Initiative 80, which aims to protect and preserve Seattle creeks, has collected the 22,000 signatures it needs to be placed on the Sept. 16 ballot. However, a state Superior Court judge - considering testimony from the city attorney and concerned developers - has deemed it unfit for public vote.
I-80 proponents say this decision is unjust.
Members of the Seattle City Council, along with officials from Seattle Public Utilities, agree that creeks are vital to the city's ecosystem, but ambiguous costs have generated debate.
According to officials from the Yes for Seattle organization, a nonprofit political group that has endorsed the initiative, I-80 will work in conjunction with developers and the city to ensure that Seattle creeks are protected during creek-side development.
Furthermore, developers will be required, during major-public development spanning more than one-half acre, to uncover a buried creek. This process, called "day-lighting," will be mandatory unless developers prove that fewer than 50 feet of a creek is buried and/or confined within a pipe and that salmon do not spawn in the vicinity.
Where will funding come from?
However, balancing of developers' and environmentalists' interests might be a costly one. Although the initiative reads that the cost to taxpayer will be a maximum of $5 per household annually, city estimates have projected that the plan will ultimately cost between $569 million and $26 billion.
"There are so many fundamental flaws with the city's projections," said Seattle lawyer Knoll Lowney, drafter of the initiative. "The key is that there is a $5 household per year, and in order to come up with that cost, they had to assume that the program would keep collecting that $5 per year for 4,000 years."
Mayor Greg Nickels drafted an alternative proposal to I-80 that he believes will have a more certain funding source and accomplish more to preserve creek habitat in the short run.
"It is unclear whether or not $5 per household per year would be enough," said Ray Hoffman, strategic policy director for Seattle Public Utilities. "The mayor has come up with his own alternative to I-80 that's under consideration by the City Council, and that alternative is one that stresses aquatic habitat restoration both on creeks' and on the city's shorelines."
The mayor's plan will maintain $4 million annual spending on restoring Seattle creeks and add a 1-percent utility tax on water, drainage and wastewater utilities. City officials estimate that this would raise an additional $2.4 million a year for creeks.
Lowney's plan is more dogmatic than the mayor's, requiring developers to restore or daylight creeks during major redevelopment. Part of what has made city officials wary of I-80 are potential legal costs between developers and the city.
"The I-80 proposal, as written, adds a layer of regulatory requirements and moratoriums at an unknown cost in lawsuits and buyouts," said Seattle City Council member Margaret Pageler.
Pageler, chair of the Water and Health committee continued, "This is like a Tim Eyman initiative, where the sponsor doesn't have to take responsibility for whether it's constitutional or lawful or makes economic sense - so long as it has a catchy and popular title."
To bury or not to bury?
The drafting of I-80 was prompted when the owner of the Northgate Mall, Simon Properties, began to redevelop the south parking lot. This presented an opportunity to daylight a portion of Thornton Creek, which has five species of salmon spawning in it including Chinook and Coho.
The developers wanted to bury the creek again after renovating the parking lot. This prompted officials from the Thornton Creek Legal Defense fund to take legal action and inspired Lowney to draft the initiative.
I-80 has since been endorsed by such local groups as the Seattle Audubon Society, The Sierra Club and WashPIRG.
Saving the salmon
Whatever I-80 will cost the city, many advocates believe this initiative is important to Seattle's future infrastructure. Proponents believe that if I-80 is not passed, population growth and increasing property development could permanently wipe out vital aspects of Seattle's ecosystem, including creeks.
"The long-term creek restoration plans will move the city toward protecting Seattle's environment and restoring our creeks," Lowney said. "The multiple objectives are: improve storm water quality by reducing pollution entering the creeks; reduce the problem of erosion and flooding; create open space; and help habitat, including salmon habitat, birds and amphibians and other animals."
"Two-thirds of our local bird species depend on quality creek-side habitat. Many of these species, like the Green Herring or the Common Yellow Throat, are increasingly rare,"said Lauren Braden, of the Seattle Audubon Society.
"The city has been in denial about their responsibility to protect salmon within the city," said Bob Vreeland, treasurer of the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund. "Five different creeks throughout Seattle (Piper's, Longfellows, Fauntleroy, Taylor and Thornton creeks) have salmon in them. This is an incredible resource that ought to be protected."
The fight goes on
Officials from Simon Properties claim that the buried portion of the creek is drainage. After an appellate court ruled in favor of the developer, the case was sent to the state Supreme Court.
"We do make an effort to be sensitive to the environment, but I don't think it's right to speculate what we would do[in every situation]," stated Billie Scott, public-relations director at Simon Properties. "It is situational more than an overall policy."
Vreeland retorted, "Companies like Simon - multibillion-dollar, out-of-state corporations - don't care about the protection of the resources in Seattle. What they care about is the bottom line: maximum profit for minimum expense."
According to the Yes for Seattle website, supporters of the initiative will continue to appeal court decisions stopping I-80 from going on the ballot until it is finally brought to a public vote.
Staff writer Brian Kidd can be reached via e-mail at E-mail regarding this story may be sent to needitor@nwlink.com
