The Kent site under consideration by Sound Transit for a light rail Operations and Maintenance Facility would take the longest to build (six to eight years) and be the most expensive to construct ($1.7 to $2.8 billion) compared to two Federal Way alternative sites.
But the former Midway Landfill site on the West Hill also would create the fewest residential, business and employee displacements of the three site alternatives. It also would result in no impacts to community and social resources, wetland or streams and create the fewest forest impacts.
Those are several of the conclusions in the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) released about the three sites March 5 by Sound Transit.
The 68-acre landfill site is bordered by South 246th Street and South 252nd Street, and between Interstate 5 and Pacific Highway South. The landfill closed in 1983.
The facility would serve about 144 light rail vehicles as Sound Transit cleans vehicles every night and regularly pulls vehicles out of service to perform routine maintenance.
“Before Sound Transit builds projects, we study the potential impacts each project alternative may have on the natural and built environment in a document called an environmental impact statement (EIS),” according to the draft report. “The EIS helps Sound Transit and our project partners evaluate the possible impacts of each potential site on the environment during construction and operation, and compares the effects of each alternative to inform the public, agencies and the Sound Transit Board.”
The Federal Way sites are along South 336th Street and South 344th Street.
During the 45-day draft EIS comment period, which ends April 19, the public can submit formal responses online, via email, by voicemail, by regular mail or during one of two online public meetings on March 24 and March 30.
For more information and to comment, go to https://omfsouth.participate.online/.
Sound Transit started construction in 2020 on a 7.8-mile extension of light rail from Angle Lake Station in SeaTac to the Federal Way Transit Center. Two light rail stations will be built in Kent and one in Federal Way. The estimated $3.1 billion project is expected to open for service in 2024.
The Operations and Maintenance Facility will cost $1.2 billion to $2.8 billion (depending on the site) with a potential opening date of 2029.
“The Sound Transit Board will consider all feedback from the public, agencies and tribes as they work to identify a ‘preferred alternative’ in summer/fall 2021,” according to the agency. “A preferred alternative is a statement of where the agency is leaning based on information available at the time. It’s not a final decision.
“We’ll then prepare a final EIS, which will evaluate the preferred and other alternatives, and include responses to all substantive comments received on the draft EIS. We expect to publish the final EIS in 2022, after which the board will select the project to be built.”
City of Kent reaction
Kent city leaders plan to take their time before deciding whether to lobby for the facility in Midway.
“It is hard to answer specific questions about Sound Transit’s OMF draft EIS as it was just released March 5, and we are still reviewing the details and specifics of the draft plan,” said Bailey Stober, city communications manager, in a March 8 email. “We need to go through the proper process to fully understand the contents and then decide if it is a plan acceptable to the residents of Kent. We remain pleased that we were able to successfully lobby Sound Transit to keep Lowe’s Home Improvement and Dick’s Drive-In off of the list for potential sites so those jobs and services can continue benefiting Kent.”
A Sound Transit Board committee in May 2019 removed the Lowe’s/Dick’s Drive-In site in Kent from consideration for the facility.
The facility would employ more than 470 people in South King County. At Sound Transit’s existing Operations and Maintenance Facility in Seattle, the average employee wage is more than $40 per hour, or $80,000/year.
“If the Midway site was selected, the benefits could potentially be taking a piece of land that has been out of use for several years and putting it back into use for community benefit,” Stober said. “Additionally, it would bring those Sound Transit jobs to Kent giving our residents another opportunity to find a good paying job close to home. In turn, also adding to a population of people who are spending money in Kent, around their worksite.”
Stober wasn’t ready yet to discuss potential negative impacts of the Kent site.
“The cons or downside of the plan can’t be measured yet to see if any actually exist because we haven’t done a full evaluation of the plan or gone through the formal process,” Stober said. “We want to respect Sound Transit and their process as they go through the review steps, similar to, the review the city will take of the draft plan. In the event we see issues that raise concern we will work directly with Sound Transit to address those issues to ensure if the Midway site is selected it is a community benefit.”
Project timeline, cost
The current schedule is to begin construction by about 2024; Sound Transit expects the facility could be open for operation between 2029 and 2034, depending on the alternative selected to be built. Depending on the outcome of realignment (a potential delay due to a financial shortfall), this schedule could change, resulting in a delayed opening or the construction of the facility in phases to reach full operational capacity over time.
It would take much longer to build the facility at Midway due to construction on a landfill. The estimate is between six to eight years. The facility could be built at either Federal Way site in about four years.
The Midway alternative has a construction estimate of $2.2 to $2.8 billion for the platform construction option, $1.8 to $2.3 billion for the hybrid construction option, and $1.7 to $2.1 billion for the full excavation construction option. Cost estimates are about $1.2 billion for each of the Federal Way sites.
Sound Transit developed the three subsurface construction design options for building a facility on the landfill: platform, hybrid and full excavation. Under the platform subsurface construction design option, the facility would be built on a 3.5-foot-thick concrete slab platform supported on approximately 700 concrete-filled drilled shafts.
“There is potential increased construction cost risk for the Midway Landfill Alternative due to the low level of design completed at this phase and the uncertain nature of underground conditions at the landfill,” according to the draft report.
The Midway alternative has an annual operating estimate of $11 million. The South 336th Street and South 344th Street alternatives both have an annual operating estimate of $10 million.
The site would include the Operations and Maintenance Facility building, the Maintenance of Way building, the Link System-Wide Storage building, storage tracks, training track, parking and yard areas. There would be approximately 450 parking spaces, including spaces for employees, visitors, accessible parking, and non-revenue Sound Transit vehicles. The yard area encompasses approximately 8.5 acres.
The Midway alternative has no residential displacements. The South 336th Street alternative has 14 residential displacements from the site and 47 to 59 from the additional track impacts. The South 344th Street alternative has 20 residential displacements from the site and 47 to 59 from the additional track impacts.
The Midway alternative has four business displacements and the South 336th Street has two. The South 344th Street alternative would have 11 business displacements from the site and one from the additional track impacts.
Forty-three employees would be displaced by the Midway site; 96 at South 336th Street and 138 at South 344th Street.
One church (Christian Faith Center) would be displaced at South 336th Street and three churches would be impacted at South 344th Street. Midway doesn’t impact any churches.
Another advantage of Midway, it has no wetland impacts, according to the report. South 336th Street would impact 3.5 acres of wetland and South 344th would impact 1.5 acres. Both Federal Way sites also would impact streams.
About 4 aces of forest would be impacted by building the facility at Midway. That impact would be 15 acres at South 336th and 12 acres at South 344th streets.
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Construction in 2020 at the new Operations and Maintenance Facility for light rail vehicles in Bellevue. COURTESY PHOTO, Sound Transit
A look at the potential layout of a Operations and Maintenance Facility at the Midway Landfill in Kent. COURTESY GRAPHIC, Sound Transit
The location of a potential Operations and Maintenance Facility for light rail vehicles on Kent’s West Hill. COURTESY GRAPHIC, Sound Transit
