At a stalemate, lawmakers put off decision on site for local university

Published 10:57 pm Monday, December 1, 2008

OLYMPIA — Eight months, $100,000 and a state-hired negotiator were not enough to end a feud on where a proposed university should be built in Snohomish County.

Monday, the state Higher Education Coordinating Board was to reveal which location political leaders of Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties had agreed on as a future home for a four-year branch campus.

But no announcement came because the politicians never reached agreement.

Now state lawmakers embroiled in the dispute are changing tacks to keep the dream of a four-year branch campus alive — especially with the state facing a $6 billion budget deficit.

In January, they will push for a new law directing that the next state-funded university be placed in Snohomish County. This legislation would not specify a location or timeline for opening as both questions require continued talks among legislators.

“These things take time. This is a difficult and long process,” said state Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, said Monday. “Let’s just do the franchise and worry about the site later.”

Since 2005, the Legislature has showed a willingness to launch a new college run by the University of Washington to serve the three-county region.

Nearly $2 million in tax dollars have been spent studying student demand, evaluating potential sites, designing possible layouts of a campus and drafting a plan for the academic programs.

But lawmakers in the region deadlocked on whether to build on roughly 20 acres next to the Everett transit center or on a couple hundred undeveloped acres in Marysville. Everett ranked a couple points higher than Marysville in a November 2007 analysis.

At the center of the fight have been Dunshee, leading the group behind Everett, and state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano, leading those backing Marysville.

In March, the Legislature approved $100,000 for the Higher Education Coordinating Board to try to find consensus. Eight weeks ago, the board hired Bill Wilkerson to try to broker an accord.

Wilkerson, a former state government executive who helped negotiate agreements on fishing rights and timber harvests, determined the differences could not be overcome.

He said he’ll recommend the “authorizing legislation” be pursued to ensure the Legislature’s commitment to a university.

Haugen agreed with the proposal.

“We ought to just secure the fact that we’re going to have one in Snohomish County,” she said.

She differs with Dunshee on how the bill should be written.

She said it should reference only putting a new higher education institution in Snohomish County. He said Kitsap County’s need for more college opportunities must be included, too.

Either way will face opposition from Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, who heads the Senate budget writing committee.

She winced at making such a legislative pledge with a looming $6 billion budget deficit.

“The worst thing we can do is have this promise and imply we’re going to do something if we can’t,” she said. “We should have done it in the years when we had the money.”

Haugen is optimistic because she and Dunshee are pretty much on the same page.

“We’ll get it through,” she said.

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.