The Mountlake Terrace City Council at its April 11 meeting approved the agreement with sponsors of the annual Tour de Terrace festival.

Recreation and Parks Director Jeff Betz reviewed the agreement with city council after Councilmember Rick Ryan recused himself due to his position on the Tour de Terrace planning committee. The presentation showed that some events are not scheduled to return, and key changes have been made since 2023.

The agreement addresses compliance with the city’s special events ordinance and consolidates into one document the use of public property, the allocation of $15,000 in lodging tax revenue, and city contributions to the event.

The Tour de Terrace will continue to host a beer garden, carnival, classic car show, live music, pancake breakfast, parade and street fair. 

The city’s contributions will include police security at the parade and festival, park services to repair the outdoor soccer field, and field and light rental. Public works staff will place event banners, stage barricades, and close streets to support the parade.  

Betz said that some residents complained last year about loud activity during Tour de Terrace at night . In response, organizers set a hard stop time for all vendors and booths — especially the carnival — to cease operations by 11 p.m. daily.

The fireworks display is discontinued for the second year. Betz said that some language remains in the agreement to bring it back later.

The 5K run also will not be on the event calendar this year. According to Betz, the run was organized  by Cedar Way Elementary Parent Teacher Organization but was canceled due to difficulty in getting volunteers.

However, the City of Mountlake Terrace staff has discussed holding its own 5k run, he said.

At the request of staff, the city will take over the portable restrooms and handwashing stations for Tour de Terrace. This will allow the city to oversee the facilities and streamline logistics by using the same vendors the city employees for other events such as the Fourth of July.

“It makes it a lot easier if we can control those things ourselves,” Betz said.

Private security was added to Tour de Terrace last year and will continue, a decision that Mountlake Terrace Police Chief Pete Caw said was very helpful and successful, Betz said.

Security acts as extra eyes for officers. For this year, the agreement includes a radio for a direct line of communication with the security firm’s onsite superior and officers to improve response time.

Further, the agreement will provide a more accurate list of police work hours drawn from last year’s data and an update on the allocation of parade policing.

Additionally, the city will receive two booth spaces and tents for the street fair to accommodate the boards and commissions and provide information on the city’s Vision 2024 Comprehensive Plan update.

The 2024 Tour de Terrace summer festival is a free event scheduled for July 19-21 at the Evergreen Playfields Complex.

For more information on the Tour de Terrace, click here. 

The business codes are getting clearer

In other business, the council voted to move changes to the city’s business license code to the May 2 consent agenda after receiving a presentation from City Manager Jeff Niten.

Niten said the current code was “long, confusing and has caused quite a bit of friction between the departments.”

He said one of the most significant points of conflict was the licensing of cloud-based programs known as software as a service (SaaS). Niten noted the City of Mountlake Terrace and many private businesses use multiple service programs.

“Our current code can be interpreted to require a business license from every vendor that offers software as a service, even if they never set foot in town,” Niten said.

If those cloud-based software services require a business license, the city would need to contact large retail businesses and ask which software providers they use, which the businesses are unlikely to provide, he said.

The current code could even apply to a self-employed person who uses software such as PayPal to receive payment, products like Square to read credit cards or virtual storefronts like Etsy or Amazon.

“This is intended to make our business code clear: if you’re physically in Mountlake Terrace doing business,” Niten said.

However, there are exceptions to the business license requirement, which Niten also made clear, such as fundraisers for school activities, neighborhood lemonade stands, and the National Night Out vendors covered under the Tour de Terrace Organization’s business license.

Peddlers, canvassers and solicitors require a different license to conduct door-to-door sales within the city limits.

Although the language is still being worked out, under the revised code advertisements placed in yards, walkways and doorsteps, such as fliers and business cards, might be banned, and door-to-door salespeople may be required to wear visible identification.

“We want to make sure that while we get what we need, we make sure that we process business licenses that are appropriate for our community,” Niten said. “But we also don’t want to put up barriers to exclude folks from doing business in Mountlake Terrace.”

A draft of the ordinance can be seen here.  

Children’s Day

The City of Mountlake Terrace recognized Children’s Day on April 11 with a reception hosted by the Mountlake Terrace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and a proclamation from the city council.

Students from Brighton School, Brier Terrace Middle School and Mountlake Terrace High School gave presentations during the meeting and received a signed copy of the proclamation to keep.

To read more, click here.

Park grants

Recreation and Parks Director Betz also presented to the council requests to apply for three separate grants from the Washington State Recreation Conservation Office (RCO).

The grants are:

– Washington Wildlife Recreation Program Grant for Veterans Memorial Park for $500,000

– Land Water Conservation Fund Grant for Veterans Memorial Park Upper Plateau for $1 million

– Youth Athletic Facilities Grant for Evergreen Playfield #4 for $325,000

The council approved authorization for the applications to be moved to the April 25 consent calendar.

The city council meeting scheduled for April 18 has been canceled.

The next meeting will start at 7 p.m., April 25, at Mountlake Terrace City Hall, 23204 58th Ave. W., Mountlake Terrace.

To attend the meeting online, visit zoom.us/join and enter meeting ID 810 1113 9518; no passcode is needed.

To make a public comment remotely, complete the registration form within 24 hours of the meeting’s start at cityofmlt.com/FormCenter/City-Council-17/Remote-Public-Comment-Request-Form-12. 

To listen via telephone, call 1-253-215-8782 and enter the same meeting ID.

You also can view livestreamed meetings and past video recordings at www.youtube.com/cityofmlt. 

The agenda can be viewed here.

— By Rick Sinnett