Trolley barn gets a boost

Port of Seattle commissioners voted 3-to-2 yesterday to contribute $1 million toward a $9 million plan to build a new waterfront streetcar-maintenance barn in Pioneer Square.

Commissioner Paige Miller called it a good-will gesture, given out of concern for the future of the trolley. Specifics of the plan have yet to be presented to either the City or County councils.

"While we have yet to see the details in this proposal, our first commitment, I believe, is to ensure that the trolley is saved," said Miller, a candidate for the City Council.

A maintenance facility, where cars are serviced and stored, is necessary for the trolley line to operate. The existing barn, within a parking lot north of Pier 70, will be torn down in November so that the Seattle Art Museum's new Olympic Sculpture Park can be built. The streetcar will be pulled from service until the replacement barn goes up, which officials estimate will happen in summer 2007.

Mayor Greg Nickels requested the $1 million investment after rejecting the Port's $20 million plan to extend the trolley line north, which would have placed a new barn near Amgen headquarters on Elliott Avenue West. In addition to the trolley barn, the Pioneer Square project includes market-rate housing in a neighborhood that has sought it.

"This, from what I read, looks like a sensible proposal and a million seems like a reasonable amount of money," Commissioner Alec Fisken said.

Moving the barn to Pioneer Square ensures that the streetcar will not run along any stretch of the waterfront during the estimated eight to 10 years of construction to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Commissioner Patricia Davis voted against the measure, saying the Port has other spending priorities.

"I don't see where the Port has a dog in this hunt by moving [the barn] to the south," she said. "If the city wants to do that, that's perfectly fine. But I don't quite understand the rationale for the Port putting $1 million into it."

Commission President Bob Edwards cast the other vote against the mayor's request, saying he did not see how building the barn in Pioneer Square benefits Port properties along the waterfront.

Stuart Eskenazi: 206-464-2293 or seskenazi@seattletimes.com