City Council

City Hall City of Olympia 601 4th Avenue E Olympia, WA 98501 Information: 360-753-8447 Meeting Minutes City Council Monday, July 8, 2013 3:00 PM Room 207 Ad Hoc Community Renewal Area Committee 1. ROLL CALL Present: 2- Mayor Stephen H. Buxbaum and Mayor Pro Tem Nathaniel Jones Excused: 1 - Councilmember Steve Langer OTHERS PRESENT City Manager Steve Hall Community Planning and Development Director Keith Stahley Abe Farkas and Lorelei Juntunen, ECONorthwest Morgan Shook and Eric Rundell, BERK and Associates 2 COMMITTEE BUSINESS 13-0546 Meeting with CRA Consultants Mayor Buxbaum and Mr. Stahley provided a brief overview of the brown bag luncheons. Mr. Stahley noted his recent attendance at an Economic Development Council (EDC) Economic Development Committee meeting where he heard a presentation by attorney Kelly Wood regarding changes to the state 's Model Toxics Cleanup legislation. The changes to the legislation may create value in the CRA process as a number of properties in downtown are affected by contaminated soils . Mayor Pro Tem Jones agreed the brown bag luncheons had been valuable and said there still was work around sequencing the Shoreline Master Program, Comprehensive Plan, Downtown Master Plan, and Community Renewal Area (CRA) Plan. Ms. Juntunen and Mr. Shook reviewed Component A: Draft Report and lead a discussion. Ms. Juntunen noted Olympia would likely need both a Downtown Master Plan as well as a CRA Plan to be successful in the long-term. Mr. Shook explained the “hurtle rate” to the Committee and how the CRA could help to lower the “hurtle rate.” He illustrated this concept by talking about projects that were at one of three stages - either the nurture, catalyze, or grow phase. Projects at the nurture phase require too much energy or are premature, while projects at the grow stage are above the hurtle rate. Where a CRA is most effective is for projects at the catalyze stage - those that need a little push to move forward. The CRA can City of Olympia Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes July 8, 2013 provide that push. Mr. Rundell reviewed two Power Point presentations for the Committee. Ms. Juntunen reviewed the draft executive summary. She noted there are several questions in the report that remain unresolved, including questions about the boundary and governance of the CRA. Mayor Pro Tem Jones said he thought the City needed to retain relatively tight control of the CRA at this point, but the issue will need further Council input and direction. Ms. Juntunen asked the Committee how they wanted to maximize the time the team would be spending in Olympia on July 23. The Committee asked the consulting team to help Council narrow its options. They suggested meeting with other Councilmembers in small groups to help bring them up to speed. The discussion was completed. 3. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 5:15 p.m. City of Olympia Page 2