The Lora Lake Apartments in Burien, long threatened by the wrecking ball, will open again as an affordable-housing complex.

Burien City Council members approved by a 4-2 vote on Nov. 5 a memorandum of understanding to preserve the 162 vacant units at Lora Lake.

Mayor Joan McGilton and council members Sue Blazak, Jack Block Jr. and Lucy Krakowiak voted yes.

Deputy Mayor Rose Clark and Councilman Gordon Shaw opposed the compromise settlement.

But even council members who voted for the agreement were unhappy and, declared City Manager Mike Martin, "There are a lot of hard feelings around this and will be for many years."

"I don't like it. Nobody's happy with it," Blazak said. "We don't own the property. The port owns it and is going through a lawsuit. The best we could do is jump into the lawsuit ... with no guarantee of the outcome."

"I didn't see that Burien had a very good chance at any legal option," McGilton concurred.

"I absolutely hated the fact that the housing authority in King County would not negotiate with the city of Burien. I see that as no good faith on the part of the housing authority.

Blazak noted that funds for "other [local] projects have been threatened" if the city did not accept the settlement.

Block voted for it "because our backs were up against the wall. It's important for people to realize that it isn't our property and that the port was going to go ahead with this deal with or without the city's consenting."

Shaw went even farther in his criticism.

"There is not much in it for Burien," he declared. "We've traded away a bird in the hand for two in the bush. We've traded away the real chance to start development in the northeast area and now all we have is a promise that there will be help in that area sometime in the future....

"It will make [commercial] development a lot harder," Shaw said. "S show me where the start for the Northeast Redevelopment Area is now. Show me the project we have" that is ready to begin now.

The agreement calls for the King County Housing Authority to purchase the Lora Lake Apartments from the Port of Seattle, which currently owns the property.

King County will purchase vacant property adjacent to the housing complex. Both sites are just inside the Burien city limits.

Burien will receive $1 million-half from the county, half from the housing authority-earmarked for the city's planned Transit Oriented Development project at Southwest 148th Street and Fourth Avenue Southwest.

Principal players in brokering this compromise settlement were state Rep. Dave Upthegrove, D-Des Moines, whose 33rd Legislative District includes part of Burien, and House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle.

Upthegrove and Chopp said they will seek an additional $2 million in state funding for Burien to help make apartments in the Transit Oriented Development affordable for local teachers and relocate the Highline-West Seattle Mental Health Center locally, as well as help the city begin commercial development of its Northeast Redevelopment Area.

The Lora Lake Apartments occupy the southern triangle of the Northeast Redevelopment Area at Des Moines Memorial Drive and South Eighth Street just south of State Route 518. This location long had been considered the key to commercial development in the entire northeast area.

Martin said, "It's in the eye of the beholder as to how good a deal it is. The council was somewhat split over that perspective."

The downside is taking an entire property off the tax rolls, while the upside is $3 million in incentives to the city and other agencies, he noted.

The Burien council approved the agreement on the condition, proposed by Block, that the city won't be held responsible if Lora Lake residents sue over future noise or pollution.

Lora Lake is located less than 1,000 feet from the center line of the new third runway at Sea-Tac International Airport.

Last spring, the housing authority and King County Executive Ron Sims, citing an affordable housing crisis, reneged on a long-standing agreement with city and the port for demolition of the now-vacated Lora Lake Apartments to clear the way for commercial development in Burien's northeast area.

But the city council voted in May to proceed with demolition, as the port commission also did in August.

The housing authority then filed suit to block demolition on the grounds that it has a legal claim to the property, which it classified as surplus. A hearing had been scheduled for March.