Mountlake Terrace celebrates connections at State of the City address

EVERETT — Mountlake Terrace leaders outlined the city’s accomplishments and goals May 21 at the annual State of the City report.

Community members, state legislators and federal delegates gathered to hear the address. This year, the theme was “Celebrating Connections.”

“We feel this theme fits in many ways for our community,” City Manager Jeff Niten said. “We celebrate new connections that we’re making at the light rail station, which opened last fall. But in the larger sense, our city celebrates those connections every single day. It’s what we do here in Mountlake Terrace.”

In 2024, the city completed its restoration of Hall Creek, which drains into Lake Ballinger. In partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers, the city removed invasive plants, added native plants, created a new channel to slow water flow for wildlife refuge and constructed a new pedestrian bridge. Last spring, the city installed a new playground structure at Terrace Ridge Park.

This year, the city plans to complete its redevelopment of Veterans Memorial Park’s Upper Plateau — including a new, 12-foot-wide lighted trail that leads to the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center — new trails in Ballinger Park in partnership with the city of Edmonds, new tennis courts, restrooms and fencing at the Evergreen Playfield Complex and the planting of 176 new trees.

In 2024, the city hosted 13 community events, an increase from five in 2023. This year, the city plans to host 16 events.

“We want to keep increasing those community events to allow for those connections that are important to us,” Niten said.

The city’s finance team has allocated all $5.96 million of its American Rescue Plan Act funds and adopted its 2025-26 budget, Niten said.

Throughout the past year, the public works department repaved and added bike lanes to 66th Avenue, completed the Safe Routes to School Project at 216th Street Southwest and 48th Avenue West, completed the Main Street Phase II Design Project, developed a stormwater management program plan to mitigate flooding issues, implemented digital communications for emergency planning, and completed the Westside Water Mains Project.

For the community and economic development team, accomplishments in 2024 included launching a digital permit portal for public services, welcoming 60 new businesses and adopting Mountlake Terrace’s 20-year comprehensive plan.

The team is currently working on updates to the comprehensive plan, including middle housing zoning and critical areas code, Mountlake Terrace Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright said.

With the opening of the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center in August 2024, the city is preparing for growth. Last year, the city manager’s office developed an economic development strategic plan for 2024 through 2029.

This summer, the finance team is launching a short-term task force to gather input from the community about ways to balance the city’s budget.

Mountlake Terrace has also launched and continued a number of community engagement efforts, including Community Conversations, quarterly Terrace Talks and the MLT Community Academy. The next Terrace Talk on June 11 will focus on middle housing.

“In order to build authentic relationships, you need to talk to people when they’re not asking for something,” Niten said.

Earlier this year, the Mountlake Terrace Police Department partnered with the BlueBridge Alliance for a new community outreach program. The program provides police officers with debit cards tied to a community-supported fund to provide support to people with immediate needs.

“A few months ago, during an icy winter week, one of our officers came across a local man experiencing homelessness,” Matsumoto Wright said. “Thanks to the program, our officer was able to buy a winter coat for him right then and there and as well as connecting him with shelter to warm up and stay safe.”

State Rep. Lauren Davis, D-Shoreline, gave an update on the Lynnwood Crisis Care Center, which would also serve Mountlake Terrace residents. The center has multiple bidders and Lynnwood hoping to get the doors open soon with the help of $15.7 million for crisis care centers allocated in the state budget.

In recent weeks, the Mountlake Terrace City Council has discussed implementing Flock license plate reader cameras. Last fall, the city of Everett installed Flock cameras, which led to several arrests within the program’s first few weeks, Davis said. She encouraged the Mountlake Terrace City Council to implement Flock cameras, as long as there are protections around privacy.

“It’s well documented in the research literature that the severity of punishment does not deter crime,” Davis said. “What does deter crime is the certainty and swiftness of punishment, and in order to do that you have to be able to catch people who commit crimes in this city.”

Looking forward, Matsumoto Wright said Mountlake Terrace is working on adding more electric vehicle charging stations, investing in backup generators, recoating its water tank, improving pedestrian safety near Cedar Way Elementary School, developing its commute trip reduction plan and improving sewer and stormwater management.

“I think we can call agree that Mountlake Terrace is a special place, and we’re proud to be a part of it,” Matsumoto Wright said.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.