MAKING IT WORK
May 12, 2003, Volume V, Issue 4
Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin
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CONTENTS
On Monday, April 14, the City Council voted 7 to 2 (McIver, Pageler dissenting) to endorse the modified Green Line proposed by Mayor Nickels to complete the Burke-Gilman Trail through Ballard. The resolution passed my Transportation Committee on April 1. It includes modifications I proposed to emphasize the City's continued commitment to the marine businesses in Ballard and to freight mobility improvements that the City will undertake to assist these businesses in meeting their transportation challenges.
The Burke-Gilman Trail follows an abandoned railroad line from the Seattle-Shoreline boundary in Lake City some 12 miles to 11th Avenue NW in Ballard. It is an extraordinarily popular route for recreational and commuter biking, walking, and other non-motorized travel. Development began in 1974, and the trail has gradually been completed farther west over time. The 2000 Parks Levy included funds to complete the trail from the Ballard Locks to Golden Gardens Park, leaving only the 1.4 miles between 11th NW and the Locks without a plan for completion ("the Missing Link").
In 1989, the Council passed Resolution 27933, declaring its intention to come to an agreement with Burlington Northern Railroad (BNSF) if the track in this section was abandoned, to use the right-of-way for a multi-use trail. In the early 1990's this plan was derailed when some business owners along the route decided to start a local railroad company to use the abandoned tracks. The City negotiated a franchise agreement that allowed the Ballard Terminal Railroad to operate, but included clauses that reserved the right to construct a trail in the right-of-way alongside the railroad. The railroad runs a few times a week, moving freight cars from businesses to the BNSF mainline.
Completing the Burke-Gilman Trail along the railroad right-of-way was one of the key integrated strategies in the Crown Hill-Ballard Neighborhood Plan, but the BINMIC Plan for the industrial area south of the right-of-way called for the trail to go through downtown Ballard, in order to avoid conflicts between trucks and bicycles in this industrial corridor.
In response to a 2002 Council resolution sponsored by Councilmember Jim Compton, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) studied three alternative routes. SDOT concluded that the so-called Green Route, alongside the railroad, was the most direct route, and would likely be used by bicyclists whether or not there was a trail. They also concluded that the trail could be designed safely, but that an interim trail should be used that bypasses two of the areas with the heaviest conflicts with truck traffic. A key safety consideration is that the two alternative routes require crossing a number of arterials and traveling on roads with heavy automobile traffic, likely to be more dangerous than the truck traffic on the Green Route.
Although a number of businesses continued to oppose the Green Route, there was also significant support from many businesses along the route, including some marine industries, as well as a number of property owners. These businesses noted that the current trail already crosses ½ mile of the industrial area, passing Fred Meyer, an asphalt plant, a shipbuilding plant, a seafood processing plant, and a sand and gravel business.
I support the completion of the Burke-Gilman Trail along the Green Route. The conflicts with the railroad are illusory - a few trains a week at 10 miles per hour will not be a significant safety problem, and have not been a problem where the railroad runs between the parking lot and the Ballard Locks entrance, a route crossed by thousands of pedestrians. The two bypasses will allow time to develop good solutions for the most significant truck crossings. The trail will be much safer than riding on the street, as most bicyclists currently do, on heavily traveled Shilshole Avenue. Finally, it is important to note that 75% of the proposed investments will be for drainage and street improvements that will enhance freight mobility and benefit the businesses along the route.
There will always be conflicts between different modes of travel, but no one has the right to exclusive use of the publicly owned right-of-way. The modified Green Route is a reasonable compromise that will further the development of Seattle as a great bicycling and pedestrian city, and that can be constructed and managed in the context of a thriving marine business area.
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Mayor Nickels has proposed a Development Agreement with Simon Properties, owner of the Northgate Mall. While publicity about this Agreement portrayed it as part of a package of improvements that would benefit the community, the other items on the list have been worked on by community members and elected leaders for many years. For example, voters approved the library in 1998 and the community center in 1999.
The Development Agreement would allow Simon Properties to develop auto-oriented, freeway-centered buildings, instead of more pedestrian oriented facilities on the east side of the mall to meet the community goal of creating a Main Street on Fifth Avenue. The agreement would also make the City responsible for managing and treating stormwater generated by Mall development, would repeal the requirement for a General Development Plan (which requires the mall owner to lay out a comprehensive response to the neighborhood plan goals as a prerequisite for proceeding with development), and would reduce Simon's current public open space requirement by about 3 ½ acres.
Simon already has an approved General Development Plan that would allow them to build their proposed new buildings -- but would require them to also build improvements sought by the community. The Development Agreement is for currently proposed development, and repeal of the GDP would leave future developments to the discretion of Simon Properties. It's not clear what the neighborhood gets in return. The four Community Councils in the surrounding area have sent letters to the Mayor's office critical of this direction.
The Development Agreement itself comes before the Council as quasi-judicial legislation, which means that the Council will be precluded from taking oral comments except in public sessions where they can become a part of the official record. Written comments will become part of the record. The legislation to repeal the open space and General Development Plan requirements is not quasi-judicial, which makes the whole process before the Council difficult to understand and manage.
I believe Northgate area development should be guided by the Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan, which envisioned converting this auto-oriented area dominated by a shopping mall into a true urban center, with strong pedestrian and transit connections and an array of housing and commercial development. The neighborhood has also indicated strong support for the daylighting of Thornton Creek as part of this change. I will assess the Development Agreement in the light of these principles.
I am also concerned that the Agreement was made in secret negotiations with Simon Properties. Tradeoffs should be decided in public. Seattle voters welcome well-designed, community-friendly development, but do not believe in development at any price.
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There's an old saying that a falsehood goes twice around the world while the truth is still lacing its boots. Unfortunately, in a recent media campaign about development in South Lake Union, Mayor Nickels has portrayed City Council concerns about the viability of his proposed development programs and our desire to involve the public as being against new jobs and wanting to engage in "a host of special review procedures".
Like my fellow Councilmembers, I support the initiative for expansion of Seattle's biotech industry in South Lake Union developed by the Chamber of Commerce and the University of Washington in cooperation with Paul Allen's Vulcan Properties. Seattle is one of the leading biotech centers in the country, and we can further this with some careful and thoughtful public investment. We have a great opportunity to create family-wage jobs and a sustainable and vibrant urban neighborhood in South Lake Union.
However, I have asked that the City initiate a public process to revise the South Lake Union Neighborhood Plan to include the rapid job growth, which will likely accelerate in the future. Community members developed that plan around a 20-year target for jobs and housing set out in the Seattle Comprehensive Plan. Job growth has already exceeded the target after only 7 years, and has been projected to lead to 20,000 new jobs in an area that had planned for only about 5,000 over the 20-year period.
Seattle's nationally recognized neighborhood planning process engaged business owners and community members in bridging the conflict between visions of compact urban growth and wary neighborhoods. As a result, every one of the 38 neighborhoods accepted growth targets. Conflicts and lawsuits have been dramatically reduced. We have learned that growth versus neighborhoods and progress versus process are false dichotomies. Big projects fail when communities aren't involved, and react with their anger, their votes, and their lawyers. It would be a major mistake to reopen the bitter battles of the mid-1990's. Inclusion, not exclusion, is the way to get things done.
Growth is coming to South Lake Union: the question is how to best support it. Rapid employment growth, while welcome, stresses housing and transportation systems. We must match employment growth with investments in housing opportunities and transportation improvements. We should conduct our review under the neighborhood plan review process adopted as part of the Seattle Comprehensive Plan to respond to just such circumstances. This review is not intended to roll back the exciting plans for South Lake Union, but rather to complement them by reviewing neighborhood infrastructure and setting priorities for improvement.
Making the neighborhood grow in a sustainable way may require changes in Mercer, restoring the street grid over Aurora, the proposed streetcar, or a combination of steps. We must examine proposals thoughtfully and include the public in making balanced choices. As the success of Tim Eyman and the defeat of Referendum 51 demonstrated, people will find ways to express disapproval if decision-makers assume they know best without engaging public support.
Creating false perceptions do not benefit either citizens or developers. It is unfortunate that Mayor Nickels chose to distort issues and misstate the intentions of some Councilmembers. This has caused unneeded anxiety and created confusion in the business community, dividing us when we ought to be working together, and damaging the prospects for our economic recovery.
We can and should have vigorous, honest, and open debate about public policies. But to address the serious issues Seattle faces, we must work together as leaders. I am committed to include all of Seattle -- business leaders, environmentalists, labor organizations, and community groups -- in working our way towards a healthier economy that will provide good jobs for all our citizens. We must make smart choices - for smart growth -- to make this happen.
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QUOTE
"The government works for you - you don't work for the government. If you don't like a plan being handed to your community, you are obligated to speak up and define what that plan should be."
--Ann Riley
DEEP THOUGHT:
"The public can decide its own future - as long as you have a really loud public."
--Karen Rippy
Citizen participation and
engagement are critical for maintaining democracy --
fostering it is a key task of elected officials. It's my
hope that this newsletter will inform you about issues,
inspire you to get involved, and that together we can
make things work better in this great city. Please send
me your feedback, so we can keep things lively, interesting, and
useful. And please forward it along to friends who might be
interested.
Richard Conlin
Your Seattle City Councilmember
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