Fast-Track Status Sought For Stadium Emergency Declaration Would Ease Timetable For New Seahawks Home

King County is being pressed to declare the new Seahawks stadium project an emergency to save time on what project backers characterize as an already tight construction schedule.

If the undertaking is deemed an emergency, an ordinance putting it in motion could be rushed through the Metropolitan King County Council - cutting 25 days off the usual process.

“The reason is there’s really nothing to be gained by allowing this to go out 25 days and there’s quite a lot potentially to be lost,” said Susan Pierson, a spokeswoman for prospective team owner Paul Allen.

“That means 25 fewer days to work on the stadium project. Having it sooner allows us to do the good, safe job we need to do on construction.”

The Seahawks are to play their first season in the new stadium in 2002.

If the emergency timetable is applied, the public will not have a chance to appeal. But Councilman Chris Vance, who proposed the emergency clause, said the appeal period is moot because voters have already approved the project.

“Even the opponents have acknowledged it’s going to happen … so why delay it?” Vance said.

But some council members are wary of declaring the project an emergency, saying such declarations are a major step that should be reserved for extreme circumstances.

“It’s a measure you don’t want to abuse … so I think the question we’re all trying to wrestle with is how critical it is to the success of the project,” said Councilman Pete von Reichbauer, a Seahawks ally.

Referendum 48, which allows for the destruction of the Kingdome to make way for a new $425 million stadium and exhibition hall on the site, was approved by state voters June 17.

Allen subsequently picked up his $20 million option to buy the team from California developer Ken Behring for around $200 million.

The deal, which still must be cleared by the National Football League and subjected to federal antitrust review, is expected to close by mid-August, Pierson said Thursday.

The council must now authorize taxes that will pay for the project and approve the stadium oversight board. Public funds will cover about $325 million, with Allen providing $100 million and covering any cost overruns.

The ordinance would also refinance the Kingdome roof debt, for repairs required when ceiling tiles fell into the stands in 1994, and modify the county’s earlier promise to aid the project.

While a council advisory vote last month found nearly unanimous support for the ordinance, some members had reservations about the emergency clause that says the ordinance is “necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace, health or safety or for the support of county government and its existing public institutions.”