EDMONDS – An enclave of immigrant-owned businesses on Highway 99 could be the answer to the city of Edmonds’ lackluster sales tax revenue, city leaders say.
With new streetlights, public art and a series of signs, the city plans to brand a one-mile stretch of the highway as an International District.
By this time next year, signs will go up at 238th Street SW and at 224th Street SW to mark the neighborhood’s boundaries along Highway 99.
The city’s goal is to transform the area from a high-traffic zone to one more pedestrian-friendly, city officials say. The changes will be funded by a $316,000 Federal Highway Administration grant.
The money won’t stretch very far, but local business owners hope the changes will kick off a new era of growth, bringing shoppers and tourists to explore the International District.
It’s also a formal recognition of immigrant communities that have already shaped southern Snohomish County. An ever-increasing number of immigrants live in the area: Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hispanics, Russians and others.
City leaders hope to leverage that diversity into cash.
With nearly 40,000 people, Edmonds is the second-largest city in Snohomish County, but it doesn’t have a tax base to match.
When a state rebate to sales-tax poor cities was axed in 2000, Edmonds officials looked to Highway 99 to bridge the gap.
They hired two separate Seattle firms in 2004 to help determine how to pull more sales tax revenue from the area. Both firms told the city to identify “districts of activity” along Highway 99.
“A lot of people come to this area specifically to buy products that other people have to go to Seattle for,” said Pietro Potesta, a consultant for Makers, a Seattle urban design firm.
Merchants say having an official International District will not only bring in more business, but it will also create a cultural center where immigrants feel at home.
Snohomish County’s Asian immigrants won’t have to travel to Seattle’s International District, said Jae Han, whose family owns BooHan Plaza III, a strip mall with Korean-owned businesses.
Han’s family has owned stores on Highway 99 in Seattle for many years. They opened BooHan Plaza III in 2000 because they predicted the area would grow.
“My feeling is there’s a synergy involved in having a lot of stores,” Han said. “More people looking for stuff go through the neighborhood, and it just kind of builds on itself.”
Han hopes the district will attract more shoppers, but he’s concerned that sidewalks along the highway won’t be safe enough for pedestrians.
The district’s two cornerstones, BooHan Plaza III and 99 Ranch Market, are about a quarter of a mile from each other. Anyone walking between the two centers would have a small hike and would need to cross Highway 99.
City officials said they hope to get another federal grant to install another stoplight at 228th Street SW just south of BooHan Plaza III and add another crosswalk. They hope to have funding for those projects by 2010, city traffic engineer Don Sims said.
Some business owners hope the future will bring a larger International District – one that acknowledges the influx of immigrant-owned businesses throughout Snohomish County.
Min Jeon, chief executive of Korean supermarket Pal-Do World on Highway 99 in north Lynnwood, said there are enough immigrant-owned businesses for his city to create an International District around his store.
State Sen. Paull Shin, D-Edmonds, a Korean-American, said Edmonds should work with the cities of Mukilteo and Lynnwood to create a larger International District.
For example, the Little Saigon neighborhood of Orange County, Calif., stretches through three cities.
“Edmonds has the support for this, so I support it,” Shin said. “With the preponderance of businesses along Highway 99, it’s already an international district.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
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