CITY OF SHORELINE
SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL
The purpose of these minutes is to capture a high-level summary of Council’s discussion and action. This is not a verbatim transcript. Meeting video and audio is available on the City’s website.
Monday, November 7, 2022 Council Chambers - Shoreline City Hall
7:00 p.m. 17500 Midvale Avenue North
PRESENT: Mayor Scully, Deputy Mayor Robertson, Councilmembers Ramsdell, Mork, McConnell, Pobee, and Roberts
ABSENT: None
1. CALL TO ORDER
At 7:00 p.m., the meeting was called to order by Mayor Scully who presided.
2. FLAG SALUTE/ROLL CALL
Upon roll call by the City Clerk, all Councilmembers were present.
(a) Proclamation of National Native American Heritage Month
Mayor Scully announced the proclamation of National Native American Heritage Month in Shoreline.
(b) Proclamation of Veterans Appreciation Day
Mayor Scully announced November 11th as Veterans Appreciation Day in Shoreline and invited John Brady up to the podium to accept the proclamation.
3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The agenda was approved by unanimous consent.
John Norris, Interim City Manager, reported on various City meetings, projects, and events.
Councilmember
Pobee reported
his attendance to a meeting of the SeaShore
Transportation Forum. The Forum is working on analyzing service levels.
6. PUBLIC COMMENT
The Council heard comments from the public from approximately 7:10 p.m. to 7:16 p.m. Written comments were also submitted to Council prior to the meeting and are available on the City’s website.
Bill Thompson, Shoreline resident, commented on Ordinance No. 972 and asked that staff reevaluate the grounds maintenance program to reduce costs to taxpayers.
Sigrid Strom, Shoreline resident, spoke about her concerns in the Climate Action Plan and referred to her comments sent through email to Council.
Kathleen Russell, Shoreline resident, requested that Agenda Item 7b be removed from the Consent Calendar to evaluate housing occupancy before approving additional housing.
Upon motion by Deputy Mayor Robertson, seconded, and unanimously carried 7-0, the following Consent Calendar items were approved:
(a) Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting of October 10, 2022
Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting of October 17, 2022
(b) Authorizing the City Manager to Enter into an Interagency Agreement with Department of Commerce and to Accept $100,000 in Grant Funding, and up to $20,000 in Grant Funding to Contract with Community Based Organizations, to Evaluate the Appropriateness of Adding Middle Housing Development Types in Zones Which Currently Only Allow Single-Family Development
(c) Adoption of Resolution No. 502 - Establishing the Scope for the 2024 Comprehensive Plan Update
(d) Approval of Multi-Family Tax Exemption Program Contract with Shoreline 147th Developments LLC for the Shoreline 147th Project located at 2300 N 147th Street
(a) Public Hearing on Ordinance No. 972 - 2023-2024 Proposed Biennial Budget with Special Emphasis on 2023 Regular and Excess Property Tax Levies, and Resolution 496 - Revenue Sources
Ms. Lane shared sales tax projections, displayed the general reserves ending fund balance by year, reviewed the street fund, and talked about the challenges with fuel tax being based on consumption. She noted that both surface water and wastewater fees support the operations and capital projects for their associated utility, and the proposed 2023 fees are based on the rate studies. Finally, Ms. Lane reviewed the Capital Fund is supported by grants and real estate excise tax.
Mayor Scully opened the public hearing.
John Brady, Shoreline, shared concern for how road maintenance will be funded as more electric vehicles are on the road and less gas tax is collected.
Mayor Scully closed the public hearing.
Ms. Lane responded to public comment stating that growth is getting the City back to pre-pandemic gas tax levels. A Councilmember shared that gas tax is collected statewide and divvied up by population.
Councilmembers had questions about REET revenue and B&O Tax projections. Ms. Lane answered that REET estimates are overly conservative and that she would bring back information on commercial multi-family vs. single-family residential. She stated that B&O tax revenue estimates have also been conservative but now that the program has been operating for several years, staff feels comfortable increasing projections.
(b) Public Hearing on Ordinance No. 973 - 2023-2024 Proposed Biennial Budget and the 2023-2028 Capital Improvement Plan
Mayor Scully opened the public hearing.
Kathleen Russell, Shoreline, speaking on behalf of Save Shoreline Trees, requested Council include two items in the 2023-2024 Biennial Budget for the 2023 calendar year: 1) extend the geographics contract to map significant public street trees in the City’s heat islands; and 2) fund an urban canopy tree study.
Mayor Scully closed the public hearing.
Councilmembers asked about the financial policies for enterprise reserves funds and for staff to explain the difference in spending for the surface water and wastewater capital and operations budgets. Ms. Lane replied that the utility rate studies consider operations, capital, and maintenance of reserves in the rates that are set, and that she will ask Public Works to explain the differences in spending between the two utilities.
Councilmembers inquired when the Urban Tree Canopy is scheduled to be completed and if street trees will be mapped as part of this project. They also asked if there is funding in this budget for code enforcement related to tree issues and for enhancements to the City’s right-of-way maintenance. Mr. Norris said the Urban Tree Canopy is scheduled for 2025 so the trees planted by Sound Transit are included in the count. Ms. Lane added that street trees will not be mapped as part of this study but staff is doing the work slowly through the operations budget. She commented that there are some proposals to enhance the City’s right-of-way maintenance.
Councilmembers stated the importance of funding projects to implement strategies in the City’s Climate Action Plan. They also commended past Councils and staff for creating the stabilization fund and reiterated the importance of seeking grants to fund important projects and initiatives. There was a question on whether there is optimal staffing for finding and winning grants, which Ms. Lane answered affirmatively noting that staff in Departments have a lot of expertise in finding grant opportunities and writing quality applications.
There was concern expressed over turf fields being hazardous to people’s health. It was requested that field replacements be added as a Council Study Item so Council can discuss the materials that are used.
Ms. Lane concluded by stating staff is requesting that any Council amendments be submitted by November 9. The collected amendments will be presented during the second public hearing on November 14.
(a) Discussion of the Draft 2022 Climate Action Plan Update
Environmental Services Program Manager, Cameron Reed, explained the City’s climate action history beginning with the establishment of the Climate Action Plan in 2013. Shoreline joined the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration which commits the City to share climate goals and commitments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions along with several other cities in the region. In 2019, Council amended the Comprehensive Plan to add a goal of reducing GHG emissions to the level needed to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. And in 2021, Shoreline joined the Cities Race to Zero Campaign and updated emissions reduction targets to represent the City’s fair share to achieve climate goals. Mr. Reed said the Climate Action Plan is a result of an extensive community engagement process including, virtual events, surveys, presentations, in-person outreach, and community climate advisors.
Shoreline’s GHG emissions show a decline since 2009, however, Mr. Reed stated that much more work is needed to meet the City’s goals. In 2019, 94% of direct GHG emissions in Shoreline came from fuel use in vehicles and natural gas heating systems. Staff used a wedge analysis model to forecast emissions with future population growth and identify pathways to achieve the climate action goals. Mr. Reed said the analysis highlighted focus areas in transportation and mobility, buildings and energy, zero waste, ecosystems and sequestration, and community resilience and preparedness. Staff then conducted a multi-criteria analysis to prioritize actions across the focus areas. Mr. Reed shared the top actions identified for each focus area. He described the three goals that guided the updates to the Climate Action Plan are to (1) identify high-impact actions to reduce emission and meet targets, (2) increase carbon sequestration by trees and ecosystems, and (3) increase community resilience to climate impacts. Staff identified an initial 10-year cost to for the top 10 ranking actions, but they are continuing to work on the cost for full implementation. Mr. Reed said staff will next update the plan based on final rounds of feedback, identify performance indicators, and identify the implementation matrix.
A Councilmember asked about emergency preparedness planning and Mr. Reed responded that he has been working with the Emergency Management Coordinator on several of the recommendations in the draft plan. He said it will be an ongoing conversation to address concerns related to heat, smoke, and flooding.
It was pointed out that the use of an electric heat pump is a duplicative strategy in the Climate Action Plan because Council recently adopted a rule that requires the use of electric heating. Mr. Reed responded that the rule was not yet adopted at the time the plan was drafted and therefore remained in the plan. He will connect with building staff to determine if the strategy should be removed.
Plastics and Styrofoam were brought up as a waste issue and a Councilmember asked for sustainable packaging to be addressed. Mr. Reed explained that the City has and would need to continue to advocate for legislation at the State and Federal level to address the materials. He mentioned Extended Producer Responsibility as a potential legislative action to implicate packaging producers to make their packaging more recyclable and funding recycling systems. At the State level, a Styrofoam ban is expected to go into effect within the next couple of years, but Shoreline could take action ahead of that legislation.
A Councilmember suggested that metrics be used to see what all groups, including businesses, are contributing towards climate action and to recognize their efforts. The Councilmember asked about gas powered leaf blowers in relation to the City of Seattle’s action to ban them. Mr. Reed commented that such a ban was suggested in feedback of the draft plan. He recommends adding a ban on gas leaf blowers and other off-road gas equipment for City operations as an action to the plan.
A question was asked about incentive programs to encourage electrification and Mr. Reed stated that these types of programs are a top action in the Climate Action Plan and all over the country. He said staff could pull data from the programs to see what has been working. He added that the Plan has actions that reference electric micro-mobility options to encourage the use of e-bikes and e-scooters.
It was asked how Council can adequately fund the Climate Action Plan and Mr. Reed responded that some items were proposed in the budget for 2023-2024. Staff is working on calculating additional costs for implementation and will bring back more budget requests during the Mid- Biennial Budget.
Concern was raised about the cost of implementation in relation to the environmental benefit. It was advised that return on investment be monitored to ensure effectiveness of any actions.
(b) Discussion of Ordinance No. 974 - Amending the 2021-2022 Biennial Budget - Ordinance No. 970
Administrative Services Director, Sara Lane, spoke about Ordinance No. 974 to increase the Biennial Budget to $358,915,674. She shared tables showing intended use of the funds and the impact of the funds following the amendment. The undesignated beginning fund balance is estimated to be about $17 million at the beginning of 2023.
10. ADJOURNMENT
At 8:59 p.m., Mayor Scully declared the meeting adjourned.
/s/ Jessica Simulcik Smith, City Clerk