EVERETT — Some Snohomish County leaders pressed Monday for an urgent solution to the parking impasse threatening to hold up, or even scuttle, new courthouse construction.
Also lingering were questions about how lines of communication got so mixed up between the county and the city of Everett.
The city wants the new courthouse to include more than 300 parking spaces — roughly 10 times what the county included in its designs. City council members passed an emergency ordinance on Christmas Eve to block construction until parking needs are met.
Now it’s unclear whether the project could break ground by mid-year, as scheduled. Any delay could compound financial troubles.
“The longer we spend in suspended animation, the more our costs go up potentially on construction,” County Council Chairman Dave Somers said during an update meeting.
Executive John Lovick told council members, “there is no easy solution here” and suggested the county could partner with the city on building a parking garage.
The County Council wants weekly updates until there’s a resolution.
“If we can’t find a solution that works for the county and the city that’s not too expensive, I think the project is in deep trouble,” Somers said after Monday’s meeting.
Complying with the city’s parking demands could add up to $45 million in costs, county facilities director Mark Thunberg said. There’s already no wiggle room in the project’s $162 million budget.
“The only way to get those dollars is to start taking floors out,” Thunberg said.
And that, noted County Councilman Terry Ryan, “almost defeats the purpose of the whole thing.”
Ryan, like the executive, said he’s optimistic about finding common ground with the city.
“I think if you just put some good will into it and some time into it, we can come to some sort of agreement,” he said.
During his presentation, Thunberg emphasized the new building would replace the county’s existing 1967 courthouse. Once the new building goes up, the county would demolish the old building, which suffers from poor layout for security, substandard earthquake readiness and chronic maintenance issues.
In theory, the new courthouse would create no new parking demands.
However, the footprint would take out more than 130 surface parking spaces across the street from Xfinity Arena. The lot and six parcels condemned for construction are on Wall Street, between Rockefeller and Oakes avenues.
The city’s emergency ordinance is based on a formula of one space per 800 square feet in the new building. Until that change, building rules for downtown Everett would have required no additional parking for the courthouse.
Current designs for the future building include only about 30 spaces.
Lovick’s administration contends the city’s demand came out of nowhere.
“It has been communicated to the city on numerous occasions that the new courthouse is a replacement building,” Thunberg said. “Throughout these discussions, city representatives expressed no need for the county to provide additional parking.”
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson says he and others at the city were under a totally different impression — that much more parking was part of the plan. They only learned otherwise from Deputy Executive Mark Ericks this fall.
“The county indicated on many occasions throughout this process that the final project plans would include at least 300 parking spaces,” Everett spokeswoman Megan Pembroke said. “When the city learned in November that was no longer the case, staff looked at available options and ultimately council approved the emergency ordinance requiring additional parking.”
City staff also are revisiting a 2002 agreement related to the construction of the county jail and new administration building. It spelled out specific requirements for off-street parking. Pembroke said it’s unclear whether the county has met those earlier requirements.
The county has spent about $6.9 million so far on courthouse design and related work, Thunberg said.
The county took out bonds to pay for the project and raised property taxes. The cost is about $20 per year for the owner of a house assessed at $223,000.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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