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City Council Votes to Purchase Rail Corridor for $5 Million

By on December 13, 2011 in Government, Neighborhood News

City Council Unanimously Votes to Purchase “Kirkland Segment” of Rail Corridor from Port of Seattle for $5 Million

60-day due diligence period begins

 

Kirkland’s vision for multi-modal transportation, pedestrian connectivity to parks and schools, and bicycle pathways has come closer to reality thanks to the Kirkland City Council unanimously voting to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with the Port of Seattle for 5.75 miles of the Eastside Rail Corridor that lie within Kirkland city limits.  At its special meeting on December 12, 2011, after receiving a comprehensive overview presented at a study session, public comment at the regular meeting, and discussing the proposed purchase and sale agreement, the City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into an acquisition agreement with the Port of Seattle, initiating a 60-day due diligence period.  Additionally, the Council adopted legislation that provides for the funding for the purchase.

Several Council Members expressed the desire to further involve the City’s Planning Commission, Transportation Commission, Park Board, and the Parks Funding Exploratory Committee (PFEC) in developing public communications about the impacts of the purchase on other City capital improvement projects.  The purchase and eventual development of the portion of the Corridor within Kirkland has been a long-standing vision of the Park Board, known as the Cross Kirkland Trail Project, the Transportation Commission through its work on the Eastside Rail Corridor Interest Statement, and the Planning Commission through its work on the Lakeview and Central Houghton Neighborhood Plans.

 

The City Council was presented with possible funding sources to purchase and to develop the segment.  Interim acquisition funding, in the form of an Interfund Loan, was approved by the adoption of Ordinance No. 4341 in the amount of $4 million from the Water/Sewer and Surface Water Utilities.  The loan will be repaid by reprioritizing other capital projects or possible grant funding that may be secured. Funds to eventually develop the Kirkland Segment could include voted debt, corporate sponsorship, and state and federal grants.

 

The due diligence period will allow the City to review existing environmental reports, review title reports and encroachments from adjacent property owners, and review permits, leases, and easements.

 

In February, 2011, the City Council identified completion of due diligence for the purchase of the Kirkland Segment of the rail corridor on its 2011 Council Work Plan.  In April 2011, the City Council approved an Interest Statement, which reflects the community’s desire for the corridor to serve the transportation needs of Kirkland, remain in public ownership, and contribute to economic sustainability.  To view the staff memo to the Council and to watch the December 12, 2011 meeting, go to the City Council Agenda page at www.kirklandwa.gov and select  or search “Watch On Demand Programming.”

About Rob Butcher

Editor and Scribbler of Kirkland Views.
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  • Wolf Puls

    Kudos to the Kirkland Council for your vision. Many decades ago the Burke Gilman and Sammamish River Trails were created because leaders like you saw the human value of securing these resources for the public. Decades from now your investment will be considered nothing but BRILLIANT.

  • Phil Leng

    Way to step up, Kirkland council.
    There are a million reasons NOT to do this. The economy, etc. etc.
    However, the opportunity is now, and will impact Kirklands livability for generations to come.
    I salute and admire your courage to vote “yes”
    Phil

  • David Wall

    That’s really great news. Not only will it help us be healthier, but we’ll actually be able to shop and dine in Totem Lake and Houghton more frequently with easier access.

  • Per-Ola

    I agree with the Council’s decision and “gusto” on this subject!

    Would love to bike/walk the entire stretch through “town”, but I also hope that this does not put up any roadblock for potential future rail bound transportation.I’ve said it before, and supported organizations looking to continue some type of rail “activities”, that this entire stretch along the East Side, connecting cities from Renton to Woodinville is far too valuable to be “cut up”.

    All that said, hopefully we will soon be able to see at least a gravel trail for biking/walking/strolling. Cause if we don’t use it, we’ll lose it…

  • Jeanne Large

    I understand that King County will retain the right to use part of the right of way for rail in the future.

    In the meantime, I agree; we need to get going on the funding, purchase, development and use of this valuable asset. $5,000,000 may seem like a lot of money…but when you consider the thousands of people and hundreds of businesses that will benefit from its development, it’s a great investment. 

    If 5,000 people organizations and business would each donate $1000, it would be paid for.  Or, if 20,000 people and businesses would each agree to pay $250, it would be paid for.  How much would you be willing to donate?

  • Jim Hitter

    This is very good news.  In the far past (the 60′s and 70′s) the Kirkland City Council was able to act decisively when an opportunity presented itself.  These decisions gave us the string of fantastic waterfront parks of all sizes along LW Blvd. More recently, the ability of the Council to act quickly was degraded by a never ending process of “navel gazing” that led to opportunities missed.

    Thank you, Council members!

  • Anonymous

    Oh absolutely… it’s projects like this  that separate the tree huggers with job security from the low income in foreclosure, no biggie, the houses will sell eventually to someone who can appreciate a running corridor that crosses main thoroughfares and no one will get hurt… no problem. Our council has the vision.

    You know what they say.. Get it while you can.

  • Anonymous

    Congratulations on the wonderful purchase of the rail corridor. I am attaching a link to a much loved similar trail in Northern California “The Iron Horse Trail.”
    http://www.traillink.com/trail/iron-horse-regional-trail.aspx
    It is used by nearly everyone in town… some use it periodically and others use it every day. Constantly there are folks using it for recreation, exercise, commute to work, travel to shopping, walks with the dog or strolls and conversation with friends. I’ve personally enjoyed “the trail” and I frequently run into friends from that community during my visit. The Iron Horse Trail is a tremendous asset to the communities that it passes through. Soon the new trail will be a treasured part of the fabric of Kirkland. Thanks for the forethought in this purchase. It is a wonderful investment !!!!

  • John Gilday

    OK, let’s review this timeline.

    In 1864 President Lincoln charters The Cascade Portage Railroad and gives them vast quantities of public land to use as railroad corridors.

    Cascade Portage becomes Northern Pacific.
    Northern Pacific becomes Burlington Northern.

    Burlington Northern then gets out of the railroad biz in our neck o’ the woods and SELLS the land to the Port of Seattle who in turns SELLS a tiny portion to the same citizenry who GAVE it to the railroads back in 1864?

    Now I don’t pretend to be Matt McCauley (who knows a lot more about history), and I don’t pretend to be Bill Woods, (who was there when Abe gave  the land away in the first place), but it seems to me there might be a disconnect somewhere.

    Just sayin’

    • Jeanne Large

      Thanks for reminding us of the history of railroads in this country.  If we look back one more chapter in our history, not long before we gave the public land to the railroad companies, we took it from Native Americans. 

      • John Gilday

        and if we go back further (if the anthropologists are to believed), the ‘native’ Americans came across the land bridge between the current Siberia and Alaska and displaced whoever was here before them.  I think it was The Kardasians.

        BUT, if we take your argument to the next logical point, the railroads should be giving the land back to the Indians…  

        Just think, Kirkland could have a HUGE (but very thin) tribal casino right behind Whole Foods!  
        Goodbye deficit.

        • Matt McCauley

          Just to add a little to this, John, this was called the ‘Lake Washington Belt Line’ and was completed from Renton about 1891. The amazing and iconic wilburton  It was, as John noted, owned by the Northern Pacific and completed rather grudgingly because the NP was heavily invested in Tacoma and in 1891 Peter Kirk and partners’ steel mill on Rose Hill was seen as a threat to Tacoma. Kirk’s mill was located on Rose Hill (near today’s Costco) because another railroad, the Seattle Lake Shore and Eastern would only run a spur line from Woodinville there, NOT nearer the lake, which was their first choice. The idea was that the SLS&E would bring iron ore from near today’s North Bend (then called Sallal Prarie) and the NP line would bring the coking coal up from Palmer (coking coal was vital to the Bessmer process of mass producing steel from pig iron and getting coking coal to Kirkland was a huge part of Kirk’s technical challenge). The SLS&E tracks to Woodinville were torn up after the mill failed c.1893 and that rail bed is today’s Slater Ave. its line from Woodinville to Seattle is today’s Burke-Gilman Trail. The NP/lake Washington Beltway line Kirkland just acquired remained in use for decades by the NP and successor operators, as John mentioned.

          The Lake Washington Belt Line is an artifact of Kirkland’s C1891 steel mill days, so I’m saying right now that I hope that whatever public use the property is put to that the city places a nice historic marker or two explaining to people its historic significance and interesting story.

          I think the council made the right move here and that over time its decision will be viewed as visionary as in the 1960′s when then-city manager Al Locke and those city councils acquired the numerous parcels of waterfront property that we now enjoy today as our various waterfront parks. Kudos city council!  

  • Ijuan27

    Wow, I’m surprised nobody has even mentioned the BIG BUDGET problems that Kirkland is going to face in the near future. First off, tthe recent annexation of the neighborhoods north of us (Juanita, etc.) may be coming to bite the city back since many of the tax credits that the state promised is on the chipping block (http://www.kirklandviews.com/archives/30536/). The city is on the hook for over $13.5 million dollars.

    Now we can just add another $5.5 million dollars to the amount of debt the city owes. How in the world are we going to find money to fund all of this spending? I’m not opposed to trails but all of these money problems could bankrupt the city.

    I imagine a steep increase in property taxes along with cutting of city services is looming for 2012.