Franciscan Health System received a green light from Tacoma City Council on Feb. 14 to proceed with a skybridge that will connect St. Joseph Medical Center with Franciscan Medical Building at St. Joseph. The $60 million, 120,000-square-feet building is currently under construction.

The council's action gives Franciscan the air rights to a section of South 'J' Street between South 16th and 17th streets. The health care provider paid $10,780 for this. Public Works Director Dick McKinley said half of this money would go to pay for transportation projects and the other half will go into a fund to preserve open space.

Eight members voted for the ordinance. The only one who did not was Marty Campbell, who abstained from voting. Campbell said he has concerns about how a skybridge fits with overall urban planning. He also expressed objections to the process used.

The process was unusual due mainly to unforeseen impacts of the recession. The council discussed this earlier in the day during its study session. Kurtis Kingsolver of the Public Works Department said Franciscan first approached city staff about the project in 2007. The project stalled and went through a redesign. Franciscan came back to staff last year with the revised project, which added an additional 50,000 square feet to the structure.

One topic of discussion was a potential streetcar line on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, with a potential loop running along this street. The skybridge will be 16.5 feet tall. Kingsolver said Sound Transit staff told city staff that in order to accommodate cars and a streetcar on this street, the skybridge would ideally need to be 20 feet tall. He said making this change now would be problematic, in part because it would require a ramp to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

McKinley said running a loop on this street would be quite expensive. He added that the skybridge would be used to transport patients from one building to the other, to avoid having to take them outside and move them at street level.

Campbell said he was "frustrated" with the process and that it seemed to him the council had no choice at this point but to approve selling the air rights. He noted that there is only one current member of the council, Jake Fey, who was in office in 2007 when the project was originally presented to the city.

Councilmember Lauren Walker, who represents Hilltop, said there has been adequate discussion between city officials and neighborhood residents about this aspect of the project.