Because of this we have had to limit our updating. Once we get power back we’ll resume regular postings.

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Seattle City Light experienced multiple outages throughout its service territory, starting about 11:15 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 25, when a cold front moved through the area causing wind gusts of 50 mph. At the peak of the windstorm approximately 18,000 customers were without power.

PREVIOUSLY: BTB Reader Carrie Baggaley Rasmussen texted us these pics, taken by her husband Justin, of a large tree down across SW 152nd near the Ruth Dykeman Center, felled by a Christmas Day storm, which also caused scattered power outages in the Burien area.

As you can see in the foreground, a car was also damaged by a fallen telephone pole.

Seattle City Light says that more than 7,000 homes and businesses were affected by the storm, with some of the largest outages in the SeaTac and Burien area – here’s a map showing the outages:

“Crews are responding to identify the exact locations and causes of the outages and then will make repairs,” City Light said in a statement.

Customers can get outage information online at www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat.

If you have any photos of other storm damage, please email us and we’ll try to post them (in-between eating and visiting with family…).

The Port of Seattle will add to the buffer zone near the third runway at Sea-Tac Airport under a planned sale of excess Seattle City Light property near the old Lora Lakes Apartments complex in Burien. A bill authorizing the sale of the old Sunnydale substation property at 15002 8th Avenue South in Burien was expected to be approved by a Seattle City Council committee Wednesday May 18, and then okayed within several weeks thereafter by the Seattle City Council. Formal approval by the Port is also required.

A “fiscal note” report on the bill from the City of Seattle fills in additional details. The sale price of the 12,197 square-foot parcel is to be $178,212, which reflects its appraised value minus a small adjustment to offset costs of environmental remediation the Port will have to perform. With the expected purchase, the Port would own all land surrounding the former electrical substation. The site is in close proximity to the now-vacant Lora Lake Apartments. Under a proposed five-party agreement, King County was to buy the substation parcel from the city as part of a larger redevelopment of the apartment complex for low-income housing, but the whole deal was scuttled when environmental testing revealed a $10 million cleanup cost for the acerage.

The City Light substation property was originally sold to Seattle in November, 1958 for $4,305 by the Tenth Church of Christ The Scientist. Seattle built a 4 kV electrical substation there but it became outdated and the property vestigial after Seattle City Light converted to a 12 kV distribution network, and it was determined no other city department needed the land.

A recent annual staff report found the City of Seattle owned 212 excess property clusters worth roughly $81 million. The transaction for the substation property in Burien would be the first sale of an excess property by Seattle since August 2008.

Sunnydale Substation parcel/City of Seattle. Click image to see larger version.

Matt Rosenberg is founder and editor of Public Data Ferret, a news and knowledge base project of the non-profit Public Eye Northwest. Disclosure: In 1994-95 Matt worked for the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs. Email: matt (at) publiceyenorthwest (dot) org

“We will come to your house with free CFLs, showerheads and faucet aerators,” reads a statement on their website. “We will install the CFLs and leave behind the showerhead and faucet aerator for you to install. To qualify, you must live in a single–family home or 2–4 unit apartment/condo in the parts of Burien, White Center, North Highline, SeaTac, Tukwila, and Skyway served by Seattle City Light, and the northern part of the Central District.”

Here are some of the FREE products Seattle City Light is offering:

To make an appointment, call 206–449–1132 or send an email to SCL_install@seattle.gov

Here’s more info on City Light’s Powerful Neighborhoods program:

The Powerful Neighborhoods program is a pilot program designed to reach customers who may not have taken advantage of our energy conservation programs in the past. These customers include senior citizens, non-English-speaking households and low-income customers.

We hope that by offering to make home visits and providing energy-saving products, we can educate customers about energy conservation and motivate them to take actions to save money and electricity.

Seattle City Light is working with Ecos Consulting, Cascadia Consulting, Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS), and the Working Green to hire and train installers, schedule home visits, provide translations, and deliver and install the products.

All installers have undergone background checks and drug-screening. Installers fluent in Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Amharic, Cantonese and other languages will be available to visit homes where those languages are primarily spoken.

This project received funding support from the Federal Government under the American Recovery and Revitalization Act (ARRA)

In 2010 The Powerful Neighborhoods program successfully served more than 7,000 homes in south Seattle, installing more than 130,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs, reducing energy consumption by more than 24 million kWh and saving our customers more than $2.2 million on their energy bills.

UPDATE 5/4/10 8pm: Seattle City Light says that power has been restored to customers affected by an early evening outage in Burien and Arbor Lake in King County.

The original outage involved 4,003 customers.

The outage started at 4:30 p.m. and appears to have been caused by a failed insulator.

The rough boundaries of the outage were:

• North: South Director Street
• South: SW 150th Street
• East: 12th Avenue South
• West: 25th Avenue SW

PREVIOUSLY: A power outage that struck Tuesday afternoon (May 4) at 4:30pm is affecting 4,003 customers in Burien and Arbor Lake in King County.

According to Seattle City Light, crews are “en route to find the cause and restore service.”

The initial estimate for power restoration is 8pm.

Approximate boundaries of the outage are:

• North: South Director Street
• South: SW 150th Street
• East: 12th Avenue South
• West: 25th Avenue SW

Not all customers within these boundaries may be without power, and if you’re reading this, it’s likely you haven’t lost it yet either.

A power outage hit Burien Tuesday afternoon (April 27) around 1:35pm, initially affecting some 4.750 customers, according to Seattle City Light spokesman Peter Clark.

UPDATE 2:46pm: According to City Light’s Powerlines page, power has been fully restored and the culprit was a tree branch:

UPDATE 2:24pm: @SEACityLight just Tweeted:

“A power outage in South Seattle and Burien has been mostly restored. Current estimate 800 customers still out. Cause ID’d and being fixed.”

We first caught wind of the outage through a Tweet from @isisb511, who said:

“Omg everyones power in burien on 1st ave went out. Both my branch (and the whole freddies) lights went out and chris’ branch power went out”

and

“Omg power out again! Three times straight its out now… for good.. my goodness”

We also got a call from Photographer Francis Zera, who said that there were multiple “flickering” outages before power finally went out for good.

While the cause of the outage is still being investigated, the boundaries of it are:

• NORTH: South 96th
• SOUTH: South 172nd Street
• EAST: 24th Ave South
• WEST: 33rd Ave SW

According to Clark, crews were en route to investigate.

It is unknown when electricity will be restored, but if you’re a Blog Reader in these areas you can always use your iPhone or other mobile device.

To find out more, visit Seattle City Light’s “Powerlines” page here (be aware though that as of 2:15pm, that site has yet to be updated) or follow them on Twitter here.

UPDATE 2:45pm 11/16/09: It appears that Seattle City Light lineworkers restored power about 2pm Monday (Nov. 16th) to most of the 4,000 homes and businesses affected by an outage in Burien and unincorporated King County.

According to Seattle City Light’s website, the outage started about 12:40pm as the result of an equipment failure that started a utility pole fire on SW 104^th Street.

The repair crew expected to restore service for the remaining 360 customers without power by 5pm.

The general boundaries of the remaining outage were SW 100th Street on the north, SW 108th Street on the south, Occidental Way SW on the east, and 10th Avenue SW on the west.

PREVIOUSLY: According to the latest “Tweet” from Seattle City Light:

Power restored to most customers in Burien, King County outage.

Remaining 360 customers should have power back by 5 p.m

A previous Tweet from SCL said:

Burien, King County outage caused by pole fire. Crews on site making repairs. Estimate to restore power by 4 p.m.

EVEN MORE PREVIOUSLY: On Monday afternoon (Nov. 16th) around 12:40pm, Seattle City Light reported that around 4,000 customers have lost power in the Burien and North Highline areas.

According to their website:

A repair crew was immediately dispatched to identify the problem and make repairs. An estimate for when power might be restored was not immediately available.

The general boundaries of the outage were SW 95th Street on the north, SW 131st Street on the south, Glendale Way S on the east, and Seola Beach Drive SW on the west.

by Ralph Nichols

A proposed 8.8 percent rate increase by Seattle City Light, which would begin in January, “will affect most of our residents,” Burien City Manager Mike Martin said last week.

City Light provides electrical service to almost all of Burien and all of the North Highline area. The Seattle City Council will vote on whether to accept or amend the rate increase request later this month.

Included in City Light’s rate analysis supporting the proposed increase are additional increases of 5.4 percent in 2011 and 6.6 percent in 2012.

Because City Light is a publicly owned utility, it is not regulated by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. Oversight comes instead from the Seattle City Council.

Martin said Burien has asked City Light for clarification about the need for a rate hike at this time, “since it will affect so many of our residents,” but has not yet received a reply.

Outgoing Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels called for the increase when he submitted in September his proposed 2010 budget.

In a report to the Burien City Council, Martin noted that reasons given for a higher power rate when Nickels announced his budget proposal were the poor economy, a sharp decline in sales of surplus power and a larger-than-proposed rate decrease in 2007.

Surplus power sales have been driven down by low natural-gas prices, according to Seattle budget director Dwight Dively. While Seattle’s 2009 budget anticipated surplus power sales of $140 million, only about half that amount has been sold – leaving City Light with a $70 million shortfall.

Martin added that City Light also says the increase is needed to maintain its net operating income reserve, although “there is no legal reserve requirement” for that reserve as structured by the utility.

Citing City Light’s reference to cash flow, Martin replied, “The economy is also hurting our residents’ cash flow.”

In a statement to The B-Town Blog, he said, “At this time, it’s still not entirely clear what’s going on.” Burien staff will seek more information from City Light within the next couple of weeks.

by Gina Bourdage

Notes from Monday night’s Burien City Council meeting (Feb. 9th):

LAKE-TO-SOUND TRAIL
King County Council Chair Julia Patterson and her team presented the 17-mile Lake-To-Sound Trail that would begin in Renton, end at Puget Sound in Des Moines and wind its way through Tukwila, Burien and SeaTac. The proposed trail would connect the Cedar River Trail, Green River Trail, Westside Trail and the Des Moines Creek Trail, making its way along the light rail station in Tukwila and then over to Burien and possibly along Des Moines Memorial Drive.

Voters have already approved a levy that would contribute $705,000 over the next year as well as $3.75 million over the next five years, pledged from the King County Parks expansion levy in 2007. Deputy Mayor Rose Clark said:

“I can’t tell you how long I have wanted a trail in Burien like this one.”

Council Chair Patterson has already made visits to Washington DC asking for measures to be included in upcoming stimulus budgets for the Lake-To-Sound Trail. According to Patterson, DC is listening to any proposals that would open up jobs for local residents and this project would do just that.

Here’s a map of the proposed trail, which starts in Renton and ends in Des Moines:

DISCOVER BURIEN
Executive Director of Discover Burien Patty Sader presented promotional efforts put forth from the Discover Burien team building community awareness for local businesses. Large banners reminding the community to shop local, a restaurant guide brochure, newsletters and welcome wagon bags given to each new business that opens in the Burien community.

Coming up with ideas business and residents alike can do to overcome tough economic times, Sader brought to light the average of 10-12 business that applied for licenses despite the odds. With 147 new business owners in Burien a light of hope and perseverance shines in what could be seen as a dark financial time.

CITY LIGHT PLANNED POWER OUTAGE
The City Council addressed the City Light project that had proposed to shut power off to many businesses along 152nd Monday February 9th for 8 hours in the middle of the day. With a vehement protest from the business along this main stretch of Burien, City Light agreed to move the scheduled power outage to late Thursday February 12th overnight. Power is scheduled to be restored after the electricity to the new city library and city hall building has been installed approximately 6 am.

ANNEXATION UPDATE
On Monday the Seattle City Council voted 8 to 1 against Burien’s memo proposed to split and adopt the North Highline neighborhoods.

Council Member Gordon Shaw said:

“The current proposal will save money in the long run.”

“I think it’s an ideal situation for Burien to finally be in an adversarial position. It’s good for Burien to not have opposition.”

The big storm’s a-comin’ folks, and should hit sometime tonight and continue through Sunday morning.

Most likely there will be significant snowfall in the Burien area (4-8 more inches), since we lie in the zone where the storm will hang out. Also be prepared, as there will be high winds and possibly sleet, which means ice on power lines, tree branches, etc. and you know what that means – power outages.

Here’s the Weather Advisory as of Saturday 12/20/08 at 5:18am:

The Winter Storm Warning is now in effect from 4 PM this afternoon to 10 am PST Sunday.

A major winter storm is on tap for later today into Sunday. Heavy snow is expected to develop along the coast this afternoon and then spread into the interior of western Washington early this evening. Heaviest snow will occur on the Kitsap peninsula… along Hood Canal… and from Olympia and Chehalis west to the central coast near Ocean Shores. 10 to 18 inches of snow is expected close to the Hood Canal. Other locations within this area should get 5 to 12 inches of snow.

Along the I-5 Corridor North of Tacoma… including Seattle and Everett… storm total snowfall of 4 to 8 inches is expected. In general… lighter amounts will occur near the Cascade foothills with heavier amounts farther west along the shores of Puget Sound. Some parts of eastern King County… where wind is a big threat… will receive 1 inch or less of snowfall. The heaviest snowfall is expected between 7 PM tonight and 4 am Sunday morning.

Late tonight into Sunday morning… locations from Tacoma on south through Lewis County and west to the coast the precipitation could possibly change over to sleet or freezing rain. Freezing rain is most likely in Grays Harbor County and the lower Chehalis valley. If more precipitation occurs in the form of freezing rain than snow… then an ice storm would be possible with ice accumulations in excess of one quarter of an inch. This is not a certainty but should be kept in mind. Ice storms are capable of causing power lines and large tree branches to snap and cause major travel disruptions.

Precautionary/preparedness actions…

A Winter Storm Warning means significant amounts of snow… sleet… and ice are expected or occurring. Strong winds are also possible. This will make travel very hazardous or impossible.

Have any cool snow/ice photos to share?

Please either email us or add ‘em to our Flickr Group so we can share them!