Clyde Hill News: Guest Column
Putting the Service in Public Service
This week, Scott Moore of the Clyde Hill City Council is our guest columnist.
Putting the Service in Public Service
Election Day is November 2. I find this time of year exciting and energizing. I’ve had a lifelong interest in politics and was first elected to the Clyde Hill City Council in 2015. This year, three of the five city council seats are on the ballot and two have contested races (Bruce Jones and I will be up in 2023). I’m delighted that Clyde Hill residents are stepping up to help lead the city by getting directly involved. Read on for my endorsements.
As a public servant I have long wanted to communicate regularly with Clyde Hill residents about the business of the city. I’ll announce a new initiative on that front soon.
Good News about Clyde Hill PD & City Finances
The Clyde Hill Police Department has received provisional accreditation by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, which will be finalized at the WASPC’s annual meeting in November. This prestigious achievement is held by fewer than half of the police departments in the state and is earned by very few cities of our small size. It is the result of many hours of training and hard work by our force. Separately, at the October council meeting we approved a new four-year contract with the Police Union representing our officers. Congratulations and thank you to our men and women in uniform.
Did you know that Clyde Hill now has over $12,000,000 in the bank and the city’s cash reserves have grown by $2 million since the pandemic started? I’ll go into more detail about our finances in a future post but suffice to say we are doing much better than many cities have fared during the pandemic.
Hedges and Dredges and HOA’s
Clyde Hill has recently gotten tangled up with two homeowners’ associations over hedges and it is helping another HOA with dredging its lake. The hedge issue is vexing. Clyde Hill has a whole chapter in its municipal code (CHMC 17.37) regulating the height and placement of fences and “living fences” aka, hedges. I can’t find any similar regulations in Medina, Yarrow Point or Hunts Point. Here’s a section from the law that passed in 1990: “The purpose of the landscaping shall be to reduce the visual impacts of the (living) fencing to enhance the city’s appearance by preventing the look of a walled enclosure.” Huh?
I suppose that may have sounded like a good and necessary regulation 30 years ago, but anyone walking or driving around our city today would rightly conclude that the city’s enforcement of this law has been somewhere between inconsistent and nonexistent. In fact, at the September City Council meeting Mayor Klass said, (paraphrasing), “We’re so far out of compliance that enforcing the city’s laws regarding hedges would be impossible.” I agree. This law should be repealed.
In the meantime, the city recently demanded hedges bordering the Mercia and Aqua Vista neighborhoods be cut down or relocated at the homeowners’ expense. (Full disclosure, one of the hedges borders my property). Clyde Hill has determined that this 40-year-old hedge (photo) forming the southern entrance to Mercia should be cut to the ground.
In Aqua Vista the city demanded several plants at the eastern entrance of Aqua Vista from 96th Ave NE be removed from the right of way. Pam Phillips, president of the Aqua Vista homeowner’s association told me the request to move the plants resulted from a complaint filed by a disgruntled neighbor upset with the HOA over CCR violations. Ms. Phillips told council that the city’s “enforcement by complaint” policy needs to be repealed. The Mercia Association board of directors has responded to the city’s demand that it’s hedge be cut down by writing in part:
“The hedge in question poses no hazard and in fact it serves several useful purposes, including that it forms an aesthetically pleasing entrance to an historic Clyde Hill neighborhood (Mercia); has been well maintained and trimmed for over 40 years, providing all the typical benefits of mature vegetation, such as beauty, traffic noise dampening, and of course consumption of climate-harming CO2; and does not interfere with the 10’ wide margin on the west side of 92nd Ave. NE”
Fortunately, the city is about to begin an update to our Comprehensive Plan including a review of our zoning laws. There will be several opportunities for the public to provide input over the next year before the council votes on any changes to the municipal code.
Separately, the Clyde Loch Lakeowner’s HOA requested and was granted $6,771 to assist it in paying for the dredging of Clyde Loch, which is private property. Despite the fact that the city has no legal obligation to pay for the dredging, the Mayor exercised her authority to make a grant of city funds to the project. I fully support helping pay for the dredging of Clyde Loch. It would be nice to extend similar courtesy and consideration to the Aqua Vista and Mercia HOA’s especially since the city’s own analysis has found several relevant sections of the Zoning laws to contain “defects”.
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" --King Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV; Wm Shakespeare
Building permits are a routine but important function provided by every city. The permit process allows a city to review plans before construction to ensure that approved projects are in accordance with city and state codes and regulations. Which is why it was disappointing to hear from local resident and council candidate Dean Hachamovitch about his experience applying for a permit to build a gate across his driveway. Dean addressed the council at our October meeting and said, in part:
“I was shocked to receive a bill from the Assistant City Administrator for over $8,000, charging me for the City Attorney’s legal advice since I filed this appeal.
Again, this is an appeal that I didn’t want to file, and perhaps would not have filed had I been able to get an initial meeting with staff.
This invoice goes well beyond the City Attorney’s fees directly related to the appeal process, which hasn’t even really started. The bill also includes City Attorney’s fees for advising staff on public records requests, for answering my questions about permitting requirements for options other than the gate, and for the City Attorney talking to neighbors and their attorneys about their concerns.”
According to Mr. Hachamovitch, in response to his permit application submitted in May of last year the city sent him a letter refusing to process it and subsequently refused his request for a meeting seeking discussion.
I don’t know the details of the permit application and it’s not my place to weigh in on that topic, but it seems positively Kafkaesque for the city to refuse any resident the courtesy of a meeting and then send a bill for legal fees far in excess of the cost of the permit application, before ruling on the application. As noted at the top of this column, the city can afford to pay its own legal fees, if needed. I will be proposing a change to the Master Fee policy.
In other news, council recently learned that Clyde Hill had not competitively bid out our legal services in over 33 years. We spend well over $100,000 annually with the law firm which serves as our City Attorney under a one-page letter agreement signed in 1988 when Clyde Hill was just a Town. I proposed and council approved a resolution requiring the administration to initiate an open, competitive bid process and a comprehensive, term-limited contract for our legal services. That process is now underway. Submissions are due by November 19. If you know of good municipal law firms interested in participating, they may access the RFQ here: https://www.clydehill.org/cityattorneyrfq
Endorsements
I have the privilege to serve with two of the candidates on your ballot. Steve Friedman was appointed to council last year and Kim Muromoto was appointed in 2017. Both are experienced, engaged and thoughtful public leaders. Council Position 5 is open, since Bruce Dodds is retiring after more than 20 years serving on the council (Thank you, Bruce!).
The clear choice for Council Position 5 on your ballot is Dean Hachamovitch. Dean has attended every council meeting this year, has volunteered on the Budget Committee and has probably been the most engaged Clyde Hill resident outside of current members of the council. I strongly endorse Steve, Kim and Dean for City Council.
Make sure to mark, sign and mail or drop off your ballots no later than midnight on November 2. The nearest ballot drop box to Clyde Hill is at the Bellevue Public Library on 110th Ave NE.
Scott Moore
Clyde Hill City Council Position 2
Council2@clydehill.org