Everett Council of Neighborhoods

Council of Neighborhoods Meeting Minutes CON May meeting June 1, 2015 Attendance: James Grindle, Nikki Oku, Roger Hoot, Michael Trujillo, Jim Grieco, Kari Griffith, Steve Bugge, Ben Blacker, Carol Gogarty, Tom Norcott, Colleen Kain, Elly Smith, GeorgaDee MacLeod, JT Dray, Art Olson, Jim Prissel, Andrea Tucker, Victor Harris, Laurel Hasley, Jo Brodersen, Dennis Dudder, George Lockeman, Teresa Schultz Excused: Liz Hawkins, Shelley Weyer City Staff: JR Erickson, Dawn Erickson, Dan Erickson, Richard Tarry, Alexa Ramos, Wendy McClure, Deborah Wright Meeting was called to order at 4:05pm. Agenda and minutes of the previous meeting were approved. Members introduced themselves. Citizen Comments: None Mayor Stephanson: We are starting into summer season with lots of activities in Everett. Fisherman’s Festival was held recently – lots of attendees. Sorticulture and 4th of July coming up including parade and fireworks events. Mayor updated the group on the Community Streets Initiative – staff continue to work on this. If you are concerned about things, Mayor encourages you to contact city council, about panhandling ordinance. It’s a safety issue. Statistics show accidents are four times higher where there is panhandling at intersections. There is an opportunity to change behavior and Mayor is hopeful city council will take this up again. Problem near Gospel Mission is nearly as bad as it was but police are restricted in what they can do. Can’t wait for panacea on this issue. City needs to take action to help solve problems. Mayor will ask for a city council rep to work with staff to take care of some of issues, including creating a day center where homeless can go to get off street, take showers, rest, get help to get off street. Second special session of legislature is underway. There are still significant issues for legislature to address - higher education, capital for new building. $750 million in transportation budget, but this is yet to be acted on. Legislature planning for partial shut- down if no action occurs. City very involved in that, with a full time person in Olympia. Comments: JT Dray asked about Comp Plan update, and indicated that TAC members offering suggestions to update Comp Plan transportation element are not being offered ability to comment on Everett Transit element of the plan. Unlike other transit agencies, there is no board for Everett Transit, so there is a lack of oversight, JT doesn’t see city council discussing issue, since there is no committee system. City Council does vote on raising fares. Ongoing multiple year cuts lead to less ridership. Mayor responded that he will look into it. Teresa – She recently drove past 36th and Smith – it’s very disheartening to see. She asked about shortage of police officers, with so many hot spots around the city. Lots of garbage there near Gospel Mission, it was upsetting. She feels that it doesn’t seem like there are solutions that have been implemented. Mayor responded about the need for city council to address issues. Ordinances such as recent no sit/no lie ordinance will not solve all issues if it passes, but it would help. Social workers are out now with police doing outreach to get people into services. George asked about state legislature and government shut down – Mayor responded that law enforcement, etc are essential, but administrative work, state shared revenue, DSHS work could slow or stop, so we would feel it, our community would feel it. Dennis asked about street people camping in neighborhoods. It makes him think about a tent city as an option – he asked what about setting up a tent city in Lowell or other remote area. People are making campgrounds. People are sleeping outside Pecks Market. He thinks tent cities as sanctioned places might keep people out of neighborhoods, might be a solution. Mayor encourages you to call police - who will encourage the homeless to move along. Important to get panhandling ordinance passed at city council. A lot of services are going un-used - there is help for people but not everyone is willing. Have to keep trying every day. Mayor needs legislative support. Tent cities are slippery slope. Ordinances are in place about how they operate but those people aren’t organized. Victor – these folks may not be voters, but it would save a lot of money by putting porta- potties down there, and would maintain the area better. Andrea – wanted to thank Dave Koenig, Planning staff, for block grant for Port Gardner, thanks also to Ross Johnson in Planning and Wendy at Neighborhoods. Residents were very grateful for clean up - over 100 people took advantage of clean up. It turned out very well. Mayor responded that City of Marysville had recently hired Dave Koenig to become their new Planning director and he would be greatly missed. He will leave Everett in early July. Andrea commented on the homeless – there was concern about area around Gospel Mission. We don’t have the housing for people who need the housing. It’s a problem for other cities to do housing but we all need to help. Lack of housing is issue and means people go into neighborhoods. Mayor responded that a day center would be useful to help people get off the street. Council hasn’t been supportive so far. Need to get things started. Michael – Michael toured homeless encampments recently. 3rd Ave at Everett Mall Way – a resident found encampments – he and Michael are trying to schedule a clean-up of the site. Project being planned for this summer to clean up area owned by Everett Housing Authority. Mayor responded that Legal is working on this area. George Lockeman – Portland version of port-a-potty seems to be successful. Mayor responded that Salt Lake City citizens are responding to homeless. Housing only in Everett is not a good solution - it needs to be shared across the county. Elly – commented on shelter for animals and the turn-around that occurred. Need to figure out what we as citizens can do for homeless to turn that around. Mayor – Don’t hesitate to call 911. Need to have police response out there. May be moving them from one neighborhood to another. City Council Liaison: Council President Scott Bader – Several important briefings coming up - on 2016 budget and process this week. And then on June 10, the comp plan first draft presentation takes place. PSRC Growth Management meetings indicate a lot of cities are not going to meet deadline for comp plan updates. Impact of comp plan growth target of 60,000 was high. Economics is what really drives development. Upcoming meeting topics include: Oil trains, June 17 - briefing. Also council policy and procedures will be considered also June 17 and continuing into July. Homeless concerns – CSI Task Force – law of unintended consequences, could have impact we don’t intend. Have to think about unintended consequences. Example of Seattle – despite tent cities, pretty impactful seeing homeless under freeway. Homelessnesss is a regional problem, have to work with county and it takes time. Have to keep at it. Need to surface ideas and move forward. Colleen - Congratulations on 25 years of marriage. Issue of EvCC parking in NW neighborhood near college has been raised. Councilmember Bader responded about long term parking study, to include parking utilization in that study. Police and parking enforcement are aware of issue. Steve – asked about comp plan and homeless issue, some argue that the growth management policy pushed up cost of housing. Would council be willing to look at issue in Olympia?. Councilman Bader responded that those providing services to homeless were suggesting ideas of how to provide housing with innovative ideas. Plenty of pushback from community. Steve feels we are hamstrung by growth management act. Councilman Bader sees need for politically more than the way we do planning now. City Reports: JR Erickson – Utility Billing – utility rates increase July 1. Plus, monthly billing is starting up. July 1 there will be a 6.5% increase sewer and storm, no increase on water filtration. $77 million project currently being done at treatment plant. 334 miles of sewer lines, many are old and need to be replaced. Sewer and storm sewer replacements. Sewer separation projects - M and N, and others. Trying to be proactive, create redundancy to allow work when there are problems. Customers have wanted monthly billing. Flat rate customers will be switched on next bill after July 1. Metered customers will be phased in. Easier to manage payment for bills if monthly and to budget for the expense. 2016 increase will be about 11% overall. Improvements and storm and sewer projects are in budget. Over $200 million projected from 2015-2018 for capital improvements. Offsetting revenue loss from Kimberly Clark closure continues to hurt the budget. Flyer coming out in June to all residents which will explain rates, and provide info on city website and social media. Can come out to speak to neighborhoods. Next rate ordinance will include increases with inflation, but not as many large projects. Tom asked about sale of water to other cities. Will other cities get rate increases? Alderwood water district gets charged for their portion of services used. As our rates go up, theirs go up. Other cities help pay portion of transmission system. Billing question – all mail is going to Seattle, process payments in office, armored car service to take to bank. Payments would get processed tonight, picked up next day. George - storm water reduction - is city requiring developers to mitigate to reduce rain water run – off. with rain gardens, etc. JR responded I don’t work with the developer side but the City does actively work with residents to reduce run off with rain gardens and rain barrels. CHIP program, Planning dept. – Dan Erickson described the program which helps people stay in their homes – to make improvements that to allow low income and elderly to stay in their homes. CHIP is the community housing improvement program. CHIP uses low interest loan programs for those that qualify for low interest loans through HUD. A lot of people don’t know about CHIP. Also CHIP staff can help develop plan for contractors to do the work, and do oversight of construction. CHP program has deferred payment of loans – 25 year term loan. 3% interest for 15 years, no interest after that. Typically get paid back after house sells, or resident passes away. Dan works to find out what resident wants to do, make observation of homes, special needs to get into tubs, electrical work, etc. Focus on health and safety – foundation up. Helps keep vulnerable people in their homes. Dan would like to come out to neighborhoods to talk and meet with neighbors. Homeowners need to have certain amount of equity in the home to be eligible. Currently there is a four to six month wait right now. But Dan reported he can get out to people on emergency basis if situation is urgent. Have similar program for apt building owners who have to help pay for it, but owner must pay for portion. Dawn Erickson – Everett Transit – Everett in Motion – Transportation growing pains are becoming more obvious in our area – so we need to get creative with solutions. Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) program requires employers with more than 100 employees to encourage their employees to get to work some other way than driving alone. Recent revisions to CTR goals by the State include engaging communities, expanding trip-reduction market to all trips - not just commute trips. The CTR board is actively seeking additional funding sources for trip reduction, since funding has not increased since program’s inception 23 years ago. Traffic congestion has negative impacts on: local businesses, families, health, reduction in shipping efficiency, reduction in the ability to move goods, and our area’s ability to attract and retain employers. PSRC study – employment since 2010 has grown faster than population. Van pool ridership is up by 96% since 2003, park and ride lots fill up earlier and more frequently. A pilot study using passes to guarantee parking spaces in park & rides indicate people are willing to pay to park. Largest van pool program in country is operating here (King County Metro). "Everett in Motion" is a program to be managed by Everett Transit, with a tentative launch in July – To get people to change behavior, have to either really make it worth their while to engage in the desired behavior or dis-incentivize (make it very expensive or very inconvenient) for engaging in the opposite behavior. New program – "Everett in Motion" will offer incentives to smaller employers and community as a whole, to reduce non drive-alone trips within city. Information can be found at www.EverettTransit.org/EverettinMotion. Participants will need to log 8 days’ worth of trips in each calendar month at Rideshareonline.com – incentive reward cards for each of the first three months, and there is also a monthly drawing for a $250 prepaid MasterCard. To promote the "Everett in Motion" program, area businesses will display posters around town; bus ads, coffee sleeves, drink coasters, social media engagement, and other promotional strategies will be used as well. Program will include limited term bicycle rentals through a pilot project with Tim’s Bike Shop on Broadway so people can try cycling before actually purchasing a bike, as well as a Guaranteed Ride Home program for non-CTR-affected employers participating in "Everett in Motion". The program will also feature local “champions” within the community. Dawn is available to attend neighborhood meetings. Suggestion to get high school students to ride bus to school instead of driving. Dawn closed by saying the vision and plan in long run is to make communities more walkable, easier to bike, etc., and just generally more connected. Six Year TIP – Public Works - Richard Tarry – Richard presented the new six year TIP (Transportation Improvement Project list). New projects are in bold, and were not included in prior years. This time, the new projects are Port projects, which are now required to be listed on city’s list of TIP. One project, the East Everett Walkway extension, was finished near SR 529 and was removed from the list. State DOT and city worked on this and completed it. Important for projects to be on the list to be able to seek funding, but it’s not organized as a priority list. Contact info is on list, website. TAc already considered it, the Planning Commission will discuss and vote tomorrow night on TIP, and it goes to city council as well. Authorizes Richard and city staff to seek funding for various projects. Question about where priorities are? Number one project is Broadway Bridge, which is currently under construction. Ordinance at city council starts the process for individual projects when funding becomes available. Administration and City Council have priorities lists but also respond to issues and funding. Are there any more bicycle projects in the planning? Bicycle Master Plan is being worked through traffic engineering, paint and signage projects, working to get funding for larger projects. New projects include bicycling and sidewalk projects. Elections of officers for 2015-2016. Motion to endorse candidates and adopt slate. Seconded and passed. Officers are: Chair: Andrea Tucker Vice Chair: Dennis Dudder Secretary: Victor Harris Past chair remains GeorgaDee MacLeod Motion approved to continue other council agenda items at next meeting, in interest of time and to allow council reps to attend the Social Practical program on social media at the library. Meeting adjourned at 5:43pm. Next meeting on June 22 at 4pm. Minutes prepared by Wendy McClure