CITY OF SHORELINE
SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL
Monday, July 23, 2007 - 6:00 p.m.
Shoreline Conference Center
Highlander Room
PRESENT: Mayor Ransom, Deputy Mayor Fimia, Councilmembers Gustafson, McGlashan, Ryu, and Way
ABSENT: Councilmember Hansen
STAFF: Bob Olander, City Manager; Mark Relph, Public Works Manager; Ronald F. Moore, Deputy City Clerk; Alicia Sherman, Aurora Corridor Project Planner
GUESTS: Bob Ferguson, King County Councilmember; Shari Tracey, Legislative Aide; Arthur Thornbury, Regional Transit Committee
The dinner meeting convened at 6:05 p.m.
King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson discussed the Metro Transit Subarea issue. Councilmember Ferguson announced that there will be new transit service hours which will be allocated in a “40-40-20 split” in the three regional zones. He added that it makes more sense for Lake Forest Park, Bothell, and Shoreline to have more of the service based on the population splits. In order to accomplish this, he said that Shoreline and Lake Forest Park should move to the East subarea to receive more service hours and not be included with the City of Seattle. He said this can be acted upon now or the Council can wait until next year. However, it is easier to do now because of the September King County Council meeting. He introduced Mr. Arthur Thornbury from the Regional Transit Committee, who reviewed the long-term population trends which affect the three regions.
Mr. Thornbury stated that the population growth from now until 2022 is evenly distributed between East and West subareas. He handed out a spreadsheet detailing population and job growth in King County.
Councilmember Ferguson stated that he won’t move forward with the subarea move if there are objections from the cities. He said he has spoken to Lake Forest Park and Bothell and they are agreeable to moving to the East subarea. He said Shoreline should consider this move to receive more service hours in Shoreline. He reiterated that the City can do better in the East subarea as opposed to the West subarea.
Bob Olander stated he received a call and there are some East subarea cities that are aware of this proposed move. He also noted that service hours are not established by the cities.
Mr. Thornbury explained that the transit division identifies where the greatest needs are for transit service within each subarea. He highlighted that input has been received from the cities concerning service hours. Additionally, he highlighted that the Seashore Transportation Forum and the Regional Transit Improvement District (RTID) only recommend where the service goes. He added that if all the mentioned cities agree with the move, then Seashore would have to write an agreement for each city to approve.
Mr. Olander added that Renton is in the South subarea.
Councilmember Way asked how this will affect Seattle if Shoreline and Lake Forest Park moves into another subarea.
Mr. Ferguson said it would be a “win-win” situation because Seattle would have the same percentage of service hours to support less people in their subarea.
Councilmember Way asked how it would affect traffic in Shoreline. She commented that it took her one and one-half hours to get from Seattle to Shoreline by transit on Saturday.
Mr. Thornbury responded that moving to the East subarea wouldn’t affect service as it is now. He said it would increase the total number of service hours; however, if you are in a subarea that doesn’t have enough hours already then it wouldn’t make a difference.
Councilmember McGlashan said there is a voting issue in Seashore and Shoreline has more in common with Seattle.
Councilmember Ryu asked if the 40-40-20 split would ever be changed. Councilmember Ferguson said the split would never be changed and it is a long-term allocation.
Councilmember Ryu said this is a great opportunity for cities outside of King County, and since there isn’t money tied up with this it is even better.
Councilmember Ferguson commented that Lake Forest Park will be moving forward on this and Shoreline would need to consider let him know as soon as possible if they want to move.
Councilmember McGlashan commented that the City would get more service, but it would be more of a fight with other cities to get the service hours.
Councilmember Gustafson said the City certainly wants more service hours. However, if the East subarea is growing it will be hard to obtain service hours. He said of the 18 bus routes in the City of Shoreline, 16 are shared with the City of Seattle. He suggested having the cities of Shoreline, Seattle, and Lake Forest Park sit down to discuss the issue. He said he has some reservations but is willing to take a look at moving subareas.
Councilmember Ferguson said he is not sure the 16 routes in Seattle would cause a problem.
Councilmember Way asked Mr. Olander about the demographics in the City of Shoreline and how they affect transit.
Mr. Olander responded that he didn’t have that information available at this time.
Councilmember Ferguson said that if the City wanted to go forward he would need a decision by September 1 to bring to the King County Council, and further discussion would take place in the middle of September. He added that the budget was adopted and the 2008 budget will be done at the end of the year. He solicited input from the City concerning projects. He announced that the supplemental budget included the following allocations:
Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Senior Center - $10,000
YMCA - $50,000
Center for Human Services - $25,000
Chamber of Commerce - $10,000
He concluded that there was a budget recommendation for the allocation of $400,000 for the Conservation Futures for South Woods and Kruckeberg Gardens.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
At 6:45 p.m., Mayor Ransom announced that the Council would recess into Executive Session for a period of 45 minutes to discuss real estate acquisition. At 7:25 p.m. the Executive Session concluded and the workshop dinner meeting reconvened.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m.
/S/ Ronald F. Moore, Deputy City Clerk