I'd like to call to order the city council study session of April 28th, 2026.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Deputy Mayor Bushnell.

President.

Councilmember Diaz.

Absent Councilmember Heinz.

Councilmember Palmer.

Councilmember Rumba.

Here.

Councilmember Sidalgay.

Absent Councilmember Scott?

Councilmember Walker?

Mayor Ibsen.

Here.

We have one agenda modification.

Item number four, Pierce County Flood Control, Zone District Advisory Committee appointment, and that will be discussed at a later time.

Our first agenda item is our 2026 legislative update.

I'd like to call on senior government relations advisor Alex McBain to begin the presentation, and Brianna Murray from Gordon Thomas Honey was also present.

Thank you and uh uh appreciate the ability to give this presentation.

Very happy that Brianna um from our state lobbyist is here.

Her team does so she and her team do so much to help us.

Uh so and she'll be here to help answer any questions.

Um forward on the slide.

So um I wanted to start with a quick review of the process we use to develop the 2026 uh legislative agenda, in part because we'll be beginning that process shortly here for the 2027 uh legislative agenda.

So um last summer through the fall and summer uh we had discussions about issues and priorities with individual uh council members based on those conversations and other issues that were before council, we crafted drafts of the legislative policies or legislative priorities and the policy doc the policy positions documents.

Um we followed up with two study sessions where we discussed those priorities and policies.

Um and then finally in November, the council formally adopted the state legislative priorities and the policy positions document.

Um we'll talk a little bit more about those uh policy position those priorities when we get into the discussion of the outcomes, but just quickly, the priorities for this last session were response to the federal government, fiscal sustainability, we had a capital request for a trickling filter at the wastewater treatment plant, and then we had identified three issues, or you had identified three issues of importance.

One was wastewater treatment plant nutrient regulation, route jurisdiction transfer, and then the issues around infrastructure funding and sidewalk utility.

Uh the policy positions document was a longer uh document that identifies policy priorities and the government relations office uses that as a guide for advocacy work in the fast-paced session.

Um with the priorities identified, um the we began the work of um connecting with our legislative delegation in addition to individual discussions with uh individual delegation members in December prior to session, we had a briefing on the city's priorities with our legislative delegation members, and then it followed up with a dinner in Olympia um with our uh delegation members in February.

Um debrief, I would just say the uh March 12th um marked the very end of a very challenging session.

Um there were more bills introduced than um than a normal uh second year session, so it was very active.

There were over 1200 uh new bills introduced, and then 268 bills were passed.

There were the major themes in the session were response to federal government and tax structure reform, and all of that was with the large state budget deficit as the sort of backdrop of the entire session.

Um in terms of the tax structure um reform, um, we wanted to highlight that there was historic legislation in the form of millionaires tax that was unveiled by House and Senate leaders and the governor at the very start of session, and that took a lot of bandwidth out of the uh throughout the session.

Uh the taxes and 9.9% levy on adjusted gross income uh above one million dollars per year that would take effect in January 2028.

The major features include funding to expand the working tax uh working families tax credit, five percent of the proceeds would support the fair start for kids, which is supporting child care and early learning programs.

There was a series of tax changes, including implementing exemptions for businesses under 300,000 gross income from BO, eliminating sales tax on many over-the-counter drugs, diapers and certain personal care products, and then rolling back some of the sales tax services that were sales tax on services that were enacted in 2025.

The bill did include an emergency clause, so it wasn't eligible for a referendum, but there are legal challenges forthcoming, and it will likely be the subject of a ballot initiative.

In terms of the city's legislative priorities, I'll start with the response to the federal government and immigration and detention issues.

Around immigration and detention, there were a slate of immigration detention related bills that were introduced and then our Tacoma elected officials testified five times on many on these bills.

And then I just highlight the these bills that did pass.

The first was HB 2105 regarding uh immigrant worker protections, 2165, which increases the penalties for impersonating law enforcement, SB 5855, which protects uh prohibits law enforcement from wearing masks, and then uh SB6602, which uh concerns driver privacy protections.

Um in terms of the fiscal sustainability, um, because of the state's large budget deficit, there was a focus on encouraging the ledge to um sustain historical um revenue sharing partnerships between state and local government, and then to support proposals that would provide local governments with sustainable, progressive, and equitable tax system, including new revenue tools and flexibility with uh existing revenues.

Um, some of the better news related to the outcomes on the fiscal sustainability were most of the state share revenues were preserved with some minor exceptions.

Um there was the legislature did pass uh the a local government flexibility bill that provides additional flexibility around existing revenues and additional sales tax authority.

Uh it included a one-tenth of a percent councilmatic sales tax uh for child care perinatal support before and after uh school use services.

It provided some flexibility with housing sales tax, the HB 5990 funds.

It expands the usage of REIT 2 to um revenues to include nuisance abatement.

Uh it extends the maximum length that a levy lift can be approved by voters to 10 years.

It authorizes uh new county property tax for public health clinics and then allows the creation of a municipal fire district uh with an independently elected board of fire commissioners within two years of the district's formation.

Um of the less optimal outcomes related to the fiscal sustainability issues.

Uh there was another diversion from the public works uh assistance account.

It should not impact projects that are currently funded, but it would potentially put at risk future projects or funding for future projects.

Um then assuming the sales the million year sales tax is upheld, uh city revenue will be reduced from the sales tax exemptions that were included as part of that bill.

Um and so the four-year balance sheet that the legislature authorized um it does assume 200 million dollars to cities and counties uh for local impacts, um, but it does not mitigate all the sales tax on services and and um that were enacted in 2025.

Some of the takeaways and next step steps on this are to highlight with legislative continue to highlight with legislators the cities are facing significant budget shortfalls and deficits.

Um, and to highlight the fact that as the city taxes grow more aggressive as the state has been working to make the state's taxes more progressive.

So in the short term, we need to continue that dialogue that the state has made efforts for making a less regressive stack tax system, and examples include the um the capital gains tax that they've done and then this millionaires tax this last year.

But they the state has continued to offer local governments more regressive options.

So in the last two years, they've authorized increases in sales tax for public safety and then for child care and or child and family ish services.

And then a long-term strategy is sort of develop concrete proposals for local government tax reform.

We want to also uh highlight about advocating for the 200 million dollars to ensure pushing to make sure that that placeholder 200 million dollars for local government mitigation is adjusted to fully mitigate the impact on an ongoing basis, and that's um going to be critically important for municipalities across the state, I would say.

Um in terms of the capital budget that uh there this was one of the bright spots again from this last session.

Uh that we did get the legislature did approve um 1.7 million dollars for the north end treatment plant trickling filter.

Um we did get feedback from a number of legislators to focus more on um projects that can't be funded through existing revenue streams.

So this is one of those ones that was fun could be funded through a utility rate.

Um we did push on the affordability issue around this, uh which is present in part why it did get funded, but the feedback was to like try to push for projects that don't have those uh alternate funding sources or revenue streams.

Um and then the slide I identifies uh some additional capital investments that were included in the budget, among them the two million dollars for the museum of class HVAC system, and then $924,000 in planning dollars for the Tacoma Pierce County Health Club uh health hub, um and that would be for at the old friend Myers uh location.

Um then in terms of uh we also identified some other addition issues of importance.

Um the first was to engage the legislature on the Department of Ecology's proposed water wastewater treatment plant and nutrient regulation.

And the council, you've had some a number of um presentations on that issue and understand the uh just prior to session, DOA DOE made a change in their strategy uh moving away from the nutrient general permit to pursuing a facility by facility permit um approach.

And so while we did work with uh our to educate our delegation members on the issue, due to that change, it wasn't a hot topic uh for during session.

Um in terms of next steps, we do want to continue that education process with our member with the delegation members.

Um, and we're talking about this a little bit, but we're hoping for um a tour of the North End wastewater nutrient um treatment plant um in part because this issue will probably be coming up again next year.

Regarding the uh route jurisdiction transfers, we we there was a bill that did get introduced that would level the playing field with Washstadt concerning highway abandonments and route jurisdiction transfers to local governments.

Uh the legislature, the legislation did get out of the house with no no votes um but didn't advance in the Senate.

Um and so our next steps here are to engage the Transportation Committee legislators uh to begin to get a better understanding of the outstanding issues on this bill and whether it was a matter there are whether there are outstanding issues or it was a matter of timing and a short subject short budget session and uh sort of tough negotiations around the transportation budget that sort of got made it run out of time before the end of session.

And then around sidewalk utility um and the development of new tools for infrastructure needs, um there is the continuing statewide study from the Joint Transportation Commit Committee to explore some sidewalk funding mechanisms.

Tacoma is participating in the case study portion of that ongoing study.

The uh the consultant is looking at a number of options, uh including creation of a sidewalk utility, uh transportation benefit um sales tax district sales tax, a new read option, and a modified stormwater utility fee.

Those are all things that the consultant is looking at in their final report.

We're hoping that that final report is uh out this this summer or fall.

Um in terms of other interim activities, um there are this is gonna be an election year, so all the members of the House and half the Senate will be up for re-election.

There are a number of changes in um even in this in our local districts.

So Senator Conway is is retiring.

Um there will be so there will be some changes in in in even in our local delegation.

Um in terms of some of the efforts we're gonna make with with uh engagement.

In terms of some of the efforts we're going to make with uh engagement, I think I mentioned that we were planning on a tour of the North End wastewater treatment plant to help highlight to continue to highlight and educate members on the issues around the nutrient issue uh the nutrients and this and then the other issue that we were going to be engaging members on is the I think two years ago we got a lot of good traction with members on budget issues that the city was facing.

Um and so we want to explore options to engage the members on as the city develops its next biennial budget and keep our delegation members sort of find ways to keep them up to date on sort of what those budget what the budget looks like and the choices that the council is thinking about in terms of options for solving the budget structural budget deficit that the city is facing.

We'll also be tracking um actions around the millionaires' tax uh like as I said, they're likely legal challenges and uh it might might be subject to an initiative.

So we'll be tracking sort of what that is, and we'll also be working, I think, with uh AWC to understand um try to get a better sense of the 200 million dollars to focus on what that what that really looks like um going forward.

Um and then with AWC, their legislative priority uh committee meets later this week, and so they're starting to develop their AWC priorities for this next session, and then the annual conferences in June in Spokane.

And then uh, you know, it's sort of the legislative agenda development process will have uh first draft of those legislative priorities and policy positions um sometime this sometime this summer and in advance of that we'll we'll have a number of uh probably discussions individually with council members to understand sort of some of the priorities and issues that they want to highlight going forward.

Um we'll make some refinements to those priorities in the fall with presentations at uh at uh uh study sessions in October and November, and then hopefully in November we'll have the adoption of the formal adoption of the legislative priorities and we'll again meet with our legislative delegation in December to kind of highlight what those priorities are and then session will begin again in January.

So with that, I think we're open to any questions you might have.

Thank you, Alex.

Are there any comments or questions for the council?

For Walker.

Uh thank you, Mayor, and thank you all for both for all of your work.

I know there are teams of people behind you too, so thank you to all.

Um very interested in getting to work in the interim to get us set up for success next year.

Um I know you talked a little bit about the um city or jurisdictional funding and how it interacts with the millionaires' tax and that those conversations.

Is that something that council members can help with in setting up meetings with legislators, or is that something staff is doing on their own?

Can we coordinate on that?

Is that helpful?

What do you think we help?

I I I think it would be it would be very helpful um to get engagement from the council on that issue.

I think one that'll be presumably a big big topic that is talked about at the AWC as part of their legislative priorities committee.

But I think one of the things we want to do is sort of highlight from our perspective what that looks like.

I think we've have, for example, on the on this this sales tax on services, we'll we'll now have a quarter of collections so we can identify exactly what that means for the City of Tacoma.

I think that's a number that we should be able to talk to our legislative delegation about.

I think it's really important it'll be really important to have all the engagement we can on that.

I think it's gonna be one of those issues where it's all in.

Great.

Thank you.

Um and then I also just mentioned I know we've talked about this um at other meetings, but we have a couple really specific um Sound Transit uh asks at the legislature legislature, and I would love to coordinate with you all on those as we at the Sound Transit level get those sorted out and so we the City of Tacoma can be helpful in that space too as we get ready and excited for light rail and come up.

Thank you, Councilmember Hines.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh coup just a couple questions.

Thank you for the presentation, Senator Council Walker.

You know, thank you for all your work in this last legislative session.

I know it was a short session, it probably felt a lot longer than that.

Um But uh when do the sales tax exemption what is that all go into effect?

So when the state is gonna stop that'll all kick in like after after 2028.

So none of those exemptions, those exemptions won't kick in until the actual sale the actual millionaires tax is becomes effective.

The effective date of the 200 million that is intended to offset that is unclear at this point.

It is booked in the 2729 state budget, but when it would become effective, how it would be distributed, whether it's one-time money or ongoing, whether it would grow with time, are all undetermined factors that the 2027 legislature would grapple with as they develop their 2729 budget.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then the I know the state got rid of the sales tax and services or at least component of that.

Does that take effect now or is that also slated for the same period?

That was a tax that was enacted in 2025 and is effective now.

The city should receive the collections from that for the first collections from that for the first quarter of 2026, and then the repeal would go into effect when the millionaires tax goes into effect, which is January 2028.

Okay.

So not I was concerned that the millionaires tax is is currently under, I mean, there's a cloud of legality right now.

It's currently being sued, and then there's potential ballots.

So it's going to be could be years before we actually see what runs from it.

Hold the bag.

But that could know how they're timed up.

My next question was one of the hats I wear that's not this one.

I'll talk about other hats in a second.

What is I'm on the firefighters uh pension board, and I know that there was they removed a bunch of money out of the fire, the left one pension.

What's the destination for that?

Where where is that money going?

Yeah, the um operating budget um assumed a I think it was a transfer of 860 or 880 million dollars out of the budget stabilization account.

Legislators intend to backfill the transfer out of the budget stabilization account with a transfer from the left one account.

Budget stabilization account is also commonly referred to as the Rainy Day Fund.

Okay.

Uh and then I think my last uh very comment was good to see Sidewalk Utility is still continuing forward and we're having I'd be excited to see kind of what the funding report that comes out of that um and you know I'm very happy that we were able to get that as part of this and talk about it at the state level.

So it would be something I definitely have been interested in since I read about Denver's deserved sidewalks, you know, a couple years ago.

Um I will just take a moment to say uh uh putting a third hat on today.

The Association Watch the Cities um, you know, I currently serve as the board member for the city, I know Council Stalgay is stepping in to be on the legislative priorities committee here.

Um I know the mayor sent on an email about other people getting involved with committees and commissions of association watch cities encourage my colleagues that they're not already involved or thinking about it to consider that.

It's a really good tool by which we're able to work with other cities and coordinate some of these efforts.

So I know we've been looking at the parking lots for people.

That's not what can calls it, but the uh sales tax parking lot exemption, and that conversation has not only been with the city of Tacoma, but also with the City of Spokane, City of Vancouver, and City of Kent, and all of that has been brought together through the work of you know, I guess myself and other AWC board members to kind of triangulate and bring that stuff together.

So um great opportunity for the rest of you if you're interested to get more involved and have more of an impact at the state level.

So thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rumbach.

Thank you.

And I just want to thank you for all of your work.

And I know this was a tough session.

And um really appreciate you sticking up for our city and all the work that you're doing.

Um I just have a question that's uh kind of maybe if you could just explain something because I don't know what it means.

But we just got downgraded as a state.

Um what does that mean as far as being downgraded?

And um is that because of the way we're funding things?

And if you could just talk a little bit about that possibly I'll share with you what I know off the top of my head, and then uh perhaps I'll send Alex some more detailed follow-up information that we can circulate to council.

But essentially the the state is in the business of being lent funding for variety of different purposes and issuing bonds.

Um and so there's a credit rating that's given to the state.

You can liken it to your own credit score.

And uh that dictates what interest rates the the state may be able to get on those different bonds and revenue mechanisms.

So the the there's a crediting agencies that evaluate states and they've flagged um that for Washington State that there are some red flags in how the budget was developed and included that within their reports.

So the potential impar impacts are that it would make it uh more challenging for the state to issue bonds or to get as much money out of those bonds that they are issued, so higher interest rates and things along those lines.

And how would that impact the city of Tacoma and other cities when we go to like try to get funding?

So there are some programs where the well, I I would say like big picture level.

Um you all each biennium make requests into the capital budget.

The capital budget is funded with bonds that a portion of the operating budget is dedicated to pay back.

Um if the interest rate on those bonds increases, the amount of money that's available for community projects goes down.

So I would say that's maybe the most high-level picturesque explanation of the impact on the city.

There are also a few different programs where this city can utilize the state's uh credit or lending credit, and it would impact whether or not that's an appealing option to the city.

Okay.

Thank you for answering that.

I'll follow up with more information because again talking off the top of my head.

Thank you.

Uh I have a question about um slide number five.

Your presentation.

And specifically about the um the policy uh goals relating to immigration and just protecting the rights of our community members.

Uh my understanding is that the bills that would have authorized fiscal penalties for any private detention facility refusing access to state health departments did not make it through.

Is that correct?

Correct.

Can you talk about more about what happened there and if there's any hope for taking another stab at that with the upcoming session?

I think there's certainly an opportunity to take another stab at it.

Um there of the slate of bills that were introduced, um, there were several that didn't advance forward that I think um were newer concepts that we hadn't seen introduced in the legislature before that um got a good uh receptivity and have legs for a future session.

Yeah.

And that that one in particular is one that we'll follow back up with the sponsor in the committee to get a better understanding of you know what what were the hang-ups on that one.

Sure.

All right.

Any other comments?

See none.

Alex Brianna, thank you so much for your presentation and for all your hard work.

Of course.

Our pleasure.

All right.

Moving on, our second agenda item is a one-year review for home and Tacoma.

I'd like to call on planning and development services assistant director, Ryan Goudet, to begin the presentation.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

Uh excited to be here to give uh an overview of our home and Tacoma initiative and what we've been seeing over the first year since that launched.

Um just to start here, we've got a whole team to help with this presentation.

So on my left is uh Philip Gow, he's the manager of our application services group.

Uh and then we have Robin Bolster Grant, who's the manager of our current planning or land use division, and Chris Seaman on the end there is the manager of our building and site division.

So obviously the Home and Tacoma initiative and the permitting process involves lots of folks, and you've got some representatives from many of the different parts of our organization involved in that.

So as we start in, um I would want to make reference to the report that was actually put out.

So there is a physical report and a digital version of this.

You probably have a copy.

There was one that came out in the weekly report this last week, and it's also posted on our website.

If anybody is interested in seeing uh more of the details, uh that's at uh Tacoma.gov slash home and Tacoma.

So you can get the full report there.

Uh the purpose here today is really to give you a little bit of an overview, talk uh about what home and Tacoma was and really what we've been seeing from a permitting activity level in the first year.

Uh it was adopted by council as you'll recall back in the end of 2024, February 1st of 2025 was uh launch date, kind of.

And uh so the report that you have and the information we'll be talking about here is really that first year from February till the end of January here uh in 2026.

So I always take the opportunity uh on these home and Tacoma presentations to do a little bit of a reminder that this is part of an overarching strategy that the City Council put forward a number of years ago and has been uh sort of shepherded by particularly by the Center for Strategic Priorities, but um home and Tacoma was never and still is not the end all be all when it comes to addressing affordability challenges in the City of Tacoma.

One of many efforts, there was a whole slew of initiatives incorporated into the affordable housing action strategy, and many things that the City Council has taken a lot of great action on over the last number of years, including the creation of an affordable housing fund with dedicated funding that's really increased the amount of dedicated uh affordable housing, rent-restricted affordable housing that's been created in the City of Tacoma, modifications to the surplus uh policy uh that really highlights and prioritizes affordable housing projects when we are disposing of property, uh work on rental protections and also expansions of the multifamily tax exemption program, both geographically to more areas and uh expanding the number of ways in which people can utilize that and and focusing particularly on the portions of that program that uh require affordable housing provision as part of new projects.

So lots of work.

That's just a sampling, but always important to recognize that um zoning uh certainly is not going to be the silver bullet that solves all problems.

It's really important and was a significant initiative, and um that's why we're continuing to track and implement.

Um but there's obviously other things the city has also been doing.

Now, home and Tacoma was uh a pretty dramatic shift in the city's growth strategy and particularly around the city's residential areas.

Uh it's the yellow areas on this map, it's more than half the city.

Um, and recognizing that the change was uh really to uh a system that had been in place for about 70 years, where a significant portion of the city had been reserved or dedicated for mostly single family housing.

Home and Tacoma was a dramatic shift in the city's zoning policy.

Uh it allows for now a whole variety of housing types throughout all of our residential areas.

This includes obviously single-family homes, but in addition to that, accessory dwelling units and cottage housing and townhouses and duplexes and triplexes and and all of those other types of housing developments.

It clearly allows for more density in our residential neighborhoods.

You can see the basic structure there in the three zones, the three urban residential zones.

Um, and it also provides bonuses in that system to try to encourage affordable units and the preservation of uh existing buildings.

Um, one thing to note here, this is obviously a report about um the home and Tacoma initiative.

Uh it's not the whole city.

If you see on that map, there's a while I said it's more than half the city.

Well, that leaves, you know, almost half the city that's not in the home and Tacoma areas.

Um that includes some obvious areas like the port, where we generally don't, you know, have residential development, but some other pretty significant areas in town like the downtown and all of our mixed-use centers being the most obvious.

So this report and the data we're talking about is really specific to those urban residential zones.

Um obviously we have uh a growth strategy that highlights and encourages still the majority of growth to occur in those other higher density areas.

As you can imagine, uh it takes it would take a lot of duplexes in an urban residential zone to equate to essentially a single 200 unit apartment building in downtown or something like that.

So certainly the majority of growth is still happening in those other areas.

But um the encouraging thing is that as we've seen in the permanent activity, we are seeing a shift in both the level and um and uh density and diversity of housing coming into the to the city.

So in addition to the zoning structure, the home and Tacoma initiative modified our development standards again fairly significantly, uh changes to setbacks and height limits, uh, and really a focus on um some incentives around homeownership units, incentives around tree preservation and trying to give more flexibility around parking and setbacks and things like that to encourage some of those community benefits, as well as sort of a limited focused on design, reducing some of the previous controls and and orienting more towards form and scale.

So the new for area ratio uh requirements uh and and orientation to street and some other basic design components, but really staying away from uh architectural stylistic sort of uh restrictions.

Okay.

Um so the big questions are you know, what have we seen?

And as you see on the chart uh on the screen, um over the in the prior five years, it was averaging about 250 uh units being added and about 150 applications uh being submitted uh into the system.

What we've seen over the first year of home Tacoma is 385 units being proposed or uh issued in construction and about 213 that were applied for.

So a substantial increase being uh both both applications and units being proposed over the last six years being the highest point.

So in the next slide you'll see um what are we actually constructing, what's being proposed.

Um and you can see from 2020 to 2024, significant uh number of projects were just single family, just based on what the zoning would allow and with a handful of small small number but large number of units, uh especially in 2022 where adding some multi uh multi-family units.

Uh but in the first year of home to come, you've seen the diversification in the n in the types of construction, um, big jumps in townhouse development, you uh duplex development and um ADU development.

Um I think you did the the single family and ADU still make a majority of the application, uh the number of applications, but we're definitely seeing a lot more units being added to the system and into the city uh through duplex, multi-family townhouses.

So it's nice to see the um diversification adding the different options for the community to select from.

Um where's it occurring?

All throughout the city.

Um that heat map shows you where things are occurring at obviously what Brian just mentioned.

Um some of the zoning areas in New Tacoma and the South Tacoma, they already have a lot of mixed use.

And so, but in the areas that are predominantly uh urban residential, you're seeing a good dispersion of different housing options and building types and units throughout the city.

Um some key findings.

Um we are seeing that they we're adding a lot more units per application.

We're seeing 62% increase in the total number of units being proposed, 39% increase in total applications.

Um as we move through this next year, um, we'll obviously get more data, more information to see what's being proposed if some of our applicants have um figured out how to uh maximize further the density opportunities on their properties.

Uh the next couple of slides give you just some examples of uh projects that are either near completion or completed.

Um first slide shows you some detached ADU uh structures and as well as some backyard buildings.

Uh the next slide gives you um some duplexes, row houses, and mixed uh projects.

I think the one in the far right corner, bottom right corner, um is a good example of row houses that kind of add, I think it's like seven, seven units being added to that site.

Um so definitely taking advantage of that corner lot and the larger lot size.

Um the next slide just kind of shows you where we're at.

Um with the number of permit applications in the system, we're in different stages of it.

I think we all anticipated or thought that maybe on the first day of home Tacoma implementation you'd see this big surge in permanent applications.

That's not what we saw.

It took a little time for applications to come into the system, but they have moved through.

We've got uh about 150 either ready to issue, issued or completed.

Um as we move through the the spring and summer, we anticipate we'll see a lot more completed projects as well as new applications coming into the system.

So what have we heard?

Okay.

Yes, love voice does not always carry.

Uh we've heard a lot, as you might imagine.

Uh the most common uh uh sentiment that we hear at the counter is uh from property owners saying, I didn't know I could do that.

Uh whether it's adding uh backyard building or converting an existing structure or just having creativity about how to treat their property, uh folks are uh genuinely surprised.

Um didn't didn't hear the early part of our rollout and um are delighted.

That doesn't mean that everybody's prepared to jump and move forward.

Um, but the possibilities are um are really exciting for folks.

Um experienced developers who have been dealing with our code and know Tacoma very well are finding paths uh through uh the code is learnable and and the early folks uh are are proving that with the numbers.

Um we're also getting good feedback about the the willingness of staff to be flexible, accommodating this learning curve that we have all had.

Um I am no exception to sort of figuring out how to navigate has been um both challenging but also an opportunity for us to work, I think, even closer with developers than maybe in the past because we have to learn together.

Um so we've gotten good feedback on our willingness to be flexible and uh and and look for areas where we can um find different paths to get folks to where they want to be.

And the big uh story, of course, is that single family only zoning is virtually gone uh throughout the city.

And that is uh that's significant and has been recognized uh by other jurisdictions and planning organizations well outside of our city.

Um of course, not everything has been completely smooth.

We have had a few bumps along the way.

Um and again, part of that is just grappling with something that is so uh different and and and wide reaching.

Um some of the specific things that we've heard from developers uh has to do with uh the naming convention.

Uh sounds sort of mundane, but um but home and Tacoma uses um uh terminology that is not always consistent with industry practice.

So we have house plexes, we have uh backyard buildings uh as sort of a generic, again, more form-based, but different for folks in the industry sometimes.

Row houses and courtyard uh uh development.

So if somebody comes in and puts on their plan, uh I want to build a townhouse, we have to figure out where that fits in within our new um uh lexicon.

Um it's not huge, but it has been surprisingly stubborn as an issue.

Uh vehicle access, um front garage limitations.

We've heard that a lot.

Uh general sort of orientation.

Uh again, this is just new uh, these are new permutations reflecting, as Brian said, some of the things we heard that were important that have to do with uh the prominence of garages, parking issues, um the need for uh trees.

Um all of these things on certain sites can present some real challenges.

If you have a constrained site, if you don't have an alley coming up with solutions takes time.

And um and so we're we're continuing to work through that, and I'll talk a little bit about some of the ways that we have been doing that already.

Umit lot subdivisions, we're still sort of, again, it's new and we're learning together, but we're seeing more interest in creating home ownership.

Um, but it's a product that folks have not, they're not used to.

Uh developers uh infrastructure, most of these things are not unique to home and Tacoma, but they add with all of the other sort of uh the newness of the program itself.

So obviously the market we have no control over uh utility apparatus, where to put your uh heat pump or something, um power connection uh garbage enclosure requirements, um, sort of sounds mundane, but it really can change um how you um present your layout and what's going to work.

Uh and then from the community, the biggest issue I think is that most of these projects uh fall a bit under the radar.

They're not public, they're administratively processed, so folks don't know about them.

There's not going to be a big sign in front of the property most of the time telling people what's coming.

So when it shows up, we've heard some surprises.

Where did this come from?

Nobody told me.

There's going to be some of that.

That's the trade-off, right?

We're either going to have more process that takes a long time, that costs more and cuts into the affordability, um, or we're going to have some of these things be administratively processed, and folks will voice concern about parking and traffic and kind of the usual stuff.

Um that is the policy trade-off.

Uh so director's rules, one tool that we have for um reaching some solutions to some of the problems.

Uh the utility service, um, where you put it and how you hide it, and instead of just saying you can't have a heat pump or something that's visible, you know, plant some things in front of it, and we can we can deal with a lot of these things.

The front-facing garages, that was significant again for constrained properties.

Uh, if that's the only way in, you don't have an alley, for instance.

Um, we've created language that helps people, they don't have to get a variance to deal with that.

Uh and the group housing was um something that we um uh came through last year to make sure that the uh the rules uh set it, Bill, I believe, um uh that we were in alignment with the state requirements for group homes, how we deal with uh density specific to home and tacoma and parking.

So we have more uh potentially in in the pipeline, um, but of course, every project presents its own unique challenges.

Uh so it's not always easy finding a director's rule that that covers uh a whole bunch of different issues, but um but that's one way that we can provide flexibility.

And over to you.

So uh really, like I said, excited to be here and talking about what we've seen over the last year.

Um I think there's some really encouraging signs in the permitting activity.

I mean, this is uh at some level focused on permitting activity, not necessarily on completed projects because of just where we are one year in and the realities of time that it takes to put together residential projects.

Um but it's really nice to see that the zoning change um is having an effect.

We are seeing uh, as you heard, more projects coming in, more units coming in, and still and a fairly even distribution of uh housing diversity throughout the the community.

Um as as we look forward into the future, uh the Home and Tacoma Initiative, when you all adopted it, talked about um a review at a minimum at the three-year time period.

So uh we're obviously one year in.

Uh we've got some activity going.

We're hearing uh concerns uh from both sides.

Um at the same time, there are some things that we know are on the docket that we really have to address here.

Um some of those include some recent more recent state laws.

We were here about a month ago to talk about some of the state planning mandates that have come out from the legislature.

So there's a few things that we're gonna be cued up for um this next year regarding um the affordability bonuses and some of the subdivision processes.

Um but there's really ultimately a question on the table of what is the right time to more broadly look at home and Tacoma, whether or not there should be modifications considered and a process initiated to look at that.

Um so that ultimately a question for for council.

Um I will say that uh is it in particular we still have uh additional conversations to be had regarding the middle housing pilot.

You know that we have a study session coming up at the end of June to talk about that uh initiative, which is really focused on trying to streamline the permitting process for some of the larger middle housing types.

So that'll that'll definitely be an opportunity to talk in more detail about um specifics of permit process and level of service and streamlining initiatives and things like that.

Um in addition, uh we're continuing to collect data.

I know this has been one of the items that has been a lot of interest on the part of council and the part of community about kind of what's going on.

It's part of why we're excited to be back here with um this year one report, something we haven't traditionally done.

Um but we are going to be shifting to a more regular reporting out of data, um, hopefully starting this summer and probably on like a quarterly basis.

Um the nice opportunity there is whereas this focuses a lot on applications, as we start to get further down the road, that reporting can focus more and more on completed projects, and that will also allow us to get into more detail about some of the other key pieces of home and tacoma.

So items like the use of the bonuses, the incentives that are in there.

Um I know there's questions about ownership versus rental, questions about unit sizes, parking trees, other things like that, which in many cases aren't reasonable to report on until we have completed projects because that's where it really plays out exactly what has been has been done on the ground.

And in addition to hear more from the community.

I mean, there's a recognition that where we stand here one year in, a significant portion of what we have been hearing from is the development community, right?

The folks that are trying to go through the permit process, figure out how the new standards work and put a project together and and and get that constructed.

Um because there's only so many on-the-ground projects, we're still hearing some from the community, but it's it's some it's relatively limited in the grand scheme of things.

So that is as more projects come online, um, an item that we will get a better and better feel for, since obviously the home and Tacoma initiative was both about um initiating and supporting more housing development, but also doing it in a way that was reasonably compatible with existing neighborhoods.

Um in addition, uh as far as future home and Tacoma updates, and you see on there sort of just a question mark.

Again, this is largely a discussion for council, but uh, if we are going to move forward into some sort of home and tacoma code update process, questions about what the scope of what that would be, and questions about the timing.

Um as we were here um talking about state mandates a month ago, obviously one of our sort of normal practices is we're coming forward on an annual basis to talk about the planning work program.

That's generally in the fall, so that will create another opportunity to have parts of this this discussion and certainly at a time that's more directly aligned even with the budgeting process.

So with that overview, again appreciate the opportunity to come and report in.

Um we're excited about what we've been seeing and excited about what the future holds, um, but would love to hear any questions that you have.

Thank you, Brian.

Are there any council questions or comments?

Councilmember Sidalga.

Thank you, Mayor.

I was really excited for this one because I'd had a preview of this and we had a week delay to get here.

So this is uh amazing.

First of all, I want to thank staff because this year's probably been pretty um pretty tough on you, you know.

Uh home and Tacoma, I mean, let's let's call it what it is.

It was a complete rewrite of all residential zoning in in the city, right?

Like hundreds of pages.

I remember because I got hundreds of pages.

So I want to thank staff on on getting through this, because at the end of the day, it's really about results, right?

Because we didn't really know what was happening.

Um before we get into some of my questions, I do want to like reiterate some of the larger kind of policy questions and and kind of considerations, right?

So we know wholeheartedly that a lack of housing just exacerbates so many problems and makes solutions to many problems um, whether it's uh in neighborhoods or individually to families, so much harder to solve because there aren't.

So Home and Tacoma is one of the tools that we had started on back in 2021 when the comprehensive plan was was updated to address that.

And the premise is really simple, right?

Uh but the implementation is really uh more complicated.

The premise is we have at the time we had what's called single family exclusive zoning, which meant if you had a residential lot, no matter how large it was, generally you could build one and only one unit on it.

Even if it had enough room for more, it was like pulling teeth, quote unquote.

Depending on what year and and what we were doing, we weren't really allowing much more than a second home.

So if you could build two or three town homes, you couldn't.

And we said, you know what, housing isn't is an issue.

We need to correct for that and really look into what is a smart responsible way of allowing greater density that still allows us to be responsible for our communities and our environment.

Those are a set of questions that were being asked over and over again throughout this process.

I'm also proud that we had so much community input.

I had the uh I guess I had the fortune or unf or was not fortunate, depending on how you look at it, of being able to be part of this both in the planning commission and then on the uh at the council level.

So I saw so much community input.

We did an amazing job getting uh input from all variety of people to come up with uh a plan that still you know that values trees for the first time on develop on residential development, the values amenity space that comes up with a paradigm that says, hey, you know, developer, we'll let you build four if you can fit it, but if you can add two more, we'll we'll let you do that if you income limit it.

That's the first time we've ever done that as a way to do affordability incentives.

We put a lot of really good thought in here, but we never knew if it was gonna work or not.

And I have to say I am absolutely thrilled and excited at seeing these promising numbers, quite frankly.

Uh and the fact that we have these permits and the fact that they're getting through in about two months is a testament to the work that the that the team is doing that sometimes I don't think you guys are getting.

So, first of all, I wanted to thank you for for just dealing with it.

It's more than just copying and pasting and putting in a new zone.

You have to do it day in and day out.

So thank you.

Um what I wanted to kind of point out is um what really struck me were a couple of the the two most important things, uh slide seven.

To me, that is uh that is uh uh where you see that you know basically you had a lot of multifamilies being built, and then all of a sudden we start seeing townhomes, ADUs, uh duplexes and multiplexes being built, because that's exactly what we were trying to do.

I have a question, which I'm pretty sure I know the answer to.

The numbers you're seeing here, that's not total residential housing being made every year.

Because there's more than that being made in these larger uh you know, big apartment buildings.

This is just in zones that were residential that got turned into a UR1, two or three, correct?

Councilmember Sidalga, yeah.

This is these this data is specific to the urban residential zone, so um does not include areas where we allow much bigger stuff downtown, mixed-use centers, other areas like that, which obviously we're seeing residential development in the case.

And the point for for my colleagues was uh for the first time in a really long time, uh I think it was three years in a row if I remember the information on the state uh um uh uh site.

We've actually had more than a thousand um total housing units being made uh per year, I believe, for the last three years.

And home and Tacoma has, in my opinion, you don't have to agree with it, but you know, when I looked at the data, I thought we increased what would have been done by about 300, like 300-ish as a conservative estimate was how much more we built because we had this new zoning in place than not, um, which is actually a really phenomenal number, right?

That's all you know, that's uh 20 to 30 percent of the growth that we saw in a year in permits was because of these zoning changes um and it was in these complexes that are designed to fit in with uh community.

The next thing I kind of want to um uh talk about, and this was actually the thing that I was the most pleased about, you know, being from District 4 and having you know historically under resource underserved uh area areas in my district, I was afraid that all this development was just gonna go to certain places that have been historically um you know winners in this.

And to see that 20% was on the east side and 20% was in the south end, the 40% of these permitting are actually in um uh areas that have been historically kind of under-resourced, was actually the thing that I'm most uh uh uh pleased with in these early early numbers.

Uh I had a couple other questions.

Um you had a few questions.

So you know, when I when I think about what we move forward and and the conversations I'm gonna have with my um colleagues, obviously it's around how do we get um are there other things we can do to get developers to um really take advantage of those affordability bonuses?

Uh from what I understand, we really haven't had anyone take advantage of that yet.

Um and just to reiterate for the public, the affordability bonuses we put in were things like in a UR1, a standard UR1, you're allowed four housing units.

Um and if you can fit two additional, because you have a large lot, we'll give you two additional, but you have to limit it to 80% AMI.

Those two additional have to be limited to 80% AMI uh as rental 100% of AMI for for sales.

So uh how do we encourage um those to be built by by private uh actors?

Uh and obviously something that's near to me, which is homeowners owner occupancy home ownership incentives for moderate income, like regular working families, and how did they uh how do we build home ownership products for um not the top you know 10, 20 percent of households, but you know, most of us in the in the bottom 80 percent.

Um and I think we have some ideas, and it's something we should talk about because the information wasn't as uh the evidence wasn't as clear that we were building them at the the pace we need to.

Um the benefit is is obviously you know uh uh uh uh uh a fixed 15, 30 year mortgage is a heck of a lot less volatile on your monthly uh cost of of just housing than rent, right?

And it allows for generational wealth and and our uh home ownership rate amongst uh historically marginalized communities is really low.

And our homeownership rate overall is really low at 55 percent, much lower than than state and national average and regional averages.

So those are two things I'd like to highlight for my um uh colleagues is something to think about as as we look into some some updates.

Um last things I wanted to mention.

Uh you you kind of said something uh that goes to one of the kind of things I'd love to explore, which is what are how are how can we within our authority reduce friction for developers?

And reducing friction does not mean to compromise what we decided to do, right?

I've gone to developers and say, you know, no, you're gonna have to put in trees, that is what the community wants, but let's figure out a way that allows you to get there.

Um thing you mentioned was you know nomenclature changes that we came up with, some nomenclature that's different than industry standard.

I you know, I'd love to, you know, as we go offline, are there other you know, things like this?

Because that's like a little bit of friction that gets put in, and the question is, is that, you know, maybe that's a tiny little barrier, but a lot of these tiny little barriers become a big barrier.

Um we want to get uh, you know, uh additional uh development.

Maybe there's there's some interesting developers in other parts of the country that have some great uh ideas and they're like, well, I don't understand these these terminology.

Can I even build here?

Right.

So that's that's obviously a concern.

Um then the last thing I want to leave uh for my colleagues is um you know this is one of the things we're doing for housing overall.

This is largely a way to encourage uh private developers to stimulate additional housing growth.

But we're also do it in conjunction with things like our affordable housing trust fund, um, the way we manage our federal funding.

Um I happen to know that uh that since uh 2020 now uh we have uh invested 20 million dollars in the number of projects that have that have led to 608 uh 100% income limited uh affordable housing units that have already opened in the last five years.

And we got about 38 million dollars in investments that are earmarked for for another 638 units that are coming online in the next few years.

That's you know, just shy of 1,300 affordable units that are that are that are coming online.

And so these are tangible steps we're taking forward.

And I say all this because this is one of those things we've talked about as a as a council.

This is a great success, considering in the middle of the pandemic, we had none of this, and we had no um we had no path to even get to these numbers.

You know, naysayers will say it's not enough, sure it's not enough, but it's a lot more than zero, which is kind of where we were in the past.

So uh, you know, I'm gonna end with I am again very pleased with the promising direction we're taking in this early juncture.

Um and I think it's really important that we continue to do those little additional little things, removing friction, looking at ways of incentivizing the types of behaviors we want from these private actors while also supporting our other affordable housing um um uh actions that we're doing.

And I just want to say thank you for your kind messages on behalf of staff to recognize the efforts there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Uh thank you.

And I just I I too want to echo what Councilmember Sidalge said.

I I really appreciate what it's meant to be our staff and the work that you do.

And I also just I really want to thank you for the administrative process.

I believe a lot of I've never believed since I was a planner that everything is black and white.

There is this gray area, and I appreciate that you have that authority to make those decisions.

Um I'm just gonna bring up that I think um out in Northeast Tacoma, I'm excited to see that people are trying different types of projects.

And um I want to say that we are underserved in that neighborhood because we have less sidewalks, less bus service, um, and I think limited commercial areas.

So it's a it's a different way of looking at that city, um, but also looking at what's surrounding these projects that are going in to try to make them blend into the neighborhood.

So when we know that we already have a neighborhood of single family houses, thinking more about what would look good, what fits and what blends into the neighborhood, especially when they're for sale units.

And I'm thinking about the row houses that I know that a developer's putting in, and um thinking about what's gonna look best in the neighborhood so that the people who buy those properties feel that they're at the same par as the people who live across the street in the bigger single family houses.

Just thinking that um that if if the developer's willing to build so it looks similar, I'd like them to be able to.

And I think one of those things is having private garbage cans.

I know that that was it sounds like such a little thing, right?

But when you own your own house, do you have your own garbage cans and you have your own recycling and it's not a communal you know, situation, which also causes other issues in neighborhoods.

And I guess that that would be something since it's fee-based that we should have to figure out like in certain projects, maybe there's a different fee for being able to pick up garbage there.

We we understand that this project is gonna be a different fee because you know it's a lot more house like houses to have to pick up from.

But I I hope that we'll look at those things because when I think about this part of Northeast Tacoma that I'm thinking of, I want people to want to buy houses there.

Yeah, and I'll just say the um the realities of putting more houses on the same size lot is uh surprisingly complicated.

Maybe not surprisingly complicated.

Uh at some level we knew this was going to be tricky going in where you might have put one before now you're gonna place four or six or some number like that.

And it it is a lot of uh the the relatively minor things like infrastructure like garbage are all things that the organization is still working through about what the best ways are to do those things and and we'll continue to work on that.

Thank you.

Councilmember Palmer.

Thank you for the presentation.

Um I'm a fan of all things home in Tacoma and I appreciate the folks who are on the front lines making it happen.

So um Councilmember Rumba's comment kind of reminded me of another thought that I've had.

Um I I wonder what it would look like.

Well, like what is a Tacoma architecture?

You know, what is something that our houses have at Tacoma that maybe other folk other areas don't have due to our geographical location or um the needs of of our homeowners.

And so I've been you know, or I know we're coming out with like different plans for um like pre-approved plans.

And like, what if we made plans that didn't look like they could belong in any city, but they were special to Tacoma and how would that attract folks, more folks in um to build.

Um couple questions on the presentation.

If we're looking at uh slide six, um I'm looking at similar numbers between 2021 and our first year in Home and Tacoma for uh the total permits, and then I'm looking at similar numbers in 2022 and our first year for the total units.

And I'm curious if there's a way or is there any kind of correlation there between those numbers?

Are there similar reasons or can we can we say that these numbers are high this year because of home and Tacoma, or are there just similar um circumstances to like these past years?

Um Thanks for the question.

I a couple of things um I'll point out in some level between the data shown on slide six and slide seven.

Um I think there's no doubt when you look at the diversity of housing types that we're seeing, in most cases, those are housing types that you simply couldn't do or would have been very rare to be able to do in these areas.

So almost inherently that's more than we probably would have gotten previously.

Um I think it's also important to recognize that overall from a market perspective, we're actually in the midst of a slowdown to some extent.

Um it's part of why you see like on slide seven, the multifamily, there's some idiosyncrasies in the data, but there's a reality to the message there that larger projects are slowing down.

I mean, the market uncertainty that we see around labor costs and material costs and and tariffs and and uh you know interest rates and all those sorts of things in the market, we've really started to see that reflected in permit activity starting this last year in 2025.

So the fact that we are seeing at some level an increase in these areas despite that sort of overarching market um struggle, yeah, I think is even more an encouraging message where you know there is a reality to to seeing the difference and it really is playing out.

I appreciate that.

Um I think maybe it would be helpful then to kind of see how our numbers are stacking up to maybe other similar cities or similar sized cities, because I'm sure everyone's experiencing slowdowns because of all those factors.

Um but it sounds like we're still successful uh through those factors.

So that's great.

Um and then on slide 13.

Um I heard that you said that a lot of folks are just like, I didn't know I could do that.

And so I'm wondering who's making up those folks.

Is it like developers coming in and saying that, or is it like single family homeowners?

It tends to be property owners who were not necessarily part of the early conversations, maybe heard uh some of that public engagement, but um hadn't personalized it to their own situation.

And sometimes they're coming in asking about other sort of general questions, or I want to convert this.

Well, actually, you know, you could have two units or three units or something, and this is the process.

So those kinds of questions tend to be from um run-of-the-mill uh Tacoma residents.

Okay.

So it sounds like you know, maybe a good way to to reach some of those folks.

Maybe it's a team tag team thing with MCO to get the word out that these are this is a possibility and um where we're at now.

So um I it's such a I mean we have such a cool thing happening here in Tacoma.

Um we want folks that are here to take advantage of it, but we also also want to reach out to folks outside that are you know wanting to move in and letting them know what the possibilities are too.

So um I don't think MCON economic development um helping folks understand what the possibilities are.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Councilmember Hodge.

Uh thank you, Matt.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um make you do the I won't restate everything, Councilman Stalge said.

Um, I think he did a good job of encapsulating all the work the council's been doing for the last I mean six years since I've been here, Council Mr.

Walker and I joined back in 2000 2020, back when we first launched this thing called Home at Tacoma that drew a lot of um ire at the time.

I mean, a few of us were here for to the for the public count meeting that went till one o'clock in the morning.

Um taking comments on uh on home and Tacoma.

So I this is great to see all the work kind of coming to fruition and seeing some stuff come out of the ground.

Um I have a couple questions and then I'll answer your questions.

So um something you already alluded to, Brian, which I'd be very excited about, is getting close to that comparison of number of permits issued versus number of units you know that come online.

What we're seeing is a trend at the national level all across the country of permits at one level, but the number of units actually coming online and being occupied is below that.

There's a clear gap there.

So I would definitely, as we get further along with this, once we get more permit data, how many of those are actually turning into actual units?

And that should be relatively easy to track, right?

Because there's a certificate of occupancy that's issued at the end there, correct?

Yeah, I mean all these projects get final inspection, so yeah, we know whether they actually turn into a unit with a key and all that kind of good stuff.

So now and I think that will help us because I think one of the things that's not has that is outside of our control when it comes to this, but I think everybody's alluded to it, right, is is the cost to build and the cost of finance building, which has definitely changed, right?

So I was at a conference uh a meeting last week, right?

I talked about three things that have gone up in the last five years.

The cost of labor, the cost of materials, and the cost to borrow.

Right.

So those two things are going up.

Uh so that leads to fewer things coming out of the ground.

Um I mean, I was here in the Halcyon days of 2021 when I don't know if anybody else refinanced their house for under three percent, but I did, and also borrowing money was dirt cheap.

And so we saw a lot of multifamily projects come out of the ground because prices are cheap.

Uh lending is cheap, and now lending is more expensive.

And so I think that's something to keep in mind as we look at this.

Um is just the the world we're in.

I agree, Councillor Power would be good to look at other cities and what they're doing and kind of understanding the headwinds they're facing too as a comparison.

Maybe something roughly similar size, but I would say probably in the state of Washington if we're going to do some comparisons because the states play by different rules, and so it looks different than already are.

Um your questions here at the end here, which are kind of next steps in scoping.

Um I would say I'm interested in talking through what issues you're running into when you're talking to developers or let's set developers aside, homeowners who are looking to build things on their property, right?

Um what are the challenges they're running into?

What are the issues identified as they're trying to explore this code and what we might want to clean up?

I am not very interested in talking about the incentive and funding structures, mostly because of the headwinds we're seeing at the national road financing.

And I would be concerned if we mess around too much with the bonuses, funding structures that we won't actually get a clear read of whether or not it's working if anybody's taking it.

Because right now the cost of borrow money is really high.

Um so that uh I my colleagues may disagree with me on that one, but that's something I think I'd rather look at the technical fixes around what it what's going to take people to build it and maybe not so much the incentive structure.

I will say to Council Sadalga's point, Councilman Roman's point, everybody's point here about more homeownership opportunities.

One thing I am clearly hearing is how difficult it is to do uh lot line divisions, speeds up a lot line division for some of these projects.

That is a clear tool we can use to encourage more homeownership that does not require more money, does not require more incentives, it's just of us figuring out the process to make it move faster.

Um so I would much rather look I'd much rather talk about that those kinds of things that are within our purview.

Um so is that something we're gonna be kind of talking about, Brian, as we go forward to see to kick on.

Yeah, uh a couple things.

One um I think to to you and and Council Palm Councilmember Palmer's question um about other jurisdictions.

One of the nice things is that as part of a number of these bills that the state has put in place over the last few years, they are doing a lot more tracking and reporting.

And so uh we will start seeing more information coming out from the state that will give us a nice picture of what um we are doing in comparison to other jurisdictions.

Um as far as the the property division stuff, actually on that slide that talks about some of the things that we need to do because of state mandates, more recent bills, um, at least a couple of those specifically relate to property divisions and modifications to those processes.

So irrespective of whether or not there is interest in a bigger, broader opening of home and Tacoma, uh I think there's no doubt that over the next year or so we will be looking at some of those subdivision tools.

Uh okay.

I think that's most of my reflect.

It's been a pleasure to work with you all and my colleagues just over who kind of looked at this over multiple years.

I think the the part that I would want to just posit for my the council is um it seems like when something's not happening that we want, the answer is we gotta do more.

We gotta do more.

And I would encourage us to maybe think how do we do less and see more happen?

How do we kind of cultivate the ground to see more stuff happen?

I I don't the state is really adamant about zoning, zoning, zoning, zoning, zoning.

And I made a comment to people, and I say this every single time.

We have places in our city where things are zoned for growth, for really big things, and there is absolutely nothing there.

There's parking lots, there's derelict buildings, there's vacant land.

So the question I have is obviously zoning is not the thing that's stopping that from happening.

And so I would encourage us as we look at this going forward, is maybe not saying zone, zone, zone, zone, zone.

It might be, hey, what are we doing?

What is the state doing?

What is the county doing?

What are what's out there that maybe is stopping that from happening?

Uh and just to kind of come back to that.

So that's kind of something I want to work I'm looking forward to working on, and I look forward to working with my colleagues about that too.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hines.

Uh, a lot of very good comments.

Um in particular, I'm I I too am very uh very much interested in the cost factor as well as just what we can do strategically to uh not just address costs but also just expand opportunities.

And so two major pain points that I keep hearing from the building community that um were in this presentation, but I I know we've talked about them because we've been in the same meetings talking about them in part, uh, is off-site improvements and permitting timelines.

And not necessarily within the scope of this particular topic, but you can't talk about one without the other.

And just daylighting this um, if nothing else, is the necessity of having some frank conversations about how we tackle and how we thread the needle between the necessity of of funding infrastructure and making sure that we're not simply subsidizing projects on the entirety of the ratepayers while at the same time making projects actually able to pencil, especially in an increasingly uncertain market with very small thresholds.

I mean, that's that's uh a real thing, right?

So being very cognizant of that.

And a similar type of uncertainty that that really uh affects builders is also just the global timeline for permits.

I mean, uh, I understand that PDS does the best they can, and we've certainly seen some momentum in that respect.

Uh but just like your average person doesn't make a distinction between, well, these are taxes I pay to the schools, to the city, to the state.

I mean, for for the average person, it's just taxes.

The government is taxing me, right?

And it it doesn't really matter that there are permitting timelines for PDS, for public works, for environmental services, TPU, you know, what have you, you know, pick another acronym out of your pocket, right?

Uh for them it's just permitting.

So uh getting uh as much of a handle on it as possible, and I understand that there is some really good progress being made there about global permitting timelines, not just a single department's and also just a single person, a single person who can project manage the entire permit, uh getting us close to that to that that unicorn of the one-stop shop uh for that, as well as just a better, more certain understanding of site development cost and and who's responsible for what.

Um these are just as much about timeline and certainty and convenience factor, just as much as is out of pocket.

And in the case of time, especially with borrowing cost, as many of my colleagues have mentioned, time literally is money, especially with today's rates.

So being sensitive to those things as we move forward is really essential.

Uh but overall I'm very pleased with what I've seen and really appreciate all your work and my colleagues' past work on this as well, and looking forward to continuing it.

All right, thank you, everyone.

So with that, it looks like there are no further council comments and questions.

We look forward to uh continuing this very important topic later.

Thank you.

All right, our third topic.

We have a council consideration request from Councilmember Scott pertaining to a request of the Tacoma Film Task Force sponsorship.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh I am excited to share my proposal for a council contingency fund request to support the Grand Cinemas Film Task Force.

Um I want to start by sharing that filmmaking is not just an important part of the work our creative economy is doing, it can also be a powerful economic development tool.

Filmmaking can foster a wide range of jobs and engagement with our local businesses as well as tourism.

However, Tacoma only issued 11 film permits last year.

Meanwhile, Seattle issued about 360.

The permitted projects in Seattle helped employ more than 4,000 local crew and cast members.

Tacoma should be attracting more film projects.

We have fantastic locations, great hotels and parking lots for film crews to use.

Plus, we have a great community of people who work in the industry that are living right here in Tacoma.

During the past couple of years, I've been meeting with a number of people who are engaged in the filmmaking community and trying to find ways to expand and enhance the film industry here in Tacoma.

One of the key themes I often hear about our film industry is that it has a lot of energy and momentum along with the talented and passionate filmmaking community, but that it lacks organization and leadership.

I think a film task force could help fix this.

That's why I am proposing that we provide $10,000 in council contingency funds to support the grand cinema's task force.

The task force would have a diverse range of participants, and their scope of work would include include developing proposals and recommendations for the city council on code and permitting updates, enhancing local film project connectivity, and much more.

Thank you, Councilmember Scott for bringing this forward.

Councilmember Walker, followed by Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you, Councilmember Scott.

I'm excited about this, and that statistic is shocking.

Does this already exist and we're helping keep it going?

Or are we starting it?

This will be us helping to get the get it get the ball rolling.

Okay, awesome.

And I will say though that uh the Grand Cinema has done other things that um are that are working to connect filmmakers across uh across the sector and across the city.

But uh this would be something that's a kind of taking all of those various pieces that they're working on and individuals are working on that kinds of brings it under an umbrella that's a little bit more focused.

Okay, awesome.

And then is that would that group be a group that would like report to the city?

Because I feel like that'd be a really interesting thing, just because I don't know that looks um so uh they would the grand cinema will be over it, but part of the work that we've talked about with the grand cinema is so one of the things uh Ashley over in TVE is working on uh some kind of streamlining some of the permitting process to make it a bit easier for folks.

Uh I'm also going to be working with Christina Kahn on um updating our motion picture municipal code, which if you didn't know that we have, we have.

Um and so I think it hasn't been updated since like 92.

Um, and so um working on that on this side and being able to share that with that task force to get their input as people who are directly working in the industry um and can kind of help us ahead like think about things that we might not be thinking about from our um from our policy side of things or even on the administrative side of things that they can help us uh clue into so that we get closer to something that's workable for everybody.

Okay, awesome.

And then last question is is $10,000 get them a year?

Does it or is there a timeline or is it just sort of whatever can help for as long as possible, or do they plan to do it indefinitely even without us?

Um this will help with we tried to pinpoint a timeline, but uh it was kind of hard to figure out like without having the people there specifically like is this something that they want to sit down and grind out for a couple of weeks intensely, is it a few meetings uh you know per quarter throughout the year?

And so uh the hope is that this is something that could be sustained long term, but this is just kind of the the first start starting point.

Awesome.

Sounds cool.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Uh thank you, Mayor, and um just really appreciate Councilmember Scott for doing a lot of the legwork and groundwork on this, and I know you've been really connected with the film industry in Tacoma.

And Tacoma has a strong film history.

Um, and I think it's really important that we are supporting um folks in this industry because it's not just an economic development development opportunity for just the filmmakers, but there's so many follow-on and supportive industries around film that could be very beneficial to uh small businesses all across the city.

Um and so I think I would consider this a small investment in I think what could be potentially a very uh really beneficial uh program for the city.

Um but I also recognize and appreciate that this is a community-led task force and not necessarily a city-led initiative specifically.

Um there's certainly some things that we can do to support the film industry in Tacoma, and I think reviewing policies and codes is a big part of that.

But I think uh the most successful uh programs and things that happen in our city happen at the grassroots level, and I think this is a great opportunity to support that level of work.

And so I really appreciate uh the opportunity to sign on this.

I'm really excited about it, and um looking forward to continue being a partner in this.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Councilmember Diaz.

Thank you.

Um I just want to thank Councilmember Scott for her work on this and um really cultivating it with the Economic Development Committee and um particularly for um the work that the task force is gonna do to be able to help inform that motion picture um ordinance or code update that we need to make.

Um hearing that hasn't been updated since 1992 is wild.

So I think we're definitely due for an update and due for some modernization on how we can help make sure that we're um bringing this piece of the arts to Tacoma because we are such an art rich community and it is such an important economic driver.

Um and quite frankly, there's so many Californians moving up here that they could use a lot of these jobs, and so I think it would be really helpful for us as we're thinking about how we grow and learn and um make sure that we're achieving all of our different destinies.

I think this is a really cool kickstart.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Councilmember Palmer.

Yeah, I just wanted to also say thank you for bringing this forward and allowing me to sign on to it.

Um, we talked about a little bit in uh the committee about how attractive this industry is to like younger folks, and you know, Tacoma has a little bit of uh issue with keeping our folks here, you know, once they learn and um have developed here, a lot of them will go out to other cities, and so I think that this is a uh the start of maybe a possibility of a way to keep them here.

The other thing I wanted to say, um, you know, maybe it was because of our meeting this morning, but um uh there seems to be a natural connection with like our Sister City program and like the grand cinema, and so it's like there's a ton of possibility of bringing um industry uh film industries over, filmmakers over from other countries as well.

Um I don't know if I know everything's kind of still up in the air, but uh is that kind of a a little bit of a conversation that's been had about um who's on the the committee or task task for such a weight it's a cooler name for sure.

It does sound pretty cool.

Um haven't had that direct conversation with the grand.

I do know um that uh Mr.

Jamal Sia Jamal who is does um he's the one who helped us make our connection um in India with their sister city there.

I know a big piece of that connection was the work around film that uh you know specifically with Bollywood and and them seeing the growing industry and interest here in the city, and so um those he's connected with the grand, and so that the community is you know figorous, but it's also pretty tight-knit.

So um even though there haven't been direct conversations, I imagine that this is something he would be interested in, as well as other folks who have um been connected with our sister cities as well.

And the grand for sure, especially because they also do their film festival, which brings in films from not just local, regionally, but there are international folks as well who submit.

Wonderful.

Well, seeing no other comments, so thank you, Councilmember Scott, for bringing this forward.

It looks like a great ideal.

With that, are there any other items of interest?

Okay, seeing no other items, are there any committee reports to share?

Uh minor update as uh Councilmember Hines alluded.

Um the Association of Washington Cities just sent the word out uh to uh communities all throughout the state about the opportunity to join uh various volunteer boards, either with AWC itself along with various other state boards and advisory councils.

Uh all the details are in your inboxes.

Uh, can be a great way of um getting more informed, uh assisting with the city and and just uh doing your part.

So feel free to take a look if there's any interest, then now feel free to follow up and we'll be talking.

So with that, seeing no other committee reports, um, we're gonna move on to the agenda review and city managers weekly report.

And I'd like to call on Deputy City Manager Alison Griffith.

Thank you very much, Mayor.

Just to review for this evening's meeting.

There are three ceremonials on tonight's agenda.

The first is proclaiming Monday, May 4th as International Firefighters Day.

The second is proclaiming May 2026 as bike month, and the third is proclaiming May 2026 as literary month.

There are no modifications to tonight's agenda.

There are two opportunities for public comment this evening.

The first is under regular public comment regarding motions, resolutions, and ordinances on tonight's agenda.

The second opportunity is a public hearing on the proposed annexation of 10 parcels of land located adjacent to the city in the Fife Heights potential annexation area.

Please let me know if you there's any questions related to tonight's agenda so that staff can be prepared to uh respond accordingly.

And for your review attached to the study session agenda is the weekly report to council.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Allison.

So with that, I will entertain a motion to convene to an executive session pursuant to RCW forty two.

So moved.

Second.

Moving seconds in favor to convene to an executive session, please signify by saying I.