RESOLUTION NO. 3639 

A RESOLUTION   of the Port Commission of the Port of Seattle
authorizing and ratifying acquisition of that portion
of the Woodinville Corridor located in Snohomish
County that is reasonably necessary to link the rail
services, equipment, and facilities within the port
district to an interstate railroad system. 
WHEREAS, the voters of King County, pursuant to the provisions of enabling legislation
adopted by the Legislature of the State of Washington, Chapter 92, Laws of 1911, RCW
53.08.010, authorized and approved at a special election held in King County on the 5th day of
September 1911, the formation of a port district coextensive with King County to be known as
the Port of Seattle (Port); and 
WHEREAS, the Port was thereupon established as a port district and has since been and
now is a duly authorized and acting port district of the State of Washington; and 
WHEREAS, a critical element to the competitiveness of the Port and King County,
Washington in general, as well as the region, is the velocity and capacity of facilities and
infrastructure for the transfer of cargo to freight trains and its movement to the ultimate
customer; and 
WHEREAS, as early as 2006, the Port expressed a desire to to acquire and preserve as a
rail and transportation corridor the 42-mile rail corridor known as the Woodinville Subdivision 
located in King and Snohomish counties (Corridor); and 
WHEREAS, King County had similarly expressed an interest in developing a recreational
trail within the Corridor, a use consistent with federal railbanking provisions for the interim use
and preservation of rail corridors; and

WHEREAS, in November 2007, the Port Commission approved a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with King County and BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) that would
result in the Port's acquisition and receipt by donation of the Corridor; and 
WHEREAS, the MOU called for the continuation of freight service between the City of
Woodinville (Woodinville) and the City of Snohomish (Snohomish), and the rail banking and
interim trail use of the southern portion of the Corridor (Woodinville to City of Renton) for the
protection of future rail uses; and 
WHEREAS, on May 12, 2008, the Port Commission authorized by motion a set of
agreements with BNSF and King County in which: (i) the Port would purchase from BNSF the
segments of the Corridor between Woodinville and Snohomish in King and Snohomish counties,
and between Woodinville and the City of Redmond in King County; (ii) BNSF would donate to
the Port the segment of the Corridor south of Woodinville to the City of Renton in King County, 
and grant a third party operator an easement to conduct freight service between Woodinville and
Snohomish; and (iii) the Port would grant King County an easement for public trail and other 
transportation purposes over the segments of the Corridor south of Woodinville to Renton and
Woodinville to Redmond in King County, said trail to be developed only after the completion of
a regional process that would determine the desirability and/or appropriateness of transportation 
and/or trail uses along the Corridor; and 
WHEREAS, the Port acquired the Corridor on December 18, 2009; and 
WHEREAS, under RCW 53.08.290 the Port Commission may make a finding by
resolution that the acquisition of intermodal facilities outside of King County is reasonably
necessary to link the rail services, equipment, and facilities within the port district to an interstate
railroad system;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Port Commission of the Port of Seattle
that: 
Section 1.     The Port's acquisition of the portion of the Corridor between the City of
Woodinville and the City of Snohomish is reasonably necessary to link the rail services,
equipment, and facilities within the port district to an interstate railroad system. 

Section 2.     Any acts made consistent with the authority and prior to the effective date of
this ordinance are hereby ratified and confirmed. 

ADOPTED by the Port Commission of the Port of Seattle at a regular meeting thereof,
held this             day of                        , 2010, and duly authenticated in open
session by the signatures of the Commissioners voting in favor thereof and the seal of the
Commission. 

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Port Commission