City Council - Regular Meeting

Well, good evening. It's Thursday, June 18th. I'm going to call this session of the Ridgefield City Council to order. Would you please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councillor Ryan Davis?

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. Okay. Ms. Julie, would you please call a roll?

Council Member Davis? Present. Council Member Fevella? Here. Council Member Wells? Here. Council Member Burkle?

Here.

Council Member Hamilton? Here. Mayor Barton Chipman? Here. Mayor Cole?

Here. Thank you very much. Mr. Stewart, are there any late changes to the agenda tonight? No late changes, Mayor. All right. We're going to move on. We have a proclamation this evening. Looking forward to this one. This is America 250 Commemoration and Independence Day. And in the audience we have tonight Shelly and Christina and Sandy from our July 4th committee. And they're their co-chairs. And we're glad to have you here for this as well. So I'm going to read it and then we'll present it to you. We'll do a little photo op and then let you guys say something. All right. Okay. The proclamation reads, whereas on July 4th, 2026, the United States of America will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and whereas the Declaration of Independence is the founding document of the United States, formally announcing the colony's separation from Great Britain and asserting that all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, And whereas this milestone provides an opportunity to focus on our nation's history, honor the contributions of all Americans, and reaffirm the democratic ideals that define the United States and look ahead to the future generations who will carry forward the ideals of democracy and individual liberty. And whereas preserving, studying, celebrating, and appreciating our shared history helps strengthen the Ridgefield community as we work together toward the ideals of liberty and equality, and we honor our own rich cultural heritage. And whereas the Ridgefield Fourth of July celebration will be filled with parades, live entertainment, delicious food, and unforgettable community moments that are all planned and coordinated by the Ridgefield Fourth nonprofit organization whose mission is to, quote, to unite the Ridgefield community by hosting a vibrant 4th of July celebration, fostering joy, connection, and traditions that honor the spirit of independence. Now, therefore, I, Matt Colmer, the city of Ridgefield, Washington, do hereby proclaim the month of July 2026 as America's 250th anniversary, and I encourage all residents to reflect on how national and local history connects us all and to participate in the celebration of America 250 and Independence Day, dated this 18th day of June, 2026. Thank you. You guys can come forward, and I'll hand this to you. Got to figure out a way around it, yeah.

There you are.

Thank you so much. Stand up here, it's fine. You guys want to scoot in?

Got it? Thank you.

Please do. So I'm Sandy Schill, been the festival director for the 4th of July for 18 years. This will be my 19th year. It's been wonderful putting this event on for the city. It's something that's been going on for almost, or we say 100 years, because we look back on documentation. And it's been an all-volunteer. a committee that's put this on for the community for 100 years. I can find pictures back to 75 years, but maybe the cameras just weren't out before that. There was a little break during a war, but it's always held steady because of the community engagement And that's what it's always been for. And we appreciate the city of Ridgefield, um, as our host, because you, you know, the city does so much to make this help us make this event happen. Um, we recognize, you know, the United States is 250 years celebrating our anniversary. Ridgefield is 117 years. And I think we have persevered through those 117 years as the United States has persevered. And we hope we'll look forward to the day that Ridgefield celebrates 250 years. But in the meantime, we're going to keep holding this festival as many years as we possibly can. And hopefully, it'll continue to be a volunteer event. Thank you.

Thank you so much. All right. We're thrilled to have the committee here. It really is a great thing to have in our city. So thank you for all the work you all do. It is now time for a public comment. So anyone wishing to address City Council regarding items not subject to a specific public hearing may come forward at this time to the podium or use the raise hand feature located at the toolbar at the bottom of your Zoom screen. For controls over the phone, press star nine for raise hand and press star six to mute or unmute. Please state your name and limit your comments to three minutes. And as a reminder, there's no back and forth between speakers and the council. Mr. Jennings.

My name is Michael Jennings. The... There's been a discussion about the situation of the port building a tall building on the floodplain. And if there are serious problems, it seems that the port authorities could face a court case to see if they should go to prison. because they know that they are building on an unstable location. So that's what I have to say. And thank you for all the good work that you guys do.

Thank you.

I'm Nancy Fagan, a Ridgefield resident. As you may have heard, there was a community meeting with the port last night concerning the waterfront development. And I recognize a couple of you that were there. And you got to witness in person the emotion and the frustration. We were told that phase one of the plan was non-negotiable, yet they would not tell us why it was not negotiable. Their PR blitz is focused on, look how good we are and how generous we are, without fully showing what they plan to do. Their lack of transparency is causing feelings of distrust of our elected officials. You are also our elected officials. I'm here tonight to urge you that when you as a body are brought into this process to push the port for transparency, question them at every turn, force them to address the very valid concerns being raised by the community. Community members did not just show up to that meeting last night and say, we don't like the plan. They had done their research and came armed with facts and documents. And to have those facts and concerns listed as a bullet point on an oversized Post-it note just didn't cut it. I want to thank you guys for your time, for coming and listening, and for your support, especially in the future as this keeps going. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Fagan.

Hi there, I'm Jan Hague. And I also was there last night. And I've been here before, too, even though I'm a county resident. So sorry, I can't vote for you. A couple of things that I'm disturbed about is if they're putting residential down there, and there's 500 residents, and they all just take one trip a day, that is 1,000 cars. there at Maine, and Pioneer. I feel like the port was given one shiny box that was gonna be lucrative to them, and they just became blinded to everything that was being said to them. Where else can we put the marina? It's gotta be on the water. Where else can we put the refuge? It's been there for years. Where else can we put apartments? We have other places for those. One of the commissioners even said to me last night when I went up and shook all of their hands, I don't want residential there. We have one opportunity to do this right. And if they're not going to do it on their end, I hope you guys see the cracks and crevices that are being built by the community being upset about what is going on. and being able to stop it. I thank you for your time.

Thank you.

I'm Troy McKay, a resident, long-time resident of Ridgefield. I was also at the meeting last night. I will say it wasn't much of a meeting having a PR group stand there in front of us instead of actually getting to talk to our Poor commissioners. It was kind of not very liked by the community, I take it. I'm here tonight to ask for your support. City Council has helped many times in stopping some pretty outrageous projects that were going to happen down there between the storage units, gas stations that didn't need to belong in different places. We really need your support and know where you guys stand. So hopefully you guys will come out with something that'll support the community and let us know where you're at. That's all I'd like to say. Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm Gail Alexander. I was here three weeks ago. Um, and I, I, I just realized asked, Please, to the council, please help the community. The community has really stepped out, come together, asking for help on this whole issue of losing a unique green space that our community loves and wants. We don't want housing. We don't want hotels. There was something I reminded the group last night of that I thought of since I spoke to you three weeks ago. And that is, in 2008 or 9, our past Mayor Don Stoes was present. The port came to you to ask for a code change so that storage units could be put on the waterfront. They didn't engage with the community on that. But the word got out to the community. And we all showed up in mass. And we testified like we're doing now. And you voted no on the storage unit. And to me, it was just when I remembered those years and how you really stepped forward to help the community. Because storage units aren't going to serve the community. on the waterfront. So I'm just asking you to remember that. And for those of you who weren't here, to maybe read back. Julie's going to help us access the public records on that. And indeed, two years after that, the port came forward again to city council to try to push those storage units through. We weren't engaged, but we heard about it. We showed up. We testified. And you said no. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm really nervous. My name is Hillary Wheeler. My husband and I moved to Ridgefield in 2015. We picked Ridgefield because of its uniqueness. Where else do you have a town that is magically intertwined with nature and has a vibrant, active community? The people of Ridgefield love Ridgefield, and it shows. I made it my goal not just to live here but also be involved. I have integrated with various organizations and have been a loyal patron of our businesses and city events for the past 10 years. I take pride in our town and I want it to thrive. Mayor Cole, there is value in your pursuit of a complete community. I love our Costco. However, I feel and I have wondered if our leadership still carries the voice of our community or is instead valuing economic growth over our well-being. We need balance, and I think you know where I'm now going, the waterfront. I would like to share my experience from last night's port meeting. I came prepared at the port's request to share ideas of what that space could look like. It felt like finally they were ready to take a pause and consider the community's wishes. Instead, I was extremely disappointed to find a space that was again too small to hold the community. During the port's presentation, they shared that phase one is apparently non-negotiable. It felt like a waste of my time to have prepared that statement. I believe at this time the port has not provided this community with any documentation or agreement that binds us to phase one or palindrome. This leads the community to believe that the port's summer of engagement is a farce, just another PR stunt to save face while they do what they want. They seem unwilling to have open dialogue to address our concerns. I would like to share with you some of what I shared last night. This is not a new versus old Ridgefield issue. This is a community as a whole telling you, pleading with you to reconsider these plans. The community desires open space, usable trails for bikes and activities, which are not allowed in the refuge. Rentable community spaces like park shelters or a large space for events. We want an expanded and improved boat launch and that destination-worthy accessible kayak launch that they talk about. Those two can coexist with careful planning. Please help us shape a community space that is for our community, not one that is only sustainable if you have to build 250 apartments to support it. Our fellow community members reinforced my statement last night by reciting the state RCW on the port's economic requirement. The state does not specify the scope or scale of that requirement. Even Ethan in his presentation stated that their funds must be reinvested into our community. I think that people would really like to see the port and the city partner together to create a truly unique community space that the people of Ridgefield desire. What an opportunity to leave a legacy that Ridgefield can be proud of.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Suki, and I am a longtime Ridgefield resident. I am actually here for two reasons today. First, like many of my peers, I am here to advocate for the preservation of our sacred waterfront. I know that some of the council members were present at last night's meeting. I, for one was disappointed as I felt like there was some misleading information in the ports presentation. Specific concerns revolve around their survey that they circulated in 2022, which appeared to be designed for results that would reflect the ports vision under the guise of community input. Once again, it felt like we were in a room with people who have already already made a decision for us. I would like to encourage and to request your help with the planning of the development of the waterfront. I'm doing my best to educate myself on both the city and the port's responsibilities in this process by attending as many meetings and asking as many questions as possible. We have heard and understand that the city and the port are separate. However, we also know that the city will be involved in this process. One thing that comes to mind for me is maintaining the infrastructure that will inevitably be required to support such a high density plan. Interestingly, we heard last night that the city has intervened in port plans previously. Last night I shared that I was attending the ports meeting because I care deeply about preserving the natural setting, protecting our wildlife, and maintaining that feeling we get of peace and respite from all of the other development in the rest of the city. This is an opportunity to work together to responsibly develop this space and to ensure that the community's quality of life is improved and preserved. I'm also here tonight asking for your help with a crosswalk light request that I submitted to the city on January 31st, 2025. I use the crosswalk on pioneer and fifth daily, and it's becoming increasingly more dangerous. Unfortunately, crosswalk options on pioneer are limited and visibility is a huge issue at this particular intersection. It is a rare occasion that I do not have to wait for several cars to pass by me before I'm safely able to cross. Closed parking spots to the crosswalk make it even more difficult for pedestrians to be seen. I have to walk with my four-year-old son into the crosswalk before we can safely cross. I have called the city on several occasions to check on the status of my requests. And approximately eight months ago, it was changed from submitted to received. It took another phone call to move from received to in progress. And that was approximately five months ago when my request was allegedly escalated. I did have the opportunity to voice my concerns with a few of you, and one council member was able to help me look into this issue. It's my understanding that both crosswalk and downtown parking options are being explored, but this should have been addressed a long time ago, especially with the high congestion during school hours. Elementary school children and preschoolers cross that crosswalk every single day. I'm concerned that it's going to take a tragedy for something to be done. I would love the opportunity to speak outside of this meeting to problem solve and to ensure the safety of all. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Hello. My name is Robin Knight. I'm a Ridgefield resident. I want to share some of what I shared last night as well, um, with an extra minute to talk. I spent some time listening to what community residents and business owners want to see at the waterfront. I think there are those out there who would like us to believe that there is a silent majority who is in love with the ports development plan and maybe even thinks it doesn't go far enough. But that hasn't been my experience out in the community over the last several months. I've met one person who was in favor of it because they believe more development will raise their property values and because they think there should be more to do downtown. Another person said they'd like an airport there, but I don't know if they were serious or just making a Yellowstone joke. Most of the people I have talked with are not in favor of development, but those who are and those who concede that we may have to have some development are in favor of low scale landscape enhancing development. So I decided to start looking into the particulars of what that could mean from a planning and architectural perspective. And what I found is that that would mean buildings that are primarily one to two stories high. That's roughly 15 to 35 feet tall. Large open corridors between structures, often 50 to 150 feet or more. Building footprints that cover less than 20% to 30% of the site. with a majority remaining open space, habitat, trails, and public gathering areas. That would be development that feels secondary to the landscape, rather than a landscape that exists as a backdrop for the development. I also want to acknowledge that the waterfront land sits in the ancestral territory of the Chinook Nation. The Kathalpoto Village, one of the largest Chinookan settlements in the Pacific Northwest, was less than a mile from where we were sitting last night. That history, I feel, deserves a visible and meaningful place in the future of the waterfront. I understand the port feels a responsibility to promote economic development and to help replace jobs that once existed there. But I also believe the port and the city have an obligation to listen carefully to the community that you both serve. Economic value is important, but it is not the only kind of value. There is also immense value in land that remains accessible, scenic, and connected to its history and its community. I hope that the port and the city will consider not only economic return on the significant public investment that supported the remediation efforts, but also the value that us residents place on open space, public access, protecting and preserving wildlife habitat, cultural heritage, and quality of life. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Stone. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to give public comment tonight? Ms. Julie, anybody online?

Not seeing anyone online.

OK, great. We are going to close public comment for the evening and move on with our consent agenda. Council, I would accept a motion.

I move to approve the consent agenda as presented.

I'll second.

Okay, it's been moved by Buerkle, seconded by Chipman to approve the consent agenda as presented. Council, any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Thank you, Council Member Kerries. And we're going to move on to our business portion of the evening. Our first item of business this evening is the first reading of ordinance number 1483. This is a stormwater management code update presented by our public works director, Ryan Dahmer. Over to you, sir.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Tonight, we're going to be discussing the stormwater program update. About three years ago or so, we started a conversation about the new stormwater permit that the city was going to be under. And approximately a year and a half ago, those new requirements hit us, and we had to start implementation. And so since then, we've grown the program significantly and have brought on new staff to meet those requirements. And one of those staff members is sitting with me here tonight. This is his first time presenting to this council. This is our stormwater program supervisor, Sean Milderig. And, uh, he's going to present, uh, about the updates to our program and a new title 19 or the stormwater code adoption.

Okay. Thank you for the introduction, Ryan. Um, first I want to start off by saying good evening to mayor city council members of the public. Tonight, I'll be providing an update of the Ridgefield Stormwater Management Program and presenting the proposed Title 19 stormwater code updates that are needed to support compliance with our state municipal stormwater permit. So first, I'll provide a brief overview of the MS4 permit, discuss our progress implementing our stormwater management program, review some of the upcoming permit requirements, and then walk through the proposed Title 19 code updates. So the municipal stormwater permit, or more commonly known as the MS4 permit, is a federal Clean Water Act requirement administered by the Washington State Department of Ecology. The permit regulates how cities manage stormwater runoff to protect water quality, reduce pollution, and control runoff impacts. As a permittee, the City of Ridgefield is required to implement a comprehensive stormwater management program plan and demonstrate ongoing compliance with the MS4 permit. The City of Ridgefield became a regulated permittee on August 1st, 2024. We're currently in our first five-year permit cycle, which runs through March, 2029. Ecology recognizes that new permittees need time to build their program and they've embedded this into the permit itself. So many of the requirements are being phased in throughout that first cycle. Many of which I've shown in this graphic, but I'll dive into that a little bit deeper into the next few slides. So the MS4 permit requires the city to maintain an annually submitted stormwater management program plan, or more commonly known as SWMP. The SWMP serves as the city's roadmap for implementing and tracking permit requirements. It consists of eight major program elements covering topics such as planning, education and outreach, public involvement, mapping, spills and illicit discharge response, controlling runoff from an engineering and design standpoint, as well as throughout construction, source control for industrial and commercial businesses, as well as operations and maintenance. So since becoming a permittee in 2024, we've made significant progress in our program. like Ryan alluded to earlier. We established a dedicated stormwater permit staff, including myself, and a stormwater technician. We've developed and submitted our annual SWMP plan to Ecology, expanded our stormwater mapping and public outreach efforts, and strengthened our inspection programs for erosion control, illicit discharges, catch basins, and private stormwater facilities. We've also implemented improved tracking and documentation systems that are necessary to demonstrate permit compliance to ecology. So looking ahead, we still have several major permit requirements to remain for this current five-year cycle. Some of these include developing and implementing the source control inspection program, developing a Ridgefield-specific illicit discharge manual and training program, creating a stormwater tree canopy inventory and policy, developing an operations yard stormwater pollution prevention plan, or more commonly known as a SWPPP, and adopting the 2024 stormwater manual design standards. Moving forward, this proposed Title 19 will help provide the necessary framework to support many of these upcoming requirements. So now pivoting to the proposed code changes themselves, Title 19 creates a unified stormwater management framework within the municipal code. It consolidates stormwater related requirements, aligns the code with the MS4 permit, supports future program growth, and creates consistency with existing development and enforcement chapters. The graphic here shows the proposed Title 19 framework broken into two adoption phases. Phase one is this year, followed by phase two in the first half of next year. So now moving on to the specific proposed chapters. Chapter 19.1 establishes the foundation for the entire Title 19. It defines applicability in key terms, provides a mechanism for future stormwater manual adoptions, establishes inspection authority and record retention requirements, and creates the legal framework necessary to administer the city's stormwater program. The proposed Chapter 19.40 addresses source control, which focuses on preventing pollutants from entering the stormwater system in the first place. The regulations would primarily apply to commercial, industrial, and multifamily properties and authorize the implementation of operational and structural best management practices as needed. Consistent with ecology guidance, the program emphasizes education and technical assistance and voluntary compliance far before enforcement actions are even considered. The proposed Chapter 19.5 would replace the city's existing illicit discharge code, Chapter 13.8. It maintains the same prohibition of non-stormwater discharges to the MS4 while expanding protections to surface waters and groundwater. It also updates pollutant definitions, addresses PCB-related requirements for certain older commercial buildings, and establishes investigation and response procedures that are specifically required by the MS4 permit. The proposed chapter 19.7 would replace the city's existing erosion control code, chapter 18.755, and align it with current ecology standards. Like the existing erosion control code, it would still apply to land disturbing activities, but strengthen protections for the city's stormwater infrastructure and receiving waters. The new chapter 19.7 also clarifies authority related to inspections, maintenance requirements, and corrective actions when erosion control measures are not functioning properly and are deficient. So in addition to these four new Title 19 chapters we covered, a couple of housekeeping amendments are also proposed. These amendments are to non-Title 19 chapters that would ensure that Title 19 is properly incorporated into the city's development regulations, which is Title 18 and the enforcement framework in Title 20. And then also because the new Title 19 incorporates updates to existing requirements that are already in place, Chapter 13.8 related to illicit discharges and Chapter 18.755 related to erosion control will be repealed to eliminate duplicate code and to maintain a clear regulatory structure throughout the Ridgefield Municipal Code. So lastly, proposed violations of Title 19 would be subject to penalties established in the city's master fee schedule. And until it's updated next, violations of Title 19 would follow the existing illicit discharge penalty reference of $500 for the first violation, $1,000 for the second, and then $2,000 for the third and any subsequent violations. And then I would also like to once again emphasize that the city's approach is always going to be education first, provide technical assistance and voluntary compliance. Those are always pursued before enforcement actions are taken or even considered. So that concludes our presentation. I'm going to turn it back over to you, Mayor. And thank you. And if you have any questions or the city council has any questions, We're welcome to it.

Thank you, Sean. We do appreciate it. Good information. Council, we'll go into Q&A for staff right now. Councilor Burke, it looks like you want to have the first question.

Thank you, Mayor. Just a question. Have we had or do we have any illicit discharge problems in our city?

Yeah, I don't think that we particularly have any problems problems that are specific to Ridgefield that I've seen from my experience working for other jurisdictions. I mean, for the most part, they're pretty similar everywhere. You have, you know, leaky vehicles that don't get maintained properly. You have sometimes sediment discharges off of construction sites. Yeah, sometimes improperly stored chemicals, that kind of thing, those kind of things.

Thank you. Yeah. Councilor Wells, question? Not right now. OK. Councilor Hamilton.

Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Good job on your first one. Thank you. You did a nice job. So just breaking this down for the public and for us, what's the biggest change that we're going to see as a city implementing Title 19? As an expert in your field, how is this great, the biggest change happening?

So from my experience working for other jurisdictions, a lot of stormwater management code is scattered throughout the municipal code, and it's very difficult to track because usually you have erosion control living in one side, you have illicit discharges, and then you have development code all scattered throughout. This kind of organizes that into a clean package. It's really easy to follow, and it's also really easy to build upon as we're building out our program. Um, I think that the largest change in my presentation or what this phase incorporates is the source control code. Um, that's bringing in an entirely new element to our stormwater program. Um, and that's, that does involve inspecting businesses, uh, for basically their potential to input pollution into our stormwater system or receiving waters.

And could that impact fees overall for businesses? Is that something that they need to keep in mind if they might be someone that's teetering that line?

Can you repeat that again?

Sorry. Are there any anticipated costs that are going to happen for businesses in that arena?

potentially but potentially um i think that you know we we have we're obviously taking the education first approach that other places take as well um but yeah there's going to be a lot of quote-unquote hand-holding especially with this being a new regulation and a lot of opportunity and chances for them to comply i think that Yeah, it probably wouldn't have too big of a financial impact at first. And the businesses that are on that inspection inventory would be given a heads up as well. Yes.

I also want to add that about two years ago, I believe, the county had reached out to us about helping us with this program. and we discussed it as a city and as council, and it was determined that we wanted to keep this program in-house done by Ridgefield staff, kind of the Ridgefield way. And so that's what we're proposing here is to bring that in-house and do that our way, the Ridgefield way.

That's excellent context. Thank you.

Mayor Potem, questions? No, I'm good.

OK, Councillor Fevella. No, it's only businesses.

Sorry, the side conversation we were having is that this is not all businesses in Ridgefield that are affected by it. It's a subset of businesses. So I just wanted to have staff kind of explain that a little bit, that this is not all businesses. It's a subset of them, and the inspection cycle is also infrequent.

I appreciate that. That was a point that I was hoping would be made.

I can touch on that a little bit more. So I also will clarify, I didn't have time to go into super deep detail about the program itself. Adopting the code for source control is the first step for building the program. Next year, we'll be developing the business inventory. I ran the numbers. the preliminary numbers. And we have about 113 businesses that qualify as being inspectable. And within those businesses, they're the ones that have the potential to generate pollution. So you're not going to see, you know, what's a good example of a business? Yeah, like a real estate office or retail stores, for that matter, like on that inventory. You're going to have more like restaurants, automotive, Restaurants because of the grease bins outside. And then, yeah, other businesses that have the potential to generate pollution.

Great. Thank you for the clarification.

Oh, and then January 1st, 2028 is when we need to roll out the routine inspection program.

Thank you. Uh, counselor.

Yeah. Thank you. Are there going to be any budget or staffing implications that are going to come from this that we're not already planning for or haven't already planned for?

Uh, so as of right now, um, the stormwater permit staff encompasses myself and, um, a stormwater technician. Um, we, So there's multiple inspection programs within the stormwater program. It's still unclear at this time how much of a time need is going to be required for the source control inspections. But the permit requirement, the bare minimum, is doing 20% of that inventory annually. And so usually that comes with at least a routine inspection and then follow up inspection as well. And then obviously the education and technical assistance that comes with it. So we need to do some number crunching, but I believe that was also incorporated into that original gap analysis that was done. So Ryan, you want to touch on that at all?

So in the immediate future, the next one to two years, that work will be incorporated in the staff that we currently have. In the stormwater program audit that we did a few years ago, it does say that around 2028, 2029, we need to assess the need for potentially another employee. But it would really be based on numbers and the time that we were seeing as we grew the program. Councillor Davis.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. I guess piggybacking on Councillor Hamilton's, I guess, line of curiosity and questioning. So I also am curious about approaching some of these businesses about possible stormwater issues. And I appreciate the fact that we are going to be doing that in-house and leaning, I guess, on our reputation as being willing to work with people and education and things like that. But at the end of the day, I'm assuming that we still have to align with ecology's standards and definitions and everything else. So if we go to an established commercial building, and we do the inspection and we're talking to them and working with them and everything else, but we identify things and this building's maybe been there for 20 years, right? I guess I'm curious what then the next step looks like. If we identify something, is it okay, building owner, you get to make this improvement, we're gonna expect you to make this improvement or is it, You know, the city is going to be able to maybe apply for grant money or something like that to offer some of these improvements. Um, you know, I'm looking at that 2nd, the last slide with the compliance and enforcement 1st violation, 500 bucks, 2nd violation, 1000 bucks. At least that's what we have in place right now. It feels like. Yes, I want to lean into our culture and our team and everything else, but it seems like after that first step, it might get a little messy. And so I'm hoping to be able to gain a little bit of understanding of what those next steps might actually look like in practice.

So that first step being education and technical assistance?

Yeah, the first step being making that contact, right? I totally believe in our team's ability to go in there and work with these property owners and say, this is what the program's about. This is how we're going to do it, and not have that be adversarial. I'm just saying, if all of a sudden something's identified, what does it look like from there, especially if there's a cost piece?

So I think it's working with the business, understanding not only the problem at hand with whatever source control issue they're dealing with, but also understanding the financial situation, understanding what's realistic within a given timeline, and then working with that business. Ecology doesn't necessarily demand that you need to take action at a certain time. They want you to set that program parameter on your own and then abide by it. So it's whatever kind of level of service that we define. But yeah, normally it'd be just, hey, you got this issue. What do we need or in your eyes? What do you guys need in order to get into compliance whether that takes?

Six months or three years, but as long as we're working towards that Okay, all right I also want to add that Currently illicit discharges are a violation of our code right now we don't have the program in place to provide the technical assistance and So it typically gets elevated to code enforcement. So having this program in place will allow us to go in ahead of time, hopefully find issues before there are major issues and before there are actual illicit discharges. A lot of the issues we'll find in this program are going to be things that could lead to an illicit discharge. might be something that's been spilled on the ground but has not made it to the drain yet. And so we want to work with the businesses to prevent it from that chemical or substance from mixing with the water and polluting the water. So if we can avoid that, it will be a benefit to the city and to the business.

In other places, source control programs are often called good housekeeping. So most of these non-compliance issues are pretty easily resolved. And a lot of times, they're actually They're more than just stormwater. It's a public health issue. I mean, common ones. I've actually done source control inspections for the city of San Diego, as well as the city of Bend. And a lot of them are overflowing grease bins. You can smell them 20 feet away, or uncovered hazardous materials and that kind of stuff. So a lot of them is just picking up stuff that really shouldn't be outside anyways and cleaning it up. That's, I would say, like 95% of the violations or the noncompliance issues that you run into. And just from working for the city of Richfield for a year and a half now, Richfield's a pretty clean place for the most part. So like, yeah, it's... It's not as difficult here, I don't think.

Yeah, and I guess the scenario that was going through my head is a little bit more like in the minority, right? I'm thinking about, you know, we have some like mechanical places right across from Public Works, right? They deal with, you know, liquids that, you know, would definitely, if something went sideways, it could be a bad deal, right? And so I'm envisioning, okay, what's a conversation with them? Essentially being like, enforcement mechanism for the Department of Ecology like that's sort of like what I have in my head after our first touch and that's what makes me very curious about what that looks like but I you've answered a lot of the questions already so I think I'm good for now great thanks and I think mr. Thamer at you answered

One of the questions I had about why we need this, because it provides the training and the education support, right? And so we had code in place for enforceability before that. So a couple of questions just to kind of piggyback on that, too, is so and I'm just not I'm not sure if I fully understand, but this is is this a required requirement? Is MS4 permit required or is it something that we're voluntarily enacting because it provides the program that we need that's like the missing component?

So the permit is required. It's Washington's answer to the Clean Water Act.

Okay.

And so it's, Most of the components of Washington's permit are actually enacted nationwide. Washington has a few differences, but for the most part, it is a nationwide requirement. And source control is just part of that bigger permit.

Right. So I'm, I'm curious a little bit what the background is here because the clean water act has been around since like the nineties or something like that. And now we're, um, you know, we didn't start pursuing this until a couple of years ago. Was there, was there a legislative change or something that prompted this or like, what, what was the onus that kind of like kicked this whole thing off for you all?

So in, in Washington, there's two, um, there's two levels of permittees. There's the phase one permittees, which are very large cities. And then there's phase two cities. Phase two, there's basically no required compliance with permits up until you have 10,000 residents. So that was our trigger is when we got over 10,000 residents. And it's every five years they assess cities. So even though we've had 10,000 residents for a while, when it was last assessed, I believe it was in 19, 18 or 19, we were just under that 10,000 threshold. But now coming up to the 2024 permit cycle, we were well into the over the 10,000.

Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. Thank you for clarifying. Councillor Wells, you had a couple of questions.

Yeah, I've got one. The main question I have is grandfathering. As the new rules that have come in and where I'm coming from is like Dollar Tree, UNFI, and then they've all had stormwater facilities in. which they are maintaining. Are they gonna have to upgrade those? Are they existing in compliance with what they have?

So when it comes to the stormwater treatment and detention facilities, they are grandfathered. They were approved under different stormwater requirements. So going forward, We will be inspecting and we will be working with the property owners to keep them in compliance. But we have a lot more wiggle room, I guess. We have a lot more flexibility in how we work with them. And we're not requiring them to upgrade anything. It would just be to keep them operating as they were originally designed. New businesses, or not businesses, new stormwater facilities would be required to stay in compliance, and if they fell out of compliance, they would need to be brought back into standards. That is going to be part of the next stormwater code that'll be next year, though, implementing all of that.

Department of Ecology has stormwater compliances that are good for five years. After five years, they expire, and then you have to resubmit again for the same facility. So I guess that is one of my concerns is that new, when you fall under the new rules, but you got an old facility, but it's a new permit. So I guess there's a gray area there that's, you probably don't have the answer to and having to come in and out with an answer from them.

Um, so I believe you're referring to the industrial permit, which is, And correct me if I'm wrong, I might be. But a lot of these large industrial or distribution centers have their own permit with the Department of Ecology, which covers basically everything on their site, including their stormwater facilities. I know that they have to, I believe it also follows a five-year permit term, and so they probably have to resubmit. I don't know. I don't know that permit in depth really well, but I don't believe that they have to update their stormwater facility to new standards. That would be news to me.

OK. That's something we can check into.

Yeah, we can look into that and get back to you.

I'm a little more knowledgeable. OK, thank you.

Other questions? Other questions, council? All right, I just have one last one on the fee schedule. So is the fee schedule with the violations, the illicit discharge violations, is that like part of the Title 19, like they give it to you or is that, did we come up with the fee schedule? And then the second question is if it's our fee schedule, is that consistent with our other fees schedule, you know, our fee schedules and compliance regulations that we have?

So yeah, that fee schedule associated with illicit discharges is already embedded into our master fee schedule. OK. And so this is basically, it's a little confusing the language, but it's basically saying that up until the master fee schedule gets amended the next time, that we are using that existing illicit discharge fee schedule, or fee. Yeah, basically those fees, that fee schedule for illicit discharges. Okay. Yeah.

Okay, great. Thank you for the clarification.

It just keeps us from having to amend the master fee schedule mid-cycle. That makes sense.

Okay, last round for questions. Councilor Wells, you have one?

Yeah. The one I have is it'll be related to farming and farming practices and stormwater requirements and for fees and that we may be having a bit a ordinance change. I had a conversation with an individual, maybe Mr. Stewart could turn around and add something to that or whatever so that it isn't overzealous, I guess is the word I'm trying to say, or complies more with what the county has or county requires. I'm just making that comment so that you can be abreast of it and maybe look into it. Mr. Stewart.

What Councilor Wells is speaking to is there was a question from a newly annexed resident that has an agricultural operation and the stormwater fees that they pay. Clark County has an exemption for stormwater fees for agricultural activities. And so that's something that we're looking at as to whether we would want to bring that before council as a code amendment to allow stormwater fee exemptions for agricultural activity. So I think that's what Councilor Wells is speaking to.

Definitely.

Thank you. Great.

Councilor Buerkle.

Thank you, Mayor. Just one question. Where do the fees go to? Who receives those fees in the event of an issue?

Any fees that would be charged and collected would go into the general fund and or the storm fund. It depends on what the fee is related to. Then it goes in and then it's helped to manage whatever activities arose out of that.

So they stay in the city. They don't go to the state.

That is correct.

Thank you.

Great. Thank you, counselors. It looks like no more questions for staff at this point. No comments either. So with that, I want to thank you both for coming today. This was great. It's really helpful. I'm going to ask Mr. Lee to please read the ordinance into the record.

Thank you, Mayor. Ordinance number 1483, Ordinance of the City of Richmond, Washington. repealing Chapter 13.80 and 18.755, amending Title 20 and Chapters 18.100, and adopting a new Title 19 Stormwater Management to the Richland Municipal Code.

Thank you very much, and this is first reading only, and we'll be coming back to Council for a second reading at a later date. Thank you again. Okay, our next item of business, we're gonna stay parked in the water area for a bit here. So this is the water conservation strategy updates. Again, Mr. Thamert going to you, sir, and we'll stand by for your presentation.

Thank you again, Mayor and Council. So tonight, I wanted to give an update on our water conservation strategy. It's been in place for approximately a year. And we wanted to take a moment to look back and review some lessons learned and update the strategy to it was It was something that we were starting to implement, but hadn't when we came to you before. And now we have implemented it. So we wanted to update some of the wording and everything to reflect that change. So as a reminder, the water conservation strategy is a structured approach to managing water demand during system outages, emergencies, and peak seasonal demand. The plan consists of five distinct stages that are designed to encourage water conservation as the demand on the water system increases. Tonight, we'll discuss a brief water system overview, the present needs of our system, peak day demand and why it matters, results of our water conservation strategy from the last year, and updates to our water conservation strategy. Uh, so for our system overview, water, water production comes from six wells, five in Abrams park and one near the junction. Richfield system is also intertied with Clark public utilities for redundancy during high demand periods. Richfield system has three water reservoirs. Water reservoirs provide storage for peak demand periods and fire flow. And the high school reservoir creates pressure to deliver water to our homes and businesses. And I wanted to point out in the graphic on the left side there, we've received a lot of questions about why our east side reservoir is on the east side. It seems like it's a long ways from everything. But as you'll see in that graphic, what it's showing is there's the orange or yellow area. That is our high zone. And then on the little green area on the left is our low zone, the downtown area. So everything that's in that orange yellow area, both sides of the freeway, is our high zone. So that east side reservoir will serve the entire high zone, the vast majority of the city, even though it is on one end of the city. So over the last 16 years, Ridgefield has experienced rapid growth and has invested heavily in our water system infrastructure. The project's completed since 2010. Well 10 at Abrams Park, the junction well, the junction 1 million gallon reservoir, the cemetery booster station, which allows us to move water from our low zone to our high zone so that we have redundancy between the two zones. Our junction booster station upgrades. This gives us fire flow in the event of a major industrial fire. We can send water to the system and boost pressure if needed. And our well 11 at Abrams Park. Some of the projects that we have underway are Eastside Reservoir construction. We had the groundbreaking a few weeks ago. Kennedy Well, the design contract has been awarded and we're getting ready to begin the design. And an update that I don't believe we have brought before, but we have, our water team has recently found a potential option for a new well field at Refuge Park, also known as the dog park. Uh, so we have worked with the department of health and received a grant to, um, to do an aquifer study on the feasibility of a well field at that location. So there'll be a lot more coming on that in the future. Uh, and some future projects that are on the horizon. Uh, we have a second well at, uh, the Kennedy well, or the Sanderling park site, uh, intertied number four on Royal road with Clark public utilities. and the Refuge Park Wellfield. So why is peak water demand so important? It's all about pressure. Water pressure is how Ridgefield delivers usable water to your home and businesses. For every 2.31 feet of elevation or height, you get one pound of pressure. So the high school reservoir needs to maintain at least 70 feet of water to provide adequate pressure to homes and businesses. And that reservoir is 135 feet tall. So it's approximately half of that. We need to maintain half of its water storage in order to have pressure to the system. When water users all use water at the same time, the pressure drops. Similar to when multiple water sources are used in a home, washing dishes, washing clothes, and trying to take a shower, you have no pressure. But if you can stop washing dishes and turn off the washing machine, you have plenty of water for that shower. The same principle applies to our water system. Reducing peak demand is important to maintain adequate pressure.

I got a comment. Could we back up one screen? This is out of context, but that tower there, It needs Ridgefield City logo on it, like it's on the mushroom tower. So when you're flying over in the airplane, everybody knows it's Ridgefield. Okay, you can go back, Ryan. But I've been wanting to make that comment, and with that picture there, it was where everybody could see it. I could put my oar in the water, okay.

All right, water demand is affected by many factors. Seasonal demand, hot and dry summers, equals more irrigation, maintenance and repairs of key components, firefighting activities, and emergencies such as water main breaks and equipment failure. Despite continued investments, water demand has the potential of exceeding the system capacity if multiple demand factors were to happen at the same time. But there is good news. Water conservation measures have shown to be effective at reducing demand. Council passed the water rate structure in early 2023, and between 2022 and 2024, Ridgefield's peak day water demand has been reduced by 4.78%. Previous conservation efforts have targeted seasonal water demand, but this plan targets daily demand during peak days. And I'm happy to announce that from 2024 to 2025, our daily demand decreased by an additional 3.5%. And the graphic on the right shows that each year we're lowering that peak day demand, which, as you all know, with the growth of the city, that graph should be going the other direction if it was to follow our growth. So this is a big accomplishment by the city and all of our residents and businesses. So now I want to take a moment. This slide is very similar to the last presentation I gave on this, but it only had the 2024 numbers. So what we did when we were preparing for the water conservation strategy, we took the previous year's numbers for 2024 and we applied the strategy or applied them to the strategy And what we found is, and what we, what we would have seen were in stage three, we would have had 28 days in stage three, stage four, we would have had 10 days and stage five, zero. So now what we've been able to do that we've completed one year, uh, we've been able to, we have the actual numbers, um, for 2025. So for stage three, we had, we were in stage three for 70 days. and zero days for stage four and stage five. So what this shows is even though we were in stage three much longer than we were in 2024, what we have done is evened out the demand across the summer, avoiding those peak days and staying out of stage four. So even though it looks like a higher number, it's really showing that the plan worked and it worked really well. So as a reminder for communication for the water conservation, communication is key. We have been clearly communicating with the public, providing education and outreach through our communications team and through our water team. We've done updates to the website, phone calls and emails, social media, and utility billing inserts. We've also installed water conservation stage signs along Pioneer and Hillhurst as you come into the city. So the five stages, and I'll just briefly touch on the high points here for the five stages. But stage one is an advisory. It's enacted or triggered automatically June 1st through September 30th. And in stage two, water production, or it's triggered when water production reaches 2.5 million gallons per day. And what we're asking residents to do is limit water to three days per week. But again, it's voluntary. Stage three is triggered when water production reaches 2.75 million gallons per day and it becomes mandatory that residents water only three days per week and no filling of large pools or landscape water features. And I should say that this is what the current conservation strategy is. The next slide I'll be talking about the changes. So in stage four, it's triggered by 3 million gallons per day and the resident actions would be one day per week watering. Stage five is our emergency stage and it's triggered by multiple sources offline like reservoirs or a major water main break. So our 2026 proposed changes first one is adding a trigger delay of three days and above average temperatures forecasted for stages three and four. So what this would mean is if we see 2.75 million gallons per day, but there's below average temperatures forecasted, and we haven't had multiple days of being over 2.75, we have the ability to hold and stay in stage two so that we can see what happens over the next several days. And if the trends continue and we stay above that mark, then we would move to the next stage. So this would create consistency and keep us from moving back and forth between stages, creating confusion and chaos for residents and businesses. Uh, another change, we cleaned up some spelling and grammatical changes. And then, uh, as I mentioned before, we changed the strategy from like, we will be doing things too. This is what we are doing. Um, we've added a link to the HOA inventory. There's a list for HOAs A and B so that they can do every other day watering. We added that link. Um, the original plan had said that. that we would create a list. We've created the list, so now we've added it in. Another change is removing the home car washing restriction. We have had multiple requests from residents to remove that restriction. We had added it to a list, and during the off season, we were able to assess that. And we found that home car washing is not typically happening during peak times. So its effect or impact on the water system is very minimal. But it had a big, high impact on residents being able to keep their cars clean. So we've added a table of average temperatures from the National Weather Service. One of the triggers is whether temperatures are above or below average. But we didn't have any reference for what that meant. So we're adding that in. We've also differentiated between recreational water features and landscape water features. The current plan basically just referred to water features and treated them the same. And what we've realized is that there's a significant difference, especially for health reasons, for recreational water features such as pools, as opposed to just a pond or a stream that's just for looks. So we added some language to separate those two and we are allowing, actually this is the next one, is we're allowing the filling of recreational water features up to 5,000 gallons from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., so avoiding those peak times. And we determined the 5,000 gallons because that will That basically covers all small Walmart or Costco type pools. If you have a larger pool, you can still reach out to the city, and we'll work with people to be able to fill those. But it's not just a blanket approval. They would need to work with the city, and we would want to make sure that a list of criteria was met, that it was outside of peak times, and that we had adequate water in the reservoirs for that day. And with that, I'll turn it back over to you, Mr. Mayor.

Oh, great. Thank you, Mr. Thamert. Questions, we'll start at this end with Councillor Davis, and we'll work our way over.

Thank you, Mayor. I've got two things, actually. I appreciate the fact that we're adding a little bit of a delay the three days and the above average temperatures to go from like three to four as an example. What about to go backwards? How do we go backwards? Say we get to four, what has to happen to get back to three?

So it's virtually the same process, just going the other way. So if we fall below that trigger for three days and temperatures are forecasted below average, then we would be able to move down to that next stage.

OK. All right. Thank you. And then more some operational pieces. If we were, say we get into stage three, stage four, those are above average temperatures, those are the times when people are gonna want to go down to like the splash pad. Would the operation of that be impacted? I know it's a cycling water, right? It's not just like a faucet on that, you know, it just goes down the drain or whatever. And I think it would be important to communicate that. Still, would there be impacts to that as well as we've got a couple of car washes that have joined the community in the last year. How would their operations maybe be impacted if we got some of these upper stages?

So the car washes and the splash pad, as you mentioned, do have recirculating pumps. So those would remain in operation even as we move to the higher stages. When we move to the very highest stage or... For sure in stage five, we would ask them not to refill. But also in stage four, we would be asking them to not refill their tanks so they could operate as long as they were able to just out of that recirculating. That tank? Yes, exactly.

Okay. And we've talked to them and all that. Have we had any outreach with them about their operation and how this might impact it?

I am not aware of any, but we can certainly do that.

I think it might be important just to fill them in, especially if we get this cleared. Sorry.

You're fine, council. We're actually doing a little due diligence to check on this. Because if you look at allowing the filling of recreational water features from 10 AM to 7 PM, recreational water features would include things like the splash pad. We're looking at whether that's stage three and four or just stage three when that is allowed under that.

Yeah, so it is three and four, they would be allowed under 5,000 gallons to refill the tanks.

So an easy amendment would be to allow that for recreational water features in businesses, you know, businesses such as the car washes.

Okay.

So that would be, it would be a similar allowance. So you'd have people, you'd have the businesses that are affected by it, the car washes, also all the people who want to fill the kiddie pools, they would have the ability to do that as well. And same thing with the splash bed, and you'd be doing the refilling in off-peak. which is what's already in the packet and already what's being proposed. The only change would be if you wanted to allow refilling during those same off-peak hours up to that 5,000 gallons without even kind of working directly with us, that's something you could certainly add on as an amendment to these changes.

That was my next question is whether you wanted that amendment.

You certainly could. OK. It's up to you.

But you would feel comfortable having those specified via amendment?

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

Cool, thanks. Questions? Councillor Wells.

I don't have a question, but I got a comment. Microphone, please.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, there it's on. Okay, I've got a comment. I would like to see when either in our water billing or... newsletter from the city, thanking the residents for having the conservation, for our conservation strategy, and even though we have grown in population, that we're using less water, and so it's a thank you, and giving them an attaboy, and telling them where the conservation is actually paying off.

Sorry, I was thinking about, we'll look. I'm trying to remember if we had that exact thing in the Ridge newsletter in the latest one or if it's in the next one that's going out. We'll make sure. We'll make sure. It's a great idea. We'll make sure that if it hasn't happened, it will.

Great, thank you. That's it? Okay, Councilor Buerkle.

Thank you, Mayor. Have we had any pushback from HOAs regarding water restrictions or reductions? The reason I'm asking, I was told we do have one HOA that has decided that no matter what, they are going to water and they will willingly pay the fines if indeed there are any. Is there the ability to levy fines on HOAs that are not cooperating?

So we received a lot of calls last summer from HOAs, but we found that there was a high level of compliance from those HOAs, which the numbers really bear out. As far as whether or not we can impose fines, We cannot in stage three. We'll use that time to issue notices, provide warnings, and then if we were to move to stage four, that's when we can start actually doing enforcement.

Thank you. Councilor Hamilton.

Thank you, Mayor. So I just want to clarify some language in here so I understand kind of like the back and forth if between stages. So for instance, in the packet, once stage two is triggered by 2.5 million gallon water production threshold, stage two will remain in effect until September 30th. If it's triggered by Public Works, the same person will end the stage actions when the normal operations are restored. So I guess I'm just curious to clarify. That means, say we get to stage two, which I believe we're in right now. So we're in stage two. We see water production goes down. Public Works can take that back down, but I would imagine we don't want to fluctuate between those phases very often. So is it likely that we will have that just from your expertise, obviously, in the actual fluctuation percentages of the tanks?

No, based on our current demand levels, once we go to stage two, yeah.

Once we hit two, we're into.

In fact, this year we were surprised by how long it took us to get into stage two. So again, bearing out that we're doing a great job as a city with conservation.

Yeah, so it's just unlikely that's going to go. And then it's September 30th, kind of that where everything just, obviously the weather's shifting, but is that just where everything, we feel comfortable based on data that that's the right date? Yes, exactly. Okay. Great, thank you.

Okay, a couple questions from me, Mr. Thamer. Really, regarding the changes to the conservation strategy in general, I'm supportive of these and would be supportive of an amendment if that was offered. And I want to also thank you guys for putting together some common sense changes because these are, you know, it just shows that we're responsive to those things and that we're trying to be reasonable and match what our residents want as well while also being protective of our water. This was asked last year when we were adopting this strategy, and this is less about these changes and more about just like the water systems in general. So if we can go back a couple of slides where you talk about the current projects and future projects. And... I know that this was asked previously, but I'm curious, so with the Eastside Reservoir, with the new Kennedy Well and the potential refuge park coming online and then future projects as well, how does that impact us going forward? Will we see less... going to stage two or three during the summer because we'll have more water storage. I know where our population is growing and we're doing that to accommodate, but you know, my understanding is with the new Eastside Reservoir, we're gonna have pretty substantial capacity, right? So what does that do to this plan and what are the impacts of that in the future?

so specifically for the east side reservoir it's not going to have a huge impact on this strategy because it's on the storage side not on the demand or production side but as we build out those new well fields it will have a significant impact our water system engineers have a model that they use to to basically build this plan so as we add more production capability Those numbers are going to the triggers are going to move higher and higher so that likely we will not even get into those hires or even the middle stages of the plan.

Yeah. OK, that makes sense. And, you know, as we talk about communication and I don't know how we do this, but I think I think it would be good to make sure we communicate that as well, because if you notice every time we put something out about water conservation, we you know, we get a lot of. residents that comment on it and that are skeptical about our growth and why are we not matching the growth with you know until this is or why we're not halting the growth until we get stuff like this online but i mean this is it really makes sense from the standpoint of what you're doing so it just might be a communication point but thank you again for the good work you guys do on this okay council any other questions or comments at this point Councilor Burkle.

Thank you, Mayor. Just a comment. I really appreciate the signs that you've installed on Hillhurst and Pioneer showing what area and where we are in water conservation. I think they're very well done. I think they serve a wonderful purpose. So, thank you.

Great. If there are no other questions, Council, this is something we can take action on tonight. So at this point, I would allow for the deliberation or a motion.

I'll make a motion that we have .

Sorry.

I will make a motion that we approve the water conservation strategy updates as presented.

I'll second it.

Okay, it's been moved by Chipman, seconded by Wells. Council, any discussion? Councillor Davis.

Okay, I'm going to give this a spin. I would like to offer an amendment that would include business operations with... Any reference to recreational water feature elements that are listed in the code?

I wanted to wait to see if there was a second.

Second. Second.

So, Council, just a quick clarification. Are those businesses with recirculating water systems that you're speaking to?

That's the intention, but I wanted to intentionally keep it broad just in case there were other businesses that I'm not thinking of, but I would be fine if we wanted to be very specific about it having the circulating.

Okay. Real quick, it's been moved by Councilor Davis. I think I heard Councilor Hamilton second first. So there is an amended motion on the floor. Okay. So discussion on it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, so I mean, obviously the car washes and recirculating systems is the biggest piece. I just included business operations. I imagine there probably aren't a lot of businesses that have... You're saying businesses with recirculating systems? Yeah, I just, I didn't specify recirculating systems because there might be some other business that needs to have something like that that I'm not...

thinking of that the other ones that we could think of that would have recirculating systems are like landscaping companies or companies that have like fountains that have recirculating systems that may want to refill them. But at least on this change, we're separating out landscape water features from recreational water features because of the necessity, you know, the health health and need of, you know, of recreational versus landscape that's just for looks so if you didn't specify recirculating water systems essentially like for car washes then it could be used by like landscaping companies that would be refilling and the they're refilling their fountains that are just kind of for the looks for the looks okay yeah that's not the intention okay so i'm fine being more specific and amending the amendment to specify recirculating water systems

All right, you just broke my brain.

If the person who's seconded the motion accepts that friendly amendment, then you don't have to do a second.

Okay, great.

I accept that friendly amendment. I accept. As friends.

As friends. Okay, counsel, do we understand that? So the way I have it is to be that business operations that reference recirculating water systems, would be added to the code.

Mayor, you can tighten it. I just checked with our city attorney. You can simply say car washes if you want. You can't do special legislation that specifies an individual business, but you can specify a business type. And in doing so, then you would get to the heart of what the counselor is amending it to, and there would be no ambiguity in it.

Sure. Well, I mean, you said that you wanted to leave it broad.

I was wanting to leave it broad just in case there were other businesses that this would apply to that we felt like we didn't want it to be a hindrance and it would nest under it well. But if we want to be specific, I'm fine with being specific.

Yeah, I think we should be specific in that. Just if we're, I mean, the whole point of this conversation is conservation. So I think we should be streamlined on, it is a more conservatory way to have the water system go. So I think that should be, I think we should specify it specifically.

I will amend my amended amendment.

Remake the motion.

This is a friendly, friendly amendment? Friendly, friendly, yes. Okay. Do you want to restate it just for clarity for the other six of us here?

Yeah, sure. Amendment to include car washes to be included with recreational water feature elements of the code.

Second. Okay, so it's been moved and seconded for an amendment. Okay, council, any discussion on the proposed amendment? Hearing none, okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Okay, the amendment carries. And we'll return to the main motion as amended. Any remaining discussion? Hearing none, okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Thank you, council. Motion carries. And the updates are adopted. All right, thank you again, Mr. Thamer. We do appreciate you and your team and being thoughtful about this. All right, that concludes the business portion of our meeting tonight. We do have one public hearing. This is the first reading of ordinance number 1482. This is the North First Circle Right-of-Way Vacation. And for that, we'll go to Ms. Lust and Community Development.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Council and members of the public. This is an item we've seen once before coming back for public hearing. Okay, next slide, please. Okay, so the City of Richfield owns right of way along North First Circle, shown on the screen in front of you, that was formerly the site of the State Route 501 overpass and interchange before reconstruction of the interchange was completed in 2009. Due to its former function as a freeway interchange, the full right of way width in this location far exceeds that of North First Circle itself, which is now a dead end local street, as well as its sidewalk curb and gutter. In November of 2025, the city held a pre-application conference for a vet clinic located at 6325 North First Circle, which is the outlined parcel on the south side of the street. Among the topics discussed during that pre-app was that of that sort of extraneous right-of-way separating the private property line from the back of the sidewalk. In order to obtain this area and incorporate it into the developable portion of the site, the property owner requested initiation of the right-of-way vacation process. So previously, council reviewed this request and took action on a resolution permitting the right-of-way vacation process to proceed. And proceeding is what we are now doing. Staff set and advertised a date for this public hearing and first ordinance reading. Next slide, please. Just to illustrate the exact area of right of way proposed for vacation, it's 7,307 square feet. Based on a recent precedent right of way valuation of $5.83 per square foot, the value of the vacated area is estimated to be $42,599.81. Standard procedure for right-of-way vacations is to charge the adjacent property owner requesting the vacation 50% of the assessed value, which based on this initial estimate would be $21,299.91. I'll note that that number is simply illustrative. The ordinance in your packet this evening is silent on a specific value, but basically directs staff to identify with the property owner a value as implementation. I'll note that we have shared this number, $21,299.91 with the property owner. So we've initiated that conversation. I believe that is all I would like to present. After the hearing, there is nothing in statute that would prevent council from waiving second reading and taking action during this meeting, if you so choose. Thank you.

Great. Thanks, Ms. Lust. Okay. Council, any questions for staff on this one? Nope. Okay. That's easy. Off the hook. Okay. We're going to go to a public hearing to receive testimony. The public hearing is now open. If you sign up with the city clerk before the meeting, your name will be called. and you will receive permission to unmute your microphone or step up to the podium. If you did not sign up in advance but would like to speak, please use the raise hand feature on your toolbar. If you're joining by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and press star six to mute or unmute. The city clerk will grant you permission to speak and when speaking, please state your name and keep your comments restricted to three minutes. There will be no back and forth between discussion between the speaker and the city council. So with that, this public hearing is now open. Okay, Ms. Julie, is anybody signed up to speak?

I do not have anyone sign up, Mayor.

Okay. All right, is there anybody wishing to speak on this in the room this evening? Seeing none, is there anybody online, Ms. Julie, who'd want to speak?

Not seeing anyone online, Mayor.

Okay, I will go back to the room real quick and just give everyone one last chance if they wanted to speak on this public hearing. Hearing none, I will close the public hearing. And Mr. Lee, would you please read the ordinance into the record?

Ordinance number 1482, ordinance of the city of Richfield, Washington, vacating a portion of North First Circle in the city of Richfield to the abutting property owner.

Great, thank you very much. This is first reading. However, council, if you would like to waive second, I would entertain a motion to do so at this time.

I move to waive second reading and adopt ordinance number 1482 as presented.

Second.

Okay, it's been moved by Burkle, seconded by Fevella. Council, any remaining discussion? Okay, hearing none, Ms. Julie, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Davis? Aye. Council Member Fevella? Yes. Council Member Wells? Aye. Council Member Burkle? Yes. Council Member Hamilton? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Chipman? Yes. Mayor Culp?

Aye. Thank you, Council. The motion carries, and we're all set. Okay. Awesome. All right, we're going to return to public comment right now. Anybody wishing to address City Council regarding items not subject to a specific public hearing may come forward to the podium at this time or use the raise hand feature located on the toolbar at the bottom of your Zoom screen. For controls of the phone, press star nine to raise your hand and press star six to mute or unmute. Please state your name and limit your comments to three minutes. Is there anybody in the room wishing to give public comment? Ms. Stemp, good to see you.

Hi, my name is Jean Stemp and I'm here today to bring awareness to the fact that June is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month. And this is something that means a lot to me. There has been, I have family members who have suffered from this ailment. And there's a lot of misunderstanding about what Alzheimer's and dementia is. There's a lot of People just don't quite understand what to do with it and how to interact with people. And just about what it is in general. And really, it's not a normal part of aging. That's something a lot of people don't understand. It's not just forgetting. It's a disease. It is a disease of the brain. And it's a progressive disease. So there are people walking around driving their cars who have this disease. It just hasn't reached a stage where it's debilitating yet. And it takes some time for that to happen. And during that time, they're visiting City Hall. They're visiting our restaurants. And they're getting their hair cut and doing all of these things. And these people need our support. Their caregivers need our support. There is an organization. I don't know if you're aware of it. It's called dementia friends It was started in the UK. It has now spread throughout the United States and what they do is it's you get a one-hour talk and In that talk you'd learn about Alzheimer's and dementia what it is how it affects people and how to relate to people who have this and And I think, you know, so this organization goes out and gives this one hour talk to, you know, church groups and small businesses, things like that. I think it would be fabulous if the city of Ridgefield would become the first dementia friendly city in the state of Washington. which would mean city council goes through this one-hour talk. Everybody who works for the city, you know, at least anybody who deals with the public, goes through this one-hour talk and learns about this. You receive your dementia friends certificate, and it would be fabulous if this city would become dementia friendly. I have flyers here if anybody's interested. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much, yeah. Is there anybody else wishing to give public comment tonight?

Hi, it's Robin Knight. I just wanted to share the results of a survey that was created by Connor Webb. He's a podcaster and has a YouTube channel that focuses on living in the Pacific Northwest and mainly in Ridgefield. So he recently conducted an independent community poll about the waterfront and 220 residents responded. The residents are deeply invested in the community. Over 77% have lived here for five or more years, more than half for over a decade. Over 90% said they are at least somewhat familiar with the current plans for the waterfront redevelopment. When asked what they want, the answer was consistent. 81% prioritized walking trails and nature access. 68% want kayak and canoe launch capability. They want to be on the water, not looking at it from a hotel lobby. On scale, 86% want minimal development or no major development at all. On housing, 88% do not want permanent residential units at the waterfront. On the environment, 91% are very concerned about the National Wildlife Refuge, and 94% say an environmental impact study should be absolutely mandatory. On the process going forward, 80% want a citizen advisory committee with real input, and nearly 70% want more time before any agreements are finalized. The community is ready to be part of the solution. They just need a real state.

real seat at the table thank you thank you anybody else wishing to give public comment in the room scene oh you almost didn't make it i know you're almost gonna make it but i'm not gonna talk about the waterfront so you're gonna be surprised so

Ready, set, go. So Shauna Fisher, I just wanted to address something I think maybe might have already been addressed tonight. I wanted to talk about the crosswalk up here at 4th. Is that the next street after this? It's 4th, right? I just wanted to, oh, 5th, right? The next street. So you go right out of the parking lot the next street. Sorry. So I want to talk about that. intersection and pedestrians crossing the street. So as you know, the parking lines go all the way up to the end of the street. So somebody is trying to cross the street. It's really kind of tricky and really kind of dangerous. So it'd be nice if maybe there was some sort of flashing light or something like that to help people and families and kids with their dogs or people with their kids, all that things to help cross the street I think would be really important. And also, while I'm speaking about public safety on South Royal Road, you know, when you're turning in and out of legacy trails, it's getting really kind of dicey. I mean, people go really fast and, you know, even around all the roundabouts and all of that, it's really crazy. So I think it would be nice if on South Royal, maybe there was some strategic speed bumps placed, especially with all those new businesses that are going in, right? So I think that would be helpful. And I don't know if you have any control over Parking lots, but the parking lot in legacy trails I think it'd be nice like as residents go in if there was some speed bumps in there as well to help with to help with that and then I just wanted to say to one thing about the waterfront so I can't not to talk about the waterfront is Last night, it was great to go to the port meeting and see all the people that were there in attendance. That was really great to be able to speak up. And it's nice that that one survey was done that Robin was talking about, but also that the port is doing the survey. So I hope that you all as a council are invested that in that and maybe take part in the survey and work with community engagement with the port. And if a community engagement group was put together to really have the community be heard with what the community wants and doesn't want for the waterfront. And I think it would be cool, I don't know if you guys can speak up on it, but what your guys' viewpoints are on the waterfront as a council too, like what you guys think about it. I know you probably can't speak up too much on that, but anyway, so that is my thoughts. Thank you for listening.

Thank you, Ms. Fisher. Is there anybody else in the room? Okay, seeing none, Mr. Lee, anybody online?

No one online, Mayor.

Okay, we're gonna call those public comment for the evening and go to our council reports.

I'll start.

Okay, great. We'll go to Mayor Pro Tem first.

Thank you. I'm gonna do something different tonight. Instead of talking about myself, I'm gonna talk about a couple people here. So first of all, tonight, I would like to, I mean, you all know that I'm very involved in Neighbors Helping Neighbors, if you have heard me talk all about it. I'm sorry. Oh, dear.

OK.

So you all know that I'm very involved with Neighbors Helping Neighbors Food Bank and have been for about the last four years. And so I'll just say really briefly that when I first got involved, which was the end of 2022, They had $2,180 in the bank. They are a nonprofit. That was the amount of money that they had in their bank account. So they were not going to be able to pay the insurance bill. And so I rallied around some people. And a couple of people here are some of the first donators that donated to this for Neighbors Helping Neighbors. And it has been just such a great thing. about 70 people, 70 families a week now that we feed. We've got quite a few regular givers. We have a large giver that has come along to support us on an annual basis, which is going to be incredibly helpful. We're in the middle of doing a strategic plan. We're trying to find out how we can reach more people with our work, perhaps expand, that kind of thing. And so it's come a long, long ways. And the green bag program has been incredibly helpful for it too. And so I just want to acknowledge a couple of people here tonight. The first one is Mr. Burkle. And Mr. Burkle, I have a plaque here for you and this is what it says it says in recognition of your support of richfield neighbors helping neighbors your support helps to ensure richfield families have a place to come to receive help when needed thank you for being a hometown hero thank you Not only does he do this, he's also one of the people in charge of the green bag, which is another huge job. And by the way, the woman that does the green bag in our community is the one who designed and put these together. So she did a fabulous job.

So our second one tonight is for Matt and Kelliana Cole.

And when I asked for, and I couldn't believe it that Kelliana walked in the door because I was trying to figure out maybe how I could get her here tonight, but I couldn't figure out a way to do it. So when I first said that we needed donators, guess who was the first person who came along and said, I'll start making monthly donations. It was Matt Cole and Mike Bomar. Kelliana has been right there doing work for us. She has written beautiful letters for me that I cannot write. She is an incredibly talented writer. Articles, helped so much with the website, all kinds of things. So this is a thank you for them. It says, in recognition of your steadfast monthly support to Ridgefield Neighbor Stopping Neighbors, your monthly gift funds, oh, fuels hope, dignity, and support for Ridgefield families. Thank you for being a hometown hero.

So who wants to go after that? Yes. Thank you, Ms. Judy. Wow. That's great. And I just love your heart. I love the work that you're so steadfastly committed to doing with neighbors as well as with Councilor Burkle. So thank you so much. Okay. Does anybody else want to go next? I'll go.

There's no following it up, so I might as well just jump on it here. We met a week ago, so I haven't done a million things in that week, but I was able to attend the port meeting last night, which I appreciate and want to commend everyone who... shows up respectfully and is prepared and is expressing their heart and it is something that everyone is listening to and I know it's not easy and it's a lot of meetings because I'm at a lot of meetings and you're at all of them too. So this is a challenging situation in a lot of capacities and I appreciate your steadfast messaging when it comes across, you know, sometimes it can be challenging up here to hear concerns and feel not able to immediately take action or help people. So anyways, I'm rambling at this point. Thank you for all of your feedback, and we will continue to be seven people who care very deeply to listen to you.

Thanks, Counselor. Well said. Yes. Councilor Buerkle, we'll just start sliding down the road here. Thank you.

Just a comment on Green Bag. This past Saturday, we did have a collection. We were able to collect in excess of 10,000 pounds of food and approximately $500, which will be used to buy more food. We started Green Bag, for those of you that may not know, about eight years ago. The first month we collected just under 300 pounds and we were ecstatic. Now we're consistently in the 10,000 plus category. Those of you that may not know, half of it goes to Neighbors Helping Neighbors, half goes to the school resource center. I would just personally like to thank any of you in the room tonight that participate. It's really, really needed. As Ms. Chipman stated, we do 70 to 90 families every Tuesday needing food. so thank you for the green bag. Other than that, just a couple things. I attended the port meeting last evening. I found the back and forth very, very interesting. Today we did a tour of the potential 35th Street connection in Ridgefield, and then this morning I attended the Clark Regional Wastewater Quarterly Meeting, and that's my activities for the last couple days.

Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Wells.

It's on. I also attended a couple of the port meeting and listened to the public comments. A little more on the Clark Regional Quarterly Meeting. We attended that. It's a two-hour session. One hour of it was from Mr. Peterson. projecting the future of Clark Regional's problems. It isn't problems. Challenges. Let me put it that way. Challenges up to 2045. of what to do with the solid waste. They used to be able to get rid of it in Cowlitz County. That has ceased to happen. They're delivering to Lewis County. It's dwindling too. due to restrictions, not from the state, but some of the farming activities. People, crops they grow, they've grown peas, so it's food, food source. Not that they put it on with the peas, but they say it's in the soils for two, three years. They're looking at, they're delivering part of it to Klickitat County, and they may be having to go to Prosser, which is farther north. They deliver 360 loads a year, so it's a load a day, and they don't work every day. They've had to supplement it with, after they have one truck, and that truck makes the deliveries. We went through, they did a really direct or complete analysis of different options. Mr. Burkle was there. It was really enlightening. The amount of work that they have put in in the last year, It's in this packet. We had that packet today. And they worked out every option of going to Class A material, putting, expanding theirs with extra, I'm gonna say digesters, but it's extra silos. and they were gonna have to cut back into the hillside because those of you who've been to Clark Regional, it's right behind them, steep like this. They'll have to export the material. But it was in such depth. And through the different options, they had four different options. The first option, if you just kind of take it as we go right now and kind of wait and see what some of the new regulations are coming down with PFAS. Don't ask me about PFAS. PFAS is plastic residue. But anyway, over through 2025, it'll only be a dollar to $2 a month raise. Going to the Cadillac procedure, it could be up to $15 a month raise. but their concern was that there may be regulations between now and 2045 why upgrade to cover that base? Let's just tread water and work with the one to two dollar rate. It isn't set in stone yet, it wasn't voted on today, but they took a, they read the four board of directors and everybody said that we should put it around stay at the one to two and see what time brings us. That's it, but it was a very, very interesting meeting. And so they're looking out for our benefit for our sewage costs in the future. And there's only, there's four people on the board, Ridgefield, Battleground, Clark County, and Clark Regional. So that was kind of the decision that was made today.

Thank you for the update, Councilor Wells, that's good. Okay. Counselor Fabella.

Thank you, Mayor. It's been a pretty quiet week. I had a few events. I attended on my graduation train, attended the View Ridge Middle School graduation for the eighth graders. And it was really incredible. I'm so excited to see all of them go to high school and graduate. I'm just I get really like emotional with these these kid things. It's like crazy Anyway, I do have some really exciting news though about a month ago and a half ago The echo committee echo is ending community homelessness organization. It is a board that I am on I represent the city of Ridgefield as an elected but I get this unique opportunity to also be a provider. I am a licensed clinical social worker. I have provided services in this community in various forms of capacity in Clark County the last 18 years. So we had this echo a law enforcement panel Chief Doriot was there, a lot of chiefs from other jurisdictions, and really what we got out of it is this need for and desire for our officers in all of Clark County to have a place to go where they are able to connect with service providers and organizations to help bridge a systematic gap between the people that they're serving and that other people are serving, but we're not talking to one another. So we created this subcommittee with other elected, and it's difficult to talk to people about how things work when they really have no idea how things work. So I kind of... took on my own path. And I went to the crisis collaborative today. It's the adult regional crisis collaborative, where all the managed care organizations are there. Those are the insurance companies for Medicaid. The other behavioral health providers, substance use providers are at the table. I got on the agenda, and I talked about this law enforcement idea. And I had so many people saying, yes, we're going to do it. Carillon, one of our Medicaid entities, that does the crisis services for Clark County said, you know what, we might actually be interested in taking this on. And so the echo doesn't have to do it. So we're going to continue conversations. I am really pumped about this has been a huge gap in the community for a really long time. And to be at the table as a provider, but also as this elected to say, hey, this is a gap in the system that we need to figure this out and to have other people come along and champion that not for the most you know, critical need adults in the community, but also the families that they have waiting for them back at home. So I'm very excited about this and more to come. That's it. All right.

Good update. Thank you. All right, Councilor Davis.

Thank you, yeah. Slower week for me. I guess earlier in the week, I had a couple of meetings related to C-TRAN. I sit on the C-TRAN board representing Ridgefield Center, Yakult Battleground, Washougal, and Camas. So I had a meeting with our CEO over there at C-TRAN, and I'm on also... separately, obviously, on the CEO Evaluation Committee. And so that was, you know, some work from earlier this week. Outside of that, I am looking forward to AWC next week out in Spokane. What, three of us will be out there for the Association of Washington Cities Conference, which is why we're meeting tonight and not next Thursday. Yeah, so looking forward to that, learning a lot, connecting, and I'll pass it off.

All right, great. Thanks, counselor. Real quick from me, just a couple of quick hits. Both of them today, actually. Earlier today, I got to join our youth commission for their final meeting. They had a little lunch and maybe like a post-mortem that was taking place at the Rourke. I got to go join them for that, hand out some certificates of appreciation for them. And I also presented that each of them might have those mayor's challenge points. I thought it was appropriate to give each one of those students a challenge point because beyond the work that they did with the e-bike policy and the presentation, the actual work they did, what I explained to them was that, you know, they're trailblazers. They're the first class of our youth commission, and there's a lot... I think that we're learning as a council on what we want, how we want to interact with them in the future and the types of things we're going to do with them. I think they learned a lot. I think staff learned a lot. And so I gave them a coin just as a kind of symbolically say, you guys are showblazers. It's not just about the work you did, but it's about how you guys. we're really forging a path for future youth commissions and what this thing looks like and that's especially fresh because i think i mentioned this last week but i will be um doing a presentation on youth commissions next week at association washington cities at the awc conference in spokane so i'm looking forward to that and bragging on them and bragging on kind of the work we've done over the last year as well um so good good last meeting for them good capstone for them to kind of end on Also joined Councilor Buerkle today on a tour for our 35th Avenue Extension Alternatives. There's two routes we're considering, a red and a green. And I want to first thank Nicole McDermott from WSP and Miranda Link. uh, from our public works department who gave us that guided tour. It's really, really helpful. And I know that a couple of others doing it, we're all gonna do it, but super, super helpful when you look at that, cuz we have some big decisions to make and you get to see, you know, that terrain's not gonna be easy and you get to see what that looks like and the, the impacts and, you know, ask the really important questions. So I'm, I'm looking forward to that and tackling that this summer, but it was really helpful in that. And then also cut the 10 wind down Wednesday last night with Kelliana and then, uh, counselor Hamilton. it was good to go uh see the chamber and connect with those people as well so okay that's all for us i believe right we'll go over the city manager thank you mayor members of the council community i have nothing specific that i needed to make sure i shared with you this evening but i'm happy to answer any questions you have okay council any questions for the city manager all right thank you sir we appreciate it mr thamer we'll go to you in public works

I don't have anything further tonight, but happy to answer any questions.

Any lasting burning questions? Okay, sounds good. Mr. Johnson in city finance.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just have one item. We do have our audit exit conference tentatively scheduled for Monday, June 29th. We have one more item to kind of button up with them. So we have not sent out the invite yet to council. We need to button up this item first. It'll probably be coming out after Wednesday because we do have a follow-up meeting on Wednesday afternoon with the governmental accounting standards board with myself. our consultant CPA and the auditor's office to go over that item. Once we've done that, we should be able to send out the invite. I know some of you are at a conference next week, so I just wanted to let you know that this is coming. We will be sending out the invite. Please respond both to Julie and myself. I know Julie will be on vacation for part of that time. That way we can make sure that we're noticing this if need be. but also getting back to the auditor who will be attending the exit conference as well. Any questions that you have, I'd be happy to answer.

Great. Question from Councilor Buerkle.

Mr. Johnson, have we had any distributions from our rental assistance program?

Yes, we have done three different assistance checks that we've sent out. So we've had it active now for just over a month. And the first three weeks, we had one each week.

Thank you.

That's great. Other questions for Commissioner Nelson? OK, great. Thank you very much. We'll go to our city attorney, Ms. Parker.

No report this evening. I'm happy to help.

Okay, great. And we'll go to Ms. Lutz. Oh, any questions for City Attorney? Okay. Ms. Lutz, we'll go to you next.

Nothing for me either, Mayor. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. And then lastly, we have Chief Doreen.

I have nothing, Mr. Mayor. Happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for the Chief? Okay. Thank you, everybody. Thank you for attending tonight. Thank you, staff. Thank you, Council. With that, this meeting is adjourned.