Drafter
Clerk 03/30/2015
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to coordination of development of the Sound Transit Operations and Maintenance Satellite Facility with the Eastside Rail Corridor and Metro Transit East Base; requiring council approval of certain related agreements.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. The Sound Transit Board selected a preferred site for an Operations and Maintenance Satellite Facility ("OMSF") that is adjacent to King County's East Base and multipurpose easement in the Eastside Rail Corridor ("the ERC").
2. Representatives of King County participated in the OMSF stakeholder workshops in 2014.
3. The 2014 OMSF stakeholder workshop participants recommended supporting OMSF Alternate Site Plan A2 and development of a three party agreement with Sound Transit, the city of Bellevue and King County within the next six months that results in a phased OMSFA2 site plan in its entirety.
4. OMSF Alternate Site Plan A2 involves relocation of at least a portion of East Base and could affect the couny's multipurpose easement in the ERC.
5. The metropolitan King County council adopted the Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021 in Ordinance 17143, setting the policy for and guiding the implementation of the Metro transit service network.
6. The Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021 contains Goal 2: Human Potential. Provide equitable opportunities for people from all areas of King County to access the public transportation system, and Goal 6: Financial Stewardship. Exercise sound financial management and build the transit division's long term sustainability.
7. Strategies for achieving these goals include:
a. Strategy 2.1.3: Provide products and services that are designed to provide geographic value in all parts of King County; and
b. Strategy 6.2.2: Provide and maintain capital assets to support efficient and effective service delivery.
8. King County's East Base provides bus parking for approximately two hundred and fifty buses and maintenance, fuel and wash facilities, and is a capital asset of King County critical to supporting efficient, effective operation of King County's Metro transit service in a manner that provides geographic value to east King County.
9. King County's Fund Management Policies for the Public Transportation Fund require that the transit division will maintain a ten-year plan to identify and prioritize needed facility infrastructure and infrastructure improvement for transit facilities based on the current transit system level. The plan facilitates establishing budgetary priorities and adopting expenditure levels for the transit division budget.
10. Understanding the transit division's plans for East Base relates to the transit division's ten-year infrastructure plan and the budgetary decisions of the council.
11. The Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021 contains Strategy 3.2.2, which calls for the coordination and development of services and facilities with other providers to create an integrated and efficient regional transportation system.
12. King County owns significant property interests in the ERC and is the interim trail sponsor under the federal Rails-to-Trails Act.
13. The council acquired property interests in the ERC in support of outcomes including: providing a well-integrated world-class trail system that supports the regional transportation network; consolidating the property rights that undergird the regional wastewater system that protects water quality and aids economic development; maintaining the ERC's potential to support commuter rail connectivity through the major growth centers in King County's east side; and preserving the ERC for reactivation for the resumption of interstate freight service.
14. In order to advance the council's intended outcomes in the ERC, the council authorized funding for a Trail Master Planning effort for a regional trail in the ERC, which began in 2014 and is expected to be completed in 2016. Council approval of the ERC Trail Master Plan is required.
15. The council established the ERC Regional Advisory Council ("the RAC") to coordinate planning and development activities to the extent possible to ensure effective use of the southern portion of the ERC and the Redmond Spur. King County is a participant in the RAC.
16. The county executive and vice chair of the county council serve as cochairs of the RAC.
17. Members of the council participated in developing and were signatories to Creating Connections: Recommendations on the Eastside Rail Corridor from the Regional Advisory Council.
18. Creating Connections: Recommendations on the Eastside Rail Corridor from the Regional Advisory Council includes Recommendation 4B: "Coordinate owner and adjacent jurisdiction planning" and Recommendation 4C: "Discuss Sound Transit's Operations and Maintenance Satellite Facility and work together to ensure public access and multiple uses consistent with owners' ERC vision."
19. Understanding the interplay between the OMSF and the ERC is an important component in carrying out the council's intentions for its property interests in the ERC, including adoption of a Trail Master Plan, and chairing and participating in the RAC.
20. Legislative oversight is needed to ensure coordination of the planning and development of the OMSF with King County's important policy and operational interests in East Base and the ERC. Additionally, the oversight will assist the council in assuring the county is fulfilling its policy goals of coordination with other governmental entities to provide integrated transit services and programs, as well as informing the council on the potential fiscal and operational impacts to transit service.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. An ordinance is required for any county agreement involving the Sound Transit Operations and Maintenance Satellite Facility that could:
A. Interfere with the county's rights in the Eastside Rail Corridor under the multipurpose easement, before the executive issues the Eastside Rail Corridor trail master
plan or final environmental impact statement; or
B. Provide for conveyance of county property at the East Base.