Timeline for this action is pretty long, coming in at just under a year. Public engagement to begin now, with planning commission study sessions in the summer. Comp Plan amendment would come in the winter, with LUCA work coming early next year.
Conversation
Mayor Robinson liked the public comment that mentioned looking at "form over density," also wants to include the future-eligible partials for study. Wants to look at properties that aren't eligible and incentivize senior housing w/ duplexes and triplexes on those sites.
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Staff will add that onto the Next Right Work presentation in the summer.
CM Stokes: "We're talking about implementing something now that I think this community is wholeheartedly behind." Wow I sure hope so.
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CM Barksdale, when he was on the Planning Commission, says he was in a lot of discussions on how to get more units in addition to the density bonus, happy to see this move forward.
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DM Nieuwenhuis +1s the remarks from the last commenter about not concentrating housing in one neighborhood.
So long as that doesn't mean building less housing, I don't give a shit where the housing is in Bellevue.
He also wants more expansive outreach than just a website.
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CM Zahn wants opportunities for renting *and* homeownership throughout the city. Wants to understand why the number of 300 feet was chosen. Would want to know how many properties would be included going up to 600 or 1000 feet, or by including properties not on arterials.
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Also asks if the city could move with more urgency on this topic.
Staff: "With all these affordable housing initiatives, we *are* presenting you a well-thought, aggressive schedule," but will look for further efficiencies where they can. On the 300 feet distance, staff say it's
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"about the distance where you can visually see other development nearby that feels like it's the same density." Zahn interjects and says if Council goes w/ form-based zoning, there's a way to create buildings that match the "look and feel" of neighborhoods.
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Would want to go further than 300 feet if City goes with form-based view on zoning. Staff seem supportive of drawing other maps of eligible properties that incorporated different radiuses to MF or commercial zones.
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After saying that he agrees with the need for urgency, CM Lee cautions that "we want to do this right. Aggressive's good... But we need to do it right. Do it right for the neighborhood. Do it right for the reasons that Bellevue is attractive."
Your attractive = my unaffordable
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*Really* weird logic here. "We need to have outreach so we know what we're expecting...So we don't unintentionally, I would not use the word corrupt, but make people suspect. 'Gee, you guys are opening the door for things that may unintentionally sneak in.'" Wtf do you mean man
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Asks staff "how we can prevent unintentional, unsuspected situations that we don't want, maybe that we're not ready for." Staff note that affordable housing convenants are required for the property to maintain the affordability for the life of a development.
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Lee seems to be concerned of the opposite scenario, of properties being acquired by faith-based organizations and then being used to convert to MF development. That seems to be what CM Lee is describing as "abuse".
Again, the horror of a faith org building more housing.
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Motion to advance this work passes unanimously, now looking at a semiannual update on the city's arts and culture program, as well as guidelines on certain arts grants.
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City will be acquiring 29 works of art in the next few weeks for the city's portable art collection. Will be temporarily displayed in the mezzanine of City Hall. Downtown Park artwork will be installed in September. Also new community-driven art in Crossroads Park.
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City of Bellevue is also slated to participate with other Eastside cities in a nationwide survey on arts funding. Will help determine the economic impact of the arts across the city.
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CM Barksdale asking the simple questions, "Are we paying our interns [for the survey]?" Staff say they'll be earning college credit, so no. Boooooooooooooo
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Now moving onto Council approval of the new arts grants guidelines. Council last had this on their agenda in March. These guidelines will help decide who gets city arts grants when the application period opens in August.
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Moving onto the arts grant guidelines discussions. Miyake notes that the last time the guidelines were updated was in 2018, and that city's received feedback since that it might be good to update them again to be better in line with the city's economic development visions.
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A reminder of the grants that were issued in 2022. Remember that Bellevue also issues comparatively low amounts of funds/capita compared to other cities.
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Also asks how Bellevue compares with other cities in terms of arts grant funding. Staff say the city is "mid to low" on arts grants funding per capita. A comparison:
Seattle: $5.34/capita
Issaquah: $3.74/capita
Bellevue: $0.94/capita
Renton: $0.51/capita
Redmond: $0.19/capita
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Biggest change to the framework will be to turn 3 buckets into 2 - one bucket will support organizations trying to build capacity, and the other will support one-off projects.
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Additionally, PUfEA will address capacity building for orgs for historically underserved communities, and the BelRed Bonus will give an additional amount of money for projects getting started in the BelRed arts district.
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Capacity-building grants will move to a two-year funding cycle (bleh imo) but the application process will be streamlined to include an eligibility checklist (good imo). Project grants will have similar streamline and specific award levels to improve clarity for applicants.
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CM Barksdale asks why Power Up Grant was made an add-on, also wants to know if BelRed incentives might shift incentives away from things like Eastrail. Staff say Power Up grant can be seen as a "double dip", orgs will still get considered on the impact of their programming.
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Staff also confirm that the city's overall arts budget, which dedicates some funds for Eastrail, will not be impacted.
Mayor Robinson supports increasing revenues for arts funding and wants staff to look at that further, probably for budget discussions later this year.
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Motion to approve the Arts Grants guidelines passes unanimously, so now we move onto the motion for the City Manager to sign onto the One Washington Memorandum of Understanding. Bellevue could use any funds it receives to address the effects of the opioid epidemic in the city.
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Staff say a pending lawsuit (likely the one I linked previously) could result in funds distributed "as soon as this month"). No comments/questions, motion's unanimously approved, and with that, the city might be getting about $500,000 later this month if my understanding's right.
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Ah, vote on the Issaquah LEO property for ARCH was separated into other motions b/c Mayor had to recuse herself, as her husband is deputy director of KCHA who acquired the property. Vote is approved unanimously, and the meeting ends. Thanks for reading!
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