Item No.    7a-Supp
Date of Meeting February 9, 2010
Port of Seattle
Street Vacations Update
Port of Seattle Commission Briefing
February 9th, 2010

Street Vacations

A process where a property owner adjacent to a 
public rightofway can petition the City Council 
to acquire, or vacate, the property.
Initial City Council approval includes conditions 
that must be met before final approval
A 1985 agreement with the City specifies that 
certain streets can be vacated by the Port without 
payment for land value, provided public interest 
requirements and conditions are satisfied
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Major Terminals and Street
Vacations
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Terminal 30
Terminal 18
Terminal 5
Terminal 25


Terminal 105
In the last two decades, the Port grew its container terminal 
capacity by more than 200 acres. To accomplish the terminal 
expansion projects, the Port needed to acquire significant 
additional land, including some public rightofway
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Existing Street Vacations
Through negotiations with the city, several street vacations 
were approved, contingent on completion of numerous 
conditions. These included:
Public shoreline access, trails, and habitat restoration
Public street and sidewalk improvements
Utility construction and relocation
Easement agreements between the Port and the City
Real estate agreements and transactions with private property 
owners
Nearly all of the construction related conditions have been 
completed; Most of the real estate related conditions have 
yet to be satisfied.
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T5 Street Vacation Area

SW Florida St

West Marginal Way SW



City View St


26th Ave SW         Alley
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T5 Street Vacations
Result of T5 expansion project in the 90's$300M 
investment, expanded terminal from 83 acres to 190 acres
Approx. 16 acres of street vacation area
Economic benefits included 1000 direct jobs, $220M new 
annual business revenue, and $4.7M new annual taxes
Environmental benefits included 115 acres remediation, 
11.3 acres public shoreline access and buffer, and 1.9 acres 
estuarine habitat restoration
Outstanding conditions include construction acceptance by 
the City, easements and property transfers

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T18 Street Vacation Area

SW Florida St

11th Ave SW
SW Lander St

13th Ave SW


SW Hanford St


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T18 Street Vacations
Completed in 2000, the Port expanded T18 from 110 acres to 
200 acres
Approx. 16 acres street vacation area
Economic benefits included 1300 new direct jobs, $330M new 
annual business revenue, and $14M new annual taxes
Environmental benefits included 90 acres remediation, 
comprehensive reconstruction of public streets, and 1.1 acres 
of public shoreline access
Outstanding conditions for street vacation completion include 
construction acceptance by the City, easement and property 
transfer agreements
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T105 Street Vacations
Result of T5 and T18 
expansion projects
Approx. 4.1 acres
SW Dakota Street
Port nolonger owns 
adjacent properties
Port has contractual                SW Iowa Street
obligations to finish SW 
Dakota St vacation
Port has an opportunity 
SW Idaho Street
to finish SW Idaho/Iowa 
Streets to recover costs
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T25/30 Street Vacations
S. Forest St. vacation is result
T25/30 connector bridge 
constructed in 2007. Total         Alaskan Way South
vacation area is 1.8 acres 
(submerged land)
For the future, the Port 
intends to seek the vacation 
of Alaskan Way S which is 
within T30 container yard. 
South Forest St
Total vacation area is 4.6 
acres
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Future Actions

Staff will bring forward multiple real estate 
related agreements and projects for Commission 
approval in the next few years
T105 target completion by June 2010
T18 target completion by end of 2010
S. Forest Street target completion by 2010
T5 target completion by 2011

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Project Authorizations Update
Authorizations to work on street vacations and implement 
related conditions were within the projectwide 
authorizations for each of the terminal development projects
For future work, our plan is to seek new approvals under 
Resolution 3605
The Port Commission will see project specific authorization 
requests in the future when the scope and costs are known
The cost to bring street vacations to completion will include 
staff and consultant costs, as well as projects or possible 
settlements to satisfy the street vacation conditions. It's 
expected the total cost to complete the work is in the several 
million dollar range
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