Notes from meeting of the 145th Street Station Citizen's Committee

Notes from June 25 meeting of the 145th SSCC

By Robin Lombard, Co-Chair

The 145th Street Station Citizen’s Committee met on June 25. Eighteen people attended. The entire meeting (and more) was devoted to talking with Roger Iwata from Sound Transit. We came away with a lot of information. Below is a summary of what was discussed:

1. Changes to the light rail route. Some small changes have been made in the route between Northgate and Lynnwood (such as the decision to elevate the rail line over 130th instead of put in the line at grade), but no changes between 145th and 185th streets. Roger brought a large map to help explain the route. Other updates:
1. They will build infrastructure for a 130th Street station and 220th Street (Mountlake Terrace) station to keep those options open, but the stations themselves are not yet funded.
2. 185th station design – parking on west, station on east, and improvements will be made to 185th
3. Big change in Lynnwood – Terminus at Lynnwood Transit Station
4. More details (aerial photo + rail/station overlay) of the final route in Appendix F of the FEIS
2. Field work. From now until early 2017. Sound Transit workers (or contractors) will be doing tree surveys to determine trees that need to be removed, geotechnical boring, utility potholing (locating utilities) until the end of the year and intermittently all the way through the final design. Final design starts at the beginning of 2016.
3. Funding. A portion of Lynnwood Link Extension is funded but Sound Transit is waiting for federal grant funding (through a federal funding partner, Federal Transit Authority). The federal funding partner provides approval for final design (then you get the money). For ST2 – what percentage of funding will come from the voters? The majority of the cost is funded by taxpayers.
4. Property acquisition (people losing homes due to the rail line and station). This was a high-emotion topic. Sound Transit must abide by the federal Uniform Act (an entire web site devoted to regulations and policy about property acquisition in cases like this).
1. Sound Transit notified 150 property owners (both in and outside Shoreline) that their property may need to be acquired. Roger explained that there is a negotiation with Sound Transit. There is also a real estate agent who will work with homeowners to find suitable housing to move to.
2. Note that Sound Transit pays moving costs. But this is still very difficult for those who will have to move. Since the final design is not finished there is still some uncertainty about which properties will need to be acquired.
5. Citizen input/feedback. There will be input opportunities after the final design team comes on board (early 2016). Feedback on preliminary station plans (several opportunities). Early and late opportunities. Roger specified that Sound Transit will hold feedback meetings (open houses) in the Shoreline area. Roger also specified that at major milestones (such as the recent approval of the FEIS) mailers are sent to residents within about ½ mile of the rail line on each side of I-5. He brought handouts to the meeting that had identical information to the recent mailer.
6. Construction 2018 – 2023. Yes, there will be construction. Roger indicated that Sound Transit must abide by state and City laws and ordinances that govern how noise, dust, hours, etc. must be handled. There was some discussion about where construction workers would park. Roger said that the contracts Sound Transit has with the constructions companies stipulates that the company must provide parking for its employees.
7. Parking garage. A parking garage is planned to hold 500 spaces. There will be security at the garage (and on the trains). It is undecided whether people will have to pay to park. Sound Transit has several mitigation ideas if the garage is consistently full (see the FEIS). Many of the decisions about how the garage will operate have not yet been decided.