Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

We're so glad you're all here. Are we ready to go? Do we have all the the things running? Okay. Great. I'd like to call to order the infrastructure planning and sustainability committee meeting of 10/08/2025. Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Vice chair Diaz? Here. Council member Hines? Absent. Council member Sadalge? And chair Walker? Here.

Great. We always start our IPS meetings with public comment, and I'm just checking to see if we have any public comment. I don't think we do today.

There's no one signed up for public comment.

Okay. Great. And as always, if folks slide in later in the meeting, we will circle back to public comment at the end. Alright. Well, thank you all for being here.

This is such a fun tradition now every year to hear from all our CBCs and for you all to hear from each other. We are we have six CBCs. We're gonna hear from five tonight, and we're hoping for you all to come to the table so we can be a little bit interactive. And so we'll, you know, feel free to ask questions as we go, colleagues, and we can and we can also circle back at the end. But we want this to be a little bit casual as we get to know you all and and hear about your work.

So we're gonna just jump right in because that is the only thing on the agenda tonight. And we are going to start with the climate and sustainability commission, and I think everybody's online. Right? Yes. So that they're both right there. Great. Well, welcome, Evlando and Casey, and I think Christy's out there in the the our staff liaison, Christy Lynette is here somewhere. But I will turn it over to you. Just take it away.

Thank you, everybody. Yeah. Good evening. We're happy to be here virtually, and we wanna thank IPS Committee for inviting us to speak today, to talk about our work, to present on what we've been doing for the last year since the last time you heard from us. Thank you for the slides. Yeah. So my name is Casey Twiggs. I am one of the co chairs on the Climate and Sustainability Commission, and I joined I'm joined today by my fellow co co chair, Eflando Cooper, who will be presenting with me today.

I've been serving on the commission since 2022, and I joined as a

way to get involved with climate conversations and to contribute to sustainability within the city of Tacoma. Next slide, please. Yeah. So the commission was created back in 2009, formerly known as the Sustainable Tacoma Commission, and was the first priority in the brand new climate action plan. It's different from many other commissions in that it's focused on implementation and accountability.

And our role is to bring multiple perspectives into the same room with an emphasis on community inputs and to add transparency to the city's goals and actions related to climate change, sustainability, and community planning as outlined in the climate action plan. Next slide, please. And the commission was expanded to 13 members around 2020 as a local as local demand for participation increased following the two two thousand and nineteen climate strikes. We have regular members hold terms for three years, and our special youth seat holds a term of one year. We meet monthly and welcome any collaboration with other city departments, councils, commissions, committees, anyone that's interested to hear about our work, to hear our perspective, we welcome you to pop into any of our meetings, give a presentation, and see how we conduct our work.

Next slide, please. So the Climate Sustainability Commission is proud to uphold diversity of thought and experience. Our professional diversity allows for productive conversations that lead to strong recommendations. Listed here are some of the fields covered by our current commissioners. Next slide, please.

To start talking about our recent work, climate action plan was adopted by the city council in 2021. Each year, the city publishes cap progress reports, and that our commission reviews those and gives formal recommendations on those. Original implementation actions developed in 2021 have expired, but an update is still needed to maintain targets, update incomplete actions, and introduce more relevant actions by 2027. So as adopted by council this summer, the update to the cap will extend, and there will be another update 2025 for 2027. And the climate sustainability commission is part of the review process for this, so, we send our formal recommendations to council and IPS.

And next slide yeah. Next slide, please. I'm gonna pass it over to Ivando.

Thank you, Casey. Good evening, everyone. It's a pleasure to, again, have the opportunity to present, and I will continue our presentation, with our recent work. Over the past year, the commission has continued to provide regular input through formal recommendation letters. These touch on the budget, permitting, transportation, and the tie flats and comprehensive plans.

Each reflects a consistent goal, helping to ensure that Tacoma's policy commitments translate into action. We try to keep our feedback practical and forward looking, identifying where coordination or resourcing can make the biggest differences. Next slide, please. We've also worked to keep, the community engaged in this effort. As as Casey noted, we have a lot of extensive backgrounds, but many of us were involved in, our local community, Tacoma community, before and while we're still on the commission.

With that said, two two recent events, the sustainability expo provided residents and small businesses an opportunity to connect directly with staff and commissioners, and the climate leaders cohort, one of my favorite, events, and I think has done a lot of good for the city, has helped build local leadership around these issues. These programs remind us that strong climate policy depends on informed, motivated residents as much as it does on technical plans and prowess. Next slide, please. Each year, highlight of our work is that we get to meet with council to discuss and address areas that, will have the greatest impact on meeting the 2030 climate action plan targets as well as other climate sustainability issues, before the sea. This year, we met in June to discuss fundamentals, staffing, coordination, and sustained support for community partners.

One of the big topics that we discussed was clarifying the role of OEPS under city manager's office remains key as does continued investment in resilience hubs, tree canopy, and safe mobility infrastructure. These are the levers that keep the climate action plan on course. Next slide, please. And to reiterate a little bit, a previous slide, please. I'm sorry.

Thank you. As a reminder, OEPS moved to the city manager's office into the new center for strategic priorities last October with the promise of enhancing and amplifying its role. About a year and a half ago, the sustainability office had a team of eight led led by a division manager. Today, that team is down to one staff member. Not all those reductions were deliberate.

We understand the last two employees left voluntarily, citing budget uncertainty. We've been told that rehiring for one of those positions is a leadership priority, but to our understanding, no job announcement has gone out in the last three months. So by contrast, on the new leadership at the county, their sustainability office has expanded to more than eight staff. We share this not as a criticism, but to illustrate how capacity directly affects implementation. When staffing stalls, so does progress.

Next slide, please. Commission update. The commission was institutionalized from resolution to an ordinance last December following the charter review committee's recognition that climate resilience and sustainability are fundamental to the city's policies and projects. The committee rightly identified climate change as an existential threat and noted that it had not been previously, reflected anywhere in Tacoma's code. We appreciate that this step affirms the permanence and importance of this work.

However, since the ordinance passed, we haven't seen any practical changes in how the commission engages with council or staff in communication, collaboration, or in how our recommendations are incorporated. Our question, going forward is pretty straightforward. Did council or staff envision any specific changes in our role, responsibilities, or relationship under this new structure? Knowing this will help us align our work and expectations accordingly. Next slide, please.

Looking ahead, we have an exciting agenda, which includes reviewing the critical areas, ordinance, and tie flats amendment, following the solid waste, cap actions, and preparing for the next biannual budget with a climate lens. We're also exploring a joint meeting, with the planning commission to better connect land use and climate considerations. We do recognize at the same time, a limited staff capacity may constrain how deeply we can engage, another reason why rebuilding that support, we think, is vitally important, to the mission. Last slide. To close, the commission remains committed to working collaboratively with council and staff to advance the city's climate and sustainability goals.

We appreciate the partnership that makes this work possible and look forward to continuing to translate Tacoma's long term commitments into practical progress. With that, thank you for your attention.

Thank you, chairs. Really appreciate all the information. And as you were speaking, I found that letter that you just sent me about traffic impact fees and forwarded it to Anna, because we do wanna make a note anytime any of our commissions send us letters and they go in our packet so that it's very public and that we all remember to read them so appreciate that and really appreciate all the the letters that you have sent this year what questions do my colleagues have for our chairs? Go ahead, councilmember Sidalgo.

Thank you.

I don't think your mic's up.

Thank you. Thank you. And and thank you, Casey. Thank you. I'm sorry. How do you pronounce your name?

Evlando.

Evlando. Thank you. I don't wanna butcher it as No.

Of course.

Interesting name myself. The second to last slide, I was just curious. It said upcoming tight flat amendment, but I thought was that just a little I I thought we'd done all the work on that. Right?

Go ahead.

Christie?

Yeah. Good evening, everyone. Christy Line at sustainability office. And I think there are some there's a final vote with some landscaping amendments coming your way, and so the commission is gonna be looking at some recommendation letters that they're meeting next week.

Okay. As in it's still in that forty five day comment period, I think Yeah. Where we are. Okay. Alright. Got it. Alright. Thank you.

Thank you for your question. Thank you, Kristen.

But that that was actually my only question. And thank you for all your work, on the commission. I really appreciate it.

Thank you guys so much. We appreciate your support. And, yeah, again, anybody is welcome to come and sit in on a meeting, give a presentation, engage with us in any way.

Appreciate that. Thank you. Any questions? Vice Chair Diaz.

I guess less of a question and more of a thank you for highlighting the climate cohort, climate leadership cohort. I get to go speak at the opening day with Christie, and I think it was a great launch, and it's always a good program every year. And I think my question might be for council member Walker about the oh, now it's left me. It was what Casey just mentioned.

The tideflats?

Not the tideflats.

Coming to a meeting?

Oh, coming to a meeting. Yes. Do we have we split those roles out yet? Are we still working on that?

We have not and are not.

It's been

more of a come one, come all, whenever you want to go. But we did a couple years ago get organized about it, and maybe we should again. Okay. Give ourselves assignments.

My other question was if you had gone to the commission to talk about the tree work that you're doing with Mike, Carrie, and

all the neighborhood councils that I joined you with for one. Yes, great question.

Thank you for letting me have this conversation Very in

early on, we talked about the tree resolution before we actually passed it on the council. I went to the commission, shared what we were doing. But we should probably circle back with you all as we're in this process of getting the neighborhood council feedback. We're on a bit of a roadshow to hit every neighborhood council this month. So, yeah, that would

I'm in to help is really where my question was going, but

thank you. That's great.

Thank you.

It's on our agenda for November, and so, any of you are welcome to attend and have anything. But, Mike Carey has let me know that November can work for him.

Super. Okay. Great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, guys.

Thanks to you all for being here.

Thank you for having us.

We're gonna move on to the Transportation Commission. Come on up to the table. Our co chairs, Bruce Morris and Matt Stephens, and our staff liaison, Carrie Wilhelm. So if you haven't done this before, it's the right hand button that turns your mic on, and you do have to get a little bit close to make sure everyone can hear you.

Alright. Good evening. My name is Carrie Wilhelm. I'm the staff liaison to Transportation Commission, and with me are the co chairs, Bruce Morris and Matt Stevens. I'm going to begin by just doing a high level of what the Transportation Commission is, and then I will be handing it off to them to talk about their work program and the accomplishments to date.

So the Transportation Commission was formed in 2013, and it has a very high level of resolution of what they are to do, which is to advise on transportation related matters such as short term and long term long range transportation planning, compliance with local, regional, and federal transportation regulations, bike, pedestrian, and mass transit related planning initiatives, and parking and capital improvement plans. And I, point out this resolution and how there's so much to it is, one of the discussion points that the commission's gonna be having moving forward of what is their role and how can they kind of strengthen their voice within the city under this umbrella. Next slide. The Transportation Commission is an 11 member commission. It is geographically distribution is important along with mode distribution, meaning we have transit representatives, people who are very bike advocates.

We have two members who are transit dependent, and they bring that really critically important piece of what it's like to navigate our city without using a car. We have looking at the geographic distribution, we have one member for District 1. We have three for District 2, one for District 3, and then three for District 4, and three for District 5, which I think is a very nice distribution, especially with priorities being in District 4 and District 5, really, for the transportation and safety. They meet the third Wednesday of the month, and they are hybrid. With that being said, I'm gonna hand it over to Bruce.

Hi. I am Bruce Morris, and I'm gonna carry on from where Carrie left off there. Much of our focus for the past year and a half, it was working with the update to the transportation and mobility plan. We were heavily involved providing guidance and ideas, writing content, and reviewing the document. We we meet 15 times over a one year period.

Three of those meetings were joint meetings with the planning commission with the planning commission. Additionally, three commissioners, participate on joint planning commission, transportation commission, and participate on the joint planning commission, transportation commission, TOD task force meeting monthly over the course of that year to write the transit element. While the TMP was the primary focus, we are we also prioritized time to provide letters of support or recommendation on projects of importance to the commission, climate action plan update, Pierce Transit's plan, Sound Transit, TDLE, TEIS, street initiative, comprehensive plan, and recommend recommendation on the TOD task force sunsetting. Next slide, please. The commission is made up of passionate community members dedicated and very involved in the community.

We pry prioritize having commissioner having a commissioner in attendance at at almost all transportation focused meets, events, or engagement opportunity. This provides us an opportunity to learn more about the projects and re and report back to the larger commission, learn from the community, and to make sure we are representing the voices of Tacoma and to educate the community on different transportation re related matters. The commission had a representative on all three all three neighborhood plan steering groups, the Pitcher PAC Ave Advisory Group, and the Automated Enforcement Task Force. Commissioners also attended major transportation related open hours. Slide, please.

Commissioners participated on some of the Vision Zero road safety walking audits. Commissioner Casas was selected to be interviewed by the trust for public lands and parks Tacoma for their park accelerator project. Commissioner Grillier was asked to represent the commission at a District 5 town hall. And finally, there were transportation commissioners in attendance at every single every single one to call more TMP public engagement as we felt it was important to listen to what the community was saying as we began as we began to update the TMP. Mister Stevens.

Thank you, commissioner Matt Stevens. I'm I'm in the North End. Okay. So this is the work plan that we've kinda laid out at this point. I will say that in the past couple when we've presented, we've gotten some feedback on this. And almost always, there's been a ton of overlap, which I think has been great. And so I think this is where we're going. My priorities are streets initiative two point o. What does that look like? The vision of the transportation mobility plan will not be successful without a streets initiative two point o, and so we need to make sure that can happen.

The priorities going forward, the Vision Zero and Safe Routes to School, where that is also deeply entwined with the transportation mobility plans. We need to make sure that's successful. And then how is the biennium budget updates going to impact transportation transportation systems throughout the city? So I think that's where do we want those are the focuses and where we're going be spending our effort and time. Things we are targeting to be involved with, closely involved with the Pacific Avenue sub area plan, the I five crossing study.

We're very excited for that grant and where the the possibilities to reconnect a lot of different communities can happen. The vision zero projects in Portland Avenue, South Tacoma, there's there's a variety of other ones that are tied into that vision zero that's really gonna help drive how we change the city. And then the ADA transition plan is where does that lead us to. So the group is very involved in a lot of different areas. We have a lot of visions.

And a lot of that ties back to how do we make that the mobility plan be effective. I get to hit the button in front of me. One of the so we did we we spent an incredible amount of time, and Bruce detailed it really well, updating the transportation mobility plan. And I think one of the concerns we had when we were finishing that up was we wrote a well, we didn't write it. There was a brilliant transportation and master plan written ten, eleven years ago.

And I don't know that the vision that was laid out in that plan was we would say that was enacted upon the city as much as we would like. So I think one of the visions of the group is how do we make that happen? We you know, how do the change in priorities that we wanna see, that's one of the things we really want to make sure comes out of. And that's what that's how we're revisioning what the transportation commission looks like. So the first question up there, how does how does the Tacoma Transportation Commission how is it different? What can we learn? What are the best practices that other transportation commissions have in place in other cities, other counties, other areas? What can we learn from them? What can we do to make sure that we can be successful with our vision? So that's something we wanna we're gonna start working on.

And then how do so the next one. How does commission ensure the new TMP is implemented in the project support that vision? So what does that look like? How do we make that happen? How do we ensure that those projects that we're prioritizing are the ones that are getting chosen?

How do we make sure those projects that are chosen are implemented in the way that the vision of the TMP? And then one of the things that we really identified when we were going to the listening sessions for the one vision for all the other governmental government is the wrong word, but all the other listening sessions that the the commissioners were members of when Carrie was out for the one Tacoma was there's a lot of feeling that the city isn't nearly as transparent as it should be. And that's a lot of frustration from a lot of the people who live in the city. And so how does the commission work with that? How do we make it so that people feel they are being told about what's happening, They have input on how that's going to change or what that change looks like.

And so I think, how can the commission work on making that happen? There's a variety of different ways. We've had some brainstorming. I don't know that we have the best plan at this point. So that's what we're looking to do in this future as well. Making sure I hit all my notes. Yeah. So I guess that is what we have to say. What questions do you have for us?

Thank you all so much. You have done a ton of work this year. Thank you. What questions do we have? What comments do we have?

Well, thank you for being out and about, and you're absolutely right because I see somebody, in a lot of places. Usually, it's Richard, but that's but I've seen others. And, also, thank you for also understanding, and and you did hit on a really, really important aspect, which is we have a lot of plans. We have a lot of projects. We have a lot of work that we still need to do.

The the number one most common request in District 4 has to do with neighborhood traffic calming and safety, and this is really like, it intersects perfectly. Right? And streets initiative too is is an integral part of that in the next however long, we would go back out if if if when we go back out. And that funding is absolutely, critical. And we can have all the plans in the world.

And if we don't have the funding, we're just always gonna fall short of those plans. And thank you for recognizing that and and mentioning that. So I I really appreciate it. I appreciate all the work that you guys have put in. And I think, you know, I feel good that we have really good intentional, work ahead of us to improve, transportation and multimodal transportation within the city because it's absolutely essential as we grow as a city. Thank you.

Thank you, council member Sinalge. Vice chair?

I think trying to collect all the different strings of thought I had in my mind. I particularly also wanted to thank you for thinking about in this new role thought process, the transparency and trust piece because I think we think a lot about what the city is doing, and I think the community often thinks about what the community is not doing. And so thinking about how we can bridge that gap is, I think, both a critical function that y'all can serve and a critical function that we can help support and making sure that we're all not talking past each other, but working kind of more collaboratively together on on filling those gaps and filling those that that information need. Because I I think about it in terms of it's a communication issue, but it's also an accessibility issue. Because sometimes we overcommunicate on things that people are interested in hearing about, and we undercommunicate on things that people are deeply interested in hearing about.

Just broadly as a city, not not y'all particular. Not not at all, Paul. But I think that there's gotta be a way that we can, I think, help serve you all a little bit better and vice versa, because I know that you guys are all signed up? Even our other boards and commission members are signed up to do that work. So I think that that that's a lot of what what I always hear when people are interviewing. And so I think the better that we can thought process that together is gonna be good. I also anecdotally, I I was commenting to council members here. Y'all have some of the best graphics, and I don't know why you are special, but thank you for having nice So

we stole those we stole those graphics from the transportation mobility plan.

Plan, but, like, they're very good. Yeah. They were fantastic. Alright. So far, all of our departments have great graphics. We have good MCO, but I'm just notably good.

What I heard is transportation commission wins. That's what I heard.

That's what that is for purpose.

And then I think part of the other thing that I I wanna note about you guys because I it always comes up when we do this meeting is how closely y'all are interested and do work with the planning commission because the work is so hand in hand and that you're including part of that climate action plan. So then inherently with our other commissions, I think these are the three that, in my mind, work so closely hand in hand much more than a lot of our other boards and commissions at the city. So I appreciate that y'all are proactive in that, and, it shows in all the work and how it's done. So thank you.

Alright. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I am looking back, and I don't know what slide number it is, but if you can help us get to the one that says commission work plan. I have a couple questions. On here, your up your priority is updates to parking and sidewalks. I'm wondering if you know yet what that's gonna look like or what your priority is within those buckets.

I can explain.

Future item.

Yeah. I can explain that. They like to the commission likes to get regular updates from the parking technical advisory group on what's going on with parking, and then on how our missing link sidewalk and that program goes. So it's more getting updates to follow

the progress. Okay.

Awesome. And then the other thing, council member Stalke brought up the neighborhood traffic calming program. That is on our next agenda. The other thing on our next agenda is automated traffic enforcement expansion, and that is not on your list. And I was just curious if that's something that the commission commission has already talked about and is done with or it's not a priority or what what you think.

I would say that Bruce served on the, the task force. And so I think at this point, is there much additional work where but going to counsel. Right? Going going to counsel,

a lot of that was, what direction to go in with the automated enforcement and the morality of the placement, and it's moving forward.

Great. We are very excited about it here. So looking forward to getting that presentation. Well, thank you all so much. And I I also really appreciate the questions as sort of the things that you're discussing, but also for us to think about. And thank you, council member Diaz, for talking a little bit about that third one. I I will take those back and look looking forward to hearing what comes out of them. And I will say to you as I did to SCC, thank you for sending letters on key issues. It's really helpful. Thank you. Thanks for being here.

Thank you.

Alright. Next, have the planning commission. We have Brian Boudet, staff liaison, and our new chair, Rob Crabill, and immediate past chair, Chris, all here with us.

I will just quickly say, because this is really an opportunity to hear from the commissioners more than it is to hear from me, in part because, that's more important, and it's a unique opportunity here on this annual basis. And I will also be back at your next meeting, as you know, to talk about the work program. So let me turn it over.

Thank you, Brian. I'm Rob Crabill, current chair of the planning commission. I invited, commissioner Karnes to join me since we're gonna be reporting on a lot of work that he oversaw, including the rezoning of basically all of Tacoma. So I'm very happy to to be here to present with you all today. Next slide, please.

Oh, I have the button. That's excellent. If I can figure out which button it is. Oh, there it is. So I'll be brief on these, first couple of slides.

The Planning commission, was established by Charter. We meet twice a month, and, we're in charge of developing recommendations on all things that relate to land use, development, and zoning. We deal with zoning classifications, moratoria, interim regulations, annexations, historic district designations, urban design, transportation, and capital facilities programs. And you all will be talking about our, annual work program later today. We're a nine member commission, all volunteers, just like the rest, and we have representatives from each of our five districts within the city as well as representatives, from four different interest groups, the development community, environmental community, public transportation, and architecture and historic preservation.

And I'm happy to say that we are a fully, staff or a fully appointed commission now, which is not always the case with the planning commission. And I'm gonna turn it over to commissioner Karnes now for the next couple slides.

Thank you. Happy to be here, Chris Karnes. So the commission's involvement in planning and develop the planning and development process is focused in the first two of four phases. In phase one, the planning planning, the commission engages with public and staff to recommend updates to vision and policies. In phase two, code development, we use these policies in concert with directives from city council, and the state, pertaining to the growth management act under RCW 36.7 a to support recommendations for updates, to title 13 of the municipal code.

For every update we, to plans and code, we publish a public review package, a public and open a public comment period, hold a public hearing, public, find publish findings of fact, environmental and health environmental and health assessments in partnership with the Pierce County health department, and we consider amendments to the package to hopefully resolve issues raised by the public. That this is so that, vetted package can be recommended to the city council for your consideration and to fulfill our obligations under the annual work plan. In terms of our recent work, we recently sent on the Home and Tacoma phase two package, a code package that made way for the development of more housing citywide with emphasis on mixed use centers and transit corridors. This effort took five years to fully execute and had a lot of provisions we were proud to see move forward, like expansion of the residential target areas for the multifamily tax exemption, incentives for adaptive reuse of historic structures, allowing more walkable corner commercial and childcare uses, citywide, and, relaxation of parking requirements to allow more ADUs to support affordable housing near transit and also on-site tree planting, with new development that was, in an emphasis of the public, during public comment.

Another highlight during the comprehensive plan was we spent, months with staff, our transit partners and consultants, to create a transit sub element, to inform a frequent transit network to integrate walkable neighborhoods and mixed use centers within, with the regional transit as, in coordination with our growth strategy. This plan is meant to guide future investments through changes to long range plans and transit investment packages at Pierce and Sound Transit. Chair Crabill, would you like to add to, add to this slide?

Thank you, Commissioner Karnes. I will say, while most of the recommendations that we passed on for Home and Tacoma were adopted by council, one area that was a disappointment to the commission was with trees. The amendments that were passed by council removed all of the protections that we had recommended for trees, reduced the requirements for tree plantings, and made it easier for trees to be planted off-site. These changes were made with little public input or process, and they were not sufficiently assessed by staff or technical experts to determine their impact. And, they, the end result of them is that the code now devalues trees and ignores several of the recommendations that came from the health impact statement and the environmental impact statement.

While we recognize that the as a commission, we only provide recommendations to council, it was disheartening to see the months of work and analysis and public input that we, had put into disregarded at the last minute by council. And moving forward, we hope that we can better coordinate with council and get your guidance on the types of things that you would like us to assess more fully so that we don't run into this situation moving forward. As we look moving forward, we do have several things that are on our, upcoming agenda. Critical areas preservation is something that we're gonna be tackling, as well as PicturePack Ave through the Pacific Avenue corridor sub area plan and environmental impact statement. We also have our regular 2026 annual amendment package.

We have a couple of parcels in, my district, the McKinley Annexation. Special needs housing is something that we're gonna look at. That was something that I believe came from state legislature and from council. A few minor amendments and other legislative codes to come into compliance with state mandates. The capital facilities program is also a big one that is on our upcoming list.

Our vice chair, vice chair Steele, is deeply involved in that. We have parking code amendments, which is one of the more frequent things that we hear about quite a bit. This is also something that the state is requiring us to look at removing and reducing parking requirements. And not on this slide, but we are, working really hard to put trees and the tree preservation up on our, work plan for this calendar year, really trying to get that moving as quickly as possible per direction from council. I think big picture, some of the challenges that we face on commission, other commissioners have already mentioned that staffing is an issue.

The limited amount of staff that we have doesn't allow us to dive as deeply or as broadly into the issues that we would like to, so that's something that we would like to see more of. I'll specifically call out the neighborhood, planning program was something that we really, really loved. The public came and talked to us about it a lot, and that staffing, that program was eliminated, and the staff that were involved in it have since moved on from the city, so that was a huge disappointment to us. Second is that we get a lot of comments from the public that they are unaware of projects and programs that are happening and development that's happening. And I think a lot of that is due to the city's overall approach to providing notification, to doing outreach, and, to letting folks know about different, development projects that are happening in the city.

Those are things that I think are beyond our scope on planning commission to address, but something that would be really a high priority in my mind for city council to dive into more. And then lastly, as I mentioned, greater coordination with city council. If there's specific direction that you all want to see us dive into, we have a full public process that allows us to vet things through technical analysis, through the public process. Would really like to see those sort of major changes early in the process instead of later in the process. And on the subject of coordination, since other chairs from, other commissions are here, we really love working with other commissions.

We've, had joint meetings with the Transportation and Sustainability Commission, and would greatly welcome any additional, coordination efforts with other commissions so that we can, both get more voices and expertise in the table during this process and also possibly better use staff time. So that's what we have. Thank you so much for letting us come and present.

Great. Thank you all for being here and for, as always, the incredible amount of work that you all do. One question before I I I know we're gonna we have next week too to talk about the work plan, and you mentioned a couple of things that trying to fit in for next year. And I know it's not a week goes by that we don't think of something where they go, oh, the planning commission's pretty busy. I don't know if you wanna bring that up.

We had a lot of ideas over here. So we really, really appreciate you and know that you don't have an endless supply of time. I was curious, so all that to say that I'm not gonna go really into details on specific topics today because we have that time next week. But you mentioned the joint meetings. I think everybody has so far, whether it was we did a meeting with the planning commission or somebody else or we're thinking about it. Are those things that you all schedule ahead of time? Is it standard? Do you have one with transportation every year, or is it on a as needed basis?

They're an ad hoc.

Okay. And it does it happen within your regular times, or do you guys have to schedule a whole additional meeting?

Typically, folks come to our meetings. We tend to meet more regularly than the other commissions, and we gather around this table and up on the dais.

Okay. Great. Thanks. What questions, comments do we have?

I'm just gonna do comments because we're gonna talk about the work next week, if I'm not mistaken, if I have my dates right. Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you because I know you. Congratulations on becoming chair, and thank you very much, commissioner Karnes, for all your service. I know just how much work this commission does since I did it for a year and left.

And you tackle some really, really, really important topics that are worth talking about through all that. So I have a different view and different kind of lens I look at when people come in and wanna be part of this commission because I know how high a bar everyone on this commission is, set. So, I wanna thank you, for all your work, and I look forward to, digging into more of that work plan because we do need to prioritize because it's just probably way too much to do.

I had two questions. One might we might need to save for next week, but I will ask it and welcome y'all or the chair to tell me to save that for next week. What is a binding site plan?

It's a it's a methodology for dividing commercial properties.

Oh, cool. Okay. Great. So I guess we'll talk about that more next time. But I just I saw it with childcare, and I was like, know what childcare is. I don't know what that is. And then my other question was, I appreciate, as I mentioned to the last group, the way that transportation, sustainability, and planning works together. I'm wondering because it's been a bit of a hot topic in my other committee and I think in the media a little bit, I feel like I got a whole interview about place making. And I'm wondering if there's a world in which we could have y'all joint meet with the arts commission just to talk about how that kind of intersects with a lot of the work that y'all do.

We would welcome that.

How do we how do we help staff facilitate making that happen? I don't know who's

I who's not harass Brian until he says yes. Okay. So And because

acknowledging that y'all talked about staffing being an issue, frankly, staffing is an issue for council members too. So I just wonder, like, who who can help us maybe make a space for that conversation because I think it would be a really helpful lens in in addition to that

work. Great.

I love that idea. Thank you. Yeah. I think, the goal of this day is so that we can talk about joint meetings with all of these commissions, but there's a whole other, obviously, set of commissions outside of this, so it becomes more complicated. But Anna's gonna help us make that happen. Okay. Great. Okay. So I think, as council member Diaz said, a couple things just to, like, ping for next time. I I like this idea about the the place making.

I'm intrigued to hear a little bit more about parking code amendment and where that fits in and what we're gonna do about it. It's my favorite thing to talk about is parking policy. Mhmm. And then I really appreciated, and I'm already sort of wheels turning about the public awareness piece, and it feels like, with the Transportation Commission bringing up the belief and trust piece, I think there is there is a lot more we can do. Obviously, there's always more we can do. But I think thinking about how we do that collectively in our work and in our outreach, I think, it's really exciting. So I think we'll have some time to talk about that next

Yeah. And I I think I would again, I think it's a citywide issue. The the website that the city has is not user friendly. The way that notifications get sent out by mail is very bureaucratic and limited. So I think that it's a much broader conversation that needs to happen citywide, but, I think it's one worth diving into and hopefully can, result in fewer people coming to our public comments saying what is going on? And I'm just finding out about this at the eleventh hour.

Thank you. Alright. Well, thank you all for coming. Thank you, for all the work. And we We'll see you next week. I think are all of you coming? Or sorry. Not next week. Next meeting?

Are you all coming? I don't think all of us will be coming, but I will be there for sure.

Looking forward to the conversation. Alright. We do need to swap our next two presentations because Landmarks Preservation Commission has their meeting starting in five minutes. So they're gonna come up and talk very quickly. We have Rueben McKnight, our staff liaison, and our chair, Kevin Bartoy. Welcome. Take it away.

Thank you, chair and members of the committee. I'm Ruben McKnight. You've seen plenty of me over the past, couple of weeks, and so, I will just turn it over to Kevin Bartoy, our chair of the Landmarks Commission, for, his remarks.

There. Okay. Yeah. Thank you for inviting us here. Appreciate it from the IPS, from all the commissioners. And I'd just like to start by thanking our staff, who staff the commission, glue and the grease that hold us together and keep us moving at the same time. So, Ruben McKnight, Susan Johnson, and Mary Crabtree. Okay. So just a little bit of background here. The Landmarks Preservation Commission is one of two city commissions that's chartered, the other being the planning commission.

Our commission oversees the establishment and regulation of landmarks, local historic districts, review of certain property tax incentives, heritage grants, annual awards. We're the landmarks and historic districts are regulated by the TMC up there. We also review demolition permits and act as an advisory body for both the planning commission and for city council.

And can you tell us what building that is?

That is oh, I go ahead.

That's the, Willamette Casket Factory down in, the valley down in Nelly Valley. South Dakota. Yes. It's currently undergoing a rehab project right now in several phases. You'll see some changes to that building.

We have a we're a 13 member commission. We I don't know if we've been fully staffed since I've been on the commission. I've been on the commission since 2016 and chair since 2017. About to roll off, I believe, next year is my limitations. But, we're almost fully fully staffed there with the positions.

We're, split up, by architects, professionals in preservation at large positions, then two ex officio positions, which represent, historic districts, both the North North Slope and the wedge, historic districts. We meet, regularly, the second and fourth Wednesdays at 05:30 in two minutes. We're hybrid, but we so it's been since COVID, we've, done some things to make meetings a little more accessible for all the commissioners being in a hybrid format. And also with reviews, we do expedited reviews and other things like that to make things easier on on applicants who are going through the city. In this past year, in that building right there is Stadium High.

So, I have a new Stadium High, freshman, so proud that we're involved in that. So, we've had 13 historic design reviews for, new landmarks in the city of Tacoma. We're working really hard on the code amendment. That this is, something I always like to call Reuben's list that's been here for many years that that we, have to wait to be able to make these changes for. This is a big one in the bullet there about 2024.

The 317,000 in tax incentives is a little bit below, I think, what we usually kind of come in year on year, but you can see there, I think, that total number is really impressive, the $309,000,000, since the start of program. So historic preservation being a big driver for, not just the history and historic buildings and kind of, pretty things kind of sense, but also it's a very economic, driver for the city. It's also a a big part of sustainability for the city, and gives our city character, I think, which which makes us unique, and we don't look like another box store. You know? Like, I was gonna name some other cities, but I'll go ahead and not do that.

The comp plan updates, and then our commission also does site visits as well to to the properties we're looking at. Upcoming events. So, every May, we have historic preservation month. We come to this council chamber to announce that. We also have annual awards that happen, that are well attended, and I think are really great ways for us to engage with the community and also really celebrate, what's happening out there in the community.

We're gonna be recruiting, new commissioners for that open position as well as we have some, commissioners who are are, rolling off or maybe reapplying, for the commission. The third bullet on here is one I'm really excited about. This is something that is coming up fruition after many, many years. We talked about this probably starting six to eight years ago, but this is, as a commission, when we review things that go on this come register, we're a little bit restricted. We we follow very strict guidelines on on what we're looking at.

We recognize for a long time that those don't necessarily align with all the community values, what the community values, to be preserved out there. So in this last, code amendment cycle, we getting a community heritage register launched in there, which gives us a little bit more flexibility to listen to the community to what they think should be important to their history and that should be preserved and recognized. So it's a it's an exciting development, something that I think would be a a first for us. I'm not sure if many other cities have something like that either, so it's, something the commission's very excited about. Again, we have, community partnerships, and public events calendar.

Great. Thank you. And as Ruben said, we've seen a lot of historic, preservation work, in the last week, so we maybe don't have as many questions as we usually would. It's all top of mind. What questions or comments do we have?

Well, I just wanna be cognizant of where you need to go. Really fast. Do not allow the brevity of my comments to in any way diminish the work you've done. Thank you very much. There's been a lot of, stuff that's come to me actually, and all of us, and I really appreciate the the depth of work and and seriousness you you and the rest of the commission take. Thank you.

Yeah. I also don't wanna diminish the work, but I wanna let you get to your meeting and just say thank you for making sure that we are preserving all kinds of history from Tacoma. Because I think oftentimes people can hear historic preservation and hear of one or think of one community, and I think y'all are doing a great job of making sure that we're thinking about all the folks who have been here and and things we wanna preserve.

That ditto. Thank you for, your thoughtful approach to all of this. I am curious because you didn't mention it, and everyone else did. Do you have joint meetings with planning commission or with transportation commission? Are is there overlap

in

that way?

We generally I would say we haven't had joint meetings, but we do have representation go to the planning commission when we have things that that are overlapping there. The the historic districts, there's, like, tie between our two commissions, so we do have that. But we we haven't actively had, joint meetings.

And not trying to add anything more to your plate, but I appreciate that, you know, thinking about what what the overlapping topics are. And I was thinking too about the deconstruction you mentioned, sustainability and historic preservation, and so that's probably one that will happen in the future as we get that moving. So thank you both so much for being here. You bet. And Thank you. Ruben, I'm sure we'll see you three more times after that public hearing. Right? Good. Thank Thank you all. Alright. Last but certainly not least, our newest commission or you're not a commission. You're a board. The Urban Design Board. We have two staff liaisons, Steven Antiput and Carl Metz, and our chair, Brett Santoff. And our commissioner chiefs had to had to leave or board member.

Yeah. Okay. You can come up. Yeah. Come on up.

Alright. We're able to talk. Well, thank you. So I'm Brett Santoff, chair of the Urban Design Board. Thank you for having us here today. Joined by staff liaisons, Steven and Carl Metz, as well as, board member, Deborah Raniger. Thanks for joining me at the table. And board member Clara Cheeves was here earlier, and Sally had to leave. But, again, thank you for having us. And I believe it's my clicker.

There we go. Okay. So council established both the urban design board and the urban design project review permit process back in May 2024 with interviews for board candidates last year in October and our appointments confirmed in December. We held our first meeting, on January 16 and meet once a month, typically on the third Thursday. Our board has three functions.

First and foremost, to review UPDR permits. Second, to advise on urban design matters more broadly. And then third, a mission just to advocate and be an educational resource for design excellence. So and we're kind of new in this role, so glad to be doing it. And I thank you for the opportunity to serve in this capacity as well.

So we have seven board members representing professional expertise and community perspectives related to urban design. Pointing to the design development and professional positions are myself, board members Raninger and Chiefs, as well as Chris Ray. Board members Stephanie Gowing, Crystal Monteros, and Jennifer Wetterman represent the allied community positions on our board. As indicated in the previous slide in this timeline, the Urban Design Board is in its first year, and this is our first time reporting back to council. In the following slides, I'll summarize our efforts and actions to date.

We began our year with orientation and training with several meetings focused on developing a familiarity with, the urban design manual,

which

I know some of you are familiar with from planning commission and approval of this program. Where we didn't have specific actions on our agenda, we held special sessions with walking tours in areas of downtown to look at recent development and urban context in relation to the design manual guidelines and to see actual built projects and approaches that they took. These included walks in the dome area, hilltop, and stadium. We've had two projects submit for urban design project review. Urban design project review is limited to certain, geographical areas of the city, downtown, Tacoma Mall, or mixed use centers, and are the larger projects.

We have size thresholds that trigger which projects go through this process. So we've only had two projects that have triggered that since we've been created. Each of these projects has completed the concept design review stage, which includes a public notice and a comment opportunity with the associated public hearing. The first project we reviewed is in Procter. It's corner of North Of 26th and Madison, near where the farmer's market is.

There had been a key bank, location on the site. That gives you some context. Again, our role in this process is to try to ensure better outcomes and evaluate that standards and guidelines are being properly applied and considered, particularly relative to the specific site context. The review in this project considered flexibility and departures as pertains to building modulation as well as challenges and opportunities related to the site, which included no alley access for vehicular access services and utilities. Our guidance on this project focused on street level activation and addressing some blank wall areas.

The second project we've looked at is on Tacoma Avenue South in the St. Helens neighborhood. Review of this project considered flexibility and options for meeting design standards, particularly building modulation. The project discussion included responsiveness to context, particularly proximity to First Presbyterian Church, which is next door. Our guidance focused on street level considerations and the facade abiding the historic church.

We also had some lengthy discussions on parking, which I'll touch on later on. So what's up next for the urban design board? Both of those projects are slated to return to the board for their final review, at our October meeting, which is next week. That's great. Staff has also identified that there might be a role for the urban design board associated with the Tacoma Dome link extension.

We can talk about that further in this meeting. We've had some preliminary briefings on that topic. And then there are our advisory opportunities that we might have later this year and years ahead. But as part of building familiarity with the design guidelines and reviewing the projects we have to date, we see opportunity to on future improvement and changes in various areas. These include code related elements like current mapping and provisions related to pedestrian streets, parking requirements, and reduced parking area mapping, large site developments or redevelopment, as well as building design standards and how those are being realized in projects.

After we get another year under our belt, we also have the mandate to consider if there are any amendments needed to the urban design manual to make our guidelines more effective. So that's something to look forward to in the future. So that was the quick presentation. I'm hopeful that we can have some discussion on on the work we've done this year so far.

Thank you so much. Yeah. I was just pulling up the slides so that I could reference back to a number of them. Congratulations on getting a new board up and running, and what a great group you have working on all of this. And I'm so excited that you've had some projects to review. So really exciting. I'll kick it over to you all to ask questions first. Go ahead. Sure.

And thank you, chair Santef, not only for kicking this off, but you were also on the planning commission for a very long time. And I think, those worlds overlap. So I really appreciate you, taking this on and kind of shepherding us through our first year here. Thank you, Debbie, for representing District 4, and being someone who is willing to, do this as well. Remind me again. So, what are the criteria for review? It's anything in a mixed use center that is bigger than a certain size or anything in a mixed use center and anything that's bigger than a certain size.

It's a little bit of both.

Where's the Venn diagram here?

So, the Venn diagram is that depending on the classification of center, the the size threshold varies. So the threshold is smaller than the neighborhood mixed use centers downtown in the mall area where there's larger projects. The threshold is higher. So we have a threshold for administrative review and then a higher threshold for board level review.

Got it. You would think I remember this. No. It's only seen the company commission, like, four times when I was on it.

Yeah. And at this point, that those thresholds are stable, although there is work that's going on through the Tide Flats project that will indicate indicate certain area that's not in that geography that is in that geography that will come under the purview of the board for large transit facilities, passenger terminals.

Well, I I also really appreciate that you have intentionally been out there, physically touring neighborhoods because I think, obviously, that's really important. And perhaps something we need to do with some other commissions just so we can, you know, have that kinda in person because these aren't all you know, it wasn't it's crazy. Right? Like, it wasn't until you said you did that, and I was like, oh, man. You know, sometimes we look at code and we get very, like, theoretical. And sometimes it's really nice to just be out there and see how it actually translates in in the real world. Right? So I really appreciate that that you intentionally did that. That I think that's really important. So thank you.

You know, I I think we'll continue to do that, especially as we have some capacity in our schedule that we don't have project reviews going on. But, it's been valuable, to get out there and and see both work. There have been a lot of good projects completed in Tacoma in the last decade. But as we look at projects, we we see those opportunities, and that's the information that we can bring forward to the the projects that come to us to to get these better outcomes. And so that's been useful, and it's also been useful to to help us as board members to build that vocabulary of talking about projects and making sure that we have a similar understanding. We'll continue that.

Thank you for all the work you're doing and excited to see what comes to the first two projects that you have before you. I know that some of your commissioners or your board members are folks who have served on other city boards and commissions. And you guys, I think, are the first one that I have been here on council to have helped create or voted on creating. So I'm wondering if you had anything you wanted to share on just what it's like to be on this one or how that the standing up of a new one has gone for you as volunteers in this world? Or if there's not things you wanna share here, you wanna catch me later, that's also okay. Just curious.

As council member indicated, I served on the planning commission for many years, and and part of that was the time frame that this program was being created. Being on the the planning commission was a lot of work, but it helped kinda build my knowledge on certain things and gave me a familiarity going in the program that maybe other board members didn't have. But as you highlighted, we have board members who've served at different capacities on other boards or commissions as well as in other cities doing things, and we have a lot of design professionals who have experience working with design reviews in other communities. So a lot of expertise has come to this this board, which is great. And I think staff has also been instrumental in helping kind of step up the board to the role that we have, which, you know, we are advisory in many ways, but we're also quasi judicial in in these permit reviews.

So there's, you know, a real need to understand the materials and the limits that we have as a board and kind of commenting on certain things. And, you know, we want this process to produce, better outcomes for projects, not necessarily, delay projects or create a barrier, but, making sure that we are prepared to support those projects and and making through this process as well. So do you wanna chime in?

Sure. I'm I'm happy to. First of all, I wanna thank you for creating this commission and the and the people that you chose for it because combination of all of us is a really great mixture of interest and expertise. And I think each member brings something special to this board and has been able to weigh in in a meaningful way for each of the projects that we have looked at so far, and and I think that's that's really been terrific. And the staff has been amazing in helping us all kind of jump in with cold feet and say, where are we going with this, and how are we what's our protocol, and how are we gonna go about it?

So for me, it's it's been a joy. I I mean, I I really love being involved in this particular board, and it suits my background, which is landscape architecture and urban design. But it also, I I believe, suits everybody else because everybody's bringing their own lens to the review of projects. And between all of us, I think the developers and architects who come to make a presentation are are getting a really rich feedback and constructive and positive suggestions and advice along the way. So I I think it's I think it's working.

Of course, we'll we'll find out more in our next meeting, I guess.

Super. Thank you. I appreciate y'all taking the time to share and taking time to come and join us today.

I wanted to if we could just take a minute to dig into the two projects that you brought tonight. And so this is the two that you've done this year. Right? This yeah. So the stadium project, is that, so it's been through your entire process? Or was okay. I'll just tell me tell me about it. A timeline is my question.

Yeah. So both of these are are new projects of the city, which, you know, were started such that they were triggered as being part of urban design project review. They both happen to have the same developer, but it's a different design teams. The Proctor one kind of got their ball rolling first, and that one came to the board for the May meeting. But the one in Saint Helens and Tacoma Avenue was not too far behind.

So we saw that, Stack, correct me if I'm wrong. That was June. So both of those were their first, presentations to our our board. Staff had been involved behind the scenes doing preliminary reviews of those projects, with kind of comments back to those teams to make sure that they were, addressing the criteria as best they could for that stage. And so, we received those materials and approved, and provided guidance to that concept of a review. Then both of those applicants are due back for their final review to us next week. And so it's a two step process.

So that was your reference to we'll see next week. I get it now. Okay.

And and I'll just also say that, you know, this design review process is intended to be kind of at the earlier stages of the process. So the concept level review is the heavier lift for the applicant and us as a board for providing guidance and direction to that project. And that is also the one opportunity that the public has to see those materials and comment back on the project and kind of influence guidance where it's appropriate to that we give as a board.

Okay. Great. So once they let's assume they did everything perfectly. You sign off on it next week, then it goes to our permitting office. Is that its next stop?

Yep.

Yes. They're at in fact, both projects are already standing at the door, if you will, for their other permits. They they are aware that there will be compliance with the board's action next week because that actually, in some ways, gives them what would otherwise be variances to keep going on certain things that would otherwise be code requirements. So they need that. But yes, they will continue with their site development and their building construction permits process, and they're they're keyed up for that.

And we're already in, you know, in coordination with those reviewers because they say, oh, we just got an email this afternoon. One of them came in for its site development permit today. And it has comment period, and so we're in coordination with them to make sure that the board's action, which is next week, is reflected in what those reviews are doing.

Okay. Great. I know we talked a lot about the time that this was going to take. Right? That was part of the pushback was it's just going to add too much time. So it feels like this is pretty quick, efficient review and that other things are happening at the same time. So maybe too early to tell, but it feels like we haven't gotten pushback from folks on the timeline.

No. Actually, on the contrary, there have been other projects that anticipated coming in, and we had preliminary staff discussions with them. And they said, oh, well, maybe we need to so they're thinking about what they're trying to do. They refined their work. So we've given them an opportunity to be better prepared while they're making other decisions.

So instead of them showing up starting at what would otherwise be a building permit process and then sitting and waiting to do a lot of detailed technical corrections, they're they're refining their own proposals. So that actually has been adding value at As the chair said, really the intent is to be upfront guidance early, early, early on. And that helped others that might otherwise have been applicants through another process that would have been kind of in the loop of, well, we changed our mind. Are we gonna take the garage here? Are we not gonna do this?

And that sort of thing. So Yep. That's that's where we're getting. And and we do have the as you recall, we do have the benefit of, the newly, constrained state process that, you know, the the public comment is there's one public meeting allowed, and we have and we're following the you know, the biggest pieces of the time schedule, frankly, are the ones around the public notice period. But as you heard from some of the other commissioners and other the commissions, transparency is one of the things we're trying to accomplish here. So giving folks a chance to know about something well before it happens, but not hold up the progress of of the work.

Thank you. Chair, you said that when they did when they came to you, that was the opportunity for the public to give public comment. How did we get notice out to folks about these? Is it a geographic to the project?

I believe some of the staff can confirm.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

It's a 400 foot radius of the project site. Okay. So we mail out postcards and, emails to, our standard distribution list, which is, you know, neighborhood councils and other tribe of Indians and and so forth.

And so members of the public can opt in to that mailing list if they just are, like, really interested in urban design and wanna track all these?

Yes. We do. Yes. We do have an interested parties. Okay.

And that's, That's yeah, that's a couple 100 names as well. Okay. And then there's signs that go up on

the sites at each at

each point. So there's that and the electronic contribute, distribution.

Great. Thank you. Casimo Russodalge, did you have another thing, or did I just see you?

I was just remembering there are state regulations around the number of reviews and what can and and I think you kinda touched on that. Right?

Yes. The, the most recent state legislation, mandates one public meeting maximum. And then as a result of that, it has to follow what the local jurisdictions' protocols are for public meetings of that, for decisions of this type. So consistent with what other publicly noticed land use actions are in the city. So we follow those rules. And that's it's thirty days out, but that means developing postcards and getting the signs up and making it out in the mail. And then the board has the material. So all that's happening concurrently so that when they have that concept meeting, it's actually public meeting. And we we get written comment. We get emails. We get folks online. We get people in person who are just interested.

So May was when they came in. We're talking October. This is, a five month kind of May and June were these two. May and June. And both of them are coming in October, I guess? Yeah. So it's less than six months, which is good because I thought it was gonna be longer than that.

And they could they could have

been sooner if they so chose, but they had work to do.

Oh, because we hit our timelines for Yeah. Feedback, and then they had to incorporate that. I got it. Okay.

Go ahead.

I was just gonna, comment that on one of the two projects in particular, there there were some aspects of the project that needed for the refine refinement. And so one I think one moved a little quicker than the other. Anyway, they you know, we had some very specific suggestions for them.

I will clarify there that when you say one moved quicker than the other, they both have kind of the same time frame. Just one took a lot more effort for us to dive into and provide constructive guidance for that project moving forward. And that was just about the level of completeness for that application,

you know,

it was staff provided, good supporting materials to to see that moving forward. But, we'll learn more about what things we need to make sure applicants, provide so that, things do go smoothly for everyone. And then I wanted to offer two additional thoughts if I could. One is is highlighting that through this process, we also created a departures avenue where an applicant could propose to do something different from standards if it made sense for that project. And, especially, you know, site considerations or context.

And, you know, those that departure process is a benefit to applicants, And, you know, we're hopeful, again, it's something that helps achieve better outcomes for projects and and doesn't require developers to do things that don't really don't make sense for certain projects. So I'm really optimistic and hopeful that with that piece. And then, council member Diaz, you mentioned, placemaking when, the previous commission was was up, and, and we have several different design criteria within here that are framed in different categories. One of those is around cultural vitality vitality, heritage, and creativity. But, you know, each new building that gets built in Tacoma is an opportunity to enhance and and make place.

And in particular, some of these larger projects have elements that an applicant proposes that might include art or interpretive kind of aspects and, you know, engaging with the arts commission or or other avenues is gonna be one way that we as a commission make sure that projects are are contributing to that place making.

How cool. Thank you. Yep. One more quick question. I apologize if I'm understanding the process wrong, but did folks already give public comment on the two projects, and now we're just waiting for to hear what the result is from the from the design from the folks, right, from the applicants. So I was just curious as to how the public comment went and what if are folks understanding the assignment? Or do we do we need some help with with that, or or did did anyone show up? Just high level.

Yeah. I appreciate that. Yeah. So, again, the opportunity for public comment is just that this concept level design review. Again, that's an opportunity where we are really, considering, how the building fits into the neighborhood in the context.

And with both projects, we did have, community members and adjacent property owners, neighbors, even renters show up to to testify on on these projects. There's education that we need to do and things that we need to make sure we're incorporating in notice to help public know what the re the function of of this board and the the things that they can comment on that might be meaningful. And and we had a number of people comment on parking considerations for projects, which we don't necessarily have purview over Mhmm. Providing guidance on the quantity. Yeah.

There are things that we do to make sure that driveway access and things like those make sense for a site. But, yeah, there's some there's some education to do in that realm, and we try to queue that up a little bit at the beginning of the public hearing when staff is doing their presentation and highlighting some of those things. And we'll learn how to do that better as we get more projects.

Great. Well, thank you so much. This is very exciting. Really appreciate the comments on how the commission works and also taking that little dive into the projects themselves. I'm wondering if we have, like, over once you guys reach a year, do we have a overview of what you've worked on coming back to council or anything? I'm wondering if that might be interesting to folks. Since we've just sort of gotten it here, I don't know that we need another one at IPS, but that might be a good thing in the future to hear, you know, what projects have come through. Don't know. Something something for us to check-in on.

That's okay. We we have we have written into the code an annual report.

Okay. To IPS or to the council?

To

the council, but I don't remember if it's at IPS directly or if it's a letter similar to what other commissions do in a

letter

of years accomplishments.

I'm glad we were all smart enough to put that in. And I will say, as I said to the other commissions tonight, if you have letters of advisory on these other things that you said are coming up, please feel free to email the committee. We we love getting feedback from commissions. So thank you. Alright. We are ready for our topics for upcoming meetings.

And we this time to point out that the urban design board,

we had interviews for them on the calendar this year, but we took them down because all members are in good standing, they retained them all.

So

amazing. Thank you for pointing that out. That is a great sign.

IPS meets again in two weeks, a packed agenda, every item which has come up already today. First is the Planning Commission work program, followed by neighborhood traffic calming and automated traffic enforcement. Both of our November meetings have been canceled. On November 12, you all will be meeting as a full council instead, and November 25 has been canceled. Our last meeting of the year is on December 10 when you will be having interviews for the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and Tacoma Power is coming to do an update on the clean energy implementation plan.

Great. Thank you so much. We have one note in our agenda that the permit advisory group sent us a letter on transportation impact fees. We are making that public as part of our meeting packet, so anyone can see that. Do any of my colleagues have, things they wanna talk about? Discuss that letter at this time. Okay. Great. Well, I just wanna make sure, we have asked, folks to send us letters, both departments and commissions, and we wanna make sure we're very public about the fact that those have been received and considered. Any other items of interest?

Yes. Vice chair Diaz. Slow on the catching up. Did, when we publish that to legislator, it'll legislator, it'll be for this committee. Is there is it appropriate for us to forward it to the rest of the council since that topic will be coming up for the whole council at a future study session? Absolutely. Not? Yeah. We can Do do we assume they look, or do we actually need to proactively do something?

I usually forward them directly if I think In this case, it's it's that

Great.

Thank you. As well as the city manager.

Okay. Everybody's got eyes.

Great. Thank you. But to your point, it that's not always the case, so I try to forward them as much as I can. Any other items of interest? Okay. With that, I will take a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn. Second.

All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.