Drafter
Clerk 12/06/2012
Title
A MOTION establishing the Eastside Rail Corridor as a corridor of regional significance and declaring the criticality of the regional ownership partnership by establishing the Eastside Rail Corridor regional advisory council to immediately initiate a regional planning process.
Body
WHEREAS, the Eastside Rail Corridor ("the ERC") is a forty-two-mile corridor that extends from Renton to Snohomish and from Woodinville to Redmond, and
WHEREAS, the ERC creates a direct contiguous land use and transportation connection through the communities of Renton, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Woodinville, Snohomish county and King County, and
WHEREAS, the first time acquisition of the ERC was studied was by the Puget Sound Regional Council, leading to the original vision of potential uses. In May 2007, the Puget Sound Regional Council completed a technical study of the ERC identifying desirable potential uses and examining their general impacts, the comparative costs of such potential uses and the legal or institutional issues associated with preserving or acquiring the ERC. Based on this study, the BNSF corridor advisory committee recommended, for the ERC portion south of Woodinville, that, among other uses, an interim regional multipurpose trail be developed, and
WHEREAS, the region, through the Puget Sound Regional Council has established land use and transportation plans to guide the integrated and managed growth of the Puget Sound region, and
WHEREAS, the ERC is centrally located within the Puget Sound planning area, and
WHEREAS, these regional planning efforts have established, through Vision 2040, regional goals for the economy, housing, transportation, public services, development patterns and the environment, and
WHEREAS, the ERC provides an opportunity to connect jobs, housing and transportation across multiple communities, and
WHEREAS, King County has established policy emphasizing the critical importance of transportation dua...

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