Notes from Shoreline council meeting March 30, 2020

Shoreline City Hall and Council Chamber
Photo by Mike Remarcke

Shoreline City Council Meeting

March 30, 2020

Notes by Pam Cross

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

All Councilmembers were present. City Councilmembers participated in the meeting remotely.

PROCLAMATION

April was proclaimed Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the City of Shoreline.

In Washington State, 45% of women and 22% of men report having experienced sexual violence in their lifetime

Mayor Hall thanked those people who are keeping us safe by staying at home, except for essential services, and maintaining the physical distance of 6’.

The Mayor reminded everyone of the importance of completing the Census.

Report of the City Manager Debbie Tarry

COVID-19 update

• Stay home, stay safe. Limit trips for groceries, gas and other essentials. City Hall and recreation facilities are closed. Some services can be accessed online.
• Go to shorelinewa.gov/covid for updated information on what’s open and what’s closed.
• ICHS Shoreline testing site is open to anyone who has symptoms which meet the criteria, by appointment only. Call 206-533-2600 to make an appointment. More information available at ICHS.com
• Hopelink Food Bank remains open
• Statewide moratorium on evictions
• Utilities will remain on
• Unemployment benefits have been expanded
• Health Benefits Exchange is enrolling
• Call 211 for other resources

Stay informed: sign up for email notices at shorelinewa.gov/alerts

Council Reports
none

Public Comment (remotely)

Theresa LaCroix and Ginny Scantlebury, both from Shoreline, spoke about the ongoing services provided by the Shoreline/LFP Senior Center and the need for additional funding.

Pastor Kelly Dahlman-Oeth, Pastor of the United Methodist Church in Shoreline, stated the church has suspended all onsite services and meetings but continues to provide many services, such as Hopelink, to the Shoreline Community. In the current environment, donations have fallen off. Additional funds are requested from the City for Shoreline area applicants.

The agenda, including procedural issues, was approved unanimously

Procedural Issues for this meeting: Suspend rules of procedures that require all meetings to take place in Council Chambers for the duration of the City proclaimed emergency. Adopted unanimously.

The Consent Calendar was adopted, without discussion, unanimously.

Action Item 8(a)

Approving Preliminary Formal Unit Lot Subdivision No. PLN19-0037, Dividing One Existing Parcel Into Eleven (11) Unit Lots at 18512 Meridian Court N

Mayor asked if there were any ex-parte communications. There were none.

Caleb Miller, Associate Planner, did the presentation.

Blue Fern Development, LLC., requests application approval for a Preliminary Formal Subdivision to divide the existing parcel at 18512 Meridian Court N into eleven (11) unit lots and a joint access and utilities tract.

The Hearing Examiner’s Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation, dated January 20, 2020, state that the subdivision application meets all of the criteria for approval of a subdivision.

The public hearing for this subdivision was held on January 15, 2020 by the Hearing Examiner, which created the record for the basis of a recommendation from the Hearing Examiner to the City Council. As such, the City Council cannot hear any additional public comment on this item and should not have external discussion regarding this request with members of the public.

Motion and second to approve the Hearing Examiner’s recommendations

Discussion

This is part of the decision to make townhomes fee simple. No reason not to move forward. The new townhome design would have worked very nicely on this site. Unfortunately, it was approved prior to the new townhouse design standards.

Passed unanimously by roll call vote.

Revision Highlights - the following Agenda Item was added:

Action Item 8(b) - Adopting Resolution No. 457 Establishing a COVID-19 Emergency Community Response Fund
The purpose of this Emergency Resolution is to help ensure that every Shoreline resident is able to meet their basic needs including food, essential personal items, temporary shelter, or other emergency aid during the COVID-19 Health Emergency.

Colleen Kelly, Community Services Manager, did the staff report.

This Resolution is proposed in recognition of the increased financial needs of nonprofit and faith based organizations due to the coronavirus pandemic. Fundraisers that would normally take place at this time of year have been postponed or cancelled. Many residents have immediate needs for basic living supports. The goal is to provide rapid deployment of needed resources and the flexibility to meet specific needs. It proposes an initial fund of $100k and a simple one page online application for the organizations. The City manager would have approval up to $5k, and could delegate up to $3.5k to staff if desired. It would be available to established 501c(3) organizations and faith based communities to provide direct emergency response assistance to Shoreline residents. Staff will monitor allocations. Organizations will be encouraged to request only what is known to be required at the time, and to be mindful that the total available is limited and not intended to fully support any organization. Additional requests can be made.

Public comment

Other than the two previous speakers, there was no public comment.

Discussion

Motion and second to approve Resolution 457.

With the pandemic there is an increased number of people needing the services of our human resources providers. People at-risk are unable to leave their homes and may need food deliveries. Many jobs have gone away for now. These people normally do just fine but need temporary help. Rather than set up a new program to meet this (what we hope is temporary) need, let’s use extra funds from the General Fund, with a simple application asking: who are you, how much do you need and what is it for?

If it appears we will exceed $100k, we can consider increasing the amount at a later time.

Motion to Amend Motion to provide $35k to Hopelink, and $15k to Sound Generations (Senior Center) from the available $100k.These programs have been vetted by prior year requests. This would leave $50k for other organizations.

Discussion of this amendment

Hopelink received $50k from the Seattle Foundation, and another amount from the City of Shoreline. Do they really need more right now? On the other hand, the Senior Center did not receive any money from the Seattle Foundation so they do need some assistance now.

Hopelink is regional (serving King and Snohomish Counties). The Senior Center only services local areas of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park. We don’t want money to go to the bigger Hopelink organization, we want Shoreline general fund tax dollars to go primarily to Shoreline. Colleen Kelly stated we can stipulate that money stays in the Shoreline Hopelink Center so that would make sure it goes to substantially Shoreline residents.

The Shoreline/LFP Senior Center doesn’t qualify for Seattle Foundation funds. The Bill Gates and Amazon foundations also declined. The Shoreline School District declined to permit a break on rent. A $20k loan from Sound Generations is almost gone.

Providing bags of groceries (one bag/week for basic needs) is something the Senior Center has never done. It is not funded. Volunteers are almost all high risk so they cannot help provide services. Mental health counseling is over the phone but demand has doubled. There are seniors they’ve never seen before. $80-100k is probably what they will go through.

Does Ms Kelly or the City Manager have anything to add?

Is it accurate that the Senior Center did not qualify? Reason? Other senior centers received some funding. Was food donated for the bags of groceries or is there a cost involved. It is possible Hopelink may not need additional funds right now because they received $50k from the Seattle-United Way Foundation.

We don’t want individual councilmembers to pick out their favorites. It is better to let staff do it, the same way we do neighborhood and similar grants. Let providers make the ask. It will just be a one week delay. If approved by staff, there will only be a one week delay from tonight.

Roll call vote on the amendment to add allocations of $35k to Hopelink and $15k to Sound Generations (Senior Center) taken from the $100k leaving $50k unallocated fails 2 to 5 with Councilmembers McConnell and Roberts supporting.

Main motion passes unanimously.

Study Item 9(a)

Discussing Park Improvements and Property Acquisition Priorities and Funding

Eric Friedli, PRCS Department Director, did the presentation about 8:30pm

The Council Goals for 2020-2022 includes an action step to “Implement the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Plan, including priority park improvements and acquisition of additional park properties.” This was included on Prop 1 that was not passed by voters.

Given the health emergency that currently exists, and the potential devastating impacts it may have on the local and regional economy, staff would recommend that Council delay putting this $38.5M funding on the ballot until a future time when economic impact is known.

Council agrees to delay, and have staff continue to study and consider at a later date. The Governor’s order mandates only necessary and routine business, or that related to COVID-19 is be handled at Council meetings.

Further discussion delayed.

Meeting Adjourned.