MARYSVILLE New city residents of the east Sunnyside and Whiskey Ridge neighborhoods will be out in force next week when Marysville considers tweaks to the comprehensive plan that would designate major traffic routes through the southern part of town.
New roads will be need to connect the city transportation grid to SR 9, SR 92 and other points south, especially Sunnyside Boulevard and 67th Avenue.
But residents in the southern part of town arent happy about two potential new routes that would build a road from 67th Avenue to Soper Hill Road, and earlier this summer members of the Marysville Planning Commission voted to remand those plans back to staff for reconsideration.
The commission directed the Community Development and Public Works departments to find out how difficult and expensive it would be to expand Sunnyside Boulevard to a five-lane configuration south to Soper Hill.
City engineer Kevin Nielsen staggered them with initial estimates for that work in the $30 million range, and then doubled down with a final cost of $50 million for the 1.8-mile alternative route. A couple of months later that estimate rose to $86 million.
Several commission members called foul on those estimates, citing other projects in Everett and other cities that were built for a fraction of the cost. The commission directed the staff to reconsider their plans, which now go before the Marysville City Council at its Oct. 22 public hearing. They will consider two options for a road that will scale the hill and tie into the corner at 44th Street at 67th and 71st avenues.
The new proposed intersections would take land from several long-time residents who did not want to be annexed into the city in the first place. They banded together to hire a lawyer and their own traffic engineers, and won several delays. At one time a letter from land use attorney David Bricklin of Seattle prompted the council to adjourn into executive session in the middle of a meeting to consider their options; they quickly pulled the item from that nights agenda.
The public hearing promises to be contentious, as a couple of planning commission members have said they would consider resigning if their advice is rejected.
Its still not clear to me which plan they are going to propose, said east Sunnyside resident Shelly Thomas, who spent a thousand dollars of her own money to hire her own traffic engineer to vet the city plans.
One proposal would take land from the backs of property owners, but stay away from houses; another option would take road frontage on 87th Avenue that is just too close to home for Thomas. Shes not the only one. Her sister Darlene Salo lives close by and she has been fighting city hall too. They are both third generation Lake Stevens residents, Thomas said, and they both planned to retire on the land that only joined Marysville boundaries last December.
A three-lane road would take half my property; five lanes they would have to take my house, Thomas said. I think that the city of Marysville needs to look at which route would displace the fewest people.
Nearby resident Jeri Short has lived on her four-acre spread for 30 years, and she has been doggedly attending every City Council meeting for at least the last six months. Short is one of a half-dozen families who hired the Seattle law firm Bricklin, Newman and Dold, and Short has had attorney Jennifer Dold listen to audio tapes of the Council meetings to find discrepancies in the recorded minutes. Short said those minutes of planning commission meetings do not adequately inform the Council of the issues and distort the discussion a deliberations.
The minutes that they are looking at are not right, Short said, citing a motion by commission vice chairman to direct staff to reconsider making Sunnyside Boulevard the main north-south route.
Shes also frustrated that the Council meetings dont always allow for citizen input. Under the meeting format, one week is given to a workshop where elected members and staff discuss issues in open meetings. Public testimony is not allowed then, but only at the next weeks official Council meeting.
Short would like to have a roundtable meeting where the Council could hear residents voice their concerns. She has pleaded with the Council at other meetings to not take the land she was holding for her family members.
Marysville mayor Dennis Kendall was quick to assure residents that what ever plan the Council decides on, any roads designated wont be built for years, possibly decades. Thats because the city isnt building the roads, just laying the directions for the traffic grid. Builders who complete project in the future will have to dedicate right-of-way and pay for improvements as part of their permits, so there wont be any bulldozers on anyones doorstep, Kendall said.
We figured the build-out will take 15 to 20 years, Kendall said. And that was last year. Now with downturn in the market, thats off the table. If you see that within
25 years, I would be surprised.
And since the road grid is developer driven, residents wouldnt be affected until and if they sold their land.
As it is Kendall said the options before the city are to anger eight people who live on the hill near the new city water tower or expand Sunnyside Boulevard, which would require taking property from more than 350 different owners. That would mean Marysville would have to find $86 million to pay for that work.
I can understand their position. They dont want to break up their land, Kendall said. If it was my decision to make Id piss off the eight people on the hill.