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Cmd41922 Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 1 EDMONDS CITY COUNCIL MEETING APPROVED MINUTES April 19, 2022 ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT Mike Nelson, Mayor Vivian Olson, Council President Kristiana Johnson, Councilmember Will Chen, Councilmember Neil Tibbott, Councilmember Diane Buckshnis, Councilmember Susan Paine, Councilmember Laura Johnson, Councilmember ALSO PRESENT Brook Roberts, Student Representative STAFF PRESENT Susan McLaughlin, Dev. Serv. Director Kernen Lien, Environmental Programs Mgr. Mike Clugston, Senior Planner Jeff Taraday, City Attorney Scott Passey, City Clerk Dave Rohde, GIS Analyst Jerrie Bevington, Camera Operator 1. CALL TO ORDER/FLAG SALUTE The Edmonds City Council meeting was called to order at 7:08 p.m. by Mayor Nelson in the Council Chambers, 250 5th Avenue North, Edmonds, and virtually. The meeting was opened with the flag salute. 2. LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Councilmember Tibbott read the City Council Land Acknowledge Statement: “We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Sdohobsh (Snohomish) people and their successors the Tulalip Tribes, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water.” 3. ROLL CALL City Clerk Scott Passey called the roll. All elected officials were present. 4. PRESENTATIONS 1. SNOHOMISH HEALTH DISTRICT UPDATE Katie Curtis, Director, Prevention Services, presented Working Together for a Healthy and thriving Edmonds: • Community Data and Trends o Strategic Goal: Build a More Sustainable Organization ▪ Balanced budget due to legislature’s investment in foundational public health services ▪ Building for the Future Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 2 o Strategic Goal: Reduce the rate of communicable diseases and other notifiable conditions ▪ Countywide trends for 2021 vs 2020 - Chlamydia ↓ - Gonorrhea ↔ - Hepatitis B & C ↓ - HIV (new cases) ↔ - Pertussis ↓ - Syphilis ↑ - Tuberculosis ↔ ▪ COVID-19: Looking Ahead - Focused on preserving hospital capacity - Preparing for vaccines become available for younger children - Recent lifting of masking requirements in most settings ▪ Treating or Reducing Chronic Disease and Injuries ▪ Countywide trends for 2021 vs. 2020 - Drug Overdoses ↔ - Youth Suicides ↓ ▪ Adult Fatality Reviews – SHB 1074 - Define case: fatality or near-fatality, causes and manner of death - Assemble cases review team - Identify data collection tool to guide case review - Review available data - Develop recommendations for prevention programs or policies o Strategic Goal: Provide High Quality Environmental Health Services Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 3 ▪ Edmonds Trends for 2021 - 235 Annual Food Permits - 346 Food Inspections - 23 Food Complaints - 66 Year-round and 46 Seasonal Pool Inspections - 4 Septic Complaints - 8 Solid Waste Complaints ▪ Environmental Health - New resources coming online due to new state funds - Working on an initiative to digitize our paper records - Food safety code revision took effect March 1st - School safety inspections in progress - Solid waste complaints on nuisance - Front counter is fully open o Strategic Goal: Improve Maternal, Child & Family Health Outcomes ▪ Outreach & Education Activities – 2021 - 330 Families Provided w/ Access to Baby & Child Dentistry Info - 600+ Child Care Consultations - 1,192 Children w/ Special Health Care Needs Services Performed - 3,635 STARS Courses Completed - 3,891 People & Providers Reached w/ Oral Health Outreach o Strategic Goal: Address Ongoing, Critical Public Health Issues ▪ Updating the Community Health Assessment • Ways to Get Involved • For more information, please contact: o Katie Curtis Prevention Services Director 425.339.8711 KCurtis@snohd.org o Shawn Frederick, MBA Administrative Officer 425.339.8687 SFrederick@snohd.org Councilmember Tibbott commented he has the privilege of serving on the Snohomish Health Board. Observing that more funding is available for the Snohomish Health Board, he asked about incremental Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 4 increases in the Health District’s budget in the coming years. Ms. Curtis answered with the foundational public health funding, the District was awarded funding in each biennium including a couple million this year which will increase through 2025. The focus is on communicable disease, vaccines, epidemiology and in 2023-2025, some of the money is focused on maternal and child health programs. The District is particularly happy to receive those funds because there has not been dedicated funding in the past that focused on parents and babies programs and it will be a good way for the District to begin growing in that area. Councilmember Tibbott said he knew the District would use the funds wisely for programs that have been neglected in recent years. He asked about the percentage increase going back to 2018/2019. Ms. Curtis said she has been with the District since 2007 as it collapsed programs; she anticipated it was at least a 100-150% increase in funding. It is a substantial amount of money that allows the District to make gains as well as thank cities for propping up the District and to advise that funding from cities is no longer needed due to the dedicated funding. Councilmember Tibbott summarized it was very encouraging to have a dedicated source of funding for these important programs. With the current rise in COVID cases and this being the new norm, Councilmember L. Johnson asked what guidance or recommendations the District has for dining out in addition to being fully vaccinated and specifically for those who are too young to be vaccinated or who are immunocompromised. Ms. Curtis commented there are some great restaurants in Edmonds and sometimes it is not feasible to have an outdoor option. The best advice is for people who are not feeling well, even if it just a little sore throat or runny nose, to stay home. COVID is sneaking up on people and they may think it is just seasonable allergies or a mild cold. Short of opening all the doors and windows and running fans and filters, it is just the way buildings have been built. She encouraged people who were not feeling well to stay home. Councilmember L. Johnson summarized anything that can be done to increase airflow and ventilation would be a positive. Ms. Curtis agreed. Councilmember Buckshnis observed there has been a huge issue with fentanyl overdoses nationwide; a recent Seattle Times article described what is happening in communities and high schools. She asked if the District had information regarding Snohomish County, recognizing it is a very serious issue because it takes only a little fentanyl to overdose. Ms. Curtis answered the multi-agency coordination (MAC) group is focused on opioids and fentanyl. The District is always seeking grants to continue and to build on their work. The District received a HRSA grant focused in the Darrington/Sky Valley area and just applied for a grant through SAMHSA to assist with that work. The District is always looking for more funding and partners because it is a huge problem. Councilmember Buckshnis relayed one of the youth commissioner brought up the idea of Narcan training to prevent overdoses. She asked if that training was available for high schools. Ms. Curtis said there is Health District staff able to train on the use of Narcan; the District recently purchased Naloxone. She offered to follow up with Councilmember Buckshnis after the meeting regarding that training. Councilmember Buckshnis offered to connect her with the appropriate administrative person. Councilmember Chen thanked Ms. Curtis for the great work she and the team at the Health District do to keep everyone safe. He was interested and impressed by the decrease in youth suicides in recent years and asked if she had any insight into what had been done right or the reason for that success so that trend could continue. Ms. Curtis said she got that same question when presenting to the Lynnwood City Council yesterday and staff is following up on it. The District has a lot of partnerships and has done a lot of outreach and education in the community; she offered to follow up with him regarding the specifics following the meeting. 2. 2021 PUBLIC DEFENDER'S OFFICE ANNUAL REPORT Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 5 Kathleen Kyle, Executive Director, Snohomish County Public Defender Association, explained the Association is a 48-year old non-profit organization in Snohomish County providing public defender services and specific to Edmonds, for adult misdemeanor cases in Edmonds Municipal Court. She reviewed: • Why right to counsel so important o “Of all the rights that an accused person has, the right to be represented by counsel is by far the most pervasive for it affects his ability to assert any other rights he may have.” United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 654 (1984) • Why funding public defense is important o Required by law o Required by a just society o Work to ensure the most vulnerable are treated with consideration o Mission to provide the highest quality of representation to people facing loss of liberty • 2022 and 2023 Budget Proposals o Cost Drivers ▪ Increased staffing & overhead costs ▪ Difficult to forecast workload trends due to COVID Emergency ▪ orders and impacts to enforcement priorities due ▪ Opposing trends: - Increased number of pending cases - Decreased number of incoming referrals - Increased need for community support - Decreased availability of community services o 2021 $31,764.56/month o 2022 $33,545/month o 2023 $36,290/month • Photo of 2021 Defenders and 2022 Edmonds Team • Review insights o Cases Assigned by Year ▪ 2017: 621 ▪ 2018: 634 ▪ 2019: 669 ▪ 2020: 557 ▪ 2021: 483 o Comparing 2020 to 2021 Case Assignments Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2020 144 85 173 155 2021 155 130 103 106 o Comparing Top 3 Case Types in 2021 to 2020 Theft Assault DUI 2021 124 73 44 2020 114 65 57 o 2021 Investigation and Social Worker Requests Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Investigation 49 80 22 23 Social Work 3 24 10 12 o Reduced DWLS 3 Prosecutions year-to-year comparison ▪ 2019: 165 ▪ 2020: 94 ▪ 2021: 19 o 2022 Open Assignments by attorney Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 6 ▪ Open caseload: 124 ▪ Open caseload: 151 ▪ Open caseload: 159 o Education/Training ▪ 22 continuing legal education classes ▪ 24 SCPDA coffee breaks ▪ 19 antiracism training sessions • Current challenges o Increase in volume and types of discovery o Impact to workload ▪ The law office assistants who receive and log each item. ▪ The law office assistants who redact discovery for clients to review. ▪ IT who builds and maintains the servers and database systems where documents are stored. ▪ Legal assistants who assist in organizing discovery in preparation for trials and sentencings. ▪ Attorneys, investigators, and social workers who have to review it. o State v. Blake - Simple drug possession laws are unconstitutional ▪ Photo of Blake re-sentencing and vacate team ▪ Scan and SCPDA will assist with vacating prior drug conviction o Coordinate multiple systems ▪ Mitigate impact to vulnerable people & public and private investment when systems intersect: - Courts - Service Organizations - Medical and Behavioral Health Services - Churches - YWCA - Job Support Organizations - Food Banks - Housing Programs Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 7 - Other public programs • Community Involvement o Snohomish County Human Services – Trueblood Housing Vouchers o Housing Consortium of Everett & Snohomish County o Snohomish County Juvenile Court Cultural Advisory Committee o Snohomish County Corrections Citizen Advisory Committee o Washington State Bar Association, Council on Public Defense o Washington State Sex Offender Policy Board, subcommittee members o Washington Defender Association o Washington Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys o Washington State Bar Association Character and Fitness Board o Teach in programs at UW School of Law and Edmonds College o Public defenders volunteer at: ▪ Cocoon House, board member ▪ Snohomish County Legal Services, board member ▪ Washington Innocence Project, board member ▪ Puget Sound Prisoner Support ▪ Washington State Sex Offender Treatment Provider Committee ▪ American Academy of Trial Lawyers Fellow – Natalie Tarantino ▪ Guest lecturers at University of Washington, Seattle University, and Edmonds Community College ▪ Jackson High School Mock Trial Coaches Councilmember Paine asked if recent legislative changes will have any impact on SCPDA’s workload, noting Edmonds’ Police Department will be adding body cameras. She asked if Ms. Kyle could forecast things for the betterment of the entire criminal justice system. Ms. Kyle answered the interesting thing about looking at historical public defender data is that it is not predictive of future work trends; the forces that control the tap are not based on history. She did not anticipate any change as a result of the legislative changes although she has been wrong in the past. For example, she was the director in 2020 who allowed two work for home days and then the pandemic hit and staff is all hybrid all the time and has made that switch. With regard to the legislative changes regarding law enforcement reform and use of force, she did not know if that impacted Edmonds, whether Edmonds Police Department changed their protocols based on that. She was unsure it would be more back to business as usual because HB 1310 had been amended to answer some of law enforcement’s concerns. Ms. Kyle continued, the legislature is asking them to get creative with what were formerly thought of as street crimes, drug use, homelessness, etc. Edmonds is trying some experiments such as community court which has resulted in some successes; people who have struggled for a long time and in looking at what had been tried before, success would not have been predicted, yet in 2022, they are finding sobriety and are in recovery and recovery can happen any day. She encouraged remaining curious and describe what is seen and not be quick to a conclusion about why. Their biggest concern is the lack of community resources including the mental health component. There are no providers taking new patients who are low income and those people absolutely end up as people that they see. The more creative that prevention measures can be and not use the criminal justice system for these behaviors, the better; viewing it as a systemic thing and not an individual thing. She compared it to lead paint in the 1970s and the food chain and obesity, systemic issues. Councilmember Chen thanked Ms. Kyle for the great work the public defenders do. He recognized some populations need this service more than others and he appreciated the SCPDA providing that service. He noted cases assigned by year were trending down but the budget was trending up and asked about less work more cost. Ms. Kyle said if they got to that threshold, yes. They are watching it, including meeting Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 8 with the auditor the City’s hired to review those numbers. It is not as simple as looking at the incoming number of cases, it is also the things being juggled and the ones in the system appearing for probation. If that trend continues, SCPDA will reduce staffing in Edmonds and reduce public defender costs. Councilmember L. Johnson said two things stood out to her including Ms. Kyle’s comment about the most vulnerable may have the worst outcome and not using the criminal justice system for systemic issues. When talking about poverty and specifically those who are unhoused and everything that comes with that, she asked what is the best way to address that. Some people are very uncomfortable with seeing people who are unhoused and want it addressed in a certain way. Ms. Kyle said housing is the key; if the intent is housing the unhoused, they need a home to go to, but that requires being creative as it is not a one size fits all. For example, someone who is unhoused because they are autistic and no longer have family support, need a different housing option than a shelter with ambient noise that may dysregulate an autistic person but would be good for a person who just needs recovery as being in a community can be a positive for people in recovery. It is important to see people as individuals and recognize their strengths. Generalizations are used as a way to wrap our head around things, but these are human beings who are complex and have the possibility of success. Ms. Kyle continued, one of the hardest parts of working with unhoused populations is many of them have lost hope. As one thinks of a chronically unhoused person or someone who doesn’t want help, it is because they have been harmed previously and are taking survival protective action and maybe the behaviors that people don’t like to see is just that trauma showing up and they need to be asked about their path. There are 41 navigation teams in Snohomish County; there needs to be housing to navigate them to. Creating opportunities through education is important; Edmonds College has some great low barrier programs to help with basics such as how to sign up for medical insurance, how to get into college, etc. Every year of education is likely a protective action and the less likely a person will be her client and more likely they will be out in the community earning a living and supporting themselves. The City is trying to be creative such as establishing the community court and a court calendar for people to get relicensed and consider their ability to pay. The highest crime they see referred is Theft III; getting creative around diversion programs for simple thefts is important. The stereotypical way of thinking is that if people are punished, they will stop the behavior. However, as public defenders they see that punishment does not change behavior, relationships change behavior and their needs to be investment in those relationships. Mayor Nelson thanked Ms. Kyle for sharing their social worker with the City’s homelessness taskforce earlier this year. 5. APPROVAL OF AGENDA COUNCILMEMBER PAINE MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER L. JOHNSON, TO APPROVE THE AGENDA IN CONTENT AND ORDER. COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS, TO AMEND TO ADD AN EXECUTIVE SESSION REGARDING POTENTIAL LITIGATION AS ITEM 8.1 AND TO RENUMBER THE REMAINING COUNCIL BUSINESS ITEMS. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. MAIN MOTION AS AMENDED CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 6. AUDIENCE COMMENTS Mayor Nelson described the procedures for in-person audience comments. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 9 Christi Flynn, Edmonds, representing her husband and her neighbors the McLaughlins, spoke about Perrinville Creek, fish, City structures and their properties. Their properties, west of Talbot Road at the end of Perrinville Creek before it goes beneath the railroad tracks, have been significantly impacted by the creek in the last two years. Exhibit A in her handout is an overview map from a report the City did in 2010 studying similar issues. Increased heavy rain events and resulting stormwater runoff create damaging high water flows in the creek when coupled with the undersized and/or improperly maintained City structures, culverts and crossings. Tons of sediment, large rocks and wood debris are flushed downstream choking out potential salmon habitat and damaging properties. For the last 18 months, they have been working with the Edmonds public works department to find a long term solution to the flooding, fish habitat and property destruction. They seek a collaborative and cooperative process with all the stakeholders involved. Ms. Flynn continued, they strongly believe any plan for the creek must include the following, 1) they basically agreed to a concept shown or known as option/alignment C in the handout in 2021. However, details such as making it more natural looking, more sinuous, possibly backup bypass issues and maintenance issues may need to be worked out. 2) a mitigation plan or diversion plan for the huge volume of water and sediment that flows through the creek during heavy rainfall events. Former Public Works Director Phil Williams informed them that 73% of the water in the creek originates in Lynnwood. During heavy rain events, rushing waters erode the banks in South County Park sending tons of sand and rock through the creek which end up damming and blocking the City’s structures in the creek and ruining any hope of salmon habitat. 3) a substantially improved culvert or crossing under the railroad tracks. 4) replace and lower the culvert under Talbot Road. The current configuration is a barrier to high flows downstream and any fish migration upstream. As property owners, they want to work with the City and all stakeholders in a common-sense approach. It is does not make sense to carve out a new, temporary creek bed through their properties. She submitted written materials Chris Walton, Edmonds, referenced the project at Main Street & 6th, and said consideration needs to be given to where the town wants to be in 10-20 years and have a vision for that. He was concerned because developers and real estate development organizations throughout the region are changing the town fast and not necessarily in a great way. They have a lot of money and can influence people who make decisions; the only thing that can be done to slow the negative effects of developers is to have very good codes, a vision, and a good architectural review board that keeps them from using the maximization of profits as the only goal. He was not anti-business, but the reality is maximizing profits results in pushing the limits of codes as far as possible. He felt Main Street was a good example of where the City is not headed in the next 10-20 years, where there will be an immensely dense downtown with a lot of people in condos, very limited businesses with only high end restaurants and wine bars, and pushing out the type of businesses that are needed in Edmonds. He urged the council to create a solid vision and communicate that vision to the engineering groups creating the codes to preserve the quality of Edmonds going forward. Lynda Fireman, Edmonds, commented Edmonds is a small town with historic roots. It is a suburb and not Seattle which is why people are drawn to live and visit. The business core is very small and now BD2 is not required to have a commercial first floor. She cited a comment from the developer that the high density of the proposed project is seen as a guide for further development allowed and encouraged by the comprehensive plan. She asked if there was a secret plan to change the zoning and increase density for RM 1.5 on this square blook and for the rest of Edmonds. After reading through all the ordinances and council meetings, there is never enough time set aside to have a clear and transparent City plan to align the wishes of the residents with the need to increase the density for revenue. Everything is pushed through without attention to detail or consideration of the ramifications on surrounding properties. She questioned why these three lots downtown were mixed commercial if the intent was always to allow multifamily building. Ordinance 3955 clearly states permitted residential uses for downtown mixed commercial are Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 10 single family dwelling and multiple dwelling units but they have to be located on the second floor behind the first 45 feet from the sidewalks. Staff has said that was not the intent of the ordinance, it was different than what was written further on, apparently an interpretation. As she understood it from a legal perspective, intent is not the law. Clarifying it now after the fact when this is a current development issue cannot be legal, there is too much doublespeak. Citizens deserve clarity and to know the true intent of the mayor’s intention and his direction to staff. Ms. Fireman asked that the emergency ordinance be extended so that design standards can be properly addressed. She was not asking for the ordinance to be extended for a maximum of six months and not to have the developer and his architect involved as it is a conflict of interest. If it takes a year or more, so be it; the city council has the power to have it done right once and for all. Interim and future design features should require the scale be addressed; scale is the relationship of a building in terms of size, height, bulk, density and aesthetics to its surroundings. A building scale is contextual in nature and is a key factor in determining how well it blends in with the neighborhood. The comprehensive plan says stereotype, boxy, multiple unit residential buildings are to be avoided and it’s essential that commercial developments continue to harmonize and enhance the residential small town character that the citizens of Edmonds so strongly desire to retain. She questioned what else was waiting in the pipeline that would use these interim design standards before the design standards and comprehensive plan is looked at again and how long will that take and whether it would be after all the 25 identified parcels had been developed. She gestured toward a wall in council chambers, stating it likely was not even 25 feet high; looking across from her condo, the wall will be 40 feet high and she will not be any further away from it than the chairs. Greg Brewer, Edmonds, said an important decision is about to be made concerning permittable uses in BD2 mixed commercial zone. If 100% residential is allowed to be built there, the ability to protect and grow diversity and equity in that important zone is at stake. Losing ground floor commercial will have devastating effects on the ability of businesses to grown and thrive in a zone set aside for them by the predecessors. Ground floor commercial must be protected. The City is changing rapidly as more restaurants and services fill the downtown core extending up Main Street to the BD2 zone. With the new construction of the Commons on the corner and Civic Park nearby, the intersection at 6th & Main will soon have an even greater prominence for the downtown. It is indeed the eastern gateway to the downtown business district. As he read through the memorandum that City planners and city attorney put together to justify 100% residential, he saw more evidence toward keeping ground floor commercial in the BD2 zone. Both sides of Main Street east of 6th currently have businesses with 9 on the north side and at least 2 on the south side, an extension of the business corridor. Eliminating commercial on the north side will permanently destroy this corridor. Mr. Brewer referred to page 11, paragraph 1 of the memorandum which states, in the core area the intent was to avoid extending the designated street front along areas where there are significant residential uses. There are few residential uses near this intersection. Conversely, designated street fronts should be reserved for areas where there are businesses on both sides of the street. It makes perfect sense to extend the line east on Main and include this part of the BD2 zone. There are a couple areas of town where this extension could help clarify the code and eliminate the need to rewrite spot zoning for BD2 areas left behind. Regarding the blue line identifying the designated street front, on page 12 it states council has the legislative discretion to alter the designated street front map if it sees fit to do so. Recognizing it as a no brainer; he asked the council to extend the line and save the eastern gateway to the downtown core for business on the ground floor. Businesses are already across the street and it is by far the easiest way to clean up the confusion. Jenna Jotika Nand, Edmonds, spoke regarding a troubling trend of underage prostitution along the Highway 99 corridor, specifically being facilitated by bikini barista shops. She interviewed multiple young women who claim they are of age but look to be between 12 and 14 years old. These young Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 11 women are heavily tattooed and are often functionally illiterate. This is a scrouge in the community where she grew up and was a girl scout, not a place where girls are supposed to be selling sex in barista shops claiming they are 18 years old when they have clearly not even gone through puberty. This is a very sensitive topic that has to be approached in a way that the young girls do feel they are being criminalized but to target the pimps. She would like the City to make an effort to review business licenses and L&I compliance with all of these underage prostitution joints that are springing up on Highway 99, specifically in the Edmonds section of Highway 99, but it is a problem from Everett to Seattle. She was shocked to see one of these prostitution joints spring up in Edmonds. Robert Stivers, Edmonds, said he loves living in Edmonds has been here for nearly a half century. Downtown is like one of Rick Steves’ precious backdoors to Europe but in the USA and its history goes back to the 19th century. A visitor once compared it to Main Street in Disneyland, only more real. It is his go-to place for shopping and services; he loves stopping at Teri’s Toybox to see the latest models of exotic animals, seeing what David Varnau and Andy Eccleshall have created, the wonders of geology in the Wishing Stone, buying a gift card for his wife at Sound Styles, and getting train tickets at the Amtrak station, all essentially public spaces, one of the reasons why cities exist. Edmonds has a pedestrian scale vibrant downtown and public spaces like parks and playing fields. The City needs more public spaces as the population increases especially downtown; it does not make sense to increase one without increasing the other. The proposed development flies in the face of this; it is the beginning of the alteration of downtown Edmonds culture. He urged the council not to erode space dedicated to public uses or erode downtown Edmonds with increased population without also providing this type of space. He also did not want to walk under private balconies having lived in New York City too long for that, or go by streetside private reserves even down an alley. He supported utilizing for private use the most underutilized of all developable spaces in the modern city, the rooftops. Acknowledging it would cost more for a developer, the future of downtown Edmonds is at stake and the result will be a healthier and cleaner downtown with public spaces to accommodate all who want to visit and the preservation of the unique Edmonds downtown culture. Michelle Dotsch, Edmonds, spoke regarding the BD2 moratorium and BD2 design standards. The minutes of the April 2, 2013 city council meeting are clear, only BD4 was presented to the council with having two options, either commercial on the ground floor or multifamily only. She quoted from page 7 where Rob Chave stated clearly for the councilmembers to understand, “in the BD4 there are two options, a commercial building that requires the 15 foot step-back or a multifamily building up to 30 feet with a front yard setback.” She pointed out he never mentions nor is there any reference during the entire city council meeting before the ordinance is passed that BD2 also has these two options, only BD4 has the second use of multifamily clearly defined and referenced in writing in the code and there are different standards if either commercial or multifamily only. BD2 is not included in that exception. If the intent was that BD2 could also have both interpretations, why did Mr. Chave not say that? Because it never could. Only BD4 is clarified in the code that there are different parameters, setbacks, design standards and density with the multifamily only option versus commercial. She questioned why BD2 was not done at the same time. There is nothing in writing to clearly define that there are two options in the BD2 just like BD4. The staff-created multifamily only areas in the BD2 zone will now have the most intense density of any multifamily building in any downtown zoning. The reason is they are attempting to use the commercial zoning to go right up to the sidewalk with entirely residential. Dr. Dotsch urged the council to think about these newly zoned 28 multifamily lots within the BD2 subarea now having the highest density anywhere downtown. To say this is somehow a transition area is incorrect as it goes from the less intense density of BD1 to this new BD2 designation that is much denser to then the adjacent surrounding RM-1.5 zoning which is less dense. She imagined this ring of 28 lots being out of sorts with downtown density, use and bulk from Sunset Avenue, down 2nd South, down 3rd Avenue North, on 6th Avenue and up Main Street and Dayton Street with the solution for the setback idea Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 12 to actually shrink the current 15 foot setback to only 5 feet from the RM-1.5 middle housing zone adjacent to these lots. The neighbors might want to know that their homes next to this newly defined zoning is putting these giant housing projects only 5 feet from their property line with decks and roof top decks hanging over their homes. This is not a small change, but newly created zone with new zoning requirements. Consideration also needs to be given to the increased density and massing on these 28 downtown lots and whether it even complies with the GMA or is compatible with current infrastructure including public facilities and services needed to serve these developments. She urged the council to make a fully informed decision tonight; if councilmembers were unable to say they were fully informed, she urged them not to allow this public process to be stopped by removing a full and fair discission of what this will truly look like. Just like the connector discussion sped up before the public really knew the impact and many councilmembers helped stop that from happening. Once these decisions are allowed to go ahead without clarity, it is hard to pull back, but it can be done. Ken Reidy, Edmonds, said on April 5th after the public hearing was closed, the city council took unplanned and unannounced action which upset citizens and resulted in citizens speaking out from the audience. New information including staff opinions about historical legislative intent were discussed after the citizens’ time to comment ended. During the public hearing, he asked city council how citizens were supposed to know how to prepare public comments for the public hearing as neither the public notice nor the agenda packet identified the findings the council was to consider adopting. Council did not answer his question but added an additional unannounced element to the public hearing process that citizens were also unaware of before the public hearing. He asked the council to address this conduct and take steps to ensure it never happens again during the middle of a public hearing. Next, Mr. Reidy said state law states a moratorium may be renewed for one or more six month periods if a subsequent public hearing is held and findings of fact are made prior to each renewal. He referred to the use of the word “renewal,” which is different than extension. Renewal allows for a new moratorium as opposed to the mere extension of extra time to the pervious moratorium. A moratorium adopted without a work plan may be effective for not longer than six months. A moratorium can be for one month, two months, four months, any length of time not longer than six months. This fact was known to the Edmonds city council prior to council’s vote to pass Ordinance 4247 on February 15th. Mr. Reidy continued, as this fact was known upfront, it was critical that city council established a proper time period for the original moratorium. Edmonds city council chose two months; this was allowed by the not longer than six months authority provided by the statute. Once Edmonds city council made its legal choice of two months, that time period could not be extended. Who would imagine Edmonds city council thinking a moratorium could be extended rather than replacing the original moratorium with a new moratorium. Making it worse, council failed to adopt findings of fact justifying the original moratorium before it expired. Council also failed to justify continuing the original moratorium after the April 5th public hearing up to April 15th. He urged the council to read the emergency declaration in Ordinance 4218 and questioned whether there was really an emergency if the council had the legal right to merely extend the four months effective period of Ordinances 4200 and 4201 and do so without holding a subsequent public hearing and making findings of fact. He questioned whether the council is being advised that they can have their cake and eat it too. He urged the council to stop abusing the moratorium and interim zoning process, citing Ordinance 4210 as another great example. Mayor Nelson described the procedures for virtual audience comments. Linda Ferkingstad, Edmonds, referred to the tree ordinance, stating trees are legally the property of those whose land they grown on and can only be given voluntarily to the City by owners for protection. Edmonds has placed the public burden of tree canopy coverage on a small group of property owners by seizing and then charging them for the rights to their trees and the land they shadow. She provided an analogy; the City decides your neighbors would benefit from more vehicles. Although neighbors have Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 13 their own cars, your family’s vehicles are seized and given to them. You cannot touch your vehicles or the ground they shadow until you’ve paid your car’s worth to the City. Still responsible for taxes and insurance on something you can’t use without paying for it a second time, you sell, but new owners can’t use the vehicles until they’ve paid the City their worth and the worth of their shadows. Edmonds has done this with their trees. Stealing once by taking, twice by charging. With 1,962 acres, last month’s tree canopy assessment shows a 118 acre increase since the 2017 report of 1,844 acres. At 34.6%, Edmonds has had a 4.3% increase in canopy since the 30.3% reported in 2017. Fearful that Edmonds’ tree canopy would decrease below 30%, council passed a year of emergency moratoriums and the tree ordinance last year. The canopy increase to 34.6% gives no justification for taking tree rights from all vacant property owners while they comply with the 30% tree retention requirement. Shoreline just changed theirs from 20% to 25% retention. Ms. Ferkingstad continued, Edmonds is blatantly violating the takings clause of the 5th Amendment of the constitution written to protect citizens from governmental taking without compensation. Edmonds has seized rights to 100% of the trees on all vacant single family zoned properties and then requires owners pay for appraisals and $3,000 to $12,000 for each tree before allowing removal to build homes. Property owners have to purchase replacement trees or pay an additional $2,000 for each tree and then the City continues to control rights for all remaining trees on the private properties indefinitely. The rights and freedom to maintain trees on private property that all Edmonds homeowners enjoy have been stolen from vacant property owners and future homeowners. The year delay and tree ordinance takings and charges have harmed citizens, couples who wish to divide and sell their property for retirement, owners with the intention of building desperately needed single family homes and those who want to buy them, and her family trying to build their three homes. For a year she has pleaded with the council to uphold the constitution; the council has not done that and her family is running out of precious time. She urged the council to restore their property rights to be equal to theirs and to rescind the illegal tree ordinance. Natalie Seitz, Edmonds, spoke regarding fish and the environment. Environmental priorities should be set by a transparent public process and she wholly objected to council assertions that seek to create new environmental priorities that are not consistent with those developed through public process and in alignment with the Washington Administrative Code. With regard to environmental priorities, scientists often disagree on data and resource managers disagree on how data should be used when making decisions. The council appears to support only one source of information with no presentation from WDFW on their process for determining fish use in conjunction with the tribes and informed by science, no presentation from the Lake Ballinger Forum, no presentation from other resource managers and scientists, but myopic focus on one designation when it supports further investment and the desires of a downtown interest group. It looks at select life stages of one species of the six salmon species covered by the culverts case in the setting of other environmental concerns, climate change and public health for the Edmonds community. While she respected WRIA 8 resource managers, the environment is a much broader conversation than a WRIA 8 designation and there are many more resource managers and resident scientists who can speak to the issue of salmon as well as other facets of the environment. These are scientists and resource managers the City has chosen not to listen to or use information from. Ms. Seitz guessed the City did not ask the tribes if they would prefer the tidal channel be re-engineered through a contaminated site in order to avoid impacts to the marina. The WRIA 8 designation does not extend more than 300 feet upstream from Puget Sound so while this designation is held up as the only designation that matters for the marsh, there appears to be no value in the lack of designation when other priorities are identified in western and the widest areas of the City. The only place where the lack of designation by WRIA 8 seems to make a difference to the City council is when it is in the more diverse east side of the City. The public was asked about several environmental priorities during the PROS Plan process and when asked, the marsh ranked last. If the council truly felt the survey was biased, why didn’t those who support the marsh jump at the opportunity for the public process she had been asking for? Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 14 When the City and council chooses to forego the public feedback for an interest group or its own desires for the marsh, it misses a critical opportunity to right-size the project, but it is also a subversion of the public trust for the PROS Plan process and the purpose of granting agencies in valuing named projects as a metric of community support. Projects without community support fail all the time; every granting cycle, good projects that have the support of their communities fall below the grant funding line. What the council is doing by subverting public feedback and not seeking to have a public process to gain support for the marsh is in all likelihood the worst possible outcome for salmon if projects that actually have community support are not funded. Holding a public process is also a funding critical for WRIA 8, so if selected, this process would help not hurt grant funding for the marsh. Next week she will speak on public process and equity. Adrienne Fraley-Monillas, Edmonds, thanked Natalie Seitz for thinking outside the box and demanding a clear say in the priorities. She thanked Senator Marko Liias for all the work he has done to get funding for Highway 99. She met with Senator Liias last week to thank him for his efforts to get $22 million to work on Highway 99, a fantastic start to the future of the area. She thanked Mayor Nelson and his staff and County Councilmember Stephanie Wright for being part of this process and talking to the legislature about the needs of the Highway 99 area. She thanked Councilmembers Paine and L. Johnson for their support of the PROS Plan, comprehensive plan, budget and equity for residents who live in uptown Edmonds; she appreciated their ethics, values and concern, stating everyone needs to continue pushing forward to continue the work done on Highway 99. She looked forward to developing plans for the area. 7. APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS COUNCILMEMBER PAINE MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS, TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. The agenda items approved are as follows: 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING (AUDIT EXIT CONFERENCE) OF MARCH 29, 2022 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING OF MARCH 31, 2022 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 5, 2022 4. APPROVAL OF PAYROLL AND BENEFIT CHECKS, DIRECT DEPOSIT AND WIRE PAYMENTS 5. APPROVAL OF CLAIM CHECKS AND WIRE PAYMENT 6. ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF A CLAIM FOR DAMAGES FROM LACEY GRAY 7. WRITTEN PUBLIC COMMENTS 8. CONFIRM APPOINTMENT OF CANDIDATE TO A BOARD/COMMISSION 9. CONFIRM APPOINTMENT OF CANDIDATE TO A BOARD/COMMISSION 10. HUMAN SERVICES PROGRAM MANAGER POSITION REVISION 11. APPROVAL OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH THE BLUELINE GROUP TO PROVIDE CAPITAL PROJECTS CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, ENGINEERING & INSPECTION SERVICES 12. FEBRUARY 2022 MONTHLY FINANCIAL REPORT Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 15 13. APPROVAL OF SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH SCJ FOR HWY 99 GATEWAY-REVITALIZATION STAGE 2 PROJECT 14. PARK PLANNER AND CAPITAL PROJECT MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION APPROVAL 15. LEAD BUILDING MAINTENANCE OPERATOR JOB DESCRIPTION 16. RESOLUTION EXTENDING TEMPORARY EMERGENCY SICK LEAVE POLICY 17. PROCEDURE FOR ACCEPTING WRITTEN PUBLIC COMMENTS 18. WWTP PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR 8. COUNCIL BUSINESS 1. EXECUTIVE SESSION: POTENTIAL LITIGATION PER RCW 42.30.110(1)(I) At 8:38 p.m., Mayor Nelson announced that the City Council would meet in executive session regarding potential litigation per RCW 42.30.110(1)(i). He stated that the executive session was scheduled to last approximately 20 minutes and would be held in the Police Training Room, located in the Public Safety Complex as well as virtually. Elected officials present at the executive session were Mayor Nelson, and Councilmembers K. Johnson, Tibbott, Buckshnis, Paine, Olson, L. Johnson, and Chen. Others present were City Attorney Jeff Taraday. At 8:59 p.m., Mayor Nelson announced the executive session would be extended for 15 minutes to 9:14 p.m. At 9:14 p.m., Mayor Nelson announced the executive session would be extended for 10 minutes to 9:24 p.m. At 9:24 p.m., Mayor Nelson announced the executive session would be extended for 10 minutes to 9:34 p.m. The executive session concluded at 9:34 p.m. Mayor Nelson reconvened the regular City Council meeting at 9:34 p.m. Mayor Nelson announced in conferring with Council President Olson, it was agreed to move the ARPA Funding Status and Special Event Permits and Amendments to ECC Title 4 Licenses to a future meeting. COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS, TO DELETE ITEMS 3 AND 4. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 2. RESOLUTION TO ADOPT FINDINGS IN SUPPORT OF THE BD2 MORATORIUM (Previously Agenda Item 8.1) City Attorney Jeff Taraday explained any time a city council adopts a moratorium, the statute requires findings be adopted to justify the moratorium. It is not a question of whether to adopt findings, but whether the findings reflect the council’s belief in terms of why the moratorium was adopted and whether they clearly and fully articulate the bases for the moratorium. Item 8.1 in the packet contains a draft resolution with several whereas clauses that represent his best effort to capture what he believes to be many of the council’s concerns, but he may not have captured all of them. Therefore, the council is free to amend, add, or remove whereas clauses, but ultimately the resolution in some form should be adopted tonight with possible amendments by the city council. COUNCILMEMBER TIBBOTT MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS, TO ADD A WHEREAS CLAUSE THAT STATES SOMETHING TO THE EFFECT OF, WHEREAS SOME COUNCILMEMBERS FELT IT WAS IMPORTANT TO RECONSIDER WHETHER THE DESIGNATED STREET FRONT MAP SHOULD BE EXTENDED. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 16 Councilmember Tibbott recalled during council deliberations and looking at the map, councilmembers realized the development of downtown has filled out and his question was what would it take to extend the blue line to other areas of the City thereby extending the street front. Council President Olson expressed her full support for this change, commenting a lot has changed in the downtown over the years. One specific recent change is the Commons and that is one direction in which the line should be extended because it has become almost a hub of the commercial district. Councilmember Paine asked whether the timing mattered as part of the findings, whether it was during the first part of the moratorium or mid-moratorium. Mr. Taraday answered the council has six months of moratorium authority. Justifications on day 1 of the moratorium for initially enacting it may be different than on day 60 or day 90 if the council decides to continue the moratorium. The justifications do not have to be the ones that were anticipated on day 1; anything from day 1 to present would be acceptable to include in the resolution. Councilmember Buckshnis expressed support for the motion. She noted some councilmembers were around during the BD discussions. The gist of the 2013 ordinances and the latest Ordinances 3955 and 3918 dealt with something that fulfilled the economic development plan and strategic goals, to create synergy for commercial businesses where possible, for example, implementing a retail core. Adding this will help; there is already a very dense downtown and multifamily housing is needed throughout the City. She referred to the Edmonds City Council approved minutes of November 4, 2013 where Stephen Clifton talked about public safety with the office space and the central gathering place coming into the Commons. The vision was for a retail core in the downtown area. Councilmember Chen expressed support for extending the blue line, however, he wanted to see a vibrant downtown with mixed use. The BD2 zone was intended to be mixed use so he would like to see that type of development where commercial and residential are mixed for that purpose. Councilmember L. Johnson said she did not support the motion. This is a new concern that never came up with the other two projects in a similar area of the BD2 zone. By extending it, commercial only would be allowed, but there would be no requirement for mixed use or multifamily. The City limits where multifamily is allowed and this is one more attempt to further limit it. These concerns were not expressed before and are an example of the way the community has repeatedly reacted to multifamily development. Councilmember Paine said she was troubled by this last minute addition. It is trying to create a solution that is very short sighted before there is additional information from an economic and residential needs assessment of the community. It is clearly no longer 2013 and she does not support this addition to the whereas clauses as the council is not operating with good information. UPON ROLL CALL, AMENDMENT CARRIED (5-2), COUNCILMEMBERS K. JOHNSON, CHEN, TIBBOTT AND BUCKSHNIS AND COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON VOTING YES; COUNCILMEMBERS PAINE AND L. JOHNSON VOTING NO. UPON ROLL CALL, MAIN MOTION AS AMENDED CARRIED (5-2), COUNCILMEMBERS K. JOHNSON, CHEN, TIBBOTT AND BUCKSHNIS AND COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON VOTING YES; COUNCILMEMBERS PAINE AND L. JOHNSON VOTING NO. City Clerk Scott Passey advised that was Resolution 1490. Mayor Nelson declared a brief recess. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 17 3. INTERIM DESIGN STANDARDS FOR MULTIFAMILY-ONLY BUILDINGS IN THE BD2 ZONE (previously Item 8.2) Senior Planner Mike Clugston provided an update on the status of the design standards for multifamily only buildings in BD2. Since the April 5th meeting where there were comments on several of the design standards, staff took the standards to the Architectural Design Board (ADB) who were generally in favor of the proposed language with a couple of tweaks. Staff’s recommend is to approve the interim design standards in Exhibit 2 via the ordinance in Exhibit 3. With regard to materials, which was one of the design standards, no change was recommended; the ADB and the public seemed to like the concept of materials used on these types of buildings. Similarly, for the street side amenity space, the concept that provides a setback was well received and no changes are proposed. Mr. Clugston continued, there were no concerns with the private amenity space generally, but there was some concern with roof top decks. As a result a small change was proposed to the roof top deck areas as outlined in the packet. Previously a roof top deck would be allowed to fulfill the amenity space requirement; that was changed to say it could not be used to fulfill the amenity space requirement, but could be provided. Another question raised was whether roof top decks should be allowed to the edge of the roof; the building code allows railings at the edge. There was some concern from the council, public and the ADB who felt some setback of the railing would be useful for safety and proposed a 5-foot setback as a starting point. He recalled a setback for the railing was also suggested by a member of the public at the April 5th meeting. Mr. Clugston continued, another question was raised about whether the roof top deck should be counted toward the private amenity space requirement. There was some concern that a developer would put all the 50% amenity space on the roof, thereby depriving some individual residences of balconies, decks and patios. The revised language changes the ability to use the roof top deck to meet the amenity space requirement; a roof top deck is still allowed, but all the private amenity space has to be provided with individual units or at the ground level meeting the existing standards in the proposed language. He summarized with the feedback from council, the ADB and the public, the design standards are generally pretty good and would result in improved projects in multifamily only buildings in BD2. Council President Olson said she not sure she was against the idea of a roof top deck but was not sure she was ready to say they absolutely should be allowed. Her concern was with building heights, a cultural value in Edmonds. When building heights were increased 5 feet at one point, the idea wasn’t to allow increased levels of living units, but to allow for some roof modulation or slope so the roofs were not all flat because that is not a great design in the Pacific Northwest. Things can be placed on a roof top deck, even if they aren’t permanent, such as umbrellas and furniture. If part of the desire to keep building heights at a certain level is to be respectful of views due to the slope throughout the lower level of Edmonds, she had an issue with roof top decks in the context of the community value of avoiding increasing building heights due the impact on views. She summarized she was uncertain she was ready to allow roof top decks as an amenity. Mr. Clugston responded a number of exceptions to the height are allowed such as an architectural feature that can cover 5% of the roof area on a BD building, elevator penthouses, solar panels, etc. He summarized the height limit such as 30 feet is not an absolute drop dead maximum as things can project above it. Using that information, staff determined roof top decks fit with that concept particularly if the railings are transparent and there are no permanent structures on the roof top. COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS, TO EXTEND FOR 30 MINUTES. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 18 Development Services Director Susan McLaughlin said staff is not wed to the concept of roof top decks as part of the interim design standards. The most recent revision excludes roof top decks from the required private amenity space and they are happy to exclude roof top deck from the interim design standards. The multifamily design standards are a 2022 work plan item which will provide more time to delve into it. The focus of the interim design standards is setback, articulation, and more green space on multifamily buildings. Councilmember Buckshnis said she was not sure if she was in favor of roof top decks; Edmonds is not Seattle and Seattle has a lot of them. She might be interested if they were recessed further than five feet. She recalled complaints the City received about the visibility of a tent on a business’s roof for a long period of time due the slope. She supported having more research done because Edmonds is unique and she anticipated roof top patios could get out of hand. There are rooftop patios in many large cities and she was not sure Edmonds was large enough for that yet. COUNCILMEMBER L. JOHNSON MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER PAINE, TO APPROVE THE REVISED INTERIM DESIGN STANDARDS IN EXHIBIT 2 AND ADOPT THE ORDINANCE IN EXHIBIT 3. Councilmember L. Johnson commented this is the third time the council has worked on this and the issues that were raised last week have been addressed. Staff came forward with what the council requested and further amendments can be made. COUNCILMEMBER TIBBOTT MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER K. JOHNSON, TO AMEND THE ORDINANCE BY REMOVING THE ROOF TOP PORTION AS IT IS WORTHY OF FURTHER DISCUSSION AND DELIBERATION. AMENDMENT CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Councilmember Paine expressed support for the product as amended, noting there is an opportunity for greater review by the public and another public process. This is a good interim proposal and it was her understanding the process would take about nine months which would allow for a good public process. A MOTION WAS MADE AND SECONDED BY COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON TO AMEND TO CHANGE THE CURRENT SECTION D OF 22.43.080 TO E AND ADD A NEW SECTION D THAT READS, SOME ROOF MODULATION IS REQUIRED WITH PREFERENCE FOR STEP DOWNS THAT FOLLOW THE SLOPE WHEN SLOPE EXISTS. Council President Olson said that was one of the features she notices and likes when she is downtown and prefers to see. The history of allowing an additional 5 feet in height was to allow slope on roofs or modulation so buildings were not square boxes and were a more attractive design. She recognized these were interim design standards, but some projects will vest under these interim design standards. Councilmember Paine asked how much slope modulation there was in other parts of Edmonds. She was concerned this would be disparate if it was only required in one of the business districts, noting it was not required for single family residences. She asked if any other zoning districts in the City required modulation on the slope. Council President Olson offered a point of clarification, that was not the amendment. Her motion was some roof modulation is required with preference for step-downs that follow the slope when slope exists, it would not be a mandate. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 19 Councilmember Paine said she was still curious about the answer to her question, whether this existed in any other zones. Mr. Clugston answered in the RM zones the base height maximum was 25 feet and an additional 5 feet was allowed with a roof pitch of 4:12 or greater. That was also permitted in BC zones. Councilmember Chen asked if there were any buildings in the City that had roof top amenities. Mr. Clugston answered roof top decks were allowed in other zones but the only one he was aware of was the new building at Westgate. Councilmember Chen said that could be a wonderful feature with enough setback. He supported respecting people’s privacy by having enough distance from the edge of building so that people were looking at the water and mountain views and not into other people’s windows. UPON ROLL CALL, AMENDMENT CARRIED (5-2), COUNCILMEMBERS K. JOHNSON, CHEN, TIBBOTT AND BUCKSHNIS AND COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON VOTING YES; COUNCILMEMBERS PAINE AND L. JOHNSON VOTING NO. COUNCILMEMBER TIBBOTT MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON, TO AMEND WITH REGARD TO GROUND FLOOR STREET FRONTS, TO EXTEND THE STREET FRONT TO THE ABUTTING CORNERS AROUND THE INTERSECTION TO INCLUDE STREET FRONTS IN THOSE LOCATIONS. THE EFFECT WOULD BE TO EXTEND WHERE THERE IS COMMERCIAL AND RETAIL ON THE GROUND FLOOR IN THOSE LOCATIONS. THERE ARE THREE PLACES ON THE MAP WHERE IT IS EXTENDED TO ALL FOUR CORNERS AND FOUR PLACES WHERE IT IS NOT. FOR EXAMPLE MAIN AND 6TH, IT STOPS RIGHT AT 6TH AND THERE ARE TWO OTHER CORNERS THAT DO NOT HAVE STREET FRONT AND THREE OTHER PLACES THAT SIMILAR TO THAT IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA. Mr. Taraday asked if the intent was to have that brought back or have an ordinance drafted tonight that would accomplish that. Councilmember Tibbott said he was open to asking Mr. Taraday to bring and ordinance back to council for review. Mr. Taraday said he would need to work with planning staff on that; that type of an amendment would be difficult to adopt tonight. If the intent is to have that in place before lifting the moratorium, the moratorium would need to be extended. The complexity involved with a map amendment of that nature would be difficult to do at 10:15 p.m. without long extensions of the meeting. If the council extended the moratorium for a month, it would give him time work with the planning division to bring back an ordinance that would accomplish that. If that was the case, there would need to be other amendments made to the ordinance currently before the council such removing language in Section 2 that lifts the moratorium. Council President Olson asked if the council was otherwise satisfied with the design standards, could the section about the moratorium be struck while staff is figuring out the designated street front. Mr. Taraday answered the council has options, 1) adopt the design standards as just amended and lift the moratorium, or 2) adopt the design standards as just amended and keep the moratorium in place. Adopting the design standards and keeping the moratorium in place will require two separate ordinances. As he was not certain how the discussion/vote would go, as a precaution, he prepared an ordinance to extend the moratorium for a month so it was ready if the council needed it. If council wants to adopt the design standards as amended and keep moratorium in place, a motion would need to be made to approve the version of the ordinance that he sent the council by email this afternoon that contains immediate effect language, not the packet version of the ordinance. Section 2 of that ordinance which repeals the moratorium would need to be deleted. He summarized if the council likes the design standards as amended and does not want to repeal the moratorium, that could be accomplished by deleting Section 2 of the ordinance he sent council this afternoon. COUNCILMEMBER TIBBOTT WITHDREW THE MOTION WITH THE AGREEMENT OF THE SECOND. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 20 COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER CHEN, TO ACCEPT THE DESIGN STANDARDS AS AMENDED TONIGHT AND OTHERWISE REPRESENTED IN THE ORDINANCE SENT THIS AFTERNOON BY EMAIL WITH THE EXCEPTION OF DELETING SECTION 2 THAT LIFTS THE MORATORIUM. Councilmember L. Johnson observed there was an motion on the floor to approve the ordinance in the packet. Mr. Taraday agreed the ordinance was moved originally and assumed the version of the ordinance was the one he sent this afternoon. Councilmember L. Johnson said her motion was to approve the ordinance in the packet. Mr. Taraday clarified the packet version will not take effect prior to the expiration of the moratorium. A version of the ordinance needs to be adopted which takes effect immediately which is why he sent out a revised version this afternoon. The revised version does not change any of the substance of the design standards, it is contains a declaration of emergency and has an immediate effect clause. He asked whether the maker of the motion was okay substituting that version for the version in the packet. Councilmember L. Johnson said she was unable to give that at this point without reading what was emailed. Mayor Nelson observed there was already a motion on the floor and this is another motion. He suggested addressing the main motion. Council President Olson began to make an amendment, to have Section 2 deleted that lifts the moratorium. She asked if the emergency clause could be removed if the moratorium was not lifted. Mr. Taraday said if the council wanted to prevent developments vesting to the preexisting standards, the ordinance needs to take effect immediately. The packet version does not take effect immediately; the council would need to adopt the version he sent this afternoon in order for it to take effect immediately. He offered to highlight the change to the ordinance in the packet. Councilmember L. Johnson clarified the version Mr. Taraday sent this afternoon does not lift the moratorium, it allows the design standards to take immediate effect. Mr. Taraday answered it does both; the council probably will want the design standards to take immediate effect either way unless a separate ordinance is adopted that extends the moratorium. If a separate ordinance is adopted to extend the moratorium, then the design standards ordinance does not need to be an emergency. The motion was clarified as follows: Councilmember L. Johnson was open to changing the motion to include what was emailed to the council now that she had had a chance to look at it, provided that that lifts the moratorium. The seconder, Councilmember Paine agreed as long as it lifted the moratorium. Councilmember Buckshnis said she would like to see all of this in writing and give citizens an opportunity to participate. She was concerned that at 10:25 p.m., the council was attempting to approve something that was sent this afternoon and then making amendments to it. She preferred to have the ordinance in the packet. She did not support the motion but wanted to have the moratorium extended so this could be fixed and everyone could see it in writing in the packet. She asked what needed to be done to make that happen. Mr. Taraday said the council would want to adopt the other ordinance he emailed this evening, not the afternoon one, that extends the moratorium for a month. Councilmember Buckshnis asked if the council would have to wait to do that until the motion the floor was addressed. Mr. Taraday agreed. Councilmember Buckshnis did not support the motion as she believed there needed to be a public process, the public had not read the ordinance and she had only read it quickly. COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS, THAT WE TABLE THIS MOTION. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 21 UPON ROLL CALL, MOTION CARRIED (5-2), COUNCILMEMBERS K. JOHNSON, CHEN, TIBBOTT AND BUCKSHNIS AND COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON VOTING YES; COUNCILMEMBERS PAINE AND L. JOHNSON VOTING NO. COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS, TO EXTEND THE MORATORIUM ONE MONTH. Council President Olson observed there was an ordinance that does that. She offered to read the ordinance. Councilmember L. Johnson raised a point of order, asking where this was on the agenda. Council President Olson answered this was one of the things the council can do. Councilmember L. Johnson said the council tabled this item. Mr. Taraday explained the motion to adopt the ordinance that adopts the interim design standards was tabled. If the council wants to take alternative action regarding the moratorium, it can do so, it can amend agenda, etc. A majority of the council can do whatever it wants during a regular meeting. Councilmember L. Johnson observed it was not on the existing agenda. Council President Olson asked if it was the council’s desire to take vote to add this to the agenda or could it be done via a head nod. Councilmember L. Johnson commented the council did not take action via head nods. Council President Olson restated her motion: TO ADD THE ITEM TO THE AGENDA AND EXTEND THE MORATORIUM. Councilmember Paine said adding this to the agenda at 10:26 p.m. was a rather thin nail to hang the transparency hat on. Councilmember Chen said the council needs more time and cannot vote on something that was sent in the afternoon. He did not support the motion. Council President Olson offered to withdraw the motion and plan a special meeting on Thursday. Councilmember Chen said that would be more appropriate. Councilmember K. Johnson said she like to take this vote tonight and did not want to have a special meeting on Thursday for this one item. It is part and parcel of what the council has discussed tonight related to adopting a resolution to adopt the findings in support of the BD2 moratorium. The motion would be to extend moratorium and she favored taking that action tonight. COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER TIBBOTT, TO EXTEND 10 MINUTES TO 10:40. MOTION CARRIED (5-2) COUNCILMEMBERS L. JOHNSON AND PAINE VOTING NO. COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON, FOR AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF EDMONDS, WASHINGTON, EXTENDING THE MORATORIUM OF THE ACCEPTANCE OF BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONS FOR BD2 ZONE LOTS THAT DO NOT FRONT ON A DESIGNATED STREET FRONT AS IMPOSED BY ORDINANCE 4247 AND EXTENDED BY ORDINANCE 4253. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 22 Councilmember Buckshnis said this was following through on what Councilmember K. Johnson said. There is a moratorium in place, this is the formal action to extend it for one month. If the council does not take this action, the moratorium will expire on Thursday and she did not think the city attorney and staff would have the necessary materials completed in time for a continued meeting on Thursday. She preferred to either approve extending the moratorium and if not, it will end on April 21 and the interim building standards will take effect. This will give time to do what needs to be done in terms of getting packet materials done and extending the moratorium. Councilmember L. Johnson did not support the motion. She found it interesting that the council just tabled something based on being unable to review something that was received at 5:00 p.m., yet would vote on a document that was received during the council meeting which she has not had an opportunity to review. Councilmember Paine preferred to come back on Thursday. There is a chance to have enough public process to get through the tail end of the moratorium. Moratoriums are damaging to the City’s reputation and progress on building, things that are normally allowed. She felt it was shortsighted and that the council would not get that much more information about what the business practices need to look like within a month as that is a much bigger study. Councilmember Chen agreed that the council needs to come back on Thursday. It is late at night and all of a sudden the council wants to pass a motion to extend the moratorium. He was not comfortable supporting that. UPON ROLL CALL, MOTION CARRIED (4-3), COUNCILMEMBERS K. JOHNSON, TIBBOTT AND BUCKSHNIS AND COUNCIL PRESIDENT OLSON VOTING YES; COUNCILMEMBERS CHEN, PAINE AND L. JOHNSON VOTING NO. Mr. Taraday explained a 4-3 vote adopts the ordinance, but does not take immediate effect with a 4-3 vote and will take effective 5 days after passage and publication. If the council does not meet on Thursday to take some other action, the moratorium will end at the close of business on Thursday and on Friday a developer theoretically could vest an application pursuant to the prior development standards. If the ordinance takes effect five business day after publication, next Wednesday, that leaves four business days, Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, for a developer to vest an application. The council could take other action on Thursday that would take immediate effect, but five votes are required for an ordinance to take immediate effect. Council President Olson began to make a motion to add back Items 3 and 4 that were deleted so they could be discussed at the special meeting on Thursday, and then concluded a motion was not necessary. 4. ARPA FUNDING STATUS (Previously Item 8.3) Due to the late hour, this item was postponed to a future meeting. 5. SPECIAL EVENT PERMITS AND AMENDMENTS TO ECC TITLE 4 LICENSES (Previously Item 8.4) Due to the late hour, this item was postponed to a future meeting. 9. COUNCIL COMMITTEE REPORTS 1. COUNCIL COMMITTEE MINUTES Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes April 19, 2022 Page 23 10. MAYOR'S COMMENTS Mayor Nelson announced he was appointing Lee Reeves to the Economic Development Commission. 11. COUNCIL COMMENTS Council President Olson encouraged the public to google Holocaust Remembrance; there are special events, many of which are virtual. It is important to see how hate taken to an extreme can have such horrible consequences, commenting commented it was better to address that when it was small. Councilmember Tibbott referred to the Parks & Public Works Committee minutes which included a very important discussion about upcoming Parks and Public Works projects. A couple of handouts were provided that the committee will review again at their next meeting and he intended to make the checklist available to the public. He invited feedback on materials that citizens would like to see regarding Parks and Public Works projects. Councilmember K. Johnson acknowledged the three recent high holy days, Easter, Passover and Ramadan, and extended her congratulations and best wishes to everyone who participated in those high holy days. Councilmember L. Johnson commented developers are not the enemy. Anyone fortunate enough to be housed is housed because of work by a developer. It appears many accept developers maximizing profits when they build huge single family homes, but not when they wish to build multifamily homes. Why? If the true concern was about business, she questioned why there was not more concern about the largest business district on Highway 99. Instead everything seems to speak to the goal of not allowing expanded and very much needed multifamily housing options. Councilmember Paine congratulated and welcomed the newest ADB members who are extraordinarily well qualified and she was glad they were joining the ADB. She expressed her dismay at some of the behavior in the executive session; it was very disrespectful and should never happen. Everyone are peers and should not be making derogatory comments toward one another. It happened tonight in the executive session and it should not happen anywhere. Student Representative Roberts announced Earth Day is this Saturday. Information about a work party at the beach from 10-12 is available on the Parks and the Youth Commission’s webpages He hoped everyone was able to attend that fun event. Mayor Nelson advised there are four different City event on Saturday which is the day after Earth Day, April 22nd. 12. ADJOURN With no further business, the Council meeting was adjourned at 10:39 p.m.