CAG-11-004 INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CENTRAL PUGET SOUND REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY AND THE CITY OF RENTON REGARDING WETLAND PERMITS AND MITIGATION FOR THE TUKWILA LONGACRES STATION PROJECT THIS Agreement is made this Qe? tfz-~ day of (CT**- ^^^~j 2M-0 between the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (hereinafter referred to as "SOUND TRANSIT" or "ST") and the City of Renton, a municipal corporation ("Renton" or "City"). RECITALS WHEREAS, Sound Transit plans to construct a new permanent Tukwila Commuter Rail Station along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) tracks ("Tukwila Longacres Station") to improve access for passengers on Sound Transit's Sounder Commuter Rail Service between Tacoma and Everett; and WHEREAS, it is anticipated that Sound Transit and the City will negotiate and execute a separate agreement in which Sound Transit will commit funding for the Strander Project and work with the City to provide access from the Tukwila Longacres Station to Strander Blvd.; and WHEREAS, as part of implementing the Tukwila Longacres Station project, Sound Transit must permit and mitigate certain wetland and wetland buffer impacts; and WHEREAS, the City has previously obtained US Army Corps of Engineers and Department of Ecology permits, plans to obtain a City of Tukwila permit, and has purchased mitigation bank credits for wetland and buffer impacts for the City's Strander Blvd. Project, which is in the same area as the Tukwila Longacres Station project; and WHEREAS, the City's permits for the Strander Blvd. Project may expire if the City does not begin work under those permits; and WHEREAS, the City is willing to allow Sound Transit to construct permitted wetland fill on the City's behalf in order to extend the life of those permits and to save Sound Transit the time and money required to obtain separate permits and construct a separate mitigation project. NOW THEREFORE, the parties enter into this Agreement as provided herein. 1. PURPOSE The purpose of this Agreement is to describe the conditions under which the City will modify and obtain wetland permits for the Strander Blvd. Project and Sound Transit's Tukwila Longacres Station Project, provide mitigation credits from the Springbrook Mitigation Bank necessary to offset the wetland and buffer impacts of the Tukwila Longacres Station Project, and the terms and conditions under which Sound Transit will reimburse the City for satisfactory performance of these commitments. 2. COOPERATION AND GOOD FAITH EFFORTS 2.1 Both parties acknowledge that the success of the regional transportation program requires their willingness to work collaboratively to achieve the goals and objectives articulated in this Agreement. The Parties understand and agree that the process described in this Agreement depends upon timely and open communication and cooperation between the Parties. In this regard, communication of issues, changes, or problems that arise with regard to any aspect of the work should occur as early as possible in the process, and not wait for explicit due dates or deadlines. Each party agrees to work cooperatively and in good faith toward resolution of any such issues. 3. GENERAL FUNDING APPROACH 3.1 Permitting Costs. Sound Transit shall provide the City reimbursement for the actual costs associated with modifying or obtaining wetland permits to cover wetland and buffer impacts from the Tukwila Longacres Station Project in one lump sum payment for a total amount of up to but not to exceed a maximum amount of Twenty Thousand dollars ($20,000.00). The City shall provide Sound Transit with an invoice documenting its actual costs for modifying existing Strander Blvd., permits and obtaining new wetland permits, as provided in this Agreement. Sound Transit agrees to pay the invoice within thirty (30) days of receipt of a properly supported invoice as provided in Section 5.3. 3..2 Mitigation Bank Credits. Sound Transit shall provide the City with reimbursement for allocation of the number of mitigation credits from the Springbrook Mitigation Bank necessary to cover impacts to wetlands and buffers from the Tukwila Longacres Station project according to the ratios and cost per credit described in the Springbrook Mitigation Banking Instrument, in one lump sum payment for a total amount of up to but not to exceed a maximum amount of One Hundred Twenty Thousand dollars ($120,000.00). As described in the Springbrook Mitigation Banking Instrument, the Bank credits were developed to compensate at a 0.85:1 ratio for impacts to Category III wetlands. The total cost per credit at the Springbrook Bank is $63 6,000 J)0. The City shall provide Sound Transit with written documentation or certification of the mitigation bank ledger showing that mitigation credits have been released from the Springbrook Mitigation Bank to mitigate the impacts to Category III wetlands from the Tukwila Longacres Station project. Sound Transit agrees to pay the lump sum amount referenced in this Section within thirty (30) days of receipt of the documentation described herein. 3.3 Funding Principles. The Parties agree that the following principles apply to this Agreement and any subsequent funding agreement executed by the parties: (1) Sound Transit shall not be obligated to reimburse the City if the City is unable to fulfill its obligations for modifying existing permits and obtaining new permits to cover the Tukwila Longacres Station Project as described under this Agreement; and (2) Sound Transit shall not be obligated to reimburse the City for permitting costs that the City would otherwise have incurred for the permitting of the Strander Blvd. Project. 3.4 Relation to City's Strander Blvd. Project. Both parties understand and agree that the allocation of Springbrook Mitigation Bank credits to the Tukwila Longacres Station Project is directly related to construction of the BNSF bridge portion of the City's Strander Blvd. Project. If the BNSF bridge portion of the Strander Blvd. Project is not completed as currently contemplated, the Parties acknowledge that further coordination with the Army Corps of Engineers would be necessary to determine if the permitting and mitigation contemplated under this Agreement remains feasible. 4. SCOPE AND SCHEDULE 4.1 Renton Wetland Permitting Responsibilities. The City shall obtain modifications to the existing Strander Blvd. permits and obtain a new permit from the City of Tukwila to accommodate the wetland and buffer impacts identified by Sound Transit for the Tukwila Longacres Station project. The specific permits and/or approvals to be modified or obtained include the following: 1. Modification to Corps section 404 permit (#NWS-2007-35) 2. Modification to Ecology section 401 permit (#6224) 3. Sensitive Areas Special Permission from the City of Tukwila for wetland and/or buffer impacts The City will also pursue a Jurisdictional Determination from the City of Tukwila for all wetlands on the Tukwila Station site. These include wetlands N, O, P, and S as described in the Wetland Technical Discipline Report completed in 2004 for the Strander Boulevard Extension Project and in the Tukwila Commuter Rail Station NEPA Environmental Assessment completed in January 2009. The City shall be responsible for obtaining any and all agency approvals necessary to allocate Springbrook Mitigation Bank Credits for the Tukwila Longacres Station project impacts. 4.2 Sound Transit Wetland Permitting Responsibilities: Sound Transit will provide CAD files showing the final wetland and buffer impacts that will result from construction of the Tukwila Station project to support the City's permitting effort. Sound Transit will be responsible for compliance with the applicable terms and conditions related to the Tukwila Longacres Station project impacts in the modified Corps and Ecology permits and the new Tukwila Sensitive Areas Special Permission permit. 4.3 Schedule for Completion of Wetland Permitting. The City shall complete all applications for permit modifications and new permits for review by Sound Transit within thirty (30) days of the execution of this Agreement. Sound Transit shall review all permit applications and provide comments to the City within fourteen (14) days of receipt. The City shall then make changes to the applications as needed and submit the applications to the appropriate permitting agencies within twenty-one (21) days of receiving comments from Sound Transit. 5. GENERAL TERMS The following general terms are applicable to this Agreement. 5.1 Indemnification. To the extent permitted by law, the Parties to this Agreement shall protect, defend, indemnify, and save harmless the other Party, and its officers, officials, employees, and agents, while acting within the scope of their employment, from any and all costs, claims, demands, judgments, damages, or liability of any kind including injuries to persons or damages to property, which arise out of, or in any way result from, or are connected to, or are due to any acts or omissions of the indemnifying Party. No Party shall be required to indemnify, defend, or save harmless the other Party if the claim, suit, or action for injuries, death, or damages is caused by the sole negligence of the Party seeking indemnification. Where such claims, suits, or actions result from concurrent negligence of the Parties, the indemnity provisions provided herein shall be valid and enforceable only to the extent of the Party's own negligence. Each Party agrees that its obligations under this indemnification section extend to any claim, demand, and/or cause of action brought by, or on behalf of, any of its employees or agents. For this purpose, each Party, by mutual negotiation, hereby waives, with respect to the other Party only, any immunity that would otherwise be available against such claims under the industrial insurance provisions of Title 51 RCW. In the event of any claims, demands, actions and lawsuits, the indemnifying Party upon prompt notice from the other Party shall assume all costs of defense thereof, including legal fees incurred by the other parties, and of all resulting judgments that may be obtained against the other Party.