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Google Street view of 402 S. Tobin Street, the subject of tonight’s School Board meeting and public hearing
As part of their plan to expand the Renton High School site all the way north to Airport Way and east to Logan Avenue, Renton School District has been working to acquire thirty-two homes and eight businesses.
The School District’s negotiators have been using the threat of eminent domain to encourage owners to sell, but they can’t actually proceed with eminent domain on a property until the final authority is specifically given by the School Board.
At a meeting tonight, the School District’s property acquisition team will be seeking this final authority to forcibly take another pretty and historic home at 402 S Tobin Street. This home is treasured by its owner today as a personal residence, and it sits on a triple-size lot in an area that allows six homes per lot (maybe 18 total) under the new “missing middle” legislation, so “just compensation” will be incredibly hard to determine if the eminent domain action is approved. This home would be flattened to make room for a relocated baseball field, one that may be the most costly high school baseball field in our nation’s history.
They’ve already approved other eminent domain actions, including one that denied Renton a world-class Chihuly-style Glass Studio that would have taught our youth and adults how to make artistic glass creations. And while they point to a 2022 bond approval as their public authority to take all this property, their official election information prior to the vote mislead the public on the District’s plans.
The School District is also already 126 million dollars short of the funds they need to take all this property, replace the school, and relocate these ballfields, unless they take it from money we’ve approved specifically for safety and security upgrades at the district’s thirty other schools.
The meeting starts at 6:00 tonight at the School District Headquarters at 300 SW 7th Street. There will be time for audience comment before the School Board takes action on the eminent domain authority being requested by the School Superintendent in this resolution.
More information can be found on the School District’s website here.
The full resolution can be found here
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