Drafter
Clerk 11/05/2015
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A MOTION approving the executive's plan for phased removal of rail tracks from the Eastside Rail Corridor and authorizing the executive to proceed with such a plan, in compliance with Ordinance 17503.
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WHEREAS, the Woodinville Subdivision, formerly referred to as the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe ("BNSF") rail line corridor, is an approximately forty-two-mile long railroad corridor that extends south from the city of Snohomish in Snohomish county to the cities of Renton and Redmond in King County, passing through unincorporated King County and the cities of Woodinville, Kirkland, Bellevue, Renton and Redmond, and
WHEREAS, in accordance with the federal National Trails Act and its implementing regulations, 16 U.S.C. 1247(d) and 49 C.F.R. l152.29 ("the Trails Act"), in December 2009 King County entered into an interim trail use agreement with BNSF Railway Company to railbank a portion of the Woodinville Subdivision on the mainline from Woodinville to Renton as well as the Redmond Spur from Woodinville to Redmond, subject to reactivation for the resumption of interstate freight service, and
WHEREAS, the railbanked portions of the Woodinville Subdivision are now known as the Eastside Rail Corridor ("ERC"), and King County remains the designated interim trail user for the ERC outside the city of Redmond, and
WHEREAS, on February 8, 2013, after the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority ("Sound Transit") acquired a high-capacity transportation easement and other property interests in the ERC, and after Puget Sound Energy, the city of Redmond and the city of Kirkland acquired interests in the ERC, King County and the Port of Seattle executed a purchase and sale agreement through which King County acquired from the Port of Seattle all of the port's remaining property interests in the ERC in support of outcomes including: providing a well-integrated trail system that supports the regional transportation network; co...
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