City Council - Committee Of The Whole

City of Bellingham Committee Of The Whole Minutes 05/19/2014, 1:35 PM Mayor Kelli Linville Contact: (360) 778-8200, ccmail@cob.org Council Members Jack Weiss, Gene Knutson, Cathy www.cob.org/council Lehman, Pinky Vargas, Terry Bornemann, Michael Lilliquist All meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers at and Roxanne Murphy 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA unless otherwise noted. Call to Order Roll Call Council Standing Committee Meetings: Committee Of The Whole 20424 1. A joint Resolution of the Bellingham City Council and Whatcom County Council recognizing the 40th year anniversary of Whatcom Medic One Terry Bornemann/Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 20425 2. Estimated Costs of Environmental Liabilities INFORMATION ONLY 20426 3. Consideration of the Consent Decree for the Cornwall Avenue Landfill Terry Bornemann/Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 20427 4. An Ordinance amending Bellingham Municipal Code 17.10 to adopt by reference the 2014 National Electric Code and to make other minor code amendments Jack Weiss/Gene Knutson moved to recommend approval. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 1  20428 5. Resolution specifying the line of succession for signing documents in the Mayor's absence Terry Bornemann/Michael Lilliquist moved to recommend approval. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. 20423 6. Policy Priority Discussion (attached to Minutes below) 7. Approval of City Council Committee and/or Special Meeting Minutes Michael Lilliquist moved to recommend approval. MOTION CARRIED 6-0. Cathy Lehman abstaining. 8. Old/New Business Jack and Gene will be meeting with PEG staff on May 29th to review their revised proposal. Cathy will give an update on the Lake Whatcom Policy Group at the next meeting; they have been working on capital expenditures. Michael reported that the Leadership Alliance Against Coal is reconvening and will be led by the Mayor of Seattle and King County Executive. He encouraged Council Members to look into it and respond. Michael reiterated the Council's desire to have Communitywise Bellingham return to give a presentation on rail traffic. Staff was directed to work with Communitywise Bellingham to include their presentation on the Committee of the Whole agenda in early June. 9. Executive Session Adjourned to Executive Session at 3:51 p.m., reconvened at 4:15 p.m. stating the need for a 20 minute extension. Adjournment at 4:29 p.m. Policy Priority Discussion Mayor's Boardroom 5-19-14 2 This is a meeting for City Council Members to inform Mayor Linville of their policy priorities for her consideration during the upcoming budget process. She would like to be aware of what is important to the Council. She is looking for Council Members' policy-level goals and direction. She wants to hear this early in the process so she can know what to emphasize and in which policy areas. She asked: "What do you want to see achieved that can be measured with metrics or work plans?" Note: Council Members Cathy Lehman and Michael Lilliquist submitted their priorities in writing (attached to minutes). Council Member Gene Knutson was excused. Council Member Cathy Lehman (see attached):  Noted that staff will give an update on the Lake Whatcom Policy Group soon. Costs related to Lake Whatcom will start to emerge that will affect other choices.  The City of Seattle is hosting community listening sessions regarding their budget; we may try something like this. (It was reported that Tacoma and Spokane did public outreach early in their budget processes and other entities used a creative exercise that allows the public to list their priorities and "balance the budget" with the goal of getting constituents involved. The Mayor will look into what Hans Dunshee did.) Council Member Michael Lilliquist (see attached):  Reduce stormwater runoff on both publically- and privately-owned property  Crime prevention in select areas  City Center –parking ease and development incentives with the goal of revitalizing the City Center  Transportation planning – thinking 100 years out with increased walkability as a goal  Public infrastructure and letting private companies develop urbanizing areas; we have an obligation to provide for smart growth and to create incentives for urban-scale projects  He distributed a pie chart illustrating that just 0.31% of the City's capital spending budget is spent on Lake Whatcom. Council Member Roxanne Murphy:  Lake Whatcom preservation with phosphorous reduction being an end goal  Community development in the neighborhoods, including Downtown  Crime reduction with reduced crime statistics as a metric  Future park development in the north side of town  Better community outreach regarding our initiatives; doing more outreach early in the decision-making process with informal community meetings (it was suggested that Roxanne become involved in a communications working group that is being led by Janice and Michael) Council Member Pinky Vargas:  A Resource Conservation Manager position that would support the energy working group and climate action plan as well as the prospective Georgetown University Energy 3  Prize. There is a possibility that Puget Sound Energy would pay one-third of the salary; however, reimbursement takes a year and a half. We could budget it and get reimbursed once we hit certain targets. She would like Bellingham to be an example in reducing energy, to walk the talk.  Tourist-friendly improvements such as more road signage and public resource notification, an improved way of sharing our City with people: "way-finding"  Can we find ways to save money through the community's involvement? For example, can people volunteer at the parks to decrease costs (while abiding by union rules), or can we utilize County work crews? Council Member Terry Bornemann:  It's challenging to articulate our priorities when we don't know what money will be in the budget.  The Public Development Authority is a priority  Likes Council Member Lehman's first and second points of a thriving downtown and increased planning  Agrees with Council Member Lilliquist's emphases on police and social services  Agrees with the idea of a Resource Conservation Manager, especially with a focus on the Georgetown University Energy Prize Council Member Jack Weiss:  Agrees with what Council Members Lehman and Lilliquist have outlined, especially Council Member Lehman's first and second points  Wants to focus on selected urban villages that have approved master plans, providing incentives such as good price signals and impact fees; he is hoping this can happen in 2014  The library  Preliminary planning for greenways and park maintenance that may tie into a renewal of the levy Next Steps: The Mayor will meet one-on-one with the department heads on their budget proposals to understand their priorities for what they need to accomplish. She will put them together and present a budget recommendation to the Council. A challenge is that staff costs only go up and revenue isn’t keeping up with expenditures. The Mayor said that this session isn't the end of talking about the budget. She commented that most of what was shared are things she has already considered and she is feeling positive. Council Member Cathy Lehman's Top Three Policy Priorities: 5-19-14 4 1. Thriving Downtown: including recommendations from the working group, building and development increasing, public safety perception problems decreasing, more public spaces, housing, businesses, and parking solutions 2. Increased Planning: including Comprehensive Plan updating, economic development improvement implementation, infill projects, rail impacts, special projects and programs necessary to jump start sectors of our economy and get excitement and momentum moving again, etc. 3. Lake Whatcom: meeting the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and planning and implementing a full-scale long term recovery strategy Budget/Policy Ideas 5-19-14 Councilmember Michael Lilliquist I think one of the shortcomings of the City of Bellingham is that we are a city of few big ideas. We tend to chip away with incremental efforts, making little steps that often do not involve great risk. For example, we have been recognized as a bicycle-friendly community and we have a high percentage of bicycle users. Bike to Work Day, organized by Whatcom Council of Governments (WCOG), was celebrated May 16th. Now we have a draft Bicycle Master Plan. But the Plan still puts all major bike lanes along automotive arterials, where the risk is highest and the pollution greatest. We have yet to institute physically separated bike lanes, which have been best practice for a decade. We take the easy and cheap way out. We are not bold. We handicap ourselves, even though our community is probably ready for more. Re-fill the Resource Conservation Manager position in Public Works – following the proposal drafted by Pinky and myself. This position was recommended by the city’s 2006 Climate Action Plan and briefly filled, which resulted in huge ongoing savings to the City for energy efficiency upgrades. More savings are available, which will recover any costs for the position over time. Ideally, this position should be filled Q4 of this year. This would need to happen in order to compete seriously in the Georgetown University Energy Prize, which should be a major source of pride and publicity and optimism for Bellingham. People, businesses, and opportunities flow to communities that take on such challenges. We should be that sort of city. Increased local funding for the Lake Whatcom Homeowner Incentive Program (HIP) in Lake Whatcom Watershed, and perhaps greater programmatic and legislative supports – this is the only program we have that deals with the greatest source of phosphorus entering the lake inside city limits. No preservation program can succeed, unless we deal far more aggressively with the ongoing sources in developed neighborhoods. No Lake Whatcom restoration plan can succeed without controlling runoff that is exiting homes. Increased funding for policing emphasis and social services in problem areas: Birchwood area, Samish Way, and Downtown. This is intended to not only follow up on the City Center planning process and the Mayor’s Community Solutions Group, but to take it further. Too many of our problems are due, at base, to shortcoming in enforcement and attention. We have known about 5 these problem areas for years, if not decades. This is a bit unrelated, but we also have let the issue of illegal Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) simmer for far too long, and the resentment that this lack of enforcement breeds is hampering our other housing and infill efforts. Fund the Downtown Ambassador Program – the same pitch I made last year at budget time. This idea has been supported by many downtown leaders for years, and such programs have been successful in other Washington cities. This single program addresses several issues at the same time, and will help to revitalize downtown and implement many downtown recommendations. Parking system modernization – Specifically, a place-based tracking system using available technology; smart metering; real-time updating for system management and for public information. Such systems exist and have been implemented in other cities. Our parking resources are poorly managed, and the way that we do manage them breeds resentment from both visitors and area merchants. We over-charge for short-term parking, and under-charge for long-term parking. Studies show 30% of downtown traffic is due to people who have already arrived at their destination and are just circling to find parking. Our own studies show that open parking is generally available downtown, but people do not know where to find it. That’s a problem we can fix. Parking management improvements will support pending efforts to improve usability of the City’s downtown parking structure. The City needs to step up and define what sort of public incentives and private/public partnerships we would offer, in order to encourage large scale development in the City Center. This is another idea that has languished. Various mechanisms have been talked about, but nothing serious has been done. What equity positions would be acceptable; what debt financing agreements would work for taxpayers; what public benefits and paybacks would be necessary to justify City actions as not violating prohibition on “gifts” to the private sector? These incentives and partnerships would work in conjunction with other development incentives (e.g., reformed impact fees; tax advantages) made available to forms of development aligned with Comprehensive Plan goals. More staff positions to address backlog in projects, initiatives, and plans. Potentially more funding for project engineers in Public Works and planners in Planning Department. There are so many City projects and initiatives that have been “in the works” for months or years. Also in need is a dedicated portion of legal staff time for ordinance development – to avoid the ongoing struggle to pull staff away from their existing responsibilities. Also, no one in the administration has followed up on the letter sent by the City Council two years ago, with regard to the sufficiency of the Gateway Pacific Terminal permit; or to seek response from the County administration of critical development code issues for the railway impacts from that proposed shipping terminal. Other examples: impact fee reform has been on back burner for over four years, and only this last month has the Mayor assigned a project lead to work on it – despite the fact that the City Council policy analyst finished that phase of the work years ago. Simple changes in residential parking rules – which would change only one work – has taken over three years to make its way slowly forward, even though staff review back then showed no issues or impediments to implementation. We have a loophole in our “boarding house” definition, and even this simple problem with a simple solution is stuck in the process – because planning staff 6 members are working on so many other issues. The City Council formally requested a review and recommendations on the Infill Toolkit two years ago, and that has yet to come back to the City Council. This sort of delay due to staffing constraints should not continue. 7