An initiative opposing the Mukilteo City Council’s decision on where to build a new city hall will not be on the November ballot.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Anita Farris, who delayed the decision last week, needs another 45 days to decide whether the initiative will go to voters, said Marie Gallagher, the judge’s law clerk, on Friday.
If Farris decides to send the measure to voters, it would be on the ballot in February at the earliest.
“That was a huge disappointment,” Mukilteo resident Kevin Stoltz said.
The initiative, based on a petition signed by more than 1,500 voters, calls for the city to build a new city hall next to the police station on 47th Place W. in Harbour Pointe, rather than next to Rosehill Community Center at Third Street and Lincoln Avenue.
“I strongly believe the people of Mukilteo deserve a right to vote on it,” Stoltz said.
Stoltz, a City Council candidate, and others sued the city in September because of the council’s decision to neither approve the initiative nor put it on the ballot.
The council voted in August to investigate buying another piece of property for city hall, City Councilwoman Cathy Reese said. The planned site next to the community center is not off the table, she added.
That was a good compromise, Reese said.
“I don’t think the lawsuit was necessary,” she added.
Reese recently decided to run as a write-in candidate against Stoltz in the Nov. 8 general election.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@ heraldnet.com.
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