Open Letter from Community Leaders Calling for Council Delay and Review of Pending Multi-Million Dollar South Lake Union Land Sale Involving City and Vulcan-Owned Properties
(for more information contact 632-0668 or Signatories)
- And a call for hearings and re-establishment of the Public-Private Partnership Review Committee to review pending plans
April 26, 2004
Seattle City Councilmembers
2nd Floor Muncipal Building
600 4th Avenue – 2nd Floor
Seattle, Wa. 98104
Dear Councilmembers:
As activists and community leaders, it has recently come to our attention that the Mayor’s Office, Seattle City Light, and Vulcan Inc. are very close to completing a major land transaction involving millions in city funds and the sale of city-owned land in South Lake Union. Conversations we have had with City staff, and documents we have examined (including attached documents) make it clear that negotiations are nearing completion involving possible re-purchase by the City of some or all of the properties along Mercer only recently sold to Vulcan in 2001. This transaction also appears to include an exchange of properties whereby Vulcan would transfer parcels now under its control to the City of Seattle for construction of a city light substation in the area. Vulcan may also be given the right to joint use of the site where a substation would be located.
We are very concerned that the public’s interest is not being adequately represented in these negotiations and that decisions are being made prematurely and behind closed doors which will then be presented after the fact to the Council precluding an opportunity either for public comment or Council involvement in the process.
In so far as these negotiations also involve re-purchase of sites along Mercer Avenue that the City only recently sold to Vulcan, we have reason to worry about significant losses that the City may be incurring due to this exchange – first selling these properties cheap only to buy them back at inflated values. Given that re-purchase of these sites is only necessary if the City’s proceeds with the Mayor’s planned 200 million dollar expansion of the Mercer Corridor, this also looks like an attempt to solidify these plans before they have been approved or even reviewed by the Council and before the public has had any opportunity to weigh in. No such transfer or sale involving these properties should occur before completion of an EIS or Council approval of a Mercer Plan, and certainly not before the deal is vetted fully by the Council, the community, and the public-private partnership review panel.
We are writing to call on Councilmembers to play a direct and active role in the process of these negotiations in order to ensure that the community’s interests are fully represented. As part of your role, we urge you to immediately insist on a briefing with the Mayor’s office and to hold public hearings, when appropriate, so the public may comment prior to the final stages of these negotiations. Also, as stated above, no agreement should be reached at all on any deal involving re-purchase of Mercer sites before EIS review and Council approval of a Mercer Street Corridor expansion. We also urge you to reconvene the public-private partnership review panel so that this body may have an opportunity to review and comment before these transactions are finalized. This would seem especially appropriate given the amount of city funds and resources at stake in these negotiations and given the fact that this citizen panel formerly did play a role and commented on the City’s original sale of these parcels to Vulcan in 2001.
We also understand that a parking garage for South Lake Union may also be in the mix and have provided documents to this effect suggesting that such a structure may involve joint Vulcan-City ownership and/or use. We also have documents indicating one option being considered for the substation site would involve a partnership with Vulcan similar to the Nordstrom Parking Garage deal. As you know, it was widespread public indignation over financial losses to the City accompanying the Nordstrom arrangement that prompted creation of the public-private review panel in the first place. This is all the more reason why these South Lake Union deals should be thoroughly aired and weighed by the Council.
We have attached relevant documentation that we believe confirms these negotiations are occurring and likely reaching conclusion. We urge you to look it over and please adopt the recommendations in our letter. Thank you for your consideration.
Signatories Include:
(Please note that these community leaders are not signing on behalf of their community organizations. They are signing on only as individuals and in some cases as members of the Seattle Displacement Coalition. We have listed the community in which they reside and in some cases a city-wide affiliation but for ID purposes only. Those with an asterisk next to their names also are members of the CrossTown Coalition Steering Committee)
Mathew Fox University District Resident *
John McLaren Displacement Coalition
Jeannie Hale Laurelhurst Resident *
David Bloom University District Resident
John V. Fox Displacement Coalition *
Joe Martin Displacement Coalition
Jan Brucker Northgate/Licton Springs *
Carolee Colter Southeast Seattle Resident *
Vishaka Smith Seattle Resident
Christine Lea Cascade Resident *
Joyce Moty Mount Baker Resident *
Lisa Merki Pritchard Beach Resident *
Gary Clark Capitol Hill Resident *
A. Malaika Lafferty Cascade Resident
Irene Wall Phinney Ridge Resident *
Kent Kammerer Ballard Resident *
Rick Barrett Haller Lake Resident *
Phil Bereano Southeast Seattle Resident
Salley Kinney Seattle Resident
Candi Wilvany Cascade Resident
Earl J. Bell Univ. Heights Resident
Lloyd Douglas Cascade Resident
Scott Species Cascade Resident
John F Dodd West Seattle Resident *
Matrea O’Hora Cascade Resident
Curt Firestone Seattle Resident
Ann Donovan Capitol Hill Resident
Chris Leman Eastlake Resident
Rich Hangartner Seattle Resident
Susan Tillet Seattle Resident
Attached City Documents (in order) supporting our concern and call for involvement by the City Council and Public/Private Partnership Review Panel:
Note we have added our own brackets to highlight key quotes in these documents related to pending land sales/swap, the status of a proposed parking garage, amounts of city funding involved, and other relevant material. Taken together these documents tell us that a land sale/swap is imminent involving possible re-purchase of sites along Mercer (where a City-Vulcan parking garage may also be created), and involving acquisition and possible joint use of a site where a substation will be located. This deal (or deals) involve several million dollars worth of city funds and or land the City currently owns. Documents we have found (see attachments 19 and 20 below showing City Light timeline) indicate that a purchase of a substation site is likely occurring now. These documents also make it clear that negotiations over parcels along Mercer are also going on now and likely nearing completion. Also, these doc’s indicate a possible value of City Light’s purchase at 9-13 million dollars – well above a threshold for activation of the public-private partnership review panel. The documents in order are:
1. April 20, 2004, Matrix taken from last week’s Office of Neighborhood’s pp 1-3
website, see especially page 3 (top of page) POS 19 identifying “on-going”
plans for parking garage and implementation of a plan for disposition of
properties along Mercer. Karen Tsao from Fleets and Services in charge.
2. Feb. 2004 Minutes from City’s Interdepartmental Meeting #70) See especially pp 4-5
page 4, item 5.2 and 6.1, and 6.2 (in brackets) indicating negotiations underway
for sale of Parcel 14 and other parcels along Mercer. Also says that Vulcan
“will begin working on this”. These parcels are specifically the former city parcels
sold to Vulcan in 2001 located along Mercer. Note also 5.2 references meetings
with property owners over possible sites identified for substation
3. November 2004 city document listing SLU planning team members. Doc’ pp 6-7
identifies Karen Tsao in charge of “Parcel 14 negotiations and in charge
of parcels 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, and 13. This is work that is on-going.
4. Oct 27 2003 minutes of inter-departmental planning team indicating on-going pp 8-9
negotiations and work on parcels 14 and other parcels along Mercer (see
bracketed materials on p. 9 especially
5. June 27, 2003 memo from Elizabeth Anderson of Public Utilities to Eric Tweit p 10
of SDOT saying that “the property trades being considered along Valley, Fairview
and Boren are significant …”
6. April 16, 2003 memo from Mercer Planning Team to Eric Tweit of SDOT pp 11-16
(see especially bracketed material on pp’s 14 and 16) indicating planning
for parking garage is on-going
7. Sept 19, 2000 document from Sue Walsh of City Light. Even back then p. 17
there was talk of a possible City/Vulcan joint use of site to be purchased
for substation
8. Nov. 13th 2000 memo from Bob Klug SCL indicating “we talked about possible p. 18
co-location of the substation…inside Vulcan properties”
9. Oct. 24, 2002 Meeting Notes from meeting between City and Vulcan pp 19-21
representatives (see especially bracketed materials indicating plans for
Vulcan City joint use and operation of a substation site also developed
for Vulcan purposes). Discussion here also of sites identified for purchase
and development of this joint use project. Vulcan playing instrumental role
even ‘taking the lead’ on purchase of one of the sites
10. Nov. 20th 2002 SCL meeting notes indicating level of cooperation between City pp. 22-23
and Vulcan on purchase and development of a site for substation
11. Oct. 2nd 2002 memo from City Light discussing how joint use could work for pp. 24
tax purposes – this arrangement is identical to the Nordstrom’s parking garage
deal.
12. October 21, 2002 memo from Michael Clark to City Light indicating that p 25
they are investigating examples elsewhere of “multi-use” substations and
how this could work in South Lake Union
13. October 8, 2002 SCL memo (see bracketed materials), discussing the possibility p. 26
of using Nordstrom-Like financing model “Vulcan decide to help us acquire the
property and build the substation as a turn-key project
14. Thomas Carr memo to City Light showing how financing works under the p. 27-31
Nordstrom-Like model
15. Dec. 3rd 2002 memo from Bob Klug of SCL to City Light team members p 31
informing members of the team of upcoming meeting with Jay Reich of
Preston Gates, Cindy Evans (Howard S. Wright), and John Finke of National
Development to discuss financing model for a joint use substation site. John
Finke was the consultant who packaged the Nordstrom Deal.
16. November 5, 2003 memo from Carol Everson to Alec Fisken and Michael Mann p. 32
informing them that Vulcan’s most recent land purchase was higher than expected
“above the level assumed for SLU sub purchase…that might add something to
the cost….we should be moving fairly quickly”.
17. March 2004 PowerPoint presentation to City Council Energy Committee indicating p 33-34
indicating they are pursuing joint use on substation site. See especially bracketed
bullets on p. 34
18. Summary of Council’s Bill approving original 2001 sale of it’s properties along p. 36
Mercer to Vulcan. See bracketed para’s indicating that the City would come back
later and engage in planning with Vulcan for a joint use parking garage whereby
Vulcan would develop it and the city would have the right to lease spaces (at a cost
of $30,000 per stall). Note doc
19. Nov. 4 2003 timeline obtained from City Light (see circled items) indicating that p. 37-38
in the 1st Qtr 2004 decisions will be made regarding future of land in SLU for
future substation and early in 2nd Qtr “determine and secure land cost for SLU
substation”
20. Handwritten timeline from City Light affirming that City Light is closing in on p 39
purchase of a site for substation
21. Handwritten notes obtained in a disclosure request to Heidi Wills Office p. 40
- a meeting in 2002 apparently between Wills and City Light rep’s
indicating that purchase of a 60,000 sq. ft. substation represents one-tenth
the cost of the substation (estimate at about 100 million dollars). Also handwritten
note at bottom of page say a $9-$13 million cost)
Two copies of all 40 pages of city documents referenced in this appendix and in order will be given to Geri Beardsley of the Council Central Staff as of 3:00PM this afternoon April 28th
Or you may review them by calling 632-0668