April 13 Council Meeting
Cait’s Council Comments 4-13-26
PUBLIC COMMENT: Moorlands elementary parents advocated to keep the park next-door closed an extra 15-min after school for safety.
CLIMATE ACTION PLAN (CAP) UPDATE
Staff gave an update on the status of the climate action plan.
Completed- electric vehicle infrastructure plan (EVIP)
- urban forestry management plan (UFMP)
- co-hosted a tree planting event with Sno-King Watershed Council
- installed fleet chargers in City Hall garage (grant funded).
- added an internship
- green jobs fair
Ongoing:
- Solarize Kenmore program has helped residents get rooftop solar, though the response has been declining so their focus is shifting.
- Kenmore was awarded funds by Commerce for City Hall solar expansion.
- Climate action advisory committee
- Adopt-a-drain program
- “Energize Kenmore” heat pump direct discount program (residential energy is our largest emissions source)
- Update Climate Action Plan
- Update Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory
- Provide guidance for street trees
CM Loutsis asked about security for the charging stations. Staff said they are looking at it, the ones that were installed are hard to vandalize.
CM Adman asked about our tree loss, and how we track the net inventory and wants to incentivise retention. CM Adman wants to incentivise tree retention. He asked about changes in GHG - why did we make such good progress? Are we on target to 2030 goals?
Staff said they do a tree canopy inventory; it’s hard to pinpoint where the progress in GHG came in, though they suspect it’s from electrification and EVs. We need to increase our efforts to meet our targets.
CM Marshall for details on adopt-a-drain. Staff said drain adopters check on it once a month, clearing leaves and sediment around it to make sure it flows. They encourage naming of drains, and it’s a way to teach our community that drains go into the waterway not a treatment plant.
CM Culver wants the asphalt plant and Kenmore Air emissions included in the climate inventory. He said that we have one of the lowest tree equities. He has submitted a request to get Kenmore added to publictrees.org
PARK IMPACT FEES
Tom Beckwith, Beckwith Consulting, and Debbie Bent presented. Park impact fees are charged to new developments so they can “pay their share” of the new workplan that the city adopted. The calculation of the per-unit cost varies by unit style (single-family vs. multi-family) and the fees have to go towards expanding parks capacity, such as adding a new park or lighting a ball field. Staff asked for direction of what percentage of the calculated impact Council would like to cover. Beckwith said that the top priorities for businesses, and therefore economic development, are the quality of parks and schools.
CM Loutsis asked about our maximum impact fees; they are lower in 2027. Staff said that this was calculated based on the cost per person and average household size. The previous report used a different methodology, and Council had the opportunity to increase it.
CM Culver said that we have a pile of single-family homes that nobody can afford to buy. We should put a premium on that and say that as of April 2026 we don’t want any more single-family housing. He asked if other cities have done this. Beckwith said that other communities are PROMOTING middle housing, and if you promote this you need a niche developer and not all communities have these yet.
CM Adman asked if developers build their own recreational facility if they can get a discount. Beckwith said that the ordinance allows this, however they need to fulfill a community need and be publicly accessible (not just for residents).
Attempt at direction -
City Manager Killgore and Beckwith clarified that there are multiple sources that pay for parks (REET, levies) and no source will cover 100%. Property taxes (REET) are the most predictable funding source. This is a balancing act; if one source is lower, another will need to be higher. Debbie Bent clarified that what was presented to Council represents 100% funding for impact fees, though they can go lower.
CM Adman said he supports methodology and separating the rate table from the ordinance, and a holistic look at how we are funding our parks.
CM Loutsis said he would like to see the former methodology to see how it’s tracking. He asked whether a current resident would incur these. Staff clarified that this is only imposed on new developments, development that adds units. CM Loutsis also noticed that ADUs were not exempted in the draft code.
DM Sasson said that she wants a table with the amount and percentage. She also would like our single-family homes to pay the highest percentage, with multi-family next, and manufactured the lowest.
Mayor Herbig said he understands but we’re in a housing crisis and bumping up the cost of housing is a hard thing to do.
CM O’Cain said she’s heard several times the desire for the rate to be lower for multi-family than single-family, and expressed questions about whether we’ve evaluated if we want to bring in more from impact fees or keep the status quo.
CM Culver said we need to be building more affordable housing and we don’t need more than we can handle on single-family. He’s comfortable raising it; doesn’t need to see any more data.
BUDGET UPDATE
Staff gave an update on the budget; we are halfway through the biennium, and we are just over target on revenue, just under budget on expenses
KAPE was discussed in this update. The 2024 King County Court cost was $1.4m. The court bills in July/August of the following year, so we do not yet know 2025. Currently, King County withholds 40% of revenues; when they reconcile they send us the overage or send a bill for the difference. We don’t know yet what the 2025 number will be. CM Adman observed that $3m a year in citations is a lot of citations.
STATE LEGISLATIVE SESSION RECAP
Stepahanie Lucash presented along with state lobbyist, Shelly Halder with Gordon Thomas Honeywell.
Themes that came out of priorities were: responding to federal actions, budget decisions, addressing affordability and reforming the State’s tax code. The priority was adopting supplemental budgets that refined the State’s biennium budget.
Kenmore funds – The capital budget included $250k for Bastyr to engage stakeholder processes to determine the best use of the dormitory buildings. Lobiests laid the groundwork for a Lakepointe capital request in the next biennium. We received $300k (out of $1m requested) for an ADA connection between 522 and the Burke Gilman trail. They also requested funding to rehab the eCityGov back end. The request was $1m but there was some request about whether that was an appropriate figure given AI. None was received.
Several housing bills were passed, including HB 2266 wich deals with STEP housing and HB 6026 which allows residential in commercial zones and restricts ground-floor commercial requirements (in cities >30k).
There were two bills regarding electric motorcycle safety and there is a committee that is defining electric motorcycles, and that will be introduced next year.
There are two bills that could have harmed the traffic camera program. One would have diverted $500k additional revenue from the program; Mayor Herbig testified in Olympia and provided an alternative solution that the legislature liked better.
STAFF REPORTS
Stephanie Lucash gave an update on the business registration program. This started as a voluntary program, then in 2023 it became mandatory. The fee is $10 if the income is over $12,000/year. We received over $11k in revenue for business fees. There are currently 3,280 businesses that operate in Kenmore; 1,405 are residents. 67% are home-based, 29% are brick and mortar.
Next week: Town hall, people can have conversations with council members on a wide range of topics. Monday is Garage Day, where they’re preparing for half of the staff to move to the public works center.
COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS
CM Culver brought up a tree legal case in Edmonds. He said it was reopened and is somehow relevant to how we approach trees in Kenmore.
CM Loutsis said he supported the public comments about extending the playground times.
CM Adman reported on the sound cities association meeting that he attended and wastewater processing fee increases. This has to do with removing nitrogen.
Mayor Herbig reported on the meetings that he had in DC, and a meeting that he had with County Executive Zahilay. Zahilay is appointing people to be representatives throughout the county. Mayor Herbig met with the Army Corps of Engineers about dredging the mouth of the Sammamish.
