Commercial Flights- truth and myths

Federal law does not require Snohomish County to either encourage or
subsidize scheduled air passenger service. This is according to County
Executive Reardon's panel convened two years ago. This same group is
cited in news reports as concluding that the county cannot prohibit
commercial flights. However, more importantly, the panel also stated
that the county can and should require an airline to pay its own way
and mitigate its impacts.

Everett's recently commissioned study had other interesting findings
which are also quoted less frequently: that the noise and property
value "concerns are real and should be addressed."
Once the genie is out of the bottle, we can't put it back in.
Allegiant, Horizon.... If one is in, they are all in. Early or late,
flights could not be restricted with curfews.
Is that the vision for a vibrant south Snohomish County?
Mukilteo doesn't think so. Neither does Edmonds. Or Lynnwood. Or
Mountlake Terrace, Brier or Woodway. Or the majority of your County
Council.
Let's not lay out the welcome mat. We can create real economic
development and a positive vision for our communities.

budget

We had a valuable work session tonight-- generally brainstorming wish lists for the budget. We didn't get into the realities of costs, so it was nice to dream about what we might be able to do. At our next work session in September (two weeks from now), we'll start talking dollars and cents (and some actual sense?).
Our staff is doing great stuff already, which is a good thing. I brought up a couple items-- adding youth representatives to our boards and commissions, doing an energy audit in the city, re-examining our relationship with the Lighthouse Festival and perhaps funding more of a staff person for that rather than granting them the large amount we have in the past. There were other great items other councilmembers mentioned: improving parking enforcement, keeping up with cleaning our parks (especially the newly gorgeous Mukilteo Lighthouse Park), funding the purchase of land in Japanese Gulch.

Most years I've supported improvements related to our fire department, but big changes have been happening there recently and seem to be going well (adding six firefighters, moving towards a reserve program rather than a volunteer program-- semantics, I guess, funding the fire marshal position).

The real test is when we talk about revenue sources-- September 22nd!

festival

Great festival this weekend! I enjoyed the art booths, fireworks and juried art show. I didn't have time to volunteer for the festival too much this year-- which made it fun to see signs that I had designed in the past making their way onto placards and to see how things were different. I didn't make it into the Chamber's MukFest-- it may have been psychological, but paying the $10 to get in and another $5 for the first drink seemed too high to me. I'm sure I'll spend some time there next year.

Not volunteering all day long meant that I drove down at 5:45pm to set up the check in at the VIP tent (my main duty of the weekend). What a traffic mess! I was amazed. I'm sure it's been like that before-- backed up to Goat Trail, then to 84th, then to 92nd... I just had never seen it. My sister and I lucked out and found quite a few open spots at the Sound Transit rail station. Nice to have that extra parking available.

Gorgeous fireworks this year, as always. It was a great community-building event. I did see a lot of tired volunteers. I have a feeling they may be coming to the city for more support in the future. That would bring us back to how the festival was run before the budget cuts made by the council in 2003. I wasn't on council yet, and always felt like the budgeted $35,000 didn't make a lot of sense as the item to cut. Volunteers did step up and have made the festival happen for several years. However, we'll have to see if they can sustain their contributions and keep this totally vital, showcase event alive for Mukilteo. It may be time for the city to contribute more than just dollars.

Rosehill

I just answered an email for a reporter from The Gauntlet, Kamiak's newspaper. He asked some interesting questions, so I figured I would share my answers here, as well.

1. The decision to renovate Rosehill or build a new community center has been in limbo for some time and the council finally came to a conclusion on which plan was appropriate for the community. What issues made it difficult for the council to decide what action to take regarding the future of Rosehill?

My answer: Rosehill generated a lot of passion from Mukilteans which made the decision difficult. It was a controversial issue-- saving a building that carried a lot of meaning for residents or creating a new center on the waterfront. Because of the controversy and passion, it was hard to commit to an action and not consider all possible alternatives. And, with time, there was change on the council wihch changed the support for different alternatives. But, we finally did it, and I'm glad we're moving forward.

2. The Rosehill building has been a part of the Mukilteo community since 1893, and has been destroyed and reconstructed over the years. Are there any plans to incorporate the history of the building into the new community center?

My answer: Yes, we are doing some really cool things to incorporate the history. Right now, we plan to have an alcove of about 800 square feet that will incorporate some elements of the building, perhaps the gym floor or some elements of the classroom walls. It'll have great views to the water and be a pleasant contemplative space near the main lobby. Plus, we're hoping we can retain the main archway entrance into Rosehill (the one along Lincoln) to serve as an entrance to the public plaza space. I'm excited to have that arch preserved.

3. As a member of Mukilteo’s teenage community, I can safely say that most of us barely used the facilities at Rosehill, and only occasionally went to the building for community events such as the Lighthouse Festival and the Tree Lighting Ceremonies. What plans for the building, if any, would be of particular interest to the youth of Mukilteo?

My answer: We'll still have space for the Farmers Market (which is maybe not of tons of interest to teens, but could be fun to get some of the hot food-- at times pizza, hot dogs or crepes, and walk down to the beach). Our new parks and rec staff should probably run some programs that might be of interest to teens. The sidewalks between the businesses and Rosehill will be improved, so you could grab coffee, ice cream or something at Riley's (soon to be Diamond Knot Lincoln Ave and open to all ages), and eat it on the plaza or grass at Rosehill.


4. I know the council is still working on plans regarding the community center. However, are there any tentative deadlines that the for construction that the council is hoping to make?

My answer: We're hoping that we could bid the project next year and see construction start then (probably toward the end of the upcoming school year).

5. Old Town Mukilteo has it’s own vibrant look. Will the plans for the new community center’s architecture match this aesthetic or will the center feature a new look for the community?

My answer: We talked recently about incorporating a roof that matches the gabled roofs of homes in the area. The pedestrian connections between the Lincoln courtyard businesses and Rosehill should be improved. It'll be an updated look-- lots more glass to take advantage of the views-- but still have elements that reflect the neighborhood.

6. Eco-friendliness is an important characteristic of life for many members of the community. Are there any plans to make the community center environmentally friendly?

My answer: Our new city hall finish should be finished by November or December this year and will be the first LEED certified city building in Snohomish County. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a certification system to ensure that sustainable building practices are used). I expect we'll pursue either the same certification or at least use some of the same techniques in the new center. I would love to see a green roof on the large multipurpose space (the theatre/large room space), rain gardens or other improved stormwater drainage, and recycled materials in the construction. It may come down to costs, but I know the council will consider doing as much as we feel we can.

Japanese Gulch

I heard that the legislative aides for our 21st district state representatives and senator received a tour of Japanese Gulch this week! I'm glad they had a chance to see the possibilities there. The gulch is a great asset and finding a way to preserve it for all our citizens is important. I'm glad the city is able to participate in the purchase of the Precht property. The ultimate goal of acquiring the larger parcels will be more challenging, but we do need to find some way to get there. Hopefully our state reps can find ways to help us out! It will be awesome to guarantee the future of all those trails, trees and wildlife.

a real park on the waterfront

Today was the grand opening of Lighthouse Park, phase one! It was a sunny, warm, if a little windy, day. All the new facilities look great. The pathways are pleasant, kids' toys were well-used, and the new berm and beach plantings make it look like a real thriving piece of Puget Sound.
The turn out was great-- lots of citizens, electeds, city staff.
My favorite part was when the ribbon had been cut by former Councilmember Bruce Richter and Mayor Marine, and the play area was opened up. A couple little girls made a run for the commemorative sand pails, collecting a couple for themselves. Later, when my sister arrived, we wished we could have made the same mad dash to retrieve one of the buckets. We settled for a couple toy wind mills.

It was a triumphant day for the community, opening up great new amenities. The phase one park renovations cost about $3million, with about $800,000 in state grants. Don't quote me on that-- but I think that's about right. Now, our attentions will turn to the design of phase two, the entrance to the park, and identifying grants and city funds to keep the ultimate vision for Lighthouse Park moving along.

drive aisles drive ways drive drive drive

We finished the Roadways and Internal Vehicle Access code last night. It was interesting-- whenever a councilmember is gone and we have a controversial ordinance, it makes it that much harder. The ordinance needed four votes to pass, and with Kevin and Tony voting no, it had that.
I feel like we did the right thing-- it was a complex code, but we need the definitions of drive aisles that were added.

We didn't address traffic, for a reason-- that depends on site specific issues and we have many different ways to address those during other stages of development approval. Our professional staff, public works director, planning director, fire marshal, have opportunities to add conditions to projects almost unilaterally. The SEPA process allows for mitigation of impacts. If a development agreement is used, the city can add conditions that are more strict than the code and ask for specific improvements. Rezones can be approved with conditions. The City Council doesn't always have the chance to be involved in that discussion (such as the staff review, development agreement negotiation, SEPA approvals), but the city has the tools and uses them all the time.

It was also interesting to me to see the connections with the county's LDMR code. In our case, all those extras that aren't mandated in the code-- sidewalks, driveway space in front of attached-garages-- make for difficult living situations. Those have cropped up (or not shown up) in developments in the county that look very similar to single family developments without the amenities needed. In Mukilteo, we have Island View Ridge, high-value condos that have great views (probably have gorgeous interiors, I would assume), priced very high, but with the same lack of driveway space, sidewalks, etc. We need to address those items in future developments. Planning staff said they would bring all that back to us before annexation. That's a good thing.