It is hard not to gloat over the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s infamous Kelo decision. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out recently, the city of New London, Connecticut spent $78 million condemning people’s homes and bulldozing them away, and the development that was supposed to happen in that area has flopped and looks [...]

It’s like trying to get a fair hearing with the Queen of Hearts. Or the Caterpillar. Or the Cheshire Cat.

Last night Sound Transit  held a public meeting at Bellevue High School that oh-so-quickly looked at some of the new segment ideas for ST2 in Bellevue. Sound Transit was quick to emphasize that they “listened” to the public, and straightened the alignment in the B section to avoid condemning (they like “acquiring”)more of the The Bellevue Club’s parking lot, which would adversely affect their business and future expansion plans. Fine.

But they completely omitted any information regarding condemnations of the homes and business properties affected by a Main Street alignment. Sound Transit’s Sue Comis just blithely passed over the section on the map showing how the north end of Surrey Downs would be cut off (condemned) by passing over it quietly with her laser pointer…HMMM…Nothing happening here, folks, move along….

Hands started going up as the public realized that Sound Transit was not going to allow questions regarding property takings that the whole group could hear. Sound Transit tried to get the questions coming in small groups around the photograph tables, so that separate neighborhoods wouldn’t know how their preferences would be affecting or impacting their neighbors.

However, they did have a nice table with a couple of guys present near the front door, ready to answer questions, with the title: “Real Estate“.

Yes, what a nice, pretty term for the guys in the department that condemns your property- I wonder how those guys sleep at night.

Welcome to Wonderland.

Surrey Downs on endangered property list Seattle Times, United States Sound Transit recently decided to explore and study a route that would run along I-90, up Bellevue Way Northeast and then turn east near Southeast Eighth Street. The neighborhoods argue that light rail on Bellevue Way would bring more traffic into ...

Endangered Property: Surrey Downs Tacoma Daily News, WA As Sound Transit continues to focus on an alignment for the proposed East Link transit corridor through Bellevue, options under consideration could result in potential adverse impacts to the Surrey Downs neighborhood. Collectively, the Mithun & Neslund ...

Here is an excerpt from reporter Aubrey Cohen’s article in the Seattle P-I , titled: “P-I Globe Tops ‘Endangered List’ ” (click here):

 ”The most noteworthy of the other entrants may be Bellevue’s Surrey Downs neighborhood, because the threat listed is Sound Transit’s East Link light-rail line.

The trust called the neighborhood “significant as an intact, early subdivision of Bellevue exemplifying 1950s residential architecture” and notes the houses could be part of a historic district in the National Register of Historic Places.

“Collectively, they make up a great representation of mid-century modern design,” trust Field Director Chris Moore said Tuesday.

Bellevue City Councilman Conrad Lee called inclusion of the neighborhood on the trust’s list “a real treat,” noting: “Bellevue is a relatively new city.”

Sound Transit’s board recently chose a route through the area as its preferred option for East Link, though officials will continue to study other options.

The draft environmental impact statement for East Link says a portion of the neighborhood “is potentially eligible for the (national register) as a historic district” because of its post-World-War II ‘Northwest Modern’ style home designs. The review notes that the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation has deemed 35 houses in the area potentially affected by the rail project as potential contributing elements to a neighborhood historic district.

Moore called East Link “a needed project,” adding that he hoped the historic significance of Surrey Downs “is taken into full consideration.”

See Responsible Transportation Forum’s previous articles on the Surrey Downs Mithun & Neslund Mid-Century Modern homes (click here), (here), and (here).

Yesterday, on May 26th, 2009, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation (WTHP), a 501(c)3 non profit organization, announced at the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle their “List of Endangered Properties”.

The “list” is essentially a list of historic resources in Washington State, that the WTHP has determined to be architecturally and historically significant enough to merit inclusion.

The designation is solely to raise awareness and advocate for preservation, and does not have any regulatory bearing on anyone’s property (in other words, property owners may do whatever they wish with their properties, including adding  a room or redeveloping their property).

By listing particular properties, the WTHP commits to efforts to raise awareness about the historical resources, and to advocate for and work to preserve and protect the resources for one year, after which, they are placed on WTHP’s “watch list”.

The Surrey Downs Mithun & Neslund Mid-Century Modern homes were placed on the WTHP list due to the recent development that they could be the largest contiguous collection of Mid-Century Modern homes in Washington State.

See the list at (click here): http://www.wa-trust.org/MostEndangered/index.htm

Additionally, the Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) recently determined that the M/N homes are “eligibile” to be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.

Another determining factor for the listing was the potentially negative impacts, including right of way acquisition (or condemnation), and other major impacts from some of Sound Transit’s potential alignments for East Link light rail.

Seattle City Council members Sally Clark and Dow Constantine spoke in support of historic preservation at the announcement, as did Bellevue City Council member Conrad Lee, who read excerpts from the City of Bellevue’s June 21, 2007 Proclamation that specifically mentions the architectural and historical significance of the Surrey Downs Mithun & Neslund Mid-Century Modern architecure.

Washington Trust for Historic Preservation has just officially announced its 2009 list of the “state’s most endangered historic properties,” which includes the fire-damaged Alki Homestead - one of four Seattle “resources” on the list, along with the P-I Globe. Washington Trust sent media organizations a preview of this for planning purposes last week and we honored its requested “embargo” of the list until this afternoon’s planned announcement, which explains:

Inclusion in our annual list is intended to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities facing historic resources across the state and ...

PI globe tops 'endangered' list Seattle Post Intelligencer The most noteworthy of the other entrants may be Bellevue's Surrey Downs neighborhood, because the threat listed is Sound Transit's East Link light-rail line. The trust called the neighborhood "significant as an intact, early subdivision of Bellevue ...

During the Sound Transit DEIS process for East Link light rail, Sound Transit turned over comments from City of Bellevue residents to a consultant, regarding the Surrey Downs Mithun & Neslund Mid-Century Modern homes that the City of Bellevue previously identified as “historically and architecturally significant” properties.

This triggered  the Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) to conduct a study to determine whether the Surrey Downs homes would be “eligible” to be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

DAHP determined that indeed, the Surrey Downs Mid-Century Modern homes are “eligible” to be nominated to the NRHP as a “historic neighborhood“.

That designation of eligibility puts 2 federal laws into play- 106 and 4(f), which essentially guide projects that utilize federal funds to “avoid” or heavily mitigate negative impacts on historic resources.

According to Joni Earl (at last week’s ST Board meeting), Sound Transit will be using $985 Million  in federal funds for ST2.

What this means with regard to the potential alignments being considered for the “B” and “C” sections of East Link has yet to be determined, but Sound Transit will have to comply with the federal laws to avoid negative impacts to both the Frederick Winter’s House on Bellevue Way, and now the Surrey Downs Mithun & Neslund homes, which according to federal policy, will be treated as if they are already on the NRHP list.

The laws specify that all possible alternatives must be studied to “avoid” historic resources when using federal funds.

Does this mean that the B7 alignment will have to be studied to the same percent of engineering that B3-Hybrid will be?  How would they know exactly what the cost, riderhsip, transit time, envitonmental considerations, etc, of  B7 would be if they don’t continue to study the B7 alignment to the same degree of engineering that they will be studying B3 Hybrid? How will they know which is better?

Otherwise, if they do not study B7 sufficiently, the ST Board will not be able to compare apples to apples…

In an article on Horse’s Ass Blog (click here), the site posts verbiage from the House Transportation Budget (click here):

“(17) The department shall not sign the final environmental impact statement for the east link project or negotiate an airspace lease with sound transit for the use of the Interstate 90 center roadway for exclusive use by light rail until completion of an independent facility asset assessment by the joint transportation committee.”