City Council - Public Works and Natural Resources Committee

City of Bellingham Public Works and Natural Resources Committee Minutes September 14, 2020, 9:00 AM Mayor Seth Fleetwood Contact: (360) 778-8200, ccmail@cob.org Council Members, Michael Lilliquist, Chair www.cob.org/council Pinky Vargas, Lisa Anderson All meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers at 210 Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA, unless otherwise noted. Call to Order Roll Call Present: Committee Chair Michael Lilliquist, Sixth Ward Committee Member Dan Hammill, Third Ward, sat in for Council Member Vargas Committee Member Lisa Anderson, Fifth Ward Council Standing Committee Meeting Open to the public to attend. Note: there is generally no public comment period for Committee sessions. Standing Committee Members receive reports and information, ask questions and, when appropriate, vote on a recommended action for consideration by the full Council at the Regular Meeting. The notice of Committee Meetings identified below also serves as notice of Special Meetings of the City Council at the times identified as Council Members who are not members of the committee routinely attend and participate in the Committee Meetings. Committee Chairs give a report of the Committee Meeting at the Regular Meeting in the evening prior to deliberation and formal vote in the order shown below: Public Works and Natural Resources Michael Lilliquist, Chair Dan Hammill (for Pinky Vargas), Lisa Anderson 22749 1. Request for Sewer Service at 856 Marine Drive p. 3 Eric Johnston, Public Works Director, explained that the residence at 856 Marine Drive has been informed by the Whatcom County Health Department that the septic system that serves the residence has failed. The owners of the property request to enter into a contract with the City of Bellingham for retail sewer service as allowed under Bellingham Municipal Code Section 15.36. Staff recommends the City approve the request and enter into a contract for sewer service using the standard contract typically used. Public Works and Natural Resources Committee Minutes Page 1 September 14, 2020  Lisa Anderson moved to recommend that the Mayor enter into an agreement with the property owners at 856 Marine Drive and to extend sewer service to the property within the City of Bellingham Urban Growth Area. MOTION CARRIED 3-0. 22741 2. Continue Discussion on the Draft 2020 Surface and Stormwater p. 14 Comprehensive Plan Update Eric Johnston, Public Works Director, addressed questions from last meeting's committee session. A continued discussion on the Draft 2020 Surface and Stormwater Comprehensive Plan included focused attention on the rates of larger customers vs. smaller customers. The largest footprint customers have the lowest sewer rates. Council will work to decide if they want to move the burden of costs. Recommendations from staff were presented. Council Members asked questions. Recommendations included holding the small, medium, and larger footprint customers steady for the next few years with small increases for larger footprint customers in the coming years. Small increases will bring them up to the same rate as the other customers. Discussion will continue. Recommendation by staff to come back in October with a new ordinance that would reflect those rates for implementation in January 2021. 22007 3. Public Works Conduit Policy p. 54 Eric Johnston, Public Works Director, shared the map of proposed conduit routes within the City of Bellingham. He outlined options for providing service through City owned fiber. Three options were explained. The first is called Dark Fiber Leasing. The City leases existing fiber to a private entity that uses it to connect customers to. Another option is called the Open Access Model. The City owns the fiber and runs it to an individual business, property, or residence, and then through a central location it allows any internet access provider to provide service to a customer through City owned fiber. The third option is Fiber to the Home Model. The City would provide access to City owned fiber network. Council Members discussed. Council Member Lilliquist moved to request the administration to rexamine the Conduit Policy and add on a provisional basis, additional considerations of community need and economic development, with the understanding that they would be provisional and likely be modified at the end of the advisory group process. Council Member Anderson added that she would like to add a request for any information that Public Works might have on upcoming projects where Public Works and Natural Resources Committee Minutes Page 2 September 14, 2020  they would be (over the next two years) stretches of City right-of-way opened and opportunity for conduit to be installed. MOTION CARRIED 2-1, Hammill opposed. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:41 a.m. Public Works and Natural Resources Committee Minutes Page 3 September 14, 2020