Tacoma City Business Preview - Week of May 14, 2013

Comprehensive Plan & Land Use Code Amendments The main item on the agenda for this week’s City Council study session is a review of proposed Comprehensive Plan & Land Use Code amendments. Council will review the Planning Commission’s recommendations prior to the public hearing scheduled for May 21, and expected first and final readings of ordinances adopting the amendments on June 4 and 11. Planning Commission recommendations include amendments to

1. Strengthen the regulatory standards for drive-through facilities and reduce their impacts;
2. Better define digital signs (electronic changing message center) and establish standards pertaining to hours of operation, height. size limitation. and brightness;
3. Increase the maximum short subdivision size from four to nine lots and improve associated standards to facilitate an expedited permitting process and increase development opportunities;
4. Develop the Tacoma Waterfront Design Guidelines and the Public Access Alternatives Plan as primary implementing strategies for the Shoreline Master Program;
5. Simplify the Comprehensive Plan land use deSignation system to better align the designations for Mixed-Use Centers, shorelines and other uses of land with their corresponding zoning classifications;
6. Streamline the legislative processes for the adoption and amendment of the Comprehensive Plan, area-wide re-zones, moratoria, and interim zoning;
7. Review the Comprehensive Plan to ensure its consistency with the Countywide Planning Policies;
8. Update the unfunded transportaUon projects to maintain their funding eligibility and incorporate “environmental justice” in transportation policy provisions to be consistent with VISION 2040; and
9. Clean up the Land Use Regulatory Code to address inconsistencies, correct minor errors, and improve administrative efficiency.

Funding for Roads

The City has been aggressively pursuing grants to improve the quality of roads in Tacoma. The result of that effort is $31 million towards projects scheduled for design and construction in the next few years.

• Mildred St S. (S. 12th St – S. 19th St) – $942,792
• 25th St. S. Corridor Signal Improvements – $251,097
• Historic Water Ditch Trail PH III & IV – $600,000 (plus a $100,000 City match)
• 72nd SI. S.lHosmer at 1,5 ramp – $340,000
• Milwaukee Way (Lincoln Ave. – Marshall SI.) – $ 750,000 (plus a $117,000 City match)
• Union Ave. Viaduct – $3,000,000
• Schuster Parkway Bridge – $1,880,000
• Puyallup River Bridge – $19,150,000
• Pacific Avenue Streetscape – $800,000
• Top 4 Bikeways – $1,500,000 (plus a $213,415 City match)
• Citywide Safety Improvements – $1,294,950
• Thea Foss Waterway Sites 10 & 11 – $550,000

A resolution on this week’s consent agenda would accept the $31,058,839 in federal fund grants to fund the above various Public Works projects including roadways, bridges, trails, bikeways, and a public esplanade.

Rules & Procedures Changes

We will hear the second reading of an ordinance from last week’s council meeting that would amend the Rules of Procedure of the Council of the City of Tacoma as follows:

• Including telephonic participation at Council meetings and special meetings;
• Allowing flexibility in the number of proclamations presented at a Council meeting;
• Removing the Appointments Committee effective after July 1, 2013, and renumbering the list of Committees;
• Replacing “Do Pass” and “Do Not Pass” with “Recommend for Adoption” and “Not Recommended”;
• Changing the name of the Environment and Public Works Committee to the Infrastructure, Planning, and Sustainability Committee; and
• Correcting inconsistencies and minor errors in the rules and procedures.

Wayfinding

This week’s purchase resolution would award a contract of $227,350, plus sales tax, for a cumulative total of $337,711, budgeted from the 2010 LTGO Bond D Fund and the Capital Projects Fund, to increase and extend the contract for the addition of 18 “Downtown Gateway” signs for the Wayfinding Signage Fabrication and Installation project. The contract for the first phase of wayfinding signage included 11 signs on Pacific between 8th and 19th. The second phase is for these 18 “Downtown Gateway” signs at locations like off-ramps from 1-705, the Thea Foss Waterfront and the Tacoma Dome District primarily north and west of the Tacoma Dome. The plan is for all the signs to be installed by the end of 2013.

Citizens’ Forum

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true: it’s time again for Citizens’ Forum. It’s that week for the citizens of Tacoma to stand before Council and have their say on any subject over which the council has jurisdiction. So bring your pet peeves, your grand ideas, and anything in between, and share them with your elected representatives, your fellow citizens, and the whole TV Tacoma viewing audience at home.

Other Items

A first reading of an ordinance on the consent agenda this week would vacate the west 200 feet of the alley right-of-way lying south of Puyallup Avenue and east of East L Street for a commercial fueling facility.

Mayor Strickland will proclaim the week of May 19 through 25, 2013 as National Public Works Week.

A final resolution on this week’s agenda would authorize an easement to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company for the installation of railroad crossing signalization and traffic control equipment on City property located south of the Central Treatment Plant. The signals are intended to allow for the safe passage of workers, materials and equipment across the railroad tracks for the approximately eight years of reconstruction of Interstate 5 northbound and southbound bridges and reconstruction of Tacoma’s Puyallup River Bridge Replacement. WSDOT will cover all costs associated with installation.