Op-Ed: Setting the Record Straight on Stride S3 and Lake Forest Park
Monday, March 31, 2025
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| Paula Goode Photo courtesy City of LFP |
Oliver Moffat’s recent op-ed (Lake Forest Park's Climate Goals face roadblocks) misrepresents the efforts of Lake Forest Park, CORE, and me regarding the Stride S3 project. While I appreciate his enthusiasm for transit, his claims about the City’s position and my involvement are factually incorrect.
I serve proudly on the Lake Forest Park City Council, a role I was voted into AFTER co-founding CORE. I serve ALL the constituents of the City of Lake Forest Park, the people that voted for me and the people that didn’t.
Our residents are very impactful to the City and critical to all decisions that are made for all ordinances covering housing, density, sidewalks, etc. Unfortunately, Mr. Moffat never requested a conversation with me and I would always be happy to answer his questions should he want to discuss.
1. Lake Forest Park is Not Delaying Stride S3
Moffat asserts that Lake Forest Park has "sought to delay" the project. This is false. The City has actively engaged with Sound Transit to propose a cost-saving and time-efficient alternative that preserves 93% of the northbound/eastbound bus travel time savings while reducing exorbitant cost, construction and environmental impacts. The proposal, detailed in the City’s July 2024 letter (07-11-24 Letter to Sound Transit RE Stride S3 Line Project), modifies only 0.6 miles of an 8-mile corridor by:
2. The Retaining Wall is a Necessary City Design Decision, Not an "Unvoted Expense"
Moffat claims Lake Forest Park passed regulations forcing Sound Transit to build “decorative retaining walls” as an unnecessary, voter-unapproved cost. This is misleading.
What’s actually happening:
3. Yes, This Project Will Deforest the Corridor—That’s a Fact
Moffat implies that claims of “deforestation” are unfounded. They are not.
4. Concerns About Traffic Gridlock are Based on Real Data, Not Fearmongering
Moffat mocks CORE’s warnings about a "traffic armageddon," yet ignores the documented issues with cumulative traffic impacts as well as Fire and Emergency response. In fact, the Shoreline Fire Marshal spoke at a recent council meeting concerning the Sound Transit Project.
5. I am a Co-Founder of CORE, Not Its Sole Leader
Finally, while I appreciate Moffat’s belief in my influence, he misrepresents my role. I co-founded CORE before I was elected to the Council, but CORE is a community-led effort advocating for smarter transit solutions. This isn’t about personal interests—it’s about protecting local businesses, residents, and the environment while improving transit access.
Conclusion: A More Honest Discussion is Needed
Oliver Moffat’s op-ed pushes a false narrative that Lake Forest Park is trying to derail transit progress. The truth is that we are advocating for a smarter, better-designed project—one that balances transit efficiency, saving unnecessary expenditures (i.e. TAXPAYER funds), environmental responsibility, community needs as well as the personal devastation that imminent domain has caused for almost 100 residents in Lake Forest Park. No other City has impacts on RESIDENTS in the same manner our little 3 square mile City has.
Instead of distorting the conversation, we should be discussing how to make Stride S3 work for everyone.
1. Lake Forest Park is Not Delaying Stride S3
Moffat asserts that Lake Forest Park has "sought to delay" the project. This is false. The City has actively engaged with Sound Transit to propose a cost-saving and time-efficient alternative that preserves 93% of the northbound/eastbound bus travel time savings while reducing exorbitant cost, construction and environmental impacts. The proposal, detailed in the City’s July 2024 letter (07-11-24 Letter to Sound Transit RE Stride S3 Line Project), modifies only 0.6 miles of an 8-mile corridor by:
- Retaining a new full BAT lane from 165th to 41st Streets
- Eliminating only a small section of BAT lane from 153rd to 165th, where congestion concerns are highest of the 47 driveways in this segment. A later design decision shifted the roadway to the west which substantially increased the project cost, while also causing significant environmental damage and requiring dozens of additional partial property acquisitions. CORE’s Google traffic analysis ( https://www.lfpcore.org/copy-of-docs2 ) confirms that not building the BAT lane in this 12 block-segment yields nearly all of the expected transit travel time benefit.
- Keeping the existing BAT lane at 165th to Kenmore
- Adding signalized queue jumps to maintain bus priority
2. The Retaining Wall is a Necessary City Design Decision, Not an "Unvoted Expense"
Moffat claims Lake Forest Park passed regulations forcing Sound Transit to build “decorative retaining walls” as an unnecessary, voter-unapproved cost. This is misleading.
What’s actually happening:
- SR 522 runs through the heart of Lake Forest Park. Sound Transit’s plan calls for a blank, flat concrete wall up to 16 feet high for nearly a mile.
- A plain wall is prone to graffiti, increases noise pollution, and creates aesthetic and environmental concerns.
- The City worked with Sound Transit to design a wall with planting pockets to reduce noise, mitigate maintenance costs, and align with community input. The City also has to bear the future cost of wall maintenance.
- Residents demanded that the City improve the design, as seen in public meetings from May 2023—long before I was elected to the City Council (meeting minutes here https://lakeforestpark-wa.municodemeetings.com/bc-ccrmm/page/city-council-regular-meeting-21).
3. Yes, This Project Will Deforest the Corridor—That’s a Fact
Moffat implies that claims of “deforestation” are unfounded. They are not.
- The project will remove almost 399 mature trees (6 inches or greater in diameter), plus additional smaller trees and vegetation.
- Trees play a critical role in water runoff management, noise reduction, and maintaining the aesthetic of the corridor-as well as the visual heart and soul of ‘Lake Forest Park’.
- Cities across the region, including Lake Forest Park—have climate action goals that this project contradicts and will place us behind in our required climate action goals set forth by Olympia.
4. Concerns About Traffic Gridlock are Based on Real Data, Not Fearmongering
Moffat mocks CORE’s warnings about a "traffic armageddon," yet ignores the documented issues with cumulative traffic impacts as well as Fire and Emergency response. In fact, the Shoreline Fire Marshal spoke at a recent council meeting concerning the Sound Transit Project.
- Washington State law (WAC 197-11-060, 197-11-792, 365-196-640) requires that cumulative environmental and traffic impacts be studied when multiple projects overlap.
- The Stride S3 Environmental Impact Study (EIS) from 2021 failed to account for other upcoming major projects along the corridor, as did the updated SEPA dated Aug 2024 (https://www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know-us/documents-reports/stride-s3-line-sr-522-ne-145th-brt-sepa-addendum-august-2024).
- When CORE invited Sound Transit’s Manon Garg in December 2024 to discuss the project and its impacts, he was unaware of these other impending projects—proving that necessary coordination has not happened.
5. I am a Co-Founder of CORE, Not Its Sole Leader
Finally, while I appreciate Moffat’s belief in my influence, he misrepresents my role. I co-founded CORE before I was elected to the Council, but CORE is a community-led effort advocating for smarter transit solutions. This isn’t about personal interests—it’s about protecting local businesses, residents, and the environment while improving transit access.
Conclusion: A More Honest Discussion is Needed
Oliver Moffat’s op-ed pushes a false narrative that Lake Forest Park is trying to derail transit progress. The truth is that we are advocating for a smarter, better-designed project—one that balances transit efficiency, saving unnecessary expenditures (i.e. TAXPAYER funds), environmental responsibility, community needs as well as the personal devastation that imminent domain has caused for almost 100 residents in Lake Forest Park. No other City has impacts on RESIDENTS in the same manner our little 3 square mile City has.
Instead of distorting the conversation, we should be discussing how to make Stride S3 work for everyone.
Posts
16 comments:
Sounds like Oliver hit a nerve. I went back to re read his piece. Evidence based and sources cited. It reads like a mature view of the situation. This reply? Aggressive and threatening. Not what I would hope for from a city council member.
Thank you Paula Goode for all your good works!
This is total nonsense. We should not have a person on City Council whose only interest is in advocating for her personal business interest and not the City of LFP as a whole. Shame!
Thank you, Ms. Goode for the well-explained and thorough retort to Mr. Moffat's article. I will print out and keep handy your op-ed as a vetted source of information to educate myself and others about CORE and Sound Transit Stride 3 project. Please keep up the good work.
It's important to recognize that Mr. Moffatt has his own agenda. Thanks for presenting another view.
Since Paula's business will likely be impacted by Stride S3, she should recuse herself from all votes and discussions at LFP Council about this topic. That would assure all residents that her vote isn't affected by personal financial interest.
To posters one and three... do you live in Lake Forest Park? Do tell.
This sounds like a basic cost benefit analysis. Do we cut down nearly 400 trees and build an ugly wall on a single stretch of a bus route (from 153rd to 165th) to reduce transit time by less than a minute during peak traffic times? It doesn't seem worthwhile to me. Why not build the rest of it and leave that stretch alone?
Paula Goode wrote an excellent summary of the actual issues surrounding the implementation of ST3, which only too often is discussed in simplified political terms: pro-transit or no-transit. Such a simplification is divisive and misleading. If the the EB BAT lane is omitted from Bothell Way between 153rd Street and 165th Street, this does not impact the overall functionality of ST3. Typically, the BAT lanes are not continuous. Few are. ST3 through LFP saves less than 2-minutes of time in transit. The fiscal cost to taxpayers, the devastation to over 100 homeowners, the severe impact on the environment and the destruction of the tree canopy are worth avoiding. To me, this is common sense and I am pro-transit.
tldr: Not in my backyard!
Paula Goode has a financial motive in stalling or stopping the Sound Transit project. Her failing to recuse herself on this issue on the LFP City Council is a clear conflict of interest and 100% unethical. It taints the entire council.
Did your expensive CORE-funded law firm write this?
Thank you, Paula, for your thoughtful, thorough and fact based response . Many people in Lake Forest Park have spent many, many hours researching the impacts of this project on the most residential area of the whole project, and recommending alterations that can be a win-win for transit riders and the environment!!! Hopefully, Dow Constantine and his board will give these proposals serious consideration to help riders move efficiently while saving a great deal of money and the environment.
I do. 😘
My goodness! How did we ever build the I-5 freeway smack dab through the city of Seattle or the 520 freeway right past the Seattle Yacht Club and Arboretum? Sound Transit has modified the design several times in response to community input. Get on with it.
I live in LFP! And think Goode is a mistake for our Council.
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