Cities look back on first year
Federal Way and SeaTac proud of accomplishments

By KATHY GEORGE
and GEORGE FOSTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS

Tomorrow marks one year since Federal Way and SeaTac residents bolted from King County government and created their own cities under locally elected municipal councils.

In Federal Way, cityhood supporters wanted to control the rapid growth thathad choked traffic, swamped schools and filled the once-green landscape with row after row of apartments and houses. In SeaTac, they wanted better servicesand more police to fight drugs, prostitution and other crimes.

As the new cities approach their first birthday, leaders say they're proud of what they've accomplished, including stricter growth controls in Federal Way and more police protection in smaller SeaTac to the north.

But they also acknowledge it may be years before most people notice a real difference.

"The average person on the street is not going to see dramatic changes," said Federal Way Mayor Debra Ertel, who was a key proponent of incorporation.

In SeaTac, a critic of City Hall remarked that she hadn't seen "a whole heck of a lot of change" since incorporation. Added Pat Ashcraft, "Developers are still running our city and they were before incorporation."

Federal Way's most significant actions as a city have been adopting development rules and expanding services without raising property taxes higherthan in unincorporated King County, several City Council members said.

Council members also cited a contract with county police, a top financial rating from three bond companies and appointment of advisory boards and commissions as key accomplishments.

A major goal of Federal Way's cityhood movement was to halt an apartment explosion. The city made it more difficult to build apartments by changing thezoning in some areas from multi-family to single-family.

But residents and leaders agreed Federal Way, with a population of about 65,000, has yet to feel the impact of new development rules. That's because developers have continued to build projects that were approved before Federal Way became a city.

The city approved only one new apartment complex in its first year. As of Monday, the city had issued permits for a total of 446 new housing units - 262houses, 130 apartments and 54 mobile homes, records show.

That's less than a fifth of the units approved in Federal Way and surrounding areas in 1989. But a direct comparison isn't possible because the county has no statistics on past development strictly within the city limits.

Federal Way Councilman Joel Marks said the "downzoning" of land violated property rights and contributed to a perception that the new city is "almost anti-business."

Ertel said the intent was not to stop growth but direct it to areas that can handle the impact. She said the dramatic drop in building permits in the second half of the year had more to do with a regional real-estate slump than city rules.

Federal Way'smost visible problem -- traffic -- hasn't waned.

In fact, some residents say it's become even more snarled in the past year,particularly in the fast-food and retail corridors along South 320th Street and Pacific Highway South.

"The traffic is just atrocious. It takes you 20 minutes to get out of Federal Way," said Elaine Bowles, who's lived in the area for five years.

"They're right. I don't like having to say that," said Deputy Mayor Mary Gates. She added that it takes years to build new roads or find other traffic solutions, and pledged that residents "are going to see amazing road work" in the future.

Bowles and Kathy Ackerson, co-workers at the Twin Lakes country club, said they haven't noticed much change since Federal Way became a city and they're not sure if residents are better off.

But Sue Carl, who lives in the Twin Lakes area, said just having the City Council is a big improvement.

Federal Way will celebrate its birthday with an open house from 6 to 8 p.m.tomorrow at City Hall, 33530 First Way South.

An open house also is planned tomorrow at SeaTac's temporary City Hall, 19215 28th Ave. S. between 5-7 p.m.

Advocates of SeaTac incorporation in 1988 and 1989 focused on the prostitution traffic that had grown up along Pacific Highway South near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport next door. There were also complaints of traffic problems and road maintenance, and that the county was taking much more money out of the community in taxes than it was putting back in services.

The city's current tax rate is 13 cents less (per $1,000 of assessed valuation) than adjoining unincorporated King County, according to Mayor FrankHansen.

"And we ended up with eight more police officers and 18 new firemen ... and we are still able to cut taxes," he added.

City officials claim that local control of tax dollars has resulted in greater savings and a more equitable distribution of services than under county government.

SeaTac's sales tax revenues for the first year are expected to reach well over the $3 million mark, equaling projections established in a 1988 report onproposed incorporation. That report was based on a larger city of 12 square miles, compared to the present 9-square mile municipality approved by voters in March 1989.

During 1990, King County police statistics show a drop in prostitution arrests in the SeaTac area compared to 1989. The new city contracts with the county for police protection and has increased the number of officers patrolling the area.

"The traffic is still terrible, but we've seen probably only two prostitutes in the last year on the highway," Hollie Shafer, a desk clerk at the Sea-Tac Crest Motor Inn, said last week.

Lt. Craig Wilkie, SeaTac's chief of police services and a King County officer from the Burien Precinct, said, "We have made an emphasis on contacting prostitutes and either arresting them or letting them know their presence was not appreciated."

He noted a "john patrol" on Feb. 14 (Valentine's Day) along the highway netted 12 arrests of men who unknowingly made contact with a female plainclothes officer.

Unlike Federal Way, much of the rolling plateau surrounding Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was built up during the post-World War II boom years. InSeaTac (population about 24,000) older ramblers and modest, box-like wood frame dwellings dot the landscape. Some of these original houses have been replaced by newer, sometimes gaudy apartment buildings.

"What you will see instead is re-development," City Manager Doug Sutherland said this week.

During the first year of cityhood, SeaTac has approved two new office buildings, two new hotels on Pacific Highway South (also called International Boulevard) and two new housing subdivisions. The city adopted the county zoning for the area following incorporation.

Cleaner streets and the prospect for sidewalks along Pacific Highway South have impressed business people. Fred Pfau, manager of Thrifty Car Sales on Pacific Highway South, pointed to the highway outside.

"Keeping it (Pacific Highway South) tidied up is the big thing with us," Pfau said.

"It's a cleaner place," said David Sousa, manager of Schumsky's restaurant at South 188th Street and Pacific Highway South. "They have tried to take care of the area on the outside."

He and Pfau noted a local clean-up campaign last summer before the GoodwillGames brought thousands through the neighboring airport.

Ashcraft considers the city's new flag pavilion at the airport as "rather attractive,' but adds that she is more concerned about the homeless and residents on limited incomes in the city's many trailer parks.

"I wasn't for incorporation," she added. "But now that we have a city I want it to work," she added.