City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to welcome everybody out to our council meeting tonight. Will everyone please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember King? Present. Councilmember Gilliam? Present. Councilmember Kastema? Present. Council member Smolco?

Present.

Council member Adler?

Present.

Deputy mayor Johnson?

Present. Mayor Witty?

Present. I We generally like to notice when we have young people in our audience, and I see a few young people out there. We love to have them get started at an early age because we need good leaders. And if they get started at that age, then they'll be good public servants later on. So we thank you for bringing them along and hope they enjoy our meeting tonight. Good luck with that. Is there a motion to approve our agenda tonight?

Motion to approve.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Is there a motion to approve our the minutes of 02/24/2026?

So moved. Second.

All those in favor?

Aye. Motion approved.

Okay. We'll move on to presentations and proclamations, and this is always a fun part of the meeting. Our first we've got three on the on the docket for this evening. The first is is our Pierce College Appreciation Week proclamation. And I will read same.

And whereas Pierce College Puyallup has been a vital institution of higher learning in our community providing accessible, innovative and high quality education to students of all backgrounds. And whereas Pierce College was originally founded in 1967 as Clover Park Community College and later became Pierce College District eleven, serving students across multiple campuses in Pierce County. And whereas recognizing the need for expanded access to higher education in East Pierce County, local leaders, including former Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Frank Buster Bruillette, as well as Marcus Gaspar and Dan Grimm, two dedicated state legislators and advocates for education, championed the establishment of a new campus in Puyallup. Whereas in 1987, Pierce College secured a permanent site in Puyallup and in 1989, the Pierce College Puyallup campus officially opened its doors beginning with modular classrooms and a vision for future growth. And whereas Pierce College Puyallup was recognized by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical College in 1999 as the state's thirty fourth community and technical college and the second college in Pierce County District 11 And whereas since its founding, Pierce College Puyallup has grown into a thriving educational institution offering associate's degrees, professional technical programs, and university transfer opportunities while maintaining a steadfast commitment to student success and workforce development.

And whereas Pierce College Puyallup has been nationally recognized for its excellence in education, including being named a top 10 finalist for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence in both 2021 and 2023, demonstrating its leadership in student achievement and equity, and whereas Pierce College Puyallup continues to serve as a cornerstone of local higher education and workforce training by strengthening the local economy and enriching the lives of its students and alumni through partnerships with local businesses, government, and community organizations. Now, therefore, I, Ned Witting, mayor of the city of Puyallup, Washington, do hereby encourage all citizens to join me in recognizing and celebrating the tremendous impact Pierce College Puyallup has on its on our community. In witness whereof, I have hereto set my hand and caused the seal of the city of Puyallup to be affixed this April 2026. And, we have a number of people here to receive the the proclamations, and I invite them to come forward and and meet me in front of the podium.

Good evening. My name is Yuritsi Lozano. I serve as the Vice President for Learning and Student Success at our Puyallup campus here with Pierce College. On behalf of Pierce College, I just want to say thank you to the city for this proclamation and for your continued partnership. We are so grateful for our continued work together and for continuing to promote higher education within our communities.

As part of College Appreciation Week, we're excited to invite folks to two events. This Friday at the Spring Fair, we have Raiders Rally, and we invite you to come and enjoy performances, learn about some of our programs, meet some of our students. And then next week during Earth Day, we also have our Open House. We invite the community to come and join us to learn and tour our campus, enjoy some Earth Day activities, and then learn more about getting your education started at Pierce College. So thank you so much again, and we're excited for this proclamation.

And Councilmember Adler, would you like to add a few comments?

Thank you. I'll be brief. It is an honor and a privilege to lead, our college appreciation weeks here at the city. It it is unusual for one city to have both a community college and a state university within its jurisdiction, and we are just that, two world class institutions of higher education with access for anyone in our community to attain further skills and move along in their educational journey. So I really appreciate the city wanting to spend time elevating these two world class institutions, as I said, and really look forward to joining the Pierce College Puyallup family at the fair this Friday in celebration of all the good things that Pierce College has been doing for a very long time in our community and again on campus next week.

We will celebrate the Washington State University Research and Extension Center in the fall. And again, I appreciate the opportunity to work with the city and all of my colleagues on the dais to continue elevating these two very important college and university and continue to encourage a community of learners. Thanks.

Thank you. And I'd like to just say a few words too. I've had children attend Pierce College and the Running Start program. So, that's a good way to get kids off the ground and get them headed towards higher education. The technical skills are every bit as important and the job market is changing all the time, and colleges and universities have the opportunity to prepare our youth for, to contribute to our city and gain gainful employment and pursue careers that will benefit everyone.

So thank you again. Our next proclamation is Earth Day. And whereas Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22 and serves as a global reminder of our shared responsibility to protect the natural environment for current and future generations, And whereas the city Of Puyallup is located on the ancestral lands of the Puyallup tribe of Indians and the Coast Salish peoples whose stewardship of this land since time immemorial continues to guide our collective responsibility to care for natural resources. And whereas the City Of Puyallup is proud of its natural assets, including a river, open spaces, urban tree canopy and surrounding lands that contribute to the health, beauty and livability of our community. And whereas environmental stewardship is essential to maintaining clean air and water, supporting local ecosystems and building a resilient and sustainable future for all residents.

And whereas the City of Puyallup recognizes the importance of strong partnerships in advancing conservation education and responsible land management. And whereas the city, whereas the Pierce County Conservation District plays a vital role in Puyallup by working with residents and landowners to promote sustainable practices, preserve natural resources, and support habitat restoration and environmental education. And whereas through programs focused on soil health, water quality, urban forestry and community engagement, the Pierce Conservation District empowers individuals to take meaningful action in caring for our environment. And whereas Earth Day provides an opportunity for all Puyallup residents to reflect on their environmental impact and to take action in protecting and preserving our planet right in their own backyard, now therefore I, Ned Whitting, mayor of the city of Puyallup, do hereby proclaim 04/22/2026 as Earth Day in the city of Puyallup and encourage all residents to celebrate by participating in activities that support environmental stewardship, sustainability, and conservation efforts within the city. In witness whereof, I have hereto unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Puyallup to be affixed this 04/14/2026.

Ed Witting, mayor, city of Puyallup. So I'd like to invite those that want to come forward, Dana and I've got Dana and Kim and Chris and Joy and Donna and and Kim Jim, rather.

What? Drew the short straw. Alright. Good evening, counsel. My name is Dana Cogan. I'm the executive director of the Pierce Conservation District. I'm pleased to be here tonight and accept this proclamation that Chris and their team did such a great job and Lauren of getting the word out there about environmental stewardship. We talked a lot in that proclamation about the conservation district. I am very proud to say that the conservation district has been serving our communities for well over seventy five years. We are here to actually help do all of the things that you said.

I always like to say that we are about farms, food, fish, forests, and we do all of that work with our friends. So one of the things that I really want to highlight is that Chris and their team has done a fantastic job of putting together an Earth Day event that actually engages many areas of Puyallup. So the one thing that I always say is that Earth Day isn't just one day, but it's literally all year long, but it's one thing you can do every day. But this one day, you will have the opportunity to actually travel throughout the Puyallup area and see different communities that are engaged in doing the good work of keeping our area clean for all of us to enjoy. We all love the waters that brought us here to Puyallup, and we are definitely grateful for each and every one of you if you ever want to come out to one of our sites and actually pull some weeds, plant some trees, and enjoy the great outdoors.

So I will give a plug for the Conservation District Earth Day events that are also happening not just on the Wednesday for the open house, but also every single weekend of Earth month. You can come out and you can engage in some activities with our conservation district for our water quality team, our habitat stewardship team, our shorelines team. And yes, you can even go up into the Puyallup watershed area and plant some trees too. So thank you for this great opportunity, and we look forward to seeing some of you out at many of our events.

Thank you, Dana. I'd just like to add that show my age a little bit here. I actually participated in the first Earth Day. I don't remember what year it was, but I was living in the Washington, D. C.

Area and we did our service project on the banks of the Potomac River, which wasn't all that nice river in those days. So, it's much better now. So, moving along, our next proclamation is for the trees. Whereas in 1872, the Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day called Arbor Day to be set aside for the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska and whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, cut heating and cooling costs, moderate temperatures, clean the air, produce life giving oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife. And whereas trees are a renewable resource giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires and countless other wood products, trees in our city increased property values, enhanced the economic vitality of business areas and beautify our community.

And whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. And whereas from 2014 to 2017, the city of Puyallup was recognized as a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation, which is a symbol of the city's dedication to the preservation of natural resources. In 2026, the city of Puyallup was recertified as a Tree City USA. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the Puyallup City Council that we officially recognize 04/01/2026 as Tree City. I'm assuming that should be Tree City Day.

Further, I urge all citizens to plant trees to gladden the heart and promote the well-being of this and future generations. In witness whereof, I, Mayor Ned Whitting, give hereon to set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Puyallup to be affixed on the April 2026. And, again, invite folks to to come forward. Dana, you can come forward for this one too.

All righty. I'll try to be brief, but also I am from Pierce Conservation District as alluded to. My name is Brian Molmam, and I work as the Habitat Stewardship Program Manager for the district. At PCD, we are proud of our joint efforts with the City of Puyallup through the Green Puyallup Partnership, where we aim to maintain and restore three fifty acres of natural open space. This is for current and future generations alike, right?

So we're all impacted positively by this. Together, we actively oversee five active steward sites across Puyallup supported by volunteer habitat stewards and crews for some of the more challenging areas. In 2025, we partnered with the city to plant hundreds of trees across our natural open spaces, along with a bunch of shrubs and great ground cover for that diverse natural understory plantings, but we're more focused on the trees today. These plants will bolster canopy in your open spaces and provide many benefits through local water quality and habitat richness. I wanted to highlight one specific example where this partnership, I think, really excelled in the last year.

And it came on the heels of something that was a little bit sad actually. So right across the way in Pioneer Park behind us, you can see it there still. There was a large Port Orford Cypress tree. It was quite diseased, and so the park knew that they had to act quickly. Otherwise, it can become a hazard to the local citizens, the people walking through using it for farmers markets and whatnot.

But they wanted to be proactive about it. And so I really have to applaud the parks department's efforts here where they reached out to local artists, they reached out to us, and they found a way in which to memorialize the tree. So it's now a beautiful art piece within the park itself that can be seen every single day still and simultaneously joined with us to host an impromptu volunteer event over at Bradley Lake Park where we planted not one, but more than a dozen trees in its place, right? We want to positively impact the environment where we go, and I see Puyall partnering with us on that quite frequently. In 2026 already, we've hosted 15 volunteer events within the city of Puyallup, seeing more than 200 volunteers come through.

Puyallup is coming out strong already this year, and I'm so appreciative and proud of that. We still have many events to come. Looking at the calendar ahead, you can throw a dart at the map and any weekend ahead of us, you'll find a volunteer event, more than 30, in fact, across 2026. So please join us at one of those. The last thing that I'd like to plug here actually is in reference to that.

Where we end up planting a lot of our trees is through these habitat stewardship volunteer events. And so we are always looking for new community leaders to join us. So I urge anybody who's interested in taking a little bit of ownership and just jumping in feet first to guide restoration within our beautiful spaces here in Puyallup, reach out to me. I have a handful of flyers up towards the front there. It has my information, but it also has a sign up form.

Coming up in May, we're hosting a three part stewardship training series to provide interested volunteers with tools that they need to host and guide restoration efforts right here in the city of Puyallup. So reach out to me. I'm always looking for cool people. To finish this off, I'd just like to say that I look forward to continuing our work with the city of Puyallup to enhance our urban open spaces, improve our riparian habitats, and provide services to both the environment and the community. And let's get some trees out there. Thank you all so much.

Thank you, Brian. Okay. We'll now move on to citizen comments. Will the clerk please provide the instructions for public comments?

This part of the meeting is for general citizen comments. Please reserve any public hearing testimony to that section of the agenda. The mayor will call on those who have provided their names in advance. Then the mayor will call for other citizens who wish to speak. For the record, please state your name and address or city council district in which you reside. Please direct your comments to the council as a whole, not individual council members. All comments are limited to three minutes. The clerk will provide verbal notice when only thirty seconds remain. As a reminder, this portion of the meeting is council's opportunity to hear from the community and not a time to engage in debate. Lastly, per state law, this public comment period cannot be used to speak in support of or in opposition to a ballot measure or individual candidacy, and no such comments will be allowed.

Thank you. Our first speaker will be Paul Wicklinder.

Well, clerk and council members, I appreciate this opportunity. What I'm doing is I'm submitting the following testimony on behalf of a collective of our neighbors regarding the infrastructure failure on 9th Street between 18th And 15th Avenue. This happened on 17th on the Avenue on the I believe it was the March 13. We had that rain and flooding. And the gully on my property filled up with, and I'm not exaggerating, about 1,400,000 gallons of turbid runoff.

Now with all this talk about trees and nature and such, you can understand what impact that would have on the land around there or what maybe the Washington Fish and Wildlife would be if they walked, drove by, and saw all that water in the the gully. I talked to the city about that, and the gully used to be a storm water channel from probably the forties up until the seventies. We use that way because the road is almost is like a dam, and then they use this the culvert to slow the flow out. But that was back when South Hill was just woods, and now it's all asphalt and house roof. So you can see why the runoff came down there.

The city said that there isn't any runoff or going on to my property and that it's not being used as a stormwater facility. But on your stormwater map, it shows the main trunk coming down 9th Street stops on 18th. There's a blind tee inside that culvert that puts the water into the gully. The trunk is nonexistent after that until after 17th Avenue. So there's no way the water doesn't go into that gully.

So what's trying to bring out here is that you've got some decisions to make, And that gully and that channel between 18th And 15th Avenue is critical for stormwater because you don't have any other place for that to go. They didn't put a main between 5th between 18th and 17th. So, it took it goes nowhere else.

Thirty seconds.

So, we have a sinkhole also there from that damage that the city needs to look at because there's school buses that drive over that. I saw one today. It was one of the small ones drive over that. You can't tell it from the top, but it could be just a massive empty space underneath there where they could fall into the into that hole. So please consider the how you look at that. It should be

Mister mayor, the speaker has reached three minutes.

It should be a storm water system.

Thank you, Paul. And city manager Kirkley, we are looking into this issue, correct? Great. Okay. Appreciate an update on it. Our next speaker will be Valerie Dent.

Good evening, counsel. Valerie Dent, district two. And this is just an update of current stuff. I had a meeting with mister Cook today in his department. Wonderful outcome.

Thank you for those that I've met with, spoke to. And during the winter months and getting caught up, unfortunately, I did not bring enough for everybody, but I have a special report from the National Transportation and Safety Board on pedestrian safety. It was a special seminar done in 2016. It took them two years to complete the report. In this binder that I will be bringing at next meeting, because I didn't bring enough for everybody, there is also a federal traffic safety sheet in there on speed and what does and doesn't work, how long it works, and speed guns.

So when chief Ingle says he needs an update in the equipment, you can see what was out there last updated in 2016. Now ghosts of past. Traffic tickets, ten years. Puyallup has issued 68,645 tickets on electronic devices, red stoplights, speed guns that the police use. That is the entire city.

They are busier than a one arm paper hanger. We need to get traffic to put up at the minimum one red light package operating on Shaw and Pioneer. When they expanded that intersection, it should have been done then, and it wasn't. You need to do it now, not later. It needs to be done now. The same thing with Maine and Shaw. That should have been fired up and red lit four ways to breakfast. It was not. Now hauntings of the past. Stormwater.

This is where the infamous phantom sidewalk of 12th Avenue comes in. 1996, city council approved and put upgrading the storm system on 12th Avenue, which included a sidewalk. It's been sitting in the books since 1996. That needs to be addressed when you address that issue. Meetings. Neighborhood meetings. 2014, 2013. Again, discussing the same situations that we have. I am asking

Speakers reached three minutes.

That city council, my representatives hold a neighborhood meeting to address these issues, to move forward with what's already in play to be done. This ghosting is unacceptable, and I feel like we're being ghosted or at least hearing the chirps of crickets. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we'll hear from Andy Anderson.

Thank you, mister mayor. Counsel Andy Anderson, District 2. This is a report from the battlefield in April 1776. The British and the loyalists, as I reported last month, left Boston in late March headed for Canada. Washington and his army of 19,000 moved to Manhattan, New York, anticipating that would be the next area of contention.

Local committees of correspondence, of inspection, and of safety began serving as local governance watching for violations of non importation agreements or attempts to evade them. In the province of Massachusetts Bay in 1776, these three were combined into one and elected annually by the towns. The committees were the first step in the creation of a formal structure capable not only of policing the revolution on the ground, but also of solidifying ties with other communities. The network of communities were also vital for reinforcing a shared sense of purpose, speaking to an imagined collectivity, a country of the mind, if you will, of Americans. For ordinary people, they were community forums where personal loyalties were revealed, tested, and occasionally punished.

Serving on committees of safety was certainly not an activity for the faint of heart. The members of these groups exposed ideological dissenters, usually people well known in the communities in which they lived. Although the committees attempted as best they could to avoid physical violence, they administered revolutionary justice as they alone defined it. Thank you.

Thank you for that historical note. Our next speaker will be Ellen Israel.

Hello. My name is Ellen Israel, and I am a public affairs specialist with the U. S. Small Business Administration. And I'm here to let you folks know about the disaster assistance we're offering in the area in response to the storms and flooding that occurred in December.

Our assistance comes in the form of low interest fixed rate loans through the federal government, and these are available to homeowners, renters, businesses and nonprofits who are affected by the disaster. Again, the rates are very low with homeowners starting at 2.875%, businesses at 4% and nonprofit organizations at 3.625%. Businesses can qualify for up to $2,000,000 homeowners up to $600,000 and renters up to $100,000 And the funding can be used to repair and replace your personal property. So anything you would pick up and take with you when you move, including your car. It can also be used to make repairs or to replace your primary residence, which does include mobile homes.

And for businesses, the funding can be used to make repairs to your building or to any damaged equipment. We also offer for businesses our economic injury disaster loans. So this is a working capital loan designed to help a business who may be struggling to meet regular financial obligations such as rent or payroll after a disaster. There are a couple of ways to apply for our assistance. The first is going to be at our website, which is sba.gov/disaster.

Or you can also visit us at one of our disaster loan outreach centers where we have staff members ready to walk applicants through the whole process step by step. The closest one to here is going to be in the Auburn Public Library, and it is open from Monday through Saturdays, I believe. There are a couple of deadlines just to be aware of. For physical damages, that deadline is going to be June 10. And for economic injury, that deadline is January 7.

So, again, the site to apply is sba.gov/disaster. And to apply, we look at your credit history as a whole. There's no magic number that we're specifically looking for. So I encourage everybody who is even a little bit interested to come and apply because you are not obligated to take the doesn't cost anything for you to apply. And it's just a good option to have to keep in your back pocket as you're recovering from detester. And that's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you, Ellen. We appreciate that good information. And we did have some damage. City staff, can we communicate that to some of our people that have experienced damage? Thank you. Our next speaker will be Angela

I think Mr. Whiting, you're a little close at this time. My name is Angela Nusquiro. I'm from Pierce County District 2. I'm speaking on on the Tree City Proclamation.

So good evening, first and foremost. As each plant has a story to tell of its origins and surroundings. Trees not only provide oxygen and protection from the sun, but have an opportunity to be in the light of nature. It is important to recognize and appreciate Arbor Day with a wholesome, healthy awareness attitude with our world's largest living botanical species that provides individuals, families, socialite groups with several benefits to our overall wellness. Since COVID, it became more noticeable that people have not been taking much care of our tree life in our city, along with other states in our country.

Much of the events hidden from public view along with other things that go bump in the night have an impact on the health of our trails, parks, and residential commercial landscapes with a significant reduction in livable visibility and an increase in death debris. Most of this most of this reason excuse me. Most of this is the reason for due to human trafficking. Operations still conducted throughout Puyallup and unincorporated South Hill. Thank you for putting forth effort and encouraging more care for our environment and contribute to adding to our canopies and greenscapes with more tree plantings.

Excuse me. Where there is more life, there is less death. Thank you for letting me speak today.

Thank you. Bud Metzger.

Bud Metzger, District 3. Well, we got a lot to celebrate. You know? I mean, people have been here a long time. Some of us have been here a long time and cared about the place for a long time, and it's really important that we do because Pierce County and all its surroundings wanna use our roads to get other places, and we need to manage it more assertively and with money to support the police department, the trafficking, and to minimize the effect that those traffics that the traffic in the surrounding areas will have on our community.

We're not the only community to go through this, like I said before. Right? Look look at Furcrest in Tacoma. Look at University Place. Look at Medina up in Seattle. They all manage their traffic well. We don't because it's not funded. It's easy to put it off on the police, but you guys need to come up with the funding, not go, and waste our money on other things like arches downtown. So we need to celebrate what we have by protecting it. With that in mind, I don't think any of you know that we are we have the record holder in a number of different kind of trees.

We have the state record holders in many different kinds of trees that are non native because we've been a community for so long. You see the black walnut over on 5th over by Subaru? That's the state record holder because someone so many years ago planted it. We also have a record holder in Pierce College. My daughter was a running start. She got scholarships at many hospital colleges. She just graduated with her doctorate. It isn't because I'm great. I'm I'm lucky that she had the place to do it and had the teachers that gave it to him. And, you know, of course, my wife too.

Right? So, you know, we're also lucky to have Val talking about the the traffic in town. I've lived here for a long time. Anybody who has know that we have significant, you know, traffic problems on the Northeast and Southeast side of town. It's been going on for years and years, and it's always been kind of the, oh, we'll do that later area of town.

Thirty seconds.

We need to stand up and do and do what's good and protect those kids because more kids are gonna get hurt unless we stand up and and and do something, not just talk about it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Chris Chisholm.

Chris Chisholm, District two. First, I wanna mention we because of the incredible projects, flood control projects that we benefited from from the Mud Net Mountain Dam all the way down to next door to our house, the Meeker Creek restoration project. We averted a huge disaster this December. And again, actually in our neighborhood last month, a month ago, huge rains. And so those should be celebrated.

Our garage used to flood all the time, didn't in either of those events because of the Meeker Creek restoration project. It was great. And a month ago, it flooded pretty close-up to your house in the ditch, but not not with our because of that project, which is amazing. And so, yeah, keep on it because next one could be worse. And I also want to mention on the middle housing that you're to be addressing tonight.

Portland is really the only city in the West that has successfully created affordable first time homeowner houses because of middle housing. And I whatever you choose tonight, our house is where I'm located is not going to it's in the Lahar zone, but it's not really going to be affected by whether you choose a quarter or a half mile or whatever. I really recommend just having as much middle housing as possible because it showed in the report, it's about one in every 1,000, know, Lahar gets all the way down to Puyallup area. Three thousand years ago, that's what we're sitting on. Two thousand years ago is what the stadiums in Seattle are sitting on.

And so but kind of like New Orleans, you don't really realize until you go there why it's worth saving it for as long as possible despite, you know, the water rising, you know, to its banks really soon, including here. Our house is at twenty, thirty foot. And, you know, someday that the ocean is gonna be up there, but it's we got to hold the waters back as long as we can because it's worth it here. And finally, want to invite the community to everybody to come to the Earth Day events. First, if you all birthday proclamation, I think, in the city that you did.

Thank you so much to Lauren Adler for getting that going as well as all of you who voted for it, including the land acknowledgement that we're sitting on the lands of the Peelope tribe here. That was really great that so many of you voted for that. Dennis Hayes, you know, Washington State native founded Earth Day nineteen seventy Thirty

six.

By rating, and along with Gaylord Nelson, senator from Wisconsin. And, you know, they were inspired by that Earthrise photo by Apollo eight the Landers took. And Artemis, you know, reminds us of that this year. And Earth Day has got a huge celebration. Lots going on in the city and the county this year. And so I encourage everybody to look for the posters that will be starting to go up this week and we'll expand to citywide next year. And hopefully, thank you, collaborate with Pierce College and the schools next year as well. Thank you so much.

Thank you. We've come to the end of the people that have signed the chits. Is there anybody else that would like to speak this evening?

Hello. My name is Samantha Miller. I am no longer a resident of Puyallup, but I used to go to school here, and I work here and play here and shop here. And I just want to say thank you to all the community members, especially Indivisible Puyallup for making our first free clothing exchange this past Sunday so successful. Thanks to Indivisible Puyallup, we were able to rent a shelter at Sprinker Park, and we had about 20 different people donate over a thousand items.

And we set up everything on the tables, and we had snacks. And it was open to the public, and people that wandered into the park came and just shopped for free. And we got so many positive reviews and people asking like how often we do this and when is our next one. And it was our very first one, so we're very excited to start planning for our next one. And oh, yeah.

And we also had a food drive collection, and we collected about 50 pounds of food and hygiene products for the Emergency Food Network and the Tacoma Mutual Aid Collective. And yeah. And it was really awesome and I'm excited to plan the next one. And if anybody would like to come to the next one, follow Indivisible Puyallup official on Facebook and we will have announcements there and hopefully other places too.

Thank you. Thank you.

And is that it? Okay. We'll now move on to our consent agenda. This is a number of items that are not controversial and which the counsel is in agreement on. Is there any one of these items that anybody on council would like to have removed and considered later?

Lindsay, councilor Ms. Fongo.

Thank you, Mayor Witting. I'd like to pull item 4F for separate discussion, and I want to flag for my colleagues that I'll have some substantive questions on five a and five b when we reach those items as well.

Okay. So is this are your concerns related to those 5A and 5B? So maybe we should make that 5C. We will move 4F to 5C. Okay. Any other items that we'd like to pull off? Seeing none, do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended? So moved. Do I hear a second?

So moved. Second. All

those in favor? Aye. Consent agenda is approved. We will now move on to item 5A on our agenda. The first reading of an ordinance to amend Title III of the Puyallup Municipal Code, and we'll have planning manager Katie Baker, she's anticipated me, will introduce the ordinance. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor

and members of council. Katie Baker, planning manager. This first ordinance reading before you, is a very minor code amendment. Back in 2023, the city council reviewed our multifamily tax exemption regulations and made some recommendations to expand those regulations in the city. At the time, the city council considered also implementing a twenty year exemption.

We currently have an eight and a twelve. There was a twenty year option presented as well. At that time, council chose not to move forward with that twenty year exemption, and staff removed, the bulk of those regulations from the draft ordinance. Unfortunately, we recently realized we left a few remnant, references to that twenty year exemption, and, we are proposing just this very minor cleanup to remove those remnant twenty year references. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Okay. So, any questions? Hearing none, do I have a motion to approve, item 5A? Okay. Councilmember Smallco.

Thank you. Okay. Bear with me. Again, new kid. Do okay. Where do I even start? What percentage of units, if you can answer. If not, I can send these to you later. I just, the timing thing is weird for me because I can't do it during your work time because it's my work time elsewhere, very strict weird boundaries, but I get very careful about that. What percentage of units in current MFTE projects are actually affordable to residents earning below 80% AMI? Do you know that off the

top of your head? Probably not.

I do not believe that we've had anyone use the MFTE for affordable units yet.

That answers the next one. And then my last one then because that answers the next one. Will the city publish compliance data for MFT projects, including rent levels and occupancy of affordable units?

So we do maintain we have to report to the state each year any new MFT units or updates. We don't publish that on the website anywhere that I'm aware of, but it is public record information. And if you have specific questions, we can certainly provide that to you.

Okay. Is it appropriate to just to say anything else, but does it have to be a question? I think that's my question.

Go ahead. Okay.

Just a comment.

I just

know that minor code cleanups can sometimes and I don't think that's the case here, but I just wanna always be careful. Mhmm. Because in other places, that's oftentimes code minor code cleanups is sometimes code for maybe weakening some affordability requirements. Mhmm. And so I just want to put out that's a concern of mine. And so I just want to give that closer scrutiny than may be expected at this time. Just want that to be slid into the pile. That's

all right. Understood.

Thank you. That's it. Thank you.

Okay. Any further questions? Motion to approve.

Second. Motion

has been approved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. The motion has been approved. I will now move on to Item 5B. Take it away, Planning Manager Katie Baker.

Thank you so much. So I have a brief presentation on item 5B. This is related to an ordinance for middle housing code amendments. This presentation will cover an overview of middle housing, the state requirements, how Puyallup has approached implementation of middle housing regulations, and options for council to consider regarding middle housing in the Lahar zone. Following direction on the Lahar zone, we are asking council to consider first reading of an ordinance to adopt middle housing regulations.

So very briefly, what is middle housing? It is defined in state laws buildings that are compatible with single family homes and contain two or more attached, stacked, or clustered units. There are nine specific types that are named in the legislation, and it requires that cities adopt at least six of those types. Puyallup's ordinance specifically includes duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, stacked flats, townhomes, courtyard apartments and cottage housing. And there's a number of images on that slide that depicts some examples of what those look like.

Many of these types of housing have been part of Puyallup's neighborhoods for decades. What's changing now is where and how many units are allowed. Puyallup is considered a two tier city. And as such, again, we must allow at least six of the nine types of middle housing in every residential zone, not just select zones as has currently been our practice. The city can't apply standards to middle housing that are more restrictive than those that apply to detached single family residences.

The state does allow some exemptions for middle housing regulations. Lots with critical areas can be excluded. Lots under 1,000 square feet are also exempt from those density requirements. The volcanic hazard area or the lahar zone, as you'll hear me refer to it, in Puyallup represents a local application of that critical area exemption, and I'll talk a bit more about that. So our city had a 06/30/2025 deadline to comply with middle housing requirements.

Because of the timing of our comprehensive plan update, we did ask council to adopt an interim ordinance so that we would be in compliance while providing us time to continue work with the planning commission to develop the permanent regulations. That interim ordinance permits six middle housing types in all RS or single family zones with the appropriate unit density allowances. The city also adopted an exception for middle housing to apply in the volcanic hazard area. So since June, we've prohibited new middle housing allowances within the Lahar zone. That exception was also applied to accessory dwelling units as those regulations were being amended at the same time.

This map on the slide in front of you illustrates how we've applied that interim ordinance. The orange areas are lots, single family lots, where both ADUs and interim middle housing regulations are allowed. The blue

is

The

that a Under state law, a

city city may exclude up to 25% of lots from middle housing requirements. This is something we received a comment from the Department of Commerce on in our final regulations. And we talked a bit about this at the March 31 study session. So the proposed regulations before you tonight are organized into two main code chapters. We've made some amendments chapter to include definitions for middle housing types we hadn't previously defined.

We also made some other kind of relatively minor housekeeping amendments to that chapter of restructuring it a little bit for ease of use and making some other minor updates to existing definitions. The bulk of the amendments are in the RS Zone Chapter 20.2 of the municipal code. We proposed changes to establish compliance with the unit density standard, so at least two middle housing units are allowed on any lot and up to four units if within a quarter mile of the sounder station or if one unit is affordable. We've also incorporated our cottage housing standards, which have been in a standalone chapter. We've incorporated those into the RS zone chapter that will make implementation of those regulations much more straightforward and comply with our goals of code streamlining.

So regarding the Lahar zone exception for middle housing, the Planning Commission recommended council consider removing the prohibition entirely. As I mentioned, the Department of Commerce commented that the city should ensure that any prohibition that's adopted complies with the legislative allowance to exclude up to 25% of lots. And at the March 31 study session, city council requested options for modifying the lahar zone exception. So at this time, I'll walk through two options that we're providing for city council's consideration tonight. First of all, the map on the left on the screen shows the updated volcanic hazard area data that we're now recommending that we use.

It does show a modified boundary from what was presented last year with the interim regulations. Lots inside that boundary in blue comprise 37% of RS zoned lots in the city. The map on the right applies a quarter mile reduction to that boundary. And if adopted, this would result in 24 of RS lots being excluded from middle housing requirements. So on this next slide, the map on the left is the same.

It just shows that baseline boundary of the updated, the most up to date volcanic hazard area data that we have at that 31%. And the map on the right shows a half mile reduction from that boundary. That results in 13% of RS zoned lots in the city being potentially prohibited from middle housing regulations. So tonight, we're asking counsel to provide direction on the Lahar Prohibition area. Again, there are two options presented before you, but there can be modifications if counsel requests that.

Map two in your packet, again, shows that 25 or 24% of excluded lots, and map three in your packet shows 13% of excluded lots. Of course, you also have the option to not adopt any prohibition regarding the Lahar zone. And based on that direction, the ordinance or I should also say the ordinance also includes an amendment to the previously adopted ADU regulations. This was also a direction given at the March 31 study session to allow one ADU on lots within the Lahar Prohibition area. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions for

you.

I'll weigh in right off the bat here. You know, when we get involved in these kinds of issues, there's always tradeoffs involved. So as we consider this, there's a need in town for less expensive housing, the ADU and the middle housing will produce housing that is less expensive for our citizens and our citizens' children who may find it very difficult to to own a home in Puyallup. We also have to consider property rights. As as we zone, we we take away from the property rights of of landowners that prevent them from doing some of the things they'd like to do.

So those are kind of the downsides. On the positive side, we of regulating this, we've got the lahar question, and lahars are a really serious issue and one that I take very, very seriously. And we've actually commissioned a a council subcommittee to address disaster preparedness and so forth. So we've got on the twenty third of this month, we the Puyallup School District is well, the East Pierce County school districts are having their Lahore evacuation drills. So so those you know, this is a really important thing.

We have to respect that mountain. So so what's the what's the trade off here, and and how should we consider it? Well, recently, the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, produced a a paper called Influencing of Modeling Assumptions on Pedestrian Evacuation Success for Non eruptive Hard Hazards of Mount Rainier, Washington. That's kind of what we're talking about here, and It's very specific to our area. And they have some graphs and some data in there.

And know, how long would it take a lahar to, from Mount Rayear to arrive in Puyallup. And the statistics they provided was that a lahar would arrive in Puyallup, begin to arrive in Puyallup in one hundred and fifty minutes, but it would continue to arrive in Puyallup for three sixty minutes. So that's two point five hours and six hours. So as it arrives here, it's not going to whoosh through our community really quickly. On the other hand, looking at ordering, it's a completely different matter that it arrives there in sixty minutes and will finish arriving at one hundred and ten minutes.

So, you know, what does that say about us for, you know, so notice should go out fairly quickly. And, you know, I can't comment on exactly the amount of time required for a Lahar notice to go out. Perhaps Kirsten could comment on that, but she I'm not sure she wants to take on that because she doesn't have any guarantees either. But but if if a at a minimum, if a lahar is running through ordering, our siren should be going off. So so at a minimum, notices should be out, well out within sixty minutes, which allows us an hour and a half to evacuate.

And this past week, I went out to, on 9th Street to the bottom of the hill where the edge of the lahar zone is, and I walked from there to River Road. And it I had my hands in my pockets to so I didn't walk too fast. My Strava said that I was going at about 3.5 miles an hour, which is faster than a lot of people can go, but I made it in twenty seven minutes. So that means that we've got at least an hour and a half of slack time in the event of such a lahar from the time we get notice to the time it arrives here. And in midcommunity, it's probably going to be a lot more than one hundred and fifty minutes.

It's probably going to be two or three hours of available time. So the other aspect of the lahar is, as has been mentioned tonight, it's not very likely. And it's going to happen sometime, but it may not be in the lifetime of anybody in this room. So which brings me back to the question of do we restrict people's property rights? Do we not develop more small housing options for our community members to build new homes and be able to own homes in Puyallup.

So with having read this new study, I'm feeling a lot more relaxed about the dangers of lahar. And it sounds to me like the challenge isn't the distances we have to travel. It has more to do with having a plan to travel and knowing what to do. So I see this, the Lahar issue, as being a communication and education issue as opposed to something that we want to try to address with zoning. If we communicate well and educate our citizenry, then when the time comes, there's seems to me like there's ample time to to evacuate the the valley floor and get out of a hard zone.

So so I I feel like this is an issue that we would we could adequately address with communication and education and not burden our city code with prohibitions that limit our the freedoms of our property owners and prevent our community from offering housing that is more affordable to our citizens. So that is my comment at this time. Thank you. Any Councilmember Smolko.

I'd like to concede first to Councilmember Kastema so he has a chance before I have another one.

Thank you, Councilmember Smokel. The city has taken this very seriously in the past. In the early 2000s, the entire city council went to Washington DC where they went through a mock event for a lahar in the Puyallup Valley. And what they discovered was that during a lahar, the first people to evacuate are in fact the public safety personnel. So that means all the police, that means the firefighters, They all leave and because they have to be at the side of the valley when people evacuate.

At that time in the state legislature, I was able to get funds to appropriate the acquisition of Lahar sirens that you now have throughout the Puyallup Valley. So this has been taken very seriously. In fact, there is an estimate that we have a one in ten chance. You have to understand that when you're looking at the time span for a lahar, it's every five hundred to one thousand years, and the last one was approximately 1507, and we are in that period of now where it could occur. And the estimate is it's one in ten.

If you read the latest USGS report, they in fact state that within your lifetime, you can expect that there will be a lahar. The updated study that you referenced, I have just received that in fact and have been going through that and they identify three factors, certainly how fast the lahar arrives, how long it takes to reach safety and how much delay happens before people start moving. An interesting factor that it doesn't necessarily have, and that is how much time before we're actually notified and verified of a Lahar occurring. And it also doesn't really discuss the certain times of day. In other words, it kind of has an optimum time when it's maybe 10:00 in the afternoon, but not one in the morning.

And I think there are a lot of various factors that we have to take into account. I think our strategy, as outlined in the comp plan, and I think the strategy we have done so far, is to put the primary density development. And by the way, people can still have duplexes and triplexes. Those aren't denied. But the primary density that we've been putting our residents, our new residents in, is along Main Arterioles.

If you'll notice the development we have right on the other side of the library, it's a very clear shot to, to go ahead and escape a lahar. All the other large developments we're doing on Main Arterials. It we're not denying people rights. We have zoning for a reason. We say that you can build this or that in a particular area, and we just don't allow people to do whatever they want in any zone in the in the city of Puyallup.

So to say that, well, it's a property right issue because we have to let everybody do whatever they want to their home, we don't allow that anywhere. We basically have zoning to say this is typical or this should be put in this area or that. I think given the new USGS survey of 13% that would go to 13% of the area being off limits for high density in our neighborhoods, I think it's something that I would certainly entertain. But I have to tell you, I lived in my home now for sixty six years, and I'm very seriously concerned about the Lahar and whether it is wise to have the kind of density in neighborhoods that make it difficult for people to, in a time of crisis, to exit their homes. And, I would like to think that people would be prepared, but I don't think that that will necessarily be the case.

And the study did point out that we have a lot of assisted living facilities, and I think we have 52 of those. And I think the complication there will be is that if it is late at night or some inconvenient time, you're going to have substantial fatalities. In, Colombia, a similar city to the city of Puyallup, population 28,000, within the proximity of a of a glaciated peak about the same from Mount Rainier. Of the 20 8,000 people, despite tremendous warning, of the twenty eight thousand, twenty three thousand people died. So I I think we have to be, very cautious and not think just about our lifespan, but those that could be in the next hundred years, two hundred years.

And I think we have to be very moderate about the density that we allow in our neighborhoods, put it on main arterials, and I just think that's a precaution that we should take. So that's what I'm advocating is for a more moderate position that I think can allow for growth, but then take into account safety needed for the residents in the valley. So that's my take on it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Council member Smallco. Council member Smallco.

Thank you, mister mayor. I struggle personally to balance the concern for a very real, but a future possible potential threat of a lahar against the very real now threats against housing affordability. That's a tough thing for me to weigh out. So I'm also only conditionally supportive of the new ordinance proposed because I would only support it with strong protections written into it. Things like answering the questions of does would the ordinance include anti displacement protections for existing renters in areas where middle housing would be permitted?

How would the city ensure infrastructure, water, sewer, transit keeps pace with increased density in these permitted zones? What is the city's plan to prevent speculative land acquisition, which would price out could price out existing residents once upzoning takes effect? And has there been meaningful outreach to renters and lower income residents, not just property owners in the affected areas? So those are my four big things that keep swirling around in my brain, and I think I mentioned them in similar wording last time. But, yeah, that's the balance for me is that those two concerns existing at the same time in my brain. Thank you.

Councilmember Adler.

Thank you. Katie, I have one. Woah, I see many. I just saw many screens of me. That's a scary sight.

Katie, I just have a quick question because it wasn't there it is again. This is not April fools. Because I didn't I didn't glean it as directly as likely I should from the memo, but this is related to the planning commission and their position. I know in here it says it walked through their preferences, if you will, or position. But of the maps and the percentages, did they fall somewhere?

Thank you for that question, councilmember Adler. The planning commission did not see these maps and percentages because this direction given just at the recent study session from city council. So we if council directs, we can go back to the planning commission and have them weigh in, but their recommendation was to eliminate the lahar prohibition entirely. It was upon the study session at council that we developed these map options.

Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Katie, thanks for presentation. As I understand correctly,

I just

want to reiterate it and articulate it publicly. Since our last meeting, there is no exclusion of ADUs in the even Lahar zone, if the council was able to maintain whatever 13%, 24 or 37%. Those located in that La Jolla zone could still have an ADU based off of the old current coding. It wouldn't bar completely like we had heard last time. So that's restored, right?

That is correct. They could build one ADU. And then outside of that prohibition area, a property owner could potentially build two ADUs. That would be the distinction. So

now that that's been verified, I'm more amiable to with whatever the council comes up with in terms of restriction of any, it's nice to know that at least there is some middle housing that can happen even in the Lahar zone. And so I think that doesn't lock any development out from that area. I'm kind of inclined to go with a 13% knowing that, that there is even in that 13%, there's still an allowance for at least one ADU and some other developments. So I'm more comfortable looking at 13% rather than anything higher. I could be compelled through some counsel debate of going up to the 24.

So I'm not cemented in on that, but I'd like to kick it off and say I'm happy with the 13%. I feel like it's a common balance to allow some development, still take the Lahar situation seriously, but knowing that there are opportunities for middle housing to happen even in that 13% person ADU development. So I'll kick it off with that. Again, if I'm not in cement on that, if counsel gave some compelling arguments that you wanted to increase that, I would do it. But I'm comfortable with the 13%. Thank you.

Councilmember Keane.

Thank you. First, I'll start with Katie, and then I have a question for Kristen Hoffman to give you some time to bear to walk up. First, can a single family residence in the current La Harz zone that's being proposed, whether it's 13 or 24, 25, 26, whatever, If that residence were to be torn down, could a duplex be allowed to be built?

No. Not under the current construct of the ordinance. If they're in the prohibition area, they tear down the single family home, they could only rebuild a single family home. They could add an ADU, but not a duplex.

So that seems a little odd to me, counsel. So that's one thing that I have a concern with. And then number two would be for Kristen. And Katie may have been able to answer this next question. Do you know how many sirens we currently have in our downtown for Lahar warnings?

Yes. We currently have three sirens, outdoor warning sirens.

You know where they're located?

There's one on the roof of City Hall. There is one over at the Fairgrounds, and there's one more. I'm looking at Chief Ingle because it's on Pioneer.

I heard that.

Thank you. Yes.

There were some concerns and questions with citizens not being able to hear those sirens completely in the more extended parts of Puyallup on the East and West Side. Would there be any chance of us being able to acquire funding through the federal or otherwise to be able to possibly increase the sound of thy siren?

Good question. So the outdoor warning system is maintained and funded by Pierce County Department of Emergency Management, And they have very intentionally renamed it the outdoor warning system because the sirens are designed for people to hear them if they are outside. So we do get lots of questions from residents telling us that they can't hear them when they're inside, and they are not designed for people who are inside. They're designed for people who are outside. So we tell people that they have multiple ways of getting notified about a potential lahar, which includes signing up for alerts, having a NOAA weather radio installed in your home, your school, your business if you're in a lahar zone or any other area of the city because there's multiple ways that notifications will happen in the event of a lahar.

There are there are some technology pieces that might be available that could amplify some of those sirens to reach some other parts of the community that we could potentially explore. Of course, there's the money and there's the technology. And since it's not our system, we have to work with multiple partners. But there are some things that we could explore that might help amplify the current system.

Thank you for that. My personal take on that, I think we should explore that. But another time, another discussion. With the new study, do you find it more problematic, the new study of the thirteen percent, I should say, do you find it more problematic or maybe that's not the right way I want to phrase that. Do you find with the thirteen percent now being drawn out for the new boundaries of the Lahar with the new study, do you see that thirteen percent having a difficult time getting out of our Lahar zone moving forward?

I don't think that that's a question that I can answer easily. And I think that's a question I would have to talk with lots of my city colleagues and partners to really look at that particular section in that area and learn more about those people who are there so we can determine how they could realistically evacuate. And do they have plans? Have they dedicated that time to figure out where their nearest evacuation location is and done those preparedness efforts so that they're ready?

Because it seems like with the new boundaries that have been set, it seems like it may be a better chance at survival of getting out of the Lahar Zone. Obviously, nothing is guaranteed by any means, but it would seem like the 13% would give a better opportunity, it appears. That's my opinion. I think that's all I have for right now. And I appreciate you educating us on the Lahar sirens, hopefully, we'll be able to look at other avenues to amplify those.

Yes. Look forward to it.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you. So don't go away. No. Sorry. So, I'd just like to follow-up on some of Council Member King's questions. You know, obviously, a lot of us have signed up for emergency alarms, but if a lahar comes through, everybody needs to be notified. Mhmm. So is it possible to to ping everybody's cell phone regardless of whether or not they've they've signed up for anything within this Lahar zone?

Yes. It is. And so that's the technology that we have through Puop Alerts, which is our alert and warning system. And we, are part of IPOS, which is the integrated public alert and warning system, which gives alerting authorities, which the city of Puyallp is, the ability to send out WIAs, which are wireless emergency alert messages. So we can designate a specific geographic area, and then we can send a message out to all of the cell phones in that area with that life safety information. So we have that capability. Pierce County Emergency Management has that capability, and the Washington State Emergency Management Division Alert and Warning Center also has that capability. So we've got multiple levels of abilities to get those alerts out to people who need to get them right away.

So notice is not really a you know, if if I've got my cell phone off, would it still alert me?

It depends. If it was completely off, no. Okay. And there are some settings. When you first get your cell phone, the setting is on to allow wireless emergency alerts. People can turn that off. And if they turn it off, they're not going to get those messages. So we recommend that everybody leave that setting on their phone so they can receive those messages. And that's an education piece as well, and that's something that we talk to residents throughout the city about in terms of all emergencies because we have that technology not just for Le Havre, but for other emergencies as well.

Okay. And the, you know, obviously we've got some vulnerable populations that we need to be particularly concerned about. So and council member Kastema mentioned our senior communities, medical facilities. So, the several of them are located in the

zone. What's our plan there? So many of the facilities in the La Lahar zone are required to have some level of emergency preparedness planning. Those in the Lahar zone have should have some kind of Lahar emergency evacuation plan in place. Those are not things that we manage or maintain.

Those are typically done by other agencies that accredit those health facilities and those different care providers. And that's not something that they have to show us or that we have to approve or that most of the time we've ever seen. So oftentimes we will have facilities who will reach out to us with questions and their plans are probably not as robust as we would like them to be, but we don't necessarily have the authority to change those or get those to a place where we feel that people would be best served with emergency preparedness. So through our different outreach efforts that we do in the city, through the different community events and the trainings that we have, we try to reach a lot of those partners. But it is difficult, and we do know that a lot of those facilities could probably benefit from some additional work on those emergency evacuation plans.

Is there a way to work with the accrediting agencies to help them get more robust?

Potentially. But then we start to tread in areas that we don't necessarily have the authority or the jurisdiction.

Understood. But if we express our concerns to the accrediting agencies, then hopefully, they would be receptive to that and be concerned about that when they visit institutions within our lahar zone.

I will share that when we have worked with different agencies that we have had to do some specific exemptions with because they're in a lahar zone and they're designated as essential or critical, When we have worked with them, they've been very receptive in making the changes and the recommendations that we've asked them to do. And I'm looking at Katie Bader because we've partnered on that a bit with a couple of facilities. So when we do have that opportunity, we're able to take advantage of that. But that is a very infrequent process that has happened with those facilities.

Okay. So again, I come back to the earlier my earlier comment that the if there's no planning, then it doesn't matter how far into the low tar zone people are. They're likely going to have problems getting out because they haven't planned, they don't have a plan. So again, I think this is a planning issue. Putting another 40 ADUs scattered through this region, I don't think it's going to have any impact whatsoever on the time it takes people to evacuate.

One of the things that came through very clearly in this report was that you're going to get out quicker if you walk than if you drive. So people need to understand that. And if you're walking out, you can get from River Road to high ground. That's about as far as that's the greatest extent we have in by my slower pace in twenty seven minutes. So it was 1.6 miles.

So if we take that and we say you're a two hour you're a two mile an hour person, which is, I think, the low end of the pace that was used in the study, then you can be out in forty five minutes or thereabouts. And again, our the time we have available is in hours, not minutes. So I and it's a remote possibility that this is going to happen. It may well happen in the next fifty years. We talked about it.

Councilmember Kastema talked about a 10% chance to, could you inform me on what time period that 75. Seventy five years. So, a 10% chance in seventy five years? I believe that was it, Kirsten.

Yes. And that information, I believe, is in the 2022 report that we've shared with counsel that talks about those estimates.

Yeah. So a 10% chance at seventy five years to have sets aside our ability to to build additional housing that people can afford to live in. I think that's I I think the planning is what's gonna save our bacon, not not a zoning regulation. So that's my position. Thank you. Councilmember Castamer? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. What's sad about this discussion is that I really understand the concern for more housing. In fact, we have done an excellent job in Puyallup

over the past few years of increasing housing, increasing development. We in fact have a, what, a 30% increase in permits over this last year. We are we have approved apartments, like I say, on key arterials that allow for evacuation. And I've talked to former council members, David, back to the period that I talked about, and they're fully aware of the Lahar threat. And their thought was with moderate growth in the valley, moderate growth in the valley, that that is the approach to take.

It does disturb me that you said that if someone decided to put a duplex in place of a house, we have now prevented that. I don't think that is the intent. It was what we had before. And the state legislature, however, came along and they've intervened. And what they want to do is turbocharge the neighborhoods.

Not only do they want to turbocharge development in the neighborhoods, they want to say no parking requirements. So can you imagine that? Within a half mile of that's the entire downtown area to the fair and then to the river. Within that area, no parking is required at all. So the roads will become crammed in the side areas, which I think will make evacuation hard.

Go to West Seattle. See what that kind of thinking has done in West Seattle. You can't the the roads are so packed. You can't find a place to park, and they take up a tremendous amount of space, and the density is such. Now that might be fine in West Seattle, but in the Valley, we can't accommodate that in an emergency like Lahore.

It would be a disaster to do that kind of density in our neighborhood. So the prior councils acknowledged this and said we should be moderate in our approach. And I think we should go back and look at, you know, allowing the type of density moderate growth in our neighborhoods that we did prior. We should allow that in the neighborhoods. But to turbocharge it like housing advocates want, it's amazing.

We've done a beautiful job with this city in nurturing it with a vibrant downtown with new developments coming in. We did that in Puyallup. We didn't need the state to mandate anything for us to grow and provide more housing. And I my argument to be to you would be is that the more housing we have, the more supply we have. And the more supply we have, the price becomes more competitive.

And we have done a good job of that, but we've done it carefully and we have nurtured along the way. So I, you know, don't mind sitting down with staff and looking at preserving the ability for our neighborhoods at Hertz to grow in a moderate way, not turbocharge them into some complete, you know, concentrated, high density that make when a lahar happens just extremely difficult, add to the complications of evacuation. We've got to be aware of that. You know, I I think with the USGS, latest survey going at 13%, in their opinion, we give our border, and it would kind of hit maybe the 13% that would be the hardest hit, my home by far, because we have a big dip. I'm probably in the lowest area in the valley, and I will be hit.

You know, if there's any speed area in the valley that will be hit first, going along that river area, lower area, I assume I will be hit pretty fast. I have been told, by the way, by emergency management individuals that even though I have a bridge right outside my home, that if I crossed, I would be probably maybe three quarters of a mile. It would be shorter for me to go over to North Hill. I've been advised not to do that because by the time I even know about the Lahar, that river will probably be up to that bridge and make it vulnerable and incapable of being used. So I have to reverse, come all the way across the valley, and that's quite a long way.

And if you add to that kind of this, I don't know, this bludgeon approach to density and approach to neighborhood development in the valley where they're vulnerable, I think you just enhance the possibility of hazard and and and casualties. And it won't be pretty, folks. That's all I'm gonna say. It will not be pretty. And I think we have to go back to a far more careful, concerned, deliberate way of managing growth.

And I'll gladly talk with staff and try to address some of the issues. Council member Kane came up. I I just think the idea of turbocharging all of this with no parking requirements. None. I I I I folks, it's not a future I want to live with. So that's my 2¢ worth.

Councilmember Gilliam.

Thank you, mister mayor. I've been listening to my colleagues and I've been listening to our constituents who come in and talk about the frustration within infrastructure and with the frustration of through traffic. And I am definitely for middle housing. I'm absolutely for creating opportunity for people to be able to purchase a home that they can afford or rent at a reasonable rate, which we do have to create space for. But I appreciate the wisdom that I hear from Councilmember Castama and especially in futuristic thinking, futuristic growth.

If we just and I even appreciate Councilmember Smolko asking her brilliant questions on unintended consequences when it comes to potential issues of pushing people out, right? So I'm of the mind because you probably need some direction after hearing everybody's thoughts. I'm of the mind of having the 13% with the one ADU in that allowable in that space. And as a council, I urge us to definitely consider intentional growth, especially with our infrastructure, not trying recognizing that Olympia come 2027 having zero parking requirements, right? So we're we have to partner middle housing growth with knowing what's coming down the road.

We can't just do a rip the band aid off and say, okay, go ahead and build whatever you want because we do have to consider the infrastructure. So for direction from this council member, I am for the 13% N1 ADU,

just for clarity. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. Just a couple of follow-up comments. We talked about turbocharging our housing market, and we had the potential to build ADUs in Puyallup from the for the last fifty years, I suppose, up until six or eight months ago. Katie, did you have people standing in line at your desk be putting in applications to put in ADUs?

Prior to the prohibition, we had a lot of people asking questions about when the new ADU regulations would take effect. And since the prohibition, we've probably had two to three dozen property owners that have been told no, that they cannot build in the Lahar zone.

Okay. So I'm not sure I classify that as being a turbocharge. But again, I'm really asking about the previous fifty years. How many ADUs do you suppose we put in in the previous fifty years?

A small handful each year. In, I want to say, '15 or 2016, the city council started allowing detached ADUs, and the numbers did increase at that time. Council also reduced impact fees for ADUs at that time. That was a big incentive then for people, regular homeowners, to be able to build ADUs on their property. But it was still a handful a year.

Our previous council actually wanted to encourage ADUs?

Yes. The previous council took action to

do that.

So we're now kind of turning backwards and proposing to restrict ADUs. So, we're kind of going against what the previous councils were trying to do. Okay. And, you know, the idea again, Councilmember Kastner has thrown out Seattle, and, you know, I think we could change all of our zonings and we'd never look like Seattle. I just don't think so.

They've got skyscrapers, and we have a gazillion skyscrapers here in Puyallup, and I think we need to worry about our neighborhoods looking like Seattle. But until then, it's not a huge concern for me. Thank you. Council Member Kastava.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, I was referring to West Seattle, which I think if you look at the neighborhoods, they're far more similar to ours. I'd like to make a motion along Councilmember Gilliam's line that we adopt the 13% with the ADU, and I would like to discuss in the interim before final passage addressing some of the issues that Councilmember King came up with. But the motion, as I put forward, is to adopt 13% with the ADU, allowance. I'll second that. Thank you.

Mayor Johnson, do you have want to comment further?

Yes. In addition to seconding that, I'm concerned that somehow, again, I still don't know how, you know, it's behind us now. I still am concerned how Council Communication came up with an outlot ban on this Lahar area that's here nor there, although I'm curious about that. But more importantly at this point, you mentioned that there's some folks who were told no. Do we have a way to get back in touch with them so that they can at least know that, hey, that was a mistake or misinterpretation or whatever the case is, that's not the case.

At least it wasn't the intent from the counsel that I recall ever hearing. Maybe it got translated for whatever reason. But now especially that it's clear, will they be reached out to and say, listen, there was it is allowed so that they're not disenfranchised or whatever. Is there a way to get a hold of them because we have some information?

We can certainly work to identify from our records who we've talked to, who has called. E mails are the easiest way to track. Counter visits are going to be a little more difficult. But we do intend, once council finalizes this ordinance, to do substantial public notification and outreach. And we have been telling customers in the last few weeks that council is considering an amendment and to stay in touch and stay connected with us.

Yes. I'd like to see that response for those that were told it was outright banned as soon as tomorrow. I may start that process getting on it because they probably had plans maybe to look into selling or who knows what they were doing and we certainly want to correct that. So that would be my hope is that that's that ban communication is directed properly and correctly. Thank you.

Maybe I just have a clarification. We talk about ADUs and middle housing in the same breath over and over again. And could you restate for me tonight where we are on middle housing, where we are on ADUs and what this motion that's been made would change that?

Absolutely. So ADUs have been the new ADU regulations have been adopted since last year. That was a permanent ordinance, not an interim ordinance that council adopted that allows for two accessory dwelling units on any property up to the units can be up to 1,000 square feet. And at the time, we understood the Lahar prohibition to prohibit ADUs within the Lahar zone. Under the ordinance before you tonight, we've modified that to allow one ADU within the Lahar prohibition zone, whatever council adopts that boundary to be.

With middle housing, that is a separate set of regulations from the state. So while it's in the same code section for us, they are dealt with separately, and we want to make sure we're in compliance with both sets of regulations. So again, the state requirement is to allow two middle housing units on any lot. So essentially allow a duplex, whether those are side by side units or one on top of the other on any lot. Our understanding was that council wished to prohibit middle housing allowances within the Lahar zone, so that was how the ordinance had been drafted.

I'm understanding tonight that there may be a desire to look into allowances for duplexes. That's something we can look into bringing back at second reading. But the ordinance before you tonight allows two middle housing units on any lot, up to four units if one unit is affordable, or up to four units within a quarter mile of the sounder station. Except that based on your direction, we would apply a lahar prohibition area, either the 13% map or the 24% map. I don't know if that helped or confused things more, but I'm happy to clarify.

Yeah, that did help. So we've talked primarily about ADUs tonight, but we've got a motion that affects. Does the motion actually affect

Duplexes essentially. Duplexes as well. Duplexes to four plexes.

Yes. So, again, if we have if we allow one ADU in a main house, it would seem like we also should, to be consistent, we ought to allow a duplex, which is basically a house with an attached larger ADU. Does that I'd like to kind of pull my colleagues on that. Does that make sense to anybody else? Councilmember Kane?

I had a question outside of that remark that you just made, but go ahead and I don't have an opinion on that particular question.

Any other? Anybody? I'm not getting much of a pool. Deputy Mayor Johnson?

Well, I'll chime in. It's my understanding from the motion and our discussion tonight short of what you've inserted here, Mr. Mayor, which I'm happy to entertain, that any prohibition would

just

be to add one ADU, but not any other middle housing. That's how I understand the motion. So, that's how I kind of seconded it.

Now,

if we wanted to amend it, certainly could. I'm kind of thinking we should go forward with the motion as I understand it and as I seconded it to have just have the one ADU and no middle housing addition in that prohibited area. But I would be open to further study by staff and discussion on second ring if we wanted to insert some additional middle housing in that second ring to allow that possibly. So I wouldn't want to hold back or change the motion. I say move forward as I understood it. And then if it made sense to include some additional middle housing in that prohibited area that we've identified at the 13% that we could maybe address it at that time. So that's my thinking, Mr. Mayor, if that seems the will of the council.

Okay. Now, Councilmember King.

Thank you. How does this also affect multifamily? Anything at all?

No. Multifamily is regulated completely separately in a different zoning designation. This is specific to middle housing in single family residential zones.

Nothing regarding multifamily in Correct. The LaR, not

Not touched, still allowed in those zones where it's allowed.

Okay. Thank you. Okay.

I think we've run our course on this. I'm debating whether or not I want to offer that amendment. And I will Mr.

Mayor? Yes. Yeah. I would gladly sit down with you in the interim between final passage and discuss this further.

Okay. We'll take you up on that opportunity. And, but we have a motion that's been properly made and seconded of, and noting that this is the first reading. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. I appreciate that robust conversation. It sounds like it will continue.

City manager's report.

Oh, no. 5F or

5C. Did

I miss something?

Yes, I believe 5C.

Oh, 5C, yes. We've had it moved. Okay. So this 5C has to do with the award for David Evans and Associates, the design contract for the design on Valley Avenue Northwest overlay phase three. Councilmember Smallco.

Thank you.

I won't I'll keep this actually pretty brief.

It might be

surprising. Does the overlay design include pedestrian or bicycle safety improvements or just vehicular lanes?

Yeah. I can answer that. Ken Davies, public works director. So the overlay will include ADA improvements, which include the ADA ramps and also there's a signal that will be impacted, and that will also get upgrades for the pedestrian push buttons.

Can you educate me about what communities are most affected by the current road conditions in this corridor?

So we'll be reaching out to the businesses that are in that area as well as the tribe that's along that as well.

And then you already answered my last question about ADA compliance. So thank you. That was it.

Okay. Thank you. Do I hear a motion to push forward on item 5C, the So moved. Second. All those in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Motion passes. Okay. Now, city manager's report. Yes. Thank you.

Your next meeting, mister mayor and council, is April 28. At this point, the second reading of the middle housing ordinance, which you were just discussing, also we'll be having a presentation on the critical areas ordinance that will be coming forward before you. And also potentially the Phillips School District has filed their petition for the street vacation in front of the gym there on the campus. That first presentation could be ready on April 28. If not, it would be on May 5.

We're still working with the district on those dates. So there could be a presentation on the '28. If not, it would be on May 5. But definitely, critical areas and middle housing will be the two items on the twenty eighth.

Thank you. Councilmember Gilliam.

Thank you, mister mayor. Okay. Well, this Saturday, there's a lot going on in our community, and it is our long awaited farmers market is coming back. So, the, Pelt Main Street Association is kick starting it. So please come out, rain or shine, and get

your

vegetables. Also happening this Saturday, we did have a very lengthy discussion on the lahar zone and preparedness. So we do have at the library, I believe, Kirsten, I'm going to save the time. And if I'm wrong, correct me, ten to four. In the library. Where in the library?

The big meeting room.

The big meeting room. So not fully inside the library, but the hallway before you go in, big meeting room. Come learn for yourself. Whatever you want to know about the lahar and then some because our team is ready to empower people to make educated decisions for your family in Puyallup. Also, if you're looking to volunteer or you have a teenager that needs you want to get out of the house and off the computer or off their phone, we are having Pelt Main Street Association is having a community clean day, and that's where we jump start just cleaning up Puyallup and it's like spring cleaning for our streets.

So this Saturday, there great things to be involved in and get educated on and, fill your refrigerator. And with that, I'll be done. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Councilmember Castama.

I'll pass this evening. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Councilmember Adler.

Thank you. I'll be brief and just say that the since the last time we met or the last council meeting rather, we've we've had a lot of community celebrations and exciting things that have been happening. The Daffodil Festival, the the Grand Floral Parade, spring fair, spring break. We've had great weather, but we also had some tragedy in our city. And I just wanna take a moment to thank the Cal Police Department, Central Pierce for their quick response.

Certainly, incidents like this do not happen in our city often. And, therefore, when things like this tragedy do happen, albeit very isolated, it really affects folks. And, you know, it it goes without saying, but just the professionalism and, frankly, the care from PPD has just been incredibly heartfelt and has been genuine and has really helped, I think, the neighborhood in which this tragedy took place start to heal. And so I just, again, want to thank PPD, Central Pierce and others who were first on scene and have subsequently likely continued to work this situation and offered resources to families involved in the neighborhood. It does make a difference.

And like I said, healing is happening. And so for as much celebrating as we do and great things that our city does and all of us joining in together to celebrate those great things. I do just want to acknowledge that sometimes we have tragedy, but the one thing that remains is that we always come together. And again, just want to thank everyone for their support during that time. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. A couple of things. One is I wanted to once again acknowledge the great ribbon cutting that we had at the Public Safety Building last week. Really quite a special day of celebration for our city.

A lot of effort went into getting to that point by the council and by constituents and input and some lively debate and pros and cons. And end of the day, that ribbon cutting was a spectacular celebration on behalf of our city and for the future of public safety in our city. I would suspect that even those that were concerned or against it with hindsight will look back and realize it was a wise decision, especially when you look at the facility that they were meeting in and how dilapidated that was for the growth of our city, it was time to be done. And one thing I think that should be recognized, and I did hear this from outsiders who were visiting that day. And I mentioned it in the speech that I gave is when you looked out at the folks that were there, the turnout for that event, there must have been hundreds of people there, hundreds.

And that wasn't much of an exaggeration. And for a smaller city as ours to get that much of a turnout in the middle of a weekday really says that Peelope community really cares about our town. I did hear from professionals who build other public safety facilities across the state that this was highly unusual to see this kind of a turnout in proportion to other cities who build public safety buildings. And I think it's a real testament to the culture of our city and to the constituents who live here and to the council and to our staff and all the departments that make this city so special. And it can be said that sometimes we take for granted and not realize how special we have it until you really do some comparisons.

And I think Piazza is a very special place, and we really should be proud of those who have gone before us and those that are currently serving and then those who will be coming behind us that would continue this trajectory of a great city. So congratulations to the City of Puyallup, to the Puyallup Police Force and to the city staff. I also wanted to say that I had a great conversation this morning with Don, the President of Good Samaritan Hospital. There's some great economic development happening in our city with that four fifty million roughly investment into our city to add this new tower eventually that's still a few years out, but certainly is in motion. The economic development and the services that's going to provide to constituents and to those in need for emergencies is just a real beacon in our city.

I mean, I think about this. There'd be cities who would beg for a significant hospital like this to be located right in their core, and here we have it, and it's just remarkable. This city didn't happen by accident. This was decades of intentional leadership and people that care that is now we're seeing it really begin to blossom. And I remember when I was mayor for a couple of years, I said it then and I still believe it now that Peelope is on the verge of an explosion of prosperity on a holistic level, not just economically, but I think culturally, spiritually, all these different areas, I think, is we're seeing elements of that and it's not a surprise.

And then lastly, I do want to point about point out of a great event that's coming up on May 7 at the Washington State Fairgrounds. We are celebrating the forty seventh Annual Pierce County Prayer Breakfast. This Pierce County Prayer Breakfast has gone on for forty seven years. It was started in Tacoma by a mayor, and then it was kind of handed off to the business community who has taken it from there over the last forty some years. It's always been held in Tacoma.

And through a series of events, and I think I was the mayor at the time, they were running out of steam and ability to continue in Tacoma, so I said, Why don't you come to Peelope? We've this great venue called the Washington State Fairgrounds. And they made that move and they haven't looked back since. And so, that's coming up on May 7. It just happens to coincide, and this will be continued in perpetuity, not only is it the Pierce County prayer breakfast, which is the largest in the state of Washington, and believe me, we're no Bible built here, So, to have 1,000 to 1,500 people show up is quite remarkable for not being a Bible Belt state.

But it also symbolically lands on a national event, which is the seventy fourth Annual National Day of Prayer, which was started by Democrat President Truman and was now affirmed on a permanent date on the first Thursday of every May by Ronald Reagan. So those things coiling together is quite remarkable. So And if you're interested in that, you can find information on that. All of the elected officials will get an invitation from me and from others to join as guests and be part of it. I'm also glad to I just found out from from the governor's staff that the governor will be joining us on May 7 as a guest of honor.

He'll be able to speak a few words. And so this is not political. This is a time that with political differences, we put those things aside, we gather together for prayer, and we're not going to get into a political rally at this one. So Governor Ferguson will be there. And the guest speaker for this particular event will be someone you might recognize if you've lived in Seattle for a while. It's the former Seahawks quarterback Jim Zorn who'll be sharing his testimony of his faith and his life. So he'll be speaking there. So anyway, a heads up on that. It's a big event. It's pretty significant.

And if you've never been, it's quite moving and quite inspiring. And very much and I'm a church guy, but this is not like going to a church service. It's kind of a cool vibe and very comfortable. It's not something you would feel uncomfortable with if you weren't necessarily a church person. So pretty special. Anyway, that's all I had. Other than I wanted to say hi to Marla. Thank you, Marla.

Councilmember King.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to echo the kind comments that Councilmember Adler said about the unfortunate incident over in the Northwest sector of Puyallup that happened. And my thoughts and prayers are with those that were affected through that tragedy. I also want to talk a little bit about the Public Safety Building. That was a spectacular event on a tremendous feat that we had went through over the past many, many, many years.

It was a facility that was well needed in our community and an ever growing and expanding city. And I think it will be able to justify itself for the many, many years and decades to come. So congratulations to everyone involved in that. I also want to touch base on a viral moment that happened last week regarding a young man, a 12 year old boy, who was attacked by a dog as he was riding Spike down Pioneer. It kind of touched me a little bit just because being such a young child and having an unsupervised dog that that got out from wherever he was and took a couple jabs at the boy.

You know, I always, you know, I was just thinking, you know, what if what if that was one of our kids? And, you know, and so I I was very pleased with the, extra response with the, Metro Animal Services and the, police department looking into that situation and being able to be able to help that that situation. But furthermore, I just wanna extend a huge thank you to the innocent standby or driver, if you will, that was driving down Pioneer that was able to help the young man. I believe his name was Mr. Meeker.

And hopefully, I'll be able to meet you someday and shake your hand and say thank you, for helping him out. Farmers market is coming back this weekend. And furthermore, we have all the directional signage up and around the city that lets everyone know where the free parking is. So if you haven't seen it, we have beautiful signage, the big beautiful signage that's all around the city that says free parking. Can't miss it.

And there's a very good campaign that went out for that. So to everyone involved putting up those signs, I think on behalf of everyone at the city, thank you for allowing everyone to know where free parking is at. Lastly, I know it's a ways out, but it's never too soon to promote it. Our July 3 and July 4 events that are happening in our city, celebrating our two hundred fiftieth, the Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Paltz Main Street Association, both having events that same weekend. It's going to be a tremendous, tremendous event in combination with those two great organizations.

And make sure you mark it on your calendars and be part of it. There's going be a lot of festivities in our downtown, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. So with that said, thank you.

Councilmember Smolco.

Oh, man, I'm going to make up for lost time tonight. I've got four. It's been quite an exciting last ten days or so for me personally and professionally, but I'm gonna limit it just to a few. First, I spent ten days riveted to livestreams, maybe like some of you, of the activity onboard the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis two mission. And one thing that I found particularly powerful, most of you probably don't know, but I teach aviation and aeronautics to elementary kids. Astronauts for decades have described a common feeling. It's the realization that everyone back on Earth shares more in common than we realize. It has a name. It's called the overview effect. When you see Earth from that perspective, you realize that borders and divisions simply aren't visible from space.

While aboard the Artemis two mission in early April this year, NASA astronaut Victor Glover shared a powerful reflection on viewing Earth from deep space. Quote, in all this emptiness, this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe. You have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist in together. I can really see Earth as one thing. He made it clear that, again, quote, Homo sapiens is all of us and that we are one single people.

Think particularly powerful with Earth Day coming up, all the things going on just it was pretty profound to see Earth from their perspective and to see moon from a whole new perspective with human eyes for the first time. I get goosebumps every time I watch videos of it. In the next little bit, a personal news. I found out today on my way here that I will be giving a TED Talk in Tulsa, Oklahoma in September. I'll get to speak about intersection where the worlds of education, students and staff, and civic engagement cross.

So I will be looking to my cohort up here for inspiration ideas and over here and over here and out there for things to talk about in that talk. Lastly, last week, city manager Steve Kirkley and I went on, our city of Puyallup world tour. That's what I've been calling my facility visits he set up for me. We got to tour the corporate yards and the wastewater treatment, and I have to be honest, I was truly blown away. I went in expecting to learn, and I left genuinely inspired.

What struck me most was the ingenuity and collaborative problem solving happening every single day in jobs that most of us never get to see. These teams take on some of the hardest work in the entire city, and they make it look awesome. I told Steve I want I half want to quit my day job and join them to work alongside them inventing and curating equipment and repurposing it. The efficiency is pretty remarkable. I mean it as a real compliment.

These people, we are so well served by them. And I want to make a special shout out to Scott at Corporate Yards, Dan at Wastewater Treatment for welcoming me and giving me that education. And as a thank you to our city manager, I made you a T shirt, mister Kirkley. You might not want to wear it or wash it. It's the first T shirt I've ever made. It might be better as a souvenir, but here it is. City of Europe World Tour. Alright. And that's it. Thank you.

Okay. Winding down, just another reminder about Earth Day coming up. And in my travels on the looking at the Lahar zone, I did walk down 7th through the Puyallup High School campus. And I have to say that not having traffic flowing through there was much more relaxing than in the days where students were dodging cars through that area. So we're going to be looking at street vacation there in the near future.

I invite everybody to come down and observe what it looks like and how it's operating now. And with that, I'll let us stand adjourned.