May 27, 2022
KEY CITY DEIS FINDINGS
Racial equity and Environmental Justice
Sound Transit and the City have partnered since 2018 to develop a project-wide multi-year equity analysis using the City’s Racial Equity Toolkit (RET). The RET furthers the City’s and Sound Transit’s shared goal to advance equitable outcomes for communities of color, particularly the RET-identified communities of Chinatown-International District and Delridge.
Impacts
Missing information/analysis: Business displacement. Impacts to minority-owned businesses and employees, particularly BIPOC businesses and employees, have not been fully evaluated throughout the corridor.
· Missing information/analysis: Visual quality and aesthetics. Impacts to specific public views of natural and human made features along SEPA corridors and of historic landmarks have not been fully evaluated.
Section 4(f) Impacts. The Section 4(f) analysis performed by Sound Transit lacks necessary specificity and detail on the scope, duration, and mitigation of impacts to parks and park facilities, certain historic resources, and Seattle Center for any of the alternatives.
Section 106 Impacts. The DEIS does not sufficiently assess the construction and permanent visual, physical, and operational impacts of the WSBLE project on historic resources.
Business and residential displacement. The DEIS does not sufficiently examine the full range of impacts to businesses and residents, including loss of community cultural identify and cohesion resulting from displacements and changes in land use.
Mitigation
Business displacement. Several WSLBE alternatives would impact businesses that are highly location-dependent and may not have relocation options if displaced. For example, many maritime businesses rely on access to shorelines, intermodal infrastructure, and industrial lands. Many businesses in the Chinatown-International District rely on the community’s regional draw as a cultural hub. The DEIS does not make clear how to mitigate impacts, especially displacement, of these location-dependent businesses.
Sound Transit must work with community members, the City, and other stakeholders and partners to develop a mitigation plan with sufficient detail in advance of the FEIS to inform actions on a Project to be Built and FTA Record of Decision, and to avoid future delays to project permitting.
Comparison of alternatives
The CID-2a/b alternative options at 5th Avenue South would cause significant disruption in the heart of the Chinatown-International community, including the displacement of up to 19 location-sensitive businesses in the corridor that may not have relocation options. The City finds that without an understanding of how—and whether—these impacts could be mitigated it is not possible to fully understand the trade-offs. Furthermore, due to the vocal concerns from residents and organizations from this RET-identified community, the City believes before an action on a Preferred Alternative there should be additional community process and analysis on how to avoid/minimize impacts, advance RET outcomes, and address historic harm.
Furthermore, due to the vocal concerns from residents and organizations from this RET-identified community, the City believes before an action on a Preferred Alternative there should be additional community process and analysis on how to avoid/minimize impacts, advance RET outcomes, and address historic harm.
Next Steps
...it is critical that Sound Transit work with the City, community members, and other stakeholders and local and regional partners, to ensure that the issues raised in the DEIS process are adequately resolved.
Meaningful community engagement
The City appreciates Sound Transit’s commitment to community engagement, and the extensive effort its staff has made to engage with communities along the entire WSBLE alignment during the DEIS Comment Period. Continuing this intensive engagement effort will be key as the environmental work advances—including the Board action on a Preferred Alternative, development of a mitigation plan and other analysis and issue resolution in advance of the FEIS, and exploration of refinements to the DEIS alternatives. All these steps must be carried out in partnership with community through sustained and robust two-way engagement. It is critical the engagement be transparent by sharing out what Sound Transit is hearing from community and stakeholders, as well as how the agency is applying engagement findings to project decisions. Furthermore, methods of engagement should be tailored for different communities; what will work for Downtown or Seattle Center might not work in Chinatown-International District or Delridge. The City will continue to offer its resources and assistance to ST in this effort.