School district, Sound Transit want same property

LYNNWOOD — A potential tug of war between Sound Transit and the Edmonds School District over a piece of property is scheduled to be discussed at public meetings in the coming week.

Sound Transit is studying a 20-acre area for a possible train storage yard as part of the agency’s plans to extend light rail to Lynnwood by 2023.

The Edmonds School District owns most of the property being studied, along 52nd Avenue W. near I-5, and plans to use the land for a new administration building and bus barn.

The meetings have been scheduled for Saturday morning and Tuesday evening to update the public. The city will host the meetings and Sound Transit staff are expected to attend.

Light rail is scheduled to be extended to Bellevue also by 2023, and Sound Transit will need a place to store 80 more trains on either the northern or eastern route. About 100 cars currently spend their off hours in a rail yard in Seattle’s Sodo district.

The current estimated cost is about $250 million, regardless of location.

Neighbors of the Lynnwood site have been fighting the idea, citing potential noise, bright lights and even concerns about crime.

Most of the property in question is vacant. Cedar Valley Community School was located there for years. The buildings were torn down in 2001 and the school was relocated.

The school district’s plan was approved by the Lynnwood City Council several years ago, Lynnwood community development director Paul Krauss said.

Last fall, the city asked Sound Transit to remove the Lynnwood site for consideration for the maintenance and storage yard. Sound Transit did not comply.

“That site has a number of serious flaws, the most significant of which it’s across the street from hundreds of single family homes,” Krauss said.

Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray said the agency didn’t remove the site because it was in the middle of an environmental study that’s looking at all four sites, including the three in Bellevue. That draft study is expected to continue for several more months, he said.

The school district’s plans are being considered in the study as a factor, Gray said.

“All those factors we have to take into account as we get further along in this process,” he said.

If it turns out that Sound Transit wants the property, it’s unclear how the decision will be made between the agency’s plans and those of the school district.

“It’s way too early for me to speculate how that would work,” Gray said.

The meetings also will address three possible rail alignments from I-5 to the Lynnwood park-and-ride lot, also in the area of 52nd Avenue W. An environmental study on those plans is scheduled to be released within a few weeks.

Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.

Meetings

Two meetings regarding Sound Transit’s future rail plans in Lynnwood are scheduled for Saturday and Tuesday. Light rail alignments and a possible rail storage yard are the topics. The first meeting is scheduled for 10 to 11:45 a.m. Saturday at Cedar Valley Grange Hall, 20526 52nd Ave. W, Lynnwood. The second is from 7 to 8:45 p.m. Tuesday at Meadowdale High School Great Hall, 6002 168th St. SW.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.