City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. City Council meeting for June 16th is called to order. Will everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,

one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. And just an update on our technical problems. We are still struggling with our YouTube channel, but it can be watched on PC TV and it's being recorded, so we're fulfilling our requirements to have a public meeting and we can move forward. So, will the city clerk please call roll?

Yes, sir. Deputy Mayor Johnson? Present. Councilmember King? Excused. Councilmember Gilliam?

Present.

Councilmember Castro? Present. Councilmember Smolko?

Present.

Councilmember Adler? Excused. Mayor Wedding?

Present. Thank you. Do I hear a motion to approve our agenda?

So moved.

Second. All those in favor, please so indicate.

Aye.

Motion passes. Next move to consideration of our minutes. Do I hear a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. We'll move on to our presentations and proclamations. Our first proclamation will be our LGBTQIA plus Pride Month proclamation as follows. Whereas the city of Puyallup acknowledges and takes pride in the diversity of our population, and whereas the city of Puyallup is committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive, respectful, and safe community for individuals and couples of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and whereas the promise of America is that all people should be able to live with dignity and have equal rights under the law, and whereas important rights have been established for the LGBTQ community to marry in all 50 states of America, and that the protections provided by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extend to LGBTQIA plus individuals. And whereas LGBTQIA plus residents, families, students, business owners, and advocates contribute greatly to the civic, cultural, and economic vitality of our community and help make the city of Puyallup a stronger, more vibrant place for all, And now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Puyallup City Council that we recognize June 2026 as LGBTQIA plus pride month in the city of Puyallup and call upon all citizens to celebrate the diversity of our community and demonstrate acceptance of all persons. In witness whereof, I, Mayor Ned Whitting, have here unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Puyallup to be affixed this 16th day of June 2026. And I will invite Penny and Ash to come up, but anybody that feels so inclined can join them to receive the proclamation. We'll have photos first. Thank you.

I can pick some, and I can bring the good camera. All right.

Yay. Oh, no problem. No problem.

Sure. I'll be the model.

Okay, and moving right along, we're going to have our second proclamation of the evening.

Do you not want us to do this first?

Sorry. That's okay. Just check in. Please. Thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor and members of the Puyallup City Council and all the local veterans that we have here and in our community on behalf of Puyallup Pride and LGBTQIA plus communities everywhere for the proclamation. Pride celebrates and commemorates those who used visibility to gain rights. And since those same rights are under attack, our visibility is more important than it's ever been. It matters that our city takes a moment to say LGBTQIA plus people belong here, that we are part of the fabric of Puyallup, that we are here. We've always been here as your family, your family members, neighbors, small business owners, nonprofit directors, soldiers and veterans and community members and community builders across the nation. At the same time, recognition is just the beginning. Visibility is not the same as full inclusion. We want to acknowledge something that many in our community are feeling, and while this proclamation is meaningful and we highly appreciate everyone who voted yes for it, the absence of a pride flag at City Hall sends a different message. Symbols are not everything, but they do matter. We understand it's a dance in this city, but I just want to acknowledge that we are still pushing and we will continue to ask you to stand tall like that for our community as you do for everyone else. They tell people whether they are fully seen or only partially acknowledged. And Ash will take over.

We also want to uplift a group that is often overlooked in these conversations, LGBT veterans like myself. Many of us serve this country under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, a policy that forced us to hide who we were or risk losing everything. That history is not abstract. It lives right here in Puyallup. When we talk about pride, we are also talking about service, sacrifice, and resilience. We are talking about people who defended our freedom while being denied our own. This proclamation is a step. We are grateful for it. Our hope is that it becomes part of a larger commitment, one where LGBTQ plus people are not only recognized in words, but supported in action and visible in our shared spaces. Puyallup has an opportunity to lead with both heart and courage to show that inclusion is not conditional and that every resident, including queer youth, elders, and veterans, can feel fully at home here. So thank you again for this recognition and for the opportunity to continue growing together as a community.

Okay, so now we get to move on to our second proclamation. This is our America 250 proclamation. And it goes as follows. Whereas July 4th, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the founding of the United States of America, and whereas the great state of Washington was established in 1889 as the 42nd state in the United States of America with Puyallup, Washington officially incorporated in 1890, And whereas the journey towards this historic milestone is an opportunity to reflect on our nation's past, honor the contributions of all Americans, and look ahead to the future generations who will carry forward the ideals of democracy and individual liberty, that make the United States a unique nation in the world community, and whereas preserving, studying, celebrating, and appreciating our shared history helps strengthen communities as we work towards the ideals of liberty and equality embedded in the Declaration of Independence, and whereas the 250th anniversary provides an opportunity to celebrate and recognize the significant contributions Washington's Washingtonians have made to local, state, and national history. And now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Mayor Ned Whitting of the City of Puyallup, do hereby proclaim that the City of Puyallup will engage in commemorative activities during the United States' sesquicentennial year of 2026 and call upon all its residents to reflect upon the significance of this commemoration and the role our community and its diverse people have played in the history and development of the United States of America. It witnessed whereof I, Mayor Ned Whitting, have hereon set my hand and caused the seal of the city of Puyallup to be affixed the 16th day of June 2026. Thank you. And we have Josh Weldon and Andy Anderson here to receive the proclamation, but we've got a lot of others too, so we invite everybody to come forward. We also have a little something for you.

You guys are welcome to join as well. Come on. It's about the community. All right, we'll look right over here. On three, everybody, right here. Okay, one, two, three. Let's do a few more.

Hold on, Josh and Mayor Norton. Thank you. Okay, we have lots of people.

Have a good night.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The only thing I'd like to say is that we'll see you all on the 4th of July over in Pioneer Park starting at 4 in the afternoon. And in the middle of that, during the band concert, at the break in the middle, we will read the declaration together. Thank you.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, members of the council, thank you for inviting us here this evening to be a part of this. And Andy, our historian, is promptly leaving stage left. But there are a whole bunch of activities that we have planned for the 4th of July. So as Red, White, and Kaboom is happening on Friday, we are going to turn the Spray Park Corner, that's Josh's term, Spray Park Corner, into Patriot's Corner. And we've worked with JBLM to get a... We're going to get a dunk tank, and we're inviting the Emerald Ridge Jaguar football team down to raise some money for the school. And maybe there's other folks over here that would like to get in the dunk tank on the 4th of July. But VFW, American Legion, Wounded Warrior Project, I reached out to them. The Elks, the Eagles right here in Puyallup, there are many organizations that work specifically with veterans. So we've reached out and we plan to be there for probably 14 hours. It'll be awesome. Three live bands, I believe. There's a brass ensemble that the American Legion does. And we just look forward to having a whole bunch of fun. So that's what we're going to be doing on the 4th of July.

Okay, so you got room in your dunk tank for a mayor?

Yeah, we do. We do. We got room for you and some council members. So I'll even find some shorts for you to wear there, Jim. Come on down. All right. Thank you, guys.

And I'd just like to give special recognition to Dennis King, Council Member King. He couldn't be here this evening, but he was instrumental in providing the flags. So, you know, he'll... He wanted to be here.

We'll send him the picture and make sure that he knows you missed a good time.

That's right. All right. And we'll reserve a spot for him in the dunk tank. Okay. Moving along to citizens' comments. Would the city clerk please provide the instructions for public comment?

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Before I read the instructions, I do want to let you know, as you were asking me to read those, our YouTube feed is now live and working.

Thank you.

This part of the meeting is for general citizen comments. Please reserve any public hearing testimony to that section of the agenda. The mayor will call on those who have provided the names in advance. Then the mayor will call for other citizens who wish to speak. For the record, please state your name and address or city council district in which you reside. Please direct your comments to the council as a whole, not individual council members. All comments are limited to three minutes. The clerk will provide verbal notice when only 30 seconds remain. As a reminder, this portion of the meeting is council's opportunity to hear from the community and not a time to engage in debate. Lastly, for state law, this public comment period cannot be used to speak in support of or in opposition to a ballot measure or individual candidacy, and no such comments will be allowed.

Thank you. And our first speaker will be Matthew Karras.

Good timing. Sorry, I had another meeting myself. Let me just pull it up really quickly. All right. So I'll just be really short and sweet. I just want to thank you, Puyallup City Council, for recognizing Pride Month at this City Council meeting. I wanted to also express thanks actually for Ned Whitting here for signing to be a part of the Houseless Town Hall coming up in the next few days. Moreover, I want to express a lot of thanks for all the different celebrations coming up. Although you may understand my feelings about the 250 celebration, I am grateful that you are recognizing our veterans and people who have served. I would also like to express support for further resources for both members of our LGBTQIA plus community and veteran community here in Puyallup. Resources could include community-based care, such as youth centers for community members and safe sex resources. Moreover, bridging the gap for veterans in our community who are experiencing housing and other financial and safety insecurities could also be really helpful for our city in Puyallup. Perhaps resources for single mothers and fathers of veterans have also been expressed. And lastly, I also want to express a lot of gratitude for creating a public survey. I'll try to reach out to as many folks I know around this area to get that information out as well. I think having a survey is actually really important for our citizens here. Yes, to see what we really think and believe and how we want to cultivate the city of Puyallup moving forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we'll hear from James Jenkins.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and city council members. My name is Jim Jenkins. I live in District 1. I'm speaking on the 7th Street closure. Last time I spoke to the council, I didn't finish. To recap, I asked that 7th Street be reopened during the summer. Doesn't look like that's going to happen. For this issue, that's probably the biggest disservice to the community so far. I said stop lines should be painted on the intersections. Not happened. I said a new entrance should be put at the large student lot. It's safer, probably won't happen. Parking should be removed from the west side of 7th Street, which is safer, probably won't happen. I didn't have time to say that parking should be returned on to 3rd Avenue and that students should continue to use the available sounder parking. I'd encourage the council to become familiar with the school district's old and new plans. I also said that the new plans make students less safe. I forgot to mention staff. Here's what I meant by that. I used to have a copy of the previous plan, so I'm actually speaking from memory. The previous plan called for the library science building to be removed. That's been done. And the removal of the pool, probably gonna be done. It called for the relocating of the gym, which is a classroom, to the footprint of the old library science building off of 6th Street, plus additional classrooms. That would allow the gym to become part of an enclosed campus, which is safer. Students are moving within the campus. The new plan brings the parking lot across the street where the ball field is. and over to the tennis courts, along with extra classrooms. So that alone solves the crossing problem. They're solving the crossing problem. However, in the new plan, the gym is being moved across the street where the portables are now. So the gym is no longer within the enclosed campus. Students will still have to move between buildings, creating security problems like it is now, which makes it less safe. For students and staff. This is the real reason you're being asked to vacate 7th Street. The district needs you to help them to do it wrong. Okay? The plan also assumes that the district, you have already given them 7th Street, part of 2nd Avenue, and half of 6th Street. Who gave them that idea? So once again, you cannot stop the district from doing this wrong. You can only enable them to do it wrong at the expense of the neighbors and commuters. Thank you.

Our next speaker will be Val Dent.

Good evening. You all remember this book. I made a copy for each and every one of you. And in there is the Puyallup School District safety guidelines for traffic, pedestrian safety. So here are some sad facts. From the time school is out, Until it restarts in the fall, the horrendous accidents and deaths for young drivers will increase 30% nationally. Driving is a privilege and not a right protected by the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. The Puyallup School District is well within its rights to impose a parking ban on all school property for all student drivers. The school district can reinstate its bus routes. student and parent complaints that driving is more convenient for them because becomes invalid due to their improper driving habits by the students and the parents. For those living and working around the schools and having to dodge the student drivers and the parents has been a major issue for decades. Not just a recent pop up, but for decades. These complaints are well recorded in the school board meetings, city council meetings, and the neighborhood meetings. The school district has been allowed to infer to the student drivers and the adults encouraging them to drive in properly to do a gentle street takeover. And the city is fine with this. It's allowing it and condoning it. An excellent example of this is the 7th Street Southwest. This is not a police issue, nor is it the planning department's negligence. Their research and implementation into what can help control traffic and make adjustments as necessary has been greatly appreciated. They can only do what city council and the school district allow and will pay for. This falls solely on the school district and city council. The school district has several grants it can apply for. The no monies is just bunk. There are several school signs that are improperly marked. There are no designated school zone sites, lights with photo enforcement for speed at Callis Junior High or Spinning Elementary. Just to name two of the improperly equipped schools within the district.

Mr. Mayor, the speaker has reached three minutes.

I ask City Council to work with the school district and fix these systems and get them started by the start of the school year. Thank you.

will be Brian Dixon.

How you doing? My name is Brian. We're Brian Dixon, of course. I'm here in Puyallup right now. My comments, it might be questions, too. It seems like nothing, I'm not reading off no teleprompter or nothing, you know. Like, America just have the reporters read off teleprompters, and that's how propaganda been going on in America. Like, Nobody don't know how—everybody love everybody. Propaganda been going on so bad, nobody know how to perceive nobody and perceive themself. Like, it's just—we not getting represented the right way. Everybody just—gas is expensive. Food is expensive. It's like wages don't go up. Everything is expensive. It's like America don't— care about the people, the representatives, not representing the people the right way. It's like, who really cares anymore? I try to reach out to the governor. I try to reach out to certain mayors. I'm not going to say yourself, because I haven't reached out to you personally. I reached out to city council. I reached out to the legislator. the um congress i even went for others to call to call the white house and the pentagon it's like it's nobody do anything everybody get is 2-1-1 information which 2-1-1 doesn't do anything they give me numbers for assistance for us wraparound service but if you if you if you go to Olympia, they don't assist. It's only certain people get certain type of assistance. This is my sixth city council meeting that I've been to since I've been here in Washington State. And nothing is talking about the people. Everything is talking about the roads getting fixed. building houses, getting people in their houses. Being that I'm from down south, like, gentrification, being that it's worse. Like, they just been gentrifying everything, taking the apartments, the neighborhoods, like, the grocery stores. Just something needs to change. I don't know why representatives is representing, like, what they're doing. Like, nothing is being changed. I'll push vote. Vote for what and vote for who, because... Every time it seemed like I'm against everything that America do because America don't stand for the people at all. And nobody can't even answer any type of questions. It's like just the people don't matter. I know y'all can only do certain things that y'all supposed to do, but at least somebody should at least have the courage or the integrity to at least stand up for the people. But y'all all concerned about the roads and all that stuff like that i just would appreciate if y'all i know i know our mothers and our fathers taught us us better than this to treat people the right way i know i'm i'm not from the speaker right now and i'm and there's no disrespect i should be able to have the same amount i know what you're about to say i should be able to have the same amount of respect the police do out here they do their job which i'll tell them to do as far as stopping us taking us to want to take us to jail spend the money please um like black rock state street vanguard is um controlling everything but it's lined it up like it's just it's ridiculous y'all need to just do better man thank you and next we'll hear from john hopkins

Mayor and council members, John Hopkins, District 1. I'm going to talk about arts downtown a little bit. A few weeks ago, I went to Wenatchee because I just like that town, about the same size as us. It's got a great outdoor gallery and a phenomenal riverfront. And I kind of found myself doing a little research as to how their program works as compared to ours. Didn't intend to to begin with, but I just couldn't help myself. First off, you probably all know that our program, Our Arts Downtown, came from Wenatchee. Rosemary Eckerson brought back the idea, and Kathy Turner was a primary driver in implementing it. And it's done phenomenally. Over 30 years, we've got 60 pieces outdoors. That's great. And I will tell you, the board knows exactly what it's doing and does a lot of cleaning and maintaining things you might not see, selection of new pieces for the rotating art, and does a fine job. By comparison, Wenatchee's board has kind of declined since some of their members have passed on. However, they still have a lot of pieces, way more than us, and the question is why. Well, a lot of them are in their parks. So what can we do about that? Well, here's a couple of things. We have a couple of opportunities coming up. One of them is the viewpoint for the flag. That's a perfect place to put some artwork. You know, we'll be right there. It should be safe as well. Also, there's another location that will be coming with the link where we go to where we tie to Tacoma again on the Riverwalk. So there's quite a few opportunities that we just need to explore and we need to expand beyond our area. our current footprint. The other thing that we can do that I think makes a whole lot of sense, if you look at the plaques for Wenatchee, you see a huge number have been donated by the utilities, private donors, corporations. By comparison, we really haven't done as good a job as we should. So I think we need to launch more of a program to have a more community input, and more people providing pieces for us. So I'll tell you about their indoor gallery another time. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker will be Jim Detweiler.

Thank you for the opportunity to, I didn't realize you were doing these proclamations tonight. And I would have worn a different outfit if I had known. I'm gay. When I was sitting there, it just occurred to me, it was a half century ago this month that I and some others walked in the very first civil rights march, equal rights for gays and lesbians in Seattle in 1976. And if someone had told me that I'd be sitting in a city council meeting in Puyallup, Washington, a half century later and would have witnessed what I just witnessed, we would have thought, you know, don't be ridiculous. We'll never get there. You know, we were just trying to find places to rent and keep a job. So thank you so much for all of that. My point that I did come tonight with was. I live in District 1 of the 900 block of 5th, and there is a lot of e-bikes and e-motorcycles that have suddenly just... appeared all over the neighborhood and especially that neighborhood which is very quiet we hardly ever see a patrol car come through and that's a good thing i guess because it's a very safe neighborhood i've been walking my dogs up to sam peach park every night i mean virtually every night of the year for um going on 10 years now never had an incident the It's a great neighborhood, and the kids are fine, too. I just don't think they know. But this year, we've been kind of chased off the path a couple of times at Sam Peach, and have had kids that just don't really either understand the rules. I don't think they're malicious. They just don't really get it. So I just want to put a word in for if there's an opportunity for officers, if they're passing through the neighborhood, if they see something, be assured, and I'm sure you know this, that one contact with one of those kids will spread and maybe help reinforce some of the... recent publicity about the law changes that have been in the Tacoma News Tribune and other media for Washington State. And those things coming together might help slow the trajectory of what has really taken off this summer and maybe hasn't been an issue yet. But, boy, it sure looks like it's headed there. Once again, the kids are fine. You know, they just don't know. 30 seconds. Okay. That's all I had to say. Thank you again for the time and the good work.

Thank you. Our next speaker will be Paul Wittingslow.

Thank you.

just doesn't have the right flags. But that's okay. I have many flags. Just tell him to come and see me. He'd probably use his own money for that. But I'm Paul Winningslow, 12605 124th Street, Court East. You weren't here last time that we were here. You were on the video. But that's okay. I happen to have, you know, I've retired over 6,000 flags now in western Washington. And it has to do with those people that... want to get their flags retired correctly. So tonight, I didn't know you were going to do all those things.

So just to let you know, last time I gave Dan over here all the flags, but this time I'm not going to do that because I'm going to pass one of those and the Constitution. to you. These are all free of charge. I'm not charging anyone for all these things. I'm taking my three minutes.

There you go.

And if you look at them, it says, Made in America. Made in the USA. And These are very special flags because I have like over 500 of them from that year of 2001, 9-11, if you can remember those things. Those flags are from 9-11. So I just want you to understand that there are a lot of things going on in this room and there are some people that basically try to follow different things. Oh wait, I gave you the wrong booklet though.

You need this one. Can I have that one back? That's the Washington State one.

I'll even leave these for them. But I just want you to know that retiring the US flag is one of the things that I've basically taken over and I just enjoy. You know, I came, I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, on the south side.

Never had any money.

My mom was the only one that took care of us, and I found that the United States of America is the greatest place on Earth. I've been around the world. I have fought in war. I have done all those things. Thank you very much. I just want you to know that the 4th of July will be right across the street. I hope everybody comes there because I will have more flags for those people that show up. I'll have the Constitution to do that because I believe in the Constitution, especially the First Amendment for free speech and, of course, the Second Amendment. which I always enjoy making sure that the United States of America is free and safe. So I thank you very much for the time tonight. I was going to leave, but I didn't know when I had to go. Those things should be in your front yard because they won't touch the ground. And I would hope to come by and say hi once you put those things in your yard. Thank you very much.

Our next speaker will be Angelina Squirto.

Yeah, you got it this time.

I'm getting better.

Yes, yes. Good evening, council members. My name is Angelina Squirto from Pierce County District 2. I want to make a comment on the FLEC proclamation. So with all the controversy going on of the flag, I would like to reflect on the symbolism of what it stands for and how it is used in different areas. There's more to the stars and stripes than what meets the eye. While the flag symbolizes unity, it has unifying capabilities in cases for people doing certain types of work, like politics or protesting. and also shows a sign of respect when the pledge of allegiance is requested before an event takes place like a cross it can represent safety like when i was a young girl placed at the base lying down underneath it and prevention of being lost however it can seem false leading with how how others misuse the flag to where it has been gathering a gathering grounds for wrongdoers in the middle of the night to do the unspeakable to victims Excuse me. Who are there? It can also be aggravating to see a unifying symbol when dirty cops have kidnapped my brother so many times for multiple years, wrongfully incarcerating him, trying to turn him into a statistic added to the prison pipeline and have gone away with it. And as a result of human trafficking. So I've looked to. This flag with a newly found hope since justice started getting carried out and that phasing line stunted, wishing for those occurrences to never happen again to him or even to me in any way. It is necessary to have it as a reminder that injustices have consequences and life can be transformed for the better.

Thank you. Thank you.

That is the last of the pre-requested public comments. Is there anybody in the audience who would like to add something?

My name is Don Cottom. I live in District 1. In fact, I'm a neighbor of Jim, who just spoke here earlier. And I often run into him when he's walking his two dogs. And I'm walking my dog, which is here, Sherman. This is my dog. And Mr. Johnson has met Sherman before, knows him. And I would just like to echo what Jim says about there has been a real proliferation of these e-bikes. And tonight a car came out. I was waiting for a car to clear. And then I saw a bike and I almost started to go. But this is an e-bike and he's going much faster than a pedal bike. And I had to stop myself because I could have pulled out and caused an accident. So I'd just like people to really be aware that these e-bikes are moving much faster than pedal bikes that we're used to. And that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. And any further comments? Okay.

Okay. Okay.

I'm Eric, District 2. Thank you. This America 250 thing has kind of actually freaked me out. I don't know whether it's a lack of constitutional literacy or that we're all caught up in our everyday lives. We're handing out constitutions. I'm curious if anybody's actually read it as an adult. I mean, a lot of us read it during grade school. I think that's kind of our introduction and a lot of people's only real exposure to it. Off the top of my head, in the last 16 months, Donald Trump's committed 16 counts, 17 counts of treason. ordered 200 war crimes, 200 murders, 200 obstructions of justice. He's put somebody in place who he had chased down citizens in the street, gunned them down in the street. And according to our own laws, they've committed acts of terrorism against citizens. When the Speaker of the House took an oath, that oath has the word shall in it. Not if you want to, not if you have the free time. Shall execute the Constitution faithfully. He's the only individual with the power currently to bring Trump for an impeachment and then take him over to the Senate to have him held accountable. He's actively choosing not to, despite there being more than enough. So we do not have a republic as outlined by the U.S. Constitution. We didn't make it 250 years as far as the Constitution says. And we can have our feelings. We can have our flags. We can have our little celebrations. But the U.S. Constitution is quite clear. And right now we have a traitor holding office. In Title 18, Chapter 115, Section 2381 states that anyone who's committed treason cannot hold office. And 2382 states anyone who's witnessed treason has to report it so the average citizen knows what it is and can report it. We didn't make it 250 years, you guys. Thank you.

Any last comments? Okay, we'll move on to our consent agenda. These are items on our agenda that are... non-controversial and we expect to have unanimity on. Is there any item on the consent agenda that any council member would like to pull off? Seeing none, do I hear a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Second? Do I hear a second? Second. Second. The motion has been approved and moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes. Okay, so we're now to our Ordinance 5A, second reading of an ordinance amending the Title 20 zoning of the Puyallup Municipal Code. And this... Is Mr. Kendall here? Senior Planner?

Mr. Mayor, Kendall is available if there's any questions that Council has. Yes, she's coming up shortly.

I just appreciate a refresher on

Would you like a presentation or would you just like a high level overview? Okay. So this package of amendments was identified as housekeeping related items from our phase one zoning map and code work that was adopted in February of this year. So this package of amendments includes an update to our zoning district list that is in our code to make sure that it aligns with our zoning map. It also deals with motor vehicle sales, auto sales in the RMX zone. That would be a new allowance in the RMX zone. An allowance for standalone multifamily residential in our mixed use zones generally. So it wouldn't have to have a commercial component. They could just be a standalone multifamily development. An increased density for RMX and UCX, which are two of our mixed use zones that are in the River Road corridor, as well as UCX is in our South Hill area, but it now is implemented down South Meridian as well. And an increased size allowance for incidental signs on private property and appeal procedures for preliminary site plan land use permit applications.

Okay, thank you. Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to overview this much simpler in Deputy Mayor terms and layman's terms. As I understand it, based off of our first passage, our first reading, if we're to just make this very simple and very concise. The second reading reflects that we are now adding the ability for auto usage on the River Road section, which is the north side of River Road. Is that correct? That does add that?

That's correct.

Okay. And also, am I correct that this second reading does not allow for auto usage in the South Hill area?

it doesn't allow it outright it reverts back to what was already permitted which has limited use allowances for like showrooms small scale like zip car fleet that kind of thing that was already in code and so that was just

maintained the same. It wasn't increased like there was a proposal to increase that. So that now takes that out. And then just last confirmation to make sure I got it right. Wasn't there some discussion on the north of River Road that there is higher density capacity for multi-housing units if, in fact, that were to be developed, was there some increased density measures put in there?

Correct. So there would be a no max density in the RMX zone, which is the River Road corridor, and then as well as the UCX zone, which is in our South Hill Regional Growth Center and along South Meridian.

Okay. Do we need a motion on this? I'd like to make a motion that we accept the second reading of the ordinance as identified in 5A as we understand it to be based off of Kendall's description.

Second. The motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. I think a roll call. Motion passes, but we'll have a roll call.

Council Member Gilliam?

Aye.

Council Member Kastema? Aye. Council Member Smoko?

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Johnson? Aye. Mayor Whitting?

Aye. Okay, we'll move on to 5B. This is the ordinance amending section 2.27020 to reduce the size of our Arts and Culture Commission. Any discussion? Deputy Mayor Johnson.

I just want to, again, just confirm because there were some amendments and so forth and so on, so I'll make sure the second reading, as I understand it, will allow this particular board to go down to five for a temporary, I think we said two years? One year. And at that point, it would be re-evaluated to see if the Arts Commission was able to get that back up to seven, of which we wouldn't reinstate the seven. So if that's basically the gist, I would support that and I will yield to Rene, if she wanted to, or Council Member Gilliam, if she wanted to make the motion on it since she kind of made the amendment.

Council Member Smolko. Actually, let me pause. Eric's not here. City Manager, can you confirm that that's the understanding of the ordinance at this time?

Yes, that is correct. The ordinance would reduce the membership of the Arts and Culture Commission to five members. That ordinance would be in effect for one year from the date basically from today. And then unless council takes action again, then it would revert back to seven members.

Thank you for that. Council Member Smolko.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would support this as a temporary practical fix, which is what we're all talking about, but I'd also like to see the group or staff return within six months with a concrete recruitment plan that reaches artists and other culture bearers across the community. I think that recruitment seems to be a bit of an issue, and I'd like to see that we are filling those seven seats and being very... intentional and proactive about outreach in communities of color, immigrant communities, working artists, younger residents, through any civic engagement pipeline that we might reach at more people. I think reducing the size without fixing the recruitment just makes a less representative body more manageable. So I'd like to see some sort of plan reported to us in six months and then continue forward through the rest of the year in the hopes that we can have too many people to handle Once a year is up. Thank you.

Council member Gilliam.

I just have a clarifying question and maybe this would be for city manager Steve Kirkley. Is that something that the city staff needs to create or is that something that we would put out on the actual board since it's their community?

What I understand Council Member Smoko asking for is a report in six months from staff insofar as what recruitment efforts have been made to recruit additional members to the Arts and Culture Commission. We certainly can provide a report to Council on our efforts to do that. The council decides who is on the Arts and Culture Commission, so ultimately it is a city council decision, but we certainly can report back on any efforts that we can take, such as perhaps social media and other components to encourage people to apply for the positions.

Okay, I just I don't want to create more work for city staff. So I like that community to rise up and create and that collaborative work of its own. But in in collaboration with city staff, but I'd like the main work to be not city staff. Okay, and I fully agree. So I would like to make a motion to add. Sorry, I'd like to make a motion to agree with this motion.

I'll second that.

Okay, the motion has been moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Roll call vote.

Council Member Gilliam?

Aye.

Council Member Castro?

Aye.

Council Member Smolko?

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Johnson? Aye. Mayor Whitty?

Aye. Okay, so we're, our item 5C is the first reading of an ordinance pertaining to routine 2026 budget adjustments and finance director Barbara Lopez will introduce the ordinance.

Good evening. Thank you, Mayor Whitting. Good evening, Council. Barbara Lopez, Finance Director. Before you this evening is a consolidating ordinance that basically takes all of the budget adjustments that we've done so far for the year since the budget was adopted and consolidates them into one ordinance for approval by Council. Many of these items you've seen over the past few months, different grants that we've received, a few of the items are carrying forward items that didn't get fully spent last year into this year's budget. So I am happy to answer any specific questions that you might have.

Council Member Castamare. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Hi, Barb. I was reading in the Tacoma News Tribune the other day that the city of Tacoma has a $40 million deficit, and that seems to be a pattern that's being replicated in many of our cities in the Puget Sound area. That's not the case with Puyallup, is that correct, that we have a debt of that magnitude, or do we have a debt?

Well, we do not have a budget deficit. Obviously, we've got debt that we pay on an annual basis, but our budget is balanced so far. We are keeping track of things like sales tax because the economy is a challenging one right now. But at this particular point, we do not have a budget deficit, largely in part to the budget stability policy that council operates, where we are very conservative in how we estimate our revenues and we don't overextend.

And just to review that for people who may be listening, we go back and examine the past two years. And the lower of the actual budget is what we use in a carry-forward, so to speak. Correct. Which is amazing, quite a bit different than the state whose carry-forward budget they put in a lot of factors, inflation, population, service, et cetera. That is their carry-forward budget, which inflates it dramatically. So thank you for that.

You're welcome.

Council Member Smolko.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And as I'm looking at my questions again, I'm feeling like they're silly. But I'm going to ask them anyway because I can't remember the answers, so please bear with me. Ms. Lopez, can you tell me what the PLP Hotel Project grant covers?

That is the hotel project run by Kirsten Hoffman, the emergency management manager.

Thank you. I told you kind of a silly question, but I was having a mind block. And then what is the $65,000 abatement line fund specifically?

This is in connection with the code enforcement activities and the development of permitting services. Director Courtney Brunel could probably offer additional details, but it's in conjunction with that work to be able to abate some of those properties.

Okay. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mayor. Barbara, tagging with Council Member Kastema, just for reflection, I think sometimes we, as a city, don't realize how responsible our financial stewardship is compared to other cities. So as a finance director, and you've worked at other cities before, Is Puyallup in kind of a, just general numbers, not quoting, but in general numbers, is it pretty rare to see a city like this pretty stable without a huge deficit like we're seeing in Tacoma and Seattle and so many other cities? Are we kind of in a unique territory or is this pretty common for most cities in situations at times like this to be in massive deficits on budgets loosely?

I am not aware of any other cities that have a budget stability policy such as ours that helps keep us a bit more stable and a bit more able to handle some of the economic changes. I would say, because I'm not aware of any, we may be in a small group of cities.

Councilor Acasima, that says something, doesn't it? really about the financial stewardship of how we operate. And sometimes we're criticized on our spending for this or that, which we've heard recently. But yet, on the other hand, in terms of other cities, we're actually probably in a very elite class of balancing our budget and oftentimes criticized as misspending. So I think that's honorable, and it's also our city staff. And who was it, Cliff, that started this Budget Stability Act? And then you're continuing that. That's something to be proud of. And we have the discipline to maintain that. Council has that discipline to maintain that. Staff has given us good direction. So thanks, Council Member Castro, for bringing that up because I think it's good for the public to know that we're in kind of a really rare financial situation that most cities are not finding themselves in. They have to do massive cuts, raising taxes, slashing taxes. and running deficits and we're just not there. So very, very fortunate. And also, I would also think it's worthy to reflect on this is that when the big downturn of 2008 and even with COVID, we really managed that pretty well, very, very minimal layoffs of any. And so it's quite, in a sense, I'll use the word loosely, miraculous, but it wasn't a miracle. It was a disciplined approach and a process to keep us above water when times are tough. So thank you for your continued leadership to keep us along those lines, and thank Council for your support of this budget stability because it's a really rare burden. We should be proud of how we utilize our money, and our citizens should be proud of how we utilize our tax money, which most cities are not doing for whatever reason. So thank you.

Okay, any further comments? Hearing none, do I hear a motion to approve first reading of this ordinance? Motion to approve.

Second.

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Next, we'll move on to item 6A, resolutions. We have a resolution recommending the appointment of Kim Field to serve on the Conservation Future and Open Space Citizens Advisory Board. And City Clerk Dan Vessels will introduce the resolution.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council, before you this evening, you have a resolution recommending the reappointment of Ms. Field to serve on the Conservation Future and Open Space Citizens Advisory Board. Last year, Council put forward a resolution to Pierce County for Ms. Field to fill the position that was vacated by Heather Shadko. Ms. Field has expressed interest to Pierce County that she would like to continue with a full appointment to the Conservation Board. And so at this time, we're recommending that the Council approve the resolution and forward that to Pierce County so the Council can take that into consideration.

Council Member Gilliam.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So do we know how she's doing? Like, did we get a report on her work?

She has expressed interest with the county on this, and the county fully supports her reappointment to that position.

In that case, I make a motion to approve Kim Fields in this position for another term.

Do I hear a second?

Second.

Any further comment? Hearing none, all those in favor, please so indicate. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. We'll now move on to our Railroad Quiet Zone Project update and resolution authorizing Tier 3 funds towards the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement Grant. And we'll have a report by City Engineer Hans Unger.

Yes, thank you. So I'll introduce this subject, but this gets a pretty technical subject as you're talking about all the things happening at a railroad quiet zone and the crossings. And so I will have Pablo Pera from PH Consulting that has been doing a lot of the legwork on this. So we were here last September updating. Since then, we've had meetings with the operators, BNSF, the Federal Railroad Association, and we've come up with some improvements at crossings that both parties agree these are necessary improvements to increase safety. And then the second part of this is the resolution for applying for a grant, which has, you know, it's a significant amount, and we'd like to be able to carve out some Tier 3 money for that. So I'll come back up after Pablo's done. Thank you.

Good evening mayor and council. Thank you Hans for the introduction and for pretty much giving my entire presentation So just give you a recap on what we've done since we were last year and September we brought our Initial analysis and recommendations for moving forward with the quiet zone. Sorry Okay So initially we were looking at including nine crossings along the corridor, which would have included crossing in Pierce County and a private crossing on the west end of Stewart Road. After going through the on-site diagnostic that the That was the next step that we talked about here in September. We determined that we made some recommendations to exclude those two from the city's quiet zone moving forward. There were some complications that were outside of the city's control in the Pierce County crossing that we're just going to complicate uh the rest of the corridor uh so which two crossings were those so that would be the it's stewart ave east and uh 64th uh i believe uh it's pl i mean uh pierce county crossing uh just outside of the city limits and then there's a private crossing just east of there so those are the two west most correct thank you um so this have hovering over the pierce county crossing there and then the one just east of it is a private crossing bnsf policy operating procedures they don't blow their horns at the private crossing anyways so this would be kind of the last place they would blow those horns when when we get to that point of implementing the quiet zone But I can kind of get back to the just the history part. Council authorized us to move forward with that diagnostic meeting. And as Hans mentioned, we met with FRA, BNSF, UTC, and some of the other key stakeholders and spent time at each crossing identifying issues. Safety and a history, some deficiencies in some of the existing infrastructure and both on the railroad side and on the city side and developed kind of a list of improvements that would be desirable for. the whole corridor as a safety benefit, and then that also identified some issues that were more specific to the quiet zone needs. So after that, we put together a series of notes that we're sharing with the whole stakeholder group, and we're still in process of finalizing that. But the big issues that did come out of those out of the process, as Hans mentioned, were some kind of safety and trespass and operational issues. The two big ones are and a Meridian and Third Street. Those two crossings are actually pretty high on the state action plan list of priority for improvement. And so I'll get into a little more of that after just a quick recap on the overall process for the quiet zone itself. So we started with developing the plan, the concept. I included just kind of a flow chart here. Hopefully you're able to read that, but that's The general process for establishing a quiet zone currently at that last green checkmark where we've conducted the diagnostic meeting and the next step would be to kind of coordinate those negotiate the improvements for the corridor and negotiate all the agreements and move forward with that process. And that's kind of what I'm showing there is highlighted in that yellow highlight on that flow chart. But then we would follow just down that flow chart, that red arrow, and proceeding through. Once we get to that point of coming to an agreement with The diagnostic team, we would work on implementing those projects and those improvements within the corridor. We'll get into that on the next slide. But some of those improvements do have a pretty high cost. And so that's where the funding opportunity that's coming up is the next topic for discussion. So in the FRI quiet zone process, once we negotiate that agreement, implement projects, You issue a notice of intent. That's a procedural step. Implement the improvements, and then you issue your notice of establishment. Sounds a lot simpler than it really is in practice. So the big sticking point are the improvements that were identified. Like I mentioned, Meridian and Meridian. And Third Street Southeast were kind of the two big ones with the highest collision risk history and several serious and fatal collisions within the last several years. At the same time that we're having these conversations with the stakeholder group, the diagnostic team, the FRA had released a call for grant opportunity. So it's just a timely opportunity that was presented to the city. And so we're... put together a plan evaluating that grant call and all the requirements that are as part of that grant program. So with the recommendation post-Quiet Zone diagnostic meeting to take out the two western crossings as part of the city's designated crossing. Looking at the grant requirements in trying to put together a competitive project, we narrowed that down a little more to kind of the six key crossings where we got the majority of those major comments and kind of just through the whole list at the project and came and put together a preliminary plan some cost estimates, which takes us to, can I explain? The grant here I could mention was recently issued in April. Our diagnostic meeting we conducted in March of this year. So this was released just a month later. And as we were putting together the notes to share with the team. This grant is due next week, actually on Monday. Our goal is to submit it before the long weekend with council's authorization. There's no limit on the amount we're allowed to request, but there is a 20% match requirement. And so what, sorry, I'm kind of racing through that. So please feel free to jump in if there's any questions as you go along. next steps um for the project if the council has chooses to authorize the commitment of funds we will finalize that application and get it submitted and we would expect the award notifications according to their grant documents sometime late fall potentially or later in the year. So we would be looking at potentially negotiating an agreement early next year and getting kind of the final design process for these six crossings. And if successful, that will help accomplish, you know, the major kind of safety improvements at some of these crossings and then also get you well on your way to being able to implement the quiet zone, which would be a separate process.

Yes. So there's two sections to this, the quiet zone and the safety considerations. So could you give me an idea of what the breakdown between those two is, how much of it is safety? It sounds like the bulk of it is safety and the quiet zone is a smaller fraction of that.

So – Yes, that's accurate. The only caveat is the safety improvements at a couple of these crossings will be necessary in order to gain acceptance for the overall quiet zone corridor. So we could have moved forward with a smaller project Potentially, there would have still been a risk with the overall diagnostic team not agreeing that that is adequate. What this project does is it takes care of just about every major comment that was brought by patients. the railroad, FRA, and some of the city comments as well.

So there's a couple of – we reduced the number of crossings that we're going to consider first for the westernmost, which is county. So I'm not going to get too excited about that, but there's the other ones within the city that we're excluding. Do you – Again, if we're trying to get to a quiet zone, if you still have some crossings, the train's still going to be blowing its horn. And I can hear it at my house up on the hill. So the question is, those additional crossings, what's the budget impact and what's it going to take to get those additional crossings taken care of?

So there's only one crossing that was part of the post-diagnostic team recommendation, and that's the 15th Street Southeast Crossing, which is just beyond... It's the last crossing at the east of the corridor.

So the reason...

We're currently excluding that from the grant proposal as it would have had a major cost. Increment over the rest of the corridor without much additional benefit, so it would have brought the kind of the competitiveness of the overall application down. And it was one of the lowest risk crossings within the corridor, and we can still include it in the quiet zone corridor. It just isn't part of the grant project that we're proposing for.

So there are safety issues there, but we can implement the quiet zone there without addressing the safety issues?

There's really not major safety risk at that or significant safety risk at all at that crossing is what we documented and observed during the diagnostic meeting. We did have some minor improvement recommendations for that crossing that we determined we were better excluded from the grant scope in order just to keep a more competitive grant project. And so that's why the grant scope covers six crossings, and the ultimate quiet zone proposal would still include those seven.

Okay, great. Thank you for that clarification. Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mayor. Hans, can I ask some questions from you? Thank you, Pablo. So thanks for that clarity, Mayor. So it sounds like there are seven crossings within the city of Puyallup boundaries, and we're going to apply for a grant to improve six of them, but the seventh would be included as kind of a. Still a quiet zone, but no major improvements like the other ones. Is that correct?

Yes. And let me just see if I can clarify this. So getting at the improvements at the intersections that we're applying for the grant for, that's really coming at it from, are there safety issues at these that have been documented by some sort of a collision and stuff? That's what this grant is intended to improve, not to implement a quiet zone. So you're the one at 15th doesn't have those documented safety concerns. Therefore, it doesn't really help us in the grant competitiveness there. So we're trying to keep these kind of two separate issues. But behind the scenes, we're with the diagnostic team. They're saying these things need to happen in order for a quiet zone to happen.

OK, great. Thank you for that clarity. So I did a little research on this and I don't know if Council Member Kasten has been very adamant and the whole council has been supportive of this. But I think probably on the council, I'm probably the most traveled train rider for 10 years, taking that train from Puyallup into Seattle on a regular basis. I kind of know the cities, at least from Puyallup through Seattle, And I'd be curious to find out, you know, we have seven crossings within our city. If my instinct and memory from driving on these for 10 years, I don't think there's any other city between Puyallup to Seattle that has that many crossings. And if that's the case, it's highly unusual that we have kind of a safety issue of that many crossings in a city. Other ones maybe have one or two that I can recall seeing that are kind of intersection. If that's the case, all the more reason why safety is important because you have six or seven coming through our city and we're not even a big city. Even Tacoma doesn't have that many, right? And they're a much bigger city. I think, again, this is more instinctively. I think I'm probably right instinctively. So that should be documented and highlighted that we have an extra heightened security issue and noise issue as well in terms of density of all these stops. So I support the safety improvements and I support fully the sound reduction improvement. But I think that's only part one of two things that we could be as a city. This is what I'd like to suggest to council in discussion. And maybe if you agree that we could take a look at this as a second step. There is precedence within Pierce County, not just for quiet zones, but also a reduced speed corridor in certain areas that would also add to safety. You know, Puyallup is positioning herself as a high-density area in our downtown core. We're adding how many... 350 units right in our downtown core, which means increased traffic. Festivals that we have, concerts we have, Sounder Station right there. A lot of pedestrians going across those tracks. And I see some of those Amtrak's coming through. They are flying. I mean, they're probably 70, 80 miles an hour. I don't know what they're, but they're flying. There's no way to stop on that. I also understand that just in my knowing, yearly we have fatality right here in the city with actually people get hit at these places. Now, I don't know what the reason, if it was actually accident or suicide, I have no idea. But certainly fast moving trains, the ability to stop is concerning. And so there is some precedence, I think, in Pierce County. I know that Tacoma has a reduced speed corridor down on the waterfront where people are walking down that area. And I've seen trains kind of cruise very quietly through there and also slowly. I think there needs to be some data looked at is that could we, as a part two, take a look at safety information by causing a reduced corridor speed just in those seven stops that would at least cause it to slow down and not be flying through there. I think there's something to be looked at there. I also understand that, and again, I know this is interesting, but Even the FRA agrees that high speed means higher consequences of incidents. And Washington State, in the data that I've seen, ranks number one at the highest casualty rates in the country for pedestrians. So if we've got seven stops in our city, we really should be looking at a reduced speed zone through that area. They can speed back up all they want when they get into the open area. But when you've got a lot of people here and children, we need to be doing that. So I wouldn't be looking at that. and i think the council should take lead on checking into that i don't want to abort this deal now i think we should be looking at this reduce or we should be looking at these uh you know quiet zones we should be looking at these safety improvements but i also think in tandem we should be looking at a part two once these are implemented that we look at looking at a study for reduced speed in this one strip that is highly uh populated with crossings. And I think that we should base that off of, does Puyallup have a disproportionate increase of crossings compared to other cities in this stretch? And I think that we do. And I think someone should look into that. And if we have two, three, four times more stops than any other city, we should have a heightened reduced speed zone that could be looked at. And I know the train organizations aren't going to like that, but there is some precedence of that that is there. And so we should be looking at that. So Those are some questions I have, and I support this grant proposal you've mentioned in terms of how you laid it out today. Thank you.

Council Member Kastema.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First of all, regarding what Deputy Mayor Johnson said, I know that Burlington Northern is fairly difficult. All the railroads are fairly difficult to deal with. And so I understand the negotiations have been taking place with the diagnostic team, I think, probably doing what's necessary and what the railroads are asking. The question I have is if we do address these six crossings, do we have an agreement from Burlington Northern? That they, in fact, will designate this as a quiet zone, and that's absent any of the things Councilmember Johnson. I don't want to throw those factors into the negotiations, understanding how difficult that is. But to what extent are you confident?

Well, I'll answer my question, but I'm going to turn to Pablo. So because we've done a diagnostic and we're basically agreeing to the improvements they've said at the diagnostic, it would be hard for them to oppose if these improvements are made. But I don't think there's an actual agreement they signed beforehand of anything to say, absolutely, if you do these, we support the quiet zone. So Pablo, can you come up and talk to a little more about that?

So the quiet zone designation authority lies with the city. As long as we follow the recommendations of the diagnostic team and implement those improvements, and we're following the FRA rule, BNSF can't say no. Okay. So once we get to that point, then they have to work with you and the FRA to follow the guidelines.

I would like to say that thank you for coming on board. I think way back in 1892 when his council, Deputy Mayor Johnson's great-grandfather was on the council, he was probably advocating for a quiet zone back then. That's how long this issue has been in Puyallup. I'm being facetious there, frankly. I don't know if it's been that long. We have had to deal with very loud, you know, sirens, horns for decades. I received a letter from a constituent who said that he eventually had to move from a home that was right next, near Stewart there. But he had told me that he measured the sounds in his bedroom with all the windows closed, and it was 106 decibels. which is pretty loud. And in fact, I went ahead and I looked into what kind of health issues that they can cause over a prolonged period. And I was amazed that it could cause very serious health concerns. In fact, that's what he noted as one of the reasons he was leaving. But it's very intense. the horns that people have to be subjected to. In that case, he told me that he did talk to Burlington Northern, and he commented about the horns, and their response was, don't worry, we've made them clearer and louder. It was completely the opposite of what he was looking for. They thought he needed more notice. So I think we've been living with this for a long time. Thank you. I think it was a very good decision that Citi made bringing you on board because, like I say, this has been an issue for decades. And I think we are finally getting to the point. where we may solve this for the people of Puyallup. I live close to the river. It's kind of a serenade to me when I hear those horns at night because I tend to be in the lowest spot in the valley. I think sound waves travel over me a little bit. But as you get closer to the railroad tracks and with the housing that we're going to have in downtown and how we want it to become much more of a residential area, This is going to become more and more important. So thank you. Thank you. And I'm glad we brought you on board. And I'll be a yes on it. Thank you. Council Member Smolko.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In full transparency, right off the bat, I strongly support this resolution. But to Council Member Kasten's point, railroad noise pollution disproportionately impacts residents living near rail corridors. So those of us on the hill or down by the river wouldn't hear it as much. But our lower income communities and communities of color across the country are disproportionately affected negatively. I did look up some numbers because I was curious, too, Councilmember Johnson. In the past 15 years, there are at minimum 24 confirmed fatalities in or immediately adjacent to Puyallup. That's roughly 1.8 deaths per year, and that's just the deaths, not the injuries. But roughly 14 out of those 24-ish fatalities, or 58%, were classified as trespass incidents. So I have some questions about how we might specifically target that as a primary issue. Two of the six crossings named in this resolution, the 7th Street Northwest and 3rd Street Southeast, appeared directly in that fatality record. All things you guys already know, but I was a little bit surprised to learn all of it. The North Meridian Crossing was the site of an October 2025 death. 5th Street Southeast in February 2026. So that's four of the six project crossings with documented fatalities. So I think this is a response to an active ongoing pattern of death. So this resolution is not just an infrastructure investment to me, but it will improve the quality of life and public safety simultaneously. Win, win, win. Thank you.

Thank you. I just have one question. Final wrap up question. I always like to know where we stand on our budget items. Director Lopez, could you give us an idea of how much tier three money we have available and uncommitted at this point?

I believe that city manager actually has that for you too.

Because Ms. Lopez provided it to me. So even after including this amount, there will still be, and setting aside the $5 million for the jail remodel, there will be approximately $2.7 million left in the Tier 3.

2.7 million left. 2.7. Okay, thank you. Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want clarity because I do see some next steps. Do we need to do a formal authorization or...

Yeah, so within the resolution is an amount that provides. I know that Hans, I think there's going to be a change in that amount that Hans will explain to Council here. But we are asking Council to approve a resolution this evening.

Council, if it's okay, unless we want to hear from Hans, I'd like to make a motion to...

If I can just say one thing, we updated our numbers just recently as we tried to just really get down to exactly what we need and the timing to be able to inflate for the years that we're expecting construction. So where I think the current resolution says allocating about one point three eight million dollars. The new figure that we would need allocated is the 1.511 figure there. So I don't know, Joe might be able to help me on if that's just a verbal amendment to the resolution before it's passed.

Okay. Thank you. So with that in mind, I'd like to request and authorize the financial commitment for a grant match for this resolution to approve tonight as stated in item 6B.

In the amount of $1.5 million?

As stated, yeah.

Second. Moved and seconded. Seeing no further discussion requests. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Our next item on the agenda is item 7A, information presentation on phase two zoning map and code policy direction regarding neighborhood commercial zoning. And Kendall is back.

I'm back.

Kendall Walls, Senior Planning with Development and Permitting Services. Good evening again. Looks like our presentation's coming up online here. So yes, this is, we're seeking policy direction related to changes to one of our existing zones for implementation as our new neighborhood commercial zone. And this is a part of that package of phase two zoning map and code amendments. And I think at our March 31st study session, staff presented on mixed-use zones, kind of gave a background on our mixed-use zones in general, and then we had more focused policy discussion on two specific zones. So then tonight, again, we're focused on this limited mixed-use LMX zone. And so we're looking for policy direction for that work. I'll provide some background and the general concepts and considerations, and we'll have just a prompt for discussion following those slides. So neighborhood commercial nodes. has been a concept that was actually adopted in our 2015 periodic update to the comprehensive plan, but it was a key component to the updated growth strategy as part of our recent periodic update. These are considered small commercial areas that bring services to residential neighborhoods and allow residents to meet their daily needs. and help create a sense of place in our neighborhoods. This concept was supported by the community through the periodic update process. I have a couple slides to kind of demonstrate that. But these, as far as serving, they can serve many types of daily needs, ranging from getting a cup of coffee, mailing something, grabbing some ingredients for dinner. It's supposed to be a smaller scale stop by commercial use and could have some residential components to it as well. so as part of the environmental analysis the eis that was conducted with the periodic update we studied three alternatives and the third alternative explored this initial concept of neighborhood commercial nodes so these are called out on this map with these kind of dots smaller areas It was further refined in the preferred alternative, so you'll see on a future map that it's not as spread out on our future land use map currently, but that was something that was studied as part of that process. And then we did some outreach to this concept. In summer of 2024, we did this online policy forum where we asked specific policy questions. It had this kind of slide bar where you could choose whether you oppose, support, maybe you're in the middle on different policy questions that were posed. And this one was specific to establishing neighborhood commercial nodes. along key transportation routes, kind of looking at Stewart and Shaw Road, and it generally was supported by those who participated in this online forum. And then further along in the process, when we had draft changes for the future land use map, we also had another online survey where we asked if the community was supportive of this concept and generally received support, which is shown here on this graphic. So the neighborhood commercial land use designation was established in the comprehensive plan, also referred to as NC, and it mostly currently is applied to existing non-conforming uses in our generally along Stewart and Pioneer in the city. And this would allow for some potential expansion or redevelopment of those existing commercial uses. Right now, it's really limited to you can kind of maintain what's there, and it's really tight on what can actually be modified for that commercial use. And we hear that question often when these properties come on the market. People want to do different uses, like more coffee shop or other types of uses, but they're kind of stuck with what they have. So this would allow for some more opportunities. So this is... zoomed out version. You can see they're very small areas of the city that currently are mapped on our land use map for neighborhood commercial. And this is just to give an idea of where this new zone would then be applied in the city. So largely along Stewart and Pioneer. There are some areas that are scattered that were either LMX zoning currently or a similar type zoning situation that have been converted through this process. So the limited mixed use zone is proposed again to implement the neighborhood commercial future land use designation. And right now, the limited mixed-use zone is established as a scaled-down version of our other mixed-use zones, but it's not quite to the scale of a neighborhood commercial type of zone. So that's where we're looking for some policy guidance on adjusting it to fit these areas. The existing Alamex zone has a density range of about 8 to 12 dwelling units per acre and a maximum building height of 40 feet. And I'll go through some other property development standards that we're looking at modifying as part of this process. So first, looking at permitted uses. in this zone. Currently, outside of drive-thrus and retail with outdoor storage, most commercial uses are allowed outright currently under this zone. And it also has a cap on commercial space at 50,000 square feet, which is still quite large when we're talking about these smaller neighborhood-based commercial uses. So we'll kind of revisit that on a future slide for considerations. But some considerations for prohibiting commercial-type uses in this zone for the new purpose are potentially drinking establishments without a restaurant component, self-storage facilities, or other uses that may not be compatible at a neighborhood scale. So looking at commercial uses, some other considerations are limiting outdoor uses, thinking about limiting nighttime operating hours. So maybe these have a 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. operating hour to kind of fit better within the neighborhood. And then also further limiting the size of those spaces. Instead of at a 50,000 square foot, we're looking at around... like a 10,000 square foot cap. Or we could look at doing a more proportional size to the lot. So it'd be based on the floor area ratio instead of a straight cap on the commercial size. For residential uses, currently apartments and townhouses are allowed as part of a mixed use site. However, the code amendment package that you took action on tonight already kind of cleans up this first item of allowing for standalone residential uses. But also we're looking to clarify live work units to just state that those are allowed. It's currently allowed in code, but just stating that outright so that it's clear to applicants. Another consideration is this kind of employment use that we're calling craft manufacturing. So these are small scale, having very little impacts to adjacent properties. And they can be kind of craftsman studios, instructional classes or related activities. and have a retail component, so have some retail associated with it. Some examples are kind of art studios, picture framing, could be sewing, specialty foods or catering, those type of uses. So then for development standards in this zone, currently there is that max of 12 units per acre. We're considering increasing the allowed density and to rely on other site controls like building height lock coverage to control that intensity of development. As far as setbacks, these might kind of adjust with our design review standards update, which will follow our code update. And so that will kind of be handled separately, but would be looking at modifying the front yard setback, side and rear yard, looking at retaining the existing six foot or 10 foot, six foot side, 10 foot rear. But we are looking at requiring a dense landscape buffer when abutting low density residential. And we could vary the buffer based on the building height if that is something that's desired. But having a little bit of buffering in between these uses is something that we've heard from previous sessions with council. And I think we've received some feedback on maybe not quite as dense as we currently have, but we could kind of meet somewhere in the middle on those sizings. So those are the general concepts, and we're just kind of here tonight to hear from you all. If you're supportive of the direction that we're going, is there anything we're missing that we should be paying attention to? And that is what we'd like to hear tonight. So thank you.

Council Member Kastema. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Whenever we have discussions of commercial projects, in residential zones, there tends to be a lot of romanticizing. Little cafes, things where people can walk to and they won't be intrusive on a neighborhood. The reality is much different and can be much different. And I say we tread very lightly in this area. I have been to cities in the Midwest where they've allowed businesses in neighborhoods, and you end up having bars in neighborhoods, restaurants in neighborhoods. You compound that with the fact that the state is mandating that we have zero parking requirements for any residential entities within, what, a half mile? of the sounder station you combine that with now commercial entities which will use parking and then you have different housing now that's being mandated on us that will increase density in our downtown core and for each one of those there's no parking so where you could have right now a single family residence you could have maybe a three four plex with no parking requirements. So you go from a two to could be potentially six to eight car in that area. And now you throw in this commercial element And again, I've seen the cities in the Midwest where these are proliferated throughout neighborhoods. In North Puyallup, you have where it's really pretty much unregulated. It's by the county. I have seen entities there say, well, I'm just going to put a small restaurant on the side of my house or a brewery. And now there are full scale, you know, parking lot with people going there because they're Commercial businesses want to expand. I know in downtown Puyallup, you have someone living in an apartment. But because of, well, actually right over here, because of the gas station, all the noise that is made and the hours that we have allowed. And by the way, it never was that originally. And that's, again, part of the romanticizing. that takes place is people say, well, don't worry, we'll limit the hours. All of that gets eked away over the years to the point where someone now had to move from that location because the noise was so severe they couldn't insulate their particular residence enough because of that. And we've allowed that to happen here in Puyallup. You talk about, again, romanticize about having manufacturing facilities in neighborhoods. As I doorbelled, I went door to door to people who, in fact, people were doing that in their backyard, whether it's welding on cars or whatever. And it was a blight on the neighborhood that they complained about noise, excessive noise. And again, all of these types of things are, I believe, romanticized. One thing that Puyallup has always had is strong neighborhoods. And we, other communities, don't have neighborhoods as strong as we have. Just me coming here this evening, I saw just a plethora of families and children on our streets, in our neighborhoods. And we need to protect that. Right now, we are experiencing just an onslaught of traffic from commuters coming from River Road or from that side of the valley, trying to get up the hill, going through our neighborhoods. So much to the extent that we now have traffic calming proactively, and I have been out there trying to get reactive traffic. traffic calming put in our neighborhoods too, to throw an element that makes people just start up businesses in the middle of a neighborhood and do it without, I mean, real restrictions, I think is just malpractice on our part. So I would say, Proceed with tremendous caution in this area because I don't buy it. I don't buy the fact that they're going to be a cute little coffee stand because I know that many of those little coffee stands need a lot of traffic. They need a lot of people to be a profitable business. You can't just have the people on your block use a little restaurant and expect that restaurant to be profitable. That will not work. and what onus you're putting on neighborhoods now is to not only deal with commuter traffic, but the retail traffic and negotiate the particular hours that are going to be needed. Again, proceed with tremendous caution. And I know I'm going to get into a mud fight on this council because a lot of people have different views than I do on this, but I'm sticking up for the neighborhoods. And the neighborhoods need to be held whole because that is the strength of Puyallup. We have a great commercial area downtown where people love our downtown area and they come here to shop. It's not that far. downtown core. We're not like Seattle where you have Ballard where you have to walk a long ways to get to their downtown. Puyallup is not like that. And I bet you the people who said, well, sure, I'd like to have a nice little coffee shop in my neighborhood. I question whether When they're implemented and that romanticizing goes away and they have increased traffic, they have, at night, they have noise from all of the patrons going there, even at 10 o'clock. Who knows whether it's 10 or 11, whatever the case may be. I think it's an infringement on neighborhoods. And my word is just proceed with tremendous caution, and I will always fight for the neighborhoods. Leave it at that.

Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mayor. Can you go back to that map that showed the hot spots that we're identifying as implementing some expanded? So are you saying that those little darker rose color are the only ones that are affected by this expansion?

Those are the properties that would be zoned this light or the limited.

And the rest of the city is completely exempt from that?

Well, it's different zoning.

Different zoning.

Yes.

But the areas that we're talking about is limited to these specs on the map. So proportion-wise, it's not affecting a lot of neighbors. You're talking about teeny little specs in the proportion of our cities, not citywide. So I don't think that the impact is going to be that great. I think there's some precedence here. You look at the Puyallup history and look at all the little mini-marts that were mama-pop mini-marts, the golden rule right across from the... You've got the little mini mart by that's still in existence in a barbershop right there across from what's that Mexican place there. And even that little deli over here by the church there on Pioneer, that was a little neighborhood store. When I was a boy, there was a little mini store that was half a block from my house right off of Pacific Avenue on 43rd. So it wasn't even on Pacific Avenue. It was called Bob's Grocery. And it was as wide of a narrow as this dais in this teeny little area. We'd go there and buy candy or whatever it was. And he wasn't a millionaire, but he provided a little neighborhood place for the kids and adults to pick up. whatever they wanted. I really liked and I'd like to kind of petition Council Member Smoko to partner with me on some of these things. I know that you stand for kind of underserved areas that are looking for economic growth to be able to grow their business, much like we do with farmers markets. You know, these these folks are starting out in a farmers market zone. Some of these homes could provide some support. economic development without huge overcost. They're trying to lease a building and so forth and so on. So I'd like to partner with you on the expansion of that kind of concept on these crafts and things. Now, I do want to address Council Member Kastema's, I think, really good concerns and, you know, extreme caution that he's mentioning. Could we not, in expansion, again, to these, I mean, just look at that. I mean, one, two, I mean, these little pebbles, that's probably... one-tenth of one percent of the volume of our city in terms of affected areas is so minimal and so i don't know if it's another city-wide issue of impact but couldn't we to address his concerns uh you know of all hours of the night and and traffic couldn't there be some um standard noise and blight provisions that would you know not make it legal to expand into a blight of welded cars and parts here and part there you can have provisions with code enforcement that has teeth that like any business you have to keep it within parameters so this is not just like a backyard business that opened up without any recognition there would be standards and code enforcement teeth to back that up isn't that correct that we could do that

That's correct. And we're also looking at just limiting outdoor use for these sites as well.

It has to be contained inside some...

Contained inside or maybe if you have outdoor space, it's geared towards the front and not the rear of the property, that type of thing.

Yeah. You know, I even think of some of the old farmlands. Look at what's – now, it's not so much residential, but it kind of is. Look what they've done with Cockerels. They built a little bit of a little drinking establishment on some farm, and people gather there, and they have limited hours. They're not all night. They're only open certain days of the week, you know. But it's kind of a cool vibe to go in this kind of residential area and share some, you know, kind of – community vibes. It's not in your typical area of retail. I think there's some really creative things to do. And so I really, really support this. I think that this map, it made me a little bit... It's almost a joke. I mean, I feel like, you know, it's a feel good that we're going to maybe perhaps expand these neighborhoods, small businesses. But when you look at this map, it's almost a joke because it's really only going to expand in these little specs. Unless you have to live in those little spec. What good is it? So I think that we could start with this as a pilot. But I think it should be expanded in a little bit larger areas. If this is proven to be a good model, we shouldn't limit it to these little 10 specs or whatever they are on the map. It's kind of discouraging in that regard. So you look at also North Tacoma, the Proctor District area, a lot of little home businesses along the area that are very profitable areas. I don't think that we should limit, prohibit drinking establishments. I think there should be allowances for tea, little tea rooms, coffee rooms, espresso rooms, maybe even a small brewery, maybe a little home craft brewery or something. Again, with some great teeth, it's not a tavern, you're open until 2 in the morning, maybe a certain minute to certain days a week, closed by a certain time. But I don't think we should limit those things in a social setting in a neighborhood. I do think there's precedence in Puyallup. I think we can see it in some of the... Oh, look at the old Zach's Pizza. They used to be a little mom-and-pop store on the whole residential area. Then Spark Stadium got built there, but that was there way longer before all that took place. I support it fully. I think it's great. I do think that we should expand it if it's proven in this pilot project of expansion that we've got some quaint little businesses that are going up and it's profitable. We should look at increasing that. And again, I would kind of go back to Council Member Smoko to provide, much like a farmer's market, some small business venue within someone's home to be able to make a little extra money, economic development, and also some neighborhood gathering. And again, I'm very concerned with parking. But again, if this is scaled to a very minimal square footage area, it's not going to draw in massive parking like a Walmart or a Home Depot area. It's going to be very quaint and very minimal, and therefore, I think it can handle in the neighborhood. But anyway, I generally support it. I think staff should do more work on this, bring us back some precedents. I would like to see, are there precedents? And I know Council Member Castlem is very big on this. What are other cities that have done this? Has it been positive? Has it been negative? And then bring back that objective information. If it's done right, maybe it's positive. If it's done wrong, it turns into a nightmare. Let's learn from those precedents. other cities that maybe have done it right. And let's, let's not do what other cities have done and do it wrong. We want to get this right. And I think it's a cool little vibe. If we can do this correctly, it creates some ambiance. And I will say it's a little bit romantic and there's nothing wrong with that. But I agree with the customer or customer. We should be have standards and, and have some enforcement on that to not let it turn into something that wasn't intended to do. So thank you.

And just to clarify, uh, You know, I'm looking at this map and virtually all of those places on the map are already commercial, correct?

I believe a lot of them, as far as uses are, because there are, you know, along Stewart and Pioneer, they could be zoned residential, but they are established as commercial uses, non-conforming uses. But I believe most are.

Yeah, so we're not really talking about a major change to the character of any of these neighborhoods. We're really looking at you know, if one of these establishments goes out of business, we're allowing a little bit more flexibility in what comes in to replace it.

That, or if they wanted to do some expansion, now that it's a conforming use, they might have more opportunities to do so.

Yeah, so I'm just looking at this map that, you know, there's one just north of Bradley Lake Park a little bit. I think that's the Sharon Care House. Correct. And, you know, they're, by the Puerto Vallarta railroad crossing. That's that little commercial area there with the computer store and a little grocery thing there. And then I forget what's there in the bend in third there, but it seems like there's, you know, those are, it's a, insurance or something i forget what it is there i think that there's that and then there's also some existing single family in that area but it's been zoned um commercial so so again i you know i've i've driven these roads and i can't necessarily name the establishment at each one of these nodes but but there's something already there so so i'm not too concerned about about the whole character of the neighborhoods changing uh councilmember smolko

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I get it. Nobody wants a bar outside their bedroom window unless maybe they own the bar. But I don't think the choice is between neighborhood commercial nodes and protected, quiet neighborhoods. It seems that it's between planned regulated small scale commercial and the status quo what we have kind of going right now in other words the lmx update doesn't introduce commercial uses to neighborhoods it regulates commercial uses that are already there is that am i correct in understanding that generally yes there are some new ones to that okay so that but it also maybe this will tie into that it adds protections that don't currently exist for example size limits drive-through prohibition, nighttime operating hour limits, outdoor use limits, dense landscape buffers, and drinking establishments without restaurant components are prohibited. Is that all correct?

According to the memo. Right now, if it's a non-conforming use, there are some nuance to what they're allowed to do. They're allowed to be... I think generally, yes, but there is nuance to it.

Okay, so then that would lead me to then echo a little bit more and concur with Council Member Johnson about tightening that up a little bit. I also was using the term teeth when I was saying things. I don't think that these... I think the happy medium is already in the memo. If we just comb it out a little bit, I don't think that the idea of this is romantic. I think it does give it regulatory teeth. The question I don't think is whether to protect neighborhoods. We'd all like to do that, but whether to do it thoughtfully or by prohibition. I would push back on the idea that keeping everything commercial out of neighborhoods is itself protective because what it actually produces is car dependency, longer trips for basic needs, whether you can walk or not, and corridors that stay nonconforming without any of these guardrails. I think we just need to be mindful that we shape this well or risk leaving it unregulated. Those are my two cents, I think. I'd push on a few things with the code language maybe, like residential density ceilings possibly even going a little bit higher, but that's maybe a conversation for another time. Craft manufacturing included rather than left as a consideration. I want to make sure that our equity mapping confirms these nodes are being located where they'll serve the residents who need walkable services most. And I'm glad to see that drive-throughs and auto uses will stay prohibited, and I think that line should hold. That's it. Thank you. Thank you.

Council Member Kassema.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Let me just add that I do live in the lowest-income neighborhood in Puyallup. It's where I grew up, in my neighborhood. And I'll tell you what low-income neighborhoods want. They want the same thing that wealthy neighborhoods have, that gated communities have. They want a safe community where they can safely walk their children on the sidewalks without... traffic coming through and threatening that standard. They want a neighborhood that's quiet at night when they go to sleep. That there's not commercial activity taking place, bright lights, things of that sort that are interfering with them. They want the same thing that everyone else seems to get, who on the Hill, for example, or in gated communities, they want some of that same respect. And I think you just have to be very cautious. And you talk about experimenting. Well, let's experiment. Well, guess where everybody always experiments? They experiment in my neighborhood. You want to put a drop-in center? Experiment there. You want to put a certain type of housing? Experiment there. So I think what you're missing is really what they want to do is they want to raise their families in a nice, safe neighborhood. So I would say this. And by the way, you could see where this conversation is going. You know, we have a council member who says, well, I don't think just a drinking establishment would be bad to have on its own. I mean, in other words, the minute you start allowing these, the standards will start to shift over time. And the next thing you know, my neighborhood will just be the experimental place for whatever idea people have. And you don't realize that people in my neighborhood just want what everybody else wants. We want a nice, safe, quiet neighborhood that isn't looked upon as, well, you need to have a commercial place right here. That's not true. People in my neighborhood just want parks. They want a safe place, safe place for their kids at school. That's what we're looking for. We're not that much different from everybody else. So I would ask this. Whatever component you bring forward has tremendous public input from that area. True. It's just these particular nodes around here. But if I was next to one of those nodes and I was listening to this conversation tonight and believing that regulations would stop entrepreneurial activity from expanding, I would be very, very skeptical of that. And I would want to have input. So I would insist that whatever we do has tremendous public notice so people know exactly what they're getting. Because, again, put yourself in the place of the neighbors around here. Because, again, I think it is romanticizing whether you accept that as a positive or a negative. The problem is, is the people who will deal with this are those people who live next to those nodes. So I will be insisting on a tremendous amount of public input so the neighbors know exactly what they're getting. Thank you.

Council Member Johnson.

Thank you. A follow up on that is looking at this map and did some rough deal. I'd be kind of fun to find out, you know, how much percentage are we talking about? One tenth of one percent of our total populous areas affected by this. They'd be good to have that information to know. So we're looking at proportion because some of the verbiage going out here and the arguments and stirring could make it seem like it's affecting half of our city or three quarters or all of our city. So we're talking about that. And also, you know, there is a quiet, small business happening in our neighborhoods. It's happening as we speak. In fact, there's two in my neighborhood right now. These were former residential areas that are now operating senior homes where people are staying there. And they're mixed right in my neighborhood. Now, we do get some occasional noise on occasion. A fire truck will come because someone's having a heart attack or injury. That's just part of having a little small business right in our neighborhood. So I think there can be some effect. But again, with some regulations and code enforcement, it should be minimal and with some standards. And again, I do think we should have proportion because I think the narrative could get way out of hand if we don't limit it to, again, whatever it's one-tenth of one percent or a half, you You know, whatever it is, we should know that to keep it in context because it's really it's small. It's almost I almost feel like saying forget it. Don't do any of it. Not because, you know, I don't like the vision. I love the vision, but I think it's way too limited with this little speck here. It's nothing. Again, it's almost a joke, but it's a start so I can get behind it. But I do think this is a pilot project. We should expand it if, in fact, we can determine that it can be an asset to the neighborhood, if it can generate income and economic development for individual families, much like those that may have an ADU and they rent it. That's a little bit of income for their family. It's a small business, really, in their backyard. So it's another form of business that they can operate. And I'm against the counter extreme, which is to have a high traffic council. It's a 7-Eleven coming in there. It's not. So anyway, that would be helpful, I think, to keep things in proportion. But I support it, and I hope we come back with some precedence on what works in other cities and find out that would be helpful with us. Thank you.

Council Member Gilliam.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Katie, have you gotten all the information you need from us tonight? Yes. Cool. I'd like to go ahead and move on with the agenda if that's okay with everybody.

I appreciate that. Just to summarize, these are commercial areas already. We want to be careful and protective of our neighborhoods and make sure that our regulations don't change the character of our neighborhoods. You know, you've got some good recommendations in terms of limiting the uses there. So I would support those limitations. So with that, we are, there's no motion required on this. So we can move on with our agenda. Thank you, Kendall. So let's go ahead and have our council reports, our city managers report. I was going to stiff you.

Yeah, that's right. Your next council meeting is a study session. It's on June 30th. And Kendall and Courtney and we'll be back with more information on zoning map. This, again, is the continuation of the comprehensive plan, now implementing it through zoning map regulations. And so they'll be back to do a presentation on that. And that will be the extent of the study session agenda. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Kastema.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll go ahead and pass this evening. Thank you. Council Member Smolko.

Thank you. With respect and appreciation for everything that our Puyallup citizens, Ash and Penny, said earlier tonight, I want to say to the queer kids in Puyallup who are paying attention to us tonight, you are not a controversy. You are our community, and you deserve to grow up knowing your city sees you and is proud of you. I also want to make sure to clarify for anyone who is curious that America 250 isn't a military holiday. We are fortunate to have specific and wonderful Veterans Day and Memorial Day celebrations to honor military service. America 250 is something different. It's a civic birthday. The question isn't who served, but who is America? Who else did the 250 years of work? Farmers, teachers, activists, immigrants, enslaved people and their descendants, indigenous peoples who were here before any of it, none of them get a ribbon ceremony, but their labors and struggles are also why there's anything to celebrate. America 250 is to honor everyone who ever showed up, built something, fought for something, fed someone, taught someone, invented something, or marched for the expansion of our rights. And I look forward to continuing that work with the people up here on the dais with me, people on staff, people in this community, anyone who believes in liberty and justice for all to keep showing up. Thank you.

Council Member Gilliam.

Well, I just want to give a big shout out to all the teachers and congratulations for making it through 2526 school year. And also parents, you have them full time now. So good luck. It was a real pleasure and treat to take care of your students and we'll be excited to see them in September. Meeker Days was a blast. I don't know if you had an opportunity to come down and be part of the Puyallup Three Day Festival where good food, incredible music, very talented vendors sharing their gifts. And I'm extraordinarily proud. I have to do a shout out for the Ferrucci Cougars who showed up and cleaned up the garbage and Took garbage showers trying to get the leaky stuff in the bags into the dumpsters. We're very proud of young people who are willing to show up and do the gross thing. They are future leaders in the making. I also, our neighboring community, Sumner, is hosting their Rhubarb Days this coming weekend. Somehow we, I don't know how they line up the calendar on these things, but it happens to be over Father's Day weekend. So I also wanted to do a shout out to all the dads. Whether you're able to be there for your kids or not, whether you are an active participant or you have children, I just want to say thank you for having children because that's us. And... Hope that you feel celebrated and your family shows up for you because you showed up for them. So with that, I'll say have a good night.

Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to thank the council for some good work that we did on some of these ordinances, second reading on the River Road corridor and South Hill. And I think that was a great thing that we did on that. I also want to thank council for the remarkable work really on this, these quiet zones in the train. This is remarkable. And I think you, council member Castleman, you are correct. I do believe the railroad was running through the city back in 1890. I do believe, I believe it was. So this has been going on for 125 years. The difference is that the city has grown before, which is a couple farms that would pass through. Now it's passing through again. And I think we need to get the data on that. How many stops in proportion does our city have in crossings versus other cities? I think it's getting pretty high in proportion. So we need to have extra safety and extra slowing speeds put in there because of the proportion of interaction of danger there. So that's good. So I want to thank the council for that. That's pretty exciting stuff. I also want to, again, congratulate on the success of Meeker Days with Main Street and their work on that and all the volunteers and just the tradition that our city has had for these many, many years. It's a great community event. You know, it's funny. My wife and I, we went down, I think it was on Saturday night, and, you know, some of the bands, you know, aren't necessarily my favorite genre. And my wife, you know, she kind of nudged me a little bit. She goes, why are you listening to this band? I said, because it's not about the band, it's the people I'm here hanging out with. It's a gathering spot. Music, the genre, is kind of a secondary. I really don't care about that. I just like being around people, listening to live music. There's something very festive and good about that. So, you know, and I want to just go back to, I remember when I served as mayor for a while, I had this kind of sense, and I used to state it everywhere I would go publicly and speak, I would say that Puyallup is on the verge of of an explosion of prosperity on a holistic level on multiple fronts, not just financially, but just culturally and all these other things. Um, and, and we're seeing that, you know, this new development under, uh, council for customers watch for these, uh, Cornforth Campbell and other things, you know, it's, it's happening. And this pedestrian traffic is going to go up because people want to get out and walk around and, and connect with people. You know, it's really hard to be neighborly when you're in your car cruising by each other, but when you're on the street, walking around, going to these various establishments, it's a great chance to connect with community. And, um, And, you know, I'm just kind of expanding a little bit. Thank you for the, let me just share kind of instinctively. But, you know, in our lives, we have different relationships of, you know, friendships and love. And, you know, obviously the core with our spouses and families is a layer. Then you have your close friends. But there's also two other elements that I think we forget and value. There's really big value in community friendships. I may never go out to dinner with this community member or this one here, but when I see them, it's like, oh, good to see you again. Just much like I have in my work relationships. I have customers I help, and I think they're great. I may never go out to dinner with them, but they're still a professional friend. And so we should not underestimate the power and the beauty of community, and these community functions are amazing. That being said, I have to just say... I'm absolutely convinced that we take for granted the Thursday night concert in the park series in terms of the turnout. You look at the maker days and it was a turnout. But I mean, you look at what we have over there. It's 10 times the size. People coming in all from the city to be there. The place is packed with jam, with dancing. People bring their launches. It's amazing. And this was great. Don't get me wrong. I'm just saying we forget this organic thing on a Thursday night for 10 weeks is just outstanding. So I know it's coming up. I think it's the first Thursday after the 4th of July, if I recall right. If that's the case, people tell me all the time, you know, hey, Dean, I can't wait to get there. We're looking forward to the concert in the parks. I did look at the lineup and they really picked some great bands. And so I'm very excited for that. So anyway, gear up for that. We're going to have a great summer. It's one of the highlights of my summer. And because when I leave there, honestly, I can say this. My cheeks are sore. From laughing and smiling so much. I mean, they're literally sore right here. So I love the fact that my cheeks get sore. It's like exercising my smiles and laughter. So looking forward to that, Mayor. Thanks for letting me expound a little bit on goodwill and the importance of community that we all share together. And even though we have differences in certain things here and there, we can at least agree that those things are worth fighting for and worth protecting. Thank you.

Thank you. And I just want to express my appreciation for some of the words that have been said in reports here. I'd like to double down on comments by Council Member Smolko and Council Member Johnson. In terms of the 250 celebration, it's America, it's all of us. And we're all on the same ship and we all pretty much want the same things. And we have different opinions about how to get there, but the objective should be to pull together, not pull ourselves apart. So I'm a big pull together. And in that line, I got a call the other day about the Thursday night concerts in the park. And as mayor, the question was, do I want to preside over the concerts in the park? And I said, I think that that is a great job to delegate to the deputy mayor. So you've been deputized for Thursday night market, Dean.

Thank you, Mayor. I accept that. Thank you.

Okay, so with that, we're going to move into our executive session. The council will now recess into executive session to discuss with city attorneys litigation or potential litigation to which the city, the city council, or a council member acting in an official capacity is or is likely to become a party. To consider the minimum price at which real estate... will be offered for sale or lease and to engage in the process of planning or adopting a strategy or position to be taken during the course of any collective bargaining agreement. The executive session is expected to last one hour. No further action is expected following the executive session, so everybody can go home now. Thank you for being here. Appreciate everybody's input. Good evening.