June 8 City Council Meeting
Cait’s Council Comments 6-8-26
Goodbye, Stephanie Lucash!
Staff and Council said goodbye to Deputy City Manager Stephanie Lucash as she departs to work as City Administrator for Edmonds.
Where’s the Fun?
Summer special events start in June, it’s Pride Month, and Hank Heron is releasing limited-edition trading cards.
Consent Agenda
Passed unanimously without discussion, of note, speed reduced from 35mph to 30mph on NE 193rd St between 61st Ave NE and 55th Ave NE
Kenmore Waterfront Activities Center
Sheri Baker gave a presentation on the club activities and events. KWAC owns and operates a variety of hand-powered watercraft vessels that they store onsite, they offer scholarships and have a big waterfront fair that attracted 125 people last year. This year they will host a summer camp in July. King Co. Councilmember Rod Dembowski secured a “Get Active, Stay Active” grant to purchase new equipment for KWAC.
STEP (Shelter, Temporary, Emergency and Permanent Supportive) Housing Code
Debbie Bent gave a brief presentation reviewing STEP Housing. There will be a second hearing due to additional substantive amendments on July 13. The ordinance will be considered for adoption July 20. In the draft code, Staff recommended a community meeting for all residential developments 100+ units.
Public Hearing
There were three in-person testifiers at the public hearing and one online. In-person commenters included VC Dorrian and Chair Banaczynski. VC Dorrian asked Council to remove barriers and encourage providers to come to Kenmore to address issues of housing insecurity, and filling the need for housing. Chair Banaczynski believes housing is a human right and enthusiastically supports STEP Housing in her neighborhood, saying “build it right next door to my lot, please”. She asked Council to remove emergency shelter certification requirements and the recommended community meeting for projects over 100 units. The online public commenter called for transparency, communication and accountability from the City and asked for the reinstatement of Good Neighbor Agreements (GNAs).
Discussion
MOTION: CM Culver moved strike Footnote 7, which recommended community meetings for projects over 100 units. Mayor Herbig seconded.
CM Marshall said that the purpose of a public meeting isn’t just notification, it’s public engagement. People need information to come on board and he wants to be fully democratic about the process. The public wants to feel like they got a fair shake, not just a notice of the public meeting. He wouldn’t support the amendment.
CM Loutsis expressed that he did not want to add barriers to STEP housing, and would like the City to consider taking on the brunt of the work for public meetings. He wants the housing provider present to be sure they have a seat at the table. The outreach methods that the city currently uses don’t meet everyone, and if we diversify our methods we may be able to capture additional engagement. He thinks that the recommendations would be useful on an external sheet for best practices for developers, an optional toolbox not within code, that helps the developer create a more positive relationship and integration with the community with the lessons that we’ve learned.
CM Adman clarified that this was for all residential units, but views the footnote as directed to STEP housing and he views this is a way to implement the requirement on STEP by making it apply to all housing. He doesn’t think that even if this was retained that the community would have an opportunity to influence the project. He asked about the STEP Committee’s recommendations.
CM O’Cain agreed that we shouldn’t be adding more barriers but she said that she was OK with this being recommended across all housing types. She wrestled with wanting more community outreach, and not knowing whether this would make a difference. She said that she never wants to “see a fire in this room again” like they did with the Plymouth project, but doesn’t know whether people will show up to the community meetings. Ultimately, she would like to find ways to engage more people in the community and listen to diversity of perspectives. She hears that people have concerns, and as recommendations in the code these don’t feel overburdensome. Regardless of the money that we’ve spent on STEP Housing it’s important to work with the community on engagement. It needs to be part of our City culture that we’re working on being transparent; she’s concerned that the interpretation on the decision may be that it lacks transparency.
https://youtu.be/fkAL2t09Zls?list=PLZEQA8WWEno4xzgqU9ARuTRwHg5cHeeSr&t=5026
Mayor Herbig said that he believes housing is housing, and if we don’t require 25 Degrees to do this we shouldn’t require other housing. He pointed out that it is also a recommendation so it’s not enforceable.
DM Sasson said that she’s in favor of removing the recommendation. From a fiscal consideration, the City has spent $80k and has worked on this for two years. She doesn’t want to inadvertently give people the idea that they can veto a project with their protest. She believes folks in Kenmore want to do good; remove the barriers and move ahead.
CM Culver also wants the City to put the legwork in to host the events, do the outreach and education and make that a requirement. He said that when Plymouth had events nobody showed up. Council should be at the community meetings and be “proverbial punching bags” – people want to talk to Council and yell, “and they’re welcome to yell”, at electeds. He believes that there is a “punitive whiff” about the recommendations when it’s in the code.
Motion carried 6-1 with CM Marshall opposed.
Debbie and Nick Chen (Kimley Horn Consultant) said that the recommendations from STEP were consistent with State law at the time that the committee was convened (2025). The STEP Committee focused on the zones where STEP would be allowed. The committee did recommend GNA’s but the Council decided to strike it. In May, the section about certification was a new state law requirement and was added to be consistent with State law (18.77.070). Nick added that corner stores were recommended as well.
MOTION: CM Culver moved to strike 18.77.070A. He believes that this puts more barriers to getting STEP built. CM Adman seconded.
DM Sasson proposed removing items 3, 4 and 6B specifically. Three and four would be consistent with removing the community meeting. She made an amendment to the motion; Mayor Herbig seconded.
[Cait’s clarification: Amendment removes the following from Emergency Housing / Shelters: 3) notification requirement for residents within 500ft, 4) community meeting requirement, 6B) providing phone number and procedures for Admissions, including a description of the populations the project will serve and potential sources of referral]
CM Loutsis said he was going to say the same thing as DM Sasson; agrees wholeheartedly. To make the assumption that City Staff would collect this on their own is burdensome.
CM Adman asked for clarification on what the language regarding other programs in the building meant.
CM Culver asked if we were going to follow up on the licensing or if it’s just going to go into a file somewhere. He believes the “culture and the tempo that we set with this has whiffs about it” and “we are the butt of affordable housing jokes as recently as several weeks ago.” Debbie clarified that this was a “may” in State law so council has discretion about including it.
DM Sasson said that as a birth center owner, you have to have an operations manual on-site that would include all this information. Since emergency shelters aren’t regulated for DOH or any other entity, they also probably have to have an operations handbook. This shouldn’t be onerous information to provide to the city. She can see where there would be instances where they would need to provide this information to the city. She’d feel comfortable keeping this in, with the exception of the three items.
Mayor Herbig said it makes sense to have good information and the ability to get a hold of the right people if something happens. Having notice and community meeting requirements is going to set expectations for folks that they’re not going to be able to meet. A lot of providers will do this voluntarily on their own because they want to be good neighbors. He asked if Adult Family Homes are required to hand over permits before opening – Staff didn’t know.
AMENDED Motion: Carried 6-1, CM Culver opposed
Main motion: Carried 6-1, CM Marshall opposed
CM Loutsis brought up a coffee with council where some community members came to talk about GNAs. He has concerns about the common understanding of GNAs in the community; they’re not defined in NHUSA Glossary. He wonders if it would be beneficial to define what it means so that we can all be on the same page.
CM Loutsis moved to put the definition of GNA in the code.
CM Marshall pointed out that GNAs are no longer used in the code.
Motion died for lack of a second.
Transportation Improvement Plan
John Vicente presented. He reviewed the proposed Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP), new projects, and the summary of improvements, and a recommendation to adopt the resolution. The RCW requires that we have this approved by July 1 of every year, and how transportation funds will be used. This is a planning document so we are not held to the numbers in it.
In 2025 they built 6,800 lineal feet of new bike lanes, 3,330 lineal feet of new sidewalk, three enhanced crossings, and a speed reduction on 61st.
In response to a few of CM Adman’s questions, John said that when it comes to doing the CIP, they will look more closely at the costs. The first year after the project is complete, the City takes over the maintenance, and that’s when the operating budget takes over. There are two ways that projects get added to the list: ones that have the chance for grant funds, then the top 20 projects. When they update the pedestrian facilities plan, they look at the best places to put sidewalks and rate it, which gives the priority number. Mostly looking at non-residential roads unless it’s on a school walk route or has a high pedestrian priority. It’s very hard to get funding for roundabouts for what we need them for.
Mayor Herbig expressed concern for the perception of the cost of tearing up 61st after we made all the changes. He likes roundabouts better than four way stops. On 182nd and 68th, it has visibility and speed issues. He asked if there was a way to get better safety there. John said that there has been discussion of a mini-roundabout, but we have to save up for it since it won’t get grant funding. Most grant funds are focused on multi-modal streets. WSDOT manages signals a block off of 522, so if this causes an issue we’d work with them.
CM O’Cain asked if it could be a four-way stop. John said that a mini-roundabout was less expensive than a standard one. He doesn’t know if stop signs provide the same benefit – there are other issues with stopsigns.
CM Loutsis was talking with someone who uses the skate park and said he was struck twice going through that intersection by cars who couldn’t see him.
CM Marshall asked about the roundabout on 61st. John said that we weren’t able to get grant funding, but it could in the future. Our expectation is that KAPE funds will pay for this but it won’t be for at least six years.
DM Sasson said that she got concern from a community member about work happening at Arrowhead.
Public hearing: nobody signed in.
CM Culver moved to approve the ordinance; CM O’Cain (?) seconded. Adopted unanimously.
Council Reports
CM Marshall will be absent next week for his youngest’s graduation.
CM Loutsis said that he was in a meeting with the Mayor of LFP who has “sidewalk envy” over our 61st St. project.
CM Adman asked for coverage of the Sound Cities Association meeting. Mayor Herbig will attend.
DM Sasson said she wants to thank the council for the good work they did tonight.
