City Council Meeting - August 19, 2008

Tonight’s meeting was chalk-full of information – and a little disagreement regarding the South Park Plaza Garage rehabilitation funds. Read on and be amazed.

Resolutions
Resolution # 37570 authorizes two agreements with Pacific Plaza Development, LLC, including Amendment No. 1 to the Development Agreement, in the amount of $3,004,000, budgeted from the Parking Garage Capital Projects Fund, and a purchase and sale agreement for the adjacent Hillclimb Property.

This Resolution is related to, and was passed after, Ordinance 27739.

Resolution # 37571 authorizes the agreement with Barney & Worth, Inc., in the amount of $98,000, budgeted from the General Fund, to provide analysis and planning for the Tacoma Downtown Parking Implementation Program.

The City Center Parking and Mobility Strategy Implementation Team began meeting on a biweekly basis in April to discuss how paid parking should take shape in downtown Tacoma. After months of discussion, it was decided that consultation from an outside source was needed. This resolution provides the funds for that consultation to find a method of paid parking that suits all stakeholders.

Resolution # 37573 designates the following properties as historic landmarks and places the properties on the Tacoma Register of Historic Places:

• Park Universalist Church
• Saint Luke’s Memorial Episcopal Church
• Frisko Freeze
• Dorothy Apartments

Mayor Baarsma gave a brief history lesson on Saint Luke’s Memorial Episcopal Church, mentioning how it was moved in 1880, but it was reconstructed to its exact original appearance. “And Frisko Freeze … of course we all know Frisko Freeze.”

Resolutions # 37574 approves the issuance of tax-exempt non-recourse revenue bonds by the Washington Economic Development Finance Authority for the benefit of Belina Interiors, Inc., in an amount not to exceed $1,540,000, to finance the expansion of certain components of its business.

Public funds to a private firm in order to purchase a building for wood and metalworking for yacht interiors? Well, yeah, but it’s apparently for a good cause. This will hopefully encourage the growth of a manufacturing firm and therefore an increase in jobs.

Final Reading of Ordinances
Ordinance # 27739 authorizes an interest-bearing interfund loan, in an amount not to exceed $1,847,000, from the General Fund to Parking Garage Capital Facilities Fund, and appropriating said sum to provide financing for general contract changes and LEED enhancements to the South Park Plaza Garage rehabilitation project, with repayment due no later than December 31, 2011.

Councilmember Lonergan proposed an amendment to this resolution that would reduce the interfund loan to $958,000. His concern was that the added $1 million to make the LEED improvements would not be paid for completely, or in a timely manner, by paid parking and the debt would then be passed on to taxpayers. Coucilmembers Fey and Talbert noted that the environmental and financial benefits of passing the resolution as stated would yield a much greater reward in the future. Mayor Baarsma also predicted future environmental requirements for parking garages which cost the City far more in retrofitting than the amount in this Resolution. This amendment failed, but the Resolution passed.

Another day, another couple million spent. Now off to Frisko Freeze for an historic hamburger.