Committee on Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities 5/16/22

Good morning and welcome.

The May 16, 2023 meeting of the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee will come to order.

The time is 9.30 a.m.

I'm Alex Peterson, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Herbold?

Council Member Morales?

Here.

Council Member Sawant?

Present.

Council Member Straus?

Chair Peterson.

Present.

Three present.

Thank you and I believe Council Members Herbold and Strauss will be joining us shortly.

Colleagues, if there's no objection, today's proposed agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Good morning.

Welcome to our transportation Seattle public utilities committee.

Today we have 13 items on the agenda.

The first 10 items are We have a number of boards that advise us on different modes of transportation for a total of 81 volunteers who advise us on the different modes.

And it's important as we, as Seattle Department of Transportation is crafting the Seattle transportation plan, which is likely to need funding next year.

We've got one appointment to the Seattle Freight Advisory Board, four appointments to the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee.

That's our current major funding source.

One appointment to the Seattle School Traffic Safety Committee, and four appointments to the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board.

And we're planning to vote on these today.

They're all with us.

The new appointments are with us virtually today.

Nobody's in the chambers today.

And reappointments we typically don't have present.

So I do want to give a big congratulations to our nominees today.

We're grateful that you all want to serve the city on your respective boards.

And we'll talk more to you soon to find out a little bit about your background and why you're interested in volunteering for this.

Councilmember Herbold has joined us.

Good morning, Councilmember Herbold.

And agenda item 11 is Council Bill 120557, which would accept two catchment wall easements that would help mitigate the risk of a landslide onto Rainier Avenue South.

That's a briefing discussion and vote.

Item 12, clerk file 314522 is a briefing and discussion of a possible alley vacation near Denny Park.

It's a good opportunity for us to ask initial questions about that request.

Item 13 is Council 120574 which has a public hearing.

This is an ordinance that would declare two small slivers of property located in the City of Shoreline as surplus to the Seattle Public Utilities needs and would sell those to Shoreline for a regional transportation project.

The City of Shoreline has requested that we act expeditiously on this because it ties into that regional transit project.

So if council members are comfortable, I'll ask if we may vote to suspend the rules so that we can vote on that item the same day as the public hearing.

We'll see if anybody shows up for that public hearing.

So let's actually go to the public comment period.

I want to double check because I don't think we have anybody signed up.

So there's nobody in the chambers for public comment and I'm not seeing anybody online for public comment.

So we'll go ahead and formally open the public comment period.

And seeing that nobody is signed up online or in person, we'll go ahead and close the public comment period.

So you don't have to.

Hear me recite all the rules for public comment.

You're welcome.

Okay, one moment.

Let me go to the next section here.

So the public comment period has been open and closed for the regular part of this meeting.

So we'll go ahead and move on to our appointments and I urge you to, um, council members to think of this holistically.

Again, we've got seven boards with 81 volunteers and, um, Seattle Department of Transportation works hard to find, uh, volunteers and fill the vacancies, um, and to bring them to us in batches like today.

So we'll go through each of these.

We try to group them together if they're on the same board.

So we'll try to get through these as quickly as possible, but really excited to see everybody here too.

So will the clerk please read the full title of the first agenda item into the record?

Agenda item one, appointment 2551, appointment of Dan Gatchett as a member of Seattle Freight Advisory Board for a term to May 31st, 2024 for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you.

Colleagues, the Seattle Freight Advisory Board advises the mayor, city council, and city departments in the development of a functional and efficient freight system delivering food and goods throughout the city and the region.

As a port city, this is very important that we do this, that we're very mindful of what the needs of freight are.

Because I know a lot of us we get excited about other modes of transportation and this one is also so vital to the city's health and economy.

So, let's see as just just to lay out how we're going to do these appointments today I'll have the presenters from the department introduce the appointees and then each appointee can share a little bit about the background, why they're interested in joining, just a minute or two for us, and then can open it up to questions.

Council members, for the viewing public, if we don't ask questions, we have reviewed the appointment packets and feel comfortable with the candidates, so we're not necessarily here to grill them.

It's because they've already presented their background and experience to us and their interest in serving.

So for the Freight Board, and then the next items, Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee and the Seattle Traffic Safety Committee, we have Aileen Trang from the Seattle Department of Transportation to introduce our nominees.

So I'll turn it over to Aileen now to introduce our freight nominee.

Good morning.

Thank you, Chair.

Good morning.

Thank you, Chair Peterson.

So the Seattle Freight Board Advisory Board members are able to bring their expertise to provide input on city policies, plans, and projects as they may relate to the freight capacity, safety, and access throughout the city.

So today we have Dan Gadget for appointment to the freight board.

Dan brings considerable freight experience to the board, and he once served as the chair of the Washington State Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board.

And I'll pass it on to Dan to share why he's interested in being appointed to the board.

Good morning.

My name is Dan Gatchett.

I was in the trucking industry for years.

Prior to that, I worked for a large ocean carrier.

And I sold my business in 2008. And since then, I've been on the chair of the freight mobility board for the state of Washington, looking at policy and different freight projects.

I was also past president of the Washington Trekking Association and co-chair of the Manufacturing Industrial Council.

My entire career has pretty much been in the maritime and trekking industry.

As an older person, I have wisdom.

I may not be that sharp anymore, but I have a lot of experience in the freight industry, and I think I'd be a good asset for the City of Seattle Advisory Board.

Thank you very much for that introduction of yourself and for being willing to bring your expertise to this volunteer effort to advise the city on freight.

Colleagues, any comments or questions before we decide on this appointment?

One moment.

Let me just make sure I move Councilor Herbold so I can see.

Okay, great.

Well, again, thank you.

Thank you, Dan, for your willingness to serve and for all the experience you bring into the table, which will help all of us as we, especially as the Seattle Transportation Plan is being crafted now to synthesize all modes of transportation through the city.

We'll be hearing the Seattle transportation plan later in our committee this year.

And so we'll be interested on how all the different advisory boards feel about that.

All right, colleagues, I'll go ahead and now move this appointment.

Council members, I now move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointment 2551. Is there a second?

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointment.

Any final comments or questions before we vote?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to confirm appointment 2551, item one on our agenda?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes, sorry.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Councilmember or Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation to confirm appointment 2551, Dan Gadget, will be sent to the May 23rd City Council meeting.

Thank you very much, Dan, and thanks, Aileen, for introducing him.

Okay.

Will the clerk please read the full titles of the second through fifth agenda item into the record?

Agenda items two through five.

Appointments 2552, 2553, 2559, and 2554. Appointments of Tyler Blackwell, Clara Cantor, and Alexander Bejedan-Estevez as members to the Levy to Move Seattle Oversight Committee for terms to December 31st, 2026. Reappointment of Samuel Ferreira as member to the Levy to Move Seattle Oversight Committee for a term to December 31st, 2026. All for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you.

Colleagues, as you know, the levy to move Seattle is a $930 million nine-year measure that expires next year.

So it's currently fully funded by property taxes, and I know that that's going to be an important discussion we want to have as early as this year on how would that possibly be renewed, where would the funding come from.

This is among my favorite oversight boards.

And a member of this board so I attend every month, and it's a terrific group, all bringing their different expertises from different modes of transportation and making sure that that that levy is being implemented.

projects are getting done that it's fiscally responsible, and they're really good discussions there.

So, this is an important these are very important appointments not because not only is the move.

I mean, even though the move Seattle levy is.

The actual levy empowers this oversight committee to make Sending us a letter at the end of this year, probably, and even coming to our committee to make recommendations on crafting a new transportation package, which presumably will be largely based on the Seattle Transportation Plan that SDOT is now crafting, trying to synthesize all the modes of transportation.

People who are appointed today, they'll be joining the group and then part of those recommendations back to us.

Let's see here, I was winging it there.

Let me look if I missed anything.

Okay, so we've got three new appointments to the committee and one reappointment.

Sam Farrara has been an excellent member of the Oversight Committee, very diligent and balanced in their approach and very much interested in safe and environmentally friendly modes of transportation.

That, Sam, is a reappointment.

So we're going to talk to the new appointments today.

So let's turn it back over to Aileen Tran.

Aileen.

Thanks, Chair Peterson.

As you mentioned, the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee members help to monitor and advise on the levy program and also make our recommendations for spending for levy proceeds.

And up first, we have Tyler Blackwell, who is currently a transportation planner at the total business improvement area and I'm going to pass it on to Tyler to share.

Great.

Thanks, Alim.

And thank you, council members.

I am happy to be here today, and I should share that I'm interested in serving on the levy to move Seattle Oversight Committee because I believe that transparency in how Seattle funds and builds transportation network is incredibly important.

We are entering, as council member, as Chair Peterson said, we are entering into a really important phase right now and I believe that my expertise both as a transportation planner and knowing what's going on in the environment in the industrial district of Seattle is important as it allows me to get a better understanding of the ongoing projects and I think that pairs nicely with my expertise as a MPA graduate of last year, where I concentrated in public financial management.

And so marrying both transportation knowledge as well as funding and financial knowledge can add an important perspective as we go into this next stage.

And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Tyler.

And we can go ahead and hear from the other two appointees and then open it up, open the floor if there are any comments or questions for any of them.

Go ahead, Aileen.

Yeah, so we have Clara Cantor and she is a community organizer with Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

Clara, I believe she's on so if she's great, I'll pass it on to her to share why she's interested in serving on the LSA.

Thank you so much, Eileen.

My name is Clara Cantor, and I'm a community organizer with Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, like Eileen mentioned, and a member of the Solidarity Budget Coalition and of Whose Streets Are Streets.

I also get around Seattle by bike and transit, and I'm interested in serving on the Levee Oversight Committee, mostly because I'd like to see Seattle make really significant progress on building a city that works for people who rely on walking and biking in transit to get around the city.

But I'd also like to see significantly greater investment in South Seattle and other neighborhoods that are totally unacceptably unsafe and kind of right the disparities in safety and comfort for people traveling in different parts of our city.

I think my work is really rooted in people and in community needs, and I'm eager to be a part of this committee.

Thank you very much.

We'll hear from the third appointee, and then we can open it up to any comments or questions.

Go ahead, Aileen.

So for third, we have Alexander Estevez, who's a staff attorney at a nonprofit that represents survivors of gender-based violence.

And I'm going to pass it on to Alexander to share.

Thank you so much, Eileen.

I'm interested in joining the Levy Oversight Committee because it's important to me that we ensure that our streets are safely funded, or excuse me, completely funded and that they're safe for all Seattleites.

As we know, the city has been experiencing an increase in traffic accidents, especially in the southern neighborhoods in Seattle.

And I believe that it is part of the Levy Oversight Committee's responsibilities to ensure that projects are sufficiently funded to ensure that transit is safe all over the city.

And I plan on using my expertise as an attorney to make sure that the city's held accountable and to make sure that funds and all the work that the city does is being used to improve the lives of all Seattleites.

Thank you very much, Alexander.

So colleagues, any comments or questions for Tyler, Clara, and or Alexander?

Council Member Morales.

Thank you.

I just want to thank all of you for your willingness to serve.

Look forward to getting to know Tyler and Alexander better.

Clara and I worked together before to make sure that the South End issues begin to get resolved so that we can stop seeing so many fatalities on our streets, not just in the South End, but across the city and look forward to the work that we will have to do next year.

to make sure that we get projects funded that will increase safety for everyone in the city.

Thank you all for your willingness to serve.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Colleagues, any other comments or questions for these great appointees?

All right, well, let's go ahead and move to a vote.

Council members, I now move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointments 2552, 2553, 2559, and 2554. That's Tyler, Claire, Alexander, and Sam.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of these appointments.

Any final comments or questions before we vote?

All right, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee?

Yes.

Oh, Council Member Herbold.

Sorry, I was just clearing my throat.

Getting ready to give a big enthusiastic yes.

All right, thank you.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to confirm appointments 2552, 2553, 2559, and 2554, items two through five on our agenda?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation to confirm these appointments will be sent to the May 23rd City Council meeting.

Thank you everybody for being here this morning and congratulations.

All right.

We can move on to the sixth item on the agenda.

Will the clerk please read the full title of the sixth agenda item?

Agenda item six, appointment 2560, reappointment of Margaret McCauley as member to the Seattle School Traffic Safety Committee for a term to March 31st, 2026, for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you, colleagues.

As you know, the Seattle School Traffic Safety Committee recommends new school crosswalk locations, crossing guard assignments, criteria for placement of crossing guards, traffic circulation plans for schools, and other important safety recommendations regarding our schools that are throughout the city.

So I'll go ahead and turn this over one last time to Aileen Trang from Seattle Department of Transportation.

Thank you, Chair Peterson.

So today we have the reappointment of Margaret McCauley to the pedestrian safety seat on the committee specifically.

Margaret is an environmental engineer with the US EPA and has been a great contributing member to the committee, including serving as its current secretary.

She is a parent and feels strongly that students of all ages should be able to walk and roll safely to school, and we recommend her reappointment to the committee.

Thank you very much.

And colleagues, as is typical for our reappointments, we don't have them here.

We are familiar with them from the earlier appointment and then their service, as well as their appointment packet, which is online for the public to to view.

And I know that as we roll out additional safety measures throughout the city, we are mindful about doing that around our public schools as well.

And so this board does include Seattle Public Schools officials, which is helpful to have that intergovernmental look at the issues.

So council members, if there are no comments or questions about this reappointment, I'll go ahead and move it.

All right.

So I now move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointment 2560. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend approval of this appointment.

Any final comments or questions before we vote?

All right.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the recommendation to confirm appointment 2560, item six on our agenda?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

All in favor?

None opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation to confirm appointment 2560 will be sent to the May 23rd City Council meeting.

All right.

Let's go ahead and move on to the Pedestrian Advisory Board.

Will the clerk please read the full titles of agenda items 7-10.

Agenda Items 7-10.

Appointments 2555-2558.

Reappointments of David L. France, Chelsea Morrison, Natasha Riveron, and Maria Sumner as members of the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board for terms to March 31st, 2025, for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you, colleagues as you know the pedestrian advisory board contributes to several aspects of the city's planning and project development processes as they relate to pedestrian safety and access.

They promote improved pedestrian safety and access by evaluating recommended changes in the city design guidelines and policies.

We know that our new Seattle Department of Transportation, Greg Spatz, has made safety the number one priority of the department.

elevated the traffic engineer to think safety first.

As we talk about traffic fatalities in our city, we know that pedestrians are the largest number of victims year after year in our city, victims of these collisions.

The Pedestrian Advisory Board, their work is urgent.

So let's go ahead and introduce our, we'll have Belen Herrera from Seattle Department of Transportation introduce or tell us about three reappointments.

And then I think we have an actual new appointment.

So that's excellent.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Belen.

Thank you Chair Peterson.

Just want to quickly restate that the importance of the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board is definitely keeping a pedestrian perspective.

And so today we actually have four re-appointments.

They're all re-appointments.

So the first one is David France.

David is a recent student of UW where he was actively involved in student government and served on the U-PASS Transit Advisory Board.

David is interested in topics related to equity, sustainability, and public health in our city.

We also have Chelsea Morrison.

Chelsea is a civil engineer and urban planner.

Chelsea enjoys a car-free lifestyle in Belltown and is interested in equitable community engagement and providing safe facilities for all roadway users.

We also have Maria Sumner.

Maria has lived in Seattle for eight years and currently resides in Ravenna for work.

She is a product manager for an AI startup based in Seattle.

She spends a lot of time running and strolling on our local streets.

She is active in her local community and is passionate about safe streets and a healthier, greener environment for pedestrians.

We also have Natasha Revron.

Natasha works for Safe Routes Partnership.

and is passionate about safe and walkable neighborhoods.

Natasha previously worked with the National Complete Streets Coalition and wants to advocate for her neighbors as a member of the Ped Board.

These members have been engaged members and are strong contributing members to the Pedestrian Board.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

It's, it's great to see these all reappointments.

And we really value their, their time and their contributions and recommendations to us and encourage them to be heavily involved in the crafting of the Seattle transportation plan.

And, and also just to let us know their views on things even throughout the year.

We received a letter from the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board just a couple of months ago urging greater action.

from the Seattle Department of Transportation to implement community-driven requests sooner and to remove some of the red tape to implementing crosswalks, for example.

So really appreciate their willingness to serve again, to continue to serve.

Thank you, Belen, for reintroducing them to everybody here.

Of course, the appointment packets online, we've already reviewed those.

But do want to see if anybody has any comments or questions before we vote on the reappointments.

All right.

I'll go ahead and move these forward.

Councilmembers, I move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointments 2555, 2556, 2557, and 2558. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments.

Are there any final comments or questions before we vote?

All right.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to confirm these appointments, items seven through 10 on our agenda?

Councilmember Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation to confirm appointments 2555 through 2558 will be sent to the May 23rd city council meeting.

Well, colleagues, thank you.

That completes our appointments and reappointments today for the four of the seven transportation advisory boards.

I just filling some of those vacancies as we move forward.

Really want to thank the Seattle Department of Transportation and the mayor's office for working with us to get these appointments on the calendar here today.

And thank you for approving them.

All right, let's go ahead and move on to agenda item 11. Will the clerk please read the short title of agenda item 11.

agenda item 11. from block located in a portion of block seven and a portion of block eight.

Lot eight on block 35 Rainier Beach for the purpose of extending the protection of the adjacent roadway of superficial surface erosion of the adjacent slopes along a portion of Rainier Avenue South for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you.

Colleagues, as mentioned earlier, these easements would contribute to mitigating the risk of landslides onto Rainier Avenue.

And I want to thank Councilmember Herbold for her consistent advocacy for landslide mitigation, and I know Councilmember Morales is very interested in this as well, since this one is in her district.

And so before I turn it over to the presenters, I also want to thank Calvin Chow for reviewing this legislation.

Good morning, Calvin.

Just as usual, if central staff wants to say anything in the beginning here to frame things up, go ahead.

If not, we can ask you questions later if we have any.

Good morning, council members.

I think the presentation is pretty thorough.

I just note that the project, the mitigation project has been completed and this is really about the real estate property rights for the project.

So with that, I think we should just move to the presentation.

Thank you very much.

Okay, well, let's turn this over to Seattle Department of Transportation.

Good morning, council members.

Let's go to the next slide, please.

And the next slide.

OK, in this presentation overview, we'll be talking about the purpose, background damage from landslide project area, acquisition area, project details, the wall extension, and the project costs.

Next slide.

We are here today to request that the city council accept this proposed legislation that accepts two catchment walls easements from private property owners conveying portions of property in connection with the landslide mitigation project under the hazard mitigation program.

It places the easement under SDOT's jurisdiction and lays the property rights property office right away.

Next slide, please.

Historically, there have been many landslides recorded along Rainier Avenue South between South Carver Street and the South Seattle City limits near Ryan Street, resulting in debris blocking public right away.

In 2000, SDOT commissioned a geotechnical survey of this deep slope area along the street corridor and determined it to be at a moderate to high risk for landslide hazard.

Given this assessment and the area's history of landslide incidences, the city believes there is a high probability of reoccurrence.

These landslides block sidewalks and create hazardous conditions for all modes of transportation.

In addition, the city has at times had to close portions of the sidewalk and streets in response to public safety concerns.

along the impacted segments of Rainier Avenue South.

SDOT crews have also had to conduct cleanup efforts to remove debris and recover sidewalks throughout the years in response to these challenges.

In early 2016, a 60-foot segment of retaining wall was constructed to protect a portion of Rainier Avenue South near South Perry Street as a response to two significant landslides occurring from the same slope within two weeks of each other.

Subsequently, Estad evaluated the street corridor and determined that there were five sites that also needed reinforcement and additional walls were constructed.

Another landslide occurred more recently in February of 2022 due to heavy rainfall that damaged a portion of the wall near South Perry Street, as well as a new area next to this wall.

The damaged wall was repaired.

However, acquisition of two additional catchment wall easement was necessary to extend the wall.

Next slide, please.

As you can see in these pictures, you can see how the debris impacted the sidewalk and right of way, as well as the stabilization of the slope after the landslide.

Next slide.

The vicinity map outlines the area along Rainier Avenue South where the soldier pile catchment wall was extended to protect the adjacent segment of the street corridor.

Next slide.

The two acquisitions total 303 square feet.

It is five feet in width and 60.5 feet long.

I'll turn the presentation over to Bill Clark to talk about construction details, project details.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Bill Clark.

I'm the S.

Capital Projects Project Manager for this section of the South Rainier Wall.

This is the third section of the wall that was requested by street use that we construct over the winter.

was actually built in March.

We needed to attain a Department of Constructions and Inspections dry season exemption to build this in the winter.

Normally, these are built in the summer when the soil is a little bit more stable, but I think the urgency to get it constructed, we requested that exemption.

We took precautions along the way.

We used a lot of plastic sheeting along the hillside and whatnot to minimize any further risk slide.

64 feet long, about eight pilings were drilled to construct the wall.

Go ahead and advance the slide, please.

It's another view of the wall.

It's as we speak, I believe being painted now.

It looks slightly different than this.

Next slide.

Budget of 550,000, about 426,000 of that is direct construction costs.

The balance, approximately 124,000 is SDOT internal design costs that had been already invested before it was handed over to capital projects to build.

And as you can see that it was street funded by the street use program at S dot, but the sources of funding you can see here.

And that wall was constructed, like I said, in March and it is complete now.

Does anyone have any questions?

Thank you very much, Bill and Gretchen.

And just wanted to see if Calvin Chow wanted to add anything.

No, nothing, Dad.

OK, terrific.

Well, thanks to Estad and your crews for getting that work done.

It's important work, and for doing it during the winter when it was probably more difficult but necessary to get done.

Colleagues, any comments or questions before we approve this sort of cleanup land use work after the construction work has been completed?

All right.

Well, colleagues, I'll go ahead and move this.

I now move that the committee recommend passage of this Council Bill 120557. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the Council Bill.

Any final comments or questions before we move to a vote?

Okay, good.

All right, colleagues, it's been moved and seconded.

Let's go ahead and have the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to pass Council Bill 120557, item 11 on our agenda.

Council Member Herbal?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second.

Agenda item 12, clerk file 314522, petition of BRE BMR 8th LLC for the vacation of the alley lying within Block C, Bill 6 addition to the city of Seattle for briefing and discussion.

Thank you, colleagues.

This is an early preview of a possible alley vacation for what's proposed to be a biomedical facility near Denny Park.

We have the project team and the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Gretchen, oh, thank you.

We have the project team and the Seattle Department of Transportation as well as Seattle Design Commission leadership here with us today.

So I'll turn it over to them for their presentation.

I think Beverly Barnett will probably go first.

And then Lish Whitson from our City Council Central staff is also here.

So actually, Lish, did you have any introductory remarks to make before we launch into this presentation?

Thank you.

I just wanted to mention that this is an early presentation on the proposal.

It is beginning its review by city departments and the Seattle Design Commission.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to hear about the project for the first time and for council members to provide early input before it becomes a proposal that comes back to you for a vote.

Thanks.

Thank you for that.

All right, let's turn it over to our presenters.

Okay, good morning.

This is Beverly Barnett with and we also have here Michael Jenkins from the Seattle Design Commission and Jackson Coke, who heads the.

Design review group, development review group in and is 1 of the 1st reviewers to see new projects.

So we've asked him to.

Join us to respond to questions, or if he has something he would like to share after we see the presentation, I think really covered this, but this is a really important time for us.

The this is a brand new petition.

There is a number of steps that a developer takes before they can petition.

So we've all seen this and given our early guidance.

Now we have the formal petition in.

and the more rigorous portions of the review begin.

And this is one of the kickoff steps.

And this creates an opportunity for members of the public or for members of the council to guide us as we step into the review.

I think the most important piece is for us to look at the PowerPoint presentation.

And you can see, this is a bit of an awkward site.

So the work on design and public benefit and also the access issues that Jackson Jackson's group will look at are really critical.

I think next we were gonna have Michael and then if Jackson has comments, and then the bulk of the time on the presentation and questions from council members.

So, Michael, I think we had planned for you to go next.

Sure.

Thank you, Beverly.

Good morning.

Good morning, council members and other presenters.

Michael Jenkins here with the Seattle Design Commission.

The Design Commission had its pre-petition review, which I think Steph has probably gone over with you in their briefing memo.

The review is required before a project can proceed through not only Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection's design review process, but before they can even file for a petition.

The presentation you'll see today is one that the commission did have an opportunity to look at in November of 2022. I think you'll see what the commission saw, which was a really unique opportunity to create a gateway to Denny Triangle at this development, not only from the building, but from the site plan and the landscape.

It really is an opportunity to complete the vision that was created and started for Denny Triangle with the early Amazon, of alley vacations, and this will be the northern terminus of those series of public realm improvements.

And so we're excited to see the opportunities that that presents.

I think you'll also see in the presentation some of the challenges that Beverly brought up, in particular with 8th Avenue and trying to understand how the development team is minimizing the impacts of moving access from an alley to a street that would not normally see it.

and how you maintain an active and interesting streetscape along 8th Avenue, given the movement of access and given the open space that you'll see in the proposal.

We're excited to have this presentation before you today.

So I will just go ahead and mute at this point and I think pass it on to Jim Keller from Site Workshop.

Sure.

Hi, can everybody hear me?

Yes.

OK, great.

Brad, I don't know if you wanted to say any words.

Yeah.

Good to be in.

Yeah, I just wanted to do a quick introduction.

First off, I'm Brad with Biomed Realty.

I'm leading the development efforts here in Seattle for the team.

With us today, we have State Workshop, who's going to do the presentation.

We also have others from our team on the call as well, Perkins and Will from the design side.

So super excited and echoing what Michael said, I'm excited about this opportunity here As the building transitions from what was the Amazon areas over to the new standing triangle area and how this can be added to the streetscape down there.

So, Jim, go ahead and walk us through the slide deck please.

Cool.

Great.

Thanks, everybody.

Good morning, Council Members and thanks to everybody on the call here.

As you've been staring at the title slide here, you can see our site with Denny Park in the foreground and Dexter Avenue running through to 7th and 8th Avenue and Bell to the south.

So zooming down over the top of the tree canopy of Denny Park and looking at the proposed development.

This is a two tower development with the 18 story tower on Denny and 11 story tower back on Bell Street.

This site plan shows the alley vacated scheme, of course.

There's an entry and exit on 8th and a large open space showing up in the foreground here on Denny.

It's below-grade parking, 621 cars.

It's got all of the code required parking, bicycle, short-term, etc.

The reason for the alley vacation really is to improve pedestrian and bike safety.

It's to create this meaningful public open space that's been similar to the open spaces that have been created to the south and all the Amazon blocks.

It's to improve accessibility through the block.

There's a lot of great change between 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue.

And the vacation of the alley really allows for accessible connection through the site.

And it also is going to enhance the right of ways all around the edges of the site and provide some extra benefits like the completion of the protected bike lane along 7th and Dexter as it wraps around the corner.

And of course, there's an increase in development potential.

When we take a look at the alley again this is Denny up here on this top side of the screen Dexter wrapping around the seventh bell on the right eighth on the south, it's a 5766 square foot alley.

It is the last alley from Westlake to Denny.

As we look at the aerial view here, you can see Bell Green Street on the south.

And there's some real issues with this alley.

This is the Bell Street side.

There's the existing Bell Street two-way cycle track on the north side of Bell.

And currently, with the alley intact, there is a curb cut for deliveries and alley access that crosses over this two-way bike lane, which creates a conflict, of course, especially with the downhill bikers picking up speed and coming down Bell.

On the Denny and Dexter side, the alley ends in what probably is one of the most awkward alley endings in the city, I would guess.

But you can see the pedestrian refuge island here with Dexter on the right, Denny in the front.

And this alley really kind of creates a five way intersection condition.

So as people exit the alley onto Denny, there's a lot of confusion as to how that can work.

And this would be if you're standing on the magenta stripe here looking out to the northwest toward the Space Needle and that sort of five way intersection that happens with this boosting alley.

Previous vacations in the site has been talked about.

This is block 14, 19, 20, 21, 18, and block Z, our block here.

So this is the last alley to exist within this portion of the Denny Triangle neighborhood.

And really, the alley, like we mentioned, has some issues with its north and south openings.

Neighborhood context map, of course, Denny Park to the north, the green streets of Bell and Blanchard, the new protected bike lanes that are separated from the right-of-way along 7th Avenue here, changing back to this in-road painted bike lane on 7th and Dexter, and then again to a protected bike lane along Dexter to the north.

There's painted bike lanes along Bell, I mean, 8th Avenue, excuse me.

And some of the other things that affect the neighborhood, of course, are the streetcar as it comes up Westlake, large open spaces and green spaces, and this potential future Sound Transit link extension.

We're guided by a lot of neighborhood planning over the years.

So there's the 2012 Westlake and 7th Avenue concept plan.

There's the Denny Way streetscape plan that was done in 2013. The Southlake Union plan that affects 8th Avenue on the other side of Denny Park.

The Bell Street concept plan, which you saw the cycle track that's been completed along this edge, previous photos, and of course, the Market to Mohai Trail, which runs through the site.

So far, we've had great community engagement starting in the fall of last year.

In November, we met with Belltown United Community Council.

In December, we met with South Lake Union Community Council.

And then in March Denny Triangle neighborhood Association of this year, and in April, Seattle neighborhood greenways, and all of the discussion that we had with those groups was highly positive and supportive of the project.

There's the groups, you know, asked how they could continue to advocate for the project.

There were some people with some comments and concerns about, you know, how these projects look on the skyline and how they might affect the views and things like that.

And so all those are being addressed through the design process.

The opportunities with this site are really great.

We're looking at this site as the gateway, as it was mentioned earlier, to this Denny Triangle neighborhood.

It's really apparent with the entry and exits into and out of Seattle along Denny Way to Seattle Center.

It's a key site that links over to Denny Park.

And it really provides this opportunity to increase this green neighborhood, which has evolved over the last decade.

There's a lot of diversity and open space now with the new developments and vacated alleys that have happened along the Amazon edge and throughout Denny triangle so this site really has the opportunity to continue and really create this place where folks in Seattle can wander the streets and wander through the blocks and really feel like they're immersed in this urban arboretum or larger park that connects to our first park in the city.

So some of the public realm enhancement that this alley vacation brings again are this ability to connect from 7th Avenue to 8th with this mid-block connection.

Positioning of the buildings allows for this to be an accessible connection to which is an important element for the site.

It also is about consolidating the loading and parking so we eliminate the curb cuts that happen in the alley and we eliminate the existing curb cuts around the site and consolidate all of that to 8th Avenue for parking and loading.

And again, it reduces that existing conflict with the Bell Street cycle track and this awkward five-way intersection at the north side.

When we look at a no-alley vacation or parcel-by-parcel development and the code buildings that could be developed on this site, we see, you know, we're not able to eliminate the conflict on Bell.

The alley comes through to service and parking, access for both parcels, and then somehow needs to exit back out on its existing northern point onto Denny and the intersection here.

There'd be open spaces, the required open spaces would likely occur on the north side of the building, and then there is some potential setback opportunities around the edges of the site.

The right-of-way and street improvement plans would be, you know, toward the SIP code, and the cycle track would likely remain in place on the roadway.

The alley vacated scheme, as you see here, Sorry, let me page back up.

The alley vacated scheme, as you see here, really allows for this ample open space with accessible routes through the site.

It allows for the creation of the protected bike lane extension from 7th and Dexter around to Denny.

Again, it consolidates that loading and access and eliminates the conflicts that happen on the north and south.

So a quick overview of the public benefits that this project is proposing.

The main one is the 7th Avenue cycle track continuation along 7th and Dexter as it wraps the corner.

There is a pocket park that is being suggested on the north side of the north tower that really relates to Denny Park as a complementary open space on that corner.

And then at 8th Avenue and Denny, there's a pedestrian island that's input into the middle of the long pedestrian crossing to increase pedestrian safety along 8th.

And then there's a lots of voluntary setbacks along the building edges on 8th Avenue adjacent to the garage entries.

There's a retail still out edge and a voluntary setback of the building there.

Larger voluntary setback of the Green Street along Bell.

And then again the closure of these alley conditions on the end that happen if they are vacated become a benefit in that they are improving public safety.

We received a lot of comments from design commission and early and design review board and all those comments were taken into consideration in the site plan that you see before.

But the main comments were about really working on 8th Avenue and making 8th Avenue and Bell Street feel connected to the site, not thinking about just the connections, the visual and physical connections to the Denny side, but the Bell Street side as well.

So you see in the site plan, the architecture team worked really hard to bring the ground plane of the building back The building tower above is overhanging that, but to really connect the pedestrian realm at the corners to the open spaces that are designed along the edge and the accessible paths through the site.

Those were the big moves, then the big guidance that we received from Design Commission, and we're still working through that as we continue to develop the design.

I think I can end there and take questions.

Thank you.

Katie, unless you have anything to add, or Michael, or Beverly, or Ben.

Thank you.

I think we'll, um, council members may have some questions.

I've got a few questions, um, and appreciate again, the context that, uh, counselors, this is our very early look at this.

It's just a clerk file at this point.

Um, this committee is not the only time you get to opine on this.

You can, um, So I'll just go through.

I've got about four questions.

All right, so I know we usually get excited about the new development that's coming and there's a lot of exciting things about what this project can do in terms of pedestrian access and improving the cycling facility there.

Just want to always ask this basic question of what's currently on the site and are we Is there any displacement that is occurring of an existing, any residential or employment?

The current site is the two buildings, the hotel and the liquor store building that were on the 7th Avenue side have been demoed.

So right now it's a flat secure site, flat-ish secure site.

Right.

So just the hotel and the liquor store.

Yes.

Okay.

And then, And then I agree with your assessment of the alley being awkward and not very functional and even unsafe in some cases.

In this aerial, what you're seeing, what I'm seeing, just wanna make sure what we're seeing here is that pedestrians who are not associated with the two towers here, that they can freely pass through here.

Is that correct?

Yes, that's the plan is that this is an accessible space through the site.

And is that accessible after business hours as well.

It's not yet.

Yeah, it's accessible you know generally open to the public.

Yes.

Great.

In terms of the public, I know the public benefits was something we'll be really interested in opining on here because we're giving up the alley, we're vacating a public alley.

And so under our existing ordinances, we wanna seek public benefit.

And so you had a slide where you mentioned six different public benefits that were preliminary.

Let me get to that one.

Sorry.

Right there.

Thank you.

The public benefits overview slide here showing the six aerial views of the two buildings.

I just want to confirm, item six, the curb cut removal and restoration, I thought that was pretty standard requirement that that's, I don't, while we look forward to that happening, I'm not sure I would personally characterize that as sort of an added public benefit.

So I just wanted to, note that for the record as we're thinking about public benefits.

Then in terms of the design commission, it's very important to take into consideration what they're suggesting and recommending.

I would like to hear from Michael Jenkins, do you feel that the design commission, could you just reconfirm that the design committee feel like what you're suggesting is being incorporated and maybe what's left over that we still need to see or want to see.

Sure.

Thank you, Council Member.

I think that they haven't had an opportunity to come to the Commission to preview their public benefit package formally.

I will say that the Commission was intrigued by their ability to not only enhance the public realm in ways that you see here, the 7,000 cycle track being very important.

I think that the Commission also challenged this team to look at both visual and physical relationships that they could create with Denny Park, understanding that Denny is a difficult street on a good day, but that there was an opportunity there to really leverage these open spaces and create a real connection to Denny Park, which as you know, is our oldest park in the city.

I think one of the other challenges for this team will be to try to understand And I appreciate while it's not listed as a formal public benefit, having significant public access through that diagonal open space.

Like with all of the work that the commission does in particular on the issue of equity and equitable access, how the site plan and the building massing really invite the public in and the balance between having public access And the very real understanding that the people who develop and occupy this building need to be able to control the site for their own use and making sure that the reality of inviting in the public and making them welcome both physically and functionally balances the developer and the tenant's future needs.

And so that will be one area that we work with them on to make sure that that balance is addressed and struck in a positive and meaningful way.

Thank you.

I do want to know that Councilmember Strauss has been here with us.

Good to see you, Councilmember.

So, those are my main questions.

One last question from me and then we can open it up to colleagues.

In terms of the ground floor, the street level uses, have you decided, will they be different than biomedical?

Will there be anything to activate the street, have pedestrians who aren't associated with those two buildings visit the two buildings?

Obviously, you've got a lot of exterior space here available to the public, but are you going to be subleasing to any retail, for example?

And then are you going to be providing any childcare on site for either for employees of those buildings or just childcare in general for the general population?

There is a, I could answer a couple of the questions.

There's a retail space that's proposed on the corner of 8th and Bell down on this edge.

So that's likely at least retail opportunity.

And then there's been design iteration and talk about coffee shop spaces and lobby spaces that feel welcoming for people to come and walk through, like on the north building, this north lobby space out in front.

And then there is also a discussion about an event space here that's kind of popping out from the south tower.

And Councilmember Peterson, this is Katie Kendall with McCulloch Hill.

On the childcare, the Biomed's not intending to have on-site childcare as of right now, but as you know, under the city's code and the downtown code to get bonus floor area, there will be a payment to the city for childcare.

So they will be making that childcare payment.

Thank you.

Alex, those are my questions about this at this very early stage in their proposal or request for us to vacate the alley there.

Any other comments or questions?

And again, Lish Whitson is always available if you have those questions come up later.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you chair, and I appreciate the staff's ability to give me a preview of this presentation so I'm a bit up to speed.

If you could cycle to the slide that demonstrates where the public benefit is.

I think it was this one.

On the presentation on my side.

Next, next one.

We're near the beginning now.

Public benefit overview.

Here, reasons for vacation.

Beverly, you know this slide I'm talking about.

Was that not included on this presentation that you showed me?

It is.

It's down a couple more.

Yeah, the next one.

This one.

Yeah, this is the public benefits overview is that is that the slide you mean Councilmember Strauss, it's close enough I was just trying to ask the question of, you know, have the public benefits been met, or I see that on this slide there's required sip work also included.

Number one, public benefit minimums have been met.

Number two, we're not including required SIP work in those public benefits.

And then number three, asking the question of, is the public plaza cut through, is that publicly accessible or is that not publicly accessible?

Okay, I'll answer the first part of that.

And then we probably want Jim Keller to speak to it as well, or maybe Jackson or Michael.

I think at this stage, what you're looking at is what was in the vacation petition.

So this is their initial proposal as we go through our work.

This will go through.

the Design Review Board, the Seattle Design Commission, Zoning Plans Review, all of the SIP review, and my review.

And so one of the things we take a lot of care with is what are the obligations that a developer has to meet under the various codes and regulations?

What might just be good design?

And what really rises to the level of being considered a public benefit So this is sort of the opening view and as it gets refined, we'll have a clearer picture of what their obligations are and whether anything on the public benefit proposal is really more a design or an obligation.

So it's very, very early on.

This is where the starting point is.

This has not been to the design commission yet for public trust or public benefit review.

and it's still early in the SIP review.

So nothing's finished yet.

If anybody else has something they want to add on those steps.

Councilmember Strauss, this is Katie Kendall again.

As Michael mentioned, the design commission had some ideas as it relates to Denny and the design team has been working towards addressing those.

Through this process, I think you'll see an evolution here on this benefits package because this is really at the start.

We're diligently working on responding to those comments and working with the commission and SDOT to refine these as we move forward through the process.

You had also asked about the accessibility of the plazas.

Those will be publicly accessible.

We are not proposing them as public benefits.

Some of the area will be needed to meet bonus floor area criteria, etc.

But they will be publicly accessible.

There's no fencing that will be blocking it off from the public.

Okay.

I see a couple more hands, Chair, and then I have one last comment to make.

Oh, yeah.

So Michael Jenkins, why don't you go first?

Thanks, Council Member.

I'm going to put Jim on the spot here for just a second.

Jim and his firm, Site Workshop, really changed the face of this area of town through their extensive work on the Amazon projects.

One of the things that we had pointed out to them is that because Site Workshop really recreated this part of the public realm, we'll be very interested to see how they finish this, how they finish the blocks to the south, and how the public benefit package reflects really significant changes in the public realm that really favors the public in ways that changed the face of Denny Triangle.

So that was one of the challenges and compliments, I think, that the commission gave to the site workshop team.

Let's see how you finish your work in this area.

And so we'll be anxious to see how they do that and how they advance the public benefit package to reflect that work.

And we're looking forward to that.

And we're honored and excited to be part of this team and to really to finish this block and to really connect this neighborhood up.

Jackson, did you have something to add?

Yeah, thank you.

I'm Jackson Cook, Estat Street Use.

Just a quick comment.

I don't know if Council Member Strauss was on the call when Council Member Peterson already made this comment, but from Estat Street Use perspective, the one comment about the current public benefit package, requirement.

If the alley is vacated those curb cuts are fronting the property that's being developed and unused curb cuts fronting the property being developed are required to be closed.

So that would not be part of the public benefit but beyond that I don't have significant comment right now.

Great thank you.

Chair I'll just last comment here.

If you could go to slide five.

I think this slide really Let's see, what number are we on here?

The one with the context photos.

There we go.

Context photos.

Yeah, this one just demonstrates the need for this and the benefits that we're receiving so eloquently with the alley on the northwestern edge hitting Denny and Dexter in that way.

This is not and then going nowhere.

This is the alley to nowhere.

And when you slide to slide, we don't really need to jump around, but either slide.

12 or 11, it just shows the benefit that even while that pass-through is not part of a technical public benefit.

Next slide.

Yeah, that one.

I know that the public plaza is part of an additional density allowance.

Still, this is a net benefit for the neighborhood where we Remedy the alley to nowhere, and we create more pedestrian flow through the community so.

Just really happy and pleased with with this coming with this proposal so really good job everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

Colleagues, any other comments or questions?

And again, we'll look forward to the full public benefit package after they go through the design commission process and they get additional input there.

to be able to evaluate this more comprehensively later.

This is just thanks to the council members before us who set up this process to have this early look so we could start to get familiar with the project that's being proposed.

But we'll have it come back to us for more formal action later when public benefits are fleshed out and we have more details.

But thank you to everybody for the early look.

And it's just a briefing and discussion today and we can Unless there are any other comments or questions, we'll go ahead and move to the final item on our agenda.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, everyone.

All right.

Will the clerk please read the short title of the final agenda item?

Agenda Item 13, Council Bill 120574, an ordinance relating to Seattle Public Utilities, declaring certain real property rights at the Foy Pump Station property as being surplus to the city's municipal utility needs, authorizing the sale of 451 square feet and 460 square feet of King County parcel and granting parcels for three-year term temporary construction easements to the city of Shoreline for a public hearing, briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you, colleagues.

As our committee clerk mentioned, we do have a public hearing on this item, Council Bill 120574. There is nobody signed up to speak in person or online for this, so I'll just go ahead and open the public hearing, and seeing that there is nobody signed up online or in person, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing.

And colleagues, this council would enable Seattle Public Utilities to sell to the city of Shoreline two small slivers of property already located in the city of Shoreline.

Due to the minor nature of this proposal, the fact that we didn't have any public commenters, and it's already physically located in Shoreline, if the council members are comfortable, I'll propose that we suspend the rules to vote on this item today, same day that we had or made available a public hearing so that we can move it out of our busy committee.

But we're going to get a presentation today.

We'll be able to ask questions.

So let's go ahead and, oh, and before we do turn it over to Seattle Public Utilities for a presentation, I did want to thank Brian Goodnight on our City Council Central staff for working on this, helping get the legislation finalized and uploaded, working with Seattle Public Utilities, with the City Attorney's Office, because the City of Shoreline has asked us to work expeditiously on this because it does tie into a larger transportation project.

So thank you, Brian.

Good night.

Let's go ahead and turn it over to our general manager and CEO of Seattle Public Utilities, Andrew Lee.

Good morning.

Thank you, Chair Peterson and members of the committee.

This legislation before you authorizes the sale to the City of Shoreline for two small slivers of property that are associated with Shoreline's project to construct a roundabout associated with a new Sound Transit light rail station nearby, along with three temporary construction easements.

As Council Member Peterson indicated, we're asking for expedited consideration of this legislation because the City of Shoreline needs to be able to demonstrate it has these property rights so it can secure $10 million in funding from the U.S.

Department of Transportation.

With me today are Jerry Caruso, a Senior Real Property Agent for SPU, and Rachel Hsu with SPU's Major Interagency Projects Group.

At this point, I'll hand it off to Jerry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi.

And I will start the presentation.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning and welcome transportation and committee members and members of the public and thank you for attending this presentation.

My name is Jerry Caruso and I'm a senior real property agent for Seattle Public Utilities, I'm here to present an ordinance on behalf of SPU concerning the sale of portions of Foy Pump Station property to the City of Shoreline.

Can everybody hear me?

Yes.

Thank you.

Before I jump into how this transaction arose, I want to just provide a general overview of what this legislation will accomplish.

This ordinance authorizes the City and SPU To sell 2 small part parcels of the FOIA pump station to the city of shoreline.

Oh, wait, shoot.

Oh, I'm sorry.

We're not seeing your slides.

I'm so sorry.

Sorry.

We're not seeing the slides.

I'm so sorry.

Uh, it's okay.

I will share my screen.

Are you seeing my slides now?

Yes, we do see the presenter's views.

We see the comments and such, if you want to just change it to the- Yes, I will.

So sorry.

Yeah, go ahead and reload it and- Reload, yes.

The presentation view.

Okay.

Gary, would you like me to share the slides for you?

I have if you could, I would be helpful.

Thank you.

I sure having some difficulty with sharing the slides.

I appreciate it.

Thank you for bearing with me.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Before I jump into how the transaction arose, I just want to present a general overview of what this legislation will accomplish.

This legislation will authorize SPU to convey two small parcels of FOIA pump station to the City of Shoreline.

The parcels to be conveyed are 911 square feet combined and will be dedicated as street right-of-way as part of a public project.

In addition, this ordinance authorizes SPU to grant two temporary construction easements to Shoreline, each with a three-year term and one with the option to extend for an additional year.

Finally, this ordinance does declare the parcels to be sold as surplus to the city's needs.

Next slide, please.

For the pump station and the project, are located just north of the Seattle city limits at 145th Street, directly across from Seattle's Jackson Park.

Next slide.

The pump station is comprised of two separate parcels that were purchased in 1933 for the city and placed under the jurisdiction of SPU's water line of business.

It serves as a critical part of the admissible distribution system controlling pressure and maintaining flow to deliver drinking water to rate players in the service area.

Next slide.

This is a street view of the pump station.

On the left is the view looking northwest from 145th Street, and the side view is looking east from 5th Ave.

Next slide.

Before I present the details of the transaction, I'd like to tell you how this transaction came about so you can better understand it in the context of the other adjoining projects.

And please note that this is just a general overview of these other projects and how they relate to this transaction.

And it's not intended to be a presentation of these transportation projects, but rather just the transaction at hand.

As you know, Sound Transit has several ongoing projects in the region, one of which is the Linwood Link Extension Project, which extends the light rail from Northgate to Sonoma County.

This extension will add four new stations, one of which is the Shoreline 148th Street Station, located just a few blocks north of the Foy Pump Station.

The 148th Street Station created the need to improve the transportation corridor at the intersection of 5th and 145th Street, right where the FOIA pump station is located.

And that prompted a joint project with WSDOT and Shoreline called the I-5 Interchange Improvements Project.

The FOIA pump station transaction is just one of many components of Shoreline's interchange project.

So as you can see, these are cascading and linked projects that are dependent and schedules are very interlinked.

Next slide, please.

The new elevated 148th Street Station will connect to the new Sound Transit BRT service and will include a new parking garage.

This is a general depiction of the planned improvement areas and shows the location of the 148th Street Station in relation to the Foy Pump Station.

And it also shows the transportation corridor that's being improved.

And again, please note that this is not uh, showing all of the project improvements, uh, associated with shorelines.

South state, uh, station or with the interchange project.

Next slide please shorelines interchange project will improve safety and multimodal access along the 145th street quarter and help connect to the new light rail station.

That's planned to open in 24. The interchange improvements will enhance transportation mobility, reliability, and safety for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit users.

The signalized intersection will be replaced with a new roundabout and requires Shoreline to acquire a small portion of the Foy Pump Station to enlarge the intersection for improved multimodal access.

Conveyance of these boy parcels are required for shoreline to properly to adhere to the design improvements of that intersection.

Next slide please.

This is just another project plan of the proposed transportation quarter improvements.

showing the signalized intersection being replaced by the roundabout and requiring that the acquisition of those two small slivers of land to enlarge that intersection.

Next slide, please.

As depicted on the plan, the parcels to be sold are small slivers of land that have limited functional use and are best suited for street right-of-way considering their location at the intersection of two arterial roads.

In addition to their small size, these parcels are located outside the city of Seattle limits, which limits their utility to other city departments and makes them unsuitable for few other functions other than street right of way.

Note that the widest point of either parcel to be sold is less than 20 feet.

And moreover, shoreline zoning code setbacks and other land use restrictions would further limit any use or functionality of these small parcels.

Next slide.

The transaction will consist of conveying 2 parcels by quit claim deed and the granting of 2 temporary construct easements each for a 3 year term and 1 with an option to extend for an additional year.

The city and shoreline reached agreement on terms and fair market value.

And appraisals were completed and reviewed for all property rights.

And.

Next slide.

The impacts and benefits of the sale.

There are no significant impacts to operations as a result of the sale and no negative impacts to the current or future operations of the FOIA pump station.

SPU will receive $211,000 from the sale of the parcels and the granting of the temporary property rights.

The benefits also include an improved regional transportation corridor and continued city support of community partnerships.

In addition, SPU employees who work at the FOIA pump station will have improved multimodal access to their worksite.

And that is the presentation and I'm happy to go back to any slides that you want or take on any questions.

Thank you very much.

Wanted to open that up to City Council Central staff.

Brian, good night.

If you had any comments about the proposal.

Uh, thank you chair.

No, I think the presentation did a nice job, so I don't have any additional comments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And to Andrew Lee at Seattle public utilities, you had mentioned there's a federal grant that the city of shoreline is seeking and has some time constraints on it.

And you said it's 10Million dollars.

Is that right?

Yeah, that's correct.

Okay.

Thank you.

So colleagues, we did not have any speakers about this item at the public hearing today.

And so I know the city of Shoreline's very interested in this.

Yes, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Jerry chair, Jerry I just always love your presentations they are in the weeds, and you always do a really great job presenting.

Sure.

And the slide previous to this demonstrates the benefits of the sale I think what it's not.

And I guess the benefits are noting improve transportation benefits city support regional mobility.

If you slide.

Back down, I'm looking at your legislature presentation if you want to slide to the past questions.

Oh, yeah, there's some slides at the end.

That's correct.

Further, maybe 1 more or this is great.

No, that 1. Yeah, either of these is okay.

Let's go back up 1 more.

It's just.

I think that this is a demonstration of good governance, good partnership with regional partners and with neighboring partners where.

If I'm correct, the, that area in pink.

Is going to be turned into sidewalk.

Is that correct?

That that's correct.

Yeah.

Um, and there's a little part you could see where that dark black line is, uh, is is going to be part of the street.

So there's a.

The very corner is street, but the rest of the pink is all sidewalk.

And so, yeah, I mean, great work right here.

I mean, to that point about improved transportation court, or et cetera, this slide demonstrates that, which is.

You know these parcels are being sold from one government to another government, and are actually increasing the amount of pedestrian space because it's my best guess that those sidewalks are wider than the sidewalks that we have there today, and so it's more than just moving cars it's more than moving buses it's more than connecting light rail to our bus network.

SR 523, North 145th is a state route.

We are Sound Transit, Shoreline, King County, City of Seattle, WSDOT.

This is a moment of minutia of good governance transferring.

The city makes a very small amount of money, but we're improving the public experience through this corridor.

Because the public doesn't know who owns the land.

They just want to be able to walk and get to light rail and get on the freeway and get to where they're going.

So I think this demonstrates good governance.

I really appreciate your presentation, Jerry.

OK, well, thank you.

Happy to answer any questions anyone would have.

And our team is here.

The project team is here as well, if you have any questions.

Thank you, Jerry.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

Colleagues, so because as we were talking before about the request that we act expeditiously for our, for regional cooperation with City of Shoreline and the federal grant that's in play there for this project that impacts larger projects, And we didn't hear any public commenters at our public hearing.

So I'll go ahead and just ask if there's no objection, we'll go ahead and suspend the rule so that we could vote on an item the same day as a public hearing.

So is there any objection to that colleagues?

Okay, all right, hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended to enable us to vote on a council bill the same day that we held its public hearing.

And so I'll go ahead and make a motion to move forward on this council bill.

Colleagues, I now move that the committee recommend passage of council bill 120574, is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the council bill.

Any final comments or questions before we vote?

Excellent.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to pass Council Bill 120574, item 13 on our agenda.

Council Member Herbal.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Chair Peterson.

Yes.

Four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation to pass, Council Bill 120574 will be sent to the May 23rd City Council meeting.

All right, colleagues.

Well, thank you everybody for being here today.

And I will just note that the time is 1102 AM and this concludes the May 16th, 2023 meeting of the Transportation Seattle Public Utilities Committee.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, June 6th.

Thank you and we are adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.