Weekly Update 10/20/2024

Des Moines Creek West SEPA hearing.

Some bits of business…

Future Agendas

Future Agendas is the closest thing the City currently has to a calendar of upcoming City Council topics. It’s not dynamic, ie. you have to click it every time you want to see a new version. And it’s not always accurate. But until we develop a genuine calendar, this can be very useful if there is a particular issue you don’t want to miss.

City Manager Stuff

I’m publishing a replica of the report. Until recently, the Interim City Manager was publishing a separate PDF for each article. Now, he’s just publishing the current week. So, there’s no way to look back on previous articles. Until this is resolved, I will be providing these replicas

https://jcharrisfordesmoines.com/bookmark/city-managers-report-october-18-2024/

But for this week? Although the big slide is still not open, the top of the field house park play equipment is now open! and… And… AND… It’s got a new fountain! With a dog thing! Woo hoo! 🙂

SR-509 Stage 2

The virtual open house for SR-509 Stage 2 is open. If yer short on time, here is a direct link to the info most Des Moines residents will want to see: SR 509/24th Avenue South to South 188th Street – I live in, work in, or travel through Des Moines, SeaTac, and southern Burien

If you have questions or concerns about construction at any time, you can contact their 24-hour hotline, 206-225-0674, or SR509Construction@wsdot.wa.gov.

The SAMP

The Sustainable Area Master Plan (aka ‘the SAMP’) is starting. On October 21, the 45 day official comment period will open. What is the SAMP? It is the environmental review for the airport’s next major expansion–which has already begun and will increase flight operations as much in the next ten years as they have in the last ten years.

If you’re concerned about Des Moines Creek West? That’s actually a (tiny) part of the SAMP. How can Sea-Tac Airport grow that much without a new runway and why should you care? Our friends at Sea-Tac Noise.Info created this two minute explainer to answer those very questions.

On October 21, we will all have 45 days to provide official comment on an $8 billion process that the Port has been working on since 2012. Here is another explainer on how this process works and how YOU can comment!

This Week

If there seems to be a theme to the week, you’re not wrong.

Monday: The SAMP Draft EA drops

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting Agenda Highlights:

  • The SAMP Draft EA
  • The Property Tax Levy (The Port uses about $88M of our property tax money to pay for all the community grants. They also use it to reduce their borrowing costs on airport projects–like the SAMP.)

Tuesday 6:00-8:00pm Budget Town Hall at Beach Park Auditorium, 22030 Cliff Ave S., Des Moines, WA 98198

Wednesday: Sea-Tac Airport Roundtable (StART) Highlights: the SAMP.

Thursday: Municipal Facilities Committee Agenda Highlight: “The Marina will provide information on Dry Stack Facility.” We hope it’s good information. 🙂

Thursday: Economic Development Committee Agenda Highlight: SB5290 Local project review requirements. Staff will provide details on a proposed resolution that will document compliance with recent state law updates.

Thursday: City Council Meeting Agenda Highlights:

  • Des Moines Creek Basin Plan v5 ILA
  • KING COUNTY FLOOD REDUCTION GRANT AMENDMENT for the Massey Creek Pocket Estuary Restoration/Fish Passage Project and the Marine View Drive South
  • PASSENGER FERRY STUDY Motion is to approve the Federal Interagency Agreement accepting grant funds of $160,000 for passenger ferry service studies. So, basically, we’re getting a state grant to study the benefits of having a passenger ferry here, even though we’re supposedly hoping/praying that King County will pay for any future passenger ferry? Shouldn’t they be doing such a study? I’m not being snarky here. Given that a City only gets so many state grants every year, shouldn’t we be lobbying for something that actually benefits us?
  • We’ll vote to increase pet license fees. I keep trying to get the City to implement a payment app because here’s the deal: I’m about 100% sure we’re not collecting the current fee from all the people who have pets.
  • PUBLIC HEARING – 2025-2026 PRELIMINARY BIENNIAL BUDGET Staff. Technically this is the first of two mandatory readings on the budget before we vote to approve.
  • Water Utility Tax. We’ll vote to increase taxes at WD54 to be on par with other utility districts.

Just between you and me, girlfriend. This time of year I would usually do a lot of drilling down into budget minutiae. But tbh? I’m worn out. I started the year all enthused about our new Finance Committee. Let’s work together to make a great budget book! One that’s easy for the public to read! One that has lots of useful information! Instead, I’ve watched our Finance Director make more public appearances to “sell the tax levy!” than many lounge acts in Vegas. He’s gotta be even more worn out on this than I am, so I’ve decided it’s uncharitable to complain. This week. 😀

Look, I get how badly the City wants the dough. But we also really need better financial reports. But otoh, I have to acknowledge that my colleagues on the Finance Committee disagree with me entirely. For them, the reporting is just peachy as is, and the F/D is doing exactly the right thing with all the budget presentation stuff.

In my world? If the financial reports were better, he wouldn’t need to do all these presentations. What’s the old parable about giving the guy a fish vs. teaching him how to hook his own financial report? 😀

For what it’s worth, this is what ChatGPT came up with when I tried to create a visual for this concept. So maybe I need to work on selling my value proposition. 😀 “Here are two visual representations of this parable combined with the idea of a clear financial report being more valuable than a one-time briefing. Each image contrasts the short-term gain with long-term learning, both in fishing and financial knowledge.”

Last Week

Tuesday: 6:00pm Burien Airport Committee. The meeting discussed their shared response to the SAMP following our shared meeting at the Environment Committee.

Wednesday Regional Transit Committee (RTC) Our first meeting since we voted to approve the King County master plan in August. For newcomers, the RTC is an advisory committee to the County primarily concerning bus service. My concern is the ‘last mile’–getting people to the main lines (or the Light Rail). That’s what Des Moines residents need most now.

Thursday 10:17am: The Great Shakeout! Learn how you can be prepared for the next earthquake and/or other natural disaster. https://www.shakeout.org/washington/

Thursday: Des Moines Creek Basin Plan Tour. To my knowledge, this was the first visit by the City (let alone any electeds) in at least a decade. As I write (almost) every week, everything in Des Moines comes back to the airport, and this is a key piece. Plans like this were created all around the airport before the Third Runway was built–and they were contentious. There were decades of terrible water pollution emanating from the airport, made Des Moines Creek Trail and all the restorations at the Beach Park possible. This is version five of the plan and it’s a chance to see how things are going and how we can improve on water quality. Then there’s this settlement

Friday: 10:00am: Des Moines Creek West public land use hearing. Notice of Public Hearing LUA2022-0044 This was a huge deal if you are concerned about the expansion of Des Moines Creek Business Park and the removal of all the green space along 216th. But it was not a City Council event. I attended in person in the AM and via Zoom in the afternoon. (Question: if we can Zoom for hearings, why can’t we do so for City Council meetings like normal cities?)

To a large extent the public was arguing passion more than SEPA regulations. Totally understandable as these were not land use attorneys. But they did put in hours and hours to rally public support, not to mention spending a good deal of hard-earned cash to file an appeal. Respect! These people are democracy. Not. Kidding. Most people whinge endlessly about various issues but do zilch to actually effect positive change. I’m not sure where this goes, but I feel confident that this is not the end.

I also have to give mad respect to the Hearing Examiner. I hope everyone who could not attend will be able to watch the hearing just to see what the breathing version of ‘patience’ looks like. (I’m working on it.) Er… getting the video. And patience. 😀

Legally speaking, the land has been zoned ‘Business Park’ since at least the agreement with the Port of Seattle in 2012. See that ginormous pink on the Comp Plan labeled ‘Business Park? 😀 So apart from anything else, our attorney can, with a straight face, say that residents are not guaranteed the future (totally true) and that it is up to new residents and businesses to perform a baseline of due diligence (also totally true.)

On the other hand, how many realtors show prospective buyers that Comp Plan? That’s like beating on someone for not reading the twenty page disclaimer before signing up for Instagram. No one does that. People see the wooded area, they see multiple signs indicating that the area is part of the Des Moines Creek Trail, and then assume that it’s part of (wait for it!) The Des Moines Creek Trail! That seems perfectly reasonable to me. Especially when a decade goes by with a whole lotta nuthin’.

To my mind, there are two immediate issues:

Is this new expansion an environmental risk? It depends on what standard you aspire to. The fact is, the area was residential, it was allowed to go wild. In 2012, Tyee golf course got turned into a wetland-ish ‘basin’. Today, another developer wants to turn a wild area into an IndoPlex. Builders convert land from one thing to another all the time. The question for me is: Is the legal standard what what we should aspire to? I would argue that the current standard is based on a sevent-year old concept of ‘suburbia’. A lot of the notions we had back then turned out not to be as ‘sustainable’ as we thought. Actually, that’s a fib. Seventy years ago, nobody used words like ‘sustainability’. So, what is ‘legal’ may not exactly be best practice.

The other thing is that both residents (and likely the developer) feel blindsided. Real attention must be paid to that. I don’t care what is on a Comp Plan buried on a web site or a public notice in the DJC that no one reads. That is why I will be (again) proposing restoration of the public planning agency.

The outcome should not be another, “Gee, this is unfortunate, but hey, progress, right?” And then carry on with promises that “the final project will look great. Trust us.” How hollow that must sound to residents who have only to look at how previous phases of the Des Moines Creek Business Park turned out.

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