CITY OF SHORELINE
SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL
Monday, December 6, 2021 Held Remotely via Zoom
7:00 p.m.
PRESENT: Mayor Hall, Deputy Mayor Scully, Councilmembers McConnell, McGlashan, Chang, and Robertson, and Roberts
ABSENT: None
1. CALL TO ORDER
At 7:00 p.m., the meeting was called to order by Mayor Hall who presided.
2. ROLL CALL
Upon roll call by the City Clerk, all Councilmembers were present, except for Councilmember Roberts, who had indicated he would be late to the meeting.
3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The agenda was approved by unanimous consent.
4. REPORT OF CITY MANAGER
Debbie Tarry, City Manager, provided an update on COVID-19 and reported on various City meetings, projects, and events.
5. COUNCIL REPORTS
Councilmember McGlashan said the recent SeaShore Transportation Committee meeting was focused on climate change, with updates from King County Metro on the electrification of their fleets, as well as a presentation from Puget Sound Regional Council on the project funding application process. Councilmember McConnell listed the departing members of the committee and reflected on their contributions.
6. PUBLIC COMMENT
Lily Fredericks, Montlake Terrace resident and member of Shorecrest High School’s Climate Justice Club, spoke in support of Ordinance No. 948, and described her lived experience with financial insecurity and said the Ordinance would create higher paying jobs and benefit the environment.
Deepa Sivarajan, Seattle resident, spoke on behalf of Climate Solutions. Ms. Sivarajan expressed support for Ordinance No. 948, thanked the City for acting boldly on climate, and commended Shorecrest’s Climate Justice Club for their participation.
Melinda McBride, Shoreline resident, expressed support for Ordinance No. 948 and thanked staff and Council for their work on energy code updates. She praised the advocacy done by the student commenters.
Dennis Heller, Shoreline resident, spoke in favor of Ordinance No. 948, stating that now is the time to change the course of history and start moving toward a zero-carbon future. He said Shoreline is seen as an environmental leader in the Northwest and thanked the departing Councilmembers for their work.
Lee Keim, Shoreline resident, spoke in support of Ordinance No. 948 and listed some of the general energy efficiency improvements the amendments make.
Jackie Kurle, Shoreline resident, encouraged maximum visibility and transparency relative to the Enhanced Shelter, and requested an update on its progress.
Kathleen Russell, Shoreline resident, spoke on behalf of Save Shoreline Trees. She read their proposed amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, and said it reinforces the importance of the urban tree canopy to residents. She asked Council to keep Shoreline’s trees in mind when planning for the future.
Tom McCormick, Shoreline resident, spoke in support of Proposition 1 and all efforts to provide access to open space, parks, and beaches. He cited the City’s stance on the priority of acquiring shoreline and beach access and listed the available locations for beach access. He urged the Council to take steps to secure public beach access at all three locations.
7. CONSENT CALENDAR
Upon motion by Deputy Mayor Scully and seconded by Councilmember McConnell and unanimously carried, 6-0, the following Consent Calendar items were approved:
(a) Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting of November 8, 2021
(b) Authorize the City Manager to Obligate $3,575,520 of Connecting Washington Funding for Design of the SR523 (N/NE 145th Street) Aurora Avenue N to I-5 Project
(c) Authorize the City Manager to Approve Real Property Acquisition for the 145th Corridor Phase 1 Project for Property Located at 104-126 NE 145th Street and 14512-14526 1st Avenue NE
(d) Authorize the City Manager to Obligate $8,924,480 of
Connecting Washington Funding for Right-of-Way & Construction for Phase 1
of the SR523 (N/NE 145th Street) Aurora Avenue N to I-5 Project
(e)
Authorize
the City Manager to Execute the Second Amendment to the 2016-2025 Water
Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 8 Interlocal Agreement
8. ACTION ITEMS
(a) Action on Ordinance No. 948 – Amending the Washington State Energy Code, as Adopted by Shoreline Municipal Code Chapter 15.05, to Reduce Carbon Emissions from New Commercial Construction
Ray Allshouse, Building Official, delivered the staff presentation. Mr. Allshouse reviewed the Council’s prior consideration of Ordinance No. 948, which resulted in general support for the proposed energy code amendments. In response to the concern raised about the potential for increased expenses, he emphasized that this requirement is not driven to reduce energy costs, but to respond to the impacts of climate change.
Councilmember Roberts joined the meeting at 7:31 p.m.
Mr. Allshouse concluded by stating that staff recommends that Council adopt Ordinance No. 948.
Councilmember Robertson moved approval of Ordinance No. 948. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Chang.
Councilmember Robertson said she feels good about taking this step for the City with the health of the future environment in mind. Councilmember Chang expressed support for the Ordinance but asked for clarification on the impact to existing buildings. She asked if there would ever be a situation where an owner cannot make the changes and the residents would become homeless. Mr. Allshouse said the language and intent of the proposed code follows the provisions that allow the building to remain in operation as long as there was no compelling reason to stop that, and he described the flexibility in the review and appeal process, which include the availability of energy tradeoffs.
Councilmember McGlashan said it is important to support efforts to slow down or stop climate change but he wondered if this is Ordinance is addressing the correct problem and explained his rationale. He agrees that regionally, electrification is better, but asked if it is better for the City. Mayor Hall agreed that this is just one step in the efforts.
Deputy Mayor Scully reflected on the Light Rail Station Subarea Zoning in Shoreline and commented that some of the consequences with the up-zone were environmental, but the purpose was to build access to the station areas which are less auto dependent. He said it is important to reduce the impact to the environment while increasing density, and this is a step in the right direction. Mayor Hall agreed, referencing the 2020 Sustainability Report, which concludes that the new construction in the Light Rail areas have a significantly lower a carbon footprint of a new single-family dwelling in areas without Green Building mandates. He said the City is dramatically curtailing greenhouse gas emission with this effort.
Mayor Hall asked for information on the cost of electric vs. gas, and Mr. Allshouse said heat pumps are more efficient, and as they become more of a standard, they will become more economical to purchase. They are high-efficient in operation costs.
Councilmember Chang added that adopting this now will help indicate municipal support during the next code cycle at the State level.
The motion passed, unanimously, 7-0.
(b) Action on Ordinance No. 950 - Speed Limit Reductions
Kendra Dedinsky, Traffic Engineer, delivered the staff presentation. Ms. Dedinsky reviewed the details of the speed limit impacts and speed limit setting tool discussed in earlier study sessions and addressed the questions and concerns raised at those times. Ms. Dedinsky said staff recommends adoption of Ordinance No. 950. She recognized the continued interest in reducing the speed limit on Dayton Avenue North and the northern segment of 15th Avenue NE and displayed the prepared amendment language.
Councilmember McGlashan moved approval of Ordinance No. 950. The motion was seconded by Deputy Mayor Scully.
Councilmember McGlashan said data confirms that reducing the speed on these corridors could support improved outcomes.
Councilmember McGlashan moved to amend Exhibit A to Ordinance No. 950 to reduce the speed limit to 30 MPH on 15th Avenue NE from NE 180th Street to NE 196th Street. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Roberts.
Councilmember McGlashan said this segment needs the speed limit reduction but the segment on Dayton does not.
Councilmember Chang asked if the software has been run to analyze the data for the proposed amendment. Ms. Dedinsky said after data analysis was run on these segments, maintaining the 35 MPH speed limit was recommended.
Deputy Mayor Scully said he is cautiously supportive of the Ordinance and amendment because of the data presented that shows reducing a speed limit reduces speeds overall. He is concerned about over-enforcement and does not want Shoreline to be a place where people feel fearful when driving. He would like to be cautious with enforcement and wants to respect the priorities of Lake Forest Park in establishing the speed limit on a cross-jurisdictional corridor.
Councilmember Robertson said the feedback from Lake Forest Park was interesting information. She said reducing the speed on 15th Avenue NE will increase safety, and she is interested in seeing what design approaches are used to ensure compliance.
Mayor Hall said he will not be supporting the amendment because of the huge overall change, percentile wise, already being made in the system towards speed reduction.
The motion to amend passed 5-2, with Mayor Hall and Councilmember Chang opposing.
Mayor Hall said the speed limits are being reduced in areas where speeding is common, so the concern about enforcement is important from an equity and racial perspective. He asked if it is reasonable to pass a law when we know the moment it goes into effect fifty percent of drivers will be violating it every day. He recognized that over time, engineering changes may contribute to speed reduction, but that traditional traffic calming measures are not appropriate on arterials. He said he does not support criminalizing the behavior of half of the City in one fell swoop.
The motion to approve Ordinance No. 950, as amended, passed 6-1, with Mayor Hall in opposition.
9. STUDY ITEMS
(a) Discussion of Utility Undergrounding for the 175th Street (Stone to I-5) Project
Tricia Juhnke, City Engineer, introduced the study item, with Leif Johansen, Engineer II, delivering the staff presentation. In summarizing the background of the work to date, Mr. Johansen said once undergrounding criteria had been established, staff presented Council with a high-level concept for the corridor and later presented the preferred concept, which was approved by Council. Following that decision, Council provided guidance to develop design of undergrounding to 30%. He displayed a map of the project area and a graphic of the corridor design concept, describing the improvements to be made. He outlined the criteria for consideration of undergrounding, which is met by this project. Mr. Johansen described the phased stages of undergrounding, showed a depiction of what undergrounding would look like and described the pole placement options if undergrounding is not implemented.
Mr. Johansen listed the financial impact to ratepayers for existing, as well as this potential, undergrounding projects, explaining that costs remain under the $10 threshold. He gave an overview of the distribution of responsibility of costs for the existing franchise agreements as well as the expenditures by the franchise utility. He summarized the overall financial impact of the project and said the decision of whether to underground is an importance piece of the next steps for the project. He said the City is proceeding with design, targeted Right-Of-Way, and pursuing funding. He said the staff recommendation is that undergrounding be included in the project.
The majority of the Council expressed support for moving forward with undergrounding this project. Councilmember Chang said undergrounding is more aesthetically pleasing and more weather resistant. Mr. Johansen agreed that undergrounding creates a more stable grid and explained that there would be a credit for relocation costs should undergrounding be implemented.
Deputy Mayor Scully confirmed the difference in cost for undergrounding, reviewed previous Council actions in support of undergrounding in the City and said he remains supportive of this effort. He added that 185th Street is a priority for him for undergrounding, with which Mayor Hall agreed.
Mayor Hall said that it makes sense to underground as part of a larger project. He shared his observations on the sight/distance issues creates when there are both trees and utility poles in the right-of-way and said this is the right time for the improvement.
Councilmember McConnell recognized the benefits to aesthetics and safety that undergrounding brings.
Councilmember Roberts asked if this project would be able to be discounted under the utility rate assistant programs offered. Mr. Johansen said he would research and report back. Councilmember Roberts said he is concerned with undergrounding because it is unfair that Seattle City Light is able to charge ratepayers in Shoreline for undergrounding projects in the City of Seattle and emphasized that this needs to be addressed. He said this is a flat fee for every ratepayer, and the City should focus the fees only on projects important to the City, for him 185th Street is more important. Mayor Hall agreed with the unjustness of the charges placed on Shoreline ratepayers by the City of Seattle for projects in Seattle.
Mayor Hall summarized that the majority of the Council supports moving forward with undergrounding and acknowledged the importance of keeping costs down and recognizing the higher priority corridors.
9. ADJOURNMENT
At 8:25 p.m. Mayor Hall declared the meeting adjourned.
/s/ Jessica Simulcik Smith, City Clerk