By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The road to choosing a “preferred alternative” for West Seattle/Ballard light rail has now taken the Stakeholder Advisory Group into the second of three levels of review.

When the SAG met last Wednesday at the Sound Transit board room downtown, it was presented with five West Seattle possibilities – including two new/modified versions of pre-existing options. You can see all five in the slide deck from the meeting.

ST’s Stephen Mak showed all five:

First, the “representative project” (ST’s original draft route), which is entirely elevated:

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By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Sound Transit‘s light-rail planning for West Seattle should reach out to tweens and teens, because they’re the ones whose lives will be most affected.

That was one suggestion heard at this morning’s West Seattle “neighborhood forum,” next step in the official ST planning process for the line set to open in 2030, assuming the fast-tracked planning process stays on track. And given that the event was promoted as a way for you to share your neighborhood values

About 130 people showed up, ST estimated, out of about 180 who RSVP’d; ST set up an overflow room on the second floor of the Masonic Center in The Junction, and about 20 people gathered there.

(ST board member/County Council chair Joe McDermott with longtime community advocate Chas Redmond)

A few opening remarks were offered by King County Council chair and District 8 (West Seattle, White Center, etc.) rep Joe McDermott, who also is on the ST Board, reminding everyone that if they are frustrated with West Seattle bridge backups, they should be excited about this part of one of the nation’s largest transit infrastructure expansions, And he recapped that in order to speed it up, they are front-ending as many decisions as possible, and that’s why they need “to have the best possible ideas …” He urges people to “stay in touch … as you have ideas over the coming months” – 11 months, to be specific, until the decision on what to study.

McDermott co-chairs the project’s Elected Leadership Group – which will have its second meeting May 17th – and another of its members, City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, was at the forum this morning and acknowledged, but chose not to address the crowd.

That moved things along to the first presentation, as introduced by consultant Dennis Sandstrom, ST’s Stephen Mak with an overview on the project and the process, noting that the Stakeholder Advisory Group already has met four times (we’ve covered all four – most recently April 24th). His presentation starts at 7:15 into our clip, which starts with Sandstrom and McDermott:

And then, the first round of small-group conversation, a half-hour about “neighborhood values.”

Conversation at the table next to ours (not pictured) kicked off with a Delridge resident who said he’s born and raised in West Seattle. One person says they were involved in neighborhood planning. One person stressed the need for input from people 12 years old and up – because this will be a larger part of their lives than many of the rest of us. Right after him, a retiree says he doesn’t worry about traffic any more but he does worry about whether this will be serving the points south of us, and he also worries about conserving green space and small-town feel. Next person says he worries about how to get to the airport – “I want to see us more connected to the rest of the area.” He’s lived here 10 years.

At a Junction table, participants were voicing concerns about the potential for an elevated track. One says it would “shatter The Junction.” Some worried about the displacement of businesses in The Triangle if the track cuts through there. Tunneling fans seemed out in abundance, including this woman who said she was selling T-shirts:

When the half-hour was up, participants voted to chug ahead with the second presentation and conversation (the sun outside the windowless Masonic Center was a bit too tempting perhaps). Next up at the podium was ST’s Sloan Dawson of ST, who said he does station planning and would talk about what it’s like when light rail comes to your community.

He leads off our second clip, followed by another appearance for Stephen Mak recapping the routing/station concepts that have emerged in this “Level 1” stage of the process:

Dawson mentioned that the projects serve “many different place types,” and then how the existing transportation network interacts with what will be built. “Planning good integration with other transit services” like buses is vital, Dawson said. (And emphatic discussion at tables underscored that.) He reiterated that “we’re doing (station location work) earlier than we’ve ever done it before” with the West Seattle/Ballard extensions.

He handed the microphone back to Mak, who went through the alternatives that have emerged for consideration so far, starting with the “representative project” (“the starting point”), and other West Seattle possibilities – even including the ones that the stakeholders had suggested dropping, which lent a bit of confusion if you’ve been following the process closely.

Another half-hour of discussion followed at the tables.

One table was boggling over the elevated idea. “It’s going to be like 150 feet tall.” Another person was alarmed at how elevated track looks at Northgate.

Over at The Junction table, parking concerns kept emerging. Also, as we circulated to listen in, there were concerns about being sure the station locations are matching the areas that are already densifying.

Because it’s a large group, they decided not to “report out” table by table, but instead invite everyone to stop by the tables, and to ask facilitators to stay at their tables to answer questions and/or summarize for anyone interested, and after two hours, that’s where it wrapped up, with promises to get the feedback to the groups through which it’s being filtered.

Next touchstone in the process involves one of those groups: The Elected Leadership Group meets 2-4 pm May 17th (Sound Transit board room at 401 S. Jackson). That will include a public-comment period, we confirmed with ST staff, unlike the stakeholder group meetings (next one for them, May 30th). It also will likely be shown on – or at least recorded by – the Seattle Channel. And then – Level 2, which will include another neighborhood forum.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

They’ve been working for months on a light-rail extension we won’t see for years, but had just minutes to decide which rough-draft alternative concepts should move forward and which shouldn’t.

That’s how it went last night during the Sound Transit West Seattle/Ballard light-rail extension Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting at ST’s downtown boardroom.

The process already has been billed as hurried so that the 2030 target for opening West Seattle’s ST3-decreed line can be met or maybe even exceeded, but this stop along the route was the most rushed of all we’ve covered so far.

The meeting had begun with facilitator Diane Adams telling the group (see its membership here) being told, “Tonight you won’t need to make a ‘preferred alternative’ determination,” followed by ST executive Cathal Ridge adding, “We would at least like to make some progress down that road.”

That they did – but with little time for detailed deliberation. Here’s the bottom line for the West Seattle segment, after the tables’ discussion toward night’s end:

Sorry for the fuzzy image – the checklist slide was created on the spot, so there’s no digital version, but here’s the pre-yay/nay version of the same list so you can read and compare:

And here are the maps from last week showing details on each:

Here’s how those decisions were reached (again, the group had to decide yay/nays on the other parts of the West Seattle/Ballard extensions too, but for obvious reasons, we are mostly just reporting WS details):

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(WSB photo from tonight’s meeting)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Here’s where the rubber meets the road – or the trains meet the rail – as the accelerated process of getting to a “preferred alternative” for Sound Transit‘s West Seattle/Ballard light-rail extensions moves forward.

ST has now refined the “themes” that emerged in early comments into early “alternatives” for routing/station locations that were shown, explained, and discussed at tonight’s Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting downtown. When the group meets again in a week, they’re expected to decide on the first-level recommendations they’ll forward to the Elected Leadership Group and Sound Transit Board.

Five “level 1 alternatives” were shown for the West Seattle segment – but a disclaimer, these are not the “finalists” necessarily. “Level 1” refers to which stage of the review process this is in, not their ranking. And a reminder – the SAG members are looking at the entirety of West Seattle to Ballard, and while we know the rest of the line is of interest to many here, especially SODO and Downtown, we are just focusing on the WS end. Here’s the full slide deck for everything covered in the meeting, including all the “level 1 alternatives” and the criteria used to rate them:

(Here it is in PDF on the ST site.) You’ll also see slides in which the criteria are explained, as well as each alternative’s ratings using those criteria – the darker the dot, the better. (We’ve broken the pairings down one by one below.)

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Three Sound Transit light-rail-planning updates this afternoon:

FULL ‘EARLY SCOPING’ REPORT RELEASED: Want to see Sound Transit‘s full summary of comments from the “early scoping” period for the West Seattle and Ballard extensions? There is it above, and here (PDF), all 226 pages of it. Here’s a paragraph from the opening summary:

In West Seattle, most of the comments suggested a tunnel from at least the western edge of the Delridge valley to the Alaska Junction (the intersection of California Avenue SW and SW Alaska Street), with an underground station within a few blocks of the junction. Several comments requested an alignment through the West Seattle Golf Course, while others requested alignments farther north. Many comments suggested removing the Avalon Station or consolidating it with the Alaska Junction Station in a more central location. Several other comments requested keeping the Avalon Station as an important bus transfer location. Most comments about the Delridge Station suggested moving it farther south. Many comments also requested consideration of future extensions to the south on Fauntleroy Way SW, 35th Avenue SW, or Delridge Way SW. Several others also called for providing service farther south to Westwood Village or White Center now, while others suggested just improving bus service if a tunnel could not be built.

Shortcuts, if you’re interested, include:
Page 191 – Photos of some comments written on easel displays at West Seattle open house on February 13th
Page 202 – Transcription of comments from West Seattle open house

The report also includes the feedback from a variety of groups with interests in various sections of the route, as well as government agencies (which start at page 62).

‘FIRST ALTERNATIVES’ TO BE SHOWN TO STAKEHOLDER ADVISORY GROUP: The next two Tuesdays (April 17 and 24) bring the next two meetings of the Stakeholder Advisory Group, and ST says they will be shown the first set of potential alternatives to the original “representative project” (draft routing). Both meetings are open to the public (there’s no spoken-comment period, though, just observation) and both are 5-8 pm at the Sound Transit Ruth Fisher Boardroom downtown, 401 S. Jackson.

HERBOLD LETTER: At this morning’s City Council briefing meeting, it was mentioned that City Councilmember Lisa Herbold was planning to circulate for her colleagues’ signatures a letter that would ask various city commissions and boards to provide feedback for the light-rail planning process. We’ve requested a copy of the letter but her office tells us that at the mayor’s request, they’re holding off on the letter for a week. So look for that next week.

(added) P.S. A reminder that the next major chance for feedback is at the first round of ST-convened “neighborhood forums” – one is in West Seattle, 10 am-12:30 pm Saturday, May 5th, Masonic Center, 40th/Edmunds.

(One sheet with all 5 “early themes” depicted as possible routes – see each individually in the story below)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The people who are on the front lines of filtering your feedback on West Seattle light rail got their first look last night at five possible variations of the route/stations – not a “final five” by any means, but what had emerged, Sound Transit staffers explained, as “major themes” in the feedback review so far.

This happened at the second meeting of the Stakeholder Advisory Group appointed to help determine a “preferred alignment” for the West Seattle and Ballard extensions of ST light rail

As the meeting began, 19 of the 29 advisory-group members were present, including, from West Seattle, community reps Deb Barker (who is on the board of the WS Transportation Coalition and president of the Morgan Community Association) and Brian King (who is with WS Bike Connections), as well as Hamilton Gardiner of the WS Chamber of Commerce, Greg Nickels (“former mayor and longtime transit advocate” is his self-intro), and Walter Reese from Nucor Steel.

Their seating in the Sound Transit board room at Union Station downtown was changed, notably, for this meeting – instead of sitting up in the board’s”U” as facilitator Diane Adams called it, the group members were placed around square tables in the center of the room. “This meeting is going to be much more interactive,” she explained. That was a foreshadowing of the review of the “early themes” for the line.

First:

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Updates on the process of planning Sound Transit‘s West Seattle (to Ballard) light rail:

FIRST TOPLINES FROM ‘EARLY SCOPING’: The slide deck above (also visible here) will be presented to the Stakeholder Advisory Group at its meeting this Wednesday (agenda here), and it includes toplines of what Sound Transit says it heard from commenters – in person as well as online – during the “early scoping” feedback period that wrapped up a week ago. It’s not the full “early scoping” report – that, ST says, will be out next month – but it’s important because public comment will be considered by this group before making its way to the Elected Leadership Group that in turn will, in about a year, make a “preferred alternative” recommendation to the Sound Transit board.

SPEAKING OF COMMENTS: This caught our eye when ST issued a reminder that “early scoping” is closed but that you can see the comments made on the map that was part of its “online open house” – note the number of West Seattle comments vs. everywhere else:

As you probably noticed in the slide deck atop this story, ST says it’s received 2,800+ comments in all for the West Seattle/Ballard extensions, so far.

ONLY ONE ‘NEIGHBORHOOD FORUM’ HERE: As we mentioned last week, ST now says the “neighborhood forums” will start in late April. Though the agency previously had suggested they would be deeper dives into individual areas, the list on the slide deck for Wednesday’s meeting notes only one West Seattle “neighborhood forum” is planned, out of the six locations listed (clarification: in the first round, ST notes).

LIGHT-RAIL DISCUSSION IN ADMIRAL: Tomorrow night’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting will include an unofficial light-rail discussion, led by ANA president Larry Wymer, who is a member of the West Seattle Transportation Coalition board. ANA now meets every other month, and at an earlier time; tomorrow’s meeting is at 6:30 pm at The Sanctuary at Admiral (42nd SW/SW Lander).

(Slide deck for JuNO tunnel proposal)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

To tunnel or not to tunnel.

Sound Transit‘s draft plan for light rail to West Seattle, opening in 2030, is all elevated.

But here in the midst of its “early scoping” period soliciting comments and ideas, the idea of finding a way to put it underground, at least into The Junction, has some loud voices of support.

At last night’s West Seattle Transportation Coalition meeting, not only did Junction Neighborhood Organization reps present their tunnel-to-The-Junction proposal – the one previewed here on Wednesday – but County Councilmember Joe McDermott declared that he also envisions light rail getting to The Junction underground. His voice is a significant one, given that he is on the Sound Transit board – which has the final say – and co-chairing the Elected Leadership Group that will recommend a “preferred alignment” to the board next year.

McDermott also offered something of a primer of the upcoming transportation changes and challenges that peninsula residents do, and will, face getting to and through downtown in the next few years.

But first – JuNO’s presentation:

JuNO’S PROPOSAL FOR TUNNELING TO THE JUNCTION: Rich Koehler, with whom we talked for the preview published here on Wednesday, presented it, with slide deck (see above). Here’s our video:

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6:45 PM: By our rough count, more than 150 people are already at the Sound Transit open house that’s on until 8:30 pm at the Masonic Hall in The Junction (4736 40th SW). What’s billed as a short presentation is about to begin, and then the commenting and one-on-one chats with ST staffers will continue.

ST staff stresses that written comments are what they’re looking for tonight (and in the rest of the “early scoping” period that continues through March 5th) so your comments can be part of the official record. You have several options for doing that here, including sticky notes on maps (photo above).

7:08 PM: The presentation is over, and it’s back to open-house mode. Other commenting options here include simply writing them on paper (photo above). Or, just gather all the info and ask all the questions you need to, and then get your comments in via e-mail or the “online open house” whenever you have time – the deadline in this round is March 5th. And if you didn’t get to this open house – the information (Ballard extension as well as West Seattle extension, since they are being planned concurrently) will also be presented, and comments accepted, at the next two open houses:

Ballard
Thursday, Feb. 15, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Leif Erikson Lodge, 2245 NW 57th Street

Downtown Seattle
Tuesday, Feb. 20, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Union Station, 401 S. Jackson Street

Online ‘open house’: wsblink.participate.online

You can also comment by e-mail – wsblink@soundtransit.org – phone (206-903-7229) – and postal mail, c/o Lauren Swift, Sound Transit, 401 S. Jackson St., Seattle 98104

7:50 PM: Still here, just to observe how it’s flowed, and there are at least 40 people still here talking, commenting, etc. Among those we’ve seen here are local neighborhood and transportation advocates, including Deb Barker, who is on the Stakeholder Advisory Group for the project, and City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who is on the Elected Leadership Group – comments like the ones made here tonight will be filtering up through those groups. We also talked briefly with “Avalon Tom,” whose unofficial renderings of the potential elevated track through West Seattle generated a lot of discussion on WSB last month (and beyond, including at the recent Junction Neighborhood Organization meeting, and we’ve seen some printouts being viewed here too). You still have time to get here, ask questions, take a look at maps and boards, and make comments – until 8:30. We’ll have a separate report recapping what happened here and what’s next.

(Sound Transit’s West Seattle-to-Ballard ‘representative’ map – draft ‘alignment’)

The date is finalized for the next step in planning for the West Seattle (to Ballard) Sound Transit light-rail line: The first West Seattle in-person meeting, “open house” format, is set for 6:30-8:30 pm Tuesday, February 13th, at the Masonic Hall (4736 40th SW). ST also will launch an “online open house” the day before the meeting. If you’re still catching up on why you need to get involved now for a service not scheduled to start until 2030 – here’s our most-recent coverage, from the first meeting of one of two advisory groups, the Elected Leadership Group. We also just got time/location details on the first meeting of the other group, the Stakeholder Advisory Group – 5-8 pm February 8th at the Union Station boardroom (401 S. Jackson).

Though Sound Transit has stressed that nothing’s final, it’s envisioning the future West Seattle light-rail line as elevated. If you’ve found it difficult to imagine what that MIGHT look like, “Avalon Tom” wants to help. He e-mailed WSB after making these renderings based on what preliminary information is available about the possible route “alignment,” and gave us permission to publish them.

“Avalon Tom” explains that he has “18 years experience in the architectural industry producing images like these professionally,” and adds, “I’m not associated with any group, just a citizen who lives and works in West Seattle and wants everyone to understand what they are proposing.” He also acknowledges that he is concerned with “the size” of the project and hopes that ST will consider tunneling.

Again, these are UNOFFICIAL, and we can’t vouch for the dimensions – whatever’s built could be higher or lower, wider or narrower, on a different route – but it’s something we’d been wondering about, and wondering how to visualize – so we’re sharing Tom’s renderings, in case you were wondering too. And as ST stresses, NOW is the time to get involved, because major decisions will be finalized in the next year-plus, even though the service itself isn’t expected to launch until 2030.

By the way, “Avalon Tom” says he’ll be printing 11×17 versions of these (and a few others) and bringing them to meetings.

(Sound Transit’s description of the “representative” – draft, basically – alignment, on which Tom’s images are based, can be seen and heard in our coverage of last week’s Elected Leadership Group launch meeting.)

The issue of overhead vs. underground is likely to be a big one – for the Ballard end, as well as West Seattle – as the “preferred alignment” is developed in the next year-plus, and Sound Transit has warned that tunneling would change the cost and likely the timeline.

Speaking of timeline:

STAKEHOLDER GROUP RECRUITMENT CONTINUES: Sound Transit is continuing to seek applications for at least five people in the West Seattle-to-Ballard corridor area to be on its Stakeholders Advisory Group. Just another week and a half to apply if you’re interested – go here to find out more, including how to apply. This group is expected to have its first meeting (CORRECTED DATE) February 8th, ST tells us.

OTHER WAYS TO HAVE A SAY: Keep an eye on the project website (and on WSB) – more feedback opportunities/meetings are expected soon.

(Sound Transit’s West Seattle-to-Ballard ‘representative’ map – draft ‘alignment’)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

If you care about what’s going to happen with West Seattle’s forthcoming light-rail line, you need to pay attention to and get involved in the process right now, especially for the next year and a half – though it’s not due to arrive until 2030, the timeline depends on key decisions being made in the next year and a half.

That point was made repeatedly during the first meeting of one of the groups that will be involved in the planning process for Sound Transit‘s West Seattle and Ballard extensions, the Elected Leadership Group. Here’s video of the meeting, just published by Seattle Channel:

Another point: The planning process is not ONLY for groups – individual comments will be vital. (But if you want to get involved at a more-intense level, you are invited to apply ASAP for one of up to seven spots open on the soon-to-launch Stakeholders Advisory Group, which has 19 members already announced – more on them, and how to apply, later.)

West Seattle-residing County Council Chair Joe McDermott is co-chairing the Elected Leadership Group with City Councilmember Mike O’Brien. Others in attendance at the group’s first meeting, at Sound Transit headquarters on the south side of downtown, included Mayor Jenny Durkan, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and City Councilmembers Sally Bagshaw, Lorena González, Bruce Harrell, Lisa Herbold, and Rob Johnson.

ST CEO Peter Rogoff opened by speaking of a “certain sense of urgency” and mentioned “how much worse congestion will get … before we can deliver these projects.” He also mentioned the hope of speeding up the projects beyond the current 2030 West Seattle/2035 Ballard opening plans. And he acknowledged the complex logistics – including the bridges to be built over waterways for both lines, and the new tunnel that the Ballard line will use. He vowed to be “responsive” and “straightforward” in the anticipated “back and forth,” and promised that ST would do its best to answer questions thoroughly and transparently.

Two West Seattleites was among the half-dozen people who spoke during the public comment period early in the meeting.

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And more transit news as the new year begins: When Sound Transit reps visited West Seattle twice recently for updates on light-rail planning, they mentioned that an “elected leadership” group would be convened to focus on the West Seattle (2030) to Ballard (2035) line. Toward the end of this morning’s Seattle City Council meeting, Councilmember Mike O’Brien mentioned that group would meet for the first time this Thursday – so we asked Sound Transit for details. Here’s the agenda – the meeting, including City Councilmembers and ST Board members, is set for 2-4 pm Thursday at Union Station downtown, and is open to the public. (added) Here are the members:

 Representing the project corridor:
o Seattle Councilmember Lisa Herbold
o Seattle Councilmember Bruce Harrell
o Seattle Councilmember Sally Bagshaw
o Seattle Councilmember Mike O’Brien
o Seattle Councilmember Lorena Gonzalez
o Port Commissioner Stephanie Bowman

 Representing Sound Transit
o Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers
o Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan
o King County Executive Dow Constantine
o Seattle Councilmember Rob Johnson
o King County Councilmember Joe McDermott

One agenda item involves appointments of all but five members of another group that’ll be involved, the Stakeholder Advisory Group. Here are links to all the meeting-related documents, including directions to the location.

P.S. 11 of the members to be appointed to the stakeholder group are listed on the last page here.