City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the June 2nd, 2026 Bellevue City Council meeting. Thank you for being here and for taking the time to engage in the work of our community. Before I ask the clerk to call the roll, I'd like to note that both Mayor Malakoutian and Councilmember Breyer are unable to join us for our meeting. And I would like to entertain a motion to excuse their absence, please. So moved. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, motion carries. Thank you. With that, City Clerk, would you call the roll?

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Hamilton?

Here.

Council Member Bhargava?

Here.

Council Member Newenhouse? Here. Council Member Robinson? Here. Council Member Suma Dvoria?

Here.

Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Robinson, would you lead us in the flag salute?

Okay. Please stand if you're able. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

The murder has left many people heartbroken and brought pain and fear to members of the LGBTQ plus community and to anyone with friends and loved ones in this community. In moments like this, it matters that people know they are not alone. It matters that people feel supported, welcomed, valued and safe. We are creating a space to come together in that spirit of welcoming tomorrow at our Pride on the Plaza event at City Hall. I want to invite community members to join us from 3 to 6 p.m. to celebrate Pride, honor every identity, and continue building a stronger and more connected community. In recognition of Juniper's life and the impact of this loss, Pride Across the Bridge is organizing a community memorial and reflection space at the event where residents can gather, reflect, and honor her memory and the memory of all the trans and non-binary community members we have lost to violence. And with that, I'll invite Council Member Bhargava to read the proclamation.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Whereas lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning, intersex, asexual, non-binary, and two-spirit communities are integral to the vibrancy of Bellevue, contributing immeasurably to our city's academic, economic, artistic, cultural, civic, and social life, And whereas the month of June is designated as Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots of June 1969, widely recognized as a catalyst for the LGBTQ plus rights movement, and as an opportunity to reflect on the ongoing pursuit of equality, dignity, and belonging, and whereas Pride Month is a time to celebrate progress achieved through decades of advocacy, leadership, and community building while recognizing the continued importance of ensuring all people can live safely, authentically, and with dignity, and whereas the City of Bellevue is committed to fostering a welcoming community where all residents, employees, and visitors are treated with respect and all people can feel can fully participate in civic life, and whereas the city remains committed to supporting and respecting LGBTQ plus community members, including transgender and non-binary individuals, and to fostering community where all people feel valued, safe, and a sense of belonging, and whereas the City of Bellevue continues to strengthen community through listening to, learning from, and collaborating with LGBTQ plus community members and organizations to help create an inclusive and affirming city for all. Now, therefore, I, Vishal Bhargava, on behalf of Mo Malikuchan, Mayor of Bellevue, Washington, and the City Council, do hereby proclaim June 2026 as LGBTQIA2S Plus Pride Month. in Bellevue and celebrate the meaningful contributions and lasting impact of the LGBTQIA2S plus community members and invite all residents to participate in Pride Month events and opportunities to celebrate inclusion, belonging, and community.

Now we'll have Corina Lynn Guyette, President, Board of Directors for the Eastside Pride Pacific Northwest to offer some comments and then we'll ask if you would just hang around afterwards. We'll do one more proclamation and then we'd love to do a picture.

Great. Sounds good. First, I want to start off by saying thank you to the mayor, who's not here right now, but for all council members as well for inviting me here to accept this proclamation. It means a lot to me and Eastside Pride. But my name is Corinna Lynn Guyette. My pronouns are she and her. And I am the president of Eastside Pride, PNW. I am also a proud member of the LGBTQ plus community, a mom. I have my son, Richter, here with me. And he sees a lot of the activism that we do proudly. But I've been actively advocating for over 27 years. And on the east side, it's been an honor to see all the support that we've gotten over the last couple years. But on behalf of the community, thank you for issuing this proclamation. Visibility at the city level matters very, very much. as there's still a lot of people that feel invisible. Our community has experienced, as you know, a profound challenge across the nation facing alarming surge in anti-trans legislation, which is targeting violence and coordinated efforts that are rolling back many of our hard-won civil rights over the years that we've worked really hard for. But I just want to say that this proclamation really sets the tone publicly, encouraging inclusive policies, training in safer places for me, my family, and our fellow LGBTQ members. It also signals official recognition affirming that our community residents are valued and that we belong. And I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, that we look forward to building this momentum. Things don't happen overnight, but I've seen so much positive support, and I just want to Personally, thank Lynn Robinson, Council Member Lynn Robinson, for all your support in helping us get Paws and Pride off the ground, one of the largest LGBTQ plus celebrations. That event means a lot to our community, so we wouldn't have been able to do that without your support. So thank you from the bottom of my heart. And thank you, Bellevue, for all that you're doing. I'm excited to be a part of the celebration tomorrow. So thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you. I'll invite Karen Klein to come up from every town for gun safety and have a seat at the table. And we'll ask Councilmember Robinson to read the National Gun Violence Awareness Day Proclamation.

Okay, thank you. Whereas public safety and community well-being are foundational to a strong and thriving Bellevue, and every resident deserves to feel safe at home, in schools, in workplaces, and throughout our community, and gun violence continues to affect communities across the nation, causing tragic loss of life, impacting families and neighborhoods, and creating lasting effects for survivors and loved ones. And communities, public agencies, healthcare providers, educators, law enforcement, professionals, and local organizations all play important roles in advancing awareness, prevention, and support efforts that help reduce violence and promote safety. And National Gun Violence Awareness Day is observed in recognition of, oh dear, I'm not sure if I want to say this. Thank you. Haria Pendleton, who was tragically killed at age 15 and whose memory inspired a movement to raise awareness and encourage action around gun violence prevention. And orange has become the symbol of this effort because it represents the value of human life and serves as a visible reminder of the importance of protecting communities and supporting one another. And the City of Bellevue recognizes the importance of community partnerships, awareness, and shared responsibility in supporting public safety and strengthening community well-being. Now, therefore, I, Lynn Robinson, on behalf of Mo Malakoutian, Mayor of Bellevue, Washington, and the City Council do hereby proclaim June 5th, 2026 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day in Bellevue and encourage community members to honor those affected by gun violence, support efforts that strengthen community safety, and recognize the importance of working together to create a safer future for all.

I, too, want to thank the council and everybody here that's engaging in local politics, because if politics is local, then gun violence is really local. And this means a lot to me as well as a survivor of gun violence. I have a couple of advocates here with me and we're going to share the mic. We wear orange to demand a future free from gun violence. This year, we wear orange and we're focused on not only raising awareness, but on the many actionable steps we can all take to protect our families and communities. From parents to community partners to law enforcement to responsible gun owners who securely store their guns to keep our community safe, this effort takes all of us.

Really quick. Hi, my name is Mark. I am a current middle schooler, eighth grader at Odo Middle School in the BSD. And I would like to add on about what Wear Orange stands for. So Wear Orange is about more than just raising awareness. It's about keeping things practical and local and giving people real ways to save lives right now. Whether it's through secure gun storage education or showing up for your community, it's time for all of us to take meaningful action to keep our community safe. Making a difference starts with small steps, and as we wear orange, we recognize we all have the power to act. This year, community members across the United States will be focusing on some of the concrete steps they can take to recommit to a culture of responsibility, safety, and power.

I will read the paragraph in Spanish. Great, thank you. We'll come down and have a picture.

Okay, are there any objections to approving the agenda? Hearing none, the agenda is approved by unanimous consent and we will move on to oral communications. City Clerk, do we have anyone signed up tonight?

Yes, thank you, Deputy Mayor. There are 12 pre-registered speakers this evening, but we are going to hit one of our maximums. So before I start going over the rules, I want to mention that the council does appreciate members of the public engaging and contributing their perspectives and supports everyone's right to express themselves. However, comments made during oral communications are those of views of the individual speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the council or the city. So a few of the rules, the total time for oral communications is for a period of not more than 30 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 council within the last 60 days or who will be speaking to items that will come in front of the council within the next 60 days. Each speaker is allowed up to three minutes to speak. And here's the important part for tonight. The maximum of three speakers will be allowed to speak to any one side of a particular topic. We are going to reach the maximum in support for the Vision Zero item. So I will let you know when we've hit that max. So with that, I'll call our first speaker. Actually, sorry, one more reminder 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 may support or oppose a candidate for election, and that includes one's own campaign. Anyone beginning to speak on those topics will be asked to stop. Now I will call our first speaker, who is Raymond Zhao.

Good evening, Deputy Mayor Hamilton, council members and staff. I'm Raymond, a Redmond resident who enjoys taking transit to the mall, Crossroads Mall. I appreciate the drafted speed limit reductions, especially around the Crossroads and Bell Red neighborhoods. Slower moving cars mean less serious crashes when they do happen because energy transfer during a crash is proportional to speed squared. Physics. At the same time, the current design of the roads, wide and straight, does not incentivize people to actually drive more slowly. Back when I drove a car in Toronto, we went faster on equally wide roads. Thus, on top of the speed limit reductions, I would like the city to use TBD revenue to invest in additional improvements such as multimodal infrastructure, signal improvements, and road calming measures. in order to provide more natural incentives for drivers to slow down. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Ann Clark.

Hello, I'm Ann Clark. I am from the Vassa Park neighborhood, and I'm here to talk about the speed on 34th Avenue, 34th Street Southeast, and there's a school bus zone there, and people take that as a shortcut and drive really fast. There's no sidewalk. There's sidewalk at the top of the street and there's sidewalk at the bottom of the street, but there's no sidewalk where the children are meeting the bus. And so children are jumping into the ditches in order to avoid being hit by traffic. And I will tell you, I have a victim of being hit by a car as a pedestrian. And underwent 4 surgeries, 2 and a half years of physical therapy. I'm lucky to be here talking to you, but the car at the same child had experienced the same accident. They would be dead. So it's been a long, long road for me. And I still have chronic pain every day. And it's a battle I fight every day. But I'm here to tell you, if you don't do something about slowing down those cars coming down that hill, a child will be dead. And it will be something that you will regret for the rest of your life. So that's all I have to say. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next speaker is Steve Fantel. Looks like Mr. Pantel is joining us virtually. Mr. Pantel, can you hear me?

Yes, there we go.

I think your time begins now.

Thank you. I appreciate it. And good evening. I've been a Bellevue resident for over 30 years, and tonight I'm speaking in support of the multifaceted approach to traffic safety that encompasses the city's Vision Zero strategy. Reducing speed limits on the majority of the city streets, addressing safe routes to schools, and increasing the number of speed safety cameras are all steps in the right direction as we collectively set our sights on achieving Vision Zero goals by 2030. Unfortunately, even with all the work that's being done, the metrics by which the success of Vision Zero is measured continue to trend in the wrong direction. Large-scale, big-budget, multi-year initiatives alone have not made enough of an impact to reduce the number of serious crashes and fatalities over the past years. As Belgium's population continues to increase, The pace to implementation of traffic safety programs like we do speed limits, speed safety cameras and traffic calming measures is not keeping up. I really would encourage staff and the Council to accelerate the implementation of these things. In addition, I feel that there are opportunities that are being overlooked, namely for low-cost, rapid implementation safety projects. I personally have asked for multiple years now for a number of bike-related safety improvements in the Factoria and Somerset neighborhoods, small-scale projects that fit in well with Vision Zero, Safe Streets and Safe Routes to Schools initiatives. transportation department needs to have a dedicated discretionary fund for these types of small scale rapid implementation safety related projects in order to complement the portfolio of the major projects overall safety is best achieved when all levels of effort are addressed and i just want to say in closing not not meeting the Vision Zero goals by 2030 should not be viewed as a failure, but rather as a challenge. It's a challenge to continue to seek out opportunities to increase safety through infrastructure improvements, through urban planning, and through education, and through enforcement. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. That was our third speaker on the Vision Zero or Safe Speeds in Bellevue topic, so we won't be able to hear any additional speakers on that. Our next speaker is Alex Zimmerman.

Hi. My name Alex Zimmerman. I live here for 40 years and I think you treat people, minority and immigrant and something like me, you know what I mean? Yeah. Not legal. And I explain to you example what is you did to me. For last three year, Mayor Robinson give me trespasses. Three year trespasses because I'm candidate against her. And she don't want what is I be candidate against her. So she give me trespass for three year. Today trespass expire. Yeah. I'm very happy. I'm very happy. I'm very happy. So she, with support of king country mafia, you know, what has been organized criminal, cut my statement for election. Yeah, it's never happened before in state Washington history, but everything was to become first time. For the last three years, they prosecute me three times, trespassing for government, government trespassing, three times. Each case goes for two years. In my life, I never see misdemeanor case, what is go for two years. In Bellevue, the judges, what is we have? A dirty crook, everything possible. It's very interesting because it's involved a tourney. public defender who makes this two year. So we pay for these two years. Yep. Who money? My money. People money. Well, the policeman give me for three year Tory traffic ticket. And I bring each ticket in court for hearing. This hearing cost $4,000. Yeah. So 30 ticket multiplied by 4,000 has come to 120,000. In everything what they did to me before, you know what this mean? So I'm calculate approximately $500,000 city spent with fighting with Alex Zimmerman. Can somebody answer me very questions, answer you know what this mean? Who pays this half million dollars? I am. I'm here. You can give me another trespass. It's up to you. I'm not too much care about this. Half a million dollars for 40 years they spent for fighting with Alex Zimmerman, only because I'm talking about something that is very important for everybody, for America, and make America great again. It's very interesting, guys. Because I don't understand. For example, Mayor, Mayor Robinson make $400 per hour. You know what it means? We pay her $400 per hour. Where is money come from, huh? Where is come for half million dollars for Alex Zimmerman? Where is money come? For Mayor Robinson's salary, $400,000 per year. Viva Trump. Viva new American revolution. Stand up slave and happy cow. Stop and steal us money. You're stealing from us a billion and billion dollars. Wake up, idiot.

MS. Your time has expired. Our next speaker is Guillermo Rivera. Also, Heather Kelly will be joining him at the table. Thank you.

Should I just arrange my thing first?

It's the look tonight.

Hello, Deputy Mayor, Council Members. My name is Guillermo Rivera. I'm here today on behalf of Eastside for All and Safe Heaven, an informal coalition of 35 organizations and more than 160 individuals across Eastside. In May of 2024, we create RISE, a community response network to share information, coordinate support, respond to immigration enforcement activity, and jointly advocate for impacted communities. We established an Eastside Community Hotline for residents to report ICE activity in the east of King County. We have given more than 17 presentations about these efforts, reaching over 600 people at the community organizations and churches who now have a better understanding of what's happening in the Eastside and how we can address this challenge hyperlocally, neighbors helping neighbors. We have partnered with other community-based organizations doing similar work across the Puget Sound. Thank you to Councilmember Hamilton and Councilmember Zama de Riquilla. to attend the Welcoming in Action event where more than 65 people came together to discuss what we need to do to support our neighbors, our strengths, our responses, and our community. Hopefully you all received my recap that I sent with the summary needs and concerns and ideas. Today, more than 100 concerned residents are actively involved in our rapid response efforts, volunteering to support our communities to the front lines. Since October 2025, we have documented 120 incidents, including both confirmed and suspected immigration enforcement activities. January 2026 saw the highest number of reports in the month with 25 incidents. Bellevue have experienced the highest level of activity, particularly in the crossroads and South Bellevue. We have documented at least 40 confirmed detainees in East King County. At least 40 families have been broken in our neighbors. In just the last two weeks, we received 12 reports from Bellevue with 13 documented detainees without counting what happened this last weekend and yesterday. Our communities are organized and responding to this emergency. People are looking to one another, sharing information and stepping to help. We ask you to think about what other ways the city can help to protect people and keep families safe. What policies do you need to make? How do you need to work together with community organizations that already know, support, and help families every day? Thank you for your time and consideration. And Bellevue have more than 40% of people that are immigrants. That means that the city have the responsibility to help and a chance to lead with kindness. Support with money is important. Yeah, that's fine.

Hello, my name is Heather Kelly, and I am a long-term, almost lifelong resident of Bellevue. I'm here to speak about the fear and disruption that federal immigration officers are causing in our city. Unless you are working in community with our immigrant neighbors and the local organizations that support them, you are likely not aware of the scope of immigration enforcement in Bellevue. In just the last two weeks, at least 12 of our neighbors have been detained and taken away, all in the Lake Hills, Crossroads, and Sammamish High School neighborhoods. The people who were detained were on their way to work, the grocery store, and one man was even taken from his car right in front of St. Louis Church during Sunday service last week. Many of our neighbors who are detained are parents and have been separated from their children. With the threat of deportation hanging over their heads, parents are being forced to make plans about who will care for their children if they are detained. I have personally notarized documents for dozens of parents. Just yesterday, I notarized documents for a mom who was about to go to an immigration check in with her two year old and needed to make a plan for her little girl in case she was deported. You see, following the rules and going to your immigration check-in is not an assurance that you won't be put in the detention center and deported. Without a plan, this mom's toddler could end up in foster care. People tell us they are afraid to leave their homes to buy groceries, attend appointments, or participate in all the ways in community life. This climate of fear affects not only individual families, but the health and well-being of our entire community. On the Friday morning before Memorial Day, the dad of a Sammamish student was taken outside his home, and this news spread quickly. Students pulled out their phones to track their parents' locations, afraid for them. In many classrooms, teachers felt compelled to address the fast spreading rumors and concerns. Instead of focusing on school, teachers and students are worrying about their fellow students and whether their families will still be together when they get home. These impacts ripple outward to schools, workplaces, employers, neighborhoods, and local businesses. Our entire community is affected when neighbors, classmates, coworkers, and friends live with constant fear and uncertainty. Children who are US citizens worry about whether a parent will be there when they come home from school. Teachers, counselors, faith leaders, and service providers see this stress and anxiety firsthand. When families are afraid to report crimes, seek medical care, attend school events, or participate in community life, everyone is impacted, weakening the sense of trust, safety, and connection that strong communities like Bellevue depend on. I urge the council to recognize the human and societal consequences of federal immigration enforcement and support all members to make them feel safe. It's expired.

The next speaker is Lynn Franzen.

Good evening. My name is Lynn Franson, and I want to speak to the safety of pedestrians on Southeast 34th Street. We have lived in our present location on 34th Street for 49 years. We were in unincorporated King County and annexed into the city of Bellevue. Safety improvements have not changed since we were annexed. Enforcement of speed limit almost non-existent. We were told at the time that we would have sidewalks all the way up 34th Street. We actually have about 100 yards. So we end up having to walk along the side of the road, which there's not much room. What we need to start the process of making Southeast 34th Street safer is a reduction of the speed limit to 25 miles an hour, which I understand will allow the city to build sidewalks, crosswalks, speed bumps, and speed cameras. Pardon?

I apologize. I believe you're speaking to one of the items that we've already hit the maximum of support on. I'll look to the mayor if you want to make a different decision there.

Well, I'm about done.

I think I detect a slight difference here, so we'll just let you continue. Thank you. Okay, thank you.

Okay, so we have been waiting a long time to see any improvement. There are more young families moving into the neighborhood with children getting off school buses and trying to cross the road and not having a safe place to walk along the street. It's time for the city to make needed safety upgrades. Thank you for your attention. I think we do have some VASA neighbors in the audience. Raise your hands if you're in that group.

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Verinder Sidhu.

Good evening, deputy mayor, council members, and members of the community. I'm here on behalf of our neighborhood regarding safe parking program proposed in our neighborhood. My name is Dr. Vrinder Korsedu, and I want to begin by saying that I have devoted my career to caring for others. We highly support this program, but this program has never been implemented in a location quite like this within our neighborhood setting, and many residents are concerned about becoming a test case without fully understanding the long-term consequences. Traffic is another significant concern. Our neighborhood has limited access points and vehicles exiting the area already face challenges because there is no traffic signal at a key exit. Additional vehicles will cause, create a long congestion and seniors will have to walk very carefully when there's too much traffic on the road. This is not a statement against helping people. It's a request to find a location that better balances the needs of those receiving services with the needs of the residents who live nearby. Compassion and careful planning can exist together. We can support individuals without placing a significant burden on a residential neighborhood that has expressed serious concerns. As taxpayers, we have invested in this community because it's safe, peaceful, and family-oriented. We support responsible solutions to difficult problems and also believe that residents deserve meaningful consideration when a proposed directly affects their homes, property values, and quality of life. I'm also concerned about the disproportionate impact on nearby residents. While the program may serve a broader public purpose, but the burdens will fall most heavily on the families who live directly across from it. Some homes, including mine, will experience the greatest impact every single day. As a veterinarian, I'm also concerned about animal safety. Many families in this community walk their dogs daily. Increased vehicle movement without adequate fencing or protective barriers may increase the risk of pets being injured by traffic. These concerns may seem small to some, but many families, pets are beloved family members of them. It'll be a big problem. I am a veterinarian. I face this problem like when any residence area, like there is a traffic without any fence, when we are going to see that, there'll be so many hit by car cases. I already face this. I have my own practice. I see this all the time. So it's going to be a big challenge. I believe this program we support fully, but it should not be in a residential where it's going to be located in the center area of this residential area. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you. Our next speaker is Janice Clark.

I do not see Ms. Clark here. Ms. Clark, if you're online, if you could raise your hand so I can identify you. OK. I do not see any hands. So at this point, we do have a few minutes left in oral communication. So I would ask if anyone is joining us here this evening or anyone online joining us who would like to speak to the council, please raise your hand. Again, we have reached the maximum in support of the Vision Zero item. I do see one hand online, and that is Joe Kuntzler. Mr. Kuntzler, can you hear me?

Can you hear me?

Yeah, we can. Your time begins now.

Thank you for the public service. I'm calling you from the sound of North because I was deeply disturbed by Alex Zimmerman's mistruths, misrepresentations, misogyny.

Mr. Koonzler, excuse me, excuse me. Please, if you would just keep your comments related to city business, please. Thank you.

Okay. I would like to inform the City Council that, number one, then-Mayor Robertson excluded Zimmerman after he waived his sign and disrupted multiple meetings. Number two, he was removed off the boarder's pamphlet because of a complaint I made. And because I've been asked to leave this at City Business, I have to leave it at that. I will email you the details when I get home this evening, I guess. But I want to thank you for your public service. I hope you'll exclude Alex Zimmerman at your earliest opportunity, please. Thank you and good evening.

Thank you.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor, I did not see any additional hands, so I'll turn it back to you.

Okay, great. Certainly we appreciate all the comments that people took the time to make tonight and just want to assure everyone that the council is listening and that will follow up if and when appropriate. So thank you for that. Now moving to the report of the city manager.

Thank you Deputy Mayor and Council Members. I have two things I'd like to highlight tonight from your packet material. The first is in the consent calendar and that is we have three items associated with the Grand Connection Crossing project. With the Council moving forward with the tax increment financing being established, we are moving forward with the project. So there is a contract for the uh design component and also for our general contractor construction management to begin work on the pre-construction work so thank you for that and we will continue to bring you highlights of how that project is moving along The second item is under the written reports. There is a report that provides findings for the 23 and 24 years of our Community Crisis Assistance Team, or CCAT program. This program is very successful. It began in 2021 with a pilot that was initiated by the police department and then was joined by our fire department, our fire cares, and they work in collaboration and they have been very successful ever since. The findings in the report show that this program has produced very strong results for our community and the individuals that they have contacted. They contacted over 1,300 individuals in the years covered by the report and also handled over 3,600 calls in 2024. As you know, the program relies on having a very robust follow-up program. And so those initiated calls turned into 8,600 follow-ups, helping to stabilize individuals. The 2025 data is in the works now, and you will be receiving a report on 2025 later this year. Overall, CCAT has been significantly improving crisis response, helping to stabilize individuals in the community that have complex problems or issues. and reducing our emergency service responses needed. So I want to thank Chief Tate and Chief Shirley and Natasha Grossman, who is a program manager for CARES, for helping to really take this program and make it into something that is unique and robust and very, very helpful for our community. They are joined in that effort by Battalion Chief Matt Burrow, Police Sergeant Moreland and officers Pittman, Porter, Tellier, Rodriguez, Melendez, and Hemsley. Next week, we'll receive a report on public safety from the chief. So you'll hear a little bit more about CCAT and its current program next week. Thank you.

Very good. If we could get a motion, please.

I move to approve the consent calendar.

All right, it's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor of approving the consent calendar, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? All right, the motion carries. Thank you for that. And we can move on to our study session items. Our Utility Bill Assistance Program takes the lead here.

Thank you Deputy Mayor. So our first study session is on the utility bill assistance program and we are joined by some of our staff from the utility department, our director Lucy Liu, our deputy director Scott Edwards, our fiscal manager Matt Hobson, and then also the chair of the Environmental Services Commission, Ken Wan. The Environmental Services Commission has been developing and evaluating options to potentially expand the utility bill assistance programs for water, sewer, storm, and surface water, and also for solid waste services. And they are bringing a recommendation to you this evening, which our staff will highlight and explain. And with that, I'll turn it over to Director Liu.

Thank you, Ms. Carlson. Good evening, Deputy Mayor and Council Members. Tonight, we are sharing the recommendations for expanding the utilities bill assistance program. These recommendations are aimed at providing great relief to our community members that are most in need. So tonight we are asking for your direction on how to expand the bill assistance program to more households. You will see that the need for assistance in our community exceeds the resources and the eligibility requirements of our current program. These recommendations focus on preserving the assistance that we already provide to the community and provide meaningful relief to more households. At the same time, we recognize that utility costs are part of every household budget, no matter how small or how large. And our community members are facing rising costs across all utilities, not just those provided by Bellevue Utilities. These recommendations balance the need to provide assistance to our most vulnerable community members while managing the impact to all other households that pay utility bills. Our agenda tonight will cover four areas. First, we will provide an overview of the city's existing bill assistance program, and as a part of this background, we will talk about the gap that exists between our current program and the need for rate relief in our community. Next, we will summarize the policy options that the Environmental Services Commission explored to close the affordability gap. Chair Wan will then present the Commission's recommendation and the key factors that influence that recommendation. And following his comments, my team are available to answer any questions you may have. So our existing bill assistance program. Today we offer ongoing utility rate relief programs to serve seniors with low income and residents with a permanent disability. This program provides a 70% discount to customers who receive a bill directly from Bellevue Utilities and it provides a 70% rebate to households that receive a bill indirectly from us. The 70% discount is also available to qualify households that receive a solid waste bill from Republic Services. The rebate program is currently not available to households that pay their solid waste bill through their housing provider. Currently, for low income community members who do not meet the age or disability requirements for long term assistance, we have the short term emergency assistance program that provides bill relief for customers facing financial shock. This program waives up to four months of basic utility bills for qualified customers. In addition, we also have our newest program, which is the Neighbors Helping Neighbors program, which waives up to two months of basic utility bills to households that are past due on their bill. This program is funded by donations from the community, and to encourage donations, utilities matches up to $50,000 per year in donations. A tax rebate program is also available to provide a utility tax rebate to low-income households regardless of age or physical ability and utilities administers this program paid by the general fund. Altogether almost 1,100 households take advantage of these programs each year and we spend over a million dollars per year to support residents in need. While this is good support for the community, Scott will next speak to the need for expanding assistance to serve even more community members in need.

Thank you, Lucy, and good evening, Deputy Mayor and Council Members. Considering the need for assistance, households in Bellevue and across the US struggle to pay their utility bills. A recent study by the EPA estimated 12 to 19 million households in the US do not have access to affordable water and sewer utility services. And while there's no universal approach to measure affordable utility services, we can learn from other regional entities in our utilities, neighboring utilities, as well as the assistance Bellevue provides for housing and recreation services. Many of these services rely on income guidelines established by the US Department of Health and Human Services to determine eligibility. Households with an annual income of 50% or less of the area median income, or AMI, are considered very low income. 50% AMI in Bellevue is equal to about $79,000 for a family of four. Households with an annual income of 50% to 80% of AMI are considered low income. 80% AMI in Bellevue is about $121,000 for a family of four. 80% AMI is consistent with how the city's human services need assessment defines community members in need. We estimate there are 15,000 households in Bellevue that have annual income at or below the 80% AMI threshold. The current long-term utility assistance program is available to seniors and individuals with permanent disabilities with annual income at or below 50% of area median income. We estimate the current program is available to 4,000 households. The program supports our most vulnerable community members, but it falls short of matching the need for bill assistance in Bellevue as measured by the city's other assistance programs and similar utility assistance programs in the region. We estimate there are 11,000 households in Bellevue who do not qualify for long-term bill assistance. These households include seniors who have incomes between 50% to 80% of the area median income, and individuals and families who are under the age of 62 who have incomes up to 80% of the area median income. As we expand the bill assistance program to help more community members in need, we'll continue to expand our outreach efforts to reach more community members. Our outreach approaches year round and focuses on ensuring all residents have meaningful opportunities to learn about available assistance. Providing multilingual communications helps reduce language barriers and improves awareness of available resources. Partnering with trusted community based organizations strengthens relationships and helps us connect with residents who may not typically engage with city programs. We have expanded outreach into more community spaces to meet residents where they are, making engagement more accessible and convenient. These efforts support a more equitable approach to outreach and help identify barriers residents face when seeking assistance. We also use a variety of outreach and engagement channels to reach a broad and diverse audience across the community. Community connect sessions create opportunities for direct conversations with community members and staff. Participation in community events such as farmers markets and block parties allow us to share information in trusted and familiar spaces. Social media and news releases help increase awareness and provide timely updates to the public. Bellevue TV produced a segment on the utility bill assistance program for the February Lake to Lake episode to help amplify information on the program to the community. COMMUNITY NEWSLETTERS PROVIDE ANOTHER CONSISTENT WAY TO SHARE PROGRAM INFORMATION AND UPDATES AND THE CITY'S CULTURAL OUTREACH ADVISORS HELP ENSURE COMMUNICATION AND ENGAGEMENT EFFORTS ARE CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE TO DIVERSE COMMUNITIES. Before we review options to expand the assistance program, I'll highlight briefly some of the guiding principles city staff and the Environmental Services Commission considered when evaluating the different options. In total, the commission evaluated six unique options for council's consideration. We were mindful that about 1,000 households are already receiving long-term bill assistance. Most of the options considered by the commission preserve the level of assistance that is provided to these households. We believe all of the options you'll see tonight will have a meaningful impact on a household's ability to pay for utility services both today and into the future. With the anticipated rising cost of utilities, these options provide sustained relief to customers ranging from about $500 to $1,600 per year. Asking for help can be difficult for many of us and for this reason, many of these options align with eligibility requirements with other regional utilities and with the recommendations from Bellevue's Human Services Needs Update. This can help streamline the application review process, providing quicker assistance to those in need. And finally, the bill assistance programs are primarily funded by utility rates. The options balance the need to provide assistance while managing the impact to all other households that pay utility bills. Next, Matt will review the primary options to expand the long-term program and how they align to these guiding principles.

Great. Evening, Deputy Mayor, Council Members. As Scott mentioned, the Commission studied six options to expand assistance. I'm going to highlight four of those options that they focused their study on. The other two options had higher rate impacts than what you'll see of the four options tonight. The table on this slide provides an overview of a couple of these options. I'll provide an overview of the third and fourth options on the next slide. And just to orient the group on the layout here, the left side of the slide describes each option based on how it expands eligibility for assistance, as well as the estimated impact to utility rates and the equivalent impact to a typical single-family residential monthly bill. The middle section provides an estimate of the number of eligible households. And then we estimate that about 25% of those eligible for assistance would apply in the initial years. And then the right side of the slide demonstrates how each option aligns with those guiding principles that Scott previewed in the previous slide. So for the first option, it expands the program to more seniors. and to those with permanent disabilities by increasing eligibility up to 80% of AMI. That means it would be available to about 6,000 households and it would maintain the existing discount level at 70% of basic utility costs. We expect that based on a 25% participation level that about 1,500 customers would apply and receive assistance initially. The annual assistance amount would be $900 and $1,600 per year for the rebate and for the discount programs respectively. And then funding this option would require a four-tenths of 1% rate increase to the water, sewer, and stormwater bills, utilities next year, and that's equal to about 93 cents to a typical single-family residential monthly bill. The second option broadens the umbrella and expands to all households up to 50% of AMI. And it would be available to 10,000 households. This is the only option you'll see tonight that decreases assistance to current enrollees. It would decrease assistance from the current 70% discount down to 50% discount. And that would be equivalent to $700 and $1,200 discount or rebate. Funding this option would require a 1% rate increase to all three utilities, which is about a $2.33 monthly impact to a single family residential bill. While both of these options advance the city towards closing that affordability gap, the commission identified some trade-offs for these two options. One, option A does not close the affordability gap for individuals and families who are under the age of 62. And option B is the only option you'll see tonight that reduces existing assistance for folks who are already on the program. It also does not close the affordability gap for households with incomes between 50 and 80% of AMI. So staff developed two other options for the Commission's consideration that expand the existing program to all households up to 80% of area median income and does not lower the assistance to current enrollees. The third and recommended option, option B1 here on the screen, expands the program to all households up to 80% of AMI, and it does so by introducing two levels of assistance. Seniors and individuals with permanent disabilities with incomes up to 50% of AMI would continue to receive a 70% discount on basic utility costs. Seniors and individuals with permanent disabilities with incomes between 50% and 80% would begin to receive an assistance of 35% of basic utility costs. And that's equal to about $480 for the rebate per year and $830 for the discount program per year. All other eligible customers would also receive assistance at 35% of basic utility costs. Funding this option requires a 1.2% rate increase across all three utilities, water, sewer, and stormwater, and that's equivalent to about a $2.39 bill increase on a typical monthly bill. The fourth option is similar to the third option, option B2 on screen here. The key difference is that it increases the discount amount from 35% up to 40%, and that would require a 1.3% rate increase across the three utilities, which is equal to about a $3 per month increase to a typical bill. This table on screen summarizes those four options. So you can compare one with another based on income eligibility, the households reached, assistance levels, and the rate and bill impacts for each option. Just to orient the group here, the first column describes each option based on how it expands assistance. Second column provides an estimate of the number of households that would be eligible. Again, we assume that about 25% of eligible households would participate in the first year. The third column is the level of assistance provided to participating households as measured as a percent of their utility bill. And then the fourth column is the estimated rate impact to all other customers to fund the expanded assistance program. And then the fifth column converts that rate impact to an equivalent monthly bill. The recommended option is emphasized in the middle of the table, and because we reviewed each option already, I'll just speak briefly to the key differences. Option B1 is the recommended option because it achieves the four key guiding principles that Scott referenced earlier. It expands eligibility and closes the affordability gap for Bellevue utilities, while also maintaining the current level of assistance for current enrollees. It provides a tiered and meaningful assistance amount to those who are participating, ranging from around $500 per year to up to $1,600 per year. The tiered assistance approach also helps to minimize the impact to all other rate payers. By comparison, option A limits expanding assistance to more seniors and those with permanent disabilities. and has the lowest rate impact of all the options. Option B expands the program to more households compared to option A, but less compared to the recommended option. Once again, option B is the only option that decreases the level of assistance for current enrollees. And then finally, option B2 expands the program to the same number of households as the recommended option. The key difference is the discount level increases from 35% to 40%. and I would add 1 10th of 1% increase above the recommended option. Last slide. So to provide a consistent assistance level across all of the utility assistance programs, the commission also considered two other changes. The first was to align the short-term assistance program requirements with that of those changes that would be adopted from the long-term changes. AS LUCY MENTIONED, THE SHORT-TERM ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, WE ACTUALLY HAVE TWO OF THEM. AN EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, WHICH WAVES UP TO FOUR MONTHS OF BASIC UTILITY BILLS FOR QUALIFIED CUSTOMERS. AND THE NEIGHBORS, HELPING NEIGHBORS PROGRAM, WHICH WAVES UP TO TWO MONTHS OF BILLS. The other change the commission evaluated was expanding and aligning the solid waste long-term assistance program with the water sewer and stormwater programs. The city through its solid waste collection provider offers long-term bill assistance, but today only to folks with a solid waste account. The proposed change would expand assistance to multifamily residential households who pay solid waste services as part of their housing costs. and would provide a uniform assistance program across all of the city's four utilities. At this time, I'll turn it back to Lucy.

Thank you, Matt. Before I turn it over to Chair Wan, I want to thank the Environmental Services Commission for their thoughtful study and deliberation on the options to expand utility bill assistance. We're fortunate to have a commission who took the time to study different options over three meetings between January and May of this year. to consider the needs of our community members needing bill assistance while being mindful of the impact to all the other households that pay utility bills to arrive at their recommendation. The commission's guidance and feedback was instrumental in creating a strategy to close the utility bill assistance gap by offering meaningful assistance to low-income community members while managing the bill impacts to all other households. AT THIS POINT, I'D LIKE TO INVITE CHAIR WAN TO SPEAK TO THE COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDATION AND THE KEY FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THEIR RECOMMENDATION.

THANK YOU, LUCY. AND GOOD EVENING, DEPUTY MAYOR, COUNCIL MEMBERS. AS LUCY MENTIONED, THE COMMISSION SPENT SIGNIFICANT TIME REVIEWING AFFORDABILITY IMPACTS AND EVALUATING HOW UTILITY BILL ASSISTANCE COULD BETTER SERVE BELLEVUE COMMUNITY MEMBERS FACING RISING COSTS. Commissioners carefully considered both community needs and long-term utility stewardship throughout discussions and carefully weighed multiple perspectives before advancing this recommendation forward. During our discussions, the Commission felt that maintaining the status quo was not a viable option given ongoing affordability challenges facing some residents. Therefore, the Commission supports expanding the bill assistance eligibility to all low income households so the program can reach more community members who may be struggling to afford essential utility services. At the same time, commissioners felt strongly that households already participating in the current long term assistance program should continue to receive the same level of support while also broadening access to additional eligible community members. The commission also recognized the importance of creating a more consistent and customer friendly experience by aligning the short term and solid waste assistance programs with other utility assistance programs. Simplifying the structure reduces complexity and makes the program easier for community members to understand and actually take advantage of. Because of affordability concerns in our community, the Commission discussed the estimated bill impact associated with the recommendation and felt that the $2.79 monthly residential bill impact, that for option B1, represented a worthwhile trade-off given the meaningful benefit it would provide to households in need. Overall, the Commission believes this recommendation strikes an appropriate balance between affordability, equity, and responsible utility stewardship, while helping ensure essential utility services remain accessible to Bellevue community members. The Commission appreciates this opportunity to consider the Utility Bill Assistance Program, evaluate program expansion options, and provide our recommendation to the City Council. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. So in conclusion, staff is seeking direction from Council this evening to expand the Utility Bill Assistance Program to all low-income households beginning next year. Based on the Commission's recommendation, the program would be modified to first maintain the 70% discount for seniors and individuals with permanent disabilities with income up to 50% of area median income. Second, expand the program to seniors and individuals with permanent disabilities with income between 50 and 80% of area median income with a 35% discount. Third, expand the long-term assistance program to all households with up to 80% of area median income. These households would receive a 35% discount on utility bills. Fourth, align the short-term assistance programs with the income eligibility requirements of the long-term assistance programs. And then finally, align the solid waste long-term assistance program with the eligibility requirements for the water, sewer, and stormwater bill assistance programs. Collectively, these changes would open the long-term assistance program up to 15,000 households. And that concludes our presentation. We're happy to answer any questions you may have. Great.

thank you Lucy Scott Matt chair one thank you for being here appreciate the efforts on from the Environmental Services Commission and bringing this recommendation forward start off with councilmember new in-house please

Deputy Mayor, Lucy Scott, Matt and Chair, I want to thank you for being here tonight. I really appreciate all the work, the thoughtful work that's gone into this. I know you met at least three times on this topic. Personally, this just means a lot to me that the commission came up with such a solid recommendation that is really going to help residents in our community. because it's not just, it's a cumulative effect, right? It's not just the fact that our utility rates will continue to go up dramatically as we do a lot of pass along costs associated with that. But at a time when so many families are experiencing negatively the impact of higher groceries, higher gas, et cetera, et cetera, it is harder and harder to maintain their residence here in Bellevue. So I think Chair, one, you hit it right on the head that it's a trade-off. I don't think very many folks in this community will have much of an issue with increasing their bill by, what was it, $2 and some odd cents, 79 cents, in order for 15,000 people in our community to be able to hopefully stay in our community and hopefully get some some some relief so want to Again acknowledge the extensive work of the Commission they've done over the several months and and how you went about evaluating our current programs and serving the residents over a whole range. And I appreciate you walking through the four different options. And I bet there was even more discussion about other options that kind of didn't get windowed down to the top four. But I think the analysis really highlights those important realities. Again, that a significant number of households in our community are facing those challenges. 10,000 to 15,000, that's a lot, but they're all experiencing affordability difficulties. I think it, again, really underscores the importance of understanding how this program functions today and going forward and really the gaps that might exist that I think in walking through the different options you've really covered really well. Second, I think the commission really reviewed a lot of those several policy choices involving the eligibility levels, the assistance amount, the benefit structures, the potential implementation on on the timing, how many are taking advantage of the program right now, really good information. All of this being considered under the financial implications of each option, the projected program cost, the rate impacts, and the balance between affordability and that long-term utility system affordability and sustainability is really important. I'm all in favor of the recommendation for all the reasons I've listed already. I think it's the right thing to do for our community. I think it is sustainable, and I think it's going to give, again, those low-income households another option to hopefully lessen the burden that they might experience right now. A couple of quick questions. First, Chair Wan, I want to give you an opportunity to just talk a little bit more, maybe go into a little bit more color in terms of all the things that you are considering in terms of criteria. I would like to also just hear a little bit, did you hear much from the community? If so, what were some of their biggest concerns going into this? Also, I think it'd be just great to hear my colleagues and anyone listening tonight about some of the things that were discussed or went into your decision-making through this. And the second part of it, maybe more directed towards staff, is what do we have right now? I know there's some, but in terms of assistance for those that might be applying for the first time and might need some help walking through the process of signing up or maybe English as a second language just might need some additional help there. What do we have in that regard right now to help people get signed up if they haven't signed up previously? So, Chair, I'll go to you first with your question, then I'll have staff. Thank you.

THANK YOU, COUNCILMEMBER, FOR THE OPPORTUNITY. I WOULD SAY THE COMMISSION WAS VERY EAGER TO HEAR THE PROPOSALS FROM THE UTILITY DEPARTMENT. THIS IS A TOPIC THAT WE'VE BEEN WANTING TO DISCUSS FOR QUITE A WHILE. I WOULD ALSO SAY THAT ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL WITH NO OTHER CONSIDERATION, WE WOULD HAVE VOTED FOR OPTION B2, ACTUALLY, THE BROADEST COVERAGE FOR THE MOST ASSISTANCE TO OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS. And I think the thing that we also were trying to keep in mind, and you may recall this when I was last here at City Council, was the rising costs of utilities within Bellevue. And especially as we're getting passed through from King County and whatnot, things that we may not be able to control. And how much can we put onto the other utility customers that are not part of the utility systems, but they're paying the $2.79 extra, right? We wanted to expand it as much as possible, but keeping that discussion, this is the budget season, and after this meeting, we'll be busy meeting with Lucy and her team on the rest of the budget recommendations. So we were keeping that in mind, and that was really a difficult trade-off. We had some really hard and long conversations at the commission about it, and that's why we landed where we are at B1. Thank you.

Regarding your question about how we reach those in need, especially those that have English as a second language, I would say that we have a fairly robust communications strategy around this program. I think it goes without saying we are communicating in the top seven languages. But we are... I would say and I would use the word enjoy we have enjoyed over this last year a more active presence in the community working individually in person with individuals and walking them through the application materials in the process doing whatever we can to personally hand hold them and I do use that intentionally we hand hold them through the process And so we do take advantage of multilingual services and assistance and communicating in the top seven languages, but it's that personal touch, quite honestly, that we've enjoyed over this last year that we think going forward with an expanded program, we're really going to double down on it. We're looking to, as you would expect, with Council's direction and an approved expanded program, we're going to reach more community members. That increases volume of, you know, APPLICATIONS, REVIEW PROCESSES, THAT'S AN IMPACT ON STAFF. AND SO THERE ARE ADDITIONAL STAFF RESOURCES THAT ARE NECESSARY TO ACCOMMODATE THAT. BUT WHAT COMES WITH THAT IS AN INCREASED PRESENCE IN THE COMMUNITY WHERE WE CAN ACTIVELY ENGAGE PERSONALLY AND TRY AND JUST WALK FOLKS THROUGH AND JUST TAKE CARE OF THEM THROUGH THE PROCESS. AND THAT'S REALLY WHAT WE'RE FOCUSED ON THROUGH THIS. I DON'T KNOW IF THAT ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION FULLY, BUT

walking them through or the white glove service, if you will, to get them acclimated and signed up if they meet the requirements. But I think that's really important. It's one thing to say we have this program. It's another thing making sure that they understand how to take advantage of it and sign up and get enrolled in the program. So thank you so much. Thank you. Council Member Bhargava.

Yeah, thank you, Deputy Mayor. And thank you all three of the staff members as well as the commission and the chair for really, really incredible work here and deeply studying the opportunities and balancing out the needs of the community. You know, utilities, people don't pay attention to utilities often. And when they really pay attention is when things don't work. or when the bill comes. And so it is a really, really important aspect of affordability with all the pass-throughs coming and everything else that we're doing. Broadly, I really support the work you've done and the recommendations you bring to council. But that said, I do think there is a couple of questions I have on understanding what we're going to do to address the root causes. for the affordability challenges here. It may not be what we talk about here today, but that's a really important aspect of this as well. The long-term cost implications, as we consider this, are really important, and we've talked about some of those implications, and what we'll do to measure ongoing success. So that's where the three areas where my questions will land today. My first one is really how confident are we in the data for the 10 to 15,000 affordability estimate that we put on the assumptions here?

Sure. So for the estimate of 10 to 15,000, we actually looked at it in two different ways. One, as Scott mentioned, looking at how the city of Bellevue and other utilities in the region assess or determine need, which is as a function of area median income. kind of triangulation that we used is the EPA recently published a water affordability study which set benchmarks for the level of income folks across this country should be devoting to water and sewer bills. And so we applied that methodology to the city of Bellevue's households and came up with a similar range of 10 to 15,000. And so I'd say that our estimates are fairly confident in that range.

Okay, I appreciate that. and also just quickly i know you talked about the monthly change in the bill to the other rate payers for what we're putting out here as a recommendation but how does this expansion affect maybe the long-term great trajectory given our infrastructure and possibly our regulatory obligations coming as well

All right. So the estimate we have now is about $2.39 impact to fund the expansion. And that's a one-time increase to the base rate. So unless participation rises above that 25% assumption that we're making, the base amount that we're requesting as part of this recommendation would be sufficient to fund the program in the long term. So does that answer your question?

Yeah, I guess where I was going with this was more to understand, you know, if we have to continue to do this over the next five, seven, eight years, would this be a sustaining cost? And I think you're saying yes.

Yes.

Okay, that's reassuring. Important. And then lastly, and this is more straightforward maybe, how will council measure the success of whether the program is delivering its intent on affordability or not? What metrics will we use? What possible mechanisms for review will we come back to? And at what cadence?

Well, we would measure based upon engagement and active participation. I think we've currently reported that we are assisting about 1,000 households in the long-term assistance programs today based upon the eligible households that we have based on 50% AMI. Expanding the program, as we've talked about, expands it to 15,000 households potentially. And that's upwards of 3,800, I believe, eligible households based upon a 25% absorption rate or participation rate. So we would use that as a primary factor in measuring effectiveness and how effective are we in not only engaging those community members, but their level of participation, applying for the program and actually enrolling in the program and actually receiving assistance. That is one of the primary metrics that we would use. And I can obviously defer to Matt if he has other thoughts on it.

Yeah, and kind of referring to some of your, you had mentioned root causes. In utility services, kind of the end game is when we have to go shut off a meter. And at that point, things have cascaded to a degree where it's in a crisis. These types of programs we would envision reduce or hopefully eliminate in the long run, getting to that point for our residential customers.

Yeah, so I appreciate that. I mean, I guess the metric you're suggesting there is the number of, I don't know what they call them, account terminations or such reached, which should hopefully die down to zero. That would be the long-term vision of this process. Do we know what the baseline is for that today?

I can just speak that we recently reinitiated our shutoff policy, so we're establishing a new baseline right now coming out of COVID. Okay. Appreciate that.

Okay. And just the last closing comment for me is to the staff as well as to the commission. I really did appreciate the level of rigor and thoughtfulness that you brought forward in your recommendation, so really applaud the work you've done. Appreciate it.

Great. Thank you. Councilmember Robinson.

Thank you. It's very thoughtfully done. Very good recommendation. I appreciate the work that you've done on this and the staff help as well. We all know that utilities are just going to get more and more expensive in the next 10 years. And I know that we are as a city advocating for federal assistance in some kind of infrastructure program to help pay for the infrastructure that we're all paying for. and rather than taking it off the rate payers. So hopefully, maybe down the road, we might get some grants or something that'll help us with our paying for these bills. My question for you is I know that there are utility assistance programs already out there. I think PSC has one for energy. And I believe that the Human Services Commission provides funding to agencies that do some utility assistance. And so I'm just wondering how we're combining those resources.

So they're complementary, and so our programs are part of the solution. There are certainly a number of other resources in the community in energy companies like TSE that also have programs. Hopefully the collection of these different programs will provide the assistance that's needed to the community members that are in need. I would say that one of the reasons why we also looked at selecting at 80% of area median income is that actually is a common benchmark for measuring communities in need. And so with the recommendation, we are looking at similar eligibility, income eligibility requirements. And I think that will certainly make the application process easier.

Yeah, I agree with that. So I'm just wondering if there's a human service agency that provides bill payment support like for water bills and that person applies for that, can they also apply through the city? So the city is basically funding it in two different ways, one through the agency and then one through this program.

We certainly will be looking at those and also to make the application process easier, we would be looking at reciprocal application opportunities for reciprocal application approvals now that the eligibility requirements are more aligned.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, great.

Thank you.

Great. Council Member Sumida, where are you?

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Plus one to call my colleague about how amazing job you did. And thank you for chair for explaining the rationale behind it. I believe this approach is really well balanced where it's a, I think it's a affordable way to help everyone in the community. So thank you for doing that. I just have a few, like one or two questions just to clarify a little bit. So I'm looking at a website. It was saying that the long-term rate relief usually takes about 10 weeks or longer to get information to process. For the emergency program, usually it was a turnaround for somebody applying online and hearing something back.

You know, I don't know that I can speak to that, quite honestly. And we can certainly follow up. But I would say someone that is experiencing an emergency situation, a financial shock, if you will, I think we would do everything we can to provide immediate assistance to the extent possible. I can't guarantee the timeline involved. We have an exceptional program administrator, Hannah Abdul-Rahman, who could probably answer this very easily. So I apologize, but I could follow up with that. But I would just tell you this, that by its very definition, emergency, it would get all the attention that we could give it, honestly, to get folks the assistance that they need.

Yeah, I think, yeah, I'm not going to, I think, like, hold against your word how long it's going to take, right? Because it's really outside our control sometimes by the volume we're going to be receiving, too. I would say just for a family that's a responsible family, we want to take care of the people they care about. The longer, more notice they get in the mail that's passed to you, I think the more stress it creates to able to feel good about taking care of who they care about. Please follow up. I would love to know what's the range. I think it would be helpful. And then I'm looking at website. This is purely clarification. So for the donate to neighbors helping neighbors, is the donation tax deductible?

It's not a 501c3 organization, so we would not qualify for a tax deduction as that type of organization.

Okay. Just to clarify, I'm just wondering, because I think people might want to know maybe the range of how much donate would change to, right? Another last question, I would want to say that I think the $2.79, it's really, I think it's a... It's a good number that I think most people can afford to help the neighbors, right? So for the family who are paying for that rate, how are we educating and bringing awareness how much they are changing somebody's life?

I appreciate that question. I think something I think I mentioned before that we have a fairly robust communication strategy around this program. And I would think actively going forward, we would look to to the extent that we can highlight some of the benefits of the program and how those in the community are truly being changed for the good. I think that's an excellent idea. I know that we speak to the level of assistance that we provide in any given year. Currently, it's about a million dollars in assistance, but we don't provide, I don't think, much more insider visibility into how that changes a life. So that is absolutely something we could consider going forward.

Well, let me rephrase this a little bit. I think I wasn't asking about how it changes life. How are we acknowledge the family can afford to help somebody else? I think when we have a positive reinforcement thanking the family that's helping somebody else, maybe in a statement or something like highlighting the $2.79, it is changing somebody's lives. It makes more... more empowering for me to know that. For me to make coffee at home versus buying outside is changing something impactful.

Thank you, I appreciate your comment.

Thank you.

Okay, great. Thank you. I definitely agree with my colleagues here. I think the recommendation is balanced. I think it will be impactful. I think it appropriately expands our assistance programs at a time when the community is going to need additional support. We're likely going to see higher than average rate increases many that are out of our control in every utility category in the near term and considering that it's a previously mentioned we already have 10 to 15,000 residents in Bellevue experiencing a utility bill affordability challenge I believe now is the time to provide some additional financial support. I'm pleased to see that the ESC recommendation includes an increase in eligibility to the utility rebate program. We need to be sure to continue to take care of the folks who we already know need additional support. And of course, we need to be ready to help folks who we know will need additional support. So for me, bottom line, I think this is very good. I'm certainly supportive. I do have a question for you. So I'm just curious if the council, is there a way for the council, if it chose to do so, to use some one-time money from the council contingency fund to enhance the utility bill assistance program? And I think, too, this kind of gets at what Chair Juan was talking about. It may be a way for us, essentially, to go from the B1 recommendation to the B2. But, you know, would it, for one, you know, is that kind of possible? And would it make sense, again, if, you know, this is very preliminary, but if we decided to, maybe we would add some money to the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Fund? Or how might we just deploy some one-time money effectively? And if you don't, this is something you could come back. Of course, you know, it all has to be explored. But if you had some thoughts to share tonight, that would be great. And if not, I would love to have a follow-up.

I appreciate that, Deputy Mayor. We'd be happy to work with our finance and asset management team to come back with some perhaps complimentary program options with a one-time contribution of council contingency funds for your consideration under separate cover. You mentioned certainly one option to consider maybe that it is possible to make a one-time contribution or a donation. into the Utilities Neighbors Helping Neighbors program, but again, we're happy to come back with our FAM team with some options for your consideration.

Okay, great. I just would be interested, of course, we, and as Councilmember Newenhouse mentioned, we're well aware there are a lot of cost increases coming for all of our utilities, so I think maybe just something for us to keep in mind. as we kind of work through the budget year. And Council Member Newenhouse, if you might be kind enough to make the motion.

I move the direct staff to incorporate the Commission's Utility Bill Assistance Program expansion recommendations into the submitted budget and utility rates to be considered by the City Council as part of the upcoming biennial budget.

All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, motion carries. Thank you very much. We could if anybody wanted take a break or we could keep cooking along Okay City manager if you would introduce our next study session item

This next study session has two components. This is the Vision Zero Progress and our Safe Speeds Bellevue program. The first update on Vision Zero is providing you information on the road safety trends. And that is in support of the council's vision 0 goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injury collisions on Bellevue streets by 2030. The 2nd component is the safe speeds Bellevue program, and that's the city's efforts to evaluate and adjust speed limits on both city streets, which you are aware of and have participated along the way. And from our Transportation Department, we have Chris Long, Franz Lowenherz, John Murphy, and Benjamin Wright. They're here to provide an overview of all of the information and then to seek your direction related to the Safe Speeds program. And with that, I'll hand it over to Chris.

Thank you, City Manager Carlson, Deputy Mayor Hamilton, and Council for the opportunity to provide an update on Bellevue's Vision Zero efforts and present the final Safe Speeds Bellevue recommendation. These two presentations were originally scheduled as separate study sessions, but we recognize that they are closely connected and chose to bring them as one. The Vision Zero update highlights Bellevue's safety challenges, while Safe Speeds Bellevue focuses on one of the most effective strategies for addressing them. What you'll hear tonight is how Bellevue's Vision Zero efforts are evolving from targeted pilot projects to broader implementation with speed management playing a central role. Recent pilot projects, including reduced speed limits on arterial streets, have demonstrated positive safety results. Tonight's discussion focuses on expanding those benefits across more of our transportation network. Lowering arterial speed limits is an important step towards Bellevue's Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Safe speeds are cornerstone of the safe system approach because they reduce both the likelihood of crashes and their severity. So tonight we are asking council to consider directing staff to return with an ordinance to alter Bellevue City Code 11.32 to adjust speed limits in accordance with the Safe Speeds Bellevue recommendation. Our agenda for tonight will begin with Franz providing a review of the Bellevue road safety trends and followed by a summary of our safe system activities. And then John and Benjamin will conclude the presentation with a summary of community outreach and the final recommendations for speed limit changes on our streets currently posted at 30 miles per hour or higher. Franz.

Thank you, Chris. Good evening, Deputy Mayor, Council Members. Thank you. In 2020, Council adopted the Safe System approach to advance its Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030, following after which staff developed the Vision Zero strategic plan approved by the city manager, which establishes a one-city framework for cross-departmental coordination on road safety efforts. And to maintain momentum and monitor progress, annual action plans are approved by department directors to guide implementation. This chart reflects fatal and serious injury crashes per 100,000 population from 2016 to 2025 for Bellevue peer cities in Washington state. While Bellevue, shown in orange, continues to outperform peers, recent increases in severe crashes underscore the need for additional action. In 2025, Bellevue recorded three fatalities and 38 serious injuries. Compared to 2024, fatal and serious injury crashes increased for vehicle occupants and motorcycles and decreased for people walking and bicycling. Overall, 2025 fatal and serious injuries were 61% higher than the prior 10-year average when accounting for all modes. This chart reflects crash contributing factors in 2025 shown in orange compared to the prior 10 year average shown in blue. As indicated, multiple factors are seen worsening. Speeding became the leading contributing factor in 2025 with 12 incidents compared to 3.9 on average in the prior 10 years. This slide reflects representative Vision Zero activities in 2025, including securing over $1.8 million in grants, implementing safe routes to school, and updating micromobility regulations. In total, 41 tasks were advanced last year and are documented in the 2025 Vision Zero Progress Report, included as attachment A in the agenda memo. In 2025, the city constructed 2.6 miles of sidewalks, 1.5 miles of bicycle lanes, and 3.3 miles of shared lane markings to improve walking and bicycle connectivity. Additionally, the city implemented 48 safety treatments and 17 signal upgrades, which collectively improve crossing opportunities, reduce speeds, and reduce conflict points. In years past, our Vision Zero work focused on targeted deployments. In 2025, this included piloting lower speed limits on four arterial streets with documented safety benefits. In 2026, our focus shifts towards scaling those proven strategies through system-wide implementation. Tonight's council discussion and direction on arterial speed limits would extend those safety benefits across the transportation network. At this time, I'll hand the presentation over to John Murphy and Benjamin Wright to speak to the safe speeds recommendation.

Thanks, Reynolds. So here to talk about Safe Speeds Bellevue, this is our city's program to comprehensively evaluate speed limits on our street network that are currently posted at 30 miles per hour or more. The reason we're focusing on this segment of our transportation network is these streets represent just a quarter of our street network mileage, but share a disproportionate share of where our serious injuries and fatalities are occurring. So as mentioned, speed is a contributing factor to a lot of our serious injury and fatal crashes in Bellevue. And as such, safe speed strategies really are a cornerstone of the safe system approach within the Vision Zero lens. And we know when speeds go down, the frequency and the severity of crashes also go down. And this isn't found in other cities. This is found in our community. When we tested for lower speed limits last year on four corridors posted at 35 miles per hour, we measured speeds and found reductions of upwards of 42 percent reduction in high end speeding, which is the most dangerous thing. type of speeding and has that direct relationship to serious injuries and fatalities. I want to note that on those four corridors, we didn't do any other design changes. We just simply changed the speed limit and added additional signs to increase the awareness. So simply changing the speed limit in Bellevue has been proven to alter behavior. So our timeline, this is our third discussion with you all to talk about this initiative. It was launched in May of last year when we received direction to go evaluate lower speed limits on those four corridors. We returned in January with the results in a little more detail showing those reductions in high-end speeding limits. And we also shared with you at that time our draft proposal for what lower speed limits across our arterial network would look like. That was the first time that you saw that and the first time the community saw that. Should we receive the direction to advance this work tonight, we would move toward implementation in 2027. A hallmark of our work on this program to date has really been to ensure that we're bringing the community along to ensure that they understand why we are pursuing the speed limit evaluation and trying to. create that direct link to the safety outcome and benefits that we are seeking with trying to get people to slow down more. So since we Last visited in January, we've continued this community conversation and engagement and outreach. During our first phase of outreach, we engaged with our network on aging. Since January, we met with our YouthLink Council, really trying to talk and speak with as many of our community members as possible. We've tried to emphasize attending in-person events, meeting the community where they are, hitting our communication channels, both digital and print these number not in the hundreds of 1000s, but 10s of 1000s of people in terms of reach, really trying to publicize this proposal. And as part of that communication strategy, we did host a survey out to the community in the springtime of this year. like to talk a little bit about those themes that we got into what we've learned from the community. But I want to baseline first with what we heard during our first phase of outreach. And that's broad sentiment and agreement that the community understands the link between the speed at which people drive and the safety of people driving, walking, and biking. So there's understanding and consensus that speed is a concern. I think What we found out is that there are a lot of different perspectives in how we actually go about solving that conundrum. So what we learned during the second phase survey is that there continues to be a strong desire to have our current and future speed limits enforced, which makes sense. And we've been working with our colleagues in police to ensure that they're aware of this proposal and that there will be ready to go out and enforce these. There's strong desire to pair speed limit changes with design changes, add physical measures, add speed safety cameras, and some of those efforts are in the pipeline for this year. And we realize that setting speed limits is not a panacea. This is not a set speed limits and walk away. This is just the first phase of this program and there's a lot more work to do once we set those speed limits. There continues to be strong attention to speeding, egregious speeding and distracted driving. We know that changing a sign will not impact those people that choose to drive at a high rate of speed. That's where those tools like speed safety cameras can really help dissuade that type of activity. And then there was a concern that this might lead to added congestion. We know that congestion is not caused directly by speed limit setting. It's set or caused by slowdowns at intersections in our signal system and slowing down for people turning into driveways and businesses and things of the like. That said, we do have ways to measure if there is congestion occurring on our city streets. We have some data that we can tap to evaluate whether there are changes on our network. So we're ready to measure that moving forward. And with that, I'll turn it over to Benjamin. Great. Thank you, John.

With that I will present our final proposal for the speed limits from our study This map is largely unchanged from the one we presented to you in January One notable change is through our community survey. We did hear a lot from our bridal trails residents especially who wanted to see lower speed limits in their community in their neighborhood and So we reviewed that and we are recommending lower 25 mile an hour speed limits on some of those streets. But yeah, largely unchanged from the proposal in January. To quickly recap, this proposal is based on looking at both conflicts and activity on our 30 plus mile an hour speed limit streets that exist today. So with conflicts, that's looking at the density of crossing points like intersections, driveways, mid-block crosswalks, as well as the infrastructure we have available for people walking and biking, you know, where sidewalks and bike lanes are missing, for example. And we also looked at our activity level. What is the density and type of land use along each of these streets? Where are there transit routes? Things of that nature. Generally speaking, you can see that we are proposing a 25 mile an hour speed limit through much of our urban core with a pocket of 20 mile an hour speed limits around Old Bellevue and our downtown park that have a especially unique pedestrian-oriented character. To break those speed limits down, we're recommending about 64% of these streets be reduced by five miles an hour, 20% be reduced by 10 miles an hour, and no change to about 16% of streets. As far as implementation, WITH COUNCIL DIRECTION TONIGHT, WE WILL BRING THE SPEED LIMITS BACK FOR COUNCIL ACTION ON JUNE 23. WE'LL CONTINUE TO WORK ON SOME HANDFUL OF STREETS WITH THE CITY OF REDMOND. THERE'S SOME COUNCIL ACTION THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN JOINTLY ON For our design work, we've already started looking at what design and implementation looks like, and we'll begin that design work. We will also implement the speed limit changes in two to three phases, as John said, starting in 2027 with a focus on our urban core, second, our high injury network, and on the remaining streets in Bellevue. And then, yeah, following council action, we will continue to coordinate with our police department to make sure that they can enforce these speed limits. We've already been doing that coordination. After we make the changes, we will monitor and adjust signal timing as needed. We will continue community outreach, informing the public that we are making these changes and why we are making them to support a safer transportation system. and we'll continue to monitor speed and crash trends. We've seen in Bellevue that these speed limit changes are effective in reducing high-end speeding, but we will continue to monitor. We know in other cities that they reduce crashes, and we'll continue to monitor those trends over the appropriate period of time. But it's also important to note that reducing speed limits is just one of our three safe speed strategies. Another is to leverage technology to manage speeds, things like radar signs and speed safety cameras to reflect the public's concern about enforcement. And also design changes, implementing traffic calming measures like speed cushions and medians, race crosswalks and intersections to help reinforce that these streets have a lower speed limit. And with that, I'll return to our council direction. to consider directing staff to return with an ordinance to alter Bellevue City Code 1132 to adjust speed limits in accordance with the Safe Speed Spill Fee recommendation.

that we're ready for questions great thank you uh chris franz john benjamin appreciate the presentation uh also just appreciate all the work you do in support of achieving our vision zero goals and thank you to the work you've done in support of safe streets bellevue and the potential lowering of speed limits that we're considering tonight also a little shout out to the vision zero steering team We really need to have a lot of collaboration to reach our traffic safety goals and we're lucky to have all of their effort. I might just mention or make a few comments before turning to my colleagues as a liaison to the Transportation Commission. As you pointed out, the data shows a troubling trend over the last 10 years or so. Knowing the data shows that people walking and biking are disproportionately represented in fatal and serious injury crashes and that higher speeds significantly increase that risk makes it easy to understand that when speeds come down, we see a safer and more comfortable environment for everyone, whether you're driving, walking or biking. I think, you know, as mentioned, we should continue to rely on our data and that from other cities that shows that lowering, that lower, more consistent speeds can help traffic flow more smoothly by reducing differences in how people are driving. Smoother flows also help cut down on stop and go conditions, which really are the cause of delay in busy corridors and can improve how reliable travel times are. I understand that the majority of the streets are only slated to receive the five mile an hour reduction. I think even if some trips take an extra minute or two on the road, that's a small trade-off if we can prevent serious injury or loss of life. I just did a little test on my own and so for me, just as an example, a five mile an hour reduction in speed would equate to less than two minutes of travel time from my house in Northeast Bellevue to Bellevue Square. Certainly for me, I think that's a trade-off that is worth it and I think our community also supports that. Two, just looking at some of the troubling data that you mentioned, in 2025 was the worst year for traffic safety in the last decade. We weren't just sitting back last year, even with all of the investments we made in safety, we still really had an alarming year. It makes sense to me to take additional action now and to continue to focus on safety in our new budget. So tonight's action seems very appropriate and necessary and timely with all of the growth coming to the city over the next 20 years. I think the outreach effort was really good. The 800 survey responses is really helpful. So very solid and I appreciate too that you incorporated that feedback into your work as quickly as possible and as the project moved forward. And certainly agree with the community members focusing on enforcement, Congestion impacts, street design, and unsafe driving really resonate for me and obviously for our community members. So I'm definitely anxious to hear from my colleagues, but appreciate the presentation. Council Member Robinson.

Okay, thank you very much. Yeah, I appreciate the work done on this as well. Just have two questions. Can you, first of all, describe how we are coordinating with Redmond? Because we share so many streets, so just like a little more detail on that. And then my second question is how are we going to avoid cut-through traffic from cars that are avoiding the slower We heard one of our residents bring that up about, I think it's 164th, and I'm just curious if we thought about that and how you manage it.

Sure. Yeah, for the first piece about coordination with Redmond, the city of Redmond is actually currently undertaking a study of their own speed limits this year. And there are some streets, for example, 148th Avenue in the Overlake neighborhood, as well as a portion of Bell Red Road, and a few other streets in that Overlake area where it's really important that we are in coordination with the city of Redmond on the speed limit changes. So they will complete their study later this year and we anticipate having joint council action on those speed limits early next year.

Okay, great. Thank you.

Yeah, I can tackle the cut through question. As mentioned, we don't think that there's going to be a lot of extra congestion that's going to cause vehicles to cut through into neighborhoods. That said, we do have Benjamin mentioned that we're going to adjust our signal timing system to kind of eke out as many efficiencies as possible. We can to make our arterial network be as optimal as as it can be to try to keep people on that arterial network. And if there is any of that cut through that does occur, there are kind of some known hotspots around the city that will keep tabs on. We have a lot of good. background data on what current conditions are to measure against future conditions and we have employed some successful cut through projects in in the past and keeping people out of the neighborhoods and on the arterials where we'd like them to be for the most part if they're commuting or getting across town long distances

So the community members who are experiencing any cut-through traffic, if it goes up, there's a way for them to notify staff to maybe ask for an increased study on their neighborhood. I know when I lived in Woodridge, that happened, and it was really interesting. It was a long process. It took like a year of data collection, but then there was a solution. that was unexpected and very effective. So I just wonder. if there's a path for the community to follow if something like that's going on.

Yeah, absolutely. I do manage the neighborhood traffic safety program that does take in those types of requests. And the project that you mentioned in Woodridge, there's a lot of community consultation on that because there are trade-offs when we're trying to address cut-through traffic. The key for that project in particular was trying to get navigation apps to not get people into the roadways and that was a good solution for Woodridge and kept people on Richards Road.

So there's an avenue. So do you want to describe the process for how a community member would reach out to you just so people know?

Yeah, you can use our My Bellevue app to submit a concern, or you can email our trreception at bellevuewa.gov, and it'll get to the right person. Staff will follow up and articulate that process. And if we need more data, we'll collect that, and we'll work with the community because we want to make sure any proposed solution is aligned with what the community wants.

Great. Thank you.

Councilmember Sumida, where are you?

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you for the presentation. And I just want to give a big praise to John. So we were in the rain with the Vassa neighborhood. We were in the rain, I think, at least over almost an hour. And he didn't have an umbrella. He just listened the whole time. It was amazing. And I feel bad having . I was like, I'm sorry. But thank you. I think that's a big praise because we do really listen. And then the police was there too. And I think different element of our team is all coming together, making sure the community is heard is very special. And I don't think that we see it every city. So thank you for doing that. So I have just two questions to ask. One of them is with the high injury network and the downtown core. So we started starting at the downtown core first. And I'm just wondering how come we're not doing the high injury network first?

Well, so we're going to start with our entire urban core. And the urban core represents a very large chunk of our high-engineering network already. And so the second, so that would really be addressing a large part of our high-engineering network already. And then, so the second phase would be only to capture and focus on the high-engineering network that isn't captured in that initial phase.

Okay, thank you. And my next question is... Okay, so my next question is about engagement. I am really impressed at how much engagement we've been doing by the phases. Just for clarification, for the engagement, can you give me like a category? Like are they mostly homeowners, drivers? Like how, is there like a proportion of the people we've been communicating? Or like I see bridal, Better Trail has a really high proportion have feedback for the engagement, right? Like what about other neighborhoods? How can we reach, make sure every neighborhood is reached?

Yeah, we do have a more detailed engagement report that I don't have committed to memory. So we'd need to, we did ask a lot of kind of mode choice and demographic questions. We'd have to follow up on that though.

would like to share with us would be great for the engagement. Because I think that I feel like a lot of the engagement, like the neighborhood we were working for, because there's very small on the work side way. I think as a young mom have a stroller or like the kiddos getting off school at the intersection with multiple buses, I could see that be very dangerous to go through, especially very low visibility where it's raining. Or when it's dark, and if there's a ditch, it could be really dangerous for somebody to see it. And I injured my knee recently, but it was not something silly like that. But I would say if I was that, I'm probably the first one to get injured. I'm very clumsy, and I cannot see. And not everyone has the habit of wearing reflective gear as well. So I would... encourage our teams when we go out to the community we can talk to more people who walk and then you know with strollers and bikes and in the neighborhoods we haven't able to reach and finding more creative ways trying to reach out to them just because I think every neighborhood's experience are very different and also the way they are using transportation could be completely different depending on the age group but and also maybe like cultural differences too right So, I'm looking forward to learn more about how we're going to engage the Phase 3 differently. Thank you.

Councilmember Nguyen-Haus. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you all for being here. Thanks for the great presentation. Of the 251 serious injuries and the 22 fatalities that you mentioned over the last decade, and this is kind of a follow-up to Councilmember Suma Duwari's question. what proportion of those injuries and those fatalities happened on the high injury network and what characteristics do they share or what characteristics do the corridors share?

Yeah, I,

So I do not have the actual stat for the high-injury network. Do you, Chris? No, I don't. No. So I can get that back to you via email. Okay.

That would be great. Just further curious about what areas of the city we're tackling first. What are the, I guess, should be what I would consider to be the high-priority areas where we're seeing the most amount of fatalities or injuries, etc. ? And I would expect they would be on that high injury network. So I would appreciate the follow-up on that one. Next question, the memo mentions 19 to 42% reduction in high-end speeding after the speed limit reductions on those evaluation corridors so far. So what percentage change have we seen so far in overall crash severity? Have we been able to track that data?

We haven't at this point, we can certainly it's been not quite a year and a lot of our trends are born out over a longer period of time, especially with Okay, across four corridors, it's going to be a little more sporadic than across our entire transportation network. But I think As we're coming up on our one-year anniversary of the deployment on those four corridors, do you think it's worth taking a fresh look at the data, what has happened out there during the past year?

Well, I think so. I think it might be kind of a key metric that we start tracking. And not just injuries versus actual deaths, but just like the severity as well. Or does it all get lumped into one category, any type of injury? Which, of course, we never want any type of injury. But do we look at the severity? We do look at that. Okay.

Also, I can follow up. I did find the statistic. Um, so for the high injury network, it reflects 2015 to 24 crash patterns and it covers 8% of city streets, but accounts for 68% of fatal and serious injury collisions.

Okay. Okay. Thank you for that. Um, follow-up on the on the previous question regarding the the coordination with the police department could you go into just a little bit more depth on that except the the vast majority when when when we reduce speed by five they're they're gonna follow it and I think that's why we start seeing some of these reductions and safer conditions which is great unfortunately what we also know is is that sometimes, be it a car rally, which we see occasionally across the city, or certain clubs that have an interest in very high performance motorcycles, for example, I don't see any other way we're gonna reduce that type of activity and speed, like insanely fast speed that unfortunately has led to some deaths in our city unless there is real consequences to that type of behavior. in our city. So can you talk a little bit about how that coordination with BPD is happening to really set an example with some of these just outrageous speeds that are taking place in our city sometimes?

I know that the police department has launched a new campaign on this topic, and it might be worthwhile having them come and speak to it. I know that high visibility enforcement campaign is upcoming. Actually, it'll be hosted here at City Hall in June. That is really intended to get out there and build that level of compliance that you're speaking to.

Okay. But you do see a part of this overall effort, though, right? That we're, okay, good. I wasn't sure if you saw this, two separate efforts, but I see it all as one, correct? Okay, good. On the great outreach and the number of responses that we received, was there any themes there? I'm curious in terms of, did we hear a lot from students? schools or businesses or neighborhood groups? Were there any themes there from some of the more impacted groups or businesses or schools in there? And did that impact any of our decisions in terms of where we might want to see some reductions?

I don't believe that we've heard any of the feedback we received was specifically from a school or organization or presented in that way. I think that the survey we did, for example, we did offer to come and share with a number of different neighborhood associations across the city, and I just don't think that we got any uptake on that offer.

Okay. Did we allow for that at all? Or... did we, I guess, position the survey or the interactions where we just didn't really track from what perspective they might be coming from in terms of what was impacting them and their neighborhood or their school or their business?

So, for example, some of the questions we asked are like the relationship to Bellevue. Do you live here? Do you work here? Do you come and shop here? So that was one question. There were other questions we asked like, you know, what activities do you do on Bellevue streets? Do you walk? Do you bike? Do you take transit?

Okay. So they were more generic in general. I'm just curious maybe in the future if we hear specifics that we're able to maybe track that if we get a large number of kids maybe that are walking to Stevenson Elementary or something like that that we can track that and maybe put that as a priority as another data point. I appreciate the approach. I'm just thinking if this is an opportunity to get some specific areas that we know, like we've heard from folks coming down over a number of different weeks about some of the issues around Lake Sammamish, for example, I think that's important for us to hear. Last question. because I think this is a great plan. I'm fully supportive of it. Curious on the implementation. What does that look like once fully funded? How long being fully implemented? And then how long before, getting back to the data question, before we start getting some data back in terms of is this working the way we want it to work? Is that one year, is that two years? What does that look like?

So as far as implementation, as mentioned, we currently plan to implement this in about three phases, and we'll start as early as possible in 2027. I think our plan is certainly to get this all implemented within two years and hopefully much sooner. We'll see what we can do.

Sorry, within two years?

Yeah. Okay. With the speed limits.

Yeah.

And I'm sorry, could you remind me of the second part of the question?

Oh, the how long can we really start getting some good data back in terms of what is this being successful and are we really getting the... The data back that we expect or if we need to pivot.

So in terms of looking at speed data, for example, we can do speed studies to measure the speeds on certain streets and we can deploy that. We have tools at looking at like GPS data from cars to measure speeds. We haven't found that to...

Let me stop you one second. I know you've got those. I'm talking about what's the amount of time before we can really trust the data that we're getting, that it's solid and it shows us, A, we're on track, or B, we might need to pivot.

Yeah.

Do you want to go ahead?

Yeah, I was just going to say the timing would likely occur when we do these annual updates. Okay. So, you know, there would be a lag in the period of time from implementation, but we would time it for these updates to you annually.

In our first, the pilot corridors were all, we reported back to you on those after... four months of deployment is that right john do you have four to five yeah so we we generally are getting good uh we we feel like traffic is settled into a pattern you know after about three months of implementation and then that's when we were doing new data collection shortly thereafter so uh just to look at just the speed portion of it um you know as we talked about the the crash data does take a little bit more time to see if we're seeing any

I was going to say, yeah, I think you do need it. And that was part of what I was going to ask about. Is that a year? Is that two year?

We look at crash data quarterly. Oh, OK. Yeah. Well, for fatal and serious injury crashes. So that is something that we do stay on top of. But to get back to report, to look at system wide, we'll be looking at that once a year based on the results of that data. Usually takes us about three to four months after the end of the year to know that we have accurate data from the previous year from Washtenaw.

Perfect. Thank you so much. Council Member Bhargava.

Yeah, thank you, Deputy Mayor. So appreciate the presentation, appreciate all the work that's gone into making the recommendation broadly supportive. Let me start right there.

Safety is super important.

Pedestrian safety, bike safety, vehicular safety, safety in general on the streets for Bellevue. And what's underscoring me just reiterating that is the trend we've seen in the last decade. 2025, if I got the data right, was the worst year in the last 10 years in terms of incidents on the streets. So, you know, I'm glad we're taking strong action to address what I think is a real issue for our community. So appreciate that and appreciate sort of the collective will for the city to do something about this. Streets are also not a, the right of way is a shared commodity, if I can say it that way. It's for streets, the streets are meant for cars, they're meant for pedestrians, they're meant for bikes, and collectively we need to make sure that all of those multimodal needs are addressed and well thought for in our community. That cannot be less underscored too. So those are two really, really important sort of tenets of how to think about this from my standpoint at least. The other thing is, and I think this is resonant in the community feedback as well as your presentation, but I'll say this, that speed limits are just one of the actions. It's one side of the equation is the way I think about it. It's really important because we have to make behavioral change here. enforcement and then physical design changes, both of which came out in your community feedback, are really important, sort of the three-legged stool on which we have to build this plan out to try and reduce the incidents within our community. And so I can't This is just one and would really want to see, and I think my peers in the council have also said this, would want to see clear and time-bound plans around those other two elements of how we can do this. I have two really quick questions beyond those three comments. The first is actually building on Council Member Robinson's question, which I think is really insightful. unintended consequences of changes in speed limits can be things like cut-through traffic in places where we don't expect it, or it can be congestion points in places. I know congestion is not directly correlated to changes in speed limit, but I'm talking about generally unintended consequences. So what is our mechanism going to be to identify that? And then I think it's just as important that we have really good, you know, I'll call it ears on the ground to listen for those signals from the community proactively. And so I know you talked about the second part of that in response to Councilmember Robinson's question about what you're going to do to try and get that input from the community. But I'd be really curious to know what that mechanism is for us to look at those unintended consequences.

Yeah, that's a great question. I think a component of this that we need to consider in our deployment is that follow-up with the community. We got great feedback, 800 responses through the survey that we had originally done. A follow-up survey and further outreach after we've done some of these deployments certainly makes sense too. to get the experience from the residents on how that has changed. We use our signal system and our various data tools to do the best we can to get some of that quantitative information, but it's that qualitative understanding how they experience it that is important too. And we can't be everywhere all at once and those that drive the same route every day to go to school and go to work, they see things we don't. And so we definitely wanna listen to those folks too.

Yeah. So, I mean, I would encourage us based on that just to incorporate that into your quarterly and annual sort of channels of review. And then, of course, reporting back on what you're hearing would be really important so we can, you know, double down or pivot as necessary. At least we have the inputs for doing that. The second question I have is around... How are we going to make sure as we make these, I know this is not implementation right away, this is a 2027 implementation if I got that right. How do we make sure that we are making folks, keeping folks informed within the community of these changes? Like enforcement should not be the first way I learn about a change in speed limit as it is within the community. And so like I put myself in those shoes, I drive set patterns within the city to my kids' school, to my activities, to work and to blah. and I drive almost mechanically at speeds which I'm used to and suddenly I'm not noticing a posted speed sign anywhere and I get a ticket. I'm like, what happened here? I didn't do anything. And so how do we make sure that we're engaging the community and keeping folks informed of changes like this that we expect changes in behavior from its scale?

Yeah, great question. We have a great communications team on the staff side, and there is a lot of work that is happening in parallel on the speed management side. arterial speed management, local street speed limit reduction, speed safety cameras. There is a lot of change that we're about to encounter in our community. So we're working with our comm staff to package this kind of as a campaign. It's not just going to be a news release. We're really trying to Put all of these speed management efforts under an umbrella to make it front and center and visible to the community. So there are no surprises. So that's 1 piece of it. And then the other piece is. We are planning to increase the number of signs. That is what we did on our evaluation corridors and saw those reductions in high-end speeding. Roughly, you would see a sign about every 30 seconds is the rule of thumb and best practice. So that is not currently what is out in the field in our community. So the signs themselves will be a little more visible and on our bigger roadways, they will physically be bigger, they'll be a little larger in size as well to help reinforce and make more visible the changes.

And one last thing, every one of those new signs will include a flag or like a bright orange flag or something like that to draw attention to that new sign that we put out there.

And I'll just add, John did a great job of articulating kind of the combined activities, the three elements of our safe speeds work. Specific to speed safety cameras, which we're still on track to roll out. There will be targeted mailers to the nearby residents and businesses. There will also be a 30 day warning period before the cameras go live. So there's going to be multiple. rounds of outreach to make sure everyone is aware for those specific locations.

Appreciate it. Anything we can do to keep folks informed and engaged in this process would be helpful. It also helps in changing behavior proactively as well. If I can take 30 seconds more on one more last question, really. This is triggered by the public comment we had earlier about the idea of lower cost, faster moving opportunities, which may be physical design changes we can make. You know, speed bumps are not that expensive to install. Or there could be, and this is an example, like you can think of many, I'm not the expert for transportation and traffic calming measures, but what would be some of those that we could move faster on potentially? Is there anything like that in a playbook that you could describe?

We are pursuing some of those. Speed cushions, as an example, are a better application on our arterial network. So a good example of that is what we recently did in the Newport neighborhood on 119th. uh we do it does take even though it is the individual speed cushion is relatively low cost there is a lot of labor cost involved in doing the outreach and making sure we're positioning those properly and getting buy-in we've we have proactively started that effort with some of the corridors through in preparation for a grant that we recently applied for that includes multiple corridors that we're looking to do speed cushions on to to help start building out that network of traffic calming along with the signage changes. Other temporary, more quick build solutions, we are very cautious with those because although they're easy to build, they're challenging to maintain. And so we do try to make sure that we aren't putting our maintenance staff in a position where they can't keep up with that, and we suddenly have equipment on the street that's not serving the right purpose.

Yeah, no, I appreciate that. The point I will reiterate here is that there is no silver bullet, and speed limit changes aren't definitely it. It's one of those many. And so we need to continuously evolve that playbook to have a more robust approach that takes many of these into consideration and look for real changes and see where we can double down quickly. And that's, I think, and I'm not sure, I'm sure we're not the first ones trying to achieve these slower outcomes or safer outcomes. And so learnings from data that go beyond the city is a great way for us to learn and iterate as well. Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Great, thank you, Councilmember. Would you make the motion, please?

Yeah. So I move to direct staff to finalize the Bellevue City Code 11.32 amendments to adjust speed limits in accordance with the Safe Speeds Bellevue recommendations. Second.

All right, we've got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Okay, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, the motion carries. As the city manager said earlier, we do have a written report from the CCAT team that is in your packet. And having completed the agenda, we are adjourned.