Vancouver City Council

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0:30 (speaking faintly) - To the city, me as the person who was standing there. - At the park dedication Thursday. I've not touched it, I just brought it in so maybe. - Oh, how pretty. You wanna talk about it? I'm waiting for one more for quorum. I just need one more. Okay.

1:31 - Good evening, welcome to Vancouver City Council. Today is Monday, April 13th, 2026. This afternoon we had a legislative end of session update and then we also had a comp plan update. We went into executive session, no decisions were made concerning those pieces. We're now in our regular council meeting and would you please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. - I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. - Thank you. Ms. Stoller, will you please call the roll? - Yes, thank you, Mayor. Council Member Harless. - Present. - Perez. - Fox. - Here. - Paulson.

2:30 - Here. - Stover. - Present. - Hanson. - Present. - Mayor McEnerny-Ogle. - Present, thank you very much. We're now moving into the approval of the minutes. Councilors, you have in front of you the minutes of April 6th. Are there any changes or corrections? Hanson has made a motion to approve, who will second it? - Stover. - Thank you, Councilor Stover has a second. Those in favor of approving the minutes of April 6th, say aye. - Aye. - Abstain. - Two abstentions, all those opposed? Motion passes, thank you. Let's move into our proclamations. We have a couple different proclamations this evening. The first one, Karen, there you are, okay. Whereas autism is a naturally occurring and neurodevelopmental condition that is present from birth and affects the way individuals communicate,

3:29 process information, and experience the world. And whereas autistic individuals thrive when provided with access to inclusive education, equitable support, meaningful opportunities, and full acceptance within society. And through research, training, advocacy, support groups, and increased empowerment for autistic youth, adults, and families, Vancouver can continue to be a welcoming and supportive community for all. Now therefore, I, Anne McEnerny-Ogle, Mayor of Vancouver, Washington, do hereby proclaim the month of April as Autism Acceptance Month in the city of Vancouver, and encourage all community members to embrace autism acceptance, promote inclusion, and celebrate the contributions of autistic individuals and their families. And I have a proclamation, I'll bring it over, and present it. Thank you.

4:24 Yes, go ahead and turn it on. You'll see a green light pop in there for you. There you go. And introduce yourself to us, please. Hello everyone, my name is Sumi Diamond, and I lead Helping Hands, a volunteer group for neurodivergent teens and young adults. We're a community that believes in support, inclusion, and acceptance of all voices. Helping Hands was created to give neurodivergent individuals more volunteer opportunities in a place where they feel accepted. Whether it's through community service, peer mentorship, or just showing up for another, we're proving that neurodivergent voices aren't just viable, they're essential. This Autism Acceptance Month, we're not just seeking awareness, but true inclusion. Thank you. Please.

5:24 Thank you, Madam Mayor, and all of the friends here on the city council. First, I'd like to thank each and every person who came out tonight in support of the proclamation. Whether you're autistic, a parent, community partner, or an ally, each one of our voices matters. Typically, you have Karen Creight, she's the executive director here, of Autism Empowerment. She's not feeling under the weather, or she is feeling under the weather tonight, and she sends her condolences for not being here. My name is John Creight, I'm the program's director and co-founder of Autism Empowerment. In June of 2026, Autism Empowerment will mark 15 years of service that was founded right here in Vancouver, Washington. When we first started our work, the narrative in our community focused on autism awareness. Over the years, we have been able to shift that conversation from awareness to acceptance.

6:23 There has been a lot of work done, but in the current political climate, there's a lot more to do. It doesn't matter if you're newly diagnosed, or if you've been advocating for years, we want people to know you are seen, you are valued, and you're not alone. Since our founding, we've been devoted to enriching and empowering the lives of youth, adults, and families within autistic and neurodivergent communities. We provide a culture of autism acceptance, and believe that each one of us has gifts and talents that makes the world a better place. Wherever you identify in your life's journey, Autism Empowerment is here to meet you along the way with acceptance, enrichment, and inspiration, and empowerment for the road ahead, which are our four foundational pillars of Autism Empowerment.

7:20 At Autism Empowerment, we believe that every autistic person, regardless of age, ability, or support needs, deserves dignity, their voice to be heard, and open with equal opportunities, free of discrimination. We stand for equity, compassion without competition, unity without conditions. There is a space for all of us at the table. We are here for the whole spectrum. Almost done. In addition to Autism Serves, what Sumi here represents, we have a lot of educational and media programs, including Spectrum Life Magazine, which is in your packets. This is the newest issue that actually just came out today, and we are celebrating 10 years of producing this print magazine, which can be found all over Clark County, and all over Vancouver as well, including right here at City Hall. We also have our Neurodivergent Careers Collective,

8:20 which supports teens and adults within the entertainment and fine arts arena, and our Autism Empowerment podcast, which is gonna be coming back soon. All of these programs are not only service people here in Vancouver, but all over the West Coast, the United States, and even around the world. Thank you for places like Vancouver that's committed to making a more inclusive, accepted, and empowered community for all of our citizens. Thank you to each one of you on the city council who have worked over the past 15 years, again, for all of those who are in attendance here tonight. Thank you so much, and those copies in the foyer, sorry. Thank you. - John, thank you so very much. You are holding up the Spectrum Magazine. Is it on the web or somewhere so people can have access to it?

9:19 - All 15, or all past 10 years are actually available online for free. People can, every single article is in blog format. We wanna be able to elevate autistic voices. In this particular issue, every issue we have an autistic young adult who actually uses a letter board to communicate. In this particular issue, he actually has two articles. So we really believe in supporting the entire spectrum, but so it can either be in print or online. - Great, and please give Karen our best for speedy recovery. - Thank you so much. - Thank you. - Bye. (audience applauding) - Our second proclamation this evening is National Donate Life Month. And we have Laura with us this evening.

10:16 And she's coming up. Whereas National Donate Life Month is observed in April to raise awareness about the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation, and to honor those who have saved and healed lives through the gift of donation. And whereas the 2026 National Donate Life Month theme, Leave a Legacy, uses the symbol of a tree to represent the life and connection between donors, recipients, and their families standing as a legacy of hope. And whereas a single organ donor can save up to eight lives and a single tissue donor can enhance the lives of more than 125 others. And whereas the City of Vancouver recognizes the heroic generosity of donors and their families, as well as the dedicated healthcare professionals who make the gift of life possible. Now, therefore, I, Anne McEnerny-Ogle,

11:16 Mayor of Vancouver, Washington, do hereby proclaim the month of April as National Donate Life Month in the City of Vancouver and encourage all community members to consider the impact of organ, eye, and tissue donation, register, and tell their loved one about their decision. And Laura, before I bring this proclamation to you, as you are well aware, Mayor Pro Tem Sarah Fox is one of your donors. Sarah, thank you so very much for that. Do you have any words for the folks? - Sure, thank you so much for the proclamation. I'm sure everyone out there that has any questions about organ donation, I'd say one, don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions, and two, don't hesitate to go get tested if you could potentially be a match for someone with kidney disease. I didn't hesitate because that person was a very good friend of mine,

12:15 and I ended up being the best match that she probably ever could have had and has gone on to live a healthy 15 years after the time that we've donated. So anyways, thank you for bringing that up and giving me an opportunity to make a pitch. - You bet. Laura, go ahead. Yes, press that button, it turned green. - Great, thank you. - And Laura, go ahead and introduce yourselves. - Yes, I'm Laura Ellsworth. I'm the executive director for Donate Life Northwest, and our mission is to educate and inspire the community to register as organ, eye, and tissue donors. We do a lot of public education and have a variety of programs that do that in Oregon and Southwest Washington. So good evening and thank you, Mayor McEnerny-Ogle, Mayor Pro Tem Fox, and members of the council. I'm here before you today on behalf of the donation community and the thousands of Washingtonians currently waiting for a second chance at life.

13:13 I'm here to express my deepest gratitude for the 2026 Donate Life Month Proclamation. Special thank you to Mayor Pro Tem Counselor Fox for your championing of this cause in the most profound way possible as a living donor. Your leadership helps bring a message of hope directly to the heart of Vancouver. This year's theme, as you mentioned, Leave a Legacy. When we talk about a legacy, we often think about statues or buildings or bridges or wealth. But the most profound legacy that a human being can leave behind is the gift of time. The years, birthdays, milestones given back to our neighbors through organ eye and tissue donation. To leave a legacy is to plant a garden that you'll never get to see. By issuing this proclamation, the city of Vancouver is helping plant that garden. You're normalizing a conversation that can be difficult, but one that is ultimately rooted in love and community.

14:12 Currently, over 100,000 people nationwide are waiting for a life-saving transplant. In our own backyard, many of our fellow Vancouver residents are waiting for that call that will change their lives forever. This hit home to me just last week when I was walking home from our local coffee shop after a meeting and I just stopped to make small talk with someone who had recently remodeled their landscaping in their yard and it looked really good. And I just said, "Hey, that looks so good. "Do you guys love it?" And then, lo and behold, she found out I've, actually I was carrying this and she saw the sticker and I asked if she knew about us and she's like, "Well, I need a kidney and I attended your workshop "on how to find a living donor like six months ago." And I was like, "Wow." Just never know what our neighbors are going through right now. So your recognition of April as National Donate Life Month serves as a powerful reminder that we all have the power to be a hero. Donate Life Northwest invites everyone in our community

15:09 to reflect on the legacy that they wish to leave. It only takes a minute to register as a donor, but that one decision can save up to eight lives and heal up to 125 others. So thank you, Mayor, all the counselors here tonight for standing with us and for honoring those who have given the ultimate gift and for encouraging Vancouver to leave a legacy of life. Thank you. - Thank you, Laura. That concludes our-- (audience applauds) That concludes our proclamations and brings us into community communication. Are there any yellow cards, Ms. Dollar? Okay, then I'll go ahead and bring up Elson Strayhan. Elson, go ahead and join us. Turn on a microphone and please state your name in the city for the record. - There we go. Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

16:09 My name is Elson Strayhan. I moved to Vancouver in 1984, been here for a few years. I'm here to comment on the comprehensive plan update presented this afternoon, specifically in regard to the extended timeline for replacement of single-family homes in a medium-scale district to two years rather than the originally proposed one-year window to determine a nonconforming use, which impacts homeowners throughout the city. While the time period change from one to two years is a step in the right direction, as correspondence you receive from legal counsel Steve Hornstein outlines, it really does not provide sufficient protection for property owners whose single-family homes have been impacted by a catastrophic event such as a fire. Insurance payments, estate settlements, permitting processes, ability to sell, and other factors or combination of such factors that are well beyond the control of a property owner

17:06 can cause them to easily extend beyond a two-year period. And a property owner should not be prohibited from rebuilding or selling their property for a single-family home replacement if it does not occur within the two-year period. While examples can readily be cited where homeowners find themselves in limbo well beyond a two-year period such as those impacted by the Pacific Palisades fire in Los Angeles, there is an example of such a circumstance in my own neighborhood. There was a house fire in 2019 that effectively destroyed the home. A buyer purchased the property in 2020 to demolish the remaining structure in order to build a single-family residence. Unfortunately, his spouse became very ill, forcing them to sell the property in 2021. A residential permit was then issued to the new property owner in 2022, and a new home was finally built. A two-year cap would have prevented this home replacement. I urge the council not to adopt

18:05 an arbitrary two-year timeline as recommended by staff that would remove the flexibility of homeowners to protect their property rights for what many may well be their largest and most important asset. Thank you very much. - Thank you. Having no additional, no cards, okay. Having no additional individuals, I'll go ahead and close the communication, bring it to consent agenda. Councilors, you have in front of you the consent agenda. You have 12 items. Which items would you like to withdraw? - 10. - Yeah, we already have item number 10. Thank you, Councilor Fox on that. And other items? That's it, all right. Then I'll accept a motion for items

19:03 one through nine, 11, and 12. - Move to approve Paulson. - Thank you, Councilor Paulson has made the motion to approve those items. And Mayor Pro Tem Sarah Fox has seconded. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. - Aye. - Opposed? Motion passes. Item number 10. City manager, would you like to bring up your staff? There we go. - Yeah, we're being joined by Shannon Olson and Anthony Glenn for the benefit of the public. Lon Pluckon, I'm the city manager. And this is a resolution about an inter-fund loan from the general fund to the fire fund to continue the construction on fire station eight. And if I could, before we see if there are any technical questions for the staff, just take the council back a little bit to 2024,

20:03 the timeline on how this developed. So when the current biennium budget was being put together, the city had a question before the public for Proposition 4. And we didn't yet know what was gonna happen with Proposition 4. And so any of the banked capacity from the prior proposition two related to fire services was not included in the budget in the initial year. And so when Proposition 4 didn't pass, the council asked me to work with the staff to see if there was any way that we could actually put some of that banked capacity back in. We determined that the timeline just did not allow for it. And so we moved into the current biennium budget without banked capacity in the first year. We then were set to implement banked capacity in 2025, specifically for capital projects that were underway, including fire station eight. And that was when we engaged with the police advisory committee.

21:02 They ultimately recommended a severely scaled back version of a public ask that turned into Proposition 5 for police services. So getting towards 2025, we now had a second question in front of the public. That one did pass. And when we were looking at the budget, putting that one voter approved in there plus the banked capacity that we were looking at from Proposition 2 would have resulted in a property tax increase more than 10%. And we thought that that was untenable, especially given that the public had just given us a vote of confidence in wanting to put some more money towards police services. So that left us with an approved budget that was advancing capital projects, advancing construction on a fire station without the anticipated revenue source that would be needed to make payments on it while it was under construction. So in talking with the budget staff and looking at the resources we had available, we decided to bring to the council

22:01 an internal loan that we could use from the general fund so that we could make the payments and then in this calendar year actually implement that banked capacity and pay the general fund back. As part of that discussion, one of the things that we had to figure out because we really hadn't done it before was whether or not we would charge interest on an internal loan. Because we were setting a policy for any future internal loans and we didn't want to be in a situation where we're trying to explain to our auditors why did you charge interest on this one? Why did you not charge interest on that one? And so we elected to come up with a way to determine what our benchmark interest rate would be and so we're setting that on this first one. And you might ask the question, why would you do internal loans? Well, for a short-term debt, you don't wanna go out to the bond market. The bond market, you're gonna pay attorney's fees, you're gonna have issuance costs, you're gonna have origination fees. So for something that's short-term like three, five years,

23:01 it really doesn't make sense to go seek outside financing. Internal financing makes more sense because you don't have those costs. And while this one is going against the proposition, I guess imagine a scenario where the parking fund got an opportunity to buy a private parking lot. They didn't have the cash on hand to do it so we could loan them the money from the general fund and then repay ourselves. Obviously, you would want to pay interest out of those other funds. Or if one of our other organizations, the downtown redevelopment agency needed a short-term loan to make some emergency improvements, we'd have the capacity to do that but we would charge interest because the general fund is losing the use of those dollars. Now in this case, because the money is being funneled through the general fund, my intent would be to return that interest back over to the fire fund because the assurance that we made to the public is that the proceeds from Proposition 2 will get used for the projects and the hiring of the staff that we put in there. So while we're establishing the policy

24:00 of charging ourselves interest, we also have a lot of flexibility in how we use interest that is earned through the general fund. So in this case, we could turn right around and put it right back into the fire fund and ensure that the proceeds from Proposition 2 go where we told the voters they were gonna go. - Great, thank you. Councilors, questions? Yes, Councilor Fox, go ahead. - Do you need any direction or discussion with us about that utilizing the interest funds to go back into the fire fund? You said that's a choice that you're deciding but do you need council to weigh in on that and provide direction? - I think from the perspective of the council, if you wanna make sure that you're providing direction to me and to the staff, that that is your expectation, then you could put it into the language for the motion to approve the resolution. That puts it in the record for posterity and if something happens to me, I get into a car accident and I can't act as the city manager,

24:59 then there's a record that that's your council expectation for the use of those funds. - And Sarah Fox, I forgot to say that the first time, one more question. As you were describing policy moving forward, that would be blind to the loan and the party that we're loaning to, I guess, internally. What other examples do we have maybe from other equally sized local governments that do this type of, I guess, interest rate policy on inter-fund loans and also, well, I'll just stop with that question, okay. - I think maybe I'll ask Shannon and Anthony to weigh in on that one. I know there are several methods that are legally acceptable for the determination in how we benchmark our loans and maybe Anthony could provide some guidance on how he arrived at this recommendation. - Good evening, mayor and council,

25:58 Anthony Glenn, city treasurer. It really just goes to GFOA best practice. There's only so many things you can kind of look at to establish a borrowing rate. The two primary are your external borrowing rate, so if you went out to market, what that cost would be and the other primary one is what you essentially lose on your investments if you do loan those funds. So in this case, the internal pooled rate most closely aligned with the opportunity cost of the general fund giving up those dollars. - Okay, so in our particular, and McInerney-Ogle, item number 10 says a resolution relating to the establishment of an inter-fund loan from the general fund to the fire fund in the amount of 3.6 million to support construction of fire station eight and providing for repayment with interest goes on to say the approval of the resolution establishing an inter-fund loan to the amount of 3.6 million

26:57 from the general fund to the fire fund to support construction of fire station eight with repayment including interest as outlined in attachment A. So I believe it's already in our resolution to move forward. Any other comments? Just-- - Except that the piece that our city manager just explained is that we would need to amend that resolution to say that interest would be returned to the fire fund. Is that the correct way to word that? That being my specialty of being a finance-- - With repayment including interest doesn't say that. Anthony, are you hearing the distinction? - There are two ways that you could do it just to make sure that it's memorialized. You could actually amend the resolution to add that into the language of the resolution or in the motion approving resolution,

27:56 you could say I move to approve the resolution and to direct the city manager to ensure that interest is returned to the fire fund. - Okay. That's, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. You need to be recognized, hang on here. Okay, Councilor Harless. - Oh, sorry, I thought Stover had it first. But, sorry, Kim Harless, council member. Yeah, I was gonna bring up if we are able to actually put it in writing, that would be my preference. So my question was gonna be to the attorney of what that process, if it changes any sort of timelines to amend to actually put it in writing. I think that's our process tonight. Councilor Stover, did you have a point? - I would like to make, just to say Stover,

28:53 city council member, I wanna make sure that this refunding happens on an annual basis. So I would like that to be part of this motion as well. Versus happening at the end of the loan period. - Anthony, is that a problem in financing? No? - However you approve it is how we'll administer it. - Okay, Councilor Hanson, you had a point to make? Thank you, Councilor Perez? - My question is why we're even charging interest to ourselves and to something we and the voters had voted for to support our fire, first responders. So I just find it odd that we're charging ourselves interest in the first place, so that's my first comment. Maybe you can elaborate on the rationale for that.

29:51 And then secondly, I agree that whatever we are promising or committing to, that it has to be memorialized. But I just wanna go back and I just find it odd that we're charging interest on our own internal funding, especially for fire. - Yeah, Lon Pluck on, city manager. It probably feels a little more odd because both of these accounts funnel through or are kind of hosted by the general fund. But if you think on some of the other ways that we gather money, and I'll use an example of like a business license surcharge. So we have a business license surcharge that part of that is dedicated towards economic development. We've got an approved ordinance to scale those collections up through I believe 2030. If economic prosperity and housing came to us and said, we have an opportunity to buy a parcel of land, we would like to borrow some money

30:48 in order to be able to do that. We could potentially loan money out of the general fund and have it repaid using proceeds from the business license surcharge. But in that intervening period, the general fund is losing money, it's losing dollars. And we wanna make sure that whatever that property is ultimately disposed of for, that we don't run afoul of something like a gift of public funds issue. So we need to make sure that the general fund is made whole during that intervening period. Account future council could say at the end of that, we've decided to waive interest or like we're talking about here, we would like to return it back to that account so that we can use it for future economic development purposes. But we wanted to make sure that we just had a policy for any of these types of internal loans. We have utility funds, we have the parking fund, some of those other ones that are more proprietary or more restricted in usage. But I will acknowledge that this one

31:47 feels a little bit weird just because so much of the support for fire comes out of the general fund. - Yeah, and then just to follow up, what has been the response or the input from our fire department on this mechanism? - None of them reached out specifically to me about this. The generalized concern like that I heard from talking with 452 was wanting to make sure that the projects weren't delayed because we were not putting the banked capacity into the budget in this calendar year that we were waiting for it to come ahead. But that we needed to keep those projects moving along. - Okay, again, Anne McEnerny-Ogle. Nina, you've heard two amendments to this resolution. Do you have the language? - Yes, Mayor, we could add language in the resolution. There's at least two whereas clauses that it could go,

32:46 the one on the top of page two or the one right before now, therefore, we could add the following language that I believe picks up both of these motions. We could say with the interest returned to the fire fund on a yearly basis. - Anthony, is that financial language satisfactory? - Anthony Glenn, City Treasurer, yes, that'll work. - Thank you very much. All right, now, Councillor Hanson. - So moved. - You have to say your name. - Oh, Councillor Hanson, so moved, thank you, Mayor. - Okay. - Council Member Paulson seconds Council Member Hanson's motion. - And for those of you in our audience who are wondering what's happening, we are working to make sure

33:43 that we meet the accessibility standards from this federal government. And so part of that is to help make sure all of our language is clear and we are identifying ourselves and our actions. - Mayor, I just wanted to, sorry, Sarah Dollar, Council Assistant, I just wanted to clarify one thing. Is this a motion for the item with the amendment or just the amendment? - This is an amendment to the resolution. So we have an amendment that has been put forward. We have a motion from Councillor Hanson, seconded by Councillor Paulson. We will be voting on the amendment. Then we'll come back and vote on the entire resolution, okay? All right, now, Ms. Dollar, do you need a roll call vote on this or can I just call for the vote?

34:43 - You can do a roll call. I'm sorry. And I'll approve. - A general call for vote. All those in favor, say aye. - Aye. - Opposed? The amendment to the resolution has passed. Now we'll go back to the amendment. - Move to approve the amendment and the resolution. - Mayor Pro Tem Sarah Fox has made a motion to approve the amended resolution and it has been seconded by Stover. Councillor Ty Stover, are there any changes, discussion? All those in favor, say aye. - Aye. - Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you for the help. Got it, okay. We have completed the business portion. Let's go into communications from the Councillor. Councillor Harless. Councillor Perez. - Yes, just wanted to quickly comment

35:41 on a successful community forum. I think we didn't really get a chance to talk about it at our last council meeting and then there was a forum and we just had a little bit of a break. So I just wanted to thank staff for their great help and work in doing that. I think that was the most young people I've seen at a community forum. I know that there's always room for improvements but I'm curious to see what the feedback or exchange or report out from staff on that, how that community forum went. Okay. Sometime in the future or if you know Lon at this point or if Lisa's in the audience. - Yeah, she's not. - Okay. - All right. Any other item, Councillor? - Well, one more thing. Tomorrow is our ending community homelessness organization, ECHO meeting. We actually have a panel of law enforcement

36:39 across jurisdiction to talk about the interrelation there of addressing homelessness with our law enforcement officers and it'll be a panel style. People can zoom in and take a look at that virtually or attend from 9.30 to 11.30. We'll be on the sixth floor at Clark County Courthouse. Nope, Clark County building. - Public service center. - Public service center at the courthouse. My apologies. That's it. - Okay. Councillor Hanson. - Thank you, mayor. I attended three neighborhood association meetings last week. Furcrest, the Vancouver neighborhood association and Arnada. Furcrest went into a very elaborate presentation on addressing development in your neighborhood. I thought that was very well done. The VNA, a great meeting there as well. And lastly, the Arnada neighborhood association wanted to talk about getting speeds in neighborhoods

37:39 down to 20 miles an hour. And as I drive through my neighborhood with cars parked and coming around a corner, 20 miles an hour even seems fast. Now we talked about this a while ago, Lon, and I'm wondering where we left off on it. And it is rather costly to go around and change all the signs in the city of Vancouver. Totally appreciate that, but where it's not posted, at least, I was thinking maybe we could look at something to start to move in that direction. That's all I have, mayor. - Okay, thank you. Councillor Paulson. Councillor Stover. - Thank you, mayor. Mr. Strahan tonight brought up the two year cap on rebuilding a property. And I would be, I personally would be interested

38:36 in hearing from staff, are there other measurements that could be tied to process that goes into that rather than a hard date or ways that that could be integrated to take into account that, you know, worst case scenario for us is a Cascadia zone earthquake and in that kind of a situation, it will be probably years before many people will be able to even start rebuilding. So if staff could look at, and it may be that it's nothing that can be done right now, but I think it is a valid concern if we could re-index it. Thank you. - This is Council Member Diana Perez, I agree. - Me as well. - Councillors, I will remind you to wait to be called upon.

39:36 So, Councillor Stover is still talking. Thank you. Now, Councillors. - Council Member Diana Perez. I agree with Council Member Stover's comments to have staff take a look at that issue that was brought up by public comment at the beginning of our session here regarding the two-year cap. Maybe there's some exceptions, something that we could look at to really address that key issue that was brought forward. - Are there any other Councillors? Councillor Harless. - Kim Harless, Council Member. Also supportive of staff looking into it for, you know, particular exemptions for things that are out of control for a lot of folks. So, that's my particular interest in that. - Any other Councillors?

40:34 Okay, Mayor Pro Tem. Councillor Hanson, please identify yourself. - Council Member Hanson, thank you, Mayor. I would agree for such issues that you'd find in the insurance industry as perils, you know, fire, flood, earthquake, that kind of stuff. That would be a definite exemption, in my opinion. Thank you, Mayor. - Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Fox. - Hi, Sarah Fox. I just wanted to bring up a few things to the Council. One of them is, well, first weighing in, well, I'll give my update first. So, Lodging Tax Advisory Committee met last week and we had a presentation that was brought to us by a fellows program that was working with Visit Vancouver. And it was the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Professional Fellows Program.

41:32 There was two women that have been basically looking into our entire Tax Advisory Grant Program, reviewing all of the grant decisions that we made last year, looking at the criteria that we utilize to make those decisions, and then focused on bringing into, as a future proposal for us to consider how to better align our grant application and scoring to better reflect the city's sustainability, climate resiliency, equity, and inclusion goals. I think most of the committee seemed pretty receptive to what they had proposed. I know for myself, just speaking on behalf of what I was listening to, I appreciated that they basically provided a more enhanced scoring rubric

42:27 that reflected what a score of like one to five could be. And I think that really will help. Even if we don't accept everything that they recommended, I think that type of more detailed scoring rubric moving forward this year for all of the criteria is going to be a lot more helpful. And our meeting in May will be to further refine and make some final decisions on the criteria and the application process. And then June we'll finalize it. And I can bring information back to everyone in June. So that's that update. And then maybe weighing in a little bit on, I just lost it. - A stubborn two year. - Well, I can weigh in on that too. But just from being an urban planner standpoint, when it comes to having what we consider conforming and non-conforming uses, which is what staff

43:26 was bringing forward. When you have a zoning plan such as ours where we're trying to create change in our community, where we're trying to increase density, or just change uses ultimately in a particular area in the city, it is very useful to have a time limit on what we would consider non-conforming uses be it a single family structure on a single lot, perhaps in those zones where we want to be more dense. And so having a limit, be it two years, three years is important in order to encourage the new uses to be built on that site. So I guess I'm not as concerned about the time limitation at two years, but be interested to see if there's any particular magic to that number when it comes to the ability for a property owner to react and rebuild in case of fire or other damages that are outside of their control.

44:24 Speed limit, that was the one, thank you. Oh my gosh, there was something you said, Bart. So I just wanted to tie back to that 20 mile an hour speed limit, I was at a Lincoln neighborhood meeting, I think it was about a month or so ago, and they also raised the question of lowering speeds in the neighborhood, in the Lincoln neighborhood, but that 20 miles an hour actually ties to safety. They have extensive studies that show that if a pedestrian or someone is hit by a car going speeds less than 20 miles an hour, then they have a very high likelihood of surviving the crash, but over that, and every, I don't know, one mile or two miles over that speed limit, their chance of survival just decreases rapidly, and so that's the magic of that number, 20. Thank you. - Thank you. Anne McEnerny, Ogle Mayor. Well, first of all, Councilors, thank you for the unanimous support for reaffirming our support

45:24 for the Library Square terminus of the LRT for IBR. That was your item number 11. Thursday, we have Sakura over at Clark College, and then Saturday, the Red Heart Reconciliation is down at the Fort, and Councilor Paulson, you gave us, you attended something, and they sent you home with a gift. - Thank you, Mayor, Councilmember Eric Paulson. Yes, several of us attended the dedication of the Renaissance Point Park on Thursday afternoon, and several of the individuals who played an important part in the creation of that park were given a gift. That gift was given to me as a proxy for the city of Vancouver in recognition of the city of Vancouver's role in making that park a reality, and so I've just brought it to you as the messenger. - And this park is located at?

46:22 - At the end of the waterfront Renaissance Trail, so it would be a few hundred yards east of the artist formerly known as Beaches. (laughing) - East of Rosie the Riveter. - Yes. - And this was Jill Brown's work after the death of her husband, Clark County Sheriff Jeremy Brown. - That's correct, and that, in the years prior to Jeremy's unfortunate passing, his murder, Jill and Jeremy would take a daily walk that waterfront trail was not far from the home that they had at the time, and they would walk to the end of the trail, and when they arrived there, for those who may not recall what that site is or what it was prior to it being what it has become, it was an open fence to an industrial lay down area. It was just sort of a desolate.

47:19 It was a very inauspicious way to end an otherwise remarkable trail, and so Jeremy's comment to Jill during those walks was there should be a better way for this trail to end, and so Jill's action to honor Jeremy's legacy was to see that vision through to reality, and it's become a very special place. - It is. On the back of this, it says Renaissance Point. Thank you for helping bring this place to life. May it always point you to what matters most, April 9th, 2026, and it is actually a working compass, and a little bit more than a working compass. So, and it's actually pointing true north, so it's a lovely piece. - True north or magnetic north? - You're absolutely right. There is a difference there. Thank you, Councilor, for the reminder. Okay, all right. City Manager, do you have any items?

48:16 - I'd like to invite Tyler Chavers to come up and address the council.

48:29 Good evening, Councilors. Tyler Chavers, retired police officer for the City of Vancouver, currently serving as your Homeless Response Coordinator. It's very fortuitous that you were talking about pedestrian safety tonight. My purpose for being here is just to bring some context and some awareness to a proposed Vancouver municipal code change in the public safety section that we hope you'll see in the next few sessions. Currently, the VMC is silent on occupancy of areas that are in divided roadways, such as the raised medians and places that are not crosswalks. The city continues to routinely receive concerns and complaints about folks who are standing or otherwise occupying those spaces, creating a hazard for road crews, cyclists, pedestrians, motorists alike.

49:29 The revised code of Washington is also silent on those spaces, in particular, when it comes to law enforcement's ability to take any kind of early intervention or prevention in those spaces. So while law enforcement might make a friendly stop and suggest that that's not a wise place for someone to be, they actually couldn't take any kind of legal enforcement action against somebody other than merely suggesting that it's not safe. In 2021, we lost a community member to a medical emergency. The driver lost control of the vehicle through no fault of his own and actually struck and killed someone that was in one of those spaces. The Vancouver Traffic Unit at the time commented that within just a couple of hours after they cleared the several hours

50:26 of investigation of that collision, somebody was already reoccupying that space once again. And at the time, there was really nothing they could do after combing through the current city code as well as state law for those particular road spaces that are just not well-defined in the law. I did not realize until poking into this over the last couple of years that in the city limits alone in a few-year period, 21 to 23, we had 18 serious injury or fatality collisions involving cyclists or pedestrians. In 2024, for Clark County-wide, the county was the highest county in the state of Washington with 17 fatalities. There were pedestrians or cyclists at the time. So the state's seeing an increase

51:26 in these types of pedestrian safety issues. And the goal would be just to propose an ordinance that would close that gap in the law, give law enforcement a tool where they could actually have something more than just a mere suggestion that somebody leave that space where it's unsafe for them to be. And again, we hope to see that come before you in the coming weeks. - Thank you, Tyler. City manager, process on this procedure? - This one's an ordinance I'll ask the city attorney to weigh in on that. - Thank you. - Thank you, this is Nina Cook, Vancouver city attorney. We can work with Tyler to amend the language in the Vancouver Municipal Code. It would come before council for a first reading and a week or so thereafter. We would have a public hearing.

52:26 - Okay, all right. Any comments for Mr. Chavers? It's hard not to call you Officer Chavers. Yes, Councilor Stauber. - Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Tyler, for bringing this up. Can you give me a specific example of one of these spaces in our city? - Fourth plane at Auto Mall or Van Plaza. There's raised and mediums where there's actually no crosswalk space. So the crosswalk may be on the north or south or east or west side, but not both sides. So there's no intention for pedestrian traffic to cross, say, north, south, across fourth plane. And there's a raised median or island that's in between the opposing lanes.

53:23 There's center islands or center dividing spaces between roadways, mill plane, fourth plane, and recent, where the space is not intended for vehicular travel either. And so people will occupy those spaces for various reasons. Sometimes it's just a shortcut in jaywalking, for lack of better words, but they end up stopping or remaining in those spaces. And currently there's nothing to prevent someone, once they've made it to that space, from staying in that space legally for enforcement. Again, other than mere suggestion that it's not a wise place to be, there's nothing there to actually tell someone that they need to leave that space. - So I would encourage staff to be thinking through all the details of this.

54:21 I'm thinking in particular of the space on mill plane east of downtown. That is a favorite place for people to place signs, which, obstentially, any ways, means that they were occupying that space in order to put the sign up. Is that what, am I correct here? - So under the pedestrian code, it would require a warning before enforcement. So it's like trespass, unless it's signed, which these spaces are not signed. Someone would have to give them a verbal warning that they needed to leave that space, or it's like blocking a sidewalk. People have an opportunity to comply by leaving the space. So I would assume that if someone was temporarily in that space for some intended purpose and then left, they're probably never gonna get contacted anyhow.

55:15 - But I think at the same time it goes over into other parts of code or policy regarding signs. And that might be, we might wanna consider that. And if we feel it is a safety issue, for people to be in those spaces, we may want to think about explicitly prohibiting them from usage. Thank you. - So Tyler and McNerney-Ogle, sorry. The space 164, 162, the big grassy area between north and southbound is the area where you're also talking about? - Correct, it would be any of those defined spaces

56:13 that are in between opposing roadways. Part of the reason that the state law is silent on it is because of the way that roadway is defined on the law. There's definitions that include just the surface that's traveled by a vehicle, and there's parts of the roads that are defined as from curb to curb. The pedestrian rules include the roadway portion, it's traveled by cars, and so it leaves out, it leaves a very gray area, and law enforcement is not excited about operating in the gray areas. - Gotcha, okay. So we'll expect to start seeing some drafts come through then, and I'm going to make an assumption that there are other cities in the state of Washington that perhaps already have something, so we're not starting from scratch. Okay, yes, Councilor Perez? - Thank you, Travis, for bringing this up,

57:11 'cause I think it's really about saving lives, right? Unnecessary deaths, unfortunate situations. The other thought that came to mind as we worked to define this a little bit clearer in ordinance is, does this also mean that there are some areas that could use a crosswalk? And so that's where I was thinking, too, that maybe this is a sign for us to consider potential crosswalk areas as well, if it's just an issue of people trying to go across, or the issue is more behavior where they stay in the median and do whatever it is that they do there. So those are just some of the thoughts that came to mind. - Correct, the intent is to control spaces that are not already allowed by a crosswalk, or the intended place for pedestrian travel. So it's those areas that are not intended

58:10 for pedestrian travel, so it would include both the traveling to and from. In other words, by preventing the occupancy, we would hope it would deter the traveling across the roadway as well, where a lot of those negative interactions between motorists and vehicles are happening. - Okay, thank you. - Oh, Diana Perez, city council member. - Yeah, okay, thank you, Tyler. City manager, additional comments? - Nothing from me, Mayor, thank you. - City attorney? - Nothing from law, thank you, Mayor. - All right, that concludes the city business. And we are now going to go in to our, the portion of our meeting designated as the community forum, city council policy tells us that this is the opportunity for us to hear from our community members. We will be audio recording, but not video recording, so we can ask CVTV to turn off their cameras.

59:10 Sarah, go ahead and then direct that. I do not have. (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues)