Highway 99 tunnel foes may propose city referendum

Some activists in Seattle are considering a referendum against the Highway 99 tunnel unless the City Council takes a harder line with the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Ballot-measure backers want the council to place conditions on tunnel agreements, so they don't take effect unless the state guarantees that it will not saddle city taxpayers with any cost overruns for the $2 billion underground highway.

Meanwhile, Seattle City Council members already are considering whether to add an emergency clause to their tunnel agreements — to pre-emptively thwart a possible citizen referendum, said Councilmember Mike O'Brien, who is against the tunnel. Such a clause, saying the action is "necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety," could disallow a referendum.

Councilmember Tim Burgess said a referendum is "probably ill-advised. It will lead to a massive delay. We can't effectively govern if every decision is being voted on in that way."

Language for a referendum hasn't yet been drafted, said supporter Tim Harris, executive director of Real Change, a social-issues newspaper sold by the homeless.

"People see this thing coming down the pike, they're worried about it, and they're not seeing a response from the City Council that seems adequate," he said.

A Tuesday afternoon blog posting on The Stranger's website reporting on the effort was "a bit of a trial balloon," Harris said.

"It's just floating along, waiting for somebody to throw darts at it," he said.

Requests for comment by the effort's main organizer, Brady Montz of the Sierra Club, were unsuccessful Tuesday evening.

"I think if the public wants a say, they should have a say," said Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.

To qualify for the ballot would take 16,503 valid signatures, or 8 percent of the vote count in last year's mayoral race, according to the city clerk's office.

Harris said a ballot measure would attract "a lot of allies" from social-service groups, as well as green organizations. On June 3, a coalition signed a letter warning that any tunnel overruns would slice into city general funds for human services.

The state agreements deal with utility access, street use and other scheduling matters in which cooperation would help the tunnel stay on schedule to open in 2016.

The pro-tunnel council majority wants to approve the agreements before the August recess, in time for tunnel-construction teams to prepare for an October bid deadline, said Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, co-chair of the council's Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Project and Central Waterfront Planning Committee.

Bagshaw said she is "totally supportive of moving ahead with the tunnel," but hasn't decided if an emergency clause is worthwhile.

Last year the Legislature said Highway 99 costs in excess of $2.8 billion would be borne "by Seattle-area property owners who benefit." It's unknown whether or how such language would be enforceable, but McGinn has insisted on changing it now, while the city still has some leverage over the state.

The most recent city referendum involved a 20-cent fee on plastic shopping bags. The Council passed it in 2008, but it was repealed by a ballot measure which was supported by $1.4 million from the plastics industry.

Seattle Times staff reporter Emily Heffter contributed to this report.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com