MI Weekly 9/20/17 | Res Dev Adopted | Senior Services Collaboration | Fall Recycling Event | MICEC Parking

Last night, the City Council adopted updates to the City's Residential Development Standards after a nearly one-year-long process launched by the Planning Commission and City Council to engage the community and consider potential code changes. The Council reviewed the Commission's recommendations along with input from the community during seven City Council meetings between June and September of this year.

Initially spurred by concerns from residents about the rapidly changing character of Mercer Island's neighborhoods, the process has included a substantial effort to reach out to a broad cross-section of the community, using a variety of outreach tools including traditional meetings and public hearings, as well as social media. The City heard from many people in the community, receiving over 475 written comments.

The code amendments adopted by the City Council will place new limits on house size and bulk, increase tree protection, limit construction impacts in neighborhoods and allow for far fewer deviations and variances. The ordinance adopting these regulations will be effective on October 2nd and the new provisions will take effect on November 1, 2017.

Learn more at www.mercergov.org/Residential

Senior Services Staff Work Hand-in-Hand With Police and Fire Depts


	MIFD Battalion Chief Shawn Matheson (left) meets with Betsy Zuber; click to learn more

Betsy Zuber hears this phrase a lot: "I wish I'd known about this sooner..." As a licensed mental health counselor with the City's department of Youth and Family Services, Zuber serves Mercer Island's senior community and adult caregivers.

Many Island residents actively seek her out, calling for assistance with care planning, locating senior housing, or to learn about her caregiver support group. But frequently, Zuber is the one seeking out the seniors. "We reach out a lot," says Zuber. "It's rare for a small city to have this level of service for seniors, so we work extra hard to make sure people know about it."

Lending a big hand with outreach are the City's Police and Fire departments, which frequently refer Islanders to Zuber when they've responded to a call and find problems in the home beyond their purview. "They hate to leave a situation where more help is clearly needed. And fortunately, since Mercer Island is a lot like a family, they know to call me...we work so much together, I should have an office at Police and Fire!" she adds with a laugh.

An important part of Zuber's job is helping seniors to engage their family in their care: adult children and other family caregivers really appreciate being looped in. "Every single time, the family is so appreciative because they just didn't know this help was available, or maybe the situation just got worse without their noticing. Seniors and caregivers tell me all the time they wish they'd known about these services sooner." In 2016, 469 seniors and family members received services from Zuber for the first time.

Mercer Island Goes Green

Save the Date: Fall Recycling Event


	Click to view or download the event flyer

The City's popular annual Fall Recycling Event is a month away, so it's time to start gathering your materials. Rain or shine, it will be held on Saturday, October 21, from 9:00am to 3:00pm at the Mercer Island Boat Launch (3600 East Mercer Way).

Come safely dispose of the old equipment, electronics, appliances, and other household items that are cluttering your basement or garage; document shredding will once again be available too.

Click here to view our NEW event flyer - it provides a good overview of what to expect. Please also bring a non-perishable food or cash donation for the City's Food Pantry.

Parking Lot Rehab at Community Center

The project area highlighted in gray; click for more

information on the Community and Event Center

A few days ago, City contractors started some long-awaited excavation work to correct drainage issues in front of the main entrance to the City's Community and Event Center (MICEC).

Currently, seeping groundwater percolates up through pavement and sidewalks in the area, which is especially problematic to patrons during freezing temperatures due to icing, and has damaged some surfaces.

The MICEC will remain OPEN during the project and alternative entrance routes have been established. The project does limit available parking, and the public electric vehicle chargers will be closed; City Hall's EV chargers (1.5 miles away) are available. Thank you for your patience! -- we should be all done by approximately late September.

Homestead Field Project Helps Safe Routes to School


	The drainage problem that crews are correcting; click for more about Homestead Field

Parks Maintenance crews are working on a much-needed drainage project at Homestead Field, where water runoff had started to erode the embankment around the home plate area. The water will be captured by a new drain and tied in to existing drainage pipes in the vicinity.

Since some excavation was clearly necessary, crews collaborated with other City staff to also improve the trail down to 80th Avenue SE as part of the City's Safe Routes to School program that helps encourage students to walk or bike to class. By combining these two projects, crews will save time and money while delivering a great outcome for many different users.

For questions and comments on the MI Weekly, contact
Sustainability & Communications Manager Ross Freeman at

ross.freeman@mercergov.org or 206.275.7662.