PORT OF SEATTLE
MEMORANDUM
COMMISSION AGENDA
Item No.
5a
Date of Meeting
April 28, 2009
DATE: April 22, 2009
TO: Tay Yoshitani, Chief Executive Officer
FROM: Joe McWilliams, Managing Director, Real Estate
SUBJECT: Removal of deed restrictions from former Port property located in the
Lower Industrial Development District prior to its sale to Thorvald Hurlen
in 1978.
ACTION REQUESTED
Request for the Port Commission to authorize the Chief Executive Officer to execute all
documents necessary to remove deed restrictions on the Riverside Property (defined
below and map attached) no longer required under RCW Chapter 53.25.
SYNOPSIS
On May 23, 1978, the Port Commission adopted Resolution No. 2737 deleting from the
Lower Duwamish Industrial Development District (LDIDD) Port property consisting of a
portion of the abandoned bed of the Duwamish Waterway, outside the 500 foot mark, and
adjacent to the intersection of South Riverside Drive and 7
th
Avenue South in King
County (Riverside Property), and authorizing its sale. The sale was subject to the
procedures for properties in the LDIDD provided in Chapter 53.25 of the Revised Code
of Washington (RCW). At the time, the RCW procedures required a restriction in the
transfer deed limiting use of the Riverside Property to industrial or maritime purposes,
but subject to any future amendment or repeal of the statute eliminating the requirements.
On October 10, 1978, the Riverside Property was sold to Thorvald Hurlen (Hurlen) with
the required use restrictions, including the Port’s right to enforce the restrictions and
cancel the sale.
Earlier this year, the City of Seattle (City) filed a condemnation action to obtain title to
property owned by Hurlen that is contiguous to the Riverside Property. Hurlen’s
neighbor, Mark Hansen (Hansen), filed a third party claim in the condemnation action
against Hurlen and the Port, claiming title by adverse possession to a portion of the
Riverside Property. The claim against the Port stems from the Port’s reversionary
interest under the deed restrictions.
COMMISSION AGENDA
Tay Yoshitani, Chief Executive Officer
April 22, 2009
Page 2
In 1989, RCW Chapter 53.25 was amended to permit the deletion of land from the
LDIDD without imposing use restrictions, so long as the land was not acquired with
funds raised by the Port through the industrial development district levy. The Riverside
Property was transferred to the Port at no cost when Commercial Waterway District No.
1 was dissolved. As a result of the statutory amendment and the provisions in the transfer
deed, the Port’s reversionary interest is no longer necessary. By formally removing the
Port’s restrictions from the deed, the Port will be dismissed from a lawsuit in which it has
no interest.
