Um welcome to the uh November twenty-fifth regular Bellevue City Council meeting.

Um let's see, let's start with a call to order.

Here can you maybe a mountain here council member Margaret Council Member here, Councilmember Lean Council Member Newman House here, Councilmember Simmodore, yeah.

Thank you.

As you see, we have Councilmember Lee Remote, but every all of us are here.

Um I forget who I was gonna have to do flag salute.

Um Council Member Summouri, have you done it for a while?

Can you do the flag salute for us?

Okay, thank you.

Congratulations to the United States to the Republic for which we got liberty and justice.

Thank you.

Is there a motion?

Oh no, let's see.

This is we have a proclamation.

Sorry, I have like different notes than I usually do, and I'm struggling reading them actually.

Um so we have one proclamation tonight, it is the small business Saturday proclamation, and it's going to be read by Councilmember Lee, and it's going to be received by Monhe Mon Dragon, owner of Monsey Rat Columbia Cuisine, which sounds really good.

And if he's here, if he can come sit down, and uh we'll do the proclamation and then we'll have you speak.

Okay, go ahead, Councilmember Lee.

Thank you, Madame Mayor.

Whereas small businesses are the backbone of Belvis economy and play a vital role in shaping the character, creativity, and prosperity of our community.

And where across the nation, communities come together on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Reflecting the diversity, resilience, and entrepreneur spirit that strengthen our community, and whereas Bellevue is home to a vibrant network of organizations, including the Belleview, Downtown Association, visit Bellevue, and other regional groups that champion small businesses and entrepreneurship through the incubation initiative and encourage innovation resilience and economic vitality.

Actually, advisement.

And personalized support.

Now, therefore.

On behalf of Lynn Robinson.

Me, Council Member Conrad Lee, on behalf of the mayor.

Lynn Robinson of the City of Bellevue.

And on behalf of the City Council, you'll hearby proclaim November twenty-ninth, two thousand twenty-five, a small business Saturday.

In Bellevue, Washington, and encourage all residents to support our local shops, restaurants.

And small business owners.

Not only on small business Saturday, but throughout the year.

Sign Lynn Robinson, Mayor City Bellevue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Man Henima.

And um that is washer and the owner for the Monserratic Columbia Cuisine.

That's the way the small business works.

We therefore from the all the way with the back to the to the front.

And also temple to be here.

Because when I came here for that door, I came without questions and asking for advice.

And I went out with a business in my hand.

Thank you for the war that you do.

Thank you for the leadership that you have.

Mayor Robinson.

And can I say thank you for this proclamation?

So this I'm big effort from my Monserratis team, and that's why we are here to share with you our flavors and power over the culture too.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for coming and representing all small business.

And let's go ahead and have a picture with you, okay?

Sure.

Is there a motion to approve the agenda?

I move to approve the agenda.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

Okay, um, we next is oral communications city clerk.

Do we have people signed up?

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

There this evening there are three pre-registered speakers, and before I start calling names, I will go over a few of the rules that the council has in place.

So the total time for oral communications is not to exceed 30 minutes, and all topics must relate to City of Bellevue government.

People speaking to items on tonight's agenda will be called first, and then if time remains, people speaking to items not on tonight's agenda will be called.

The presiding officer has uh authorization to give preference to those who are speaking uh or who have not spoken to council, spoken to council within the last sixty days, and who will be speaking on items that will come in front of the council within the next sixty days.

Each speaker is allowed to speak up to three minutes, and only three speakers are allowed to speak to any one side of a particular topic.

Also, in uh compliance with Washington State campaign laws regarding the use of public facilities during elections.

No speaker may support or oppose a campaign or a ballot measure, and that includes one's own campaign.

Anybody beginning to speak on these topics will be asked to stop.

And with that, I'll call our first speaker who is Jasmine Donovan.

Ms.

Donovan, can you hear me?

I can hear you.

Perfect.

Yeah, we can.

Your time begins now.

Fantastic.

Well, good evening, Council members.

My name is Jasmine Donovan, and I'm the third generation family president of Dix Driving Restaurants.

I apologize for not being in person this evening, and I appreciate the opportunity to share our perspective virtually from Hawaii.

Thank you for the work you've invested in updating the sign code.

Your engagement report highlights the need for clearer, more functional rules, something we've experienced firsthand at the Crossroads 6 driven, which I cannot believe will be four years old in just a few weeks.

When we explored this site, we were told our iconic rotating pylon sign would be allowed.

And after we signed the lease, this interpretation changed.

We're not here to revisit that decision, but to emphasize biplarity in the code is essential for everyone.

The reality at Crossroads is that we are not visible from either major road, and many customers still tell us they didn't know we were there.

Your report identifies crossroads as an area where visible signage is very important.

And our own customer research shows the number one barrier to visiting any of our Dix Driving's locations is if they're hard to find or inconvenient locations.

The signage we're requesting is a permanent, well-maintained landmark.

Nothing like the temporary signs residents consistently say they dislike.

Allowing iconic high quality signage in commercial areas improves wayfinding, supports local businesses, and aligns perfectly with the goals of this sign code update.

We appreciate the city's work and respectfully ask for the revisions that enable functional durable signage where it's truly needed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Paul Root.

Thank you, Council.

Leaf blowers.

The Bellevue Sustainability Plan notes that gasoline-powered lawn equipment is a small contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, about one percent of total.

However, gas-powered equipment has other emissions.

This is heavy oil that is mixed with the gasoline to lubricate the engine.

As it lubricates, it partially burns in the combustion chamber and is then released to the atmosphere as volatile organic compounds, VOC and fine particulate or soot.

These are health hazards and cancer risks.

A study co-authored by the EPA estimates gas lawn equipment represents nearly 4% of all emissions of VOC and 12% of all carbon monoxide emissions.

As I noted in October, engine noise is inversely proportional to engine size.

The smallest is the loudest.

Likewise for air pollution rates, the smallest engines are the dirtiest.

For example, a very large engine would typically emit 0.02 grams per kilowatt hour of carbon monoxide.

Your car might emit about three.

A small handheld engine might emit 600 to 800 grams per kilowatt hour.

The sustainability plan notes foster healthy and sustainable growth by mitigating air pollution.

Also, electric yard cure equipment reduces air pollution and noise pollution.

Yet the sustainability action plan does not mention gas-powered yard equipment.

For sustainability, lawn equipment is low-hanging fruit.

We may or may not achieve all electric buildings and transportation.

That is difficult.

A ban on gas-powered yard equipment is easily accomplished via legislation.

If you are serious about sustainability, ban them.

There are electric alternatives available, and more will come to the marketplace.

Council, you're getting complaint about leaf blowers because they are inappropriate for residential zoning.

Who decided that these small engines were acceptable in residential areas?

EPA, DOE, AMA.

No.

It was an opportum opportunistic businessman who told his designer to make the equipment cheap, dirty, and loud for health and sustainability.

It's time for Bellevue to join the list of cities and states that are banning gas powered lawn equipment.

Thank you.

Your final pre-registered speaker is Maria Hudson.

Hi.

I just came from the FBI and I want to talk about several things.

I want to talk about the concept of law there.

We see it right now with Comey and other parties that are being maliciously targeted by the Trump administration.

However, we don't address it when it's directed at low-income people.

I have experienced lawfare from Bellevue police departments, interlocal agency agreements, special influence bribery with Bellevue School District.

They have literally lied about student sex traffickers that end my daughter's disabilities, adversely impacting the attestation to DDA, DVR, and even Department of Child Support.

I want to be publicly clear.

Shannon McMinony is no longer with the Bellevue School District.

She reached out to my uh civilly adjudicated rapist to engage in law fair with Officer Shaw and other police department bad actors, including Alexander Slesser.

Right now I'm before a federal court for a subpoena deuce ticum for my daughter's child forensic interview.

At this point, other jurisdictions that I reported alongside Bellevue Police Department today are in violation of the mission statement of King County Special Assault Unit.

We're supposed to have one child forensic interview.

Instead, Belleville Police Department has literally lied to Kirkland Police Department, Renton Police Department, Seattle Police Department, and we have been blacked out of safety protective services for student sex traffickers that are operating or taking my daughter to their jurisdiction.

Another thing I want to address police brutality.

I have been physically assaulted by your officers when my daughter has been sexually assaulted and uh given alcohol prison and taken by these student sex traffickers in Bellevue.

My daughter has been inappropriately treated and sexually assaulted by your officers.

However, Bellevue Police Accountability never responded to Alex Navarez, her attorney and I asking to have this investigated.

At this point, Sanism, and I want to be clear, your officers are engaging and calling me crazy as I attempt to report sex traffickers that are known to them by the juvenile court prosecutor notification system, the Bellevue School District, Bellevue Police Department, the superintendent, and the school principal.

There was an incident that occurred last week with the perpetrator out of Renton.

It culminated in me needing to ITA my daughter.

Believe police department engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Washington State Patrol, malicious compliance, called them to this building to arrest my daughter.

It is unacceptable.

And another thing, they keep falsely claiming that these are her friends.

Gislain Maxwell appeared to be a friend to those girls as well.

It does not matter if they originally started outside wearing my daughter.

Ms.

Hudson.

Your time has expired, Ms.

Hudson.

And attempting to criminalize Hudson, your time has expired.

Thank you.

That is the end of our pre-registered list.

At this point, I would ask if there is anyone else who is joining us here in Council Chambers who would like to make a comment to council.

If so, please raise your hand.

And also that goes for those online as well.

Okay, I do not see any additional hands, mayor.

I'll turn it back to you.

Okay.

I have a motion to approve the consent calendar.

I move to approve the consent calendar.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Okay, thank you.

So we have uh two study session items tonight.

I'm gonna ask the city manager to introduce those for us.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh thank you, mayor and council members.

I'm gonna take a little bit longer introducing this item tonight.

Uh we are tonight presenting the updated diversity advantage plan, and we have a community of people here tonight to participate in the presentation, and that's because it's been a three-year effort, and uh with a large amount of um collaboration between our community, the centering communities of color, uh coordinating team, our staff and leaders in the departments.

Um, and the the council vision really represents the commitment of this council and previous councils and the city um in in whole over time to uh be a welcoming place for all people in this community, and it served as a foundational element for building this updated plan, and I think you'll see that um in the presentation.

It's a very solid plan, it comes with very clear objectives, and those objectives will drive actions within the city departments, and in fact, the city departments have already shown some actions that are being embedded in their work from that that has come through the work of this plan.

To present the plan tonight, I'm very pleased to welcome back Dr.

Linda Whitehead, who led the city's diversity advantage team up until her retirement in September.

She has been our champion within the organization and with the community in stewarding the update of this plan.

In addition, we have uh Sarah Boyle, our diversity advantage team DEI community outreach administrator.

Sarah has served as the lead staff person for this work over the three years, so she also gets uh much credit here for working with the community from the inception of the plan.

Um we're very honored to have our chair and vice chair of um the centering communities of color coordinating team tonight to participate in the presentation, Chair Regina Glenn, and Vice Chair Dr.

Dr.

Elba Moyes.

Also, we have some members of the Triple C here tonight, Tina Morales, Ruhi Gotti, uh, and our chair of B Dan, Tone Austin, and our vice chair Haruka Koshima.

So they have been involved throughout the process.

Our triple C members who are uh present members, um previous members, all are um uh very important to the work and have um shared with us a lot of their time and energy and effort and expertise.

Um I would like to recognize uh Joe Todd as well, our deputy city manager who stepped in to oversee the um the diversity advantage team upon Linda's retire retirement, and um we also this week welcomed Bindy Lasage, our new HR director and DEI director.

She just uh started on Monday.

She could not be here tonight, um, but she's really looking forward to meeting the council and the community and being part of this work at the city once she gets her feet set a little bit.

So um with that, I would like to welcome all of the presenters to the table.

So Dr.

Whitehead, um, Sarah Boyle, Regina Glenn, and Dr.

Moyes.

And I'll turn it over to Dr.

Whitehead.

Good evening, everyone.

It's good to be back.

It's good to have you back.

Thank you.

I appreciate it, Mayor.

You know, uh the diversity advantage plan really is an example of it takes a village because uh we have truly we were very intentional about making certain every voice was heard from an internal standpoint to external, and that's the whole magic behind the diversity advantage plan that we will present to you tonight.

So once again, good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, council members, and community members.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight to present the diversity advantage plan 2035.

Our purpose tonight is to walk you through the plan, leave it with you to review so that you have a clear understanding of the diversity advantage initiative.

We're not asking for any action or decision tonight.

Instead, we hope this session will allow you to review the information at a comfortable pace.

We welcome any questions you may have, any clarification points that you may need.

We're here to answer your questions.

After you've had time to consider the full report, we will return at a future meeting to formally request adoption of the Diversity Advantage Plan 2035.

Thank you again for allowing us to present to you tonight.

Tonight's agenda will include a brief history of the Diversity Advantage Initiative, overview of the update process, understanding DAP 2035, implementing DAP 2035, and next steps.

And at this time, I'm truly honored to practice Sarah Boyle, our lead administrator who has done an amazing job with this initiative.

Sarah.

Thank you so much, Dr.

Whitehead.

It is a pleasure to be presenting with you again once more.

Good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, City Council members, really happy to be with you here tonight after almost a three year journey getting to this point.

So we're going to talk a little bit about the history of DEI here at the City of Bellevue.

As you're all very well aware, the City of Bellevue has more than a 30-year history, demonstrating our knowledge and understanding that providing exceptional public service really means understanding the diverse needs, challenges, and opportunities that exist in our community as well.

When we look back these past more than 30 years, we have some really important milestones that really make up our history in this work, starting with our first cultural diversity plan back in 1993.

In 2014, we had the adoption of the first diversity advantage plan, and I believe the adoption of the council vision that we still use to this day.

Last year, we added diversity, equity, and inclusion as the sixth city core value, the first time a core value had been added in more than 25 years here at the city.

In late 2022, as the city completed its eighth year using the original 2014 Diversity Advantage Plan as its DEI strategic plan, staff began to plan for an update to that 2014 plan.

This update we knew would provide the city with three major opportunities to improve our services and responsiveness to our communities.

First, we knew that an updated diversity advantage plan will help ensure that the strategic the strategies and programs that the city prioritizes are reflective of actual and current community needs.

Keep in mind that in 2022, the city and the rest of the country were coming out of some significant changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the conversations nationally around racial justice and equity.

These changes really highlighted the need for a DEI plan that was responding to the current context while also looking to the future for upcoming challenges and opportunities.

Finally, we believe this updated plan takes into account the evolving demographics of our communities here in Bellevue and also responds to disparities that become more pronounced as the City of Bellevue grows.

Since the years leading up to the 2014 adoption of the original diversity advantage plan, and today, uh more than 11 years, we've seen some pretty significant changes in who makes up our communities.

And I know all of you are familiar with what these changes look like.

Overall, today we have a much younger community.

We have a much more global community with nearly 45% of our residents coming from a country outside of the USA.

And we have a much more racially diverse community.

Overall, about 60% of our residents identify as a race other than white.

Currently in Bellevue School District, we're looking at about 117 different languages that are documented.

We've also seen some changes in the income distribution across Bellevue.

So back in 2012, we saw about one in four households making less than 50,000 and about another quarter of households making more than 150,000.

Today we have seen that number more than double as far as households that are making more than 150,000, while we see the households earning less than 50,000, only going down to about one in five.

And when we look at inflation, we still know that even in 2012 and 2023, households making under 50,000 a year, we're learning earning well under the uh living wage standard for this area.

So while these demographic shifts do not tell us exactly what levers we need to pull to ensure a more equitable and inclusive community, they do speak to a changing context that requires changes in the services that we provide to the community and how we think about partnering with our communities.

There we go.

So these last 10 years of growth have also brought with it a new set of opportunities and challenges for the city to navigate.

However, these opportunities and challenges have not always been experienced equally across our different communities here in Bellevue.

To use an example, as the council is well aware, housing has continued to be a particular focus here in Bellevue, with access to affordable housing and access to diverse housing options being a well documented conversation here in Bellevue.

And that challenge is experienced across a wide swath of the Bellevue population.

So currently, despite being a really economically privileged community, we have about one in three residents across our community that are considered cost burdened.

However, when we start to look at different communities and their experiences with housing and housing prices, we see some of those demographics and rates shift.

So when we look at black and Latino households specifically, we see that one in three number rise to one in two, so about 50% of households.

Similarly, for Latino, Black and Miracial households, they're about three to four times more likely to experience poverty compared to white and Asian households, and about half as likely to own a home.

So while Bov You cannot and will not solve these disparities alone, they do give us some information about some of the challenges that our community is addressing, and DAP 2035 is really presented as a tool for help us think about how we may start to respond to some of these gaps.

As far as updating the diversity advantage plan, we've mentioned that this has taken place over about a three-year process.

So in the first phase, we were really focused on community engagement, which also included staff engagement and hearing directly from staff what they thought was needed to really make this update a success.

In this phase, we held over a dozen community dialogues and partnered with advisory boards such as the Centering Communities of Color Coordinating Team and the Bellevue Diversity Advisory Network.

From this process, we gathered over a thousand pieces of individual feedback and data from the community and also learned from the community what they would like prioritize for the next 10 years.

Using this, we drafted the what made up the equity objectives of the diversity advantage plan and really validated this work both internally with our departments and externally with our community advisory groups to really make sure we were hearing accurately what priorities were, and we are putting forth objectives that were feasible and within the city's scope of influence.

Getting into phase three, really thinking about what it would mean to implement this work.

We got farther input from the centering communities of color team.

And then most recently, this past Thursday, as city manager referenced, we had a community event where we actually presented the plan to the community for the first time and really had a wonderful evening.

Now we'll transition to talking a little bit about what is actually included in the plan.

So at its essence, Diversity Advantage Plan 2035 is a strategic plan that provides a roadmap for our priorities related to building a more inclusive and equitable community over the course of the next decade.

It is aligned to the strategic target areas to ensure this work is always in lockstep with the city's overall strategy.

It builds off the last 10 years of work while really also looking to the future of what's possible and the aspirations we have in our community.

At its core, it includes two things: a set of guiding principles that help us think about our approach and how we do this work, and a set of 41 equity objectives that really set out the long-term vision of what we're trying to accomplish.

I do want to speak a little bit to some of the major differences that exist between the original plan and the update.

We would not be here without it.

And there were some changes that we made to the approach based on the conversations we had with staff and with the community.

So one of those changes is that DAP 2035, while continuing to respond to diversity and really upholding the council division, uh council vision of welcoming the world, but also really centers equity.

So what that means in the context of this plan is that it is helping us ask the right questions to understand where there might be disparities and differences in our communities' access and benefit of city services and help us think about strategies we might be able to use to make sure access and benefit really are distributed equally across our communities.

This plan is also meant to be more adaptive and agile in responding to community need.

Uh so I already referenced some of the major changes we've seen in our community the past few years that require some creativity uh in responding to them.

So, one of the things we're doing differently with this plan is while the 41 equity objectives that really make up the core of the plan are considered long-term and should last us the last 10 years or the next 10 years, uh, we will be working with uh departments every two to three years to actually create short-term uh strategic equity plans that allow us to be more responsive to what do we need to prioritize right now in order to make progress on these long-term objectives.

Finally, we are building in accountability through measurement and reporting.

In the original Diversity Advantage Plan, we had 60 wonderful goals.

One of those goals was we should create some performance metrics to measure progress on this plan.

Well, we did a lot of really great work with Diversity Advantage Plan.

Unfortunately, that goal was not one of them.

So this time around, we're being very intentional about making sure we are talking about and really being transparent about how do we measure impact and progress.

So currently, staff are in the process of developing a set of key equity indicators that will do just that.

The equity objectives themselves, that again really make up the core of this plan.

Um, there's 41 of them, and they really contain the goals and visions for what we hope to see in the next 10 years.

They span all of the city's departments and operations, including our external services and the internal operations and staff experience.

They are highly informed by community and staff engagement.

And when implemented, we believe that these equity objectives will help us respond to community need, prioritize and operationalize the strategies we use, and connect our DA work to other strategic work within the city so that we are not working in a siloed or segmented fashion.

Well, as staff, we are very proud to be here in front of you tonight.

This is a large accomplishment.

Uh, there's still a lot of work ahead of us.

So when we think about what implementing this work looks like in the next nine to 12 months, uh, there's three major milestones that we're looking towards.

Uh so first, by the end of this year, we will have completed uh one of those short-term strategic equity plans that I spoke to, where we start to identify some of the near-term work that we'll be focusing on the next three years.

By the end of quarter one and 2026, we will have identified the first set of key equity indicators that we'll use to measure progress and impact on this work.

And then we are committed by the end of quarter three to have a method and tool for uh translating and communicating this work uh externally to our communities so we have that transparency with the communities that we're here to serve.

With that, we are actually going to transition to two of our other uh leaders here at the table with me tonight.

Uh so as we think about our near-term implementation of this work, we are going to ask the chair and vice chair of the centering communities of color coordinating team to present some operational recommendations uh that came from the CCC team on what the city should be prioritizing at this time.

About a month ago, the triple C had an opportunity to do some briefings with department leaders and get a sense of what departments are really working on prioritizing right now in service of DAPE 2035.

So, with these priorities in mind, alongside their expertise as community members with strong connections to the community, the triple C team identified five areas they see a high level of opportunity for the city to expand and deepen its impact related to DAP 2035.

With that, I would like to introduce Regina Glenn, the current chair of the Centering Communities of Color coordinating team.

Thank you so much.

It's a pleasure to be here tonight.

Madam Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Council members.

The CCC had a process.

The process uh included several bits of data gathering.

Three of our eight members are from the original 2021 CCC.

They gave us the history and the background and the richness from the 2023 community dialogue.

Plus, all of our committee members brought their insights, their knowledge of their communities, suggestions with hundreds of hours of reading the diversity action plan and the history.

And finally, as it was mentioned, we had a chance to meet with every city department head.

And they told us, and I must say impressively, describing what they're doing in diversity areas and what they plan to do.

All this intel results in the recommendations.

And that when you get the results, that you present them in public hearings so the community can hear it at least twice a year.

And finally, for any advisory committee that you have, that you give them staff support.

We were blessed with having outstanding excellent staff support and consultant support.

And without it, we would not have been able to accomplish our mission.

With that, I'd like our vice chair, Dr.

Elba to present our recommendations.

Thank you.

All right, can folks hopefully hear me okay?

Okay, excellent.

So thank you, and good evening, uh, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and uh council members and community members.

And so um I will share a little bit more about our operational recommendations, which there are five.

And so my goal is to give you all a high-level overview since you all have the memo and in more depth.

Um and I'll share a little bit too with each of the recommendations, like um what grounds us in that and the intent for each of those.

And so, with recommendation number one, uh develop a transparent system for tracking progress on DAP 2035 that includes regular review with the community.

Uh, this recommendation is centered in primarily in accountability and transparency, and so we've heard from community members wanting more understanding and uh visibility around uh the DAP and the progress and how things will be moving forward, and also wanting to get a sense too of how their input is shaping the decisions.

And so we recommended uh a clear ongoing process for tracking, um, one that increases the transparency about what's happening, um, what progress is being made, and how decisions are being uh informed.

And so to support this, we suggested uh consistent partnership with the community through implementation, um, not just at the end, but ensuring that there's ways where the community has a voice through all process of implementation, through the decision making, the brainstorming, and also involved in the continuous feedback as well, um, followed by another uh recommendation public-facing website or dashboard that shows the progress of DAP.

And then moving on to recommendation uh number two, um, investing in trusted uh investing in centers and programs that serve as centralized and trusted one-stop resource hubs for immigrant and refugee communities.

And so, given the evolving national climate around immigration, um, there's been a lot of fear and concerns for safety that community members have expressed, especially community members from the immigrant and refugee uh communities here in Bellevue, and so individuals not also feeling necessarily fully supported and being in certain public spaces.

Um, and so uh one of our recommendations is to strengthen or invest in centers or programs that that can serve as a centralized uh trusted resource hub, so to speak, and so specifically places where there is a deep understanding of the lived realities of the immigrant and refugee uh communities here that's able to provide culturally and linguistically relevant uh services, uh offering programs that help families feel welcome and potentially might even serve as a third space for Bellevue's diverse communities as well.

Uh the third uh recommendation, so expand culturally uh and linguistically responsive mental and behavioral health uh services.

And so for this uh particular recommendation, we want to acknowledge the meaningful work that's already happening across a variety of different departments, um, and at the same time, um community members are expressing uh more of a need for more accessible culturally grounded mental and behavioral health support, especially for youth families and women.

And so our goal is to hopefully um encourage folks to expand access to culturally and linguistic responsive providers, ensuring uh services meet people where they where they are linguistically, culturally, um, and emotionally.

And one recommendation in supporting this is ensuring that staff across the various departments are able to receive ongoing culturally uh humility and trauma-informed care training.

So this is a way in which it could strengthen not only staff confidence and alignment, but also it ensures that community members here in Bellevue are able to receive compassionate culturally responsive care regardless of um which department they are interacting with.

And for recommendation number four, uh supporting small women in minority-owned business enterprises in Bellevue.

And we consistently heard from small and minority owned um businesses that navigating city contract processes can feel really daunting and complicated and unclear and at times out of reach.

And so um one of the recommendations that we proposed was recommending um the development of procurement practices that are able to remove or at least reduce some of the barriers and increase access to city contracts, and this might include um technical assistance or mentorship programs.

Uh, we also recommended another uh low barrier, culturally responsive opportunities uh such as a year-round indoor night market, which could increase visibility for small businesses as well as help local entrepreneurs be able to access and reach new customers, and also strengthen Bellevue's um cultural vibrancy here in the community.

And then this brings me to our final recommendation, uh number five.

So creating policies for um assessing AI technologies and communicating their use clearly.

And so we've both um we've heard that there is support, but also concerns and questions from community members around um the use, the growing use of AI.

Um, and so there's I feel that this offers a lot of opportunity to create access for the community, and people have you know appreciated that um increase access for potential for safety and whatnot, but then also there's a need for more clarity about what are these AI tools, what are they um doing, um, but also how is that data that's being used with AI, how is that being utilized, who has access to that information, and for how long.

Um, so a bit more transparency uh around that, and so because community awareness um and trust can still are still a bit low when it comes to AI as it is ever evolving.

We recommend creating clear policies that evaluate AI technologies for equity, for privacy and safety, but also pairing that um with intentional multilingual outreach so that residents understand how these tools are meant to support their safety, uh access and inclusion, and ultimately are being used in ethical, responsible ways.

And so, in summary, these are our recommendations that we from the triple C are posing before you all, and I want to say thank you all for the time um to hear our recommendations.

So thank you.

Thank you.

I will pass it over to you.

Well done.

In closing, I want to express my sincere appreciation to our internal staff for their contributions in shaping the diversity plan.

I also extend my heartfelt gratitude to the triple C community member, committee members, past and present.

And finally to our community.

Thank you for participating in our open dialogues and open house event.

Your engagement has been invaluable.

And finally, to you, council, thank you very much for the support of the diversity advantage initiative.

In closing, I would like to not only thank you, but offer that we would like direction from you to direct us to come back to you with hopes that you will adopt the diversity advantage plan 2035 in the very near future.

Thank you.

Great, thank you so much.

Um I'm gonna let our deputy start.

Go ahead.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Uh thank you.

Sarah.

Great seeing you here for bringing this forward.

But before uh I should also start thanking Diane, Joe Todd, and especially thank the Dr.

Whitehead for her amazing leadership for I don't know how many years you have been here in the in charge of this whole thing.

And thank you so much for Chair Galen and Weissure Ilbon Moise.

Hopefully, I'm quite pronouncing your name correctly.

Uh and as you mentioned, Dr.

Whitehead, all of the current and former Triple C members who help shape this work of your thankful for all of your work.

Uh, this update has been years in making, and what I really appreciate is it's not being written from our desk in the city hall.

It uh was built in people home cultural centers that you guys go, fade communities, and community of spaces across all over the Bellevue.

And I wanted to acknowledge the Triple C the Diversity Adventure Team, the Bellevue Diversity Advisory Network, and every resident who showed up to share their stories, uh, their hopes, and maybe many times their frustrations.

Uh the report uh makes it very clear that our community didn't just give a feedback to us, they actually provide a roadmap.

Uh they told us about housing instability, what gaps we have in access, what barriers do we have in civic engagement, and most importantly, the deep desire to really be represented.

Um they also shared their stories of resilience, pride, culture, uh cultural strength, and the belle view that they want their children to inherit.

Uh and you guys did a great job.

Uh, more than seven community dialogues, open house, with 175 people, more than thousand pieces of feedback.

This is an amazing engagement, and uh we should be a proud city for uh and acknowledging this investment.

Uh what I really really like about this update, it doesn't separate equity work from our core work.

It's very intertwined, and that's amazing.

It integrates to our housing, transportation, a small business support, public safety, arts and culture, and how we as a city show up for our people.

It aligns with what we heard during the all of the triple C dialogues.

Uh the Bellevue is full of opportunity, but maybe not everyone experiencing that opportunity in the same way.

And for me, the most important part is having the accountability that you brought up from this version to the original one.

The old plan had goals but not metrics.

This plan builds the structure, departmental work plans, key equity indicators, transparent reporting, so we can make uh measure, we can all make uh measure progress and adjust and adapt as we need it and continue rebuilding the trust with our people.

Uh, Bellevue demographic is changing.

You had the slide, uh, 72% of under 18 population, they think they they are two races.

Uh, that's the tomorrow Bellevue, the Bellevue tomorrow, I guess, is here.

Uh, and I think these plans move us closer to that.

I just have one question, and maybe I just ask even the uh chair or vice chair of triple C here.

Based on what you think, when we talk about success for this plan, uh the DAP 2035, what does that look like for everyday people?

What will they see and feel that tells them this plan is working for them?

I would think three things.

One that they were heard.

Number two, that you supported as you integrate it with your day-to-day operations, which means you will fund it and you will champion it.

And last but not least, that you know that it is not complete, it's evolving.

That's why we mentioned we wanted two public hearings so that you can hear what they think about what you've done.

Sometimes you get so excited about having done something as a department or a city, and you forgot that the community that wasn't something that they embraced.

Keeping that dialogue open and fresh.

Those are the three things I think you would see if this plan is doing what we wanted to do.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair, for um adding that.

I think um, in addition to those those great points, I think um what's coming up for me that what success looks like uh for this plan is that uh community members feel um and are seen and are experiencing the positive impact um when they're interacting with the various um services and resources here in the city of Bellevue.

And I I also um feel that success could also look like um when we're actually able to visibly um see and track the progress, which is also a way to um uh enhance trust in the community and get them involved.

And then I think the third piece too of what success can look like is having the community engagement involved throughout the process of the decision, the brainstorming and the feedback.

So um their involvement um is ongoing and continuous, and it's something that's being done with the community as opposed to being done to or for them, but with the uh thank you both, and again, thank you everyone who uh spend hours and poured their energy into this.

I really looking forward to hearing from my fellow council members, their thoughts and questions, and on that, thank you, Mayor.

Okay, thank you.

Very nice input.

Um, so I'll go next.

Um, I have a question to start off.

Um, so have the triple C's five recommendations been incorporated into this draft diversity advantage plan.

So the recommendations about fourth may see uh the operational recommendations, they are connected to uh equity objectives that are included in this plan.

Uh the equity objectives themselves are written at a pretty high level and to be broad enough to be inclusive of a lot of different strategies and activities.

Um so I would say that while these all relate to equity objectives in the plan, they're a little bit more specific than the level of detail that you would see uh in the plan itself.

So aligned and connected, uh, but not necessarily uh set outright in the plan itself because of the level of specificity of these particular activities.

So are they separate documents or so?

What we would actually do is um, you know, with uh proper direction, as we are considering these recommendations, the place that these would live would be in those short-term uh equity plans that I referenced that would be developed at the enterprise and department level.

Um, so that though that really gives us the roadmap of specifically what are we going to be prioritizing in the next few years in service of these much longer, broader uh objectives that we have in DAP.

Okay, thank you for that.

So I have a few comments on the business support.

I really I love the focus on uh business support, but I'd like to call out nonprofits as businesses.

I don't feel like we're including that enough, and I feel like they need support just as any kind of business.

Um throughout the documents, I read over and over, and I have to I should start by thanking you, like deputy mayor is so good at doing that.

Thank you.

I reading all the work here, it's like talking to the community.

So many of the things I have heard from the community are reflected in these documents, and so it really underscores the need our needs that we need to we need to make change in a lot of things, and we need to include a lot of this uh because it's important to the people, and we hear that.

So I really appreciate the work that you've done articulating exactly what it is and how we might do it, and making it an inclusive of all that we do at City Hall.

That's very helpful, and that takes a tremendous amount of time and energy, and so thank you all and everybody who participated.

So, through all the I read and I've heard is that Crossroads Mall is just a really important place for our diverse community.

And you know, that's place is going to be redeveloped, and I'm really concerned that we need to call out what is it exactly that we value that that mall is providing, and how do we ensure that that continues to be provided to the city, whether Crossroads Mall has a new iteration or if it's in a new place?

Maybe that's something that goes with the cross-cultural center.

I don't know.

I'm just throwing it out there that we probably need to kind of um create uh recreate whatever it is that we really value there and do that intentionally.

Um we talk about the hate crimes in E5.1, which I really appreciate calling that out.

I want to see the performance metrics on that.

I want to make sure that there's accountability going on, that we are tracking how many and how many get resolved, and if it's in certain areas, and I really think that we haven't had enough information on what goes on there.

And I know the people involved have not felt like there's a whole lot of uh tracking of what's going on.

Um in E5.6.

I love that you included the well-being and resilience of our first responders.

I really appreciate you doing that.

Um and I guess the last one, and Sarah and Joe, and we had a long conversation about this.

I gave it a lot of thought.

So I'm gonna throw out something that speaks more strongly to what you have written out because it's hard to understand, and if this is going to be something that you want people to look at and be informed by with their work, I think it needs to be a little more um understandable uh to anybody who reads it.

So I'm trying to I have to scroll down here and find which one I'm correcting.

It's under services E6.

Do you have that right in front of you or should I find it?

Strengthen access to human services in ways that meet the evolving needs of Bellevue communities in a culturally and linguistically specific way.

So it after our conversation, I just I I know what we're trying to do here.

I just don't feel that strong enough.

So and clear enough.

So I my recommendation, and I can email this to you so you don't have to like transcribe it, but strengthen equitable access to human services in ways that meet the diverse and evolving needs of Bellevue communities and are delivered through approaches that are shaped by the cultural language and lived experiences of those receiving the services.

That to me spells out what we're trying to do.

And if we're going to if that's going to be our goal, then our providers need to know that.

And so I think that in my humble opinion, that might be a little more informative to the people who are providing services to our community.

And uh just something to consider.

Thank you for our conversation yesterday.

Yeah, thank you.

Okay, I think that is all I have, but again, thank you very much.

I'm excited to see uh what you what comes out of this work.

Okay, uh Councilmember Lee, how about you?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I want to compliment on the great work that's been done in this uh presentation, the work that's been put into it.

Uh if we read through the whole document, it's amazing.

So I want to thank Dr.

Whitehead, since Sarah, uh and also all the people that have been involved, obviously CCC.

Uh I know Regina has for a long time, uh way before uh I couldn't tell how many years.

So she's not that old.

Yes, well, I can tell how well I am, but I cannot tell how old not by looking at you.

So you know, wonderful.

Uh so we're still there, however, this important because it's a work in progress.

You know, from 19, uh we're talking about 93, you know, and uh 2014 when I was the mayor, and uh the growth, the change of Bellw has been tremendous.

And I think we're leaving the principle of uh America.

America is a story of immigration and uh uh you know, and all the differences that they have, or the background and where we come from.

But we all have the same needs.

We all are one, you know, we all have to make sure that uh we uh you know basically uh you know have to hold a lot and support for this.

So I think as things have changed also the last 30 years, and it may be even less than that the last 10, 15 years.

We have a lot more people now living in Bellevue.

Look at numbers.

Yeah, you mentioned how many people now minority, how many people are immigrants, how many people are born outside.

And these are the differences that we have to make sure we have to pay attention record style, and many of the things we've been working on, but we gotta keep working at it.

So I really uh you know, voice uh WD mayors and the even the mayors, we've got to do something you know intentional, uh crossroads more that she mentioned.

Uh it's a place where we have have a model in in those days that uh Ronsure pre provided, created.

People are congregating.

Yeah.

But now it's becoming a lot more, a lot bigger.

So uh I I want to just go straight through uh emphasizing how wonderful this is plan is.

I fully support it.

Well, we also know I always say that double is in the detail.

Uh you know, we have been making a lot of progress.

Uh as you know, I've been talking about minority woman-owned businesses, procurement and uh how challenging it is to work through the Belly system and Bellview City has been responding to it, but we're still working on it.

You know, this story is not ended.

So these are part of the example.

But the biggest one that I feel is important is cross-culture center.

Because we know the cities is becoming the country is becoming more divided.

And uh we're we're more polarized.

So the different cultures are here.

We are under tremendous disvantage, the language barriers, uh culture barriers, uh, you know, initiative that we don't have to understand how to process, how to uh build capacity.

So one of the things we've been doing the last few years, building capacity for the people who are here who are from different cultures.

How can we learn to access, you know, and also to be included?

And so these are the principles and objectives we do.

I believe we we have that very clearly.

But one of the things in terms of detail, which is concerned to me, which I want to bring up is cross-culture center.

We talk about cross-culture center five years ago, six years ago, actually more than that.

I uh realized that we are building silos because it's a lot easier to keep to our own, speak our own language, uh keep our own culture.

And by doing that, you know, we are competing for space, we're competing for money, we're competing for help.

So we need to make sure that this the city, the community, number one, help them to build capacity.

But to build capacity, they have to learn how to work with other people.

So different cultures have to learn from each other.

We have to communicate with us.

We have to have understanding.

And again, uh WD may mention faith organization.

The same thing.

We all have to be talking.

And we're talking about faith communities are not working together.

We're not separate.

We all believe in the same objective, the same goal.

The question is how to accomplish it.

So I want to make sure I wanted to add in page 32 of the document.

Uh we talk about cross culture center without war.

Okay.

Uh you know, but the reality is that we need space.

We need to provide spaces where people can actually meet.

That should be working together, that should be planning together.

To do that, we have to understand, know each other.

We have to build commonalities.

We have to work together.

You know, we've been asking this question since in since the 60s, you know, in Los Angeles riot.

You know, Ron DeKin said, why aren't we working together?

We're still figure out.

And to do that is we have to be together.

We know how to collaborate.

We know how to achieve common goals and understanding our differences and work together so that we can get things done.

And it's a reality that we need to have space.

We need to have a center.

No different than aquatic center, no different than what the mayor is talking about.

Course, cross roads more can change.

Then we have no more any space.

And people have to be work look what have to be meeting where, no place.

So we're discouraging them.

So I believe that I would like to see cross-culture center to be included in one of the detailed objectives and goals that we want to achieve ultimately.

So there's a lot more to say, but I don't want to say a lot because it's such a great document.

Uh I want to thank Sarah, I want to thank Dr.

Whitehead.

Uh, you know, and also obviously Gina, I know her so well.

And we have the same goal, we're working together.

Uh, you know, it is something we see, the city has grown so gracefully.

We're becoming 50% of people are an ethnic minority.

And you know, 40% are born outside the country.

And we speak so many different languages, but we have to share the same language, the same facility, the same opportunity, and the same working together so that we can accomplish the same goals.

To do that, we have to be pragmatic.

We have to be practical.

The practical means we have to have a location where people can feel that they can work, get together, they are facilitated, they can be helped.

Uh so I want to basically uh stop there.

So I don't know what the staff might think, but I would like to see uh the staff respond.

You know, if we're talking about the same thing, or should we uh I would like to have including at the end at the page 32.

In addition to cross culture center without war, that's just a means of getting to where we want to go to.

But the ultimate goal is I believe the city council agreed.

We actually did two studies, and the consultant actually recommended preliminary, what kind of cross culture center we think we need.

We have a preliminary design.

We actually have estimated costs.

I would like to see the city moving forward.

Yes.

That's good.

Okay.

Let's hear the staff answer.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Lee.

I always appreciate your passion for this project.

Um, so currently, staff are implementing direction that we received from uh council back in 2023, uh, following the completion of the final feasibility study for the cross-cultural center.

Um, this has concluded completing one round of cross-cultural programming in uh 2024, and we're actually just in the process of gearing up to uh and turn in a new set of contracts for cross cultural programming for 2026.

And we were actually just in the process of gearing up to enter in a new set of contracts for cross-cultural programming for 2026.

We also have some funding set aside to do a feasibility assessment for a sighting analysis.

And at this point, that is the council direction that we are following.

If any council direction were to evolve or change staff are happy to take that into consideration and think about how that might be integrated into the diversity advantage plan.

We are pursuing the direction to pursue cross cultural programming at this time that we received from council in 2023.

Hey, Councilmember Lee.

We have six other council members here who also would so maybe we can have a conversation about that cross-cultural center offline and find out where we are on it.

I would like to say that the staff is incorrect by saying that we still you don't have direction from us.

Oh, well, I could hear that clearly.

I'd like to address the council to hear.

Otherwise, we're not going to resolve this.

Mayor, if I might add.

Thanks, uh, Councilmember Lee for the question.

We do have direction through the budget process to evaluate feasibility of a site for the cross cultural center.

So in addition to what Sarah indicated in terms of the programming, um, we have that funding as well that would build on the programming and to evaluate feasibility of a site location.

That's what I heard.

I I maybe it didn't come over the wires clearly, but that's that's basically what she said too.

No, no, she said she's doing cross-cultural center with a wall without wall to determine whether we want to look at the center or not.

I believe that the direction is we are looking at the center.

Well, look at the feasibility.

Yes.

Because that costs money, that costs sites, right?

But it doesn't mean that we don't we're not looking for a specific.

That's the difference.

Okay.

Well, we'll have to bring this up.

Councilmember Lee, I'm just gonna ask you to just stop there and let's have this conversation about the cross-cultural center another time.

Okay, because tonight we're talking about why is that sound just not clear.

Why?

Because we're on the agenda tonight is the diversity advantage plan.

2045.

It's whether we're gonna have a center or just thinking about having a center.

Well, let's find out.

This is a draft.

They've gotten your input, and why don't we see what they bring back as a recommendation for the final?

Okay.

You've given good input tonight.

Yeah, I hope the rest of the council hears that because I'm not thinking you are aware of the original description on this.

Thank you.

Okay, Councilmember New in House.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um appreciate the very thoughtful uh comments and questions uh so far by all my colleagues.

Um, plus to one uh to everything that's been said, including the cross-cultural programming and the physical location of a center.

Um and uh I share council member Lee's uh passion of of uh for that to see that become uh uh a reality.

Um I will pile on a little bit and say, Dr.

Whitehead, Sarah, Chair, Vice Chair, thank you, and the entire triple C thank you so much for all the work that you have uh done and put into this.

It's a volume of work.

I got through most of it and then uh some of it even got me thinking about other things and leave me down other rabbit holes, and anyways, but um there is um just a just a large volume of work and important work.

Um also just really appreciate all the great engagement that's been uh that's been mentioned, always uh um something that's uh near and dear to me that we're always hearing from you know those uh in our community, um, what they want to see from their from their government, and um they had a lot to say.

Uh and that's great.

We're here to listen to it and act on it accordingly.

Um I had a couple of questions uh that I did want to ask for just for some more clarity.

Um of them on, and I love the operational recommendations, and I wanted to um ask specifically because this is something that um uh uh in terms of number four there that I remember working on because it was Councilmember Lee, but also uh former councilmember Zon, very passionate about upgrading our procurement process to ensure uh diversity and inclusion in that process.

So I was curious, did was part of of this work going back and looking at that update that happened in 2024, or are you or is this in addition to the work that's already been done?

Could you speak to that just a little bit?

Yeah, I mean I'll speak to that briefly.

Um so yes, we do have the procurement diversity initiative that was updated, I think 2024.

We said uh council member new in house um and the uh departments were actually able to present uh some information on some of the uh strategies that you're using in order to uh reduce barriers and increase access to city contracting and procurement to the triple C about a month ago.

So I would say that this recommendation is responding to and building off of existing work uh with our procurement team and happy to bring in additional information from our actual procurement experts to answer any additional questions.

But this is absolutely a body of work that is in existence and is actually already being implemented in many ways, uh, such as the plan to create a technical assistance program uh to support small businesses in really getting on the public vendor list and becoming uh possible vendors for city contracts.

Okay, terrific.

And like the also one of the things we were talking about.

I had a chance to meet with the finance director doing the gallery walk.

Great.

And you uh allocated money for an analyst to give some data.

You have been sorry lacking the information about the contract, who has them, what we want to do about it if you want to ever engage in a disparity study.

That type of specificity is what we were also recommending.

Okay.

Certainly building the capacity for our small businesses, helping with mentoring, but also what are we doing about what do you spend on good services?

Contracts, professional services, and how is that distributed to the contracting community?

Very good.

Thank you so much.

Um the um one of the early slides you were talking about um demographics and the community being uh cost burdened.

I'm just wondering if you could speak to that.

Was that strictly about housing, or was that other things as well in terms of um, you know, be it taxes, groceries, or food insecurity?

Did it did that cover the the realm of different ways in which they're burdened?

And did that, did you cross-reference that in terms of um our human services needs assessment?

Was that did that line up or were those separate?

So the cost burden, I believe you're referring to um this slide here, uh, Councilmember New House.

Yes.

Um, in the terms of housing and being cost burdened, I was speaking specifically to um the uh really national acceptance that uh households that are spending more than 30% of their household income on housing are considered housing cost burdened.

Um so this is really referring to being cost burdened in the context of what folks are paying for their housing costs.

Um and this data I would uh imagine it's from the 2023 American Community Survey.

Um so, yes, likely lining up with the data that's being used in the human services needs assessment as well.

And you were comparing 2023 to 2012, is that correct?

Did that did you have a data point for that in terms of how many were cost burdened?

In 2020, you know, I actually was trying to find a data point for cost burden in 2012 and just couldn't really identify uh a data point that I felt comfortable sharing for its accuracy.

So this data you're looking at here is from 2023.

Okay, thank you for clarifying.

Yeah, thank you.

And then my last question is um uh under the uh public safety, the E5.8.

Um, just curious about um uh how that would uh and in that context, how would that play out in the in the practical uh world and also um what would be the metrics to to track that if if if implemented, although I'm not quite sure how it would be implemented, but um just curious about um more more of the context around that.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I'll read the objective out loud for those that don't have it in front of you right now.

Uh this is under criminal prosecution under uh community health and safety, uh, provide for a community-based approach to prosecution that emphasizes problem solving, rehabilitation, engagement, and prevention to address the root causes of criminal behavior rather than traditional punitive measures when appropriate.

Um so this was actually put forth both by our this is uh something that came from the community during the community dialogues and something that was put forth by our city attorney's office.

And I'm actually I'm glad you brought attention to this one in particular, council member, um, as we actually have some really exciting updates around work that's happening here.

Uh so the city attorney's office this summer uh opened Bellevue's first community court, right, which took this alternative approach to providing resourcing and you know alternatives to responding to uh criminal behavior for some cases in Bellevue.

Uh so this is really uh encompassing of programs like that, things like CARES and CCAT that are really trying to provide support first and resource first when appropriate would also be examples of what this particular objective is referring to.

Uh we're in the process of working with all of those teams actually to develop metrics about how do we actually measure that?

Um so you can expect to see some some metrics related to this objective uh coming forth in the next couple of months.

Okay, great.

Thank you so much for that explanation and great.

Thank you all for your great work.

Really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Sumaduiria.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um welcome back, Dr.

Whitman, and thank you, Sarah, for the representation.

Also, chair and vice chair, thank you.

Um I remember I think it was the end of last year.

I was invited into a conversation, I think, with Mary Ann and at the Diversity Procurement Network as a community listening session.

It was two sessions.

I think that I was so appreciative, the effort they put in to make sure that when there is not enough community members have the time and space to bring that space, they extend the extra time slot, so make sure that everybody's voice is intended to hear that clear, and then we also have different ways of communicating.

So I really appreciate that.

Thank you for creating that space intentionally.

Um as and also as a council member who's someone who operate um I'm a small minority woman owned business.

These are the languages screamed to me so hard, and then it just makes my heart so warm, especially Thanksgiving week that you all really care about our small business community, especially the minority-owned business, because as we know, as the economy recession, also how hard everything is going, it is a hard time.

So as a Saturday is a small business Saturday.

I encourage all of us to go visit your favorite local small business.

But thank you for highlighting that in the plan.

And then when I look at uh slide 15, I really love the recommendation smarting the same realm through the improved access to city contract, because to me that's not just abstract policy so big and hard to understand.

It is a hard-living experience that I I face every day.

And I share with my group, my tribe to see there is help on the way, which is really um encouraging and also empowering, knowing that people care and our government care as well.

And you know, when I started business, I think it's it's I think I believe this in City of LV, we offer a huge opportunity and then ways for us to engage and also be part of this economy, but also there is many barrier, like you said, for the contract and also um permitting different things that we have to learn navigate.

This is for somebody who has MBA.

And then it was so hard for me already.

So I cannot imagine our fellow immigrant and refugee community members how hard it could be to break that first step to creating their own path in the new country they are selecting.

Um I I love the everything in this, especially the inclusion of equity objective from E 2.12.2 that really focuses on access to city partnerships.

So this directly so close to a small business like we talk about, because that's 97% of our business here.

Um and I really appreciate that.

We are committed whether everyone's actually able to access the benefit of living, working, and doing business here.

We are together building a city that my kids, my three kids can live and thrive, and also a city that my elderly parents can feel honored and love and to feel safe to go to any grocery that, and that is a powerful language we have as a United City.

Um I have a just a few questions for you.

Um, because I said, you know, I was really appreciative that you're creating this space intentionally, having that dialogue with residents.

So can you share with us what those dialogue look like, especially with the community member who um was able to share the own experience, but also may not be historically um engaged with the city government.

Well, I wonder if any of our triple C members want to speak a little bit to some of the kind of like culture and practices that you know we really tried to uh include in some of these community dialogues to make it an engaging place for for folks maybe who have not been traditionally engaged, and then I can speak a little bit as a staff member about some of our experiences.

Right.

We do have um one of our members that's here who's at the original part of one of our high school students who I'm so impressed with has shared with us at our meetings, and Tina also has shared with how we have had the opportunity to hear directly from the community members.

And I don't know if you want to hear from them, but I know that we heard the the dialogue between our members telling us.

They really wanted to be sure that as changes were made, they were brought along.

One of our recommendations was uh make sure you have public hearings so that you share what that information is about.

Did you want a specific example of where a small business did speak up?

Yeah, or um any community that historically wasn't because I think from my understanding that sometimes some culture when we grow up, we are not encouraged to engage with the government, right?

So that's very different.

Or it could be trauma behind that maybe there's thinking something we did wrong, right?

So I think that I would love to hear how did we pass a barrier and how were we able to engage, and then inviting community members maybe didn't feel comfortable first, but and because of your representation and the way we communicate, we they feel welcome and also um feeling um excited to share their perspective.

I will say that you know, some of the things that we were keeping in mind as we were partnering with Centric Communities of Color team with the Biliodiversity Advisory Network was you know, it's a really your point, council member, knowing that there might be community members who, you know, historically, culturally, for really valid reasons, maybe don't have the background capacity, trust, um, you know, know-how of engaging with city government.

We knew we had to be really intentional about creating uh spaces and opportunities that really helped community members see themselves as inherent and uh necessary parts of these conversations.

So some of the things that we did to do that were first and foremost really wanting to hold these dialogues in spaces and places that we knew were already trusted by the community.

So we were in the community room at Crossroads Mall.

We were in uh high school gymnasiums, we were in uh community center conference rooms where people were already going to attend programming and services that spoke to their culture.

So I think that was the first one.

Um second, having all of these trusted messengers and trusted liaisons that we were partnering with meant that we were really able to ensure that this invitation and the explanation of what we're trying to accomplish was getting to community members in a language and in a with an intent that really resonated with them and spoke to what they wanted to um really include in these dialogues.

Of course, language interpretation and translation is always a really important part of this.

And I think also just how these dialogues were set up, you know, everyone sitting in a circle, um, having food, really wanted to feel like a community living room space, right?

Where you're sitting down with your neighbors, with your family, friends, and having conversations about things that are important to all of us.

Um and I think in that process, we were able to get to a place of having these informal spaces that create a lot of safety and trust.

And I think people were really invited to show up with their their authentic selves without having to, you know, perform a certain way, meet certain standards.

This is really is about bringing who you are and what's really resonating with you for what's what's real and true.

Um, and this is a space for us to listen to it and hear it.

My understanding was you wanted an example of an individual that might have changed because of it.

Well, I think what I hear Councilmember Summituria saying, and tell me if I'm wrong, is it's somewhat along performance metrics.

So can we identify, you know, what we are doing to include everybody in the room and who and you know, like when we identify what's missing, what are we changing and how do we measure that?

Is that fair?

Oh, that's your next one.

But I think I feel like you can read my mind, I love it.

Thank you, Mayor.

Explain what you're doing.

Yeah, so I think like Sarah was explaining the method we use is different because I really believe the internet intent intentionality representation, also allyship is a really three really powerful trio that we need to do the community work.

So I appreciate that.

Yeah, we can talk offline.

We I love to go grab coffee so we can talk more.

But thank you, Mayor.

That's exactly to my question.

Um, but talk about um performance-wise.

I'm gonna skip next one for the time's sake, but I see this really amazing way that you all was looking at enterprise-wide, internal, externally, and then I think the specialty way work that you're working through all a department was very special.

Um, do you mind sharing with me a little bit how was that process like?

And then did you feel like um just very short, like how effective do you feel like that was to getting to make sure everybody's ally on the goal?

Yeah, it's been a wonderful process, and it's been um kind of a rare experience to find yourself being able to interact with staff from across departments and divisions that you would not normally interact with.

Um so uh partnering with our finance and asset management uh department and our business intelligence team, we were able to create a standard process that engaged departments um in all the same way, in which we were able to walk out of the process um with a short-term equity plan for each department, uh, and by the end of next quarter, uh, a list of equity indicators that really uh relate back to those those key initiatives the departments are committing to.

Um so it's been a new approach to this work for us, um, but it's really been powerful in ensuring that we're having citywide conversations and plans and strategies for how we are implementing tracking um and really responding to our progress uh for DAP 2035.

So it's a process I think we're very proud of, and we think we're really gonna be able to meet our intention here of having a transparent story to communicate, not just with our staff so we can learn, um, but also with our community.

Okay, uh Councilmember Bargada.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

Um, and thank you, uh, Dr.

Whitehead, Sarah, um, the Triple C team, Chair Weiss Shed, and all the folks in the community that contributed.

It's really a very strong plan.

Uh so I want to thank you.

I want to give gratitude for the long effort put in to get us to the space.

I also want to take a minute and pause and say how proud I feel as a first generation Emirand sitting here at City Council discussing a plan that is so robust and detailed.

And how proud I feel of the city that I serve and the city that I live in that we have this conversation with such intentionality.

It's really remarkable.

So I feel really good about that.

Thank you.

Um the other thing is um I want to say that I really feel great about the core value addition, also that was done earlier, but uh that's really great.

Uh I appreciate the focus that you have done to transition to equity and an equity-based lens.

I think equity is really important when we talk about diversity and inclusion, whether it's equity in public um safety services, housing and social services you talked about, parks and recreation, other needs within the community, but also digital access and physical accessibility.

Those are really important aspects of equity that we must consider, and I hope you're thinking about those.

I also really appreciate the focus on data metrics and accountability, creating a baseline of disparity of needs, specific and measurable goals, and a little bit of a double click on the fact that our success should be measurable as well.

So, as you think about this, you talked about what success would look like prior to the uh earlier part of this conversation, but really getting to how you will measure that success.

I think a couple of my colleagues have talked about that, but I would double click on that and try to make sure that we define that early and not um after we've you know made some progress because it's easy to massage that uh later and feel good.

But we should set a high bar.

Um I also really appreciate the fact that you have taken into account building trust and how important that is, whether it's in bias free policing initiatives or whether it's officer language skills that we think about, um mental health support and uh the need for crisis response alternatives, uh really really you know thoughtful and I think the need of the hour in many ways.

Also the fact that we have tailored outreach.

I would say that we consider if we haven't tailored outreach for refugees and youth populations.

I think that's a really important aspect to focus on right now.

Um the fact that you've already built in your plan small business support and economic inclusion.

I really find that uh uh really strong part of the plan, especially support for minority-owned businesses, immigrant owner owned businesses, you talked about women-owned businesses as well.

Um Councilmember Newenhaus talks about inclusive procurement practices and contracting.

I think that's really important.

So I'm not gonna go much deeper there.

But I would say that workforce development pathways for underrepresented communities is a really important aspect that I think we should consider, in addition to what you've got.

And then uh two other really quick points.

One is I think it's important for us to consider the equity impacts of new policies that we put out.

I don't know if there's a framework for that, but that should be an ongoing process that we're able to assess so that it stays current and adaptable is the way you defined it as we keep going forward.

I think that's uh something to consider uh as you bring this back.

And lastly, you know, um equity, diversity, inclusion, also belonging.

And so uh when we start to celebrate culturally relevant events, festivals, those become really part of belonging to a community, and then youth engagement and mentorship and things like that.

So I would encourage us to think about that aspect as well.

But overall, uh very supportive of the work that's been done.

It's thoughtful and um rigorous, so appreciative.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Councilmember Bargada.

Councilmember Hamilton.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for the presentation.

I really think this is exceptional work.

And in some ways, the plan has been viewed as responding to changing demographics, but it has always been mostly forward-looking.

The diversity advantage plan 2035 is part catch up, but mostly it's a guide for us to get where we want to be and where we know our community needs us to be.

I also appreciate that we looked at the 2014 plan and identified deficiencies and are correcting for them in DAP 2035.

DAP 2035 ensures that our vision of our city as welcoming the world, recognizing our diversity as a the strength that it is, and embracing the future as we learn from and respect the past becomes reality.

Thank you for the good community engagement, a dozen community conversations, other dialogues, and the staff focus groups are critical to this effort, and I'm glad to know that they were top priorities in the engagement plan.

I'm especially thankful to the centering communities of color coordinating team and the Bellevue Diversity Advisory Network for their critically important work on this update.

Our focus on operationalizing, prioritizing, adapting and measuring our DEI work is really necessary for us to achieve our objectives.

I'm glad that we will be able to track our progress and adjust when necessary.

Just want to come back to the Triple C coordinating team for a minute.

I think their recommendations are really solid and are very impactful for the outcomes of DAP 2035.

I want to see us continue to rely on them as the plan is implemented.

Their focus on transparent accountability system for tracking and communicating progress, investing in centers, as Councilmember Lee spoke about, and programs, expanding culturally and linguistically, responsive mental and behavioral health services, and support for small and women and minority owned businesses along with the implementation of AI initiatives are key elements of what will be a successful effort.

There's so much to like about DAP 2035.

I'm feeling very hopeful.

Thank you, Mayor.

Perfect.

Okay.

Well, thank you again.

Wonderful work.

Uh and we look forward to seeing what you bring back in the final.

And uh I think we'll take a break here and come back at 10 till we have a lot of people.

Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Council.

We have a number of staff from our development services, uh, particularly the code and policy team, to provide an update tonight on the sign code.

Um, this code hasn't been updated for uh pretty significant amount of time.

So as you will hear, they are proposing a new structure to work to try to streamline it, meet legal requirements and balance kind of both the business and the community needs for signs.

This is a check-in for you on the progress to date and serves as an opportunity for you to ask questions.

Um they are seeking input from you as they enter into the next phase of the work, which will be drafting the code.

So we have Rebecca Horner, our director of development services, Nick Whipple, Code and Policy Director, Charlie Engel, our associate planner, and Robbie Seppler, the assistant city attorney.

And with that, I will turn it over to Nick.

Good evening, uh, Mayor Robinson, Deputy Mayor Malikoutian, members of the council.

Um, we are excited to share an update with you all tonight.

This is an information only study session, but as City Manager Carlson noted, um, we'd also appreciate any input you might have as we begin entering our drafting mode with the code.

Um so Charlie will be providing a project update on the sign code, um, including our completed outreach to date and then the overall direction or scope of code amendments that we have planned, and then we'll be looking for some input from you all.

Our agenda, um, want to talk a bit about the project uh drivers and some background here.

Uh, this was initiated by council on August 24th.

So we'll also touch on the conversation at that council initiation point.

Um, then uh Charlie will walk us through our outreach approach, some of the themes that we heard from community, and then uh get into some of the scope details.

And with that, we want to have our city attorney um or assistant city attorney ground us in some of the the framework that we're having to operate within based on some case law.

So we'll pass it over to Robbie Seppler.

Thank you very much, Nick, and good evening, counsel.

As Nick kind of set up, one of the main drivers for this project is uh changes to the way um sign code law operates and to new case law from the US Supreme Court.

It's a rather complicated body of case law, and it's sometimes seemingly contradictory.

But the main driver is a case called read versus the town of Gilbert, Arizona.

Um, that case can generally be boiled down to this: that if you have to read a sign in order to know how it's regulated, that's generally not permissible anymore.

So if you look at the example on the slide before you, that kind of gives an example of what many sign codes, including our own were previously set up to do.

For example, name uh political signs and name a certain dimension for which that sign could be.

Under read, that's no longer uh appropriate in most circumstances.

Uh so we have to figure out a different way of regulating regulating those signs.

And so, what's still firm basis to regulate on are the form of the sign, the location where it's located within the city, the timing, how long it could be up for, and uh centered on certain times of type types of certain times of the year, as well as lighting and other safety um considerations, like for example, if it blocks the sidewalk or blocks sight lines or something along those lines.

So that's the general overview.

I'll pass it back to code and policy.

Thanks, Robbie, and good evening, everyone.

As Nick mentioned, it's been a while since this project has been in front of council.

Um the last time was during initiation in August 2024.

I thought it would be helpful to pull out some of the key themes that came from that meeting.

Um, we want to make sure that simplicity in the code and flexibility is a top priority.

Uh, it was stated during that meeting that Bellevue is a business-friendly city, and therefore we should work to decrease any unnecessarily unnecessary obstacles that might limit business visibility.

Um with that, we also want to make sure that we have a forward-looking code that does not immediately fall behind in regards to technology and and digital signage.

That'll be especially important when we start thinking about different standards like location, size, lighting for digital signs.

Uh, we were also asked to have a diverse outreach approach, which I will talk more about how we taped into meet that later on in the presentation.

And then I think during this meeting, almost everyone agreed that consistency across the code and in our processes was going to be critical to a successful update.

So, based off that project initiation, and then also kind of what we knew about the sign code, what we had been hurting, we were able to develop some project goals.

Uh, first, we want to make sure that we strike that balance between what the business seeds are and the aesthetic desires are in the community, while also encouraging contemporary design and technology and paying careful attention to simplify and streamline regulations as we go along.

And as Robbie kind of touched on the key guiding framework throughout this entire update, we'll be aligning to the relevant case law.

Here's an overview of our outreach.

Um phase one is what we've completed to date, um, kind of wrapping up with this check-in.

So, all the way from initiation in August 2024 until about last month was really focused in on listening, auditing the existing code, gathering community priorities and perspectives for this update.

Um I'll touch a lot more into how we did that in phase one, but just to give an overall sense of where we're headed, phase two after this meeting, we're hoping to really get into reviewing and drafting, um, taking that feedback that we learned from phase one and putting the pen to paper and coming up with a new sign code.

Then we'll move into phase three once the finalized sign code is starting to form.

And the engagement there will shift from you know targeted stakeholder outreach to more broad community education and public information sessions about what's changing and what everyone might need to know about the updates.

So to get a little more into detail on phase one of outreach, we used a variety of different methods to cast a wide net and engage as many people as possible.

First, the online presence, we as always created a project web page that had background information, the project schedule, contact information, all the general good stuff.

There's also a slide at the end of this presentation for anyone interested with the URL and also a QR code if they're looking to reach that web page.

Another more broad outreach approach we developed was a sign code questionnaire.

This was available in Bellevue's most commonly spoken languages.

So that was an additional seven languages it was available in on top of English to try and capture as much response as possible.

For a more focused engagement approach, we did host a number of listening sessions with identified stakeholder groups, including neighborhood associations, the business and development community, and sign code professionals, sign industry professionals.

People who you know are running sign permits and are familiar with processes and that kind of thing.

All three of those stakeholder groups were identified to be likely most interested in the updates and follow the project along.

As always, we did a number of city newsletter updates from the development services newsletter, neighborhood news, also a few features in the community and economic development newsletter.

Anytime there's project updates, additional opportunities to engage, making sure that everyone is aware.

We also consulted internally with departments like code compliance, land use, transportation, everyone has their own unique way with sign code, and we wanted to hear from all those perspectives.

And of course, we always welcome direct engagement.

Anyone who's wanting to meet with us and maybe has some unique sign needs outside of the more broad approaches.

We welcome those conversations and those meetings.

We talked to representatives from Maine and Bauer Center about their unique needs for conferences and conventions, as well as you heard in public comment, Dick's drive-in what their unique signage needs for their iconic signage that you see in their other locations around the region.

And then even you know, community litter group people who run those types of uh cleanup efforts, uh, they often come across, like, for example, temporary signs that do the nature of their construction with the metal frames and the stiff corrugated cardboard they uh have obstacles with getting those cleaned up.

So, from all that outreach, we were able to identify these top three key themes and priorities, first being aesthetics and preferences.

It's clear that aesthetics and the visual look and feel of signs around Bellevue matter to people.

We'll talk more about that in a future slide.

Uh, as far as sheer volume of the number of comments, most of them were about temporary signs and as well as their enforcement, specifically in residential zones.

We heard a lot about political campaign signs, uh, neighborhood event signs, youth soccer camps, all those types of things that was prevalent.

And then on the flip side, we also heard a lot about temporary signs in more commercial areas where you would want to emphasize business visibility, whether it's window signage or an A-frame on the sidewalk, both of those signs.

There are lots of comments about temporary signage.

And finally, um across most groups, streamlining regulations, making sure that the code is easy to use and understand and follow, and then also increasing flexibility where appropriate came through as a key theme and priority.

So I did want to go over and highlight a few of the questionnaire results that we got.

Um, this is not all the questions or all the results from the questionnaire included in the council attachments were a complete engagement summary report that covers all of the engagement, including the raw data from this questionnaire.

Um, but I just wanted to pull out a few things that highlight those key themes.

As far as who participated in this questionnaire, we got a total of 130 responses.

Um 54% of respondents selected I live in Bellevue, and then you see the next largest group was I work in Bellevue with 24%, and then uh owning an operating business, and then coming to Bellevue to shop, dine, and have fun were the last two.

So for aesthetics and preferences, we asked how satisfied are you with the current sign regulations?

And the most responses got neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, which sits right in the middle.

After that, we look at very satisfied and somewhat satisfied as being majority, and then we do still have some comments about somewhat unsatisfied and very unsatisfied.

Although it's the smallest number, it's not insignificant.

On that similar note, we asked what concerns, if any, do you have about existing signs in Bellevue?

And again, a majority of people selected, no concerns.

Similar to how they kind of remained in the middle on the last one.

After that, we see that too many signs, signs are too large or distracting is the second most.

In third place, we have other, which I'll highlight a few of those in the next slide.

And at the end, although it's the smallest group, still a fair number of respondents selected not enough signage, signs are too small.

This kind of tells us that there are overall things working well in our sign code when it comes to existing signs and existing signs regulations, but we'll kind of narrow that down into what exactly are the pain points that are causing problems more specifically.

So for the other responses, these are directly from the questionnaire.

They're the direct fill-in-the-blank responses that we received from some people and kind of I've grouped them in a couple themes of things that we were seeing come up quite often.

On the top three, we have there are too many temporary signs stuck in the medians.

People don't pick up their signs after their useful life and they become street trash, and signs on the median on the roadside are overwhelming.

So kind of in that group of temporary signs.

On the other hand, we have on the bottom there, signs are not allowed to be done in a way that is fully artistic in nature.

They are viewed as something that should be avoided instead of done in a way that lends value to the community.

And also sign placement on building not adequate to identify properties.

So kind of seeing that there's competing interests here.

Certain cases where signs are perhaps overwhelming or you know causing visual clutter, but still in different circumstances, necessary and a priority of the community.

Finally, in this category, we asked people to rank which of the following matter most to you.

This is to get into their priorities.

The top three there, reducing visual clutter by limiting the number and size of allowed signs, maintaining current community aesthetics, and reducing the allowance for electronic or digital signs.

Those are all kind of grouped into the same category, and those are the top three.

But then if you keep going, you see supporting local businesses by expanding sign visibility, encouraging the construction of high quality materials, and improving the readability of a sign by increasing the size allowance.

Also, you know, not as much as the first three, but still a fair number of people looking for that.

Finally, at the bottom, we have increasing the allowance for electronic and digital signs.

That was at the least selected response for this question.

For temporary signs and enforcement, we asked what type do they see most often.

Overwhelmingly political campaign signs.

I forgot to mention this ran from March until June.

So kind of before you would typically see more of those campaign signs coming out.

But still a fair number of people saying that's what they run into most often, and then in second place, their real estate signs, for sale, open house, that kind of thing.

This is probably the closest we got to an unanimous agreement in the entire questionnaire.

Should the removal of temporary signs that are damaged, faded, or in disrepair, be required.

94% of respondents selected yes.

For streamlining regulations and increasing flexibility, we heard quite a few things.

Here's a couple examples.

Too many rules, too confusing for what purpose.

Another one, I believe sign code is too restrictive for a broad brush approach.

I would like to see more flexibility from the city on a case-by-case basis.

So that kind of all plays to the simplifying and the streamlining, and then also for additional flexibility offering signage count for tenant in multi-use property without a direct entrance.

These are where we start to see some of those pain points that of what's not working really kind come through in these responses.

Same with increased allowance for signage based on road frontage distance zone.

That's a site-specific flexibility people are hoping to see.

Signs are informative, they should be allowed for a certain period in its specific location.

So maybe not get rid of them all outright, but have the right regulations that reflects an appropriate balance.

Speaking of balance, based on all the outreach we've heard, we are you know dealing with quite a few competing interests and trying to find the right balance.

And one analogy that we've been kind of playing with is sound engineering and sound mixing.

Although I'm not a master of soundboards, I think that it's safe to say we can't amplify every single variable and have a harmonious result, right?

So things like maintaining community aesthetics, increasing regulations, increasing flexibility on regulations, and also concerns about safety and signage and visibility.

All of those things have a kind of push and pull similar to like what you would have for the base, the treble, the frequency, the audio, that kind of thing when you're sound mixing.

So we'll play around with that to really find the right balance.

One example is if we maximize business visibility, it's possible to sacrifice aesthetics and visual clutter by just you know all the signs everywhere, then you're not you're kind of missing that core value for aesthetics that we saw in the responses.

Another example is that if we ban all temporary signs from residential zones, no one will be able to advertise their house for sale, which is not really what we're going for, right?

So finding that balance there.

Although it's not a draft, just kind of getting at how we plan to reorganize and address some of these concerns.

As it was proposed during initiation and supported, it's still going to be a full rewrite of the sign code.

Um, if we were to provide a traditional strike draft, I think the entire thing would be lit up in red just because so much of it needs to be reorganized, consolidated, and streamlined.

Um that is not to say that every standard will change.

Uh, one of the key features is that there are a lot of things that are working well in the existing sign code.

Um letter size, scale, visibility, overall signage allowances.

A lot of those are working well, and we can carry those through, um, just making sure that they're easy to use, easy to understand, easy to apply, will be really critical.

Um, another part of that is consolidating standards across districts, kind of uh following what other jurisdictions have done that have updated their sign code in terms of organization, separating out uh permanent signage from temporary signage, and then from there uh district-based requirements, so based on area.

Uh, as far as like one of the more heavier lifts that we'll have to do is the temporary signage standards.

Currently, we need to make sure that they are aligning with the key court decisions, and then also there is a desire from the community when it comes to enforcement of these and also clearer standards, which I'll talk a little bit more on another slide.

Something we are excited about to provide with this update are clarity on sign measurement techniques.

Uh, I think our land use department is also very excited about this, you know, how to measure these signs, especially when there's unique logos or graphics.

We've seen a lot of good examples from other jurisdictions that we can kind of use to as a as a baseline to come up with our own solution and to make everything clearer and easier to use and understand.

And then when I was touching on consolidating across districts, this is regarding commercial and mixed-use districts, permanent signage.

Um we see a lot of things that are continuing to work, but uh still like planning on consolidating just to streamline and make things easier to use and follow.

We can still carve out specific standards for places like Old Bellevue to make sure that the different scale and historic character are reflected in those standards.

Um we did also ask a question in the questionnaire that was where would you like to see signage in the city improve?

It was an optional question, but we had over 50 responses for that one.

And um that I was able to gather that a lot of people were hoping for a um specific signage for Bell Red.

And this is also supported what we heard from our economic development department in terms of encouraging unique kind of art history, culture wayfinding signage in that area, similar to like how we have standards for specific to old Bellevue now.

We heard that the existing high-rise signage is working and we want to continue that through.

And then we're looking into allowing a limited amount of freestanding digital interactive kiosks.

This kind of goes toward that project goal of allowing for contemporary sign design and technology, making sure we're staying with the times.

Finally, on this slide, establishing a pathway for master sign plans for multiple uh building sites.

We heard a lot that from our reviewers and from developers that this will just overall make things easier.

For residential districts, again, this is um permanent signage.

We plan to just continue to limit it, limit the permanent signage that's allowed in these areas, which is similar to the existing approach.

And then temporary signs are separated out into their own section.

Um and we plan to hopefully have a uniform framework so that it's not scattered about in the code.

Uh, make sure that there are still district specific size and duration limits so we can separate between commercial temporary signage and residential temporary signage.

Um, for example, portable sign allowances is a desire from the outreach we heard, um, especially in commercial districts for business visibility.

Uh, and then looking into what might the permitting requirements be for temporary signage.

How can we make sure that you know there's clear time frames of when these are allowed to be up, how long, where, and um making that clear.

Um, so this is uh overview of the project schedule.

Right now we're wrapping up phase one, listening in fundamentals with our outreach and this check-in.

We'll be moving into phase two, putting the pen to paper, really coming up with the updated code based on the feedback we received.

Um we'll also be doing stakeholder follow-up during phase two to make sure that you know we heard it right and we're getting it right.

Um, and then phase three, once we get closer to action adoption, uh the engagement will shift more to public information sessions, community education.

And as promised, here's our project web page for anyone in wanting to get involved, bellviewwa.gov/slash sign code update.

That QR code also takes you to the sign code update web page.

And with that, I'll turn it back to you all for any questions, comments, or priorities for this update.

Okay, great.

Wonderful presentation.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Um, so this is information only, and uh, I'll just give everybody a chance to ask questions or make comments.

I'll start with council member Hamilton.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um appreciate the presentation.

Uh Charlie, you're bat in a thousand, so well done.

Keep up all that good work.

Um, I think the engagement plan looks very solid.

I think the first round of engagement seems very positive.

I think the feedback that was gotten during the first round seems to be very helpful.

Um I know that we've already heard the very common desire for the code to be simplified and streamlined for ease of understanding and use.

Of course, I think that's a great idea, and that's a theme that we hear expressed uh regularly.

Um I think too, as we move forward um having the web page and folks being able to sign up for alerts.

I think that's great.

Thank you for including that.

Um I think the draft outline looks good, and I appreciate the variances and enforcement are being focused on as a part of the update process.

It's important that we get those elements right to support the final code.

Uh for sure, off to a great start.

Look forward to seeing what you bring back early next year in the full draft sign code.

So thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Councilmember Bargada.

Okay, thank you.

Uh great progress, great presentation.

Thank you.

Um I think the most of the fundamentals you've covered.

Well, I'll talk about two or three areas that I thought were interesting that for you to consider as we evolve this further.

One is uh you touched on unique signage for specific areas to create identity.

I would cover that as design guidelines for signage.

And I think it would be uh valuable addition uh potentially for certain areas, Bell Red being one.

You know, I know an old Bellevue downtown uh spring district.

You know, I know old Bellevue, downtown, uh Spring District, you can think of uh a number of places where something where encourages you encouraging you know pedestrian uh scale signage, unique um standards, materials, colors that can provide wayfinding and unique identity, um things like that.

So that's one uh suggestion that I have.

I would also say uh, you know, simplifying the process, which you are doing around uh process of um permits as well as exceptions.

I think that should be as simple as possible because uh you know, folks need it, they should be able to follow this process, and everybody should be able to do it, uh, hopefully without having to come to City Hall potentially.

Um then the other thing I was thinking about important is enforcement.

Um, you know, you talked about limitations and the timelines for which you can have signs up, temporary signs, um, or signs that are certain size or in certain residential areas, certain kinds of signs.

So what you would do for enforcement is not very clear to me still.

Um, you know, political science, for example, there were a lot of them, and uh I was a contributor to some of the some of that.

Uh, what is the enforcement process?

Uh, you know, just curious.

Like this is just for all signage, that's a difficult thing to do, and how we would implement that.

Uh, I'd actually curious if you have thoughts already.

And and the last thing I would say is coordinating this across the different components, whether it's the historic preservation or other parts of our, you know, the city documents that we have, I think would be a really important part, which I think you're already doing, but those would be my uh four areas of suggestions.

So I'm curious about the enforcement.

That's the only question I have.

Um so uh councilmember Barcada, uh, as it relates to enforcement, um, it is something that we're looking closely at with this update.

Um our current practices are challenging as it relates to temporary science in particular.

It's a little easier when you've got a permanent sign that might be out of compliance.

You can remedy that by making contact with that owner and kind of working through the process.

Um it's a little more challenging with temporary science.

We're looking to other cities as examples as well just to see what they're doing.

Um it really kind of ranges on how enforcement works.

Some of it might be if you have a temporary sign, um, you're there's some kind of a registry process with the city, you get a label printed that has to go on the sign.

That way it is clear to everyone there's an expiration date for that sign, and so then after that expiration date, that's when those can be removed, either by the person that put the sign up, or if we have a community member that's just waiting for that day, um they can go out and remove that as well, potentially.

Um and it really there's a lot of um considerations, a lot of kind of push and pull even on budget for how we'd want to be looking at enforcement, um, even thinking about uh taking signs that don't actually belong to us but are expired.

Um, do we have space at City Hall to store that and then invite the person to come collect their signs?

Um there's just a lot of different variables, so it's been a good and ongoing discussion internally.

We hope to have some better kind of insights to share at the next touch point with you all.

Yeah.

But I would offer if Robbie or Charlie have any other um insights to share that might be helpful tonight too.

Anything?

Nick, I think you said summed it up well.

There's a variety of tools that we can use, and we're gonna be looking into it.

Okay.

That's it for me.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh Councilmember Sumaduria.

Thank you.

Um, I just have a few comments.

I uh first I want to recognize how important this um sign code update is because it's been a while.

Um Bell V has changed since the last one, and I would say it's very clear that we are focusing a code that reflects both the legal obligation on our community value.

So thank you being proactive and listening to our community.

Um and then there's a couple points I want to kind of touch on.

First, I think that you know it's important we have content mutual regulation that's like treat our science fairly.

So having a die line and be clear about it is really helpful for us to see.

And also it's nice to have our community engagement.

They are ready to take the sign and deliver it to whoever it belongs to, which is actually really helpful, means they really care about community.

And then second things is I have heard from a lot of residents about concerning about temporary sign, like you said, creating clusters.

So I believe that the stronger stand standards for maintenance and removal is really gonna help us preserve the beauty of our community.

Um, and also at the same time that I know that as small business, we really depend on clear, visible and attractive signage for attracting business.

So I would love to make sure that our updated code really balanced aesthetic and economic vitality.

So all business, any size can really thrive on Bellevue while remains attractive and welcoming.

Um, with my colleagues, I I think this streamline, easy to understand set of rules, really making this simplified code is so kind actually to any kind of community, have multiple languages.

So it's help us to make sure the sign is being effective, also noting not adding barrier and actual work to make it to work for um whatever the goal is for the sign is.

11.

So there is a hundred and thirty um responses.

Right?

And then there's some of them said a living valve, working valve, own a business.

Is there any overlap of these answers?

Yes.

So they were able to select more than one.

Um that was just I think the easiest way to display the data for that chart.

Once looking at it overall, but um each one that they selected was represented in that in that chart.

Well, it is exciting to overlap.

We love people live and work and also have business here.

Thank you so much.

Yes.

Okay, Councilmember Newtonhouse.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um great presentation.

Obviously, something we've been wanting to get to for quite some time.

So thank you for uh all the effort uh thus far and look forward to this coming back, especially um tackling some of the more media issues like the inf the enforcement piece, because that especially in the temporary signs, it it's so challenging given uh we want to give our our small businesses specially who seem to use more of the the temporary signs, um want to give them every advantage to be successful.

On the other hand, uh I understand when uh residents um come up to me and share that there's too many of them at times, especially during late tax season, for example.

Um and then um and then who's gonna make the decision on when a sign is faded, or when it looks damaged, or when it should come down.

Um then and then also uh what what are some of the resources that are gonna be put behind this?

Uh are we gonna uh be complaint-based, or um do we actually have people going and looking if um Nick, the example that you gave, looking at the sticker behind uh uh a sign to see if it's expired or not.

I would hope that we would have a good enough relationship with our business community and we could at least try the honor system at first that um you know when a sign is approved, um, or when they're about to put out signs that we ask them um or communicate um that they'd be you know taken down in three months or what have you.

Um however, even that is a little bit of a challenge.

I mean, you put out in the spring, they're probably good until fall.

If you put them out in you know winter, they're probably only gonna be up there for a month, maybe, right, before they get uh trash.

So anyways, uh understand the challenges of that, but look forward to um to that coming back.

For me, what I'm most interested in, um, and it's been some of it's been mentioned already by my colleagues, though, is to make it consistent, simple and clear.

Um when I say simple and clear, I'm really thinking about how often I've had uh members of our immigrant community that have started up restaurants, cafes that find it very challenging to uh make their way through the the sign uh process permitting process.

Um large companies have staff or attorneys that can help them get through that, and they also have the resources to do that as well.

Um, you know, I know some cases where you know restaurants have come and gone and they still haven't gotten the sign that they wanted.

Um and then consistent.

I think we have to fully recognize, and I know that you do, that in some cases, businesses are making very important decisions about their business based on what they can do with signage.

And Dick's drive-in is a perfect example of that.

They I I know because I spoke to them, they signed their lease based on what they could do with their signage.

Um then it turned out that they couldn't.

So I I would also like to see that if we signed off, if we could do this, if we signed off on signage, and if it wasn't, you know, 100% correct, but yet they have signed a lease to be there.

I'd like it that we commit to what we agreed to or what we signed off on, and that they don't have to redo their signs or start over the design of their signs.

Let's let's live up to um that commitment that once we say this is approved, this is what you can do and can't do, um, that we we live up to that um to that commitment once we've signed off.

Even if we find out that there is uh an issue after the after the fact because it's just that important.

Um the other thing I was gonna uh ask about is um, and this came up during the the DICS discussion as well about iconic signs.

Is that something that we're we're and maybe I missed that in the packet, but is that something that we're considering as well?

That's one of my questions.

I'll stop at this point to hear.

Yes.

Um thank you, council member, uh, for the question.

So iconic sign uh iconic signage is something that we are looking at.

Um given the legal framework that we have to operate within, um the main kind of thrust of that being that if you have to read the sign to know how to regulate it, then it's likely not something that we can we can do.

Um in conversations with Dix Driven in particular, that as an example, and that is something that we want to be able to see and support.

Um, we are trying to figure out how to tie this to location-based um approvals, which is something that can be passed um by counsel.

And so um, that's one opportunity that we think we might be able to explore and bring back for your all to consider.

Um, but we certainly um have kind of them in mind as we're thinking about crafting some flexible signage that supports that type of iconic signage that's recognizable in the region and important for Bell V's competitiveness and attracting those types of businesses.

Yeah, uh absolutely.

Um, and supporting hopefully our Pacific Northwest businesses in a in a in a in a special way.

Um, I had one other question and now I just lost it.

Um shoot.

It was a really important question to you.

Mayor, if I remember it, can I come back to it?

Yes, okay, thank you.

Recognizing the different languages that could be allowed.

Uh I was just wondering, uh sometimes languages may uh uh mean something uh the way they express things.

So, how do we understand that they're not derogatory when we don't understand what the language means or what language says.

So I just wanted to be cautious, uh, even though we should allow you know freedom of speech, but they want to be sure what's the nature, understanding it.

That's the first question.

Uh I do agree that you know we we need to encourage uh iconic signs, encourage businesses and for well uh you know, multicultural reasons.

The second question I have is uh I know in factoria when we annexed it, uh we have some grandfather uh signs, and uh many signs were changed when business has changed, sign will have to be changed to confirm, conform, conform to existing city code, city requirements.

Uh but there's some uh we seen that happening a lot, and which is good.

Uh however, one thing that stands out to me for me is the sign board is the big uh billboard, billboard, that's one in Factoria, and that has never been changed, even though uh the advertisement for different businesses have changed.

So I'm just curious if the city attorney uh has determined or can determine when uh and what uh can the sign be to conform to the grandfather clause, or when they need to be considered as changing of business ownership, the sign may be the billboard might be removed.

It's kind of a little bit of ISO when in the whole city uh we don't only have one billboard.

And uh that kind of stood out sometimes in like a sore thumb.

So those are two quite two questions I have.

Maybe we'll start with the first question, Councilmember Lee around the multiple languages and maybe some of the the messaging, whether explicit or implied, um being potentially problematic from some people's point of view.

Um the the actual sign content is not something that the city uh currently um has approval process over.

So if if somebody has some form of advertising that um has kind of uh it's it maybe um uh is offensive to some or has some kind of meaning that isn't uh something that we necessarily appreciate or would approve of.

Um it's not something that we generally get involved with.

There might be some instances where we would need to get involved, um, and that's where maybe our city attorney can help shed some light on that front.

And I'll also pass it over to Robbie to talk about the nonconforming um sign in factoria that you're referencing, um the billboard signs.

We do want to note that our um current sign code does not allow for billboards.

Um, and the the direction that we're heading with the rewrite is to continue with that prohibition on billboards.

Um, but uh to speak to kind of that existing sign condition, maybe we'll have Robbie kind of talk about that.

Absolutely, Nick.

And Councilmember Lee, happy to speak to these questions.

So turning back to your first question a little bit about um, you know, perhaps problematic or obscene language that might be included on a sign.

Certainly there's free speech.

Uh, but there is a body of case law talking about exceptions in the case of certain obscenities.

Um that could be relatively murky to weigh into, but there's some clear-cut guidelines that sta uh case law has given us.

Uh that's certainly something we'll be looking at, and perhaps including in the list of what types of signs are prohibited in the updated sign code.

Um with respect to the billboard, um, just like Nick said, we can continue to ban billboards.

I'm not personally familiar with the history of the billboard you're referring to, but that's something we can I'll look into in advance of our next check-in with council.

And we certainly have the non-conforming section circled as something to to look at and to make sure it still makes sense and to make sure it's still uh bringing those types of signs that the council does not want to see into the compliance with the uh uh sign code that you council will eventually adopt.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh council member or deputy mayor.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Uh thank you all.

Uh great presentation.

All of my questions and comments have been covered with my colleagues.

I don't have any uh comments, but I think Councilwoman Yuanhouse remembered uh his important question.

Okay.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Um I was uh curious.

Uh do we have shot clocks as it relates to um signs and the permitting of signs?

I don't think we do currently, right?

Okay.

What's what's um, and if you don't have this, that's fine.

Maybe you can bring this back, but what's the average time it takes for someone to go through the process?

And I think it would be great if we could develop a metric that we could um uh have a goal, uh, whatever that goal might be, and um uh what whatever is reasonable given you know the internal resources that we have uh to get through that process when uh application comes in and how often we hit or don't hit that again.

I think that is something that especially the business community would appreciate given that uh they want to get up and running as quickly as possible, and if they can't find them or they don't know the type of restaurant or business it is, um, you know, that has real consequences.

So uh wanted to add that uh request as well.

Thank you.

Um okay, just a few things.

I'm curious, you know, we've been hearing from Dick's Drive ins about their sign challenges since they first moved in.

So does do these new revisions uh meet the needs of what they want to do, or where are we with that?

Uh yeah, after meeting with them, and of course this is all uh up to you all um to decide at adoption.

Um we think that we can find a pathway that meets the dimensional standards that they're looking to achieve.

Um so we feel pretty confident.

Relieved to hear that.

Um just for the record, I love the billboard in factoria, it's kind of retro.

Um and then in terms of enforcement, which may be a little counter to what uh council member Newenhouse said, I I I think we need to be consistent in how we enforce, however, we choose to enforce, and I'm sure you will guide us in that.

But um make sure that we're consistent with everybody.

Okay, those are the only comments that I have.

So uh thank you for the presentation, and uh we look forward to hearing more back from you.

Okay, um I believe we are adjourned.

Thank you very much.