Transportation Committee 3/18/2025

All right, good morning, everyone.

The March 18th, 2025 meeting of the Transportation Committee will come to order.

It is 9.32 AM.

I am Rob Saka, chair of the Transportation Committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll?

Council member Kettle?

Here.

Council member Rink?

Present.

Council member Strauss?

Present.

Vice chair Hollingsworth?

Here.

Chair Saka?

Here.

Chair, there are five members present.

Excellent.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing and seeing no objection, the agenda is hereby adopted.

All right.

Good morning, members of the public, colleagues, those tuning in on the award-winning Seattle channel.

Thank you for joining us for today's meeting of the Transportation Committee.

Today's first topic and agenda item will be a presentation on Sound Transit's link light rail extensions in our city.

have representatives from Sound Transit, the agency itself, and members of our own city delegation that are responsible for implementation from a local city implementation perspective.

So, That includes SDOT and SDCI.

So thank you everyone in advance for joining us today.

I am a proud and an enthusiastic supporter of the various sound transit projects and the various transit investments in general for our city, including the West Seattle and Ballard extensions.

The link light rail extension to West Seattle is a much needed transportation investment to connect district one to the rest of Seattle.

While supporting this project, I also want to make clear to Sound Transit, an expectation of mine and a hope of mine is that the agency work with those directly affected and displaced by this important transit infrastructure investment and doing our best to the full extent of the law to make sure they are made whole in their entirety as part of the displacement process.

I've communicated these expectations to Sound Transit Board, as well as interim CEO, members in a letter that I sent yesterday, basically documenting and memorializing the positions that I've, my positions with the agency that I've had all along, and in my conversations with community as well.

So sent that letter yesterday.

I look forward to learning more about the status of this project today, as well as how Sound Transit will work with impacted communities and again, make them whole.

And then importantly, the thing that is within our direct span of control colleagues, how we can potentially enable this project from a local city government perspective.

So we'll learn more about that today.

and kick off an important conversation.

Our second agenda item today will be a briefing and discussion on a sky bridge project, just up the street by town hall, an important project that connects to council districts.

The council district from my esteemed vice chair, Hollingsworth, as well as the distinguished gentlemen from Queen Anne, council member Kettle over here.

I know this project is unique in that the sky bridge crosses between again, both districts three and district seven.

So really looking forward to hearing from those involved in the project and thank you for coming today.

I understand there's some members of the public that are here to support that today.

So that said, enough chairs, comments and throat clearing.

We will now move to the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda and within the purview of this committee.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

Currently we have five in-person speakers signed up and there is one remote speaker.

All right, thank you.

Each speaker will have approximately two minutes and we will start with the in-person speakers first.

Clerk, can you please read the public comment instructions?

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

The public comment period is up to 20 minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered.

Speakers will alternate between sets of in-person and remote speakers until the public comment period is ended.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Public comment period is now open, and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.

The first speaker is Jordan Crawley, followed by Doug Palmer.

Good morning, council members.

I'm Jordan Crowley representing Alki Beach Academy, a child care center that has served hundreds of young children in Delridge for over 11 years.

I've been hard at work with leaders from Seattle to Olympia fighting for the nearly 70 businesses that will be displaced by the West Seattle Link extension.

Let me be clear, I support this project.

Equitable access to a regional mass transit network is essential to our growing community.

Having grown up in West Seattle, I've experienced its growth firsthand and believe light rail is an important step forward for our economy and our environment.

In 2022, I worked with the last council to make the city's support of light rail in Delridge contingent upon the mitigation of impacts to essential services.

In 2023, I gathered stakeholders to develop ideas for securing just compensation for the displaced.

Last year, I worked with the county to explore expanding grant opportunities for displaced community resources, and this year, worked with our legislators to draft and pass HB 1733, which carried unanimous support through the House and will raise the statutory cap on reestablishment expense payments.

I've done all this while raising kids, holding down a full-time job, and leading several nonprofits, but have seen nothing of substance from this council since 2023. With the exception of council member Rink, we've seen no interest from this council in doing the work necessary to keep businesses like my families in operation.

We don't need letters of support.

We don't need kind words of solidarity.

We need action.

Action that delivers the support necessary to ensure we continue to thrive while valuable projects like this link extension are brought online.

Action that invests in community to expand access to essential resources, things like childcare, but also culture and arts education, grocery stores, gathering spaces, and healthcare facilities.

I'd personally like to thank Council Member Rink for continuing the work her predecessor began and encouraging the rest of this council to do this.

Let's get something done for our community.

Thank you.

Next up is Doug Palmer, followed by Ed Marcuse.

Good morning.

I'm Doug Palmer, a resident of the Skyline Retirement Community, and here today to speak in support of the Skybridge petition on your agenda.

As some of you know, Skyline is a continuing care retirement community for seniors located a few blocks up the hill.

We totaled some 425 residents, most in independent living, but many in health care units, including assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing.

The proposed sky bridge would cross 8th Avenue, connecting the parts of our community that are currently separated by the street and two of our city council districts, as noted previously.

I'd like to thank a number of my fellow residents for showing up today to demonstrate the enthusiastic support for the skybridge that our entire community evidences.

The average age of our residents is 83, and a substantial number of them use walkers, wheelchairs, walking sticks, or other walking aids, or are visually impaired, making it difficult to cross the street, particularly in bad weather.

There are also too many of our residents who simply don't cross the street at all due to the dangers they perceive, thus foregoing many activities that would enhance their quality of life.

Another resident will speak in a minute further to the difficulties many of us face, which would be alleviated by a sky bridge.

All in all, we're very excited to have gotten this far in the process.

and see the vision of a sky bridge forming on the horizon.

We hope that you will move this forward to full city council approval as soon as possible so we can get the sky bridge built.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.

Up next is Ed Marcuse followed by Jim DeMaine.

Good morning, and thank you for this opportunity.

I'm a resident of Skyline.

I've been there three years.

When I moved in, I was normally mobile.

Subsequently, due to illness, I now have to use a walker.

What was a trivial trip between buildings is now a journey fraught with several barriers.

I want to emphasize that Skyline is, although we're in multiple buildings, we're one community, and there are Dining rooms in both facilities, physical therapy, pool one side or the other, as well as lectures and performances.

So we need to be able to get back and forth.

What would, as I say, what was a trivial inconvenience for about a three minute trip has now become a bit of a journey which takes me about 11 to 12 minutes.

So you have to walk down the sidewalk, cross a crosswalk, go back up a ramp, we use a proximity badge to open a door.

Doesn't sound like much, and if you know that corner, there can be formidable wind and rain if by any chance it's been freezing, it's hazardous if there's any ice, and it is very busy traffic, particularly between 3 and 6 p.m.

as people go south on 8 to get to James.

For several of us, it's a barrier.

More important, there are couples who are asymmetric in their aging, and one of them will be in assisted living, or memory care, the other in independent living.

It's a real barrier for them to stay in touch.

Thanks for your consideration.

Thank you, sir.

Next up is Jim DeMaine, followed by our last in-person speaker, Jack Wismer.

Thank you.

My name is Jim DeMaine.

I'm an 86-year-old resident of Skyline, having moved there from the east side more than 10 years ago.

As planning took place for Skyline's new Olympic Tower, our residents advocated for a sky bridge crossing 8th Avenue because of safety and disability access concerns.

Unfortunately, the initial efforts to get approval did not work out, so the new tower opened subsequently in 2021 without a sky bridge.

A recent survey of Skyline residents showed that 96% of us strongly support a sky bridge.

We now find it very encouraging to finally be in front of your transportation committee.

The 41% of our residents who are mobility impaired particularly appreciate being heard.

I'm not in that situation myself at present, but if my spinal stenosis progresses, I'm one of those who will greatly benefit in having access to a sky bridge between our two integrated buildings.

We certainly applaud the city council, particularly council members Kettle and Hollingsworth, for visiting our community.

listening and supporting the SkyBridge proposal.

We have chosen to live in a vibrant urban setting, and we feel fortunate to live in a city which prioritizes an environment of safety and disability access.

In brief conclusion, we urge you to move the SkyBridge proposal forward to the full city council as soon as possible so we can get that SkyBridge built.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. DeMaine.

Jack Wisner.

Good morning, Transportation Committee.

My name is Jack Wisner.

I live in District 6. I follow transit issues pretty closely.

I wrote an email to the members this weekend.

I want you to pay special attention to the central staff memo.

It points out that there are very big fiscal questions about the link extensions.

Councilmember Kettle likes to point out that we live in a maritime city, and I use a tide book all the time.

There tends to be two high tides each 24 hours.

We know the fiscal problems behind the West Seattle link extension, but we don't know about the second high tide that's coming.

How big will the deficit be for the Ballard link extension?

It's my guess that it'll be much higher.

The fiscal power of Seattle is not strong enough to rescue ST3 link.

There's probably going to have to be a reset.

No matter how smart the planners are at SDOT or the Department of Waterfront, they're just like talented sweepers sweeping against the tide of red ink that's going to come.

We also have the problem of a storm coming from DC.

Do you think the Trump FTA is going to help Seattle?

I suspect they will not.

So please be very careful with our resources.

I don't think the resources of Move Seattle can rescue SD3Link.

Finally, please pay attention not just to the cost of building these extensions, but also to the benefits that they will provide.

and the executive and the mayor are pushing an alignment, the split CID station, and that's gonna be bad for the system for a hundred years.

We need that proximate transfer between the lines.

Otherwise the system's gonna be much weaker.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Mr. Wissner.

Okay, we'll move to our last speaker remote, David Haynes.

David, when you're given the go, please hit star six.

Hi, David Haynes.

Council should reject the over $12 billion boondoggle from sound transit that goes from West Seattle to Ballard.

This project originated from the power-mongering progressive Democrats, Lorena Gonzalez, Teresa Mosqueda, and Lisa Herbold, who lived in the area, who wanted to build their green-friendly resume at the expense of taxpayers, foolishly believing that we needed a $12 billion boondoggle track that goes almost a rock's throw for West Seattle, needing a different train track because it won't line up the downtown Seattle's tunnel.

And then from downtown Seattle to Ballard, which you can get to from a multitude of buses if they just improved the routes or stuck a train on the already established train track that would go out to Golden Gardens and connect it to the 44. But instead, they want to make it seem more complicated and more ridiculous to just spend billions of dollars using a train to compete with the bus that they sabotage.

Remember when the elevators broke down at Sound Transit?

Remember how the escalators always break down leaving you inconvenience?

Remember the fact that they have to close down one side of the track and share the same track going both ways?

Or the fact that the contractor that Sound Transit was overseeing put the wrong size materials onto the train track designing the Link Light Rail 2 from opening route from Bellevue to Seattle?

And remember when the contractor that Sound Transit was overseeing decided to change the size of the rebar to pocket the difference that holds up the elevated train tracks headed to SeaTac, leaving you vulnerable and shaking on the train?

Nobody was ever really held accountable for any of that.

And they didn't fix it.

It's like there's so much money involved and the wrong people are overseeing it that they just keep signing off on it because there's political kickbacks.

It's like we need an investigation of all the people who donate the politicians who are making money off of Sound Transit projects And quite frankly, some of these projects seem to be lining the pockets of people who own land on the path, and yet there is still no concerted effort to make it safe, to even go near the already established public transportation options that justify buying a car to improve the quality of living because you cannot rely on public transportation in Seattle because it's totally unsafe and inefficient.

Thank you, David.

Chair, that concludes the public comment.

All right, thank you.

We will now move on to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Agenda item one, ST3, Seattle Link Light Rail Extensions.

Awesome, thank you.

Will our presenters please join us at the table and share your presentations?

Once ready, please introduce yourselves and begin your presentation.

All right.

Good morning, Chair Saka, Vice Chair Hollingsworth, and members of the Transportation Committee.

My name is Brad Owen.

I am an executive director within Sound Transit's capital delivery program, and I'm joined by my colleague to my left here, Jason Hampton, who is our interdisciplinary lead for the West Seattle Link Extension.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today.

We're excited for the opportunity to share status updates for the West Seattle Link Extension and the Ballard Link Extension projects.

I am new to Sound Transit.

I joined roughly six months ago I joined from LA Metro where I spent 13 years building projects of similar size and capacity.

And I'm excited to work on this project.

These projects is one of the reasons why I decided to come to Seattle.

This is an amazing program.

An amazing opportunity and amazing people building it.

Before sharing some project updates, I also want to acknowledge the partnership that Sound Transit has with the City of Seattle, specifically as it relates to the ST3 program.

First, we want to recognize Councilmember Strauss, who supports us and provides leadership on the Sound Transit Board.

Your representation of the city's priorities in the boardroom are appreciated.

We also have a strong partnership in the executive branch, highlighted by Mayor Harrell's recent executive order to support the ST3 program and the light rail expansions.

We're grateful for the collaborative relationship that that helped us continue to build with Director Brady.

and the new Office of the Waterfront Civic Project and Sound Transit.

And I'm glad that we have the hardworking peers, colleagues over at City of Seattle to help us do this.

So Jason and I are going to provide some updates with that.

Jason will jump into the presentation.

Thanks, Brad.

Chair Saka, members of the committee, thanks for our commission.

Thanks for having us here.

Jason Hampton, Light Rail Development Manager for Sound Transit, leading the project development phase for the West Seattle Link Extension.

I'm gonna start with a couple of high-level slides to introduce the project and then hand it back up to Brad.

This slide really highlights the key benefits of the West Seattle Link Extension project.

The project reduces travel time from Alaska Junction to West Lake Station by 50%.

A trip currently on a rapid ride bus that currently takes 30 minutes would be down to about 16 minutes with the project.

It improves transit service frequency and reliability, especially when connecting through the tunnel up to Everett once the Ballard project is online, creating a regional network of light rail.

It facilitates redevelopment of the station.

So in addition to a lot of the affordable housing that you're seeing around stations today, we would have an incredible opportunity to develop around the stations in West Seattle.

It also provides a travel option for reasons that may happen if the West Seattle Bridge or the Spokane Street Bridge is backed up or shut down for any reason as it was most recently during COVID.

Next slide, please.

Just a couple of slides on the background, where the projects come from.

So this slide shows the entire phases of the project, starting back in 2017, following the ST3 approval in 2016. We started planning in earnest in 2017. That's continued through this year.

We're gonna shift into the design phase very soon here.

Brad's gonna talk a little bit about that process when he's speaking.

And then we anticipate starting construction in 2027 with an expected opening date around 2032. Next slide, please.

So this slide really highlights some of the work that we have ahead of us.

So as we transition from the environmental review phase and planning phase into the implementation phase, we'll start doing things like final design, early construction activities.

And then I just want to highlight here, we show property acquisition and relocation on here.

And I know, Chair Saka, this is something that we've discussed before.

We do have some early approvals for property acquisitions for the West Seattle Link Extension.

Those are approved by the board and have been approved by FTA.

Typically, property acquisition happens after the record of decision, which we anticipate in the coming months from FTA.

But in order to begin robust conversations and working with property owners and tenants and providing the access to the relocation benefits, we started early.

For those properties or businesses that haven't received approval yet, We're continuing to work with them to really help them understand what options will become available once we have that record of decision and can move into the more robust acquisition phase and work with them to find new homes in the community that they serve.

Thanks, Jason.

So as we move into, we'll give an update on Ballard in a moment, but I just wanted to recognize the motion that you see on the screen there in recognizing some of the financial challenges and just the complexity of the projects in front of us.

The board has introduced a motion for Sound Transit staff.

This motion is directing staff to develop a work plan on programmatic, project-specific, and financial opportunities to improve the agency's financial situation and move the West Seattle and Ballard projects through the design to inform the project baseline.

This is being applied programmatically, not just to West Seattle and Ballard.

And under our board's leadership, we are making good progress on this and we'll be able to provide updates in the future.

Next slide.

So we're gonna move into the Ballard Link extension for this piece.

So Ballard project was included in the ST3 voter approved plan.

It adds nearly eight miles of light rail service, including a critical light rail only downtown tunnel.

This tunnel is critical to the operations, the long term operations of the entire Sound Transit built out program.

It also includes nine new stations from the Chinatown International District up to Ballard.

Next slide, we're talking about the environmental project timelines.

So we're in the project planning phase right now that is shown in green.

We plan to move into the design and construction phases following the planning phase.

But as you can see there, we're roughly a year out from what we believe the end of the planning phase to be.

The next slide we're going to dive into the details a little bit so you can see the star in the middle there.

We are here.

We just completed additional NEPA scoping and we are moving towards publishing a draft EIS for the Ballard Link Extension sometime in later 2025. That will be followed by a formal comment period for the public and another opportunity for the board to confirm or modify the preferred alternative for the Sound Transit Board to modify the preferred alternative for the Ballard Link extension.

As you can see there, 26, we're gonna publish the final EIS and then return to the board for the project to be built.

This slide shows the alternatives that are being studied, the full range of alternatives being advanced as a part of ongoing environmental review and preliminary engineering.

The preferred alternative is shown in pink, and all other alternatives that are continuing to be advanced in environmental review are shown in blue.

Please note that while all the alternatives are going to receive the same level of analysis in the EIS, PE is only being performed on the preferred alternative In the Denny-Southlake Union area, the preferred alternative is the Denny-Westlake shifted north with a Southlake Union station on Harrison.

And in addition, we have the original Denny-Westlake alternative known as DT1, the Denny-Terry alternative with a Southlake Union on Mercer known as DT2.

We're also gonna carry forward into environmental review the Denny-Westlake shifted west alternative that would consolidate the Denny and Southlake Union stations.

Next slide.

Jason.

Yeah, thanks.

Just want to quickly go through the operating plan when the West Seattle Link Extension opens and later when Ballard's open and the rest of the ST3 projects are online.

Starting on the left, this shows the operating plan.

The pink line, the number three there with West Seattle, would open with an extension from West Seattle's Alaska Junction neighborhood to the Soto Station.

and then passengers would be able to transfer to the one line shown there in green and travel south toward Federal Way in Tacoma or north toward Linwood.

During that time, I just want to point out, because there would be a transfer at the Soto Station, King County Metro will continue to run the rapid ride buses from West Seattle into downtown into the locations they serve today.

So while people would have a new option to travel from West Seattle to Soto, they would continue to have that option they currently have, so they'd have different choices.

In the operating plan for 2042, once the other ST3 projects are online and Ballard is open, the three line shown in pink would continue through the existing downtown Seattle transit tunnel north all the way to Everett.

And the Ballard line would travel south through a new tunnel in downtown Seattle and continue to Tacoma.

And of course, there would be connections to the two line when that opens across the lake out to Redmond.

And then in the future, there's a planned Issaquah to Kirkland line.

That's what's illustrated here along with the Tacoma link light rail and orange at the bottom.

And that concludes the presentation.

Happy to take questions.

Yeah, no.

Thank you very much, Sound Transit, for presentation today.

And shortly, we'll introduce our city folks, so let them get started from an SDOT and SDCI and central staff perspective, respectively.

And colleagues, I encourage you to read Calvin Chow's central staff memo from last month, almost a month ago, that talks about issues including the city's role and responsibility.

Very insightful memo here.

This is just a copy, extra copy we printed out today, but my dog-eared and highlighted copy is at my desk.

But great memo, great analysis, really tees up the issues.

I'm gonna see if any of my council member colleagues have any comments or questions, but before we do that, I think this is a great opportunity in part to address some specific concern that we heard 20 minutes ago from members of the public about the financial impact of the sound transit expansion project.

Particularly with respect to the West Seattle project, it's a widely known, well-documented, widely reported multi-billion dollar budget shortfall.

And Cal teased this up in the memo as well, and it's going to invariably result in some revised scoping, a deep analysis to discern what kind of additional cost-saving measures could be taken.

Ultimately, teeing up to the Sound Transit Board, I'm looking at my esteemed colleague, Councilmember Strauss here, who is our council representative to the Sound Transit Board, who are the decision makers in this.

All that is to say, can you talk a little bit about the timeline to address that and how that impacts the project specifically in West Seattle?

Question one, and I think this would be a good segue to our city delegation here to talk about the city's role and responsibility from a financial perspective to address that budget deficit or not.

So starting with Sound Transit first.

All right, thank you for that question.

So cost of projects across the nation are increasing, specifically infrastructure and transit projects.

Demands for labor, materials, equipment, they're driving costs up across the board.

Real estate costs continue to rise.

attributing to some of the higher costs that you see in the earlier phases of the project.

There is also, I mentioned labor, but there's a contractor shortage.

We've gone through a period of significant growth, and the contractors all have large backlogs, and so they can pick and choose which projects they want to build.

So we're fighting through all that in the midst of putting together a project in a dense urban environment, very complex, dense urban environment, trying to build while we mitigate impacts to the community there.

So we're committed to, as I mentioned, the motion that we flashed on the screen, we're committed to trying to improve the agency's the agency's position.

In the early phases of the project, there is a tendency to look at the worst case scenarios so that we don't want to indicate that the project is going to cost less than it will because then we have to go fix that.

So there is a tendency to be conservative in our estimates here, but we have opportunities to bring the numbers down through efficiencies in construction, looking at the PE design, you know, doing more design work.

So when the Sound Transit Board selected the project to be built in 24, they provided this motion to us.

Thank you for pulling it up.

And we continue to move along those lines as it relates to some of the cost.

And when you will see some of those those changes, you know, we are working towards a fall 25 timeline to help us align that and help us get some some more clarity on the cost of the projects.

And thank you.

And can you clarify and confirm the total present budget deficit and shortfall for building that West Seattle extension as currently scoped and planned?

How much short are we for Sound Transit?

So our current estimate that we have is roughly 6.8 to 7.2, I believe, is what we've reported to our board.

In the financial plan- Billion?

Yes, billion.

Apologize.

6.8 to 7.4 billion.

And in the financial plan that we have, the allocated funding is 4.1.

Okay.

And the timeline you said you had in mind to potentially for board action is later this year, later this fall, to potentially address some of those scoping and costs issues.

Yes, it's a multi-tiered approach.

Some of the efficiencies we can realize in-house without board action, they're just means and methods in how we build things.

There are other decisions that the board will need to make.

If there are scoping elements that we decide to defer, the board will need to weigh in on those.

For West Seattle, it is ahead of the other major ST3 link extensions.

And so we would imagine some of the West Seattle decisions coming sooner than, say, some of the Ballard or other projects that aren't as developed.

Thank you.

And Councilmember Strauss is chomping at the bit, and I look forward and I'm eager to hear his perspective, his unique perspective and unique insights into this matter and others related to sound transit.

I want to finish my train of thought here.

Thank you for answering that first component of the question, sound transit.

Now I'll turn it over to the city side provide clarity on the second question, which was what is the city's role and responsibility financially, from a financial perspective on these projects?

Is the levy in play?

What's the city's role, if any, financially?

I was thinking we could introduce ourselves and my colleagues here before we answer that question.

I'm Angela Brady.

I am the Office of the Waterfront Civic Projects and Sound Transit Director for the City of Seattle.

I'm going to let Sarah introduce herself.

I'm Sarah Maxana.

I'm the Sound Transit Program Director for the City of Seattle.

Lindsay King, SDCI Project Manager.

And I think I'm gonna take an attempt at answering that excellent question.

There are two roles right now that have been defined for the city that have direct impact on the finances of these projects as they come through the city.

The first is that through our permit streamlining efforts, which has been a five-year effort, iterative effort with community, with Sound Transit, and with city departments, we are looking at ways to help deliver these projects faster.

And every month that we take off of the permit time is money saved by the project.

Sound Transit is counting on the city taking these measures to expedite permitting so that the project does not incur additional cost of delay.

So that is a huge body of work that we'll be talking a little bit about in our presentation in a few minutes, but will also be coming to you via legislation later this year.

The second way that the city has defined role right now in directly impacting the finances of the project is through what's been called third party funding.

And there have been several board actions since 2019 that have defined a role for third parties, which could include the city of Seattle and King County.

as having a role to help address the delta between the affordable project or what is in their financial plan and the additional cost that discrete scope elements could incur if a third party is requesting they be included.

And so dating back to 2023 in board actions, there was a delta identified, and in that board action, it was stated that the city of Seattle, King County, and Sound Transit would be working collaboratively to address that delta.

That delta at the time was for both West Seattle and Ballard, and there have been a lot of cost changes that have happened and new cost estimates that have come out since then.

And so the conversation is ongoing in the next couple years about what that third-party funding contribution will look like from the city of Seattle and other third parties.

Thank you.

So I'm hearing, financially, we're on the hook.

from a city of Seattle perspective for two things, really that are ultimately enablement.

It's not like we are directly responsible for construction, cost of materials and labor.

It's permit, streamlining, and then any kind of ancillary, funding like third party funding, I think you called it jointly with the county, King County, the city, others not including but not limited to the city, the county and others in addressing some of the potentially the Delta.

Can you give it provide examples of what that funding could look like irrespective of where we sort of land on the total city investment, but what are some of the examples of projects or deliverables that third-party funding would contribute to?

Yeah, I'd be happy to answer that.

The board motion, and would welcome my Sound Transit colleagues to respond as well.

The board motions that identified a preferred alternative for both Ballard and West Seattle did identify specific segments that would require additional third-party funding.

An example that I could give is in the Ballard Link Extension project in the board motion identifying a preferred alternative for studying the DEIS.

selected the tunnel to 15th Ave Northwest as the preferred alternative.

That alternative is more expensive than the alternative that would have a tunnel to 14th Avenue Northwest.

The city was a strong advocate and community was a strong advocate for that tunnel option to 15th Northwest.

So that is an instance where there could be a third party funding contribution that would be expected.

Reporting and EIS, commissioning EIS is one study, that's one example of, okay.

All right, thank you.

Now, oh, go ahead.

Council Member Calvin Chow, Council of Central Staff.

I'd like to just provide a little background on third party funding conversation because I think it has a long history and I think it's important for this council to be aware of it.

It really stems from when the ballot measure was being put together back before 2016, and there was a perceived difference of dollar value between going through bridges or going through tunnels, particularly to the peninsulas.

And the concept of third-party funding really came out of that to address sort of the perceived difference in cost of these sort of fundamental choices.

That discrepancy between tunnels and bridges has kind of largely gone away, but there are other sort of scope changes like the 15th Avenue one, which are more direct to scope changes that are in play.

I think the biggest example of third-party funding in the region is still the Bellevue downtown tunnel, where Bellevue was able to provide support, financial support, to help make that be a part of the project.

There is no proposal currently.

People are exploring with various funding opportunities that might be available.

One that the state made available is an extended service enhancement area that for the city of Seattle would encompass the entire city of Seattle tax base.

There may be other financial options that are available, some of which may require voter approval, but there is no proposal that I'm aware of at this time.

Thank you.

And then finally, just to close this out, when I asked about whether the recent voter-approved levy funds could be used to this, I sensed a strong reaction from Bill aboard from SDOT.

So would you mind offering some clarity on the voter-approved, whether that voter-approved levy funds could be leveraged for that?

There's nothing in the levy ordinance that you passed and that voters approved that would have third-party funding covered by levy funds.

The only levy elements that are related to the project are some station access projects, which is something that traditionally the city has invested in through the first two phases of sound transit.

All right.

Thank you for providing the much needed clarity.

Now council member Strauss, please go ahead.

Thank you chair.

And thank you for all of your work and your interest in what is going on in sound transit.

I've tried to channel you many times in my role as a sound transit board member.

I almost use the moniker Delridge from dad from Delridge at our board meeting where I was advocating on behalf of Delridge to ensure that the properties that have moved forward in being purchased by Sound Transit would be kept in good order because it is the gateway to your community.

I'm speaking specifically of those buildings down at Mode Music, et cetera.

Those purchases are going forward earlier than others in a way to speak to what Jordan was talking about earlier today, about creating consistency and predictability for the people who are being displaced.

I got really worried that we were about to say that there was a $7 billion budget deficit on West Seattle.

No, that's the total cost, projected cost at this time, although I will share that costs are changing very rapidly.

As our biggest cost driver recently has been concrete, that may be turning to steel.

And one thing that we know is that these guideways and the sound transit infrastructure requires a lot of concrete.

and steel.

And I will say that just touching on the budget, what you've conveyed, Chair, is factually accurate that there are some budget challenges ahead of ourselves.

That's something that I think everyone's pretty clear-eyed about.

And in a meeting that I had yesterday where my answers weren't fully, or my questions weren't fully answered, what was answered for me is that there's a framework being developed for our decision making to go forward regarding the budget and regarding projects.

Specifically, we're already seeing this with the West Seattle project where we are engaging in sequential decision making rather than a past practice that was to approve the entire project, the entire line all at once.

At this time, Sound Transit has changed how they're making decisions so that we are not getting ahead of ourselves and we're able to take advantage of cost-saving measures.

When we're looking at these very large projects, the cost of steel might rise or the price of concrete might drop.

If we locked in a price today for all future work, we would be putting ourselves at a disadvantage.

The other aspect is regarding the spine of sound transit.

The folks in Pierce County and Snohomish County still, we have reached Snohomish County now, but the folks in Everett still have no light rail to ride.

And the same with getting down to Tacoma, there's the T station down there in Tacoma.

But we're gonna be talking about Boeing access infill station in just a minute.

And one of the other board members at sound transit expansion committee last week was really raising the concerns that we're without understanding where our budget framework is, Because it's near to be completed after the work of Jerron Sparman has come in and really made a lot of important changes.

So as that's being developed, what the board member from Pierce County was sharing is, are we going to be spending more money for an infill station near Seattle when the spine has not yet reached Pierce County?

And that's a really important conversation for us to have because the folks who are at either in Everett or Tacoma are not having the same benefit that we are here in Seattle.

When I'm looking at what the biggest challenges for Seattle are, people rely on sound transit to get to work.

If the line is down, I know everyone's running 20 minutes late.

The biggest problem for folks in Everett is that they don't even have a train to ride.

And so as this is a regional system, I just bring that back because the budget question that you asked is not just about West Seattle.

It's not just about Ballard.

Jack Wisner, a public comment today also accurately described, we do not have updated cost estimates for Ballard.

So these are all factors.

And that's why having this budget framework is gonna be so critical.

When we're talking about what is Seattle on the hook for or not on the hook for, one of the improvements that Sound Transit has made in this last year is more clearly creating a betterment policy.

So that says, what is the local jurisdiction on the hook for as compared to what was within Sound Transit's jurisdiction right and by having this clear policy we're creating less infighting about who gets more and who gets less what i can tell you is that whatever money that we've put aside in the levy it's not enough to save to fill this hole right it's there's not enough money from our jur the geographic jurisdiction of the city of seattle there's not enough taxpayers in that jurisdiction to do everything, right?

And so I just caution ourselves because these projects, as you correctly mentioned, Chair, your question back to the table was, did you say millions or billions?

And that's the scale that we're operating in is in billions.

This project is going to represent the largest amount of transportation infrastructure and dollars in the door for Seattle.

I probably sense the freeways.

And I say that because when we look at the budget hold, the downturn forecast that we received in this fall, they created the budget hold mid-budget session.

That was directly due to sales tax associated with constructions.

I see some carpenters in the room.

We know that you haven't had work in four months.

And we know that when Sound Transit comes in and we put building trades to work, that we will also see more tax dollars in a way that we haven't seen in a long time.

So I just share all of this as the context.

When I am looking at how are we making refinements, and I've shared this at the Sound Transit Board, there are three things that I look at for savings.

Because it's not just cost, but cost is one of them.

Time and impact on community.

Those are the three things that I'm looking for as far as cost savings and savings generally.

Those are the three things that I'm looking for.

I'm going to stop talking.

I'm going to just make one last plug, which is that May 10th, we're going to be opening two new light rail stations, not in Seattle, in Redmond.

I wish that the contractor had...

correctly worked on I-90 so that we would be able to ride from Seattle to Redmond on May 10th.

Alas, I'm still just as excited.

And please, I mean, we should all go out there.

I'd love to have you out there, May 10th, Redmond.

Thank you, Chair.

Awesome, thank you.

And before transitioning to our city delegation and our portions of the presentation, I welcome any additional comments or questions from the rest of my colleagues?

Hearing, seeing none, let's pivot, let's keep moving.

Great, so Sarah will start off our presentation.

I'll talk a little bit about the executive order and then Sarah will round it out.

All right, Chair Saka, committee members, thank you so much for this opportunity today to be in front of you, to introduce you to our ST3 city team and to be here with our colleagues from Sound Transit in talking about these fantastic projects.

ST3 enjoyed over 70% of the yes vote from Seattle voters back in 2016. And the projects together, the Ballard Link Extension, West Seattle Link Extension, the infill stations at South Graham Street, Boeing Access Road, and Pinehurst represent the largest infrastructure investment program in the city's history.

The projects have tremendous opportunity to rethink how we are moving around the city, how we are getting to our homes, our jobs, our destinations, but also as it's being constructed through existing communities, also bring the potential of significant impacts.

Our ST3 city team is an interdepartmental One Seattle effort to bring together all of the departments associated with this work to help streamline the planning, permitting, and delivery of these investments in Seattle and bring it online as quickly as possible.

There are several roles that the city plays in helping deliver these projects.

We have regulatory roles that are defined by state statute as well as local codes and regulations.

These pertain especially to project review and permitting.

We have partnering roles that are defined in our 2018 partnering agreement with Sound Transit that focus on how we will collaborate and focus our cooperation across city departments, the coordination with sound transit staff, and especially working towards the intent of streamlined permitting.

We also have delivery roles.

The City of Seattle might be delivering pieces of the project itself, but certainly adjacent projects such as station area planning and access.

projects.

This image captures well the areas of responsibility.

Thank you.

The areas of responsibility within station areas with Sound Transit, of course, the lead for the system itself, including the stations, a partnership of co-planning for the immediate station context in the vicinity of the stations, and then the city of Seattle leading station area planning efforts in that quarter mile to half mile radius around stations.

Our ST3 city team is an interdepartmental structure.

It is led by the Office of Waterfront Civic Projects and Sound Transit, coordinates the efforts across eight different topical work groups and over 20 city departments that are involved in one way or another.

While we're led by Angela Brady at the Office of Waterfront Civic Projects and Sound Transit, we absolutely rely on the leadership and subject matter expertise of all of those city departments.

We have a project management team that liaises with Sound Transit and coordinates across all of those departments and those work groups.

Just to give a flavor of the type of work that we're doing to help support the projects, giving a couple examples at Pigeon Point, where the West Seattle Link Extension guideway will be going across the West Duwamish Greenbelt in Pigeon Point.

We're collaborating with Sound Transit in several ways, working on a restoration plan for that steep slope that focuses on ecological functioning and habitat preservation.

SDCI is leading that work.

We're supporting Sound Transit's creation of a tree and vegetation management plan that will describe all of the impacts to trees throughout the system and establishing a replacement plan per city policy.

The leads there, SDCI, SDOT, and the Office of Sustainability and the Environment.

We're also identifying new parkland to mitigate the over three acres of Parkland that will be taken out to make way for the West Seattle Guideway construction in compliance with Initiative 42. SDOT, Parks and Recreation, FAS are leading there.

Not mentioned on this slide, but just other departments that have really pivotal roles.

City Light, SPU, there's utility relocations happening throughout the system.

OPCD leading all of our station area planning work.

I'm gonna hand things to Angie.

Sure.

I'd like to spend a brief moment highlighting the mayor's executive order, as mentioned earlier today, and it was issued last month.

It includes the city's One Seattle commitment to help Sound Transit expedite light rail expansion in Seattle to the best of our ability by launching four key initiatives.

The first is the organization.

We're expanding the Office of the Waterfront Civic Projects to now include Sound Transit under my direction.

My office has a strong track record of working across departments, agencies, and communities to deliver major transformative projects in Seattle, and we're really excited to be a part of this one as well.

Permitting, our office will lead the development of legislation to streamline permit processes, and Sarah's going to talk more in detail about that here in just a minute.

Resources, the executive order references the new 2025-2026 budget authority, which helps fund additional staff across city departments to support design, permitting, construction, and station area planning.

And we'll be bringing forward a resource plan to council here in the coming months, sometime this year.

And finally, writer experience.

In collaboration with other city departments and with Sound Transit, our office will produce a four-year work plan identifying key opportunities as it relates to the delivery of a safe and excellent transit experience, including station area planning and design, access improvements, and equitable transit-oriented development to help build connected communities.

Thank you.

So the next couple slides that round us out are an overview of the upcoming city legislation to support ST3.

As Chair Saka noted at the beginning of this committee meeting, the city has specific roles in enabling the project or allowing the project to be constructed through the city.

And there are a couple reasons for that.

RCW identifies light rail as an essential public facility that is sometimes difficult to cite and lays out expectations for local jurisdictions to ensure that there are no codes or regulations or policies that are going to inhibit or preclude the siting of light rail or essential public facilities.

We also have our partnering agreement that establishes a mutual interest in delivering these projects as quickly as possible to community members, and that requires collaboration in advance of permitting to streamline the permit review process.

And it's through that work, that collaboration, that we've identified specific code related issues that can be better, that can be amended in order to better facilitate the delivery of light rail in the city.

And so coming up in the next year or two, we are intending to transmit to several bodies of legislation.

There will be land use code amendments for light rail facilities, and that is taking a look at all of our land use codes and identifying opportunities to streamline and facilitate the permit process to ensure that all of the ST3 projects are able to be permitted in an expedited manner.

There will also be specific legislation to adopt the West Seattle Link Extension Project.

That legislation is required in order for the city departments to be allowed to issue permits.

City Council must adopt the project.

We will also have an ST3 city team resourcing plan that will be delivered later this year.

In future years, there'll be a similar action to adopt the South Graham Street infill station and the Ballard Link Extension project, as well as a variety of agreements pertaining to all of the projects regarding real property or right-of-way transfers, joint development, or other partnership agreements.

There are numerous departments that are involved in all of these bodies of legislation, But again, it's that Office of the Waterfront Civic Projects and Sound Transit that is the framework for convening and coordinating across all of the departments.

And with that, thank you so much for this opportunity and happy to answer any questions that the committee has.

Excellent.

Thank you for this presentation and sharing out from a city perspective, our roles and responsibilities here and how we can best enable this project.

Our own central staff, Cal Chow, do you have anything else to add?

No, I have no other comments.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you.

At this point, I welcome any questions or comments from my colleagues, starting with Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Saka.

First, I wanted to welcome the Sound Transit team.

Welcome to the Seattle City Council, to the chambers here.

It's something in the den, although this is relatively quiet compared to other times.

But we'll talk about that offline sometime.

Also, to the new team that's been established with Director Brady, thank you for coming as well.

And of course, we have SDOTs and central staff, always a key resource for us here on the central staff, on the council.

So if you really wanna know the answers, these two here at the end of the table are the key people.

To start with, In addition to welcomes as thank yous, I really want to thank you.

Public comments are really important to our committees.

I chair public safety.

It's really important there.

So I do, in terms of this topic, well, first I want to welcome our friends from the Skyline community.

But in terms of this topic, I do appreciate Mr. Wisner's comments.

He replied to my newsletter yesterday, which was a little bit separate, but somewhat germane.

And then, as he mentioned, an email over the weekend.

It comes from a lot of different places related to sound transit.

I was listening to that topic being discussed on Seattle Nice Podcasts.

I see it in The Urbanist, which noted that they have an article about Pierce County going to Council Member Strauss's point about this being a regional system with Mr. George joining the board there.

It's really important to have this public comment.

It really helps informed people like myself, who again has a bit of a focus on public safety, but it's important to get that on the ground community input.

And I really do appreciate the idea that we do have responsibilities in the regional system.

So again, thank you, Council Member Strauss for your comments and that idea of being a team player.

This is important for Sound Transit 3. It's important for the King County Regional Homeless Authority, the KCRHA.

It's important for the Port of Seattle and the pieces there as well, in terms of being mindful and responsible related to our regional commitments and the like.

The budget's going to be very difficult, where, as somebody noted, we're in a new environment at the federal level.

You know, tariffs, steel, aluminum, you can see all the costs, and everything is, as noted, I do like, as a retired Navy guy, I do like maritime terms.

So there's a lot of headwinds facing us, generally, and particularly this project.

and I do appreciate what we're trying to do on the city level, and thank you for the brief.

So my main question, though, is one thing that I see missing, and I think we should look to, and maybe there's a reason, but is to address the kind of tactical impacts and mitigation pieces.

The Ballard Link extension is Ballard in District 6, but the majority of that line is in my district, District 7. And so I talked to the neighborhoods on a regular basis.

And like Uptown Alliance, that group is really concerned about which it comes through.

It'll take that hard left along Republican heading east is the mitigation pieces.

Because as the work is being done in that area near Seattle Center on the west side of Seattle Center, offsets could be in other areas.

But if the South Lake Union side is being worked at the same time, the whole midsection of District 7 is in lockdown.

for eight years.

And so I'm really concerned about how do we work this in such a way that people can still live their lives.

People can still move.

You mentioned the sound transit buses.

I mean, not sound transit, but the King County Metro buses.

That's one thing.

But if because of the construction, like Republicans going to be an open pit for I don't know how many years.

These are the things that we really need to address and think about early.

And it's not mentioned in the slides and either set of slides.

And I just want to raise that because nothing will turn people off on a project by, you know.

And I recognize there's going to be pain.

And as someone who went to school in Boston, I think about the T.

At some point, that had to be painful.

More recently, the King County Metro.

I had three tours in D.C.

It had to be metro.

And overseas, I lived in London, England, Stuttgart, Germany, and Moscow, Russia.

All have great public transit.

systems.

No doubt there was this period of pain in order to get it to where they are today, but how can we look to mitigate that?

How can we ameliorate that situation?

So that's one of my main concerns.

I just wanted to raise it because I didn't see it in the slides, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to bring it up.

So thank you all again, and thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

I'll let anyone respond with any comments or remarks to that, if you have any.

Sure.

No worries if not.

I will respond.

We appreciate your concern.

We also believe that there...

it's going to be an impact.

It's difficult to build nine stations between the CID and Ballard without impacting that region.

So the one thing that I would say from a sound transit perspective is we need to do it in partnership.

You know, it's not just us going and building things.

So we have started outreach to some of the community members and some of the organizations in the downtown Seattle area.

I'm going to continue that all the way up through Ballard.

And this goes for West Seattle as well.

But as I would say, I mean, the first step is recognizing what those impacts are at a street level, understanding what the impacts are to the as they are communicated to us from the people being impacted, and working in partnership with the city to identify ways around that early, as early as we can, and then during the construction process, providing an avenue for people to provide feedback to us, The ability for us to make real-time decisions, real-time changes to what we're doing, that's imperative.

So we recognize your concern.

We share your concerns and are working to mitigate those.

Councilmember Kettle, if I could also add, I think it's also really important to consider where the projects are in their development phase, because we are moving into a design phase for West Seattle, whereas Ballard is still in the environmental sort of planning phase.

You really have to do the design and figure out what the contract documents are gonna look like to really figure out construction sequencing, you know, what the requirements of the contractor are going to be that is in the future.

I think it's all about identifying the needs to be able to inform that work.

But when it comes down to actually making those commitments and the proof is in the pudding and what do we require the contractors to do fundamentally.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rink, you're recognized.

Thank you so much, Jaren.

Thank you for today's presentation.

My question pertains to, so ST3 City Team and Sound Transit are working on the mitigation of Pigeon Point and West Duwamish Greenbelt.

Are there similar plans to the construction within the CID?

The CID is a district which has the lowest rates of canopy cover in Seattle.

Yes, is the short answer.

I'll note that Chinatown International District station areas are part of the Ballard Link extension.

So while there's a lot of work that's happening, identifying mitigation for West Seattle because of where West Seattle Link is in the process, Ballard is still in the planning and environmental phase.

So we're not quite as far along as we are in our partnership with Sound Transit there.

I will note and point to our efforts with Sound Transit in King County on the South Downtown Hub planning effort, which is an 18-month planning process that's identifying well in advance a variety of mobility and access improvements that can be made to identify challenges in that community around those stations, as well as other community-identified priorities.

And that effort is culminating in, I believe, an implementation plan that's expected later this year.

I'll note that there's a community workshop.

The next major community workshop is on April 2nd, coming up in a few weeks, where there'll be a reporting out on some of the community-driven mobility improvements that have been identified.

Fabulous.

Thank you for that.

And I know as a car-free, now I'm a bus commuter, but I was a light rail commuter for a number of years.

And so really, again, appreciative.

And I know how much having service to light rail is important and really life-changing for a number of folks who are trying to commute.

And so certainly want to make sure that we're able to expand, but also mindful of mitigating some of the impacts of these expansions and really rooting community in these discussions about How are we moving forward?

What will these projects mean for community?

So appreciative of your work and we'll have to make sure that we're partnering and mitigating those impacts.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Oh, go ahead.

Councilmember Charles.

Just thank you, Chair.

Just because Councilmember Kettle started talking about the line going through D7 and The portal should be in Dravis, which we're still debating is a D6, D7.

The maps say one thing, we say otherwise.

I just joke because in the same way that I represented Council Member Sock at the board, I also represented you, Council Member Kettle.

The board made the decision to purchase the bank across the street from Dick's Drive-In and having a similar conversation of that's in the heart of Uptown Lower Queen Anne.

It is in the heart of a community that Sound Transit's face to the community cannot be boarded up buildings, right?

So just wanted to put that on the record.

Back to you, Chair.

Awesome.

Thank you, Council Member Shrouse.

Final question or questions from my perspective, if you wouldn't mind turning back to the seconds of the last slide where it says expected city legislation.

All right, I note that it lists three specific pieces of anticipated legislation this year in 2025. I guess, first off, that last one, SC3 City Team Resourcing Plan, is that anticipated to be an executive proposed budget item?

Thank you for that question.

It is in regards to the set aside in the 2025 budget for ST3 staffing resources that were put in finance general.

And the expectation would be that we'd come back to city council or the executive would come back to city council with a proposal for how those resources would be spent.

Got it.

Thank you.

And what is the anticipated timeline in that particular proposal?

Q2.

Q2, Q3 sometime in there.

Yep.

All right.

Spring, summer.

Okay, cool.

Thank you.

And then with respect to the first two, so the land use code amendments, Can you talk a little bit about the anticipated timeline for transmittal by the executive on that one?

And then can you also clarify with respect to the second item listed there, the adoption of West Seattle Link extension project.

Is that the same thing?

Is the SDOT like a transit way agreements?

feature legislation?

Okay.

There's two elements to it.

There's an ordinance that relates to the transitway agreement that would append the West Seattle, an exhibit of the West Seattle link extension to the transitway agreement by ordinance.

And there would also be a resolution by the city council that adopts the alignment itself.

And those are the two elements that are necessary to adopt, formally adopt the project by the city.

Got it.

Thank you.

And can you confirm and clarify the anticipated timeline for those executive proposed transmitted pieces of legislation?

We are waiting on the recorded decision by the FTA and the resolution of any SEPA-related issues with the FEIS.

And so hopefully very soon.

Got it.

Well, thank you.

I guess I'll just close out by saying I want to thank everyone for joining us today.

I really appreciate this presentation, really timely.

in terms of us better understanding sound transits plans, this important transit investments for not just our city that benefit just our city, but our entire region.

And personally, I'm looking forward to the expansion of the West Seattle light rail project as another transit option.

And I know many of my constituents are as well.

And wanna thank all of my colleagues for sharing your thoughtful contributions and sharing your insights as well.

Council member Strauss, for example, appreciate your unique insights as a member of the Sound Transit Board.

So you have direct decision making authority or you share in that at least with other board members and then at the Sound Transit level.

And then here, having your perspective also represented not just in our broader council, but also on this committee.

I think it provides a very unique, valuable perspective.

So I wanna thank you for that.

I wanna thank you for calling out.

Mode music.

is one of the impacted small businesses, Mode Music, Ounces.

There are so many small businesses there in North Delbridge that are directly impacted by this project.

And it's challenging because for me, I'm not only their council member, and I've done walking tours with Mode Music, with ounces, with other small impacted small businesses in the area.

And it's challenging because I'm not only their council member, but I'm also a customer.

My kids took lessons at Mode Music for many years and then three kids all in their own activities, something I had to give.

But we'll continue to support Mode Music.

Ounces, again, same thing.

Really important business in our North Delridge community.

And by the way, I live in North Delridge.

So this isn't a hypothetical or academic thing to me.

This is real life.

And I think another thing that I heard here from everyone Council Member Kettle, Council Member Rink, even Vice Chair Hollingsworth in conversations we've had offline about this.

Everyone here is deeply concerned about the impacts of these projects on communities.

And everyone is laser focused on making sure that we work hard to minimize those impacts.

And that looks like a variety of things.

But we're all focused on it and looking forward to continue to build upon some of those efforts to make these communities whole.

And really important work, easy to say what you're against, but I am for transit, unapologetically.

And I'm also for minimizing impact on impacted communities.

and affected communities.

So, in any event, and again, thank you Councilmember Strauss for your representation on behalf of our city and service on behalf of our city on the Sound Transit Board.

A little confusing for some, as chair of our city's transportation committee, I don't serve and I don't have a voice or say on transit's decisions because I don't sit on the board.

And some people think, oh, chair of the transportation committee, you should, no.

Ideally, I would have loved to.

And that was one of the things I would have probably lobbied a little harder behind the scenes after taking office to try and get a seat.

But we only have a certain amount.

But I do wanna thank Council Member Strauss for his his collaboration and making sure that my feedback is represented in his choices and his representation of our city.

And my sense is he probably does the same with other council members, but I appreciate your collaboration.

You've been a great partner so far in all of this and more to come, of course, but I'm glad we are capably represented by you.

on the board.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Chair, and I would say you do have a voice on the board, and that voice is through the partnership that we have and through Mayor Bruce Harrell sitting on the board as well.

One thing that you brought up, which is why I raised my hand again, I thought I was done, which is correctly describing the unique oddity of of being both a sound transit board member and a Seattle city council member.

And oftentimes having to switch hats in the same meeting, meeting with SDOT and with sound transit or with city light and sound transit.

One thing that I might just share on the record that would be helpful from our transportation committee here at the city of Seattle is to have our partners back to discuss the at grade crossings on Martin Luther King.

It is one of the most dangerous sections of our sound transit alignment.

And I know that SDOT has been doing a better job.

I don't see a better job, but I will say that behind the scenes, there have been some wrinkles we've had to iron out.

And so with your partnership, bringing greater attention to those at grade crossing safety improvements, I think would be helpful.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

And talking now about pivoting to our Vision Zero programs and investments.

And we had, you'll recall colleagues and members of the public, we had a Vision Zero briefing from the Seattle Department of Transportation, one of our last briefings.

On one of the maps, we noted a hot zone, a high injury area or network or whatever the terminology is called in that same exact location.

So yes, We'll definitely invite Sound Transit and SDOT back later this year to talk more specifically, to follow up, to give a Vision Zero update briefing more generally, and then diving a little deeper on that specific area, maybe a few others.

So if you're amenable, Sound Transit, thank you.

All right, well, here we have it.

So thank you, presenters.

I'm not seeing any other, Questions or comments from my colleagues?

So we will now move on to our second item of business.

Will the clerk please read item number two into the record.

Agenda item two, resolution 32166, a resolution granting conceptual approval to install, maintain and operate a pedestrian sky bridge over and across 8th Avenue North of Cherry Street as proposed by FH, LLC, DBA, a skyline in the First Hill neighborhood.

All right, thank you.

Will our newest presenters please join us at the table and share your presentation.

Once ready, also introduce yourselves and begin your presentation.

Good morning, Lishwitson, Council Central Staff.

Good morning, Michael Jenkins, Director of the Seattle Design Commission.

Good morning, Amy Gray with the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Good morning, Mark.

Mark Brand's consultant, landscape architect, to transforming age in the Skyline resident community.

So what you have before you this morning is a resolution to conditionally approve a skybridge on First Hill.

And you'll see maps and locations and pictures of it in just a minute.

The council's approval of skybridge is a two-phase process.

First, you consider a resolution that lays out a series of conditions that need to be met before the applicants can proceed with developing final approval documents with the Seattle Department of Transportation.

This resolution is basically the substantive part of your decision making.

When you get the ordinance later, your review should just be about whether or not that ordinance is consistent with the resolution that you are adopting.

And with that, I'll hand it off.

Okay, good morning again, and thank you for the opportunity to present the proposed skybridge over 8th Avenue between Cherry Street and Columbia Street for conceptual approval.

Next slide, please.

The sky bridge would, the sky bridge will connect to senior facilities at seven one five eighth Avenue located in district seven council member Kettles district and seven to five ninth Avenue located in the district three council member Hollingsworth district.

So this sky bridge will literally bridge two districts.

No pun intended.

Um,

Next slide, please.

As Lich mentioned, new permit applications require two steps for approval.

The resolution is when the project is typically at 60% design and the council considers the proposals and provides conceptual approval for the SkyBridge if the resolution is adopted.

As Lich mentioned, the ordinance is the second and final step that grants final approval and sets all the conditions of the permit, such as fees, insurance requirements, bonding, indemnification, et cetera.

Today we are here for that first step in the approval process.

The image to the right shows the Olympic Tower and Cascade Towers, the two buildings that the SkyBridge would connect.

Next slide, please.

SDOT reviews the application and values it against the criteria set in the Seattle Municipal Code, including providing adequate clearance above gray.

Is it on a designated view corridor?

Will there be significant reduction in natural light or an impact on traffic and pedestrian safety?

and it will be providing an accessible route for those needing assistance.

Sky bridges are also reviewed by the Sky Bridge Review Committee.

New sky bridges also require public benefits to offset the impact of the sky bridge on the pedestrian realm, and Mark will go into detail about what those public benefits are.

And now I will turn it over to Michael to talk about the Seattle Design Commission's role in evaluating sky bridges.

Good morning, council members.

Council policy set forth the role of the design commission here to look at new or existing sky bridges.

There are two questions that you ask the commission to look at.

What are the urban design implications of a new sky bridge?

And then the second are, well, if we've solved the problem of urban design impacts, how do you mitigate through a public benefit package those impacts?

And the urban design impacts that the commission posed and the project poses, and I think they did a very effective job at answering are, why is it needed?

Were there options to do a tunnel?

Could you enhance the building entrances at grade to accomplish the goal?

Second were the visual impacts.

And you'll see in the presentation, the sky bridge is actually fairly low, close to the street.

It meets all requirements for access and for automobile movement, but it is a little low.

And what are those impacts to automobiles and pedestrians?

Number three, just the general impact of removing people from the street.

How do we offset that?

Because in this particular area, there's a lot of pedestrian movement between the two buildings.

And then finally, the precedent.

Normally, we see and you're asked to approve sky bridges that are generally for the public.

This is actually serving a private facility.

Generally, hospitals and educational facilities that are open to the general public receive the bulk of sky bridges.

So this is a little bit different.

The commission voted to approve the proposal and really based in part on the strength of the public benefit package.

The public benefit package that you see do four very effective things.

They reinvest in 8th Avenue in their in front of their building and their new building.

They invest in an enhanced 8th Avenue and Marion Street intersection to match the investments in front of their building with new curb bulbs and other pedestrian friendly amenities.

They also invest in public art to activate 8th Avenue in front of their building, a huge financial commitment the commission was very appreciative of.

And finally, they fund a wayfinding proposal that will be implemented by the First Hill Neighborhood Association in new development, which is a really interesting idea.

When I close, I'll just close and send it over to Mark here so he can present.

I just really want to highlight how much we appreciate the leadership and commitment to this process by Paul Agner on behalf of the Transforming Age group and their residents, who you can see in the crowd.

It is a pleasure to have them active and interested in the work that we do and in outcomes that help frame the success of this project.

So I really appreciate the time and commitment.

And with that, I'll turn it to Mark.

OK, here we go.

Thank you.

Mark Brandt, again, site workshop, landscape architects representing transforming age in the skyline community.

So this graphic shows how we span the two districts.

So there are two blocks.

On the right of the screen is the Cascade Tower and the left pink box is the Olympic Tower.

So we span those two districts.

And I wanna thank council members, Hollingworth and Kettle.

for listening to the Skyline community very early on in this process.

Well over a year ago, you took the time to meet with them and hear the merit of the case that Michael explained.

So significant because it's an aging community and we are bridging two facilities that are vital to their livelihood, both mentally and physically.

And so we really appreciate your time.

This is a zoom in of the actual block.

So North is up Columbia street on the top of the page and 8th Avenue.

The blue line shows the two districts and how the bridge is actually spanning it.

The bridge is over a hundred feet long.

It attaches directly to each building with no footings in the street.

There's a 66 foot right of way.

So we are here today to ask for the term permit for that 66 feet.

It's approximately 11 feet wide.

We do have existing street trees as well, and so we have really threading the needle to make sure that we are not impacting the existing street canopy that exists in First Hill and on the street.

So these are views, two views.

The top views, we've stripped the trees away on the left of the screen and on the right of the screen.

We do have significant canopy, so it shows how it obscures the actual skybridge during the summer months when the trees are foliated.

Our commission asked us to look at the sky bridge and think about it as more of a pragmatic, more utilitarian piece of architecture that fits within the skyline tower vernacular or language.

And so that's what we did.

We stripped that down and really focused our energies down on the street level where it impacts the community.

Bottom of the screen is looking to the north.

Again, view to the left is stripping away the street trees and then adding them back.

It shows again how the street tree canopy does obscure the view for a portion of the year.

Public benefits, as Amy mentioned, we are obligated by code to provide public benefits.

And as Michael mentioned, we worked directly with our community to come up with these.

First Hill has an amazing community organization called the First Hill Improvement Association, otherwise known as FIA.

They have an urban design public space community that's been around for decades and helps steer private and public development.

And so the first stop, in fact, if part of our committee is members of the Skyline community and of the urban design public space committee, they have one of their key initiatives is the park to park loop.

So this is a walking loop leveraging city streets rights of way to connect freeway park to yes sir park.

And so that's the yellow line on there.

So all of our benefits benefit our public benefits benefit the community and enhance that park to park loop.

And I'm going to go through these in detail.

The first two open space and public art work together.

That's a direct frontage of the skylighting community.

It's a deep setback within their property that acts as a parklet.

This third one is a interstate.

And then the fourth one is a wayfinding program that is gonna benefit the entire loop.

So we're developing prototypes.

So these are the four benefits.

The top two, again, are the public art and the open space that work together in the deep setback.

I've stripped the trees away on the right of screen so that you can see the improvements.

So this is really creating a parklet space, leveraging both right of way and the deep setback at the Cascade Tower that exists today.

So re-imagining this, working with public artist Nori Sato, really happy to work with her to interpret these elements and integrate them into the landscape to create an inviting space for everyone, so publicly accessible space.

Bottom left of the screen is 8th and Marion pedestrian improvements.

These are curb extensions or bulbs as we call them.

It reduces the crossing length across the street, slows cars down.

This gets very busy, especially at rush hour as people pick up, drop off and leave to go home or come to work.

And so we are calming streets down and really a residential street and hopefully encourage them to go up to the arterials to access the freeway where they're headed to.

And the final one is an important one to First Hill Improvement Association.

It is prototyping a new wayfinding program that we've worked with, interpretive wayfinding signage, that we work directly with Seamless Seattle program.

So that's the urban design department within SDOT to come up with a new typology of signs.

And this is quite exciting because it actually is a boilerplate for other neighborhoods to do the same.

So if you've walked Market to Mohai, gone down to the waterfront recently.

This is the same consultant that's helping us with the interpretive wayfinding program.

So we're very excited about that.

And then last slide is the public benefit matrix.

We won't get into this detail, but it itemizes, it quantifies and describes what we're doing.

And it also puts a cost associated price to what it's costing the developer to produce these.

And this is just a hard cost.

So the construction costs, there are all sorts of permitting and soft costs that are associated with that as well.

Amy, I'll hand it back to you.

Thank you, and I'd like to point out too that public benefits, there's no cost to the city to maintain and operate them on the long term.

They are maintained and operated by the permit holder for the life of the sky bridge.

So it's something that the city does not take on ourselves.

So we are here today, SDOT, to recommend City Council conceptually approve the proposed pedestrian sky bridge.

And if the resolution is adopted, SDOT will prepare legislation later this year to bring the term permit ordinance to you for final approval.

And thank you, and we're happy to answer any questions.

Awesome, thank you so much.

As I'll take questions from my colleagues in just a moment, but first just to double click on something that our own central staff expert Lish mentioned at the outset of this briefing in terms of like the two phase approach and the process for our review and consideration and possible approval of these kind of proposed permitting and alley vacation requests.

The opportunity for council to provide any directional guidance or feedback or suggestions is now.

is not at the ordinance stage that the last mile, and I know my understanding is that the department and the review commission works hard to make sure that that guidance is ultimately incorporated alongside impacted communities.

I suppose it wouldn't be unprecedented if people wanted to change things at the ordinance level, but it would also significantly delay and muck things up.

So now, if we have comments or feedback or suggestion is the time to do that.

In any event, colleagues, welcome comments, questions, starting first off with Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the team here today.

Mark, always great to see you.

Amy, Michael, wish we could see each other all the time.

I wanted to focus in here about the precedent.

And colleagues, the reason that I focus here first is because we have good practice to not permit new private sky bridges.

So I want to dig into that because there's a reason for that.

I see everyone with bated breath now.

I am seeing this as an exception to that precedent, but I want to first explore that precedent and why we have it there.

So I give you the punchline now.

I'm not leading us anywhere.

But when was the last sky bridge, public or private, permitted?

When was the last private sky bridge permitted?

Can we dig in a little bit more as to why don't we do this?

Because there's good reason behind it.

Yeah, S.D.A.B. takes the responsibility of administering Title 15 very seriously, and in it, it states that we limit the proliferation of sky bridges.

So like Lish says, it's generally for hospitals or public institutions for fully public.

were more accommodated in them.

Because of the impact on the pedestrian realm, there's a structure that everybody can see and it also takes people off the street.

So we take that responsibility very seriously.

The last time we permitted a new sky bridge, it was Swedish first hill expansion and it's over minor between Columbia and Cherry Street.

And it was originally granted approval in 2016. Swedish ran into some delays with construction.

And so it got extended in 2021 to continue forward.

And there's also an alley vacation.

There's also a tunnel.

So it's a big package there.

The public benefits at the Swedish minor Skybridge are similar, open space improvements, art elements, enhancements to the sidewalk and intersections, things like that.

So this is scaled similarly to that.

So I think the last fully private Skybridge was Fred Hutchinson and it's coming up for renewal.

I've prepared the legislation, it's just waiting.

So I think it was probably 2014, 2015. So we do take this responsibility very seriously.

This is a unique circumstance because of the population and the needs of them.

There was not a reasonable alternative for a tunnel.

The structure and foundations of the buildings prohibited that, would have made it cost prohibitive to pursue.

That's why SDOT is here.

Having gone through that thorough evaluation, it's reviewed by the design commission, there's lots of levels, and the director takes all that information and decides to send the legislation to you at this time.

Thanks.

Mark, anything else you want to share here?

Because I've got a couple more questions, Chair, if that's all right.

Yeah, I mean, the bar is still very high.

So it does not mean that the over setting precedent, we have set the bar, continued to set it high with the merit of the case, which the residents have done an amazing job of proving out.

and convincing council members and design commission that it has merit and that will not affect the ground plane, the pedestrian activity.

It will not proliferate use of sky bridges, but it also gives, I think council some discussion points here about policy and about what you might charge other, and it's a low income project and what you charge that is at your discretion.

So there are tools.

that you can use to make this equitable.

This is a community that can afford it.

There are no qualms about that, but there's a group of residents that need it, and that is consistent through the city.

So what can you do as a council to affect using your own toolkit to consider another sky bridge?

We'll have to go through the same process.

That does not change, but what it costs them can.

Really well said.

And for me, if there were two buildings, private development for anyone to rent, I would not see that as being a good reason to add another sky bridge to our city.

The residents have made a very good case.

And what I also note is that in the last decade plus, the only two new sky bridges have been related to medical needs, which is not so different here.

And so there's consistency there.

It is the importance of tying the decision to a reason if we're making an exception, right?

Because the issue here is that sky bridges may feel good right now, which different than an alley vacation or a tunnel, tunnels we don't see.

because if we decide willy nilly to put sky bridges throughout our city today for what we believe a good reason, council members talk, I heard at a recent transportation committee or city council meeting, you being very upset about a sky bridge in the public realm.

And so as our city changes, what doesn't change is when we create this built environment.

And that for me is the reason that we have to be very careful about sky bridges in a different way than we do tunnel permits.

With that, colleagues, you may or may not know that Mark lives in a house that before he lived there, I delivered the Ballard News Tribune to.

And that's how small the city is.

And Mark, if you don't know already, there may be a pit crew on your street this week as part of brunch.

So I think that's happening on Saturday.

I go back to, sorry, I digress from my point.

I go back to the point of sky bridges and tunnels being different for the city of Seattle than other places in our country.

In places like Minnesota and Wisconsin, you see sky bridges and tunnels used at a very high rate because going outside in the wintertime takes 15 minutes to get dressed and undressed.

Whereas in Seattle with our more mild climate, this creates an environment for most people to be able to navigate the public space in a way that if we have a proliferation of sky bridges, it mucks up our built environment.

And so I just say that the residents have made a very good case and I think that it meets the needs for the exception in this case.

And part of that is because of the amount of public benefit that you've provided the built environment for people to experience.

And I do just wanna put a plug, another Ballard connection, a friend of mine, JR runs your dining facility.

So if anyone has complaints about the dining facility, bring them to me after the committee.

But thank you, Chair.

Awesome, thank you.

Council Member Hollingsworth, vice chair.

Thank you, Chair Saka.

And just on the note of Council Member Strauss, I remember going to the Skyline community and when they first said the sky bridge, the first thing that came to my mind was the sky bridge on Bon Marche.

And they said, no, no, no, that's not what we're talking about.

So understanding that this is a different type of sky bridge and the needs that is associated with that.

And I also want to point out the sky bridges in Minnesota are not as pretty as this one that has been designed as well.

So that is noted.

Thank you, council member Saka and your team for actually putting this on the agenda.

Really appreciate you all listening to this and putting this really important issue on here.

Also want to thank SDOT for their work as well.

The design commission, Mr. Jenkins also, Mr. Mark, as well, for introducing us into this early on.

And then also, Mr. Palmer, who you are the chair of the Skybridge Task Force.

And you are very persistent, my friend.

So I just want to...

I just want to thank you anytime I saw you.

Hey, Skybridge.

And so I just call you Mr. Skybridge anytime I saw you.

I also want to thank my colleague, Councilmember Kettle, because I know we have listened to this and have been understanding the issues for a long time regarding Skybridge.

And I know you all have been working on this long before we got here.

It was a no-brainer for us when we heard about the medical needs and the health piece to that and connecting the two communities and understanding that there was assisted living in one area, there was a health component in another, and how people might you know, have a husband in one area and a wife in the other and how just, you know, making that connection to folks was incredibly important.

And I've had the chance to walk along 8th up and down and ever since that we have really decommissioned Madison to be more of a transit friendly to, elevate buses and lanes, that there's a lot of traffic that comes on 8th for people to get to and from the freeway and they just speed down through there and how incredibly unsafe that is for folks, especially if you're walking back and forth between the two units.

But I also wanna add that I do believe that the sky bridge that's gonna be on District 3 side is gonna be more beautiful than the sky bridge part on District 7 in Councilmember Hillel's district.

So anyways, but I do understand how important this is as well.

And then also the health professionals that this is, I know Council Member Strauss said it so eloquently talking about an exception to the rule, but an understanding as we are growing as a city and aging population and shifting, you know, where people are living that a lot of these assisted living facilities, how important they are and they have a major, major health component to them.

And so understanding that obviously this is an exception to the rule and really appreciate the opportunity to hear the presentation today and for this to be on the agenda.

Thank you, Chair Saka.

Thank you, Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

And I guess first off, as someone who was born in Minneapolis and then grew up out west in Washington, Look, those sky bridges in Minnesota are pretty nice, okay?

But in any event, and also, no, thank you for your partnership and the partnership for you and your office because it's no secret, this is on the agenda today for a reason.

It's no secret that later today we have a huge vote and hugely impactful Topics coming up for consideration at our regular full council meeting this afternoon at 2 p.m.

And I personally still have some stuff to do and meetings to do to prepare for that.

And I almost tabled this conversation to the next meeting.

But I know it was very important to you, Council Member Kettle, that we have this initial conversation now, which is why I kept it.

So thank you for your advocacy and putting this forward.

This is a very important topic and critically needed investment to connect these two communities.

And I also wanna thank the members of the public who are directly impacted here for taking the time out of your busy, busy schedules to showing up here today and many of you testifying could have been anywhere in the world, but you chose to be here at our dry, dull, boring transportation committee because you give a damn and you care and I appreciate it.

In any event, Councilmember Rank.

Thank you, Chair.

I want to commend the Skyline community for their strong organizing.

Before I even came into office, I became aware of this project.

And so this has been a friend of mine for some time.

So truly amazing organizing.

And I know when we sat down to talk about this project months ago, it just made a world of sense.

and so I'm really excited to be able to support this today.

I know while I was there, I was able to participate also in an event that was happening at the Olympic Tower, and even just seeing firsthand folks crossing over from the Cascade Tower area, going to the end of the block, trying to, because that's the best avenue for many to cross.

It's just not tenable.

It's a quality of life issue.

I think Council Member, pardon me, Vice Chair Hollingsworth laid out the matters really clearly.

This project just makes sense, and I want to commend both Vice Chair Hollingsworth as well as Council Member Kettle for their work in helping shepherd this forward, and I'll be really excited to support and see this through.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Saka.

As I mentioned earlier, I really appreciate public comment, and I have to say the four commenters were well-spoken and well-presented.

So thank you.

And the community is well represented here, not just the speakers, but those that are here as well.

And Councilmember Rank, you're not the only one who found out about this project before they took the oath of office.

So something we have in common here.

But you know what?

I'm well aware of this project.

I appreciate very much what Council Member Strauss is talking about in terms of the general city approach.

But as hinted at before, I believe that the, and this is someone who's been in First Hill quite a bit in years past.

My daughter was born at Swedish and from the medical community, the sky bridges are very important.

And I view, granted this is different, but it's the same.

And the medical needs of the community are very important.

particularly at this stage of life and I and the heartbreaking story would be if a wife and husband were partners were separated between the cascade and the Olympic the wouldn't have to be so to councilmember Strauss is point you know to every rule there's an exception and I think the exception of the medical care piece is so important hence my support of this project from from the beginning and the new thing for me here is I really appreciate the partnership with SDOT and Design Commission, the team, plus, of course, our own Mr. Whitson from Central Staff, to engage because I think it's taken to the next step.

I really appreciate the intersection of 8th and Marion, the public art, the 8th Avenue improvements.

I will cede the District 3 in terms of the better side, but And Olympic probably has better views on the Sailor Sea, though.

So I'm going to stick with my affinity for Olympic.

But the 8th Avenue improvements, which is easier on the District 3 side, but the public art.

And I really like the wayfinding piece, too.

As someone who's done the market to Mohai, it's really important.

Bell Street project right now, which is really connecting the waterfront park up into the city.

These are important pieces because as I've noted many times, we've done a lot of north-south in our city, but we need to connect east-west and wayfaring is like another way of creating those connections to different neighborhoods and different places of interest.

And so I really appreciate the partnership, the bridging between the city and the community and with the different organizations involved.

And with that said, I definitely support this project moving forward.

And again, thank you for everyone who came out.

All right, well said.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

Okay, well, thank you again to support this project.

We don't, as a practice, hear and vote on things in the same committee meeting.

So at our next committee meeting, we'll have an opportunity to tee this up again to help move it forward.

But very important investment to connect two critical communities and that span multiple council districts for the reasons that were already mentioned, including medical necessity.

And we were able to call together through some of our collective conversation and discussion around why as a general principle we don't ordinarily do this kind of thing.

It's disfavored at least.

The private to private connection on the sky bridge.

And we're able to kind of call together why it makes the proposed public benefits even that much more compelling.

They should be that much more compelling, alluring and attractive and the public should benefit as a result.

And I think, Based off of what I'm seeing and the recommendation of that, I think we're in a great position.

The public is gonna benefit from this and not just you all.

And as people in the audience and watching online probably know, our city has a unique opportunity, not just our city, cities across the country, but to do better to address traffic deaths and serious bodily injuries on our roads.

And so I think this sky bridge connecting your communities will allow you to not have to take a sidewalk trip to connect to that next facility, to see a friend, seek medical treatment, have an appointment.

I don't know, you guys bingo?

I like bingo.

But whatever it is, for whatever reason, you're going next door to make it a little easier and importantly safer for you all.

So in any event, all that is to say thank you for, thank you.

panelists for joining us today and sharing this presentation.

Thank you again to members of the public of the impacted community here for your strong advocacy.

And again, carving out the time to be here today.

So do any of my colleagues have any final questions, comments?

Hearing, seeing none.

We have reached the end of today's meeting.

Our next meeting is April 1st at 9.30 a.m.

Any final business to come before the committee before we adjourn?

Hearing, seeing none, the committee is adjourned.

It is 1124 AM.

Thank you.