By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Writer
EVERETT — With an issue as complex and contentious as whether to build a hockey arena and events center on Hewitt Avenue, every party involved wants to make sure their voice is heard.
The result? A whole lot of lawyers.
Let’s count them.
The Everett Public Facilities District has one.
The city of Everett already had one.
A group of downtown business owners has one.
And as of Friday, the citizen’s group in the center of this fray now has one.
And all are getting their legal briefs in order to prepare for a showdown expected next week that could determine whether the fate of the arena will be left in the hands of the voters.
This lawyer-fest sprang up as a result of a citizens group called Citizens for a Better Arena. It collected enough signatures to validate an initiative to stop the events center from being built on Hewitt Avenue.
Now, Everett City Council members can either accept the group’s position and not build on Hewitt, or submit the issue for a popular vote, which would put the matter on the April 23 ballot.
The reaction was swift once the initiative became valid. The PFD hired an attorney to sue the city before any action is taken. The PFD is charged with operating the events center once it’s built. The district’s intent is to get a court to throw out the initiative.
Though it may seem confusing, the PFD has the right to sue the city. The district is a separate municipal body created to build, own and operate sports facilities and entertainment centers. The district must file the lawsuit against the city, as opposed to the Citizens for a Better Arena, because the city is the agency that can actually take action on the initiative.
But the citizens group believed it too needed a lawyer, hiring attorney Tom Adams.
"We looked at the relative positions of the parties, and the Citizens for a Better Arena wanted to make certain its position is argued in the litigation," Adams said. "The PFD and the city are represented, and the group feared they might get left out."
The group’s spokesman, Michael Cox, said Adams has told the group that the petition is valid and that the group has good reason to go forward.
"Everybody involved in this is for the city of Everett and wants what’s best, and I want people to have a vote, and I want Everett to have an arena," Cox said. The group objects just to the Hewitt location.
But businessman Frank McCord believes the initiative isn’t valid.
McCord is a member of a newly formed group of business owners and arena proponents called Citizens for the Hewitt Avenue Location for a Special Events Center. They also have hired an attorney, Mitch Cogdill. He was out of town Friday but plans on intervening in the case on behalf of the downtown group.
McCord says the citizens group should really be called "Citizens for No Arena," because their initiative, if successful, would end the project.
In order to qualify for any state sales tax rebate money to pay for the project, construction on the arena must begin before Jan. 1, 2003. The principal cost of the proposed arena is $62.5 million, which includes the city’s recent change order to add brick to all four sides of the arena and a second story for a museum.
The building will be paid for by a combination of operating revenues and a state-mandated sales tax rebate paid out over 25 years. Additional revenue would come from existing hotel/motel taxes and an admissions tax.
Also, public facilities district officials have estimated that if the project is delayed or canceled, as much as $5 million would be lost. The city also has purchased land at the Hewitt Avenue and Broadway site for $12.4 million. And, the Western Hockey League, the anticipated and necessary anchor tenant for the project, will withdraw its offer to form an expansion team in Everett if the arena doesn’t open for the 2003-04 season.
"I think everybody wants a quick resolution to this," McCord said.
You can call Herald Writer Theresa Goffredo at 425-339-3097 or send e-mail to goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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