Hello and welcome everyone.

Thank you for being here.

Full room.

I'm so excited you're all here.

You are engaging in the work that our city is doing.

Your voice matters, and we are glad to hear from each of you.

Are you ready for the roll call?

Thank you, Mayor Melanchti.

Here.

Deputy Mayor Hamilton.

Here.

Councilmember Barkavan.

Here.

Councilmember Breyer.

Here.

Councilmember Newman House.

Here.

Councilmember Robinson.

Here.

And Councilmember Simidoria.

Here.

Thank you.

Councilmember Robinson, would you please lead us in the flag salute?

Yes, please, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

We do have a proclamation on human rights in Iran and everywhere.

Councilmember Sumadeverio is going to read that.

I invite Negin Conlu and Oresh Nasibi, uh Bellevue community members to come and sit here to receive this proclamation.

Councilmember Somodaveria, please.

Thank you.

Whereas the city of Bellevue affirmed that human rights are universal and transcend borders.

And whereas the people of Iran are courageously taking to the streets to advocate for economic opportunity, human rights, dignity, and democratic freedom.

And whereas reports indicate that protests have been met with violence, repression, civilian death, and restrictions on access to information and communication.

Whereas Iranian immigrants and refugees are an important part of Bellevue's diverse community and are deeply affected by the events impacting their families, friends, and loved ones.

And whereas the city of Bellevue condemns the use of force against peaceful protesters and supports access to free expression, open information, and uncensored communication as fundamental human rights.

And whereas thousands of community members have gathered in downtown Bellevue to peacefully demonstrate in solidarity with the people of Iran and on to come affirm their support for human rights.

And whereas Bellevue stands in support of human rights and dignity for the people of Iran.

Now therefore, I Claire Summa de Raria, on behalf of Mo Malkutian, Mayor and Bellevue Washington and the City Council do hereby proclaim Bellevue support for human rights in Iran and everywhere and condemn the use of violence to suppress the ability to peacefully demonstrate for human rights.

Thank you, Councilmember Summodaria.

Please.

Hello, Mayor Malin Kutian.

My name is Negin Khanlo, and this is R.S.

SCB.

We are proud American and resident of Bellevue, deeply grateful for the liberties and opportunity afforded to us by this great country and state.

While Arish family fled Iran when he just was a baby.

Do our path defair.

We share a homeland where much of our family still remains.

We appear before you today to speak for those silent by Iranian regime that has turned its own streets into the killing field, brutalizing citizens for demanding their most basic human rights.

Since the Islamic regime took power 47 years ago, millions of Iranian families have fled in search of basic freedoms.

Negan and I are part of an Iranian diaspora that hails from a long and rich culture that shares many values and pursuits with the West.

We are not political actors.

We are everyday citizens that work hard and contribute to our communities.

Neggin is a senior manager at Google with a PhD, who also teaches at Northwestern University just up the road.

The vast majority of people back in Iran are not all that different from Neggin and I in their hopes and aspirations or other Iranian Americans that you may know as neighbors and colleagues here in Bellevue.

The only difference is that they are unlucky to have remained locked in a half-century-long battle for their basic human rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Over the decades, the people of Iran have tried to make their voices heard through peaceful protests time and time again, only to be crushed by their own government through brutality and violence.

This January, the people of Iran rose up again, demanding change, and this time the response was not different.

But except for an unbelievable scale and degree of the killing in the spam of the just few days.

More than 364,000 people have been severely injured.

More than the twice the entire population of Bellevue.

The individuals' stories are too horrific to share in detail.

But they include accounts of the regime's authority, storming hospitals to abdock and kill critically injured protesters, detained and imprisoned physician and nurses who simply doing their job, demanding ransom from families for the return of their loved ones' bodies.

Council members.

To approve the agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved by Councilmember Robinson and seconded by Deputy Mayor.

Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

There is no oppose.

City Claire, are there any speakers signed up to provide oral communication this evening?

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

There are 18 pre-registered speakers this evening.

So before I start calling names, I'll go over a few of the roles that the council has in place because we will not be able to hear from all of my microphones.

Sorry.

My microphone just cut.

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 in both of those categories is authorized to give preference to those who have not spoken to council within the last 60 days, or who will be speaking to council, or who will be speaking on topics that will come in front of council within the next 60 days.

Each speaker will be allowed up to three minutes to speak, and only a maximum of three people are permitted to speak to any one side of a particular topic, which is why we won't be able to hear from everyone this evening.

With that, actually, one more reminder, just that uh in compliance with Washington State campaign laws regarding the use of public facilities during elections.

No speaker may support or oppose a campaign or may support or oppose a ballot measure.

And anyone beginning to speak on those topics will be asked to stop.

With that, I'll call our first speaker who is Lex Wineke.

Looks like looks like Lexa is joining us online.

Can you hear me?

Uh I can.

Can you hear me?

We can.

Your time begins now.

Wonderful, thank you.

Uh good evening, Mayor, Council members, and commissioners.

Uh, my name is Lex Winnicki, and I'm here this evening to speak on behalf of the ownership of the Northtown Shopping Center, which is north of the Bellevue CBD.

Uh, thank you for your time and leadership as you review the updated HOMA framework.

Uh, we appreciate the city's commitment to expanding housing production and encouraging thoughtful mixed-use redevelopment.

Uh, tonight I want to focus on two issues that are essential to making HOMA work in practice broadly and specifically for our property.

Uh, the grocery the grocery FAR bonus and the MFTE supercharger.

Uh first, the grocery FAR bonus.

Uh we strongly support incentivizing grocery anchored mixed-use projects.

Expanding neighborhood grocery access is a shared goal.

But they but they the currently anticipated one-to-one FAR bonus is not sufficient to make these projects financially viable.

Grocery tenants significantly increase construction complexity and cost.

At the same time, grocery margins are thin, and rents have not kept pace with rising construction costs, especially structured parking, which now costs in excess of a hundred thousand dollars a stall.

Based on real projects in comparable markets, the incentives needed to make a grocery project pencil ranges from approximately 3.5 to 1 to over 5.1 to 1.

A 3.1 FER bonus is the bare minimum to necessary to make grocery inclusion economically accretive.

Anything less than this simply will not be utilized.

Equally important to the required grocery covenant, require requiring grocery use for the life of the building creates long-term capital risk that lenders and equity partners simply cannot underwrite.

Grocery spaces are highly specialized and difficult to repurpose.

Without that flexibility, the policy risks creating stranded space in instead of neighborhood serving retail are real.

Second, the MFTE supercharger, allowing required affordable units to count toward the MFTE threshold is essential to feasibility, not just in strong markets but across market cycles.

Development today faces high construction costs, volatile interest rates, and tight equity underwriting.

If homely HOMA only works in optimistic conditions, housing delivery will become pro-cyclical.

Projects will move forward in a boom in boom periods and stall in normal or downturn markets.

The MFTE supercharger acts as a stabilizer.

It bridges the gap between policy ambition and capital market reality.

It helps ensure the mandatory affordability remains financeable even when conditions tighten.

Without it, projects become fragile and highly sensitive to volatility.

With it, housing production becomes more durable and more.

Mr.

Mininking, your time has expired this evening.

Thank you.

The next speaker on our list is Alan Dodderman, who is also joining us online.

Mr.

Dodderman, can you hear me?

I can.

Okay, your time begins now.

Yes.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Council members.

My name is Alan Dodderman, and I am with TWG Development, a national affordable housing developer.

I'm also co-chair of the Eastside Affordable Housing Coalition, and I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the coalition and HTC.

I'd like to share our strong support for the Planning Commission HOMA recommendations.

This represents the realization of the 2020 2044 comprehensive plan resulting from many months of analysis and engagement.

We especially appreciate that the HOMA recommendations include a well calibrated affordable housing requirement.

This policy will be critical to help Bellevue include moderate and lower income individuals and families as the population grows.

Evidence shows that a well-calibrated affordable housing requirement can and will work alongside robust market rate development.

We strongly support the analysis and form recommendations from staff to pair the existing MFTE with expandable affordable housing requirement in the mixed use areas while keeping the MFTE supercharger contained in Wilberton.

Staff analysis clearly shows that the MFTE supercharger is not needed as an additional offsetting incentive in HOMA areas.

Not only is there value provided through the UPZone itself, but the existing MFTE program already functions as a strong incentive to encourage development across economic cycles.

Therefore, the existing program better aligns with the affordable affordability benefit with the needs of these residents.

All while still providing a suitable and generous lift to development.

Please only recommend an MFTE pairing that is supported by analysis.

Thank you for centering affordable housing in this discussion and for passing the HOMA land use code update alongside the existing 12-year and eight-year MFTE programs while keeping the MFTE supercharger contained to Wilverton.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker on the list is Carl Vanderhoek.

Welcome.

Hi, Mayor Malgushian.

Council members, my name is Carl Van Rook with Vanderhook Corporation.

I'm here today on behalf of a group of property owners of eight parcels in Old Bellevue.

As long-term Old Bellevue property owners, this group appreciates your time and consideration toward delivering much needed housing in Bellevue while maintaining the treasured character of old Bellevue.

We are in support of HOMA with the condition that old Bellevue be removed from HOMA.

We encourage you to direct staff to conduct an old Bellevue specific review of the design requirements to determine if there are ways to balance the area's unique status against the city's desire to create affordable housing.

HOMA proposes to give incentives, height, FAR, additional floor plate and lot coverage, and reductions in step back if affordable housing is provided.

Based on the current underlying height and form zoning restrictions in the land use code applicable to old Bellevue, the only incentives in HOMA that would really be achievable to to provide the affordable housing are the reduction and elimination of stepbacks.

However, this step back elimination incentive in HOMA would allow a flat facade from the sidewalk to the top story of these buildings.

Allowing the step back to go away and have a tall or be at a taller elevation in the building threatens the character of Old Bellevue and would decrease air and light, increase shadows, and make these built buildings less human scale.

The affected old Bellevue property owners recently met and agree that the proposed HOMA changes do not help preserve the character of Old Bellevue if it calls for stepbacks to go away or change significantly.

Development of many of the undeveloped individually owned small parcels in Old Bellevue within the framework of the current land use code is infeasible based on ground floor height and forum requirements.

The city should review some of the old Bellevue design guidelines to determine if there are ways to allow flexibility to design more thoughtful buildings, more practical solutions for small sites, and to incentivize things that make old Bellevue special, like retail frontage and sidewalks.

For example, we believe the stepback requirements that have been in place for 40 years should never be eliminated, but perhaps they could be reduced or done as you scale up the building.

We appreciate your time.

And the next speaker on our list is Robert Tam.

Good evening, Council members, and thank you for the opportunity to testify tonight.

I'm here this evening to ask for your support in funding the Orchard Gardens Affordable Home Ownership Project by Habitat for Humanity.

My name is Rob, and I want to briefly share why this kind of investment matters, not just in theory, but in real lived experience.

I work for Seattle's Union Gospel Mission, a nonprofit that serves people experiencing homelessness and those in recovery.

In my role, I manage volunteer groups, partnering with companies, universities, nonprofits, and community organizations from across the region.

One of the most meaningful parts of my work is leading mental health and trauma-informed trainings before volunteers serve.

The goal is to normal normalize difficult conversations, increase empathy, and reduce judgment.

When people better understand trauma and mental health, they show up differently for the people they serve as well as for their broader communities.

I'm currently in the process of purchasing a home through Habitat for Humanity in the Rainier Valley of South Seattle, with completion expected this spring.

Habitat doesn't just provide housing, they provide stability for people who are actively serving their communities.

When habitat selects homeowners, there's intentionality behind it.

They look for people who meet financial requirements, but who are also committed to making a difference through their work.

This opportunity has been life-changing for me.

Owning a home means I'm no longer spending mental energy worrying about rising rent or where we'll have to move next.

While I still could do my job without a habitat home, having stable housing close to where I work gives me more capacity, more time, focus, and emotional bandwidth to serve others and to stay deeply rooted in the community I've called home for the past 10 years.

That's why projects like Orchard Gardens are so important.

Affordable housing isn't just about providing a place to live, it allows people who serve the community to also live in the community.

Many nonprofit workers I know don't see our jobs as just work.

They're a reflection of our commitment to making things better around us.

When we live locally, we're more likely to be connected with neighbors, involved in schools, and engaged in civic life.

I want to thank you again for your time and for the opportunity to speak tonight, and I respectfully ask you to support the funding request for the Orchard Gardens project.

Thank you so much for your service to the Bellevue community.

Thank you, Robert.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Mark Villock.

Oops.

Good evening, uh Mayor and Council members.

Uh my name is Mark Villwalk with Dear Horton, also a member of the Master Builders Association.

And we build for sale and for rent uh housing throughout the state.

And we want to say thank you uh to both the staff and planning commission for the great work today on the HOMA uh code changes that are before you tonight.

We are in full support of HOMA, but I'd like to suggest one clarification on the pedestrian-oriented development requirements in the mixed use zones in Section 2051 050.

In the latest draft, staff has modified the requirements in order to gain a departure from the pedestrian-oriented uh commercial part of the project.

But um, however, it would require an economic uh study demonstrating hardship and also prove a visual and physical access is limited.

And the code doesn't appear to clearly identify exactly what the criteria is to show that a departure would could be approved by staff.

And so, in order to provide certainty and allow uh development to take place, especially in the area around uh kind of at the end of the um road near um Crossroads Church, there's kind of an area that has no through road connection.

Um we were requesting just a small change in the criteria to revise the wording to not require pedestrian-oriented development areas that there's only one-way traffic or where through connection does not exist.

And so you can find my exact proposed language in my written comments in the record.

So thank you for your consideration and appreciate all the work that has gone into finding ways to provide more housing within the city of Bellevue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Troy Dawes.

Good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, City Council members, and community members.

My name is Troy Draz.

I am the Vice President of Real Estate Development for Imagined Housing.

Imagine Housing is a Bellevue-based local nonprofit housing developer and provider that serve the East Side communities for nearly 40 years now.

And we are here tonight with our partners at St.

Andrew's Lutheran Church to request uh your support and uh funding award that's being recommended by staff tonight for the Forest Edge Apartments Complex.

Forest Edge Apartments is going to be, if I'm not mistaken, the very first affordable housing complex that will be constructed under the city's C1 land use code amendment that empowers uh faith-based organizations and nonprofit developers to uh work together to create new affordable housing solutions.

Uh, this particular project will create 100 new affordable housing opportunities in partnership with our friends at St.

Andrews by utilizing uh part of the underutilized uh portion of their land.

And uh we are just uh thrilled to be at the forefront of uh utilizing the city's uh C1 land use to show that it can work.

We've got more planned on the way, but uh would greatly appreciate your support tonight in your funding decision that is being recommended by staff to uh help us move the project forward tonight.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Hal Ferris.

Welcome.

Thank you, Mayor Malacucian and members of the council.

My name is Hal Ferris.

I'm here representing St.

Lutheran Church, and I'm joined by Carolyn Ferris and Tom Benson.

These were both past presidents of St.

Andrew's Lutheran Church Church Council.

I'm the newbie in the group.

I'm the now member of the council.

So I have to say that when I was president, Darcy Johnson came to our council to begin St.

Andrew's housing that has become Imagine Housing.

I'm humbled at the growth that this organization has.

We want to thank you for your consideration and support of uh the C1 funding for affordable housing for forest edge apartments with imagined housing, just as Troy mentioned to you earlier.

It takes a village to support and build a community, which includes housing for families that could not otherwise afford to live in Bellevue.

It also takes a very long time to make land use changes and enable affordable housing in our community.

Efforts on this started over 30 years when Bellevue led and started Arch funding for affordable housing on the east side.

More applicable to the action today, the 2017 affordable housing strategy included recommendation, C1 to increase zoning density for faith-based properties.

Many of you have taken an active role in getting us here today.

There are others here.

There are others not here that has also been an instrumental in this accomplishment.

Notably Mayor Chalmanek, Mayor Stokes, Michael Ketterman, Janet Lewine, and Emil King, who have all been instrumental in working along the way to get us where we are in terms of the affordable housing production we see.

And notably, Councilmember Robertson, your commitment to affordable housing and working and engaging on the details of where we've gotten have brought 35 church properties eligible for the same density.

36.

36.

In addition to the elected officials, Tom and Carolyn sitting next to me, who at one time chaired the Planning Commission, was the president of the church council, and the board chair of Imagined Housing have all worked hard to bring affordable housing to our community.

It takes a long time to make it all happen.

We hope to see you all at the groundbreaking next year, and also take uh great thanks for the work that you've done in getting us today.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Our next registered speaker was Mr.

Benson, but I am assuming that yeah, you okay.

So our next speaker is Sue Baugh.

Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor Mel Koutien.

Deputy Mayor Hamilton, uh, members of the city council.

My name is Sue Bond.

I'm a 35-year resident of Lake Heights.

With me tonight is Dan Nygard, 25 year resident in Newport Hills.

We'll only be three minutes total.

Uh, we're here tonight to express our support of HOMA.

We represent a large and growing group called the Newport Community Coalition, including residents from Newport Hills, Lake Heights, Greenwich Crest, and Newport Shores.

Our group has been engaged in positive advocacy over the last two years, first with the comprehensive plan process, and for the last year with HOMA.

Our entire focus is to uh hopefully and finally assure the redevelopment of the Newport Hills shopping center because the center as it sits today is not just an ISOR.

It is unsafe and is not at all an asset to our neighborhood.

Over the past two years, we have supported the comprehensive plan as it was adopted, the need for more housing of all types.

The most recent iteration of HOMA that is before you tonight, and housing that is affordable for teachers, nurses, young families, police, firefighters, and our adult kids who want someday to live in the neighborhood.

Our group has met several times with representatives of the uh Newport Hill Shopping Center ownership group, and we are very excited about the vision they have for a future Newport Hills shopping center.

As I've often said, we've worked for 20 plus years to help make the shopping center a place we can all be proud of, and one that supports our neighborhood.

Several developers have wanted to upgrade the shopping center or barrage with loud naysayers, so nothing changed.

It's still a mess.

We are finally at a point where we can actually make this happen, provided you move forward with HOMA.

One final note from me.

The planning commission worked on HOMA for a year and did several iterations based on the community based on community input and feedback.

The final project is really good for Bellevue, and we should all be thankful for their very hard work.

So tonight we're here asking you to support HOMA to implement what is envisioned in the comprehensive plan that you recently adopted, specifically the Newport Community Coalition supports HOMA and the neighborhood business zoning, which calls for three to four floors with amenities and bonuses to get to five floors.

It's important to note about 15 years ago, the City of Bellevue asked the owners of the shopping center to conduct a feasibility study.

And um, and what should be you know here for the future.

They agreed, and when finished, the study concluded that a mixed-use development with housing and retail was appropriate for the site.

We're excited for all that is about to come to the Newport Hill Shopping Center.

We're particularly excited about the ownerships, vision for different types of housing, open space, trees, gathering spaces, retail, and restaurants.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker on the list is Layla Kademi, who is joining us virtually.

I can.

Okay, your time begins now.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Layla Kademi.

I am a land use attorney at Hillis Clark Martin and Peterson commenting on behalf of the woodlands at Bellevue, the former Boeing Eastgate campus.

This site encompasses 45 acres just north of I-90.

If the city maximizes home as potential, this site has the potential to evolve into a robust mixed-use development with a diverse range of housing types and expansive access to public transportation.

The current draft of HOMA makes positive changes for the site, including increasing impervious surface limits, a critical change that directly supports feasible transit-oriented development.

To further strengthen this legislation, we encourage council to adopt a more deliberate and pragmatic approach for sites subject to mandatory affordability that include a blended apartment townhouse model for projects that integrate both townhomes and apartments.

We strongly urge the inclusion of clear language, allowing the consolidation of affordable units within the apartment buildings.

This adjustment is essential to preserving the financial feasibility and constructibility of the townhome component.

Townhouses encounter greater financing hurdles than apartment buildings.

And while the need for affordable middle housing is undeniable, enabling a substantive increase in middle housing supply requires policies that remove and not compound those financial hurdles.

Townhomes are critical spaces for young professionals, growing families and community members in transitional periods, offering stability, flexibility, and long-term community investment that apartments alone cannot meet.

We also strongly support an MFTE supercharger, which would allow mandatory affordable units to count towards the MFTE unit total without lower affordability levels.

New mandatory affordable housing requirements send a strong signal to the market.

If Bellevue wants to maintain its comparative advantage and keep attracting investment in housing projects in Bellevue, that a mandatory affordable housing requirement must be very carefully approached, and it at least needs to be paired with the MFT supercharger approach that was used in Wilburton.

We appreciate your consideration of these comments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker on the list is Al D.

Diedeman.

I'm here today to give you a quick visual tour of the issue we have with two roads.

These two roads are basically a Y funnel for people to get from Westlake Sammamish Parkway to I-90 and to the Eastgate Office Park and Eastgate shopping centers.

What we've witnessed in the last recently is a big increase in traffic and a lot of increase in speed.

And the problem is that neither of these roads have a continuous sidewalk or a shoulder wide enough to allow people to walk.

So it's not walkable.

I'm showing you the first slide here on the handout I prepared.

You can see the drainage ditch on one side and a very narrow path.

The problem with this bottleneck is the same situation exists on the other side of the road.

So it's not a matter of just zigzagging across the road to safely find a place to walk.

You have to be a tight walk or woke broker to be able to not step in the road.

And remember the average speed, and this is 30 miles an hour posted.

Most cars go 35 or 40.

And the speed uh radars are showing some cars are going 50 and more.

This is a very dangerous situation.

And we urgently need a sidewalk and a shoulder in this heavily used roadway.

Um next example is just uh a guard rail where there's no place to walk, and again on the other side, there's no place to walk.

This next one is uh there's a classic where you see this 25 mile an hour speed sign on 164th.

You can't get by it.

There's vegetation, there's a city drainage ditch.

The only way to get by it is to actually walk in the roadway.

Well, that doesn't work for children and people going back and forth.

It's just it's just not acceptable.

The next slide gives you an idea of what happens when you cross the creek.

Again, you've got to step out of the roadway in order to get uh across because of the the street narrows to go over the the creek.

The next slide showing a mailbox.

Um this is taken directly from a school bus stop.

There's uh four buses a day at this location, and there's six buses a day on 164th.

Um these kids don't have a place to walk.

And early in the winter periods, early morning in the wit and winter periods, it's dark.

I don't think anybody wants their kids walking in here.

Your time has expired.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Okay.

Thank you.

I've got my my recommendations here on the next page.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Colleen Dunset.

Welcome.

Good evening, Council.

I'm Colleen Dunfeet.

Twelve years ago, I started working in parts part-time in the natural resources department, first on the farm crew on our blueberry farms, and then moving on to the trails crew.

Always explicit was the experience in these part-time jobs would lead to full-time positions.

In the last three years, several part-time parks grounds employees were brought on full-time.

Those of us with the same classification in natural resources campaign for full-time status as well, justified by the increased workloads.

We were passed over.

Last week I was told I will not be hired back.

The details are unknown to me, but I understand several positions are gone.

The work won't go away, only the personnel.

Let's start with two questions.

One, why is the director of natural resources reducing services to our city?

And two, what is happening with the rest of this budget?

Now I realize you're not the folks that I really need to talk to, but I can't talk to my shop steward because I'm not employed here anymore.

I can't talk to my boss because I'm not employed here anymore.

I can't talk to human resources because I'm not employed here anymore.

Um, so what I really need to know is what's happening, why are those positions disappearing?

And what's up with this director that he doesn't like talking to us about our positions?

He doesn't seem to understand what we're doing here.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We do have time for one final speaker, and that's Ted Middle Stad.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Um welcome.

I I'm I'm happy to be here.

Um I come to you as a recently retired city employee.

I spent um, as you're probably wondering why why is he coming to say to speak to council?

But I I have a profound sense of uh uh gratitude and thank you for all the support we've had for so many years.

I worked for the city for just over 40 years.

I was in the business of parks and recreation more appropriately called parts of community services later on for 43 and a half years.

And and I always appreciated just the level of support that we received from council, the senior leadership team of the city.

And it and it really meant a lot to I'm several of you here.

I've seen out at our events, and it just means a lot if it's just for a moment or you know, they're there for the whole event.

It doesn't mean a whole lot.

You allowed me to have a career where it really truly felt like I made a difference.

Um you got the work that we do.

You're providing great programs, building a healthy community, providing great spaces and places.

Many of my colleagues in other jurisdictions can't say they have the same level of support.

They have great programs, great services, but you guys have always been there for us too thick and thin.

I'd be remiss if I didn't publicly acknowledge the uh my wife, Sherry, who's uh not here tonight, but and hers and my daughters, Kara, Tigan Middlestat, and my other daughter, younger daughter, Dr.

Hannah Middlestat, for all their their love and support over the years, too.

And I had just a great send-off from the city staff.

My supervisor Brad Bennett did a great job, and my uh former staff, which is kind of weird to say, uh, Aaron McCaslin, uh, Joe Mormon, Carrie Sabachik, and uh Tandra Cornwell just did a great job organizing a just a fun a fun send-off for me.

It really really meant a lot to me.

I know this is kind of out of character for for me to come and talk to council and as an open communication, but I just wanted to take the time to say thank you.

I do have a couple at requests.

Keep taking chances.

I think our as the city has evolved.

We've gotten a little more risk-adverse.

You never know what's gonna stick and really make a big difference for a lot of people in this community.

I think of some of the programs and services we've put on over the years that are there making a huge difference every year.

And I I really strongly support we before DEI was even a thing.

We did a lot of stuff supporting DE.

I remember Kevin Henry was first hired as our outreach diversity coordinator.

I'm just so happy to be.

I've been a big part of a lot of that in my work.

So we've had a lot of hits, uh, a few misses, and I just wanted to take the time to thank each and every one of you for your your support of uh of the city and and specifically parks and community services.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

That is the end of our times.

I'm gonna turn it back to you, Mayor.

Wow.

Uh we do uh on the reports of boards and commission have a written information only uh from parks and community service board.

So I encourage everyone goes and read that.

Uh do I have a motion to approve the consent calendar?

Move to approve the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Is move uh by deputy mayor and seconded by councilmember Robinson.

Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

There's no oppose.

We do have a public hearing.

City manager ordinance 169604.

Thank you, Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Council.

Uh, this is uh routine required public hearing to release an easement following council's approval in January, where you declared this specifically identified easement as surplus.

Uh Laura Matluck for uh real property manager is here to share a little bit of information about it uh prior to you opening the public hearing.

And we are looking for council to consider adopting an ordinance to amend um ordinance number 740 to release the utility easement.

Thank you, Mr.

Carlson.

Uh good evening, Mayor, Council members.

Um, our staff report this evening is on a request to release a utility easement located at 200 112th Avenue Northeast.

On January 13th, council declared this easement as surplus to the city's needs and set today as the date to hold the public hearing.

The purpose of tonight's hearing is allow the public an opportunity to comment on this release.

The property is located um along Northeast 2nd between 11th and 114th Avenue Northeast.

Um the property owner is redeveloping the site into a combination of a multifamily apartment community with up to uh 325 units and over nine stories.

Uh the reserved easement indicated in red uh will be removed as a part of the development plans.

The utility easement was reserved as a part of a street vacation in 1965 through ordinance number 740.

Utilities were never installed inside the easement area.

City utility staff has confirmed that this easement is no longer necessary going forward.

Following the public hearing, staff requests council action on the proposed ordinance to amend ordinance 740 authorizing the release of this easement.

Um this ends our staff report.

I'll be available for questions if there are any.

Thank you so much.

Uh, do I have a motion to open a public hearing?

I move to open the public hearing.

Yes.

Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

There is no oppose.

You are open for the public hearing.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, there are no pre-registered speakers for this public hearing, so I would do a call out for all those joining us in council chambers or those joining us online.

There are several of you.

If you would like to make a comment in this public hearing, please raise your hand.

Uh see no hands, Mayor.

I'll turn it back to you.

Thank you so much.

Uh, do I have a motion to close the public hearing?

I move to close the public hearing.

Second.

It has been moved and seconded.

Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any discussion?

Please raise your hand if you want to have any discussion.

I don't see any hands on this side.

I don't hand any on this side.

Great.

Do I have a motion to adopt the ordinance 16904?

I move to adopt ordinance number 6904 authorizing the release of a portion of an existing utility easement and amending ordinance number 740 to release the utility easement located at 200 112th Avenue Northeast, which has been declared surplus to the city's needs and no longer required for providing continued public utility service, the release of this easement being deemed in the best interest of the public.

It's been moved by Deputy Miller and seconded by Councilmember New Enhaus.

Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The motion passes.

If you all agree, let's just have the two affordable housing study session and then we get a break.

Everyone is okay with that.

City manager, would you please introduce our uh two study session that's all related to each other?

Thank you, Mayor.

Deputy Mayor and Council members.

Tonight we have, I would say, three very exciting housing funding allocation recommendations for council to consider.

In total, these recommendations will have a significant impact on affordable housing projects within Bellevue and the East Side.

And as we have done in the past, we are presenting the Arch recommendations this evening first, and then we will cover the city specific housing allocation program recommendations.

The city and ARC staff work uh very closely together in this funding process.

Um, as many of you know as well, Arch's funding recommendations come from the executive board at Arch to the member cities for approval.

And um Nathan McCommon, who is our deputy manager and is the city's representative to Arch of the Arch Executive Board, and he is also the current chair is here tonight to introduce the recommendation and the Arch and City staff.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Mr.

McComan.

Thank you, City Manager Carlson.

Mayor Malikutiani, and Deputy Mayor Hamilton and members of the council.

It's a pleasure to join you this evening.

And it's also a pleasure to get to serve on the executive board of Arch.

And with me at the table is uh executive director of Arch, Lindsay Masters, Patrick Tippy, the investments manager, and the director of housing uh Bianca Siegel.

And as a reminder for the council and the viewing public, the city uh of Bellevue is one of the founding members of Arch dates back to 1992 to work collaboratively with East King County to plan for and fund affordable housing.

In Bellevue alone, the majority of the affordable housing stock here has come as a result of its participation in Arch, which supports planning capital awards, property services, and ongoing compliance.

Since Arch's inception, it has helped to create over 10,000 affordable units on the east side in communities of opportunity.

And the topic before the council this evening has followed its routine and required funding process and asked this council and all the Arch uh jurisdiction city councils to consider the approval of the Arch Housing Trust Fund Award recommendations.

These recommendations were vetted by a community advisory board with the support of technical staff and then reviewed and unanimously approved by the Arch Executive Board to raise it to the council this evening.

And the recommendations seek to award seven projects, which you'll hear about and create and preserve uh or preserve 505 homes on the east side, including 271 in just in Bellevue.

And so with that, I'll turn the presentation over to Lindsay Masters.

Thank you, Nathan.

Okay, so uh as Nathan mentioned, we're here to get your direction uh to approve the recommendations from the Arch executive board, and we'll be walking you through those tonight.

Um we do have uh some new council members who I haven't had a chance to come to the council before, and so I just wanted to spend a few brief minutes giving you a little bit more background on Arch as an organization.

Um you did a great job introducing uh Bellevue's role with with Arch as one of our founding members.

Um we have been around since the 1990s uh with a mission to preserve and increase housing for low and moderate income households.

Uh it's really a collaboration of local governments.

We have 15 member cities and King County that are all partners in that collaboration.

And one of the most important ways that they work together is through direct funding of projects.

And that is a legal structure that allows communities to partner together to cooperate in planning, funding, and providing affordable housing.

It sets forth a lot of key responsibilities for Arch, and it kind of creates the roles within our structure, including how our board operates, how funding recommendations are developed, and then what responsibilities are with local city councils.

And I'll talk a little bit about that in the next slide.

This gives you kind of a high-level picture of that structure.

Most of the important decisions, I think, do all come back to U.S.

City Councils, including approving our budget each year, approving the work program that sets out the things we're going to work on, and importantly approving the funding awards that we are recommending your dollars go into.

We are governed by an executive board that provides representation for all of the communities that participate in Arch.

We have relied on an advisory board as well to help us shape those funding recommendations.

And new this year we are piloting a council of elected officials that came out of our strategic plan a couple years ago with a desire to see more participation by electeds in Arch's structure to increase the communication to elected officials about affordable housing, deepen knowledge and support.

So really excited and happy to welcome Councilmember Bargova to that pilot.

And then finally, there's a very special role that Bellevue plays for this whole collaboration, which is you host us.

We're very grateful for the services that we are able to access through Bellevue.

It's a key role, and I think without that, this this whole partnership probably would much be much more difficult.

So tonight, again, there's a whole range of ways that Arch works with Bellevue and other jurisdictions to help you realize your housing goals.

And the one we're going to talk about tonight is the direct investment of public dollars into affordable housing projects.

The program we're going to begin with is the Arch Housing Trust Fund.

This has been a part of our structure.

It's written into our local interlocal agreement that sets up how that works.

And it's voluntary contributions from all of our member jurisdictions on an annual basis that then turn into a competitive process we administer on your behalf.

We have longstanding relationships with other funders to help coordinate these resources.

We have long-standing relationships with development community to try to attract their attention and their work to do business in East King County.

And so that is a very successful program.

I'll talk a little bit more about.

Later on, we'll be also sharing recommendations from the housing stability program.

It's been exciting to see local jurisdictions have some new funding sources that can then come and supplement what we've been investing through the Housing Trust Fund.

Just big picture.

We could spend a lot of time talking about what's been produced through the trust fund over the last few decades.

But as Nathan mentioned, it's one of the most productive ways we've been able to achieve affordable housing on the east side.

Without that local investment, it's very difficult to get these projects going.

It provides important seed funding.

It allows projects to be to be fully funded in communities that may not have the full resource in a given year by pooling those funds together and making them available to the whole region.

Just want to highlight one of the most important impacts of this whole effort is the resources that you're able to leverage with your local dollars.

We've been able to achieve over $13 of investment in other public and private funds for every one dollar of local funds that we've put into the pot.

Those are those come from the federal level down to the state and regional level as well.

And there were a couple of points just to mention this year that this was a pretty difficult year with the dynamics around federal funding, dynamics around interest rates, cost of materials, labor, everything being very in flux.

But I think given all that, it was pretty it was a successful year for us in that we were able to secure a lot of those important state and county resources.

In total from the state housing trust fund, uh, we were able to secure 35 million dollars in awards to East King County.

That's over half of the funds that came to the county as a whole.

15 million of those are coming into Bellevue projects, which is very exciting.

Uh, another four million from the county coming into Bellevue projects.

Um, we also anticipate three of the projects in this funding round will be very competitive for Amazon housing equity funds, which is another incredible kind of one-time opportunity and why this is such a big year.

Um I'll mention just briefly to kind of since we're gonna talk a lot about the different pots of money tonight.

Um, this this evening's first presentation is about the resources going through the Arch Housing Trust Fund that are pooled by all the jurisdictions together.

In total, there's 5.2 million in those awards.

Um, 4.6 million of those are direct uh contributions from members or funds they've collected back in their accounts through loan repayments and that type of thing.

There's also a set aside of federal block grant funds that are directed by a subset of Arch cities.

They agree to put those into uh the trust fund as well.

Within that is a portion from Bellevue, and that's 1.3 million this year.

And then there are those separate resources I mentioned that are primarily from the 0.1% sales tax, but also this year the affordable housing fund in Bellevue.

Um we have been uh responsible for trying to achieve a lot of different priorities with this program over the years.

I think we've been successful in meeting a whole variety of needs of different populations, um, geographic distribution of the housing throughout the region.

We have focused on preservation, we've focused on siting housing near transit, and then in the last couple of years, really as a result of that strategic plan.

Um, the executive board has been focused on how we can build more faster.

So they've elevated a couple of priorities for us in our funding round.

Uh, one is the timely delivery of the housing, how quickly the projects can get off the ground, how close are they to being permit ready, and that bang for the buck, how far are our dollars gonna go and how much housing is going to be produced, how much other uh resources can we attract.

Um, so with that, I'm gonna probably hand it off to Patrick Tippy here, who will walk you through the projects.

I'll just leave it with saying this was a record year for us in the number of applications we received, the amount of housing that was proposed.

I don't think um there's a there's probably a uh connection between the amount of resources that Bellevue has been able to put out to the development community and the number of applications we saw.

So we're really excited to see that momentum growing and happy to show you the actual projects, which is the exciting part.

Great.

Thanks, Lindsay, and thanks uh Mayor Malcushian and members of council.

Uh, as we've talked about, we're here to bring forward the recommendations.

We recommended seven uh projects to you all for your consideration this evening.

Uh the projects range from across five different cities, a range of project types from rental to homeownership, serving various uh communities and populations and set aside, some are uh rehabilitation, some are new construction.

So really a wide range.

And we did receive 14 million dollars in requests when we advertised only three and a half million available, so definitely an oversubscribed amount.

I did want to share one slide on each of the recommended projects and not all of the projects that we uh did receive, but just highlight some of the great things that uh your your investment uh may go to fund if you do advance the uh recommendations here this evening.

The first is uh project called Bothell Urban to be developed by Bridge Housing Corporation recommending uh the uh an award of 1.5 million dollars to create 200 homes, uh one, two, and three bedroom units.

With half of those units being two and three bedroom units, really size for families.

Uh, this is being developed on surplus land from the city of Bothville, right in downtown Bothell, adjacent to some transit upgrades in the community, and Bothell's really excited to advance that as a as a priority, and it really addresses many of the needs of the uh creating affordable housing at the 30, 50, and 60 percent area median income levels.

The next uh project recommended is uh Altair Maine developed through a partnership between Hope Link and SRM development, recommending an award of 500,000 to create 146 homes.

There'll be one, two, and three-bedroom serving households between 30 and 60 percent of the area needed income.

We'll talk a little bit more about this project in the subsequent Bellevue funding recommendations, but one of the exciting part is uh serving this uh development would serve households, some households exiting homelessness and survivors of domestic violence.

Next project is also in Bellevue.

This is Forest Edge to be developed on surplus land from St.

Andrew's Lutheran Church by Imagine Housing.

And the recommendation here is for $500,000 to create a hundred uh new homes ranging from studio to three bedrooms, all at 60% of the area median income, uh, with uh about 25 of the units dedicated for uh households with disabilities.

Next is Orchard Gardens.

This is on property that Habitat for Humanity purchased from uh Holy Cross Church, and the recommendation for this funding round from the Arch Housing Trust Fund is for $500,000 to create $25 three-bedroom townhomes uh affordable for uh purchase for households that earn up to 80% of the area meaning income.

Do you want to note this is the second award for this project?

It was previously awarded funds from the Arch Housing Trust Fund back in 2022.

Uh but the project is now ready to go and break ground later this spring.

Next project is called Kirkland House to be developed by Porch Lights, uh, which operates the men's shelter here in Bellevue.

The funding recommendation from the Housing Trust Fund is uh 212,600 uh to uh create a home, uh build three new bedrooms on a home that will serve six men that are have exited from shelter programs who are working, who uh still uh need an affordable place to live and work and live in community.

The next development is uh a preservation project to uh support the rehabilitation of the family village redmond apartments.

These are 20 uh two and three bedroom homes, all serving 30 percent area meaning income households.

All of them are families that are exiting homelessness, and so this is a really important project.

This project was was not originally funded by Arch when it was built in the early 90s, and so this will be Arch's first investment in the property uh in order to preserve the uh the building's envelope and keep the useful life of the structure uh to provide this really important service.

And the final recommendated recommended project is for a project called Leo at Trailhead.

Uh the developer here is life enrichment options.

This will actually be for the purchase of seven uh units within a larger condominium developed by the King County Housing Authority.

Uh that project has received Arch support in the past.

Uh the Leo Trailhead condo has also received Arch support in the past, and this is a supplemental 191,000 500 uh award that's being recommended to you today.

So, in summary, I wanted to bring forward uh here's all of the funding requests.

The box in red is those projects that are recommended for funding.

Uh, this does uh bring forward the the total amount advanced from the Arch Housing Trust Fund.

There are supplemental funds that a few Arch member cities contribute from uh CDBG allocations of federal resources.

Uh but this will create 505 uh new homes uh preserve a few homes in the east side as well.

I'm really excited to advance this forward uh through Bellevue's uh contribution to this and did want to identify the range of all the Arch member cities and their contributions here.

Uh so have um and the source of funds that they're using to contribute to this uh this uh collaboration together to create units across the east side.

And so that with that, uh would like to uh just share a couple takeaways that we had this year.

Is we've had a significant more significantly more two and three bedroom units that were proposed, which is wonderful to uh have more people be able to live uh near where they work, where they worship, where they go to school, have access to the great schools and parks and all the other amenities of the community.

But those do increase the cost of the development, so we are seeing those go up.

Um we are seeing seeing some great opportunities to uh advancing projects on Faith Owned Land and on City Surplus sites, so really seeing those planning efforts from local communities moving forward.

Um we did have a record funding around more than three to one uh requests to available resources, and then finally we were really successful this year in attracting resources, especially from the state level of more than the half of the state's uh investment in King County did come to projects in East King County.

So we're really proud of the funds that we're awarding, helping to attract those resources.

So, with that, we'd like to ask uh council to consider directing staff to return with legislation approving funding allocations from the fall 2025 Arch Housing Trust Fund awards.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Uh Nathan Bianca, Lindsay, and Patrick and the whole Arch team.

We talk about outcome uh in on these thousands a lot, and um Arch is doing that.

I think there are four before I go to my uh colleagues.

There are four things that stood out with uh for me.

30 and they're all just numbers.

34 years, 120 million plus invents investment across King County.

Uh one dollar in local investment achieved $13, and 12,000 30 units just this proposal.

So thank you so much.

Uh we go with your new council of elected officials member.

Council Member Bargava.

Yeah, mayor.

Uh first of all, really happy to join the the council pilot, and hopefully it'll add value.

We'll know in a year whether this is good or not.

I want to double down on what the mayor said.

Just incredible work, super impressive.

Um beyond the numbers, I want to call out uh two things.

One, your presentation highlights how responsive you this work is to housing stability.

The idea that you're able to take someone who finds themselves unhoused to someone that goes up that continuum to more stibble stable housing outcomes is really remarkable, and it's really really commendable work.

It's it's also very needed work, so kudos for that.

And the other thing I would I would say is that it's also the focus on family-sized housing that really stands out.

So it's not just affordable units, but it's units that actually create the right quality of life for for families who need the housing and the work that you're doing stands out uh as well.

I also really appreciate the taking off on the first C1 project, the 100 units.

That's uh great to see.

Uh Orchard Gardens and Habitat for Humanity also uh you know have continued support.

They're doing great work there.

And the Oplink project in Bellevue, uh, that's also awesome.

So in aggregate, I'm very supportive.

I'm really thankful for the work you do, and uh uh continue to hope to contribute uh uh in any way I can.

So appreciate that.

Thank you uh so much, Councilmember Bargabo.

Councilmember Broyer.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, I want to begin by acknowledging the incredible step towards affordable housing in our community.

I mean, this is really phenomenal work, and I think it's the most we've ever allocated, if that's correct.

Yeah.

Um, so I understand that we're not only funding the construction of affordable units, but we're also funding integrated services as well.

Um, could you give an example of what an example of what those services are?

The services piece will come in more in our second item tonight, which is the um the city's funding program, specifically the housing stability program.

I'll be happy to tell you more about that in just a moment.

Sorry, I got too excited.

Um, could you uh and then one comment I wanted to share is that I like that the funding is solution-oriented, echoing Councilmember Bargava, meaning that the end goal of these project uh projects is not just for folks to remain in shelters, but uh help our community members experiencing homelessness integrate back into their communities, working in and again and having access to to various services.

So I think we're really showing a movement of of some sorts here, which is just fantastic.

Um those are my comments for now.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Broyer.

Councilmember New Enhause.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh great presentation as we continue to build more and more of our housing stock, affordable housing.

I I just love these projects when I was uh looking through them, everything from you know orchard gardens to the to the village or the family village in Redmond, that one, okay.

And then the Leo Trailhead just looked like phenomenal projects, and it's so great to be a part of that and create the type of housing that our community needs.

So great report.

I I appreciate um not just the projects we're looking at, but the holistic view of uh of Arch as it continues to grow.

I just had one uh question, but I am very supportive in terms of moving this forward.

Um, the increase in the two and three bedroom.

Um so understand that would cause the increase in cost to create that.

Why is there an increase?

It's just less demand for the one bedroom, or what can you tell me a little bit more about and how maybe the model is shifting a little bit too, since that does appear to be the stronger need?

Yeah, I think there's a few dynamics at play.

I think there is a little bit uh the market is producing more of the studio in one bedroom units and are taking advantage of other programs, and so there are uh maybe slightly more affordable in that realm, whereas there is a bigger gap between market rents of the two and three bedroom units that are created by the market, or single-family home rentals uh versus what would be an affordable rental in a new apartment complex.

And I think the other likely more compelling case why that's happening regionally, not just in sub-markets within uh Bellevue or the East King County area, is the alignment and policy uh goals of the larger sources of funding that we do leverage, both meet mostly the low-income housing tax credit program as well as the focus from the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, both really prioritize larger bedroom sizes, and so is uh our our dollars are getting stretched 13 to 1.

People are looking at what are those bigger chunks of the dollars to complete their capital stacks, yeah, and know they need the two and three bedroom units to be able to secure those to advance their developments and creating longstand, and these are uh Bellevue and East King County cities are amazing amenity rich places that really have strong demand in those areas, and so it's attractive to developers.

So, would it be fair to say that's a real focus right now?

Or what what is what is that mix look like in terms of the diversity of housing, what's the ideal ideal mix that you're aiming for or targeting?

Yeah, I think we we try to be responsive to the the applications that do come in, and so it is really taking a look at how how strong is the you know, through many of the underwriting criteria that we have.

We look at viability of the project and really looking at the the market demands, how close it is to market, how it deviates and creates a public benefit for the investment that that uh jurisdictions like Bellevue are making to advance that project.

And I think we have not produced two and three bedroom units nearly to the demand level of the demand, and so uh I I don't think we've calculated at this point what a maximum cap would be on those units because we do have a lot of catch-up to do.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilmember New Enhouse.

Councilmember Robinson.

Um, this is such a good news story, and you know, you make it look so easy, and this has taken years, and it's it's taken a synergy from with uh Arch, the City of Bellevue, our housing partners, including Amazon for the housing equity fund.

It's taken funding, policy, land use, um, all working together.

And here we are, we're gonna get 271 affordable units in Bellevue.

And I just want to thank everybody in the room here and everybody who has contributed to make this happen.

Um, and it's year after year, but this seems especially wonderful tonight.

Um, so very, very supportive, very proud of this work for all the people who have worked hard to make this happen and the council that supports this kind of work.

Um, I have two questions.

I'm curious if um the organizations that applied for funding but did not get funding this time.

Do they get another by to the Apple?

And number two, you know, we have a lot of uh minimum wage workers, especially in the service industry in Bellevue.

Do they know about these units?

Can we get the word out to them somehow so that we can maximize the opportunity for the people who work in the city to live here if that's what they hope to do?

You want to take the first one?

Yeah, yeah.

So to answer the first question, uh so we uh have let all the folks know that weren't awarded.

We talked about uh shared some of the rationale of why the community advisory board did not recommend funding for those projects, and for those who uh are interested or able to maintain site control, recommend that they uh do reapply opportunities for them to be competitive both here and for other sources of funds uh that they may be seeking uh for their projects.

We do encourage them to come back and uh continue to work on creating units in in the area.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah, I just add uh it's not new that we are wishing we could fund more projects um than we have resources for, so we are always trying to maintain those relationships with the developers and give them support they need to maintain the project and be able to reapply.

Um so that's that's a big focus for our team.

And then with regard to marketing, uh, we do offer for each project that we have funded, as well as projects that are being completed through incentive programs, support for marketing.

Um in some cases uh uh ongoing support, but especially when projects are just opening and there are a lot of units available.

Uh we maintain that mailing list of folks who we can market uh those availabilities to.

So I think it's over 12,000 households on that list now, um, most of whom are households in East King County actively looking for affordable housing.

Um, so we're constantly trying to build up that list.

We've also built out a lot of partnerships with community-based organizations that operate in um East King County as well to help them get the word out as well to all the communities that they serve.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Robinson.

Councilmember Sumotaverio.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, thank you for this amazing work, Lindsay.

This is so exciting.

I think that I don't have any question, but I have one comment.

I think that the diverse um choices of location and then AMI needs, and especially I love the um the Pacific meeting the needs of you know, for example, intellectual and disability families, and then you know, man, that's going through a transitional from um Porsche to a permanent housing.

I think this program is really amazing because it's not only inclusive but also very intentional.

And then with the innovation that collaborate with others around the region, I think this is that's why it's making so powerful to help people.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Deputy Mayor Hamilton.

Great, thank you, Mayor.

Thanks for the presentation.

Good to see you all.

Um, certainly uh thank you to our own deputy city manager Nathan McCommon for his leadership on the Arch executive board as the chair.

And while while there is always more we need to do, the projects in the funding allocation recommended are impactful, and as mentioned earlier, we'll bring 271 affordable housing units to Bellevue.

That's significant.

I want to highlight the 70 or so family-sized units at the Altair at East Main project.

Uh, so important that we continue to afford to focus on affordable units that are sized for families.

There are far too few of them, and this project helps address the critical need.

Also want to briefly call out the city's first one first C1 project as mentioned earlier, but Imagine Housing and St.

Andrew's Forest Edge Development is a very exciting and worthy project.

Hope to see the Peters Ridge project in my neighborhood reapply in the future.

Uh the C1 program is going to make an impact and provide inspiration for similar programs around the region and state.

And 25% of the Peters Ridge units will be for households with disabilities.

Really pleased to see that.

The Habitat for Humanity project here in Bellevue is another housing type that is desperately needed.

The 25 three-bedroom units that are permanently affordable is amazing.

I love the variety of projects that are funded here.

There are a number of ways that cities can work together to help fund and support new and existing housing.

Funding through Arch is a vital component of our local and regional housing strategy.

So well done, fully supportive.

Thank you, Mayor.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

I just have two quick questions.

One uh question is we have seven projects that you awarded.

Uh, we are hearing interest rate is going high, construction costs is elevated, and there are many projects at risk.

We are hearing that from development community.

Do you see any financial risk for any of these awardees and what are what is our exposure?

How are we dealing with that?

Yeah, I think uh we did a number of things uh to both before the uh RFPs were even issued as well as through the underwriting once the applications were submitted.

So, first uh to get on the on the front side of that, we wanted to we sent benchmarks of what we're seeing.

So we're talking to asset managers, our own portfolio around the county and really looked at what are the market dynamics across the affordable housing portfolio, really to get a view of what our operating expenses because we know insurance is going up, what are interest rates, what are what is the yield on equity tax card equity pricing, all these different dynamics to make sure we really know what market is, and then we asked all the developers to at least meet that uh as a contingency and then include some other continuities so that way there is some variability because from the time they submitted these applications to us six months ago, now they'll still take another six to twelve months from now to get into the ground, and so that is a lot of opportunity for uh escalation in various different dimensions.

So we make sure that we've got contingency built in there so that way our one award uh is uh sufficient to advance them, give them the confidence to proceed uh full steam ahead, knowing they're spending precious resources to to advance the projects.

Thank you so much.

Uh, and thank you for being on top of that.

The other question is you had a strategic uh plan.

What year is that is from what year to what year and when is the next one?

Uh when is the next body of work on a strategic plan is yeah, um, the plan was adopted in 2024.

Um, and when the board put that in place, the commitment was that this wasn't gonna be uh a status quo sit on the shelf kind of plan.

It would be constantly evaluated, revisited, and at least once a year opened back up by the board to ask are these still the right strategies?

Do we need to make adjustments?

Um, so it's meant to be kind of implemented and re-evaluated in real time.

So we're now almost almost two years in, and I think um the board's doing a really good job of tracking that.

We maintain a dashboard to give them information.

Nathan could speak to um kind of where that discussion's been.

But uh the idea is it will continue to live on as long as it's useful and as long as it's having an impact.

Thank you so much.

Again, I appreciate you all.

Thank you so much for the work you are doing.

You are doing the real impact, and we appreciate you for that.

We have another study session, and some people are oh, sorry, we have a motion.

Great.

Uh do I have a motion?

I move to direct staff to prepare legislation to approve Bellevue funding of $1,301,200 for the fall 2025 Arch Housing Trust Fund as recommended by the Arch Executive Board for the future for future council action.

So it has been moved by Deputy Mayer and seconded by Councilman Muenhouse.

Any discussion.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

There is no opposed.

The motion passes.

Again, thank you so much.

Now to the second related study session.

Thank you, Mayor.

Deputy Mayor and Council.

I do recognize that many of your comments related to both of these presentations.

So, but we do want to bring a separate uh PowerPoint here and information to you about specifically about the two programs that are City of Bellevue funding programs for housing.

So that's our housing stability program and our affordable housing fund.

These are the housing is a major priority for the city, and the allocation recommendations that you have before you tonight from the two city funds are significant.

They're significant as Councilmember Breyer noted in their size and amount this year and in what they are going to be able to do to help the city move forward on our affordable housing targets.

So there are many more essential actions that we utilize in the city to advance those housing goals.

Land use code, certainly among one of those, the C1 program that you heard about tonight, and many, many more.

But the city's funding allocation does unlock other funding to come to the city.

And I think this is just a very remarkable year for that.

So to add to the presentation dais here, we have uh Sabrina Villarde.

She's our housing stability program coordinator.

She's joining Bianca and Lindsay to give you more detailed information about the city funding specifically.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Bianca.

Good evening.

I appreciate the continued conversation with the exciting funding announcements.

I'm gonna be just be really brief and echo the city manager's comments that this really is a particularly exciting year.

We have um offered uh as part of this funding round uh some funding that the city has been accumulating for many years, and we have the opportunity to allocate that now to accelerate some really exciting projects.

So I will let uh Sabrina take the presentation.

Good evening, everybody.

Thank you so much for having me.

Um so we are seeking direction today on approving the housing stability program and affordable housing 2025 uh funding recommendations.

So we're gonna walk you through some background on both the housing stability program and the affordable housing fund, then we'll get to the exciting stuff, which is the award recommendations, and we'll close out with seeking direction again.

Um so just big picture on I know that we've heard a lot about how exciting this round is, but just three specific reasons for why it's a historic round.

So this year is the most money that the city has advertised uh for affordable housing in recent years.

Um for HSP in particular, we were able to do this because prior year awards were relatively low.

Um, and then the second reason is that the affordable housing fund was advertised for the first time.

So the affordable housing fund is made up of Bell Red Fee and Lou contributions and prior capital uh CIP uh appropriations for housing.

And then finally, thanks to the amazing work of Arch and City staff, um, the excellent coordination between other public funders made it possible for us to fully fund three of the four projects that you're gonna see later today.

Um we coordinated with the Department of Commerce with King County uh to ensure that these projects are able to move forward into the next phase of development without having to seek additional funding through other rounds.

So we're really excited to bring you those today.

Uh, and I'm gonna walk through the housing stability program first.

Okay, so I'm going to start at the bottom with staff support, but in July of 2022, council approved a program framework for the deployment of our housing stability program, sometimes referred to also as our HB 1590 funds.

So these funds are replenished every year through a sales and use tax collection of 0.1%.

We are able to do that as a result of state legislation, which really governs the way that we run the program.

But uh starting first with staffing, so council allocated 5% of overall revenue to cover staff support.

5% is generally on the lower end.

It's below the average of what it takes to really truly run a program like this.

So our goal is, as always, to continue being effective and efficient with how we spend tax dollars.

Next up on the list in blue is the 15% allocated to the behavioral health and housing related services pod.

This is administered by human services in the parks and community services department via a biannual award cycle.

Funds for B health for behavioral health and housing related services are allocated directly to community-based organizations.

And that award cycle is separate from our capital and on-site maintenance, operations maintenance and on-site services funding.

I will frequently refer to that as OMS, but please feel free to interrupt and ask if you have any questions.

And then the final two categories in that like purplish color up there and green.

So in purple, 40% was set aside to explore bonding and unique partnerships that would typically require a different type of investment.

So while the opportunity has not yet arisen to engage in those opportunities, we continue to be open to those investments, and we're still speaking to affordable housing partners about that.

Tonight, we will be focusing on the green bar.

So that is the capital and OMS section.

So that can include on-site services, as we mentioned earlier.

And Bellevue is unique.

This funding source generally is unique in that it provides that operations and maintenance support.

Very few funding sources, if any, provide that to affordable housing developers who often face higher barriers as far as operations go.

Okay, so very specifically about the housing stability program again.

This program is governed by the enabling legislation.

That's the RCW that gave us HB 1590.

That RCW details what these funds can be used for, so they can be used for acquisition, uh, new construction, and then the operations and maintenance as mentioned earlier, which includes that on-site service support.

Capital and OMS runs on an annual cycle.

So we advertise those every year around early summer, get applications later in the year, and then go through a review process and bring you recommendations the next year.

As far as funding priorities, so with the adoption of the 2022 framework for the housing stability program, council also uh prioritized addressing and preventing homelessness and housing instability, um, prioritize households earning less than 30% of the area median income, and specifically wanted to focus on underserved marginalized Bellevue residents.

With the Affordable Housing Fund, we had the opportunity to expand beyond the requirements of the RCW.

So that meant that we could look for homeownership projects, that we could support projects that were taking advantage of the faith-based uh development incentives like the C1 program.

Um, and uh we were able to also prioritize family-sized units with that funding.

So it gave us kind of a broader range and helped us really bring projects forward that we wanted to see get to units faster.

So a couple of the amazing things that the housing stability program has done so far.

We've invested just for capital and OMS, a little over 30 million dollars since the program's inception.

Uh, that has translated to 472 units overall, 107 of which of those units are directly supported by the housing stability program.

So that means that there is a service component that is attached to those units.

Um without the strategic and targeted investment of the housing stability program, those 472 units would not have come to fruition.

And that includes both new construction and preservation of units all in the city of Bellevue.

Those projects include, you'll recognize some of the pictures as the Aventine, uh, the Hope Starts Here program from LifeWire, uh, the Bridge Spring District Project, Plymouth Crossing, and then last year's award for the Amani Home.

We will be providing or we anticipate providing by fall a program report on both capital and OMS for the housing stability program, which will have a little bit more data so that you can see what that looks like day to day.

And now I will pass it to Patrick.

So we work closely together between Arch staff and the Office of Housing Staff to really make sure that the city's making strong investments, wise investments, and coordinated investments.

And so the Arch staff supports the staff by evaluating the project proposals and using the city's criteria and underwriting these proposals and applications to assess the viability, the finance and economics of it, as well as the applicant strength.

And so here's a range of some of the different types of criteria that we're looking really looking for in the applications that we receive.

We really try and align the schedule, both the housing stability program, the affordable housing fund, the Bellevue programs, and Arch release their RFPs at the same time.

They're do it the same time.

It's the same materials with one exception of an addendum for the city of Bellevue.

It also aligns with the same time frame applying to other other places.

And so part of this is a way to make and reduce reduce barriers for the development community, create simplicity and efficiency for staff time and expertise.

The application review process is uh goes through an analysis coordinated coordinated uh with Arch and Office of Housing to streamline this process.

We also coordinate with the human services team.

We're this is Office of Housing and Arch, but really we have a third leg to the stool coordinating with the Human Services Department within the Parks and Community Services, and Andrew Nomboget is here today helping us to review and underwrite the program support, making sure it's a best practice program model and that the services are appropriate to being what's proposed, and that the award amount for the operating maintenance and services award is appropriate for that development.

And then finally, uh the uh analysis is brought forward to an interdepartmental review committee that the city coordinates to review the applications, consider the risks uh proposed some proposals, conditions for the potential awardees.

Then the Office of Housing takes those recommendations and uh prepares them to the city for the city manager and ultimately for your your consideration.

Uh with the Affordable Housing Pro Fund being new this year, we thought we'd use the same time frame, same application materials, uh, underwrite similarly, though with the slightly different criteria, and advance those.

And with those recommendations, the Office of Housing alone is creating the recommendations and bringing them to city leadership, and then ultimately to you all for consideration.

Okay, so now we get to talk about the projects.

And you heard a little bit about them earlier, but wanted to kick us off with kind of high-level view of what the requests look like when they first came in, right?

So this chart demonstrates the level of need.

We were oversubscribed by close to uh $30 million compared to what we advertised.

So we advertised 20 million dollars for the housing stability program, 34 million came in total for that.

Um for the Affordable Housing Fund, we advertised 10 million, 19.9 million in requests came in for that fund.

Um and then in comparison, we see um Arch is advertised here in gray, so they advertised the three and a half million, but they got about 14.4 million in requests.

Um, as you can see across all three funds, the uh requests far exceeded what we advertised.

And before we jump into the projects, I just want to highlight that you'll see that we went slightly over what we advertised in the awards that we are recommending today.

The um purpose of that is to ensure that these projects truly are able to move forward and through to their development phases without any additional obstacles in the way.

So with that, I will hand it back to Patrick to walk us through.

So here are the funding recommendations that we bring for forward to you here today.

Uh the first project on the list here is uh Bellwether Housing's uh project they're currently calling the Bellevue TOD.

This is a little bit of a unique award.

We're recommending an award for pre-development funds.

So this developer has been selected to create affordable housing, 127 uh homes on a city of Bellevue owned land piece of land, which we're proposing to lease to Bellwether to create these homes.

And so this $2 million award is to support the uh the pre-development design entitlement phase of that that project.

Uh note the asterisks on the on the unit counts on both the units and the HSP units for that project.

Those are not included in the totals below because we do anticipate they'll uh return and request additional funds from us in subsequent rounds, and so we wanted to keep the counts consistent since this award itself on its own won't yield those unit counts.

We're not including those in the totals here today.

But we are bringing forward recommendation of a two million dollar housing stability program award for that project.

We've talked about the Habitat for Humanity Orchard Garden Development to create the uh 25 home ownership units, and we're recommending an award from the Affordable Housing Fund because that's the eligible source, the housing stability program can't serve households at that higher income level.

And then we do have two projects that are leveraging the low-income housing tax credit program.

And these projects are really uh gonna be able to take advantage of an opportunity created through some federal tax reform last summer, and the fact that Bellevue is has the amount of money that they they do and are recommending these.

We'll be able to advance two very large projects uh in a single year, which might normally take two or three years to advance.

So really exciting to uh to talk more about the Alterity Spain project uh and its split request uh split recommendation from both the housing stability fund and the affordable housing fund, as well as a $517,000 annual operating maintenance and services uh recommendations to support uh on-site case management and other services there.

And the final project for recommendation is the Imagine Housing Forest Edge Development on the Surplus St.

Um Andrews site.

Uh and again, this is also a bifurcated award.

Some of the funds coming from the housing stability program and other coming from the affordable housing fund with a recommendation for 120,000 of annual operating maintenance and services dollars.

So getting a little bit more into the projects themselves, uh, and want to spend a few minutes here on the Bell V T site proposed by Bellwether Housing.

This is to create homes affordable from the 30 to 80 percent area median income level, one to three bedrooms.

At this point, they're committing 13 of the units for households exiting homelessness, and this pre-development award uh would be a proposed to be a deferred contingent loan uh after some other uh debt that's advantageous uh to the project, probably not beginning repayment until year 21 of the project's operations.

The next next project, the habitat orchard gardens.

You can see here uh we have similar pretty pictures as the last agenda item, but we did want to break out the recommended source here of which source of Bell V resources we're recommending for this.

And so for this project, we're recommending a grant, uh secured grant for this project of 1.7 million dollars to create these uh 25 three-bedroom townhomes.

The uh next project is the Alter at East Main project.

Again, this is ranges in affordability from 30% area median income to 60% area median incomes, one, two, and three bedroom units, uh, 37 of the units for households exiting homelessness or survivors of domestic violence.

And uh we're really recommend we're recommending funds from both sources of capital as well at uh in the form of deferred contingent loans deferred until year 21, and then uh the um annual 517,000 for the operating maintenance services for five initial five-year period, which could be renewed.

Uh and the contracting for the OMS awards, I I uh failed to mention earlier, is done by the human services department.

So that is part of the the partnership between these groups.

We're here presenting the capital awards and human services works on the contracting for the OMS contracts.

Uh and then finally the uh Forest Edge project, the 100 units uh for one, two, and three bedroom uh unit types, serving 25 households with dis for people with disabilities.

So uh really having an opportunity to be accessible to have a place where people can call home in an integrated community near near grade amenities.

Uh, we do have uh again deferred loan recommended from both the housing stability program and affordable housing fund and the OMS uh five-year OMS award at 120,000 per year.

Uh so in closing, go back to the summary of the the funds that we've talked about today and the the consideration for the two two boxes in the blue uh there for the 22 million uh dollars of housing stability capital as well as the 11.3 million dollars from the uh affordable housing fund to create uh 271 homes here in Bellevue and leveraging the resources either from Arch King County, state, and federal resources.

Um, this uh recommends uh presents a deep partnership across the board between the city, the development community, the sellers, whether they're faith-based organizations, uh, the city themselves, and and other public funders.

So we're really uh excited to advance this here today.

Thank you so much again, Bianca, Sabrina, uh, Patrick, and Lindsay, and everyone who worked on this funding round.

I appreciate that this round advanced different models of rental housing, homeownership through the land trust model, faith-based development, and supportive housing partnership.

139 million is a serious money.

And we are able to deploy that strategic strategically shows how much progress Bellevue has made in building a real housing infrastructure.

But I just wanted to use this opportunity to thank this council and everyone on this council and all of the former council members, Zon, Lee, Robertson, Barksell, Stoke, and others, because that housing stability program that 01% sales tax, that's was because of this council and why we can spend this money for this amazing work.

So just wanted to use this opportunity to do thank them.

Councilmember Robinson.

Okay.

Patrick, thank you.

Mayor.

You described bifurcated funding awards.

This is like the such complex work.

It's just like most cities can't do this.

And the fact that you are doing these bifurcated funding awards is really incredible and a real testimony to uh the vision of this council and the direction of the city manager to create an office of housing, Bianca, you and all the staff that work together and everybody at the table here working together to create this opportunity.

The 1590 doing that, that was one of the scariest and boldest things I think we as a council ever did.

That was money that was going to be collected by the county anyway, and we had the opportunity as a city to collect it for our own purposes.

And uh it was really important that we share it with Arch and really um work not just to create supportive housing opportunities for the city of Bellevue but the entire east side.

And so uh working with Arch and seeing the fruits of those labors, it's really gratifying.

So thank you.

This is this is great.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Robinson.

Uh Councilmember Newman House.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, yeah, echo those words.

I think uh the 1590 decision was uh was uh was was was a great one uh and I think that will prove beneficial to the city um for for for for many years to come.

Um but that's only one part of it is the is the funds, but obviously we need to count on the expertise and uh the the well management of the program to make sure that um the the funds are allocated uh correctly and the projects are the right projects to invest in.

So great job all around.

I don't have any questions.

I'm ready to move this forward, so thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilmember Newman House.

Uh, Councilmember Somodaverio.

No, thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, I don't have any comments.

I just want to say thank you so much for doing this work and lifting, I think the um the most marginalized group of the community so we can meet somewhere in the middle together.

Thank you.

Um, and I'm also honored to be part of this council can move this forward.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Bargabo.

Yeah, thank you.

Um first of all, thank you for the incredible work.

I can say it again, I'm gonna say it again.

I said it maybe 25 minutes ago, but this is really incredible.

Uh I also, you know, want to say, no kidding, man, 30 nine million dollars.

So, what gives me a lot of pride is the fact that the city has, you know, I've said this before to a smaller group, but putting your money where your mouth is.

We talk about the prioritization that we have for housing and affordable housing in Bellevue, and I feel really proud to support this allocation of funds because it really shows it's not just words, but it's truly a commitment to try to create this opportunity for more affordable, diverse housing within Bellevue and support our residents.

So, this is a very proud moment uh to be able to do this and move this forward.

So that's that's fantastic.

Um I did have uh two really quick other comments.

One is a question.

Uh, I do appreciate the um the bellwether allocation for uh sort of a you called it preliminary, or not sure what words you used, but one of the questions I had was why are we prioritizing that versus something that has more immediate near-term delivery of units?

And I can appreciate the transit-oriented nature, I can also appreciate sort of the strategic nature of seeding that, but I'd like to understand how you thought about that trade-off because you're oversubscribed by a lot, and I would imagine there'd be a lot more low-hanging fruit with immediate deliverables or faster deliverables.

So that's my first question.

Do you want to talk about it?

Um, so speaking to the bellwether site, um, I think the priority here was really that this is a city-owned um surplus property.

Uh, and so the intent is to partner with this developer on long-term sustained affordability for this property.

Um the pre-development ask fit well with the housing stability program priorities, and we do anticipate that they will come back in the future with a fully fleshed out development plan uh and an ask in a future round.

Um, but overall it did kind of check all of the uh appropriate boxes for the housing stability program, and that's why we had it live really just in that fund for um right now.

Um, but uh big picture as a city um supporting development of affordable housing on city-owned land uh lines very well with our strategic target areas, with our um future affordable housing strategy, uh, and so it met all of those priorities as well.

I hope that answered um your question.

Yeah.

Uh okay.

Uh and the second one I had was uh really related to that.

Um in some ways it comes across all the projects.

Now that we're allocating this funding and we have more control, whether it's C One or with Bellwether or uh Orchard Gardens, and we're actually allocating more funds uh uh than what was originally thought about.

I think it's really important that we find ways to accelerate the delivery of these units to streamline these processes and hold a very high bottom accountability for the delivery.

And I just want to know, you know, how you're thinking about that other specific uh not just standard uh metrics.

I'm sure there is, and you outlined that in your prior presentation for Arch, but things that we can do to accelerate the process.

Yeah.

I think uh and and to go back to to link your two questions together.

I think uh making the pre-development award is a tool to accelerate that.

That two million dollar commitment uh takes away some of the risk capital that Bellweather the City of Bellevue did a really good job of of attracting a really strong slate of potential developers for that site, and Bellwether stood out amongst uh a uh a pool of impressive uh applicants wanting to develop affordable housing here, and this two million dollar commitment uh gives them confidence in the city's partnership with them and will help them accelerate their design and feasibility work as fast as possible, eliminating all the uh some of the the risk elements that they might experience in attracting that working capital to get to the place where they can secure all of the final financing and get to uh permit ready state.

And so this uh awarding a pre-development award is a technique in accelerating that.

Um, so we're really looking at at that as one technique.

A second technique is making sure we're fully funding projects.

Uh, I mentioned during the Arch presentation, some of the applications were coming back for a second or third time, and uh and the recommendations the Office of Housing has advanced to you all today uh advances whole projects so that way they don't need to wait for another year, which then includes escalation of all the construction costs, other pieces increases uncertainty.

And so by making whole awards of of the requests to make sure the capital stack is there, accelerating the timeline of that commitment are two of the tools to help accelerate just to add to that for the um bellwether project in Wilburton, and I realize we're doing this a little bit out of order, but in a few weeks you'll have the opportunity to look at the pre-development and lease agreement for that project.

Um those documents also include milestone specifically where delivery of uh certain um uh you know design uh thresholds and funding thresholds uh and then construction need to be met in order to uh stay within the terms of the agreements.

Um so we're building in additional um uh you know uh incentive to move the project forward uh on an expedited timeline, and then for all of the projects that are 100% affordable housing, they have the opportunity to work with a specialized team in development services that will help to move those through the development approval process um in a in a faster way.

Um, and then Office of Housing staff will also stay in touch and follow along with us to make sure that uh that they're meeting milestones, that the projects are meeting milestones and and development services staff is able to review them.

Yeah, that's great.

Arch works with in achieving those permitting milestones, which actually helps us be more competitive for other funding.

Um, and then the other thing I I'd be remiss if I didn't say the stability of the funding resources and the um sustained nature of that is another hugely important thing for developers.

So the fact that you've got that point one percent sales tax is really important.

It's why we're seeing that that demand for the resource grow.

The Affordable Housing Fund is more of a one-time resource, so I think that'll be a continued um question and thing Arch is always trying to explore with members how we create more stable permanent funding sources.

Okay, appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilmember Baragalbo.

Councilman Breyer.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh this is just fantastic work.

It's vertically integrated.

Uh it is outcome-based, and I wish I had more to say.

I mean, I'm just blown away really.

Thank you so much for your incredible work, and I'm fully supportive.

Thank you so much.

Uh Deputy Mayor Hamilton.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Thanks for the presentation.

Um housing night in Bellevue, so that's super exciting.

Um, just want to acknowledge this has been said earlier, but I want to acknowledge the foresight that council members had in 2020 when they decided that we needed to find a way for the city to fund its own efforts to increase affordable housing.

Some efforts are more effective when we work in partnership, and some more so when we pursue our goals on our own.

It's widely acknowledge that the deeply affordable housing requires government funding support.

The types of housing that is contemplated by these funding recommendations can't be built any other way.

This is something we must do, or else it doesn't get done.

The funding award recommendation before us tonight is bold, represents a significant investment in affordable housing in Bellevue.

I have nothing but praise for the up to $37 million figure.

It's uh it is appropriate and necessary.

And this level of investment represents a level of seriousness, commitment, and leadership that our community expects from us.

Also have to heap some praise on our city manager and her team.

We can't take bold, impactful action if we don't do all the planning and preparation it takes to be in a strong position to move forward when the conditions are right.

City Manager Carlson and her team were thoughtful and strategic.

They have ensured that we are in a position tonight to say yes to what is a significant step forward in building affordable housing in our city.

And our strong financial commitment in this effort can serve as an example for other cities in the region when they make similar decisions.

It's what it takes to build 271 units of affordable housing, and it is what it takes to reach our goal of producing or preserving the big number of affordable units we have committed to building.

Bellevue is the second largest city in the country, county, and the fifth largest in the state.

This level of investment in affordable housing is one way for us to act like it.

100% in favor of these funding awards.

Hope to see it come back to us on consent soon so that the funded projects can move forward quickly.

Thank you, Mayor.

Great remark, great delivery, sir, as always.

Uh I submarine, I have a test for you.

I am going to throw you acronym, tell me what they are.

Sure.

Uh HTF.

HTF is the housing trust fund.

HSP.

Housing Stability Program.

A H F.

Affordable Housing Fund.

MFTE.

The multi-family tax exemption.

Okay, this is a real test.

M-A-H.

M A H Mandatory affordable housing.

Well, this SMAH.

Vin Via Supercharger tweet.

Yes.

So joke on the side, we are layering all of these acronyms that you threw at us, and I was trying to test you and you pass if it's a flying collar.

I just recommend there should be a dashboard that kind of have all of these, say what result to what, how many affordable housing is generated.

And I think that would be a good thing for public to see that uh to how all of these fit together and what total leverage of our achieving per dollar invested, especially when we have these 10 years goal of 5,700 units.

That's some of them majority half of that is 30% AMI below.

So I think and then some of them is workforce housing.

I think it would be great to can kind of have that map somehow that when I wanted to brag about RCT, I can go and check that and say, okay, all of these acronyms resolve it at these.

Uh thank you so much.

We have a motion.

Do I have the motion, please?

I move to direct staff to prepare legislation for consideration at a future meeting, approving up to a total of 37 million 37,659 in project funding awards, including 22,544, 778 in capital and 637,852 in annual OMS funds for a five year term with an annual inflation factor from the housing stability program and a total of 11,303,621 dollars from the affordable housing fund.

Second.

Mayor, may I ask that we add on to bring it back on consent?

Uh yes.

Can you uh and bring it back on consent?

Second.

It has been moved uh by deputy mayor and seconded by council member Breyer to come back on consent.

Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The motion passes.

Thank you so much.

We will take 14 minutes break and we will be back by 8 15.