Shoreline City Manager’s Weekly Update - Week of 12/23/2013

By Debbie Tarry, Shoreline City Manager

First, I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays and Joyous New Year! I hope you enjoyed our taste of winter weather last week. We activated one snow removal crew on a 12-hour shift starting at 12:00am Friday morning. They were able to drive all the primary and secondary routes and treat all potential trouble spots like hills and intersections before snow began to accumulate.

Future Council Meetings

January 6, 2014

• Election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor: At the first Council meeting of a new year after a Council election, Councilmembers elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The election procedures for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor (Section 2.2) and the Duties of Officers (Section 2.3) can be found in the Council Rules and Procedures. The City Clerk will run the meeting until after the Mayor is elected, and then the newly elected Mayor will become the presiding officer.

Agenda Planner

• Chronic Nuisance Ordinance Discussion: This item has been moved from January 6th to January 27, 2014. A Council dinner meeting on January 27 includes a Police Special Emphasis Team update that will help provide some context for the discussion on the Chronic Nuisance Ordinance; therefore, the discussion was moved to the 27th.

• 10-Year Financial Sustainability Plan: Councilmembers Eggen, Salomon, and Winstead have agreed to serve on the 10-Year Financial Sustainability Plan sub-committee. There are six sub-committee meetings scheduled and three potential Council briefings scheduled on the agenda planner. Adoption has been scheduled for May 12.

• Point Wells EIS Scoping Comments: We have added this to the February 3rd agenda. See the Point Wells update below.

Council Retreats

• Mini-Retreat: We have scheduled a Council mini-retreat for Saturday, February 8, 2014 8:30am to 2pm to primarily review Council operations, grants, and 185th Street light rail sub-area design alternatives.

• Full Retreat: Council is tentatively scheduled to hold their regular goal setting retreat in April.

Point Wells Update – Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Process Starting in January

Last Thursday, December 19, 2013, City staff met with representatives of the Point Wells developer, BSRE Point Wells, LP (BSRE) along with the primary consultants that will do the traffic analysis, David Evans and Associates, Inc. (DEA), and the Snohomish County EIS process, EA Engineering, Science. City staff have been checking weekly with Snohomish County and BSRE on the timing of the EIS and Friday we received confirmation that Snohomish County has signed the contracts for EA to do the EIS process and that the scoping period is scheduled to start sometime between January 8 and January 17. BSRE has agreed to extend the minimum 21-day scoping comment period to 30 days, so likely the comment period will end in early to mid-February. We will hold a community meeting on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 at City Hall to help community members understand what to expect during the scoping and EIS process, share the City’s draft scoping comments, and to provide an overview of next steps (including dates and purpose of the Transportation Corridor Study). We will be engaging the services of EnviroIssues to help us facilitate this meeting. Here is a brief timeline of the expected events over the next few months:

• 1/15/14 – City of Shoreline Community Meeting – 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at City Hall
• Mid to late January - Snohomish County will host two public meetings (one during the day and one at night) to take public comments regarding the appropriate scope of the EIS. These meetings will be in Shoreline – most likely at Shoreline Center.
• Mid February – Start of the Transportation Corridor Study (TCS) process. This will include six workshops.
• Mid April – Complete the TCS
• May– Council review of the recommendations from the TCS

Utilities Update

• Shoreline Water District: Staff is working with Shoreline Water District regarding a Special Use Permit to locate their maintenance facility at 15555 15th Avenue NE, the site of Northwest Church, which is relocating to Lynnwood.
• SPU: I am setting up a meeting with Ray Hoffman, SPU Director, to discuss SPU’s role in helping to move the water system acquisition process through the Seattle Mayor’s Office and Council process.

Finance Update

The most recent sales tax, real estate excise tax (REET) and development revenue collections are positive. Sales tax collections for the year are 4.9%, $286,000, ahead of projections and 7.4% ahead of 2012 collections for the same period. We did see the most recent monthly collection (September) be only slightly ahead of the same month’s collection in 2012. The primary growth in sales tax is occurring in new car sales, building materials and general merchandise sales. REET collections are 15%, $193,000, ahead of most recent projections. Development revenue collections continue to exceed projections for 2013. Collections are slightly lower in 2013 than in 2012 due to the collections related to the high schools in 2012. In November the City issued two new commercial building permits: Chuck Olson KIA (17001 Aurora Ave N) and International Community Health (16549 Aurora Ave N).

2014 Council of Neighborhoods

The first three CON meetings for 2014 are listed below. I will be attending the January meeting. CON has asked me to reflect on the following topic: With the emphasis on economic development as part of the city’s long-term financial sustainability, what does that mean for the people who are here now, and the identity of Shoreline as a community of quiet residential neighborhoods? How will neighborhood character be maintained?

• January 8 – New City Manager, CON meeting structure, 8 Touch Training
• February 5 – GIS Overview, Sustainable Works Programming in Shoreline
• March 5 – National Night Out Planning

This and That

• City Hall will be closed January 1!