I'd like to call to order the city council meeting of June 2nd, 2026.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Deputy Mayor Bushnell.

Councilmember Diaz.

Councilmember Heinz.

Here.

Councilmember Palmer.

Absent Councilmember Rumba.

Here.

Councilmember Sidalga?

Councilmember Scott?

Here.

Councilmember Walker?

Here.

Mayor Ibsen?

Here.

Please join me in listening to the land acknowledgement and flag salute led by Councilmember Walker, followed by a moment of silence.

We gratefully honor and acknowledge that we rest on the traditional lands of the Puallop people where they make their home and speak the Lashut seed language.

Please stand for the flag salute and remain standing for a moment of silence.

Are there any modifications to the agenda this evening?

Seeing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda.

I move to adopt the consent agenda, including resolutions number 41918 and 41919.

Second.

Moving second, are there any questions, comments, or corrections?

All right, seeing none, all those in favor of adopting the consent agenda, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed to say nay.

Consent agenda is declared adopted.

We have three ceremonials tonight.

Uh for Fan Zone Month.

I would like to invite uh Chairman Bill Sterod from the Peallop tribe of Indians, Pierce County, and a visit Tacoma, Pierce County to the podium as I read the proclamation.

Whereas the City of Tacoma joins communities across the region in welcoming soccer fans from around the world as the 2026 FIFA World Cup brings global excitement, connection, and celebration to Washington State.

And whereas the Puallop Tribe of Indians, as the official host city supporter of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Seattle, welcomes visitors to their homeland and marks a historic occasion as the first Native American tribe to hold this role on the world's largest sporting stage.

And whereas the Puala tribe of Indians will share their living and enduring culture through the official Puallop tribal fan zone and related events, including viewing parties, a parade and opening ceremony, powwow, stick games, coastal protocol, and other community celebrations.

And whereas the partnership between the Puallop tribe of Indians, the City of Tacoma, and Pierce County reflects a shared commitment to hospitality, cultural celebration, regional pride, and creating a welcome experience for residents and visitors alike.

And whereas the city is proud to support this regional celebration by helping connect fans to the festivities and showcasing the South Sound as a vibrant, inclusive, and welcoming destination.

Now, therefore, I Andrews Ibsen, Mayor of the City of Tacoma, on behalf of the City Council do hereby proclaim June 26th as fan zone month in the city of Tacoma and encourage all residents to join in welcoming soccer fans, celebrating the Piawba Tribe of Indians' historic role, and supporting the events and partnerships that bring our community together.

Please say a few words.

That sounds really nice.

Who are you talking about?

Very cool.

This is a historic moment.

Not just for us, but not just for you guys, but for the entire Western Washington.

You know, some great things are gonna happen, right?

There are great things happening right now.

I guess it's you could call it unity.

You know, we all need to uh give each other a hug now and then.

We all need to have a good time together now and then, and this is what this is all about.

And we're gonna show this off to the entire world.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman.

Are there any uh members of the council like to comment?

Any of the speakers who like to comment?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, Adam Cook, Director for Tacoma Venues and Events, City of Tacoma.

Um, just want to echo those sentiments.

Uh, as we have built this partnership between the Puallop tribe of Indians, City of Tacoma, Pierce County, and Visit Tacoma, Pierce County, um, it has been about unity.

It has been about how we bring the world to our region.

Uh, and with that, we invite everybody to turn out for the plethora of events that will be taking place from June 12th, yes, just 10 days away until our kickoff through July 6th.

Several events taking place throughout the region.

You can see all of the information at puallop all together.org.

So encourage everybody to take a look there and come on out and see us.

Thank you.

Well, with that, uh please uh step forward and accept the proclamation and please join me in a round of applause for this very exciting occasion.

Yes, sir.

Cool.

All right.

Thank you.

Our second proclamation is proclaiming June 2026 as Gun Violence Awareness Month.

For Gun Violence Awareness Month, I would like to invite Shalisa Hayes, founder of the Billy Ray Foundation and board president of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility Foundation to the podium as I read the proclamation.

Whereas, when high school student Hadea Pendleton was shot and killed in 2013, her friends turned their grief into action and wore orange to raise awareness about gun violence prevention by starting the first Wear Orange Day in 2015.

And whereas gun violence is a preventable public health tragedy that affects communities across the U.S.

where every day more than a hundred people die by gun violence, including approximately 70 by firearm suicide and more than 35 by firearm harmicide.

While over 200 people visit emergency departments for firearm-related injuries, both accidental and intentional.

And whereas since 2013, the city has invested in programs and worked across sectors and government entities to reduce and eliminate gun violence in our community.

And whereas Council adopted resolution number four one six four two authorizing the flying of the orange flag to raise awareness about gun violence prevention and as a statement of our commitment to end senseless gun violence with evidence-based solutions, pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the wrong hands, and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our children safe and protect everyone in our community.

Now, therefore, I, Andrews Ibsen, mayor of the City of Tacoma, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim June 2026 as Gun Violence Awareness Month and June 5th through 7, 2026 as Wear Orange Weekend in the City of Tacoma, and call upon all residents, employees, and officials of the city to join and reflect upon our individual and collective responsibility as community members to help end the epidemic of gun violence.

We also call on our community to join us in Wearing Orange during Wear Orange Weekend and getting involved in organizations that are taking action to end gun violence in the city.

Please say a few words.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, almost evening, everyone.

I stand here on behalf of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility Foundation, as well as myself as a survivor of the ugly disease of gun violence.

I want to thank all of you for recognizing such an important time and for your continued partnership in promoting gun safety while honoring the many lives lost as well as those lives injured by the reckless handling of firearms.

I often share a message I received in a letter from former President Obama because I think it acts as a reminder of our collective responsibility to prevent gun violence and to support our impact at neighbors.

Some of you may have heard this already from me already, but for those that haven't, the message is simple.

It is if there is even one thing we can do to keep our children and our community safe, then we have an obligation to try.

We honor those we have lost by doing everything we can to stop all gun violence in our nation and to forge a future worthy of their memories.

This is a huge battle that I understand sometimes seems impossible to win.

But as long as we stand focused or stay focused and stay determined, a lot can be prevented, even if it's just one life saved.

Because one life lost or harmed is one too many.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It looks like we have some council members uh who um who would like to say a few words.

Because this uh this topic absolutely rates the conversation, and thank you so much, uh Ms.

Hayes, for your bold leadership on all this.

Uh, I'm gonna start with uh calling on Councilmember Rumbaugh, all about Councilmember Palmer.

Okay, thank you so much, and I want to thank you for being here tonight, and just um want you to know that we all know that there are many survivors of gun violence all over our city and Pierce County, obviously our nation.

But um I agree with you that anything that we can do to stop gun violence, but I want to say that one of the things that I think that has happened recently is that um they're now doing gun surrenders in Pierce County in the Superior Court, whereas before they weren't, and so now if there's somebody who's been accused of an assault, um, they now will have to surrender their weapon if they're accused if if there's a domestic violence case.

So I just um I know domestic violence is tied to youth violence, and um I just love to change that, and so working really hard on that, and I just want you to know that it takes a lot of guts to come here and talk to us, and I really appreciate you showing up and all of the work that you've done for our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Palmer.

Thank you, Mayor.

It's been a while since I've been up here that I felt a little bit panicked and a little bit nervous to talk.

Um, gun violence is something that has uh personally affected my family and me.

And you know, there's the stories there.

Of course, there's the immediate uh victims of of gun violence, but how much it resonates and sticks with folks from for the rest of their lives is something that I can't express.

Um, you know, there's it's a being having that um as part of my story, um, you know, you don't talk about you know seeing guns in movies and being triggered um from those that little little act.

Um there's like you said, there's so much more we can be doing to prevent this from happening to other folks, and thank you for your work uh in raising awareness around this and um coming back year after year uh to do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And uh thank you so much for all that you've done and continue to do to turn tragedy into real outcomes that have improved the entire community, not even just for youth, but Tacoma as a whole.

And Tacoma loves usually so.

So with that, uh please um please accept a warm round of applause and please step forward to accept your proclamation.

All right, wonderful, everybody.

One, two, three.

Fantastic amending.

One more.

One, two, three.

Thank you so much.

Okay, last and certainly not least, uh, our third and final proclamation tonight is proclaiming June 2026 as Ride Transit Month.

For Ride Transit Month, I would like to invite Laura Sven Charek, Executive Director of Tacome on the Go.

Holden Ringer, Advocacy Manager for Transportation Choices Coalition, and Mike Griffiths, CEO of Pier of Pierce Transit, to the podium as I read the proclamation.

Whereas Tacoma is served by Pierce Transit and Sound Transit, providing essential bus, paratransit, on-demand, and regional transit services, connecting residents to work, school, medical care, and community activities.

And whereas in 2025, Pierce Transit and Sound Transit together provided millions of passengers trips throughout Pierce County, including free youth rides and specialized transportation services for individuals with disabilities.

And whereas public transportation strengthens our region by reducing traffic congestion and emissions, improving air quality, supporting local businesses, and expanding access to employment and economic opportunity.

And whereas Pierce Transit has served the South Sound since 1980 and continues to lead in sustainability through investments in renewable fuels and a transition towards a zero emission fleet.

And whereas public transit promotes healthier, more connected, and more equitable communities by increasing mobility and access for low-income residents, communities of color, youth, seniors, and people with disabilities.

Now, therefore, I, Andrews Ibsen, Mayor of the City of Tacoma, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim June 2026 as Ride Transit Month in the City of Tacoma and urge residents, community organizations, and decision makers to ride, promote, and celebrate public transportation as a key aspect of mobility in the city.

Please say a few words.

Thank you, Mayor Ibsen, and thank you, Council for that proclamation.

Public transit is more than buses and routes, it's access.

It connects people to jobs, schools, education, community.

Even the FIFA games, because they didn't mention that as the last thing I wanted to say.

We're providing the transportation for those games.

For seniors, veterans, working families, and people with disabilities, reliable transit can be the difference between isolation and opportunity.

Recognizing Ride Transit Month highlights the important role that transit plays in reducing traffic congestion, improving air quality, and supporting economic growth throughout Pierce County.

It also honors the operators, maintenance teams, and transit employees who keep our communities moving safely every day.

As the county continues to grow, investing and in promoting public transportation is essential to maintaining mobility and quality of life for everyone.

I appreciate the council's leadership in supporting this proclamation and encouraging more residents to experience the benefits of public transit.

Thank you.

Hello, Mayor and Council.

Uh, my name is Laura Swansarek, Executive Director of Tacoma on the Go.

We are your local nonprofit advocate and resource for our transportation.

We work to make it easier and safer for people to walk, bike, and take transit in Tacoma and Pierce County.

Um thank you for recognizing June as Ride Transit Month.

Um all month long, we will be out here, you know, connecting community members with resources with information, getting people orchid cards, um, celebrating and working with our partners at Pierce Transit and Sound Transit.

And we're excited for you to join in with us in this celebration of public transit.

Um, I think we hear a lot about um the way that transit connects our communities together physically, you know, getting people to opportunities, resources, jobs, education, all those things.

I think something that is equally important is how uh transit connects us together interpersonally.

Um, and I do challenge all of you to take some time over the course of June to ride transit in your district because I think that is one of the best ways to really get engaged with people in your district, with everyday people who are just trying to get around.

I think you see these incredible moments of humanity on public transit of people helping each other out, answering each other's questions, just having a conversation with a stranger.

And that's something that you don't get when you drive to every single location that you go to.

So I hope to see you out on transit in the month of June.

And I I also want to recognize the fact that in Tacoma and Pierce County, we have a lot of people that truly rely on public transit as their primary mode of getting around.

And when we don't have a sufficient transit system, we don't have enough frequencies, or we don't have bus stops with shelters and lights and benches, that creates a feeling of not being valued in our community.

It doesn't make you feel respected and like you belong.

And so it is our obligation to continue to invest in and support both having more service hours, better transit in and of itself, but also the city's role in connecting transit through safe sidewalks and street trees and all of these things that help to show that everyone in our community, including the folks who use transit, are welcome and wanted and prioritized in our decision making.

And so I do call on you, were there to be an opportunity in the coming months to support local transit and expanding local transit service, I would call on you to uh take this as an opportunity to really show your support and appreciation of public transit and what it does for our community.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Tacoma City Council and Mayor.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to come and speak today in support of this proclamation and celebration of the beginning of Ride Transit Month.

My name is Holdenmeiner Ringer, I'm representing Transportation Choices Coalition, Washington Statewide Transit Advocacy Org.

Other than the convenience, all the places I can access and the low cost, my favorite part about transit is just running into people I know or meeting somebody new.

Whether I got to catch up with someone or just getting to learn about somebody, the communal element of transit is unmatched.

One of the last times I took the bus to coma, I met a woman who uh who operates a wedding venue here.

Uh her family only has access to one car, so she often needs to take the bus from Seattle.

Although she appreciated the sound transit express buses, uh, she often could not rely on local buses in the evenings, given her work uh at night and when Pierce Transit stops running.

Since starting this work, it's been clear that this experience is not limited to her.

Reliable transit is not something that's just nice to have, uh, it's a necessity for those that rely on it to get to work, to school, to medical care, social services, and everywhere in between.

Transit keeps our roads less congested, our bank accounts healthier, our air cleaner, our youngest, our disabled, our oldest, independent.

Although we at TCC advocate for more funding for transit and other policy solutions that benefit transit, ride transit month and this proclamation speak to the cultural shift we hope to see.

Uh, where transit is the first thought and not the afterthought.

Driving a car is so universal that it doesn't need a special month, and maybe one day taking transit is so commonplace, but there's no longer a need for ride transit month.

Something to aspire to.

But until that day, we're grateful for you for this proclamation and for your support in celebrating Ride Transit Month.

We look forward to continuing to work with you all to improve transit here in Tacoma, whether that be with Pierce Transit or South Transit, uh, and just thank you so much uh and happy ride transit month.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any council comments?

Well, I for one just want to express my appreciation for not only your advocacy, but just just highlighting the relevancy of how these things are all interconnected.

I mean, for example, later this evening we're gonna be talking about critical areas, which among other things has really important implications for our future quality of life, um, our industrial sites, housing opportunities, and it just goes to show you that the importance of highlighting this is for the very reason that there are no such things as purely transportation or housing or affordability or homeless issues.

There's deep interrelation between them.

And it's more than just getting from point A to point B.

It's about affordability, it's about opportunity, and uh, because of all of your work, we're making that even more to the forefront.

Uh so with that, uh please uh come forward to accept the proclamation and uh please accept a warm round of applause.

I love it, okay.

All right, one.

You can do one more big smiles.

One, two, three.

Thank you all.

All right, moving on to public comment.

On tonight's agenda, there are three opportunities.

You heard that right, three, for commenting tonight.

Under public comment, you can speak about motions, resolutions, and ordinances on tonight's agenda.

Under the first public hearing, you can speak about critical areas preservation amendments.

And under the second public hearing, you can speak about the six-year comprehensive transportation improvement program, or the six-year tip.

These forums are intended to give speakers the opportunity to share their viewpoint and feedback with the city council to aid in our decision making.

And is not intended to be a back and forth dialogue.

And just to clarify, public comment is for anything on the agenda not relating to those two hearings, and each hearing is just for that one topic.

So and if you want to raise your hand uh virtually, then you can just raise your hand or press star nine.

So with that, Clerk, please read.

This is the time set for public comment.

Speakers are asked to identify the specific legislation they wish to address.

I'd like to remind everyone to please keep your comments respectful, relevant, focused, and on topic.

We strive to provide a comment period where people can feel respected while sharing a wide variety of viewpoints and acknowledge that we may hear comments that conflict with our values.

To ensure that all speakers can express their first amendment constitutional rights, we ask that you refrain from clapping, cheering, booing, or otherwise being disruptive.

You'll have 90 seconds to make your remarks, and please be uh mindful of your time frame.

As always, you are not required to use all of your time to make your point.

If you cannot remain on topic, you'll be given two warnings.

If you remain off topic, you'll have to move on, and we'll move on to the next speaker.

So with that, our first two in-person speakers are Tyler Daniels, followed by Kit Burns.

Welcome.

And uh which item are you speaking to, sir?

I am speaking to resolution number.

Okay, go ahead.

My name is Tyler Daniels.

I'm a lifelong Tacoman, a former city employee, and someone who deeply is invested in the health, safety, and future of our community.

For years I have raised concerns and offered solutions regarding city operations, infrastructure, and long-term public safety.

Those contributions are documented in public records, council meetings, and projects completed during my tenure at the city.

One example is the long-term plan for reflective pavement markings on arterial streets, a safety initiative that effectively ended after its first phase.

Because this agenda was made public only yesterday, I was unable to prepare my full comments for today's meeting.

I will return on June 9, 2026 with a comprehensive proposal to help address these concerns and present a vision for a stronger, healthier, and more resilient Tacoma.

My roots in this city run deep.

Tacoma, will you answer the call and become the city of destiny for the first time as intended?

And I tell you, the proposal that I have for the wellness business that I have generated with my team is valued at 34.5 trillion dollars.

Rooted here in Tacoma or the seven sister cities that are ready to enact that operation now.

Thank you for your time.

Kip Burns.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Kit Burns.

I have two comments tonight.

I'd just like to make a comment on item number four one nine twenty, which is on the uh red light enforcement.

Um, I've looked at this document and I can't make sense of it, so I'm gonna have to follow up in writing.

I've been very impressed with the city of Tacoma Transportation, but there's not terms on here that make sense to me.

I was at the um at the North End Neighborhood Council meeting yesterday and I found out that Tacoma used to have 30 traffic enforcement people, now we only have five, but I'm not sure how this camera enforcement works, so I'm gonna have to check that out.

The other one I'd like to bring forth and mention to you is the multifamily tax exemption.

I'm not opposed to the multiform family tax exemption, but I'm not happy with the city continually to allow it to be a 60 percent.

Now I did a financial analysis of that.

How when the city votes for these, how it affects other agencies in the city like parks, schools, traffic, uh the state of Washington, and I'll give that analysis to the clerk and she can uh share it with you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kid.

With that, we have three virtual speakers, uh, starting with Heidi Stevens, followed by Lydia Zapeta.

Good evening.

My name is Heidi Stevens.

Speaking on three agenda items, it's good to update the stormwater manual, but what Tacoma still needs is better infiltration policy with impervious surface limitations and mature tree protections, not only for groundwater replenishment, but also to lessen any contaminated stormwater runoff to begin with.

For the comprehensive plan, daycare is allowed in light industrial areas, often end up near heavy industrial zones too.

So sure to have additional individual location considerations.

Also, we were promised.

Heidi, I'm I'm so sorry.

Are you speaking to one of the public hearing items?

No, I'm speaking to an item on the comprehensive.

Which uh agenda item are you speaking to?

I'm sorry, I don't have the resolution in front of me.

Hang on just a second.

Ordinance 29108 and previously 29107, and then I'm gonna finish with resolution 41924.

Okay.

Is that acceptable?

Proceed.

Thanks.

Also, we were promised around five years ago a South Tacoma sub-area review, and until then, in this comprehensive plan, Tacoma needs to proactively prohibit any additional detention centers, delivery centers, data centers, and battery energy storage anywhere within city limits, but especially in the groundwater protection district.

And then the resolution regarding community forum doesn't state where the new rule, what the new rule is, or note that this proposal eliminates any frequency requirements, effectively removing non-agenda issues from public record, segregating resident concerns, and removing remote accessibility.

So please amend the policy to acquire at least one community forum per month at these city council meetings.

Thank you for speaking, Heidi.

Lydia, followed by Kathy Irwin.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Leah Zapeta, and I'm in District 3.

I'm speaking to resolution 41924 section three, which revises the city code so the community forum will no longer be on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month, but only once a month.

Um my concern is that the meetings will no longer be at a regular time or location, since they can be at any time, any date.

And at the council chambers, at district locations, or even at special meeting locations anywhere.

Um, since council agendas rarely seem to be published more than 24 hours in advance, it would make it difficult for the public to know when or where there would be an opportunity for community forum.

So I would respectfully suggest that you add language in the uh resolution to designate either a fixed date for community forum or a minimum of four weeks' notice with a date time and location for community forum so that the public will have sufficient notice to be able to attend.

Thank you so very much.

Thank you, Kathy Irwin, followed by Jana.

Hello, my name is Kathy Irwin, District Three.

I am speaking tonight on ordinance two nine one zero eight, which is the first reading for the 2026 annual amendment to the comprehensive plan.

I'm urging you to delay the final reading until you get a formal final copy from the planning department that integrates all those subsections into the actual code.

Otherwise, the planning department will be writing it after you have been voted on all these separate sections, and we will not be clear on what is actually being put in there that you supposedly have already approved.

The second thing is that with daycare centers, there's nothing mandated with the state that says it have to be put in industrial zones.

Even putting a conditional use attachment onto the Lightning Industrial does not guarantee any safety for daycares being located there, mainly because the director has the capacity to waive any of the development requirements that go with it.

There's nothing that says that also the special needs housing should be put in any industrial areas area either.

Ideally, they should be in areas where they can be part of a neighborhood, which does not exist industrial zones.

This is not a humane way to approach providing care for people of all ages, is to put them in an industrial zone area that's already polluted in a low equity zone as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Janna.

Hello, my name is Jana Heldred, and I was wanting to speak on the chapter 13 critical area preservation, because there was an incident off of Blueberry Park that uh unfortunately saw the loss.

Ma'am, uh, I'm sorry to interrupt you.

There's a public hearing on that.

That's the appropriate time to speak on the critical areas.

Uh, you're you're welcome to tune in then if if that's the topic you'd like to speak to.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

I misunderstood, and I thought it was fine.

My bad.

Oh, you're fine, yeah.

You're welcome to tune in for um, it'll be later in the evening.

Oh, perfect.

Thank you.

Of course.

Thank you.

All right, and with that, uh, looks like uh there are no further speakers signed in.

So we're gonna close public comment and move on to the regular agenda, starting with purchase resolutions.

Item four turn uh fourteen, Clerk.

Please read.

Resolution 41920, a resolution authorizing an increase to the contract with Nova Globe Inc.

in the amount of one million dollars for continued support in the city's automated enforcement program for a projected contract total of six million one hundred and seventy-four thousand four hundred dollars plus applicable taxes.

I move to adopt resolution number four one nine two zero.

Move and second.

Any council questions or comments?

C Nunnels in favor of adopting resolution number four one nine two zero.

Please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed to say nay.

Resolution is declared adopted.

Item number 15.

Clerk, please read.

Resolution 41916, a resolution authorizing the execution of a multifamily housing 12-year limited property tax exemption agreement with Proctor for LLC for the development of 98 multifamily market and regulated rate rental housing units located at 3917 North 26th Street in the Proctor Mixed Use Center.

I move to adopt resolution number 41916.

Moving second, I'd like to call on Mr.

Paul Bacher.

Thank you, Mayor Ipson.

Uh, good evening, City Council.

I'm Paul Bacher with the community and economic development department, and tonight I'll be presenting resolution 41916.

For this project, uh Proctor 4 LLC is proposing to develop 98 market rate and affordable units in the Proctor Mixed Use Center.

Uh the project will also include 67 parking stalls.

Here's a breakdown of the proposed units, which include 20 affordable rate units as well as 78 market rate units, and you can see a mix of studios and one-bedroom units here.

Here's a map of the project location in the Proctor Mixed Use Center at the corner of Madison and 26th.

This table shows the estimated fiscal implications for the project.

Uh, we estimate the total taxes generated over the life of the project at 1.3 million dollars and the total taxes exempted at $561,000, leaving a net positive impact of $784,000.

I want to note that on the council action memo, uh the construction tax was incorrectly stated as $18,000.

This in fact undersells those impacts, which are actually $261,000.

The corrected CAM has been submitted to the clerk's office.

And that concludes my presentation.

Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

We have a comment from Council Member Hines.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Paul.

No questions.

I'm just gonna take an opportunity to comment really quickly.

Um I've been on the council since 2020, um, represented the West and North End of the City of Tacoma.

And uh one of the concerns that was raised way back when I first started here was that we have lots of projects happening in Proctor, but there was no affordability is required as part of it.

Um so I was really proud that in 2022, Councilman Walker and I spearheaded a change to the multifamily tax exemption to eliminate the eight-year uh multifamily tax exemption in Procter in Point Rustin, which is the one multifamily tax exemption that has no affordability required.

At the time in 2022, Council Walker and I heard multiple times that we were gonna kill Development Proctor, that no one was gonna build there ever again, and that a 12-year MFT would not be possible.

There would never be an affordable housing in that part of the city.

I am proud that right now this is showing that we were we were right all the way back then.

So I'm gonna take my victory lap here for a second.

Um we were right back then, and we're now gonna have our first 12-year MFT project in the most high opportunity mixed use center in the city.

Uh, which when you look at the numbers, you're looking at for a one-bedroom or two-bedroom unit.

You're looking at about a thousand dollars reduction in the amount of rent that those units are going for.

And when you're looking at a studio apartment, you're looking at some of the neighborhood of $800 a month, the cheaper rents.

So these are again for those folks out there that like rent control.

It is a rent-controlled apartment that will be stayed at 100% of AMI for the entire 12 years at the multifamily tax subjections there, providing some of the very few relatively affordable units in Proctor we've seen.

Now we've had a 12-year extension that happened with Proctor 1 a couple years ago, so we already have some rent restricted units in that neighborhood, but this is the first kind of new project.

I think showing that uh we can actually get new buildings that pencil out even with affordable requirements in some more parts of our city.

So, really excited about this.

Um, and just want to take a moment because I think we've come a long way from where we were a few years ago.

And I want to thank you, Paul.

But more importantly, I see her in the back.

I want to thank Debbie Bingham, but she was really critical in helping support us through that policy change way back in 2022.

And uh thank you, Debbie.

Alright, thank you.

Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Um, thank you, Mayor.

And I just want to echo everything that Councilmember Hines said.

But I also want to say that there is a real market for this kind of housing because there are people who are moving out of their houses and they have nothing else to live in in that neighborhood because it is very expensive.

And um, as they age, they want to stay there.

And this is an opportunity for them to stay with these kinds of units that are you know rent controlled at a certain price that they can afford to stay there.

Um, there are people who help you get out of your house, put your money into you have to you have to do certain things to qualify.

But um I know people who have done this, and um, they want to stay in their neighborhood.

And so I'm glad that we as a community understand the necessity for different types of housing for every age of person.

One of the things that we really are missing enough of is senior housing.

And so if this can work in some way to provide extra units of senior housing, I'm all for it.

Um, it's they're nice if anyone spend a proctor.

It's Proctor Station, right?

That Proctor, yeah.

It is lovely.

I went in and saw a unit, and I see how um this friend of mine is living there in a one-bedroom.

She has everything she needs.

It's close to the grocery store.

Um, she doesn't really have to drive places, um, it's walkable.

And um, I'm just really happy that we're investing in every part of our of our city.

Um we should be doing more of this because we just are not gonna the Tacoma Housing Authority is just not gonna be able to build all of the low-income housing we need.

And this one fits a certain little niche.

So um thank you so much for being here tonight, Paul.

Appreciate you.

Appreciate Councilmember Heinz really working hard on this, and thank you, Debbie, for everything that you do.

I'm working on these kinds of projects.

Thanks.

Thank you, Councilmember Sidalga.

Um, thank you.

Uh I had a couple of questions just to clarify.

Uh, this property tax exemption only applies to city taxes, none of the other taxes that uh would be paid through property taxes would be um exempted, correct?

So uh thank you for your question, Councilmember Sidalgate.

My understanding is that the exemption is on property taxes.

A portion of that is the city's portion, but um another portion of it is on the full state assessed property or county assessed property tax.

Okay.

So there is this development would also not have to pay some of the other property taxes that are that a normal development would would pay.

Cause I know, like for every like, I forget what it is.

I think on my house it's like ten or eleven dollars for every thousand dollars of assessed values is my property tax like a dollar something or two dollars goes to the the city.

I was trying to figure out like do they still have to pay the the um like the the Tacoma Public Schools portion, the Sound Transit portion if there is one, the state portion, or is it just the portion that goes to the city that's exempt?

I think that was a question that came from a commenter prior.

I'd be happy to dive into the math with you and take a look at the numbers uh once I can give you a more confident answer.

Happy to understand that that answer a little bit more off the side.

I know at least in what we're doing here, and and I really appreciate Councilmember Hines for pointing out that 12 year didn't have an affordability component until we we updated that relatively recently.

Um can you remind me what the AMI is for this for 12 year?

I just forget.

Um the AMI is 70% for the 12 year affordable.

So 70%, okay.

Um I think this is, you know, the math like just makes sense, right?

I mean, if we were a business, what we're gonna say is what are we deferring and where are we getting it then in return for it, right?

Uh at the end of the day, we're actually gonna be made more than whole as a city on on all these taxes because of the uh additional um revenue that we get from the sales tax generated from the construction of the the building.

Let's remember this is um, you know, this is not 98 units today, right?

It is what it is, and so we are going to develop uh a private developer is gonna develop it at 98 units, um in a in a world in which we need as many units as possible and give us 20 percent of them or 20 units to be uh uh income restricted to 70 percent of AMI, and one of the as Councilmember Hines has pointed out, one of the the kind of highest socioeconomic areas we have uh in the city, and we get most of the money back on just some of the sales taxes associated with construction, the hours um uh with construction, and um we also have the additional sales tax from every household that's gonna be spending money every single year for those 12 years that currently would not have it, right?

For 12 years, a household is gonna be buying things, things are gonna go online, have it delivered every single time you get an Amazon package.

I see um money that helps us do good things, right?

And in return, uh we defer, and then after 12 years they're gonna have to pay property taxes again, correct?

That's correct.

So, you know, I think this one just makes sense.

There's such a large difference between um the the market rate and the AMI rate.

And there's there's also another benefit that we get, which is, you know, we've learned over the course of our recent history that maybe not the best way to get affordable housing is to force all the people who make very little money in one little section.

You know, we've basically have projects all over.

Uh we've a history of of creating projects that kind of concentrate uh lower socio economy economic people in small areas and then forget about that area.

A better solution that we've known for years is to encourage development where you have mixed incomes living amongst each other.

And this is a pro, and so this is also a really important kind of benefit we're getting in a society and in a neighborhood.

So I think when you add in all the tangibles and then the uh the the tangibles in terms of dollars and cents and the intangibles around also having people who normally wouldn't have the ability to move into certain neighborhoods, have an opportunity to move into neighborhoods is also really beneficial.

So I appreciate all that, and that's why I would be voting yes on this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Palmer.

Thank you.

After the 12 years is over, would this uh developer be or whoever owns the building be able to extend uh for another certain amount of time for the exemption?

Oh, thank you for the question, Councilmember Palmer.

They are able to apply for an additional 12 years.

One of the requirements of that is that affordable units must be listed at 10% below the market rate units, and we evaluate the application based on that proposal.

Do you know how often that happens?

Um, to my knowledge, I'm aware of five projects that are currently utilizing the extension.

Do we ever not extend or I guess what's the rate of not extending?

Um I would hesitate to give you a number off the top of my head, but again, be happy to sit down and go over that math.

Would you say we approve more than we don't?

That's correct, yes.

Just curious.

Thank you.

Um, I I don't want to undermine the work that you know my colleagues have put into this.

And I see sometimes when these are considered, I'm I'm not seeing much difference in the price.

I will admit that I see a little bit of a difference in the price with this one.

Um, and so I do appreciate that.

I still have a lot of questions around the fiscal implications, um, that are presented as a pro and a con to consider.

I don't quite understand how the sales tax, like we don't know that these people are coming from outside of Tacoma, and so I I don't know how we say that we'll generate this new sales tax when we don't know that it's a new sales tax.

It could be just relocating from another part of the city.

So I I have more questions.

Um, and for that reason, I'm gonna say nay today.

Um, just wanted to explain my position.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, any other comments or questions?

Okay, and um I will actually be abstaining from this vote um due to the uh potential for the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Uh, I stand to gain nothing personally financially.

Um I just have a prior commercial relationship with one of the people involved in the transaction, so just out of an abundance of caution.

Uh so without the vote before us is resolution number uh four one nine one six.

All those in favor of adopting the resolution, please signify by saying I.

I was supposed to say nay, mayor abstains.

Motion passes.

All right, moving on to item number 16.

This presentation will also cover items 17 and 20.

Kirk, please read.

Resolution 41921, a resolution authorizing the execution of a collective bargaining agreement with the international brotherhood of electrical workers, local 483 water division unit retroactive to January 1st, 2025 through December 31st, 2027.

I move to adopt resolution number 41921.

Moving a second, I'd like to call on Mr.

Dylan Carlson.

Good evening, Mayor Ibsen and members of the city council.

I am Dylan Carlson, labor relations division manager for the city of Tacoma.

I have two resolutions and one ordinance to present this evening.

Resolution 41921 authorizes execution of a collective bargaining agreement as negotiated with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, local 483 water division unit.

The agreement is for three years, covers 137 full-time equivalent positions, and was approved by the public utility board as a resolution on May 13th, 2026.

The agreement provides for wage increases in each year of the contract.

Retroactive to January 2025, a general wage increase of two and three-quarters percent will be provided, as well as market-based adjustments by classification between three percent and twelve percent.

Retroactive to January 1, 2026, and effective January 1, 2027, a general wage increase of 3% will be provided.

Other changes in the agreement include expanding the double-time holiday premium days from two holidays to four holidays per year, adding New Year's Day and Independence Day.

An increase to the remote reporting allowance for a water utility worker and the apprenticeship program from 14 to 22 dollars per day for travel expenses.

An increase to the eligibility to the eligible reimbursement for new hires for work booths from 200 to 250 dollars, providing for alternative work schedules for employees assigned to the Green River Treatment Plant, adding clarifying language regarding setup to lead vacancies, and employee responsibilities when on the standby assignments, and providing a one-time lump sum payment of two thousand five hundred dollars to each water treatment plant operator employed on January 1 of 2025.

Resolution 41922 authorizes execution of a collective bargaining agreement as negotiated with local 120 of the Washington State Council of County and City Employees.

The agreement is for three years, covers 196 full-time equivalent employees, and was approved by the public utility board as a resolution on May 13, 2026.

The agreement provides for wage increases in each year of the contract, retroactive to January 1, 2026, a general wage increase of 3% will be provided, as well as market-based adjustments by classification between 1% and 5%.

In addition, retroactive to January 1, 2026, employees in the classification of critical areas biologist, senior critical areas biologist, principal critical areas biologist, associate planner, senior planner, and principal planner will be eligible to receive longevity pay for Tacoma Municipal Code Section 1.12.133.

And the classification of senior buyer will have an additional step 5% added to the top of the pay range.

Effective January 2027 and January 2028, a general wage increase of 3% will be provided each year.

Other changes to the agreement include an increase from $300 to $325 for the annual allowance provided for safety footwear for eligible classifications, and the incorporation into the collective bargaining agreement of provisions of a previous letter of agreement regarding bumping rights for certain eligible employees in unclassified positions.

Finally, ordinance two nine one zero six will provide for the implementation of the provisions included in the agreements as negotiated with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 483 Water Unit, and local 120 of the Washington State Council and County and City Employees.

I would be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Dylan.

Any questions?

All right, seeing none, all those in favor of adopting resolution number four and nine two one, please signify by saying aye.

Those opposed to say nay, the resolution is declared adopted.

Item 17, Clerk, please read.

Resolution 41922, a resolution authorizing the execution of a collective bargaining agreement with the local number 120 of Washington State Council and County City Employees, retroactive to January 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2028.

Move to adopt resolution number 41922.

Movement second, if this item was just presented.

Are there any additional council questions or comments?

Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting resolution number 41922, please signify by saying aye.

Those opposed to say nay.

Resolution is declared adopted.

Item 18, clerk, please read.

Resolution 41923, a resolution authorizing the execution of a loan agreement with the Washington State Department of Health in the amount of one million seventy-four thousand five hundred and fifty-two dollars, accepting and depositing said sum into the water fund for two water main replacement projects.

I move to adopt resolution number four one nine two three.

Moving and second, I'd like to call Mr.

Mark Powell.

Good evening, uh Mayor Ibsen and members of the Tacoma City Council.

My name is Mark Powell, and I'm a business services analyst with Tacoma Water.

Today I'm requesting your consideration and approval of resolution number 41923, which would authorize Tacoma Water to execute a low interest drinking water state revolving fund loan from the Department of Health.

Tacoma Water briefed the council on this opportunity back on January 6 when we uh asked you for permission to apply for this uh opportunity.

Uh and that permission was granted with resolution 41840.

I'm happy to report that we were successful with our application, and now we are back asking for permission to execute the the agreement.

Funding for this project will replace two sections of galvanized main in the southern portion of our service territory.

Uh the first section will replace a 750 foot section of two inch galvanized plastic main on A Street South.

Uh the second section will replace 580 feet of one-inch galvanized main uh running along the 9600 block of East D Street.

Uh both water mains will be replaced with eight-inch ductile iron main and Tacomo Australia also install new valves, fittings, and add four fire hydrants.

These improvements will enhance service reliability, support neighborhood resiliency, and accommodate future growth.

The the details of the loan are the total amount will be 1,074,552 with an interest rate of 1.75%.

So uh a very good interest rate when we look at alternative sources of funding such as as bonds.

Uh the payback term will be over the course of 24 years, and uh we are expecting uh a subsidy uh of 50% loan forgiveness at the conclusion of construction, so uh a little over $500,000 that won't have to be paid by uh you know the the customers of Tacoma.

Um and with that I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Uh thank you, Mayor, and thank you for bringing us forward.

Looking I'm really happy to see that we uh managed to succeed in this application.

Um really job well done for everybody that was involved in that.

Um my question is uh in the scope of the project, uh, how much of the road infrastructure is gonna be um needing to be cut or it I'm imagining like there are certain sections that are gonna need to be opened up in order to do these replacements and do we have are we working with public works to maybe look at the entire street and maybe try to do repaving in that area all at once as opposed to just sections?

Um I can I can check on that and and I'm happy to provide an answer on that.

Uh I know that the uh the main I believe is running through the the road and we normally coordinate with public works on things like this, but I'll uh happy to return with a more confident answer.

Yeah, for sure.

I just I just think it's something that should be considered.

Um I know there's probably likely a very tight timeline uh as well.

Uh I suspect.

Um, but if there's opportunities for us to work together and try to make sure the road services are fully smooth uh as opposed to doing hodgepodge, I think is a really beneficial for the community.

Great.

Thank you.

Yep.

Thank you.

Any other comments?

All right, seeing none, all those in favor of adopting resolution number 41923, please signify by saying aye.

Resolution is declared adopted.

Item number 19, clerk please read.

Resolution 41924.

This is the first reading of a resolution amending rule nine of the rules of procedure of the council of the city of Tacoma relating to public comment and community form.

Doing a motion that's repeated.

Uh yeah, there's a motion.

Okay.

I move to adopt resolution number 41924.

Moving seconded, and uh just for context.

Uh tonight is the first reading of the updates to rule nine of our council rules of procedure specific to community forum and public comment.

As I've shared at our previous study sessions on these topics, these changes adjust the frequency of community forum and opens up in district meetings as an alternative option.

Uh, what I want to be sure to highlight is the changes to allow for managing disruptions we've seen in recent meetings.

Uh we've had some discussion on pre-registration and video requirements, which have each had their own challenges.

So what this proposal does currently is add examples of disruption that the chair can use to end a speaker's time and uh require that the speakers name uh the topics that they want to discuss by asking them to name the topic, the chair can determine if their comments are no longer on topic and and their time.

And so with that, are there any uh council questions or comments?

Councilmember Sidalke.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Um I also want to uh thank you for for putting this together, and you know, something that was really important to me was the option to be able to have community forum or a regular meeting out in community, at least district four, as a way to um try more engagement.

So I am um appreciative that that is uh included in this version.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Consumer Walker.

So that was actually gonna be my question.

I just wanted to be really clear because I know that there was a comment tonight, but have been consistently comments about whether or not we are requiring in district, whether we're moving the meetings.

So just if we if you don't mind Mayor being really clear about and maybe repeating what you already said about does this move community forum to in-district, or does it keep it in councils or what is the combination?

The words are opens up.

And so what you'll see in the in the text is the possibility of in chambers or in the district, but not mandating one versus the other.

Great, thank you.

I think that's important clarification for the public.

Thank you.

And thank you for your and uh the deputy mayor's contributions in OSAC, and thank you to everyone involved for your inputs too.

It's really shaped a good product, I think.

Deputy Mayor?

Yep.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I really appreciate you uh and your leadership on this and um helping us work through this on OSAC as well as in meeting with members of the community.

Um I um I'm very strong proponent of of meeting folks in district.

I think it's really important to meet people where they're at.

Um and so I love that that we this is now an option for us, and especially when there are topics of interest that might uh come up in different areas of our city, and I particularly you know would love to have in a district meeting in district five.

Um, and so that way we're hearing from the community uh in the community.

Um but it doesn't obviously eliminate the option uh of us doing it here in council chambers, and there's a lot of good reasons why we do it here.

Um but I do think that having the opportunity to do that in the community is really important.

So thank you.

Thank you, Council Diaz.

Thank you.

Um along the same lines, I was wondering if there has yet been a calculation of how much doing any of these community forums in district will cost, and if that is something that we can know before we vote on this next week, um, assuming the cost will show up in the next budget, but I would love to know if we have a semblance of how expensive that might be.

Uh yes, to answer your question, Consumer Diaz, we we do have some of those calculations.

Uh we can follow up with you uh tonight.

My chief of staff can do that.

Um obviously, every cent is precious.

We know that it's a really tight budget cycle, and you know, at the same time, there's some things you can't put a price on, like engagement and uh allowing the option for people who've never traditionally felt welcome to actually feel engaged and for us to potentially make better decisions because of the perspectives of folks that we've never heard from, right?

So so there's there's definitely some things there.

Uh there are a variety of options.

Um offhand, what I can tell you is that the largest line item and the largest area for potential savings would be uh to what degree we engage TV Tacoma.

I think that's the biggest um amount is uh is there full recording versus uh and full like television and production versus if we're just doing a live recording, for example.

Uh but we will get those to you tonight, certainly.

And does your proposal include whether or not those things would be included, or is that to be determined?

Sure.

So so what we're voting on tonight is not either of those things.

What we're voting on tonight is simply changing the code to allow us to have the option of in-district.

Um voting on this does not obligate us to spend anything, it does not obligate us to a particular budgetary ask.

Uh this just opens up the tools.

So in the future, if we're open to the possibility of doing community forum in district, um, assuming we give proper notice that um community would actually be able to attend, would how would we determine which community we would go into?

Like, is that a is that another motion?

Is that another resolution?

How would those decisions be made?

Uh my understanding is that's a further conversation with the council.

Uh, this is purely about the rule change, uh the logistics of where community forum is, how those things are run.

Uh that's not in the council rules themselves.

That is something that we can decide as a council and in consultation with staff and community partners, and I'm happy to chat with you about that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Consumer Hines.

Yeah, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, thank you for bringing the proposal forward.

I think my question was just getting into this point about so it's as we've noticed when we do like regular public comment, it's very easy to ask what item on the agenda you're speaking to, and if somebody's not speaking about something that's on the agenda to say you can't use this time and go some to go to a different time.

I guess my question would be the the rules shifting to where the chair would ask what topics would you're referring to.

Uh you know, the city uh would you I I guess I'm that would probably be a question I still have I'm questions about how we would determine that, right?

Because the city takes, we do proclamations, we do recognition on things all the time that are outside of the scope of the duties of a city council or city itself, and so would that mean that anything we've taken a resolution on would be within the bounds of community forum, or would it be more tightly narrowed or the rules written in such a way that it has to be something the city can actually take action on like through actual policy?

Is that your question?

Yeah, okay.

Uh that is, I mean, it's and is the chair.

I mean, how would you how are you envisioning this?

Because I imagine you'll be doing a lot of these decision makings of the sure time.

When in doubt, I defer to the lawyer.

So uh uh mr.

City attorney uh Mr.

Victor, uh, what would your um opinion on that be for the council behind the question?

Mayor, um Steve Victor with the city attorney's office.

If I understand Councilmember Heinz question, it is whether um wherever the community forum is located, would it be noticed as an open public meeting?

Um is that correct, Councilmember?

You know, here I'll ask uh I'll take it to you, Steve.

So my question would be the rules are going to be written that that the chair would ask ahead of time, what topic do you want to talk about?

When we're on regular public comment, there's an agenda item which you somebody has to speak to.

Community forum our current is anything the city has purview over.

And so I mean, just to use an example, the city's taken ceasefire resolutions on international issues.

The city has declared different months every month that have international implications.

So if I'm reading that correctly, there would we, you know, how would we able to restrict what people say during community forum?

You know, are there any guidelines by which we could enforce?

So council member, the the f I would split it this way.

The proposal before you is to just open up an opportunity to have a community forum in a different location.

Um so that is what this does.

Other decisions about what the um agenda is and whether it's an open public meeting and whether you transact business, that's on a case-by-case basis for the council to decide uh as you develop your agendas.

Um the the question though that I'm I'm not answering, I think, is how can the council limit the topics?

And that traditionally community forum has had unlimited topics, and it's been uh limited to a certain extent by your own authority.

So what you could uh limit it by what the council has authority to act on.

What is your jurisdiction?

And if matters are outside of your jurisdiction, that could be outside of the forum.

But that that is not before you on this decision.

Okay.

So when I'm reading the CAM and it says added language for suggests limitations to the topics of community forum and language asking speakers to reference the topic of which they speak to, so the presiding officer confirm can confirm it is within the scope and could keep them on topic.

That is not in the document that's before us, that's just in the case.

So within within the scope.

Um we'd have to define that.

Okay.

And and that is so it it is, it could be, as I suggested, the scope of your authority, the scope of your jurisdiction.

Gotcha.

Um, but it is not defined at this point.

And we wouldn't have to put that in the rules.

That could just be an understanding.

So let's say I was chairing a meeting that I could just make the call.

So, council member.

I'll take this offline.

I don't need you to answer that question right now.

You have the ability, obviously, it could be put in the rules.

I probably wouldn't want to go.

Could be.

Or it could be published in the agenda.

Okay.

So the agenda for the meeting could contain the scope of the meeting.

Okay.

I I only ask just, and this is and I understand we're not taking action on this, and and we could or could not go into a in uh we could or could not do another meeting out in the district.

This is just flexibility.

I would just say, is we're talking through the rules and a certain subset of the population who has spoken not at just this meeting but other meetings about concerns about us limiting their ability to share feedback with council.

I I would love to get a little tighter on what that means because reading it this way, a chair that wanted to really narrowly uh interpret what our scope is could really limit the amount of comment during a community forum versus a chair that wanted to be more broadly interpreted.

And so I guess Mr.

Mayor, and to my colleagues, I would love to maybe kind of understand a little bit more what that looks like.

Um, and there are ways, Councilmember, you could limit it by amending these rules.

Okay.

So I think the whatever the agenda is that you publish for community forum could set the scope.

Okay.

Uh thank you, Steve.

And uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Those are my questions at this point in time.

If I I will talk to you or my colleague offline and with the city attorneys between now and second reading next month, if or next week if I have any other questions.

Sounds good.

We can shout.

Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Um, thank you, Mayor.

And I just I had a question about um sort of I was thinking more along the lines of three minutes for people.

Um, but since we're limiting how much time, like that if we're gonna do two minutes and you're gonna do two hours, that limits how many people can actually speak.

And so I'm wondering if there's any conversation about um the same topic or groups of people who come in and and sort of take over the meeting um with sort of a you know a chain message.

I'm just trying to figure out if there's any um conversation about how we might make sure that enough people get to talk.

So I just I don't think that we want to limit the number of people who can speak, but if if everyone, if there if there's a group that's there and they take the all of the spaces because they get before there before everybody else to sign up, I'm just I'm curious if we've had any thought about what that looks like.

Certainly, I mean if if there are recommendations or suggestions.

Well, I said I sent some recommendations, um, but um I didn't hear anything back about them.

So I just was curious if there was any thought.

Mine was that we should do um that a group of people, if they wanted to um bring a presentation, we could put that on, we could put that on for community forum, and it would be like 10 minutes that they would get or something like that, so that they're not um taking over the whole meeting.

So they would just they would put together a presentation.

Um, of course, we would look at it beforehand, but um they would have an opportunity to share what their concerns are, but in more of a presentation form, um, so that then they don't take over the whole community forum.

That that was just an idea I had.

Sure.

I got that from community, yeah.

And uh just like anything else, uh, amendments or just friendly recommendations are always welcome.

That's what second reading or this reading is for, and uh appreciate the further conversation.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Palmer.

Thank you.

I'm I think I share a similar concern to Councilmember Heinz.

If we're looking at um the red line document under the community forum, one of the last sentences it says that comments should be limited to those related to legislative policies adopted to under or under consideration and services provided by the city.

Speakers are asked to identify the topic, and I think that that's maybe more uh restrictive than what we have right now, and I'm not sure that that's what we are aiming for.

So I'd love like more conversation around that piece.

Okay, appreciate the feedback, thank you.

Alright, and with that, um, if there are no further council questions or comments, uh Rule 8.

Resolution number 41924 will be set over for a second reading on June 9th, 2026.

So with that, moving on to first reading of ordinances, item 20.

Clerk, please read.

Ordinance 29106, an ordinance amending chapter 1.12 of the municipal code relating to the compensation plan to implement rates of pay and compensation for employees represented by local number 120 and local 43 water division unit.

This item was presented earlier in this meeting.

Are there any additional council questions or comments?

Seeing none, this ordinance will be set up for final reading next week.

Item 21, this item will have a PowerPoint presentation.

Clerk, please read.

And amending chapter 12.08 D of the municipal code by amending sections to reflect the updated manual effective July 1st, 2026.

With that, I'd like to call on Sean Hanson.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm Shauna Hansen from the Environmental Services Department, and I'm here tonight to explain the purpose behind the stormwater manual update and related stormwater code, as well as answer any questions you may have about the proposed ordinance.

The process of updating our manual to include stricter stormwater management standards happens every five years and is required by the Department of Ecology under the city's stormwater discharge permit.

All our neighboring jurisdictions are also required to comply with the new standards, and Pierce County, King County, and Seattle are all currently updating their stormwater manual as well.

It's over a thousand-page document, and Mika Hoppen has been the stormwater manual editor for the past 15 years and is joining remotely to help answer any questions you may have about the manual.

So a brief overview.

And also best management practices for local businesses to prevent stormwater pollution from their day-to-day operations.

So this update will align our standards with the Department of Ecology's 2024 stormwater management manual.

And as I mentioned, also all of the surrounding jurisdictions also have to meet these same design standards, so we're all in a level playing field.

Any additional information about our manual, the finalized version of the manual, the public comments and response to comments is all available on our city website.

And we also brought this before IPS committee on May 13th, and they approved it coming before a full council.

So what are these proposed revisions?

They are four main categories of revisions.

One is additional stormwater treatment requirements for redevelopment projects, roads, parking lots, light rail projects, and fueling stations.

We also have additional approved green stormwater best management practices so that there's a larger array of options for new and redevelopment to manage their stormwater in a way that soaks the stormwater into the ground, such as channelized full dispersion flow dispersion, infiltration swales, and ballasted sidewalks.

We also have new tree planting and tree protection minimum requirements to require planting trees where feasible as required by the city's code, and also prioritize the retention of existing healthy trees.

And we provided some additional information about this as an attachment to the CAM as requested by IPS committee because this is the one set of requirements that surpasses the ecology standards.

And then finally, we have some new PCB pollution control requirements for building washing and demolition of commercial buildings built between the ages of 1950 and 1980.

And if you would like some more information on that, I did bring um some brochures that we'll be sharing with the community about this new requirement.

So the overall timeline for this manual update has taken us about a year and a half, and starting with the beginning and early 2025, when the first draft going out for public review and comment, and then it took about a year to get through the Department of Ecology's technical equivalency review process, including additional public comment and CEPA process along the way, finally ending up with ordinance adoption by council.

In closing, the stormwater management manual update is a requirement of the city's stormwater permit from the Department of Ecology once every five years, and each update increases the development design requirements and adds pollution prevention standards for business operations in the city with the goal of increasing the sustainability of development and reducing pollution to protect the health of our local waterways.

Are there any questions?

Are there any council questions or comments?

Councilman Walker.

Thank you.

I just want to thank you for coming to IPS and giving us the overview and just appreciate the good work.

I know there's not a ton of big picture council policy in here, but it doesn't mean that there we don't appreciate the big efforts that staff do and how important stormwater is.

So appreciate your time and sharing it with us at IPS End here.

Thank you.

Alright, seeing no other comments, this ordinance will be set up for final reading next week.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We've gone to item 22.

This item will have a PowerPoint presentation.

Clerk, please read.

Ordinance 29108, an ordinance adopting the 2026 annual amendment to the comprehensive plan and land use regulatory code and amending various chapters in titles one and thirteen of the municipal code to implement set amendments as recommended by the planning commission.

That's a call on Steve Akerson.

Great.

Thank you.

And good evening, Mayor Ibsen, Deputy Mayor Bushnell, members of the city council.

I'm Stephen Atchinson, Planning and Development Services.

I'll be providing a brief presentation this evening in support of first reading of ordinance for the 2026 amendments to the City of Tacoma Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Regulatory Code.

In the presentation this evening, I will be providing some background information on the notification engagement that was conducted in support of these amendments, and then a particular note, some assessment of the public comment that was received at your public hearing on May 19th.

And at the end, we will talk through the next steps for the public process.

First of all, as the council is aware, there are four applications.

Each of these is provided to the council as a separate exhibit showing the pertinent sections of the Tacoma Municipal Code and the amendments that are proposed to those sections.

The McKinley pre-annexation zoning and land use designation application was initiated by property owners to uh who are initiating the annexation process.

One of the initial steps in the annexation process is to identify the appropriate zoning and land use for those properties so that when the annexation is complete, we already have those zoning and land use districts in effect at the time of the completion of the annexation.

In this case, there are four parcels that are under consideration as part of this process between 86th and 88th on East McKinley.

The planning commission has recommended a low-scale residential designation for the comprehensive plan with a UR1 Urban Residential One Zoning District.

This exhibit would not take effect until the annexation is completed.

Is related to the implementation of a council resolution number 4131, as well as recent state uh changes to regulations for shelters.

So the special needs housing and shelters uh recommendations from the uh planning commission address uh both permanent and temporary shelters, uh, as the council may remember from the study session.

Um temporary shelters are uh a phrase that we use to refer to the type of structure, so a temporary structure, not a permanent structure, so often could be tents or tiny houses that don't have a permanent foundation.

Um, and then special needs housing more broadly are uh uh residences that also include uh state licensed medical or clinical care facilities.

Um, so one of the reasons these have been historically regulated uh differently than other types of residential uses is because they typically include other kinds of uh clinical care and employment on site.

The minor code amendments are typically uh clarifications to the code, uh corrections, uh updates to references.

Uh these are typically non-policy or non-substantive changes, uh, often generated by permit applicants or staff who are administering permits that I identify some of these uh corrections that are needed within our code or organizational changes that can help better implement uh our code.

Finally, the fourth application, the state legislative amendments uh is kind of a package of again two uh recent state law changes.

The first is pertaining to daycare facilities.

This is in response to Senate Bill 5509, and then for binding site plans related to Senate Bill uh 5611.

Uh for daycare facilities, the state has uh effectively required that local jurisdictions now allow daycare facilities within any non industrial zone by right, which means uh without a discretionary land use permit.

Um, and at a minimum in industrial zones, we are required to uh allow daycare facilities as a conditional use, unless there are hazardous uses.

And in the commission's recommendations, uh they have recommended uh prohibiting daycare facilities within the M2 heavy industrial zone because of the potential for that co-presence of hazardous uses.

In support of this amendment process, uh we initiated uh notifications and community outreach through social media, email distribution, uh notices to adjacent jurisdictions, uh including notices to the Pialp tribe.

We've also conducted engagement through our recent community event in May that Shauna mentioned also as part of her presentation on the stormwater manual.

We also conduct staff to staff monthly meetings with Pielp Tribe planning staff to talk through potential projects that we are engaged in that may impact the tribe.

And we also conducted a community survey online and worked with our language ambassadors to support outreach and engagement to communities that do not speak English as a first language.

So we had a strong emphasis on translation to make sure our materials were available for anyone through the language ambassador program.

For the public comments we received during the public hearing, we received really, I believe, three or four written comments, as well as the public testimony that was provided to the city council during the public hearing.

I want to provide just a brief assessment of the comments that were provided.

The first is related to our minor amendments application.

We received these comments from two different parties, the Port of Tacoma and Western States Petroleum Association.

The concern here was with some reference language that we added to the land use tables in the municipal code.

The intent of that language was really to flag for potential applicants, the South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District and to make sure that they were aware of that district, the limitations on land uses within the STGPD, and to make sure as they are thinking about the project that they want to propose, making sure that it is actually allowed within the South Tacoma Groundwater District.

The concern that we heard in public testimony was that the language could be misconstrued as actually extending the use restrictions of the STGPD to areas outside that overlay zone.

Staff have had conversations with both the port and the Western States Petroleum Association and clarified the intent of that language.

Next comments are about daycare facilities, and I think you heard similar comments this evening as part of the comment earlier.

Generally, as I mentioned, there are new state mandates that really uh direct the city on how we are required to permit daycare facilities within the city of Tacoma.

This is largely based on uh state recognition that there is a shortage of daycare facilities, uh lack of these facilities to meet the demand, and that often local zoning and land use controls are part of the barriers to siting and uh meeting this demand region wide.

Um the concern that we heard was simply the daycare facilities are not appropriate, generally within industrial districts.

Um, uh as I mentioned uh in the planning commission's recommendation, um, they went as far as they felt they could go in responding to these uh comments while still being consistent with state law.

So the commission did recommend uh a change uh to the M1 and M2 industrial districts to prohibit daycare in the heavy industrial zone and to require a conditional use in the light industrial zone.

What that would allow us to do through the conditional use permit is to consider uh potential uh siting um adjacent uses and safety or health considerations that should be taken into account in that permit.

All right, next slide.

Thank you.

Uh for special needs housing.

Uh, we heard similar comments at the public hearing that generally the special needs housing should not be permitted uh within industrial zones.

Again, in this case, uh the planning commission did recommend, uh, did consider similar testimony and did recommend changes.

Uh, again, just not going as far as some of the public comment was requesting.

Uh, generally, the planning commission um recognize that there are already broad limitations on housing in industrial zones and have proposed some uh greater limitations on uh special needs housing and shelters uh to prohibit it within M2, heavy industrial, limit it within the South Tacoma Manufacturing and Industrial District more broadly.

Uh next slide.

Uh, the last slide I wanted to again kind of call to the attention of the uh city council is an additional House Bill 226.

Uh, this came to our attention, unfortunately, kind of following the planning commission process as we were preparing to come to the city council.

Um, this affects the special needs housing application and the exhibits that were brought forward to the city council.

Um, and uh generally the current uh recommendations from the planning commission are no longer consistent with these new state laws.

Um in this case, we would be seeking some direction from the city council to consider amendments uh to come into compliance with these new state requirements at this time rather than go through an additional public process through planning commission and come back to city council next year for an additional consideration.

In general, um, this new state requirement uh at a broad level is requiring us to consider uh step housing or special needs housing, uh similar to any other type of housing.

So if we have restrictions in our land use code that are greater than what is typically required for any other kind of residential use, that we have to bring that into conformance with how we would treat any other residential use in that zone.

Um there are a couple of things that that would mean for the potential recommendations and the exhibits before you.

First, for special needs housing broadly, the planning commission had recommended uh bed capacity limits within the UR1 and UR2 zoning districts.

Um there are no other areas within our zoning or land use code where we currently um limit bed capacity, um and in fact uh we have shifted away from bed capacity for other residential use types, rather we have density limitations.

Um this is uh likely an area where we would need to uh modify the exhibits to remove those bed capacity uh limitations to come into compliance with new state law.

Uh the other is pertaining to shelters.

Uh we currently have buffer and dispersion requirements in our code, which means that a shelter must maintain a certain distance from another shelter or uh that they have to locate within uh certain areas of the city before more than one shelter can locate in the same area.

So generally, when we talk about buffers and dispersion, that's what it's uh trying to require is um kind of avoiding or uh trying to mandate uh kind of no non-concentration of these uses all in one area.

Um, this is another area.

We're under this new state uh legislation.

Again, uh we are required to only apply the same standards that we would for other residential use types, um, and we don't require those kinds of buffer dispersion requirements for other kinds of residential uses in these zones.

So, again, that's another uh potential change.

Um, and then finally, there are some modifications that we'd likely need to make to our conditional uses.

Uh, generally in all of our residential commercial mixed-use zones, uh, residential uses are allowed by rights with no discretionary permitting required.

There are some circumstances where either special needs housing or shelters still require a conditional use, and that would likely need to be modified to allow those uses outright in accordance with this new uh state requirement.

Um these are again uh changes that were brought to our attention as we were preparing to come to the city council.

So we want to make sure you were aware of this.

And again, we are looking for council guidance uh to be able to bring forward these amendments as uh we prep for final reading.

Um and with that in mind, um, following the evening uh first reading uh this evening, we really have one step left in this process, which is final reading on June 16th.

Uh, generally what we would recommend is if there is council interest in supporting either of the changes that we've identified tonight, either the amendment, uh potential amendment to the minor uh code or um the amendments for special needs housing.

Um, please reach out to myself, uh Steve Victor.

Uh, we will help work with the city council to prepare those exhibits and those amendments, and ideally have those ready to introduce as part of the published agenda for final reading.

Um, with that, happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you.

It looks like we have a question from Councilmember Heinz.

Yeah, no, I'll make I'll take you up on your office, Steve.

I I'd love to talk about a potential amendment to help us make sure we're coming in compliance with House Bill 2266.

Um I think one of the values that we've had as a city is our ability to communicate with neighborhoods when you know things you know, having broad public notice requirements around when new things show up in neighborhoods, and I think it's helped us not, it hasn't been a way to stop things from happening, but a way to bring neighbors on board.

And so one of the things I would really like to see is having as state law allows some kind of notice process when these things are being set up.

Um so I'm happy to work with you on those, and I'll talk to my colleagues about kind of what that um entails as we go forward.

Um the other question comment I was gonna make was I know that one commenter brought up the short-term rental housing policy as a part of the comment, which I know is kind of out was kind of outside of the scope of what the planning commission looked like.

I'd love to maybe follow up with you about how we can add that to future planning uh um planning commission work plans, maybe in the future.

Yeah, happy to follow up with you on that as well.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Behinds, Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, mayor.

Uh thank you for the presentation.

I just wanted to clarify in the HB 2266 if I heard you correctly.

Um, it basically the state has preempted cities to make us have to put uh special needs facilities.

I'm not saying I don't want special need facilities in our city.

I think it's really important that we have those services and opportunities available across the city.

Um I guess I'm concerned about um the concentration of those in certain areas of our city uh and not make and making sure they're dispersed in a way that is equitable across all our communities.

Um but basically my understanding is is we're not able to do that.

It it could theoretically all be concentrated in one particular part of our community.

Yeah, that's correct.

So our current code is constructed to try to require dispersion so you don't have concentration in any one part of the city.

Um the state uh legislation does require effectively is that we cannot apply development standards to these types of shelters or housing that are standards that we don't also apply to other kinds of residential uses in those same zones.

And so if we have zoning districts where we don't require dispersion requirements for for uh multi-dwelling or town houses, then effectively that's where the state has preempted uh local jurisdictions.

So we have to align it with uh other residential standards.

Does does that also include enhanced service facilities and things of that nature?

Because that's something that we've been talking about getting on the the planning commission's work plan to kind of work through that uh a few years.

I think it's been two years at this point.

Yeah, and that's so under the special needs housing broadly.

Uh sorry, especially this is where there are some distinctions in our code.

So the special needs housing would be uh situations where you have that on-site clinical or medical care, uh licensed by the state.

So the enhanced service facility is exactly that type of facility that would be uh captured in a special needs housing code.

Um so, yeah, so generally uh that's gonna our understanding is the direction from the state is uh to treat this housing the same way we would be treating any other kinds of housing in our zoning districts.

Uh my understanding is we can if we apply height restrictions, we can continue to apply height restrictions, setbacks, tree requirements, uh density limitations, all the things that we typically uh apply to other kinds of residential uses.

Uh we can still apply to the other shelters or special needs housing, um, but I think it is directly about um kind of limiting local jurisdictions establishing barriers to siting or uh making it too difficult through local regulations for these uses to actually cite in local jurisdictions.

Um so that is unfortunate.

I think the the balancing act here is to kind of explore where the state has preempted local discretion and where we still have some leeway to uh to provide appropriate standards.

Great, thank you.

I just personally I think I find that really concerning.

Um I do have like I said, I I really think it's important that we have these opportunities to for people to get the support they need and having special needs housing all across our city.

Um, but I that I just my personal opinion seems a little short-sighted.

So thank you.

All right, thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Senior Further council comments.

Uh, this ordinance will be set over for final reading on June 16th, 2026.

Great, thank you.

Steve.

Moving on to public hearings and appeals.

Starting with item number 23.

This item will have a PowerPoint presentation.

Clerk, please read.

This is the date set for a hearing by the council on the proposed amendment to Chapter 13.11 of the municipal code relating to critical areas preservation as recommended by the Planning Commission.

I'd like to call on Robin Bolster Grant and Lisa Spadoni to begin the presentation.

Good evening, thank you.

Uh Mayor Ibsen, uh Deputy Mayor Bushnell and uh City Council.

Uh appreciate the opportunity to be here.

Um, the by way of sort of uh quick introduction, um the this update to the Tacoma Critical Areas Ordinance is required uh as part of the city's periodic review under the Growth Management Act, and is intended to ensure that Tacoma's regulations remain consistent with best available science and to continue to protect critical uh environmental resources.

Uh the draft update reflects nearly a year and a half of technical review, consultation with state and local agencies, discussions with the Puallop tribe of Indians, uh stakeholder outreach, planning commission review and public comment, and it is also intended to ensure that Tacoma's regulations continue to meet state requirements while reflecting local conditions.

As with many environmental regulations, the ordinance addresses topics that are important to the community, including wetlands, streams, fish and wildlife habitat, aquifer recharge areas, flood hazards, geologic hazards, and habitat connectivity.

Community members may also have questions regarding how environmental regulations apply to specific properties and development projects.

While those matters may involve and usually involve separate permit processes and site-specific circumstances, tonight's hearing is focused on the broader policy uh framework that will guide protection of critical areas throughout the city for years to come.

Uh with that, I will turn it over to Lisa Spadoni, our natural resources program manager, who will provide you with an overview of our update.

Thank you, Robin.

Good evening, Mayor Ibsen, Deputy Mayor Bushnell, members of the City Council.

I'm Lisa Spadoni, and I am the, as Robin mentioned, Natural Resources Program Supervisor, and uh gonna give a little overview here.

So let's see if I can back up here for a second.

There we go.

Thank you.

Uh so we are going to review tonight um what are critical areas, why and how they are protected, what the update process has entailed, and what code changes have been recommended.

What kinds of communication and engagement has occurred with the tribe agencies, organizations, and the general public, and then what are the next steps in the process.

So critical areas are defined under state law, and they include uh species and environments that need to be protected, and hazardous areas that are regulated to protect people and development.

They include wetlands, which provide for water quality, flood storage, and wildlife habitat, fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, which include streams, biodiversity areas, and Oregon white oak, and these areas provide habitat for salmon, migration corridors, and protect rare habitat or species.

Critical aquifer recharge areas, often abbreviated as CARAs, which provide protection for aquifers that provide drinking water, and then geologically hazardous areas and flood hazard areas, both of which are regulated for public safety and for property protection.

As Robin mentioned, under state law, local jurisdictions are required to adopt and periodically update regulations regarding critical areas.

Codes are required to ensure.

There we go.

Codes are required to ensure no net loss and to use best available science to evaluate needed updates.

Best available science is also defined under state law, and it directs uh jurisdictions to look at state agencies like the departments of ecology, fish and wildlife, and natural resources, uh, which produce scientific summaries and guidance for jurisdictions to use when updating their critical areas regulations.

The Critical Area Code update is required to be updated along with the periodic update to the city's comprehensive plan.

And last year the city updated the comprehensive plan, and the process was structured to support both that comprehensive plan update and the critical areas code update.

Part of the comprehensive plan update process included a city consultant team drafting a best available science review and a critical areas gap analysis, which identified areas where the critical areas code needed to be updated, and it involved public outreach and engagement that generated new and updated critical areas policies that are incorporated into the updated comprehensive plan.

The best available science review, the gap analysis, and additional consultant review indicated that updates were needed to all five types of critical areas.

There were new buffer recommendations for wetlands and streams from the departments of ecology and fish and wildlife.

Clarifications were needed to the biodiversity area and corridor requirements, and there was a need to codify Oregon White Oak standards.

And updates were needed to the definitions and classifications for geologic and flood hazard areas.

And it was noted that we needed to incorporate additional information on our critical aquifer recharge areas into the general critical areas code.

The area of greatest change involved wetlands, streams, and critical aquifer recharge areas.

Next slide, please.

Thank you.

Oh, can you back up one, please?

Thank you.

As the update went through the planning commission review process, there were multiple options considered for the various sections that needed to be changed.

For wetland buffers, the Department of Ecology provided three options for how to implement changes to the wetland buffers.

The planning commission recommended using option one from ecology, since it's the most flexible of all three options.

The other two options had larger fixed buffers more suitable to rural areas.

Option one allows for reduced buffers in certain conditions, and it has been adopted by other cities and by Pierce County.

Under all the options, the new guidance indicates that buffers must be vegetated for them to actually provide the protection to the wet ones.

For streams, the Department of Fish and Wildlife issued new guidance in 2024 for stream and riparian area protections.

They recommended a new model for protecting streams that would base the protective area around the stream on the mature height of the tallest type of tree likely to grow nearby.

In Tacoma, that would be a Douglas fir with a height of more than 200 feet, which would have resulted in a minimum stream protection area of 200 feet on each side of the stream.

Staff and the planning commission felt that the minimum buffers of that size for all stream types was unrealistic in an urban environment.

And so instead, the planning commission is recommending that the code continues to determine stream buffers based on the stream type and to implement the smallest recommended buffers by fish and wildlife.

This would result in a buffer increase for streams of local significance, which are the salmon-bearing streams in the city, and for our smaller seasonal streams.

And similar to wetland buffers, the science indicates that buffers for streams must be vegetated in order to provide the necessary protective functions.

For critical aquifer recharge areas, the Planning commission recommended adopting the EPA map of the Central Pierce Soul Source Aquifer as a critical aquifer recharge area, or CARA.

And as you can see from the inset in the center here, the Central Pierce Aquifer covers a large region that includes multiple other jurisdictions.

At the City Council study session last month, staff were asked what other jurisdictions are doing to protect the aquifer area.

A jurisdiction comparison table and a summary were provided in the most recent weekly letter to council.

And in short, our neighboring jurisdictions of Kuallop, Lakewood, University Place, and Pierce County have adopted the Central Pierce Aquifer as a CARA and have a list of high impact uses which are prohibited or regulated within that area.

The map in set on the right of this slide shows the extent of the Central Pierce Aquifer within Tacoma.

And you can see that it underlies most of the city, ending at the Puallop River.

The Planning Commission recommends a similar approach to other jurisdictions and to what was adopted for the South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District that includes a high impact use table that indicates what types of potentially pollution generating uses are allowed or prohibited within the CARA.

This is not a wholesale expansion of the regulations that were adopted with the South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District.

It's not recommended to expand the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department review and permitting requirements.

And the Planning Commission recommendation allows some smaller scale high impact uses within the larger CARA area, subject to certain development standards.

It would continue the prohibition on larger scale industrial high-intensity uses.

And regarding some of those high impact industrial uses, it was clear through the Planning Commission process that the proposed CARA regulations were different from some of the recently adopted Tide Flats sub-area plan regulations.

Specifically, there are three use categories that are allowed in the Seaport Core Manufacturing District, or SCM, that are proposed as prohibited under the CARA regulations.

The map on the right of this slide shows the zoning that was adopted in the Tide Flats sub-area plan, and the area circled in red would be included as part of the critical aquifer recharge area under the Planning Commission recommendation.

The chart on the left shows the three high impact use categories that are permitted or conditionally permitted under the Tide Flats sub-area plan within the Seaport Core Manufacturing District and that are proposed to be prohibited within the aquifer recharge area.

Overall, the critical aquifer recharge regulations are proposed to have a hierarchy of protection.

Uses are most restricted in the wellhead protection areas where drinking water is drawn from the aquifer, and then more protective within the South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District, in large part due to the number of wells and high impact uses.

And the next and the most flexible level of regulation would be throughout the rest of the CARA.

Thank you.

Throughout this process, we've engaged in significant amount of public engagement.

We have used social media posts, web page updates, emails, phone calls, to multiple contacts on our Lyftserv and other interested parties, neighborhood councils, community organizations, and other agencies.

We've had multiple meetings with tribal planning and fisheries staff, meetings with environmental organizations, the development community, and our state agencies, the Tacoma Permit Advisory Group, the Climate and Sustainability Commission, and had five or actually six community engagement meetings where we had materials translated into multiple languages to try to get feedback from our partners about this code update.

The tentative schedule for next steps would be first reading on June 16th and final reading on June 23rd.

And that concludes our presentation.

Thank you.

Are there any council questions or comments?

Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'm just curious, is there a time?

Is there a reason?

Does it have to be done by a certain time?

Does this have to be approved by a certain time?

Ideally, I think as Lisa mentioned, this would have been done in conjunction with the one Tacoma the comprehensive plan update.

There are no specific sanctions for exceeding that time frame, although if we were to pursue state grants or something, we could be found in.

But grant money could be withheld if we were pursuing state grants.

Okay, thank you.

I guess I have a lot more questions, and I just am looking forward to talking to you again.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any additional comments or questions?

Seeing not at this time, I'd like to ask attendees if you want to speak under the public hearing regarding critical areas, preservation amendments.

You can either sign up in person, which we have a list here, or you can press star nine or raise your hand and uh you can speak virtually.

So with that, we have a few people who've signed in.

We're gonna start with Ryan Spence, followed by Ta Tyler Daniels.

Good evening, uh mayor, deputy mayor, and council.

My name is Ryan Spence.

I represent the Manufacturing Industrial Council and the Tacoma Pierce County Chamber.

We, along with many of our partners, have submitted detailed written comments regarding proposed amendments relating to the critical areas preservation, and I'm here tonight to reinforce a few key themes.

First, we support the Port of Tacoma's proposed amendments.

We believe that they offer a balanced practical path forward, one that better aligns with adopted plans, reflects existing regulatory frameworks, and advances environmental protection without creating unnecessary conflict and uncertainty.

Second, this moment highlights an opportunity to strengthen the process itself.

For a policy of this scale and impact, we need a more collaborative, transparent approach, one that includes meaningful partner engagement, peer review, and technical input earlier and throughout.

But that requires building confidence in the process and ensuring policy responsive.

Appreciate your time.

Thanks.

And you're welcome to submit any remaining comments to the council in writing too.

Moving on to Tyler Daniels, followed by Alice McDaniel.

Clerk, before my time starts, may I make a request for accommodations?

May I make a request for accommodations?

What do you request?

My request is full attention and presence from the council to receive our comments because it does appear that there's a lot of distraction throughout these meetings, and it does impact my ability to communicate my truth.

So I would be reading your comments when you'd have thank you.

A quote from Corey Newton in August of 2021.

Trust in government is our top priority.

Businesses such as food trucks that were just permitted to be on the northeast corner of MLK and 25th Street, due to the toxic levels of cadmium arsenic lead fluoride and chlorine in our drinking water from the lack of cleanup from the asarco smelter plume zone that this entire watershed covers.

When you are fueling yourself on canned beverages with carbonation, they lead to perforation in your digestive system, leaky gut, and inflammation.

This is chronic in our community because our drinking water is not safe.

Licensed professional civil engineer, I say our drinking water is not safe as is without filtration by reverse osmosis and then having to add in minerals.

It is so challenging for me to remain in this community living.

My roots are deep here, and I am trying to make this work to get this business here to correct all of the financial impacts for everyone on this organization and the community.

So I am asking for full attention.

I'm asking you to wake up, Tacoma.

Wake up.

Thank you for your time.

Alice McDaniel, followed by Andrea Hauga.

Hoag, excuse me.

Good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, City Council members, Alice McDaniel Port of Tacoma.

Uh the port supports the city's goals to protect sensitive areas and strengthen our groundwater safeguards.

Our concerns, however, is that the draft before you prohibits the high-impact uses within the critical aquifer recharge area or CARA, and they conflict with the recently adopted Tide Flat sub area plan.

That conflict creates regulatory uncertainty where strong protections already exist affecting family wage jobs, industrial capacity, and long term investment within the working waterfront.

As this council knows very well, the Tide Flat sub-area plan reflects years of coordination among governments and stakeholders, and it is the city's adopted framework for balancing environmental protection, public health, industrial use, and economic vitality within that area.

The final capital that the council adopts should remain consistent with that framework to support sound policy and reliable long-term planning.

The port has submitted two amendments as outlined in our April 24th letter submitted to you.

One that aligns the Kappa with the Tide Flat Sub area plan by correcting the use allowed in the seaport zoning districts and a technical amendment to clarify legal tests, general mitigation requirements, and wetland mitigation ratios.

Together, these amendments support the city's environmental goals and the ports, and we respectfully request your adoption.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, hello.

Um my name is Andrea Hogue.

I am the chair for the South and Neighborhood Council, and I'm here tonight to speak to the critical area protections.

I would first like to thank uh staff in the planning commission for the time and effort and thoughtful consideration that went into these recommendations.

But tonight I'm respectfully asking for all of you to pause everything in this moment, and that is in light of new information and considering systems that are in place, protections that are there, best science that's available.

But if this isn't a mechanism and a system that doesn't work, any it doesn't matter, none of this matters.

So what I'm asking you today is I want you to consider whether some of this new information and additional amendment recommendations, which we emailed you, all of you individually should have gotten some amendments, and I think that with the work that the planning commission has already done with staff, and looking at some of these amendments that we have set in, that we can create a more protective, robust um protection for our critical areas.

This is not an anti-development statement, so I want to make that very clear to everybody here.

It's this should be development in concert with our communities.

Development shouldn't happen to our communities, and I look to the eagle on the flag behind you all, and you all know what I'm talking about.

Um, please consider pausing and making this more robust.

Thank you, Andy.

Aaron Hallenberg, followed by Alison Cook.

Uh good evening, mayor, council members Aaron Hollandberg uh here on behalf of the Master Builders Association of Pierce County and representing our over 800 members and uh organizations in the residential uh construction industry.

Uh, want to echo and give sentiments to the port in the chamber's comments.

We support uh those changes, as we all know, economic development engines have a downstream effect on housing, so I want to make sure that those are vital and uh um working as they should be.

But today my comments are just gonna be focused on the surety section of the critical areas uh code in Title 13.

Uh, right now, the City of Tacoma requires a performance and maintenance bond up front.

So performance uh makes sense right up front, but a maintenance bond up front is essentially ensuring a product that doesn't exist.

Uh not only does this introduce risk to the builders, but it also creates unnecessary carrying costs that impact the cost of a house.

So we're not asking, we did submit comments in the letters to each of you today.

You should have got uh not asking to remove or changing the regulations, simply just looking to make it a linear process one after another, so there's not as much carrying cost and risk introduced into the housing development and always happy to answer questions or uh talking at any time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Aaron.

Alison Cook followed by Stephanie Stockwell.

My name is Alison Cook.

I live in Central Tacoma.

I want to first thank Staff and Planning Commission for slowing down the CAO update process last year to increase engagement with the Pueblo tribe and other Tacomans.

The current draft is improved from where we started.

Along with fully endorsing the planning commission recommendations, I urge council to acquire one important change to the biodiversity area section.

The current draft requires a native vegetation to be dominant for each layer of herbaceous shrub and tree canopy layers on a two-acre or larger site to qualify as a biodiversity area and still allows for 35% of the site to still be developed.

Um adding um language that says that 50% or more of the site, if if it is invasive, provides a loophole to exclude many of the last undeveloped green spaces from protection.

A site may contain mature forest canopy and provide many ecosystem services for wildlife and human health, but if invasive species like Blackberry dominate 50% or more of the understory, the site no longer qualifies.

Wildlife and Tacomans don't stop benefiting from ecosystem services such as stormwater filtration, air quality, and shading benefits that trees provide because there's blackberry.

Um I'm running out of time.

I encourage revision to look at the whole holistic canopy and not just um eliminating can or other um eliminating the site because of invasive species.

Otherwise, we get more sites like Watchtower Platte and the Bridge Industrial Warehouse.

Um I also want to say that the report say 18 public comments were submitted, but communities for Healthy Bay submitted 68 comment letters with the Action Network, and those were not submitted for unable reason.

Okay, and you're welcome to submit those or any other comments in writing to us too.

Thank you.

Stephanie Stockwell.

Good evening, Council members.

My name is Stephanie Stockwell, and I am speaking on behalf of communities for Healthy Bay at Tacoma-based environmental nonprofit.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

I want to highlight two concerns regarding the proposed ordinance.

First, the biodiversity area provisions.

The presence of invasive species does not mean habitat has lost its ecological value.

Many areas throughout Tacoma still provide wildlife habitat, connect uh habitat connectivity, mature tree canopy, and stormwater benefits despite containing invasive species.

Second, we organized a letter writing campaign that generated 68 comments supporting stronger protections.

Those comments reflected meaningful community participation and should be reflected in the public record.

So decision makers and future community members have an accurate understanding of the level of public engagement in this process.

Building on those concerns, I want to return to a question that communities for Healthy Bay has raised throughout this process.

How many actual acres of otherwise functioning habitat could lose protection based on invasive species are present?

I have not seen an answer to that question.

Tacoma and much of the Pacific Northwest are covered with Himalayan blackberry, English ivy, and other invasive species, yet many of these same areas continue to provide important ecological functions and habitat value.

My concern is that we may be creating a vegetation purity test that excludes some of the most valuable habitat Tacoma has left.

Before adoption, I urge council to consider whether this language reflects the ecological realities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

With that, we're going to move on to our virtual speakers, uh, starting with Heidi Stevens, followed by Kathy Irvine.

Good evening.

I've addressed this council many times regarding the inappropriate omission of critical aquifer recharge by the planning department in permit reviews.

Thankfully, this is finally the opportunity to fix that.

But it won't happen if the required Washington administrative codes continue to be left out of the critical areas policy and also not cross-reference with the South Tacoma Ground Water Protection District Code, since we are still seeing current permits continuing to completely skip the step of critical aquifer reports and reviews.

The planning department has cross-referenced housing codes to make those requirements much clearer.

Well, we're far past the time to do the same for our aquifer.

It's been well reported that Washington is in a drought emergency following the fourth consecutive year of subpar snow accumulation and mountain snowpack already at a near record low.

Our drinking water from Green River may be abandoned during the spring melt, but likely lacking when we need it most in the fall.

That's when the South Tacoma aquifer becomes even more vital, providing up to 40% of the city's water.

And according to TPU, this year will already be tapping into our wells as early as this month.

Please see my written comments and please require this important cross-referencing change to avoid further noncompliance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Kathy Irwin, followed by Jaina.

Hello, my name is Kathy Irwin, District 3.

I wanted to express my concerns with the use of the terms of best available science as is used by the planning department when conducting studies.

Too many environmental studies have been scoped in a certain ways to exclude critical pieces of information to allow development in certain areas.

This code as written is still favoring development over protections of the environment to a great degree.

There are no clear indications of how people are supposed to be monitoring the situation.

Is this up to the citizens to report something to the city if something is happening?

What is the process to be used?

And are we just going to be going with a voluntary situation of telling somebody not to do something?

When in fact, what is needed is a stop work order.

I've only seen one situation recently where they've used a stop work order where it was very obvious that a whole area of the development was covered with dairy oak tree and it had been missed.

So I want to put that in there that it's only as good as what is conducted for studies, and then also what is put in for enforcement of any of that, and not just swept by the wayside.

Okay.

Moving on to Jana, followed by Christine Nunn.

Hello, my name is Tana Hildred, and I am here to talk about critical protection areas because they mean so much to myself and the rest of the community.

Um it's one of the places I go to relax, and it's my uh, you know, just place that I really love to go.

And not just me, but everyone in the community while I was out there protesting, and we were trying to rally people about this incident that happened at uh Charlotte Blueberry Park.

Uh, many, many people told me that they loved bird watching, which I myself love to bird watch, and I was really heartbroken by the fact that we failed them and our critical protections were not enough to save the eagle nest and the three hop nests, and we even were all witnesses to this and saw that the hop was injured in the tree, and uh we weren't able to see some of the nests, but regardless, we need to improve our protections because once it's gone, we can't bring it back, and we're seeing that right now.

It just it's important to be more protective of our environment, and that isn't anti-building things, but it definitely we need to do a better job because everything that we were trying to do to report this and stop what was going on and tell people what was happening, just fell by the wayside.

It was really difficult to get to the right places, and many of us were trying to report these things, and it just didn't happen, and those animals died.

Okay.

Thank you for your comments, Christine Nunn.

Christine.

Christine, can you hear us?

Okay, looks like there's some technical difficulties.

Um, you're welcome to uh submit the rest of your uh comments in writing to the city council.

So with that, it appears there are no other speakers virtual or in person.

So we are going to close the public hearing and move on to our second public hearing, which is item number 24.

Clerk, please read.

This is the date set for a hearing by the council in the proposed six-year comprehensive transportation improvement program amended for the years 2026 and 2027 through 2032.

Good evening, Mayor Ibsen, Deputy Mayor Bushnell and members of City Council.

My name is Jennifer Camerzell, Transportation Division Manager in Public Works.

And as you stated, tonight is set aside for a public hearing on the draft six-year comprehensive transportation improvement program, amended 2026 and 2027 through 2032.

Section 35.77.010 of the revised code of Washington provides that the legislative body of each city and county prepare and adopt a comprehensive transportation program for the ensuing six year calendar years, and then annually thereafter, pursuant to one or more public hearings, which is what we have before you today.

The comprehensive transportation program can be amended at any time with counts city council adoption after public hearing as well.

State law further provides that each city will include in their comprehensive transportation program how they intend to expend the revenues for infrastructure improvements, specifically those related to non-motorized transportation.

The draft program includes roadways, bridges, non-motorized facilities, sidewalks, and other capital-related transportation projects.

The program draft program is based upon anticipated revenues versus desirable projects.

There are always more projects than available revenues.

The six-year program not only serves as a budgeting tool for immediate bienniums, but also as a planning tool for the implementation of the city's one to coma transportation and mobility plan.

The plan serves as a city's priorities for the next 25 years to meet requirements in alignment with regional future land use, population, and job growth goals.

It includes goals, actions, multimodal level of service, and a prioritized project list.

The projects in the six-year program are city-led or agency partnership projects.

Infrastructure projects related to private development as part of mitigation are typically not included in the six-year program, especially if no city funds are expended.

Additionally, maintenance projects such as chipseal or pothole repairs are also not included in the six-year program.

These are typically included in the city's maintenance plan.

To date, in 2026, staff provided a presentation to the infrastructure planning and sustainability council committee on the annual six-year comprehensive transportation improvement program amendment process and major changes on March 11th, 2026, and received a recommendation for the draft program to City Council on April 22nd, 2026.

Staffs also presented the recommended draft to City Council study session on May 12th, 2026.

Staff also provided a presentation to the Transportation Commission on the annual program, amendment process on January 21st, and also major changes of March 18th of this year.

There are seven new projects proposed for addition to the draft program.

They total approximately 38 million dollars and include three unfunded projects.

There is one project completed at a total cost of 161,000 in partnership with the Puallop tribe of Indians and is being proposed for removal because it has been completed.

The draft program has been available on the city's website.

This concludes my presentation.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Are there any council questions or comments?

Alright, seeing none.

Uh, we are going to open up the public hearing for the six-year transportation improvement plan for just this topic.

If you want to attend virtually and make your comments, uh, you can just hit star nine or the raised hand button.

So with that, currently we just have one person uh who is signed in to speak on the six-year transportation improvement plan.

That's Mr.

Tyler Daniels.

Did you forget this?

Okay, thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, I am requesting attention as well again before I start from everyone.

Eye contact is very important to me as an individual with neurodiversity.

Thank you.

Um the six-year plan fails to bring tangible reality to our needs as a community.

The system around us is collapsing.

It is not invisible as you drive, as I continue to hit potholes, even though I know they're there.

This plan provides band-aids that will never resolve the systems that we have already created that are collapsing around us.

The proposal that I am coming to you with will bring revision that my team has with creative ways to facilitate the development and the redevelopment of the city.

As I worked so deeply in this department, I understand all of the ins and outs, all of the potentials that this community has to working with what we've done, working with what we have, and creating through co-creation of a community, this council, and the people who work here.

And so I am so excited for this opportunity to have gone through the depths of the darkness to be a part of this movement now, requesting you to wake up to coma so that we can co-create our future for health, safety, and longevity to create the blue zone that the city of Destiny was intended to be.

Thank you, Tyler.

We have one virtual speaker, Biden Stevens.

Good evening.

It would have been helpful to have a map anywhere in this draft since a number of the location descriptions just didn't make sense.

And nowhere does there seem to be serious impact considerations for the tens of thousands additional vehicle trips per day to and from the mega warehouse in South Tacoma.

The city seems refusing to acknowledge what's coming and should be requiring these facilities to pay for the needed street improvements.

Regarding the plan for sound transit along South 60th Street, absolutely no tree should be cut if expanding or adding bike trails through the Sarah campus.

There should be no cutting of any trees anywhere in South Tacoma.

Also, it's incomprehensible why it would take over a million and a half dollars to plant trees in a small area, and there's a very small area even available between South uh 31st to Highway 16 along Union Avenue.

That's literally only a few blocks.

It also isn't noting that about three-fourths of that funding is coming from the bridge industrial settlement, which is supposed to be determined by South Tacoma residents.

This seems far over cost, and I would like to know how thoroughly this council has examined and questioned each of these items in this huge plan.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So with that appears that we have no other speakers signed in virtually or in person.

So with that, we are going to close the public hearing and move on to unfinished business.

Is there any unfinished business?

Seeing none, the city manager, do you have a report this evening?

Uh, two reports for you.

Um, Mayor Ibsen, uh members of council, deputy mayor, first reporters from Public Works department from street Operations.

Um, just reporting to you here that you all know because you participated in lead our annual pothole Palooza, which delivered significant results for uh throughout the city.

Um, some stats for your consideration tonight.

Um, nearly uh two and a half miles of roadway um resurfacing placed over over two tons of asphalt, 4100 uh I'm sorry, 4,100 tons of asphalt, not two tons, uh improving driving conditions and roadway safety for residents across the city.

Um reporting to you, engineering division is continuing to make strong progress on several major capital projects, including the Piallop Avenue uh Complete Street Projects, uh designed for fishing wars and moral bridge phase two, South Yakama Avenue preservation, and multiple safe routes to school projects.

Um our transportation division is completing a rapid set of safety improvements along South 72nd Street.

Uh this encompassed uh all within one week.

Crews upgraded signal heads at the protected left turn removements and improved pedestrian timing, just getting the work done across the board.

Um mayor, just this report from Public Works just is just a reflection of all the work that our street operations, our engineers, our designers, our managers, um they are making it happen right now.

So that's my report from Public Works.

And then just switching gears to my second um report out to the council.

Um from the Tacoma Dome, it is time to celebrate the class of 2026.

I thought you would like this uh stat here.

We have a media release that's going out to our public here.

Um the Tacoma Dome will host 22 high schools and uh college graduation ceremonies this summer.

Additionally, um our TV team will also be hosting one ceremony at the convention center, so the Greater Tacoma Convention Center.

Um I thought this stat was really um pretty great.

Um since uh the mid-1980s, um, this time honored tradition at the Dome has seen around two million graduates and attendees, uh, resulting in countless millions of dollars of economic impact.

Economic impact is probably secondary, um, but I think it's important.

Um, so this last year alone, the stats were we saw eighty eight thousand six hundred graduates and over seventy-two thousand guests at the Tacoma Dome last year.

We are expecting the same this summer with those twenty-two graduation ceremonies.

Um, and the the estimated very conservative economic impact is over two million dollars this summer season.

Um, just and that's my report.

Um, just wanted to report that to you.

Thank you, Marison.

Thank you, City Manager.

Moving on to comments and committee reports of the city council.

I'd like to first call on uh Chair Walker from the Infrastructure Planning Sustainability Committee.

Thank you, Mayor.

The infrastructure planning and sustainability committee has met once since our last report out on May 13th.

The committee moved to support the landmarks preservation commission's recommendation to add a section of public right-of-way on North Union Avenue to the city's register for historic places.

Public Works Engineering staff also updated IPS on the 2025 to 2026 Public Works Capital Improvement Program, which is made up of 75 projects totaling more than 300 million dollars.

Finally, the committee was briefed on and voted to forward the proposed updates to the stormwater management manual, which had its first reading earlier this evening.

IPS's May 27th meeting was canceled.

We will meet again next Wednesday, June 10th.

The committee will consider and recommend candidates to serve on the planning commission and learn about the city's new parking citation policies.

Parks Tacoma will also be attending to secure the city's conferral in support of their grant application to purchase a portion of the former Galt Middle School site.

Mayor, this concludes my report.

Thank you, Chair Walker, Councilmember Hines.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, I just want to give an update, as many of my colleagues know.

Being the animal council member, I cannot help but recognize that we are doing an election for the honorary mayor right now.

Uh voting started yesterday.

We've already raised almost thirteen hundred dollars for low for uh spaniel programs at the comic main society.

So I encourage you to go online now and cast your votes for Ruby and uh Boober McSnoober and uh a bunch of other funny names for the potential honorary mayor.

Mayor Nacho's time is ending, and so uh this is an election you can buy.

Uh so just be sure to go online and uh buy as much election as you can and recognize all the proceeds go to a great cause.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

God bless America.

Um, comment myself too.

Uh the city manager brought up public works and and the exemplary um conduct of our uh our staff there.

On that note, something I'd also like to highlight is um public works and and other uh departments um ongoing engagement relating to Connect Tacoma and the conversation about sustainable infrastructure funding through the facts and information effort.

Um I'm really pleased to say that as part of that uh over about a week and a half ago, I was present with public works staff at a meeting of the Tacoma School Board, and uh they heard the presentation, the uh information about the facts and information about this um ongoing conversation.

And with a unanimous vote, the Tacoma School Board voted to pass a resolution of support for the measure.

And we have similar conversations happening with the Parks Tacoma Board as well as the uh port commission as well.

Just given that just like our conversation earlier about um about ride transit month, uh, there are no silos.

We just don't have the luxury.

Uh there are no transportation only or housing only or or what have you.

Uh everything is deeply interrelated because this is just about human-centeredness and making sure people frankly live better, and that we're doing the best we can.

Uh so with that, I'm really uh pleased to see our staff uh deliver continuously uh and to do the best that we that they can to build and enhance trust in these uh really crucial services and um more to come, but uh really wanted to give credit recreditors due.

So, with that, uh any final questions or comments of the council.

Seeing none, is there a motion to adjourn?

I move to adjourn.

Move and second, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All supposed to say no, we are adjourned.