City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the October 7, 2025 city council regular hybrid meeting. I'm Mayor Salem Nice and this evening's hybrid city council meeting is being brought to you in person and by Zoom. We're also broadcasting live on the city's YouTube channel. Welcome and thanks for joining us tonight. Council members, please have your microphones turned on for a roll call. City clerk Andrew Larson, please call the role. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council member Androl here. Council member Becker here. Council member Reynolds here. Council member Wer is absent. Council member Weinberg here. Deputy Mayor Rosenbomb here. And Mayor Nice here. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

All right. City clerk, please note that we have a quorum. And next, we have pledge of allegiance. If you're in council chambers, please stand and face the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. And we now move to approval of tonight's agenda. If there's no questions, may I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Okay. Moved by Deputy Mayor Rosenbomb, seconded by Council Member Becker. Say Clerk, please call the RO. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Nice. Hi. Council member Reynolds.

I. Council member Androl. I. Council member Becker. I. Council member Weinberg. I. And Deputy Mayor Rosenbomb. I. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

All right. Motion passes and the agenda is approved. Next on the agenda, we have a study session on AB6781, the Mersaw Community Fund recognition. We welcome recreation supervisor Katie Herszog. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Katie Herszog, recreation supervisor. It's my pleasure to be here tonight to recognize and celebrate the Mercer Island Community Fund, a valued and long-standing partner whose dedication has enriched the lives of Mercer Island residents for more than three decades. Since its founding in 1989, the Community Fund has deeply committed to enhancing the quality of life to Mercer Island. Through generous financial support and community collaboration, the community fund made it possible for so many of the programs and events we know and love to thrive. Funded entirely by donations from individuals, families, and local businesses, the Community Fund exemplifies the power of community generosity. Their longstanding investments have ensured that our island remains vibrant, connected, and inclusive, a place where arts, culture, education, and recreation are accessible to all. Over the years, the community fund has provided hundreds of grants to support local nonprofits, cultural initiatives, and community events. Their partnership with the city has been instrumental in sustaining and enhancing programs that bring us together. From mostly music in the park and summer celebration to Shakespeare in the park, illuminate am I leap for green and community coffee just to name a few. These events are more than just entertainment. They're opportunities for neighbors to connect, for families to celebrate, and for residents to take pride in the unique spirit of Mercer Island. As the community emerge uh emerged from the pandemic, the community fund was quick to reach out to the recreation division with a desire to increase their contributions to restore and enhance community offerings. Through their support, we've been able to

elevate the quality of these experiences, adding new features such as the stage and banners at Mercedell Park for our mostly music concert series. And we've also expanded our community coffee program here at the community center from two to five days per week, which has created even more opportunities for residents to connect and engage. In the past 5 years alone, the community fund has contributed over $50,000 to recreation events. That level of commitment speaks to the deep belief in community and stewardship, values that align closely with those of our city. The city of Mercer Island recognizes the community fund as a crucial partner in building a strong and connected Mercer Island. Their generosity not only helps sustain beloved programs, but also allows us to dream bigger, to continue evolving and expanding opportunities for residents of all ages. On behalf of the city, I want to extend our sincere gratitude to the community fund for their leadership, partnership, and unwavering dedication to this community. We look forward to continuing this collaboration in the years ahead as we work together to ensure Mercer Island remains a vibrant, welcoming place for everyone. And finally, a special thank you to the Community Fund board president, Jackie Brown, and their board members who are here with us tonight. We're so grateful for your presence and for your continued service to our community. I'll invite you up to the podium as I turn it over to Mayor Nice.

Okay. Well, thank you for that uh opening introduction. I'll just add that on behalf of the council, we also want to recognize you and we're going to do that in the form of a resolution and I want to just read the resolution for the record. Uh so the resolution reads a resolution of the city of Mercer Island recognizing and expressing gratitude to the Mercer Island Community Fund for their generous support of community events. Whereas the Mercer Island Community Fund is a dedicated nonprofit organization that supports programs and initiatives enhancing the quality of life for Mercer Island residents. And whereas over the past five years, Merceron Community Fund has generally contributed funding and resources to a wide variety of community events including summer celebration, mostly music in the park, illuminate MI, leap for green, Shakespeare in the park, and community coffee. And whereas Mercer Community Fund has consistently partnered with the city and the broader island community to strengthen programming ensuring that events reflect shared community values of inclusion, sustainability, and civic pride. And whereas through proactive fundraising and thoughtful collaboration, the city staff Mercian Community Fund has helped expand and enhance events such as mostly music in the park, including the addition of the stage of Mercerale Park. And whereas these events have fostered civic engagement, cultural enrichment, community spirit, and inclusion for residents of all ages. And whereas the city council wishes to recognize and express its sincere appreciation for Mercer Island Community Fund's continued commitment to supporting communitydriven programs and initiative. Now therefore, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Mercer Island, Washington, as follows. That the city of Mercer Island recognizes the substantial financial support, both historic and current, of the Merc fund, and for the city's park and recreation programming and the impact and support on the quality of life for all residents.

And so, council, I'll be looking for a resolution uh motion for the resolution. And so is there a motion to approve the resolution number 1683 recognizing the Mercer Island Community Funds contributions to the recreation division in the city of Mercer Island? So moved.

Okay. It was moved by council member Weinberg, seconded by Lisa Anderall. Council member Anderall, do you want to speak to the motion at all? Council member Weinberg. Uh I'll be I'll be very brief which is uh that uh we have several institutions here on the island that are absolute treasures uh and that support our uh organization support our city and support our community and the community fund is uh front and center uh among those uh and uh it's wonderful to have it and wonderful to uh keep supporting it uh from year to year. Thank you for all your efforts. Very well said. I appreciate that. All right. Any other discussion? Deputy Mayor Rosenbomb.

Yeah, I just want to say a big thanks. Um I I go to most of the music in the park every week and it's definitely a highlight of the summer and um I just want to say thank you. It's I think the work that you all do to enhance the community u is incredible. Um I think just having this opportunity to say thank you on behalf of the community is is uh I think is phenomenal. Thank you. Thank you. Great. All right, city clerk, please call the role. Could I just say um I just want to uh recognize the other board members who are here tonight. Barbara Patashnik and Kristen Shugle. So, thanks for coming. We're going to do some pictures. We're going to do some pictures after this. So,

I'm gonna probably repeat a lot of what's in the resolution and what Katie said, but essentially the the community fund focuses on bringing this community together. And in that regard, we view the parks and recck department as a critical partner because that's a lot of what they're about, too. So, it's really our pleasure that we can help support parks and rec these programs. Well, thanks again for everything. Okay, with that, please call the role. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council member Becker, I. Deputy Mayor Rosenbomb, I. Council member Androl. I. Council member Reynolds, I. Council member Weinberg, I. And Mayor Nice. I.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. All right, the motion passes and we're going to be in recess for 3 minutes. Time is 509 to take some pictures. Thank you. All right.

Okay, welcome back to the October 7, 2025 uh city council meeting. We are returning from the threeminute recess having taken some photographs and uh our next item of agenda is the city manager report for which we welcome city manager Jesse Bond.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Casey, for the screen share. Next slide, please. Uh, council, as is customary at the beginning of my report, I just give you a, uh, quick summary of the upcoming meetings. Your next meeting is Tuesday, October 21st. Uh, we have a busy month this October with uh, board and commission meetings. All of them uh, shown on your screen there or most of them I should say. Uh, for the full schedule, please visit our website. Next slide, please. I wanted to follow up on uh some work with you uh city council as I know you're continuing to field um feedback on ebikes and e- motorcycles. Uh we recently passed a new ordinance on e- motorcycle use on the island that will take effect January 1st. Uh in the meantime, other work is happening. I wanted to let you know that our staff participated in a city stakeholder group meeting uh hosted by the Association of Washington Cities uh where a number of cities around the state gathered to talk about e- motorcycles and ebikes. Uh I'm pretty proud to say that this group came together at uh the request of the city of Mercer Island. We have been out in front leading this discussion. Uh we had uh 11 cities in attendance although we've been meeting with others in small groups. Uh we are coordinating on regulations and enforcement. Uh we anticipate that uh new regulations will be adopted or in or in the process in Isiqua, Northbend, Snowquami and Seamish. And we have been talking with all those cities and reviewing uh our regulations collaboratively. Um, up next, and really importantly, is that we'd like to see uh some changes made to um state regulations that would help us regulate these vehicles on the island. And so, we were also talking

with the Association of Washington Cities uh and the partners I mentioned about what those changes might look like. Again, I'm just sharing this because I know this continues to be a a topic of conversation in our community of high concern. Uh we will be back to let's see next month the second meeting in November I believe to review uh the legislative priorities for 2026 and we will have a carveout for e motorcycle and e bikeike regulations and your legislative priorities. All right, next slide please Casey. Uh switching gears a little bit here. I wanted to give you a a heads up about uh community outreach work that is happening related to Clark and Groveland Beach parks council. You might require when we you might you might recall not require you might recall that when we adopted the parks recreation open space plan in 2022 uh that the beach park infrastructure and the overwater infrastructure was identified as a high priority for replacement. Uh this is because Clark Groveland and Luther Burbank were all built around the same time and the infrastructure is reaching the end of its useful life. We made the decision to plan uh the replacement and um to do the park planning for Clark and Groveland together. We spent the last 12 to 18 months on uh the the site analysis which is mostly an internal effort and now we have developed some new design concepts for these parks. They are going live on let's talk and we will be asking the community to share their thoughts on uh what we've proposed. This kicks off what will be a a long journey of community conversation. Uh so probably another six to nine months while we work through this plan. We work with the parks and recck commission and ultimately these

plans come to the council. I will remind you that waterfront work uh takes a a a long lead time multi-year which is why we're working on the plan now. Hope to adopt a plan next year which will set the stage for um grant applications and funding these improvements. So, when you're out and about, we encourage you uh to invite folks to look at the Let's Talk page and engage with these concepts very early in the project in the planning project. Uh we will also be out on tour at all of our upcoming events uh seeking feedback. Uh the survey to give a survey on Let's Talk is open until November 3rd. And again, we're looking for feedback on the early design concepts for both Clark and Groveland. Next slide, please. Uh switching gears again. Uh you may have noticed if you came through town center that uh we have a new traffic signal. Last week uh Sound Transit's contractor successfully turned on the new signal at 27th and 80th. Uh this is a signal that's been in the works for quite a while. It was part of the mitigation for the new Sound Transit Station. Uh you probably also uh noticed that King County crews were on site to assist with uh programming the new signal and and making sure that intersection is fully operational. Uh we are still um anytime we turn on a new signal, we know that uh takes a while for drivers to get uh in the rhythm of the new signal operation. So expect some delays while that is continued to be worked on. And we will also be looking at signal timing now that uh the new signal is live. All right, next slide please. I wanted to mention that we had a very successful mid-autumn festival last weekend. In fact, Sunday in partnership with the

Mercer Island Chinese Association. Uh we were happy to host this event again this year here at the community center. I have to tell you this is this is just a remarkable program. We had probably a thousand in attendance uh over the event. That's that's a lot of people. Um really impressive. A great day of celebration, connection, lots of uh performances, food. It was really wonderful and we want to extend our thanks to the Mercer Island Chinese Association for this partnership. It's it's a it's one of our greatest events and we are um proud to host it here at the community center. So, thank you for that. Next slide. Uh, council, October is a very busy month. So, put together a few slides just to make sure these items are on your calendar calendar and our community's calendar as well. Casey will also check uh make sure that's been sent. Saturday, October 18th, uh, from 9 to 11, the uh, police department will be at the South End Starbucks from 9 to 11 for coffee with a cop. Uh, we do this about once a quarter, sometimes a little bit more often. just a good chance for the community to stop by and talk to our police officers um about what they're seeing and experiencing and answer questions and share feedback. So, if you happen to be out and about that day, come join us. Next slide, please. Also, uh headed into what is going to be a very busy end of October. October 25th will be Arbor Day. Uh we will be at Clark Beach Park this year. This is an annual event uh where we celebrate our urban can canopy and our forest here on Mercer Island. We'll be out from 10 to 1. We do ask for folks to volunteer because we will be um doing um volunteer work at Clark Beach Park on this day.

Next slide. Also the same day, October 25th is our fall recycling event from 9 to 3. And we are back at the Mercer Island boat launch for this event. You may recall that prior to the uh King County Sewer Project, this is where we routinely held this. This is an opportunity for residents to recycle a wide range of household items, electronics, metal, mattresses. Some fees do apply for some items. We also uh partner with Mercer Island Youth and Family Services. they will be on site accepting uh monetary and gift card donations to benefit uh youth and family services. So, come on out and uh we'll be promoting all of these events. Uh but wait, there's more. One more uh trick-or-treating. This year, Halloween is on a Friday. Uh so, we have scaled back things just a bit. At the request of the businesses and town center, we are hosting the trick-or-treating on Halloween. We start just a little bit earlier so the little guys and gals can get out uh and trick-or- treat while we still have light out from 3:30 to 5:30. Uh this is a really fun event. All the businesses get involved. And I see something here about a candy tractor, so we'll have to uh see what's in store for us. That tells me maintenance is getting involved in the trickor treat. You may have been asked about the pumpkin walk. Uh the pumpkin walk is on pause this year. wasn't possible to do a pumpkin walk and town center trick-or-treating all on Halloween. Uh we will be evaluating bringing it back next year, provided we can find a partner to work with us on that. Okay, I hope all that's on your calendar. Looking forward to a busy month. Uh some shout outs here and uh a

big sigh of relief. The I90 expansion joint replacement project is finished. Uh it was a a long 16 days. Uh we acknowledge this was highly impactful espec es especially the first six days uh for our community. Uh this was a necessary project that wash had to complete uh for the integrity to ensure the integrity of I90. Uh we just want to say thank you to everybody for working together. Um, and I also want to acknowledge the staff team that were working with WASHDOT and planning for this uh very impactful event um, starting almost a year ago. So, everything's back open and uh, we hope we don't have to do that again for quite a while. Next slide, please. Oh, and hey, look at that. We're really efficient. These pictures were taken uh, an hour about an hour ago. I'm really pleased to share that this afternoon the city council and parks and recreation commission officially opened the renovated Rono Park playground. Uh that is all of you on a beautiful uh sunny afternoon. We're happy about the new equipment, the improved accessibility, um picnic amenities, and an ADA parking spot. Uh we want to thank the community for supporting this project. And I will mention that this is the first playground to open. uh with funding from the 2022 parks levy and we have another one on deck at first hill park. All right, next slide and that is all I have for you this evening. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Our next item of business is appearances which is an opportunity for anyone to speak to the city council on any item except items requiring a public hearing, any quasi judicial matters, any campaign related matters. Tonight's agenda will include in-person public appearances and remote public appearances via Zoom. Individuals wishing to address the council may do so in person or by Zoom or telephone, provided they registered with the city clerk by 4 pm today. When it's your turn to speak, could be called by name. Remarks must be addressed to the council as a whole and not to individual council or staff members. Any person making personal, impertinent, or slanderous remarks or it becomes boisterous, threatening, or personally abusive while addressing the city council may be requested to leave in the meeting. Please speak audibly. State your name and city of residence for the record. There'll be a timer on the screen. You'll have three minutes to speak. When your time is ended, I'll thank you for your comments and move to the next speaker or item of business. City clerk, please call the first speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our first speaker tonight is Addie Smith. Goodness. Can everybody hear me? Go ahead. Your time has started, Miss Smith. I'm here. One second.

Hold on. Can you come back to me? For some reason, my stuff is stuck. Hold on. Here we go. And the problem is you guys told her no that you would not arrest her. But the black lady, the black lady, me, I'm the one who situation. So, right.

That video that you just saw there is of the black woman who has gone to the Mercer Island police. uh for months talking about hate crimes that was happening to her. And these Mercer Island City Council members here before you, with the exception of the former mayor, um Benam Wong, all ignored the hate crime attacks that happened to that black woman. She went to the police. These exact same police officers. She went to these police officers came to her house to deliver at the um the restraining order from her former employers that got dismissed because they were lying about harassment from her when she was only reaching out to them, as Judge Keenan stated, asking them for help to stop the hate crime attacks. That black woman had been going to the Mercer Island Police Department for months prior to defending herself in November from a hate crime. Continued attacks on her life. And then these same police officers when she defended herself because the white woman who attacked her had a gun. These same police officers are the ones who decided to arrest the black woman. In video of the black woman defending herself, you'll see papers strewn about over the floor on the apartment in the apartment building where she lived at the elevator. Those papers were petitions for orders of protection from those white women that had gathered to assault her because she wouldn't give one white woman a um low-inccome apartment that she didn't qualify for. I'm going to post all of this on my social media. I only have a few minutes here to talk about what has happened. I'm going to post that video of those police officers.

These same police officers arrested the black woman and these city council members are covering hate crimes. It is disgusting. It is vulgar. And why should any of them be protected if they aren't going to make sure that black people are protected? Black people have a right to live wherever they want to live. But what these city council members are saying is we're going to allow hate crimes to happen in our city. We're going to allow All right. Next speaker.

Our next speaker tonight is Paul Quinn. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Paul Quinn. I live in Samish and I'm speaking to you as an individual who cares about fairness and how Mercer Island solid waste customers are charged for disposal. Right now, we charge our residents and businesses for disposal based on the size of the container being picked up. The effect of this message is to say we don't care about how much you put in or divert from the landfill. This approach is completely unfair as it charges all people based on the size of the container rather than what's in the container. And we know this is wrong as our water, gas, electricity chargers are based on what we use rather than on the size of the wires and pipe connecting us to service. I've emailed you handouts. Took me two emails to do it, but you've got them now. Handout number one shows a graphic of the trend of the monthly cost for garbage disposal for your family single family residences and it continues to go higher and higher and this year as you know King County is telling us their disposal charges passed on to residents of the city and businesses is likely going to double in coming years. What's worse in the trend line is the city doesn't really allow residences or businesses to reduce their cost for disposal by properly diverting materials for recycling and compost. In fact, in effect, people that do work hard to sort recosting don't get any benefit. They're charged just the same. And it's unfair and it can should be changed by weighing the refues each customer creates. And to begin this change, I recommend a pilot program called Smart Disposal, which will significantly improve the city's diversion rates. Smart Disposal is an

innovative initiative. It's not a company. Handout number three outlines how Smart Disposal works in some detail, and I'll now briefly describe it. Smart Disposal weighs each container picked up by the hauler at each single family residence. This system uses postcards mailed to each resident, provides data specific to the resident, and includes a landfill diversion rate per pickup and how their use of the utility compares to others in the community. I provided you handout number four to show you an example of what that would look like. And this system helps us move from a toss and forget mindset towards making better choices. But we know the feedback works because we get feedback from measurement by water, electricity, and gas because those are all metered and they help us to moderate our use. Smart disposal provides the meters our disposal utility needs. The city's current initiatives don't provide sufficient impact to improve the trends needed to reach the city's own diversion goals. We need this council to provide the urgency and leadership to drive smart disposal forward. And I recommend that you do a proof of concept to show smart disposal works. Metering and reporting to residents what we dispose of at the curb provides fairness to help us abate the increase in cost of disposal. This council should support fair pricing for our disposing facility. Thank you.

Thank you. All right.

Our next speaker is Sue Stewart. Sue Stewart, 320584th Avenue Southeast. I'm president of Friends of Luther Burbank Park. The Friends board unanimously oppose putting a shell house at Caulkins Point in Luther Burbank Park next summer 2026. We do support a shell house at Clark Beach. There are many reasons that Caulkins Point is not the appropriate place for a shell house, even something semi-permanent like a tent. Caulkins Point is a quiet place where all people can enjoy a peaceful area for picnicking or quiet contemplation. It's a place a group can reserve on a temporary basis for an event such as a wedding, but not reserve it permanently. It provides a spectacular view between two big cities that historically has been protected as a natural and unaltered place. Culin points need to stay pristine because it's priceless. Consider the critical areas ordinance. A shell tent at Caulkins increases vehicles in the park driving along the creek that flows from the community center into the wetlands. It adds people ushering boats into the waters where we already know Chinook salmon are threatened. Restoration of the beach area was built partly to provide for salmon habitat. Friends has been steadily supportive of the park. We've written support letters for the dark dock upgrade, the boiler building, and changing the tennis courts to pickle ball courts. We have kept 18

years of monthly bird counts. Park staff has historically focused the active part of the park as the center of the park and kept the passive nature park on the north and south ends. Some council members have wanted more access for water sports. We're not against that, but we are against a shell tent at Caulkins Point. Friends does support Clark Beach as the first choice and superior loca location for the rowing program. Clark Beach is the least used park on the island. It offers the calmst waters. Caulkins gets strong winds coming the full length of Lake Washington and winds caused dramatic erosion issues in the past as you probably know and simply is not conducive to shells. I met with Sarah Blouvis last Friday. She had not heard of anyone with the parks division suggesting a shell tent at Caulkins Point. This summer when I talked with the Mercer Island Rowing Club contact, she didn't give a city staff name, but mentioned POCK people as liking the location. Please don't let one user group you take over Caulkins Point.

Thank you, S. If you want to leave those comments with the city clerk, we'll make sure that the council gets a copy of them. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Our last speaker tonight is Evan Lawler.

Good evening. Evan Lawler, uh resident of Bainbridge Island. um take just a moment to acknowledge I sent uh the mayor and council uh a letter today regarding uh the proposed fee and loo policy for uh affordable housing and just say uh that as a representative of a Mercer Island property. Uh we support uh the proposed Fenloo policy study. We encourage you to engage with uh both public and private stakeholders for setting uh these fianl uh amounts and encourage you also to look again at uh MFTTE uh as a tool to encourage affordable housing on Mercer Island as it's already something that Mercer Island residents are paying for via their county assessment. So, thank you for your time. Go Mariners.

Okay. Any other public comment? All right. So, that's going to take us to the next item, which is our consent agenda. The consent agenda contains eight items which are available on the screen and in the agenda packet for review. Council, is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda as presented? So, move. Second. Okay. Moved by council member Anderol, seconded by council member Reynolds. City clerk, please call the role. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council member Weineberg. I. Deputy Mayor Rosenbomb. I. Council member Androl. Hi, Mayor Nice. Hi, Council Member Reynolds. Hi, and Council Member Becker. I Thank you, Mr.

Thank you. All right. Our first item of regular business is AB6778, naming the pickleball courts at Luther Burbank Park as the Jake Jacobson Pickleball Courts. Uh, council, there's no staff presentation on this item, and I didn't intend tonight to be a, you know, a long discussion or memorial to uh to Jake. I wanted to reserve that should the agenda item be approved. And uh we installed the sign at uh the pickleball courts. As many of you might remember when I first became mayor, we dedicated the skate park at Mercerale to a Merc resident that we had lost. He was a firefighter, both firefighter. We had lost a cancer. That was really the first park naming that I can remember in Mr. uh for quite quite a period of time. It's tonight. It's about six months since we lost our council colleague, Councilman Becker. You've been an amazing addition to the council and you've had huge shoes to fill and we all know that Jake brought a series of attributes that were uniquely Jake. You bring your own and u council I wanted to find a way to bring something to put forth while we were all the seated council that lost our colleague. Uh it's not often I can't remember any time in Mercer Island where a city council member had been lost in this way. And uh this was an opportunity to bring an agenda bill forward that uh named something in his memorial that he worked on and cared a lot about and represented his constituents in a way that only Jake could down there beating on asphalt talking to engineers about the right way to do it, the wrong way to do it, and a better way to do it. That was all Jake. And so council, I'm looking for support for this uh AB to see if we can while we're still this seated council get a sign memorializing the pickle ball courts in Jake's uh memory. Council member Andrew. Yeah, unless there's uh

discussion, I would um move that we adopt resolution number 1682 acknowledging and commending Jake Jacobson's service to the Mercer Island community by naming the pickle ball courts at Luther Burbank Park as the Jake Jacobson pickle ball courts. Okay. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Rosenbomb. Did you want to speak to the motion?

Yeah, I just I loved Jake so much. He as a colleague and a friend. Um this is a small tribute to him but he was um he was amazing man and his dedication selfless dedication to the community. He he never wanted anything um he never wanted any public accolades. He never wanted um anything except that the community be made better. And he did that over and over and over again with his actions on the council. And so I'm honored to make the motion and um I think it's a it's a small tribute but it's a wonderful one because that was something that was very important to him. Thank you for that. All right. Any other discussion? Council Mayor Reynolds.

Just a a quick question. Um you know preface it by saying you know Council Member Jacobson was was a dedicated public servant and I have great respect for him and uh that respect crosses any party or political philosophy lines. Um I I'm just curious though as I read the agenda bill why this. Can you just comment a little bit on his connection to the pickle ball courts and how you picked that?

Yeah, I mean it's it was something that brought people together and Jake was a big bring people together kind of guy. He had worked with the Merc fund to restore the Christmas tree lighting. He had given generously just from his own pocket to jumpst start community events that had been uh furled or cancelled in the wake of Prop One in 2018. Um I had always known Jake to care deeply about how this community came together around whatever it was and pickle ball is becoming that. It's uh it really is an a kind of a a tournament related sport where large groups of people get together, interact and and I think that that better than anything else I can see before me right now in MRON seems to be the sweet spot for Jake.

Thank you. Y anyone else? I'll just say that there was a lovely presentation by the Rotary uh club about the pick three-day pickle ball tournament. um that was held I think in August, maybe September, I can't remember, but um wonderful photos and videos of people just really having a blast as a community. So, I think it's wonderful. It is great. I will warn you, pickle ball and Achilles tendons, watch out. Okay, any other discussion? Not seeing any. City clerk, please call the role. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Deputy Mayor Rosenbomb. Hi. Council member Andrew. I, Council Member Reynolds, I, Council Member Becker, I, Council Member Weineberg, I, and Mayor Nice.

I, thank you, Mr. Mayor. All right, motion passes. Stay tuned for when the signage gets uh, arrives and gets installed, and we'll have an event. Our next item of regular business is AB6775, briefing on fee inl uh, of work for fee in lie of work for Town Center affordable housing. We welcome CPD director Jeff Thomas.

Thank you, mayor. Good afternoon, council. Uh, with me is Deputy Director Allison Vangor. She's going to have a short presentation. Um, this is followup from the last time we had a discussion with you earlier this year on this matter. And, uh, Allison's going to cover what we've been up to and, uh, where we are headed. So, with that, Allison, um, go ahead and fire up the PowerPoint, please.

All right. Thank you very much. Yeah, I've just got about half dozen slides here. we'll go through fairly quickly and then happy to take any questions. Um so just a little background on this item. Um one of the policies in the comp plan update from 2024 was related to fee and loo and it directed us to evaluate a program where uh payments to a local affordable housing fund can be made as an alternative to constructing required incomerestricted housing. Then the council added this to the CBD work plan last fall and uh earlier this year in June the council approved the scope of work uh for this project and we commenced work uh in late June. Um just to kind of recap how this all works. Um the town center development regulations have included inffortable housing incentives since 2016. Um this functions like a requirement for affordable units when a developer chooses to build a building above uh three stories and between 10 and 15% of the units need to be affordable and then fee and loo would be an option that could be adopted to allow some part of that affordable housing requirement to be achieved by payment of a fee in lie of meeting the requirement on site. Um the revenue from any fees that would be collected would go into a special fund, the affordable housing fund and reserved for use in construction or preservation of affordable housing units. Um as I mentioned, we did hire a consultant earlier this year and they started work in late June. They

conducted a preliminary analysis called a nexus study. Um it looked at three town center development prototypes and evaluated the connection between you know creation of new market rate housing and then like an induced need for additional affordable housing that's created through uh the buying power of those residents living in the new building. Um and from that they were able to calculate a maximum fee that could be charged for the fee in Lou. Um I did say this was a preliminary analysis. I wanted to mention also that kind of in this same timeline, we had the growth management hearings board appeal was filed early in the year and then the actual hearing was held June 30th and then the decision from the growth board was issued on August 1st. Um, and that's really kind of thrown a wrench in our plans. We uh are going to be looking at making some significant additional amendments to the comprehensive plan and development regulations to comply with that decision. Um and we're expecting those to impact the town center development regulations including the affordable housing incentives. So that will significantly affect any fee and loop program that we'd like to pursue. and the the f new option will need to be structured to align with whatever changes to development regulations come down the line related to this growth board decision. Uh we believe additional analysis is likely going to be required to look at additional development prototypes um related to those new development regulations. And we're recommending that consideration of the fee and loo policy

options should be deferred to 2026 and coordinated with that um comprehensive plan and development code amendment process so that we can ensure the the fee and option aligns with those new regulations. I've got a draft recommended motion and I can pause there for any questions from the council. Yeah, let's do that. So, council, any questions? Council member Weinberg.

Yeah. Uh, so first of all, my uh compliments to uh the staff and to the consultant for the work and uh they've done so far on working on the VNU uh design. Um, and I must admit I I read through the description of what they call an affordability gap and how they measure uh uh how they're using that and then dividing that by the square footage to come up with some kind of a meaningful figure for calculating the maximum fee in LEU. Um, I don't yet fully understand it. Um, and when we do go over this in uh Q1 uh 2026, I think for the benefit of the the council and for uh the residents and for property owners and for regional nonprofits who are advocating strongly for uh affordable housing in some cases taking people to court about it. I think it would be very clear, it'd be very helpful to have a clear definition of what this means, perhaps with a a nice infographic to explain how it's calculated. uh so that everyone realizes what we're accomplishing with a fee and new program uh and how it is helping to create or how it will help to create uh affordable housing in the region.

Council member Adel, thanks. Um yeah, thanks Allison. I may have missed this and you may have said it and it may have been covered before, but just to refresh my recollection, the fee in Lu, does that money go to uh a fund that has to build housing on Mercer Island or can it go to a fund that is then contributed to a regional housing authority where affordable housing can be built elsewhere? Council member, you ask her to stop.

Uh, Council Member Andre, the short answer to your question is, will we'll be um uh we'll be having our city attorney's office uh review and um uh provide a a clear path forward as to how that money can be used. um uh whether it's strictly on island or whether it can be a mix and match on island and off island. Uh but we will definitely be bringing information back to the council um next time we check in with you and uh we will provide uh guidance certain on that question for you.

Okay. Well, I'm actually happy to hear that that had not been answered yet. So, uh I appreciate that and next time we consider it on the merits, we'll have the answer. So, thank you. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Not seeing any other discussion. Council, is there a motion to table the work on consideration of a fee and loo option until 2026 and direct the city manager to coordinate consolidation or to coordinate consideration of a fee and option with comprehensive plan and development code amendments related to compliance with the growth management hearing board final decision and order in 2026. So moved. Second. Okay. Okay. Moved by Council Member Weinberg, seconded by Council Member Androll. City Clerk, please call the RO.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council member Reynolds, I. Deputy Mayor Rosenbal, I. Council member Weinberg, I. Mayor Nice. I, Council Member Becker, I. And Council Member Androl, I. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

All right. Motion passes. We move to other business in the planning schedule. City Manager Jesse Bond. Shall we try again? All right. And now my video won't turn on. There we go. Uh council, I did just want to mention the uh first meeting in November falls on election night. I have talked with the mayor and deputy mayor and staff. We are planning to hold the meeting that night. It will be a shorter agenda so that we can get you all out and onto your uh evening events. So uh the calendar remains. I also wanted to mention that we might need a second meeting in December. Keyword might. Notice I brought this up after you approve my performance review today. Um yeah, uh stand by on that. Uh what we would likely do if we need that second meeting is call a special meeting earlier in the month so that we can still uh finish up earlier in December. So just a couple heads up items. I'll have more information for you on that December meeting uh probably in November. That is all I have this evening.

Okay, that takes us to council member reports. Deputy Mayor Rosenbomb. Uh there's a pick meeting tomorrow night. Uh but I'd also like to wish our mayor a happy belated birthday. Oh, thank you. Uh I have nothing to report. Council member Wer's not here. Council Weinberg.

Uh yeah. So, on September 10th, the uh Sound City Association's uh pick or public uh is issues committee hosted an inerson meeting. Uh Heidi Daniel, the executive director of King County Library System, presented some options under consideration for an August 2026 ballot measure to uh renew its expiring 15-year uh levy for the library system. The presentation included three different potential levy amounts which uh uh with the service improvement or service reduction implications of each. Uh feedback from the room was rather mixed uh with more questions and answers. Frankly, uh KCLS uh King County Library System plans to follow up with a community survey to get the public's feedback as well before deciding whether and what to put on the August 26 ballot. The SEA uh executive uh director, Robert Feldstein, then uh presented on the state of the discussions between the SEA delegation and the King County uh council member Perry on whether the county should institute a ten on one10enth of 1% sales tax increase to improve unincorporated county roads and bridges and uh improve metro safety. And while the discussion again acknowledged the legitimate need for safety and maintenance, it also acknowledged concerns over voter fatigue with additional taxes. So the sea delegation king and county me county council member Perry will continue to engage and seek a path forward. All right. On September 18th, Sound Transit hosted an in-person joint meeting of the regional transportation boards. Uh uh Sound Transit CEO Constantine gave a brief summary of the seven new light rail stations opening in the coming year, including ours. Uh Metro Transit uh general manager Michelle Allison gave us

a briefing of the two new rapid ride lines and she also mentioned that the east side bus routes will be changing to act as feeder lines to the light rail once it opens. And the vast majority of the meeting was spent talking about uh the FIFA organizing committee and Sound Transit and Metro and the Port of Seattle on their collective efforts to meet the transportation needs of the 2026 World Cup matches. uh have lots of stats about that but for the sake of time I won't uh dive into all the details there but uh suffice it to say that we uh already know that at least one of the games that's going to be played in Seattle is going to involve the US national team and if that happens on either of the games uh that we're hosting on the week of Independence Day it could get to be shall we say quite energetic u and KC uh K4C outreach committee on October 3rd urged uh the King County City's Climate Collaboration or K4C met to discuss and compare notes on our respective climate action efforts. There will be an in-person all electeds meeting that you'll all be invited to on October 24th uh on the 13th floor of the King County Shinook building to discuss with King County Executive Bradock and State Representative Fitz Gibbons on how cities can better anticipate and leverage the grant opportunities coming from the climate commitment act carbon auctions. And I also have a follow-up item uh with uh a council member from Isaqua regarding uh comparing notes on how to uh make plans for a large new public facility like what we're doing uh in the bond measure. And finally, my next open brunch is going to be at 11:00 a.m. this Saturday on the excuse me, next the following Saturday, the 18th at Crawlspace Restaurant. Address is 304178th Avenue Southeast. I think we all know where it is. As always, everyone's welcome. Open agenda, new

sports, weather, humor, even stuff about the city. All I ask is that everyone please show their respects to the chef by ordering some food and beverage and let me know if you're coming so I can reserve a large enough table. That's it. Okay, Council Reynolds, just a couple quick things. one I wanted to I attended the same K4C meeting that council member Weineberg attended and in particular the the discussions there we had about grant opportunities for community solar were very inspiring and I imagine we'll be bringing some stuff back to the council to discuss later on that for some opportunities uh but then I wanted to note that the meeting on November 7th the first one in November I will be absent for reasons unrelated to the election okay council member nothing this week

and council member Becker. Nothing to report. Okay. The next regularly scheduled hybrid seat counties. Would you like to ask for a motion to excuse council member Wer's absence? Yes. So move. Any second? All right. Moved by council member. Seconded by deputy mayor Rosenbomb. City clerk. Please call the role. Council member Androl. I. Council member Weinberg. I. Council member Reynolds. Hi. Council member Becker. Hi. Mayor Nice. Hi. And deputy mayor Rosen. Hi. Thank you. Okay. Okay, with that, the next regularly scheduled hybrid city council meeting will be on Tuesday, October 21, beginning at 5:00 p.m. The time is now 5:56 p.m. As a reminder to council, please stay seated until the staff is determined to the broadcast. Good evening. Thanks for joining us tonight.