When Bellevue and Sound Transit finalized an agreement to fund a downtown tunnel for East Link light-rail through Bellevue last week, it was the culmination of years of political wrangling, and another three months of intense discussions between officials on both sides. When it was done, they had an agreements spelling out the alignment and how much Bellevue will contribute to the tunnel.

The two sides met almost daily at a staff level, and committees of elected representatives met several times over the summer and early fall and emerged with a deal that no one loved, but everyone accepted.

“You don’t get everything you want, and each side gets pushed a little bit outside their comfort zones, and that’s when you come to an agreement that makes sense,” said Bellevue Councilmember Grant Degginger, one of three elected representatives on the city’s negotiating committee.

For the Bellevue council it became abundantly clear after an independent study commissioned by the city failed to optimize its preferred route – a route in which the train follows Interstate 405 into downtown – that Sound Transit was going to stick with its option that traveled down Bellevue Way and 112th Avenue.

At this point, one of the primary proponents of the I-405 route (B7), Kevin Wallace, joined forces with Degginger, who backed the route preferred by Sound Transit, to meet with city and Sound Transit officials. Here, officials began to discuss how to mitigate impacts caused by running the train through residential areas.

“We could have either got into endless litigation, or we could try to find a way to cooperate with Sound Transit and move forward,” said Wallace.

Time was of the essence. Sound Transit confirmed its preferred route in July, with a deadline for the tunnel agreement to come in October. Up until July, Bellevue continued to push the B7, a route it favored by a 4-3 margin, rather than engage in the mitigation discussions with Sound Transit.

So it came down to a three-month window. When negotiations began, little progress was made.

“You start from a fixed, inflexible position, but as you work together over time and better understand the concerns of parties you can work towards trying to get something that may not be perfect, but something everybody can live with,” said Issaquah City Council Vice President Fred Butler, who served on Sound Transit’s three-man team with King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin.

It began with the alignment. Originally, the train was set to travel on the east side of Bellevue Way and 112th Avenue before crossing over to the west side. The train would have crossed the street three times.

For Bellevue, this was unacceptable. Councilmembers didn’t want the bells and gates. They wanted to cross underground, but that was just too expensive to work, Butler said.

So the sides settled on an above-ground flyover crossing from east to west, into a trench under Northeast Fourth Street. This gave the council one of its primary goals, a train that was not subject to traffic issues.

“We wanted to make sure we could keep the traffic flowing, and that the train adds to capacity, rather than reducing,” said Jennifer Robertson, the third member of Bellevue’s team.

But this resulted in an unanticipated consequence. The train line would now run 20 feet from the doors of some residents. Sound Transit planned to take part of the land, but the homeowners would be stuck with trains as neighbors. But through negotiations, the two sides agreed that Sound Transit would attempt to acquire properties, and if not Bellevue would look at stepping up to take the homes.

With the alignment settled, it was time to figure out how to pay for the tunnel. All sides pushed for a way to keep the train off downtown streets, but it was not in the original financing package. Originally, Robertson said, Sound Transit wanted Bellevue to hand over $160 million in cash. Through negotiations that shifted to Bellevue donating land at no cost, and doing projects beneficial to the train. This made up the first $100 million, which would kick in around 2014 or 2015. The remaining $60 million, became the final issue.

Talks between staffs and elected officials carried on until an hour before Bellevue signed the agreement Nov. 14. The end result was a hand-shake agreement that both sides would work to reduce cost, and any savings would first go into Bellevue’s pocket to offset the $60 million.

Under the nearly 100-page agreement, Bellevue and Sound Transit will work together to design the project and cut costs. Bellevue is on the hook for no more than $160 million. Built into the contract is a provision that either side can end the deal if they can’t afford it. But with the shared goal of cost-cutting, both sides will look to avoid that worst-case scenario.

Nat Levy can be reached at 425-453-4290.