Mukilteo parking crunch to get worse

Published 10:49 pm Tuesday, August 7, 2007

MUKILTEO – Parking is already cramped in Old Town Mukilteo, and soon it could get a bit worse.

Dozens of parking places around Lighthouse Park could be temporarily closed off in October as long-awaited renovations to the park get started, Mukilteo Public Works Director Larry Waters said.

Meanwhile, there are no immediate plans to add more parking to Mukilteo’s crowded, historic downtown core, City Councilman Kevin Stoltz said.

Most of the free parking near Old Town businesses is usually full. Some ferry commuters park their cars overnight on surrounding neighborhood streets.

“It’s borderline right now,” Stoltz said. “If you do anything to change or reduce parking down there, then you’ve got a big problem.”

The first phase of renovations at Lighthouse Park is projected to cost about $3.5 million. Work is expected to include relocating parking spaces and building new restrooms, landscaping and playground equipment. The work could be finished by spring, Waters said.

City planners are examining the possibilities of creating new parking at the Rosehill Community Center or on the former Air Force fuel depot site, Waters said.

Parking may be more difficult than usual until the work at Lighthouse Park is done, he said.

“It’s pretty tight, there’s not a lot of optional parking around,” Waters said. “We’ll do what we can. Sometimes to live better, you have to live through the pain.”

Another project on the city’s horizon promises to add more parking near downtown – the construction of a new ferry terminal, which has already been pushed back to at least 2011.

“We’re doing a lot of things to reduce parking, but we don’t have a near-term plan to replace that parking,” Stoltz said.

Ferry commuters are part of the problem, he said. Many people who ride the ferry to and from Whidbey Island leave their cars in Mukilteo, because it’s cheaper and faster to board the ferry as a walk-on.

A city ordinance prohibits commuters from leaving their cars overnight on city streets, but police often don’t write tickets because the problem usually isn’t critical, Stoltz said.

Shari Harris, 48, of Langley, keeps one of her cars on Whidbey Island and the other in Old Town. She pays for a parking place at the Buzz Inn Steakhouse, she said.

Most days, someone snags her spot, she said. Last month, the Buzz Inn owner had to shoo drivers away from reserved parking places when the 2007 Intertribal Canoe Journey stopped for a night at Lighthouse Park, Harris said.

“Basically, there’s just no place to park down here,” Harris said.

Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.