[{"_1":2,"_111":-5,"_112":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87,99],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6212865,"mediaKeyId","3683251-143833c72bfa5590e490550e0ca8b54e","parentId",3683251,"title","Mercer Island council directs ordinance to move design-review decisions to hearing examiner under new state rules","audioSeconds",6077,"startMs",4193000,"endMs",10270000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3683251-143833c72bfa5590e490550e0ca8b54e&start=4193&end=10270","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3683251-143833c72bfa5590e490550e0ca8b54e/thumbnail_4193000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6212865/Mercer-Island/King-County/Washington/Mercer-Island-council-directs-ordinance-to-move-design-review-decisions-to-hearing-examiner-under-new-state-rules","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6212865-7dae89bc106c2aa80cbc30929d095f6d/orig.mp4?Expires=1771175368&Signature=WbX4ANZNrCLyK6UWimyrGbTgAYi-dQUzPagRwB4Mu4ssWBY~N04~mQoeUXWhZDVYvE7q-VM6DTAYDHDS3f7iSb3vmP3bFrz4VKX87w0IGeY-eDns0Fu-0h~CUwBFoi4iOECVpL6a9bbyJ8AAaq13eGbsdngLLCI4IZKI5HJPoPIjh6k6bbA94KrY4v7GyR9hp0Magr2opRQM4hiOXcdbQbMCqpX4QMgNScASsQTjtgg2ZwA8U1tHa4eD-uBJnOCEIg3dyDqNVPZUOfQyCxNTKeR~d7hC0UFnswNUZRsds2grNaGxu2l1ZE4058HzUc1cVdqs374cG4WrD9~XtZ3qYw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Mercer Island, Washington","date","2025-06-05T15:46:00Z","article","Mercer Island — The City Council on June 3 voted to direct the city manager to prepare an ordinance that would transfer formal design‑review authority from the volunteer Design Commission to the municipal hearing examiner, saying the state’s new requirements make the commission’s discretionary role less applicable.

The action came after staff outlined changes the Legislature enacted in 2023 under House Bill 1293, which requires that local design standards be \"clear and objective\" and limits public-review steps to a single public meeting. CPD Director Jeff Thomas told the council those changes, and related edits in draft ordinance 25C‑11, remove a pre‑application study session and convert many existing discretionary design criteria into measurable standards.

Why it matters: council members and staff said the new state framework reduces the interpretive role that the volunteer Design Commission historically exercised during design review and suggested that the hearing examiner or the city’s code official would be better suited to issue determinations under objective standards. After discussion, the council voted unanimously to instruct the city manager to return June 17 with an ordinance delegating design‑review decisions to the hearing examiner for council consideration.

Council amendment on affordable-unit comparability: during the meeting councilmembers amended the draft ordinance to clarify how affordable units should compare in size to market‑rate units in the same building. Staff presented two options (require parity or allow a small variance such as 10%), and council favored language tying affordable unit size to parity with the average market‑rate unit for the same bedroom count. The amendment passed on a roll call that the clerk recorded as unanimous.

Authority and process: Thomas and planning staff said the interim ordinance (25C‑11) will become effective on June 30 to meet the state deadline and will remain in effect up to one year while permanent regulations are developed. The bill and the interim ordinance also remove the Design Commission’s pre‑application study session but retain a single pre‑decision public hearing as allowed by state law.

Appeals and public participation: planners noted decisions by the hearing examiner would remain appealable (generally to superior court) and that the hearing examiner process includes a public hearing (with statutory notice periods), while administrative review by the code official typically does not. Several council members said they favored the hearing examiner option to preserve public participation despite the more objective review standard.

Next steps: staff will prepare the ordinance and bring it back for council review June 17; permanent regulations and a work plan for the planning commission’s role in drafting the full code revisions were also discussed.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","06/03/2025 - Mercer Island - City Council Regular Hybrid Meeting","oneSentenceSummary","Mercer Island — The City Council on June 3 voted to direct the city manager to prepare an ordinance that would transfer formal design‑review authority from the volunteer Design Commission to the municipal hearing examiner.","taxTitle","Mercer Island, King County, Washington","taxId",70518,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6212870,"Mercer Island council briefed on schematic design and $103.9 million estimate for new public safety and maintenance facility",6858,7488000,14346000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3683251-143833c72bfa5590e490550e0ca8b54e&start=7488&end=14346","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3683251-143833c72bfa5590e490550e0ca8b54e/thumbnail_7488000.jpg","/articles/6212870/Mercer-Island/King-County/Washington/Mercer-Island-council-briefed-on-schematic-design-and-1039-million-estimate-for-new-public-safety-and-maintenance-facility","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6212870-24d97dcf372ae098b4fcb74c0e41d158/orig.mp4?Expires=1771175368&Signature=dTgmOF2l1m1S7wJFbtzPqCw54grjBuxFSN~6s7S--rwILEC-OZj7KYy6JK0T50mkRGLCwSggHO3nN95wGuynfHRoV79G7UHIIXRkvXOXFKWnozPtaoW8Qn-thki2W6GQLmxx6qFJP6qLgxDpjvKRED3JLnYuBdUNOTejsI3gVRgCDXDVPbiZ5VEBXV3LqEJ57VrAe~xA4NHrwZHnjBClAqPmcHTmtay6KifQWl56pLVT7JYcK~-2DLPuN0XtO0VKLJVvDdrzbtvCejf5lhvXaMx-kgL7aY5b~V3kqNdqlfs0mbZdcg3FP3SODI4RwNtBQNBcyHLRlqCaCltz8-YP5w__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Mercer Island — The City Council received a detailed schematic-design briefing June 3 on plans for a consolidated public safety and maintenance (PSM) complex and a preliminary project budget the city estimated at about $103.9 million.

The schematic places two primary buildings on the eastern portion of the former City Hall site: a Public Safety & Maintenance Building with public-facing customer service counters, police operations and an emergency operations center (EOC), and an Operations Building with high-bay vehicle and equipment storage, maintenance bays and a materials warehouse. The design groups covered vehicle and equipment storage and creates one-way circulation to reduce vehicle conflicts in the yard.

City Manager Jesse Vaughn and lead architect Aaron Young of Northwest Studio told the council the design is intended to make critical services resilient. Vaughn said the new complex will be a Risk Category 4 structure \"designed to remain in operation during events,\" an attribute the city made a priority for housing police, public works, IT/GIS and the emergency operations function together.

Why it matters: staff and the design team said the current Public Works building and temporary police trailers provide inadequate shelter for personnel and expensive equipment, reduce operational efficiency and contribute to higher maintenance costs. The new design emphasizes covered, semi-heated storage for oversize vehicles, protected loading and unloading areas, consolidated material storage, and secure parking for police vehicles.

Budget and components: the city presented a cost breakdown drawn from a schematic-level estimate and value‑engineering review. Key figures given by staff:
- Structures (buildings, weathering covers): roughly $51.6 million (fully loaded)
- Site work (utilities, grading, yards): roughly $23.5 million
- Project soft costs (design, FF&E, permitting, contingencies): about $21.1 million
- State and local sales tax and escalation: roughly $7.5 million
- Total project estimate presented: about $103.9 million

Architects and staff emphasized these are early-stage (schematic) numbers. Aaron Young said staff has run a third‑party value engineering review that identified about $2.5 million in potential reductions and tradeoffs; the team has already incorporated several savings items (for example, optimizing glazing systems, rationalizing roof coverage and using prefabricated cold-frame covers for some material bays).

Operational details and programming: the PSM Building’s ground floor is intended to include a public lobby with a customer‑service counter, a records/reception area for police, and a 6,800‑square‑foot EOC sized for roughly 44 people and configurable for training or community use when not activated. The police department program totals about 20,000 square feet on the ground level and includes interview rooms, evidence storage and secure transfer areas inside a gated perimeter. The Operations Building will house a warehouse, vehicle maintenance bays (20‑foot minimum clearances in selected areas) and indoor, semi‑heated storage for oversized fleet vehicles.

Parking and yard counts in the schematic: staff presented parking planning and space counts used for estimating. The design included about 36 secured police vehicle spaces; roughly 86 on‑site fleet/operations spaces (to serve a reported fleet of about 70–71 vehicles); about 112 public/staff parking spaces fronting Southeast 36th Street; and dedicated trailer stalls and oversized vehicle bays. Staff described these numbers as planning assumptions to be refined in later design phases.

What council asked for and next steps: council members asked detailed questions about the amount of enclosed storage needed, the durability and maintainability of the roof and covered structures, locker‑room layouts, how the EOC would function and how the design would preserve the option to add space in the future. Acting Police Chief Michelle Bennett and Public Works Chief of Operations Jason Kittner described daily operational needs that informed the layout (evidence processing, nightly vehicle storage, crew staging for water-main repairs and snow/ice responses). Vaughn and the architectural team said the building footprint and primary site layout are effectively set at schematic design, but interior arrangements and finishes will be refined through design development and construction documents.

No bond or funding decision tonight: council received the briefing and asked for follow‑up details; there was no council vote to adopt a project budget or to place a ballot measure. Staff said they will return with further cost breakdowns, clarified parking and maintenance assumptions, escalation and tax calculations, and potential phasing at future meetings. The team also expects two formal pricing checkpoints as design proceeds: at the mid and final points of design development and construction documents.

Ending: City staff said the schematic and the estimate will be refined over the next months and that they intend to return to council with updates and additional cost and procurement options ahead of any decision to ask voters to approve funding.","Council heard a schematic-design update Tuesday showing a two-building complex, covered equipment yards, secured police deployment area and a preliminary project budget of about $103.9 million; staff and architects said the facility is sized to keep emergency operations and critical city services working during disasters.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6212855,"Resident urges Mercer Island council to plan a traffic study of three key intersections",213,1755000,1968000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3683251-143833c72bfa5590e490550e0ca8b54e&start=1755&end=1968","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3683251-143833c72bfa5590e490550e0ca8b54e/thumbnail_1755000.jpg","/articles/6212855/Mercer-Island/King-County/Washington/Resident-urges-Mercer-Island-council-to-plan-a-traffic-study-of-three-key-intersections","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6212855-6a116dfd64eec31cc6d3bd14da25a9b2/orig.mp4?Expires=1771175368&Signature=fhPnVIWogB9piRuhNDipNfi6GPol4Xx9hzYPLYysM4Fk~PVBG1epms2tT9sdgL2erfRF0b71wAgI~T7pLaBkoWXZscBDiJLa4C35FdHaxYSelGUuyCpmhqOcK-shURjsPu68IwIORT51ZmP2oRn77DK8iEGNt76P6DTfJLlQlVGbecj9t17VsLX1jR2dMOs~lLS693bEv8Kjp8FWLNNqPRaYVdP9FhPpAUvParle2Kd~0svnIQTOCNcdxJP-SCxdx6VDoLiHSsiCVioEdCTLvR426CRwvTiYiSJKEbuDT6lpgyuIKXPVstWrFVfj54BcfJ2zY67popY5tpQv2d3NIQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Mercer Island — During the public‑comment section of the June 3 council meeting, resident Daniel Thompson called on the city to commission a coordinated study of three island intersections he said form \"systemic\" choke points and are already showing congestion as development resumes.

Thompson, a Mercer Island resident since 1970 who identified his remarks as a private citizen rather than as a planning commissioner, told council the three locations of concern are the Island Crest Way corridor near 80th Avenue SE, the North Mercer Way segment where construction is underway, and the east‑west approaches through the town center. \"Each of these intersections are looking at significant future development and traffic, and congestion on any one of these intersections spills over to the other,\" Thompson said, urging the council to gather stakeholders and seek realistic traffic studies now rather than waiting until conditions become intolerable.

Context and request: Thompson referenced the city's previous appeals to state rules around concurrency and said the traditional concurrency tool may be insufficient for systemic intersections that are interdependent. He suggested the council put the item on the city work plan and involve the city engineer and one or two council members to move the issue forward. He told the council he had written previously about the issue and urged action before traffic levels return to pre‑pandemic congestion.

Council response: Councilmembers acknowledged the comment and staff noted the city’s ongoing capital planning work. Planning and transportation staff will review the suggestion and consider whether to add a coordinated intersection study to the work plan or to commission traffic modeling that addresses spillover effects among those nodes.

Ending: Thompson asked the council to act now; the council did not take a formal vote at the meeting but staff accepted the suggestion for follow‑up review.","A longtime resident asked the council to put a study of systemic traffic intersections on the city work plan, saying growth and development at several nodes is creating spillover congestion and that the city should gather stakeholders and commission realistic traffic studies now.",{"_33":100,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":101,"_41":102,"_43":103,"_45":104,"_47":105,"_49":106,"_51":107,"_53":108,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":109,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":110,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6212860,"Council appoints Daniel Becker to fill vacant seat after candidate interviews",1459,2291000,3750000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3683251-143833c72bfa5590e490550e0ca8b54e&start=2291&end=3750","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3683251-143833c72bfa5590e490550e0ca8b54e/thumbnail_2291000.jpg","/articles/6212860/Mercer-Island/King-County/Washington/Council-appoints-Daniel-Becker-to-fill-vacant-seat-after-candidate-interviews","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6212860-083772c8cb52343742afac4cf08a3333/orig.mp4?Expires=1771175368&Signature=IqNMA2nzfCC1nT2tiC~xVEBmGdNyW-r0VqvMDVNxH~x~6MrQWwoa7Iaq3eurmOSaJsT-PZ0KtpQJF5FUEZMX7XIhzIz3d27ZV-U~2dl2d08uY0hMWqQIZVHO~H7CV-3YHKSMv8AwVxgTiHb0~9LuKw8MZqorCraXrZ2Co5vLd46A5rRMW2d6vb4sNs5uhPP5JS5mSgAvBRRb6vA8gGdcselEdq96t0eRzUcT2Sy375X-58Bm5IDFA3SmivLR~X~rsMtzOFFUyTcEFAQu7PEBAwZMenjqKNOtdMSloB~EKHVNvymJR6j1~S0lAU9F-ic9dS5ydPL44T57ur61GIvGUw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Mercer Island — The City Council appointed Daniel Becker to fill the vacant council position No. 7 on June 3 following a public interview process that included two finalists.

The council’s procedures followed Appendix C of the council rules for filling a vacancy. Two candidates were interviewed in public: Zachary McLean and Daniel Becker. Each candidate spoke for five minutes and answered questions from council members about priorities including infrastructure, budgeting and community services.

After questions and public remarks, councilmembers made nominations and then voted. The city clerk announced Daniel Becker received six votes; by council procedure the candidate receiving the required vote was appointed. The clerk indicated Becker will be scheduled to be sworn in shortly.

Why it matters: the appointment fills a temporary vacancy on the seven‑member council pending the regular election process. Becker, a Mercer Island graduate and local business owner who described experience in technology operations and small‑business management during his interview, told council he wanted to support the city’s financial stewardship and civic life.

How the process worked: nominees were selected by public council motion and nomination, nominations were closed and the clerk conducted a roll‑call vote for each nominee. Council recorded unanimous support for Becker among participating councilmembers and did not proceed to a vote on the alternate nominee after Becker reached the required votes.

Ending: Becker thanked the council and the candidates for the process; councilmembers thanked both applicants for applying. The city clerk said Becker will be contacted to arrange a swearing‑in date.","After interviews with two finalists for the vacant council position, the Mercer Island City Council appointed Daniel Becker by roll-call vote; Becker received six votes and will be sworn in shortly.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Mercer Island council directs ordinance to move design-review decisions to hearing examiner under new state rules

Mercer Island council briefed on schematic design and $103.9 million estimate for new public safety and maintenance facility

Resident urges Mercer Island council to plan a traffic study of three key intersections

Council appoints Daniel Becker to fill vacant seat after candidate interviews