City Considers Adding Light Rail to Existing Zoning

The Redmond City Council is considering a zoning adjustment that would allow Sound Transit to run its planned East Link light rail service through residential areas of low to moderate density.

At Tuesday's council meeting, Redmond Mayor John Marchione said the addition of light rail would affect between five and eight properties that are situated next to State Route 520. The trains would run next to the highway, which is already separated from adjacent private property via a sound wall, he said.

"The light rail would really be part of the freeway corridor, (and) not running through a neighborhood," Marchione said.

The affected properties are located north and east of the Microsoft campus, Councilman Hank Myers said.

According to a staff report that was presented Tuesday, the change would amend the existing code by adding "road, ground passenger and transit transportation" to the list of permitted uses in R-4 and R-5 zoning, which fall under the "low-moderate density residential" classification.

Council President Richard Cole said he has yet to form an opinion on the zoning adjustment but has concerns about the way the change would affect single-family homes.

"It gives me some cause for concern ... unfortunately I don't think there's any alternative to this," Cole said.

The proposed change has been rolled into the city's comprehensive zoning code rewrite, which is scheduled for the city council to adopt at its April 5 meeting. A public hearing on the light rail-specific zoning adjustment will take place during that same meeting.