[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:14] All right, everybody settled. All right, well, good evening, and welcome to the public spaces commission meeting. I'm Charles Vindley, chair of the commission and the August 27 meeting is now called to order. You may notice we have a new face among us. I like to introduce Mary Karskaden to do it right. Two in a row. All right. She joins us tonight for the first meeting of the commission. She was appointed on August 4th. Commissioner Karskaden, I'm going to, if I three times, I get it perfect. Okay.
[0:43] Okay, she's been a resident of Woodenville for six years and brings previous local government experience as a commissioner in a city outside of Salem, Oregon.
[0:51] So please join me in welcoming our new council or commissioner, welcome, welcome, welcome.
[1:00] Okay, so before we get started the normal reminders, please keep your mics muted unless you would like to speak.
[1:05] Get my attention. I'll do my best to acknowledge folks in the order in which they get my attention.
[1:12] Okay, so let's get rolling, so let's first get started with our roll call.
[1:16] So, staff, please do so.
[1:19] Commissioner Kerry.
[1:20] Here.
[1:21] Commissioner Washington.
[1:22] Here.
[1:23] Commissioner White.
[1:24] Here.
[1:24] Commissioner Gullich.
[1:26] Commissioner Gawson Moran.
[1:27] Here.
[1:28] Commissioner Caryan.
[1:30] Here.
[1:31] Chairman.
[1:32] Here.
[1:33] All right.
[1:33] We have a corner of the commission.
[1:35] Now please join me for the flag salute.
[1:37] All
[2:04] right.
[2:04] Next is the approval of tonight's agenda.
[2:07] Is there a motion to approve the agenda in order in content?
[2:10] So moved.
[2:11] Second.
[2:12] We have a motion in a second.
[2:13] All those in favor say aye.
[2:15] Aye.
[2:16] Opposed nay.
[2:17] The agenda is approved in order in content.
[2:20] Next we'll move on to public comment.
[2:22] I don't see anybody in the office.
[2:24] I'd go out on the limit and say there's no one here for public comment tonight.
[2:27] All right, we're already halfway through the agenda.
[2:31] Special presentations, we have none tonight, so we're moving on to business items.
[2:35] So tonight we have our first business item, the thing that I struggle with the most every year.
[2:40] This is the election of a vice chair.
[2:43] So I'm going to read this word forward to make sure we get all the rules and stuff right.
[2:47] So with the recent resignation of Commissioner Holly, we are, for the moment without a vice chair, of course.
[2:55] In order to fill that role, we'll need to undertake an election.
[2:57] For reference tonight's agenda, tonight's election will be the same process that we do at the first meeting of the year.
[3:03] So the process starts with nominations made from the floor.
[3:06] Commissioners do not need to be recognized or called upon to make a nomination, and
[3:10] no second is required.
[3:11] So feel free to state your nomination if so inclined.
[3:14] Once all the nominations are heard, the commission will then vote in order of the nominations that were received.
[3:20] So we'll be like, let's say, I were nominated, we go all those in paper of Charles, I, nay, et cetera.
[3:26] Once all the nations are heard, the commission will vote.
[3:29] And the first nominee to receive the majority of votes will be deemed elected,
[3:33] and the votes for subsequent nominees will not be heard.
[3:36] So are there any questions before we get started?
[3:40] No.
[3:41] If I had a gavel, I would bang it, as it says here.
[3:44] So nominations are now in order for the Office of Vice Chair of the Public Spaces Commission.
[3:48] Are there any nominations?
[3:52] I would like to nominate Commissioner Washington.
[3:56] Second.
[3:58] We don't need a second.
[4:01] Okay.
[4:02] Yes.
[4:02] Are there any other nominations to make it official?
[4:09] All right, let's turn it again.
[4:13] Okay, Commissioner Washington, would you like to say anything?
[4:17] I'm honored, thank you very much.
[4:19] Okay, so next we're going to do a vote.
[4:23] So all of those in favor of Commissioner Washington for the position of Vice Chair signify by saying
[4:28] aye.
[4:28] Hi, all opposed to say nay.
[4:32] All right, congratulations, you are the new vice chair of the Public Space Commission.
[4:40] No chair if we can take a slight break and we'll do a little musical chairs here and get everyone lined up.
[4:44] Yep,
[4:53] it was nice knowing you.
[4:57] I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
[5:09] All right, everybody getting cozy?
[5:18] All right, so we will keep moving. So the next business item is the approval of the minutes from the July 23rd commission meeting. So commissioners is there a motion to approve the meeting minutes from the 23rd? So moved. Second. All right, we have a motion to second. All those in favor say aye. Those opposed nay. All right, the motion to approve the minutes from July 23rd has passed.
[5:43] All right. Next business item is discussion of a new upcoming event.
[5:47] We have Josh Jeffrey, our Public Works Management Analyst, who will begin a presentation.
[5:53] Thank you so much.
[5:55] It's my pleasure to actually introduce tonight's item.
[5:59] I would have the honor of introducing our executive intern, Shreeta.
[6:04] She's been with us for the summer and has been hard work on many of the city projects,
[6:07] including taking the initiative on this particular one, and so without further ado.
[6:12] Good
[6:28] evening commissioners, my name is Shritha, I am the executive department intern and today I'm here to talk about a grant that we received from King County recently and to talk about a event that we are putting on using that grant money as well.
[6:51] So in July of this year we were awarded a hazardous waste management grant from King County's hazardous waste management program.
[7:00] This grant is awarded every two years, and we received this for the 2026 through 2027 grant cycle.
[7:07] We received a total of $17,301.74 for this grant, and this money goes towards various different aspects of the event, such as event planning,
[7:19] outreach, educational materials, speakers, workshop supplies, and more.
[7:24] And so basically how the grant money works is that all cities who apply to this grant and get it accepted received a $10,000 base grant and then based on city population, they receive additional money.
[7:38] So in this case, our population money was the $77,301 in 74 cents.
[7:45] So the goal of this event is to lead a community-based natural yard care and pollinator protection initiative.
[7:52] So basically we want to reduce pesticides, herbicides, and other hazardous materials, and teach woodenville residents how they can practice these methods as well.
[8:02] So the objectives that we need to fulfill through this grant is that we need to host at least one large scale natural yard care and pollinator protection event during the grant cycle.
[8:11] We want to teach residents sustainable landscaping practices, native plant gardening,
[8:17] integrated pest management, pollinator friendly landscapes, and
[8:21] nonchemical alternatives to common weed and pest control methods.
[8:25] We also want to include educational workshops and materials focused on reducing pesticide and
[8:30] herbicide use, native plant gardening, pollinator habitat creation, and
[8:35] integrated pest management techniques.
[8:37] And a lot of these goals are in line with what the city is implementing right now as well.
[8:43] For example, in the event, we will also incorporate education regarding the city's integrated pest management program.
[8:50] Through this event, we want to engage at least 250 woodenville area residents during this grant cycle.
[8:57] We also want to increase adoption of natural yard care and integrated pest management practices among participating households.
[9:03] And we also want to support implementation of the city's B-City USA commitments,
[9:09] including pollinator education, Habitat enhancement, and reduced reliance on chemical pest management practices.
[9:17] So for the actual event details, this event will be held on September 26th, 2026 at 21 acres from 12 PM to 3 PM.
[9:26] And wouldn't vote, wouldn't be, wouldn't vote without all our amazing community organizations.
[9:30] So, we have a lot of different community organizations partnering with us on this event, such as 21 acres,
[9:37] pollinator pathways northwest, woodenville arts alliance, and woodenville creative district.
[9:43] We will have about six different booths at this event, the first one will be the city booth, where we will be passing out educational materials,
[9:51] talking more about our integrated pest management program, and we will also be handing out shovels and
[9:58] and gloves as well.
[10:00] Pollinator pathway, Northwest will also have their own booth where they will talk more about healthy pollinator practices. And they will also give tours at 21 acres to show how these practices are actually being implemented in real time at 21 acres.
[10:15] Woodenville Arts Alliance will also be hosting a craft workshop which I will talk a little more about a little bit later
[10:23] We will also have motion made tabling at the event, which is actually a local Seattle business
[10:28] And they make pots out of seaweed which is super cool and very environmentally friendly
[10:34] Northwest Center for alternatives to pesticides will also be at the event and they will talk about non-toxic
[10:40] methods of
[10:41] to use in your gardens and finally we will also have a speaker who will talk about hazardous waste management practices
[10:48] and how to reduce reliance on pesticides and herbicides.
[10:53] So to talk a little bit more about ocean made they are a company who makes these pots out of seaweed and they're specifically made out of kelp
[11:01] and what happens is that you put the seed in the soil and you water the pot and then eventually the roots actually grow out of the pot and once they get to that stage
[11:10] You can plant them in a larger area of soil, and the pot will kind of decompose into the soil, and all the nutrients in the pot will able to basically enhance the plant, and is very environmentally sustainable as well.
[11:24] We will also be handing out seeds at the event, specifically gilardia seeds and a native pollinator mix.
[11:31] We will also be supplying actual native plants as well from Oxfow.
[11:37] So for the arts alliance craft, basically what will happen is first residents who come to the event will go to the city booth and they will pick up their garden gloves in the shovel.
[11:48] Next they will go to the ocean made booth where they will pick up their pot.
[11:52] And after that they will basically have soil, so they'll put in their soil and seeds into the pot and design a garden state that with the seeds that they basically just planted in the pot.
[12:03] So it's going to be kind of from booth to booth getting different supplies and building your own pots.
[12:10] These are one of the educational materials that I prepared.
[12:14] It details alternatives to chemical fertilizers, safe disposal of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals,
[12:20] and some other disposal methods that are outlined by King County.
[12:25] That residents can learn more about through scanning the QR codes.
[12:29] The other side of this will have integrated pest management strategies,
[12:33] nonchemical alternatives to common weed and pest control methods, and for the additional resources,
[12:39] one of the QR codes leads to these cities. Integrated pest management program website,
[12:44] and the other one details other ways for to implement nonchemical alternatives into residence gardens.
[12:52] That's all I have for the presentations. I would love to hear any questions or feedback you will have.
[12:58] Yeah, thanks so much for any questions.
[13:00] Yes, ma'am.
[13:05] Can you tell me more about the source of the seaweed
[13:08] that ocean made uses?
[13:11] Oh, I'm sorry.
[13:13] That is a good question.
[13:15] I believe the seaweed is locally sourced.
[13:17] I actually don't know right off the top of my head.
[13:20] I know that ocean made itself is locally based in Seattle,
[13:23] though, and the founder is also from Seattle.
[13:25] But I will definitely double check on that
[13:28] and let Alex or Josh know and they'll get back to you on that.
[13:31] I have the feeling that someone's going to ask that question because they're always
[13:37] interested in where the paper comes, what trees, who's monitoring that so I would like
[13:47] to be able to answer that this is seaweed that either is collected because it's not beneficial
[13:53] to the ocean or it is farmed so that and I'm sure it is I can't imagine that they are out there
[14:02] just gathering seaweed without. Yeah I believe the seaweed is farmed but I'll definitely get back
[14:11] to you on that with a definitive answer. Thank you. Yeah.
[14:21] Do you work with Tom quickly with 21 acres?
[14:27] I'm working with Valle from 21 acres.
[14:30] Good Valle?
[14:31] Yeah.
[14:33] Okay, I'm not familiar with Valle.
[14:35] I'm quickly, he's in charge of 21 acres.
[14:38] Are you also involved with Niawaki forest that we are putting together for the city?
[14:47] Oh, I'm not involved with that project.
[14:49] Yeah.
[14:50] We've got more information on that.
[14:51] I'll cover a little bit later tonight.
[14:52] Excellent.
[14:55] One last word, where do you go to college?
[14:57] Oh, I go to the University of Washington.
[15:00] What are you studying? Psychology. Good, psychology. Thank you.
[15:10] Chris, right? Do you have something? No, I think we've got to answer that. Okay. Yeah, well, thank you so much. And thanks for spending the summer with the city. That's great. And that's the psychology note. He was a psychology professor down there, so he's probably going to bug you after the call here, right? It's, she, Shritha? Yeah, Shritha? Sure, I think so much.
[15:32] Okay, moving on.
[15:34] Our next business item is, so you mentioned the integration, or excuse the Integrative Pest Management Plan, so we're going to get more about the Integrated Pest Management Plan.
[15:44] Great to you.
[15:45] Right.
[15:46] It's almost like we planned this.
[15:49] Well, I'm very excited to talk about our Integrated Pest Management Plan, and a lot of the work that's gone into it.
[15:55] As kind of background to this, this really is the fruition of about two years of ongoing policy work and direction we've been getting from the city council and the community.
[16:05] We've heard starting in really in 2024 that we were trying to reduce chemical herbicide use and we face it out for a period of time where we were actually using no chemical herbicide within the city.
[16:19] over concerns from, we've heard from residents in the Council direction, the challenge
[16:25] with that though was there was no formal policy for prioritizing treatments or assessing
[16:29] risks.
[16:30] And then we also with the not just weeds that we have in the community, it became a concern
[16:36] of how we actually work with our partner agencies in order to treat those.
[16:40] So ongoing in this conversation, too, this became a B-City USA affiliate which requires
[16:48] There is a formal IPM adoption.
[16:51] And then we started to have this conversation about what that looks like.
[16:55] And so it's in 10th or 25th City Council gate, it provides some early direction on the policy.
[17:01] In October, we took it to our Public Spaces Commission, which also provided some input on what the policy should look like,
[17:08] some things that we should be considering.
[17:10] From there on, we started developing internally with staff the policy document that we attached to the staff report.
[17:17] And we took that to our BCD committee to review progress on that draft earlier in April.
[17:25] And now we're here to kind of talk to our public spaces commission to get feedback on it.
[17:31] So as a reminder, what is integrated pest management is really a science-based sustainable strategy towards treating pests that are encountered in the community.
[17:40] And that combines biological, cultural, mechanical, physical, and chemical treatments in order to treat pests and vectors.
[17:49] It helps prevent pests problems of all types, including weeds, fungus, insects, rodents, all the above.
[17:56] It minimizes, importantly, it minimizes pesticide use.
[18:00] It addresses chemical alternatives and chemical uses such as fertilizers.
[18:04] And the biggest important part about this is it really creates a transparent process by which we protect
[18:09] the health environment of the community.
[18:12] So pesticides come in many forms.
[18:16] There's herbicides, there's insecticides,
[18:19] there's fungusicides.
[18:20] And even within those many forms,
[18:22] they have different ways of treating the pests.
[18:25] So some are pre-emergent, some are post.
[18:28] So some are reactionary, some are actually
[18:31] done intended to be proactive.
[18:34] And so there's so many categories
[18:37] is that you can't find a one-size-quite-fits-all.
[18:42] And so what we try to do is balance those
[18:44] with overarching policy direction,
[18:47] which is where this document comes into place.
[18:50] As I mentioned, there's really five categories
[18:54] for which we treat different types of pests.
[18:58] And so biological is one of the least invasive.
[19:02] It's where we use things like goats or beetles
[19:05] or other predators to those types of pests to either take out or address the pests itself.
[19:14] Cultural is where you actually think methodically about the plantings and the environment that
[19:19] you're creating that either is sustaining them or creating an environment that's less conducive
[19:25] to them. And so in some cases, you're creating very dense planting opportunities, so it kind of
[19:35] traditional, it's where we're doing the mowing, the tilling, the hand tools, along with that,
[19:40] you kind of have physical and there's a little bit of overlap there of where you can have
[19:44] other types of treatments like heat treating, barriers, cardboard, and different types of things
[19:50] like that. And then, finally, of course, you have chemical treatments. And those are both
[19:57] things that are actually
[20:00] Negative, in terms of herbicides, pesticides, but also potentially things that are positive, such as fertilizers, that really kind of target or treatments for health conditions, for instance, a diseased plant will have a chemical treatment to take care of trees and things like that. So, you really, it's really methodically looking at each of these different kind of tools in order to create a system that we can then use operationally in the city.
[20:31] So, what did we do?
[20:32] We created a draft plan that, as I mentioned, was attached to the staff report.
[20:37] It really has three main categories, the first of which is background policy foundation,
[20:43] which provides the why we're looking into doing this scope of intent of the plan.
[20:49] And it also establishes the framework for which the plan is viewed from as well as what
[20:55] the authority we have to actually exercise as management, while the city can has broad
[21:02] range of what we do operationally, we don't necessarily have the same freedoms to impose
[21:07] it on private. So, while we have control of what we do, we can't necessarily take other
[21:13] landscapers or until how other landscapers are treating the same environments except for
[21:17] education methods. Then we have the strategic vision and policy direction. This is really
[21:24] where we identified the goals and summarized how those policies are interpreted and kind
[21:30] of developed into the implementation. We took the goals that we heard from the City
[21:35] Council in September and kind of fleshed them out and added a little bit more information
[21:41] on how they can be interpreted and brought into the full plan.
[21:47] And then it also importantly defines the plan review process. So we wanted to make sure
[21:51] that this plan is a living document that was something we use and not necessarily something
[21:55] that is prepared and then forgotten about.
[21:59] So the last key part of this, though, is actually the implementation and that's probably
[22:05] the densest part of the draft.
[22:08] It outlines what city staff do, it outlines how we make decisions, it basically goes through
[22:15] how we evaluate progress on this and creates a decision-making tree for which we look at things like tolerance thresholds.
[22:24] And another thing that we heard and that was really important for us to try and kind of highlight and
[22:29] I'll go into a little bit more detail is it includes site specific recommendations.
[22:34] Because one of the larger challenges organization like the city has when creating IPM plan is we have so
[22:42] many different environments that we care for and manage from our open spaces to our trails,
[22:46] which are much more native and natural, to our high activity areas just like the sports fields
[22:51] outside. And all of those have different user bases and different interactions with
[22:57] the natural environment. And we have to be methodical about how we're treating those.
[23:02] And then we also have quite a lot of right-of-way that we manage and maintain that we also need to be
[23:08] the cognizant of how it inhibits or promotes transportation and uses throughout pedestrian uses, active transportation uses, and vehicles.
[23:20] So all those kind of go into play with this.
[23:25] So looking at the site specific recommendations, and
[23:28] there's a full table within the staff report.
[23:34] I just wanted to highlight a couple kind of key ones,
[23:37] It's just a kind of show how we think about these and how we're talking about our pest control processes.
[23:44] So it defines the management objective and I'm using two examples here.
[23:48] We have the right of way one as well as high sensitivity areas, which is something we heard through our interactions with public that was very key important.
[23:56] We want to be sensitive of playground schools, picnic areas, food areas, and certainly where dog parks are.
[24:03] And so it defines what the management objective is, basically, what are we trying to do with this space?
[24:09] We describe a tolerance threshold to it, and tolerance in this regards is how much of a pest will be a situation where we control, or will we allow in this space before we actually have to think about control?
[24:24] The action threshold is when it starts getting into, this is the actual trigger for us to see something that is tolerated,
[24:32] And understood to be in the environment, so that's something that we actually have to take a little bit more, more necessary action to address it.
[24:40] So we're trying to constrain the operational ones with the practical means of what we can do as our maintenance team and budget appropriately for it, right?
[24:51] And the next thing is we also try and identify common species that were target.
[24:56] This isn't intended to be the entire list of-
[25:00] But it is to be more broader categories of insects, not just weeds or other elements that we're actually looking at and thinking that we've either experienced in the past, or believe that this is a common occurrence that we need to be aware of. So our teams, as they're doing our maintenance, are looking for those types of interactions in the environment. We just find what those practices look like. So the management practices for insects,
[25:29] for the management practices for weeds and also even things like disease management so we can take a little bit of a look at it and then we finally discuss what is a chemical threshold that we would use so once we kind of exhaust those other other practices how would we then think about the chemical controls and so we do this for a variety of different site spaces but this is just methodically how we're looking at this another thing that before I move on from this too much we
[25:59] We also talk about in our implementation plan, specifically the monitoring and record
[26:04] keeping requirements.
[26:05] A lot of that is mirroring what the state's legislation is required to do, but it provides
[26:10] basic understanding of what those training requirements look like for our maintenance team
[26:14] as well as what our obligations are for keeping that information whenever we do use pesticide
[26:19] treatments to make sure that we're being transparent and accountable for it.
[26:22] And then lastly, we do actually talk about what we want to be doing to educate the public on both what we're doing, but also how they can integrate different types of controlled methods like the mechanical methods like other types of treatments that are alternatives to pass the size of chemical uses into their landscaping and their own type of environment.
[26:49] So we have that component when they're here too.
[26:52] That's the summary of it, without going into too much detail of every section.
[26:57] I will add our next steps once we get the commission's feedback which we're asking for tonight
[27:02] will incorporate it within the draft plan and then we'll share this with the City Council
[27:06] for their consideration and approval.
[27:08] But that concludes my presentation.
[27:11] I'm happy to answer any questions you might have on the plan or the process.
[27:15] Are
[27:21] there models cities that you've worked with, the namesome that are doing successfully
[27:28] perhaps started before we are?
[27:31] Yes, absolutely.
[27:32] I think the two biggest ones that we use local, actually, are the University of Washington
[27:39] Bothell campus, which has a pretty model program for how they actually integrate pest management
[27:45] and do different type of control methods to maintain a near-pestified free campus.
[27:51] And also how they've created different environments within that campus that promote things like they have a actual,
[27:57] what will be where dam and beaver, beaver, river on, with that flows through the campus.
[28:01] So it's really an interesting natural habitat that they've been very successful, full about doing that.
[28:06] So we looked for them both to model our policy after as well as for just practical guidance.
[28:11] we actually toured the campus to get a better feel for how this might work with our maintenance team.
[28:17] More practically, we worked with two big agencies for us.
[28:22] We worked with our Noxious weed control board, which is with King County.
[28:26] They oversee the actual application of pesticides within King County in agencies.
[28:34] And they do help for our stream pesticide usage when they go into Mammage River and
[28:39] other places to treat for invasive species.
[28:44] One of their key critical parts of their program, though, is education and
[28:50] bettering of practice for the kind of, or that entity that houses that knowledge for the
[28:56] local community.
[28:58] And so both as a resource for the private individual, they have a lot of information that people can
[29:04] get, but we also use them to help guide what is practical in terms of what we can achieve
[29:10] with ours.
[29:11] And then, more directly, too, we also patterned this a little bit off of Bellevue's environmental
[29:20] program.
[29:20] They actually have a very comprehensive program.
[29:23] The scale of their city is a little bit larger, and they have quite a lot of different, more
[29:28] facilities that they would bring into.
[29:29] We actually kind of consolidated that information.
[29:31] And so all of those kind of played a little bit of a part into development of this plan.
[29:39] As part of the education and I hark back to the days of the science exhibits that we
[29:46] all had to do in schools and much information we had to put on little signs.
[29:53] Just bringing in the University of Washington campus, do they do any action?
[30:00] Nation in any area saying we are doing this in this area and this is what we're hoping to achieve. Do they have signs up such as that that just that the person who passes by could could learn that I would think would be helpful. Yes. Yes, we do. Yes. And actually, we are trying to implement more of the signage too. You'll see in our all of our
[30:29] There are local beds around City Hall both outside in front of the lawn area but also in our pollinator garden next to the entrance to City Hall we have some signs that have to our codes that link to our own website where they can provide a little bit more information about what we're doing and why we have to manage those areas a little bit differently.
[30:51] So we do it as well as the University of Washington, of course, University of Washington has other
[30:56] programs that they work with their student groups and their professors and their staff to kind
[31:01] of achieve that too. Thank you for that. And let me ask you this, I'm from Oregon and I graduated
[31:09] from Oregon State University and so I get their quarterly magazine and then one of them I noticed
[31:14] just that they were proud of the fact that they had made the OSU campus a place with edible fruit for people who were walking on campus.
[31:28] Has that ever come up in any of these?
[31:30] I don't know that there are edible, I'm sure there are edible fruits that are native plants.
[31:37] Anything like that has been considered.
[31:40] Many times, it comes through in our parks, a lot of times it's a recommendation for parks it actually has been a recommendation for something that we've been thinking about putting within our east road corridor, which is a major linear park project that we're right now in the process of planning in the city, and then actually the University of Washington,
[32:01] and Bottle Campus 2 has their own edible food garden in space 2 that they use as a model
[32:05] to extend that program as well.
[32:08] So both locally and apartment agencies, we're looking at kind of how we might integrate
[32:13] that.
[32:14] One of the most common edible foods in this area is actually invasive species.
[32:18] It's archimelian blackberries which have a very complicated history for our rivers as well
[32:25] as it just take wood with the public because I know many of us like the graze as we walk
[32:30] I don't know. I think combining that with a herd of goats and showing how you're controlling that wonderful plant.
[32:39] Yeah. Yeah.
[32:42] So that's our current process.
[32:46] Well, good.
[32:47] Thanks.
[32:50] Oh.
[32:52] Okay, thinking in terms of community engagement, I know we're up in Wellington and you've got wood trails, all of those places up there.
[33:05] Is there a way to involve community, either through emails, flyers, what to do, when to do it, maybe a monthly notice on what the city's doing, what you can do, how you can ship in.
[33:19] And I'd like to draw in the community because a lot of us are gardeners and would like to chip in.
[33:25] So we're definitely looking at how we can expand that.
[33:29] Right now, we were working primarily with the, our polymer and
[33:32] our pathways, Northwest, organization, as well as our garden club to look at projects that might go within our neighborhood parks that are kind of
[33:42] both educational tools as well as kind of expanding both the pollinators spaces and kind of thinking more on the IPM side of this.
[33:52] How it also addresses pests. So we're looking at doing those types of things.
[33:56] And of course, we're always open to suggestions and feedback of how we can incorporate other social media and news flash posts to better provide this information to the public.
[34:08] So that's something we can definitely look into and see if we can expand.
[34:12] Thank you.
[34:18] Here's how much of the actual, in practice, is going to be changing what this is,
[34:23] approved in place versus what we've been doing.
[34:25] I know we've been trying to phase out pesticides, and I've read through a few of these.
[34:29] Like are there any environments in particular where we're doing a pretty serious shift
[34:33] in the way that we have been managing pests?
[34:35] I think the biggest two ones, and we've been very experimental so far with City Hall,
[34:40] But that's going to actually be continuing, and we're looking at fairly substantial replanting by the end of this year on how to kind of address different areas around city hall that to make them both more manageable, but also more reflective of the integrated pest management policy.
[34:55] I think the other thing it's going to start.
[35:00] Showing up in how we address replanting schemes through retrition. So every time a card goes through one of our medians or we have have a sprinkler go out or something like that, we lose plants. It's just a natural thing that happens. And so what you'll start seeing more and more is those little spaces that are garden within the right of ways, within our communities. Those will start turning over much, much more quickly.
[35:29] and start having more of these different planting schemes that are much more
[35:37] pests that will reduce the pest habitat spaces, but also more native and more
[35:44] pollinator friendly. And you'll start seeing those kind of pop up in a
[35:47] methodical places. At our park system, it will probably be on a longer term basis
[35:53] when those parks get redeveloped, or as the larger projects come into play,
[35:58] That's when we typically look at large landscaping and bringing them into those projects.
[36:03] But this sets the tone and the foundation of how we do it.
[36:07] More direct, operationally, we actually are looking at how to better train our staff.
[36:13] And we're implementing a variety of conferences.
[36:17] We're looking at how to get them licensed, and to be very knowledgeable in these practices and
[36:23] but better suited to handle these types of situations
[36:26] as being counter-empt.
[36:28] And so we're looking at doing that across our divisions.
[36:32] Historically, that's been something
[36:33] we've done a lot of contracting out with,
[36:35] but now that this has become a policy focus for us,
[36:39] this is something that we're looking at creating
[36:41] staff experts on.
[36:44] Great.
[36:45] What if we learned, I mean, the city hall
[36:47] landscaping is where it's been the most visible,
[36:50] like what sort of feedback?
[36:51] back. I know I provided feedback on that little patch of grass.
[36:55] Complicated. I'll have to pay the hate field that we had all summer. I'm just
[36:59] curious. I mean because I mean I'm read through a lot of these and it's like
[37:01] you will intervene when it becomes visually unacceptable, like how are we to
[37:05] find visually unacceptable. Yeah, that one's the tricky part, right? Because I
[37:11] think one of the early feedback that we had on our our plastic outside was it
[37:17] It was a little bit visually unacceptable, right?
[37:20] It's hard for people to see that they saw that as more of overgrowth as opposed to being
[37:27] the meadowed environment that you would see at UW Bothell.
[37:31] And really, that's just because a lot of the seating that we did got growth out.
[37:35] So the grasp was very resistant of all the other types of seating that we're doing.
[37:42] So, we'll look at those of those types of lessons learned where we kind of have to go, okay, well, now we have to be a little bit more thoughtful about how we're sitting and doing those practices so we can actually make an environment that looks a little bit more intentional and as opposed to being being what it was, which was intentional and did what it intended to do, but I think the vision will be easier for the community to kind of see.
[38:11] Yeah, I think if it's grass, it should look like grass.
[38:15] I know we have a notion that the manicure lawns and things are kind of, you know, should be pivoted.
[38:20] But if it's a lawn, we have over at Wilmot Gateway, let's keep it a lawn, let's stop by this gate park, let's keep it a lawn.
[38:27] And then you mentioned when it's time to replace things, then go on some more things that look native and natural.
[38:33] And then there'll be maybe a little bit more acceptance of it looking actual and native, right?
[38:38] Now, I'll just pile on, I think, the publicizing this will be a great opportunity.
[38:43] So this is a cool thing facing out the pesticides and such.
[38:47] So do what we can to share it with in the community.
[38:50] Good, Mr. Washington.
[38:52] Vice Chair Washington, excuse me.
[38:55] So as far as public outreach have you considered doing something like, for those
[38:59] noxious weeds, wooden bills most wanted sort of thing where community can take,
[39:04] can see visually what like Tansi has been an up-and-coming problem so they can see what
[39:12] those some of those noxious weeds are that's not just that's not a pretty flower you don't
[39:15] want that. So if they had something that they could look to and be like oh that needs to come out
[39:20] and hear some ways for you to remove it from your own property that might be a way to move that forward
[39:26] within the community. That's a great idea and we'll have to kind of incorporate that into our
[39:32] engagement process.
[39:36] Good.
[39:38] Have aesthetics come into this at all?
[39:44] I combine the little display out there, and I know what it is.
[39:54] But are we going to look rather
[40:01] We're also used to manicured everything around here. Is there a happy medium between the very wild look and the very manicured look? Can we do more aesthetically with the native plants? I think that's the balance that we're trying to achieve. And I think that's where we're trying to have a conversation. I think the important part throughout this process will be
[40:31] be making sure we attempt to have that conversation, both in the education side, but also understanding
[40:37] the feedback that we're getting.
[40:38] Estetics does play a part about this, but I think the primary driving factor was the
[40:44] health and environmental sustainability measures is what we would have heard from the City Council
[40:49] was the priority.
[40:51] And so we tried to balance the aesthetics and what the communities understanding of these
[40:58] spaces are by developing those different thresholds that we're using for each of those spaces.
[41:03] So we kind of create a space so we're not necessarily changing the planters out there, right?
[41:09] Those are already something that we constantly, every spring here,
[41:14] feedback from the community that they love seeing those planners as a part of that space.
[41:21] But thinking about where we can incorporate elements of this, so that it's thoughtful.
[41:28] Are we going to get it right every time?
[41:31] We'll probably need to have a conversation and to see and kind of work together.
[41:36] I think the biggest part of this is this is really the city trying to work with the
[41:41] community and be thoughtful and understanding about, we hear you, we hear this is the concern,
[41:50] we hear this is the direction you want to go, let's grow together and kind of make this
[41:56] This is something that we can do together.
[41:58] Me this halfway is dead heading, not part of the landscaping.
[42:09] Is it not allowed?
[42:10] Is it now going to return to what I'm seeing at Brittany Park in the green space there?
[42:18] If a tree falls, it stays down.
[42:21] But out here, I see that normally a gardener would want to go by and deadhead the chastodazies
[42:30] that are dead.
[42:31] But is that not allowed in the plan?
[42:34] Is it not going to be because in nature, nobody is deadheading?
[42:39] Yeah, it depends.
[42:41] I think that depends on the environment.
[42:42] We don't take that kind of heavy-headed approach in our
[42:47] wooden, like our wood and trails in our open spaces environments, where it's a much more natural environment.
[42:53] We're not allowed to take those types of measures in our stream environments that we have at Rotary Park and other spaces like that.
[43:02] But is that something that we would take at, for instance, Wooden Creek Park or Womong Gateway Park, where there's a lot more activity?
[43:11] those spaces, we have to balance the risk that comes with having trees in the kind of natural environment,
[43:19] the fallen trees in those types of spaces with the use that we're seeing with bicyclists going on this
[43:26] amount of river trail, with people playing in the park and doing that.
[43:30] So, what I'd say is we try to take a thoughtful approach on what is appropriate where?
[43:42] Other questions?
[43:42] I just have some comments, it would be really engaging to have the community and
[43:53] homeowners people that have property land to be involved or know what's happening and how they can take your information and use it in their area.
[44:08] So I don't know how what kind of public outreach is planned or how involved it will be that I can see if neighborhood engagement would be a really positive thing for the whole area.
[44:25] I think you'll start seeing more events such as the one we're planning right here to do with the community to actually kind of express how these things can be done and using our partners like 21 acres to kind of get that information out.
[44:42] It's both a requirement of us as a B city as well as something that goes very much directly with where our policy direction is looking like it's going with this draft plan.
[44:54] I think you'll also with every part project that we've kind of
[45:00] Now, kind of have teed up, for instance, like the Milwaukee Forest Project, there's a component of that, that is that education, that is the purpose of that, is to help teach by showing, right? So, we're taking on the initiative to do these types of things and to kind of give the example that then can be followed with on an individual basis in home. So, you'll start seeing a little bit more of that in some of our projects, but definitely that's something we can do.
[45:29] kind of incorporate with the education outreach we do annually with B-City and more.
[45:36] So as a resident there will be outreach or some place that a resident could go to get help information.
[45:46] Absolutely.
[45:47] Publicize.
[45:47] Yeah, we've already done, I think, well, I want to be careful, because I believe we've already had an article in one of our newsletters that went out, but we certainly can look at potentially doing another one.
[45:59] And most likely in the spring time when people are more thoughtful about planning and preparing for the rest of their time.
[46:07] Thank you.
[46:10] One more question.
[46:11] This only applies to city on property in a right of way.
[46:13] Like, how are we partnering with the large developments in the city to see if, you mentioned education for the places out of our jurisdiction?
[46:21] Have we been intentional with trying to get the big developers on board with this plan?
[46:25] And I'm mostly curious about spaces where there are public spaces that we have the splash pad that's coming but it's a private property, I guess, like how in what situations do we have the ability to kind of influence in those types of areas?
[46:45] That's a good question.
[46:46] I think we have strong relationships with the development community and the developers
[46:58] around this area and we certainly try to influence it where we can.
[47:04] It is a conversation as opposed to regulation in those circumstances and so we definitely
[47:12] we have the conversations, but it's not something we can impose on force.
[47:18] And so we do provide feedback to them, particularly when new projects go through.
[47:23] There's comments and process that we can have with that process, but it's a non-inforcible
[47:28] one.
[47:31] And more importantly, some of our partners with that are already existing and that are community
[47:39] property management. They've been very much
[47:43] abrasive of this type of material, even on their own.
[47:49] So I think we have a good relationship with those where they've been receptive to it.
[47:55] Now does that go so far as to changing their individual practices?
[48:00] I can't speak to that one.
[48:04] All right. Thank you so much, Chef. Any more questions?
[48:05] questions.
[48:08] When did you become a B-City? What year?
[48:14] 20.5.
[48:15] All right. So I'm guessing that the big development over here was already planned before 2025.
[48:24] What do commercial businesses or anything coming into Woodenville now to help Woodenville keep
[48:33] Keep it status as a B city.
[48:38] Are there requirements for you to be a B city?
[48:42] There are requirements for us to be a B city, to what extent, that the requirement, as it extends to private property, is that we have to provide education to private property owners on pest management on practices that promote pollinators, friendly habitats, and those things.
[49:02] We cannot impose regulations on them on what they plan to or how they kind of take care of their spaces.
[49:10] Well, now I argue the point that I've heard that businesses say McDonald's had to build its new building to what the city said.
[49:22] This is what we want commercial buildings to look like in Woodenville.
[49:26] Am I right or that they wanted a bid, there's a look about buildings in Woodenville that are supposed to look what?
[49:41] I don't want to overstep kind of where I'm at.
[49:45] Well, no, what I'm saying is, if commercial buildings have to look like, well,
[49:55] You know, if you all had to be shabbed toes, okay, if we were 11 words.
[50:00] I'm sure that when Levin North, when they say, okay, we want a 11-worth look, we want a woodenville look, where I'm going with this, and just wait for it. I'm building my defense.
[50:17] Business is coming in. If they would acknowledge that there are some commitments to be city and to have them say, yes, we understand what you do.
[50:30] need, what can we do to help, or can you say to them, we need to be able to maintain
[50:38] this B-City status and your cooperation is expected. Is that the other way of saying
[50:52] that they could, they could be asked to cooperate in their plantings and things.
[51:01] Yes, no?
[51:02] That's clearly something that the City Council shows not to do.
[51:05] Oh.
[51:06] That would have created, in my opinion, probably a much, just like if you said you wanted all the buildings in town to look a certain way,
[51:13] that's going to involve resistance and costs and the poll in our pathway, we have a very simple,
[51:21] we educate them and we hope that they do some things. That's a very low threshold that
[51:25] everybody can clear, because if we started requiring certain things, there would certainly,
[51:33] certainly the City Council would have to approve because that would start putting some legal force
[51:36] behind some things and there would be inevitably some resistance to that. Depends on
[51:43] not exactly how much, but there would certainly be, I think, some resistance.
[51:47] So the City Council has clearly chosen a very low bar.
[51:50] We'll just educate them, and which, the poll on their path is, makes it quite simple.
[51:57] We could do more, but that's something for the City Council to decide.
[52:01] I don't think that this time they want to do that.
[52:05] I think I would just add that yes, the City does have a certain control over building codes and building standards and aesthetics.
[52:10] We have a downtown streetscape plan, for example, that denotes a lot of different treatments to even sidewalks and planter beds in the downtown area.
[52:19] So that's one example of how we can facilitate some control and affect the impact that new developments will have on the downtown area.
[52:29] Like with any decision in that vein, though, there is a balance, right?
[52:33] We want to welcome new developments and create the city in what we think is best.
[52:37] But to do it in a manner that is smart for the developer makes sense for them, right?
[52:42] We want to be able to welcome their project, but also create something that is woodenville.
[52:48] And that's the balance that the council has to struggle with on many different levels and
[52:52] many different decisions.
[52:54] So we do stop short of requiring certain plantings in private property, or
[53:01] property though about say a city right of way like the downtown streetscape plan I mentioned,
[53:06] we do have some more control there and I think the city has taken the stance that we have a
[53:13] we have a lot of work to do ourselves and so we can lead by example and show developers and property
[53:19] owners in the area what's possible and what what's to do and what not to do and as time goes on hopefully
[53:24] those will take more root but intended I guess and we can provide resources to help with that as well.
[53:30] All right,
[53:35] well, thank you so much for the conversation, Josh, and the presentation.
[53:39] We're going to keep moving.
[53:41] Next on our agenda is comments from our council liaison, unless our councilmember Weiss is not virtual or anything tonight.
[53:48] No, she was not able to make it tonight, and she sends her regards, and we'll get a message from her person.
[53:53] So we'll scratch that one.
[53:55] All right, Alex, so you got the mic, reports from staff, please.
[53:57] Yes, just a couple of things to mention.
[53:59] Commissioner Roy, you mentioned the Miyawaki forcing method, and we have a Miyawaki force planting event.
[54:04] coming up on October 3rd, that's from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for by Homeward Pet.
[54:11] We've got our temporary dog park over there, the area to the north of that, just behind
[54:16] the dog park between that and Little Bear Creek will be the site at which this event
[54:21] has held. We're hoping to get about 300 volunteers, so we need lots of help and your help as commissioners
[54:28] and within your own circles would be greatly appreciated.
[54:31] We have lots more information on our website, including a sign-up sheet for hopeful or would-be
[54:35] volunteers.
[54:36] And we'll get that out to you via email if that would be helpful, but otherwise it's on
[54:40] our website and on our social media as well.
[54:43] And the other image I've got up here on the screen, I will admit, is less than compelling.
[54:48] But that bare dirt there is rotary park, and that is the site of the future play structure.
[54:54] And this picture was taken about a week ago, and it is already stale.
[54:58] And I guess that's a credit too.
[55:00] The team that's helping install that, it's largely installed at this point. We've got some more finishing work to do over the next few weeks, so it's not quite open yet. But if you were to stroll by, you'd see quite a different scene than we have here, and we'll be sure to get you more information as we get closer to opening about that. That's it. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Any questions? Good. Alex, have you approached Carol Lee regarding getting rotarians to volunteer? I'm sorry, Carol Lee.
[55:30] We have a number of different groups that we're reaching out to, and I believe that her group is part of that as well.
[55:37] Good.
[55:37] Yeah.
[55:41] All right, next we're going on to reports from the commissioners, so I will call your name and let me know if you have a report.
[55:46] It's a commissioner Kerry.
[55:47] Nothing.
[55:48] Vice Chair Washington.
[55:50] I posted the Miyawaki flyer at my office because I work in landscape construction, so I should hopefully be able to get a few people there.
[55:58] Great.
[55:59] Commissioner White.
[55:59] No, thank you. Commissioner Gazi Mourad.
[56:05] Just noticed that from here on out, there are three of us and we're going to push for
[56:12] chairs and nice areas where all the people can walk in and out, ADA type of, just be aware
[56:21] of that. With you, Mary, being here, we're almost the majority, not quite, we're almost
[56:28] Yes, we need worse benches and things like that.
[56:37] Yes, we are.
[56:39] Yes, we are.
[56:42] This is not a really contentious group usually, but we'll see.
[56:47] All right.
[56:48] That is true.
[56:52] Commissioner Carscaden.
[56:57] Okay, well welcome again, for myself, school starts Tuesday, watch out for the school buses, refresh yourself on the rules for when you do and don't stop and don't run over my kids.
[57:11] All right, with all business items done, the meeting is adjourned and I've got this tonight.
[57:17] Thank you so much, see you next month.