By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Just concluded, after almost six hours, a marathon Sound Transit Board meeting centered on revising the ST3 plan.

Biggest headline for our area: West Seattle light rail, minus the Avalon station, moves forward, remaining on the “what’s affordable” list. There was little discussion or mention of West Seattle as the board went through the proposal and 13 amendments; perhaps the biggest news was board members unanimously committing to figuring out how to get light rail all the way to Ballard. “The math doesn’t work today but we’ll make it work,” was a statement from Pierce County board member Hunter George that summarized how that was going to happen, somehow. The transformation of West Seattle into a project considered “affordable” was held up as an example for what might be done to “make it work” for Ballard; George blurted that there was a time when he thought “West Seattle was cooked,” until various cuts and changes were made as part of what became known as ST’s Enterprise Initiative. ST’s Brad Owen noted that it took a full year of work to come up with those cuts and changes, and that the work came after a milestone in the WS project – the Record of Decision – that Ballard has not yet reached. Nonetheless, the commitment to Ballard was significant, acknowledged board member and Ballard-area Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss, who said he came to the meeting thinking he wouldn’t get that support. He got support not only for ensuring ST3 gets to Ballard, but also for setting a date for it, even though any date would be “unreliable,” staff warned, until the project is “baselined” in three years or so.

In closing comments, board member and King County Executive Girmay Zahilay noted this is basically the green light for West Seattle light rail, then turning to the lone West Seattleite on the board, County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, and asking, “Are you excited?” In her own remarks a few minutes later, Mosqueda noted that what’s happened so far was “no easy task” but also noted “this shows we are not powerless in the face of challenges. She called for “rolling up sleeves” and advancing work on West Seattle as well as other projects (board chair and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said WS is at 30 percent design).

Money challenges remain, in fact, and one amendment, by board member and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, reflected that; she wanted work to start on a “new revenue package.” Some other board members said it was too soon, and that ST has enough of a trust problem that it wouldn’t be right to ask people “to pay more for what they’ve already paid for.” The proposal had the option of a “sub-area-only” proposal, and a few non-Seattle board members said that if Seattle (or some other area) wanted to tax itself further for this, “go for it.”

But that discussion will be for another day, probably even some other year.

As part of today’s activity, the board is using pre-approved taxing authority, maxing out a rental-car tax to raise $300 million more.

Overall, though, “The real hard work begins now,” declared Somers just before the final vote on the amended resolution, which was 16 yes, 2 no (Strauss, who said it still hadn’t gone as far as he needed it to, and Bellevue board member Claudia Balducci, who said she thought it needed more work.) “We are excited to finally move forward,” said ST CEO (and West Seattleite) Dow Constantine after the vote.

ADDED 8:35 PM: Board members are sending out statements. From Councilmember Mosqueda, this passage specific to WS:

… For West Seattle, this vote makes it possible to officially initiate early pre-construction work, such as geotechnical testing like drilling to test soil stability for the bridge foundation and contracting with critical engineering and design consultants, laying the groundwork for us to be able to build the promised light rail in the near future. West Seattle light rail expansion is now poised to enter a new phase of project development, made possible by cost savings work done by Sound Transit that has already yielded nearly $2.6 billion in savings while retaining ridership and avoiding impacts on many businesses and residential properties. …

ADDED 9:46 PM – WHAT’S NEXT? We asked Councilmember Mosqueda and chief of staff Erin House, who the councilmember described as immersed in ST matters, “what’s next?”

Today’s vote included funding for West Seattle design and construction in the 20-year plan, which enables the Board to authorize more specific steps authorizing expenditures in the coming weeks and months, including:

June

· Contract extensions for engineering, project management, and final design:
o Contract extension and budget authority for Engineering Design Services (EDS) final design (approximately $300M)
o Contract extension and budget authority for Project Management Support Services (approximately $35M)
o Budget authority for the project’s sustainability cost allocation (approximately $20M)
o Budget authority for miscellaneous final design costs (approximately $7M)

July

· Budget authority for property acquisition, construction services agreement with City of Seattle, and permit fees:
o Budget authority for real property acquisitions (approximately $380M)
o Construction services agreement with the City of Seattle (approximately $15M)
o Third-party coordination, include City of Seattle permit fees (approximately $9M)

September

· Contract extensions for engineering and design services
o Contract extension for systems-related EDS (approximately $27M)

October

· Budget authority for real property acquisitions (approximately $90M)