The Mountlake Terrace City Council approved a proposed reallocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for police station improvements during its August 8 meeting.

The City received funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to assist the City in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: $2,978,230 in 2021 and $2,981,139 in 2022. A total of $219,314.03 remains to be allocated before the end of 2024 and fully spent by the end of 2026.

Due to the cost of replacing the Mountlake Terrace Police Department’s roof and HVAC system, city staff recommended that the $800,000 originally allocated for replacing the Mountlake Terrace Library roof be transferred to the Police Department’s projects. The City of Mountlake Terrace owns and maintains the library building, while Sno-Isle Libraries maintains the equipment, books, media and databases, and pays the staff.

The distribution of funds is now as follows:
– Everyone has a right to safety (services for victims of domestic violence): $10,000
– Evergreen Playfield 3 turf and tennis court surface: $209,314.03
– Conversion of the library roof and air conditioning to the police station roof and air conditioning: $800,000

City Manager Jeff Niten and Director of Recreation and Parks Jeff Betz answered questions from the council, including one about the quality of the library’s roof as it serves as the city’s cooling center during heat emergencies.

Betz said the reports he has received show that the library’s roof is functioning, but like the police station, there are leaks in the winter that need to be repaired.

“We hired a contractor who made a series of incremental improvements,” Betz said. “They replaced much of the concrete tile roof.”

Betz said the city “will always have this work” just because the roof is multi-level. Additionally, like the police station’s roof, the library’s roof is “burdened” by tree branches.

However, the library does have advantages over the police station. Betz said when the police station roof was built, there was no requirement to insulate it. The city expects higher costs to meet current building code requirements.

“All you do is tear off parts of the roof and put new insulation on the roof,” Betz said.

Another thing the police department lacks is air conditioning. While the library is a public cooling and heating center, the police station uses makeshift air conditioning. As a result, City Manager Jeff Niten said it’s “difficult to spend much time in that building during the warm months.”

The bid for work on the roof of the police station, including installation of air conditioning, was $1.8 million.

While Niten said “the offer was a shock to everyone,” he added that the police department is still the best place to reallocate the funds. In addition to an upgraded HVAC system, the department will have an insulated roof that will increase heating and cooling efficiency and meet current city codes.

In other business, the Mountlake Terrace City Council received an update on middle-class building codes from Senior Planner Jonathan Morales and Berk Consulting Senior Manager: Ben Han.

Although the city has made significant progress in complying with the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) requirements through key area rezoning, Mountlake Terrace is still 1,815 housing units short of reaching the goal if the City does not take action.

The state requires cities and counties to plan carefully to increase median housing in areas traditionally reserved for single-family homes. This zoning change would allow middle or “missing” housingsuch as stacked apartments, townhouses, cottages, duplexes to six-family homes, courtyard apartments, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

With a population of less than 25,000, Mountlake Terrace is served by the Washington State Department of Commerce. Under this provision, Mountlake Terrace must allow two residential units per lot or duplexes by June 30, 2025.

Under GMA requirements, cities in the second tier must also have at least four housing units per lot within a 0.25-mile walkway near a major transit stop in a predominantly residential area. In addition, there must be at least four housing units per lot if at least one unit is zoned as affordable housing.

Han said there is no minimum that a city must adopt, but once a city reaches a population level two of over 25,000 people, it must adopt six of the nine residential topologies:

– Duplex, triplex, fourplex, fiveplex, sixplex
– Courtyard apartments
– Terraced houses
– Cottage accommodation
– Stacked apartments

Morales explained that the deficit projection was due to the city taking no action, which is one of three possible alternatives. The other two options – Alternative 2: Supporting expected growth and housing needs and Alternative 3: Exceeding growth and housing needs – would result in the city meeting its GMA goal.

In housing, the current (base) number of units is 9,202, with a target of 16,816 by 2044. Without measures, there would be 15,070 housing units within the next 20 years. Alternative 2 with 19,141 units and Alternative 3 with 26,760 units exceed the target number of units.

Similar results were observed for the city’s population. Mountlake Terrace has a population of 21,286, and the GMA target is 34,710 by 2044. Without action, the population would be nearly 4,000 below the target population of 30,882. Alternatives 2 and 3 would result in populations that exceed the target: Alternative 2 with 39,223 people and Alternative 3 with 54,837.

There are currently 8,431 jobs in Mountlake Terrace, while the GMA target is 11,148. Even without action, the city is expected to have 12,870 jobs by 2044. Under Alternative 2, the city will have 13,796 jobs, while under Alternative 3, the city would have 15,274.

Han said that without housing measures, the city would have a surplus of 1,587 units to meet its low-income housing goals. However, there would be a deficit of 924 medium-density high-income housing units. There would be a deficit of 2,477 low-density single-family housing units.

Han said state law does not require cities to consider their high-income capacity, but they must demonstrate middle-income capacity and still meet overall targets.

One question raised by city staff, the Mountlake Terrace Planning Commission and BERK is whether Mountlake Terrace wants to plan as if it already has stage two status since its population will exceed the 25,000-person threshold in the future.

The Planning Commission recommends the City do the following to achieve the GMA goals by 2044:

– Proceed to step two instructions.

– Allow all nine listed medium-sized housing typologies.

– Advance the three proposed housing density changes.

– Removal of lot size requirements for holiday homes in zones RS4800 and RS7200.

– Advance all five proposed changes to infrastructure standards.

– Spend more time reviewing cottage accommodation regulations

The commission was divided on the issue of changing the city’s off-street parking regulations.

Project staff will continue to work with the Mountlake Terrace Planning Commission on the draft middle-class housing ordinance and then resubmit it to the City Council before June 30, 2025.

The next council meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. on August 15 at the Mountlake Terrace City Hall, 23204 58th Ave. W., Mountlake Terrace.

To join the conference online, visit zoom.us/join and enter the meeting ID 810 1113 9518. No passcode is required.

To provide public comment remotely, complete the registration form within 24 hours of the start of the meeting at cityofmlt.com/FormCenter/City-Council-17/Remote-Public-Comment-Request-Form-12.

To listen by phone, call 1-253-215-8782 and enter the same meeting ID.

You can also watch live streams of meetings and past video recordings at www.youtube.com/cityofmlt.

The agenda can be found Here.

— By Rick Sinnett