Clyde Hill News: Multi-family housing uncertainty in Clyde Hill
Also: updating the city's (unenforced) fire hydrant code, and a potential council vacancy
Sometimes, what’s not on an agenda is significant. Next week’s city council meeting agenda (link) does not include discussion or plans for action regarding the many bills in the state legislature that would increase housing density in Clyde Hill.
It does include items about a potential city council vacancy and a change to city code related to fire hydrants. More details on these topics, as well as the housing and zoning uncertainty we’re in, below.
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. The 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.
Multi-family housing uncertainty
The housing and zoning bills coming from the state legislature remain the top story this week because of the significant impact on Washington state in general and Clyde Hill and its neighbors in particular.
“50 housing bills to watch in Olympia right now” (link), from the think tank Sightline.org, provides an overview of how much change is in motion. A recent bill that passed the Washington State House of Representatives bans single-family zoning, requiring many cities and towns (including ours) to permit four-unit and in some cases even six-unit housing in any residential zone (link).
Clyde Hill and its neighbors have called out (link) two bills in particular, Senate Bill 5190 and House Bill 1245, to their residents. You can provide our state elected officials feedback directly at these links:
Also, our state senator, Patty Kuderer, will have a town hall meeting on March 19th. Here’s a link to the event.
A handful of residents have contacted me about their uncertainty on this issue and on what they can do. I hope that next week’s agenda allows for a discussion and better clarity for residents.
Updating Clyde Hill’s fire hydrant code
There are a few separate topics here: public safety and professionals, the update under consideration, and misinformation in our community. If there’s one takeaway: the update of the City of Clyde Hill code under discussion has
zero impact on the ability of public safety professionals to operate, maintain, use, or locate fire hydrants
The practices for the 5,950 fire hydrants in Bellevue’s system, in particular the ~170 in Clyde Hill, remain the same regardless of Clyde Hill’s municipal code.
The update under consideration to the 1973 regulation is part of a broader city effort to get to clear rules, consistently enforced. The Administration has been clear that the current regulation has not been enforced for some time.
Public safety, professionals, and fire hydrants
The City of Clyde Hill relies on professionals working for the City of Bellevue to operate and maintain and (when necessary) use the fire hydrants in our city. The city staff and council have been thorough in their consultation of professionals to ensure that updating this part of the city code will not affect public safety.
Bellevue firefighters know where every fire hydrant in Clyde Hill is.
Bellevue Utilities and the Fire Department regularly visit all their hydrants.
They have maps, and the roads have blue reflectors.
They have GIS systems in their vehicles that show them fire hydrants and water mains and more. It looks something like this:
Public safety is a priority and a key responsibility for any city. Clyde Hill is no different. ‘Security of persons & property’ was over half of Clyde Hill’s 2022 budget (link), and the 2023 budget includes over $700,000 for the City of Bellevue’s Fire Department to protect our residents (link, p5).
The proposed update
The short version:
1. City staff and council have discussed (starting in August 2022) updating one item in Clyde Hill’s municipal code about fire hydrants to match the City of Bellevue’s standards.
2. Bellevue’s standards and practices make sense here because Clyde Hill relies on Bellevue to operate and maintain all of Clyde Hill’s fire hydrants as well as to provide Bellevue Fire Department and EMT services.
3. City staff proposed the updated regulation after extensive review and discussion of public safety with Bellevue.
This proposed update is one of many in the works, and part of a broader city effort to operate as safely, efficiently, and cost effectively as possible.
According to the head of Clyde Hill’s code enforcement, “The City does not have a documented history of active enforcement” of the current regulation. Aligning the code and the enforcement practice is part of achieving the goal of clear rules, consistently enforced.
Here’s the proposed updated text for the regulation:
“Fire hydrant visibility and clear zone requirements shall be in accordance with the City of Bellevue Utilities and Fire Department standards, rules, and regulations, as currently adopted or as subsequently amended.”
You can read the details in the city packet here (link).
The misinformation part: “I got a postcard!”
Despite the diligence of the city staff concerning the safety of their proposed update, a Clyde Hill resident has distributed postcards and emails which represent this proposed change as harmful or dangerous.
I would also be super concerned to read about an action that reduces safety, in particular fire safety. I’m glad that that’s just not the case here. (Really — Bellevue fire fighters know where the hydrants are.) Let’s go through the postcard’s claims one at a time:
“Changes to fire code.” There is no change to the city’s fire code under discussion. Clyde Hill has had same fire code in place as the City of Bellevue for two years.
“Harmful changes.” These changes make Clyde Hill consistent with Bellevue. City staff have consulted with professionals at the City of Bellevue and performed due diligence and have consistently communicated that the changes have no impact on public safety.
“Reduce fire fighter visibility.” There is no visibility problem given the professionals, technology, and practices involved here.
“A hydrant impacted was used to put out a 2020 house fire.” Yes, the code applies to all hydrants, not just some, and yes, Bellevue Fire Department located and used a fire hydrant to put out a fire — even with the current code unenforced.
“This will reduce safety.” Not at all. City staff has been consistent in their assessment. The postcard offers no evidence or argument.
Clyde Hill resident Jared Wheeler decided to do his own research. He met with representatives from both Bellevue Fire Department and Bellevue Utilities.
You can read his summary email from these meetings here (link). It’s short.
“Enrich a councilmember.” How? I’m not sure how any one person becomes enriched — or more enriched than anyone else — when unenforced code is replaced with updated code that reflects the modern practices of the professionals who run the system.
So, what’s with the postcard?
A great thing about local politics is that issues like this one can inspire residents to get involved in meaningful ways. I started this newsletter and ran for city council after digging in to understand issues like this one.
This postcard is the product of another impassioned resident of Clyde Hill, Spencer Nurse, aka “the Clyde Hill Coalition.” Here’s the web page from Washington State’s Public Disclosure Commission about his effort:
Civic engagement is great… and his communications – whatever their intent – have resulted in the spread of misinformation and unfounded fear and accusations.
We are both active residents of Clyde Hill, but we take different approaches to sourcing and citing our information. I sign my name to what I write and I provide context and citations for the claims I make. If you’re not sure what to believe here, reading the source material is a good start. I link to it.
If you’re looking for something easier than wading through the source material, I recommend talking with any of the other four city councilmembers. We are very different, and we don’t always agree – but we inhabit a shared reality, took an oath of office, and are publicly accountable for our actions and statements.
Potential council vacancy
Finally, the city meeting packet includes item §5.5, “Discussion re: Potential Council Vacancy,” along with a copy of the page from Council Rules & Guidelines concerning “Filling a council vacancy.” There is no other information in the packet. We will all find out more on Tuesday.
Thanks for reading! Please forward and share with your friends and neighbors, and if you are not already getting this newsletter, subscribing is both easy and free.
Dean Hachamovitch