Seattle City Council 3/2/2020

Good afternoon, everyone.

Today is March 2nd, 2020. The meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

I'm Teresa Mosqueda, Pro Tem President for Seattle City Council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Peterson.

Here.

Sawant.

Strauss.

Herbold.

Here.

Juarez.

Lewis.

Here.

Morales.

Here.

Council President Pro Tem Mosqueda.

Here.

Five present.

Thank you.

Today, I am not aware of any presentations.

I will note for the good of the viewing public that we have a presentation that we are hoping will come next week.

We had intended to have our friends from Public Health Seattle King County here with us today.

Due to the events that have occurred over the weekend in the last few weeks slash months, we know that they've been very busy and given the latest news, I believe now six deaths in the region.

We have an upcoming briefing, I believe this Wednesday, Council Member Herbold, is that correct?

That is correct.

And we will have more information from our friends from Public Health Seattle-King County, our emergency preparedness team at the City of Seattle, and we will be able to share information at that moment, and we will also get an update next Monday.

This morning at council briefing, I shared the information from the CDC on COVID-19.

And I'm going to pass this out, Madam Clerk, if I might be able to put that on the podium for the public as well.

This is a document from the CDC, cdc.gov backslash COVID-19.

I just want to take a quick second to acknowledge all of the individuals and their families who have lost their lives and the individuals who are also ill, who are in the good care of public health team and also under their careful watch.

And also to our viewing public in the audience and around the city and region.

We know there's a lot of questions and concerns out there, but we want to remind folks of some of the most important information that we've received so far.

Number one, the best way to prevent the spread of any disease is to wash your hands.

Avoid contact with those who are sick.

Please do not try to touch your face, your mouth, your eyes, your nose with any unwashed hands.

When you do wash, please use soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

As I mentioned this morning, counting to 30 seconds is a really good practice that I try to use.

You can use sanitizer, and we have some sanitizer that we will put on the podium for folks who are here as well to use in the audience.

And that is not as good as soap and water, but also a helpful way to help spread disease and to wash off any areas that are shared, any surfaces and objects that are touched.

You can also wash those off with disinfectants.

Lastly, we want to remind folks that if you do feel ill in any way, if you have a fever, a cough, the chills, want to make sure that folks stay home.

And it's hard to say that when I know a lot of people need to go to work.

The good thing about our initiative that we passed in the state is that everyone has paid sick and safe leave.

If you fear retaliation, Please know that you can reach out to our Office of Labor Standards for greater clarification about how to access your paid sick and safe days because embedded in Washington State law and in Seattle's law is protection from retaliation so that you can use your paid sick and safe leave.

We've sent a message to all of our team, and I know each of the council members have probably had a conversation with their teams as well.

If anybody is feeling sick, please do stay home.

And again, the best thing to do is like we would do to prevent the flu, just keep, practice good hygiene and keep your hands very clean.

Should you start to feel sick and want to seek medical care, the advice that we're hearing from the CDC and local public health officials is to contact your health provider first before going in.

They can give you information about how to contact your care team.

We want to make sure people don't go in to accidentally expose people if they feel sick and to make sure to reach out to your care team before coming in.

Again, there's going to be more information provided later this week on Wednesday.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold, for making your committee available for this special meeting.

And we will again have information ideally next Monday at full council as well.

Council Member Sawant.

Thank you, President Miskita.

I just wanted to add also that from the data that we're seeing nationwide, and from some of the important media articles that have been published, it's clear that one of the barriers, in addition to everything that you just said, one of the barriers is the fact that we don't have a Medicare for all kind of system.

And so for individuals who are uninsured or underinsured, for them just going to a doctor and getting tested is a question of co-pays that they cannot afford, and so people don't go to the doctor.

I sent a letter to the Mayor, Mayor Durkin and King County Executive Constantine that one, as elected officials, we should be urging the insurance industry and the hospital industry that they should, you know, not have co-pays and other payments so that people can actually get tested, so that we can keep this under containment.

And also, if necessary, the city or the county's emergency fund should be released to address this.

But I've heard that also at the state level there are steps being taken, but I think that's very important as well.

Thank you, Council Member.

Okay.

Seeing no other comments, appreciate the thoughts that were sent to the families and the comments that were made this morning as well at full council briefing to continue to correct folks if we do hear any misinformation that's out there, especially as it relates to racial profiling.

Appreciate the comments earlier today from our council colleagues about continuing to patron the folks who have restaurants and establishments in the international district.

We do have approval of the minutes in front of us now.

The minutes of the February 10th, 2020 City Council meeting have been reviewed.

If there's no objection, the minutes will be signed.

Hearing no objection, the meeting minutes are being signed.

If there's no objection, the Introduction and Referral Council will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the Introduction and Referral Council is adopted.

Before we move on to public comment, I want to make sure that we have a chance to recognize our colleague Councilmember Juarez is not here today.

Hearing no objection, Councilmember Juarez will be excused.

No objection.

Councilmember Juarez is excused.

I have no doubt she was watching at home.

So hello, Councilmember Juarez.

And finally, if there's no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

At this time, we're gonna take public comment, and we do have a few folks signed up to comment.

We will do two minutes, Madam Clerk, and at that time, please know that your microphone will be turned off just so that we can get to the other items on today's agenda.

We have first, Myari Dulaney, Nyjus Berhun, and then Sochi.

Hi, welcome.

So I have a few questions about the virus.

First of all, have y'all considered temporarily providing extra sick days for people in the city of Seattle?

The second one, have y'all considered requiring food service industry management to send home sick employees, not just making it optional as it is now, but make it fully mandatory?

And third, would it be possible somehow to provide nitrile gloves for those of us that ride the bus.

I mean, I buy my own, but, and I hand them out, but I can't afford to hand them out to literally everybody I see.

But that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Good questions.

We will take those back.

It's my turn?

Yes, it's your turn.

Thank you.

And just pull the microphone real close.

Okay.

My voice is too loud.

Thank you, City Council.

My name is Negus Barihun.

I used to call Herod Barihun, nonetheless.

The good news is I get my passport.

I died 1981 Sudan.

I went heaven.

Heaven is beautiful.

And God said, I send you to land for world peace.

I will protect you.

On my peace plan, some Americans, Mexican, Costa Rican, Colombian, Central American, Puerto Rican, and Eritrean will not participate.

I am a mentor.

I am blocked worldwide from embassies or others.

I will go to New York as soon as I can and to go to European embassies to get a visa.

As soon as I get my visa, I will go to Ethiopia.

I will email.

My email address is barihun94gmail.com.

Amazon must pay tax.

My plan, we will have a job, we will have a place to live, we have no sickness, we have no disease.

On 2018, I called the meeting.

The meeting, I videotaped.

It is a scanner.

And I went to airport 2018. The airport police give me a trespassing.

I was sitting down for a bus.

And if I managed to go to airport, this is I scan it.

It's expired after one year.

And this is ISCANNIT.

This is to go to Canada.

There is no requirement, passport or a visa.

ISCANNIT.

Thank you kindly.

Please follow me.

When I go to New York, I'll contact...

Thank you very much.

I appreciate you being here again.

Xochitl, welcome.

Okay, my name's Xochitl, and I'm the political director, Xochitl Makevich, I'm the political director for Washington Community Action Network.

And I just want to take a moment, because I know in your work plan that you're going to be voting on, you talk about the losing home report recommendations.

And I wanted to just share the really quick, some of the recommendations that have not yet been done.

Senator Cooter, Representative McAree's eviction reform last year took care of many as well as several ordinances that Councilmember Herbold introduced.

But there's still several that need to be done and I think just specifically I want to talk about the money aspect because I know that money is now getting talked about in regards to this.

So one, it's really important when thinking about eviction prevention, it's important to realize that not every single person who is behind on rent will qualify for eviction prevention funds.

In order to qualify for a program like Homebase, you need to have proof that you are going to become financially stable, right?

If you had some really bad car accident and you weren't able to work, weren't able to get paid, but you're on your way to getting things back together, Those are the sort of situations that get covered under something like Homebase or other similar eviction prevention programs.

In order to help people who either have no income or their fixed income and they're not going to be able to pay rent like they have a $700 a month Social Security payment, their rent is now 1,200 or something, you need to just have a straight up rental subsidy, right?

And I know that Council Member Gonzalez and Council Member Herbold proposed a shallow rental subsidy last year.

I think expanding off of that work to model programs similar in D.C.

and New York City would do a lot.

The other thing that's important is All of these, when it comes to the money, programs around money, the landlords are super into it and super happy with it.

So you'll have both tenants and landlords really into it.

Thank you, Xochitl.

Yes, absolutely.

We'll take your materials.

Appreciate you being here.

Thanks.

Thank you.

The next three people are Douglas Itu, Paul Lambros, and Jennifer Lafferini.

Hello.

Hello, my name is Doug Ito.

I'm a principal and architect at SMR Architects.

Most of our work is for affordable housing throughout Washington State and in particular I'm here to testify for the reappointment of Nathan Torgelson for the director of SDCI.

He has been instrumental in getting SDCI's processes streamlined and and working with all the other city departments to make affordable housing easier and quicker through the process of permitting.

It's very important that somebody who knows what's happening, knows how the sausage is made, can get that through the process.

So I'm here just to give my support to Nathan.

Very nice.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Paul Lambros.

Hi Paul.

Good afternoon council members.

I'm here too to support the reappointment of Nathan Torgelson.

I've had the privilege of working with Nathan for around 20 years now.

and he's done an excellent job for the city.

We at Plymouth have felt very supported by Nathan and his team as we develop more permanent supportive housing to bring more of our neighbors off the streets.

And I also want to just mention, thank you for the partnership you're doing with public health, because we're concerned about a lot of our residents and other people who are on our streets around this virus.

So permitting is always quite a process, but as a nonprofit working with multiple funding sources, there's been extra effort to get us through the process, mostly because of the timing requirements of some of that funding, and they've been very supportive in helping us do that.

We're actually running a capital campaign right now.

I'm never too late to give.

capital campaign right now.

Our goal is to bring on five buildings, five new supportive housing buildings within the next three and a half years.

The first one at 501 Rainier is going to open next month, and we just broke ground at the one at 2nd and Mercer, which was land donated by you, long-term lease by you, the City of Seattle, so we really appreciate that.

But it's quite a complicated project, and we wanted to get to construction on time, and so we had to work extra hard with this team to get us there, and we did, and we broke ground on that project.

So they've helped us with all of this.

Plymouth really appreciates the work of Nathan and his team.

He's relied on our plate and a lot of projects to go.

And I know it's been a very difficult job right now, because not only in the nonprofit world, they're doing more and more housing, but so is the for-profit world.

So there's lots going on with development.

And we really appreciate the value of him and the department.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you very much, Paul.

Jennifer.

And Jennifer, if you could help me correctly say your last name, that'd be appreciated.

Yeah.

My name is Jennifer Lafreniere.

I am an architect and co-founder of The Block Project, a homeless housing and community building program here in Seattle.

And I'm here to speak in strong support of the reappointment of Nathan Torgelson to director of SDCI.

In one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, the director of the building department's job is a complex and inundated one, which is why I'm consistently impressed that every single interaction I have with Nathan is thoughtful caring and collaborative.

He speaks with sincerity having the best of intentions for the people of the city and has remained open and positive when we run into any issues.

This is something that I've also noticed and greatly appreciated in the staff at SDCI and I see this as a sign of good leadership.

Our grassroots project built for and by community wouldn't be here today without where it is today without people like Nathan Torgelson or Dan Strauss who has also given a lot of time and support Thank you, too, from the bottom of my heart.

Excellent.

Thank you very much, Jennifer.

Did we have other people?

David, yes, if you'd like to come, and we'll get you signed up.

Go ahead and speak, though.

Hi, thank you.

Council can change the Community Police Commission Director of the CPC, but you haven't taken out the conflict of interest where the unconstitutional police reform continues to implode society, exempting crack, meth, and heroin.

and most likely fentanyl low-level drug pushers from jail who destroy lives daily, while the Seattle police are focusing coffee outreach overtime with community service officers who are propagandizing the blame and the sweeping of the houseless, while the cops refuse to go after the evil meth manufacturers in Ballard.

But yet they will steal your survival gear if you see it, if they see it.

Perhaps you should put hand washing machines outside the bathroom at the central library and the community dinner.

And perhaps this is a perfect time to investigate homeless industrial refusing services paid for and embellished about in data.

And we need an independent representation on the regional homeless authority because all home is getting in the way of progress.

They are offering $20 for two hours a month to solve the homeless crisis.

And beware some of the evil who purposely cough and sneeze on the rapid ride bus E at the 105th where evil is conducting warfare and the cops are looking the other way on it.

Thank you very much, David.

And we'll have you sign in, David, over here if you don't mind.

Thank you.

Maybe on the other table if that's okay, Linda.

Okay.

And did you want to speak?

Yes, wonderful.

And if you don't mind just stating your name and we'll get you signed in for the record as well.

I'm Genevieve Hillcase.

I work for GMD Development.

We're an affordable housing developer in Seattle here.

And I also wanted to make a comment in support of Nathan Torkelson's reappointment.

We are, one of the biggest challenges that we face in the city of Seattle developing affordable housing is long permitting timelines.

And they have a significant impact on the cost and viability of our projects.

Nathan's been an incredible advocate for streamlining the permitting process for affordable housing developers, and has even personally ensured that certain permits clear time-consuming hurdles.

Nathan's been a great champion for the development of affordable housing in the city, and I hope you'll reappoint him.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And if you don't mind signing in right there, we'll get you in for the record.

Is there anybody else who'd like to testify?

Okay, seeing none, that will close our public testimony for today.

Moving on, we have payment of bills.

Please read the title.

Council Bill 119751, apporting money to pay starting claims for the week of February 17th, 2020 through February 21st, 2020 and ordering the payment thereof.

I move to pass Council Bill 119751. Second.

It's been moved and seconded that the bill passes.

Are there any other comments?

Seeing none, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Peterson aye.

Sawant aye.

Strauss aye.

Herbold aye.

Lewis aye.

Morales aye.

President Mosqueda aye.

Seven in favor none opposed.

Thank you Madam Clerk.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Speaking of Nathan Torgelson, we have the first item on the agenda from the report from the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee.

Please read the report.

The report of the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee, agenda item one, appointment 1546, reappointment of Nathan G. Torgelson as Director, Seattle Department of Constructions and Inspections for a term to January 1st, 2024. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed with Councilmembers Strauss, Mosqueda, and Lewis in favor, with an abstention with Councilmember Peterson.

Wonderful.

Councilmember Strauss is chair of the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee.

Would you like to speak to this reappointment?

Yes, and...

Oh dear.

Let me grab a couple pieces of...

There you go.

Thank you.

I will note and filibuster for a second that we do have Nathan Torkelson with us.

After folks make some comments up here, you are welcome to speak.

I'm not sort of indicating which way that vote will go, but we're excited to have you in the audience and we'll ask you to say a few words.

Great, and as we clean up spilled water, no reason to cry, I will speak to the appointment 01546, the reappointment of Director Torgelson as SDCI Director.

It's been a pleasure working with Director Torgelson over the past several years, first as staff and now as Chair of the Land Use Committee.

Director Torgelson has led SDCI since the department was created in 2015. And prior to this reorganization that established SDCI, he had worked as the Deputy Director at the Department of Planning and Development, which preceded SDCI.

and has worked with a wide variety of roles since he first started in the city in 1990. Director Torgelson has shown leadership throughout recent development boom, resulting in high permitting volumes while also working to implement MHA and other code amendments.

We asked a lot of questions of Director Torgelson, both in writing and in committee, so many that we initially broke his reappointment process into two different committee hearings, meetings.

And so, Director Torgelson, you answered our questions sufficiently with high caliber answers and your ability to meet us and discuss each of the questions that was asked of you in such depth was really meaningful to me and I'm sure to many of my other colleagues here.

Many of these questions really focused on the permitting process and timing about affordability, about protecting trees, permitting trees, affordability and equity, and so many more questions.

I am really looking forward to working with you, Director Torgelson, on all of these issues for years to come.

Either colleagues, if you have other questions, or if Director Torgelson, if you have anything that you'd like to say, I believe,

sure let's uh let's see if our council colleagues have any other comments and then we will potentially entertain a vote and then invite up our guest council member lewis

Yes, and so would this be the appropriate time to make comments on the confirmation?

Yes.

Thank you.

So, I mean, first I just want to say I can attest as Chairman Strauss just stated that Director Torgelson did ably answer my questions.

I voted to send Director Torgelson forward for confirmation.

I fully intend to vote for him again today.

I just wanted to make a couple of comments.

addressing my general philosophy of this reappointment and executive appointments in general, and maybe addressing, just for the record, some of the criticisms that I had heard from constituents about the city's recent development policies.

And I first, just backing up, just wanted to say, you know, it's my personal belief that The mayor has a great deal of latitude in sending us executive appointments.

I mean, just like us, the mayor is subject to election.

The mayor is elected based on promises to and programs to deliver by the voters of the city.

The mayor deserves to have executive appointments if they are qualified.

to enact and pursue the things that the mayor promised to deliver on.

And we have an oversight requirement to make sure that those nominees are qualified.

So the first thing I'll say is Director Torgelson is unambiguously very qualified.

And we as a city are very fortunate to have someone who, in terms of educational background, has a master's degree in urban planning from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

has 30 years of demonstrated public policy experience, mostly in the city of Seattle, but I believe also briefly at the city of Kent, in urban planning and economic development.

During my transition, I can just personally attest that Director Torgelson has been, and everyone in his department, have been a great resource in getting me up to speed to be prepared to be a council member and to work with the department on a lot of the policies that we look forward to working on together as a council and an administration.

That was attested to during the public comment by some folks here who are affordable housing developers who are doing great work to scale up affordable housing opportunities as well as supportive housing opportunities for the least fortunate among us, and also workforce housing to make sure that if you live in the city you can, or if you work in the city, you can continue to live in the city, which is definitely something that is not a certain prospect going forward.

based on the inequality that's been growing a lot in the city of Seattle.

So it's been good to have that cooperation from Director Torgelson.

Based on that, I'm definitely prepared to Vote to confirm him.

I guess my only comment would be to the folks that have emailed me expressing concern about current development patterns in the city to the folks who have contacted my office and Essentially are concerned about the the impact of development on tree canopy the impact of development on Neighborhood livability concerns and neighborhood character I think it Those are political questions that are left to the next time we have elections for mayor.

And at that point, those concerns can be expressed and those policy concerns can be pursued.

But the executive agency heads that we appoint are there to enact the policy regardless of who the policy maker setting them is.

And Director Torgelson is unambiguously qualified.

He's answered all my questions.

I think that he deserves my confirmation vote based on that, and I intend to do that this afternoon.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Lewis, your points are well taken.

Appreciate that background and also your strong support.

Any other comments?

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you.

I want to thank Nathan Torkelson for his long-term and dedicated public service to our city.

It's important, I think, for us to recognize the department heads in our city who work very hard, and even if we have disagreements with them about certain policies, to treat them with respect.

We want to retain our public servants so that they continue to serve our city.

During the committee, I had abstained because I was still working my way through all the questions and answers because we had given them a lot of questions in advance.

I wanted to flag some concerns raised by my constituents about mandatory housing affordability, making sure that we honor the goal of the City Council that passed MHA, which is to have more on-site development of affordable housing so that it's economically integrated in all of our communities and built faster than waiting for some of the in-lieu funding.

So there was a goal of 50-50 for the on-site development of affordable housing.

Also, concern about loss of tree canopy, concern that private sector real estate developers are ripping out the trees and the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection is not using its full authority to protect those larger conifers that have such a strong environmental health, social justice benefits to our city.

And then finally, just the looking at a lens of preventing displacement.

We're seeing as the city grows so quickly, we're seeing displacement from all different areas of our city and just making sure that SDCI joins other departments and looking at it through that lens and whether that's collecting data to see where we're losing naturally occurring affordable housing or through other means.

And I had a nice conversation with Director Torgelson after the meeting and so I will be voting yes on his confirmation.

Excellent.

Thank you very much Councilmember Peterson.

Any additional comments?

Councilmember Morales.

Sure, why not?

Good afternoon.

So I just want to say that Nathan and I have had several conversations about racial equity and my frustration with the fact that it is not part of the conversation as we're looking through development processes.

There is no place in the development process where we get to ask the question, how will people of color be impacted, will displacement occur?

And so we haven't solved that problem yet, but I want to thank you for your willingness to have that conversation and be creative in thinking about how we can insert that conversation somewhere.

That is to be determined.

The other issue that I think is really important and is a concern that we both share is what to do about the unreinforced masonry buildings in the Chinatown International District.

We've got 20,000 people living in buildings that are at huge risk when the earthquake happens that we know is going to happen in the city.

We need to work with the states, work with our county partners to figure out how we're gonna help pay for the kinds of seismic retrofits that need to happen so that we can protect our neighbors.

This is a public safety issue and we really need to make sure that we're working together.

So I appreciate that is a concern that we share and I look forward to working with you to try to figure that one out.

Thank you.

Thank you Councilmember Morales.

Councilmember Herbold.

Thank you.

I too was going to commend Director Torgelson for the identification of addressing unreinforced masonry buildings in our city and coming up with an approach for our city to do so.

I really appreciate that.

It's a high priority for me and has been for several years and it's really good to see it on the top five of your priorities for your next four years, so thank you.

I also want to speak to some of the items that you've identified as your successes.

Items that are really high priorities for for council members primarily addressing vacant buildings and The council's efforts to Underscore and highlight the work that our city has done on behalf of renters in and pushing out more information about tenants' rights and actually having more robust staffing to support tenants in their efforts to enforce their rights.

The fact that you have identified these two items as successes of yours, I think, is a really good indicator of your willingness to work with this council in identifying our shared goals.

So, thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Any additional comments?

Okay.

Well, wonderful.

Mr. Chair, would you like to wrap this up?

I would.

I would like to move to confirm appointment 01546, the reappointment of Director Nathan Torkelson of SDCI.

Second.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

Any additional comments?

Seeing none.

All of those in favor of confirming the appointment, please vote aye and raise your hand.

Aye.

Any opposed?

And seeing no one opposed, the appointment is confirmed.

Mr. Torkelson, you are welcome to come to the microphone and share some comments.

I also will note the appreciation from the audience and those who spoke in your support today was really greatly appreciated.

Thank you for answering all of our questions as well with the good chair's permission.

We included a number of questions on affordable housing and appreciate you answering those.

So congratulations and welcome back to the microphone in this new role.

Thank you very much.

So I'm really honored and humbled to be nominated by Mayor Durkin and to be confirmed by the City Council for another four-year term as Director of SDCI.

And I want to especially thank Council Member Strauss and the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee for their thorough review and questioning.

We have great challenges as a city and as SDCI.

We have permitting timelines with housing production is a major challenge, affordability, homelessness, earthquake preparedness, and protection of our natural environment.

And our department really touches upon all of these issues.

But I'm eager to work on these challenges and to continue in our role to implement our department's vision of building a safe, livable, and inclusive Seattle.

So I just want you to know I take this responsibility really seriously.

I'm thinking about these issues 24-7, but I couldn't do it without the amazing support of our 400 employees at SDCI who come to work every day and are dedicated public servants.

So, thank you very much.

I look forward to working with you for the next four years.

Excellent.

Thank you.

And we look forward to seeing you again soon.

I want to take a moment to congratulate Councilmember Strauss on a really well-run interview process and a robust discussion.

Anything else, Councilmember Strauss?

Yes, and just the, you know, Director Torgelson, thank you so much for being present and answering all of our questions and also just to give kudos to your staff, Christina, and to my staff, Noah, who have helped us both through this very in-depth process of ensuring that all, no stone was left unturned and all questions were answered.

Thank you so much and congratulations.

Excellent.

So Mr. Torkelson's oath of office will be administered tomorrow by the city clerk, Monica Martinez-Simmons, at 4.45 p.m.

in the Norm Rice room at City Hall.

I think that we were anticipating a positive vote today, so that is scheduled for tomorrow already.

Excellent.

Item number two.

Could you please read agenda item number two into the record?

Agenda item 2, Council Bill 119749 relating to historic preservation imposing controls upon the University of Washington Eagleson Hall, a landmark designated by the Landmarks Preservation Board under Chapter 25.12 of the Seattle Municipal Code and adding it to the table of historical landmarks contained in Chapter 25.32 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

Many of the items on today's agenda come from your committee, so I'll be turning it over to you again.

Thank you.

We have seven items on today's committee because we get a lot of work done quickly.

So, Council Bill 119749 imposes controls on UW's Eagleson Hall.

This legislation imposes controls upon the Both the site, the exterior, original main lounge, and social room, it was designated as a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Board in June.

Eagleson Hall was built in 1923 in the collegiate gothic style by architect Bevan Gould, who also designed Suzzallo Hall and the administration building at the Ballard Locks.

and the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

The Seattle Times building, amongst others.

This building was originally constructed for the university branch YMCA, and also shared some space with the YWCA for some time.

In the 1960s, the building was sold to the university, who have used it for the School of Social Work and the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences ever since.

In fact, my father, as a UW social work student, studied in Eagleson Hall.

there's a personal connection here as well.

We reviewed this council bill in committee and all of our questions were answered and I would move to adopt council bill 119749. Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

Are there any additional comments?

Yes.

Yes, Council Member Peterson.

Yes, so this is in district four and I am very pleased to see it move forward.

Thank you.

Excellent, great.

Any additional comments?

Okay, seeing none, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Aye.

Sawant?

Aye.

Strauss?

Aye.

Herbold?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Aye.

President Mosqueda?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Excellent, thank you.

Please read agenda item number, oh, excuse me, let me say this officially.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Please read agenda item number three into the record.

Agenda item three, Council Bill 119748, relating to historic preservation, imposing controls upon the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Exchange, a landmark designated by the Landmarks Preservation Board under Chapter 25.12 of Seattle Municipal Code, and adding to the table of historical landmarks contained in Chapter 25.32 of Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Excellent.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you.

In addition to having seven items before a full council today, we have also had four in-district walking tours with small businesses, helped over 30 constituents, and met with 28 different constituents in-district.

Now speaking to Council Bill 119748, imposing controls upon the Sunset Telephone and Telephone graph exchange this legislation imposes controls on the site and the exterior of the building which was built in the neoclassical style and this building was also designated as a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Board in June.

The structure was built in 1905 to serve as one of Seattle's earliest telephone exchange buildings and it's significant to women's labor history because of its role as a workplace for many women at a time when there were few employment opportunities for women.

After it was a telephone exchange, this was used as a Masonic Lodge.

Masonic Lodge 242 purchased the building in 1924 and occupied the space for...

for the next nine decades.

Today, the building sits vacant and is unreinforced masonry, and I also share the sentiments of Councilmember Herbold and Morales regarding unreinforced masonry.

And so these controls will help preserve the building while it is remodeled and seismically retrofitted.

Excellent.

Thank you very much Councilmember Strauss.

I really appreciate in your committee how you called for additional attention to the historic use of it.

And I think Councilmember Lewis also was pointing out that there had been previous buildings that had plaques, if that's correct, to call out the previous historical usage.

So love the connection there to building on our history of strong women occupying that building.

Any additional comments?

Yes, Councilmember Lewis.

Just really briefly to echo comments that I made this morning during briefing, fully support this bill that's before us today.

I think it's a really great example of how we can increase housing density in some of our neighborhoods while also protecting and expanding the aesthetic character of the neighborhoods through the unique identities that some of these buildings bring in in terms of the not only how they look, but also the unique history that some of them bring to our neighborhoods.

I think it's something that as a council we should continue to incentivize and work with folks to bring forward, because it really is a unique way to introduce more density.

The fact that this building is now going to turn into two townhomes where it was a not frequently used in recent years meeting center for the Masons is a step in the right direction and Fully look forward to voting for this today.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Lewis any additional comments?

Seeing none, please call the roll on the passage of the bill Peterson.

Aye.

Sawak.

Aye.

Strauss.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

President Mosqueda.

Aye.

Seven in favor none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Madam Clerk, please read Agenda Items 4 and 5 into the record.

Agenda Items 4 and 5. Appointments 1497 and 1500. Appointments of Deanie Barnes and Lance Neely as members Landmarks Preservation Board for term to August 14, 2022. The committee recommends these appointments be confirmed.

Excellent.

Council Member Strouth.

Yes, President Pro Tem.

Appointments 01497 and 01500, two appointments to the Landmarks Preservation Board that are mayoral appointments.

Dean Barnes has served as the Director of Human Resources for the Seattle Housing Authority and the Director of Employment Services for the city.

He brings a deep interest in local history and was able to share a fair amount of details about Seattle's history with us at the committee table, which I think we all found very interesting, fascinating, and appreciate his interest in being able to build the density that we need while preserving the unique character of our community.

And he also has an experience on a variety of local and national committees.

Appointment 500 is Lance Neely, who is a real estate broker and fills the real estate position on the Landmarks Preservation Board, and is the proprietor of a real estate firm that focuses on historic homes.

Excellent.

Thank you very much, Council Member Strauss.

Are there any additional comments on these appointments?

Okay, seeing none, all those in favor of confirming appointments four and five on today's agenda, please vote aye and raise your hand.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, the motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Thank you very much, Council Member Strauss.

Madam Clerk, please read agenda item number six into the record.

Agenda item six, clerk file 314434, application of Berrientos Ryan LLC to rezone an approximately 20,000 square foot parcel located at 4544, 4515, 4600 Union Bay Place Northeast from commercial two with a 55 foot height limit and M mandatory housing affordability suffix to commercial two with a 65 foot height limit and M1 MHA suffix.

The committee recommends that the application be granted.

Excellent, Council Member Strauss.

Yes, so item six and seven are the two items related to the contract rezone of 4600 Union Bay Place.

This is a quasi-judicial matter which I brought up at council briefing this morning, so if anyone has received communications from proponents or opponents of this process, please make sure to confer with Ketel Freeman, or if you have questions about quasi-judicial process, please confer with Ketel Freeman and our central staff.

This is a contract rezone application for three parcels at 4544, 4550, and 4600 Union Bay Place Northeast.

The applicant is, as we heard, seeking a rezone from commercial two with a 50 foot height limit to commercial two with a 65 foot height limit.

One of the things in committee that struck me about the presentation in which we received at committee was that with the gradation and the setback from the Burke-Gilman Trail, there is, this brings it, the building height limits to a similar height, even though it is a higher height being allowed.

The rezone increases the affordability level required under MHA from the lowest M level to M1.

And the applicant is planning to develop 98 unit building with 2000 square feet of retail space.

In addition to the MHA requirements, this project will be participating in the mandatory, a multifamily tax exemption and 20% of the units on site will be rent restricted affordable to households between 65 to 85 percent of area median income.

SDCI and the hearing examiner have both issued recommendations to approve and there were no appeals.

Thank you very much Councilmember Strauss.

We will take item 6 first and then item 7. Before we do that any additional comments on item number 6?

Councilmember Peterson.

Yes, this project is in District 4 and because it's a contract rezone we're not able to actually delve into it until we receive the clerk file at the committee.

But what was presented to us was very thorough and thoughtful.

And so as Council Member Strauss noted, there were no appeals to it.

So I support this project.

Excellent.

Thank you very much, Council Member Peterson.

Any additional comments?

Okay.

Seeing none, all of those in favor of granting the application, please vote aye and raise your hand.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, the motion carries, the application is granted, and the President will sign the findings, conclusion, and decision of the City Council.

Item number seven has been alluded to.

Council Clerk, would you please read item number seven into the record?

The report of the City Council, agenda item seven, Council Bill 119750, relating to land use and zoning in many chapter 23.32, Seattle-Missacota, page 62 of the official land use map to rezone property located at 4544, 4550, and 4600 Union Place Northeast from commercial 255 to commercial 265 and accepting properties in development agreement as conditioned of rezone approval.

Excellent.

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Strauss, would you like to speak to this and then move to pass that bill?

Just to say that this is the corresponding council bill for the contractory zone which approves the property use and development agreement and amends the zoning map and I would move to adopt Council Bill 119750. Second.

Excellent.

It's been moved and seconded.

Are there any additional comments?

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Peterson.

Aye.

Zawad.

Aye.

Strauss.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

President Mosqueda.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Excellent.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Congratulations Councilmember Strauss on getting through all those items on today's agenda.

Thank you.

I appreciate your hard work in your committee and I'm excited to serve on in the vice chair role.

It's been a very exciting conversation so far.

To wrap us up, items 8 through 13. Madam Clerk, would you like to read those items into the record?

The report of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee, Agenda Items 8 through 13, Appointments 1552 through 1557, Appointments to Suzette Dickerson and Douglas E. Wagoner as Members of the Community Police Commission for Terms of December 31, 2020, Appointments of Emma Montanez-Katigi and Joseph Sia as Members of the Community Police Commission for Terms of December 31, 2021, and Appointments of Monisha R. Harrell and Mark Mullins as members Community Police Commission for term to December 31st, 2022. The committee recommends that all these appointments be confirmed.

Excellent.

Thank you.

And we do have two items after these items 8 through 13. Council Member Herbold, would you like to speak to these items?

I would very much.

Thank you.

Ms. Dickerson is a mayoral appointment.

She is a staff representative at WSCCCE AFSCME Council 2. She worked previously as a business representative for Teamsters Local 117 and as a legal administrative specialist in the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Douglas Wagner is a council appointment.

Mr. Wagner has a broad range of experience in local, state, and federal government, including youth violence prevention, cultural competency, and communications.

He is the communications lead at the Office of Healthy and Safe Communities in the Washington State Department of Health and is chair of the advocacy community on the West Seattle Food Bank Board of Directors.

Emma Kage is a council appointment.

She has served on the CPC since 2017 and has also served as a co-chair.

She's the founder, I'm sorry, the former executive director of the International Housing Alliance, the co-founder, and longtime former staff at the Asian Pacific Islander Women and Family Safety Center.

Now API Chaya, she's an active participant in the Filipino community of Seattle and the Filipino American Political Action Group of Washington and a bilingual immigrant.

She has a wealth of experience and culturally competent and linguistically available provision of human services for immigrants, refugees, domestic violence victims, victims of human trafficking, and low-income residents of the International District and South Seattle.

Joseph Sayah is a CPC reappointment.

He is an indigenous Pacific Islander, serves as youth and young adult homelessness systems managers with the End Youth Homelessness Now campaign.

He's also been a youth case manager and community advocate for Southwest Youth and Family Services.

Mr. Sayah also serves as co-chair of Utopia, a queer and trans advocacy organization advocating for the human rights of queer and trans persons.

Monisha Harrell is a mayoral appointment.

Ms. Harrell owns and operates a small marketing firm called Rule 7, focused on community-driven outreach and engagement.

She has served as co-chair for De-Escalate Washington's committee supporting Yes on I-940.

She served in 2017 on search committees for the Director of the Office of Police Accountability, and in 2015 was appointed co-chair of the Capitol Hill LGBTQ Public Safety Task Force.

She currently serves as the Board Chair for Equal Rights Washington and chairs the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund.

And then finally, Mark Mullins is a CPC reappointment.

Mr. Mullins is the representative for the Seattle Police Officers Guild, which is a position designated for appointment by the CPC.

He has been an officer for 29 years, working in all precincts, currently in the South Precinct.

Mr. Mullins has served as a community police officer and worked closely with El Centro and also serves as a shop steward for SPOG.

Excellent.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Herbold.

Any additional comments?

I will make one comment.

I really appreciate, Councilmember Herbold, the movement on Emma Katage's appointment here.

I think that that's an important role to maintain consistency and having had the chance to work with her and community over the last few years, appreciate your inclusion of her appointment.

Any additional comments?

Seeing none, all of those in favor of confirming appointments 8 through 13, please vote aye and raise your hand.

Aye.

Any opposition?

Any opposed?

Seeing none, the motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

We do have item number 14, adoption of other resolutions.

Madam Clerk?

I move to adopt Resolution 31935. Can you please read the title for us?

Thank you very much.

Agenda item 14, Resolution 31935, Adopting the Seattle City Council 2020 Work Program.

Excellent.

So I just want to first thank the individuals from all of our offices.

I want to thank the council members, of course, first and foremost, but really it was the folks from our offices who I think spent a lot of time working on these work plans.

So I know that's true of my office.

Thank you so much to every person in our office, Erin House, Sejal Parikh, Aretha Basu, Farideh Cuevas, also working in close connection with the council president's office and her team.

I want to thank her and her team in her family leave absence.

They have been tremendous to work with and really a huge shout out to all of the folks on central staff and to our clerks as well.

Thank you all for keeping us on track and including all of the feedback that you received in the work plan.

The 2020 work plan I think is a robust document as always.

I think in the last two years since I've been here I've seen It become less of a laundry list of great ideas and truly a blueprint of what we would like to see accomplished in the year in front of us.

So I know it's always hard to hone in on those specific priorities, but I'm looking forward to working with all of you as we carry forward the 2020 work plan.

And just want to say thanks to all of you for the work that's ahead of us with that long list of items.

I know we have a lot to do and a lot to be really proud of headed into this year.

Council members, any comments?

Okay.

Any additional comments?

Okay.

Well, before we do that, I move to adopt resolution 31935. Second.

Seeing no additional comments, all of those in favor, if there's no objection, yeah.

There is a motion to amend.

OK.

OK.

So what we'd like to do, colleagues, and thank you, Madam Clerk, for reminding us there is a need to amend.

So if we do this, if there's no objection to Resolution 31935, it will be amended.

So it says be it resolved to amend on the line, be it resolved to delete the mayor concurring.

Hearing no objection, resolution will be amended.

It has been moved and seconded.

Are there any additional comments on the resolution as amended?

Seeing none, those in favor of adopting the resolution as amended, please vote aye and raise your hand.

Aye.

Any opposed?

None.

The motion carries.

The resolution is amended and the chair will sign it.

Under adoption of other resolutions, Madam Clerk, do you mind reading item number 15 into the record?

Agenda item 15, resolution 31936, adopting the statements of legislative intent for the 2020 adopted budget and 2025 through 2020, excuse me, 2020 through 2025 adopted capital improvement program.

Are there any additional comments on this?

Okay.

Seeing none, if there's no objection, I would again like to amend Resolution 31935 to amend it to say, instead of be resolved, to delete the mayor concurring.

Any objections?

Seeing none, the resolution is amended.

Are there any comments on the resolution as amended?

Seeing none, All of those in favor of adopting the resolution as amended, please vote aye and raise your hand.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, the motion carries.

The resolution is adopted as amended and the chair will sign it.

Are there any further items of business to come before the council?

All right, seeing none, I will also just note appreciation for the clerks for helping us stay on track here.

I will be acting as president pro tem for the next month.

So appreciate the council's flexibility as we get through the formalities here.

But with that, today's meeting is adjourned within an hour.

Have a great rest of your afternoon and we'll.