Committee of the Whole - Planning and Public Works, March 3, 2026
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Committee of the Whole - Planning and Public Works Meeting: March 3, 2026
The Redmond City Council Committee of the Whole – Planning and Public Works met on March 3, 2026, beginning at 4:33 p.m. The meeting covered six action items (all advanced to consent), a land-use map amendment for further study, and feedback sessions for upcoming study sessions on the MOC Campus Redevelopment and Council Rules of Procedure.
Consent Calendar
- Grass Lawn Park Parking Lot Hardscape Project: Approved final contract with Rodarte Construction, Inc. for $899,199 (approximately $53,000 under budget). Accept construction and increase total funding. Title corrected to reflect under-budget status. Moved to March 17 consent.
- 10000 Avondale Erosion Control Project: Approved final contract with Active Construction Incorporated for $1,806,230.82 (about $60,000 under contract and $900,000 under budget). Moved to March 17 consent.
- Wastewater Lift Station Equipment Upgrades Phase 2: Award construction contract to Equity Builders, LLC ($2.09 million – $200k savings from rebid), approve BHC Consultants supplemental agreement ($240,000), and increase total project funding by $740,000 (less than prior request). Upgrades at four lift stations to replace obsolete pumps and add cutter heads for rags. Moved to March 17 consent.
- Connection to King County Wastewater System – Avondale Way: Approved consultant agreement with OTAK for $207,958 to design upsizing of a short pipe section. Total project $1.09 million. Construction anticipated late 2026/summer 2027. Moved to March 17 consent.
- 148th Ave Safety Corridor Project: Approved consultant agreement with Toole Design (not to exceed $300,000) for engineering design. Project funded by HSIP grant ($1,318,000). Separately coordinated with Overlake pedestrian projects. Moved to March 17 consent.
Discussion Items
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Land Use Map and Zoning Map Amendments – 6900 188th Ave NE: Senior Planner Glenn Coyle presented a planning commission recommendation to deny the property owner’s request to redesignate 4.82 acres from Business Park to Citywide Mixed Use and rezone to Corridor Mixed Use. Staff had found it met criteria, but the commission recommended denial to preserve business park land. Council raised questions about housing yield (potential 637 units vs. current 109), impact on affordable housing goals, economic diversification, and risks of losing business park land irrevocably. Council decided to hold a study session (likely after legislative session) to explore trade-offs, unintended consequences, and relevant state legislation (Senate bill on ground-floor commercial requirements). Council also noted a development agreement exists for “Redmond Flex.” No vote taken.
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MOC Campus Redevelopment Project – Progress Update: Deputy Director Brandon Bueller and Steve Gibbs presented an update on validation activities for the Maintenance and Operations Center redevelopment (progressive design-build). Council questions focused on: advancing city priorities (capital facilities, zero carbon, sustainability action plan), financial trade-offs of site acquisition vs. lease, benchmarks from comparable projects, risk/cost of dispersed vs. consolidated facilities, and detailed financial breakdowns for the $225 million project. Director Burt tempered expectations, noting that in-depth financial and site option details will not be available for the March 24 study session. Council asked for existing materials on progressive design-build to be shared with new members.
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Draft 8th Amendment to Council Rules of Procedure: Council President Stewart introduced a matrix capturing proposed changes from prior discussion. Councilmember Kritzer noted two items not reflected: a minimum of two applicants to be interviewed in vacancy processes, and a disclosure requirement for familial/close personal relationships with applicants. Council agreed to move forward with items 1–6 in a next draft while deferring items 7–11 for future consideration. The timeline for bringing the draft to consent will depend on coordination with the city clerk and attorney.
Key Outcomes
- All five action items (contract awards and approvals) were unanimously directed to the March 17, 2026 consent agenda.
- Land Use Map amendment for 6900 188th Ave NE was scheduled for a future study session; no immediate decision.
- MOC Campus Redevelopment update will be presented at the March 24 study session; council questions were recorded for staff response.
- The Council Rules of Procedure amendment will proceed as a consolidated package (items 1–6) with minor suggested edits; scheduling for consent agenda is pending.
Meeting Transcript
I'm calling this meeting to order this. Is the planning and public works meeting commencing at me? Commencing March 3rd, 2026 at 4 33 p.m. Council members in attendance are Councilmember Parsi, Kritzer, Procria, Sony, Council President Stewart, and myself, Council Vice President Nueva Kamina standing in for Councilmember Forsyth today. As this is everybody, we're not expecting any latecomers. And do we have any other informational on there? Let me scroll down. No informational, no read only. So the first item on the agenda today is approve the final contract with Rodark Construction Inc. of Auburn, Washington and accept construction for the Hardscape project for Grasslawn Park parking lot and increase the total funding for this project. Wow, that is a mouthful. Joining us here at the table is Mr. Steve Gibbs and that name is not correct on there. I am so sorry. And Brett and Bueller public. Thank you, Brandon. Because I'm looking at Joe Avril and you are most definitely not Joe. Thank you, Brandon, for joining us. Wonderful. Thanks, Joe. Although well, good to know that you're hanging out there. All right, sir, take it away. Yeah, so this uh as introduced, this is just to approve the final contract with Rhode Art Construction uh of Auburn Washington to accept construction for the hardscape project, Grass Lawn Park parking lot. And Steve can speak to the increased total funding for this project because I believe we are actually under budget on this. Yeah, so uh start off with the uh we've got an error in the title. Um and um good news on this is um we're under budget. So um just wanted to go over quickly uh uh when we accept a contract, um in the in the memo it talks about any any contract over 300,000 and we come to council for final approval on that contract. And when we're when we're at that accept stage, uh the contractors finish all physical work on the project, and then they've also provided all the documentation required in the contract, which would be prevailing wage and um any other um uh the apprentice program documentation, any other stuff that it the contract requires. So we're just bringing a couple of those to you today. So I thought I'd give you a quick uh overview on that. Um so so this uh Grasslawn project, it uh rehabilitated the eastern parking lot, which adjacent to 148th Avenue, um completely rebuilt the asphalt, removed all the trees and um the um kind of the ivy uh ground cover. Uh we stalled um um ADA parking stalls in the parking lot, uh uh improved the sidewalk adjacent, um took care of the um and then replanted with kind of our sustainable uh tree menu and um final contract with Rhodarity construction was uh 899, 199. That's about 28,000 over the contract amount, but it's about 53,000 under the budget. And so we're looking to go on consent at the March 17th business meeting. Happy to answer any other questions. Are there any count any questions or comments from council? Council President Stewart. Uh well, thank you, team, so much uh for this update and also the project looks great. So um I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate that and reflect on this project in particular. We did try some new communications tactics, particularly when it came to concern around knowing that the neighborhood would experience a change in the street trees uh related to this project. So your team did an awesome job of um doing public education ahead of that, why this was happening, why it needed to happen, and why it actually furthered our sustainability goals to move forward with this rather than to let the um issues that we were having continue on. We were really concerned ahead of this project that quite frankly our council inboxes would be flooded with questions and concerns about this project, and that was never the case. And I do think that that was in part because of the great communication that we had. So I I know that's not on the page here today, but I I did want to um convey that that was really well appreciated, and I and I do hope we'll continue to to learn from those tactics. Um my only question was just to clarify uh this one was introduced as possibly having uh uh some savings, but I think this one we're a little over, and then we've got some savings in some of the later items in the budget today. Is that just to correct the record? I think right? No, no, we actually are under by 53,000 if you go through the funding sheet. So yeah, it was just a missed uh mistype in the title. Oh mistyping the title.
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