City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome, everyone. Thank you for being here and for taking the time to engage in our work. We are glad to hear from you. City clerk, are you ready for the roll call?

Thank you. Mayor Melakutian?

Here.

Deputy Mayor Hamilton?

Here.

Council Member Bhargava?

Here.

Council Member Breyer? Here. Council Member Newhouse?

Here.

Council Member Robinson? Here. Council Member Sumodoria? Here. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor, would you please lead us in the flag salute?

Yes. Please stand if you're able.

We do have four proclamation tonight. The first one is Earth Day. Council member Robinson would read that, and Barb Braun from Kurt Kurt Alert and Don Marsh on behalf Kurt Alert and Don Marsh on behalf of 300 trees would receive that. Could you please come and join us on the table? Yes, please. There are four seats, so then the rest are going.

26 marks the fifty sixth anniversary of Earth Day, a global day of recognition that began in 1970 to inspire awareness and action to protect the environment, and whereas Bellevue's identity as a city in a park reflects its long standing commitment to preserving and enhancing natural spaces, ensuring clean air and water, and promoting biodiversity. And whereas the city of Bellevue continues to advance sustainability through the sustainable Bellevue plan with goals focused on addressing climate change, improving energy efficiency, supporting suitable mobility, reducing waste, and conserving natural resources. And whereas Bellevue is taking proactive steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote clean energy, expand green, infrastructure, and grow the urban tree canopy, and build climate resilience and protect future generations, and whereas community engagement is essential to achieving Bellevue's environmental goals with residents, businesses, and organizations participating in tree planting, habitat restoration, litter cleanup, and climate action initiatives. And whereas we, the city of Bellevue, encourage all who live and work here to take part in Earth Day activities, volunteer efforts, and environmental education opportunities throughout the community. And whereas the city proudly celebrates Earth Day at its annual Earth Fest event taking place April 18 at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens is open to the community to join us in celebration.

Now, therefore, I, Lynn Robinson, on behalf of the Bellevue City Council, do hereby proclaim 04/22/2026 as Earth Day.

Please. Please go ahead. Good

evening. Good evening, mayor Mo Malakoutian and council members. I'm Benny Bosley, serving as secretary for three hundred Trees. We are an all volunteer run nonprofit organization entering our seventh year of providing free native trees to residents of King County, and we are very happy to celebrate Earth Day with you and the city of Bellevue. Just to catch you up on our latest activities, three hundred trees held our biggest giveaway yet this past February.

We distributed over 2,000 free native trees throughout the two day event and with recipients in 37 King County cities. In addition to our giveaway, we are now helping to run municipal giveaways in Bellevue, Redmond, Issaquah, and for the first time this fall, Sammamish. In partnership with Sammamish High School and the Eastside Audubon Society, we've planted a thriving mini forest on the grounds of the high school. This mini forest joins similar projects in Issaquah and Seattle, helping to educate kids and building new habitat for our wildlife.

Thanks, Benny. I'm Don Marsh, co founder and vice president of three hundred Trees. It is my great pleasure and honor to serve with Benny and our other fantastic three hundred Trees volunteers. In addition to all the work Benny mentioned serving King County, we are also very engaged in the tree protection policies that have been developed and continue to serve Bellevue. Your focus on tree planting and tree protection benefits, benefits not just our city, but it provides a great example and leadership for our region.

We are grateful for that because trees are integral to our quality of life and the health of our ecosystem. The physical benefits are well known, cleaner air, reduced noise, mitigation for deadly heat islands, and storm water retention. But did you know that trees have documented mental benefits as well? Trees can reduce crime, improve property values, calm traffic speeds, and simply improve our state of mind. And for the environment, they provide food and shelter for birds and animals, shade for young salmon, and carbon sequestration to mitigate high levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

Besides all that, trees are just wondrous and beautiful co inhabitants of our city. On Earth Day, we want to thank you for helping us to help the trees.

Thank you so much. If you guys hang out around, we can take a picture after the fourth proclamation.

Absolutely. Thank you.

And I although we love trees and we love earth, please keep the clapping hand to zero. Thank you. The next proclamation is the sixtieth anniversary of Bellevue College. Councilmember Breyer is going to read that. I invite doctor doctor May, the president, and you to the table. Thank you. Please go ahead.

It's my honor, Meera. Thank you. Whereas Bellevue College was founded in 1966 as a small community college serving fewer than 500 students and has since grown into the third largest higher education institution in Washington serving more than 600,000 students over six decades and whereas Bellevue College provides accessible, high quality educational opportunities through a wide range of programs, including bachelor's degrees, associate's degrees, certificates, and workforce training that support lifelong learning and career advancement. And whereas the college's mission to be a catalyst for lifelong transformation that drives social and economic progress reflects its commitment to well-being, collaboration, collaboration, accountability, agility, curiosity, and integrity. And whereas during the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five academic year, Bellevue College served more than 21,000 students and continues to support student success through strong faculty engagement in a diverse range of academic and professional pathways.

And whereas Bellevue College is recognized as a leader in student outcomes, ranking first in Washington State for ten year return on investment among public institutions and among the top institutions nationally for graduates earning and career success. And whereas Bellevue College enriches our community through its media programs, including KBCS ninety one point three FM and BCTV channel 28 and continues to invest in the future through campus expansion and new facilities such as the Interdisciplinary Arts Building opening in 2027, and whereas the city of Bellevue is a hub for education, innovation, and talent with a highly educated population and strong partnerships between educational institutions, employers, and the community, and Bellevue College plays a central role in preparing the next generation of leaders. Now therefore, I, council member Noreen Breyer, on behalf of Mo Melakutian, mayor of Bellevue Of Washington, and on behalf of the city council, do hereby proclaim the sixtieth anniversary of Bellevue College in Bellevue and celebrate six decades of impact, innovation, and opportunity while recognizing Bellevue College's enduring role in shaping lives, strengthening the regional economy, and building a more connected and prosperous community for the future.

Thank you. Councilman Bregar.

Thank you very

much, council member Breyer. Excuse me. I wanna say that the college deeply appreciates the long standing partnership with the city of Bellevue. The city of Bellevue was about 15 years old when Bellevue College was founded. And so while you are the older sibling, we've really grown up together in this region as this region has expanded and grown.

And it's been an important part of the mission of Bellevue College to continue in partnership with the city and others to ensure that we're continuing to meet the needs of not just the city of Bellevue but the region. You you mentioned, Bellevue TV. We're right now on Bellevue TV, which is hosted on the Bellevue College campus and has been for over thirty years. And so that long standing idea of partnership. But also, currently, as we're working with the city to develop an innovation exchange that will be hosted on the Bellevue College campus, as we are investing with the city in digital equity and other issues that matter to the city and to the citizens that we serve. And so thank you very much for this, and I know that I am looking forward to the next sixty years and what we can do together. Thank you.

Thank you so much. If you stay around, we can take a picture for sure after the fourth proclamation. The third one is National Arab American Heritage Month. Council member Sumatu Virio will read that, and I ask Mutaz Elias from Arab American Foundation to come and receive it. Please go ahead.

Thank you, mayor. Whereas Arab Americans have long been an integral part of communities across The United States, including here in Bellevue, contributing to the city's culture richness, economic vitality, and civic life. And whereas Arab Americans have made and continue to make meaningful contributions across many field, including business, education, health care, public service, art and culture, helping to shape a vibrant and thriving community. And whereas Bellevue is committed to being a welcome city where people of all backgrounds feel a sense of belonging and are respected, valued, and able to fully participate in community life. And whereas recognizing and celebrating Arab American heritage helps foster greater understanding, appreciation, and connection among neighbors while countering misconceptions and harmful stereotypes.

And whereas Arab Americans, like all members of our community, seek a peaceful, inclusive society where every individual is treated with dignity, feels safe, and has opportunity to succeed. And whereas National Arab American Heritage Month provides an opportunity to honor the history, culture, and contributions of Arab Americans and to reflect on the importance of diversity in strengthening our city. Now, therefore, I, Claire Sumadhiraria, on behalf of Mo Malakutian, mayor of Bellevue, Washington, and the city council, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as National Arab American Heritage Month in Bellevue and encourage all residents to learn about, celebrate, and recognize the contributions of Arab Americans to our community and our nation. Thank you.

Thank you, council member. Please go ahead.

Thank you, mayor Mo and council members for making us feel welcomed. And, yeah, thanks again.

Thank you. Please hang out. You can take a picture. The last one is Sikh Heritage Month. Councilmember Newhouse will read the proclamation, and I will invite Shirag Vir Singh Sorrow and Nihal Vir Singh Sorrow to the table.

Thank you. Whereas the city of Bellevue celebrates the rich cultural diversity that strengthens our community and recognizes the important contributions of Sikh Americans to the fabric of our city and of our nation. And whereas Sikhism founded over five hundred and fifty years ago is one of the world's major religion and is rooted in values of equality, of selfless service, justice, and faith. And whereas April is recognized as Sikh heritage month, a time to honor the vibrant traditions, spiritual heritage, and significant contributions of the Sikh community, as well as to acknowledge their resilience and ongoing efforts to advance equity and inclusion. And whereas this month also includes a celebration of Vaisakhi, one of the most significant holidays in Sikhism, commemorating the founding of Khalsa in 1699 and celebrated as Khalsa Day, marking a time of renewal of community and shared identity.

And whereas Sikh Heritage Month offers an opportunity to reflect on the core principles of Sikhism, including the pursuit of truth, service to others, and protection of human rights, which align with Bellevue's vision of being a welcoming city where all people feel they belong. Whereas King County is home to one of the largest Sikh communities in The United States, reflecting the deep roots and continued growth of the Sikh community in our region. And now, therefore, I, council member Newhouse, on behalf of mayor Malik Tutian, as the city of, Bellevue, Washington and the city council, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as Sikh heritage month in Bellevue and encourage all residents to join in celebrating the history, the faith, and contributions of the Sikh community and to continue to build a more inclusive and connected community.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Please go ahead.

Good evening, mayor, council members, and respected community members. My name is Chirag Singh Seral, and it is an honor to be here today as we recognize Vaisakhi and Kalsade. Vaisakhi marks the start of the harvest season in Punjab, but for Sikhs, it holds a deeper meaning. On Vaisakhi in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth guru, established the Khalsa, a community committed to living with courage, discipline, and service to humanity. At a time when injustice and oppression was widespread, this was a bold call, to stand up for what was right and live without fear.

Here in Bellevue and across the Puget Sound area, you may see sick families contribute as students, educators, professionals, and volunteers. You may see us serving meals, supporting neighbors, or showing up when help is needed. This spirit comes directly from the teachings of the Khalsa. On behalf of the Sikh community, I thank the city of Bellevue for recognizing Vaisakhi and Khalsa Day. Thank you.

Thank you. Shrug, if you are safe, we can take a picture with you as the first one. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda?

I move to approve the agenda. Second.

It has been moved by Deputy Mayor and seconded by Councilman Newnhouse. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. There is no opposed. The motion passes. Setykullar, can we go through the speakers that sign up for tonight oral communications?

Yes. Thank you, mayor. There are seven preregistered speakers. So before I start calling names, I'll go over a few things with folks. But first, I wanna thank everybody who has signed up this evening, and the council appreciates members of the public engaging and contributing their perspectives and also supports everyone's right to express themselves.

I do wanna note that, comments shared during oral communications represent the views of individual speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or values of the council or the city. And while the council does not respond to individual commenters during this portion of the meeting, please know that council or staff will be following up with those if and when appropriate. So I will go to the rules portion of this and the total time of oral communications is for a period of not more than thirty minutes and all topics must relate to City of Bellevue government. People speaking to items on tonight's agenda will be called first and then if time remains, people speaking to items not on tonight's agenda will be called. In both of those categories, the presiding officer is authorized to give preference to those who have not spoken to counsel within the last sixty days or who will be speaking on topics that will come in front of the counsel within the next sixty days.

Each speaker will be allowed up to three minutes to speak, and only three speakers are allowed to speak to any one side of a particular topic. And finally, I wanna remind folks that in compliance with Washington State campaign laws regarding the use of public facilities during elections. No speaker may support or oppose a ballot measure or support or oppose a candidate for election, and that includes one's own campaign. Anyone top speaking on those topics will be asked to stop. So with that, I will call our first speaker who is Randy Banneker.

Welcome.

Good evening, mayor Malikutian, deputy mayor Hamilton, and members of the city council. My name's Randy Banneker, and I'm here on behalf of the Seattle King County realtors. 7,000 of them in in the county, and I wanna thank you for the opportunity to comment in support of the draft sign code that you'll be briefed on this evening. Our members place a very high value on the opportunity to work with home buyers and sellers in the in the city of Bellevue, and we consider it in our mutual interest to support the city's efforts to maintain the high quality of life that your residents enjoy. We appreciate the allowance to post on premises temporary real estate signage that advertises a home for sale, rent or lease, and off premises, those a boards, open house signs that are posted during open house hours.

And we appreciate the opportunity to do that without a required registration or permit. Couple notes on signs. The first and most important thing is that signs play an important role in fair housing and anti discrimination. Signs can't discriminate. A real estate sign invites any qualified person to consider that property, and it makes the availability of that property unmistakably clear, which helps prevent discriminatory steering or exclusion.

Real estate signs remain important for buyers and sellers in the transaction process. They reduce market time, And they give buyers an opportunity to just kind of drive the neighborhood and get a feel for what the city of Bellevue offers. The importance of signs, real estate signage, continues even as online platforms play greater roles in the home selection process. Now we have worked with many cities in King County as they've updated their sign codes to align with the Reed versus Gilbert Supreme Court decision. Sign codes are beasts.

They're complex, they're detailed, they're high stakes and difficult to balance the many interests. Most cities struggle to get them right. Bellevue's process, however, is a standout. It's a model for responsiveness to the public, to the community, and to end up drafting a code that's effective. Development services staff has been engaged with sign users, helping us understand the direction of the code rewrite and taking seriously our questions and concerns early in the process.

It's good work, and it it means the world. The draft before you complies with the Supreme Court decision. It streamlines and clarifies the code, makes it more user friendly, works for sign users, and preserves the aesthetic of Bellevue. I'd urge your support of it, and I want you to know if you have any questions regarding real estate signage, I hope you'll consider me a resource. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Matt Chalk.

Welcome.

Good evening, mayor, council members. My name is Matt Jack, and I'm here on behalf of the Bellevue Downtown Association to share our enthusiastic support for the Bellevue Ready Kickoff Initiative. This city program is helping local organizations activate public spaces, which aligns perfectly with what the BDA strives to do. As a result of this initiative, we have been able to challenge ourselves to pursue bold ideas and produce new types of programs, strengthening our ability to be a place maker. So I just wanna say thank you to council and city staff for helping us push ourselves to do cooler things.

Since late last year, we've been working hard activations that celebrate soccer and bring the community together. We're excited to see this work unfold in the coming months, and we wanna let you know that we will we will be sharing more details about these programs. Thank you for your continued support and leadership. The BDA remains a committed partner to ensuring downtown is an amazing place.

Thank

you. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Linda Hoffner.

Welcome.

I'm a little shorter.

Okay. Thanks.

Good evening, mayor and members of the council. My name is Linda Hoffner, and I am here representing the Spring District, also in support of the Bellevue Ready kickoff. So we also, in partnership with the BDA and the city staff, have been working on activations for the upcoming World Cup games. Very exciting. I think some of you have heard about these plans earlier in the year as we were preparing Bellevue to welcome the world.

So we are also excited after having a very successful light rail to Cross Lake Connection opening celebration in the park. We feel very ready for what we can do to really celebrate the cultural cultural diversity that will be here for World Cup and looking forward to activating the Spring District area of Bellevue and welcoming the world to Spring District via our light rail and all of the many wonderful businesses that we have in and around the Bell Red area and really showcasing different cultural types of food with our food trucks

and food

vendors, bringing in DJs from all over the world. So if you're looking for a rockin' party, it's gonna be at the Spring District. We have some amazing soccer jerseys that we'll be wearing. I will I'm gonna compete with Emile on his jerseys that he's creating and really hoping to have a very cool fashion show about with jerseys involved. So looking forward to welcoming you all to the Spring District to celebrate soccer together. Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Santiago Potenciano.

Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members. I thank you for the opportunity to voice my concern as a business owner. My name is Santiago, and I am the owner of Andiamo Restaurante, which is located about three blocks north from here. I'm here today because while the data might show that crime is going down, the reality for small businesses like ours tells a very different story. Over the past year, our restaurants' windows have been shuttered twice by the same mentally disabled individual, resulting in over $40,000 in damages.

This is not just a statistic. This is a real financial loss. Disruption to our operations and stress to our staff and customers. We understand that situations involving mental health are complex. But as business owners, we are left asking what are the protocols when the same person repeatedly commits property damage?

What protections are in place for business facing, repeat incidents? And what is the city doing to prevent this from, happening again? We do appreciate the work of our police department and the efforts the city has made. But right now, it feels like small businesses are carrying the burden financially and emotionally without a clear path to protection or resolution. We're not asking for punishment without compassion, but we are asking for accountability with solutions.

That means coordinated response between law enforcement and mental health services, clear follow-up when incidents are reported and proactive measures to protect businesses before it happens again. Small businesses are part of what makes Bellevue vibrant, but we cannot continue to absorb repeated losses like this. We need to feel that the city is not only aware but actively protecting us. And that's all I have to say. And I really thank you for your time and for all the great job you have done to our community. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Christian Matoy.

Welcome.

Good evening, everyone. Good evening, mayor, everybody. Yes. My name is Christian. I'm the co owner of Andiamo Italian Restaurant here in Bellevue located in 110th Avenue Northeast with the 10th Street.

Tonight, I'm here with my partners, Santiago and Rossendo, to talk about the damage we had faced in the past four months. We we had, our windows broken in by the same person in our restaurant. We know he struggled with the mental health, and this is very sad. I'm not happy about this at all. The damage he caused, it was very expensive, somewhere over $40,000 And right now, with this difficult economy, people losing their job, everything getting more expensive.

I feel it. I know you all can see it too. Our restaurant is down 30%, 40% compared with a year ago, better like two years ago, I'm sorry. So on top of this economic struggle, we don't want this person to come back and break again our windows. We are a small, happy family restaurant. We work together. We eat together. We communicate together. We love together. Our amazing customers feel that great energy when they come in.

And we want to keep our restaurant happy with the happy customers. That's why we are still surviving. We are here tonight to ask for protection from the city of Bellevue, from Bellevue police to help us to keep this person out, actually, to keep this person away from our community, from our restaurant. So please help us. Yes. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to be here. Thank you, mister mayor. Thank you, mister Jared. We are you are amazing. And, yes, let's hope for the better times.

Let's stay healthy. Let's stay happy. Let's be positive. Thank you so much for listening to me. I'm believable. I'm so thank you.

Thank you. Wonderful.

Our next speaker is Maria Hudson.

I want to acknowledge several things up front. We need to have a meeting and one of your council members sits on the board of LifeWire. I was advised by Sergeant Marin yesterday that in fact child sex trafficking video had been destroyed by violation of the retention schedule on Bellevue Police Department server and LifeWire and even this city council record. I advised you guys, all of you, to collect that video. And I sent the case number for child sex trafficking.

But let's just think about this for a second. You were advised by me because your officers violated the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act that day. They should have shown up being the name security and patrol, knowing that there were videos on that property. They should have watched that video and found my daughter and those sex traffickers that day. She went missing 09/06/2024.

When she returned and Sergeant Carley did not secure that video, That's another legal violation of of a literal felony. If I destroyed a child sex trafficking video with known sex traffickers on it, I would be under the jail. Sergeant Maren says there are no criminal charges for anyone involved. And he actually pushed off the accountability onto LifeWire and their retention schedule. I understand the rules of evidence, which is why when I was notified by Laura, a LifeWire domestic violence advocate, I emailed her and Carla to secure it.

And what's even more disturbing is they lied to Norcom. They did not disclose for an Amber Alert that my child was taken by sex traffickers that day. Prosecutors have declined to prosecute these sex traffickers because your officers have routinely racketeered evidence by not collecting it. That includes Hurley, that includes Halsted, that includes Sergeant Carly, and anyone else who came in contact with us. And they've actually destroyed evidence.

From the 10/02/2025 incident, Hurley told me he was going to throw away a bottle with the fingerprints of the perpetrators on it. So what you're going to need to do is cause a criminal investigation into felony suppression and destruction of evidence. Because now the child sex traffickers are untouchable because of the mismanagement of my daughter's child sex trafficking case. And check your servers. It has been directed from the top down chief Mylett to Brad Miyake and former city council to ignore reports of child abuse, specifically from me, Maria Hudson.

And you could go back even further to Interim Chief Montgomery. This is a custom and a pattern and a practice. And it's criminal. And you're going to have to address it.

Thank you. The next speaker is Sue Mercer.

Welcome.

Good evening, counsel. Am I being heard?

Yes.

I came to talk to you tonight about, parking issues, potholes, and traffic lights, but hearing the, problems of the restaurant owners and the breaking of windows, I should tell you a little bit about you know that I house homeless people and that some of them sometimes have mental health problems. And I don't know if you knew, but within the last two months, one of my residents, had a psychotic break. And the police did a good job of getting him arrested, which produced getting him in the psychiatric ward that he needed to be in. And I'm working with his defense attorney and his mother and will be producing a restitution thing. When he completes everything and is discharged, before he can come back to my house, he will have to after working and earning the money himself, pay the damages that he has done in the past.

And so this might be something you guys could help these people with with this person who is obviously a danger to community and under the law could possibly be detained and put in psychiatric care. Now I only have a minute and twenty three sentence to talk about parking, But it's very important that you change the ordinance so that people that live on steep hills can park on the wrong side of the street with their wheels into the curb. That's one thing, and that's just for public safety. And the other one, is to grandfather in all of us who owned houses homes before 1994 when you change the parking late regulations to make people move their car every twenty four hours. You know, when I bought my home, parking in residential areas was free, and it needs to be free.

And stop supporting towing companies by allowing them to tow cars, get your own tow truck, and when that tow truck is not towing cars, have it a multiple thing that he can do something else. He can be a double person for you. And I wanna compliment the, street maintenance people, but there are still two big potholes on Southeast 22nd, about a hundred and fifty third that need to be addressed.

Thank you.

Thank you. That is the end of our preregistered list tonight, but we do still have a few minutes. So I'd ask if there's anyone else joining us tonight who'd like to make a comment to the council. That goes for those in person as well as those online. I do see one hand online noted as Heidi. I'm assuming this is miss Dean. Is that you?

Yes. It is me.

Perfect. Your time begins now.

Great. Thank you so much. Good evening, counsel. I I had meant to send in a letter signed by eight different neighborhood associations, but, of course, I don't get paid to do this, so I ran into a roadblock. But you will be receiving a letter from eight to 12 neighborhood associations about sign code.

We are asking that you exempt neighborhood associations from the temporary sign code registration requirement. We have neighborhood associations that use both a boards and yard signs. We use them for meetings and events to get that information out to our neighborhoods. And you'll notice that in these stakeholder survey and engagement, neighborhood associations were not mentioned as problematic signs. And unlike other types of temporary yard signs out there, candidate signs, small businesses, youth sports, we actually have a stake in making sure that our signs are placed in appropriate places within the right of way, that they're maintained while they're being displayed and that we remove them in a timely manner because we put a lot of time into creating these signs.

And for example, Newport Hills has spent close to $2,000 having multiple sets. We have about eight sets of signs that we've printed for our events and our meetings. So requiring neighborhood associations to register and place that registration on signs each time creates unnecessary extra work for associations that are already struggling to function due to declining volunteerism. And I would point out that for anybody like us that's using corrugated plastics signs when we have to repeatedly attach and then detach registrations, it ruins our signs. But creating barriers to easy communication between the neighborhood associations and those living within the neighborhood actually conflicts with the NH5 in the which is social connectivity section of the comp plans neighborhood element.

And then also creating additional burdens for neighborhood associations as they attempt to engage with neighbors conflicts with the thriving people and community objectives of the council vision, six point six and six point seven. But more so, I'm just looking at the enforcement issue because it doesn't seem like enforcement of this temporary sign code is the best use of limited staff resources. And that again, that kind of conflicts again with the high performance government section of the council vision. What I'm hearing from code compliance when I talk to them about short term rentals is they're having a hard time because they're understaffed just trying to right now address codes that are in existence, short term rentals, tree codes, building codes, all that stuff. So just adding additional layer to Yes.

That is it just Thank you.

Sorry. Your time has expired. I will do one additional call out for speakers or for hands. Miss Lopez, please come forward.

Welcome.

Okay. Good evening, council members. I'm Loretta Lopez, and I'm a board member of the Brattle Trails Community Club. We haven't had time to have a board meeting and, make a decision on a a Brattle Trails position, so I'm speaking for myself personally. I attended the first meeting about the sign code, and I made comments to Charlie.

And I explained that for neighborhoods, we put out our a frame signs, and I didn't think and that registration, was not a good idea. The city did make some adjustments to the sign code. From a practical point of view, I think we should regard the neighborhood associations as helping with the neighborhood outreach because we are the ones who are out there informing our neighbors, hauling the signs out, hauling them back in. I think they should be exempt. I think we should be regarded as partners in what we're doing and trying to educate the residents about what the council is doing.

It's a big job to keep track of you all. It is a big job to keep track of everything that's going on in the city. So I from a practical point of view, I think it'd be best to regard us as exempt from this type of registration. And the other comment I have is that it would have been a good idea to have had a had a how shall I say

Can I just pause you for a second? Yes. Can we not have a conversation over there? And they are pausing your time.

Okay.

Thank you so much. Go ahead, please.

Yes. I think in the future, the city, when it's going to adopt sign codes that affect neighborhood associations in this way, it'd be good to start by asking us for our advice first because there is a lot of experience and wisdom, and we want to all work together to make Bellevue even better. So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay. That does bring us to the end of oral communications. Mayor, I'll turn it back to you.

Yes. Thanks, everyone, who took the time and shared their comments with us. While we don't respond to individual comments during this portion, please know that we are listening, and staff will follow-up if and when appropriate. We are at the exciting segment of the tonight report of the city manager.

Thank you, mayor, deputy mayor and council members. I have two items. The first one is a presentation. So I will ask Saba Schneider, the director of our information technology department and our chief information officer to come on up. She along with Julie David who's our business operations manager in the department are here to share their experience and the results of a pilot program that is intended to expand technology access to our residents by providing free equipment and internet connection.

And this is part of the innovation forum's digital equity effort and they have some good things to report and also would tell us a little bit about the partnerships that are really important to making this happen. So with that, I will turn it over to Sabra.

Thank you so much City Manager Krotz and good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Council members. We are excited to be here tonight to share an information only update about the Innovation Forum's work. As a quick reminder, we were last before council on this topic in February talking about the advancements in the Innovation Forum work plan. We are here tonight to talk about one of the items in that innovation work plan. As you all may recall about a year and a half ago, the community helped us prioritize three areas of innovation for the city to work together with community, private sector, startups, non profits to advance.

One of those areas was augmenting policies and priorities. That work led to you all adopting an innovation resolution. It led to the city's AI policy and that policy work continues. Another one of the segments we've been working hard on is growing thriving innovation ecosystems. We work very closely with the economic development department and private sector partners across the region to advance thriving ecosystems.

But what we're here to talk about tonight is supporting and enhancing digital equity and we're thrilled to present to you information about our first device pilot that Julie David sitting next to me was instrumental in bringing forward. And I also want to acknowledge the one city efforts of this. We worked very closely with the legal department. We worked very closely with procurement and especially the folks at mini city hall to help us do this. So we wanna thank them even though they're not here presenting for you, and I will turn it over to Julie to talk more about the pilot.

Thank you, Sabra. Good evening, city manager, mayor, and council members. Twenty twenty three state broadband office data showed that more than 1,200 Bellevue households lacked either Internet connectivity or a working device underscoring a clear digital equity gap. The innovation program's digital equity sub team identified this device access pilot as a key first year action prioritizing it to respond quickly to community needs and demonstrate early progress toward broader digital inclusion goals. In response, the city of Bellevue launched the digital equity device pilot program to help bridge this divide by providing eligible low income households with refurbished laptops, essential accessories, and twelve months of prepaid hotspot connectivity.

This pilot distribution was held earlier this month with distribution of 60 complete device kits to income eligible residents. Participants also have access to technical support through PCs for people to help them use their devices with confidence. To measure impact and guide future program design, participants will be surveyed at three and six months to understand how the devices are supporting daily needs and digital engagement. The pilot aims not only to meet immediate access needs, but also to expand opportunities, so connecting residents to jobs, education, essential services, and community resources. By partnering with PCs for People and integrated mini city hall support, the program is testing a scalable model that strengthens digital inclusion and ensures more Bellevue residents have the tools they need to fully participate in today's digital world.

So the pilot has already offered important learning. Demand was immediate and strong, confirming that access to devices and connectivity remains a real barrier for many households. Many city halls hands on support was critical, amazing, instrumental in helping residents understand the program, complete applications, and navigate language access. This level of personal assistance proved essential in assuring residents could participate and the program intends to replicate this model support in future digital equity initiatives. And the survey results come in, the program will refine the model ahead of a planned second round later in 2026.

Thank you so much, Julie. I also want to just emphasize as Joe Todd I believe coined innovation should work for everyone and we're working very hard in our innovation programs to try to make sure that that is true. And this is a key component of making sure that's true. We just want to close this evening with letting you know about the upcoming innovation exchange. This will be our second annual Innovation Exchange on June 3 and we are having it at Maidenbauer Center this year.

We outgrew City Hall after just one year and that will be from 08:30 to about 06:00 and we've got three kind of breakout themes that we're putting together for this event. One of those is advancing regional AI leadership. Another one is accelerating civic innovation and last but not least, empowering community and small business AI. So there's a little bit in it for all of our target audiences and we are very excited to do this for a second year in a row. Sponsors this year include Bellevue College as well as our partnership, emerging partnership with King County IT and Wattach at Washington State.

So we're excited to welcome all the partners to the table and this time across the street And thank you very much for letting us talk about the program this evening.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. In addition, I would like to call out one item that's in the end of your packet under written reports for primarily for public awareness. This past year, the city changed the the way that we are performing our performance measure and budget surveys. We're going to a quarterly cadence with a different focus each quarter. So in your packet tonight, we have a new addition to the to the survey overall and that's the inclusion and engagement survey.

It was conducted in the 2025. And later this week, we will be publishing a full report on that. So the public can look forward to receiving more inquiries once a quarter from us, but with more manageable bites for for each quarter. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Do I have a motion to approve the consent calendar?

I move to approve the consent calendar.

Second. It has been moved by deputy mayor and seconded by council member Newnhouse. Any discussion? All those in favor, aye.

Aye.

There is no opposed. The motion passes. Public hearing ordinance sixty nine eleven. City manager, would you please introduce that to us?

Yes. Thank you, mayor, deputy mayor, and council. Last month, you received a proposal from the staff to establish a a pretty narrow development agreement pathway for projects that involved public private partnerships, so where the city is involved. This new authority, would be helpful, immediately to us, as we are currently working on three specific public private partnerships in the Wilburton and the Bell Red areas. So tonight, staff will provide you with a brief presentation to overview the proposal, hand it back to council to hold a public hearing on the proposed land use code.

And then we'll come back for your potential consideration and action on the proposed code. And with that, I'll hand it over to Nick Whipple.

Great. Thank you. And good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, members of council. We are excited to be here tonight to talk about the public private partnership development agreement land use code amendment. P three d a Luca is how we're addressing this one. As mentioned, tonight, we are seeking direction from you all to hold the public hearing on ordinance six nine eleven, and following the public hearing, consider adopting this ordinance tonight. For our agenda, we'll have Charlie touch briefly on the background. As noted, we were here on March 17. Got some questions from you all at that meeting. Did provide more detailed responses in the packet, but Charlie will provide some responses here tonight as well.

Then we'll cover what's in the land use code amendment, the review process that we've taken for this code amendment, And then because this is a land use code amendment, there is decision criteria that has to be satisfied for you to take action. So we'll describe that and then turn it back to you all for for discussion. So I'll turn it over to Charlie.

Thanks, Nick. Good evening, everyone. As Nick mentioned, we were just here back on March 17. So a little bit of a refresher on what is a development agreement. It's a voluntary, legally binding contract between the city and a property owner developer.

These are authorized under the local project review act and set clear standards for development regulations and conditions for a specific project that ensure kind of regulatory certainty for developers and also allow the city in exchange to secure public benefits. These are reviewed and approved on a project level basis by city council and run with the land. As we mentioned, this is the last time we were before council with this project on March 17. There was overall general support from the council on establishing the p three d a pathway for these public private partnership agreements. There was additional discussion on what are the potential impacts.

Some of the short term benefits include making sure that we can take action on getting development going for the city owned sites, as well as in the future developing a tool that allows us to get creative with implementing policies. Another impact or positive benefit of this pathway is that by providing certainty and clarity through the development agreement, that will overall lower the project cost for development. There was also a request and an emphasis in to ensure that, the review of these p three d a pathways, are transparent with the public and making sure that both in our process and in the way that these are reviewed, that's very open and honest. And part of that is embedded in this middle requirements in order to review the development agreement. The applicant will need to clearly show what the differences are and as well as public benefits in exchange.

And then there's always gonna be an underlying land use entitlement that requires process for noticing, which includes publishing in the weekly permit bulletin. So the public will be notified that way as well. And, of course, there's always the option for council to direct staff to do any specific engagement or outreach activities necessary to make sure that this is as transparent as possible. Another thing that came up was transparency in the framework of how to determine a public benefit, making sure that we don't get too prescriptive with our regulations in defining how much of height should be allowed per affordable unit that might restrict us more than we would like and further limit the creative possibilities that could come from open flexibility for being able to define the public benefit based on the city's policy priorities at that time. Moving on into the Luca components.

So like we said, this establishes a new DA pathway for those public private partnership agreements. This is when the city either owns the property or serves as a major funder, and the threshold for major funding is at least 10% of the project cost and at least $5,000,000. So these will grant greater development flexibility to support those key city policy priorities. Some examples include affordable housing, sustainability, and economic development. Some other components of the Luca include consolidating the existing provisions.

There's, DA pathways in BellRed downtown, East Main, and a few other places in the code now that are scattered about to make it easier to use. They've been consolidated into one area of the chapter. And the Luca also sets clear parameters about when a p three d a is authorized, what that process looks like, and other things such as how to modify these agreements in the future if so necessary. And in general, I think we had mentioned in the last meeting as well that typically this will look like a three touch process with council. The first being initiation where the project is introduced, and council can decide to enter into a negotiation or not.

The second study session would go over the agreement more in detail, work out any additional components of the agreement. And then the third would be action, and that's typical. But, of course, you could always add more study sessions in between initiation and action. So for the Luca process, we followed the process for noticing requirements, which includes publishing in the weekly permit bulletin. We had the study session on March 17, which brings us to tonight for public hearing and potential action to hopefully have the p three d a path available soon.

These are the decision criteria that must be met for a land use code amendment. The more detailed information on how this Luca complies with these decision criteria is in the agenda memo, but the staff recommendation is that the Luca meets these three components. With that, we are asking for direction from council to hold the public hearing and consider adoption of four nine six nine eleven, and I'll turn it back over to you for questions.

Thank you so much both. Do I have a motion to open the public hearing?

I move to open the public hearing. Second.

It has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passed. We are in the public hearing.

Thank you, mayor. There are no preregistered speakers this evening for the public hearing. I will make a note for the record, though, that the council did receive two written comments in your email on this public hearing. So at this point, I'd ask if there's anyone joining us this evening who would like to make a comment. Please raise your hand. That goes for those online as well. Okay, mayor. I don't see any hands. I'll turn it back to you.

Thank you so much. Can I have a motion to close the public hearing?

I move to close the public hearing. Second.

It has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in yeah. Go ahead.

Something. Is this about is this too late?

Too soon? Just closing the public hearing.

No discussion. Let's close it.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. There is no opposed. Now we are closed. Now it's time for discussion. Councilman Robinson.

Oh, okay. Thank you. So I really like what you're proposing. I appreciate the work on this. I think a good DA is really a win win for the community, and I love the opportunity to define the public benefit based on council policy priorities. I think that's served us well in the past, and any way we can make it easier to do things like this, I appreciate. My one question is, we talk about the different applications to this, and one of it is homelessness services. And I was wondering if we are able to apply a good neighbor agreement for a DA to somebody who's applying for development for homelessness services?

Yes. So the process that applies to our homeless services uses has been retained through this update. What we've done is pulled out the provision in our homeless services section that authorized a development agreement pathway for permitting such a use. We we consolidated that into this new chapter. And with that, you know, the underlying code is gonna say a good neighbor agreement is a requirement, a baseline requirement.

The DA gives the flexibility for counsel to say, you know, follow that code, and we'd like to see some other things. Or, you know, maybe we don't want the good neighbor agreement. We'll put you in this pathway with other things, or you can certainly direct the council can direct for homeless services uses that's being negotiated through a DA process to include a good neighbor agreement under this proposed framework.

That's that's good. Yeah. I just you know, it it can it can be a positive thing. It can create, again, another win win situation. I just hope that if we have application like that, that you provide an example of the good neighborhood agreements we've used in the past so that we can have that option.

Sure.

Alright. Thank you.

Thank you, councilor Robinson. Councilor Newnhams.

I am good. Thank you so

Wow. This is amazing. Great job. This is a very good example that we are trying to be practical. The tool give us that flexibility and also give us a way to negotiate for public benefits. I am very comfortable, but I also encourage that we should be very clear that what we are giving to the public and in return what we are getting, and we should be that should be very transparent for the public. Can I have the motion for the ordinance adoption?

I move to adopt ordinance number six nine one one relating to public private partnership development agreements, amending the land use code to establish requirements and standards for public private partnership development agreements. Second.

It's been moved by deputy mayor Hamilton and seconded by council member Newnhouse. Any discussion? All those in favor, aye. Aye. There is no opposed. The motion passes. Congratulations. You guys did such a great job that we postponed the break, we go to the first study session. City manager, would you please introduce

Mayor, council members. So this is the Bellevue ready for Kickoff event here and study session tonight. We, as you know, are one of many cities preparing for the twenty twenty six World Cup this June and July. And we have staff from three departments here this evening to share with you some of the work that the city has been doing with our many partners and organizations who are working to both provide programming and plan events and also how we are approaching safety and transportation both in the city and across the region in order to be ready for this World Cup event so that we can welcome the world. Leading off the presentation will be Jesse Canedo, our Chief Economic Development Officer.

He's joined by Liz Flores, Cultural Tourism Specialist from the Community Development Department. From the City Manager's Office, Anthony Gill, our Grand Connection Corridor Manager. And then from our fire department, Carl Lunak, who is our emergency manager. So with that, I'll hand it over to Jesse.

Carlson, good evening, mayor and council. Yes. Bellevue is definitely ready to welcome the world to our global innovation hub. Tonight is part one of a two part conversation about this summer's tournament. The regional local organizing committee will be here on April 28 to give you a regional look at the tournament.

Tonight, we'll be focused very specifically on Bellevue. In 2025, we briefed the council on our approach for this special summer that was inspired by both the local organizing committee's focus on creating a lasting legacy beyond 2026 and by our very own Tim Motts and his lasting memories from the LA Olympics where he said, let's make local memories, lasting memories even if you don't go to a game. So we've been executing that with our partners, some of whom weren't in the room tonight in the intervening months. Our agenda tonight is gonna be in three parts, that Bellevue specific programming and what our visitors and residents, workers, and and learners can expect during the the high season. We'll talk a little bit about Bellevue specific mobility and public safety.

And then, again, a little bit about that beyond the station areas, beyond, the July time frame, what will we be creating for our community? So what should we expect? Bellevue is the second largest hotel market in Washington state. Last year, we hosted over 2,400,000 visitors here in Bellevue. And we have a summertime occupancy rate in the 85 to 92% range.

So that means we are used to hosting a lot of very large, large amount of visitor, overnight visitors through the city. FIFA, we're expecting to deliver about 15,000 additional visitors in that time frame across the whole month. If you average those out across the six local games, that's about an extra 2,500 people per game overnight in Bellevue. There will be a different type of visitor that we'll be welcoming and introducing to Bellevue, so a lot of new audiences. Yes.

Some new some soccer fans, some soccer players, some soccer officials. And also what we're starting to see is as the room rates in Central Seattle spike, our cruise visitors, the summer cruise visitors are starting to look at Bellevue and book over here. And that's also a fantastic win for Bellevue because as you all know, cruisers love to cruise. So if they've cruised once, they will cruise again. And when they come back, they will know Bellevue, and we will welcome them back to this side of the lake.

So Visit Bellevue is deploying a special cruise shuttle that will take people from the cruise terminal right into the heart of the city. So all of those new audiences, they're spending at our hotels, our local restaurants, our local shops, and our visitor attractions, we expect about a $23,000,000 impact over the course of the tournament. And our goal is to be energetic and elevated, but not frenetic. We wanna welcome people, but not scare them when they're here. So what will we be expecting?

So we have the six weekday games in at Lumen Field. It's a mix of four midday games and Monday, Friday games. From a transportation and mobility perspective, that's fantastic. The games will happen. You know, we'll have peak morning commute. Games will load into the stadium. You'll have the game, peak load out, and then the evening commute. And also Monday, Friday, there's a lot of work from home. So that's just a really good spread for the region. And let's be honest, Lumen, among all the stadiums, Lumen is one of the best cited for public transit connectivity.

Everything converges there. Link line one and two, the 1st Hill streetcar, Amtrak, Sounder, ferries, bike share, scooter share, it's all there at Lumen. So there will be a lot of opportunity to help people move from the stadium and in and out. And the LINK system is really well suited. On the during the Super Bowl parade, it hosted over 200,000 riders on Link.

On an average day, it hosts about 110,000. So there's a lot of surge capacity in the system as people are coming and going from Bellevue. On the screen, you see a few highlights from some of the game day activities that are going to be produced by our partners at the Downtown Association, the Spring District Association, BellRed, and Visit Bellevue. Pop ups on the Plaza, a Grand Connection viewing party, summer market and concert series, a whole host of things that, again, people will get to experience as they're coming and going, whether they're a visitor, a worker, a resident. Somebody can pop in from bridal trails to experience Linda's fashion show and then pop back to their neighborhood if that's what they want to do for the evening.

We're expecting that the USA versus Australia game on the nineteenth will be the most popular among the the preset games. We will there are two games that will be decided during the tournament, so we don't know the the the countries for those last two in July. And there will be a lot of opportunities for everybody who's experiencing Bellevue to engage. There's been a lot of work internally and with our partners to build a package of repeatable programs, improved city processes, and new communications channels that we can repeat in future years. We really wanted this to not be a one and done, but how do we build this as a muscle growing opportunity for our community to host an elevated level of programming?

In addition to the game day activities, there will be some always on or multi day activities. Each of the four activated stations will have a selfie station that'll be custom to that station. The BDA will deploy some outdoor foosball. Grand Connection will get a special international visual treatment for the summer and some additional wayfinding along the Grand Connection across downtown to help everybody as they are coming and going. And this is this is the baseline. There will also be pub privately produced programming. For example, quiz Kids Quest will be hosting a science of soccer activity during the tournament month that will also be helping our visitors and our residents connect to this once in a generation opportunity. And from here, we'll

move into

mobility. Again, Bellevue is the state's second largest hotel market, so we have been planning to host big crowds for a while. Fun fact, on April 1, our hotels hit 92% occupancy, which is the normal summer range. And I think we worked pretty well on April 1. So we are ready to host those crowds as they're coming and going.

On March 28, the day that Cross Lake Service opened, Link carried over 200,000 passengers. And that was a busy day. Not only was it the opening day, there was also the protests in Downtown Seattle, and there was a Mariners game. So as people were coming back from their Seattle adventures, there was a whole host of people in Mariners gear going across the lake to go into their evening activities. And people are already using it for those kinds of activities.

So I think we are really well prepared with the additional prep that we're doing for FIFA. And on the screen, you'll see a little bit of a sample specifically from Sound Transit of some of the additional services that will be happening during the game days. So link lines one and two will have late evening service to about 1AM for those evening comings and goings. The sounder trains, both north and south, will have an elevated level of service to help people move to and from the games. If you're down in Tacoma, the streetcar, again, will have an expanded level of service to help you move through that city.

And the express bus routes will be ready to help people move to and from the games with more frequency. And Sound Transit is also preparing an additional set of private coaches or other supplementary service in case there is an unexpected service disruption on the two line, they will have supplemental service ready to kick in. So they know it's coming. The region knows it's coming. And so I'll hand it off to Carl to talk a little bit more about the public safety and other elements.

Thank you, Jesse. Appreciate it. Good evening, mayor and council. So on the public safety side, obviously, planning for an event like this began as

soon

as we heard FIFA was coming to the region, primarily with police and fire, really leaning into the regional aspects of it. We know that when there is large events, in in Seattle, we are often called to help support that, with additional staffing. And we knew that would be an impact to our community, and we needed to also be prepared to have wonderful events here, within the city and not let go of a lot of those, key vital resources. So planning has been underway for a long time. One of the key elements that we determined was a need was as community development and economic development were working with the business community.

We needed to have a a united one city approach to all things planning around FIFA. Different departments were having lots of conversations with, their service area of expertise, and so we formed a planning team, here at the city so that all those people were meeting together, and the office of emergency management kinda took the lead just to facilitate that, which is kind of our normal role anyway. So, all the departments have been invited to that planning meeting. We kicked that off basically around the beginning of this year, and we're meeting monthly at this rate. We set up a designated teams channel just to share documentation and presentations from the various different meetings that we're all having independently so that, again, everyone from different departments can share and understand what other agencies, around the region are are planning from sound transit to, you know, regional hospital care and patient movement, all kinds of of of subject matter experts and one landing page for all that for city staff.

In that, we've also invited some of our other key stakeholders around the community, just to understand, you know, what other summer events are going on. And with planning in general, really leaned into we're Bellevue. We have large events here all the time. We took a look at our July 4 planning, where we see about 50,000 people descend upon downtown park that doesn't take into consideration how many are in surrounding buildings, private residences, enjoying that event. And that works fairly smoothly year in, year out.

So we use that as kind of a baseline, for considering how we were gonna handle surge capacity with with FIFA related events. With that, lots of regional coordination on the office of emergency management side. We've been in a lot of conversations with the county, the state, and, of course, Seattle and the FIFA representatives through Seattle. Obviously, all official FIFA related things that are happening at Lumen Field were involved in those conversations, but not directly because there are no officially sanctioned FIFA events that have landed in Bellevue specifically. Some of the regional partnerships include things like King County Office of Emergency Management is going to facilitate a joint information center throughout the FIFA events, meaning a single location for all communication so we can share information of what's going on in our community as well as know all of our neighboring jurisdictions what's going on and official word from FEMA about or FIFA about specific events and things related to to the matches themselves.

Moving on, one of the other elements that we've been working on is to set up a series of exercises, just to practice and look for gaps in our planning model. So back on April 6, just a week ago, Monday, Bellevue Office of Emergency Management, in partnership with the city of Redmond, Kirkland, King County, some of our other, regional partners like Sound Transit, Norcom, and, the Regional Hospital Network, did a tabletop exercise and walked through, kind of some of the potential, disruptions to our summer calendar of events and how that would impact our community, and how our plans align with with that. In that process, we we uncovered a few things that we're gonna improve upon in our coordination and communication plans, and we're taking some of the policy level discussion that came up. And we're hoping to sit down with city leadership and the management team at the city in May to do a tabletop exercise with them specifically around some of the policy issues that arose from that. So really exciting just walking through and practicing, well in advance of of seeing visitors here.

Some of the other public safety things just to highlight, is that, again, using kind of our July 4 as an event that is done in a large scale and done fairly well in the community. All the different departments are are sharing out their plans and the ways that are effective, to manage large crowds, and also bringing information from subject matter experts that they deal with. Our Department of Transportation is a great example of that. They shared out through our our planning structure, how they use the existing systems that they have to to monitor traffic, traffic patterns, and adjust lighting controls and things to get people in and out of the city. And then how they're partnering with Sound Transit, King County Metro, and others, to move people, in and out of the city effectively.

We are very beneficially getting some favorable game times that shouldn't impact most of our regular commutes as well. So it's good to be lucky every now and again. We also have reviewed some of our mutual aid agreements. And I know PD has had a a good discussion along with a fire on regional assets, knowing that, normally, during normal operations when we request regional assets, if something very bad were to happen in in our community. A lot some of those come out of Seattle.

During this event, obviously, they're not gonna let a lot of those key resources go from Seattle. So how do we depend on our our neighboring jurisdictions on the East Side? Everywhere from down south all the way up north, we've talked with Renton, Snohomish County, and others about the process of sharing and coordinating some of those key resources and how that's gonna work during this time. So a lot has taken place in the in the planning sphere in preparation for this. The office of emergency management is planning to open our emergency operations center for game days.

We're figuring out the best staffing model for that now to determine, you know, how many folks we really need to, again, just do what we do best, which is coordinate, messaging as well as resources. And that's what we anticipate, the need is gonna be. So, we are looking forward to to doing that at some level, for for match nights.

Okay. So pivoting a bit to what's going on beyond the station areas and the event days, I wanna share a little bit about how small businesses and retailers in particular can take advantage of the audience, the the global audience, in fact, that the World Cup is going to bring. And specifically, wanna share a little bit about two of the resources that have been produced by our regional partners at the Seattle chamber and the local organizing committee. The mega events readiness playbook is a really great guide for business owners in thinking about how exactly they'll modify their operations, plan for surge surge at specific event times, planning watch parties, preventing human trafficking is a major component, and we'll get into more of that in a minute. And it's just a really great resource for businesses of all industries and sizes.

I would encourage all businesses to take a at least take a peek at it and take advantage of it if they can. The other component is that the local organizing committee and the community business connector, which is a program of the Seattle chamber, are providing free one on one advising to help business owners strategize and get access to additional resources. So we have the QR code on screen. We have the web address. We encourage business owners to take advantage of those assets.

In addition to the activations that Jesse touched on at the launch, we are also supporting a wide range of community programming across the entire city through our community programming fund, including a number of programs that are soccer related or internationally focused. And these are taking place downtown in our business districts like Spring District, Crossroads, and across the city. This year, I was very excited. We received, over a 100 applications. Our team reviewed 100 applications totaling $1,000,000 of requests.

We are in the final stages of reviewing those applications, but we do expect to award about $300,000 of grants, and we will be announcing those in the next two weeks on the Citi website. So keep an eye out for those. As of last year, the programs range from markets to live music. We have fitness classes and pop ups. We have a number of programs that are specifically either timed or specifically themed around the World Cup.

So it's gonna be a great surge this summer in terms additional programming. We also recognize, and Jesse mentioned this as well, that this is an opportunity for Bellevue to look its best to a new audience. So we've really been hard at work over the past few months on some physical improvements that will live on beyond the tournament, and a few of them will be rolling out in the next couple months. So along the Grand Connection, Connection, we've painted light poles. You may have seen them repainted along the Transit Center and in a couple of other spaces.

We've installed new banner brackets. And soon, we'll be pressure washing and restoring old benches. The cleanup work also restore power outlets along the Grand Connection, The which is going to allow power access during special events like Arts Fair in the future, which is a great amenity that's going to live on. The Beyond the Grand Connection, we have a new series of utility box wraps, which are set to be installed in the coming weeks with several designs that are responsive to themes of soccer and play. In the Arts District, in particular, you'll see a new large scale mural that's slated to be installed prior to the tournament, and you can see snippets of that on screen here.

This will be actually Bellevue's largest mural, and I believe it is one of the largest in the region. So this is gonna be a great showpiece for the community that will live on even after the tournament. Finally, we wanna provide some ways for community members to plan their own programs this summer. So we're excited to share that we are making a number of permitting improvements for community activations that we'll be rolling out later this month. So for small events, we've created a new checklist builder that helps organizers understand what types of permits may be required for their activities, and it consolidates information from many different city departments all in one place so they'll no longer need to chase down information across multiple departments.

Most excitingly, we're deploying a simplified approach to hosting neighborhood block parties, which is gonna allow community members to host small community gathering spaces or community gatherings in public spaces near their home. So for example, we've moved to a notification system for neighbors instead of requiring signatures. We've created a new video walk through for residents to be able to find their way through our permitting system, And we've developed a site plan tool that will pretty significantly reduce the cost and time required to plan a block party. So that's going to be a big improvement. As always, all of this will be wrapped in with robust support from the city's Neighborhoods group.

With that, I will pass it to Liz.

Thank you. Oops. There we are. Skip ahead too much. Marketing and communications are a key component in getting the word out.

When visitors are in Bellevue, they have several opportunities to know what's going on in the city. In addition to Visit Bellevue's paid and organic marketing, there's also an event calendar that keeps people up to date on what's happening in the city. Event organizers can add their events taking place during the World Cup to visit Bellevue site, and then that'll be available online and in hotel lobbies at welcome kiosks around the city. In preparation for the World Cup, these kiosks were also translated into five additional languages and will feature all events and activities from in the community during the tournament. Visit Bellevue has also worked with their partners at Visit Seattle to develop a Bellevue specific sub brand of the SEA twenty six community branding package.

This is gonna allow Bellevue businesses and event organizers access to visual messaging and imagery for free and without fear of copyright infringement. This community brand is going to allow Bellevue businesses and events to show up in a way that is regionally aligned, but also be distinctly Bellevue. Our small businesses have many ways to be to help them, be successful during the tournament. We're providing information via flyers, websites from the cities, and access to visit Bellevue's partner portal, which will, help give them access to free marketing, to marketing free of charge. And our next steps.

So as Jesse mentioned before, the Seattle local organizing committee will present an at Bellevue City Council on April 28, and this is gonna offer an overview of the regional context during the tournament. City is also gonna be providing anti human trafficking training to our businesses, and this is going to ensure that Bellevue remains a safe place for all during the tournament and beyond. And we're going to continue business readiness support to ensure that everyone is successful. Thank you.

And with that, just we'll give a quick thank you to our partners at the Downtown Association, BellRed, Visit Bellevue, and Spring District, and open up for question and answer from the council.

Thank you so much, Jesse, Carl, Anthony, Liz, and the whole team and all of our partners that they are sitting on the back. We are also super excited. We will go around the room. Councilman Neuhaus, we'll start with you.

Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Appreciate it. Great presentation. Lots to be excited about for sure, beyond just how we're going to get a wonderful experience of seeing world class football played here in our backyard.

So a couple of quick quick questions I that I just had, but really appreciate you just kinda laying out the full breadth of all the activities and and and just the many ways that our city is preparing for this, you know, once in a in a generation probably experience that we're going to to to have here. First one, going back to the hotel rooms, are we hitting our expected numbers on that currently right now? I did see some reports from other cities that were cutting back some of their economic benefit or number of hotel rooms that they expected to see in their city for a number of different reasons, be it be it price considerations, not just of the hotel, but of the the tickets, etcetera, etcetera. Have we seen that at all here in in Bellevue, or are they at the level that we expected or maybe even a little bit higher?

Great question, Councilor. I'll answer a little bit, and then I'll ask Liz to give some details. I think, as you're pointing out, across the whole tournament in The US, there are cities that are experiencing some different occupancy or pre bookings because of, of course, a lot of things happening in the world. We are seeing maybe some lowering of international visitors, but they're being replaced by maybe some more domestic travelers. So one of the things for our business community is they want to make sure that we are continuing to welcome everybody, whether they're coming in from San Diego or from Spokane. And so Liz, a little detail?

Yeah. I think hotel rooms have been a little bit slow in the beginning. But they have recently been picking up.

Great.

As we've gotten closer to the tournament, we've been able to capture a few more visitors.

Okay. Great. That's great to hear. Thank you so much. Speaking of kind of geopolitical considerations, whenever you have an event like this, not just a huge event like a Super Bowl, but this is a worldwide event.

Are we working with our federal partners, state partners, regional partners on this to ensure, especially given teams more than others might attract some more attention, unfortunately, either or maybe positively. I don't you know, it really it really depends, but but how are we working with those federal partners to ensure the safety of of all beyond all the, you know, the core things that we'd be doing already, but given the extra perhaps consideration given what's going on in the world right now.

Yeah. I can speak to that a little. Yeah. So as soon as we found out the teams that were were were coming, the the FBI provided background information about the teams, incredibly detailed about their fan base, their likes, dislikes, about some general background information about previous tournaments, you know, travel rates, just some amazing information that they shared out through law enforcement. A lot of that has been shared with our planning team because it is all declassified information.

There is obviously other information that we're not privy to that is shared with law enforcement, but that's why that planning effort has been continual from the beginning. And as we're seeing, you know, things change month to month in the the political climate around the world. Obviously, that information is being updated and shared throughout the region, throughout law enforcement.

Okay. Okay. And you you feel we're ready for it?

I do. I feel we're we're in a good spot.

Thank you. The I I love the simplified approach to hosting neighbor neighborhood parties. I hope the answer is yes when I ask you, will that remain intact after the the the World Cup?

Yes. That is designed to be permanent.

Fantastic. The the the public utility wraps, is that gonna be citywide, or is that just gonna be in the downtown core?

It's an additional set. I believe that they are citywide.

Yes. There there will be citywide. There will be some of the box wraps that are currently unwrapped. So there will be probably about maybe 10 to a dozen of them. Okay. But it won't be every box where you have a long term deployment for every box in the city.

Okay. But definitely some are going be beyond just downtown and around Yes. The Okay. Fantastic. I think that's my questions. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you so much. Councilor Mubaragawa. Yeah.

Thank you, Mayor. Again, fantastic presentation. You covered a lot of ground. Super excited about the World Cup. So this is really great. I've got a couple of things I wanna just say really great thinking and then a couple three really simple questions. One, I really love the idea of the cruise shuttle. Like, this is an opportunity which will bring people spilling over from where they would not have typically been and give us an opportunity to showcase and hold, in some ways, folks host folks who would not have been here otherwise. And the idea of making that really, really easy to go back and forth with the cruise terminals creates some level of maybe longevity in that in that idea. So I really appreciate that.

Great idea. I also love the one stop shop thing you laid out, which is making sure the permitting process and all of that is really, really simple. You don't have to go around and that's for events. And maybe that's what council member Newnas was saying, maybe that's something that can be a best practice for us going forward. Couple of three really quick questions. One is on that idea of small events and block parties and things like that, permits are required. Are we making sure that we're not gonna be backlogged in any way because there could be a spike that we see? So how do we make sure this is a time bound thing that we will be ready and not backlogged in any way?

Yes. So that's one, we don't anticipate that being an issue this summer in particular, but it is something that we want to watch. So we have a number of improvements that we're making to the small event organizing process. And one of the things that we actually are are looking at as well is maybe not everything needs a permit in the future. There are some things that happen that currently today do require a permit that maybe it isn't necessary in the future. That is one way that we can reduce the the burden on city staff as well as make the process easier for organizers for those events where it does make sense to do that.

Okay. I mean, it'd be really good to sort of think before the event and before a spike of what your game playbook is gonna look like or something like that. The other thing I wanna touch on is Bellhop is another opportunity here. Are we thinking about anything in terms of increased circulation capacity there to help move people around? How are we thinking that we will utilize that to its best?

Yeah. Bell Bellhop is gonna be, running to and from, the light rail station downtown and other light rail stations, I believe, within its geo fenced area more frequently. So when people get want to go to the light rail or when they get out of the light rail and they wanna go around the city, we're gonna have that there, station there. That makes sense.

Okay. Great. That's the highest frequency you expect, so that's that's great. And then the last thing for me is I think the one of the most fundamentally important things we have to be ready for is safety. And so, whether it's, you know, extra crowds coming in or just general sports fanaticism or more serious issues like human trafficking and the threats of other kinds of unplanned events that you can see from a public safety standpoint.

So, you know, that would be an area that we would really wanna pressure test ourselves many times over. And, like, things that we don't think of, many things we're already thinking of, which is very clear, like evacuation plans in case of an emergency or shelter in place or signage for things like that. How are we thinking about things like that that are highly unlikely but better be prepared?

Yeah. Thank you for that. Yes. That is the basis of our tabletop exercises, and the reason we made it regional is knowing that if we had an incident in Bellevue and we needed to move a lot of people, the best path may be, you know, to push them into a neighboring jurisdiction or get some support and help to house those people temporarily if we were doing some sort of evacuation. That tabletop exercise series that we did just just a week ago really helped us do some of that planning for those extremely unlikely rare type of scenarios, but it just allowed us to walk them through in a casual conversation way to really see where our plans are robust and where there may be some gaps that we can close between now and and the days the events actually take place.

Okay. That's great. So you're gonna have a playbook, no thinking required sort of situation.

That's the plan.

Last question very quick. How are we gonna make sure there's no price gouging in in place?

Oh, that is a really good question, council member. So we are working really robustly with our small business community to get the word out. And I would say from us, particularly for our small businesses, there's some concern just about they wanna make sure that we're not scaring potential visitors away. So they're cognizant of pricing. They're looking at doing deep specials and other things during the tournament to help bring more people in. I think it because of where we are with some of the the teams and and visitor numbers, they're they wanna make sure that they're as welcoming as possible and not price gouging.

Yes. My well, I'll just double click on that once more. How do we make sure that there is reporting and enforcement? Like, that is something we don't want. Nobody wants like, the simplest example is nobody wants to play for the $40 drink or worse.

You know, that's something we'll we'll do some more thinking about and and check-in with our regional partners what they're thinking about price gouging,

and we can we'll we'll be sure that it's final solution for that.

Okay. Thanks.

Thank you, council member Barkawa. Council member Smadeviria.

I'm so excited. This, like, excitement is, like, beyond. And also, I think price gouging, depending supply demand as a business owner, it depends. Right? So but avocado is expensive. But I would say, like, I'm so grateful for this, like, you know, preparation for our business community and especially I think with hospitality industry that the more we are more prepared, the more focused we can focus on taking care of customers, make sure Bellevue is so welcome. That's the biggest priority. I just have a few questions. So one of them is talking about public safety. Right?

So even though we have less of international travelers come in, when we do, how can we make sure the information is language accessible? Or, you know, somebody who's traveling who doesn't speak English well, how can we help them?

Yeah. We've spent quite a a great deal of time talking with both FIFA officials as well as I earlier mentioned the joint information center that's being opened up to run throughout the the time of all of the events. And that is to provide additional language resources for all the the languages frequently spoken by by our visitors and then have that available to all of us as staff to be able to to reach out to them. We've also been talking directly with FIFA. They're pretty confident in their game day phone app that translation into the top language is there for emergency messaging and other critical information that they will be responsible for doing that.

So there there's a layered approach to it. I don't say I have all the answers, but we're definitely aware that that is a potential challenge.

Okay. And when we have more information, is it possible to share with the council as well?

Yeah. Absolutely.

So we can actually answer community questions. The second question is I see there is one part about emergency exercise and the tabletop. It says in May, would that include the council as well? Or, like, what is like, who's what the who are the community leaders involved in the exercise? Exercise?

Yeah. That one is we're we're scheduling with basically all the directors of the departments across the city to just walk through as as they would be the the primary policy guidance there. The original vision was once that is completed, that information of the those policy level decisions would would be briefed to counsel so that you would all get some understanding of of what came up through those tabletop exercise, the type of questions that that were faced, and and what city management, you know, decision points are and and where they're they're looking potentially for guidance.

Thank you. That'd be really helpful. And then my second question is my not my third question. Sorry. It's about small business readiness. Right? So we see this two great websites in front of us. And I think these two are like a year long support for small businesses. When we have that, how what kind of maybe this is a visit Bellevue VDA question. How can we have place making navigation that's actually making the visitors easier to find and connect with their need in a small business.

So for example, if there's somebody who's like have dietary restrictions, gluten free or celiac, and then they desperately need, but they don't speak English or well, they don't know how to explain it. Like, is there any way that we can help the visitor feel like they're welcome, not only on the language, but also in their special needs and, you know, it could be somebody who have a special needs need a special support. How can we is there something resources we are doing?

Liz, could you maybe speak a little bit about some of the kiosk and other work that Visit Bellevue is doing to prep our hoteliers for our visitors?

Yeah. Visit Bellevue has the hotel kiosks that have been translated into additional languages. And so when visitors are at the front desk and they want information about what's going on in the city, not only events, but also places to eat and things like that, the kiosk is actually translated into those six total languages of the most popular tourist languages that we have. There's also they hold Bellevue. The name is escaping me right now, but there is a a small business group that's a networking and information sharing group, and businesses around the city are invited to join that.

I think it's, like, every other month, and that provides resources, and it could provide language resources as well, information on where to find trainings. I know they've had accessibility training, so people with different kinds of disabilities, physical disabilities, and other, they help disseminate that information in the business community. But I think dietary restrictions and things like that can also be included very easily.

Yeah. Thank you. And I because I think, know, when I was listening to the restaurant owners, the sales are going down. That's overboard our restaurants. So I think this is a great opportunity for us to showcase what our community offers and can track long term visitors in the future as well. Right? My last question is about human trafficking. You know that I'm gonna ask that question for sure. CSC, there's gonna be a provider training. And then would there is there any cost for business to be part of it?

No. It's gonna be free to our business community. We've we're going to purchase a number of training spots available that should cover most or all of the businesses who want to participate. And we also hope to have an in person training session for those who wish to attend in person where that might be more helpful for them as well.

Who's the training provider? Best. Question. Thank you.

Thank you, council member Smadeberia. Council member Robinson.

Thank you. I'm I'm excited too. And I really love hearing all the planning and how the whole city is gonna be activated. It's really it's exciting. The one question I have is with short term rentals. So I know that Bellevue has a policy of not allowing short term rentals in our single family neighborhoods. And I imagine that, you know, lodging is gonna get really tough, and there'll be an opportunity for people to rent out their houses or rooms during this time. And I wonder if we are going to do more enforcement or maybe go the opposite way and actually allow it, waive it for a month or something. I don't know if you thought about it.

For the moment, we are not looking at loosening the regulations around short term rentals, but we are providing more information for the community through our our outreach and through our city websites about the current regulations. And Visit Bellevue has been keeping an eye on the kind of the demand for short term vacation rental by owner type occupant types. Liz, did Brad provide any update on that by chance in the last meeting?

Not off the top of my head, but I can look into that and provide more information. Okay.

Yeah. I'd be interested. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Council member, you are.

Yes. Thank you.

This is sort of like the less exciting part, but just seeing notes about the civic improvement that we're that's happening right now is just incredible. It's the important work that's maybe perhaps a little bit thankless. So I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate that. I think if memory serves me correctly, the community grants that we have provided was up to $200,000. So the fact that we've got a request for 1,000,000 pouring in is just fantastic. I know anecdotally that I don't know how, but there is communities mobilized for the first time that have never gotten mobilized before. I was getting calls and asked if I could put in internal references. I was like, that's unethical. No. I can't.

Stop asking. But that is incredible. So, I mean, this work overall is just fantastic. I think one last thing is I don't see the opportunity for me to personally meet any of the soccer players that are coming. So if we can go ahead and work that into the plan as well, I'd really appreciate that. And then ditto on safety being top of mind. I'm wondering if and maybe perhaps you had just mentioned this as well, but if there's any coordination with our medical entities as well?

Yeah. There is. The exercise that we just did, we we invited Overlake Hospital to participate in that as well. And then there is a a very robust network of hospitals, and they are already talking about patient movement even during very difficult transportation capacity issues. So a lot of that planning is already underway.

Fantastic. Thank you all for your work. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you so much. Great. I have two questions. The first oh, sorry. Deputy mayor, you go first. I can go ahead. No. No. No. You go first.

You're you're too kind, Mayor. Thank you. Thanks for the presentation, and thanks for all the work that you've done on creating a World Cup programming plan that will make the World Cup experience fun and meaningful for community members and visitors. Of course, the World Cup is a chance to showcase our city. Someone recently said Bellevue is better in person.

World Cup visitors will have a wonderful experience of our city, when they get here. Much of the positive connection to the city will be obvious to visitors, our parks, trails, community spaces, restaurants, and shopping, but they'll also connect to and enjoy the city in ways that are meaningful but intangible, like our friendliness, safety, and cleanliness. The feel of our city, the reaction that people have just from being here will last. That's why it's so important for us to be welcoming and accommodating, for our city to be safe and clean. I think what you have planned will do all of that well.

I would like to see some additional attention paid to encouraging visitors to return, letting them know what they might have missed, what they should return to see and what's ahead. Folks should know that the Wilburton Trestle opens to the public next year. We will have a new food hall on East Trail. We run Garden Delights each winter, winter grasses in February and so We very team.

Fashion show,

We World Cup multicultural of celebration, pop up pop up on the plaza events, and more will help make the World Cup fun and meaningful for our community. All of the community building, I know, is really gonna be amazing. So I really like what you have planned. Very exciting. Look forward to what's ahead this summer. Thank you, Mayor. Great job. I knew I should go to you first.

Two questions. What are some of our metrics that we're going to look at and say everything that you guys did is successful except the number of visitors, except the number of events and activation?

Great question, mayor. So one of the key new measures that we'll be looking at so we are in the process of getting a new location based service called Placer that will help us understand and measure foot traffic. Because a part of this is bringing people together, creating foot traffic for our small businesses and for our hospitality amenities. And so we'll be able to look at, did the activities lead to a increase in foot traffic or an increase in dwell time that signifies people were enjoying spaces, enjoying events, enjoying connectivity. So that's one of the additional pieces.

We will, of course, look at hotel occupancy rates and room rates for the hospitality industry. And then we'll be looking at, on the back end, some of if there's an opportunity to see spikes in sales or other things, kind of a post survey with our small business community to see how they benefited during the time.

Thank you. Is there any way we can see like deputy mayor just mentioned, you mentioned that you want people come back. Can we find about that, that people came for FIFA and then one year from that moment, they come back because they missed something or they realize Bellevue is better in person or something like that?

Liz, can you speak to that?

Yeah. So Visit Bellevue has a pretty holistic marketing and communication strategy, and part of that includes retargeting. It's called retargeting people who come to the city. So let's say you go on vacation to see the World Cup, and you use your device for anything, to check the weather, to check, you know, something. Well, when you go home, you're going to start getting messaging about Bellevue. So you might get messaging about Snowflake Lane or about other things that are happening, and we'll be able to keep track. It's not obviously, like, don't know exactly who that person in is, but we will be able to keep track of return visitors in that way.

That's great. Thank you. The the my next question is about small businesses. And you mentioned Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce. You said did a great job as a mega event playbook. How many pages is that?

They actually have a version that is only 12 pages formatted like a graphic novel, which is kind of fun. So you saw the the cover of that on the screen. But they they have a number of resources. They have put out at this point, I think, four or five different playbooks playbooks with a significant amount of resources. So I think one of their goals has been to try to get things out in as many different modalities as possible. So that's one of the reasons you see them offering a significant amount of one on one support as well.

That's awesome. And that that's my concern because, like, how many business owners, a small one, that they are working fifteen hours a day, like, to just go home and said, yeah. Let's just read because the version I saw was 66 pages.

Yep.

Let's just read 66 pages and see how we can improve our operation based on this amazing playbook. And I'm happy that they have this one zero one advising. But, like, again, I don't think they implement any help. They just say, hey. Based on so what and how many months do we have to

We're about

sixty two days out.

Sixty two days.

And on that question, mayor, about additional support for small businesses, that's where at the local level, we have some additional support to help our our business community in Bellevue implement those ideas. So as Liz mentioned, there's a Bellevue bound program that's coming up on May 13 sponsored by Visit Bellevue, where that will dive into a lot more about the specific logistics around your business for the World Cup. And then we have our small biz our small business staff doing their business walks to help make sure both our businesses have the information and that they can connect them to resources if they need help to implement those ideas. And then we have our small business adviser at the SBDC that can also help the businesses figure out how to implement and operationalize that advice.

And they know about all of this?

We share it as much as we can. Absolutely.

Okay. Great. So my that was my those were my questions. My kind of the biggest takeaway would be that there are a lots of great parts and strong on transportation, station activation, and safety planning. I think we just nailed them down.

To me, the biggest risk is and this is coming from previous World Cup, that because we don't have an actual event in Bellevue, people come and maybe they use our hotel to sleep, but then they go to the game. They hang out and stay in near the stadium. And then that's it. Like, we don't actually get the traffic and the benefit of people that stay in Bellevue and hang out in Bellevue and and then just bring all of those benefit to us, spend money, and, again, come back. And I know there are a lot of good stuff in the document, but based on Olympics event and based on previous World Cup, we will see that's the trend.

They just come concentrated around the main activity areas nearby the cities don't automatically benefit. How are we going to be the exception and actually get the benefit of the people who are coming for the football and watch those games?

You're touching a really important area, Mayor, and we've seen that with even locally the is it the World Series? Not the World Series.

The It's the All Star Game.

All Star Game. There we go. The All Star Game a few years ago where businesses around around T Mobile Park did not necessarily see the foot traffic.

CID, China International. Exactly. They didn't get any benefit.

Exactly. So we are definitely learn trying to learn from that and take that lesson learned in how we're deploying and positioning Bellevue. A couple of the things that we're trying to do are well, one is that we don't have the stadium. Right? So we don't benefit from the incredible foot traffic that's drawn coming in to to see the actual game.

We're trying to position Bellevue in partnership with our place management organizations that visit Bellevue that this is the elevated experience. We will have great restaurants. We have great bars. We have other great amenities that if you're after you've finished the very large chaos work in Seattle Center, you come back to Bellevue for the elevated dinner, for the quieter but meaningful experiences. And then we are also working with our small business community about how do we make sure that people just continue to come.

I think one of the big concerns out there in in the in the small business community is that during this period, people will have a sense that it's too busy. Bellevue's too busy. Nobody's gonna go there. And we want to kind of manage that message and say, still come in for your morning coffee, still have that brunch with your friends at Gilbert's. We don't want to scare people away. That is one of the balancing things that we need to do is make sure everyone understands. Bellevue continues to be open for everyday business because one of the hardest things would be for our businesses to experience a drop in traffic during the World Cup.

Great. Thank you so much. We are very excited, and we appreciate you giving this presentation. So we can, I think, have a break? Great. We have our second study session. City manager, would you please introduce that to us?

Yes. Thank you, mayor, deputy mayor, and council. Tonight, we have staff joining us to present, what is a major overhaul to the city's sign code. Some of the goals for this work included, alignment with court decisions, also addressing business and community interests and concerns. The staff will highlight the goals in more detail tonight.

They did conduct multiple rounds of engagement with the community and also multiple rounds of opportunities to review the draft code and that both of those have shaped the proposal that you have in front of you tonight. So they have incorporated a lot of the key themes that they heard from the community and their proposed approach to engagement also would likely follow the council's final action on this and they'll describe that as well in terms of what they're proposing for a delayed implementation timeline. Nick Whipple, our Code and Policy Director returns to cover this and Charlie Engle, Senior Planner from Development Services. And with that, I'll hand it over to Nick.

Great. Thank you and good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Council. So we are here tonight with exciting milestone, and we have in before you a draft ordinance for a rewrite of the city's sign code. And we are seeking some direction from you to prepare the ordinance final action at a future meeting. For agenda tonight, we wanna touch on the background for this project.

As noted, there is some supreme court rulings that really guide how we are updating our code. We also had a pretty extensive phased outreach approach. We have kind of moved through phase two. There's another phase after council takes action should you decide to do that tonight. And then we also wanna do a refresher on some of the themes that we heard from that phase one engagement and some of the project goals.

We'll touch on the components of the draft, the timeline and schedule, and then end with some ask for direction. So first on the background piece. So I wanted to note that this process was initially started with council back in August 2024. There was some guidance that you all provided at that initiation. Looking to provide some simplicity to the code, make sure that we're supporting the needs of both residents as well as our business community, so ensuring there's enough flexibility there.

And then, of course, trying to get some more consistency in how we're drafting our code. Also acknowledgment that we may not know every sign type that might emerge in the market, and so making sure that this is forward compatible or certainly flexible enough to accommodate evolving signage needs. We brought forward our phase one engagement results in November and shared that with counsel and some of those themes, and then that's really what develops some of those project goals or refine the project goals. As mentioned, this is a rewrite of our sign code. This is largely based on a Supreme Court ruling.

So that image or diagram that you're seeing on the side of the screen there is describing all the sign types that are commonly found in people's sign in city sign codes that are no longer compliant with the emphasis of that Supreme Court ruling, is to have content neutral signage. And so you can see, you know, and we've heard tonight from homeowners associations in particular, wanting to have a different treatment perhaps with our sign code. You can see that's actually one of the examples of a sign type that doesn't meet that content neutrality standpoint. Again, we are support we support our neighborhood associations in getting the word out, and we know that they also have unique needs. But we also do have some constraints in terms of how we address those unique needs.

So it's been a lot of intentional outreach with those groups to try and understand how can we best support those community associations as they're trying to promote events. They're trying to really bring community together. We don't want to be a hindrance to that. So it's certainly been a kind of a series of conversations and an evolution of the code, which Charlie can get into in trying to address that complicated challenge that the Supreme Court ruling presents for us. With that, we'll have Charlie walk through our outreach and then the draft code components.

Thanks, Nick. So here is the outreach approach overview. Nick touched on it a little bit. Phase one was really guided to gather perspectives and from the community and see what everyone wanted to have happened in this update, really expand awareness of the project, and make sure that we have a really unique opportunity with the complete rewrite that we get all the perspectives captured within that scope. So phase one included listening sessions with a few different stakeholder groups, including signed industry professionals, neighborhood associations, and the business and development community.

Many different stakeholders all with different interests in signs. That's why it's such an exciting topic. We also launched a questionnaire that was available in Bellevue's top seven most frequently used languages to kinda capture a broad outreach approach and as well as like newsletters and social media posts. So that was phase one. And then we took all the feedback from that and put the pen to paper and really got into drafting for the code in the in that process, once we had a first draft available, we were able to close the gap with stakeholders from phase one and and present a draft for review and take feedback on actual code language.

From there, that's wrapping up right now. And we've received a lot of great feedback from the community. And we've also taken into account that feedback and revised the draft further, which is the version that you actually have in front of you guys with the packet today. Looking ahead, with action and implementation, we anticipate a delayed effective date of January 2027. We know that this is a big change, and there's gonna be a lot of system changes as well as community education and awareness that can go into updating this code and making sure that everyone is on the same page and aware of any changes, that I'll touch on more specifically later on in the presentation.

But just making sure nothing's a surprise and allowing us enough time to get that education and awareness out there and make sure our systems are, capable of supporting the code update. This is a refresher on the key themes and priorities that were emerged from phase one of outreach. We know that aesthetics matter to folks of Bellevue, making sure that we find the balance between allowing for signage, but making sure there's not a lot of visual clutter. We also heard a lot about temporary signs and enforcement. That was probably the most volume of feedback that we received, which we'll talk more on later.

And, of course, making sure that the new code streamlines regulations, increases flexibility, and is easy to use and apply from, you know, our internal reviewers as well as, signed industry professionals or someone who's just for the first time looking to get a sign up. Those priorities were able to form the goals that have been guiding this project, and this is just a refresher here that we do want to strike that balance between the need for signage for businesses as well as the aesthetic desires, making sure it's not visually cluttered, simplifying and streamlining regulations, making sure that we encourage contemporary design and technology for the forward looking code, and, also making sure that we align with the key court decisions. So now getting into the draft components. Like Nick mentioned, it's a complete rewrite. So there's a whole new organization set up to make it a little bit more user friendly.

It also starts to kind of fall into these categories naturally and we'll dive into each of these more into detail. For the first section, the general, this includes definitions, measurements, and just kind of catch all intent and purposes provisions. We also worked closely with the graphics department to come up with new figures to help support unique sign area measurements that will help users of the sign code know how to really use it. For the dimensional standards, there's additional guidance for removal of signs as well as requirements for maintenance and safety that have been added in there just to really streamline and clarify. And even though this is a complete rewrite, there are a lot of existing policy from the existing code that's been carried through, such as limiting permanent signage in residential districts.

It's currently limited in the existing code and also proposed the same kind of threshold in the draft code as well. Same for in commercial and mixed use land use districts. We currently allow for high rise signs, and that's been carried through the updated draft as well. So a lot of reorganization, a lot of streamlining, but some of those key policy, decisions from the existing code carry through the draft as well. So there was also a need to accommodate unique signage needs which pose an interesting challenge given all the context of the sign code and the and the legal framework that we're working under.

But we are proud that we were able to come up with some solutions to support these signage needs such as poll banner program that is supportive for in the Grand Connection and then also extending possibly down throughout downtown, as well as coming up with standards that accommodate iconic signage such as Dick's Drive In, for example. Also making sure that there's an adequate amount of signage for hospitals and and that they're not limited in their ability to use their signage allotments. And then also, with a new type of sign that kinda supports the forward looking code, electronic message center signs. This would support digital Kia signage that is for tourism, way finding, and activating the downtown. And, of course, there are some area specific standards such as smaller sign heights in Old Bellevue that are in the existing code, that remain in the draft as well.

Moving on to more dimensional standards this time for temporary signs and signs in the right of way. The temporary sign section got a large refresh being very clear about the different sign types, the allowed sign area, height, number, location, and duration for all of those so that the standards are very clear and streamlined, easy to use, and, apply as well. And additional standard and clarity for signs that are in the right of way, having its own section for all signs in the right of way just so it's, user friendly. One thing to note here is that, there is a a safety concern with having temporary signs and roundabouts and medians going and placing those signs often, can cause a safety concern because it could cross multiple lanes of traffic. And then, of course, when it's time to pick the sign up, retrieving them as well.

So in the draft, that proposes to limit those in those areas, but still place them in other places in the right of way such as in planting strips and, wherever else might be suitable. There's the special cases. This is your nonconforming prohibited signs, variances. We've worked closely with the city attorney's office to streamline our nonconforming section to align better with the citywide approach. Prohibited signs, not a ton of changes there.

We currently prohibit billboards, and that remains as well in the draft. And just adding clarifications for any sort of fusion for variances that reviewers have brought up or we heard during feedback or community engagement. So for administration and permitting, one of the new proposals is a temporary sign registration program. First, I will touch the temporary sign permit. That is an existing program that we have right now.

This is when temporary signs are reviewed by staff, and this will remain a requirement for larger temporary signs. And you can see in the chart there, that's the left column with the wall banner and the kind of larger temporary sign, for construction signage. Often, you often see those types. They range from thirty days to a year for the allowed duration. And since they're just on the larger scale, keeping those still as a permit makes sense just to make sure that our review staff can check for compliance.

For the new program, that's the temporary sign registration program. Right now, in the draft that you have in front of you, this is only proposed for temporary yard signs. We had initially followed other jurisdictions where we've seen this work for them as well and had all of the temporary signs, the smaller temporary signs in the registration category. But based on the community feedback that we heard Mhmm. In phase two and that you heard tonight, It was became clear that for like a frames, this registration program isn't necessarily effective.

And it's a lot to ask of neighborhood groups. So we actually revised based on that feedback and and only, are requiring the registration for the yard signs since based on the feedback we received in phase one, those were, really what we're trying to target as far goes and making sure that those are placed thoughtfully and cleaned up at the end of their life. So to get into more about what is the registration program, This is something that we're still figuring out the details of and hope to also figure out during the time that we have between action and the delayed effective date for implementation. But ideally, this would look like a simple process so that it's easy to achieve for applicants, you know, kind of like an online form where you would put in your name and your phone number as well as the sign type and when you plan to place it, would give you an issue date as well as an expiration date based on how long that type of sign is allowed to be up. So for the yard signs, that's ninety days for commercial signs and a hundred twenty days for non commercial when they're placed in the right of way.

And then the idea would be that you would print out the registration and attach it to your assigned face. There's additional considerations, such as, you know, is there a way that we could, do a batch registration for multiple signs, like, say, 50 to kinda save time? And, also, is there a way that we could incorporate, the sign registration into the design of the sign itself rather than having to actually print it out and attach it to the sign? So those are all things that are in consideration for this proposed registration program. And then there are exempt signs from permitting and registration.

They still have to comply with the standards that are laid out in the applicable code section for size and placement, that kind of thing. But if they're placed for less than twenty four hours or if they are one of the exempt signs listed like you see on the right there, feather banners, a frames, they're not required to get a permit or a registration. So, enforcement is another big topic of discussion for this piece. Again, the purpose and intent of the registration program is to really limit the visual clutter. You can kinda see on the picture on the right there.

These temporary signs, these temporary yard signs often stack up in that's like a planting strip and are placed all around the city. And after their useful life are generally not picked up and disposed of rather than just left. And we heard a lot from our community cleanup groups about the difficulty that they have with these types of signs and and cleaning them up as well. So one scenario that we've kind of outlined as to how enforcement might look under this temporary sign registration program is, a resident would call our co compliance department to make a complaint, and then our staff could coach the resident through the registration requirements. You know, did you check the sign?

Is there a registration attached? If yes, the resident can verify, and then our staff can also coach them to reach out to the applicant and kind of come up with a plan for pick or disposal of the sign if it's, you know, out of the date for registration. The city can always provide additional guidance as necessary. And in the case that there is no registration attached or it's expired, then we can obviously take the co compliance complaint along with any other type of complaint. It would just have to be then prioritized in the list of all city complaints that come into our department and evaluated as far as resources and and staffing go.

So for the project timeline, we wrapped up phase one, which was focused on gathering all those perspectives that I talked about. With this study session, we're wrapping up phase two and moving towards phase three for action and then watching that community education awareness campaign under the, assumption that we would have a delayed effective date of 01/01/2027. This is the project web page, which includes information to date of and background information on the project as well as my contact information, for the community to stay involved. And with that, we're looking for council to consider directing us to prepare the ordinance for final action.

Thank you so much again, Nick and Charlie and the team. Let's just go around the dais. Councilor Briard, we'll start with you.

Yeah. This is incredible work. Thank you so much. I think one question I had was about the, enforcement contention, particularly surrounding residents having the capability to maybe not enforce, but maybe reach out to the applicants. Has this program been tested and tried anywhere else regionally or in other neighboring states by chance?

Yeah we've seen this type of program work in other jurisdictions. Gig Harbor is one example. They seem to have pretty good success with temporary sign registration program to get at the same goals that we are getting at is limiting that temporary sign proliferation and making sure that they're cleaned up after their useful life.

Okay. Have there been any issues with that in terms of potential conflicts that might come up between residents and those who place the signs up?

Not that I'm fully aware of, but I haven't been involved like in the community like to really Okay.

I guess my only concern would be perhaps making sure this isn't a catalyst for further conflicts in the community because it can sometimes happen. But I don't know if know, unfortunately, don't think I have an alternative to propose instead. But I think that's just one concern that I have. But all else seems fine to me. Thank you. Thank you.

Of course. Thank you. Councilman Borgavo.

Yeah. I've got a few different questions. I can also just hold my second half to go around the room just to make sure. So I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Good presentation and a really good summary. I really like I'll start with what I really like. The easier you're making understanding our code and simplification enforcement, the better it's going to be. So I really appreciate that mental model that you brought forth. Content neutrality, think, is a underlying principle.

You have to also align with that because of the mandate that we have. So that's going to be the sort of the way to think about structuring our code because I think that's important. And there is already some segmentation that you're doing even in your proposal today. So one of my questions is going to be how can you make sure that that segmentation is very, very clear for all exemptions without making it complicated? I also think broadly, I want state upfront that I'm generally supportive of the idea of registration, which I think is a powerful way to do what we're trying to achieve to avoid clutter and to make sure that there's some accountability for people who actually put up the signs.

And so that's important. A few questions for me. One is when you do the registration, how did you come up with the one hundred and twenty days for noncommercial, the twenty four hours? Like, is it just based on other codes? Or is there a rationale to that?

Yeah. It's a combination of looking at a lot of other jurisdictions and seeing their updated sign codes and what they're doing, as well as there's lots of great resources for cities that are updating their sign codes that are kind of the industry standard and norm from the International Sign Association and some other partners that we're able to, reference and use as well.

Are they renewable? Your registrations?

I think that right at this moment, that's something that we can think about as far as implementation, but it's not proposed to be renewable now rather than just kind of an easy process to fill out another form and

if So somebody needs to put up a sign for four months and then needs to put it up for another month, they cannot?

Yeah. So right now, under our current code, that is sort of the practice. So there is an expiration, but there's nothing that prevents someone from applying and getting another kind of temporary sign permit. So that's a feature under our current code. It's a challenge that we have in terms of kind of barring the door. If somebody wants to come forward with another temporary sign, we can't look at the message and say, did you switch up your message? Do you have something different to share? So that's, again, another challenge that's sort of that presents itself with having to be content neutral is everyone's entitled to a temp sign permit. And so then, you know, once they've ran their course with the first approval, it is possible that they can ask for another approval.

Okay. That that's really what I read it like, and so I'm curious. And it's I'm glad that we're talking about it now because then we can have a clear point of

view. Mhmm.

I don't know right or wrong yet, but a clear point of view on that would be important to have. I do think one code that I wanna reinforce going back to what I said, one code for all temporary science is the best outcome we can have for simplification because then you're not trying to determine based on content whether it's exempt or nonexempt or what is happening. So I would encourage us to think of it from from that lens. Otherwise, it's just complexity for enforcement. And I also really support the idea of sort of a complaint based enforcement that you laid out.

I think it's a really smart way to do it. But then what happens to compliance when there are no complaints? It still leads to clutter.

Mhmm. Yeah.

I mean, that is the policy, is that we are a complaint based enforcement operation at the city. So we do kind of only get activated when those complaints are registered with the city. So that's not unique, I guess, to science. But, yes, that is a challenge. Some of these items, if not reported, could just fly under the radar.

Okay. And the reason I was going there is just and I'll stop after this. Is that maybe there might be some thought given to the idea of if you're going to have a registration, you're gonna have a time period. And if there is no complaint, there could still be some I don't know whether it's a penalty. I don't know what that action is for enforcement for noncompliance, not just only reactive, but there could be some proactive reinforcement. I'm not sure what that is yet, but but I do think that's a gap that we should think about. Okay.

Thank you, Councilman Bargavo. We definitely come back to you if you have further questions. Councilman Robinson.

So I really appreciate this process. It seems so thorough and responsive at the same time. I know that my canary in the coal mine was Dick's Drive In, and so it's nice that you've done something that suits their needs. I'm really concerned about election signs because I think that the way it's written right now, it's almost gonna be impossible for people to keep up with if they have to put a sticker on every single sign. And so I hope that we can incorporate registration information into sign design.

I would be all for that. And I think that as much as you can, we should delay the effective date, so that we have more time to really examine how to address some of the tricky sign use in policing that we we will need to do with this code.

Thank

you, Councilwoman Robinson. Councillor Newhouse? Thank you, Mayor.

Yes, some great work here for sure. Sorry, I just moved where I was in the PowerPoint. I'm going to go back to it. But it was a slide that you mentioned, the Dick's Drive In. Can you go to that I think you went one too far maybe. There it is. So overall, this is, you know, from my perspective, very balanced approach. I appreciate that you looked at other cities, see what's working, what's not. You know, is it apples to apples? Maybe, maybe not, but, you know, there's always things that we can learn what what other municipalities are doing.

You know, the the the feedback that we receive too from residents, you know, doesn't surprise me. I mean, I've I've I've driven and seen people walk up and, like, collect, like, 20 signs and just walk off with them. And I'll I'll ask them, what what what are you doing with that? It's like, I don't like the clutter. And, unfortunately, they'd always if they are if they are gonna dispose, and I encourage them not to, they're not actually disposing them in the right way.

But I think they don't understand that that, you know, in in some way, these are people's livelihoods, real estate agents, or maybe a recent immigrant who's starting up a business who has zero marketing budget. And this might be one of the few ways that they actually get the word about their business. I guess where where I'm going with that is that this is tricky, and I appreciate the the kind of the the context on that as as, you know, as much as we wanna reduce the clutter. And believe me, I've been on so many Keep Bellevue Beautiful outings, and those signs are difficult because they don't fit in the bag very well. They rip it or, you know, they're awkward for sure.

But I love this slide here, because, you know, I've had conversations with small businesses and restaurants, and, you I think this is a you you've hit it just right here. I love the Polar Banner program because that is just a lot of fun and a great way to communicate things going on in the city. The iconic signage, know, part of this conversation started about Dick's Drive In and their issues working with the city. I'm so glad we can address that. For everybody else that does require adequate signage, obviously, first responders and hospitals, etcetera, that's that's all really, really, really good stuff.

I wanna ask you about the neighborhood associations. Mhmm. Can you tell me a little bit about how we actually did that engagement? Because I'm hearing some conflicting things. I'm not saying we didn't reach out to them, but based on kind of what we heard earlier and some other messages that I received, I'm just not sure that we did reach out to them in in, I guess, the holistic way that perhaps if you can you just share a little bit in in terms of how you did do that outreach?

Sure. I can start out with just overall the approach and then Charlie can dive into some of the details. But Okay. You know, phase one and phase two, we really were intentional about engaging with our neighborhood associations. K. We reached out to a pretty extensive list. We cannot make people meet with us, and sometimes that's And the so I believe we had one representative meet with us in phase one to share kind of what their area of interest was. They also were really helpful in saying, we'll try and get the word out. They acknowledged this is not an exciting topic that people necessarily connect with. That was also

Until we get to the point where we're actually going to take action, does

get into Until that point, right? So really appreciate that neighborhood leader doing a little bit of legwork for us because we did make those attempts. And then Charlie can share what was gleaned from those phase one conversations. But then phase two is where we started here. And that's not atypical of our process. Once people have code language to react to and respond to, that's when the details form. That's when people actually are gonna be able to engage more more with our our code. So that's where we actually were getting more meaningful engagement. As Charlie noted too, we were able to make adjustments to the draft based on feedback we're hearing specifically from these neighborhood associations. So, yeah, did you wanna expand at all on on what was changed?

Yeah. I think also we used kind of at the very beginning, we knew that we wanted to cast a diverse outreach approach and make sure we, gathered a lot of different perspectives. So part of that was and using as many tactics as possible. So that was our gov delivery lists for both neighborhood associations and neighborhood leadership as well as, city news alerts to kind of capture a broad audience and, different newsletters that go out from economic development or from development services, kind of using our partners and our internal, groups there to coordinate, a large, outreach effort to to get the word out and start to gain perspective from the community.

Okay. Okay. That's good to hear. And and and, you know, no one's gonna criticize you if if as long as you made the attempt.

Yeah.

That that's what I'm most interested in is that, we invite them to the pay to the table to be a part of this conversation. And having having said that, there was been a couple of requests about exempting neighborhood associations. I would like to get your thoughts on that. Just because they do play a very important role, right, in the city. That, you know, there there is a partnership there, and we count on them in helping get the word about about things just like this too.

But anything related to public safety or or or or or zoning or anything that's going on in the city that is going to, one way or the other, some ways more than others, is going to impact those neighborhood associations. Play that important role to further get word about whatever that might be. When they are looking for an exemption just because that's required extra step, what are your thoughts on that and what does that do to the overall plan just in terms of the equity piece on this or as my colleague mentioned about having kind of like one standards and make that, you know, consistent across the the whole breadth of the of the temporary sign language.

Yeah. I mean, it's a real challenge because we do recognize there's a lot of importance that they bring to that library of information that could be shared on signs. And the challenge is you are not able, under the Supreme Court ruling, you shouldn't have to read the sign to know how am I going to regulate this, or who is the sponsor of this sign so I know how to regulate it. That's the same even for political science, where it's if it's a campaign, if it's a yard sign, it doesn't matter what it says or who is the sponsor of it. It's just got to follow the rules.

And so when we were thinking about how these needs could be met, we did start to kind of narrow where we'd want to maybe apply the registration and then even add some flexibility within that. So we were hearing, for example, sometimes these associations are holding events, and they need to just direct people where to park. And maybe the yard sign is the best sign to kind of get that quick message off to people. That's a sign that's likely placed for less than twenty four hours. That's an exemption that we created in response to what we're hearing from folks even if they were having just a, like, a one day event.

Again, the if it's less than twenty four hours, then they don't need to go through any type of registration process. One way of trying to address that flexibility. We're also hearing a board signs could be more useful for them in some cases. It's more of an upfront cost perhaps, but it could, you know, prove to have more of a a longer lifespan for them. Those also would be completely exempt from the registration requirement.

Those aren't the signs that we were hearing the most complaints about. As you were noting with your Keep Belvieu beautiful walks, it was really those temporary yard signs. So I was trying to figure out how can we operate within the framework where it's by sign type, but then find ways to support the needs of these groups. And it was some good discussions, both with our neighborhood staff, our Keep Lv. Beautiful staff, but as well as some of these neighborhood associations of trying to help them appreciate the the puzzle that we're trying to solve here Yeah.

And and get them to help contribute to some of those ideas. And that's where I think, you know, honestly, some of these ideas that amended the code to version three tonight, they really came from these neighborhood groups telling us what they need. It's gonna be hard to meet all of their needs given the framework we have to operate in. But we do feel like we've made a really strong attempt to address the bulk of those needs.

Knowing that a lot of times these associations don't have much of a budget or any budget, are we creating a not very equitable situation where some might be able to afford an a frame and then therefore they're exempt versus others that need a cheaper solution, but yet now we're forcing them to take an extra step and they need to register.

Yeah.

Is is is that equitable? Because then we might see, you know, the more affluent neighborhood associations. Yeah. Sure. No big deal. Let's just buy buy these, But others might not be able to. Like, not every neighborhood associate has dues. Some do. Some don't. What what are your thoughts on that?

Yeah. I mean, that that is a a very valid point, and that is something that could be one of those unintended consequences. Mhmm. I would also say the way that we're looking at the registration program, we're not necessarily looking to capture any sort of revenue from this program, so there's not necessarily a fee tied to it. Sure. But it is kind of another step or another process piece that they'd have to navigate. Hopefully, our kind of guidance and the outreach and awareness campaign will help people sort of prepare for that change and plan accordingly. But certainly, we recognize that some people are just going to have to deal with that registration based on how the code is written.

Switching gears, one more question, then I yield my time. The enforcement piece, so it's complaint based, which I completely agree with, and it's a better situation for the city to have it continue to be complaint based. But what is if if if we have, I don't know, certain times of the year. Right? This year, I noticed that around the holidays, for example, there were, we'll put up your Christmas lights signs, like, everywhere, like, almost overnight.

And then but there was no attempt whatsoever after the holidays to to to take them down. Now if they did that continuously over each holiday or another holiday or whatever, what and even if it is reported, but nothing's done and or, they continue not to register their signs, etcetera, is there any any repercussions to that?

Mhmm. Yeah. So in that scenario, if there wasn't a registered sign and someone was to call and complain Mhmm. We would obviously register the complaint. Our enforcement officers would do an investigation. This is all, of course, it would have to be, as Charlie mentioned, prioritized with the other types of complaints that we receive. We would certainly try and make attempts to resolve the issue. That is the goal of the code enforcement officers. But, yeah, it's it's it's, again, part of that awareness and education piece. Likely connect them to staff that can inform them, hey.

We actually have a registration requirement. You do need to remove the sign after this period, and try and work with folks to get compliance. That's always the approach we try and take. But yeah, that's gonna be a challenge for sure. Enforcement has been, I think, the largest discussion we've had with community and internally as well. How are we going to manage this? This is a shift for Bellevue. So

No. A 100%. And and again, I'm I'm not thinking about the local restaurateur Mhmm. Or the local business. I'm I'm thinking of those that blatantly come in and and and drop signs everywhere on the city, and they have zero intent on ever picking them up. That's that's that's my biggest concern. And and that's where if I'm not really in favor at all of any kind of enforcement, but if there is one, it's those that blanket the city. And and and and they usually it's very clear. I don't think anyone's putting up Christmas lights after, you know, January 1. Right?

So if those don't start coming down, it's it's it's clear they're never going to. And unless there's maybe a little bit of teeth in there, I'm not really sure they they ever will. So I know that's not addressed in here right now, but I just wanted to raise it as a topic point tonight. I'll stop there. Thanks, mayor.

Thank you so much. Councilwoman Smotheby. Thank

you for the quote, by the way. I think this is equally exciting as FIFA. I mean, as you know, because I think for business and also for events, like, there could be make it or break it situation. So the signs be really helpful informational. I just have a few question to clarify it. So for example, for real estate signs. Right? So for the open house will be a a a frame sign. And then but what about so the for sale sign will be the the registration for the yard sign.

The for sale sign, I think, would fit better under a different temporary sign category. It's called the quarter sheet.

Okay.

And that has different standards than the temporary yard sign. And it's also in the exempt section. So that would not be required to get the registration either.

Okay. Great. Because my question was because it's different market, different times, so I think it cost money for the realtors to actually put on that place. So maybe, like, that's why it's good to know this exam. That's great. Thank you. My next question is so there's one part about the permitting and then the wall banner. I don't know if it's temporary sign. What about, like, chalk art or things people write during protest? I think it's, like, freedom of speech, and sometimes they make it beautiful, sometimes it doesn't.

Like but since I'm looking at the wall banners, if it's, like, so big, what I see is I see our staff work really hard the next day cleaning on their knees in the rain day and shine. And I I feel really sad. And I I wonder if there's any way we can, like, think about it. Like, that way, you can express your feelings, and it's okay. But if there's anything we can, like I don't know. I'm just trying to brainstorm because I just I feel really sad when I see our staff on their knees just scrubbing it. Mhmm. So let me know what you think, and we'll research. And I think I talked to Diane a little bit as well. I see a lot of them still happening in one, like, major street.

So if it was the FIFA coming, I think it's gonna affect how our city look like too. I think one last question is I'm kinda with Gerald. So on the timeline about the communication with the residents, how are we gonna design the time we are between each steps? Like, the time limit.

The time limit between Like,

so so for example, like, how many days can we give this person put in a sign

Mhmm.

Where it's no action, then we just I guess you throw it away or personally this business got a penalty because they leave the sign everywhere like the Christmas light. Like, how are we deciding the timeline? Like, we give you, like, a warning. Right? Like, how would we do that?

Yeah. So the the sign code does lay out kind

of the limits, and we tried to describe those on the slide here where it sets kind of the duration that someone can have their sign posted. Uh-huh. And then what happens when they get past that period, the sign is now expired, non compliant, has to be removed. And so we will work with the applicant to remove that sign. The way our enforcement works is that, you know, for us to be getting to a point where we're ordering someone to remove their sign, you have to take that through, like, a formal process that's pretty onerous.

So it's not probably the typical path we would be taking with folks. We'd probably be better served just going out there and taking care of it ourselves, frankly, but we don't know that that's gonna be kinda how we'll approach the situation. But we'll definitely be reaching out to those contacts. That's the benefit of having a registration program. Regardless of what ends up kind of on the sticker or the label in terms of contact information, we hope to get at least some information to be able to have that line of communication with the sign owner and let them know when they need to be resolving this issue.

So for the unregistered sign, they will be taken out by default then? Can you help me to understand that?

Not necessarily, because, again, we're going to be complaint based. And then every situation is going to have a different set of circumstances that have to be looked at. So our enforcement officers, again, are going to try and make attempts to get those signs removed. We're not always interested in going out and taking someone's property and then storing it back at city hall. I don't know that we have space. We're going through a whole space planning effort right now, too. So we have to be able to think about this on a case by case basis. We'd certainly probably prioritize anything that's going to pose a risk or a safety hazard that we might address more directly. But otherwise, I think it's going to have to be really dependent on the situation.

Okay. I think one suggestion I would have would be making the case very clear and very uniform. Just because I think assigned to me, maybe it's really hazardous. Look, maybe distracted. I cannot even focus on the street. But somebody, maybe they think it's piece of art. Right? Like, I think it's very subjective. So I think help us help the people who have the sign more, I think, clear is kind. So make sure that they're not wasting their money putting a sign. That's gonna danger somebody's life. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.

That's great. Thank you so much. Deputy mayor.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you for the presentation. A lot of really good work here. Thank you for that. I do think it is time for a significant rewrite, so I'm glad we started that process.

More code clarity and speedy permit issuing will automatically bring more compliance. This code modernization will help make sure businesses are easier to find, sign approvals are faster, and Bellevue stays visually first class. I also appreciate the attention that has been paid to electronic message center signs. The proposed code effectively and appropriately puts tight limits on the location, size, brightness, motion, and operating hours for those types of signs. I think that is really important for community members who encounter those kind of signs regularly.

I like the idea of registering signs. The proliferation of temporary signs in the city has gotten out of hand, and it is certainly something that, like my colleagues, I hear quite a bit about. I'm having a little bit of struggle, though, with registration provisions in the draft code. And I know there is more work to be done and and more details to be figured out. Couple of questions here. So assign needs a registration or a permit depending on type, but not both outside of just kinda like exempt signs. Would you have to get a a permit and register any kinds of signs or one or the other or just nothing at all?

Yeah. It's set up as one or the other. So the larger signs are falling under that permit and then just the temporary yard signs that are in the registration.

Okay. And then I'm curious about the MyBelview app and if we're planning any updates to make it easier for community members to alert us to unregistered signs.

Yeah. That's one thing that we heard during initial outreach is that that had been used in the past for sign complaints, and it's something that we can also look forward for implementation in the future as well. If that's worked well in the past, relying on that again.

I do think the proof of registration should be very generic, something simple to display and essentially only show the proof of registration and nothing more. Publicly available registration information, as the example on Slide 15 shows, could be misused possibly. And so but I do think if we're going to have it, maybe it's somewhere where it could be anonymized, maybe on a city web page, but not on the sign itself. Also concerned that someone may put themselves in harm's way trying to get the contact information on a sign. Signs wind up in medians and other dangerous places, and we don't want anyone getting hurt trying to get to the sign.

I think, as I mentioned, you know, the personal contact information being misused. So I think maybe some kind of a very generic decal or something along those lines might be better. And then to a lesser degree, just looking at this example here, I'm concerned that the city's logo on a sign could serve as a stamp of approval for the content of the sign and not just with the code compliance. So I again, I think this looks very good. I just think we need to be very careful with the registration program.

And I think your plan, obviously, as you've laid out to continue your outreach efforts through the end of the year, to develop and implement the necessary programs and processes, such as the temporary sign registration program, and then also allowing time for education outreach and awareness. That makes a lot of sense. I'm really glad you built that in. So look forward to seeing the final code when it's done and ready to move forward.

Thank you, mayor.

Thank you so much, deputy mayor. Councilor Bargava, do you wanted to ask further questions?

If you wanna go first, I you can.

No. No. No. You go ahead.

Okay. Maina, actually, I'm gonna keep it really simple because one of my biggest issues was what council member Robinson and then the deputy mayor brought up. I'm really concerned with this put your name and number on every sign. It's many reasons, I'm not gonna repeat because the deputy mayor laid it out really well. I feel a lot of, you know, concern for that. So some simplification there is something that I would really encourage us to think about. You could take a picture of your sign and put it up with your registration with your phone. And if the picture is on, that's all you really need. Someone can go look up the registration to make a complaint whether it's registered or not or something. I don't wanna solve or problem solve here, obviously, for you.

But just the idea of that, you know, if I was to put up a sign and I had to put my own cell phone number on it because that's the only number I have, I would be concerned that I'm putting it out with my name on it. It just doesn't resonate with me. And then very quickly, clarifications. Yard signs have no matter what form factor they take, don't require a registration in somebody's private yard. Yes? Not in the median, not in the parkway or the right the right of way or the Mhmm. Planting strip or whatever. But in if I wanna put up a sign in my yard Yeah. I don't need a registration for that.

You you technically do. So if you wanted to have your proud of your Bellevue High School grad, or if you are supporting a candidate and you want to place that in your front yard, the sign code is agnostic to where it's placed. It's based on the type. That's, again, one of the challenges or constraints of working within the framework.

So this I didn't grok when I went through the materials. I assume you're talking about everything in the public realm, public right away, medians, anywhere else. But putting a sign in my yard, how do we sort of align that with just residential residents freedom of speech? Like, it just I'm not sure. Maybe it's just me who's not following that. But I thought it would be only for the public realm. But that's not the case here.

Yeah. It's it's any sign, and it would just require registration. Again, it's complaint based, so I think folks would have to manage risk on their own to determine, is this something my neighbor's going to complain about? But the city stance would be, yes, that sign needs a registration. And part of that is if we only required registration, for example, in our right of way, we'd probably see a lot more people putting signs on the private side just to avoid any sort of requirement of having to go through registration in the public right of way. So it's a a challenge in trying to figure

out what's the best way to approach that challenge from your perspective. And I can see your point of view. I think it's well taken. I'm just feeling like we've taken a stance that nobody can put up a sign of any kind even for appreciation of your high school grad in your yard now without going through a process of registration. Feels to me personally a step too far, but open to other thoughts on that.

And the last thing I want to bring up is just the timelines. I know for example, when we do open houses and I see this frequently for for realtors, or in in situation like that, where it's a weekend. So, thinking about a forty eight hour window where one doesn't need to take down and put up or maybe that's just something that can be simplified, might be a consideration. I'll just throw it out there because I feel like that might be more workable for many instances. Like if you have a weekend event or something like that, community gathering event, you don't have to worry about things for twenty four hours, but you can do it for forty eight hours over the whole weekend. Makes it simpler, this this suggestion. That's it.

Thank you. Councilman Newhouse.

Thank you. Councilman Bourgaba, thank you for bringing that up because I too misinterpreted that. I thought we were speaking up just in the public realm, not on your own private property. I would be adamantly opposed to having to register a sign that you wanna have on your own private property. That's that's that's a line in the sand for for for for me.

I completely understand, you know, the the context you're approaching this, and I and I agree we wanna have consistency. But I think when you're talking about signage on someone's own private property, regardless of its graduation or political or what have you, I don't think there should be any expectation that you need to register that sign with with with the city. That feels like very much an overreach of of of of of government, if I'm if I'm being honest. So I I would very much disagree with that. I would like to have that removed from the from the code.

Additionally, I would also strong strongly encourage that we do create an exemption for neighborhood associations. I think it's appropriate the role that they play. Also, they're probably a group we at least have to worry about the proliferation of their of their signs. I mean, these are people who care deeply about our community, about their neighborhood. If they put out signs, regardless if it's sign if it's twenty four hours or thirty days, they're they're going to they're going to pick them up and dispose of them correctly or or or or keep them for for for for later use.

I don't like the inequality there in terms of exemption and what's not exempt, and and and I think we should treat all those associations equally. And and then, again, the important role they play play in our city as we continue to work with them. They are a partner. They do disseminate important information for us. We're constantly asking for their opinion, etcetera. I I just play think that plays an important role kind of in our ecosystem, and I don't wanna make these volunteers have to jump through any other hoops what's what what whatsoever. So I I would hope my colleagues would would support me in that as well. So thank you so much. Thank you.

Councilman Robinson.

Well, council member Newnhams brought up some things that he doesn't appreciate in the recommendation. I would like staff's comments on that about what you want to have removed, whether that's something you recommend, what the implications would be.

So we'd love to be able to get back to you all on that. There's a certain amount of risk that's associated with some of these pathways, we just want to make sure we're understanding that, and maybe appreciate the nudge to take another look at this. So I think we'd be able to come back with that type of response.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah. Great. Anyone else? Yeah, go ahead, Councilor O'Brien.

Like to understand the risks associated with the pathways in terms of bifurcating the public and private realms because what comes to mind is a logical consistency and application of registration requirements on these signs because what's the difference between like a Seahawks flag that my neighbor unknowingly flies all the time because I'm a Patriots fan versus, like, a graduate sign or something like that. Right? Thank you. And so I guess the point is, like well and then but in all seriousness, I you know, you're the expert here. Maybe there are some risk associated with that. I'd I'd like to nudge you to take a look at those options and potentially come back if that's possible. But I I think I'd like to understand more. Thank you. Mhmm.

Great. Anyone else wants to go and ask more questions? Great. I just wanted to appreciate you all. Like, as a simple topic in our brain, signage, first of all, we have all of these questions.

And I think you guys had a goal, and your goal was to have a very good balance between not cluttering the street. I'm I'm just talking about this yard sign because a lot of feedback we hear seems to be less about permanent sign and more about temporary ones. And you guys worked so hard, in my opinion, to evaluate all of these different rules, regulations, simplification, court law, and then come up with something that to me is striking the balance that, hey, we don't want it to clutter, but also we want business or other entities does what they want by talking about their work or their business or their candidacy. Great job. I think you guys have done a fantastic job.

Again, I cannot believe how much time probably you spend to come up with this draft that it seems simple, signage. So I just wanted to appreciate you. Great work. And it seems you guys are coming back

Mhmm.

With some after hearing everything, you are coming with some kind of ideas and maybe thought. My only question is that I just wanted to even maybe add to your to your plate is and, again, just talking about this temporary sign. Do are you guys going to follow some metric that aft that, hey. We are going to do this registration. The goal is to make the enforcement easier and achieve the goal of not cluttering.

And we do it one year. And then for all of the reason that we just talked, we don't see any change. The cluttering is there. The enforcement is not no one is calling you or they call you. You give the number. Nothing happens. Are we going to have a checkpoint after implementing that as a pilot or as one year or as a two years?

Yes. That's that is sort

of how we've been imagining this playing out is I think we'll we'll see kind of how it's working and then be able to either we would be able to come back and and help you all understand how it's working or you'll hear from the community how it's working. But we do expect to kinda monitor what the implementation looks like. And also, knowing that this is a really new approach to Bellevue, so just wanting to give us a little space to learn together on what the best approach might be is how we were thinking about this.

Great. Thank you so much. Yeah.

If I might and and I don't wanna put Nick on the spot here, but I wanna make sure that if he has any questions to ask you about clarifying what you want to have brought back, that he has an opportunity to do that.

Do you have any questions?

Well, maybe I can share what I understood that you all would like to take a look at. So a little more understanding around the registration requirements for yard signs, some ideas on what the registration form or process could look like, and then questions around more of the ideological signage and signage for other purposes and understanding kind of if there's a way to look at those differently. Or public realm side, you know, maybe actually, let's I think there are you all. What?

I think there are three main maybe four main things. One is what we put on the sign and how easy it is, and maybe not put information on the sign that can hunt someone easily. Mhmm. I think the other thing is public places versus private places. My house is my house yard is different than, I think, the median.

Mhmm. The other thing that councilman Nguyen has brought maybe some exception for some group, neighbor neighbor association in this thing. And I think councilman Brouillard, again, I think we are going to deep into exception. I'm not sure how you're going are going to advise us, but I think she brought, okay, what is the difference between a sign that I'm just inviting my neighborhood to my child graduation or verse I am annoying my neighbor by being a patriots fan? Yeah. Please.

Yeah. Intention number two was what I was concerned about, which was understanding the private versus public realm. And I used a poor example,

so my

So just Okay. Difference between public and private. That's what I've heard. And I think if you guys can come back with some, great.

Great. Thanks for clarifying.

Good.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much. We have another amazing ordinance, ordinance sixty nine twelve.

Thank you, mayor, deputy mayor, council. Occasionally, and we do look for these opportunities, market market conditions provide us a chance to refinance or refund bonds that we have outstanding. And we have an opportunity now to do that with some bonds that were refinanced in 2015. And in doing that, we have a requirement that they yield that the action would yield savings to the city and the taxpayers. And so tonight, John Reesha, our director of finance and asset management and our chief financial officer and Michael Chandler, our assistant director and controller are here to explain a proposed re issuance or refunding related to those bonds, what it means and to seek potential action on an issuance.

So with that, I'll hand it over to John.

Thank you city manager Carlson. Good evening mayor Melakutian, deputy mayor Hamilton, and members of council. Tonight, we bring before you an action and I will paraphrase to consider adopting an ordinance to issue bonds in an amount not to exceed $90,000,000 for those purposes that are listed here in the action. Our agenda, we have a brief background, and we will discuss the details of the bonds as well as the anticipated timeline and what comes next. So the background, the city did issue bonds back in 2015 that became eligible for refunding in 2025.

Typically, when bonds become available for refunding, the city, along with our municipal adviser, analyzed the opportunity, and the analysis determines the measure of the savings we hope to achieve and determine whether it's a worthwhile endeavor. We have two components of the bonds that will be a refunding as well as new money. It is standard that the cost of issuance come out of the proceeds of the bonds. And then we have the term refunding that we're using. So I wanted to provide some context for that that might be familiar to all of us.

So conceptually, refunding can be thought of as a refinancing. If you think of your home mortgage, if you have an 8% home mortgage and your bank can get you a lower interest rate, let's say 6%, you would take the opportunity to refinance your mortgage and you're exchanging one debt for another. While bonds are similar, the bond transactions are a much more complicated transaction. So we'll move into the bonds. So I did discuss savings there in the the background section.

This provides a little more detail. The city policy does require a minimum of 3% savings, that's our debt policy, for any refunding. Our last calculation prior to developing the agenda memo showed a savings of approximately 1,700,000.0 over the life of the bonds. While that won't be, the final number, because there are market and economic conditions that will fluctuate between now and the bond sale, that's the the the calculation we made. Then the last bullet there, part of the proceeds will be used for property acquisition.

One aspect of the process for refunding that we didn't put in the slide deck, but I think it's worth noting, is the method of sale. We intend to use a negotiated sale method. We are currently running a competitive process to select an underwriter to work with the city and our municipal adviser. This

method,

of selecting the underwriter early in the process, actually helps us achieve the best outcome for the for the city. Typically, that results in better interest rates and lower debt issuance costs.

Michael, if I might add, as we've talked about from a broader economic condition, the market is like the economy extremely bouncy and the negotiated sale really gives us an opportunity to dial that in and ensure that the savings are in place so that we don't just open bids and come up with a surprise. We really want to be very careful and cautious in this space. And so our advisers have been helping us through that space.

And here's some additional detail. Really the most important part of this slide is in the table at the lower right. The amount of the bonds that we will be refunding shows us 53,200,000.0. The actual number is 53,140,000. And so that's the total of the refunding there.

So now we'll move into timing and the next steps. So, obviously, we are here today with the authorizing ordinance. The next step is the credit rating call that's actually on Thursday. And so we have this credit rating call with Standard and Poor's Global. It's the rating agency.

And a credit rating assesses the silly a city's ability to pay the debt, the principal and interest payments over the life of the bonds. They will review the city's financials, the economic conditions, forecasted revenue streams and expenses, and along as well as many other aspects that come into our ability to pay the debt. The city has maintained a triple A rating with S and P for a number of years. As you all may know, triple A rating is the highest rating. And we anticipate the triple A rating to be affirmed by them for this issuance as well.

As an aside, in our past rating presentations to S and P, we've actually pleaded our case for a higher rating tier just for Bellevue, but they've yet to grant that request. Then we'll move into bond closing, which is anticipated to be the week of May 25. And then the final action will be to come back with a bond ordinance that would provide the details and the final accounting of the the bond transaction. Before I close, I did wanna thank Justin Munway and his team at Piper Sandler who is the city's municipal advisor, as well as Stacy Lewis and her team at Pacifica Law Group who serve as the city's bond counsel. And with that, we are back to the action, and I'll hand it back to you, mayor.

Thank you so much. It seems like house refinancing. Whenever you have an opportunity to save money for taxpayers, you do refund. Great. Any question? Raise your hand if you have any question. No? No? Councilor Bargavo?

Just a quick question for me. This negotiated process on that, do we run the risk of leaving any money on the table with a process like that versus an open?

You always run the risk of leaving the money on the table. But in partnership with our municipal advisor, we're really taking a good look at that to make sure that we're getting the best deal and the best organization for that process. So it's not just about the offer of the best price, but it's really about the overall debt issuance. Because in the end, we're going to drop in the market. And whenever we drop that line in is what we'll end up getting. And they're going to help manage that for us and manage the risk. We're just in a really good position to be able to manage that

Okay. This is more educational for me than truly a question for you, but it's helpful. Thank you.

Any more question on this side? Two quick questions, and you can get back to me later. I just didn't under so the refinancing part completely makes sense. But I didn't find the whole full picture after, like, the refinancing and then getting money to purchase and then also the issuance cost. What is the net impact or net value? Has been there somewhere that I just missed, or you haven't had the full picture?

Mayor, you'll actually get another bite at that and see the actual numbers in the next ordinance that will come back at the at that point in time. So this gives us the ability to go identify all those pieces, and then we'll bring back the final piece in an ordinance form.

Great. Last question is timing. How did you end up with not waiting more and just start the process right now and be back by June? Like do you like how are you clearly know that's the right time?

It's a combination of watching the market conditions and our readiness as a city to enter that. We've had some ups and downs and trying to find the right timing. We've been working actually with our advisor for more than a year on finding the right timing of when it is that we think it's going to be the best conditions, trying to find that sweet spot in the interest rate, trying to find the different conditions. It sometimes is a little bit of a win check and with as bouncy as the economy has been, we felt like this was probably the best shot to get things and then we had a little bit more of unstableness. So right now, things actually look really positive.

Let's hope that things hold. And it's really we've got great advisers who are helping us get through this.

They are helping you. There was no argument for waiting more, basically. Great. Great. Can I have the motion, please?

I move to adopt ordinance number six nine one two of the city of Bellevue, Washington providing for the issuance and sale of one or more series of limited tax general obligation bonds in the aggregate principal amount of not to exceed $90,000,000 to finance costs to refund certain limited tax general obligation bonds of the city to acquire property and to pay for costs of issuance of the bonds, providing for the disposition of the proceeds of sale of the bonds, and delegating the authority to approve the method of sale for and final terms of the bonds. It

has been moved by deputy mayor and seconded by councilor Brouillard. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. I haven't heard any opposed. The motion passes. We have two written reports. One is in governmental affairs monthly update as of 04/14/2026. The other one is the one our city manager mentioned, 2025 community inclusion and engagement survey result. And on that note, I am looking forward to see you all next week, and we are adjourned.