HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/19/2019 06A Council Committee MinutesBUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDA STATEMENT
Item No. 6.A.
For Meeting of: March 19, 2019
ITEM TITLE: Accept Council Committee minutes
SUBMITTED BY: CaIly Price, Assistant to the City Manager
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
January 24, 2019 Economic Development Committee minutes
January 31, 2019 Public Safety Committee minutes
ITEM BUDGETED:
STRATEGIC PRIORITY:
APPROVED FOR
SUBMITTAL:
City Manager
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
BOARD/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Upload Date
012419 EDC rrinutes 3/12/2019
013119 PSC minutes 3/12/2019
Type
Cover Memo
Cover Memo
Council Economic Development
Committee
Members:
Council member White
Council member Coffey
Council member Cousens
2"d Floor Conference Room
City Hall
January 24, 2019
1:30 p.m.
Staff:
Sara Watkins, Senior Assistant City Attorney
Rob Peterson, Airport Director
Scott Schafer, Public Works Director
Glenn Denman, Building Official
CaIly Price, Assistant to the City Manager
Executive inutes
White called the meeting to order.
Others:
Luz Gutierrez
John Cooper
Jonathan Smith
Jerry Mellen
Verlynn Best
Andrew Holt
Joe Mann
1. Review draft minutes from December 20, 2018 meeting:
The December 20, 2018 meeting minutes were reviewed. Cousens motioned to accept the
minutes as presented and Coffey seconded the motion. The minutes were approved as
presented.
2. Discussions:
a. Strategic Priorities
i. Review new strategic direction approved by Council 1/12/19
The City Council met on January 12 to update its strategic priorities for the
year. The primary change for the Economic Development Committee was
replacing the downtown plaza with downtown destination. This item will be
added to future agendas.
b.
Economic Development Plan - nothing to report
i. Competitiveness
1. Private sites — Smith reported that some private properties have been
added to the opportunity zones website for individuals or businesses
looking to expand in Yakima.
2. City sites — Smith reported that three airport sites were added to the
YCDA online GIS property database.
3. Mill site — Watkins provided an update on the mill site.
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4. Public Port Authority — Smith reported that the Chamber is hosting a
lunch in March to talk about Port Districts. Best will send an invite and
more information when it's available.
5. Incentives — Smith reported that a sales tax incentive for developers
may be introduced in the legislature again this year. Developers in
Yakima took advantage of this opportunity in the past. City staff will
contact City's lobbyists to see if this is something they are tracking.
6. Education Alignment — Smith reported that the committee has been
working on a directory of all career education programs in the valley
and will be releasing it soon.
7. YKM -
8. Convention Center — Cooper provided an update on the Convention
Center expansion. The selection committee should have a firm
selected in March.
ii. Traded Sector
1. YKM — Peterson reported that there were 144,000 in/out bound
passengers that traveled through the Yakima Airport in 2018. This
number mirrors 2017. Alaska Airline is offering the fourth flight through
March, will drop a flight in spring, but add the fourth flight back in
summer.
Staff is working with a marketing agency on the FLYYKM campaign.
Currently there is about $80,000 grant funds left for marketing of the
Airport. Union Gap was the only jurisdiction that offered to contribute
to the marketing efforts and included money in its 2019 budget to
assist.
Peterson provide a quick overview on some of the capital projects
needed at the airport and stressed the importance of regional support.
White asked for an update on the recent article about CWU expanding
its program in Yakima. Peterson reported that staff will be meeting
with CWU representatives in the near future to talk about logistics.
The final report is due the end of February.
2. Clusters — Smith reported that YCDA is participating in various
agriculture and food processing and packaging trade shows.
iii. Community pride — nothing to report
Coffey asked that staff update the Economic Development Strategic Plan matrix and
bring it to the next meeting.
c. Council policy requests
i. Vacant Building Ordinance report from Sara
Watkins distributed and reviewed a spreadsheet showing other cities
regulations on vacant buildings. Committee members openly discussed what
other cities do and requested that Watkins contact Everett regarding their
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fees and that staff work with DAY to create a list of vacant properties in the
DYBID. Cooper suggested that the Arts Commission be included in the
discussion.
3. Staff and Partner Announcements
a. Utility pole use for cell facility — report from Sara
Watkins reported that the City does not currently have any regulations regarding
wireless facilities and asked that the Committee authorize the planning commission
to review regulations and make recommendations to the full Council. Developing
wireless facility regulations will allow smaller companies an opportunity to compete
with the larger companies.
b. Shipping container ordinance proposal — report from Glenn
Denman read his January 24, 2019 memo (included in the packet). Committee
members asked that staff prepare a draft ordinance for Committee members to
review at the next meeting. White asked staff to determine if the shipping containers
at the Holiday Inn were permitted or are in the clear view area.
c. Pavement Condition Index — report from Scott
Schafer gave an overview of what the pavement condition is, how streets are
identified, and reviewed the 2015 list of streets (latest data available). Some streets
on the list have been identified as part of a project and will be fixed when the project
work is being completed. The City is considering hiring a consultant in 2020 to
update the PCI list but the cost is $80-100,000 and needs to be budgeted. White
would like to have development standards be defined for the downtown core. If the
Committee's focus is making the downtown a destination then there needs to be
standards for the businesses/property owners. Coffey asked staff to work with DAY
to develop a plan to bring back to the Committee at the next meeting.
d. RECON Convention May 19-22, 2019 in Las Vegas
Committee members agreed Yakima would not have a booth at the RECON
Convention this year.
e. Entertainment Facilities Conference May 16-17 in San Diego
Committee members did not think this conference would be appropriate for
staff/council.
Holt added that the National Main Street Conference will be held in Seattle this year.
Discounted rates are available for elected/appointed officials. The dates are March 25-27.
This item will be added to the February 5 City Council agenda for discussion under
committee reports.
4. Future agenda items
a. Review updated Economic Development Strategic Plan timeline
b. Downtown destination
c. Fulcrum presentation
d. Everett abandoned/vacant building ordinance fee
e. Shipping container ordinance
f. Inventory of vacant building/lots in DYBID
g. Filling gaps — information from Holly
h. Develop downtown infrastructure criteria
5. Audience Participation
Joe Mann suggested that Fulcrum present at the next meeting to talk about some of the
projects they are working on.
Mellon stated that the vacant building ordinance is a very good but needs to be very strong.
He also suggested that there needs to be easier ways for landlords to get people out.
Best suggested that staff look at what Portsmouth, Virginia did to deal with abandoned
buildings/properties and how they developed affordable housing.
Holt stated that DAY has its monthly meeting on February 5 and will be sharing the 2018
year-end report.
r
Counc 1 Public Safety Co
tee
Members:
Councilmember Gutierrez
Councilmember White (alt)
Councilmember Coffey (alt)
2nd Floor Conference Room
City Hall
January 31, 2019
3:00 p.m.
Staff:
Cliff Moore, City Manager
Gary Jones, Interim Police Chief
Aaron Markham, Fire Chief
Scott Schafer, PW Director
Cynthia Martinez, City Prosecutor
Terri Croft, Police
Executive i ut s
White called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.
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Others:
Tony Miller, Director
YVEM
1. December 20, 2018 minutes
It was MOVED by White and SECONDED by Coffey to accept the minutes as
presented. The minutes were approved unanimously.
2. Department reports
a. Fire Department
i. Annual statistical fire activity report
Markham provided the annual statistical report for the Yakima Fire
Department. He noted that this is different from the annual report
that will be presented to council. The committee requested that
future monthly reports statistics added to reflect year-to-date and
month-to-month comparison for the current and previous years.
There was discussion regarding the use of plexi -board to board up
vacant residences. Markham noted that there was not strict guideline
for contractors to use this material, primarily due to the expense.
b. Police Department
i. Community Policing Report
Jones briefly addressed the community policing report to full council
two weeks prior. Shift change has been completed so beat officers
are in their new assignments. Staff is working on various methods of
communication between the officers and the community. Command
staff has been having briefings with officers to discuss the philosophy
of community policing and are receiving positive feedback.
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Coffey asked about continuation of bicycle patrols. Jones advised
that he will continue bicycle patrols through grant funding, but wants
to expand by using evidence based deployment, not just focusing on
the downtown area, but other areas where crime analysis can
determine there are issues.
Gutierrez would like to see some type of flyer or information that
officers can leave with community groups to continue building on the
initial meetings.
c. Legal
i. DV Response
Martinez reported that the full council had approved the formation of
the CCRT and that it will be led by the domestic violence advocate.
Recruitment for the DV advocate is expected to start by the end of
February.
White asked if there were any opportunities for community volunteers
to assist in the domestic violence efforts. Martinez would like to see
the CCRT get to the point where community members could assist.
Gutierrez advised she would like to see the draft state legislation
priorities given to all the council members and lobbyists so everyone
was on the same page when discussing the domestic violence
priority.
d. Public Works
i. Safe Routes to Schools
Schafer reported there are two current Safe Routes to Schools
projects, Garfield Elementary and McClure Elementary. Garfield is in
its second year due to having to obtain right of ways in 2018. All
work will be done this summer to be ready for the 2019-2020 school
year. Applications have been submitted for McKinley Elementary
and Apple Valley Elementary. Staff should have additional
information in June.
ii. Traffic calming update
Schafer presented a report on traffic calming requests under the new
process. 20 applications have been submitted and baseline
information was taken. Preliminary data shows 8 of the requests are
at or below the speed limit and do not warrant traffic calming
measures. Another 8 requests are within 5 mph of the posted speed
limits and may require further evaluation. The education component
of the traffic calming procedure will be initiated in these areas. 3 of
the requests are at 5 mph or more above the posted speed limits and
will require further evaluation. Education will be initiated. The final
request was received only days before the meeting and is in
preliminary data gathering stages. Gutierrez asked how long the
signage would remain up during the education phase. Schafer
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advised it would be up for a few weeks, and also noted a report will
be presented to the full council on February 19.
Gutierrez asked what occurs after enforcement fails and the
engineering phase has to start. Schafer advised that triggers the
second petition. Gutierrez requested that the 2nd petition be brought
to the next Public Safety Committee meeting for discussion.
iii. School zone signage on Fair Ave.
Staff is proceeding with adding two more flashing signs on Fair
Avenue and an additional pedestrian crossing at Kiwanis Park.
e. Emergency Management
Miller reported they are working on a flood plan and preparing sand bag
supplies. Schafer added that the levies are being dredged and cleared to
try to avoid flooding problems, as well as making agreements with DOT for
access to divert water.
3. New Business
a. Public Safety discussions with Yakima School District
Gutierrez asked for the support of the committee to make a list of priorities
to discuss with the Yakima School District at joint meeting, particularly
focusing on Safe Routes to Schools. The list will be presented to the full
council for consideration when creating the agenda. Moore provided an
update on the response from the school district to his letter requesting
surveying of sidewalk/lighting/dangerous properties/code enforcement
issues. They advised they would co-sponsor public forums, but felt polling
was on sidewalks and lighting were City responsibilities. Their next
requests would be Adams and Barge Lincoln Elementary Schools. They
also felt they did not want to put parents in the position commenting on code
enforcement and danger property issues and that would also be a City
responsibility. Staff has reached out to the school district to find a date for a
joint meeting and school district staff replied that a meeting couldn't be
scheduled at this time. Mayor Coffey requested Cally set a meeting with the
school board president Mr. Navarro
4. Other business
a. GRIT update
The steering committee met for an update on village meetings with various
stakeholders and the community. Working with ESD and YSD to reach out
to select middle school students for mentoring and counseling. They
recommended contracting with a former SRO, Gary Garza, which was
approved by the steering committee. Also met with the project coordinator
to discuss data needed to apply for future funding. Gutierrez requested a
GRIT progress report at the February 19 meeting.
b. Markham provided a report on the recent 911 outage. The incident started
as a minor issue but got progressively worse. Text to 911 still worked
during the outage and alternative phone numbers were used to contact the
center. SunComm has requested a published number to be used in the
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event of an outage. (509) 453-9000 will be the E911 backup number and
will be published by February 1, 2019. There are funds available for
community education of the backup numbers through County E911 funding
sources.
5. Recap of future agenda items
• Public Safety discussion with Yakima School Districts (until told for
certain no meeting will take place)
• 2nd petition in traffic calming process
• One way street update around Garfield Elementary
Moore will follow up on:
• Main Street Conference agenda
• Information for domestic violence lobbyist
• Scheduling meeting with Mayor Coffey and School Board
• GRIT update at 2/19 council meeting.
6. Audience participation
None
7. Items for council committee report
• Traffic calming petition discussion
• Upcoming Coffee with a Cop events
8. Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 4:13 p.m.
Dulce Gutierrez, Chair