Mukilteo restoring Lighthouse Park’s luster

Published 11:08 pm Friday, November 9, 2007

MUKILTEO — Work on a makeover of Lighthouse Park began about three weeks ago, but the most dramatic blow for change was struck Friday by Mayor Joe Marine.

Marine donned a hard hat, climbed into the cabin of a backhoe, and with help from a construction worker, maneuvered the controls until the bucket came crashing down on a run-down men’s room, tearing off part of the roof.

The demolition came as part of groundbreaking ceremony for the remodeling of the landmark park, built by the state in the 1950s.

Marine and other city officials say the park’s new look will be more representative of the city it calls home.

“It’s a very heavy-use park but it’s basically a large parking lot with no amenities,” Marine said. “Mukilteo’s kind of known for its waterfront. We want something people will really be able to use and that reflects Mukilteo.”

Expect to see a beach restored with native plants, a new trail, new restrooms and picnic shelters, a new children’s play areas, a sand volleyball court, more trees and a new parking area along the railroad tracks. Price tag: $3 million.

Other changes, totaling $5 million or more, are planned in coming years, as the money is available.

The first phase of work is expected to be complete by late spring. The heart of the park, including the upper part of the beach, will be fenced off over the winter while work takes place. Most of the beach still will be accessible except at extreme high tides. With the old restroom building gone, three portable toilets will be available near the boat launch, which will remain open.

Parking will be reduced during construction. When the work is done, there should be about 10 more parking spaces, officials said. The grassy area along the railroad tracks, sometimes used for overflow parking on busy summer weekends, will be removed.

The rest of the parking will remain as it is, for now. Eventual plans call for moving most of the current parking, along with the ferry dock, to the former tank farm to the east. Altogether, the expansive lot currently has about 340 spaces.

“My goal is to get the commuter parking out of there,” Marine said. “There’s no reason to continue offering that to people who don’t live here.”

City officials hope to move the boat launch to the east as well, possibly near the Port of Everett’s pier at the east end of the Mukilteo waterfront, public works director Larry Waters said. Plans for this depend on how the details of the ferry dock’s relocation play out.

Complicated by rising costs and evidence of an American Indian village found at the former Air Force tank farm, the $150 million ferry dock relocation isn’t expected to become reality before 2011.

Meanwhile, not everyone is thrilled with the park makeover plans.

“To me, it’s overkill,” said Ernest Thiele, 67, of Mukilteo, who walks at the park regularly. He’s never heard anyone complain about it, he said. “I thought it was a pretty nice park before.”

Other park users like the idea. Lynn Crivello, 58, of Picnic Point, said park users often litter on busy days.

“It ends up in the Sound,” she said. “If the (changes) get it to be a little more organized, maybe it’ll be taken care of a little better.”

Jerry Peterson, 58, of Mukilteo, said the park is due for a change.

“I went here in the late ’80s and it was exactly the same,” he said.

The remodeling plans were developed in 2004 after meetings with residents. The work was delayed by lack of money and from having to shore up some of the fill dirt originally used to build the park. Most of the area was once a lagoon.

Additional planned work would feature a new driveway and landscaping near the lighthouse. Still more plans call for another new parking area behind the businesses on Front Street, with pedestrian access to Highway 525 and to the lighthouse via a tree-lined walkway. Eventually, most of the existing parking lot would be replaced with a large, central lawn and walkways.

“It’s going to be one of the nicest parks on Puget Sound when it’s done,” Waters said.

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