Tacoma City Council Meeting - Aug 11th, 2009

The Tacoma City Council meeting seemed downright quick. The public comment period found only one person at the podium and the overall agenda was pretty short. The biggest item from our many conversations was Ordinance 27825 that eliminated parking requirements in the IFSA. Here are the rest of the details:

C O N S E N T A G E N D A

RESOLUTIONS

Resolution No. 37844 sets Tuesday, August 25, 2009, at approximately 5:30 p.m., as the date for a public hearing by the City Council on the proposed surplus and dedication of a tract of land to Pierce County for a 10-foot-wide right-of-way located along 180th Street East as a predevelopment condition for approval of a necessary building permit.

Resolution No. 37845 approves the final plat of “Larchmount Villa”, a seven-lot single-family residential subdivision located at 8424 East D Street.

Resolution No. 37846 authorizes the execution of a grant agreement with the State Transportation Improvement Board, in the amount of $5,000,000; accepting and depositing said sum into the Streets Special Revenue Fund, adding matching funds of $1,000,000 from said fund; and authorizing the execution of the design portion of the grant for roadway improvements on Alaska Street from South 56th Street to South 72nd Street.

R E G U L A R A G E N D A

RESOLUTIONS

Resolution No. 37847 authorizes the issuance of a limited tax general obligation note, not to exceed $1.8 million, to acquire and install an Electronic Content Management System and to pay the costs of issuance and sale of said note. Related to Resolution 27811 from a few months ago.

FINAL READING OF ORDINANCES

Substitute Ordinance No. 27268 vacates a portion of East R and East Harrison Streets east of Portland Avenue Playfield for the construction of a facility containing a gymnasium, locker rooms and a meeting room for the Tacoma Nomads Rugby Club. The last public hearing on this ordinance was in August of 2004. A number of issues and challenges delayed it. Now it can move forward.

Ordinance No. 27825 amends the Municipal Code, relating to downtown parking, by eliminating off-street parking requirements for new construction in the International Financial Services Area. We’ve talked about this for a while now.

Ordinance No. 27826 amends Chapter 1.06 of the Municipal Code, relating to the Citizen Review Panel, to increase the panel from five to seven members and limiting the number of commissioned law enforcement professionals or retired commissioned law enforcement professionals serving on the panel to no more than three members. There was extensive discussion on this issue in council chambers … The final ordinance is a “good product” acording to the mayor and the result of compromise.

That’s it for this week’s meeting. Any thoughts?