Port wants truck parking lot

Some relief is in sight for Georgetown residents irked by tractor-trailer trucks that haul cargo from Port of Seattle docks by day and park along neighborhood streets at night.

The Port wants to make a 10-acre vacant property it owns on Harbor Island available for truck parking to alleviate Georgetown's complaints about diesel soot, crowded streets and crushed curbs.

"This is a very important first step," said Marq Dean, a board member of the Georgetown Community Council.

Port officials acknowledge, though, that the parking proposal is only an interim solution — and that the lot won't be available for about a year.

The Port of Seattle Commission is scheduled to vote today on spending $450,000 to design the area, first for truck parking on an interim basis, then for eventual use as a cargo terminal when increased trade requires.

It would cost $3.2 million to prepare the parcel for parking, according to Port officials. The land was once used for shipbuilding and is a Superfund site. Pools of stormwater stretch across the lot, which is unevenly paved in areas, and the Port would create new drainage systems to keep tainted water from running into Elliott Bay.

Port CEO Tay Yoshitani said it wouldn't be wise to use valuable waterfront property as a long-term parking lot. Yoshitani and Port commissioners said they want to work with the city on a long-term parking solution, possibly by prohibiting truck parking on Georgetown streets and finding other land for parking.

Activists pushing for cleaner Port trucks and unionized drivers in Seattle criticized the Harbor Island plan because it would charge drivers for parking and provide space for only about 200 trucks. About 1,600 truckers haul freight from Seattle docks to nearby rail yards, working as low-paid independent owners and operators.

"This is a fantastic first step toward clean air in South Seattle, but taxpayers and truckers shouldn't be paying — trucking companies should," said Heather Weiner, spokeswoman for the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports. Led by unions and environmental groups, the coalition wants trucking companies to hire the drivers they now use as contractors, which would make it easier for the Teamsters to organize the drivers.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174