This isn’t particularly controversial, but if you pay attention to public process, it’s notable: A City Council vote tomorrow is expected to pave the way for the end of a five-year process involving a West Seattle street vacation. That’s the term for a publicly owned right-of-way – whether developed as a street or not – being given up by the public entity that owns it. In this case, both the West Coast Self-Storage facility that opened more than a year ago on Harbor Avenue SW and nearby Nucor are getting something out of the transfer of three-fifths of an acre of land that technically have been undeveloped parts of 29th SW and SW City View. We wrote extensively about the plan back in 2017, when councilmembers approved it. The self-storage company offered a package of “public benefits” estimated to be worth more than $300,000 (originally detailed in 2017), including metal art panels like these two and various pedestrian/bike-trail improvements:

Last Tuesday, the council’s Transportation and Utilities Committee got a presentation how it had all turned out. You can see it about 30 minutes into the meeting recording:

(Added: The slide deck from that meeting is here.) The purpose of this final part of the process is to confirm that the beneficiary of the street vacation has completed their obligation, The committee members who were present signaled their approval with “yes” votes. Tomorrow, the full council has to take one last vote. After that, there’ll be one last step to finalizing the turnover – the property will officially be transferred to WC Self-Storage, which has already paid the city more than a million dollars for it. If you’re wondering about Nucor’s role in all this – it involves part of the railroad tracks.