Utilize the B7 alignment for the best service and least adverse impacts to the City of Bellevue!
The current Bellevue City Council took a vote on a preferred alignment for light rail through Bellevue, and B7 was chosen as the preferred alignment. The majority of the Bellevue City Council (Mayor Don Davidson, Deputy Mayor Conrad Lee, Jennifer Robertson, and Kevin Wallace) support the B7 alignment. Numerous Bellevue citizens, business owners & property owners have already testified at Bellevue’s Public Hearing on Light Rail that they are overwhelmingly in favor of the B7 alignment for light rail routing through Bellevue. 70% of the comments made on Sound Transit’s DEIS were also in favor of B7. The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce and the Bellevue Club both support the B7 alignment, as do many Downtown Bellevue business leaders & property owners. Here are some other advantages of the B7 alignment:
- B7 aligns with the City of Bellevue’s Comprehensive Plan.
- B7 aligns with the City of Bellevue’s Land Use Code.
- B7 aligns with the City of Bellevue’s Best Practices for Light Rail Study (which was done at a cost of $400,000).
- B7 utilizes existing right of way (ROW).
- B7 avoids adverse noise impacts (which Sound Transit has not yet been able to solve in Tukwila neighborhoods) to the Enatai, Bellefield Manor Apartments, Bellefield Condominiums, Carriage Place Condominiums on 112th, Bellecrest, and Surrey Downs neighborhoods.
- B7 has comparable travel time & ridership to other B alignments.
- All analysis to date points to environmental impacts being lessened by using the B7 alignment.
- B7 avoids adverse impacts to the F.W. Winters House, the only property on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on the Eastside, and avoids a potential $50 Million mitigation cost to avoid impacts to the property.
- B7 links easily to the proposed NE 2nd tunnel in the Downtown, which would minimize noise & other impacts to the Downtown and Surrey Downs neighborhoods.
- B7 supports the accepted lawful practice of “Home Rule,” whereby cities make their own decisions regarding land use and zoning.
Sound Transit must take into account the foresight and planning decisions that have made the City of Bellevue the successful city it is today. 30 years of planning decisions by previous Bellevue City Councils directed high capacity transit (HCT- which light rail is one form, along with Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT) to be placed on the I-405 corridor, so utilizing existing right of way is not a new idea.
Additionally, in the early 1980s, the Bellevue City Council also pledged to protect the neighborhoods that border the Bellevue Downtown (West Bellevue, VueCrest, Northtown, Surrey Downs, Bellecrest, etc.) from the adverse impacts of the growth of the Downtown.
Along with our Bellevue City Council, please support our efforts to implement the best possible alignment for light rail in Bellevue, the B7 alignment, by contributing your time or financial support today!