Tomorrow morning, at 9:30 a.m., the Seattle Energy Committee will be discussing the sales of former substations in the West Seattle area during their regularly scheduled meeting. Local advocates Seattle Green Space Coalition (SGSC) will have a number of members speaking during public comments and are hopeful this meeting will catch the attention of the public.

Those planning to attend and speak on behalf of the SGSC include Mary Fleck, Elaine Ike, Ballard News-Tribune columnist Peggy Sturdivant, and Cass Turnbull of SGSC and the director of Treepak and Plant Amnesty.

Seattle Energy Committee members include Kshama Sawant (chair), John Okamoto (vice-chair), Mike O’Brien (member) and Bruce A. Harrell (alternate).

While this meeting is one of two regularly scheduled each month for the committee one ordinances that will be discussed tomorrow covers the proposed sales of former substations in West Seattle, Burien and White Center, some of which have become beloved neighborhood greenspaces since being decommissioned.

As outlined via the Seattle City Council’s agenda calendar for the meeting:

AN ORDINANCE relating to the City Light Department; declaring the former Ambaum, Andover, Dakota, Delridge, Dumar, Fauntleroy, Glendale, and White Center Substation properties as surplus to the City’s needs and no longer required for providing public utility service or other municipal purpose; authorizing the sale of the former White enter Substation to King County, the sale of the former Ambaum Substation to The City of Burien, and the sale of the former Andover, Dakota, Delridge, Dumar, Fauntleroy, and Glendale Substations for fair market value through negotiated or brokered sales to be managed by the Department of Finance and Administrative Services or the City Light Department; and authorizing the General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of the City Light Department to execute all necessary documents to accomplish such property sales and to deposit the proceeds in the City Light Fund.

Tomorrow’s meeting might well be the only opportunity that the public will have to discuss these sales with city officials.

The SGSC sent out a press release in response to the ordinance on Sept. 21. Per the release:

This group formed specifically to prevent the sale of former substations. Despite two years of our efforts the Energy Committee of Seattle City Council could approve the sale of those in the Southwest section without further public hearing on Wednesday, September 23rd at 9:30 a.m. We had been warned this might happen quickly but were not even given notice.
Tell the Energy Committee, the City Council and Mayor to vote “No!” on selling surplus substations in southwest Seattle, Burien and Sea Tac. (Just click on the links below.) Also, come to the Energy Committee Meeting on Wednesday, 9/23/15 in the City Council Chamber at 9:30 AM, Seattle City Hall, Floor Two, 600 Fourth Avenue.
The specific sites are Ambaum, Andover, Dakota, Deldridge, Dumar, Fauntleroy, Glendale and White Center. These are the lands which first inspired Seattle Green Spaces Coalition to become activists to Keep This Land in Public Hands! To see the locations go to www.seattlegreenspacescoalition.org. Many of these sites are park-like; all should be repurposed for community use instead of sold to private developers. SCL has already sold sites in the NE and will proceed to sell surplus lands in the NW area (Sunset Hill, Ballard, Loyal Heights) if we do not act.
Instead of retaining land which would benefit the environment as greenspace, the City will likely sell it for more development which will harm the environment. Once developed it will be lost to the public. The City is not meeting its own open space plan and Seattle should not leave its future residents with an environmentally compromised city.

With Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting the Seattle area for the next three days traffic getting to the meeting may be heavy, so any citizens who wish to attend are asked to plan accordingly.

Seattle Energy Committee meeting 9:30 a.m. on 9/23/2015
City Council Chamber
Seattle City Hall, floor two
600 Fourth Ave.