Cities pledge ‘friendly little war’ to land campus

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, April 28, 2007

Everett might be the early odds-on favorite to land a University of Washington branch campus in many circles, but other Snohomish County communities aren’t about to concede.

Stanwood Mayor Dianne White predicts “a friendly little war,” saying it would be short-sighted to overlook her community, which has ample, inexpensive land and an easy reverse commute from Everett.

“This college is supposed to serve Island, Snohomish and Skagit counties, and a college in Everett doesn’t do that,” she said.

Lake Stevens, Marysville and the Tulalip Tribes also could enter the woo-the-U sweepstakes.

“I know this will be a competitive process,” Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said. “I think we will compete very well.”

Gov. Chris Gregoire will soon sign a capital budget proposal that will provide $4 million to help launch a UW branch campus. Part of that money will be spent on choosing a site in north Snohomish, Island or Skagit counties.

The cost of buying the land has been estimated at $25 million, according to a state Higher Education Coordinating Board report. A recommendation on a site is due to the governor Nov. 15.

“We will get a completely neutral contractor to help with recommendations on siting,” said Debora Merle, Gregoire’s senior adviser on higher education matters.

Merle toured roughly 15 sites in Everett and north Snohomish County in late February to get oriented to the region, view properties mentioned by lawmakers and learn about potential pitfalls of each.

No sites should be ruled out yet, said UW President Mark Emmert.

“It’s too early to say what’s too far or too close and to say which would work and wouldn’t work,” Emmert said.

The UW president wants to make sure that a site will be accessible to the most prospective students, allows for immediate and future growth and is reasonably priced.

“Obviously, from the university’s side of this, we want to make sure that this is a highly successful endeavor, and location will be very important,” he said.

Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, believes Everett ultimately will be chosen, but said he won’t try to influence the outcome and “would not fight it” should the campus be put somewhere else.

“We’ve got to not be provincial,” he said. “We cannot be obsessed with bringing it to our district.”

Tom Curtis, a retired college administrator and Camano Island resident, stood in an overgrown field and envisioned the possibilities.

“It’s a marvelous spot,” he said, gazing beyond the rolling farmland to Skagit Bay’s calm waters. “It could be the most picturesque college in the state.”

If he gets his way, the pasture off Pioneer Highway and 300th Street in Stanwood will house the state’s next four-year college.

For more than a year, a committee of volunteers led by Curtis has brainstormed ideas for landing a college. They’ve held community-wide meetings and talked with legislators. They and community leaders have been courting technical and professional schools as well, in case the university falls through.

“I know Ray Stephanson had a paid a lobbyist down in Olympia, but we couldn’t do that,” Mayor White said. “We’re doing it with shoe leather and good intentions and connections.”

Recently, the City Council amended zoning rules in Stanwood’s comprehensive plan to allow a college at the city’s preferred site off Pioneer Highway.

A Stanwood proposal could also rally support from Island and Skagit counties.

Sharon Hart, executive director of the Island County Economic Development Council, said Whidbey Island doesn’t have the housing and infrastructure for a branch campus.

She believes a Stanwood campus could help bring about a passenger ferry service between Whidbey and Camano islands.

“Stanwood just works beautifully for us,” Hart said. “But what I really prefer is we do a cost analysis of a rural site and an urban site to get a true picture of what this will really cost us.”

Lake Stevens Mayor Vern Little said he will push for the college to be built on a site south of the city, near the junction of Highway 9 and U.S. 2.

“I believe the best place for the four-year college is somewhere along the Highway 9 corridor and the closer you get to Highway 2, the better that is,” Little said.

Little said the site would prevent students along the corridor and areas east from having to travel to Everett across the busy U.S. 2 trestle in the morning, and set up an easy reverse commute for those coming from the west.

Developers own much of the site, with one proposing housing and commercial buildings. Lake Stevens city administrator Jan Berg said there should be room for both projects, if necessary.

“If it’s not here,” Little said, “I still believe it needs to go along the Highway 9 corridor.”

Marysville Mayor Dennis Kendall said while there are no sites in his city that would be ideal, he wouldn’t rule it out.

“We always have interest,” he said.

The site formerly proposed for a NASCAR track – recently annexed onto the north end of the city – is now targeted for light industry, he said.

Kendall said he’s been supportive of Everett’s efforts, but could also back a Tulalip Tribes proposal.

The tribes are in a wait-and-see mode, said state Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, who is also manager of Quil Ceda Village business complex.

“Our position is, anywhere in north Snohomish County,” he said.

The tribes have about 1,000 acres of potentially developable land west of the village, not far from I-5, McCoy said. It depends on how many acres the state needs for the college and whether the tribes decide that’s the best use of the land, he said.

“The (tribal) council wants to keep all their options open,” McCoy said.

The tribes would only lease, not sell, the land to the state, he said.

“If the state feels they have to own the property, they will never come to the reservation,” McCoy said.

Last fall, Everett city leaders showed lawmakers a 75-acre site the city owns along the Snohomish River, north of the U.S. 2 trestle. The city paid $11 million for the old log yard in late 2005, with an option to buy another 25 acres.

It’s one of four sites the city could propose for a UW branch campus. Others are the public works yard near Everett Station, land near Everett Community College and buildings in the downtown core.

Mayor Stephanson points to a state Higher Education Coordinating Board analysis last summer that favored the Everett and Marysville area for a university.

The analysis concluded the area “is the appropriate location to serve the concentration of traditional college-age students between 17 and 24, as well as place-bound adults who are seeking to complete a bachelor’s or master’s degree.”

Everett City Council President Brenda Stonecipher said the city’s mass transit connections, available rental housing, population density and ability to raise private money make Everett an attractive choice.

“If you look at it from a real practical standpoint, we have the infrastructure to support a university,” said Stonecipher, one of three UW graduates on the council.

Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon said an Everett location seemed likely and practical, and one he could support.

“For a branch campus system, given how they build these things, Everett is the frontrunner,” he said.

Sen. Jean Berkey, D-Everett, who pushed unsuccessfully for an independent four-year college, acknowledged a widespread perception that Everett is the predetermined host for the branch campus.

“I’ve heard concern from other areas that it was a slam dunk for the city of Everett,” she said. “I would hope there would be a thorough examination of sites and not have one predetermined outcome.”

Here’s a look at the acreage and enrollments based on head counts for students at university branch campuses across the state last fall:

University of Washington, Bothell: 128 acres, 1,692 students

University of Washington, Tacoma: 46 acres, 2,317 students

Washington State University, Spokane: 48 acres, 1,510 students

Washington State University, Tri-Cities: 201 acres, 1,096 students

Washington State University, Vancouver: 351 acres, 2,329 students

Herald reporters David Chircop, Jerry Cornfield and Bill Sheets contributed to this report.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.