Governance and Utilities Committee 4/9/2026

Really?

You make it look easy.

Good morning.

The April 9th meeting of the Governance and Utilities Committee will come to order.

It is 9.33 a.m.

I'm Joy Hollingsworth, your committee chair.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember McCettle.

Councilmember Juarez.

Here.

Councilmember Rivera.

Present.

Councilmember Strauss.

Here.

And Chair Hollingsworth.

Here.

Chair, there are four present.

And yes, Chair, there are four council members present.

Thank you, thank you, Clerk.

Councilmember Kettle is excused for today.

Welcome to the Governance and Utilities Committee.

We have a packed agenda today, so we're looking forward to all the items on the agenda.

So thank you all who showed up.

I know that we're having a little technical difficulties with our online signups, so looking forward to hearing our public commenters.

We're gonna now consider the agenda, and if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing none, the agenda is adopted.

With that, we're gonna now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should be related to the items on today's agenda or be within the purview of the committee.

Clerk, how many speakers do we have?

Currently we have zero in-person speakers and four remote speakers.

Awesome, every speaker will get two minutes.

I will read the instructions.

Public comment will be moderated in the following manner.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they register on the council's website and the signup sheet available here in council chambers.

Starting with the speakers in person first, we have none, so we're gonna jump straight to online.

If you have not registered to speak, would like to, you can sign up before the end of the public comment period.

When speaking, please begin by stating your name and the item you are addressing.

Speakers will hear a chime with 10 seconds or less, or excuse me, at 10 seconds.

and you thank you that's the sound you will you might hear that sound and that is 10 seconds and you still have time all right public comment period is now open we're going to begin with the first speakers on the list I'm looking online there looks like there are four people that have signed up but they're not present can IT confirm if any of the speakers are present we're working on the issue right now this might take a little while No worries, son.

Thank you so much.

We're gonna be at ease until we kind of figure out the online thing, so just bear with us.

I don't have any good jokes.

You may want to recess for a few minutes.

Okay, so we're gonna be in reset.

Thank you, son.

We're gonna recess for five minutes.

I'm doing math in my head.

So at 941, we'll be back here.

We're gonna just take a recess.

Thank you, son.

Go!

I'll see you later

online piece, then we'll insert public comment whenever that comes.

Sounds good, awesome, okay.

IT, can you confirm if the people that I see on this document present are allowed to speak?

We currently have about 50% of the registrants online here.

So if you want to proceed, I'm sure we can go forward from here.

Okay.

So we can start.

Okay.

Thank you, son.

We'll do that.

Do we have any signups in person?

Nope.

Awesome.

All right.

We're going to start with our online public commenters.

I do see June Blue Spruce.

You're going to press star six.

We're going to put the two minutes up.

Give us, oh, we have to take the roll, my bad.

I'm just jumping into stuff.

One second.

Clerk, will you please call the roll?

We're gonna restart the meeting.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kettle.

Councilmember Juarez.

Councilmember Rivera.

Council Member Strauss?

Here.

Chair Hollingsworth?

Here.

Chair, we have four present.

Three present.

Council Member Rivera's on her way.

We're gonna go ahead and start with public comment.

So I see June Blue Spruce, press star six, and you can go ahead and unmute yourself.

Can you hear me?

Yes, loud and clear.

Go ahead.

Hello?

Yes.

Okay.

I want to thank those at SPU who responded positively to previous comments.

My message to the Council, do not further relax environmental protections.

Seattle used to be a West Coast leader in stormwater management.

Now we're being pressured to deregulate environmental standards to develop more housing.

The PR campaign to make trees the enemy of development and housing is based on lies we can no longer afford to act on.

Climate change is here.

You can see it in our much hotter summers and bigger winter rainstorms, drought and flooding.

In winter, Seattle will have more runoff volume, putting higher strain on a built system with constrained capacity.

The city and Seattle's rate payers are spending millions of dollars now just to prevent the worst impacts.

Large mature trees, especially conifers, do this work for free and have hundreds of other health and ecosystem benefits.

When they are cut for development, the city creates problems you can't solve and expenses that ratepayers can't afford.

Please take these actions.

Implement new and retained trees as stormwater managements like other cities, best management practices or BMDs.

Other Washington cities have done this.

All the data required to do the calculation are available in the arborist reports.

Please require new and retained trees in all BMP applications as in the Boston code.

Reject the proposal to raise the threshold from 2,000 to 5,000 square foot parcels on flow control regulations in small lake basins and capacity-constrained areas.

And correct this statement in the SEPA checklist.

Quote, because much of Seattle has been previously developed in its original habitats significantly altered or eliminated, the potential for threatened or endangered animal species to be present in Seattle is low.

Southern resident killer whales and threatened salmon currently and historically do not have low chances of being present, although this might...

Thank you, June.

Next, we have Sandy Shetler.

Please press star six to unmute yourself.

And for the record, Councilmember Rivera is here.

Thank you.

Oh, hi.

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you so much for taking my comment.

You may know that many people couldn't get through this morning for some technical issues, so we thought about 30 people would be commenting, and I think it'll be much fewer, which might be nice for you.

Anyway, again, Sandy Shetler with Tree Action Seattle asking that CB 12190 be amended to recognize that trees do manage stormwater.

I think pretty much everybody knows that trees do this, so it's common sense to have our stormwater code acknowledge it.

In the meetings leading up to this bill, SCCI said that state ecology would require this, but ecology said the city would and now it's not in the bill you'll discuss today.

Other Washington cities give credit for both retained trees and new trees in stormwater calculations on new projects.

and this isn't hard or expensive because there's already a simple formula used nationwide, ITRE, based on the tree's species, size, and conditions.

Besides other Washington cities, nationally, other cities also already do this, including Boston.

Please amend this bill to include this basic piece of information so city planners have access to all the tools they need for decision making on projects.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Sandy.

And all the people who weren't able to get through, you can always send your comments to council at seattle.gov.

We all get that email.

Ruth Williams, star six, unmute yourself.

Thank you.

Hello.

Yes, my name is Ruth Williams and I'm speaking on behalf of Sorton Creek Alliance with regard to Council Bill 121-190.

We are pleased that steps are being taken to keep PCBs out of our streams, lakes, and Puget Sound.

Thank you.

And we also appreciate your best available science document.

That was a treat to see.

And you all understand the value of urban ecosystems in mitigating climate change.

So I won't dwell on the value of urban ecosystems so far as climate change is concerned, but I will talk about the requirements of urban habitat.

The SEBA checklist states that our landscape is now so altered and damaged that the likelihood of endangered or threatened species still being here is low.

In fact, it's common knowledge that there are still some Chinook and Southern Resident killer whales hanging on.

Are we to just look away?

Let's protect those small lake buffer zones by not raising from 2,000 to 5,000 square feet the allowance for untreated runoff.

Let's go further for habitat and boost the habitat value of streams and small lakes with lots of native trees and understory that provide clean, cool stormwater.

We urge you to pay attention to Senate Bill 5804 sponsored by six Democrats and one Republican that would have raised $5 billion in bonds backed by an existing tax on public utilities.

The income would be taken from public works and redirected to restoring salmon passage for a period of 13 years.

This one or a similar one is likely to return next session.

Let's support what the state is trying to do for salmon.

The RCO, that is the State Recreation Conservation Office, is offering grants to support salmon recovery.

Let's do this right.

Thank you for your consideration today.

Thank you, Ruth.

Next we have David Glogger, followed by Leah Hall and Julie.

David Glogger, star six, followed by Leah Hall.

We see you off mute, David.

Nope, now you're on mute.

This isn't David.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Go right ahead, David.

Good morning.

My name is Dave Glover.

I live in District 5. So here we go again.

Another request from the development community that will make housing more affordable.

Now it's the stormwater cone.

Let me give you some history.

Three years ago, they told us that if they could cut down all the trees on a property under development, and housing would be more affordable.

The legislation didn't say that, but that's the effect.

Just go look at the infill development and you'll see properties with no trees.

Then they convinced the state to pass HB 1110 to provide us with middle housing, and Seattle went even further to increase density with the One Seattle Plan.

Ultimately, this was to make housing more affordable.

I'm not seeing much middle housing, just one to two million dollar townhouses, and there's 95% hardscape.

Hardly a tree or a shrub.

And then they convinced the council to lower the standards that mandated CEPA reviews, making housing more affordable.

But that's not what happened.

Now they want to change the stormwater codes so that housing can be more affordable.

How many times do we go through this claim of producing affordable housing?

What's really happening is that Seattle is losing mature trees and the environment is being degraded.

One of the main reasons that people move here is because of our beautiful environment.

But all of these requests to change city code or damage the environment for humans and other animals in our city and our waterways.

I am asking council to do its work and not reduce the requirements of the stormwater code.

Please protect our trees to protect our environment.

And as the saying goes, fool me once, shame on the developers.

Fool me four times, shame on the mayor, the council.

and STCI.

Thank you for your work.

Thank you, David.

Next, we have Leah Hall, followed by Julie Star 6 to unmute yourself.

Hi.

Good morning, Leah.

Good morning.

Thank you for taking my comment.

My name is Leah Hall.

I'm speaking in regards to the 2026 Stormwater Code Update.

I currently serve on the Urban Forestry Commission, but I'm not speaking at all today on behalf of VFC, but I'm speaking as a resident and a parent of young children.

We have a responsibility to the Coast Salish people whose treaty protected right to fish depends on healthy salmon runs.

This obligation is reinforced by treaty law in the Bolt decision, which has been interpreted to require not just access to salmon, but protection of the habitat necessary for the salmon to survive.

And that habitat degradation can violate those treaty rights.

I appreciate that this ordinance identifies 6-TPD quinone as harmful to salmon and commits to improved stormwater treatment, but right now it's acknowledged but not yet operationalized in the code.

So I'm asking for three things.

So first, establish a clear hierarchy, preserving existing mature trees for all the benefits that we know that this green infrastructure provides for stormwater runoff.

Minimize the disturbance of existing trees and only then rely on replacement planting.

Second, require STU to publish approved best management practices for tire-derived pollutants and prioritize retrofits in coho-bearing basins.

Third, narrow exemptions for roadway utility and maintenance work so that projects don't perpetuate untreated stormwater runoff so that routine public works do not continue to bypass the very standards that this code is meant to enforce.

This bill identifies the problem, so why don't we do everything in our power to act on it?

The argument that we've already degraded our environment past the point where we can't hope for endangered species to come back is like saying that we're going to give up on trying to prevent gun violence in areas and neighborhoods that have historically been disenfranchised and then just let it keep on happening.

So please do everything in your power.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Leah.

Next we have Julie, followed by Jennifer.

David Haynes, we did not see you present, but you're next.

And then Susan, our last speaker.

Star six, Julie.

We still see you on mute.

Star six to unmute yourself.

There you go.

Sorry, I apologize.

I was doing count.

No worries.

You're good.

Go ahead.

Okay, great.

Good morning.

Thank you.

Thank you everybody for calling this meeting.

Although I'm a little bit frustrated because it was called so short of time for all of us to get organized.

and with the technical obstacles, so I'm glad to be on now.

And also, I'm really glad to be on now because I have a storm issue that's happening probably 20 feet from our property that we've been trying to get the city of Seattle to pay attention to.

This water issue has been going down our street for years.

We've been asking for the city to look at it.

Every time they come and look at it, they've said, oh, it's just water, it's fine.

well this has been built on also a development that has been happening across the street from us.

Two 100 year old trees were taken down and we asked at the time please do a water study because if these trees are taken down they absorb a lot of the water a lot of water and let me remind you one of the trees two eagles were using actively up until a couple days before they were taken down and this made national news.

Well, now we're a couple weeks out.

I look at that stormwater coming down and now it's strong and it's consistent.

And again, I would love the city to come out and look at that.

And all of this was done and approved without a water study.

We asked for a water study.

We asked for a soil study because there's three environmental critical areas on this development.

But the city passed it and gave them a permit to build.

so that it's done.

But now please look at the water issue because it is a concern.

Thank you so much.

Oh, I would just like please for the city to be aware also if we make a complaint.

Never mind.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Julie.

And just a reminder, that buzz is that you still have 10 seconds left.

Thank you, Julie.

Next, we have Jennifer Godfrey, followed by David Haynes and then Susan.

Star six, unmute yourself.

Hello?

I hear you.

Hello, good morning.

I'm not gonna be able to probably finish my comment because of all the technical difficulties.

I have a rehearsal that starts at 10 a.m.

and I do not get PTO.

So I will do my best.

I thank you for improving some of the conditions for trees in the stormwater code.

So I was all technology to fight tremendous pressure from special interests.

1026 a.m.

yesterday, FTCI announced this meeting with less than 24 hours.

You know, Seattle used to be leading the pack in stormwater management.

Now we're being pressured endlessly to deregulate impervious hard surfaces, increased water pollution, trees, and screen space, filter flow, and cool it for free.

Studies repeatedly show deforestation causes drought, which we are now in for the fourth year.

Seed at Sound Keeper's latest salmon study showed increased mortality last year.

SIPA checklist and BAS report contained inaccuracies, and it's based on 11-year-old info.

Largely, I would really encourage council to read the code and public comments.

So what I would ask for, in the first public meetings, we asked for trees to be implemented as BMPs like other Washington cities.

Seattle basically said Ecology would have to do that, Ecology said Seattle has to do it.

And then the final public comment, SPO and SDCI said, well, you know, we could do it, but it would be hard.

So then it's too late.

And all the information required to do this calculation is on the required Arborist Report.

Please consider requiring trees like in the Boston Code, Seattle quotes from ecology, larger trees are found to have greater transpiration and interception rates.

Therefore, larger trees and retained trees are more valuable to stormwater uptake than planting a new tree.

Please reject the threshold raising from 2,000 to 5,000 square feet, parcels, flow control regulations, which is basically allowing more pollution in small lake basins and capacity constrained areas.

Make it make sense.

I have not been able to.

I have lots of stormwater professional friends.

None of them have any explanation of why this would make sense.

It does not align with the sense that we're increasing water quality for animals.

And there are inaccuracies in the SEPA threshold.

SEPA checklist saying that the chance of endangered species is low.

That is not historic.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Next we have, I don't see David Haynes present.

Last speaker is Susan.

Susan, please press star six to unmute yourself.

Good morning.

Can you hear me?

Good morning.

We can.

Hi.

Great.

I'd like to offer comments on CB121190.

Thanks for the work already done by SPU on such an expansive and critical manual.

The stated purpose of the City of Seattle Stormwater Code chapters 22800 to 22808 is to protect life, property, public health, and the environment from the adverse impacts of urban stormwater runoff.

Since the atmospheric river in December, I've been tracking and recording the number of combined sewer overflows occurring throughout the city during each rainstorm.

There have been multiple events that have dumped outsized amounts of human-generated sewage and pollution into our waterways because we now lack the proper infrastructure and adequate tree canopy to help mitigate stormwater flow.

Over the past couple of years especially, policy implemented by the city has resulted in a diminished tree canopy, an increase in payment which results in a higher level into our waterways.

A study released last month by the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound shows that Puget Sound now has high levels of nitrogen as a direct result of the increased sewage overflows, which is depleting oxygen levels, which will accelerate adverse impacts on marine life.

With Seattle being a dominant loader, the city has an increased responsibility to mitigate these overflows.

And I'd like to echo the earlier comment that we are obligated to honor federally recognized treaty rights of our tribal communities and do what's necessary to restore healthy habitat for our salmon.

Currently underway, there are extremely expensive projects that attempt to offset stormwater levels and lagging stormwater infrastructure, including the large catchment systems now being installed to the tune of $2 million per block as per the capital improvement project.

That'll help mitigate stormwater, but won't regain lost carbon capture, which contributes to the warming of the atmosphere.

not to mention lost high levels of transpiration needed to balance the rain cycle.

There's a $700 million sewer project underway also to help mitigate sewage and stormwater, but ratepayers are the ones who are providing these costs.

How much do developers pay to offset the mass imbalance being created?

Please amend this bill so we can start repairing the extensive damage already done.

Thank you.

Thank you, Susan.

And just to clarify, we have David Haynes signed up.

IT, I don't see them present.

Will you do a confirmation before we close public comment?

Affirmative, we do not see that last caller.

All right, awesome.

Thank you so much.

So now the public comment period is now closed.

I apologize for some of the technical difficulties that we have, but you can still send us comments at council at seattle.gov to send in your comments as well.

And this is also the first presentation, so we'll have more time to do public comment about the stormwater and all the good things that we have coming on with committee.

Okay, so now we're gonna jump into our items.

A business clerk, will you please call agenda items one through three into the record?

And at this time, I'm gonna invite Director Barnett to the table and our Seattle ethics folks.

Thank you.

Agenda items one, two, and three, appointments 3470, 3472, and 3473, appointments of Evan M. Smith, Andrea Lino and Anita Kandawalla as members of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission for briefing, discussions and possible vote.

Thank you for being here.

Please introduce yourself and you can jump right into your presentation.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I'm Wayne Barnett.

I'm the Executive Director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission and I'm here today to present three appointees to you.

Good morning.

My name is Sandra Alino, and I am here proudly now representing the commission.

I don't know if it is a good time to introduce myself.

Okay, so I am an immigration lawyer.

Oh, give us one sec.

I'm sorry.

We'll have Director Barnett lead in, and then we'll jump to you.

I'm sorry.

You're all good.

Thank you.

Director.

Do you want to go to Anita first?

Do you want to introduce yourself?

Oh, Anita's here.

I'm sorry.

I apologize.

I didn't know online.

Hi, Anita.

Good morning.

Go ahead and introduce yourself.

Good morning.

Thank you for letting me be here.

I'm sorry I'm not there in person.

I'm having some mobility issues.

So thank you for letting me be here by Zoom.

No worries.

You're all good.

Good morning.

All right.

All right.

I should also introduce Evan Smith.

He's not able to be with us today.

He's in San Francisco, but he is the other appointee to the commission.

So we thank you for him very much, both of you.

Yes.

All right.

In the Ethics Elections Commission, it is a seven-member board, which is now back to seven.

We were down to five, so we were very close to having quorum issues every time we got together.

So thank you very much for getting us back to full speed.

Madam Council President, as well as Ms. Mayor.

We enforce the ethics code, the elections code, the whistleblower protection code, the political consultant code.

So, yes, we have a big brief.

We're a very small staff.

So, yes.

I think we're all about making sure the government works as well as it can.

We can't guarantee anybody that they're going to have ethical government.

We just do our best to ensure it.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you, Director Barnett.

And Andrea, right?

Go ahead and tell us a little about yourself, and then Anita will jump to you as well.

OK, sounds good.

Thank you so much.

Yes, my name is Andrea Lino, and I have worked in Seattle and used the benefits that the city has since 2013. I am an immigration lawyer.

and have worked with vulnerable immigrant populations since I graduated from law school in 2015. As a regular citizen of Seattle, a mother, a daily user of public transportation, and someone who relies on our school system, I feel the responsibility to be involved in the community that I call home.

Participating in this commission is not just an opportunity, it's a way to actively exercise my civic duty and give back to the city that shapes my family every day.

At a time when trust in government is so needed, these works help rebuild that trust by holding leaders accountable and making sure rules are not just written but also enforced.

It also created space for people like me to engage directly, to contribute to our system that values equity, transparency, and fairness.

For me, being involved is about more than participation.

It's about helping shape a government that we can believe in for ourselves and for the next generation.

So I am very proud to be part of the commission.

Awesome.

Thank you so much for that.

And Anita, we'll jump to you before we jump.

And I ask my colleagues if they have any questions.

Thanks.

As I said, my name is Anita.

I'm a lawyer here in Seattle.

I moved here in 2008 and I'm sort of a convert to living here.

I love the city.

Prior to working at the Pacific Law Group, which is where I have been for a little over a year, I was the King County public defender.

So I have a lot of familiarity with sort of local government and wanting and have sort of a deep and longstanding commitment to wanting to make sure that the government is serving the people of the city with integrity and sort of the highest degree of ethics.

And so I'm excited to get to be a part again of our local government in some fashion.

Awesome.

Thank you, Anita.

And I know that Evan Smith is not here.

He was my pick, my nomination for this.

Oh, you too.

Oh, you too as well.

Awesome.

We both, awesome.

Both myself and Council Member Rivera.

Good minds think alike.

And so just really grateful for his persistence of wanting to be on this commission.

I know that we have a lot of commissions the City of Seattle, and this is one of my favorite ones, I think one of the most important ones as well, making sure that we are transparent during our ethics in Seattle, so we know how important that is.

Colleagues, at this time, do you have any questions, Councilmember Rivera?

No questions.

I did want to say that Evan Smith sat on the Families Education Preschool Promise Levy Oversight Committee, and that's where I got to meet Evan.

His time is over at the Levy Oversight Committee and I'm glad that he is willing to serve in these volunteer positions and that he's willing to do now a stint at the Ethics Commission.

So we're really lucky to have all of you here wanting to volunteer your time.

to do this really important work.

So wanted to say that.

So yeah, he was both our picks.

Awesome.

And we're grateful for everyone as well.

Does anyone have any other further comments?

Well, we're grateful for your service and then also too for volunteering as well.

We know it's a lot of time commitment, so we're really grateful.

Are there any other closing comments before we take a vote on these appointments?

No?

Awesome.

All right.

I'm gonna go ahead and move that the committee recommends confirmation of appointment 3470, 3472, and 3473. Is there a second?

I will second.

Awesome, thank you.

It's been moved and second to recommend confirmation of appointments.

Are there any other final comments?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Juarez?

Aye.

Councilmember Rivera?

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss?

Aye.

Chair Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Four in favor, zero post.

Awesome, thank you, thank you.

It passes and this will go to full council, let me read my notes, on Tuesday, April 14th.

Thank you, Andrea, really appreciate your time and commitment to this work.

Anita, thank you for being here as well.

We're grateful to have you serve us as well.

And then Evan, looking forward to working with you all.

So thank you, thank you for coming down.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

will the clerk please read item number two into the record, or excuse me, we just voted on that, item number four into the record and our presenters, Ms. Sarah Osborne and Chef Joel are coming to the table.

Agenda item four, informational item 2874, homemade food waste program presentation for briefing and discussion.

Awesome.

So grateful for Sarah Osborne and Chef Joel.

We're going to first, before right now, we're going to have us put on the presentation.

Colleagues, I invited these guests.

As you all know, food waste is big in our city, and always talking about food access and what we can do better as a government.

This group with Ms. Sarah Osborne and Chef Joel have a great presentation.

They have a wealth of knowledge in this space and we're looking forward to hearing about their recommendations and also their plan and ideas.

So welcome.

Go ahead and introduce yourself.

We're really happy to see you all and you can jump right into your presentation.

All right.

My name is Sarah Osborne.

I am the Public Affairs Director for Safeway, but I do have to say I'm not here in official capacity representing Safeway.

I am here with 20 years of experience of private-public partnerships to address food insecurity.

So I'll give you a few of my credentials so you know the context from which I'm speaking.

So I partnered with the Department of Health to secure and execute the country's largest snap produce match in 220 stores.

I work with Northwest Harvest to transition a food drive model into a model that gets assistance directly to households to make their own choices and purchase food.

I revamped the food rescue program at all of our stores over the series of three years to really understand everywhere in the system there is food waste.

I work with the city on lifting up fresh bucks and still executing it as best we can, as well as revamping our food rescue in the city stores to increase the efficacy and the equity of the food rescue and donation program.

In addition, we give millions in grants for food security every year, so I'm very familiar with the nonprofit organizations that do this work, and I am the chair of the Washington Food Coalition, which is an association of 330 food banks throughout the state.

So I come with some knowledge about the gaps and voids in this system, but also the ways that private and public partnerships can address those, which is why I'm very excited to be working and advising HomeAid in this new project.

So please, I am proud to introduce.

I'm not really introducing, but Joel, take it away.

Yeah, thank you.

Hard to follow that.

But I'm Joel Gamron.

I'm born and raised here in Seattle.

I am a chef, and I am well-known nationally for food waste.

I wrote a cookbook called Cooking Scrappy.

I have a cooking show on A&E called Scraps.

I go on the Today Show four to six times a year, Good Morning America, and comment nationally about the problem that we waste about 40% of the food that we create here in America.

Trillions of food just down the tubes, which is crazy.

and I launched and run the largest cooking school free cooking platform in America called HomeAid, which is two blocks from here.

So I was born two blocks from here, run this company two blocks from here.

Couldn't be more proud to be here.

So grateful, Joy, for you inviting us and Sarah for including me.

So first, before we get into solutions, we'll talk about the issues currently in the Food and Nutrition Security Program.

So this is true everywhere, this is not just a city issue, but statewide, countywide, citywide, food security programs were not created to be easily accessible for the people who use them.

They're very fractured by the agencies who run them, different motivations, but essentially, in an industry, in a private industry that does everything it can to be frictionless and really user-obsessed, the government programs are opposite.

They're very difficult.

There's so many programs.

There's basic food in the SNAP, EBT, WIC.

There's now Medicaid waivers.

There's meal programs.

There's a lot of different options.

But if you're a person who needs to access all of those, they're being managed by different agencies.

They're being found on different platforms.

And if you have a job and if you're a working parent or if you're a working parent and a caretaker, it is really difficult to navigate those programs.

So part of our solution today is really having one place where somebody can learn about all the different food assistance that could be available to them.

Second, as I mentioned, there is waste in the system that is going to be inherent in any system where people don't choose the food that is being provided to them.

So we'll talk about how this can address that a bit, but you can imagine if you're receiving food boxes where you didn't necessarily choose there's probably some food that goes to waste that your family might not be able to eat or would prefer not to eat.

It happens.

We know it happens.

We've seen it happen several times, where people are provided the boxes, they take food out of the boxes, leave it there outside of the food bank, and they go, we know it exists, but there is solutions for that.

There's also unfamiliar foods in food banks.

We have a wide variety of cultures in Seattle, obviously, and they're going into the food bank with the same foods, might not necessarily be familiar with those foods.

So the food bank, even though people are in that need, if they don't know how to cook the food, they're not able to cook the food.

Sarah, can I stop you for one second?

Yeah.

Because you're kind of really going fast here.

Okay.

If you would just indulge me for one minute, Council President.

Yeah, absolutely.

I have a printout of a PowerPoint, and it's not lining up with what you have.

Do I have the right one?

You do.

We added, there are two additional slides.

I can get you a copy of this.

Oh, okay, so I just...

I'll get my staff to get you the two additional slides that were added.

Oh, so they were in front of Meet Homemade, or I'm not sure.

Yeah, so there's two slides that are the background on this...

That's what I'm missing.

Yeah, I'll get those too.

Okay, great.

They were added.

I apologize for that.

Okay.

I got you.

Page numbers are always helpful, so...

I know.

That was my slip-up.

I should have let them know.

I know.

Sarah knows how I feel about page numbers.

How I feel about dang page numbers.

So hopefully my staff is watching.

So I'm over here flipping like, I can't find this, man.

Where the hell is it?

Okay, got it.

Yours went right into the solutions.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

I apologize.

Yeah, we can move on to that.

They're on it.

And then this current programs, we are providing food.

The city is investing millions of dollars to provide food, but there is very little cooking instruction.

And why is cooking important?

Cooking is so, so important because it improves health, it reduces food costs, and it reduces waste.

Proven time and time again that there is very little culinary instruction involved in our food and nutrition security program.

So you can see there is an increase of ultra-processed food consumption.

There's a variety of reasons for that, but one of them is people are cooking much less.

62% of calories that children consume, ultra-processed foods.

Diet-related chronic diseases are increasing.

Food waste, we all know that's a problem.

60% of food waste happens at home, and there's definitely a solution to that.

Also, if households are cooking, they will be saving a lot more money.

They'll be able to stretch their benefits, stretch a limited budget to have healthier foods.

What we do know is that culinary classes are effective.

Teaching kitchens, when done properly, do actually lead to people saving money and eating healthier.

The issue is they're not scalable.

These are in-person, limited capacity.

It's really not scalable to reach everybody who needs to be reached with these cooking classes.

And the instruction has to, has to, has to be tailored to foods that people can afford, that their family will actually eat, and that fit into real, real schedules.

And most importantly, the instruction needs to be fun.

It needs to be joyful.

It needs to be inspiring.

We need to feel good about it and want to go home and whip it up as soon as possible.

You mean feel good about cooking?

Cooking, yes.

Yeah.

We can even inspire you to cook.

We can get you there.

But cooking is, literally, it's life-changing.

If you had not done it before and now are inspired to do so, it just needs to be accessible.

And this is what I get up in the morning thinking about every single day.

How do I get people, like Councilwoman Juarez, to cook more?

I'm not gonna do it.

I don't have to.

I think we'll start now.

So I launched HomeAid five years ago in my garage in West Seattle with some cell phones.

I used to be the head chef for a company called Sur La Taub, which is also based here, which runs cooking classes out of their stores.

But I, like Sarah recognized that's not scalable.

How do I reach more people?

It's for a pretty affluent community.

How do we open that up to the masses?

So I launched HomeAid with a mission of make free cooking classes because I believe everyone deserves to learn how to cook.

and how do we reach millions of people?

So since then of launching in my garage, we have done that.

We reach about 20 million students a year.

We have a class completion rate of about 80%.

We have 2,500 cooking videos in our ever-growing library.

We work with amazing partners like Safeway.

like GE, like some amazing KitchenAid, incredible foods that align up with our ethics of whole foods, minimally processed foods, and we have the most badass fun chefs in the world that make cooking fun.

We are the free peloton of cooking, and that is why we are we are resonating and we're effective and we're impactful.

And I've never sat in a room like this.

I've never spoken to people like yourselves, but it makes so much sense sitting up here.

It feels right.

It feels organic.

And I'm really grateful for Sarah tapping me to be a part of this journey.

What we know is that to scale, we need to lean into two really big pieces.

One is videos.

Videos really drive behavior change.

If you want to get people to cook more and eat better, you better make some videos about it.

And they better be fun, and they better be quick and snappy.

Eight out of ten people say that food videos drive them to cook more.

80% of people say that.

72% feel more confident cooking healthy meals after watching videos.

So you can imagine, social media, we have this data, this is very proven, this is not new.

Cooking videos, if you master that craft, which we have done at HomeAid, can be incredibly impactful.

And the other is AI, which Sarah's gonna talk about.

So AI, as I'm sure you have seen, has emerged hugely in the retail grocery market, and that is because we know that we can show up right when people are making food decisions, which is the most important time to show up.

So AI is now number two most influential shopping source.

70% of consumers have said that AI influences the food that they buy, and already $168 billion is being invested to figure out how we can use AI to influence people's food decisions.

But here's why we're bringing it up today.

Bottom line, video and AI influence food decisions, but the city does have the ability to adopt those tools for good and help give people good food guidance.

So as we were developing this plan, we did have some, we do have some seed partners to really kind of develop the benefits of what this could be.

So the Department of Health really knows this is going to improve nutrition security.

Department of Human Services is optimistic that it can improve food security.

And then we do have partners at the World Resources Institute that want to help us measure that it actually does change behavior, and they're partnering with the UN and EPA, mostly focused on food waste.

So all three of these areas where we think this can have a huge impact, we do have partners that are ready to support us and help us grow.

I also do want to say this is providing the tools, the expertise, the fun, the media.

But when we have a partner, you influence the content.

So it would be the city telling us what types of recipes, what types of partners we should bring in, what community leaders, et cetera.

So as we're presenting this, please do know that the content of anything that is in the AI systems or on the video is created in partnership with communities and with city.

And we know Seattle has been a leader in investing millions of dollars in getting people food.

Food assistance, we are the assistance side.

That is what we're talking about today.

Food, you guys rock in.

Seattle's amazing.

If we layer on assistance, can we stretch that food further for people?

Can it do better for them?

So how are we going to do that?

The first is we developed text support.

So imagine this like a little chef in your pocket.

This is free, real-time SMS.

This is for digital equality, right?

So this is not an app that you sign up for where you make a login or a password.

You literally see a QR code at a food bank, at a grocery store, at a farmer's market.

You scan it with your phone and you are texting with Culinary guidance.

We call it good food guidance.

And it helps you get dinner on the table based off of what's culturally relevant, your budget, how many people are in your family, what is in front of you.

It knows what's on the shelves.

It knows what's at the farmer's market.

and it can help you navigate that, which is so hard for us at four o'clock when you've got two kids screaming or you're running from job to job.

So to have some assistance in that is really important.

What we know is that to get people into this guidance, the front door is a recipe.

People love recipes.

So what you're not gonna see is a sign of the tool.

Hey, sign up for this tool.

This tool comes with your food prescription box.

but you'll never hear us use the word tool.

What you're gonna see is gorgeous photos that are mouthwatering, that make sense, that make you want to eat that, and that's what leads to a scan and then ultimately to further guidance.

We know recipes are the gateway because we've proven that it's a 17x engagement on social videos, a 3x in click-through rates on emails, and a six times more open rate on text message.

One important note too is that this can be in any language.

Yep.

It can be changed to any language somebody needs.

Totally free for people.

In addition to the text tool and the guidance, we know that some people don't love their phones and are more visual, learn different ways, so we will have a video and resource hub.

So this is a library of videos.

You might recognize someone here stealing the show, rocking out the potatoes.

You did so good.

But working...

Didn't she juggle potatoes?

She juggled them.

But working, like with Joy, with community leaders, right?

From your districts, from our neighborhoods, showing and highlighting the cultural abundance that we have here in Seattle and highlighting all the amazing local resources.

So that could be pointing people in the right direction of where they can really find their food bank or what kind of benefits they qualify for.

and nothing replaces being in person, nothing.

When you're cooking, you're smelling, you're touching, you're feeling, you use all of your senses.

We just held a field trip that was so impactful.

We just went to El Centro de la Raza, which is in Beacon Hill, which is a community center.

So a part of our program is not just AI, it's not just a texting tool, and it's not just a website.

and we totally lean into this idea that in real life has to happen, but it needs to be community-led.

We need to be told by the community what is appropriate, what is going to resonate with this neighborhood, and then we will bring in the homemade assistance to support that.

So now how is the good food guidance going to help the Seattle food plan?

There are a lot of goals in the Seattle food plan, but we identified four that this could really help enhance.

So first is community food security.

So generally, anybody can think about this.

If you're getting guidance at home about how to stretch what you already have, what you've already purchased, you are more food secure.

This tool is amazing with those skills.

So just generally, even though that's not in the Seattle food plan, teaching those skills is priceless.

But second, it really can strengthen Fresh Bucks, one of my very favorite programs.

First, I know that about 70% of Fresh Bucks are redeemed at Safeway stores.

I know there's a lot of other independent stores and farmers markets and whatnot that can redeem those as well, and people should be prompted and reminded of that.

So if they're using the tool, it could say, hey, do you know in your neighborhood, this store on the corner actually accepts Fresh Bucks too, and they have this type of produce that you might be looking for.

Same with farmers markets.

It could say the farmers market in Delridge has these type of greens, or they could ask the texting tool, where can I find this specific type of green that my family likes?

It'll tell it which farmers market is carrying that or which corner store could be carrying that.

So it really helps promote those other retailers that are part of the Fresh Bucks program.

For diversifying recipes for more types of produce, We also know we see what people purchase with the FreshBooks and it's a lot of fresh cut fruit which is beautiful and that's great and we know why because it's convenient.

Convenience is always top priority.

Convenience and cost.

The city is taking care of cost.

We really need to work on the convenience and so this tool can help people realize you can cut that fruit at home or you can try different types of fruits or different types of vegetables.

Here's how much money you would save if you did so.

Here's how long it would take you.

if they're interested to do it.

Like, just re-inspire them to do it.

I know when I became re-inspired to cut my own fruit, it is very much so money-saving.

Assistance in food as medicine context.

This is a huge topic right now.

We are having conversations about the Medicaid waivers, but for anybody in your city who is using the Medicaid waivers for food boxes, for pantry stocking, for all of that type of thing, this assistance with this texting tool is really going to help them be able to transform the food they receive into actual meals that they're going to want to eat.

This could be really great assistance for food banks.

Food banks, as you know, they operate with volunteer labor.

And so sometimes the volunteers aren't necessarily as skilled or familiar with the people that they're serving to be able to serve them appropriately.

So there's a lot of translation that's required, and this tool can help them do so.

If there's unfamiliar foods where somebody's coming in from a different culture and being introduced to a certain kind of produce, it can suggest recipes that are more familiar.

I know somebody on chair-haulings for staff, Nina told us when her grandma came here from Vietnam, she used food banks quite a bit.

She had never seen a potato in her life.

But fast forward one year later, and she made the best Vietnamese potato dish anybody's ever tasted.

And so sometimes it's just about that transition.

We need it to be culturally relevant, but we also need it to be locally produced.

And sometimes those things can't coexist, but a really good recipe can help.

Yeah, and just walking through some food banks, you don't get to choose what's on the shelves of the food banks.

reliably know that they're gonna have peppers that day or chicken.

So a lot of people don't have that cooking skill to say, I can just use what they have today.

They don't have that cooking skill.

So this instantly, again, gives them a chef in their pocket, some guidance to help them make the most of what's around them.

And as we're transitioning, I think Councilmember Wars had a question.

Councilmember Wars.

Oh, yeah.

I just want to slow you down for a sec.

We work closely with, now Kelly is my chief of staff, Kelly Brown, as you know, at North Haven up in D5.

And we work really closely to get the Seattle Indian Health Board Clinic within North Haven.

And we also, what piqued our interest and what we are continuing to work on is the Medicaid waivers.

Can you explain a lot of that?

Because I'm just going to just cut to the chase.

This is all nice, but the bottom line is for our folks that are, well, we say food insecure, but basically hungry, mainly children, how does the Medicaid piece fit into all of this?

Because I'm just going to be honest.

I'm not going to get this text and app.

I'm not going to do that.

But other people might.

But my point is, how does the Medicaid piece fit into this?

So it really depends what they're receiving.

Do you know if they're receiving medically tailored meals, food boxes, or produce vouchers?

No, I don't.

I know that they've got it through this alien health board in Indian Country for Medicaid and food is medicine.

And that's one of the things that we're looking at at Northgate Commons for the tribes to have a position and a place there for seat to table, no middle person, indigenous food, plants, salmon, fresh foods.

And that's what we're kind of dealing with right now.

But I know one big piece was the Medicaid piece.

that because Seattle Indian Health Board and tribes, it's really interesting, but I'll just get a little bit wonky for one minute because it's important to understand this backdrop.

The tribes and groups like the Seattle Indian Health Board, where the state can bill $1 to the federal government, tribes and Seattle Indian Health Board can bill $3 for that reason that there's food insecurity.

So that's why I wanted to, when you said the Medicaid piece, if it's just a general answer, that's fine.

I can go find it.

No, so four of the pillars of the Medicaid piece are, one is food boxes, one's what they call pantry stocking, then there's produce vouchers, and there's also just general food assistance.

So it would help in the same way it helps any of these programs, whereas if an individual or family is receiving a food box, to be able to use, make the most use out of all of that food, not allow any of it to go to waste, but also give it really easy recipes that they can adapt with their own circumstances.

So I could tell the texting start, like, I need to make something in less than 20 minutes.

Here are my dietary restrictions.

Here's what my kids will not eat.

Here's what our cultural preference is.

And then it adapts to them.

And this is why I like this program so much, is that we talk a lot about being culturally relevant, but it's impossible to be culturally relevant.

One program to be for everybody, but this tool can adapt and allow them to know how.

So it's all those, when you give them either food vouchers or food assistance or a box of food, it just takes them the extra steps to be able to eat the food that their family will like, but also not waste that food.

Okay.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Awesome.

Thank you.

And then this again, this is because of the array of different places to look for all the different food programs.

We know that we can compile all that information and an individual can just be using the texting tool to ask, where's the nearest food bank that's open?

Where's the meal program?

What kind of assistance might I qualify for?

and connect them directly with people, either people who can help them or just give them the info of how you can become eligible or if you are eligible.

Yeah, even people who don't cook can use this just to kind of know where the resources are.

So next, I lightly touched on this, but I know it is one of the priorities of Seattle Food Plan to really uplift the local supply chains as well as equitably purchase food.

And I'm sure you're aware of how much marketing goes into the mainstream food system and the large chains.

So this is really just trying to, you know, level the playing field a little bit for people who are using this texting tool and really uplift the farms and the local businesses where the food assistance is accepted or just generally for anybody if they're unaware of the stores or of what's available at these farmers markets.

Yep, and what you can do with this is amazing.

I mean, most of the food waste, like Sarah mentioned, happens at home.

So we're just throwing food down the drain.

You can take a picture of your fridge, just open it up, and we can tell you recipes based off of what you already have.

You can scan your receipt and send us a text, a picture of your receipt.

and we can make recipes and ideas of how to kind of meal plan for the week so you can stretch it out.

And then we'll have cooking tips kind of throughout around food safety, labeling, so you just don't throw food away and you make the most of it.

And then, you know, leaning into schools.

About a week ago, I had my kid's school, he's in first grade at a Seattle Public School, and we had about 100 kids come into our studio, and you can see me up there, and we are filming, and all the kids are, of course, watching the screen, not watching me, but they're seeing what's inside the pot there.

So how do we make, you know, how do we go into schools, And when we do that live, which is not scalable, how do we make it scalable?

Will we bring in video?

And how do we repurpose those videos?

We make those resources for teachers.

You know, do we scan the recipe and now all the kids and their families have this tool that they're able to access?

So it was a really impactful moment.

Everyone you could see kind of drew a thank you card and what they learned.

We need to do more of this, more culinary field trips.

Home Ec doesn't exist anymore.

Snap Ed doesn't exist anymore.

We forgot how to cook.

We got to start at an early age.

My kids eat almost everything.

It's not because I shove food down their mouth.

It's because I get them in the kitchen and they cut cucumbers and they taste broccoli.

And that's how kids get comfortable around new colors, new textures, new flavors.

So of course, we know we need to prove that this is actually working to change behavior.

so there are measurement tactics.

Unlike giving people recipes at food banks or at clinics or otherwise, we actually know if that person has engaged with the recipe, is asking questions about the recipe, and is cooking it at home.

And just that information alone, knowing the information was provided and now they are cooking, is huge for a lot of different research in behavior change.

We could ask them surveys on the texting tool as well, so generally wanting to know Are you saving money?

Is this helping you save money?

Are you eating healthier?

Are you wasting less?

Just so there's an awareness there if they even feel like that's helping them, and we can adjust the program if they don't.

We can, of course, monitor if the businesses that we're promoting on the texting tool are actually seeing more traffic.

As I mentioned, we have World Resources Institute in partnership with the EPA and the UN that wants to analyze our data to see if it truly is changing behavior.

and then of course there's always different ways to measure food waste decline or increase.

And then we are building this tool with the utmost security.

We understand people are going to be opting into this, texting it, so we'll have their phone number, but we're not going to have any personal data.

We're not going to know your age, your gender, where you live.

There's no long-term surveillance.

There's no tracking.

We are going to collect data just to make sure that we know it's working, but it's aggregated and anonymized.

So again, we don't know who it is.

We just can see This population is cooking more.

This population is eating more fresh fruits or vegetables.

And at any time people can opt out of this.

No problem.

Delete.

There's no second guessing that.

Everything will be encrypted and secure.

And then we have our entire kind of security privacy and data principles here if you want to double click into that.

So to close out, just reiterating the time is really now for a program like this to get more advanced in how we're providing good food guidance.

Fresh food costs are increasing for a variety of reasons.

Basic food assistance is more vulnerable and a lot more people are going to be losing it in the next six months.

Processed food consumption is increasing.

Retail is shaping decisions at massive scale and really, really quickly.

And what motivates that is going to be the ad placement and product placement.

So there needs to be a counter for the good food guidance.

and the public system needs to modernize and adapt just to really meet people in the moment and provide them that guidance when they're making food decisions.

Yeah, and I just want to say I'm so proud to be a Seattleite, and food is so core to being in Seattle.

If you live here, you know food is a big part of our culture.

Food is not a privilege.

Food is a need.

Everyone deserves to learn how to cook.

Everyone deserves fresh food, minimally processed food.

We will, with your partnership, lead the way in good food guidance.

There is nothing like this.

I promise you, nothing like this.

This will be the first of its kind.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Chef.

Thank you, Sarah.

And colleagues, I'll open it up.

If you have any questions, I wanted us to come and get this presentation because I'm gonna tell you all this.

By 2050, we have to grow 50% more food in our planet.

And the thing that we have not looked at is the amount of waste that we have.

and extending the life of food.

And that has not been the plan as a city.

We just throw more money at it, number one.

We also just say, hey, we need to figure out more food access points.

We don't think about the system itself and redefining what that looks like.

wanted to just set the table with that.

I know we've been asking questions throughout this, but I know as a city there are things that we can do.

There's different food programs in a ton of different departments.

There's not one localized source.

There's not one localized department that does a lot of this.

And so sometimes it's hard for us to figure out pathways forward and to build because we're working a lot in silos.

And so that's why we're always talking about food waste as being one of the pillars and how we can be able to address food insecurity in this way as well.

So I just wanted to put that.

And then last but not least, during the pandemic, I saw how people would get food from the Yakima Valley as we partnered with Yakima Trot.

We get food from Yakima Valley and folks, it was the first time that they would see eggplant, first time they would see a spaghetti squash, didn't know how to cook it or how to incorporate it into their diet.

And a lot of that food went to waste because people just did not know.

And so anyways, that's why I'm passionate about this.

Anyways, if there are any other, are there any questions?

I know we can follow up with them.

Council Member Juarez.

I want to thank you, Council President, for doing this.

I know this is how you introduced us to Safeway, Sarah.

And I know that that's been an issue for us across the city, particularly like when Kroger left, that, you know, we've seen these different issues.

And not just Kroger.

I've been here 9, 10 years, so I've watched big stores leave for different reasons.

We passed some legislation this year with Representative Faria to get rid of the covenants that stores have with each other for competitive purposes and say that you can't use those anymore because food is a human right and it shouldn't be a commercial decision.

Mayor Harrell did that and then the state did it so we're proud of those efforts as well and Council President and Councilmember Rivera joining in and being very supportive to make sure that happened.

But we had three other bills that did not pass, so we're going to take another run.

I won't be here next year, but I'm sure this wonderful Council will take another run at it.

So I want to go back to something the Council President said.

First of all, two things.

I was going to ask you, Council President, I have two questions about what are your thoughts or what are we talking about when you say food access points?

Are you talking about grocery stores?

What are you talking about?

Anything you can get food.

So it could be a grocery store.

It could be a bodega.

It could be a food bank.

It could be an after-school program that services food.

That's what we call it.

When I'm talking about food access points, not just thinking outside the system of food banks.

It could be food pantries.

Thinking about food access points in that capacity.

That's what I mean.

It could have different definitions for other folks.

Okay, so my follow-up then to the panel then is, and I think this goes to what the council president astutely recognized, particularly when she was elected and became our council president, is, and correct me if I'm wrong, in the silo piece that you were mentioning, council president, we don't have a city department dedicated to food security.

We have everything else.

We have 19 departments dedicated to everything right down.

I mean, you know, we have like pee patches and then we have like the food banks over here.

We have never as a government, which is sad, and I'm sure this is nationally, We have never had a city department or a state department specifically dedicated to the issues that you're talking about today.

We don't have the food department that's in the budget, that's a line item every year, nor do we have, because it's been so siloed, we never had like a map to say, okay, here's all the grocery stores, here's when their leases are up, here's the bodegas, here's the food banks.

We've never had, and if we had an actual city department, I mean, think what if we, We have a department for Seattle City Lights, Seattle Public Utilities, SPD, FIRE, and you can go on.

And I have always been raised that food is an essential governmental function.

And I am gonna take a little privilege here to share.

I grew up in a food desert, so when people throw it around like I have to walk an extra nine blocks to a store, that's not a food desert.

I grew up on the Puyallup Reservation.

There were no grocery stores.

until we got casinos, nobody really gave a damn, but now everybody's there.

No one went to Portland Avenue.

There was no bus service.

We had transportation deserts.

So I think it's really, we have to be very clear what a food desert is in 2026. And I think that we have to be serious.

I know this council president is, and I'm sure Mayor Wilson is as well, that that is something we should think about maybe in the next budget cycle, or I don't know how that would be.

I know that we're passing tons of levies, but no one's ever put forward a food levy.

No one has ever said, let's put on the ballot, City of Seattle voters, that we fund for seven years an institution within city government where their only job is to make sure that people, particularly children, have food.

We passed the sugar tax, and I think one of my things that I was not happy about, but that was a long time ago, is I wasn't happy with them handing over a million dollars to an institution to study how sugar affects children.

we know it's not good and they will gain weight.

I don't need a million dollar study to tell me that.

And also we don't have a really good strong partnership legally or citywide with Seattle Public Schools.

You're the school, you guys are the government, we're not picking up the tab for feeding these kids, so that's been the tension there.

So maybe I'm just laying, pardon the pun, planting the seeds for government to take food insecurity or people that are hungry seriously and actually make it an essential governmental function that they actually fund.

So that's my speech, Council President.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Moore.

You're awesome.

Thank you.

There are meetings happening at a statewide level regarding just that.

We'd love to invite you.

Yeah, but I think when we just focus on, oh, you know, we want to do fresh bucks or, oh, we need another food bank, I think people are missing the real humanity there that people are hungry.

You know what I mean?

And as a kid that went to school hungry every day or got free lunch, you know, that's near and dear to my heart.

It's probably why I don't like to cook.

Actually, I had to cook, but that's another story.

So I guess my point is, in a perfect world, that would be recognized.

And you know what this is analogous to is when we fought hard to have pre-K.

Remember, no one thought that government money should go to pre-K.

And we pushed hard that now we have a whole pre-K system.

Every child from the federal government to the state to the city deserves to have pre-K before they enter kindergarten, and the government pays for that now.

We've never had that kind of study that says the government should be responsible to some degree in the city department or state department to make sure that people have food.

Period.

Full stop.

Sorry.

Council President.

No, you're good.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera, and then we'll wrap it up and we'll get to our next agenda items.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you, Councilmember Juarez, for your comments.

we don't have a centralized location for food across the city and it doesn't always have to be a separate department but we can have within a department an office or you know we could centralize it so we could do it because you're right fresh bucks is an OSC and then sweet beverage tax money is a deal and like it just it's all over the place.

and that Don has pee patches and the food, so it is HSC.

I mean, look, it's not funny, but it is something that we really should look at.

There's so much to say about food.

I wanna say two things.

I'll start, I'm gonna end with the happy piece I wanna tout in our district from this past weekend, but first I wanna say, Thank you to Council President for always keeping the eye on food.

Thank you for the presentation and for all you're doing on food waste and also the importance of, you know, cooking and nourishing yourself.

I will say within that, since COVID, we've seen an uprise in eating disorders in children.

So I wanna be really mindful that when we are saying that some foods are bad and some foods are better, the message kids are hearing is having an impact.

And so I think for a child that has an eating disorder, any food is good, or an adult for that matter, because this is something that affects kids from the age of nine, girls primarily, but boys as well, and then into the grown-up years.

And this isn't a new disease, it's been around forever.

but since COVID, I think it's the advent of social media.

So when we're talking about the use of AI and we're having this conversation about food and what foods are bad, just we need to be mindful that for someone with that disease, there is no such thing as a bad food because they're not eating.

So whether you're eating what we deem healthy foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, of course, you know, versus ultra processed, there is no bad food.

So I just, and if you're working with kids and given the uptick and given AI, we just need to be mindful because AI tools target kids and that's why we're seeing this uptick.

on eating disorders and other things like suicidal thoughts.

And there's a host of things that kids are dealing with in the advent of AI and the internet and how much time kids are spending on there.

So I just want to be mindful of that when we're talking about good foods versus bad foods.

And, you know, all food is good to all kids because eating is better than not.

and so I just sometimes we inadvertently send messages.

I certainly have been guilty of that in my life because we're big cooks at home and we always cooked with our kids growing up.

But I know that's out there and I have heard from many families of kids who've since COVID.

So I just want to be mindful of how when we talk about food in terms of bad and good that, you know, sometimes we're sending out messages that might not be good for a particular person.

So wanted to just leave that there.

Thank you.

Yeah.

But we love to cook in our house, so I love it.

I love teaching people how to cook.

When I was growing up, we didn't have a lot of money, so we ate rice and beans every single day.

It was really cheap, and my mom cooked it at home.

So we didn't have money to eat out for any kind of food.

And that was our culturally specific food, because my family's from Puerto Rico, which is a place that used to grow all its food.

and then it moved away from that and now it's moving back toward growing food because we have this food shortage piece and because it's so expensive when you live on an island and you're now importing food when you used to grow it, that is a big problem.

So now the younger generation I'm pleased to see and I was recently they're visiting my family.

There's a lot more farming going on again, which is really great.

So we need to make more food.

We need to have more access to food, particularly children, but all humans.

And so I appreciate all the work that you're doing.

And then my D4 thing I'm excited about is the Family Works has the Wallingford Food Bank that they host.

and they received a million dollars from Seattle and then some other funding to redo their food bank and it is such a great, I was able to, the opening, grand reopening was this weekend.

They never stopped delivering food but they did redo the food bank and it looks so great and it looks like a grocery store and also University Food Bank also looks like a grocery store because we've re-imagined how to do food banks in a way that we're recognizing that not everybody eats all the different foods and people should be able to pick what they're going to eat.

And also there should be no shame in going to a food bank.

When I was growing up, that was a source of shame.

And some of us went hungry because we were too afraid to go to the food bank because people would look at you and there was some judgment attached to this and there should be no judgment attached to people that need to go to a food bank and other food places to get into the food pantries and and even I've seen where it's like the little libraries for books now have food, non-perishable foods in them.

So that should not be a source of shame and we should be doing more of that not less and encouraging our folks to use all the access points for food.

So I'm really proud of the family works.

I'm so grateful that they're in the district.

I was so happy to participate.

Marsha Wright, Soyka is the executive director there and I just want to give them a shout out because they did a great job and they do such a great job in the district and people come from other parts of the city to access food there and the University Avenue Food Bank, University District Food Bank as well.

So I want to give them all our food banks across the city a huge shout out.

but thank you for what you're doing to help people cook more.

I know Council Member Juarez, you're not gonna cook more, that's okay.

You've cooked a lot in your life as have I, so it's okay if we don't wanna do it anymore.

But joking aside, what you're doing is important, providing access to food, teaching people how to cook food, teaching folks how to, you're here, you have access to the food that's here.

How do you learn to cook that type of food?

I know in Puerto Rico we have different kinds of foods.

I can't get my Puerto Rican food here always.

I have to have my mom mail it to me.

What I'm looking for ingredients to make my Puerto Rican foods here.

So I get that and I get the importance of people need to nourish themselves.

So teaching them how to use the foods that may not, they may not have grown up seeing, knowing and how to cook them so they can nourish themselves and their families.

is really great.

So thank you for doing that.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Really appreciate those comments from you and Council Member Juarez.

Any other final thoughts before we move on to our agenda?

Really grateful to Chef Joel and to, I know she's not in her full capacity as Safeway Sarah.

Okay, she's here as Sarah Osborne.

Okay, just throwing that out.

All right.

Any other final comments?

Thank you for sharing your personal stories.

Food does this, right?

This is connection, right?

And this is how we grow a community closer.

We just did it live right here.

And so just wanted to say thank you, and thank you to you, Joy.

Awesome.

Thank you, Joel.

Thank you, Chef Joel.

Thank you, Sarah.

We're now going to jump into item number five.

We'll have our presenters, SPU, come to the table.

I'm going to read it into the record.

It's an ordinance relating to Seattle Public Utilities authorizing General Manager CEO Seattle Public Utilities to accept slope stabilization easements with two parcels of private property identified at King County parcel located at 3822 Northeast 91st Street and King County Parcel located at 3832 Northeast 91 Street placing the properties under the jurisdiction of Seattle Public Utilities and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.

So great to see you Director Lee and team.

Looking forward to hearing this presentation and jump right in.

Should we do quick introductions?

I'm Andrew Lee, General Manager, CEO for Seattle Public Utilities.

Hi, Leanna Aguila, Senior Real Property Agent with Seattle Public Utilities.

Hi, I'm Izzy Schwartz, Senior Engineer with Seattle Public Utilities.

Ketel Freeman, Council Central Staff.

I'm warming Brian Goodnight's seat today.

Thank you, Council President Hollingsworth and members of the committee.

As you noted, we have three items for you this morning, the first of which is an ordinance authorizing SPU to accept two permanent easements for drainage improvements to stabilize a slope in the Wedgwood neighborhood in District 4. With me today are Leanna Aguila and then Izzy Schwartz, who will provide the briefing on the legislation.

I'll hand it off to Leanna.

You can move the mic forward.

You can move it forward.

Yeah.

Hello.

We are presenting a slope easement acquisition ordinance related to the Northeast 91st Street culvert and slope stabilization project.

This action supports construction of permanent culvert and slope stabilization improvements.

This legislation authorizes Seattle Public Utilities to accept two permanent slope easements on private property to ensure long-term access for drainage and slope stabilization.

The project is located at Northeast 91st Street in the Wedgwood neighborhood within Council District 4. The map highlights the site's location in Northeast Seattle.

The two adjacent properties are directly above the area where the slope stabilization work will occur.

And now Izzy will share an overview of the existing conditions that led to this project.

Yes, so for a bit of background, the site is located at the dead end of Northeast 91st Street, shown in the red box on the screen.

The site map also shows SPU culverts in light blue and Maple Creek in dark blue.

This project originally came to the attention of SPU in 2022 when an SPU restoration project noticed signs of slope instability.

These signs included a void at the top of the slope and visible downward movement.

SPU at this time also determined that the culvert had failed near the location of the void and water had eroded the toe of the slope at the culvert outlet.

In 2023, SPU installed a temporary culvert around the unstable slope area to safely convey drainage to the base of the slope.

A permanent solution is required in order to stabilize the slope, protect public and private property, and maintain drainage function.

SPU determined that the reinforced soil slope would stabilize the steep slope.

A reinforced soil slope is an engineered slope that is constructed using compacted soil and geotextile reinforcement.

The face is vegetated, so will have a natural appearance.

The reinforced soil slope will primarily be in the unopened right-of-way, but due to site constraints, some of it needs to be on private property.

So here are some photos.

The photos on the left show the unstable slope and failing culvert in 2022. The left photo is at the bottom of the slope looking up with House 3822 Northeast 91st Street up at the top.

The top right photo shows the void and the bottom right photo shows erosion near the culvert outlet.

In 2023, SPU installed a temporary culvert to safely convey stormwater away from the unstable area to the base of the slope.

And this is shown on the photo to the right.

While the temporary solution prevented further destabilization of the slope, a permanent solution is required to stabilize the slope and install a new drainage outfall to the base of the slope in the right of way.

The photo on the right shows an example of what a vegetated reinforced soil slope looks like.

The plan on the left shows the location of the reinforced soil slope in gray.

It is primarily within the unopened right-of-way, but due to site constraints, some will extend onto private property.

The property owners are okay with this and are happy that the slope will be stabilized.

The lines in blue show the new drainage infrastructure.

The main drainage pipes conveying runoff are located within the right of way, but some of the reinforced soil slope drains will be on private property due to the location of the reinforced soil slope.

This project requires two permanent slope stabilization easements on adjacent private properties.

Easement values were determined through professional appraisals and acquired for a combined fair market value of $9,900.

Final settlement offers were accepted through mutual agreement with both property owners.

Easements are limited to portions needed for the reinforced slope.

Seattle Public Utilities has worked closely with both property owners to explain the slope risk, project scope, and long-term benefits.

We reached agreement with both property owners following appraisal and negotiation, and the process was smooth.

Communication will continue during construction to address access, noise, and timing.

And that concludes our presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for that presentation.

Ketel, do you have any follow-ups from central staff?

No, just to note that the purchase of the easement will come from the Drainage and Wastewater Fund, for which there is existing appropriation authority.

So this is something that is assumed in the adopted budget.

Awesome.

Thank you, Ketel.

You're doing a great job standing in for Brian.

Good night, just by the way.

No, you are.

Are there any questions about this, colleagues?

Councilmember Rivera, is that an old hand?

New.

New?

Okay.

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Council President.

Just confirming that what you're saying Kato means, and thank you for being here, General Manager Lee and your team, that this is not going to result in a rate increase.

We have the funding to do this particular purchase.

I think that's true, but just for the record, so people know.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Great question.

Yes, that is great, because people need to know that.

You get asked.

Yes, absolutely.

Any other final comments?

I'm comfortable voting on this today.

Just doing a quick glance.

Awesome.

Okay, so I'm going to move that the committee recommends passage of Council Bill 121192. Is there a second?

Second.

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

Are there any other final comments?

Seeing and hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Juarez.

Aye.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss.

Chair Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Three in favor.

Motion carries.

The committee recommendation of the bill will be sent to Tuesday, I almost said August 14th, I wish, April 14th for our next meeting.

Thank you all for this.

I always get background information, so super helpful during that process, so thank you.

so I'm gonna read item number six into the agenda while Cam helps get our as we do a switch out, item number six is Council Bill 121193 on the ordinance relating to Seattle Public Utilities authorizing the acquisition of two parcels of land identified as King County parcel number 426570090 and King County parcel number 426570085 for briefing, discussion and possible vote.

Thank you for being here and looking forward to the presentation.

That's great.

And I'll just let them do quick introductions.

Brian?

Sure.

My name is Brian Solem-Saus.

I'm a senior real property agent with Seattle Public Utilities.

And I'm Carson Jacobson.

I'm the project manager for Pump Station 4. Awesome.

Great.

The second proposed ordinance before you would authorize SPU to acquire two properties in the Rainier Beach neighborhood for the Pump Station Number 4 replacement project.

The existing pump station in this area does not have adequate capacity to accommodate new development and therefore new sewer flows.

from redevelopment within the sewer basin, which is within the Rainier Beach residential urban village.

This project will build a new pump station to accommodate that capacity that's needed to maintain our service levels.

I'll now hand it off to Brian to walk you through our presentation.

Good morning, council members.

And just speak close up to the mic in your clean white jacket for spring.

I was like, how do you keep that white?

The day's still young.

So the name of this project is the Seattle Public Utilities Pump Station 4 Replacement Project.

The purpose of this legislation is to authorize Seattle Public Utilities to acquire by negotiation or eminent domain two properties required to construct the Pump Station 4 Replacement Project.

This map highlights the location of the properties.

It's located in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of southeastern Seattle, and it is located in council district number two.

The red rectangle highlights the two properties that are going to be acquired.

It is located off of Rainier Avenue South and along South Director Street.

Adjacent to the properties and in the vicinity are a number of small businesses and private property owners which are included in the blue rectangle and they are parcels that rely on pump station 4 for wastewater commands to downstream systems.

These pictures provide different angles of the two properties that we're looking to acquire.

The photo on the left shows it facing north and it also highlights a shipping container that we have worked with the property owners that they've agreed to remove prior to us acquiring the property.

And the photo on the right shows the properties facing northeast.

And I'm going to pass it off to Karsten to further explain the project.

project purpose or maybe the importance of this project.

We wanted a couple of items.

Andrew kind of briefly touched on both of these, but the existing pump station was built in 1980. So as expected for a pump station that's 45 years old, crews have started to notice evidence of or signs of aging and deterioration of the pump station.

And so from a condition perspective, we've flagged this as being important to replace in the near future.

The other element is that this area is located within the Rainier Beach Urban Village.

The South Director Street area currently is developed at a capacity much less than what it is zoned for.

And so, based on the existing capacity of the pump station, we know that it's not as large as it needs to be to accommodate future development.

And then I wanted to add a couple notes here of the picture on your right shows the existing pump station located within the right of way.

and what we are excited about with these two parcels is from our conversations with SDOT, SDOT wouldn't actually allow us to build the pump station as it is, and they would require us to build everything below grade, which is not as ideal for our crews to have to go into below grade structures that are perhaps tighter than they need to be, but also is much more expensive.

And so these two parcels offer the ability to build facilities above grade, which is nice for a cruise but also much more cost effective.

And so we were excited about locating two parcels that are vacant that are also located directly adjacent to the Verizon cell tower that's located along South Director Street.

So it allows us to kind of congregate, if you will, utility infrastructure together along South Director Street.

So we have reached a conditional purchase and sale agreement with both property owners for both properties.

The purchase price is $760,000 for both properties.

That is $380,000 for each.

And the funding will come from Seattle Public Utilities Drainage and Wastewater Rates Fund.

So in summary, both of the parcels provide the most cost-effective option to replace the existing pump station.

Both of the parcel owners are willing sellers, and a new larger pump station provides the ability to support future development.

For preliminary schedule, we hope to have the design completed by the second quarter of 2029, followed closely by the construction of the notice to proceed in the third quarter of 2029, with the hopes of completing construction by the third quarter of 2031. and that concludes our presentation.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Director Lee.

If I may add, just with respect to the same question, Council Member Rivera, that you asked previously, this project, the budget for it is included in our capital improvement program, our six-year CIP, and so the costs are fully accounted for within our existing rates.

Awesome.

Thank you for that.

I knew that was the next question from Council Member Rivera.

Ketel, anything to add?

Again, drainage and wastewater fund.

As Director Lee mentioned, this is an existing appropriation authority.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Super helpful on the presentation, and then walking us through the costs, and then also the timeline of the project as well, and then where the source of the funds are coming from, and to know that the property owners are willing to sell.

What's the other opposite?

Not willing, or is that what you all would put?

They don't want to?

Yeah.

Okay, I got you.

Colleagues, I'm comfortable voting on this.

Are there any?

Awesome.

Motion doesn't carry until I move it.

I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121193. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and second to recommend the passage of this Council Bill.

Are there any other final comments?

Seeing none, Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Councilmember Juarez.

Aye.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Chair Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Three in favor.

Motion carries.

It's going to be sent to April 14th at our full council meeting.

Thank you all for being here, and I hope you keep your white jacket super clean.

Thank you.

Fresh.

Came here fresh for spring.

That's how you know spring is in the building.

White jackets.

Because wintertime.

No, no, no.

The lovely pictures that they put in here.

And additional pictures.

Additional pictures.

I'm going to read another agenda, item number seven to the record.

It is Council Bill 121190, an ordinance relating to the stormwater code update, updating stormwater control requirements for development roadways, utilities, and maintenance activities for briefing and discussion.

General Manager, I always say Director, I'm sorry.

All the above, Director Lee.

I'll let Kevin quickly introduce himself.

Good morning, Council Members, Council President Hollingsworth.

I'm Kevin Burrell.

I'm a Senior Policy Manager for SPU.

Good to see you.

Our final presentation today relates to our 2026 update of the City's Stormwater Code, which regulates drainage, erosion control, and water quality for new developments in the City.

The purpose of the Stormwater Code is to protect life, property, public health, and the environment from the adverse impacts of urban stormwater runoff.

Adverse impacts can include flooding, water pollution, landslides, and erosion.

Every five years, we are required to update this code to ensure that it complies with the Department of Ecology's requirements.

This is the Washington State Department of Ecology.

At this point, Kevin Burrell is here to brief you on the code update and how it affects development here in Seattle.

So I'll hand it off to Kevin.

Thank you, Andrew.

Appreciate that very much.

As I dig in, I just wanted to thank and recognize the city's interdepartmental team who worked tirelessly for the last couple of years to get us to this point.

It's a big lift every cycle, and there are many folks to thank.

Also, just want to thank and recognize the folks that took time today to provide public comment.

It's important to us, to General Manager Lee, and we take their comments seriously.

We also want to just note as I'm going through the briefing that we did provide a response to comments and we can touch on that in just a bit.

All right, so Andrew touched on some of this, so I will try to move us quickly.

So again, the background, we'll talk about the purpose of the code, who it applies to, why we're updating it now.

I'll give you a quick thumbnail of the schedule, both looking backwards in terms of what we've done to get to this point.

I'll give you a quick thumbnail of the summary of the code updates, describe some of the outreach and feedback that we received so far, and then talk about next steps.

So Andrew touched on this already.

You know, we have a code because we're required.

I just want to maybe step back and say, effectively, any developed area of Western Washington that has more than 10,000 people in a developed area has to have permission from the state as your municipal jurisdiction to collect the rainwater, be kind to it, and put it back into receiving waters which they are in charge of.

So Seattle, Tacoma, King, Pearson, Snohomish Counties have the exact same permit and are under the same obligation.

So Seattle's not unique in this way.

I just wanted to give you that altitude and context.

We've also had the stormwater code since 1979. So feather in our cap, we had this framework together before there were these rules, which is pretty exciting.

Okay, so what is in the stormwater code?

There's really three major components.

First, it's about controlling sources of pollution from everyday ongoing practices or activities.

That's the societal stuff.

It also regulates construction site activities to control sources of pollution.

And the last thing is about new and redevelopment.

It's about managing rainwater when it lands on site through onsite stormwater BMPs.

It's about putting facilities in place to manage the volume of water that lands on a site, and it also manages and treats the water so it is clean when it leaves the site.

That's again for new redevelopment, which applies to city projects as well, including roadway projects.

I said it before I got to it.

So the code applies to private development, city projects, current business practices and activities.

If someone has a spill, if someone's doing auto care or preventative maintenance on the street or something, all these codes apply to everyday behaviors and activities and also residential things like pet waste bags and other fun things that we have all come to be accustomed to.

So the Department of Construction and Inspections is responsible for administering the code and regulating private property development.

They do permitting and plan review.

SBU, we look at the right-of-way development projects and activities because often what is constructed in the right-of-way ends up being donated to the utility as a utility drainage asset.

and then SDOT is helpful in enforcing construction, erosion, and sediment control activities when activities are happening in the SDOT right away.

The big driver here is that we're required to have this work done, completed, and approved by council so it can be effective by July 1, 2026. It's a regulatory requirement from the state.

So we want to meet our state permit requirements.

We've also taken the opportunity through this update adjust policies with current city priorities.

That's taking into account a lot of the public comments that we received.

And also, the code and manual are dense.

They're voluminous, and we take time each time to improve clarity and usability.

So actually, if there are any questions, you can pause and stop me for the moment too.

I should just mention that the users typically of these tools are architects, engineers, and developers.

People are designing building facilities or designing for facilities to be constructed by private parcels or roadway projects.

So let's look at what's gotten us here today, and this happens every five years.

So fall, summer of 2024, Ecology gave Western Washington this new permit, and in it came new requirements, new expectations from the state that we had to look at and adopt.

So summer to the fall of 2024, we came up with the changes that we thought made most sense, and we gave them to the public to give us their feedback.

So that was last year.

At the same time, with their public being input, we had to give our drafts to Ecology so that they can approve them.

were not allowed to adopt the code without their consent.

And so that was really the first iteration between the city and the state to have that first conversation.

Later that fall, just last fall, they gave us the response to comments and approved what we've proposed in our package.

So then we went back out for a second review with the public and got more comments and input.

and again today, this is not the third, but this is one of yet many opportunities for public, including design and engineering firms, environmental groups and so on to give us feedback.

So I'll be short.

The joy that I can bring to this is that there are very few new requirements.

Other iterations of the stormwater code updates have been really intense just based on new technologies or advances in how we want to regulate, how the state wanted us to regulate development.

In this case, there were just a few new requirements from ecology.

As I mentioned, many of the updates are technical and for users of the manual, the City Stormwater Manual.

And I would say with some joy, and hopefully Keto will back me up here, that there are minimal fiscal impacts to the city and capital projects, and those that are are actually a result of what's been required of ecology.

We can talk about specifics at the end.

So this is just a way of providing evidence and honoring the work that the team has done to just be accessible, proactively pursue public comment.

So SDCI is one of our main channels in thoroughfares to get and capture frequent flyers.

We've done several public meetings online.

We've met separately with different agency partners like the Port of Seattle.

We have met separately with the development community for several different meetings as well and this is yet again another forum for us to listen to feedback and take comments.

So through that, there are over 550 public comments to date and I just will say I think we've incorporated many of those most resulting in no changes due to the fact that there are requirements of ecology.

We haven't made any changes because they're driven by a city's priorities and policy decisions.

So we heard today during public comment there are some outstanding concerns.

I can try to address those just before we leave today or perhaps we can talk about that as part of our written response to comments that we've already provided.

Okay, so as I said, so if I were to summarize, like, what do we hear from all this feedback?

Again, most of the users of the code and the stormwater manual were asking clarifying questions about, you know, what did you mean by this and how do we put this into our designs and plans?

There again, as we heard again, to start the council committee meeting today, very strong support for tree preservation, environmental protection, water quality protection, and so on.

and then separately we've heard from the development community about ecology's requirements for like projects.

And I can put a little bit of flavor on this.

I mentioned that we've hosted two meetings.

This issue is essentially around ecology's requirements to treat the entire disturbed area of an active construction project as one permitted area.

if an applicant were to design their construction area into smaller bite-sized permitted parcels, they may avoid the environmental requirements that they require or that we require.

And so that's not allowed, and they put that in our permit as a requirement, and that's, we know that, and that's been in there since 2013, so they're just making sure that it's clear for all of Western Washington.

So here's a wireframe of kind of where we've been and where we hope to go.

So today, we're at committee meeting number one.

As we answer questions, we want to keep moving forward so that we can get to the second committee meeting and hopefully a vote.

Ideally, what's outlined here is again the July 1 effective date, but for people who have projects in the queue, we need to give them some grace period so that they can change course if they need to update their permits and project plans.

And so that's the bar below, 30 days prior to effective date that we just give folks ample notice if they need to change course on their project decisions if they don't have a completed application at the time of permit effectiveness.

I think that's all I have for now.

Questions that you may have?

And I know we'll pass it over to Ketel as well.

Yeah, Ketel.

Brian will be writing a memo that will be available to you all before the May 14th meeting.

So there will be some additional content there for you to consider.

But I have nothing to offer here beyond that reassurance.

Absolutely.

This is one of the times where I'm grateful where we have time in between meetings to digest a lot of the information, because I know that we've received a lot of comments about, obviously we had comments today, but just received a lot of feedback regarding this policy, and so it's great just to have time just to absorb it, to understand it.

And so thank you, Kevin, for that presentation.

Director Lee, did you have any follow-up comments?

I wanna open up to my colleagues to see if they had any questions.

No, no, just happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Awesome, Council Member Rivera, is that, yep, new hand, awesome, Council Member Rivera.

Sorry, CP, a lot of comments today from me.

You're good, you're good.

I guess, thank you for presenting this.

Thank you, Ketel, for pitch hitting for Brian.

Kevin, can you tell us a little bit, I will admit I wasn't familiar with some of the concerns from the public commenters, so can you please address those?

And I heard you say you incorporated a lot of feedback from public comment in general, not this public comment, but in general as you were doing this.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah, there's two topics that I might be able to just help summarize so that public comment appreciates SPU's direction and where we're headed with this proposal.

Maybe just to start by saying that of all the proposed changes that we've asked Ecology to consider and they've accepted, we've added a table for the whole world to look at to see why we've made the changes that we've had, what's the derivation for the change or the driver.

In many cases it's ecology, it'd be an ecology requirement or other changes that we're considering.

And that, I hope the public has had a chance to look at, ingest, and certainly they're welcome to ask questions of us during this kind of in-between period for clarification.

Two things that came to mind as I was listening to the very helpful comments today.

There is a lot.

This is a big, you know, voluminous amount of work.

The first ones are on tree preservation, and I just will say kindly that I appreciate the points that have been made and the healthy tension that's there.

Seattle has a tree ordinance and land use codes that protect trees.

I do want to clarify that trees are included, and as one of many of the tools that we use to manage stormwater runoff, I think commenters suggested that Seattle doesn't consider them, and we do, in fact.

and more to the point we also offer credit as do other cities and counties for trees, for new trees or retained trees.

So that hopefully will maybe help partly set the record straight that we're not really that different than any of the other Western Washington jurisdictions and have been doing that for some time.

So that's part one.

Part two, it's a little technical, but I think maybe I'll just open the conversation by, clarifying that Seattle is revising its flow control standards for some small areas of the city, that is, how much water a small project has to collect and manage as part of its new redevelopment activity.

And the areas that we're focused on are areas surrounding Bitter Lake, Haller Lake, and Green Lake, and then typically areas north of 85th where it's served by ditches and culverts on the side of the road.

and what we found in talking with our development partners and the engineers and scientists who help us think through this is the current flow control requirements may not provide the amount of benefit that we would hope, meaning the cost and expense of putting a small tank in someone's development project, like a new single-family style project that now has to put a tank underground to collect and manage rainwater, is maybe only collecting and managing the rainwater but not necessarily making it cleaner than what it was before.

So we have increased or relax the standard in those areas in exchange for asking every project, small projects and large projects, to evaluate using different tools that will not only collect the rainwater but treat it as well.

So I think what's missing between the commenters and the substance behind the science and proposal we put together is just a missing of the framework.

So there's a new framework that we put in that we think will provide better, more environmental protection than the old standard.

So there won't be less flow control.

We actually think there'll be more volume and quality treated as a result of this new package.

And so I want to make that clear.

Better environmental outcomes than what's currently happening today.

Because all sites will have to use this concept, not just a few.

Do you have something to add?

I'll add to the tree discussion just by simply saying that, you know, our focus obviously is on stormwater management.

And so the suite of alternatives that we provide to the developers to manage stormwater includes trees as an option, but not just trees, right?

There are other ways that you can do it, rain gardens, et cetera.

and we have chosen not to be prescriptive that they must use trees.

Obviously they still need to comply with the tree ordinance, but again, they have flexibility, which is what we've granted through the stormwater code.

And I think one of the commenters wanted, I believe us to be more prescriptive about that.

And we've obviously chosen to be less prescriptive and provide the options.

Yeah.

Got it.

Okay.

That's helpful.

I will ask for a briefing in between so I can better understand some of this that came up.

Thank you, thank you CP.

Awesome, thank you Councilman Rivera and just for clarity we will have a memo from Brian Goodnight helping us understand a lot of this stuff as well.

It is a lot, no absolutely.

Are there any other questions regarding this?

Awesome.

I know that we'll follow up.

We'll have more questions.

We'll get more briefings.

We'll get more memos so we can continue this process.

So thank you all for being here.

Looking forward to working with you all on this as well.

Awesome.

Okay, colleagues.

Look, I'm proud to get out on time today.

Well, I don't know, I guess, right?

So anyways, we're gonna, that will conclude our, are there, before I end, are there any other comments to come before the council, to come before the committee?

Us three.

Okay.

With that, there's no other items on the agenda.

There are no further business.

And so this is going to conclude our April 9th meeting of the Governance and Utilities Committee.

I also want to say yesterday was my dad's birthday.

So happy birthday, Pops.

We love you.

All right.

Happy birthday.

Feliz cumpleaños.

Feliz.

I won't tell everyone how old you are, though.

but our next committee meeting is scheduled for May 14th at 9.30 a.m.

hearing no further business.

It is 11.30 a.m.

on the dot.

This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.