City Council Meeting - June 24, 2008

It was a nice change of pace to have a Council Meeting adjourned before the sun had set on our fair city, but a lot of important ground was still covered.

The meeting began with the presentation of an award from the National League of Cities for Tacoma’s celebration of the work of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Public Comment Period
Tonight, Resolution # 37515, authorizing the execution of agreements with ProLogis/BNSF for sale of surplus property, the closure of A Street, and the granting of air space easement for future pedestrian overpass, and Resolution # 27728, regarding the size of buffers under the Critical Areas Preservation of the Municipal Code to protect marine shorelines, dominated public comment.

Citizens were still concerned that the closure of A Street was not worth the acquisition of the Prairie Line Trail, and David Boe, of Imagine Tacoma fame, made the point to say that, “Any time a street is closed in an urban center, it may not seem important, but it still creates a dead end.”

Regarding the size of buffers to protect marine shorelines, there was still some dispute to whether a 50 ft. buffer, which was determined by the “best available science” would suffice instead of the originally proposed 115 ft. buffer.

Resolutions
Resolution # 37515 authorized the execution of the ProLogis/BNSF agreements. A Street was said to be closed within 90 days for signing the agreement or after the opening of the D Street overpass. Some positive aspects of the deal include a benefit to residents who will use the new trail, increased revenue for the city and about five to six hundred new jobs for Tacoma residents due to an increase of railway containers to 5 million.

Council Members Talbert and Fey voted no on the resolution, and Fey noted that “we may be shooting ourselves in the foot” by going ahead with the deal.

Final Reading of Ordinances
Amended Ordinance # 27723 amended Chapter 8.97 of the Municipal Code, which will authorize police officers to require persons violating the law to leave the designated “public area” during Fourth of July festivities.

Ordinance # 27725 amended Section 6A. 110.020 of the Municipal Code to suspend the acceptance of applications for the tax exemption of all multi-family developments in the Tacoma Mall Mixed-Use Center until January 1, 2009.

Ordinance # 27726 amended Chapter 6A.30 of the Municipal Code to reduce, and eventually eliminate, the business and occupation tax rate for International Investment Management Services.

First Reading of Ordinances
Ordinance # 27728 adopted the non-substantive amendment, which made six changes to code in order to clarify the intent of staff and the planning commission, to Chapter 13.05, Land Use Permit Procedures, and Chapter 13.11, Critical Areas Preservation of the Municipal Code to protect marine shorelines, fish, and the wildlife habitat conservation areas in accordance with the Growth Management Act.

The evening ended with Council Member Fey making a Three Stooges reference, and Council Member Lonergan threatening to incorporate the recently deceased George Carlin’s “7 words you can’t say” in his Government Performance and Finance Committee report. Who knew our council members were so hip?