Shoreline City Manager's Report

Shoreline City Manager's Report

By Debbie Tarry

Council Meeting – December 9 – Last regularly scheduled meeting for 2013!

Dinner Meeting (5:45 p.m.):  The second annual dinner between the City Council and Council of Neighborhoods (CON) was held before the Council meeting.

Public Hearings:  Two hearings were held to receive comments in favor of/opposition to the two Shoreline School District levies on the ballot in February 2014.  Council will consider adopting a resolution in support of the levies on January 6, 2014.

Ordinance No. 680 Authorizing Eminent Domain for Acquisition of 1300 N 175th (Grease Monkey): Passage of this ordinance allows the City to use eminent domain to acquire the property if staff cannot collaboratively negotiate an agreement with the property owner for the use of locating the Police Station at City Hall.  The City is required to both pay market value for the acquisition of the property and to pay to relocate the current business operating on the site.

Assumption Ordinance: Council adopted Ordinance No. 681 authorizing the assumption of the Ronald Wastewater District. Passing of the ordinance signals the City’s intention to officially assume the District under the terms of the 2002 interlocal operating agreement between the City and Ronald Wastewater. Council passed this ordinance.

Ordinance No. 677 Termination of Easements and Lease Agreements: Currently any termination or release of easement needs to be approved by the City Council on an easement by easement basis when the easement is no longer needed.  Adoption of Ordinance No. 677 allows the City Manager to release easements and leases administratively after 30 days prior notice to the City Council. 

Council Authorized the Mayor to Negotiate a Contract with Debbie Tarry for the Position of City Manager: I am very honored by the Council’s selection!

Historic Inventory Update

Over the past several months, a historic preservation consultant has been updating the City’s existing inventory of historic property. When staff formulated the scope of the project, they specifically included the Light Rail land use study areas to be able to inform the planning process including the SEPA documents that will be required for any zoning changes. If there are any properties found that qualify for designation as a Shoreline landmark, we need to know so that if it is potentially impacted by future development appropriate mitigation can be determined. The City is not legally required to landmark structures just because they are potentially eligible. 

The report and recommendations from the consultant will be reviewed by Shoreline Historic Museum and King County Historic Preservation Program staff before the report is finalized.

Addition of these properties to the inventory is then an administrative process that fulfills Historic Preservation goals and policies in the Comprehensive Plan.

The property owners of the properties in the existing inventory or being considered for addition to the inventory were direct mailed last week to inform them of this project and inviting them to learn more by coming to a workshop on December 10 or by contacting Senior Planner Juniper Nammi at 

North City Flower Baskets

In looking to reduce park maintenance hours to compensate for the reduction in extra help hours in park maintenance, the City will transfer responsibility of taking care of the North City hanging flower baskets to North City businesses. Staff can save nearly 300 hours by not watering the flowers in North City. We don’t have flower baskets anywhere else in the City, but it seemed like the right thing to do when 15th was improved several years ago. The original plan was for the North City businesses to take over the responsibility or pay for the service, but this has never happened. Given the demands we have in right-of-way tree maintenance, staff recommended to transfer this responsibility to the North City businesses in 2014. The City will determine if there is someone willing to take responsibility for the watering. If not, then the City may not provide the hanging baskets for 2014. 

Finance Update

The November Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) collections report show collections through November 2013 total $1,463,647 and are running ahead of the original projection of $1,067,914 by $395,733, or 37.1%; ahead of the revised projection of $1,270,673 by $192,974, or 15.2%; and, ahead of 2012 collections by $291,623, or 24.9%. In November 2013, there were 6 more transactions with a value that was $0.3 million more than those for November 2012. Year-to-date there have been 136 more transactions with a value that is $58.3 million more than the year-ago level.

This and That

North Maintenance Facility (Brugger’s Bog) Update: Over the next year and a half, the City will be making improvements and getting the City’s new maintenance facility up and running. The City anticipates the facility being fully operational by the 2nd Quarter of 2015. Police and staff are already fueling vehicles at the site. 

Mayor Keith McGlashan, along with other elected officials in King County, signed a letter of support for the work being done by the Washington State Climate Legislative and Executive Workgroup to ensure the State achieves its adopted green house gas emissions reduction requirements.