Parks and City Light Committee 4/1/2026

Good afternoon, everybody.

Today is April 1st.

This is the meeting of the Parks and Seattle City Light Committee.

I'm calling it to order.

It is 2.03.

My name is Deborah Juarez, chair of the committee.

Would the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Strauss?

Here.

Councilmember Saka?

Here.

Councilmember Rivera?

Present.

Vice Chair Kettle?

Here.

Chair Juarez?

Thank you, or here.

Hey, Councillor McKellar, let's check your mic one more time.

Can you turn it up a little bit?

I think we had this, we're dealing with this with you yesterday, remember, or Tuesday?

Test it now.

We can barely hear.

Yeah, I think you're cutting out.

OK.

Well, let's see what happens.

And if we have to, we'll have the clerk watch the screen when we vote.

OK?

OK, good.

Thank you.

All right.

Let's go to approval of the agenda.

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

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

I'm going to go to the chair's report.

We will have two public comment periods today.

There will be a regular public comment period before items on the agenda that should be related to the items on today's agenda and within the purview of this committee.

The second is a public hearing on the second agenda item, which is Council Bill 121177, which we are required to have for items that concern the transfer of City Light property.

Comments during this public hearing should be related to the specific Council Bill.

The two ordinances that are on the agenda today are, the first is the Skagit Hydroelectric Relicensing and Comprehensive Settlement Agreement.

This is the second presentation about Skagit Relicensing.

This presentation is focused on the historical context of the licensing and what happens during the FERC process if the City indeed passes this legislation.

This would start after the city's three-step process.

First, this committee, then full council, and then to the mayor's office.

My understanding today is for item number one, the presentation will be presented, obviously, by Seattle City Light, and we will be joined by Craig Smith, Dennis McLaren, Chris Townsend, Steven Karbowski, Matt Love, and then Eric, is Eric here?

There he is, Eric McConaughey from Central Staff.

The second ordinance is a land transfer in which City Light is selling land to Snohomish County, but will retain rights and access for an electrical easement.

There will be a public hearing for this legislation followed by a presentation.

This presentation will be presented for Seattle City Light by Craig Smith, same folks, Dennis McLaren, except I noticed that we have two new folks on here, Bill Devereaux and Katie Tassery.

Okay, and then of course we got Eric in the back.

So I want a vote on both items.

I expect a vote on both items today.

So with that, we're gonna move to public comment.

We will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comment should be related to today's item.

Clerk, how many people do we have signed up today?

Currently we have zero in-person speakers signed up and one remote speaker.

Okay, so let's go to the one remote person.

You don't need to read all the stuff, just public comment period.

You got two minutes.

Is there anything you want to add to that, Paul?

Besides the two minutes?

Be nice.

Anything else?

David Haynes, you're our remote speaker.

It looks like you're not present.

Mr. Haynes?

I don't see him on the...

Mr. Haynes, star six.

OK.

OK.

He's no longer present.

So we have zero remaining public speakers.

All right.

That being said, since we don't have anyone in chambers, we have nobody online or remote, the public comment period is now closed.

So let's move to our items of business.

Item number one, will the clerk please read item number one into the record?

Council Bill 12177, an ordinance relating to the City Light Department authorizing the mayor or her designee to execute a comprehensive settlement agreement, five off license agreements and other related agreements for purposes of re-licensing the City of Seattle Skagit River hydroelectric project before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.

Thank you.

Why don't we have our folks and friends from Seattle City Light come up to the table, and I will let you introduce yourself and your titles, and I understand that you're gonna walk us through a five-page PowerPoint.

And thank you for last two weeks ago, that was a great PowerPoint, and thank you for taking some of my comments into consideration for this five-point PowerPoint.

I think the main questions that we got are what happens after this, when it kicks over to FERC, and more comment period, and if there are any other objections.

So with that, We'll hand it over to the panel.

You want to start at this end with Mr. Smith and then move down.

Good afternoon.

I'm Craig Smith, interim general manager and CEO, Seattle City Light.

Good afternoon.

My name is Chris Townsend.

I'm the director of natural resources and hydro licensing at Seattle City Light.

Good afternoon.

My name is Matt Love.

I'm a partner at Cascadia Law Group.

I'm outside legal counsel for the city of Seattle.

Good afternoon.

Steven Korbowski, Assistant City Attorney with the City Attorney's Office.

Good afternoon, members of the Council.

I'm Dennis McLaren, Deputy General Manager at Seattle City Light.

And, Council Members, I'm Eric McConaughey on your Council of Central Staff.

Thank you.

And so, with that, why don't we move forward with your presentation?

So, thank you, Committee Chair Juarez, Vice Chair Kettle, and committee members.

We're pleased to return to the committee today for a final review and council vote on the Skagit Hydroelectric Project or Licensing Comprehensive Settlement Agreement.

This is a historic milestone for City Light and the City of Seattle to secure an agreement that ensures this critical hydropower resource will continue to be available for the next 50 years for City Light customers and the Western Region.

It also reflects the outstanding work of the licensed partners, especially our tribal partners, to secure a comprehensive agreement that strengthens our environmental stewardship and long-term management of the Skagit watershed.

I'll now turn it over to Chris Townsend, Director of Natural Resources and Relicensing with City Light, to provide historical context for the committee and discuss next steps in the relicensing process.

Thank you, Craig.

It's a little intimidating providing a history of the Skagit project in front of a council member who probably knows the history better than I do.

However, I will endeavor to state an accurate history and stand ready to be challenged by Councilmember Strauss.

So the project was started in 1927. Gorge Dam was the first dam to be built in the system and also the last dam to be built in the system.

The first Gorge Dam was a wood crib dam and was in place to help construct the other two dams in the system before being replaced by the High Gorge Dam in 1961. So construction started in 1924. Diablo was the second dam in the system to be constructed.

and Ross followed with construction starting in 1937 and everything with the powerhouse being complete in 1956. Then we went back and replaced the Gorge Dam in 1961 with the dam that you see today.

I wanted to just make a few points about the storage as well.

The Gorge Dam has virtually no storage.

It's almost a run of river.

Diablo has a few hours of storage, but you know that Ross also has a significant flood pocket that serves a really important role for the valley, regardless of whether or not it's producing power.

And I also would like to point out that Ross Dam is the height of the Smith Tower that you could just see the top of.

So if we're sitting next to Ross Dam right now, it would be that high.

So it's a massive structure and quite an engineering accomplishment.

The original license was issued in 1927. It was a 50-year license, so it expired in 1977. It took 18 years for the following license to be issued in 1995. We are hoping that this license doesn't take 18 years.

But that license that was issued in 1995 was issued on the basis of a comprehensive settlement agreement that was reached in 1991. and I believe it was the first such comprehensive settlement agreement in FERC relicensing.

So the City of Seattle did pioneer the approach of using comprehensive settlement agreements in FERC relicensing.

Our licenses currently expired.

It expired in April of last year, about a year ago.

and we'll be operating under annual licenses at pretty much a pro forma basis until we have the new license.

It doesn't take an application or anything to get an annual license or just issued by FERC on a year by year basis.

And we basically extend the existing conditions that were in the, or the conditions that were in the 1995 license until the new license is issued.

We began the process for the new 50 year license in 2018. And the first significant step was to complete a number of studies.

I think we did 20, 33 studies at a cost of $25 million.

So we did an extensive amount of science to support the decision making in this process and we've used that body of work in the development of the comprehensive settlement agreement that we're asking you to approve for moving forward.

We submitted the license application in April of 2023. and we concluded settlement discussions in December of 2025, which was a real milestone.

All parties that have any regulatory authority or treaty rights associated with this hydroelectric system have signed the agreement already, so we'll be the final signature to go on to the agreement.

And I'd also like to report that the Skagit County did approve and sign the settlement agreement, I think, two days ago.

So that was a significant win to have a local government sign on.

Were those the folks that sent us the letter, the commissioners, dated over a week ago, that were opposing it?

Okay.

and the mayor's office has responded to the commissioners.

We saw the response.

Yeah, great.

And even when we hopefully sign the agreement and have a signing ceremony at some point in May, early May, we're hoping, we still anticipate that we will not get a new license until about 2030. There's still a significant amount of process, which I'll go through with you now.

Once we submit the comprehensive settlement agreement and updated license application to FERC.

They'll issue a public notice and public comment opportunities will begin right away.

There'll be a couple of opportunities for public comment during that period.

The initial one is pretty quick.

The notice is issued and then the public will have 20 days to comment.

After that public comment period, FERC may request additional information If they do, that could involve several months to a year of additional studies, after which they would issue their readiness for environmental analysis.

And that process really kicks off the regulatory process for the other federal agencies with the role and the state agency with the 401 water quality role.

So those are also listed here.

And again, the new license would be about 2030 with all of that process and that is maybe an optimistic timeframe given the complexity of this project.

but I did want to make the point on this slide too that the City Council will consider a new ordinance in 2030 to accept the license.

So there's one more opportunity for the City Council to hear this and that will be when FERC has issued the license for adoption.

As soon as we sign the agreement.

That's the effective date of the Comprehensive Settlement Agreement.

And the agreement includes several different activities that depend on the effective date that we will get busy on right away.

So even though it's going to take until 2030 for FERC to issue the license, we've agreed to do a number of things that will give us a jumpstart on a lot of the good measures that we've included in the Comprehensive Settlement Agreement.

First of all, we'll set up the Governance Program.

and you'll know from the letter from the county and others that there is a keen interest in us being open and transparent and getting a jump on activities right away, not dragging our feet.

And by setting up that license implementation committee and the ecosystem monitoring and adaptive management program, that's immediate action right out of the gate, including our partners in the implementation of critical science and engineering to keep the major components of this going.

We'll complete the historical properties management plan, and then we will start the flow and habitat planning.

So we're going to be doing a number of studies related to juvenile salmonid habitat to make sure that our flow measures are accurate.

We'll do a gravel augmentation pilot, the theory being that the dams are blocking the natural flow of sediment, and it may be possible to put sediment in certain parts of the river to restore that sediment flow.

and we'll develop a process flow adaptive management plan.

And again, process flows are flows that mimic storm events and other unusual events in the hydrograph that can provide services like keeping side channels open.

We'll also begin, importantly, our estuary habitat enhancement plan.

We have a two-year timeframe for that, but we want to work with Skagit County, the drainage and dyking districts, the tribes and others to identify the most important properties to move forward with restoration.

So that'll be a collaborative process that happens early on in the process.

We'll have operations and water quality actions that we'll be taking.

We've already started on designing a minimum in-stream flow structure to put water back into gorge reach.

So as soon as we're issued the license, we'll be able to implement that.

What that will likely look like is a low flow generator Of course, the agreement with the Upper Skagit Tribe includes a revenue sharing agreement on that low flow generator, which is appropriate because the gorge dam where that low flow generator will be built is built on one of their historical spiritual sites in the gorge reach of the river.

And we'll be returning the 250 CFS through that minimum flow generator to the reach.

We'll continue with water quality and temperature modeling and do some other water quality work with ecology.

Now, most importantly, we'll be starting the early work on the fish passage program.

There are four key items associated with that.

City Light is responsible for doing a body of additional scientific studies that will convene right away.

We're working on the study plans, the scope schedules and budgets right now to get agreement on that so we can start immediately.

We have one year to conduct the additional studies.

and if we need to, we will conduct more work than what is required in order to make good decisions and make sure that we have a fish passage system that will work and will return a lot of value to the river.

The second item is the responsibility of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe.

They will be working with McMillan to do a cost and schedule report for the downstream collector and other elements of the fish passage program.

and that work needs to occur within the first six months.

So that'll give us information about what the downstream collector will look like.

It's a really remote area of the Ross Reservoir, gonna be difficult to build, so we're gonna get a jump on that engineering work.

And having the Upper Skagit Tribe leading it kind of removes any feeling that the city might be kind of steering things in the direction that we want to go.

So it was like a second party designing that important component of the work.

Similarly, we had the National Park Service design the Ross Access Report.

One of the feasibility criteria for the downstream collector is that we're able to access the reservoir with the heavy equipment and materials needed to build the downstream collector.

The National Park Service is going to lead that effort, and that effort will include looking at and other alternative means of access, such as a sky crane.

And then the fourth important component, we'll be able to be very transparent on all three of those.

They're a public and open process.

The fourth component is the stock selection and management plan, which is a responsibility of the fish managers, who are the tribes, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

will likely be done in a slightly more confidential manner given that it's an important treaty and tribal rights issues are being discussed in those rooms.

So they will tell us what fish ultimately that they would like us to pass and then we'll design and study and design the system to accomplish those goals.

And I believe that's the end of my presentation.

Great.

Let me just ask a quick question.

Did you put your, this PowerPoint, is this PowerPoint online for the public like your last one?

It was?

It is?

Okay.

Okay.

Well, I'm actually okay, but I'm going to look to my colleagues and see if there are any questions regarding this PowerPoint.

I know it's a lot.

We kind of went through the real meat and bones of it at the last one.

But the follow-up one, the thing we wanted to focus on is what happens post, if indeed this passes, then it goes to full council, then it goes to the mayor's office in the comment period, and then in the meantime we had the letter of opposition from the Skagit folks, and then now that got fixed.

And then so, and I kind of already know some of the history obviously, so I want to ask my colleagues if they have any questions.

Did you ask?

I'll make some statements.

Oh, okay.

Nope.

You okay?

Is my vice chair okay?

Well, we can't hear him, so...

Well, if I may, chair...

Go ahead.

Just complementing the remarks that you just made about we just received a five-page PowerPoint.

We went pretty quickly through it.

We had a good presentation two weeks ago.

And so are we ready to vote, right?

And it feels a little anticlimactic at this moment.

And the reason that it feels this way, in my opinion, is because success is not by accident.

Success is not by chance.

It is the product of a long, like a number of years of really hard work and getting into details with a pandemic in the middle of it, right?

And so we're here today.

I've asked for in-depth briefings over the course of a number of years so that I would not get to the moment that we're in right now with a lot of questions.

You've been successful.

I watched your presentation from two weeks ago and I was just struck and I was awed by how much this team has been able to accomplish, the barriers that you have overcome.

I just remember that first trip that we took, Chris, up to the Skagit, and I was asking some pressing questions, and I was not liking the answers that I was receiving very directly, right?

And for even me, you being able to work through that, and then you did this, what, 19 or 26 stakeholders?

Countless.

We'll say countless for the record.

A lot.

A lot.

16 stakeholders.

And so...

I just am very appreciative.

And the presentation that you did two weeks ago was really great.

You breezed over it in this one about the sky crane, but you paused on it last time around.

And just for the record to reflect, I've been up there.

I've found the footings.

They still exist.

All you need is some bolts and some steel, and we'll get that sky crane running right back like it used to.

And there's also some other folks in the room right now.

Maura Bruegger, you've been instrumental in this.

Amy Treanor, you've been very helpful in this.

I just want to take that moment to recognize you since you're not at the table.

And if I may, Council President Emeritus, I'm just going to read the letter that I had you read last time.

Even though our tribal leaders aren't here, I think it's really important to say these words one more time.

And when I was writing this, I used the word historic.

This is a historic moment.

And I paused because I questioned, is that accurate?

Because that's a very weighty word.

And in reflection, I remain that this is a historic moment of the timeline that you just presented with the relicense in the 1970s and then again, and here we are with a 50-year license.

And so I'll just read this letter because I think it really gets at the core of the work that has been accomplished, which is thank you to our tribal leaders.

Thank you for letting us be your guest here today in Chambers and in the Skagit River watershed.

The Skagit River is one of the healthiest rivers and has the highest salmon run in Puget Sound.

This is because of your millennia of stewardship, your conservation efforts over the last century, and the positions you have held in this last decade of negotiating this re-license agreement.

My family and future generations are indebted to you and what you have accomplished for all of us.

The last license agreement conserved the land in the Skagit River Basin so much that it equates to the size of Ross Lake, which extends so far it goes to Canada.

The agreement before us goes even further.

Your willingness to work with us in an off-license agreement and your commitment to hold us to account is what makes this moment incredibly special.

It's what makes this agreement historic.

We will live better lives.

Our future generations will be better off because of the agreements we are in process of making today.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

while and then I go on to say I'd love to continue meeting with the tribal leaders up in Skagit River Basin and I think it will be important that we use the native communities and tribal governments to continue this work to be able to meet with folks up there because while they were here last meeting and we got through a fair amount of the information that they were able to share with us, there was so much left on the table for us to discuss because a decade of negotiating to get to an off-license agreement where we're not suing in court, and we're continuing to have electrical generation operating in the Skagit is just incredible.

And so the back pay for our use of the land, our conservation, our electrical generation, putting water back in the river and still not losing generation, this is a really historic moment.

And Chris, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your work on behalf of the City of Seattle.

Thank you, Council President Emeritus.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Is there anything, comments from anyone else?

What about Councilmember Kettle?

No, nothing from me.

I have a follow-up to Mr. Travis and how he captures the whole bigger picture and the longer-term meaningfulness of this effort.

So thanks for as comments and for the work done by everybody.

I really appreciate it.

Professional.

All right, thank you.

I just would like to yeah, before I close this out.

Sure, sure.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just want to Continue, I suppose, by thanking our partners at City Light for getting us to this point right now, a very complex, multi-year, multi-party engagement and multiple million dollars, of course, as well, but it's tremendously impactful and hugely consequential and beneficial for a lot of communities across our region.

And I can't say that without also reaffirming my gratitude and appreciation to the tribal leaders and elders who shared their own perspectives with us at this very meeting last time, two weeks ago.

I'm tremendously grateful for their time, them sharing their insights and knowledge and guidance, and importantly, history.

And also want to recognize the leadership of the Swinomish Indian tribal community, the Upper Skagit Indian tribe, the Sauk Suadal Indian tribe throughout this process.

These are sovereign tribal nations with deep, enduring connections to the Skagit River.

Their voices remind us that this work is not only technical, it is cultural, spiritual, and rooted in generations of stewardship.

What we are considering, and I think about the vote on, is not just a license, but a decision with generational impacts on culture, on climate, on ecosystems, and so much more.

The commitments in this agreement represent an important step toward protecting natural resources, supporting tribal priorities, and acknowledging

past wrongs, past traumas, past impacts.

So I want to thank again the team from Seattle City Light for all your hard work in this highly complex but hugely impactful effort over many years.

And more work to come, of course, in terms of implementation.

but a great place to be right now and Madam Chair, I would be remiss as well if I didn't also recognize you and your stewardship of this process and your tremendous leadership in so many different facets.

I've been privileged to be able to observe for the past few months on this effort but I know your leadership and involvement in this broader strategic effort transcends my own two-plus year period on the council.

So our city is benefiting from your wisdom and your expertise and your leadership and is going to continue to do so for decades and generations to come.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Are we done?

I'm going to close this out unless you have something to say.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, I said a lot last time, so I'll just say again, thank you to the City Light team, the entire team who worked on this, and thank you to our tribal partners who came last time to say they support this.

There was a lot of work done over many years to get to this point.

I want to recognize that work.

Madam Chair, I want to recognize all the work that you've done in the time that you were here past and present toward this effort, and I look forward to taking the vote today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam.

I was going to say Madam Chair from Le Levy, Councilmember Rivera.

You know, I'm just going to be real straightforward here.

I appreciate that my colleagues thank you guys, but I come from a generation where I think it's important that you laid out the history starting in 1924 to where we're at.

What I always find a bit disingenuous though is that you never put in the history of the treaties that guaranteed tribes their rights to the fish.

and what the Army Corps of Engineers did to our river and our stream systems and the degradation.

You never talk about after 1977 and 78 with the Bolt decision in U.S. v. Washington and what it took us here for us to be at the table.

I'm just cautioning you in the future, I'm not gonna call BS, but those of us that lived through this and the Fish Wars, I mean that's part of the history and I know you all work hard and I get that but having its genesis to make the state and the federal government and FERC and Army Corps and all these groups including groups like the Sierra Club and all of them as well.

It took us to have to be in federal district court, the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court to secure our rights to even be at the table.

While I thank you for your work, I think the real, for me anyway, the real heroes is what I look back on, and I'm sure you watched the Fish Wars, is that when we say tribal or traditional, we also had the science.

I was looking at your PowerPoint and I was just having being triggered by remembering having to cross-examine hydrologists and learn about the main stem and shade in the rivers and people telling us that if you take out the Elwha that the fish aren't going to come back and they came back you know dealing with I mean I could go on and on so I guess my point is I think it's important when you do the signing, if we get this out of committee and we go to full council, I think it's important that we talk about the whole history here, and it has been very tragic.

And we have lost a lot of land and a lot of resources that we're not going to get back.

Let's just call it what it is.

There is a time where the Columbia River in the 70s, when the spring Chinook came back, and now I remember one year, I think there were like 12. and I can talk about the Yakima Nation and them losing the Dalles fishing and their traditional fishing sites.

Yes, we've done that for energy and that's what powers this city.

I'm one of these people that I plotted out and I go back and I look from my days of litigating.

I know how hard it was on these communities and I was there in 1991 at Evergreen Legal Services and the Native American Project with the likes of Doreen Maloney and Lorraine and all those folks.

And so I remember how contentious it was.

It wasn't like it is right now.

and I say this not as a quite elder yet, which makes me laugh, but having that historical perspective about how we got here, even the five off-license agreements for 350 million.

I mean, no one wants to do this and I think that's what people need to understand.

The tribes never want to be in a position where they have to sue because we don't always get what we want either.

but that's why we're here today and this is historic.

It's a $4 billion, as you know, package and I don't have to go into it.

You know how long this has been going on and as Council Member Strauss pointed out, 15, 16 parties.

It's not easy.

I'm not gonna take that away from you.

I know it's hard with the competing interests and not just with the feds and the state and the city but the recreational groups and the environmental groups and everyone's position about, you know, about dams in general.

So I look forward to this getting to the mayor's office and this getting over to FERC and seeing how the process works and stepping back and see if these fish passages work and the science works.

Because I think it may be the first of its kind, and correct me if I'm wrong, in the country where the tribes have done this with you in this type of agreement if it is going to be your license for 50 years.

because we know when these licenses started in the late 20s, and I said this the last time, I'll just say it briefly again, they used eminent domain to take away millions of acres of tribal land, not just in Washington State.

And when you go to California and you see within Northern California and Oregon and you see what those dams have done to the fish runs, it's obscene.

but that's where we're at today and I live in the real world.

So with that being said, I do wanna thank you for working with those three tribes and those agreements and taking into, and you certainly have your work cut out for you when the cultural stuff comes in.

That's gonna be a lot of work, The good thing is the law does, it does account for that now.

It does account for the stewardship of tribal leadership.

It does account for obviously government to government, tribal consultation.

And I always have to remind people that the tribe's relationship with the federal government is not based on race.

It's based on a political relationship based on the 1860 treaties.

and that is the supreme law of the land.

So that being said, I'm happy to get this out of here.

I'm tired of looking at it since 2018 and I'm sure the mayor's office would be happy to get this out the door as well.

And I look forward to, I will not be here in 2030, I'll tell you that.

So hopefully this will all go smoothly and you'll get your license and you'll continue to work with the tribes, but more importantly, just showing not just the city of Seattle but other cities that this can be done, that you can have these type of agreements and you can work with the tribes and every other group and every other user group because at the end of the day, as you heard me say last time, we don't want to be fighting over the last salmon.

and we have a lot of stuff coming.

We have a lot of things to work on when it comes to energy, hydro, dams, and of course, replenishing those species that we have lost.

And that's just more of a personal point of where I'm at.

Okay, with that, all right.

Is there anything you want to say before we go to a vote?

Are you all okay?

Is there anything you want to add?

You got anything for us, Eric?

Not a dang thing.

Just add that if this gets voted on today, you could go to council as soon as April 7, next week.

There you go.

Okay.

I was going to make an April Fool's joke, but I thought it would be inappropriate.

I was going to say, we're not going to vote today, but I'm just kidding.

All right.

It's still not too late, really.

Yeah, you're right.

It's not 240. I still got time.

Okay.

So with that, we have no more questions.

I did my closing remarks.

You guys are okay.

Let me do this now.

We'll get back on the script here.

We've got to follow Robert's rules of orders.

Here we go.

I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121177. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved in second and three seconds to recommend passage of the bill.

I know we have no further comments.

With that, clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Strauss?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Vice Chair Kettle?

Aye.

Chair Warris?

Aye.

Chair, there are five votes in favor and zero opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

Council Bill 121177 will be sent to the April 7th full city council meeting at 2 o'clock Tuesday.

All right, so we will now move on to our next item of business, which has a public hearing.

Mr. Clerk, will you please retitle into the public hearing into the record?

Agenda Item 2, Council Bill 121183, an ordinance relating to the City Light Department declaring certain real property surplus to the needs of City Light Department, authorizing the sale of a portion of City Light Department real property for road purposes to Snohomish County, reserving an easement for electric transmission line purposes and accepting the payment of fair market value for the property sold and deposit of the payment into the light fund.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

As presiding officer, I am now opening the public hearing on Council Bill 121183. Clerk, how many speakers do we have signed up?

There are no speakers signed up today.

Zero?

All right, so we have no speakers signed up in chambers or online.

With that, I am going to officially close the public hearing regarding Council Bill 121-183.

Now that the hearing is closed, I know we've got some new folks at the table, so if we can introduce yourselves again with your titles, starting with you, Mr. Smith, then we'll get going.

Craig Smith in from General Manager and CEO.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Bridget Molina, council legislation coordinator for Seattle City Light.

Hello, Katie Tassery.

I'm the out-of-class real estate manager for Seattle City Light.

Good afternoon.

I'm Bill Devereaux.

I'm the director of environmental management and real estate for Seattle City Light.

Thank you.

I see Bridget's new here.

She wasn't on our You're just manning the PowerPoint?

Yes.

I mean, you're working the PowerPoint.

Oh, good God, I'll use the wrong word and get in trouble.

You are using the PowerPoint.

Thank you.

All right, so with that, you guys can go ahead and start your presentation.

We have your PowerPoint in front of us on the property transfer to Snohomish County.

With that, I'll hand it over to you.

Thank you.

The ordinance before the committee today authorizes City Light to transfer a portion of property rights in our transmission corridor to Snohomish County government.

The action supports Snohomish County's Road Improvement Project along the 43rd Avenue Southeast Sunset Corridor, Sunset Road Corridor, enhancing safety, mobility and connectivity for the surrounding community.

This is a limited property rights transfer, and City Light retains the rights necessary to ensure the continued safe and reliable operation of our transmission system.

Snohomish County will provide fair market value compensation through a one-time payment and will assume responsibility for the roadway improvements.

This action reflects our strong intergovernmental partnership while protecting core utility functions and public infrastructure.

I'll now hand it off to Katie Tassery to share the presentation and answer questions.

Thank you.

You can move it up, Katie.

Yeah, there you go.

So we're here because anytime City Light is buying or selling real property rights, we need council authority to do so.

And this first slide just speaks to that.

We actually began negotiations with Snohomish County over five years ago on this project, and we'll get into where.

If you can move the slide.

So the location of the property that City Light owns and the roadway project that Snohomish County is embarking on is 43rd Avenue Southeast here.

It's just south of Mill Creek and sometimes a lot of the signs out there say North Creek is sort of the neighborhood area.

And it's unincorporated and it's a pretty rural area but lots and lots of new development out there.

Next slide.

So, Snohomish County, as part of their comprehensive plan per the Growth Management Act, is doing this roadway project to improve 1.7 miles on the 43rd Avenue corridor, and they did some studies.

This is the best location.

It runs just adjacent to City Lights Transmission Corridor, and it's to create a new roadway to move cars north and south between some of the major arterials out there.

and you can see there's...

I have to say this, Kate, this is my favorite picture.

I didn't know what a bioswell was.

I see them everywhere and I had to ask Council Member Strauss.

I go, oh, this is what you've been talking about, these thingies.

Yeah, it looks nice, huh?

Yeah, it does actually.

Next slide, please.

So City Light has a transmission corridor that goes just along on the west side of that roadway.

Some of the roadway already exists and will be widened, and some of it needs to be connected to other streets that are along the corridor.

City Light's transmission line is part of the larger east side line, and it's a long, skinny strip that's about 155 feet wide that just allows the corridor to bring the electricity from up north to down south.

and the roadway is just on the east side of that, the existing roadway, so the portion that Snohomish County is acquiring is really just this little sliver between the high transmission lines which prevent and restrict any sort of development and then the existing roadway.

Is that a little lake, the blue thing on the corner?

Or is that a building?

That blue blob?

I was wondering what that was.

We can follow up on that.

No, I don't need to know.

I just thought if you knew, I was just wondering.

It's okay.

You don't have to get back to me.

In addition, there's some trees and things that are in this narrow strip that Snohomish County PUD would be acquiring, and we've heard from our operations folks that those trees are a risk to the transmission line anyway and something that City Light would have had to address, but this project actually resolves that issue, and City Light no longer has to remove those trees.

So in the transfer, you know, there's a portion of property that would be transferred.

It's a long, skinny strip, as I said.

City Light would retain all of our easement rights to keep the corridor intact, and we would receive a one-time payment of $452,216, which is the fair market value for the property rights.

The reason why Councilor Rivera and I are smiling and laughing is because you're protecting trees, and people really care about trees, some of us more than others, but thank you for that.

Next slide.

That's it, are there?

Oh, that's it.

Okay.

Well, is there anything from my colleagues?

Councillor Rivera, are you happy with the trees, the whole thing?

Yes, thank you.

Thank you for preserving trees.

We laugh, but it's an important thing, particularly just given climate change, you all know, protecting of our canopy is really important, however we can do it, as often as we can do it, so I really appreciate So just to clarify, they'd actually be cutting those trees down.

Oh, I thought you said you were preserving those trees.

I heard you say just now you didn't have to do that.

Yeah.

City Light does not have to, but Snohomish County would be to put the roadway through.

Oh, well, then I take it back.

Boo.

We take it back.

We thought you said that.

Well, we're not doing it, though.

We're not doing it.

They're the bad guys, not us.

Not that we don't care about Snohomish County.

100%.

We care a lot.

So, I mean, I guess I will say, Chair, that I'm disappointed to hear we have to cut down trees.

and I'm not going to throw our colleagues in Snohomish County under the bus.

I do, in all seriousness, you know, anytime we cut down trees, it's a big deal.

And, you know, the residents that I represent in the district, but also across the city, we know that we have broad support for preservation of trees, so we don't take it lightly when those have to be removed.

that's true for City Light.

And so it's disappointing in this instance, and it sounds like we have to, it's part of the work that we have to do.

But this is why in other areas where we don't have to, we should be really working to preserve tree canopy in our city and across our state.

That's why we are the evergreen state and we want to keep it that way.

And it also goes to the ecosystems chair and has an access to salmon in our waterways.

So all of that is true.

And trees also, I mean, it really truly, trees help keep our waterways clean.

I know, you just did the whole circle of life right there.

Circle of life.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

Thank you.

All kidding aside, I'm sorry.

It's only Wednesday and we're tired.

Is there anything from Council Member Strauss?

Yeah, may I?

Yes, you may.

Thank you, Chair.

As colleagues, you may know that Council President Emeritus Juarez has tasked me with continuing the legacy that she has created around Native communities and tribal governments as part of this.

I think everyone has been hearing the song I have been singing about, and we've now named it.

We have named it as of today.

We will be running the Beyond the Land Acknowledgement resolution.

Land back.

It's called land back.

You can add that part as an amendment.

It would be a little awkward for me to start out there.

to come.

But we're going with this.

It's a conversation that we've had with SPU.

Katie, I really appreciate the conversations that we had in briefing for this meeting.

We've spoken to FAS.

And yet, still, it's not an official policy or resolution of the city of Seattle yet.

I have been working on Senator John McCoy's two years of education before writing a policy, and so I think we're getting closer to having a formal policy so that there's less confusion.

In this situation, I really appreciate the work that you've done because, again, success is not by accident in this case.

This has been many years in the works.

and the nexus here of transferring this land to another utility for a utility purpose is really center for me.

The amount of land that we're transferring and the distinct purpose that it is being used for where it has been used and will be used for in the future gives me no pause in supporting this land transfer today and I just really appreciate everyone's keen attention to engaging in a government-to-government consultation with federally recognized tribes when we are dispossessing or transferring of land.

I know with SPU, they had talked to a school district when they were transferring the land.

If we're talking to school, this is not a shade at anyone, right?

Again, but by way of example, if we are having conversations with another government that is a school district, we darn well should be having consultation with our sovereign neighbors who are federally recognized tribes.

So all of that to say, job really well done.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

Are there any other questions before I go to a vote?

All right.

I'm not seeing any.

Am I vice chair?

Nope.

I think we're good.

All right.

Okay, so let me do this.

I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121177. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the bill.

Any further comments?

Not seeing any.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Strauss?

Aye.

Council Member Sacca?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Vice Chair Kettle?

Aye.

Chair Juarez?

I don't know why I was doing a thumbs up too I was watching this yes yes so what is that chair there are five votes in favor and zero post great the motion carries council bill one two one one eight three will be sent to the April 7th full city council meeting that is Tuesday April 7th at two o'clock along with council bill one two one one seven seven the skagit river hydroelectric project comprehensive settlement agreement All right, we have reached the end of today's meeting agenda.

Is there anything else for my colleagues?

All right, not seeing any and any other further business to come before the council.

We are adjourned and it is 2.53.

Thank you.