Clyde Hill News: City to rename View Park to honor outstanding resident
Clyde Hill News: City to rename View Park to honor outstanding resident
Also: Queen Bee-friendly code update approved; ethics code deferred; CHPD Commander Hanson achieves highest level certification
The city announced plans at its August council meeting on Tuesday night to rename View Park in honor of long-time Clyde Hill resident Kimitomo Muromoto.
More details about this topic, as well as the city council’s actions on land use code, its deferral of action on an ethics code, and more, below.
But first, the city council at its meeting Tuesday night approved the administration’s request for funding to address long-standing stormwater issues (link) at 17th Street. For context, here is a video of what residents face after heavy rains (from the July 2021 city meeting, link):
At the meeting, the city set expectations that it would seek bids for the work by the end of the week. The administration said it needs permission from the owners of two properties to perform the full scope of work; at this time, only one of the owners has granted permission (link):
Disclaimer: while I am a council member 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.
Muromoto Memorial Park
In an impassioned speech, and with the unanimous agreement of the city council, Mayor Steve Friedman announced a plan to rename View Park to honor Kimitomo Muromoto, a long-time Clyde Hill resident and World War II veteran. You can watch Mayor Friedman’s remarks here:
Mr Muromoto died earlier this summer. His son is Cm Kim Muromoto, the city’s mayor pro tem.
In 2022, Mr. Muromoto received the French Legion of Honour (link). He served in the legendary 442nd Infantry Regiment, “best known as the most decorated in U.S. military history and as a fighting unit composed almost entirely of second-generation American soldiers of Japanese ancestry (Nisei).” (link)
Ethics code
The city council discussed ethics issues and disclosure, but did not take action to adopt an ethics code at its meeting Tuesday night.
At its July meeting, the council agreed that “personal interests” were not the same as “conflicts of interest,” following guidance from the city attorney (link). At this month’s meeting, they agreed that council members should provide written disclosures of personal interests at the start of meetings.
As part of the discussion, Cm Ryan Olson offered a detailed verbal overview of the overlap of his business interests and the ownership of the Queen Bee Cafe, as well as the guidance from the city attorney that the personal interest does not constitute a conflict of interest. (You can watch his remarks here: link).
For context, the evening’s agenda included a vote on a change to city rules related to the expiration of variances that appears to benefit Queen Bee (see below).
Cm Olson did not disclose that his property in Clyde Hill has several variances (link); based on previous council discussion, those variances would appear to constitute a non-disqualifying interest to be disclosed. With no ethics code in place, there is no consequence to the lack of written disclosure.
Variance expiration rules, Queen Bee Cafe, and other land use code updates
The council voted 5-0 to approve a change to the city’s land use code related to the expiration of variances. You can read details here (link) as well as in previous newsletter coverage (link). The change is expected to benefit the Queen Bee Cafe as well as other non-residential development in the city (link).
Hearing view complaints
The council also agreed to vote at its September meeting to revise the city’s view ordinance code so that the city’s hearing examiner, and not its planning commission, will make decisions when residents bring a view complaint to the city.
If adopted, this change will increases consistency in the city’s appeals processes and potentially reduce the city’s legal risks. At its July meeting, the council voted 4-1 for staff and city attorney to draft the change. For more detail and context, see this previous newsletter (link).
The bigger picture
More broadly, the process, resourcing plan, and schedule for updates to the city’s land use code and development regulations remain unclear. Some examples:
The city administrator asserted that the next step on the view ordinance code change involved the land use committee and not a full council vote. The mayor and several council members confirmed the next step was actually a council vote, now scheduled for September.
Tuesday’s meeting included a public hearing that, apparently, was not necessary.
All five council members provided detailed feedback on the administration’s draft diagram for a “Land Use Code Update Process,” originally presented at the July council meeting. Cm Muromoto pointed out that it’s less of a formal process and more of a “guideline” (link):
During the discussion, the city administrator also said that there is no one to do this work (link). The Administrator’s Weekly Report published after the council meeting (link) contained following update:
Staff has taken advantage of a temporary lull in planning priority work to focus on the new website after putting it on hold for much of the summer.
It’s not clear what “lull” this update refers to.
Comprehensive plan consultant “folding”
The administration reported that Atwell, the consultant it has relied on for the city’s comprehensive plan,
has announced they are folding their planning division and laying off the remaining staff assigned to Clyde Hill…. there are still a few outstanding appendix items and edits that are likely to be needed later this fall.
In order to complete the work, Staff will be looking at options to either contract elsewhere or to purchase and train on the InDesign software used by Atwell (link)
It appears from this update that there were services contracted and paid for by the city but not delivered by the consultant.
The City of Clyde Hill has spent over $260,000 on consultants, and over $190,000 with Atwell, to develop the city’s comprehensive plan, according to the city’s most recent update on project costs in May (link). There are no announced plans for an analysis of what went well and what the city can learn from the experience.
CHPD Commander Hanson achieves highest level of certification
Clyde Hill Police Chief Kyle Kolling’s update at the city council meeting included news about Commander Dawn Hanson:
We were notified by the Washington State’s Criminal Justice Training Commission that Commander Hanson has achieved her Executive Certification through the state. (link)
The Criminal Justice Training Commission’s website explains that, per state law,
“Career Level Certification (CLC) is required for all law enforcement and corrections personnel”
who serve in “supervisory or management” positions. (link)
The third and highest level, “Executive,” is optional and available only to individuals who hold “one of the top two ranks” in an agency. Achieving this level involves at least 80 hours of leadership coursework. (link)
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Dean Hachamovitch