EVERETT — The chairman of a committee drawing up new Snohomish County Council boundaries crossed party lines to side with Republicans to end a testy stalemate.
With that move on Tuesday, Chairman Dennis Kendall, a Democrat who is a former Marysville mayor, settled a debate between two competing maps in favor of one with minimal changes from current council boundaries. Now, the recommended map goes to the County Council for approval. The council could make changes before a final vote, expected next month.
“I think it had the least amount of change, and I think that was the main thing,” Kendall said. “Under the circumstances, we needed to get something done and I couldn’t get a compromise between the two parties, so that was the direction that we took.”
Two Republicans appointed to the districting committee, Jim Donner of Stanwood and Larry Stickney of Arlington, also supported the plan. It was the original option, drawn up by a neutral mapping expert.
The major change in the plan is moving Granite Falls into Council Chairman Dave Somers’ eastern District 5 from its current location in Councilman John Koster’s northern District 1.
The plan also shifts some of south Everett’s Silver Lake area into Councilman Brian Sullivan’s District 2. It pushes some of the Lynnwood-area boundaries of Councilwoman Stephanie Wright’s District 3 eastward as well.
Because of a quirk of the county charter, that plan required three votes to pass. An alternative that Democratic appointees Bob Chapman of Everett and Greg Pratt of Snohomish favored required four votes.
Chapman and Pratt backed a plan that used major roadways such as I-5 and parts of Highway 9 as dividing lines. That map split several cities and extended Sullivan’s district north from Everett’s city limits, where it stops now, to the Skagit County line west of I-5. That would have put the Tulalip Reservation and Stanwood into the same district as most of Everett and Mukilteo.
Sullivan, a Democrat, said Wednesday he was relieved that plan didn’t pass.
“Obviously I’m happy I’m not going to Stanwood,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to take a key city out of Koster’s district either.”
Sullivan said the council might tinker with the committee’s recommended map. One scenario is putting the Tulalip area in his district and keeping Granite Falls in Koster’s District 1.
Stickney earlier suggested a similar plan and it met with sharp opposition.
“It sounded like a halfway decent fit that was shot to pieces,” Stickney said Wednesday.
Kendall said he received a letter from the Tulalip Tribes before Tuesday’s meeting supporting being grouped in the same council district as Everett or Marysville. Tribal leaders, however, said creating an Everett-centered district that would stretch north all the way to the county line wouldn’t be logical.
The Tulalip area, unlike much of northern Snohomish County, tends to vote for Democrats. About half of the area’s people are tribal members. Tulalip shares school and fire districts with Marysville, though, and that’s been one objection to grouping the area with Everett.
The county charter calls for redrawing County Council districts after each 10-year U.S. census. Given the county’s current population of about 713,000, each County Council district should have slightly more than 142,000 people. Councilman Dave Gossett’s District 4 covering the county’s south-central suburbs and Koster’s district both need to shrink. The other districts need to gain people.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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