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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Economic and Community Development - 09/13/2021 (2) Approved Economic and Community Development Committee CC ECDC Regular Meeting Minutes September 13, 2021 Date: September 13, 2021 Time: 4:00 p.m. Place: Chambers Attending: Bill Boyce, Committee Chair Marli Larimer, Councilmember Zandria Michaud, Councilmember Agenda: 1. Call to Order 4:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Bill Boyce Committee Chair Present Marli Larimer Councilmember Present Zandria Michaud Councilmember Present 3. Agenda Approval 4. Business A. INFO ONLY: "Food Hub" Study: Job Training and Food Entrepreneurship Services in South King County y members and stakeholders include Kent based organizations like World Relief, Project Feast, and Living Well Kent. Kent Valley companies in food brand development and contract manufacturing are included, as are regional non-profits like Global to Local, w The update from project manager Mike Lufkin of King County covered the scope of work, its goals and objectives, and introduced the consultant team selected by the partners to assist - New Venture Advisors. Additionally, AJ McClure, Executive Director of Global to local gave some background on the history and development of food entrepreneurship support in the region, going back approximately 10 years. Kara Martin, also from Global to Local and manager of Spice Bridge Global Food Hall in Tukwila, discussed their vision for expansion of business services, highlighting gaps in food business incubation and acceleration services. Page 1 of 4 Economic and Community Development September 13, 2021 Committee CC ECDC Regular Meeting Kent, Washington Minutes When asked how long-term viability would be assessed and where maintenance funding would come from, guest speakers emphasized that based project is in the very first stage of imagining, and those questions would be easier to answer in the next phases of the project, and also depend on which additional partnerships emerged. The presentation introduced key initiatives to advance business development equity in a major area of industry within the Kent Valley submarket. B. INFO ONLY: Permit Process/Amanda Software Update Matt Gilbert explained how the closure of the buildings in early spring 2020 due to COVID- permitting process. With a great deal of help from IT, a rapid transition from in-person interactions and paper plans to remote work and paperless plan submission and review was achieved. However, these changes meant that even more labor was required to intake and manage each permit application, and eventually, the PC was quite far behind, so a second round of adjustments were required. The first step of that was to close the Permit Center fully during what is historically a slow period at the end of December and January, to allow staff to catch up on the backlog. After initially offering customers the ability to submit permits online 24/7, after the holiday period closure hours were scaled back so that permits could only be submitted during certain hours of the day, when staff would be available to provide quality control and some management of the process. Barbara Napier described this step as initiating a virtual face to face service environment as customers were also able to schedule time with a permit technician to go over their applications, reducing the need for back and forth communications and multiple resubmittals. th Re-opening city buildings on July 19 allowed staff to welcome the public back and provide some in-person services, but challenges remained. Not the least of which is that Permit Center and other ECD staff are very hard at work testing many aspects of the new permitting system as designed on the Amanda platform. This effort was started prior to COVID-19, and the current phase, requires a lengthy and focused effort from staff throughout ECD. For all of these reasons, additional staff have been brought aboard through temp agencies, and a term limited inspector position has been converted to a term limited permit technician, with recruiting in process at the time of this meeting. Committee members expressed that they looked forward to future updates on the progress of Amanda. Page 2 of 4 Economic and Community Development September 13, 2021 Committee CC ECDC Regular Meeting Kent, Washington Minutes C. INFO ONLY: Upcoming Grant Opportunities from Department of Commerce Hayley Bonsteel stepped to the podium to discuss upcoming grant opportunities from the Department of Commerce. Housing Action Plan Implementation (HAPI) grants of up to $100,000 are available for cities that have adopted Housing Action Plans - like the recently adopted Kent Housing Options Plan (KHOP). Possible KHOP related projects for this grant could include middle housing code amendment support, collaborating with SKHHP on establishment of a monitoring system for naturally occurring and subsidized affordable housing, and/or further work related to mobile home park preservation. Councilmember Michaud asked what was could mean creating a database of all housing considered to be affordable (either naturally or because it is subsidized to be so) and then monitoring the various threats faced in a housing market like the greater Puget Sound region is experiencing, specifically profit taking sales and redevelopment into more up market housing. Hayley also emphasized that a coordinated effort with the SKHHP partners, was an attractive option both in terms of pooling funds and sharing responsibilities on a larger scale project. Transit-Oriented Development Implementation (TODI) grants, also at up to $100,000, are available for cities to facilitate TOD in areas of high-capacity transit including bus rapid transit. Subarea plans, environmental review, and local code amendments are all eligible costs; with several bus rapid transit lines coming to Kent in the near future, there is great opportunity for Kent to update land use in response to these transit investments. Specific options include studying several future RapidRide corridors at a higher level, or focusing on the RapidRide I line and completing a subarea plan and new zoning for station areas along that corridor. Given the recent application for Canyon Ridge Center (along the I-line) to be designated a countywide center candidate, staff are interested in input on these options and how they can support various city planning efforts. Committee members felt that staff should focus on this I-line corridor as the priority target for a grant application, since it is coming on first and the most is known about what might enhance this corridor. D. Reappointment to the Public Facilities District Board - Appoint Kurt Hanson Explained that Mr. Haffner had been selected to complete the unexpired Term of Mike Mills, who resigned his Position 2 seat in May of 2019. He also explained that the make of the Public Facilities district board is a combination of members who have been approved by booster organizations external to City government, and members who are appointed by Kent City Council. Position 2 is a council appointed board position. Because the unexpired term completed by Mr. Haffner was less than 3 years in length, Mr. Page 3 of 4 Economic and Community Development September 13, 2021 Committee CC ECDC Regular Meeting Kent, Washington Minutes Haffner is eligible to serve two full terms as a board member, should the council appoint him next week, and if he wishes to continue serving as a board member. MOTION: I move to appoint Greg Haffner to Position 2 of the Public Facilities District board for a four-year term starting on September 1, 2021 and ending August 31, 2025. RESULT: MOTION PASSES \[UNANIMOUS\] Next: 9/21/2021 7:00 PM MOVER: Bill Boyce, Committee Chair SECONDER: Zandria Michaud, Councilmember AYES: Boyce, Larimer, Michaud E. INFO ONLY: Importance of Pollinator Gardens - Small Changes can Bring Positive Impacts Kurt Hanson, Director of Economic and Community Development, introduced a slide show to explain what a pollinator is (bees, and other insects that are y talking about a pollinator garden. Pollinator gardens are generally small in scale and highly designed. While they provide both beauty and habitat in developed areas, they definitely require regular care and maintenance, and is interested in taking on. On the other hand, a pollinator meadow, such as is already installed in Lake Fenwick Park, is achieved with a spray-on mix similar to hydroseed, only with multiple easily propagated bloomers that are then allowed to self-sow, and do not require mowing, irrigation or much other maintenance. These have many potential applications for municipal land management, with no great outlay of funds or manpower. The city could utilize this in its own projects, and it could request or require regional partners to utilize the same techniques to mitigate the impacts of development or lack of development on large land swaths. Both Councilmembers Larimer and Michaud, remarked that they had seen this technique utilized in multiple settings, and feet it adds much more beauty and other value to a place than simple grass hydroseeding. 5. Adjournment 5:26 p.m. Rhonda Bylin Committee Secretary Page 4 of 4