City Council - Regular Meeting

to order the good harbor city council meeting of monday june 22nd and asked ask our acting clerk chris harper to please call the role is he on he should be online you got to promote him i think

Present.

Thank you.

All right. Council Member Coronado? Here. Council Member Stone? Here. Council Member Martin? Here. Council Member Eckberg? Here. Council Member Tessiccini?

Present.

Council Member Amon? Present.

Okay.

Okay, if you could all please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. Before we begin this Council meeting, we would like to recognize that we are gathered on not only the ancestral and traditional lands of the Squibosh Band of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, but also on the site of one of the largest and longest standing historic villages of their people, the original inhabitants of the Gig Harbor area.

Council, are there any changes to the agenda?

Seeing none, City Administrator Knutson, your hand is raised. What?

It's for the clerk.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Does the clerk need to speak? Okay. So tonight we have two proclamations. The first is a joint proclamation with Pierce County that will actually be read in its entirety at an event this Saturday at Heron's Key. Mayor Pro Tem Lee Rodenberg and County Council Member Robin Jensen will be there to help commemorate the Harbor Hill Environmental Sanctuary. Heron's Key residents formed the Friends of Harbor Hill Environmental Sanctuary several years ago. And together they raised more than $750,000 to transform the retention ponds into a wonderful place to relax, enjoy the wildlife and natural vegetation. And this represents a lasting legacy for our community. Now managed by Harbor Wild Watch, the pond is something that everyone needs to see, can be accessed behind Heron's Key. Join me in thanking all the residents who helped, but especially Bill Llewellyn, whose vision and commitment brought this to life, along with Andy Morrow, Wayne Lundberg, John Holberton, Mary Kasluski, Karen Coho, Barb and Jerry Walton, Beverly Cheney, Paul Schumacher, and many more. The next is a proclamation for America's 250. And I am going to read the proclamation and then present it to our partners on the 250 celebration. And we'll do a photo. Whereas on July 4th, 1776, our nation's founders boldly declared the independence of the United States of America by signing the Declaration of Independence and establishing a government founded upon the enduring principles of liberty, justice, equality, and self-governance, And whereas the year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a historic milestone in our nation's history and an opportunity for Americans to reflect upon our shared history, honor the sacrifices made in defense of freedom, and renew our commitment to the ideals that unite us as one nation, And whereas the semi-quincentennial serves as a time to celebrate the courage, resilience, and determination of generations of Americans whose service, innovation, and civic responsibility have strengthened our democracy and advanced the promise of liberty for all. And whereas the city of Gig Harbor with its proud history, strong civic spirit, and deep appreciation for community and country, joins people across the nation in commemorating this extraordinary anniversary and recognizing the importance of preserving our freedoms for future generations. And whereas this occasion invites all residents to reflect on both our national heritage and the local contributions that have shaped our community while inspiring renewed dedication to public service, civic engagement, and the continued pursuit of a more perfect union. Now, therefore, I, Mary Barber, Mayor of the City of Gig Harbor, do hereby proclaim the city's recognition and celebration of America's 250th anniversary and encourage all residents to participate in commemorative events, educational programs, and acts of service that honor our nation's past, celebrate our shared values, and strengthen our community for generations to come. And I'm going to present this to members of the Waterfront Alliance and the Visit Gig Harbor who are coordinating our July 4th activities.

Thank you. My name is Claire Dunas. I'm the Executive Director at the Gig Hub at Waterfront Alliance and honoured to work very closely with the Chamber, the City and many other community organisations to celebrate America 250 on July 4th this year. You want to start off with Parade?

Yes.

Parade will take place at 10 a.m. and it is a kid and pet parade followed by a pie eating contest. We're going to do signing of the declaration as well and lots of activities for all of the members of the community. So we look forward to seeing everybody from 10 to 3? 10 to 2. 10 to 2.

Yes, and we have a fingerprint flag as well that all community members are invited to participate in. Come and put your fingerprint or thumbprint on in red or blue, and that will be presented to the city after the July 4th celebrations. So thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So I now welcome public comment on the consent agenda. Please come to the podium or press the raised hand button on Zoom if you would like to comment on the consent agenda. I'm not seeing anyone, so I will close public comment on the consent agenda and open it up for a motion from council.

Move to approve the consent agenda.

Second. It was moved by Council Member Eckberg and seconded by Council Member Martin to approve the consent agenda. Please vote on your screens or vote verbally if you don't have your computer screen working.

Yay.

Agree. Yay.

Yay.

Yay. Aye.

Motion passes six to zero. We have a lag tonight. Oh well. For my mayor's report tonight, there has been and is a lot going on. So I will try to keep this really brief. As Rosalynn and Claire just mentioned, we are having a 250th birthday celebration in two weeks. I'm not gonna go through the schedule again because we just talked about that, but I hope to see everybody downtown and at Scanty Brothers Park. I do want to remind everybody that fireworks are prohibited in the city of Gig Harbor. So please remember that. And even if you're not in the city, remember that it's very dry out. So be extremely careful with any fireworks. And we do have one more America 250 video that we're hoping to show tonight.

For all of human history, we have shared stories, right? Whether it is verbal or over time, more written stories, or maybe we use pictographs. Sharing stories has always been a key part of the human experience.

I think when we share our stories, we also find that there's lots of commonalities. We have fears. We make mistakes. We want safety and security. So I think as we tell those stories, it also gives us opportunity to connect with one another. And so these stories are guides to the future. They tell us something about who we are and our identity and where we came from. They're stories that transmit values. And I think that's also part of this moment of America at 250.

You can't figure out how to get from here to where you want to go unless you better more fully understand how we got to where we are today. That's why stories are important. That's why, especially in Indian country, oral histories are so powerful and are passed down millennium after millennium.

Stories are what connect people from the past to the present. Those are the stories that connect one family to another, one country to another, looking at some of their commonalities, some of their shared challenges.

Things were very, very different for someone that was born in the 30s, for example, than someone that was born in 2005. You know, that's 20 years old today. We have so much to learn intergenerationally, and that's why it's so important to share our stories and to ask and to listen to others as well.

When I found out that I was the seventh great granddaughter of William T. Hooper, who signed the Declaration of Independence, I found it was a necessity to go to my family and make sure that they also understood. We're pretty fortunate to have that history of our family. And I felt the need that it was important to make sure those around me knew that's where we came from.

My parents met in an American concentration camp. Why were they there? Because of what they were, and that was the face of the enemy, as opposed to who they were, which were American-born citizens. And if we don't share those kinds of stories, we will be left with an incomplete story of our state's history as our country's history.

I think to get people more interested in preserving their history, we need to encourage them to visit their museums, visit the local historical societies and local museums to find their story. And if your story isn't there, advocate for your story.

We each have a story to tell. It is my hope that everybody takes the opportunity to learn their history. For Native Americans, we understand that America was built on our land, but everybody that is here now has a story. Learn your story. Did you come from Ireland? Did you come from Germany? Did you come from France or England or somewhere else? When we slow down and learn about ourselves farther back and about other people's histories, it will be a better place.

I think it's important that we all share our stories because as we've seen in our social media world, we're so isolated from each other. And it's very easy to be judgmental of each other when you don't understand where that other person is coming from. So I think by sharing with each other, by sharing our stories, it allows us to be human with each other.

These experiences will teach us that we have just far more in common than we have apart. And I think that is the message because I think it's a message that is valuable for this country at this point to hear.

Wait, you don't,

Thank you. A historian I follow is doing a promotion for America 250 that I really like. She's asking people to post a simple video of yourself on social media and saying, we are America, and include the tagline, we are America. The idea is that together we can show the wonderful melting pot that comprises the country we all enjoy. And last week, Roslyn and Miriam Batson and I did those videos. We haven't posted them yet, but we did create the videos. So we will post them, and I hope that lots of you will as well, also so that we can showcase Gig Harbor. This would also be, and as I said, this would be a great way to showcase Gig Harbor if you happen to shout out on your video and shoot it somewhere really beautiful. We might have had a bluebird day with Mount Rainier in the background. This coming week, many on council and staff are traveling to Spokane for the annual Association of Washington Cities meeting. This event gives us all the chance to learn and share from each other. I'm really proud that several staff are presenting at the conference and our own city administrator begins her term on the AWC board representing city managers around the state. We have an amazing group of people here and I'm proud to be part of what everyone is trying to do. I also want to remind everyone in the community that we are here to work with you. If you want to open a business, remodel, or build a home, or even cut down a tree, it's a good idea to start by working with the planning team before you do much work. Speaking of growing a business, next week Heron's Key will break ground on the latest phase of their development, yet another example of collaborating to make our city even better. This coming weekend is the fourth annual Pride in the Park celebration. I hope you'll join us at Scanty Brothers Park from 11 to 4 for a fun afternoon. And with that, I want to wish a happy America 250 to everyone. I hope you have a safe and fabulous holiday. We are America. With that, I will turn it over to our city administrator, Katrina Knutson, for her report.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, council members. As I'm pulling or attempting to share a PowerPoint right now, I will. do my weekly plug that department updates are located in the council agenda, as well as the city's weekly gigabyte. There you can find information from all of our wonderful departments on everything that they are doing to support and make our community a better place. I have three updates tonight, hopefully that are very quick and things I think that you will be happy to see and excited to know. The first is last Wednesday, the group of individuals on the screen traveled to Burien to a very momentous occasion. It was the first time in 20 years that Gig Harbor had a graduate. of the Basic Law Enforcement at the Criminal Justice Training Commission. So Kelly Palmore, who started at the city in the municipal court, is now a Gig Harbor police officer entering... She's entering her Gig Harbor training that... I know that Chief Federici wouldn't say it this way, but as I will summarize, you go to this training to learn how to do all the technical maneuvers, how to ensure that people have their rights, that you're following the law, that you know how to verbal judo and actually judo to get people to comply. When they come to Gig Harbor, we really teach the officers how to be Gig Harbor officers, which includes community policing, caring for community and all the wonderful things that we love about our police department. Of particular note, I think, We had the most folks in Burien celebrating our officer and it's for good reason. Gig Harbor really has not had this in 20 years. So congratulations to Chief Federici and the department with Kelly coming on line. We are now at 26 commissioned officers and we're already seeing the dividends from the work that has been done and bringing Kelly on will just increase that even more. So congratulations to the PD. Thank you. Next one I know is of particular interest, and I don't know if this is going on the screen. Maybe it will. I apologize for those that are online. It looks like Zoom is having fun. But I do want to let everyone know that the commercial fishing home port is out to bid officially as of last week. Okay. So major kudos to the Public Works Department, including Parks Manager Jennifer Harrow, Jeff Langhelm, Public Works Director, who is enjoying time at National Parks with his family right now. But this project has been a long time coming from the early 2000s to now when we will be coming forward to Council this summer to award, hopefully award a contract to bring, to have fishing fleet moorage here in the city and keep our fishing fleet moored. within Gig Harbor. So thank you to council. I know it's been a very long process, but we are officially here out to bid and our city engineer has been fielding questions on bid documents even today. So really excited to move this project forward as well.

And then if Zoom will work.

Oh, sorry. Okay. It's not letting me share, so I'll just tell you the third unless I can get back on here. We have had a number of conversations, Council, about capital improvement projects within the city, and you'll be hearing about the TIP later today, tonight.

I don't know how we can share this.

It would help if you would see the visual, but unfortunately, technology is not allowing that. But I will happily send that out, and it's going to be in the Gigabyte later this week. We will be having a restriping project go forward at the intersection of Hunt and ScanSea. It's right next to the courtyards at ScanSea. If you live on the west side of the city or drive through there, Often, you will know that they're often near misses if you're trying to continue going west on Hunt Street. If you're going west, there is a through lane that is in the middle and a right-hand turn lane that's on the right. And if you are on Skansy attempting to turn east onto Hunt, you can't see the middle lane. Oftentimes, drivers that are attempting to make that maneuver underestimate the time that it will take to get across two lanes of traffic or don't see the middle car coming down going straight because you can't really see that person coming down if there is a truck or a bus or something next to you. In the last two years, we've had five accidents at that location, which is quite a bit. And I would say that it is one of our most complained about intersections. Because of the public feedback, I asked the public works director and city engineer to look at the intersection to consider an improvement that would make that better for safety. And they did, they sent that off to our on-call engineering firm. And I'm happy to say that the project is within the mayor's signature authority. So it's being done for a very inexpensive price comparatively to many capital projects that come before you. The middle lane that currently goes straight westbound is going to be a turn lane for the the oncoming eastbound side of Hunt and where right now if you're going westbound where you would need to turn right to go on to Skansi that is now going to be the through lane. And there will be a lane, I'm not explaining this very well, I'll send it to you and you'll understand, but it will make it so that traffic can see each other and that there will be adequate space for turn lanes for people to have adequate time to get into the lane that they're intending to be in. So wanted to just state this. I know we had a lot of discussion at the Transportation Improvement Program work session about what is the difference between a capital project that's on the tip and something that we can do that's more inexpensive and be more responsive to our residents. And this is definitely one of them. So we expect that contract to go forward and have that project complete before school starts in September. So again, kudos to Public Works and apologies in advance for the construction that will occur over there as well. But it will definitely potentially save lives and definitely create less accidents in the future. Thank you, Mayor. That concludes my report.

Thank you. So our first business item tonight is the first reading of an ordinance amending the municipal code 13.34 regarding water and sewer service outside of city limits. And I will turn it over to community development director, Eric Baker for the staff report.

Thank you very much for the record. My name is Eric Baker with the Community Development Department. I am sitting in for Jeff Langhelm, the Public Works Director. This ordinance is related to Title 13, which addresses both water and sewer provision by the city to areas both inside and outside of urban growth area boundaries. These code amendments are intended to address the fact that sewer and water service are two entirely different utilities. They have different limitations as it applies to the Growth Management Act and other state statutes. The amendments that you see before you are intended to do two things. One is to decouple sewer and water from one another. Water service is intended to be able to be provided anywhere the council sees fit that fits our water service plan. So that can be inside the city that can be inside the urban growth area or could be outside in unincorporated Pierce County. The other component is sewer. Sewer is entirely different in a lot of ways. Sewer can only be provided in specific areas that are either A, related to urban development, or B, they are limited areas of more intensive rural development. We have one such area that is outside the city limits and outside of our urban growth area boundary in the Purdy area. The Purdy area has a series of existing sewer connections and the way that our code read, we did not have the ability to expand any of those existing connections related to proposed improvements. The Growth Management Act allows limited areas of more intensive rural development to receive sewer service. So the changes you see before you again decouple the water provision from sewer provision, allowing water provision to be provided anywhere that the council sees fit. Sewer service can be provided within the city, within its urban growth area boundary, and within properties with existing sewer connections in limited areas of more intensive rural development. For us, that is the Purdy area. These changes would go into effect immediately after adoption. Daniel, anything that we should add with that? Thank you.

Thank you. Council, are there any clarifying questions about this agenda item? I am not seeing hands raised. So I will now open public comment on this agenda item. If you are in the audience and wish to speak, please come to the podium now. Or if you are on Zoom, please press the raised hand button. If you could give us your name and your connection to this ordinance, and you'll have three minutes.

OK. My name is Kent Kingman, and my wife, Donna, We are the owners of Minter Brook Oyster Company, and we are the ones that you are making the adjustment for. And we really appreciate for that building down there that we've been working 12 years on. But I just wanted to say this. We talked about it as a family just recently, and I love the way that this process was handled. We all handled it in a very professional manner. This was not something because of the changes. It was a surprise to every single one of us, but we handled it in a very professional, in a very communicative way. And I really, really appreciate you as the council handling it the way that you have and the staff. the way that you've handled it in coming to a resolve that makes sense for the city, for the county. Robin Denson was very helpful. The county extended our permits to give a time for this to be worked out. So I just wanted to say thanks. To me, it was a very, very positive thing. Time, you know, It's been 14 years. It doesn't matter another year. It just doesn't matter. But it's really, I just, I really, really appreciated how you guys handled that, how the staff handled it. And we all should be commended for handling things in a professional way that builds a community rather than tears it down. I just want to thank you guys for that.

Thank you. Is there anybody else who wishes to comment from the public on this issue? I'm not seeing anyone. So at this point, I will now close the public comment and open it up for any discussion if needed from council. This item, because it's on a first reading, will be on the agenda at the next meeting. It's only another two weeks, not another 14 years. So it'll be on the agenda at our next meeting for a vote. Council Member Martin. Okay, I'm not seeing anything. Okay, you can go.

I just had a brief comment. This is a very complex issue. I had to read it a couple times the first time I came across to make sure I was understanding it. And I want to thank staff for their work navigating through to a very amicable and professional solution.

Council Member Martin.

I think I'd echo that and I think we should memorialize the tape. It's not too often that we are as a city working with individuals for some time and have praise of our staff. We appreciate that and we appreciate your patience and willing to work through, again, this complicated issue that, as you said, took many of us by surprise. Thank you so much and we look forward to having some yummy oysters soon.

Council Member Rodenburg.

Yes. Can we not pass this tonight with a supermajority vote?

We're unable to do so tonight. Unfortunately, the ordinance doesn't have a number on it, as I understand it. I'll let City Administrator Knutson address that.

The council, should they choose to this evening, they can pass this. It is within the municipal code that they can pass this on first reading. We did not advertise it with a number, but I don't think that that is a legal issue and we can resolve that tomorrow.

I'm looking at the legal counsel for him to nod. Okay, he is nodding, so we can.

Then I'd like to make a motion that we pass this tonight.

Second. Okay, it was moved by Council Member Rodenburg and seconded by Council Member Ekberg to approve the ordinance amending Gig Harbor Municipal Code 13.34 regarding water and sewer service outside city limits. If you could please vote.

Do we have a screen available, Mr. Harper, or do we need a voice vote?

Okay, I guess if you could please vote on your screens.

I vote yay. I vote yay as well.

Motion passes six to zero. But I would like to stipulate that I think the Kingman should come back next meeting anyway.

I just have one other comment. I know. Who's the lawyer? Is he here? Your lawyer? Is that you? Because I thought you did a good job. Very, very nice job. Sorry.

That's fine. Thank you for your comments. We really appreciate it. And I'm also looking forward to coming to E as well. Our second business item tonight is a public hearing on resolution 1361, adopting our 2027 to 2032 six-year transportation improvement program. And I will turn it over to city engineer, Aaron Holst for the staff report.

All right, good evening, mayor and council. Tonight before you is resolution number 1361 that will formally adopt the 2027 to 2032 transportation improvement program. In accordance with RCW 357710, local agencies must annually prepare and adopt a transportation program for the ensuing six calendar years that's consistent with the agency's transportation comprehensive plan. This is commonly referred to as the Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program or often referred to as the TIP. It's required to be submitted annually to the State Secretary of Transportation. So the graphic that we have up on the screen here that I wanted to talk about first tonight This represents kind of touch points where the public and council have input on transportation projects. So this kind of starting from the top down, the public input is a big part of what we do and the public has input on everything that we do related, everything from the top down. And so moving on down from there to the comprehensive plan, That occurs every 10 years. And during that update, we look at transportation projects. We look at developing a long range plan and a near term plan. And part of that is the transportation element of the comprehensive plan. And so tonight where we're at is we're at the six year transportation improvement program or the six year tip. And that is adopted annually. And so annually, any of those projects that are identified in the comp plan previously can be brought into the six year TIP. And moving down from there, just another touch point where council and the public have opportunity for input is the biennial budget. Every two years as we develop our budget is really where projects move from being in a non-funded status to potentially a funded status. And then contract award, we see lots of those. So either for design or construction, that's kind of the final touch point for council to be able to approve and execute a design or construction contract award. All right, thank you. And on to the next slide, please. All right, so on your screen now is the 2027 versus, sorry, 2026 versus 2027 tip comparison list. So this list is simply just to show the changes from last year's tip to this year's tip. So this year there were minimal changes. The Wagner-Walacha signal was removed because it was completed. For project number three, we chose to combine the Wallachia Interchange projects, mostly for ease of working with WSDOT and for grant billings. We added project number six, which is a pavement maintenance project. And we added project number 16, which is a Borgen Boulevard SR16 westbound off-ramp metering. And of note, and yeah, I think we can move on to the tip map, but of note, also included in your packet, we went through SEPA so that DNS is part of the council packet for tonight. The map's also part of your council packet, and this map, I know it's very hard to see on the screen, but If you can zoom in on it, it is a graphical depiction of the 28 projects that we have planned to happen over the next six years. Just a reminder, this is a very, very high-level priority list, meaning that... HAB-Jacques Juilland, Any of these projects can be selected on on any given budget year so city council could could choose to move forward during the next next budget cycle with project number just i'm throwing out examples 2425. 26 or they could choose to move forward with project number six or seven. So it's a high level list and it's projects that are on our radar from our comprehensive plan work that we know need to happen over the next six years. And then you'll also see as part of your council packet, which is even more difficult to see on the screen, is a large report that's required to be filled out by WSDOT that is a very detailed funding summary. So it breaks it down in a six-year format and it allows you to put in assumptions for funding. So if you know that you're getting a federal grant, if you're planning on getting a federal grant, if you're planning on getting a state grant, It gives you the opportunity to go through each of these, input project cost, project description, project length, and essentially develop a six-year plan that can be reasonably funded by the city over the next six years. And yeah, I just wanted to mention for some grants, a lot of grants, it is important to have a project on your TIP before applying for a grant. And so with that, I wanted to mention after the last council study session that Public Works staff for during the next budget process, we're gonna be developing a process that allows council to prioritize capital projects. I'm not exactly sure what that's going to look like yet, but it's going to be a priority list where and it might be in some form of a matrix where council and staff can go through and select priority projects. Again, this is just very high level, but for budget purposes, we're going to get a lot more in the weeds as we move into the next few months. And with that, that concludes my presentation and happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. And we are now moving to clarifying questions from council. I will begin with council member Coronado.

Thank you, Mayor. Question for you, sir. Aaron, thank you. With the addition of number six, which I greatly appreciate, the pavement maintenance, I know the city was conducting a pavement survey. Is that concluded? And is this the outcome of that called out?

It has not been concluded yet. So we've collected all the data. So we drove the vehicle around town and captured every lane mile in town. And so that's currently being analyzed. These projects we've known about for quite some time, and we're at about 60% design on this particular pavement maintenance project.

On that grouping of the four streets there? Correct. Gotcha. Okay, so these are just like past due ones, and then with that pavement survey that we are in the process of doing and analyzing, that'll be kind of the next project?

Councilmember Chris DeCardy- group yeah correct that will inform future payment maintenance projects, I really appreciate that being included in here, thank you yeah.

City Council Chamberson, Council Member Hekberg.

City Council Chamberson, Thanks, Mr host the re prioritization project that we discussed in work, study and you mentioned in your presentation, when do we anticipate Council taking that up.

City Council Chamberson, 16th of July okay great.

Thank you. Council Member Martin.

So some of the items on the TIP plan look like they belong to one another, if you will, that they're sequential things like sound view and then sound repavement, sound view and hunt intersection, et cetera. Is there in your mind an economy of scale or are these truly really separate projects is one question. And then the other question is, is, um, City Administrator Knutson spoke tonight about the intersection improvements at Hunt Street and Skansky for safety improvements. What's on here is different than there. Yes, OK. Yeah, the economy of scale question. So there's quite a few things look again like they belong together because it's going to be different projects and I didn't know in your world. If that makes sense to look at those together, similar to what's been done on is being done on 38th. Partially I know because we received different funding to help us with that. And there's sewer and different things. Just curious.

Yeah. And that's a great question. So we do take that into consideration. And the example you bring up with 38th is a, is a perfect example. So the city could never fund all of 38 through phase one, 1A, 1B, 1C, and Phase 2, it would be a massive project. So we typically split them up and go through internally a process that council is going to be going through with us as well and determine highest need based on what came out of the comprehensive plan and which areas are most frequented by pedestrians or cyclists or which areas have the least vehicular level of service or a safety issue associated with them.

Thank you. Are there any other clarifying questions from council? I'm not seeing hands raised. So I will now open the public hearing for this agenda item. If you are in the audience and wish to speak, please come to the podium now. And if you could give us your name and your affiliation with this project, and you will have three minutes to speak.

Thanks, Mary. Marlene Drucker, 7010 Stanage Avenue, Gig Harbor. I live here. I use Cushman Trail pretty much every day right now. And as I said, during bike month, I didn't advocate for that trail. Other people did that for me. So I'm happy to see Cushman Trail hasn't fallen off the list. It's still there. But we've been talking about extending Cushman Trail north for we've had a study in hand. I'm pretty sure it's six years ago since we did that study. So I just want to urge you to prioritize it for all the people who trails really are a build it and they will come. So just for all the people who, I guess a thank you to all the people who helped build the trail that I use today. And just to speak for the future people who I know they might not be standing here, but if you build that trail, they will be there using it. So thank you.

Thank you. If you could also please give us your name and your affiliation with the issue that you wish to speak about.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Larry Levine. I am the Executive Director of Forever Green Trails. We're a nonprofit supporting the build out of the regional trail system in Pierce County. And we had contacted you via email regarding our concerns about the draft 2027 to 2032 tip because it continues to push out the extension of the Cushman Trail listed in the tip as Cushman Trail Phase 5A. That's a beloved regional active mobility and recreation facility. So this project has migrated around the six-year TIP going from the last year of the plan in 2021, 2022, and 2023 to earlier years in 2024 and 2025 and 2026. But now it's been, in this draft, has been now pushed out again to the last years of the plan with actually construction outside of the six-year time horizon of this TIP. So now that the southern section of the trail has been completed by Panmet Parks, it's time for Gig Harbor to take up the northern extension of the project in earnest. And including this in the front side of your tip is, to me, the most logical way to do so. we further urge that you prioritize the necessary planning and design funding for this project in your next budget, since that's really what breathes life into the TIP projects, as the engineer said. I also wanted to mention a related issue about local funding. Most park capital facility grant programs available to cities such as yours require some sort of local match for those grants. And park impact fees are one of the most important sources of such revenue. Gig Harbor has not increased its park impact fees in over a decade. However, park projects have gotten significantly more expensive. This will make it more difficult for your community to realize its recreation dreams. It creates tougher budget deliberations by having insufficient special revenues for increasing park system capacity. And so please look into updating your impact fee structure. You will find that your fee rate is among the lowest of peer cities, which may contribute to delays in implementing capital plans, particularly on the parks and recreation side of things. Forever Green Trails has helped secure millions of dollars for trail projects throughout Pierce County. And we look forward to assisting you in securing grant funding for the Cushman Trail Extension. We encourage you to take the steps necessary to prioritize this project and engage with us to complete this important regional trail. Thank you so much for your consideration.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak during this public hearing?

Hello, my name is Corinna Olson. I will be respectful and try my absolute best to sound like I know what I'm talking about. I drive in the area, I like to bike ride. I'm trying to get my daughter into bike riding more and I really agree with them that it should be prioritized to extend the Cushman Trail. And I'm just kind of thinking like in a, you know, more general broader sense, like, what if these apartments that are probably going to people. But what if like maybe 50% of them or something didn't have parking and they would appeal to like younger people students, people who don't have kids to drive around. I think they'd still be very marketable and really appealing. And that trail is going to be super important. And maybe there could be some kind of program where there's like mini turbine battery charger things that people could have on their bikes and maybe some kind of program with like Penn, the light company, Peninsula Light, where people could get reduced electrical bill. Like the more they bike around and charge up batteries. I don't know. I'm just kind of thinking out loud what, you know what kinds of things might people might really be into what might be beneficial um is this the right time to um comment on non-agenda items or is that coming up okay all right thank you i appreciate it thank you is there anyone else who wishes to comment during this public hearing if you're on zoom if you could press the raised hand button please

And I'm not seeing anyone. So I will now close the public hearing on this agenda item and open it for council deliberation and possible action. Council member Coronado.

Thank you, Mary. And thank you. Those two spoke tonight. Um, I would like to move to amend the tip program by moving the Cushman trail by phase five, a design and permitting from 21 to seven. Just simply pushing it up the prioritization list. We give it higher priority and working with Pierce County to complete the trail design and permitting and moving along the construction phase.

I second that.

It was moved by council member Coronado and seconded by council member Tessa Cheney to amend resolution 1361 to including a move of the Cushman trail item, which I can't read right now. I think it's 21 up to 20 is 21 moving it up to seven, which moves eight to nine and nine to 10, that kind of sequentially down. Councilmember Ahman.

All right. Um, I would I had a clarification, wanted some clarification on the approval of this plan. And if Council approves the plan, as is tonight, are we able to make adjustments further down the line based on community feedback?

Yes, we are able to revisit the six-year tip at any point. We're annually required to do it before July 1st for the following year, but we can amend the tip at any point.

And the tip is part of the discussion on the July 16th agenda, correct?

On the July 16th agenda, we'll be talking about prioritizing TIP projects as they relate to moving into the budget season.

Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure that people may be concerned about the priority list as it currently stands in this presentation here, that it can be adjusted outside of this meeting as well.

Council Member Martin.

Yeah, I appreciate the motion at hand. If I understood correctly, prior conversations on the tip, while we prioritize these things, and I appreciate it, that it's partly to do with funding and it's to let the state know what we're looking at and it helps our staff in deciding what they're going to be working on next. There is not necessarily any reason why something that's number 21 couldn't be worked on for next budget cycle if council so chooses to appropriate those funds. Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay. And we're going to have the discussion more on the 16th. We're going to need to talk about if there's different funding options for us because we know money is always the critical element in doing any of these programs. And so hearing this evening, it sounds like there could be opportunities for the city to obtain funding help for the Cushman Trail. So for that reason, I know we're not ready to vote on it, but I probably wouldn't vote on the motion at hand. I'd like to get more information. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Rodenberg.

In regard to the Council Member Coronado's amendment, I would like to hold off on moving that up the list. I think that funding is the largest question here. And I don't feel comfortable making a decision without knowing where those funds are going to come from. And if we could get grants, would it put down or make some other decision project drop something that we already had the funding. I think the public needs to know that some of these things that are higher up the list are because we already have some grants. And if those projects don't move forward, then we lose the opportunity to cash in on those grants. So I would like to see us hold off on that amendment.

Council member Eckberg.

Just clarifying questions on this project listed as number 21 on the current packet at 1.1 million in total cost. And this is for just design of phase five. This is not construction, right?

Project 21 is design and permitting. So that would take us from our current 30% design to 100% design with permits. And that would be approximately 1.1, 1.2 million.

And it lists out there that we estimate our funds at 400,000 of that total cost and state funds at 700,000. So we do anticipate that this is a project we could get significant contributions for.

I will say that that is highly unlikely in this budget scenario that the state is in right now. As we heard from our lobbyists on Thursday, the transportation and operating budgets are significantly higher. down at the state level we are being signaled that there's not going to be as much money available for projects in general that the public works trust fund may be utilized again in order to make payroll at the state we're continuing to monitor that i will say that finance director larson and i have met with and are working with a federal lobbying firm now in order to look at cushman faith phase five funding uh fish passage funding police boat and some other things that we just have not been successful at the state level of obtaining grants um the city there's not to get too far into the weeds but there's certain grant criteria that have been added in in the last 10 years where communities that have a higher or a lower um Communities that are in higher need than Gig Harbor score higher. And for instance, the Brian Abbott fish barrier passage grant, we've continually scored much lower than other communities, even though the need is the same. And that is due to economic factors that Gig Harbor has. That's a long-winded answer to say that we will likely need to find other funding or fund ourselves the majority of the 1.1 million, especially if this is to be prioritized up the chain. We will likely be needing to fund that through city dollars.

And lastly, to Council Member Martin's point, although they're given a ranked number order on the tip, we don't have to go in that order. We can elect any project on this at any time, right?

That is correct. And that is particularly what the meeting on the 16th of July is for. We have not done that prior to this year. Council will be looking at the full gamut list of parks projects, as well as streets projects to include bike ped projects. And we will be asking you to rank choice vote those projects. And then we will formally cost them out and bring that to you and the mayor's proposed budget to you this fall. We feel that that is a better way to budget than pretend that we know what you want, cost that out and have that all play out in the public process. So we really want to get with you earlier in the summer, figure out what projects this council wants to prioritize. Then we will work to figure out what those funds are needed, see what funds we have available and bring a budget to council that meets your desire.

Thank you, and I appreciate your motion, Councilman Coronado, but I think in light of that, I'm leaning towards holding off and looking at it in a comprehensive way that you outlined.

Any other comments from Council, or are you ready to vote? Okay, if you could please vote on your screens or vote verbally if you are unable to access your voting screen, and this is merely voting on the amendment.

Nay.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Nay.

Nay. Council member Ahman, did you vote? I'm sorry.

I voted aye.

Okay. Okay, so I vote correct.

Council.

Okay, I vote nay. So if I could have a motion, another motion, possibly.

Move to approve Resolution 1361 adopting the 2027-2032 Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program. Second.

It was moved by Council Member Ekberg and seconded by Council Member Coronado to approve Resolution 1361 adopting the 2027-2032 Six-Year Transportation Impact Program. Assuming there is no discussion, if you could please vote on your screens. Yeah.

Aye.

And we what?

Council Member Rodenberg, could you please vote verbally?

Yes, I voted first, and I said yay.

OK, thank you. And Council Member Ahman, we're having trouble hearing.

No worries. I voted yay, yay.

OK. Motion passes six to zero. Thank you. Council. Our third business item tonight is a public hearing and first reading of ordinance of an ordinance amending the critical areas code. And I will turn it over to community development director, Eric Baker for the staff report.

Thank you very much. Excuse me. Thank you very much. Once again, my name is Eric Baker. I'm with the community development department. Excuse me. So this is a public hearing on the critical areas update that has been going on for the last 18 months. This is part of our periodic update of the comprehensive plan and is required every 10 years by the Growth Management Act. Every city must update its critical areas regulations related to best available science. That is the best information that's available on how to protect no net loss of functions and values. The Planning Commission held a public hearing and reviewed the proposal and made a recommendation to Council earlier this year. What is covered by the critical areas ordinance? Largely a series of environmental features, including wetlands, streams, and fish and wildlife habitat areas, steep and unstable slopes, flood hazard areas, and critical aquifer recharge areas. The code includes specific sections on each one of these. However, wetland and stream protections usually get the most amount of attention due to its impact on development potential. Wetlands come in roughly four categories ranging from one to four. The lower the number, the higher the habitat value. You're going to find that habitat protections are higher for the categories starting with one and leading down to four. A lot of that will be related to wetland buffers. Streams similarly have a one to five typing. They also have some numbers attached to them. Obviously, the lower the number, the higher the habitat value and the higher the protections, particularly in the area of protected buffers. Wetland buffers, this table shows you where the wetland buffers were in our existing code and where best available science is directing them to be moving forward. You will see some increases, but largely what you see is a lot of flattening of the buffers. So instead of a range, it comes down to a specific number. But the one that you'll see that has the largest changes is are those related to category one and two wetlands where you could be seeing up to 300 foot buffers where 100 foot buffers were previously. Category three and four wetlands roughly stay the same. Fortunately for development potential, these wetlands are the ones that are most common in the city and best available science indicates that we can maintain those at the same buffers. These are bulk buffers. These are buffers that are intended to be applied if no additional site-specific analysis is prepared. Wait, actually, one moment before I move to that. Stream buffers also are being substantially increased. What you're noting here are some significant increases, especially as it applies to fish and non-fish streams. This is due to the need of buffers going beyond just water quality, shade quality. but also including a substantial amount of wildlife benefit. And the wider the stream buffer is, the greater opportunity for wildlife habitat. As I indicated, those were bulk buffers. Those are if no additional site-specific analysis is of interest. These new bulk buffers can affect up to 380 additional acres of land in the city of Gig Harbor. That does not mean that 380 acres are not developable. It just means that critical areas regulations will apply to that number of acres. For folks who are looking to deviate from the bulk buffers I showed in the previous slides, you do have the opportunity to request flexibility through a number of mechanisms. The first of which is buffer breaks. That is a term that largely refers to people who have a wetland on say one side of Burnham Drive, and they want to develop on the other side, that roadway creates a buffer break. So even if the buffer is 300 feet, that roadway acts as the end of the buffer. Similarly, if someone has a wetland on one side of their neighboring home and they want to build on a lot on the other side of that home, that home would also act as a buffer break. Additionally, other site-specific analysis is available in the form of... wetland or wildlife biologist reports. Again, we are looking to seek no net loss of function. There's a lot of different ways to get that versus one size fits all buffers. Those can be based on whether the quality of the buffer on your property, as well as a number of other factors. These can allow for buffer reductions, buffer averaging, and in more extreme cases, a request for variances and reasonable use exceptions. Buffer reductions and buffer averaging are usually smaller requests, and those can be handled by the director. Variances and reasonable use exceptions are usually larger requests and are reviewed by the hearing examiner. For all wetland and all critical areas reviews, the city utilizes a third-party consultant to do the reviews of submitted documents, as we do not have trained environmental staff on board. So those reviews go through a private wetland and habitat biologist. Other regulations apply to hillsides and bluffs. Largely, you need a geotechnical report if you're going to build within close proximity to a steep slope that is due to potential sliding that could occur from building at the toe of the slope or the top of the slope. Geotechnical reports are commonplace, basically that they indicate the integrity of the hillside, not just in geology, but also in vegetation. Flood hazard areas, these are largely driven by federal requirements by FEMA. Largely, this does not indicate you cannot develop in flood areas, but it does indicate if you are going to build in a flood area, you must follow specific construction and development regulations to avoid any kinds of impacts to the private property as well as public property. And then lastly, critical aquifer recharge areas. This isn't really about the quantity of water in our aquifers. This is about how to protect our aquifers from uses on the surface that could potentially percolate down into the aquifer. That largely applies to hazardous material uses. The most common would be gas stations. And what that requires is a hydrologic report that indicates that if you do have a failure of your tank of some kind, how are you going to address that on site so it does not get into the aquifers? There is a series of ways to do that. Hydrologic assessment is done by a hydrologic engineer. and oftentimes can cover mitigation activities that are necessary for the development to proceed. So some of the other things that were included here, we did attempt to improve the code based upon definitions and clarity and process. We improved consistency with the Department of Ecology's requirements and rating systems, clarity on mitigation sequencing. When we talk about those site-specific reports, there is a sequence that you must go down. You can't go just straight to mitigation. You have to first show how you've avoided impacts to the critical area, then how you have minimized those impacts, then how you've mitigated those impacts. And then after that, you can go to both on-site or off-site mitigation opportunities. You must move in that sequence. And then lastly, the Planning Commission included language about improving clarity on how a critical area decision today on, say, a preliminary plat, could affect development of the individual lots moving forward, providing some kind of certainty moving forward that the work that is done today, the buffers that are established today will carry forward to future development of those areas. So with that, if anybody has any additional questions, please visit the Critical Areas Code update webpage. or interactive critical areas mapping tool, which can show how your property may or may not be affected by wetlands and streams. That concludes my presentation.

Thank you. Council, are there any clarifying questions on this ordinance? Council Member Eckford.

Thanks, Director Baker. I know you did a lot of outreach on this, including the website and everything you've done. Did you get much engagement from property owners?

We reached out in a number of ways, both old school and new school. We have a series of social media posts. We also had, it was located in the Gigabyte more times than I think the communication director would have liked. Actually, I like them all, but it was in there a lot. We also did mailers to 2,400 residents who were within 300 feet of a wetland or stream, thus could be affected by increased buffers. We had both workshops and stakeholder engagement, both with the master builders as well as the environmental community. Overall, we additionally had more than 100 interactions, either in phone or in person, about individuals who are concerned about the potential impacts of these codes on their properties. Those folks got the information, largely walked away happy, well, not happy, satisfied. with the information that they received, and that was conducted over an 18-month period. At the Planning Commission, we did not receive any additional testimony. There can be a number of reasons for that. One of them could be is that most of the folks had their questions answered moving forward, and other folks provided written testimony. All of the written testimony that was received during the process has been provided to Council and is in your packet. Thank you.

Councilmember Tessichini.

This is more just curiosity. I had heard, and this is, I could definitely stand for correction on this, that the aquifers in general and within the city limits take about two years to recharge. Is that roughly correct or am I way off?

I don't have that specific information about water quality recharge of the aquifers. Again, the critical areas ordinance only really focused on the uses on the top of the property. However, we did highlight it during the study session that the amount of aquifer recharge areas as well as wellhead radiuses cover a vast amount of the city geography. So much of the city is required to follow the critical areas regulations as well as potential hydrological

And then the potential impact on the folks that you reached out to, I mean, that's like a much smaller percentage than Gig Harbor acreage writ large. Is that correct?

Um, roughly the, um, critical areas, uh, regulations probably affected somewhere in the area of about 380 additional acres. That is a smaller as a small percentage of, um, additional land within the city. Um, however, we did take the extra, um, of, uh, going out to 300 feet, which again is the most any buffer could be to make sure that those folks were notified that we were changing regulations and they could participate in the process.

Thank you.

I'm not seeing any other hands raised from Council for clarifying questions. So I will now open the public hearing for this agenda item. If you're in the audience and wish to speak, please come to the podium now. Or if you're on zoom, please press the raised hand button. Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing and open it up for council discussion. And we can vote on this item tonight, again, with a super majority if we choose to do so. Council Member Martin.

Yeah, I'd like to move to approve the amendments to the Gig Harbor Municipal Code 18.08 critical areas based on review of the best available science.

Is there a second?

I second.

It was moved by council member Martin and seconded by council member Tessicini to approve the critical areas ordinance amending the code. If you could please vote on your screens. Yay. Thank you.

Yay. Yay.

motion passes six to zero. Thank you, Council. So we now open public comment for comments on non agenda items. If you wish to speak, please come forward at this time or press the raised hand button on zoom. And if you could identify yourself again, please, and you'll have three minutes.

Hi, I'm Corinna Olson, and I just had a comment about the new business that opened downtown, Gather. I think it's a really, really nice place and just really friendly, good people. I really loved the outdoor seating that they had set up there, and I hope that they'll be allowed to have it again in the future. I think it's a really nice, charming, nice ambiance for downtown. And a good thing for people to have like a centrally located place to kind of sit and relax and recharge. And, you know, and then that gives them a chance to kind of think, well, where should I go next? Where do I want to spend money next? Otherwise they might get in the car and drive away. That's just kind of my thoughts on it. So hopefully they'll be able to have that in the future. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anybody else who would like to comment on a non-agenda item tonight? I'm not seeing any hands raised or anybody at the podium. So I will close public comment on non-agenda items. Are there any reports from council tonight?

My screen isn't moving forward, Chris.

There we go. Thank you. I see council member Coronado trying to hit his button.

I'm trying.

Thank you, Mary. on June 18th, met with Puget Sound Regional Council where we discussed the Amazon grant to the Puget Sound Regional Council to create the housing tool called Build Here Puget Sound. It's a pretty impressive tool taking a look at the four county area to look at underutilized parcels. And that's going to be launched on July 22nd with a virtual stream at noon and might be worth peeking at. There's also going to be a four county roadshow during the fall as they roll out the application further and more in depth. Pretty impressive from what I saw. They showed it at the meeting. There's a lot of information to gather from it. We also discussed furthermore on the regional centers framework and and possible changes to that and discussions on the sales and use taxes for affordable housing, including 1406 from previous years and 1590. Those are just different taxing strategies that were used in previous years and sessions to help afford affordable housing, including I think that's those two funds alone have raised 800 million for affordable housing, which was pretty impressive. And And I think they have that housing webinar next week or this week actually. So if you want to take a peek at that, I think you can still register for it. Thank you.

Thank you. Council member Eckberg.

Thank you. I had the opportunity last week to tour two businesses in our community that are under redevelopment at this point. And I'm excited to see what they bring forward and when they're able to open their doors. I was also really encouraged to hear both business owners have nothing but praise for city staff and the community development department and everyone that they worked with, helped them, generally wanted to see them bring their vision to the city. And that's not the reputation we had in the past. And I'm very excited to see that we've built a culture where we are working together with the business owners to get the best for our community. And we have built strong codes. You have to have codes. You have to have land use. You have to have building codes. You have to have the rules and regulations. And to be fair to everyone in the community, we have to enforce those codes. And I think it's the responsibility of the people bringing new things forward to work with the city. And we've done great outreach. I think the business assistance meetings that we continue to have are a very valuable tool to help the process. And I wanted to say that I appreciate director Baker, you and your department and administrator Knudson, the professionalism that the staff has shown that I've seen recently. And so I'm just saying, thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to comment tonight from council? I am not seeing anyone. So I want to remind everybody that there is a list of upcoming meetings attached to tonight's agenda. And I will then ask if there is a motion to adjourn. I move we adjourn.

Second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Meeting adjourned. Enjoy the sunshine.

I'm going to go home and die. I'm going to die.