Lake Stevens voters OK taxing area for a new library

Published 1:30 am Friday, February 24, 2017

LAKE STEVENS — Voters here have formed a taxing area for a new library but fell short of the turnout needed to approve a bond measure to pay for its construction.

The results of the Feb. 14 special election were finalized Friday.

Lake Stevens voters approved by 69 percent a capital facility area that can be taxed to pay for a new library. A $17 million bond measure to pay for construction won 66 percent of the vote, which normally would be enough to pass a bond. However, there was a minimum voter turnout requirement and Lake Stevens needed 8,464 ballots to meet it. The effort fell 748 ballots short.

Two school measures on the ballot passed. Voters in Stanwood and Camano approved a $147.5 million bond for a new high school with nearly 69 percent of the vote.

In Granite Falls, a $13.7 million bond measure to overhaul the middle school, add a high school grandstand and improve security narrowly passed. It got 60.59 percent of the vote. The measure needed 60 percent.