CITY OF SHORELINE

SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL

SUMMARY MINUTES OF WORKSHOP MEETING

Monday, May 15, 2000

6:30 p.m.

Shoreline Conference Center

Mt. Rainier Room

PRESENT: Deputy Mayor Hansen, Councilmembers Grossman, Gustafson, Lee Montgomery and Ransom

ABSENT: Mayor Jepsen

1. CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m. by Deputy Mayor Hansen, who presided.

2. FLAG SALUTE/ROLL CALL

Deputy Mayor Hansen led the flag salute. Upon roll by the City Clerk, all Councilmembers were present, with the exception of Mayor Jepsen.

Councilmember Lee moved to excuse Mayor Jepsen. Councilmember Gustafson seconded the motion, which carried 6-0.

(a) Planning Commission Commendations

Deputy Mayor Hansen presented commendations and plaques to Ted Bradshaw, Dan Kuhn, Roger Parker and Byron Vadset, who served on the Shoreline Planning Commission from October 1995 until earlier this year. Each of the former commissioners spoke briefly about his experience on the Commission.

3. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT AND FUTURE AGENDAS

Robert Deis, City Manager, suggested a joint dinner meeting of Council and the new Planning Commission.

Next, Mr. Deis reported that State Representatives Carolyn Edmonds and Ruth Kagi and State Senator Darlene Fairley will present a legislative briefing to Council at its workshop June 19.

Finally, he mentioned that the School District is close to concluding its consideration of the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City. He explained that staff will present the MOU to Council after the School District completes its consideration and that staff will schedule a joint dinner meeting of Council with the School Board in June.

4. COUNCIL REPORTS

Councilmember Grossman said he attended a recent meeting of the Housing Partnership.

Councilmember Ransom reported that he attended the April 27 meeting of the Shoreline Water District. He said the tone of the meeting illustrated the hostility of the Water District toward the City. He expressed his concern about the ability of the City to implement its Comprehensive Plan given the apparent unwillingness of the Water District to cooperate with the City. He noted the need for voluntary participation and cooperation from the independent districts in order to accomplish the goals of the Comprehensive Plan. He contrasted the cooperative attitude of the fire district and the wastewater district with the water district's hostility.

Continuing, Councilmember Ransom said he attended the King County Council meeting on alternative medicine earlier in the day at Bastyr University. He noted the April 29 groundbreaking for the new Richmond Beach Library as the culmination of a 15-year effort to construct the new facility. He mentioned the recent installation of the new Shoreline Library Board.

Finally, Councilmember Ransom said he attended the May 10 meeting of the Suburban Cities Association (SCA). He noted the election of Deputy Mayor Hansen to the SCA Board of Directors.

Councilmember Montgomery said the Regional Transit Committee will meet May 18 and again later in the month. She identified one agenda item: interim State funding to forestall transit service reductions in the wake of Initiative 695. She explained that the State gave the County the authority to propose a local sales tax option for transit services. She said committee members who represent suburban cities have said they cannot support or oppose the local sales tax option until the County determines how it will allocate service reductions.

Councilmember Gustafson noted the Association of Washington Cities meeting June 2 to address the Endangered Species Act. He mentioned the U.S. House of Representatives vote overwhelmingly in favor of a five-year extension of the moratorium on taxing Internet businesses.

5. PUBLIC COMMENT

(a) Bill Bear, 2541 NE 165^th Street, spoke as the Director of the Briarcrest Neighborhood Association. He called attention to an article on salmon stream wetlands in the Briarcrest newsletter. He said citizens have ultimate responsibility for city government decisions that harm the environment. He asserted that affordable housing is underemphasized in the City Development Code.

(b) Dennis Lee, 14547 26^th Avenue NE, spoke as President of Concerned Citizens for Shoreline. He asserted three problems in the City’s new Development Code. He identified narrow access roads as the first problem. Second, he said the property setbacks in higher-density zones adjoining single-family zones are less than those in the previous code. Finally, he advocated the section on design standards that staff proposed originally, and that the Planning Commission revised.

(c) Clark Elster, 1720 NE 177^th Street, read from a letter in which he urged Council to reconsider V.2.C-1 and V.2.C-2 of the Development Code Phase 2.

(d) Ken Howe, 745 N 184^th Street, reported on his attendance at the May 11 open house on the Aurora Corridor Project.

(e) Don Brown, 727 N 193^rd Street, advocated City enforcement of its fireworks ban before and on the Fourth of July.

(f) Walt Hagen, 711 N 193^rd Street, recalled former Planning Commissioner Dan Kuhn’s assertion that Shoreline citizens want a "stress-free environment." Mr. Hagen said the City is not providing this.

(g) Patricia Peckol, 19144 8^th Avenue NW, discussed on-site recreation open space requirements for multi-family developments in the proposed Development Code. She requested that Council reconsider amendments number 164 and 165, which would modify or eliminate the exceptions to the open space requirements.

(h) Patty Crawford, 2326 N 155^th Street, said the City has allowed construction along Thornton Creek that violates the 100-foot stream buffer required in the Shoreline Municipal Code. She contested the assertion that Thornton Creek is unmapped. She advocated that the City stop the construction.

(i) Tim Crawford, 2326 N 155^th Street, said comments to him by City staff at a recent neighborhood association meeting alienated other neighborhood residents in attendance. He asserted that Planning and Development Services is not implementing City policies.

Noting that many of the comments concerned the Development Code Phase 2, Deputy Mayor Hansen said Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed code at its next meeting. Mr. Deis said Council can direct staff to address specific elements of the proposed code after the public hearing.

Mr. Deis advised that Shoreline Police confiscated fireworks last year but did not issue citations. He suggested that Police Chief Denise Pentony address Council at a future meeting regarding plans for the upcoming Fourth of July.

Deputy Mayor Hansen asserted the difficulty of enforcing the fireworks ban in Shoreline and of enforcing those in other cities.

Mr. Deis asserted the difficult balance of enforcing City regulations. He mentioned that the City has begun enhanced enforcement of its dog leash law. Deputy Mayor Hansen supported this enhanced enforcement.

Councilmember Gustafson advocated a presentation by Chief Pentony about enforcement of the fireworks ban and additional Council discussion regarding the leash law.

Councilmember Grossman supported community education about the fireworks ban followed by enhanced enforcement. Councilmember Gustafson agreed.

6. WORKSHOP ITEMS

(a) Endangered Species Act Strategy

Public Works Director Bill Conner stressed the informational intent of the staff presentation. He said staff will return to Council in the future to present specific recommendations and to identify sources of funding. He noted impacts of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to the City Capital Improvement Program (CIP)—especially to federally-funded and federally-permitted projects—and to operations and maintenance of City infrastructure.

Surface Water Manager Edward Mulhern explained that in March 1999 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) listed seven species of West Coast salmon as threatened under ESA. The listing of the Puget Sound Chinook salmon applies to the City of Shoreline. Mr. Mulhern went on to review key ESA provisions, including:

• Listing prohibits harm to a threatened species or to its habitat;
• Under Section 4(d), NMFS will publish a rule to protect listed species—the rule for the King, Snohomish and Pierce Tri-County area could be issued as early as mid-June or as late as December;
• Section 7 requires environmental review of federally-funded projects;
• Section 10 addresses long-term recovery plans—such plans provide long-term protection against liability for current and future listed species; but such plans include habitat conservation plans, which are costly to develop and implement; and
• Provisions for citizen lawsuits and third-party involvement regarding protected species.

Mr. Mulhern explained that the City may commit to comply with the Tri-County 4(d) rule. Then, City actions that follow the provisions of the rule would not be subject to NMFS review or enforcement actions. If the City considers the requirements of the Tri-County 4(d) rule to be too severe, it may conduct an independent examination of its programs and services to protect Puget Sound Chinook salmon. However, such programs and services would be subject to direct NMFS review.

Mr. Mulhern commented that ESA is similar to, and overlaps with, other regulations, including the Growth Management Act (GMA), the Shoreline Management Act and the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). He also mentioned regulations rising out of the Clean Water Act. He said ESA will require watershed planning and management, participation in regional funding, and habitat inventory, acquisition and enhancement. He noted the staff expectation of minimal Chinook habitat in Shoreline.

Deputy Mayor Hansen invited public comment.

(1) Peter Hayes, Continuing Co-Director, Thornton Creek Project, discussed the educational program which involves students at 35 schools in 12 square miles and promotes the understanding of the immediate community as a basic part of good education. He expressed enthusiasm at the participation of Shoreline, with Seattle, King County, local businesses and others, in the program.

Deputy Mayor Hansen said he learned through the SCA that the Tri-County 4(d) rule would be finalized in June. Mr. Conner acknowledged this possibility. He said the federal government has mentioned a December implementation date. He noted that the Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund may sue the government to require implementation of the 4(d) rule within 60 days of publication.

Councilmember Gustafson advocated the inventory of City watersheds. He has attended meetings of the Lake Washington Watershed and of Watershed Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 8. He said information from these groups will help the City in its decision making. He expressed concern that listing of Puget Sound salmon species under ESA will represent an unfunded mandate for the City. He recommended contact with legislators to ensure federal and State funding.

In response to Councilmember Gustafson, Mr. Mulhern said staff believes that ESA listing of Puget Sound Coho salmon would have greater impact on the City than listing of the Chinook salmon because there is likely to be more Coho habitat in Shoreline.

Deputy Mayor Hansen noted the need to locate and correct "cross connections" of wastewater and storm water drains to prevent the release of untreated materials.

Councilmember Grossman asked about the "trickle down implications" of the ESA on the City Development Code. He also asked about opportunities for negotiation (e.g., an increase in City action to benefit habitat, such as daylighting streams, in exchange for decreased regulation in other areas of less importance to listed species). Mr. Mulhern asserted the difficulty of the current negotiations between the Tri-Counties and NMFS. He said the City can directly negotiate its own long-term recovery plan with NMFS under ESA Section 10, but he reiterated that the development of such plans is expensive and time consuming.

Tim Stewart, Planning and Development Services Director, acknowledged the importance of ESA to the new Development Code. He said the City can consider opportunities to improve the health of watersheds (e.g., removal of obstacles) as it conducts its watershed inventories. He identified such opportunities as bases for negotiation regarding other requirements.

In response to Councilmember Grossman, Mr. Stewart confirmed that an inventory of existing habitat is the starting point for establishing a sound City plan. Mr. Conner said enforcement is based on current conditions. He noted this as a key reason the environmental community favors early implementation of the 4(d) rule.

In response to Councilmember Ransom, Mr. Conner said staff is not able at this time to identify impacts and estimate costs specific to Shoreline of the ESA listing of salmon species. He confirmed that the City will probably have to install special screens to filter storm water. He discussed potential changes in how the City maintains vegetation.

Councilmember Ransom asked if the City has an obligation to protect fish that citizens introduce into a waterway. Mr. Conner said City actions to protect such fish could be assets in settlement negotiations with the federal government. He mentioned that the City might participate in efforts to protect habitat of listed species outside of Shoreline in order to secure the right to manage redevelopment within Shoreline.

Deputy Mayor Hansen commented that hatchery fish have fallen out of favor with the State because of the lack of genetic diversity within hatchery fish populations.

Mr. Deis identified activities the City must undertake regardless of ESA requirements: inventorying drainage basins; inventorying and assessing surface water management facilities; and cataloging the data in the City Geographic Information System (GIS). He said the County did not provide a good inventory when it transferred surface water facilities to the City.

In response to Councilmember Gustafson, Mr. Conner said the City has the data to complete high-level mapping of its surface water management facilities within a few months. He explained that the City would need to collect new data to perform more detailed mapping and that such data collection would take much longer. Mr. Stewart noted the need for biological assessment of watersheds as well. Mr. Conner estimated that a good inventory would require three to six months to complete. Mr. Deis said the 2001 City budget for surface water management will identify specific timelines and costs.

Deputy Mayor Hansen supported the rehabilitation of streams that can be rehabilitated, regardless of whether they currently contain fish. He said he regards the ESA as more of an opportunity than a problem. He advocated the inventory and classification of streams as the City’s first priority. He suggested monitoring water quality in City watersheds as the next priority. He noted that many of the regulations under discussion are already required by the Puget Sound Water Quality Management Plan. He pointed out that the City already complies with many of the regulations.

Mr. Deis identified two factors that will affect the actions the City undertakes to protect fish and fish habitat: 1) cost; and 2) infringement of development rights of private property owners. He asserted that the City must balance the needs of listed species and the Constitutional rights of property owners.

Deputy Mayor Hansen noted the activities of the privately-funded Deer Creek Hatchery in Edmonds. He advocated Boeing Creek as a site for a similar private or public undertaking.

Deputy Mayor Hansen stressed that the goal of the 4(d) rule is to achieve the recovery of the listed species.

Councilmember Grossman asserted the need for creative approaches that provide incentives for property owners and others to participate in species recovery.

(b) Review of Request for Proposals for Solid Waste Collection Services

Kristoff Bauer, Assistant to the City Manager, outlined the proposed Request for Proposals (RFP) process. He discussed the basis for the service level contained in the RFP. Finally, he addressed risks of the proposed timeline.

Mr. Bauer said the current solid waste service providers could challenge the City’s right to terminate their contracts. He noted that staff has filed a declaratory judgment action to try to clarify the City’s rights. He explained the goal to provide this information to Council for use in deliberating its final decision.

Mr. Deis identified mandatory collection for all residential customers as the most controversial of the mandatory alternate bid items. He acknowledged that many residents currently haul their own garbage. He stressed that staff included this item in the RFP for informational purposes only.

In response to Councilmember Gustafson, Mr. Bauer said the City of Seattle has mandatory collection for all residential customers.

Deputy Mayor Hansen invited public comment.

(a) Richard Johnsen, 16730 Meridian Avenue N, asked if the 1^st Avenue NE transfer station will accept a wider variety of plastics for recycling as part of a new, expanded service level for solid waste collection. He asserted that people who make an effort to recycle should pay less for solid waste collection than those who do not.

Mr. Bauer said the service level contained in the RFP includes the collection of a wider variety of plastics for recycling. He clarified that this would not change the collection at the 1^st Avenue NE transfer station, which is controlled by King County. He explained the intent of including recycling in the rate for solid waste collection is to allow customers to recycle more and pay less for using a smaller waste can.

Councilmember Grossman supported a rate structure that promotes recycling.

Councilmember Montgomery noted the difference in the rates of Rabanco and Waste Management. Mr. Bauer said residents residing within the Waste Management service area do not have the option to choose Rabanco as their service provider.

In response to Councilmember Montgomery, Mr. Bauer noted few objections when Rabanco changed to a commingled collection service for recyclables.

Councilmember Gustafson supported the inclusion of vacation service cancellation as a mandatory alternate bid item.

In response to Councilmember Gustafson, Mr. Bauer explained that the "maximum annual tipping fee expenditure," included in the mandatory alternate bid item for community cleanup events, establishes an allowance for costs the hauler incurs for dumping solid waste from cleanup events at the County transfer station.

In response to Councilmember Gustafson, Mr. Bauer said the mandatory alternate bid item of a $50,000 annual payment to support City programs to encourage recycling is meant to fund part of a recycling coordinator position on City staff.

Deputy Mayor Hansen confirmed Council consensus in support of the recommended RFP process.

7. CONTINUED PUBLIC COMMENT

(a) Kristina Stimson, 2155 NW 201^st Street, discussed the City of Seattle program titled Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). She recommended that the City consider the program during its preparation of the Development Code Phase 3 and in the development of a City Hall.

(b) Margi King, 20307 25^th Avenue NE, recommended that the City enclose open ditches to minimize surface water drainage problems. She advocated the rehabilitation of Lyon Creek.

(c) Bill Bear, 2541 NE 165^th Street, discussed the increasingly limited availability of affordable housing in Shoreline. He advocated the careful consideration of the issue in the next phase of the Development Code. He supported owner-occupied affordable housing—because it tends to result in more stable neighborhoods—and the wide distribution throughout Shoreline of high-density affordable housing.

8. ADJOURNMENT

At 9:06 p.m., Deputy Mayor Hansen declared the meeting adjourned.

___________________________
Sharon Mattioli, CMC
City Clerk