LAKE STEVENS – One candidate was motivated to run for the City Council because he had a beef with Lake Stevens’ plans for a new civic campus and environmental policy.
The other challenger wants to influence how the city manages its growth.
Kerry Watkins, 45, a Boeing aircraft mechanic, and John Spencer, 60, a consultant for water and sewer utilities, are challenging incumbent Stephen Brooks, 50, for his position on the City Council.
Brooks, an engineer, was first elected four years ago and is running for another term.
“I want to continue what I started,” Brooks said. His focus will continue to be “annexation, growth – growing the city,” he said.
Spencer said he’s running in part because “I just think the city needs more enthusiasm, more drive.”
Watkins said the city’s plans to build a new civic campus on land along Grade Road in the northeast part of the city didn’t sit well with him.
The project would include a new police station. The city built a new police station in 2005 for $1.3 million. If the campus moves, it’s yet to be determined what will happen with the current police station at 2211 Grade Road.
“The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘What a waste of resources,’ ” Watkins said.
The city believes the current police station, inside a modular building, can be sold, moved or used for another purpose.
With Highway 9 projected to be widened in the future and development expected to take place along that corridor, the civic campus should be built in the Chapel Hill area near Frontier Village, Watkins said.
“It makes a lot more sense than to have it all the way up in the northeast corner,” he said.
Brooks said the civic campus plan came out of a study of what to do with the 44-acre Grade Road property owned by the Mastro family.
Residents indicated in a straw vote at a public meeting that they wanted the civic campus at that location, according to Brooks.
Watkins, a National Guard captain who served in Iraq, also is emphasizing public safety in his campaign.
Watkins and Spencer each differ with the city on its proposed no-build zones for new construction near the lake, streams or wetlands.
Watkins said he’d like to see bigger protected areas. Spencer said the no-build zones could vary in specific areas.
Brooks said the rules, which are being reviewed, were approved after a study and several public meetings.
“I feel I’m elected to serve the people and that’s what I’m trying to do,” said Brooks, who is active in the Lions Club and Aquafest.
Spencer, who lives on the lake near Frontier Village, was involved in the 1984 effort to reduce pollution in the lake. He worked on the recent successful campaigns to add Frontier Village and Soper Hill to the city.
Spencer is a strong advocate for “one city around the lake,” but said the city must carefully plan for that growth.
Long-term plans for each part of the city, and its projected growth areas, should be updated and tailored more to those areas, he said.
“We’re going to have to be very, very aggressive about how we manage it all,” he said.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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