Tacoma City Council
Study Session
Noon, Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Room 16
Tacoma Municipal Building North
728 St. Helens Ave.

Housing Trust Fund, Snake Lake
The City Council will hear presentations on the Housing Trust Fund Levy, the proposed Snake Lake property joint purchase by the City and Tacoma Metro Parks and dangerous building mitigation, including an update on the Elks property. The public may attend but the council will not take comment. CityPost – channel 85 on Click!, channel 77 on Comcast – will air the audio portion of the study session live.

Tacoma City Council
Regular Meeting
5 p.m., Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Council Chambers
Tacoma Municipal Building
747 Market St.

UW programming on city channel
As part of the city’s cable agreement with Click! Network, the city has up to eight cable access channels. If the City Council approves a resolution, one of these access channels would air educational programming produced by the University of Washington. If approved, programming would begin March 1 on Click! Network, channel 90. The council will take public comment on the resolution. 

Tax-exempt bonds
The Washington Economic Development Finance Authority (WEDFA) hopes to issue tax-exempt non-recourse economic development revenue bonds to two Tacoma companies. WEDFA will ask the City Council to approve both bond issues, in two separate resolutions. If approved, one resolution would authorize WEDFA to issue up to $37,270,000 in tax-exempt bonds to Cedar Grove Composting, Inc. With the proceeds of the bonds, Cedar Grove plans to expand its current composting operations and construct a new facility at 2000 Taylor Way.

The council plans to also vote on approving up to $5.2 million of tax-exempt WEDFA bonds for Probo Investments, Ltd. The company plans to use the bond proceeds to acquire and improve an existing manufacturing business at 3611 S. Warner St. The city has no obligation under either of the bond items, but because Tacoma is the planning jurisdiction a City Council approval is required. The council will take public comment on each resolution.

Mixed-use development
The City Council will consider a resolution to authorize a letter of intent with Seattle-based Catapult Development Partners, LLC, for the development of a mixed-use project. The project will be located on the city’s parking lot at 730 Market Street, adjacent to the now vacant Marcourt Building. If the council approves the letter of intent, the city and the developer will enter into acquisition and development agreements, allowing the construction of a proposed 100,000 square-foot mixed-use building. The building would include ground floor commercial/retail space, 80 to 85 apartments on the upper floors and a three-floor parking garage, including 73 stalls of no-cost replacement parking for the city. The council will take public comment on the measure.

Police retroactive pay increases
The City Council will take public testimony on an ordinance that would implement provisions of a proposed collective bargaining agreement with Tacoma Police Union Local 6. If approved, the agreement, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2003, would apply to approximately 329 employees.

This is an incomplete agenda for the Feb. 24 meeting of the Tacoma City Council. The Index prints as much as space allows.