Drafter
Clerk 04/07/2026
Title
AN ORDINANCE approving King County's partial participation in the city of Bellevue's Tax Increment Financing project, as authorized in RCW 39.114.020; and specifying conditions on the county's participation.
Body
PREAMBLE:
Under RCW 39.114.020(1)(c)(ii), the city of Bellevue is authorized to enact a tax increment area up to $500,000,000 in combined assessed valuation, but only if the area is connected to Interstate 405, transportation-related public improvements will be funded to enhance the integration and connection of neighborhoods within the area, and the city enacts the tax increment area via ordinance by June 30, 2026.
Under RCW 39.114.020(1)(c)(ii)(D), a governing body of any taxing district within the increment area may approve by a majority vote the taxing district's partial or full participation in the tax increment project, according to the governing body's ordinance and publication procedures. If the governing body does not approve its participation, the taxing district's property taxes are not subject to apportionment.
King County has provided leadership regionally in the formation of multimodal transportation systems, including the forty-two-mile Eastrail corridor as well as in Sound Transit leadership and decision-making roles. King County supports transportation improvements to improve mobility within downtown Bellevue, new commercial and residential construction to support economic development, and pedestrian-oriented improvements linking the EastRail Corridor, the recently upzoned Wilburton neighborhood, downtown Bellevue, and Meydenbauer Bay park.
The city of Bellevue's Grand Connection Crossing will connect downtown Bellevue to the Eastrail Corridor and to the Wilburton neighborhood, where new local housing policies have incentivized affordable housing development.
Those improvements and new construction activated by the city of Bellevue's Grand Connection Crossing are not assumed to occur at the same level w...

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