City Council - Regular Meeting

[Music] welcome to the regular meeting of the Bellingham city council this December 16th 2024 I'm uh president protm Holly huthman uh sitting in today for president Hamill who is uh here but he's digital so he can't see all the hands when they're raised so I'll be running the meeting call this meeting to order the Bellingham city council meets all requirements of the state of Washington open public meetings Act before we begin we acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional and unseated territory of the lumy noac samish and samyu people who have cared for and tended this land since time immemorial truth and acknowledgement are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of Heritage and difference We Begin this effort to acknowledge what has been buried by honoring the truth we pay respect to their Elders past and present please take a moment to consider the many legacies of violence displacement migration migration and settlement that bring us together here today and please join us in uncovering such truths at any and all public events Bellingham city council provides Spanish interpretation at all regular evening meetings interpretation can be accessed by impersonate attendees by utilizing the headsets located at the front of the room remote viewers can log on to cob.org frcc zoom and click on the language icon at the bottom of the screen to listen listen in Spanish and I'll go ahead and let our interpreter repeat thatg language thank you on

January 13th 20125 the council will hold a public hearing on an interim ordinance eliminating parking minimums the interim ordinance would eliminate the minimum number of spots required and allow property owners and developers to provide parking as necessary as an interim meas measure it would provide immediate relief to some projects and allow staff time to collect Community feedback and prepare final parking regulations more information at cob.org FRP park- reforms roll call please Hannah Stone here Dan haml here skip Williams here Lisa Anderson here Michael liquis here jce cotton here Holly Huffman here all council members are present and first up we have the mayor's report City's team and members of the community that are here this evening tonight I have a few appointments the first two are for council's approval this evening the first is I'm seeking to appoint Maggie Bates to a second term on the design review board move approval second MO by council member Anderson and a second by council member list further discussion seeing none all in favor say I I anyos or extensions that passes 60 70 thank you the second for your approval tonight is my appointment to Jacob Stewart for a second term on the Greenways advisory committee move approval second motion by council member Williams and a second by council member Anderson discussion all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed or extensions that passes 70 thank you and lastly for information only is that I'll be reappointing

Brian bresler to his first full term on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and tonight for mayor's report I mostly have Reflections on my first year in office and as my first year as mayor comes to a close I've been reflecting on the commitments that I made and began last January in my swearing and speech I said that my job as the executive is to create the culture the system and the tools to do this work where the standard of performance is Excellence I'd like to report that together we've done excellent Forward Thinking this year it is work that makes me proud and that makes Bellingham a better place for all at the beginning of the year I also committed to redefining the city's relationship with the community that we see our Community Partners and members as allies in our work together and to that end we are building a one city approach to our work this approach values Public Service as Noble work that belongs to all of us it guides how employees serve our community members and how City departments and branches of government work together to benefit F our entire Community there is no greater Endeavor we can undertake than work together to do lasting good for both our people and the planet and as I reflect on 2024 I remain honored and humbled getting to work towards this end and in service alongside all of you I'd like to share something that I've learned and also a moment of Joy one thing that I've learned is how many Local Heroes there are throughout the entire city

organization these Local Heroes go to work every day in every city department and their work is often unseen they're often the people who do not get to come and sit or speak before you they go to work and they go home but they do their work to make a better Bellingham for all of us and it has been incredibly rewarding to see them go to work in service to our community and it makes me even prouder to call Bellingham Home the reflection on Joy that I'd like to share um is being asked to be a witness at the indigenous people's day ceremony uh this year out at Lumi Nation it was just a tremendous honor to be asked to Bear witness to the ceremony on behalf of this community and part of being a witness is coming back and Reporting on what I learned and I can say without any hindrance that the lummy people have so much to be proud of and as we continue to build and invest in our relationships with our tribal Partners I confident to say that we still have so much to learn from them and continuing to build in our relationships will be a top priority for me in the coming years ahead it has been a remarkable year and I want to share my best wishes to all of you this winter and holiday season and I'm looking forward to another amazing year ahead thank you all thank you mayor okay and then uh up next we come to our committee reports the first is public works and natural resources and that was chaired by council member Stone thank you very much president pro hutman um so this morning I was

joined on the public works and natural resources committee by council members Anderson and lillquist we had two items before us the first was agenda bill 24373 this is a contract award for 12th and finegan multimodal safety improvements project this is es 566 bid number 79 b-224 the 12th INF finigan multimodal safety improvements Pro project will add new multimodal improvements along the 12th and finegan Corridor in Fair Haven improvements include a traffic signal at the intersection of 12th Street and Mill Avenue New rectangular rapid flashing beacons at 12th Street and McKenzie Avenue and 11th Street and finegan way as well as new on Street parallel parking sidewalk and Street trees along a section of finegan way between m a Avenue and 11th Street the city received six bids which were publicly opened on November 26th 2024 Strider construction was the responsible bidder who submitted the lowest responsive bid of 1, 36,6 58 including any applicable Washington state sales or use tax the engineer's estimate was 1,318 52 50 the project is subject to the apprenticeship program requirements of Bellingham Municipal Code 4.94 um wanting to note a couple of things so the funding right now is through the Washington State Transportation Improvement board Grant as well as Street and transportation funds um we were joined this morning by interim Public Works co-director Joel fun as well as um Mike Wilson and Kyle Carl son and just wanting to note again that construction is expected to

begin in early 2025 and to be completed by summer of 2025 that may be possibly delayed just with material order related to traffic signals um but hoping to complete that project in a timely fashion I know that it's going to be um a great asset to the community there and completing some really important infrastructure to increase safety um so there was a unanimous recommendation from the committee this morning to move to award the contract to Strider Construction Company Incorporated and I so move second have a motion by the chair and a second by council member list any further discussion seeing none all in favor say I I I any opposed or extensions that passes 60 70 keep forgetting you Dan the second item before us this morning was agenda bill 24373 three so this was an introduction to nitrogen reduction at postp Point resource recovery plant the postp point resource recovery plant treats and cleans Wastewater generated by the residents of Bellingham service area prior to discharging the treated liquid affluent into Bellingham Bay as required by the Puget Sound nutrient General permit which was issued to the city by the department of ecology in 2022 the city has the responsibility to optimize plant processes and evaluate nutrient reduction in the affluent discharged to Puget Sound um carollo Engineers has been contracted to work with the city staff to implement an optimization plan and conduct the nutrient reduction evaluation for the postp point treatment plant the purpose of

the presentation this morning was to provide background on the nitrogen issue in Puget Sound and the city's effort to reduce its contribution as required by the Puget Sound nutrient General permit um this morning we were joined by Mike Olinger in on Public Works codirector um as well as Mike Wilson and um Steve Bradshaw and Steven day also from City staff were with us um and we were joined by um Tad gisb and Anne Conlin who are with Corola um um and again contracted with the city for that ongoing work um just wanting to mention that so this was a detailed presentation those who have um interest in this area I would encourage you to go back and watch the recording of that meeting you might want to have some Refreshers on chemistry prior to um watching the um the presentation but in short I mean this is going to be you know over the next 11 months to a year we need to make some decisions before the close of next year the end of 2025 um but there will be several touch points with the council as well as the RAB the Water Resources Advisory Board to the city um at different points to look at what options are available to the city to address um you know potential reductions of of nitrogen and as far as our discharge into the um into the bay and ultimately impacting the pet sound um but obviously there are great constraints considering cost as well as the footprint at postp Point um so a very heavy lift for for the city um but again this was just for information and discussion only

as far as a first introduction to this topic um but much more work over the the coming months and the um coming year um so please stay posted um for further updates and at this time that was again for information and discussion only there was no action taken um with that we adjourned and I will send it back to you president Protime Huffman thank you council member Stone and next up we had Parks and Recreation and that was shared by council member Williams thank you president pro Tim Huffman uh we had one item on our our agenda which was to discuss a resolution to establish uh the Parks and Recreation Department's facility use fees the Parks and Recreation Department uh recommended changes to the fees that will hopefully streamline the fee structure and adjust the rates in consideration of Maintenance and operational costs uh we received a very enlightening presentation from uh Nicole Oliver Parks and Recreation uh director regarding these uh changes and I'll just briefly go over some of them first was at Arie Hannah Aquatic Center and the the anticipated increase to the uh to the city would be around $221,000 but this was to make up for keeping the prices level during the pandemic with the pool and the uh Community shower program and the increases in staff wages over the years that have continued to increase obviously so um these were expenses incurred over that period of time and we're just making up for them at the lake patent golf course we are they are the department is

uh recommending a cumulative increase of 6.84% and the coverage increases are for operations cost in including wage increases keeping Pace with inflation and the increases at other courses in watcom county and with all of that even um padon is uh still the lowest cost Golf Course out of the other six 18 whole courses in wattam County so even with the increase uh padon is the lowest cost golf course it was pointed out also that the rounds played at padon have increased from 27,7 in 2013 and now it is at in the year 42785 rounds so whatever they're doing over there at padon they're doing it right and and I play there often and uh they are so uh the other facilities that were uh discussed was the Woodstock farm and the Van Wick Lodge and basically it's adding new cleaning fees to to address some of the more extensive uh cleanup that has to happen occasionally from uh that are beyond the regular protocols uh increasing the fees to cover the maintenance and Staffing requirements blell Community uh building was to adjust their rates to meet local Youth Sports needs and the cordada park pavilion was to adjust the rental rate to reflect the larger occupant level of the building which is at 62 which is a little larger than the other uh Pavilions that we had through a very thorough discussion the resolution was amended to reflect um the participation of our Canadian neighbors and the the the the exact words I'm not sure if if we have them yet but it was to reflect that the city owns

and operates various Park and Recreation facilities as part of its governmental services to the citizens and visitors of uh Bellingham and once again that's just to reflect that we get a a lot of uh participation from our Canadian neighbors residents beg pardon residents oh residents and visitors okay anyway so uh after that thorough discussion the committee unanimously voted to adopt the resolution as amended and I so move second motion by the chair and a second by council member cotton any further discussion council member Anderson thank you a very thorough briefing but one point that I do want to make um some of our uh neighborhoods had reached out to us because of the in the increase of cost of renting something like the cordada Pavilion and they were concerned about their ability to uh afford it and they were asking for a special rate for some of us uh the difficulty is not every neighborhood has a facility like that so how do you create equitability across the board and so the mayor did State and I'm going to paraphrase a little bit that um this upcoming year uh staff will be looking at a possible increase of uh the grants that are available to neighborhoods that hopefully if that does go through in the near future they'll be able to help offset that increased cost of renting places to hold their meetings so just wanted to add that for our neighborhood associations who are concerned the city is going to continue to work on something that hopefully will be a um amendable

solution for them council member Stone yeah and just to speak um express my appreciation that the committee had entertained the requested change to the resolution so just highlighting um the fact that city services within the city of Bellingham are available you know not only to Citizens but also residents and visitors tourists who may be visiting the area um and so not wanting that language to be restrictive you know based on um particular status here so thank you for the change to Residents and and visitors any further discussion see none all in favor say I I I I opposed or extensions passes 70 and at the end of that uh presentation we had no further business and the meting meeting was adjourned and I'll pass it back to you president protim Huffman thank you council member Williams and then up next we had Committee of the whole we had four agenda items two of them very much related uh first was agenda bill 24375 it's an interim ordinance eliminating parking minimum Citywide Title 20 of the Bellingham Municipal Code regulates the number of minimum parking stalls required for uses throughout the city the interim ordinance would remove the regulations in response to May Len's executive order 20242 expanding housing options in Bellingham parking minimums can reduce land Supply that could otherwise be devoted to housing and can be an excess of true parking demand the interim ordinance will eliminate the minimum number of spots required and allows property owners and developers

to provide parking as necessary it will provide immediate relief to some projects and allows staff time to collect Community feedback and prepare prepare final parking regulations a public hearing on the interim ordinance is scheduled for January 13th 2025 more information is available at cob.org parking reforms parking reforms so we had a very long conversation as you might imagine um everybody had something to contribute and probably could have contributed more um it was a great conversation and um I will not summarize it but I'll I'll let you go ahead and you might be getting the the uh the idea here that the real meat of the conversations happen during the afternoon so you can always go back and look at those videos um at meetings.

ob.org if you want more information about uh exactly what the conversation was like so uh to summarize the council uh had a mixed votee to recommend approval and ISO move second motion by the chair in a second by council member cotton further discussion council member Anderson thank you um if you go back to the day session you will see uh more of a a detailed explanation of why I'm voting no um but I'll just summarize because not everybody's going to go watch that video um over three years ago I asked the city to look into inclusionary zoning because the reality is is we go currently to the Future we're going to have to develop um or our developers about 15,000 units that are affordable at the 80% to 60% Ami and the reality of capitalism is that as things get built it's going to be at Market rates so um other than the city subsidizing and creating affordable housing we have to have a different mechanism in order to reach that with the state legislator changing um where they allow six plexes and eight plexes in all neighborhoods that was one of the levers I was hoping would have been utilized for affordability where there could be up zoned or increased zoning but something that would be considered affordable um an example being down in um Oldtown they're able to in one of the buildings because of the reduction of parking get 30 additional units in there and how nice would it have been if three or four of of those could have been affordable for the basically our Workforce to be

able to afford to live there um I feel like we're missing an opportunity um part of my concern is that um we didn't discover the possibility of where a developer could still increase their development profit with parking elimination but we could have netted some affordable you know there I believe there's a sweet spot in there that's a win-win but we didn't take the time to do that and understand that it's an inter but in one year we're not going to have the data needed so it's probably going to take five years before we go back and make some changes and I just worry about the missed opportunity between now and then there's a lot in this uh this interim um ordinance that I fully support but I just have a hard time voting yes because truly uh reducing parking was one of the last levers for inclusionary zoning and um I just I've been pushing that for over three years years and I just think this is a missed opportunity had we spent a little more time we may have been able to find that sweet spot that was a winwin council member lqu yeah I I agree this does make it difficult to implement any form of of viable and attractive inclusionary zoning um we received an email today from a local housing affordability Advocate um co-founder of cion Land Trust who reminded the idea of land value capture that's one way to get affordability is you capture some of the additional value or profitability of land through public actions and I think we've taken away one more tool we could have had at

this point I would like to move to amend the interim ordinance to uh change section subsection B of section one to remove the parking requirements on applicability the language would now read that the removal of parking mandates now applies to one all developments that include affordable housing units this section applies to all affordable units within a development comma does not apply to any other residential units that do not meet the definition of affordability indicated in the subsection or under subsection two of this this section and two it applies to all areas of the city that include General use type that includes commercial industrial institutional Urban Village and all residential areas within one quarter mile of a Transit stop along a highfrequency public transit route second motion by uh council member list and a second by council member Anderson for their discussion go ahead Michael so I just like to speak to my Amendment um back in May when we talked about removing parking mandates we talked about a couple of possibilities removing it Citywide was one another is a more strategic and targeted approach uh which has been used by thousands of cities ac across the country hundreds have eliminated Citywide but thousands have taken a more targeted approach this would basically remove parking mandates in three4 of the city and in all the areas where people say they're worried about excess parking these big surface parking lots outside of stores and strip malls um it

would remove the uh parking requirement that holds back Urban Villages and bit density it would remove parking requirements or a quarter mile of Transit stop these are known as transit or development and Transit corridors uh and in particular it would remove the affordability requirement where it's kind of most a pain point for something we want to see which is affordable housing so to make it clear I am strongly in support of parking reforms I just thought this was a better First Step uh and after further discussion I may have a time to explain a little more why but I wanted public to know exactly what I was uh proposing here for discussion discussion council member Anderson um one of the reasons why I'm supporting this is because I think this gets really to a lot of the root of the goal and I was on the Planning Commission six years ago and we talked about how do we increase the idenification where it makes most sense and that is our main transportation corridors that's areas where people could walk to a bus stop um and I'm Urban Villages and I've been really a stalard on trying not to create sprawl and to make sure that we have a very livable City where um like the urban Villages that's been a really strong area of my support because I want to see us grow up and not out um and if we are going to hope to reduce parking and transportation our infrastructure has to catch up and we're not there and we talked earlier about um eliminating the ability for parking in some areas is

really eliminating some of the opportunity for some of our working class um if you are in construction and you have to take your tools you're going to need to have a vehicle um and we know that increasingly a lot of development is going towards where parking they're charging for it and so if you could afford it that's great um but I think this is a a good livable way of being able to in introduce this and encourage the development where we need it and want it and then also have time to be able to get the information on how successful it is so it's not exactly a pilot program but it's uh maybe capturing about you know four fifths of the city um would have no parking minimums based on this council member cartton I won't be supporting this amendment and um in addition to your homework to go and watch the afternoon session I just also want to call attention to the letters of support from uh Transit and housing Advocates from Builders and environmentalists and the reason that all these groups favor a city-wide approach is open option parking fully flexible parking as a baseline allows for that um uh responsiveness to geography to access to transit to the preferences of um the people who will be living there um and there's a lot I think already built in um to make sure that uh uh yeah the the kind of development patterns that we'd see under this will be um in line with our community needs um uh and so again I encourage people to go to our packet um and and read some of those

letters and uh and we'll be voting no on this amendment and look forward to um uh voting yes on the interim ordinance overall CC member Stone so I guess I have a question for um perhaps legal but with respect to the proposed amendment I know this is before us for first and second vote today and then there would be a public hearing on January 13th and a potential third and final vote that day um if there were a my gu reaction is to WR request that I don't know how it works logistically but to move this vote to January 13th one I would like to hear from staff and legal in response right to this proposed motion and Amendment and how that I I think about looking at the city everything that's been outlined here I'm trying to visualize what does that look like and how does that right change um change things and so I don't feel prepared to vote on that now but wondering if the if there was a motion to move it right to the 13th Would that still be considered a third and final vote that day if this was say hypothetically if this was adopted that day or if it wasn't we would still be moving forward as third and final it would just be an amendment or does that push things out another another meeting oh that's a really good question um yeah I think that yeah okay so you could consider this amendment on the 13th you could do a first and second on the ordinance as proposed today and you'd have the public hearing on the 13th and you can make a as a result of that public hearing you could

make changes and do a third and final on it on the 13th if this motion were voted on tonight and defeated could it be brought back on the 13th or would that be similar to a motion to reconsider which could only be brought forward by uh parties on the other side the non-prevailing side it seems to me it would be a motion for reconsideration so if we were defeated tonight anyone who voted in favor of the amendment tonight could not bring it back up again it have to be brought up by another member who didn't favor it tonight if if the vote was if it was voted down was voted down tonight yes thank you so I guess just loot back I mean right I voted today in favor of Citywide elimination of parking minimums and I still you know stand by that and I'm inclined to vote the same way I have right this proposal not having been on the table and not receiving feedback from the numerous community members that we've heard from over the course of um you know time in response to what was proposed today I'm just wondering if it's something that right staff would be able to speak to on the 13th in conjunction with um a public hearing or if it's cleaner just to address it address it tonight because I'm in a position where I would yeah I would need more information to to be able to um I guess fully appreciate the the impact of this and differentiation from what we're was currently on the table or was prior to this motion good evening uh Blake line director of planning Community Development um

thank you to council member list Who provided us a copy of this earlier this afternoon um I don't think it materially changes the direction that staff was recommending and as you hearken back to the afternoon's presentation what we really talked about if I remind uh the council at least um those kind of three buckets the purple the green and the blue uh noting that we have a deficit of housing across the Spectrum with the exception of maybe the market rate housing and so while this particular Amendment does focus on those affordability components and could arguably have some benefit in that respects the need is far greater than just affordability that we do have that missing middle component and the thought From staff's perspective is really to try to address the totality of that and we believe that by eliminating parking minimoms it does that opportunity and looks beyond just the affordability it does not prevent or preclude that but um it does allow for more of that missing middle that we talked about I will say that in our deliberations on the staff side and with Administration we talked through a scenario very much like this and that is not what we brought forth in the interim ordinance so we brought forth what we think is our recommendation for your consideration Mr Mariner yeah I just want to be really clear that the administration would like a first and second on the ordinance that they brought in the packet today can Council gets to decide when they do first and

second when they do third and final that's a council decision um so I just want to be really clear about that that that decision is council's decision further discussion on the amendment council member Williams um my understanding is that this interim ordinance is going into place but that over the course of a year we're going to examine look at options which may include conceptually this um amendment I would imagine um but there's a feeling that or a sense that I've heard from someone that once this ordinance goes into place that we're not going to really I these are my words we're not going to really consider any other options affordable housing how that plays in um all of those things that there's a there's an this was expressed to me that once this ordinance goes into effect this is the way it's going to be forever I don't believe that I I trust that the way this came to us us was as an interim and that at the end we will come up with a something that going to be based on the reality that we are facing which when you showed us today that our how many permits were accomplished this year 500 500 I mean I don't have it with me but 516 516 and in 200 whatever what was our Max 2011 was 1286 so we have gone from 2 no say 1,286 1,286 to 500 that is an extreme decline correct to me and we are we are trying to figure out the best path forward that will get Us in line with the state regulations and hopefully encourage construction of housing to get that number back up and in in

areas that we need the number to increase but I believe that we have to take the time to figure it out how it applies to us not to New York not to B Austin not to Seattle but to Bellingham and I would imagine that in in the course of the work all of the concerns that are being brought forward by my colleagues are going to be looked at and so um I would I haven't changed my vote on this I think it's a it's a good first step and um it's going to be the going to be The Driver that's going to get us to where we need to be loquist have a question about vesting under the interim ordinance I assume vesting under the interim ordinance is as solid and as permanent as vesting under a non- interm ordinance that's correct it would be the law in effect at the time they submit the complete appli it's not that we're going to get a bunch of projects that are built without or with reduced parking or with you caught open choice parking um we're going to get a bunch of permits that are vested under the open parking mandate so this will play out for a while I just wanted to indicate um that one fact the intention behind this um amendment is to try to focus our tools where I think we need the most effort we need density we need affordability we need Urban Villages at the Cascade Innovation Corridor conference that I and director Lions went to they said we really need to go big on multif family that infill housing and adus and things like that they're really not going to meet our our affordability

challenges or Supply challenges um as I I pointed out earlier today according to the draft numbers on our 20-year planning Bellingham will need 18,390 new units of those 13,000 are below average income and only 5,000 are above we need below average income housing way more than average income housing and frankly I would describe it a little bit differently because dividing point in the middle is kind of arbitrary this is another graph this has to do with affordability at various income bands the middle income is actually here not in the middle of the graph all of these red areas are housing burdened populations that are below the median income that's our affordability challenge so my concern is not that removing parking mandates is a bad thing I think it's a good thing to remove them my concern is we won't get targeted benefit where we need it most at affordability so I'm going to see how the council votes on this amendment and then I may be giving more comments on the amended or not amended final motion any further discussion on the amendment right seeing none all those in favor say I I any opposed no no any abstentions okay that amendment that motion fails to five five okay further conversation on the uh the original motion council member list this is going to be a difficult vote but maybe not as difficult as it might be I'm going to vote in favor of the motion and the reason is as I've said before our parking mandates are broken they lead to a misuse of our land they are

holding back the kind of community that we need for social reasons for environmental reasons um and there are numerous benefits removing the parking mandates we will get more housing and we need it we will especially get more market rate housing as we got a big multiplier effect there and we're going to get a multiplier on Capital a affordable that is uh publicly funded housing projects will also benefit from not having parking and we will also get a greater yield and that's good and I like that it's in general it can be a more efficient use of land which is a limited resource and we also want to retrain Trails as well as housing and trees as well as housing and so to fit all those needs and limited land it's nice not to have to shoehorn in parking too another reason to vote for this is the sky won't fall if parking is no longer mandated by government because we still will get parking and all the parking that currently exists will persist for a while um so the sky won't fall and by the way what you will get most likely to get parking is your high-end homes they're still going to have three and four car garages your high-end Condominiums are still going to have plenty of parking so don't cry for the high-end housing because this won't hurt them at all and we do indeed have to much parking already in general and especially in those surface parking lots which no one seems to like but we all seem to use so this is a poor use of land and the problem is our mandates have driven

that poor use of land by setting artificially High numbers that don't always make sense um but the reason why I wanted propose the amendment is that more housing is not a guarantee of affordability for a lot of complex economic reasons it's not a simple equation it doesn't go that way this ordinance is not actually designed to deliver affordability read its purpose section which never mentions the word because it's not going to directly deliver on affordability it will deliver on Supply and quantity and that will probably have an effect on affordability but not a direct effect not a reliable effect not a targeted effect but it will have an effect and the effect that it does have will be welcome I think this is is a rare opportunity to connect up our programs in a complex way to layer our incentives and our programs and our regulations in a complex way that layers multif family tax exemption to zoning regulations to parking reforms that's the kind of complexity I've been hoping for for a number of years but I'm not going to get it but I am not going to let the perfect stand in the way of the good this is going to be a step forward and hopefully we will find ways to to generate the affordability where I think we need it most and if you go back to the afternoon I'm less worried about the lowest incomes not because their need isn't dire but because I have tools and programs the federal government and state government and local government has sources to pay for lowest income

housing we don't have ways to pay for what I call modest income housing that's who's going to be most left out and I fear that by removing parking mandates they're going to be left out as much as they are now and they will feel the trickle down effects of more housing but they won't get the direct love that I think that segment of population needs and I don't say this is an outsider I'm talking about myself council member still um I just had a question about that vote it wouldn't change the outcome but I don't know if you're able to see if president Hamill votes or not I hadn't did you hear him vote okay I just didn't hear it so I want to make sure thank you further discussion saying none all those in favor of the original motion signify by saying I I opposed no abstentions passes 61 all right moving on we have agenda Bill 24376 the renewal of an interlocal agreement with watom County supporting the grace program uh the attached interlocal agreement renews the city's support for the ground level and coordinated engagement program also known as Grace the grace program supports individuals that are frequent users of emergency responses through intensive care coordination the overarching goals of the grace program are to reduce first responder calls emergency department visits arrests and Jail admissions while improving the health well-being and stability of these individuals within this agreement the city commits to support the program in 2025 and 2026 by paying 30% of the

program expenses up to the total not to exceed amount it includes a 3% increase annually and this is a brief discussion uh we hope to have malora from the grace program come and speak to us in January which should be very interesting um the uh committee voted unanimously to recommend approval and I so move second the motion by the chair and a second by council member Williams uh any further discussion all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed or abstentions that passes 70 then next up we have agenda bill 24253 it's a work session regarding landlord tenant relations and unfair or excessive fees in residential rental agreements and leases Council held a work session on October 21st 2024 to discuss a draft ordinance that would prohibit residential land landlords from charging tenants unfair or excessive fees commonly referred to as junk fees Council moved to adopt a revised ordinance as the draft ordinance to share for public engagement and the administration's further review staff reviewed the ordinance and made suggested edits in legislative format for ease of review staff also drafted an alternative ordinance that would accomplish the same goal but that would be easier to understand for tenants landlords Property Management companies and reviewing courts during the December 9th 2024 council meeting Council approved a motion to move forward with the new staff ordinance with some amendments this work session was requested by Council to continue the discussion of the

ordinance and offer any additional amendments before a new revised ordinance is brought forward in January of 2025 so the council just uh had discussion continuing to um ask questions and uh add more suggestions to our legal department for consideration for updating the current working draft of this ordinance um no action was taken otherwise and then for agenda Bill 24254 very similar but uh ALS but regarding manufactured mobile home landlord tenant relations and unfair accessive fees in manufactured home uh lease agreements um and again a little bit of conversation but no action was taken um and with up council member cotton I just want to share that this was not on staff's work plan for this year and just want to share my gratitude for staff for taking the time to um put so much work into the draft that we have and look forward to getting this done in the New Year and thank you again and thank you for Council for all of your diligent work this year and I look forward to getting it done with you uh in the coming yes working on a working on a piece of legislation in public is not it's not easy uh as we as we have proven but it's a it's important stuff and and uh and we're we're getting there council member Williams yeah and I just want to point out too that this draft is go these drafts are going to be the document ments that are going to frame the public Outreach process and the discussions that we have with the public So based on that input and information we get from that

process uh there may be some changes to these uh documents as we go along and um and listen to how the effect of this issue um uh how people are dealing with that so um this draft is just the document that's going to structure the conversation and then from that we will get more information maybe uh make some changes to this and uh then we'll see how it works so I just wanted to point that out that this is isn't necessarily the final document although I see it and it looks pretty good but we we are going to bounce this off of the public and everyone that's involved in this issue tenants landlords uh property managers everybody that is involved with with this and like my colleague said we've gotten a lot of emails support in this direction that we are going in so from all from the whole circle of people involved in this so it's just another step to make sure that this represents the reality that we're facing here in Bellingham so any further discussion okay with that we will uh go to old and new can member Stone so I have a few items so I'll take them one at a time in case other council members have um old and new items so one came forward just through the discussions today about the um elimination of parking minimums and I know that with um president Hamill's decision to suspend public comment and public hearings you know through the end of the year right it has it's not customary as it's been done previously moving the public hearing to the Third and final vote um but upon

reflection of that I actually I don't know it it's it's given me pause to think about right different ways to conduct the business that we sort of have routinely conducted in certain ways and maybe think about it differently um because it feels as though sometimes right we have first and second at the same time as the hearing and so council is receiving information sort of in real time with the public and hearing from the public in response to whatever information is being presented and then often times we're voting that same time um and then the third and final vote comes at the next typically the next council meeting um and sometimes the perception has been that feels kind of like a rubber stamp because there's not a lot of discussion it's at the end of the night and really it's just an up or down down vote and so moving the public hearing to the third and final um to me I'm I'm looking forward to seeing how that right goes in January but the opportunity for the public as well to have witness the council discussion first um and then be responding to staff presentations as well as Council sort of preliminary discussion responding to the votes that's at hand um and potentially will give us you know deeper engagement and additional discussion it may not change right the outcome it could but it um but it still I think provides um more thorough review at third and final versus you know a straight vote so just putting that out there for further consideration hopes that other

council members will be you know paying attention to how that that goes in January um and maybe something we could discuss further at our reorg meeting buters I brought this up today but again not everybody watches the day sessions and there's a few community members I've been working with this on and told them that I would bring it up during old and new um just to let people know um what I shared earlier that um the first meeting of January if not the the last meeting I'm hoping to bring forward a resolution for a national infrastructure bank and basically we have people in Washington DC some of our Representatives who are um pushing a bill that would help establish a uh National infrastructure Bank uh for about $5 trillion doll in funding um this is not government funds this would be if the city goes forward with post point and we're looking at something crazy like 500 million it would be a lower interest rate way of being able to tap into funding and then the interest we pay goes back into the bank um Council in the past has supported um an initiative to create a state um state level bank for infrastructure so this is one but mostly on steroids and there's a lot of states and Labor uh unions and um municipalities that are supporting this so I told Council I'll be sending all the documents forward to them which I have already shared with the mayor's office and council president and staff and so um I'll be working a little bit with Iris our Legislative Assistant to um hone

into that resolution to be more tailored to Bellingham um needs so just heads up and yes um this is going to come forward to those community members who have been patiently awaiting because I wouldn't do it during budgets yeah um so another item just wanting to highlight that back on September 16th council member cotton had brought forward um a draft resolution opposing the proposed merger between Alberts and krger um and the resolution formally opposed the merger um and transmitted copies of the resolution to the Federal Trade Commission as well as the Washington State Attorney General um and the CEOs of Kroger and Albertson's and for those who hadn't seen in the news just wanting to note that on um December 10th that a judge had blocked the um Kroger Albertson's merger not saying that that was you know completely due to our resolution but just wanting to follow up because I know that the community had been um following that that item you know fairly closely so wherever we can get a win wanting to to highlight that so thank you again council member cotton for having brought that that for forward anybody else all right okay go ahead um so the other items one was wanting to um just Express appreciation to the mayor and the team that brought um Dr capris Hollands to provide a training to um staff so this was an a high so listed as an advanced microagressions um micro aggressions training for for leaders um and just to um again to put forward action where you know we've we've

articulated that we have support for um trying to dismantle um you know incidence of of racism and especially you know microaggressions that exist in our you know institutions um it's one thing to express that you know through resolutions and others but to to really try and walk that walk and a lot of that is through knowledge and and practice and um so the other piece was just how overwhelming the presence was you know by um the city um and individual members you know showing up and spending those those hours to to go through that training so um just wanting to highlight that that work was being done and sort of in um I guess along parallel lines thinking about um you know Dei as Dr Holland had said diversity Equity inclusion and belonging um work last week I'd also um attended a webinar that was presented by G which um now the city being a member of G um that is the government Alliance on race and Equity G had a webinar that was a conversation on operationalizing policies to Foster connected and prosperous immigrant communities um and so just thinking about the work ahead um over the years to come you know this Council has passed multip multiple um resolutions over time thinking back to 2017 resolution 20 2017-10 which was affirming the safety of all people residing in Bellingham again that's a resolution that's been on the book since 2017 but through that gear training or webinar um there was a presentation from welcoming America and one of the pieces that was highlighted

it was looking at you know different cities um and the Departments that they have internally and local government you know that are helping to carry on this work but one of the pieces was about how to achieve certification as a certified welcoming community and so similar to the gar membership that was a heavy lift right it's not just sort of um checking a box and saying yes we want to be a member but really having to um to follow through in some pretty profound profound ways so this opportunity for becoming a certified welcoming Community has pretty thorough SE um seven framework areas for the standards that have to be addressed as a city focusing on Civic engagement as well as connected communities economic development education Equitable access government and Community leadership and safe communities um and so it's a it would be a heavy lift and something that wouldn't happen quickly but is more a commitment that you know over the course of years trying to acquire that um that certification and so this is something that I wanted to bring before Council to request some staff time um from our staff at least at the Council Office to begin to look at this a little more closely about what it would entail and then potentially come back to council for a formal um request that this be something that we we take on so um really at this point just a head knot or if people have any you know concerns to um certainly share those but otherwise be a request for our staff time to look at

that further CC my head is nodding I I think of it if nothing else will be sort of like lead certification for environmentally sound buildings you don't actually have to submit the paperwork but if you look through what Lee teaches you about how to build an environment responsible building you will do a better job so we may or may not seek certification but I think we could if we looked at this thorough systematic list it might help us to identify areas where we're doing well in areas where we're not doing well so I see value in the exercise counil mayerson thank you um I can definitely support this but I I a couple of questions before um approval of time I know that staff have been trying to um systemize how we get support and that's by sending something how many hours do you think which staff member is it a light load a medium load or a heavy load and they look at their workload and if it is something that there's a conflict based on their time and availability for a heavy workload they let us know so we know what might drop off that's been previously approved so um definitely support it but I would appreciate if if you haven't had a chance to talk with staff to be able to have that and then they can let us know kind of the bandwidths before we say yes to it right now because it would be nice to get it in the queue but I I know I just garnered a little bit of time um probably five hours but I didn't have a big lift but I don't know what's out there um on their workload so

um support it but I I would like to know a little bit more from staff on their availability I think that we can commit to taking a look at what this would um what certification would entail so um Deborah Bena who's presented to you about some of uh the equity work with inside the city will be stepping into the mayor's office in a new role and as as a strategic initiatives manager with a focus on equity and belonging so this would certainly be in alignment with her expanded CommunityWide focus on that work um we've had the chance to mention it to her so she's aware of this opportunity so we will have dbor take a look at this and come back with what it would entail from a staff perspective to seek the certification thank you mayor you anything further for old and new okay then moving on uh next up this afternoon we had executive session we had a potential property acquisition that was with stamps staff provided information on a potential property acquisition it was for information and discussion no action was taken uh then we had another potential property acquisition with stamps staff provided information on a potential Lake watom Watershed property acquisition totaling 1.92 Acres with four potential development units I will now entertain a motion to authorize the mayor to close the real estate transaction described in the city's executed purchase and sale agreement with the property owner Ian Henderson with a purchase price of $300,000 with a closing to occur on or around

January 6th 2025 move authorization I'll take the that is a motion by uh council member Williams and a second by council member Hamill any further discussion see none all in favor say I I any opposed or extensions passes 70 next up we had the L litigation matter matter uh sta versus city of Bellingham at all with good staff provided information on a litigation matter I will now entertain a motion to authorize the mayor to enter into a settlement agreement with the following terms dismissal of the lawsuit and resolution of all claims related theret for payment to the plaintiff of $325,000 move authorization take that as a motion by council member Anderson second by council member Williams council member will request so sometimes a city is sued in a frivolous manner someone slips on a sidewalk and they want to sue the city this is not one of those cases this was a terrible situation where a young man was crossing a street on a bicycle um there were many factors to blame but one of those factors to blame had to do with a misfunctioning uh Crossing signal it wasn't the only Factor the city had taken steps to mitigate that risk but nonetheless a small component of responsibility remained with the city and to help hope that make this young man whole and to uh help him get along uh in his life I hear that he's recovering well but nonetheless he sustained serious harm in the accident so that's what this settlement is about any further discussion all in favor sign signify by saying I

I I I ne opposed passes 70 consent agenda move approval second a motion by council member Williams and a second by council member lillquist council member Stone yeah I didn't um want the item pulled but just wanted to highlight that one of the items in the consent agenda is agenda Bill 24379 and so this was a grant agreement for Community solar study funding and just wanting to highlight that the city has been awarded $165,000 from the Department of Commerce to evaluate 29 city-owned sites for their potential to host Community solar installations which could benefit lowincome residents of Bellingham um so a lot of times there are things that for my of reasons don't make it into art um you know committee meeting time but are wrapped up in the consent agenda and just wanted to to highlight that so thanks anything further all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed or extensions passes 7 Z final consideration of ordinances agenda Bill 24358 an ordinance amending the 2023 2024 banial budget increasing expenditures and authorizing an interfund loan of up to $600,000 from the general fund to the workers comp fund amendment number 16 move third and final second it's a motion by council member Anderson second by council member cotton uh roll call please Dan Hamill hi jce cotton hi Skip Williams hi Lisa Anderson hi Michael lillquist hi Holly Huffman hi hannnah Stone hi motion carries 70 next up agenda Bill 24360 an ordinance of the city of Bellingham repealing sections of the

Bellingham Municipal Code that are obsolete preempted unconstitutional or otherwise unenforceable move third and final second motion by council member Anderson second by council member Williams further discussion seeing none roll call please Jay scotton hi Michael lillquist hi Hannah Stone hi Holly Huffman hi Lisa Anderson hi Dan Hamill hi Skip Williams I motion carries 7-0 all right that concludes regular business of the Bellingham city council anything further saying that we are adjourned [Music]