Yes! We support the value and access light rail will bring to our community. We just want to exist with it!

Route information, Station Designs and the full Draft EIS can be found via Sound Transit here.

Sound Transit has never provided an "official list" of impacted business names. A list of addresses/parcel numbers of those impacted is buried deep in Appendix L of the Draft EIS. You can see a rough list of businesses compiled from this address list on our site here.

Yes! That is exactly what we want! We would love nothing more than to exist in tandem with Light Rail. We need adequate relocation assistance and access to funding to do so, which in most cases is not provided.

Yes, but for most businesses it is just a small portion of what's needed to successfully relocate.

Relocation Assistance is somewhat unique to each business and outlined here in the Relocation Handbook.

Relocation Assistance for Businesses is bucketed into the following buckets:

Reestablishment Fees (max of $50,000)

Moving Expenses: Will cover 100% of moving expenses and related moving expenses (no cap; ST will go with lowest estimate determined by them or $40K fixed payment).

Site Search Expenses: (max of $2500)

Note: much of these costs are initially paid by business owners out of pocket, then reimbursed by ST. This will be a painstaking process of line iteming costs, then going one-by-one down the item list by ST to determine if it is a covered cost.

No. Despite being forced to move, there is no guarantee that a business will successfully open their doors in another location.

Yes. Kinda.

We've known that Light Rail was voter approved in 2016. Throughout 2017-2021, many routes were identified, a list of potentially impacted properties was compiled for each of the many route options, and an Environmental Impact Study of the routes was conducted. A Draft EIS was published in January 2022, which announced the preferred route and a "final" list of impacted addresses. Amendments were made again in July 2022 with the impacted property list adjusted again.

If the business address is on the impacted list, then no. The addresses on the list will be demolished.

Move or Close Permanently. Those are our options.

We're not choosing to move—we're being told to relocate due to the light rail expansion.

No.

Relocation costs covered by ST can be found here.

A portion of costs are covered by ST Relocation Assistance. For some businesses, much is not.

As an example: if it costs a business $500,000 in total costs to relocate, and Sound Transit covers $100,000 of this as approvable by their handbook guidelines, who covers the remaining $400,000 needed to successfully relocate? Where are businesses expected to get this money?

Sound Transit is set to make a final route decision this Summer. The timeline for the rest is vague. 2 years? 3 years? 5 years? Is it fair to ask businesses to continue operation under such uncertainty?

After the final decision, property owners will eventually be contacted and property acquisition negotiations will begin. Once a property has been officially acquired by ST, businesses will be assigned a relocation agent and we can begin the process to relocate.

Yes.

In limbo. Stuck waiting with uncertainty for an indefinite time period, with indefinite information around the exact amount of financial assistance we will receive.

No. There is no definitive date to finalize, though Sound Transit has indicated a final Board vote will take place this Summer.

No! There are no loan or grant programs in place to help support displaced businesses.

Additionally, much of the costs to be covered as part of Relocation Assistance from ST will have to initially paid out of pocket, then reimbursed by Sound Transit.

No. In addition to the full-time job of running our current businesses, we will be asked put in the time/effort to relocate, and not compensated for it.

Imagine having a full time job, then getting a full-time job on top of it! That is the expectation.

Many businesses have! Many will. We encourage you to find the businesses you frequent and help where you can!

We would like to! But if we move now, we would get $0 from ST. So we must wait. In limbo. For how long? We don't know.

If we want to receive any relocation assistance from Sound Transit, we must stay in our current location until they officially acquire our property and we are assigned a relocation agent. At that time we can find a new location. We then go through a rigorous process of determining what costs will be covered by Sound Transit and what costs won't be.

The Sound Transit Board, headed by Board Chair Dow Constantine (a West Seattleite!). Email him

The Sound Transit Board is comprised of regional elected officials. This board provides direction to Sound Transit who executes the plan, based on their direction.

Sign the Petition. Email the ST Board. Continue to frequent impacted businesses!

Personal costs will be unique to each business and business owner.

Some costs are financial, some are physical and emotional. The majority of impacted business owners have poured their blood, sweat, tears and financial resources into their businesses at their current location for many years! We are hard-working community members like you, many of whom's livelihood depends on their businesses. The personal cost of relocation will be significant for many.

Many costs that have been poured into our businesses over the years, specific to our current location will be sunken costs, not reimbursed by ST.

We are being told that we need to move our business. In most cases we are not provided the funds needed to do so. If we don't have the money (or access to programs, loans or grants to get it), a business will close.

Many business owners invested personal finances and life savings to start their business. By asking us to relocate our business, ST is essentially asking us to start over and reinvest start up costs not covered by ST Relocation Assistance in an already thriving business. Most business owners do not have the funds to do this and Sound Transit provides no access to loans or grant programs that allow us to get this money.

From ST's view, its not displacement as a result of Light Rail that would be forcing businesses to shut down, it's instead a business decision to NOT reopen. Our perspective differs significantly in that it's not that we don't want to reopen, it's that we can't because we don't have the funds or access to funds to cover the gaps in funding not provided by ST Relocation Assistance to successfully do so.