Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Redmond Planning Commission met on September 9, 2026, for a study session that included briefings on the Urban Mixed Use Master Plan, the Design Standards Update, and a presentation on the city's capital improvement projects and facilities. The meeting also involved the approval of the Planning Commission Rules Update, though this item was not discussed in detail during the transcribed portion.
Capital Improvement Program and Facilities Overview – Staff presented the six-year CIP revenue forecast, noting that projections assume annual CPI adjustments but no new revenues. Key capital projects discussed included the redevelopment of the Maintenance and Operations Center (MOC) at $250 million, the Teen Center replacement at $35 million, and the Bellwether City Annex. The Parks and Recreation Director, Lorene Hamilton, highlighted the need to balance new facilities, replacement of failing ones, and maintenance of existing spaces. Commissioners asked about revenue assumptions and the timing of major costs in 2029.
Urban Mixed Use Master Plan Briefing – Principal Planner Becky (last name not given) and summer interns Christopher Gaffney and Sarah presented a study of the Urban Mixed Use (UMU) zone south of Redmond Way, focusing on transitioning a big-box retail area into a complete, mixed-use neighborhood. Key goals include preserving all existing commercial square footage, accommodating approximately 3,700 new dwelling units (up to 4,000), and increasing jobs. The team shared examples from Los Angeles (mixed-use Costco), Vancouver (Home Depot), Mountlake Terrace, and Virginia. They identified challenges such as critical aquifer recharge areas, pedestrian connectivity across Redmond Way, noise from freight, and tribal consultation (particularly with the Snoqualmie tribe). Commissioners asked about the feasibility of retrofitting existing big-box stores, pedestrian safety, and trade-offs between housing and jobs. The study is proposed for the next budget cycle, aiming to identify code updates and infrastructure needs.
Design Standards Update Briefing – Senior Planner Odra Cardenas presented the third phase of implementing Redmond 2050 through design code updates. The work includes a comprehensive code audit, 3D modeling testing of building forms (standard, mass timber, podium, and tower) on four sites, and research on two new pathways: living regenerative building and universal design. Testing results showed minimal impact on yield, but conflicts were found between some standards (e.g., courtyards vs. corner treatments) and with mass timber height requirements. The team has started community engagement via the city’s ‘Let’s Connect’ platform and plans a developers workshop. Formal review and adoption are targeted for the first quarter of 2027. Commissioners discussed the testing methodology, the importance of flexibility to avoid uniform design, and the need to balance aspirational goals with cost and affordability.
Check my notes. But going forward, this is uh one of those uh lines that uh Kelly was discussing that um our development is because it's so sporadic and you know making sure that we don't kind of jump the gun with uh increasing our projections on these development. Um we want to make sure that these are conservative. So that's why that line in particular is uh pretty static throughout this whole time frame. Um and it does include uh fire impact fees, uh assuming that gets uh accepted uh into this next um uh this next six-year window. Um the other agencies line, um, that's mainly your two biggest lines there are your King County uh parks levy. Uh we're uh anticipating about 500,000 um being used in the CIP. Um there's also uh $7 million uh that we're uh anticipating using of the transportation benefit district. Um those two uh alone kind of make up a big uh chunk of that line. Um and lastly, our REAT line uh that also the real estate excise tax. That's the same uh kind of uh projection that we were making sure with our development projections. We don't want to jump against we want to make sure we keep that kind of conservative, making sure that we don't uh preemptively react to any kind of uh spike that we may have seen uh in recent years. And then for this slide, really what we're trying to show with this is um you're looking at uh specifically for parks transportation and general government. This shows you just how those portfolios are budgeted to be spent over the next six years. Uh the dotted line is that cumulative amount that's of through this period. Um the real I think the real takeaway of this slide is just seeing the magnitude of the costs that we have of these projects in 2029. Uh you'll see that blue portion in particular jumps up because that's when we have our larger projects uh like the MOC, Fire Station 11, a few of those projects that are really gonna have their higher costs um hitting that uh in that period. And I'll just talk briefly about this. Uh these are just some financial obligations that we do have in this portfolio or portfolio. I just wanted to make sure we mention it because these aren't covered in the other sections. Uh, this is just our general fund overhead, insurance, IT overhead, um, things that uh you know or cost to the city in order to have a uh um the things that the capital program needs. We need to make sure that those are um those costs are covered. Uh we also have uh city hall uh maintenance and operations, um, some reserves there as well, and then uh some debt service uh built into this uh portfolio as well. And um lastly, this slide is uh modeled after the slide that we brought uh to you earlier this year. Um this is showing all of the strategic projects that we had uh brought some of the uh highest priority projects that we wanted to make sure we're and we're here to tell you that those projects are projects were funded. Um they are uh they do actually have slides that are coming uh in in subsequent slides to kind of talk about each one of those projects to know about the details of what's within that project and uh the scope of those. Um one little kind of visual cue you can see is that that uh gold star on the top is kind of representing the strategic uh projects for you. So if you see that on one of these project slides that are coming forward, you'll know that's one of those strategic uh projects. And from that point, we were um unless there were any questions for uh the forecast, I was gonna pass it over to uh director Hamilton. Yeah, just uh call for questions. Um Council Vice President Nueva Camina. Very quickly on page eight. Um there was a call out for the City Hall MO. Um it had a significant increase in 2020 and beyond. 2033 is um kind of around the corner. So can you give us a heads up of what might be coming down the line? That uh the line is um the columns a little bit uh misleading because it's is pulling in more than just three years. Uh I think for 23 or 2033 and beyond is going to 2040, so that's why it's showing a larger amount. So uh it should have been a little bit clearer on that column. So I apologize for that. But there's thank you for the clarification. Of course.