On Monday, the Seattle City Council passed a resolution officially defining and declaring their role and responsibilities in negotiations of a potential KeyArena redevelopment. That focus by the city has, for all intents and purposes, placed a hold on study of the second SoDo arena group request for a street vacation.
The resolution was based on a letter sent by the council to Seattle mayor Ed Murray on June 26, 2017, detailing the expectations from the city council of the executive branch in their negotiations with the Oak View Group over a memorandum of understanding pertaining to a KeyArena project.
It was in that letter that the council set the September 12th deadline for a draft MOU ahead of a busy 2018 budget process expected to begin at the end of September.
The council’s Select Committee on Civic Arenas met on Monday morning and forwarded to the full council a request to add the letter as an attachment to the resolution. The language of the resolution was made more general on the advice of the city’s legal department, and the letter was attached to offer context. Some tweaks to the language were also proposed to clarify that the resolution does not guarantee a specific outcome in the council’s decision-making over the arena project.
The changes and the full resolution unanimously passed 8-0 in the full council meeting on Monday afternoon. Councilmember Kshama Sawant was not present.
With city resources being routed to studying the KeyArena redevelopment proposal and negotiating the MOU, the Occidental Avenue street vacation request by the SoDo arena investment group is effectively on indefinite hold.
The request is a second attempt following a 5-4 decision by the council in May 2016 to deny conditional approval of a one-block strip of a relatively less-used road.
Reaching out to Beverly Barnett, manager of the street vacation application process for the Seattle Department of Transportation, Chris Daniels of KING5-TV confirmed that review of the request is currently not a priority for the city.
When SoDo investor Chris Hansen submitted the new request in February, most at the city anticipated the review to be a six month process, Daniels points out. Council president Bruce Harrell told KJR radio in the spring that they expected to get to the SoDo vacation in August, September, or October.
It’s no longer clear if the request will be addressed before the MOU between the SoDo group, the city, and the county effectively ends in early December.
A few more items of note at the Select Committee meeting:
- During public comments, the president of the African-American Longshore Coalition, the president of the Seattle King County chapter of the NAACP, and the owner of a trucking company in SoDo each spoke in support of the SoDo arena project and of Chris Hansen’s reaching out to the community to ensure that minority-owned businesses and minority trade would be a focus of hiring for the construction project.
- Director of the Office of Economic Development Brian Surratt informed the council that the executive staff has met with OVG for three full-day negotiation sessions on the MOU. They plan at least one more full-day meeting, and they fully expect to have the draft MOU handed to the council by September 12th.
- Councilmember Lorena Gonzalez brought up a noteworthy question on the “deliverable” items between the meetings of the Select Committee and the expectation of what the committee should be doing between meetings going forward. Gonzalez was joined by Councilmember Mike O’Brien on concerns about the limited time with the MOU given the upcoming budget process and the staff resources that will be devoted to it. This is particularly in light of the executive branch’s desire to have the MOU passed and done before the end of the year.
- Councilmember Tim Burgess confirmed with Surratt that nothing in the arena redevelopment process impacts the 2018 city budget. Councilmember Rob Johnson shared his thoughts that the transportation issue might have an effect on the budget.
- Gonzalez was surprised to find that no one with direct expertise on transportation and traffic mobility planning was included in the community advisory group. Surratt and Seattle Center director Robert Nellams spoke about how the advisory group has helped the most to define the scope of transportation study needed and the expertise to bring in to aid in mobility solutions.
Full disclosure: Sonics Rising founder Brian Robinson is a member of the arena community advisory group.
Comments
Shame.
By PyroKinesis on 08.14.17 9:11pm
By unknownn on 08.15.17 1:08am
Is all hope lost?
By SquawkMantra on 08.14.17 9:16pm
I think it's crystal clear that Sodo will never get a fair shake
It still boggles my mind how badly this city has f**ked this up. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. Un freaking believable.
By rtallmadge on 08.14.17 9:40pm
By the way this whole "transportation bah who cares" BS that is going on through out this shows exactly how they are going to force this whole thing thru
Fucking Key Arena…..the gift and the curse that wont die.
By Trolltossin on 08.14.17 11:18pm
Considering transportation was the biggest issue they talked about
specifically related to the proposal today, I have to call foul on this "transportation bah who cares" notion.
By Matt Tucker on 08.15.17 12:13am
Yes talk, but will there be any action?
By Jeff - j1012 on 08.15.17 3:23am
From the tweets I read
Transportation was given short shrift. Gonzalez asked a question about the composition of the committee and it was answered, not all that satisfactorily, but answered. No concerns raised about egress from Mercer from big sporting events.
Good to see truckers say there would be no issue in commuting from Hansen’s arena and good to the NAACP leadership praise Hansen’s SODO deal and what it offered to union and POC.
The thing is, the council just voted to sink their teeth into this MOU with OVG; they haven’t examined the fine details yet nor have they had the opportunity to shape it into something that it and OVG can live with. We’re still in the early innings to paraphrase Danger Wilson.
The seeming lack of interest in this arena deal among the council people was rather disturbing, but what else is new with this outfit.
By NWEastcoaster on 08.15.17 6:07am
I already posted my observations in the expansion team story comments, before this one existed
Something that speaks to your last point that I omitted there came when the timing of all this was being questioned, as far as being able to get the work done this year. Juarez addressed one of those concerns by saying something to the effect of being worried about having to "work on the MOU, not ‘real issues’" before taking that back and ackowledging that the arena situation was a real issue.
By Mr. Shea on 08.15.17 8:09am
This was a check-in meeting
Gonzalez, Bagshaw, and Johnson all specifically addressed transportation and mobility. It was the only specific topic about the arena addressed during the meeting, so I find the idea that it was given short shrift a dubious conclusion.
By Matt Tucker on 08.15.17 11:00am
My concerns with the transportation issues
While Gonzalez fortunately broached the issue of transportation, specifically the lack of a transportation person on the committee, I was dissatisfied with Nellams’ response that the committee was limited to so-called experts within the communities surrounding the Key. I would appreciate adding the input of people who are transportation experts who do not live in the community and can potentially give a much more informed, dispassionate and objective evaluation of the issues and problems facing people who will be commuting to (in some cases from far outside the community) and departing from the Key and what can be done to accommodate them or if anything can be done. It can’t all be about what LQA/SLU residents want for the terms of transportation if the Key project is going to work for all, including the fans commuting to the arena and the investors that will put a professional sports product on the ice, and maybe the hardwood.
As I said previously, no concerns appeared to be expressed about the Mercer mess and the impact on 40-80 game nights.
And how are those talks going on our cherished local heirloom the Monorail, e.g., Orca card access and what to do about funding for efficient service that minimizes headways on game nights? That’s right, they had nothing to say on that.
They’re going to run this through cause they don’t wanna deal with SODO unless they absolutely have to and transportation for fans be damned.
But I’m very encouraged by their resoluteness.
By NWEastcoaster on 08.15.17 7:00pm
I found both Gonzalez's concern and Surratt's answer to be on point
Gonzalez is working her best to keep the process honest, which I appreciate. I know the executive wants to get the MOU signed, sealed, and delivered this year, but I have a feeling everyone realizes that’s likely unrealistic. Personally, while I wouldn’t be shocked if they get it done anyway, I expect the MOU to be addressed early next year. Two weeks in September and a month from November to December with the holidays doesn’t seem very feasible, especially given the tendencies of the Seattle city council.
I thought Gonzalez’s concern over having an actual transpo expert on the community advisory group made a lot of sense. But I also don’t think Surratt’s answer was unsatisfactory or off-base. The advisory group features members of the Uptown/LQA, Belltown, and South Lake Union communities. These are groups that have extensively done work on these issues within their areas and have already presented their concerns and expectations both the group at large and to the executive staff. They know what immediate and future plans for their communities are and what they need from the city.
Surratt mentioned that they are leaning on expertise that each of those groups have employed to help them study and identify solutions for their areas. He also mentioned that identifying those needs helps the city to go out and find the right expertise for what everyone would like to and agrees to get done. I think that’s a reasonable, fair, and intelligent approach.
I also liked Gonzalez asking specifically what the committee should expect to see between each of their meetings and what they are expected to do between the meetings to push things forward. That’s a superb question now that they’re getting done to the point where the council will have active involvement and potential action.
By Matt Tucker on 08.15.17 11:45am
I think an owner will bring the NBA to Key
But just as a temp venue until AEG’s arena is finished on the Eastside. A team can’t be a 3rd party if they paid close to 2 billion for team.
Gary Bettman won, at the expense of a better location in the city of Seattle
By Jeff - j1012 on 08.15.17 3:33am
What makes you think AEG will be looking to build an arena on the Eastside?
By Matt Tucker on 08.15.17 11:12am
probably bad choice of words.
Unless the future NHL owners become NBA owner too, I do not see a NBA group being a third fiddle.
By Jeff - j1012 on 08.15.17 11:53am
Fourth, if you count the city.
By itsanospreybich on 08.15.17 12:05pm
The city's slice will be negligible
unless you buy into the miracle of their negotiating position, which would go against all of the indicators they’ve displayed so far. The prime leverage opportunity is on indefinite hold (Sodo street vacation), alliances in LQA/SLU have been given a Hobson’s choice to see their neighborhood jewel improved, and the SCC is happily bowing to political pressures by clearing any roadblocks to OVG’s proposal. They won’t be a fourth hand in the cookie jar, they’ll just hold the lid while the other hands rummage for the snickerdoodles and chocolate chips.
By cortone on 08.16.17 11:06am
Every day I wish that damned eyesore would just implode so none of us would ever have to deal with that god-forsaken pile of putrescence ever again.
By Drunk Viking on 08.15.17 8:22am
Don't count on that working
The smoking hole would soon be filled with grand visions of super-arenas never to be built.
By Caphill87 on 08.15.17 10:15am
This could've been a little awkward for Tim, but I guess KC is AEG's problem now
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/bill-daly-comments-potential-nhl-team-kansas-city/
By Mr. Shea on 08.15.17 8:29am
I'm frustrated at the Council - and the entire Seattle leadership apparatus. Beyond words.
But we’ve been saying for all of 2017 that Hansen needed some form of a game-changer because the writing was on the wall. He needed something like an announcement of an NHL group. Something. But no game changer ever came. So here we are – drifting toward the inevitable.
This year in Sodo news has been like reading about a sheep being led to slaughter.
By Bizzquik on 08.15.17 10:29am
I'm skeptical an NHL partner announcement or any of what reasonable people would consider "game-changers" would have mattered
In this game, the game-changer that was needed was to demonstrate to the politicians involved that killing the Sonics could have real political consequence.
Deb asked me on the bus ride home if there was a group that was strongly in favor of SODO and opposed to Key, particularly from a Sonics perspective. She is likely under the impression, as she should be, that most organized groups just want "an arena." I told her I believe there are many individuals of the type she asked about, perhaps even the majority of what I’d call Sonics fans, but there is no organization by which that’s getting communicated, or even much expression of those individual feelings that would sway the course.
And that would go back to the SODO group’s strategy and allocation of resources. No matter what they do with their plan and how obvious it is that it’s the right thing, they’re up against political bodies that oppose them for whatever reason. The only way to turn those politicians around is to appeal to their interests. Their interests aren’t doing the right thing; they’re raising money, amassing political support, working towards re-election or election to higher office, etc. If any current SODO-opposing politician was convinced that continuing to oppose SODO would lead to loss of money, support, job, etc., they’d be on board w/SODO immediately. Maybe even having a beer w/Hansen whenever FX reopens somewhere in Pioneer Square.
That tens of thousands of voters would strongly support SODO if they knew about any of this, but don’t know and thus don’t care, is the failure.
By Mr. Shea on 08.15.17 11:31am
Exactly right, Mr. Shea
No voice with any power is being raised. Sonics fans from within Seattle (that have votes) haven’t effectively created an impact on the SCC decisions. Besides Aaron Levine, no one with a venue or a voice of influence is exercising it in favor of Sodo. SonicsRising is the only place for non-Seattle fans to voice an opinion that has any reach, and we do, but the overall tone from SR leadership is to back the Key, because it has the support of the SCC and thus has the best chance to move forward. Any arena will suffice, and there is no concern that the NBA is the odd man out.
Any politician looking for opposition to their support of the Key will find none that has a credible influence on them. Clear sailing on the prevailing winds.
By cortone on 08.15.17 1:19pm
If Key happens and the NBA, as I presume, doesnt want to play last fiddle
when other cities, if expansion were happening, would likely build a palace for the league.the badge of shame will be enormous for all those that simply wanted an arena and chose Key. I hope Im wrong on that but usually, in this whole process, the worst case scenario is the most likely scenario in trying to get the Sonics to return.
By Trolltossin on 08.15.17 1:49pm
and Seattle is guranteed to get nothing
If we ended up with no arena what so EVER. Which i get people rather have happen. Nothing. You are assuming that NBA will say no to Seattle cause we have an remodel.
By gstommylee on 08.15.17 1:53pm