King County Council votes to approve Seattle arena proposal

While the Seattle City Council is demanding changes to an
agreement on a new Seattle arena, The King County Council
has voted to approve Chris Hansen’s arena plan following
an impassioned public hearing Monday.

Six Council members voted in favor of signing a Memorandum
of Understanding with Hansen, which is a legally binding
agreement to move forward.

Reagan Dunn, Larry Phillips and Pete von
Reichbauer voted against the MOU, saying they want
assurances, particularly about Port jobs and traffic.
“This is very quick, very fast-track, and we need more
answers,” Dunn said.

“They can’t come if they’re stuck in traffic,” said Von
Reichbauer.

The Councilmembers made a number of minor amendments to
the agreement before approving the deal. Among them,
requiring an economic impact analysis addressing concerns
about the threat to Port-related jobs in the SoDo area.

“This proposal is different from previous sport stadium
proposals,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson. “We can
bring the Sonics home, create jobs and raise our region’s
quality of life without having to raise new taxes. With no
new taxes and vigorous taxpayer protections in place, why
would we not rally behind a proposal that results in our
region gaining a professional basketball and hockey team?”

Hansen praised the vote in a statement. “I want to
personally thank the King County Council for all
of their hard work, and for taking a big step today to
move forward on our proposal. There is still much more to
be done, but I am looking forward to sitting down with
City Council members to figure out how we can
make this deal work for everyone,” Hansen said.

King County is being asked to invest up about $80 million
to help finance the arena.

The plan still needs approval from the Seattle City
Council, which sent a letter from 8 of 9 members Monday to
Hansen outlining changes needed before they’ll vote for
the MOU.

710 ESPN’s Mike Salk says he doesn’t think arena supporters should be alarmed by the letter.

“The letter sounds scary. It uses some ferocious language and makes it sound as if the Council is on the verge of sabotaging what seems like a fantastic proposal. An initial reading might make it seem as if the council is being greedy – looking a gift horse in the mouth and asking for more,” says Salk. “I don’t see it quite that way.”

>>Mike Salk: Why Council letter demanding
changes sounds scary, but is good news

Any changes to the agreement made by the city would require an
additional vote by the King County Council.