Published November 22 2017
On Monday night, the City Council unanimously adopted three ordinances addressing parking enforcement, illegal wastewater disposal and camping in public spaces. The actions come in response to several ongoing concerns voiced by councilmembers and community members related to homelessness. All three ordinances will go into effect on Dec. 26.
Additional details can be found in an earlier news release. Information on the city’s homelessness strategy and related issues are available at BellevueWA.gov/homelessness.
Mid-biennium budget briefing
During the study session, the council was briefed on minor proposed changes to the Capital Investment Program (CIP) as part of the mid-biennium budget review. The process provides a series of updates and technical corrections to the CIP, which funds city infrastructure projects. The adjustments include timing changes for projects, cost updates and revenue changes.
Councilmembers later directed staff to create a new project within the CIP specifically for arts and culture projects. The council further told staff that all investments from this new project must be in alignment with the 2006 Adopted Funding Principles. The proposal would reallocate some money from the current council contingency fund; $200,000 a year for the next five years.
The required public hearing, held during the regular session, is available for viewing. Adoption of the budget could take place as early as next Monday, Nov. 27.
Winter weather preparedness and city’s response efforts
Also on Monday, the council heard a presentation on winter weather preparedness and response efforts from Transportation Department and Office of Emergency Management staff. Other personnel who respond to storms come from the city’s Utilities, Parks and Civic Services departments, so that resources are shared across the organization.
With elevations ranging to 1,400 feet, Bellevue gets its share of snow and ice, as well as flooding, landslides and wind. During a large incident, the city’s Emergency Operations Center coordinates the movement of resources in support of response priorities: life safety, property preservation and maintaining mobility.
Responding to ice and snow storms can be especially challenging when impacts are citywide, rather than at higher elevations only, straining Bellevue’s fleet of 19 trucks used to plow and de-ice streets. Bellevue uses a snow response priorities map to determine which streets are cleared first.
You can learn more about preparing and coping with extreme weather at the city's Emergencies and Extreme Weather page. Weather advisories and warnings are posted to the city’s website, as well as to social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook and Nextdoor. Additional background on the briefing can be found in the council agenda materials.