The King County Council voted Monday to move ahead with plans for a new sports arena in Sodo that would cost up to $200 million in public money.
The 6-3 vote approves a binding agreement with investor Chris Hansen's ArenaCo, and sends it to the Seattle City Council, which announced before Monday's hearing that it would not advance the proposal until Hansen agreed to stronger protections for the city and to contributing some revenue from the arena to improving infrastructure in Sodo.
Councilmember Julia Patterson, who as a state legislator opposed two previous stadiums deals for the Seawhawks and Mariners, voiced her support for the latest arena proposal, which aims to return an NBA team to Seattle after the Sonics departure in 2008.
"This proposal is different. I see no new taxes used to pay for this proposed arena," she said. " This proposal includes a number of provisions that protect the taxpayer and that protect the general fund."
"Nothing is completely risk free. If we were only going to vote on things that were risk-free up here, we would be taking zero votes a year," she said.
Under the proposal, Seattle would commit up to $120 million to the cost of arena. King County would chip in up to $80 million. Hansen's group would make up the remainder of the money needed to build an arena at an estimated cost of $490 million. The city and county would jointly own the land and the arena itself, just south of the Safeco Field parking garage.
The public loans would be paid back by taxes on arena operations and by arena rent, and no new general taxes would be created. Depending on the financial success of the NBA and NHL teams, extra tax revenue could be rolled over into the city's and county's general funds.
"The ablity of sports to bind people together.the power of sports to transcend race and class is so important, and there are truly very few things in our community that do that," said Councilmember Bob Ferguson, who supported the agreement.
More than 60 people testified during Monday's hearing at the King County Courthouse. Testimony came from Sonics fans in greend and gold and opponents of the current proposal. Most of the opposition is from the Port of Seattle and port workers over the potential impact of arena traffic on freight operations.
Also voting for the agreement were Councilmembers Larry Gossett, Joe McDermott, and Kathy Lambert. Councilmembers Reagan Dunn, Pete von Reichbauer, and Larry Phillips opposed.
In a letter to Hansen on Monday, the Seattle City Council said it doesn't think the proposal is good enough yet for the public.
City Councilmembers said they want to see an arena deal happen and possibly bring back the Sonics, as long as the agreement spells out stronger protections of the city's finances, money for transportation improvements in Sodo, and specifics on the future of KeyArena if a new venue is built.
"Our review has led the majority of Councilmembers to conclude that the agreements do not represent an appropriate balance of public and private benefits, nor do they sufficiently protect the City from the financial risks inherent in the arena's financing," the letter said.
Councilmembers stressed during an afternoon news conference that the demands were not intended as a "poison pill."
"We're saying today we want to get to yes. We need to work out these technical details, and I think we can with Mr. Hansen," Councilmember Tim Burgess said.
The letter, signed by every city councilmember except Bruce Harrell, says the city would like some of the arena revenue to be directed toward infrastructure in Sodo.
As County Councilmembers acknowledged, the arena plans still has many hurdles to overcome. Under amendments made to the agreement, the arena plan must be vetted through an economic impacts study by an independent consultant selected by the city and county.
"We're not taking a vote today to build a basketball arena. We're taking a vote on a plan today on moving forward with a basketball arena," Patterson said.
The agreement also was amended to say that if a new NBA team in Seattle named the Sonics, then the city would retain that name should the team ever relocate. The proposed agreement bars a team from relocating for 30 years, which is the amount of time it would take to pay off the public bonds.
The public would contribute the full $200 million if Hansen can attract both an NBA team and an NHL team to Seattle. If only an NBA team were acquired, Seattle would contribute $115 million while King County would invest $5 million. The arena would still be built to NHL specifications, allowing for an NHL team to relocate to Seattle at a later date.
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