City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening.

I would like to call the City of Mount Vernon City Council meeting for Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026 to order. The time is now 7.02 p.m. Would you please stand with me for the Pledge of Allegiance?

Pledge of 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.

I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Council member Beaton. Here. Council member Damon. Here. Council member Hudson. Here. Council member Oliver. Here. Council member Tessaro.

Here.

Council member Vanderstuip.

Here.

Council member West.

Here. Thank you. Item two, our agenda request. Are there any motions for items to be placed on a future city council agenda for discussion?

Anything?

Agenda request. Item three is approval of tonight's council meeting agenda. Council. entertain a motion to approve tonight's agenda. So moved. Motion by Navor and a second by Mary. Any discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no. Motion passes. Okay. For item four is community comments tonight and I just based on the amount of email that we received city council and I on the topic of Little Mountain. I'm anticipating that there may be some folks here who want to speak on that. And so I thought maybe before your comments, I would just share a little bit about what we know about the parcel on Little Mountain. So before I open it up for community comments, I just want to talk about that a little bit. On Monday, July 20th, it was brought to the city's attention that A parcel that is located just outside of city limits but adjacent to the city's Little Mountain Park was purchased by a local logging company. Logging regulations on this parcel that's outside city limits is governed by the State of Washington Department of Natural Resources. I understand that the new property owners of this parcel have applied for the permits that they're required to get in order to clear trees from that property. So in the last couple of days, I have had conversations with our city council, with the previous property owner of that parcel, with the current property owner, of that parcel with members of the Mount Vernon parks foundation with members of schedule and trust and with quite a few other concerned community members and I am determined right now to to discover what options may exist when it comes to this critical and and highly visible parcel of forested land near our mountain and parks and and our neighborhoods. literally hundreds of our residents have reached out in the last couple of days to DNR, to Department of Natural Resources, and to the county and city elected officials to express, I would say, outrage at the prospect of having at least 10 acres of trees removed from the side of Little Mountain. Like, I am, and I think some council members as well, I think they're troubled by the idea that our community might be stripped of such a prominent and vital resource and then just left to deal with the adverse aesthetic and challenging natural impacts that will no doubt be left behind. Again, I recognize this is a parcel that is outside of city limits, but it also touches so much of what makes our city unique. City Council and staff and I will be discussing options that we may have in the hours and days ahead, and we're going to be doing our best to keep our residents updated on the latest. And so to stay updated on this topic, you can go to the city's website at and we have some information there. The website address is www.mountvernonwa.gov. So just wanted to share that ahead of the community comments tonight. And at this point, I will open it up for community comments. If anyone has anything that they would like to say to address to City Council and I, please come on up to the microphone. We also you state your name and your city of residence and please keep your comments to about three minutes. Hello.

Hello, may I adjust this slightly?

All right. Oh, sure, absolutely.

Okay, cool. Can everyone hear me okay? Should I speak up louder? Yeah, all right. Hello, Mount Vernon City Council. Thank you all for being in attendance and making it possible for us to be here tonight. My name is Zakiya, and I spend 90% of my time in Mount Vernon. I shop here, I go to school here, I work here. My first time at the city council was in response to Navor's comment made in January 2025 about calling the White House to import Haitian community members from Springfield, Ohio to eat cats as a means of dealing with our cat colonies, which is a public health crisis Mount Vernon had allocated funds to address. As a community, we asked for Mount Vernon to be recognized as a sanctuary city for immigrant communities. While that was rejected by the council at the time, what happened after was a community member, Lila Juarez, being detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. Lello had no violent background and worked and served this community and the larger Skagit community as a farm worker. In response to that news circulating, Mount Vernon developed a Citizens Advisory Board as a solution, ignoring the initial requests of the community. Back in January 2025, we were already concerned about the escalation and progression of ICE and their impacts within Mount Vernon. To my knowledge, the Citizens Advisory Board has not done enough in the year and a half of its existence to serve all members of the community. Within the last two weeks, ICE detained a local woman who wasn't the target of their operations. And I wonder if there wasn't a public outcry calling for her release, that her baby would have lost their mother to a system that moves quickly and conducts transfers to facilities across the nation. If we're asking for community safety, how are you providing it to us? Are you ensuring children will have their parents? Are you ensuring women will be able to leave domestic violence situations and enter safe homes away from abusers? Are you ensuring that those who live downtown will be safe when flooding reaches their doorsteps? Domestic violence is the only kind of crime that has significantly increased in the county and Washington state in the last year. Flock cameras are a non-solution to the issue of domestic violence and have instead aided abusers and stalkers. And turning off cameras and beyond that, also canceling the contract that allows the company to access residents' whereabouts is the most responsible thing. I am so thankful for the Mount Vernon Police Department taking my call seriously and responding to a domestic violence incident I was faced with earlier this year. This shows that there are people in these systems that do their duties to serve the community. But we need to expand more resources for domestic violence survivors, and we can do so much more with the money that was allotted for flock cameras and software. Community safety is not just looking at outdated floodplain maps and installing a pop-up barrier to make it safe. It's ensuring our neighbors have standardized evacuation routes in case of a catastrophe. Community safety is more than posting on Facebook for likes and clicks. It's going door to door and talking with neighbors about their needs and issues they face. It's about ensuring rent is affordable, that childcare is accessible, and that our neighbors are safe. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Okay. I'm going to ask you to go ahead and time me. I'm disturbed about the public comments by some city council members and the mayor that's stopping the ALPRs was not an emergency. It is hard to believe that our electeds are unaware people have been kidnapped close to every day in our community. Okay. The kidnappings are cruel, as I'm sure you all remember from the abduction of Lalo by masked people and unmarked cars that just smashed his car window and dragged him out of his vehicle when he rightfully asked if they had a warrant. The Mount Vernon flock camera contract includes sharing flock data with King County International Airport. ICE and CBP is at this airport, and there is little doubt that the airport shares data access with them. I'm not sure about the sharing of data agreement with the Columbia River Drug Task Force, but if I remember correctly, this type of task force would normally work directly with ICE and CBP as well. ICE CBP access to ALPR data aids the removal of immigrants from our community. For the many immigrant families living here that have been separated by ICE abductions and disappeared to unknown destinations and suffered the horrific conditions in detention, this is an emergency. Do you all understand the impact this is having on our community? People of color, including citizens and Native Americans, have been detained and some gunned down by ICE. People in our community are living in terror, and this is impacting not only potential victims, but a large segment of others living and working in Mount Vernon, including teachers, health care providers, businesses, children's sports teams. To many of us, this is an emergency. It would be a mistake to think that these are feelings of a small splinter group of your constituents. There is alarm at the apparent absence of concern for brown people, black people, and the LGBTQ plus community. Our city is in pain from these activities. Perhaps economic impact might be more concerning to those of you who may not care about the emotional well-being of the people in this community. And let me see if I can get this. So I do have some information. This is from the American Immigration Council, and they mapped all the counties in the country and what the economic impact would be in the county. So this is 2025. Number of immigrants, 11,046. Immigrant taxes paid, $85.5 million. Immigrant spending power, $237.5 million. And these are the working immigrants in our communities, not the H-2A people because H-2A immigrants do not pay taxes. So these are losses, real losses to our community. And so I hope you will be serious about the way ICE is removing people from our community.

Thank you. Thank you. You did almost perfectly on time. I don't know if we caught your name in City of Residence.

Christine Conner, Mount Vernon.

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to address City Council tonight?

Kate Smith, Mount Vernon. Just wanted to say thank you to council members for the discussion tonight during the committee meeting earlier about e-bike code and for the opportunities to involve the community. I really appreciated Council Member Oliver's suggestion for creating a community or citizen committee to help inform the the code for e-bikes. I'm part of the Bicycle Coalition and with lots of folks who ride bicycles and are really passionate about it. And so I really appreciate that suggestion and would encourage council members to consider that further, especially to involve those who are out on e-bikes and bikes. I rode mine here today and also rode my e-bike to pick up my kids from the Hillcrest Park outdoor school earlier, outdoor camp earlier today. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Sage Wilkirk, Mount Vernon. I'm mostly here for the air condition, but I wanted just to shout out the if anybody has maybe at home or in the crowd. So I'm using your platform. I'm so sorry. wants to help save Little Mountain, you can put in an email request to DNR. I think it's due today, though. So that would be a quick thing. I know that if you could save little mountain.org is a pretty quick place you can go to get the get the ID number of the parcel or whatever the there's a lot of information I don't know that I've learned this week. But if you want to do that right now while you're watching our city council on your computer, that'd be great. So that was just my plug for action people can take today and has to take today. So thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else? Okay. We're going to move on in our agenda. Item 5 is tonight's consent agenda. It includes meeting minutes, payroll, claims, and an agreement renewal for the city's IOS program. Council, would you like to move for adoption of the consent agenda?

Moved. Second.

Motion by Navarro and a second by Melissa. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say no. Passes. Okay. Go on to reports. 5A is council member comments. Any council member comments this evening? Yes, council member Oliver.

I just have a few quick things. So as always, thank you everyone who came and gave public comment today on some really, really important issues to me, and I know a lot of council as well. There's a couple events coming up that I just wanted to mention to the public. August 17th at 6 p.m. At the Hillcrest Lodge is the next ward 2 Community meeting we'll have more information on that soon, but I just want everyone to put that on their calendars You don't have to live in Ward 2 anyone is welcome But that's just kind of the focus. It'll be me and Andrew there And then I also wanted to invite everyone to the Mount Vernon Youth Arts Festival that is this weekend. It is on Saturday. There's a lot of great organizations and groups there, and some of your council members will be there as well. We'll be doing some painting. So if you have kids or grandkids, nieces and nephews, please bring them by. We'd love to see them.

Thank you.

You all are going to have a booth there. Is that right?

Mm-hmm.

Very cool.

Any other council member comments? Yes, Councilmember West.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So these weren't really formal agenda requests. So but there are a couple of things that I would like the body to pay attention to, or at least give some some emphasis on. Number one is the West Mount Vernon community. In my opinion, they have not been made whole in terms of the bridge. Wasn't there That wasn't their choice I think that I think that the administration if it so wanted Could make some effort to make to help them become whole and I'd be willing to entertain what what those What that would look like so I'd like to see a discussion on that With you know, this is something that's gonna be going on for a while So I'd like to see a discussion on that sooner rather than later then also senior services and senior meals for the uh homebound that's something that we do have a temporary fix for the rest of 2026 as far as i understand but i know that that community and the people that that services would feel more comfortable if we had a plan earlier than at the last minute So I'd like to see this council focus on getting a longer-term solution sooner than later. And then finally, the budget, we've just heard that we're in a deficit, and it seems like we're in a deficit year over year. So I know that, Mr. Mayor, I know that you're going to be talking to us about the budget coming up in the fall. However, considering the previous deficit tendencies, I'd like to get started on that earlier, if possible, so that we're not surprised and so that we can get a situation that doesn't require levies. Yeah, levies as a cycle just means we didn't plan properly. And finally, Eaglemont, I'd like to see options for Eaglemont. I know that Kevin, I appreciate it. He's given us high level options, but there's been so many years of uncertainty for that community that they really deserve to know that this council is thinking about what the longer term solutions are. And I've not seen that other than top level. So I'd like to dig deeper into that if possible. Those are the things I'm hearing from the folks in my ward and in Mount Vernon in general. Thank you.

Other council member comments? All right. We will move on to mayor's report. All right. So you've probably heard by now that we've been excited to deliver on yet another promise that the city made when The voters last November approved the levy. And when we asked if the residents of Mount Vernon wanted to see improvements in their local parks, the voters said yes. And so we went to work on delivering exactly what they asked for this brand new inclusive 88. Playground at Hillcrest Park is not only a response to the levy outcome, it's also a response to a number of folks who I met on the campaign trail a few years ago who told me that their kids were unable to join other kids in any park in Mount Vernon. Fortunately, our parks director, Jennifer Berner, agreed and led in this area and decided Demonstrated that she believed that this idea of not having an ADA and an inclusive playground in the city of Mount Vernon was completely unacceptable. She went to work and assembled a small team of those parents and of other professionals who could kind of help guide our community's needs and bring this beautiful new amenity to our city. We are finishing up on the tiles, the floor tiles for the playground and the fencing this week. And then I want to invite everyone to come out to Hillcrest Park on Saturday, August 8th at 10 a.m. when we cut the ribbon on this park and get to finally... Let all of our kids enjoy this inclusive ADA playground. Again, Saturday, August 8th, 10 a.m. for the ribbon-cutting celebration at Hillcrest Park. That's a big one. Then I wanted to let you all know about the next mayor's coffee hour. I will be holding my 30th mayor's coffee hour this Friday, the 24th at 10 a.m. I've been doing a West Mount Vernon tour lately in an effort to encourage our residents to make the walk across the bridge or the drive if you want across the bridge. And spend some time with our west side businesses who are being impacted by the bridge painting project. This is not the first time I've invited folks over there. It won't be the last. We ask you to come out to Katz 2.0. That's not the Katz bar. That's actually their adjacent property. So it's an all ages event. And we'll be at 720 West Division Street at 10 a.m. And then you are free to spend your lunch money and your shopping money over on the west side, as we did last month. Again, this is Friday at 10 a.m. Please come on over to Mayor's Coffee on the west side. That is your Mayor's Report for July 22, 2026. Thank you, Adam. And we are moving on to new business. Item A, it is a presentation of the city's Transportation Benefit District. What is it? How does it work? How do we get more of this district? Capital Projects Manager Frank Reinhart is going to present on this. Frank?

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I'm afraid that was a somewhat overhyped introduction to this because this is mostly backwards looking tonight. So I have a couple purposes in coming before you this evening. One is to provide the required annual report out on how transportation benefit district funds were spent during 2025. That annual report is a requirement as part of the city's policy and the general policy for the transportation benefit district. As we're moving into year 10 this year, I also am just taking advantage of the opportunity to talk about where it's being spent this year. And then finally, the third intention is to provide you a little bit of a 10 year look back from the time that this Council and the voters of Mount Vernon adopted the Transportation Benefit District in 2016 and kind of how far we've progressed from that point until today. I have to admit, I haven't been here for almost all of this, so I can't claim credit for much here, but it's my pleasure to be able to stand before you tonight and present kind of what the city has accomplished for the last 10 years. So just some very basic facts on this. The city council adopted the measure of a transportation benefit district in 2016 and then went on to make you the governing body for that transportation district by ordinance. The transportation district was subject to voter approval in 2016 of a 0.2% sales and use tax for the purposes of funding transportation projects and needs in the city. And that was its primary and sole focus for that funding during that period of time. The sales tax sales and use tax increase started collection in the second quarter of 2017 so we we started small in 2017 and started with our annual street improvements program that was. Back then, what we called the combined of a certain amount of overlay in our streets with ADA improvements. And so what you're going to see here is I'm going to track through a map that kind of shows you year by year where we were at. Second year in 2018, or I'm sorry, we have pictures in here too, just showing you again some of the things that we did during that year. 2018 we had a little bit more transportation benefit district funding and we wanted to stretch our legs a little bit, so we started adding a little more to the scope at that point in time. view in our downtown area or their doubts. and Once we had that we started to stretch our legs a little bit further 2019 was the first year, where we use the transportation benefit district to levy grant funds. To levy state or external grant funds in the form of a local match for those funds and we use them together with a grant to rebuild the intersection of Anderson cedar dale into the roundabouts that you find on that on ramp off ramp for I five today. Right now, those kind of started out our first little foray into roundabouts in this city. So you can see in the lower left in particular, one of those roundabout construction projects. 2020-21 was a weird year. That was when COVID was starting to make things interesting for us in a whole bunch of different ways. And so for that purpose, I kind of combined together A couple different projects from 2021 because we had one very large project during that period, which was the college way I five interchange widening this is again a case where we. We didn't use transportation funds typically to leverage federal grant we use them very aggressively to. Along with other local funding sources in order to complete a eight and a half million dollar improvement of the interchange of I five at college way. 2022, we wrapped up a few things left over from the 2021 end of things, and then we tackled another federally funded project, again, using transportation benefit district dollars to leverage that federal grant, and that was the freeway drive improvement project from College Way South to Lyons Park. 2023, we started to diversify further with several projects going at the same time. The Hoagland Venture signal intersection project to clean that intersection up was again a leverage project. We, at that point in time, did put some transportation benefit funds into the design of those federally funded projects we have going right now, 30th and Riverside. That's a practice that, as I've told this council, During tip planning is not a practice. I really want to make a common habit out of because I generally regard the transportation benefit district funding sources, something there where we're trying to deliver a construction project sooner, not years down the road. So, but we did use that for a little bit of support of the design of those projects in the early years when the city first started with those. 2024, in addition to the other uses that we were putting transportation benefit district, we started using transportation benefit district dollars to fund planning studies, transportation planning studies to be specific. And so the one study that we got initially started in 2024 was the Blackburn Road extension planning study to look at the future to connect Blackburn Road up to the Eaglemont area what alternatives exist there um that's a project that is still ongoing and so again not one that i want to ever direct a major amount of funding to but to support the future of planning here in mount vernon along with some of our regular uses of the transportation benefit district dollars for overlay projects and 88 curb ramp improvement projects And of course 2024 what was noteworthy about the overlay project and the ADA improvement project was that focused on the downtown area around the library in support of the library building and we ended up using the transportation benefit district actually to. reduce the cost of the library construction project by giving us some diverse options for how to improve the street without necessarily detracting from the library project in order to do that. 2025, we've kind of continued just all the various ways in which we have implemented transportation benefit district dollars on an annual basis. The transportation benefit district is still being used for pavement preservation. We're using it as match funds for the design of the Cauchon Trail lighting project. We added a second or continued a second planning study in the form of our federal and state required ADA transition plan update, which is still ongoing as we exist today. And then we launched what I've described to you in other circumstances, the five-year pavement preservation plan, looking forward on that and looking forward not just in terms of our pavement condition as it exists today, but also a projective study on how we approach spending that same funding source in a efficient fashion for the next five years. And now we're, of course, at this point in time, I'm showing you pictures of stuff not done because we're not yet done. A lot of the projects that I described to you were design projects going into construction to follow. And that's more of the same here. This is a case where we're starting to try and use the transportation benefit district this year to increase our project delivery capabilities. And so again, trying to push more projects out the door of all types, not just overlay projects and the required ADA improvements, but also tackling a couple key ADA improvement intersections, pedestrian safety intersections above and beyond the ADA improvements, as well as taking care of a little project, a bit of old business for the city, which was the sidewalk along 15th Street, which is currently under construction right now. as well as, again, providing funding to launch what another topic I'll be bringing to council a little bit later this year, which is the scope of the planning study for the Division Street Bridge and the potential future for that. And so that essentially brings us through the past 10 years and at the risk of trying to do something cute. I'm going to try and do something cute. So this is just a kind of a cinematic that kind of shows the progress of use over the 10 years. Basically, it's those individual slide maps that you've been seeing. Over the course of 10 years, we touched mostly in an overlay sense about 13 miles of our street pavement. That's about 10 miles measured by centerline width of our street pavement in the city. We covered about one mile of sidewalk, which I would consider small for this purpose, but we were finding our legs as far as the future of pedestrian projects in the city. We managed to touch 436 ramps in terms of bringing them up to ADA compliance. We got foiled a little bit because the new PROWAG change the bar a little bit. So I'm going to have to return to some of the newer or the older ramps that we improved and improve them again. But that's just the nature of pro-wag improvement. But 436 ramps is 10% of the total number of ramps in the city. So again, a not inconsequential use of that. and five major intersection projects thrown into it, mostly as a function of using the Transportation Benefit District as match funds to leverage grant funds for what are otherwise very expensive projects that we normally don't have the resources to tackle by ourselves. And so what I provided to you in the memo was a little bit of a different approach than you've seen in past years. I tried to provide a kind of a comp, Rob Geddes, compiling of all air all the information that you've seen here in terms of transportation benefit district funding other local funding state federal funding sources and the total just to kind of give you a ledger. Rob Geddes, For what that was, and of course it's a very long table, and there is some Asterix on it, where where i've identified projects that are still in motion, they have not yet been completed. But basically the the sum of it is kind of shown here we used 11 and three quarters of a million dollars in transportation benefit district funds generated by that sales and use tax over the last 10 years. use that to leverage and almost an equal number of state and federal grant services. to deliver to the city about $26.75 million in transportation improvements just as a generator out of the Transportation Benefit District. It should be noted that's not the total package of all the transportation work that we did in the city because I focused this presentation specifically on projects that were touched by the Transportation Benefit District. So with that, do you have any questions for me? Thank you, Frank.

Questions for Frank? Council?

I sound the worst, but I'll go ahead and ask the question. This is pretty significant. If we didn't have this funding source, the majority of these projects, I don't know how we would get them done. Is that fair to say?

Slower and less would be a fair way of putting it. I mean, The world of transportation improvements in Mount Vernon existed before the Transportation Benefit District, and we would continue in that vein, but there's no question that this has been a boon to the community over the past 10 years. You know, again, this is before the voters this fall to consider if they want to continue it. It's not my purpose necessarily to plug that tonight, but it is my purpose tonight to share that there has been value gained out of the past 10 years of the policy in the city.

Definitely a safer city and safer neighborhoods with those, just the ADA requirements alone, so. Thank you for this presentation, Frank. Okay.

Thank you very much for your time. Council, item B is the appointment of committee members for a ballot proposition, and our public works director, Chris Phillips, is going to introduce this item.

Right on. Well, thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Council. So if you kind of see this as a Frank and I tag team, he's got the history. I'm looking forward. So I've been before you a few times with the Transportation Benefit District, Requirements that we have to do which council has approved. This is another link in the chain if you will for the pro and con committee So I'm just gonna read here. What's in the executive summary for you? Step is requesting the City Council appoint committee members to serve on one of two committees It's a for and against committee for the Mount Vernon sales and use tax ballot proposition the city published notices in the Skagit Valley Herald on May 19th and again on the 26th of this year seeking committee members Each committee can include up to three members and is charged with writing statements that will appear in the local voters pamphlet related to the proposed renewal of the sales and use tax for Mount Vernon's Transportation Benefit District. The individuals wishing to serve on the In Favor Committee were Luann Gordon-Burkert, Gary Molinar, and Suzanne Butler. The city did not receive any information or any input individuals wishing to serve on the against committee and before you is just looking for approval of those appointments once you do so I will be Getting in touch with the county electors office to get the process going next step for them would be I have to do this by August 4th and then they also will be submitting a For statement that would be included in the pamphlet the voters pamphlet pending your questions Thank You Chris questions for Chris. I Have a quick question on the

sorry councilmember Beaton I can't hear you I'm sorry on the against did I know presumably we posted in the Skagit Valley Herald because we're required to by law did we look at any other avenues before the con side of the statement only I only asked this because when we did the police fire and parks levy last year there were a couple of folks that were upset because they don't subscribed to the Skagit Valley Herald, so they didn't know anything about it. So I just thought I would put that out there. I don't know if it's too late.

Oh, I'm sorry. It's not too late, and you actually just advertised it again. Excellent. So we'll advertise it now. The answer to the Skagit Valley Herald. Just a second, Chris. I'll answer. The elections office actually posts it for jurisdiction. So when we don't get any responses, they open it up, And so anyone listening right now or anyone in this room could sign up for that committee through the elections office. Thank you. Sorry about that, boss.

Thank you. Thank you.

What he said.

Excellent.

Any other questions?

I'd like to make a motion that we approve those appointments. Second.

Motion by Mary and a second by Melissa. More discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no. It has not been easy. I appreciate it. Item, what are we on? C tonight is a presentation on the city's affordable housing density bonus program and principal planner, Rebecca Lewis here. Rebecca, welcome.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Council. Let me get my PowerPoint up here. All right. So the main purpose I'm here in front of you tonight is to celebrate a success, a small success, but a success, no less. And then at the same time, I thought, since the implementing code that we're going to talk about in just a moment has a tie to the comp plan process that we did in 2016, and now We're currently working on a 2025 comp plan amendment. I thought I'd make some correlations between the process we went through back then and how we arrived at the code that ended up creating some of the affordable housing units that I'm going to talk about. First of all, as we've talked with counsel a number of times when we talk about that, our comprehensive plan is a guiding document. That comprehensive plan has goals, objectives, and policies. And those goals, objectives, and policies end up becoming municipal code when directed by the city council. So specific to Chapter 1773 in our Mount Vernon Municipal Code, which is entitled Regulations to Encourage Affordable Housing, that code amendment came about because in 2016, I've just got a picture of the cover of our housing element. That was our element that was adopted in 2016. Of course, it had goals, objectives, and policies. One of those was policy 4.1.3 that stated, or actually it's still adopted, so it states, evaluate the adoption of zoning regulations that provide bonuses and density for developments that create income-restricted units aimed at those earning less than 80%, of the area median income, or what we call AMI, and with greater bonuses provided to housing reserved for those earning 60% of the AMI and below. So following that adoption in 2016, city council met, and I actually, I don't have a picture of this, but it's one of the items that I did pass out before the meeting tonight. I gave you all the goals, policies, and objectives just because I had them up, but I brought you a copy of a memo. that I gave to council back in 2016 and what that was was after the 2016 comp plan was adopted we had a whole lot of code amendments that needed that needed to be prioritized and so what this memo goes through is It was just staff's recommendations because there was a number of things in there as to how to prioritize all those code amendments, which council and the mayor's office did for us following that. And what ended up happening in the priority order, our department was instructed and we completed a number of code amendments aimed at those who are homeless because really the The direction from City Council at that time was, as we're looking at the continuum of housing, we want to adopt code amendments that help the most vulnerable and the most in need first. So we spent the first couple of years after 2016 working on a number of code amendments aimed at the homeless in our community. And then the next set of code amendments that we brought forward ended up being Ordinance 3802, and it was in 2019. And that was the chapter that I'm gonna talk about tonight, that chapter 17.73, the regulations to encourage affordable housing. So what this chapter, I should say, one of the things that this chapter of the code does is it offers significant increases in density in exchange for what you'll hear me call bona fide, which means in-program subsidized housing. And it can be rented housing or owned housing. And I've actually got just one example tonight of some owned housing that will be income restricted. So since its adoption in 2019, we have 14 new dwelling units reserved exclusively for those earning 80% or below of the AMI have been created. And we'll have another 12 dwelling units that will be created in the next few months. So for those additional units, really, the projects are nearly completed. And we're working with the applicants to record the legal agreements that are required. So that those units will be reserved and I would say another hallmark of the program that the city adopted is unlike many programs one of the things that we identified in 2016 is that when programs say that affordable housing is only for 30 years and or for 50 years, we've seen those expire in our own community. So those income restrictions go away, and so does that affordable housing. So the code that the council at that time adopted, our program is codified in this chapter of the code, is in perpetuity, which would basically be the life of the structure, that those affordable housing units would stay. So after I've got about, I've got six slides to show you the actual projects and the units that were created in there. But then I did throw in a couple slides at the end of my presentation if you're interested in having me give you a little more detail with regard to exactly how the program works. I've got a few examples for that if you'd like. So with that, the first of the six slides, this is a project called The Lofts. It's located on LaVenture Road. It is northwest of the intersection of LaVenture and Section Street. I've got a picture of the new structure up here. Within this structure, there are a total of 66 multifamily units. 10 of those units are In our program so they are reserved exclusively for individuals or families earning 80% of the median income or below That second project we've got is one off of 21st Street, it's a 411 21st Street this project is so 21st Street is just east of Stanford Drive as you've given to the Stanford Drive apartments and This is so it's on the north side of Division Street up near the northeast corner of where those apartments on Stanford Drive are And again, you can see this the new structure that's up there that Is nearly finished. I think they've got folks living in a couple of the units. They have a few more improvements they've got to make but they're real close to being done and They have 10 total multifamily units in this new structure, and three of those units are in our program and will be affordable in perpetuity. The next one is one that's just south of City Hall on Cleveland Street. It's just north of the intersection of Blackburn and Cleveland. So it would be just south of the fairgrounds in Mount Vernon. So this is a new structure that's also nearly complete. There are four multifamily units in this structure, and one of them is in our program, and it's one affordable multifamily unit. The next one, so I've just got three more here, is the JJ Place Apartments. JJ Place is on the south side of East College Way, and it's directly across the street from Skagit Valley College. And this project, again, I believe they'll have people starting to move in in the next few weeks on this project. And it has 35 total multifamily units and four of them will be in our program as affordable. So this is the one and only project that we've got. The ones I've shown you so far are all for multifamily units that are rented. With this project, we're actually getting seven units that will be part of duplex structures, but they'll be platted off. So somebody will own part of one side of a duplex or another in the mountain gate development. This one I expect to be before you for final plat approval. Best guess within the next two or three weeks. This developer is really close. If you've been out on Blackburn, you'll see how nice that that site looks with the landscaping. And they do have a permit, what we call a model home permit. So they've actually started constructing some of the homes in there. you're wondering why homes are being built before the final plot but so this subdivision will have a total of 46 single-family units and 20 duplex units which means there'll be ten structures so there's two two units in each one of those structures and again seven of those units will be in our program and so far they're the only ones that will be Actually owned by somebody which was exciting to get that And last but not least we've got the what we're quite it's the Glenmore apartments A council will remember a few of you probably will we had a preliminary plot approval and the Glenmore subdivision gosh probably a little over two years ago now and This site is located on the north side of Division, and it's just northwest of the PUD water tank, if you're familiar with that on Division. So I circled the approximate location of where this multifamily structure will be, and provided the applicant is in and they're having us actually review their multifamily structure now, So this is one that will be a little bit, it'll be a few years until this best guess comes along and we see this constructed. But they are conditioned that they will be providing for affordable multifamily units. And I've got a plus or minus there only because they haven't settled on the exact total number of units yet. And so our number of affordable units is a percentage of the total units. But if their plans aren't changed from what they're currently thinking, we will end up with the four multifamily units. So in sum, that means we've got 12 affordable units that are created, which means that we've got the legal documents in place and folks are living in those units. And we've got 14 others that will be created fairly soon, which is 26 housing units that the city council hadn't adopted these regulations back in 2019. They wouldn't be created so it's a of course a very very small drop in the pocket of What is needed, but it's a start and it's something so I thought it would be Worth we're celebrating something even like a little teeny tiny win and actually getting some of these created And with that I'm happy to answer any questions also any questions for Rebecca

Okay. All right. And no action on this item. Thank you, Rebecca. All right. We'll move on to item B. It's a resolution for a special assessment. And our city attorney, Kevin Rogerson, will present this item. Kevin.

Thank you mayor members of city council what you have before you is a resolution identified by clerk number. 1107 what this resolution authorizes is a special assessment to reimburse some costs. The city had to incur using public funds to abate a nuisance. There's a chronology of the event in your executive summary and the recitals. I'll do a brief summary. Let me start with some legal background. Property owners in the state of Washington have a clear legal duty to maintain their trees and abate hazards that threaten neighboring property. That is a duty upon all landowners. When there is a debt or disease tree, it constitutes a private nuisance under Washington common law and probably since Washington became a state or a very tree oriented state. Um, it also constitutes a public nuisance when such theories threaten life or injury. Uh, to, uh, either neighbors or other structures and in this case back in, um. I believe December we had noticed that there were 2 popular trees on private property that not only threatened, but actually did, uh, injure a fence and bust through a roof of a neighboring house that was occupied and being lived in and was threatening to fall on these houses. So we began a code enforcement action to get this nuisance abated, which is, I mean, get these trees removed to remove the threat. Um, civil fines were accrued. We reached the landowner and landowner said they didn't have sufficient funds to do the abatement. So we reached an agreement with them. We're going to wave all the fines. We'll do the abatement if you allow us to recoup our money through a special assessment. So the fines were waived. These costs reflect hard costs to the city. There are no costs for my office. We did this without cost, but we do have public funds to abate a nuisance that was a private property owner's duty. We feel that this is a good resolution to correct an imminent threat to injury to property and people. The trees were removed. If you pass this resolution, we can record the lien, but our office desires to hold off for a couple weeks because we've been in contact with the mortgage and they've indicated they're going to pay. So if they do in the next couple weeks, we'll send them the resolution. We won't record the lien. But it's something that we have a right to do to recoup our funds.

All right. Questions for Kevin on this one? It's resolution 1107. Or is it 1106? I got two different. Okay. 1106. Yep. Thank you.

I'll move to approve Resolution 1106. Second.

Second by Mary and a second by Nabor. Any discussion on this?

I do just want to clarify, you're seeking alternatives, you're in contact, and you aren't planning on, okay. The bank has indicated a willingness to pay. We haven't received the check. We believe, hopefully, we'll receive this resolution, we'll see a check forthcoming. But if we don't get paid, we do have the right to record this lien. Okay. At which time you will come back to city council? I can. That would be my preference. That's my only ask. I would just like to make sure that this is resolved in a...

I would just like to be up to date with what's happening.

We're going to give it two weeks. I can come back in two weeks and just let you know the status.

Is that acceptable to the rest of the council?

Sure.

I just want to know what's going to... Yeah. With that, I would be fine with it. Okay. Do we want to amend the motion to clarify that, or do we feel like we pretty much know what we're voting on? Okay. Okay. Any more discussion?

Okay.

All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say no. And motion passes for Resolution 1106. With that caveat that Kevin will come back in a couple weeks and give us an update on this one.

I'm the city's attorney. I'll follow the direction of the client. I'm not going to record.

Thank you, Kevin. For Item 8, I will ask Kevin to stay right where he is and please call the mayor and city council members into executive session.

I invite the mayors and members of city council to enter in an executive session to consider the site selection or acquisition of real estate for purchase and lease pursuant to RCW 4230 110 subsection 1b and to discuss with legal counsel issues regarding enforcement actions litigation or potential litigation to which the city of the governing body or a member acting in an official capacity is likely to become a party when public knowledge regarding such discussion is likely to result in either adverse legal or financial consequence to the city pursuant to RCW 4230 One 10 subsection, one I. For 20 minutes, we will reconvene at 820, according to my phone, with no final action after.

And with that, we will adjourn the City of Mount Vernon City Council meeting for Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026 at 8 p.m.