Clyde Hill News: City adopts limits on housing the homeless
Measure barely passes 3-0 with an unexplained “abstain;” also: details on knife assaults at Chinook Middle School
A new law placing some limits on “permanent supportive and transitional housing” in Clyde Hill scraped by on a 3-0 vote at this month’s city council meeting earlier this week.
At the meeting, the administration also updated the community on intersection safety in Clyde Hill, noting that
“none of the [eight] intersections evaluated as part of the field evaluation fully meet… Clyde Hill’s… requirements.”
More information about these stories and what else happened at the council meeting, along with details about knife assaults at Chinook Middle School earlier this year, below.
First, a reminder that on the heels of Yarrow Point’s 4th of July celebration and this weekend’s food trucks and fireworks at Medina Days, Clyde Hill will hold its annual movie night on Friday, August 18th at Clyde Hill Elementary School Field:
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Disclaimer: while I am a councilmember on the Clyde Hill City Council, I write this newsletter in my capacity as an individual resident. Any opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the position of the city. City information and references here are from public sources. I welcome email responses — and if the topic is about city business I will respond from my city email account.
State and city laws on housing
Clyde Hill now has a law regarding “permanent supportive housing” (subsidized rental housing with no limit on length of stay) and “transitional housing” (temporary subsidized rental housing). You can read the new law here (link), or past newsletter coverage of it here (link).
As a result of a 2021 state law, Clyde Hill must permit permanent supportive and transitional housing facilities anywhere it permits residential development. According to a city memo, “Cities can put parameters in place to limit the occupancy, intensity, and spacing of the facilities.” (link)
The motion to adopt the ordinance passed 3-0.
Cms Steve Friedman, Kim Muromoto, and Dean Hachamovitch voted to adopt the measure.
Cm Ashley Eckel abstained, without offering an explanation or asking questions about the measure.
Cm Bruce Jones was absent on a long-planned vacation.
Video of the discussion ahead of the vote is available here (link).
The new city law has been in the works for over a year, dating back to a June 2022 recommendation. It reflects several months of work from the city’s Planning Commission, as well as legal expenses related to reviews, advice, and Washington State Department of Commerce feedback. Medina has a similar law, and Yarrow Point is also in the process of adopting one.
Intersection safety, fences, and more
Clyde Hill appears likely to modernize and update its regulations related to sightlines and safety at intersections, following a report that none of the intersections evaluated appear to comply with the current 1970’s era code.
At the city council meeting this past week, administration officials presented the work of a consultant the city hired
to perform a review of Clyde Hill’s current code section governing corner visibility and make recommendations about its modernization…. (link)
The consultant also evaluated an eight-item sample of the city’s intersections,
benchmarking current conditions to Clyde Hill’s corner rule and the requirements of other local agencies & authoritative organizations for comparison.
Briefly: “none of the [eight] intersections evaluated as part of the field evaluation fully meet” Clyde Hill’s current regulations or the guidelines of AASHTO, a standards-setting body (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials).
The report also recommended that Clyde Hill adopt updated requirements regarding sight distance requirements at intersections. The mayor directed the head of the city’s Public Works department to work with Cms Muromoto and Hachamovitch on a recommendation to update the city code.
Fences, living and constructed
The city code about sightline visibility at intersections (17.08.100, “Impairment of visibility”) is one of three different city regulations related to fences, and the only one related to public safety.
The city’s primary fence regulation (17.37, “Fences”), defers to this sightline visibility code: “no fence shall restrict traffic visibility as defined by CHMC 17.08.100.”
The city also has municipal code protecting views (17.38, “Trees – View and Sunlight Obstruction”). You can find a friendly explanation of it at the city’s website here (link).
Trees and hedges in Clyde Hill are considered “living fences,” as Clyde Hill defines a fence to include “any barrier that is naturally grown or constructed” (link).
Residents have expressed many concerns and complaints around the city’s fence code, policy, and enforcement over the last few years. The meeting included discussion of a workshop to discuss “the City’s fence code… and enforcement practices, and consider the need for potential policy and code changes.” (link)
Other news: new logo, civil service commissioner
The mayor appointed David Sinnett to the Civil Service Commission (link).
The cost of the Comprehensive Plan work has grown to over $310K, according to the administration (link).
The administration requested and received council approval to spend $165K on stormwater planning, with that work expected to take a year. The impact of this new work on putting a stormwater utility fee in place to help address the budget deficit is not yet clear. (link)
Waste and recycle rates will go up, as Republic Services presented its work with King County related to rate restricting, noting “we don’t really have a choice.” (link)
A new city logo is planned (link) as part of the city’s work to revamp its website.
Knife assaults at Chinook Middle School
Readers asked me about an item from a June newsletter that referred to assaults at Chinook Middle School in the context of an update to Clyde Hill’s criminal code (link):
Based on the results of public records requests, it appears that a 12-year-old was arrested in April 2023 for “Assault in the second degree.”
The police report describes a claim of a pocketknife being put up to another 12-year-old’s throat and waist with a thread of “I am gonna stab you.”
There are other related public records requests in process with Clyde Hill PD, Bellevue School District, and the 911 dispatch center.
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Dean Hachamovitch