Ordinance could drive Metro Access Bus Base from Ridgecrest neighborhood - litigation ongoing

The old Cascades Bingo sign still stands over the King County Metro Access bus base in the Ridgecrest neighborhood. The city has moved to block the sale of the site to King County Metro. Photo by Oliver Moffat.

By Oliver Moffat

The future of the Metro Access bus base in the heart of the Ridgecrest neighborhood is unclear. The owners offered to sell the site to King County Metro. The city issued a code violation which was appealed and litigation is ongoing. 

The city is proposing an ordinance that would drive the base from Ridgecrest to some other location. The city says they offered to help Metro find another location but Metro says services for disabled and elderly riders could be disrupted because there is nowhere else for the base to go. 

 

In another display of the complex growing pains Shoreline faces, the last agenda item of the final City Council meeting of 2023 was an update on the city’s efforts to drive the Metro Access bus base from the Ridgecrest neighborhood to another location. 

Proving again there is no such thing as simple issues in local government, representatives of the two Alaskan Native tribes who own the bus base property claimed in public comments the city’s actions will harm their members - many of whom live in poverty. 

Metro’s previous public comments have warned the city’s actions could disrupt services for disabled and elderly passengers in the Shoreline and North King County region because there is nowhere else for the bus base to go.

The property at the southwest corner of NE 165th and 5th NE includes a 24,000 square foot building on a two-and-a-half acre lot. Longtime Shoreline residents might remember the property as the Cascades Bingo Hall across the street from the Crest Cinema and Café Aroma. 

According to King County property records, the current owners purchased the property ten years ago in 2013 and local news at the time reported that the current tenants signed a ten-year lease for the property. City leaders at the time welcomed the bus base because it would bring good paying jobs to the neighborhood. 

The site is currently used as a bus base and maintenance garage by King County Metro’s Access Transportation which provides accessible vans for the elderly and anyone who has a disability that prevents them from riding traditional buses and trains. The base is operated by MV Transportation, a subcontractor.

A screen shot from the Shoreline city staff report shows the location of the city’s two current bus bases. Metro’s North Base would not be impacted. Only the Access Van Site in the Ridgecrest neighborhood will be impacted by the proposed zoning changes. 

According to city staff, the current code governing transit bus bases is an out of date relic from a bygone era that does not align with Shoreline’s comprehensive plan and vision for the coming decades. 

Much of Shoreline’s municipal code has not been reviewed and updated since before the city first incorporated nearly 30 years ago in 1995. A lot has changed in three decades and now the Planning Commission and the City Council are working to update the code.

In July of 2023, the City Council adopted a temporary moratorium blocking new bus bases until January of 2024. The City Council is reviewing a proposed ordinance, which, if enacted, would disallow bus bases in the Ridgecrest neighborhood while allowing bus bases in other areas of the city. 

The city also issued a code violation order against the bus base claiming the owners had not secured proper permits when the base was established. That order has been appealed by Metro and MV Transportation, the subcontractor that operates the base.

In response to emailed questions, Eric Bratton, the city’s Communications Program Manager, said “The City is in no way trying to push this service out of Shoreline. In fact, we have offered to work with Metro and MV Transportation in support of their efforts to find a new site…. There will definitely be places within our community where a transit bus base could operate with the new code changes.”

According to public comments from King County Metro, the site is essential for its paratransit operations and would be exceedingly hard to replace because of its unique size and location. 

Because there aren’t a lot of big, vacant parking lots in the region available for sale, King County Metro says the proposed zoning rule not only would place thousands of disabled riders in jeopardy, but it would also hurt the good-paying jobs of the drivers and maintenance staff who have worked at the site for more than a decade.

According to public comments from Black Brandt LLC, who are the owners of the property, the possible sale of the property to King County Metro was the impetus for the city's actions against the bus base. The owners of the property are Alaska Native Corporations who manage investments on behalf of 50,000 Alaska Native indigenous shareholder members, many of whom live in poverty. 

Profits from the investment directly support education, welfare, cultural programs, burial assistance and other needs of tribal members who have lived in remote western Alaska since time immemorial.

In written public comments, the owners said that when the city learned the owners had decided to put the property up for sale, the council suddenly moved to block the sale by passing an emergency moratorium on permits allowing property to be used as a bus base. 

These actions, the owners said, have potentially devalued the property and blocked their ability to sell it, thereby injuring their tribal members.

Maps from a staff report show where bus bases would be allowed if the city passes the proposed ordinance. Notably excluded is the current Metro Access bus bases in Ridgecrest. Full sized maps can be found in the published staff report.

City staff showed the council a draft proposal of the new zoning law along with maps showing where bus bases are currently located in Shoreline and where, if the law is passed, bus bases would be allowed. 

Excluding the Shoreline School District’s bus base by Ridgecrest elementary, there are currently two bus bases in Shoreline: Metro’s North Base along I-5 by the King County solid waste transfer station and the Metro Access van site in the Ridgecrest neighborhood. 

Maps shared by city staff showed a patchwork of sites where bus bases would be allowed if the zoning rule was enacted along Aurora Ave, Bothell Way, and Ballinger Way. The existing Metro North Base on I-5 would also be allowed, but notably, the Ridgecrest site would not.

Councilmember Chris Roberts raised concerns about the proposed ordinance

Councilmember Chris Roberts questioned why the School District’s bus base would not be impacted by the zoning change saying, “the principle, I would presume, would be the same...  

"I have concerns about this ordinance,” continued Roberts, “I think that we need to be careful about pushing uses out of the city, and out of established places where there are established businesses… And I would recommend this coming back with conditional uses for other areas of the city.”

The council has limited some discussion of the ordinance to executive sessions which are not held in public because of possible litigation. State law allows the council to hold executive sessions that are closed to the public when discussing issues such as buying or selling property, personnel matters, litigation or pending litigation. 

Bratton, the city’s Communications Program Manager, said the city cannot comment on ongoing litigation.

Stay tuned… more details and public debate should emerge in the new year when the temporary ordinance expires and the city must take action. City Council meeting agendas, minutes and videos are posted online. The public can attend regular council meetings online and in person at City Hall on Mondays at 7pm.