City Council

City Hall City of Olympia 601 4th Avenue E Olympia, WA 98501 Information: 360.753.8447 Meeting Minutes City Council Wednesday, November 20, 2013 6:30 PM Council Chambers Joint Meeting of the Ad Hoc Community Renewal Area (CRA) Committee and the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) 1. ROLL CALL Present: 3 - Mayor Stephen H. Buxbaum, Mayor Pro Tem Nathaniel Jones and Councilmember Steve Langer 2. OTHERS PRESENT Citizens Advisory Committee members: Theresa Madden, DDS Renee Sunde Thera Black George Sharp Paul Knox Jerry Reilly Max Brown Bill Robinson Rachel Newmann Allen Miller James Randall Mike Reid Kris Goddard Dennis Bloom Keith Stahley, Director, Community Planning & Development Lorelei Juntunen, ECONorthwest 3. WELCOME AND STATUS UPDATE The meeting was called to order at 6:33 p.m. The Mayor welcomed everyone and thanked them for taking time out of their evening to meet. He introduced himself and reviewed the agenda for the meeting. As introduction to Ms. Juntunen’s presentation, the Mayor stated this meeting is about City of Olympia Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes November 20, 2013 deepening the conversation about community renewal, and as opinion leaders in the community, he respects their input. Ms. Juntunen from ECONorthwest will present an overview of the investment strategy, feasibility study, and next steps. Additionally, the Ad Hoc CRA Committee will present recommendations to the CAC for feedback and initial impressions regarding the ideas. Ms. Juntunen will then introduce information on a design charrette exercise for the CAC’s consideration . 4. COMMITTEE BUSINESS 13-0955 Community Renewal Area (CRA) Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Meeting Overview of Final Investment Strategy and Next Steps Report and Community Renewal Area Feasibility Study: The City of Olympia asked ECONorthwest to present information to align the short- and long-term vision with the reality of the City budget, etc. ECONorthwest developed the proposed strategy by talking to property owners, conducted a comprehensive market analysis, and honed in on the market-related barriers in each area. Actions were then developed for each area. Ms. Juntunen reviewed the opportunity sites by phase. ECONorthwest classified each area to be in either the nurture phase, catalyze phase, or support phase. None of the identified sites in Olympia are in the support phase yet. Downtown Olympia is starting to see investment but there are still many barriers. ECONorthwest then created short-, medium- and long-term actions that may be taken to move the sites toward development. They recommend the City starts working directly with downtown property owners. Downtown is underperforming relative to other areas and to the expectations of downtown businesses and community members. It is not successful because of blight, soil contamination, flooding and sea level rise, and other variables that make it more expensive to develop downtown. A Community Renewal Area Committee is an authorized tool to help overcome some of the constitutional barriers to redevelopment and remove barriers. ECONorthwest found it is feasible to use a CRA in Olympia to focus on opportunity sites for action planning. Review CRA Ad Hoc Committee Recommendations and Considerations - CRA Ad Hoc Committee The Ad Hoc CRA Committee members shared background and their recommendations regarding the following components: City of Olympia Page 2 City Council Meeting Minutes November 20, 2013 Boundary: Councilmember Langer reported the Ad Hoc Committee has had several meetings to discuss the boundary lines for a Community Renewal Area. The Ad Hoc CRA Committee recommends the size of the project to include West Bay, the Port, the Isthmus, and Downtown. It is easier to start with a bigger area because there are multiple sites to target over a period of time. Governance: Mayor Pro Tem Jones referred the CAC to the Options for Ad Hoc CRA Recommendations to Council memorandum dated November 20, 2013. On page 2, ECONorthwest presents three governance options with pros and cons for each. The Ad Hoc Committee felt the creation of an Appointed Board or Public Development Authority (PDA) is premature. Therefore, the Ad Hoc Committee recommends the City Council as the governance for the CRA. Property of Interest: The Mayor referred the CAC to page 5 of the memorandum and reviewed the five properties that are being evaluated. They are: the Reliable Steel building on West Bay Drive; the former Health Department property, former Thurston County Housing Authority building; Capitol Center; and Griswold’s on 4th Avenue. The issue of condemnation has also come up in the Ad Hoc Committee discussions . Condemnation would only be considered if the City determines the site meets the statutory condition of health and safety blight and has been vacant and economically unproductive for at least five years. At this time the Mayor opened the floor to the CAC to share questions, concerns, and suggestions regarding the information discussed. Consider next steps for community area renewal process: The Citizens Advisory Committee had a broad, overall discussion regarding the recommended boundary, governance, sites of interest, and the use of condemnation. The CAC gathered background information from the Ad Hoc CRA Committee to understand why recommendations were made. · The Ad Hoc CRA Committee is looking for simplicity in governance. PDA may be considered in the future for specific development projects within the large boundary. At this time, the City Council having authority gives the City a framework to partner with private sector business. The accountability created by this option will be shouldered by the City Council with the help of the CRA / City of Olympia Page 3 City Council Meeting Minutes November 20, 2013 CAC. · City Council will intersect with business owners through the CAC. It was noted there was a lack of developers at the table. The Mayor stated there were a number of scheduling conflicts and he is having vigorous, positive conversations with the developers. · Ms. Juntunen clarified the boundary options on the map. It was discussed how the boundary fits with the work of the Planning Commission. Support was expressed for the larger boundary because of the flexibility it provides. The Port is included in the boundary to investigate opportunities to work with the Port and there was no reason to exclude them. The CAC felt including the Reliable Steel building on West Bay Drive was a good decision also. · The use of condemnation was discussed and how the City would pay for this. The City of Olympia is not in a position to purchase property. The CRA gives us the mechanism to partner with private developers. We can participate in the development, controlling and managing the kind of building, and collaborating in the process of visioning. Condemnation would be used only when there are no other options. The lawyers at Foster & Pepper are researching if we can use the CRA tool on properties the City has already purchased. Consider process - design charrette Ms. Juntunen explained the concept of a design charrette. It is a method to creating agreement on a plan. The concept is to use the CAC as a sounding board, by looking at all the considerations, and facilitate to consensus a development for the isthmus. The Mayor expanded the concept that this was not so much about a design process but for building agreement with a group and learning how to work together. It will be a starting point for dialogue. The goal is not to come out with a single plan but for finding areas of agreement and developing different approaches . If something is developed that the group feels is ready for the next level of participation and process we can do that also. Ms. Juntunen suggested bringing in experts to help, e.g. professionals with skills to help visualize designs, experts in planning, urban design, etc. Timing of adoption of the CRA and a design charrette was considered . Adoption of the CRA would take place after the design charrette. The Council still has steps to take in order to move forward. There is a work-session planned with the full Council and the Council retreat, which is the second week in January. Some felt that equal consideration must be given to all identified sites and not only the Isthmus. It was suggested to consider having a design charrette on one of the other properties that won’t be as contentious and may be more likely to achieve a City of Olympia Page 4 City Council Meeting Minutes November 20, 2013 successful outcome. The Mayor reminded the Committee that the City must take action on the Isthmus and we do not have the funding to make improvements. Others mentioned the consortium that owns property on the isthmus may make changes without our input if we delay. We need to start focusing on the Isthmus and see what the community envisions. The private sector is going to own the property so there is a lot of work to be done to get a vision and then bring along private owners. We need to look at connectivity and how it is possible to look at the downtown as a whole, doing the right thing on each site and coming to consensus. Ms. Goddard asked how the CRA Plan works with the Comprehensive Plan and a downtown master plan. Ms. Juntunen clarified the CRA plan is the document that has to be submitted that consists of the implementation plan for renewal. The downtown plan is a much bigger plan. On December 5 the Land Use Committee will discuss the sequencing of next stages for the comprehensive planning process, which the downtown master plan may potentially supplement. We haven’t made a decision of scope and timing of a downtown master plan. The Planning Commission has done great work on thinking through potential approaches but it’s a matter of scope and resources . A downtown master plan would help developers know what the expectations are . It is unfair of us to step on toes when we haven’t given the developers the plan. We have a plan to execute so we aren’t fighting the property owner. Uncertainty is one of the biggest hurdles the downtown faces. The Mayor agreed a master plan is a very important tool for community development. It does not tell a private property owner what he can do with his property. A CRA doesn’t make a municipal corporation a private developer. It gives us different powers and authority. He said he hoped everyone understands that collaboration gets us so much more for the community. He envisions a partnership with property owners to get something better than what we have now. It might help remove some uncertainty about what a community wants but not uncertainty about market. The Mayor closed the discussion by saying we have captured the dialogue and the CRA will distill information received and different perspectives. The next step is to go into a work session with the Council and discuss what to consider around next steps. We have a larger puzzle we are very committed to, which is how to change the culture of community development in Olympia. The next step is to pull the different elements together on a Council level at the retreat in January. He said we will have a very specific work plan for the next year and a CRA. The discussion was completed. City of Olympia Page 5 City Council Meeting Minutes November 20, 2013 5. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. City of Olympia Page 6