This week in Council Chambers

It’s a short week for the Council, but ther are a lot of bills to pay attention to nonetheless.

Monday morning’s Council Briefing has no special presentations, but 45 minutes of executive session with the city’s attorneys to discuss pending litigation.

Monday afternoon’s full City Council meeting will include final votes on:

  • ordinances setting up separate funds for revenues from the Sweetened Beverage Tax and the Short-term Rental Tax and limiting what the revenues can be spent on;
  • an ordinance requiring certain owners of multi-family rental housing to post notice of their intent to sell the property and to offer tenants, nonprofits, the city and the Seattle Housing Authority an opportunity to offer to buy the property before selling it to another party;
  • an ordinance transferring jurisdiction of a property adjacent to the Seattle Center for the siting of a new skate park;
  • an amendment to the lease agreement between the Seattle Storm and the Seattle Center;
  • an ordinance establishing a sign overlay district for the Seattle Center;
  • an ordinance authorizing the acquisition of land along Thornton Creek near Northgate.

This week’s Introduction and Referral Calendar includes the following new pieces of legislation:

  • an ordinance authorizing the city to by King County’s portion of  Duwamish Waterway Park;
  • a resolution approving the design for a $1.6 million package of improvements to Victor Steinbrueck Park;
  • an ordinance lifting the proviso on a grant to renovate the Town Hall building now that the public benefits package has been negotiated;
  • Two conflicting ordinances dealing with landlords giving advance notice on rent increases: one (from Herbold) matching they city’s regulations to the recently-enacted state laws; and the other (from Sawant) requiring a 180-day advance notice for all rent increases. They are each being referred to different committees.
  • Approval of an application from Seattle Central College to prepare a new Major Institution Master Plan;
  • A resolution asking the US Navy to reconsider its testing and training program in Northwest waters for fear of impacts on the orcas.

Monday morning at 10:30 there will be a meeting of the Select Committee on Homelessness and Housing Affordability. On the agenda:

  • a briefing and discussion of HSD’s homelessness performance metrics;
  • an update on the expansion of the Navigation Team;
  • another update on the planning for a regional governance structure for homelessness response.

Tuesday morning, the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development, and Arts Committee meets. On its agenda:

  • a report from Seattle Public Utilities on compliance with the city’s plastic bag ban;
  • Herbold’s ordinance adjusting the city’s regulations on prior notice of rent increases to match state law;
  • the annual RSJI report from the Office of Economic Development;
  • the proviso lift for the Town Hall renovation grant;
  • a study on the social impact of the arts.

Tuesday afternoon, the Human Services, Equitable Development, and Renter Rights Committee meets. The agenda has not been released, but the committee will probably take up Sawant’s ordinance increase notice requirements in advance of rent increases.

The regularly-scheduled Wednesday meetings have been cancelled.