Drafter
Clerk 07/12/2005
Title
AN ORDINANCE authorizing the BNSF Rail Line acquisition project for the preservation of transportation right-of-way in eastside King County cities and making a supplemental appropriation of $3,500,000 to the current expense fund, $300,000 to the real estate excise tax I fund and $3,800,000 to the open space King County non bond sub-fund; amending the 2005 Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 15083, Sections 42, 114 and 117, as amended, and Attachments B and E, as amended.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. King County's population increased by over half a million people between 1980 and 2005, more than a forty percent increase in twenty-five years. In conjunction with this rapid growth in population, King County has continued to provide innovative regional transportation solutions and a legacy of regional recreation facilities, including our nationally recognized regional trail system, which currently contains over one hundred miles of paved trails and seventy miles of unpaved trails.
B. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe ("BNSF") Rail Line corridor is currently a forty-seven-mile railroad line within King County that travels through the cities of Renton, Newcastle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond and Woodinville, in part along Lake Washington and adjacent to several public park facilities, to the city of Snohomish.
C. The BNSF Railway operates the railroad line and intends to enter into negotiations with King County to convey its interests in the line to King County, through the federal Rail Banking program, offering the county a unique opportunity to retain the corridor's continuous, unbroken ownership for potential recreation and transportation uses before it is subdivided, sold for development and lost forever.
D. The BNSF Rail Line could provide a critical north to south link in the King County regional trail system through the heart of the county's eastside cities and could s...
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