Efforts to create a connection between Enchanted Parkway and Pacific Highway South near Costco will continue.
On Tuesday, the city council voted 4 to 2 to authorize a $3 million transfer of surplus funds from the Pacific Highway South HOV Lanes Phase Four project to the South 352nd Street extension project.
The 352nd Street project’s design is currently 85 percent complete, and the money will help make the undertaking ready for construction.
When built, the extension will improve traffic and fuel economic development south of The Crossings, said Cary Roe, Director of Parks, Public Works and Emergency Management. However, council members had a difference in opinions as to whether completing the design phase and potentially funding the project is the best use of the available, and rare, surplus money.
Project design
When completed, the $5.6 million South 352nd Street project will connect two main thoroughfares in Federal Way. It is expected to include a three-lane road with a two-way left-turn lane and bike lanes. A traffic signal is planned at the South 352nd Street and Pacific Highway intersection. The intersection at South 352nd Street and Enchanted Parkway South will be widened to accommodate a right-hand turn lane. Curbing, gutters, sidewalks and planter strips will be added. Utilities will be adjusted and relocated.
“The main purpose behind the 352nd project is a relief project to move some traffic,” said street systems manager Marwan Salloum.
Expected outcomes
Staff expects the project will also push forward economic development in the area. An extension will decrease traffic and open up property frontage for new and redeveloped enterprises, Roe said.
The city has requested five property owners along the project’s borders to donate right-of-way property so that the road can be extended at a lower cost. Four of the property owners have agreed to relinquish land. If all five hand over the property, the city stands to save $1 million, Salloum said. Though the South 352nd project is not considered urgent, staff wants to make sure the city doesn’t lose out on obtaining the right-of-way property while it can.
“The reason we ask the council to provide the money is because we don’t want to lose that $1 million contribution from the property owners,” Salloum said.
Differences of opinion
Federal Way City Council members Roger Freeman, Jack Dovey, Jeanne Burbidge and Deputy Mayor Dini Duclos see the South 352nd project as vital. They wish to pursue design completion.
“It’s a very important connection between major regional and local corridors that right now are congested, and the circulation is very much less than ideal,” Burbidge said.
It does not make sense to halt design work now, Dovey said. The council will evaluate whether the city can afford to undergo the project’s construction during the approaching budget process, he said.
“This will be on the table to pull at any time,” Dovey said.
City council members Jim Ferrell and Mike Park disagreed with their fellow council members. The majority of the surplus funding is in the form of utility taxes. Unlike other funding sources, the money is not restricted for use toward capital projects. Ferrell and Park expressed their desire to see the surplus funds transferred into the general budget, rather than into the 352nd Street pool.
“Let’s get through this budget mess that we’re in first,” Ferrell said.
If transferred into the general budget, the funds could help address a $4.5 million shortfall expected in the next year.
“We have some real serious concerns about a level of service decline in a number of areas and city operation, and I think it would be very prudent on our part to wait a little bit longer on a project that, up until now, has not been a high priority,” Ferrell said.
Mayor Linda Kochmar recusing herself from voting due to a conflict of interest in being a Lakehaven Utility District employee.
The 352nd Street project was funded for up to $2.5 million in the 2007-2008 budget, but funds were transferred out to cover higher-than-expected costs for the Pacific Highway South HOV Lanes Phase Three project, Salloum said. The $3 million transfer will restore that funding.
The council will consider the project again before it goes out to bid. Construction is tentatively planned to begin in April 2011, given it does not get sidelined in the budget process. It will conclude in October 2011.
