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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

City of Tacoma Council Study Session – September 9, 2025: Homeless Strategy, Tideflats Plan, and Groundwater Code

City Council Study Session — Tuesday, September 9, 2025

BodyTacoma, Washington

SessionCity Council Study Session

DateTuesday, September 9, 2025

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 1:19:05

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:03

I'd like to call to order the study session of September 9th, 2025.

0:07

Clerk, will you please call the roll?

0:09

Councilmember Bushnell.

0:10

Present.

0:11

Deputy Mayor Daniels.

0:13

Absent Councilmember Diaz.

0:15

Councilmember Hines.

0:16

Here.

0:16

Councilmember Remba.

0:18

Here.

0:18

Councilmember Sidalgay.

0:21

Councilmember Scott.

0:24

Councilmember Walker.

0:26

She said here.

0:28

Mayor Woodards.

0:29

Here.

0:30

The study session material sent to you at 1101.

0:32

Great.

0:33

Thank you very much.

0:34

All right.

0:35

We have one module.

0:36

I'm making sure you got me.

0:37

Huh?

0:38

Did you give me?

0:39

Okay.

0:40

Okay.

0:43

All right.

0:43

Um we have one agenda modified.

0:45

We have one modification to the agenda today.

0:48

The state of the court's presentation will be scheduled for a later date.

0:52

And so we're going to move on to our second agenda item, which is our homeless strategy update.

0:56

And I'd like to call on neighborhood and community services principal, community resource analyst Caleb Carbone, as well as the interim director of neighborhood and community services, Vicky McLaurin.

1:11

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

1:13

For the record, Caleb Carbone, Homeless Strategy Systems and Service Manager with Neighborhood and Community Services.

1:20

As mentioned before, I'm joined with Vicky McLaurin, interim director in neighborhood and community services, as well, who will primarily be available for any questions council may have after the presentation.

1:32

This presentation will focus majority of our attention on shelter and strategy implementation during this presentation.

1:41

Additionally, we will be providing an updated TMC 819 implementation memo to the city council during the CMO's weekly report that you'll receive later on.

1:53

And then lastly, I do want to make sure I am joined by Javon Carlisle, who is a city's uh homeless engagement alternative liaison manager, um, who can be available for any questions after we've uh um have done the presentation as well.

2:09

Um additionally, before I begin the presentation, I would like to specifically thank our public works team and their partnership on the decommissioning of shelter sites for the last few months uh months, excuse me.

2:22

The engineering construction management team has been the leader in supporting the transition of all of our sites.

2:30

They've been very intentional about how to best utilize our resources and have been ahead of anticipated timeline.

2:36

So we're truly thankful for them and their partnership.

2:38

I also want to thank my staff and neighborhood and community services department staff for their work on coordinating much of this work that I'll be presenting today.

2:47

Um these individuals really truly represent the city well.

2:51

Um, they're very committed to the work.

2:53

Um, they're always looking for ways to improve and innovate while also maintaining strong relationships without the city.

2:59

So um thank you for them.

3:00

And some of them are here with us today and watching online as well.

3:04

Um, and then I also want to just make sure that I thank our dedicated providers and organizations who continue to uh that are committed to this work, supporting the work uh that the city does and and still holding their missions and visions aligned with that, and then also to the volunteers and community members that continue to engage in these issues and want to see a healthy and vibrant city.

3:27

Um, here is our outline for today's conversation.

3:30

We'll begin the presentation with an update on the City of Tacoma's five-year homeless strategy um implementation and what we look like we supported for the third quarter and what we'll be focusing and shifting our focus for the fourth quarter of 2025.

3:43

Um, following the strategy, I'll brief council on the initial data from the 2025 point in time count that we received um in the last few weeks, and then next we'll review our regular overview of the city's uh inclement weather response for people who are primarily unsheltered, and then we'll finish lastly with giving council a quick update on the city's shelter system.

4:05

Next slide.

4:09

And these next three slides is some of the strategic actions uh for this from the city's homelessness strategy uh during the third quarter of 2025.

4:17

A lot of these are are should be familiar with council.

4:20

We've given updates before on many of these, but just to reiterate the work that NCS has been doing and the homelessness um side of the teams.

4:31

Um as a reminder for context, we have five goals that are associated with um uh objectives for the strategic plan.

4:39

Uh we spend significant efforts in the third quarter focusing on goals two and three.

4:44

Uh for goal two, the strategy looks to find ways to support everyone experiencing homelessness and tacoma or impacted by homelessness, can access services and support.

4:53

The first highlighted is to supporting objective two one, um, which focuses on providing access to hygiene, outreach, and seasonal weather shelter for unhoused residents of Tacoma.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Homelessness████████████████████████████████████████████44%

Public Engagement█████████████13%

Engineering And Infrastructure███████████11%

Code Enforcement██████████10%

Procedural██████6%

Public Health███3%

Data Management███3%

Transportation Safety███3%

Affordable Housing██2%

Summary of Proceedings

City of Tacoma Council Study Session – September 9, 2025: Homeless Strategy, Tideflats Plan, and Groundwater Code Amendments

The City Council held a study session on September 9, 2025, to receive updates on homelessness strategy and Point-in-Time Count data, discuss amendments to the Tideflats Subarea Plan ahead of a public hearing, and review code amendments for the South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District. No formal votes were taken on the homelessness or groundwater items; a resolution to set a public hearing on the Tideflats plan was scheduled for the evening council meeting.

Discussion Items

Homeless Strategy Update

Caleb Carbone (Principal Community Resources Analyst) and Vicky McLaurin (Interim Director of Neighborhood and Community Services) presented the City's five-year homeless strategy implementation, focusing on shelter, inclement weather response, and regional coordination.
The 2025 Point-in-Time Count (January 30–31) showed a 9% increase in individuals experiencing homelessness within Tacoma (to over 1,500) and an 11% increase countywide. Unsheltered numbers rose while sheltered counts declined, partly due to prior shelter bed reductions. The count also saw a reduction in surveyed individuals reporting a last zip code in Tacoma, suggesting people from outside the city are accessing services there.
New partnerships: St. Vincent de Paul expanded day and inclement weather services in South Tacoma; Pierce Transit transferred two shuttles to Tacoma Rescue Mission for non-emergency medical transport, aiming to reduce 911 calls.
A regional inclement weather task force established tiered thresholds (starting at 40°F for three consecutive days) and coordinated response protocols for cold weather.
Shelter capacity: Baseline city funding supports 720 beds; state Commerce funding (total $6 million over two years) will maintain 140 additional beds through June 2027 (current agreements run through June 2026). Mayor Woodards noted winter capacity could exceed 860 beds.
Councilmembers praised the regional approach and data transparency. Deputy Mayor Daniels asked about the decreasing Tacoma zip codes; Carbone noted high unknown zip codes and that regional efforts aim to distribute services outside Tacoma. Councilmember Hines requested continued work on a by-name list via the Homeless Management Information System; staff confirmed progress. Councilmember Walker thanked partners for the shuttle program.

Tideflats Subarea Plan – Consideration of Amendments and Public Hearing Prep

Steve Atkinson (Principal Planner) presented the evening's council resolution to set a public hearing on October 28 for the Tideflats Subarea Plan and four related code packages (subarea plan, comprehensive plan updates, Title 13 land use code, shoreline master program).
Four council-sponsored amendments (by Mayor Woodards and Councilmember Walker) were introduced:
1. Limit expansion of non-conforming residential/institutional uses in seaport core.
2. Refine TOD district standards around the Portland Avenue Link Light Rail station, in coordination with Sound Transit.
3. Minor code cleanups (e.g., correcting definitions such as "cargo" instead of "container").
4. Allow public agencies (e.g., Port of Tacoma) to adopt urban forestry plans for flexible tree canopy compliance, subject to city approval and 10-year reviews. Councilmember Remba requested the flexibility be explicitly tied to Tideflats properties; staff will incorporate that direction.
Mayor Woodards and Councilmember Walker celebrated the unanimous approval by all five governments and emphasized the amendments do not alter the plan's substance.
Councilmember Remba highlighted key District 2 wins: prohibition of rendering plants, transitional zoning along borders, conditional use permits for high-concern industries, and required public shoreline access. She proposed future actions: review noise code enforcement, engage Puget Sound Clean Air Agency on air quality enforcement, and fund a trail study connecting Northeast Tacoma to downtown.
No vote at study session; the resolution to set the public hearing and include the amendments in a 45-day comment period was on the evening agenda.

South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District Code – Amendments Discussion

Councilmember Bushnell summarized updates to the code language based on public comments, including non-conforming use provisions, waiver language, and split-parcel clarifications.
Councilmember Remba directed the city to use best efforts to complete a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department within 90 days of ordinance adoption to define roles and joint implementation.

Key Outcomes

Homeless Strategy: No formal action; presentation received. Staff will continue regional coordination and by-name list development.
Tideflats Subarea Plan: Council was scheduled to vote that evening on a resolution to set a public hearing for October 28, 2025. Final adoption is targeted for December 2, 2025 (with a special meeting on November 12). The four council-sponsored amendments will be included in the 45-day public comment period.
Groundwater Protection District: Councilmember Remba's directive to complete the MOU within 90 days was noted; no formal vote.
The study session adjourned to a 15-minute executive session on pending litigation.

Meeting Transcript

I'd like to call to order the study session of September 9th, 2025. Clerk, will you please call the roll? Councilmember Bushnell. Present. Deputy Mayor Daniels. Absent Councilmember Diaz. Councilmember Hines. Here. Councilmember Remba. Here. Councilmember Sidalgay. Councilmember Scott. Councilmember Walker. She said here. Mayor Woodards. Here. The study session material sent to you at 1101. Great. Thank you very much. All right. We have one module. I'm making sure you got me. Huh? Did you give me? Okay. Okay. All right. Um we have one agenda modified. We have one modification to the agenda today. The state of the court's presentation will be scheduled for a later date. And so we're going to move on to our second agenda item, which is our homeless strategy update. And I'd like to call on neighborhood and community services principal, community resource analyst Caleb Carbone, as well as the interim director of neighborhood and community services, Vicky McLaurin. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. For the record, Caleb Carbone, Homeless Strategy Systems and Service Manager with Neighborhood and Community Services. As mentioned before, I'm joined with Vicky McLaurin, interim director in neighborhood and community services, as well, who will primarily be available for any questions council may have after the presentation. This presentation will focus majority of our attention on shelter and strategy implementation during this presentation. Additionally, we will be providing an updated TMC 819 implementation memo to the city council during the CMO's weekly report that you'll receive later on. And then lastly, I do want to make sure I am joined by Javon Carlisle, who is a city's uh homeless engagement alternative liaison manager, um, who can be available for any questions after we've uh um have done the presentation as well. Um additionally, before I begin the presentation, I would like to specifically thank our public works team and their partnership on the decommissioning of shelter sites for the last few months uh months, excuse me. The engineering construction management team has been the leader in supporting the transition of all of our sites. They've been very intentional about how to best utilize our resources and have been ahead of anticipated timeline. So we're truly thankful for them and their partnership. I also want to thank my staff and neighborhood and community services department staff for their work on coordinating much of this work that I'll be presenting today. Um these individuals really truly represent the city well. Um, they're very committed to the work. Um, they're always looking for ways to improve and innovate while also maintaining strong relationships without the city. So um thank you for them. And some of them are here with us today and watching online as well. Um, and then I also want to just make sure that I thank our dedicated providers and organizations who continue to uh that are committed to this work, supporting the work uh that the city does and and still holding their missions and visions aligned with that, and then also to the volunteers and community members that continue to engage in these issues and want to see a healthy and vibrant city. Um, here is our outline for today's conversation.

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TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
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