Committee advances funding package for Broadway Polyclinic purchase amid neighborhood concern; proviso added requiring city-county implementation timeline

King County’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee on Sept. 10 advanced three related ordinances to the full council, without recommendation, to finance a proposed county purchase of the former Polyclinic building at 1145 Broadway in Seattle for a crisis care center and a co-located residential treatment facility. Committee members voted unanimously on each piece of legislation after a multi-hour public comment period in which dozens of Capitol Hill residents, business owners and service providers alternately urged a pause for more outreach or urged the county to move forward quickly to provide crisis services.

What the committee advanced

- Ordinance 20250251: Establish a Broadway Facility Fund to collect revenues and allocate costs for the building (advanced without recommendation, vote 7-0). - Ordinance 20250250: A supplemental appropriation of $41,568,000 to acquire the building (advanced without recommendation, vote 7-0) — the package as transmitted includes a purchase price of $38,750,000 plus estimated closing costs and fees. The appropriation would be funded with $24,000,000 of crisis-care-levy proceeds for levy-eligible space and $17,500,000 in LTGO bonds backed by expected lease and parking revenues. - Ordinance 20250249: An amendment to the county’s LTGO bond ordinance to add $17,500,000 in bond authority for the acquisition (advanced without recommendation, vote 7-0).

A proviso added by amendment

Committee member Lisa Mosqueda offered an amendment, which the committee adopted after a brief floor discussion and two friendly edits. The amendment inserts a proviso requiring the executive to transmit, by Dec. 31, a plan for how King County will work with the City of Seattle and the selected operator to implement four mitigation steps requested by Mayor Bruce Harrell in his August 13 letter: (1) a crime-prevention assessment in partnership with the Seattle Police Department; (2) an operations plan to keep exterior and publicly accessible spaces safe and maintained; (3) a “good neighbor” agreement that provides reliable contacts and mechanisms for neighborhood response; and (4) a community outreach and education plan and a community advisory group. Committee members increased the amount withheld under the proviso from $1,000 to $100,000 during the meeting; the…