Council Meeting - January 2nd

- Councilmembers vote for ceremonial mayor and deputy roles (context: https://youtu.be/KBy3m0XFTEc ).

- Planning Commission vacancy interview (four applicants) to fill the seat vacated by David Edwards.

- Council rules amendment, staff recommends limiting virtual public comments. 

- WA legislative lobbying trip in early February and DC in early March. 

---UPDATE---

Full meeting video posted:  https://youtu.be/L-liLmuFSH0   

Meeting was best summed up by a comment from one councilmember (who was being hounded by the majority):  "everything tonight seems to be about stifling speech" and at the end of the night "an iron curtain has descended in Woodinville"

—> Change zoning to enable (zoned-for only) 1813 affordable housing units in the city.  

For perspective the twenty-year target of new housing in Woodinville is 2033 units.  1813 affordable units of the total 2033 units means 89% of the new units must be affordable.   Affordable here is defined as a household income of 80% AMI (currently below ~$117k/year for a household of four people).  

—> Proposing a rezone of General Business (GB) rezone to replace commercial businesses with the lowest-income apartments.  

For reference McLendon Hardware & Homeward Pets are labeled with triangles 1&2 in the map shown.  

—> Define new universal residential standards with at least two housing units on every lot - effectively duplexes everywhere regardless of lot size.  

The staff report packet: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/2370382/4._Comp_Plan_GMA.pdf

—After Meeting Update— Full Meeting: https://youtu.be/MZJk79GAQNM

Due to strong public response Council slows down rezoning of Chateau Ste Michelle.  The application will now go to Planning Commission then come back to Council.  No time estimate was given for when those steps will happen.  

Details from the discussion:

- The current “Tourist Industrial” (TI) zoning on Chateau Ste Michelle already allows: hotels, night-time entertainment, retail, as well as wine production.  

- The requested zone just adds residential (townhomes, apartments, etc) as a permitted use

Council passed a number of rules changes with the effect of:

- Allowing the mayor to reject public commenters if they don’t put a “valid” topic on the sign up form

- Prevent councilmembers voicing opposition to individual items on the consent calendar 

- Hide emails between councilmembers from other councilmembers for weeks/months while a public records request is processed. 

-------Original Agenda Post -----

— Discussion of zoning change for Chateau Ste Michelle 

Investment fund owners of the Ste Michelle property have requested to rezone into “TB” which permits mixed-use housing.  This includes all parcels on the valley floor: grape-vineyard, production facilities, tasting room, and concert venue.  Could be rebuilt as mixed-use housing - same zoning as the Harvest project across the valley.

— New council rules restrict input and hide emails

Amendments to the Council rules would allow the mayor to deny public commenters access if they do not “indicate the intended topic” on which they will speak.  Similarly, the City Manager would have the power to prevent councilmembers from adding agenda topics.  Finally, councilmembers will no longer be allowed to be request automatic copies of email from the public sent to individual councilmembers.  

— Staff to provide update on activities in the current Olympia legislative session with relevance to Woodinville

— Closed door “Executive Session” about an unknown legal matter will follow the public meeting. It is estimated to last 45 minutes.  

Agenda and Staff reports available at: https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/woodinville/a980e5047191432630f225b2d3bb85770.pdf

Short-term Rental regulation (discussion):

—> Council will discuss the future of city wide regulation.  Important to current residential neighborhoods and particularly the new townhome dense “Harvest” area where party-houses are likely to be a major use.  

Change in city personnel polices (vote):

#1 Anyone acting as the City Manager for more than three days will receive the *full* City Manager pay (vs the current policy which just gives a 10% bump for those days).  This new policy applies even if the City Manager is receiving vacation pay for the same period.

#2 Allow staff to cash out vacation pay (up to one week) if they take two weeks of vacation in a calendar year.  Note: Vacation cash-out will be at the employee’s current salary instead of at the salary when the hours were originally accrued, in effect a x% bonus.  

The staff report packet: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/woodinville/afccd6d0-7d50-4642-8fdf-7a10e7ddc64c-0acdbeda-7d1e-4715-90dd-8055294933a9-1706833040.pdf

 UPDATE:  No Public comment was allowed.  Next meeting is February 26th at 6:30pm.

First meeting of the Salary Commission will vote on selecting a Chairperson and organizing themselves.  Then they will have a training on the Open Public Meeting Act (OPMA) from the City Attorney.  Finally the discussions will start on what Council's job involves and which metrics staff should collect for future consideration.  

The staff report packet: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/woodinville/36ee47c9-5152-4f9c-a353-42ad4bcebb09-efaf83ef-56d4-102b-b55a-50a0331f03b1-1707242451.pdf

Published Agenda:

- Legislative update: Staff reports on what is going on in Olympia that could effect Woodinville

- Executive Session (closed door) for the City Manager’s performance review

Although no agenda item mentions it, in years past council has voted following the executive session on City Manager salary increases.   

The staff report packet: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/woodinville/f08a2e08-a2f4-4a85-8419-8ceb1d22bcd2-0acdbeda-7d1e-4715-90dd-8055294933a9-1708022971.pdf

—

Meetings are streamed on the City website and TV, Comcast channel 21.

Public Comments (three minutes each) are accepted in person at the start and end of the meeting.  Virtual comments can be made via pre-registration (see the city’s webpage for instructions).

Additionally the Council always accepts email at: citycouncil@ci.woodinville.wa.us

Unlike the first Salary Commission meeting there was a public comment period this meeting.  City Staff did not arrange for the regular video services, just a single camera and microphones.  OneWoodinville filmed Public Comments from the front and merged in audio from the City:  https://youtu.be/EYg15NgjvBI

Following public comments City Staff presented various data.  Despite being provided more detailed data, Staff only provided their own metrics. 

Commissioners then discussed what amount of raise to give Council.  There was no consideration of no-change or reduction.  All commissioners admitted they had already selected a new number and spent the discussion time trying to select a value from the staff report to justify their values.

In the end the new Council salary will be a 66.7% raise with a 70% for the ceremonial mayor.  There was no explanation/justification for the increased in Councilmember vs Councilmember with a gavel gap.

The staff report packet: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/woodinville/439f7995-d0e8-11ee-8fe8-0050569183fa-efaf83ef-56d4-102b-b55a-50a0331f03b1-1709247959.pdf