SUMMARY MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING

Monday, May 9, 2022 Bus Tour

4:45 p.m.

PRESENT: Mayor Scully, Deputy Mayor Robertson, Councilmembers McConnell, Mork, Pobee, Ramsdell and Roberts

ABSENT: None

STAFF: Debbie Tarry, City Manager; John Norris, Assistant City Manager; Tricia Juhnke, City Engineer; Randy Witt, Public Works Director; Nate Daum, Economic Development Manager; Jessica Simulcik Smith, City Clerk

Councilmembers and staff loaded a bus parked at the front steps of City Hall, which departed at 4:46 p.m. to head off on the tour. There were no members of the public who joined. Ms. Juhnke announced the purpose of the tour is to provide an opportunity for Council to visualize upcoming development within the 145th Light Rail Subarea around the future 148th Lynnwood Link Light Rail Station and to see and discuss the opportunity and need for connections along 3rd Avenue NE between NE 149th Street and NE 153rd Street.

Councilmembers reviewed Attachment B (Map of 148^th Station Area Projects) and asked questions about the total number of units expected around the light rail station. Mr. Daum shared which developments either have submitted applications, permits issued, or are pending application.

Stop 1: End of NE 149th Street

Everyone got off the bus to have a look around the area. Ms. Juhnke noted this area will be a hub of activity and pointed to the cleared site adjacent to the future light rail station that AAA Management will be building a 250-unit complex on and said they are also exploring options to build 500-units directly across the street. Both these complexes will be served by a dead-end street with direct access to the 148^th Street Bridge and the Trail Along the Rail. However, with no good street connectivity for cars, she said it is an undesirable location for commercial uses. She then reviewed that there are three potential opportunities for connections, with the first connecting 149^th Street to NE 151^st Street. This connection has been discussed in the past as the 3rd Avenue Woonerf, which has now been combined into the 3rd Avenue Connectors project.

Councilmembers asked questions about what the City will do with the property if there wasn’t a Woonerf and about the use of the future bridge and availability of off-street parking on the west side of I-5. Ms. Juhnke replied that the City would need to figure out what to do with the excess property, but options could include a park or plaza; and that there is off street parking that currently exists, but the City is not planning on creating any additional parking.

The topic of funding came up and Ms. Juhnke said development will pay for some frontage improvements but there is no mechanism that requires developers to pay for the connections being discussed tonight. She mentioned tools such as latecomer agreements and ULID’s but said they both have challenges. Grants are also not likely given funding is usually awarded to projects with larger traffic volumes and safety issues. Council discussed the ingress and egress of the developments and what Shoreline Fire and EMT’s feedback would be. The group then got back on the bus to head to the next stop.

Stop 2: End of NE 152nd Street

Everyone got off the bus to have a look around the area. Ms. Juhnke said this is the third dead end street in the MUR-70 zone to the north of the future light rail station that is west of 5th Avenue NE. She pointed to the unopened right-of-way to NE 151^st Street and said Sound Transit will be required to build half of the street and the City would require the adjacent development to build the other half. Another option would be adding this connection as a Capital Project. Ms. Juhnke then talked about opportunities for furthering the connection out to 153^rd or 155^th Street and reviewed the challenges with this segment given the City would need to acquire property to make it happen.

Councilmembers asked if it would be likely for a developer to be interested in making this connection, and Mr. Daum responded that its not typical for developers to want to pay for it, but any commercial use will require connectivity.

Everyone got back on the bus to head to the next stop.

Stop 3: Intersection of Corliss Avenue N and N 147th Street

The bus drove past several sites zoned MUR-45 where both apartments and townhouses are being constructed. These projects included Towns on 145^th, a 81 townhouse project; Shoreline 147, a 299-unit apartment building; and 5 degrees, a 72 townhouse project. Along the way, it was observed that several properties along 145^th were vacant and boarded up awaiting clearing and grading and Mr. Norris said CECRT and Shoreline Police are making sure both City and developer owned vacant properties are safe.

Stop 4: 1st Avenue NE and NE 148th Street/Philipi Presbyterian Church

Ms. Juhnke said this location shows the western end of the 148th Pedestrian Bridge where it will tie in with 1st Avenue NE. She noted that the Philipi Church is also seeking out proposals for redevelopment.

Councilmembers asked about funding levels for the bridge and whether the City owned any property near the bridge landing on the west side of I-5. Ms. Juhnke answered that the total cost of the bridge is $38 Million and there is $12 Million left to fully fund the project.

There was discussion around mitigation of development impacts including building sidewalks, traffic concurrency, level of service standards, and use of traffic impact fees.

At 6:00 p.m. the meeting adjourned.

/s/ Jessica Simulcik Smith, City Clerk