Sound Transit officials recently presented the preliminary route and station options, and their impacts to the community, for the Federal Way Link Extension project at a Greater Federal Way Chamber of Commerce round table and council meeting on Tuesday.

The options are outlined in the yet-to-be-published Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Federal Way Link Extension. Sound Transit is expected to publish it in the next few weeks, which will coincide with the beginning of their public outreach and comment period on the draft findings and options.

“The first takeaway is that we’re not coming out with anything right away because there’s a lot of information to digest and to evaluate,” said Greater Federal Way Chamber of Commerce CEO Rebecca Martin in an interview. “The Chamber is interested in the business impact short-term, long-term and we want to make sure we’re evaluating it appropriately.”

Cathal Ridge of Sound Transit summarized four basic routes light rail could take from the SeaTac-based Angle Lake station (ending in Federal Way) with many different options for station locations.

Sound Transit officials created a draft for the entire project, despite only having funds for infrastructure from the Angle Lake Station to the Kent/Des Moines area. However, they do have approval to construct light rail and a station to South 272nd Street when funding is available.

Identifying the preferred route for the entire project will impact where the routes and stations are located for the portion of the project that’s funded but it will also save time and money once funds for the rest of the project are secured, Ridge said at the round table.

As of right now, there’s a route alternative that goes along Pacific Highway (State Route 99), one that goes along Interstate 5 and two others that are a variation of both — a route that starts on Pacific Highway and crosses land south of Kent-Des Moines Road and continues along Interstate 5, and a route that begins on Interstate 5 and crosses over to State Route 99 just before South 252nd Street.

Nearly all routes are projected to have between 25,500 and 27,500 riders and all are estimated to take 13-14 minutes in travel time.

But each route alternative comes with its own impacts.

“Cost is just one of the items, the economic development is another one, the displacement, those are big criteria,” Martin said. “In terms of the Chamber, when you think about transit, you think about moving people for the purpose of commerce.”

Without considering routes with extra stations, the most displaced businesses, 104, occur in the State Route 99 path. But in that $1.77 billion plan, 36 residential units are impacted. Alternatively, the Interstate 5 route impacts 285 residential units and only 29 businesses in a plan costing $1.42 billion.

Every other route alternative has its own impact on residential units, businesses, commercial land and even views along freeways.

Depending on the plan, added stations can increase the price of a route alternative and displace more businesses but some might also have positive impacts in terms of “transit-oriented development” potential.

Plans with higher business impact also tend to have more land for potential transit-oriented development, according to a Sound Transit draft summary.

Land with transit-oriented development is an area that incorporates residential and commercial elements to maximize access to public transportation.

Because routes along Interstate 5 don’t intersect cities and communities in quite the same way as the State Route 99 plan does, they don’t have the same potential for transit-oriented development. But if Sound Transit was to combine that alignment with some of the station options then the transit-oriented development potential could be positively impacted, Ridge said.

Sound Transit measures this in acres with the State Route 99 alternative generating 123 acres of potential transit-oriented development and the Interstate 5 option generating 83 acres.

“[There’s] so many different scenarios and each of those scenarios is going to have its own pro and con to it and people are going to be personally impacted and professionally impacted, so there’s a lot of balancing that has to go on between value and benefit,” Martin said.

All routes end in Federal Way but exactly where in Federal Way is also up for debate.

Ridge outlined four possibilities of where a Federal Way station could be located.

A station could go just northeast of the Federal Way Transit Center or directly south of the transit center, both elevated.

There’s the option of putting a station in a trench in between Interstate 5, 23rd Avenue South, Truman High School and South 320th Street. And a potential for a station to go in a trench just west of Interstate 5 near the Federal Way 320th Park and Ride.

But Martin said it’s important to look at the entire route from a regional scope because the “needs of many outweigh the needs of the one.”

Although there will be ample time for public comment when Sound Transit publishes the draft, Martin said it’s important to have as much information as possible to form an educated opinion.

“I think it’s really easy when you see something like this to have an emotional response but our commitment is to make sure that we have as much information as possible to have an informed opinion and I think it’s our responsibility as a Chamber of Commerce to make sure we evaluate that with a strategic eye for long-term economic growth,” she said.

Asking questions, such as “who and what does Federal Way want to be,” and “are we a job creating community” or “are we a bedroom community” is critical, Martin said.

“It’s very important as a community that we start to think about who we want to be,” she said. “What is Federal Way? In that global economy, what is Federal Way? And that will help drive some decisions we make.”

After a 45 day public comment period, Ridge said the Sound Transit board will identify a preferred route alternative, which will likely be around mid-2015. From there, they hope to publish a final Environmental Impact Statement in mid-2016 with project selection and a record of decision in late 2016.

The final design will be chosen in 2017 and construction on the Angle Lake station to Kent/Des Moines route will begin in 2019 with projected completion in 2023.

Ridge said as soon as the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is published, there will be public hearings in early May at Highline College and the Federal Way Community Center.

Residents within a half-mile of the project corridor will also receive mailers that will give direction on how to get information through the website.

And eventually, the project’s website will offer three elements for the public to fully understand each option for the project. Ridge said there will be a video simulation that provides aerial views and narration for each project option, an interactive experience where a person will have the opportunity to “build their own route,” add stations and see the cost and impact of that route, and a link to a comment form, which will go on the record and be considered by the Sound Transit board before they identify a preferred route.

For more information, visit www.soundtransit.org/Projects-and-Plans/Federal-Way-Link-Extension.