City Council - Regular Meeting

[Music] okay let's go ahead and get started um good evening everyone good good evening mayor good uh good evening members of the public this is the March 11th uh regular city council meeting um I'll go ahead and call this meeting to order announcements and upcoming meetings Bellingham city council meets all requirements of the state of Washington open meetings act before we begin I'd like to acknowledge that we're gathered on the traditional and unseated territory of the Lumi noac samish and samyu people who have cared for intended this land since time in Memorial truth and acknowledgement are critical to building Mutual trust and connection across all barriers of Heritage indifference 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 displace displacement migration and settlement that bring us here together today and please join us in uncovering such truths at any and all public events roll call please Hannah Stone here Holly Huffman here skip Williams here Lisa Anderson here Michael liquis here Jay scotton here Dan Hamill here all council members are present excellent okay so we're going to begin this evening uh with a public hearing to consider a major modification to the interlocal agreement for facilities within the Waterfront District between the Port of Bellingham and the City of Bellingham in 2013 the city and the port executed

the interlocal agreement for facilities within the water front District that's referred to commonly as the facilities inter local which sets forth the responsibility for and phasing of certain facilities like streets and parks the parties anticipated that over the life of the facilities in local modifications would occur the proposed board Mill project which includes Redevelopment of the historic board Mill building and adjacent properties to provide housing structured parking and open space requires changes to the location of parks staff recommends approval of the ma major modification to the facilities in local because Park connections are maintained and the proposed development greatly benefits the public and here to take us through is community and E economic development manager teres and Dean good evening thank you I've got a short presentation um before you open the public hearing uh if you recall back in 2013 we adopted a a package of of documents come the Waterfront District package we adopted the comprehensive planning document which was our Waterfront sub area plan along with five implementing codes and agreements so we brought them all to the city council um at the same time along with our counterparts at the Port Commission in 2019 we updated um the plan and the the relevant parts of the code or the implementing agreements as well so as a reminder we've got the The Guiding document the goal policy document sub area plan we of course have development regulations

and design standards and those two really help implement the built environment how the private sector is going to build out the planned action ordinance is our sea review the development agreement is a agreement that we entered into with the Port of Bellingham but the terms in that agreement go and follow follow successors and interest so as properties are sold by the Port of Bellingham uh and new entities have ownership there they become party to that agreement as well so someday it's anticipated that there will be a lot of parties um to that agreement uh in part one of the reasons why we created a fifth document which is the interlocal agreement for facilities that agreement is just between the city of Bellingham and the Port of Bellingham and I I kind of refer to it often as the deal it really is that deal that took us quite some time um to negotiate but that deal between the city of and the port to help share in the responsibilities and the risk associated with taking over um this large piece of property um from the private sector uh it sets forth the financial commitments who's leading what um the conditions and procedures for Property Transfers and the delivery of facilities uh in short facilities really means parks and streets that's most of what the city is is promising in this agreement the ports promising land and and and the the the way in which the mechanisms in which we get that land and the city is agreeing to construct those facilities and that's why we're here

tonight um we're here to propose a modification so in the interlocal agreement we anticipated change um we anticipated change in all of our documents but in this one we anticipated some minor tweaks that would be required over time as a 20-year commitment um as well as something that's maybe more major and so um anything that poses a significant change to our financial commitments to the timing let's say we want to propose we're going to do something in phase one instead of phase three or if we're going to change the location of a street or a park we need to come to you and we need to also go to the Port Commission the Port Commission contemplated these changes at their meeting last week and have approved this uh modification that I'm going to walk you through okay the the part of the district um we know this so well um our Communications staff was telling me that I should probably show everyone that were not proposing any changes to Trackside or to the portal portal Village or and and the the um amenities that are already there at the Waterfront District so this red box is um kind of surrounds it is done by me so it's not exact um but it surrounds the the property that we're going to speak to tonight uh this drawing is the park land that was contemplated in 2019 in 2019 we um proposed some significant changes to the plan which included a connection through the district the 2013 plan did not have a connection uh from the downtown Waterfront area through the log Pond area and

down to Salish Landing which was always a priority for the city and so in 2019 we were able to negotiate that with the Port of Bellingham um and then let's see so that's I'm going to come back to that piece that connection is really important to the city this piece here so here's portal Village and and the pump track this is the Condominiums under construction by Harcourt the existing grain rebuilding and Mill works just um just pretty much wrapping up now the board Mill building is here and the port issued an RFP uh to find a developer to redevelop the board Mill building and when they did that they included land that was larger than just the board Mill building to give those developers the opportunity to do more than redevelop maybe make some money off of one project in order to afford to redevelop something that's a significant undertaking like the board Mill and uh when they submitted their their plans um they came in with the red development of this building as a Hotel and Convention Center um adding residential and Commercial spaces it was pretty exciting it looked a little different than this it actually had all surface parking in in the middle here uh and the port said hey we really love your proposal but we don't love the surface parking nature of the proposal it wasn't it's actually not something we want to see long term in the um Waterfront District and so they asked them to go back and um come up with something even even a little bit more inspiring and so they did

and they came back with uh a parking Solution that's done in a structured parking garage this uh area of our community you can only go so far down um here and so they weren't able to do multiple stories of underground par paring there is some underground parking under this building um but they're proposing the addition of a building here which is partially located in this this piece that's shown as green on our map and so when they the port brought this to our attention and said will you please consider whether or not um you would support such a a notion um we said first and foremost we have to maintain that connection that gets us from the downtown Waterfront through this development and eventually through the log Pond area and so what you're seeing here and there's a more boring version of it in the actual legal document in the Ila it's a black and white but here we have a colored rendering showing that 30 foot at least Public Access easement that we will require that goes through here and the port will dedicate that to us before they sell property to the development team so if we take this connection and we go to the right that gets us to that future connection here behind this park building um they're calling it a park building it's not going to be owned by us or the parks department um but they are proposing uh some public amenities on the rooftop this building is wrapped with residential and commercial on on the back end of it is railroad tracks and the anco Jen plant

then there's a bonus for the city here which is a public park easement that goes from um Bay Street down and over into the log Pond area that was always another connection we had wanted the port just wasn't comfortable in 2019 showing an exact location for that trail connection so that was first and foremost the other reason why we are recommending approval of this major modification is due to the public benefits associated with this development this is very inspired um development that has of course the Redevelopment of the historic structure but also H hotel rooms which is something that we want to see in our city center it's got a parking structure that includes parking for the public so you don't have to be a resident or a um hotel guest to use the parking um guests and visitors from around our region can come it doesn't mean it's for free but you can pay it to park in this this facility there's privately owned public space if you this this vantage point right now is I'm I'm up above walkom Waterway looking down through the site back towards um the park building this would be the residential unit so here's the board Mill and and the residential on the side so this this privately developed veloped and maintained open space we saw as valuable as well to the public um public is not going to really know the difference as they're they're contemplating walking through the middle of this and then of course finally the um CommunityWide um needs here with housing and there's about

260 I believe housing units being proposed so the port's going to dedicate this property as I mentioned if this project doesn't materialize and I have full confidence that it will but if it doesn't we will revert back to the 2019 it doesn't change the acreage dedicated uh by the Port of Bellingham and it does not change the total Upland Park acreage in our sub area plans uh no further Council action is going to be required um if the the conditions are met so we have some conditions on how fast this project needs to proceed so it's not going to be one of these things where you're like 5 years down the road why has nothing happened um doesn't mean we can't extend things but you'll get a second look at it if it gets off track with timeline and then finally um the Port of Bellingham is planning on submitting a sub area plan in 2025 um and thank you because we are busy with the the Bellingham plan so we aren't going to be able to work on that until next year they're contemplating changes pretty significant changes in the Marine trades area which will require a sub area plan Amendment and it's at that time that we would like to clean up Park acreage um there's probably going to be some clean up in this area and the downtown Waterfront area and the Marine trades area and so that's the time that we we would like to kind of there's about 6 Acres that are being impacted by this proposal and that's it for my presentation okay thanks Miss sine uh questions from Council before we open up

the public hearing okay I don't see any um just want to remind uh speakers that are wanting to speak to this that I think Miss sine did a very good um outline of what we're talking about tonight this is not this does not have anything to do with ABC Recycling or the sea uh agreement that the council voted on this afternoon and we'll we'll talk about again tonight so if the remarks can just be contained to the presentation that Miss um just gave us that'd be fantastic good all right we had two folks signed up uh Lucas van hoo and Michael Waters and a reminder we have a yeah microphone upstairs and down here as well hi thank you very much I understand you want to keep the comments towards the board building and the um uh interlocal agreement I is your is your mic on I don't know is it there should be a little red dot at the bottom is it green or it's green then you're on okay green sorry okay I'll try to speak a little louder thank you um I support the city uh the changes to the inter local agreement I support the city's efforts to construct Parks uh according to the plan as well as to efforts to save the board Mill building uh to save the board Mill building and to make these s Parks successful I do ask you uh the city council to insist that the Port of Bellingham develop the Waterfront in a manner consistent with the water sub area plan which included a good balance of light industrial mixed use retail residential and park land an Urban Village as you call it um but if you

want to save the board Mill building and you want the parks to be successful you're going to have to get rid of the metal pile you do that and the board Mill building instantly attracts developers on its own without that I believe that we doomed the Waterfront uh Subara plan for failure and it holds back development of our city so um those are my comments I would urge you to consider how those those surrounding environments will impact the future um success of this project thank you Michael Waters board Mill group I uh I just want to say oh well I'm here actually to uh encourage your support for this uh for this U modification and I just want to say that um the the city staff and as well as the port staff has done an incredible job of um moving this along so that it didn't unnecessarily impact the project um it is vital to the project that this occur um if not it probably would Doom the project and and um so I and it's been asked of me a few times and of others on the board Mill group uh what does it look like to develop this next to a working Waterfront and I said it's exciting it's being done all over the West Coast it's been done all over the world and it's being done in incredible ways and um it can happen and I think also too if we listen to what the port's doing um we find out that probably by the time our project is completed metal pile probably won't be there it'll probably be more contained and and that type of thing so it's exciting it's done all up and down the

coast and all over the world thank you thank you this gu does that conclude the list that concludes the sign up y okay um I will go ahead and close the public hearing and bring the um bring this back to council Council go ahead council member Anderson thank you um and thank you for the presentation very glad to hear that there is kind of a a timeline I think it's in everybody's best interest that we don't have another um hardc Court uh development uh that I don't know if I'll see the completion of it during my term but um hopefully but because affordability I know there was 10% affordability um in the housing and could you for the public there's big a and little a affordability is this going to be at the 80% um if you could Define what is considered affordability according to the agreement and then my question is because housing is in two locations do you know if it's going to be spread across the two or if the housing will be located in one for the affordable housing yeah and I I'll ask Brian to jump up if I don't get this this right but I think I I have it right um when they issued when the port issued the RFP they did not put a affordability component into the RFP after the RFP closed I mean this this was a couple years ago probably when it closed the port was looking at um the I think that our agreement more carefully and we do have a requirement it's more of a an incentive based approach in our interlocal agreement that in order for us to commit financially to a very

significant connection between the downtown downtown in the Waterfront District 10% of the units on the site need to be permanently affordable and that's defined and we're using a definition that's aligned with income 80% of Ami or lower so it's a it's a defined and it's for a period of 50 years so that's inke keeping with the types of projects that the city funds so when they started negotiating the agreement the port said we do want to see some affordability in this new building that they proposed to be on in in the Parkland so the park building is going to have 10% of the units be affordable to meet our interlocal agreement conditions I don't see Brian jumping up so I might have gotten that right that makes so so that would be considered in our mind's Capital ah affordable housing it's defined CC Council mquest first of all if I'm not wrong it's a minimum of 10% that's not like the maximum we can go higher we can shoot for 15 20% affordable units on the waterfront development um so I was here when it was approved and it was not a perfect plan there were a lot of compromis in there and several of speeches up here and the DIA said this is a living document it should it can it must actually improve in the years to come and some of the worst things about it have already been fixed this actually wasn't something was wrong with the Waterfront plan it's something which I think is still right about the water FL keeping the connectivity keeping the commitment to Parkland I mean

back back in the day we had to argue about keeping Parkland argue about the value of these public open green spaces in the middle of an urban center we're not having that argument anymore so this is completely in the spirit with the original plan and all the stuff that terara and I and people from that era sat through so I see no reason to not approve this major modification ever reason to approve it and since if there's no uh controversy tonight I would approve that we uh I would move that we approve the major modification second motion's been made by council member list and seconded by council member Huffman there further discussion council member Stone Miss I just have a question about because I feel like we may end up seeing more of this right private developers then offering Public Access or public benefits right tied into a development and I'm just wondering if we have any um policy or approach to how to ensure that that is accessible to the public sometimes the question is well with signage and other things right does it appear as though the public is welcome or not and so some people you know those way points and things that we um are investing time and energy into to make to provide some consistency about how people navigate right the spaces within our city um if there's any if there are any other requirements I guess Beyond right just stating that it will be accessible if there's anything that happens in those developments or agreements to um sort of ensure that

that access or the perception of that access the public access easements um that those are going to that's owned by the city of Bellingham that minimum of 30 um and the parks department n Nicole and her team are going to be in charge of identifying what standards what they want that to look and feel like we anticipate that the private developer is actually going to build those improvements for us the way that the original and that that will be a separate agreement that the parks department will consider Nicole will negotiate that um but I believe her team if they haven't already they are thinking about what standards should be reached there as far as the um in the the space in between the buildings we're not posing requirements on in that space it is possible that they have a wedding there or they're going to be able to manage manage that but we're we're not giving them any park impact fee credit for that we're not giving them any recognition on Park Park acreage is not being considered for that space um because when I'm navigating the maps right in the change you're saying the location of that and looking at park space then being above right on the rooftop of that building which is a private space but then the park up top technically is accessible to the public right if um okay I think that is part of the confusion when it's called the park building might have to rename that in the future um that's the private developers building they are proposing a rooftop Park we are not

getting in we are not proposing that that space be Park counted towards Park acreage they're not getting Park impact fee credit for it they're getting nothing from the city for doing that if they do it it will be on them and they can manage that space the way they they choose to manage so it's really going to be a private amenity and they are intending it to be open to the public but if you read carefully the actual one page of the agreement you you'll notice that we don't require that because we hope that it happens but we also recognize that having spaces public spaces is out of sight can be challenging to manage from time to time you want to add thank you did a great job Tara if you have any other questions I'm happy to answer them Council further discussion go ahead I just have a curiosity and perhaps the developers could actually answer this if Tara doesn't know um it lists a lot of the things that will be going into these buildings from Hotel Spa restaurants housing but Community Food Hall that can mean a lot of things and I remember way back when when the first discussions about what would happen at the water uh front would happen there was at least a few meetings I was in discussions about like commercial kitchens that people could rent and they could do like production or teaching lab or creating food commercially um is that I'm seeing head nodding is that the foodall Hall envisioned or is it like dormatory dining hall because I've also heard it called that in other

venues not dormatory thank you that might there also they're trendy they're all over the place uh we're modeling it after a few after talking with the planning department they said make it you know make people be able to walk into it from all sides we we implemented that so that's what it is there would be multiple vendors in there uh opportunities for folks to come down and and ply their wees for a period of time or for a long period of time so kind of like Granville where you go in and there's a lot of different small little kitchens and you or pus Market or a number of other ones we've done a great deal of research on this and it it it it'll be a neat uh amenity there and also an opportunity for small business people to do what they similar to what the they're doing in the container Village by having some where vendors can come down and and populate that space for a period of time and the Mercy Housing or the the Millworks project has the kitchens and things that you're talking about and they're going to do an incredible job they also have a child care center can you imagine those kids are going to come over and they're going to go up to that rooftop Park and and they're going to see something that they've never seen before the ocean thank you further questions okay seeing none there's a motion on the table by council member Williams seconded by council member Huffman seeing no further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstentions recusals motion

carry 70 I'll move on to the next item that's the mayor mayor's report mayor brought her Karaoke Microphone don't worry it'll show up in the minutes look out I have props tonight that's right uh there's good evening Council good evening members of the community uh I have a few things in the mayor's report tonight I'll begin with some appointments uh the first is for approval and it's regarding an appointment to the Transportation Commission um I'll be appointing Carolyn deeton to her first term and Keith Moore for his second term move approval second motion's been made by council member Williams second by council member Huffman any further discussion on this item seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed extensions recusals motion carries 7-0 thank you uh next up is an appointment to the Sehome Hill arborium Board of Governors I'll be appointing Nick leader to his first term and also to the sister City's Advisory Board I'll be appointing Emma binderup to her first term and reappointing Jeffrey Eastman to his second term also I wanted to share as mentioned in January Administration intends to bring forward the next council meeting a boards and commissions expectation document and this is just one of several steps that we're taking this year so that we're working more consistently alongside our more than 20 advisory groups across the city to increase diversity among our members and establish clear expectations about the important work that these groups do I

also wanted to touch on something of import tonight on council's agenda and that's ABC's recycling's proposed metal processing facility and that Administration is seeking Council Direction tonight on an agreement between the city and watom county and the city is seeking to assert its role as the co-lead agency in the environmental review of ABC recycling's proposed metal processing facility on Marine Drive and it is important to note that because of the facility's proposed location is outside of city limits the city does not have land use zoning Authority or final determination of this project however we know that the impacts of this project are important to Bellingham an Administration believes that co-leading The Seer review for the proposed facility will give us a seat at the environmental review table where we can best represent the concerns of Bellingham residents we thought seriously and thoughtfully considered this direction in contrast with how we have approached similar projects in the past and ultimately we believe that by stepping up to share responsible responsibility for a careful thorough environmental review of this project is in Bellingham residents best interests I'll move on to lighter topics one that I'm thrilled to announce is that we have received an appropriation award um in the last legislative session less than two weeks after taking office I worked with Parks director Nicole Oliver to draft a request for an appropriation to expand options for indoor

Recreation and strengthen Community Connection and I'm tremendously pleased to report tonight that the city has received a capital budget appropriation of $26,000 to help develop a plan and a funding strategy for a new intergenerational community and Aquatic Center in Bellingham I'm grateful to Senator schumake and representative ranal for their respective support of our request I'd also like to share that there's a new galbreth Mountain crosswalk thanks to a collaboration between the city county and the wat watom mountain bike Coalition a safer route to galberth Mountain Mountain Trails is now open there's a new crosswalk at the intersection of samish way and galath Lane along with a pathway from Lake padon parking lot to sish way with flashing beacons to alert drivers this was a highly requested feature to improve safety for the many residents and visitors who recreate in this popular spot and we're glad this work is completed and lastly uh I hope I will see you this weekend and that you'll be grabbing your St Patrick's Day flare and joining us for our annual runin of the green walk run this Saturday March 16th I will be running as part as a participant in a city wellness program it was the couch to 5K program you'll spot me in this I'll be proudly wearing it and we hope that the community turns out to join us in this familyfriendly event there's just two more days left to register you can find out event details and register on the city's website also this weekend will be

the 14th annual St Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday in downtown Bellingham the parade will begin at noon and it is held in honor of our safety our public safety personnel and this year Bellingham Police Lieutenant Claudia Murphy will lead the parade as the Grand Marshal Claudia is the first irish-born Parade Grand Marshall and if you know her you know that she is the perfect fit to lead the marryt on that day so I hope to see you Saturday and Sunday for these events in our community and that's the end of mayor's report thank you mayor okay we'll move on to our committee reports uh we started this morning at 10:45 and went until about 3 a little after 3 this afternoon our first um committee is public works and natural resources and that is chaired by council member Stone thank you president Hamill so this morning I was joined on the public works and natural resources committee by council members Anderson and lillquist we had one item before us this morning that was agenda bill 24035 this was a contract award for the postp point resource recovery plant headworks bypass project eu1 195 this is Bid number 5 b-224 the postp point resource recovery plant headworks bypass project will Implement a temporary bypass for the headworks facilities at the plant this temporary bypass system will allow for submerged and confined areas within the headworks to be drained cleaned and inspected the city publicly opened one bid on February 22nd 2024 EMB boss Construction Incorporated is the

responsible bidder who submitted the responsive bid of 1,722 77946 including any applicable sales and use tax the engineer estimate is 1, $4.70 and includes um an editorship hour requirement so there are a couple things I wanted to mention one we were joined this morning by Mike Olinger um assistant Public Works director for operations as well as Mike Wilson Public Works um assistant director for engineering and the presentation was by Steve Day project engineer um a couple of things one just to acknowledge the fact that um the bid price you know exceeded the engineer estimate by 39% which was remarkably high and there was only one bid received but acknowledging that there were a variety of factors that um were determined to affect the current bidding market for this project and a couple of those were that it included a higher than average risk to the contractor as well as specialty equipment requirements and construction workloads for many contractors affected by summertime fish passage um regulatory requirements and so this project has sort of a narrow window when it has to take place during lowf flow times um and so for that reason the recommendation was to move forward with the um awarding of the bid but also wanting to highlight that what was mentioned in the summary statement that 15% of the project labor hours have been included um in this project for apprenticeship utilization to meet that requirement and in addition just acknowledgement that the post Point Heron

colony is obviously in this area um and that construction activity subject to noise restrictions associated with protection of this nesting site just wanting to highlight that those accom accomodations are going to be put in place to continue the protections that are there this F or actually it was this morning um the committee recommended approval an award of the contract to boss construction and ISO move second motions been made by Council arm Stone second by council member Anderson further discussion on this item seeing none and all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed exensions recusals motion carries 70 and that was end of committee back to you president Hamill thank you our next committee was Parks and Recreation not the TV show um and that was headed up by uh council member skip Williams thank you president Hamill we had one item on our our agenda as well which is agenda Bill 2436 we were joined by Council council members Huffman and cotton in the presentation and uh what this um bid uh this is a bid award to basically um remodel the blell Donovan Park uh community building and um it we uh we discussed a contract award to Dawson construction for the bid the project up there is going to in uh clude electrification of the blow Del Donovan Park Community Building which will include storm water repairs mechanical and electrical upgrades and roof replacement the existing systems will be replaced with a high efficiency electrical unit and electrical panels will be

replaced with a new Ser with a with a new service connection to power new electrical vehicles charging stations at the park um how many will be determined over the years but um essentially there will be at least one to begin with the project improves Antiquated systems in the building and provides upgrades to meet the climate action objectives of the city basically by removing natural gas Building Systems so the city publicly opened nine bids on February 21st 2024 the reason we got nine this is the second time this has been around and um the first period was basically a victim of postco recovery um um things and we did not receive any bids on on that first time around this time we got nine um and Dawson construction is a responsible bidder who submitted the lowest responsive rate uh I'm sorry bid of $19,988 for this project was 1,10,000 39 so we can see that uh Dawson came in well under that during the uh proc the project will be ha happening in the time period of June 1st to September 30th uh mainly because the the development of the um pieces of the project are subject to the providers providing Windows of of opportunity so we felt that that time period would be enough to cover that during the construction period and everything else the facilities and the activities will be maintained throughout the summer with some being relocated but um that was it we we received a very good good overview from Gina Austin who was the project engineer on this and uh so the Parks and

Recreation staff recommended approval the Parks and Recreation committee um The Parks and Recreation committee approved the recommendation therefore I will move approval second has been made by council member Williams second by council member cotton any further discussion on this seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I opposed exensions recusals motion carries 70 and that was the only item we had and so uh we we adjourned the meeting and I'll turn it back over to you thank you all right take us that'll take us to the third and final committee this afternoon was Committee of the whole it's the one that the I chair as the council president I'm going to go through our executive session first because that was what we that was the order of operations uh this morning so our first item for executive session was potential litigation that was with Mariner staff provided information on a potential litigation matter uh that was for information discussion only no action was taken second item was also potential litigation also with Mariner staff provided information on a potential litigation matter that was for information discussion no action was taken third and final item was potential litigation Mariner provided uh information Mariners City attorney on potential litigation matter that was for information and discussion I will now entertain a motion to authorize the mayor to execute all documents necessary for the city of Bellingham to participate in the settlement of the

lawsuit brought by the state of Washington against John Johnson and John Johnson a nationwide opiate manufacturer move approval second uh we'll go ahead and give the the first to um council member Huffman and second to council member Williams any discussion on that uh seeing n all those in favor signify by saying I I I post exensions recusals seeing none uh motion carries 70 okay and so now we have a few semi- complicated uh items I'm going to go through so just give me one moment here just to catch up okay the first item was an ordinance amending Bellingham Municipal codes uh chapter 17.10 to adopt by reference the 2021 editions of the Washington State Building Code um this building code this RCW um chapter 1927 19.27% efficiency standards um Council reviewed these in or the 2021 codes in May of last year however the State Building Code Council delayed implementation due to several legal challenges which have since been addressed Council must adopt the revised 2021 building codes to ensure compliance with state laws this afternoon we had discussion on this and this um this item will me will come up again later in our agenda we'll be doing what's called a third and final or final consideration of ordinances on this item so I'll go ahead and just stop there then move to the next one um this was an ordinance of the city of Bellingham amending Bellingham Municipal Code chapter 1720 to adopt by reference the 2021 edition of the international fire code in this case um Council

previously adopted the 2018 international fire code with State amendments which are codified under Washington Administrative Code or The Wack uh chapter 51- 54a Statewide implementation of the fire code is set for March 15 2024 this proposed ordinance is for the city's adoption of the 2021 international fire code AS amended by the state and local amendments contained in Bellingham Municipal Code 17.20 Council reviewed the 2021 codes in May of 2023 hover the State Building Code Council delayed the implementation proposed amendments are attached uh here in the in the packet and there is the recommendation for the um effective March 15th adoption to align with State's implementation date so we're basically just trying to align ourselves with state law at this point this one will also be um voted third and final um or subject to third and final later in this meeting the third item was um an ordinance of the city council of the city of Bellingham Washington authorizing the issuance of one or more series of limited tax General obligation Bonds in the aggregate principal amount not to exceed $26 million to finance costs related to acquiring designing constructing developing improving equipping and Furnishing City facilities delegating authority to approve the method of sale and final terms of the bonds and approving other matters related th too this afternoon this afternoon Council um or the committee of the whole adopted this and ISO move second motion's been made by the chair

second my council member Williams any further discussion on this one seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed extensions recusals motion carries uh 70 the next item was um just give me one second here flip to it um this was uh in relation to RG Haley and cor Cornwall landfill site remediation and Salish par Landing Park phase one project update so we we've been talking a lot um today about the Waterfront and there's just a lot of activity that's happening down there uh in conjunction with the remedial cleanup construction measures at the RG Haley and Cornwall Avenue landfill site the city will construct phase one of Salish Landing Park project components include Upland capping Nearshore capping and armoring with a soil cap as well as inwater soil capping and Eel Grass mitigation first phase of the Salish Landing Park will be constructed simultaneously and will include all underground utilities that will be located beneath the cap as well as the small parking area trails and the South Beach permitting is underway and a three-year construction act or the three-year construction activity is anticipated to begin in 2025 and then staff uh presented an overview of what that's going to look like I think for folks that are really interested in that there was a really good presentation here this afternoon and you know it's going to be um that will be open to the public at probably in 3 years is what they what staff was saying um that's a um unprecedented it's kind

of like having the Waterfront be available to the to the public um or having like another Boulevard Park basically so um so look forward to to that um first phase is um will start later this year and um like I said three years for for completion uh next item was a memorandum of understanding between wam County and the City of Bellingham regarding the State Environmental Policy Act co-lead agency agreement for the ABC recycling facility this is what the mayor was referencing uh earlier tonight ABC Recycling has applied to Wacom County for a permit to build a metal processing facility the proposed facility would be located within the city of bellingham's urban growth area that is currently part of unincorporated wam County the memorandum of understanding is to establish and describe a collective effort for sharing of lead agency responsibilities under the State Environmental uh Policy Act in order to conduct an environmental review for the proposed ABC recycling project this afternoon uh Council Committee of the whole rather uh voted to approve an IO move second uh motion's been made by the chair uh seconded by council member Anderson sorry um any further discussion go ahead Council mquest yeah I'd like to address uh the community on this one because um I think it Bears some understanding so people understand exactly where we're coming from I initially was very hesitant to take this route because there's a very simple and obvious route the city can take which is when there uh

is a project outside of the city that affects us we just simply commented on it like any other entity would and we'd have a significant voice would be listened to and we can Advocate on behalf of what Community interest is if we take this route we actually have to no longer take a we have to now uh act in an unfair and unbiased manner if we become Regulators for the environmental review portion we can't prejudge the outcome we we can't take aside and I think people are hoping and expecting that the city is going to take a position for or against that in truth if we participate as co-leads on the environmental Rev you we will have to withhold judgment we will have to remain neutral and gather the facts without bias or without a preferred outcome in mind and I worry that people would misunderstand the fact that we weren't like clearly advocating for what was best for the community but I think we can still do that for two reasons one reason is there's we're we still won't have final decision- making Authority there what I didn't understand at the beginning is there's the environmental review then there's project approval project approval is still in the County's hands but the environmental review is the part where we're being involved and during that Port portion during the environmental review we will have to be fair impartial and unbiased but I still think we can advocate for the best public interest in that in ensuring that all the relevant facts are properly considered

properly weighed properly conveyed so the final decision will be informed by that I think we still can protect the Public's best interest without having to prejudge the project so I was hes to this and I hope people can understand kind of the complication that the environmental review and the project approval are not the same thing we being involved in one and not the other and that frankly was something that took me a while to understand and having now understood that um I'm supportive of this position I appreciate the mayor for helping walk me through this I know that her staff also kind of had to work through what this meant and what would be best for a community counc M Williams uh to put it in a lot fewer words this is our ability to impact the conditions that that facility has to follow as they develop their facility now as the mayor said as my esteemed colleague said here at the end it is the County Council and the county government's POS um they have the final say so on whether the project goes forward or not this is our way of being able to impact the conditions that hopefully will um give us the best result on the on what that project has to meet in order to proceed and hopefully it will address all of the concerns that we've heard about so far we will impact that but the final decision is left up to the county Anderson thank you um I'll be supporting this for a lot of reasons but I think a really strong reason is that we'll be able to have um engagement with our

community members as we go forward with this uh at our last council member council meeting there was a couple young ladies who presented some data and research that was happening in another Community around um shredding and uh potential contaminants and we'll be in a position to be able to say we would like to look at more of this information or this is a kind of study we want to look at or we want to look at how um this might have um an impact on water quality air quality noise and so forth and that depending on if it goes through sepa will maybe be part of the conditions of how a project could go forward or not go forward uh since it won't be a quasi judicial situation we're not going to have to be silent in the sense of our engagement with the community talking about this although we have to be neutral and not come up with an opinion whether or not we think the project should go forward or not um I just think it's going to give us a much better uh seat at the table to be able to look at what kind of um impacts this kind of project can go forward and there are two components first is really looking at what potentially the impacts are and if they can be mitigated so that's one thing that we can have involvement in the other is whether or not it gets um after that whole process approved we don't necessarily have a seat in determining that but I hope we have a voice of sharing our opinion with the community at that point so um two phases coming forward thank you further

comments qu questions um before we before I call the question um I I just think that this provides Bellingham with a much stronger uh seat at the table I thank the mayor for her leadership and my fellow council members for voting uh on this this afternoon if you look at a map of where that proposed facility is and you look at the map uh where the where the Waterfront metal pile is we're right in between bellingham's literally in between so we needed a strong position at the table to be able to do what the council members have just articulated and so I'll be supporting this as well further question or further comments or questions on this item okay seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed extensions recusals motion carries 70 uh the last item we had was the 2023 Financial year-end review was very comprehensive and I will not attempt to even try to summarize it I would encourage people who are interested in City finances to uh to go to go back and watch that video we usually post those usually up I think the next day and so it should be up tomorrow um on btv1 and YouTube so you you have plenty of access to it um so that's that's the that piece and then um old and new business okay seeing none I I have one item um I'd like to nominate make a make a motion to nominate skip Williams to be on the Wacom racial Equity commission second motion's been made by the chair and second by council member Huffman anyone want to speak to it go ahead council member lest I

think that's a great idea but I'm just kind of interested uh if you could tell us a little bit about um what this nomination means and what the Count's process is are they seeking uh one of our a city official to represent us cuz if so I think Skip would be that person yeah it's a liaison capacity okay so just so folks know um several of us here were on the the wam racial Equity commission uh development board um for you know I don't maybe a year and a half or two years K hman was on it I was on it um the city and the county uh take these kind of highlevel issues and try to work together on them whenever possible and so having skip as our liaison and our voice uh to be able to kind of you know speak to the issues that we're facing as a city but also to gather information from the commission and um bring that information back to council I think would be would be great any further discussion okay um seeing none all those in favor signified by saying I I opposed extensions recusals I okay all right fair enough you can vote for yourself okay any other items for old and new okay seeing none consent agenda have approval second motion's been made by council member huin second by council member Williams any further discussion on consent agenda seeing now all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed extensions recusals okay motion carries uh 70 and now we'll go to final consideration of ordinances and that those are referenced I referenced those earlier in my remarks first up

agenda Bell 23724 an ordinance amending Bellingham Municipal Code chapter 17.10 to adopt by reference the 2021 additions of the Washington State Building Code move third and final second uh motion third and final has been made by council member lillquist and seconded by council member Huffman roll call please Hannah Stone hi Holly hman hi Dan Hamill hi Skip Williams hi Lisa Anderson hi Michael lillquist hi Jay scotton hi motion carries and finally we have agenda Bill 23723 an ordinance at the city of Bellingham amending Bellingham Municipal Code chapter 17.20 to adopt by reference the 2021 addition of the international fire code move approval second motion has been made by council member Williams and stacking by council member Huffman we call him jce Cotton hi Michael l Quist hi Lisa Anderson hi Skip Williams hi Dan Hamill hi Holly Huffman hi Hannah Stone hi motion carries 70 thank you okay we're going to take just a little bit of a break here we are going to move into public comment period and because we use a different technology we have we have to kind of flip over to it so if you can just bear with us for a minute and I'll ask that the uh the the rules be displayed as [Music] well