City Council - Regular Meeting

It is now 6.30 and the meeting will please come to order. Good evening and welcome to the June 16th, 2026 City Council meeting, Kennewick City Council meeting. Will the city clerk please state who is present and whether a quorum is established?

Good evening, Mayor McShane. All council members are present with the exception of Council Member Beecham and a quorum has been established.

Thank you. Will Council Member Klippert please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance this evening? Yes, sir.

and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. No one's registered this evening to provide tonight's invocation. Persons interested in giving the invocation can find that information on our website or through the city clerk's office. Council Member Beecham provided advance notice of his absence. Is there a motion to excuse the absence?

Mayor McShane.

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

I move to excuse Council Member Beecham.

Is there a second? Mayor, I second that. It is moved by Mayor Pro Temporelli and seconded by Council Member Anderson to excuse the absence of Council Member Beecham. The floor is open for discussion. There being no further discussion, it has been properly moved and seconded to excuse the absence of Council Member Beecham. Will the clerk please start the vote? That has passed unanimously. Thank you. Next, we'll have a service recognition. Will Melinda Didier please join Mayor Pro Tem Torelli at the podium?

melinda babysat the planning commission when i first got there and without her i would never have accomplished a third of what was accomplished and it's because of melinda and other staff members like her i keep this city going day in and day out and she's gonna make me start weeping here so to melinda didion we're grateful appreciation of your 30 years of service On behalf of the entire community, on behalf of us, we express our supreme gratitude and appreciation. I didn't know if I was going to get back up. Appreciation of your outstanding dedication and service to building a better community in the city of Kennewick. Thank you so much. Would you like to say a few words?

I have to put my readers on. When I started here 33 years ago, my three children were four, two, and seven months old. I was hired as an office assistant for planning. Our computer system was an old DOS program, and occasionally permits were handwritten. My times have changed. I've worked at the City of Kennewick for exactly half my life, and I'm terrified of retirement. What if my spouse realizes just how annoying I am? They say that you choose a job you love and you will never work a day in your life. The truth is, I didn't exactly choose this job. It chose me. My work experience up until 1993 was as a loan officer, a personal banker with Green Air National Bank, which is KeyBank now. My due job here at the city was a part-time, job-share position with Casey Decker, and the job allowed my family to get medical insurance, and I had a nice mix of working and being home, which was wonderful. I'm sad to leave all the wonderful people, coworkers, boards and commissioners, city council members and members of the public who have such a warm and special place in my heart that I'm excited to spend more time with my family and not have any more night meetings.

Thank you, and to celebrate Melinda's 33 years of service for the City of Kennewick, we will now be hosting a brief reception. The meeting is in recess until 6.45. It's now 645 and the meeting is reconvened. Next on the agenda for this evening is visitors. This is going to be the only opportunity for visitor comment at tonight's meeting. Visitors are welcome to state their opinion on any topic except for election matters and items under pending or previous public hearing. The city clerk has informed me there are no online visitors signed up to speak. We did receive one public comment and it has been uploaded to the public meeting portal and has been distributed to council members previous to the meeting. If someone in the audience wishes to speak, we'll ask you to raise your hand. Okay. The public comment period is not an opportunity for a mutual conversation with council members or for posing questions with the expectation of an immediate answer. Council members will be listening closely to your comments but will not directly respond to you. The city clerk's business card is on the table near the door. If you need a follow-up after the meeting, please reach out to her, and she will connect you with someone who can help. When it's your turn, please come to the podium and state your name and city of residence before beginning your remarks. Each person is permitted to speak once for a maximum of three minutes. A three-minute timer will be displayed on the screen, and we'll start when you come to the podium. A total of 30 minutes is allocated for visitor comments this evening. The city clerk will please now start the 30-minute timer, and whoever would like to speak, raise your hand, please. Warren, please.

Warren Hughes, Kennewick, Washington. So last week, we had almost a discussion about a plan for downtown, and I look forward to seeing that discussion advance. But I wanted to pass on to council some feedback from the business owners that I brought along with me to watch that workshop. It was the general sentiment of the business owners that a majority of the council did not know what was going on downtown. that they were disconnected or that their ideas or thoughts about it were outdated. And so I would encourage council to take some time to come down and talk to all of us in downtown and actually see what's going on. It's been a year since I opened my business, and I think I've seen Councilman Milbauer and Councilman Torelli and Jason, and that's it. So I look forward to seeing the rest of you sometime before we have our next discussion about the plan for downtown. I would also like to point out to council that not that long ago, On the dais, there was the matter of raising property taxes. I think it was 0.1%. And that was voted down, and the sentiment was that we didn't know what we were going to need that money for, so why raise the taxes? Downtown Kennewick has been paying taxes, property taxes, for longer than any part of this city, and yet we have probably the worst infrastructure that's the most out of date. And it seems like if you've been paying taxes longer than anyone else, maybe you'd be a little bit higher on the priority list for a sewer pipe or a water main or other critical infrastructure. Many of the businesses downtown are one major infrastructure failure away from going out of business. If we were shut down for a week because a sewer line broke or a water main exploded, it put a lot of us in a real hurt. So thank you. Thank you.

Yes, please.

Hello, my name is Chantal Arnold. I'm with Pratt Construction, and I'm speaking tonight regarding the frontage improvements requirements being placed on the property located at 5304 West 8th. Specifically, I'm asking for a variance to the current mandate requiring installation of sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and fire hydrant. As a contractor, I'm frustrated because I've been told multiple times over more than 15 years that sidewalks would be required on all new construction homes and lot splits in neighborhoods without sidewalks. So eventually, all neighborhoods would have these improvements. Yet the city has allowed multiple properties in the same area not to have sidewalks, curbs, and gutters installed, but are now choosing to enforce it on this property. I understand the city's desire for infrastructure development, but the enforcement of these rules needs to be equally applied in each area. In this exact neighborhood, right on the same street, the city of Kennewick has already established a clear precedent by waiving these exact requirements for multiple properties within the last few years. Neighboring properties were permitted to split lots, develop, build new homes, or make improvements without the massive prohibitive costs of installing concrete sidewalks, curbs, gutters, or fire hydrants. This includes a new construction house that was just completed within the last 30 days on the same street with no sidewalk, curbs, or gutters required. Another property is under construction with posted civil plans on site that do not show required sidewalk, curbs, or gutters. Both of these plans were reviewed and stamped by multiple City of Kennewick departments with red writing stating that no sidewalk curb or gutters were required for these properties. When I asked about the issue on the planning department, they stated that these were oversights. One may be an oversight, but three or more times in the same area is a pattern and a precedent and shows unfair enforcement. Plans must be stamped and reviewed by multiple city departments who should be working together. As a contractor in the city of Kennewick, I once had to plant multiple trees in two feet of snow in freezing weather at a new home in Kennewick before an inspector would issue a certificate of occupancy for the property and before the homeowners could move in right before the holidays. I am not sure how missing sidewalks, curbs, and gutters multiple times would be considered an oversight. forcing a single property owner to install isolated fragments of sidewalks and utilities that connect to nothing, especially when multiple others in the same area were exempted in writing, is not effective urban planning and unequal enforcement. If this was critical, past contractors, homeowners, and civil engineers would have been required to have this on their plans, and the city would have required it during reviews, inspections, before a final, and before a certificate of occupancy was issued. By already allowing other properties to be exempt from sidewalks, curbs, and gutters, the city has already established the precedent that this neighborhood does not need these items, and it's not a priority or necessary in this area. Just because this is a high-profile property does not mean the city should enforce standards that the rest of the neighborhood has not been held to. I urge the council to review...

Your time has expired, sorry. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Kara Sutherland. I'm the realtor who helped stop the proposed LRA house from becoming a reality on 8th Avenue and helped protect our community from the placement of level three sex offenders at that location. When it became clear that the city, county and state had no legal authority to stop the project, we took the only action available to us. I contacted the property owners and presented an offer to purchase the property. We knew the offer would need to be competitive. We also knew the client would likely take a financial loss. Despite that, my client and his wife chose to move forward because protecting our community was more important to them than financial gain. Through negotiations, we were able to purchase the property. Afterward, my client and I met with professionals to discuss how best to prevent this property from ever being used in a similar manner. The conclusion was that subdividing the lot would make it less attractive for future investors seeking to use the property in ways that would be harmful to the neighborhood while preserving the character of the community for families and future homeowners. As we began that process, we were informed that the subdivision would require significant improvements, including ADA sidewalks curbing, storm drainage, fire hydrant, and other infrastructure costs totaling well over $120,000. We also learned that the fire hydrant had already been planned by the city for that area, but had not yet been installed, which then leaves that expense to fall upon my client. Today I come before you with a simple request. My client and his wife used money from their retirement savings to ensure this project would not move forward. I personally waived my compensation as a single mother of three to also instill and believe that protecting this community was more important than financial gain. We believed it was the right thing to do. Together with the community members and advocates, we helped prevent this project from becoming a reality. In recognition of those efforts and the substantial financial sacrifice made to protect our city by my client, I respectfully ask that you waive or significantly reduce the subdivision requirements associated costs with the property. This would not only acknowledge contribution to my client and what he's made to the community, but also help ensure that the property can be developed in a way that continues to protect and strengthen our neighborhoods and continue to make Kennewick a friendly, inviting, warm, safe place to live and not only invest. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yes, please.

Good evening, I am Holly Bellegarde, a resident of Kennewick. I also speak for my parents, Douglas and Sarah Faring, also of Kennewick. It's only been a couple of months ago that our neighborhood stood at this very podium and praised the city for being our partner in defeating the proposed LRA. We were a great team and we would like to keep it that way. Many members of our neighborhood put in countless hours and a great deal of out-of-pocket expenses to rid the city of the menace, and you would have been helpless to defeat it without us. And make no mistake, defeating the LRA saved the city not only innumerable headaches, but also a great deal of money, since departments such as the police will no longer have to redirect resources on potentially disastrous and deadly consequences of having violent sex offenders living in a neighborhood of vulnerable citizens. Our actions also projected a message to would-be entrepreneurs. Kennewick is not a good place to put future LRAs. Our incredible neighbor, Tony Sabino, stepped up to the plate and purchased the LRA home to finally get us all out of this horrible nightmare. He was forced to pay over market price since the individuals who purchased the land for the LRA had also paid too much for it, and they insisted on getting their money back. The home itself was in deplorable condition, and Mr. Sabino has spent many thousands of dollars to bring it to a saleable condition. mr sabino did not buy the property to make money on it but he didn't buy it to lose a bunch of money either and that is where we have a problem in order for mr sabino to break even he must have subdivide and sell the two new lots imagine our shock upon hearing that the city of kennewick was telling mr sabino that he has to pay for sidewalks in front of the house on eighth street which currently has no sidewalks and for a fire hydrant on his side of edison to the tune of over a hundred thousand dollars there's currently a hydrant less than eighty five feet away directly across the street This isn't a Tony Sabino problem. This is a neighborhood problem, and we are united in protest of these totally unreasonable demands the city is placing on us. Believe me when I say we don't want to see this turn into a PR nightmare for the city, and we don't want to start picketing City Hall over this, but I think we all know we can. and I think we all know we will. In closing, I would like to add that I find it hard to believe there's no one in this room that doesn't have the authority to go to the various departments making these ridiculous demands of us and saying, hey, you know what? Maybe we really don't need to make Mr. Savino pay for these things, and they can wait until the neighborhood someday passes an LID to get city sewers, sidewalks, and streetlights, you know, the way it's supposed to be. Thank you. Thank you.

My name is Katie Perry from Kennewick, and I'm here tonight as a Ranchette Estates neighbor to address the frontage improvement requirements at 5304 West 8th Avenue. First, let's look at the literal layout of the land. 8th Avenue is only 30 feet wide. By the time you require 6 feet on either side for curbs, gutters, and sidewalks, and allow for a realistic 8-foot For neighborhood street parking, you are left with just 14 feet of drivable space. Forcing standard frontage improvements onto a 30-foot wide right of way will choke out the roadway, eliminate vital parking, and create a dangerous bottleneck. This neighborhood was not designed to accommodate sidewalk curbs and gutters. It seems that the city has possibly already acknowledged these physical constraints. As previously mentioned, at least three other properties in our immediate neighborhood were exempt from these exact upgrades. Those exemptions made sense. The neighborhood simply cannot support sidewalks, curves, and gutters. My frustration is that those properties were granted relief and 5304 is being forced to install isolated infrastructure that connects to nothing. We also cannot ignore the history here. When this neighborhood was annexed into the city in 2005, the residents fiercely opposed it. They were ultimately promised city-grade amenities, streetlights, sidewalks, and hydrants. For 20 years, the neighborhood waited. The city did not fulfill those promises. In over 20 decades, only one single fire hydrant has been added to the entire neighborhood. Now it seems that the city is attempting to pass its own unfulfilled infrastructural obligations onto a single private property owner. To make matters worse, there is already an existing hydrant just 85 feet away from this property. The city's own construction crew assured me that when I called in case of an emergency, they could run a hose across Edison. Yet the homeowner is still being forced to install another hydrant directly across the street from an existing hydrant. This is a massive financial overreach. Finally, let's talk about the community partnership. Just a few short months ago, during our fight against the LRA, the city repeatedly promised that they would do everything in its power to help us. When the city's hands were tied, the homeowner and the neighborhood stepped up at great personal cost and negotiated a sale of property to specifically protect the citizens and the children living in this neighborhood. The minimal improvements he is proposing now are simply in an effort to break even on a project that he took on to help save our community. The homeowner and our neighborhood should not be penalized for the physical limitations of a narrow street, nor should he pay out of pocket for promises that the city made in 2005. I urge you to look at the physical constraints, honor your history with the neighborhood, and waive these frontage requirements and allow this project to move forward. i also urge the council to review the exceptions already made on 8th avenue and grant 5304 the same treatment that was given to the other neighboring properties thank you thank you yeah please

Andrew Fadino, City of Kennewick. I'm here tonight not to speak on behalf of myself, but to speak on behalf of the community of City Council in whole. I feel blessed to be here, so thank you. Slight context before I get into comment is I served 20 years as a firefighter paramedic on the west side of the state. I smartened up, came over to the east side, but I spent 20 years carrying a badge in that the number one thing I learned is doing the right thing for people. In that, after I retired, I started a medical corporation. I'm the owner of New You Women's Clinic Anesthetics with my wife, Dr. Fadino, and we're proud to select Kennewick as the headquarters of our corporation. In that, our location is on the new intersection of Clearwater and 10th Avenue, where it now comes out to be, a place that is a little bit fearful for drivers here in the Kennewick Tri-Cities region. um since that intersection has been there it is a true reality that it is very much so a hot spot for car accidents myself being a first responder for 20 years i did get the the blessing and the privilege and the responsibilities of being that first responder on scene dealing with those emergencies as they occur that location has been serving countless car accidents time and time and time again since the uh since the intersection has been made Now, this isn't something that's new. City Council, Planning Division, they're prepared to put a light in there. The infrastructure for the light is in place. The electrical is in place. The stubs for it, the steel is in place. Yet there's no light. So it begs me the question, if we all stopped breathing right now, how soon would we want to start breathing? And the answer is right away. We want to start safety right now. As it is currently, every single accident that occurs there from now forward to me feels like we're not doing the right thing as a city. I'll be it. We must make the choice to put the light in. It meets quality. It meets the regulations. There's been X amount of car accidents with injuries and transports that have been occurring. I ask council to please do, for the sake of the community, for our... It just makes me fearful. I've got a 17-year-old daughter as well. I guess I'll put a little shameless plug in there as well. I just want to make sure that the community is doing the right thing and keeping safe. So ask the council to please do move forward with putting that light in for the sake of safety.

Thank you. Yes, please.

Michelle Fleming, Kennewick, Washington. I know this might be a repeat of what has been said already, but I want you guys to listen, okay? It's in regards to the home at 5304 West 8th Street. Tony Sabino purchased this home using his retirement account to stop it from becoming a less restrictive alternative home for level three sex offenders. Our neighborhood formed the nonprofit Save Our Children Tri-Cities to fight this. This group of neighbors and citizens of Kennewick came to you as our city council for help. We helped educate you and our community on what LRAs are and the threat they pose to the citizens of our city. At every meeting, the city council as a group said they would help us fight the LRA from opening and do whatever was needed to support this fight. SOCT worked with you and put in hours upon hours of research, compiling information, statistics, protesting, and going to the state representatives and senators to fight this. We are the ones that went to the west side to shine light on who the people were and what they were trying to do. We went to Everett and protested outside of Isabelle Vallee's place of employment and got her fired. Then we went to their home. Then we went door to door educating their neighbors about who they were and what they were doing. We made them uncomfortable in their home just as they were doing to us in ours. It was this and the pressure we put on that ultimately led them to reaching out to us saying they are interested in selling the home back to us. We did this, not the state, not the state reps or the senators, not even the city, the neighbors. We stopped this. Then we had a neighbor, Tony, step up tap into his 401k and purchase the house well above what the house was actually worth we as a neighborhood have helped tony totally renovate the house so the family will move in and raise their family in the neighborhood the windows were broken by vandals needless to say they needed to be replaced the roof also needed to be replaced painting inside and out had to be done drywall wood paneling Damage was all taken down and replaced. New insulation replaced. The dollars kept adding up. Tony's retirement funds are constantly being depleted. At this time, we were under the impression, excuse me, all this time, we were under the impression that he would be able to recoup his money by dividing the lot. Thank you.

Hello, Todd Fleming, Kennewick, Washington. Part two. I'm sure you guys have heard a lot about this, but I'm going to read it anyway. This is where the city council comes into play. Our council, who said numerous times on record that they would be there for us and do whatever they could to help us in this fight. Tony had found out. for him to subdivide the lot and recoup the money, he now had to put out even more money. Money for sidewalks, curbing, paving a road, connect the city sewer and fire hydrant. The city is requiring this according to the building and planning department. They are required to. Well, the city is not requiring everyone to do this. Again, they're the three other houses that have been worked on, built brand new houses. They didn't have to do anything. None of these homes have sidewalks or curving. No one in our neighborhood has sidewalks or curving. And side note, as a new resident to that neighborhood, I don't want sidewalks and curving in that neighborhood. I like it the way it is. And I agree, if you put them in there, you're going to choke those roads out and make People can't park in the street anymore in front of their own house. Around town, there are multiple other lots that have been subdivided and sidewalks were not put in. Some examples include homes in the new small subdivision on 19th and Union. The apartments went up behind the homes on 4th Avenue in the past year. None of these have sidewalks. Listen, please, you guys, we got to do the right thing. I don't really understand the city codes and requirements. I get it would be nice to have other people build it, but that's a city thing. I don't understand with what he did more than anybody else in this whole episode, I don't understand why we're putting this on it. And I've been helping him out on this house, and it's been a lot of damn work. I really don't think we should as human beings push him this far. So that's my two cents. I'll be back later.

Thank you. Stephanie.

Good evening, Stephanie Button, City of Kennewick, also the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership. So last week I also attended the workshop where one of the presentations was on the area-wide study for downtown planning. The HDKP board, which is comprised of businesses, property owners, they spent two hours on workshop with Stantec, the contractors and their sub, going over the area-wide plan. Now, I understand that council didn't have the ability to review that study as thoroughly as my board did, because I made them read it out loud at my meetings. I encourage you to pay particular attention to chapters five and six when you do review this study, when we can resume the conversation about your priorities for tasks, projects, and objectives that would make downtown and its infrastructure stronger and viable for the next, hopefully, 100 years. The final appendix that has the raw survey data from the survey is also very valuable and I encourage you to take a look at that. I know timing is critical as the city works on its overall comprehensive plan and that you're on time to make a decision about your larger Kennewick comprehensive plan sometime in the September area. I would love to have a sub plan for downtown included in that concept. And I'd love to extend an invitation to council as well as staff for guided tours, walking tours of downtown Kennewick. I would love to introduce you to the businesses that are there, the property owners, maybe introduce you to ice cream nachos or delicious latte, maybe a taco. There are so many great places in downtown. There are business owners who do not own their buildings, who have spent literally hundreds of thousands of dollars investing in those spaces to make them great sites of commerce. We have people who want to invest and relocate their business to downtown. I can promise two businesses coming to downtown that are looking forward to their ribbon cuttings in the next couple of months. Downtown can continue to grow, but we need thoughtful plan and strategy so that we can move into the future. So this is me inviting council to come downtown for a guided tour and to urge you to read the area plan. I know it's a lot of pages, but there's lots of great pictures and tables. And I urge you to pay particular attention to chapters five and six and the appendix. And if you have any questions, I'm available for coffee. Thank you.

Tony Savino, Kennewick, Washington. I am the person that bought the LRA house. First, I want to say I know Mayor McShane that you had a friend who was in real estate that had a developer that would have bought this property, and I wouldn't have all this headache. But I made the choice that I made because I felt that the person, if a developer would have bought this property, it would be apartment buildings or multiple four plexes Etc and not the type of neighborhood that I really want to live in and I don't think my neighbors want to live in so that said The other thing I would ask is that you guys take a drive in the neighborhood and stop at that property, look at the two curbs that are on either side of the property on Edison, and see how they follow and see how tight that would be if they require me to put in curbs and sidewalks. I understand that you guys want to extend sewer system and things like that, and I understand subdividing would require sewer and water. I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with the fire hydrant from the standpoint of I would ask the city pay for that. It's going to cost me about $17,000 to $20,000 to put a fire hydrant that is 85 feet away from another fire hydrant. And quite frankly, if there is a fire, I can guarantee you, and I'm sure you know, they're going to shut down Edison. So there's not going to be a problem pulling a hose across the street. I realize there are certain requirements the fire department has about being within a certain distance and not having to cross the street. But quite frankly, at this point, With the sidewalks and curbs, I don't think they fit into the neighborhood. I, quite frankly, was surprised. And in a way, I feel like I'm being discriminated against for doing this. And I think part of what they're saying is, well, you're closest to Edison, so we can start with you and make everybody else do it. I live directly across the house, across the street from 5714. That house was torn down to the ground and completely rebuilt from scratch. It was dirt. They were not required to put in curbs and sidewalks. The house at 709 Jefferson was subdivided, built. It's within throwing distance of my house. They were not required to put in curbs. The house that is getting ready to be built at the end of 8th Avenue at 800 Jefferson that backs up to the pool at ranch at estates is not being required to put in curbs and sidewalks so I feel I'm being singled out and discriminated against and I would ask a that you reverse the sidewalk and curbs I'm prepared to do the other things and that the city pick up the cost of a fire hydrant if that's going to be required thank you for your consideration please

Larry Gregory, Kennewick. I'm not going to read from it. I'm just going to follow up some of the comments made by Tony. It's really interesting that when we take a look at it as far as the inconsistency. And driving here down 6th Avenue, pointing out to my wife whether there are fire hydrants or whether it's really strange sometimes to find three fire hydrants within the size of what this room is on both sides of the street and other places where you get to an intersection and there's not a fire hydrant at all. The fact that 80 feet away from Tony's southeast corner of his property happens to be a fire hydrant there going across Edison and he's being required to put in a fire hydrant is absolutely ridiculous. I just cannot understand any positive constructive thinking about that whatsoever. As for curbing, I think that's been spoken to, so I'm not gonna say anything about that. But as I say, the situation on fire hydrants, it's really inconsistent. Drive down 10th. It was hard for me to figure out the four fire hydrants that served us they're in that community because some are on the west side of 10th, some are on the east side of 10th. Do I count them or don't I count them? So as I said, within the area itself, there are only four. You go down Kellogg, the same thing exists with them on, depending on the intersection, which side of the street they are. They're serving the neighborhood on both sides. So with Tony, you would serve on both sides, including Tony's property. Thank you.

All right. With no additional public comments, this period is now closed. Next item is approval of the agenda. If the council member wants an item removed from the consent agenda, please be recognized by the mayor and state the item number you wish to remove for further discussion. And this item will be considered separately. I'll entertain a motion.

Mayor McShane.

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

I move to approve the agenda as presented.

Is there a second?

Mayor?

Yes, Council Member Milbauer. I'll second the motion. It has been moved by Mayor Pro Temporelli and seconded by Council Member Milbauer to approve the agenda as presented. The floor is open for discussion. There being no further discussion, it has been properly moved and seconded to approve the agenda as presented. Will the clerk please start the vote?

And that motion is passed unanimously. Thank you.

The next item is the approval of the consent agenda. All matters listed within the consent agenda have been distributed to each member of the Kennewick City Council for reading and studying or considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion of the council with no separate discussion. I'll entertain a motion.

Mayor McShane.

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

I move to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Is there a second?

Mayor?

Councilmember Milbauer. Second the motion. It has been moved by Mayor Pro Temporelli and seconded by Councilmember Milbauer to approve the consent agenda as presented. Will the clerk please start the vote? That has passed unanimously. Next, we will consider the adoption of an emergency moratorium ordinance pertaining to less restrictive alternative facilities serving sexually violent predators. After the staff report, council will have an opportunity to ask questions or to request clarifying information. Please have general discussion and debate to wait until after the motion has been made. Will the city clerk please read the ordinance by title?

Good evening, Mayor McShane. This is an ordinance declaring a six-month moratorium prohibiting the sighting of secure, less restrictive alternative LRA facilities, serving sexually violent predators within the city, setting a public hearing date, and establishing an immediate effective date.

Thank you. Ms. Beaton, will you please provide a staff report?

Thank you, Mayor McShane and members of City Council. I'll cut to the chase of the staff report, and that is when staff had an opportunity to review our comprehensive plan and our current regulations, it was determined there was an inconsistency between the way our comp plan defined essential public facilities and categorized them and determined where they would be placed and where our code identified essential public facilities and determined where they could be placed to include secure community transition facilities. Any other... The other issue our review determined was we really did not adequately differentiate between secure community transition facilities and secure LRA facilities in general, which are kind of any other residence which a court would determine would be a placement possible for a sexually violent predator. So not going into all the history that preceded this review, we're well aware of that. I just want to establish where we started from, and that was we reviewed our code, we reviewed our comp plan, We were well aware what the other cities had done and then made the determination that it would be appropriate for us to adopt a moratorium because we have the authority under the state constitution and state law to adopt an emergency moratorium. and then take the time that it allows us to review amendments to our comp plan, as well as amendments to our code regulations, and take the time to do that without the possibility of another provider or property owner trying to site one of these facilities. Because as our code stands today, there's an inconsistency between the comp plan and our code. And so then you would really be looking at a review that could cite this anywhere in the city under a conditional use permit process versus what we would like to do is better define the two secure LRA facilities under state statute, determine those to be essential public facilities, and then make sure the comp plan is consistent with the codes. and then look at what are the proper locations where, in terms of zoning districts, where these facilities could locate, as well as what other land use controls we could apply to the siting of these facilities that would ensure some level of public safety for the community. So under state statute, the city has the authority to adopt an emergency moratorium as long as you set a public hearing within 60 days. This ordinance will adopt the moratorium preventing any applications, any type of permit or license applications, any other approvals for a secure LRA facility, which includes the SCTF secure community, and all these other locations which are typically a residence, which is what we experienced most recently in Kennewick. It adopts the six-month moratorium and then sets the public hearing within the 60 days for July 21st. At the public hearing, staff will again provide a report on what would a proposed work plan look like. Council can entertain other public testimony regarding retaining the moratorium or repealing the moratorium or extending the moratorium. In previous history with Kennewick, we have adopted moratoriums on other land use matters. And typically six months is essentially enough time to do the work that we're gonna propose, which would be the comp plan amendments and the code amendments. But should the city need additional time, state law authorizes us to extend that moratorium. But at this point on an emergency basis under state law, we're allowed to initially adopt a six month moratorium. With that said, I'd be happy to answer any questions that council might have.

Yes, Council Member Trumbull.

Thank you, Lisa. Your last comments there caused me to wonder. This moratorium sounds like there is no sunset. We could keep this going for a year or longer.

Well, my experience with the city, we've not gone longer than a year. I don't anticipate this taking that long. But state law, you have to have a justification to extend it further. So you can adopt it on an emergency basis. You have to have a public hearing to justify the initial six months or to justify any other action. And then once you either adopt code amendments or you can allow it to expire or you can adopt another ordinance to extend it another six months. Anything beyond a year, you better have pretty good justification to do that. We've not had that situation where we've extended anything beyond a year.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Excellent brief. Thank you for that. I'm going to do my best to quote you. I'm not going to get the exact wording, but you said during that time to assure some level of safety for our community. I want to make sure that we do everything we can to make it absolutely safe for our community. Some level of safety is not enough for me. And so I don't care how many moratoriums it takes to stack on top of the others until we get it right and to inform the state of Washington that our community's safety takes a higher priority than their less restrictive alternative for sexually violent predators. So I just would like to put that in everybody's ears so that they know where I'm going to stand on this. Thank you.

Additional questions of staff? Please, as we're talking through this, there's a lot of different confusion related to housing for sexually violent predators. We found that to be very clear as we went through this. As we're talking through this proposed ordinance, this would include any and all forms of these civilly committed sexually violent predators being housed within our city. That's correct. And so this isn't one part or another, this is any and all types related to.

Any and all, that's correct.

Okay. And one of the things I read as I was reading through the ordinance, it also talks about, you know, the moratorium imposed by this ordinance has to do with filing with the city or the courts of competent jurisdiction for any applications for licenses, permits, or other approvals for the siting of any secure facilities. Can you just describe that a little bit more so we better understand what that means? Because one of the challenges we know earlier this year was we didn't have anything that the city council was considering. We didn't have an application proposed to us. We didn't have any type of site plan proposal. And so how does this moratorium help us in that regard?

Well, because of the public nature of the adoption of this moratorium and the explicit findings in the ordinance, at least the city could state, should we get an inquiry about it, that there's a moratorium in place. What is unfortunate about state statute is how these things could occur is, unbeknownst to the city, an individual could name a location in Kennewick and request that that location be considered by the court as a place where a sexual violent predator could be located. It would be up to the owner or provider of that property to indicate to the court that they are willing and able to provide a location to house a sexually violent predator and that they are compliant with local zoning. And so that's the tie-in to the city and our authority. they would have to indicate to the court under oath that they're in compliance. So you would assume they would be honest with the court and say whether they are or are not in compliance or wouldn't even identify that location until they knew they were compliant with local zoning. If we find out after the fact that somebody was trying to cite, say we got notice that SVP had been approved for a particular location, we would have the authority to go into court and challenge that placement and seek injunctive relief.

And like I say, that's a real improvement over where we were earlier this year. That's correct. So I want to express appreciation for that explanation and helping us understand. I think part of the challenge for me as I'm trying to understand these things is, again, not something that the city really has an application process for. However, we are going to be looking at how those are going to be zoned. This six-month moratorium gives us the opportunity to do that. I do think it's a good thing for us to be headed forward in that direction. So the other question I guess I would have is what kind of notification can we expect from a court of competent jurisdiction on these activities coming to the city of Kennewick? Can we expect that the state would be transparent in their application of these and that we would expect them to contact the city of Kennewick in the event that someone's going to be placed here or being considered to be placed here?

It was a good question. Unfortunately, the RCW does not place any obligation on court to notify the city. It's based upon the most recent experience. DSHS might take it upon themselves to voluntarily notify us sooner rather than later. Under the statute, the earliest we would get notified would be 30 days through DOC. So the statute's not great on its face in terms of notice or protection for the city. However, we are afforded our authority to impose land use regulations. And as long as we meet the requirements of zoning of an essential public facility, we can still apply local restrictions on that particular land use to include what zoning districts could it be allowed in, what are the additional setbacks we want to consider, What other performance measures do we want to require of the facility?

I think that's all. I think that helps me to better understand. It would sure be great if the state would be transparent in these regards and provide that information earlier to cities so that they can better understand and educate the community on what they're going to be facing. I would agree. And perhaps that's not much of a question. Additional questions? If there are no additional questions, I'll entertain a motion.

Mayor McShane.

Mayor Pro Tem Torelli.

I move to adopt the ordinance as presented.

Is there a second?

Mayor, I second that.

It has been moved by Mayor Pro Tem Torelli and seconded by Council Member Anderson to adopt the ordinance as presented. The floor is open for discussion. Council Member Clipper.

I never, I neither made the motion nor the second, but I strongly stand in support of this motion. that you're now gonna vote on and encourage everyone else to do the same.

Thank you. Other comments? I guess I have a couple more. I will say that I recognize and very much appreciate the comprehensive staff report that's been given this evening. I will say that this is a unique circumstance that we're in and all those six months has been appropriate in the past for the city to be able to consider these things. Not to be pre-decisional in what I'm thinking, but this has been challenging to understand and challenging to adopt. It would not surprise me if it takes us longer than that, especially in light of the fact that we're in the current update of our comprehensive plan. And so it would not surprise me that we need more time to make sure we do it. I will say that I think it's really important that we do this right and not have to do it over. and so i appreciate the city's staff's judicious work and making sure that we are meticulously following through on what we think can be actually effective in preventing these in our city or controlling at least where we can and so i just want to make sure to express appreciation to our team who has put a lot of effort into this over the last several months and i'm excited to see what we can find coming forward With no additional discussion, it has been properly moved and seconded to adopt the ordinance as presented. Will the clerk please start the vote? And that has passed unanimously. And thank you all for that. Next on the agenda is council comments and discussion. We will start with Council Member Milbauer.

Good evening, everyone. Two things. I did attend the adult drug court back on the 11th, and an individual graduated. It was an emotional graduation, and I was very excited for what he's done for himself and what he's doing for his family. He did go to the KFD award ceremony, at the training center. Nice warm day, but congratulations to everyone. Thank you. Thank you.

Council Member Anderson. This is just my opportunity to kind of address a little bit the concerns that a lot of people have with the LRA. I think it's misleading that we've heard this numerous times that the house was overpriced. I looked up the record, spoke with Realtor. That's pretty standard for the price. It's less than what it was purchased for in December. The public record show was sold for $590, and in December it was sold for $597 for over one acre in Kennewick. So I think that's a little bit disingenuous to say that this is a major sacrifice to do this. He made that choice. I applaud him for it. I think it's great. However, I do think we need a staff report or something to explain the variances because I do think that's a legitimate issue. If there have been significant variances, why have the variances taken place and why are

they not taking place in this issue in this case so i think to be fair to us you know we don't understand that so we would like a report if that would be okay miss urban yes councilman anderson we've already started on that with the public comment that was received earlier today it provided us with some addresses i've already had our planning and public works department starting to pull that together so we should have it out to you by tomorrow okay i i just think it's

Those are very fair points that are being made on that with regard to the infrastructure and with regard to what else has been going on there and the neighborhood and so forth. So I think those are very fair points. That's all I have for tonight.

Mayor Pro Temporelli.

Attended the Joint Coliseum Advisory Committee. Schedule and cost are still on track, so things are going well there. Along with Council Member Milbar, attended the Kennewick Fire Department Awards Ceremony. It was a highlight of the exceptional service of the men and women in our fire department. And a special moment was the dedication of the Fire Training Center to retired Battalion Chief Chuck Spencer. He was the one who really pushed that through at a time when a lot of folks said that won't happen. I was interviewed today for the financial risk assessment audit conducted by the Secretary of State's office. No problems there. Staff has provided information for an upcoming Association of Washington City's legislative committee. I appreciate the efforts there. Attended the pre-trial diversion graduation. This is a little different than the adult courts that Council Member Milbar went to. This is more of a local, you haven't even gone to trial yet, and this will be your opportunity to change your life. The overwhelming message that came out of there was graduates were learning to accept the help of others and to understand that they were worthy of that help because once you're down a path, It's easy to just write yourself off. Everybody else is writing you off, so why not? And it was really a good experience. And that's all I had. Thank you.

Council Member Clipper.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I see under agenda this time, as you properly stated, is time set aside for council comments. discussion while we've had some community members come forward tonight concerning 5304 West 8th I with councilman Anderson would love to hear from staff an understanding of why the disparities from one parcel or piece of property in another white cup curves and sidewalks were required here not here in because there's two sides to every story. I'd just love to hear the city's side of this so we can hopefully find resolution to this. And I want to thank very much that community for coming together and doing what they did. And for the person who purchased the property, thank you for stepping up. For the gentleman who talked to us tonight about the need for a traffic light at 10th and Clearwater, Calvary Christian School came to the city too and said, can we put school zone signs there because they've had students involved in crashes there. So love to hear what the city's plan is. What are we going to do to make that particular T intersection as it exists now safer for our community and students? to those who came forward who want to, council members, to go on a walk with them downtown and a tour. Before we leave here tonight, I would like to get in contact with you and set up a date and time so we can make that happen, because I know if we don't do it tonight, it's just gonna extend it out longer. So thank you, Mr. Mayor, for making comments and discussion.

Thank you. Council Member Trimble.

Just stating for the record, I attended the Law and Justice Commission meeting this past week on a Wednesday. It was very low attendance. A lot of people were gone. The discussion centered on what we are referring to as a spreadsheet of how the criminal justice or how the court system works. It's a pretty big piece of paper, but it shows all the steps of what happens when someone is contacted by a law enforcement officer. It's every step there is in, oh, I don't know, 40 or 50. It's a complicated process, to say the least. And the purpose of this was triggered basically, I believe, by the need for the inadequate number of lawyers to provide defense representation that's really what triggered the whole thing because the system won't work if you can't get people in court with a lawyer that they need to have so it's a work in progress and the understanding of is being provided through this spreadsheet which is seems like every month we have modifications to it as to where the choking points are where it's not working well that was pretty much that meeting i want to comment a little bit about the situation with um requirement for curb cutters and sidewalks in the city i think i get it i think i understand why the city wants it I live on a street that doesn't have curb gutters and sidewalks, and the street lights are pretty far apart. And to tell you the truth, that's the way I like it. I want my grass to go all the way to the edge of where the gravel is. It's a walking neighborhood, not a driving neighborhood. But unfortunately, it is a street, 36th Ave., becoming... Garfield Street place, rather, is it's a shortcut. People are using it, and they're speeding. And so are those little guys on little bikes. They use it pretty heavily, too. My problem in this is that the consistency or lack thereof is a concern. There's a house on Cascade Street, right across the street, literally, from the public school. And that street comes to, it goes back probably about 100 yards. It stops, and there are three houses on that street that have their front doors facing that street. There's no curbs and gutters or sidewalks there. None. They're all new houses, all relatively new, I should say. I'll just say within the last 15 years. This is not an older part of town. And there are no curb, skudders, and sidewalks. There was a house on Jean Street, not far from me, that was sold, and it had what I would... I'm not sure what I would call it, but it was either... It's a duplex in the back, or it's one of those houses that are allowed on single-family lots by state law. And that curb gutter and sidewalk is 20 feet long. It's like ridiculous. And it's the only piece of sidewalk on Jean Street between Garfield and... 27th Avenue. Maybe the corner house on 27th has it, but I don't believe so because the front door is just 27th. It is an extremely short curb improvement, and there's nothing else on that side of Jane Street all the way down. So we have a problem here. it's either it needs to be discretionary or it needs to be enforced or it needs to be gotten rid of one or the other it would appear that's all i have mr name thank you city manager

Thank you, Mayor McShane. Just a few things. As Mayor Potemtrilli indicated, our audit is underway. Auditors on site conducted the first risk assessment interview late last week, so they are on site enrolling. We attended, command staff and Chief Guerrero and I, along with Mr. Crouch, attended the Police Academy graduation today. KPD had four graduates. In regards to the LRA comparison properties, we've already started looking at those. I will say they're not exactly an apples to apples comparison, so we'll provide kind of some of that background and some of those decisions, and I'll get that out to city council. In regards to the Tenth and Clearwater signal, Mr. Callian just notified me that the signal warrants have been met for that intersection based on crash data, and he is working with the developer to start the installation of that, so that will be moving forward as well. And we will, Council Member Milbauer, Mayor Pro Tem Trilley and I will be at the Association of Washington City's conference next week where we have meetings set up to discuss kind of offset, or I have some extra meetings set up to discuss transportation within Washington State as well as trying to push for more LRA code updates and changes and then just attending the general conference. And that is all I have.

Thank you. And thank you both for attending that next week. It's very much appreciated. One of the things we found is we went around the state and started talking to folks about less restrictive alternative housing for sexually violent predators. There's very many cities and communities that have no idea. And so just the elevating this status and the work that you guys are going to be doing next week is greatly appreciated. Just a couple of things for me this evening. I am planning on attending the Columbia Park boat launch ribbon cutting on Thursday. For those that can come and enjoy that, I think that's at 10 o'clock. Did I get that right? Okay. I'm glad I got that right. It's on my calendar. So hopefully I'll make it to that. I did want to address a question towards electric scooters and bicycles and the restrictions or requirements or lack thereof in Kennewick related to safety, specifically to youth who are riding these all over town. It's been very clear as we've driven around it that we see lots and lots and more and more of these going on. I'm not sure that I fully understand what the rules and regulations are. I know for my children, if they're going to be on one of those, that they need to be wearing a helmet, especially if they're upwards of 30 miles an hour. And it's a little challenging because sometimes they're in traffic, sometimes they're not in traffic. Sometimes they're on sidewalks, sometimes they're off of sidewalks. Sometimes they're blazing across the Union Park. which is kind of fun, I think, for them, but not as fun for the people that are trying to play soccer as they blow through the soccer field. And so I think some of those things, I would like to have an update on that at some point, and an understanding of what we should or shouldn't be doing as a city to help improve the safety related to those, as I think Council Member Trumbo has talked about those being the, what are they, mini bikes, John, is that what you've been calling those?

They can be electric. They can be motorized. They can be smaller than a red wagon that you got under your Christmas tree 30 years ago. It's amazing how much power these things have. And they have no safety devices, no lights, going or coming, no mirrors, got a guy in a helmet. And he's going to go down a street, and he's going to throw a U-turn and come back because there's a little dipsy-doodle he wants to do. And he goes back and forth, back and forth. It's not a playground. It's a road.

Sounds like something that some of my friends might have tried to do when I was younger. Not that I would have been. Enjoyed any of that. But no, I do like it that you said they were actually wearing a helmet because most of the ones I've seen are not. And it reminds me, I'll joke, it reminds me of the big wheels when I see some of these and how hard it is to see some of them. So appreciate that. I'll not belabor that point. I wanted to take just a minute and address a comment made by the owner of the house there at 5304 West 8th. I don't take that opportunity very often from the guys to have a conversation related to purchasing of homes and things like that. That's really not the public's business. I will say in this particular case, I don't want to misrepresent it, however. I was approached once it was clear that the house was for sale. I was approached by multiple parties within our city offering to purchase the property, not to subdivide it, not to put it in departments, but to take the house. as a philanthropic effort, and turn around and resell it almost as is, without any subdivision required. I had three separate parties approach me about that. One of them approached me before the decision was made to purchase the home. That was turned down by Mr. Sabino, who informed us that he was gonna proceed forward with the purchase of the home. Subsequent to that, once it became public that the property owners were interested in accepting offers on the house, I had two separate offers from other people within our community who had a similar venture in mind without the intent to do any subdividing, but just to turn the home around and sell it directly. And so I just wanted to be clear. Comment was made this evening. I don't normally respond to those things, but I just want to make clear what my interactions were related to that. And although requirements are required as part of this, I've been with the local government for 20 years and I've been on the regulatory side of requiring things related to the irrigation district that don't always seemingly make sense. There are reasons why we go about doing that. The variances that have been requested, I am going to be really curious to see. Just based on the testimony this evening, it sounded like there were several that were not the same as a requirement. When we go to subdivide, there are different requirements. than if you're just rebuilding a house, even if you take that house down to the foundation and start over. And so I'll be curious to see those conditions and appreciate the background and information related to that as opposed to just one way or the other. And I will say that I've seen lots and lots and lots of areas where we have 40 feet or 60 feet or 80 feet of concrete gutter and sidewalk, not connected to anything else. I've also been around in the city long enough to watch those get connected in certain areas where we didn't think they would be connected, but now they are. And so there is a reason why we do some of those things. I'll be interested to hear the details of that. The other thing I was going to mention this evening is related to the ordinance activities. I very much appreciate again the work that our city staff has gone into on that. I want to point out that we are doing what we can do. I want to encourage us to find a way to do more. And I know that our city manager said she's going to be over dealing with this at AWC. We're working with the state legislature that has heretofore been unwilling or unable to address this issue to the satisfaction at least of this member of city council as well as I think many of our members of city council. And we would encourage our state legislators and our governor's office to recognize again the importance of protecting our communities and protecting those that are most vulnerable. There's a reason that these folks have been civilly committed after their criminal sentencing has been completed. And I would encourage the state and others to, within the sound of my voice, to reconsider the wisdom of placing these folks within our communities. They do need rehabilitation. I believe that. I don't know that that's best done in any of these communities across the state. With that, I was going to just add one more thing, one more final thought, and that's around drought conditions. I do know that it seems like we may not be feeling drought in Tri-Cities. I would hope the fires that we've seen the last several weeks, the fires that are still burning right now, are a recognition that we are seeing extreme temperatures here. extremely dry conditions. As we head into the 4th of July, you know, I'm really encouraging our citizens to be smart with how they celebrate. This is not something that, you know, we want to take lightly. We had two fires just over the weekend, one in Richland and one in Benton City. The Juniper Dunes fire is continuing to burn, last I'd heard, and so it is definitely high fire danger right now as we go into the 4th and encourage our citizens to be wise as they celebrate. And with that, I appreciate everybody's time this evening. It's now 7.51 and the meeting is concluded.