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MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013
Vol. CXXIII, No. 236
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CITY OF TACOMA Devoted to the Courts, Real Estate, Finance, Industrial Activities, and Publication of Legal Notices
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Tacoma City Council to discuss Link light rail expansion, local economic report
Tacoma residents will have plenty of opportunities this week to learn more about what's happening in city government. On Tuesday, Tacoma City Council will hold its regular weekly study session and council meeting. Also on Tuesday, Tacoma City Council's Economic Development Committee will meet to receive its quarterly update on the City of Tacoma's Economic Indicators Summary, a report that provides data on economic trends in the community and the City of Tacoma's efforts to support economic development. Tacoma City Council's Infrastructure, Planning, and Sustainability Committee will meet on Wednesday, and, finally, on Thursday, Tacoma City Council's Public Safety, Human Services, and Education Committee will meet to discuss a range of topics. Here is a look ahead at some notable meetings, events, and issues on deck this week at Tacoma City Hall. -- Todd Matthews, Editor
TACOMA LINK EXPANSION PROJECT Tacoma City Council has scheduled a study session Tuesday to hear from Sound Transit staff and City of Tacoma staff on the Tacoma Link light rail expansion project. Earlier this year, Tacoma City Council selected, and the Sound Transit Board approved, a Tacoma Link expansion in the North Downtown Central Corridor as the preferred corridor for potential expansion of Tacoma's Link light rail system. The corridor includes the Stadium District and the Martin Luther King Jr. mixed-use center. According to Sound Transit staff and City of Tacoma staff, that action concluded the Alternatives Analysis phase of the expansion project and initiated the current phase of conceptual design and environmental review. Sound Transit and the City of Tacoma have been working together to identify the specific streets within the corridor that could effectively serve as the alignment for the potential expansion. During the study session on Tuesday, Sound Transit staff and City of Tacoma staff will present the potential alignments for discussion and receive comments from Tacoma City Councilmembers. Staff will also review public outreach efforts that will be conducted to gather community comments on the potential alignments. Also on the study session agenda Tuesday, City of Tacoma staff will present recommendations for proposed revisions to the existing City of Tacoma Neighborhood Council language in the Tacoma Municipal Code, as well as solicit comments from councilmembers on a new Standards and Guidelines document. These recommendations were provided to Tacoma City Council's Neighborhoods and Housing Committee in August and November. An ordinance
proposing revisions to the City of Tacoma's Neigh-- Education and health services continued to be borhood Council program and governance language the largest employment cluster with 45,200 jobs. It will receive its first reading during the Tacoma City is also the fastest-growing targeted sector in TacoCouncil meeting on Tues., Dec. 10. In addima, with an increase of 1,800 jobs (or 4.1 tion, on Tues., Dec. 17, Tacoma City Council percent) since the third quarter of 2012. is scheduled to consider a resolution that Professional and business services, with would create a Standards and Guidelines its 24,400 employees, grew by 800 posidocument to provide City of Tacoma staff tions (or 3.4 percent) year over year. Othwith programming and contracting direcer clusters involving financial services, tion. warehouse/distribution and information Councilmembers will discuss these istechnology remained relatively stable; sues during a study session, which will be -- The City of Tacoma issued 51 new held on Tues., Dec. 10, at 12 p.m. in Room 16 business licenses during the third quarof Tacoma Municipal Building North, 733 ter of 2013, which represents a 10.6 Market St. Audio from the meeting will be percent increase when compared to the TACOMA CITY third quarter of 2012; broadcast live on TV Tacoma and online at HALL tvtacoma.com. On-demand audio archives -- Sixteen Small Business Enterprise are available on the Web within 24 hours firms received contracts during the third of the meeting online at tvtacoma.com. A copy of the quarter of 2012, as compared to 15 firms during the agenda is available online at cityoftacoma.org. third quarter of 2013. The average size of contracts increased from $47,500 to $126,000. The larger TACOMA'S THIRD-QUARTER ECONOMIC Small Business Enterprise contracts were primarily ACTIVITY REPORT due to extensive City of Tacoma Public Works projTacoma City Council's Economic Development ects, such as the Stadium Way Improvement Project Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon and the Pacific Avenue Streetscape Project. to receive its quarterly update on the City of TacoTacoma City Council's Economic Development ma's Economic Indicators Summary, a report that Committee is scheduled discuss this issue during provides data on economic trends in the community a meeting on Tues., Dec. 10, at 10 a.m. in the Taand the City of Tacoma's efforts to support economic coma Municipal Building, 747 Market St. (Conferdevelopment. ence Room 248), in downtown Tacoma. A copy of the According to a Dec. 3 memo prepared by City of agenda and the City of Tacoma's Economic IndicaTacoma Community and Economic Development tors Summary for the third quarter is available onDepartment Ricardo Noguera, the local economy line at cityoftacoma.org. improved between the second quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2013 in several key areas such CITY SEEKS DEVELOPER FOR 1.5-ACRE as revenue related to sales as well as business and HILLTOP SITE occupation taxes, as well as employment related to Also of interest, the City of Tacoma has issued a construction and Port of Tacoma-related activity. Request for Development Proposals for mixed-use, More specifically, Noguera notes the following: transit-oriented, commercial-residential develop-- The City of Tacoma experienced 5.1 percent ment on roughly 1.5 shovel-ready acres at Margrowth in sales tax revenues and 11.4 percent tin Luther King Jr. Way and South 11th Street, in growth in business and occupation tax revenues. Tacoma's historic Hilltop neighborhood. The site Motor vehicle sales and parts, retail sales, wholesal- is owned by the Washington State Department of ing and building construction were the major con- Commerce. tributors to the increase in sales tax revenues. The A pre-bidders conference will be held on Mon., rise in retailing and wholesaling associated with Dec. 16, at 2:30 p.m. in the Visibility Center on the construction contributed to the growth in business ninth floor of the Tacoma Municipal Building, 747 and occupation tax revenues; Market St., and first proposals will be accepted -- The number of residential building permits starting Weds., Jan. 15, 2014 at 11 a.m., and every increased 12.5 percent, while their value grew by Tuesday thereafter at 11 a.m., until the solicitation 38.9 percent. The number and value of commercial is closed by the City of Tacoma. building permits rose 7.6 percent and 65.9 percent, A copy of the Request for Development Proposrespectively. Major permits issued during the third als is available online at cityoftacoma.org. Proposals quarter of 2013 were related to the renovation of and questions from developers should be directed to MultiCare's Rainier Pavilion, Port of Tacoma's Pier Chuck Blankenship in the Finance Department's 3 upgrade at Husky Terminal, and University of Purchasing Division at cblankenship@cityoftacoma. Puget Sound's Wheelock Student Center remodel; org.