Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutReg 2015-03-16 Item 7C - Report - City AdministratorCity of Tukwila jim Haggerton, Mayor 6200 Southcenter Boulevard WA • .. The City of opportunity, the community of choice TO: Mayor Haggerton Councilmembers FROM: David Cline, City Administrator DATE: March 11, 2015 SUBJECT: Report for March 16, 2015 Regular Council Meeting The City Administrator Report is meant to provide the Council, staff and community an update on the activities of the City and on issues that concern Tukwila. Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information about any of the following items. I. Intergovernmental Update • Boeing Access Road Light Rail Station Update: On February 25, the Mayor and Communications and Government Relations Manager Rachel Bianchi participated in a meeting with King County Councilmember Joe McDermott and key employers in the MIC to discuss the Boeing Access Road Light Rail Station and request the CounciImember's support for the effort. Participants included representatives of Sabey, BECU, Group Health, Museum of Flight, Raisbeck Engineering, Unified Grocers, Kidder Mathews, Raisbeck Aviation High School, and the Highline School District. Councilmember McDermott was enthusiastic in his support for the station and identified additional funding sources that may be available beyond the package that Sound Transit hopes to put in front of the voters in November 2016. City staff are working in coordination with Councilmember McDermott's staff to identify and execute a plan to move forward with the project. There will be a role for all stakeholders — including residents and elected officials —to participate in coalition activities moving forward. Sound Transit -4: Communications and Government Relations Manager Rachel Bianchi attended the first Intergovernmental Coordination Group hosted by Sound Transit to assist in advising the agency on the new system plan, which will ultimately turn into the package before the voters. Sound Transit intends to release a priority project list this summer for public comment with the goal to have the draft system plan available for comment first quarter of 2016. The agency will need final passage of the system plan by June /July of 2016 in order to go to a public vote in November 2016. Senate legislation passed on March 2 included funding for Sound Transit, though not as much as the agency initially requested. This Intergovernmental Coordination Group will meet every other month and City staff will continue to attend. Meeting with KC Councilmembers Dunn and Upthegrove: Mayor Haggerton, Mayor Cooke of Kent and Mayor Law of Renton met with King County Councilmembers Dunn and Upthegrove to discuss the King County Flood Control Advisory District and SWIF policies. King County City Manager's /Administrators Meeting: City Administrator David Cline attended the monthly King County City Manager's and Administrator's meeting where AWC provided a Legislative Update, Tracy Burrows of Municipal Research and Services Centertalked about High Performance Organizations Consortium of cities that includes Tukwila, King County gave a presentation about Public Safety Emergency Radio Network (PSERN). The group also discussed the upcoming International City 111 City Administrator Report March 11, 2015 Page 2 Manager's Association 2015 Conference being held in Seattle and reviewed the results of the SCA Membership Survey. II. Staff Updates Public Safety • Citizen's Academy: The 2015 Tukwila Citizens' Academy kicked off on March 4 with 12 citizens enrolled for this session. Chief Villa welcomed the class and spoke about his vision for the Tukwila Police Department and his goals when hiring new police officers. Sergeant Rossi provided a summary of the hiring criteria and process, training requirements and then conducted a tour of Tukwila Police facilities in the 620o and 630o buildings. • Foster HIS CERT: Tukwila Emergency Management, FD & PD employees are conducting Community Emergency Response Team Training at Foster HS for members of the student body. • Vehicle in River: An SUV that has been submerged in the Duwamish River for several months has been removed in a joint FD /PD operation. • RFA Steering Committee: The committee had its first meeting on March 11, 2015 at Fire Station 51. All members or their designated alternate were in attendance. The agenda included introductions, TFD history, background on fire service regionalization, Kent Regional Fire Authority history, committee tasks and issues, outreach, and process. Project Updates • Read Across America: City Administrator David Cline was pleased to support Academy Schools Read Across America at their Dr. Seuss Day by reading to their K -4th grade students. Officers Isaiah Harris and Patrick Hisa also participated in Read Across America at Thorndyke Elementary's celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday. The officers took great pleasure in reading to and interacting with the students. After the reading sessions students had lots of questions forthe officers. • REACH Afterschool Program: Staff from the Mayor's Office, Parks and Recreation, Tukwila School District and the YMCA met to discuss the REACH (afterschool) program and plans for providing an update at the next City Council /School Board joint meeting. • Metro Long Range Public Transportation Plan: Staff attended the Transit Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting on Feb. 26. The TAC is one of two advisory groups that will help inform METRO's long range public transportation plan to coordinate transit service with future growth through 2040. METRO is also working with a Community Advisory Group to inform the plan, and will be holding events to get input from the public at large. The responsibility of the TAC is to help METRO take into account the substantial planning efforts that have been completed or that are ongoing in local jurisdictions, transit agencies and the state. • CVS Pharmacy —3725 South :L4e Street: A pre - application meeting was held this week to discuss the construction of a 12,900 square foot retail pharmacy at the southwest corner of Tukwila International Blvd and South 144th Street. The proposal will involve demolition of the existing gas station at the corner, construction of the new building with an additional tenant pad to the west consisting of 29,000 square feet. The applicant will be required to obtain a SEPA determination and adhere to the TIB design standards through the design review approval process. • Family Fun Center Addition — 730o Fun Center Wax: Family Fun Center is proposing to add 12,100 square feet to their existing building. The addition will be for a 16 -lane bowling alley with new restrooms and accessory areas. There will be some remodel of the existing structure. The project will be required to obtain a shoreline permit, design review and possibly SEPA. • Thorndyke Safe Routes to School: Mobilization is set for March g and construction on S 15oth St from 42nd Ave S to TIB is scheduled to restart on March 16. 112 City Administrator Report March 11, 2015 Page 3 • CBD Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation: The contractor has completed the property restoration and landscaping, but still needs to install traffic channelization at Andover Park East /Strander Blvd. Michels has completed the relining of all designated sewer pipe. • Interurban Ave S: The storm vault at S 149th St is in place and the groundwater dewatering system has been taken out of operation. Some obstructions with the sheet pile wall work have been encountered, but work is continuing around them. • Desimone Levee Repair: Kent has removed existing trees within the business park, relocated utilities, and is placing levee fill to widen the levee access road. Sheet pile installation began March 10. The Planning Division, with input from Public Works submitted a comment letterto the Corps of Engineers on the 65% design documents for the repair of the Levee. • Housing and Education Partnerships: The Housing Development Consortium and PSRC hosted a forum on March 5 to discuss housing and education partnerships. A presentation to the group stressed the connection between good quality affordable housing and educational performance /access to opportunities for students from low income families. • Habitat for Humanity: At the February meeting of the South King County Land Use and Human Services Planners meeting, DCD and Human Services staff learned about Habitat for Humanity's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI). Through this nationwide initiative, Habitat for Humanity has switched focus from building single dwellings to a focus on making an impact to an entire neighborhood. Local work on this initiative has included neighborhoods in Renton, White Center, and Federal Way. Habitat is looking for a new neighborhood on which to focus its NRI work, and met with staff on March 4 to discuss opportunities in Tukwila. Staff will continue to work with Habitat on this issue. • TCC Shoreline Mitigation: Work by EarthCorps crews was completed on the TCC shoreline and 42nd Ave S shoreline this week. Blackberries and other invasive plants were removed from the target areas and native plants were re- planted in their place. • Codiga Park Shoreline Restoration: Parks and Recreation is in the final stages of closing out the Codiga Park Shoreline Restoration Project which was funded by King Conservation District (KCD) for $10,000. The project focused on removing and controlling invasive species and planting a variety of native species plants in 2013 and 2014 along the steep north riverbank slope of the Duwamish River at Codiga Park. Property Cleanup Completed The abatement of 3 properties were completed this week. ■ 1222144th Ave S — Overgrowth and rubbish removed, structures secured ■ 1356238 th Ave S —Overgrowth and rubbish removed, structure secured 3417 S 144th St — Overgrowth and rubbish removed, structures secured III. Responses to Council /Citizen Inquiries Date of Inquiry Inquiry Response February 17, 2015 Christi Wells, the owner of Wells DCD staff talked with Ms. Wells on February 20 and Council Meeting Trucking request guidance on the sale suggested two possible options for her consideration: of her property which is comprised of 1. Request a Zoning Code Interpretation from the City; eight underlying lots with split zoning. 2. Request a rezone of the property. Rezone requests are processed once a year along with Comprehensive Plan amendment requests - the request would be due by 113 City Administrator Report March ii, 2015 Page 4 114 December 31, 2015 and then it would be reviewed in 2o3.6 with the City Council making a decision in late 2oi6. February 23, 2015 Councilmember Ekberg notified Parks P &R staff verified the location of the hole and filled it the Councilmember & Recreation staff about a hole in the same day. Inquiry ground at Crystal Springs Park February 28, 2015 Residents on 164th Street expressed Deputy Chief Linton and the Community Police Team Citizen Inquiry concerns about a problem property in met with the concerned residents on March io, 2015 and their neighborhood. shared what the police department is doing to meet one of the Mayor's focus areas: increasing safety in our neighborhoods. The police department has put together a task force focused on developing new strategies to continue to reduce crimes in our neighborhoods and the Community Police Team has significantly increased their presence in our neighborhoods. March 2, 2015 Council President Kruller inquired if The City is working with our contractor, PBS Engineering Council Meeting there was a firm date for the TIB and Environmental, Inc., to develop bid specifications motel demolitions. related to demolition of the Great Bear, Boulevard and Spruce motels. It is expected that the motels will be demolished prior to the end of 203-5. March 2, 2015 Council President Kruller asked when The Tukwila Village developer has control of the site and Council Meeting dirt will be moved at Tukwila Village. a permit to start grading anytime. The King County Library System would like to start work as soon as possible. We need to complete the lot consolidation and close escrow on the Library's parcel before they can issue bids. We anticipate KCLS starting onsite work in the next couple of months. March 2, 2015 William Holstine raised issues DCD Staff met and corresponded with Mr. Holstine Council Meeting regarding infill housing and about these issues in December 2014 and January 2015. neighborhood uses. Mr. Holstine is on the interested parties list forthe Housing and Residential Neighborhoods Comp Plan update. 114