PREVIEW: Sound Transit’s West Seattle advisory group meets Tuesday

One week into the new year, things are about to get busier. Among the community meetings happening this week, the Sound Transit-convened Community Advisory Group for West Seattle and vicinity meets online Tuesday, the group’s first meeting since the November joint gathering of all four advisory groups set up for the West Seattle/Ballard extensions (WSB coverage here, including the ecplanation of these groups’ role). The agenda’s not published yet but it’s expected to focus on station planning. The meeting will be livestreamed at 5 pm Tuesday (January 11th) via this YouTube link. The biggest event of the year for West Seattle/Ballard light-rail planning is not until month’s end – the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, set for January 28th.

ADDED MONDAY: Here’s the agenda.

6 Replies to "PREVIEW: Sound Transit's West Seattle advisory group meets Tuesday"

  • B Smith January 9, 2022 (9:32 pm)

    Have they announced where they want the west Seattle stops/ stations to be located? WS is so condensed with buildings as is so I am very curious which buildings will be taken down to make way for the track and stations… 

  • Martin January 10, 2022 (10:13 am)

    You can check out the stations under consideration on https://wsblink.participate.online/, they will announce their selection of their final candidates on the 28th. From the Downtown meeting last week it became clear that they have to take down a bunch of large buildings to build this line. They already notified 700 families/biz in West Seattle that they may get impacted. As you said, West Seattle is densely populated, it’s impossible to avoid demolition unless you look at alternatives such as a gondola. 

  • SpencerGT January 10, 2022 (10:54 am)

    I’m honestly not sure how we are going to afford this.  Isn’t this supposed to cost billions of dollars?

    • skeeter January 10, 2022 (3:44 pm)

      Total cost of Sound Transit 3 was supposed to be $53.8B.  But that could go up.  Its being paid for with a combination of sales tax, motor vehicle excise tax, and property tax.  

      • Martin January 10, 2022 (8:57 pm)

        Cost has certainly gone up, in particular the new portions which had not been planned yet in detail. The cost estimates for the West Seattle connection have almost doubled since voters approved the measure, it’s currently estimated at $3.2 billion. A gondola would get you to the downtown light rail network sooner and save billions. 

  • CarDriver January 10, 2022 (1:36 pm)

    spencergt. They can afford because they have the ability to raise taxes. Just look at what they did with their car tab tax. They got to GREATLY inflate a vehicles actual value to charge a high fee. Also, they’ll be just like Metro in that what they’ll collect in fares won’t ever come close to covering their operating cost’s. It’ll also be interesting to see if they pay fair market value for properties they condemn to build stations.  

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