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, March 28, 2022 Held Remotely via Zoom
7:00 p.m.
PRESENT: Mayor Scully, Deputy Mayor Robertson, Councilmembers McConnell, Mork, Roberts, Pobee, and Ramsdell
ABSENT: None.
1. CALL TO ORDER
At 7:00 p.m., the meeting was called to order by Mayor Scully who presided.
2. ROLL CALL
Upon roll call by the City Clerk, all Councilmembers were present except for Councilmember Roberts, who joined the meeting at 7:20 p.m.
(a) Proclamation of Cesar Chavez Day
Mayor Scully announced the proclamation of Cesar Chavez Day in Shoreline.
3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The agenda was approved by unanimous consent.
4. REPORT OF CITY MANAGER
Debbie Tarry, City Manager, reported on various City meetings, projects, and events.
Mayor Scully took a moment to recognize outgoing Planning Commissioner Jack Malek and former Planning Commissioner, now City Councilmember, Laura Mork and thanked them for their service. They both shared remarks regarding their time on the Planning Commission.
5. COUNCIL REPORTS
Mayor Scully reported his attendance to the signing of the Transportation Package and stated that $7 Million of that funding will go towards the 148th Street Non-Motorized Bridge.
6. PUBLIC COMMENT
The Council heard comments from the public from approximately 7:06 p.m. to 7:19 p.m. Written comments were also submitted to Council prior to the meeting and are available on the City’s website.
Tim Malone, Shoreline resident and Hospital Director for Animal Medical Center of Seattle, said that their parking has been severely limited due to the threshold rule and he asked Council to approve Amendment 11 so they may apply for an exemption and make improvements to refurbish their building.
Matt Robins, Shoreline resident and employee of Intracorp Homes, expressed his support for the Planning Commission’s recommendation to unbundle parking from housing costs and advocated for residential parking zone systems.
Kathleen Russell, Shoreline resident, asked how the penalty in Amendment 5 would be applied as there are no trees registered as “landmark trees” and she requested the code define a landmark tree as 24-inches DBH and for the words “injured beyond recovery” be added to the penalty language.
Jackie Kurle, Shoreline resident, said she is pleased to hear the Enhanced Shelter is going well and she asked for a pothole on the corner of Ashworth and 175th to be fixed as soon as possible.
Nancy Morris, Shoreline resident, thanked Council for passing tree protection codes and stated more needs to be done to protect mature trees and she encouraged design around mature trees for construction projects to protect Shoreline’s tree canopy.
7. CONSENT CALENDAR
Upon motion by Deputy Mayor Robertson and unanimously carried, 6-0, the following Consent Calendar items were approved:
(a) Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting of March 7, 2022
(b) Approval of Expenses and Payroll as of March 11, 2022 in the Amount of $4,598,078.09
|
*Payroll and Benefits: |
||||||
|
Payroll Period |
Payment Date |
EFT Numbers (EF) |
Payroll Checks (PR) |
Benefit Checks (AP) |
Amount Paid |
|
|
1/23/22 - 2/5/22 |
2/11/2022 |
100961-101158 |
17708-17721 |
84881-84884 |
$600,473.73 |
|
|
1/23/22 - 2/5/22 |
2/11/2022 |
WT1244-WT1245 |
$107,891.97 |
|||
|
2/6/22 - 2/19/22 |
2/25/2022 |
101159-101363 |
17722-17732 |
84992-84998 |
$825,167.86 |
|
|
2/6/22 - 2/19/22 |
2/25/2022 |
WT1248-WT1249 |
$109,121.59 |
|||
|
PERS Retro |
3/4/2022 |
WT1247 |
$13,957.32 |
|||
|
$1,656,612.47 |
||||||
|
*Wire Transfers: |
||||||
|
Expense Register Dated |
Wire Transfer Number |
|
Amount Paid |
|||
|
1243 |
(not used) |
$0.00 |
||||
|
2/25/2022 |
1246 |
$16,092.56 |
||||
|
$16,092.56 |
||||||
|
*Accounts Payable Claims: |
||||||
|
Expense Register Dated |
Check Number (Begin) |
Check Number (End) |
Amount Paid |
|||
|
2/15/2022 |
84878 |
84878 |
$2,152.30 |
|||
|
2/15/2022 |
84879 |
84879 |
$78,206.69 |
|||
|
2/15/2022 |
84646 |
84646 |
($260.00) |
|||
|
2/15/2022 |
84880 |
84880 |
$260.00 |
|||
|
2/16/2022 |
84885 |
84888 |
$24,694.42 |
|||
|
2/16/2022 |
84889 |
84891 |
$10,480.80 |
|||
|
2/16/2022 |
84892 |
84894 |
$23,722.09 |
|||
|
2/17/2022 |
84895 |
84917 |
$84,955.04 |
|||
|
2/17/2022 |
84918 |
84939 |
$87,350.12 |
|||
|
2/23/2022 |
84940 |
84941 |
$22,994.35 |
|||
|
2/23/2022 |
84942 |
84945 |
$239,354.82 |
|||
|
2/23/2022 |
84946 |
84968 |
$166,305.51 |
|||
|
2/23/2022 |
82607 |
82607 |
($4,076.68) |
|||
|
2/23/2022 |
84297 |
84297 |
($147,000.00) |
|||
|
2/24/2022 |
84969 |
84988 |
$361,505.22 |
|||
|
2/28/2022 |
84989 |
84989 |
$114.75 |
|||
|
2/28/2022 |
84990 |
84991 |
$14,505.76 |
|||
|
2/28/2022 |
80385 |
80385 |
($501.50) |
|||
|
3/3/2022 |
84999 |
85015 |
$537,095.01 |
|||
|
3/3/2022 |
85016 |
85024 |
$24,757.45 |
|||
|
3/3/2022 |
85025 |
85038 |
$45,149.57 |
|||
|
3/9/2022 |
85039 |
85042 |
$10,411.86 |
|||
|
3/9/2022 |
85043 |
85066 |
$267,989.38 |
|||
|
3/10/2022 |
85067 |
85093 |
$1,075,206.10 |
|||
|
3/10/2022 |
84215 |
84215 |
($2,125.00) |
|||
|
3/10/2022 |
85094 |
85094 |
$2,125.00 |
|||
|
$2,925,373.06 |
||||||
(c) Acceptance of Assignment of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Franchises for Wastewater Facilities
8. ACTION ITEMS
(a) Action on Ordinance No. 963 – Waiving Council Rule of Procedure 3.6 and Amending Shoreline Municipal Code Chapter 20.50.300 Regarding Tree Penalties and Financial Guarantees
Senior Planner, Steve Szafran, stated that Ordinance No. 955 was adopted last week with Amendment C-5 being postposed for further discussion and he clarified that the amendment proposed by the Tree Code Preservation Team would impose additional penalties, and not lower them as was previously stated. He then showed a comparison between the penalties in the current code against the proposed additional penalties and shared staff’s concern for the term “development” being used as it could lead to unintended consequences for yard maintenance. He continued stating that should Council choose to reject the Planning Commission’s recommendation for denial of the amendment, staff does not recommend two separate square footage penalties for specific zones nor does staff recommend a penalty for nonsignificant trees. Much of what is proposed in Section 6 is addressed in existing code but staff recommends removing the term “restoration” and changing the monitoring period from five years to three years.
Councilmember Ramsdell moved to reject the Planning Commission’s recommendation for
denial of the portion of Batch Development Code Amendment No. C-5 related to penalties and financial guarantees by adopting Ordinance No. 963 with Exhibit A-2 and waive Council Rule of Procedure 3.6 requiring three readings of an ordinance.
Following questions from Council, Mr. Szafran affirmed that there will still be a monitoring requirement for critical and noncritical areas and that the amendment would not make any changes to the code enforcement process. The City relies on staff and the public to inform the City when action is needed and he clarified that a landmark tree is defined as 24-inches DBH and would have to be designated as a landmark tree by the Planning Director through an evaluation process.
Councilmember Ramsdell said he believes the amendment reflects the community's wish and Councilmember McConnell agreed. Deputy Mayor Robertson said she would be opposing the motion because she feels current penalties are severe and significant enough and because progress has been made to enhance tree protection with the help of the tree protection team.
Councilmember McConnell moved to amend the main motion amending SMC 20.50.300(b) to include the $15,000 fine applying to trees of 24-inches and greater DBH. The motion passed 5-2 with Deputy Mayor Robertson and Councilmember Roberts dissenting.
Councilmember McConnell suggested the intent of the community is to consider a tree’s DBH opposed to the landmark designation in applying the proposed penalties and Mayor Scully agreed but advised that any tree over 24-inches DBH should not be defined as a landmark tree as the designation is to recognize truly special trees.
The main motion as amended passed 5-2 with Deputy Mayor Robertson and Councilmember Mork dissenting.
(b) Action on Ordinance No. 959 – Amending Shoreline Municipal Code Chapters 20.20, 20.30, 20.40, and 20.50 Regarding the Miscellaneous and SEPA Related 2021 Batch Development Code Amendments
Mr. Szafran explained that with Council’s direction, staff revised and recommends new language regarding the definition of ‘household’ that removes references to 1) a family being related by blood or marriage and 2) the number of people in a family. He provided an example of Amendment A-8’s impact related to front yard setbacks, and he explained that without Amendment 11, the options for existing nonconforming structures will be to come into conformance or be removed and redeveloped. He added that new signage for the existing structures must not interfere with adjacent residential uses. Regarding Amendment A-13, Mr. Szafran reiterated concerns with the amendment and provided language for Council to amend the Planning Commission’s Recommendation.
Deputy Mayor Robertson moved to approve the proposed amendments in Ordinance No. 959.
Deputy Mayor Robertson moved to amend the Planning Commission’s recommendation for Amendment A-1 and revise the definition for “Family” as shown in the presentation.
Several Councilmembers commented that the change in the definition of a family is appropriate and shows that Shoreline is moving in the direction of being an all-inclusive city and advised that existing and future code should be reviewed moving forward to remove antiquated regulations.
The motion passed 6-0.
When asked about Amendment A-13, Mr. Szafran responded explaining that the proposal is to strike Section C which would allow parking to be charged separately from the dwelling unit and he explained the ramification of the current and proposed code and described the code enforcement issue where that building operators are not complying with the code. Council also asked how RPZ zoning might impact parking and Mr. Szafran answered pointing out a use of RPZ zoning in Shoreline which has helped in limiting who can park in those neighborhoods and City Manager, Debbie Tarry, added that RPZ zoning is handled through the Public Works Department and the process to apply this zoning would be triggered once parking utilization reached 80-85%.
Mayor Scully argued against the proposal due to housing assistance conditions set by the Federal Section 8 Program which he said previously caused issues for the City when parking was unbundled.
Councilmember Mork commented
that the City should look for more ways to encourage people to get out of cars
and agreed with Councilmember Roberts that inequity should be addressed for
those who pay for but do not receive parking.
The main motion as amended passed 6-1 with Councilmember Pobee dissenting.
9. STUDY ITEMS
(a) Transportation Master Plan (TMP) Draft Prioritization Process & Performance and Outreach Approach
Senior Transportation Planner, Nora Daley-Peng explained the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) as an investment guide for new transportation infrastructure and programs for the next 20 years and said that the project team is currently working on draft model plans and preparing to launch Outreach Series Three in April. She shared the vision statement and goals for the transportation system and announced that the team will develop a list of transportation projects in the Spring. Ms. Daley-Peng elaborated on the process to select projects detailing draft quantifiable metrics that correspond with the TMP’s six goals and said that they await input from Council and the public to inform the weighting of the metrics in order to score potential projects. Staff will use a companion set of draft performance measures to understand and communicate the contributions of newly constructed transportation projects and she added that supplemental outreach tactics will include actively engaging youth, utilizing multilingual communication, and prerecorded presentations on the TMP's webpage.
There was concern from Council about the draft prioritization metrics where a single category has the potential to outweigh others due to the number of metrics related to the category, or categories being too closely related resulting in compounding scores, highlighting the risk of a true need not being met due to a project scoring as a priority in only one category. Staff was asked to consider the cost of projects as a metric and to replace the metric on street classification with street volume to better quantify usage. Ms. Daley-Peng responded detailing how staff will collect feedback and present findings to Council for approval and explained how the City has historically used data to develop countermeasures to prevent accidents. Council suggested that the data will reveal a recommendation for projects but further discussion will be needed to analyze needs and outcomes to determine why a project is prioritized.
(b) Discussion of 2022-2024 Council Goals and Action Steps
Assistant City Manager, John Norris, discussed Council’s goals from the March 4-5, 2022 Strategic Planning Workshop explaining that they were developed to achieve Vision 2029 as detailed in the City’s Comprehensive Plan and he stated that at Council’s direction, staff recommend revising the language of Goal No. 5 and added two Action Steps to focus on the coordinated response to homelessness and supporting individuals in behavioral health crisis.
10. ADJOURNMENT
At 8:44 p.m., Mayor Scully declared the meeting adjourned.
/s/ Jessica Simulcik Smith, City Clerk