Shoreline City Manager's update

Opening of the Sunset community garden

Update for the week of April 7, 2014
From Debbie Tarry, Shoreline City Manager

On Saturday, April 6, King County did some filming along the Interurban Trail in conjunction with the Shoreline Walks event. They are in the process of making short videos (2-3 minutes) regarding climate change and they want to highlight Shoreline’s walkability. We’ll be sure to put a link on our website and use it as marketing tool once the video is available – another way to promote Shoreline! 

Council Meetings

·      April 7:

o   Dinner Meeting (5:45 p.m.):  Chris Mefford of Community Attributes. Mr. Mefford’s presentation provided a broad-based perspective of the economic and demographic forces affecting the entire Puget Sound region. It is hoped that an understanding of the macro setting of our region will enable us to think more clearly on how Shoreline can take advantage of its unique location and strengths.

o   Business Meeting:

§  2015-2020 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Public Hearing and Discussion - The six-year TIP includes transportation projects, such as road and bridge work as well as new or enhanced bicycle or pedestrian facilities. The City’s TIP is used to secure federal funding for transportation projects as part of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP).  No one spoke at the public hearing on this topic. The adoption of the 2015-2020 TIP is scheduled for April 28.

§  Transit Service Integration Plan Workplan (TSIP) - Through development of the TSIP, the City will identify policies addressing future transit needs throughout Shoreline once light rail service begins (2023) and as the city’s population and employment bases grow. The current workplan is to start the process in the fall of 2014 with a goal of completing the TSIP by the end of 2015. 

·      April 11/12, Council Annual Strategic Planning Session.  Information packets have been posted to the City’s website. The meeting on Friday will start at 9 a.m. with a light breakfast available starting at 8:30 a.m.

·      April 14

o   Dinner Meeting (5:45 p.m.):  I have been working with Michael Derrick, General Manager for RWD, on the agenda for this meeting. This as an opportunity for both elected bodies to start discussing a framework to plan for the transition of unifying Ronald Wastewater District operations with the City. 

o   Regular Meeting:

§  2013 Carryovers/2014 Budget Amendment: This item is the City’s annual reconciliation of projects/items budgeted in 2013 that were still in progress at the end of the year and therefore the remaining 2013 budget for those items needs to be “carried over” to the 2014 budget. This item will also include a few 2014 budget amendment items as a result of new grants, or priority operational needs.  The funding will be from grant sources or savings above those originally projected for 2013.  

§  2013 Year-End Report and 1^st Quarter 2014: The City’s General Fund ended 2013 with revenues being 102% of those projected and expenditures being 95.8% of those projected. As a result the General Fund bottom line $2 million better than projected.

§  Appointment of Library Board Members: The Council sub-committee is recommending the appointment of Brooke Shirts, Robert Smith, and Eileen Wood-Lim (re-appointment).

§  Revision to Council Rules: This is a follow-up to Council’s discussion at the February 8 Council Workshop regarding updates to their Council Rules.

§  Amending the 2014 Salary Schedule: In 2010, the City did not refill the vacated staff Communication position due to budget constraints.  Instead the responsibilities were transferred to a Management Analyst in the City Manager’s Office. This person has been doing communication work 100% of the time since then. Our Communication Assistant has also been part of this team, although not formally. I want to create a Communication Division through these two staff and identify them as such for our City. As a result, I am recommending a title change for the Management Analyst to Communication Program Coordinator. There is no proposed adjustment to the salary range. Although this is the case, since the title is a change to the City’s adopted salary schedule, the City Council must authorize the change. 

§  Point Wells Transportation Corridor Study (TCS) Update: Staff will provide an update to Council on the options that have been considered during the TCS process and the process going forward to develop a final recommendation on both the corridor improvements/mitigation and the off-corridor mitigation recommendations (i.e., sidewalks on connecting streets, connections for parks in the project area, etc.). 

Point Wells Update

This last week there were two opportunities for the community to provide feedback on the corridor mitigation options under consideration. On Tuesday approximately 55 residents attended TCS Workshop #5. This workshop was focused on Segment B. On Thursday, staff held an additional open house at Richmond Beach Library to provide another opportunity to get feedback on the Segment A options. There was good attendance for this workshop also. We have mailed reminder post cards to the multi-neighborhood area to encourage people to attend the final TCS workshop on April 16. This week staff will be working with BSRE’s traffic consultants to develop preferred alternative recommendations for Segment A, Segment B and off-corridor improvements. These will be shared at the April 16 workshop. 

Aurora Project

·      In a recent newsletter from the Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County they highlighted the Aurora Corridor Improvements in Shoreline. Here’s an excerpt “…Developers, though, are discovering something new to appreciate about the city that borders Seattle to the north: profitable opportunities along Shoreline’s re-imagined, tree-lined version of Aurora with its publicly-funded and completed infrastructure improvements.”

·      Also, this is a picture of painted footsteps we have put along the Aurora construction zone to encourage safe pedestrian access and pathways.

The ceremonial opening of the Sunset community gardens
From left: Parks Board Vice-Chair Jesse Sycuro, Councilmember Chris Roberts,
Councilmember Will Hall, City Manager Debbie Tarry, Mayor Shari Winstead,
Councilmember Keith McGlashan

Sunset Park Community Garden Kick-Off

On Saturday Mayor Winstead and Councilmembers Hall, McGlashan and Roberts celebrated with over 30 gardeners the kick-off of the community garden at Sunset Park.  See photos on the City’s webpage. Hopelink has two plots that will be used for a Giving Garden. They are looking for volunteers to help maintain the Giving Garden over the growing season.

Grant Successes

·      This week we were notified that the King County members of the Transportation Policy Board reviewed and approved the recommendation from the King County Project Evaluation Committee on the twelve projects eligible to move forward from the King County area to compete in the PSRC Regional FHWA grant program competition. This is the list of the twelve projects selected to move forward and Shoreline’s application for design and environmental funding ($4.3 million) for SR 523 (N/NE 145^th Street) Aurora Ave N to I-5 is one of those projects.

·      We received notice from the Washington State Department of Commerce that we were successful in receiving a grant of $42,060 for Watershed Protection and Restoration – Improving Land Use. 

Key Contacts

On Friday, the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Scott MacColl and I met with Congressman McDermott’s staff - Olivia Robison (District Director) and Tera Beach (Deputy Director).  Scott and Jake Johnston (Federal Lobbyist) took them on a tour of Shoreline following our meeting.  We continued to thank them for the past success of partnering on Aurora and talked about the need for continued partnership to fund future infrastructure and housing needs in Shoreline as we move forward on the City’s vision of being a community connected through transit.

Calendar Items

·      April 8 – Urban Forest Strategic Plan Public Open House, Council Chambers, 7 – 8:30 p.m.

·      April 12 – Earth Day Every Day Event, Central Market, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Sustainability

We are making some changes to the towel dispensers and foam soap containers in many of the City owned restrooms – including those at City Hall.  This is projected to reduce the use of paper towels by about 30%, will allow us to use paper towels that are 100% recycled paper and are unbleached, the foamy soap is easier on our pipes and will result in less clogs in our pipes and less future maintenance, and the self-contained foam soap bag inside the foam soap dispenser is almost 100% recyclable.

Photo caption added 04-10-2014 10:23pm