The owner of the Park N Jet SeaTac Airport Parking (18220 8th Ave. S., SeaTac), where state Route 509 becomes S. 188th St., has requested to annex the property immediately to the south in order to expand the current "park 'n fly" operation.
His offer, as revealed by SeaTac senior planner Mike Scarey, would be to annex the property to the south - which would more than double the current property - and to rezone the whole area as Community Business (CB).
Currently, the existing property is zoned as industrial, and the land to the south is zoned as a Business Park (BP). For the extension of a park 'n fly operation, the existing BP would need to be rezoned so that commuters would be allowed to park there.
The owner of Park N Jet also says that that there is a long-term plan for the property; he anticipates the extension of SR-509, which would increase the traffic through the nearby area. He plans ultimately to develop a hotel with retail on the property.
The proposal for the zoning changes came before the SeaTac City Council on July 12th as part of a package of Comprehensive Plan Amendments.
"The hotel is a good anticipation of 509, and strengthens the argument for extending it," Councilman Rick Forschler declared.
An alternative was offered to the council as well: leave the southern property as it is - and thus prevent the expansion of the Park N Jet operations - and to simply rezone the northern property to CB.
Forschler criticized this alternative.
"The industrial section would become CB, but that would limit [the property's] options. The [staff] proposal is something that is worse for the community [because the community has stated that they don't want a BP]."
Forschler also added that "If we go with the staff recommendation, he has nothing to gain, but if we give him the whole area, he would accept the zoning downgrade."
However, there were those cautious about granting the property owner an extension to the park 'n fly operation. A concerned community member complained that Park N Jet was not up to code, and was not held to the same standards as other park 'n fly sites. Councilwoman Mia Gregerson was also curious to know if rezoning would force the owner to bring the property up to code.
Others, such as councilman Ralph Shape were dubious about banking on the awaited 509 extension. "Long range planning in great, but 509 is not happening in my lifetime. If we go ahead with a parking lot there, it's going to be there forever," Shape said.
