On Thursday, June 5, 2025, the Des Moines City Council convened for a Committee of the Whole and Study Session to address a range of significant topics.
The agenda featured a presentation on a major mixed-use development on Pacific Highway, an update from Sound Transit on the nearly completed light rail extension, and a spirited debate among councilmembers regarding potential revisions to the City Council Protocol Manual. Discussions centered on the very processes that govern the council’s own proceedings, setting the stage for future formal decisions on these key issues.
Moderna Woodmont Development Agreement
The council heard a presentation on a Moderna Woodmont development planned for Pacific Highway, on a seven acre lot near 269th. The development would include 290 apartments, with commercial space on the ground floor. There would be 63,000 square feet of common recreation space, as well as a children’s play area. The public hearing on this development will take place during the June 12th council Meeting.
Sound Transit Construction Update
Sound Transit reported that they are 95% done with a light rail extension that includes three new stations. The stations are in Kent/Des Moines, Star Lake, and Federal Way. The plan is to have light rail open and running to these connections by spring of 2026, in time for the World Cup.
Protocol Manual Updates
Councilmembers took turns discussing proposed changes that they would like to make to the City Council Protocol Manual. Changes with majority support will be brought back to a regular business meeting for a formal vote. Some potential changes are described below.
Councilmember Yoshiko Grace Matsui argued for bringing back a second reading of all ordinances. She said having a mandatory second reading offers more value to the community, giving adequate time to activate and involve the public in decisions. Councilmember JC Harris was in full support, though he suggested that Des Moines could do as Burien does, simply placing approved ordinances on the consent agenda of the following meeting. This would give a second chance to discuss anything before it is finalized.
Councilmember Matt Mahoney said the process was broken before, and they had fixed it by removing the second readings. If any ordinance needs a second reading, the council can always decide to give it one. Before they removed the mandatory second reading, the council frequently had to waive the second reading in order to pass things in a timely manner.
Mayor Traci Buxton shared that she felt some lingering PTSD around this issue, as she had been accused of a lack of transparency. People thought the council was breaking a rule whenever they voted to skip the second reading, even though it is a council rule that allowed them to choose to skip the second reading if they desired. She said she really preferred to keep it as is, with no second reading unless one was needed, but that she was willing to compromise and bring ordinances back on the consent calendar at a subsequent meeting.
Another change Councilmember Grace Matsui proposed is doing away with the 9 p.m. ending time for council meetings. She said the meetings should end when the business is done and everything has been taken care of. Grace Matsui pointed out that it was a big waste of time to constantly have to vote to extend the meeting by 10 minutes here and there.
Councilmember Jeremy Nutting was adamantly opposed, saying meeting start times had already been moved earlier to 6 p.m., and meetings should be managed well enough that they are done in three hours. Councilmember Matt Mahoney concurred, saying that staff time needed to be respected–many members of the staff are at work for a full day before the meetings begin. He added that the meetings lately allowed for too much nonsense and rambling, wasting everyone’s time.
Mayor Traci Buxton said meeting agendas lately have been hugely stacked with important decisions, and that will continue for the foreseeable future. She said they may need to add more meetings, if running later in the evening was going to be a problem.
