MUKILTEO – Residents battling construction of a container pier for the Boeing Co. have given up their fight after the Port of Everett agreed Tuesday to spend as much as $600,000 to lower train noise in the area.
The group Citizens for a Quality Mukilteo withdrew its Snohomish County Superior Court appeal of the project after port commissioners approved a negotiated settlement at a special meeting Tuesday morning.
“We’re hopeful and very positive about it,” said Scott Decker, an Everett lawyer and member of the group, after the agreement was approved.
In agreeing to create a “quiet zone,” port officials will pay to design and install two crossing gates at railroad intersections in Mukilteo that will allow trains to proceed without blowing their horns.
The port also has agreed to operations that will reduce noise during construction and operation of the pier, which will receive oversized containers bound for Boeing’s Everett plant. The new pier and railroad spur will make it much easier to send the containers to the plant without interfering with other trains on the rail line.
Port commissioners, whose earlier modification of the agreement prompted the Mukilteo neighbors to go to court, unanimously approved the pact as originally proposed. Initially, the commissioners wanted the agreement to be scrapped if anyone filed an appeal to block the project.
They also were concerned that they were being forced to lower train noise when that issue wasn’t directly related to the pier project, and that most members of the citizens group wanted their names to remain secret.
Commissioner Jim Shaffer said he still felt pressured into the agreement, but voted for it because the pier project is important to Boeing’s success. Boeing has urged the port to construct the pier as soon as possible to expedite the shipping of jet parts assembled overseas for the new 7E7 Dreamliner and for other aircraft.
“I feel like we were lynched,” Shafffer said. “We all felt that way. We’re trying to move it along for Boeing. I felt like we needed to do this to make that happen.”
John Mohr, the port’s executive director, said the commissioners weren’t adequately briefed on the agreement when they considered it earlier this month.
Decker, the group’s spokesman, said the group thought it was reasonable to ask the port to pay for work that would lessen train noise because the pier operation would certainly add to noise in the area.
And he said group members asked that their names remain secret because they knew that the pier was a high-stakes project and that it “would be upsetting to a lot of people if it got off track.”
He said the group developed a good relationship with the port during the negotiations.
“We got to know what they’re up against, and they’re sensitized to our concerns,” he said. “We have a relationship where we can go forward.”
The Tulalip Tribes have also raised concerns about the project and how it will affect fish habitat.
Mohr said the port has agreed to follow one of the Tribes suggestions – creating an artificial beach in the area to increase habitat – and is continuing to talk with the tribal officials to resolve their concerns.
Herald writer Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459 or benbow@heraldnet.com.
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