Tacoma City Business Preview - Week of September 16, 2014

Undergrounding Power Lines

If you're interested in getting rid of overhead power lines in Tacoma, you might want to tune in to this Tuesday's joint study session between Tacoma City Council and the Tacoma Public Utility Board. The main topic of discussion will be undergrounding of power utilities. TPU staff will present a general overview of power utility construction practices, along with a summary of current undergrounding policies and practices, including options for customers to participate in the Local Improvement District process. Following the presentation, Council and Board members will discuss potential objectives for additional or different undergrounding practices.

International Relations

Mayor Strickland is turning her attention to international relations. On the agenda for this week's City Council Committee of the Whole meeting is a proposal from the Mayor to establish a Mayor's Council on International Relations, and to have the City Council members take a more active role in building and maintaining relationships with Tacoma's Sister Cities by participating in the Sister Cities program.

The Mayor is part of a Central Puget Sound Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase, focused on the creation and implementation of plans to make the region more competitive in attracting foreign direct investment. Mayor Strickland would select representatives of stakeholder organizations and businesses to serve on the commission, with a focus on developing a unified agenda and strategy for fostering positive international relations for Tacoma.

Prairie Line Trail Regional Water Quality Facility

The UWT section of the Prairie Line Trail is nearing completion, ready for a grand opening event next Thursday. A part of that section of the trail is a $2.1 million regional water treatment facility. That facility will treat and remove runoff pollutants from more than 40 acres of property uphill from its location near where the Prairie Line Trail crosses South 21st Street in downtown Tacoma. It will keep all those pollutants out of the Foss Waterway, and thereby the greater Puget Sound.

The project is funded through a $1 million state grant, along with $530,360 from the City. UWT has been providing design, project management, inspection, and construction management for the facility as part of the construction of the entire Prairie Line Trail, which the City is reimbursing, along with $569,640 for unforeseen overages related to changed conditions during construction and drainage improvements to South 21st Street, which were not included in the project. A resolution on this week's regular Council meeting agenda would authorize the execution of a Memorandum of Agreement between the City and the University of Washington Tacoma that would cover those design and construction costs, including the additional $569,640. The City will own and operate the treatment facility.

Recreational Marijuana

In November 2013 the Tacoma City Council passed interim regulations covering land uses related to recreational marijuana. Those regulations outline where within the City limits marijuana production, processing, and retail may occur. As interim regulations they were set to last for one year, expiring on November 16, 2014.

The one-year interim period was meant to govern the initial round of recreational marijuana businesses, and to then allow the Council to revisit the regulations with the hindsight of experience to make changes as needed before enacting permanent rules. With delays and uncertainty at the state level (not to mention still unresolved conflict with federal law), the City doesn't have much experience to go on at this point, and so a six-month extension of the interim regulations has been proposed, pushing out the expiration date to May 16, 2015.

During the Council's regular meeting this week a public hearing will be held on the proposed six-month extension of the interim land use regulations concerning the production, processing, and retail sale of recreational marijuana.

Pedestrian Crossings

A purchase resolution on this week's regular Council meeting agenda would award a $2,523,400 contract budgeted from the Transportation Capital Fund for the design and construction of pedestrian crossing improvements at over 50 locations around Tacoma.

The specific locations were identified following a public access process (remember Talk the Walk?). That process identified more requested improvements than the budget would allow, so the projects were ranked within each district, based on "community-identified priorities." $1 million worth of improvements go to downtown Tacoma, and each council district will get $300,000 worth of improvements. Funded improvements may include pavement markings (crosswalks, stop bars), curb ramps, bulbouts, pedestrian activated traffic signals, lighting, signage, and flashing beacons

The City used a "design-build" process in awarding this bid, rather than the typical "design-bid-build" process. This allowed for faster implementation, as construction can begin on some of the improvements while others are still in the design phase. It also allows the designer and the construction team to work more closely on issues like ADA accessibility, which often require changes in the field, meaning additional design work and staff time. Hopefully the design-build process will minimize these kinds of problems. Work on the improvements is expected to begin this October, and continue through next summer.

Download the project list and maps here.

Other Purchase Resolutions

A second purchase resolution on this week's agenda would award a $512,912 contract, budgeted from the Transportation Capital and Surface Water Funds, to improve three alleys and one residential street located in south and east Tacoma, Local Improvement Districts. The street will get traditional pavement, and the alleys will get pervious pavement. The project also includes construction of storm sewer pipe and improved ADA compatible alley approaches at sidewalk crossings.

A final purchase resolution this week would authorize a $475,000 increase in a contract for Tacoma's Transportation Master Plan to fund a Tacoma Tideflats Emergency Response/Intelligent Transportation System (ER/ITS) Study. The requested increase, which brings the contract total to $975,000, would build on the work already done on the Transportation Master Plan, adding a survey of transportation concerns in the Tacoma Tideflats. The study would consider impacts of potential growth in the Tideflats on emergency response times.

Other Items

Three ordinances appear on the consent agenda for this week's regular City Council meeting. All three ordinances, scheduled for a first and final reading, would approve and confirm assessment rolls for Local Improvement Districts in the vicinity of South 69th Street and South Proctor. The LIDs would cover the construction of sewer and water mains in the area, and the undergrounding of utility lines.

Also at this week's Council meeting, the Mayor will present her selection for Tacoma Reads 2014 and the National Association of Clean Water Agency Platinum and Gold Awards; and the Department of Ecology’s Wastewater Treatment Plant Outstanding Performance Award for the North End and Central Wastewater Treatment Plants will be presented. 

A resolution on the regular Council meeting agenda this week would appoint two individuals to the Citizen Review Panel.

Looking Ahead

Later this month the City will hold three Community Visioning Sessions as follow-ups to the big Community Visioning Session held at the end of July. The three upcoming sessions will give citizens an opportunity to provide feedback and input on six of the seven key focus areas from that earlier meeting, as the City continues work on a vision to guide the next 10 years of decision making in Tacoma. Each session will have a primary focus on two of the seven key areas.

• Monday, September 22, 6:00-8:00 p.m. - Primary Focus Areas: Health & Safety / Human & Social Services 
  Asia Pacific Cultural Center, 4851 South Tacoma Way
• Wednesday, September 24, 6:00-8:00 p.m. - Primary Focus Areas: Arts & Cultural Vitality / Built & Natural Environment 
  University of Puget Sound, 1500 North Warner Street - Wheelock Student Center, 2nd Floor, Upper Marshall Hall 
• Monday, September 29, 6:00-8:00 p.m. - Primary Focus Areas: Economic Vibrancy & Employment / Education & Learning 
  Bates Technical College Campus, 1101 South Yakima Avenue, Room A130 AlB