2021-08-18 Economic Development Commission PacketAGENDA
Edmonds Economic Development Commission
Wednesday, August 18, 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 July 21, 2021 Meeting Summary (2 min)
4. Audience Comments (3 minutes per person)
5. City Update (5 min)
6. Discussion: Idea Pipeline (20 min)
See Idea Pipeline List in Agenda Packet
7. Project Committee Updates (5 min each)
a. Neighborhood Districts & Business Zones
b. Edmonds Business Booster Portal
c. Waterfront Zone Opportunities
d. Parking and Shuttle
e. Data and Communication
8. Liaison Update (5 min each)
a. City Council
b. Port of Edmonds
c. Chamber of Commerce
d. Planning Board
9. Roundtable Discussion (10 min)
10. Adjourn
Next regular meeting: September 15, 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
July 21, 2021
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:
Nicole Hughes, Chair
Darrol Haug
Jay Hoag
Kevin Harris, Vice Chair
Scott Merrick
Charlie Lieu
Carrie Hulbert
Keith Hamilton
Evan Sittauer, Student -Rep
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Kevin Smith
LIAISONS PRESENT:
Roger Pence, Planning Board, ex-officio
Vivian Olson, Councilmember, ex-officio
Greg Urban, Edmonds Chamber, ex-officio
LIAISONS ABSENT:
Bruce Faires, Port Commissioner, 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 6:01 p.m.
Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement
1. Roll Call and recognition of absences: Kevin Smith, excused absence.
2. Approval of Agenda: Darrol moved to approve the agenda; Jay seconded; motion passed.
3. Approval of June 16, 2021 Meeting Summary: Charlie moved to approve; Darrol seconded; motion
passed.
4. Audience Comments: None.
S. City Update: Patrick shared that Council approved the ordinance for the ARPA funding last night. The
City received half of the funding this past June and will receive the second half in June 2022. He gave an
overview of how the funding is being allocated. The EDC's input helped outline how funding should be
allocated. Patrick explained that the City will engage services for the housing grants. The business grants
will function similarly as last year. He explained that the business support funding could support staffing
if there is need for it. It can also support a potential trolley purchase. The City is putting 94% of the ARPA
funding back into the community. July 8th was the inaugural Uptown Evening Market; it was a great
success. There will be two more markets this year, on August 121h and September 9th. There is interest in
holding the Market more frequently next year. We had our first ever Hwy 99 Merchant Meeting via zoom
on June 30th. We'll have our second meeting, in -person at Kafe Neo on July 28th. City Hall is now open as
of July 12th from 10am-2pm. This does move us towards holding in -person meetings. There has been some
concern expressed by some commissioners about moving back to in -person meetings; a hybrid model
would be the preference.
6. Discussion — EDC Annual Report to the City: Nicole shared that in the Ordinance that created the EDC
it states that the Commission will present an annual report in the 1st quarter of every year. The last report
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was presented in 2019. It is time schedule an update to Council. She would like to develop a framework
for the report, discuss the objectives of the report, develop a summary of project committee progress,
identify recommendations ready for Council, and mayor visibility. We may find that the outcome of
tonight's discussion may find that the Commission is ready to report or that further discussion is needed.
The objective of the Council report is to remind Council of the EDC's purpose and work program. The
presentation should provide visibility of how the Commission works. There has been a restructure of how
the Commission functions in the last year and half; economic resiliency of City; revenue growth for the
City; maximizing business districts. The report should also highlight communication opportunities.
Perhaps focus on the effects or recommendations that the Commission has had in the last 12 to 18
months. Kevin H. emphasized sharing how the structure of the Commission has shifted in the past year
or so and how we work. Carrie asked if the last presentation to Council could be shared with the new
groups (see attached). Nicole would like to submit the presentation or report to Council prior to the
meeting so there's time for the Council to digest it. The strategic topics explain why the Commission is
important. The community support is paramount to the success of the economy in town. Communication
piece is a way of articulating opportunities for Councilmembers to hear from their Commissioner monthly.
Nicole summarized the project committee work groups and identified the major focus of each group.
Nicole listed the Business Booster Portal as an outcome, Parking Study as a recommendation. Nicole asked
the Parking Committee to determine the recommendation. Nicole requested feedback on whether to
share the Idea Pipeline. There is general support to share it. Charlie suggests shifting the Pipeline and
curating it for an external audience (small ideas and big ideas). Nicole will take the notes from tonight and
integrate them into the presentation. If you think of anything else, send Nicole an email directly. She will
refine this with the Communication Committee, Kevin H. and staff. She will get on the Council queue.
7. Project Committee Updates
a. Neighborhood Districts & Business Zones: Kevin Smith shared via email they did not meet this
month. Patrick shared he sent a follow-up letter to the Firdale property owner.
b. Edmonds Business Booster Portal: Kevin H. shared that Patrick has met with the web designer,
who is moving forward with the Committee's vision for version 2.0 of the portal. The web designer
will provide a draft vision of the web layout for refining with the help of content provider's input.
c. Waterfront Center Opportunities: Nicole shared that they met with the Port this month. The
conversation focused on cruise ships stopping at Edmonds and the logistics of that. They are going
to brainstorm on the idea and meet in September. Patrick is researching what is required to
accommodate docking here. He contacted American Cruise Lines they're interested but there are
some hurdles. They do tend to anchor and tender into other ports on their routes; he's not sure
if the waterway in Edmonds would lend to anchoring.
d. Parking and Shuttle: Darrol shared that he emailed this month's report to everyone (see
attachment). He thanked everyone for their participation in last month's discussion and
mentioned that it's clear that everyone's needs are different. He shared the Council candidates
are mostly in agreement that parking needs to be improved. They interviewed Rick Steves to get
his input on parking needs; the key take away is people and cars don't mix. He shared several
concepts that could be further explored to determine the next moves for parking. Jay made the
point of studying surge parking.
f. Data and Communication: Charlie shared that they focused on parking this month and how
they could support them. She feels that the Commission needs to recommend to Council to fund
a parking study. Charlie met with Nicole and Darrol and worked on a communication framework.
Nicole elaborated that the framework is a pathway to communicate work that is being done from
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committees to the full commission and then a recommendation from the full commission to
Council. She's working on templates to layout the information. Charlie shared that she's working
with Patrick on a dashboard for information that could be used by the Commission, staff, and the
community. Patrick is reaching out to an outside data firm to see if the City could collaborate with.
8. Idea Pipeline: Nicole shared that the last few meetings the Pipeline is being sent out with the agenda.
Scott suggests a passenger ferry from Edmonds to Seattle and vice versa. Charlie would like to add the
healthtech corridor or incubator idea. Darrol suggests maintaining the quaintness of downtown but first
learn what it means.
9. Liaison Updates (5 minutes per liaison)
a. Vivian Olson (Council) no additional comments.
b. Greg Urban (Chamber) shared that the 4th of July was a success. There's a golf tournament on
Monday. They're hurrying to plan the Taste. They've had some new members join the Chamber.
Businesses are struggling to hire staff and keep staff.
c. Roger Pence (Planning Board) shared that the Planning Board is working on electric vehicle
parking issues. They're updating the building codes. They're also working on bike rack
requirements. They're struggling to get public input at their public hearings. They're working on
developing a strategy to notify the public of public hearings. The Planning Board would like to be
involved in any parking discussions. He does not recommend moving the City Hall out of
downtown. He recommends calling the Firdale Village property owner.
11. Roundtable Discussion: Jay commend Greg and the Chamber on the 41h of July parade. Scott nothing.
Kevin H. nothing. Darrol nothing. Charlie nothing. Keith congrats to the City on the Hwy 99 efforts.
Evan nothing. Nicole is looking for one more team member for the Chamber golf tournament on
Monday.
Adjourn at 8:07 p.m.
Next regular meeting: August 18, 2021, 6 PM location Zoom
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Parking/Shuttle Team Report 7.21.2021
The goal of the parking discussion at our last meeting was to gather the current opinions of the EDC
members about:
1. The members' view of creating a permanent closure of walking area in DT.
2. Opinions about adding a close to DT parking facility with or without a permanent closed area.
3. Opinions about the potential locations of DT parking facility.
4. Gaining support for a citizen survey about the needs for DT parking.
5. Gaining support to suggest the city do a full-blown parking study when we are back to normal.
The discussion was useful for the following reasons:
1. Majority of members supported the idea of a permanent closed area DT.
2. No one questioned the Edmonds will continue to grow and the use of our DT attributes would
increase not only with our residents but with others who will come to use and enjoy our DT.
3. When focusing on the parking facility some members expressed the same opinions that have
been expressed by the citizens in various surveys and public discussions. A. We have lots of
parking you just must look for it. B. It is ok to walk a few blocks to your destination in DT. C. We
can solve many of our parking issues with more public transit, bikes, and other forms of a "fewer
car" future.
During the EDC discussion the team mentioned the interview with Rick Steves to gather his views of how
other places have created a permanent closed areas and what goes into such a closure including
parking.
Here are some highlights of the Rick Steves interview.
Permanent Walkable Plaza:
1. To be successful it should be 7 days a week not just weekends. Depending on how the use of the
streets get used with extensions of the local businesses it may be possible to open for a portion
of the year, but it needs to be a continuous closure.
2. The current Walkable Edmonds of only one long street (Main from 61h to 3rd is not really the
most functional. Especially when we allow cars to enter the "zone" around the fountain area.
Mixing cars and people is not user friendly for either.
3. With the current street configuration and businesses, the fountain would be the key centerpiece
and one block north and south and east and maybe one or two blocks to the west.
4. Success of a Plaza will be tied to a "Ring Road" that allow for easy traffic flow around the Plaza
area.
5. Our current alleys are under-utilized. They should not be allowed to have entry into the plaza
area except during early morning service times.
6. Plaza area would allow service vehicles in early morning hours for deliveries, but they must be
out of pedestrian area at designated time.
7. Key to any modification of the DT area is to make sure we have done all we canto unclog the
nearby "artery roads". Parking areas should be clearly signed to direct people to prevent
continuous circling and hunting for space.
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8. As a starting point the borders of that area could be 61" Ave on the East, 4t" Ave on the West,
Dayton on the South, and Bell on the North. This area as defined would eliminate almost 100
parking spaces of the approximately 1000 spaces shown in the 2003 parking study.
9. The key to attracting visitors would be to provide parking not only for the stalls displaced but for
the added visitors we wish to attract to our DT area. Parking should be adjacent to the ring road
to be most effective.
The Parking Team first created a work plan in Feb 2021. That plan shows the background and ideas we
choose to explore since forming the Team. The plan recognized the difficulty of moving forward with an
updated parking study until we return to a more normal post CV19 environment. While we are
beginning to "reopen" we certainly do not know what changes restaurants, retailers, and other
businesses will create a "new normal".
Possible Actions for the full EDC to consider:
1. Reconfirm the idea of a permanent closed area.
2. Discuss the current interaction between Employee permits, Resident permits, employee use of
3-hour zones and other DT parking not limited to 3 hours, enforcement options, and charging
options.
3. Identify what survey topics can be helpful further gather opinions of the citizens.
4. Develop the recommendation for a full complete updated parking study.
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Economic Development Commission
July 21, 2021
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