Riders at the South 154th Street light rail station should be able to easily get their Starbucks fix.

Agreement on a proposal to bring a Starbucks and other transit-oriented development to a site across the street from the station appears close.

The station is set to open in the summer of 2009.

SeaTac City Council members were briefed Dec. 11 on the planned development, which will include two residential towers with up to 850 residential units, ground-floor retail spaces and a plaza at the northwest corner of International Boulevard and South 154th Street.

The drive-through coffee facility would be located on the southeast corner.

The closed Funsters Casino occupies the site now. One tower would be behind the Funsters building while the other one would be north of it.

The development is within SeaTac's city limits, while the light rail station to the east is in Tukwila.

In what planning director Steve Butler called a "major shift," K&S Development officials have dropped plans for a park-'n-fly garage.

When the proposed development was discussed last month, SeaTac council members emphasized they opposed an airport parking facility there.

Parking would be available in the towers for residential tenants and store customers. K&S plans to offer the residential units as condominiums.

The developers also plan to build a private access road between South 154th and South 152nd streets.

In exchange for building the private road and pedestrian plaza, the city would give the developers credits toward traffic mitigation fees, Butler noted.

He added that SeaTac will consider closing Military Road South from South 152nd Street to International Boulevard. The triangle formed by the three roads could become a pocket park.

In November, SeaTac lawmakers approved final design standards for pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented development near the station.

Councilman Chris Wythe said last week the altered K&S proposal is "much more in line with what we need to see."

Added Deputy Mayor Ralph Shape, "There have been significant compromises on both sides."

Approval of the final developmental agreement is expected in January.

SeaTac lawmakers also heard about design modifications for the Sea-Tac International Airport/SeaTac City Center light-rail station from project director Ron Lewis and principal architect David Hewitt.

The station is set to open in December 2009 at International Boulevard and South 176th Street.

One sky bridge will lead to the airport parking garage and another will cross the boulevard to a city plaza and planned transit-oriented development.

The sole bid from Mowat Construction came in earlier at $94 million while Sound Transit officials had estimated $55 million for the project.

Since then, Sound Transit and Mowat have been working together to scale back costs.

The new plan calls for less steel and other metals on the roof. The original design featured dramatic roof trusses.

Finishes will also be simplified with painted concrete replacing ceramic on some walkways and walls.

In other business, SeaTac lawmakers set the city's property tax rate for 2008 at $2.45 per thousand of assessed value. Finance director Mike McCarty said the new rate is down from $2.61 charged this year.

McCarty estimated SeaTac will receive $11.2 million in property tax revenue.

Mayor Gene Fisher presented a key to the city to Don DeHan, who is retiring after 18 years on the council.

Two years after the city incorporated, DeHan replaced Julia Patterson as a council member. Patterson left to become a state senator and is currently a King County council woman.

DeHan served as mayor from 1996 to 1997 and deputy mayor in 2003.

Citing DeHan's "calming, reasonable voice," Shape noted, "Don has been a mentor to all of us."

Responded DeHan, "I have looked at the past 18 years as a journey and I could not have had better fellow travelers than my council members and the city staff."