Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Woodinville Council goes to DC
Woodinville City Council Member Rachel Best-Campbell took time away from a family vacation in Washington DC to advocate for the Woodinville community.
She was able to meet with the Legislative Assistants of Senator Murray and Representative DelBene on city topics, including upcoming trail projects and asking for critical help completing the city’s ten-year project to rebuild the downtown rail-road trestle. Widening the bridge will be a key step in addressing Woodinville’s worst traffic bottleneck and creating a more beautiful entrance for visitors.
During the recent Woodinville High School mid-winter break (February 18-26) she took her son to see our nation's capitol as part of his civic education. “By the November election he will be able to vote, so a trip to the other Washington was appropriate” said Best-Campbell.
The family visited the National Monuments and several Smithsonian Museums in the days before her Capitol Hill meetings. Former Woodinville Mayor James Evans, currently working in DC, gave them many great ideas for a cost-efficient and educational trip.
James Evans also attended the meetings to add his valuable historical perspective. He related how the trestle project started in 2012 with a goal to widen the bridge and make the city more accessible by car, bike, and foot. City Councils ever since have worked towards that original vision of an improved gateway from 522. James’ involvement is also personal as Rachel described, “Although James currently serves us in DC, his heart is always in Woodinville.”
Councilmember Best-Campbell at Senator Murray's office
The right voice is important
Women working together
The family trip had been in the works for some time, but plans changed when Woodinville City Council decided to send an all-male group to lobby in DC. Best-Campbell explained her reasoning, “I felt it was important to show our all-female delegation in DC that Woodinville also has a strong progressive woman advocating on the local level”.
The DC meetings were especially successful given that Senator Murray’s office sent her Senior Policy Advisor on Transportation who both drafts key bills and works to ensure their application. During the meeting she described previous successes interacting with agencies like the Surface Transportation Board (STB). Any rail banking requires STB approval as all rail-roads fall under federal jurisdiction.
It was a highly successful trip and Rachel ended each meeting inviting the DC delegation to visit. “To me, Woodinville is five and a half square miles of paradise. I relish every opportunity to share our beautiful city”, said Best-Campbell.
Surprise early bloom on Washington DC cherry trees
Federal approval is the blocker
Woodinville is ready to go
A key message about the trestle is that funding is ready, making the request achievable without a congressional vote. For almost a decade, Woodinville has saved funds towards the project's multi-million dollar cost. In 2021, replacement of the rail bridge took a leap forward with the securing of $2.5 million as part of Washington State Transportation bill, with Rachel as the primary voice speaking to the Olympia delegation.
Woodinville city staff have been designing improved traffic flows through the SR202/175th intersection. All to be ready for the federal agency decision on so-called "rail banking", which allows the removal of the rails from the unused rail-road corridor. Once rail banking is approved, the work to remove the rails can begin almost immediately.
This rail-trestle creates a bottleneck and needs federal approval for replacement
Housing Plan open comment period
During the February 21st City Council meeting, a draft "Housing Action Plan" was delivered by staff following months of consultant driven special meetings and research. This plan does not carry any legal weight by itself. It is intended to set strategy and direct creation of future ordinance and zoning changes related to housing in Woodinville.
The plan is available for review on the city website and feedback is requested by March 13th. https://www.ci.woodinville.wa.us/472/Draft-Housing-Action-Plan-HAP
Some key points to consider from the 150+ page document:
- By 2040, Woodinville is projected to need ~3000 more housing units. The existing planned projects and downtown zoning will achieve this without further changes.
- Only 2.5% of Woodinville residents also work in the city
- The majority of workers commute by car to the South and West. County and Metro bus service are not currently sufficient to remove the need for car based commuting. The future East-rail trail project might decrease the count by a few hundred cars per week.
- Short-term housing rentals (ex: Airbnb) and Investment properties have grown more common in Woodinville, reducing ownership affordability.
- Adding density in the R-1 (one residence per lot) zones of the city is infeasible due to the lack of sewer services in those neighborhoods. Adding sewer-services will generally increase, not decrease, per-unit costs and is not economical viable for developers to build.
All are encourages to review and comment the plan by March 13th.
An online survey is also available: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HAPMiniSurvey
Note: A few of the survey questions were written in an overly broad manner (lumping different topics/neighborhoods together). The "other" option allows a comment to clarify your feelings.
A recently re-developed street in downtown Bothell
King County Transfer Station site selection
And then there were two
In a surprise development, King County has removed one of the three possible locations from consideration. This leaves only the current Houghton transfer station site and a collection of parcels in Woodinville's west industrial as possible locations.
The project to place the new (or newly rebuilt) "Northeast recycling and transfer station" (NERTS) has been a contentious. It will only be more so after City of Kirkland working with WSDOT arranged to disqualify the second of two Kirkland sites from consideration, just weeks after a final list of three sites received public comment for environmental review (EIS).
King County Solid Waste refuses to add a third site to consideration. Their only concession is to allow further comments until March 27th. For descriptions of EIS focused comments see: https://youtu.be/lvL2aeSBLFw
All residents are encouraged to attend and speak with King County Solid Waste division staff during an open house in Woodinville City Hall - March 15th at 6pm.
Solid Waste division will host an open house in Woodinville City Hall March 15th at 6pm
WA Legislative Update
WA Legislative update
Multiple bills which will negatively impact Woodinville's zoning control are continuing to move forward in Olympia:
HB 1110 / SB 5190 - Forced up-zoning on all lots to allow triplexes or four-plexes (if one unit is affordable). The council's suggestion was to contact our 1st District Senator (Derek Stanford derek.stanford@leg.wa.gov) and encourage amendments that consider areas without sufficient infrastructure (sewer, roads, etc) and which are meeting growth targets.
Risks of forced dense zoning were summed up as causing additional cost to all residents in the area because of additional taxes/bonds/leens to build and maintain infrastructure.
HB 1245 - Forces lot splitting and would allow two buildings on all residential lots. The combination of these is highly troubling: imagine 2x four-plexes on ever lot. Here the Woodinville has some support from the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) pushing back against the bill. However it is not dead or changed yet.
SB 5466 - Allows a multiplier on all housing density near a "high frequency" transit stop. Woodinville Park and Ride would be considered one (via debatable math) and the density increases could cover much of Downtown, TimberRidge, Greenbrier and the Woodinville Heights neighborhoods.
The City Manager described the worst-case combination of all these bills passing as allowing crazy concepts like a 15 story apartment block in downtown.
All of these bills have no permanent exception for a city like Woodinville with low levels of infrastructure, small total land area and an already high traffic burden from tourism. Some allow 8 years, but that is "the blink of an eye" in city projects.
Further Woodinville is already on-track to achieve it's 2040 residential growth targets with it's existing zoning. There is no need to force changes from Olympia on local municipalities that are already compliant to the Growth Management Act (GMA).
Councilmembers discussed the need for residents to start contacting our Olympia delegation and asking for exemptions where cities, like Woodinville, are meeting growth targets.
City Council meets at 7pm on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays
Notes from March 21, 2023
Woodin Creek Major Amendment
Woodin Creek requesting an amendment on phases 4 and 5
Following a 2+ year delay the Woodin Creek development is seeking to re-negotiate their agreement with the City of Woodinville. Key changes: ~119 more total residential units, switch to the new parking requirements (described as a decrease in parking), continue to pay the older fee rates (from 2013). No additional public benefits to the City were offered.
Councilmembers Al Taylor, Rachel Best-Campbell, Lester Rubstello, James Randolph and Sarah Arndt expressed concern that at the proposed changes.
Mike Millman suggested council hurry and agree too something because delay could cause the developer not to build. The developer's existing agreement expires in June, after which they must fully re-negotiate.
Taylor asked "how many units are going to owner occupied", the answer was none. He remarked that at the time of the original agreement he was on Planning Commission and they promised owner-occupied would be coming.
Best-Campbell suggested that as the new Housing Plan is only months away. She believed this (and other) developers are rushing to get in under old rules.
A trio (Best-Campbell, Taylor and Randolph) recommended that one public benefit could be to have the new phases include affordability at the levels expected in the Housing Plan (20% of units at 80% Area Median Income). Another option suggested was alteration of the residential bedroom count per-unit to reduce parking demand in some way.
Following the discussion City staff were directed to return to negotiations with the developer. As the vote was taken the representative for Woodin Creek in the audience walked out.
City Council meets at 7pm on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays
Notes from March 21, 2023
Community Grants applications
Community Event Grants
The total ask for grants exceeded the city's budget. The debate was around how to prioritize the programs.
In the end the council asked staff to go back the two newest applicants (both first timers) and request they "sharpen their pencils" to find ways to need less. Suggestions included reaching out to local Middle and High schools for volunteer to work at the Pollen-ator tours for 21 acres and YMCA movie nights in the Schoolhouse courtyard.
Expect this to come back in a couple weeks as the first event is in May.
City Council meets at 7pm on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays
Notes from March 21, 2023
Executive Session
After the regular Council meeting there was a surprise executive session (closed door discussion) scheduled at the last minute. The agenda was amended with a motion from Sarah Arndt, seconded by Michelle Evans then voted without any description or debate.
In the meeting's legislative update of the council meeting, Best-Campbell had (presumably guessing the exec session purpose), publicly confirmed with the City Attorney that councilmembers retain their Constitutional right to petition members of government. She also asked the City Manager Buchanan to confirm the city's official policy regarding "rail-banking" - he stated the city policy favors it.
During the Executive Session, this editor was sitting on the far-side of the council chamber, 30+ feet from the closed door of the executive session room. For 20+ minutes of the 30 minute session a chorus of muffled male voices could be heard screaming angrily.
City staff waited in the regular council room, chatting nervously and looking over towards the door occasionally.
After the executive session the councilmembers emerged and took a vote to censure (a political reprimand with no legal force) councilmember Best-Campbell for going to Washington DC. The vote was 4 to 3.
No evidence to support the majority's claimed violations was presented.
As a second clause of the motion, she was removed from external committees. According to the city website she served on four with the two most notable being:
- Northeast Recycling and Transfer Station (NERTS) Siting Advisory Group (SAG) Best-Campbell has been the a vigorous opponent of King County's site selection process.
- Northshore Parks & Recreation Service Area Board (NPRSA) Best-Campbell was chairwoman of NPRSA managing the buildings that house the Senior Center in downtown Bothell.
Woodinville will have a gap in representation on both until replacements can be appointed then learn the process/details of those respective committees.
During the debate Councilmembers Taylor and Rubstello (who voted against) described Best-Campbell as having followed council procedure by advocating for the official city policy in favor of "rail-banking" (see article).
The four councilmembers that voted in favor of censure (Mike Millman, James Randolph, Sarah Arndt, and Michelle Evans) used a novel combination of two unrelated City Council rules (not laws) which in essence say:
- Councilmembers must support official city policy in public.
- A council vote is before a councilmembers "assuming the appointment to an external group" such as organized multi-city committees (Ex: Sounds Cities Association, Eastside Transpiration Partnership, NERTS, NPRSA, etc)
See section 11.4 of the city's Resolution Table - these rules are voted on every two years as a resolution to define council procedures and are not laws. The rules have no legal force. Note of clarification: Sarah Arndt erroneously cited state law RCW 11.4 (which relates to Probate) in the motion of censure - it is unclear what if any impact that has on the overall event.
The City Manager is on record stating the city's official policy is to support of rail-banking. Also there was no external group joined, just a meeting between elected officials. For comparison, Councilmembers meet with other elected officials constantly without council votes.
Further, the former mayor James Evans confirmed he was in the room during Best-Campbell's DC meeting and only official city policy was discussed. He also reported this fact in a March 8th phone calls to both Millman and Buchanan. However both men failed to share evidence of innocence with the public.
Councilmember Best-Campbell's rebuttal is posted on OneWoodinville's YouTube channel.
City Council meets at 7pm on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays
Notes from March 21, 2023
Rental Housing Parking Statistics
Assessing parking needs
Recently Woodinville City Council has had several discussions about the parking reductions allowed to Developers. Reductions of up to 50% are allowed if Developers pay for a study showing something different from the City's design department.
The city's building code for multi-family housing (apartments) requires 1.25 parking spots per housing unit.
Census data (circa 2021 for 98072) shows 75% of units had at least one vehicle and 43% had two or more.
Return of the Woodin Creek Major Amendment
Woodin Creek rejects Council's ask for new public-benefits
[Longer Full: Video Summary]
[Short affordability-only coverage: Video Summary]
Woodin Creek is seeking an amendment to allow reduced commercial space construction (less sales tax), more market rate residential units, and a reduction in required parking for their next two construction phases.
On March 21st 2023, the City Council directed City Staff to request the Woodin Creek's developer provide either:
- Affordable rent (20% of units at 80% of Area Median Income was discussed)
- Parking changed to prevent another shortage like those exposed in the previous phases (and Schoolhouse district)
However two weeks later Staff brings the same proposed amendment to Council again - with a note “new public benefits were not proposed”.
Council will debate at the April 4th 2023 meeting at 7pm in City Hall.
Public comments is accepted at start and end of the meeting (3 minutes per person). Watch remote: online or on Comcast channel 21.
City Council meets at 7pm on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays
Summary prior to April 4th 2023 meeting
Council Rolls Over for Developer
Woodin Creek shows the price of Council's principles: $550k
Four councilmembers: Mike Millman, James Randolph, Sarah Arndt, and Michelle Evans voted to give the Woodin Creek developer 119 additional units with no affordability requirement and lower parking counts. In the agreement the city receives no new benefits, and is now required to spend funds on the developer's schedule to build the City's percentage (89%) of the road & round-about needed by the new development phases.
Staff argued that the 11% of a new round-about (estimate to cost $5 Million) was too important to risk. Mike Millman repeatedly argued the developer would "walk away" from this 10+ year project if Woodin Creek couldn't get exactly what they wanted.
The round-about was already in the agreement so it is not a net new benefit to the City. Further the road/round-about will already be split with the future "Green Partners" development (on the Molbak's land) as part of that development agreement which remains to be negotiated.
Woodin Creek requested a change to their contractual agreement from 2013