2021-06-16 Economic Development Commission PacketAGENDA
Edmonds Economic Development Commission
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
6 — 8 PM Zoom Info below
6:00 P.M. — Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement: "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." - City Council Land Acknowledgment
Call to Order
1. Roll Call and recognition of approved absences (5 min)
2. Approval of Agenda (2 min)
3. Approval of May 19, 2021 Meeting Summary (2 min)
4. Audience Comments (3 minutes per person)
5. City Update (5 min)
6. Discussion: Parking and Shuttle Service (25 minutes)
See June Discussion Worksheet in Agenda Packet
7. Project Committee Updates (5 min each)
a. Neighborhood Districts & Business Zones
b. Edmonds Business Booster Portal
c. Waterfront Center Opportunities
d. Communication and Info Flow
e. Data Collection & Analysis
8. Idea Pipeline (10 min)
See Idea Pipeline List in Agenda Packet
9. Liaison Update (5 min each)
a. City Council
b. Port of Edmonds
c. Chamber of Commerce
d. Planning Board
10. Roundtable Discussion (10 min)
11. Adjourn
Next regular meeting: July 21, 2021 6PM
Zoom Information:
httas://zoom.us/i/98696685791?awd=RvtOZiVuK3ZCNON4QlRrM HZaSWDvQT09
Meeting ID: 986 9668 5791
Passcode: 901513
CITY OF EDMONDS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING
May 19, 2021
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:
Nicole Hughes, Chair
Darrol Haug
Jay Hoag
Kevin Harris, Vice Chair
Scott Merrick
Kevin Smith
Charlie Lieu
Carrie Hulbert
Keith Hamilton
Evan Sittauer, Student -Rep
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT:
LIAISONS PRESENT:
Vivian Olson, Councilmember, ex-officio
Roger Pence, Planning Board, ex-officio
Bruce Faires, Port Commissioner, ex-officio
LIAISONS ABSENT:
Greg Urban, Edmonds Chamber, ex-officio
GUESTS:
None
STAFF PRESENT:
Patrick Doherty, Director
Megan Luttrell, Program Coordinator
Economic Development Commission meeting conducted via ZOOM and called to order by Nicole Hughes
at 6:02 p.m.
Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement
1. Roll Call and recognition of absences: No absences.
2. Approval of Agenda: Scott moved to approve the agenda with the addition; Jay seconded; motion
passed.
3. Approval of April 21, 2021 Meeting Summary: Darrol moved to approve; Scott seconded; motion
passed.
4. Audience Comments: None.
5. City Update: Patrick shared that Walkable Main Street (WMS) will begin June 19t" and run through
September 5t", on both Saturdays and Sundays. The City received input for the public, businesses, and
Council. We're working through addressing parking issues in collaboration with EcIL Improving signage
throughout the downtown core is also a priority. Some, if not, all the parking in lot south of City Hall, will
be used for ADA parking. There will also be dedicated drop-off areas. The City is going to lease the Bank
of America parking lot from Diamond Parking for the WMS weekends. There will be low key entertainment
on Saturday evenings in the most western zone of WMS. There will be additional activities on Sundays,
such as corn -hole and other games. The has partnered with Ed! to develop a logo for the summer. The
City will be doing a push to promote retailers throughout the summer. The City is also developing a rack
card with a map and blurbs to promote businesses. Charlie asked if this an opportunity to engage with
individual businesses to do some data comparisons/analysis? Patrick shared that we could ask if
businesses would be interested in participating in this exercise. Shubert Ho suggested at the last
restaurant business meeting, a collaboration between restaurants and retailers. If a patron presented a
restaurant with a retailer receipt, the restaurant would offer a special item or discount to the patron.
Details will be nailed down at next restaurant business meeting. Governor Inslee has announced that
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masks are not required if you're fully vaccinated. This announcement has been confusing for businesses.
King County is considering rolling back to requiring masks. Restrictions may be lifted, effective July 151 but
the details are not yet clear. The Chamber announced that the 41h of July parade and/or fireworks would
not happen the day before the Govender's announcement. With this new information they are
reconsidering the 0 of July plans. We are working on an event to happen in the Hwy 99 area but can't
announce it yet. Also, Patrick will be putting out a flyer to try and gather the Hwy 99 business community
to meet, similar to DEMA.
Vivian shared some thoughts. If Chinese New Year is not the event near Hwy 99, perhaps that could be an
additional event. She shared that Will Chen is working on something. If the bars and retailers west of the
Walkable Main Street limits are not included in the promotion, it would be good to include them and all
other directions. She also suggested, a drop -in daycare on Main Street during Walkable Main Street. Scott,
suggested it being activity based might get more use/support.
6. Discussion: Ideas for Projects with Federal Stimulus Allocation: Nicole opened the topic up. Kevin
Harris asked if the Business Portal website revamp could fall under infrastructure? Unfortunately, under
the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) infrastructure is defined as only water, sewer or broadband. Patrick
explained that the, nearly $9.3M can be used over a three-year period. We'll receive the first half this year
and second half next year. Staff will gather Board and Commission and director recommendations and
present the ideas to Council for allocation. Carrie suggested creating a program for increased multi -
language support. She also suggested adding additional lighting to Dayton Street. Kevin Smith shared that
marketing and signage for business districts could fall under small business and tourism. He also suggested
implementing a program for air filters that kill virus. Perhaps the City could buy in bulk to subsidize for
small businesses. Darrol asked if studies related to these issues could be considered? Patrick said that the
idea could be presented. Darrol further explained that behaviors have changed so significantly from pre-
COVID times to now that studying those changes could help determine the best use of these funds. Scott
shared that the Creative District is actively working on the 4th Ave Cultural Corridor and perhaps there's
an opportunity there. He suggested placing bollards to assist restaurants on knowing how far out alcohol
can be consumed from the establishment. He also suggested purchasing trolley with these funds. Charlie
asked how can we get more investment for City open spaces? The Parks department is actively working
on the Civic Field improvements as well as an update to the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan (PROS),
this money can't be used for that work. Also, we, as a City, have received several State grants for our
parks. Keith suggested time banking. Take time bank points from a retailer and take to a restaurant to
cash them in. There are apps already developed to do this and 200+ communities nationwide are actively
participating in this. Carrie suggested tying the waterfront to downtown with a pedestrian bridge, path,
or signage. Nicole asked about the fiber/broadband project that was considered years ago. Darrol shared
that there is areas that could be added to the fiber network that were not included originally. Nicole
suggested camps or supplementing childcare costs as folks start getting back to in -person work, for
Edmonds businesses only. Vivian asked if we could use all the infrastructure funds for the large sewer
project that is happening now to free up general fund or bond monies and reallocate them? Patrick
recalled that there is restrictions on already budgeted funds but will look into it. She agreed with Kevin
Smith that cross promoting business would be great. Perhaps we reach out to neighborhoods to solicit
input on what their needs are. Patrick shared that he met with Edmonds College and has discussed the
idea of a job retraining program. Kevin Harris suggested placing incentives to hire Edmonds residents to
put the funds back into the community. Vivian shared that the PROS Plan workshops are considering hiring
translation services, she suggests hiring local people for translation services. Kevin Smith suggests
partnering with Edmonds College to have job postings for the local communities. Carrie explained the
businesses are struggling to hire folks. Charlie is working on a national data project that is showing that
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restaurants and retail are the only industries that are really struggling. Carrie agreed as that is the
industries she's hearing from.
7. Project Committee Updates
a. Neighborhood Districts & Business Zones: Kevin Smith led the update and shared that they
met last week. They learned, in response to the letter sent to the property owner, the Goodwill
space is going to have another commercial tenant. The Firdale Village owner has not responded
to the letter sent inquiring about future for the property. The committee plans to focus on
neighborhood branding and signage. The Commission agrees this is a good focus. Vivian
mentioned she'd like to see arts throughout the City. She suggested having an International art
corridor from downtown to Ranch 99 and incorporating the park in Esperance. Nicole is working
on a strategic outlook for what the EDC's work is "Maximize attraction to and economic in to all
of Edmonds Business Districts".
b. Edmonds Business Booster Portal: Kevin Harris led the update. He shared a brief overview of
the work they been doing: they sent out a survey to small in -home businesses; held 20 different
interviews of content providers; held a brainstorming session with all the content providers on
what they thought the portal could do. He's created a spreadsheet to organize the outcome of
the brainstorm session, he will send it out to the Commission this week and would like feedback
from the Commission. Kevin H., Scott, Carrie, Greg and Patrick will meet on June 3rd to dive into
the information from the brainstorm session deeper. One area of focus for the website is to make
it inclusive for people who don't speak English. Carrie added that their approach to the website
update is focused on the user's experience. Thy plan to add a section on why you would want to
bring your business to Edmonds.
c. Waterfront Center Opportunities: Nicole led the discussion. They have been gathering ideas to
build economic growth on the waterfront. They plan to meet with Dan Johnson, CEO to work on
a collaboration effort. Bruce shared that Nicole, Bruce and Bob McChesney should plan to meet
to discuss opportunities.
d. Parking & Shuttle Service: Darrol noted that he appreciates that some of their ideas are being
implemented for WMS. The committee's focus is to get make improved parking in downtown
Edmonds a priority. The committee will be forwarding a list of questions to all Commissioner to
gain insight from the entire group to drive further discussion and goals. Patrick added that
surveying and information gathering from the community must come from the administration
and we must be careful of offline discussions by a quorum.
Vivian commented that she feels there's a lot of creative ideas that could aid in solving the
problem. Nicole suggested an alternative way to solicit input, like an open house rather than a
survey. Bruce feels the two major issues with a parking garage: location and cost. Charlie shared
that when she does data analysis, in her day job, for larger Cities, they're removing parking
because the trend for the future is that people will not have cars.
e. Communication & Info Flow: Nicole has been working with Kevin H. to optimize the view of
the communication lifecycle. How it currently works, is as follows: originates at project
committees; then to full EDC; individual commissioners communicate with appointing
Councilmember or Mayor. They trying to determine what the reporting to Council timeline should
be. Scott added that there's an opportunity for Councilmembers to reach out to their
Commissioners to address their agenda items or issues they would like to be focused on.
f. Data Collection & Analysis: Charlie shared that progress has been slow. She has started gather
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data. However, census data will not be released until September so they will work off available
data for now. Scott shared he's looking forward to some assistance on how to request info.
8. Idea Pipeline: Kevin Harris shared that he's been sending out his "Let's up the Game" email to the
group. House Bill 1189, authorizing tax increment financing (TIF) to local governments, was just passed.
We were one of the only states that did not have a TIF program. He would like to add this to the pipeline
report. The Hwy 99 consultants will be adding this tool to our resources now that it's available.
9. Liaison Updates (3 minutes per liaison)
a. Vivian Olson (Council) nothing to share.
b. Bruce Faires (Port of Edmonds) the Port retreat was held on May 12th. The agenda was focused
on the North Marina Walkway restoration. The other large project they're working on is the
rebuild of the Port administrative building.
d. Roger Pence (Planning Board) last week Angie Feser presented a detailed update to the
Planning Board (PB). The PB doubles as the Parks Board. Angie presents quarterly updates. Two
new members were appointed last night Judy Gladstone and Richard Keuhn. The parking issues
are of interest to the Planning Board as they approve parking projects. He was intrigued about
creating consistent signage for the business districts.
11. Roundtable Discussion: Charlie impressed by the work the group is doing. Scott nothing. Kevin Smith
nothing. Jay thanked Charlie for the Waterfront Center tour. Darrol is twice as old as Vivian. Kevin
Harris nothing. Keith interested in learning. Carrie nothing. Evan age requirement for Uber? 18.
Patrick nothing. Megan nothing. Happy Birthday Vivian.
Adjourn at 8:16 p.m.
Next regular meeting: June 16, 2021, 6 PM location TBA
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