City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the June 2nd, 2026 City Council regular hybrid meeting. I'm Mayor Dave Rosenbaum. Tonight's hybrid city council meeting is being brought to you in person and by Zoom. We're also broadcasting on the city's YouTube channel at MITV Channel 21. Thank you to all and thank you for joining us today. Council members, please have your microphones turned on for the roll call. Deputy Clerk Devastrata, please call the roll.

Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Anderle. mike santa you can see her councilman andrew are you can you unmute she we see that she is here and we will consider her present all right she is here council member she here council member reynolds here council member weicker here council member weinberg here deputy mayor becker here Mayor Rosenbaum.

Here.

And for the record, I just would like to point out that both Councilmember Anderle and Reynolds are present remotely.

Okay, they've both joined us via Zoom. Next, we have the Pledge of Allegiance. Council, if you join us in Council Chambers, please stand and face the flag. If you join us via Zoom, please mute and turn off your video to ensure that the U.S. flag is visible. Please join Councilmember Weinberger in saying 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.

Okay, we will now move to the approval of today's agenda. If there are no questions, may I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. Okay, here is the motion by Councilmember Weinberg and seconded by Deputy Mayor Becker. Deputy City Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you again, Mayor. Okay, let's try that again. Council Member Anderle. Thumbs up again. Okay, Council Member Reynolds.

Aye.

Thank you. Council Member Weinberg.

Aye.

Mayor Rosenbaum. Aye. Deputy Mayor Becker.

Aye.

Council Member Shea. Aye. And Council Member Weicker.

Aye.

Thank you so much.

Okay. Motion is approved. Next up on the agenda with the city manager's report. We welcome city manager, Jessie Bond.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Happy June 2nd. Next slide, please. while we are busy busy busy just a reminder your next council meeting is june 16th all of our boards and commissions are actively meeting this month we've got the next couple of weeks up there on the screen my thanks to the planning commission they have been meeting almost weekly i think for the better part of a month we appreciate all of their efforts all of our other meetings are updated on our website it's at the bottom of the slide next slide All right. Hey, World Cup. We are just a couple weeks away here. Council, we gave you a briefing. I think that was at the last meeting, just letting you know about all the plans that we've made. I wanted to just highlight this facility specifically, the community center. We have intentionally scaled back programming for World Cup days. We just think it's going to be way too busy to navigate that. Instead, the parking lot will be available for parking. For community members at no charge and for 25 dollars for anyone else that's coming from off island, your team is fully mobilize ready for these mid June to early July events. And we anticipate they will have a big impact on the island specifically traffic and transit and the train. So. There you go a little update on the community center. Next slide please. Switching gears entirely, that picture is a very old irrigation controller at Aubrey Davis Park. I think it's possibly 20 plus years old. Anyway, just wanted to mention a little shout out from the field. Our crews are in the process of swapping those out, which will help improve our water efficiency and water system management in our parks. So as we are also working with our community on all this new technology, I wanted to just mention that we're making some upgrades across our park system, and this is one of them. Next slide, please. Hey, I have some great news, some really, really good news. We are advertising the Luther Burbank Waterfront Improvement Project for construction. I'm not sure I can even find the words to describe the milestone that we have reached here. We began working on this project actually way back in 2006-ish, when the Luther Burbank Park Master Plan was adopted. Project design on this project started in 2020. It's going to do lots of things for our waterfront, including universal access through dock repairs, reconfigurations, new pathway, beach, plaza upgrades, some new utilities, and the list goes on. We are really proud of the work that we have done city council. Thanks to you and our staff. We've received more than 5M dollars in state and county grant funding. This is a monster of a project permit. It requires more than 20 permits from 8 federal state and local agencies. This has been the last several months is waiting for these permits to come in and they have all come in now. So we are excited to be advertising the project for construction bidding closes on June 30. And we anticipate bringing the bid award to you in July. with that subsequent construction project taking about 15 to 18 months to complete. So, Council, this is the beginning of the moment here to say we can do hard things. It takes time, but we can, and I'm super excited to be on our way at the very first step of pre-construction for this project. Next slide. Just one event to highlight for you today. We wanted to mention this Saturday, June 6, whether you have a dog or not. If you'd like to borrow a dog, I have one that's available. From 10 to 12, we'll be doing a Paws on Patrol meetup at the Old City Hall parking lot. This is one of the crime prevention programs we run out of the Mercer Island Police Department. We're working with our dog walkers, of which there are many on the island, to ask them to keep their eyes and ears open for things that should be reported. And as I already mentioned, if you don't have a dog, no problem. You're still welcome. If you'd like to learn more about our Paws on Patrol program, we do have some information on our website. Next slide, please. And some good news. Dog theme tonight. Isn't this cute? We have a dog stick library at the Luther Burbank off leash dog area. How fun is that? Henry Kina, who donated, built, and installed a doggy stick library. We want to acknowledge our thanks to Henry for this very inventive addition to the off-leash dog area. It was made in remembrance of Ellie, who is the Keena family dog and loved many, many visits to the off-leash dog area. So we just wanted to highlight that, something fun that's going on down at Luther Burbank Park. I think that is the last slide. Council, I did want to mention to you, I shared last night with the permission of our police chief, she had a minor accident and she'll be out for some time, but she is at home recovering and I will make sure I extend all of your well wishes to her. That's all I have, Mr. Mayor.

Okay, thank you. our next item of businesses appearances is the opportunity for anyone to speak to the city council on any item except items requiring a public hearing any quasi judicial matters or campaign related matters deputy city clerk is there anyone who has signed up for appearances and wishes to address the council mr mayor my apologies Great tonight's agenda will include in person, public appearances and remote public appearances via zoom individuals wishing to address the council may do so in person or by zoom, provided they register with the city clerk by 4 0 PM today. When it's your turn to speak, we call my name remarks must be addressed to the council as a whole. and not individual council or staff members any person making personal and pertinent or slanderous remarks or remains boisterous becomes boisterous threatening or personally abusive while addressing the city council may be requested to leave the meeting please speak audibly and state your name and city of residence for the record there will be a timer on your screen you'll have three minutes to speak when your time is ended your microphone and video will be turned off i will thank you for your comments and move the next speaker or item of business staff please promote the first speaker mr mayor

Mr. Mayor, Addie Smith is not available. So the individual that's first up tonight is Charles Knight, or kite. Excuse me. Up to the podium. Thank you. And please state your name and city of residence. Thank you.

My name is Sabria Alika. I don't reside here. I'm here with the SBA, Small Business Administration, together with my colleague, Charles Knight. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak. We're basically here to inform everybody about the low-interest loans that are available because of the disaster that happened, the flooding that happened in December. The deadline is coming June 10th for people to apply, so we're hoping that you can help us to get the word out in our outreach efforts. The loans that are available to businesses are up to $2 million. But most people don't realize we also provide loans for homeowners and renters. And you would know better which areas have been affected or impacted by that flooding. So homeowners, renters that had their automobile flooded, forgive me, or their personal property damage have up to $100,000 that they can borrow at 2.8%. Nonprofits have up to 2 million at 3.6%, and the businesses have up to 2 million, as I said. um but it's also important that it's not just whatever physical damage businesses sometimes think well there was no damage done to my property but there's also uh economic injury that they might have incurred so they also have the opportunity to apply for that that deadline is not until january so they have time for that but it's something it's advantageous to them because they're not thinking of the economic damage that might have incurred because the roads were flooded and you all would know better which ones were flooded and then ultimately will impact those businesses. So they do have until January, but it's important that we get the word out for the homeowners and the renters because that deadline is June 10th. And though they are liberal about it, we just like to get the word out. But also the other thing that I wanted to mention is that it's not just again for the physical damage or the economic damage, we also provide mitigation so if there's a homeowner that wants to rebuild the foundation if there's a business that wants to also create a stronger foundation or windows or what have you those are all opportunities that you know that they can get the loan and it's for people that are under insured or they're not insured at all of course fema where they're given a grant is always the best option but it's it's helpful for them to know that this is available to them it's kind of a bridge between the two so i want to thank you again for the opportunity and if you can just help us as i said get the word out i know we've spoken with chamber the chamber society but the more that we can get it out the better for everybody so thank you thank you

Excuse me, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate everyone's patience tonight since I'm filling in. The next speaker tonight for is Mr. Mike Cerro.

Thanks, Deb. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Deputy Mayor, council members, and city manager. My name is Mike Cerro, 8300 Avalon Drive on the south end by the Beach Club. I'm active with MIS, Mercer Islanders for Sustainable Spending. I'm here to challenge a seemingly widely accepted statement that a renovated building will only have a serviceable life of 20 years. Just step back. 20 years is nothing. It's a blink of the eye. Most of the council have been to my home. The Pews built the house 24 years before the Public Works building was built. My wife and I subsequently renovated the house, coincidentally, 20 years ago. I think those of you who have visited will agree that it's not nearly at the end of its serviceable life. To base your decision not to renovate the public service building based on a 20 year service life assumption is just wrong and a disservice to our citizens. The 20 year service life assumption is a poison pill that should be challenged by the council. This is important because at the May 5th meeting, AB 6920, your consultants estimated a one-for-one replacement of the maintenance facility will cost an additional $5.7 million or almost 35% more than a renovated public maintenance facility. In industry speak, you're not simply doing a system civic overhaul or a shell upgrade. of extending a building service life by 15 to 20 years. Instead, what you are doing is a comprehensive modernization, which according to the US GAO, effectively produces a new facility lasting 30 to 50 years. Useful life, serviceable life, et cetera, are abused terms used to justify new construction, especially government construction projects. The renovations briefed at the May 5th meeting will produce a nearly new building having a comparable life to that of a tear down new building with a significant cost savings of 35% and saying nothing of the debris kept out of landfills. To repeat, the renovations briefed at the May 5th meeting will produce a nearly new building having a comparable life to that of a new building at a significant cost and environmental savings. Don't give the naysayers in the community talking points to oppose the renovation of the maintenance facility, and the construction of the police EOC facility. Thank you for your service to the community. And thank you for giving me this time to speak.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our next speaker is Hill Harper. And, uh, he had indicated that he would be here in person going once.

Okay. uh as there are no further appearances we will now move to the next time in business approval the consent agenda staff please put the consent agenda on the screen thank you the consent agenda contains seven items which are available on the screen in the agenda packet for review council is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented so moved

second moved by deputy mayor becker and seconded by councilman reynolds to approve the consent agenda deputy city clerk please call the roll thank you mr mayor councilmember reynolds aye councilmember excuse me mayor rosenbaum aye councilmember weicker councilmember weinberg aye deputy mayor becker aye councilmember andrell aye councilmember shea aye thank you okay thank you motion passes

Okay, the City Council will now go into executive session for approximately 60 minutes to discuss with legal counsel pending or potential litigation pursuant to RCW 42301101I and for planning or adopting the strategy or position to be taken by the City Council during the course of any collective bargaining, professional negotiations, or grievance or mediation proceedings, or reviewing the proposals made in negotiations or proceedings while in progress pursuant to RCW 4230-140-4B. The City Council will be in recess from 5.17 until 5.25 p.m. The City Council will convene the executive session at 5.25 p.m. until 6.25 p.m.

Thank you everyone the city council is can will continue an executive session for an additional 20 minutes, the time now is 625 so we anticipate that they will return at approximately 645 Thank you. Good evening viewers. If you are still watching tonight's meeting, the City Council will continue an executive session for an additional 10 minutes until approximately 6.55. Thank you. Thank you for your continued grace. The City Council is going to continue an executive session for an additional five minutes until approximately six, excuse me, seven o'clock.

We appreciate your patience.

The City Council has an executive session from 5.20 until 7 p.m. The first item of regular business is AB 6949, AWC Annual Meeting Voting Delegate. Council, the AWC meeting will be held on June 25, 2026. Councilmembers Weicker and Weinberg are attending the AWC Annual Conference and are both willing to be our voting delegates. Are there any other councilmembers who are interested? Okay, Council, is there a motion to appoint Council members Weicker and Weinberg as the voting delegates to the AWC annual meeting that will be held on June 25th, 2026? So moved.

Second.

Okay, it was moved by Deputy Mayor Becker and seconded by Council Member Anderall. Deputy City Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Mayor. Deputy Mayor Becker?

Aye.

Mayor Rosenbaum? Aye. Council Member Reynolds? I see his finger went up. So, yes, Council Member Shea. Aye. Council Member Anderle. Aye. Council Member Weicker. Aye. And Council Member Weinberg.

Aye.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Motion passes 7-0. And thank you to Council Members Weicker and Weinberg for representing us at the AOC meeting. Our next item of business is AB 6936, Renewal of Interim Development Regulations Related to Middle Housing and Accessory Dwelling Units, Ordinance Number 2605. First reading. and this public hearing is now open as of 7 0 6 p.m individuals who register with the city clerk's office before 4 p.m today may make public comment on this agenda item you call by name when is your turn to speak please speak audibly state your name and city residents for the record and limit your comments to three minutes deputy city clerk is there anyone who has signed up for public comment that wishes to address the council no mayor okay thank you uh if there's no further testimony this evening the public portion of this hearing is closed as of 7 0 7 p.m we welcome cpd director jeff thomas

Thank you, Mayor. All right, I think we're on now. Okay, thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Council. For the record, Jeff Thomas with CPD. Joining me is Senior Planner Molly McGuire. This is a renewal of interim regulations that the Council adopted 12 months ago to comply with state statute at that time. We have not had time in the last 12 months to work on permanent regulations. So we're back before you tonight to propose renewing these interim regulations for a 6 month period, which is the maximum amount that we can renew them for until we're able to get to A permanent regulation process. We will be back every 6 months to do this starting here this evening. So, Molly's got a short slide deck. She'd like to walk you through. I think we only have about a half dozen slides just to remind the council about what these are all about. And then we'll be looking to complete the 1st reading and move this to 2nd reading in 2 weeks to get the interim regulations renewed. With that Molly, go ahead and take it away.

All right, let me share my screen. Great. Okay, so, as Jeff said, we have had interim regulations in place for about a year for the minimum development requirements for House Bill 1110, which is the middle housing one, and 1337, which is accessory dwelling units. These interim regulations expire on June 30th of 2026, so those regulations must be renewed to maintain compliance with state law. So House Bill 1110 requires the City to adopt regulations to allow middle housing in all single-family residential zones. The requirements were to allow six of the nine middle housing types identified in the legislation. That's with two to four units per lot for the unit density. The development standards couldn't be more restrictive than single family residential standards. Design review, if it's required, must be administrative and there were limitations on parking requirements allowed. There were also additional requirements that apply to zones that allow residential uses unless higher densities are already allowed, and that's to allow at least two middle housing units per lot and then allow at least four middle housing units per lot if the lot is located within a quarter mile of the light rail station, a quarter mile walking distance of the light rail station, or if one unit is affordable. House Bill 1337 required the city to adopt regulations to allow two accessory dwelling units on all lots that allow single family development. Those may be attached, detached, or a conversion of an existing structure. They need to allow at least 1,000 square feet per ADU. The owner occupancy requirement was removed. And then they could be sold as individual units and the same restrictions on parking were implemented here too. Also, no public street improvements could be required and impact fees were limited to 50% of the single family rate. And so a year ago, the interim regulations were adopted with kind of a 2 phase approach phase. 1 was to adopt the minimum requirements and renewal of those is required due to the planning commission and city council working on compliance with the growth management hearings board final decision in order. So, those will need to be renewed for an additional 6 months to provide sufficient time for phase 2, which includes additional community engagement. and refinement to tailor the code more to Mercer Island. Ordinance 2605 renews those interim regulations with no changes. So that includes the permit types in 1902 in the residential development standard. It adds the parking regulations to those general development standards. It adds a new section for middle housing, which establishes the unit density, affordable housing requirements, and parking requirements, and removes the owner occupancy in the ADU section, increases the size. We previously had it at 900 square feet to 1000 square feet, and then adds any related definitions necessary. And so the next steps would be, well, we've already held the public hearing and first reading and the new effective date if adopted during the June 16th reading would be June 30th of this year with the new expiration date of December 30th. And that is all I have for you.

Okay, Council, any questions? Christopher Reynolds? Okay, figured I'd ask. So, Councillor Shea.

Oh, yes. So, since these interim regulations for middle housing and the ADUs were adopted effective June of last year, have you had many permitting requests for ADUs or for middle housing on Mercer Island? Speak to him.

yeah um we've had one application for a true duplex with a single family uh dwelling as well and then we've had one application uh for uh single family residents with uh 280 used and then we've had several pre-app meetings and lots of questions in our general land use inbox great thank you um any other questions okay um

Council, is there a motion to schedule a 2nd, reading of ordinance number 2605 on June 16th, 2026. So, 2nd, okay, let's move by deputy mayor Becker and 2nd, my customer Weinberg. Deputy, so, please call the roll.

Thank you there. Council member, and I don't remember. Hi. Council member Reynolds. Councilmember Rimmel. Thank you. Councilmember Shea. Aye. Deputy Mayor Becker.

Aye.

Councilmember Weicker. Aye. Mayor Rosenbaum. Aye. And Councilmember Weinberg.

Aye.

Thank you.

Okay, motion passes 7-0. Our next item of business is AB 6937, Public Hearing on Interim Regulations Related to Unit Plot Subdivisions, SB 5258. In Title 19, MICC, first reading ordinance number 26-06. the public hearing is now open as of 7 15 p.m individuals who registered the city clerk's office before 4 p.m today to make a public comment on this agenda item you call by name what is your turn to speak please speak audibly state your name and city of residence for the record and limit your comments to three minutes deputy city clerk is there anyone who has signed up for public comment that wishes to rest the council no mr mayor okay um if there's no further testimony this evening the public portion of this hearing is now closed as of 7 15 p.m and we welcome cpd director jeff thomas

Thank you again. And similar to what we just did, Molly, we'll walk you through a short slide deck presentation just to outline UNILAS subdivisions. This is a companion ordinance that was adopted at the end of June last year with one year interim regulations that we are proposing to renew again. So, Molly, take it away.

Thank you.

All right, so this ordinance was done on the same timeline as the previous one. It was passed, the Senate Bill 5258 was passed in 2023, which again established new regulations on single-family residential lots. Again, set to expire on June 30th of 2026, so they need to be renewed to maintain compliance. For this one, local jurisdictions needed to adopt procedures to allow for unit lot subdivisions under their short processes. This allows the land beneath detached single family housing or middle housing and accessory dwelling units where no units are stocked on another unit to be divided for individual sale.

That's what that looks like.

So you have your parent lot, which meets all of the dimensional standards of the zoning code, so area, width, length, and setbacks. And then those can be divided into unit lots that do not have to meet the minimum dimensional standards, but the overall lot must meet those standards. Same approach and scope of work as the last item where they were adopted in a 2 phase approach and because of the hearings board final decision and order compliance, they need to be renewed so that we have sufficient time to prepare for phase 2, which again includes additional community engagement and refinement of the interim regulations to tailor them toward Mercer Island. This ordinance adopted a new section in 1908, which is our subdivision code to allow for the fee-simple unit lot subdivisions. It uses the city's existing short plat process, which is the Type 3 land use review. And again, like I said, it applies the existing development standards to the parent lot, but not the unit lots. And the final plat must indicate that the unit lots are not separate buildable lots. The permit types were also added to the land use review table under Type 3 for the preliminary and Type 2 for the final unit lot. And then it adds definitions of parent lot and unit lot. So again, if renewed with an effective date of June 30th, the new expiration date would be December 30th of 2026. And that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, great. Council, any questions?

Can I just get a check? Is my mic working now?

We can hear you. Okay, good. Because when you asked me before I had questions, I couldn't tell you, but I don't now either, amazingly.

It was tempting to not respond to you at all when you just said that, just to see what happened. Okay. Council, is there a motion to schedule a second reading of ordinance number 2606 on June 26, 2026? So moved. Second. Moved by Deputy Mayor Becker and seconded by Council Member Weinberg. Deputy City Clerk, please call the roll.

Could I get a clarification? Never mind. Never mind. I'm fine.

Okay. Council Member Anderle. Council Member Anderle. Aye. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Becker.

Aye.

Council Member Weinberg.

Aye.

Council Member Shea. Aye. Council Member Weicker.

Aye, but can I say it's June 16th, not June 26th?

We will get that fixed mayor Rosenbaum and council member Reynolds. Thank you.

Okay. Motion passes.

Okay.

Our next item of business is AB 6938, public hearing of MICC Title V amendments, anti-displacement measures, first reading ordinance number 26C-07. The public hearing is now open as of 720 p.m. Individuals who have registered with the city clerk's office before 4 p.m. today may make a public comment on this agenda item. If you would call by name, it is your turn to speak. Please speak audibly, state your name and city residence with record, and limit your comments to three minutes. Deputy city clerk, is there anyone who has signed up for public comment that wishes to address the council?

Yes, Mr. Mayor, we have one individual, Stephanie Ford.

Great.

Good evening. Mayor, council members, my name is Stephanie. I'm a local resident and I have a combined 13 years property management experience across multiple markets and ownership types. I share the Council's goal for stability and fairness for tenants. However, based on my experience, I am concerned that extending the renewal notice period from 90 to 180 days in this measure will unintentionally create more stress and fewer options for renters on Mercer Island. A six-month notice does not provide six-month availability. Washington's legal notice to vacate remains 20 days before move out. With the vacancy timeline unchanged, the longer renewal notice simply just shifts the timing of information, but not the supply. Renters end up fruitlessly touring homes without availability, which feels like a housing shortage, when really it's just a timing variance. This uncertainty will push more households to look off island or into less secure arrangements such as informal subleases, short-term housing arrangements, just to have a plan. That's the opposite of housing stability. The state already requires housing providers to provide a 90-day notice per legislation passed in May of 2025. This provides meaningful planning time and stronger communication so that residents aren't blindsided. Renewals are the most equitable when they reflect market data, building costs, and real-time demand, making more predictable for the renter and grounded in current conditions. When forced to quote six months in advance, housing providers are required to make decisions based on information that just may not be available or accurate at the time that the increase takes effect. This can reduce flexibility and make it way more difficult to tailor rent increases to the actual market and operating conditions. Some providers, especially smaller ones without financial buffers, may adopt more defensive action, pricing their renewals higher just to hedge their risk. This results in more offers given closer to the state cap, which hurts cost-sensitive renters and undermines this council's intent by offering this measure. Furthermore, lenders and investors discount or actively avoid markets where income recovery is unpredictable. Measures such as these complicates underwriting for new construction and reinvestment into existing buildings. Policies that add forecasting risk can deter the very investment that keeps rentals well maintained and creates new housing. In short, the proposal doesn't add stability, it adds stress. By preserving the 90-day standard, it will ultimately better serve renters and sustain a healthy, stable housing ecosystem on Mercer Island. I really appreciate your time. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other speakers who signed up?

No, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. If there's no further testimony this evening, the public portion of this hearing is closed as of 7.24 p.m. We welcome CPD Director Jeff Thomas.

Thank you again, Mayor. Joining me for this item is our Principal Planner, Adam Zak. I'm just going to walk you through a slightly longer slide deck than what Molly shared for the first two items, but we did provide an extensive agenda bill in your packet to review, so a little bit more to provide an overview here for the Council. And the public here at the meeting tonight, this is the beginning of our compliance efforts. 1st. 1 of the 1st, formal actions in terms of ordinances or resolutions before you tonight for 1st reading on this matter. So, Adam is going to share a screen, walk you through the slide deck and then be happy to have any discussion. Take any questions the council may have.

All right, thanks Jeff. There we go. So, our agenda for the presentation tonight, I'll start with a quick background of the growth management act in our comprehensive plan. And then we'll move to ordinance 26, 07, look at the different sections of the proposed amendments and then next steps. Um, beginning with the background, um, so in, um. In 2,025, the city's comprehensive plan was appealed to the growth management hearings board. We've presented on that a few times to the council, but coming out of that decision from the hearings board. There were 4 issues that the city needed to address the 4th of those was the anti displacement measures. The board found that the city needed to adopt anti displacement measures to address the potential displacement that can occur with the zoning changes that are that accompany the comprehensive plan update. So, the ordinance that we're looking at tonight is really directed at that 4th issue, the anti displacement measures. Um, there's also so, in addition to the hearings board order, there's King County planning county wide planning policies directed at anti displacement. And then there's a comprehensive plan policy in the Mercer Island comprehensive plan that when we're changing zoning to increase development capacity, we need to accompany that with findings that this displacement risk has been mitigated. So, this, this ordinance is directed at all 3 of those those issues. Um, included with the agenda bill was a displacement risk evaluation. This was a report that was prepared by staff earlier in the process to comply with the hearings board order to look at and evaluate the displacement risk that may occur or made. may result from the proposed zoning changes with the hearings board or sorry with the comprehensive plan update. That report identified renting households as being at risk of displacement, low income households being at risk of displacement and housing cost burdened households being at risk of displacement. What we have on the slide here is a map showing the block groups, the census block groups in Mercer Island, and the concentration of renting households throughout the island. And we can see that they're primarily focused in the north end of Mercer Island, largely around the area where the zoning changes will take place during the comprehensive plan update to add development capacity in the town center and adjacent multifamily zones. So that's That's where some of that displacement risk, that's some of the analysis that was included in that displacement risk evaluation. But we're really looking at addressing renting households, low-income households, and cost burdened households. Earlier in this process, too, in January, we took a look at the here. We briefed you on the hearings board decision, and you provided direction at that time to pursue 3 actions that were implementing 3 policies from the conflict comprehensive plan to address displacement risk. That was a required advance notice of rent increase, relocation assistance and the right of 1st refusal. Again, those were all policies that were already in the comp plan talking about mitigating that displacement risk. And you asked us to go forward and take a look at that as we were doing our analysis. That 3rd option, the right of 1st refusal is actually already addressed with a recent. update to the statewide residential landlord tenant act. And so that statewide is required. So we didn't need to take any additional action on the right 1st refusal. But what we'll see in the ordinance as we walk through it is that the required advanced notice of rent increase and the relocation assistance are included in the proposal. So, from there, let's take a look at ordinance 26, but kind of a general overview of the ordinance. This proposes changes to title 5, the business license and regulation section of the Mercer island city code. And it is specifically adopts requirements for landlords. And the, so the standards in this ordinance are tied to the annual business license renewal process and those. And it will be tied to that renewal of the sorry, the renewal application for business licenses. those business license applications are currently managed by the city staff and administered through a portal hosted by the department of revenue the washington state department of revenue under the proposed amendments landlords will be required to certify that they followed certain operational standards that are laid out in the in the ordinance and violation of that of these operating standards could be subject to a misdemeanor The 1st, section of the proposed amendments would establish definitions. These definitions apply only to the chapter at hand and wouldn't apply elsewhere in the code. So they're, they're specific to this. And so you'll see, there's a definition for landlord. This is an owner or lesser or sub lesser of a dwelling unit or property tenant. And then also importantly, it defines a low income tenant. and that's at that 80 percent of the area median income. I included a table here on the right of the area median income. So you can have this list the 80% area median income as published by the King County Housing Authority. And you can see it scales by household size. So for example, the 80% of AMI for a four person household is $121,000 a year. So that just gives you an idea of where that low income shakes out. The next three sections I grouped together on the slide because they go pretty quick. 020 requires a license, 030 Allows the city to set a fee for that license, but no additional fee is currently proposed for this license. So it's, it's just the, the initial or the existing business license fee, which is 30 dollars in the future. This section would authorize the council to adopt a fee via the fee schedule. So that's still an option in the future. And then 040 stipulates what must be included in the application. And again, this would just be administered through our existing business licensing system. Now, the operating requirements are in 050. this is the meat of the ordinance. These requirements would be would apply to all rental properties in town center and multifamily zones. So this is getting at those zones where there's proposed zoning changes during the renewal of their business license. Landlords must certify that they're meeting these operating requirements to be eligible for that renewal. And 1 of the new requirements is that the landlords must maintain that documentation that they've that they've complied for a rolling 3 year period, starting with the effective date of the ordinance. And let's see, so that's kind of generally looking at the operational requirements more specifically in B1 and B2. This is where we have our advanced notice of rent increase. This section requires that for any rent increase over 3%, 180 days of notice must be provided. And then for affordable housing units, those income restricted units, if the rent increases under 3%, then a 30 day notice is required. And 1 of the other things that the state law authorizes us to do is to allow those tenants in those affordable housing units to terminate the tendency if they don't want to accept the rent increase. And that's included in the, in the ordinance here. And then I also wanted to note that the state law currently requires 90 days notice of any rent increase. So, if there was a rent increase that fell below that 3% threshold. Landlords would still have to provide that 90 day notice, even though it's not included in the ordinance before you today. Then in 050B3 is where we get into the relocation assistance portion of the operational requirements. And this section would require that for low-income households, those households earning 80% of the AMI or less, that they be provided relocation assistance. If their unit is slated for demolition, substantial rehabilitation, a change of use, or removal of a rent or income restriction, In the ordinance, these are referred to as a relocation event. Substantial rehabilitation is also defined in the definition section. And then the ordinance stipulates that relocation assistance to tenants should not exceed $2,000. So it caps that relocation assistance at the $2,000 mark. And that's consistent with the requirements in the Residential Landlord Tenant Act. The state law says specifically that cities need to or can't require relocation assistance greater than $2,000 for low income households. In the operating requirements, the landlord is required to provide tenants a 90 day written notice that a relocation event will occur. So, at the time that they're planning a demolition, rehabilitation, change of use, or removal of rented restriction, they need to provide that 90 day notice and then the relocation assistance must be provided to eligible tenants within 45 days of that relocation event. In between there, the tenant has to notify the landlord that they want that relocation assistance and provide the income verification that they qualify. So, I mentioned this earlier, but I wanted to drive it home here. The residential landlord tenant act, which is chapter 5918 of the has specific requirements related to this relocation assistance. So, you'll see in the ordinance that relocation assistance is capped at the 2000 dollar mark and the state law requires that when relocation assistance is required for a low income household, the cities must pay half of that relocation assistance where the landlord can only be required to pay half. And so the, the system that's established in 050 is 1 by which the landlords would apply for reimbursement from the city for that half of the of the relocation assistance. And just to give an idea of how many low income households there are. According to the Mercer Island, according to the 2021 American community survey, it was estimated there were about 1300 low income renting households island wide, but that would be all households. So there would be fewer in the town center multifamily zones, because some would be in those single family zones. But that's just to give you an idea of the scale here. Moving on from there section 060 provides a system for dispute resolution for relocation assistance. This is something that's required by the residential landlord tenant act that cities imposing a relocation assistance program. need to also provide a dispute resolution process. So in the proposal, this would go be handled by the hearing examiner. A tenant or a landlord may request that hearing. The hearing must be held within 30 or the, sorry, the decision must be issued within 30 days of the request being filed. And There's some other requirements. The notice of hearing shall be sent by the city at least 7 days prior to the hearing date and decisions made through this process can be appealed to the King County Superior Court within 10 days of the decision. Section 070 provides a penalty for violations of these operating requirements. And again, I mentioned this earlier, but a violation would be a misdemeanor and a fine for each offense would be $500 with an important caveat that each day out of compliance can be considered a separate offense. So there can be some additional fines levied there. I just wanted to tie it all back because I started really broad at the hearing at the hearings board decision and that's really the root of these regulations. So I wanted to just. Drive that home here at the end, our displacement risk evaluation that was included with the agenda bill and identified low income cost burden renters as the most likely to experience displacement. And the ordinance addresses this risk by offering those tenant protections that we just went through that could address could affect those low income renters during the phase 1 up zone of our comprehensive plan update. And then. That's all of that is tied to this redevelopment activity. So that would be rehabilitation of the, or demolition of the unit, a change of use, that sort of thing. So this is all flowing from that displacement risk evaluation. That's the long and the short of it. And then from here, we'll move to next steps. So, this ordinance is scheduled for a 2nd reading on June 16th. We'd like you to set that 2nd reading. The ordinance will become effective 5 days after the notice of adoption is published. And then following adoption, we'll have some implementation that we need to do on our side of things. And that will include some outreach to landlords to inform them of new requirements. coordinating with the Department of Revenue to update that online portal. And then also we want to create some handouts and informational material to help the rollout of this new, these new regulations. So that all follow on the adoption of the ordinance. And from there, I'm happy to answer any questions. Mr. Weicker.

Well done, Adam. Totally appreciate nutshelling this all into a pretty straightforward agenda, Bill. Could you talk a little bit more about how we do the outreach to landlords and try to register all those rental properties and what kind of administrative support we'll have citywide to do that? That just sounds like a whole new program. And once we get it going, of course, but the initial program rollout and including landlords sounds tough.

I'll let Adam speak to some of the outreach. I think it's important to know there won't be a mass registration all at once because these licenses are on rolling windows through a 12-month period. So when these business licenses come up for renewal within a 12-month timeframe, so it'll be a staggered situation in terms of registration. Do you want to talk about the outreach a little bit? Sure.

So we plan on reaching out, sending letters to landlords to let them know there's been a recent change and here is what you need to do to maintain compliance with that change. That's the informational material we can send out.

So that sounds kind of easy for the property managed properties in the north. And what about the individual mom and pop renters down at the south end? Like they have to do the same thing. How do we know what's a rental and what's not?

These regulations will only apply in the town center and multifamily zones. And so the single property owner that's renting a house in the south end of the island is more than likely in a single family zone and wouldn't be subject to these regulations.

Can we make that super clear on Let's Talk?

Yes. Thank you.

Yeah, thanks. Thanks for all of your hard work on this. I know it's been a lot, but and Wendy just asked the 1 question that I had the other question that I have is the 180 days and we just heard 1 public speaker talk about how that wouldn't be great. And. I've gotten constituent feedback also. And I personally, having been a landlord and a tenant both, wonder about the value of that in terms of does it really help people or does it just create a lot of long-term uncertainty? So is the 180 days required or could some lesser number that maybe is still more than what state law requires be acceptable?

Uh, yes, a shorter term could be could be incorporated.

Okay, so, like, if we gave some, some additional benefit over and above state law, like, 120 days instead of 90, there's nothing in any of our research or studies or state law that would prohibit that. Correct correct. Thank you.

Okay. Council is there a motion to schedule a 2nd reading ordinance number 26. 07 on june 16th 2026. so moved okay uh it was a motion by deputy mayor becker and second by councilmember reynolds may i ask what what point it might be appropriate to amend pose an amendment to the ordinance right now right now

Okay, then I propose we amend Ordinance 26-C-07 to reduce the advance notice requirement for rent increases from 180 days to 120 days. Second.

Okay, it's a motion made by Council Member Anderall, seconded by Council Member Reynolds. Council Member Anderall, would you like to speak to your amendment?

Yeah, briefly, I think I kind of already said it, having been both a landlord and a tenant, that kind of a requirement without being able to predict what the markets are going to look like in that long of a period of time creates a lot of uncertainty. I think the public speaker, Stephanie Ford, articulated a number of reasons how it could be a downside rather than an advantage. But if state law currently requires 90 days, and we want to try to provide some additional notice period that allows better planning for tenants to help them reduce their displacement risk, then I think that we should do that. But I think maybe 120 days is a better number than a half a year.

Okay. Any other comments? Okay, Deputy City Clerk, please call the rolling amendment.

Mr. Mayor, just to confirm, it was Council Member Anderle, excuse me, that made the motion. It was seconded by Council Member Reynolds. Yep. Thank you. Council Member Weicker? Aye. Council Member Weinberg? Aye. Council Member Shea? Aye. Deputy Mayor Becker?

Aye.

Mayor Rosenbaum?

Aye.

Council Member Anderle?

Aye.

And Council Member Reynolds? Aye.

there any the motion that i maybe passes seven zero uh are there any further amendments cuts or rattles yes i'd like to propose an additional amendment to the to the same provision i believe which is five dot whatever they go five dot fifty dot uh except no five dot xx.050 b i think it is the new language will say the landlord shall notify all tenants or sub tenants at least 120 days prior to an increase in rent exceeding a cumulative 3% in any 12 month period. That's the first sentence of that provision. And I'm basically changing it to be cumulative 3% rather than 3% each time.

I'll second that.

Okay, there's a motion, an amendment made by Council Member Reynolds and seconded by Council Member Anderall. Deputy City Clerk Beeble to get that

I believe staff should have the amendment ready to put up, if I'm not mistaken.

We have it. It was sent out by Adam. We can put it up.

Thank you.

I have it on a slide here.

Yeah, if you could put it on the screen.

It just won't have the 120. It'll still say 180, but. That's okay.

We just passed that, so we won't hold that against you.

So the existing is at the top and then the insertions here at the second proposed.

I agree. That's an accurate representation of what I wanted, except for the 180 versus 120, which we've already previously approved. And I'm not attempting to undo that with this one. Councilor Arnold, would you like to speak to your amendment? Yeah, just briefly. what i'm trying to get after here is a situation where with the 120 day provision as we've talked about um as written the original code would allow a landlord to impose a three percent increase every four months without having to do any sort of notification requirement i want it to be a three percent increase per year that's the intent of the change and it's important to know that this is not a restriction on how much the rent can increase it can still increase

higher amounts so whatever as long as they're complying with state law it's just relating to a notification requirement okay any other comments okay deputy deputy city clerk please call the roll thank you Mr. Mayor Deputy Mayor Becker aye Councilmember Anderle aye Councilmember Shea aye Mayor Rosenbaum aye Councilmember Reynolds aye Councilmember Weicker aye and Councilmember Weinberg

Aye. Okay. Amendment passes 7-0. Are there any other amendments to the motion? Okay. Deputy City Clerk, please call the roll on the main motion.

Main motion, just to repeat, is to schedule a second reading of ordinance number 26C07 on June 16th. Councilmember Weinberg?

Aye.

Mayor Rosenbaum?

Aye.

Councilmember Weicker? Aye. Councilmember Reynolds?

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Becker?

Aye.

Council Member Shea? Aye. And Council Member Randall? Aye. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Motion passes. Thank you, our CPD team. A lot of work goes into these. We appreciate all that effort and look forward to hearing more from you in the coming weeks. Okay. We now move on to other business and planning schedule. We welcome City Manager Jessie Bond.

No updates from me, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. Council Members, any absences to report? Coming up.

okay uh councilman reports deputy mayor becker i recently attended another uh arch council of elected officials event where there was a spirited discussion about low income housing which i feel like we've heard a lot about here so i'm not going to update any more on that that's all i have okay that counts for waker that's where weinberg

Yeah, so the monthly meeting of the Electeds Outreach Committee of the King County Cities Climate Collaboration, or K4C, was held yesterday. We reviewed the outcome of the climate-related bills in the 2026 legislative session and discussed at some length our legislative priorities and strategy for the 2027 session. And our next, my next open lunch is going to be at 12 p.m. on Saturday, June 20th at Hap's Burgers and Taps. Uh, the address 2411 and 76th Avenue Southeast as always all are welcome. So open agendas, new sports, weather, humor, even city business. If you want all I ask is that everyone please show your respects to the chef by ordering some food and or beverage and let me know if you're coming so I can reserve a large enough table. Council Reynolds.

I just note there's a Parks Commission meeting coming up this week. It looks to be a fairly routine agenda in contrast to some of the meetings we've had recently. Just an election of new officers and a recreation division annual report. So I think it'll be fast and easy. Okay.

Councillor Anderall.

Um, no, well, nothing except, I guess I just want to reiterate my thanks to the planning division or CPD for getting us through this. What I thought was going to be really long and complicated agenda and that turned out to be relatively streamlined. So compliments.

Okay.

Yes, so at the last meeting, I was appointed as a voting member from Mercer Island City Council to attend the Puget Sound Regional Council General Assembly on May 28. There are many elected officials and business leaders from across our region there and we voted unanimously unanimously to adopt the fiscal year's 26 to 27 supplemental biennial budget and work program and to adopt the regional transportation plan. We heard from former Governor Christine Gregoire in an insightful panel presentation featuring Brad Smith, Eric Nordstrom, and Kerry Schroeder. So one of the biggest takeaways was the importance of stronger collaboration between cities and local small businesses and between all levels of government. Building a culture of responsiveness, partnership, clarity, and predictability is essential to supporting economic development and long-term growth in our cities by identifying and reducing friction points, especially in areas like permitting, cost effective policies, fair tax structure, safe and clean environment, we can make it easier for local businesses to succeed and for communities in our state to thrive. At the last council meeting, we approved the Proclamation 388, proclaiming June 5th as National Gun Violence Awareness Day on Mercer Island. So please wear orange this Friday and this weekend for gun violence awareness. And today, council voted in the consent agenda to approve Proclamation 389, proclaiming June 2026 as Pride Month on Mercer Island. So happy Pride Month of June. Farmers Market Opening Day was a great success. Thanks to everyone who supported the market. Mayor Rosenbaum gave an opening speech. The MIH's pep band performed in a KMIH high school radio station, had a booth there. It's every Sunday. from 10 to 2 p.m. until October 11th. First Friday Art Walk is this Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at participating businesses in our town center. Mosaic and my open mic and listening room is on the first Thursday of every month. So that's this Thursday at Al Jolla from 7 to 9.30 p.m. And my next community coffee has been scheduled for Wednesday, June 10th from 11 to 12.30 at ASA. Welcome all. Thank you.

Thank you. I will just say last week was Memorial Day, which is a very somber occasion. It also sort of marks the unofficial start of summer, which is extremely busy for the city. So I just want to give a big thanks to everyone on the team that puts a lot of effort into making the summer go really well. This summer is complicated, of course, with the World Cup happening seven miles away from us. There's seafair, summer celebration, 4th of July. You pick it, it's gonna be a busy summer. But I also think it's the best time of year to be here. So a huge thank you to the team that puts a lot of effort into that. A lot of planning goes into it in a lot of these events. And a lot of that planning goes into hoping that there's no issues. So just a big thank you. A lot of the work goes on the scene. So thank you very much for that. Okay, the next regularly scheduled hybrid city council meeting will be on Tuesday, June 16th, beginning at 5 p.m. The time is now 7.54 p.m. As a reminder to the council, please stay seated until the city staff has terminated the broadcast. Good evening and thank you for joining us.