By Alia Sinclair

The SeaTac City Council passed an ordinance amending the 2023-2024 Biennial Budget to provide additional funding for advancing the SeaTac Civic Campus Project to Phase II at Tuesday night’s (Sept. 24, 2024) meeting.

The Civic Campus Project has been in the works since 2020 when the city hired an architectural firm to evaluate the condition of the current City Hall.

This endeavor led to the discovery that the 40+-year-old building currently housing City Hall would need an estimated $74 million in updates and repairs to be safe and secure and serve the needs of the growing community and City workforce. 

After this assessment, the City Council allocated funds in the 2023-2024 Biennial Budget for a feasibility analysis to construct a new City Hall, including a Civic Campus.

Phase I of this project is already underway. 

It includes:

  • Vision and Project Management Setup
  • Definition & Program
  • Development & Analysis 
  • Implementation Alternatives 
  • Recommendations and Next Steps

Phase II will include site acquisition support and project bond planning. Its estimated cost is $265,000.

Though all Councilmembers are in favor of the plan moving forward, Councilmembers Senayet Negusse and Peter Kwon raised some concerns about transparency with the public throughout the process, the cost associated with the project, and the overall priorities of the City.

Councilmember Kwon made the point that money will have to be spent either way the city chooses; it would cost a significant amount of money to repair City Hall as it currently is, and it will cost money to get answers to some vital questions if the project continues.

Councilmember Lovell addressed a community member’s concern about starting Phase II when the city has not received all promised deliverables for Phase I. Councilmember Lovell explained that the events of the project were not necessarily sequential, that it required many moving parts happening at the same time to be successful and on schedule.

In the end, the ordinance to amend the budget to begin Phase II of the project passed unanimously.