MARYSVILLE – Transients weren’t the only topic at Mayor Jon Nehring’s Coffee Klatch.

Planning director Dave Koenig led another major discussion – this one having to do with the many businesses coming to town.

He mentioned the new Sonic Drive-In and a hotel on 116th Street, along with Coastal Farm and Ranch, which plans to open in September in the old Kmart building on State Avenue.

He talked about another hotel looking to be built on 88th Street, and three car dealerships on Smokey Point Boulevard north of 160th Street. A behavioral center in that same area is set to open next month.

He said in the Manufacturing Industrial Center east of the Navy Complex three companies are looking at sites, including SnoCo Excavating, which is already under construction across from the school district’s transportation center.

And in Lakewood, more apartments are going in near the shopping center that includes Dick’s Sporting Goods. Some low-cost modular housing also is going in at Twin Lakes, south of Marshall’s.

A Regional Fire Authority also was talked about. Nehring admitted progress is slow. In fact, he said Arlington was having a hard time seeing the value of one and pulled back a bit, but will rejoin talks in May. Fire Chief Martin McFalls said it makes sense for Arlington to be part of it geographically. “We cross over into each other’s boundaries,” he said, adding by combining they would reduce duplication.

Nehring talked about property being acquired for a First Street Bypass. That project is expected to be in place when a new interchange is built in two years off Interstate 5 at Highway 529. That interchange will make it so motorists can get in and out of town without dealing with the trains. The bypass will make it easier for traffic to head east without clogging up downtown streets. Future I-5 projects at 116th and 156th also will help with traffic flow, the mayor said.

Ron Friesen, who has been a critic of the city’s Code Enforcement in the past, said he recently returned from a trip and thought, “Woe, things are happening.” He said moving those duties to the police department was a great decision. Nehring said that move adds some power to the process, and that the vast majority of cases are seeing voluntary compliance. For example, he said 279 vehicles were tagged for violations and all but 24 are now off the streets.

“We want the image of our community to be pristine,” he said.

In other news, Parks director Jim Ballew said a new barbecue pavilion will be built at Comeford Park before summer, and benches and tables also will be added. And Public Works director Kevin Nielsen said traffic issues also are being looked at on 88th Street, including a possible new right-turn lane.