Station area planning is a city program that aims to better incorporate light rail into neighboring areas once Sound Transit’s East Link light rail extension is operational.
The BelRed/130th Station (formerly identified as the 130th Avenue Northeast Station) serves an area planned for transition into a dense, urban, largely residential community with an active retail “main” street along 130th Avenue, a restored Goff Creek corridor and an art district focused on arts making, education and development.
A station area planning process was completed and resulted in a 2012 report on the 130th Avenue Northeast light rail station. Station area planning helped to identify the future character of the area and how to better integrate light rail into surrounding neighborhoods. The 130th Avenue NE Station Fact Sheet describes the basic steps for station area planning.
Visit Sound Transit's East Link website for more about the BelRed/130th station.
Through the station area process, the following were considered:
Current Character
- Mix of low-density commercial and industrial uses;
- Retail along Bel-Red Road and Northup Way/Northeast 20th Street;
- Some land uses already transitioning. Large, flat expanses of concrete and asphalt; and
- Auto-dependent, designed for larger trucks and buses.
Future Character
- 2,350 new housing units in station area by 2030;
- Potential building heights at station node of 150 feet tall;
- Legacy uses coexisting with new development as area transitions will give area an interesting and eclectic character;
- A green and natural form of development, centered around transit; and
- Goff Creek restored with wetlands and public green space.
Access
- Pedestrian and bicycle access and mobility.
- Quality pedestrian experience with landscaping, wide sidewalks, enhanced crosswalks, decorative lighting, wayfinding and functional and attractive street furniture, no driveways on 130th Avenue.
- Goff Creek trail part of pedestrian experience at the station and through the neighborhood.
- Bicycle connections to nearby neighborhoods, regional SR-520 trail.
- Multi-modal corridor on Northeast 16th Street /136th Place Northeast includes a five-foot bicycle lane and two-foot buffer. Bike lane on 130th Avenue.
- 130th Avenue planned as active retail ‘main’ street with pedestrian and bike connections.
Key Considerations
- Vibrant, dense urban neighborhood around transit.
- New development relates to pedestrian scale of new street grid and multi-modal improvements.
- Goff Creek creates identity for the neighborhood and the station.