Despite having to switch to a generator for a portion of the Federal Way City Council meeting on Nov. 19 due to the windstorms brought by the “bomb cyclone,” the council and mayor made it through the three-hour meeting.
The council voted on some impactful legislation that will shape the city for the next few years, approving the biennial budget for 2025-2026 and the 2025 property tax levy. The council forwarded the comprehensive plan update and a code amendment for permanent supportive housing and transitional housing to second readings.
Comprehensive plan
The comprehensive plan is a 20-year document that is updated yearly to “articulate a community vision through a series of goals, policies, and actions that guide the decisions of elected officials and staff,” according to the presentation that was given to the council by Community Development Director Keith Niven.
Federal Way’s update is due on Dec. 31, and will be evaluated for its alignment with several local plans including the Puget Sound Regional Council and King County’s countywide plan.
The comprehensive plan has been developed by city staff and includes extensive public engagement throughout that process, culminating in the document that was discussed and forwarded for approval at the next council meeting in December.
The full comprehensive plan can be seen online at engagefw.com.
Councilmember Paul McDaniel brought up several points relating to specific language in the plan that he advocated for removal. Ultimately the council voted 4-3 to remove half of one sentence that specifically named historically marginalized groups within the community as part of the community.
The sentence originally read: “Foster equitable, inclusive and sustainable Urban Development practices in the city center to ensure the well-being and prosperity of all community members including black, indigenous and people of color, immigrants and refugees, people with low incomes, people with disabilities and communities with language access needs.”
The council voted to change that sentence to read: “Foster equitable, inclusive and sustainable Urban Development practices in the city center to ensure the well-being and prosperity of all community members.”
Councilmembers Lydia Assefa-Dawson, Hoang Tran and Susan Honda voted to keep the language while Councilmembers McDaniel, Linda Kochmar, Jack Walsh and Jack Dovey voted to remove it.
No other changes were made to the comprehensive plan, which will most likely be approved in its entirety at the next meeting in order to meet the deadline.
Budget
Discussion over the budget included some expression of hopes for additions in the future. This included public commentary and council discussion on the idea of social workers who partner with police, and consideration for a senior center, among other discussion points.
Councilmember Honda expressed support for several things, saying, “One was a senior center … my dream one day is that we have several small standalone senior centers in Federal way as we grow larger.”
Honda added: “I’d like to one day see a teen or youth center. We hear that often from folks who come and talk to us … that there’s nothing for kids to do on weekends and after five.”
She added a few other points and commented that most of this can be discussed at the upcoming council retreat, but she wanted to comment on it.
The council also discussed how American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were used to supplement the budget. Mayor Jim Ferrell asked Finance Director Steve Groom to share some clarification, asking if he would consider it a “structurally balanced budget,” to which he replied that it is.
“As you know, a budget is predicated on forecasted revenue, and you saw that in the last year with our real estate excise tax, our rate fell quite short. So what did we do? We course corrected, we had a balanced budget. The revenue didn’t come in, we adjusted our expenses, we managed the budget and we’ll do the same for the for the next biennium,” Groom said.
After the discussion, the council voted to approve the budget for the next two years.
