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Record of Proceedings

Edmonds City Council Meeting - December 2, 2025

City Council & Boards — Tuesday, December 2, 2025
BodyEdmonds, Washington
SessionCity Council & Boards
DateTuesday, December 2, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:14:35

Original source
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1:31

All right, welcome.

1:32

Welcome to December and welcome to the December 2nd Edmonds City Council meeting.

1:37

And would you all please join me in the flag salute?

1:46

And to the Republic for which it stands.

1:51

Indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

1:55

Thank you.

1:56

Councilmember Chen, would you do the land acknowledgement, please?

2:00

Thank you.

2:03

We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Snowhomest people and their successor, the Tulelop chives, who sings time in memorial have hunted fish gather and taken care of this lens.

2:19

We respect their sovereignty, the right to accept determination, and we honor the secret spiritual connection with the Lang and Water.

2:31

Thank you.

2:32

May we have a roll call, please.

2:35

Councilmember Eck.

2:37

Councilmember Chen.

2:38

Council President Tibbet.

2:40

Councilmember Dodge.

2:42

Councilmember Olson.

2:44

Here.

2:45

Councilmember Payne.

2:47

Councilmember Nand.

2:48

Mayor Rosen.

2:50

All elected officials are present.

2:53

Thank you.

2:55

Our next item of business is approval of the agenda.

3:04

Anybody opposed, please raise your hand and say nay.

3:07

The motion carries unanimously.

3:09

Thank you.

3:09

Our next item of business is presentations.

3:12

And the first one is the introduction of our new student council representative.

3:16

Council President Tibbet, please.

3:18

Yes.

3:26

And we're so pleased to have you here.

3:28

You you've come highly recommended.

3:30

And uh we really appreciate uh your interest in council work and your promise to help us out along the way.

3:37

So uh would you like to say a few words while you're here?

3:41

Okay, go ahead.

3:46

There you go.

3:47

Hi guys, I'm really excited to be here.

3:50

Um it's an honor to be sitting here with everyone.

3:53

Thank you.

3:56

Thank you.

3:57

Welcome to the next item of business is the mayor finance update.

4:04

However, there is an awful lot of money to be talked about tonight.

4:07

Um, so we'll uh allocate the time for that.

4:10

Um of business is audience comments.

4:14

Um there is a public hearing tonight on the interim zoning for the several former WMU zoned properties.

4:22

Uh so this is an opportunity to talk to council about anything except that.

4:27

Um if anybody wishes to address council on items other than the public hearing, uh, please approach the podium.

4:36

And please state your name, City of Residence, and you will have three minutes.

4:40

When you have 30 seconds left, it'll turn yellow.

4:43

And then when your time is up, it'll turn red.

4:46

And in a minute, when Emily gets over there, you'll be able to start.

4:50

Thank you.

4:51

I'm Marty Rohnish.

4:52

I live in the North Pole hub in Edmonds.

5:00

And I'm here to thank you for listening over many, many, many months to residents of the North Pole Holt Hub and working with us to find really reasonable solutions.

5:05

It's really been an excellent experience working with Brad and Mike and the Vusha at planning and the outstanding folks on the city council.

5:14

So thank you.

5:15

The city has installed traffic flow cameras.

5:17

One of our complaints was that we have a real bottleneck in traffic.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Fiscal Sustainability████████████████████████████████████████40%
Land Use Regulations████████████12%
Procedural███████████11%
Public Engagement██████████10%
Budget Equity Analysis█████████9%
Utility Tax████4%
Public Works███3%
Community Engagement███3%
Economic Development███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Edmonds City Council Meeting - December 2, 2025

The Edmonds City Council held a regular meeting on December 2, 2025, at 6:00 PM. Key actions included the introduction of a new student council representative, a public hearing on interim zoning, a discussion of the October 2025 financial report, the passage of a temporary utility tax increase (4-3), adoption of the 2025 Comprehensive Plan amendments for the North Bowl hub (4-3), and unanimous approval of three ordinances updating the Edmonds City Development Code (ECDC) Title 18 and Chapter 20.110.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved meeting minutes for Committee B and Committee of the Whole from November 18, 2025.
  • Approved claim checks and wire payments.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Marty Rohnish (Edmonds resident, North Bowl hub) thanked the council for their work on the hub and urged reconsideration of including six properties south of Puget Drive in the MU3 zoning, citing traffic safety and ecologically significant area concerns.
  • Jim O'Ganowski (Edmonds resident) congratulated the city on financial performance in 2025, but opposed the proposed utility tax increase, advocating for an alternative budget and a citizens financial advisory committee.
  • Bill Krepik (Woodway resident) echoed opposition to the utility tax, citing the 59% vote against Prop One and a petition with 154 signatures calling for taxpayer-centered governance reforms.
  • John Allen (Edmonds resident, North Bowl hub) thanked the council for the process, supported option 2 (upzoning only commercial zones), and asked to remove parcels south of Puget Drive.

Discussion Items

  • October 2025 Monthly Financial Report: Finance Director Richard Gould presented the report. Highlights included fund balances $12.4 million over budget due to delayed capital projects and higher-than-expected real estate excise tax. Sales tax stabilized but remained $900,000 below projections. Labor costs were 7% under budget overall. The city borrowed $6 million internally to manage cash flow. Councilmembers noted the need for long-term financial planning.
  • Ordinance Amending Utility Tax Rates: Council President Tibbetts proposed a temporary 10% increase (from 10% to 20%) on water, sewer, and stormwater utility taxes for 18 months, estimated to generate $3.2 million. The increase would add approximately $13 per month to the average household bill. Utility assistance programs exist for low-income households (30% or 50% discounts). After debate, the ordinance passed 4-3 (Councilmembers Eck, Chen, Tibbetts, Dodge in favor; Olson, Payne, Nand opposed).
  • Discussion of 2025 Comp Plan Amendments: The council considered the extent of the North Bowl hub. The planning board recommended removing Grandview Drive and including only BN zone properties. Councilmember Dodge moved to adopt option 2, which includes only BN zone properties and removes the parcels south of Puget Drive. The motion passed 4-3 (Eck, Chen, Tibbetts, Dodge in favor; Olson, Payne, Nand opposed).
  • ECDC Title 18 and Ch 20.110 Code Amendments: Three ordinances were presented to improve management of the city's right-of-way. All passed unanimously after councilmember accolades for the collaborative process with utilities.

Key Outcomes

  • Utility Tax Increase Approved: Ordinance raising utility tax rates on water, sewer, and stormwater from 10% to 20% for 18 months, effective until July 1, 2027. Vote: 4-3.
  • North Bowl Hub Comp Plan Amendment Adopted: Amended the Future Land Use Map to include only BN zone properties in the North Bowl hub, removing the six parcels south of Puget Drive. Vote: 4-3.
  • Right-of-Way Ordinances Adopted: Three ordinances amending ECDC Title 18 (General Requirements and Right-of-Way Regulation) and Chapter 20.110 (Civil Violation and Enforcement Procedure) were approved unanimously.
  • New Student Council Representative: Vivian Liao introduced; she plans to create an Instagram account to engage youth.
  • Next Steps: Council President Tibbetts announced a resolution for a levy lid lift public hearing in two weeks, and additional budget cuts of $1.5 million will be considered.

Meeting Transcript

All right, welcome. Welcome to December and welcome to the December 2nd Edmonds City Council meeting. And would you all please join me in the flag salute? And to the Republic for which it stands. Indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Councilmember Chen, would you do the land acknowledgement, please? Thank you. We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Snowhomest people and their successor, the Tulelop chives, who sings time in memorial have hunted fish gather and taken care of this lens. We respect their sovereignty, the right to accept determination, and we honor the secret spiritual connection with the Lang and Water. Thank you. May we have a roll call, please. Councilmember Eck. Councilmember Chen. Council President Tibbet. Councilmember Dodge. Councilmember Olson. Here. Councilmember Payne. Councilmember Nand. Mayor Rosen. All elected officials are present. Thank you. Our next item of business is approval of the agenda. Anybody opposed, please raise your hand and say nay. The motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Our next item of business is presentations. And the first one is the introduction of our new student council representative. Council President Tibbet, please. Yes. And we're so pleased to have you here. You you've come highly recommended. And uh we really appreciate uh your interest in council work and your promise to help us out along the way. So uh would you like to say a few words while you're here? Okay, go ahead. There you go. Hi guys, I'm really excited to be here. Um it's an honor to be sitting here with everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to the next item of business is the mayor finance update. However, there is an awful lot of money to be talked about tonight. Um, so we'll uh allocate the time for that. Um of business is audience comments. Um there is a public hearing tonight on the interim zoning for the several former WMU zoned properties. Uh so this is an opportunity to talk to council about anything except that. Um if anybody wishes to address council on items other than the public hearing, uh, please approach the podium. And please state your name, City of Residence, and you will have three minutes. When you have 30 seconds left, it'll turn yellow.

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