"The policy was painted as, 'We're getting rid of single family zoning'. What we want to do is talk about complete communities, where there's a path for every person... When we say, 'Let's get rid of SF zoning,' all of us fell in love w/our neighborhood & we like it the way it is
Conversation
so we've got to start talking about these policies in different ways. And also honor cities and elected officials and their roles in cities."
You can't say you're for equity and racial justice if you're willing to use your position to maintain single family zoning.
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Moving onto federal priorities, not too much to report on here, but CM Zahn highlights her recent trip to DC with the National League of Cities and mentions "It's not just about shovel-ready, it's about shovel-worthy", wants to focus on projects that reconnect communities.
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Mayor Robinson, mentioning again how she wants everything the city does to be sustainable and equitable, says she feels that's reflected in this document, which includes requests for funding for two highway interchange projects.
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Federal Legislative Agenda passes unanimously, now finally moving onto Study Session items after the consent calendar. Nobody was signed up for Oral Communications, and if they were, they would've been speaking an hour and a half later than normal.
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Moving onto the MIP. Transpo Director Singelakis: "This does not mean that the automobile is not important; capacity projects are still the majority of transportation dollars in our CIP. But the MIP... helps us to develop transportation in sustainable & equitable way."
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Tonight's discussion builds off of work approved by Council back in December. What's being approved tonight is more details on targets for particular geographic areas and modes. Final report can be accessed here. bellevuewa.gov/sites/default/
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Performance targets are different for each mode. For pedestrian facilities, it's the presence of sidewalks and # of crossings. Bike facilities are rated on an LTS scale. Targets for transit are related to speed & bus stop amenities. Vehicle targets are still related to capacity.
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Comments start w/ CM Zahn, who used to be on Transportation Commission. Appreciates the alignment with how Kirkland & Redmond measure concurrency.
CM Barksdale wants city to speak w/ more community orgs in the future who have a pulse on what diff. communities are experiencing.
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Acknowledges that light rail is not in city's control, but notes lack of incorporation of amenities of light rail stops in the plan. Staff note that design of high capacity transit facilities is already noted a lot in the city's Comprehensive Plan.
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CM Lee, in addition to being the previous Council liaison to the transportation commission before CM Robertson, was also apparently on the city's very first transportation commission. Yeah, he's been in local government for a while.
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DM Nieuwenhuis asks if groups like Cascade Bicycle Club were also consulted, as well as what feedback was given from groups that ended up leading to tweaks in the plan. Staff apparently did invite them to meetings, but they didn't attend.
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Staff also note that groups wanted decreased v/c targets for vehicles (*cough cough* ETA) but that that wasn't the direction the commission wanted to go.
CM Stokes agrees with comments on engagement from other CMs.
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Mayor Robinson, a physical therapist, wants to be sure language includes people w/ mobility challenges. Again brings up her desire for sustainability.
MIP passes w/ unanimous support, will come back next week to consent calendar w/ amendments to reflect CM Barksdale's asks.
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Final topic of the evening is the update on the implementation of City's Affordable Housing Strategy. As a reminder, the plan, passed in 2017, calls for only the preservation & creation of 2500 units of affordable housing in a city w/ a housing deficit many times that.
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Re: "Next Right Work" and AH next steps, staff will approach "stakeholder groups to solicit input on a wide range of options to create affordable housing." Will be exploring options like minimum housing requirements, parking min reductions, DADUs, and recs from stakeholders.
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Conversations will be held over the next 6-8 weeks and will try to "generate consensus" around actions the City can take.
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Projects that have moved forward since the last update to Council in October are the Ilahee Apartments, the OMFE TOD site, and the 235 unit site SE of Downtown that I reported on a little while ago. theurbanist.org/2022/03/05/mic
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City's proud of its new MFTE program, which has delivered unit numbers that exceeded staff's expectations. I've also reported on projects the city has used its HB 1590 funds on. theurbanist.org/2022/02/02/goi
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Staff mention upcoming work on updating the city's Housing Needs Assessment, as well as state technical work that will filter down to county and cities. City also looking at different housing typologies.
Staff will be approaching stakeholders w/ different topic areas in mind.
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Different ideas the city will be looking at are listed below. Also a list of the types of stakeholder staff will be reaching out to. Their intent is to return w/ feedback to Council in June.
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CM Stokes: concerned that city's still using old data & plan, really interested in hearing the new data when it comes out.
"It's going to take a lot of work. It's going to take a lot of money. And the Council needs to get behind this." Acknowledges conversations will be "tough"
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Mayor Robinson feels "conflicted", likes what city's done but notes that unit production is "woefully small". Interested in increasing funding for ARCH. Also wants considerations with stakeholders to incorporate sustainable development.
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CM Barksdale suggests additional considerations for staff: opportunity costs (evaluating what would be easier to do now vs. 10 years down the line), use cases that don't just look at AMI but also life stages, and which projects will need more government support.
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Also wants City to make explicit that its AMI is over $30k higher than regional AMI. Asks if new Housing Needs Assessment will be split up by AMI, how city can futureproof its new strategy to account for growth, and what pathways can be used to bring lower AMI housing.
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HNA will look at both AMI levels & housing typologies. Re: futureproofing, staff say that more robust reporting requirements from the County set the City up for better information and accountability in the future.
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CM Zahn wants to see stats reported out as a split of shelter vs. preservation vs. new units, noting that "shelter is not permanent housing, and preservation is not the building of new units." Also wants to talk about affordable home ownership opportunities.
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Also wants to talk about opportunities for microunits. Wants to make sure staff is meeting people where they're at as they conduct engagement and then needs are incorporating Vision 2050 targets.
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DM Nieuwenhuis likes seeing the success of MFTE and would like to know what other cities have tried to better understand what works & doesn't.
After his comments, the meeting's adjourned! Thanks for following along with me this evening.
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