the Watershed Resource Inventory Area, otherwise known as WIRA 9. And then as far as events coming up this week, on Wednesday I'll be attending the Commission for People with Disabilities Inclusion Jubilee and receiving the Commission's Public Policy Award.

On Friday we'll be attending the Chefs Without Borders event.

On Saturday I'm really excited to participate in the Highland Park Improvement Center's 100th anniversary.

Highland Park Improvement Center is a completely DIY, do-it-yourself community center, receives no funding from the City of Seattle, no assistance in its programming, and has been around for a hundred years.

It's a really fantastic community anchor.

Tonight I will be attending the South Park Neighborhood Association's meeting where they've invited the Seattle Police Department to join community to discuss the ramifications and the investigation of a murder last weekend.

We do think that they have a suspect in custody.

It's a Very, very sad affair.

The target of the shooting was mistaken.

The target was actually the next door house, and the fellow, a longtime community member, father of three, and murdered in his home.

The housing in question is a house that people have had concerns about in this community for years, and we're hoping to hear more from SPD about not just this investigation, but how to address the fact that this house being a target in the neighborhood makes it a safety issue for everybody.

That's it for me.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Juarez.

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning.

So now that I'm a big soccer fan, go Sounders and go D5.

Yes, our coach, Mr. Schmetzer, deserves a lot of credit.

He originally comes from D5.

Nathan Hill graduate.

Just want to throw that out there, take credit for it.

He learned to play soccer with the Lake City Hawks.

Just want to say that again.

So go Sounders, go D5.

Yes, I know, that was shameless.

Let me see.

Let's talk about our committee.

Earlier this year, city council, we, signed into law an ordinance forming a waterfront lid, which is a key component to the Waterfront Seattle program funding plan.

This funding plan will create 20 acres of improved park space for all of Seattle to enjoy and reconnect with the Salish Sea.

Improvements include sidewalk and street access, year-round activities and events, a dedicated maintenance and security team, as well as additional concession and retail offerings.

Today we'll hear more about the next phase of building the Civic Project.

Big thank you to Eric McConaughey.

Okay, we're going through the next phase.

Also, thank you, Council President Harrell and Council Member Bagshaw for your leadership and assistance for leading this piece of legislation during a busy budget season.

So the Office of Waterfront may remain on schedule.

Our next Civic Development, Public Asset and Native Communities Committee will be December 4th.

More details to come.

I understand that the Waterfront folks are here and will walk us through the presentation.

And I look forward to that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Juarez.

Councilmember O'Brien.

The Sustainability and Transportation Committee has nothing on this afternoon's agenda, nor do we have a meeting this week.

Thank you, Councilmember O'Brien.

Councilmember Gonzalez.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

There is no meeting of the Gender Equity, Safe Communities, New Americans, and Education Committee this week due to ongoing budget proceedings.

We have one item on this afternoon's agenda, and it appears on the introduction and referral calendar, and that is my proposed legislation, which would limit foreign influence corporate contributions in future elections.

So I brought some materials to hand out here today.

I emailed these out, but wanted to make sure that you all have them here as well.

So this is a memorandum.

And you all know how much I love infographics.

So I also included an infographic for you all to get a high-level view of the various components, important components of this legislation, which I'm referring to as the Clean Campaigns Act.

So this does appear on today's introduction and referral calendar, the memorandum on page four.

Page four, one, two, three, four, I'm sorry, these do not have, the pages don't have numbers on them and I apologize for that, but on the fourth page there is a anticipated legislative timeline.

So today it will appear on the introduction and referral calendar.

and lays out other milestones in terms of legislative process, including a couple of executive sessions and some special committee hearings.

It's my hope that we will be able to have this in front of the full city council for a final vote on January 13th.

and that we will have committee work completed by January 7th of 2020. The last page of the memo also includes just a high-level view of the various modifications and amendments that would be made to the existing Seattle Municipal Code in order to continue to protect Seattle's democracy.

One of the things that I think is really important for folks to understand is that we've had both the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission and the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission take a look the draft ordinance before I asked for it to be placed on the introduction referral calendar we've received we've received a very positive endorsement from both of those entities at the state and the city level and feel very good about where we're at in terms of the various components of the legislation.

On December 11th, which will be our first committee hearing, we will be focusing on bringing in a national and local panel of subject matter experts.

This can be a rather confusing and complex subject when we're dealing with campaign finance reform laws that are both at the state level and at the federal level.

have been in contact with the council member who shepherded a similar set of legislative campaign finance reform pieces in St. Pete, Florida.

We're hoping that she'll be able to join us at the table to tell us how their legislative process went and also they recently just went through an election where this ordinance was in place.

So we'll have an opportunity to speak to her from their perspective as being the first city in the country to pass a similar type of legislation.

We'll also have some academic experts in constitutional law and other national experts who will be able to walk us through the various components of this proposed legislation and why they believe in their opinion that Seattle is poised to be the next and the largest city to pass a package of legislation that is similar to this.

So looking forward to shepherding that conversation through my committee, really appreciate the Council President's grace in allowing me to put it through my committee and looking forward to again having the conversation and continuing to engage with stakeholders around the potential impact of this legislation on future political activity.

If the Clean Campaigns Act is passed by the full council, I expect that it will go into effect starting in 2021. So that'll give the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission an opportunity to to the new regulatory framework and everybody else to adjust to the new regulatory framework as well.

Happy to answer any questions about it, but I feel really strongly about this potential legislative action and really proud that I sit on a city council who I think shares a lot of the same values as it relates to protecting our democracy in the future.

Very good.

Thanks, Councilman Gonzalez.

Great conversations, great body of work, so I look forward to Sing it.

As a council member and as a resident.

And just one last thing that is not legislative related but really important to me.

So today many of you may have been hearing a lot of buzz about DACA.

That's our Deferred Action for Childhood Rivals Act that was passed by executive order by then President Obama.

This is being argued actually today in the U.S.

Supreme Court.

It has been on a long journey To get back to the U.S.

Supreme Court, it obviously impacts millions and thousands of people across the country and certainly many DACA holders here in our own great city.

So there will be a rally that will be happening today that is being led by youth leaders.

It is called the Home is Here rally.

Really excited about being able to join this.

as part of a nationwide organizing effort, and making sure that these voices continue to be lifted up.

I want to appreciate and thank the Washington Dream Coalition, One America, 21 Progress, Faith Action Network, and many other organizations, including the Teamsters, who are pulling this together and sponsoring it today.

I think this was on the books for quite some time, long before the Sounders were planning a parade in downtown.

But I hope that folks will make an effort to work their way over to stand in solidarity with our DACA recipients and our broader immigrant community.

The rally will start at about 2.30 p.m.

in front of the U.S. federal district court at 7th and Stewart.

Again, really excited about being able to join them in this moment of solidarity and as a representative of the Seattle City Council and really continue to be honored about the work that we do here on the city council and as a city as a whole to protect our DACA recipients as well as to continue to invest in the resilience of our broader immigrant and refugee community.

So hope that we'll be able to see some of you there if you have time to go immediately after our full council meeting.

Thank you, Councilman Gonzalez.

All right, let's keep going through our agenda.

So why don't Marshall & Company come forward here and we'll start with the LID presentation.

So I think Councilmember Juarez did an excellent job of Introducing the matter unless you want to say anything else.

Should we just proceed with introductions and dive right in?

Good morning.

I'm Eric McConaughey on the Council of Central Staff.

I am Dory Costa with the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects.

Marshall Foster, Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects.

I'm Elena Johnson and I'm in FAS Finance.

Please proceed.

All right.

Well, good morning, council members.

Thanks for having us back.

We're glad to be here.

This briefing is really to frame up for you the next step in the local improvement district process.

What we're going to do is walk you through two pieces of legislation related to that.

Just quickly to kind of re-ground everyone on where we are, you see on the screen the Waterfront Seattle program as a whole.

I'm excited to be able to tell you that we're well into construction of the first major elements of the waterfront program at this point with construction on Columbia Street.

construction on Alaskan Way and also up at Pier 62, our former concert pier.

So there's a lot of action underway today on the waterfront.

The legislation in front of you is a really critical next step to ensure we lock in place our final funding elements to be able to complete both the public infrastructure, the roads, the infrastructure for utilities and the like, but also to get these great park amenities to serve the downtown as well as the city and the region as a whole.

So I'm going to turn it over to Dory who's going to walk you through the legislation.

Yeah, so also to kind of ground everyone, what you see in front of you on slide three is the boundary of the waterfront LID area that was formed in January by council action.

It stretches from Denny Way in the north down to Massachusetts Street.

And we move to the next slide, please.

It was for that boundary was decided on following our preliminary special benefit study, which was completed in 2017. After that was completed, the council passed Resolution 31812, which was our intent to form resolution.

It showed the city's intent to move forward with an LID.

Public hearings on the proposed LID and the preliminary assessment role were held in the summer of 2018. And in late 2018, we presented council with a proposed ordinance for LID formation, along with two companion ordinances, a protest waiver.

We also had an ordinance authorizing us to enter into a protest waiver agreement with some of the property owners and an operating and maintenance ordinance.

Those were all passed by council in January.

the LAD and allowed us to start moving forward with construction of the LAD funded improvements.

This year we've been working on the final special benefit study and the proposed final assessment role.

That was completed earlier this month.

Last week in fact And so we're here today with you to talk about two ordinances related to the LID Oh, sorry resolution and an ordinance my apologies So Today we're going to talk about this these The ordinance of the resolution.

I'm sorry.

I'm nervous the We continue the process as Marshall said of implementing the LID by initiating the confirmation of the LID assessments.

So we're going to review a LID code change ordinance and the final assessment role resolution.

First up is the LID code change revisions.

The LID state law has been around since before the founding of the state.

It's actually been a process that's been around for a long time.

It changes over the years and this LID code revision updates the municipal code to better align with the rise code of Washington in the process to confirm the LID assessments.

One of the things that we're going to do is we're going to provide the hearing examiner with more time to prepare his findings and recommendations from the hearings on the public assessment, the final assessment roll.

The current code allows only 20 days for the hearing examiner to prepare his We want to make sure he has the time to do well crafted recommendations and findings.

It also modernizes the clerk's process of notifying property owners of the hearing results following the conclusion of the hearings.

It allows for her to post the assessment role.

It also removes a section of the code that specified outdated costs for property descriptions.

Those costs, from what I can understand, were put into the code in 1985 and haven't been updated.

So we've actually stricken them.

Thank you.

So these code revisions will actually, they're not for future LIDs exclusively, they're also to help inform the final process steps of this LID.

Yes.

And so it sounds like the kinds of changes that you're talking about are the kinds of changes that would be necessary to have a better final end product.

Is there any, would there be any questions or problems with sort of changing the rules midstream, given that we have several years worth of process underway for the LID?

We haven't heard anything from the city attorney or the LID attorneys that we work with that would indicate that there would be any legal problem with that.

These changes do not violate anything in state law.

The original code is actually stricter than state law and provided deadlines that were not in state law.

So from our understanding, these don't create any problems.

They also don't change any of the opportunities for public hearing or for people to have their comments made or to appeal comments or any of those things.

So that does not change at all.

I was just going to add one thing, which is that this part of the process for the waterfront LID, we haven't gotten there yet.

So the changes that Dorinda has described are for a part of the process that we haven't gone through yet.

So from that point of view, whether the code update happened now or it happened sometime previously, it doesn't affect something we've already been through.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The resolution is actually the step that starts the final assessment role confirmation.

It sets the date of the public hearing on the proposed assessment role and it It declares that the hearing will be held before a hearing examiner.

The public hearing date is Tuesday, February 4th.

And the assessment role hearing property owners will be given an opportunity to object to their individual assessments.

They must file objections in writing before the hearing date.

That hasn't changed, but during the hearing, the hearing examiner will allow all property owners to make comments and present testimony and information.

about why they don't agree with their assessments.

It also authorizes the city clerk to notify property owners of their final proposed assessment amounts and of the public hearings, and so there'll be mailings to all of the property owners within the area.

What's the calendar date for that, when people can anticipate getting their assessments?

Well, we're planning to send the notices by next month, and the hearing won't be until February.

We'll also have it posted.

The requirements are that it's posted at least two times in the city's newspaper of record or five times in a community newspaper of record.

And so it'll also be noticed in the paper.

So will people, if they don't challenge their assessment, will they expect that assessment to come in with their property tax in April?

Or is it separate, a separate bill?

It won't come this year.

There will be, once the process of confirming the final assessment roll is done, which hopefully will happen later this year, there will be a period for prepayment.

You're saying this year, are you referring to 19 or 20?

Oh, I'm sorry, in 2020. I apologize.

I'm already ahead, like many of you probably are in the budget.

And so, next year, during 2020, hopefully, council will finish approving the final assessment roll and the notices will go out to property owners, notifying them of the early payment period.

They can make their payment in one lump sum.

Following that, at some future point, there will actually be the assessments, if they choose to pay over time, will appear with their property tax assessment.

So what's your best guess of when a bill will show up in District 7 mailboxes?

Well, the city will send a bill for that 30-day prepayment period after the rules confirm.

So right now, we think that that's sometime in the summer should everything kind of go according to plan.

This or next summer, 2020.

Okay.

And then expected in terms of when it is due of people say, I'm just going to pay it off and be done with this.

When do we, more or less, is it third quarter, fourth quarter of 2020, it would be due?

Probably around the third quarter.

Okay.

Thank you.

So next slide.

Wanted to just go through what the upcoming steps are.

As we've talked about in the past, the LAD process is pretty strictly defined in state law.

We do this notice resolution to send out the notice of the final assessment role.

We'll send out, as I mentioned, the hearing notice and the proposed final assessment amounts in December or January, but hopefully December.

And we will also post those so people can find them on the internet.

In February, we'll have the public hearing before the examiner.

Hopefully, depending on the amount of time that the hearings take, the hearing examiner's report will be filed and property owners who filed an objection will be notified of the hearing examiner's recommendations.

Those will also be provided to city council and filed with the clerk.

In the spring of 2020, property owners can decide whether to file appeals of the hearing examiner's recommendations.

If they do file appeals, the clerk will notify the city council and city council will set a date for a city council or a committee of the city council to have a hearing on those appeals.

Let's hold up on that one Dory.

Because last time we had we actually made the decision to hire a hearing examiner to do this piece which I'm inclined to do again because we had four hearings separate from City Council so there would no be any allegations of people being lobbied.

And so Mr. Vansell, hearing examiner, did a really good job.

We had four hearings over the spring and the summer, and then he did a report in August.

Hearing what the concerns were, the FAQ that came out, why we did that, and I'm probably inclined to do that again.

It's another option, not Seattle City Council or Council Committee.

but another, somebody who's neutral, who's familiar with this to hear.

Good idea.

I did it the first time.

I do not believe that that's allowed.

Oh, I didn't know that.

The first public hearing, we are doing before a hearing examiner.

However, in the code, it does state that if you do do it with a hearing examiner, there needs to be an opportunity to appeal directly or some kind of process.

Exactly.

And then our code states that it is a public hearing form.

what that looks like, we haven't determined yet, and we'll work with you to do that.

Oh, okay, so it isn't like what we did last time.

No, this is actually the true quasi-judicial period where you will be sitting at some point as what the state law calls it a board of equalization to determine what the final assessment is and whether, so that's the whole reason why this is a quasi-judicial process.

Dory, can I just follow up with that for my colleagues who are going to be here?

Do they go through line by line, the people that are challenging each one of them, that they have to review every one of the complaints?

I'll jump in just to clarify sort of for folks watching on television and here presently that for sure in February of next year that the hearing examiner will hold that hearing.

Right, I'm talking about this spring.

Later on the appeals would come to council.

And my understanding is that any person who appeals will get their chance to sort of be heard at council.

That appeal would be taken up by council.

Well, Eric, my expectation is that there could be hundreds of appeals.

And if that is the case, that's a lot of time council members are going to be dedicated to this.

It sounds like we are legally required to do so.

Yeah.

And so I'll just fall back on the we will work with you on that.

Right.

Make sure that we've got the timing so that it's on people's calendars.

I just want to, before you move on from that, I just want to make sure that it's pretty clear, at least in my own head, that between now and this, you know, we get, usually when we're dealing with quasi-judicial issues, it's in the context of land use and zoning issues, and we usually get a notice from Council Central staff about when ex parte communication is ex parte communication in the context of a quasi-judicial proceeding.

So give us a sense about what that process looks like and sort of what our obligations are either now or in the future as it relates to ex parte communication and quasi-judicial proceedings.

Sure.

Thanks for the question.

So the council's rules say that the date that the, excuse me, The date that the hearing examiner files his decision recommendations on the final assessment role, that is when the QJ process starts for the final assessment role, where counsel is sitting like a body of judges.

Now, you'll recall that with the resolution, The resolutions showing the intent to form the LID Council picked, for prudential reasons, picked the day of the first hearing, the last round of hearings in the summer 2018, as the day that the QJ process started.

We're sort of in that process now.

And with regard to the QJ rules, it means that council can't have ex parte communication, can't talk with folks outside of these kinds of meetings about these sorts of things.

If that does happen, it can be inadvertent.

Sometimes the example we talk about that land use context is, you know, council member, you're at the grocery store, and someone walks up and says, council member, I really hate this idea.

And you say, oh, gosh.

This is something I need to disclose.

There's a way that staff can work with you to disclose that, that's the cure for that, and that sort of thing happens every now and then, and it's part of making sure that council can still participate in that, and there isn't any question about that decision.

I hope that helps.

Because it's fairly embarrassing for me having been engaged in this project for 2014. I received an email from Darby Dukum yesterday, multiple emails about budget stuff.

One was encouraging us to support the hearing examiner.

and then this one about waterfront.

I was foolish in responding to her.

I had not seen your notice at the time, but I wasn't talking about any special assessments, just that, hey, we have done this.

We've been working on this for 17 years.

Can we, before the rest of us?

Well, yeah, but I haven't read it because of the subject line.

So before the rest of us hear about the contents of Council Member Bagshaw's correspondence, can we get some clarity about whether that's appropriate?

I think probably it's okay to say that Ms. Dukum sent an email, that the Council Member responded, and we can take a moment to formally disclose that before you take a vote at the next Council meeting.

And that will give an opportunity for folks to hear that, and if they have some sort of rebuttal, they can do that.

If that's all right, that's absolutely because I'm I apologize to all of you for putting us in this situation And as long as we can formally cure it at another point, I'm happy to do that.

Thank you So that hearing on appeals I will happen hopefully in the spring of this year.

Council will, when the notice comes out that there are appeals, Council will set the hearing date for those appeals.

And so that will work with the Council President and the appropriate chairperson to make sure those get set.

We'll work with the city, the Council's central staff.

And I want to thank Eric and the Council's central staff for being so helpful as we've been moving this forward.

And then if everything goes well in the summer, we hope that City Council will consider and confirm the final assessment role for the LID.

That's our timing.

I am not going to give you the exact number for right now.

Of course, that will depend on the volume of appeals, where we are legally with those appeals, and we will work with you carefully for that.

process-wise, and maybe if we can get a taste substance-wise, if not, that's okay too.

How does the final assessment role relate to, I'm sorry, is it, no, the final, I'm sorry, the final special benefits study relate to the preliminary special benefits study?

So the area of the studies is basically the same.

The original study area was a little bit larger.

We used that to help define the boundary and to give property owners and the council some preliminary information about what the appraiser felt that the value and the benefit could be within the area.

This special benefit study was done within this area of the LID.

And the appraiser looked at each property and developed their assessment of what, yes, pun intended, their assessment of what the special benefit, the increase in property value due to the improvements that are being funded by the LID would be.

They developed that special benefit for each property and then collated it into this assessment role.

And then because in our formation ordinance, we specified a cap on the amount of the LAD that would go for project costs using that cap.

And then as we talked about in the formation ordinance and other legislation we add on top of that the financing and the guarantee fund amounts and so the total assessment amount for this LID is the 160 plus the financing and $175.5 million.

That then proportionally is shared amongst all the properties based on the special benefit that they receive, they are estimated to receive by this appraiser.

And that's what the property owners will be presenting their arguments about why their assessment should be lower or they shouldn't have an assessment to the hearing examiner.

And so how does that 160 and 175.5, how does that relate to what the preliminary study?

Is it in the ballpark?

The original preliminary study looked at a $200 million LID.

And then you'll remember as part of the settlement agreement, we lowered that amount to 160 plus the cost of financing in the guarantee fund.

The original study looked at $200 million, but we...

It was more than $200 million the first time.

Well, the special benefit was over $400 million.

We took $400 million, then we cut it in half to $200 million, then we went down to $160 million.

I'm going to look over to Elena and just ask her, because she's been working with, if there's anything else she'd like to add.

Sure.

So the preliminary study, the total was 414. And then those preliminary assessments totaled to 200. And then there was that agreement that happened at the Four Nation Ordinance of making it 160 plus financing.

We found the financing, which includes a guarantee fund deposit, to really help the interest rate be reasonable for people who will pay over time.

to be $14 million for the guarantee fund, and another $1.5 million for the cost of just issuing these bonds, because they're quite rare and different.

But beyond that, so now we have a total assessment role of $175.5 million.

And then the final study found the total special benefit to be 447 million.

So it's a little bit higher and then the total assessment role is a little bit lower.

However, it is a more detailed study.

So as you might have seen like even the city has some property in the lid and some of our assessments went up and some of our assessments went down.

And so like the city other people, some people might have assessments that go up and some property owners might have seen that their assessment went down.

It just kind of depends on on what the appraiser saw after taking a much closer look.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Are we wrapping up?

Yes.

With that, I mean, we're done with ours unless there are any more questions.

Let me walk through the process that we're going to do.

So this was, because of our budget schedule, this is sort of the committee discussion, if you will.

So we're scheduled to vote on the resolution, the ordinance for November 18th, next Monday.

And if you have any questions between now and then, I mean, I think we all know we're going to have a lot of new staff and council members.

And so the rules of, as Council Member Gonzalez pointed out, the rules for what is quasi-judicial and how one should act, we've got to really be sensitive to that.

It applies to staff as well.

And so you're going to have a lot of new bodies on the floor.

So I think we're all good.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Good, exciting presentation.

We'll see everyone at two o'clock this afternoon.

All right.