Shoreline had a significant contingent at the Sound Transit Board meeting

By Brian Doennebrink

Shoreline city councilmembers and 32nd district legislators were out in force at the Sound Transit board meeting on April 26, testifying on preferences for locations of stations for the new Lynnwood Link light rail in Shoreline.

State Representative and former Shoreline Mayor and Councilmember Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline, was against an option at 175th, which was passed by Sound Transit's Capital Committee, due to its limited transit-oriented development (TOD) potential, a lot more private properties that would be involved, the Thornton Creek watershed, and Shoreline's significant investment in Ronald Bog and Serpentine. She favored a station at 185th.

State representative Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park said that the City of Shoreline "has really moved forward in working on TOD...185th by far is the preferred site...it would be a shame to interrupt that."

Current Shoreline Mayor Keith McGlashan said, "The Shoreline City Council is unanimously determined that the stations that are the best fit for our community - and for the success of the project overall - are located at 145th and 185th on the east side of I-5." He expressed concern about 175th as an option due to its traffic, lack of TOD potential, the large number of homes that would need to be taken, and the potential cost of an I-5 interchange rebuild.

Deputy Mayor Chris Eggen noted passage of a Transportation Master Plan and that they look forward to working on residential development and commercial opportunities at these locations, where they believe there are the greatest opportunities for TOD, minimizing impacts to existing neighborhood residents, and are the most-readily accessible both to our residents and residents of our neighboring communities. "We feel 145th provides convenient access and will serve our neighbors to the east and south as well." He said that a 185th station would "provide local accessibility, a regular street for neighbors to the north and west, the street has tremendous potential for redevelopment and the greatest opportunities for multi-modal facilities. He asked for evaluations of parking facilities: both for a single parking facility and for multiple, smaller facilities.

Councilmember Shari Winstead noted that one of the city's goals is preparing the city for light rail, with the focus on TOD and multi-modal opportunities. She noted that the 185th location "was ideal" for TOD.