This Spokane Valley City Council Study Session began with a list of eight agenda items requiring action. The initial action was on the Second Reading of Ordinance 23-003, an expansion and clarification of the City’s Closed Property Ordinance. The City owns numerous parcels of real property. Although many of those properties are intended for public use, some City properties are not. This Ordinance deals with the City’s ability to keep unwanted occupancy of non-public City property and clarifying the circumstances under which the City can take action to remove unauthorized or unwanted use or residence effectively and efficiently from City property. The motion to adopt Ordinance 23-003 passed unanimously.

A companion resolution, Resolution 23-002, which provides a map of City owned properties closed to public use was adopted unanimously. It will go into effect on February 15th.

The City manages its Stormwater Utility Program pursuant to City Code, the Spokane Regional Stormwater Manual, requirements set forth under the NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System), and the Department of Ecology (DOE) Underground Injection Control Program. DOE serves as the City’s controlling permitting authority which dictates and oversees the City’s compliance with those various permits. 

The City has recently developed a comprehensive stormwater plan to establish goals, strategies, and solutions for compliance with permit requirements, and specific language required by DOE for prevention and elimination of illicit connections or discharges to the City’s stormwater system. Ordinance 23-004, amending the City’s Municipal Code accomplishes that. The motion to suspend the rules and adopt Ordinance No. 23-004 passes unanimously.
The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued a call for projects on December 22, 2022, under the RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) grant program. City plans call for applying for A RAISE grant for the Sullivan/Trent Interchange. The Sullivan Road/SR-290 (Trent) Interchange Project connects rural freight traffic with one of the region’s busiest urban corridors. Large employers move their goods and employees via Sullivan Road and Bigelow Gulch within Spokane County. Sullivan Road south of SR 290 is a designated Freight and Goods Transportation System freight corridor carrying over 10 million tons of freight annually. The area along Sullivan Road between I-90 and SR-290 is home to 9,000 jobs, 85% of which are related to freight movement. 

The increase in traffic from Bigelow Gulch, without upgrading the infrastructure, will degrade the level of service to ‘F.’ 

The grant request will be $17,213,169 to complement the possible $10,000,000 from Washington State DOT, $2,552,000 from the National Highway Freight program, $1,367,500 from the Highway Improvement program, and a Federal earmark from the 2023 Congress totaling $33,782,669. That number is a major portion of the estimated total project cost of $42,625,000. The motion to approve applying for the RAISE grant passed unanimously.

In 2021, the City was awarded Federal Highway Bridge Program (FHBP) funds for the Mission over Evergreen Road Bridge Deck Repair. The project will sandblast the bridge deck, apply a primer, and thin polymer overlay. The engineer’s estimate for the project was $216,106. The lowest bid was $349,760. City staff has secured the additional funding from the FHBP staff. The motion to award the Mission Avenue Bridge Deck Repair contract in the amount of $349,760 to NA Degerstrom passed unanimously.

The Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) met on October 20 to review and allocate lodging tax funds collected by hoteliers to benefit attracting tourists to visit and stay in Spokane Valley. One of the grants awarded ($2 million) was to Spokane County for design, construction, and other costs associated with upgrading Avista Stadium in support of the Spokane Indians Baseball Team. The county requested all the funds be available in 2023. A motion to award the funds in 2023 passed unanimously.

The City is continuing to evaluate opportunities for future improvement of tourism. Recently, staff has broadened the tourism evaluation to include Plante’s Ferry Sports Complex in a possible partnership with Spokane County, and an ice facility feasibility study in partnership with Spokane Sports . A consultant, Sports Facilities Company, LLC (SFC), has completed a summary of forecasted revenues, associated costs, and operating expenses pursuant to supporting an indoor ice facility.

In May 2022, Council reached consensus to proceed with the City’s joining with Spokane Arts to coordinate and manage the design and implementation of installing 12 vinyl art wraps on signal boxes in the City. The project is funded by Spokane Teachers Credit Union (STCU). Spokane Arts and STCU have a five-year history of developing and installing art wraps on utility boxes in the region. Installation will begin this spring.

One of the many discussions on the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds received from the US Government has centered around using part (approximately $6 million) of those funds for affordable housing/homeless services/land acquisition. This evening’s discussion was to determine if it would be prudent to withhold any portion of the $6 million ($2 million) for potential land acquisitions. Council reached consensus to do so.

The possibility of a regional coalition to address homelessness has recently gained traction. A volunteer group has been coordinating discussions regarding creation of such a group which would consist of elected and volunteer officials from the City of Spokane, Spokane County, and Spokane Valley, as well as outside communities. Two issues were discussed: a) Does the City want to participate in the coalition, and b) whether to participate in the “launch.” The launch is a media conference to announce the program. Some on Council felt that the media conference is premature. There was no clear consensus on participation on either the launch or participation, so the item was deferred until the February 7th meeting.

City Hall is open for business during normal business hours. The Public is invited to participate in action items or public comment periods in person or via ZOOM. Call 509-720-5000 or www.spokanevalley.org prior to 4:00 p.m. for access instructions.

 

This formal meeting of the Spokane Valley City Council commenced with a list of eight agenda items requiring action. The initial action was on the first reading of Ordinance 23-003, an expansion and clarification of the City’s Closed Property Ordinance. The City owns numerous parcels of real property. Although many of those properties are intended for public use, some City properties are not. The problem lies with the City’s ability to keep unwanted occupancy of non-public City property. This ordinance will clarify the circumstances to remove unauthorized or unwanted use or residence effectively and efficiently on City property. Motion to move Ordinance 23-003 to a second reading passed unanimously.
 

City Hall was completed in September 2017, and since that time significant construction and design defects have been discovered prompting a suit that was filed in Spokane County Superior Court on April 27, 2020, naming the defendants (Meridian Construction, prime contractor, et al) alleged to be responsible for the various defects. Since then, the parties have been engaged in the discovery process, including extensive testing of various systems and areas in the building. 
 

In the meantime, the City has completed some of the necessary repairs i.e., micro piles (concrete pillars) installed along the curved wall on the building’s front to arrest additional settling, fire-stopping in the primary staircases, and extensive repairs on the HVAC system. Missing structural members were also installed.
 

Other necessary repairs will not be completely known until walls and ceilings are further opened. To facilitate the repairs, staff explored the option of using a design-build method of securing a contractor. Design-Build is a delivery process in which both the design and construction of a project are done by a single design-build entity. This avoids the time-consuming process of having to separately design a project then submit that design to the bid process. Time being of the essence, the design-build method was selected.
 

After negotiations, Garco Construction was selected using a time and materials contract to proceed with Phase 1 of remediation. The initial contract amount is $350,000 with a total not to exceed $4 million for additional remediation work. The motion to approve that contract passed unanimously.

That motion was followed by a separate motion to approve selection of CBRE/Heery to be the Project Management/Owner’s Representative for the City Hall Remediation project. That motion passed unanimously.
 

On July 6th, 2021, the City contracted for design services in two phases for its Balfour Park extension. Phase 1 covered the main park infrastructure such as excavation and grading, water, electric and sewer utilities pathways and lighting. Phase 2 of the project would include an events plaza, playground, splash pad, picnic shelter, sports courts, veterans’ memorial, amphitheater, and a walking/interpretive trail. The estimated cost of Phase 1 was $3.1 million but the project was placed on hold when the lowest bid came in at $5.0 million. Inflation, labor shortages, construction cost increases, and bid submission timing all contributed to the problem.
 

The project was submitted for re-design with an eye to significantly cutting the costs. The new base bid estimate is $3,293,218.44. The overall project bid (with amenities) is now $3,810,723.87. This total is below the budgeted funds. Motion to award the Balfour Park Expansion project, with all amenities to Cameron Riley, LLC, the low bidder, was unanimously approved.
 

The multi-purpose building at Balfour Park was originally planned to be site-built but will now be prefabricated and located on site. Council previously approved $950,000 from the City’s capital fund to cover the cost. The alternative would be to have a temporary building that would sit idle awaiting funding and be subject to mischief was not acceptable. The supplier’s quote to deliver and install the building is $850,292. The motion to authorize purchase of the building passed unanimously.
 

The City is currently in the process of implementing a new financial management system. Part of the plan and budget for the software replacement project is to bring in a temporary staff person through the Robert Half temporary employment agency. That person will provide substitute manpower while City employees are trained on the new system. The system, including the temporary substitute, is purchased through an Interlocal Contract for Cooperative Purchasing with the Houston-Galveston Area Council. The motion to approve the interlocal agreement passed unanimously.
 

State law requires that the City’s Solid Waste Management Plan and Moderate-Risk Waste Management Plan be current, reviewed and periodically revised as needed. To accomplish those goals the City, after issuing a Request for Qualifications, chose Great West Engineering as the most qualified. The motion to authorize the City Manager to finalize and execute the agreement with Great West Engineering for updating the City’s Waste Management Plans for a cost not to exceed $269,600 passed unanimously.
 

State law requires that the City’s Solid Waste Management Plan and Moderate-Risk Waste Management Plan be current, reviewed and periodically revised as needed. To accomplish those goals the City, after issuing a Request for Qualifications, chose Great West Engineering as the most qualified. The major tasks associated with the update include:

• Project Management 

• Project Initiation

• Technical Advisory Committee Assistance

• Existing Plan and Systems Analysis

• Future Needs Assessment

• Implementation Activities

• Draft Plan Preparation

• Final Plan Preparation
 

The plan development will take approximately two years to prepare, including significant public involvement and cooperation with the Department of Ecology.
 

Updates from both the Spokane Valley Police Department and Spokane Valley’s Fire Departments highlighted increased call loads and involvement with homeless. 
 

A review of past privately initiated site-specific Comprehensive Plan amendments found that two issues needed to be addressed. 1) There is no criteria for privately initiated site-specific Comprehensive Plan land use amendments and 2) A property can be eligible for a site-specific zoning map amendment if it is adjacent to a property zoned the same or higher which includes corner touches or is located across right-of-way. These issues taken together allow for more intense zoning and land use designations to intrude into less intense zones and land use designations. The proposed changes to City Code identifies additional criteria that shall be considered when reviewing the proposed map amendments. Spokane Valley’s Planning Commission voted to advance the proposed amendment (CTA-2022-0003) with a recommendation to approve.
 

City Hall is open for business during normal business hours. The Public is invited to participate in action items or public comment periods in person or via ZOOM. Call 509-720-5000 or www.spokanevalley.org prior to 4:00 p.m. for access instructions.