Seattle City Council adds monorail conditions

Council members yesterday unanimously approved a "transit-way" agreement setting out conditions for the proposed system to use city streets to stretch 14 miles between Crown Hill and West Seattle.

But part of the agreement is that the council will closely scrutinize the monorail's finances, from tax revenue to construction and initial operating costs, to decide for itself whether the project makes economic sense.

Yesterday's vote is "not a green light," said Councilman Richard Conlin. "It's a flashing yellow light ... that could turn green or red ... it means proceed with caution."

The agreement requires contractors to subject their design for stations and other parts of the system to city departments before work can begin. It requires the monorail agency to maintain insurance to finance removal if the line isn't completed and maintain its taxing authority long enough to finance removal.

The agreement would require the agency to insure for damage to the West Seattle Bridge, where part of the system will run. It requires the new system to help develop transit-oriented business and housing near West Seattle Junction and on 15th Avenue Northwest, and to finance transit improvements near the King Street Station and the north stadium parking lot.

It directed the monorail to negotiate with the Seattle Mariners, the state, the county, the public stadium authority and the railroad to develop a jointly financed pedestrian crossing to the west side of the railroad near Safeco Field.

Among other things, it requires the agency to keep the columns and rail supports clear of graffiti and to work with the city to make sure there is "no net loss of tree canopy" when the system is built. Short of requiring the agency to build a much-desired station at Second Avenue and Madison Street downtown, the agreement says the city will help, but not pay for, the monorail to secure the property, now held by the federal government.

It requires some street and pedestrian improvements near stations but allows some to be phased in over three years to permit more work on design.

The agreement places strong emphasis on a "slender" and graceful design in scale with the neighborhoods it traverses. The design details will be completed by the successful construction-operating contractor. The monorail agency opens bids Aug. 16 and hopes to break ground by October, eventually opening part of the line in 2007 and the rest in late 2009.

Several pro-monorail residents thanked council members for approving the agreement and moving the monorail a step closer to reality, in a city plagued by traffic congestion. "This is the transportation we deserve," downtown resident Bob Hollowell said.

Councilman Richard McIver, who frequently questioned the project and the agreement, said he was pleased with it overall but disappointed the final version didn't require building the Madison station or keep trains farther from buildings on 15th Avenue in Crown Hill. The council established minimum distances between the monorail and buildings in two other neighborhoods.

Richard Borkowski, leader of a pro-transit group and frequent monorail critic, said the monorail should release estimates of its future operating expenses, as a proposed city trolley project has done.

The financial review, expanded in the final versions of the deal, requires the monorail agency to provide the city's financial consultant with an explanation and schedule for the anticipated revenue and costs for construction and operations as well as plans for financing and sale of bonds.

The monorail's deputy director, Anne Levinson, said the agency has "a sense" of what eventual financing and operating costs will be but it has not discussed them before two teams of construction and operating contractors submit bids. Levinson said the monorail board will conduct its own review of the project's finances before it decides to begin construction. "Today (at the council) was another significant milestone," she said.

P-I reporter Larry Lange can be reached at 206-448-8313 or larrylange@seattlepi.com

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