MUKILTEO — Plans to build a seafood-processing plant across the street from a Mukilteo neighborhood have left some area residents upset with the city.
Pacific Seafood, which is trying to build the facility near the Hilltop area, organized a Tuesday meeting to discuss the project and listen to concerns. It’s set for 7 p.m. at Mukilteo City Hall on 11930 Cyrus Way.
A meeting is required as part of a development agreement the company and the city are trying to reach. The company agreed to organize a second meeting after neighbors complained the city provided insufficient notice for an earlier meeting in November.
“One of our biggest gripes is we’re just not getting information,” said Ron Johnson, who lives about three blocks away.
That’s not their only worry.
They’re also skeptical about increased traffic and noise they expect from trucks serving the new plant from early morning to late at night; light from the parking lot; and the potential for fishy smells wafting over their homes.
Plans call for an 83,000 square-foot building at 8007 44th Ave. W. The 5.4-acre property lies near Highway 526 and Paine Field, where traffic can get heavy after shift changes at the Boeing Co. plant. Some ferry riders also use the area to bypass Mukilteo Speedway.
The site now is home to a five-bay storage building, a stand-alone garage and a dilapidated mobile home. Aside from the gravel parking lot, the rest of the area is overgrown with grass, sticker bushes and young trees.
To the west, directly across the two lanes of 44th Avenue W, are single-family homes.
It’s the only industrial area in Mukilteo with such an abrupt transition to a residential neighborhood. With one other exception, all of the city’s industrial areas have buffers from neighborhoods.
There’s a 35-foot height limit for the property, but Mukilteo city staff will recommend extending that to accommodate the 42-foot-tall building that Pacific Seafood has designed, planning manager Glen Pickus said.
The new facility is meant to replace Pacific Seafood’s existing 24,000-square-foot plant across the street from the Mukilteo YMCA. The company has operated there for 24 years.
“It’s light processing, it’s not the blood and guts type processing,” general manager Bob Simon said.
Pacific Seafood’s local plant distributes to hotels, restaurants and grocery chains throughout the region. The company, headquartered in Clackamas, Oregon, operates various facilities from Alaska to Texas.
Storage is the impetus for more than tripling the Mukilteo plant’s size, Simon said. Being able to keep food refrigerated on site also should cut down on truck traffic. The company would like to have the new plant running by late 2016 or early 2017.
“We needed it yesterday,” Simon said.
The number of employees is projected to stay roughly the same, at 117. Simon touted the company’s good benefits and average salary of $50,000 to $60,000 per year.
“I think we’re going to be a benefit to the neighborhood,” he said. “You’re not going to have these empty buildings there anymore. We’re going to do some landscaping.”
Pickus said Pacific Seafood’s project is allowed in the industrial zone because it’s “essentially light manufacturing.” Extra requirements in the development agreement will seek to smooth the transition between the residential and industrial areas, he said, with features such as new sidewalks, turn lanes and a line of trees out front.
The City Council must approve a development agreement before planners issue the permit that would allow construction.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
Meeting planned
Pacific Seafood has organized a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the new processing plant it hopes to build on 44th Avenue W near the intersection with 80th Street SW. The meeting location: Mukilteo City Hall, City Council Chambers; 11930 Cyrus Way.
City staff also plan to brief the council about the project during a work session planned for 6 p.m. Jan. 11.
For more information, contact planning manager Glen Pickus at gpickus@ci.mukilteo.wa.us or 425-263-8042.
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