2017, 12-12 Special MT.NUTES
City of Spokane Valley
Special Council Meeting
Tuesday, December ]2,2017
4:00 p.m.
City of Spokane Valley City Hall, Second Floor Conference Room
10210 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley, Washington
A itendunee:
Spokane Valley Council Staff
Mayor Riggin, Mark Calhoun, City Manager
Deputy Mayor Woodard John Holman, Deputy City Manager
Councilmember Haley Chef ie Taylor, Finance Director
Councilmember}'eetz Cary Driskell City Attorney
Councilmember Pace Erik Lamb, Deputy City Attorney
Couneilnember Thompson Henry Allen, Senior Engineer
Councilmember Wood[arrived 4.'03 p.m] Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk
Legislators:Senator Mike!'adder, Representative Bob cCaslin; Representative Matt Shea
Others in Attendance;
Lobbyist Chelsea Mager, of Gordon 1 homes Honeywell
Approximately twelve members from the public
Mayor Higgins called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
City Clerk Bainbridge called the roll; all Councilmembers were present except Councilmember Wood. It
was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to temporarily excuse
Councilmember Wood
City Manager Calhoun welcomed everyone and said this is our annual opportunity to communicate
Council's legislative agenda to our Legislators; said that during that process, both Briahna Murray and
Chelsea Hager of Gordon Thomas Honeywell have been in communication with the three legislators; said
the legislative agenda was adopted by Council this fall, and this is an opportunity to discuss those agenda
items.
1. Barker K.oadll3NS1- Grade Separation Project.
Mr, Holman distributed copies of two letters florin the Washington State Department. of Transportation.
Mr. Hohman stated that about this time last year we were looking at this$36 million project with no regional
support;that vac spent the las(year diligently looking Irl Kaltcrnnlivcs; said we arc working iilr IIIc consultant
team of David Evans and Associates and IlDR to go through various alternatives;that we started with five
alternatives in collaboration with DOT, and just a few weeks ago we were asked to look at a sixth
alternative, for which we have just now received cost information; so we are in the midst of determining„
what project we will build; he said we gave a presentation last October and will bringing this to Council
very shortly. Mn Hohman said today's focus is the November 13 letter from WSDOT,which highli lints the
$6 million award for this project from the Federal Highway Program's National Highway Freight Program
for fiscal year 2020; and he brought attention to that letter and the highlighted sections on page two and
three; and said we are seeking legislators' support, as the letter states: "As a reminder, while our freight
plan must account for all of the state's NI-IFP funding for federal fiscal years 2016-2020, the 1~FY 2020
funding is still subject to future appropriation by the Legislature;"which he said is repeated on page three
of that letter. Mr. Hohman said the current schedule has the design of the project completed in 2018, and
Special Council Meeting, State t.cgi.r°latenr 1211212017 Page 1 U1'5
Approved by Council: 01-0R-2018
one we identify exactly the limits of the project from a design standpoint, we want to actively move into
the right-of-way acquisition phase to pick tip whatever properties to pursue the preferred alternative; and
then start construction as soon as the funds are available in 2020. Mr. Hohman said that we started off a
year ago with a$36 million project,and through diligently working with various partners including Spokane
County, WSDO'I', and the SRTC on the alternatives analyses, that has been reduced to just below $19
million; said to-date we have secured along with the $6 million,just below$16 million, which means we
are between three and four million below target. Mr- Hohman mentioned that we still have grant
applications in to the Federal INF RA and TICUPR programs and we hope to hear about that funding next
year, Mr, Hohman said staff has considered amending those applications to update them, but were told to
leave the applications as they were submitted because if we attempted to make any changes, it could lead
to us not being reviewed favorably; and that we can modify those applications later if we receive any
funding- Mr. Hohman said staff will continue to look at any other funding possibilities to further close that
gap. Mr. Hohman also expressed appreciation to SK'1'C Executive Director Sabrina Minshall, and to
WSDOT Regional Administrator Mike Gribner for their instrumental assistance and support of us obtaining
this additional $6 million.Mr. Calhoun said part of the success in getting this project that much closer was
the $1.5 million previously appropriated by our legislators; and Senator Padden mentioned it was also a
huge help in revising the project and coming up with a more accurate cost,which is,almost half the original
estimated amount; and mentioned that this is also a critical safely issue.
2. Pass_Legislative Responding to Hirst and a 2017-19 Capital Budget: Funding for Appleway Trail Park
Amenities
In brief, Mr- Calhoun noted that the Hirst decision was regarding water availability in rural areas,and that
since the capital budget wasn't passed pending some type of resolution about that Hirst case, and that in
that capital budget in both the Senate and the House is a net $540,000 for park related amenities for our
Appleway Trail Project between University and Pines, and while the Hirst issue is statewide compared to
our local trail project, we recognize both of those issues. Senator Padden stated that they recently saw a list
of the number of wells per legislative district, and our district is in the upper third of all districts for the
number of wells that could he impacted by this decision. Representative Shea said legislators are hearing
that the Hirst issue will be addressed during the early weeks of the session, based on the hearing on that
issue which was held in Olympia today; and according to the 1BIAW (Building Industry Association of
Washington) study, this is a $6.9 billion negative economic impact because of this decision which also
affects low-income housing; and Senator Padden added that farm worker housing is especially impacted by
this decision; and that there will he a property tax shift which has already begun because the valuation of
places that have wells is going down, which means people who don't have wells will pay more. Ms. Hager
stated that she started her morning in Olympia at the hearing and heard the first half of the hearing before
coming out.this way, and said there is a new bill under consideration and members of the Senate and House
were listening to remarks from the Governor's office, the Department of Ecology, as well as public
testimony, and said she feels we are finally seeing some progress on the Jlrsz issue;and part of the package
under consideration is $200 million that would come fii-orn the capital budget to go [award water resources
and improving the habitat and fish restoration since one of the issues is that there isn't as much water as
there was in the past Senator Padden extended thanks to Council for passing their resolution concerning
this issue, and said it was very helpful,
3. Protect the Local State-Shared Revenues
Mr. Calhoun stated that in our 2018 budget, we have about $2.1 million of state shared revenues, or about
5% of our recurring revenues; and the two biggest parts of that are the Liquor Board Profits of about
$80{),000, which were frozen since 2012 so we are hopeful the legislature can find some way to loosen that
up; and the other big part is the SST streamlined sales lax mitigation, which for our city amounts to about
$570,000 a year. Mr. Calhoun mentioned the Marketplace Fairness Act which was passed in the most recent
legislative session, which will phase out the streamlined sales tax mitigation, so we expect that by fall of
2019, that$570,000 a year that we are gelling, will phase out down to zero. Mr. Calhoun said in theory we
Special Council Meeting, S[ate Legislators 12/12/2017 Page 2 of 5
Approved by Council; 01-09-2018
will he made whole because there will be more in sales tax revenues, hut that is a substantial amount in our
city's budget. Mr. Calhoun also mentioned that there is a consortium of cities impacted by this and that first
meeting will be held next Friday, Senator Padden asked Ms. Hager if that Marketplace Fairness Act has
been legally challenged, and she replied to her knowledge it has not; and said her focus is to ensure that the
Department of Revenue and AC work together that once that Act moves forward,to make sure cities arc
made whole to make up for that loss of revenue.
4. Protect Businesses by Reforming State Regulatory Burden
City Attorney Driskell explained that [his item was also on the previous year's legislative agenda;that this
acknowledges that the State ufWashington has adopted regulations that make it difficult for businesses in
Washington to compete with nearby states; such regulations include the MO tax and the Labor &
Industries program; and said this item provides a platform for legislative discussion if an item comes up
that would address business regulation reform, and it would allow Council to discuss such issues without
the need to amend their legislative agenda. Senator Padden mentioned that he and Representative McCaslin
were at a meeting earlier that dealt with problems with the new daycare center requirements. Ms. Hager
asked Senator Padden if he would be interested in pursuing some type of legislative fix for that problem,
and Senator Padden said that he is new to the .-12 Committee this year, noted that Mr, McCaslin has been
working with them for a while and there is some concern with sonic new requirements for the daycare
centers which could drive some of them out of business; and said if legislators can't impact the WAC
(Washington Administrative Code) that there could be some legislation to address these concerns.
Representative McCaslin agreed that this is a long standing issue, and many daycare centers have closed as
a result of regulations and interpretations.
5. Abandoned/Foreclosed homes
Deputy City Attorney Lamb explained that we have an active code enforcement program to address
nuisance properties, including junk and junk vehicles; and that a major issue is [he "zombie" properties in
the midst of foreclosure which are abandoned by the owners because foreclosure is imminent, he said that
in the past, the banks had tried to take over ownership and work with us to get the properties cleaned up,
keep squatters out and eliminate criminal activity. Mr. Lamb further explained that in 201(, the Supreme
Court ruled in ,Jordan v. Nations or that the banks cannot do anything until the foreclosure process is
complete, which can last several months, which allows squatters to come back, the junk to pile up and the
criminal activity to resume; and said we are left in limbo because there is a mix of ownership through [he
foreclosure process. Mr, iamb said we have been working with Gordon Thomas Honeywell, and that the
banks have been heavily involved with wanting more procedure, as does the community. Mr. Lamb said
the City encourages that legislation be adopted in response to the Nationstar case and allow the banks,
community and the city to respond to these properties while still protecting the rights of the owner. Senator
Padden asked if we have an inventory in our City of the number of these eases,and Mr. Lamb said we have
not done an inventory, although he is aware that the City of Spokane brought in an outside company to
eventually require registration of foreclosed property which he said is an expensive program, but we do not
have such a requirement.Ms.Hager said she feels there will be upcoming draft legislation on this issue and
her company will keep our City informed of any bills, Senator Padden asked if there is any discussion about
raising that$2,000 lien amount and Ms. "Hager said that is not a primary focus with that stakeholder group,
although the issue has been raised by Ms. Briahna Murray. Mr. Iamb said we have some abatements each
year and that first $2,000 gets in as a priority lien, and the range for our abatements is $1,500 to $2,000;
although there are a few properties that could amount from$5,000 to $10,0{}0 to abate.
6. Indigent Defense Fundinn
Mr. Driskell said that in 2013 the State Supreme Court determined that there should be maximum caseloads
for public defenders,that caps were set and costs were increased to provide that service; the noted our costs
in 2017 were up over 11,40 or $17,000 so we are asking the legislators to consider that impact and rather
than have it an unfunded impact, to al least have it partially funded to take that burden off the local
Special council Meeting, Stare I.cgis[ators 12/12/2017 Page 3 of 5
Approved by Council:01-09-2018
jurisdictions, Senator Padden said the legislators have Iookecl at this but the unfunded mandate is due to the
Supreme Court and despite requests from cities and counties to have some input on the standards,the court
refused. Senator Padden said he helped get some legislation through the Senate to have part of these funds
go from the Supreme Court's budget to the cities and counties; and he said he has not seen the rationale in.
how the caseload figure was determined, and agreed it is an unfair situation. Ms. Hager said she and Ms.
Murray worked last year to increase the amount of funding that goes to the office of public defense for the
purpose of giving grants to cities to improve indigent defense services; and after the new caseload figures
became effective, due to traffic fines, an increase of$900,000 was generated annually and that goes to the
(]PD for those grants; historically it was split counties/cities 90/iU, but now it is 50/50; and she said she
feels this is one item where we will see forthcoming litigation,as this has been a long priority for the AWC
and that it could make its way to the Supreme Court as the state is only funding 5% of indigent defense
costs at the county level; and that we will likely see a coordinated effort among cities and counties in the
next few years to try to find efficiencies to reduce costs. Representative Shea added that he feels there will
he discussions in the judiciary committee, particularly in the Louse, on the way that indigeney is
determined.
7. Support Con[inued Prohibition of Recreational Marijuana I tome Growing
Deputy City Attorney Lamb explained that last year as part of sonic amendments to various marijuana
regulations, the legislature directed the iAquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) to conduct a study and report.
on the feasibility of allowing home grown recreational marijuana within the confines of what is referred to
as the Cole memo,which is the Department of Justice memo outlining how states where marijuana is legal,
that the Department of Justice will not prosecute anyone provided that states have regulations that arc
effective on paper and that they do not allow criminal activity, guns, access to minors; etc; and the LCB
asked for input from the stakeholders; he said the City went through a review process at the staff level,
Council provided input,and we ultimately provided comments on the study, Mr. Lamb said it comes down
to marijuana is a local issue in terms of local impacts including any crime and law enforcement [hat may
be associated with marijuana. Mr- Lamb said the LCB's report provided three options: a vigorous
enforcement or regulatory regime at the state level,a local option,and a continued prohibition; and said we
would support the continued prohibition, which is the most effective way to meet the Cole rnctno; as that
would limit youth access as well as additional criminal activity, so we would support that option.
Protecting Parentsl Rights Regarding Decisions Involving Their Children
Mr. Driskell noted that over the last six months our Council and community have had some discussions
over parental rights and what role the City might have in that regard; and the Co LI decided that rather
than have a conflict with existing state laws, that the more appropriate way would be to point out to the
legislators, Council and the eonununity's concerns, and the importance that parental rights have, and ask
that the legislature be mindful when it looks to adopt legislation, so as not to unintentionally infringe on
those rights, and also consider past enactments whether at the agency or legislative level, and perhaps take
another look a[ those. Attorney Driskell said this is not advocating for any particular change but just a
genual platform to ask legislators that when they are considering legislation to please be mindful of this
important issue. Senator Padden said he thinks there are bills that will come up and he is aware of some;
one that has come up before concerns supporting grandparents' visitation rights; but the question is,do you
pass a law giving grandparents rights over parents.
City Manager Calhoun said that concludes the items on the agenda, and the asked if anyone varanted to speak
further on any issue, and mentioned that at tonight's Council meeting, Ms. Hager will be giving a
presentation concerning the legislature and what we might expect in the next session. Councilmember
Thompson said that the Board of Health passed a resolution to support raising the age to buy tobacco, to
age 21, and they are asking other jurisdictions to support that proposal. Senator Padden said this has come
up before but the question of the military comes into play, since they arc fighting for our country, and some
Special Council Meeting„ State Legislators 12112/2017 Paged of 5
Approved by Council: 01-09-2018
don't like the idea then of telling them they can't buy cigarettes. Representative McCaslin said he also
thinks the 21 age will be difficult to sell to the legislators.
Representative Shea mentioned the Barker Road project and the design for a two-lane round-about in the
middle of Trent; he said it is his understanding that a two-lane round-about with a number of potential
conflict points would violate the safety standards that are typically looked at when putting in a round-about;
butinstead, a round-about with an on and off ramp is usually a lot safer and makes more sense no terms of
traffic flow; said he spoke to Mike Ciribner at the DOT and thinks !hat is something to look at in the future.
Senator Padden said sometimes round-abouts arc great, but are not the solution to all problems; and speed
would be a key factor there. Mr. I lohman said that as part of the phase 2 designs, they arc looking at
alternatives now; that phase 2 will begin with an evaluation of a signal versus a round-about;said they have
done some of the traffic modeling on the round-about to make sure that it will physically work there; and
it does work but said they need to do that intersection control analysis that has riot yet been completed. Mr.
Hohman said he has many discussions with DOT about the alternatives, and they are leaning more toward
the round-about in this location; that it is their facility and one of the things they have pointed out is that
signals at intersections are not accident free; and they show the US 2 Flint Road light that went in a couple
of years ago;and prior to the installation of the signal they would average three accidents per year,and after
the installation of the signal, they were up to 27. Represenlal.ive Shea said he feels having a round-about
with the off and on ramp would take of both issues into consideration instead of leaving it.right on Trent.
Mr. Hohman noted staff will continue examining this project,
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn_ The meeting
adjourned at 4:47 pmt.
I
AT M' T L,lt, Higgins'„
. r�
ristine Bainbridge, City 71erk _
Special Council Meeting, State Legislators 12/12/2017 Page 5 of 5
Approved by Council: 01-09-2018
AININk
ITO Washington State TranEportatfon Buildang
Ifo r.1� 1R Ra�kAv9n�y
Department of Transportation s.E.
Ro-8o,x 47aoo
Olympia,WA 585a4-7900
Au-705-7000
December l 1, 2017 rrr; 1-800-839-15988
Mr. Bill Helbig
City Engineer
City of Spokane Valley
11707 East Sprague Ave., Suite 106
Spokane Valley, Washington 992.06-6124
Barker RoadIH SR Grade Separation
1i'FY 2020 National Highway Freight Program
Federal Funding Award
Dear Mr- lb
WSDOT is pleased to advise you that the above mentioned project was selected to receive
funding through the National Highway Freight Program ( I1PP) in FFY 2020. The federal
fending is limited as shown below:
Barker RoadIBN F Grade Separation $6,000,000
Scope: Replace an at-grade crossing with an overpass of BIJSF°s railroad and ties into SR 290
to the north with an at grade intersection.
Note: Find are available for construction authorization from Octaher I, 2019, to September
30, 2020.
In order to meet state and federal requirements, the following are required:
▪ Project expenditures incurred before receiving notice from Local Programs of
federal food authorization are not eligible for reimbursement.
■ Please refer to the Local Programs web page far detailed information,
http:l/www.wsdot.wa.govllocalDrogiamstl including;
*f Local Agency Guidelines (LAG) manual for the requirements regarding
programming, authorization,reimbursement, etc.;
• Projects utilizing federal funds must be included in your current
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) as a complete programmed
project. Once your TIP amendment is approved, WSDOT will amend the
Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP);
va Funding and billing farina;
Quarterly Project Reporting is required to be completed by the end of
March, June, September and December each year. To access the database
you will need an account name and password, Your account name is
Spokane Valley and your password is SpoYa759. The password is case
sensitive.
As a reminder, Local Programs requires all agencies to submit monthly progress billings to
ensure timely reimbursement of eligible expenditures.
Bill Helbig
City Engineer
City of Spokane Valley
Barer Roadl13I SF Grade Separation.
December 11, 2017
For assistance please contact Keith Martin, your Region Local Programs Engineer, at
509,324.6080.
Sincerely,
Kathleen vis
Director
Local Programs
KID:st:sas
GO: Sabrina Minsliall, Director, SRTC
Keith Martin, Eastern Region Local Programs Engineer
Ron Pate, Rail, Freight & Ports Division Director, MS 47407
Washington State Xransportation Building
WIF Department of Transportation slowoe Park Avenue s.E.
P.0.Box 47300
Olympia,WA 93504-7300
360-705-7440
TTY: t-8134-aV 389
rww.wsdat.wa,goV
November 13, 2017
EI,ECTR NIC TRANSMITTAL ONLY UNLESS REQUESTED
Dear Washington State Freight Advisory Committee Members:
Thank you for all of your efforts to help WSDOT complete.our 2017 Freight System
Plan update and meet the direction of the Legislature in the 201.7-19 Transportation
Budget to allocate the FFY 2018 and FFY 2019 National Highway Freight Program
funding.
At our July 21, 2017 Washington State Freight Advisory Committee (WAFAC) .
meeting, WSDOT staff and our consultant from Hl'l'1'X3 presented on the freight benefit
evaluation tool we have been developing. As we discussed, the tool is guided by
Washington's six state transportation system policy goals as well as the seven goals of
the National Highway Freight Program. (N-FIFP). The tool allows for the evaluation and
prioritization orprojccts and supports robust freight stakeholder discussions to
collaboratively work toward meeting critical freight goals, priorities and policies. It
also helps ensure Washington is able to invest its NHFP funding in projects [hat will
provide the highest benefit and keep us competitive for additional federal funds, We
received good feedback at the July meeting and in the days after on what criteria and
values should be considered for the methodology. As we discussed, we incorporated
the comments we received into the tool.
At our October 3, 2017 WAFAC meeting,we presented the freight project benefit
evaluation tool and shared seven scenarios for sorting the projects. As a reminder,
scenarios one through six were weighted to demonstrate preference for each of the
NHFP and state transportation policy goals, and the seventh scenario gave equal
weight to each policy goal. We had a robust discussion in the meeting regarding
whether to give greater weight to certain policy goals and asked for additional
eommenl by October 9th. WS1)OT staff also agreed to meet with lvPPOs and RTPOs
on October 10th for further discussion,
Below arc the key comments we heard from WAFAC members at the October 3'
meeting:
• High support for Economic Vitality and Mobility goals (highest priority).
• Some support for Preservation and Stewardship goals (lower priority).
• High support for 10% set-aside for multimodal projects.
• Some support for ensuring geographic equity.
• Some support for funding construction-ready projects (over preliminary
engineering and right-of-way projects).
Washington State Freight Advisory Committee Members
November 13, 2017
Page 2
Based on the feedback from WAFAC members, WSDOT developed three weighted
scenarios (A,B, and C) and met with MPOs and l4'!'POw to discuss the scenarios on
October 1e:
▪ Scenario A: Economic Vitality (30 percent), Mobility (25 percent), and
Preservation (15 percent)
• Scenario Ti; Economic Vitality (30 percent), Mobility (25 percent), and
Stewardship (15 percent)
• Scenario C: Economic Vitality (35 percent) and Mobility (25 percent)
•
Note,the other policy goals are included in the above scenarios, but were given a
lower weight (10 percent) for each goal. The frill list of ranked projects and their
associated scores under the three scenarios are shown in Exhibit A, attached. As you
can see, when the project tool was used for each of the above scenarios, there is little
fluctuation in the rankings of the top seventeen projects between each scenario,
Below are the key comments we heard from MPOs and RTPOs on October 10`1:
• 1 ugh support for 10%set-aside for multirraodal projects.
• High support for project readiness (funding commitment and meeting
obligation tirneline).
• High concern about projects with unsecured funding and uncertainty associated
with right-of-way projects.
• Same support for funding construction projects (e.g., some favored shovel
ready projects, others favored funding preliminary engineering and right-of-
way projects to move them forward)-
• Some support for spreading the funding to fund more projects.
▪ Some support for ensuring geographic equity.
FFY 2019-2020 Projoct Selection
As you know, we allocated the.EFY 2018 and part of the FFY 2019 NHFP funds in
August in order to quickly get funding to six projects that were ready to move forward.
Awarding those funds quickly was based on advice from the WAFAC to prioritize
project readiness. We then used the 2017 Freight System Plan update and the freight
project benefit evaluation too] to allocate the remainder of the FFY 2019 NHFP
Banding. As a reminder, while our freight plan must account for all of the state's NHFP
fielding for federal fiscal years 2016-2020, the FFY 2020 funding is still subject to
future appropriation by the legislature. Considering feedback and comments received
from the WAFAC and MPOs1RTPOs, WSDOT applied the following guidelines when
selecting projects for FFY 201.9 and liFY 2020 funding:
Washington State Freight Advisory Committee Members
November 13, 2017
Page 3
• Select projects in the order of highest rank from Scenario A (Economic
Vitality: 30%, tylobility: 25%, Preservation: 15%, and remaining goals at 10%).
• Use 10% of the funding for multimodal projects.
• Apply geographic equity across the state to ensure that NHFP fonds arc not all
spent in one region.
• Fund construction-ready projects.
• For projects requesting funding for all three phases (preliminary engineering,
right-of-way, and construction), fund priority phases based on owner input,
needs, and project readiness,
• In order to spread available funds to mere projects, partially fund requests that
are larger, relative to available funding.
Based on these guidelines and the feedback received from the WAFAC and
h{fPOs/ TPOs, we plan to fund the proposed Freight project list for FFY 2019-2020 as
shown in Exhibit B, attached. Again, the FFY 2020 funding is subject to future
appropriation by the Legislature and therefore WSDOT is not able to commit that
those projects will receive NHFP funding. While the !TY 2020. funding will be
assigned to the projects listed in Exhibit B in the 2017 Freight System Plan, the
decision for how to invest the l l'Y 2020 N1-IFP funding will be made by a future
1.egislature.
We greatly appreciate your efforts in advising the Department as we work to satisfy
the requirements of the 2017-19 Transportafion Budget and update our freight plan.
We plan to submit our final 2017 Freight System Plan, with the required fiscally-
constrained project list, before the end of the month. This should ensure we meet the
December 4, 2017 deadline to have our freight plan approved by FHWA. In the spirit.
of continued transparency, we want to share the final list with you prior to its
submission. Please let us know by November 20th if you have any ccnnments. Thank
you for your participation in this effort.
Sincerely,
Roger Millar, PE, AICP
Secretary of Transportation
Attachments