EVERETT – The city will not spend any money on a plan to put recovering drug addicts and alcoholics into a low-income apartment complex.
The City Council on Wednesday voted 5-2 against giving $217,333 to help the Everett Housing Authority buy the Timber Hill Apartments for $2.25 million.
The decision came two days after south Everett residents blasted the housing authority’s plan.
The city’s decision does not kill the plan for the 30-unit complex in a somewhat isolated area at 7720 Timber Hill Drive. The area is accessible only by the 75th Street SE bridge, which crosses I-5.
Bud Alkire, the housing authority’s executive director, said the agency would use money from its reserve funds to replace the funding it requested from the city.
The housing authority hopes to close the sale by early August.
Women being treated for drug or alcohol addiction by Catholic Community Services counselors would live in 10 of the units with their young children.
In voting against the plan, Councilwoman Marian Krell said the location is too isolated for the prospective residents, some of whom may not have cars. There is no public transportation, public park or food store nearby, she said.
“I think it’s a great project,” Krell said. “I think it’s the wrong location.”
The apartment complex does have a small play area for children, said Jeri Mitchell, director of housing and development at Catholic Community Services in Snohomish County.
And the group would shuttle women who need transportation to a day care center, shopping and bus stops, Mitchell said.
Larry Sofie, 47, who lives in the Valley View neighborhood, worried that crime would increase in the area. Drug dealers already living in the neighborhood could tempt the women, and friends or boyfriends of the women could cause problems, he said.
Councilwoman Brenda Stonecipher urged her colleagues to support the plan.
“This is a facility that is going to help women who are trying to change their lives,” she said.
City involvement in the project could give it more control over what happens at Timber Hill, she argued.
After the council’s vote, Alkire said housing authority officials still plan to meet regularly with neighborhood residents to address their continuing concerns about the building.
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