Mukilteo may restrict overnight parking by commuters

Published 10:44 pm Sunday, July 27, 2008

MUKILTEO — For years, Old Town Mukilteo has been a parking lot for commuters who live on Whidbey Island but work on the east side of the Puget Sound.

Soon, that could change.

Mukilteo leaders are considering the removal of hundreds of commuter parking places near the city’s ferry terminal. They also are considering taking a more aggressive stance against people leaving their cars overnight in Old Town, a violation of the city’s parking laws.

Meanwhile, city officials also are examining the feasibility of off-site parking lots with shuttle service for commuters who insist on leaving their cars in Snohomish County.

“What we’re trying to do is find a way we can meet the needs of the parking,” Mukilteo City Council President Randy Lord said. “We can’t just get rid of all the parking spaces and expect there to be no problems.”

The Mukilteo City Council is planning to discuss the parking situation in Old Town during a work session scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. today.

Many streets in Old Town are designated as four-hour parking zones. Violators risk $20 tickets.

City police have not enforced those rules for years because there has usually been enough parking for everyone, Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine said.

However, by the summer of 2009, the city plans to remove roughly 430 commuter parking places from Lighthouse Park and the Rosehill Community Center. More renovations are planned at the park, and the city plans to demolish Rosehill and build a new community center.

Community Transit and Everett Transit have bus routes with stops at the ferry terminal. Community Transit has routes from the terminal that take riders to Boeing, the Lynnwood Transit Center, the University of Washington and downtown Seattle.

Also, Sounder trains now stop at the new train platform in Old Town, a short walk from the ferry terminal.

The state hopes to build a new ferry terminal in Mukilteo, just east of the existing terminal. Moving the terminal down the beach would help alleviate the parking glut in Old Town, Marine said.

Construction on the terminal was supposed to begin this year, but work was delayed indefinitely by soaring costs and the discovery of remnants of American Indian activity on the beach. State lawmakers recently unveiled new design ideas for the terminal in hopes of chopping the project’s costs from more than $300 million to less than $148 million.

“By us making it a little bit harder on the other side of the water, does that help us put on a little more pressure in dealing with the issue of the ferry terminal?” Marine said. “Maybe that’s what we need to do to get the attention of the (state legislative) representatives on the other side of the water.”