MUKILTEO – Unlike the trains it’s intended to silence, an agreement for a railroad “quiet zone” sat unobtrusively on the City Council agenda, awaiting likely approval.
But council members said they aren’t sure the agreement would bring the peace and quiet that residents of Mukilteo’s northern bluff have sought for so long.
The council took no action on the plan last week and will likely bring it up for a public hearing early in the new year, Councilman Tony Tinsley said.
The Port of Everett has pledged to pay up to $600,000 for railroad safety improvements where Mukilteo Lane crosses the tracks, which would allow trains to proceed without blowing their horns.
The pledge is part of an agreement reached a year ago between the port and the group, Citizens for a Quality Mukilteo, over the port’s waterfront pier project, currently under construction.
The next step was for the city and port to agree on the conditions.
The hang-up for the City Council came in a port proposal that the port be allowed to apply “credit” for reducing train noise to other projects planned for the former tank farm area, expected to include shops, condominiums and a new state ferry terminal.
The process is similar to when a developer builds in a wetland area. In exchange, the developer builds or enhances a wetland somewhere else.
Council members said a potential trade for a credit could result in more noise at the ferry terminal, “which makes absolutely no sense to me,” Tinsley said.
“Why would we want to give somebody else the right to make something else noisier?” Tinsley said.
Port executive director John Mohr said that wouldn’t necessarily be the case. The city, as the one issuing the permits, would still decide on conditions for the projects, he said.
Regarding whether it would allow another part of the tank farm redevelopment to generate more noise, he said, “I don’t want to speculate on that because we don’t know at this point.”
Transferring credits can save tax dollars, Mohr said. If the port doesn’t use all $600,000 in building more-secure crossing gates, it could sell the remainder of its credits to the state for the ferry project, he said. The two agencies combined would pay less that way.
“It’s a matter of making the best use of taxpayers’ expenditures so you’re not paying for more than what you’re getting,” he said.
New crossing gates likely would be installed concurrently with track improvements planned for 2007-08 in conjunction with a new commuter train station near the waterfront, Sound Transit spokesman Lee Somerstein said.
Pat Kessler, a member of Citizens for a Quality Mukilteo who lives on the bluff, took the same view as Tinsley regarding the project.
“The city gets no benefit by signing this,” she said. “I wanted to be the cheerleader for this thing, and I can’t be.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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