The Federal Way City Council met with local legislators to set the city’s legislative agenda for the upcoming session during a breakfast meeting on Wednesday.
The city’s agenda focuses on priority areas of transportation infrastructure and service, economic development and fiscal health and public safety. The city will focus its efforts on the following legislative items and funding requests and work with other stakeholders and lawmakers to support legislative action on these items:
Transportation
• Complete the Triangle Project: Federal Way supports funding of $114 million to complete remaining phases of the “Triangle” interchange: Interstate 5, State Highway 18, and State Route 161.
Project components will include ramps connecting southbound I-5 to SR 161 and South 356th Street, northbound I-5 to eastbound SR 18, reconstruction of the I-5/SR 161 undercrossing, and restoring the Weyerhaeuser Way connection to SR 18.
The project is essential to Federal Way’s economic development, and will improve access to local businesses, while enhancing freight mobility for Port of Tacoma traffic. The project is also important for safety and is expected to reduce collisions over 50 percent at a societal cost savings of up to $600,000 annually.
• Transportation infrastructure funding: The Legislature is expected to consider a major statewide transportation funding package. The city is advocating for inclusion of the Triangle Project, as well as I-5/S. 320th and I-5/SR-509 improvements.
• Metro Transit funding: In 2011, the state Legislature authorized a temporary funding source for King County Metro to mitigate revenue shortfalls related to the recession, while the Legislature developed a statewide transportation funding package.
The funding measure expires in June. Without replacement funding, Metro has indicated that up to 600,000 service hours will be eliminated systemwide, including significant service cuts in Federal Way.
Economic development, fiscal health
• Restore local liquor revenue sharing to historic levels.
• Restore Building for the Arts grant.
Public Safety
• Increased sentencing for felony attempts to elude police.
• Fully fund the 2013 metal theft prevention legislation.
• Effective local framework for legalized collective gardens and marijuana sales.
