When Sound Transit expands light rail along Pacific Highway from Sea-Tac Airport to Kent by 2020, city officials want to help turn the area into a transit-oriented corridor with high-rise buildings to house businesses and residents.
City planners presented an overview of Envision Midway at a Kent City Council workshop Aug. 18 at City Hall. Envision Midway is a collaborative planning effort between the state, and the cities of Kent and Des Moines.
The Midway area stretches for 3 1/2 miles between South 216th Street and South 272nd Street along Pacific Highway. Sound Transit plans to expand light rail by 2020 to Highline Community College near South 240th Street and by 2023 to South 272nd Street.
“Our vision is to transform an auto-oriented corridor into a transit-oriented corridor,” said Gloria Gould-Wessen, Kent city planner, at the workshop. “It would be a dense development and pedestrian-friendly to support the transit coming in the next 10 to 15 years.”
City planners expect to submit an ordinance to the Council early next year to seek its approval on new design guidelines and development regulations for the Midway area.
“I think we’re going in the right direction,” Councilwoman Deborah Ranniger said at the workshop. “The (light rail) hub near the Highline Community College campus makes sense because of all of the synergy there.”
Council members agreed that they would like to see the proposed, elevated light-rail station along Pacific Highway near Highline to be built on the east side of the highway.
Councilman Tim Clark said a light-rail station on the east side of the highway would allow more room for development around the station compared to the west side that would sit next to the Highline and limit the ability of the college to expand its campus.
“The businesses on the east side could be easily moved,” Clark said.
City officials already have held meetings with residents and developers on the Midway proposal to get their input on redevelopment in the area.
“Building heights could go up to 200 feet, which is about 16 stories,” Gould-Wessen said. “We showed people computer models and the small section of the community that attended (meetings) thought that was a great idea and that they would move to a condo there.”
Councilwoman Elizabeth Albertson said the goal of the redevelopment would be to build up rather than more strip malls.
“It could be a Trader Joe’s on the bottom with apartments above rather than a flat Trader Joe’s,” Albertson said.
Councilman Ron Harmon said it will be important to find developers who would like to partner with the city to help achieve the goals for urban housing and shopping along the light-rail line.
Albertson suggested the city might want to offer developers a multi-use, property-tax exemption similar to what the Council approved earlier this year to encourage downtown development.
“One way to make it happen is to encourage the type of development we want,” Albertson said.
Residents will get a chance to comment at a public hearing on the Envision Midway plan when the proposal goes this fall before the city Land Use and Planning Board. City staff has yet to set a date for the public hearing.
For more information about Envision Midway, go to www.envisionmidway.com, or call city planner Gloria Gould-Wessen at 253-856-5441.
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