Background information on SR-509 WSDOT Surplus purchases by SeaTac and Des Moines along the 18th Ave Corridor
For decades WSDOT owned surplus property along a corridor roughly parallel to 18th Ave., from 194th St. in SeaTac south through Des Moines as part of a previous plan for SR-509.
The final (very different) alignment for SR-509 was decided in 2003, but funding did not come on line until 2016. That made these WSDOT parcels available for surplus.
When a property is no longer needed it is put on a WSDOT list of available sale properties through a State-regulated process known as surplus. The city in which the property is located is sent a Right of Refusal Letter and is given sixty days to decide if they wish to obtain the property. They do not have to buy the property immediately. This puts the property ‘on hold’ in order to allow the city to obtain funding towards an ultimate purchase.
Eg. in 2012 the City of Des Moines took steps to acquire another portion of Barnes Creek Trail. But apparently not the portion north of 216th in Figure A.
In contrast, the City of SeaTac responded to their letter from WSDOT that they intended to purchase a similar northern parcel parcel (west of Des Moines Creek Trail near 200th St.) and spent several years obtaining grant funding to buy it. Once that was arranged in 2021 they were able to purchase that parcel from WSDOT. (Presentation.)
Since the 216th parcel was apparently refused by the City of Des Moines, that left the parcel with WSDOT until the Port made a similar purchase offer, also in 2021 (Commission Presentation).
We currently do not know if this was the original intention of the City of Des Moines as far back as the DMCBP 2nd Agreement of 2012.
In the 2016 Des Moines Parks and Recreation Master Plan, a trail connecting Barnes Creek Trail to the Des Moines Creek Trail is indicated as already being place (basically the abandoned road after removal of homes via Port Transaction Assistance (ie. property buyouts) but ownership of the surplus parcel is unspecified.
As of September 5, 2024 there is no evidence the City of Des Moines ever engaged in talks with WSDOT to purchase the 216th surplus parcel in Figure A.
City of Des Moines Public Works Director Dan Brewer is on record in 2017 as stating that expanding ‘Des Moines Creek — West’ (ie. for the Port of Seattle) is a strategic interest of the City. In 2018 the City obtained a $1.5M payment from the Port to finish the 216th St. rebuild. That agreement mentions that the Port is doing so specifically to further ‘Des Moines Creek — West’, meaning expanding the built version of Des Moines Creek Business Park created by Panattoni.