Apartments near Sea-Tac get reprieve

Port of Seattle commissioners agreed Tuesday to hold off on demolishing most of the Lora Lake Apartments, which have become a lightning rod for low-income housing activists, church leaders and politicians.

But the commissioners stopped short of telling staff to craft a plan that would save some of the affordable apartments in Burien near Sea-Tac Airport's third runway.

They delayed further discussion until Aug. 9, when all five port commissioners could discuss a recent offer from King County to buy the apartments and maintain them as affordable housing. Only three commissioners were present Tuesday.

"We need to stop dragging our heels and find a way to find a compromise," said Commissioner Bob Edwards, who is up for re-election and emerged Tuesday as another champion of saving at least some of the 162 apartments that lie outside the runway's safety zone.

Commissioner Alec Fisken has also supported preserving the affordable apartments.

		Jim Bryant / P-I
	The Rev. Sanford Brown of the Church Council of Greater Seattle exhorts protesters to resist the destruction of 162 affordable apartments during a "service of lamentation" Monday.

But Commissioner Lloyd Hara said he had concerns about pushing forward against the city of Burien, which has strongly objected to leaving any apartments that close to the new runway.

"We need to make sure we work cooperatively with surrounding communities ... because that's how we got in trouble with the runway in the first place," Hara said.

Burien officials said yesterday that they felt deeply maligned, since the city has a long history of embracing cultural and economic diversity. The city simply wants to concentrate industrial or commercial uses next to the airport and rebuild affordable apartments closer to bus routes, shops and parks in a nicer part of the city, they said.

"That is not a suitable place for living because of the noise," Burien Deputy Mayor Rose Clark told the port commissioners. "My council has even said they would rather see that area bulldozed into plain dirt rather than having people living there."

The port bought the apartments in 1998 to make room for the third runway. A temporary deal with the King County Housing Authority, which rented the apartments to low- and moderate-income residents, ended this summer.

Pressure has been building on the port to reverse its decision to bulldoze the housing, particularly from those involved in King County's effort to end homelessness within 10 years.

Monday, religious leaders from around the region gathered to lament the loss of the housing, sprinkling ashes on their heads and trying to cut the wire fence around the property to open it to the public again.

"We repented of our own involvement of electing public officials who would not stand up for the cause of affordable housing," said the Rev. Sanford Brown, executive director of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, who praised Edwards' efforts to find a solution.

"It is a beautiful thing to say that someone has changed his mind," Brown said.

Edwards said increasing pressure on affordable housing in the region, plus a recent offer from King County Executive Ron Sims to buy the apartments and an adjacent vacant parcel for $18 million, convinced him that the port's original decision was flawed.

The port, for instance, might be able to sell some apartments to King County and use that money to help develop other parts of the property, Edwards said.