Notes from Shoreline City Council Meeting March 4, 2019

Shoreline City Hall
Photo by Mike Remarcke

Shoreline City Council Meeting March 4, 2019

Notes by Pam Cross

Mayor Hall called the meeting to order at 7:00pm

Debbie Tarry provided the City Manager’s Report

• Mar 6th Bystander Training. Learn how to safely intervene when you see someone being harassed. Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Church, 14724 1st Ave NE 7:00 - 8:30pm
• Park Volunteer Work Parties Saturdays and Sundays in March. For information on times and places go to shorelinewa.gov/calendar
• Mar 9th. Join Richmond Highlands Neighborhood Association at the ribbon cutting for their new mural on the north side of Spiro’s Pizza. 18411 Aurora Ave N. 2:00 to 3:00pm 
• Mar 9th. Tween Night at Richmond Highlands Rec Center. 6:30-10:30. Free fun and snacks for 5th and 6th graders. 
• Mar 10th. Shoreline Social Justice Book Club meeting in City Hall Council Chamber 2:00-4:00pm. March’s book choice is Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant by Jose Angel N. 

Public Reminders:

• Parks Funding Advisory Committee meets Mar 6th at 7:00pm in room 303
• Planning Commission meets Mar 7th at 7:00pm in Council Chamber 
• Council will attend the annual National League of Cities Conference Mar 10-13. As a result, there will be no Council meeting Monday Mar 11th. 

Council Reports:

Councilmember Roberts attended the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Executive Board meeting and the King County Growth Management Planning Council (GMPC) Policy Board meeting.

GMPC is thinking of forming a subcommittee to look into implementing the affordable housing plan that was adopted by King County last year.

PSRC had their first discussion supporting Vision 2050 and its strategies for growth in the Puget Sound Area. Details of the three plans under consideration are available on the PSRC website and comments are welcome from the public.

Deputy Mayor O’Connell attended the Seashore Transportation meeting. The nearest Open House is at Edmonds City Hall on Mar 12th 4:00-6:00pm. You can visit the website and offer comments online at www.psrc.org\vision

They also discussed the airport master plan at SeaTac.

Mayor Hall and the City Manager met with the offices of our senators, our legislators, and several other key legislators n Washington DC in their effort to obtain funds for the 145th and I5 intersection. They will be making a second trip in a week.

Public Comment:

John McCoy, and Yoshiko Saheki spoke against rezoning 1510 and 1517 lots in North City from residential to community business. They want to preserve the feel of their residential neighborhood.

Gretchen Atkinson is President of the Board of Ronald Wastewater District and is speaking on behalf of the board. Ronald wants to extend the interlocal agreements. This is item (b) on the Consent Calendar. She spoke of the cooperative relationship between Ronald and the City and the needs of Ronald in order to continue to serve all of the City’s wastewater issues. She urges approval of the Consent item.

Senior Center: Joanne Donahue, COO of Sound Generations, appreciates the City’s support of the Shoreline/LFP senior center when the other sources of funding went away. It is currently located on School District property and the SD may need the property back at any time. The Rec Center is a best practices opportunity. She wants Council to let the voters decide where the Senior Center is located.

Senior Center: Douglas Woods, President of the Board of the Shoreline/LFP Senior Center, states a much larger space is necessary to continue providing first class services to our growing community. He would like to avoid building “a monument to mediocrity.” We have an opportunity to build a Rec Center to that serves the entire community.

Consent Calendar

The Consent Calendar was approved after moving item 7(c) from Consent to Action Item. (discussing a second possible location for the Community Aquatics Center).

Action Item 8(a);
Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Contract Amendment with WRNS Studio in the Amount of $45,000 for the Shoreline Community and Aquatics Center Alternative Site Analysis

Councilmember Roberts moved to postpone action to the 3/25 meeting to allow time for due diligence. He is concerned about spending $45k for a site that may not be the best site. He believes other School District properties could become part of the discussion. After an exchange of views among the Councilmembers, including time already spent looking at potential sites, time constraints in order to bring the bond issue before voters in November, property actually offered by the SD (as opposed to potential), possible savings by selection of this site, and belief that this report itself would provide due diligence, the Council voted 5 to 2 against the Motion.

Action item 8(a).
The Council passed the Motion authorizing the contract by a vote of 6 to 1.

Study Items

(a) Sound Transit Lynnwood Link Extension Project Update.

Staff report presented by

• Juniper Nammi, Sound Transit Project Manager for the City of Shoreline,
• Rod Kempkes Lynnwood Link Extension Project Executive Director for Sound Transit, 
• Blake Jones North Corridor Outreach Manager 

2019 is a big year for the Lynnwood Link. Construction is going to begin. In December they executed a full-funding grant agreement with the Federal Transit Administration.

Full service is scheduled for 2024.

Early work includes demolition of about 40 residential structures, utility work relocation, and tree removal and replacement. Timber becomes the contractor’s property after removal. There will also be removal of noise walls that will be replaced by temporary noise fences, and access road construction coordinated with WSDOT. There will temporary parking changes, long term closure of 5th Ave NE between NE 130th and NE 145th streets. This space is required to build columns for elevated structure. Local access and a pedestrian path will remain.

During construction, community outreach will include providing timely information, maintaining a safe construction site, keeping people moving, protecting the environment, and maintaining a 24/7 construction hotline. You can subscribe to alerts at soundtransit.org/subscribe.

Council discussion

The Sound Transit website has information on all aspects of the work including the artwork planned for the stations. Door to door visits will be done to alert neighbors adjacent to the tree removal, and signage will be along I5 to inform drivers that don’t live in the specific area. The temporary noise fences will be in place for months. There is a kit for the people who are more impacted by noise that will include white noise machines, earplugs, and sound reducing curtains. When the tracks are at grade, there is a 35’ required clear zone (only ground cover or small shrubbery), small stature trees can be planted when tracks are above grade. The larger evergreen trees will be farther away. The 145th station should be accessible by the pedestrian/bicycle bridge if things continue on schedule.

Study Item (b) Discussing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition Plan for the Public Rights-of-Way

• Staff Report provided by Tricia Juhnke and Randy Witt.

The City is required to develop an ADA transition plan by identifying barriers and developing plans to make modifications to remove these barriers. This has been ongoing since 2016. About 80% are not in compliance but this may include some duplication. Sidewalks, curb ramps and driveways are the most prevalent and also the most expensive to correct. Estimated $184M to correct. They will focus on complete barriers for the first five years. Alignment with other projects, making smaller repairs and adding ramps are also considered.

Council discussion

Will all issues be addressed when a project is done? (cross slope/tree root/sidewalk width). Most critical segments will be addressed rather than re-do of an entire sidewalk. Our street crews may be able to do some of the easier fixes but state law requires that the City contract out certain jobs.

Study Item (c) Discussion of Sidewalk Program Implementation

• Staff Report provided by Tricia Juhnke and Randy Witt.

The City will need an Engineer 2 as Project Manager plus an administrative assistant. Future needs could include inspectors and additional engineers. Need project specific cost estimates for the 12 projects. These 12 projects should be completed in 10 years. Multiple rounds of bonds will be issued as costs become known. Grants are being sought to supplement the bonds. On March 18th the budget amendment and bond authorization will come before the council for approval.

Council Discussion

Outsourcing almost the entire project is still possible but certain amount of in house expertise is necessary to manage the whole project. Even if we outsourced just the consultant, we would need someone in house to manage the consultant. This issue is still being evaluated. The soft costs are their best estimate at this point. Council approved the plan that included the criteria to guide staff. Staff is giving full consideration to the possibility WSDOT may put in sidewalks or a developer might.

Agenda Item (d) Discussing Ordinance No. 852 – 2019-2020 Biennial Budget Amendment for Sidewalk Projects and Ordinance No. 853 – Authorizing Issuance of Bonds for Sidewalks Supported by Transportation Benefit District 0.2% Sales Tax

• Sara Lane, Administrative Services Director, Joined Tricia Juhnke and Randy Witt

Bond Authorization commits future City Councils to issue the debt as is required by law to ensure that all revenue generated by the tax supports the repayment of the debt. This will be done by a series of bonds since we don’t know how much we are getting. Principal amount is limited to $42M. Future Councils can extend the ordinance by amendment or issue a new ordinance after 10 years.

Quick comment on impact of Initiative-976 $30 car tabs proposed by Tim Eyman. Sales tax is not impacted but VLF will be impacted by about $830K.

Moved to Consent Calendar.

The meeting adjourned at 9:17pm.