EVERETT — Voters won’t decide the fate of the historic Collins Building after all, following an about-face by Port of Everett commissioners.
The three commissioners voted 2-1 Tuesday morning to pull a $15 million tax levy from the November ballot, saying public perception seemed to go against the measure. If approved, the levy would have used property tax revenue to restore and renovate the 75-year-old former casket factory that has long been a thorn in the port’s side.
The port-owned Collins Building is slated for deconstruction, but the process has been delayed by legal action from activists.
Commissioners Phil Bannon and Michael Hoffman voted in favor of withdrawing the proposed tax levy Tuesday. Newly appointed commissioner Duane Pearson voted to keep the levy on the ballot.
“The levy is the most timely and most economical method of testing community support and far less costly than litigation,” Pearson wrote in a memo circulated at the commissioner meeting Tuesday.
Later Tuesday, port staffers were preparing paperwork to formally withdraw the measure, just a few weeks after commissioners unanimously approved the levy request for the ballot. Commissioners solicited public opinion on the levy over the last few weeks, and determined that public sentiment wasn’t supportive enough of the measure.
“Since introducing the tax levy, I have heard from some community members that the levy is inappropriate, with the historical community, ironically, being one of the most vocal opponents,” Bannon wrote in a letter soliciting public opinion last month.
Even staunch advocates of the Collins Building’s restoration said the levy wouldn’t go far enough toward saving the structure. Historic Everett activist Valerie Steel told Bannon that the levy was poorly timed in light of the nation’s recession and that the $15 million measure wouldn’t guarantee the building’s survival if costs were still deemed too high.
“People are not naive,” she said. “Elected (officials), agency personnel and citizens from Olympia to Seattle to Bellingham are asking, ‘What is the Port of Everett doing?’ This levy is making our port look foolish.”
Steel is part of a group who convinced a judge to issue a temporary injunction prohibiting the port from dismantling the building.
The port has long maintained that it would be too costly to make the Collins Building safe and useable. Though the port can invest in tourism facilities, an analysis showed the cost of renovating the building wouldn’t be covered by lease revenue once the project was completed.
“It appears now that the proponents of the restoration of the Collins Building have realized that because the economics of the project will be exposed to the public, the levy will fail,” Pearson wrote in his memo. “By withdrawing the levy, the proponents of restoration can continue to litigate and await the decision of a judge. I prefer the use of the levy since the judge and jury will be the taxpaying voter.”
Amy Rolph: 425-339-3029; arolph@heraldnet.com.
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