City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call to order the Lakewood City Council meeting of Monday, July 6th at 7 p.m. Could you please, Ms. Schumacher, call the roll.

Council Member Branstetter. Council Member Lauricella.

Excused.

Council Member Lindholm.

Excused.

Council Member Pearson.

Here.

Council Member Talbot. has been excused. Deputy Mayor Bell. Here. And Mayor Boeke.

Here.

Do you have a quorum?

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. There are no proclamations and presentations, so we'll move to public comment. Public comments are accepted by mail, email, or by live virtual or in-person comment. Send comments in advance by mail or email to Brianna Schumacher, city clerk at 6000 Main Street Southwest, Lakewood, Washington, 98499, or bschumacher at cityoflakewood.us. Comments received up to one hour before the meeting have been provided to the city council electronically. The clerk will read the names of those who have submitted comments in advance. Did we?

Mayor, the city council received no comments in advance of this evening's meeting.

Thank you, Ms. Schumacher. Please, the members of the audience may comment on items relating to any matter related to city business under the public comments period. Comments are limited to three minutes per person. Virtual comments, if you'd like to provide live virtual comments, you will need to join in the Zoom meeting as an attendee by telephone dial 1-253-215-8782 and enter meeting ID 868-7263-2373 or visit zoom.us and enter meeting ID 868. Upon entering the meeting, please enter your name, use the raise hand feature to be called upon. And for those participating by calling in by telephone to use the raise hand feature, press star nine on your phone. When you're unmuted, please provide your name and city of residence. Outside of public comments, all attendees on Zoom will continue to have the ability to virtually raise your hand for the duration of the meeting. You will not be acknowledged and your microphone will remain muted except for when you are called upon. So we're going to go in person first and then we'll go to the Zoom calls. And I do have the sign-up list. I'll work from the sign-up list first. And the first person signed up is Corey Campbell. Welcome, Corey. You've got three minutes.

Thank you. Can I also add to that with personal along with the entity for the six minutes? Or do you need the signature or put it on the back end if I don't get it done in the three minutes?

You're going to speak for Classy Chassis and yourself personally? Yes. Okay. Yeah, I'll let you do that. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Appreciate the opportunity to share with you. We're here regarding the Custer Road construction and shutdown project that I think you're all aware of. We've, the Custer Road businesses have shared a letter to each of you and the city manager. Many of us here in attendance wanted to bring to your attention the significant failures and frankly, just the poor, poor communication and process planning in this and the impacts it's going to have on many of us. I'm going to speak on behalf of Classy Chassis and implore you to take action and delay this road shutdown project to work with all of us on a clear and manageable plan, even if only by a few weeks. Please refer to the letter that we sent you last week on our behalf. Classy Chassis, along with a few of the other businesses on Cruster Road, are very seasonal performance businesses. Losing two or more of our strongest months is not sustainable. In our case, this will be well over $300 to half a million dollars of impact from the 60 to maybe 75 days that is projected out on this. let alone the staff being laid off, already some quitting or looking for other jobs and lost customer opportunities along with the impacts of the city's tax revenue. The absolute failure to clearly and properly communicate early in the planning process and even as of now, there is no clear and delivered plan in conjunction with any of us. I spoke with four businesses today who still knew nothing of this project on or next to Custer Road on the detour. If following a proper planning and quality control protocol for major road projects like most cities do, the city should have met with all parties over the last two years to raise the likelihood of this substances road closure project, discuss, plan, and help us determine the most appropriate plan that considers all aspects of impact and timing. The city used to do this by proactively communicating, sending mailers to all within a mile or so of the impacted area, You all have the property owners, business contacts, emails, et cetera, have no problem contacting us on any other issues or even canvassing to assure there was full awareness and shared ideas in its projects planning over the earlier year and a half. The fact that this wasn't done in this case is completely tone deaf, in our opinion, to the realities of the businesses and neighbors. I'm going to leave some comments to others. Classy chassis, which is a significant employer and tax revenue generator for Lakewood of over 50 people, just in the Lakewood side alone that will be impacted directly or indirectly. And the rest of our 140 staff that will be impacted through the financial impacts of this decision by the city. and the planning of it. Staffing and leader shortages and arbitrary building official issues. I'm sorry, I went past part of this. Classy chassis, which is a significant employer and tax revenue generator. I'm gonna switch my other three minutes. Thank you. Corey Campbell. 9018 Dolly Madison Street, Southwest, resident of Lakewood. Classy Chassie, which is a significant employer and tax revenue generator for Lakewood, endured 17 months of preventable extended delays from the city's own staffing and leadership shortages and arbitrary building official issues that extended very significantly financial and customer losses to not only just the company, but also financially and professionally to the staff. This had a direct impact that ended up impacting us over 30%, along with the Pierce County Bridgeport Sewer Project, which till today, we are down over 30% from that project, let alone the Custer Road Project coming on top of that. Others are going to share on that. This is especially difficult for us as the early city plan was, as we all shared this project, when we planned back around 2007 for the expansion of Custer Road, we were one of the few who were forced when expanding to develop and pay for all the setback storm sidewalk lights of this project. This is now going to be ripped out and redone causing even greater disruption to our entire frontage and properties. This was originally supposed to be part of a ULID where since we and others had paid and there would be a reset for the others and level versus the developing, sometimes staff changed direction on this. Got a grant to assist in the funding and leave some of us to have paid our portions and now have the double dip of it being ripped out and redone And others get the benefit of not having to pay for this now. 75th Street, Green Street, and the neighboring properties that the city has proposed as a possible detour are not functionally able to handle the volumes that Custer Road handles. And there still has been no official traffic plan, construction plan, or even presentation to any of us, any of us on Custer Road. Besides the easement people asking to buy property and share us a little script of what they're doing on that piece, no one knows anything, including the power company coming and putting polls on the day of people not even knowing they're doing it or what they're doing or where they're putting it and why. This is not tenable and excusable in the city's behalf to continue to do this. We are begging the city, the city council to please promptly, substantively and city response a revised plan that protects businesses continuity before further harm occurs The city has a legal responsibility to mitigate its impact on the decisions and projects, and we encourage a redirection before it becomes a further liability to the city as well as the businesses. I have some other examples and specifics beyond what we as a group shared with you. I think many of them are going to present them, so I didn't want to verbally do it. I'll retain that right under the Custer Neighborhood Association representative if I need to fill it in on the back end.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next is Nancy. I apologize. Flegel?

Flegel.

Flegel. Yeah. How about that?

I'm going to read mine, but. Okay. I want to thank the city council for this opportunity to speak to you. My name is Nancy Flegel and our family has owned and operated Best Burgers on Custer Road since 1990. before Lakewood was even a city. We have worked hard to be a productive and positive influence in serving this city that we belong to. And we have many long time and loyal customers, a lot of older people too, which is great. We've endured many challenges through the years, COVID, E. coli, the banking crisis, but this proposed Custer Road project will be the biggest challenge. First of all, our initial knowledge of this project came to light when we received a letter dated June 5th about the possible acquisition of some of our Custer Road frontage property. I waited for a follow-up but never received one. My only knowledge of this project came from Corey at Classy Chassis who had gathered the information and took it upon himself to let his fellow Custer Road businesses know. There was no communication from the city until the Custer neighborhood meeting on June 20th, where it was presented to us as a done deal without any input or even knowledge of the scope of this project and how it would affect us. In speaking with other businesses along Custer Road and Grange Street, I was surprised to find out many of them were completely unaware that this was even happening. It is totally unacceptable that there wasn't any time given to us as business owners and Lakewood taxpayers for any kind of avenue to participate in the mitigation of this massive business killing project. As a business owner, I immediately met with our staff after that June 5th meeting to lay out the impact this closure will have, including the fact that we will have to lay some of them off, reduce business hours, and even have to close multiple days. We have also had to work with our vendors to work out a plan for our weekly deliveries, some of which come in semis, and we have to rework our customer traffic flow to ensure we have a safe and efficient flow of cars. In our case, we at Best Burgers will have access from Bridgeport Way, but with the city's plans for detouring, we anticipate it'll be very difficult, if not impossible, to enter and leave from that driveway due to the volume of vehicles blocking that entrance. We had already endured the distressing situation during the many months of the Bridgeport sewer project. These are steps that businesses have to do, communicate, plan, and keep people informed. Unfortunately, City of Lakewood hasn't done that with any of us. We as businesses have been completely left out of any process of our participating in the implementing of this project. I've spoken with many of our neighbor businesses, some of whom could not be here tonight, but they echo these same concerns. Ms. Berger saw a 20% decrease in business looking at customer account revenue during the months of the Bridgeport Sewer Project. If this Custer Road project proceeds as laid out, we anticipate at least a 50% decrease.

Thank you very much. Mr. Abid Rahmani.

Good evening Mayor, Council Member. My name is Abid Rahmani, and I'm one of the owner of Discount Liquidation Lakewood. We applied for a business license through the Department of Revenue in March, and we were able to get the business license with the city endorsement at the beginning of April. We open our store on June 1st. On June 8th, someone from the fire department came and say, shut down the store. So the store is closed since June 10th. And the reason for that is that we don't have occupancy permit. But once you apply for a business license, before the city issue a business license, all of the department and the community development, they're supposed to review and approve that license. So we had the business license. No one asked us that we need occupancy permit. Once we open our door, we have employees, we have inventory, they're asking us to close the door and get the permit. Right after debt request, we submit it in application. We pay all of the fees for occupancy permits. Still, we don't have that on hand. It's a city fault. It's not our fault. It's a small business. It's a family-owned business. It's a lot of burden, financial burden on us. We send an email to mayor, CCR, council members, to the community director, no one is responding. My first email was on June 12th, no one has responded. Second one on June 17th, no one has responded. Is a public ceremony we're supposed to at least an acknowledgement that you guys received that email, no one has responded. Still, it's been a month. We don't know anything about the status of our permit. So the last email that I sent to the community development director, I don't know his name. I requested him that once we have the permit in hand, we would have to submit those invoices, all of the expenses, utilities, payroll, and rent, and the city should pay for that because this is not our mistake. This is a city mistake. So they should pay for that. So today I'm here to request that please talk to the relevant department to expedite their process as soon as possible and get our permit. And then once we submit, once we have our door open again, we will be submitting those invoices and they should reimburse for that because it's not our mistake, it's their mistake and they should pay for their mistakes. It's clearly a gap of communication between the departments. It's not up to us. We've been working in other cities. This is the first time that we encountered something that nature, that we have the license and know they're telling us that, no, no, no, you guys need the occupancy permit. And also I hope this thing doesn't happen with any other businesses in the community. If someone is coming, if someone is sending an email, they deserve a respond back. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Colin Campbell. Colin, you've got three minutes.

Awesome. Thank you, guys. Thank you for being here tonight. Posse Chassis Car Wash just want to talk about the Custer Road project. And I want to take this back to 2023 when we were one of your featured businesses and build your better here. And then in September of 2023, we had a fire, which took extensive time and permitting that we were not getting answers in any direction within that process. It led to extensive shutdowns that ultimately led us not opening until the beginning of 2025. We have been patient and work with the city to now have dealt with the Bridgeport project for the last year and a half, and then now knowing that our number one location is being shut down to 90% capacity at least, because there's no communication to our peak times of the year for our business. And we have a stated earlier, 50 plus employees from this specific location that we're going to have to try to find new places for rehome to different locations, potentially taking hours from other employees. Um, the last thing I have is grain street. If, or sorry, not grain street, but, um, was that 75th where the main detour was talked about going, our self-serve right there. We do get deliveries of equipment and things there. And with all of this extra traffic, our semi trucks and things that are delivering to those businesses are not gonna be able to get into that business to be able to deliver or customers being able to wash their cars, et cetera. The poor communication on this and every other project is a huge issue to the people that support this city.

PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Thank you, Colin.

PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Yeah.

PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Mr. Mr. PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Yeah, we have information. Mr money we you're Scott Todd into a spam filter or something on these things. It wasn't until the city manager for this more information. John Potter, few days later, and Mr remax so. John Potter, yeah it didn't get directly to the Council, it had to go through the other folks so we we have received it, it just didn't get to us directly. John Potter, So next is Mr john ran.

Hello, and thank you for having me. Two years ago, when our Lakewood site burned, everything changed overnight. Our teams lost their workplace, their routine, and the customers, the place in which they get serviced on a daily basis. Getting back from that wasn't simple, and we still haven't fully regained what we had once lost. It took steady effort, patience, and a lot of commitment from people that genuinely care about serving the community in order to get there. But they did. They did work very hard. Our staff rebuilt trust with the customers who they serviced, who weren't sure if we'd ever reopen. They rebuilt habits, getting people back into a comfort zone in which they felt comfortable enough coming back and rebuilding those solid habits. Remain... Sorry. And now, just as we finally regain that momentum, the closure threatens to break that connection with our team once more. For our customers, access matters. Convenience matters. If getting to us becomes confusing or uncomfortable, then they will change their routines. Customers' habits are fragile, and once they shift, they don't always shift back. For our staff, this isn't just a road closure. It directly threatens the livelihoods they've worked so hard to rebuild over the past year. And after everything they've already overcome, they shouldn't have to face another disruption of such a magnitude without a clear and direct plan, which unfortunately, as one of their leaders, I just cannot provide to them, not with the gathered information that has been given to us as a company. That's why we're asking for a delay, not to stop progress, but to make sure that people who kept this community moving aren't put through another preventable setback. Thank you.

Thank you. Ethan Beto.

Thank you, Council. My name is Ethan Beto. I am the Classy Chassis Oil Change Operations Manager. This Custer Road is the main access point for our customers and for the critical fleets we service every day, including your own City of Lakewood, Lakewood Police Department, and the West Pierce Fire and Rescue. Closing it on August 1st will cut customer traffic, slow essential fleet readiness, and disrupt our business operations and affect customer trust and retention. This just doesn't affect our revenue. It affects our employees' hours, stability, and earning potentials. When access drops, we are forced to reduce staffing levels, cut hours, which will directly impact the people who work here and support this community. We feel there has been not clear communication and enough time to adjust these means. Customers, employers, and employees have been hearing by word of mouth the last six weeks. We are asking for a practical mitigation plan, clear detours, better access, and adjusted timing to keep local businesses functioning, protect both emergency services, businesses that rely on us for the vehicles to operate every day, and employees. Thank you.

Thank you. Kaylin Mills.

Hi, my name is Kaylin, and I'm the operations manager for Classic Coffee. I'm here today because this closure will directly harm our ability to operate, retain staff, and keep the long-term regulars who are seeing us year-round. The Classic Coffee part of Class Chassis is not seasonal business, but we rely on consistent year-round regulars, which include community members that are partners, service workers, military families, neighbors, overall everyone who stops in every single morning. Losing them for 60 days doesn't mean they'll come back on day 61, but it means they'll form new routines, new routines that no longer include us. With this closure, we are facing nearly 90% disruption to our traffic. This isn't about business operations, but also about real people, people that the city of Lakewood did not consider when moving forward with this road closure with absolutely no communication. I have an employee who's getting married at the end of the year. She's counting on stable hours, reliable income, and predictable access to work so she can afford her wedding, her bills, her life. This closure is playing risk for all of that. I have 22 employees I could sit here and talk about, but my focus is not one story for this. My team deserves stability, not uncertainty, as well as all of class chassis as we're one entire team. We're asking the city to delay this project to create a better plan. We're asking you to reconsider the timeline, work with us, and prevent long-term harm to not just the businesses, but also the people that depend on the stability life. Thank you.

Thank you. Lisa O'Gorman.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Lakewood City Council. My name is Lisa O'Gorman and I am the owner of a commercial property located at 7614 Custer Road in Lakewood. I appreciate the city's efforts to improve the public infrastructure and I understand the value of safer roads and sidewalks. However, I am deeply concerned about the impact that this project will have on my property and the small business that operates there. When I purchased my property, I was informed that if I deeded the right of way to the city, I would avoid the expense of having to pay for curb appeal and sidewalks in the future. I learned about this project only a couple of weeks ago through one of my neighbors who not only received $43,000 for his right of way, but also is benefiting from new curb appeal and sidewalks paid for by the city. I have learned that this does not apply to me, unlike my neighbors, I am not being compensated financially or cosmetically. I was told that is because the city did not have to make a deal with me to acquire my property. In addition, my tenant is having to suffer the inconvenience of the obstruction of a power pole that was relocated only 14 feet directly in front of the front door. This has substantially decreased the ability for his customers to park and maneuver in front of the building. Many of the customers have already complained the parking situation is only going to get worse as this project continues. Based on the proposed design, I believe that the tenants customers will no longer have safe functional and parking. I have been told that it is acceptable for customers to back out of angled parking spaces across a sidewalk and directly onto Custer Road. I find this deeply troubling and extremely dangerous for all parties involved. It creates potential dangerous conflicts between vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, and traffic on Custer Road. I worry that it exposes both the public and my tenant's business to unnecessary risk. I am concerned that the proposed parking plan that has been roughly explained to me would force my tenant into direct violation of City Lakewood's parking code, LMC 18A80-040-A2. called violation of backing out prohibition, which states for all commercial developments, parking layouts must be arranged so that vehicles do not back out directly onto a street or a public right of way. With only 14 feet of clearance, cars will have no choice but to back out onto Custer Road, creating an illegal and dangerous traffic hazard. If my tenants customers cannot safely enter park and leave the property, the value and usefulness of my commercial building will be significantly diminished. I am not here to oppose the project. I am here asking the city to work with me and my tenant to find a fair solution. My property is bearing a substantial burden from this project. I feel that the roadway improvements make my existing parking, excuse me, unusable, and I would like the city to seriously consider mitigating those impacts. I am willing to discuss providing additional property if that would allow. Thank you.

Thank you. The next step is Karen Herzog.

So I'm here about the iconic tree on Lake Steilacoom Drive that was taken down a couple weeks ago. There are articles in the News Tribune and on TV I've heard. I live a couple doors down, and I have since 1981. So I grew up with that tree, and I was sad to find out by chance at a gathering the Sunday prior that it was slated to come down. I then talked to my neighbors. The one whose driveway was going to be blocked had been informed, but the others were equally surprised and sad. And we wondered why. So when the process started, I went out and watched. And I have to say, it was a very impressive operation. And I talked to folks. But by then I had seen the arborist report, which did not recommend taking the tree down. I think the report said that it would be a shame to take such a large tree down without being sure it needed to come down. And in the subsequent more detailed review, he determined that it should be monitored for lean. So anyway, I was hoping that as the tree came down, I would clearly see that it was diseased and a hazard. And I would feel relieved that it had been warranted. But I did not see that. To me, it looked totally solid. A few places with some fuzziness were pointed out. And of course, I'm no expert. So I do have a couple of requests. And one is that, especially in a case like this, when the arborist recommendation is not followed, and maybe this is already being done, that there be an autopsy of the tree to find out whether it really did need to come down. i should add that i don't know if i said this but i think the recommendation was that because the tree was leaning that the lean be measured every year and that if it increased then taking it down be revisited so uh There were comments that came out in the News Tribune that, of course, the city isn't responsible for, but one of them mentioned that the tree had been dead, which was totally not true. So anyway, I feel like a post-mortem kind of, if possible, when the arborist the recommendation isn't followed, might be a good idea. The other request is that maybe the neighborhood gets some advance notice and find out the rationale and the plan for taking the tree down.

Sorry.

Thank you, Ms. Ertzog. Christina Manetti.

Hello Mayor Bocchi and everybody else. Christina Minetti, Gary Oak Coalition. The issue that we want to address tonight is not just the needless loss of one truly magnificent Dick Douglas fir along Lake Steilacoom Drive, which was an extremely valuable tree for habitat. It was an eagle's nesting and roosting site near the lake. And the matter we wanna address here is the city's actual decision-making process. The city hired a qualified arborist to evaluate that Douglas fir and his report concluded that its lean should be monitored yearly and suggested the trees like that could likely remain standing for many more years, even decades. During that time, it would have continued providing priority habitat, filtering our air, storing carbon, cooling that neighborhood and Lakewood in general. But the city chose not to follow that recommendation. They say publicly that they hired a qualified arborist, but they don't say that they didn't follow his recommendation. What's the point then? Why commission an expert report if the expert's conclusions are just disregarded? In spring, I asked city engineer Mr. Pokrzynski for the arborist report concerning the John Dower Gary Oaks proposed for removal. I was told that the city is no longer relying on an arborist for its public right-of-way trees because arborists are considered to be too concerned about liability. The Douglas firs arborist, on the other hand, was advocating that it be saved, and it was ignored anyway. Mr. Pokrzewinski's statement raises an obvious question. If professional arborists aren't being used, then who is making these decisions? On what scientific basis? Where is the best available science that Washington law expects local governments to use when making decisions affecting habitat and critical environmental resources? These are not just routine maintenance decisions. Lakewood is deciding the fate of trees that are several centuries old. Elsewhere, they would be prized legacy or heritage trees. Such decisions deserve review by certified arborist, habitat biologists, ecologists, and other qualified scientists, not by ordinary The Gary Oak Coalition respectfully asks that the council require that recommendations prepared by independent arborists and biologists be followed as best available science before irreplaceable trees are removed. If staff disagree with those recommendations, the public deserves a written scientific explanation supported by evidence. The city's tree code should also be revised so that the city needs to follow tree regulations like everyone else. Please ensure that future decisions are guided by independent expertise, transparency, and sound science. In order to do this, we ask that the city council support council member Lauricella's proposed audit of city operations. And this is a second comment on my own behalf as a private citizen. Christina Minetti Lakewood, I have lived here since 1972. At the council retreat in April, council member Tristan Lauricella proposed that there be an independent audit of city operations, or something to that effect. I don't have the exact phrase. I believe that recent events demonstrate why that proposal deserves your firm's support. The removal of the enormous Douglas fir on Lake Steilacoom Drive two weeks ago raises troubling questions, not just about environmental policy, but also about transparency, accountability, and ethics. Residents were told publicly in the press that the tree was essentially rotten and dead. Dead, the word dead appeared. Yet the arborist hired by the city said in his addendum that the fir's lean should be monitored yearly. It was nowhere near dead. He had said that such trees could continue living for decades. There was a very small amount of rot visible. I watched. I was there for two days. I saw most of the tree. And I will send you photos. We also learned that the city gave the logs to the contractor for free while paying $29,000 for the fur to be cut down. I mean, it wasn't that big. It wasn't 10 times bigger than my neighbor's tree that was cut down for $3,000, right? The Tacoma News Tribune article emphasized the value of the lumber and the furniture that would be produced from it. Whether every decision was proper or not, these circumstances create an appearance that deserves independent review. This is not an isolated concern. Several years ago, to cite just one example, of course, the city had an ancient Gary Oak near 100th Street and Tacovan cut down after a citizen reported it on 311 as hazardous, as I learned from a public records request. From everything I observed as someone who passed that oak practically every single day I lived nearby, that oak remained a valuable habitat tree and not really a danger to anyone. It's a small road. It's not near any house. You know, there's hardly anybody walking there ever. Again, I'm really left wanting to know who actually makes these decisions, especially about Gary Oaks, which are supposed to enjoy special protections. Are certified arborists, habitat biologists, or other scientific experts making the final recommendations? Or are these judgments being made by city bureaucrats who lack any expertise whatsoever about these trees? These are not trivial questions. Every time Lakewood removes these old trees, we lose centuries of natural history, habitat, stormwater benefits, carbon storage, and beauty. You know about it all. Not to mention the significant cooling effect of these large trees. An independent audit could answer questions we can't answer on our own. Are expert recommendations really being followed? If not, why not? Who is making these decisions? On what basis? I ask the Council move forward quickly with the independent audit that Council Member Laudicella proposed at the retreat. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Haley Ivey.

Hello, yes, I am Haley Ivey. I am finding that the transportation plan is, I think the last time the room was this full was about the transportation plan elsewhere. And I am here also to talk about the Dower Oaks again. I want to emphasize that I am a walk commuter. I have to walk a little far, 25 minutes to the bus. And there is a noticeable difference between tree canopy and the pavement. I don't know how to express it to people that aren't out there having to walk or maybe even going to the park that much, but Having to go to Edgewater Park, which I talk about all the time and having tree canopy cleared away. So now there's less place for me to stand today. And there's cold water, but there's still garbage. And I'm so sorry. OK, the. I want to talk about, again, there have been multiple people providing multiple insights, whether we have biological, humanitarian, just basic education on why trees are important for our survival. And what I feel like I am witnessing is a very quick hand for profit to get these things built up. And I... there's not going to be a place that's really enjoyable to live in the more that we clear cut these trees. And again, to highlight the Douglas fir that was recently cut down. It was highlighted in the same writing that I was reading. It was 400 to 600 years old. And the main emphasis, yes, was on how much it would be sold for lumber. For one person who also... had mentioned it was dead and also that he felt like it was his responsibility, even though trees are for all of us, it is the canopy, it is the root system, it is the wildlife. I went to that tree, it was tall, leaning a little bit, but it had plenty of holes that I doubt a little drone could see. And I bring that up because we need somebody back there with the insight and the care so we can all work together and make sure that this place doesn't dry up or become a place that all of the people that are moving in really quickly, not knowing how much more forests there were here, end up having to move out. It was incredibly hot in France. People died. It's hot in Connecticut. It's hot in Memphis. And out of all of the places I have lived in the United States, this is the most paved over city with the least care about our survival when it comes to nature. And the sprinklers out there are always spraying on the pavement, not the little bit of grass. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Mr. James Dunlop.

Hello, my name is James Dunlop, and I am a resident of Lakewood. And I would like to thank the city for finding a place for me on the National Environment and Climate Change Program Task 4. And I went to the first meeting quite recently. And I would like to thank Tiffany Spears for facilitating that meeting. So I learned at that meeting, it was a presentation, that in terms of Lakewood, there is a differential of 7 degrees Fahrenheit in terms of, for example, poor areas of Lake Hood and better off areas. I mean, 7 degrees Fahrenheit is a huge difference. It really does talk about a genuine inequality that needs to be addressed. And so it was certainly good to see that the city appears to be concerned about about heat mitigation. This is what the task force for was all about, heat mitigation. But it seems to me at the same time that the city is kind of across purposes. You know, on one hand, it shows its concern for heat mitigation. Yet, on the other hand, if you look at its action, its real action over the last few years, it has been acting to increase that heat differential. For example, the raising of so many trees, including Gary Oaks in Woodbrook and Oakbrook, laying down of impermeable surfaces of recreation of warehouses that is genuinely contributing to the heat and likewise with the sidewalks which uh you've just been hearing about you know when you put down sidewalks it increases heat and it seems to me that uh one of the reasons why the city is putting down so many sidewalks is because the grants are available and if you've ever walked on those on uh on those sidewalks, as Hayley Ivey was just explaining, and as I've experienced myself, it is incredibly unpleasant, particularly at this time of year. You do not want to be on sidewalks. Particularly now, there aren't any trees. They've all gone. You're walking on an impermeable surface. And so I'm wondering, what is the city doing with these program task forces and talking about heat mitigation, when all the time it's taking action? to actually increase heat they can have their ideas about urban forests and planting trees when you know they're cutting down trees which take you know with the gary oaks which are taking 200 years to reach maturity so you know i'm wondering yeah what is the city doing and what exactly is it is its priority does the city really care about heat mitigation thank you mr hayden holster

Welcome. You have three minutes.

Good evening. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council. My name is Hayden Holster. I'm the business owner of Clean Paws and Pals at 7614 Custer Road West. I decided to go into business two months ago, opening May 1st, and I was never notified about this Custer Road project until, I don't know, a couple weeks ago. I poured a lot of money, my personal money into this place to make it nice and, you know, bring in more business. And now learning that the road's going to get shut down, it's going to completely diminish my business. We don't even know how customers are supposed to access the business anymore. There's no clear plan of traffic, how to get them there, how to get them out. They're shutting down the road both directions. So really here tonight to figure out some answers since no one can provide them. I've spoken with several city members and they can't seem to do that either. Also learned that there was a grant, a very large grant given for this project 14 years ago. and wondering why it's taking now to do this project. If they don't get it done by the end of the year, they lose the money. So it seems like really poor planning. Also, I have employees that I'm probably gonna have to lay off because it doesn't look like I'm gonna be able to provide any business for my customers because we don't even know how they're supposed to access my business. Um, so I'm wondering if you guys would be willing to maybe pay for some payroll assistance or, uh, cost of loss of revenue. I see you guys just, uh, pass payroll for $3 million for your guys' people for one month. I wonder if maybe you guys can help us out a little bit. Um, sure. It'd be nice. they're directly telling me that I'm going to be in noncompliance with city code and they're not going to do anything about it. So now I have to come out of my pocket even more to provide safe, adequate parking for my employees, which is going to cost me another 30 or $40,000. So just a little bit of help and communication would really be nice for me guys. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Paul Bryce.

Hello, thank you, mayor, city council members. Here to talk about cannabis and kind of share what a vision may be legalizing two or three, not just leaving the open-ended, but having two or three pot shop locations could and should bring to our city. Knowing that Steilacoom has none, University of Glace has none, Forkrest has none. You know, it's very safe to say easily 40,000 people would just spend their money within the city of Lakewood without driving outside the city of Lakewood. I was just down in Packwood. They're kind of going through the same thing where their residents are talking, complaining about they got to drive an hour and a half to get to Chehalis and all the residents down there, you know, all the All the money that's always going out of the local areas where clearly if you use marijuana, you use it in that city. You don't go to the other city to purchase it and use it over there. So it's not like any more adults are going to be increasing to start smoking in the city because all the ones that are smoking, currently smoking. I did receive a social equity license. I already spent a couple hundred thousand for some of the safest, securest vending machines. I'm actually the state's first store to have vending machines inside. break in with your Kia, you got to start ramming the vending machines with the Kia to break in. There's easier, lower hanging fruits. This program offers, well, we don't know what the future grants are going to be, but for the next six years, one of the first things I did at both of my locations is immediately gave all my employees raises. I'm able to expense a lot of my bud tenders to the grant money without having to purchase other items to just get reimbursed. And, you know, it's my understanding that the city council is going to put this up to vote. And, you know, again, we're only talking about retail stores here. We're not talking about processing plants. We're not talking about producers. We're not talking about the aroma going everywhere. These are all controlled, monitored, or tracked jars, mylars, packages that are all well-traced. And again, no kid is ever allowed inside any of these stores to purchase whatsoever. And yes, a lot of people consider it medical for their use and not to mention, I don't know how many calls we got about, can I come through to get some meds for my animals and so forth, not to mention. all the other amazing, great reasons why they call this a miracle drug. Thank you.

Thank you. Now, Mr. Bryce was the last one who signed up. Is there anyone else inside the chambers that would like to speak? Please line up at the podium and introduce yourself. And you've got three minutes. Mr. Marjolili.

Hello. Good evening to all of you. My name is Ibrahim Mir Jalili. I'm a resident of the city of Lakewood. I wanted first to start to thank the city of Seattle, Seattle Sounders, and others for really doing what it appears to be a good job for the World Cup. I was there last week with my daughter. We watched the national team from Iran, which is named after the Minab. It is also called Minab 168 that this council is yet to make any word about them. Even though I have asked and urged you, I hope you will do that. But besides that, I wanted to ask the council not to approve the minutes for the June 15, 2026. And because I do have an objection on that. What it is, it appears to be whoever has written that, written as it meant to be, not what as I stated it to be. When I discussed that, I said that what is known as Lakewood Park, really this is a right of way. Well, all the roads are also right of way and they are open space. Really doesn't make change, change it from residential or not, doesn't make anything change. This is formality. What I objected was to change our property where our home was, and you demolished it. But there is no mention of that. And this is not something that I say. This is an issue that once Christina Monetti has mentioned that these things are not done. So therefore, I have to ask and I state, ask the council and I state that whatever has been said and noted in the past on my behalf that is not correct is invalid starting today. Besides that, I... I don't know why we keep cutting trees. This city is only 17.2 square miles of land. And we have 65,000 people roughly living here. If we keep cutting them, then we are not going to be left with nothing. And it would be a bare land, basically. It takes years and centuries for this tree to grow. And we just go in a minute, and we cut it down. You know, the rivers flow because of drops of rain and flakes of snow, and then becomes lake, sea, and ocean. And if we keep doing the same thing, we are basically vanishing them. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Marjolili. Is there anyone else in chambers who has not spoken yet who would like to speak? Okay, so Ms. Schumacher, do we have anybody on Zoom tonight? It looks like we've got a few people.

Mayor, first we'll start with Judith.

Judith, give us your name and you've got three minutes to speak.

Judith Anderson. I was gonna, I mean, I can't believe you guys. You are. I thought you guys were just basically a criminal enterprise because of cutting down that fir tree and the guy making $20,000 off of each table and who's getting a kickback. But I don't think you're smart enough. I can't believe you. I mean, okay. Trust in Laura Chela is apparently accepted from this because at least he or she wants you to keep trees in Lakewood. Lakewood. Your city is called Lakewood. And I was actually surprised that you have trees here because I lived in LA and there was a town called Lakewood, but it was aspirational. There were no lakes. There was no wood. So I thought, okay, these guys are like that. But you had them and you're cutting them down. And who's getting the money? And what about this grant that's been 14 years and now it's This work on Custer Road is going to decrease income for people who pay you taxes? You, I mean, how stupid are you? Or how greedy are you? Or how much do you hate me? feminine because every time you cut a tree down, it's rape. It is raping the planet. I'm never shopping at that Barnes and Noble in Lakewood again because I don't even want you to get my sales taxes. You are disgusting people. You have fabulous residents. And you are totally and completely uninterested in serving them. You are exactly like our current federal government. And you make me sick.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you. Ken's iPhone 2, it says. Ken, could you introduce yourself? And you've got three minutes. Ken Paulson.

I hope the city manager's in the room. So I'm calling about Lockburn Lane or... It's Lockburn something office telecom way right next to Burr's restaurant. It's just a little, let me describe the street to people. One side is parking and the other side is one lane of traffic. The sidewalks for about a hundred feet are a foot and a half higher than the road bed. So I was picking up my great grandson, and I had to wait two more minutes because he wasn't ready, and I was in the car. And this was when you had a speed thing sign up there that registered cars' speed, because this is the second time I've talked about this. And this car, and I said to myself, whoa, they're ripping by me. And I looked at the speed thing, and it said 18 miles an hour. Then I said to myself, well, the speed limit on this road is 25 miles an hour. And they appear so fast because it's in such a confined space that a car going by, there's no buffer zone there. is what I'm trying to say. And it's very risky. The 25 mile an hour speed limit is not valid. What needs to happen is you folks personally need to sit in a car there and somebody drive by you at 25 miles an hour. and then 20 miles an hour, and then 15 miles an hour. And then when they're going 10 miles an hour, you realize, oh, this 100 feet of this confined space needs to be 10 miles an hour. And the city government doesn't realize that. They just were testing to see if anybody was going over 25 miles an hour. Well, 25 miles an hour is way past ripping down the road. I have spoken to people there. Everybody that I have spoken to has the same comment. It's a hazardous road. The speed limit is too high. Put a two foot speed bump in there or put a 10 mile an hour sign there.

Thank you, Mr. Paulson. Next up is Amber Sanchez. Ms. Sanchez, please introduce yourself and you've got three minutes. Go ahead. Sanchez.

Can you hear me OK?

Yes.

Oh, thank you. I got three minutes. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Amber Sanchez. My city of residence is Tacoma and I am the director of marketing and systems integration for Classy Chassis. I wanted to speak on how the Custer Road project impacts my department specifically. Marketing isn't something that can be simply paused overnight. Advertising campaigns are planned months in advance. Right now we have contracted advertising, direct mail campaigns, digital advertising, printed promotional materials, and other marketing initiatives scheduled. Many of those commitments have already been paid for or cannot be canceled. And I'm not just talking about campaigns for one single business. Our main Custer Road property is home to our flagship car wash, the professional detailing center, drive-through oil change center, and classic coffee drive-through. And just a couple blocks down on Custer Road, we also have our second property with the 24-hour self-serve car wash and self-serve dog wash. So each of these businesses has its own unique marketing, a unique customer base, advertising strategy, budget, and a promotional calendar based on long-term planning. Because we were not provided with timely, detailed communication about this project, we were not given the opportunity to adjust campaigns and materials before they were set in motion or were paid for and distributed. Classy Chassis has built its reputation in this community over the last 40 years by creating strong relationships and providing excellent customer service, which requires clear, honest, and proactive communication. And as the director of marketing, that is one of my primary responsibilities, and I take it very seriously and value that. But right now, I don't even know what to tell our customers. So I'm deeply concerned about the confusion and the frustration that will result. So again, we're not only losing the value of the marketing we've already purchased, we're forced to spend even more time and money outside of the planned 2026 budget in reacting. We'll be trying to find ways to mitigate miscommunications and then be minimizing both short-term and long-term damage to Classy Chassis' reputation and our long-term customer relationships. So I just wanted to speak on this to ask the city to pause this project and provide our business and the other businesses on Custer Road ample time planning and communication and to minimize the damage that this is going to cause all of us. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Schumacher, is there anybody else out there?

Mayor, there are no other virtual hands raised at this time.

Okay, I'm gonna declare public comment closed. Thank you very much. Next, Ms. Schumacher, could you please read in the consent agenda

Consent agenda A, approval of the minutes of the city council meeting of June 8th, 2026. B, approval of the minutes of the city council meeting of June 15th, 2026. C, approval of claims vouchers in the amount of $2,858,724, and 11 cents for the period of May 16th, 2026 through June 15th, 2026. D, approval of payroll checks in the amount of $3,209,791.66 for the period of May 16th, 2026 through June 15th, 2026. E, motion number 2026-47, authorizing the execution of an interagency agreement with the Washington Traffic Safety Commission in the amount of $115,485 for the regional phlebotomy program. F, motion number 2026-48, authorizing the execution of a home agreement with Tacoma Pierce County Habitat for Humanity in the amount of 180,000 for down payment assistance to be provided to low income home buyers at American Lake Town Homes Affordable Housing Project. G, motion number 2026-49, accepting a SPAR grant from the Washington State Office of Public Defense in the amount of $32,500 for indigent defense costs for simple possession or public use of controlled substances. H, items filed in the Office of the City Clerk. 1, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meeting minutes of March 24th, 2026. 2, Planning Commission meeting minutes of May 6th, 2026. And 3, Planning Commission meeting minutes of June 3rd, 2026.

Thank you, Ms. Schumacher. Is there any member who would like to remove an item from the consent agenda? Council Member Branstetter.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to remove item E.

Okay, Council Member Branstetter is asking that item E, motion number 202647, authorizing the execution of an interagency agreement with the Washington State Traffic Commission be pulled, and we will consider that separately. Are there any other items that council members would like pulled off the consent agenda? I'd like to move that we approve the rest of the consent agenda. So moved and seconded that we approve the consent agenda minus item E. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. The ayes have the consent agenda as approved. So let's go to motion number 2026-47. Ms. Schumacher, could you read it in?

Motion number 2026-47, authorizing the execution of an interagency agreement with the Washington Traffic Safety Commission in the amount of $115,485 for the regional phlebotomy program.

Thank you, Ms. Schumacher. And is there anyone here to speak to this?

Yes, we have Sergeant Porsche from the Liquid Police Department who oversees that program. Sergeant Porsche, if you don't mind.

I think Council Member Branstad will have some questions. It's on page 61 of the packet.

And that would probably be best if we start off with the questions just to understand what the concerns are or what the interest is.

Okay, Council Member Branstad, any questions for Officer Porsche?

Yes, Sergeant Porsche. The reason that I took this on the consent agenda is that the packet that we had has the basic agreement with the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission, and it's an ongoing program, but it didn't really have any specifics about how Lakewood specifically would be impacted by this expansion of the program to increase the number of phlebotomists and the training to go on. And no real explanation as to why the agreement is with Lakewood. So I'm wondering if you could just give us, I know that it's been more than a dozen years or more since Lakewood started having some officers trained as phlebotomists, and then that has expanded significantly. within the county for other departments to do that and for departments to work here. Could you give us a little bit of a history of the program and then a little bit about how this current expansion is actually going to impact Lakewood?

Certainly. So you're correct. Over the years, Lakewood was one of the founding agencies to start the law enforcement phlebotomy program back in, I believe it was 2019. before my time in the traffic unit. Over the years, this grant from the Traffic Safety Commission has allowed us to continue to grow that program, not only within the city of Lakewood, but throughout our region in the county. So the impact on Lakewood is that we currently have eight officers that are certified law enforcement phlebotomists, and it gives us the opportunity to continue to add to that group. Within the county, we have approximately 40 officers currently that are phlebotomists. It greatly decreases our time on the road where we don't have to take people to the hospital to attempt to get a blood draw. We have the opportunity here in Lakewood, we have our own phlebotomist room and the county has a couple of rooms as well. Tacoma has a room where officers can take these people straight there after they get their search warrants and do a blood draw without having to go to the hospital and typically spend at least an hour at the hospital to go through that process. So this continuing grant just allows us to continue to add officers to that program, to get trained up, to get equipped. It also, part of this is a quartermaster system for all of our supplies to be re-upped whenever we're running low on those things.

So the current allocation of funds for the next year four months to essentially expand the program within Pierce County. It's to continue to grow the program. Training up to 24 additional officers to be medical assistant, proboscis. How many of those 24 would be Lakewood officers?

Well, we have to put that out. So I don't know right now how many of those will be from Lakewood. The last class that we had to certify people, we had two officers that went through the program then. I had six officers that were interested in becoming a phlebotomist. but to spread the wealth, so to speak, we paired that down per agency so that we only had, I think it was two to four people per agency that went through the training. So we certainly have the interest here in Lakewood to continue to grow our program.

And then there is a section of the grant that says conduct refresher training for existing phlebotomists. Would that apply then to our existing phlebotomists or is this, is there some, do we have some phlebotomists who were refreshed previously that aren't due for being refreshed yet and won't be covered by this particular allocation of funds?

No, the funds that are granted every year for the training for all of the phlebotomists. So we have an annual refresher for everybody.

Okay, so that would move on. There is a section in this allocation in the scope of work that talks about community outreach events and public education regarding driving risks, blood evidence collection, and the role of phlebotomists. Is that something new or is that just funding ongoing things that Lakewood and other municipalities are participating in?

That's a newer provision for the grant. Just it's the traffic safety commission has started doing that with everything, not just phlebotomy. So we also have the grant that deals with all of the enforcement activity that we do. And there is a piece in that grant as well that the traffic safety commission has put forth for the community engagement.

Okay. And since this agreement is with the city of Lakewood, And there it refers to a position called the Pierce County Phlebotomy Coordinator. Is that someone within the Lakewood Department, you or someone else?

That is me, yes.

That's you. And how long have you had that position?

Since I've been the traffic sergeant for a little over five years now. Okay. Okay. So if I may, the signing of the grant for the city of Lakewood is so that there's one agency that is the holder of it, so to speak. So our traffic safety overall grant is signed by the city of Puyallup that we also participate in that I believe came before the council late last year, I think it was. So this is just a similar thing where Lakewood is now the signer and the holder of that particular grant as just like Puyallup is for the larger grant that we have.

So it's just... a lot less complicated to have one regional entity be the executive agent to do this as opposed to the state signing agreements with 15. In the grant agreement, there is a, a section on scope of work. It's on it's actually it's on page two of the agreement. And it's it speaks to Why this is necessary, and it's about the need for expanded blood evidence collection because of drug impairment by drivers as opposed to alcohol impairment, which is tested regularly.

Correct. Easily, I guess. Yeah. Well, a lot of the draws that we end up doing are for alcohol as well. For anybody that doesn't submit to the breath test, we have the ability to get a search warrant for that. However, in today's society, most of the DUIs that we come across are what are referred to as polyuse. So there are people that are either on multiple hard narcotic substances or a mixture of a narcotic and alcohol.

And then there is a section in here that I wanted to just check to see whether we believe that this is true in Pierce County in Lakewood. And it is one section that says that THC is the second most common substance detected among drivers involved in fatal crashes after alcohol. And we have been getting public comment that says that there is no relationship between THC impairment and fatalities within Pierce County and locally. Is what the traffic safety thing accurate within Pierce County in that regard?

So the Traffic Safety Commission is for the state of Washington. But Pierce County is definitely on par, just on a smaller level than what the state is. The THC, I'd have to honestly do some research to tell you how much that's involved in fatal collisions here in Pierce County, but it is very, very prevalent in the DUI blood draws that we do.

Okay. Well, first of all, I remember, you know, In a previous decade, when the department started doing this and the reports that we've gotten intermittently have indicated that it's been a successful program and that the succession of municipal court judges that we have had have, in their reports, found it to be useful and credible in helping them with those cases. So, you know, I certainly... I'm supportive of doing this. And again, my reason for taking this off the consent agenda was primarily because the document was at a 10,000 foot Pierce County level and didn't have much data at a Lakewood level. So I thank you for you taking some time.

And just as reference for us over the past year, three years for sure. We average as a group about 300 blood draws amongst our police phlebotomists annually.

All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I would move adoption of the motion.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Thank you very much, Sergeant. Um, moved and seconded to approve motion number 2026 dash four seven. Is there any discussion surrounding this item? All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed. Nay. Guys have it. Hey, no unfinished business, no new business. Reports by the city manager, Mr. Russell.

Yes, mayor and council. Just a few items for some of the events coming up. Have neighborhood association meetings this week on the 8th. And then also I think on the downtown association and the 9th at Lake City Neighborhood Association. Also tomorrow, our concert series and farmer's market will be going on. Just a couple of things coming forward. One, just an update that we did hear a public comment on cannabis that will be hitting the planning commission for a general overview probably this month in July. And then we'll work through their process of potential minutes that eventually come back to the council as was requested during the retreat. The other item we need to start discussing is our legislative platform coming into the next session. So we're working on a date. The question that came up is, and I can rely on the history of some of the people here in terms of, was that just worked into a regular session before or a separate dedicated night to go over the legislative platform and what would council prefer in terms of that?

I'll leave it up to the whole council, but I think we've had a separate study session where we discuss it, and then we have one later on. We try to bring the legislative delegation in. If we need an extra week, we have that fourth Monday, although that's problematical for at least one member. And there's other days we could probably look out to.

We'll take a look at it then and try and put out, you know, some sort of sample of dates, maybe get that out and maybe talk about it at next week's meeting and try and hammer a specific date down just to get a little bit of a head start on creating that legislative platform. As you're going to the next session, they can invite people out there for it. And that's all I have.

Council Member Branstadter, you had a question?

Yeah, I was just wondering with the planning commission's review of our request to so that we can consider whether we want to change. what we have in the code regarding cannabis. What's the scope of what we've asked them to review? Is it limited to asking them to review that if cannabis was allowed to be sold, the zoning and the where, or are we asking them to review that more broadly and make a recommendation to us?

So the at the retreat, it was bring it back to Council for a vote did not get into the nature of the specifics of what all that would mean so. As it's a land use thing it'll go back to the planning Commission through that process and they'll bring forward a recommendation Council can then do what Council would like as it goes through that process.

Okay. And in today's consent agenda, in one of the minutes of the planning, it talked about in the fall, it would go to them. When is that?

We'll still have to go through a process. So it'll be introduced, I think at the next planning commission meeting, then the future, I'll have some dates. I can get you kind of a more detailed schedule out. I haven't forecasted that far in terms of when, at least myself, because it'll at least be probably in August, September before it comes back before council, but I can get some more formalized dates out to the council.

All right, thank you.

Any more questions for the city manager? So a couple of things came up tonight in public comment. The discount liquidation guy, and you sent us emails, or you forwarded, that came out of spam, I guess. And you guys are working on that as staff.

Yes.

And I'm not understanding. It's really, it sounds like it was the fire department that wouldn't give him what he needed.

That initiated it and had not come out with a certificate of occupancy. We sent an email out to council with some of that. They've been in discussions with the planning department related to that. There's some disagreement. They always have the option to file a claim against the city. They feel that there's a liability issue.

Okay. So you guys are working on that. We're not going to jump in.

Yeah, we're trying to work them through the process to get a certificate of occupancy.

And then the Custer Road project that we heard about tonight and businesses are rightly concerned, right? Because the plan is to shut it down at least through those three blocks or whatever. Where are we at with that? And there's some about communications like, hey, I just heard about it. Where are we at on that?

So there's an email sent out to council last week identifying where we're at in a variety of different things. I can't speak to every individual of when they've been contacted. I know I've had people contacting me back in March related to it on the timing of it. So in various degrees, communication has been out in some form. Obviously it's been on our transportation plans on the website. We've had social media going out for some time in our updated weekly reports. I'm just trying to pull up. with the, cause I'll get mailers out through everyone that goes through it. I can find that and send it back out to council in terms of what that, what that is. We do have our Troy Pakswinski here. If you have questions related to that and he may be able to.

Yeah, I think, I think Troy should come in. I know it's short notice and, Were you listening to the comments, Troy? Absolutely. Okay, so can you speak to all that stuff?

As far as communication goes, this project has been a little bit different in that the planning for it really started taking place in really in earnest in January when we're starting to plan the construction window to, you know, really, I hate to say benefit the businesses because this is not a benefit in any way for the businesses. We do take this very seriously, this impact that we have before them. But at the same time, the improvements need to be made. The road is completely shot for as far as that goes. There's no sidewalks. It doesn't meet the current standards that we have for our principal arterial. So we started this plan back in January, knowing full well that we had to have a window of 60 days to completely close the road. The idea for that is we could either do it in half and have the thing last six to seven months. And during that six to seven months, because we're taking the road completely down, basically a foot below the existing grade, half of the roadway will not have access while we're building it. If you take the road down to dirt and start building on that half and there's a foot drop off on that line, half the businesses don't have access to that. So we started looking at that and saying, well, that's not going to work long term. We would rather have businesses have access for 60 days, though it's a much more difficult access than just completely shut down half of them for three months each side and have them impacted for six to seven months. So we did go through that analysis during the original design for this. Part of this is that our staffing levels don't reflect a communication outreach person in PPW. We don't have that. We were without our communications division for a good portion of the time of this planning and moving on. So if you could recall, we were in between total communication department. So that's part of the lack of communication that we've had. The other aspect of this is we have been trying to plan this window with utilities, the power, communications, and everybody, knowing full well that we want to hit this thing at some point. But we're not going to, since these existing power poles are out in the road, we're not going to hit the play button on this construction until we're 100% certain. that we can finish this thing in the 60 days. So if there were still utility poles in the road, it's not like our other projects, like Stilico Boulevard or even parts of South to come away where we would be able to leave the poles in the sidewalk and a couple of sidewalk panels wouldn't be poured. This would be a complete delay. So part of this is we haven't had a for sure date, actually probably until the end of this week, will we fully know when this construction will hit, will target. Right now we're currently targeting August 10th through about October the 13th, the week of the 13th for paving. So that is what we are shooting for currently.

So the utility thing worries me because I've never known the utilities to move the poles in an expeditious manner because it's that whole they move it and they cut their portion off. TPU comes in, does that. I'm talking about Silicon Boulevard, where literally the other guys, the cable guys or whoever, didn't show up for months and months and months. So I saw those polls go in, and I've seen them move. And TPU's at it. I think they were at it this morning again. Do we know really if these other guys are going to show up in a timely manner or are they just going to show up in the cable guys show up in September and. And we're actually waiting everyone's is waiting for construction to begin, because the cable guys on, I mean I and I and I genuinely. believe that. They just don't seem, they seem to run on their own time. Correct.

And into some wavelengths, that's 100% correct, which is why we have been driving them on this particular project and why we're not releasing this. But we have been communicating way more than we have in the past. Not to say that what we haven't been doing in the past was wrong. It's just we, for the last year, instead of, I hate to say it, at the detriment of the businesses, of the communication, whatever time we've had available for communication on this has been with those utility partners. It's been with TPU. It's been with Comcast. It's been with Lumen. So there are four phone lines out there. One of them is a city of Lakewood phone line. We're third on the relocation list as far as we're third down. So we're third on the list. Lumen is below us. Comcast is above us. And then Tacoma actually has some of their clear wire, I think is what they call it, on the top. TPU will relocate that when they go to finish the transfers, which I believe they're doing on Best Burgers this week, as well as the two other places this week. Or maybe they think they were communicating with you guys, and it might be next Monday for you guys, dead last. But anyway, they will be out of there next Monday. and starting to wreck their stuff out next week for TPU. From there, they have to relocate their, it's a one-day relocation for their telecom, and then they'll have a couple days before Comcast can get in there. And then we're third and Lumen's fourth. But yeah, everybody has a schedule on this. And it's one of those things we don't want to hit the play button until we go. The other detriment of this is, is if the later we keep pushing this thing, the rain starts impacting us. And with the water on that dirt road, as well as paving dates, 60 days doesn't become a viable thing anymore. So that's really the driving factor for some of this August. We start getting into October, November, paving dates start sliding. So that's why we are actively trying to plan this as aggressive as we can with our contractor.

Yeah, we kind of got ourselves in a tight spot here time-wise.

There's never a good time to do this stuff. But in actuality, that's what we have. Is liquid water coming through? Liquid water is not coming through, which is why we can do this in 60 days versus something like a Nianza where they're not in with us.

Okay. They did complete. Okay. Council Member Branstadner.

I hear your explanations about the planning and that to constrict the timeline to 60 days, the complete closure is the design that was settled upon. But, and that if you were to do some partial closures, that what you're saying is that a partial closure, like doing two lanes and then doing two lanes or doing a... a lane each way or to do that. Are you saying that given the scope of the work, because it's a complete rebuild of it, that it wouldn't be possible to do, even though it would take longer, it wouldn't during the entire longer period provide access to businesses throughout on both sides of the street?

Correct. So if we were to do it in halves, because we have to take the road down a full foot and there's a foot gap, I can't maintain access to that side while we're building the other half.

Okay. I guess my question would be in terms of Given that, what discussions were made with businesses about which they would prefer?

We did not outreach to businesses on that, knowing full well that they, no matter what, were going to be out two months later. Either way, we decided to pursue the entire, just tear the bandaid off, rip it all down at the same time and build it up with an objective of providing access throughout the entire project to both sides equally. However, that access will be primarily off of side streets coming in And then the roadway is open to local traffic. We do also plan on handing out flyers for businesses to hand out to their people, to their customers, so that they can get in and out with specific drawings for each business on getting in and out. as well as providing signage.

And how would flyers of that nature, that assuming that each business approved the flyer that related to them, how would they get distributed?

So we would provide it in two different forms. Number one, for those customers who are coming in out frequently, they could hand a hard copy. A second version of that would be electronic that they could hand out to their customer base.

And would it be possible if an individual business had a mailing list of frequent customers that something could be sent to? Would we be prepared to do that?

We have flyers ready to go for these businesses, yes.

And then I guess if you were to do the only close one side of the street for 60 days and then close the other side of the 60 days, what's the range of the increase in costs to that?

The increased cost for the city of Lakewood would be, it would be a completely different change order. I would have to look at it, but the estimated cost would be about a half a million dollars.

All right, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Council Member Branson, are there any other questions?

Council Member Pearson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Okay. So the condition of the road out there is pretty poor. Where does it rank on our city's arterials as far as pavement quality?

The lowest. It's a 35. That is the lowest arterial. The second lowest arterial, principal arterial you currently have is in the 60s. So you're at 35 on this segment of Custer. Second lowest segment is a portion of Silicon Boulevard, which is in the 60s.

Okay, thank you. And then can you walk us through, is there... some elements of the the temporary road closure or traffic control plan that you can walk us through that um has there been some thought as to what are the alternatives for accessing any of these sites or you know are there temporary signs set up on You know, this is how you can access this site during construction or you can't access this one or whatever. Is there any sort of guidance like that that people can understand as you're driving around that this is how I can actually make it to XYZ business?

We don't list individual businesses. We will have a business access sign for Grange or Burgess or 75th to the east of Custer coming back toward the Cody area, if you're familiar with that, back into the back way to get into a Classy Chassis or the Tire Shop or the Car Lux, some of the other businesses that we have. So that they don't have to necessarily get onto the dirt or the gravel surface while they just had their car detailed, right? That's really some of the emphasis for giving flyers out. Somebody comes in, gets their car detailed. Okay, I don't want to just go drive out on the gravel or the dirt. across something. I want to be able to get out of here on pavement all the way around.

So are these flyers or instructions on temporary access going to be posted on the city's Facebook page or somewhere that we can guide people to, hey, here's how you can go access this rather than what if they didn't get a flyer?

you know can we post something that they will be we will we will have a page dedicated to this project when it gets becomes closer to actually starting up okay thank you councilmember bell

Thank you, Mayor. I have a question. So, and I don't know if this is even possible, but is there any sort of economic assistance or relief or programs that could be worked with with these current businesses that are going to be so greatly impacted?

We in Planning and Public Works don't have one.

Yeah, we don't have any program like that in the city.

Is there anything like that through the Economic Development Board, anything that's greater in Pierce County it would be worth looking into?

Not to my knowledge.

Last comments. There were references to a grant in 2014, which I didn't know anything about. This says December 6, 2023. It's a TIB grant, right? We got that.

I think they confused the original plan of the cluster. It goes back well over 14 years with the grant of five years ago.

Oh, okay. So December 2020, and it's got to get spent this year. It's a three-year. Yes and no. I mean, there's never going to be a good time.

Yes and no. There's no hard, fast deadline that it has to get expended this year. However, I would preface that with... If we slide it, I'm concerned about the weather to get this paved because I genuinely am concerned about the businesses that are out there, regardless of how it would appear. We want to make sure we get that road in and get it out done.

And when is the other thing, the other Custer thing supposed to be done? When's that intersection? What's the plan there?

Construction for that will start in February. And it's not as intrusive as this is. It is basically a sidewalk widening for the turn lane. And it's mainly, it's not mainly, it's all on the school side of the road since the sidewalk's already in on the other side. So there's no pavement really activity going on. The existing pavement doesn't get befouled really.

Okay, so the turn lane is going to, okay, I get it. But that's not telling, that's a completely separate project.

Separate project, and that'll be about a year, finishing up about a year from now. Yeah, all right.

Council Member Bell.

Thank you, Mayor. Has this project, maybe I heard it somewhere else, has this been pushed one time already? Has it been postponed one time already?

No, we're roughly on the schedule that we set in 2023 for the application that we set in the fall of 2023. We made application on this to grant and it said we were going to complete in the fall of 26. So we're real close to being on that. We're still on target for that.

Okay. So it's not, it hasn't already been, the deadline has been. Okay. Got it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Brockwinski. And you're done, Mr. Russell.

Yes.

Okay. Council member comments. Let's start with council member Pearson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We found the deputy mayor's phone.

Oh, my goodness.

Mystery. All right. So I let's see here. So I am. We had our first, uh, sewer general plan review committee meeting. Um, I don't know, a week ago or two weeks ago, I was in Hawaii. I don't know exactly when, but, um, so I'm the chair of that committee now. And, uh, we have our next meeting tomorrow and had sent the city manager an email, um, just asking if there was any, um, thing of, of particular interest to the city. I had brought up the, um, my general support of the expansion of the sewer service area out into Parkland and Spanaway. I think when you look at what has historically happened over decades and decades of high concentrations of septic systems into great soils over the years, and those soils go down into an aquifer that feeds into our lakes, they don't get a lot of filter. And so we end up with higher nutrient load in our groundwater as a result of that. So I don't know if there's anything that supports that claim exactly, but I think it's, there's something there to at least kind of, um, provide support for expanding the sewer service area and, and encouraging as much of that area to connect sewer as possible, um, to help out with Spanaway Lake always has algae issues. You know, we've had algae issues in a number of our lakes. Um, so, uh, I'm, I'm encouraged to see, uh, the sewer service area expanding out in that direction. Um, We had a PRAB meeting a week or two ago as well, and one of the items that I brought up for discussion, we were talking about our lake parks, and I had brought up the idea again of some sort of a parking pass or some way to help make sure that we're putting Lakewood residents first in any way that we can. Many of the lakes are destinations for folks all over the county and areas. And if we can do things to help encourage that we save some spots or make it at least a little bit more accessible for our residents, I think that would be great. a big benefit for our community. So I'm in support of some sort of, um, parking situation. And I think that there's going to be more to come on, on potential solutions or ideas for, for parking passes or something like that. So, um, those are the two items that I had and that's it. Thank you. Oh, actually one more. So, sorry. Yep. Um, One of the items that we were supposed to have on our agenda tonight was the discussion about the West coast league and the, and the baseball team. And so I was, um, saddened to hear that that you know the plug got pulled on that but i did reach out to the city manager and had expressed my um appreciation for the city staff did an incredible job uh really bird dogging that and and putting in a lot of effort to get to get it to a point where we did everything that we could do to make it happen. And it was really out of our control at that point. So I just really appreciate, um, city staff's efforts on that. And, um, it was, I think kind of my first experience with some of the new city staff. And, and I think that they passed the test for me anyway, to, um, they, yeah, they, they took it seriously and I really appreciate all the efforts on that. So thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Branstetter.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I too was disappointed that the plug got pulled on the West Coast Baseball League possibility to do that because I thought it was something that would have helped. change the font on Lakewood on some maps where you could see where things are. I would say that there's only four of us here tonight and the city manager did note a some discussions from one of our colleagues who isn't here about wanting to do a relook at the design and things at the John Dower Custer intersection. And while that is not something that I am in favor of, I think we should go ahead with the design that has been had lots of issues with mitigating certain things and being able to go and do that. And, and, and, and, and that is needed as a safety project that, you know, he asked that the council give him some sort of a Ruben Duran, Board President, Majority direction of should he reset on the design and do that, or should we we proceed with the design as it is, so I would I would would would hope that we can have that discussion when we next meet when when when we have. You. enough of our colleagues here, particularly ones that are perhaps in favor of that, and at least have a discussion so we understand the nuances, both safety-wise, physical-wise, and with respect to other mitigations that might be possible. So I look forward to do that. I am... for the post 4th of July emails regarding fireworks? Yeah, yeah. Well, to tell you the truth, I've gotten fewer, but I will also say that regionally, this has been a year with some more significant developments bad accidents, bad instances that have occurred in the region, primarily due to people who have been manufacturing their homemade fireworks or who have been amassing and storing large quantities of them and being able to go and do that, not so much in terms of individuals setting them off on the day of to be able to go and do that. But as usual, the time window, and we have seen a reduction in the number of vendors who are out there doing it to be able to go on that, and that fewer vendors are associated with non-profits than used to be 10 years ago. About half the vendors were churches or non-profits that were selling fireworks to fund their activities. In any event, I'm planning to attend the Lake City Neighborhood Association meeting that's coming up

Council Member Bell.

Thank you, Mayor. Let's see. So we've been away for a couple of Mondays. We did. We were able to attend the Association of Washington City's conference, and I think that that was very beneficial for us. We met with other electeds, took some very we're in some very great sessions and I think just altogether it was really good for the council as a whole. So that was awesome. I loved doing that. And then I will be going to the summer concert tomorrow. I went to the one last week, and it was very cold, but we were very bundled up.

Who's playing tomorrow?

Tomorrow I know it's an R&B.

I don't know the name, but I'm going, and it's going to be nice weather. So looking forward to that also. And so, Mayor, I think that's about it for me. Thank you.

City Council Chambers, Thank you, Deputy Mayor bell um yeah I might have to make it if it's r&b you know see see that. City Council Chambers, council member brand Center Thank you very much for going to the lake city meeting right now that's Council member Laura sell is the one who's assigned to that, but I don't know if he'll be able to make it. I just, what?

I just want to get clarity here. Council Member Branstad talked about having a discussion at the next meeting.

Next time. I don't think it's a I think it's a discussion where you can get a consensus as opposed to something we need to vote on.

And that's next week. The 20th, we're almost in the same position we are tonight. I wanted to tell us how amazing Jeff Remack, our public works director is. Amazing is the word that's used here because they did have a permit issue. They let me know about it. Um, and it, and it got resolved very, very quickly. So I just want to call that out for interesting things that we, we have happened. Um, anyway, I'm going to, I'm going to, I really have nothing else. I had a good holiday weekend. Um, had a great time at AWC. I thought it was very informative. walked away with a few things. One of the things I've talked to the city manager about is trying to get our packets out a day or two earlier so that council members would have time to late in the week to contact the city manager and staff if need be to get those things taken care of before the end of the week or as you go into the weekend. So I'm going to let them work that out. With that, I don't think we have anything else. Thank you very much for being here and we are adjourned.