CIVICS | Spokane City Council will talk renter protections, food delivery fee caps and more.
It’s the weekend after a holiday and we’re hoping you’re enjoying your 12th turkey sandwich. Because of the long weekend, we had to pre-write CIVICS in advance so our whole staff could enjoy their time off. Because of that, many of the agendas weren’t available when we were writing — but they may be by the time you read this. So, we’re giving you a little homework assignment: click the links and read through the agendas of the meetings we don’t have a rundown for and try your hand at parsing public meeting agendas.
We’re also keeping the items we do highlight short and sweet.
Spokane City Council
Housing incoming: In the consent agenda, there are Multiple Family Housing Property Tax Exemption Conditional Agreements for two incoming multi-unit properties. One is located in Hillyard on Lacey Street, adding 10 units, and the other is in the Logan neighborhood on E North Foothills Drive, adding 36 units. The exemption is meant to encourage building market-rate and affordable housing in different areas of Spokane.
Tenant & landlord protections: The council will have a first reading of an ordinance that would establish a program to provide some protections for tenants and landlords, including universal background and credit checks, proactive code enforcement, requiring business licenses for landlords, a residential rental property damage mitigation fund, legal services and relocation fund and anti-retaliation protections.
Food delivery fees: The council will also have the first reading of an ordinance that would cap fees for food delivery platforms, like DoorDash and UberEats, at 15% (with possible exemptions). According to the ordinance, these platforms can charge upwards of 30% of the price of an order, which impacts restaurant profits (and, uh, drivers too). Read more details on the ordinance in the agenda packet and see Daniel Walters’ rundown here.
The final budget countdown: The second-to-last budget hearing is Monday. The last opportunity to voice your thoughts on the city’s 2023 budget will be Dec. 5.
Agenda here.Monday, Nov. 28 at 6 p.m.Council Chambers in the Lower Level of City Hall.808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201The meeting is also live streamed here.
