Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. The time is 6:30, April 1st. We'll call this meeting of the Lakewood Planning Commission to order. Um, please call the role. Robert Estrada here. Christian Flores, here. Katie Crook, Lynn Larson, Jim Merritt here, Sharon Wallace here. You have quorum chair. Outstanding. I'm also here. Oh, I'm sorry.

That's all right. For the record. Um, if you all please uh join me, stand and say the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Thank you. Welcome everybody. Hope you all had an opportunity to review the minutes from our last meeting. If so, it entertain a motion to approve those minutes. So move. I have a second. Second.

There's been motion and seconded to approve the minutes from March 18th, 2026. All those in favor of this motion, please signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed. Please say no. Motion carries. The meeting minutes are approved. M. Spirit, do we have any updates for tonight's agenda? Um, actually, Mr. Chair, I would ask that we move number one down below uh number four. So, we will start with number two and then move down in order from there. Outstanding. And with that, if you're ready for me to do so, I'm ready to start. Yep. I think so. Nobody online for public comment.

I'm sorry. No, there's no one online for public comment. Uh I just want to make sure there's not anybody hiding in the hallway for public comment. Hello. Hello. All right, we'll close the public comment. Miss Spear, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, tonight we're going to start with a presentation that continues into a little more detail of the discussion regarding the natural environment change natural environment and climate change program. Uh, and some of this we talked about in the past. Some of this is going to be brand new for some of our new planning commission members. And some of this was introduced at the last meeting, but we're um reinforcing a few things and asking you a few more questions. So, sorry, and get this out of the way for everybody. There we go. And here we go. Um there have been a number of things over the last three or four years now that the city has been doing first proactively and then in reaction to state law changes regarding climate change. And so this first thing on this screen here is the result of a couple of years worth of work that was ultimately a city council ordinance to update our comprehensive plan to incorporate energy and climate change element, but it also included uh the adoption of a work plan which includes 15 items here. And as you'll see on the right hand side, most of them are done. You have five that are ongoing and then there's just one that has not started yet because it's a regional uh task the regional electric vehicle infrastructure strategy and that is pending uh the work that's going on at the county and state level. But as you can see here, there is information about transportation, greenhouse gas emissions, looking at environmental protection updates, um incorporating environmental justice into our code and our actions, updating our tree preservation code, and more. Also, oh, Commissioner Strada

who completed the action. These were pretty much all city actions. Um the ones that were identified were done uh through staff implementation or council action. So this isn't um other than the tree preservation code which is number 10. Most of this, if not all of it, is uh work that's done by the city staff.

Absolutely. Also in 2022, as part of that tree preservation code update, there was a tree canopy assessment done and it was all through LAR electronic overview from the top of the um GIS work and so it was it wasn't on the ground in other words and so it was a a higher level analysis that we've had since had uh refined but in 2022 the uh conclusions were that you had up on the top right there. About 38% of the city's acreage was impervious. Herbaceous and grass was 26.5%. Tree canopy was about 24%, water was about 9, and then you had some smaller ones as well. And then where you look to see where the tree canopy was located, 72% of it was on private property and then 28% was on public property. The tree advisory committee that was convened as part of the update to our tree regulations uh actually went through a series of criteria to decide where to prioritize tree planting. And so what you see here on this map on the right in turquoise are those areas of the city that are prioritized for tree planting uh through our urban management plan, urban forest management plan and then also uh seeking cooperation with private property owners to add uh ve vegetation and trees on their property as well. The following year in 2023, the city commissioned through the UDub uh public policy school a guide of how to create an urban forestry program. And so uh that report was issued and it's got some recommendations that we have been implementing since. And we also actually

use the uh um recommendations regarding community engagement, public outreach efforts on some of our other initiatives as well because it was basically good advice on how to get people that might not otherwise be at the table involved. The following year in 2024, that was the year where we had to do our 10-year full review of the entire comprehensive plan. And as part of that process, we had some changes to our energy and climate change element. And you see some new and related um policies that were adopted related to what you're now going to be asked to be doing going forward with the natural and environment and climate change program. Um, so especially greenhouse gas emission goals, meeting those, improving clean and efficient transportation optin options, excuse me, increasing sustainable and energy efficient systems. Uh, and then on the bottom one in particular, improving the tree canopy. That same comprehensive plan full review and update in 24 also added a new natural environment element to our comprehensive plan. And just a reminder, if you think of that rainbow that I've sometimes used as the reference point, you've got state law, you've got regional policy, you've got a count a city, sorry, state law, regional policy, the city's comprehensive plan, which is really policies other than land use zoning, which is you need you will do or you should do, you are encouraged to do, and then you have the development regulations that implement all of those higher levels. So when I talk about the comprehensive plan, these are the policies that our city council has adopted that either are mandatory or uh recommend action. Uh and so here we're talking about this new natural environment element where it's maintaining an urban forestry program, maintaining a city tree fund, working on

a citywide goal of a 40% tree canopy cover by 2050, and then looking at uh environmental equity when looking at tree distribution. And then also air quality standards. So reducing pollutants in the air as well as increasing urban greenery to help with air quality. That 24 tree canopy assessment uh went through by uh zone and said how much in each one of the land use zone types there was of tree canopy. And so on the left side you'll see it in text. On the right side you see the map. The darker blue is where there's more tree cover. The lighter colors are where there's less. And what you see is essentially the I-5 corridor and lands to the east are where most of the low uh tree canopy cover is. And the highest tree canopy cover is basically right down the middle of the city, if you will, around the larger lakes and water bodies. A third piece that happened in 2024 was the heat watch uh report where we had volunteers from the city uh residents actually go out and drive a path morning, afternoon and evening of a particular day in August that was going to be the hottest day of the year. And the results here are shown uh the orange and reds and excuse me are the higher temperatures. The blue is the lower. And again, you kind of see that same pattern as you saw here where you've got lower tree canopy, you in turn have higher temperature. That's not the only reason why those changes are there, but it's certainly a a correlation. Then in 2023, the state adopted a new law and I'll just call it House Bill 1181, but it is including a lot of things that local governments have to do by mid 2029 to comply with requirements for climate change planning. And so

within our uh comprehensive plan and then related development regulations in particular, there needs to be addressing greenhouse gas emission reductions. And in Lakewood, just to cut to the chase, the majority of the greenhouse gas emissions are from transportation and then buildings. And then also trying to reduce uh essentially single occupancy vehicle miles traveled. And then the other thing is looking for resiliency to climate impacts um and natural hazards. We have been awarded a grant at from the state to comply with this uh new state law. The first two years are already complete. We're in the middle of our second bianium and then we'll have a third which is mid 27 through mid 29 to complete the work uh required under 1181. So going by those d bianiums in 2025 last year there was already a completion of what's required in our parks and recreation element and then most of the work for both utilities and capital facilities were finished uh including inventories of uh what's in the city what's planned what needs to still happen is the capacity analysis for both of the utilities and capital facilities items and that'll happen in the next bienium what we're doing now And why we are talking so much about trees and urban forestry uh at the moment is we're in the middle of this second bienium's work which is looking at the energy and climate change element and in particular the city has to create new sub elements within it that address greenhouse gas emissions as well as uh climate change and resiliency again and then also looking at our land use element to make sure that there are community and urban forests identified and incorporating environmental justice into that element. Also looking at a strategy to address the city's urban

heat islands, coming up with municipal climate resilient and native planting plans for municipal projects and then also creating and maintaining an urban forestry program and master reforestation plan. So this is the focus right now of what the task forces will be dealing with and what you would be involved with as well. Just as a heads up from 27 mid 27 to 29 the next group of task forces the next area of focus will be transportation and it's going to be updating the demand forecast within the city. It's also going to be looking at multimodal level of service. So multimodal, not only cars, but bike, ped, um anything that's essentially uh not a car, um will be addressed in this one. And then also actually another item you're talking about tonight, making sure that we have an American with Disabilities Act transition plan. There will also be electric vehicle infrastructure plan uh created and then that capacity analysis that's still needed for utilities and capital facilities. So just kind of bringing it back to the graphic about the program. You've got trees, data, community, and climate all incorporated into natural environment and climate change program for Lakewood trees. It's the comprehensive plan goals about an urban forestry program and also increasing the tree canopy. And then it's those state requirements that I just went through. For climate, you've got again the city has its own climate goals already in its comprehensive plan, but then there's those state laws that the city has to specifically comply with by mid 2029. Data, there's quite a bit. Um, I walked through most of these already, but since 2021, there's been a number of u major initiatives to gather information so we can turn around and then start to create

programs or update things that are already in place. And then community. This is where we're going to be taking advantage of that implementation guide provided to us by UDub Evans School. We're going to be looking at public involvement and environmental justice comprehensive plan goals, the state requirements regarding community involvement, and then in 2026, uh the council direction that's now been provided to all of us. So here's you. You are the planning commission, and this is the role that you're going to be playing right now. You already do this. You advise the city council on everything that's within your scope. You will do things uh where it's anformational thing only or there'll be times when you hold a public hearing and then take action through resolution on a recommendation that goes up to the city council. They they review that, they deliberate it, they have their own public hearings and then they take action. Um there may be times when the city council accepts everything as is uh recommended by planning commission but there is the ability of the city council to make amendments just like if something were recommended to you by a task force you would be able to uh make changes as well before forwarding it to the council. But as the advisory body here you're looking already at comprehensive plan and zoning development regulations and infrastructure and capital facilities. The new thing is this N natural environment and climate change program piece gathering public input. You already do this as well. You have your public hearings. You have your public comment um option every time we meet. And then the only thing new here is going to be these task force meetings which we'll talk a little bit more about in just a moment. And then the other big new thing is convening these task forces that the city council has asked you to convene starting in 2026. We've got them broken out into four topic areas. So, heat mitigation, the

urban forest management plan, the changes that are required to the city's climate element in its comprehensive plan, and then developing both a 3 to 5year work plan and also a 10-year longer term, more visionary plan. So these are the four task forces that are going to be meeting between now and uh mid 2027 with your involvement and oversight. So what is the same for you? You're going to be doing much of what you already do. It's you're already involved in land use, capital facilities, utilities, transportation, and critical area regulation. You're already involved in redevelopment topics as well as transportation. What's new really? It's the task forces. and then coming up with once you hear back from them the recommendations that you would forward on to the city council specifically regarding what they the task forces have provided to you. So there's four task forces as I mentioned um the first one that's going to begin to meet is going to start in May and it's going to be the one that covers uh the development of a 10-year implementation plan as well as that 3 to 5year work plan. I mentioned at the very start of this that there was a three-year plan adopted in 22. It ex uh sunseted in 25. It it was done and as I mentioned, all but one have been either completed or are ongoing. But there's going to be a new work plan created and then that longer term implement implementation plan will come. Uh let's see. So, the 10-year plan will include strategies, long-term timelines and benchmarks, implementation ideas, uh, and developing a monitoring and evaluation framework so over time the city can track how it's doing on progress. The 3 to 5year work plan will be more specific and more uh, strategic.

is going to be looking at the goals that have already been identified through um several things. That original comp plan element, the action items that the 15 came from in 2022, the uh ordinance that included that three-year work plan, and then since then we've had state law dropped in as well. The second task force, this is one that is probably going to uh have the heaviest load, is going to be the one that's looking at the creation of two sub elements within the climate element. One is specifically related on to greenhouse gas emissions reduction and the other is climate resiliency including um hazards like extreme heat and wildfire smoke. But you'll see here that there's 11 sectors that all need to be addressed as part of this element. So, agriculture and food, buildings and energy, cultural resources, economic development, emergency management, health and well-being, ecosystems, transportation, waste management, water resources, zoning and development, and then crosscutting among all of those things. So, again, this one will be a little bit later. It's planned at this point to start in June, but it will probably have the most number of meetings and uh we'll see how many of our um folks that have volunteered to be part of this whole process want to jump on board with this task force. The third uh is going to be focused on the urban forest management plan and at this point that is intended to start in July but it's going to run through probably October and there will be meetings in August. So, just a heads up, you have historically had August off um your regular meeting cycle, but this uh task force is probably going to have a meeting in August. So, just a heads up there. This is looking at all of the data

that's been collected since 2022 regarding the urban forestry canopy in the city. It's going to be looking at goals uh and maybe updating those goals. It's going to be looking at invasive species uh and those risks that they cause to our urban forestry uh in the city. Looking at purposes for the city's tree fund and identifying ex uh expenditures that are going to be happening in the near future. It's going to look at public education and then voluntary tree planting on private property, coming up with strategies to reach out to the public in order to have that be a successful piece to this whole thing. The final task force is uh related to heat mitigation and there's actually a number of subtopics all related to that. This is one that's going to meet kind of with a gap in the summertime, but it's scheduled to have a meeting in June and then come back in September. But as you can see here, urban heat resilience, land use, waste heat reduction, climate resilient plantings, infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and uh helping vulnerable populations, and then data and monitoring are all topics that this task force is going to be addressing. So, the next steps, and this first one is one that you're actually going to be doing um review of tonight, is you need to update your uh rules of procedure to allow more than five members because I think these task forces will end up being larger than that. You also need to be identifying which uh of you are going to be liaison to any of the task forces. And that action doesn't need to happen tonight, but u maybe with a little more detail now in your mind, you'll start to figure out which one you may be interested in engaging with. And then the task force members, what we have done uh is sought out people that are generally interested in this project. And we have over 20 um either organizations or individuals who have

identified themselves. What we're going to do is now reach out to them and say, "Okay, we're kicking off. which of these task forces would you like to be part of and let them selfidentify as the first step depending on the responses back. Hopefully, we're not going to have everybody on one task force and everything else is empty, but we'll see how that plays out. We'll kind of work with that. And so, by the time we come back to you on April 15th, we'll have better detail for you on who uh how many are on each of those task forces and also uh maybe finalizing on the 15th which of you may be involved in any of those task forces as well. M I believe we have a question. Sure.

Will we have a member of the T city council on each one of those task forces? They are not at this point intending to be part of that discussed last uh last meeting. That is not something that the council is going to do. They refused us. They are not going to do that. They asked you to handle this issue.

So where did that thought go? I'm sorry. Where did that thought go then that we would have a city city? When you provided that to me, sir, I took it up to city staff higher than me up the ladder and looking at the direction from the city council that this is something that the planning commission is going to handle. The city council is not going to be involved. So our so our request did not go to the city council. Not directly from me staff level. Thank you. Yep. and you're welcome to reach out to them, but I I can tell you that's the response you're going to get. So, any other questions or thoughts out of what I just provided to you?

All right. So, um I'm sorry. I don't believe we have any questions, Mr. Bear. Okay. So, what we're going to do now is go back, if you uh would indulge, Mr. share since Westonat is here to go over the ADA transition plan and then we'll keep going down the agenda um and then we'll come back to this topic. So maybe kind of think about if you want to talk about which task forces you want to be on or not but otherwise I'll invite Mr. Aught up to uh the podium if you're ready for that Mr. Chair.

Wonderful. Mr. Welcome. Oops. Let me get you on. Yeah. In a second.

Are you able to hear me? Yep. Sounds like it. So, gotcha. Well, good evening and apologize for not being here properly at 6:30. I was actually upstairs signing standard plans and we'll talk about that in the update here in the presentation. Um, and also thank you for being part of the public comment, public invol involvement portion of the ADA transition plan as we're uh planning to have a hearing on the plan uh next meeting. So with that, I'll go ahead and get started with the presentation. Okay. I'm trying to uh Yeah. Could you move it?

How was that? Better.

So, last time I was here, we went over the plan in general. So, the left slide of the slide in front of you there is really a refresher or a reminder of what we went over last week. Plan's a requirement of um the law related to ADA. uh cities with more than 50 employees, which Lakewood definitely qualifies for. Um, and again, I just want to make sure it's clear that we're talking about ADA transition within the rightway. So, we're not talking the the whole the city is in entirety. We're focusing on in the rightway. Um, so that's what's on the right side is what's in this plan and it's the things that you would commonly think of. ped pedestrian ramps, sidewalks, our crossings, our um our pedestrian push buttons, and any um any other route that the pedestrian would take within the rideway. So, again, we're not uh looking at items that aren't in the rightway. And this would include um roads that are upcoming as well. So as an example, Kendrick which we talked about last meeting. So we'll go ahead and go to the next slide. So this is some summary statistics from our 2021 uh rating of uh the infrastructure in the rightway. So you can see we have a sizable amount of sidewalk in the city. Uh doing the math with that we have 180 center line miles of road within the city or 436 lane miles of road. But if you take the 180 uh lane miles and make the assumption that sidewalks on both sides, the city's really close to 20% sidewalk. And that's something the city needs to be proud of. When we incorporated, it was really our roadway

was in that county format of, you know, lanes, wedge curb, gravel behind the the wedge curb. We've really made um strides especially on our major arterials like South Tacoma Way, Pack Highway, Bridgeport, Grally. I could just go on naming them. So, a lot to be proud of and it's always good to look at the summary statistics. Um we have a number of curb ramps that go with that sidewalk, our pedestrian push buttons that are traffic signals, and then corresponding driveways to access the rightway. And when we did that rating, we looked at the condition and came up with a logical rating system. And you can see it there in the bottom right. Um they colorcoded format. So we'll go ahead and go to next slide. So talking a little bit about uh design standards and uh our policy. Uh I also want to start with not using jargon and acronyms. I apologize for using that last time. But PROWG stands for um public rights of way access guidelines and really that process began in 1999 and the US access board adopted that in August 2023. uh the city also has done the same and you can see here I won't read through all these um items in each column but just recently it was March I believe it was March 3rd the council adopted the update to title 12 the engineering standards manual and the engineering standards plan or standard plans um those go into effect May 3rd of this year so we're getting ready to to launch that And part of that review was also checking for compliance with ADA and basically everything was within

compliance. The the minor changes were addressed uh in that process. I might also add that um one item you'll see up there listed is the washd design manual. That's part of our uh engineering standards. And in that chapter 15 talks about ADA the washout design manual but it's also references prog. So the city does follow prog if that question comes up. So we'll go to next slide. So how do these improvements get made? Well there's there's a number of different ways. Um, we are going to, um, make a request in the next budget cycle. City of Lakewood, as you know, does a two-year budget, bianial budget. So, there'll be a request made for funds for standalone ADA improvements to remove those barriers. Again, we don't um I want to be careful how I categorize it, but we don't really have a a uh overwhelmingly large amount of barriers because we've built so much new. So much as new ped ramps, sidewalks, etc., new signals. Um we also address these through our capital programs. We address many things you know both the needs that have identified why that's in our transportation improvement plan as well as our budget and capital improvement plan. Um you know it takes care of a host of things whether it's ADA roadway um surface conditions etc. So that's another way we knock off um ADA items that need to be upgraded and then also part of our maintenance program. So, uh, kind of a typical complaint that might come in would be, um, the sidewalk is faulted due to tree roots. We've all seen this, especially in older cities

that have large mature trees that will sometimes push up sidewalk panels. Those are addressed often through the city's my 311 system. Operations and maintenance will either address it themselves through just grinding the concrete or maybe it's bringing in a contractor to remove a sidewalk panel and repour it. So with that, we'll go to the next slide. If we have a standalone like overlay program, um one of the recent ones would have been 108. Uh as part of that process, we'll upgrade uh the pedestrian ramps because we've affected uh those ramps that are along the overlaid area. And often that's um things like the slope may not be right or last week I had mentioned the truncated domes are missing. Those are the yellow tiles uh for those that are sight impaired to help them cross the road. And then the last one is uh part of development and that can even take the form of let's say there's existing frontage improvements but the sidewalk cross slope is inadequate or um above standards then part of their requirement of the development would be to remove and replace that uh non-conforming sidewalk. All right, we'll go to next slide. So where are we at in the process? Um we did the inventory in 2021 and we are going to move to an annual uh inventory update. Um this year will be a little bit uh more work because we're going to pick up all the capital uh projects that have been built since 21 which is substantial. Um, the prioritization is done annually both for the ADA transition plan and as well as our six-year tip. We bring we do that um

annually that comes before you for review before it goes to council. I think Troy Poxwinsky will be bringing that forward here in the near future. Uh, but then our budget uh the six-year CIP capital improvement program that's a bianual um process. However, council can make changes and update that throughout the year through the mid by adjustment or year-end adjustment. And then the transportation plan it the ADA transition plan itself will be updated on a three to five year rotation uh kind of as needed. That's our plan for the future with the ADA transition plan. We'll go ahead and go to the next slide. We wanted to prioritize uh the infrastructure that has been identified as being below standards and it's really a a kind of a logical prioritization. I think most people would come up with uh you know half of the score would be just the facility condition itself just like we would do in our own home. Uh something that really needs repaired obviously would rise to the top. Um traffic volume is important. The assumption there is that higher volume roads also reflect a higher volume of pedestrian usage. I know I've seen that firsthand myself on Bridgeport, Pack Highway, South Tacoma Way, Gralie as an example. I see much higher pedestrian usage than lower volume roads. However, we also want to make sure we acknowledge that there are other areas that have high pedestrian use just simply because of what the facility is like. So it could be St. Clair and schools facilities like that. And then finally, uh complaints may sound negative, but it would be, you know, responses that we receive for things within the um right away that need upgraded. I'll be honest, we don't

get a lot of those by and large because our infrastructure is in good condition. Um, one example that I often use is maybe someone that's sight impaired. The one that really rang true for me a number of years ago was uh 93rd in Bridgeport when someone that was sight impaired kind of explained to me the difficulties of a T intersection versus a four-way intersection. So, uh, if we do get a complaint like that, it would score differently. That would, uh, bring it up in its need to be addressed. So looking at cost again these are big numbers because we're looking at everything and that would be to take it to current compliance standards. So a sidewalk that is at 2 and a half% cross slope um which most people couldn't see that it's above 2% but it still shows up as a item that would need to be addressed. Here we just picked I believe this one was just for the poor condition only. Um so if we were to roll everything up um you can see the numbers. It gets to be pretty large. What we're going to target for our budget requests this year would be an intersection that would need the pedestrian push buttons upgraded plus the adjoining eight pedestrian ramps. So that's where we come up with the $260,000 a year to start with. So that would be the beginnings of a standalone plan. And again, this is just standalone. This doesn't include work that would be done through other capital projects, overlays, etc. So go ahead and move on. So funding, it's always good to look at where your money is. And this is not an exhaustive list of um grant programs, but on the local funding, we have those funds that come in that are historically used for

transportation projects. our REIT, our real estate excise tax. Uh general fund can always be used. Um our transportation benefit district. So that's the $20 you pay extra on your car tabs. And that's been in place, I want to say, since 2008. Um the city can actually increase that by another $20 if they so choose without going to a vote of the citizenry, but again, car tabs are often very contentious. So currently it's the the $20 that um was put in place back around 2008. That money is primarily used for the general obligation bonds for all the capital work um or not all of it for a lot of the capital work that we have seen recently in the city. So your money goes directly from the car tabs back into road projects here at the city. And when I say road projects, that includes the curb, gutter, sidewalk, ped ramps, you know, all the items within for a complete street. Um, and then the TMF, that's the fee that's collected for development in the downtown sub area. Uh, I can't quote the current uh fund balance on that, but that was uh set up when the sub area was created to be a split 50/50 between what would be in the development and what the city would contribute. So those are uh your typical funding. On the grant side, uh the one I want to maybe highlight would be uh the fourth one down, safe routes to school and bike and ped. The city's done, we've done very well in grant funding historically, partly because of the need at incorporation, but we've done very well on the safe routes to school and bike and ped. Those grants are primarily curb gutter sidewalk and uh pedestrian ramps. Uh I can name a lot of projects. John Dower um Park Lodge.

Uh recently we did the project up on Far West for Lakes High School that extended beyond the high school even uh 112th in front of Clover Park High. Not the full project right now, but that piece over there. Let's see. I wrote a few of them down. Uh Hutloff on Phillips Road. That was one of them. Um, so the city's done well for the bike and ped that was 84th and Pine and that brought in that signal at 84th to allow crossing into Wards Lake Park, but also to the north it connects to the water ditch trail. So that's the the bike bike bike and ped portion as well. So city has done very well and we appreciate the funding from both state and federal that we've received. So enough about the money. So, where we find ourselves today and how we got here. So, um, as you know, we're at that 30-year mark in our incorporation. It still feels like a new city in some ways. Um, a lot has been done since then. Uh, we've either upgraded um, sidewalk and other facilities or just flatout built new. Um, the last sidewalk project Pierce County did before incorporation was a little piece on Stilicum Boulevard just east of Phillips Road um on the north side of Stilikum. That was the last piece of sidewalk the county had done. And here we just are in the process of doing the final completion of Stilicum all the way from 87th uh up to Weller. And we've already done Weller um up through um Kuster Road. So we've done quite a bit just in that little corridor and that's really in the last two years time. Uh let's see. So in 21 was when we did the full uh GIS inventory and we actually did write a draft plan at that

time but it didn't go through the full process and adoption. Uh 22 to 26. Um that list of capital projects isn't even uh there's more than that. I went through it and I for one that's missing is South Tacoma way and 92nd and that is really a ADA um transition plan type project. It put updates the ped ramps but it added a traffic signal that included the current uh pedestrian push buttons. So uh quite a bit has been done just even in this last four years time and through this year. And then finally, where we are moving forward to is we've already completed some of this. As I mentioned, we've uh done the code update and the ESM updates and we are starting the GIS uh inventory updates. We'll start with the pedestrian push buttons. That one's a pretty straightforward quick uh low hanging fruit to take care of. And then our uh rightaway inspector in his free time will be out doing the other updates. So we'll go ahead and go along to the next slide. So where we are in the process, um back at the beginning of the year, a formal web page was set up, standalone web page for the ADA transition plan. Uh we had announcements in the city manager bulletin back at the beginning of the year and then most recently on March 20th uh March 19th the draft plan was put on the web page and I I can't tell you how many people I sent it out to as interested stakeholders but it was a sizable uh list. Uh here we are at planning commission now that's at step four. uh looking forward to a hearing at the next meeting and then eventually your recommendation to the council to

move forward. Um and then the council tenatively we would have another study session with council and then we would have the um tenative scheduled adoption June 1st of the plan but again this is a living document so we'll adopt it and then the next day be collecting data. So this will be an ongoing uh process and the grievance policy or grievance process is has been in place for some time. The forms are available on the city website. Our HR manager Nicole is the identified person. But in addition, we have the my 311 process where people can uh notify us of issues in the rightway um as well as I receive them directly as uh often as well. So kind of the re recommendations summarizing the next steps um will be continued to update. It'll always be integrated into our capital program. Um, we'll be looking at, you know, our budget from year to year and as time goes on, the budget need will be less as we knock uh those facilities are non-compliant out. Um, as Miss Spears had mentioned, this will be added to other um, planning documents as well as our non-motorized plan, which sometimes you'll hear at agencies refer to as their active transportation plan. And we'll continue with our public engagement process. We are working um on the the multilingual material right now, not only for this, but for other facets of the city. And with that, um, this is a reminder of the link to the plan and I'm available for any questions you may have.

Does any commissioner have a question? I have I have three questions, but can I ask one then? Commissioner Estrada, go ahead.

Mr. Thank you very much for for your presentation. Uh, I I find it very very interesting. Uh, uh, the the whole package was I learned a heck of a lot. last uh meeting we talked about truncated the domes. So I um I as I'm walking with family and friends, do you know what this is? Have no idea what what that was. Uh sarcastic mark. It's to clean your feet before you go out or in you know people did not know but when I told them it was uh 88 very pleased very pleased. So that's good to know. But we spoke about um uh sidewalks. The sidewalks on the grally both sides and now one is five and the other what is 8 ft. Is that I mean why would we spend a lot of money on a larger one if it wasn't for ADA or am I wrong? Why is it there? Why do we have such a

Yeah. So around Graly Lake itself making up Nyanza and Graly Lake Drive the road there's an inside path and it's 10 feet wide. We refer to it often as the wide sidewalk. Initially that was planned um boy it's getting to be quite a long time ago. I think it was somewhere in 2008 or 2010 to make a loop around the lake. uh we had a lot of rideway there and so the concept was that would be one area that you could walk around um you would have that walking type facility. We've done similar on um well Washington is very walkable. Veterans has a wide sidewalk. Lakewood Drive uh Onyx uh both east and west of 87th and Garnet. So we've built that in a number of places. What we found though is we if we only put the sidewalk on the inside, how about the other side of the road? And so we were able within our budget to go ahead and put sidewalk on the opposite side of the road, but the still to meet the intent of the the original project to have that wider sidewalk where two people could pass, a bicyclist and a walker could pass, but we felt it was also important to add that sidewalk on the other side. And I think that makes the roadway look better and more usable today to have sidewalk on both sides.

On Nanza, was that at the expense of the road itself having a wider sidewalk or having sidewalks on both sides? Now, don't you have to then make the roadway narrower? So there was there was a lot of paved shoulder on Nanza previously. Um that was part of the other reason why the wide sidewalk there worked. We had had the rightway. Um typically what we found is making lanes wider causes people to drive faster. Um you know having a dedicated bike lane many times people are going away from that. Uh the concept uh now is uh any age, any ability. So the wider sidewalk would allow, you know, a younger bicyclist or someone with training wheels to ride their bike on that versus riding in a a bike lane. Um but typically 11 to 12 feet. I don't have um you know I I can't recall the plans right now, but I believe those lanes are 12 foot wide, which is pretty standard.

Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Larson, just just a very minor point, I think. But does the city own the sidewalks? That is correct. And and the then early in the document, we had an exception from these rules that says city-owned properties and perhaps that should be modified to mean city-owned buildings or whatever it is that might be specifically uh stated for the city. Just real minor point. Noted. Yeah. Again, it should be focused on right of way and which is owned or easement for the city to have transportation and utility facilities. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you. Uh Mr. I looked at the ADA grievance form that's specifically for city properties. Do you get many calls? People are complaining about uh lack of ADA facilities or on private or you know grocery stores or such and if so where are they directed?

Yeah, that's a great question. I'll be honest with you, I have not um received any ADA complaints on private property. Um, typically when we have on, you know, outside city rightaway, outside city property, uh, let's I'll use an example of say storm drainage flooding, like I I will get, um, maybe a parking lot, uh, has storm drainage ponding, we contact the owner. We we often have a good contact for who owns that property. We let them know. So, if if I were to get something about an ADA uh deficiency, we would probably start with a courtesy call at a minimum to the property owner.

Thank you. Um I will say on development, I mean ADA is um when a new development come in comes in that's of high priority. It's checked both on the, you know, plan review of permitting side, but also the construction and we ensure there's an ADA path from that development to the road right away. Commissioner Mer, I probably have more comments than you want to hear tonight.

Oh, that's that's fine. But first of all, I want to commend you on what I do see happening on what on Gravity Lake and also now I'm very interested now when we finally get in on Nanza between there because in knowing that road very well beforehand it was like how are we going to make sure these sidewalks are going to work because there's a lot of close vegetation trees and and fences there. So I'm going to be very fascinated here in what another month or something we're going to get on that or it's getting close. It's getting close. So that's good. The other thing I I really want to commend you on is this whole issue of bike lanes because I think the dilemma that many jurisdictions have is those bike lane look really nice when simple area but what you're recognizing is always edge conditions. It's always the end and how you transition. And how many times do you see other jurisdictions now that have nice bike lanes that end up with what do you do? And it's dangerous. So what you have is full lane is bike lane. Okay. And this whole idea of using a wider sidewalk, you know, up in Green Lake, they do that in Seattle where they have kind of like a bike piece of their pathway and that. So I I I'm really think that's good thinking in that. So that's good. The other thing I wanted to to comment on this whole thing on ADA, you know, it's been many decades now we've been trying to get this and it's it's a mountain in that. But do you have uh basic diagrams or kind of your diagrams that you can share with the uh uh public sector at all that to kind of show them things ahead of time? Because a lot of times when you get into a project, it's kind of crisis scheduled and you're pushing on so many avenues to know early on what

the ramifications are for uh requirements like ADA is very beneficial to a project. And I think if there was a way of having a simple diagram or even reaching out, you know, even do a test area to see how it works to show people when you do a project, this is what we would like you to do. And when you're back in your area, we even on a private parking lot, you still want to have ADA things taken care of. I have seen projects because let's face it, some of this gets to be legal ease in that where uh you look at I've had a client that had a somebody was their ADA their parking stalls that either they didn't have the rights or that and it could have become a legal issue and they need to do. So I think there's lots of private sector people that would have a better awareness now how sometimes that can happen and this becomes a soap box for me this why I have too much to say right now on these things but before uh before we had uh co and everything kind of shut down everybody went home to work in this habit of doing that what we had much more readily available was pre-construction meetings or pre-construction conferences And this goes beyond your needs. I know that this goes to building department in the bigger issues of of uh project development and that to understand what the pre- issues are and let the design team or the owner know what he's really up against before he gets into design components that sometimes need to be unraveled because they didn't understand or this permit goes on too long. and that. So I guess my point is I really hope that uh planning issues and it goes

beyond again in the building side that pre-construction conferences are extremely beneficial for a jurisdiction more than you understand because it is so important that these teams that are trying to do the right thing know what the parameters are before they're down the garden path. Does that make sense?

Yes, it does. And um that dovetales well with what the city uh currently does. We do have the pre-application conferences that we sit down with all the utilities, engineering, planning, fire, and um a recent example um a fast food restaurant that sells chicken, I'll leave it at that, was looking at a parcel and um it was actually the sidewalk cross slope was off. And so during that um preapp conference, we were able to tell them that while there is frontage there, you will be required to remove and replace that uh portion of sidewalk that's out of compliance. As an example, on the precons, I can say on the engineering side, we hold those we hold those for all our rightaway permits as well as our site development permits. So, and often there will be sewer, utilities and and other folks. And then often we can take care of some of the initial uh permit requirements, you know, after the after the um um

Well, thank you for that. So, yeah, so we are we are doing many of those things and it's definitely Well, it's very exciting to hear because it's very interesting. It happened at the end of last the last meeting we had, we actually talked about these pre-construction conferences. Remember Robert? just very briefly that helps both in the early understanding and this plays into let's face it the ADA issues are not easy sometimes correct so thank you y thank you any other questions one last question commissioner thank you Mr. Chair the two I I think you also have a sorry to interrupt you also have your uh Mr. Flores up there has

move to Mr. Flores next track

um can say I I from my perspective I don't think there going to be any push back on on this during the public hearing but what I foresee is that to Mr. Mar's point, we're going to start talking about 80 parking spaces. They're going to feel that I feel that people will start talking about the uh lack of spaces. Uh I know that in reading that what ADA space for every 25 regular parking spaces I think is a requirement minimum. And I think that would work well very well for a small doctor's office, for example, but one in 25 for a library probably won't work. So the federal law says one in 25. Can the city or or state up it to, for example, 1.5 or 2 to 25? Is that within our prerogative if we felt the need? So, you got me there. I don't know the answer to that. That's where I would defer to our planner to get some assistance with that, but I can definitely follow up with the commission on answering can we increase beyond the minimum required for ADA? I'm pretty sure that the um the developer could do it of their own accord, but can the city require it? I'll have to ask that question.

Thank you, M. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And spear, is uh Commissioner Flores unmuted now? Yes.

Yes, I think I am. I have one question. Uh reviewing all these uh documents, how come we only have a budget of about 260,000 a year to uh to attack this uh this plan that seems like it's about 34 million. Do we have a plan to make sure this don't become a 100-year problem or am I missing something there? No, that's a great question, Mr. Flores. So, part of the plan to address that is through future capital projects as well. And so, it would be 260,000 plus what's in the capital plan. Um, an example of a upcoming capital project would be Kuster Road from Bridgeport Way to 75th. There's intermittent pieces of sidewalk in there. But when we're done, it'll be a holistic uh project from end to end with curb gutter sidewalk, bike lane, turn lane, etc. A complete street. So that'll knock out a large um area of poor sidewalk and barriers. So, it's going to be a combination of both the ask as well as the capital program. And there is nothing that says the council couldn't increase the standalone um barrier removal funding. They could go above that. But that's going to be our initial ask in this next budget would be 260 a year. But that's a great question.

Any other questions? Mr. I have a couple. Um, and I think you were just kind of making this clear, but I just want to ask for clarity. Um, with the budget request, the 260 plus or minus, will that be a standalone budget item or will that be rolled into a larger budget item for either a TIP or CIP contingency or how does that actually play out in the request process?

Yeah, correct. You'll see it in the tip as it comes forward as a standalone. uh the way we or the way I envision this uh happening and again we still have to go make that request to the council. The council gets to make that final determination. Um so this is my tenative plan on how it would work. We currently have a program for um we call it minor capital that fixes um patches and other imperfections in the road that come up that are larger than operation and maintenance group can handle. We have a similar for surface water uh where it's like catch basins um dropped or drainage issues. So then this would be in a sense like a minor capital program. And what we're kind of excited about is if you can package a couple of these different ones together, you have the economy of scale. Uh you'll get a good contractor, it's a bigger project, more interest in bidding. So, the way I envision it working, at least initially, would be to roll it in with our other minor capital improvements, which is really kind of what it is, um, and and go from there, and it would come out as a complete package. Okay. Um with regard to um private development, um you'd mentioned that if a developer wants to do a project and the infrastructure that's already in place is not compliant, then that developer automatically incurs that expense. um is there any opportunity for that developer to apply for a cost sharing um mode with the city or do they absorb 100% of that into their their buildout?

Yeah, typically it's 100% um because you could buy a a just a we'll just say a lot with no frontage improvements and then you would be on the hook for everything. If there were some frontage improvements, then it would only be correcting it. And maybe that's the driveway, and maybe you have to do the driveway anyways, or you're already doing other concrete work on the project. You have to do some uh sidewalk work. Again, I'm not trivializing the cost because it's real cost and development. I understand um you know, those those can be impactful. Uh but as far as I know, there's no cost sharing um procedure for that. to to your knowledge, have has the city missed out on any developments due to those type of fiscal uh decisions, I guess, is the way to say that.

Yeah. Um I think it goes where I would see that or where I have seen that um isn't necessarily on like an ADA transition type project where they would have to correct something. I see it more in maybe a uh realtor or developers looking at buying some residential lots and one of the requirements is frontage improvements and so they do the math, you know, can I make one or two homes work while doing 100 foot of frontage improvements or something like that. it becomes a business decision, but I haven't really seen it from, you know, like a large commercial chain coming in because often they're tearing a building down or they're doing something else. So, the um the cost of that I think your your TMF fee may be more impactful than maybe your frontage costs like if you're in the downtown. So, not to get too off topic there,

right? One more question. Um I anecdotally I think a large portion of our uh sidewalk projects over the last several years have been largely funded with either ARPA dollars or other grant dollars. Is that an accurate um statement?

It would be other grant dollars. We have been very successful on federal and state grants. Um, for instance, the Washington Graly, we called it JBLM North Transportation Improvement Board funded uh that uh Silicon Boulevard, that piece I was talking about earlier, 87th to Weller, that was um federal grants. There was a slide earlier it said CMAC, there's CMAC and STP. that if I remember correctly was uh CMAC which is congestion mitigation air quality is what that acronym stands for but we we've been very successful on grants simply because they're big principal arterials um for instance like pack highway south way parallel to I5 it's really easy to tell a compelling story why the city should receive those grant funds but when you get further into the city there's projects that don't score well or they're not those principal arterial projects. And that's where the council chose to use the um the transportation benefit district, the $20 car tabs, bond that money, and then that way they could do projects throughout the city that wouldn't normally score at the grants. And so that's where you find that balance in how we've been able to deliver the transportation program basically over the last 10 to 15 years.

Two more questions. They're going to be rather quick. How if a community member wanted to um quickly determine the funding source for a project that's happening in the city? Is that readily accessible to them or how might they go about finding that information?

So that that's a great question. There was a comment earlier about Precoid. I don't remember who, maybe it was uh Commissioner Merritt, but um in the old days, I'll say the old days, we used to have project signs that would have, you know, who funded those projects. Those have kind of fallen out of favor. Nowadays, probably the easiest way is to have the city website about the project would tell you how it how it's funded. The other way that's conclusive would be to look in the budget. So, the budget for each capital project will have a detailed budget sheet that will show sources and uses for the funds for those projects. Uh where a lot of the projects that are coming up uh currently and in the next couple years are the Sound Transit system access funds. We're very lucky to have received those. Um that's the like rest of 112th out here and the Kendrick project we talked about. Um but the budget's probably the the best way. It's not necessarily an easy way to look for how that's funded. I'm like to acknowledge that.

Right. So, well, thank you so much. Um the last question I have is um with regard to the forthcoming budget requests, uh obviously fiscal constraints are real. Uh, how confident are you that this line item is going to move forward and we'll be able to bring these ADA improvements to life in the real world?

Yeah, I think it's um, again, don't have my crystal ball working right now. Um, and like you say, you know, being realistic about budgets. Um, I think it has a good chance though. Um, but with that said, we're also doing a tremendous amount of work in our capital program, but I I believe that there's a very good chance we'll have that funded, but I don't want to speak for the council. Should should it not get funded? Are we in a negative uh space from a compliance standpoint? That's um I I would say that's correct. We do need to show a a process forward. We would just have to show that through our capital funded projects. Outstanding.

Yeah. Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Rod. This presentation was very informative. I apologize.

Excuse me. To follow on on re on funding. So, as we know, Washington is not a favorite son of the federal government at this time and many of the fundings for projects have been denied from other states. Do you foresee that happening to us here in our state regarding transportation funds? Yeah, that's a that's an interesting question you pose. What I have seen recently with the federal funds isn't so much whether it's a red or blue state, which I believe is what you're alluding to. It's it's more of is that money going to be spent as part of the federal budget. So, if let's say the federal funds that normally go to Putown Regional Council and then are divided up um for the corresponding counties, if those funds don't come to PSRC, then by and large they wouldn't trickle down. However, I've seen our other grant programs that do have federal funds, they're still those funds are still available. Uh they're still, you know, a competitive grant process. And if you can put in a competitive grant, you have a good chance of getting funded.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Appreciate you. Appreciate

Oh, All right, Mr. Chair, if you're ready to move on. Um, we're at now item number three and I'll just pull it up in just a second, but this is at uh page 117 of your packet and it's going to be um a discussion of action by the count the commission, excuse me, on the request for a redesation of a parcel related to the Edgewater Park uh under our shoreline master program. So, let me get to the right page. If you'll recall, there was a joint hearing this last meeting between Department of Ecology and the city of Lakewood on this proposal. But, uh, to to summarize what occurred up to this point process-wise, in 2019 was the last time the Shoreline Master program was comprehensively updated. The next time that comprehensive process will happen is in 2029. That's a 10-year process. Uh but what we now have in front of us is what's called a locally initiated update in 2026 that is strictly limited to the proposed redesation of one parcel to uh move it from shoreline residential to urban park and that is the parcel that would be uh the southern tip of Edgewater Park that's being improved at the moment. The joint public hearing was held on the 18th of March. There was also a longer public comment period that ended yesterday. And so the city will be preparing responses to the comments received through yesterday at 5:00 p.m. and then providing that back to the Department of Ecology. But in the meantime, what this resolution says is that the planning commission, if it approves and recommends forwarding this along, that the locally initiated amendment of that redesation of one parcel, won't foster uncoordinated or

peacemeal development of the state shorelines along uh American, sorry, whichever lake that is, I just lost it. um are consistent with the standards of the shoreline management act shall meet procedural rule requirements for public notice and consultation and that has occurred and satisfy master program guidelines. So what the resolution says is that it is re redesating a particular parcel 30850002170 from Shoreline residential residential to urban park and that this would be something that you are forwarding on to the city council for review. Their action is not the final action. Normally it would be but because this is a shoreline decision that is something that the department of ecology actually has final action on. So this would be you recommending through this process up to the council. Council takes action and then the department of ecology reviews the proposed change against the state shoreline management act for consistency. So if the if the commission is ready to take action tonight, it would be a motion to approve resolution 20264. And then that is the wording right there of what this uh resolution does. Is there a motion?

Have a question. A question. Sir, Mr. Estrada, in the report the um shoreline master program was prepared by AHBL. Uhhuh. Just a quick question. Um, one of the chapters is chapter 3, paragraph B5. Do you happen to have a page number? Uh, page uh down at the very bottom 151.

Okay. that I don't think that's it. I'm sorry. Okay.

It pertains to uh uh public access. I thought it was page 151 on the bottom page. I guess it's not the one I have. Well, let me just ask the general question anyway. It says there that um uh on paragraph two applicability there are a number of public street ends where there may be potential for developing public access but it doesn't specify the street ends. Uh is it possible to get that information for the commission

the street ends that are available for potential opening or improvement? Certainly I can provide that to you and it's interesting to note the public access versus public use definitions uh difference but access is what we're looking at but that's the only question I had. Yeah I I'll provide that to you at your next meeting sir. Commissioner Larson, I'd like to speak to the motion. Well, we don't have a motion yet. So, uh, that was a general question, but we'd entertain a motion and we can start discussion. So, move. Been motioned. Is there a second? And I assume the motion is to approve this um resolution. It is.

I'll second it. Been motioned and seconded to approve planning commission resolution 2026-04. Uh, we can begin discussion. Mr. Larson,

thank you. Um, I walked down there and well, number one, I think it's a really good idea to add this parcel to that park. It'll enhance the use of it. Gives enough more size to the park to allow uh more wider and better use of the park. I don't think it calls for paving a parking lot at the park. I think that if it if the park were uh to be pedestrianoriented or u launch a kayak and go park your car elsewhere or in very limited ways to have u automobile traffic generated on Edgewater Drive that it would be good for the neighborhood and good for the use of the park. I I think that uh that the manner in which the development is proposed with the money spent is uh is excessive given the environment in which we're placing it.

Can I speak to uh yes, Commissioner Estrada?

Thank you. Uh Mr. Larson, to your point, um if you recall at some of the um council meetings when we spoke or they spoke of this proposed project, many of the complaints from the citizens were the parking, the streets, the traffic because there was no parking at the site. They parked along the street, blocking driveways and such. So that was the issue that that came up. So to your point, I think we need the parking so that we don't have those complaints or it's not a nuisance to the to the uh to the neighborhood. My perspective

certainly. Just thank you, Miss Spear. As a point of clarity, this resolution has nothing to do with the plan. It it purely addresses the changing of zoning. Is that correct?

This actually isn't even the zone for the property. This is the designation under the shoreline master program. Okay. So, you're correct. We're actually two steps away. We've got the shoreline master program which says there are certain uses that can be allowed around a lake or along a larger creek. Then you have the land use zone which is something that across the city every parcel has. What are the allowed uses? Is it residential, commercial, what have you? That's going to be in front of you as part of the big 2026 comprehensive plan amendment package. And then once assuming both of those were to be approved, it's an application process just like anything else. Parks uh department will be going through a review process of this park including whether or not that master plan goes forward as you saw it or if it will change.

Yeah. And to to both of the commissioner's points, I think there's a lot more discussion around this topic. Obviously, a lot of interest from citizens who live in that area and more broadly through the city. Um, I think two very good points brought up here tonight. We've heard at multiple uh public comment and public hearing uh sessions regarding the execution of a park in that space and what that may or may not look like and how that may continue to develop. But uh I am in favor of this this designation because it allows that conversation to continue uh in a responsible manner. So I will be supporting this. Agreed. Commissioner Merritt,

I'm a visual person. Do you have a site plan of that proposal that is is not on the table now, but at least could you just kind of illustrate?

But I I do agree with you that but we do need to have that look because the res respect for a number of citizens comments that we had last meeting. We need to thoughtfully, but what I'd also like to see is the rideaway space around there and the impacts around that whole area because there are other ways to do this design, but we need to know so it doesn't become an unintended consequence to another little adjacent area. Certainly, there's always intended and unintended consequences. There are also

the uh the realities of human nature uh which we've seen and we've heard about many times in our in the public hearing on this topic, right? It's like Miss Spear's getting that pulled up now. Oh, I'm sorry. Where did that go? What just happened? Yes, Commissioner L. Clearly my uh my point uh is misplaced and we're here to vote on on getting the the the park approved to be a park and uh the rest of the discussion can happen later. So I I withdraw my earlier comment.

Thank you. So, um, to respond to what Commissioner Merritt was just asking about, this is the area of the parcel that we're talking about having the redesation under the shoreline master program. This, as you see, is actually a 2-year-old master plan. Now, it was from April of 2024. And as uh as I said just now, if the redesignation occurs and the reszone occurs of that parcel, so the Edgewater Park could actually utilize this additional piece, this master plan is still subject to change as the permit review for it actually proceeds. So this is this is um it's drafted as an adopted master plan, but it is subject to change when it comes to execution. Is

there any other discussion? Call for the question. Go ahead. Okay. Call the question. All right. Uh, so it has been motioned and seconded that we approve planning commission resolution 2026-04, a resolution of the planning commission of the city of Lakewood, Washington, formalizing its recommendations regarding locally initiated updates to the shoreline master program and forwarding its recommendations to the Lakewood City Council for consideration and action as presented with no amendment. All those in favor of approving the resolution, please signify by saying I. I.

All those opposed, please signify by saying no. The motion carries and is approved. The resolution is approved. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I will move to the final item for this evening, which should be relatively brief. Uh now in your pack and I'm going to jump down to page 247 almost to the end. And what this is is the rules of procedure for how the planning commission operates. So these are not the um sections of the Lakewood Municipal Code establishing the the planning commission. This is what is actually kind of your day-to-day rules of operation. And so it starts out um first of all just explaining that you are a planning commission. A few years ago this uh body used to be called the planning advisory board. It's been since been changed to be the planning commission. There's the officers uh listed and explained. There's the planning commission clerk explained. The red and the underlined text here is what is in front of you for amendment this evening. The task forces is what are going to be addressing the natural environment and climate change program that we talked about earlier this evening. And the way it's written right now, they are limited of to five members. And so the recommendation coming before you is to actually take take out a specific number and just have that sentence read task forces may be composed of subject matter experts and community members as needed. and then maximum of three members from the planning commission meaning there could be fewer but that would be the maximum. So that's one edit. The other edit is uh the task forces. There's already language in the uh rules of procedure, but the addition here would be a sentence that says the scope of work and items discussed will follow city direct city council direction.

And that is are the only two changes to your rules of procedure, which if you'll recall, those of you that were here were updated in 2025. So, if you're ready to do so, it would be a motion to approve with or without amendment these two changes to the planning commission's rules of procedure. Commissioner Larsson, I propose we uh accept the um the u edits as written without change. It has been motioned that we approve uh edits to rules of procedure for the Lakewood Planning Commission as uh presented. Is there a second?

Second. It's been motioned and seconded that we approve planning commission rules of procedure. Is there any discussion? Commissioner Merritt, I I just have a it's probably just a question, but a lot of jurisdictions are when they have commissions that are on then another subgroup sometimes they're not allowed to vote. They're just advisory. So, does this allow the planning commission members to be full voting members of the task force? That's my question.

The way the rules of procedure are are written, the planning commission member up to three in this case would be part of that task force, but it's up to the task force to decide how it would be um operated. And so whether the planning commission member would be exeicio or a voting member will be determined. That comes by the task force, right? So we're but there's no dictation in the normal rules of that because that does happen. Yeah. Yeah. Is there any other discussion? All right. It has been motioned and seconded that the city of Lakewood Planning Commission rules and procedures be amended or be um changed as presented with no amendments. Um all those in favor of the changes as presented, please signify by saying I.

I. I. All those opposed, please signify by saying no. Motion is approved. Miss Spear.

All right, Mr. chair. Uh there are no other items for you this evening. Uh Commissioner Tabo is unavailable tonight, so there's no council updates. Our next meeting will be on April 15th. And again, that will be an additional uh detail regarding the members of your task forces. If you could think about which one of those task forces you might be interested in, I'll send an email out as well. But remember, there's four. Um, and you're if you want to volunteer for multiple ones, you I think can, but the idea is that somebody is on each one of them from the planning commission and there's four and there's seven of you. So, that may be a discussion on the 15th as well. Uh, and then we'll also have the public hearing for the ADA transition plan. And there's one other thing, but I can't recall what it is. So, but that's it, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

All right. Does any uh commissioner have anything for the good of the order? No. Seeing none, hearing none. I would just all remind you that we have many service members around the world in harm's way doing the bidding of our government. And I would ask you to keep them in your thoughts and prayers as you move throughout the week.