The Government Affairs Committee with the Greater Federal Way Chamber of Commerce met with a Sound Transit representative last week to learn about Sound Transit’s plans for the upcoming Washington state Legislative session to request additional taxing authority for a third regional transit ballot measure.

If granted, Sound Transit could have the measure on the ballot as soon as November 2016 seeking funds for various projects outlined in the update to the long-range plan.

And the unfunded portion of the Federal Way Link Extension could be one of those projects.

“Transportation remains a critical component to the stability and growth of the Federal Way region,” said Rebecca Martin, Chamber CEO. “We have to have an eye on what our needs are right now with a vision of where we expect our community and businesses to be into that future and because these things take time, we have to be willing to commit to work toward that vision of a greater Federal Way region.”

Chelsea Levy, a government relations officer with Sound Transit, said the population of Puget Sound is expected to increase by 1 million people by 2040 and there’s currently a high demand for more mass transit  across the board.

Drawing from a recent survey, she stated 83 percent of South King County residents support mass transit expansion, while 93 percent of north King County voiced approval.

Because of that demand, Sound Transit’s board voted to request the state give the entity the ability to collect 25 cents for each $1,000 of assessed property valuation, an additional 0.5 percent of sales tax, and more motor vehicle excise tax, which would be based on 0.8 percent of a vehicle’s value. Sound Transit currently collects .3 percent of motor vehicle excise tax, however, their current collection of the vehicle tax is set to expire in 2028.

If approved by the Legislature, the 0.8 percent collection would be indefinite, according to Geoff Patrick with Sound Transit.

“All of our current authority is dedicated to building what voters have already approved,” Patrick said, referring to the 2008 Sound Transit 2 ballot measure.

If the taxing authority is approved, voters will need to decide whether Sound Transit 3 — a measure that would generate $15 billion over 15 years — is worth it.

A family of four with two $20,000 vehicles, living in a $300,000 house and spending about $20,000 on goods with sales tax would end up paying about $500 in extra taxes a year.

But Patrick said if the board is granted the additional taxing authority, it has the option to put all, a combination or none of the taxes on the ballot for approval.

“We do have to look very closely at the impact it will have on taxpayers,” Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell said in an interview. “We certainly want light rail but we want to make sure it’s not an undue burden on the taxing community.”

The concept of light rail in Federal Way is not new, but funding for such a project is scarce and has delayed the Federal Way Link Extension to Federal Way.

The Federal Way Link Extension has funding to extend light rail from the future Angle Lake station at South 200th Street in SeaTac to the Kent/Des Moines area by 2023 — this portion is voter approved.

As a result of the 2008 recession when Sound Transit suffered a 29 percent loss in revenue, rest of the voter-approved project no longer has funding to construct a light rail extension from Kent/Des Moines to South 272nd Street in Federal Way, though three years ago the agency allocated $24 million for conceptual engineering to develop a shovel-ready plan for reaching Federal Way when more funding is secured.

There’s neither funding nor voter approval for the rest of the project — South 272nd Street onward to South 320th Street in Federal Way. The project also includes a potential section of light rail to the Federal Way Transit Center.

Construction of the Angle Lake station to the South 200th Street portion is underway and will be open for service in September 2016.

Ferrell, like many in Federal Way, said he’s anticipating Sound Transit’s draft Environmental Impact Statement, which will likely be released in February 2015 and will show the various ways light rail routes could impact the city.

“We’re aggressively advancing the planning process so we can build whenever we get the money,” Patrick said.

Possible routes include along the Interstate 5 corridor or along Pacific Highway, or Highway 99.

“My concern in regard to a Pacific Highway alignment, I believe it would be a wrecking ball through the city,” Ferrell said, adding it would displace 1,000 Federal Way business employees and be much more costly. “Just personally, I don’t even think it’s a close call. We need it to go down an I-5 alignment when it eventually comes to Federal Way.”

Ferrell said if Sound Transit 3 passes “there won’t be any question” on whether the rest of the Federal Way Link Extension would receive funding.

“I think the possible light rail is really exciting when we’re thinking about the future of what our city looks like but we need to make sure it’s serving us, not us serving it,” he said. “We want to be partners, we want to make sure in the long run it makes sense for our community both in the cost and its effectiveness in getting people where they want to go.”

Sally McLean, the interim superintendent of the Federal Way school district, said the board needs to be aware of the upcoming Environmental Impact Statement as well because both potential light rail paths could impact school district property.

After the Sound Transit board publishes the draft Environmental Impact Statement in early 2015, they’ll host several community outreach meetings.

“We’re going to be having a business round table and invite members and business leaders in and have a presentation where they’ll go over specifically what the opportunities are for that extension here to Federal Way,” Martin said. “From that point, will be where we start gathering input from people to be involved in the process of the analysis for the plan.”

The board will identify a preferred alternative in spring 2015 after receiving extensive public input. A final Environmental Impact Statement will be published in mid-2016 after which the board will select the project to be built with final design and permitting scheduled 2017-2018 followed by construction from 2019-2023.

“We really need more transit,” Patrick said. “If you look at the ‘why’ for expanding transit, already our services in peak hours are operating above capacity. There’s bus routes that have 50 percent of passengers standing.”

Martin said it really comes down to balancing values.

“Business owners do that every day and I think we as a community should be doing that every day as we look to what the future’s going to be,” she said. “I’m kind of excited about the process.”

For more information on Sound Transit’s long-range plan, visit www.soundtransit.org/Projects-and-Plans/Long-range-Plan-update.