The city of Shoreline is ready to make it official — the city wants to widen Aurora Avenue North mostly to the east as it passes through the city’s central business district from just south of North 175th Street up to North 192nd Street, cutting through several businesses.
The city is looking at finalizing boundaries that show the maximum amount of land it will need for right-of-way along Aurora Avenue. The council was briefed on the proposed maps at its April 21 workshop meeting.
The future right-of-way-lines proposed in the maps preserves the current boundary on the west side of Aurora. Most of the land the city indicates it will need for future right of way for the expansion of the state highway in this area is on the east side — cutting through businesses such as Aurora Rents and Seattle’s Finest Exotic Meats, among many others.
The maximum right of way boundaries will go to the Shoreline Planning Commission for public hearing May 15 as a proposed amendment to the city’s development code. The commission will formulate a recommendation to be presented to the City Council June 9, said the city’s Planning Director Tim Stewart.
Kirk McKinley, project manager for the Aurora Corridor improvement project, said after the meeting that by expanding east, half as many properties would be affected. Also, because Seattle City Light owns some of land where several businesses are on 30-day leases, the city and the utility could establish a joint use of the right-of-way agreement.
Adopting boundary lines into the development code sends a clear message to businesses on what the city plans to do, and enables businesses to start planning for their needs sooner rather than later, Stewart said.
“One thing we’ve heard consistently from property owners and businesses is that they wanted certainty on the future of Aurora, and which side of Aurora would be expanded on. This proposal is in direct response to that need. The main thing it does is eliminate the uncertainty over where development can occur. This will bring certainty to the fact that some of those buildings are in the long-term right-of-way,” Stewart said.
Russ McCurdy, owner of Seattle’s Finest Exotic Meats on Aurora, said this plan condemns his property.
“Tonight is the first time they officially unveiled this plan, and while this is the worst-case scenario, it doesn’t take away from the fact that my business is gone. It is condemning my property — and for what? For 12 foot sidewalks and amenity zones,” McCurdy said after the meeting. McCurdy and other business owners along Aurora have joined with the Shoreline Merchants Association in an appeal in King County Superior Court of the city’s approval of the project’s first phase. They argued in part that businesses that will be most affected weren’t adequately consulted in the design.
Stewart said after the meeting: “This is not condemning anything, or prohibiting any development from occurring under the development code, it just puts everyone on notice of the intent that the future right-of-way will be on the east side, so they can do appropriate planning.”
“It is really fair to let everybody know what the plans are, and that the city’s intent on a future project may be to acquire that property. This is not a requirement to vacate, and there is no project funded to acquire property, this is simply a planning document that shows the future right-of-way needs,” he said.
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