MEETING AGENDA
- 6:30 – 6:45 PM Welcome and Update from Councilmember Gilman
- 6:45 – 7:05 PM Water Rate Structure and Usage Charges – Eric Christian
- 7:05 – 7:25 PM Multi-family Housing Tax Incentives & the Home Fund – Cary Retlin
- 7:25 – 7:45 PM Homeless Response Planning Update – Amy Buckler
- 7:45 – 8:00 PM Changing Markets and Impacts to Recycling Programs – Gary Franks
- 8:00 – 8:30 PM Open Discussion
Council of Neighborhood Associations (CNA) Minutes
Date: Monday, July 8, 2019 Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Location: Olympia City Hall, 601 4th Ave, Room 207, Olympia WA
Attending:
Council of Neighborhood Associations: Officers: Denise Pantelis (CRANA), Chair. Dave Marty (ICNA), Vice Chair; Co-Secretaries Jennifer Davis (SCNA) & Marty Worcester (REHOA). Members: Clydia Cuykendall (WLH), Randy Lubert (Lakemoor), Mark Toy (SWONA), Jim Sweeney (sub) (ENA), Bob Jacobs (GSNA), Don Law (East Bay Drive NA), John O’Conner (WEHA), Bruce Coulter (NWONA), Melissa Allen (BHNA), Larry Dzieza (Nottingham).
City & County Representatives: Leonard Bauer (Community Planning), Clark Gilman (City Council), Mark Russell (Public Works), Lydia Moorehead (Community Planning), Eric Christiansen (Water Resources), Cary Retlin (Home Fund manager), Amy Buckler (Community Planning), Gary Franks (Waste Resources).
1. Call to Order: Chair Denise Pantelis called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
2. Approval of Agenda: Agenda was approved.
3. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the June 10, 2019 meeting were approved as amended in “final draft II.”
4. Updates from Clark Gilman: Councilmember Gilman provided an update on recent and upcoming Council activities. Recent events of note include: Priest Point Park trail was just recently opened, with help from Washington Trails Association volunteer work parties; the Fire and Rescue Spectacular happened recently at the Hands On Children’s Museum; the Bike Rodeo was a success at the new bike pump track. OPD was present at all events, thanks to the public safety ballot measure (dedicated staff for community events). Upcoming City Council actions: will hear bid results for Henderson/Eskridge compact roundabout; West Bay Art Crossing Plan review; homelessness response planning moving from broad public outreach to a new phase of public engagement; the Land Use and Environment Committee will be covering vulnerable rental protections and short-term rentals (July), roundtables on affordable housing incentives and tools and workforce housing (August), and neighborhood planning related to sustainable “eco-districts” and the Eastside Subarea Plan (September). Council is also looking to develop a workgroup on climate issues.
5. New planning staff: Leonard Bauer introduced new neighborhood planner Lydia Moorehead, who will be CNA’s primary contact and neighborhood planner, also handling the neighborhood matching grants.
6. Water rate structure and usage charges. Staff Eric Christiansen, Director of Water Resources, gave an overview of residential water rates and how they are set. Consultant (currently FCS Group) do a 3- to 6-year financial analysis to inform utility management planning (this can be found online). Eric gave an overview of the city budgeting schedule related to water resources. Public review of budgets happens in fall, and Council adopts in December. The city uses a tiered rate structure, based on metered water usage for residential drinking water, and a base rate for wastewater that is discounted if you use less water. (HOAs may have an additional discount if they have an agreement with the city on water management.) The cost of water increases with use. City has four tiers of water use/cost to try and incentivize conservation. With water conservation, city revenues go down, but a base rate is maintained. Maximum amount a residential customer can pay is $21.47 per month, with a discount to $13.29 if you conserve. A discussion ensued, including ideas about different rate systems for winter versus summer, adjusting the costs of providing water, whether it will cost us more water if we want people to put in more neighborhood gardens and grow food. Addressing water conservation and sustainable neighborhood planning could be addressed in the utilities plan. CNA members asked about catching leaks early- the next utility mailer will describe how to look for a leak on your water meter (blue dial); the city can also find water use overnight and give people a call. The EBA rep gave a testimonial on how the city was helpful working with him on a water leak. For leaks in infrastructure, city monitors frequently, because they must keep water loss under 10%. All customers share the costs of repairs. A question was asked about whether we can see our water bill ahead of time. The utility billing site includes the ability to see the bill early; Eric will email the information.
7. Multifamily housing tax incentives. Staff Cary Retlin, Home Fund Manager, introduced himself. Denise clarified that the CNA is interested in learning about the community value of providing tax incentives for development that isn’t necessarily adding affordable housing to the community. Cary discussed the multifamily tax exemption and how it works. It is not allowed for temporary rentals. It is intended to incentivize construction of multi-family housing (4 or more units) in targeted residential areas (in and near downtown). The city shut down the short-term rental practice at 123 4th. There was no penalty specified in state law for violating the agreement; the City’s interest was to stop the practice; they have good relationships with the major developers in town. CNA members expressed concerns about how the city tracks (or does not track) short-term rentals; we asked that the policies be clear on the agreements both with the city and on tenant rental agreements on what happens if you violate the provisions of the tax exemption. Cary said the city relies on neighbors to report problems. The City does require annual rent rolls, but those reports cover rents, occupancy and vacancy and may not specifically state who lives there. Question was if the city would require a business license for property renting, wouldn’t it improve the data the city collects? Staff clarified that it isn’t unlawful for landlords to do short-term rentals; it is only a problem if they are qualified for multi-family tax exemption. The tax exemption also does not allow for tenant displacements; e.g., the Angelus apartments. Discussion about the value of the incentives for multifamily housing, which go beyond affordable housing and include increased density and downtown revitalization. Most projects are 8-year projects, one is 12-year include some affordable housing. Some members do not feel the value of the subsidy (tax exemption) has been worth it. In the future we need to have more data on short-term rentals in the community.
8. Homeless Response Planning. Staff Amy Buckler gave an update on projects to be funded from the Home Fund. One proposal in the works for 60 supportive housing units and 60 shelter beds for single homeless adults in our community on Martin Way—upcoming public meeting Monday, July 22 at VFW Hall. Plum Street Village continues to function well, with some success stories with moving people into permanent housing. All 29 units are filled. Residents there need a high level of case management. There are a lot of barriers to get into permanent housing, including not having IDs. City is trying to help expedite that by hiring a second case manager for the faith community tiny house sites (also in development) to also work with Plum Street Village residents. A first pilot project for a faith community tiny house site at Westminster Presbyterian is in development; a neighborhood meeting will be July 24 at Westminster Presbyterian. The mitigation site downtown has 115 spots with 132 individuals; this is a temporary solution, it is too many for good self-governance, but the problem is, where can people go? People in these sites need serious treatment services for addiction and mental health. The city is working with other jurisdictions to consider a second regional mitigation site on Carpenter Road. Other current response projects include: a secure storage site is downtown at Union Gospel Mission is 75% full (storage containers donated by the Port); a PSE utility box was fenced to discourage bad behaviors; Downtown Alliance has new safety guides downtown who are coordinating with city police, ambassadors, and Community Care Center; the city is monitoring and developing solutions for unmanaged encampments citywide- is a very slow process to move people from these sites. Next will be a Rapid Response Team to monitor hot spots and discourage new large encampments; this team will be a go-to contact for neighbors seeing activity of concern. CNA had a brief discussion of how long it will take to move people from unmanaged camping into more managed or developed sites. City can’t do it alone and needs to go through a planning process to build community support for what the next steps are. The work group is going through the process of listening to the community—who is saying we need a compassionate approach with boundaries and more accountability. Other suggestions we’ve heard deal with using successful strategies from elsewhere, more enforcement, more communication about actions and results, creating a safe and clean community, more regional response, enhanced public and environmental health, and increased trauma-informed care. The group is trying to develop principles around the response plan and find places of general agreement. These principles will be tested with the community in an online survey. July-Aug will include more community conversations with faith community leaders and institutional leaders. Amy asked CNA representatives to help pass along the July 24 online survey when it comes out; the city will also be reaching out specifically to neighborhood association leadership. More public workshops to come in October. Amy asked CNA to continue to encourage people to sign up for homeless e-newsletter at EngageOlympia.com. Summaries of all the meetings held so far are also posted online. CNA members wanted to make sure the homeless population is well represented in the effort. The city is paying for 1.5 employees out of the Home Fund. The larger homeless response team includes several staff, different funding sources; staff across all departments deal with the issue.
9. Changing markets and impacts to recycling programs. Staff Gary Franks, Waste Resources Director gave an overview of updates to the recycling program. Not all cities collect their own waste; some cities have private haulers (including Lacey and Tumwater) regulated by the Utilities and Transportation Commission. Goals of the waste resources plan including reducing waste, increasing recycling, operating efficiently, and managing finances responsibly and equitably. The city has actually reduced waste as population has grown, and increased recycling. Our recycling rate is 12% greater than the state rate. But it is getting harder to increase recycling. China was huge buyer of our waste and recyclables; that changed in July 2017 with import restrictions and banned items. Most contamination rates are above 3%, but China’s limit is .5%- nearly impossible to meet. In 2018, zero materials were shipped to China. People looked for new markets, and additional countries started to ban items. The city has seen a big loss in revenue. Paper products have had the highest impact—60-70% of our recyclables are paper, which used to be worth $100-$150/ton. Now the worth is -$22 per ton. Finding markets and high-quality processors is difficult. It’s costing us more and more; now it costs more to recycle than to landfill the material. Gary passed out an article on the impacts of China not accepting our waste. Many actions are being tested around the state (and country) and changes are likely in the future to how and what we are able to recycle. Note that the City has an updated list of accepted items; this may be further dictated by the state in the future. Current customer rates have slightly increased; but this doesn’t cover the cost. The city is hoping new markets and industrial developments will help with costs. Some cities have stopped recycling altogether. It is likely that we may have to stop collecting poly-coated materials; glass is a problem, too—currently it mostly goes to landfills as alternative cover. CNA members discussed the need to educate customers on reducing contamination of the recycling, reduce waste in general, and the need for more education on how to recycle right.
10. Open Discussion. Tabled for time. Denise asked the group to reflect on limiting our questions and discussion during speaker presentations so we have more time for discussion.
11. Update on candidate forums: Still in active development; several NAs have members helping to organize and host these events.
The meeting adjourned at 8:29 p.m.
Submitted by Jennifer Davis, Co-Secretary
Council of Neighborhood Associations 