The Special Meeting meeting scheduled for 2024-06-25 at Pier 69

Transcript

The Special Meeting meeting scheduled for 2024-06-25 at Pier 69

This is commission Vice President Toshiko Hasegawa commuting the special meeting of the June 25, 2024 special meeting
The time is 10:33 a.m
we're meeting in person today at the Port of Seattle headquarters in the commission chambers, as well as virtually via Microsoft TeaMS Present with me today are Commissioners Calkins, Cho, Felleman, Mohammed, all of whom are gathered in executive session waiting for the official opening of this public meeting
We'll now recess into executive session to discuss three items, one related to performance of a public employee per RCW 42 30.1101 for approximately 20 minutes
The next related to litigation and potential litigation or legal risk per RCW 42 30.1101 I for approximately 40 minutes and our final topic is related to national security per RCW 42.301 for approximately ten minutes
The session is expected to last 70 minutes
Will reconvene into public session at twelve noon
Thank you
We are in recess
The time is 12:11 p.m
we are reconvening the special meeting of the commission
My name is
I can't hear you
I'm sorry
Thank you
That's what buttons are for
Thank you
The time is 12:12 p.m
this is commissioned Vice President Toshko Hasegawa reconvening the special meeting of June 25, 2024
We're meeting in person today at the port of Seattle headquarters, in the chambers as well as virtually online via Microsoft TeaMS Clerk Hart, please do call the roll of all commissioners and attenders
Thank you
Commissioner Calkins, if you're on the line, moving to Commissioner Felleman
Present
Thank you
Commissioner Hasegawa
Present
Thank you
Commissioner Mohammed
Thank you
We do have a quorum established
Thank you
Madam Clerk
For everyone in the meeting room today, please do us a favor
Turn your cell phones to silence for anyone participating on Microsoft TeaMS Mute your speakers if you're not actively speaking and if you're not presenting
And also if you would please disengage your cameras unless you're a member of the commission or the executive director participating virtually
If you'd like us to see your beautiful face, you'll have your chance during public comment, which will come up later on in the agenda
As that also goes for, a friendly reminder for the members of our staff who are online joining us but not currently presenting
Members of the public addressing the commission during public comment may turn on their cameras when their name is called to speak and you'll turn them back off again after concluding your remarks
For anyone at the dais, please turn the speakers on
I'm happy to model this as a best practice, but do turn the computers and devices onto silent
Please also remember to address your request to be recognized through the chair
Today I am chairing it standing in on behalf of President Mohammed, who has joined us virtually
Wait your turn to speak until you've been recognized
You'll turn your microphones on and off as needed
All the items noted here will ensure a smoother meeting
Thank you all so very much for your participation
All votes today will be taken on the roll call method, so it's clear for anyone participating, virtually how votes are cast
Commissioners will say aye or nay when their name is called
We're meeting on the ancestral lands and waters of the Coast Salish people with whom we share a commitment to steward these natural resources for future generations
This meeting is being digitally recorded and may be viewed or heard at any time in the port's website and may be rebroadcasted by King County Television
Now please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under visible, with liberty and justice strong
You may be seated
Thank you
Well, the first item of business today is the approval of the agenda
As a reminder, if a commissioner wishes to make a general comment for or against an item on the consent agenda, it's not necessary to pull the item from the consent agenda
Rather, commissioner may offer supporting or opposing comments later on in this meeting once we get to that part of the agenda
These comments are in order
Once the motion is approved to the consent agenda
Once the motion to approve the consent agenda has been made, however, it's appropriate at this time if a commissioner wants to ask questions of staff or wishes to have a dialogue on a consent agenda item to request the item be pulled for a separate discussion
So with that, commissioners, are there any items to be pulled from the consent agenda? Seeing none, the question is upon us of the approval of the agenda
May I have a motion? So moved
And a second 2nd
Thank you
The motion has been moved by Commissioner Felleman, is seconded by Commissioner Calkins, who joined us online
Right
That was aye.? Yes
Okay
That was aye.
Wonderful
Are there any objections? Seeing none, the agenda has been approved
Moving on to special orders of the day, we have none
So the next item on our agenda is the executive director's report
Executive Director Steve Metruck
Please take it away
Thank you, Vice President Hasegawa
Thank you
Good afternoon, commissioners
With the end of the school year and the official start of summer behind us
We are entering the heart of the busy summer travel season through our maritime and aviation gateways
To prepare, our aviation staff are doing all we can to accommodate travel demand while simultaneously constructing new amenities and enhancements to improve the customer experience
For several months, teams have been working hard to increase the number of screening lanes at Seattle Tacoma International Airport checkpoints two and three
It was originally thought that the project would take until March of 2025 to complete
However, our dedicated staff recognized how critical it was for our airport to have these additional security lanes ahead of the summer rush and were able to add lanes and reopen only four and a half months after the investment committee approval
The project wrapped up earlier this month as checkpoint three, our only 24/7 checkpoint has officially reopened and all services will be reestablished
Congratulations to all for completing this project ahead of schedule to help us be ready for this busy travel season that we find ourselves in
Over in maritime I want to address a story broadcast by a local news outlet
Earlier this month, it was reported that unlicensed drivers are soliciting rides at our cruise terminals
We are concerned about this practice
It impacts operational efficiency and safety, lowers the customer service experience and reduces economic opportunity for licensed drivers
We are reviewing and increasing our efforts to prevent these solicitations through messaging to our customers in announcements, signage and other cruise communications, and continue to work with our Port of Seattle Police Department to maintain safe operations for all
I also want to note that this is our second meeting in June and it is the last commission meeting of the second quarter
Hard to believe, but here we are already through the second quarter and I want to take this opportunity to highlight some of the work we were able to accomplish together over the past few months
I want to commend our staff for achieving some truly remarkable milestones and recognize our commission for your leadership on many of these priorities
A few of the highlights from the second quarter include sea being named as a top us airport for the third straight year by Skytrax through a combination of new facilities, added amenities, service enhancements and innovative programs like the spot Saver at sea, sea has once again demonstrated how we can provide the best in class service for travelers when traveling through our aviation gateway
Through the efforts of our air service department at sea, we have also welcomed several new air services, including Hainan Airlines to Beijing and Kwai Ching, Lufthansa to Munich and Delta Airlines to Taipei
Each new service provides more connections and a significant economic boost to our region
We also broke ground on the Maritime Innovation Center, a project many years in the making
The Maritime Innovation center is designed to be a beacon for innovation, transforming one of the port's oldest structures into a state of the art facility that will attract investments and entrepreneurs to Seattle
Expanding our blue economy with the Northwest Seaport alliance, we also completed shore Powell installation at terminal five south berth
The terminal five modernization program has been underway for many years, and many Port of Seattle teams and employees advanced this work as the Northwest Seaport alliance and tenant relationships took place
Through our partnership with the NWSA, we are pleased to have this premier two berth terminal now in operation here in 2024
On the policy side, we successfully advocated for FAA reauthorization
This important and legislative reauthorization addressed several of our major policy concerns along with other new grant programs for accessibility, diversity in contracting, energy efficiency, and improvements in community engagement, PFAS transition reporting, and a study for transportation demand management speaking of PFAS, often referred to as forever chemicals, this quarter, we also began transitioning to PFAS free firefighting foam at our airport, an effort led by our environmental team and our firefighters
This quarter commission adopted the Sea Land Stewardship plan in the Sea Tree replacement standards
Thank you, Commissioner Hasegawa for your leadership on that effort
And thank you Commissioner Felleman
Thanks to you
We also recently adopted an order accelerating cruise power utilization requirements from 2030 to 2027
Highlights from our community engagement efforts include awarding 600,000 to 38 tourism marketing support program recipients and awarding $226,000 and grants to six South King county organizations for environmental improvements
These programs reflect our commitment to economic development, equity and environmental stewardship
Staff also hosted three open houses to launch the part 150 noise study and sent first set of the first set of postcards to begin survey for the sound insulation repair and replacement pilot program, a program championed by commission president Mohammed
And finally, we have two signed MLUs to support small businesses in innovation with the United States Minority Business Development Administration and Korean Small Medium Enterprise and startups agency, each with support from Commissioner Cho
Throughout all of this, our staff has managed safe operations during one of the busiest days in our history here at the port
It's been a very productive quarter
Congratulations to everyone who played a part in these significant milestones
Moving to today's commission meeting, I'd like to highlight a few of the items on the agenda
On our consent agenda, we have a couple of items related to security and safety
Item eight B is our service area management project
This project is a key piece of our operational safety and efficiency infrastructure in the airfield movement area
This system of sensors and cameras improve aircraft flow gate, docking efficiencies and safety through detailed analytics
Item eight E is a request to improve security at our maritime facilities
This project replaces and enhance our maritime security cameras and communication infrastructure across multiple facilities, while focus on improving reliability in addressing cybersecurity risks associated with outdated technology
For new business and staff presentations, we have a preferential birthing agreement with Carnival Corporation, a project upgrading our critical firefighting apparatus, a maximum allowable construction cost for the post IAF international rivals facility airline realignment project, and some exciting updates about projects along our waterfront
Lastly, also on our consent agenda is my employment agreement
It's an honor and a privilege to work with you, our staff, and all of our partners here in Seattle and throughout the region
And I am extremely grateful for the opportunity and your confidence in that to continue my service here at the port for three more years
So with that, I thank you and I thank you for your time this morning, this afternoon
Thank you so much, executive director Metruck, for that report
At this time, I'd like to acknowledge for the record that we have been joined virtually by Commissioner Calkins, and I think that, and I have to apologize
Something came up that I have to, to run to attend to, and I really am sorry I can't hear the waterfront briefing and be here for the carnival signature, but my thoughts are with you
I should be able to monitor for a little while in transit
Thanks
And with that, we will thank and excuse commissioner Felleman for the meeting
Thank you so very much
All right, we are now at the public comment section of our agenda
The port commission welcomes public comment as an important part of the public process
Comments are received and considered by the commission in its deliberations
Before we take public comment, let's review our rules for in person and virtual public comment
Clerk Hart, go ahead and aye
the play
Madam Commission vice president, shall we do committee reports? Thank you for that correction
And as a point of order, please welcome to the to this dais presenter, Erica Chung, strategic advisor for the port commission
Miss Chung, good afternoon
Vice President Hasegawa, commissioners, and executive director Metruck
I have three committee reports for you today
On June 18, commissioners Cho and Felleman convened the Sustainability Environment Climate committee
They were briefed on the port's waterfront clean energy strategy, a roadmap for enabling clean energy infrastructure investments to support deployment of zero emission technologies and to increase energy resilience, including partnerships, components of the current implementation framework, and changing energy landscape
Commissioners were also briefed on hydrogen activities in the Pacific Northwest, including marine and aviation hydrogen applications
On June 18, the Waterfront and Industrial Lands Committee met with commissioners Fellamon and Calkins convening the meeting
There was one item for briefing and discussion, an update on Wasca site and the c 40 challenge
The audit committee met on Thursday, June 20, with commission vice president Hasegawa presiding and commissioner Calkins and public member Sarah Holmstrom in attendance
The committee heard a performance audit report regarding civil asset forfeiture from the Office of the Washington State Auditor
The audit reviewed law enforcement agencies around the state looking at their civil asset forfeiture processes and procedures
Recommendations were made with respect to the Port of Seattle Police Department and its processes compared with other agencies
Moss Adams, the port's external auditor, provided the results of the 2023 financial statement audit
The committee then heard updates from the director of internal audit, Glenn Fernandez, with respect to the internal audit organizational structure, open issues and the status of the 2024 audit plan
Performance audits were then presented on time approval controls and parking garage elevator modernization, as well as limited contract compliance audit this concludes my report
Thank you
Thank you very much
Are there any questions for Miss Chung? Seeing none, we can move forward
And now it is on to public comment
Clark, go ahead and play the video
Thank you
Give us just a moment here
The Port of Seattle Commission welcomes you to our meeting today
As noted, public comment is an important part of the public process, and the Port of Seattle Commission thanks you for joining us
Before proceeding, we will overview the rules governing public comment for your general information
Each speaker will have two minutes to speak unless otherwise revised by the presiding officer for the purposes of meeting efficiency, and the speaker shall keep their remarks within the allotted time provided a timer will appear on the screen and a buzzer will sound at the end of the speaker's comment period
The commission accepts comments on items appearing on its agenda and items related to the conduct of port business
Presiding officer will ask speakers to limit their comments to these topics
This rule applies to both introductory and concluding remarks
Disruptions of commissioned public meetings are prohibited
General disruptions include, but are not limited to, the speaking before being recognized by the presiding officer holding or placing banners and signs in the meeting room in a way that endangers others or obstructs the flow of people or view of others at the meeting intentionally disrupting, disturbing or otherwise impeding attendance or participation at a meeting refusing to follow the direction of the presiding officer or security personnel attempting to use the comment time for purposeful delay without conveying a discernible message using the comment period to assist in the campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition, except when addressing action being taken by the commission on a ballot proposition appearing on its agenda directing public comments to the audience engaging in abusive or harassing behavior, including, but not limited to, derogatory remarks based on age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, disability, pregnancy, sex, gender, sexual orientation, transgender status, marital status, or any other category protected by law, the use of obscene or profane language and gestures, assault or other threatening behavior, and sexual misconduct or sexual harassment
For safety purposes, individuals are asked not to physically approach commissioners or staff at the meeting table
During the meeting, individuals may provide written public comment before or after the meeting, and in addition, speakers may offer written materials to the commissioned clerk for distribution during their testimony to the commission
A detailed list of the public comment rules is available through the commission clerk
If a meeting is disrupted by an individual in attendance in the meeting room or by an individual providing public comment in person or virtually, the port will impose progressive consequences that may result in exclusion from future meetings
Written materials provided to the clerk will be included in today's meeting record
The clerk has a list of those prepared to speak when your name is called, please come to the testimony table or unmute yourself
If joining virtually, repeat your name for the record and state your topic related to an item on the agenda or related to the conduct of poor business
For those joining virtually when you have concluded your remarks, please turn off your camera and mute your microphone
Our public comment period will now commence
Thank you again for joining us today
Please note for the record, Commissioner Calkins has joined us in person, and with that clerk hart, please invite our first speaker
Thank you, Madam commissioned vice president
Our first speaker is joining us virtually
aye
name is Michael Witte
Michael, if you could please repeat your name for the record and your topic related to the conduct of port business or your agenda item, please
Thank you
Very good afternoon, commissioners
My name is Michael Woody
I am the chief communications officer at Visit Seattle
We're the convention and Visitors Bureau for Seattle and King county, and I'm speaking today in support of Item ten D, the authorization for executive director to enter a ten year preferential berthing agreement with the carnival corporation
The cruise industry and cruise passengers play a very important part in our economy's success and contribute significantly to Seattle's vibrancy
The Port of Seattle collaborates with the tourism industry and the small business community to ensure that the passenger experience includes access and awareness to all of the unique defining elements that our destination has to offer, and the cruise lines are collaborating as well through their participation in the new visitors visit Seattle Perks Pass, which offers special incentives for passengers to experience some of the highlights of our city during their time here
In addition, cruise is working with local industries, including farmers, food and beverage providers and retailers to help in provisioning their ships
In 2023, the cruise season in Seattle hosted 291 cruises with a record 1.7 million passengers
In addition to supporting over 5500 jobs, it is estimated that each home ported cruise ship brings 4 million s in economic impact to the region, which equates to over 900 million during the course of the season
For an added value, over 75% of cruise passengers overnight in local hotels either pre or post cruise, which drives additional economic impact to the region
All indications show that we will meet or exceed those numbers this year and we are grateful as we have for the past 25 years
We continue to welcome cruise lines and their passengers to Seattle to experience this place that we are all fortunate to call home
We ask that you approve the authorization for executive director to enter a ten year preferential birthing agreement with the carnival corporation along with the stated environmental and community requirements, business terms and data sharing
Thank you for your consideration today
Thank you very much and Madam Commission vice president
Our next speaker from the room is Kira Lisa Cadres
Welcome Kira
Please approach the dice and Kira, if you could please repeat your name for the record and your topic related to the conduct of port business or your agenda item
Thank you
Hello, my name is Kira Lisicatos and I'm representing downtown Seattle association and my topic is the cruise industry
Good afternoon commissioners
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today
My name is Kira and I am the community relations and ratepayer engagement specialist at the downtown Seattle Association, a nonprofit membership organization with a mission to create a healthy, vibrant downtown for all
The cruise season is now in full swing and I wanted to share with you the positive impact this sector is having on our members and on our downtown's economic recovery
Cruise season is an economic driver for our region and an important part of Seattle's identity as a world class city
In 2020, three's record breaking cruise season, the port welcomed over 900,000 passengers from all over the world, including Alaska, Australia and the Pacific Islands
This influx of visitors provides an economic boost for the greater Seattle area as cruise passengers eat at local restaurants, stay in downtown hotels and enjoy live music and shows
It brings thousands of people to the city each year, not only international tourists, but also locals who are drawn to the activity along the waterfront
As a community relations specialist, I get the opportunity to engage with our community members firsthand and hear their daily experience
Belltown residents say that Bell street cruise terminal is a source of local pride, and each year they look forward to seeing the direct benefits of cruise season in the neighborhood
Seattle's cruise season serves as a unique conduit that connects Seattle with the rest of the world and nourishes our local economies
At the downtown Seattle association, we celebrate tourism's local impact and recognize that a healthy cruise sector is vital to our city's economic and cultural revitalization
Thank you
Thank you very much, Clark
Please welcome the next speaker
Thank you
Our next speaker is Jeannie Oxford
And Jeannie, if you could repeat your name for the record and your agenda item or topic related to the conduct of port business, please
Thank you
Good afternoon
My name is Jenny Oxford
I'm with Columbia Hospitality, here to speak on item ten relating to the cruise industry
I work with Columbia hospitality
We're an organization that directly employs people in hotel, restaurant and distinctive venues here in our downtown market as well as across the region
It's incredibly important to us to continue to support the cruise industry here in downtown, particularly in a time when we have a lot of Seattleites still working from home
It's really refreshing for our team members to finally have the energy and vibrancy of downtown that we've been anticipating
We also are incredibly excited about the waterfront redevelopment and continue to support all of our efforts there
And seeing all of the travelers coming to enjoy this space is very important to us as an industry
We would just like to say that our team members are all supported by the travelers that come through, and we want to continue to see that vibrancy through downtown and just appreciate the port considering that
Thank you, Miss Oxford
Go ahead, Clark
Thank you
Our next speaker is Sally Andrews
Bless you
And Sally, if you could please repeat your name for the record
Your agenda item, please
Thank you
Of course
Hi, good afternoon
I'm Sally Andrews, vice president of communications and public affairs for the Cruise Lines Industry association, also known as CLIA
And I'm here speaking in support of the cruise industry
And item ten D
I'm based here in Seattle and I've spent my career in the cruise industry here locally
As Michael said, cruise contributes over 900 million in annual economic impact to Seattle in 5500 jobs
We appreciate the ongoing working relationship with the Port of Seattle in planning for the future of cruise here locally and your efforts and leadership to meet our shared sustainability goals
Today, I want to share with you two reports that I think you'll find useful resources related to the cruise industry
The first I think you have these is charting the future of sustainable cruise travel, which covers the significant progress that cruise lines have made in their pursuit of net zero emissions by 2015
This highlights key focus areas of our member lines, including climate action, sustainable tourism, affordable and clean energy, clean water and sanitation, responsible consumption, economic growth and more
These goals are in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
The report also includes a global map of ports with at least one berth, active, funded or planned for shore power
We applaud the Port of Seattle for being a leader in offering shore power
Now, for 20 years, only 3% of the world's cruise ports have shore power
I also want to highlight that one of our members, Carnival Corporation item ten D, today has 100% of their ship's home porting here in Seattle, outfitted for shore power today
The second report is called an ocean of opportunities and covers workforce development in the cruise industry
In 2024, cruise Lines will employ a multinational workforce of nearly 300,000 seafarers and tens of thousands of employees on land
The workforce is expected to grow with more than 50 new ships coming online by 2028
Cruise lines provide training, support and skills growth for seafarers, and the coming years will provide significant opportunities for training in sustainability technologies and practices
CLIA members align with the strict requirements of the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization's Maritime convention standards, commonly known as the Seafarer's Bill of Rights
Our partnerships with the Port of Seattle are Cruise show, and we thank you for your support
Thank you very much
Clark
Please welcome the next speaker
Thank you
Our next speaker is Randy Cote
Randy, if you could please repeat your name for the record and your agenda item or topic related to the the conduct of port business, please
Thank you
I'm Randy Cote, chief marketing officer for the Space, Anal and Chihuly Garden and Glass here today to talk about item ten D, the Carnival Corporation's preferential birthing agreement with the Port of Seattle
Each year, the space Needle and chihuly Garden and glass welcome over 2 million visitors, and in 2023, they were part of the 37.8 million visitors to Seattle and King county
As tourists, I like that they leave behind $787 million of state and local taxes that I don't have to pay as a resident of Seattle Lincoln county
That money circulates in our community long after they go home
And that's both visits directly impacted by the cruise industry and its overall impact as Seattle as a tourist destination
That puts us on the map
It's been 24 years since Seattle first home ported a ship
I was actually on the radiance of the Seas in 2001, one of those pilot prograMS And our business at this Needle since that time and at Chihuly gardening glass since we opened in 2012, has grown in line with the cruise industry's presence here in Seattle
It supports hundreds of jobs at our two venues, part of the 65,000 jobs in tourism here in Seattle and King county
In addition to those economic stats, you heard a little bit about this from downtown Seattle association
But those visitors from all 50 states, over 100 countries that visit us at the space Needle in Chihuly, they are those feet on the street, experiencing Seattle and helping build that positive regard for our city and region and amplifying that message back in their home states and home countries and hometowns
The cruise industry is a hugely impactful part of our tourism fabric here in Seattle and King county
And we know that in our own business and around the community
Community
And that's why we urge your full support of welcoming carnival back for the next decade and beyond
Thank you
Thank you
MR Cohen Clerk Hart
Please call the next speaker
Thank you
Our next speaker is Matt Van Toza
Matt, if you could repeat your name for the record and your topic, please welcome Matt
Good afternoon, commissioners and executive director Metruck
My name is Matt Ventoza
I'm the vice president of the International Longshore Warehouse Union, Local 19 here in Seattle
The cruise industry contributes hundreds of millions of dollars every year, not just to the local economy, but across the country
From small agricultural farms to the hotels and restaurants in and around Seattle
Not to leave out the business community in and around the world famous Pike Place market and their must see salmon toss
The cruise industry industries do not only support local businesses, it goes beyond those doors, it goes into the homes of mothers and fathers who rely on cruise ships during the summer months to support their families
These families are your neighbors, relatives, friends, and maybe even your children's coaches if they play sports or any other activity that parents volunteer for
We at the ILWU work these ships and our families rely on this income to buy groceries, pay a mortgage, associated bills that we all have in order to live on
While the ILW looks forward to the cruise lines every summer, we also look forward to the cold ironing coming online soon with these vessels at pier 62 like we already do at pier 91
We do the job of plugging in the vessels and support the plan of the port and the cruise lines that they have in place for these ships to plug in while at berth
This is the right thing to do to help reduce emissions where and when we can
I'm here to thank the port and its staff, as well as the cruise industry, for doing all that you do to contribute to our economy and for the jobs you've created for the IlWU through the cruise industry
Thank you
Thank you, MR Ventoza
Clerk Hart, please welcome the next speaker
And our final sign up today is Dlmas Whitaker
That wasn't a sign in sheet for like a ten
That's all right
We were wondering, you want to come and tell us what you've been up to? We want to see you on the big screen
All right, that's fine
Not this time
Well then, with that
Clerk Hart, will you please give us a synopsis of all the written comments that were submitted? Thank you
One moment
Let me stop sharing this
It was super cute
It was super cute
Madam Commission vice president, Madam Commission president
Joining us online, members of the commission executive director Metruck, we've received three written comments today, three similar comments, requesting the port to provide a statement regarding the sound insulation repair and replace pilot program, stating that, one, all homes that previously received packages will be eligible for the pilot program
Two, that those homes will be evaluated based on severity and longevity, and three, that members of SEA, SeaTacNoise.info will be invited to help improve the assessment phase and ensure that all affected homeowners are properly heard
And these comments come in from Betty McCready, Johnny Samra and Marianne Markanen
And that concludes our written comments received
Thank you very much, clerk Hart
Well, is there anybody else in the room who did not sign up in advance? I'd like to speak to the commission
Are you sure, Dilmas? Okay
Well, hearing no further public testimony, we will move on to our consent agenda
Items on the consent agenda are considered routine and will be adopted by one motion
Items removed from the consent agenda will be considered separately immediately after adoption on the remaining consent agenda iteMS So at this time, I would look for a motion to approve the consent agenda covering items eight, A, B, E, F, G, H and I
And I'll note there's a technical correction on item I being a date error in the termination severance pay provision
The date currently reads January 31, 2024
It should reflect January 31, 2027, trying to keep you
This error will be corrected in the final agreement before it's signed
So moved
The motion has been made by Commissioner Calkins
Do I have a second? Second
And it has been seconded by Commissioner Mohammed
Are there any general supporting comments on the items today? Just a quick note to say how much we appreciate working with you, Steve, and excited to pass the item that addresses your continued service to the port of Seattle
You've been an extraordinary executive director, and I won't embarrass you further
Commissioner Mohammed
I also echo those same sentiments as Commissioner Calkins
I'm looking forward to extending executive director Metruck contract and do thank you deeply for your leadership
And I'd just like to reiterate my gratitude and my enthusiasm for your service and your continued service to the port of Seattle and the community members that we love and are here to support
Thank you, commissioners
We're deeply appreciated and looking forward to an additional three years
Thank you, commissioners
Please say aye or nay when your name is called for approval of the consent agenda, beginning with Commissioner Calkins
Aye
Thank you
Commissioner Hasegawa
Aye
Thank you
Commissioner Mohammed
Aye
Thank you
Three ayes, zero and Nays for this item
The motion passes
Thank you so very much, and congratulations
All right, moving on
We have four new business items today
Clark, will you please read the first item into the record? And executive director Metruck will then introduce it
Thank you
This is agenda item ten
Authorization for the executive director to increase funding in the amount of $10,169,500 for renewal and replacement of fire department apparatus
Commissioners renewal and replacement of several firefighting department assets have been deferred due to the pandemic
This request before you today puts us back on track to replace our aging fleet and ensures that our firefighters have the right equipment and vehicles to carry out their important work, that they are standing to watch for 24 hours a day
So I think with that, we have both
Chief Krause
I don't know if it's deputy chief
Yeah
David didn't want to get the total
Right
Dave Jewitt
Yeah
Good afternoon
Thank you
Vice President, Commission vice president, Hasegawa commissioners, and executive director Metruck
And, Steve, congratulations on the extension of your contract
We appreciate your support as always, and look forward to working with you for the next three plus years in the future
So today I'm here before you
I brought battalion chief Dave Jewitt here for two reasons
One, he's our union vice president and he's a battalion chief
And before I get into my presentation, one of the things that we don't get a chance to do often, and I don't get a chance to speak in front of you, I want to take the liberty and kind of explain what our battalions chiefs do for us in the industry
So I'm here asking for funding for equipment as a battalion chief
Chief Jewett manages those resources that we're asking for you to approve
Today, aye
number one priority is operational readiness to make sure the men and women of our department are trained, equipped, and prepared to safely engage and initiate the services that they provide
And we provide a plethora of services, and we'll cover those services as we get into the details of the presentation and the request
So is there a next slide? So what we're asking for is executive Metruck, ability to approve the $10,169,500 to support vehicle purchases from 2019 to 2030
And you may ask, why 2019? We were engaged and ready to allocate and spend $5 million back then, but we deferred it when COVID hit
So as we were getting back into assessing the fleet and identifying what we needed to replace, we extended that from the original thought process
And we would have been before you if had COVID not aye
us
I'm asking for 5 million
So we bundled all of that, and we have not been before commissioned before
So we bundled all that for a 2019 through 2030 purchase
And I have pictures of the vehicles that will show you the years of the vehicles and what we're asking for
So you can see that we're working with central procurement
Once approved, if approved, we will be working with central procurement, and we're looking at possible cooperative agreements and various methods of allocating these purchases
Is there a next slide? I'm going to go to the next one
We'll skip that one
So here's the bigger picture of the purchase
What we're asking for today is to replace two ARF vehicles, one structural engine, a hazardous materials vehicle, a technical rescue, and I'll stop on hazardous materials
So one of the things that we do, we're very, we're a significant resource within the community
So within the south end of King county, we respond often, which you may or may not be aware of off site to support our mutual aid agencies
Not only do we do that in engine response for structural firefighting, ARF response to help them with large petroleum based fires, but we also have a significant posture within the region for hazardous material
Currently, our hazardous materials vehicle houses both our technical rescue and hazardous materials equipment
One, we go off site for hazardous materials or technical rescue, we lose the other capability on site, or we have a reduced capability, not that we lose it
So we're asking, we're going to be splitting those two vehicles out as part of this request is a stair truck, two aid units or ambulances, and then two gators
And I have pictures of all this coming up in the additional slides
Next slide
In the previous slide
It did show that some of these vehicles could take, as it's showing here, up to four years to receive
So we're going to be replacing a 2010 engine with a new engine
We're going to be replacing a 1989
So our fleet is aging and in need of replacement
So we looking at replacing eight cars and engines every seven to ten years
But we work with the aviation division
We don't just automatically take for granted that would be allocated those resources
It depends on the financial capability and position of the airport at the time
When COVID aye
and dropped us in 2008, it dropped
We don't ask for money in times and we're trying to do our, our part in contributing to softening that when we were in hard times
So that's what we do
The 1989, actually, when I first got to the port in 2010, that vehicle only had 5000 miles on it
It's got low miles, but it's outdated technology and it's in dire need of
Just because it hasn't been driven a lot, it's been used and abused and is in need of repair
That vehicle does go offsite for mutual aid responses into Auburn and other areas like that
And we need a better vehicle to support our men and women that provide that response
Next slide
We're going to be replacing a 2010 and 22,008 unit
And you may be asking, why are we asking for two? The 2000 operates better than the 2010 and has maintained a better serviceable life
I would talk to our mechanics and it warrants replacing both of them at this request
And we'll be asking for two ARF vehicles, the 2006 and the 2010
And so as you see, there's significant lead time in getting this vehicles
And my request today is to authorize executive director Metruck so that we can bundle all these purchases and move forward so that we're not coming back to commission for each vehicle purchase
I did that in the past and that just is cumbersome
And I want to be able to move through so that our men and women can have these vehicles in the fleet and take advantage of the new technology and better, more reliable equipment
Next slide
So one of the things that we are looking at doing, not last year, not last, the last triennial drill, with the FAA mandated drill that we do, that's large scale, that we bring all the outside entities into
The port city of Seattle operates gators for some of their big events where they have crowds, because the gators are mobile and agile and can get in and around things for our clear zones on the north end and the south end of the runways, it was identified not last triangle drill, the previous one
And when Seattle brought their gators out, that that was something, that was a gap
So we're asking for this as part of that purchase and what these would do
One, they could be, they could move firefighters to scene and in and out of incidents, because on the air field, it can be significant travel distance to and from things
It can move patients back to treatment, triage, and transport, and it can pull trailers so that we could colloquially locate many patients on that particular tool that we'd be using to effectively, more effectively manage a large scale incident with a lot of injuries
The red vehicle you see there is what we're considering a technical rescue
It's a smaller scale, more agile
We do respond technical rescue
We have a rope team
You may or may not be aware of that
They do mutual aid support into the gorge down in black Diamond, Auburn, for some of the swimming incidents and stuff like that
So that's what we're looking for as part of this purchase as well
Next slide
A lot of the airports are using ladder trucks
I've considered ladder trucks
So I just wanted to show this slide is that we don't take it lightly and we're not asking for anything that we don't need
So I want you to know that a lot of the airports are using ladder trucks to get firefighters on aircraft, and they use stair trucks to get passengers off of aircraft
We're weighing the opportunity and the feasibility to maybe initiate this tool into our repertoire, but I'm not asking for it at this time
I wanted to socialize it, though, that we are thoughtful and considerate of what we're asking for
We also operate under very congested conditions and parameters around the airport, and this vehicle would have to also respond to aid calls and other things
And it's a bigger piece of equipment, and as it gets more and more congested and tighter, as chief Jewett would attest to, for even eight calls, sometimes with a smaller profile vehicle, it's fine
It's really hard to find places to locate those vehicles on those responses
Next slide
So some other considerations
I thought to share the expense dollars to outfit the apparatus
So the request today is for capital for apparatus
As part of my annual budget, when I pitch to the aviation division, I ask for expense dollars
The equipment and tools, hose equipment that will be added to these will be part of an expense request at a different time, but it'll be part, it'll be in part in conjunction with receiving that
So if I receive a vehicle in 2025, I prepare the budget for 2025 to ask for associated tools and equipment to support that purchase
We want to engage CPO and be more active
We're just opening up and exploring opportunities to do cooperative agreements
There's government contracts out there that have already done the vetting for purchasing and the competitive nature of the purchasing, and we're hoping to engage in some of those agreements
And then just disposition, you may ask
Disposition of replaced equipment
We look for multiple options, and we don't do this alone
We work with our stakeholders in house to do we sell at auction? Do we donate locally? Is there a possibility to donate internationally? Because some of our outdated equipment works really good, like at the Puget Sound or skills Puget Sound Skills center, where they train firefighters
It still has many more years of life in that capacity, and then just put up their depreciation schedules and interesting impacts to the asset
Things to consider
And then just note that we are not only do we provide services and excellent services at the airport, I would be remiss if I didn't get the chance to speak before you and say that I can honestly say we have the best airport fire department in the country by far
We operate twelve minimum staffing every single day
There's airports that have more people than us
I've been challenging Lance and others and asking for more people, but I committed to aye
and to you that we provide with our 18 far surpass the services that most of the airports provide at the airport
And that's why I have Chief Jewett here, because he manages all those resources
One of the things that you don't see is how, you know, I have a
So, as a fire chief, I have two assistant chiefs
Battalion chiefs are our incident commanders every day
So when we're home sleeping at night, it's in Dave's hand, in aye
team's hands, to manage those incidents
And they do that flawlessly at the highest of levels, day in and day out, 24, 7365 days a year
So I get to brag on them a little bit, and the team and all that, you know, what they do, and you hear the accolades
And we were just talking before the meeting, and somebody reached out
Just the compassion, the caring, the kindness, and the professionalism that our men and women show every day out there allows us to sleep at night because we know it's in good hands
I think that's my last slide
Is there another one? The questions
And then I'll say, Dave, if you have anything you want to add
Yeah
Good afternoon, everybody
Dave Jewett
I've been here 27 years, battalion chief union vice president for local 1257
Thank you for having us and listening to the presentation
I can absolutely say I was in charge of apparatus for about ten years for us
So Chief Krause is spot on with our knees that we are asking for today
It's not too much
All of the things that are on that list I assign daily
And sometimes it would be nice to have some improvements on those
Some are dilapidated and pretty old
The HAZMAT truck we just went last week to camp for a chlorine spill and at the top of the hill it was going 18 miles an hour and blowing smoke and my driver almost turned around, coasted down the hill and was trying to find another route
So that was embarrassing
It happens
We use our equipment, you know, very hard 24/7 so everything that we asked for today, I'm complete agreements from the labor side that Chief Krause nailed it and that should get us through and improve our equipment and have good backup equipment for quite some time
Thank you very much
Is there anything else to add on behalf of staff? And I'll turn to my colleagues for questions and comments
Commissioner Calkins, I always love it when in a presentation there's a kind of wrap up slide with you deemed them considerations and you absolutely nail the questions that come up in one of our minds as we're reading through the briefing
And one of the questions is how do we dispose of the equipment that we already have have so address that
I'll be curious to know the answer
I'm sure you'll find the best opportunity for these to continue to serve, whether that's locally or internationally or as some sort of training vehicle or auction off for another department to use
My other big question was around associated staffing needs with these pieces of equipment
So some of them are a one to one replacement
You mentioned the Gatorade or a new addition
Does that require more staffing or additional training for us to learn how to use these new pieces of equipment either as replacements or entirely new piece of equipment? That's a really, really good question
This particular request does not come with a new staffing
I'm always pushing aviation division
I'm asking for more staffing to be better utilize on the ground
We are the one of the for the airport our size we have lower staffing levels than a lot of the other airports
But as I mentioned earlier, we execute and deliver that service to its capacity today
It doesn't mean I won't be coming back to ask for
We cross
So not today, but we cross staff the HAZMAT and tech rescue
So that does take people out of
Out of Dave cheap
Stewart would have to backfill
So if we go, if they're in Kent at a chlorine spill, he's got three people down there
He's backfilling the staff to make sure that we can maintain the same level of support at the airport
So that happens often
And so at this point in time, we cross staff, HAZMAT, tech rescue
I add the gators
That's going to be cross staffed
We'd be able to
We're going to do our best to support that when we can
And then the stair truck would be another vehicle that we'd be cross staffing at this point in time
But I'm always putting pressure on the system and asking, but we want to
Even in those requests, we're not asking for staffing because we think it just because we want more people, it's because we're utilizing those individuals on the tools that we're providing so that we can execute to the best of our abilities
And one thing you cannot
I can't downplay enough
If we were to have a significant incident, if Chief Jewett and aye
team are out there at 02:00 in the morning, twelve, it could be 05:00 a.m
in the morning
A seven three seven full of people
Heaven forbid those incidents happen and people are distressed and they're on the ground
They may be injured or not injured
We don't have any
18 people is not enough
25 people is not enough
So it's dialing in that number to do the most good
And what we shoot for is in the first ten or 15 minutes, we are on our own
So Chief DeWitt and aye
team are on their own in that first ten or 15 minutes before the plethora of mutual aid
We have a great mutual aid relationship and great agreements within the county
So Puget Sound fire provides fire services to SEATAC
Puget Sound will be in immediately
Their adjacent agencies
Tukwilla is going to be in right behind them, South King right behind them
And then he's going to be assigning those resources to aye
best of ability based on what he sees at the time
And so, you know, we do the
I think we execute at a very high level with our 18 and we're continuing to ask for more so that we can better allocate those tools
And it's, we work within a division that's stressed with a lot of needs
I'm one of many people that would sit before you to say the same thing
I could see our maintenance team for preventative maintenance and stay on top of all that stuff
They're at their max capacity as well
It's an evolving, ever changing environment, so we're always asking for
But it's then with our leadership making sure that they understand what our needs are as compared to the priorities of the division
So I hope that answered the question
It does
I had one more comment, too, which is anytime at the port, we're replacing vehicles or equipment, particularly, that runs on some form of fossil fuel
We're always looking for ways to
Could we electrify it? Could we introduce a new, innovative lower emission fuel source or energy source? And let me just clarify that emergency vehicles are at this point the lowest tier on that potential prioritization of replacements because we need 100 years of proven reliability and energy storage
It's something we, in my day job, we think about a lot, which is how do you ensure that in the event of a disaster, you can operate these things, even if the grid is
We're off grid, or essentially, we need to be able to run these things for days at a time without being able to literally plug them in or, you know, go to the local gas station
But people that have an energy source that we can use, and so we need our fire trucks and our ambulances running in spite of disaster
If I could just add to that one of the things we were approached, and I shared this with Sarah Cox from environmental
We were approach
One of the things that you may not, we don't raise our flag all the time, but we are a very progressive, out in front department in the nation
People look to us
I mean, we're, as executive director had mentioned, we are in the middle of our foam transition
So we've cleaned two trucks
They both have clean, new foam in it, and we used a cleaning technology
We are the first to use a cleaning technology
So we're out there leading the industry, trying to do the best that we can, and we couldn't do that with all the great relationships that we have internally with environmental operations and others
I was approached by an aircraft rescue fireman, the big truck manufacturer
They wanted us to be the first electric vehicle purchaser of that technology because they said, if you guys do it, others will follow
I won't say other departments that may be interested in doing it, but people aren't going to follow them
But just in the last few weeks, these vehicles, the way we spec them and the way chief Jewett's team uses them
Our aircraft rescue vehicles have structural panels
We're critical infrastructure
If we have a major event, heaven forbid, an earthquake, all of our vehicles are going to be out there working, and they're going to be working for significantly longer periods of time
Then that battery will facilitate that
So I was really disappointed up front that we weren't able to line up certain things to be the first
But I don't think it's, I don't think that, as you had mentioned, Commissioner Calkins, I don't think the technology is there yet
So we're evaluating and assessing, and we will get there
It's just we need the rest of the infrastructure for resilience before we can swap out our emergency vehicles, which have to be ready all the time
Commissioner Mohammed, thank you
And thank you for the presentation and for the work that you all do
I did have just a quick question
This project was approved under the aviation investment committee in 2018 at about $5 million, is my understanding
And the request today is for $10 million
Were any of the funds received at that time? I'm just trying to figure out
I see you shaking
Yeah
Thank you for that, because that's a really good question
So I had originally pitched this in 2018 to the aviation investment committee, got approval for $5 million for a lesser number of vehicles, and then we never executed any
So we hadn't, that package had not been before commission
So when I was actually writing specs for a HAZMAT vehicle and getting that lined up, and in 2023, I went to the team and said, well, we've deferred since COVID What do we really need? I want to ask and get it right
I don't want to ask for a capital or execute those funds and then come back to you shortly thereafter for more funds
So what I went to our capital team and said, here's where I'm at
Do I ask for a new CIP to support the future needs, needs, or do I combine them? And they recommended that I combine them since I hadn't been before you
And so this is my first request before you today
And so that was deferred because of COVID The economic situation at the airport didn't support us even asking
So we didn't even ask
We just did our part
And we have really good mechanics that are able to maintain them, but that doesn't need to, as Chief Jud alluded to
They're tired
Some of those pieces of equipment are tired and definitely are in need of replacement
And it's about maintaining operational readiness at the highest of levels
We're not asking for the Cadillac, but we're not asking for the Hugo either
We're asking for something in between so that we can maintain our ability to provide excellent service
I hope that answered their question
That does
That's helpful because I wasn't sure if this was an additional amount or if it was totaling in 15,000
It's combined
It's combined, yeah
So the original purchase request was for 2019 to 2023
So that's why you see 2019 through 2030
So it's combined
That makes a lot of sense
Chief, thank you
Yeah, that's
That's my only question
And again, thank you for your leadership and your work, and I look forward to supporting this item today
Great, I guess
Chief, what
What's a rope team? You said some
Yeah, we have a tech rescue team, rope team that will do all high and low angle rescues
So when the crane was here, if the crane operator 297ft up had an issue, we have the ability to get a litter repel and take care of that person
We've done it off the water tower at the airport, off the roof when contractors had heart attacks
We just have a multitude of rollover car rollover
Maybe 20ft down embankment
We can go down there safely with the rope team, secure the car, secure a litter, secure the patient, bring them up, things like that
So it's whenever somebody needs help and they're at a high or low angle that we otherwise couldn't get to, we have a daily staffing of a team that will take their rope, bags, their equipment, and go out and handle that scenario
Thank you
And then can you go to slide five, please? Clerk Hart, if I may just add to that
So one of the things
And the airport's on a plateau
Right
So if you go short of the airport from the north end, you're down
You could be hundreds of feet below grade
And we can come from below, or we can come depending upon where that's at, so we could stabilize and be able to help mitigate a rescue with the tech rescue team
It's really interesting to have this opportunity to get an insight into how you do your jobs
And it's one of the most beloved professions that I think has captures the heart of so many Americans
I mean, even my daughter, three and a half years old, it's a huge deal whenever the wheel
Wheel goes by
Okay, so slide five
Here we are at the bottom right
What did you call this vehicle? The bottom right
Yeah
So that's a hazardous materials vehicle
So the one on the left is
It's like a box truck or like an old
We say like a bread truck
They have sliding doors on it
That's the newer technology of a hazardous materials vehicle
So it's not
That doesn't have water and it doesn't have hose
It has equipment to support
And a lot of those have actually inside with computers and tables for incident command to do research and analysis of whatever the chemical or product they're dealing with
So that's a hazardous materials vehicle
Do we have
I mean, I saw the other field vehicle that can go and transport people in a stretcher, but do we have like an ambulance component or anything like that? So we
So we have the two, eight cars that run our eight calls every day
Currently at the airport, we have a
And I didn't show it here
I took it out of this presentation
I did have it in this presentation early on
We have what we call a mass casualty incident
It's a tractor trailer
So it's able to treat in excess of 400 patients
So we have tons of backboards and totes full of medical equipment for large scale medical incidents
And one of the things that's unique here in King county is that we have medic one
And it's
I mean, by far, you know, we have just brag on our department because we do have the highest witness cardiac safe rate in the world at our airport
But the county, King county in general, has the highest safe rate worldwide as well as a whole
So if you were to have a cardiac arrest anywhere in the county where the, whether it's North Bend hiking or at the airport or at south center mall, you're getting the same level of care and treatment
So we have a big unit that has a ton of equipment to support injured patients
The medic unit and the ambulance system in the county will come into a large scale event like that
And they set up a triage treatment and transport corridor
And if you haven't been out to one of our triennial drills and seen that magic happen, it is phenomenal
We've brought people from all over the world out here to watch our triangle drills, and they're just blown away by how the unison and the orchestrated activity, coordinated effort to be able to mitigate, manage, assess large amounts of people that are potentially injured in a really, really short period of time and get them packaged, secure, safe and off the airfield
So we
If that more than what you asked for
But yeah, we have a vehicle that's specifically designed with all that equipment that's brought out there, and that's cross staffed as well
Okay
I actually really am interested to go and be able to observe an operation like that
I don't know how often those drills take place, but somebody's going to be in touch so that I can be able to do that
And just to clarify, I don't have to wear anything that weighs 200 pounds to it unless you want to
Okay
Yeah
I've seen the pictures, and I don't know if I'm cut out for that
Leave it to the pros
And then I'm wondering, who does manufacture these vehicles? There's multiple manufacturers, so we
So there's a couple things we do a competitive bid process
So the big ArF vehicles at the airport, there's predominantly two Oshkosh and Rosenbauer
We have a mixed fleet
We have three Oshkosh currently, and we have two Rosenbauers
And so we competitively bid at this point in time
And not necessarily do we go with low bid, but we go with something that meets our needs
And the other thing that a lot of people ask is there is sometimes some grant funding they can allocate
We have an MCI, actually, a mobile command vehicle that was purchased on seaport security grant money, and that's housed at our station as well
Great
Thank you
And I do see a note here that all the purchases will be coordinated through both CPO and the assigned buyer to ensure diversity and contracting is considered
So I'm pleased to see that
Thank you so much
You answered the question
We're abundantly clear that this is not the space where you ask for additional staff
I appreciate having insight into how you all operate, how you do it thoroughly and efficiently
And so I'm not going to press you, but I think there's interest among us because we are headed into a renewed budgeting season
So just a note to say that we'll be looking for that
You know, I'll be asking staff questions about how many more people would you need and how would you use them
But an investment into the work that you do is an investment into community and public safety
And I think that it's really important that we highlight the mutual aid and the interlocal aspect to that
So thank you for entertaining us as we do pose those questions
I don't have any further questions
So is there anything else to add from staff executive director, Metruck? Not at this time, commissioner
Thank you, Chief
And Italian? Chief
All right
Well, hearing no further questions for this item, is there a motion and a second to approve item ten a
So moved
So moved
Second
The motion has been made by Commissioner Mohammed and seconded by Commissioner Calkins
Clerk Hart, please call the roll
Thank you
Beginning with Commissioner Calkins
Aye
Thank you, Commissioner Hasegawa
Aye
Thank you, Commissioner Mohammed
Thank you
Three ayes, zero and Nays for this item
The motion passes
Thank you so very much, Chief
We appreciate both of your being here today
Thank you
Thank you for your support
Thank you
A pleasure, Claire
Cart
Please read the next item into the record and executive director Metruck will introduce it
Thank you
This is Agenda Item Ten B, authorization for the Executive director to approve a total project budget of $154,500,000 and to allocate $85,800,000 of that budget for the post IAF airline realignment project at Seattle Tacoma International Airport and to execute the maximum allowable construction and cost contract amendment, any related project change, orders, amendments, work authorizations, purchases, contracts, and to take any actions necessary to support and deliver the project within the approved budget
Commissioners, this project aims to relocate airline operations from Concourse A to concourse B to accommodate international flights at Concourse A gates
The project also includes office space, renovations and ticket counter reconfiguration at both concourses
We're now at a point where we have greater cost certainty, and we are asking for your approval of a total project project budget at this time
So the presenters this afternoon are Jason Johnson, who, I guess, or you, virtual
Virtual
Yeah, Jason, there you are, Jason
Jason Johnson, assistant director, airline affairs and aviation properties
Stuart Matthews, assistant Director, aviation project management, and Sean Anderson, capital program leader
So with that, I guess I'm going to turn over you, Jason
Thank you
Executive Director Metruck
Good afternoon, commissioners
Next slide, please
We are returning for 6th time in front of you to discuss this project
So, as executive director mentioned, this is basically facilitating a swap of gates between United Airlines and Delta between Concourse's a and B
This requires a significant build out of space on the ramp level of b to accommodate united and represents the bulk of the scope of the work for the project
The swap is necessary to relocate United from international capable gates on Concourse a that, per the terms of this signatory lease and operating agreement, their domestic only operation would have secondary priority to international operations
When we were last before you in January, we indicated we would be back once the construction costs were better known
So here we are
MR Andelson will provide further details on this aspect in a minute
In advance of that, I'd like to provide you some additional information with respect to our conversations with airlines on this project
So Delta Airlines has been requesting the port to accelerate the project schedule as much as possible
The port project team has analyzed the project schedule and determined that it is as optimized as it can be given the scope of the project, since that acceleration wasn't possible, Delta then requested for the port to force a move of United gate operations to Concourse B in advance of their support space being completed
This request furthered Delta's desire to lease the gates currently assigned to United's, which are adjacent to Delta's new lounge at the south end of Concourse A, which is under construction and anticipated to open in November of this year
Based on this request, we reached out to United and to find what they would need to facilitate such a request
The list that they provided was deemed unacceptable by staff given that we would only achieve roughly, potentially a five month benefit to the project
So as such, we looked at other options and landed on as part of the gate reallocation for 2025, the normal process, we would relocate United's preferential gates from the very end of a to the middle of a, giving Delta the gates next to their new lounge and keeping United's operation in relative proximity to their existing space on concourse a
Neither airline is completely happy with this, but we feel it provides both impacted airlines the majority of their express needs at a minimum of cost
With that, I'll turn the presentation over to MR Anderson to go through the rest of it
Good afternoon, commission vice president, commissioners and executive director, Metruck
We are here today to request two actions
First, to increase the project budget to $154.5 million and to execute the maximum allowable construction cost, or mag
Taking these steps today allows the remainder of the project's construction to begin
The budget increase to accommodate scope changes, market conditions and schedule mitigations, among other reasons, the details of which we will dive into a little bit shortly here, though higher than we had earlier anticipated when we had a range that went up to $140 million, has stabilized as shown by the next slide
With our cone of certainty, and as we are moving in project status to the right on the cone, it gets narrower
And now that we have all of our construction bids are in and we are closer to the start of the major elements of construction, we have much more certainty on our costs at this time
The next slide will show our cost breakdown and highlights the budget increase and additional authorization that we need to complete the project again
While we had been forecasting the budget range that you see here, between 102 and $140 million since January, with the completion of design and the bidding process, we were able to request the balance of the project's estimated cost today
Please note that the remaining amount to be authorized, shown on the bottom of that table, is for the United lounge, which is being completed as a separate project
A separate part of the project through United Airlines and a separate request for that work will be forthcoming at a later date
The next slide I am just going to move us past because the slide seven actually has a better write up of where the cost increases are coming from
So our construction cost has increased due to increased scope, partly for building code and accessibility improvements, additional temporary measures and market conditions, and I've got a further slide that I'll share some more about that
And then our design and soft costs increased also due to these increases in project scope and additional resources for design response and to address complexities such as staffing from multiple construction sites
The next slide shows our phased project schedule
You can see that the enabling work is underway, which was authorized earlier
Our major schedule target remains the in use date for the airline operational space on the ramp of Concourse B along with those gate preparations for operations and is set for the third quarter of 2025
Work will continue past the move of airlines and we anticipate being able to complete all of the work in early 2026
We brought the next slide in just to kind of highlight a little bit the complexity of what we're undertaking here
In one sense, I would look at the project and think, why is an office remodel so costly and taking so much time, where in fact we're doing much more than a simple remodel of space? It includes the major installations of building air handlers that are being installed on the mechanical penthouse above the public concourse level and new ramp or ground level building additions out to the edge of the existing concourse level, what we call the drip line, and along with interior amenities, additional circulation space and restrooms that I will further highlight on the next slide
These are two images of the ramp level floor plan for concourse B
Top one is what it looks like today, how the spaces are allocated and the future
One is when the project is completed
You can see comparing the top image to the bottom image, you can see new interior space added along both sides of the building out to what I call the drip line
A new interior corridor has been installed just past what we call the dogleg, the turn in the concourse down two toward the left in the image really to provide much more accessible interior circulation space that the current project doesn't or the current site does not have today
We're also just trying to highlight the number of impacted airlines and the amount of space we need to touch in order to complete the project on Convourse B
Can you just clarify? Because the key doesn't say, what's the blackout piece on the top? I'm sorry, could that piece
Yeah, it's united down below, but it's
Good afternoon, commissioners
I believe that's an unoccupied space at this time is a mechanical space that's getting converted into a new space as well
So thanks
If we move to the next slide, we'd like to highlight for you the efforts we've taken to address the project sustainability framework
While we presented this to the SEAC committee this may, we thought it would be important to share with you today as well
The project is a tier two project for environmental regulatory compliance, and our primary focus has been equity, carbon and energy and material strategies
You can see each of those strategies and the steps we've been able to take with the project highlighted in the green box on the right, including general neutral restrooms for the ramp workers on the ramp level of concourse B, that new safe and accessible interior corridor, and improved employee access to daylight
At the ramp level, at those edges that we've built out, we're improving efficiency with updated controls to project systems, and we're replacing gas water heating with electric
We are making exterior envelope thermal improvements as well, and then removing PVC materials from the project specifications and placing greater emphasis on recycled materials that can meet our high standard of durability
On the next slide, we'll see that no project is without risks and some still remain for this project, including unforeseen conditions
We have quite an older portion of the airport that will be renovating and expanding
We also have known component lead times that we've been accounting for
And of course, our phasing is quite complex as we work to get those spaces open and to maintain operations as well
And with that concludes our prepared remarks and we kind, kindly request authorization of item ten b and are happy to take any questions you have
Thank you very much for the presentation
So at this time, I'll turn to my colleagues to see if they have any questions
Commissioner Mohamed
Sure
Happy to start
I did have a question
It's my understanding that if you were to choose to delay the
If we chose to delay the authorization of this item today, that would get us to a cost certainty, but that that would lead to some uncertainties around when the construction would start
By how long would that delay be? Would it be a couple of months, a year? Is there an exact amount of time? That's a very good question
The delay is likely at the minimum, it would be day for day
Although, you know, we have been lining up contractors to get started
They have certain expectations of when construction would begin
And as that changes, it could disrupt their ability to start our work when we anticipated
And that can be difficult to quantify exactly what that delay could be
And then how do you justify that? Thinking about, like, for instance, once you put your dollar amount out there, I would think that in some ways it would help your negotiation by not having the maxed amount out there
That might help with negotiations
Well, we are very close in negotiating the mag, you know, which gives us cost certainty around the construction
The remaining, there are some remaining pieces, such as the work with United Airlines set for their lounge, that still, it's going, going to take more design effort to fully understand its costs
But, you know, I feel confident with what we are achieving with our maximum allowable, allowable construction cost, including construction and project contingencies
My hope is not to be in front of you with this project again in the future
And could I just add a little bit to that point, commissioner, for those areas where we don't absolutely have the cost certainty, and as Sean noted, most of our competitive bids have been received and are in at this time
There are allowances and negotiated support services within the contracts, but those are performed on a reimbursed basis in which those are audited by an independent audit firm as well
They are only, the contractors, only paid through the GCCM methodology for the work that's actually performed
So we do have some checks and balances there as well
That's really helpful
And I see director little is on additional thoughts
Yes, commissioner, I think for a delay, another concern would be on the operation side
If you remember, the primary purpose of the project is to actually move united, which is a domestic operations only, so we can get those gates to be used for international service, which is, we're woefully short when it comes to international arrival gates
So if we delay the project, we'd actually delay using those gates for international arrivals
Thank you, Director Leto, for that additional information and comments
That's really helpful
The one last question I had is, is I know that this project is also going to overlap with other projects or construction happening at the airport
As far as maybe the bag optimization program goes, can you maybe speak to how the project teams are coordinating to make sure that it has the least impact on the public or travelers? Yes, we do have several different venues that we actively coordinate all of the upcoming construction work
The primary, one of the primary projects that will be occurring in the proximity of this project is some airfield pavement work that's going to take place around Concourse B
We have coordinated those two projects, these two projects, so that they're minimizing our impacts, both to airline operations and to the traveling public
And we will continue with utilizing these resources of the project teams coming together and ensuring that we're well coordinated with the impacts that we're going to have
Thank you for those answers
That concludes my questions
Thank you again for the presentation, Commissioner Calkins
So my first question is just from our experience over the last few years, both during COVID and after, we've had significant capital projects delayed because of delivery of critical pieces of the construction project
So thinking of the waterfront, the shore power project for pier 66, something missed a boat
Literally missed a boat that delayed the project
I'm wondering about those critical pieces of the construction project
Are we thinking ahead paying a little extra for storage to make sure they're here and available and get them in? Because quite honestly, my greatest concern is schedule on this
I've seen you all deliver great projects, high quality projects
I just want to make sure that we are doing everything possible, possible to not only not miss schedule, but accelerate if possible
It was great
It was the first I'd heard that we delivered our security gates project ahead of schedule
Not granted, didn't have to move any walls or pillars or utilities around for that one
So it's a significant little bar for, but an excellent precedent to set for us
And I'd love to see us move schedules ahead as often as possible to the left, as they say
So to that question, what are we doing to ensure that our timeline holds and could potentially improve if things went smoother than we anticipated? I would say to begin with, we have the adopted, we're using the general contractor construction manager method to deliver the project
That has allowed us to work with not only the general contractor, but also bringing in electrical and mechanical subcontractors
That has really helped us define some of those pinch points where we could take advantage and speed things up
It does give us the ability as well to work with those entities, entities to ensure that we're taking those sorts of steps that you're bringing up
You know, what could we do to advance this even more? So, I'd say that is one of our steps that we're taking
We're continually continuing as a team to review our schedule on a weekly basis to understand you know how these developments are coming about and what steps could we take to alleviate them if we need to
We do have, I think, a pretty reasonable contingency to allow for, if we had to expedite shipping of an item, for instance, that isn't already included in our contract
That's something we'd be continually examining as we advance project
And I'll just segue off of that and add a few more points to it
So to that item specifically, we actually have a line item within our negotiated agreement with the contractor that is for potential acceleration
So we've earmarked money already set aside for, you know, freight expediting or storage or extra shifts, any of those things, as a, as an element that we built in so we don't have to come back and ask for that again
Much of the negotiated support services are for temporary systems and facilities that allow us to decouple parts of the project from that key work on B concourse
So, for example, you saw the schedule going out for other packages
The H vac component of this project that serves concourse B actually goes out much longer, but we've, we've included temporary air handling systems to allow that to be occupied and functional long before the main, very large portion of the h vac system is complete
So we're looking at all of those with, as Sean noted, the contractor's input on where we can gain schedule, where we have opportunities
It's the contractor schedule that you're seeing the responses for here
So it's their dates that we're reporting to you
My other question is, you know, I know we're also in the process of renewing our agreement with airlines
I think we refer to it as Sloa signatory lease and operating agreement, is that correct? Which comes up every few years and involves gate allocations and considerations around a whole host of things
And the metaphor I think I'd use in thinking through all of the airport planning that you have to do and the negotiations with so many different partners, it's as if you are playing chess with five other, a dozen other people all at the same time
And it's not just, it's ten of you behind the chessboard, all trying to decide what the next move is
And so you've got somebody who's interested in operations and another person that's interested in budgets and another person that's interested in safety, and you're all trying to figure out what the right move is, and you're playing twelve different games at the same time
So I do not envy you all trying to figure out schedules and budgets and how to make all this stuff work on a relatively small footprint
And I want to applaud that
Absolutely
But my question is, when I think about this and the extraordinary expenses takes to do these gate switches, what happens if a year from now United swallows up spirit or frontier or Alaska buys southwest? Just kidding
But let's say there's a major realignment in the carriers and we need to accommodate
Are we building any sort of agility into this so that we could accommodate a significant change that's outside of our control? I'm going to let our business and properties and managing director Lance Little or Jason Johnson speak to that one
Punt
Lance, do you want to go first or shall I? I don't want to go, but I'll go first
Again, if I could reiterate, the objective is to move a domestic only carrier from a concourse a so we can use it for international operations
If, for example, United is now on b and, you know, their structure changes because they're part of a merger or acquisition, we can always reallocate gates
We have common use gate
We have preferential use gates
I think those gates would be allocated based on what the new entity would be, but it still wouldn't stop the purpose of the project, which is to actually have these gates available for international service
Jason, you can maybe go ahead and add to that
Yeah, and I would just add, I mean, if a merger like that happens, as has in the past when, for example, when Delta Northwest merged, the airline that does the merging pays for the relocations, if any, that are part of that
So we have not in the past paid for the relocations as a result of mergers
Okay
Appreciate it
Thanks so much
I'd like to note for the record that Commissioner Cho has joined the meeting
Commissioner Cho, we are on item ten b, and this is actually the moment for you to ask questions, if you were to have any
Otherwise, I can go ahead and jump in
All right
I just want to thank Commissioner Calkins for that question
If you can move to slide ten, please
All right
So, I mean, I was just looking at this, and I was just hoping that you could reiterate for me what the impact on the tenants would be
So what you see on the upper slide, that blue area to the upper right, is going to change significantly with the addition of the change in use from the dark blue to the lighter blue, as well as the construction of that corridor through that space
All of those elements need to be relocated in order for that work to occur
And we're working with the relevant airlines in that space in order to affect those changes
Okay
So they've been providing input on this process, no surprises to anybody
And there's
I'm also hearing you say there is flexibility in case there's anything that changes in the dynamic or arrangement
Exactly
So we're building
We're providing off site temporary space as well for airlines
If the impacts prove too onerous, they have other space they can move to as well
Okay
Thank you
Commissioner Cho, anything from you? You know, one of the things that I think I had asked during my initial briefing with you and the team was around how long this project will take relative to how much it will cost
And, you know, obviously, this is going to take a while because there's a lot of moving pieces
But I think initially, when I received my present, my briefing, my concern was that, is this taking too long where we are inflating the cost of this problem project because time is money
Right
And so I think the way that I framed the question was, have we looked at any more accelerated timelines and any cost savings that might provide us? Because we're not stretching out
We're stretching it out as much
In other words, is there a way where we could just rip the band aid off? Right
We go through a shorter period of more pain
You get the project done quicker and at a lower dollar amount
So if we could just address that real quickly for the public and for my refresher
So, commissioner, on that item, we have worked extensively with our contractor
Again, the advantage of the GCCM contracting method is we've got the folks that have to build it there with us looking for those options to accelerate in discussions with them and our discussions with our construction management team to build what we have to build without basically shutting a large portion of the concourse down and shutting down many more gates to do it
There wasn't anything more significant where we still hope to continue to gain weeks, maybe months throughout the course of this, but it's, as we noted, very complex work with a lot of unknowns behind the walls and under the floor and in the ceilings in difficult spaces
So they didn't feel there was anything short of a very significant closure of a portion of the terminal that we just didn't feel was warranted by this
Thanks for that context
Okay, we'll seeing no further questions or comments
Is there a motion, a second to approve
Approve item ten b
So moved
I'll second
The motion's been made by Commissioner Calkins and seconded by Commissioner Cho
Is there any further discussion or debate on the item? Seeing none
Clerk Hart, please call the roll
Thank you
Commissioner Calkins
Aye
Thank you
Commissioner Cho
Aye
Thank you
Commissioner Hasegawa
Aye
Thank you
And Commissioner Mohamed
Aye
Thank you
Four ayes, zero nays for this item
Excellent
Well, the motion passes
Thank you so very much for the presentation
Thank you
Thank you
Thanks, guys
And we will move on to the next item
Clark Hart, please read it into the record and executive director Metruck will introduce it
Thank you
This is agenda item ten c, authorization for the executive director to approve funding to complete design and permitting to advertise, award and execute an owner furnished equipment contract and to authorize use of Port of Seattle crews and small works contracts to support the design, development and construction execution for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations for waterfront fleet vehicles
And the amount requested of $5 million and a total estimated project budget cost of $5,300,000
Commissioners, fleet electrification is pivotal in achieving the ports greenhouse gas reduction targets
Phase one of the project before you involves installing 20 electric vehicle chargers across seven maritime properties to electrify 106 port owned fleet vehicles used on waterfront properties
I know as I pulled up today, I saw
I don't know if that was yours, Levi, the f 150 lightning that was parked outside the building
And I know that public charging infrastructure is of interest to several commissioners
So I wanted to highlight that in addition to deploying charging for our fleet vehicles, that a cross divisional team is planning electric vehicle supply equipment approach to support tenant electrification community EV charging needs and advance our sustainable fleet plan
As part of this work, port staff are exploring grant funding opportunities for public charging infrastructure
Phase two will seek solutions for power constrained properties and focus on higher power chargers
Level three chargers needed to fuel port owned medium or heavy duty vehicles and equipment such as class eight trucks and large forklifts, or for rapid charging of smaller assets
And the presenters this afternoon are Levi Clark, marine maintenance manager, fleet and transportation Ryan child, senior environmental program manager
I don't know if Ryan is here virtually or she's here at the answer questions
And Julie Yan, capital project manager, waterfront project Management
So I guess, Levi, I'll turn it over to you
Thank you and congratulations
Three more years
It's an honor to be here today to present our design, procurement and construction authorization request for phase one of the Waterfront fleet EV charging program
My name is Levi Clark, and I am the fleet and transportation manager for marine maintenance, and I manage approximately half of the port's fleet program and fleet assets operated in the maritime and corporate divisions of the port
I'm joined today by my colleagues Julie Yoon and Ryan Child, two key members of our team
Julie is our capital project manager for this program and Ryan is our senior environmental program manager supporting us
Next slide please
Phase one of our program will support the installation of dedicated electric refueling infrastructure to support port owned fleet assets at several properties where existing electrical infrastructure is not a barrier
Our request is for commission authorization from the executive director to authorize funding to complete design and permitting, advertise, award and execute owner furnished equipment contracts or a contract authorized use of port of Seattle crews and small works contracts to support the design, development and construction execution
And today's request is for $5 million, bringing the total estimate to $5.3 million
Next slide please
Phase one of this program will provide the necessary infrastructure needed to achieve several organizational goals and initiatives
We are tasked with developing strategies prioritizing electric, passenger vehicles and renewable fuel use by 2030 and heavy vehicles, equipment and vessels by 2050 through the northwest port's clean air strategy in the sustainable Fleet plan and our maritime climate and Clean Air Action Plan, both published in 2021, we aim to transition all port owned light duty fleet vehicles to electric or renewable fuels by 2030
Additionally, we will pilot the use of electric vehicles for other types of specialized vehicles and equipment assets as they come to market
Furthermore, we must comply with the state of Washington RCWs relating to clean fleets and clean fuel usage
Next slide please
I'd like to provide some brief background information regarding our maritime fleet assets and current fuel use
We have approximately 200 assets in the maritime division
This makeup is light duty vehicles, medium duty vehicles, heavy duty vehicles, and many classifications of off road vehicles and construction equipment
93% of our diesel consumption in our diesel powered vehicles and equipment is fueled with renewable diesel that is dispensed at at our marine maintenance owned and operated fuel site
Reducing conventional gasoline use is the next step to reducing our emissions and use of non renewable and reducing our use of non renewable energy sources and electrification of our fleet assets is a key strategy for this reduction
We have plans to electrify 106 light duty assets and 16 equipment assets by 2030
We're always looking to increase that number, and phase one of this program provides the dedicated electrical fuel source we need to power our fleet assets
Some of the vocational and specialized equipment in our inventory does not yet have an industry proven alternative, but the industry is changing rapidly and we anticipate having access to new fleet technologies in future years
Due to the non centralized nature of our fleet and the time needed to recharge these vehicles, we are looking to bring fuel to where these vehicles or these future electric vehicles will be parking
Thank you
And with that, I will hand over the presentation to my colleague, Julie
All right
Thank you, Levi
Good afternoon, commissioners and executive director Steve Metruck
My name is Julie Yoon, capital project manager supporting this effort
We are currently at an early stage of design for these projects
With today's request, we'll be able to move forward and complete all of the design for all seven of these sites, as well as receive permit approvals, procure all of the equipment, and install up to 20 level two chargers and two level three chargers across seven different waterfront facilities
As you can see here, each project utilizes the electrical capacity available within the existing infrastructure without any need for additional service upgrades
So, as you've already read, any fleet EV charging needs that extend beyond what each facility can accommodate has been identified, rolled into the scope of a future phase two, which is currently in development by the planning department
Next slide, please
Here's an overview of the cost and breakdown
As Levi mentioned, today's request is in the amount of $5 million across the effort for completing the design design, procuring hardware and software for EV charging, as well as performing the construction, which will utilize port construction services, and including the previous authorization that brings the total program cost to $5.3 million, as we mentioned previously
Next slide, please
Here's the project timeline
So, recognizing that seven, the seven project timelines are moving forward in kind of a rolling schedule format
Following today's authorization, the project team is looking at advertising the equipment contract by the end of Q three of this year
We'll reach the full design completion for all seven sites by the end of the year
And our first project, which is marine maintenance south, will break ground and start construction in Q one of next year
And that will roll through the construction of all seven sites
And that brings us to an NU state for the final site by Q two of 2026
And that hits all the highlights, and I will pass it back to Levi
Thank you
Any questions or discussion? Thank you so much for the presentation
Presentation
Is there anybody from staff with anything else to add? All right, I will turn to my colleagues for any questions or comments
Commissioner Cho, thanks so much for the presentation
A quick few questions
Was this project, in particular, included in our recent clean Ports grant application to EPA? That's a
Is that an Alex question? Was this project included in the Clean Ports grant application? No
Please come on up front
Thank you so much
Introduce your name and title for the record
Turn your mic on
Sorry
Ryan Child, senior environmental program manager, this project was not included in the EPA Clean Ports grant
The zero mission technology portion of that grant, in that grant program, light duty vehicle replacement and electrification was not eligible
What about CFI? What does CFI stand for fuels infrastructure grant? No, I think at this time we have not received any grant funding for the charging infrastructure we are installing
Charging
One of the projects will support the electrification of two diesel forklifts, and we received $800,000 in grant funding for the forklift purchase
But the grant funding does not come cover the charging equipment
Okay
Why didn't we go after CFI funding for this project? Because the Seaport alliance has just got, what, ten, $14 million from CFI
Yes
So I believe
I don't know why that opportunity was for publicly accessible charging
And so what we're talking about is charging that specific for our fleet vehicles, and that charging equipment can't be made accessible for the public because we want it to be available for fleet
So a lot of the available money for charging infrastructure is specific for public charging projects
So there's sort of a difference in the funding that we can or cannot go after
There is some rebates offered by Seattle city light, which we can still pursue to install this charging, and those rebates get applied
So we're not expecting these chargers to be used by anyone other than the port of Seattle, essentially
Yes, that's correct
Okay, I was just gonna add
One of the challenges we find with some of these grants is they're very specific, like Ryan said, in some of the equipment types
So, yeah, the Baba provisions are horrible
Yeah
So
And then also there's some sometimes the public private partnership where they expect you to open these up to the public as well
And what we're trying to do is provide fuel for our depots where we park our own vehicles
Yeah
And then one last question, and I know this is kind of getting into the weeds, but I wanted to understand 20 level twos and three level threes
Why is it so lopsided towards level two s? I understand there's probably grid capacity concerned, but wouldn't you rather have less level threes than too many levels? I mean, by 2026, level twos will be, like, obsolete, in my opinion
So why are we
Yes
So the industry is shifting towards DC fast charging, level three charging
However, we have a lot of vehicles to replace and we need to start somewhere
And this provides the fuel to get our vehicles replaced with electric vehicles
We, in all cases, try to right size vehicles
We try to convert to diesel wherever possible and use a renewable fuel source
But there's a lot of craft vehicles that are gasoline powered, and this will provide us coverage for the gap for the next number of years, ten years at least
And we're trying to make meet some 2030 goals that are creeping up on us very rapidly
I definitely can hear the clock ticking on some of those goals
I'll also add to that as well
We have explored some level three charging options, and there are a lot of challenges with our infrastructure and, like substation capacity, electrical capacity to support those charging types
So in some areas, we've made decisions to pursue level two due to some of those constraints and the replacement of infrastructure timelines not really lining up to meet the needs of electrifying the fleet or just requiring a significant level of investment
And our fleet, to be frank, we don't have a large area of operation
Previous to this agency, I worked for city of Seattle, and they have a huge territory in some of their departments, and they travel hundreds of miles a day sometimes we have the luxury of a very small area of operation
So we don't absolutely need every vehicle to plug in every night
So we are trying to get as many chargers and as many vehicles within our operational footprint that we can
And we'll probably only need to fuel some of these vehicles once a week, some of them twice a week
They don't drive very far
They carry tools, they carry materials, they carry people to job sites
These are all craft? Not all, but most of these are craft vehicles
Yeah, I guess, you know, there's an opportunity cost between how fast a car is charging and how quickly you could turn them over
Yes
Right
And so
So these are 19.2 kilowatt level two chargers
So the high speed, level two chargers, that's what we're targeting? Yes
They're not 50 plus would be nice, but I hear you
So it sounds like you've done the homework, though
I just want to make sure we're not making an error in installing chargers that are obsolete in two years
That's a concern of mine as well
And while I see, I just returned from the advanced clean transportation expo just recently, and the industry is definitely starting to look at what I would call a lower speed DC fast charger
So, like 40, that still requires a large amount of power, requires different hardware, different controls, and it's a higher cost
This is a relatively inexpensive and yet still fast way to charge our vehicles for what we need for right now
And are we going to have nacs on those chargers, or what are the plugs we're using on those
Oh, so the level two s are all standardized plugs, but, yes, looking at level three charging, CCS2 is out there right now
It's kind of the big one
But NACs is what is coming our way
We haven't picked a charger yet, so most of our vehicles take CCS1 or CCS2, and then NAX is on on the way
Okay
And, sorry, one last
Who's doing the maintenance on these chargers? We are
That's to be determined in the contract, the contracting process as well
It's a conversation we're having with engineering, our labor partners here at the board as well
And then that'll be part of the purchasing decision
Okay, cool
Thank you
Yeah
Commissioner Calkins
So one of the things that I caught my fancy a couple of months ago was it was a bit of blue sky, kind of daydreaming about this transition to many more electric vehicles, particularly in port ecosysteMS And I know this is waterfront, but as we're making this decision, I want to make sure we're not precluding pivots down the road when things are available
And the notion that was presented to me was, we have one of the largest parking garages in North America
We can put 10,000 plus vehicles in there
Plus we've got additional parking lots that can hold thousands of
Of vehicles
And if we get to a point where many, many, many of those vehicles are electric and the technology is available for vehicle to grid transfer power, we essentially have one of the largest batteries anywhere
And those cars are cells in our garage
Right
And so, in the event of a disaster or blackout, we've got all this power sitting there
Could we tap into it? So, this is a much smaller scale consideration
But I do wonder about things like, as we think about resiliency as an energy node for our region, as a critical piece of infrastructure in the event of a disaster, how do we think ahead to ensure that we are building that into the way we plan? Resiliency in a much more electrified transportation system needs to be a priority as well
So if you want to kind of riff on that a little bit, one of my favorite things is riffing on fleet
So if you're going to ask my opinion, micro grids on our properties is a great start
Energy storage, having a large scale battery, being able to claim solar, wind as an optional input to that, but storing that energy on site, having some way to store energy on site, and city light
One of our partners has asked us about that with this project as well
So it's something that we're looking at, and we have amazing engineers here at the port that we're working with looking at all this
But I think if we could start with our own properties and building microgrids within our own properties, we build in our own resilience with our own fleet and our own properties
The issue right now, again, from just my humble perspective, is vehicle to grid is an amazing idea, but we got to get power utilities on board with it, and there's very few willing to do it
This is the public, so I'll keep my opinions short, but it's an amazing technology
It's amazing potential
I think we've all heard the stories about the Texas grid when it went down
A lot of people being able to power their homes off their trucks
You know, Ford Lightning, it's not widely available or supported right now, but on the OEM manufacturer side for vehicles, it is, and it's being developed, and it's being developed through the charging infrastructure now
But that utility piece is kind of missing
So it's being worked on, but it's slower to come
Yeah
I was recently contacted by company that offers a flywheel storage system, and I pass along to David Fujimoto to meet with aye., and I believe that he set aye
conversation with aye.
But that kind of storage capacity, that would then allow us to either manage in a disaster or peak shave or we're taking electricity when it's cheap and then not having to from the grid when it's very expensive
I think there's huge potential there for these cost and resilience benefits, aside from all the sustainability stuff, too, where we can use renewables when they're available rather than having to turn on a coal or a natural gas plant, too
So anytime you guys want to riff, give me a rank
I love it
Maybe we can do at some point, maybe we can do a day long roundtable
I'm going to warn you, though, people have offered that, and then they don't answer my calls anymore, so I might riff too much
Well, thanks
And you're going to get my support for this one for sure, too
So thanks
All right
Commissioner Mohamed, do you have any questions or comments? Not at this time
Thank you
Thank you
And neither do I
So with that, is there a motion for this item? So moved
Second
The motion has been made by Commissioner Cho and seconded by Commissioner Calkins to approve item ten
C commissioners, without seeing any further discussion or debate on the item, will look to clerk Hart
Call the roll
Thank you
Beginning with Commissioner Calkins
Aye, thank you, Commissioner Cho
Aye
Thank you
Commissioner Hasegawa
Aye
Thank you
Commissioner Mohammed
Aye
Thank you
Four ayes
Thank you very much
The motion has passed
Congratulations
Thank you so much for your work
Well, excellent
Clerk Hart, please read the next item into the record
Executive Director Metruck will then introduce it
Thank you
This is agenda item ten d, authorization for the executive director to enter a ten year preferential birthing agreement with Carnival Corporation, which includes Carnival, princess cruises and Holland America line brands and environmental and community requirements, in addition to business terms and data sharing, to support a new public cruise dashboard for transparency and tracking and reporting on performance
Over the term of the agreement, commissioners cruise has become a critical aspect of the ports financial strategy and a significant economic benefit to the region through provisioning and increased visitor spending, and is important to the port's ability to support priorities such as workforce development and maritime infrastructure
Our team has done an excellent job in negotiating an agreement with the carnival corporation that not only brings forward strong financial returns for the port in the region, but also locks in critical economic opportunity, community and environmental sustainability benefits that advance the port's triple bottom line mission
Presenters this afternoon are Stephanie Jones Stebbins, managing director of Maritime, and Linda Springman, director of cruise operations and maritime marketing
Stephanie, thank you very much, Steve, and thank you, commissioners, for being with us today
Next slide, please
We're bringing to you today a long term agreement with the carnival corporation that moves forward several century agenda goals
And I want to start by talking about the century agenda goals
We're focused on giving a short update because we actually haven't done it yet, even though the season is in progress
Short update on a couple key cruise items and then we'll go into the key elements of the long term agreement that we're bringing forward today
So first, the work we're sharing today moves forward our century agenda goals around responsibly investing in the economic growth of the region and all of its communities, being the greenest and most energy efficient port in North America, becoming a model of equity, diversity and inclusion, and finally, be a highly effective public agency
And I'll share a little bit more as we go through
Next slide, please
To provide a little context, the port of Seattle, and actually the Alaska market in general is a pretty small portion of the overall cruise market
We're about 5% of the overall cruise market and Seattle is even less than that
Nonetheless, we really punch above our weight as we move the industry forward
We've heard earlier today about our shore power that the ports in the Pacific Northwest pioneered for cruise vessels about 20 some years ago
And you now see not only this spreading around the world, but also to other portions of the maritime industry
And again, cruise is a fairly small portion of the maritime industry, about 1% of the ships out there on the sea
The large vessels are large cruise ships, and yet we also see the technologies being adopted on our large cruise ships adopted throughout the rest of the maritime industry
So I feel especially proud of the things we're bringing forward today because I feel confident that we will continue to see the spread throughout the maritime industry and the cruise industry globally
Next slide, please
As we progressively try to move forward on the port's goals, we're acting both at a global level and at a local level
When we're acting at the global level, we have a pretty low amount of influence, but those actions really can have global impact
When we act at our local level, we have a lot of influence, but there might be less global impact
So next slide, please
When we think about the tools that we employ to transform our industries, I like to keep that in mind
So, you know, we do advocate for policy and regulations at the international, down to the local level
We form partnerships throughout our industries
These are areas where we have influence, where we have more direct control, are the things that the port of Seattle is closer to home
The things I put in that portion of the toolbox are leases and agreements, which we're bringing you today, a long term agreement
But additionally, we're moving forward
We're including incentives and recognition as tools for moving our goals forward
We're including transparency in data, a significant amount of data sharing that comes in this agreement, and there's commitments around community engagement
So we are hitting quite a number of those tools with this long term agreement
Next slide, please
I'm going to ask my colleague Linda Springman to share a little bit about season update, and we're going to be going back and forth
So thank you
Thanks, Stephanie
Just to give you an overview of the 2024 season, we are actually today a third of the way through our 275 calls that we're expecting this year
We did have one new ship join our fleet this year, Celebrity Edge
On May 17, we did a pack exchange with her, welcoming her on her maiden call to Seattle
Of course, last commission meeting, you passed the order for shore power, accelerating our requirement from 2030 to 2027
We'll also talk about this in a minute
But well, progressing on our green corridor feasibility study project, we talked a little bit about the dashboard and what we were trying to do with this
It's actually launched, not launching, is pull together disparate data that exists in various places about passenger numbers and shore power plugin and give some transparency and pull it into one database working with our bi team and that is launched for the 2023 season
And we're working on 2024
And then again, some of the things that we've really relied on still exist
We've maintained the at berth ban on exhaust gas cleaning system, wash water discharge, and then of course, we rely very heavily on our shore power here at Port of Seattle this year, 68% of the home port calls are actually equipped with shore power
Pier 66 as it comes online, we will be able to test that and have some of the 64 ships that are shore power capable plug in this year
And at terminal 91, 124 of the ships calling are shore power capable
Next slide
And then really related to shore power, I wanted to touch on the capital projects that we're working on right now and we see in our future at pier 66, the submarine cable has been laid for our shore power at that third berth
And then we have actually, the mobile cable positioning device has delivered
The transformer is pending right now and work is being done still at 46 and 66 to bring this operation live later this summer at terminal 91, the shore power, the fixed jib shore power is being replaced with the cable positioning device
That gives us a little bit more flexibility on that location and that is arriving later this summer too
And then we have some grants
Grant asks in the work to give us additional plug in locations at actually both 66 and 91 that are pending
Next slide
I want to talk about the green corridor
So first, a little bit of an infomercial
We have a webinar this Thursday, so I urge everybody to tune in for that
It's going to be super interesting
We are beginning our feasibility study looking at four cruise ships on green methanol in the Alaska corridor by 2032
That work has begun with Maris McKinney Moller center
We are also developing an approach to greenhouse gas emissions across the accounting approach across the corridor, as well as exploring future feasibility assessment of biofuels
And you're going to hear a little bit about biofuels pilot project in this contract as we move forward
Next slide
I'm going to take this one
I'm going to dive a little bit deeper on the dashboard
So I talked about how we have a variety of data about cruise, but it's all in different places regarding passenger counts and port valet adoption, shore power plug ins
We wanted to give transparency and also have it be available in one location
Actually, if you go to the next slide, you can see the database itself
The 2023 data has all been collected and the site is launched
It's on the Port of Seattle Maritime cruise section of the website
Our intent is to, with this agreement that we proposed, be able to gather more data to provide fleet details, fleet profiles in addition into our dashboard, and then continue to grow that data
And the visibility you can see here is that at the top there's various tabs that they can click through to access that various data
And this executive summary kind of pulls it all together
We are working right now on the 2024 data and plan to update that monthly
So we'll have ongoing build data through the rest of the season
Next slide
So before I address shore power connectivity, I want to say two things about the dashboard
One that came specifically from feedback we received from Commissioner Hasegawa and Commissioner Felleman, really appreciative of that
This will bring an unprecedented level of transparency, transparency to the work that we do here
And then I also want to recognize Linda's collaboration with our business intelligence group here at the port
It's a really great resource that helped us put together a pretty cool dashboard
So again, urge you to check it out
As you well remember, just our last commission meeting, the commission adopted an order requiring all home ported cruise vessels to plug into shore bar power by 2027
This agreement is critical to implementing that order
It will not only require all carnival vessels to be shore power capable by 2026
Also, they will
Carnival Corporation made the original investment into the shore power and they are agreeing to enter into agreements so that other lines can use their shore power as well
Important element of getting to our goal of 100% shore power connectivity
Next slide, please
So I want to focus now on the agreement that we're bringing forward to you today
Just as a reminder, we have several types of business agreements that we operate under
Our tariff is kind of the rules of the road
When you just come to our terminals, these are the rules you have to apply by comply with
Additionally, sometimes we enter into preferential birthing agreements and leases, and these are negotiated agreements
What we're bringing you today is the middle one of these, a preferential birthing agreement, which is a multi year agreement
And we do have a number of other stipulations that we're adding as part of a mutual agreement
Next slide
We are using our long term agreements as an important tool to partner on a path to zero carbon emissions, to look at elements that allow us to broaden the economic impact we know cruise is so important to our economy
We want to make sure those benefits are experienced broadly throughout our community
We want to incorporate our equity and community engagement into our agreement, establish goals around broader environmental issues like underwater noise, water quality, etcetera
We also know that on our journey to zero carbon, we don't know all the things that we need to know to get there
We don't have all the technologies
And this will set the stage for a time about ten years from now when we know more and we can require more things, hard to require things that don't exist yet
Finally, provide significant financial certainty that is important for supporting investments, not only for the port of Seattle, but also for our cruise partners
Next slide
So this agreement does all those things
And in fact, it brings strong financial certainty, implements our shore power order
There's additional greenhouse gas commitments, a number of other things, and there's been, there's more slides on all these
So I think I'll just move through this one to the next slide
Bottom line, ten year agreement with a five year option that is at the port's discretion
Both of us have to agree, both port and Carnival have to agree to extend it, and we have specifically tied that extension to sustainability elements
We have a minimum annual guarantee of about 550,000 passengers a year
Carnival gets historic birthing rights for the day of the weeks where they are currently calling
There is a capped increase on the passenger and dockage fee each year
And then there's security provided through a letter of credit
That's something that's required for leases because this is a little different tool
So we've used past practices to determine the right methodology
Next slide
Commissioner, do you have a question? There's a
Okay, great
There, so significant financial return to the port, $185 million projected over the life of this agreement, and then if we were to extend it, agree to an extension mutually, it's $173 million over the 15 years of that agreement
There's a very modest amount of that revenue, about two, two and a half percent that can be credited back for a couple elements you'll hear more about that are really move forward mutual goals we have around increasing the economic reach of crews in our region
And then finally again, the five year option is at the port's discretion
The agreement is explicit that sustainability and greenhouse gas performance is a key consideration
And the timing of that extension is that the request comes in mid 2030
So we will understand how we are doing to reach our overall greenhouse gas goals for 2030
When we are in consideration of that next slide please
Couple key things that drive our greenhouse gas reductions
100% of carnival vessels equipped and will plug in
And I want to be clear, clear that our port goal is now 2027
100% of Carnival's ships are shore power capable this year, so that's quite an achievement
And again, making their equipment available to others to plug in
Carnival has also agreed to participate in an annual emissions inventory
Heretofore, we have done our emissions inventories on a five year basis
This gives us the ability to to accelerate that as well as a joint commitment to, well to wake accounting, which will much better capture changes to, for instance, non fossil fuel use
Also, one of the things I think is the most important is data around regarding their fuel use
They will be sharing with us as the overall data sharing commitments in the agreement
Next slide please
We will be piloting a non fossil fuel in this season or next season
Hoping to do that this season
We had hoped to pass this agreement a little earlier in the season, so we're fighting to get that done in time
We also have a commitment to strive for 5% non fossil fuel use in the Seattle fleet by 2030 and a commitment to developing potential decarbonization pathways and providing those to the port by 2026
Next slide
Number of other environmental elements, including participation in MOU stormwater best management practices, participation in quiet sound
They would incentivize use of low emission shoreside equipment
Also commitment to continue to participate and play a leadership role in our green corridor efforts
Super important
Next slide
We've also included something very innovative around incentivizing broadening our economic impact
We've built incentives, relatively modest when you look at the overall revenues included under this agreement, but they will have an opportunity for credits for increasing the number of passengers who stay before and after cruises and increasing the number of small disadvantaged businesses that are used in their provisioning
And at commissioner's request and guidance, we specifically have included tribal businesses in the agreement as well
They have agreed to pilot a responsible, responsible sourcing pilot program in Seattle, which will help understand the baseline for who is currently provisioning, providing ship tours for educational workforce development purposes, local internships, donations to local nonprofits
There's a significant amount, amount of economic measures in the agreement
Next slide please
One of the things I'm most excited about is really the information and transparency that we gain through this agreement
There's a number of provisions that Carnival will report before the season, and then there's other provisions that will be reported weekly during the season and then finally post season report out things from shore, power capability and connection, exhaust gas cleaning system use, fuel type, quiet sound participation, information around emission reduction technology, their own provisioning, demographics of their organization
Many other items are in there
It's, in my opinion, a very impressive list of information that will be shared, really helping us and our community understand the benefits of the cruise business
Next slide, please
I thought I had so much more, but here we are at the end
We're here today to ask for authorization for the executive director
Director to enter into a preferential birthing agreement as outlined with the carnival corporation
Thank you, commissioner
Happy to take any questions
Thank you very much, Director Joan Stevens
And when it's been over a year of negotiations, I think it seems kind of ironic to get it done in a less than 20 minutes presentation
But we applaud your work
So with that, I will turn to my colleagues for questions or comments
Commissioner Calkins, if we could go to the dashboard slide, which is number ten
I think I just got to, as I was reading over the memo and the slide deck, I got to think about what other data I'd want to see presented and the things that came to mind were data held by other entities, probably
And so I wonder if we could partner with some external groups to populate this dashboard
One idea, as we think about what are the things we want to measure in terms of success or impact or value? We talk a lot about how the, the sort of spillover economic benefits of having crews here, meaning hotel stays, restaurant visits, retail numbers
I don't know if that's something, visit Seattle tracks or DSA or maybe the hotel association
But anyway, I would like us to think about what data we want to understand our impact on that's directly related to cruise traffic
So if we could add that
Absolutely
Thank you, commissioner
We will absolutely investigate that
And our intent with this is that it's an ongoing, we continually add data, or maybe we'll subtract it if it's things that folks aren't interested in
So we'll pursue that
Thank you for that feature
And then the other was thinking about something analogous to the kind of mode measuring that we do at the airport
I know that it has been a major topic of conversation for us, how we get cruise passengers to and terminals
And so just thinking about, you know, there's very much a hierarchy of preferred modes, and I don't know that we track that as closely as we do at the airport
It might be beneficial to do that
So, you know, people driving themselves to the cruise terminal is probably our lowest on the list
And we do capture that in our, we do an intercept survey in Juneau to try and get the economic impact, and we do gather that
So we'll make sure to see how we could add that
It might not be by brand, but we might
And there may be some data from SDOT as well that we could tap into
For what kind of impacts do we have on traffic, for better or for worse? Just a couple of ideas, but be creative in what's on that dashboard, but always thinking about things that we want to measure either for benefit or impact that we could address with our policy
Great
And we do
Just one thing that I didn't mention in the presentation, which I could have, was that one of the commitments is to communicate, to book cruise guests through how to use lower GHD alternatives for transport to and from the cruise terminals and coordinate with the port on standards for taxis, TNCs, and other transportation
Awesome
So that is included in the agreement as well, which may facilitate that idea
Commissioner
And I guess I should say for all of the back and forth that we had over the course of this negotiation, while I'd love to have the perfect agreement, I understand that I don't want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good
And I think this is a significant improvement over previously signed leases in terms of the positive externalities of crews in Seattle
And so I think it's a great job, and I want to continue to move in that direction
Commissioner Cho? Yeah, well, I actually don't have any questions, but I did want to applaud you, Stephanie, and your team for the tremendous work that you've done
I think we all know here that cruise, as a practice and as an industry here at the port of Seattle, can sometimes be contentious for justifiable reasons
Right
We obviously are very concerned about the environmental impacts of having crews
Quite frankly, with any of our activity at the port of Seattle, it's not exclusive to crews
But historically, we've had a lot of vocal activists around this industry in particular
And, you know, I've always been a, the opinion that you can't change the game if you're not in it
And I think that's the most distinct way I can put it
I've tried to phrase this in different ways, but I think that's the best way to put it
No one's ever changed the game of any game by being on the bench
And I think part of what we do at the port of Seattle, when we say we want to be the greatest port in North America, when we say we want to reach our goals by 2030 and 2040 is to lead the industry and set an example
And as you both mentioned in your presentation, there is some unprecedented transparency in what we're doing right now
Things that I've never done here at the port of Seattle, but also have, quite frankly, probably never been done in the industry in North America
And so I do think we are doing the right thing here by leading the way, because we all know that the cruise industry isn't going anywhere
And last I checked, we all breathe the same, and all the oceans are connected
And so I'm very proud of the work that we're doing to lead the industry towards more sustainable practices
And I look forward to all our other cruise tenants taking this precedence and really embracing it as we go down the line of other potential tenants and other future tenants with our cruise terminals
So thank you so much for all the great work
Well, I'll just have to start by acknowledging the enormity of work that this presentation represents
I think we first sat down a year ago when we began negotiating around an updated agreement
And Commissioner Felleman and I were both of the mindset that an agreement is incredibly important, important opportunity and tool to be able to expedite our goals and really lean into the opportunity to take the industry further that has been represented here today
Thank you for incorporating our feedback that we've given you over the course of many meetings
First and foremost, about the dashboard, that's a very exciting tool that we have
There's nothing like it for anything else in the industry that I'm aware of, but that any member of the public could easily pull it up, be able to see in front of them, effectively the number of people coming through for the benefit that we know exists there to the impact on our emissions reductions, goals and shore power itself
And its role in that, I think, is a really exciting tool
I mean, I think of students that can be able to track it over time and measure its impact and make a case for another industry, like, I don't know, container ships
I just think that the transparency and access to information is powerful for all parties involved here
In this agreement
We also require additional communications and community engagement
And I've heard in our meetings that we do so much at the port of Seattle to promote crews, and we wanted to see the cruise industry and carnival lean into telling their own story
Can you hand me this up? Here we have it
Clea, the cruise lines international association
I mean, we talk about the work that we're doing with the
With CLIA, we talk about the work that we're doing in our green corridor, and Carnival is actually, in many ways, at the tip of the spear for that, because they have one of the greenest fleets on the water
So shore power, by requiring and agreeing that 100% of their vessels will plug in, is a big deal
We're incredibly proud of the shore power that we offer at the port of Seattle
And coupled with the order that we mostly recently passed, thanks to Commissioner Felleman's championship, it really does again assert Carnival as an important leader in this transformation that will enable others to be able to follow because they have also agreed to share technology with others
And this is important
Slide 20, please
Our WMBE provisions
Thank you
That we have market incentive opportunities to maximize economic impact and promote equity in the way that that measurable impact is actually going to be distributed
These WMBE provisions, I think, are really important and represents an intentionality
And that you've taken our feedback and specifically called out tribal business as well, aligns us with the memorandum of understanding that we have recently engaged in, in neighboring tribes and honoring our commitment and our promises to them to be more mindful in the way we're engaging with industries, specifically crews
And we did hear in those meetings with the Muckleshoot Indian tribe, specifically, they're looking for the opportunity to tap into the cruise market
So thank you for that feedback, and thank you to carnival for even 9th hour changes to the agreement to make it as strong as possible
The fact that they are providing ship tours, internships, you know, that they will be making philanthropic donations to our local nonprofits, I think is really important because it's another way to make sure that we are spreading that benefit and that impact to others
And then I'd just like to bring up Slide 16, the financial return to the port
This matters
The cruise industry is one of, is the top revenue generator for the port of Seattle
And as commissioner Cho mentioned, and as we've heard from members of the public, we want to ensure that economic opportunity does not come at the expense of quality of life for our residents, for our neighbors, or the well being of our environment
And so the way I see our engagement with the cruise industry is important in a much larger picture of overall greenhouse gas emissions and our reduction goals
There's no other agreement like this in the industry
There's no other fleet as green as this one
And this is an important blueprint that can signal transformations in other sectors of maritime
So I see tremendous value and importance in that
And director Stephanie Jo Stevens
I've given you a very hard time
And you
Because I believe that diversity in opinions and even dissenting opinions and challenging perspectives helps us work through and get to a better final product
So I just want to acknowledge that and just publicly pay my respect to you for carrying this, doing it so gracefully, so thoroughly
One thing that I do want to mention
There's only one
But having reviewed this agreement
Please, if you could consider section 6.5
We have stated that we share very closely our greenhouse gas emission reduction goals
And it is explicitly stated here that carnival will monitor their progress towards those goals
We have the option of renewing a lease or reconsidering a lease at the five year mark
And I want to see, and we've talked about this and with Commissioner Felleman, that accountability in progress to those goals is critical
So I just wanted to express that we have it within our ability to monitor their
Monitoring of their progress towards those goals
And I look forward to working on and introducing an order that will require
Require the executive director to consider progress towards these goals when renewing leases
So with that, I don't have any further
I don't have any questions, but I just
I look forward to supporting this today and acknowledge that it is a tremendous step towards progress
And thank you to Carnival
Thank you to carnival for coming
Coming to the table over and over again in good faith and representing our requests in this agreement
Okay, if there's
And I'd like to state for the record that Commissioner Mohammed has dropped off the call at 215 pm
So, hearing no further questions or comments from my colleagues at this item
Is there a motion and a second to approve item ten d? So moved
Second
The motion has been made by Commissioner Cho and seconded by Commissioner Calkins to approve item ten d and without any further debate, clerk Hart, please call the roll for the vote
Thank you
Beginning with Commissioner Calkins
Aye
Thank you, Commissioner Cho
Aye
Thank you
Commissioner Hasegawa
Aye
Thank you
Three ayes
Zero nays for this item
Thank you very much for your work on this
Thank you
Commissioners, the motion passes, moving us along to item eleven, presentations and staff reports
Clerk Hart, please read the next item into the record and executive director Metruck will introduce it
Thank you
This is agenda Item Eleven, a Seattle Waterfront update on projects and partnerships report
Commissioners, the Seattle Waterfront is undergoing a historical transformation, as we all know, and today's briefing will feature guest presenters from our partners across the board
It's great to see everyone, so many in the room today, who will highlight some of the exciting work that is transforming our waterfront
So rather than me going through the guests, I think I'm going to turn it over to our senior director for external relations, Pierce Edwards, and our senior program manager for maritime engagement, Rosie Courtney, to do that and to walk through and to introduce our speakers and our presentations today
So with that, I'll turn it over to Pierce
Thank you
Executive director Metruck, Commissioners, it's good to be with you here today
Pierce Edwards, senior director of external relations and as Steve noted, I'm joined by my colleague Rosie Cord, Rosie Courtney, senior manager for maritime engagement, also within external relations
And towards the end of our presentation, we'll introduce the bevy of guests we have with us today to make their respective presentations
Next slide, please
Commissioners, today we will hear from four of our waterfront partners about the status of the respective's investments to transform and enhance Seattle's central shoreline
This will include the office, the city's office of the Waterfront, the Friends of the Waterfront park, the Seattle Aquarium and Elliott Bay connections
Collectively, these projects represent or cover a geography
From just north of pier 48, heading north across the central waterfront, up north past pier 62, including Myrtle Edwards park and Centennial park up to the Expedia campus
Of course, all this work was made possible by the removal of the Alaskan Way viaduct, whose investors included a variety of local governments and state governments, and its replacement with the SR 99 tunnel
Next slide, please
In addition to the aforementioned projects that are underway along the waterfront, I did want to spend some time to reflect on or to share investments as the port has made along the north side of the waterfront in recent years, or not so recent years
But beginning in 1994, there was several years of redevelopment along the central waterfront, where we are today, starting with the restoration of Pier 69 from a former cannery to the port headquarters where we're meeting today, to our south
Two years later, in 1996, the Bell street pier, which had served as the headquarters of the Port of Seattle since the early part of the 20th century, was renovated to include an eleven acre mixed use development which includes Bell Harbor Convention center, the marina and now the cruise terminal at Pier 66 or terminal 66
And then in 1998, to our east, the World Trade Center Seattle was constructed, which included parking garages, office space and retail, and two years three years later, to the south, the development of the Marriott Hotel and the waterfront landing residences
Next slide, please
Here's a before and after picture of that development around Bell harbor
As you can see, the port headquarters in the mid 1970s, with the fish trawler in the water and the parking garage behind it, to the modern day marina with World Trade center hotel and water residences behind there
Next slide, please
I wanted to share a slide with some of the collective investments that we've made in the very recent past, which includes the $281 million the port put into the viaduct replacement program, $5 million that we are investing in the Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion project
Bob will talk a little bit more about their project and the port exhibit that will be going in as part of our investment and donation to the Seattle Aquarium
Of course, there's the Elliott Bay connections, which is $45 million in private donations led largely by Melinda French Gates and Mackenzie Scott, which will enhance the waterway and parks north of Pier 62 up to the Expedia campus, and then the lesser investments, but still important investments that we don't talk about very much, which is the 755,000 that the court put forward for the local improvement district, or lid levy for the waterfront park two years ago, $100,000 annually in pavements that we've made to the metropolitan Improvement District since 2002
This includes support for such programs, the downtown ambassadors, urban park activation and the seasonal activities downtown and along the waterfront
And then last but not least, most recently was our $270,000 payment for flaggers at the Pine street connector to allow trucks entry from the north on Alaskan Way to supply ships at Terminal 66
This is at the intersection where the aquarium Ocean Pavilion building is going up, so it reopened on June 1
But those are some of the more recent investments that we've made
A couple of the projects that are not listed on here, but I wanted to just briefly mention, are the Alaskan Way protected bike lane that we are working on with the city of Seattle Department of Transportation
That is a project that will build a protected bike lane from Broad street south to the new bike lane that's coming down from, or does come down from a pike Place market near the aquarium
We expect that project to go to be advertised for construction later this year and be completed sometime next year
We will be working with the Seattle Department of Transportation to come before commission in September to share both their work on the bike lane and also on the proposed transportation levy that they have that will go before voters this November
And then the other project further south is the Wasca property
I think we're all well versed in the Wasca property is the five acre plot of land that washed out, bought prior to the construction of the 99 tunnel
It's between the stadium district and Terminal 46
WT has given notice that they plan to develop that property in coordination with the c 40 competition process which will focus on design to advance sustainable development
That project will not be started until 20 or 20
Construction on that project will not start until after FIFA World cup in July of 26
But in the interim between now and the end of next year, there will be a request for proposals, and that'll be due
There are three due dates
One will be in RFI in the, in the fall of this year, in October, RFQ and second quarter of next year, then RFP next summer before WSDOT makes the final decision on who will develop the property and what that design will include
So more to come on that as well, we'll be inviting WSDOT to come before commission this fall to share more on that development as we learn more about the p three investment process and development of the project moving forward
And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Rosie for a few words
A very few words
Good afternoon, commissioners and executive director Metruck
It's my pleasure to be here with these community partners
I appreciate every opportunity to work with them, and I welcome their creativity and their support to bring more residents and more visitors to the waterfront and to port facilities
So what we're going to do now is each partner will come up for ten minutes
They will take your questions after their deck of slides
So with that, Pierce, you're going to do the intros? Yes, I'll do the intros
Thank you, Rosie
First up, we'll begin with Angie Brady, director of the city's office of Waterfront and Civic Projects
Angie, hello
Hey
Thanks for having me
Thanks for the introduction
So, I am Angela Brady
I work for the city of Seattle
And I am the director of the office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects
That means I am in charge of the delivery, the successful delivery of the entire waterfront program on behalf of the city
And I could not be more excited about that
I do
Before I dive in, I wanted to, to just take a moment to acknowledge the port and your partnership and your role in supporting both the state's Alaskan Way viaduct replacement program and the city's waterfront program over the last 20 year lifespan
It's taken a lot of time, a lot of partnership, and we really appreciate your support and your encouragement and really excited to be where we are today
Can you go to the next slide? So this is a picture to remind us all what the Alaska wave addict looked like pre demolition days
It was a double decker structure that separated the heart of our downtown from Elliott Bay and from our beautiful waterfront
So with its removal, provides this enormous opportunity for us to reconnect our downtown to the waterfront
Next
Long history, and I know you all know this pretty well
I'll just cover this very briefly
All of this was instigated with a 2001 earthquake that damaged both the viaduct and the Elliott Bay Seawall, which forms the foundation for our entire waterfront
Took about eight years of replacement, planning, environmental review, design to sort out a resolution to fixing the situation in terms of the seawall and the replacement of the viaduct
And in 2009, an agreement was signed between the city, county and the state, and the port was a big part of that, to replace the SR 99 Alaska viaduct with a deep bore tunnel
And that's just exactly what we did
So 2010 to 2012, the city held broad community engagement, developed a concept design, a vision for our new waterfront, and in 2013, we started construction of all of the employees improvements, and we've been under construction ever since
Next, this graphic shares just a compilation of all of the different projects that have been happening across the waterfront
And with the orange dash line represents the alignment of the SR 99 tunnel, the green solid line represents the elite Bay Seawall and the replacement of that project
And then everything in the gold color includes the area, geographical area that we have focused on in terms of redevelopment and reconstruction of the waterfront
Next, I already talked about the board tunnel
I just wanted to highlight here that Alaskan Way is really critically important to the port in terms of a freight corridor
It serves as one of two major arterials that run through the heart of our city, and it also serves as an over legal route
Next, picture from Main street, looking out toward the waterfront during the demolition of the viaduct, which occurred in 2019
So just a reminder of the massive structure that existed there
Next, and just to share with you the difference it makes to remove the Alaska Viaduct and the opening up of the views of the waterfront from our downtown
It's just really special
Next
The waterfront program spans from the stadium district at the south end on the left hand side of the screen here, all the way up to Belltown at Bell street at the north end of the screen
And it is anchored with a new Alaskan Way, all new utilities underground, a park promenade, a linear park promenade that runs the entire length of the waterfront, two new piers and a whole seat of projects
East west connection projects that connect, attempt to reconnect our city to our waterfront, our downtown
Thank you
Next, pay special attention here to that big red star on the right hand side of the screen
So we've been under construction, as I said, since 2013, and we are very near completion of construction of our waterfront in the spring of 2025
So pretty excited about that
Next I'm just going to clip through some of these really quickly
These are some slides that represent some of the construction projects that have been completed over the years
This is a representation of the Elliot Bay Seawall forms the foundation of our waterfront was completed in 2017 after four years of construction, and the cost of that was around $410 million
Next pier 62
We built this starting in 2017 and opened it in September 2020
Not the best time to open a new park, but ever since it has been programmed with many events by Friends of Waterfront park and they're little bit about that as well
Next Union street pedestrian bridge opened in December of 2022
This connects western avenue down to the waterfront with a pedestrian bridge, a set of stairs and an elevator, and some really cool art projects
Next, Elliot Way and Lenora Bridge
So this is an image of the Connector street that connects Belltown down to the waterfront, critically important to connect to the ports, Lenora street pedestrian bridge and elevators
We worked in coordination with them to get all of these improvements consistent and celebrated the opening of all of this in April of 2023
Next, we opened the Pioneer Square Habitat beach
This is a beach we built just south of the Washington state Coleman dock terminal, the new terminal that was opened just a few months ago, and this beach has been open since last July
We celebrated the opening of some of the new art projects adjacent to the speech just last week
Thanks
Next this is the Marion street pedestrian bridge, another major element of our program
It connects the new Coleman dock terminal back to First Avenue, and this bridge was open to the public in December of 2023
It serves 5 million pedestrians per year to make that connection between downtown and the ferry terminal
Next, the Alaska Way connector
This is a critical piece for the port of Seattle
This allows for all of the northbound traffic that is heading toward the cruise ship terminal that is right on the waterfront
And this is a really important piece for us to get completed and we really appreciate the work we've done with the port and your partnership on this
And we actually ended up opening this connector on May 31 of 2024
So hopefully that's working well for everybody
Next, the overlook walk and the Seattle Aquarium Ocean pavilion
You'll hear more about the ocean pavilion here shortly
The overlook walk is a connector piece
It's an elevated park that connects pike place market down to the waterfront, seamlessly connected with the Seattle aquarium
And this is just a rendering showing all of the improvements as envisioned years ago
Next and this represents the
And you all, you all see this every day after you walk the waterfront
Just all of the progress and the construction of that enormously unique project that we are very, very proud of
Next
This is a rendering looking at what we call the sailor steps underneath the overlook walk
Next
And then this is just an image looking up toward the overlook walk from Alaskan Way to the north and just showing some of the progress that we've made in this area
Next
Bringing back to about 2014, this is
This was an image that represents our construction of the new seawall
And we were right in, in the middle of it
You can see the viaduct on the left hand side and our entire construction zone there in the middle
Next
This is an image of that same exact location and the imagination of the new park promenade and what that could look like with seating and open spaces and landscaping
Next
And this is a picture of what that area looks like
Now
We have most of the hardscape
We have a lot of the landscaping in
You're seeing a lot of the spring blooms out there
We're now installing the park elements
So, benches, you'll see more benches coming in
You'll see a lot more play elements and fun park elements coming in over the next several months
Next
And just another image of the boardwalk and some of the plantings
Next
We are building 3 miles of bike facilities that extend the entire length of the waterfront, the entire length of the promenade
We have a section of the bike facilities open at the south end, south of Coleman dock
And you're seeing on the right hand side here, the asphalt two way cycle facility that will open up sometime this fall
Next
We have a new pier that we're building at pier 58
This is the pier that spans between miners landing and the great Wheel and the Seattle Aquarium
It will include a brand new children's playground
You can see that in the blue area there
And then we're also building a public restroom that will be installed kind of up in the right upper corner there
You can see a small public restroom
It'll have six stalls in it
Next
And this is just an image of the progress we've made on that project to date
So we've seen a lot of the concrete deck going in
We're installing the new new Fitzgerald fountain
And the playground elements are planned to come in sometime this fall
Next
I talked a little bit about some of the east west improvements that we're making
This is just an image of Pioneer Square improvements that we started back in January of this year
We plan to be complete with these improvements sometime late this year, hopefully by December of 2024
Next, we also have a set of 24 blocks of improvements up at pike and Pine streets
And the goal there really is to, again, to reconnect our downtown, the heart of downtown, to our waterfront
And this is a project that started construction in February of last year, and we plan to be complete with that by the end of this year
Next railroad Way
This is a project that is located at the south end of our program area that connects the stadiums to the new waterfront
And this project was just recently completed in partnership with the state of Washington and washed out
Thanks
Next
We have a project up in Bell street where we'll be improving two blocks, creating new bike lanes, replacing sidewalks, new landscaping, new public amenities, and we're working with the Belltown Community Council on that
And this project is due out to advertise for construction here very shortly this week, hopefully, and we'll start construction of this in the fall
Next
And last but not least, just, you know, we've made a ton of progress on the overall waterfront construction, and you're seeing that come to fruition
We have a whole host of projects being completed this year and early next year, and
And we're really looking forward to working with all of our partners to actually have a huge celebration sometime next spring that celebrates the completion of all of this hard work
So looking forward to that
Next
And I think I transitioned to Joy here
Did you want to introduce her? No
Why don't you stay up for questions, and then we'll go to joy
For that, you have to stay up for questions
So, commissioner, any questions for Angie? I just want to note that Commissioner Cho will be joining us virtually in just about three minutes here, but he will continue to engage in the meeting
So I will turn to Commissioner Calkins
Thank you so much
I love the history of the waterfront
It was really fun to look through the slides in anticipation of this
I look forward to more of the kind of rollout activities where we get to walk along and see all this happening
Somebody who frequents the waterfront with my kids, I'm excited for the playground, too, even though a couple of them are aging out
I may twist my 14 year old son's arm to get up there and give them the swings, too
But on slide 13, something I really appreciate about this, which is the map that shows the overall walkthrough project map
At the south end, it takes a turn away from the waterfront
You'll see that little dog right there, and that street goes directly into then the stadiuMS That's right
If you keep following it, and I love that flow, knowing that so many people get to the stadiums off the ferry terminals, tourists who are staying at the waterfront hotels are able to walk right down there
And it also ensures that people aren't continuing down the waterfront into the really industrial area of the waterfront, which you can see that sign that the label is Porsche
That's t 46
That is an operating, functional industrial waterfront
And we really want to make sure that the trucks coming out of there, the equipment heading in there, it doesn't get mingled with this incredible promenade that we're creating on the waterfront
And so I appreciate that you've kind of delineated that
And we'll continue to work to ensure that we've got this healthy coexistence of important uses for our community, from this really robust and people friendly and pedestrian friendly waterfront to this industrial working waterfront that provides great jobs and ensures that we've got the food and on our table and package, our front door
So thank you for the presentation
No questions for me, but thank you so much for the presentation
It's so exciting, and I love the vision versus the progress, and I love how it started versus how it's going
Congratulations
Thank you
Thank you so much
Thank you, Angie
Yeah
Next up, I'm pleased to welcome Joy Shigaki, friends of the waterfront
Good afternoon, commissioners executive director
It's great to be here
Following on
I'm Joy Shigaki, president and CEO of Friends of Waterfront park
It's thrilling to follow my colleague with the city
What is a historic moment for our city, of creating what once was a double decker highway that disconnected our city into making it an extraordinary new public space for residents, for this place to be hyper local and be a place that people really rediscover, but also the 15 million people who are anticipated to come to the waterfront to really enjoy the beauty of this place on Coast Salish land
Next slide
I want to apologize
The format got a little
We went through a rebrand, so some of the slides might be a little off, but the reminder for us being situated in the land of the Coast Salish is how we really center the, the voices of this place that continues to be a priority, that you will hear from the city in terms of the public artwork
But for us, as a nonprofit, how we continue to center voices of indigenous people, of tribes and ensuring that stories of harm, stories of joy, and also of resilience are really centered in this place, which continues to be a value that we have at friends and to work on alongside our partners in our programming and our work moving forward
Next slide as a reminder, obviously the park is in the former shadow of the viaduct and a real weaving together of what is an amazing new park that will really bring revitalization to downtown, to our neighborhoods, including Pioneer Square, Pike Place Market, Belltown downtown, and obviously bringing many, many more people with a new ocean pavilion that's coming
But it's also the intention of connecting people back to other communities
Communities
When you talk about the Pike Pine extension, to Capitol Hill, to the Chinatown International District, this is really about bringing a recentering of our city, but also a reweaving of what is going to be an extraordinary new world class park
Next Slide Friends is thrilled to be the nonprofit partner on this project
And a lot of new urban park projects have developed nonprofits to really provide the leadership to be able to work in partnership across the city, to be able to program and activate, provide critical private funding and the stewardship not just now, but for generations to come
So you think of organizations like Friends of the Highline and Friends of the underline, that kind of critical public private partnership is absolutely essential for being able to bring these new park spaces to life, to be able to have the resources that are necessary
But I would also say, say to center community voice to make sure that these places stay equitable and are a place of belonging and welcome
And that's really our approach
Partnership is central to all of this
You know, nonprofits can't be all things
I think what we are really excited about, including our partnership with the port and opportunities to continue to bring joy all along the waterfront into downtown, is how we continue to partner with the city, with individuals and businesses, community organizations, donors and institutions
For me, it's about leveraging the best strengths and assets that we bring forward in Seattle
And we have a lot of talent both that have created an extraordinary project like Waterfront park, but also about all the opportunities we have to really renew the city in an extraordinary way
Next slide our first decade of friends is really about modeling a transformative place, innovative piloting model centered in equity
Much of that work has been tested in co curating programs alongside community, our operations work, and really how we go into community and to really listen and to really journey together on that work
In the early days of, obviously, the design, friends was really part of, also along with the city and other partners, being able to bring awareness about the park coming to life, and also advocacy work which included funding, including the local improvement district, which has been a major piece, along with which the port has obviously contributed to and many, many others downtown to make this $807 million project fully funded, which has been absolutely critical
We've been testing public safety models
I think what we also know is heavily policing public space is not the way you create safety and welcome that it's absolutely important that we explore different models
That's been important
Along with the Seattle center, who's now our current partner in public safety and maintenance, to make sure that we are testing ways to show up for communities, including those who are unhoused, being in public space, to bring forward the ESU officers with the Seattle center, and then, when necessary, to bring Seattle police into public space, that it's really important to find ways to make sure that everyone feels that sense of welcome and safety
We had launched our campaign for Waterfront park in 20, 2170 million dollars project, which feels like many moons ago, but we are nearing the end, and I'll talk about that in a little while to make sure that we could deliver on our private contributions towards the build, but also make sure we could program the initial spaces to really reconnect locals to this extraordinary waterfront
We play the role of convener
I think that that's an important role
We take the role really seriously of how do we really connect the public sector, the public private sector and community together to be able to talk through how this extraordinary investment will really be one for our entire community, and in that is really living under our values of diversity, equity, inclusion and access in our work
Next slide
Equity in place
Making again becomes that question of who feels that sense of belonging, safety and welcome in public space
We move away from the sort of mantra, if you build it, they will come, because fundamentally, the question is, who is left behind when you don't ask, when you make the assumptions that not everyone feels that sense of welcome
All of our work has really been designing a model of co design and co curation in our public programs and activations, along with other decision making
And I think that's been really critical to what you have seen on peer 62, which has become a place of a lot of joy and deep connection
We've centered indigeneity and BIPOC voices, again, really listening and being intentional about asking questions of how we create this new public space into something that's really transformative and a place of a lot of joy and healing
And in that you move at the speed of trust that we really believe that that's an important aspect, that if you really want to build long term relationships, is that you really intentionally slow down to make sure that trust is at the center of this work
How we do that work has included working with a number of community committees
One of our committees is the pulling together committee, which is an all indigenous committee that really helps us ensure that we are listening and informing questions of how do we ensure that this Coast Salish land is being programmed and that we are ensuring that they see themselves in the space, both indigenous tribes and urban indigenous people
Our community connections committee is an all BIPOC led committee
Similarly, that gives feedback about our activations in the park and also our work with friends
And then the last is an accessibility committee that just came online this past year
Again, really making sure that we are asking how do we ensure that the public can have a experience in the park as much as possible
For those of us who are able bodied, we take a lot for granted, but we have opportunities to really improve the overall accessibility of the park itself in order to make this a park for all
Next slide our programming has been at the center of a lot of our work since pier 62 opened in the throes of COVID 2020
As Angela Brady mentioned, we had no fanfare and we had no sort of ribbon cutting, but we really began programming in earnest about two and a half years ago
We're thrilled that we've had about 167,000 people come for our free prograMS People can also come to Pier 62 to just enjoy the beauty of the space and passive activation
Over 1.2 million people have come just to come and sit and enjoy the views of the Salish Sea, our downtown, and have places of respite
But in our programming has been the opportunity to really partner with 287 artists, performers and organizations
Over 200 vendors
Many are women and minority owned because we believe that also creating economic opportunities and investments in our programming is a big part of how we work
And then in our visitor survey, we actually asked people what their experience is like
And of those surveys, over 94% of people reported that they felt satisfied by the experience
And I'll talk a little bit in a moment about our new cultural master plan as this waterfront park opens
One of the statistics we're pleased to just share is that 80% of our artists, performers and program partners had BIPOC representation
And again, what it means to normalize that in public space in the city
And I think as a model for other urban parks that are happening as also really important
Next slide
We're beginning our 2024 programming season
We have over 70 free programs that are happening between wellness and play
We have our spotlight series of a variety of performances and dance, and then some of our larger events, including our Indigiqueer program, which will start this Saturday, and our block party that will happen over Labor Day weekend
And then Salmon Homecoming, which will will wrap up our formal programming season in the warmer months
This is, again, a really great opportunity to reconnect people back to the waterfront, both locals and visitors, to have an experience that's hyperlocal and really see a perspective of culture, of belonging, and really rich, diverse communities that are a reflection of us in Seattle and in the northwest
Next slide
As I mentioned, we have a really wonderful partnership with the Seattle center
It's been a year in the making
There's been a large question of how do we keep this place safe? What is the model of caring for this new urban park? Unlike all of our neighborhood parks, if you have 15 million people coming to this place, we really need to make sure that it can be handled by an extraordinary team
And so our partners at Seattle center, who manage that 70 acre campus, are doing urban public space management and really aligned with the goals of friends and with the city of Seattle
And so we're really thrilled that they have been part of our team in partnership over the last year, and we've really seen some really good returns on that
Part of that partnership, as a reminder, is friends contributed over 5.2 million towards this operational partnership for the next five years
And again, that's a great example of how we solve for tough city issues
But in the end, want to ensure that what this massive investment will be, will be one where everyone in the public feels this place is for them
Next slide
I mentioned our campaign for Waterfront park
I'm really thrilled that we're nearly at 90% of the way towards goal
We will be wrapping this campaign of June of 25 and celebrating the completion of which we will have contributed 110 million to construction and will have paid for our programming and operations over the last ten years
And then we'll be pivoting our work, really towards ongoing operations of the park, moving away from a campaign model to ongoing fundraising, earn revenue opportunities, and obviously other opportunities to be able to sustain this organization now and in into the future
Next slide
We also went through a rebranding effort
We moved away from blue and green, which is your standard colors in the northwest, to be something really unique
I think a lot of people have been a little confused by our role
Are we government? Are we a BIA? But we're a nonprofit
And we really want to bring people closer in to our work and become our partners and our advocates and our champions
So it's a new look, new name, and same friends
So friends of Waterfront park that really connects people, people to place and for people to be coming into our work as this park begins to open and really to bring people into a really rich relationship with us as friends
And so you'll see some of the shape, language and the colors that really remind people of us being an organization that's fresh and welcoming and one that we really want to connect to build this next generation of park lovers of this extraordinary project
Next slide
I'm really pleased
Over the last year, our team, alongside our community consultant, worked on a waterfront park master plan, and many cities do cultural master plans to really ask the question how a place becomes what the framework is for making sure a place can be equitable and create inclusion and make a place have a cultural identity
Waterfront park is going to become that place
And we have worked with over 144 community members and hosted eleven roundtables to really ask the the question of what this place can be for us now and moving into the future
Next slide
We know there's a history of harm, there's a rich history of also rich contributions that happen in the city
But it's also important to map what we really want this place to be for Seattle
Next slide
And in order to be able to do that, it's also continuing to center those histories of stories that have not been told in the public narrative and making sure that our goals are really centered on belonging, indigeneity, connection to place and land stewardship, reciprocity, back to communities, which I talked about, and back to neighborhoods
This will be a framework for friends that we'll be continuing to work on and make sure we're staying true to those values based on community input to really develop this cultural master plan, not just for friends, but really for the city and for this place
Next slide
This is just a poem that we had developed, that people had developed in one of our roundtables, where people really are seeing themselves in this place by 2028 and what this place needs to be
Next slide
And in the end, right what welcoming spaces can be when people call what is the beauty of Seattle home? And to really recognize how we're going to be using our public programming and much of our other work to foster healing and belonging and shared prosperity
Next
Next slide
We are going to be launching also this summer, our promenade pop up prograMS There will be four pilots this summer and four stalls
We'll be bringing a number of small businesses, artists into this space to really create a program that creates economic development opportunities for small businesses and really incubation programs to give economic empowerment, to celebrate diversity, accessibility and affordability, affordability for people coming to visit the park, and environmental responsibility
Next slide
And we'll be tracking a lot of those deliverables
As we know, a lot of the businesses on the waterfront have really struggled since pandemic and construction, but we really see a unique opportunity for this experience to be able to collect data on how people are actually using and coming into the park, to provide feedback, obviously, to small businesses, to be able to track foot traffic into the park itself and to activate some underutilized spaces and then really support some small businesses that do not have brick and mortars
Next slide
And Angie Brady had mentioned this, but we are having a number of lead up to grand opening and a season of welcome and really thrilled to be partnering with the city of Seattle, along with the port of Seattle on a lot of this planning leading up to early 2025, which is early grand opening
So you can see a number of events here
Fundamentally, once this park opens, it will also be a living, breathing space for our community
And so we're excited about how we welcome people back to the waterfront, to rediscover downtown and really discover the heart of our city in an extraordinary way
Next slide
I think that may be it
Thank you
Great
Thank you, Joy
Any questions? Commissioner, commissioners commissions
Just a continent
Good to see you again, Joe
Good to see you
A quick comment to say, one of the things that brings me a lot of hope for the city of Seattle, and in particular related to the waterfront and the neighborhoods that are around it, is that you are making a place that's more livable for residents of Seattle
And I think there was a
For a long time, there was a mindset that downtown Seattle, that even sort of concentric circle out of downtown Seattle, outside of downtown, but including neighborhoods, these were places you would go to work or maybe enjoy some nightlife
But we need to shift that perspective back to one, which these are residential neighborhoods, Belltown and Lower Queen Anne and Pioneer Square, and the waterfront itself
We need a place where people will come to live, not just to work
And so when we create amenities like this, when we open up the space, it is
I mean, this
There is no better metaphor for that change in mindset that we're tearing down a piece of car infrastructure and we're putting up a space where people can spend their off work hours
And so I love that about this project
And I think this is the kind of thing that 100 years we'll look back on and it will continue to be an asset that is beloved by our community
So congratulations on all the work
Thanks for the presentation
Yeah, thank you
Thank you for the partnership
Executive Director Metruck thanks commissioners
I want to thank both Angie and Joy for their partnership as we talked about their exciting plans and how things are moving ahead
And I think, you know, obviously you can see our shared values and goals here and especially connecting people with the waterfront
That's kind of
Did you steal that from us? No
No, I can't say we did
Well, it all makes sense, right, how we all look at it, but we're all in the same goals of that
And I really, and commissioners, you've asked about this before
We are having great conversations about how we can continue to support this and are working with Angie and discussing, discussing an MOA, more formalizing our relationship on that
We look forward to concluding that and bringing that back in the future coming up soon
So we look forward to furthering the partnership on this
I just want to say that in this part of it, I know we have more presentations, but we have more formal partnerships with the aquarium already
So thank you
Thank you
Thank you both
Thanks
Thank you
I have questions and comments on my own, so just a super niche request or maybe pro tip that I actually find slide numbers to be incredibly useful
So if you want to incorporate slide numbers into future presentations, we would do that for you
Absolutely
Thank you so much
But I am looking at the slide that sort of has like a tentative kickoff or opening timeline and I see everything as quickly as June 2024 to ongoing through 2025
I was just this past, well, yesterday I was in Vancouver, BC facade facilitating conversation on FIFA World Cup 2026 where we have an estimated 5 billion people, 5 billion viewers and 750,000 visitors
And it's going to be an influx of surge
It's going to aye
in June
They've published the match schedule and the month of June is just going to be a really exciting time
The work that we're doing to be able to really showcase the best of what this city has to offer to a global audience I think is just critical in not just reaping the benefits of an adrenaline shot for 2026, but the ongoing return of people who fall in love with our beautiful city
So are there planned like openings or should everything be up and running and ready to go by June 2026? Yeah, we've been in conversation with the FIFA organizing committee and obviously considering what activations look like on the waterfront since obviously part of the bid was really positioning the waterfront as a central piece, it may include, obviously some programming
So friends can obviously provide that programming for visitors to have an authentic local experience
I think that we're waiting for some guidance in terms of, of what makes sense
Obviously, the stadium district being butted right up against the park is this natural sort of flow of people coming along the waterfront, obviously through downtown
So we're looking forward to sort of how we best coordinate opportunities for activations in the warmer months during 2026 and FIFA and other opportunities for some economic development
Right
Opportunities for connection that is hyper local because people want to come to a town and feel like they're experiencing something local and not something that's sort of generic
And so we've been in conversations, I didn't really map that on our presentation, but we're looking forward to sort of finalizing some of those things as the organizing group gets clearer in terms of their priorities as well
And some of those local vendors and service providers, what have you, that are going to be retailing at the waterfront will all be in place by then
Yeah
So the piloting program that you mentioned, the Promenade Prop up program, is all local
So we're working with Shunpaik Seattle restored and El Centro de la Raza, as well as indigenous sort of local artists, to be able to be those vendors in the pop up program
And we're gonna be getting feedback after this summer to expand it once the rest of the park opens
And that's an exciting opportunity
Right
So we wanna support the small, the businesses on the waterfront, but also give visitors a different experience as they come down to experience it and be able to work with small, you know, support small vendors and have an experience there, and then make their way up to pike place market and into other neighborhoods
We really believe that there needs to be economic benefit for communities, right
And diverse communities and going back into their own communities
Right
So that if you have all these people coming into the space, there needs to be that opportunity to make sure that money is flowing and there's intentional investment
Right
And we recognize that there have been many hands and many entities at play to bring this project to where it is
That said, the port of Seattle has tremendous pride, the development of our precious and only waterfront
And so I look forward to an upcoming memorandum or an agreement, I guess, and supporting it
So thank you all so much for coming today and for presenting to us without any
Is there more to the presentation? There's more presenting
Y'all are up on the next speaker
Thank you, Joy
Thank you
Thank you
Next up, we have Bob Davidson, who leads the Seattle Aquarium team
And, Bob, before you begin, I believe Steve would like to say a few words of welcome as well
Thanks, Bob
I just wanted to welcome you
It was great just to be there at the opening
The first people, I guess
There is a fantastic space, and I know everyone here is excited to be there, and I'm sure that's what we're going to hear
So thanks for those
Thanks for that continuing partnership
Thank you
Thank you
And good afternoon
And thanks for the opportunity to join you today
My name is Bob Davidson
I'm president and CEO of the Seattle Aquarium
And Steve, thanks for that welcome
And I would echo that
So I've been at the aquarium, I hesitate to say it, but for 22 years
And during that time, it's been very
A real challenge sometimes to work with all the different partners that you and we have
The city, the county and the whole ball of wax
And I would say that in the last decade, certainly, and especially in the last five years, the relationship commissioners and Steve and your whole executive team between the Seattle aquarium and the port of Seattle has achieved a richness in so many different threads, whether it's the building of the ocean pavilion itself, but also programmatically and the mission of the
And clearly the green interest of the port and of the aquarium are completely aligned
And our collaboration on research with drones mapping kelp
I'm so sorry, I have to interrupt
Commissioner Cho has dropped off, which means that we've lost our quorum, which means that we actually no longer have a meeting
And so I just need to take a moment to instruct SCCTV to stop recording
That said, we can go ahead and continue this as a briefing
Okay, good
I'm good.

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