Kent-Des Moines Station and Star Lake Station are the preferred choices by a Kent City Council committee for the two new light rail facilities.
The council’s Public Works Committee voted 3-0 on April 18 to approve a resolution to recommend that the Sound Transit Board choose those two names at its May 26 meeting. The council’s committee recommendation goes May 3 to the full City Council.
Sound Transit is constructing a 7.8-mile extension from Angle Lake Station in SeaTac to Federal Way that is scheduled to open in 2024. The extension will have two stations in Kent and one in Federal Way.
Star Lake Station is the only name on a list of finalists submitted by Sound Transit staff after public input. That station will be at South 272nd Street just west of Interstate 5 at a former park and ride lot.
Kent’s other station will be near 30th Avenue South, just east of Pacific Highway South and south of Kent Des Moines Road. The other considerations by Sound Transit include Midway, Highline and Highline College.
Sound Transit staff listed one drawback to the Kent-Des Moines Station name. The agency already has a Kent Station in the Valley for the Sounder commuter train, which might confuse people.
“Kent Station and Kent-Des Moines Station, I don’t confuse the two,” said Kent City Councilmember Brenda Fincher at the Public Works Committee meeting. “I prefer Kent-Des Moines and I already voted for that. People coming to the city already get off at the Kent Des Moines exit from the freeway, and it ties in with what we already refer to it as.”
When Sound Transit held public meetings in Federal Way and Des Moines in 2019 and conducted an online survey, 390 people preferred the Kent-Des Moines name out of 552 votes, according to the city of Kent staff. A total of 529 voted for Star Lake Station name out of 678 votes.
Sound Transit’s station naming policy puts an emphasis on geography, using the name of a city, neighborhood, landmark, or a combination of those.
“People who ride the regional transit system this will let them know they’re in Kent and in Des Moines,” said Kelly Peterson, city Public Works deputy director, during his report to the council committee.
The Des Moines City Council recently approved a resolution to send a letter to the Sound Transit Board to pick Kent-Des Moines Station, Peterson said.
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