April 4, 2000

Sound Transit, UW face Wednesday deadline

It's a battle between two giants. The University of Washington and Sound Transit are at loggerheads over nearly two dozen different policy and technical issues regarding light rail impacts to the university.

Unlike the various other stakeholders upset by the proposed, 21-mile light rail line, the UW has tangible clout: it owns land Sound Transit needs to build stations and a tunnel. And Sound Transit doesn't have authority to condemn state-owned property.

The Federal Transit Administration extended until Wednesday the deadline for Sound Transit to reach a tentative agreement with UW to tunnel under its campus and build two stations, one at Northeast 45th Street and another at Northeast Pacific Street. The original deadline was March 31.

After several meetings last week and yesterday ended without an agreement, members of the UW Board of Regents and Sound Transit board members will convene again today. Both parties are also scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon in Mayor Paul Schell's office, according to Denny Fleenor, Sound Transit spokesperson.

If negotiations fail, Sound Transit risks losing federal funding until 2003, according to Sound Transit Executive Director Bob White.

"At minimum, we'd lose this year's federal funding cycle," White said. "And in all likelihood, the 11 other cities competing for funds would secure from Congress all of the remaining funds for the next three to four years."

White is heartened by the FTA's deadline extension, saying the decision signifies strong support for the $1.9 billion project -- at least from the FTA's regional office. He added, however, that Sound Transit must be diligent about meeting all other deadlines to stay competitive in the 12-city race for federal money.

Extending light rail to Northgate is perhaps the largest issue at stake. UW wants a guarantee that the $415 million extension will happen in Phase I of the project. A Northeast 45th Street terminus would dump more traffic problems on the university's doorstep, said Weldon Ihrig, UW executive vice president.

Sound Transit officials say it's still to early for promises.

"This is a multi-year effort," White said. "We are certainly committed to extending the rail, and are forming partnerships at local, state and federal levels to be able to do so. But in April 2000, we can't guarantee a Phase I extension."

UW isn't the only powerful entity demanding an extension to Northgate. The Downtown Seattle Association recently threatened to withdraw its support for light rail if the route stops in the University District.

The association is revising a letter approved by its board of trustees last week, stating that position.

"We're still fine-tuning the letter, making sure all our numbers are exact, but the the gist is that we have some very serious concerns regarding the project's impacts on downtown -- concerns that aren't being adequately addressed by Sound Transit at this point," said Lucinda Santiago, a spokesperson for the association.

This comes from a group that historically has supported light rail. However, Santiago said a U-District terminus would flood downtown streets with buses traveling to and from north King County.

"We want to make sure that the huge amount of money the community is investing in this project, actually helps the community," she said. "We have a vibrant downtown, and want to keep it that way."

White said Sound Transit empathized with DSA members and was willing to work with them to deal with added bus traffic should a Phase I expansion to Northgate fail. He also added the DSA's announcement to withdraw support won't get the rail to Northgate.

"They can take whatever position they want," he said. "The business community is an important group; but other than continuing to inform them of our efforts to get to Northgate, there's not much we can do."

White said the rift with UW is potentially more damaging since UW cannot be forced to hand over its property to Sound Transit.

Neither White or Ihrig hinted at any concessions either side was willing to make, but both said they were cautiously optimistic an agreement could be reached by Wednesday.

"Nothing is ever black and white," Ihrig said, "but we do need to find a way to meet the needs of the university, making sure learning and research come first. After all, it doesn't do any good for students to have good transportation to the school, if they can't learn when they get here."

In addition to potential traffic problems caused by a 45th Street station terminus, mitigating impacts to the university's new Physics and Health Sciences facilities is a concern. Sound Transit initially earmarked $12.3 million to mitigate disturbances such as vibration and electromagnetic interference to highly sensitive scientific research equipment housed in the UW's new physics laboratories.

The agency also set aside money to pay UW staff and consultants for their work to assess potential impacts, and to revise existing plans for future buildings, such as the proposed new law school.

But Ihrig said money isn't the issue. He's more concerned that the kind of mitigation proposed by Sound Transit is insufficient.

"The money is Sound Transit's problem," he said. "Our concern is that we can function at the same level. At this point, we're not completely clear on what kinds of mitigation is needed."

Scientists hired by Sound Transit and the UW are currently working to identify exactly how construction and the completed rail line would impact the school's research equipment, and the best mitigation. Ihrig said until mitigation can be agreed on, UW will be hesitant to sell any property to Sound Transit.

White is optimistic mitigation issues can be resolved by Wednesday. The extension to Northgate is a larger threat to negotiations.

"There are about 20 different issues regarding mitigation, and we basically just searching for the right language to address them," he said. "But we cannot guarantee Northgate, we can only promise to try."