King County, Wash., Must Act Quickly on Site for Garbage or Pay Price.

Byline: Emily Heffter

Jul. 14--King County and Seattle both have agreed to buy time while they decide whether to purchase land on Harbor Island -- but King County is paying more for its time.

The two governments, concerned with a lack of competition in the waste-hauling industry, are looking for space on Harbor Island so they can ship garbage out of the county by rail.

King County will pay a private property owner $100,000 a month to hold a 12-acre lot if the council doesn't vote today to buy it for $8.5 million. Seattle has agreed to pay the Port of Seattle $160,000 to reserve an adjacent eight acres for three years.

Even though King County admittedly got a worse deal on the fee to hold the land, the property Seattle is looking at would not work for the county because it's too small, county solid-waste officials said. The site the county may buy is ideal, they said.

The money Seattle is paying will "lease" the Port property while the city decides whether to build a garbage-transportation site there. Seattle may never buy the site from the Port but may rent it long term.

Metropolitan King …