Council approves $100,000 for transit consultants
City staff requested an appropriation of $100,000 from the 2015 General Fund surplus to continue the consultant work on the I-90 loss of mobility negotiations with Sound Transit, Metro and the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Mercer Island hired two consultants — Fehr and Peers and Tony Williams from Washington2Advocates —to help with the negotiations. Mitigation is needed for Island residents and the coming “loss of mobility” after the closure of the I-90 center lanes and construction of East Link light rail.
This could come in the form of additional bus service or Island-only parking, according to a 2004 amendment to the 1976 memo that gave Islanders SOV access to the HOV lanes on I-90. No agreements have been reached with Sound Transit yet.
City will not conduct advisory vote on MICA issue
The City Council voted 6-1 on Feb. 1 to not conduct a public advisory vote on whether the Mercer Island Center for the Arts (MICA) should be planned for a site in Mercerdale Park.
New Councilmembers Dave Wisenteiner and Jeff Sanderson put the item on the council agenda. Wisenteiner was the lone supporter of consulting Mercer Island voters before taking further action.
Councilmember Dan Grausz said the question was “asked and answered” when the council authorized the signing of letters of understanding with MICA that expressed support of the park location. He said he also disagrees with the idea that this is an issue of arts versus parks and that the two “are somehow at odds with each other.”
Some of the council members agreed that MICA still has some unanswered questions, but believe those will be addressed through other processes, including the environmental review and building permit application.
They also decided not to include the MICA issue in an upcoming citizen survey in a close 4-3 vote, with Wisenteiner, Sanderson and Wendy Weiker as the voters in the minority.
Council meeting rescheduled
Due to the Presidents’ Day holiday, the next City Council meeting was rescheduled to Feb. 22. City offices will be closed on Monday, Feb. 15.
Mercer Island may miss out on grant funding
Mercer Island, which decided to delay adoption of its Comprehensive Plan amendment past the June 2015 due date, may miss out on federal transportation grant funding that the Puget Sound Regional Council is allocating, said Mayor Bruce Bassett.
Bassett said Mercer Island is one of the few cities out of compliance. There are 81 jurisdictions in the region. Of those, 68 have adopted plans and 33 have been certified.
The Federal Highway Administration has $229 million and the Federal Transit Administration has $502 million available for projects in the region, Bassett said.
The city decided not to adopt a Comprehensive Plan until the Town Center development code is rewritten, which should occur before the moratorium on downtown development expires in June of this year.
Join the great backyard bird count Feb. 12-15
Bird watchers from more than 100 countries are expected to participate in the 19th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count on Feb. 12-15.
Anyone, anywhere in the world, can count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count and enter their sightings at www.BirdCount.org or use the new app for smartphones.
This year is the first time that significant numbers of observers will be participating during a strong El Nino winter, possibly leading to some unusual sightings. The information gathered by tens of thousands of volunteers helps track the health of bird populations at a scale that would not otherwise be possible.
Participants on Mercer Island typically see about 25-30 species during the count.
