Shoreline Council Moves Ahead With SPU Acquisition

Moving ahead.

After two hours of debate and discussion, Shoreline City Council voted 6-0 Monday night to continue the city’s plan to acquire the Seattle Public Utilities water system in Shoreline.

“We are trying to attract business,” Councilmember Chris Eggen said. “We will continue to provide service without increases in property tax and it would be good to have the utility providers working with us. Shoreline Water District is working with us (but) SPU is not on our radar screen, they have not worked with us on our community plans.”

“They have their own roles, SPU looks at the system as a whole and their role is to take care of the system as a whole not Shoreline-specific issues,”

The action directs city staff to prepare language for the ballot and form pro and con committees prior to the measure going on the ballot in December. A vote to put it on the ballot will take place at the Council’s Aug. 6 meeting.

The Council heard a presentation from public works director Mark Relph and assistant city manager Debbie Tarry about the SPU system that covers about two-thirds of Shoreline, mostly west of I-5 but also a portion of the southeast corner of the city. The acquisition will cost the city about $26.6 million along with initial improvements and separation costs of $14.2 million. Bonds would be issued in 2019 and the acquisition would be completed in 2020.

Councilmember Chris Roberts abstained from the vote and pushed a motion that would have divided the question put to voters into two: asking them whether Shoreline should operate a water utility and whether to authorize the purchase of the SPU system. The motion failed 5-2, with Eggen supporting it as well. Roberts’ thorough questioning of Relph and Tarry also led to 10-minute executive session because legal issues were coming up.

The city appointed 23 people to a steering committee to study the SPU acquisition issue backing January and 21 of the 23 members of the committee supported the acquisition after hearing from consultants and reading engineering and financial reports.

Several of the supporters, Joseph Irons, owner of general contractor Irons Brothers Construction; Edie Loyer Nelson, a retired social worker; and Gretchen Atkinson, Meridian Park neighborhood coordinators spoke in favor of the acquisition during public comment Monday.  Atkinson made the point that the city residents pay more than 14 percent in water rates than Seattle residents under the SPU system. Also updates are needed to the SPU system such as a lack of adequate pipes for fighting fires.

The two committee members who did not approve were Shoreline Water District manager Diane Pottinger and Les Nelson, a senior civil engineer in water system engineering with Seattle Public Utilities.

Pottinger and Shoreline Water District Commissioner Charlotte Haines spoke during public comment period about the unknown and possibly increased costs associated costs that would be passed down to ratepayers. Resident Debbie Kellogg also questioned the likelihood of a 3 percent rate increase and the subsequent affordability issues for seniors, families and people close to foreclosure.  

Despite fears of future cost burdens, the Council and city staff has said often that the city can walk away from deal even if voters pass if it proves to be too costly. The city of Seattle could also walk away from the deal but it’s likely that negotiations will continue for many years to come.

The idea of acquiring the Shoreline portion of SPU’s water system has been around for a while and Public Works Director Mark Relph suggested it at City Council retreat more than two years ago. Councilmember Chris Roberts took up the idea and got it on the agenda. City Council Goal No. 2 was adopted, “to improve Shoreline’s utility, transportation, and environmental infrastructure,” including the action step to acquire the SPU portion of Shoreline’s water system.