News from former Councilmember Randy Corman, your Renton City Hall insider. (All views expressed in journal entries are Randy Corman's personal views, and not the official position of the City of Renton or other city employees. Views expressed in reader comments are those of the commenter)

We should review the assumptions in our Airport Master Plan

Jul17
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Author’s note 4/8/2024: The Master Plan Update and Runway length extension described in this blog entry were not implemented (as of this update.)  In the months after I wrote this entry, our aviation community and Renton leadership hired and aviation attorney and pushed back on the runway extension proposal.  Then the pandemic began and reduced air traffic world-wide, including in Renton. The lower traffic no longer merited a debate about runway length extension.  There was a seperate update to the Airport Layout Plan (a companion document that does not alter the runway) completed in 2022.

In this blog entry I describe critical issues at Renton Airport that must be resolved carefully to avoid negatively impacting the future of the airport and our city.  6.2 billion dollars a year in revenue, historic homes and neighborhoods, and thousands of jobs could all be impacted in various ways if the current Master Plan process is not sensitive to the needs of our unique airport and our community.   I suggest we carefully re-review the underlying assumptions made by the airport consultants that are causing so much impact, in collaboration with FAA, airport businesses, neighborhoods, and other stakeholders.

In particular, we should focus on the assumption that 737s are the “critical aircraft” for purposes of sizing the airport safety zones, since 737s takeoff from Renton but rarely land here.  (Landings are more hazardous than takeoffs and need greater safety margins.)  Furthermore, when 737s do takeoff from Renton they are brand new, recently tested, and lightly loaded.  We delivered even larger 757s safely and routinely from this airport for two decades, and never had any issues.  Smaller aircraft that are engaged in normal operation at Renton would be more appropriate to size the airport runway and safety zones.  The FAA Advisory Circulars allow for some leeway, and we should utilize it to protect our community and businesses.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Washington State’s largest rooftop solar array is in Renton. Do you know where?

Jul05
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Photo Credit: US Department of Energy (public domain)

 

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Posted in Uncategorized

Everyone please fasten your seat belts. Turbulence ahead for Renton’s Airport.

Jul03
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Aviation is the largest sector of Renton’s economy, directly providing over a third of all Renton jobs and indirectly creating many of our other jobs. Along with living-wage paychecks, our aviation businesses pay taxes which keep our city and schools succeeding.

Our 100-year-old downtown and surrounding neighborhoods are equally critical to Renton.  Our downtown represents our identity and our history, and our city has to have livable neighborhoods.

In the early 1990s, open conflicts between airport users and nearby neighborhoods were commonplace.  In my early years as council member, I witnessed hostilities over engine tests, flight schools, helicopters, seaplane noise, jet centers, and  flight patterns.  In 2001 a controversial jet center proposal packed our council chambers with frustrated residents, and we took steps to create sustainable peace.  We created the Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC), appointed with representatives from the airport and neighborhoods, to serve as a sounding board for the airport. The RAAC members worked hard to build bridges, getting neighborhood reps into airplanes and airport reps into backyards, to understand each other’s perspectives.  They also implemented voluntary steps to reduce noise.  While there are still occasional neighborhood complaints about the airport (mostly single-engine planes over neighborhoods), the RAAC deserves enormous credit for establishing peace and understanding among residents and airport stakeholders.

 

Posted in Uncategorized

New water taxi could carry Renton residents to UW in 18 minutes, regardless of traffic conditions

Jul02
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Water Taxi docked in Renton

For more than 12 years I have been trying to help get Renton a water taxi connection to Seattle, Bellevue and other cities on Lake Washington.  We actually had a pilot program implemented in 2007, and then we lost funding before service ever began when the great recession hit later that year.

I kept the faith and continued to push for water taxi service in the many regional transit forums I attend.  Needless to say, I was delighted  last year when the owners of Renton’s Southport announced they would privately sponsor water-taxi service between Renton and Seattle, open to the public, for an expected fare of $8.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Many more people will soon call Downtown Renton home

Jun26
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Comments on my previous blog post:

Hi Randy, I’m glad to see you’re updating the blog again! Can you provide an update on the Cedar River Apartment Project and VIA 405 Apartment project and when we can expect those projects to start? I’ve found that I’m enjoying downtown more and more with Melrose, Boon Boona Coffee and other great shops. I also noticed permit application for renovating the old JC Penney’s building into lofts and retail. That will be great! (also)…an update on the 200 Mill Ave S Redevelopment and what’s going on with that?

Thank you for the question Philip!

We are about to experience a housing boom in both our historic downtown and in the Renton Village area near the Red Lion Hotel as a result of job growth in Renton, strong population growth in our region, sky-high real estate prices in Seattle and Bellevue, and improved transit in Renton.

Historic Downtown Projects:

Cosmos Development is working to build a new mixed use apartment/retail project, shown above, at 200 Mill Avenue.  The project will tear down the 1960’s era former city hall building and put a river-front public park in it’s place.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Downtown Renton goes toe-to-toe with Fremont

Jun05
2019 Written by Randy Corman

A reader of the “Randy Corman for Mayor” Facebook page recently asked me to comment on whether our city was favoring big box stores at the Landing at the expense of downtown merchants.

Photo:  Renton’s newest and likely most iconic art piece, Erasmus the dragon, was unveiled in Downtown Renton in April

It’s not one over the other.  Both of these shopping districts, the the Landing and historic downtown, and all our other business zones, are extremely important to Renton.

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Posted in Art, Business, Downtown

Renton Farmers Market opens tomorrow at 3:00!

Jun03
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Tomorrow is the opening day of  Renton Farmer’s Market!  I’ll be there at 3:00 PM with members of my family as the opening bell formally kicks off the 2019 season.

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Posted in Farmers Market

Citizen led efforts to save Cougar Mountain’s DeLeo Wall from clear cutting

May31
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Photo: My wife Cathy on the DeLeo wall trail on Cougar Mountain.

A year ago a company requested permission from the Washington Department of Natural Resources to clear-cut harvest all the timber on 37 acres of steep property between Cougar Mountain State Park and May Creek, in the City of Newcastle, just feet from the Renton City Limits.  The land is too steep for significant development, so the owners  have turned to logging as a way to make an income from the land. Neither Newcastle nor Renton has a “timber harvest” zone, but State forestry permits currently supersede city zoning.

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Posted in Environment

Nature, historic homesteads, and new development peacefully coexist in May Valley thanks to May Creek Basin Action Plan

May30
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Seven years into my Renton Council service, after years of witnessing heart-wrenching flooding in the May Creek Basin,  we finally had a plan to fix it.  Cities of Renton and Newcastle had teamed with King County, along with residents, property owners, and environmental experts, to develop the May Creek Basin Action Plan.  Along with colleagues and scientists, I had trudged knee-deep in mud as we examined areas hardest hit by flooding and landslides.  Our site surveys were followed by hours of meetings, and teamwork with maps, zoning plans, and development standards.  I had special interest in the May Creek Basin plan, as I also served as Renton’s representative on WRIA 8 salmon recovery committee, and we were getting close to publishing our draft plan for saving Chinook Salmon in the Lake Washington, Cedar River, and Lake Samamish watersheds (which includes May Creek. )

We all knew there would be more development in the beautiful May Valley.  The area is characterized by lovely historic homesteads offering healthy country living conditions just minutes from employment centers in Renton, Bellevue, and Issaquah. These homesteads were interspersed and surrounded with undeveloped land that potentially offered new picture-perfect home sites, so long as the flooding, landslides and sustainability could be brought under control.

May Creek in Renton.  (Photo courtesy City of Renton.)

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Posted in Environment, May Creek

Sunset Neighborhood Park completion, including playgrounds and water feature, coming soon!

May29
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Click here for a full-size PDF   of the Sunset Neighborhood Park  Masterplan Revised Phase II-2018

Many residents have asked me for more details regarding the plan for the Sunset Neighborhood Park, which is off to an excellent start but is not complete yet. Phase 1 included an entry plaza by the library with seating and overhead pergola, restroom facilities, wide walkways,  a large lawn area, and rain gardens.

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Posted in Renton Highlands

Renton Highlands Revitalization still moving forward even with setback at Hi-Lands Shopping Center

May26
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Photo courtesy of www.sunsetrenton.com

Renton residents got a first hand account of my reaction when I learned the builder had pulled out of the Hi-Lands Shopping Center renovation right after making the long-time tenants move out.  I got the news in a public meeting, and reporter Haley Ausbun did an excellent job of recording my candid reaction in an article in the Renton Reporter. “The loss of the Solera Project came as a shock to Corman at the March 18 Committee of the Whole meeting.” …“This shopping center has been ground zero of the Highland redevelopments for probably 20 years at least,” Corman said.”  …”Corman also said he was disappointed, and doesn’t understand what led the eviction to happen so early.”…“We’re trying to do a revitalization, not end up with a shuttered shopping center,” Corman said at the meeting. “It’s been such a long road to get here.”

In summary, I share the community’s disappointment in the way the Hi-Lands Shopping Center business timing was handled.  I’m also working with our city’s economic development department to help ensure the planned renovation project gets going again soon, and that we don’t miss any opportunities to find homes for the businesses that were displaced.

With that said, I want to assure the Community that Renton Highlands Revitalization, also known as “Sunset Area Transformation” is proceeding at a brisk pace.  A beautiful, sustainable, inclusive, and thriving Renton Highlands, including new market-rate and affordable housing, improved transit, and an all-new “parkway-style” Sunset Boulevard, is just a few short years away.  In city-building time scales, it’s just around the corner.

The 11-acre Highlands Shopping Center is a part of the overall plan, but only a small part, as the entire improvement area covers 269 public and private acres.  Decades ago, during a bleak period when businesses were pulling out of the highlands,  I encouraged  the council to put $1,500,000 in a fund to jump-start Highlands Revitalization .  We’ve targeted this money for infrastructure, property acquisition, and planning,  including creation of the award winning Highlands Revitalization Plan that is summarized well in this “CityLab” news article here.    In author Kaid Benfield’s words, “If you’re looking for exemplary revitalization with new, first-class green infrastructure, community facilities and mixed-income housing, take a look at what’s happening in the Sunset district of Renton, Washington, a city of about 90,000 people south of Seattle.”

It took countless meetings with residents, businesses, and dozens of governmental and charitable stakeholders, to arrive at the highly collaborative and successful plan we are working to today.  We had some notable rough spots in the early days of creating the plan, and through it all I personally worked hard to help keep residents and property owners on board through every step.  We also suffered a small setback when one of our first demonstration projects, Harrington Square Apartments, suffered a dramatic fire while being roofed during construction,  before the building’s fire walls and fire-fighting features were completed.  Thankfully no one was hurt, and our dedicated firefighters aided by  recently enlarged water lines and reservoirs were able to readily contain it.

In recent years we have re-worked the plan to make it an even more collaborative and co-owned  product of 28 stakeholders/partners, maximizing our opportunity for County, State, Federal, and private grants.  Because the Sunset Transformation Plan is so comprehensive, including new housing and transit, it has been successful in pulling in many millions of dollars in outside assistance.  Most recently, King County pledged $5,000,000 towards this plan and hundreds of thousands of extra hours of bus service to Renton in support of the important new housing that is going into the area.  We’ve also been able to acquire grants to allow us to simultaneously complete phases 2 and 3 of the park near the library, which will bring new playgrounds, water features,  shelters, tables and seating to the park, completing it.

Within the private development community, this plan is well known, and we expect to see an increasing number of private retail and housing projects on the Sunset corridor in the next decade.  This will help us meet growth management targets, while keeping the high-density housing on appropriate corridors where it does not increase traffic in single-family neighborhoods.

I’m excited about this plan and I hope you are too.  I’ve worked on it 20 years, and as Mayor I plan to see it through to completion.  As always, please feel free to comment with your thoughts below.

For a virtual year-book of Highland Revitalization Discussions and related blogs, search “Highlands” in my search bar or simply click here

 

Posted in Renton Highlands

The history of the Landing, our modern regional shopping destination

May26
2019 Written by Randy Corman

Photo courtesy of Gary Palmer

We first envisioned the Landing in 2000, in Jesse Tanner’s second mayoral term.  I was council president that year, and had been working for years with Jesse, the Council, and our Economic Development Director Sue Carlson to increase Renton’s retail sector. Decades earlier Renton had lost major retail anchors to Tukwila’s new Southcenter Mall, including Penny’s and Sears. We knew that bolstering Renton’s retail offerings would increase city sales tax revenues and provide residents with additional fun and convenient places to shop and dine.  Boeing had recently let us know they were to begin putting 3-5 acre tracts of surplussed industrial property up for sale as the company modernized its design and inventory management systems.

We saw an opportunity for a new shopping and entertainment center instead of warehouses and storage yards.   We could foresee the possibility of a sixty acre mixed-use center, as long as the property was not sold in individual pieces. We developed the working title “Southport Landing,” adopting the Southport name from an adjacent development in its early planning stages on the waterfront at the site of the former Shuffleton power plant. Jesse, Sue and I (as council president) interviewed several potential project developers to establish viability of our vision and learn what they would need from us to be successful.  In the next several years this project took shape in many ways, including hammering out a critical agreement with Boeing.  If the aerospace company consolidated the land into one large parcel while they pulled back from it, instead of selling it off a few acres at a time, the city of Renton would contribute roads and public infrastructure to the final project.  The City would use some of the tax revenues generated by the new project to pay for this infrastructure.  Renton would get a say in the purchase and sale agreement, including approving the buyer and the proposed project.

We selected Harvest Partners, who employed renowned architects and brought us concepts we approved.  The name got shortened simply to “The Landing”, since “Southport” was an independent (closely coordinated) project on the lake.  Then we battled environmental lawsuits funded largely by Westfield, owner of Southcenter Mall as they seemed determined to prevent us from building the Landing.  Making things more complicated, Westfield has significant leverage over many national retail chains since Westfield owns malls throughout the world, so we found we were generally going to need independent local companies and non-Westfield-dependant retailers to populate our new center.  Construction finally commenced in 2007. 

City officials and citizens standing near the center roundabout in the entertainment area of the Landing.

Then the great recession hit and we had some setbacks, like losing the Starbucks store. Harvest Partners had nearly completed construction, and they earnestly pushed forward with leasing, confident the economy would come back.

Within weeks of opening, it was clear we had hit a home run.  Renton residents flocked to the new stores and entertainment, instantly filling local restaurants like the Rock and Papaya, and quickly making the Target and LA Fitness some of those chains most successful stores in the nation.  The fact that we had to seek local chains and retailers ended up being one of our greatest strengths, as residents found the Landing to be a lovely and unique shopping environment, with wonderful new offerings, providing a fresh change from standard malls across the country.

Daily activities at the Landing can be found here.

To see pages of articles and photos from my blog during the creation and opening of the Landing, click here.

 

 

 

 

Posted in The Landing

I’m running for Mayor!

May18
2019 Written by Randy Corman

My family and I are very excited to announce that I am officially running for the the office of Mayor of Renton!

This position is an open seat, as Mayor Law has announced his retirement at the end of this year. As the senior Councilmember, I will bring over 25 years of experience as a Renton Councilmember to this role, including five years as Renton Council President and another five years as Council President Pro-Tem. I have chaired every council committee, and have substituted for the Mayor on many occasions. I have worked with four Renton mayors in my decades on City Council.

I also bring 33 years of management and engineering experience from my career at the Boeing Company from 1984-2017. Early retirement from Boeing has afforded me the opportunity to serve Renton residents in this new role.

Over the years I have been instrumental in bringing us the Landing, downtown Piazza, Farmers Market, Southport, 405/167 improvements, street and sidewalk improvements, the Henry Moses Aquatic Center, the Neighborhood Program, modern fire and police stations, the off-leash dog park, expanded municipal arts (including the new rooftop dragon!), and many other new parks and libraries. I’ve represented Renton in many regional forums including the I-405 Executive Committee, Metro Regional Transit Committee, and Salmon Habitat Recovery. I’m currently collaborating with the Mayor and council colleagues on downtown and highlands revitalization projects, creating a Benson Hill Community Center, building a more inclusive city, adding new police officers, building a new police training center, and working to reduce traffic congestion, while minimizing costs to homeowners by expanding Renton’s retail base.

As Mayor I will bring the same enthusiasm, open-mindedness, collaboration, and desire to hear from the whole community that I am known for on City Council. I promise a smooth and collaborative transition of leadership, followed by building on our successes toward an even brighter future for all of us.

Posted in Uncategorized

Main Street is the first of many; one-way street downtown is converted back to two-way

Aug18
2017 Written by Randy Corman

Above:  The view down main street from City Hall.  The street was already open to two-way traffic in the foreground, but was closed to northbound traffic North of the Veterans Park in the distance.  (All traffic was forced to turn right just past the three story building on the right side of this photo –where an orange construction sign can be seen on the sidewalk.  This traffic can now also go straight.)

From a meeting room in City Hall this morning, I caught the scene as our Transportation team opened up the north end of main street to two way traffic for the first time in half a century.  Motorists seemed unsure of themselves as they tentatively drove in new directions and tried some new turning movements.  This was the first of several one-way to two-way street conversions we are planning in the coming years to give our downtown a more livable environment and make it easier to navigate.

This street conversion will be followed by similar changes on Williams and Wells, and ultimately Second and Third Streets in future years if we can secure the necessary funding.  The conversions require updating of signals and intersections to latest standards, so the cost to eliminate all one way streets in Renton is in the tens of millions of dollars.  We’re hoping to focus on the easiest and most important ones first, and obtain much of this money through state and federal grants, existing transportation revenue sources, and extra sales tax revenues resulting from increased vitality of downtown businesses as we improve the environment.

We’re planning on accompanying the changes with wider sidewalks with outdoor dining, diagonal parking (where possible),  and enhanced landscapes.

To help nurture a thriving business environment, engineering designs will encourage pass-through traffic not to go through our historic downtown.  For example, SR 900 has been moved off of Second and Third Street, and onto the newly widened Rainier Avenue and I-405.

I wrote a blog entry in 2011 with some of my ideas on downtown revitalization, and  I described (with photos) how slowing down traffic, focusing on street frontages, and working together as a community dramatically transformed the downtown in my hometown of Livermore, California.  That blog can be found here

 

Above: The new two-way section of Main street, in front of g.h.y. bicycle shop.

Above:  A motorist headed east on Third Street tentatively makes a left turn onto Main Street, something that was not possible since the 1960s.

Above:  Renton transportation experts monitor the stop signals and the control box, making sure the new traffic signals are working exactly as engineered to allow the new travel and turning directions.

Posted in Uncategorized

Clarified in writing and signed in ink; eminent domain not to be used for Community Center river promenade plan

Jun07
2017 Written by Randy Corman

Six years ago Renton adopted a City Center Community Plan that created vision for the future of our downtown and it’s adjacent neighborhoods as envisioned by residents, businesses, and other stakeholders.  This was the first of what will ultimately be 8, 9, or 10 plans covering our entire city and potential annexation areas.

The City Center Community Plan was one of the first plans created, along with Highlands and Benson, under our Community Planning program

The completed City Center Plan contains many excellent ideas, and the entire 165 page document can be found here HERE

There was one detail that raised concerns by some residents in the area, and it was brought to Council’s attention last year.

Section 8.3.3 of the plan includes discussion of a greenway/promenade near Cedar River, based on some notional sketches elsewhere in the plan.  This section includes the language that “the City should work closely with property owners, business owners, and residents that will be impacted by zoning changes or potential land assembly.”

Some homeowners in the area became concerned that the City could be planning an eminent domain taking of their riverfront homes or property to accomplish this plan.  When the issue came before City Council, the City staff explained this was not the intent of the plan, but residents remained worried.  So to alleviate this fear and help these residents feel safe with the plan, council unanimously agreed to formally adopt a written amendment to the plan to clarify that eminent domain would not be used for this purpose.  The statement went through our Planning Staff for drafting, our City Planning Commission for review and recommendation, and then came back to Council’s Planning and Development Committee for a formal recommendation to the council.  We produced the report below, and council formally adopted it on Monday night.

I’ve been a consistent voice against eminent domain overreach, a topic which brought me into City politics 30 years ago.  Please read this blog entry to learn more.

 

Posted in Uncategorized
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About the author

Hi, I’m Randy Corman. Welcome to my blog!  I served on Renton City Council for 28 years, 1994-2021, with six years as Renton Council President.  I’m also a mechanical engineer and manager, and worked for the Boeing Company for 33 years, from 1984- 2017.  My wife and I have five kids and five grandkids, and we all live in Renton.  I’ve kept this blog for 17 years, and get thousands of readers each month. Please share your feedback, ideas, and opinions in the comments.

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