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AN ORDINANCE approving and authorizing the King County executive to acquire portions of the Eastside Rail Corridor from the Port of Seattle.
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BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. The Eastside Rail Corridor ("the ERC"), formerly referred to as the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe ("BNSF") rail line corridor, is a forty-two mile railroad corridor that extends south from the city of Snohomish in Snohomish county to the cities of Renton and Redmond in King County, passing through unincorporated King County and the cities of Woodinville, Kirkland, Bellevue, Renton and Redmond.
B. The ERC is a regional asset that through ongoing public ownership can be managed to support shared objectives of a vibrant, growing community including building a world-class regional transportation system meeting a variety of rail and trail mobility needs and supporting the efficient provision of utility services.
C. The ERC is comprised of a contiguous set of parcels that together offer unique and significant opportunities that would be impossible to recreate if the parcels were disaggregated and sold off to private interests.
D. In 2003, BNSF announced its intent to divest itself of the Woodinville Subdivision and Redmond Spur, which encompass the ERC.
E. In 2005, the King County council passed Ordinance 15233, which authorized the ERC acquisition project for the preservation of transportation right-of-way in eastside King County cities and made supplemental appropriations in support of the acquisition of the ERC.
F. 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 th...

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