CITY OF SHORELINE
SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL
Annual Strategic Planning Workshop
Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4, 2017 Talaris Conference Center
Lodge Conference Room
4000 NE 41st Street, Seattle, WA 98105
March 3 - 8:30 a.m.
PRESENT: Mayor Roberts, Deputy Mayor Winstead, Councilmembers McGlashan, Scully, Hall, McConnell, and Salomon
ABSENT: None
STAFF: Debbie Tarry, City Manager; John Norris, Assistant City Manager; Randy Witt, Public Works Director; Margaret King, City Attorney; Paula Itaoka, Human Resources Director; Rachael Markle, Planning and Community Development Director; Sara Lane, Administrative Services Director; Eric Friedli, Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director; Shawn Ledford, Shoreline Police Chief; Dan Eernissee, Economic Development Program Manager; and Carolyn Wurdeman, City Council Executive Assistant
GUESTS: Allegra Calder, Principal, BERK Consulting (Workshop Facilitator); Joe Ferguson, Lake Union Partners, Developer Panel Member; A-P Hurd, Touchstone Development, Developer Panel Member; Sam Lai, Green Canopy Homes, Developer Panel Member; Brynn Estelle Telkamp, JSH Properties, Developer Panel Member; Susan Chang, Planning Commissioner; Jack Malek, Planning Commissioner; David Maul, Planning Commissioner; Bill Montero, Planning Commissioner; and Laura Mork, Planning Commissioner
At 8:30 a.m. the Special Meeting was called to order. Mayor Roberts provided a welcome to the Council and staff.
Mayor Roberts turned the Workshop over to Facilitator Allegra Calder, who provided an overview of the Workshop and a few ground rules. Councilmember Scully arrived at 8:45 am.
Council then discussed the 2016 City accomplishments. Assistant City Manager John Norris provided a brief overview of how staff put together the accomplishment list and Council provided reflections on which accomplishments had the most impact on the community. The Council also highlighted a couple of accomplishments that were not noted in the accomplishment list, including passage of the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure, which included the Sound Transit bus rapid transit project along N 145th Street, an award from Futurewise, a streamlined staff recruitment process, and naming Gloria’s Path. The good work of staff was also generally called out along with good Council/Staff relationships.
Council then discussed the current (2016-2018) City Council Goals and Workplan, and also looked at the staff proposed Goals and Action Steps for 2017-2019. Council began with a discussion of Council Goal #1 and discussed whether Action Step #3, continuing to implement the 10-year financial sustainability strategy, should include strategy #6 - engaging the business community in a discussion regarding potential implantation of a Business & Occupation Tax - in 2017. Following a robust discussion, Council agreed to proceed with this as a strategy for 2017. Councilmember McConnell and Salomon arrived at approximately 9:30 am. Council also discussed adding language to Action Step #4 in Council Goal #1, such as “create diverse communities with a mix of residential and commercial uses to foster economic development”.
In their discussion of Council Goal #2, Council suggested to staff to remove the word “municipal” from the goal title. It was also suggested to remove “Deep Green Incentive Program” from Action Step #5, as the public doesn’t know what that program is, and instead use descriptive language to describe what the program does. For Council Goal #3, it was suggested to change title of the goal so that it reads, “Continue preparation for regional mass transit in Shoreline”, in recognition that the goal is no longer just about the Sound Transit 2 light rail project in Shoreline, but now also about preparing for bus rapid transit along the 145th corridor as part of the successful Sound Transit 3 ballot measure. A few minor edits were also suggested for Council Goal #3 action steps.
Council then had a discussion about progress indicators under Council Goal #4. Council also discussed the downward trend of volunteer hours provided to the City between 2012 and 2016. Council discussed engaging online with the community, and adding an action step under Council Goal #4 related to social media. Council also discussed amending proposed Action Step #5 under Council Goal #4 so that it was more general.
Finally, Council discussed Council Goal #5, with much of the discussion focused on the King County Sherriff’s Office moving to a national crime data reporting system. Other public safety issues were also discussed, but Council did not recommend amending any of the staff-proposed action steps under Council Goal #5.
Following the discussion of Council Goals, staff and Council discussed how to effectively address sidewalk needs in the City of Shoreline. This entailed a discussion of sidewalk needs, costs and alternatives. Councilmembers expressed a preference for standard sidewalk design (curb, gutter, amenity zone) as the preferred option for sidewalk development in the City. . Councilmembers also briefly discussed sidewalk prioritization and were supportive of looking at priority criteria as part of the updated Transportation Master Planning effort the City is conducting.
The Council was then joined by the Shoreline Planning Commission for a panel discussion of developers, brokers and capital investors regarding Shoreline’s market attractiveness to private investment and retailers. Council then continued their discussion regarding sidewalk funding and alternatives, and decided to move the discussions of the Senior Center’s sustainability and biennial budgeting to their Saturday session. Council’s continued discussion of sidewalks focused on funding strategies for sidewalk development, including increasing the City’s vehicle licensing fee by $20 for sidewalk maintenance and a voter approved tax supported measure for new sidewalk development. Council discussed exploring the creation of a citizen advisory committee regarding sidewalks. Staff indicated that an initial inventory of sidewalk needs related to retrofitting for ADA requirements and sidewalk repairs would be available later in 2017. At that time staff will include further information regarding the vehicle license fee.
The Council adjourned for dinner at 4:15 pm.
Council Chambers - Shoreline City Hall
March 4 – 9:00 a.m. 17500 Midvale Avenue North
PRESENT: Mayor Roberts, Deputy Mayor Winstead, Councilmembers McGlashan, Scully, Hall, McConnell, and Salomon
ABSENT: None
STAFF: Debbie Tarry, City Manager; and John Norris, Assistant City Manager
GUESTS: Allegra Calder, Principal, BERK Consulting (Workshop Facilitator)
Council began the second day of the Strategic Planning Workshop at 9:00 am. This began with the discussion of the Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Senior Center. Following a discussion of this topic, Council stated that they were not interested in the City further exploring alternatives to the current Senior Center governance or funding structures. The Council also stated that they would like the Senior Center to continue to live within the City’s current budget allocation for the Center.
Council then discussed the potential for biennial budgeting, including the pros and cons of moving to a biennial budget from an annual budget. Council stated that they were potentially interested in moving in this direction, but would follow staff’s recommendation following the new financial accounting software implementation, which would need to be completed in order for the City to conduct biennial budgeting. Staff will check in on this during the 1st quarter of next year.
Council then discussed multiple issues identified in their City Policy Issues memorandum. The initial discussion related to housing security, including rental protection regulations and additional affordable housing incentives. Council did not add exploration of rental protection regulations to the City’s workplan, but did ask staff to invite the King County Housing Authority Executive Director to a Council dinner meeting so that Council could hear more about issues involving housing security and the challenges faced by some members of the community using Section 8 housing vouchers. The Council also did not provide direction on any additional affordable housing incentives that they would like the City to employ beyond the numerous incentives already identified in the City’s municipal code.
The Council discussed the potential of frontage improvements in the Mixed Use Residential (MUR) zones in the light rail station areas but did not provide staff direction to move forward with any changes to the municipal code. The Council also discussed the City’s role in placemaking, and was comfortable with the City’s current efforts to improve economic development in the City through placemaking. One suggestion was to potentially work with the Aurora Theater Company to have them charge a small admission fee for their performances, rather than having no charge for the tickets.
The Council discussed the concept of an age friendly City, and was not interested in pursuing any of the age friendly city accreditations or in employing any of the potential building standards that are aligned with being an age friendly City. The Council did provide direction following a discussion of the sign code to have staff proactively enforce the electronic message board code a couple of times per year, in addition to reactively responding to complaints of violations. The City Manager stated that she would also have the City’s Customer Response Team proactively enforce the municipal code regarding “feather signs”, as there are often violations of the code with regard to that type of commercial signage. Finally, the Council stated that they were interested in the ‘welcoming/inclusive city’ theme for this year’s State of the City breakfast that will be held in June of this year. There was also interest in tying in the planned change aspect of that the City has been following and that as we are seeing private investment occur in the community, that substantial public investment is anticipated with future sidewalk, community center/pool, and the recent passage of the $250 million school district bond.
At the close of the City Policy Issues discussion, the Mayor thanked the Council and staff for a good Workshop. Ms. Calder also thanked the Council for their participation over the last two days.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:10 pm.
/S/ John Norris, Assistant City Manager