MUKILTEO — Neighbors of 92nd Street City Park may be one step closer to getting sidewalks — and ones with character, not just asphalt — to help them get to the park.
After a lengthy discussion on Monday night, the Mukilteo City Council voted 6-1 to direct its staff to work with the Mukilteo Woods Neighborhood Group on its plan to put a meandering sidewalk, curb and gutter along the street.
The move breaks from the city’s standard to initially pave ditches with asphalt, then come back years later with curbs, gutters and sidewalks.
The council directed city staff to work on getting the cost down on the neighborhood’s design from an estimated $994,000 to something closer to what was budgeted, $685,000.
"I’m excited, but we still have our work cut out for us," said Larry Anderson, a Mukilteo Woods resident who worked on the plan. "One thing we won’t back down on is pedestrian safety."
Because the city has miles of streets without sidewalks, its policy is to pave ditches and install bumps to separate traffic from pedestrians. Then, when more money is available, the city will look at adding curbs, gutters and sidewalks.
Last summer, the city hired a contractor to pave the ditches along 92nd Street, but then, after neighbors objected, the council reversed its decision.
Recently, staff proposals ranged from paving ditches to putting in sidewalks, curbs and gutters on both sides of the street, which ranged in cost from $676,000 to $1.6 million.
Neighbors, however, proposed their own plan of a meandering sidewalk with a planting strip.
"The neighborhood has come together in a really positive way and spent hundreds of hours designing a plan that reflects on how they want to live in their neighborhood," City Council member Cathy Reese said. "The city was looking at it from a pretty bureaucratic standpoint."
"One mistake we’ve made is that all our street standards are focused toward traffic and vehicles instead of toward the pedestrians," Reese said. "We need to revisit our standards."
Council president John Sullivan, who cast the lone "no" vote, said the motion was "too vague" because it really didn’t approve a project.
"I think the likely result is that we won’t get it done this year, and we probably aren’t going to be able to get the cost down to $685,000," he said.
Reporter Pam Brice: 425-339-3439 or brice@heraldnet.com.
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