File #: 2019-0283    Version: 1
Type: Ordinance Status: Lapsed
File created: 7/1/2019 In control: Committee of the Whole
On agenda: Final action: 2/4/2020
Enactment date: Enactment #:
Title: AN ORDINANCE naming the Eastside Rail Corridor "Eastrail."
Sponsors: Claudia Balducci, Kathy Lambert, Reagan Dunn
Indexes: Right-of-Way, Transportation

Drafter

Clerk 06/26/2019

Title

AN ORDINANCE naming the Eastside Rail Corridor "Eastrail."

Body

STATEMENT OF FACTS:

1. On July 20, 2005, King County enacted Ordinance 15233, authorizing the Eastside Rail Corridor acquisition project for the preservation of transportation right-of-way in eastside King County cities.

2.  On December 17, 2007, the county executive, the Port of Seattle and the BNSF Railway Company entered into a memorandum of understanding laying the groundwork for the Eastside Rail Corridor ("the ERC").  The ERC was first defined by the council through this memorandum of understanding executed under Ordinance 15995 as the coupling of the Woodinville Subdivision and Redmond Spur, a forty-two-mile corridor vital to the economic future of King County and six separate Eastside jurisdictions.

3.  The ERC is comprised of forty-two miles of regional trail owned and managed by King County, Snohomish County, the cities of Kirkland, Woodinville and Redmond, Sound Transit and Puget Sound Energy.

4.  The council established the Eastside Rail Corridor regional advisory committee ("the RAC") on December 10, 2012, under Motion 13801.

5.  In 2013, the RAC Creating Connections report recommended that a strategy be developed to brand the entire corridor.

6.  The council approved a memorandum of understanding, Motion 14922, on August 14, 2017, to restructure the RAC to include additional jurisdictions and stakeholders as members as well as to expand its scope of work to align with the 2013 Creating Connections report and the 2016 work plan adopted by the RAC.  In accordance with Motion 14922, the RAC serves as a venue for coordinating efforts of member jurisdictions to advance common goals such as advocating for the funding and implementation of Trail Master Plan improvements and collaborating to develop a brand identity for the corridor, compatible with existing identities in several RAC member jurisdictions.

7.  On August 24, 2018, the RAC entered into a contract with a consulting firm to begin the process of branding the ERC.

8.  After a robust public outreach process, four potential names were proposed by the consulting firm.  The public provided input on these four names through an online survey that received one thousand eight hundred sixty-three responses.  A series of stakeholder meetings and focus groups were then held to solicit feedback on potential logos and taglines for the brand.

9.  On January 25, 2019, the RAC adopted "Eastrail" as the new name for the ERC and on April 5, 2019, it adopted a corresponding logo to use for signage to unify and promote the corridor.

10. The ERC covers and crosses multiple jurisdictions and King County intends to name the portions of the ERC within its boundaries Eastrail in anticipation of other jurisdictions similarly naming the portions of the ERC within their boundaries such that the entire ERC will come to be known as Eastrail.

                     BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:

                     SECTION 1.  The King County-owned portion of the Eastside Rail Corridor is

hereby named Eastrail in accordance with the name change adopted by members of the Eastside Rail Corridor regional advisory committee on January 25, 2019.