In a four-hour marathon meeting on July 8, SeaTac lawmakers wrestled with the details of implementing their vision for multi-family housing and increased retail in areas surrounding two light-rail stations.

The stations set to open next year are at South 154th Street and Tukwila International Boulevard and South 176th Street and International Boulevard.

The thorny issues included tax exemptions, parking bonus incentives, design standards and rezoning.

Council members approved by a 4-2 vote property tax exemptions for new multifamily housing in the two station area planning areas.

Mayor Ralph Shape as well as council members Chris Wythe, Tony Anderson and Mia Gregerson voted for the exemptions. Councilwoman Terry Anderson and Councilman Joe Brennan opposed the measure. Deputy Gene Fisher abstained from the vote because he owns property in the South 154th Street planning area.

The tax exemptions would be for eight years for "market rate" housing and 12 years for "affordable rate" housing.

The exemptions would cover new multifamily housing of 20 units or more.

Assistant City Manager Todd Cutts said the city would lose short-term tax revenues but in the long term would gain funds through increased development.

Resident Roger Kadeg noted housing in the area already features absentee property owners who rent their homes to low-income refugees.

"The last thing you want to do is incentivize low income housing," Keating declared. "I don't know what you are smoking."

Wythe said the city's "grand vision" is to replace some of the low-income housing with better housing.

"Other cities are doing it," Wythe said. "If we do nothing, the community will further degrade."

He added that if the city does not adopt housing tax incentives, the areas could become inundated with airport park-'n-fly lots.

Council members are likely to extend interim standards for parking bonus incentives in the city center after receiving differing views from a consulting firm and developers.

City planners are proposing a base of 300 parking stalls with a bonus of one stall per 250 square feet of additional retail or hotel space.

But Mike Murphy, attorney for Dollar Development, countered in "a real world context," the city would need to offer one additional stall for every 30 square feet to bring added development.

He indicated that SeaTac depends on park-'n-fly facilities and should view them as a "necessary evil."

Chip Marshall, a Seattle developer, also agreed the proposed standards would not be an incentive for new development.

"Parking has built SeaTac so instead of disincentivising its use, you should use it to attract business," Marshall told lawmakers.

The city also held a public hearing on amending zoning for some properties within the 154th Street area as part of the transit-oriented development plan.

Planning director Steve Butler said the King County Assessor's office has indicated that if the zoning changes are approved tax assessments would likely not change for single-family residences with small lots.

But for vacant lots or larger parcels that could be subdivided, assessments may increase.

Kadeg asked lawmakers to reconsider the zoning changes. He said he is worried that low-income residents from Rainier Valley, who may be priced out of housing because of the valley's proximity to Seattle, may move farther out to SeaTac.