King County Superior Court Judge Jim Doerty will move forward with hearing a case the Shoreline Merchants Association has against the city of Shoreline’s approval of a project that will widen Aurora Avenue N. through the city.
In a preliminary hearing March 7, the city argued that approval of the Aurora Corridor project design alternative was a legislative decision, not a land-use decision and not within the judge’s jurisdiction. Doerty disagreed, denied the city’s motion to dismiss the litigation and took the case. A hearing is set for June 30.
The SMA is appealing the Shoreline City Council’s Dec. 9 approval of a preferred design concept for the first mile of a 3-mile project to widen and renovate Aurora Ave. N. The project is part of a regional effort that is widening Highway 99 from Seattle to Everett.
As approved, the project would widen Aurora from 145th to 165th streets from five to seven lanes, place a 15-foot-wide planted median down the center and provide four-foot wide ‘amenity zones’ between new, seven-foot wide sidewalks and the street.
City officials say the purpose is to improve pedestrian and driver safety, increase traffic flow, beautify the area and stimulate new development.
Opponents with the SMA argue that those goals can be achieved without the planted median and such wide sidewalks, and that the city has ignored the concerns of the businesses along Aurora in designing the project.
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