That’s the Seattle Channel video of this morning’s City Council Transportation and Public Utilities Committee meeting, almost two hours of which was spent on the West Seattle to Ballard light-rail plan, starting about 36 minutes in. The time was divided between two presentations – first, city staff explaining how they’re drafting official city comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, so they can get those in before the April 28th deadline. Much of this presentation was given to the West Seattle/Duwamish segment’s Community Advisory Group last week (WSB coverage here). Here’s the slide deck that the city’s Calvin Chow, Marshall Foster, and Sara Maxana used today:
One major area of concern in what they’re drafting so far – they want ST to better address potential BIPOC displacement in Delridge, “more truth-checking with the community,” as Maxana described it. In council comments, West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold underscored a point made that “scope reductions” – like dropping a station – should be discouraged unless there’s a very clear benefit in return.
That came up again in the second discussion, which also was partly a rerun from last week’s Community Advisory Group meeting – ST’s view of possible cost-saving measures, including possibly dropping the Avalon station. This presentation was given by ST’s Cathal Ridge. Here’s the slide deck he used:
In this discussion, Herbold reiterated that dropping Avalon would require a clear benefit such as more tunneling. She also stressed that no matter what, tunneling should be the preference for the West Seattle Junction end of the line, as elevated rail through “the heart of” The Junction would be undesirable. She voiced one other concern about dropping the Avalon station, wondering where its projected 1,200 riders would go, and wondering if that would make light rail less accessible for residents coming down 35th from areas such as High Point. Ridge said they projected that half the Avalon ridership would come to the station by bus, and they would likely ride to the Junction station instead.
WHAT’S NEXT: City staff will return to this committee May 17th; their comments on the DEIS, though, like everyone else’s, are due by April 28th and will be submitted by then. (Here’s how to comment.)
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