2021-06-16 Economic Development Commission MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING
June 16, 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: None
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 6:01 p.m.
Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement
1. Roll Call and recognition of absences: No absences.
2. Approval of Agenda: Darrol moved to approve the agenda; Scott seconded; motion passed.
3. Approval of May 19, 2021 Meeting Summary: Darrol requested to strike his comment from the
roundtable discussion. With this change, Scott moved to approve; Jay seconded; motion passed.
Darrol asked if we could record the meeting tonight for the benefit of capturing Item 6. Discussion of
Parking and Shuttle Service. After a brief discussion it was suggested that we only record the meeting
while Item 6 is being discussed. Carrie made a motion to record the parking discussion only tonight; Darrol
seconded; motion passed.
4. Audience Comments: None.
S. City Update: Patrick thanked the group for their suggestions on how to allocate the ARPA funds last
month. Staff is finalizing their recommendation and once complete it will be presented to Council. The
City expected to receive $9.3M in ARPA funding but when official word was received from the State, it
indicates that the City will receive $11.8M. All the required forms have been submitted. Theoretically
Edmonds should receive half of the funds on June 27t". Walkable Main Street starts this Saturday. The City
made a concerted effort to cross promote retail and service businesses. The City created a z-fold flyer with
a map of businesses and will print thousands to be distributed to the Main Street businesses to hand out
to patrons. There is signage to direct folks west on Main Street past the barricades and we will be doing
social media post to promote businesses. There will be some entertainment on Saturday evenings, on the
western portion of Main Street, towards 3rd Ave. There will also be games to play in the same area on
Sunday's, like cornhole, etc. The City has rented the Diamond Parking near Bank of America for WMS
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weekends. The south City Hall parking lot will be used for ADA parking. We will be hosting an Uptown
Market on 2361h between Hwy 99 and 841h; July 81h, August 121h, September 91h. The City sent postcards
out to all of Edmonds to promote Walkable Main Street and the Uptown Market. The market will have
food, vendors, and music. The purpose of the market is to build community in the Hwy 99 area. The effort
was made to involve local businesses first by offering a discount on the registration fee and first
opportunity to participate in the market. Patrick has passed out at 141 flyers to promote the first Hwy 99
businesses merchants meeting at 8:30am on June 30th. Jen from Crow will attend to explain how DEMA
works as she is the current President. Kevin H. suggested that one or two folks from the EDC attend. Carrie
volunteered to attend. City Hall will be opening July 12th from 10am to 2pm at first. It is currently not clear
whether the OPMA waiver will stay in effect. Patrick explained that you may have to fill out a waiver to
not wear a mask at in person meetings, which is what City staff has been required to do. Some
commissioners expressed concern about returning to in person meetings and are wondering if a hybrid
model could be an option. The Mayor is holding a Town Hall Meeting on Hate, it will be held on July 12th
at 6:30pm, outside of Edmonds Woodway High School. Charlie asked about how many hate crimes are
reported in our City? The Diversity Commission is working on determining this. Patrick explained that
there are incidents that are hate fueled but that don't necessarily fit the criteria for a hate crime. The
Diversity Commission is also studying the notion of an office of Civil Rights. Staff has presented the 41h Ave
Cultural Corridor project to Council twice this year. The first time was the concept from the consultant.
The second time they presented the estimated cost for 30% design. Council has given direction to move
forward with the next step of design in 2022 with a truer budget and schedule. Joe at ECA is very interested
in seeing this project move forward and they may have funds to contribute and/or assist in fundraising
for the project. They would like to connect ECA to the downtown core.
6. Discussion - Parking and Shuttle Service: Darrol shared he did not have a good return rate on the
questionnaire that he sent out to the Commissioners prior to the meeting, he only received two back. The
purpose of this exercise is to determine how the Community can discuss the parking issues in Edmonds.
Darrol shared the questionnaire and polled the Commissioners. He is expecting the Commissioners
reaction to emulate the reaction of the citizens. Several Commissioners felt the questions could be
reworded to be clearer. Keith is curious why the walkable downtown and garage need to be tied together.
Vivian explained that because the walkable area will eliminate parking. Many are concerned about
population growth in the area and its effect on parking. Nicole explained that she's not concerned but she
supports a parking garage as she feels that it will draw people to downtown due to the public perception
that parking is difficult. Charlie is neutral but is more concerned about getting transit to downtown
because the current transit is not useable. Scott is concerned about parking as he's noticed parking near
the Frances Anderson Center has become increasingly more difficult. Carrie agrees with Charlie and feels
that there are other solutions to improve parking then a parking garage. Jay feels that surface parking isn't
going to be enough. The events in Edmonds bring people to the City. He doesn't understand the resistance
to a parking garage. He agrees with Vivian that no walkable City has worked without a parking garage. He
feels that a parking garage will not be the only solution, but it will be a part of the solution. Keith agreed
with Jay. Kevin H. asked if the committee has already determined the parking garage is necessary, given
the context of the questions? Darrol explained it has not been determined yet. The Committee
recommends the community have a robust discussion about the parking needs. Vivian suggests a Public
Hearing for the community. She would love to be a part of further discussions. She would like to know
what problem we are trying to solve. She expressed that there is a large portion of the community that
does not support the walkable downtown and folks are going to other cities to shop. Carrie shared that
the festivals that draw people to Edmonds do not support the businesses but the organizations that
sponsor the event. Walkable Main Street draws people to the businesses, and we need to look at data
this year to see how it effects businesses. Bruce feels that this is a demographic issue. Roger feels we need
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some real world information from a contractor that's built a parking garage to get some real numbers on
how this cost. He suggests Patrick find someone to sit down with the committee to discuss. Kevin Smith
shared that a parking garage is not mutually exclusive to Walkable Main Street, but it could be a catalyst
to a garage. He suggests that if the City leases parking spaces to restaurants it could go to the funding the
garage. Jay explained that he has discussed numbers with Wilcox Construction, and he can meet with
Roger to discuss. Darrol explained they've met with Rick Steves and Wilcox Construction but there is not
enough time to discuss those meetings tonight. Patrick shared prior to COVID the City was planning to do
a parking study, but when COVID hit it didn't make sense to do it. If it gets funding he's hopeful that it
could be done in 2022. He's hoping the EDC could aid in reenergizing the parking study for 2022. Darrol
has gotten what he hoped to get out of this discussion. Nicole suggests sending out background
information to be included in the minutes. Bruce mentioned that a couple years ago there was discussion
of putting a parking garage on Port property;the lot that is across from Arnies was considered, but it was
determined the space wasn't large enough. Parking garage at the Port is off the table.
7. Project Committee Updates
a. Neighborhood Districts & Business Zones: Kevin Smith led the update. They met last week.
Patrick is planning to send a second letter to the Firdale Village owner to see if that gets a
response. The Hwy 99 gateway signage committee has not met yet. The last month they discussed
a cohesive signage appearance to unify the business districts. Possible expense for the ARPA
funds.
b. Edmonds Business Booster Portal: Kevin Harris led the discussion. They met a week and a half
ago to work on the look of version 2.0. They outlined one or two alternatives to what the design
might look like. Patrick met with the web designer and it went well. He received an email from a
content provider for an SBA grant. Scott shared that they had very good session regarding what
businesses would want to look for on the site. Carrie mentioned that they're focusing on the user's
experience. Nicole asked if they would have funding request coming up? Patrick shared that the
ARPA money has a category for business support and this would fall under that.
c. Waterfront Center Opportunities: Nicole shared that they have a meeting scheduled with the
Port; Angela and Bruce on July V. She expects to get a meeting with Daniel on or around July 8cn
She received an update from Daniel that the Waterfront Center is expecting $1M revenue from
catering in addition to the lunch service that the Potlatch bistro brings in.
e. Communication & Info Flow: Nicole shared that this report out would be combined with the
Data Collection & Analysis report.
f. Data Collection & Analysis: Charlie shared that Nicole met with the committee and they decided
to combine the supporting groups (Communication & Info Flow and Data Collection & Analysis).
They've drafted a mission statement: This committee's mission is to advise and provide directional
support for data definition, collection, and analysis needs. As part of this we will: work with
committees to assist in discrete, well defined need for the purpose of framing data collection,
analysis and visualization - we will offer guidance, point to data sources, and give high level help
on how to approach analysis, plus light visualization and collateral development, but will not do
the heavy analysis work in most cases. The committee may take on special analysis projects on a
case by case basis. The primary driver is sustainability of both the time demand on the committee,
as well as the evergreen nature of committee members. It is not reasonable to expect the
commission to always have a data scientist on board. Charlie asked for input to refine the
statement. This is not necessarily a mission statement but what they would like to achieve. They
are helping people to define the needs without doing all the heavy lifting as it's not sustainable.
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What is the data that they should be collecting? The committee is here to identify resources, help
and support. Scott described it as library to glean resources from. Census data for a City our size
is just not granular enough to use as a true data source.
8. Idea Pipeline: Nicole opened the item to the group to add ideas. Kevin H. suggests keeping an eye on
the Tax Increment Financing that the legislature recently passed as a potentially important tool for
economic development. He acknowledged that the Highway 99 consultant is expected to address TIF.
Scott suggested we think about traffic coming from the water or non-traditional traffic means. Carrie
suggested ideas to connect the Port to downtown. Bruce mentioned the tour boats go to Seattle to the
San Juan Islands and they stop in Kingston but not in Edmonds because there's no place to moor a large
boat; this is an opportunity to collaborate with the Port.
9. Liaison Updates (3 minutes per liaison)
a. Vivian Olson (Council) Council passed the 5G master permit that allows for the cell towers. She
suggests utilizing the EDC to add value to the products the City is producing. Nicole asked the best
way to interject themselves into the City business; Vivian said that it's communication with the
administration.
b. Bruce Faires (Port of Edmonds) The north marina boardwalk is underway; it will be a 3-5 year
project. The 30% design phase was completed this month. They're preparing for 60% design
completion in August. The new Port admin building is deep in discussion. They're goal is that it
meets LEED silver standards, if not LEED gold. They're planning to add solar panels to the building.
c. Greg Urban (Chamber) Patrick shared on behalf of Greg, the 41h of July events are officially a
go, as of today. The fireworks will be bigger than ever; 500 shells are typical but this year there
will be 900 shells. Other planned events are the golf tournament; Taste of Edmonds and the car
show.
d. Roger Pence (Planning Board) Met the City's new code writer at their last meeting. They also
received a legislative update. The main discussion at their last meeting was the electric charging
stations. They could rough in charging stations during construction so they could be easily
retrofitted if needed. They are continuing discussion on the tree code. He did not vote on Darrol's
questions because the issue could come in front of the PB and he would like to stay neutral. He
shared that Bruce is not running for reelection, Bruce confirmed.
11. Roundtable Discussion: Jay nothing. Kevin Harris thanked the parking committee for their work.
Carrie shared that Ed! is focusing on promoting service businesses. In July they will be supporting
their retail businesses. There's a scavenger hunt planned for the summer; in August drink bingo
will come back. Lovin' Summer is the official summer campaign tag line. Kevin Smith thanked
everyone for their work. He rode is bike into work recently from Seaview to downtown and the
infrastructure does not support bikers; he supports improvement to bike lanes. Evan good
discussion on parking. Darrol thanked everyone for their input on parking. Charlie kudos to
everyone but especially the parking committee for their work. From her discussions with the
Mayor, he would like to see the EDC focus on the future rather than the present. Scott agrees that
the biking from Seaview is challenging. Emphasized that the parking solutions don't have to be
large to be effective, the addition of tic marks has been an improvement. Keith suggests thinking
ahead and how the light rail will be opening up in the next 5 or 10 years and how the added
population will affect the community. Nicole thanked the parking committee on leading the
discussion tonight.
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Adjourn at 8:16 p.m.
Next regular meeting: July 21, 2021, 6 PM location TBA
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