Shoreline City Manager update

By Debbie Tarry, Shoreline City Manager

Update for Week of 3/10/2014

I am in Washington DC this week with Mayor Winstead and Councilmembers Hall, McConnell and McGlashan, along with Scott MacColl, at the National League of Cities annual conference. The conference is a great opportunity to meet with officials from across the country and share ideas. 

Council Meetings

• March 10: No meeting
• March 17:
• Business Meeting:
• Appointment of the recommended Planning Commissioners: Donna Moss, Jack Malek, and Terri Strandberg.
• Ten Year Financial Sustainability Strategy Update: This will be an opportunity for staff to update the full Council on the recommended strategies from the Council sub-committee.

Point Wells Update

• Traffic Corridor Study workshop #3 is scheduled for Thursday, March 13 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. The workshop will review proposed design options.

Light Rail/Sound Transit Update

Last week, ST staff updated the ST Board on the progress of their Long Range Plan (LRP) update. During the scoping period, the City submitted its comment letter and identified several specific projects the City wanted to see included in the Long Range Plan update. During its update to the Board, ST staff outlined potential plan modifications (including maps showing modified bus service and modified rail service) that could be incorporated as part of the update. ST staff explained that these modifications could be added to the existing plan and that projects/corridors in the existing plan would be incorporated into the update. Specific items that we included in our comment letter that are identified as potential plan modifications include:

• Improvements to 145th Street (identified as a representative corridor improvement)
• Improved east-west service in Shoreline connecting SR 99 BRT, I-5 LRT and SR 522 HCT (identified as a representative bus refinement)
• ST regional express bus service on 145th from I-5 serving SR 522 (Project 29 on the map showing potential plan modifications for buses)
• HCT line from downtown Seattle to Edmonds via Ballard, Shoreline Community College (Project 20 on the map showing potential plan modifications for rail). The mode for this project is not specified however we recommended light rail. Our comment did not include extension to Edmonds.
• Light rail from North Kirkland/or UW Bothell to Northgate via SR 522 (Project 10 on the map showing potential plan modifications for rail)

One item that the City did not identify in our comment letter that affects Shoreline is light rail line from Ballard to Everett station via Aurora Village. Representative projects also include “stations and supporting facilities and services for corridor level plan modifications”. This may address our suggestion for the addition of parking garages in SR 522 corridor cities. Several representative policies, programs, and services that may be included in the plan that address some of our suggestions include:

• Improve non-motorized access to stations (our recommendations: improved access to Shoreline light rail stations, pedestrian improvements on SR 104)
• Financially support construction of transit-oriented development (our recommendation: Funding of Transit Oriented Development Catalyst projects)
• Support BRT programs of other agencies, with goal of ITDP Bronze BRT standard (our recommendation: Improved BRT service on SR 99)

The Supplemental EIS (SEIS) will include more detail for most of these projects and programs and we can revisit our scoping comments at that time. The SEIS for the update will be released this summer, with plan adoption expected by the end of the year. The City will have the opportunity to comment when the SEIS is released.

Council Goal Setting Work Session – April 11/12

The Annual Council Goal Setting Work Session is scheduled for Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12.

Brugger’s Bog Neighborhood Update

On Monday, March 3, staff presented to the Ballinger Neighborhood Association information on the Brugger's Bog Maintenance Facility and other forthcoming City projects happening in the Ballinger neighborhood (25th Avenue NE Sidewalk Project; Ballinger Creek Basin Plan). BALNA members had questions about development of the maintenance yard and surface water issues in Brugger's Bog Park and in the right-of-way along 25th Avenue NE. Staff explained that the City is still working on a draft site plan for the maintenance facility. The City will go back out to the neighborhood to receive their input and feedback. Staff also mentioned that there would likely be an open house at City Hall on the Ballinger Basin Plan sometime in April hosted by Surface Water Utility. 

Staff Update

• Dan Repp started work on Monday, March 10 as the City’s new Public Works Utility and Operations Manager. Dan was the Utility Manager for the City of Auburn and has been there since October of 2006. His responsibilities included master planning, engineering, CIP, utility systems operation, financial planning, budgeting, and policy development for Auburn’s three major utilities (water, wastewater, and surface water). Prior to the City of Auburn, Dan had been the Assistant City Engineer at the City of Puyallup and a water resource/environmental engineer for such firms as David Evans and Associates and JBR Environmental. 
• Bonita Roznos also started work on Monday as the City’s new Deputy City Clerk. She has previously served in similar positions for both higher education entities and municipal governments in California.