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20160503 City Council Special Meeting Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes May 3, 2016 Page 1 EDMONDS CITY COUNCIL APPROVED MINUTES Special Meeting May 3, 2016 The Edmonds City Council meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by Mayor Earling in the Brackett Meeting Room, City Hall, 121 5th Ave N, Edmonds. ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT Dave Earling, Mayor Kristiana Johnson, Council President (arrived 5:34 p.m.) Michael Nelson, Councilmember (arrived 5:37 p.m.) Adrienne Fraley-Monillas, Councilmember (arrived 5:33 p.m.) Diane Buckshnis, Councilmember Dave Teitzel, Councilmember Thomas Mesaros, Councilmember Neil Tibbott, Councilmember STAFF PRESENT Carrie Hite, Parks, Rec. & Cult. Serv. Dir. Patrick Doherty, Econ. Dev & Comm. Serv. Dir. Frances Chapin, Arts & Culture Program Mgr. Kernen Lien, Senior Planner Renee McRae, Recreation Manager Jeff Taraday, City Attorney Scott Passey, City Clerk Jeannie Dines, Recorder 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL City Clerk Scott Passey called the roll. All elected officials were present with the exception of Council President Johnson and Councilmembers Fraley-Monillas and Nelson. 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER TEITZEL, TO APPROVE THE AGENDA IN CONTENT AND ORDER. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. (Council President Johnson and Councilmembers Fraley-Monillas and Nelson were not present for the vote.) 4. STUDY ITEM 1. CIVIC CENTER FIELD MASTER PLANNING KICK OFF Parks & Recreation Director Carrie Hite commented tonight’s meeting is to celebrate the City closing on the eight-acre Civic Center Playfield, and the beginning a master planning process with the community. She described the process to date including the formation of a Project Advisory Committee (PAC) to assist with guiding the process and publication of an RFQ for a firm to assisting with the master planning process. The City received eight submittals and three firms were interviewed by staff, members of the PAC and Councilmember Teitzel. The interviews included a 30-minute presentation and 15-minute Q&A. In their presentations, the firms were added to address their approach, their public process, their creative and/or innovative ideas for this blank slate, experience, and other master planning processes they have done on a project of this scale. The interview committee unanimously selected Walker | Macy to work with the community on the master planning process. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes May 3, 2016 Page 2 Ms. Hite explained the scope of work has not been finalized; the intent was to have this kickoff meeting in the event Council wanted to add to the scope of work. She recalled when she and Council President Johnson discussed the master planning process, it was agreed to have this meeting to review the approach with the Council, PAC and community as well as celebrate the kickoff of the master planning process. The Council packet contains Walker | Macy’s proposal and scope of work. Although Walker | Macy’s proposal contains schematics, she assured the process is starting with a blank slate for Civic Field. The schematics are only ideas Walker | Macy present to illustrate their creativity/innovation. The City wanted a firm that could be creative/innovative but could also integrate the community’s input into a plan. She recognized the members of the PAC:  Alex Witenberg  Barbara Chasee  Bob Rinehart  Frances Chapin  Rob Chave  Dave Teitzel  Diana White  Dick Van Hollebeke  Doug Sheldon  Emily Scott  Joe McIalwain  John McGibbon  Kyla Blair  Leslie Caplin  Rich Lindsay  Renee McRae  Mike Echelbarger  Steve Shelton  Valerie Stewart Ms. Hite explained the CAP will be meeting more frequently than the Planning Board, City Council or the public open houses and will assist the consultant and staff synthesize the public comment and guide the plans that will be presented to the Planning Board and City Council. There will be three public open house as well as virtual online open houses. She thanked Walker | Macy for their dynamic proposal. Chris Jones, Principal and Landscape Architect, Walker | Macy, introduced Ann Marie Schneider, Project Manager, Walker | Macy. He explained he worked with Ms. Hite and the team on the recently adopted Marina Beach Master Plan. Master planning projects are as much a community building process as they are a design process; they are a conduit for the community to relay what they want for a downtown park. They have no preconceived notion about what the park should or shouldn’t be; they have experience with other parks, how operations and maintenance work, park program ideas, but their role is to work with the community on what the park should be. He found a kickoff meeting extremely valuable, noting many municipalities do not have a kickoff. The success of the park is based on building champions; they can develop a good design but for this to be a truly successful park, it needs to be championed, preserved and managed by the community. This meeting is a good place to start. Mr. Jones introduced the members of the team and described their backgrounds and experience:  Owen Richards Architects o Walker | Macy worked with him on redevelopment of Volunteer Park o Recently completed the new Chihuly Museum Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes May 3, 2016 Page 3 o Arts programmer for Olympic Sculpture Park  EnviroIssues o Public involvement facilitator o Manage open houses and community feedback o Walker | Macy worked with them on Marina Beach Master Plan  KPFF o Civil and structural engineer o Advising on sustainable stormwater and infrastructure strategies  Jon Bayles o Cost estimator Mr. Jones described Walker | Macy, explaining they have been in the northwest for over 40 years. Doug Macy, the founding partner, is still actively involved in every project in Portland and Seattle; the Seattle office opened in 2014. The success of the firm in designing downtown parks is based on designing parks that are flexible, programmable and durable. Programmable means activating a public open space with programmed events. They have found the most successful downtown parks are successful because they are programmed, active and safe. He described Walker |Macy’s downtown park legacy and displayed photographs of several projects:  Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland o Completed in 1983 o Largest number of programmed events per year in the United States, over 300 events/year o Managed by a 5013c  Victor Steinbrueck Park in Pike Place Market  Parks and gateways in Pioneer Square neighborhood He relayed their project understanding:  Edmonds has a very vibrant downtown  Edmonds has a great deal of civic pride  Location is close to downtown, adjacency to downtown  Great collection of parks in system, many very natural and soft parks, not heavily programmed  Parks serve Edmonds community, not a regional draw  Civic Field can support what already exists in the park system but provide different space for more significant cultural events  Consider whether Civic Field should make Edmonds more of a regional draw  Civic Field will continue to support current passive and active recreation as well as festivals such as the Taste and 4th of July Mr. Jones described public engagement:  Most successful projects rooted in public involvement process  Build on energy of Marina Beach and what they learned about what works in the Edmonds community and bring that energy to this project  Established two goals at Marina Beach effort that will continue in this project: 1. Balance needs of all park users which is challenging 2. Make it a fun effort o Accomplished with Marina Beach, very fun, community building effort  Robust public outreach process that proceeds every City Council meeting and Planning Board meeting o Worked well in Marina Beach process o Self-moderating process in community, see importance of others views o Public open houses Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes May 3, 2016 Page 4 o One-on-one stakeholder interviews over two-day period o Kiosk in Civic Field that allows for feedback during design effort He reviewed the public open house schedule:  1st open house - mid-June o Focus on park programming o Brainstorming charrette to gather ideas from everyone  2nd open house - mid-August o Present alternatives for Civic Field Master Plan with design concepts using public’s input o Take public input on alternatives  3rd open house - October o Present preferred alternative. Mr. Jones described public outreach:  Online open house o Very successful in Marina Beach effort o Managed by EnviroIssues o Feedback presented at open houses  My Edmonds News  Facebook  Other social media  Two days of stakeholder interviews o Twenty in-person one-on-one interviews Ms. Schneider displayed an aerial photograph describing the site context:  Habitat spaces surrounding Edmonds that are also destinations  City Park and Civic Field respond to urban context and less habitat  Important role of green spaces in the urban context for stormwater opportunities and canopy  Civic Field serves different purpose than parks on exterior  Successful urban parks respond to and are in dialogue with their edges o Single family on the east up the hill o Multifamily on the north and south o Active civic edge on the west side  Municipal buildings  Farmers Market  Arts Corridor  Connections and how circulation work with and around park o Key connections at 5th and Bell o Great opportunity on 6th Avenue edge to connect to Edmonds Center for the Arts o 4th Avenue Arts Corridor o How residential users walk through park to reach activities o How park interact with surroundings  Views o Spectacular views from back edge of park o Awareness park is foreground of view for residential neighbors above o Opportunities to frame views within park nor currently utilized Mr. Jones described park programming and how to approach that from a design perspective. He displayed a map of the Taste of Edmonds, commenting that event will drive how the park is designed. It makes sense to have the Taste on the Civic Field site as it is a very flexible, blank slate. He suggested considering how the space could be better utilized such as moving or consolidating activities. The Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes May 3, 2016 Page 5 challenge with the way the space currently operates is when activities such as the Taste are gone, there is nothing that defines the community. Walker | Macy brings an understanding of making a park flexible to accommodate large events so that the space is exciting and engaging and reflects the community character. He displayed a photograph of a recently completed project, Ankeny Plaza along the Portland waterfront, site of the Portland Saturday Market. This is a very effective space, flexible for the market, accommodates play, as well as other activities and events. The space if very nice when it is full on festival days but still a very elegant space when empty, it functions well adjacent to the waterfront and allows circulation of people biking and running along the waterfront. He displayed a photograph of the 12-acre Discovery Green in downtown Houston, noting Civic Field is 8 acres and Pioneer Courthouse Square is just shy of 1 acre. Civic Field has a lot of land which can be good and bad; with a lot of land, the space is expansive, providing no areas for respite. In planning Civic Field, they are looking for ways to break down the scale of the space to provide areas of respite, outdoor rooms, integrating the petanque courts into garden areas and/or other site elements, space for festivals and other functions. The goal is also to design for all ages so that the park provides spaces everyone can relate to. Mr. Jones provided potential park program elements that were developed in response to interview questions and intended to generate conversation:  Large festivals  Multi-use plazas  Small markets/fairs  Performance areas  Horticultural gardens  Community gardens  Stormwater features  Public art  Water feature  Unique lighting  Soccer  Tennis  Skate park  Basketball  Baseball  Jogging track/trail  Grandstand  Play area  Boys & Girls Club  Restrooms/park storage  Picnic pavilion  Parking Mr. Jones displayed two diagrams siting potential park program elements, explaining during the interview they considered uses on the edges, buffering the residential uses and integrating quieter elements such as petanque or tennis within the buffer areas, siting louder elements in the center, and more active uses on the civic edge with the center remaining active recreation space that is flexible for festivals. One of the diagrams included the grandstands and one did not. Ms. Schneider referred to a model with program pieces for Taste elements as well as park program elements to allow the community to explore and understand the scale and amount of space required to host certain programs. At the conclusion of the presentation and Q&A, she invited the public to interact Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes May 3, 2016 Page 6 with the model. Mr. Jones envisioned having the public engage with different configurations would be a useful tool at the open house. Mr. Jones concluded they want to craft something that is reflective of the community. Having the Council feedback and a significant, robust public outreach process will make this a very successful effort. Council President Johnson thanked Ms. Hite for organizing this kick-off meeting. She recalled a discussion she had with Ms. Hite regarding the importance of getting the Council involved with the design of Civic Field and not waiting until the end of the process. She remarked the Civic Field master planning process is a tremendous opportunity for the City; there has never been anything quite like this and she wanted to ensure the City was giving it the best effort. The idea of the kickoff meeting is to get the Council on the same page, understand the schedule and where the Council fits in the process. Councilmember Mesaros commented one of the programmatic things happing at Civic Field today is the Boys & Girls Club, envisioned that was an opportunity that could unfold. He referred to Thompson Peak Park in the north Scottsdale area that has a beautiful Boys & Girls Club in the park that utilizes all the activities the park offers as well as opportunity for programmatic activities within the building. Ms. Hite said the Boys & Girls Club is represented on the PAC via Mike Echelbarger; the Boys & Girls Club will also be one of the stakeholder interview. Councilmember Fraley-Monillas asked whether any consideration had been given to moving the Taste of Edmonds to another location, noting there seemed to be a lot effort to accommodate that event. Ms. Hite said during their interview, Walker | Macy mentioned several large events are currently hosted at Civic Field and there is not another site in Edmonds that could host such an event without a huge impact. She was impressed by Walker | Macy’s ability to program Civic Field for the 300 days/year for 40,000 residents as well as being able host larger events like the Taste of Edmonds, the Wenatchee Youth Circus, 4th of July, etc. She acknowledged that will be part of the community conversation, whether to continue hosting the Taste of Edmonds and other large events at Civic Field since there is not another location for those events. Councilmember Fraley-Monillas asked whether City Park or Frances Anderson Center Field had been considered, acknowledging there would be parking issues wherever those events are held. Councilmember Teitzel asked if there was any sense of the order of magnitude of the project cost. Ms. Hite answered it will depend. She has talked with Walker | Macy about developing cost estimates and a phasing plan as the process gets further toward a preferred plan. If the price tag is $10 -12 million, it will need to be phased so that the community can afford it and begin to bring activities online at the site. She acknowledged the cost of developing an eight-acre site could be significant depending on programming. If the community wants complete open space, that will not be as expensive; but if the desire is for berms, paths, program components, petanque, tennis and basketball courts, fields, etc. those costs add up. Mr. Jones said from other park projects they have done, a low-ball estimate is $1 million/acre which is for soft spaces such as lawn and simple landscaping. A more more realistic estimate for this type of space is $1.5 million/acre and the sky is the limit. Ms. Schneider commented they will also look for mutually beneficial infrastructure opportunities that could align with this project such as stormwater on adjacent streets that may also have a park benefit. Mr. Jones commented eight acres is a lot of space for a festival; the more space available, the more will be filled. There may be ways to consolidate Taste programming such as spilling onto the street rather than entirely within the park. Councilmember Buckshnis emphasized not to be daunted by the cost, she was always told that about the Edmonds Marsh. She referred to Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland, commenting it is very vibrant. She suggested looking at the urban downtown park in Charlotte, North Carolina. She cited Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes May 3, 2016 Page 7 the importance of talking to stakeholders and was glad the PAC included residents of the neighborhood. She recalled when volunteering at events at Civic Field, there were always noise complaints. Councilmember Tibbott was excited about the plan moving forward, recognizing the historic opportunity in the development of the park. He recognized parking will be one of the issue. He suggested redevelopment of the walkway systems around the park be considered to assist pedestrians in reaching the site as well as transit. He envisioned having more program elements at the site will require a better way to reach it. He summarized very few cities are fortunate enough to have a civic park like this in the center of the city surrounding by all these elements. Ms. Hite asked his vision for the sense of history. Council President Johnson offered to respond. Councilmember Teitzel relayed his understanding the grandstands were in poor condition and need to either be rehabbed or torn down. One of the schematics shows the grandstands; he asked if a completely new structure was envisioned. Ms. Hite agreed the grandstands are in very poor shape; the City is in the process of a structural analysis. She was concerned with the grandstands being onsite much longer without some work being done or removing them. There are restrictions on the site related to the grant funds used for the purchase; the area where the grandstands currently exist is restricted and do not allow construction of a structure. The existing grandstands can be grandfathered, but if they are removed, other seating for large event will need to be determined. She relayed a comment that the grandstands are the only stairs downtown and people run them for fitness. The grandstands also host storage for many community organizations. If a structural analysis determines the grandstands need to be removed, a determination will need to be made in the master planning process how to accommodate the nee d. She noted renting bleachers/grandstands is an option for larger events. With regard to Ms. Hite’s question to Councilmember Tibbott regarding what he envisioned with regard to the history of Civic Field, Council President Johnson said Civic Field was used in the past by the high school for football, baseball and track which is why there are no trees on the site. The current Boys & Girls Club was originally the fieldhouse, used to store equipment. During discussions with Ms. Hite, she suggested the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) may be interested in participating which is the reason Emily Scott was invited to participated on the PAC; Councilmember Teitzel is also on the HPC. She suggested gathering further information regarding the historic value of Civic Field buildings such as whether the materials are original, and even the track which has been in continuous use for over 100 years. She looked forward to having that information before reaching the end of the process. Councilmember Buckshnis recalled former Councilmember Yamamoto’s interest in hosting tournaments like Hoop It Up. She asked whether Civic Field was too small for tournaments. Ms. Hite answered those tournaments are brought in; for example, for Spokane’s Hoopfest, portable courts are set up in the streets. She could envision something like that on the active edge of Civic Field but did not see incorporating a lot of courts in Civic Field. She supported considering what other events in addition to the Taste and July of 4th could be brought in and how to accommodate them. Councilmember Buckshnis said Civic Field should not be designed just for the Taste, everyone needs to think outside box. She noted Edmonton is known as the festival city of Canada, Edmonds could be the festival city of Washington. She wanted the Chamber to be able to continue having the Taste at Civic Field and possibly the Rotary would move the Waterfront Festival there. Mayor Earling expressed interest in allowing the audience and Council an opportunity to engage with the program elements on the model at the conclusion of this meeting. Councilmember Nelson relayed his understanding that this park needs to be flexible and adaptable. There are many potentials and opportunities and the City needs to find the balance between a park that is used by citizens for 300 days and by the larger community for the remaining days. Ms. Hite said moving the Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes May 3, 2016 Page 8 program pieces within the site is a visual exercise that illustrates the scale and how events can be sited in a programmable park. Ms. Schneider described the exercise and the purpose of moving the program pieces around on an aerial map. With regard to the process, Ms. Hite explained briefings will be to the PAC first, followed by the Planning Board and then to the City Council. A detailed schedule is included in the packet. The public outreach process will be similar to Marina Beach but will include installation of a kiosk with an interactive way for park users to get a short bio about the project and opportunity to provide feedback for the duration of the master planning process. The team will also be handing out cards with information about the public open house and virtual open house at larger events. PAC member Val Stewart is also committed to helping connect with students. A meeting will also be held with the 10-12 Edmonds- Woodway and Meadowdale High School students working in the City’s Summer Youth Employment Program. Council President Johnson asked Ms. Hite to commented on the restricted/unrestricted nature of the project. Ms. Hite explained the City received funds from the State as well as Snohomish County Conservation Futures; both restrict use of the land as protected open space. Active recreation is restricted to the current uses such as soccer, baseball, petanque, etc.; synthetic turf is not allowed in those areas. Spaces must be less than 10% impervious surface. Two acres concentrated in the northwest portion of the property are not restricted which allows impervious surface, structures, etc. Current uses in that area include the Boys & Girls Club and basketball and tennis courts. Due to those restrictions, the State and County will need to weigh in on the master planning process as well. 5. ADJOURN With no further business, the Special Council meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m.