Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Redmond City Council held a study session on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, beginning at 7:07 PM. All council members were present; Mayor Angela Birney was not in attendance. Council President Melissa Stuart presided. The council discussed five agenda items: preparation for the 2027 legislative session, fire impact fee updates, the creation of a new development services department, 2027 regional board appointments, and council talk time items.
Amy Sai, Chief Policy Advisor, along with lobbyists Kyle Schroeder and Brianna Murray from Gordon Thomas Honeywell, presented the latest draft of the 2027 State Legislative Agenda. The draft incorporated feedback from the council's September study session, focusing on streamlining the document and adjusting policy language. Key changes included the removal of a standalone MFTE item (deemed addressable during the session), the inclusion of specific language on condominium liability reform (Councilmember Forsythe), the reframing of "excessive administrative fees" to "unpredictable fees" (Council President Stuart), and the addition of a section on immigrant, refugee, and asylum seeker support. Council supported adding youth crisis response and counseling language to the public safety section, as well as incorporating references to the legislative agendas of the Eastside Transportation Partnership and the RIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council. The agenda is scheduled for adoption on the November 2nd consent calendar.
Deputy Fire Chief Ami Varrrell and consultant Nicole Kissum (NBS) presented a comprehensive update to the fire impact fee schedule, the first since 1999. The update was mandated by the new Fire Functional Plan (2025-2050) and state law requiring proportionally lower fees for smaller residential units. The proposal was based on a system plan approach analyzing $131 million in capital costs and a projected 54% increase in call volume by 2050, resulting in a cost of $6,882.15 per call. The staff recommended schedule included a significantly reduced fee for assisted living/nursing care facilities ($3,000/licensed bed) to mitigate potential negative impacts on development, lowering projected total revenue from $37.3 million to $33.5 million over 25 years. Councilmember Parsi expressed comfort with the full staff recommendation. Councilmembers Kritzer, Forsythe, Soni, and Stewart advocated for a phased implementation to avoid a sudden cost increase for developers. Finance Director Cochran advised against a 10-year phase-in, recommending a maximum of 4 years. The council agreed to have staff bring back linear projection models for 2, 3, and 4-year phase-in scenarios for discussion at an upcoming committee meeting.
Acting Director Jason Lynch, alongside Director Cochran, Chief Shepherd, and Acting Director Stinger, presented a proposal to consolidate multiple city functions into a new department aimed at streamlining permitting, plan review, and inspections. The proposed structure merges the Capital Division from Public Works into this new department. Multiple councilmembers (Parsi, Vice President, Soni) worried the department was "too big, too soon," noting the six-level deep organizational chart and the inclusion of the Capital Division. Councilmember Prakriya requested a clear workflow comparison for a specific project (e.g., a duplex permit) and questioned the direct inclusion of IT/TIS given the focus on AI tools. Council President Stuart expressed the council was "kept in the dark" during the process and requested robust quarterly reporting. Councilmember Soni emphasized the need for a detailed change management plan. Councilmember Kritzer noted the significant commitment of adding 8 new FTEs and sought clarification on cost recovery models. The council decided to hold a special meeting the following week to continue deliberations, with the goal of informing the upcoming budget process.
Council President Stuart reviewed the Sound Cities Association (SCA) call for nominations for regional boards. Council President Stuart indicated she would re-apply for the Growth Management Planning Council and apply for the Regional Policy Committee. Mayor Birney expressed interest in the Puget Sound Regional Council Transportation Policy Board. Councilmember Kritzer recommended the Regional Transit Committee and the Affordable Housing Committee as high-impact opportunities. The application deadline for SCA appointments is November 6th.
The Tenant Protection Subcommittee (Councilmembers Prakriya, Kritzer, and Forsythe) proposed a full-time Housing Navigator/Administrator position focused on tenant stability policy and programs, and a pilot program with the Eviction Legal Advocacy Project (ELAP) for renters above current income limits. Councilmember Forsythe proposed bringing forward a resolution in opposition to Washington State Initiatives 001 and 638, which she stated overwhelmingly harm the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Council President Stuart noted the logistical challenges of noticing a public hearing within the tight timeline but committed to working with leadership to explore feasibility. Councilmember Soni requested a regular quarterly report on development activity blending city permit data with qualitative developer feedback.
Thank you. I'm calling this meeting to order. This is a Redmond City Council study session held on Tuesday, October 13th, commencing at 7.07 p.m. All council members are in attendance. Mayor Burney is not in attendance tonight. And there are five items on our agenda. Preparation for the 2027 legislative session, Redmond Fire Impact Fee update, creation of a new department to support improved development services functions, 2027 regional boards and committees, and council talk time. The first item on the agenda is preparation for the upcoming legislative session, and introducing our conversation tonight will be Amy Sai, Chief Policy Advisor. Welcome, Amy. Thank you, Council President. Is this there we go? Amy Sai, Chief Policy Advisor, as you noted. And with me online, I have Brianna Murray and also Kyle Schroeder from Gordon Thomas Honeywell Government Relations, our amazing city lobby team. So thank you, Brianna and Kyle. They will be here and available to answer any questions that they have expertise on. Otherwise, today it I will be walking you through the changes in response to the feedback that you had offered in September at our first study session on this topic. So this is the first page of the legislative agenda. I will begin by noting that a lot of the changes are cosmetic and technical. And so what I have put in the packet for you are red lines of the substantive issues that might be of greater interest to you. If you do a comparadox of this version and the last version, there is a lot of redlining because I took to heart Council President's observation that over time the agenda has become tiny font, progressive lens focused, and needs some streamlining and refinement. And so that's what this uh document reflects. And so the fonts are all one size bigger now. Um, we had discussed potentially adding an M multifamily tax property exemption item to the agenda because we were in some serious considerations about some gaps that happened during session. You will notice it in the copy that in front of you there is no MFT item, and that is because upon further discussion internally and externally as well. Um, we believe that we'll have the flexibility to address it during session as needed. There is an MFTE reference already on the regional page, and so this was not an item that we needed to highlight on the front page at this time. There's going to be a lot of priority housing issues coming through during session. So thank you for your patience. Thank you for your flexibility and your willingness to include it. Um we are here on the front page, left with the original three items, which is the maintenance and operations center, capital project, the request that the Overlake Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvement Project continue to be funded. And as a reminder, that was Climate Commitment Act funding in the Move Ahead Washington package a number of years ago. And as we reach final stage of that project, encouraging them to continue to keep that funded. And then the final item is the state grant programs where we do apply for state funding. We have benefited from our wonderful delegation and the state legislature every year. And so this is a request that as we apply for grants to please prioritize and fully fund these programs because they do support valuable projects. Now on the first draft, we had highlighted Perigo Park. That is still on this page. One change that we have made here is we do have other state grants in the Hopper, and so this new edit is it still retains the Perigo Park and adds in other transportation grants that we are currently applying for. We will receive rankings and our um where we stand on those grants later this fall. If there's no question on that, uh figure out how to turn to the next page. Amy, I think we'll have you present the full agenda and then we'll take questions at the end. Okay.